The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-07-13 00:00:00

TUESDAY MORNING, JULY 13, 1841

The still pending elections in Ireland bring that
country under our notice, and induce us to put that
question so often asked, and yet so hard to be an-
swered, que deviendra d' Irelande Under a Conserva-
tive government we shall certainly expect a decided
improvement in the administration of its affairs. No-
thing could have been—nothing cdn be—worse than
the Whig system; and, consequently, the country will
come out of their hands in a worse state than they
found it. If any improvement has taken place there
of late, the Government has had•no share in promot-
ing it ; it has been effected rather in spite of them,
than at their instance, or by their-co-operation. The
first duty.of a new administration, as it is the first duty
of every administration, will be do give the utmost
possible amount of security both to person and pro-
perty, and to do this through the legitimate channels
of constituted authority and laW. We have not
the slightest doubt on our mind ,that a ministry of
which Sir Robert Peel would be chief, would make the
faithful and honest discharge of this great duty a pa-
ramount and unceasing object of their attention, and
it is with us a very material reason why we desire to
see such a ministry appointed. The people of Eng-
land are deeply concerned in this particular; indeed
they are much more nearly concerned in the affairs of
Ireland generally, than they have been for the most
part aware; for this is certain, that if Ireland could, by
any possible contrivance, or combination of measures,
be brought to a peaceable, orderly, and, consequently,
prosperous state ; if amongst her people universally
an attachment to England, and English institutions
could be promoted, and made to take the place of ha-
tred and disaffection ; if Ireland could be made to par-
ticipate throughout the length and breadth of her
boundary in the blessings of English industry, civili-
sation, and contentment ;—a blessing would be thereby
conferred upon England, and the Nation at large, such
as it would be impossible to estimate too highly. This
is an assertion which no man who has' reflected on the
subject will dispute : it is nearly a self-evident truth.
It is, in fact, the starting point with all (and they are
many) who have ever written or spoken about Ireland
and its affairs. Every man who has ever propounded
a nostrum for the remedy of Irish evils; or grievances,
has endeavoured to recommend it as of immense va-
lue not only to Ireland but to this country also; and,
doubtless, if this infallible elixir could be procured, all
the indescribable charm of its healing powers would be
experienced, if not equally, yet in certain proportions,
in both countries.

Mr. Alison, alluding to the fact that Ireland had
been left without any general poor law till very recent-
ly, says, " This immense accumulation of unrelieved
" misery for two hundred and fifty years, bas been by
" far the greatest sin for which the British government
" has to answer; and it is under its effects that the
" empire is now universally and justly labouring.
" Pauperism, recklessness, want of foresight were thus
" perpetuated in the. land ; and in the midst of the
" British empire a perennial spring of destitution and
" redundant numbers was opened, which, flowing in-
" cessantly for two centuries and a half, has overspread
" all the three kingdoms, and brought upon their inlia-
" bitants that just retribution which so long continued
" a neglect of human suffering could not fail, under
" the administration of a righteous Providence, in the
" end to induce." It is calculated by Humboldt that
Ireland, besides doubling its own population, has added
a million during the first quarter of the present cen-
tury to the poor of this country, being above the rate
of 50,000 a-year ; and there is no doubt that her an-
nual contribution has not in the least diminished, if it
has not increased, since the end of that period. Is it
not proper then that the people of this country should
feel, even for their own sakes, some small degree of
curiosity or interest about such an officina gentium, .or
pauperum, and inquire if there are any means by which
they. can be saved from so large an annual influx and
addition to their already over-stocked towns and mar-
kets of labour ? Unquestionably it is; but it is even

Mall thin titAt s it hag besomo A Witter or Almelo.

noco4kity,

Wou:t6n, one, or tlio things that Ireland wants is

an honest, iropartial, firm government-,-a government
that will make no compact with banditti—(on the
Pope's plan)—no alliance with th chief conspirators
against the country's peace and happiness—no league
with the chief agitator and his myrmidons—a govern-
ment which will encourage and advance those who are
submissive and obedient to the laws, and punish as
well as discard those who are not so.

We are prepared to hear a great deal of nonsense
on this head—a great deal about " Orange ascend-
ancy," " persecution of Catholics," and so forth ; and
we have not the smallest doubt that Mr. Daniel O'Con-
nell will make the administration of Irish affairs just
about as difficult and disagreeable a job as can well be
conceived. But Ireland must be governed; we have a
right to require it of our ministers ; it is a duty they
owe us as well as the people of Ireland ; and we must
insist upon their discharging it. We in England have
too long slumbered on this business as if it did not
concern us ; whilst, if we knew our own interest
rightly, we would have seen that it concerned us both

deeply and intimately. We have a right as a tax-
paying, submissive, and loyal people, to demand that
Ireland and every other part of the kingdom shall be
governed, and rendered obedient to the laws. We are
now suffering, and we have long suffered from a gross
neglect of this first of duties by our ministers; it is
time that we should put forth a little gentle pressure
upon them, and compel them, if there should be any
unwillingness on their part, to perform it.

" The political topics," says the distinguished author of
the Essay on Population, " which have been so ardently
promoted by the popular party in the empire, and been the
object of such vehement contention, and laborious investi-
gation in the British Parliament for the last forty years,
have hardly any bearing on the real condition of the Irish
poor; nor have they reaped any benefit, but rather the re-
verse, from the disastrous agitation in which they have kept
the people for half a century. Catholic emancipation had no
effect whatever in relieving their distresses; the Reform bill
has increased them by widening the breachbetween the land-
lords and their tenantry; the virtual abolition of tithes has
only transferred their amount to rent ; municipal reform will
only keep open the ghastly wounds of the country, and
foment political passion among a people wholly incapable of
either exercising the duties of self-government, or bearing
its excitement. The only real benefits which the Irish
people have received from the legislation of the twenty years,
when they have been the object of sedulous attention to
Parliament, have been the increase and general establishment
of the police force ; the great improvements in the admi-
nistration of justice by the county assistant barristers, and
the introduction even on an imperfect plan of poors' rates."

We readily grant that much more is needed ; but
the first of Ireland's wants, we do say, is decidedly
government—firm and impartial, but effective govern-
ment. Let life and property be rendered secure ; let
conspirators be hunted out, and transgressors punished;
in short, let order be established in that unhappy land,
and the way will be prepared for all other blessings.
At this moment Ireland is only half governed by the
Queen's authority ; her Majesty holds but a divided
sway there ; shares it with the enemies of her reign ;
and the sceptrc of Majesty is consequently not only
weak but despised. This is a state of things that must
be put an end to, and to a new ministry we confidently
look for its complete and, we hope, perpetual abolition.
As we have already said, much more may remain to be
done, but this must be the primary concern of the
Cabinet.

So Daniel is out ! scorned, rejected, dismissed,—
and his place filled by a heap- man—nay, men. Oh,
Daniel, that it should come to this ! There's Palmy
gone—Stanley, Morpeth—and now old Daniel !—"all
my pretty ones !" gone.—

Did you say, all ? 0, hell-kite ! All ?
What, all my pretty chickens, and their Dan,
At one fell swoop ?
That we should have lived to see this day ! Oh, it is
too much—indeed, indeed, it is ! [Editor weeps.] But
that Daniel should have been the one to recommend
them to stick to their places, and try the country, and
thus to multiply disgraces on their heads ! Well, if
the man have a conscience at all, or know one touch
of human weakness, he must howl for this. There
are some of the great ones who, if they had only done
the decent thing, and retired when they found the tide
turned against them, would have had a fair, a moderate
chance, from local ties, friendship, property influence,
and such connecting links, of being again chosen for
their ancient seats ; but by sticking to office, in the
teeth of a hostile parliament and country—braving out
their disgraces in spite of loud cries of shame from every
side, and then resorting to so base and unconstitutional
a manoeuvre as dissolving the old, and calling a new
parliament, under the false and impudent pretence of
getting the people to support them—why, this it is that
has unseated so many of them, and sent them about
the world not knowing " where to choose their place
of rest." But it is the same Daniel who led them into
so many scrapes that has conducted them to this
miserable consummation also; and it will be a comfort
to them to find that he is now involved himself in the
same mess. Dublin is free from the tyranny of this
man's misrepresentation, and we expect will keep itself
so. It is true, that most unfortunate and ill-judged
measure, the Irish Municipal Reform Bill, will shortly
come into operation, and must have an untoward in-
fluence on conservative interests ; but yet, with pa-
tience, perseverance, and steadfastness on the part of
the Protestants, its evil tendencies may, we should
hope, be counteracted. We can never, we admit,
glance at that unpardonable piece of legislative blun-
dering, even in thought, without a painful reminiscence
of the great error committed by the Tory party in this
respect. The fever of liberalism, we had hoped, had
spent itself in the Catholic Emancipation Act, and other
measures, when this new abomination was prepared for
the Irish people. The Protestants earnestly prayed
to have the old corporate system reformed on Protes-
tant principles, or altogether abolished—prayed the
legislature, in short, to do anything but set up new
corporations with a low franchise, and upon a loose
democratic principle, which must inevitably throw the
municipal administration of all the chief cities and
towns of Ireland into theihands of O'Connell and the
priests ; but their_ prayer was in vain. The demagogue
kept the cauldron bubbling with anti-tithe and anti-
poor-law agitation—the better to make his terms on
this question—and, in an evil hour, a pledge was passed,
that, if those two other affairs were settled satisfactorily,
Ireland, i. e., the Papists, should have the boon they
sought for, namely, municipal reform—as if O'Con-
nellism were not already sufficiently powerful in the
Irish cities and boroughs ! But we must waive the
disagreeable topic. The demagogue is now expelled,
along with his late colleague, Mr. Hutton, from the
representation of Dublin, and we trust this great vic-
tory will inspire the Conservatives with a proper confi-
dence in their strength, and cheer them on to perform
all things that may be necessary to secure their con-
quest.

We must not omit to notice an allegation concerning
the cause of the demagogue's failure, namely, that it
was owing in a great degree to the spread of teetotalism.
The publicans were all to a man O'Connell's sup-
porters, but teetotalism has destroyed them ; their trade
is annilhiated, and their houses are shut up. That Daniel
must have lost several plumpers in this way there
cannot be the least doubt; but further than that, we
are of opinion that in whatever degree you weaken
habits of intoxication and immorality generally, you to
the same extent shake the power of Popery, and im-
prove the strength. of Conservatism. On this ground
we are inclined to place faith in the statement, and
deem it one well deserving of consideration.

The nomination at Carlow was fixed for yesterday ;
the polling would probably commence this day. "On
yesterday(Friday last) says the Carlow Sentinel, "at
two
the agitator arrived in this town—the
o'clock,
cle c "
drivers galloping at a furious pace. The defeat in
Dublin sat heavily on his soul—and he appeared care-
worn, troubled in conscience, and evidently crest-fallen
and mortified. A few raggamutfins attempted to raise
a cheer, but it failed, and he reached his inn in gloom
and despondency." The same excellent journal then
adds, " We hope he will not have time to wipe the
dust from his wallet before we shall drive him to some
place further south." The big beggarman is at length
in a serious hobble, and it is certainly a spectacle which
all good men must enjoy. We long to see the impostor
outwitted—all his knavery failing him—and the knout
which he has been so long earning, and so well de-
serves, laid upon him with proper effect.