The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-01-09 00:00:00

avarice !

We would have our fellow-countrywomen to dis-
courage this irregular traffic of the retailer. Let
them reflect that his " ten thousand dozen of straw
bonnets bought for cash," and all that sort of thing
—the clearing out of the old stock of some whole-
sale warehouse—or the hundred dozen of stays
(soiled) " to be sold at 50 per cent. below cost price,"
are only baits thrown out to lure them to the pur-
chase of other articles. And yet for no profit—as a
mere pretext to enable him to boast of his cheap-

ness—the puffing trader is perhaps consigning to
idleness for a season the needles of a hundred poor
families, and at the same time permanently reducing
the remuneration of their future industry.
But there are other circumstances contributing to
produce the wretchedness which we deplore amongst
our industrious female population. Our public in-
' stitutions, we fear, are not guiltless in this matter.
Three weeks or a month ago we brought before our
readers the case of a wretched woman, who had died
in St. Pancras workhotase, having, almost to the
last day of her life, employed herself within its walls
in shirt-making, fOr which the munificent authori-
ties allowed her the sum of—A FARTHING EACH !
Y s : in a Christian country—under a Conservative
government (!)—a knot of heartless parish functiona-
ries are enabled, by the stringency of a diabolical
system of poor laws, to draw around the wretched
pauper the string of famine so tight, that she sub-
mits to a paltry farthing of remuneration for a day's
labour, to earn as much as will purchase a few spent
tea-leaves ! And whilst this screw is being applied—
whilst this farthing is being doled out—what is the
' working of the " system, so far as the poor out of
doors are concerned Why, this. By the reply of
these same commissioners, to a letter addressed to
them upon the subject, by the Poor-law Commis-
sioners, we are informed that for the last twelve
years they have been in the habit of employing their

female poor in the making of slop shirts, for which
they have been in the habit of receiving, from some
wholesale slopse}ler, the sum of 2s. per dozen, or
twopence per shirt (!), out of which they magnani-
mously allowed the poor workers a farthing ! /
They saved by this Course, for the benefit of the
rich rate-payers of the streets and squares of St.
Pancras—for the benefit of peers of the realm, rvern-
berg of Perliament, bankers, barristers, lawyers, and
a flourishing shopocracy, seven farthings for each
shirt made by the labour of the fingers of these
poor destitute females. Oh r "liberal" humanity !
where is thy blush?

The working, then, of this system, so far as regards
the poor beyond the doors of a workhouse, is simply
this :—lt drives them within its doors I The hard-
hearted usurer, who can get a parish to contract to
do his work for so miserable a remuneration,. is not
likely to give more to the poor sempstress out of
doors. What reeks he for the fact that she Cannot
live upon the pittance which he offers-her ? Shu
can go to the workhouse, and there labour for him.-
The very authorities most interested in the enabling
of their poor to live by the work of their fingers,
have themselves, in effect, fixed the maximu'm reward
of labour; and that too at a price which entails
misery upon the labourer ! St. Pancras, and nearly
every other metropolitan union, have thus soMltheir
poor to the Jewish slopseller ; and what wond.,r that
famine, prostitution, child-murder, and profligacy,
abound beneath the very eyes of England's ariSto--
cracy, and in the very seat of its wealth, or that the
country is inundated with crime, and its industrious,
rural, and town populations are involved in misery
and poverty,--the effects of a forced competition
with the cheap productions of these masses of op-,
pressed and depreciated labour t

Well, indeed—when we contemplate such ruin
and wretchedness, wrought by ou- own selfishness
and folly—might we address to the thoughtless and
unthinking of our fellow-beings the appeal of the
inimitable Hood, in a poem which ought to be
immortal

" Oh ! men with sisters dear r
Oh ! men with mothers and, wives !
It is not linen you're wearing out,.
But human creatures' lives.
Stitch—stitch—stitch,
In poverty, hunger, and dirt ;
Sewing at once, with a double thread;
A SHROUD AS WELL AS A SHIRT !"

But is it only in workhcruses—beneath the cold,
worldly eyes of the officials of Somerset House, and
" liberal" hoards of guardians and vestrymen—that
these atrocities are committed For the sake of
human nature, would we could say "Yes!" But
we cannot. Our very charities are tainted by such
practices. Our Magdalene institutions—our peni-
tentiaries—our orphan asylums,—these, too, are
operating to deteriorate the condition of the la-
bourer, and to favour the prevalent mania for
" cheapness." We have, perhaps, in these no con-
tracts with Jew slopsellers—no shirt-making for a
farthing or for twopence even; but we have cheap
sewing, knitting, washing, and other labour for

" lady patronesses," " committee-women," and
" yearly subscribers." Many and many a guinea

—we refer not to the charities of our own town,
of whose working we do not know sufficient; hut
to charitable institutions in general, and we shall be
happy to hear that our own are amongst the excep-
tions—many a guinea, paraded before the world as
the gift of charity, is, in a truly worldly sense, well
upended And little does the poor penitent out-
cast, or the bereaved orphan know, when they are
plying their busy needle upon the fine linen or em-
broidery of their humane female protectors, and be-
stowing upon their work the fruit of many a ma-
ternal lesson—recalling, perhaps, the memory of
many a past hour of virtue and happiness—that
they are contributing to drive others to the same
vicious paths and the same unprotected wretched-
ness, from which they have been themselves hap-
pily released ! Little do they know that the meagre
remuneration for which their lady-patronesses vend

their labour to " very dear friends," or enjoy them
themselves, is to be made the maximum remunera-
tion with which other women, otherwise unsup-
ported, are to buffet with the world, and maintain,
in the paths of virtue themselves, and perhaps fami-
lies dependant upon them. This should not be.

In charitable institutions, at least, it should not, un-
less we are bent upon making charity itself an
empty bubble, and professing humanity a bye-word.
We are quite ready to acknowledge that such in-
stitutions are not always capable of being self-sup-
ported. Besides, industrious avocations must be
carried on in these establishments, for the employ-
ment and training in industry of those contained in
them. But let these avocations, so far as the public
out of door are concerned, be fairly paid for, at least
to the institution itself, and their price not made, as
at present, the convenient pretext for the selfish to
screw down the remuneration of the independent
labour which they employ. Genuine charity should
spurn to profit by its own exercise ; and when we
reflect upon the tendency which attempts so made
must have upon the open market for labour, it is
, surely a mockery to attempt the training, in indus-

try and virtue, of those whom we affect to patronize,
when the certainty is before us that, when they come
forth from beneath our protection, to struggle with
the world, they cannot live by the avocations which
we have taught them!

The subject is not exhausted ; but for the presen'

we must now pause.

If anything could reconcile us to the conversion
of such bodies, as the Select Vestry of this parish,
into debating societies, by the admission to their
meetings of reporters for the public press, it would
undoubtedly he the fact that their proceedings are
given by some member, from time to time, to the
public, in a garbled shape, through the medium of
partisan organs. From some such pimping autho-
rity, we have now before us the proceedings of the
meeting un Tuesday last—the written
Vestry at

speeches of Messrs. Urquhart and Thorneley of
course given verbatim from the copies read upon the
occasion, and those of other gentlemen with such
interpolations and suppressions, doubtless, as suited
the purpose of the amateur reporter. From such
reports, one-sided as they are, and untrustworthy,
the public derive all the information which they can
derive, of workhouse management; and upon the
Mercury's statements, therefore, we are compelled
to base the few remarks which we shall offer upon
the proceedings of Tuesday's meeting.
The first subject which we shall notice, as given
in this one-sided report, is the question as to the
improvement and enlargement of the workhouse.
We are told by a gentleman, who moved the amend-
ment, to the effect that a new workhouss should be
constructed; and by that talkative, or rather speech-
reading gentleman, Mr. Urquhart, that by the sale
of the present site as building ground, so large a
sum would be realised, as to require less from the
parish funds for a new building than will be required
for the alterations proposed. Of course we have no
proof of this. We have not sufficientc onfidence in
the persons in question to give an opinion upon the
subject. We have no wish to see the authorities of
the parish dragged into bastile erecting, or to fur-
nish to' the Poor-law Commissioners, aided by, a
vestry of Urquharts; the pretext which would be
afforded by the possession of a building large
enough, for submitting to "the workhouse test" the
3600 destitute beings, who now receive out-door re-
lief from the funds of the rate-payers. We would
rather have the limited capabilities of our workhouse
remain a bar to the' efforts of " Liberalism" to apply
the screw to our working poor, than furnish fresh
weapons of oppression—increased facilities for the
working out of the murderous principle* of the
atrocious system of Somerset House. Throughout
the whole proceeding of tile junt,- of busy radicals,
who have wriggled themselves into a share in the
management of parish affairs, we can' distinctly
trace a' disposition to bring the poor of Liverpool
under the merciless tyranny of the Poor-law COm-
missioners ;. and with all our might we shall oppose
the arrival of a consummation so pregnant with
added misery and degradation at, our suffering
fellow-townsmen.

The nett. subject Brought before us is the pro,
posal of Urquhart to permit the' delivery of
temperance' lectures at the `Workhouse,• What a
mockery would this be, practically, to a' large por-
tion of the poor beings confined there The tem-

perance of a parish pauper, whose most exciting
drink is gruel, must needs be sufficiently exemplary !
Such a being has no £5OO to• throw away under its
excitement Bat there are eorne, doubtless, within
the walls of a workhouse who• may, at some future
day, revisit the world as its free denizens; amd to
these, habits of sobriety would he a great good,-and

lessons-of sobriety might tend to' foster such habits.
But from whom should those lessons flow ? The
Workhouse enjoys fie •services -of. a-chaplain, quite
able to impart them to all those• to-whom they can;
be of service, without the impressed "aid of lecturers;
voluntary or hired.

We are told, indeed,.as something.quite conclusive
as to the propriety of teetotal lectures,. that the gen-
tleman by whom they are propased,-to be given is al
churchman. We believe- heis. He may have his pe-
culiar crotchets, however; upon the subject.; and it is
scarcely concealed that he has. Whether this be the
case or not, however, is,. in our opinion; little to the
purpose. The object of Mr. Urquhart, we are con-
vinced, is not that these. particular rectures should
bedelivered, but that they should be delivered by
anyone rather than the chaplain: It is against that
gentleman's authority, as the spiritual guide of -the
inmates of the Workhousey that the factious efforts
of 114 r, Urquhart are dill-e.t.a_ And ...Lie particular
lecturing permitted, where, pray, is- the limit at
which our very enlightened parish dignitary will
stop in his progress ? Will the next exhibition be
a lecture .by Father Matthew, or an Anti-corn-law
or Chartist harangue, by some other equally cele-
brated authority ?

The concluding piece in, these select vestry per-
formances was the very high-minded (I!) opposition
offered 'by the Radical clique to the re-election of
Mr. N-ightingall as house surgeon. The very au-

thoritias of Somerset-house had acknowledged the
extenuating circumstances in the case of this gentle-
man—had: virtually admitted that the memory of
twenty years' active services should not be taken as
grounds of a harsh and vindictive sentence. The
entire medical profession had recognised his great
experience and talent in the treatment of such dis—
eases.. as are most prevalent within the walls of a
workhouse. But what can appeast, the malignity of
Whig-Radicalism when once aroused ? What hope
of peace, or decency of temper and deportment, or
of charity, can there be in an assembly to seats in
which vain men, with brazen faces and empty heads,
have unhappily been elevated ? The parishioners
must get rid of this rabid clique.; and we trust they_
will do so at no distant period.

We have givan in another column a report
.of the
proceedings of two League meetings, recently held
in Toxteth-cark, at both of which the " Liberal "
party were sgnally defeated;, The latter of these we
have given at some length, as both parties—and
especially the League hireling—were allowed a fair
hearing; and on account, moreover, of the Radical
press having burked the proceedings, owing, no
doubt, to their having, entirely failed in their antici,
pated result—the alienation from the cause of Con
servati,Sm of the Protestant operatives of the Park,
We shall not content ourselves, however, with merely
recording these proceedings. We feel hound,. in
addition,. to draw attention to the disgraceful tone
In which one of our Radical contemporaries. has
thought proper to allude to the conduct, and to
asperse the character, of some of the gentlemen who
have moved in opposition to these insidious attempts
to intrude League principles and League doctrines
in quarters where they were not welcome,, and, in-
deed, most unwished for,

We need scarcely say that the paper to which we
allude as having given vent to its usual and odious
personality against a political opponent, is the
Liverpool Mercury. A gentleman—Dr. Harbord—
whose services to the Conservative cause in the
Park are beyond all praise, had, at the first meeting
referred to, exercised the influence which he pos-
sesses in that district, for the very justifiable purpose
of protecting his operative brethren from the insidi-
ous approaches of the League and their lying hire-
lings. For so doing, this gentleman has been at-
tacked, in their peculiarly gross and offensive style,
by the gentlemen who conduct the Mercury ; and in
their publication of Friday week last the gentlemen
in question very kindly suggested that his friends
should take care of " the poor doctor," as a person
incapable of taking care of himself—as a kind of
political lunatic ! We need scarcely say here, to
Conservative readers, that Dr. Harbord is, in cha-
racter and standing with his fellow-townsmen, very
far above the scribblers of the Mercury ; and that
their paltry attempts to injure him are but the
wretchedly abortive attempts of animals "sans eyes

-- sans teeth—sans every thing"—save length of
ears—to annoy those to whom in every respect they
are ridiculously and consciously inferior.

We scarcely know that we should have referred

to the sayings of the Mercury, except for the put=
pose of reading to Conservatives a useful lesson.
At the last of the meetings, which we have reported,
Dr. Harbord referred to the fact, that only in the
previous week he had given an advertisement to the
Mercury, and that, nevertheless, he had been se-
lected as the object of virulent abuse by that jour-
nal, for which he acknowledged that he was rightly
served. That Dr. Harbord had the slightest notion
of any political or personal favour to be derived
from the giving of his advertisement to the Mercury
we do not believe. He is too fearless a Conserva-
tive to make the attempt to silence a political oppo-
nent by such means. But the lesson to the Con-
servative public is apropos. That public FEEDS
that journal ; and their reward is the increased virus
and the increased circulation which they thus give
to its lying and spiteful calumniations.

But we have something more than this to say to
the Conservatives of Liverpool. We have to ask
them how long they will leave the voice of the Con-
servatism of Liverpool to be expressed by the Pro-
testant operatives of our borough ? Our aristocratic
party rely upon these poor, but honest and faithful
men, in their hours of difficulty. Do they support
them ? Do they encourage them in their loyalty ?
They do not this adequately. They leave these
" good lads " to battle for the'mselves; and we tell
them this fact, that such conduct must no longer be
pursued, unless it is wished that Radicalism should
ride rampant in our borough, over that Conservative
strength for which we have hitherto been " the
observed of all observers." We must support our
operative Conservatism, which is the strength of
our bcyrottga; or cease to occupy our present posi-
tion as the only truly Conservative large• constitu-
ency in thn united kingdom !

MR. OASTEER, THE MERCURY, AND OrR
SELVES.

A lying organ' Ditty do injury to the best of causes,-if
uncontradicted in its• falSehoods; and, on this account
alone, we feel ourselves impelled to recur to the charges
with which the Mercury has endeavoured to thwart the
efforts at present making for the release from his con-
finement of the persecuted Richard Oastler. In the
'first instance, then, let- us,, in the performance of our
task, place ourselves, as-well as' Mr.. °wider, correctly
before the public.
The Mercury volunteerea,.-or was- prompted, to bring
'weharge against Mr.Omtler—never fairly enunciated—
connected with some supposed delinquency of that gen-
tleman, in the matter of a' colliery rented by Messrs.
Rawson, Cousin, and Co.,- from • Mr.• Thornhill. We
stated that we would inqniro into the matter ; and we
did st inquire. We did inquire.' We learned nothing
as the result of such inouiry. Mr. Oastler's committee
had nothing to communicate.• What they did'know they
did communicate. But when all that they, knew was
communicated, and it amounted to nothing,. we were
asked by' the Mercury whether. we had written, to
Messrs:-Rawson and Co. themselves ! - We had net done
so. We pled,;ed ourselves to do so., We should
have thought it downright impertinence to do so And,
moreover; we were not furnished by the Mercury- with
the address< of these gentlemen,. other than that they
were lessees -of " certain coal-mines belonging. to Me.
Thornhill."• This is all the information which,we-have
received from the Mercury to this day: •
Well, so 'far 'as relates to the coal-mints in question,.
that transaction was referred to in a letter from -Mr..
Oastler, contained in our last publication, -and is-tho-
roughly explained in our publication this day. Btrt
what was the reply 'of the Mercury, on Friday Oh !
that was 9w4-the matter referred to! Well, 'after -this,
impertinent or •not impertinent, we decided to write to
the gentlemenabove-named, their address having:been ,
furnished as by a party who was accidentally in Liver--
ppol on Thursday last. We felt the difficulty- of meeting
a charge, when that charge was nob defined, -and when
our opponent was so shifty. We wrote accordingly to
Messrs. Rawson;. and, to that letter. we have, as yet,
received no reply. - Should we do so early in the week,
weshall hand the letter to our contemporary, in -time
for his Friday'S paper ; and should we not, perhaps he
will let us know,to what transaction he does refer, that
Mr. ()ostler himself may give us an explanation,. if the
Mercury or Messrs. Rawson cannot. We shall not
keep on firing- in. the dirk, at so cowardly an assassin as
our contemporary,

There is one- thing which must. strike every reader,- .
connected witk,thi. matter. _why oannnt the Merezza-y,
state•his charge,,:,:f he has one to state ? Does he fear
an action for libel P' We can almcst absolve him from
that fear. Richard Oastler would, 'scorn to tread upon
22t ch,a worm f.

STREET ROBBER:T.—At the police-court yesterday, a
man named James Welsh was charged with robbing an
old man named. Riclhird Riley of his watch. The com-
plainant said that ors Sunday evening he was going. along
Ilighfield-streetwhero the prisoner, came up, knocked him
down, arid having drawn his watchilrom his fobs„ made off.
lie had also lost his hat. It was-proved that the priso-
ner afterwards.srent to a public-house, and cared for ale
to treat those wishin, tendering focit, as he hail no money.
the watch. fl also gave a hat to a man present, and
being suspected- was given into
.custody. The watch and
hat were identified, and the prisoner was committed for

RESIGNATION or MR. WattrTY.—lt wilt, no doubt,.
surprise,cnarrp,of our readers to learn that. Mr. Whitty,.
who has fille4.the situation of chief constable of this lao-.
rough, since the passing of the Municipal Reform
with so much. credit to himself and satisfaction to the
public, hag resigned his onerous and responsible post..
This, we believe,. he has been induced to do in conse-
quence of the harassing andthaz -it-dons nature of his du-
ties, his attention to which. has,
,for some time, been
preying upon his health. We understand that MT.
Whitty intends devoting himself again to literary pur-
suits.—Mereury.—[TheWateh Committee, in accepting
Mr. Whitty's resignation, have passed an unanimous-re-
solution expressive of " the high sense they entertain of
the valuable services rendered by him .during the aeriod
he has held the office of head constable of the bore-4h ;
and that in; the performance of his arduous duties, the
zeal, energy, and ability displayed by. him were not more
conspicuous than his carrif6rin discretion and judgment,
combining, in a peculiar degree, decision of conduct with
the utmost courtesy and forbearance." It is said that
Mr. Whitty intends again to be, connected with the
journal' whose t ditorship he relinquished to become
bead constable.]
TuE FUNDS: SATURDAY NlgUT.—The satisfaction
expressed in the city at the revenge return is greater than
has been known 14r some time. past, the tact that the
greatest increase on the quarter is shown by the item of
Customs being d-erned very important. Had the appear-
ance of prosperity • been kept-, up by the extraordinary
action of the inowne-tax alone, there would, have been
less cause for congratulation, but now we have the signs
of a substantial improvement. The announcement in
yesterday's Gazette of the application of the fourth part
of £908.500 (she surplus. shown in the October balance-
, sheet) to the purchase of stock and exchequer-bills is
likewise interesting. The.ditninntion of the national debt
by this process is indeed very small, but even a beg;nning
is satisfactory. The stock markets did not close till four
o'clock this afternoon, in consequence. of its being the
first day for private transfer in the English securities,
which itureased business,. and induced,the brnk directors
not to shut their bonksbefore lialf-mst, two.. At the con-
clusion of dealings, quotations, gem,rally speaking, were
. pretty steady, and did not materially vary from those be-
fore noted. Consols f,r money and account left off 978
ex. div.; Three per Cents. Redeced. 971 t 0,98 Three-
and-a-Half- per Cents. Reduced, 1628 to i; New. Three-
and-a-Half per Cents., 101 k to. 4 ex. div. Long An-
nuities, 12i; Bank Stock, 186 to 187 ; India Stock, 272
to, 274 ex. div.; Exchequer-bills, 675. to 695.. premium ;
and India Bonds, 795. to 81s. premium.

THE INFIRMARY.--The annual meeting of the sub-
scribers of this noble institution was herd in. the Board-
room of that establishment yesterday morning, and was
attended by some of the stanchest friends of the charity,
which we regret to say, t.hough having indubitable and
primary claims on the support of the public, has not for
some time past, received that pecuniagy support to which:
it is so eminently entitled. Edward Gibbon, Esq., oc-
cupied the chair, and the secretary read an abstract of the
accounts, from which it appeared that the binds had con-
siderably fallen off during the last year, though several
handsome donations had been given. It appeared that
the inmates of the asylum, who had last year numbered
39, had this year increased to 59. On thanks being
voted to the Rev. R. Davies, who hes for 14 years ad-
ministered spiritual and moral instruction to the inmates
with an assiduity and success beyond all praise, that gen-
tleman addressed the meeting at some length, showing in
performed
were
a very affecting manner the benefits that had resulted
from th e
thoughdissemination
pastoralof
dutiesdivine
o b
truths
eamongstrfor
m etdh e in-
mates,e
onerous and beset with considerable difficulties, most of
the patients being of the poorer and uneducated classes.
He had instituted additional services, a. which, with but
slight exceptions, the greatest attention was paid by the
hearers, and he had reason to believe that many who had
contracted vicious habits, had been reclaimed. The good
eff-ct of such aaministrations had also been grati'yingly
evidenced even amongst the unfortunate inmates of the
asylum—so that not one was now under restraint. He
thanked those present for the kindness he had ever re-
ceived at their hands, and alluded especially to the worthy
chairman, who had for many many years been a firm
friend of the establishment. We refer our readers to the
advertisement of the proceedings in another column, arid
shall probably next wet k furnish some interesting &tails
for the information f the su
from a statement—cot yet ftiLYb,cribers. o,e tAublic.
generally, eoared b
an y
d the b.oard—