The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-12-06 00:00:00

C. W. WILLIAMS, EsQ.-INLAND NAVIGATION.

In our last, treating of poor rates, we incidentally introduced
the name of Mr. C. W. Williams, the active, intelligent, and
distinguished member of the Dublin Steam-packet Company.
However well convinced ourselves of the merits of any man s
character, we should feel in-some degree reluctant to their ac-
knowledgment, fearing the imputation of flattery ; but, as in
the present instance, when their works testify for them, we
can indulge the pleasing duty of rendering them the tribute of
justice, without being open to the charge of adulation. On
Saturday last we promised that, in our publication of this day,
" Mr. Williams should speak for himself," and thereby afford
better evidence than ours, to the patriotic spirit of his labours,
and the immediate and prospective benefits to his country, from
the judicious enterprise, superior intelligence, and unwearied
perseverance which, have marked his speculative exertions. He
seizes upon the nracticable, and is neither deceived nor disap-
vointud in the resu,t; he begins rit the right end, and ever
thing goes right with him.; instead of being " in the clouds,'
looking for political utopeze, he is in London, in Liverpool, in
Dublin, on the banks oft the Shannon, deriving information,
and seeking how he may apply it to the improvement of his
country. Such a man it is that Ireland wants, and such best
merit the ceratitude of her People.
Mr. Williams has written one of the most intelligent and
useful pamphlets which, even in this publishing age, we have
yet seen. Its title is so comprehensive of national utility that
we give the whole of it, although long. " Observations on the
Inland Navigation of Ireland, and the want of Employment for
its population, with a description of the river Shannon: sug-
gested by the report of the select committee of the House of
Commons in 1830, ou the state of Ireland, and the remedial
measures proposed." The pamphlet also contains " examina-
tion of the Application of Money Grants in aid of Public Win-lcs."
More interesting topics of inquiry, considered as to national
results, could not have been entered upon, and Mr. Williams
has brought to them a mind fully adequate to their sober and
useful development. We could not afford space to any review
or analysis that would do justice to the work, the titlepage of
which bears out our assertion, and points out the necessity of
perusing the book itself for the information of which it is a co-
pious and valuable repertory. We, therefore, confine ourselves
reluctantly to an extract from the introduction. "My politics,"
says Mr. Williams, "are Trade and Commerce: these are the
great pioneers of civilization, and will continue to be so in all
ages and in all countries,"—most true, and would to Heaven
that we had more politicians of the same caste !
At the outset, Mr. Williams affords to us a valuable and very
little known piece of information ,• and upon which a very erro-
neous idea universally prevails. It is, that there is, on Govern-
ment securities, no less a sum, at this moment, than £14,181,100
capital lying inert and unavailable. We cannot otherwise
account for this dead capital, but in the disturbed state of the
country through political agitation, which clothes every pursuit
of an enterprising nature with the discouraging gloom of inse-
curity.' While O'Connell and his instruments are evoking, on
every side, the spirits of revolution, how can it be expected that
prudent men will run the hazard of transferring capital from the
funds, small as is the produce, to objects of national speculation,
however great and certain would be the profits to a more tranquil
and less excited state of the population ? "It is clear," says
our author, "that the naked aver7m6nt of Ireland being in want
of capital is unfounded. This rids the question of a great diffi-
culty, and enables us to see our way somewhat clearer. The
question, the useful, vital question is, how are we to turn the
current of accumulating capital, as in England, to setting the
springs of industry in action, and giving value to productive
labour ?

" It is not, then, capital, but available capital, that Ireland
wants—capital that may be so employed as to fructify and re-
produce itself through the instrumentality of labour.
" We see it is not the want of means which occasions that de-
pression of which all complain, though so few have pointed to
the real cause. Neither is it to the abundance of capital alone
that England owes the active spirit of trade and enterprise
which everywhere prevails. This is the gist of the argument.
The question of capital being disposed of, we are in a position
to consider the state of Ireland in a practical point of view. The
following short summary will then be found to comprise the
leading features of his case :
" 1. The population want employment.
"2. That employment can only supplied by the pursuits
of agriculture, internal trade, commerce, or manufactures.
" 3. These cannot le promoted without the means of inter-
course, and interchange, and adequate facilities of transport.
" 4. These latter do not exist in Ireland."
1,
Here is the text upon which Mr. Williams expatiates, with At
force of facts and reasoning which it is impossible fur conviction
to resist, and which finds corroboration in the common sense of
every man who has the opportunities of common and dispassion-
ate observation. There is not a true friend—or who wishes to
be a true friend to Ireland, who should not earnestly peruse this
valuable pamphlet; and in order to assist to its publicity, we
shall, if possible, continue our extracts from it.
We shall not omit to say, that there is at the end of the book
a very fine map, showing the course of the Shannon, and the
comparative state of England and Ireland in respect to canals.
—Dublin Warder, November 30.