The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-01-18 00:00:00

discovered perpetual motion, or to have made some other
and grand discovery, the change which bad come

The MAyou. confessed that had the present proposition
been to raise Mr. Rushton's salary to £lBOO he should
sunnort it. He admitted that he like Mr. Holme had op-

and ably commented upon it at somelength. Many mer-
chants had given up importing teas from China, because
there was a loss of from 35 to 40 per cent. upon the re-
turns. Such a trade could not continue. The Chinese,
too, had been losers, and they were not an uncivilised
but a shrewd mercantile people, and would also give up
the trade if it were not relieved. There were three
hundred millions of people to be clothed in that vast
empire, and we could carry our manufactures to their own
door, and clothe them cheaper than they could themselves ;
therefore, he asserted, there was an almost illimitable
market. (Cheers.) But unless the Chinese could pay
for our productions, he should like to know whether our
manufacturing friends would send them. They could
only pay in the produce of the raw material in their own
country, and if we taxed that produce from 200 to 400 per
cent., how was it likely they would continue to trade with
us ? The Chinese, it was expected, were about to charge
a dollar a piece on our goods, in retaliation for our heavy
duties. He entreated the people to take up the subject,
as Englishmen. When he saw the country reduced
to such a state that policemen were obliged to go in
couples, and to go armed ; that many of those who were
driven to commit outrage were more sinned against than
sinning, he did think he might be allowed to be the advo-
cate of the country in saying, for God's sake, don't let
this state of things-continue longer. (Loud cheers.)
Mr. BRODERIBB, in seconding the resolution, fur-
nished a variety of statistics, showing the reduction of
exports to, and trade in general with, China, owing to
our impolitic duty on tea. The committee of the House
of Commons relative to this trade had come to the con-
clusion that nothing would make the trade of China pro-
fitable, but either a great reduction in the amount of
goods exported to China, or an increase in the exports
of tea to England. Our trade to China must consider-
ably fall, or entirely cease, or the object which the
meeting had in view, namely, a great reduction of the
duty on tea, must he carried into effect. They could not
retain the tea duties at their present amount, and retain
the present amount of employment for our labouring
population. One of the two was entirely incompatible
with the other. He gave statements of the prices of tea
in China and here, showing the ruinous state of the trade.
The resolution was carried by acclamation.

Mr. JOHN SMITH, in a humorous speech, moved the
third resolution. He advocated, in lieu of the heavy tea
duty, the taxation of real property, and said that the late
Mr. Leyland had stated that if there was a tax upon
real property, he would undertake to collect it for the
twenty-one days' interest and bankers' commission.
Mr. Churchwarden FERGUSON seconded the motion.
In China, he said, there was no foreign competition
against us. The people of that country would take our
manufactures if we would take their tea.

The motion was passed.
Dr. HUME then came forward, and expressed his strong
concurrence in the sentiments of the meeting. He had
visited 1300 poor families, and was pained to see the poor
man at his humble meal—generally dry bread and coloured
water—for it was a misnomer to call it tea. He had also
observed the prevalence of drunkenness. if we would
improve the humble meal of the poor man, or abolish t.
drinking habits amongst the immoral, let u

give them in-