The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-02-23 00:00:00

of O'Connell's speeches, inch were only operative ai iti-
centivesto violence. The habitual:deceit of the
justifies this supposition. priests
On the proposed repeal of the Catholic Relief Bill
the Ahitury observes :

" Although, with 'the exception of the Administrations of
Earl they and Lord ltlelboutne, the polky or the British
Government toWards Ireland has been virtually a premium on
insurrection or rebellion, no rheature was ever devised by the
Orange-Tory faction so certain to lead to a civil war or gene-
ral rebellion as to the measure which the .Rev. M 'l%l eite has
indre than once had the hardihood to propose at the. public
meetings held nt the. Amphitheatre and' elsewhere,. The pro-
ject of repealing the Catholic Belief Bill, which never entered
into the conception of .any except a few political and religious
Quixotes, is so extravagant that we should not Waste the time
of our readers by entering into any argument with its pro-
pounder. .11 is sufficiently irritating to withhold froM men their
natural Or political rights, but the attempt, to, deprive theta of
such privileges after they have been wrung from the oppressor
more perilous. Frantic'anit hopeless as the propo-
sition is, it appears, boo ever, thata feW petitions for'the repeal
Of the Caiholic Emancipation hill •have been intruded on the
patience of Parliament."
The Mercury then prOceetisAndescribe the Mariner in
Which the petition-recently presented by Mf. Plumptre
'was received in the Honse of Com Mons. This petition
was.signed by upvtards of 3000 Protestants, and prayed
for the exclusion of. Roman Catholics from Parliament.
' The facts complained of 'are thus stated
That, upon,the admission Of Roman Catholics to Parlia-
ment, a certain security Was intended to be proVided by the Le-
gislature for the Church Establishment. 2. That the security
,has proved wholly inefficacious. Under these circumstances,
the.petitiOners huntlAYsubmit to the [louse, that it is absolutely
necessary to devisersome more effectual safeguard for: ourna-
Aioual establishments that• scriptural authority, and the princi-
ples of the British constitution: as well as experience, call fur
the total exclusion.,or Homan Catholics from the legislature;',
and the petitioners hnusbly s implore the [louse to take such
steps as
,may be iiiiemed advisable- for the accomplishment of
this essential ohject..'!
We tallnpon the ,e.ditor of the Mercury to prove the
injustice, orlite,opprission of eicluding- front Parliament
men upon, whip's-6- siiiemn oaths no reliance can be placed.
He may rely upon it that the Protestant people of Eng-
land will soon discover. the, expediency of resorting to
-this ‘‘ extravagant prOjeet."
On the prayer of the' petition to which we have re-
ferred our eiceilent contemporary,- the Dublin Record,
has the following ientarlis
`•This is either true, or it is false. If it be false, let it be
proved tube so If„on the contrary, the alleged fact cannot be'.
disproved, we do fearlessly assert, that the Protestants of the
United Kingdoth htiVe been swindled out of their protective
constitution, ittiderfalse pietences, and that they have the most
perfect right imaginable, and are called upon .by,tbe_ strongest
moral duty likewise, to reclaim either that constitution in ail its
integt it y, eke to insist upon the fulfilment of the security so
unequivocally pressed upon them as a palladium against what
- they justly dreaded. .But now they are told, that.they are not
so tunch as to inuraturagainst the swindling trausaction,,o r to

remonstrate with the notorious violators of the solemn contract

is this to be endured ? We know well how the parliament of
1.688 would have treated such a species of conduct is any of
their members. And we know also that there is Protestantism
egoughin the United Kingdom to make itself respected in the
Muse or Common!, if it would but awake trout its sacrilegious
slumber.' "

" We do not believe there is a single person of even ordinary
tincletstanding whO can doubt the truth of the allegations in the
Prot eitaut petition ;. so that we are now called upon to establish
by an train of reasoning, that the votes of "certain members"
ate obviously iu direet opposition to the purport and intent of
the oath imposed on Roman Catholics by the bill of 15.29; with
the avowed object of preserving the established churches from
innovation. That The conduct of Roman Catholic members iu
acting. in opposition to that oath was, in ikeir own apprehenSion,
" perjury," is what .we can by nu means admit. No: by the
Inuit indubitable declarations of their church, to keep oaths.
taken for the Maintenance of a church deemed by them "he-
retical," would be perjury; while to.violate such oaths would
be an imperative. nay a sacred duty.
Whenever Doctor Dem;; Murray calls upon us for proof of
this formidable assertion, proof he shall have, even to saliety.'.
" Here, then, we relieve Roman Catholics from the charge
of any perjury at all—that is, of any thing iliey imagine to be
perjury : but we.do so at the, entire expense of their compe-
tency to give any valid security whatever to a Protestant state,
except their total exclusiin [tom legislative power.
" The Rowan •Cattiolic members Cook the prudent course of
.not opposing the petition,.but of begging -rather that it should
be quietly received. The less ionise inadeiaboue it, they though!,
the better. And-So tkey.-itnagiue the affair has ended. But so
it must n'ot end. '1 he time has arrived, when Protestants must
either 'speak .out 'oi.surrender unconditionally. The exaMple
has. been set: 13V three thousand: men. •Let. tt be followed by'
Many million's, and we will undertake that their peirtitius will
ultimately succeed." .

ELECTION Porato-Ns.—Siti.ce our last, several of the
election conimittees-•have decided on the merits of the
petitions 'submitted .to. them.-- It is a remarkable'' fact
that, in .etery case when the majority of the committee
were
.radicals, the decision has been 'uniformly given
against the conservatives. •, • . . •
In tie case of the Ipswich petition, Mr. Kelly andAlr.-
Tuffuell . are even on the• pull, whilst Mr. Gibson con-
tinues to maintain his stipei iority. 'We confidently an-
ticipate a gain
.0 •Que vote to theconserlatite interest
by the rejection. of Mr. Tuffnell. As to poor Rigby,
Wagon; we believe he has not the shadow of a chance.
The-Belfast eleCtion committee have (heckled that Mr.
Gibm,n's qualification Was insufficient, and at the termi-
nation of theproc.eedings on Wednesday thete were six
votes struck off Lord Belfases poll, so
,that we, may in
this case calculate upon two additional votes on the con-
servative side of the house.

Sit Samuel Whalley has very prudently retired'from
the representation ofMarylebone,.at the suggestion of
his counsel, who candidly informed him that:he had not
the necessary qualitication. A fresh elecaon of course
takes place, when we hope the consel yank es will muster
all theit strength.'. We should nut feel surprised tO'hear.
that the disConsolaie William Ewart be placed in
nomination bY the radicals.. The metropolis shares with
Ireland the unenviable distinction' of being a refuge .for
the dkcarded ptilitjeians of the day.•

THE DISTRESSED POOR.—We ,have received several
communications—relative to the destitute state of the
poor in several. Wf the, most pOptilotts districts of the.
town. Notwitbstading, the unparalleled exertions of the
various conuitittees:•connected with the difrerent public
cbarities, the greatest distress yet exists,. in Nome dis-
tricts. to alt extent ost Ini redible. In the neighbour-
hoodof Vauxhalltrtad, 'and especially in • the streets. to
the westward of theta are hundreds:of families
actually starving pr want -orfood. We have conversed
with a.geittleihatt,sl,lio:Jias.:viSited toocbs, in this,-,district,,
tut froin,his statwient vie learn, that in several of
sfaaithies.every arflt;lt of furnitnre and wearing• apparel
Las.. been . pledged in order. to purchase food Seteral
small .siiins"of twOney • have been contributed by their
nwre fortunate neighbours, and relief adminiltered un-
der the.direction,Othe Rev. J. H. Stafford, .111inister of
Paul's ChurchrWitose zeal on . behalf of these pobr
.pebille is most praiseworthy. But private benevolence
isaptite inadequate:to supply the necessities of all who!
stand as need of assistance. An appeal is therefore
niatle to the public? on behalf of these diStressed people,
who are flow enduring the pangs of hunger, and almost
inithoitt.clo.thing to protect them from the severity of the
'weather. Some idea may be formed of the extent of

distress now prevalent, from the fact, that the Rev. J.H.
Stafford has been occupied several days, from ten to
'twelve, in simply taking down the names of those in-

. . _
dividuals praying for relief. The inhabitants of St.
Nur% ward liave liberally contributed the sum of £125,
but the distribution of the sum is strictly confined to the
inhabitants of their own ward. No local association has
been formed in thedistrict 'of Vauxhall-roar;, and hundreds
have therefore been left to the casual and almost un-
-ceitain relief-afforded .by then pblic soup establishinents„
It is'suggested that-4 number of the soup tickets be
dis-
tributed atnongst the poor of this district, 'under the di,
rection of M. Staffiird, which would go .far. to. relieve
immediate.necessiiies. Subscriptions on behalf of the
Poor of this.neizlibottrhood, will be most thankfully re,
eeived by Mr.,Sta,(ford, at his residence, 28, Islington ;
by • Mr. Jones, I9i Earle-street, and at the Newspaper
offices. •

•
TRIBUT* T 0 Ma. Eus..trioN SMIIH., it wt.l be seen, that the
1)4).10. in nineilliin or SUtPS4 rihers In this testiiii.,tii4 I a.e
ieviittire will he linalls closed on the fits! of Sla telt
~next In
I!:e•tilean titue tlii,4 tiho feel' desii tins of plitintiling the object
of the con.ii.illee will, on refrience•-to the advertisetuetil, find
the names of those `tit whuut subsctiptious may be paid.