The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-05-14 00:00:00

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fame, and the gratitude and admiration of the
whole human race.

We submit that such remedy is to be found only
in a complete subversion of our present monetary
system, to the operation of which is clearly trace-
able the evils under which we are labouring as a
people. Since the fatal bill of 1819, the industrious
and trading classes of this country have been
going step by step down the social ladder, whilst
the capitalist—we speak of him in the ordinarily
received sense of the word, although we mean by it
the man of money—has been adding to his hoards,
and ascending the same ladder. The substitution
of the gold pound of Sir Robert Peel for the paper
nound of the immortal William Pitt, at one sweep-
ing blow added a third to the national debt and the
national burthens. It added a third to every mort-
gage, to every private debt, and to the amount of
labour to he given by the workman to his employer
and to the state for a given quantity of food and
raiment. It was, in short, a measure of confiscation
directed against the debtor interest, and the pos-
sessor of property in land, houses, labour, or any
other description of value, for the advantage of the
creditor interest, the usurer and the man of fixed
income. It directed us to pay 275. for every 20s.
that we owed.

This, however, was only- the first blush of the
evil, although a more audacious fraud was never
perpetrated upon a people. The crushing point of
the measure was the restriction which it caused in
the credits previously allowed to the enterprising
and industrious of all classes, from the scarcity of
the metal prescribed as the basis of our circulation
of money; and the commanding power which it
conferred upon the few to oppress and grind down
the many. The great capitalist now began to ab-
sorb the trade of the country, whilst the industri-
ous man of less means fell into the background, or
sunk in a vain attempt to compete with his neigh-
bour by cheapening his wares. "Small profits and
quick returns" was the shibboleth of the day. Our
staple fabrics were deteriorated to meet the required
reduction in prices. The stigma of dishonesty and
fraud settled upon our character as a people. The
wages of the labourer sunk lower and lower, .until
at length we find a large portion of our skilled
artizans in almost hopeless bondage in the hands
of the slop shopkeeper, and the unscrupulous and
griping middle Man ; whilst by the additional strin-
gency given to the system by Sir Robert Peel's
Bank Act of 1844. the mercantile community,
appalled by the recent disasters which have occurred,
hesitate to embark their means in any undertaking
from which capital cannot be withdrawn at a mo-
ment's warning.

To the consideration of this question the legis-
lature and the people of England must devote them-
selves at once, if they wish the country to he saved
from convulsion. The Peel pound has been the
bane of the industrious clesses ; a return to THE
PITT.POUND is the antidote. With the latter we
defended ourselves against the combined powers of
Europe, and emerged from a prolonged and glori-
ous contest, the most wealthy and powerful nation
on the globe. We had a flourishing commerce,
flourishing* agriculture, flourishing manufactures,
and a well employed, a Avell-paid, a happy and a
contented people. With the former we have had
only alternate panic and confusion, false prosperity
followed by stagnation, suffering, and ruin. With
but half the nominal amount of taxation now that
we had to pay at the close of the war, we feel its -
pressure doubled. Our debt of 800 millions is 1600
millions, whether measured in commodities or in
labour. Our poor rates and local imposts are
doubled ; and the private debts of individuals are
doubled. One half of the land of Ireland is in a
state of foreclosure; and that of Great Britain is
rapidly sinking into the same condition. In the
midst of all this. disorganization and distress the
authors and abettors of our present monetary laws,
and the drones who live upon the honey of the
industrious hive, are alone enjoying prosperity and
adding to their accumulations. Sir Robert Peel
dogmatizes to his ruined tenantry upon the advan-
tages of high farming ; and the lordly capitalist,
his adviser, *sits side by side in the Upper House
with the descendants of the men who fought at
Agincourt and Blenheim, whose title deeds of
property he holds locked in his iron safe, or but-
toned in his breeches' pocket. Ought a system
which 'results in such fruits, to be permitted to
continue I Forbid it, the common sense of Eng-
land Forbid it humanity and justice! We say to
the merchants of Liverpool, whose noble protest
against it in the dearly remembered October of
1847 their countrymen well remember ; we say
to our Constitutional Association, and our newly-
formed Chamber of Commerce—here is a ques-
tion worthy of your intelligence and energy to
take up and agitate. Manchester may enjoy the
future odium of having brought into operation that
free trade policy which .has already ruined thou-
sands of our agriculturists, and is now rapidly
recoiling upon the manufacturers themselves. Let
Liverpool. whose merchants were the first to' carry
out on an efficient scale the railway system, immor-
talize herself by being the first to offer a powerful
effort to overturn an accursed monetary system,
the baneful operation of which is fast uncivilizing
and unchristianizing large masses of the British
people, and preparing the way for revolution and
anarchy !

THE WEATHER still continues at a low or cold tempe-
rature, for the-reason. and vegetation is much retarded.
LIVERPOOL CHURCH OF ENGLAND INSTITUTION.—
The Committee of Cciuncil on Education have presented
to the above institution a complete set of their " Minutes,"
which will he of great service to clergymen and school-
masters for reference. The moderate subscription to
this institution places it within the reach of nearly all
classes.

FATAL ACCIDENT FROM DRINKING.—A working man,
named Silvester Warrington, residing at No. 16, Wright-
street, Toxteth-park, went home on Saturday night, near
midnight, a good deal affected by drink. He and his wife
went to bed, and early in the morning his wife was
awakened by a noise on the stairs, and on going down
found him lying at the bottom, with his head on the
landing. She called assistance, when it was found that
he was quite dead, apparently from dislocation of the
neck.
SHIPBUILDING AT BIRKENHEAD.—A very modest
paragraph appeared in the London papers of Saturday,
announcing that Messrs. Councillor Hornby, Alderman
Hodgson, the Town Clerk, and Mr. Wightman had an
interview with the Woods and Forests Commissioners on
►he previous day. It appears that the visit of our re-
spected townsmen bad reference to an application that
the Commissioners will give up to the Corporation, for
ship-huilding purposes, the foreshore between the Wood-
side Ferry Slip and the Monks' Ferry Slip. No doubt
this proposition will be acceded to, but we would suggest
to our watchful Town Clerk to ascertain whether or not
it is the fact that less restrictions are placed en the splen-
did piece of land between the Monks' and Birkenhead
Ferries, than on that already mentioned.
THE NEW RAILWAY STATION IN TITHEDARN-
STREET.—The station in Tithebarn-street, at the termi-
nus of the Lancashire and Yorkshire line is now com-
pleted, and was opened yesterday morning. The erection
has improved the neighbourhood of its locality very con-
siderably, not only in so far as it presents a pleasing ob-
ject to the eye, but because it has occasioned the clearance
of much dilapidated and unsightly premises. The new
pile of building is striking in effect, without possessing any
of those costly accessories to the builder's art which have
been one cause of the fall in dividends. Its site is at a
considerable elevation, consequently the approach is by a
flight of steps leading to a natural platform, which, as well
as the steps, is guarded by massive and noble battlements
or stone balustrades. In consequence of the edifice being
so elevated and surrounded, a good deal of effect is sacri-
ficed as viewed from the street, the lower portion of the
building being almost quite concealed. With respect to
the interior, &c., ti►e most careful attention has been paid
to the accommodation of the public; the waiting-rooms
for both first and second class passengers are elegant
apartments, and are furnished in a very superior manner
and on a liberal scale. In connexion with the station is
a very large, though remarkably light roof of zinc and glass.
A good deal of sensation was observable in the neighbour-
hood yesterday in consequence of this event.
THE PROTECTIONIST MOVEMENT.—On Saturday the
delegates appointed at the South Sea House presented•to
the Premier an excellent address against our present
commercial policy. Mr. Newdegate, Colonel Sibthorpe,
&c., were present; but the Duke of Richmond was pre-
vented being present by illness. Mr. H. C. Chapman
and Mr. Thomas Bold of this town were present. The
addresses of the various speakers evidently made a great
impression on his lordship.—On Thursday the deputa-
tion appointed at the same meeting waited en Lord
Stanley, to represent to him, as the protectionist leader,
the true condition of the country. A very firm and high
tone was adhered to by both the deputation and his
lordship. One of the deputation said that he was in the
habit of travelling a great deal, and that he never entered
a railway carriage, or went into company, without finding
tbat those who were formerly free traders were now quite
the reverse. Lord Stanley said that the distress in the
country was increasing, and was pressing on every class
of the community. His lordship added, alluding to the
imports of wheat, that a recent parliamentary return, so
'fat from indicating a falling off in imports, or a rise in
price, showed that the prices have fallen from 40s. on the
sth day of January to 375. 10d. on the 20th of April ;
whilst the imports have increased from 36,000 quarters of
wheat in the second week of January, to 1111,000 quarters
of wheat, exclusive of flour, in the week ending the 17th
of April. And the total amount of imports, in little
more than three months, with an average price of from
375. to 38s. a quarter, has not been far short of 1,000,000
quarters of corn, converting the dour into quarters at the
crawl rate: