The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-12-13 00:00:00

In another column will be found an article from the
Dublin Evening Mail, commenting upon the base insi-
nuations in which several of the " enormous lying".
Radical journals have indulged against the Rev. Hugh.
M'Neile. The plain and palpable meaning of the lan-
guage which he emplOyed in his speech at Whitchurch:
is so obvious, that nothing but the most consummate
villany could render it a ground for the charge of trea-
son. We are utterly disgusted with the unprincipled,
dishonest, .and diabolically malignant lies and Slanders
of the Whig-Radical press throughout the country.
Their utter and contemptuous disregard Of truth
their flagrant violations of every principle of decency
and fair play—their irrepressible propensity to distdrt
facts—their indomitable hatred of everything bearing
the semblance of 'political morality—justify us in
saying that the time is not far distant when the most
outrageous doctrines of Chartism and Socialism will
find prompt and energetic advocates in the Radical
papers. We are only astonished that any of these de-
graded panderers to vice, and pestilent promoters of
civil anarchy, should be tolerated in any decent society.
There are very few radical journals in the country that
ought not to have inscribed on their title page the de-
signation "BRAZEN-FACED LIAR."

Mr. Alderman Earle (when will the once honourable
title prefixed to his name be purified from the
foul stigma which is now attached to it ?) was
never remarkable either in the old Council or new
for choice of language, but since his unceremonious
dismissal by his constitutents from the representation
of Abercromby Ward, in the Council, and his subse-
quent election as Alderman, for which distinction
according to the prevailing fashion, he was then duly
qualified, he has scarcely ever opened his mouth with-
out uttering such a string or rather volley or low vul-
garisms as scarcely becomes even an Alderman, certainly
they would not a warehouse porter. Indeed to such a
pitch has he carried this practice of fate, which he
proudly imagines to be the essence of wit and humour,
and vainly imagines that the laugh which succeeds is
with, rather than.at him, that the Liverpool Albion,
than which, no paper has sung his praises as loud and
as long as it conscientiously could, thus expresses it-
self in calling him to account :

" In his private seat, if he cannot affect case, and
he seems a restless spirit, let him assume dignity. He
is an an Alderman for some better purpose than to
bandy sarcasms, [!] let off primitive jokes, [!!] or utter
coarse, old-fashioned proverbs. [! !!] We might admi-
nister much grave and just rebuke on this subject
&c. &c."

Pretty severe this upon their pet Alderman, but not
half so severe as his deserts. Now it must he known
to our readers that ever since Mr. Earle's defeat in
Abercromby Ward, and pitchforking into the Council
he has never allowed any opportunity to pass of show-
ing his sense of the indignity shown him by his con-
stituents, but in every thing relating to Abercromby
Ward has exhibited a soreness, which we care not how
long it continues. For this reason, knowing that the
gentleman who succeeded him as Councillor for the
Ward, was one of the Treasurers to "the Liverpool
Collegiate Institution," he could not resist the oppor-
tunity of " letting off a few primitive jokes, and utter ing
certain coarse; old-fashioned proverbs"—(" we thank
thee Jew, for teaching us that word,") against that
Institution, not indeed with a view of injuring it in the
public estimation, for that indeed he knows to be
beyond his power, but for the purpose of wounding
the feelings of his successful rival, which he was-per-
fectly aware his insulting expressions could not fail to
do. Let not Mr. Earle or his party talk any longer
about " ingenious devices ;" the words which he has
put into the mouths of men infinitely more honourable
or respectable than he was, aye, even before he was
made an Alderman, will stamp eternal disgrace upon
him and his party. We shall not quote them here, as
they may be seen in our report of the Council pro-
ceedings, and the respectable Dissenters of whom he
has dared to speak in terms of such opprobrium, will,
we have no doubt, remember those words at the proper
time. Nor did Mr. Earle stop here. With a view of
bringing the Clergy into contempt, according to his
constant habit, notwithstanding his lip-protestations
of regard and veneration for that Church of which he
professes himself a member, he" first
.misquotes a
passage from the report of the Church of England
School Society to prove that the Clergy are now acting,
with respecttn the.Opliegiatelmtieution,,diametrica4
opposite to what they professed in 1827: he first Lays
down these false premises, and then triumphantly pro-
ceeds to demolish his opponents upon them. Profound
logician ! How stands the case In 1837 the Clergy
published a report in which they truly say, " that the
national religion, according to the Liturgy and Cate-
chism, provided by the national Church, should be the
foundation of the•national education." At the period
when this report was published, the Clergy had for
some time worked their schools, therefore the report
had a retrospective as well as a prospective bearing.
If, then, the Clergy had intended that the words " ac-
cording to the Liturgy
.and Catechism" should imply
the teaching of the actual words contained in the
Liturgy and Catechism, both the Liturgy and Cate-
chism would have been so taught prior and posterior
to the issuing of the report, which'so far as the Liturgy
is concerned has not been the case. Under these cir-
cumstances it must be undeniably clear to those who
are not blind, that 'the words so outrageouly misquoted
by Mr. Earle were simply intended by the Clergy as a
declaration of the principle. according to which they
were conducting their schools, and were employed in
the same sense in which we say that the Church ser-
vice is conducted, according to the articles of the
Church of England.
But enough of this subject. Mr. Earle was so
roughly handled by Mr. Gladstone, that he was glad
to sneak off with his tail between his legs (and Mr.
Earle cannot find fault with the simile, since he in-
formed us himself that he was an animal of the cur
species), although at least one-half of his unspoken
manuscript remained in his hand; and we venture to
predict that it will be long ere he again broaches the
subject in the Council—when Mr. Gladstone is pre-
sent. Mr. Bushell, besides, whose arguments always
make a powerful impression upon the Council, alike
from their soundness as from the elegant and inoffen-
sive style in which they are couched, thinking that
Mr. Gladstone had not sufficiently demolished his
opponent, made a few of the smartest hits at him
which we have ever heard delivered in the Council.
Poor Mr. Earle we really pitied him : for, as he sat
writhing under the torments. which Mr. Bushell's
words inflicted upon him, he was obliged to listen
to the involuntary exclamations which Mr. Henry
Holmes, who sat next to him, was pouring into his
ear during Mr: Bushell's speech,—such as, ", Is n't he
a gentlemanly man ?"—" That 's well said, is n't it ?"
and a number Of other such sayings, which, whilst
they testified the speaker's sense of the abilities of
Mr. Bushell, only served to heap coals of fire upon
the head of Mr. Earle. :Whilst Mr. Bushell was
speaking, so great was the attention paid him, that a
.pin might have been heard to fall, had such an event
taken place. After he had done, he received the in-
voluntary praise even of Mr. Rathbone, which, for
once, we considered to be well bestowed. So impor-
tant do we consider the conclusion of Mr. Bushell's
speech to a just appreciation of the true nature and
objects of the Collegiate Institution, that we cannot
refrain from giving it insertion here. He says :
" With regard to the Collegiate Institution, to which
he was happy to say he was a subscriber, he was one
of those who, so far as the Catechism was concerned,
cared nothing, if the Bible, which was the foundation
of that Catechism, and the basis upon which that
beautiful superstructure had been raised, were put
into the hands of the children with the comments of
their teachers. He cared not, provided this were
done, if the Catechism—which, he repeated, was a
superstructure
.raised on the Bible—Were done away
with altogether.. With regard to Mr. Earle's charge
of fishing and bobbing for Wesleyans and Presbyte-
rians, he delighted that they were so fished and
bobbed' for, inasmuch as the time was come when the
Church needed all the aid and assistance she could
gather from without. He would beckon towards the
Church those who, were friendly to her, by making
moderate concessions ; bearing in mind, at the same
time, that the great principles of our religion should
never be lost sight of. If, by giving up some minor
points, we could bring support to the Church, he
thought the time' was come when we should not refuse

From our report of the Council proceedings of