The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-05-21 00:00:00

MR. ECONOMIST WILSON'S ABSURDITIES

This embodiment of returns and statistics labours under
such au embarras des richessea that every alternate fact
which he promulgates, as the result of his arithmetical
studies, overthrow's its next neighbour. Thus, on Tues-
day evening, the railway mania of 1845.6 had produced
all our present distress. The middle classes in all our
towns had engaged in it; and the great seats of com-
merce, Liverpool and Manchester, had been just as bad as
the rest of the kingdom. But Mr. Wilson forgot to tell
us that in 1845 and 1846, whilst in the heat of the railway
mania, we were enjoying a state of plethoric prosperity ;
and that it was not until after the passing of Free Trade,
and after the large importation of foreign grain had drawn
our gold out of the country, that we began to suffer a
collapse. He follows his objurgation of railways by an
argument, which cuts in a completely opposite
direction. "In 1848," he says, "'no fewer than 147,000
men were employed upon the railways"—consuming
foreign imports and British manufactures, stimulating the
revenue, both from customs and excise, no very undesir-
able state of things for a Chancellor of the Exchequer,
we should imagine, and at the same time constructing
useful work—but now, " there were not quite 45,000 so
employed; so that upwards of 100,000 men, or more than
a few years ago were employed in the cotton trade of the
country were thrown out of employment" So that
making railways and ceasing to make railways are equally
causes of national suffering ! Tenterden steeple being
the cause of Goodwin Sands is quite as sensible as any of
the instrumentalities pleaded by free traders as having
caused the very unsatisfactory working of their grand
specific.

"There's a good time coming"

however Mr. Wilson assures us. We are not going to let
the American farmer have ail his own way. John Bull is
_going to astonish him some of these fine days. Mr.
Wilson " did not perceive any danger of the British
farmer being undermined by the United States' farmer;
and moreover he should not be surprised to see within
two months quantities of wheat shipped from Europe to
the United States," (Cries of oh ! oh !) " Honourable
gentlemen who cried ' oh, oh !' did not seem to know
that scarcely ten years ago large supplies of wheat went
from Europe to America." It strikes us forcibly that
Mr. Wilson must have got confused in his geography;
and that for the word "America" we should understand
British America, or rather Montreal and Quebec, not the
United States. At all events, before he sees such a feat
of madness committed as the sending of any quantity of
wheat to the United States in the face of her present high
tariff, he will have, for the " good time coming," to

`-` Wait a Rule longer."

For an admission made by Mr. Wilson we must really
thank him. He says that :

" He quite admitted that there was not in this country at the
present moment that universal prosperity which all in that
house would so gladly see; but he thought the House must
admit that there was a wonderful distinction between the suf-
fering of the present period and the suffering the country had
witnessed in former times. (` Hear, hear,' and No, no.')
He was satisfied that every dispassionate man must admit, that
whereas at former periods the main of the suffering was un-
dergone by the working classes, the main of the suffering now
depressing us was borne by the middle classes of society.
(` Hear, hear, and No, no.')"•

We rather wonder that he durst " quite admit" any-
thing of the kind, and that the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer did not knock him down on the spot. We receive
the admission however gratefully ; and the palliative
equally so. The distinction between past and present
suffering is an important one. In former bad times the
working classes suffered ; at present the middle classes
are suffering. If our sapient economist can tell us how
the middle classes—the employers of labour—will suffer,
without calling upon the working classes to bear their
portion of the infliction, we shall be still more grateful to
him. Tho latter classes, unfortunately, bear deeply en-
graved upon thir memories the very true admission of a
very honest, because candid, free trader, who has now
gone to his rest—" we are all for ourselves in this
world."

/District RMS.

The permanent station of the Manchester and Altrin-
cham railway at Bowdon was opened on Friday.

Five new alms-houses are being erected at lireseot, ad-
joining those in Snig-lane.
A handsome ball-room is now being built at New-hall,
the seat of Sir John Gerard.
Mr. James Garnet, one of the guardians for the town
of Bingley, has resigned his office in consequence of being
intimidated by a drunken fellow.

On Saturday new potatoes, grown in the neighbour-
hood, out of doors, were sold at St. Helen's market at
ls. per lb.
On Saturday week Lady Hoghton, of Astley-hall,
Chorley, attained the patriarchal age of 89 years on which
occasion the bells of the parish church rang several peals.
At Tarporley, John Lewis has been convicted for the
manslaughter of John Dimmelow, whom he knocked
down, fracturing his nose by the blow, and his skull by
the fall.

A most exciting match at cricket between eleven of
the All England and fifteen of the Manchester Club came
off at the latter place on Saturday. The Manchester
men were victorious.

A meeting was held in Manchester on Wednesday at
which the Rev. Hugh Stowell presided, and a petition to
parliament in favour of the bill for subdividing large
parishes was adopted.
On Monday, the 29th of April last, Nancy, the wife of
Robert Lightholden, of Blackburn, cut her throat with a
razor, from the effects of which the died on Sunday last ;
when asked the reason for the rash act, her only answer
was that she could not tell why, and that queer thoughts
had come into her head.

The depositors in the St. Helen's Savings' Bank have
been receiving, this last week, the first dividend, of six
shillings and eightpence in the pound. The great majo-
rity have withdrawn the money, as they seem to hare a
strong antipathy to banks and bankers. It is hoped that
the next dividend will be to the full of the deposits.
FOREIGN CORN.—In the minority of 184 for Mr.
Berkeley's motion for a committee on the question of the
importation of foreign corn were (connected with this
county) Blair and Hamby. In the majority of 298 were
Armstrong, Birch, Bright, Brotherton, Brown, Cardwell,
Crawford, Duncuft, Gibson, Greene, Grenfell, Henry,
Heywood, Lindsay, Patten, Pilkington, Thicknesse,
Walmesley, and Wilson. Absent—Fox, Greenall, Hind-
ley, Strickland, and Walker.
ATROCIOUS ACT. FREE-TRADE ARGUMENT ! On
Sunday night last, some villain entered the shippon on the
farm occupied by Mr. Moss, Samlesbury, and cut the
throat of a very valuable cow. The poor animal was dis-
covered quite dead. This cowardly act is supposed to
have been commtted by some person who imagined that
Mr. Moss had signed the late petition in favour of pro-
tection, but which, it appears, he did not do.—Blackburn
Standard.

On Saturday last, Joseph Scurry, who was employed in
the mill of Messrs. Langworthy Brothers and Co., Sandy
Well, Greengate, Salford, went into the carding room, for
the purpose of " larking " with one of the girls there.
Finding that he had stopped too long, and thinking to fa-
cilitate his descent to the part of the mill where he was
employed, he opened a teagle door • instead, however, of
catching hold of the rope by which the hoist is thrown into
gear, he missed his hold, and fell head foremost to the
lower storey, the carding room being the fourth. When
taken up, he was insensible, and he died at the Royal In-
firmary early the next morning. He sustained a com-
pound comminuted fracture of the skull, three pieces of the
bone having been driven into the substance of the brain.
ARRIVAL OF LANCASHIRE GREYHOUNDS IN F GYPT.
—lt will be remembered that some weeks ago several
greyhounds were despatched from the packs in South
Lancashire to Egypt. We find in the Alexandria cor-
respondence of the Times the following notice of their
arrival:—" The greyhounds which arrived here last
month from England, as a present to Abbas Pasha, have
been sent back to Alexandria from Cairo, the climate
here being cooler. Beale, Lord Sefton's keeper, has
been much pressed by the Viceroy to remain in his ser-
vice, but he prefers England to Egypt and will not stay.
Abbas Pasha seems well pleased with the dogs, and has
expressed his great admiration of them, and has appointed
an effendi to take charge of them on Beale's departure."

AN ENORMOUS BEAN Pon.—We were shown, yester-
day, an enormous pod, containing eight beans, grown in
Natal, by Mr. Methley, a settler, and sent by him to his
father, the Rev. Mr. Methley, of Leeds. So gigantic a
pod we have never seen before. It is two feet long, and
varying from three to four inches in width. The beans
swelling within the pod, give it the form of so many
round or French rolls, united in one row. Each bean
occupies a division of the pod of about four inches by
three ; the bean itself being about two inches in diameter,
flat, and a dark chocolate colour. The exterior of the
pod, which is quite dry, is the colour of a cocoa nut s
smoother, but with numerous corrugations, and each edge
of the pod is bound by a strong border of woody fibre.
A few of these immense beans would fill a tureen, and,
with due sauce and condiments, afford a nutritive meal.
—Manchester Guardian.
ORANGEISM AT HASLINGDEN.—On Saturday week
the D.G.M., the worshipful masters, and deputy-masters
of the various lodges belonging to the Grand Protestant
Confederation of Loyal Orangemen, Haslingden district,
met at the house of John Thorn White, Lion Inn, Raw-
tenstall, for the purpose of transacting the district busi-
ness ; the Deputy G.M. in the chair. The accounts were
read and passed. The D.G.M, said it was cheering to
him to inform his brethren that there had been a consi-

derable accession of new members during the past year,
and that the order was steadily increasing. The announce-
ment was received with applause. He read a letter from
Brother Squire Auty, of Bradford, which stated that
about 500 Orangemen would be present from Bradford,
at the great demonstration the brethren of Colne were
going to have on the 10th of June. The following were
elected officers :—Brother James Ramsbottom, D.G.M. ;
Brothers Henry Haworth, William Halstead, John Or-
merod, Robert Hindle, and Richard Taylor, the G,C.
AN AGRICULTURAL " BULL."—Some of our contem-
poraries have been making great show of a declaration
said to have been signed by twenty-one farmers of Rich-
ton, to the effect that, having been induced, "from mis-
apprehension," to sign a petition to both Houses of Par-
liament, the object of which was " supposed to. be for a
re-enactment of a duty on the importation of grain,"
they " publicly begged" to " withdraw their signatures,"
expressing their " conviction" that "if such be the
object of the petition, and it had been so explained" to
them, they would not have signed it. Without referring
to the amount of " conviction" the farmers must have
possessed to have signed a petition of any kind, about the
contents of which they were in entire ignorance, it will
astonish some of our readers to learn that a great many
of those so anxious to "withdraw" their " signatures, '
Thisr. actu actually nfaeevte. r
Tsighneeedxptlahenaptieotn of thisitionin
is that certain free trade workmen in the neighbourhood,
determined to show how completely they practised their
profession, by refusing. to purchase the farmers' milk.
anyst ra nsgbea withdrawalpshape
oor
w ay
Hence the haste to correct a mistake never till then Cam.
witted.—Blachbrn Standar&

911irtrultural anb iPorttrulturat

COI. U

We are assured that the forthcoming exhibition at the
Corn Exchange will be superior to those of previous years.
We think this must be intended to apply to the plant de-
partment, for the meteorological obstacles this spring
have opposed such difficulties in the way of vegetable cul-
tivation as are without parallel. Slrould the promise of
superior exhibition be realised, or even should it only
equal the displays of former years, it is desirable that a
correct judgment be formed of the resat, for the produc-
tion of superior or equal specimens under such adverse-
circumstances, will in either case imply a decided advance.
We know it is a custom with many persons to argue,
that as protection and an artificial temperature are pro-
vided, and the circumstances of the plants are brought as
nearly as possible to those of their natural state, there-
fore there ought to be no more difficulty one season
than another. But such persons know but little about
the art of cultivation, and the extreme difficulty of con-
tending against natural causes. Thus no plant can be
healthy unless supplied with fresh air, any more than an.
animal in
,an impure atmosphere ; of course this cannot
be ea easily supplied when the external atmosphere- is-
cold, or otherwise unfavourable. But pure air is not more
essential to successful culture than light, which may at-
• most be called the life of vegetation : this, of course, must
be deficient in dull, cloudy weather, to the consequent in-
jury of plants under glass. Again, heat may be supplied
by artificial means ; but it is well known to the practical
horticulturist that one degree of sun-heat is more valua-
ble than five degrees produced artificially. Thus, then, if
the plants shewn at the forthcoming exhibition equal
those of former occasions, we must conclude that the
gardeners have made a real progress. We believe this to
be the case, nor can it be otherwise, because their intel-
lectual faculties are constantly stimulated at the meet-
ings of the Horticultural Society ; and the fruits of these
meetings must be sound improvement, year after year,
in all branches of the art. The gardener learns the value
of working systematically, and having a reason for all he
does; and in proportion as this becomes his rule, so wilt
horticulture progress, and erect itself into a branch of art
worthy of alliance with the science of botany.

LIVERPOOL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.-MAY MEETING.

The society was occupied with a discussion opened by
Mr. J. IL Richardson upon the growth of plants intended
as specimens for exhibition. He contended that although
the person who cultivates plants for his own pleasure has
the right to adopt any plan he pleases, yet the cultivator
for exhibition ought to be guided by such rules as will
insure the object of all public exhibitions, the improve-
ment and perfection of the objects exhibited. He chose
for the purpose of illustration the fuchsia and geranium, as
the two most commonly cultivated for exhibitional pur-
poses. These, he contended, were always grown too fast,
and instead of being rendered strong healthy plants, sup-
porting themselves by the strength of their own branches,
they are usually grown with such rapidity as to require
stakes and strings to retain them in any symmetrical
form, and beautiful though they may be when so grown,
they fall very far short of what would result from a less
rapid formation of wood. Mr. Richardson concluded his
very interesting paper by saying that he considered it one
great principle of the horticultural art to render tender
plants more hardy, and not to make those already hardy
tender, by the too speedy development of cellular tissue.
He said he remembered seeing plants shewn at exhibitions
labelled, " grown to this size in one season," and their
size was their only remarkable feature.
Mr. Mayer was not inclined to agree with Mr. Richard-
son in every particular until the subject had been more
fully investigated. He, however, thought the subject
worthy the gardeners' utmost attention.
Mr. T. C. Archer fully agreed with Mr. Richardson,
and mentioned the splendid specimens of pelargoniums
exhibited at the gardens of the Royal Botanic Society as
satisfactory-proofs of the correctness of his views. Several
other members took part in the discussion, and it was
finally agreed that experiments should be made, and the
results communiclted. A splendid specimen of Pimelem
spectibilis was exhibited by H. Littledale, Esq., Mr. G.
Taylor, gardener ; flowers of Cryptolepis longifolia and
Cantua bicolor, from the collection of C. Wilson, Esq.,
by Mr. Thomas, gardener ; and Mr. Williams, gardener
to Daniel Harrison, Esq., of Liscard, exhibited a pretty
specimen of Tiarella cordifolia, a hardy herbaceous plant.
It was announced that Dr. Brett would give a lecture on
the chemistry of horticulture at the June meeting.

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