The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-05-03 00:00:00

L STANDAhI).

who act thus grudge the poor's rates. Would too that all who
do pretend to follow Mr. Malthus, were convinced like him of
the humanity of their opinions. But it is not so. Nine out of
ten of them, if not compelled to do it, would give nothing to
the poor. They are not the persons who would play the part
painted in that captivating picture. He is a kind-hearted man;
but his disciples are in
.general scrubs. You see that in the
scurvy shabbiness of their sneaking sentences, which it sickens
one's stomach to read aloud, and sends over an audience one
universal scunner. Mr. Malthus quotes with high admiration a
passage from Townsend, than which nothing can be imagined
more unjust. "Nothing in nature can be more disgusting than
a parish pay-table, attendant upon which, in the same objects
of misery, are too often found combined snifff; gin, rags, vermin,
insolence, and abusive language; nor in nature can any thing be
more beautiful than the mild complacency of benevolence, hasten-
ing to the humble cottage to relieve the wants of industry and
virtue, to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, and to soothe
the sorrows of the widow, with her tender orphans; nothing
can be more pleasing, unless it he their sparkling eyes, their
bursting tears, and their uplifted hands, the artless expressions
of unfeigned gratitude for unexpected favours."
This is somewhat too sentimental—and in any other writer
but a Political EconOmist, such a style would meet with little
admiration. Snuff is not disgusting to Mr. Coleridge or Chris-
topher North; and so insignificant a pleasure might be tole-
rated even to a pauper. Rags are often more a misfortune than
a sin—and so are vermin. Gin, and insolence, and abusive lan-
guage, admit of no defence; and too common they are at such
a table. Yet with proper management they need not be there;
and of such a table, under proper management, ought here to
have been the picture. For how pretty the interior of that con-
trasted cottage, and how attractive its inmates! No snuff—no
rags—no vermin. Yet in many thousand cottages, had poor's
laws never been in England, would all such nauseous nuisances
have been plentifully found. As for Scotland—let the good
Christians—male and female—who pay charitable visits to the
poor in the auld town of Edinburgh, say what they see and
smell in many of those abodes of wretchedness and sin. Snuff,
tobacco, rags, vermin, gin, insolence, and language Worse than
abusive—enough and to spare.
Heaven forbid we should even seem to say a single syllable in
disparagement of private charities! But let us not set the "dis-
gusting ' against the "beautiful!" 'T would be easy to do so
with far more powerful effect than Mr. Townsend. "fis a false
and foolish way altogether of treating so sad a subject as misery,
whether merited or unmerited; and no one has told the world so
with more convincing eloquence than Dr. Chalmers.
Neither is it difficult to paint affecting pictures of virtuous
poverty, religiously bearing its lot in unrelieved and uncom-
plaining privacy, and in humility, not pride, unacquainted with
alms. Verily, they shall have their reward." But let us—
"because that we have all one human heart"—beware how we
load with our laudation any "custom of the country," that would
cruelly impose such endurance on the virtuous poor. A sad sight
it is to the eyes of a Christian, some aged woman, who has seen
perhaps far other days, wasting away over a. cup of thin tea and
a mouldy crust. She is no pauper—not she •indeed—and you
must not insult her with your alms. Yet, had the "custom of
the country" been to give her—and all like her—a claim—a
right to relief—would it not have been far better, and not less
beautiful, to see her eating her loaf of Love and Law? She
had not needed then to feel the blush of shame on her clayey
cheek; for what she ate would have been her own as rightfully
is any venison-pasty ever was theirs, while being devoured by
he members of the Political Economy Club at a Gaudeamus.

The TREASURER to the DOCK ESTATE.

IN one of our late publications, we ventured to anticipate,
and, as time has since proved to be, in a great measure,
correctly, the particular course ,which some of the mem-
bers of the Dock Committee would pursue, In the appli-
cation of their votes, when the moment of the election of
a Treasurer to the Dock Estate should arrive. In making
those remarks, we purposely abstained from entering into
a comparison of the respective merits of those gentlemen,
who, at that period, were known to be candidates for the
situation ; but now, that the election is terminated, and
that it has become the system and fashion, in these more
modern times, to make the proceedings of every public
body undergo a sort of newspaper ordeal, we shall claim
no other indulgence for ourselves than that, which we
conceive our remarks may be well entided to, for bring-
ing the late proceedings of the Dock Committee again
before the notice of our readers, in so far as involves

the individual consistency of the four gentlemen who
voted for Mr. Langton, one of the candidates :
we-allude of course to Mr. Leathom, Mr. Hornby, Mr.
Earle, and Mr. Benson. However much we may dif-
fer, politically, in opinion, with these gentlemen, we
should ill support that peculiar characteristic which we
claim for ourselves, as journalists, were we to indulge in
that species of personal and unjustifiaLle tirade adopted
on all occasions, by most of our contemporaries, where
the conduct or opinions of an individual opposed to
them in a political sense happens to fall within their
grasp; and to be made the sacrifice of their weekly de-
vouring rapacity..
• It may possibly cause a momentary reflection, in the
mind that peruses this publication, that fresh in the re-
collection of that personal declamation, which took place
at the appointment of a gentleman to the Dock Solici-
torship, whose competency was most indelicately and
most unjustly made matter of discussion, that we, in our
editorial capacity, should not deem a similar strain of
language as more immediately befitting our purpose.
Such a course, however, would neither be gratifying to
our inclination, nor furnish the species of weapon we are
anxious to wield. Nor is it matter of desire with us that
we should now question the consistency and propriety of
the conduct of the gentlemen to whom we have alluded.
We are as much alive as any of their most intimate ac-
quaintances can be, to their personal respectability and
estimation in this town ; nor do we differ on these grounds,
in the smallest degree, from their most favourite admi-
rers. But as public men—holding public offices, and res-
ponsibilities, whatever our disposition might be, "we" are
not the only parties to be considered :—it is in this point
of view, alone, that we wish to notice them; and in doing
so the; only assurance we can give, is, that either on
this or another occasion, where their conduct does not
merit public approbation, they must expect to be treatdd
according to their deserts; with justice but as gentlemen ;
in short we shall speak of them, at all times, as they are,
"-nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice."

Cruel and ungenerous as the task may appear, we can-
not hesitate •to express our unwillingness to revert to
past proceedings, more especially those that the lapse of
time and the passing of events, may seem to have
"—quietly inurned;
but justice demands, and the echo of her voice still responds
in the breasts of those whose party and whose cause have
been ungraciously abused in this town, that we should
spare no exertions in removing any impression preju-
dicial to their interest, should such exist, in consequence
of the illiberal and unjustifiable proceedings at the meet-
ing of the Rate-payers, held some months ago in Liver-
pool. Our reason for resuming this subject will appear in
the sequel.
The meeting to which we have just alluded, under an
odious species of pretence, came before the public, as re-
garded its immediate object, under the sickening-tattered-
raiments of what is called reform. A son of an old and faith-
ful servant of the Corporation, whose able exertions and
personal respectability were known and acknowledged by
all who were acquainted with his name, had been elected
to the Solicitorship of the Dock Estate, vacant by the re-
signation of Mr. Thomas Foster, who was unanimously
chosen by the Corporation' to fill the office of Town
Clerk :, this election was made matter of particular of-
fence to the movement party; who, whilst they ingeni-
ously affected to find fault with the constitution of the Dock
,Committee, were, in truth, only actuated by a desire, if it
could by any exertion on their part be realized, to have
Mr. Bourne ejected from his appointment. Twenty-six
years of age ! and the son of a Common Councilman ! !
was evidence quite sufficient to condemn any individual
under such unfortunate circumstances. This, virtually,
was the whole head and front of the offending !—the real
gist of their subject of complaint !