The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-03-11 00:00:00

ins Maekinto
and Cape

by which I.

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diced; but we prefer confining our

useful and remediable points in which the subject may
he viewed. We have no wish to raise an outcry against

the manufacturing interest—to draw upon a body the
odium which properly attaches only to individual
classes of its members. For the malpractices which
injure the trade of calico printing, and the reputa-
tion of British calico printers in foreign markets, we
do not blame printers exclusively; for we know that
those malpractices are rife amongst merchants and ex-
porters as well; that they are, in fact, evils of the sys-
tem, and as such only can be effectually dealt with.
To those who are acquainted with the history of "job
printing" in Manchester during the lust ten years,
(and there are few who have more reason to know it
thoroughly than the drysalters of Liverpool,) the fact
is tolerably well known that to the mercantile capitalist,
who has for years past rough-ridden the trade and
fleeced the tradesman at pleasure, is to be attributed
one-half, at least, of the evils of which we complain.
But what, it may be asked, is the remedy which we
would provide, if not a repeal of the corn laws ? In

the first instance, we say, encourage the art of design
as applied to calico printing. Extend the duration of
the copyright. Diminish the temptation to introduce
fleeting colours for permanent ones, by untaxing, as
far as possible, the materials required by the honest
printer. And in addition to these measures, we would
say also, if practicable, fix, by a stringent enactment,
the minimum length of the piece of printed calico. By
the present copyright act we believe that the practice
of "fenting" is in part, although, it would seem, in-
effectually, attempted to be prevented. It would per-
haps operate advantageously if it was provided that no
copyright whatever should attach to goods which did
not bear upon both ends of the piece the usual imprint
of publication. Upon this and similar points, how-
ever, we must defer to the opinion of those more prac-
tically acquainted with the subject.

In our publication of the 25th ultimo, we called the
attention of our readers to a statement put forward at
Southampton, by
an anti-corn-law meeting in the

itinerant lecturer George—Thompson, which we then
denounced as a gross and impudent fabrication. We
have since been favoured, by a friend to whom they
have been forwarded. by the. charlatan himself, with
copies of letters from the. Mr. Henry Ashworth, upon
whose authority the statement was made; and we now
proceed to prove, from these documents, that such
statement was, on the part of Thompson, not only
gross and impudent, but something very much worse !
For the sake of perspicuity we quote again the origi-
nal statement copied from the Hampshire Independent,
a Radical paper, published in Southampton, and dated
the 12th of February :

" I recently attended a great anti-corn-law tea party in
the town of Bolton, in Lancashire, where, you are aware,
there is a large amount of distress. On entering the spacious
Temperance-hall, where this meeting was held, I saw before
me, in the front of the orchestra, two rows of fresh meat—
one to the left, and the other to the right—a short row and
a long row, touch beef and little beef. As soon as I reached
the platform I inquired what the spectacle meant; and was
told that was cheap meat and dear meat—the roast beef of
Old England, and the roast beef of New England. (Loud
cheers.) An esteemed friend, Henry Ashworth, (a thorough
repealer,) said to me, I went to Liverpool yesterday, where
I found a packet just in from the United States. I inquired
if they had any fresh meat on board. They answered they
had. I asked them if they would sell the same. They said
yes. I said, at what price ? They said, lid. a lb. I said,
give me 235. worth. I brought it to Bolton, and then went
into a butcher's shop and said, what do you charge for good
cuts of beef? The man said, 7d. a pound. I said, give me
255. worth. I brought both lots here, and had them hung
up where you see them.' And there they were, 200 lbs. of
Yankee beef, fesh and fine and tempting, fat and lean beauti-
fully mixed ; and 43 lbs. of English beef, in two sorry pieces,
looking askance at their well-fed neighbours from the other
side of the water ! (Loud laughter.)"
Before proceeding, we ask the reader to mark the
circumstantial nature of the above statement through-
out. First, the "two rows of fresh meat—one to the
left, and the other to the right—a short row and a long
row," &c. ; anti again, " the roast beef of Old Eng-
land, and the roast beef of New England." Then the
detailed conversation of my "esteemed friend, Henry
Ashworth"—his journey to Liverpool—his discovery
of " a packet just in from the United States"—his
enquiries, " had they any fresh meat on board ?"
" would they sell the same ?"—and the subsequent pur-
chase of " 255. worth." Then mark the exclamation
of the itinerant : "There they were, 200 lbs. of Yankee
beef, fresh and fine and tempting, fat and lean beauti-
fully mixed; and 43 lbs. of English beef in two sorry
pieces, looking askance at their well-fed neighbours from
the other side of the water !"

We now turn to a letter addressed to Mr. George
Thompson by his "esteemed friend, Henry Ashworth"
—a gentleman, we may premise, who is high in the
councils of the Anti-Corn-Law League—a member of
the Society of Friends—the correspondent, formerly,
of Mr. Edwin Chadwick, of the new poor law com-
mission, upon the subject of the migration of pauper
families from the southern districts of England to enjoy
the high wages paid in the manufacturing towns—and
who figured more recently as a member of a deputation
to London from that unfortunate body, the Manchester
Chamber of Commerce, upon which occasion our
readers will remember that the unhappy Quaker cut a
very unhappy figure. The letter in question is dated
" l'urton, ist mo., 18, 1842,"—(we entreat our readers
to pay attention to this date,)—and commences in the
proper epistolary style of the society :

" Respected Friend,
" Geo. Thompson."
After some notice of the said George's lecturing ex-
ploits, Mr. Henry Ashworth proceeds :
" The American beef and pork which I exhibited was in-
voiced as follows : £ s. d.

6 bads., weighing 12001b5., at 255. per barl., or I
7 10 0
11d. per lb. in bond ................
Duty 12s. per cwt. and 5 per cent. over

7 2 0
0 3 3

, .
Cartage and porterage

£l4 15 3

" Thus it cost me nd. per lb."

By the above it will be seen, then, that the "fine
fresh beef," " fresh and fine and tempting," " fat and
lean beautifully mixed," &c., was barrelled salt beef
and pork ; and the reader, who has ever seen any of
the dirty-looking stuff in question, will wonder where
were Mr. George Thompson's eyes when he mistook
it for the commodity so magniloquently described to
the gobemouches of Southampton.
To this business-like statement, however, is appended
what is, for Mr. George Thompson's reputation for
veracity, a very mal apropos note, as follows :
" I bought it from a regular broker on 'change, and not
off a packet."