The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-01-03 00:00:00

thise with the injustice which has robbed the
Church of the clergy reserves guaranteed by a
former government..
With the exception of the dispute, which has
grown into a war, between Russia and Turkey,
the state of Europe has been comparatively one of
quietude. Louis NAPOLEON has contrived to
preserve the Imperial crown of France, which he
so adroitly won, and to restrain the thirst
for military conquest which animates his troops.
Austria, vacillating between her Russian ally
and her professions of peace with the Western
Powers, has been successful in doing nothing.
Prussia appears to have forgotten her dream of
German unity. Spain has lost nothing but her
loyalty for her sovereign, the eccentric daughter
of an infamous mother, and still retains Cuba from

the long-meditated grasp of the American eagle :
and the little states are in much the same condi-
tion at the close of the year as they were at the
beginning ; so that 1854 may be said to dawn

upon the civilized world amid a calm, the duration
of which few will venture to foretel.

Having thus taken a hasty glance at some of
the more striking events which have now become
matters of history, little remains for us to say
with reference to ourselves and our readers. Our
past labours in the consistent advocacy of the
great principles of Church and State have spoken
for themselves. With no interests to serve except
those of our common country, and no object to
gain but the satisfaction of having performed our
duty, we have pursued the path which we believe to
be the right one, swerving neither to the right hand
nor to the left, not deterred by the fear of enemies,
nor tempted by false friends. In politics, as in
religion, we have been solely guided by the con-
sciousness of right, and though we may sometimes
have been compelled to differ with those whose
good opinion we value, we have never been in-
fluenced by any other motive than zeal for the
maintenance of our national faith in its integrity
and purity, and the preservation of the Constitu-
tion, handed down to us by our forefathers, and
under which, by the blessing of Providence, this
country has grown in greatness from the glorious
days of ELIZABETH down to those of our own
VICTORIA. We have no need to make promises
for the future, but let the past be the best earnest
of the time to come. It is, however, satisfactory
to know that our labours are appreciated, and in
the steadily increasing circulation of the Liverpool
Standard we experience that reward for our exer-
tions which must prove the secret incentive to
constant perseverance.

WE briefly alluded last week 'to the erroneous
opinion which appeared to prevail with reference
to the Foreign policy of the present Home Secre-
tary being opposed to that which seems to have
influenced the course pursued by the EARL of
ABERDEEN, in the affairs between Russia and
Turkey, and thereby led to the inference that the
recent resignation and resumption of office had
been caused by a difference of opinion on this sub-
ject. In all the developments, whether real or pre-
tended, which have been made respecting the
recent split in the Cabinet, a variance of opinion
as to the details of the proposed Reform Bill. has
been adhered to as to the real cause of the dis-
pute ; but notwithstanding the positive assertions
of Ministerial organs, professing to be in posses-
sion of State secrets, public opinion has been rather
inclined to the belief that the HOME SECRETARY
has ventured to have an opinion of his own on
Foreign policy, and that that opinion has been
more in accordance with the feeling out of doors
than the one which has been acted upon. Now, so

far from believing that Lord PALMERSTON has
been actuated by any refined sense of national
honour, which would prompt the succour of the
weak and defiance of the strong, there are many
incidents in his'previous career as FOREIGN SECRE-
Ting which lead us to a totally opposite conclu-
sion. It will be remembered that some twenty
years since, a ship belonging to Mr. BELL was
seized, in the Black Sea, by the Russian forces,
and indignant remonstrances were made to the
FOREIGN SECRETARY on this wanton outrage. No
satisfaction was obtained for wounded national
honour, but compensation was privately made to
Mr. BELL for his individual loss, and the affair
was hushed up. Shortly after this a young gen-
tleman, who officiated as Vice-Consul in, the petty
State of New Grenada, committed some outrages
upon the peace of the town at night, while in a
state of intoxication, for which he was apprehended,
and made amenable to the laws he had broken.
LORD PALMERSTON was appealed to. Here was
no mighty empire of Russia to deal with, but a
defenceless State, and demand was therefore imme-
diately made, with a threat of bombardment for
the release of the Vice-Consul, and compensation
to him. In 1840, Mr. URQUHART returned from

long diplomatic services at Constantinople, and in
a series of pamphlets openly accused the FOREIGN
SECRETARY of being the agent of Russia, and in-
triguing with that power for the weakening and
overthrow of Turkey. Again we find him suc-
cumbing toTrance under Louis PHILIPPE, when
Admiral DUPETIT THOUARS wantonly seized upon
Tahiti, and expelled Mr. PRITCHARD, the English
resident. Later still we find him sending a fleet to
the little State of Greece, not long rescued from
Mahometan despotism, in order to enforce by

threats the doubtful claims of Don PACIFICO. In
every instance, and each of them is too notorious
to be doubted, we find the foreign policy of Lord
PALMERSTON to be the ignoble practice of commit-
ting injustice on the weak and submitting to it
from the strong ; leaving the legitimate inference
that, in the question which is now agitating all
Europe, his diplomatic skill and official experience
would have been displayed in a similar manner, to
be followed by his inimitable ingenuity in explain-
ing away all the charges made against him. Not-
withstanding, however, the little reliance we place
on his regard for the national honour in foreign
affairs, we believe that he is far more of a Conser-
vative in domestic policy than many of his col-
leagues, and that,with an eye to his future position
on the inevitable and speedy break-up of the coali-
tion Ministry, he has manfully resisted the designs
of Lord JoHN RUSSELL to make the proposed
Reform Bill a means of democratic extension in
the government of the country.

IF we may judge by the very numerous public
meeting which was held on Wednesday, at the
Sessions-house, the high standing of many who
took part in the proceedings, and the unanimity
which prevailed, the adoption of a decimal system
of coinage has been placed almost beyond doubt,
as an improvement of self-evident Utility, and which
only requires the formal sanction of the Legislature
to be brought immediately into practice. Before,
however, arriving at such a conclusion, it would
be as well to look more narrowly at the arguments
made use of by its promoters, the advantages which
are sought to be gained, and the difficulties with
which it may be accompanied. It will be observed
that the speakers at the meeting we have referred
to, in common with the advocates of the decimal
system elsewhere, almost confined their attention
to the advantages to be derived from the greater
facilities for calculation, and received the support
of the Principal of the Collegiate Institution on the
intelligible ground that, if arithmetic were con-
fined to decimals, it would be much easier taugh
than the present system, which combines calcula-
tions in money, and also in weights and measures.
The miplusiontsh therefore, which have been, ar-