The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-10-04 00:00:00

O'CONNELL AND THE MINISTRY.

The influence which O'Connell and the Popish tail exer-
cise over all the movements of the Melbourne cabinet, has
long been matter of melancholy notoriety. The favour, more -
over, which has been shown to Romanists, within the pre-
cincts of the court, has, for some time past, been watched
with painful interest by loyal Protestants throughout the
empire. To this delicate subject, the Church of England
Quarterly Review alludes in the following terms :
" Almost in defiance of her coronation oath, her Majesty
is surrounded with Romanists, and delights to appear in pub-
lic with them ; and as if the laws of the realm were but as
wax, to be remoulded at pleasure, they have lately been ap-
pointed to most important offices in the state, in absolute
dereliction of the principles and of the condition by which
the House of Brunswick was seated on the throne. Nor
have the members of her Majesty's German family even had
the decency to respect the feelings of the nation among
whom they are guests ; but have presumed from the Sove-
reign's palace to outrage the whole body of Protestants by
going, under the escort of the Earl of Fingall, to mass.' So
if there be any truth in the current report of a matrimonial
alliance with a member of this family (which, in the person of
Leopold, we have already more than sufficiently aggrandised
and enriched), the nation will assuredly have received during
this visit reasons to awaken their apprehensions, and stimu-
late them to a stern counteraction.

" If the Saxe.Coburg clique be papists and as papists felt
bound to attend the mass, they are, on that account, in such
times as the present, most improper inmates of a protestant
Sovereign's palace ; and, in the divided state of the country
on the subject, they acted most injudiciously and most inde-
corously. The influence which this petty family of inferior
royalty has intruded here, has already produced correspond-
ing animadversions, and in case of a foreign war might be
exceedingly dangerous; but we fear, unless protestants en-
ergise, that this influence will reach to the national religion.
Already it is manifest that they have had the indecency to
countenance the papists ; and the natural consequence of
this and other demonstrations in favour of Rome is, and will
be, that the Romanists feel themselves as secure of the royal
support as of that of the burly king of the beggars, the in-
comparably-vile Daniel O'Connell; and that conceiving their
prospect of ecclesiastical dominion to be certain, they will
act as if it were established, at least as far as Jesuitical po-
licy shall dictate."
It is obvious that the Queen is in the hands of selfish and
unprincipled advisers—of men who are utterly indifferent as
to the effect upon the Sovereign's happiness of their despe-
rate machinations. What care these plotters, even if the
Queen should utterly lose the affections of her subjects by
the countenance which she is betrayed into affording to po-
pery ? Her Majesty has the misfortune, at this moment, to
possess whig mlni:ters and popish privy councillors ; should
a popish consort be added to the list, people may be induced
to think, that if such arrangements be harmless now, they
ought scarcely to have been deemed blameworthy in the
time of the Stuarts —Morning Herald.

To THE CONSERVATIVE MEMBERS or THE HOUSE
OF COMMONS-300 IN NUMBER AT THE LEAST.

GENTLEIosiv,--Yon have just passed thiough a fatiguing
session, and it may be somewhat cruel to teaze you during
the recess with public business, but it is necessary that a few
words should be addressed to you concerning a part of your
duty, and that a most important part, which many good and
sound-thinking mew consider you have not done so well as
you might. They who find fault with you for the neglect of
one part of year duty, are still much obliged for what you
did in the matter of national education, where, indeed, but
for the unheard of impudence of the whig government, you
would have saved as from the popish and infidel scheme now
under the management of a committee of the privy council.
Men are not perfect, and we ought not to expect too much from
the best. Every allowance must be made for that fear which
too often hinders even religious men from doing their duty.
Every allowance also must be made for the neglect of duty
consequent upon an undue deference to political leaders. No
man can shut his eyes to the necessity of a good understand-
ing between a great political party and its heads ; but still—
still gentlemen, there is a duty to the religious portion of
your constituents which owns no tie to any man, however
great his t?lente and authority.
Gentlemen, it Is the opinion of a great body of serious
Christians that you have timidly abstained from attacking
the grand and powerful engine that keeps the government
in place, and enables it to undermine the protestant religion
in these kingdoms. You have not done all you could to
oppose popery and papists, and you must know that when
you were elected it was the leading desire of the religious
people of England that you should do ma. Now, the May-
nooth question was waived, for what reason is best known to
the noble lord who proposed to bring it forward ; and when
the money grant to the seminary of vice and falsehood was
before the house, eleven only of your powerful body were at
their posts. It is grunted that the vote was asked for late
in the sessioh, bet of this I am sure that the greatest part of
our 300 conservatives could as well have been in their places
as those gentlemen who voted.
You, gentlemen, may imagine that the grand object of the
conservative party is to get the whigs out and put the tories
in, and that such a desirable consummation cannot be ef-
fected by a vote upon a popish question ,• but you may rely
upon this—that there is both in England and Scotland and
among the protestants of Ireland, a strong and fast ripening
feeling that popery and papists must be discouraged, opposed,
and once more entirely deprived of the moral and political
power a false and sinful liberality has given them—power
which, by the rules of their religion, they must use to over-
throw our protestant institutions. The question now is not
merely between the beggarly principles of whiggery and the
plain English principles of conservatism, but between popery
and the reformed religion.
Twice has our party been defeated in the attempt to govern
the country ; and why, think ye, was this allowed by Him
who overrules the changes of government and orders the af-
fairs of nations and of men for reasons always wise, and
sometimeslobvions to human discernment? Did it never strike
any of you, gentlemen, that it might be the will of God to
teach us by disappointments that we had not shewn our ha-
tred of popery, so as to qualify us in his eyes for holding
power, and that he has kept us in the hands of our enemies
up to this time to see whether or no we will learn the lesson
he wishes to teach us.
I trust I am not rashly attempting to assign a reason for
the continued power and influence of the party that fosters
popery and persecutes the reformed religion whenever and
wherever it has the opportunity ; but lam sure, at least, that
lam not alone in my opinion. Finally, gentlemen, let me
implore you, as expressing the feelings of a large portion of
your constituents, to bend your best energies against popery
in the next session of parliament. I believe that many peti-
tions will be intrusted to you, not only against Maynooth
College, but against the Papist Relief Bill ; and most sin-
cerely do I hope that you will show yourselves worthy of the
high honour conferred upon you by your constituents, not
only by presenting, but by openly, boldly, and, allow me to
add, religiously supporting by your votes the objects of the
petitions.—l have the honour to be, gentlemen, yours faith-
fully,
Sept. 27,)815--"-‘Tht COUNTRY GENTLEMAN.
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