The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-06-03 00:00:00

TUESDAY

few words will suffice in reply to the
remarks of the Manchester Guardian of last Wed-

icn resolve themselves into a charge
against those merchants of Liverpool who attended
Mr. Duncan's lectures, that they are seeking an ex-
the currency in order to bolster up their
speculations. In the first place,
nay notice, as a singular fact, that whenever
the raw material, upon which Manchester depends,

pansion of

Cotton and other

is enhanced in price, it is invariably set down as
the result of speculative operations in Liverpool.
Now, we venture to assert, first, that the high price
of Cotton at the commencement of this year was
by no means unwarranted, and was certainly not
caused solely by speculation in Liverpool; and
secondly, that the almost unprecedented decline,
which has recently taken place, is not attributable
to any great miscalculation on the part of holders
either here or in the United States. We com-
menced the year ISSO with a stock of 557,760 bales.
We imported during the year 1,744,729 bales,
being the greatest quantity in any year except in
1845 and 1849. Yet ►he stock on hand on the Ist
of January, 1551, was only 521,119 bales, or in
round numbers, 35,000 bales less than the Ist
January, 1850. It is true that we have since in-
creased our stock on hand, and there is an increase
of, at the most 150,000 bales in the estimates of
the crop. The former circumstance is fully ac-
counted for by the arrivals having come forward at
an earlier date than usual.

Now,

there is nothing in these two facts, taken
together, and as we have explained the first above,
to warrant a panic which, within a very few weeks,
sent Cotton down upwards of four pounds per bale,
and caused a sacrifice of capital to the amount of
X 3,000,000 sterling in that article alone. A pound
to thirty shillings per hale was the utmost decline
which ought to have arisen from the increase in
the estimates of crop. The fact is, that in part, it
rose from a money paralysis, if we may not say
panic ; from the bank returns, sheaving week after
week an abstraction of gold from the country to
pay for our unprecedented imports of grain and
flour; and in part, from the discovery made by
holders, that the state of the Cotton manufacturing
districts had been grossly misrepresented, for the
purpose of deceiving parliament—by none more
actively than the Guardian himself—and that al.
though we were boastfully told in the first three SINCE the British nation allowed itself to he
h
months of the year, the gross amount of exports hurried into the adoption of the system of free
had increased by two millions sterling, it was con-
trade, no powerful organ has more perseveringly
sealed that the home trade was greatly depressed,
and effectively exposed the baneful effects which it
is calculated to produce than Blackwood's .Naga_
and the total manufacture of the country de-
creasing. With a prosperous home trade and our
tine. The agricultural part of the question it set-
enlarged exports, we should not have at this rno- tied long ago. There is no man now, not utterly
d
ment a hale of Cotton too much, or witnessed anyishonest or blind, who has the shamelessness to
decline in price, of consequence. deny that the farmers of Great Britain are being
That a few parties in Liverpool have purchased rapidly borne down to the slough of despair and
speculatively is not to he denied—parties too who pauperism. Haying achieved this triumph in the
bad no business with the trade. But have such cause of truth, our valued contemporary proceeded
cases been confined to Liverpool ? Not at all. to expose the lying statements of the ministerial
and league press, as to the existence of prosperity
This year, perhaps, Manchester people may have
kept more aloof than ourselves. They knew a little amongst the mercantile and manufacturing classes,
better than we did the rotten state of things in the for the advancement of whose assumed interests
the agriculture and industry of the country is being
manufacturing districts, and the utterly false cha-
racter of their prosperity reports. But in all past sacrificed. The number before us (for June) con-
seasons of speculation the men of Manchester have tains a paper on " Our Commercial and Manufac-
been as active as any other men,—as ready to raise toting Prosperity," which must carry conviction
I
the price upon themselves; and this very year their to every thinking man that the boastings of the
cum direct orders, at high limits, in the American
'free traders of the success of their policy, in pro-
markets, have materially aided holders there in doting the large and sound trade which was pro_
exacting the enhanced rates at which Cotton has ! mised as its result, are ridiculous and false in
come forward to us. the extreme. The evidence adduced by the

But we must repeat again what it is which many
of the merchants of Liverpool seek in a reform of
the currency. They see that the whole superstruc-
ture of credit and money in this country, composing
perhaps three hundred millions, is an inverted cone,
based upon thirty millions of a commodity (gold)
which can be withdrawn from us by circumstances
over which we have no controul, thus plunging the
whole commerce of the country into confusion.
They seek to have a money based upon the entire
property of the country, a cone of which gold may
be the top, not the bottom; a currency which the
foreigner cannot so withdraw from us ; a currency
which will free the range of prices from dependence
-upon the supply of the limited article—gold ; a
currency which will place commodities in their
natural relations towards each other, and no longer
render it inevitable that a panic in the cotton mar-
ket shall depreciate prices in every other market.
They seek, in short, practically to get rid of the
system of bullionism, and no longer, as the holders
of the imported produce of the world, to stand
between two great powers—the money power and
consumers—to be shot at and ruined whenever it
-pleases those powers to pull them down and divide
between them the accumulations of their industry
and enterprise. With these few explanations we
leave the Guardian to sneer away at his leisure.

writer is taken from the circulars issued by our
mercantile and manufacturing houses; and cannot
he overthrown unless it is first admitted that these
documents are pure fictions. We extract the con-
cluding portion of the article, in which is shewn
the ruinous condition of our shipping interest,
whether engaged in the long voyage or the coast-
ing trade :
" And now, a few words with respect to the condition
of our shipping interests, as affected by the double in-
fluence of Freetrade in grain, and the repeal of the Navi-
gation-laws. And here again I must respectfully decline
to receive, as a correct reflex of that condition, the statis.
tical tables of the Board of Trade. Ido not refuse such
evidence merely because it has been proved, over and over
again, to have been ' cooked,' in order to serve the pur-
poses of its authors; and those just published for the
past month, and indeed for the whole quarter, are espe-
cially fallacious. They shew a large increase in the ton-
nage both inwards and outwards ; but the authors forget
to tell us that, as the result of the late mild spring and
unusually early opening of the navigation, both in Europe
and in the United States, we have been supplied witA our
spring imports at least two months before the average
period. The following brief extract from the return will
exhibit this :

IMPORTATIONS, FIRST THREE MONTHS.
1850. 1851.
197,184 498,954
206,750 480,890
3,298,270 14,838,620
276,609 576,032
1,563,447 3,144,044
498,298 893,983
261,821 884,113
2,717,426 3,495,949
It must be clear that the ' prosperity' thus indicated is
the result of exceptional circumstances. I conceive, how-
ever, that a mere comparison of ' entries inwards and
outwards' would at any time be inconclusive as to the
profitable nature of the shipowner's business. Men are
not supposed, at the outset of any change, to abandon at
once the trade in which they have embarked their capi-
tal, and in which they have been brought up from their
youth. The shipowner is not likely to burn his ships,
any more than the farmer is likely, after a few years only
of trial of a new system, to sacrifice his stock of imple-
ments in the event of that system being unsatisfactory,
and to abandon at once all chance of regaining the capital
which he has sunk in the soil—in the shape of manure,
expensive drainage, &c. The only correct mode which we
can resort to, in order to test the actual operation of these
and of similar changes, is to examine carefully their effect
upon the returns of profit to those engaged in the trades
legislated for ; ar.d it such an examination shews, instead
of profit, a ruinous loss, it becomes only a question of
time as to how soon we may expect to see them retire in
despair from the struggle.
" In pursuing such an inquiry, I will furnish, first, a
few facts and figures connected with the present condition
of the shipping engaged in the trade with distant coun-
tries. I have had these carefully collated from the
freight-books of an eminent ship-broker's firm in Liver-
pool, (whose names I hand you privately for your own
satisfaction ;) and I may explain that the ships, the result
of whose voyages I furnish, are all first-class ' regular
traders,' and some of them of the clipper build. With
these vessels the rates of freight vary very little outwards,
the number put on for loading being always regulated by
the quantity of goods offering, which can easily be as-
certained. With respect to the return voyages, they
must take their chance,—having, however, generally a
preference of about 2s. 6d. per ton over casu 1 vessels,
owing to their sailing qualities, and the abilities of their
captains, being favourably known in the foreign ports to
which they are accustomed to trade.

Wheat, qrs.
Flour and meal, cwts
Tea, lb.
Sugar, cwts.
Tobacco, lb.
Raw silk
Cotton, cwts.
Wool, lb

THE writers and the spouters of the League were
wont to expatiate upon the low wages of labour
paid in some of our agricultural counties during the
existence of a protective policy. " Look," they
said over and over again, " at your bold peasantry
living in miserable hovels, and having doled out to
them the paltry pittance of eight or nine shillings
a week, wherewith to keep a family !" We grant
that there was too much ground for the reproach.
The agricultural labourer has always been, in many
parts of Great Britain, an overtoiled and ill-paid
drudge. But, in his worst state, he enjoyed bles-
sings denied to the operative population of the
manufacturing districts. His was a healthy occu-
pation. He toiled under and breathed the pure air
of Heaven. He was not pent up all day in the
suffocating atmosphere of the factory or the loom-
shop, and housed at night in a filthy court or
cellar. His life was not an artificial life. He was
not driven by exhaustion to resort to the gin shop
for a stimulus to enable him to bear up under his
wearying toil. The agricultural labourers, as a
class, had fewer vices, less expensive habits, and
were more happy and contented with their lot than
their higher paid brethren in the manufacturing
districts.

Up to this moment we have been assured that
Free Trade had redressed the grievance of the low
wages of the agricultural labourer. He has been
represented to us as enjoying the full benefit of a
cheap loaf ; and as able to consume more largely
every manufactured article, and every imported '
product. This flattering picture, however, has just
been rudely stricken from before our eyes by an
unimpeachable authority—the land-steward of a
free trade peer and landowner. The Earl Fitz-
bardinge, it appears, has been compelled, by the
notoriously depressed condition of the farming
business, to remit a portion of the rental formerly
paid by his tenantry upon the Berkeley Estate ;
and, in announcing this concession to the parties,
his steward remarks that, in his daily communica-
tions with them, he has found many labouring
under erroneous notions of the extent of the claims
which they have upon the landlord for relief. They
ought to look for such relief from other sources; and
be reminds them of a few advantages, which they
possess under Free Trade, which will assist them
in paying the highest possible rent. The firat of
these advantages is stated as follows :

" With'respect to outward voyages, therefore, during
the period over which I shall extend my observations, the
reader will be prepared to find that there has been little
change. To East Indian ports, for example, the rates are
at present about 20s. per ton for tine merchandise, (cases
and bales,) and coarser freight and dead-weight in pro-
portion. Five or six years ago, however, the average
range was from 30s. downwards. The decline which has
taken place during the past two or three years will be
found to have been very serious. The rates, remember,
which I give below are those actually received by vessels
whose names and characters I have before me.

Date of Arrival

in Liverpool
March, 1848.

3 0 per tOri
0 0 „

" The wages of each agricultural labourer are already
lower by at least £5 per awnum for each able-bodied
labourer employed on alarm."
Now, suppose that Bs. per week was the sum
paid to the labourer on Earl Fitzhardinge's estates
previously to the adoption of free trade polity, that
would make an aggregate amount of £2O 16s. per
annum for each man. How any human being, in
receipt of such a paltry sum, could afford to have
£5, or 25 per cent., deducted from it surpasses our
comprehension. The fall of wheat from 545., as
an average, to 40s. does not account for his being
able to give up this amouLt, even supposing his
entire income to be spent in the purchase of bread.
But it is not so. His rent is a fixed sum. Rig
clothing has not been material:3r cheapened. His
tea, coffee, anti svge.r, if fit COMsWaeli any, may

ISSO. Jute

3 5 0

ritom BOSt K.t

Arrival at
Liverpool. Freights paid.
March, 1848. Rice *3 5 • per ton
Nigrabolams 2 10 0
(This article is dead weight,)
May, /850. Rice

__ ..
Linseed
Cotton

1 12 6
1 12 6

3 5 0 and ..4

•ROM WEST COAST OF AMEBIC

May. 1848. Wool .
Bark
Cotton

... 610 0 and f 7 10 0 per tcb.r
•.. 6io 0 and JO 0 0 „
6 W 9 per ton,

Yesterday morning, the Rev. H. Carpenter delivered a
scriptural address to the pupils of Dr. Fisher's educa-
tional establishment.
On inquiry, we learn that the statement, to the effect
that on Tuesday last Lord Derby was able to resume his
short airings, is incorrect. Though his lordship is going
on favourably, and all untoward symptoms have disap-
peared, he has not been able to leave his room since the
first day of the attack. Mr. Welsby, of Prescot, his lord-
ship's medical adviser, is in frequent attendance.
SMUGGLING.—Sweeney, an officer of the Inland Reve-
nue, complained that a gentleman who arrived here by the
Europa on Saturday had brought 311bs. of cigars on
shore. He was apprehended as he left the Satellite.
The gentleman, who is an American, and was accompanied
by Mr. Lynn, of the Waterloo, urged his ignorance of
the law. The amount of the cigars happened to be just
a quarter of a pound under the £lOO penalty. Fined
forty shillings.
THE SAILORS' HOME BAZAAR.—It is proposed to
dispose of the articles remaining unsold from the bazaar
recently held in the Sailors' Home, by raffle, tickets for
which are now on sale at the Home. Already eight
hundred tickets have been disposed of, and it it intended
to hold the raffle next Friday week. It is expected that
1200 tickets, at least, will have been disposed of by that
time. This sum will realise £3OO, though it is considered
the articles for disposal are worth at least £4OO. They
comprise marine paintings, portrait of the Rev. Dr.
M`Neile, a beautiful junk, formerly in the possession of
the late Mr. Rushton, and worth £3O, a schooner, six
feet long, and a selection of books.
DARING RORIIRRY.—Joseph Brown was yesterday com-
mitted to the sessions for felony under the following
daring circumstances :—Mr. Jonas Reis, the proprietor
of a bullion and exchange office in Waterloo-road, stated
that he was sitting in the private office behind his shop,
about a quarter past five o'clock on Saturday afternoon,
when he was alarmed by a sudden crash, and running out,
he saw that the shop window, which consists of large
squares of plate glass, was smashed ; and, upon a hasty
examination, he ascertained that a £1 Irish provincial
note had been abstracted. A lad named Richard Hughes
saw the act committed just as he was leaving the shop,
and he pointed the prisoner out to Mr. Rais's shopman,
who went after him. The man did not appear to be very
anxious to escape, as he merely walked off, and was taken
about fifty yards from the shop. When asked by the
magistrate's clerk whether he had anything to say, he
replied lie wanted to be sent to Australia.
SEACOMJSE FERRY HOTEL, AND CARDERS.—Messrs.
sugar 3 0 0 and 43 5 0 per UAL J. and R. Parry, proprietors of this establishment, have
Borax 3 10 0 per ton. commenced the experiment of running their boats for a
Saltpetre
It will be observed that the articles brought are mil- to do during the summer months, or as long afterwards as
dom precisely alike in different vessels. The rates, how- the public encourage so kind a concession to strangers and
ever, are generally by weight—the ton of 20 cvvt, When to the inhabitants of both sides of the river. We need
they are by measurement, it is specified. scarcely remind our local readers of the attractions of
Seacombe as the most rural of our Cheshire Ferries, or
the excellence and beauty of Messrs. Parry's Hotel and
gardens. We may, however, state that the route by Sea-
combe to view the Birkenhead Great Float, lately opened,
is the nearest, the walk from the slip being barely one of
five minutes; and that it affords a direct and short ap-
proach to the Birkenhead Great Park. The boats, four
6 per ton. in number, have been recently put into excellent working
order ; and one of them,—the Britannia,—which last
week came out, after receiving a thorough repair and new
boilers and engines of 70-horse power, is scarcely second,
if at ail, in speed, to any on the river. Thus far the AKIX.
Periamt of the penny fore has been moot euecoesful.