The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-10-31 00:00:00

for it was asked, a week ago, by the arch-agitator
himself, whether, upon the occurrence of such an
event as his incarceration, "those outside would be
any safer than those within." His own person se-
cure from injury, it is little indeed that the cowardly
rebel will care for the lives of his ignorant and be-
trayed followers. The very event—an outbreak
and attempt at rescue—which he himself thus insi-
diously suggested, would perhaps take place; and
for such an attempt the Government are no doubt
preparing. But, we ask, is it wise in Government
to stand patiently waiting, although prepared, for
an event so calamitous in its results as this may be ?
Is it wise to permit, under their very eyes, and al-
most within hearing of the Castle of Dublin, the
same seditious proceedings to go on day by day—
the same dangerous organizrtion to be perfected—
the same illegal levying of funds to continue, and
additional hundreds of hot-brained fools to be
drawn, week by week, within the meshes of trea-
son,—when one more prompt and vigorous step in
advance would suffice, either to bring rebellion to a
premature head and crush it at once, or to break
up the organization by which it is pushed forward ?
We submit that such a waiting policy is not wise—
is not just. The proceedings of O'Connell and the
other traitors, now about to be put upon their trial
before a jury, have been visited in their persons as
illegal; and if the executive has not already power
to prevent as well as to punish sedition, that power
ought at once to be sought from Parliament, in
justice to those who, day by day, encouraged by
the tacit posture of the authorities, are bringing
into jeopardy their own liberties, and the lives of
thousands who look up to them for guidance.

The columns of the Albion, yesterday, contained
another article upon the subject of Dock Extension;
which, although no doubt it expresses the views of
Mr. Alderman Evans, we shall not attribute to the
pen of that gentleman, but rather set it down as the
clumsy and bungling performance of the editor
himself, duly crammed for the occasion. The very
little which the article in question contains will re-
quire from us a very brief reply. And first 'et us
deal with the " statements of facts," which, in our
notice of the Alderman's own production last week,
we are accused of leaving " almost unheeded, and
altogether unanswered."

The Albion's echo of the Alderman states that, at
the meeting of the Dock Committee on Thursday,
" the purchase not only of the Harrington and the
Corporate property was again decreed, but that of a
quantity of land at, it seems, the selling parties'
asking price." Now we say, fearlessly, that the
latter fact never seemed at all ! There was nothing
in the proceedings of the Dock Committee to lead
to the supposition that such was the case ; and the
assertion, therefore, is as disingenuous as it is dis-
honest. So far from the price concluded upon
being the "asking price," we can state on authority
that it is very considerably below such price. So
much, therefore, for "statement" the first.
The Albion says this purchase "was thrust upon
the Committee, without previous notice or inquiry"
as to the traffic, &c. And, pray, how was it thrust?
It was the deliberate resolution of the majority of
the Committee ; and unless Mr. Alderman Evans
is himself the Committee, this statement is as wide
of the truth as the first.

We shall pass over the absurd statement of figures

with which the Albion endeavours to frighten the
community. A deficiency of £51,000 per annum,
he maintains, will be the result of the carrying out
of the resolutions of the Dock Committee. Our
contemporary does indeed give the world credit for
an amazing amount of gullibility !
But we must turn from the Alderman's—we beg
pardon, the Albion's—statements, and anproach the
small modicum of argument with which he fur-
nishes us.

" As a question of dock warehouses or no dock ware-
houses," urges our contemporary, " it is clear, that, if
warehouses cannot be had on a central dock, they should
be taken on an?, dock. Everywhere they will be invalu-
able : but, if they are particularly desirable in central
situations, it will he open for a compromise with our
warehouse oligarchy, who may, perhaps, permit a smaller
anantity in the desired situations, in lieu of the larger
elsewhere. What reflections does not this state of
things give rise to ? "

Aye, " what reflections" indeed ! For only revert
to the previous arguments of the writer, and see
how astounding is the inconsistency. To effect the
proposed purchases, and to furnish the increased
dock accommodation required, would create a defi-
ciency of £51,000 per annum in the revenue'of the
dock estate, and double the existing dock rates;
but expend another million, in erecting warehouses
round a timber dock and a steal and coasting dock,
and the Alderman is perfectly satisfied ! Add ware-
houses to your scheme, exclaim in concert Messrs.
Evans and Ripley; and we will go with you in all
the " extravagant purchases" which you propose I
But the warehouses in question, we are assured,
are only to be warehouses upon paper—a kind of
goblin to terrify the warehouse-owners withal. A
most excellent device truly, and worthy the most
astute disciple of Loyola! Alderman Evans will
wink at the sacrifice of £51,600 per annum, if you
only give him a clause in your act of Parliament to
fling in the face of the" Warehouse Oligarchy."

Yet this man is your paragon of dock economists !
A question to Mr. Evans in conclusion—for we
must really be excused the task of noticing the re-
mainder of this twaddling production. If we re.
member right, the original proposition to purchase
land from the Harrington Dock Company emanated
from a gentleman, supposed on most occasions to
be tolerably well agreed in opinion with Mr. Evans
—viz., Mr. James Aikin ; and, on his motion, Mr
Sands was requested to treat for such land, to the
amount of 50,000 to 60,000 yards. The whole

quantity of land at the disposal of the Harrington
Dock Company was found by that gentleman to be
only 120,000 yards ; and very wisely he decided
that to purchase only half—even had the company
been disposed to sell it, which they were not—would
be perfectly suicidal on the part of the committee,
as adding at least 50 per cent. to the value of the
remainder, which would at some future day be
wanted ; ankhe, therefore, treated for the whole.
Now, let us enquire of Mr. Evans what will be
the difference, as respects the interests of the Dock
Estate, of the two courses--viz., that sanctioned by
Mr. Aikin's original motion, and that pursued by
the chairman of the committee. It will require, say
the 50,0000 or 60,000 yards, first directed to be
purchased, for the formation of the proposed new
timber dock; and, had only that quantity been pur-
chased, the Harrington Company would have had
the remainder of their land, as we have already
stated, enormously increased in value, and been en.
abled, should any further purchase have been found
necessary, to exact a proportional large price from
the Dock Committee. But the whole of the land
being purchased, the advantage arising from the
proximity of the dock to be built accrues to the
Dock Estate, and we firmly believe will be almost
sufficient to make up the cost of the quantity
originally sought to be purchased.

Will the alderman inform us how he reconciles
his support of Mr. Aikin's first crude proposition
with his present virulent opposition to the judicious
and economical course adopted by the Chairman of
the Dock Committee ?

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

DISASTROUS RESULTS TO IRELAND OF AN
ATTEMPT TO CARRY THE REPEAL BY
VIOLENCE.

The lavish abuse which has been heaped by Mr. Daniel
O'Connell upon the writer of the letters on the condition

Ireland, from which we extracted largely in our last
publication, has very naturally stamped them, in the esti-
mation of the public, with an authenticity of character, of
which otherwise they might have been deemed unworthy.
We therefore make no apology to our readers for present-
ing to their notice a few further extracts, which we recom-
mend in particular to the serious consideration of the
duped followers of O'Connell in this locality. Referring
to the delusion of the Irish people, with respect to their
numerical superiority, the writer remarks :
" The poor people forget, or they have never heard,
that although positively many, they are comparatively few.
The Roman Catholic peasantry of the south of Ireland are
greatly outnumbered by the rest of their countrymen, in-
cluding the loyal and well-affected Catholics and Protes-
tants of Ireland, and the great body of the English and
Scotch people.
" But mere numbers form only one, and by no means
the most important, element in a military question.

" The sea is entirely at the command of the British go-
vernment. No part of Ireland is much more than fifty
miles from the sea. Our ships of war and steamers would
command the maritime towns and coast, and convey
troops to the flank or rere of any rebel force that might
be assembled in any part of the country. There is no part
of Ireland in which an insurrectionary force could take up
its position, and say, " We are safe here."
" The country is also, for the most part, very open and
weak, in a military point of view; there are no fences
which could oppose any serious obstacles to the manoeu-
vres of regular infantry, and in most parts of the country
cavalry might act in numbers sufficient for a contest of
this description. The island is also now perforated in
every direction by good roads; it is true that there are
some mountainous districts in the west which would afford
strong positions ; but the question would not be decided
in the mountains. As far as that district is concerned, it
would be sufficient to watch any rebel force that might as-
semble there, and it must soon melt away of itself for want
of provisions.
" All the strongholds of the country are in the hands of
the government, and its officers and troops are fully pre-
pared."

With similar ability the writer combats the assumption
that the Protestants of the North of Ireland would hold
back in the event of a struggle. In such a crisis, he re-