The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-09-24 00:00:00

Ebt Ztberpool

TUESDAY MORNING, SEPT. 24, 1844

The statistical account, which we furnished a few
weeks ago, of the quantity of steam-power, employed
at present in the merchant and post office service of
this country, which might, in case of hostilities with
any foreign power, be converted into vessels of war,
has called, as it was well calculated to do, the se-
rious attention of government and the public to so
important a feature of our national resources. En-
quiries have been instituted, by authority, in this
and, we believe, in other ports, which have fully
substantiated the data we had given ; and viewing,
together with the existing large amount of our
steam marine, the rapidity with which the art, the
industry, and the wealth of this nation could multi-
ply it, if required, the impresssion has struck home
to every British heart nay, has gone abroad
throughout Europe—that, tranquilly as England
has reclined upon her strength for years past, amid
the undisguised mutterings of hostility from en-
vious and ambitious rivals, it has been from no fear
of her ability to bear the issue of a contest with one,
or all. The conviction has gone abroad, that,
against hostility from abroad, this country is im-
pregnable; that upon her own native element she is
able at any moment to encounter and defeat the
world in arms; and we may venture to hope, with
confidence, that, so long as she occupies her present
proud position, there will be few nations willing to
jeopardise the peace of Europe by tempting her just
indignation—few so hardy as to stir the sleeping
Lion.

A proud refkczion this to the lover of his country,
and scarcely a less welcome one to the lover of hu-
manity. But the thought will present itself—nay,
it ought to present itself, and demand the most so-
lemn consideration—in what direction are the vast
resources of this favoured land to be wielded ? How
is England to acquit herself, in the eyes of her
Almighty Creator, of the vast responsibilities, min-
gled with the blessings, which he has been pleased
to lay upon her shoulders ? Glance for a moment
at her position, to enable us to weigh the amount of
these responsibilities. From a barbaric nation,
placed on the furthest confines of civilisation—the
Ultima Thule of ancient Europe—this little island
has advanced to the rank of the first power in the world,
in wealth, in civilisation, in liberty, in commerce, and
in arms. We have built up the mightiest and the richest
colonial empire the world ever saw. Our fleets are in
every sea : our name is respected, or feared, on every
shore. Nor are we even permitted, however willing
we might be, to remain stationary in our present
greatness—to say to the throbbing materials of that
greatness, "here is a limit beyond which ye may
not press." The very necessities of our position
compel us to go forward. Within the last three
years we have brought within the sphere of our in-
fluence and command, rich territories, for one tithe
of the extent and wealth of which the whole civilized
world would have been, in other days, at arms; and
the preservation of our conquests, menaced, as they
must inevitably be, by the jealousies of those Semi-
Barbaric powers, upon whose dark sway the light
of civilization will stream through and thus render
further conquests imperative, and almost unavoid-
able. Mighty then, as England is now, she must
be mightier, or she must fall ; and that fall must
shake the world. Her responsibilities therefore are
manifold and almost inconceivable in vastness. By
a wise use of her powers, what benefits may she
not ;shower upon mankind; by a misuse of them,
which will bring down her own ruin, what desola-
tion she must spread abroad amongst nations—
what a fatal blow will be struck against the progress
of civilization and, more important still, of christi-
anity
The satisfactory working out of a destiny so im-
portant; the wielding aright of powers so vast, held
in sacred trust for the welfare of mankind,—for who
shall dare to say that a nation, so wondrously lifted
up, is not an especial agent in the hands of an over-
ruling God ?—is surely a charge such as no states-
man—no minister of Great Britain, or of any other
land, had ever committed to his care; and which
should he directed by considerations far removed
from the mere party motives upon which the policy
of governments is ordinarily based. On the one
hand, the external resources of such a nation should
be wielded for the advancement of the permanent
interests, temporal and eternal, of the whole human
race. Whilst a selfish aggrandizement of our own
people should be shunned, we must guard against
yielding to the over-timidity, which would tempt us
to arrest that progress of our arms and our com-
merce, which seems designed, as an instrument
in a hand mightier than ours, to be the means of
carrying the blessings of civilization and christianity
into lands now sunk in ignorance and superstition.
On the other hand, and above all, as the source of
all of which we are happily enabled to boast, the in •
ternal security of such a nation should be guarded
with a jealous, an anxious, an unrem,tting care.
External power, we must bear in mind, is incompa-
tible with internal weakness. No great nation ever
yet fell, whose vitality had not previously been sap-
ped from within. The page of history is replete
with warnings of this important fact, that, to be .ex-
ternally strong, an empire must contain a happy, a
contented, and a virtuous people, proof alike against
the seductions of the traitor, the inflammatory ap-
peals of the demagogue, and the evil promptings of
their own human nature, or necessities. Hence, a
really wise government would sedulously devote it-
self to the removal of every cause, immediate or re-
mote, which tends to alienate the affections of the
masses from the governing power, to set their feel-
ings in antagonism to the security of property, or to
produce, in any degree, or by any agency, a feeling
of dissatisfaction with the institutions of their
country.
We beg earnestly to impress this latter view of the
subject upon the Government of Sir Robert Peel.
Granted that much has been done by the wealthy of

our land for their poorer fellow-countrymen—much
to improve their social:position, & to bind their sym-
pathies to the possessors of property—much to pro-
mote their comfort, to encourage virtuous habits,
to give independence of thought and feeling,—to
the Government nevertheless it is left to take the
lead in these good works, and by a wise and benefi-
cent policy to set an example of which, depend upon
it, once let this nation witness the results; and it will
not be slow to follow.
We must pause here. The subject, which we
have only glanced at imperfectly, is worthy of far
more space and careful consideration than we are
able to bestow upon it in the limited space of a news-
paper article. It calls, too, for better handling than
it can possibly receive from an advocate so unworthy
as ourselves.

We have little time, and less inclination, to pro-
long a controversy with a Conservative contempo-
rary, who appears resolved to shut his eyes to a
correct idea of the position in which he stands.
There are a few portions, however, of the attack
upcm ourselves, of which the Courier thought proper
to. deliver himself on Wednesday last, instead of
givi▪
ng an intelligible explanation of his conduct,
whi▪
ch we must briefly notice.

We had remarked, in the article which has called
forth this reply, upon the want of modesty displayed
by our contemporary in setting his opinion—the
opinion of a person unlearned in the law—against
those of three eminent counsel, where the question
.at issue was the interpretation to be put upon a
clause or clauses in an act of parliament. To this
he offers the following str .nge rejoinder :
"We may just ask where was our contemporary's
' modesty,' in setting his op!nion, and maintaining it, we
suppose, as stoutly as he,was able, against the decision of
Lords Denman, Cottenham, and Campbell ? Surely
these noblemen are as much entitled to the designation of
three eminent lawyers' as Messrs. Kelly, Cowling, and
Cardwell! Yet the Standard seems never to have sus-
pected them of infalhbilitY, nor to have dreamed that he
was committing a breach of modesty in commenting, as
lie did in no measured terms, upon their judgment in the
case of Mr. O'Connell."

In the first place, we must take leave to inform
our contemporary that we never set our opinion
against the decision of Lords Denman, Cottenham,
and Campbell, upon the legal portions of the ques-
tion at issue before them; and that, therefore, the
ohiections which we took to that decision were per-
fectly compatible with modesty. And if even we
had impugned the legal correctness of that decision,
—and we do now doubt its correctness, although
our contemporary seems well disposed to defend it,
—we had quite sufficient authority on our side to
warrant us against a charge of presumption. It
would not have been (as in this case of Rushton v.
Kelly and others) our own opinion against those of
Lords Denman, Cottenham, and Campbell; but
the almost unanimous opinions of the English and
Irish Judges—men of all shades of politics, and
large experience in criminal law—with a Lord
Chancellor and an ex- 1 ord Chancellor, both also of
similarly extensive experience, against the opinions
of a Whig Judge and two Whig ex-Chancellors, one
of whom never drew an indictment in all his expe-
rience ! There could be little presumption on our
part in impugning the legality of the decision of
the minority here, with such an overwhelming
1 weight of authority on our side.
The Courier is unfortunate in this attempt to
vindicate his modesty at our expense; but he is
still more so in his endeavour to defend his consis-
tency, in proscribing, or rather upholding Mr.
Rushton's proscription of, the Orange body :

" We have never," he says " disapproved of the prin-
ciples of Orangeism, nor of Orange Societies, nor do we
now disapprove of them. We yield to none in admira-
tion of their general loyalty, peaceableness, and efficiency
in the discharge of all the duties of wood citizens. But
what we say is. that a police force ought as far as possible
to be an impartial body, and that for this purpose it is
desirable that its members should be kept separate from
political associations of every description."

Strange conclusion ! Our contemporary admires
the " general loyalty " of Orangemen ; their
" peaceableness and efficiency in the discharge of
all the duties of good citizens ; but "—oh that awk-
ward word " but " ' how many a fine sentiment it
has marred !—" but" these " loyal," " peaceable,"
" efficient men in the discharge of all the duties of
good citizens," are unfit to discharge the duties of
a common policeman ! Their being members of
the Orange Order has not, in the Courier's estima-
tion, diminished their good qualities; has not un-
fitted them for the discharge of "all the duties of
good citizens" ; yet a fanciful theory is
.laid down,
by which the possession of the very qualities re-
quired for the office of a guardian of the public
peace is to constitute a disqualification in its pos-
sessor ! How can any man reconcile with common
sense such logic as this ?

The Courier " yields to none in admiration of
Orangeism and Orange Societie3" • and yet it is
singular with what scrupulous care he classes them,
throughout his recent lucubrations, with Ribbonism.
The whole world knows with what motive the same
classification has been adopted by the originators of
this crusade against poor and loyal men. It was to
give a seeming impartiality to their proceedings—a
fictitious justice. The Mercury and her radical
friends would thrust out from the enjoyment of one
of the privileges of Englishmen the members of a
body known to be politically opposed to the party
of which they are themselves adherents ; and to
give a show of fairness to this proceeding—to
tempt unthinking people to hold up their hands and
exclaim, with Shylock, " Most righteous judgment !
a second Daniel ! "—they include in their ban the
members of an illegal and atrocious conspiracy,
whom they know at the time that the hands of the
magistrates cannot reach, because no man dare
tempt the law by confessing himself a Ribbontnan.
That the Courier can he duped by so shallow an
artifice, we do not think ; and we cannot, therefore,
place any great reliance in his professions of respect
for Orangemen, when, with a knowledge of their
principles, their " loyalty, peaceableness, and effi-
ciency in the discharge of all the duties of good
citizens," he persists in thus holding them up to
the public eye in insulting and degrading associa-
tion with a band of felons and assassins. Our
contemporary can scarcely justify conduct like this.

The difficulty of procuring well qualified men for
the purposes of watching and guarding life and pro-
perty, combining at the same time the requisite
education and, what is also essential, sufficient bo-
dily_energies, has long been felt in this and in other
towns. At the. present moment; we believe, owing
to the increased prosperity of tbe country and the
demand for adult labour, few men, compared with
the number in former years, offer themselves to our
Watch Committee, possessed in a proper degree of
these two qualifications. Hence it has become an
object of important inquiry, by what means can the
authorities proceed in order to make the most of the
materials at their disposal ? By what means can
they proceed to give increased development to the
mental and physical powers of the members of our
police force?
With respect to the mode of developing the for-
mer, little difference of opinion can exist. Where
the elements of education are deficient, adult c.asses
might readily be formed under proper superintend-
ence. We apprehend, however, that the necessity
for such a course will not in a great degree be found
to exist, as the Watch Committee will ecarcely ap-
point men lilt possessing an adequate knowledge of
the ordinary branches of education. In one point,
however, we are satisfied that, not only our own, but
every police force, is susceptible of much mental
enlightenment. It would save much of the time of
the magistrates, and prevent many heartburnings,
if members of those forces were properly informed
of the extent of their powers, and the duties to
which they ought legally to confine them. For this
purpose the institution of a weekly lecture, in which
something beyond the mere regulations of the Watch
Committee and the Head Constable might he con-
veyed to these men—something of the main out-
lines of the law, as applicable to their office—would be
highly beneficial to themselves, and tend to increase
their efficiency and, at the same time, teach them to
confine their zeal, or their valour, within legitimate
bounds.

- - With respect to the kind of bodily training to be
applied, some differences of opinion may exist; but
of one thing, we are confident, that a proper and
effective kind has not yet been applied. The bodily
requirements of a policeman are strength and ac-
tivity; power of endurance, and capacity of calling
the physical energies into operation in emergency.
The latter qualification the monotonous every day
employments of the members of the force are not,
of themselves, calculated to create, or to improve,
if pre-existent ; and we will venture to say that the
kind of drilling, at present extensively adopted by
our Head Constable, will never produce it suffi-
ciently. What material benefit is it to the public
that the shambling ungainly men, who compose a
portion of our police, (mingled, however, with many
of a very different stamp) can " right about face,"
and even march with something like the military
precision of the awkward squad of a militia regi-
ment ? They have never to march in single or
double file to catch a thief; and, although, some
knowledge of military manoeuvring may be occa-
sionally serviceable—in cases of riot or popular dis-
turbances—such military training should not be
exclusively resorted to. A course of exercising is
required which will invigorate the entire muscular
system, which will induce combined strength and
activity. Military exercising will never do this to
the extent required.
We would suggest to the authorities the resort to
a course of training and exercise for the members
of the police force, at stated hours, similar to that
adopted in the gymnasium by Mons. Huguenin
and others, and which is beginning to be consider-
ed, as it ought to be, an important part of duca-
tion, even for the upper classes of society. A pro-
perly constructed gymnasium,th of which that of M.
Huguenin would furnish
use would
delidcould
certainly tend
easily be
health, it
provided ; and, whilst its
much to the improvement of thveioru
as surely, by increasing their physical powers,' would
as ld ,
the whole force more capable of discharging efF,..

ciently their duties to the public. It must be borne
in mind that the class, from which members of the
force are principally taken is one in whom that
amount of energy, of which the human frame is ca-
pable, is rarely found developed. Thk effect of in-
sufficient or improper food, in youth, frequently
saps in them the vigour which ought to exist in
manhood ; and if strength is gained, at all, it is
rarely combined with activity. The nature of the
employments, to which the Ittve been accustomed,
will often be found to have developed one portion of
the muscles at the expense of others; and men, vi-
gorous enough for the station and life to which they
were born, are thus unfitted for a pursuit which,
above most others, requires perfectly matured
powers. Nothing, experience has shewn, can with
greater certainty and facility correct these evils than
such a course of training and exercise as that to.
which we have pointed.
For one portion of the force, especially, this train-
ing is most urgently required. We refer to the
fire police, from whose members
great physical
energy and great activity is called for, not only to
make them efficient, but to secure them from acci-
dents and the loss of life so frequent in their dan-
gerous calling. How many of those fearful calami-
ties, which this town has. witnessed in cases of fire,
might have been averted, had the poor victims been
possessed of greater readiness of bodily action, to
enable them to rescue themselves from the sudden
emergency of peril which overtook them, we will
not attempt to say. We are confident, however,
and reflection will convince any of our readers, who
have witnessed the peculiar nature of the employ-
ments of the fire police, that a previous training,
calculated to call into action the bodily powers and
activity required in those employments, would have
greatly diminished the number of accidents which
have resulted. For the sake of these men, alone,
—a most deserving body, who have shewn how little
they regard life in the anxiety to do their duty—
the experiment ought to be tried ; and we beg re-
spectfully to impress its necessity upon the authori-
ties of the town.

We beg to call the attention of the Conservative
burgesses of Liverpool to the necessity of prompt
exertions, and especially of attention to the approach-
ing municipal registration, in order to snatch from
the Whig-Radical party a chance, upon which they
are just now felicitating themselves, of ejecting from
the municipal body some of the best and most
staunch Conservatives ever enrolled amongst its
members, or presented for the approbation of the
various constituencies. A list of these will surely
be sufficient to stir up the energies of their friends,
and of every friend of good local government.
The retiring members are :
ALDERMEN.
T. B. Barclay, R.
Thos. Bulley, R.
Jas. Lawrence, C.
Sir Thos. Brancker, C.
W. P. Freme, R.
Thos, Holt, R.
Jas. Moon, R.
Eyre Evans, R.

COUNCILLORS.
Thos. Shaw, C.
Isaac Holmes, C.
Wm. Preston, R.
J. Edwards, C.
Henry Homes, Whig.
John Holmes, Whig.
R. S. Henderson, C.
Jas. Aspinall, C.
G. G. Hornby, C.
Henry Lawrence, C.
Robertson Gladstone, C.
J. B. Lloyd, C.
Jas. Parker, C.
J. S. Leigh, C.
S. L. Trotman, C.
A. Smith, Jun., C.

The Conservative portion of this list contains
men who deserve hard fighting for; and we are
satisfied their claims upon us will not be lost sight
of. To the canvassers in all the wards we say,
therefore, be up and active.

The question at issue between the Magistrates
and the Watch Committee, with respect to their
respective powers, has, since our last, assumed a
somewhat altered position; yet, one not at all less
favourable to our own views than that which we
remarked upon in our last. A case has been laid,
under the direction of the magistrates themselves,
before Mr. Crompton, Assessor of this Borough,—
has been stated therefore, we have every reason to
conclude, to the perfect satisfaction of Mr. Rushton;
and although we might reasonably cavil at the selec-
tion of a lawyer, connected by his office with the
bench, to pronounce an opinion upon a question
where the pr:vileges of the bench "are concerned.
We are sufficiently satisfied, however, with the high
character and standing of Mr. Crompton, to receive
hislopinion as one honestly pronounced upon the facts
as laid before him. Another case has been sub-
mitted to Mr. Earle, Queen's Counsel, a gentleman
who, upon a recent occasion was selected to supply
the place of the Attorney-General in an important
criminal prosecution, and is totally unconnected
with any party within the Borough.
Mr. Crompton gives his opinion in favor of the
position, as to the law, taken by Mr. Rushton; but
expresses great hesitation, founded as he states upon
the high reputation of the learned gentlemen who
have differed from him ; and we may remind our
readers that this hesitating opinion is one given
upon a case prepared by the Magistrates themselves.
Mr. Earle on the other hand, is clear, in favour of
the view taken by Messrs. Kelly, Cowling, and
Cardwell. The authorities, therefore, stand as fol-
lows, for and against :—we adopt our previous mode
of stating it—
The opinions of
Mr. Edwd. Rushton,
Mr. Crompton,
(hesitating).

v. those of
Mr. Kelly, Q.C.
Mr. Earle, Q.C.
Mr. Cowling,
Mr. Cardwell.

Whilst expressing our 'gratification at this ad-
ditional confirmation of our opinions, we take the
opportunity of congratulating the authorities of the
Orange order, Mr. Harbord and his noble and
illustrious colleague, upon the evidence which these
opinions show of the perfect legality of the body
which they ornament; and, at the same time, of
thanking them, in the name of the poor men who
have been selected as the objects of unmerited
punishment, upon the manly and Christian stand
which has been made in their behalf.

THE FUNDS. SATURDAY NlGHT.—Consols were firm
at a slight advance, notwithstanding that business was li-
mited. The last quotation for money stood at 904 to ;
and for the account 994 to 100. Bank Stock closed 2u3
to 208 ; Exchequer Bills 74s to 76s premium ; India
Stock, 284 to 283 ; and India Bonds, 93s to 95s premium.
In the foreign house there was not rnuc:r activity. Mexi-
can further improved a shade on the appearance of the
advertisement announcing the payment of the April divi-
dend on the Ist of next month. Although no remittances
have come to hand, the agents, it is understood, make up
the necessary amount on the authority of their letters
from New Orleans. The Actives left off this afternoon •
37 to s ; and the Deferred 154 to 16. The other stocks
showed little alteration. Spanish Five per Cents. closed
234 to s ; the Three per Cents. 344 to I; Portuguese 46
to 47 ; Peruvian 244 to 254 ; Dutch Two-and-a-Half per
Cents. 621. to 3 ; the Five per Cents. Mg. to -1 ; Colom-
bian 141 to 4 ; Buenos Ayres :).6 to 37 ; Brazilian 88 to
89 ; and Belgian 103 to 104.
FEDERALISM AND THE NATION NEWSPAPER.—The
Nation of Saturday devotes a long article to the subject
of federalism. " A French war " it says " might bring
on a war with Ireland, in which Ireland would be crushed.
Let us pause to deny the fact. We tell the Times, that it
we wished to try that issue, we could in six months of
legal exertions secure the means of Ireland's liberty
against double the army that could be paraded by Eng-
land." The Nation then proceeds at great length, to
argue that three separate Cabinets could work harmoni-
ously together, even though their politics and parties
might differ, but admits the possibility of a rupture be-
tween the Congress and one of the local parliaments—
" the Irish f.)r example ; " and then, very coolly adds
the Nation, " of course, separation would ensue, and the
two countries might become kindly and useful allies."
This candid admission of the ultimate designs of the Re-
pealers is entitled to the praise of every honest politician.
" Forewarned is forearmed."
" We confess," says the Nation, in conclusion,
"There are difficulties, and many of our wisest men
think that a separation and hearty alliance should be the
policy of the two islands. A vast majority seek such a
connexion as exists between Norway and Sweden—with
two Parliaments, two armies, two Cabinets, and one King
—in fact, an easy and guaranteed alliance. Others, like
Mr. Porter and 'Mr. Crawford, believe that federalism is
the interest of both parties, and would, therefore, be the
best to adopt, and the surest to continue. Mr. O'Con-
nell is prepared to welcome it. We, too, will hail the
concession of Irish supremacy in Ireland, and will give
this plan a fair trial. If, after a fair trial, it be found not
our interest —if Ireland's frame grow too large, and her
spirit too wise, and haughty, and self-relying, to submit
its foreign policy to a mixed congress, and share its
strength with another nation, then, we trust, the federal-
ists will go with us and vindicate for Ireland the right to
her own navy, her treaties, and ambassadors, as they now
desire to secure to her internal independence."
SUGGITT'S SPIRIT NIGHT LAMP.—By an advertise-
ment in another column, it will be seen that Messrs. J.
Darcy and Co., of the Goree Piazzas, have been appointed
agents for this useful article. Thee simplicity of this
lamp, and its economy—for it can be kept continually
burning at a cost of not more than one penny per week—
are sufficient to secure its general adoption. In appear-
ance the lamp is handsome, and it possesses one great
advantage over others in the regularity of the height of
the light, which can be done at will. It will entirely ob-
. *late the use of rush-lights or floating lamps.

THE LIVERPOOL SFANDABD.