The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-04-07 00:00:00

dissenting bodies—than one having in view the exten-

Ision of religious training, per se !

an end

nopoly

U. UVIUM,
at of India

Dwth of the poi

tote could be found iu
the room of the monopoly of the cultivation of the poppy.
That monopoly not only acted as a check upon the produc-

HOGG contended that nosub's

tion of opium, but its evils were greatly exaggerated. It was
quite impossible to put down the smuggling of opium upon a
coast so extensive as that of China, otherwise than by legal-
ising the trade, which he hoped would be done before long

by the Chinese government.
Lord SA.NDON said that he was quite ready to go on if the
house desired it, although at that hour and amid the confu-
sion which prevailed, it was impossible to do justice to the
subject of the debate. He bad heard a great deal on minor
points, but had received no assistance on the great question,
whether it was possible that our relations with China could
coexist with the opium trade. Among other things they had
heard was a long speech about the glory of the people who
ate but had they not evidence of every kind, evidence
not
only
;
yfrom missionaries, but from persons engaged in the
oopni
cultivation of the soil, to the effect that the growers and con-
sumers of opium were a people generally in the lowest state
of degradation ? Then another hon. member had told them
that opium was the only stimulant permitted to be used by
Mussurmans. He believed, however, that opium-eaters
were looked on by their fellow Mussulmans with much scorn
and contempt, and that they were no more permitted by their
religion to consume it than they were permitted to consume
any other intoxicating liquor. But all these, as he said be-
fore, were minor questions compared with the one great
point for consideration. What we wanted was a permanent
and peaceful intercourse with 300,0000,000 of people, with
whom we might, under certain restrictions, carry on a most
profitable and flourishing commercial intercourse. To lose
such a golden opportunity would be worth an infinitely
greater sacrifice than the sacrifice of the opium trade. For
the loss of that trade, if we did relinquish it, we should soon
receive more than ample compensation. If we did not relin-
quish it, if we did not act honestly and manfully, let us not

us, cnnnnsin,r that the Chinese would give
credit to any shuffling apoiogiZs. uc
enlightened people. They read our newspapers, and were
acquainted with, our customs, and they were fully aware of

how, and by whom, this opium trade was supported. It was
time that the Government took steps to redress the evil, and
if they did not take such steps upon them must rest the re-
sponsibility. We must show the people of China that we had
no hand in forcing this drug upon them. The Chinese Go-
vernment had been honest and uniform in its opposition to
the introduction of this drug. He could not remain silent

and see a question of this nature treated with levity, on which
the character of 300,000,000 of people depended. He heartily
supported the noble lord's resolution. It was a disgrace to
a Christian nation to carry on the opium trade as we had
done. He entirely concurred in the opinion expressed by
every port and large manufacturing town out of London, that
`he existence of the opium trade would make it utterly im-
ossible that our manufactures could have any considerable
-,sion in China, or any permanent reception there.
.s hoped that no one would vote on the ques-
_, woo had not heard the speech of his noble friend Lord
Ashley, whose proposition he most warmly supported.

Sir R. INGL

Sir IC FEEL said it behoved the House of Commons to
weigh well the resolutions it adopted upon a subject so im-
portant a&the present. A resolution was a very different
thing from a bill. In the case of a bill the house had many
opportunities of expressing its opinions, but in the case of a
lotion the whole question was settled by a single vote.
ild they, under such circumstances, at once decide that
no poppy should be grown in India, when, by so doing, they
would be only throwing the trade into the hands of the in-
habitants of the Manilla Islands, and find even there that

the trade would be mainly conducted by means of British
capital. It was far better to leave the matter in the hands of
Sir Henry Pottinger, who was negociating with the Em-
peror of China upon the subject, while the British Govern-

hina, and h

even recommended

that it shot

introduced into Hong-Kong. With respect to putting down
growth of the poppy the right honour-
led that if it was impossible to prevent
Auction of opium into India from the neighbouring

the monopoly in th

t was the opinion of all the authorities on the sub:
le best restriction that could be imposed was the
ent of this very monopoly. He only called upon
) postpone its judgment by not allowing the ques-
ut, in order that the whole matte -
eft in t

the house
tion to be

to be ruined outri

Ye has

Virtually these pe-

litn,elf witnessed scenes which titioners declare that they would prefer seeing the
,hysical and moral, which had
And if he thought the motion neglected children of the factory districts grovelling in
the tradein opium he midnight darkness, than see them drawn towards the
light "-of scriptural truth by any path which does not
lead to their own particular conventicles 1 it is not,
by this bill, that the dissenting bodies are to be re-
stricted in their duties. It is not that the dissenting
conscience is to be invaded. But the Church's sphere
of usefulness is to be increased ; and hint ire !
It is with sorrow, by the bye, that we learn, from
an article in the Liverpool limes—(written most pro-
bably by Mr. Blackburn, of anti-church-education no-
toriety, for it contains the worthy doctor's view of the
ease as put forth in some resolutions adopted by the
Dissenters of Liverpool,) that the Wesleyan Metho-
dists, firm friends as they are of a similar system of
education in our Corporation Schools, are vehemently
opposed to the bill of Sir Jomes Graham. We disbe-
lieve the assertion ; or, at all events, if such opposition
exists, we are firmly persuaded that it is based upon a
similar want of knowledge as to the provisions of the
biil which is displayed by our wise contemporary him-
self. The Times says, "They, (the Wesleyans,) have
no idea of submitting to have the schools which they
have supported for so many years, closed by act of Par-
liament ; of having the children, for whom they have
done so much, driven from them by that clause of the
act of Parliament which prescribes that no child edu-
cated in any schools, except those mentioned in the bill,
shall he allowed to- work in any factory." Perhaps our
contemporary will be kind enough to point our atten-
tion to "that clause in the act of Parliament" which so
urescribes. -We never heard of such, and cannot, for
the life of us, Is 1., di. printed bill.

We had prepared some remarks upon the debate in
the House of Commons, on Tuesday, on the motion
of Lord Ashley, upon the subject of the traffic in
opium between our East Indian possessions and China.
The deficiency of our space, however, entirely pre-
cludes us from giving them at length ; and we regret
it the less, inasmuch as it would be out of our power
to convey to our readers more than a very faint idea of
the case made out by Lord Ashley and his supporters,
in deprecation of this illegal, and indeed piratical
traffic, which, for the sake of a paltry Indian revenue
of some million of money, debauches the natives en-
gaged in the opium culture, and cuts off every hope of
a peaceful extension of our more legitimate commerce
with the people of China.

Upon one feature of the debate, however, we cannot
forbear remarking. Our noble representative, Lord
Sandon, it will be observed, most emphatically and in
a tone worthy of a Christian senator, denounced this
unholy traffic ; and never, in all that we have seen of
his parliamentary career, was the speech of Sir Robert
Peel, addressed, with something almost approaching to
personality, to his lordship, less worthy of a great-
statesman than on this occasion. It would have served
every useful purpose, towards a member, so little given

to initiate or entertain motions embarrassing to govern-
ment as in Lord Sandon, to hove simply stated the
grounds upon which her Majesty's ministers objected
to the motion of Lord Ashley. It is seldom, by the
bye, that motions merely declaratory of abstract prin-
ciples are other than embarrassing ; and more seldom
still that they are useful. There was something, how-
ever, peevish and pettish in the tone of the premier on
this occasion, which must grieve his most sincere friends
to observe, especially directed Co a member of the high
standing deservedly possessed by the noble member for
Liverpool ; and certain we are, that a perusal of the
speech in question is anything but calculated to advance
the cause in behalf of which it appears to have been
As a whole it is, in sentiment and in argument,
perhaps the most utter failure ever made by Sir Robert
Peel or any other minister 1

The boon, for which our good neighbours in Man-
chester
Shave been praying for years past, is at length
about to be conceded. The government of Sir Robert
Peel, less hard-hearted than previous governments,
has consented to the privilege of bonding foreign pro-
duce being extended to Manchester; and, from hence-
forth, the metropolis of the cotton trade will have its
custom-house, with a collector, controller, clerks,
searchers, landing waiters, and other officers, and be-
come in fact A mill', in every thing except the pos-
session of, what have always been considered indis-
pensible requisites, viz.—the contiguity of water and
of shipping. Questionless, such a trivial deficiency
can easily be got over.

As a condition, however, we observe that it is stipu-
lated by government—much to the dissatisfaction of
our friends in Manchester—that they must themselves
disburse to the revenue the cost of their hobby. It
will require five thousand pounds sterling, per annum,
to furnish even a " skeleton" establishment—to start
them, as it were, in their career as an importing and
bonding people; and this sum (which the Manchester
Guardian considers an extravagant one, but which, if
bonding to any extent is to be practised, will have to
be doubled and trebled) the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer, very reasonably, requires to be furnished by the
people of Manchester themselves. Of course, there
can be no difficulty on this score, when we look at the
magnitude of the benefit to be derived—when we con-
sider the hundreds of thousands of pounds, (in the
shape of expenses of cartage, porterage, commission,
&c.) to be snatched from the devouring maw of the
community of Liverpool. A people, who possess pub-
lic spirit enough to volunteer the supply of some four
or five tons of waste paper weekly, in the shape of
anti-corn-law tracts, to the public of the empire, can
scarcely be stayed in the realisation of a project, so
important as that of converting their town into a depot
for the entire produce consumed in the manufacturing
districts, for want of the paltry matter of five thousand
pounds.

The circumstance which puzzles us, in connexion
with the subject, is this. It is so long ago as Thurs-
day last, that the meeting, at which the success of the
deputation from Manchester, which has been in com-
munication with government, was announced to the
world; and yet we can thus far discover none of those
awful signs which might have been expected to mark
the conversion of this great mart of commerce into " a
paltry fishing village !" Yesterday, indeed, we ima-
gined the face of the figure of Britannia upon our
town-hall to be a little elongated, as she gazed down
upon the " lads of the flags" beneath her. This, how-
ever, must have been fancy. We have heard of no

nettles growing around our docks ; no grass springing

in that "place where merchants most do congregate,
nothing, in fact, newer than the comet or the nebulous
tail which astronomers suppose erroneously must have
a head " thereby to hang." We have heard of none
of our brokers transporting themselves to the mudfog
metropolis, nor of any carters, porters, coopers,
genus omne," on the move. The world of Liverpool
still goes on, if not " merry as a marriage bell," yet
merry as usual; and we ourselves have seldom felt in
more excellent humour with all mankind.

" et id

Perhaps, however, the latter circumstance may arise

from the fact that, most unfortunately for us, we are
not shareholders in the Liverpool and Manchester
Railway—an undertaking which most undoubtedly is
;ht by the change which is about
ig place! The Chancellor of the Exchequer, we
rve, has not the slightest objection to bonding in
Manchester; but, as a sine qud non, the goods to he
-ionded must be transhipped into Old Quay fleas, in
the same way, Mr. Lingard, the agent of the said Old
Quay Company, observes, as they were transhipped
before the Liverpool and Manchester Railway had its
being ; and, of course, if we were so fortunate as to be
railway proprietors, we should be infinitely alarmed
for our property !