Great Britain -- Description and travel; Railroad travel -- Great Britain; Railroads -- Great Britain
When the Docks and Public Institutions have been examined, and the places of
interest on the Cheshire shore visited, Liverpool presents nothing to detain
the traveller who has no private claims on his attention.
It must be acknowledged that the general appearance of the town and of the
people is more agreeable than that of Birmingham or Manchester, although
Liverpool can claim none of the historical and antiquarian interest in which
Bristol and Chester are rich. There are parts of the town devoted to low
lodging houses, and accommodation for the poor Irish and emigrants, as bad as
the worst parts of St. Giles's or Spitalfields. Indeed, the mortality is
greater than that of any other town in England.
Liverpool is a great port for emigration to the United States and Canada. On
the line of packet ships the accommodation for those who can pay 5 pounds and
upwards is excellent; in the timber ships they are packed like herrings after
being lodged like pigs. But what can be expected for the fare. At 2 pounds
the shipowners undertake to give a passage, and find two quarts of water and
a pound of bread per day. The Government Emigration Agents are indefatigable
in their efforts, municipal and Parliamentary regulations have been from time
to time applied to the subject, nevertheless the frauds and cruelties
inflicted on emigrants are frightful.
An attempt was made some short time since to have an Emigrant's Home as a
sort of Model Barrack, erected in one of the New Docks, so as to form a
counterpoise to the frauds of emigration lodging-house keepers, but local
jealousies defeated a plan which would have been equally advantageous to the
town and the emigrants.
The state of poverty and crime in Liverpool, fed as it is by the overflowings
of many districts, is an important subject, which has excited the anxious
attention of several enlightened residents, among others of the late Police
Magistrate, Mr. Edward Rushton, who died suddenly without being able to bring
his plans to maturity.
In conclusion we may say of Liverpool, that it is a town which has a great
and increasing population, a wealthy Corporation, a thriving trade, yet less
of the materials of a metropolis than many other towns of less commercial
importance.
For further temporary information, a traveller may advantageously consult the
Liverpool papers, of which there is one for every day in the week--that is to
say, an Albion, a Times, a Mail, a Standard, a Mercury, a Journal, a
Chronicle--of all shades of politics, of large size, conducted with great
ability, and affording, in addition to the news and politics of the day, a
great deal of general information, in the shape of extracts from popular
works and original articles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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