The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-03-09 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE RECORD

Sin,—As you consider my opinion of sufficient conse-
quence to write so strongly against it, as you have done,
in one of your leading articles yesterday, do you not think
. .

it would be but fair to give insertion to my letter, even at
some inconvenience, and thus allow your readers to judge
for themselves, whether or not my reasoning is " incon-
clusive and misapplied ?"
I observe that in another leading article in the same
paper, you advocate the opinion that " the best system"
(of National Education, a subject yielding to none in vital
importance) " h9wever is, not that which approaches
nearest to an abstract perfection, but that which is most
suited to our actual circumstances."

Ot course you mean, not the best absolutely, but the
best attainable in our own circumstances, and therefore
the wisest for our present adoption. In this lam happy
entirely to concur with you.

By printing these few lines, and also my letter, which
will explain its own circumstances and tell its own tale,
you will at least be dealing fairly Ly me. There may,
after all, be some real difference between your opinion
and mine; but is it. such, as to make it judicious in you
to sound an alarm in our Protestant camp, announcing
that a " standard-bearer has fainted ?" Ido not pretend
to be a standard-bearer, but I beg to assure you that, so
far from fainting, I was n3ver better, or stro-ger, or hap-
pier, or more " every inch a Protestant" than 1 am to-
day.—l am, dear Sir, yours faithfully,
Liverpool, March 2, 1852. HUG n M'NEILE.

THE TACTICS OF THE " OPPOSITION."
So great a collection of paradoxes has seldom been
seen as the Free-trade writers and speakers are just
now delivering. Protection they are all agreed "is
dead"—dead and buried, and really if it is not, they
are placed in a strange position. Should it turn
out to be alive after Mr. COBDEN was paid so
handsomely for killing it, after the Times was feted
for assisting at the slaughter, after Sir ROBERT
PEEL was driven from office for his actually
accomplishing the deed, who will believe in future
without a satisfactory inquest before the whole
nation at the hustings assembled ? The truth
is, that Protection is not dead—any more than any
true principle of political science, or any other
science, can ever die. Nor do the League and the
Times consider it dead. They attribute to it the
virtue that King EDWARD did to his name, when he
bade them carry his skeleton against the Scotch.
They look, so to speak, for a display of posthumous
vigour on behalf of the Country Party, that will
need thousands of pounds and furlongs of speeches
to rebut. The Times is angry with Mr. COBDEN
for seeking again those troublous times in which
alone a flippant man can take the place of abler
and better leaders. Mr. COBDEN, in endeavouring
once more to convulse the country, is " a wise
thing for himself." The power to agitate and the
power to administer are two very different qualifi-
cations. They always have been and always must
be separate. Mr. COBDEN, therefore, on however
erroneous grounds he may try to raise it, must, if
he is to be heard of at all, get up a storm. It is
not important to what extent tranquillity may be
disturbed, or how untruly the intentions of those
in power may be exhibited. The staff of the League
see the prospect of the glorious days of '44 and
'45, and it will not be their fault if they do not
cause them to return. They have been going about
since Sir ROBERT PEEL, in evil hour for them,
" took them at their words," like the disbanded
army that made the Restoration, anxious for any
mischief that may be the first to turn up. And, to
do them justice, their programme, so far as they
have made it out, promises as handsome a quantity
of factious disturbance as ever weighed down the
energies of a nation. First, they will attempt to
make the present Parliament, by the factious motion
of Mr. VILLIERS (brother of the ex-lord lieutenant
of Ireland, the friend of BIRCH and "law and
order"), pledge itself that it will stand by its own
decisions as to free trade. Whether that motion
fails or succeeds, in no way affects the Ministry.
Lord DERBY declares that he does not count upon
the House of Commons. He does not attribute
to it the baseness of stultifying itself. Mr. COB-
DEN, however, and Mr. VILLIERS (who Mr.
COBDEN certifies is no way factious), will have the
majority of the House of Commons to say, " We
have, it is true, pledged ourselves half a dozen
times to free trade--but as Mr. COBDEN and Mr.
VILLIERS will not take our word, we must do so
once more. They look on our previous assurances
as nothing, and as nothing can come of nothing,
we must speak again." Such is the first part of
the plan. The second of course is to oppose Lord
DERBY at the hustings to the death—but here a
wholesome fear seems to exist that the Minister

may have a very decided majority in spite of all
their efforts. This, it is perfectly clear, they look to
and anticipate. What then Why a new Reform
Bill—an importation of the democratic element.

Fleetere si neque superior, Acheronta Movebo

To judge from the meetings that the Leaguers
have already held in London, the Chartists are not
very likely to do them any considerable amount of
good ; and supposing their new Reform Bill car-
ried, and something like Universal Suffrage esta-
blished, will the suffering trades that are sinking
under the combined effects of foreign competition
and the impoverishment of the landed interest,
join in making a COBDEN ministry? Judging
from the experience of 1842, they will do nothing
of the kind ; and then Mr. COBDEN comes at last
to no other resource than a coup d'etat—the
banishment of the legislature and the suppression
of the press. He has indeed formed a very poor
opinion of the progress of affairs. The Parliament
is not to be trusted—the constituencies are not to
be trusted. The press is not to be trusted—in
fact, nothing is to he trusted but Mr. COBDEN and
the old staff of the League, and the nation is to
shut its eyes and see what they will send it.
Now, Mr. COBDEN and his friends are griev-
ously mistaken if they fancy that the nation will
take the character of the new administration from
his lips, or deny credence to Lord DERBY'S own
words or his authority. Notwithstanding half a
century of Whig agitation, faction is still disagree-
able to the English mind ; and who cannot see it
in the attempt to embarrass a ministry which comes
into power, to save the country from t he anomalous
position of having no government at all? Already
temperate men are looking on Mr. COBDEN as
playing a self-interested part. His factious attempt

to convulse the country will have no general effect.
The Times, an excellent barometer of public opi-
nion, has deserted him, and plainly insinuates that
he thinks more of himself than of his country. As
far as their proceedings have at present gone, the
Anti-Corn Law League have, in Parliament at
least, been doing service to the administration of
the Earl of DERBY. At one time they had no
other reproach than that of being anxious to found
and form a new party in politics. Now they have
identified themselves with a defunct party, and an
un-English factiousness of conduct.