The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-03-05 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS

We have tittle to say to the rigmarole with which the Mail has
favoured tis in his last publication. We must, hoe ever, set
him righ with respect to ore assertion which he made beere.
and now repeat-. Ile s-,ys that in the article which has
"
disturbed his serenity so greany, we tepees nted one nr
dinary average" circulation at 3lr 0 per week. We never
sail any such thing. We stated that the number of our lin-
pressious had keen steadily increasing, was still increasing.
and tint on the rreeedieg wee% it was close upon 35110 ; and
such was the str et truth. Oth. average eirculat ion (which we
never stated at ;town will be shevrn by the returns, and perhaps
will be g, eater than cur generous contemporary would wish
to see us enjoying. The Mail boasts profusely of his owe
flourishing condition. Why can't he be satisfied with it. and
keep his temper ? fits bitterness of tone towards us is not the
best evidence in the world that he despises us as a competitor
for the favour of the Conservative public. In the conclusme
of his remarks, the Mail asks us why we do not declare the
number of papers wnich we are in the habit of printing weekly.
We may perhaps do so when he tells us how many he sells,
and how many more he glees away.
Since writing the above the following paragraph, in the
notices to correspondents of an able provincial contemporary,
has met our eye Need we say that we are most grateful for
such unsolicited testimonials of our influence and usefulness,?
K W.—The Liverrool Standard has, we believe. the lareest
circulation of any paper printed in leverpool. . It is patronized
by all the leading men of the town, without regard to politics,
for the talented manner in which it is conducted. and the im-
mense mass of well-digested infurmetion which crowds its
columns. K. W. i, ay not find it in Popish beer-houses, but
it may be seen at every respectable hotel."
We differ- from " A Conservative." Doubtless, state prosecu-
tions may he instituted before the existence of any treasona-
ble conspiracy ; but, on the other hand—
" To save a state,
Legal restraints may be employed too late.
And men may scruple tyrants to restrain
Till all resistance viii be found in vain."
We have received from Robert Frank, Esq., £2 'for the Dispensa-
ries, which we have handed to the secretary ; and for the " Case
of Distress," mentioned in cur laet, from
The pupils of the Bev. Mr. Fleming, Boetle„,—£l 1 5
Mr. Litter ~,,, ~,,, —„, 0 2 6
J. 10 0 0
A correspondent urges the propriety of some means being taken to
protect property in the neighbourhood of Edgeehill. He says,*
"There have been, to my knowledge, not less than seven houses
broken open, within the last few nights, about the neighbourhood
of Edge-hill and Mount Vernon. Many more hove been at-
tacked, and the yards suffer considerably. In some instances the
Mieves have managed to carry away prop, -eaa e!' great value, and
committed damage which will not be ea - laced. In one or
two cases the villains ascended the staircase, eenost to the bed-
room doors, which, awakening the family, caused them great
alarm. The excitement, I can assure you, about here, is worthy
of regard, as they must be a desperate set of fellows, they seem
so impudent and experienced."
We have received a letter from Deborah Jones, of Birkenhead
complainnig of the very filthy and neglected state of certain
roads in the neighbourhood of the new church Deborah will
observe that we have devoted a very large space (considering the
crowded state of our advertising columns) to Birkenhead affairs,
and especially to a communication from Zephaniah Smith, Esq.,
laying before the public- the scheme of the proposed " Anglo Hi-
bemic Company." For the present we would recommend De-
borah and ner friends to provide themselves with stilts, until the
present proposed great schemes ars completed, and the packets
have made sufficient cinders to mend the wre's of the parties
complained of and the roads for Deborah.
The inconvenience alluded to by " A Poor Member of St. Jude's
Church," is occasioned, according to his own confession, by
the crowded state of the congregation. He must he aware
that before the moveable seats were placed in the side aisles,
the latter were filled with people who were content to stand
during the whole service, and our correspondent now finds
fault because the trustees have extended down these aisles
the seats alluded to, which he states ere not e convenient"
enough, an " evil" which, he asserts. " can he remedied at
a very slight inconvenience and expense." Will he tell us
how? If he has been long a member of. St. Jude's, he will
know that before the seats were placed in the side aisles the
people were as much " in the way" as before ; and we know
not what the trustees could have done beyond preventing so
many people crowding into the church, an alternative which
our correspondent even, we presume, would be slow to adopt.
He ought to have sufficient charity to believe that it is not " a
matter of indiffe. ence with the trustees whether the poor man
can kneel during his prayers or not" t and he ought to have
sufficient common sense to know that wherever the gospel is
preached the poor attend in such numbers as to preclude
kneeling accommcYlation, let the managers of the church
make what arrangements they may.

Ebt=pool &tanbarb.

TUESDAY MORNING, MARCH 5, 1844.

The council of the Anti-monopoly Association

have just issued their " Free Trade Circular" for
March, in which they have attempted, by a series
of laboured and most erroneous calculations, to get
rid of the charge of dishonesty, fastened upon them
by the letter of Mr. Sandars. We have already
noticed, certainly at greater length than was called
for, the effusions of some of the League journals
upon the question at issue in this controversy, viz.,
the amount of charges on foreign wheat imported
into this country; and we shall therefore only com-
ment here upon one or two paragraps of this " cir-
cular."

In reply to the argument of Mr. Sandars that,
when the position of the League party is that the
charges of importation of foreign wheat are a suffi-
cient protection to the British corn-grower, such
charges Ought to be confined strictly to those which
are peculiar to foreign, the Council of the .Assncia-
tion remark thus :
•

" But Mr. Sanders affirms that foreign wheat is subject
to no charge, to which English, 'moved from one port
to another,' is not also subject. Even were the argument
correct, iris nothing to the purpose, fora very small pro-
Portion of In9iish wheat is moved coastwise, whereas the
greater portion of foreign wheat, after its receipt in this
country, and before it finds its way to the consumers, has
to incur expenses as heavy or heavier than its cost of im-
portation, to transport it to the various markets in the
kingdom. • By far the greater portion of English wheat is
consumed at or near the place of its growth. There are
certainly not more than five counties in England, not
more than two in Scotland, which grow more wheat than
they consume; and Ireland, which in 1833 exported
850,000 quarters, in 1842 only exported 200,000, and now
grows little more than is required for her own consumption.
" In estimating, then, the effect of a free importation
upon the British farmer, we are bound to add to the
average cost free on board at the various ports of ship-
ment, the average expenses, including freight and all other
charges incurred before the produce can be consumed."

A greater amount of ignorance of the subject than
is here exhibited could scarcely have been conceived.
" A very small portion of English wheat moved
coastwise !" Why, the fact is known to every prac-
tical man that the English grain and flour moved
coastwise very far exceeds not only the average
yearly importation of foreign, but the largest im-
portation ; and so far from its being true that the
internal charges upon foreign wheat to the places of
consumption are greater than those upon home-
grown, precisely the contrary is the case. The car-
riage, for instance, of foreign wheat, from Hull or
Liverpool, to the m ;nufacturing districts of Lanca-
shire, is far less than that of the home-grown wheat.
of Nottingham, &c., which forms the chief supply of
those districts. And then we are told that " by far the
greater portion of English wheat is consnmed at or
near the place of its growth ;" and that there are
tot more than five counties in England which grow
more wheat than they can consume." Yet nearly
one-third of the population of England, viz.,
4,397,791 smile, are concentrated within the limits of
tvo counties (Middlesex and Lancaster), and a por-
tion of a county (the West Riding of Yorkshire).
These counties certainly do not grow their own con-
sumption, which is drafted—moved coastwise or by
internal river or canal conveyance —from the other
counties of England. A more consummate piece of
hardihood than this annihilation of the greater part
of the coasting trade of England we never remember
to have met with. Such flagrant puerilities or
falsehoods indeed we know not which to call
them—are scarcely worthy of serious refutation.
And now a word with respect to the mode adopted
in calculating the average freight of foreign grain,
which we last week sheaved to be grossly inaccurate.
We have the same calculation given us in the Cir-
cular of the Association, and are informed that it
was drawn up for the League by Sir Joshua Walms-
ley and Mr. Joseph Sturge—eminent authorities
and most disinterested witnesses no doubt. But
we are furnished, in the same circular, with another
document most apropos to our present purpose, in-
asmuch as it furnishes us with a clue t 3 an average
something like the true one. The document in ques-
tion contains the replies of her Majesty's consuls for
the various continental corn markets, to queries as
to the quantity of wheat and other grain which
could be shipped to England if the trade in corn was
open. We give the quantities of wheat :
Quarters.
From St. Petersburgh
Riga, not stated.
Liebau
„ Odessa
Warsaw (via Hamburgh) 300,000
„ Stockholm....
~ Danzig e e f• •

From Konigsberg
„ Stettin
„ Memel
Elsineur
Hamburuli
538,000
~ Rotterdam, not stated.
„ Antwerp, not stated.
„ Palermo ............ 200,000

2,222,464
Now we ask of our readers to examine these
quantities accurately, and to say in what way they
would proceed to estimate the average freight of such
wheat, imported here. Obviously the correct mode
would be to carry out the calculations at the various
foreign ports, and for the average to divide the gross
amount by the total number of quarters. We may
arrive near enough, however, by a mere glance over
the figures. •Of this two million and odd quarters,
only 150,000 quarters from Odessa pay the high
rate of 10s., and 200.000 from Palermo that of Bs. 3d.
838,000 from Hamburgh, including 300,000 qrs. from
Warsaw, which is borne via Hamburg, pay 2s. to
2s. ed. ; and the remainder the freights of the Baltic
ports, which the Association circular puts down at
3s. to 4s. We have, therefore,
150,000 qrs. from Odessa, at los. £ 75,000
200,000 „ from Palermo, at Bs. 3d 82,500
838,000 „ from Hamburgh, at 2s. 3d 97,766
1,034,464 „ from other Ports, at 3s. 6d 181,064

Total freight
Or, average on the whole 3s. lid. per quarter. The
average of Sir Joshua and his confrere for these
same ports is 4s. 6d. to ss. 5d ; and we
have given credit in this statement for even
higher freights than they have. For instance, the
statement of Sir Joshua and Mr. Sturge gives the
freight from Italy at 4s. 6d. to 65., which is nearly
one-third more than present rates, and that from
Odessa at Bs. to 95., whereas we have gone upon the
exorbitant rates of Bs. 3d. from Italy, and 10s. from
Odessa, as given in the consular returns. The jug-
gle, therefore, is palpably in the mode of calculation,
adopted for the purpose of shewing a higher average
than the real one.

We feel that we ought to apologise to our readers
for pestering them with questions of arithmetic,
which any boy at the Blue School or the Mechanics'
Institution could solve correctly. We are compel-
led, however, as a public duty, to perform the unin-
teresting task, when we find false conclusions sedu-
lously put forth, with the sanction of names, whose
owners ought to be above such transparent disho-
nesty. If Messrs. Walmsley and Sturge, as mer-
chants, give to the world statements which it is to
receive upon the strength of their mercantile cha-
racter, or the " young men," who compose the
Anti-Monopoly Association, copy those statements
approvingly, both parties are at least bound, in mak-
ing them, to use the same accuracy and fairness
which the world knows they would use in the draw-
ing up of a mercantile circular or an acconnt cur-
rent. And this, we submit with confidence, they
have not done !

Mr. Alderman Evans gets a little cantankerous on
our hands. Dissatisfied with his position in the
Dock Committee and in the Council—defeated too
in his latest public appearance as a journalist—he
has last week run a-tilt at the whole corps of re-
pGrters for the press, Radical as well as Conservative,
charging them with the atrocious crime of com-
pressing their reports of the doings and sayings of
the Dock Committee—of which, in imagination, he
is still the foremost member—and more than insi-
nuating that in so compressing them unfairness is
shewn towards his own little section of the Com-
mittee. He overlooks unfortunately the fact that the
paper which reports most frequently the meetings
of the Committee, inasmuch as it appears on the day
after their being held, is of the same politics with
himself, and advocates the same doCk crotchets ;
and he has, therefore, by his random accusation,
given serious offence to the whole body of the local
press, and his own friends in particular.

Now this conduct, we submit, is very unwise in
Mr. Evans. The press is a very awkward body for
any public man to c;uarrel with ; and especially for
a public man in his position. The worthy alderman
' no longer " bestrides this narrow world like a Co-
lossus." People are no longer agape to learn what
are his peculiar opinions on any question, or what the
particular hobby which he chooses to ride. His
' facts and statements, too, are not now in the best
odour. There are actually, indeed, some people who
think that the public could get on very without an
Alderman Evans, either in the Council or the Dock
Committee; and not a few of his own party who
would be heartily glad to be rid of his domination in
both places. Under these circumstances, it is a
tempting of Providence—a risk of anticipating his
probable future fate—to fly in the face of a body of
men who might he provoked to give to him even
less than that prominence before the public which
he has hitherto been favoured with, as some ima-
gine, undeservedly. We say this in all kindness.
We should be sorry to lose Mr. Evans; but we are
much afraid that the reporters for the press may
some of these days be tempted by the alderman's in-
judicious attacks to " stand by their order," and
extinguish his eloquence altogether.
Seriously, however, we must state, in self-vindi-
cation, and for our contemporaries as well, that the
last of our public bodies who ought to complain of
the reporters is the Dock Committee. In the first
place the accommodation afforded them is very
meagre; and the conversational tone in which many
of its proceedings are carried on, throws infinite dif-
ficulties in the way of their giving anything like
complete reports. A fair one, however, we do be-
lieve, they endeavour to give.

A local contemporary, in one of those astound-
ingly wise articles which he sometimes achieves, pro-
pounded to the world the discovery that the present
ministry should resign office, in order that her Ma-
jesty, without danger to her person, might visit her
Irish people. The existence of a Conservative ad-
ministration, he asserted, was the only bar to.
realization of that hope, so beautifully expressed by
Sir Robert Peel, that the auspicious day might come
when our gracious Sovereign " could alight, like
some benignant spirit, on the shores of Ireland, and
there lay the foundations of a temple of peace—when
she could, in accents which, proceeding from the
heart, speak to the heart rather than the ear, call
upon her Irish subjects, of all classes and denomina-
tions, Protestant and Catholic, Saxon and Celt, to
forget the differences of kind and of race, and to hal-
low that holy temple of peace, of which size laid the
foundations—to hallow it with sacrifices still holier
than the sacrifices by which the temples of old were
hallowed—to hallow it' WITH THE SACRIFICE OF
THOsI EVIL PASSIOS, WHICH DISHONOUR OUR

COMMON FAITH, AND PREVENT THE UNION OF

HEART AND HAND IN DEFENCE OF OUR COMMON

COUNTRY."

We did not, at the time, think it worth while be-
stowing any notice upon so ridiculous a conclu-
sion. It provoked a laugh, and was forgotten.
Yesterday, however, much to our astonishment, and
doubtless to that of the world at large, we had the
same view of the proper mode of tranquillising (I)
Ireland dressed up afresh in the columns of the

Albion, in the following flippant paragraph, upon
which we' must offer a few words of comment.
Aftrr quoting the above passage from Sir Robert
Peel's speech, our contemporary proceeds to say:—
" This, of course, is sheer fudge, for the thing is within
his reach, and yet he will not take the step which will ac-
complish it. LET RESIGN. The day which should
carry over the news of such an event would see Ireland
tranquil and peaceful within all her borders, ready and
eager to walcome her Sovereign to her shores with all the
enthusiasm of the mnst devoted loyalty. Yes! let him
resign, for he is the only obstacle to the objects which he
professes are so near and dear to his heart. We shall ap-
preciate the self-sacrifice, and none will withhold the
praise,

Oh, yes ! Set up a government which shall be the
patron of agitators, and the protector of murderers.
Send over a Normanby, to open the doors of the
prisons of Tipperary and Clare; restore to liberty
and fresh crime the midnight robber and the Agra-
rian disturber; give renewed vitality to the wide-
spread Ribbon conspiracy; give hope to the cupidity
which longs for the plunder of the owners of the soil
of Ireland; proclaim the destruction of that Protes-
tant Church which, she has sworn to defend; and
with such a government—with such impunity for
crime—with such incentives to outrage and blood-
shed—HEß MAJESTY, a Protestant Sovereign,
" will find Ireland tranquil and peacefnl in all her
borders, ready and eager to welcome her to her shores,
with all the enthusiasm of the most devoted loyalty"!
The gaols would pour forth their thousands-to meet
her. The red hand of the undetected assassin would

flourish the blood-stained bludgeon at her approach.
Crime would hold jubilee in the presence of a Queen,
whose message was thus one of mingled immunity
for past, and of encouragement for future outrage.
A Whig journalist can have the unblushing har-
dihood to make to the people of Englrnd, who have
declared that IN :IRELAND THE LAW SHALL BE
RESPECTED, a proposition so monstrous ! Yes;--
the organ of a party, who, in power, ruled Ireland
by a coercion bill; denounced the repeal agitation
from the throne; discountenanced the agitators, as
unfit for the favours of government; then truckled—

basely truckled—to those very agitators; stooped to
hold office as the venal price of their support in parlia-
ment—such an organ has the fatuity to imagine that
the British people have forgotten all their incapacity,
and would pay so fearful a price, as the sacrifice of one
of the fairest portions of their country, for the plea-
sure of seeing them once more revelling in Downing-
street, and dipping their " itching palms" in the
Treasury! Yes : these men imagine that it is for
their presence in Ireland that the torch is lighted,
the bale-fires glowing from hill to hill—that all this
rebellious outrage is for love of them, whom the leader
of Irish agitation hag called " the base, bloody, and
brutal," and the world has acknowledged as the
most venal and incapable faction by whom the des-
tinies of a great nation were ever wielded !

Strange mistake ! inconceivable blindness ! Why,
it is to this very party, whose tampering with rebel-
lion, and fondling with rebels, has been so abun-
dantly manifested, that Ireland owes so much of her
wretchedness and disorganization ;—that, in that

misguided and unhappy land, life is "cheaper".than
in any country upon which even a gleard of the
light of civilization has shone. But folly has its
lessons to teach as well as wisdom. A straw, thrown
up, shows the direction of the wind as well as the
most complicated piece of machinery. A goose
saved the Capitol; and this very fatuity of Whig
journalism unfolds to us the present and coming
policy of whiggery as palpably as if an oracle had
proclaimed it, and Lord John Russell had not gone
out of his way to disclaim it—as well as if we had
had no nine days debate upon the affairs of Ireland,
and no Whig coquetting with Ireland's convicted

disturber. The Whigs are once more ready to ride
into office upon this man's shoulders—to crouch at

his feet—to pander to his griping mendacity—and,

at the allotted time, when they have sacrificed all
that is high, and holy, and just, to appease his vora-
cious appetite, they are prepared to be spurned from
him, to find "in the lowest deeps a lower deep," in
which they may hide their political degradation from
the eyes of an incensed nation.

The petition of the electors of the city of Durham
against the return of the Leaguer, John Bright, on
the grounds of bribery and other violations of the
law, is abandoned, as will be seen from the following
paragraph, which we quote from our valued con-
temporary, the Durham Advertiser :

DURHAM ELECTION PETITION.—The petition against
the return of " honest John Bright" has been withdrawn.
Why, it will be asked, has this been done? A very few
words will answer the inquiry—a want of "the sinews of
war"! The petitioners, or those who were entrusted
with the management of the petition, were in possession
of a vast mass of evidence to prove that treating to an
almost unprecedented extent was practised at the late
election, and that bribes were given to influence many of
the electors; but the inqui y to establish these facts was
likely to be of so long continuance, and the expenses con-
sequent thereon of such magnitude—far exceeding the
amount of the funds provided—that it was deemed pru-
dent rather to abandon the petition than persevere under
such circumstances. It will then be seen that it was
under no conviction of the purity of " honest John" that
the petition has been abandoned, but solely on the score
of expense.

Does this untoward affair teach to Conservatives
no lesson ? Surely yes. The electors of Durham
had, we are confidently assured, an undoubtedly
strong case. They had abundance of evidence to
substantiate that case. But the tools of the League
had gone serpentlike about their work. They are
no bunglers in their trade. They had, moreover, a
hundred thousand pound fund to draw upon for the
purpose of defending their achievements. But, un-
fortunately, the defenders of England's interests
have no such fund to look. to in an emergency like
this petition against Mr. plight.
This, then, is the lesson which is taught us by
this affair. It is not alone by the dissemination of
tracts, lying speeches, and jesuitical anti-monopoly
circulars, that the League is about to work upon
the constituencies. That pure body can bribe as
well; and, when attempted to be bronght before the
legitimate parliamentary tribunal, to defend their
delinquencies, they are in possession of a long purse,
wherewith to escape justice, and set at defiance the
truth. They,can, in fact. xitie_raughahed evcr The'

constituencies,
__aud,, Nvith mill
.dusttand children's
tiOlreiTfabsmuted into gold in the alembic of the
factory, stifle the voice of public opinion throughout
Great Britain.

Surely the Conservative party•will do something
to break down this tyranny of capital. Surely the
nobility and the gentry of England will not permit
themselves thus to be pushed out of the councils of
the nation, and a heterogeneous •swartn to vault into.
their places. If we are to , 4ave ari . Anti-League
movement,•.let us have as well an Anti-League fund,
not to provide lecturera merely, ,to„ address theiii.
selves to men whose minds are, already pretty well
made up upon the great question at, issue—which is
THEIR OWN EXISTENCE AS A CLASB, THE MOST
VALUABLE OF ENGLAND'S PEOPL E-bilt to neu-
,tralize, as well, these attempts to•beat down, by the
force of money, the constitutional expression of the
very opinions which they seek to disseminate. This
hundred thousand pounds, wrung from the sinews
of the poor, must not be eLaken in the faces of Bri-
tish men, to awe them into submission to an odious
tyranny, without an effort being made, BY THE
LANDLORDS OF ENGLAND, to fight the anti-national,
faction with its own favourite weapon. :•.;urely the
defender of his own homestead, and the ProsPerity
of his dependents, will not begrudge the cost of the