The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-03-29 00:00:00

WEST INDIA MAILS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STAND4RD.
•SlR,—Can you inform me whether the council are using
any endeavours with government to have the station of the
West India mail steamers transferred from Southampton to
this place, or if they have' abandoned the affair altogether;
and given it up as hopeless ? We were promised great things
from the conservatives when they came into pOwer, both in
the council and the cabinet ; but none of their benefits to-
wards the improvement of the town have yet shown them-
selves. Should the committee that was appointed to apply
to government, for the purpose of having this town made
the home station of these steamers, have ceased to use their
exertions, I would suggest that there be a requisition sent to
the mayor, to call a public meeting, in order to petition par-
liament to have the station changed, showing that there
would be a saving of thousands by the removal. The share-
holders of the Great Western steamer calculate on a saving
of £2OO by their vessel sailing alternately from Liverpool
and Bristol. What would it be if the fourteen West India
mail steamers were to sail from this port instead of South-
ampton, where the charges are as high as, if not higher than,
at Bristol? The inhabitants of Cork have, I obserqe, peti-
tioned parliament to have their city made the port for the
arrival and departure of these vessels. Surely the people of
Liverpool ought to be equally as anxious, and will, I hope,,
bestir themselves, and shake off the apathy with which they
have treated this matter. Do not think that I have any
any pecuniary benefit in view in making these remarks, as
their being brought here or continued elsewhere will not
affect me in the slightest degree, my only object being the
prosperity of my native town.
I cannot conclude-the above without offering my humble
. tribute of praise to your paper, for the clear and indefatiga-
ble manner in which you have put forth the claims of this
port, notwithstanding the sneers of your local contempora-
ries, who are jealous of your exertions in outdoing theirs, in
your deiire to forward the interests and pro Mote the pros.
perity of the " good. old town."—Yours
DIC very
KEY S respect
AMully,

Liverpool, March atth, 18-12.
[We cannot really state, in reply to our correspondent
" Dickey Sam," what steps, or whether any steps, are
taking by the council, with respect to the West India mail
station being removed to this port. We strongly suspect,
however, that the question is neglected by the Finance
Committee, in whose hands it was placed by the council,
and not in those of a committee expressly appointed, for
the purpose of pressing it upon government. We believe
firmly that to this port the West India mails must ulti-
mately, and at no distant period, be transferred.. To ac-
celerate, however, so desirable a consummation, exertion
will be necessary ; and we can see no more judicious
course, and none more likely to be effectual, than that
proposed by our correspondent. We shall see whether
his suggestion will be listened to by the parties to whom
it is addressed ; and if it is not, we shall return to the
subject.—En. L. S.]

THE THEATRES.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

n,—Few men who pay any attention to passing events in
our good town can fail to be aware of a little feud which is
now distracting our dramatic circles. I allude to the con-
test raging between the contending proprietors of the Thea-
tre-Royal and those of the Liver, who by the way have as-
sumed a title for that establishment to which they have nei-
ther a moral nor an equitable right. This war is about to
engage the attention of a court of law ; the gauntlet has been
thrown down ; it must be taken up ; and I trust that the
question, when once decided by a legally constituted tribu-
nal, will be set at rest ; and what is more, that it will give
satisfaction to the public.
Now, Sir, what is the mode of dealing with the question
at issue? The mode of dealing with it is pointed out by the
law of the land, and until all its phases have been tested by
that, it appears to me that all attempts to prejudge it are
not only silly, but opposed to the justice of the case. The
object of parties who put themselves forward, either openly
or anonymously, can only be partizanship; and when the
case on each side cannot be fully investigated, partizanship
is obviously improper. Above all, in a dry question of law,
partizanship is absurd, for let a man's opinion be ever so
sound, what does it amount to? What authority has it?
And lastly, in a matter of this kind, what possible effect can
it have?
Except as to the assumption of a title for his theatre, to
which Mr. Raymond cannot have the shadow of a claim, I
am not animated by the motive which I have just condemned.
Indeed that cannot be called partizanship which opposes and
exposes a denomination which unquestionably has been
taken, if not as an accessary to deception, at least to confer
a surreptitious ECLAT. I inn urging the propriety of strict
impartiality On the part of the public ; and considering that
but a very small portion of the public is likely to feel inter-
ested in the question, there can be no sound reason for ex-
pecting any other exhibition from them.
But while the necessity and the decency of impartiality is
so obvious, and while a thousand reasons of public policy
conspire to render such a course absolutely indispensable in
them, two of your brother journalists, Sir, have not scrupled
to turn their columns to the open advocacy of the cause of
their respective principles. By a strange inconsistency the
Journal has been supporting what the Mail calls monopoly,
while the Mail has been fighting with harder words but less
vigour for opening the trade of theatrical representation !
One would have thought that if monopoly was bad in the
root, the branches of it must partake of the same character;
and, on the other hand, simple-minded people would, in or-
dinary cases, suppose that if the protective principle is sound
at the foundation, the superstructure of all its parts must be
sound also. But it is hard to divine the policy of these
" absolute" champions ; and as they seem not to be desti-
tute of that philosophic composure which enables men to
laugh at their own inconsistencies, I must remain content
till either their ingenuity or their candour prompt them to
the explanations of the apparent anomaly.
But I do think, Sir, that the supporters of those journals—
the people who pay their subscriptions on the faith that their
respective principles shall be maintained without time-serv-
ing or vaccination, have a claim upon their conductors for
the reasons which have dictated this extraordinary conduct.
It is true that the cogent reasoning of the Journat is but
feebly opposed by the vapour of the Mail; it is true that the
one has the known law of the land, which is plain enough, to
support his views, whilst the other is scrambling in an un-
known sea, confused by the extent of his own knowledge,
or rather ignorance, of the subject ; it is true that one vindi-
cates patent rights with power, whilst the other opposes them
with froth and personality—the " damning spot" remains on
each. Gentlemen, you are both inconsistent ; on this ques-
tion you have changed stools • the oracle of Athens has been
transferred to Rhodes, whilst he of Rhodes is gone to
Athens, and neither the Athenians nor the Rhodians are to
be the wiser. Softly, good Sirs ; steal not out of the city
with your sandals dry. You are detected.
I remain, Sir,
Your obedient humble servant,
TU QUOQUE.
Great George-street, March 25, 1842.