The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-08-06 00:00:00

The troubles of the House of Commons in the
question of privilege are not yet over. Another cham-
pion has appeared in the lists ; and although somehow
or other he has shewn the white feather, and declined
for the present the combat, we may take his first chal-
lenge as a signal for the attacks which they, by their
assumption of an indefensible right, must be prepared
to repel. On Wednesday night the name of Polack
bid fair to be as famous as that of Stockdale, but he
has proved to be a craven knight, and the House of
Commons triumphs in a resolution, carried by a majo-
rity of 116, wherein they threaten condign punishment
to all or any—plaintiff, attorney, counsel, or judge—
who hereafter shall dare to question their privilege to
possess "a_ monopoly of slander." Although we write
in this strain, we are quite serious in our sorrow that
the Lower House should take steps which we are con-
fident will involve them in infinite embarrassment, and
that before long. They are, by an arbitrary vote, ar-
rogating to themselves a power which the Court of
Queen's Bench, headed by the Chief Justice of Eng-
land, has solemnly decided they do not possess—
against which common sense revolts—and; which the
almost universal feeling out of doors refuses to accord
to them. If they think it essential to the due exercise
of their functions that they should have the liberty of
publishing unquestioned the Repoits of their Com-
mittees, let them create the power by Act of Parlia-
ment, and then the nation will submit ; but do not let
them affirm it as privilege, perplexing us with what
Clarendon calls a " sophistical riddle," and compelling
us to resist " the desperate consequence" which he
says must result from such logic. We have discussed
this matter in a previous article, but we recommend to
the perusal of our readers a very able pamphlet on the
subject, written by Mr. Pickering, of the Inner Tem-
ple ; in which he goes fully into the questions both of
Law and Expediency, and shews that both are opposed
to the claim of the House of Commons. We are sorry
that we have not space to-day to make extracts, but
we shall do so in a subsequent article.

Our facetious friend Joshua Walmsley, Esquire, is
reported to have given utterance to the following wan-
ton and malicious libel upon a large body of his coun-
trymen, his superiors in character and intelligence,
and in everything which can ennoble our nature :
" He did not wish to excite the feelings of the meet-
ing, but it was his firm conviction that their opponents
wished to take from them all their privileges. They
would repeal the Test and Corporation Acts, and the
Catholic Emancipation Act ; but before they could do
that, they would have to walk over their lifeless bo-
dies." If this gentleman had confined his antics and
his mischievous speeches to the rehearsals of his own
chamber, we should not have taken the trouble to have
wasted one word upon him ; but when he chooses to
give public utterance to his opinions, and they fly
abroad on the wings of the.press, as the sentiments of
an aspirant for the office of Mayor of Liverpool,—
when we find him associated with those who have ever
been the foes of public liberty, but who find it conve-
nient and politic just now to assume the cry of liberty,
that they may more easily blind the unsuspecting,—
then his opinions become public property, and we have
a right to deal with them as we think fit.
He asserts that " his opponents" would deprive the
Papists of all their privileges. Does he not know that
a Tory Government first gave the Roman Catholic the
right of voting ?—that a Tory Government repealed
the Test and Corporation Acts ?—and that a Tory
Government passed the Roman Catholic Relief Bill ?
It is very convenient for demagogues to have short
memories, with an abundant stock of impudence. We
do not intend to discuss with Mr. Walmsley the policy
of repealing the Emancipation Bill, because with all
his froth he cannot hold an argument for three conse-
cutive minutes ; but if the Papists know not how to
observe the sacred character of an Oath better than
their representatives in Parliament lead us to believe,
the sooner that bill is repealed, the better for the liber-
ties of Protestant Britain. If this gentleman lived in
the dominions of the Pope, his penny trumpet would
soon be plugged up in the Castle of St. Angelo, if he
ventured to spout his nonsense about liberty and edu-
cation, and all the other nostrums with which his ima-
gination is so inconveniently crammed, and which are
just as consistent with the existence of Popery as a
pair of crutches would be useful to a lobster. Let
him look at the map of Europe, and say where' liberty
exists ? Tn Protestant Bri6aitij ilt.3vrcclen, in Holland,
in Denmark, in the North of Germany, in the Protes-
tant Cantons of Switzerland, and to a certain extent
in the arbitrary monarchies of Prussia and Austria;
because in neither of these is the Pope permitted to
exercise unlimited control. Where are the hotbeds of
misery and vice, of filth and depravity, and where
liberty is just as much known as a snow-storm in
Zahara ? In Italy—and especially (if travellers are to
be credited) in that part of it where the Pope is- a
temporal governor, in Spain, in Portugal, and in the
South of Ireland. And yet this friend and advocate
of civil and religious liberty is found to be the Pope's
utensil—the broom with which his menials are sweep-
ing a clean path to universal dominion " over all the
kings and people of the earth." But in the libellous
assertion that the Tories are desirous of robbing their
Catholic countrymen of their privileges, he has uttered
a piece of gratuitous nonsense. We would not deprive
them of a single right; but, now that they are placed
on a level with Protestants, we would restrain their
attempt at usurping power for a foreign potentate ;
and if we find on trial that their possession of political
power is likely to endanger the liberties of the country,
or injuriously to affect the interests of Protestantism,—
if we find that we cannot bind their representatives by
an oath, or make them loyal subjects of the British
Crown,—then, in defence of liberty, we are bound to
refuse those privileges which cannot be granted with-
out danger to our civil and ecclesiastical institutions.
Let us give this gentleman a word of advice. He
is aiming at the Mayoralty, as a stepping-stone to a
seat in Parliament. We understand he is going to
Wavertree Hall, and we recommend him to keep quiet
a while : his folly may then be forgiven, though his
freaks will not be. forgotten. He will never figure
in History amongst such distinguished characters as
Robespierre, Danton, Billand, Varrennes, and others;
because, although nature has given him an abundance
of activity, she has denied him the ability of those
illustrious demagogues.

Through the kindnesss of Mr. Willmer we have been
favoured with copies of the Halifax (N. S.) Journal to
the 15th ultimo inclusive. They do not contain any
news of importance. The four American fishing ves-
sels, seized and carried into the port of Halifax, for a
violation of the Treaty, had been tried, and two, the
Battelle and Hyder Alley, condemned and ordered to
be sold : the other two were liberated.

A public meeting had been held at Halifax, for the
purpose of considering of a suitable compliment to be
paid to the Hon. Samuel Cunard, for his enterprise
in engaging with the Government to carry, the mails to
and from England by steam-vessels—thus opening to
Nova Scotia the benefits of a steam navigation with
the mother country. Many suggestions were thrown
out as to the nature of the tribute. The general opinion
appeared to centre on a service of plate, a public 'din-
ner, or both.
It is stated that a conference had been held at Port-
land, by several of the Government officials of Maine,
and Mr. Forsyth, Secretary of the United States, when
a "draft of a convention for the purpose of regulating
the proceedings of the boundary commissioners," was
submitted. The terms of the draft seem to have been
considered by the convention as inadmissible, while a
counter proposition was agreed upon, which was con-
sidered would be in accordance with the views 'of
Maine. The pertinacity with which Maine clings to
her construction of the treaty of 1783 would almost
praclude any hope of an amicable adjustinent. The
British public have been made so fully acquainted with
the importance of the territory in dispute, and the jus-
tice of their claim to it, that they can never consent to
relinquish those rights to which they are entitled, both
by the spiritit and letter of the treaty. _

A meeting of merchants, shipowners, and others, had
taken place at Bermuda, to consult upon the propriety
of erecting light-houses' in the islands.
There is no further intelligence of consequence
from Canada.

By the packet ship Westchester, Captain Ferris, which
arrived on Sunday, we have received New Pork papers
to the 13th ultimo inclusive, and private advises to the
day following.