The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-10-29 00:00:00

in that corner of ihb 63Onty—in that corner where no
docks, but tail chimneys are the order of the day—let me
tell you that we feel no slight interest in the- progress and
success of this undertaking. We have been told, on high
authority, that " we are all for ourselves in this world" (a
cry of " Alderman Brooks," and shouts of " hear") but,
gentlemen, the individuals who projected tWs great na-
tional work look upon it as one of the greatest advantages
to the rapidly increasing commerce of this country, and
on motives of self-interest alone we look with anxiety to
the success and rapid execution of these measures. Be-
lieve me, gentlemen, it is a matter of no slight interest to
our master manufacturers, and to the great masses we see
in our corner of Cheshire—many of whose representatives
I am happy to see around me to-day—it is to them a mat-
ter of no slight importance to see the delay of their vessels
in the Mersey for a period of from Ito 14 days. We are
told thatputictuality is the soul of business, and our ma-
nufacturers know that it will not answer for them, when
they receive orders—ay, and when they have executed
them—not to be able to forward them to their correspond-
ents. I say, then, that upon national grounds, and upon
every other ground, we look with great interest on the un-
dprtaklog. As one more particularly connected' with this
district, I bid you God speed. I sincerely trust that tie
work which we have to-day commeneed so auspiciously
will be auspiciously finished. I see scarcely any limit,
looking into futurity, to the growing greatness and pros-
perity of this town. You have seen what your neightlotirs
have done on the other side of the water. I cart onlf say,
as one who has had long dealings with the authorities of
Liverpool, that I sincerely trust—that I wish—they would
hold out to you the right hand of fellowship—that all dis-
cords will be forgotten—that you will try to rival them,
and only in that, in your punctuality, in the extent of your
commerce, and the accommodation of your docks and I
can assure you, as one of the reprerentatives of this
endeavour of
ct
the
cltoyu,natsr
ytco.taicenod7onbrooetrhaoatfes
tibtneriaectodi tony
nt
eyba,es,ittit hrsech
taapt,arlevielilyn tpsa tive
robeatinote
the prosperity of this town. (Long nndprotracted cheer-

CuThethen rose to propose another toast. 13 e
Proposed the " Health of the Eail of Eisei, Lord Lilford,
Lord Bateman, and of the other distinguished guests who
had that day honoured Birkenhead with their presence."
The Earl of EssLx.-1. have been most deeply gratified
by the interesting ceremony which we have witnessed. It
has given me a most exalted idea—but that, indeed, I did
not want—of the energy and the power of those connected
Witia the commerce of this country ; end when I consider
the talent and foresight that were necessary to conceive
this great enterprise, the wealth and energy necessary to
carry it into execution, and the extraordinary results to
follow from its success, I cannot but think that the men

of Birkenhead are. richly deserving of that noble title
which was borne by the first merchants of the world—
those of Tyre—which then descended to the equally cele-
brated merchant of Venice, and now so worthily devolves
on your shoulders,—" the merchant princes"- of Great
Britain. (Much cheering.) lam sure 1 most heartily
hope and pray that success may attend your noble under-
taking—that It may conduce in every respect to the hap-
piness and welfare of yourselves and your fellow-towns-
men—that it may spread still further and wider your al-
ready great name and the great commerce of this country,
and that, though last, not least, she may, with this assist-
ance and God's blessing, carry into the very remotest
part of the world the b'essings of civilization and of Chris-
tianity. (Loud and long-continued applause.)
The Hon. E. J. STAN LEY said, they had laid the foun-
dation of the great civilization of the town by preparing a
system of drainna—by preparing that system which, he
believed, would do more to banish vice and misery from
the walls of a town than almost anything they could have
undertaken. (Hear, hear.) He would speak also of that
which redounded to their honour—he meant the noble at-
tempt they had made in setting apart a great space for the
recreation of their poorer and humbler brethren (hear,
hear), and that, not in some obscure corner of their vi-
cinity, but in the very heart and centre of that great town
—land worth in value, by the inch and yard, they had
given by the acre for the recreation of all the poorer in-
habitants. (Loud cheers.) And while he mentioned this
as a great means, he believed, for the civilization and im-
provement of the community, he mentioned it alsO as one
which would materially tend to lighten the labours of the
magistracy. (Hear, While he praised them for
this, he would add, that in this, as in other cases, the
best, the most honest, and the most merciful and humane
policy was also to be witnessed ; and lie believed that the
inhabitants of the township would experience tvi advan-
tage from what had been effected. not only in the superior
moral character of the people, but in the real additional
value they would find-conferred on all the property in the
neighbourhood. (" Hear, hear," and loud cheers.)
Mr. POTTER said, the Liverpool merchants Could not
be the opponents of the Birkenhead dock measure, for
they had felt too severely all the risks attending the former
state of affairs, and the losses attending the delay to which
their trade was subjected, partly from physical circum-
stances, and partly from the trade of the country having
increased to a degree beyond what any ordinary foresight
could be e,pected to provide for. Therefore, while aaso-
ciated in the Birkenhead measure, he wos not only doing
that which would advance the trade of Liverpool and the
trade of the world, bat he was also doing that which would
meet with the encouragement and approbation of some of
the most eminent merchants in Liverpool—so many, that
to name them would be quite invidious. (Hear, hear.)
They had felt that the measure was due to the trade and
commerce which was rapidly exceeding all the provisions
made for its coneenience, and that it was also due to that
great hive of manufacturing industry on the other side,
knowing that the 'extension of commerce was the true
basis of the prosperity of the estuary of the Mersey.
(Mar, hear.) He bogged to propose, " The town and
trade of Liverpool." (The toast was very warmly
received.)
DUNCAN Gina responded to it.

The Hon. Sir E. Cus-r in proposing the health of the
Commissioners of Birkenhead seid.—l stet I very shortly
indeed repeat those two or three creutostances which have
been mentioned already—these, for instance. named by
the Hon. Mr. Stanley,—and which certainly display a
most remarkable example of the wisdom, sagacity, and
fJees.g:it of these who took the lead in this town,• in lay-
ing out the suburbs of the town for the benefit of the
poorer population. I believe that this is an instance of
feeling towards the poorer reputation wholly unexampled
in any town in this or the other hemisphere; for enor-
mous streets have been projected and duly
sewefed, pre-
pared for water, and all the luxuries that modern refine-
ment could conceive,being all prepared before a single
house had been erected on the land. This is an instance
of sagacity very unusual indeed in any public undertaking,
and it is also an instance of activity which is very rare in
any public functionaries—qualities which must, to a re-
markable extent, exalt the character of the commissioners
of Birkeuhead. The noble market now in course of erec-
tion, the various and numberless works every day pro-
jected, and, last, though not least, that mighty work
which we have seen to-day commenced, are all works in
themselves so unusually great, that they would very justly
entitle any set of men to a high place in public estimation
for their individual acts; but, when uni!ed, they really
form a very considerable deign on the public gratitude.
The toast was received with rapturous acclamations,
and Mr. J. D. CASE responded to it.
Mr. W. POTTER said, they ought nut to forget him from
whom the plan of the docks proceeded. (Hear, hear.)
They were indebted to the genius of that gentleman, as
well for his readiness to answer all obj,ctions, to undergo
the rigorous cross-examination of numerous counsel, and
to corroborate all his assertions, as to the capabilities of
the pool for all commercial purposes. He would not be
considered to have trespassed unfairly when he begged to
propose the " Healrh of Mr. Rendel, the engineer." (The
toast was rapturously received.)
Mr. RENnEn was perfectly satisfied of thi4, that the
dec`cs of which they had been lay v 4 the foundation-stone
that day were not designed, neither would they be, in a
spirit of rivalry to those very magnificent works which
thy saw- so gloriously across the river on the very fine
day a ith which they were .blessed for their ceremony.
He.was quite certain that they were altogether of a
ferent description from a rival establishment. (Hear,
hear.) They are intended to propose additional accom-
modation in the port of the Mersey, which, favoured as
Liverpool was, it did not afford facilities for the conqrue-
tion of. (Hear, hear.) If the late Mr. Laird had lived
till 1844, and seen the numerous steamers which traversed
the Atlantic with the regularity almost of a locomotive,
he would have said " Let me have a low-water basin for
those vessels ;" and this was really the only difference
between Mr. Laird's conception and the shadowine of
that conception which he (Mr. Rendel) had been fortu-
nate enough to be called upon to carry out. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. J. HARDEN then proposed "The Press."
Mr. J. SMITH returned thanks.
The last toast on the list was " The Cheshire Witches,"
.which was entbthicstically drunk.