The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-04-16 00:00:00

PROPOSAL TO DEPRIVE THE PORT OF LIVER-
POOL OF THE SALT TRADE.

Of all the strange projects which have recently been
mooted by our Manchester neighbours, for the gratifica-
tion of their unaccountable spleen against the people and
the prosperity of this town, the most absurd has this week
been placed before the world in the columns of the Man-
chester Guardian. It is now seriously proposed, tin ad-
dition to the abortive inland bonding schemes, ship ca-
nals, and other similar devices, by which the property of
the town was menaced with what Lord Melbourne would
call " heavy blows and great discouragements," and a large
portion of our coasting trade was to be made to escape the
local dues, cartage, porterage, &c., of Liverpool,) to run
away with a valuable part of our export trade itself, and
transfer it, not to Manchester—that bubble has burst
long ago—but to the port of Hull, by the ingenious plan
of transporting to that port, by inland carriage, the arti-
cles to be exported ! Amongst the principal of these we
may enumerate salt, Welsh slates, iron, &c. We give
the routine of the operation proposed, from the Guardian
of Wednesday :
" At present the salt is brought down the river Weaver,
from Northwich, &c. to below Frodshatn, where the
Weaver enters the Mersey, thirteen or fourteen miles
above Liverpool, and the boats thence proceed to the
docks at Liverpool. By the arrangements now being
made the salt will in future be carried from the sources of
its manufacture, down the Weaver, and then instead of
proceeding down the Mersey to Liverpool, it will be con-
veyed in the boats up the Mersey and Irwell navigation
to Runcorn, whence at present it may be brought to Man-
chester, either by the same navigation, or by the Duke of
Bridgewater's canal ; and, if the project elsewhere noticed
of converting that canal into a railway be carried out,
then by that line it may be brought to Manchester. In
any case, however, it will be brought hither to a station
near the Victoria Bridge, and will then be loaded in a pe-
culiar form of covered waggon, constructed for the pur-
pose, by which it will be conveyed by the Manchester and
Leeds, Leeds and Selby, and Selby and Hull lines of
railway to Hull, and there shipped for the continent.
We understand that about 300 of the waggons are now be-
ing made, under a contract. One great advantage of this
change in the mode of transit is expected to be, that the
foreign vessels, now coming so often in ballast to Liver-
pool, will, as opportunity serves, bring cargoes of grain,
&c. from the Baltic and other parts of the continent to
Hull ; and thus a sort of interchange of two necessary
commodities may be established. We hear that salt is
not the only article of commerce destined in this way to
change its usual port of export. Welsh slates will in all
probability find a similar means of transit across the coun-
try, to be shipped at Hull for the continent.—Since the
above was written, we find a paragraph, confirming this
statement, in the Eastern Counties Herald, which we in-
sert elsewhere."

It is perhaps scarcely necessary, to Liverpool readers,
o offer many reasons in objection to the impracticability
of carrying out this precious piece of mingled spitefulness,
folly, and jobbing—yes, JOBBING ! But we may be ex-
cused if we say a few words upon the animus of the par-
ties by whom it is suggested. The notion of carrying salt,
slate, &c. by canal and railway, from the west to the east
coast, for shipment to the continent, is sheer absurdity,
for the very obvious reason that the expense of the inland
carriage, transhipment, &c., alone, would be far greater
than the freight from Liverpool to a European port.
Besides, were the operation practicable, it might be more
cheaply carried out by means of an already-existing chan-
nel, the Leeds and Liverpool canal, than by the aid of
" the peculiar form of covered carriages" devised by the
speculative ingenuity of Leeds and Manchester railway
jobbers. We can afford therefore to laugh at the Quixotism
of the scheme, whilst we deprecate the motives of the pro-
jectors. What has this " good old town" of Liverpool
done amiss, that we are to be continually kept in fear of
being " chawed up" by the millocracy of Manchester ?
What can be the object of this ready adoption, by our
neighbours, of any and every whimsy which folly and
spite can devise to injure us ? Why should it grieve them
that the commerce of the world is pouring its wealth into
this port, through the channel of our noble river; that the
shipping of Liverpool ploughs every sea, and the useful
products of the adjacent districts are conveyed by it to
every foreign market? Surely, it is not envy; surely it is
not the paltry feeling which prompted the snarlings of the
dog in the manger.
We can imagine no well-founded cause of bitterness—
no cause which a sensible and an honest man would not
blush to avow. But we can fancy a little scheming. We
can imagine the effect of a generally-entertained belief in
the various cock-and-bull stories, circulated by the gen-
tlemen bitten with this anti-Liverpool mania, upon the
price of certain railway stocks. Once let it be credited
that some hundred thousand tons per annum of salt and
Welsh slates are going to be forwarded, like drapers' par-
cels, overland from this port to Hull for shipment—a spe-
cies of " carrying coals to Newcastle," or " going round-
about for the nearest ;" and how Leeds and Manchester
shares will look up—how Leeds and Selby and Selby and
Hull will jump to premiums
But, it wont do. This is not the age in which Mun-
chausens and Bobadils pass current for sensible men, or
the world can be gulled by projected roads to the moon,
or plans of extracting gold from sunbeams. Gentlemen
Mitlocrats and Leaguers, yon are cimply making ynnr-

PATRIOTISM OF AN IRISH TOWN-COUNCILLOR.

The character of an Irish Municipal body is admirably
exemplified by the proceedings of the Town Council of
Cork, at a meeting held on Thursday sen'night. A mem-
ber of the Council in question had conceived the splendid
idea that it was necessary to their dignity that they should
appear at the recent " Munster Provincial Festival," in
honour of the about-to-be-martyred O'Connell, in the
robes of their office ; and accordingly delivered himself
of a motion to the effect that such robes (being non-
existent) should be provided for the occasion. In behalf
of this motion a Mr. Councillor Dowden argued " that if
the Queen came there, the handmaiden of Tory polities"
—(how complimentary i)—" she would be met with all
matters appertaining to respect; and he did not think
that the Majesty of England, who ruled by birthright,
should have more honor and respect paid to her than the
Majesty of intellect and good feeling which kept Ireland
quiet, waiting for a better day." Her Majesty, in plain
terms, should have no more respect paid her than Daniel
O'Connell her convicted subject; (!) and on her name
being mentioned by another speaker, and the indecency
of the two names being treated upon a footing of equality
commented upon, the same patriotic individual ejaculated
" We know nothing about her!"

A still more startling and almost as loyal and patriotic
(!) a sentiment was expressed by this pattern town-coun-
cillor, upon the subject of things in general. " He, Mr.
Councillor Dowden, did not know a greater oppression
the country could suffer under than what were called the
laws of the land—they were an atrocious oppression, which
he hoped the next great reformation would get rid of—
(oh, oh.) They were a system of deliberate lying, du-
plicity, humbug, and jusuistry—(oh, oh.) He was for
doing away with the craft of the law—the craft of the
church—the craft of the army, and the craft of medicine
—(laughter.)" Why not add to the-list " the craft " of
such Town Councils as this of Cork ?

As the climax of the absurdity of this affair of munici-
pal robes, it was admitted by the assembled philosophers
that although their motion was carried, neither tailors
nor money could be found to carry it into execution ; and,
in all probability, the municipality of Cork, like the cele-
brated Paddy from the same locality, wore simply their
coats, buttoned behind, in the ordinary fashion of their
city.

REPORTED CONVERSION OF THE BRIDGEWATER
CANAL INTO A RAILWAY.—The Manchester Guardian
notices a rumour, to the effect that Lord Francis Eger-
ton has an intention (and, according to some accounts,
has given directions to have that intention carried into
effect) of draining dry the Bridgewater Canal, from Man-
chester to Runcorn, and converting it into a railway, for
the conveyance of goods and passengers, and by steamers
from Runcorn to Liverpool. To carry into effect this
project, it is said—and we believe truly—that there will be
no necessity to go to parliament, the land occupied by the
canal and the banks on its sides being sufficient for the
construction of a line of railway, without further purcha-
ses being made; and the fact of the canal being through-
out upon a level, without a single lock during its whole
length, the construction must be very inexpensive, con-
sisting merely of the draining, the widening, perhaps, of
some portions, in order to accommodate two lines of rails,
for which, at present, it may not afford sufficient space,
the erection of sufficient bridges, the ballasting and rails,
and the expense of stations, &c. It is further said that
the dock of the Ellesmere Company will be made the
depot for the transhipment of goods and passengers be-
tween Liverpool and Manchester. Of course, we cannot
vouch for the accuracy of this report; but we cannot by
any means discover that the project to which it refers
is one at all unlikely to be in the contemplation of the
noble lord, the owner of the property to be so dealt with.
Lord Francis has already, it is well known, by his pur-
chase of the River Irwell Companies' property, provided
himself with a good water communication, by which to
convey his heavy freight ; and although the distance of
the route by the proposed railway to Runcorn, and by the•
Mersey to Liverpool, may be somewhat longer than the
present direct railway communication between the two
towns, (the canal being 32 miles long, and the distance
by the river from Runcorn about eighteen miles,)
the small cost of construction, and the perfept level
of the line, when constructed, and consequently light cost
of working, may possibly enable such new line to become
a very formidable competitor for a certain portion of the
traffic. It is not the first time that it has been proposed
to convert canals into railways. It is not the first time
that such conversion of this very canal has been mooted ;
and it must strike any one, that if the importance of the
present passenger traffic upon it, and the quantity of
freight requiring quick despatch, are sufficient to warrant
the recent efforts made, by the adoption of steamers
suited for the canal boats and other expensive appliances,
to ensure speed of transit, the substitution of a railway for
a canal may be equally warranted. Such a railway, too,
may ultimately be carried forward, crossing the Mersey
at Runcorn Gap, through the Gateacre valley to Liver-
pool. We are speaking, however, with respect to the pro-
ject, quite upon speculation; and shall not therefore, en-
ter further into any discussion of it, but content ourselves
with merely bringing its main features before our readers.
On Thursday night a fire broke out in the whiting ma-
nufactory of Mr. Richardson, Leeds-street. It was got
out by the fire-police.