The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-11-25 00:00:00

unos, in the county of Den-

lenry Worsley

t an advanced age, Mr. FL Battershy, of Bedford

dill, near Leigh.
_ Same day, at Prescot, aged 6g years, Sarah Elizabeth Ashby

le day, aged 66 years, Mr. 11

is. Williams, I

maker, of

terrace, Kingstown, ex

Leman had

TUESDAY MORNING, NOV. 25, 1845

In calling the attention of our readers to the gra-
tifying meeting of the Liverpool Auxiliary Branch
of the Irish Society, held last night, we have to di-
rect notice particularly—and, as journalists, we do
it with a feeling of shame for the discredit cast upon
our order,—to a portion of the speech of the Rev.
Hugh Nl‘Neile.
Speaking of the course taken by the mayor with
respect to calling the meeting proposed by a requi-
sition presented to him from certain parties, the
Albion. after complaining of his worship's delay in
satisfying their curiosity, and attributing it to the
necessity of his consulting the Rev. Hugh M'Neile,

says that

Having been closeted two hours on Friday with his
tutelary genius, he was suddenly in a condition to ex-
pound to the world his intentions, with such reasons as be
and his adviser had concocted during their consultation."

We refer to the rev. gentle Man's indignant de-
nunciation of the conduct imputed to him, as the
best answer to this foul libel,—as untrue as it is
disgraceful to the utterer. Fie upon our contempo-
rary ! If journalists cannot conduct their political
warfare without outraging truth, they are not wor-
thy of the position, to which honesty, and the power-
ful influence which they possess, would speedily
raise them.

On the 218th ultimo, in commenting upon a
partial reverse which the British troops, in New
Zealand, had ustained in a conflict with a party of
the Natives, under the chief Heki, we brought be-
fore the attention of the colonial office the de-
plorably unprotected state of that colony, and the
necessity of prompt and vigorous measures, to
avert the calamity which we saw impending. In doing
this, we adduced, in support of our own views, the
opinion of an authority far more capable of forming
an accurate judgment upon such a subject, than
ourselves,—viz.: that of the hon. and gallant mem-
ber for Liverpool, Sir Howard Douglas. The ac-
counts, by the last Indian mail, of a third repulse
of the British troops by the natives, more signal
and undeniable than either of the former, although
still reflecting no stain upon the courage of the
British soldier, has unhappily confirmed our worst
fears, and established the soundness and season-
ableness of the warning which Sir Howard, during
the debate upon New Zealand, conveyed to her
Majesty's ministers.
The leading features of the affair is given in our

summary

Tome of the circumstances
ever, are too striking to be passed over
t which we gave from Sir Howard
ntainted the follow-
a portion of which, as being very im-
printed in Italics

last month c

New Zealand, is in-

the interior circurnstal

r of the natives

if once roused, very considerable in-

of other desc

ct, that the

iptions than infantry

re 13 710

insurrection, and de-
w* why I shonld not
t a field yun, nor one
South Australian

the whole of the

.);e is borne out, by

,er, the accounts

rst with respect to the

-nmand, Colonel Despard states

ill not be tl

ought that the character

don this occasion. One-
red, fell in the attack, and

the top of whir

grounds which he has himself given, as influencing
him in the course taken, but from other considera-
tions, which he has not referred to, and which
perhaps did not suggest themselves to him, or to
those upon whose united judgment and advice we
believe he acted—viz., the board of aldermen, sum-
moned, it is said, by him to consider the requisi-
tion. It is admitted on all hands that the attention
of government, with all the aid of its manifold
sources of information, is directed to the duty of as-
certaining the extent of the evil to be met, and de-
vising the best measures to be adopted, in the event
of such evil being found considerable; and, such be-
ing the case, we submit that it would have been an
act of some presumption, on the part of any com-
munity, imperfectly informed, and with nothing to
guide them but a mass of conflicting statements and
opinions, to volunteer to the government advice or
dictation on the subject

On this ground alone, had there been no other,
the Mayor was fully justified in refusing to accede
to the prayer of the repisiionists. But there are
still more cogent reasons for his pursuing such a
course, one of which, indeed, is hinted at with suffi-
cient clearness, in the concluding paragraph of his
reply to the deputation. The requisition presented
to him assumes that scarcity of food and, indeed,
famine, is impending over the country, arising from
the disease in the potatoe crop, and " the deficiency
in the wheat crop." But we look in vain for evi-
dence which can be relied on, to bear out either as-
sumption. That we have nothing to fear from any
deficiency in the supply of bread-stuffs is clear from
the stocks of foreign corn which are pouring into
the country, and from the declining prices in the
home market. And with respect to the extent of
the destruction of the potatoe crop, that has yet to
be ascertained. Admitting that, in many districts,
it has been serious, we must bear in mind that we
had this season an excess of crop over that of last
year, estimated at upwards of one-fourth, to rely
upon ; and, moreover, it is impossible to weigh the
evidence presenting itself on every side, and close
our eyes to the conviction that the alleged danger
has been, and is, exaggerated, for what purposes, or
by what party amongst us, we need not suggest.
With respect to Ireland, in which a dearth of the
principal food of its population—potatoes—would be
most seriously felt, the accounts most to he depended
upon convey, day by day, matter for increased con-
fidence. The leading journal of Ireland—the Dublin
Evening Mail—whose opinions on the subject we
quoted last week, thus reiterated them on Friday
last :

" We again repeat there is not the slightest prospect
even of scarcity. There is a greater quantity of food,
fit for use, and, with the Messing of God, will so conti-
nue, with ordinary precaution, than there has been for
the last five years. To be sure, if the wretched and de-
luded peasantry follow the hellish counses of their mis-
creant advisers, and leave their crops to rot in the ground,
or suffer their potatoes to ferment in the pits, unventi-
lated, with a view of avoiding the payment of rents, or of
assisting in promotine a political and religious movement
—as too many of them unfortunately are doing—then,
indeed, there may be a deficiency by so much—but there
will be no famine."

Nor are other witnesses, of unimpeachable credit,
wanting. At a meeting of the nobility, gentry,
clergy of all denominations, and farmers of the
county of Cavan, convened to hear the report of a
committee appointed to consider the state of the po-
tatoe crop and the measures to be taken to arrest the
prevailing disease, we find, as the concluding resolu-
tion, th following, sheaving that, where the peasan-
try are permitted to help themselves, and not inter-
fered with by wicked agitators, the prospect of fa-
mine is very far distant :
Finally, we may express our hope that by the diligent
use of due means, aided by the wise precautions of
go`

...,went, and under the blessing of a bounteous and
merciful Providence (blessed with the aid of an otherwise
abundant harvest), our country may be spared the
miseries of an apprehended scarcity and general distress "
A speaker at the same meeting, the Rev. Dr.
O'Reilly, whose excellent example and noble senti-
ments ought not to be lost upon his brethren of the
Church of Rome in Ireland, thus expressed himself

on the same subject :
" He," Dr. O'Reilly, " thought the disease was at a
stand, and would depart the land, and that the alarm
was abating. Providence, perhaps, had inflicted this
punishment on the Irish nation to prove to us that we
were one penplc—that the Celt and the Saxon—the
Anglo-Norman and the Milesian were mutually dependent
the one on the other. He congratulated the noble lord
who presided over t`te meeting on the splendid assemblage
be had brought together, the most influential that had
ever met in that Court-house. Men now stood by his
lordship's side who lad been his political opponents—men
had ranged themselves around Lord Farnham whom mil-
lions could not bribe—Nlr. Morton for instance. What
had brought this about? Their reliance on his justice
and on his integrity—(this sentiment was followed by the
loudest and ro,st deafening cheers from all parts of the
Court-house.") _ _

The Nanagh Guardian, of Saturday, says—
' That the diseaEe in the potato crop has been very ge

neral, is indisputabie, but that it will tend to a scarcity of
food, or even the most distant prospect of a famine in
the land, is totally impossible. In our district, though
there may be a taint in a portion of the crop, it does not
affect it to such an extent, as to prevent its being used as
food at the present time, but whether that which is so
tainted, would keep for any length of time, is yet to be
ascertained. There is no panic, nor seeming alarm now ;
and we have every confident hope, that the sound portion
of the potato crop, in North Tipperary, will more than
suffice for all the purposes required. Our markets are
well supplied, and prices are moderate."
A Belfast paper, of last week, says—
" The reports from Fermanagh are generally f,vour-
able, and the same may be said of Derry and Tyrone ; so
that on the whole, the ' leaguers' are taking nothing by
.

their outcry of famine. The bubble has burst, and that
has now been discovered by the people rencrally."
We have similar accounts from many other counties.
The alarm is past. The disease is being practically
dealt with ; and is found capable of being arrested
and, in future, prevented. Surely, then, this is not
a time, by public free trade meetings, and their
usual display of ignorance and pretension, to spread
idle panic abroad, and, by holding out fallacious
hopes of assistance from legislative enactments, to
arrest exertion and the adoption of those practical
measures, by which energetic and industrious men
can best surmount the admitted difficulties of their
position.