The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-05-09 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We have not a single eopy of the STANDARD c°'"'""
reort of the Education Meeting.
The p
letter of " A Ratepayer and. Sufferer" we will
hint the
the Watch Committee, who will no doubt inquire
circumstances.

EJ)t Ethrrpool otantiarli.

0,
TUESDAY MORNING, MAY 9, la3'

We were prepared to see the government me hick
announced by Sir Robert Peel, fall short of that re
we have been in the habit of advocating as a rfleastlrd-
f
r " Church Extension." We were prepared, aee°"et,
ing to the declaration of the right honourable bar° to
wade a few weeks ago, to find that the aid of the
scitedi,
would be confined strictly to the endowment °I ence,
tional ministers in popular districts, leaving the
rh,
viding of churches to the voluntary efforts of elinceof
men. It will be seen, however, from the espositiou.dai
the views of government by Sir Robert Peel on Fri of
evening, that the boon accorded, under the nape
C hurch Extension, does not reach even thus far'
the
stops short of the recognition, by Parliament, of to
principle that it is the imperative duty of the state it
provide for the spiritual education of the Penl),lB;tter
proposes to afford no precedent for future and 'l'
ays, and is no more in effect—so far, at all events,
ss
d rto
regards its principle—than an extension of the Ohe
limited
powers of the Ecclesiastical Commission. )still
An explanation of the plan of Sir Robert Ye
bOlO,
est illustrate this position. The Ecclesiastical
mission, it will be remembered,rwas establisheal‘,o).
power, out of the surplus revenues of the Church:ire,
the
suppression of canonries, prebendal stalls, si" the
or quasi sinecure rectories, &c.)—to provide for
oe
adequate payment of a certain ill-remunerated 13°600
of the parochial clergy. Against the propriety °I this
up to
bad
a work there can be few to except ; and
time it will be found that considerable progreestio
been made in the removal of the glaring inadeqiergy,
o. f the provision for the maintenance of the clergy'
in many districts of the country. The 131°4 Pre s
01
evil, however, complained of by the adv°cateoe
Church
Extension, was to be found in them ore
of the
bus manufacturing districts, where it wage I,tiog
mere act of increasing the remuneration of the E
poor
livingsclergy NoVhfl;h3owtoasir4eoqupierreda—nnnaomt
,the providing °,00(16
—but the
the erection of additionalwict hhuardcdheitsi ,°13:13:60-
endowment of additional livings, where thee. The
means of religious instruction were inadeCitia.t..ee‘tice to
E ccl esiastical Commissioners contemplated 77,,,i5t
the
working parochial clergy • the Church Extetiew"
contemplated justice to the people! the citiiB ;
For the latter object the accruing means aftp• ,They
of the Commissioners were inadequa (00
could effect nothing beyond a gradual aPfir°Ppy the
of their funds to the purposes contemPleteuliory
measure now proposed, however, the ina`7„ is col'
ttheir hands is rendered presently effective'
veemn
tpiel tteod tohe enableam ountlit
oetfnit6oofoo,roeosota; Iththeei ri;id';cialloenv
el;
from the Queen Anne's Bounty Fund, an-nv•cling
at the rate of £30,000 per annum, to the r" tl scher°
additional ministers in those populous dis,tr,icuisate• d
spiritual destitution most prevails. It is e'
t., (or the:
thel Premier that, with this aid from the eta— will vh
t er from the Church itself) private eff°l!
sufficiently powerful and active to pro
accommodation ; and that at all events stlft7s fuer:
e effected to serve as an encouragement °do by
t effort, at some future period, to be ina

Prof.
state. f the
We are quite willing to admit the value ° dijess "r
plavvorehasiepecd measure as far as it goes, and the souleicoraftill
some of its details; nay, we are readY te',.,. it. .1,0
hearty thanks to government in return I°'irg to '''io
cannot
grappled
ot buttwisi
thp,
pregnant.
eeagenndi tasnot in. nes us: fiet
rciipoerunosclyiidnfejoisir:
injury'
er thattaeliep_aiiirsyt,v, :tovi
ot:
1 limited extent, for the destitution of the clenabeoit in th
ated and wealthy manufacturing districta; itorlie.o
meantime what becomes of the progresaivS.og ill tO,
ment which the Commissioners were effel distrietr,
conditionl of the clergy in the neglected rtits.,.et &cf.;
which the state alone was capable
tapplies an insufficient remedy
of OPP an at Pr $
but in the meantime—so far at least as sve pan
leale°l,,,
sent understand of its proposed working, .0 cleel)46
Ciinheusrscohf wad induced hundred minor sores to fester and irritates IT
fitico ew,
seated wounds. In short, it dacrifices Oby-It:0'0i bet
to the working clergy—the sole plea
olio 0
mop
st
a te.
of
le glint
thelleillsest.ig.'f:iiiPtoPe
jie
revenues-to, what we fear we mutt call,
opinions
is with pain that, in the degree ;dotias
It °I --
some .. to
of this bill, we are compelled to differ from soroelr°td
we value. We cannot brin ha prolo ei
viewit with satisfaction the feeling which .ot Pe"; to
s author to resort to the already-inat°eleresertisritio
thethe
Church itself for aid, instead of at ones "e rie/Y?
funds at the disposal of the state, wh°..s 001 tof
to provide for the spiritual wants of the
sEoppeog
course in which he would have received the ' ftiteifll 0
ver- ea-
the majority of Parliament, and of an,°thet " a ojo
majority of the people. Sir Robert sae i.oreb, 8, rge
appropriated from the revenues of th C''' aa 0 0
an 'O,
encouragement to voluntary contributions
sum also derived from individual contrcliuoetig If ;De
prove of greater service than a sum relit 000 ° oritit
by the house, and reluctantly paid by a 13° isiea e •
•nfor ho
people." We believe S. Robert to olt, oi
Sir,,,, peor to
respect to the alleged " reluctance" of ''''. f COI° , tli.
„cc 0. LICP i
ever itmay be with
respect to the .1.10"" ~, oft.. ea,
itself. Noise and clamour, such as thatbeuelo attack to
educational measure of government has re veil this
is not the voice of the people ; and we leased Ilitn inCii
WJO are rot rroo
say that for every ten men 1
timid and hesitating half assertion of a goritilia toi
Great 001 ,
ple, there are a hundred throughout °twee
eilics
would have hailed with delight the en° oarl ollf
ratii .vers %
a measure, which promised more Pr°
~, 50001 010
ciously to probe to the root of an ern. itoel tea
admitted as is that of the want of ePir (1001/
cv a t°
for the manufacturing masses. tilt eet
... to - e 0
We would not for a moment see.— with 1-4,-;
upon the expectations of government, „lea bY s trot'
be el' We -0$
the extent to which their plan will
eople: otiti of
tary contributions on the part of the P
too ; b
..,e0 f
that it will be so aided, and liberallY,,A iiio liCr,e,r6
build , lei ; r
e%e t
little ungracious in the Premier t
the Pas' cli -o'
the future upon the exertions of for 0 ber 1
id out 00 ilO
when a return so insufficient is be. . 0 the 0 0, 1 ,I
tions. According to his own atatietlet ears fr°o eir
new churches consecrated in the eigh Y. jo tli
cold the
,inaber •d el tile
to 1808 was 20 only ; the n-- eI- 0
Her el 0 .iii
5251 and " ,nifib` '0
years from 1835 to 1842 was
r pnergY a A - , ivl
it '
is true, of a vast amount of • dee— el
~,„e in , ~.th hie%
part of churchmen. They are
leP" filet; dealt
moved in the great work ; but we '''
stats sole
0,
be inclined now to require frorn the
ditni
~,tioa #
n the 'riseo" jig
more than this flattering pat 0 e 4:1 /
ik of thes, the ' beet,
them by the minister. The bu
place fined to eP atlite
be it remembered, have taken
..0„ ere, l' ed,
tricts which his present measure is P' r tiler foof 0
urnbe- re .40
be how
and how vastly insufficient in n . .., tO iff
we look at the amount of destitutio" e by
tbu"
1
we need not say ; but have not

neee are prepared to acknowledge the vast import-
Great Britain, of her commercial and manu-
-cturinir interests. We admit the inevitable neces-
tttY under which, as a nation, we are thrown, to main-
t!ill those interests in a healthy condition ; and to see
that, as
far as is practicable with the prosperity ofd '
°tlt" important interests, no impediment be suffere
u re'llaill in the way of the full development of their
strengthh,t But when we are asked to prostrate other
asrall'es at the feet of the manufacturing interest—
dween;re asked by corn-law repeaters ; to risk the sole
theP -ence of the nation upon a power which, they
48
tat:iitkY admit, cannot exist, without being pam-
Plered n .t" the ruin of class after class embarked in
t 4 hberiur6nits ; we are bound to take care that this
tain,e,-al,"red interest is internally sound, and con-
Physical" within
itself no elements hostile to the moral and
zst weil_fare, or to the peace of the community,
alnuri-nr: Wnich it claims to be established in absolute.
fluted --acY* If prosperous manufactures, or an unli-
n r,,, Colllitlerce, are good at all, they are good as the
If K'
of national happiness and national power.
- wealth round be a national good, it is so only when fenced
::sjtbY the love of the masses amongst whom it
is' and used for the amelioration of the character
cial, M
'''" condition of those masses. But wealth, commer-
ea4se anufacturing, or agricultural, is valueless, be-
unstable as water, if surrounded by an insurgent,
a demoralised, or a starving people ; and the histru-
irnentality by which such wealth is produced is value-
s4' if co-existent with the growth of crime and the
hdueteriration, moral, intellectual, and physical, of the
man race.
interest Some important branches of the manufacturing
u
t
of Great Britain are thus valueless andun-
t4htlad will scarcely be denied, after the experience of
1:111e Past year, and the exposures of vice and human
;erinff, attendant upon their existence, which recent
p- arh.i;atrieiltary documents have brought before the
iu -lee Ye. We pointed, in an article upon the sub-
tebeti.ast week, to a few of the circumstances, affectingf
curese Juvenile classes, attendant upon the lace manu •
and
of this country. We shewed the rapid an
I 1 awful deterioration taking place amongst those classes;
'l
~lud we propose now to disclose a few further facts,
Istrative of the absolutely murderous character of
the
YBterni Port which that particular manufacture is
carried on
conclusions. and from these to point to a few obvious
lace Carr -
Ying the case of the population employed in th e
. Manufacture from childhood (when engaged in.l
_ drawing," " threading," or "winding") up to their
iniaature v,„
1-ars' we come to that of the embroidery o
an ede' which is carried on principally by young women,
Pito some extent, by married women. In this em-
s the
l°Y_lneet
hours of labour are very long ; the labour.
lki elf extensively productive of diseases of various
As4lB ; and the remuneration wretched in the extreme.
is
a c°nsequence, one witness informed the Children's
Plo menu Committee that the young women ern-
Ted' -"hie from their wages to procure the neces-
saries of life,
' almost all became prostitutes, though
refers "flitti°l.l streetwalkers." And another witness
:here to
hade ark made to her by a large capitalist to
wh(*)in 811-
been lamenting the cruel privations to
e cm
havery clever and not ill-looking girl, whom he
:her a 8 " lace runner," was obliged, owing to
net inadequatea remuneration, to submit. "I am very.
that
for her." observed this worthy, "but the fact is,
rnusat,,a lace runner cannot live by lace running, and she
her' 90 on the town (I) as others have gone before
(-.), ,),,
Now
thin ' pause for an instant and look at the state of
be $s here exhibited. The lace trade is admitted to
it
oarnnogst the leading branches of our manufactures;
illvecuPies a large amount of the manual labour of our
in :rl,ile Population; and here we have it proved that,
most
uePartment of it requiring consummate skill arid
ein ti trein_
n ' K to the bodily frame, the young females
oot',°,Yed cannot live" by their labour, but must eke
?
we iloeir R,..
--.eity earnings by the wages of prostitution .
ficie 4ve heard of a state of things, in which the insuf-
nil tit remuneration of agricultural labour was made
hut °llt of the Poor-rates, and that was bad enough ;
Ivar,,arlYtbing more revolting than this eking out of
b.- 6:3 by the sacrifice of female chastity is scarcely to
c onceived !
ioBthtlit the condition of the married female employcd?
Its 8 dePartinent of the lace manufacture—what is rt.
females
calare informed by the report before us that such
404:81, who are mothers become not only incapable,
littend."dilY weakness and constant occupation, of
to th ing to their domestic affairs, but are even driven
childe CD t 0
of systematic murder of their infant
tio,,lren• One witness examined, a chemist in Not-
odfill, asserts—that the practice of administering
the reY's Cordial and Laudanum is commenced by
tbeirMother,
in three or four weeks after the birth of
live, fehildreo, and is continued, if the children should
the, or two years. " The majority, however, die before
form' attain that age (!) The laudanum is given to still
•whilst the mothers are working." The coroner
jo Qttioghana states—but we will give his evidence
e&tenso.
qUeillitaeolls! held," he said, "a considerable number of in-
-4514,4 11 infants, who have died suddenly from the adminis-
treat ~,,,of °Diura in some form or other. Believes that in the
ordet,-:ai°ritV of these cases the laudanum has been given in
teenorder
%ILI° keep the infants quiet. The excuse has frequently
h,t,tt the Mother was obliged to adopt this plan because.
Work.' 110 time to attend to the child, being engaged in
ether
thanos strong reason to believe that many infants,
iNi4, those on whom the inquests are held, perish more
of°l4ll/ from the administration of laudanum. Has
openhree4l4rked, on going to a house to hold an inquest on
chi infant who bad died from laudanum, that other young
etprer:4. of the same parent had a peculiar vacant and listless
481(1°, and a wan countenance and emaciation of body,
elthee,,e°llinced vvitness, from his experience of the effects
vietiomlrd to
been cl,,to'._ :r the
that these children also had been ac-
use of laudanum ; and on inquiry this con-
., it
hilas been confirmed by the parents.
kade e 44
Ceale to his knowledge, in consequence of inquiries
otlf,..lPtesalY to ascertain the fact, that a large quantity of
has 4 l'B cordial is prepared in this town. One druggist
thief:lir" him that he has made up himself; in one year,
c 01,,,,,;: 4undrediceight of treacle into cordial, which is
is 4itnoe'l of treacle and dissolved opium. Godfrey's cordial
144eti:t entirely consumed by infants. Knows that the
kore efri f administering Pure laudanum to infants, as being
that th. cacioUs than the cordial, is very prevalent. Knows
°f bint;el/rdial and laudanum are given to infants on the day
" ' d that it • •readiness for that
ent. k even la prepared in
place fro„,",wB of an inquest lately in which death took
LI 183G*" the cause on the second or third day.
aphre held an inquest on an infant four months old,
iver,
,tIY a fine health child, to whom the mother had
dt1(1,,,; la the forenoon Y dose f cordial t our was pm'
assihti:tialld ultimately, 'afatersixo hoursha;d3eluaPpsed, medical
teritty e.e was procured but not by the mother, who aPFa-
aev
eciwished the hild to perish.B treatment, per-
k (Z. in frorn G . untilafter l'Y' aptronpierht, the child was
tiive •.re:t°.red as torn°Pen his eyes and- to cgry. The surgeon
kotio'inl, ctions that the child should be kept aroused and in
colic eff:tentd have cold water dashed on the face till the nar-f
4a 40.. 8 had subsided. Instead of this, in a quarter o
~,te'ittlle:pr aerotedr
leer
est die surgeon left, the infant was allowed to sink
1 he medical attendant, Mr. Wilson,
intoeld.
sr thereat. Y attention to the directions given to the ,
15Piiiio child would have recovered. It was Cr itne"
5
kL. 1 q th.t. ,
~,Tlit iter :-`thtlelev_e_asse against the mother amounted to man-
-00411.1e dose
of cti_rcet
,was, '.Died in. consequence of having
or 8 cordial administered by mother!.
jetiliiihjd_rerrilraidadsic_TainYed that beside this
killed by an
Rot"Y fro, _ 'u suddenly, of whom one was
cases is
one, four other
knwl;.,7 Cart 'the causes of death in the other
Now,
• Pres
tuning that some two or three millions an-

Ltiatiy are added to the atock of our vial:it-Alai wealth by
this manufacture of lace--two or three millions distri-
buted in a very few hands, whilst the workers are
pressed down so close to the brink of famine that they
thus become the absolute murderers of their own off-
spring—can we as a Christian people value wealth so
acquired ?—is such a system, we ask, productive of
such results, one into a dependence upon which we
would deliberately plunge an additional portion of our
industrial community ? The answer of every right-
minded man will be an indignant "No !" As the lace
manufacture is at present carried on, such a consum-
mation, it is manifest, cannot for an instant be contem-
plated. This, at least, is not one of those manufac-
turing employments which are capable of absorbing the
surplus labour of the agricultural districts, unless it
can be thought a desirable object to submit the infant
portion of that surplus to a process of speedy and tor-
turing extinction. Rather give us absolute serfdom in
the pure air and the healthful employments of agricul-
ture—rather the worst paid drudgery of the farm or the
highways—rather let our population be sent to dig
holes and fill them up again—than plunge them into
the hovels or the streets of Nottingham and Leicester,
reeking as they are with vice, and stained as their em-
ployments are with the blood of murdered infants.

We are told, indeed, than an ultra free-trade policy
will give prosperity to this and other similar trades ;
that it will give cheap bread and full employment to the
workers. Phis may or may not be. But granting the
former, for the sake of argument, what is the prospect
offered ? More food it is true for all—for a time—
until the increased amount of labour attracted to the
market brings down the wretched pittance paid as
wages (and upon which those employed cannot live
without the extraneous aid of prostitution) to its present
relative proportion to the price of the necessaries of
life ! An increased demand for labour; but what la-
bour ? I `PANT LABOUR ? More " drawers" to
wear away their infant health and strength in dreary
toil from sunrise to midnight—more " threaders,"
more "winders," to fill the streets of our manufac-
turing towns with juvenile profligacy—more " lace
runners," who cannot subsist upon their unaided earn-
ings—more mothers stained with the revolting crime
of infanticide! This is the state of things which we
are urged to extend in this Christian land, and which
we do extend at every step which we take in the direc-
tion of free trade, without the path being first cleared
of the impurities which deform and defile it.
We are progressing towards the extension of these
plague spots upon the frame of society. We are pro-
gressing in the extension of our ill-regulated manufac-
turing system ; and it is but too apparent, now, that
we must continue in such progress. But this, we con-
tend, is the imperative duty of a paternal government
before voluntarily taking a step further. A powerful
and caustic curative must he applied to the system it-
self. Infant labour throughout every branch of our
manufactures must be emancipated ; and we see, there-
fore, with pleasure that it is the intention of Sir James
Graham to extend the provisions of his factory bill to
the children employed in the lace manufacture. The
state must do its duty, not only r s an educating power,
but as a parent to its people. And should it even be
as the result of such a policy—over which "liberalism"
(the mammonism of the present age) would doubtless
grieve—that such branches of our manufactures as that
of lace would thereby receive " a heavy blow and great
discouragement"—should no longer be able to exist in
the race of competition with which it would be met by
the foreign manufacturer ;—we ran contemplate with
far more equanimity the entire loss of such a manufac-
ture, and the transfer of the capital and labour em-
barked in it to some other branch, by the wages and
profits of which adults can exist and females be per-
mitted to retain their innocence and purity, than the
further extension, or even the existence, in its present
shape, of a system so unnatural and revolting.

Our good Mercury—more power to him I—has dis-
covered a mare's nest ; nay, a real and astounding case
of grievance ! It appears that, at this particular mo-
ment, there exists in Liverpool a more than ordinary
demand for warehouse accommodation. So, at least,
says our contemporary ; and, for anything that we
know, he may be as well informed upon this as he is
upon all other subjects. Our merchants are actually
puzzled as to the whereabouts to bestow their accumu-
lated commodities; and, if we may credit the moving
pieture presented to us, are in about as pitiable a plight
as a community of laying hens afflicted with a scarcity
of nests. In this emergency, and, as a last resource,
their attention has been directed to those pretty and
most convenient buildingt, which ornament the west
side of Prince's Dock, and, if we remember right, were
intended for " transit sheds ;" but, on application for
the use of these commodious premises, it has been dis-
covered that the Dock Committee are empowered to
charge, for the most limited period of occupancy, a
month's rent, and now comes the mare's nest and the
appalling grievance !
There exists in this town, notwithstanding the pre-
sent deficiency, a considerable amount of warehouse
property; and this, like most other property, has ow-
ners, and is represented in our council. Ergo, it must
be these warehouse owners who have originated the
oppressive clause in the act of parliament, which pro-
vides that the transit sheds shall not be made use of,
as a merely temporary expedient upon terms which
cannot by any possibility he profitable to the public
estate. Such is at least is the conclusion of the 21/er_
con,. The warehouse owners (Mr. Birkett being one)
are labouring under the weight of Whig-Radical displea-
sure ; and upon their heads, of course, must be visited all
the opprobium, just or unjust, which Whig-Radical
journalism and mercurial wisdom can foster upon
them !

Of course, we cannot presume to have an opinion in
opposition to such an authority. There are one or two
queries, however, which we should much like to have
answered. We are told that this obnoxious clause was
foisted into the bill by the influence of the warehouse
interest. By what sort of conjuration, we ask, was
this effected ? We always imagined that local bills
were pretty smartly watched ; and we have never heard
that warehouse owners bad any peculiar facilities for
mystifying either a Committee cf the House of Corn-
mons, or that very keen-sighted nobleman, Lord
Shaftesbury. The most important query, however,
which strikes us is, whether the alleged grievance dis-
covered is a grievance at all ! We are told that it is
hard that merchants are to be charged a month's rent
for a day's occupation. Why, what a forced issue is
this ? What merchant warehouses goods for a day,
or what owner of property would he at the trouble of
opening his warehouse doors for a day's rent ? Under
ordinary circumstances a month may be too long a
time to charge for; but let it be borne in mind that these
sheds were built for a particular purpose,—were in-
tended to be in some respects penal in their operation,
and, however, those parties, for whose use they were
contemplated in their original destination as "transit
sheds," may have cause to complain, most assuredly
men have little such cause who voluntarily seek their
accommodation.

In the meantime, however, we must congratulate
our contemporary upon his cleverness. Few men
could make so much out of such small materials.
The sack and sugar so out of all proportion to the
" halfpen'orth of cheese" in Falstaff's tavern bill, or
the " Flourish of trumpets and enter Tom Thumb,"
is nothing compared with our contemporary's achieve-
ment, and the cockcrowing with which he is announced
to the world.