The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-03-21 00:00:00

" To the extent gold rose in England would bills of
exchange on England have depreciated in New York,
and the importers here of British manufactures would
have got money orders on England for a larger sum.
" To this extent the American importer could have
bought more goods, or (as would have been the case) he
could have given an additional price for his purchases in
England, for, if he did not pay an extra price, he would,
to the extent he got his money remitted at a lower rate
of exchange, have had an advantage over the American
manufacturer, while the greater the discount bills on
England got down to in the New York market, the
greater advantage the English agriculturist would have
Ind over the American wheat-grower. _

" At present the artificials'systems of England cause
the nominal rate of exchange to be 10 per cent. premium
f bills on Lcndon, when, if things were left to regulate
themselves, the rate would naturally be probably 10 per
cent. discount.

" The crushing effect of this on the labouring men in
England is, that it enables the English buyer of American
wheat to give 20 per cent. more to the American grower,
and that it gives a 20 per cent. advantage to American
manufactures sold in New York over British, which
latter could be sold 20 per cent. lower, unless (as would
be the case) the price of labour would rise to the extent
gold 'could rise in price, if England, returning to faith
in Mr. Pitt, would repeal Sir Robert Peel's gold bill of
1819.

" I am satisfied that the dreadful evils which, I antici-
pate, are about to afflict the working men in England,
may be prevented by adding to the present legal tender
in England twenty millions of paper, to represent which
(for the present at least) there may be kept an equal
amount of gold at its market price in the British trea-
sury, or the Bank of England, as explained in my letter
to the ' Currency it eformer.'
" Your obedient, humble servant,
" ISAAC BUCHANAN.
" To the Editor of the Liverpool Standard."

WE were the first amongst the press of Liver-
pool to take exception to Mr. Cardwell's vote
against Mr. Horsman's motion for a modification
of the Income Tax. We conceived that our
honourable member had made a false step ; had
placed himself in opposition to the distinctly-
declared wishes of the majority of the electors of
this borough ; and, waiving all political predilec-
tions, we did not hesitate to express boldly our
opinion as to the offence which he had committed.
That opinion was echoed by most of our contem-
poraries; and the national confederation at once
took up the case, and in a tone, which certainly
seemed to us to to be, a little too severe, originated
a memorial to Mr. Cardwell, to be signed by his
constituents, calling upon him at once to resign
his seat. At the same time that the honourable
gentleman was thus placed under a cloud, his
colleague, Sir Thomas Birch, who had voted in
favor of Mr. Horsman's motion, was gathering
" golden opinions from all sorts of men." Ile
was favoured with notes of congratulation from
the confederation, and from many of our influen-
tial merchants ; and, in fact, had reached the acme
of popularity,
There was, however, to be another opportunity
afforded for testing the soundness of men's princi-
ples upon this vital question. On Monday last the
House decided upon a motion of Mr. Hume, by
which it was proposed to grant the Income Tax for
only one year, thus leaving to Government ample
time to effect such a modification of its provisions
as would render it fair for the whole of the com-
munity. That motion, like Mr. Horsman's, was
rejected ; and naturally we concluded that we were
still, with respect to it, an unrepresented commu-
nity—that one or two hon. members were, as pre-
viously, neutralizing each other's votes. To our
amazement however we read in the division list, the
names of Edward Cardwell and Sir Thomas Birch,
Bart. in the same category, as having voted for a
three year's infliction upon us of the present In-
come Tax.

Naturally, we conned from that date with unusual
interest the columns of our Whig-Radical con-
temporaries. We anticipated—no we didn't, for
we knew the parties better—outpourings of the
via of wrath upon the heads of both. But we
saw no such thing. Five Whig Radical prints have
we perused since Wednesday from title to imprint;.
but not a word of Sir Thomas Birch's offence !
He is, of course, a privileged man. He may steal
a horse. Mr. Cardwell musn't look over the fence.
Only in yesterday's Albion do we find any hint
which may be converted into an impeachment of
the hon. baronet's conduct. We shall quote from
the first article of our contemporary on the sub-
ject—he has two :
"We greatly regret the part—the mistaken part, we
may call it—Which our representative, Mr. Cardwell, has
acted in the matter of the income tax. He has not, it is
true, behaved with that duplicity which has marked the
conduct of so many in connexion with it, and to which
we have. alluded in another article. He has not voted
against it one day to deceive the public, and for it the
next, to save a tottering ministry from their ?veil-merited
downfal."

These are hard words, but point to no party very
narticularlY. Still more hard, however, are some
contained in the article pointed at. We are told of
" hollow individuals, who have no mere claim to
seek political honor or honesty than the moon has
to being designated a manufactured article and en-
titled to the designation of a green cheese "; of
" vermin " less respectable than unblushing and
official Whigs ; of would-be foxes "; of " bubble
patriots"; of men who, " without a Spark of con-
science, unscrupulously voted black to be white, in
the face of their opposite votes of only the week
before "; and finally, (sic in origine) of "SHAMS
and SHABBIES." But when we ask who are these
parties, our prudent contemporaryr tells us that he
has only "given us a hint, and bids us "go to
the division lists." _ _ _

As we have said we have already been there, and
find amongst the majority one individual,
.Sir
Tho, Birch, who yotvi ozr: wea that black was