The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-10-17 00:00:00

may not he lost upon a ministry to whom is co ;n
nutted, we tlo not hesitate to say, at the present
moment, the circulation of the great truths of the
gospel, and the civilzation and the peace of the.
world.

We have abstained hitherto from referring to the
controversy raised by the attempt of a few indiscreet
admirers of Mr. William Rathbone, to foist upon
the acceptance of the Council, or rather, perhaps, to
throw upon it the ungracious task of refusing a poi--
trait of that gentleman to be placed in the Council
Chainher. We had no wish to enter upon an exa-
mination of Mr. Rathbone's claims to such an ho-
nour ; and we trusted that his friends would see the
propriety of withdrawing a proposal, the only result
of which must he to generate party and even per-
sonal bitterness. To such a course, however, they
have not been induced to submit. On the contrary,
at the Council meeting of Saturday last the question
was pressed to a division, and the portrait was re-
jected by a majority of 17 to 18.
And such, we are satisfied, ought to have been
the fate of a proposition to glorify an extinct politi-
cal partisan, who, whatever may be his private amia-
bility of character, is, at all events, the man of the
entire Whig par y in Liverpool, who has struggled
for years to earn, and has succeeded in earning, un-
popularity amongst the Conservative majority of his
fellow townsmen. If the admission of his portrait
was asked as a tribute of respect for his public cha-
racter, with what consistency could a Conservative
council, who viewed that character with dislike, ra-
ther than respect or love, grant such a demand. If
the portrait was to be admitted as a work of art
merely, the same request might have been made for
a clever portrait of any other man, however disre-
putable his character or humble his station. The
council room is not a picture gallery; and if its walls
are bare of adornment, we do not think that the
portrait of William Rathbone, however splendid the
robes of mayoralty in which he is painted, and how-
ever magnificent the gilding of its frame, would be
very generally considered an ornamental feature in
that locality. Some people even might go so far as
to think there is already acidity enough in the com-
position and the debates of the council itself, with-
out having an impersonation of vinegar upon its
walls.

Mr. Blackburn, we find, contends that the por-
trait ought to have been received, " not because of
Mr. Rathbone's general character, but because of
his personal worth and high honour whilst filling
the civic chair." We have nothing to say' against
his personal worth ; we have as little to say against
his " high honour whilst filing the civic chair." We
don't know that the chair in question sustained any
lustre in the eyes of the world from its occupation
by the ex member for we don't remember how many
wards. But even Mr. Blackburn's argument does
not satisfy us that the council was wrong in the
course which it pursued ; for how many of its mem-
bers were witnesses of the high honour in ques-
tion ? Of the sixty-three members now com-
posing the Council no less than forty never
enjoyed that gratification ; and it is scarcely to be
supposed that these gentlemen would trouble them-
selves to run up and down the borough, to pick up,
from the rejected of the last three or four years,
their notions of Mr. Rathbone's " high honour,"
or any other of his assumed or real virtues.
The fact is, the whole affair was a party move,
and, as such, it was very properly defeated by the
conservative majority of the council.
Besides, if the testimonial originated in a desire
to express gratification at the manner in which Mr.
Rathbone discharged the duties imposed upon him
as chief magistrate, how happens it that the matter
has been suffered to remain dormant for five years,
and is now only mooted on the eve of a municipal
election ?

The latest particulars connected with the present
important proceedings in Ireland, will be found de-
tailed in our third page. We shall receive this
morning, by the first mail, a narrative of what
transpired yesterday in Dublin, which we shall give
in an early second edition.

CONNEXION BETWEEN THE PRICE OF FOOD
AND OF LABouß.—Our contemporary, the Mer-
cury, in one of his wise replies to correspondents,
remarks that the above question " lies in a nutshell."
There are nuts, however, which it is not every body
has strength enough to crack; and in his attempt
upon this shell, our contemporary must take care
that he does not break his teeth. It has puzzled
stronger-headed people th-,n himself, and will pro-
bably puzzle many more. In his own flippant way,
he remarks, in the paragraph before us, " i\ot only
have we seen high wages when food has been cheap,
and low wages when food has been dear, but there is
no getting over the fact that, if large supplies of
foreign food were obtained, in addition to all that is
raised at home, it must be paid for in goods of some
kind. To produce these, extra labour must be had—
if extra labour, more constant employment, would
first arise, and then higher wages, so that every work-
man would be in better circumstances." It would take
a tolerably large nutshell to hold the proof of this
very off-hand tissue of assertion, supposition, and
illogical conclusion. We shall not, however, re-
quire such proof at the hands of the Allercury, for
the very obvious reason that he knows as much
only of the subject as the goose or the wood and
iron that furnished him his pen. To one question,
however, he may, perhaps, have brains enough to
furnish us an answer, and we give him that question

in unmistakeable type. IF A LOW PRICE OF FOOD
WILL GIVE TO THE LABOURER BETTER WAGES,
AND CONSEQUENTLY INCREASE THE COST OF
ALL GOODS OF WHICH LABOUR IS A COMPONENT
PART, HOW IS THE MANUFACTURER TO BE
ENABLED TO COMPETE WITH THE FOREIGNER?
Of course, we only expect, in reply, A QUIBBLE.

We understand that Robert Henderson, Esti., wi
become the conservative candidate for St. Peter's Ward

" ST. Jo DE'S MATIN BELL."—Under this "ominous"
head the Mercury of Friday elaborates the following
paragraph :—" ' One within Sound of the Bell' complains,
in sensitive, but gentlemanly terms, of the disturbance of
his morning slumbers by the long continued tolling of St.
Jude's prayer bell, before six o'clock in the morning; and
he feelingly appeals to the parties concerned to abate a
nuisance by no means nec .ssary in a town of clocks and
watches. He thinks, moreover, that though people have,
of course, a right to attend prayers at any hour they please,
they are hardly justified in thus loudly proclaiming their
zealous piety, to the annoyance of others who are most in
need of

`Tired nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep.' "

How vastly poetical is our Mercurial friend, not only at
the close, but throughout this paragraph—which, being
one of his best, he sets in " nonpareil !" We feel quite
certain, that were it not for that innate modesty that
'ledges around our sapient contemporary, and which pre-
vents him on many occasions from quoting " wise saws
and modern instances," he would have added, in the words
of Rousseau, when he was within " sound " of some un-
pleasant practitioners of " Bob Majors,"—
" Ye rascal:), ringers ! ye pla4ues of these lands !
Would you had round your necks what you hold in
your hands !"
Now, what will our readers and the public think of the
discretion of the Mercury whe❑ we inform them, that
" St. Jude's is guiltless of a matin bell'

That, in fact, the bell he, or " One within Sound of the
Bell," is annoyed by, is tolled at his own pet Popish
convent, over the way ! Shame to Romanism, and espe-
cially to " the ladies thereof,', that they should so disturb
the repose of their champ;on, or any of his readers. But
we beg pardon of the " fair," for we do not think the
belles to blame. Our contemporary—always asleep him-
self—communicates so strong a soporific sympathy to his
perusers, that we defy even a " ding-dong" from the great
bell at Moscow to rouse them. Besides, the Mercury
may exclaim with the jolly old friar,
"At matin "tis rare
1 am there to say pray'r ;
And out when shines Ilesper,
I'm rare at vesper."
We arc bound in courtesy, however, to suppo,,e that our
contemponary has received a letter about. the bell; but wit
utivi,tc him rtA to`ntetid!e u i h the Belles Leareg again!