The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-08-30 00:00:00

TO THE RIGHT HON. THE LORD MAYOR; THE
MEMBERS-OF THE CORPORATION, THE FREE-
MEN OF THE CITY OF DUBLIN, AND PROTEST-
ANTS IN GENERAL.

LETTER I.
My Lord Mayor and Brethren,—Our ancient corporation
is still spared to us. It is gratifying to see from the public
papers that one or more of your body has spoken of this as
providential. It would be ludicrous and contemptible to
talk of it in such terms, if they were designed to imply any
great excellence or peculiar practical utility in the body as it
now exists. The language derives its correctness from the
use that may be made of the Protestant corporations, and
will be fully justified, if, laying aside paltry views, you can
nobly determine to do your duty to your country.
I believe that the salvation of the kingdom is, under God,
placed in your power—under the existing system its over-
throw is inevitable.
Mr. O'Connell is a wise man in his generation. His lan-
guage was, " give me the corporations, and I will get all the
rest ;" and he was right. The rejection of the last bill could
not have been his act ; to suppose it was to reproach his
sagacity.
Popery is the religion of human nature.
The temptation to Popery is as great as the temptation to
sin.

The instrumentality of such corporations as the last bill
would have given, might have been made to draw all that is
corrupt in the Protestant Church to the side of Popery, and
to marshal it in formidable array against truth, liberty, and
the constitution. We have been spared the terrific result.
Now, the corporations may be made as potent for good as
they might have been for evil. If an able enemy might have
used them to destroy the empire they may be used to save it.
I would not utter a syllable to avert either their abolition
or their transfer, if I did not see that they formed an integral
part of our constitutional system—a great stone in an arch—
the loss of which would loosen every part of the structure.
It is ordinarily the excess of evil which works its cure.
I do not hesitate to say that abolition would be worse than
transfer—either would leave the Protestants of Ireland, so
far forth, powerless. But while abolition would engender
sloth, transfer would kindle indignation. No, if we are to
lose our Protestant corporations let us have downright Popish
ones—if the Lord be God, follow him—if Baal, then follow
him—but let us not halt between two opinions.
I, as a very humble member of your body, take the liberty
of writing to you, to submit to you views, in my mind most
important, as to your position, and theline of conduct which
we should adopt.
I feel emboldened in writing to you, from a recollection of
the decided stand which some time since you were induced
to take for the preservation of your ancient rights. I allude,
of course, to the memorable exertions which took place last
spring, terminating in the meeting at the Great Room of the
Mansion House. At that time you rallied round you all the
sound Protestants of Ireland, you originated a right feeling,
you kindled a good hope, in every right-minded man. And
why? because you stood Upon the immoveable foundation of
principle, and made your watchword " Protestant Ascend-
ancy." You made the question of Irish Municipal Reform
appear to be really what it is, "essentially a religious one."
You declared that you were anxious to preserve the existing
religious principle of our corporations as a means of " Pro-
testantising Ireland on Scriptural principles." And further,
that it was because the proposed corporation reform was in-
consistent with this view, and indeed opposed to it, that you
felt yourselves called upon to offer to it the most decided and
strenuous opposition which it was in your power to do."—
(Address of the Corporation to the Protestants of the United
ICingdom.) These were sentiments worthy of your ancient
and loyal body. I must speak the truth and say, that I be-
lieve it was to the stand which you then made, and to the
nature of it, that you owe the existence of your rights at the
present day. Act up to the principles and in the spirit which
then, as I trust, animated us all, and I do not fear incurring
the charge of rashness in saying, that Protestant corporations
in Ireland will last as long as truth itself—Protestant corpo-
rations, but not unreformed ones—in fact, reformed Pro-
testant corporations.
But do you imagine, brethren, that it would be possible to
preserve the exclusive Protestantism of our Irish corpora-
tions, while the doors of the legislature are thrown open to
Papists? Would there be common sense in saying that Ro-
man Catholics might share in the giving of laws to the British
empire, but that it would be dangerous to trust them with
any part in the administration of petty Irish municipalities ?
Who will presume to say, that though they may be legisla-
tors, they must not be Common Councilmen ? The plain
and obvious answer to these interrogatories will at once show
you the purpose at which I aim.
No, brethren, things cannot continue as they are. Did
you ever signify your assent to what has been called Roman
Catholic emancipation ? Did the Protestants of Ireland—did
the Protestants of England ? I trove not. Did not all that
were faithful and wise in the Protestant Church predict gi-
gantic evils from that measure ? and have not those evils been
abundantly realised? No Christian will deny it—it is uni-
versally felt.
It is a notorious fact, that a vast portion, I would say,
the best portion of the British nation is at the present mo-
ment convinced that the bill of 1829 must be repealed, Mind !
not the Reform Bill—no, it is the Reform Bill, which, giving
weight and influence to the Protestantism of Britain, will ef-
fect and perpetuate the repeal of the other godless measure.
That bill must be repealed—l believe it will. Look at the
important Protestant Association, headed by some of the
greatest names in England, embracing multitudes of the
clergy, and tens of thousands of the laity, embodied for the
very purpose of effecting the repeal. Observe petitions in-
creasing daily on the subject, notwithstanding the sneers and
scoffs with which they are received by a party in parliament.
Remember the language of the Earl of Winchilsea the other
day. He plainly declared that he waited but the sanction of
the public opinion, in order to commence in right earnest a
system of conduct that would have for its end the religious
purification of the legislature.
Now, who should raise the standard in this important war-
fare—the standard that would gather round it the invincible
millions of the Church of God? Who? the Protestants of
Great Britain? No; they will gain the victory, but they
will not begin the fight. They are not placed in the fore-
front of the battle ; they do not live under the experience of
the danger. Who, then, should ? I answer, the Protestants
of Ireland—rallied, embodied, led by our ancient and loyal
Protestant corporations, and, above all the rest, by the cor-
poration of Dublin.
Mark, then, brethren, my design in writing to you. You
are justly opposed to the proposed Irish Municipal Corpo-
ration Reform Bill. But to tell you the truth, Ido not
think that you have, by the conduct that you have hitherto
pursued, made your opposition to it appear very reasonable.
It appears rather to have sprung from sectarian prejudice
on your part, than from any comprehensive view of the na-
tional interests. I wish to point out to you, and, through
you, to the nation at large, the true bearing of the question.
To lead you to see that Protestant corporations are only con-
sistent with a Protestant constitution : that it is absurd to
seek for the preservation of those when we patiently submit
to the loss of this. That, in fact, in order to possess what
we have, we must recover what we have lost. I wish to show
you that by seeking all that is required by the exigencies of
the times, the regeneration of the kingdom—the conversion
of Ireland—in one word, the Protestant ascendancy, you will
necessarily preserve and perpetuate our corporations 'as an
item in a great Protestant system ; while, if you struggle for
these alone, you will be acting absurdly, and must necessarily
prove to have acted unsuccessfully. I andress myself to you,
but I confess, I wish to gain the public ear—to work upon
public opinion, in order that they may retrospectively work
on you, and induce you to adopt a line of proceeding which
may produce those results that we all desire to see effected.
It would seem to me that the time on which I address you
is propitious. In the first place, what is called the conser-
vative party in parliament appears to be really brought to a
stand-still. In reference to this particular measure they
seemed pitiably at a loss. It was evident that they did not
dare to look the measure in the face.
Your Mansion-house meeting showed them the true dan-
ger that was involved in the very principle of the bill, and
yet they did not venture to oppose it on principle, partly
because to do so would stultify them on the sore point of
their emancipation policy. Slily enough did Lord Brougham
joke upon the difficulty they were in. " Here," said he,
" is my noble and learned friend, ,Lord Lyndhurst, making
a speech which proves to demonstration that we should not
entertain this bill at all, and yet proposing a vote which must,
in the natural course of things, lead to its adoption." The
conduct of the conservatives in the lower house, always
excepting the glorious minority of 39, together with that
straightforward Englishman, Sir Robert Inglis, Bart., was
still more deplorable : " We do not like the measure, but
we cannot avoid it—needs must when O'Connell drives."
The remedy is with us, brethren. Our sluggishness is the
cause of their indecision. We can give our friends in par-
liament firmness, consistency, power—and we will, .too.
The condition of England is in our favour. It is such as
must needs dispose sober Englishmen to reflect. Who is
there that has sufficient public spirit to feel for the welfare
of the British empire, who must not be pained and grieved
to see the head and heart of it convulsed even temporarily
with political disorder? In such a state of things as this
every citizen is a sufferer, and should feel himself to be so.
As aforesaid, however, we find herein a motive that will lead
to the attentive consideration of important truth, and, if it
please God, to the active adoption of the remedy for crying
evils.
In the third place, I for my part feel, as I trust we all may,
a constant spring of action, in the consideration of the per-
nicious character and degrading influence of the Popish sys-
tem upon our population. The labours of our valued friends,
the Rev. Robert J. M`Ghee, and Doctor O'Sullivan, have
greatly incensed (as they say) the enlightened part of the
British public on this subject. It will be for us to enter into
their labours. They have showed the effect that the preva-
lence of Popery would have upon general liberty, and the set-
tlement of property. No rational man now doubts that it
would subvert the one, and revolutionise the other. I say,
their labours have given a tone to the &dings of thinking
men, which will render the higher orders necessarily abettors
of, and leaders in a great movement against this accursed sys-
tem. If awful dangers to their temporal interests should
move the rich, how should we, humble men, be affected with
the consideration of its ordinary influence upon the mind and
condition of the poor ? We know that the every day worship
of the Papists, their common mass, is a high crime and mis-
demeanour against the Lord God Almighty. What country
is it where Popery prevails, that does not abide under the
curse of God ? Italy, Austria, and its dependencies, fast
bound in misery and iron; Spain and Portugal, with South
America, torn with intestine divisions, in incurable anarchy
and confusion. France and Belgium—states in experiment
—from which we may expect, by every post, intelligence of
some new revolution; and our own unhapply land—
Where man's most loathsome forms of being meet,
The tyrant, and the slave who licks his feet.
What pre-eminence has it above the rest? Liberty in Ire-
land forsooth ! Yes, the liberty which Protestantism affords
Papists, to tear to pieces British institutions. Let that li-
berty be once exercised, to question the gross and abomina-
ble stupidities of Popery, and the unhappy victim will expe-
rience for his temsrity the ban of bell, book, and candle.
Talk of a few infatuated Englishmen being duped so far as to
mistake Tom of Canterbury for the Saviour of the world.
Why, they were wise, rational, philosophic, when contrasted
with the whole nation of the Irish, who assign all the attri-
butes of humanity and divinity itself to dead and lifeless mat-
ter ! The Protestant Irishman, who is not moved by the
contemplation of his countrymen degraded by fell supersti-
tion, and who is not thoroughly convinced that there can be
nothing but misery for Ireland until that superstition is rooted
out of it, ought at once to turn Papist, for he has surely de-
rived but very little benefit from his present principles. How-
ever, on every side there are motives to stir us to a noble
work. Future letters shall detail to you more fully what that
work is, and how it may be accomplished.—Meanwhile, I
remain, my Lord Mayor and Brethren, your most humble
servant in Christ,

T. D. GREGG, A.M.,
Chaplain of the Corporation of Tailors.
Vestry, Free Church, Swift's-alley; Dublin,
August 21, 1839.

Lord and Lady Stanley are now on a visit to the noble
lord's estate in the county of Tipperary.
A white hare, frefuently seen amongst its numerous com-
panions in the parks surrounding Lowther Castle, was ac-
cidentally killed a few days ago by the scythe of a mower.
GRAND MUSICAL TREAT.—Occasion has been taken by
all the musical societies in Manchester, to tender their gra-
tuitous services to Mr. Bishop (as a tribute of respect to his
genius and talent) at a grand concert, which is to take place,
for his benefit, on Tuesday, the 3d of September next, at the
Theatre-Royal. The pit is to be covered over as in the mu-
sical festivals. The attendance is likely to be unprecedented.
There will be, no doubt, a greater muster of local talent than
can be produced in any other town in the kingdom-58 in-
strumental and 108 vocal performers are announced. Mr.
H. R. Bishop conductor, Mr. C. A. Seymour leader.