The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-12-27 00:00:00

THE MISSING WHALERS.

( From the Shipping Gazette.)
We are glad to find that the rash and inhuman deter-
mination formed by the Lords of the Admiralty relative
to the whale-ships and their unfortunate crews, detained
in the ice-bound seas of the north, is not likely to be
passed over by the public without the strongest animad-
version ; and, if we may judge from the communications
we receive from the various outports, as well as from
what we find in the local papers, the government islikely
to"suffer very materially on account of their lordships'
deciiion. The Dundee Chronicle devotes upwards of
two columns to the subject, from which we make the fol-
lowing extracts:—
" Our Whig Government," says our contemporary, " are not
without some troubles respecting their own existence, and may
the more easily plead inability, if not want of will, to attend to
the calls of justice and humanity. But is this consistent with
the character of the British nation, which is justly celebrated
for its readiness to extend a helping hand to all in distress?
Have our adventurous countrymen, shut up in a frozen sea, and
cut off from the mesns of evet: preserving their lives, no claim
upou the government 7br relief? It is clear that it is the pecu-
liar business of his Majesty's ministers to send relief to the un-
fortunate vessels, no fewer than six in number, now detained in
the ice at Davis's Straits. We demand it in behalf of our un-
fertunate bnt meritorious fellow-townsmen, and tell the go-
vernment that they have not added to their popularity, in this
quarter, by refusing all aid in so urgent a case, and rejecting
the petition of more than 240 of the most respectable inhabi-
tants of Dundee. We are utterly at a loss to account for its
rejection. The only tangible excuse, in fact, is pettishness on
the part of ministers, at the recent cor.demnation of them and
their adherenti, by the non-electors of Dundee. (Parnell took
'care not to trouble his constituents—he did not even ask them
to Meet him.) Bat, whatever be the cause of their present re-
fUsal, the piiblie voice should -lie raised against this act of the
government, with the view of compelling it to adopt a more
just course; and, in the meantime, private benevolence should
be brought to the aid of the unfortunate suffei ers."

We trust that the tone of remonstrance. so properly
adopted by our northern contemporary, will be taken up
throughout the country. The circumstances of the case
will furnish a justification of all that can be said in this
way ;—the lives of 300 of the most hardy and enterpris-
ing of British mariners are at stake, but " my lords"
of the Admiralty will not give a doit towards preventing
the frightful contingency that is apprehended.
By the bye, let us ask why the crews engaged in the
whale:trade should he worse treated than those engaged
in any other branch of maritime commerce ? If there be
One branch of navigation more important than another,
as furnishing a nursery fur British seamen, and fOr the
cultivation of that indomitable spirit of fearless enter-
prise, which has hitherto made the "wooden walls of Old
England" the glory of the world-7-4 is to be found in the
northern whale-trade. No service is so severe—none
beset. with such imminent peril. Tu this, therefore,
,sikg'pld be undoubtedly extended, at least the same aid
and,protection as is furnished to every other branch of
maritime commerce.

A COMPOSTTOR.—On the 2nd ult.,At a congregation at Cam-
bridge, the Decree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon
the Rev: J. B. Smith, of Christ College, Rector of Sotby and
Martin, Lincolnshire, head Master of Florncastle Grammar
School, std formerly a compositor in liol*. This gentleman,
Who has'advanced himself by his own cruse application to the
highesC•degree of university honours, was apprenticed to the
late Mr, W. Blanchard, printer of the York Chronicle.
IticßvAs€ OF BRITISH POPULATION.—It appears that the
population of Great Britain increased, during the first thirty
years of the present century, at the rate of about 15 per cent.
tell ten years, or of 11 per cent. a-year. A ratio of this sort
gaslutt easily -changed, and there is no reason to think that it
. 'lselin sensibly affected since 1830. On this hypothesis, the
population must of ob , ~,..„ • t have increased during the interval at the rate
conseatfitte-ritri"haa
}ear, (12 per I cent. on- 16,539,318.) and must
about
~„„,.ve...,mounted, on the 31st of May, 1836, to
t6e,--7,,, , .
~..lekie,,population of lieland increased during
population of Great ii,i..1:31' at nearly the same rate as the
haveZ'.
great change can We believe that there also, no
riod; and that the populminotPleee dulling the intervening pe-
increased since 1830, at the rate n( be fairly supposed to have
. per cent. on 7,767,401;) aria if
~,o,..about 165,000 yeaa-er, (1.45
.of May, 1636, to about 8.592,000.11: 14),luid amount /he 31st
these suppositions, the entire pnpulatioo. 1 if we be right in
Ireland would, nn the 31st of May. 1836 berk,'„a„t Britain,o
And including the islands of Jersey, Guernae --ii,`l'un'37l.°oo-
- he taken at 26,500100. It results from tIZE: --aZt',„"„,e, it '
that the British Islands rank as the fourth stateeinlitv,.-,;—"ts,
point of population, being surpassed only by It • '"T'e in
usina, France
it
tla Austria. Our population is nearly double that of the
powerful and flourishing kingdom of Prussia.