The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-06-16 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS,

rward it t

ion of " Crito's'

t" the whole of the info

Committee

:tcr at present would, to say th

PRINCE ALBERT'S VISIT,

THE PROPRIETORS OF THE
rERPOOL STANDARD

e presenting to t

SICR ALBERT'S

ITH (Y

r Readers, on TUESDAY, the
)f fits ROYAL HIGHNESS

ISIT TO LIVERPOOL,

N. VIEW OF THE PROPOSED

3.S' HOME,

lEWS OF LOCAL INTEREST,
to drawings by CELEBRATED

EtTISTS

IE PRINTS WILL BE I
PAP"

i'ON THE BEST

arced will form

A PICTURE

worthy of being hung alongside of
E BEST PRODUCTIONS OF MODERN ARI

JARD of

mill contain, in
PLEMENTAL SHEET,
r THE VARIOUS FLOORS

qOTHER

Full and accurate Announcements of
1E ARRANGEMENTS MADE FOR THE
ROYAL GUEST;

UTE OF THE VARIOUS PROCE.,

RSIONS.

ticular

Liverpool a

spicions an occasion

Ebt

ted to interest the inhabitants

3 resorting to the town upon so

tibt.

-toot &tanbait.

TUESDAY MORNING, JUNE 16, 1846

The news brought by the Britannia mail-steamer
from the seat of war, on the Rio Grande, has, we
dare say, agreeably surprised the friends and ad-
mirers of the American people in this country. Up
to our latest previous advices, it was clear to the
most unpractised critic in military affairs that the
American troops engaged in the expedition were in
a position of great danger. Menaced by a superior
force, their communications cut off, and their stores
very limited, it was evident that nothing but the
energy and true courage inherent in their native
Saxon blood, or some fortuitous error of judgment,
or rank cowardice, on the part of the enemy, could
enable them to extricate themselves without serious
loss. The accounts, however, which we give in
another place, show that the American army, under
General Taylor, has not only escaped from its dan-
gerous position, but has defeated the Alexicans in
two engagements, under circumstances which, giving
the usual margin for probable exaggeration, prove
that they possess, in an ample degree, so far at least
as physical courage goes, the material of which the
soldier is composed, whilst it is equally clear that the
Mexicans are, as a race, wanting in this most neces-

nary quality.
It is, however, to the probable results of these
triumphs of the Americans, in what we cannot but

regard as an unjustifiable quarrel, that the British
public will look with the greatest interest. It would
be sheer flattery, which, we should imagine, even an
rican would not be capable of swallowing, to
e that the raw levies of militia-meu, who have
ted the Mexican troops, could cope with a
red and well-disciplined European army.
er, however, to the peace of the world is,
r Jonathan may get it into his head that
all the world with as much ease as he
Lae forces of General Paredes, and
bearing towards ourselves in

The dang

get iotty in ni
: ular. Already

erable excitement

len sword

shewn symptoms of con-
lting from this fleshing of
Volunteers, who hung back at

first, are pouring in from all directions to reinforce
the now victorious army of General Taylor; and it
is said, that nothing except a prompt and uncondi-
tional submission, on the part of the enemy, can pre-
_ _

t a march upon the city of Mexico. By the let
d, an army of 25 to 30,000 bayonets
1 upon the frontier, before whom,
plined, no force which the

of July, it is
are to be org
when thorot

Mexican Government can bring to oppose them can
stand for a day. In the meantime the American
squadron in the Pacific is ordered forthwith to take

possession of California, which will, no doubt, whilst
in the hands of the United States' Government, as a
security for the payment of the claim which will be
brought against Mexico, be so rapidly peopled by
nerican settlers, that it will be difficult to bring
at province under the rule of its proper owners.
With such an army ready organized, the coffers
American government filled with Mexican
ached to the union, and
th a sense of their newly-

1, a fine possessio

will the present pacific
Oregon question continue ? It is true
t of the bulk of the Ameri-
with respect to that question, has evapo-
This Mexican quarrel has been the safety
We hear nothing at present of 54 degrees,
; and whilst the eyes of our Yankee breth-
ren are turned towards their present antagonist, a

ered martial prov

a recent exciteme:

n people

nt effort of statesmanship- on the part of both
aments, would set the question at rest for ever.
however, advocates of
However powerfully

We are n

_ J _
aN m this matter

supported we may be with reinforcements, General
Taylor has something to do before consummating
complete triumph over Mexico. He has to face
faller, already set in, and the fever of the
)s are not inured. We
that his past success is
Upon this subject, the Hall-

.y, to wi

lready

1 his troo

hinted, too,

probably overstated

fax Morning Post of the 2nd instant, our latest
paper by the Britannia, states, under the heading
" News from Mexico : highly important,"—
" The Mail of yesterday brought nothing of importance
save a contradiction of the abominable fabrications of the
New York Sun. This, as our readers know, we antici-

'e shall not, ho

a arrived last r

)e long without news. The
ight. We bad a boat and
so intensely dark and foggy,

but thi

Is, we were obliged to

.e up the pur

Acadian brings will be published in
7 England—this afternoon, at three

.11.1oriing Post fo

Our contemporary, however, does not appear to
have been able to realize his promise, or the paper
has, by some, accident, missed the steamer. Should
the contest by any accident be prolonged, the
government of the United States will have to enter

financial operations to procure the necessary
NN hich may not very well suit the palates of
the American people. A war, even "a little war,"
xeak state like Mexico, they will find an ex-
le prudence of pausing
e with Great Britain.

In pursuing the i

y, which we proposed to
the question what course

:he most w

)y the various classes

of the community affected by the coming change
in our national policy,—we approach, next in order,
the position of the labourer. Throughout the agi-
tation of the corn law question, it has been a telling

argument against the agriculturist, that the condi-
tion of the masses, employed by him in cultivation,
could not be rendered worse; and, unhappily, there
is too much ground for the reproach. The farm-
labourer is not, in every instance, the prosperous,
contented being that imaginative people have been
in the habit of describing him. On the contrary,
in too many districts, he is a being whose life, from
the cradle to the grave, is spent with only the alter-
natives Of half a meal in his wretched cottage, as
the reward of his daily toil, or the coarse fare and.
on workhouse, as the pun-
bility to toil. We

Discipline of

of unwillingr.

treated him in our legislation, of late years,
more as a chattel than as a sentient being. By our
harsh and unchristian poor law, we have practically
called into requisition the feelings and affections of
human nature in his bosom, as a goad to compel
him to accept of the hard terms which we offer him.
We say to the married labourer, " there is your
task, and its remuneration ; if you refuse it, you
cease to be a husband, and have no longer the pri-
vileges of a father." He possesses one solitary'
lessing—the fact that his toil is in the fresh at-
osphere, and is one, unlike that of the factory
,rker or the artizan, productive of health ; but
very blessing we convert into a curse, by the
4,imit which we impose upon his appetite.
How little has legislation done for this class !
Have we given its members increased means of edu-
cation ? Have we conferred upon them any one boon
calculated to ameliorate their physical or moral con-
dition ? If the habits and condition of the agricul-
tural labourer be deteriorated, as we must acknow-

ledge they are—if he has grown a sullen, desperate
being, no longer husbanding his small means, no

anger cultivating his little patch of ground, or
striving to add to the comforts of his poor cottage,
we owe much of the change to that cruel kindness,
which has thrown in his way the temptations of the
ill-regulated beer-house, and the taint of bad
company. _ _

What then is to be the position of this class under
our new policy ? He will have his daily food, we
are told, brought more within the reach of his
They are political economists forsoooth
is this I Why, it is contrary to every rule
of this vaunted science. The cost of labour is a
main ingredient in the price of a quarter of corn ;
and if the price is reducel by foreign importations,
even assuming the same quantity as at present to
be grown at home, how is the present cost of labour
to be afforded by the grower? For a time, perhaps,
any great decline may he prevented, by the demand
for labour to carry on the improvements, to which
the farmer is driven ; but, ultimately, this source of
employment must fail the labourer. To compete
successfully with his foreign rival, the native grower
must look to more scientific and cheaper manage-
ment of his land; and, to do this, improved agri-
cultural implements, the adoption of improved fer-
tilizing materials, and the relinquishing of attempts
to raise grain upon soils, where its cultivation will
now have become unprofitable, is far more likely to
be his resource, than a more extensive permanent
employment of the labourer. Besides, we think we
showed successfully in our last that the certain re-
sult of our present policy must be the gradual
abolition of the small farm system, and the reduction
of the small farmer and his family to the level of,
perhaps the superior portion of, the labouring
masses. Here we have the elements of increased
competition for employment, which must inevitably
drive the least skilled and less active labourers out
of the field.
The manufacturer, however, will assure us that he
is ready to absorb the surplus labour of the agri-
cultural districts, in his factories and his workshops;
and Sir James Graham is preparing an alteration in
the Law of Settlement, to facilitate the absorbing
process. But the manufacturer never makes the
boast before his own workpeople, to whom, exclu-
sively, he has promised the benefits of that extension
of demand for labour, which is to arise from the
free importation of food; and the inhabitants of
the large towns are not at present very much
enlightened with respect to the operation of the
measure of Sir James. Let us briefly examine the
latter.

means

who tell

Under the existing Law of Settlement, and in the
present state of society in the agricultural districts,
made up as it is of tenants of all classes, from the
mere cottier with his acre or half dozen acres, half
farmer and half labourer, to the farmer of 1000 or
1503 acres, the surplus labourer in rural parishes is
provided for by employment in the inferior opera-
tions of agriculture, in highway work, &c., or is
paid for out of the poor's rate; thus, in either way,
creating a severe drain upon the rate-paying occu-
piers. Of the able-bodied portion of this surplus,
many migrate to other parishes, or to large towns;
but each remains still adscriptum glebm of the parish
where he has a settlement, and is liable to be sent
back in old age, or in periods of commercial stag-
nation, once more to be a burthen upon that parish.
Sir James Graham, however, proposes a new mode
of acquiring a settlement for such migrating
labourer, by a five years' industrial residence in any
parish or large town in which he may be able to
procure employment. The operation of such a
measure, in the changed social position of the
agricultural body, made up, as it shortly must
be, of large occcupiers, it is not difficult to
foresee. The surplus labourer will be encou-
raged, and provided with funds, to transfer his
labour to another market, or he may even be
coerced by the stringent administration of the new
Poor Law; and five years employment in any other
place will rid his place of settlement of their burthen
altogether. In the event of old age, or commercial
or manufacturing stagnation, the burthen of his
support will fall upon the place to which he has
been drawn, perhaps only for temporary purposes,
and without the prospect of permanent profitable
employment for his labour. Apply this Law 6f
Settlement to such places as Liverpool and Birken-
head. In both we have extensive works going on,
for which the labour of a class of men, different

from our ordinary population, is required. Five
years' employment in those works settles those men
and their families permanently upon the parishes of
Liverpool and Birkenhead. Under the operation of
such a law of settlement what must have become of
Stockport, Bolton, and other towns during the com-
mercial embarrassment of 1841 and 1842, filled as
those towns were with paupers from the southern
counties, whom the parochial authorities, acting
under the existing law, were enabled to send back
to their original settlement ?
This change will undoubtedly operate to raise
slightly the condition of the agricultural labourer in
his own parish; but it cannot have any very exten-
sive operation, for the satisfactory reason that the
towns are not able to absorb any great portion of

agricultural labour, without redUcing the value of
the labour of their own population, and thus taking
away the inducement to migrate. The labourer's
next resource it is not easy to arrive at. Emigration
possibly might be attempted ; but the emigrants
must be of the small farmer class, or the superior
labourer's, whose removal from the soil would leave
upon it the melancholy spectacle of a population
consisting only of the moderately wealthy and the
miserably poor and dependent. The dangerous na-
ture of such a state of society history has sufficiently
shewn to the world.
It is clear that the Legislature ought to tell us what
is to be done with this valuable class of our indus-
trious population. They must neither be left to the
new-fangled theories of agricultural societies, with
their premiums for voluntary starvation, nor to the
tender mercies of experimentalizing philosophers.
We are told that their condition cannot be worse ;
what is that but telling us that it ought to be better ?
We might extend to their youth the blessings of a
sound system of parochial education. Make it com-
pulsory if you please. There can be no sound rea-
son, except the poverty of their parents, for sending
children, at six or seven years of age, into the fields
to pull turnips, or to weed corn,l for a penny a-day.
Th State ought to take care that a future generation
of Englishmen and women are not brought up igno-

rant as the beasts they have to drive. —WeMight
close the beer-shop against the parent, and undo
that fatal mistake in our past legislation, which has
been so productive of misery and crime. We must,
in mercy to the most uuprotected amongst our po-
pulation, relax the cruel pressure of the New Poor-
Law.

The Oddfellows are perhaps the most numerous
and important body, enrolled together for mutual
-,irance, in Great Britain. On the Ist of January,
':ad 3854 lodges in 386 districts, and
their members numbered 259,374. The amount of
good within such a body as this, if their affairs were
conducted upon a right principle, is almost incal-
culable. A quarter of a million cf families are here
apparently provided for in the contingencies of the
sickness or the death of their heads; and as there
are almost innumerable other societies established
with the same beneficial object, it becomes of incal-
culable importance to ascertain the basis of the
calculation on which the promises held out by many
of these societies are based.

For a yearly payment of £1 2s. 9d., including
entrance money, the following benefits are promised
to a man aged 32 :
LO 10 0 per week during sickness,
. £lO 00 at the death of a member,
£5 0 0 at the death of his wife.

To enable any society to fulfil these promises, it.is
clear that there ought to be an ample margin ; and
that the contingencies to which the assured are
liable should be estimated rather over than under
the scale, which has been drawn from our experi-
ence of vital statistics. Mr. Neison, in the able
work to which we referred in our last, has laid down
the following table, shewing the expectation of life
at the same ages amongst the males of three dis-
districts, and for all classes in England and Wales :
Age. Expectation of Life in
F. S rural dis. F. S. town dis. F. S. city dis. Eng. &Wales.
20.. .. 45.35 ...... 42.27
30.. .. 38.40
40.. .. 30.97 ...... 27.15
5t 1.... 23.47 ..... . 19.97
G 0.... 16.65

From these data a man who has become a mem-
ber of a Benefit Society at the age of 32, may
expect to live 36 years, if in a rural district; 32
if in a town district; 30T if in large cities; and 32
years is the mean for England and Wales. Taking
the latter as the basis of our calculation, such a
member, on his death, will have paid into the funds
of the society £36 Bs., out of which £l5 is to be re-