The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-02-28 00:00:00

CAPTAIN CLEGG.

The following letter, dated Isle of Man January 31st,
1831, has been received by Captain Clegg, of the ship Hud-
dersfield
am instructed-by the Directors of the Isle of Man
Steam Packet Company to transmit you a copy of a resolu-
tion entered into by the Company on Tuesday last, 28th
instant, and to inform you that in accordance therewith, you
will receive the amount from Messrs. Moore and Christian,
Redcross-street, upon your presenting the annexed order.
I am, Sir, your obedient Servant,
'EDWARD MOORE, Agent.
Mr. J. A. Clegg.

At the half-yearly general meeting of the Isle of Man
Steam Packet Company, held on Tuesday, 28th instant,
E.
On the motion of Phillip Garrett, Esq., seconded by
M. Gawen, Esq., it was unanimously resolved—" That the
sum of twenty pounds be presented to Capt. J. A. C a
legg, of
the ship Huddersfield, and ten pounds to his crew, as small
testimony of the high estimation in which their recent meri-
the I
torious and praiseworthy conduct is held by
Steam Packet Company, in the rescue of so many of their
fellow-creatures from the wreck of the William Huskisson
steam-packet "

" Douglas, 1840."

JAMES HODSON, Chairman

SCHOOL FOR CIVIL ENGINEERS.

TO THE HONOURABLE THE TOWN COUNCIL, THE MEMO-
RIAL OF THP DIRECTORS OF THE LIVERPOOL MECHA-

NICS' INSTITUTION•
The Directors of the Liverpool Mechanics' Institution,
in respectfully directing the attention of the Council tors i the
pim ortance of establishing a School for Civil Engineen
this town, feel themselves called upon briefly to state the
reasons which have induced them to make this appeal.
Your memorialists are convinced that in this country, as
well as in every other country in the world, commerce and
manufactures, and all the various branches of industry
directly or indirectly connected with them, are daily becom-
ing of more engrossing interest, and more and more closely
identified with the wealth, prosperity, and social progress of
the nation. The peculiar advantages which England possesses
in her stores of coal and iron, combined with other favoura-
ble circumstances, have given the national mind a powerful
impulse in this direction, and the result has been the em-
ployment in machinery and manufactures of an amount of
labour and capital hitherto unequalled in any other country :
it has been calculated that not less than fifty-seven millions
sterling are invested in railways; while the increased facility
of communication, both by land and sea, and the consequent
extension of trade of every sort, are year after year leading
more of the national wealth and energy into similar channels.
The demand thus occasioned for persons qualified to direct
the practical application of the arts and sciences, on which
all manufactures and machinery depend, may be said to have
created the profession of the civil engineer, to whose care are
confided the organization and management of almost all the
means of production, as well as of the means of communica-
tion which renders that production lucrative.
" To the civil engineer the public looks for safety and sta-
bility in the construction of railways, the capacity and
strength of our canals, the making of our roads, the clearing
and improving of our navigable rivers, the construction of
our docks, and the rendering of our harbours secure from
the effects of wind and waves. On him depend the sinking
and clearing of mines, and their necessary ventilation; to him
his country looks for protecting and accelerating the transit
of the world ; and, lastly, on his ability we rely for the cor-
rect and economical expenditure of much of the available
wealth of the realm, which, when thus used, like the seeds of
the earth, increases and facilitates further production."
Such being the importance of the profession of civil en-
gineer, it is indeed surprising that, in this country, which is
proudly styled the chief manufacturing kingdom in the world,
so little has been done either by Government, or by indivi-
duals to insure to the engineer a sufficiently comprehensive
and:systematic course of instruction in those sciences which
form the foundation of his skill. With the exception of the
college at Durham,—an engineering department which has
recently been added to the King's College, London,—and a
new college which is contemplated to be established in the
metropolis, no prevision whatever is made in this country
for the efficient education of civil engineers, who are left
almost entirely to chance to obtain even that elementary
knowledge without which their labours must be useless,
until guided by experience, purchased perhaps by many
serious errors.
The Governments of many other countries have, in their
own case, done much to remedy the defects from which we
suffer ; but it may perhaps be sufficient to refer to Russia,—
a country which is not unfrequently styled uncivilized and
barbarous,—but from which nations that pride themselves on
their superior refinement, might in this respect draw a useful
lesson.
It appears from official'documents, that besides the Land-
surveying Institute, the Forest Institute, the College for
Commercial Navigation, and Practical Technological Insti-
tute at St. Petersburg, two schools for forest sciences, the
academies of commerce at Moscow and St. Petersburg,
agricultural schools, schools for land surveyors, and for civil
engineers, the Institution of Engineers of Public Roads, and
various mining schools, founded by individual proprietors of
mines,—there are fifteen technological schools, as they are
called, which have been established in the vicinity of the
Altai foundries and manufactories, in connexion with a de-
partmental school, in which are taught mineralogy, mecha-
nics, chemistry, geometry, geology, and the practical work-
ing of mines ; there are further, sixty mining schools, (under
the superintendence of the minister of finance,) supported by
Government, and numbering nearly 5,000 pupils.
The anxiety which the Government of Russia has thus
shown to reader the profession of civil engineer what it
ought to be, contrasts strongly with the indifference of Eng-
land. England, proud of her superiority in manufacturing
and mechanical skill, seems to imagine that no efforts are
necessary to maintain that superiority. It is true that many
of the ablest engineers have been born and bred in this coun-
try ; but this fact merely shows that genius can rise superior
to disadvantages, and by no means proves that the most
effectual method of obtaining persons duly qualified for any
profession is to leave them uuprovided with necessary instruc-
tion. Evidence, however, is not wanting, that among the
general body of engineers much ignorance exists. It is a
singular fact, that scarcely in any one instance have the esti-
mates of the cost of a projected railway at all resembled the
actual expenditure, -.hit. in some z es the outlay has been
more than double the estimated sum. It is scarcely neces-
sary to refer to the many mistakes which have been made in
the construction of railways and other public works, the ex-
traordinary differences of opinion, on even the simplest sub-
jects, which have existed among engineers, and the almost
innumerable accidents which have destroyed so much life
and property, and all of which may be referred to error in
the original design, or ignorance in the subsequent manage-

ment.
There is, besides, no profession which comprehends a
wider range of subjects of instruction than does that of a
civil engineer. To the civil engineer, chemistry and natural
philosophy in all their ramifications, mechanics theoretical
and practical, mathematics, descriptive geometry as it is
styled by the French, geology, mineralogy, mining, agricul-
ture, architecture, land-surveying, levelling, and drawing, are
almost all indispensable, involving, as they do, the very first
principles of his art. Even a superficial knowledge of so
many subjects can be acquired only by laborious and well-
regulated study, and no study can be well regulated, unless
it be conducted on a uniform plan.
Nor is it merely the planners and originators of public
works and machines, who ought to be so instructed. It is
important that those who are entrusted with their superin-
tendence and actual management, however low their office,
should have some scientific knowledge, and a thorough ac-
quaintance with the instruments which they have to use.
Thousands risk their property or their lives in steam-boats
or railway carriages, without any security that the persons
to whom the management has been confided have had any
opportunity of acquiring the skill and knowledge which are
necessary, not only to enable them to perform the routine of
their ordinary duties, but to act with judgment and presence
of mind, should any emergency arise. The boiler of a steam-
boat or of a locomotive bursts, or some such accident hap-
pens, and many lives are lost ; the newspapers for the follow-
ing week are filled with expressions of regret, perhaps of in-
dignation, and the whole matter is forgotten. To prevent
the occurrence of such accidents, however, is much wiser
than to lament them when they have occurred, and this can
be done only by putting the means of knowledge within the
reach of all by whom it is required. In the projected college
of civil engineers in London, accordingly, it is intended that
there shall be a workman's class, in addition to the high
school, in which theoretical instruction is to be combined with
practical experience, and civil engineers are to he trained,
just as lawyers, physicians, or clergymen are trained in their
respective colleges.

There is another consideration, which, as it has an impor-
tant .bearing on this subject, ought not to be forgotten. It
seems to be generally admitted,imeven by those who are most
reluctant to own the fact, that e continental nations, which
used to be cur customers, have first their own de-
mand by their own production, an
competitors in foreign markets. It is
sve then become our
not necessary to in-
quire into the causes which have produced rivalry ;it is
the fact alone that concerns the presenft:ustion. Foreign
themselves; they
nations now manufacture extensively
difficulties of
have surmounted, in many cases, the natural
their poSition, and it is vain to expect, as it would
to wish, that the tide of improvement which has set in wrong
to-
wards foreign shores, should be rolled back. The efforts of
other nations render greater exertions imperative on the in
habitants of this country ; and if the superiority whichs
a Eng-
land once claimed, and was acknowledged to possess, a
ma-
nufacturing nation, is ever again to be established, it can
only be by diffusing as widely as possible, among those con-
nected with our productive industry, a knowledge of those
principles by which all industry ought to be guided, and by
stimulating, through s)stematic education, the inventive
powers of the general mind, to devise means for curtailing
labour and simplifying the processes of production.
Liverpool is marked out as a fit.locality for an institution
of civil engineers, not only by its proininent position as a
commercial town,—as the second port in the kingdom,—by
the ease of communication between it and the more exclu-
sively manufacturing districts, but by the celebrity which it
has already attained in all matters connected with the inven-
tion and construction of machinery. In Liverpool, perhaps
snore than in any other town, is the public mind awake to
the necessity of such an institution, for keeping pace with
the progress of the age, and for 'maintaining the prosperity of
this country, which cannot standstill, but must advance or
recede. _

nile, however, it may be reasonably expected that a
judicious plan fur the formation of such an institution would
he powerfully supported by the public, your memorialists
are convinced that a full measure of success could not be
.obtained without the aid of the Corporation; and, at the
same time, they conceive that there is no object whatever
to the furtherance of which your funds and influence could
be directed with greater general advantaka, or with less risk
of offence to any portion of the community. The Corpora-
tion has already devoted a portion of its fund to the promo-
tion of elementary education ; and to more advanced pupils
in all ranks instruction is afforded in the institution with
which your memorialists have the honour to be connected,
as well as in other establishments ; but neither hi the Me-
chanics' Institution, nor in any other institution in this
town, does there exist the smallest provision for the educa-
tion of boys above the age of fifteen or sixteen, when strictly
professional education ought to commence.
This want is greatly to be deplored, and as the demand for
men thoroughly educated in this, as in all other departments,
is rapidly increasing if the blank be not speedily supplied,
elementary instruction itself will decline, and the ground
which has already been gained in the cause of general educa-
tion will again he lost.
Your memorialists have carefully abstained from entering
on all minute particulars as to the plan of such an institution ;
they have stated as concisely as possible their views of its
importance, and now beg respectfully to urge the matter on
the attention of tie CoUncil, in the belief that it will be care-
fully considered, and that, should the proposal be enter-
tained, the details connected with the organization of the
plan would be speedily arranged.
Your memorialists are convinced that few proposals could
have a more direct bearing on the prosperity of the country
at large, as well as of the town in which they live.

TRADESMEN'S INSTITUTION.--This useful institution is
Lewdestly making its way to public favour. Every facility to
improvement is afforded to the youthful portion of its mem-
bers. It is truly gratifying to see young men taking advan-
tage of the opportunity which presents itself for mental cul-
tivation; and calculated as this institution is, to confer last-
ing benefit on the tradespeople of Liverpool, it would be in-
sulting to them to doubt of their generous, their liberal :up.
port of it.

THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT AND THE
BRITISH LEGION.
(From the Morning Herald of Tuesday.)
Lord Londonderry brought before the House of
Lords, last night, the case of the unfortunate officers
who were trepanned by the " liberal" Government of
England into the service of the equally " liberal" Go-
vernment of Spain ; and who, after being defrauded
out of a large portion of their pay and gratuities by
their Spanish employers, are denied the efficient aid of
the English Cabinet in enforcing their just claims.
Lord Clarendon defended the Government of Spain,
and vaunted of the services which he bad, by his in-
terposition, while minister of Madrid, rendered to the
British legion. His lordship did not however, deny,
that a large sum was still due (not of pay, he alleged—
but of " gratuities") by the Spanish Government to
English officers ; but he spoke confidently of the ho-
nest intentions of the Spanish Cabinet, and declared
that in time. all these matters would be arranged. He
lauded also the services of the " commission" which
has been sitting so long, and doing so little, in decid-
ing these claims.
Lord Melbourne defended himself and his colleagues
with even more than his customary measure of self-
complacency. He and they, according to his lordship,
have done in the matter all that could be expected of
them—and everything is in a fair way of settlement.
Neither Lord Clarendon nor Lord Melbourne ven-
tured fairly to meet the statements of Lord London-
derry. The gallant marquis asked whether Colonel
Wylde bad not some time ago pledged the British Go-
vernment to procure a speedy settlement of the claims
in question ? On this point no answer was vouchsafed
either by Lord Melbourne or by his new colleague.
Lord Londonderry, with great truth, observed, that,
admitting the Spanish Government to be embarrassed,
still the sum of £280,000 could have been raised by it,
without trouble, for the liquidation of its debt to the
subjects of Britain ; and at all events, why, asked the
noble marquis, might not the English Government
take into its own hands the vouchers of this Spanish
debt, and dispose of them in satisfaction of Spanish
custom-house dues ?
On this point, also, Lord Melbourne and his asso-
ciate were silent.
Another discreditable circumstance was:pointed out
by Lord Londonderry in the conduct of the English
Government towards the legionary officers. While
the claims of the great body of these officers to justice
have been utterly disregarded, no less than fifty-six of
the superior officers amongst them have been appointed
to situations in the military or civil service of this
country—the object being obviously to get rid of their
importunities, at the cost, in the first instance, of their
brother-officers in the legion, but, in the second place,
to the grievous injury of many distinguished officers in
the British service, who have been thrust aside, in or-
der to make way for men who can advance no special
claim to the preferment in question, except that of hav-
ing taken part in campaigns, in every way disgraceful
to the character of England !
The mean, pettifogging, discreditable war which the
Whigs, by means of Evans and his banditti, levied in
behalf of the usurers who, under the name of minis-
ters, now rob Spain, is characteristic of the men who,
for its sins, at present, rule this country.
The whole thing was sneaking in its conception—in
execution an infamous failure :—the result, a fearful
loss to England of character and money. The Spanish
war of non-intervention, with all its innumerable dis-
asters, has cost this country eight millions—a sum suf-
ficient to have placed the fleet of England in a state of
unexampled efficiency, and to have gained for her the
undisputed supremacy of the seas.

THE FOREIGN AND COLONIAL TRADE OF

GREAT BRITAIN.

(From the Morning Herald of Wednesday.)
Sir Richard Jenkins brought forward, last night, a motion
of deep interest, on the subject of the agricultural and manu-
factured products of British India, and on the conditions
which ought to regulate the admission of these products into
the markets of England.
It was contended by the mover, and by other gentlemen,
that the industry of British India is utterly paralysed by the
want of fair protection to which certain forms of that industry
are exposed, as well as by the exorbitant imposts which press
upon others.
Some of the speakers on the subject—Mr. Hume and Mr.
Ewart for example—while they contended for the expediency
of equalising the duties levied upon the products of India
and of all other countries, maintained that India could have
no just title to have her industry protected. The laws of free
trade ought, according to these authorities, to regulate all
our commercial intercourse with India.
The views advocated by Mr. Hume and his friends, in re-
gard to India, are as false and narrow, as they are in regard
to all other great questions.
The colonial empire of England is the noblest that ever
existed. If the colonial policy of England were regulated by
sound principles, the increased power that England might
derive from her colonies, is absolutely incalculable. England,
in conjunction with her colonial dependencies, comprehends
all imaginable varieties of soil, of climate, of temperature—
and may boast of possessing, in abundance, all the products
with which Nature can enrich or gladden the human race.
The means of interchanging the products of her native and
of her colonial industry are secured to England to an extent
absolutely boundless. There is no limit to the diversity of
the materials on which the native and the colonial labour of
England may be profitably employed. In her colonies, the
natural resources of England are multiplied twenty-fold.
That these resources have been turned to the smallest possi-
ble account, proves, that never was any country governed
-with a smatter amount of 'wisdom than England has been for
' at least a quarter of a century past.
The mighty the inestimable advantage which home trade
possesses over foreign, consists in the fact that home trade
admits of being regulated by the people who depend upon it,
while a foreign trade does not, excepting in peculiar circum-
stances, and to a limited extent. As it is with home trade,
so it is with colonial. Both are under the control of the peo-
ple who possess them. Both are constant in their character.
Both are profitable in the highest degree. A trade with
foreigners is, on the other hand, always liable to interruption ;
and unless it be carried on under singularly favorable condi-
tions—conditions such as those on which the Chinese carry
on their tea trade with ourselves—foreign trade is apt to im-
poverish, instead of enriching the country which engages in
it.

Our foreign trade with the United States, for instance, is
a trade conducted on principles of the most dangerous charac-
ter. England is far more dependent on the United States for
raw cotton, than the United States are on England for
cotton goods. Every year England pays the United States
a higher price for their raw cottons; while, on the other
hand, every year does' England receive from the United
States a lower price for the manufactured article. Every two
or three yeirs. besides, our customers in the United States
suspend payment ; but not, for a single moment, does the
system on which we conduct our foreign trade, admit of our
suspending our demand for American cottons, or of boggling
about the price which the cotton growers demand for their
commodity. Thy risk and loss attendant on such a trade'
are, in short, the portion of England ; the profit and secu-
rity attach, almost exclusively to the United States.
So, in dealing with China. China exacts the; prices which
she pleases for her teas ; and those prices England must pay,
or be content to go without the article. China, in short,
conducts her foreign trade on wise principles; and England
on foollsh ones. China does not humble herself to secure
our custom ; nor will she accept of our custom excepting on
her own terms.
By cultivating the resources of her noble colonies, England
might soon be able to regulate her foreign trade on principles
no less profitable than those on which China acts in her com-
mercial intercourse with foreigners. Instead of crouching
to foreigners for their custom, and permitting them to fix
their own price on the products of our industry, England
might, by fostering the productive capabilities of her colo-
nies, compel foreigners at all times to pay remunerating
prices for her manufactures, or the products of our soil.
Take, for instance, the cotton trade—the leading branch in
modern times, of our manufactures. • For the raw material
of that trade, we are content to depend on the United States
of America, while from our own Indian dominions we might
receive raw cotton equally well fitted for our purposes, and
in infinite abundance. If we drew our supplies of cotton
from India, the profits of the grower and the profits of the
manufacturer would equally conduce to the general wealth of
England. The interests of the grower and of the manufac-
turer of cotton could never, moreover, be altogether opposed,
as they frequently are, under the present system. By de-
pending on her colonies for the consumption of her manu-
factures, England could never, besides, lose those millions
of money, which she has, recently and repeatedly, done by
depending on the consumers of the United States. The
intercourse between consumers and producers would, in short,
under a wise system of colonial government, admit of the
most exact regulation at the hands of government; and
would tend, at every moment, to augment the wealth and
happiness, at once, of native and of colonial producers.
What is true of the cotton trade, is true also, of the trade
in tobacco, and might be true, ultimately, in the trade of
tea. From India, we might derive cotton and tea • ' from
India,
and from the West Indies, tobacco, sugar, and many
other articles of use and enjoyment.
To each of our colonies we ought to grant ample protection
in the cultivation of any article that may be peculiar to it.
To all of our colonies we ought to grant the fullest protection
against the producers of foreign countries. The simple and
the wise rule would be, to import from foreign countries no
article that could be supplied by our colonies—just, as in
h ong as
importation
legislating for the protection of native industry, it would be
wilbsiet, so
the l
singleo f
labourer
every
articlewari t swhiwhich
employment,coulcould
b et o
raised pro-
from the soil of England !