The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-07-01 00:00:00

day IHE great question to be solved in the present
is, as we conceive,—how are we to elevate
the condition, moral as well as social, of the work-
ing classes of this country ? The experience of all
Past history teaches that it is perilous to have a
wide gulf placed between the workers and the pos-
sessors of fortune ; that a numerically small class
possessed of great wealth, is not secure by the side
ofa large class of very poor. A patrician and a
helot class have never got on well together. On
The contrary, their coexistence has been the fore-
runner of the anarchy and downfall of the various
empires of the world, ancient and modern. The
neminant political party in this country, however,
seem to think differently. They have shut their
ras against the teachings of history; and imagine
t it is possible for the rich to become richer,
and the poor to descend to the condition of serfs,
without a collapse of the social system. Human
nature must he changed before this can be realised.
_aesinn, envy, cupidity, to which we are all subject,
must first be rooted out of the heart of man. Our
creator has willed that man shall live by the sweat
Of his brow. It was a doom meted out to us for
the_ sin of our first parents. God and our nature
will not permit that this righteous judgment shall
not be fulfilled ; that man shall toil, and yet barely
exist; that wealth, and rank, and circumstance
shall "grind the faces of the poor," and degrade
inking and sentient human beings to the level of
machines or, still lower, to that of slaves of
machines,
? Prevent this sad declension of the condition
Of
ei the labouring classes—nay of the trading middle
ltailes, who are sinking as well as the labourer—is,
we
repeat, the problem which statesmanship has to
to"PK out. There are philanthropists and well-
otetaning men who advise us to educate. There are
Peril who prescribe sanatory reform, improved
Perin
who for the poor ; others there are who
point to religious teaching as the specific. All
pro are good to a certain extent, and in their
th°Per Place. But we must first feed and clothe
t'l People. Well then, exclaims the Free Trader,
to are doing this. We are giving to the working
1, a cheap loaf, cheap clothing, cheap foreign
products both for comfort and luxury. Agreed ;
e eY are doing this, but it is at the working man's
town expense. The cheap loaf and other cheap
commodities are the creation of untaxed foreign.
b°," highly tasked British labour; and to enable
NIV" to buy them he must first have employment.
th bat benefit would it he to the working man if
the quartern loaf was reduced to fourpence, when
reePence of that sum was taken out of his
taker to pay the foreign producer? A man may
hie in the midst of plenty. We cannot dine
b.' molting at the stores of food displayed in the
titcher's or baker's window. We may go in
rags. whilst coats and silks and calicoes, at reduced
Pri
*oc have
are paraded in the uncustomed shops, unless
employment, and a just reward for labour.
byclitbis want is precisely what is being created
"ie prevailing mania for cheapness. " Buy in
the cheapest market and sell in the dearest" was
ce aphorism of the late Sir Robert Peel. But
o can the process be worked out? The dearest
because
is the British market. It is a dear market
the price of labour is enhanced by indirect
ol:ation. The foreign markets are the cheapest
teuthets, because the price of labour in them is
ch" enhanced by taxation. Buy then in the
1,2de)41) foreign markets ; employ the foreign
nurer instead of the British labourer ! Not
wo
tkLing in the shop, in the mill, at the forge,
eofe the loom, but idling and starving in the
l`
ta, or in the highways, what are the wages
el" working man, if he has employment at all ?
brieaPness is fast reducing them, and will ultimately
'IR them down to the foreign standard. Labour
f°
or4ll
that the working man has to sell. If, there-
*: We are to buy labour in the cheapest market,
co Must buy foreign labour, until British labour
I„:Petes with it in price ; and, when that deside-
of Free Trade is arrived at, the cheap loaf
of ue found to be as inaccessible to a large portion
teen's enrnmunity as the dearer one, under a pro-
sYstem, has ever been.
feot,,:l:ree Trader meant this. It was the leading
con;:e in his book of philosophy. How are we to
/03.1,4 with the foreigner with wheat at 60s. or
hin:ine quarter ? was the question repeated by
tions,titin and again. Cheap bread, in his die-
roollg;bviously inferred cheap labour. Cottons,
tdebou;"land hardwares. are not composed of flour.
Ultimate However, is fed by it; and wages must
g" ran lY he regulated by its price. As yet, we
in
dt, that, in many departments of the national
v:"Stry, the reduction has not been such as to be
Th-PY sensibly felt. Working people in full employ-
elit are feeling themselves benefited by cheapness,
-;". I`i Perhaps flattering themselves that their im-
Vved position will endure. But they are deceived.
leages in every branch of industry will as surely
toe
to the foreign level as the night follows
e day
tie
hlon PP1137, there is in the system of free trade a
hay der Which, before another couple of years shall
elat Passed over our heads. must inevitably bring
to the to a dead lock, and overwhelm its authors
if we ruin which they have prepared for others.
cos cease to be producers, we must cease to be
proeners. It is a law of nature that man must
V, lee before he will be permitted to consume.
oailufteve to labour before wages accrue. The
' the etturer is discovering this fact from the loss
Produo Herne trade. The importer of foreign
All foe 1s discovering it from the same source.
darter reign trade resolves itself ultimately into
and if We import in return for what we export;
ht we import cheaply from abroad what we
e Brhave produced at home, and thus deprive
empl itish farmer, labourer, and artisan, of
'Lome J.,tnent and wages, we shall create a cheap
aienuf.,"rket for our imports and for our own
klarkorpiures as well. We cannot have a dear
ae deli for foreign or any other produce, whilst
,he inluerately confiscate one-third or one-half of
'll4ll-,.,e°,ine and earnings of the country. We
4trive"nl7, under such a system as the present,
%ell in et the consummation of being compelled to
reducer cheap a market as we buy in, of having
and treywages and profits to a starvation level,
Vlieb, Lied the pressure of our enormous taxation,
1 act ureing. levied in gold money, fixed in price
af °E Parliament, will income one-third, instead
ne.t
enth of the national
h,r.HL..

Litaks c'ttlaEY SHIPYARDS.—The s...pbfuo.
hi ilders on tbe
'4l - ' the Mersey are contributing far
have
m inconside-
previously al-
;lo)44to the world's commerce.
rd, to the vessels in progressW.ateteav yard of Messrs.
i le of Mr. Jordan's
It;Yeel;„4ed Getty► upon the new principle "'e ."4. Messrs. Cato and Miller have almost com-
t*elielt aeliPPer-ehiP. 142 feet over all,
.in length, and
l'ililel.4lx feet three inches beam, for a Liver' 00l house,
I:4) h."4"' P• Chaloner has three, and Mr. Steel two yes-
`tees°-c,..upw•ards of 700 tons) most satisfactory pro-
Ittite Mr• Wilson, at Birkenhead,in
has a war frigate in a
has a war frigate in a
rig completion. Mr. Laird's operations
ive,,e 413nrcachng completion.
4 eluded to a week ago.
ibiP Ge MI this side the water,Mheal‘'aviserra'n the stocks a fine
oßennie, Johnson,
,Stivcleh will measure 450 tons.
bi ilrta STEAMER FOR TILE Exupwricord.—e
hi—eash
're .beautiful little, y Wsteeamhaedr
‘411?‘.11 ntriYea inn7hPeeMergsey on Saturday. afternoooniast.
‘nti,verl:!aY to the Exhibition, as a. 4 specimen Clydeoffrom
the
n'tle""carner of 1851 " She had just arrivfd
N' tith her o n r.s and a number of °Tn. friends on
ameka.h.ce is named the Tourist, and was built b. y Messrs.
r,B ni'er 13 nny and Brothers, of Dumbarton , the buil-
gene.; our eerack line of Mediterranean screw teamers
S to
l'Ocii,,?: Livorno Nile, and others. After coming
;110.4 .-viri the river, gentlemen connected with the.s_te_oawmo-
-1;114,...,4 °ur Port went on board and took a short saildto
.__
~..14tel'',,-1.• The engines are oscillating, and equal to
than
..'''). Ivi,"l"er, beautifull finished, and more compactl
Z a ws.,l4Ye hitherto Y
seen. They went away as smoothly
44,, te oll"egillated timepiece, iece, driving the vessel at the
1114.- Pcteen
Net- 'enthering • •le
miles anp hour. The paddle-wheels
_ are
p taking greater hold of
the
.1441L14nnel lifting- lessinnibackwate.r than those cri
Att7 of P___?,.c The decks and deck-houses (in the
spacious smoking saloon,
too d
out Ylvtilln
vente i
41 %it! Y all d _lllc,. late(' s ina_ the Continental style) are
lielaeabia i.rl._ Illy decorated with carved work..i The
I:l4..utreleatici.
eiifellidysamgaoskrr
ofus room. It is furnis.
blue
a beautiful patter.n, in
4744 Daft r e carpet is of patent velvet pile, of an.
ab 4 knoll.; o, and harmonizes admirably with the other
In the inter-
prices t' meeorations of the apartme . 1..4411! ~. ween the side- fights are oblong panels of glass,
ttm th."'eatneut din l'eliei centre lice in. gold and colours,
heteh ews iotfh
soovmael sopfatchese
tirlitl'elseenerydorttilli exquisite s
Scotch Highlands. The beams,
an :41 ziheini-white and the
gold, the colour being prepared
.o
410:14i4Cfreiowtnilich aPpearstoobviate the offensive effluvia
144clisiens
~, 9,1 ordinary white lead. The principal
keel I and forerake,
1..,44e;t.; b`sr'elittitithToor Tourist are length
feeotf. eee
d pth of hold,
47414t1 the,. The torenaele of 'this little craft)!
* diaizrnulson the most elegant specimen of
.sholnP,
Nwonld ~_° have ever seen in our river or elsewherestmena,
ti Aarti -"Mealy adviae any of our fellow-town.
4 'Noel h
tif 1 *ha it rtt e meMbers of the Royal Mersey Yacht
11414 44/(l:T''' in the town to pay a visit to this beau-
-4:01. pa attune?, vvhech is on !ler way to the
a, t., /re understand will remain there for two
•41)45,—.4114 '
ft.