The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-06-02 00:00:00

our destinies are so inextricably involved in its ca-
reer—that we dare not check it, even to measure
the dangerous gulf into which the indulgence of its
own wild whim would hurry us.

We cannot believe that this is a healthy symp-
tom of our condition as a nation. It is, on the con-
trary, one full of peril. A quarter of a century
ago, we used to be told that annual parliaments
would be conducive to the prosperity and mainte-
nance of the liberties of Englishmen. The masses
demanded that statesmen should appeal more fre-
quently to them as the arbiters of their measures.
But now the people are put aside. Their own re-
presentatives have not time allowed them for the
ordeal. They have other masters to serve, an d
must legislate with the brawling of a huge factory
population, or the fear of a commercial panic,
urging them on. The House of Lords may be said
to be virtually extinct as a controlling power in the
constitution. It has two influences operating to
make its voice null in the regulation of the national
affairs,—on the one hand the power of the crown,
wielded by the minister, and, on the other, the fear
of a commercial crisis.

It is impossible not to foresee very serious evil,
and even danger, in the growth of this formidable
power; and, moreover, that the effects of most of
our recent regulation must be to precipitate that
growth. We are getting more and more bound to
the wheels of this vast commercial machine. Our
masses are becoming more and more its slaves; and
we less capable of enforcing measures for the ame-
lioration of their social condition. A few days
ago, we had submitted to Parliament a wise and
humane measure, for limiting the hours of labour
of the youthful portion of our factory population ;
and a British legislation durst not exercise its phi-
lanthropy. This new power in the constitution
urged its selfish fear of a trifling diminution of pro-
fits; and Parliament succumbed to the iron necessity,
which it has itself created, and is rapidly perpetua-
ting. What hope, then, can we have of procuring
for our masses, against the dictation •f their em-
ployers and the pressure of commercial competi-
tion, any relaxation of their severe lot ? We have
no such hope; and whatever expectations may have
been entertained by our working population of
sharing the benefits promised as the result of our
present policy, they would do well to erase them
from their minds. Legislation is no longer in the
people or in the peerage. The working and all
other classes must stand or fall now, must rejoice or
suffer, accordingly as the complicated machinery of
our commerce runs smoothly or gets out of order.

An amusing quarrel is just now being waged
between the Times and the Morning Herald, with
respect to the great foresight, or knowledge of cha-
racter, on the part of the former, in determining, so
early as the 4th of December last, the course which
would be taken by Sir Robert Peel and his Cabinet
upon the corn-law question. The Herald seems to
regard his powerful contemporary as a kind of poli-
tical Mephistopheles—a literary wizard, or a clair-
voyant—whose vision into the recesses of the minds
of statesmen is something more than human—
something calling for the exorcist or the Inquisi-
tion. The Times retorts by accusing his assailant
of a want of political discernment and perception of
character. We have no wish to snatch the laurels
from the conqueror in this dispute ; but it does
strike us that they are fighting about other people's
property. Six months before the Times announced,
or the Herald contradicted " on authority," the de-
fection of the Premier and his fraternisation with
the League, the LIVERPOOL STANDARD assured
its readers that " Sir Robert Peel was prepared to
repeal the corn-laws." We dwelt upon no fixed
duty. We said, above twelve months since, that
he would propose a measure of total and uncondi-
tional repeal ; and he has done so. We made at
the same time some other predictions, with respect
to the future course of this pre-eminently Inconsis-
tent statesman, which we expect to see fulfilled in
due course of events ; but as we don't wish to be
burnt at the stake for witchcraft before our time,
guillotined by the Morning Herald, or to put the
public into premature alarm, we do not intend to
report them here. They are, however, to be found
by the curious in our file.

THE SUGAR DUTIES.

We have long ago intimated our opinion that the pro-
gress of free-trade principles cannot be stayed at the limit
of a repeal of the Corn-laws; that the farmer's class, in
common with other portions of the industrial community,
who have now to enter upon the race of competition with
the foreigner, will demur to the retention of the duties
upon commodities which enter extensively into their
consumption, and listen to no pleas which involve the
continuance, to other classes, of that protection which is
denied to themselves. This consummation is about to
present itself to us. The sugar duties have shortly to be
brought before the House of Commons; and even in the
Ministry we understand that there is division of opinion
as to the course to be pursued. The Chancellor of the
Exchequer and Mr. Gladstone are opposed to the ad-
mission of slave-grown sugar. The remaining portion of
the Government see no other course left open to them.
The Premier is undecided, and will probably go with the
strongest section amongst his colleagues. As in the case
of the Corn Bill, he will be unable to defend protection to
free labour in our colonies. _

The-fate of the bill, therefore, will depend upon the
opinions of the protectionist party ; and here, we are
assured from good authority, there is a split. The dis-
inclination to tolerate the introduction of slave-grown
produce is great ; but it is argued by an influential section
of the party that the agriculturist must now look, irre-
spective of considerations of humanity, to his own imme-
diate interest, and that he cannot deny himself the ad-
vantage of cheapness in so important an article of
consumption as sugar. The Whig party will undoubtedly
follow the leadership of Lord Palmerston, who is to move
the abolition, or the reduction, of the present discrimi-
nating duty. The great probability, therefore, is that the
present session will see added to the other movements i❑
favour of free trade the reduction of the discriminating
duties upon foreign slave .grown and British Colonial su-
gars. At all events, such an arrangement cannot be far
cff, however unfortunate may be its results towards the
cultivators of the British West Indies and of our East
Indian possessions.

BIRKENHEAD COMMISSIONERS.—A meeting of this
Board was held last night, in the Board-room, Hamilton-
square: J. H. Green, Esq. in the chair; but the only
business transacted was the signing of the amended Im-
provement Rate, so as to enable all who have removed to
vote at the election of commissioners this day.
TIIE Docx BILL. —The alterations proposed to be
made in the clauses of the dock bill, by the opponents
who are represented by Mr. Evans, were submitted to a
special meeting of the Dock Committee yesterday. Mr.
Bromley Moore, the chairman, presided, and there was a
full attendance of members, but the proceedings were not
public.
On Sunday last the sum of seven pounds was contri-
buted by the congregation of St. Barnabas Church,
towards the relief of the sufferers by the late melancholy
collision on the river. The sum will be considered a
very handsome one, when we state that no notice was
given of the collection, which was made by boxes held at
the doors. .

THE STRIKE IN THE BUILDING TRADES.—Although
we still head our remarks upon this subject as heretofore,
the unfortunate disunion between the employers and the
employed is now confined to the masons, who, contrary to
the expectations indulged in last week, have thought fit to
stand out for other terms than those accepted by the
other trades, viz., for a deduction of half-an-hour per day
from their time of labour. To this Mr. Tomkinson, to
whom it was first proposed, dissented as unreasonable;
and his example has been followed by other masters. At
present there are no symptoms of the dispute being acco-
modated. _

ROYAL MERSEY YACHT CLUB.—The first sailing-
match of the season, of this distinguished society, for
elegant prizes of plate, will take place on Friday next, for
yachts belonging to members of the club. The start will
be from Rock Ferry, about eleven a.m., sailing round the
bell buoy and back. The fine steamer, the Iron Duke, is
engaged to follow the match for the accommodation of the
members and their friends only. If this fine weather
continues, a delightful day's excursion may be anticipated
for those parties who are fortunate enough to possess
tickets to view the match. A band of music will enliven
the day's proceedings, the officers and members attend.
ing in their uniforms.
ST. MATTHEW'S CHURCH..--011 Sunday next, and on
the following Tuesday, sermons will be preached in this
indispensable
expenses for the purpose of defraying the
expenses connected with it ; and the churchwardens have
the most pressing occasion to appeal to the public for
liberal contributions, as in consequence of the Liverpool
and Bury Railway Company having intimated that they
are likely to want the site of the church, and the ground
attached to it, for their station, many persons who would
otherwise have taken pews have declined doing so, and in
consequence the pew-rents being very small, the church-
wardens depend principally for support to the quarterly
collections. The following statement will exhibit the
position in which the pecuniary affairs of the church will
stand at the end of the present month :
Due the treasurer from last quarter.. £ll 16s 8d
Due the minister ....
Salaries, gas, &c . ........... 11 10 0

65 6 8
Collected from pew-rents

Leaving a balance of ...... 57 2 8
A Gnu, FOUND DROWNED.—On Saturday forenoon,
the body of a girl named Eleanor Owens, aged seven
years, who resided with ber parents in Cinder-street,
Kirkdale, close to the gaol, was found by her father,
drowned in a pit, in the brick field where be works for Mr.
Rowlands. Her mother bad left her in the field half an
hour previously.

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.