The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-02-28 00:00:00

daring, as he has postponed the second reading to
the 24th of next month, four weeks after the time
originally fixed for this ordeal, and may by that
time have discovered the folly of endeavouring to
press it any further.
The danger, however, is too great, the risk too
imminent, to be left to ministerial prudence, or
even the probable course which may be taken by
the House of Commons. The country is called
upon, if they value the blessings they enjoy, to
speak and act for themselves, to make public
opinion heard in unmistakeable tones, and to exer-
cise that pressure from without which must tell
with effect upon the representatives of the people
in the House of Commons. Petitions against the
Bill should be forwarded from every county, every
town, and every parish in the United Kingdom,
and the prayer of them should be urged by those
members who are true to the oath which they have
already taken, and no exertions should be spared
nor means left untried to convince the legislature
that Protestant England will make no farther
concessions to Rome.

We have given in another page a full report of
the proceedings at the meeting in this town on
Friday. It will be seen that the particular object
was partially defeated by the trickery of the
Romish priests; who packed the building with
their myrmidons ; but the most they gained was
temporary delay, for LIVERPOOL, which has ever
been foremost in the defence of our Protestant in-
stitutions, will again lead the van in resistance to
this iniquitious measure. The meeting was nothow-
eysr, without its advantage, for the dupes of Romish
1-superstition were compelled in their own despite to
listen to the withering exposures of the Rev. Dr.
31‘NRierc and the able arguments of the Rev. W.
PoLLocu—both gentlemen, in common with seve-
ral other tried friends of the cause, having perse-
vered with praiseworthy determination, though at
considerable personal inconvenience, to make the
truth heard by those who came to drown reason
with vulgar clamour. There was, perhaps, a want
of judgment in anticipating an adjournment ; but
we would suggest to the worthy MA.YOR, who acted
with rather over-scrupulous impartiality, that the
propriety of adjourning an overcrowded meeting is
a question rather for the opinion of the Chairman
than the decision of those assembled, as the latter
being present may prefer to remain where they
are, whereas the number outside who cannot gain
admittance are the most interested in the meeting
being adjourned to a more spacious building. It
is the opinion of many that such a question should
not have 'been the subject of discussion at a town's
meeting convened by the MAYOR, owing to the
Chief Magistrate having no very large place at his
command, and a small one—as was the case at the
Sessions House—affording an opportunity for an
opposing party, unscrupulous as to means, to
occupy so large a space that they appear a majority
of the meeting, while they represent only a frac-
tion of the public opinion of the town. It is noto-
rious that the resolutions, which were voted
against on Friday by a few hundreds, would have
been voted far by as many thousands, had the
narrow walls been able to contain them, or had the
MAYOR, in his discretion, adjourned the meeting
to the Amphitheatre, where more than five times
the number that were -in the Sessions House had
already assembled, in the full expectation that the
adjournment would have been decided on by the
MAYOR as a matter of course. The question cannot
however remain where it is ; and perhaps the most
advisable course would be, for the Protestants of
Liverpool to be summoned to meet in the largest
building available, and 'there to enter their indig-
nant protest against this foul and insidious attack.
The voice of Liverpool must be heard in Parlia-
ment against the Bill ; and, long before the 24th
of March, Lord JOHN RUSSELL must be compelled
to say, "We will proceed no further in this
business."

Tam Bill introduced by Mr. ADDERLEY in the
House of Commons for the extension of education
in Manchester and Salford, on the plan of voluntary
rating, has been thrown out upon the simple plea ,
of its interference with the more comprehensive
plan of education which Lord JoErN. RUSSELL has
not brought in, and does not know when he shall
do so. Notwithstanding that the Bill was mainly
supported by Conservative members and was op-
posed by the ultra Radicals, we feel rather inclined
to agree with the latter. The promoters of the
Till took credit for not having ignored religious
•instruction as an indispensable accompaniment of
secular education ; but • they committed a fault
almost, if not quite, as mischievous, in admitting
religious sects tole on an equality, and entitled to
receive aid from a general contribution in propor-
tion to their relative numbers. What must be
the feelings of a strictly conscientious Christian,
when by such a lavf•as that just, defeated he would
be called upon to contribute towardathe instruction
of children in Romanism, Judaism, Unitarianism,
.or any form of infidelity P It wouldibe an outrage
,upon i Christian conscience to which no man
ought to be subject; and yet it seems to be the
only plan which the wisdom of our legislators has
been able to devise to obviate the serious objections
which are properly entertained to the ,extension of
secular education. The'first demand, and the only
legitimate one, is for religious instruction to the
children of the poor ; and the first step in advance
is met by an outcry from every form of religious
dissent, each being more anxious for the propaga-
tion of their own tenets than fearful that ,their
fellow-creatures should be left in ignorance. The
Government has not the moral courage to insist
that all instruction contributed by the State shall
be the religion of the State : and so, session after
session is wasted in the discussion of impracticable
projects, and nothing is done.

IT is so long since this country entertained any
notion of serious war, on a scale of magnitude,
that the preparations for the coming struggle with
the vast Empire of Russia have created a more
than usual degree of excitement Nearly forty
years, the ordinary duration of peace in the ancient
kingdom of Israel, have elapsed since the crowning
victory of Waterloo terminated the European strife
of nations, a new generation has sprung up to whom
war is but a matter of history, and manufactures
and commerce have taken the place of arms. It
might have been thought that, after so long a pe--
Hod of rest and inactivity, the ancient spirit which
placed Great Britain at the topmost pinnacle of
national greatness had died within us, and that we
should have met the call to " arm, arm and out,"
with the same feeling which animates the profess-
ing members of the Peace Society, who would
oppose the bayonets of Russian serfs with soft
speeches and cotton bales. But a very brief time
has served to dispel the illusion. The temporising
Cabinet exhausted the arts of diplomacy without
making any impression on Imperial stolidity, and
then, goaded into activity by popular remonstrance,
made the signal for war. How it has been re-
sponded to, the events of the last few days will tell.
Thousands of troops have left the kingdom for the
scene of strife, amidst the enthusiastic acclamations
of tens of thousands of their fellow-countrymen.
Regiments have found an ample supply of willing
recruits to fill up their ranks even beyond the re-
quirements of additional numbers ; and volunteers
for the Royal Navy have offered in hundreds from
all parts—so that an additional fleet to sweep the
Baltic and blockade Russia in her northern ports
is being manned with most incredible celerity.