The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-06-20 00:00:00

POLITICAL MISCELLANY.

4
The trial of the Chartist ringleaders has been postponed
till next sessions, which commence on the 3rd of July.
A HEAVY CHARGE AGAINST THE LORDS.—At the
Reform meeting at Hereford, last week, one of the
speakers, amongst many heavy imputations upon the
House of Lords, accused their lordships of having most
unjustly taxed their progenitors ! This is the age of new
discoveries, but the idea of a man levying taxes on his
defunct great-great-grandfather, is rich indeed.
REPRESENTATION •OF SHEFFIELD.—For some time
past a requisition has been in course of signature among
the electors of the borough of Sheffield, calling upon
Messrs. Parker and Ward to resign their seats as repre-
sentatives of the borough of Sheffield. The number of
requisitionists having amounted to no less than 1,600, Mr.
I. Scholfield, chairman of the committee of dissatisfied
electors, sent off the requisition to the borough members.
Messrs. Parker and Ward have declined to accede to the
request.
SCENES IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.—On Friday
evening, in the House of Commons, a talking against
..n confusion more
worthy of a Chartist meeting than the House ot Com-
mons. Mr. Hudson performed a distinguished part in it,
and created great amusement by defending himself from
a charge preferred against him by Mr. Hume of coming
into the house every night " flushed, I will not say with
champagne." In his retort, Mr. Hudson denounced Mr.
Hume who never went out to a dinner himself or gave a
dinner to his friends. In the absence of the reporters
from the gallery a row was—we were told—got up be-
tween Mr. Hudson and Mr. Cobden, but was afterwards
amicably settled.

THE WEST INDIA SUGAR QUESTION.—On Thursday
a meeting of highly influential gentlemen connected with
the West India interest, and of other persons, was held
at Heath's public room, Broad-street, Bristol, to consider
the sugar question, and the present state of labour in the
British colonies. Mr. Pountney, the mayor, presided.
The resolutions were proposed and seconded by gentle-
men who advocated the principles contained in them at
great length. They were put in the usual manner, and
carried unanimously. The resolutions were to the effect,
" that this meeting earnestly implores the legislature to
revise the Sugar Duties Act of 1846, which has materially
tended to encourage slavery and the slave trade, and to
aggravate its horrors."
FREE TRADE PROVED TO MEAN Low WAGES.--Mr.
Wilson, the editor of the Economist, proposed in the
Committee on the West India claims, a series of resolu-
tions, which, though rejected by the majority of the com-
mittee as too Free Trade in character, establish the fun-
damental truth of the Protectionist principle. In one of
these resolutions this Free Trader declared with truth—
" that one of the effects of the protecting duties levied
upon foreign sugar has been to promote undue competi-
tion for labour in our colonies, and to raise the wages of
labour." And in the next, referring to the withdrawal of
these protecting duties, he proposed to the committee's
adoption,—" That the late fall in the price of sugar, has
already lead to a very considerable diminution in thewages
of labour," and " that if the protecting duties were now to
be increased, and the price of sugar artificially raised, the
efforts to lessen the cost of sugar by a reduction of wages
would be impeded, and wages would again be raised in
the colonies."
DEPARTURE OF THE SPANISH MINISTER.—His Ex-
cellency M. Isturiz, left London on Wednesday, for
Madrid. The Globe gives the following explanation of
the circumstance. " The ultimate conclusion expressed
by Lard Palmerston to M. Isturiz, viz : that the diplo-
matic relations between the two countries must neces-
sarily be suspended, and that it would probably be more
agreeable to him, under the circumstance not to prolong
his stay, was founded upon the fact, that M. Isturiz was
unable to add anything to the explanations which his
government had pretended to afford to Sir H. Bulwer, on
giving him notice to quit Madrid. When M. de Miracol
made his appearance in England without any proper
character, it was signified to him that our government
could not listen to explanations conveyed through his
channel, but that whatever he brought might be com-
municated by the medium of the Spanish Ambassador,
M. Isturiz. After waiting in vain for any satisfactory ex-
planations from that regular organ of his government, and
eliciting nothing, except that there was nothing to elicit,
of any substantial matter, in addition to what had already
been put forward by his principals at the court or -manna,
Lord Palmerston, as we understood, made a reply, on the
part of our government, to the extraordinary case which
had thus been put forward, and concluded with the in ti-
mation above mentioned."

AMERICAN FEELING TOWARDS ENGLAND.-Black-
wood's Magazine for the present month contains an arti-
cle under the above head. It is peculiarly valuable at the
present time, in the first place as showing the delusion
under which the Chartists of England labour with regard
to American institutions and American liberty; and se-
condly, the total absence of sympathy in the model Re-
public for those who would revolutionise and destroy Old
England. The writer gives several excellently-penned
extracts from American journals, amongst which we find
the following from the Morning Express:—" The ' six
points' of the Chartists of England are, no doubt, known
to our readers. The petitioners pray (1) for annual par-
liaments, (2) universal suffrage, (3) vote by ballot, (4)
equal electoral districts, (5) no property qualification, and
(6) the payment of members. Now, at the first blush, all
these seem reasonable enough, if the people want them,—
although there is no proof that they do, but rather proof
to the contrary,—but when we remember that, in this
country, not one of these points, save the payment of
members of Congress, is universally recognised as the law
of the land, it is not for us to say a word in favour of the
Chartists of England, at least until we make their theore-
tical points' our points' in practice. We have no annual
Congress. Members of the House are elected for two
years, and members of the Senate for six years. We have
no universal suffrage. The three millions of slaves do not
vote. The negroes in the Free States do not vote (two or
three States excepted) without a property qualification.
In democratic Virginia, a man must be a freeholder to
vote. In some of the other States there are also rigid re-
strictions. The vote by ballot is known nowhere in the
Slave States. The viva voce is the only mode of voting,
and it is not certain that it is not the best way. Equal
electoral districts do not exist in this country. Six hun.
dred white men in South Carolina, or Louisiana, elect as
many members of Congress as six thousand in New York.
The little State of Delaware, entitled to but one member
of Congress, -elects as many enators as New York, enti-
tled to her thirty-six members in the Lower House.
Thus, whatever evils the Chartists groan under, if any, we
groan widerluse.inzthem their beau ideal, United. States."

IRELAND.

-*-

The Repeal rent on Monday was only ZS ; the smallest
weekly contributions we think ever received.
The Cork Examiner of Monday gives the details of an
extensive fire that took place in Cork-street in that city,
at one o'clock on Sunday, by which property estimated
at £20,000 was destroyed.
No person knows what has become of Mr. Smith
O'Brien. Some say he is in Wicklow—others in Cahir-
moyle. There is a mystery about his silence in these days
of reunion and reorganization.
From present appearances. the growing harvest through-
out Ireland is likely to turn out the most productive, in
all kinds of grain and green crops, that the sister country
has been blessed with for many years.
The organisation of the rebellious clubs throughout Ire-
land is becoming every day more complete. The Nation.
of Saturday publishes a letter from John O'Connell, which
is as treasonable as ever.

A younger brother of John Mitchel sailed from Li-
verpool on Saturday, in the Britannia, for New York.
He purposes, it is conjectured, to proceed to Bermuda,
on matters of a family nature, to his brother. The Great
Western steam-ship plies regularly between New York
and Bermuda, the voyage being about seventy hours.
FATHER KENYON.—The renowned priest of Temple-
derry, the chaplain of the United Irishman, and the per-
sonal friend of Mr. John Mitchell, has had a manifest
triumph over his diocesan. Unlike Father Bermingham,
Mr. Kenyon declined clothing himself in sackcloth and
doing penance for his past misdeeds. Notwithstanding this
contumacy, it appears that his suspension has been re-
moved, and that he has been unconditionally reinstated
in his parish by Dr. Kennedy. So says the Limerick
Reporter ; but Dr. Kennedy has published a letter from
Father Kenyon, in which the latter says that he does not
remember whether he ever uttered the language com-
plained of ; but if did, he regrets that it was capable of so
much misconstruction.

THE REPEAL UNION.-At a meeting at Conciliation
Hall, on Monday, several letters were read pro and con
on the subject. The Rev. P. Dawson as V.G. of Dr.
Higgins, now in Rome, entered his protest against the
dissolution of the Repeal Association, and Dr. Cantwell,
R.C. Bishop of Meath, in a private communication to
Mr. John O'Connell, a portion of which was submitted
to the meeting, " Do not dare to lay your parricidal
hands on the association founded by your lamented
father." John O'Connell afterwards addressed the
meeting, cautioning them not to listen to those who
advised them to arm, as they would yet be able to gain
their ends by peaceful agitation. (Loud cries of No ;
Yes ; Pikes ; Smith O'Brien for ever, and great confusion
followed,) The question of the union with the Confede-
rates was ultimately adjourned for a fortnight.