The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-06-28 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS

The correspondent who forwarded us the result of the cricket
match between the Kensington and Leander clubs should
also have sent a record of the innings.
" A. Subscriber" wishes us to call the attention of the Dock
Committee to the fact that the dredging-machine was
worked last Sunday in Coburg Dock. The excuse made
for a former violation of the Sabbath (low spring-tides)
cannot be pleaded in this instance.
We decline reluctantly the communication of " An English
Layman." It would bring about a collision we are always
anxious to avoid.
" A Protestant and an Orangeman of the Old School" writes
sensibly, but the publication of his letter would only give
additional notoriety to the article in question. We cannot
insert the communication of " A True Protestant" for
the same reason.

correspondent, " Clericus," informs us that serious of-
fence has been taken by some of our clerical readers, at a
few lines appended to a letter of the Rev. F. Barker, upon
the subject of the alleged mismanagement of the Edge-hill
Infant School, contained in our publication of June 14th.
Our remarks were, verbatim, these :—" We have been
egregiously misled if the facts turn out as represented by
Mr. Barker, and shall have more to say when we have
made a little further inquiry into the matter." This sen-
tence, Mr. Barker, we understand, has interpreted as im-
plying a doubt of his veracity—a thing the furthest pos-
sible from our thoughts. Our meaning, and the obvious
mcaning of the sentence, in our humble opinion was, that
if Mr. Barker's version of the facts was correct, we had
been misled by our informant; and if ours was correct,
Mr. Barker had been misled. We certainly never dreamt
of casting a doubt upon any statement made by that Rev.
Gentleman, of his own knowledge; and we do really think
that the general character of the journal under our con-
troul is such as ought to have protected us from such a
supposition. We are gratified to notice the admission of
" Clericus," that the case, as brought under our notice,
was one which it was quite proper should be sifted.

REGISTER !-REGISTER ! !

!-REGISTER!!!

We call upon our Conservative friends to attend to the fol-
lowing instructions upon the all-important subject of the
registry. From the 20th of June, and to the end of the
month, persons may send claims to the overseers for in-
sertion in the county list, and must pay one shilling with
each claim. The following form qualifications to vote if
duly registered :—Freeholds, or any rent charge thereout,
of the annual value of 40s. ; and Copyholds of the annual
value of £lO, provided they have been in the possession
or ownership of the claimants six months on the 31st of
next July. The Occupation of Lands or Tenements, at a
yearly rent of £5O at the least. Leaseholds, for the resi-
due of a term originally created for not less than sixty
years, of the clear annual value of £5O. In the three last
cases an occupation or ownership must have existed for
twelve months up to the 31st of July in the year of claim-
ing. A Freehold for Life or Lives, of the clear annual
value of £lO, in the claimant's ownership for six months
previous to the same 31st of July. Mortgagees, in the
receipts of rents and profits, and Annuitants also, may
claim, if long enough in possession. With respect, how-
ever, to the time required for ownership, previous to
claiming, it ought to be explained that where any person
acquires property by descent, succession, marriage, mar-
riage settlement, devise, promotion to any benefice in the
church, or promotion to any office, he is entitled to be
registered the then next revision, although the property or
emolument may have come into his possession an hour
only before the 20th of July, which is the last day for
sending in a claim. No claim can be sent in later than
the 20th of July. The Christian name and Surname must
be written at full length. The place of abode must be
particularly stated, naming the street or place. Persons
are not required to make any fresh claim to be registered
so long as they retain the same qualification, and continue
in the same place of abode, as described on the register.
Describe qualification as a Freehold, or Copyhold, or
Leasehold, House or Warehouse, Stable, Land, Field,
Annuity, Rent Charge, &c., as the case may be ; and if
the qualification be as Occupier, it must be so stated, and
such a description of the property given as may serve to
identify it, as " Lord-street, Liverpool." If the property
be not situate in any street, lane, or other like place, then
say, " Name of the property, Parkfield Farm," or "Name
of the occupying tenant, John Smith."—Occupiers of £lO
houses and upwards, in boroughs, should see that they are
properly rated in the assessment for the relief of the poor,
and claim if their names be omitted, or correct any error
if entered incorrectly.

Ebt 7Liberpool otanlatt.

TUESDAY MORNING, JUNE 28, 1842.

By the arrival of her Majesty's mail steamer Med-
way we are in receipt of Guiana papers to the 13th
May. The Combined Court and the Court of Policy
had assembled, and on the 30th of April had been ad-
dressed by Governor Light in a speech, congratulating
the colonists upon the improved state of the colonial
finances, and upon the appointment, by Lord Stanley,
of a committee to inquire into the internal condition of
these settlements. An address, in reply, had been
moved by Mr. Sandbach, of the Financial College, and
seconded by Dr. Ranken, and carried without dissent,
alleging the existence of unparalleled distress, and
completely upsetting the calculations of the Governor,
with respect to his alleged financial prosperity. We
give here the statements of these gentlemen, which
were not attempted to be denied, in proof of the de-
clining condition of the industrial resources of British
Guiana ; and we call to them the earnest attention of
the parliamentary committee now sitting, as we►l as
that of every wellwisher of the great experiment now
at issue in our colonial possessions.

In 1837, the last year of the apprenticeship system,
the crop was as follows :

lbs. of sugar.
101,651,300
That of 1841 was

lbs. of coffee. lbs. of cotton
4,340,354 563,453

lbs. of sugar. lbs. of coffee. lbs. of cotton
52,043,897 1,214,010 19,200

Thus, nearly twice as much sugar, more than three
times as much coffee, and nearly thirty times as much
cotton was grown in 1837 as in 1841 ! We are re-
minded too, by the Guiana Times, that 'l' the stand of
the planters for a reduction of wages, to which so
many ills are ascribed, did not occur until 1842." The
same document shows that whilst production was in-
creasing, the tax levied upon produce was increasing
in an inverse ratio. In 1837 the produce tax was
102,714 dollars. In 1841, upon much less than half
the production, this tax, levied exclusively upon the
planters, was 253,343 dollars, or nearly two and a half
times as much as in 1837! In addition to these strik-
ing facts, the figures brought forward by these gentle-
men, on behalf of the entire body of the colonists and
in refutation of the hocus pocus prosperity on paper
of Governor Light, prove a positive deficiency, in the
productiveness of the revenue, of 127,736 dollars, of
which 91,000 dollars are in the customs alone ; thus
showing the decreasing power of consumption of the

colony.
With these facts before them, undoubtedly the only
resource of the colonists to procure a remission of the
intolerable burden imposed upon them for the main-
tenance of the Whig officials, which swarm around the
seat of government must have been a refusal of the
annual supplies ; and such, it is admitted, would have
been the course pursued. The friendly tone, however,
of Lord Stanley's speech in the House of Commons,
and the hope that the present government will not sub-
mit to be hoodwinked by the specious representations
of the Governor and his satellites, but proceed to in-
quire for themselves, with a view to do something for
the restoration of the colony to a state resembling its
;—the satisfactory assurance afford-
former prosperity
ed, by the appointment of the West India Committee,
that the truth would at length be permitted to be
heard ;—all these combined have, for the present at
just complaints of the colonists,
least, appeased the
and determined them, before adopting any hasty mea-
sures, to wait the issue of the pending inquiry.
The weather, we are happy to observe, has been re-

\l4 the

ricultaral purpuitg;

urea of the iotolornbly ruinous rate of

Lnanded by Lilo labourer, combined with this gi

of
ying circumstance, affords some faint prospect
revival of the distressing state of this colony, provide,

71$C8
Wti'

be followed up by prompt measures on the part of
. .

• . . .
the home government. It is dreadful, however, to
contemplate the ruinous state of things existing even
amidst this dawning hope, as depicted in the " sum-
mary " of the Guiana 'limes of May 13th :
" It is to be observed, that the individuals who are da-
maged and inconvenienced by the present depressed state of
things are by no means few in number. The distress of the
planters, let the low prices of plantations, the short crops
and ruinous wages, and frequent execution sales, evince.
But every other planter, carrying economy into all depart-
ments, places his manager on stinted pay, and turns adrift one
or two overseers, no matter how well behaved. Dealers and
tradesmen, in a wide circle, are made sensible of the discon-

tinued custom that used to come from every such plantation.
Water-street, the only thoroughfare of the mercantile classes,
exhibits innumerable stores and counting-houses closed. In
the establishments still able to keep open doors, you hear of
trustees in consequence of a suspension of payment, or of
totally unproductive sales, and the most extensive reductions
of expenditure, casting forth to beggary another batch of
unfortunate young men, guilty of no fault. The generality
of the stores have not, for months back, done more than paid
their expenses. Merchants, who two or three years ago were
fain to obtain leases of premises at high rents for a long term
of years, find that they only hung millstopes around their
necks. Thus we are introduced to a third and large class,
the owners of land and buildings in town. Compute their
solvency by what money they sank in the investment, or what
price their property would really fetch, if the colony prospered,
and they are wealthy men. Calculate it by what they would
be able to pay if you compelled them to bring 'their all into
the market, and you discover that they are bankrupts. Then
we have the carpenters and masons, both masters and jour-
neymen, no longer employed on sugar works or cottages for
plantations ; the boat-builders and coopers, idle, because
their is little produce to ship ; the numerous tribe of petty
ship-chandlers, a poor but industrious class, made aware, by
painful tokens, of the decrease of :the shipping in the rivers.
Be it observed, that we take no note of the distresses of the
few absentees who own estates in this colony. The suffering
classes whose hard case we dwell on, are resident here, and
settled here, and have families here. They comprise nearly
the whole of the educated portion of the inhabitants, among
whom, from the late proprietor of handsome equipages to the
lowly artisan who sews clothes or makes boots and shoes, the
misery that at this moment prevails is hardly tolerable."
But it may be urged, and is urged, that the condi-
tion of the emancipated labourers is one of the highest
prosperity ; and a certain class amongst our pseudo-
humanists are ready enough to exclaim, "Perish the
planters !—perish the export of staples !—our concern
only is to see the African labourer prosperous and
happy" ! With respect to this subject, in our next,
we shall have a few words to remark, founded upon
the information furnished us by this arrival.

We translate from the last number of the Courrier
de l'Europe the following striking remarks :—" The
critical position of England at the present moment
displays this peculiarity, that she is not, as is the or-
dinary course of human affairs, domineered over by
conflicting parties. This characteristic and exclusive
trait is worthy the attention of every observer of public
events. In all other states, ancient or modern, we see
faction double its audacity and strengthen its position
in proportion to the embarrassments of the governing
power. It is in moments of distress that the platform
resounds with the cries of the seditious, whilst anarchy
and disorder follow in their footsteps. They feed—
they live upon the misfortunes of their country.
" In Great Britain, on the contrary, every new com-
plication of its affairs excites a new effort—a fresh
sacrifice—for the public good. To the pressing exi-
gencies of the Treasury, her people nobly respond by
the establishment of a War Tax—the Tax on Income.
The disasters of Affghanistan inspire but one feeling—
the desire for vengeance ; and the sufferings of her
labouring classes are supported with a resignation
which amazes us. Whatever may be the elements
which mingle to form a spirit of nationality so all-per-
vading and so strong, the fact of its existence is not
the less to be contemplated with admiration."
There is much of truth, we are proud in acknow-
ledging, in these remarks; and they are honourable to
the writer who can afford to pay a tribute so flattering
to a rival nation. With the exception of a miserable
minority of feeble agitators—of men who would wil-
lingly fan the flame of sedition if their puny strength
could enable them to escape being drawn into its
destroying vortex when raised—England is at this
moment meeting nobly her unparalleled sufferings, and
she is now as in every time of trial, sound at heart, and
worthy of the confidence and the imitation of sur-

rounding nations.
And why is she thus ? Because her institutions are
based upon the rock of protestant truth. Let our
brother journalist pursue this enquiry.

It will be seen by our parliamentary summary that
the debate upon the motion of Sir James Graham, on
Friday night, to go into committee upon the New Poor
Law Continuance Bill, was adjourned until last night;
and from the feeling manifested by a portion of the
house—and no uninfluential portion—it is much to be
questioned whether the measure, in its existing shape,
can be passed into a law during the present session.
We are far from sympathising with a merely factious
opposition to this or any proposal of the government.
However distasteful to us is the whole system which
this bill purposes to establish amongst us, we would
only see it defeated, after fair and mature discussion,
by the legitimately expressed sense of parliament.
But neither would we willingly see the Conservative
majority of the House of Commons, which we believe
to be hostile to the measure as now brought forward,
dragged at the heels of the ministry, or led by a ridi-
culous fear of injuring that ministry, to sanction this
or any measure which does not receive their dispas-
sionate approbation, and which they know to be dis-
liked by the great majority of the people, whose repre-
sentatives they are.
The amendment moved by the member for Finsbury,
Mr. T. Duncombe, is one which we consider fair and
just to the government, as well as to the country,
which feels strongly upon this subject. The powers of
the poor law commission expire on the 31st July. We
have now arrived at the 28th of June, and there are,
therefore, only five weeks remaining for the discussing
and passing, through both houses, of a bill containing
sixty clauses. That those discussions, faction apart,
must consume considerable time, will be evident from
the fact that there are now no less than 47 notices of
amendments upon the notice paper. Many members,
too, voted for the second reading only in the hope that
in committee the measure would be rendered more
palatable to them ; and there can be no doubt that
every clause in committee will be strenuously debated.
Under these circumstances, the proposition of Mr.
Duncombe to renew the commission, as a temporary
measure, for one year, cannot be excepted against as
any other than fair and legitimate; and, indeed, a dis-
tinct admission that it was so was made on Friday, by
the Home Secretary himself.

We are well aware of the fact—and we call to it the
attention of our liberal philosophers, who are just now
chuckling mightily upon the subject of this measure—
that by the bill of Sir James Graham many important
ameliorations are proposed to be made. The measure
of the right hon. baronet is conceived throughout in a
much better spirit than has ever hitherto characterised
this obnoxious system ; and it is no more like the pro-
position of Lord John Russell, last session, than the

reeze now blowing is like the hot wind of the desert.
We contend, however, for still greater concessions.
We ask to have this system pared down to the require..
ments of public opinion ; stripped of its harsh features,
and rendered one to which the poor of England, in the
day of suffering, can look up for protection and suc-
cour, without that shrinking of the spirit with which
it is now contemplated. We ask for a system not de-
vised for punishment; not treating poverty as a crime;
but for one which looks to the better side of human
nature, and exercises charity with a healing, not a har-
rowing hand; and we trust that the poor law commis-
sion will not be prolonged an hour until these changes
are effected.

Upon this point we cannot but cordially coincide in
the view taken by our noble representative, Lord San-
don. "It was his opinion"—(we quote from our
parliamentary summary)—" that it was desirable to
confine the powers of the poor law commissioners within
the narrowest possible limits. He thought that during
the last two months the commissioners had evinced a
disposition to reconsider and relax some of their most
severe and extreme regulations—regulations which
were wholly inapplicable to many districts of the coun-

try, Ile would like

sae the commissioners conti-

nued in office for a short time longer, in order that an
opportunity might be afforded of ascertaining whether
they still continued to effect modificattons in their for-
mer plans ; and when he had seen the line of conduct
they pursued, he would be ready to give an opinion as
to whether they should be intrusted with the power
for the term of five years." To such a declaration,
coming from such a quarter, and echoed by the voice
of reasonable opponents of the system throughout the
country, we would gladly see the government of Sir
Robert Peel defer. We have no doubt of their power
to carry their proposed measure in its present state,
unless obstructed by a resort to the forms of the house;
but we are satisfied that it would infinitely more ad-
vance their real strength—which is in the affections of
the people of Great Britain—if this medium step, be-
tween the successful exercise of that strength and de-
feat by faction,'were acceded to with a good grace and

in time

We are not disposed to quarrel with the course ta-
ken by the authorities, in dissuading the members of
the Orange Societies from their proposed procession
on the 12th of July, although we must acknowledge
that we are not assured of its perfect justice. Of the
ridiculous anticipations of danger to the peace of the
town, trumpeted forth by the Radical and Popish press,
of course we entertain the most profound contempt.
The leaven of the old serpent, and not the spirit of
Englishmen, spoke in those tirades. It was Rome
herself which feared the open display of Protestant
strength—of Protestant union and Protestant loyalty,
and not any body of the right-hearted people of Liver-
pool, which feared outrage and commotion. The
Orange body of Liverpool, as they have shewn in the
ready response which they have made to the wishes of

bUr local government, are not the men from whom any
danger to the peace of the town was to be feared; and
Upon no other grounds, certainly, ought a demand to
have been made upon them, involving in its concession

so much pecuniary sacrifice—not only of a temporary,
but of a permanent character—as that which will result
from this disappointment of their most ardent wishes.
For it must be borne in mind that the object of this
display was not merely the commemoration of the de-
livery of our reformed religion from the hand of Po-
pery ; far less was its object to triumph over the feel-
ings of any class of our fellow subjects. The Orange
body contains amongst its members numerous and well-
managed benevolent societies ; and it was to strengthen
these, mainly, that the proposed procession was resorted
to. It is well known that the accession of young mem-
bers is a desideratum with all benefit societies. By their
imposing processions, which gratify the young, the
Odd Fellows Order, the Druids, and many others,
have, within the last few years, very materially increased
their funds. At the present moment a society—the
Bold-street Club—the oldest and perhaps one of the
most respectable benefit societies in the town, is pre -
paring, having experienced its urgent necessity, for a
procession; and it certainly does appear a little hard
that, of all these, the Orange Benevolent Societies are
the only ones which are not permitted to resort to so•
legitimate a mode of furthering those charitable pur-
poses for which they are especially designed.
They have submitted, however, with a readiness
which does them infinite credit,—but which, however,
in one quarter at least, we do not expect will be appre-
ciated,—to the request made of them by the authorities
of our town. We do trust, in consideration of such
submission, that the rule as applied to them will be
strictly applied to all. In themselves, we can see little
that is worthy of being perpetuated in any of these
processions. They are silly and childish affairs; ex-
pensive to the actors in them, and a nuisance to the
town.. We trust, therefore, that, whether connected
with political societies or strictly non-political ; whe-
ther on St. Patrick's Day or St. David's Day; whe-
ther to celebrate the memory of the great and good
King William, or to celebrate rebellion, and to deify
rebel leaders or agitators—Sarsfield the brave or Daniel
O'Connell—we have done for ever with these fooleries.
If this result be achieved, the inhabitants of Liverpool
will have cause to congratulate themselves upon the
absurd fears or the dishonest machinations which have
led to the suppression of this display, and thus laid the
foundation of a rule which, for very shame's sake, must
now be adhered to impartially towards all.