The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-05-02 00:00:00

THE FAST DAY,

WEDNESDAY last, which was appointed by Royal
authority as a day of national humiliation and
prayer, preparatory to our commencing a state of
deadly warfare with the powerful empire of Russia,
was kept in this town and neighbourhood, as well
as throughout the kingdom, with an apparent
popular sense of the importance of the occasion.
Divine service was celebrated, with hardly an
exception, in the churches and chapels, and in
general they were well attended, as shown by the
amount of the collections, which in most instances
were made in behalf of the wives and children of
the soldiers sent to the East. It was also gratify-
ing to observe that generally the day was kept in
an orderly manner, there being less of what is
called holiday-making than is too often the case
even on a Sunday. In some few instances the
order for the special form of service was not
obeyed, upon a scruple by the minister that it

required the authority of Convocation. Such
objections, however, were so rare that they may be
passed over without comment. The simple fact of
a populous nation preparing for the hazards of war,
by humbling themselves with one accord before the
Almighty Disposer of events, is a characteristic of
the British people which can hardly be too highly
-commended, and affords the surest ground for
relying with confidence on the issue of the contest.
In the best of times we have much for which to
ask forgiveness, and at all times it is necessary we
should be reminded that the race is not always to
the swift, nor the battle to the strong. History
tells us how that in bye-gone days a handful of
English soldiers spent the night in prayer, while
their enemies were feasting and revelling, and in
the morning annihilated the flower of the French
arms against the most fearful odds as to numbers.
The war has been entered upon for the cause of
justice and the rights of nations against a wanton
aggression, which, if unchecked, might have
gradually reduced all Europe beneath the iron
sway of an unscrupulous despot. It is well that
the motives for its commencement should be duly
appreciated ; but it is better that we should under-
stand our dependence for victory to rest not upon
the prowess of our fleets and armies, or the com-
pleteness of their equipment, but upon the sure
mercies of that Power by whom kings reign and
princes decree justice, and who has promised His
blessing to them that ask it. With such reliance,
so audibly expressed as it was on Wednesday last
by thousands and tens of thousands of our fellow-
countrymen, we may enter upon the approaching
struggle fearless of all that-may-IC opposed to us,
and even meet with reverses—from which the best
devised plans are not exempt—in that spirit of
resignation which teaches that " he whom the Lord
loveth He chasteneth."

We have already remarked that in the great
majority of cases the collections were made for the
benefit of the wives and children of the soldiers
engaged in the war. This arrangement has given
rise, in some instances, to the question—Why not
also provide for the families of the sailors P It
should be generally known that these two branches
of the public service are placed upon a very
different footing, which renders the relief an act
of charity in one case which it would not be in the
other. While the pay of the soldier is barely suffi-
cient to find him in the necessaries of food and
clothing, the sailor is fed at the public expense,
and the moiety of his pay, which he can devote to
the maintenance of his wife on shore, is equal to
the whole which the soldier receives for his own
maintenance; while the sailor has also more oppor-
tunities of increasing his earnings by prize-money.
In every respect, therefore, the sailor is the best
provided for, and sufficiently so to enable him to
maintain his own family without any further
demand upon public support ; while the soldier,
having no means at his command, his wife and
children are deserving objects of popular sympathy.
It will, therefore, be seen that the devotion of the
public contributions to the purpose intended is a
proper arrangement, and it is to be hoped that the
largeness of the amount will enable the Central
Association to carry out their benevolent design to
the full extent. We may remark that no appre-
hension as to a provision for the future should
deter those who have the management of the fund
from applying it with prudent liberality. Should
the war be protracted, another appeal may safely
be made ; and should Providence bless HER
MAJESTY'S arms with victory, the day of thanks-
giving may be appropriately celebrated by a collec-
tion in behalf of the widows of those who have
fallen in the battle. It is a distrust of British
charity to doubt that such an appeal would be
liberally responded to, and we trust that this con-
fidence in the future will induce the committee of
management to un freely the amount now entrusted
to them.