The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-09-22 00:00:00

THE MAYORALTY OF LONDON.
DECLARATION OF THE LIVERY IN OPPOSITION TO THE
ELECTION OF ALDERMAN HARMER.

(From the Times of Yesterday)
The undersigned Liverymen of London wish to apprise
their fellow-citizens, that they shall feel it to be their duty,
with whatever pain or reluctance, to oppose the election of
Alderman Harmer as Lord Mayor of London. In taking a

course so unusual, and, to their own feelings, so disagree-

_ .
able, they desire that the grounds of their oppm:ition
should be distinctly understood. Admitting the principle of
rotation to be in the main a just and proper one, it is clearly
necessary, in attempting any deviation from it, to show that
a valid and sufficient cause exists.

The undersigned therefore desire to declare in the most
emphatic manner—
That they desire to bring no charge against Alderman liar-
mer's private character, nor to resect in any manner on his

discharge of his public duties ; still less would they rest their
opposition on any consideration of his political views or con-
nexions ; all reference to which, in the present question, they
hold to be utterly inadmissible.
Entirely repudiating all views or motives of the above de-
scriptions, the undersigned do most unreservedly declare,

. . ~... ,
that their whole ground of opposition to Alderman Harmer
concerns his well-known and publicly admitted connexion
with the newspaper called the Weekly Dispatch.
Of the fact of that connexion there can be no doubt, inas-
much as by Alderman Harmer himself, at two public meet-
ings in the present year, it was distinctly admitted. But that
connexion, in the judgment of the undersigned, renders him

entirely unfit to fill the office of chief magistrate of the city

The paper in question can only be appr"opriately described
as a public nuisance, and that of the most fearful character.
It is a nuisance, not as opposing whig government or tory

government, but all govein-mentwhatever ; it is a nuisance,

not as advocating an; particular view of the constitution, but
as ridiculing alike all systems and all views, and plainly

counselling anarchy and confusion ; it is a nuisance, not as

opposing the churdb or as preferring dissent, but as scoffing
at all kinds and forms of religion whatever. It has personally
insulted the sovereign and her consort ; it has broadly and
repeatedly recommended the overthrow of the monarchy ; it
has extolled and encouraged every instance of rebellion ; and

it has constantly and delrberately'reviled the christian faith

and its professors of every class and denomination, and
given the preference to infidels and blasphemers of every
description. Such is the publication of which Mr. Harmer
is a chief proprietor, and such has it been through a series of
years

In. this course of conduct does Mr. Harmer maintain

it, and so doing he utterly and unquestionably disqualifies
himself, in our view, for holding the office of chief magistrate
. .

•
of this city,
But these are weighty and grave accusations, and it is but
fitting that evidence should be adduced to establish them.
The undersigned say, then—
I. That the Weekly Dispatch has repeatedly insulted, and
that in the grossest terms, both her Majesty and her illus-
trious consort. Take the following instances :
" The little Queen of nineteen tells the lords and gentlemen,
that they are so well acquainted with the duties which de-
volve upon them in their respective counties, that it is un-
necessary for her to remind them what they ought to do.
What a mockery of common sense is this l The Queen
knows no more of the subject than a wax doll."—August 19,
1838.

" In the speech delivered by Her Majesty, on Tuesday
last, there is such a neutral character, that it is difficult to
say whether the folly or the falsehood predominates. These
Royal speeches have an excellent moral effect ; for they expose
to the people the abominable impudence of Royal preten-
sions, as well as the folly of Royal institutions. We attach
none of our observations to tier Majesty; she, of course, is
merely an automaton; and if the people are fools enough to
put up with a doll, they have no right to complain that the
doll is not of the right gender, or that it has no intellect or
anything else respectable.
" The Queen is badly advised in appealing to the good
sense of the people ; for, if they exercised their good sense,
a throne would not exist for three months in this country."
—September 1, 1839.

" this paragraph in the Queen's speech might be thus put
into common sense I have chosen a husband, instead of
a husband choosing me. And, as he has neither clothes, nor
any thing else, tit for his appearance as a gentleman, accord-
ing to his rank and station, I expect my faithful Commons
to tax the distressed people of England, in order that this
GERMAN PAUPER may appear decently in public.
" This is the moment at which the Queen calls upon Par-
liament to tax, and severely tax, the people, to support this
PAUPER object of her choice."
" Are the people of England to support Royalty at such
an enormous expense, and as such a DOLL OR PUPPET ?"-
Jan. 19, 1840.
" A young girl of 18 governs about four-and-twenty mil-
lions of people at home, and about an hundred millions in
the colonies and India. For this task the young lady takes
£871,410 per annum ; and when she marries, she pleads po-
verty, and calls upon her people, who are in a great state of
distress, to support her husband by a further allowance out of
the taxes."—Feb. 2, 1840.
Such is the language constantly employed in speaking of
her Majesty. Even more disgusting, if possible, are the
epithets applied to one whose memory the Queen is known
to regard with peculiar veneration. King George M. is
spoken of, December 23, 1838, as
" The HIDEOUS CANINE-MINDED BRUTE SAVAGE that was
King of England ;"
and, April 15, 1838, as—
" That direful infliction upon humanity—that SCOURGE
AND DISGRACE OF NATURE, George lII.'
But, 11. It has unceasingly reviled the British Constitu-
tion as a whole, and more particularly the principle of a
monarchical government. As, for instance—
" The abstract, the monstrous absurdity of Royalty, can
no longer be concealed from the public mind." "'To make
Royalty any longer respectable is out of the question ; but to
render it fora short time longer endurable, it is necessary for
all these impositions to be instantly abolished."—Nev. 12,
1837.

"It is absolute nonsense to conceal the fact, that the ab-
surd principles of the British Constitution can no longer he
brought into action, if they were ever made to act at all. The
idea of three independent, coequal, and hostile branches of
the Legislature, is absolute nonsense."—Dec. 30, 1838.
" A. mixed Monarchy like ours is always, and under every
possible variety of circumstances, the most corrupt of all
forms of government."—Oct. 7, 1838.
" In the name of Heaven, let us either disclaim our title
to rational beings, or get rid of coronations, as one step to
getting rid of Royalty."—June 3, 1838.
" A coronation is, at best, but a tom-foolery ; the bishops
are scoundrels for proclaiming it sacred, and the nation ought
to enjoy it as a Saturnalia—a sort of Hockley-in-the-Elole,
or Dog-and-Duck, or Chick-lane affair."—May 27, 1838.
"The British constitution is the worst that ever existed."
—March 11, 1838.
" In all countries Royalty is the same—a mass of folly,
falsehood, and fraud, maintained at an enormous expense,
much to the disgrace as well as to the injury of the people."
—Sept. 15, 1839.
111. The constitution and the monarchy being thus held
up as things to be " got rid of," let us see by what means
they are to be destroyed. And here we find that what is
called " the right of rebellion" is constantl2:, advocated :
"The tyranny and injustice of the Government have at
length driven the people from Lower Canada into a state of
armed resistance, vulgarly called rebellion."—Dec. 24, 1837.
" The Canadians have justifiably taken up arms." "An
appeal to arms ought to be the last, and always must be a
deplorable resource ; but where there is no other, and where
grievances are so immense, is not rebellion the most sanctified
species of warfare ?"—January 14, 1838.
" We have always maintained that insurrection or rebellion
is inherently a right possessed by the people."
" Resistance to authority, and even an armed resistance,
may be the first and most sacred duty of a citizen ; it is,
however, a desperate remedy, and never to be resorted to
but upon probabilities of success. —November, 10; 1839.
" The peace of society has been violated by the Chartists,
as a necessary consequence of bad government; and our
rulers, or rather their predecessors, are the persons that
ought to be brought to punishment."—November 17, 1839.
" The charges are, that these men (the Birmingham
Chartists) attended large and tumultuous meetings, and used
language calculated to excite the people to disaffection.
There is no offence in this ' • we should rather say it is a
case of merit."—August 11, 1839.
" The right of insurrection or rebellion is inherent in the
people of every country ; and it is in the application of the
doctrine, or the exercise of the right, that consists the good
or evil."

" There is nothing criminal or meritorious in rebellion in
the abstract."—January 26, 1840.
" This infamous arrangement of the whigs will infallibly
produce another revolution in Canada, and, let the rebellion
come when it may, I heartily wish success to popular resis-
tance against such clerical spoliation and villany."—March
29, 1840.
IV. A deadly hatred to christianity, however, is the most
prominent feature and the chief crime of the Weekly Dis-
patch. And this is not sectarian, but universal. If, on
August 12, 1838, the Bishop of London is reviled for his
" hatefully blasphemous coronation sermon," and for " the
absolute folly, the perplexities of absurdities and blasphe-
mies uttered from the pulpA in Westminster Abbey," in the
very same paper it is averred that " field preaching and street
preaching are abominable nuisances, and ought to be sup-
pressed by the police."
In the same spirit of universal hostility are the following
passages written :
" The question is, whether the clergy of every denomina-
tion do not diminish the number and faith of religionists far
beyond the proportion natural to the advance of civilization."
" Individually and collectively, they make themselves odious
in every point of view. They rob the people, not only to
excess, but in modes, and under pretences, which render their
voracious appetite for spoil more hateful than can well be
imagined."—Dec. 16, 1838.
" The dexterous manner in which the clergy of every de-
nomination throw religion to the dogs, exceeds all precedent.
" The Christian religion in England is hardly better than
another name for a set of dice or counters to be thrown upon
a political gambling table. The people ought to buckle on
their armour, and not suffer themselves to be so egregiously
cheated out of all things rational and substantial by a set of
knaves that make them pursue phantoms in order to convert
them into beasts of burden, or asses to be laughed at."—
Dec. 9, 1838.
" Protestantism, Catholicism, Methodism, or any other
ism, is only a cant term to facilitate the impositions upon the
mind, and which impositions are always tricks to arrive at
the breeches pocket.' —September 1, 1839.
" Religion in England ought always to be allegorized by
the figure of a devil incarnate, with a bloody sword in one
hand, and a bunch of skeleton keys and implements of
house-breaking in the other."—September 2, 1838.
" Why cannot the people exercise a little intellect, and
select or collate the Bible according to its intrinsic merits,
rejecting those parts which are revolting to nature, and ab-
horrent to the human species in the present state of society ?"
—November 25, 1838.
V. Very naturally, therefore, infidelity is coiansintaenetlLexte-
nuated, or even held up to admiration. For instance
" There is no more moral deprwrity in being an infidel than
in being a clergyman."—March 15, 1840.
" Socialism and Chartism are only the misdirected efforts
to throw off the dreadfully intolerable curse of superstitiou •
systems."—February 2, 1840.
" Blasphemy is a word of no meaning whatever.
cunning coinage of priestcraft."—March 15, 1840.
" The men most illustrious for genius, the most celebrated
for reasoning powers and knowledge, and the most estimable
for moral principles, as well as for exalted feelings and
amiable natures, have, within the last century, been what are
termed INFIDELS."-April 19, 1840.
" Whatever creeds Revelation may teach, the CHRISTIANS
are invariably found to be among the most immoral of human
beings.

It is a

" The moral virtue: increasemoit u
indoes noatmoiemnnrceocuednitnrgiesfr.om the Chris-
tiar!,Aainidrauprporpoeasctht
becoming an infidel. infinitely superior morals
He
sees residet in India a year without
the natives; he begins
and manners, habits and custcTihse,
ettget :leralizes his ideas, and
to reflect upon different faiths
nottv in want of Chris-
very, boon becomes of no faith
India always observes, ' that India is I.An Englishman in
awl! of Heathenism.'
handy, but that Europe is terribly in
ourssea : and there
" No men or nation ever agreed uponthe at was or is the
Most
fLords to
word of God. What one country calls word
versa:
of God ano-
ther terms the word of the Devil, and ',jell
is no standard, no court of appeal, no
determine which is right and which is wrong. certain
it is, that nine-tenths of what we pious Christians call ' the
word of God,' the Devil would be ashamed of
" According to the history of ages, and to the indisputa 11e
state of present relations, the Hindoo sect is by far the best.
" Ile who is worthy of the name of man knows no distinc-
tion of sect, whether Deist, Atheist, Christian, Mahomet
Jew, or Hindoo."—Sept. 8, 1839. an,