The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-10-26 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS

Notwithstanding the somewhat stale indignation of the wri-
ter of the letter signed " Churchman," we assure him that
we shall continue to notice public occurrences according
to our own discretion. If our irate correspondent had but
taken the trouble to read the article, he would have found
that it was exclusively descriptive, and that the expression
of any opinion whatever was carefully avoided. At the
same time, we do not despair of seeing a spire over the
entrance to the place in question ; and we have as little
doubt that the line of conduct which we have chosen to
adopt will have materially tended to that very desirable
object.
Are the lines by "R. C." original?
The letter of " A Poor Wesleyan" is faulty in several re-
spects. How can he consistently style the Established
Church an invention of man? As well might he so deno-
minate the doctrine of the trinity.
The remonstrance of " A Friend of Truth" will not suit our
columns.
The money paid by " Censor" is invested for the good of the
society he alludes to, and, therefore, the member to whom
he alludes will, in case of sickness or any other emergency
contemplated by the society, derive all the advantage which
any individual member of such an association usually re-
ceives under such circumstances.
" A Jewish Conservative" need not fear that the gratuitous
advice of the Albion will he generally adopted by the mem-
bers of the Jewish persuasion. These electors our con-
temporary has always evinced an especial desire of taking
under his protection ; and he, no doubt, feels deeply
aggrieved that the Jews, notwithstanding his advice, have
frequently been found voting for the real " friends and
advocates of their civil rights." It will be so we opine at
the approaching struggle, and the Jewish electors will
show that they can distinguish between the noisy brawlers
of liberty, who are generally the greatest tyrants in practice,
and those who, without such unnecessary professions, are
always the foremost to redress the slightest grievance which
can with safety be remedied.

tEbt Eibtrpoot g9tanbarb.

TUESDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 26, 1841

When the Irish Agitator had come to his last card,
it was his invariable practice to appeal to his dupes by
the terrors and hatred associated in their mind with the
idea of "Tory domination." Under the ministry of
Sir Robert Peel, they were to expect nothing but a
reign of terror. Hanging, drowning, and quartering
were to be but a mere pastime for her Majesty's func-
tionariei, civil and military; and the whole land should
mourn. His hearers groaned responsively, and be-
came violently agitated; some gnashed their teeth with
rage, and seemed to desire an immediate command to
arms; whilst others dropped tears of sorrow, most pa-
thetically, and hung down their heads in deep dejection
for the anticipated misfortunes of their country. The
question on every man's lips, of course, was, If Sir
Robert Peel and the Duke, scorpion Stanley and the
Conservatives, do really come into power, what will
become of us ?

Our Liberals of Liverpool have evidently taken a
leaf from the lesson-book of so competent a master;
and, foreseeing that their " bad eminence," too long
enjoyed in the Corporation, is now within one week of
final dissolution, exclaim, what is to become of our
town, but more particularly of our Corporation schools,
when the Conservatives get into possession ?

The alarm on this subject seems to run through the
ranks like a very plague; every other consideration
appears in comparison to have sunk into insignificance.
Mr. Redding, addressing a meeting of the reform elec-
tors of North Toxteth Ward, is reported to have ex-
horted his countrymen (the Irish electors resident in
Liverpool)

" not to be deterred from doing their duty fearlessly, qui-
etly, and soberly, and to scorn all the bribes and temptations
of the men who, if they got into power, would deprive every
Catholic child of the means of education, as far as lay in
their power, and every Catholic adult of the chance of hold-
ing a situation under the corporation."

Mr. George Quayle, of litigate notoriety, at a meet-
ing in Scotland Ward (for which he has the modesty
to become a candidate), harangued with extraordinary
pathos on this topic, and implored the electors, of all
things, to support a man like himself, who knew how
to educate the people aright, and would be liberal in
dealing out education indiscriminately to all.
Now we do not deny that education is a subject of
very great importance, and that the trust committed
to members of the Municipal Council, with regard to
the management of the Corporation Schools, is one of
great responsibility; but we do protest against the
supposition that this trust would be in better hands if
committed to Mr. Redding, or Mr. George Quayle, or
other gentlemen of liberal politics, than it would be in
the hands of Mr. David Hodgson, Mr. Harbord, or
other Conservatives ; and we do further protest against
the agitation of the subject now, as a mere electioneer-
ing ruse. The organs of the party indeed pretend that
we are anxious to evade the question.
This is just the time," says the Mercury, " for the agi-
tation of such questions, and the shirking of them is but a
leaf taken from the ultimatum of Dr. Peel, not to prescribe
till he had been regularly called in, and pocketed his fees.
If our contemporary and his friends were honest, they should
at once say what they intend to do, and then the electors
would have full opportunity for consideration whether it
would be wise and prudent to give them the means of doing
4 ,P

The Liverpool Journal is quite astonished at our
having referred to the practice of the Presbyterians in
Ireland, and alluded to it with any approbation.

" It really requires," says our cautious contemporary,
" something more than the ipse dixit of an anonymous
writer, however respectable his position, to believe that the
Tory party in a body meditate such an entire desertion of
principle as this implies."

And he concludes by alleging that it is
" a fraud on the honest liberal, and a fraud on the honest
zealot. To those who contend for exclusiveness, it offers
, ascendancy' ; to those who contend for equality, it offers
`ascendancy.' It is a sliding scale of conscience for the use
of political jugglers. It is the newest adaptation of the prin-
ciple of expediency for steering the vessel of the state, a-la-
Peel, with the minimum amount of ballast of honour and
consistency."

But our contemporaries have evidently not done us
the favour to consider our observations. We have
really not endeavoured to mystify the subject in the
least; nor have we, consciously, availed ourselves of
the high precedent to which they allude ; and we now
beg to thank them for reminding us of it—for we
could not possibly have better.
The Conservatives of Liverpool have not yet gained
an efficient power in the Council; and why should
they talk of what they would do, any more than our
gifted Premier, till, by the returns at the ensuing elec-
tion, they become actually possessed of it ? . The Con-
servative candidates may fairly rely on their general

.
PrittOlillogi WO wi thoit- thtor for obtAinitig
grioapil of t 44 doetoo, without pledging thomolvo2
to any particular plan prSt(3lll in the matter of the
schools. ThQy look for support as Conservativei, and,
as Conservatives, we expect it will be given to them
abundantly, irrespectively of any decision they may
hereafter come to on the question of education. This
is, in substance, what we have said on this point, and
said in reply to liberal insinuations, that. Conservatives
would do all manner of illiberal things immediately on
gaining the desired ascendancy. We contended, in
short, simply, that the Conservatives were unpledged
as to any particular scholastic system, and that they
ought to continue so till they had an opportunity of
acquiring full information, and of choosing their mea-
sures with the deliberation justly due to so important
a question. Our liberal contemporaries may call this
" shirking," " evading," or what they please; but we
have no doubt that it will commend itself to every
Conservative as the plain, common sense of the matter.
With regard to the principle of a Conservative school
system, we spoke altogether on our own responsibility;
and in this respect there is nothing that we wish to
evade. Our contemporaries are quite welcome .to the
benefit of our poor thoughts, at any time, gratis.
The Presbyterian system in Ireland we alluded to as
just that which any consistent, and yet truly liberal
body of enlightened men, might be supposed to adopt;
it is; in fact, what they always will adopt ; it is the
vervystem of the constitution. The Church of Eng-
land is the church of the majority ; it is the church
established by law ; but it is neither exclusive nor in-
tolerant. Consistent Churchmen and Conservatives
would act upon the principle in all analagous cases.
They would, if establishing schools, adopt the rule of
" church education," religiously speaking ; but they
would not be bound to make it exclusive, or to admit
of no deviation from it. As a national system, we
cannot conceive anything else that would be national.
This, unfortunately, was not the rule adopted by the
commissioners of what is called "national" education
in Ireland; their system was one of perfect "liberty
and equality"—no ascendancy—no settled, preferable
truth—and the Scriptures mutilated to suit the taste
of all parties This was shamefully miscalled national
education ; it was sheer Liberalism. Such a system
we utterly reprobate and condemn; there was no con-
sistency in churchmen establishing it. What would be
consistent we have already intimated ; and so much we
certainly do expect, and shall look for, from a Conser-
vative Council, when established, in Liverpool. Tho-
mas Bolton, Esq., a liberal mayor, may call this mode
of doing things " impertinent;" but we take leave to
tell him that there is nothing in the world more perti-
nent to the cause of loyalty, morality, and good order.
Education, to be worth anything, must be religious.
Let those who please, in the exercise of their own free
will, or private caprice, establish non-religious semina-
ries ; the duty of the state and of public bodies is
otherwise; with them the promotion of a sound religious
education should be a first object. A Conservative
Government, or 'Conservative body of men, is not, in
this country, happily, left at sea as to the sort of reli-
gious education they would choose ; they are at home,
and agreed upon this point : the only question can be,
as to the extent of relaxation which they ought to per-
mit in their rules ? That there should be some, few
will deny ; the degree and the variation must depend
on circumstances.

The contemporaneous history of Spain is a sort of
protracted romance, the country itself a stage on which
melodrame succeeds melodrame, tragedy tragedy, while
all the rest of Europe looks on as spectators in a
theatre. Writers of fiction are constantly accused of
inventing what is too marvellous, wild, and strange for
real life ; but they answer, that the marvellous of real
life far outstrips any which they can invent. The al-
most every-day occurrences of Spanish history would
seem to justify this remark. One of the more exciting
and brilliant of the series is now just coming to a close.
It wants nothing to form a most capital subject for the
dramatist—from the first breaking out of the rebellion
to the revolt of the guards and midnight attack upon

the royal palace.
Some of our contemporaries are gravely occupied in
inquiring who were the authors of this most wanton
and ferocious onset, and are embarrassed by contra-
dictions. The Queen Mother denies the charge; the
official organ of Louis Philippe would cast off the im-
putation from him, and the affair is involved in mys-
tery. To us it appears to be simply an ordinance of
fate, or, to speak more correctly, of that Providence
which has decreed that there shall be no rest or peace

to nations except upon terms no one of which have
been attended to in the case of distracted and unhappy
Spain. It is scarcely to be believed that Maria Chris-
tina was wholly ignorant of the late movement, either
in its inception or its progress, notwithstanding her
express allegation to this effect in reply to the interro-
gatory put to her on the subject by M. Olozago, the
Spanish Minister in Paris. The very attempt to de-
part from the terms of this declaration by a subsequent
explanation, in addition to much other evidence, shows
clearly that it was not true. If the conspiracy were
not organised by her, why did she not at once disavow
the proceedings of those who acted in her name ? If
she were not very well content to await the issue of the
struggle, why did she not raise her voice against those
who presumed to raise the standard of revolt under a
false pretence, and thus at once paralyse the arm of
traitors ?

Madame Muroz did nothing of the sort ; but, though
ambitious of recovering her lost power, and willing
enough that blood should be shed in the attempt to
regain it, she may have added the meanness of ob-
scuring her share in the transaction to the flagrant
guilt of having advised or sanctioned it. With regard
to the King of the French, there is no further evidence
against him, beyond that of the hospitality and friend-
ship which Maria Christina receives at his court, and
the desire which he is supposed to feel, in common
with former sovereigns of France, of taking Spain un-
der the special protection of la grande nation. "He
has aided the rebellion," says his accusers, " in order
to facilitate a match between the Duke D'Aumale and
Isabella the Second. It is a new passion which he
has to imitate the Grand Monarque : in order that a
younger son of France may be King of Spain, all this
blood is spilled, this treasure expended, and this peril-
ous shock given to a state scarcely settled in its place
after years of civil anarchy. The hotheaded traitors
who have raised the war cry are wicked enough; but,
if this story be true, the cool, calculating matchmaker,
who uses a deposed Queen for his go-between, and
sets down the peace of a nation at the cost of his fancy,
is the worst criminal."

Accusations of this kind are easily made, but they
ought not to obtain credit whilst they rest on nothing
better than the scattered elements of a vague suspicion.
There are restless spirits in France in abundance, of
whose aid the disappointed ex-Regent may, doubtless,
have availed herself; but, with regard to the King,
we are reluctant to entertain the idea that he was her
confidant or a participator in her detestable intrigues,
and still worse insurrection.

It is a matter of much congratulation at all events,
that the wicked attempt may be now said to have
entirely failed, and if it has tended in any degree to
awaken a jealousy, on our part, of French influences
exercised beyond the Pyrenees, it is at the same time
satisfactory to think that those influences are far from
being, just now, in the ascendant.

It will be seen by the further intelligence from
America, brought by the George Washington, that the
solemn farce of the Trial of Mr. M`Leod commenced
on the 4th instant, and was progressing slowly at the
date of our latest advices. We guess that, after all,
the Yankees will take but little by this motion. They
have been digging a pit for others ; we shall see if
they do not fall into it themselves. It is true they
may get witnesses to prove that Mr. M'Leod was en-
gaged in the capture of the Caroline.; but judging
from what we now see of the evidence—even that of
the --Kosecutor—we shall be much surprised if at least
one result of the trial will not be, to make out as
ample' a justification for the capture in question, as
M‘Leod or his countrymen could possibly desire.
Why, the thing is already growing rank even upon the
admission of Wells, the owner of the Caroline, who
acknowledges that he carried over a six pound cannon
to the heroes of Navy Island by the same vessel, and
other witnesses for the prosecution, who depose as to
the cannonading from the island, and other facts which
establish a casus belli abundantly sufficient to excuse

cokir

of tho etinnori.tramporting

anti
Pondlniz her over the falls t and th 14 but the very
comrnencerner4t of the trlul ! St, M`Looa, we may
rest assured, has plenty of evidence to the same effect;
and whether he prove an alibi, or whatever other de-
fence he may set up on his own account, we conclude,
from the glimpses now afforded us, that he will
establish such a case for our government, in a national
point of view, as shall make the trial appear in the
eyes of the world about as impudent a transaction, on
the part of brother Jonathan, as ever was attempted
with a grave face.
If the Caroline were not engaged in the way alleged
on our part; if she were a peaceful trader—perfectly
neutral—used in no unlawful traffic—plying honestly
for her owner in 'no contraband, but perfectly legitimate
traffic ; why then there was a great error committed on
our side in laying hands upon her, whether within or
without the boundary of the United States; and we
owe them not only acknowledgment, but compensation
for the wrong we have done. But if the very con-
trary,of all this be the truth ; if this vessel were hired
and employed by a lawless gang of vagabonds to assist
' rebels in our own territories, and invaders out of them
—why,. of course we were justified in taking so dan-
gerous a weapon out of their hands and"destroying it.
This, then, is our case—a case, by the way, which, it
may be fairly alleged, we have established long since,
else why have the American government gone to sleep
upon the affair, and failed to follow it up as one in
which they had a right to redress ? But our national
case is M'Leod's case; and if the Americans have no
right to demand compensation or satisfaction from
Great Britain nationally, still less have they to require
it from a solitary individual, whatever part that indi-
vidual may have acted on the,occassion.
This is all quite plain; and yet the State of New
York is now enacting the scandalous farce of trying a
British subject for assisting in the capture of the pirate
steamer—an act for which, if he were concerned in it,
we honour and applaud him. Such a farce might have
had a tragic termination ; but thanks to the forbear-
ance, the magnanimity, and the good temper of
Englisinen, we may now easily see that the affair will
blow over, and end as it begun—in a little harmless