The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-12-17 00:00:00

my the more sm.

itUlly if;

manist3 to join our ranks, and protect them effectually
when they do. Liberalism, we may perceive, is no
friend to real freedom : it is a poor, canting, cringing,
hypocritical professor—eaten up with selfishnegk in
the midst of much hollow pretension; it would not

move a finger to rescue a fellow-creature from destruc-
tion, if the effort would occasion the slightest risk to
itself. It is a poor bending willow; Conservatism, on
the contrary, is near akin to your true Old English
oak, and may be relied upon as a support under all
difficulties.

The Irish government has instituted a prosecution
against a man, named Connor, for the use of seditious
language—and the fact is taken as ominous of impend-
ing damage to the rebel party. It is a symptom of
vigour on the part of the executive which we hail with

the greatest pleasure; and we sincerely hope the blow
will be followed up, till gentlemen in red cloaks and
cocked hats are duly impressed with the conviction
that the game of treason is one which they cannot by
any means play at with impunity under a Conservative
administration. It has been seen that Repeal of the
Union is but another name for a declaration of inde-
pendence, and that the foul deformity of treason is but
flimsily covered by the pretence of seeking the rescind-
ment only of a legislative enactment. The act of
union was, it is true, but an act of parliament ; but it
was, at the same time, one which gave a new settlement
to the constitution of the kingdom—a great charter of
incorporation which can never be cancelled without
tearing the kingdom to pieces. It has been suggested
that a supplemental act ought to be passed, making it
a misdemeanour for any one to propound such a ques-
tion for debate as the repeal of the great statute ; but
we are not disposed to such an infringement upon the
liberty of the subject. The question might be dis-
cussed innocently, and yet in such a way as to offend
against the letter of the law; and it is not liberty of
thought, or of speech in the abstract, or in the detail,
which we wish to abridge, but the base designs and
practices of a disloyal faction. These intents may be
discovered through the veil of an ostensibly-legitimate
purpose; and an honest jury would unquestionably feel
itself bound to convict that man of treason, whose ac-

tions (whatever might be his words), they saw clearly
tended to shake the allegiance of his fellow-subjects,
and inspire them with a hope of throwing off the au-
thority of their Sovereign. On these grounds we
should hope that the existing laws against treason
would be found sufficiently strong to take some of the
more obnoxious of the repeaters within their meshes—
and that no other will be required.
The necessity for a wholesome exertion of au-

thority on this subject has been made particularly
evident by the extraordinary, and, we must say,
presumptuous and most offensive " sympathy " exhi-
bited by certain Americans towards the Irish sedition-
ists. The Times has noticed this matter in a very
powerful article, and speaks of the remonstrance which
it is incumbent on our Minister to make with the
American Government on the intermeddling of its
people with the affairs of other countries, and the
direct encouragement both by money and promises—
not to speak merely of sympathy—which they give to
the disaffected within them. But from such a remon-
strance we expect far less than we do from the activity
of the law-officers of the crown on the immediate scene
of action. Has it been demonstrated to the Americans
that we do really hold this repeal agitation in Ireland
in that decidedly criminal light in which it is now de-
sired to represent it to them ? Certainly the 'Whigs
gave them no reason to think that we were much in
earnest on the subject; on the contrary, their close
and intimate alliance with the arch-traitor might have
led them to quite an opposite .conclusion. We must,

therefore, commence the work of amendment at home.
After a few of the domestic seditionists have been
gagged, our remonstrances will tell with far better
effect on the mind of the republican sympathisers.