The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-01-21 00:00:00

Enquirer

" We take it that the United States have as clear a right
to say what shall constitute the property of her citizens, cs
any other independent station, and it is not for England to
call in question the validity of title to that property when it
happens to be driven by stress of weather or by mutiny and
murder, within her jurisdiction. If we choose to make even
a portion of our white inhabitants slaves, Great Britain has
no more right to question the legal ownership of that part of
our property, than she has to confiscate a cargo of Jamaica
rum, because her tee-total societies have denounced the manu-
facture of that article an act of piracy against civilization.
We choose to consider our slaves as property—property
descendeil to us through the instrumentality of British im-
porters—and f a cargo of that property chances to get into
British waters, we have the same right to retain it that a
British shipowner has to be protected in his cargo of iron
in the port of New York. The negroes on board the Creole
were the bona fide property of those who claim them—pro-
perty recognised by the law and by the' constitution of the
country. We should like to know, therefore, what semblance
of right the British government has to call in question the
validity of an ownership sanctioned and protected by the
government of an independent country."

Our astute transatlantic contemporary might have
seen, if the villany which he seeks to justify had not
blinded his eyes, that his argument involves its own
refutation. N'Ve take his parallel between a cargo of
slaves and a cargo of iron ; the iron is safe in the port
of New 'York ; but why ? Simply because it is an ar-
ticle of traffic permitted and legitimized by the laws
of the State, and upon no other ground. The State of
New York, or the Federal Union might, if it pleased,
prohibit the importation of iron, and render it contra-
band ; and, in such case, no future importer of the ar-
ticle would have a right to complain if it were seized
by the authorities of the country, and confiscated to
the public service. Every state has a right to make all
such laws concerning property as are not contrary to
natural justice, or the rights of independent nations,
within its own dominions ; and, in the enjoyment and
exercise of this clear right, England makes laws within
the limits of her jurisdiction in favour of the human
She certainly does not place the rational and im-
mortal being, man, quite on a level with a lump of
inert matter, or a piece of cold iron ; and, therefore,
not merely declares that the " article is contraband,"
but decrees further, that whether by " stress of wea-
ther," or by whatever other casualty the said " article"
may be brought in durance within her territory, lie is
free. There is no more an ownership in him ; " his
soul walks abroad in her own majesty," and his body
stands " redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled."
The Yankee journalist evidently conceives that the
strength of Lis case lies in the circumstance, that the
entry of the Creole into a British port was not a vo-
luntary act on the part of her captain or owners, and,
therefore, that to take advantage either of a casualty
or a piratical act committed against her, by which she
was brought within our power against the consent of
the parties concerned in her, is a departure from the
usage of civilised nations in similar cases. And the
American would be right, if the commodity introduced
into port were any other than a cargo of MEN. It is
this trifling circumstance which makes all the diffe-
rence ; for, in defence of our fellow-creatures and of
human liberty, we go the length of saying, that not.
only shall no slavery exist under our own immediate
authority; but that we will permit no slaves to be held

by others within any part of our dominions ; and,
moreover, that we are justified in so saying and acting
by an abstract principle of right and justice superior
to all national or conventional law whatever.
'We do not interfere with America in her own in-
ternal regulations; we do not make remittances, nor
are we aware that any of our people do, for the pur-
pose of inflaming an insubordinate spirit, or exciting
an insurrection among the coloured inhabitants ; there
is nu " hunters' club " among us for this purpose ;
but if her slaves do, by any accident, reach our terri-
tory, American or any other laws of human degrada-

tion do immediately cease at once to have any opera-

tion ; her slaves,—

" If their lungs
Receive our air, that moment they are free ;
They touch our country, and their shackles fall."

The New York journalist follows up his miserably
futile argument in the following cavalier and jaunty

" We wish with all our hearts," he says, " that neither
Eng,latid nor ourselves had any slaves ; but while we both of
us have them, we shall teach the government and people of
that country, that while we have no wish to interfere with
their domestic institutions, we have not the slightest idea of
permitting them for a moment to interfere with ours. Our
slave system may be very wrong, but the wrong is no concern
of others. Whatever we may see fit to consider property is
property; when it may chance to get within the jurisdiction
of a government which has just thought proper to relinquish
her own ownership in the same kind of property, we shall
maintain the majesty of our own laws by claiming and re-
claiming it. If the British authorities see fit to aid our
negroes in running away from their owners, they must pay
for them, that is all."

It would be a waste of time to offer any serious re-
ply to 2uch a piece of sheer impertinence as we have
submitted to us in this passage. We will only say,
that it would indeed be very well. for the " experimen-
tal republic " if she had " no slaves " nor law of sla-
very in her states. It would, amongst other things,
save her the disgrace of affecting to keep pace with
the old states of Europe in an enlightened condemna-
tion and repression of the traffic in human beings,
and yet, with the consciousness of a thief who carries
the property he has stolen about his person, refusing
to join with them in a treaty of mutual search which
would test the sincerity of her professions. It would
relieve her jourrraliats also from the necessity of deal-
ing in such wholesale falsities and ridiculous swagger
as the Enquirer exhibits in his commentaries. The
British authorities in New Providence have done no
more than give due effect. to British law; they have
set the strangers who called at their port at liberty,
since there was no other charge against them but that
" they were black ;" they have denied the claim to
property in them, or any others of the human family,
standing upon the glorious foundation of our British
charter, and they have wisely and prudently left the
American claim of compensation to be settled else-
where.

The visit of the King of Prussia to this country
upon so interesting an occasion as the baptism of the
infant heir to the throne, is.an event by which all ranks
of her Majesty's faithful subjects feel intensely grati-
fied. The selection by her Majesty of such a sponsor—
and the gracious and emphatic manner in which the
royal personage so selected, has undertaken to do
honour to the request—constitute in their combina-
tion a circumstance replete with suggestions of the
most lively and agreeable kind. People naturally look
upon it as auspicious when their rulers manifest an en-
lightened concern for the sacred duties of religion—
are diligent, though not ostentatious, in the discharge
of their duties themselves—and still further follow up
such excellent beginings, by cultivating the friendship
of, and cementing their alliance with, other princes and
rulers of like sentiments and disposition with them-
selves; and it is the happiness of the people of this
country at the present moment, to witness this pleasing
concurrence of events, and to rejoice in the observance
of them. They will welcome, probably on this very
day, the good King of Prussia to their shore, and hail
his arrival as the personal friend of our Gracious Queen;
they will pay him every honour, not merely because
he bears a crowned head, and constitutes an important
member of the European alliance of Sovereigns, but
because he subscribes to the same religious faith with
themselves—because he is a Protestant Prince—and
has given proof that he is by no means willing to bear
that honourable title in vain. We feel quite persuaded
that our infant Prince of Wales could not have a more
suitable godfather; the nation was delighted by the
announcement of the choice, and they will now wit-
ness with unmingled satisfaction the assumption of that
character by the Prussian monarch in person in the
approaching truly august and, solemn ceremonial.
It is an apt occasion for drawing more closely the
bands of an holy alliance and lasting friendship. Our
illustrious visitor has already testified in a very re-
markable manner his earnest desire to unite himself
and people with Ingland on the sacred basis of a

religicus ingitiltions. He

done by his prince!

donation for the endow..

meat of a Church of Eng!mid Bishopric at Jerusa-

!em—investing the gift at the t•-atne time with a!! the

graces of a singular modesty, deference towards this
country, and disinterestedness so far as he is himself

concerned. lie advances £1 5,000 as his contribution
towards maintaining the new See, and yet he is con-
tent that the Bishop shall be subject to the Archbishop
of Canterbury—that Prussia shall have only an alter-
nate right of appointment with England, and that the
Archbishop shall have an absolute right of veto over
all nominations made by the Prussian Crown: His
Majesty could scarcely have paid a higher compliment
to our national church. Protestant Germany cannot
fail to profit by so signal an instance of veneration for
her doctrine and discipline; nor should even the oldest
members of her community be insensible to the ho-
nour or lightly esteem the acquisitions which she will
necessarily make. England has thus found a royal
and right worthy associate in her benevolent and evan-

gelising missionary labours.
With regard to an alliance of a more ordinary and
secular character—though we should be far from re-
garding it as in itself unimportant,—it falls not for the
present within the scope of those views suggested by
the circumstances before ❑s. We hope that the time
may he far distant, if ever it shall arise, when Protes-
tantism would have to sustain itself by the power of
the material sword ; we fervently hope that the day is
gone by when a Protestant confederation would be
again necessary to defend the religion of Protestants
from Rotnish aggression, or persecution from'any other
quarter ; but as what has happened may happen again,
and many more things do daily come to pass than have
'been dreamt of in this world's philosophy—there is no
harm, and there may be much advantage in being fore-
armed. If England Nr ould he the protectress of perse-
cuted Christianity in whatever part of the world it may
unhappily be found, she must not only be valiant for
the faith in a moral sense, but strong in her physical
resourses also—strong in her position, and strong in
her alliance with powers of like disposition, and if pos-
sible, faith with herself. We do then appreciate most
highly our cordial alliance and growing sympathy with
Protestant Prussia, and that of Prussia and her excell-
ent Sovereign, with us—on every ground, but chiefly,
as we have already remarked, because by such unani-
mity and friendly co-operation, the great and para-
mount work of Christian civilisation bids fair to be
carried on extensively yet peaceably through the world.

We have read a report from the committee of a
political society professing to give minute statistics of
distress prevailing in Liverpool. We know not what
reliance may be placed on the detailed statements set
forth in that document; where a political object
suggests a motive to exaggerate, it is only prudent to
arm oneself with a moderate portion of incredulity ;
but when such a report concurs with information
which reaches us from sources untainted by suspicion,
it certainly serves to confirm us in the conclusion-
warrantable upon other authority; that there does ex-
ist in our locality a very lamentable amount of distress,
of a description which calls for the administration of
immediate as well as extraordinary relief. Meetings
have been held, and subscriptions raised in a few in-
stances, for the purpose of, in some degree, respond-
ing to the urgent requirements of the moment—and
by these efforts, though partial and limited, many
poor persons have been assisted, and much extreme
suffering has been_ alleviated or averted; but nothing,
we regret to say, has been done proportionate to the
extent and urgency of the destitution still in existence.
The affluent have not yet come forward, and given of
their abundance as they should do at such a time.
The clergy of Liverpool are, we well know, ever ready
to respond to the call of benevolence—foremost, in-
deed, in every charitable work; but as yet collections
hate not been made in every church, (as we humbly
conceive they should be,) to raise a fund commensu-
rate to the appalling aggregate of wretchedness of
which, in its various dark defiles and narrow retreats,
this great town is at present, unhappily, the abode.
Public meetings have not been convened in each ward,
nor has any suitable plan been organised to raise and
distribute the contributions of the wealthy or the
liberal in the most- beneficial manner for-all classes.
In a word, there is at this 'moment great distress lit
Liverpool—distress such as the ordinary operations of
law, or the common exercises of charity, cannot meet,
—and public sympathy does not move with its need-
ful, and we will say, its wonted activity. This must
not be; hunger and nakedness cannot brook delay,
though luxury be unwilling or hard to be disturbed.

It is commonly said, that, in cases of public misfor-
tune of a kind like this, all political feelings and party
differences should be laid aside ; and that nothing
should be thought of but the wants of suffering fellow-
creatures and the luxury of doing good ; but for our
part we never desire to see Conservatives oblivious of
their proper character. Let them shew it and sustain
it now by a generous liberality to the sons and daugh-
ters of affliction. Conservatives have never been want-
ing when called upon in this way, and we expect they
will not be so at this time. But we do not confine our
appeal merely to those who permit themselves to be•
distinguished by a political designation. We plead for
the poor, and address ourselves to all who have hearts
to feel for, and means to relieve, their necessities. For
our advocacy there is a cause—a cause that may not•
be refused ; let us not then labour in vain ; let it not.
be said that the princely merchants of this great seat of
commerce are insensible to the wants of their destitute
fellow-citizens—and above all, those whom misfortune
has overtaken without any fault on their part ; for such
is the case of those, in general, for whom we plead.
The poor of Liverpool are a patient, unobtrusive, fru-
gal, and, when not denied the opportunity, an indus-
trious class ; the immediate cause of their present ca-
lamitous condition is went of employment. There is
no blame attributable to them, and no excuse assigna-
ble for those who, being- apprized of their urgent need,
and having the means to mitigate the poignant anguish
of their distress, fail to do so.

It will be seen, by a reference to our report of the
Dock Committee's proceedings yesterday, that Mr.
Chapman, one of the members of the committee, has
sent in his resignation, " in order," as expressed in:
the letter in which this determination is conveyed to us,.
" to give to the rate-payers an opportunity of declaring
their sentiments on the late decision of the committee
respecting the shipwrights' yards, and the increasing
encroachments of the Dock-yard establishment on the.
' land of the estate." We must confess that we regret
this step on the part of Mr. Chapman. We.da. not.
know that the rate-payers at large are at all inclined to
adopt the views developed by that gentleman, in his
opposition to the " powers that be" in the Dock esta-
blishment, upon this and other questions ; and we
much deprecate the attempt thus made by means of a
species of voluntary martyrdom on his part to entrap
the public, by his re-election, into an implied sanction
of those views. The small amount of support re-
ceived by Mr. Chapman in the committee upon the
motion, whose rejection has led him to adopt this
course, will, we believe, be quite conclusive in the
public mind, with respect to the propriety of the con-
duct of the sub-committee of works, on the particular
occasion which he complains of; and, although we
are perhaps as confident as the gentleman himself of
his being re-elected, we do not think that such re-
election should be taken as establishing the correct-
ness of Mr. Chapman's views, and thus, by implica-
tion, condemning the course pursued by other mem-
bers of the committee, who are equally with him re-
presentatives of the rate-payers of the port, and
equally averse to any jobbing spirit being allowed to
be introduced into the management of the Dock
estate.

We understand that it is the intention of a section
of the " liberal" party in the town to bring forward
Mr. Benn as a candidate for the vacant seat. They
may save themselves the trouble. The Conservative
body, although not unanimous at all upon the question
which has led to Mr. Chapman's resignation, will not
allow their strength to be so far weakened by division,
as to afford the " liberal" candidate a chance ; but will
be unanimous in their support of their candidate, whe-
ther it be Mr. Chapman himself, or some other equally
eligible gentleman.
We would not be misunderstood as implying, even,
in the above remarks, a general approbation of the
management of the dock estate under the present
committee. On the contrary, we have seen much that