The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-06-07 00:00:00

THEATRE-ROYAL, LIVERPOOL.

The Public is respectfully informed that in consequence of
the unprecedented attraction of Mr. VAN AMBURGH
and his TRAINED ANIMALS recently at this Theatre,
an Engagement has been made with him, on his return
from Dublin, for a limited number of Nights, and he will
appear THIS PRESENT FRIDAY EVENING, and go
through the whole of his extraordinary Performances with
LIONS, TIGERS, LEOPARDS, &c., as represented
One Hundred and Fifteen Nights last season, at the
Theatre-Royal, Drury-lane, and frequently patronized
there by her Majesty.
THIS present FRIDAY, the 7th instant, will be performed
Mr. Knowles' celebrated Play of X:
THE HUNCHBACK.
Master Walter, (the Hunchback,) Mr Stuart ; Lord Tinsel,
Mr. Chaplin ; Sir Thomas Clifford, Mr. Gray ; Modus, Mr.
W. Howard ; Helen, Mrs. Tellet ; Julia, Miss Faucit.
At the end of the Play,
MR. VAN AMBURGH will exhibit his Fearless and Ex-
traordinary Performances with the
LIVING L I O N S,
TIGERS, LEOPARDS, &c.
To conclude with the Melo-Drama called
THE BLIND BOY.
Kalig, Mr. Gray; Edmund, (the Blind Boy,) Mrs. Tellet ;
Oberto, Mr. Vivash ; Molino, Mr. Slaiter ; Elvina, Mrs.
Baker.
The Box-office will be opened daily, when Tickets may be
had, and Places taken, of Mr. PARKER, from Ten until
Three.

Cht 9Llbtrpaol cfPtanbarb.

FRIDAY MORNING, JUNE 7, 1339.

Why should a dissolution of Parliament be in pros-

pect, when all the world knows that the whigs must
inevitably lose by it ? is a question which everybody
asks, and which we therefore, to the best of our hum-
ble ability, will endeavour to solve. And first we must
protest against any one's being surprised because the
notion is paradoxical. The whig budget is stuffed with

paradoxes ; and, if we may use a violent expression,

which the condition of affairs not unnaturally suggests
to us, it would be a paradox if any whiggish measure

should turn out not to be paradoxical. We have seen
an aristocratic whig—the most unpopular race of pOli-
ticians in the empire—forced into power on the shoul-
ders of the people ;—we have seen ultra-democrats de-

sert a cabinet Which rested solely on the semblance of
democratic support, and again rally round the same ca-
binet when it confessed its own destitution of popular
support, and rested all its claims upon royal preroga-
tive and court intrigue ;—we now see this conclave of

soi-disant liberals (by courtesy ycleped a government)
driven to the extremity of despair upon these impor-
tant questions—the suspension of a representative go-

vernment in Jamaica, the prolongation of an official

bureaucracy in Canada, and the entrusting to five of
their own body the expansion and contraction of na-
tional education. Surely all these are wonders, and
must have appeared incomprehensible in')himpler ages,
when Vanes and Marvels had not learned the lip-service
of courtly adulation—when household fribbles and in-
triguing ladies had not dared to imitate the rude lan-
guage of disloyalty. Well but, we fancy our conser-

vative friends will say, all this is very little to the pur-
pose : you are speaking of matters where principle is
involved—we want to be enlightened in a question

where, interest is at stake ; and although we know that

your whig does not care to contradict himself where
his principles only (if he had them) would be compro-
mised, yet we have always observed him to be wise
enough in his own generation, and we will not believe

that he is trifling with any of his sordid interests.
Well then we will endeavour to show why a dissolution
of Parliament may possibly be of no serious disadvan-

tage to the whig. We know, and we know that he
knows it too, the constituencies will do their duty, and
return to the Queen a majority of conservative advisers ;
but then, if the appeal were .made by a conservative
premier, and under a new registration, there can be no
doubt but the result would be infinitely more satisfac-
tory. Now, if the game be really up in the present
parliament, they are wise in their own generation if
they call the next together upon.the least disadvantage-
ous terms ; and it is a maxim of policy well known to
Whigs and jesuits, "si non possis quod velis,—id saltem
velle quod possis."

Again : although our whig incomprehensihles find it
expedient just now to profess the utmost possible iden-
tity of interest and the most perfect sympathy with the
Grotians and (to borrow an expression of Mr. Slick)
the Humans of the Reform Club, yet no one, we ap-
prehend, of any party is quite so simple as to believe
them. Now when they are ejected from power, the
next thing will be to organize a powerful opposition.
Important as it is for the whig leaders to strengthen
themselves against the conservatives, it is of far higher
interest to strengthen themselves in comparison of the
radicals. If they write for Sir Robert Peel to form an
effective cabinet, to lay good and practical measures be-
fore the country, and to conciliate the universal sup-

port of all candid and moderate men, it is not impro-
bable that there may be no whig party left. The con-
test then will be between the conservative and the de-
structive policies—between the maintainer of the mo-
narchy on the one side, and the tooth-and-nail repub-
lican on the other. In this case the whig would be, as
they say in sporting circles, no-where. But if Lord
Melbourne dissolves the Parliament, he goes to the
country on his own issues. The united sections of re-

formers will still hold their separate standards ; but
face to face against their common enemy, the conser-
vative. One will return to Brookes' and the other to
the Reform Club, each exasperated by his recent de-
feat, and prepare to enter into a new alliance, and en-
deavour, upon any terms, again to force his way to
power. The whig will have the court with him, and
the radical must not hope for a pre-audience where pa-
tronage is in prospect; and, if the joint effort prove
successful, must be thankful for the smaller morsels
which the whig has abandoned in disdain. The know-
ledge of this disparity will have aided the whig, as
against the radical cause, in every district where the
choice of the liberal electors has been doubtful, and
will materially influence the balance of parties when

the elected re-assemble in London for the next cam-
paign. If, therefore, the pure (!) whigs are looking far
a-head, and, exasperated by the recent defections of
their democratic friends, have resolved upon a lasting
and deep revenge, there are many reasons why they
should not hesitate about an immediate dissolution.
They will stand on the best terms, as against us, for
which, in the present temper of conservative England,
they can dare to hope ; and they will give their radical
rivals the best bye-blow that circumstances may ever
enable them to administer. The Milesian may then
" take his change" out of his bargain at his convenient
leisure, and chew the cud of bitter fancy over the
thought that an " auld whig is ower far north" even
for a Punic craftsman.

Again : there are political embarrassments which
render it necessary for a party to go through what
Mr. Weller called the 'solvent court. A. ministerial
bankruptcy seems the natural process of a cabinet that
stops payment weekly. Their accounts, whether we
look at home or abroad, or to Ireland or to the colo-
nies, are Flemish accounts. Drafts of constitutions
for colonies in America, or universities in England,
are alike dishonoured : bills are posted : acceptances
of office are tendered, but stubborn constituents an-

swer " no effects."
Lord John Russell has modified his ideas about
Jamaica to meet Sir Robert Peel's former objection,
and is told in compliment for this submission that no
opposition will be offered at the present stage. He has
endeavoured to give his Canadian difficulties leg-bail,
but has significant warning that it will be no go. He
has abandoned his education scheme in the agony of
despair, and under the humiliating consciousness that
defeat and ignominy would have been the rewards of
his perseverance. The Lords' committee meanwhile are
discharging their important duties, and, if the public
ear be not abused, Lord Normanby's policy (like the
Irish gaols) is opened, and matters for serious consi-
deration hereafter are being recorded in legible and
imperishable type. Surely not Prometheus had more
gnawing pains when the untiring vulture tore the cap-
tive's liver—surely a longer catalogue of poignant
griefs never emanated even from Pandora's box—
than those which we have now enumerated, the sweets
and solace of Lord John Russell's ill-gotten and ill-
resumed position.
From all this list of sad perplexities there is but one
hope of deliverance : the only safety of the wretched—
sheer despair. And if a dissolution of Parliament,
however prejudicial to the whigs in other respects,
will enable them to steer clear for the present of these
embarrassments, and so put them once again in pos-
session of their two great strongholds, time and the
chapter of accidents,—and will place them, as we have
already shewn, in the best attainable attitude for run-
ning down the conservative bark at some future junc-
ture, and taking the wind meanwhile from the sails of

their radical allies and rivals,—if these views be sound,
we do not know why the whig ministers should not
close the present session with an appeal to the people.

It is no trifling consideration doubtless in the balance
of this account, that another half year will pass over
their heads, and place and patronage produce their
usual effects. Whether they will re-tinker the cabinet,
by the secession of Lords Melbourne and John Rus-
sell and the elevation of Lords Normanby and Morpeth
to their vacated posts, we will not presume to say.
But lest they should venture to meet the new Parlia-
ment, when it assembles for the despatch of business,
we pray them to give ear to the following very prac-
tical advice, contained in a very pleasant anecdote. A
certain country neighbour, who bored every laird
within a day's distance of his home in a most insuffer-
able manner, and was deaf to every attempt at extrica-
tion made by his reluctant victims, was observed to
give no trouble at all to the late Sir Andrew Agnew ;
and when Sir Andrew was asked to explain the cause
of his own very fortunate exemption, " Hoot, mon I"
he replied, " I jist gave him a gentle hint." And
when they asked what hint could possibly avail with
one on whom the plainest expostulations had proved
wholly ineffectual, " Hoot toot, mon I" Sir Andrew
answered; " I jist told him if he wud na gang oot by
the door, I'd gar him gang oot by the window."

Lord John Russell has abandoned his education
scheme ! After pompously announcing that he would
move for the grant of thirty thousand pounds imme-
diately after the Whitsuntide holydays, he first of all,
under the influence of terror, postponed the considera-
tion of the motion for a fortnight, and, on Tuesday
evening last, under the influence of still stronger feel-
ings of terror, he plainly told the House of Commons,
that he should proceed no further with his measure.
What a humiliating spectacle does Lord John Russell
present to the country ! Instead of boldly acting up to
his principles—instead of performing his promises—
instead of fulfilling his ostentatious threats—he meanly
skulks out of the difficulties which he has created, by
abandoning the scheme just when it was brought to
maturity ! Is this the conduct that a straight-forward,
honest, and conscientious minister would have pur-
sued ? Far from it, indeed ! But who would look for
honesty and plain dealing among such tricksters as the
whigs ? If the fate of the ministry had been dependent
upon the education scheme, an honest ministry would
not have flinched from the battle. But the present
ministers are not honest men—of course politically
speaking—and that makes all the difference in the
world.

There can be no doubt that the multitude of peti-

tions presented against the government educational
scheme has been ostensibly the cause of the abandon-
ment of the measure. When Lord John Russell
claimed a fortnight's grace, he scarcely could have
contemplated that the opposition would have proved
so strong, or else he would have abandoned it in the
first instance. Ho must have calculated upon a move-
ment in its favour. If he expected to see a host of
petitions approving of his scheme, he has been most
wofully disappointed. We only know of one town
that has made any demonstration in favour of the
plan propounded by Lord John Russell, and that is
Manchester, the infidels, Papists, and Socinians of
which place have managed to get up a petition. On
the other hand, there were nearly two hundred petitions
against the scheme presented on Monday evening last
alone. The voice of the country is decidedly against
the measure : but that is not the reason why Lord
John Russell has abandoned it. What does he, or
what do his associates, care about the voice of the
country ? Have they not long since set it at defiance
by continuing in office ? Do they not, in all their pro-
ceedings and measures, habitually and systematically
place themselves in opposition to the people of Eng-

land ? The true reason of Lord John Russell's aban-
donment of his threatened motion is, the certainty that
a call of the House of Commons would have issued in
his defeat. The great majority of the members of that
house are Protestants and Churchmen, and, as such,
not likely to give countenance to the unchristianising
scheme espoused and recommended by the govern-
ment. If Lord John Russell had persevered in his
original intention, he would have found himself in an
absolute minority. Then would have arisen the ne-
cessity for another resignation. Love of office once
more triumphed over love of mischief. Lord John
chose rather to stultify himself than to sacrifice his

salary.
While we most heartily congratulate the country upon
the successful issue of the opposition offered to the ne-
farious designs of the papists and infidels, as developed
in Lord John Russell's education scheme, we would
advise the Protestants of England not to relax in their
hostility to the measure. Let all the petitions now in
course of signature be forwarded for presentation ; and
let them be succeeded by thousands in addition. It is
especially needful, at the present crisis, that the protest-
ant spirit of England should be awakened. We have
a government in strict alliance with the papists, and
prepared to yield to their dictates. Popery is already

enjoying the fruit of its patronage by the ministers of
state. It is multiplying its chapels, schools, colleges,
and nunneries, and its priests are encouraging the
wealthy laymen of its communion to offer a premium
upon every conversion from Protestantism. An alliance
with the state is now openly sought for through the
medium of the new system of education advocated by
Mr. Wyse and his associates. It is therefore high
time that the Protestants of England should be roused
from their apathy.

Sir Hesketh Fleetwood's motion for the extension
of the franchise to the £lO occupiers in counties was
introduced and rejected on Tuesday evening last. It
was expected that this motion would test the sincerity
of Lord John Russell's professions of finality ; and the
issue has been just what we anticipated. With all his
inconsistency, trickery, and tergiversation, we give the
noble member for Stroud credit for sincerity in his ad-
herence to the principle of finality. The hopes of the
radicals have been once more disappointed. They very
charitably thought that Lord John Russell would have
consented to " eat his own words," rather than sacrifice
the friendship and forfeit the support of the ultra-
liberals. For once the radicals have reckoned without
their host, and they now find themselves in the awkward
dilemma of being obliged to support a ministry con-
fessedly opposed to their views, or to "upset the
coach" once more.

The debate of Tuesday night was important, as wel
as instructive. The proposition of Sir Hesketh Fleet
wood was, to confer on the £lO householders in coun
ties the same franchise as is now enjoyed by the £lO
householders in boroughs. In support of this propo-
sition, he urged that it was based on constitutional
principles—that it did not militate against the princi-
ples of the reform bill—and that the intelligence and
respectability of the class on which he wished to confer
the franchise were equal to those of the £lO household-
ers in boroughs. The richest joke in Sir Hesketh
Fleetwood's speech was the assertion that "he regarded
his measure as one of conservative policy."
Lord John Russell, as might have been expected,
opposed this sweeping proposition. The grounds of
his objections to it were various. Having opposed the
introduction of the £5O clause, he could not consist-
ently admit the propriety of extending the franchise to
the £lO householders. He lamented that the £5O
clause had ever been introduced into the bill, though
he did not wish to see electors deprived of their right
to vote under that clause. He urged the late period
of the session as another reason against entertaining
the proposition submitted to the house by Sir Hesketh
Fleetwood. In addition to this objection, which he
considered in itself sufficient, he maintained that the
motion went much further than the reform bill, as it
proposed to give a new right not conferred by that
measure. His objections were not of a temporary
character. He declined giving his radical friends and
supporters any reason to suppose that, if brought for-
ward at another time, the proposition would meet with
the concurrence of government. The proposals con-
tained in O'Connell's letter to the working men of
Birmingham were utterly repudiated by Lord John
Russell, as subversive of the principle of the reform
act, and as involving a new and distinct system of
legislation. We need scarcely say that the wily de-
magogue, in the letter to which we have alluded, has
been seeking to cajole the Birmingham tinkers by
urging them to demand household suffrage, annual
parliaments, and vote by ballot, Against these nos-
trums Lord John Russell strongly inveighed; but he
professed himself to be in favour of the opinions of

those who desired to preserve the principle of the
reform act, amending the details by such corrections
as experience and necessity should suggest. He
thought it might be expedient to make some alteration
n the rate-paying clauses of the act. Beyond this he
:was not prepared to hold out any hopes to his radical
friends, though it was very evident that he wished to
conciliate them. There can be no longer any doubt
of the policy of the ministry as at present constituted.
They are determined to concede as little as possible to
the " whole hog" men. Lord John Russell's speech
was in perfect accordance with that of Lord Melbourne
in the House of Lords, and which ca!led forth the
splendid diatribe of Lord Brougham. What will our
radical contemporaries now say in reference to the
return of Lord Melbourne to office ? Were not their
rejoicings somewhat premature ? What do they think
of the striking language of the Duke of Wellington,
when he advised Lord Melbourne. to " persevere in
the course which he had announced, and to trust to
the good sense of the country for support" ?
Lord John Russell's declaration very naturally
created the greatest alarm among the radicals in the
House of Commons. Mr. Warburton exerted all his
eloquence to induce Lord John to abandon his " fina-

lity." He wished to obtain some pledge that the
ministers should suffer themselves to be " squeezed"
once more by their radical allies. He tried to extort
from them some pledge, however vague and indefinite,
which would justify the radicals in continuing to vote
with the ministers. He wanted something to cheer
the drooping spirits of the liberals, " and then," he
remarked, " instead of our being almost afraid to
meet a general election, and anticipating discomfiture as
we do, we should be ready to confront our constituents,
ay, still readier than the tories are now. But if things
are left in their present state, they will be worse and
worse for the liberals at each succeeding dissolution."
We fully agree with Mr. Warburton that the liberals
are, not almost, but positively afraid of a general elec-
tion.

We also believe that matters will be worse and
worse for the liberals at each succeeding dissolution ;
but we attribute this decline and fall of the liberal
interest to a far different cause from that which was
assigned by Mr. Warburton. We believe that the
country, instead of wanting any further measures of
" progressive reform," such as the liberals advocate,
is quite satisfied with the reforms already obtained.
Instead of too little, we have had too much of this
description of reform. The people of England, so fir
from being dissatisfied with the slow progress of the
chariot wheels of reform, are beginning to complain of
their too rapid motion.
One remark made by Mr. Warburton was certainly
of a very startling character. He said, " the liberals
are the most numerous, wealthy, and influential party"
in the country. Indeed ! if such is the fact, how did
it come to pass that these numerous, wealthy, and in-
fluential persons were so thoroughly beaten at the last
general election ?—and how does Mr. Warburton re-
concile this broad assertion with the mortifying con-
fession that the liberals are afraid to confront their
constituents ?

How truly has Sir Robert Peel's prediction, that he
would eventually have to defend the reform act against
the attacks of its own framers, been fulfilled. On
Tuesday last, and that not for the first or second time,
the right hon. baronet had this duty devolved upon
him. In discharging this duty he maintained that it
was the height of folly for any government to hold out
the vague assurances sought for by Mr. Warburton—
assurances the only effect of which would be to deceive,
mislead, and bewilder the country.
We cannot close these remarks without alluding to

the striking remarks made by Mr. Ward, who said,
that " the vote of that night would draw a line between
the two parties on the ministerial side of the house ;
and should it lead to the fusion-of the opposite leaders
he could see no objection to that. He had seen those
whom he had once been proud to follow merge their
name and influence in the conservative party, and he
doubted not that he should see many more pursue the
same course." Is Mr. Ward going to change sides
himself ?

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

TUESDAY.
SMUGGLING.

Henry Righton, a seaman, late of the ship Leonard Dob-
bin, was placed at the bar charged with having illegally con-
veyed from the above vessel a quantity of foreign manufac-
tured tobacco. A second count in the information charged
the prisoner with aiding and abetting those who illegally un-
shipped the said tobacco.

Mr. Brook, solicitor to the customs at this port, appeared
for the board. Mr. Davenport appeared for the prisoner.
Matthew Moneypenny, a police-officer, stated, that on the
28th of May last, he was on duty at the Victoria Dock.
Shortly before eight o'clock in the evening, he saw a man
carrying a cask on his shoulder. This man was proceeding
out at the gate of the dock, when witness stopped him, and
asked him what he had in the cask. He replied that it was
a parcel which that man, (pointing to the prisoner) had em-
ployed him to carry. The officer took the cask from him,
and ran after the prisoner, who took to his heels. At length,
after a long pursuit, the officer succeeded in catching the
prisoner in Regent-street. He took him to the watch-house,
and there asked him who the cask belonged to. He said it
was his, and he employed the other man to carry it to the
Clarence Dock. He said it contained tobacco which he had
brought"from on board the Leonard Dobbin, in the Water-
loo Dock. The officer examined the cask, and found that it
contained tobacco. It was examined in the presence of the
prisoner. The prisoner was lodged in Bridewell, and the
tobacco given over to the care of the tide-surveyor.
Other witnesses were examined to prove that the tobacco
was foreign manufactured.

Mr. Dit'venport said, the prisoner was led very innocently
into his present trouble. The cask belonged to another per-
son, and he was about to send it, with a coat in it, over to
Ireland. His wife and child were in Ireland, and he was
about to send the coat over to her, that she might enfold the
infant in it to keep it warm. As the person was sending the
cask over he undertook to carry it to the packet, if his coat
might be sent in it.

Mr. Superintendent Tyrrell was called by Mr. Brooke.
He proved that the prisoner confessed to him that he had
purchased the tobacco at New Orleans. The prisoner
informed Mr. Tyrrell of the exact weight of the tobacco,
and remarked that it was very dear in New Orleans.
The prisoner insisted upon having other witnesses called
for the defence. They gave their testimony which was a
further proof of the case for the crown. The captain of the
vessel was called, and he gave the prisoner an excellent cha-
racter.

The prisoner was fined in the penalty Of £lOO. In de-
fault of payment he was to be imprisoned during six months.
The magistrates said, in consequence of the excellent cha-
racter which he had received, they would recommend him
to the favourable consideration of the board.