The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-01-22 00:00:00

POLITICAL MISCELLANY.

-.-
Sir James Duke will second the address.
Mr. O'Brien, the member for Limerick, is about to re-
sign, and join the Protectionists.
It is said that a reduction of a quarter of a million will
be made in the navy estimates.

In the House of Lords, Lord Essex will propose, and
Lord Methuen second, the address in reply to the Queen's

speech.
Mr. D'lsraeli has been charged by the free-trade jour-
nals with advancing his rents, but the hon. gentleman
has emphatically denied the statement.
Mr. James L. O'Ferrall, brother of the governor of
Malta, has been appointed the second salaried commis-
sioner of the National Board of Education. The salary
is £lOOO per annum.
Mr. Serjeant Byles is the author of " Sophisms of Free
Trade." A requisition has been presented to the learned
gentleman to allow himself to be nominated as candidate
for one of the divisions of Sussex.

The protectionist members of parliament will assemble
at Lord Stanley's residence, on the 31st instant—the day
on which parliament is summoned to meet—when the
propriety of moving an amendment to the address will be
taken into consideration.

The Morning Herald exposes with great effect the in-
consistency of the " Liberal" press, in extolling the
" practical good sense" of the American democracy, and
at the same time refusing to accept Protectionist doctrines
which it takes for its guidance.
Mr. Cobden, of course, has at once raised the cry of
blood-money in regard to the proposed Russian loan

" The Cossack hOrdes have fulfilled their mission in
Hungary : witness her wasted fields, her smoking villages,
and her scaffolds flowing with the blood of her noblest
patriots ; and now the savage instruments of all this de-
vastation and slaughter are clamorous for their wages."
This " unholy and infamous transaction" is not, how-
ever, likely to be impeded by the ravings of Richard Cob-
den and the peace congress. The solvency of Russia is
all that will be looked to, and, notwithstanding Califor-
nia, her gold mines offer very fair security. The object of
raising the money is to make a railroad from St. Peters-
burgh to Moscow, and the Times says that the loan was
completed within a few hours of its announcement, and
that the contractors received applications for at least twice
the amount of tLe loan they had to dispose of.
_

THE REAL AUTHORS OF THE NATIONAL DEBT.—It is
a memorable fact that from the very first the Tory part
opposed themselves strenuously to the creation and pro-
gress of the national debt, the nucleus of which was
formed when the Whigs were in power. It is well that
those who in our times bitterly denounce the system
which has landed us in such inextricable difficulties, and
which has had the effect of rearing up class interests, irre-
concileably opposed to each other, in once-united Eng-
land, should remember that for this legacy we are specially
indebted to the Whigs. Except by Tory ministers, and
in one case by Walpole, no attempt has been made to
stem the progress of the current ; and this consideration
is doubly valuable at this• moment, when it is proposed,
by a vigorous effort. to make head against the monster
grievance, and, .by the establishment of an inviolable
sinking-fund, to commence that work which liberal and
juggling politicians have hitherto shamefully evaded.
THE TEA DUTIES.—DEPUTATION TO MINISTERS.—
A deputation to ministers, from Liverpool, Glasgow, and
Edinburgh, on the subject of the reduction of the duty
on tea, had an interview with the premier on Wednesday.
On a question where the arguments are en irely upon the
one side, it was not expected that ministers wouldsay any-
thing discouraging to so influential a deputation. Lord
John Russell assured them that " the subject should re-
ceive the best consideration of himself and his right hon.
colleague, the Chancellor of the Exchequer ;" but further
than this the premier would not venture to utter a sylla-
ble. "On a question involving so many points of impor-
tance, the government could not be expected to give a
definite answer ;" and so we must remain in suspense
till Sir Charles Wood brings forward his annual budget,
when, we trust, he will be bold enough, and wise enough,
to employ a portion of the surplus revenue at his disposal
in effecting a large reduction of that tno3t oppressive of
all taxes on consumption, the duty on tea.
CHARTIST MEETINGS.—The, first of a series of Char-
tist meetings was held at the London Tavern on Monday
evening. Feargus O'Connor was the " head and frcnt"
of this assembly ; and he, of course, exulted over the
" conversion" of Sir Joshua Walmslcy and Mr. Cobden,
and animated his audience by spouting verses which he
said were of his own composition : an intimation akin to
that of an old blind ballad singer in the streets, who used
to wind up his performance with the Homeric assurance,
"I am the author of every word I sing." The orators
were the old familiar talkers ; and Julian Harney, who is
employed on the Northern Star, scared a soberer Char-
tist of the name of Clark, by his denunciation of the mid-
dle classes, and his hints that when the next revolution
occurs, in France or England, the people may find it
necessary to perpetuate their power, by handling the
heads of their opponents. Another speaker said, " The
last revolution bad given the people power to turn Louis
Napoleon off the throne, if he dared to raise himself to
it, and to establish the. Red Republic triumphantly. In
thht case the triumph of the people would not be followed
by the like events which had occurred in February—they
would .show the rascals what mercy they deserved. Vice
la guillotine .1"

REASONS WHY THE PRICES OF GRAIN ARE NOT
LOWER.—The prices of grain, low as they are, have been
upheld by circumstances beyond the control of our free-
trade statesmen. The disturbances on tbs, ocmtioeut basc
no doubt greatly impeded the pursuits of the European
agriculturist, and restricted their productions ; whilst it is
notorious that the last crop of wheat in the United States
was far below the average. We have now before us a
letter from an intelligent farmer in the States of Ohio,
who emigrated some years ago from Melton, in this
county. He states, in reference to the late American
harvest, " The wheat this season has been so injured by
a kind of fly, that thousands, I may say tens of thousands,
of farmers here have not reaped as much as they sowed."
Of course this deficiency in the hariest must have limited
the quantity of grain available for export to this country,
and as prices are ruled by the relative proportion of
supply and demand, so must these circumstances have
tended to keep up the prices at a higher figure than they
would have ranged, had peace prevailed throughout
Europe, and had the labours of the .American farmer
been blessed with a fruitful harvest. Notwithstanding
these drawbacks, the quantity of corn thrown on our
markets has been immense ; what then may we expect
under altered circumstances.—Yorkshire Gazette.

THE MARKET GARDENERS.—There is, perhaps, scarce
any class of persons which has suffered so severely from
the abolition of protective duties as the market gardeners.
The high rental of the fertile lands that they cultivate,
especially in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, the
high wages of their numerous labourers, the immense ex-
tent of walls and of glass, and the quantity of coals and
of expensive manure that they require, render them
utterly unable to compete with the untaxed productions of
more genial climates. The high prices that were formerly
paid for very early specimens of forced fruits and vegeta-
bles, in order that they might appear at the public ban-
quets and private parties in London, can no longer be
obtained. The market gardener has been deprived of
them by the natural productions of France. Spain, and
Portugal, which are sold at Covent-garden for one-tenth
of the price for which they can be cultivated in England
at the same season. And thus, in order to gratify the
vanity or epicurism of the wealthy Londoner, at a cheap
rare, the industry and skill and capital by which many
thousands of persons have been accustomed to be sup-
ported during the inclemency of winter, is rendered
utterly unproductive, and unless there be an immediate
return to protection must cease to be employed. This is
but a single instance out of many that might be adduced
of the ruinous effects of free trade upon the market gar-
deners. .

THE PEACE SOCIETY.—A meeting of this association
was held on Friday at London, to consider the propo,§al
recently issued for negociating a loan for fhe Russian go-
vernment in this country. Among those on the platform
were Mr. Cobden, M.P., Mr. C. Gilpin, the Rev. Mr.
Burnet, and the Rev. Mr. Richards. Mr. Charles Gil-
pin, of the Peace Society, was unanimously elected to take
the chair. A letter was read from Mr. Dudley C. Stuart,
expressive of regret that he was not able to attend,
through indisposition,----Mr. Cobden addressed the meet-
ing at great length. He congratulated the Peace Society,
and the friends of peace in this country, that the Emperor
of Russia had been obliged to affix his name to a docu-
ment which is not true, in order to obtain a loan of two
millions and a half in this country. He was in St. Pe-
tersburgh two years since, when the railway was all com-
pleted with the exception of an embankment, and looking
at the martial disposition of the Emperor, he did not
think the railroad will be completed for ten years to come.
(llear, hear.) He would spend money like a great over-
grown colossal baby on his soldiers rather than on those
substantial improvements which could really alone add to
the power, the happiness, and the civilisation of his
country. It was evident the loan was required to pay the
expense of the late war in Hungary. He concluded by
moving a resolution—" That to lend money to the Em-
peror of Russia for such an object would virtually be to
sanction the deeds of violence and blood committed by
him in Hungary, and to furnish him with the temptation
and the means for carrying on future schemes of aggres-
sion and conquest."
GREAT PROTECTIONIST MEETING IN DUBLIN.—One
of the most important meetings (says the Packet) that
has assembled for years in this city was held OD Thursday
in the round room of the Rotunda. The requisition un-
der which it was convened has appeared during the past
week in our columns, and our readers,therefore,are aware
that the objects of this national demonstration were to lay
before the Queen and the country the absolute necessity
of protection to native industry, of a reform in the present
confiscating Poor Law system—in fact, of a thorough
change in the ruinous policy of recent legislation for our
misgoverned island. We have called this a national de-
monstration, national, for national it was in every sense
of the term, the rank, the wealth, the intellect, the intel-
ligence of the country beigg fully represented in the per-
sons of the numerous peers, baronets, members of parlia-
ment, gentry, magistrates, bankers, merchants, and tenant
farmers, who were present. Every grade, in truth, of
what may be called society in Ireland, was represented at
this great meeting, affording the best answer that could
be given to the enemies of their country and kind, the
political priests, the place-beggars, the Free Traders, and
their unscrupulous press, who have sneeled at this demon-
stration as a mere landlord and high-rent movement.
The Round-room was filled in every part, on and around
the platform being cruded to inconvenience, and nothing
coul/7 be more gTatifYing than thg, firm tone and enthn-
siasfiF, yet calm and moderate bealig that distinguished
this vast and influential assemblage. Steward', with white
wands, from the top of which fluttered white silk stream-
ers, bearing the word Protection, were pres6nt to preserve
order ; but when we left the meeting their services were
not required, unless in the allotment of pkices to late-
comers. The arrival of the Earl Roden was the signal
for a burst of enthusiastic cheering, again and again re-
newed ; and similar demongrations followed continually

the enunciation of every national sentiment uttered by the
speakers. At a quarter to twelve o'clock, on the motion
of Lord Castiemaine, seconded by James Hans Hamilton,
M.P.,- the chair was taken by the Marquis of Downshire.
The speakers were Lord Glengall, Mr. George Macartney,
of Lisnamore Castle ; Mr. Fitzgibbon, Mr. Dillon, Boy-
lan ; Mr. Butt, Q.C. ; Mr. H, Grattan, the Hon. Mr.
Preston, Mr. T. Bell, Col. Vandeleur, Lord Viscount
Suirdale, and at five o'clock the meeting was proceeding.
Of the meeting, the Dublin Packet observes, that "Nothing
could surpass the unanimity that prevailed at this day's
assemblage of Irishmen, whose solemn protest against the
misrule which has devastated their country was uttered in
a tone beseeming men who have not forgotten the glorious
memory of 1782, The sentiments uttered this day, and
the cordial unity of feeling and singleness of purpose that
pervaded the vast meeting, afforded the best answer that
could be given to those who have sneered at the divided
councils which it was pretended had existence." Of Mr.
Butt's speech, the Herald says, " We believe that since
the days of Plunket a finer effort of reasoning, sarcasm,
and eloquence has not been made ; and not only the en-
thusiastic plaudits of the entranced and crowded assembly,
but the unanimous criticism (at the close of the proceed-
ings) of every man who was fortunate enough to hear him,
attest the brilliant and powerful effect of this almost
matchless display."