The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-07-26 00:00:00

WHIG AND RADICAL MAGISTRATES.

(From the Morning Herald.)
Lord John Russell told the House of Commons that
he had raised a notorious dealer in sedition at Bir-
mingham to the magisterial bench " because he was a
man of considerable talent, and likely to be of great
use to the town." The person alluded to had been,
first, a unionist, then a chartist, and finally a delegate
to the north to teach the people of Scotland how to re-
dress their political grievances by the use of pikes,
muskets, and rifles. Of what " us" so fiery a politi-
cian could be among the inflammable people of Bir-
mingham Lord John Russell did not condescend to
tell ; but the real reason why the man was selected for
the commission of the peace so soon after his pike,
rifle, and musket commission, is easily told. He was a
whig. Like other political cheats, he could rail occa-
sionally against her Majesty's ministers, for the pur-
pose of throwing dust in the eyes of his Birmingham
dupes. But still he was a whig; and if he had been
sent to. the House of Commons, instead of being sent
to the " National Convention," he would, no doubt,
have voted that " black was white" for Melbourne and
O'Connell as unblushingly as Mr. Joseph Hume him-
self. With regard to the seltction of local magistrates
under the Municipal Reform Act, Lord John said that,
" the recommendation of the town councils has always
had great weight with the advisers of the crown." Not
always ; for in every case where the tories have had a
majority in a town council, their recommendations have
been rejected, and the Home-office has canvassed the
pot-house politicians of the city or borough, in order
that the magistrates appointed might be of the right
whiggish stamp. Again : " I (said Lord John Rus-
sell) made twenty-three magistrates, many of them be-
ing of tory politics, and several of them whigs."—
" Many," and " several" ! The "many tories" con-
sisted of exactly four, and the " several whigs" of
NINETEEN ! Verily we must have a new dictionary
of the English language for the especial use of Lord
John Russell and his reforming coadjutors.

PHILANTHROPY OF THE " SCOTTISH PILOT"—
VOLUNTARY CONSISTENCY.
(From the London Watchman.)
From the claims of our contemporary (the London
Patriot) to be regarded as an advocate of the cause of
philanthropy, it might have been expected that he
would have raised his voice in deprecation of the colo-
nising plans which have been formed against the rights
and interests of the aboriginies of New Zealand. But
not a word in their behalf, in opposition to those plans,
has ever escaped him. In his last number but one,
however, he has given a long article from the Scottish
Pilot, which strongly advocates the colonization of New
Zealand as a measure w-err" calculated to promote Bri-
tish interests, notwithstanding its avowed inevitable
tendency to ruin the natives. The writer boldly makes
the following admission :—" That the aborigines of the
country will gradually disappear before the encroach-
ments of European settlers, we have no doubt; nor arc
we disposed to whine over such a prospect, as if it were
to be desired that the fairest spot of the earth should re-
main in the possession of savage hordes, instead of be-
ing the abode of civilised and enlightened men." When
we had read thus far, we asked ourselves, what can be
the reason that our philanthropic contemporary should
at length break silence on the subject of New Zealand,
by quoting, in his pages. a writer who thus revels in
the prospect of the extermination of the natives by the
colonists now advancing to seize their lands ? Charity
suggested that he had given this article with the view
of coming out in strong remarks upon it, in a future
number, in behalf of the wretched aborigines who are
thus, without disguise or shame, marked out for de-
struction. But we proceeded, and another scene broke
upon our view. We found the writer indulging in
the pleasing expectation that New Zealand will become
the favoured place where perfect religious equality will
achieve its triumphs. "We trust," he says, " the
light that has been thrown upon this subject by the
affairs of Canada, and the reference made to the eccle-
siastical establishments of the colonies in recent dis-
cussions in Parliament, and in the General Assembly,
showing that no party is satisfied with them, will in-
duce the government to embrace so fair an opportunity
of making an experiment on the principle of absolute
religious freedom. W e consider this a matter in which
it would be well for the " Religious Freedom Society"
to exert any influence it may have with the government
or with the members of the legislature." Here our
charity, we confess, staggered; and the fear took pos-
session of our minds, that this promising opportunity
for establishing perfect religious equality has been a
temptation too strong for the philanthropy of our con-
temporary, and that it has induced him to abandon the
aborigines to their fate, for the golden prize thus held
out. What, are the aborigines to be devoted to de-
struction, hi order that the Religious Equality Society
may have a fair field to carry on its operations ? The
affirmative must be inferred, unless the wicked senti-
ments which we have quoted are promptly repudiated.
From the writers who can embody in words sentiments
so revolting to humanity, and from the newspaper edi-
tors who can lend their pages to give them circulation,
we, however, direct the attention of our readers to the
letter of the missionary Turner, appealing to British
philanthropy to aid in saving the New Zealander? from
the cruel destruction with which they are thus so bare-
facedly threatened.

A premium of from twent to thirty pounds is now freely
given for the £lOO shares of the Hartlepool Docks and
Railway Company, which are by no means abundant in the
143:ka.