The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-08-27 00:00:00

MODERN LIBERALISM,

Modern liberalism is an ignorant, selfish, inconsistent, un-
patriotic, disloyal, ungodly, unfeeling, thing.—
IT IS IGNORANT-wilfully ignorant, for it does not know
and it will not learn the difference between truth and error.
It confounds all creeds—good, bad, and indifferent, toge-
ther. It declares that black is white, and that white is
black. It professes to see as well in the dark as in the
light. It declares that men are as irresponsible for what
they believe as they are for the colour of their skin,—
and consequently if a man believes he has a right to your
property, no man ought to punish him for taking it from you,
—and if he conscientiously believes that he is doing God
service in murdering heretics, no one has a right to interfere
and prevent him. It declares that to walk blindfold over a
precipice in the broad daylight is as sensible and sagacious a
transaction as to enjoy a pleasant ramble in the country in
the midst of the beauties of God's creation, that both acts
are equally worthy of imitation, and both produce equally
agreeable sensations, and both lead to the same felicitous re-
sults. It believes that to worship God and to serve the
devil are both equally harmless—that wholesome food and
deadly poison are both equally nutritious—that the path of
heaven and the road to hell are identical--that the good man
and the bad man are both innocent creatures, equally plea-
sant companions, equally faithful friends, equally trustwor-
thy servants, equally kind and amiable in their deportment,
and both equally likely to be happy and useful in this life, and
blessed in the life to'come. -

--fTI—S§ELFISH AND INCONSISTENT.—It will not permit
any one to have an opinion different from its own on the
great point for which it does battle with the rest of the
world—viz., that no set of opinions have any right to be con-
sidered true to the prejudice of any other set of opinions—
that no doctrines ought to monopolise the market of demand
for what is pure and genuine, but that there should be free
trade in creeds as in batter, new-laid eggs, and cheese. and
consequently that no creed has any claim to theappellation of
the " Truth," but that all but the creed—or rather no-creed
—of liberalism are worthless and execrable rubbish. It de-
clares that no set of men ought to think for others but that
all men should think for themselves, and in the same breath
it modestly demands for itself the exclusive right and extra-
ordinary privilege of thinking for all the rest of the world.
It declares that every man's conscience ought to be held as
sacred as his purse, and in the same breath affirms that no
one has a conscience but itself. It holds that liberty of speech
is the birthright of every man, but permits no one the right
to be heard but itself. It believes that not to be liberal is the
quintessence of all that is bad, and that to believe that there
Is such a quality as bad in the world is the very quintessence
of all that is illiberal. It is shocked at the bigotry of pro-
nouncing a condemnatory judgment upon the sentiments of
any man, but considers no sentence too severe for all who
have not yet given in their adhesion to the principles of libe-
ralism. It stands aghast at the audacity, the intolerance,
the persecuting malignity of the man who dares to attempt
to convert his neighbour to his way of thinking by the pro-
cess of argumentation, and scruples not at the same time to
aim at the prostration of the universal mind of the world be-
neath its own iron hoof, and the subjugation of the human
race to the no-creed of liberalism. It weeps tears of blood
h
at the bare thought of a man being responsible for his
creed, and would shed oceans of blood to coerce millions
into the reception of the " no-creed," and. thus aggrandise
and exalt the ARCH TYRANT LIBERALIsm
IT IS UNPATRIOTIC.—It cares not two straws for na-
tional institutions. In its eyes a babyhouse is as venerable
as St. Paul's Cathedral, and a Noah's Irk as respectable a
structure as Greenwich Hospital. A church which instructs
millions in the precepts of morality and the more important
doctrines of salvation ie utterly contemptible in its estima-
tion, because it is NATIONAL. It despises every allusion to
nationality, and yet strains hard to obtain the nationality of
liberalism. It believes that the country would flourish as
well under the grinding tyranny of papal supremacy as under
the benignant sway of the illustrious house of Brunswick.
It calls the influence which England exerts over its depend-
encies and colonies Lawful. It insults the members of the
reigning dynasty, and blackens the memory of British mo-
narchs who sleep with death. It denies all the orna-
ments of the nation, endeavours to obscure its glories, and
to shear it of its splendours. It depreciates and battles with
all the elements of greatness and durability in the constitu-
tion of the country, and fumes and frets because it cannot
annihilate the national character quickly enough, nor rase to
the ground the venerable and thrice-honoured institutions
of the land with sufficient celerity. That such institutions
should have borne the brunt of countless assaults from their
malignant and unprincipled enemies unscathed, and should
be hoar with the frost of centuries, is to it a matter of un-
utterable reproach. It has amazing confidence in its own
puny strength ; and, as again and again it dashes its frothy
waves against the immoveable rock of the British constitu-
tion, it wonders to see it survive the shock, still rear its ma-
jestic form to the sk), and marvels that it has not toppled
down from its proud and lofty eminence and tumbled into
dust.

IT Is DISLOYAL.—It ridicules the idea of royalty, ex-
cepting so far as royalty may be bent to subserve the purposes
of liberalism. It reverses the scriptural rule, " honour the
king," into " were the king to do honour to you." It
laughs at the royal prerogatives as bubbles—gewgaws to be
used as playthings—to appease rebellions in the nursery of
liberalism. It winks at rebellion across the channel, and
scarcely disapproves of the cry of " Down with the Queen,"
if coupled with " Up with liberalism." It erects its batte-
ries against much that renders royalty revered and beloved
by the British people—amalgamates under its banner the he-
terogeneous battalions of Ilomanisin, infidelity, and sedition
—plants its artillery against the citadel of the Protestant con-
stitution, and opens a destructive fire in the very teeth of
sovereignty, against " the principles which placed the house
of Brunswick on the throne of these realms."
IT IS UNGODLY.—It scarcely knows whether there is a
God or not. But if it allows that there may be such a Being
in existence, it takes special care to act as though there were
none. It laughs at the idea of the Deity taking notice of the
transactions 0. man, , and considers all reference to such
matters " puerility ' and nurno
and
It believes that the
thing—a spirit, a
Deity, if He exist, is every thing
block woodanay principle, a whim,
substance, an essence,
a nothing. It believes that man may
a mental creation, a
worship this Deity and be " a saint, a savage, or. a sage," or
perhaps be all three
at the same
totiamen.ati lotn—betteavteisegtihsaiatttolires
Deity has no right to give laws
have no need of God
ofreligion—that a British
senator has no right to
g his conscience into the House borrin any m
of Parliament, but should leave it in the safe custody a
of his
l
wife at home. Though it will t deny that there
" judgment to come," it holds beneath its notice toyshape
its actions with any reference to that judgment. Though it
cannot altogether declare with any degree of certainty that
" there is no God," it inclines to the belief that
a
hatt alltho events,
that been the wisest men who have thought s,
n
that the advice of Confucius was a soundo practical
admoni-
tion—" respect the gods, but keep them at a distance '•" and
that it therefore will have nothing more to do with God than
it can help, but will keep Him at a distancf,.
doctrines of the
It believes that
the doctrines of the Gospel and the •
devil" are equally worthy of reception, and should both. be
patronised and propagated by the state with perfect eqt.al,i,ty.;
inclines to the belief that the " liberty of the Gospel Is
tyranny and bondage, and that the slavery of sin and Satan
is " lofty and dignified independence ;" holds the religion of
Christ to be capable of amendment from the joint results of
improvement in physical science, the extension of intelli-
gence, and the sketch of the human mind ; considers time
disorders of humanity susceptible of amelioration by the
instrumentality of railroads, steam-engines, deistical educa-
tion, and the unrestricted circulation of obscene and blas-
phemous publications ; acts as if unbridled licentiousness
and the unfettered play of the bad passions of man consti-
tuted the elysium of liberalism; believes the spoliation of
ecclesiastical property to be no sacrilege, if the robbery is
committed with a subservient view to the " liberal" interest,
but rather a good and commendable act, peculiarly in ac-
cordance with the principles of religion and orthodox moral-
ity ; and rather inclines to the persuasion, that the infliction
of " heavy blows and serious discouragements" is the best
means of nourishing and defending the church.
IT IS uNFEELING.—It severs the sweet and hallowed ties
of kindred—the sweeter and softer ties of domestic brother-
hood—the sacred bonds of patriotism—crushes the noble

sentiments of loyalty-..withers up the generous fibres of na.
tionality, which the beneficent Creator has implanted in the
human breast—yields up the bosoms of its unhappy victims
to the conflicting turmoil of incessant restlessness for change,
a rankling and bitter dissatisfaction with the existing consti-
tution of society, and the relative position and relationship
of things•—fills the soul with unhealthy humours, agitates it
continually with a feverish and mad longing for some indes-
cribable and unattainable object, an airy nothing, floating in
the mind's eye, like the .shapeless chimera of a disordered
brain—and deposits in the but too susceptible soil of human
frailty, to bring forth a prolific and deadly harvest, the seeds
of discontent, disloyalty, misery, madness, and despair.—
SUCH is LIBERALISM !! !

MR. SHAND'S ELECTION FOR EVERTON WARD

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

Stn,--Mr. Alderman Hornby communicated to me yes-
terday afternoon, (and I feel obliged to him for so doing,)
that he had stated in the Council held on that day, that Mr.
Quayle had complained to him that after he (Mr. Quayle)
had resigned his seat, and submitted to the action, unneces-
sary and expensive proceedings had, notwithstanding, been
continued against him. Mr. Hornby's speech does not ap-
pear to be fully reported in the newspapers of to-day, the
passage relating to this subject being omitted in the Mail,
and standing thus in Gores Advertiser:—" It had come
to his (Mr. Hornby's) knowledge, that the proceedings
against Mr. Quayle had been carried on after Mr. Quayle's
resignation, with the sole view of increasing the expenses."
As, however, I must suppose Mr. Hornby's own version
of his speech to be the correct one, and as his remarks may
have produced an unfavourable impression on the minds of
those who heard them, and may have been repeated out of
doors, I think it my duty to deny
j that any proceedings (ex-
cepting the mere signing of the judgment) were carried on
after Mr. Quayle's submission to the action.
On Saturday, the 14th of August (the first day of the as-
sizes), Mr. Harvey, the attorney of Mr. Quayle, called upon
me and proposed that if I would not enter the cause for trial,
his client's plea should be withdrawn,-and that Mr. Shand
should have judgment of ouster against Mr. Quayle signed in
London on Monday. In this I acquiesced, and judgment
was accordingly (and of necessity, to perfect Mr. Harvey's
proposal,) signed at the Crown office, on Monday, the 16th
August. This was the only expense incurred after Mr.
Quayle had submitted to the action.

With reference to Mr. Quayle's previous resignation, I
need scarcely state that this act, on his part, neither gave
Mr. Shand his long withheld seat in the couricil, nor enti-
tled him to.his costs (several hundred pounds), in order to
obtain it, and that to effect both or either of these objects,
it was necessary to carry on the suit. I may how-
ever add a few facts having reference to this part of the
charge, and more especially as I think they will be a suffici-
ent answer to the observations of some of Mr. Quayle's
friends at a meeting held .at Everton, on the 16th inst., viz.,
that the proceedings had been vexatious and expensive, and
moreover had been carried on against Mr. Quayle, notwith•
standing his resignation, without any notice to him.
The facts are these :—On the 15th of July last, Mr. Har-
vey called upon me and stated that, as Mr. Quayle was about
to reside in the Isle of Man, he did not feel anxious about a
seat in the council, and proposed that he should resign, when
a new election would take place, and Mr. Shand would no
doubt be returned, and that each party should pay his own
costs. I promised him a reply in a day or two. I was then
unexpectedly called out of town, but Mr. Watson, at my re-
quest, called upon Mr. Harvey on the 20th, and stated to
him that such proposal would not be accepted, and that Mr.
Quayle ought to give Mr. Shand judgment. To this Mr.
Harvey refused to accede, and Mr. Watson informed him
that the proceedings must therefore go on.
On the 27th of July I expressed to Mr. Harvey, at his
office, my regret that the settlement of the case had
not been effected, upon which he stated that Mr. Quayle was
determined to resign. I said that I should take no notice of
a resignation, but continue the proceedings.
If Mr. Quayle had given judgment on the 15th, or even on
the 27th July, and not delayed this step till the 14th of
August, very considerable expellees would have been saved,
but for these he, and not Mr. Shand, is surely answerable.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
THOMAS CARSON.
North John-street, 25th August, 1841.