The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-11-08 00:00:00

their own hands. (3) Promising Results : consisting;

first, of seats already conservative, but now, by the recent
gains made secure; and, secondly, of new seats gained,
amounting in the whole to SIXTY or SEVENTY; and
the writer confidently anticipates a gain of ten more :
giving Sir Robert Peel in the House of Commons a
working majority of 150.
The approaching overthrow of Ministers thus seems
to be inevitable, and all classes of men appear now to
be convinced of it. We can state, on the best autho-
rity, that one of their most influential supporters in
the House of Commons only last week declared his
belief that the beginning of next Session would be the
period of their political existence. There are other
signs of the times. The rats are beginning to run
from the falling house. Sir Robert Mounsey Rolfe—
whom perhaps few of our fellow-townsmen have ever
heard of, but who, nevertheless, has been the Queen's
Solicitor-General for the last four years—is about to
take refuge, if he has not already done so, on the
Bench. He well knows that a seat in the Common
Pleas is a better berth just now than any, even that on
the Woolsack, depending upon the continuance of the
Melbourne Cabinet, and therefore he claims his privi-
lege of seizing the vacant Judgeship, and is devoutly
thankful for so opportune a Godsend. Let us again
borrow from the article in Fraser, and say with him
that "on the whole we close the review of the Regis-
tration of 1839 with a feeling of certainty not hastily
taken up—that on no occasion since the passing of the
Reform Bill have the Whigs and Radicals so strenu-
ously exerted themselves, and that on no occasion have
they been so entirely and conclusively beaten."

Our readers will bear us witness that we have long
since warned them of the dangers to be apprehended
from the secret and traitorous organization of the
Chartists. At the time that we expressed our fears
that "blood would be shed" before the insurrection-
ary movements of these rebels would be put an end
to, several of our Radical contemporaries affected to
treat the matter lightly, and indulged in much plea-
santry at the expense of those whose alarms were ex-
cited. They laughed at the idea of any thing like
danger, and advised the Government to let the Char-
fists alone. Acting upon this advice the Ministers
permitted the rebellious designs of these fanatics to be
ripened and matured. Nay, so far did they carry
their lax and reckless policy, that Lord John Russell,
in this very town, made it a matter of boast that the

executive did not interfere with the Chartists, but that
he and his colleagues had come to the determination
not to interpose the strong arm of the law in vindica-
tion of the liberties of Englishmen. Blind and infa-
tuated Statesmen ! The outbreak in Birmingham
proved how utterly unprepared the Government was
to preserve the peace of the country. But the still
more alarming insurrection in South Wales, the me-
lancholy particulars of which we furnish this day,
afford's-the strongest evidence possible in proof of the
utter incapacity, or the culpable indisposition of the
Whig Administration to protect her Majesty's subjects
from plunder and assassination. One might have
thought that the occurrences at Birmingham would
have taught a lesson of prudence to Ministers—that
_ _

they would have caused them to have recourse to some
effectual precautionary measures—that Ministers would
have adopted some scheme for intimidating the Char-
tists into obedience. So far from this being the case, the
inhabitants of South Wales have been left almost de-
fenceless. They have been given up, as far as Govern-
ment is concerned, as a prey to the savage hordes of
rebels who have been permitted for the last twelve
months to arm themselves with impunity for the work
of destruction.

The insurrection in Monmouthshire is not the result

of any sudden impulse of popular phrensy. The
Chartists have been long preparing for their bloody
assault upon the peaceable inhabitants of the district.
They have held out threats, in no obscure or equivocal
language, that they would soon unfurl the flag of con-
fiscation and massacre. They have even mentioned
the very day on which they would commence their
atrocities. All this has .been going on under the very
nose of Lord Normanby. If he pays any attention to
the communications of those charged with the preser-
vation of the public peace, he must be aware that the
Chartist movement in Monmouthshire was a precon-
certed affair. Knowing these things—knowing the
imminent danger which threatened that part of her
Majesty's dominions, did he take any pains to avert
the calamity ? Let the blood which has been shed in
the streets of Newport furnish the melancholy reply.
It was only the other day that her Majesty's Soli-
citor-General, while defending the Ministerial policy,
ridiculed the charge brought against government of
want of energy, in not having adopted more rigorous
measures to put down the Chartists. He said that it
was quite a mistake to suppose that ministers had not
all along been most anxious on that matter, or that they
had for a moment allowed their attention to be diverted
from it. He asserted that Lord John Russell had
watched their proceedings with the utmost anxiety,
(witness his speech in the Town Hall !) and was de-
terred from adopting what might he termed more
rigorous measures, " by the assurance that he felt that
the thing would wear itself out." After making these
assertions he triumphantly demands " Was he right, or
was he not ? Where are the Chartists now ?" In the
same vain-glorious strain he exclaims, in answer to the
question,—" They might be considered as extinct."
Silly and premature boast ! Foolish, short-sighted
Ministers I Where is their vaunted " energy ?" Who

have committed the " mistake ?" What has been the
result of Lord John Russell's intense " anxiety in
matter ?" Where is the " assurance that the thing
would wear itself out ?" 'We echo the question—
" Where are the Chartists now ?" Are they " ex-
tinct ?" No ! They are in arms ! Profiting by the,
apathy of the Government, they have set the law at
defiance—coerced the loyal and well-disposed into re-
bellion—marched in tens of thousands to plunder and
devastate—and attacked in open battle the forces
of Her Majesty. Such is the fruit of Whig misrule !
Such are the ultimate workings of the principle of
" reform !" Such the consequences which the Whigs
have brought upon the country by the encouragement
which they have given to revolutionary doctrines !
Are these despicable panderers to treason to continue
much longer to insult those whom they have misruled.
Sure we are that the simultaneous voice of loyal Eng-
lishmen will be—" Out with the rascally crew."

Liberalism and violence are convertible terms. We
never can think of a modern "reformer" without in-
voluntarily associating with the name every thing that
is mean, despicable, and tyrannical. " Base, bloody,
and brutal 'Whigs," ims a truthful exclamation, though
it fell from the foul lips of one of the greatest liars in
existence. The liberal faction in this town'seem de-
termined to merit the euphonious appellation which
O'Connell formerly bestowed upon his presentprotegls.
A letter which will be found in another column will
show the gross intimidation practised in Everton and
Kirkdale Ward, on the occasion of the late election.
The proceedings against which our correspondent most
justly inveighs are quite characteristic of the party-by
whom they were adopted. The Liberals of Kirkdale
are not one whit better than the Chartists; they only
want the spunk to carry out their principles. But
never mind ; let them have plenty of rope. They will
soon commit political suicide. The putrifying carcase
of liberalism shall soon be honoured with the funeral
obsequies of a felo de se.