The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-10-01 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS

An article in reply to the renewed attacks of the Liverpool
Times upon Lord Sandon, we are compelled to postpone
until Tuesday.
We cannot furnish the information desired by `• A Sub-
scriber," though probably it may furnish a little amuse-
ment for our ingenious friends at the Mercury-office.
The case relative to the Bell-man, pointed out by R. E. is
postponed for further investigation at the Police Court.
We shall not lose sight of it

efir W.tbrrpoot -&tanbarb,

FRIDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 1, 1841

The late government, says the Mercury, were econo-
mical, for they came to us with their advertisements ;
the Tories are extravagant, for they have left us, and
gone to the STANDARD. We have shown, however,
that the Tories are not so altogether regardless of eco-
nomy as our ex-ministerial contemporary would wish
them to appear, and that the public, from the character
and quality of our circulation, are likely to derive con-
siderable benefit from the change. We do not deny
that the Mercury has a good deal of circulation among
servants out-of-place, retired bachelors, nursery-maids,
and valetudinarian old men and women; neither are
we surprised at it, considering that` the principal conk
of that establishment is one so rarely qualified to please
the palate of such persons ; but what we have respect-
fully suggested is, that to circulate government adver-
tisements of the kind which has been transferred to us,
among such classes, is absolute waste of powder, and
that a " pothouse and cellar circulation" is, for such
purposes, of no account whatever. This we have mo-
destly hinted, and we are happy to think that the ar-
gument has been deemed one of much pith and mo-
ment by competent judges.
Let it not be supposed, however, that we have nut
forward anything so absurd or so paradoxical as that
" circulation" is, in the matter of newspaper property,
usefulness, or influence, an affair of little moment; we
have not done so, and are far from being indifferent on
this point. Thanks to the growing light of the age,
the rapid and wholesome spread of Conservatism, and
to numerous kind friends and patrons, the circulation
of the STANDARD partakes of the great improvement
which has taken place in the general position of our
cause, has increased largely in the course of the last
twelve months, and continues steadily to advance.
Our own exertions have not been wanting to produce
this happy effect; but ina'ulgent friends have certainly
cheered us on in our laborars much beyond our deserts,
and bestowed upon us numerous tokens of approbation,
as well as solid proofs of 'esteem, which we beg in this
place most thankfully and gratefully to acknowledge.
We have not the advaretage of a thirty years' esta-
blishment as our ancierzt of the Mercury has; but
Time, with his usual certa in thread, will improve our
deficiency in that particular. Be it our care only that
we may not grow old withon t growing wiser and better ;
but that, on the contrary, w e may do both—spreading
abroad our branches and flourishing like the palm
tree, affording shelter and pt otection, conservation and
refreshment to all who do us the favour to seek refuge
or regale themselves under mar ample leaves.

It is but a short time since we had occasion to speak
of the anomalous position in which the Conservative
press has been placed in Liverpool ; and now the Mer-
cury—ay, the old wile's journal—twits us with the
fact ! " Under the late government," says old Spin-
top, " the annual game lists were advertised in only
one Liverpool paper, and that the Mercury. Our Tory
contemporaries felt somewhat sore on the subject; but
they could hardly complain, with any show of rea-
son, seeing that the circulation of the Mercury was
greater than that of all of them put together." We
admit that this was a gross anomaly which called loudly
for rectification, and, as we have said more than once,
we felt heartily ashamed of our town on account of it.
The fact, however, distinctly shows the different cha•
ratter of circulation of Conservative and Radical jour-
nals. The Radical journals circulate more widely,
but they have little influence ; their circulation is it
among the privileged classes, and, therefore, does not
tell on political events. The circulation of the Conser-
vative journals, on the other hand, though less ex-
tensive, is more useful to advertisers, and more effective
for political and public purposes. Still the thing is
anomalous ; we grant it ; and we acknowledge our
hearty desire to see Conservatism commending itself
to the masses through the medium of its journals, and
commended by them in their decided preference for
such instructors ; or, in a word, Conservatism cor-
rectly indicated by the circulation and circumstances
in all respects of its political and literary organs. • We,
for our part, are far from intending our compilations
only for the select few, the wealthy, or the learned ;
we wish most sincerely to go amongst the people—to
mix freely with all classes ; and if any of our more

aristocratic friends will aid and abet us in our objects,
they will vastly oblige us.
Should it be objected that we are self-interested on
this head, we must admit the fact : doubtless we arc
so; but the common cause is interested in it also.
Can Conservatism make a better alliance than with a
zealous and effective Press ? We have begun a new
era; Liberalism has heretofore strutted about as if it
alone could be popular ; it is now our turn ; let us try
if we cannot leaven the masses with Conservatism. The
task will not he found so difficult : we have only to
practise in an honest cause those arts which the enemy
has taught us.

The oracles of the Anti-corn Law League assure us
that they are quite prepared for the universal applica-
tion of the principles of free trade. " Give us"--,they
exclaim—" cheap bread for the working man, and we
are perfectly willing to throw open our own markets to
the competition of the foreign manufacturer or the
foreign artizan."

We doubt not the assertion. We doubt not that
the gentlemen of the league—the large capitalist, the
rnillowner, the merchant, and the shopkeeper even—
are well disposed to concede so much, as the price of a
free trade in corn ; but has the 'working man, we ask,
in whose name the boon is demanded, ever signified his
readiness to accept it upon these conditions ? Has he
the most faint conception of the position in which he
would thus be placed? We most firmly believe that
he has not ; and we believe, as firmly, that, tempting
as is the bait set before him by the Anti-corn Law
agitators, he would reject it, and spurn from him the
cheap loaf which is to be bought at a price so ruinous
to him and to his children. The manufacturing oper-
ative, indeed, may know all that is in store for him,
and confident in the power of British machinery and
skill to heat down foreign competition even in the
home market, may be seduced by the prospect of a
present good—a supply of cheap food—to dare ulterior
consequences; but we are much mistaken if the work-
ing classes at large possess the same information, or,
possessing it, are in the same frame of temper.

The manufacturing operative, no doubt contemplates
some reduction of wages as the accompaniment of a
reduction of the corn laws ;—he is not duped by the
assertion of the free trader that wages will not be re-
duced ;—but he is told that his work will be more
constant, and that his reduced wages will purchase
more of the comforts of life—more food and clothing
—than his present wages afford him. He is well aware
that other protective duties must share the fate of the
protection hitherto afforded to the agriculturist ; and
he looks forward to the time when he shall have, in
addition to cheap bread, and cheap cottons, and
woollens, cheap furniture, cheap shoes, a cheap hat, a
cheap clock, a cheap watch, cheap gloves, cheap stock-
ings, &c. ; and he cares not though these may be of
foreign instead of British manufpcture. But will the
joiner, the shoemaker, the watchmaker, the hatter, or
the hosier contemplate the introduction of the princi-
ple of free trade into their own branches of business
with the same equanimity ? We think not. And we
much question whether a large portion of the manu-
facturers themselves will not shrink from the operation
when it is fairly brought home to them.

It is perfectly clear that the withdrawal of protection
from every branch of industry, must follow the aboli-
tion of the protective duties in favour .of British
agriculture.

Let the working men of England—the mechanic,
the artizan, and the handicraftsmm—look seriously to
this matter. Their interests are bound up in the fate
of British agriculture. Let them beware lest they be
betrayed and sacrificed by the leaders into whose keep-
ing they have committed themselves. Cheap bread is
a tempting lure no doubt; but cheap bread, even to
the working man may be rendered too costly if pur-
chased by the surrender of the trade by which he lives
nto the hands of the foreign artizan.

It is a very material difference between Sir Robert
Peel's ministry and that of Lord Melbourne, that the
one enjoys the confidence of the nation, and that the
other—when it existed, did not. Sir R. Peel evidently
shows that he is quite aware of his advantage, and that
he is rzsolved to profit by it. It is a circumstance of
the utmost importance and value to a minister of pro-
found knowledge and eminent ability to possess such
confidence, and feel perfectly secure of its enjoyment ;
and all who have had any share, however small, in
promoting his elevation, must take pleasure in witness-
ing the fact. Poor Lord Melbourne could pretend to
nothing of this sort, and needed no majority of one to
tell him of his deficiency. He took refuge in his very
helplessness, and the strength of his administration—if
strength it had any—consisted in proclaiming that it
had no thought and no measures of its own, and that
in all things it was the slave of the many—the very
humble servant of the chapter of accidents. In what
other country but England such a ministry could have
failed to have done irreparable mischief—to have in-
volved their country in anarchy—we have no idea.
Under their regime, the people may be said to have
had no responsible ministry, or rather no government
at all. How they continued to exist so long, and to
receive pay as if they actually were a government, will
be a puzzle in after ages. However, they died off at
last like snuff of candle—and have been succeeded by
what we might simply call, in contrast with them, a
government. We meet with them again, indeed, in
the shape of an "opposition," but in so miserable a
plight that they remind us rather of a few ghosts, such
as Lucian describes, hovering about the river Styx,
without an obolus to pay for their carriage across. A
London contemporary speaks of them as if such sha-
dows supposed themselves to be a really formidable
body—and were prepared to do anything, however
despereate, to get across ; but we think our contempo-
rary can he under no such grave mistake : for our par
we see nothing in their demeanor as an opposition
which would lead us to any such inference. Let us
just consider one or two of their grand chevaux de
battaile.

And first, say they, the new ministry ought not to
take any time to concoct their measures ; we never
did; tell us what you mean to do? let us not burst in
ignorance; the country cannot wait your leisure. The
reply to this is very satisfactory; gentlemen ex's, you
do not speak the voice of the nation, and however im-
patient you maybe, the people are not so. What

-5.,••• • • • ••••••• •
do, we mean to be responsible for, and that we may do
something that will be solidly advantageous, and per-
manently useful, we shall take due time to consider.
Of a course so rational—so perfectly in accordance
with common sense, the people entirely approve, and
the shaft falls to the ground a mere telum imbelle sine
ictu.

The miserable Ex's cannot at all comprehend any
thing of the nature and blessings of confidence, in the
proper sense of the term. They know not what it is
to have any safe resources of their own to rely upon

they never have it in their pOwer to exercise a sound
discretion in their measures; by having unlimited con-
fidence placed in them by others, and by being at
liberty to choose what they considered best for the
general good ; they were the slaves of a faction, and
so far from desiring liberty, actually hugged their
chains. They never aspired to do, and they never
dared to do, what we rejoice to perceive our Conser-
vative Premier is doing at the present moment with
the applause of all good men.
The other weapons from their armoury are only sub-
ordinate instruments to assist the first; the grand
complaint is the delay of ministers—the subordinates
are brought up merely to show how dreadfully perilous
that delay must be ; then follows " distress"—the
" corn laws"--and .the " budget," The people are
famishing—and heartless men that you are, say the
Cobdenites, you will prorogue without imposing an
Bs. duty on foreign corn, which is now being imported
at one or two! How unfeeling, how anti-free trade,
and illiberal is this ! Nothing further need be said to
show the absurdity of the opposition party than the
bare statement of such an argument as this. Truly
may it .be said that the people ask for bread, whilst
these calico patriots offer them only a stone. They
clamour for a fixed duty on corn which would neces-
sarily raise the price—and cry for other things in the
name of the people, which would be of about as much
use to the people, as if when they asked for fish they
should be given a serpent. The whip budget was
condemned by the nation for the vices and rottonness
visible in the face of it; but the mere revolution of
time has 'brought it to an open shame—damned it to
everlasting . ridicule. There was first a corn duty
which could not be enforced, or if enforced, which
must have greatly aggravated the alleged distress ;
then there was to be an increased duty on Canadian
timber, which could not by any means be raised within
the current year, unless by downright plunder and
robbery; and lastly, there was to he a reduction in the
duties. on foreign sugar, which from the present low
prices of that commodity, it appears, would have
afforded no benefit to the consumer, nor increase to
the revenue. The name of " budget" ought to be pain-
ful to the ears of a Whig during life—no, they should
" never mention it." What, then, do the opposition
mean by alluding to the subject ? Surely the country
has had enough of their quackery, and will have no
more of their physic. " But the people are starving—
there is great distress." Yes, and this is what Whig
government has brought us to ; will the opposition

remember this ? Sir Robert Peel, in the course of his
speech on Monday night, said that he "was willing to
admit, and he had made the observation on a previous
occasion, that much distress prevailed in several dis-
tricts, particularly in those where cotton was extensively
manufactured; but whilst he made this admission, he
}oust caution the house, and particularly hon. members

opposite, against making exaggerated statements of
that distress."

He then mentioned his having made diligent inquiry
concerning a very deplorable case mentioned by Mr.
Hindley, the member for Ashton, and stated, by him to
have occurred at Oldham ; but the affecting tale ap-
peared to have no existence but in the imagination of
the narrator; no tidings could be obtained of it on the
spot ! However, we trust the poor will not suffer from
the exaggerations of such mistaken advocates. Sir It.
Peel said, that it was his intention, " whenever any
severe cases of distress were brought under his notice,
to institute an immediate inquiry. It was resolved
that an investigation should take place into every case
of alleged distress, with a view to its mitigation. In
order to effect that object he would exercise the official
authority placed under the control of Government."

Such an assurance will greatly allay the anxiety
Which such tales of woe as the free trade agitators are
accustomed to relate, are calculated to excite, and we

may entertain a pretty strong assurance generally that
the case of the poor will not by any means be the
worse for being in the hands of such a man and such
a statesman as Sir Robert Peel. With regard to the
renewal of the Poor Law Commission, without any
alteration in the act, that measure was evidently inevi-
table under existing circumstances. That the law
must be greatly modified few will deny ; ministers can

have no motive-for desiring to preserve it in tact, eon-
t"`Crln the almost unanimous wish of the country ;
but a short delay can do no harm, and especially as in
,the interim such important relaxations as those alluded
by Sir James Graham on Tuesday evening, will be
Made. •