The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-07-30 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

The letter of "FAIR PLAY," whether its averments be true
or false, is a libel, and cannot be insetted. At the same time,
we should like to be informed whether what is stated relative,
to the Leda and the "Egromont Cup" can be substantiated
by evidence.
We are oblied to omit the admirable letter of " J.
from its extreme' length.
We hardly know, in fact we have carefully studied not
know, who suffers; but it is with painful feelings we are coin;
pelled to confess that at a late hour last night we consign°
from fifteen to twenty of the favours of our correspondents
the flames.

ZbE Elberpoot Atanbarb.

TUESDAY MORNING, JULY 30, 1833.

The foreign arrivals since our last are entirely devoid
of interest. The QUEEN of BELGIUM has given birth to
an heir to that throne, which PRINCE LEOPOLD of Saxe
Coburgh holds by sufferance of LOUIS PHILLIPPE, lils
very respectable father-in-law. The young prince is t°
be created Duke of 13RABANT, and baptised, at the earliest
opportunity, into the holy and infallible Roman Catholic'
church, which, certainly is the very highest compliment
that could be paid his Protestant father.
There are some rumours of an attack upon Lisbon by
Captain NAPIER, which we suspect are without founds
tion. It is also reported that an armament is to be sent
from Plymouth to aid the cause of Don PEnno. It is
true that a fleet is secretly fitting out in that harbour.

There are accounts of a destructive fire at St. John%
Newfoundland, on the 7th instant. One gentleman,,
after having saved his wife and child, perished in the
flames, and numerous other persons have lost property 0..
a considerable amount. •

We have not been able to obtain a copy of the report
which the committee on the Liverpool election had agreed
to present to the house on Monday last. We have rea-
son to know, however, that it is as unfav curable to the
burgesses as their worst enemies could make it, and Yet
it is not of that decisive and unqualified nature which
would warrant the house in adopting the sweeping and
wholesale disfranchisement of the burgesses so ludo&
desired by Messrs. RATHBONE, THORNELY, HARVEY, an'
a few other equally consistent and charitable puritans•.
The report was only agreed to by a majority of one!
We are enabled, however, to present our readers with
the masterly speech of Mr. Nrcnot. in summing up the
evidence adduced in favour of the freemen. It will bear
an attentive perusal. The injustice of the whole pro-
ceeding, the flagrant inconsistency of the originators of
it, the black ingratitude of some, and the baseness and.
mendacity of others, are admirably exposed by the Ho-
nourable nominee. Our limits forbid us from going into
details, but we beg particularly to call attention to those
parts where Mr. RATHBONE, Mr. HARVEY, and Mr. RUSO
TON cut a conspicuous, though humiliating figure. I°
our next, perhaps, we shall bring these worthy gentlemen
forward in a more prominent manner.

The dishonest and iniquitous spirit which prevails
among the members of the Trades' Unions has been
rendered manifest by an occurrence which took place in
Manchester last week. The particulars transpired in
consequence of a 'summons from a magistrate, but as
these are too voluminous for our crowded pages, we bore'
row an abridged account from the Manchester Guar-
dian:—

"A gentleman of the name of Orrell, in conformity with the
rules of the Trades' Union, contracted with a man named
Barlow for the separate execution of the brick work at a certain
price;. and a considerable number of hands were set to wolf-
upon it. After proceeding for a short time the men discovered
that Mr. Orrell was very anxious for the speedy completion of
his building; and the bricklayers therefore turned out for an
advance of wages, amounting to 2s. per week each. As the
contractor had taken the work at a stipulated price, he couln
not afford to give the advance demanded; but Mr. Orrell, rathert
than have his building delayed, and all his other arrangeraer's
defeated, consented to such a departure from the terms of tier
contract as would enable Barlow to give the advance require
without loss to himself if the men did their duty. The copse'
quences of this concession were such as might be expected froln
the spirit of aggression which at present appears to actuate th.e,"
workmen. As soon as the bricklayers had returned to'the
work, the labourers turned out for an advance, which was also'
conceded. The whole body of workmen resumed their employ
ment; and then commenced that system of fraud and plunder,.
(for it deserves no better name) which in the end had the effect
of bringing the case under the cognizance of the ma,,,,,istrate'
The men, having succeeded in obtaining an advance of wage,
ori the work, seem to have been determined to make it last loet,
'enough; and they began to waste their time in such a mantler.
that, during the last week, the bricklayers employed on 0(3
mill, although, according to their computation of time, the(
a
had been working seven days and a half,—had done, on O
average not quite a singe day's work each; and one of the nuni(i
ber, a little more conscientious than the others, was threateue.
with personal violence, because he was getting on with Ins
work at a quicker rate than the general body considered eaPe'
dient. The necessary consequence of these dishonest and scan-,
claims proceedings was, that the contractor very. soon paid
wages a larger sum than he was entitled to receive. On Ine'v,
suring the work it was found that he had overdrawn his accoun
9
with Mr. Orrell; and, being a man without property, he
tw.,li
unable to pay the wages claimed (we cannot say due)Trorn
on Saturday last. The workmen then summoned Mr. Orrell
shew cause why he should not pay the wages; but, of court°,
Mr. Foster, after hearing the facts of the case, dismissed ty
claim, telling the men that they did not deserve any wages „t
all."

It will be seen from this what employers may er'
pect to gain by attempting to conciliate the workmen'
who are bent upon their own destruction, and who, ra-
ther than disencumber themselves of the restraints jai-
posed upon them by secret miscreants, would join in •
conspiracy, first to rob their employer, and then bac:
recourse to law, in order to extort those wages to winc
they well knew they were not entitled. The fraud is
disgrace to all the operatives who are members of these
unions; for it is equally fraudulent on the part of those
who connive at these proceedings as on those directly
implicated and justly exposed before the magistrate'
Allowances we must admit should be made for indi°;
duals—for simpletons—for nervous old men ; but that
a number of persons could be found capable of earn;
ing four-and-sixpence a day, and capable at the sato
1,
time of acting in this base and infamous manner,
shows that these bricklayers are more suited to live nir
der the code rurale of St. Domingo than the free instittl:.
tions of this country. We might forgive their ignoranceoi
but what can be said for their integrity or their sensedi,
shame? If these men have ever received even the ro t
ments of a moral and religious education, these rile
have been obliterated by the nostrums of the trarelli.st,
schoolmaster, the shallow dogmas of the conceited de'
°,
or the arrogant pretensions of some political or pilil° oci
phical tinker. Well-disposed men may be ensnared, 3to
persuaded beyond the curb of their own refiection4bai
do things of which they soon see cause to repent, A
we can hardly believe that any well7disposed men "°1•01
be induced to join in a fraud so glaring and f
'-
disgraceltf
as this. None but the scum of men could be the el,he
parties, and therefore to with them is out - o
esa
question. It will come to the pauper fare, or the tro
mill regime in the end. For some of these rogues'
fear, the last named process is the only remedy.

There has been going on during the last week ill oil',
don a sitigular 'conflict, a sort of pot-and-kettle ale i
between the member for all Ireland, and the gentle°o of
of the fourth estate, commonly called the gendeulefeso
the press, withwhich we are bound in candour to CO

we have been greatly amused. i`'Mr. O'CONNELL complains, first, that the report% DO
the gallery of the House of Commons do not reP°r