The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-11-18 00:00:00

Nov. L! 1830-

plant of gigantic stature was pruraised;, but England is
nut etay Libanus of infidelity and misgoveintnent suf-
ficiently fertile to sustain the cedar of rebellion. Per-
haps ainotg those who hare most zealously prumoted

innovation under the guise and habit of refonn, there
are some who have been prompted by the best intentions;
as infidelity itself has had partisans that were sincere.
But the disease of the country was not understood by ita
political physicians ; and hence they have been applying

remedies that have only occasioned violent exacerbations,
but no relief—have added to the fever of discontent

without quieting one symptom of the disorder. To the,
bloated carcass of dropsied radicalism they have freely
ministered potations, in order to abate its raging.thitst

under which treatment the disease has become more ag7

gravated, and now presents any thing but a favourable
prognosis, except it be commit ed to time and rest

under the kind care of conservatism.

Look at the

writhings of Sir John Campbell and Mr. Grisburne—two
desperate paroxysms which, like physical diseases pre-

ceding diSsolution, were marked by extreme fatuity of
mind. Surely reform has had a trial beyond the appro-
bation of prudence, and in the meantime the main ques-
tions of public policy have been forgotten. What has
been done respecting our commerce )—our complicated
international compact with other countries ? S\ hat re-
gard has been paid to the policy pursuod, and nosy
pursuing, by Russia ? What of our opening and ex-
panding views in Turkey ? What even with regard to
France---a country capable of being seen ft urn our shores,
though neglected in our councils ? All, all are lust, or
absorbed in the party cry of reform ! The merchant,
whose eye should range over the whole. habitable world—
who should study the peculiar wants of all nations—be

conversant with. the manufactures and productions of
every section 'of the earth—intimately acquainted with
the manners of all people—with the tiscal laws and cora-

mercial customs of every island and every port into which
Itisi.vessel can entor—now runs from shop to shop to

portune a vote for' a to n councillor, or, quitting his
counting-house and his ledger, runs.to make a speech at
a municipal committee, whete, after all, like the Ghoet
in Hamlet, " he speaks, but says nothing 3" or, perhaps,
instead of corresponding with' he fourAuarters of the
globe, he pens a " motion", about the scite of :a spot to
receive the gatherings of a scavenger. We do nut wish
to throw constitutional questions into the back ground,
nor to narrow the exercise of legitimate rights. But we

do not want to see the political picture .daubed all over
with reform, and then be told that all good policy lies

concealed beneath it ; as the painter, desired to represent

he destruction of Pharos!) and his host, covered the

canvas red, and 'added that the Egyptians were all buried
under it. We do most ardently desire that this enlight-
ened town may speedily return from its political aberra-
tions, and assume that high mercantile and intelligent
character it once sustained—a town whose " habituns
sont les plus fameux marehandsqu it y ait dans l'uni-

vers," in which " tousles citoy ens s'appliquent au com-
metce, et leurs grandes richesses ne les degoatent jatriLis
do travail necessaire poor les augmenter ;" and would
that we could add with truth that high and honourable
commendation given to the citizens of Tyre---" Nous
n'y voicons point comine dans les villes de la Gieca
des homilies orsif et curieux qui vont cbercher des
nouvelles." Though we diff.r, politically, even upon
fundamental questions, from many of the most respecta-
ble members of our town, and in this point we re-
cede from each like similar pules of the magnet, yet,
in the more delicate and personal questions of social and
commercial interest, we hope to resemble those poles
which ever seek each other, and adhere together by a
law of nature, never to be broken by the clamour or the
zeal of party. We, therefore, call upon the intelligence
of Liverpool, and, if our voice should be heard further,
we call upon every one connected with the prosperity of -
trade (using that term in its most comprehensive accepta-
tion) to unite their energies to promote the common ins
terests of commercial Britain. And, no longer to imitate •
the madman, win, first set his house on fire, and then
rushed into the midst of the flames, nut to secure his
parchments or his plate, but to save E.onte fantastic,-article
of furniture that decorated his rooms. Let a vigilant
eye be cast on the proceedings of Russia: -Whilst we
are tearing out the very entrails of England with civil
diseyrd, she is coolly prosecuting the means .or national.
aggrandisenient. She watches the moments of our po-
litical slumbers, and, craftily, adis to her"tariff" the •
expressiv e word " prohibited " against articles of. British •
manufacture—and when we wake, after the disturbed
'dream of reform, not refreshed but exhausted, we find
that we have been neglecting our, best interests—that
we haVe been put suing a political phantom at home, un-
til we have lust onr commeiciai influence abroad. There
is nothing of which we can complain- in, this policrof
Russia. She is guided by that principle which 'governs-.
the world—self-interestand if we arenegligentarf our
own, " the fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves; that ,
we are underlings." There seems to be, at this moment,
an extraordinary comprehensiveness of view, in the coun-
cils of this northern aspirant. She evinces ahat.perie-
trating sagacity which accompanies the exercise. of S!as.
large discourse, looking before ; " and by well-arranged,
provisions and accurately calculated anticipations, lays
the foundation of her future greatness; whilst every. day,
adds consummation to some part of her plan. Turkey
is just without her grasp. The Russian eagle has more
than once opened her talons to seize the prey-;--but the fit
season is not arrived. She will first, either flume
self with a stronger pinion, or cut off the supply of some,
nourishment from her victim, before she ventures to
pounce upon it. On all this we look in unimpassioned
unconcernedness. What medical men affirm of physical
disease, seems equally true of mental excitement—two,
violent actions cannot simultaneously exist in the body
—and we are labouring under the paroxysm of reform—
we behold these designs of Russia with as much indiffer-
ence as if there were no involution of our interests in
them. " What's Hecuba to hit», or be to Hecuba? " is
the language of silent commercial Britain. We, we are-
occupied about questions, which demonstration itself can
prove (and, if spared, we will shortly undertake the de-
monstration) to be incapable, however solved, to met
liorate, in any sensible degree, the condition of England
even if all that is asked by the maddest reformer,
and that ten times multiplied, were granted to him. It is
a most unhappy circumstance, as repugnant to common
sense, as it is opposed to just principle, that political zeal
should be converted into a kind of leaven to -throw the
whole of the social, the commercial, and the- political
mass of society into a destructive fermentation, which, if
continued, threatens to evolve a spirit that will Kove the
cause of the common ruin of ail. It has already greatly
paralyzed the energies of our country—converted the ex-
change and rialtos of our land into arenar of civil discord.
We know, experimentally, what were the first accompani-
ments of this pernicious rage for reform, for we have
heard the note of expectation sounding at. its.highest
pitch, whilst the bill proclaiming the fate of-England was
in its progress through Parliament. - We have seen con-
gregated multitudeS waiting with anxiety the arrival of
the mail, as if to hear the announcement of renewed
" saturnia regni :" golden days, unknown-to toil ;,and
plenty, ample as their wants, about to return--s-whilst
one, with stronger lungs than his fellows, has climbed the
lamp-post, at night, to proclaim the latest piece of intel-
ligence. We have seen the insolence of unbridled hers,
and the reckless profligacy of anticipated independence:
which flattering, delusive reform inspired. And we have
seen, too, this restless multitude " embrace the cloud "
-hate observed the violence of political intoxication
succeeded by sober reason—and the same men, who, were
mad before the birth of reform, become gradually more
calm, when they beheld the first movements of that " ,rno4-
strum horrendurn," the distorted changling of their dis-
turbed imagination. We now, happily,rsee, in the just
words of a correct and elegant writer, "what allange
.
in public feeling have supervened in five short years.
Then it was almost rashness to avow conservativevinci-
p •
le now we are surprised when we meet a mairai.Vedu-
s
cation who disputes them. Then, and fur:time,
vuung men were almost universally liberal;; now,
they tremble to attack
they area zealously conservative.
under
Theo the Choreh kitemed.
at the mercy of her enemies; now it
Theis the Church in Ireland, upon which
God, we must chiefly rely to extitpate popery, was