The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-10-19 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ALBION

Ste,—Since the memorable period of your political apos-
tacy, you have favoured the public with few productions of
your pen which can at all equal your leading leader of the
15th instant—an article not less remarkable for the mild and
gentle tone of Christian charity which pervades it, than for
the grammatical accuracy, and elegance of its composition.
In the present dearth of
.news, and with the printer's devil
continually at your elbow, crying out for "copy, more copy,"
you were no doubt particularly obliged to the "component
items" of the Abercromby Ward Conservative Committee
for furnishing you with matter for a leader of a column and
a half in length; and to show your gratitude for the windfall,
you of course proceeded to make the best and the most of it.
How I should have enjoyed a peep at you, when you sat
down to peruse the Abercromby Ward report of the 2nd
instant! What a treat it would have been to contemplate
the " knight of the rueful countenance," as he sat poring
over the " Tory catalogue of ways and means ;" and to wit-
ness the burst of triumph which illuminated his features,
when he made the wonderful discovery that the report of a
political association, was —" a political report altogether" ! ! !
But, to be serious. You give a long extract from the report
in question, and then assert that the extract so given " has
manifest treachery and falsehood stamped upon it." Now,
Sir, I defy you to substantiate your charge. You appear,
indeed, to have attempted it, but You have signally failed ;
I must at least confass my inability to understand the con-
fused jumble of words, by which you have attempted to prove
the first head of your accusation. I readily admit that the.
committee took the money offered by the Reformers, amount-
ing, I believe, to the enormous sum of nearly a sixth part of
the whole fund; and that they would have taken ten times
as much, had it been offered;-1- admit, also: that they would
have applied it to the purpose for which it was subscribed,
viz., to the relief of the suffering poor of the ward ;—and yet,
after admitting all this, I am so blind that I cannot see the
treachery which you declare to be manifest.
With respect to the sentence in which you declare that you
detect manifest falsehood, you have surely wasted much la-
bour in devoting a good quarter of a column to expose that
which you say is "too apparent to need exposure." You
say, " the whole town was alive to the distress which was pre-
vailing ; and benevolence was seeking in every quarter for
objects upon whom to exercise its bounties ;"—and with an
air of triumph you ask, " Why was it probable that the
poor of Abercromby Ward would have bean left to starve,
unnoticed and unknown?" Why, Sir! I will tell you why
it was probable. Benevolence in its search had forgotten
that particular quarter called Abercromby Ward; or probably
it thought, that in a ward which one of your liberal friends
has designated as the most aristocratical ward in the town,
it would find no objects upon whom to bestow its bounties."
Indeed, I think I remember reading a paragraph in your own
paper, in which the writer, after extolling the charity dis-
played in other parts of the town, regretted that nothing had
been done in Abercromby Ward ; but, however this may be,
is is certain that up to the 27th February, the day on which
the committee commenced their labours, there had been no
effort made to relieve the distress prevailing in the ward.
It is true that a few had received assistance front the funds
so generously subscribed at St. Jude's and St. Mark's
Churches : and so grateful was one of the recipients, that
he declared he was eating M`Neile's bread, arid burning
• M`Neile's coals, and if M'Neile were there he would burn
him at the top of them. But the relief thus given was not
sufficient for a tithe of the persons who were suffering the
tortures of hunger and cold; andl state it as a fact, that in
several cases, if Wiled not been for the timely aid afforded by
the conservative committee, famine would have finished its
work, and made au end of its victims. Again you ask " Is there
no one in that quarter of the town who would have relieved
distress, or, at all events if it had passed the bounds of indi-
vidual means, have made it known, and exerted himself to
stein the torrent of human misery and suffering ?" Yes ! I
answer, there was one who did all this; a tory; one of those
individuals who are denounced by O'Connell, and by your-
self, as dishonest scoundrels, as oppressorS of the poor, as
every thing mean, vile, and contemptible; and that man
was Robertson Gladstone! And here I must express my
surprise that any circumstance—even a desire to blacken
your political opponents, should have induced you for once
to do justice to a Church of England clergyman, and my
happiness in being able, most cordially, to join you in your
eulogy of the Rev. Mr. North, whose conduct during that pe-
riod of deep distress was deserving of the most unqualified
praise. But where meanwhile were the liberals of the ward?
Where were the liberal councillors Messrs. Earle, Brockle-
bank, and Carson? doubtless they flew to their posts with
liberal offers of tune and money, as soon as they heard of the
existence of distress in the ward. No, no! the man who once
declared that he was ready to make a division of his property,
did not think that a fit time to part with a single atom of
his dross; Mr. Brocklebank had enough to do to attend to
his ship-building and repairing in Cumberland; and Dr.
Carson, like a true liberal, sent persons with notes for relief;
but alas! he forgot to send any notes wherewith to relieve
them. The liberals upon this, as upon many other occasions
proved the truth of the old adage, that it is easier to preach
than to practice; they find it much easier to sit by a comfort-
able fire-side penning their day-dreams about the horrors of
slavery, and the necessity of "sending out flannin veskits,
and moral pocket hankichers to the poor black niggers in the
Vest Indis," than to dive into the lowly abodes of squallid
poverty, and alleviate the sufferings of the miserable beings,
by whom they are more immediately surrounded.
It is scarcely necessary to reply to your base insinuation
that the fund was diverted from its legitimate channel, to
serve the political purposes of the conservatives. You insi-
nuate, that, " the conservative charity rested not in the house
of the widow and orphan, but in those of persons who might
be brought on the municipal list." The insinuation is false!
It rested where it was intended to rest, in the houses of all
who owing to the severity of the weather were thrown out of
employment, and had not wherewith to procure the food and
fuel necessary to support nature, during that inclement sea-
son. On an investigation I find, that of the one thousand nine

hundred and seventy-eight individuals relieved, ONE only was
on the municipal list; and if you wish proof of this, I shall be
happy to submit to you the lists of persons relieved, with the
recommendations, which are signed by men of almost every
shade of religion and politics.
In penning your long Igrticle you have been actuated by
the truly Christian and charitable desire to throw odium
upon a body of men perhaps as pure minded as yourself, by
imputing evil motives as the cause of good actions; your
venom, however, like that of the foul and hideous toad,
though vomited forth with the most malignant intention,
is perfectly harmless, or at worst can cause but a slight irri-
tation where it falls, though it may lead to the destruction of
the vile thing that voids it. The report of the Abercromby
Ward Conservative Association might ere this have been
forgotten; but you have unwittingly given it a fresh exist-
ence. It will now be read by many, who but for you, might
never have heard of it; and it is not at all unlikely, that its
perusal may lead to inferences and comparisons, which may
not tend to raise your parsimonious pi otege in the estimation
of those in whose eyes he just now wishes to appear every
thing that is amiable. 1 remain, Sir,

Yours, to command,
A BURGESS.
Abercromby Ward, Oct. 17, 1838.

THE RAILWAY INTERESTS OF LANCASHIRE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL ST.IIND.IIRD.
Stn,—lt has afforded me sincere gratification to witness
the firmness with which the shares of Eastern Counties Rail-
way have been held since my last communication, during
which period the call, making £lO per share paid up, has
fallen due—inducing sales to be made if at any time—which
gives promise of close and steady adherence onward. The
favourable conclusion of arrangements with the Northern
and Eastern Company, with the satisfactory advancement of
the works, as noticed iu the Railway Times of Saturday last,
affords ample encouragement for the line of policy; and I
hope no Lancashire man will sell a share that he can pos-
sibly retain. In advocating this line, I am influenced by
several considerations, as far as regards its especial selection
—tbe unequalled promise of returns on the capital required—
the already preponderating interest of this district in the un-
dertaking—the comparatively light farther demand upon the
shares, not more than £l2 10s. per share—another call of
£2 10s. being required, with the addition of the loan autho-
rised by the amended act, to complete the line to Colchester,
so that we may hold, safely, double the number of shares con-
templated, when it was expected the whole £25 would be
wanted, and which, in the present position and aspect of the
railway market, gives to these so decided an advantage aver
other shares, upon which calls will ensue every few months,
to the extent of from £3O to £5O or £6O, before any returns
can be expected. These considerations give we confidence in
selecting this line, to be made an example of regeneration to
others possessing similar solid pretensions. Every successive
week will now be so developing to the world at large the value
and capabilities of railways as investments—knowledge hi-
therto confined almost exclusively to this great centre from
whence they have radiated, and against which the public
have been blinded and prejudiced through the powerful in-
fluence of landed and other opponents, unfortunately, in this
case, having too much weight with the press, especially, I
regret to say, with that portion circulating amongst the
wealthy classes, viz. the Conservative press—witness the
absurdly ignorant and .insane tirade admitted into Fraser,
from some briefless Briefwit, "taking up his parable" thus,
" I'm on the rail,"—you would have wondered to have seen
such a tissue of rash, stupid folly in anything above the cali-
bre of Paddy Kelly :—every day's experience will now so
incontestibly confute and put down these attempts, and so
establish the excellency of this kind of property, that we may
expect the first half of the corning year to work an extraor-
dinary revolution in its favour. The sleepless eyes of the
great cormorants of our Stock Exchange monied world are
watching for the turn of the tide, and, in their preying desire
to grasp from our weakness, I trust they have missed it, or
will, and ourselves hold the fish. The splendid returns of
the London and Birmingham, yet in the leading-strings of
its infancy, and of the Southampton, the second week's re-
ceipts from which, with only six coaches working into the
line—twelve more the coach-proprietors were to bring on
at Basingstoke this day (the fish)—would yield a profit
equal to paying 5 per cent. on the amount of capital
expended on the portion of line opened. These facts
cannot be suppressed or withherd front the public, and
thousands must flow into these channels in consequence.
The doubtful state of the Great Western question has
been considered the great incubus of the railway interest,
but certainly all the experience of that undertaking tells
for the system, so far as the returns bear upon a limited
expenditure; and, whatever may be thought of the great
experiment, there is nothing to hang a doubt upon—nothing
of a speculative character, in the case of the lines laid
upon the established principle, with all its practical im-
provements—taken up, remember, after years of successful
working in its latest and most consummated modifications—
and, before our eyes, so triumphantly and abundantly meet-
ing the wants, convenience, and comfort of the community.
I doubt not, we shall, as these lines attain completion, very
contentedly pocket our 15 to 20s. dividends from them—
working well--though not exceeding 40 miles an hour, and
he must be an effeminate, unworthy of the name of Briton,
who requires greater ease of transit than he may now have
on the Birmingham line. Brother shareholders, keep your
hold, I wish my suggestion as to the meeting of the leading
holders monthly were adopted. A man building his cot
watches every brick being laid, and it is laid in his heart, and
his attachments ivy round the growing walls, and the snore
you know of the progress of your railways the more you attach
yourselves to them. Pray think of this.

I am, Sir, &c.
W. M.

Liverpool, October 17th, 1838.

THEATRE ROYAL.

During the week Mr. Charles Kean has appeared out of
the beaten track of his round of Shaksperian characters, as
Claude Melnotte, in Sir Edw. Lytton Bulvver's new play of
"The Lady of Lyons." There is nothing very great in the
character—no profound intellectual depths. The amount
of it is simply this; Claude Melnotte, a gardener's son, falls
in love with u rich merchant's daughter, and alter laboriously
improving, himself in polite learning with a view of distin-
guishing himself for her, ventures a poetic epistle to her,
signed with his own name. This is treated as an act of great
presumption, and the poor gardener's son is insulted with
all the offensive arrogance and pride of puffed-up wealth.
His pride is wounded and his feelings are deeply hurt, and
whilst in this state of mind he is found by a rejected suitor,
(Beauseant,jof Pauline Deschappelles—the "Lady of Lyons,"
with whom he (Claude Melnotte) is in love, and enters into
a conspiracy with Beauseant, to be introduced to her as a
foreign prince, Beauseant finding the means; and under the
advantages which the silly pride of Pauline and her mother,
Madame Deschappelles (Mrs. Clarke) would give him in this
character to win the affections and marry Pauline, and then
take her home to his cottage as a gardener's wife, and thus
gratify his own and Beauseant's revenge. Claude is a man
of right feeling, and repents him of his crnel purpose, but
which he is bonnd to carry out by an oath. He marries Pau-
line, and then, after a scene of outrageous passion and
wounded pride on her part, when she finds that instead of
being the wife of a prince, her husband is but a gardener, he
absolves her from her incomplete legal tie, and executing a
divorce, delivers her up to her parents. He then enters the
army resolved to raise himself, and to wipe off the stain on
his honour, consequent to lending himself to this conspiracy;
and after a rapid rise in the army, finds and rescues his di-
vorced Pauline from becoming the wife of Beauseant, to save
her father from ruin, and marries her. The carrying out
of this' plot, gives a few opportunities for the expression
of the feelingss of ardent hope, mortified pride and re-
morse. The play, however, has nothing great about it,
and it is little better than a melo-drama. Kean's act-
ing as Claude Melnotte was clever, effective, and strik-
ing ; yet it was not a perfect whole. When describing to
Pauline his palace at Como, while in the character of Prince,
and indeed during the whole of his interview with her, his
performance was a feelingless piece of recitation. The tongue
spoke, indeed, in tones of passion, but the soul of passion,
the eye,—the features—earnest yet subdued action were
wanting; the manner was cold and flatly contradicted the
tongue. Again on taking his leave of Pauline and his mothe
in his cottage and rushing out to serve his country as r
soldier, his manner, was outrageously melo-dramatic stamps
ing, dust-kicking up, wind-millizing, mountebankizing, and_
murdering of propriety. Leaving out these blots, his per-
formance was very effective. Miss Faucit as Pauline, played
with great skill. The character is perfectly her forte; and
hur acting was a fine specimen of womanly affection mixed
with excessive pride. Mrs. Clarke's Madame Desohappelles
was exceedingly clever. The manner in which she called
Claude, as a prince, "our beautiful prince," and as a poor
gardener "you ugly villin," was an exquisite touch of cha-
racter. The author of the play has had here a keen perception
of the foibles of human nature. How many living Madame
Deschappelles are there to whom an honourable and deserving
youth, undistinguished by wealth—or rather without wealth,°
for wealth is no distinction—and "unknown to fame," would
be "an ugly villain," who, with these "accidental" gifts of
fortune, would be "our beautiful Prince?" But so the
world wags. The new farce of 'l'. IL Bayley, Esq. which
has just been brought out in London with considerable suc-
cess, "Tom Niiddy's Secret," has concluded the perform-
ances. The gist of the joke consists in a superannuated old
schoolmaster, Tom Noddy (Mr. Baker), who will see about"
everything and does nothing; who ties knots on his pocket
handkerchief to remember to "see about it," and forgets
what he has tied the knot for, and then ties another to remind
him not to forget to "see about" what he tied the first knot
to remember. This, not very unusual trait of character—
tnere being Tom Noddy's enough in every community,—is
the foundation, beginning and end of the whole piece. It ex-
cites a laugh, but we don't think it worth the fuss that our
metropolitan brethren have made about it.