The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-05-09 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENII3.

We have received a very pungent, and certainly pertinent,
letter on the disgracetul state of Roe-street and Queen-
square. In the day-time one half of the limited space is
occupied by itinerant hawkers, carters, &c., and at night by
a still worse caste of society. The presence of a police-
. officer, says our correspondent, (irrespective of numerous
i
-letters to the chief constable,) s the exception rather than
the rule.—This important thoroughfare should certainly be
• better attended to.

!1t tilnrpoot &tanbarb.

TUESDAY

MORNING, MAY 9, 1848

• Mn. John Mitchell, the redoubtable patriot, has
turned out only dunghill after all. He has cut the
repeal concern, pikes, pistols and all, for reasons
which he promises to explain in good time ; but
which, it is tolerably plain, consist in a strong dis-
like to the sort of physical force recently adminis-
iered to Mr. Smith O'Brien, at Limerick, or to any
other sort of physical force than that which ex-
pends itself in rivers of printer's ink and braggart
phillippics. Mr. Mitchell, for the second time, has
pleaded, it is surmised successfully, to the criminal
information levelled against him by the Irish
Attorney-General. His fellow martyrs may stand
the brunt if they choose ; may make the trial whe-
ther the Irish people will permit their sacred
persons to be defiled by the touch of the law's
officials. The patriot, par excellence, is anxious only
to be befriended by the law's delay. He is ready
to accept of any loop-hole of escape, to creep
through any lucky chink left open for him, to
dodge from hedge to hedge, from cover to cover,
from quibble to quibble; and, in the mean time,
he is bent upon earning the lenient consideration
of government towards his past offences by a staid
and orderly demeanour, and by keeping good com-
pany for the future.
. Of course, we have always, in common with the
bulk of the public, rated this man as more of the
Bobadil than the hero, more of the charlatan than
He was making a gocd thing of the
doughty performances of his tongue and his pen.
The United Irishman was a flourishing concern. Its

the patriot

ravings were eagerly devoured by gulled thousands;
it was the general instructor in pike making and
pike practice, vitriol throwing, the use of hand
grenades, and broken soda water bottles—until
danger threatened its bragging proprietor. For
the first time the adage was then remembered that
discretion is the better part part of valour. Pleas
were safer weapons, in Mr. Mitchell's more pacific
view of things, than pikes; and the atmosphere
of any part of Ireland was preferable to that of
Newgate, or even Kilmainham, not to mention the
trouble of a trip to New Holland, and the unplea-
sant adjunct of a chain round one's leg during the
requisite period of the sojourn there. Hence, pri-
marily, the patriot'spresent determination to eschew
any further prating about physical force, and to
escape from the company which he has so lately
been keeping.
We have said that " primarily" such were
.Mr.
Mitchell's motives for his changed course; and
such prudence is adopted better late than never.
But, alas ! a sad revelation has oozed out, which is
calculated materially to lower the in our
estimation. If there is any truth in the following
letter,just made public, the patriot must henceforth
occupy a position in the estimation of society very
low indeed :

TO JOHN MITCHELL ESQ., EDITOR OF THE UNITED

IRISHMAN

" Tipperary Vindicator Office, Nenagh, May 2, 1848,
Three o'clock, p.m.

rmit me to ask, is it a fact that you have
transmitted, or, as we say, given up,' to the Right Rev.
Dr. Kennedy, a private letter, written in the confidence
of editorial duty by me, some time ago, to you, enclosing
you, for publication, a slip, containing an article which
appeared in the Tipperary Vindicator, relative to his
lordship's suspension of the Rev. Mr. Nolan, P.P. of
Mpnsea ? It_ is singularly fortunate that . the letter in

Sln,—B

question was one which contained nothing of which I am
either ashamed or which I can regret, and which might
have been costed on every wall in Dublin for aught I
caked ; but this only aggravates the crime against editorial
security, of which lam assured you have been guilty. It
was the first I ever addressed to you, and with this excep-
tion it will, I believe, be the last I ever shall. I wrote
the same to other journals. It related to what I deemed
an infringement on the legitimate privileges of the public
press, and requested you to use your. discretion, if you
thought proper, on the subject. I have heard this fact
this moment, with dismay and surprise I cannot possibly
describe. You, ' the hero,' par excellence, to do this !
I can scarcely believe that the editor of any public journal
in Ireland could be guilty of such abindoned traitorism.
Baseness of the kind has been hitherto unknown among
us bf the ' Fourth Estate' in the country. But if this be
really the fact, it is.tirne that the people of Ireland should
know you well, and that they should act towards you and
your teachers, and towards those also who aid and abet
this indescribable turpitude, as such conduct pre-eminently
merits.

" The letter, I am told, was this day read at a meeting
of the clergy of Killaloe, by the Right Rev. Dr. Kennedy.
Of course, I repeat, it contains not one word which I
should not have written under the circumstances. It may
be new to you to learn that I had already sent a copy of
the article which accompanied it to his lordship himself.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,

LENIHAN,
"Editor and Proprietor of the Tipperary Vindicator."
John Mitchell, the chivalrous—Mitchell who was

" Mat

to rush upon the Saxon bayonets—Mitchell
who promised to "crash through the castle of
Dtiblin"—Mitchell who denounced George Earl of
Clarendon as her Majesty's butcher-general—a
pitiful sneaking informer after all ! We can
scarcely believe it. We can scarcely believe in such
gratuitous turpitude; and must perforce wait for
an,explanation of conduct so much called for under
the circumstance of the utter absence of any tie
which the Right Reverend Dr. Kennedy could
have over the actions of a man not under spiritual
subjection to the Church to which he belongs.
In any case, we cannot but rejoice.over the evi-

dent break up of the Faction, of which this worthy
has been for some months past a prominent mem-

ber: After the doings at Limerick, and the sorry
spectacle displayed by his brother conspirators—
after the beautiful specimen afforded. us of the har-
mony which is to succeed the sundering of the
Saxon and the Celt in Ireland —they must possess
a large amount of credulity who can-entertain the
idea of such a people being fit to be entrusted with
the management of their own affairs, or fit for any-
thing else but a wholesale imitation of the cele-
brated contest of the two Kilkenny oats.

THERE was a delightful unanimity in the Council
on Wednesday, as to the popriety of the course
.en by the Finance Committee, in asking an
reased rental for their prnperty at Birkenhead ;
not offer the slightest objection.
vner, or steward, of a property,
the committee had a perfect right to endeavour to
)ve their rental, if, on cool- reflection, they
t there was a prospect of success ;

e satisfied

_ c,reatly question the wisdom of pressing
at demand to the extremity •of a breach with
tenants; and we cannot say that we are al-
d with the argument upon which
t to be defended. It is per-
has been a large increase in
population of Birkenhead since the period, eleven
years ago, at which Messrs. Willoughby entered
upon their first lease at a rental of E9Oce per annum ;
but before arriving at the conclusion that the value
of the ferry and hotel has increased in the ratio of

to'9,*eti

that ti

the increase of population, there are a few circum-
stances to lie taken into our calculation. Eleven
years ago, a large and valuable traffic was carried
on with the mining and agricultural districts of
'north Wales by way of Birkenhead Ferry. At
.ensive posting business was
, hotel, to and from North Wales
The opening of the Chester and
lestroyed both these sources

that time, too, an ex*
carried on at ti

%rid Chester

s of the property, which WEts

Maim

I by the refusal Of the railway
company, in defiance of their agreements, and even
nal act of'parliament, to

of a clau,

carry a bran

Again, it in

ITeborne in mind that, when the
population of Birkenhead was only 6000 persons,
there were only two ferries in operation,—Messrs.
Willoughby's and the Woodside. There was at
that time a fair division of the business of the
locality between the two ; and the rates both for
casual passengers and for contractors were re-
munerative. There are now three ferries, and both
the Monks' and Woodside are in the hands of
powerful public bodies, who, for purposes of their
own, have reduced the rates until they have almost
cased to be remunerative.

With respect to the Woodside Ferry, it is very
doubtful whether it is not at this moment a losing
concern. At all events it is certain that the receipts
of last year show a large falling off, as compared
with those of the preceding year; whilst, as com-
-fld with those of 1845, there is a deficiency
more than £3,000 per annum.
public, too, thit the increase
or the locality is chiefly at the
is accommodated by the Wood-
lso that the value of the Birken..

par
which is stated at

side Ferr

head estate has been allowed to be materially
injured by the formation of a canal, which has
completely destroyed an ancient and convenient
road to the ferry for caits, cattle, &c., along the
margin of Tranmere pool.
It is too late however, now, to canvas the pru-
dence of the grounds, upon which the Finance
Committee have acted in this matter. It is tolera-
bly certain that a false step has been made, an
excellent tenant been lost to the corporation, and
their property materially damaged in the estimation
of the public. The Tranmere Ferry must, for the
future, in the hands of the Messrs. Willoughby,
abstract a large portion of the traffic from Birken-
head. The only question remaining to be solved
is—what is to be done with the latter ferry ? It
would be madness for the Liverpool Corporation
to attempt carrying- it on themselves. That body
has already quite sufficient on their hands, without
distracting themselves with the comparatively petty
1 details of a ferry. The public would not like ,to
see the chairman of the Finance Committee, or any
other member of the council, superintending in
person the transit of loads of furniture, milk cans,
pigs, sheep, calves, barrels of flour, cheeses, &c.,
and without personal superintendence, few concerns
are profitably conducted. The hotel, too, is de-
pendent upon the ferry, and ought to be in the
same hands; and we should not like to see the
corporation surveyor gauging the spirit casks once
a week, counting the bedroom towels, or looking
after the knives and forks and spoons, or the
treasurer's clerk making out dinner bills. The en-
tire property must be let at once to the best tenant
that can be found; or, if we may judge from what
we have observed so far, it is likely to be a serious
drain upon the corporate estate, instead of a source
of income.

FACT upon fact—disaster upon disaster—crowd
upon us to show the enormous price which we
have paid for the bubble, Free Trade. Last week,
we had to record the progress of ruin in our West
India colonies, and to point to the approaching
issue of our suicidal legislation=the abandonment
of their cultivation as British possessions, or their
absorption, by the consent of the owners of their
soil, by the first nation which shall offer them that
paternal treatment which we have withdrawn from
them. We have this day an additional evidence to
offer, in the failure of the house of Messrs. Eccles-,
Burnley, and Co., of Glasgow, one of the oldest,
most respectable, and steady firms connected with
our colonial trade. The circular addressed by these
gentlemen to their friends, will be perused by a
large portion of the public with feelings of indigna-
tion, mingled with sorrow, whilst the puritanical
and sweet-lipped lovers of cheap sugar will doubt-
less regard the reverse which it records as a grate-
ful offering at the shrine of their pet "principle"—
should we not rather say their all-engrossing self-
ishness ? We give the circular in question :
" , 3rd M, 1848.
" Sir,—lt is with deep regret Glasgow
we inform you that we
are under the necessity of suspending payments. A se-
questration has been sent for with our concurrence, and
in a few days you will be requested to attend a meeting of
our creditors. For upwards of half a century we have
steadily followed our business of West India merchants,
never engaging in speculations of any kind. Our assets
chiefly consist of sugar estates in Trinidad and Demerara.
These estates are in excellent condition, capable of mak-
ing large crops; but they have been rendered worse than
unprofitable, and of no value, by acts of parliament—the
worst of which being the Sugar Duty Act of- 1846
whereby slave-trade sugar was admitted to consumption
in this country on terms which the British colonies are
altogether unprepared to compete with.
" We are, sir, your most obedient servants,
• " ECCLES, BURNLEY AND CO.
WM. AND JAMES ECCLES AND CO."

Thus fares it with. the merchant capitalist, who
has engaged in the cultivation of our. West Indian
possessions, relying upon that long proverbial gOofl
faith and honesty which the British governmeni
have abandoned to appease the hypocritical cla-
mours of saints in drab and " Liberals" of every
other shade.

Is the case any better with respect to the condi-
tion and prospects of our East Indian cultivators ?
It is not. Our commercial experience is telling us,
day by day, that our magnificent East Indian em;
pire is fast becoming worthless to us, under- the
blighting influence of our newly adopted policy;
A few years ago, we well remember a statement of
Mr. Bramley-Moore, the Dock Chairman, a Bra-
zilian merchant, that, if we would take the article
free of duty, the Brazils could afford to supply us
with sugar, which could he economically applied as
manure for our fields. The remark was true; hilt
it has been proved so, with respect to an article
which Mr. Bramley-Moore never contemplated, and
which he would have been amongst the last to have
submitted to the depreciation in value, at which it'
has arrived: East India sugar—free labour sugar—
the excellent commodity which pseudo philanthro-
pists
vowed should alone sweeten their puddings,
and pass down their delicate gullets, is purchase-
able at this moment at two shillings less per cent.
than Peruvian guano ! So much for that portion
of our question, which is affected by the humanity
cant, in the first instance, and by the act of 1846
in the next.

We have not been much more fortunate, how-
ever, in that other portion of our policy which has
not been so greatly—so glaringly—dictated by
hypocrisy and selfishness. We persecuted to his
ruin the West India sugar planter; we held him
up as a sort of ogre to fright our babes. We painted
him as a monster unfit to breathe the air of a free
country ; taught our housekeepers to eschew the
purchase of his commodities, and to rejoice in the
privilege of being able to procure our sweets and
candiments from countries untainted with slavery,
even although at a somewhat higher cost. We
tired, however, of our virtue. We found otir
humanity oozing out at our finger ends, in
the precise ratio at which the extra cost of
our pounds of free labour sugar mounted
up in our house-keeping accounts. We gave
up, in fine, our pretence of virtue; and admitted
the slaver to be our provider of sweets. The issue
we have already seen in the ruin of the sugar cul-
tivators of both the Indies. Look, however, at the
present state and the prospeCts of our commerce,
in other commodities, with these countries. Rice
is a staple of our East Indian possessions. Yet we
have heard of a recent purchase of that article in
Liverpool, where the price paid does not reach
within eighteen pence pec ewt. of the freight.
Nearly every other commodity of India is similarly
depressed. The raw material of cotton is lower
than it has ever been known ; and the recent sales
of indigo in London were made at prices notoriously
unremunerative to the cultivator.

And mow, let us glance at the effect of this state
of things upon the people of the Manufacturing
Districts—the most prominent advocates of the
policy by which it has been produced. It is a well
known fact that India, for example, has no precious
metals, in which to pay us for her imports of
British manufactures. She has her produce as her
only means of payment. It is preposterous -there-
fore, to expect her to buy, when her exports in
return only arrive in the British market to be sac-
rificed. And she will not buy from us under present
circumstances. We have the assurance of one of
the first East India agents in this country that the
interchange of commodities, between the East
Indies and Great Britain, must absolutely cease,
for so long as the present range of prices of pro-
duce is preserved. No man in his senses can
believe anything else—can believe, for instance,
that the proprietor of a Rice plantation can buy
British goods, with his rice only worth the cost of
freight ; or that the sugar planter can buy goods
with his sugarrated lower than manure. There is but
one result to come, as the alternative between the
retention and loss of Indiaas aconsumer ; and that is
the realisation of a great reduction in the cost of
British manufacture, to bring them to a level with
the cost of the produce, which is now available as
an exchange. Are our manufacturing neighbours,
in Manchester and elsewhere, prepared to submit
to the pruning process which' will be required for
this purpose ? If they are not, they ought to be ;
or they must give up the trade of India, for the
present at least. They must be prepared to give as
much capital and labour in the shape of manufactured
goods, and to deliver those goods in India, for the
same amount as the East Indian cultivator netts for
his sugar, his rice, and his indigo, sold in our mar-
kets ; or give up the trade. How much will the
duped population of this country, and by the
manufacturing operatives especially, be thus made
to pay for their pound of sugar ?—their cheap
sugar" fotsooth !

NAUTILUS SCREW STEAM-SHIP.—The Nautilus, which
sailed from hence on the afternoon of the 17th ultimo for
Constantinople, arrived at Gibraltar at three o'clock on
the morning of the 25th same month, thus making her
passage to Gibraltar in 7 days 12 hours, and after encoun-
tering very bad weather, with contrary winds for the first
three days.