The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-12-06 00:00:00

A valuable liokne trade—the consumption, at good
Prices, of fully matured articles of manufacture. He
exchanges consumers of his best silks, woollens, =s-
luts, &c., at home, for consumers, in Europe, of yarns,
twist, and other half manufactured articles. And, with
respect to America, we must bear this in mind ;—if
she cannot, profitably to her farmers, supply us with
corn, and compete with the European grower, she can-
not pay us, any more than at present, for the goods we
send her. In her case, therefore, the manufacturer ex-
changes a large, and well paid for, home consumption,
for the same worthless paper money, or insolvent se-
curities, with which Great Britain has for years past
been deluged.
Upon this part of the subject—the limitation of the
consuming power of the British agriculturist, which
we regard as the necessary consequence of the transfer
0f .our custom from him to the foreign grower—we do
not here purpose remarking at length. The Journal
leaves it altogether unnoticed; but we may suggest to
him that it is well Worth consideration, and, perhaps,
he will furnish us with his views upon it in his next
Publication. We are unable to-day to enter upon an
examination of our contemporary's explanation of the
second branch of the subject—the probable extent of
our exchange of goods for corn—without exceeding the
space at present at our disposal. Our own views with
respect to it, may, however, be gathered from the above
remarks ; and we shall on Friday consider those of the
Journal. Our third question—the effect intended to be
Produced on wages—is thus noticed,—
" We could answer this question with more precision if
the datum was complete, and we were told when the new
state of things was to take place. By a perseverance in our
Present policy of asking to sell and refusing to be paid, the
Country may get into so hopeless a state, that not even free
trade can revivify it. But we certainly think that, if the
Change take place within any reasonable time, it will, per se,
tend greatly to increase wages ; for this plain reason, that
Profits and the demand for labour will be increased by the
demand for goods for export. In addition to the home mar-
ket, there will be the enlarged foreign one. The manufac-
turer will buy all that the home agriculturist can produce,
end as much more as he can consume. The latter will re-
ceive as much as the foreigner, and will have the additional
Profit of freight and transport, and instead of alternate scar-
cities and gluts, as at present, he must have sold, or be likely
to sell, all he has at a fair price, before any reasonable man
would think of importing any thing from abroad."
ow, we must here express our candid opinion, that
the thinking man who thus tell us, that reduced wages
will not accompany a reduction of the price of food, is
not a candid man. It is just possible, too, that he may,
in telling us so, not be very consistent with himself.
For what, above all others, has ever been the most pro-
minent complaint of the free traders ? "We cannot
compete with the foreign manufacturer." And why
cannot they so compete ? " Because the foreign ma-
nufacturer has cheaper food." Cheapness of produc-
tion has been held up as the great desideratum, by the
enjoyment of which, the manufacturer would be
enabled to engross the commerce of the world ; and
Cheapness of labour is a principal ingredient in cheap-
ness of production. Does the Journal admit this ?
Can he point out any other source by which the manu-
facturer can materially cheapen his goods ? We think
he cannot; and we ask him to reconcile his present
disclaimer of any intention to effect a reduction in the
Price of labour with the following passage in an article
of his own, one week only previous to such dis-
claimer :

"That the commerce of the Chinese empire will, in pro-
cess of time, grow up to be one of the greatest value to us,
We do not doubt, but this will depend very largely on our
Pursuing such a policy as will enable us to meet foreign rivals
in neutral markets."

Such a policy as will enable us to meet foreign rivals
in neutral markets"—in the Chinese markets for in-
stance. And how are we, by the mere possession of
Cheap corn to meet foreign rivals in neutral markets,
Unless CHEAP CORN means CHEAP PRODUCTION by
Means of CHEAP LABOUR? The Journal may depend
upon it that he throws away the most powerful instru-
ment for effecting an enlargement of our foreign com-
merce, when he seeks to hoodwink the working classes
with respect to the connection between cheap bread and
Cheap labour !

We noticed, some weeks ago, the management of
our Police-court, with reference, more particularly, to
Mr. Commissioner Dowling. Our remarks, we have
reason to believe, have had a salutary effect, inas-
much as that gentleman appears to have abandoned
that uncalled for interference in the interrogation of
witnesses, and that attempted display of forensic
eloquence, which—the business of the court being but
preliminary and ex parte—was, we conceive, (if not in
statutary law, at least in constitutional observance,)
inconsistent with his character as public prosecutor,—
and had consequently roused the attention, and pro-
voked the reprehension, of even casual visiters to that
tribunal, who regard with jealous eyes every innovation
upon the considerate and humane principles of our
criminal code. Our opinions on the subject have been
generally admitted to be correct; and, as they have
not been officially impugned, we may fairly assume
that we have, in this, "hit the right nail on the head."
Having thus disposed of that gentleman, and hoping
long to see him occupying the onerous station which
he now holds, or to learn of his judicial advancement
to the bench in some one of our colonies—to which he
probably aspires, and for which his experience and his
talents as a linguist eminently qualify him—we now,
ill pursuance of our promise, proceed, with equal im-
partiality, to notice, what we consider to he, certain
imperfections in the conduct of his superior—the
Stipendiary Magistrate.
Mr. Rushton commenced the study of the law at a
pretty advanced period in life, under, we believe, in
the first instance, the patronage of a distinguished
statesman, whose premature and lamented death de-
prived him of that stay. He had previously enter-
tained extreme Radical opinions, which he was wont
to promulgate at public meetings and debating societies,
with, as we think, more energy than discretion. The
bar, like the senate, is, however, a trying ordeal for the
unpracticed ; and what might pass for eloquence and
sound judgment in a provincial spouting club, is often
found to produce but a lame impression in an assembly
where talent is of a higher and more diversified charac-
ter. Though he was not deficient in natural talent,
Mr. Rushton's debut at the bar somewhat disappointed
the perhaps unreasonable expectations of those who
admired him as a declaimer ; and it became evident
that he could arrive at eminence, as an advocate, only
by laborious study of the law—to which his tempera-
ment was averse—and by prolonged practice. He was
fortunate in obtaining lucrative employment, for a
time, under the Whig-Radicals, as a revising barrister,
and also as counsel on parliamentary committees, in
which last he evinced, we believe, considerable tact.
When these sources of emolument died away, and his
practice in the courts—in which there were more cats
than mice to be caught—rather hung fine, he was still
More fortunate in obtaining his present appointment,
as successor to Mr. Hall. Although he cannot yet be
deemed a profound lawyer, he has (as we have be-
fore admitted) achieved much improvement ; and
Whatever be his political creed, we have not observed,
or heard it imputed to him, that he suffers it to influ-
ence him in the discharge of his duties. 'We believe,
Moreover, that he has done the town some service in
furthering the amendment, by Parliament, of some
salutary local acts, and the passing of one or two others
of a recent date.
Mr. Rushton's besetting sin is his frequently allow-
ing his temper, naturally none of the best, to overcome
his discretion. He is apt to indulge in exhibitions
closely approximating, if not reaching, to anger—which
it would be well to restrain, as such isplays are not
only peculiarly unbecoming from the nch, where all
should be mildness, but are contrary to his own in-
junctions to others, who, in the excitement of the
moment, as witnesses or defendants, and therefore the
More excusably, may be betrayed into a similar tone.
This was palpably evinced in the late squabble (for
What else can we call it ?) between him and Mr.
Dowling, whom he rebuked, in the onset, for the very
failing which, almost in the same breath, he himself
exemplified in a still more painful degree. Mr.
Rushton is also frequently too hasty, and consequently
too harsh in his decisions. There is, we admit, amidst
such a multiplicity of business, a necessity for vigour
and promptitude ; but care should be taken that the
exercise of these qualities should not preclude that
Precision and discrimination which are due to the
veriest culprit at the bar, as well as to minor offenders—
that, in fact, circumstances involving mere suspicion
should not be precipitantly magnified into realities.

In summary jurisdiction this is especially to be avoided,
even at the expense of prolonging, for an additional

hour or two, the business of the day. We allude more

particularly to cases of assault and informations. One
magistrate may be much more apt than another in
sifting and weighing the evidence adduced, and com-
prehending it in its several bearings ; but when a case
assumes an intricate and uncertain character, it is a
dangerous vanity in any man, assuming the possession
of superior and unerring accuracy, to indulge in that
off-hand and extemporaneous adjudication which sud-
denly arrives at a conviction for which it is difficult for

those gifted with only ordinary perception to account
for. The improvisatore in the world of law is fre-
quently, indeed, as unhappy as that in the world of
letters ; but we are bound to state, that when our Sti-
pendiary finds he has been led into a mistake, there is
no man more prompt in withdrawing the opinion he

had founded upon it.
Mr. Rushton, too, in his zeal for the support of the
constabulary force, is too prone to give implicit cre-
dence to the testimony of police officers, in preference,
frequently, to that of persons of a superior station in
life, and generally of equal, if not of higher character.
We by no means impugn the general conduct of the
police force, en masse. On the whole, they are an
orderly and well-disciplined body of men—thanks to
the unwearied exertions of our excellent chief con-

stable, and the scrutiny and vigilance of our Watch
Committee. Still they are but men, and there arc

circumstances and temptations by which they are
beset, that render them somewhat obnoxious to dis-
trust in the -public mind, in which their morale does
not stand quite so high as in the estimation of Mr.
Rushton: The force is large, and must be kept up
numerically by men of the standard physical powers,
who must also be able to read and write; and their
pay (18s. a-week, exclusive of a deduction for clothing)
is scarcely a sufficient inducement to men of character
and activity to join them—considering their long hours
of duty—until other trades have failed. We wish
that more could be afforded, so that the whole might
he elevated in the scale of respectability. As it is,
there must necessarily be black sheep amongst so
large a flock. "his is, indeed, shewn by the fact that—
notwithstanding all the protection that is hedged
around them, and the esprit-de-corps with which they
bolster up and defend each other in cases of complaint
—dismissals from the service are of frequent, though
of reluctant occurrence. If a complaint be made
against an officer, every one must have remarked
the pains taken in questioning and cross•questioning
the witnesses for the complainant; and we cannot but
think that the slightest discrepancy is too eagerly seized
upon to justify, if possible, an acquittal of the accused.
It is no easy matter to procure a conviction in such a
case; but if the parties stand in reverse position, we
do not observe the same anxiety in behalf of the de-
fendant, or the same caution in appropriating the
evidence against him. We are willing to believe that
the fault arises from a mistaken notion of the imma-
culacy of the one party, and an undue suspicion of the
other. In the cases of publicans, evidence of too
slight and loose a character is generally sufficient to
ensure a conviction ; and the new local act affecting
them is carried out with a rigour that resembles a ban
proclaimed against the trade. It is notorious that
police-officers have their favourites, and, like other
individuals in this wicked world, may be conciliated to
forbearance towards some, and provoked to hostility by
the neglect or independence of others whose houses are
equally well conducted. There is, too, an evident
determination in some of these men to clench to the
very letter the testimony of the others who were with
them ; and the accusation of drunkenness, or the
admission of sobriety, (when inebriation would operate
in exculpation) appears to be stereotyped on their
tongues. The conduct of some of them, too, when
they are beyond the surveillance of their inspectors, is
not unfrequently insolent and tyrannous. We notice
these evils as the exceptions ; but operate on the pub-
lic mind to the demerit of the force generally, there is
the greater necessity for caution on the part of the
magistrates before whom they appear.
Another defect in Mr. Rushton's administration is,
his permitting constables who appear as witnesses
(particularly on informations) to come in with after-
claps of evidence, after they have been examined in
chief. If their first batch of evidence is insufficient,
is rebutted, or is likely to break down, it is their fre-
quent practice'to volunteer something additional, and
before undivulged, though, like the postscript of a
lady's letter, it is far more pointed and inculpatory
than all that has gone before. We are not aware that
this volunteering is illegal ; but it is, at all events, un-
seemly, and would never be tolerated in a higher court
of justice; and we should like to see Mr. Rushton's
court so managed as to be inferior to none in due
formality, in dignity, and in that fairness, and con-
sideration of the unprepared condition of a defendant,
in such case, which is contemplated by the constitu-
onal spirit of our laws.