The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-05-02 00:00:00

come of itself, or be brought about by the gradual
and natural adaptation of all human institutions,
to the changed position of those, for whose use
they were framed. A healthy public opinion will
effect for us all that we require, peacefully, surely,
and without incurring the risk of the disorganiza-
tion and misery which we now witness around us,
as the results of rash and headstrong efforts to
attain perfectibility in what God never ordained to
be perfect on earth.
We urge, therefore, upon our suffering working
classes, and upon some of those above them, who
appear disposed at this moment to urge the people
to agitation for political change, to read carefully,
and ponder upon, the lesson which is set them in
the present condition of Europe. It is not the sea-
son to urge measures of a speculative nature—
changes of political systems, and remodelling of
political institutions, whilst mens' minds are un-
settled and ready to grasp at shadows. A few
administrative reforms may be well contended for;
but to enter upon any agitation, such as has been
recently attempted, would only tend to aggravate
sufferings amongst our population which no theo-
retical legislation, nor legislation of any kind, can
reach, and thus to raise expectations which could
not be fulfilled. We want now mainly the restora-
tion of commercial confidence, to enable us to pre-
pare for, and to profit by, the harvest, which must
shortly flow upon us from the temporary dislocation
of the commerce and industry which has taken place
in other countries; and to bring this about we
firmly believe that a little patience, mutual good
offices and forbearance, and, above all, the absence
of polititical agitation, are all that are required.
We would ask of the loyal and industrious
British labourer and artizan to enter into a calcu-
lation of the expense and suffering created, directly
and indirectly, by the recent seditious efforts of the
Chartists in various parts of the kingdom. It would
he found, even directly, to make up a large item.
The arming and assembling of policemen and spe-
cial constables, the loss of time of employers,
tradesmen and working men, the ccst of moving
soldiers from town to town, are not light
matters. But we must bear in mind that there is
something beyond this : that the capitalist does not
unloose his hoards for employment in commerce,
whilst disaffection and outrage fill our streets; that
the merchant will not operate freely; that the ship-
owner will not bring in foreign produce, or the
manufacturer make goods, amidst threats of incen-
diarism and plunder. If the restoration of confi-
dence has only been retarded a month, or even a
week, by the proceedings of these men, the loss in
wages alone to the working classes of Great Britain
would amount to a sum equal to the entire annual
revenue of some petty kingdoms !

WITHOUT pledging ourselves to the full length
of the views, as to local taxation, propounded by
Mr. James Parker, and the other gentlemen who
attended the meeting in St. Anne's Ward yesterday
evening, we must acknowledge that in the
of such views, the public mind is just now very
decidedly leaning. In Liverpool, especially, it is
so; and most justly and naturally. We have here
two powerful local bodies, the one—the corporate
body—deriving an immense income, from its own
property and the commerce of the port, which it
wields certainly, in the main, for the advantage
of the town, the maintenance of its churches and
charitable institutions, and for the various im-
provements and adornments which, from time to
time, are called for; the other,—the dock trust,
with a still larger income, which it expends in in-
creasing the dock space of the port, and in reduc-
tions, from time to time, of its charges upon
commerce and shipping. The very mode in which
the income of these two bodies is laid out—im-
provement of the town, or extension and cheapen-
ing of dock accommodation tends to attract
hither a continual stream of semi-pauper labour,
seeking employment, and to make the port of
Liverpool the gate of egress from the redundant
population of Great Britain and Ireland, to our
colonies, and to transatlantic countries. This port
is also the key for the Irish harvestmen and
labourers to the northwestern counties of England
and the manufacturing districts. And it is a well-
known fact, that many of these arrive on our quays
in a state of destitution ; many have to be main-
tained here in sickness; and multitudes to be
passed home as paupers. Yet all these burthens
have to be borne, not by the rate-payers of the
municipal borough of Liverpool. who have the
control of the property of the burgesses, nor by
the constituencies, by whom the dock committee is
returned, but by the rate-payers of the parish of
Liverpool alone ; whilst neither of these two
wealthy and powerful bodies contribute a farthing !
There is something here evidently wrong and
evidently unjust ; and what is worse, the wrong
and the injustice are increasing every day. We
are now about getting an act of parliament to
authorise the dock committee to abstract from the
parish of Liverpool rateable property rented at
£60,000 a year, for dock and warehouse space,
with no certainty of such property contributing
henceforward to our parochial revenue. We have
been doing this for years past ; and every such
abstraction increases in an inverse ratio the burthens
of the Liverpool rate-payers. We are driving by our
increased rates the population from some of our best
streets, into the suburban districts. Not within me-
emory have there been so many houses to be seen
throughout the town placarded "to be let," as at pre-
sent. And some, we have no hesitation in saying,
will never again be let in separate dwellings ; but
let off in rooms or floors, to working people, non-
rate-payers, the former occupants of the cellars and
courts, which we have found it necessary to our
safety to pull down. Here will arise a further
drain upon the resources of those—shopkeepers,
professional men, and others—whose avocations
imperatively require them to reside in the centre of
business ; which, however, will defeat itself, for a
vast mass of such people cannot at the present
moment bear their present burthens.
We steal! doubtless be asked " how will you get
at the dock estate, to tax it at all ?" And we shall
be reminded that such taxation would be absurd,
inasmuch as we should thus tax the property of
the burgesses for the relief of the burgesses. We
say as to the first question, only this, that, where
there is a will to act justly, there is a way. With
respect to the second share of the objection, we
say at once—" No ! there is no absurdity in the
case." We are not seeking to tax the property of
the burgesses for the relief of the burgesses. We
are only asking those burgesses to have some little
consideration for the rate-payers of Liverpool, who
are unjustly burthened by the very circumstances
which are enhancing the value of the property of
the other townships, which form with Liverpool
the municipal borough.
Another objection may, and probably will, be
urged against taxing the dock estate. It will be
said that the docks and dock quays of Liverpool
belong to the world at large, and not to this locality.
That, if we seek to tax them, we compel them to
raise their rates, and thus drive commerce from the
port. The same, however, might he said of the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway. It might be
argued by them—" Gentlemen, if you tax us for
your poor-rates, and other local imposts, you will
compel us to raise the fares of every traveller."
Yet this railway, and all other railways, are rated
not only in this, but in every other parish and
township they pass through. And why not ? Where
can there be a more proper and convenient mode
of taxation ?

But, without insisting upon this mode of argu-
ment, will any one inform us bow long the trades-
men of Liverpool can afford to go on under the
present system ?- We hold our own opinions until
we are favoured with an answer.

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tress of the above school. The committee have expressed
themselves greatly pleased with the uniform
manner in
which the school has been conducted, and have given a
substantial proof thereof, by presenting her with an ele-
gant Polyglot Bible and Prayer Book, with gold corner
and clasp. The children all feel their loss, and have also
joined in making her a present of a beautiful set of silver
spoons.
THEFT IN CHURCH-STREET.—At the Police-court, yes-
terday, three young women, Elizabeth Egan, Margaret
Fairclongh, and Elizabeth Shakeshaft, and a boy named
John Cavenagh, were charged with having stolen a small
reticule, or bag, containing money, from a lady in Church-
street. It appears that while the lady was on Saturday
looking into a window in Church-street, her reticule, con-
taining a sovereign and some silver, was snatched from her
and ran off with by a boy. The police, having received
information, an officer went to a cellar in Addison-street,
and found the reticule on the chimney-piece,. but emptied
of its contents. Two of the females were in the place,
and the other afterwards went to the Bridewell and con-
fessed she had partaken of the money. The lad had been
before convicted. None of the money was found. The
prisoners were sent for trial.