The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-06-21 00:00:00

me-honoured institutions under

,ly Conservat

?hid' we have so signally flourished,

pretended reform,
is simply alteration, is an outrage upon our long.
cherished convictions. Indeed every honest man
is at heart a Conservative, whatever may be his
professions ; and he does but delude himself by
indulging in hopes the realisation of which is above
his comprehension, who believes for one instant
that any advantage can be obtained from what is
called Liberal policy. The history of the last
twenty-five years will afford abundant testimony to
this truth, for it would be difficult to point to one
substantial benefit or important reform which has

vhich,

ve—con-

and every
cal hands,

n Whig-Rad

not emanated from a Conservative Ministry. It is,
however, to the credit of this country that the last
change of Ministry was not effected through the
votes of English Representatives, but by the
traitorous combination of the Irish Brigade, who
first sold their country, and then discovered that
they had sold themselves.

THE UNITED MINISTRY.

THE division on the motion for the introduction
of the Ballot, has afforded us an instructive insight
into the unity which exists in the present vaunted
coalition Ministry, which was to combine the scat-
tered elements of party, and show to an admiring
public how patriotism could reconcile minor dif-
ferences, and make men of one mind for their
country's good. There was a time when it was an
indispensable condition of accepting office, that
every member of the Government should vote with
his chief upon all questions in which the Govern-
ment took part ; and we cannot forget the humble
apology which Mr. HUSKISSON made to the Duke
of WELLINGTON for an adverse vote, which he
attributed to a mistake, when the latter replied in
his curt way :—" It is no mistake, it can be no
mistake, and it shall be no mistake ;" and de-
manded his immediate resignation. But now, while
we have a Ministry, we are without a Government ;
for it would be idle to apply such a term to a set

of men, the nominal head of whom is without
control over its members. In the minority who
voted for the introduction of the Ballot, we find
the names of a member of the Cabinet, the two
principal Crown lawyers the ATTORNEY and
SOLICITOR-GENERAL, the SOLICITOR-GENERAL
for IRELAND, and four other inferior Ministers;
while in the majority against the motion, we find
-the names of the LEADER OF THE HOUSE OF CO5l-

NIONS, the CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER,
the HOME SECRETARY, the PRESIDENT or THE
BOARD OF CONTROL, and other subordinates.
Here is a pleasant split in the coalition upon a
question of vital importance, and a specimen given
us of the kind of legislation we may anticipate
whenever the Ministryseriously set about concocting
a new -Reform Bill. It is a kind of indefinite post-
ponement of doing anything, for it will be quite
time enough for Parliament to he consulted when
the Ministers have been able to agree among them-
selves,— an event which appears to be beyond the
bounds of probability, when upon one of the
points of the Charter we find them dividing by
fifteen to eight. There is an old saying, that "when
rogues fall out, honest men come by their own,"
and with this hope we may congratulate our readers
upon the present cheering prospects ; but we may
remark that the late division affords in itself one of
the strongest arguments in favour of the Ballot,
for could the Ministry have availed themselves of
the privilege of secret voting, they might have been
spared from the humiliating exposure of their own

divisions.

INSPECTION OF NUNNERIES.
Tem Bill which has been introduced into the
House of Commons for effecting a legal inspection
of Conventual Establishments has created quite a
furor of excitement among the priests of Rome,
and no means are left unspared to provoke their
dupes into an agitation against it. In this they
are by no means careful as to the truth of their
assertions, for the wildest falsehoods are invented
in order to stimulate an opposition to the Bill,
which, without such aid, might be too lukewarm
to be worthy of attention. The people are told
that the measure before the House authorises the
most outrageous intrusions upon the privacy of
females in private houses, and they are advised to
resist the law by throwing such intruders out of
window; and all this is uttered with such a
semblance of honest indignation, that it is difficult
for the poor deluded creatures, who constitute the
flocks of Romish priests, to believe that the whole
is an ingenious draught upon their credulity. We
can hardly, therefore, be surprised at the number
of petitions from Ireland against the Bill, although
we feel convinced that the greater portion of those
who have .signed them would willingly concur in
the chief object endeavoured to be effected. The
existence of Nunneries under Romanist influence
in this country is a disgrace to the age, and
practically gives the lie to our boast of personal
liberty. If any Minister were seriously to propose
a suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, he would
be met by a demand for his impeachment; and
should the vilest wretch that ever crawled the earth
be restrained from his vicious courses without due
form of law, we should hear many an indignant
remonstrance and enthusiastic rhapsody about
British freedom. But in the face of all this jealous
regard for personal liberty, young and inexperienced
females, whose highly wrought imaginations have
rendered them easy victims of designing priests,
are immured in prison-houses under the name of
Nunneries, debarred from all resort or appeal to
relatives or friends, under the absurd plea of their
having voluntarily devoted themselves to Heaven ;
and yet we are told that the law is powerless to
rescue them from these charnel-houses of the living,
because it tamely succumbs to a pretended authority
for which there is no warrant, either human or
Divine. It is an axiom of English law, that for every
wrong there is a remedy, but those of Nuns were
beyond redress, and all that is proposed by the
present Bill is to appoint Inspectors under the
authority of the LORD CHANCELLOR, who, in
cases where reasonable suspicion may exist of
improper detention, may make an investigation
into the circumstances, and put the law in force in
order to obtain redress, A milder course, to be in
any way effectual, could hardly be devised; and
yet, because it promises to expose some of those
proceejings which Romish priests are so anxious
to keep from the public eye, from a conscious-
ness of their enormity, this hubbub is raised, the
grossest misrepresentations of the measure are
circulated, and a furious outcry made about this
alleged outrage upon religious liberty. The very
falsehood of the charge is the clearest proof of its
utter want of foundation, and the only real fault to
be found with the Bill is that it does not go far
enough. It should have at once declared all such
places illegal; but in its mildness we look
for its success; and as the first reading was
carried in the House of Commons by a majority

against the votes and influence of the Ministers, we
latter will see the folly of standing
out further against public opinion, and allow the
Bill to pass through its remaining stages. The
second reading is fixed for to-morrow (Wednesday),
and the members who voted in its favour on the
first division will not be doing their duty unless
they attend in their places and secure its progress.
Their opponents have not the idle plea of its being
hi-Inciple of tolerations which
me of them are so anxious to maintain, for all
ls Purposely omitted

trust that the

any infringement of the

reference to religious teac