The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-03-24 00:00:00

CONTEMPORARY PRESS.

THE KING OF HANOVER.
(From the Morning Herald)
Mr. Hutt delivered on Thursday night a long speech
on the subject of the trade duties levied by the King of
Hanover on English manufactures. Mr. Hutt is a
singularly noisy, empty personage. He delivered a
very silly speech in a very furious fashion. The tolls
levied by the King of Hanover seem to him nothing
better thon the tribute formerly levied by the Deys of
Algiers.
Mr. Hawes seconded Mr. Hutt's motion for an ex-
pression of opinion by the House of Commons on the
subject._ .

Lord Palmerston expressed his entire concurrence in
the views of his honourable friends. The duties al-
luded to he admitted to be vary oppressive and very
unreasonable; and government, he declared, is doing
all it can to procure a modification of the Ilanoverian
tariff. " There are, however," simpered his lordship,
" difficulties in the way. Public opinion abroad is not
enlightened as it is here, on the subject of commer-
cial intercourse between nations." His lordship, in
conclusion, besought Mr. Hutt to withdraw his mo-
tion, until the result of Whig diplomacy in this matter
may be felt.
Mr. Hume approved himself unusually warlike. The
motion he declared to be a most just one, while he de-
nounced the conduct of the King of Hanover as most
atrocious. " What have ministers been about," ex-
claimed Joseph. " Why have they not settled this
matter long ago ? Why don't they settle it now by the
agency of a line-of-battle ship ? I have no desire for
hostilities; but why should we not in this case, as in
the case to which China is a party, have recourse to
' friendly communications' ? (At this sally Joseph
grinned.) An armed steam-boat—a single sixty-eight
pounder—would settle the business."
Eventually Mr. Hutt acceded, as he and politicians
of his tribe invariably do, to the request of his official
masters.
This affair exhibits the insolence of Mr. Hutt and
his coadjutors, no less than the utter meanness of Lord
Palmerston and his confederates. What right have we
to complain of any amount of duties levied by the King
of Hanover on British manufactures ? The King of
Hanover is as much justified in placing an exorbitant
tax on British cottons and cutlery, as we are justified in
placing an exorbitant tax on brandy. The King of
Hanover is the only judge of the expediency of such
fiscal regulations—whether their object be the creation
of revenue, or the protection of the industry of his
subjects. Why should he permit those, whose welfare
it is his first duty to secure, to be driven from their
own markets by the grasping spirit of British specula-
tion? The King of Hanover may have seen enough of
the pestilential effects in England of free-trade princi-
ples to induce him to limit, as much as possible, their
operation in the dominions over which he reigns. His
care to protect the industry of his subjects, or his de-
sire to lighten their burdens by raising from foreigners
a portion of his revenues, deserves the utmost com-
mendation : and it. would be deemed discreditable in
any English ministry but the present—(the present
ministry can take no deeper stain of infamy than at-
taches to it already)—to apologise to an impudent bab-
bler like Mr. Hutt, for not interfering with the King of
Honover's unquestionable privileges !
What is the. true moral to be derived from the trou-
blesome effects of Stade duties or interruptions of any
kind to the current of our foreign trade ? Only this—
that foreign trade in its best form is far inferior to
home trade—and, unlike home trade, is always subject
to influences beyond our own control. The practical
effect of such a conviction ought to be a determination
—not to bully the King of Hanover, or any other fo-
reign Sovereign—but to cherish our native industry in
all its varieties, as the King of Hanover would appear
disposed to cherish the industry of his subjects.

THE RUGELEY MURDER-STATE OF THE

FLATMEN.
(From the. Staffordshire Gazette)
It is unnecessary to draw the attention of our read-
ers to the revolting details rJating to the Rugeley mur-
der. Although the diabolical transaction to which we
refer is happily to he regarded as one of rare atrocity,
still it will furnish us with data by which to estimate
the degree of depravity which unhappily prevails
among the numerous class to which the perpetrators of
the crime belong. The outrages which these unhappy
men are perpetually committing, have attracted public
attention, no less by the frequency of their occurrence
than the enormity of their nature. The cause of such
extreme depravity must at once be referred to the ab-
sence of religious instruction, and of the opportunity
of public worship,—evils under which the whole class
of flatmen peculiarly labour. These evils admit of but
one remedy, and that one neither the Churchman or
Dissenter will be at any loss to conjecture. How, ex-
cept by supplying their spiritual wants, can we hope
either to reform their habits, or to raise them in the
scale of humanity ! How, except by erecting places of
worship witliin convenient distances of the scenes of
their daily toil, can we expect to instil religious princi-
ples into their minds, or teach them to reverence their
Maker ! Yes, churches must be built at whatever sa-
crifice, for their accommodation ; and where private be-
neficence fails to supply the requisite funds, these must
be sought directly from the hands of government.
Even if refused, as by the men now in office it pro-
bably would be, the application itself would be bene-
ficial. Indeed, as to its more immediate fate, we fear
little doubt can be at present entertained ; for we per.
ceive that Mr. E. J. Stanley,has threatened, on the part
of Government, to oppose a bill brought in by the
Trustees of the River Weaver Navigation, for the ap-
propriation of their surplus revenues to the erection of
churches on its banks ! Here was an easy and unin-
vidious way of increasing the efficiency of the church,
but our righteous ministers say no !