The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-02-20 00:00:00

CORRESPONDENCE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
SIR' —I wish people would mind their own business.
What does it signify to Mr. Ebenezer Jones, who is, per-
haps, only a grumbling costermonger, whether the chair-
man of the Birkenhead commissioners gets £l2OO an acre
for his land or not? If it only cost him £3OO an acre,
and he can get £l2OO for it, is it not a proof that he is a
very " smart' man, and his disinterestedness is worth
something. Is he not water-furnisher, gas-manufacturer,
dock-maker, park-ranger, act of parliament getter, ferry-
man, head commissioner, et quibusdarn aliis, of Birken-
head? Is he not our Alpha and Omega? Is he not to
wear a cocked-hat, a black gown, and a gold chain like
O'Connell, when he is Lord Mayor of Birkenhead, as the
Town-clerk of Liverpool prophesied he would soon be?
And is he not to represent Birkenhead in parliament,
when it is made into a burrow, as it will be before another
year runs away ? Let me tell you that it was very ill
Judged of old Samivel, the great author, to oppose the
purchase of the twenty-nine acres ; and his remarks were
quite uncalled for. What would Birkenhead be without
a park ?—what would the park be without the twenty-nine
acres ?—and what would the acres be (the dirty acres)
without that spirited and most excellent mandwhose energy
is the breath of Birkenhead, and who can convert even
mud banks and swamps into land worth any-thing-you-
like-to-ask• for per yard ? Sir, I wioh to tell you that it
is a most foolish thing to let such meddling fellows as re-
porters into rooms where public matters, not at all con;
nected with private interest, are brought upon the—whit"
do you call it ? If it had not been for those fellow
who turn the world upside down, the sale of the tweatlf.,:-
nine acres would not have brought out such an
tinent scribbler as Mr. Jones.
i There they sit will.
thcir ctyrzttm ctndu not, btl ui, u pcnc:ls, Lloainglloo
wevheerryeththinegythpaotkies said;in t
h e
ir and
nose nothing .
Mr. j
can bo en
Jones
kepta
yq quiet
what be pleases, but the land was DIRT CHEAP. And
I am sure that every body ought to admire the mo-
desty of the chairman, and the manly way in which he
did the thing. Did he not say, " I have had £l2OO en
acre bid for it ; I wont take less ; I can get it ; and You
may either take it or let it alone ?" And did he not
leave the chair and stand in the cold outside, in the
mo,th of February, till old Samivel and the other two'
had said their say, and until the cries of vote, vote, put
an end to their speechifying? Why, sir, the commis-
sioners actually deliberated above ten minutes before they
concluded the bargain ; and what is the use of men
yawning away by the hour like they do on your side of-
the water, when everybody has made up his mind about
a thing ; and what is the use of kicking up a shindy about
a paltry £35,000, when it comes out of nobody's pocket
in particular ? Why the ferry alone will pay it in a week.
Sir, let me tell you that we are a young and muscular
people, and dont intend to be behind nobody. Our cor-
poration (in embryo) have already chosen their coat of
ov
arms.era shlitpis7s t
too bp e_
srta, i
on
any train eat
ground,full s eweidt
h, running
and the supporters a vulture proper, a black man dexter,
putting a heavy purse in his pocket. The motto
STRIXEM IRONIBUS HOTTIBUSQUE.
Ye Deus nobis lame otia fecit men—ye little stars,*.hide
your diminished rays. Sell your docks, sell your cor-
porate estate, and the commissioners of Birkenhead will
buy them, and allow your mayor £20,000 a year to give
his dinners with. Soon will cucumbers grow upon your
dock quays, and little boys sail their little ships is
your empty docks. Your quays may be turned into
quoiting grounds, and your warehouses used to receive
the overflowings of Birkenhead.
Mr. Editor,—l beg that you will never again permit
Ebenezer Jones, who is a spiteful fellow, and I guess
doesn't pay his taxes with a good grace—dont let him, I
say, publish any more letters ; it may stop a great many
good sales, and do us a tarnation mortal injury in this
land-rising, money-getting, sun-shining, dock-making
country, where everybody is running a race, and where
everybody is sure to win.
Yours obediently,
ZEPHANIAH SMITH.
Birkenhead, February 19th, 1844.