The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-02-22 00:00:00

TUESDAY

MORNING, FEBRUARY 22, 1842

commence with this publication-the fourth, year.
of our proprietorship of the LItERI;OOL STANDARD;
and we cannot permit the opportunity to pass by with-
out returning our cordial and giateful thanks to our
friends for the prominent position which their kind
support has enabled us to assume amongst the journals
of our own town and of the district in which we cir-
culate. The STANDARD is now confessedly a LEAD-
ING ORGAN of the great Conservative party in Liver-
pool; to its columns a great majority of the press of
Great Britain look for a faithful transcript of the opi-
nions and transactions of the commercial body of this
the second port in the united kingdom ; and to them,
as well, they look as the'vehicle by which those sound
constitutional and PROTESTANT opinions, in the
maintenance of which our town has stood forth so
proudly pre-eminent, are circulated, and from which
they are echoed throughout the length and breadth of
Great Britain.

We commenced our present undertaking with no
very flattering prospects before us, but relying, with
full confidence, in the honesty and determination with
which we were prepared to advocate the cause of con-
stitutional liberty and the best interests of our fellow-
townsmen, to enable us to press it to a successful re-
sult. In the course of our exertions we have kept
steadily in view that cause and those interests; we
have never truckled for support to any party, high or
low ; and we can look back with pride upon our past
career, and say, with confidence, that we have never
sacrificed a principle or betrayed any who have placed
their trust in us. It is with pride, therefore, no less
than with satisfaction and thankfulness, that we view
the success which has attended, thus far, our exer-
tions; and to a discerning and discriminating public
the position in which its kindness has placed us is no
less honourable than to ourselves.

A reference to our columns will show the degree of
favour in which we are held by our advertising friends,
whose favours, we are happy to state, as well as our
circulation, are steadily and weekly increasing, not-
withstanding the exceeding depression of the times.
For the purposes of those with whom it is an object
that their advertisements should come before the notice
of the lEading capitalists and influential middle classes
of the district, our journal offers, now, advantages not
exceeded, if, indeed, they are equalled, by those of any
i;f our contemporaries ; and we can, therefore, with
confidence and perfect justice, impress our claims in
this respect upon their support.

With respect to our political principles and the mode
in which the LIVERPOOL STANDARD IS conducted,
we need scarcely do more than refer to the past. We
have endeavoured hitherto, whilst maintaining fear-
lessly the integrity of the cause of which we set out as
the advocate, to render our columns attractive, as well
to the general reader as to the politician—equally suit-
able for the family circle and for the table of the news-
room. We shall stand fast by the same great cause ;
we shall still endeavour to maintain, unimpaired and
unimpeached, the Protestant principles of our consti-
tution in church and state; we shall continue to watch
over the welfare of " ships, colonies, and commerce ;"
we shall still be the faithful defender of local interests;
and, above all, it will ever be our pride so to mingle
the "utile et dulce"—so to blend in our columns in-
struction with amusement—as to entitle us to be re-
ceived, with the same favour which we at present en-
joy, in the houses and by the firesides of our fellow-
townsmen.

Our contemporary the Liverpool Journal appears to
think—for we can scarcely convince ourselves that so
astute an observer of the world is serious in expressing
such an opinion—that we have treated too lightly the
threatening attitude assumed by the anti-corn-law peo-
ple, in their determination to refuse payment of all
taxes until their demand of a total repeal of the corn-
laws is conceded by the legislature. The Journal would
fain have the world believe that there is something be-
yond mere balderdash in these ravings—something hor-
ribly alarming; that they are " signs and portents of a
kind not to be misunderstood," and which ought to put
a Conservative government and the Conservative people
of England in a state of indescribable and unutterable
consternation. We really must be excused, however,
for differing with our contemporary upon this matter.
We have lived long enough in this world to distinguish
between Bobadilism and serious and active determina-
tion. We could tell the difference between the voice
of " Bully Bottom the weaver" and the roar of the
king of the forest ; and, however irreverent it may ap-
pear in the eyes of our contemporary, we must, posi-
tively, have our laugh out, and continue to enjoy the
outrageous absurdity of these absurd people.
The Journal, simple man, believes, we presume, that
the cottonocracy of Manchester have nothing to do but
simply hold up their fingers, profess adherence to the
five points of the charter, join the anti-corn-law agita-
tion to` agitation for univ,ersal suffrage, and reign at
once and for ever in the hearts and in the confidence
of the working classes of the manufacturing districts.
We are told that the proposal of Sir Robert Peel has
" gone far to reconcile all dissensions between masters
and workmen ;" and are to conclude that the Brookses
and Harbottles, the Cobdens and Potters, are to be-
come from henceforth the leaders of the moral and
physical force of Yorkshire, Cheshire, and Lancashire.

_
But is this so ? No ! We must tell our contem-
porary that much more than has, as yet, been con-
ceded by the cottonocracy to the working classes,
is necessary to enable either Mr. John Brooks or Tho-
mas Harbottle, Richard Cobden or Sir Thomas Potter,
knight, to play the part of Jack Cade, and lead a mob
of weavers and spinners to Blackheath or London-
stone. "The Ethiop" must "change his skin" before
the Lancashire operatives will place their trust in a
free trade factory lord ! We have some trifling ac-
quaintance with the habits and the feelings of these
men. We know the value which they place in "libe-
ral " professions. We know that they have minds and
memories ; and have no idea, therefdre, that they will
become the dupes of anti-corn• law agitation, although
it may be glossed over with coincident professions of
anxiety for universal suffrage, vote by ballot, aTinual
parliaments, and the other panacea of ultra Chartism.

We have no fear, then, of the threats put forth by
the Manchester leaguers, and for these several, and,
some of them, very weighty reasons. rn the first
place, the party who compose the league are a very pal-
try portion of the manufacturing interest, are devoid
of any great influence amongst the manufacturing
community, and have no hold upon the confidence of
the working Population. In the next place, they are a
very, very selfish set ; and are wise enough in their
own generation to know that the consequences of any
outbreak would devolve upon themselves. They can-
not lead the working classes from any feeling of love