The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-09-23 00:00:00

2,457,931 62 1 1 84 1 974,024

18 weeks

Average Prices and Total Quantities of Foreign Whe
Wheat Flour entered for Home Consumption, w:
Average Rate and Total Amount of Duties paid tl
with the Average Prices of Flour for each year dur
operation of Act 9 George IV., c. GO, from the
July, 1828, to the 29th of April, 1842.

!at and
'ith the
hereon,
ing the
15th of

. ~ ~.
s. 2 ' ' -
- 1 U.
i g:a
...0 — .0 7,.-.
2 -0 .
'S
o o lit 71=
.L; co 8 P.
E.l',
O 4...- -,- = .
Years. ~ . r. 2. V -?-n iii!)-E1 te z o
.c• 8 '1) 2 0 S.lc ~. .. a ra 1.),„ a'
crs
•1 & ... 1,7 a
0. L.
..... ...'
04 ..4 0,
s. d. X s. d. s. d.
Half of 1828 60 5 807,031 68,825 1 9 46 6
1829 66 3 1,374,963 624,258 9 3 55 10
1830 64 31,672,200 535,077 6 7 54 11
1831 66 4 1,408,999 325,113 4 8 60 1
1832 58 8 184,081 215,040 23 3 54 7
1833 52 11 1,368 963 11 1 43 4
1834 46 2 294 322 19 10 39 5
1835 39 4 141 170 20 10 31 0
1836 48 6 1,054 852 14 6 32 4
1837 55 10 210,859 295,889 28 1 39 10
1838 64 7 1,822,991 141,895 1 7 43 6
1839 70 8 2,702,848 670,054 411 52 2
1840 66 4 2,329,991 883,346 7 2 52 8
1841 64 4 2,392,061 399,611 3 5 52 5
1842'11
60 2 4,616 3,385 14 8
..
to 29th April
---- .
14 years 59 014,914,547 4,164,800 5 7

From the fit
28th of April (
the last week i

.st of these tables it appears that, from the
when the new scale came into operation) to
n August, a period of eighteen weeks, no

less than 2,457,931 quarters of corn were entered for
consumption, at an average duty of Bs. 4d. per
quarter, thus contributing to the revenue an aggre-
gate amount of £974,024, during these five months !
During the whole of this period the fluctuation in
prices has been, without precedent, slight, ss. 6d. per
quarter being the extreme variation during the entire
period. In the last week too, after the admission of
this vast quantity, it will be perceived that the average
price of wheat remained nearly two shillings per quar-
ter higher than at the beginning of May.
By the second table it appears that, in the previous
14 years, under the old scale, we imported, on an ave-
rage, one million quarters per annum, at an average
duty of ss. 7d. per quarter, producing an average an-
nual duty of something less than £300,000, the annual
importation being much less than one half, and the
revenue produced less than one third of that derived
during the past 18 weeks. Out .of the total importa-
tions, however, amounting in the 14 years to 14,914,547
quarters, between nine and ten million quarters were
imported in the last four years ; in 1833, the importa-
tion was only 1368 quarters; in 1834, 294; and in
1835, 141 quarters ! The extreme fluctuation in price
has been in these fourteen years 31s. 4s. per quarter,
the average in 1835 being 395. 4d., and in 1839,
70s. Bd.

Upon these tables the London Times of Tuesday
last has endeavoured to erect an argument in favour
of a further modification of the Corn-laws—the total
annihilation, in fact, of the principle of a sliding-
scale, and the adoption of a low fixed duty. From the
fact that in the face of a fair harvest—(the Times calls
it " an abundant" one, which we can scarcely take to
be its correct designation)—the average price, notwith-
standing our large importation, is still maintained at
6is. iod. in the beginning of September, our contem-
porary suggests that the protection afforded to the
farmer by duties upon the importation of foreign corn
is proved to have been greatly over-rated, and that he
may dispense with that protection to a greater extent
than at present, without sustaining injury. Our con-
temporary takes it for granted that importation has not
reduced prices. Arguing upon the state of the ave-
rages as shown upon the face of the above tables, he
says, " the fact is most extraordinary—but hitherto
such is the fact," that importation " has not produced
the cheapness of corn, which might have been pre-
dicted ;" and when we see that by reduction of duties
an abundance of the staff of life has been placed
within our reach, we are urged by the Times to " pur-
sue to its legitimate limits a course of so great pro-
mise and open to so little objection."

With all deference, however, to our contemporary,
we must deny the correctness of his premises. It is
not true that corn has not been cheapened by the late
extensive importations, although we admit that the
reduction in price does not appear upon the face of the
corn inspectors' returns. Free trade philosophers,
such as the Times, should know something of the sub-
ject upon which they write, before giving to the world
their crude conclusions ; and had the Times made the
inquiry from any intelligent factor in Mark-lane, or
elsewhere, he would certainly not have ventured upon
the extraordinary doctrines which he has founded upon
his want of conversance with the practical bearings of
the question. Either the Times and its correspondents
have been agitating, for weeks past, for a reduction in
the price of the loaf, which the baker and the flour-

dealer cannot afford, or the price of wheat has fallen,
and that considerably; and we should like to hear the

Times explain, whether that agitation has been unreav

tonalites or whether his.present position is one which
any one versed in the trade, will be inclined to agree to.
The real fact is—and any corn-merchant will bear
US out in the statement—that the fall in wheat, since
the entry of this large quantity of foreign produce,
although upon the face of the above table, it appears
to be only three to four shillings per quarter, is at the
least 30 per cent. 'Fake, for example, the article
Classed in our corn circulars as " Stettin wheat," the
quality of which is very uniform ; and we find that on
the 28th of April, the date of the first return in the
table, it was worth 9s. 4d. to 9s. 7d. per bushel; and
that in the last week of August its price was reduced
to 7s. 6d. to 7s. 9d., or nearly 15s. per quarter. Upon
all other wheats, quality taken into consideration, a
similar reduction has taken place. Turn to the prices
of town-made and other flour, and the same fact is
fully established ; viz., that, as the result of the new
corn-law and the recent harvest, we have the great
staple of life at a very material reduction to the con-
sumer.

Nor-is this apparent discrepancy between the ave-
rages, upon which our contemporary founds his deduc-
tions, and the actual market price between the farmer
and the producer, at all a phenomenon, as he appears
to suppose. The superior quality of the wheats—
Principally fine English—now coming to market, and
the comparative scarcity of the inferior Irish, by which
the average is ordinarily lowered, accounts sufficiently
for the circumstance that in September we have the
inspectors' return within 3s. or 4s. of the highest price
during the eighteen weeks which the table embraces.
The same wheat which in April was worth 595., as
stated in the table, is not at all worth 61s. 11d. now,
as it must be to support the argument of the Times,
but is in reality worth at least ten shillings per quarter
less; and the farmer is, therefore, by this amount, a
sufferer from the effect of Sir Robert Peel's measure.
But adopt, for the sake of argument, the position
of the' Times; • adopt the mare's nest of this advocate
of more extensive reform ; say, that foreign importa-
tion does not reduce prices or diminish the protection
of the- native grower :—where, we ask, is the benefit
to the public from this increased supply ? If we are
not to have cheaper bread, as the result of free trade
in corn, to whom, save the speculating capitalist, is
any advantage to accrue ? If increased supply does
not lower markets, what becomes of the whole system
of the political economist? Really, the Times draws
somewhat largely upon the credulity of the world, if
it expects us to gulp down such a farrago of absurdity
as is comprised in this very flimsy production of his,
in favour of the mad theories of the Anti-Corn-Law
Philosophers.

ray of light has just been thrown upon the con-
duct of the Manchester magistracy during the recent
disturbances, by the publication of a letter addressed
by Captain A. W. Sleigh, the assistant commissioner
nt police for that borough, to its head officer, Sir
Charles Shaw. The document is a somewhat curious
nne; and will assist the public, and we trust the
government as well, in estimating the amazing fitness
°f the League millocracy _for the office of conservators
of the public peace. Its lengthy character, however,
will preclude us from giving it a place entire in our
Columns; but we shall endeavour to make room for a
Summary of its general purport, and a few extracts.
The object of Captain Sleigh, in addressing Sir
Charles Shaw, may he briefly stated. It was simply
t° protest against being held responsible, by that
officer or by the government, for the performance of
duties, in which his efforts were, at every turn,
thwarted by the imbecility, or worse, of the magistracy
°f the town. Captain Sleigh has, we presume, a
character to lose. He has not that " free-and-easy"
notion of things, which will tenable him to feel com-
fortable whilst rampant ruffianism is playing its fantastic
tricks in the streets of a town whose peace he is sworn
to protect. The world is of opinion, and has expressed
that opinion, that the recent outbreaks in Manchester
ought never to have been permitted to gain the head
Which they did gain. Captain Sleigh submits to his
superior ()Meer, that he, as subordinate to the shallow
bogberries yho occupy magisterial authority, will only
be responsible for so much of the duties required of
him as he is not obstructed in performing.
And that he is fully justified in so doing, we think
nlust be evident from the following statement of a
Portion only of the conduct complained of.
"On the 13th instant," writes Captain Sleigh, "about
fite o'clock in the afternoon, I received information that a
concourse of people were assembled at Brown-street, in and
around a chartist meeting-house, and I immediately pro-
ceeded to that neighbourhood with a body of 100 police ;
and finding the report correct, and that the assemblage that
crowded the surrounding ground and streets were addressed
bya man from the window of the chartist meeting-house,
Who bade them stand fast, and finding they would not be re-
mated without force, the police immediately dispersed them,
and succeeded in arresting 45. The prisoners were accord-
itlglY escorted by two strong detatchments of police ; how -
e!er, on the line of march to the Town-hall, when they ar-
rived at Portland-street, I observed Mr. Walker, magistrate,
Speaking to an inspector of police, who was on duty with the
escort detachment ; and on inquiring from that officer the
reason why Mr. Walker addressed him, he answered, that
the magistrate had asked what the prisoners were taken for ;
the Officer explained the nature of the occurrence ; when the
magistrate replied, " What is the use of taking them prison-
ers, there is no case against them !"
Some time after, the same magistrate visited the lock-ups,
Where the prisoners had been conveyed, accepted bail for
tw°, and suggested that bail ahould be taken for others ; and
44411 Y said, that he " would be absent from town and the
court-house to-morrow, therefore he would be out of that
(i the following morning, this circumstance was re-
Ported to me by a superintendent, to whom it had been com-
t:aaicated by the officer on duty at the time at the lock-ups ;
3:1(1. during the day he found, by the official returns, that 43
fsllB°°ers were all set at liberty by the stipendiary magis-
ate on their own recognizances in £2O each to keep the
Q:Q".for three months, and the remaining two were bound
Deer in £4O each, and £2O front two sureties, to keep the
t ce for the same time ; one of whom was foremost in
hro •
wlng stones at the police, and the other in exciting the
11,We have here, then, verified the startling fact, that
°list the assistant commissioner of police, in strict
accordance with the proclamation of the Crown re-
Viring all meetings by which the public peace might
tie endangered to be peremptorily put down, was ac-
itvelY performing that duty and had already performed
t,; member of the magisterial bench was only anxious
be "out of the mess "—to use his own elegant ex-
aies,
mon ; that subsequently the same magistrate vi-
fried the lockups (a la Normanby), and accepted bail
l. two of the prisoners, suggesting that the remainder
oi
°llid he bailed; and that on the following day all
except
two of the remainder, 43 in number, were re-
ot,ed by the stipendiary upon their own recognizances
2() each! A playing at cross purposes this with a
Ogeancel—and that, too, when the town in which
mie game was played was in a condition almost resem-
th:g a state of siege, and when its inhabitants owed
.rlittle security they enjoyed to military law!!
eke another case : •
ill;`kt half-past ten o'clock on the morning of the 14th inst.
ro: rtll ation was brought to the magistrates, and conveyed to
ki; that vast numbers of artisans and weavers were assem-
llest°4 the borders of this borough, beyond the township of
their rick, that they were armed with bludgeons, and that
latentions at the time were unknown.
afte.rt:ulther information confirmatory of this arrived shortly
lice I, therefore, immediately concentrated 200 of the po-
katill that quarter of the town, and awaited the order of the
Further reports up to one o'clock were cond.
to thY received by the magistrates, and transmitted to me,
unite !fleet that numbers were coming from Ashton to
lidsee.wlth those who were meeting at the before-mentioned
rug cir Notwithstanding the information of these threaten-
the 4,441 stances, I still remained without instructions from
tva, aghitrates to proceed to the ground where the meeting
_
Order " ; but fearing, however, some evil consequences,
°ll res.!' °at a hundred of the special constables; who were
I'v-ve at the Town-hall ; and, when in the act of doing
he would addressed by the magistrate on duty, who told me
'was te::at go to consult the stipendiary magistrate. (who
going out t the borough court) about the special constables
!al theZtthe meeting. I informed him, in reply, that it
thEfo "4'° o'clock, and since eleven o'clock informations
toreegain
hint; h. g effect had arrived, and were communicated
46erate, .-1141Vore, had had three hours to consult or de-
to the a, "nu that I should forthwith proceed with the force
the o nnd ; I would domyduty
~411:`ita,i_h.e therefore might send his instructions after me.
aavin6 a r
g !lag at the boundary of the borough, near Beswk
thly statiwY Way united with the 200 reserve police previ-
tn a Vet coned near that quarter, I found that the reports,
Y t
b 7 great extent, had been correct ; but on the approach
" differd
tr..oent roads of the force under my command, they
the roa;3::ards Ashton, many people having appeared on
bens; I rod rid
crossing the country in considerable num-
Rilself, if Pe forward to Ashton, being anxious to satisfy
"aible, of t • •
heir intention, leaving the police stay

'dolled within the limits of the borough. On my return to
Beawick, I found, much to my astonishment, that the force
which I left there to stop any body of people that might
attempt to come in that way, and in order to protect the works
of Mr. Chappell which in the forenoon were threatened by
the mob, had been reduced by the unnecessary withdrawal
of the special constables, al the direction of the magistrates,
although I had left 50 as a reserve at the Town Hall; thus
leaving exposed that part of the borough to the incursions
of those who had been holding illegal meetings during the
forenoon."

Can we do otherwise than repeat here the expression of
the Manchester Guardian, that, for all useful purposes,
the magistrates by whom such gross blunders—to call
them no worse—were perpetrated, " might just as well
have been in Liverpool as where they were ?"
As may very naturally be supposed, the letter of
Captain Sleigh, which appears, however, to have got
into the columns of the London Times, without the
authority of that officer, has acted as a sort of wet
blanket upon the gentlemen of the League, who have
lately been moving heaven and earth to wriggle out of
the dilemma, in which their conduct during the recent
disturbances has placed them. The Manchester
Guardian, in especial, is highly wroth, and threatens
the worthy Captain with dismissal, and we know not
what beside, reminding him that the period is at hand
when the borough magistracy will assume a more ab-
solute control over his actions than they are able to do
under existing circumstances. Possibly this may be
the case, and possibly not. The government of Great
Britain may be of a different opinion from that of
the Manchester Guardian, with respect to the amount
of responsibility for the public peace, with which the
municipal authorities of Manchester may, with safety,
be entrusted.