The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-02-22 00:00:00

export

only were we at

markets where food t, _
Seen diminished and vriees areativ enham

procurable, but when stocks had

the ear-

Tier operations of other and wiser countrie
for several months, had priority over us.

,h had,
is cruel

procrastination, were the intensity of our calamities, and
the cost of

.elieving them, greatly increase

The passages in the above, marked in italics, are
all pure balderdash. Will any one in his sound
senses believe that, with the approach of famine
obvious to all the world, and whilst the merchants
of all other countries were eagerly ransacking every
market for grain, the merchants of Great Britain
alone, with rising prices in their own markets, and

a merely nominal- duty in existence, were doing
nothing—were waiting until some unprompted
agency should fill their empty stores and ware-
houses ? Can any one, with only a moderate share
of assurance, expect to persuade the world that we
waited for the announcement of the suspension of
the Corn-law, and that " then only" did we set
out to secure the foreign markets ? The chamber,
by the bye, asserted that "then only were • we
allowed to become competitors in those markets,"

mercially learned, m

uect wi

lave ti

startling a

is, however, that we bought as early, and upon as
favourable terms, as any other nation ; and that so
far from having to fly east, west, north, and south,
with our pockets crammed with bank bills and
sovereigns, on that auspicious 21st January, when
the suspension of duties was announced, a goodly
number of our merchants and speculators had snug
hoards laid up, the 4s. duty upon which they
managed very quietly to place in their own pockets.
But what has all this to do with the question, a
solution of which we anticipated from this com-
mercial body, viz.—the question where is the re-
turn for our own vast purchases of foreign grain ?
We have spent with the various corn-growing
countries of the world, since the passing of Sir
Robert Peel's measure, at the lowest estimate,
£35,000,000 sterling in breadstuffs alone
exports to those countries, with onl

Yet our

ception, have diminished, whilst we we

e taught to

believe they ought to have immensely increased;
the native industry of the country, which was to
have sustained a large developement from this

policy, is steeped in suffering; mercantile credit is
shaken to its base ; bankruptcy has been seen in
quarters where his presence would a few years ago
have been deemed a miracle, and the Bank of
England itself has been within a feA

ours of the

awful necessity of suspending specie payments.
Such have been the results, thus far, of our
Free-trade policy. It may be said, however, that
they might have occured under the operation
of our old laws. It is quite possible that they
might and would have occurred in any case of
greatly extended importation. The two-fold result
of the admission is difficult to escape from. If, as
undoubtedly would have been the case, the elastic
properties of the Corn-law of 1842 would have
given us a sufficient supply of food at the nominal
duty of the scale, we have little for which to thank
the act of 1846, as to such supply and the cheap-
ness realised. On the other hand, as large impor-
tations of foreign food have been accompanied
with diminished exports of British products in re-
turn for them ; if large importations have pro-
duced only a large drain for specie, as such return,
we see nothing as yet to assure us that continual
importations, more limited and less unwieldly in
amount will not lead to continual yearly recurrtng
drains of specie to'pay for them.

We understand that the proposed
measure for the amendment o
Act, is exciting considerable interest
shipowners of this port; and that a Meeting in
reference to it is to be held to-day, in the Under-
writer's Room, at which Henry C. Chapman, Esq.,
will preside.

government

the Passengers

amongst the

A rule absolute has been granted for a new trial in the
case of Syers v. Jones, tried at the last Liverpool assizes.
The Manchester Courier gives currency to a rumour
that Dr. Hampden will be removed from Hereford to
Chester bishopric.

We are glad to learn that the excellent Chancellor of
Chester has completely recovered from his recent severe
indisposition.

On Sunday afternoon, a boat, with three men in, was
capsized in the river, but they were all rescued after a
little difficulty.

A special Meeting of the Council will be held to-morrow
on the Dock Bill, and on the claims of compensation from
the Sanatory Committee.
THE REV. DR. M'NEILE7S CHUECH.---,WE may again
state, as some little doubt has been raised as to the fact,
that the Bishop of Chester will consecrate St. Paul's
Church on Thursday, the 2d March, as originally in-
tended.

SPECIMEN OF LITHOGRAPHY.—We have great pleasure
in directing attention to a very beautiful view of the new
Church of St. Paul's, Prince's Park, (erected for the Rev.
Dr. M'Neile,) executed by Messrs. Geo. Smith, Watts,
and Co., an impression of which may be seen in our office
window.—See Adv.
THE BISHOP OF CHESTER.—His lordship preached last
Sunday evening in St. Peter's Church, Chester, to the
class of newly ordained candidates, „a list of whom we give
elsewhere. The congregation was unusually large, and
the discourse was attended to with the most intense inte-
rest. His lordship left Chester yesterday morning, by an
early train, for London. It is understood that he will
still consecrate St. Paul's Church, on the 2nd of March,
as originally fixed by him.
CHESTER AUXILIARY TO THE IRISH SOCIETY.
annual meeting was held yesterday (Monday) morning, in
the Assembly Rooms, Chester, the Rev. Canon Thurlow
in the chair; and by adjournment in the evening, when
the Rev. Canon Eaton presided. Allusion was made by
every speaker to the deserved elevation of the good Bishop
to the Primacy of all England, an event in which the whole
meeting cordially rejoiced. Sermons were preached at
the churches in Chester on Sunday, in aid of the Society.
The deputation consisted of the Revs. Henry Carpenter
and Thomas Nolan, both of this towel. _ _ _ _

—The

DUBLIN UNIVERSITY ELECTION.—The election for a
representative in the room of Mr. Shaw was held on Sa-
turday, when, no other candidate appearing, Mr. Joseph
Napier, Q.C., was declared duly elected. The learned
gentleman was proposed by the Rev. Dr. Singer, the Rev.
Mortimer O'Sullivan seconding the nomination. The
speaking was on an unusually limited scale. Mr. Napier
paid a graceful tribute to the memory of the late Pro-
fessor M'Cullagh, and with equally good taste referred in
terms of regret to the cause which deprived the electors of
the services of the late member.
VALUE OF THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN CASES OF
SICK/4E55.-On the 9th instant, a young man, the step-
son of a London merchant, arrived here in the Cambria,
labouring under the delirium of fever. As there was great
difficulty in obtaining accommodation for him under those
I circumstances, he was conveyed by the steward of the
ship to the Northern Hospital. At seven o'clock in the
evening a telegraphic message was sent to London to in-
form his friends, and soon after 6 o'clock the next morn-
ing his step-father, who resides five miles from the sta-
tion, was at his bed-side in the hospital. We are glad to
say that the young man speedily recovered, and has since
been safely removed to London.

STEALING A WATCH, &C.—At the police-court yester-
day, a respectable-looking man from tee country was the
complainant against a girl named Elizabeth Holding, and
a man named Michael Short, whom he charged with
stealing his watch, worth £7, some money in silver, &c.
Complainant, it appeared, bad on Saturday night, owing
to the rain, resolved to remain in town until the morning,
and on making inquiry of the female for a bed was taken
by her to a house which appeared respectable. In the
morning he missed the property stated, and giving the
alarm, the prisoners were taken. The male prisoners had
offered the watch in pledge to Mr. Cunningham, who find-
ing he could give no good account of it very properly gave
him and the girl, who was waiting for him at the door,
into custody. The prisoners were committed for trial,
FATAL ACCIDENT.—On Saturday last, Mr. Thomas
Houghton, the overlooker of the Gas Works at St. Helen's,
was returning home from this town by the express railway
train, which only stops at a few stations, and Mr. H.,
when near the St. Helen's station, incautiously jumped
off, in order that he might not be carried further, and, no
doubt, under the idea that he would not be hurt. The
unfortunate gentleman, however, fell upon the rail, and
the wheels passed over and broke both his thighs. His
cries were heard after the train had passed, and the con.
stable and inspector at the station went in search, and
found him. He was quite sensible, and related to
them the manner in which the disaster occurred. The
railway officers sent him with all possible speed back
to Liverpool, and took him to the Infirmary, as the near-
est and best place for surgical aid. Amputation of both
limbs was there carefully performed: but lie died on Sun-
day morning.