The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-06-13 00:00:00

TUESDAY MORNING, JUNE 13, 1848.

Several of the London papers of Saturday an-
nounced, on the authority of their correspondents
at Marseilles, the rumoured revolt of the Sikhs at
Lahore, and the massacre of the British troops.
We are glad, however, to allay the painful excite-
ment created by those reports. Important events
have occurred, but neither so important nor so
disastrous as those which were announced. There
has been a revolt in Moultan, and two British
officers have been cut down by the insurgents.
But the Khalsa troops were, it appears, on our
side, and there seems to be nothing more than a
vague surmise that the Lahore Durbar was secretly
concerned in the movement. We give, in another
column, all the details which had reached Bombay
when the steamer Semiramis, with Mr. George
Clerk on board, left that port.

THE majority of 117 in a House of 471 mem-
bers for going into committee upon the Govern-
ment Bill for the repeal of the Navigation Laws
will probably not surprise our readers. That the
Peel section of the house, with their chief at their
head, would give in their adhesion to this further
onslaught, upon the industry and greatness of the
country was a foregone conclusion in most men's
minds. But there were hopes entertained, upon
what were imagined to be fair grounds, that a few
exceptions would be found ; and that amongst
these exceptions—amongst those parties not yet
prepared to sacrifice so large an amount of the
property of the nation as that which is invested in
shipping, of the industry employed in our building
yards and which mans our mercantile marine—
would be found the name of one at least of the
representatives of Liverpool. We refer to Mr.
Cardwell ; and our ground for the anticipation
that he would be found by the side of the large
and influential portion of his constituents, who
are interested in this question, was the remem-
brance of certain passages of his various addresses
delivered during his canvas here and when stand-
ing at the hustings. Certainly no direct pledge
was given by Mr. Cardwell as to his conduct with
respect to these laws. But the impression which
was left nevertheless upon the minds of his friends
was that he was not prepared to deal with this
question as one to which the principles of Free
Trade were applicable.
We may call the attention of the electors of
Liverpool to one or two of the occasions upon
which Mr. Cardwell afforded them something very
like an assurance that he regarded these laws
with favor. At a meeting of his friends, held in
the Cotton Sales Room on the 26th of July, we
find him speaking of them in the following terms :
" He had been asked whether he would consent to
any change in that system of laws known as the
Navigation Laws. He had already stated that he
knew what these laws were established for—they
were established for the maintenance of their com-
mercial marine, and for the security of their national
marine, through both of which the country had ar-
rived at her present high, proud, and noble position.
He had paid to the subject the utmost of his
attention ; and, as he told them before, he agreed
with Adam Smith as to their usefulness in promoting
the national greatness and prosperity. He had
never said one word in opposition to these laws.
He should feel it incompetent in him to rashly
interfere with the present system of laws which had
been for more than two centuries interwoven with the
interests of the Empire." These assurances were
received with hearty applause, which left no doubt as
to the impressions they had made that Mr. Card-
well was opposed to any sweeping or to any change
at all in the Navigation Laws : and we really think
that an explanation of the particular reasons which
have led to a total reversal of his then opinion is
due to his constituency.
At another meeting, at which Mr. Cardwell
attended on the same day at the Shipwrights' Hall,
in Bond-street, similar sentiments were uttered by
him, and received as satisfactory by his audience,
and by the Chairman of his Committee, Mr. J.
Bramley-Moore ; and we may remark that even so
lately as at the meeting held to petition against the
proposed measure, that gentleman expressed him-
self satisfied as to what would he Mr. Cardwell's
conduct with respect to it when it should come on
for discussion in the House of Commons.
It may be urged, of course, that thus far Mr.
Cardwell's vote does not pledge him to any definite
future course ; that he is only willing to go into
committee with a view to enquiry into the subject,
and that in his speech in the house he expressly
objected against the injustice of submitting the
shipbuilder and shipowner to a competition so long
as the raw material, timber, continues to be taxed.
There is still the possibility that he is favourable
only to some slight modification ; but we must
confess that, after the speech of Sir Robert Peel on
Friday night, we have little hopes of such an event
as Mr. Cardwell's opposition to any material part
of the scheme—of anything, in fact, beyond a skir-
mish or a sham fight. Should this he the case, the
constituency which returned him have a simple
duty to perform, to which, at present however, we
shall not further allude. ••

As the Council to-morrow may in a great degree
decide the question as to the source of our future
supply of water—important to the ratepayers of the
town in many respects—we may be excused if we
put a few facts before the public, for the guidance
of our municipal representatives when giving their
votes on that occasion.

Ist.—Although it has been frequently asserted
that the main object in obtaining the Rivington
Pike bill was to enable the Corporation to give a
daily supply of water to the people, it is an impor-
tant fact, perhaps not generally known, that since
the Water Committee gave instructions that the
water of the present works was to be applied to the
best advantage possible to the public, the officers of
the late Harrington Company have commenced
giving a daily supply to the tenantry of that com-
pany, from their own works, irrespective of Green-
lane or any other sources; and they are confident
that an ample daily supply can be continued, and
an abundance given for all public purposes besides.
2nd.—Mr. Hawksley stated some three years
ago:--and the statement was published in our paper
of that date—that it was his conviction that the
resources of the two water companies were amply
sufficient for every purpose, both public and pri-
vate,which the inhabitants of Liverpool required.

3rd.—The effort which has been made fo make
the actual yield of the present springs square with
Mr. Hawksley's estimates, by deducting the water
used for the condensation of steam from the gross
yield, is by no means creditable to the parties who
made that effort. The fact is that until the com-
pletion of the late experiments no exception what-
ever was taken to the quality of the water on
that- account, and none whatever ought to he
taken. The water so used is rather improved
than otherwise, and being, as in reality it is, dis-
tilled water, its mixture with the gross quantity
should by sequence tend in some degree to improve
'the whole. It is by no means true that it is
polluted by grease or other matter by being in con-
tact with the condensers, as has been industriously
circulated. The water so mixed is the same which
the inhabitants of Liverpool have been using for
the last half century, and they are the best judges
of its alleged impurity.
On this subject the following extract from the
preface to a very able pamphlet, just published by
Mr. Grantham, is valuable and accurate :

" A short notice has appeared in the newspapers giving,
as is supposed, the correct yield of the wells lately belong-
ing to the Harrington Company, and as measured by the
gentlemen appointed for this purpose—who have, no
doubt, given a most accurate return—l regret, however,
that this short statement leaves out an important item
which is likely to mislead the public—while it would lead
to the conclusion that Mr. M'Donald, myself, and others,
who have ventured to state, in figures, the probable yield
of the wells, have been greatly mistaken—now this is not
the case I will attempt to show. The total yield of the
five wells is thus given;-1,865,000 gallons when pumped
at the usual level and 2,374,000 gallons when pumped
within eight inches of the wind bore, not including the
condensing water, leaving about four feet water in the
bottom of each well. Now this condensing water has
been set down at various amounts, at from 500,000 to
1,000,000 gallons—l think it should be about 500,000
gallons for the first experiment, and perhaps 650,000 gal-
lons for the second, as the times of working the engines
was much greater in the second than in the third experi-
ment—thus we see that the real yield would be (if I am
near the mark in the amount of condensing water) about
2,364,000 gallons in the first case, and 3,024,000 gallons