The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-01-26 00:00:00

CON7'E.IIPORART PRESS.

LORD DURHAM. •
(From tk-e Morning Herald.)

Up'to,the very .moinent of there•assembling of Par-
liament last week, ninety-nine persons in every hundred
of those who had given the matter a thought, imagined,
we Will venture to say, this nobleman to be still, nomin-
ally at least; our ambassador to- the Court of Russia ;
and that he had returned home on leave, merely to, try
his hick 'at a prize in the cabinet lottery ; in which hav-
ing failed, we might soon expect td
.hear .of his return-
ing toa post, which any man of the most ordinary judg-
menttand discretion roust be aware, ought nut to have.
beenwleft, for a single moment, unoccupied. It now
see*, tirivverer, that all this was a mistake—that Lord
Durliain's,Russian embassy was vacated (and, of course,
his salary ceased) from the moment he left.St.Peters-
burg,b;.and,it follows that our inimitable foreign secre-
tary considers it an 'appointment or no earthly conse-
quenpfe, ad one step having been, for six months or
tore; taken to supply the vacancy thus occasioned. In
tile mean time Lord. Durham being,, as. they say, " at
leisure," accepts.a,new appointment, and exchanges the
frozeh regions of the north for the not less wintry wilds
of the west. Whether the noblarlord.will-acquire greater
fames nu the St-Lawrence than his exploits on the Neva.
have yielded him, remains to be seen. He has at least
this consolation and encouragment, that the effort to ac-
complish that need,not be very great.-
Tiretklohn Ball, in Illusion to the honourable member
.for Kilkenny's Canadian politics, elescribes.him as a per-
son " Who. as the evening papers tell us, was, with two
or three of his patriotic friends, expected. one night last
week on a .visit to the Duke of Wellington—not at %Val,
mer,..ovat Si..rathlieklsaye, but at another of •his Grace's
establishments on-tire banks of the Thames." By the-
bye, the crowd assembled on Tower hill upon the occaw
sion in question, seems to have been brought together
by ai common• feeling of probability—no bad guide on
mans, OCcagions. .• • . •

. .r
0»e difficulty presents itself relative to Lord Durham's
Canadian i»ission, which does not yet appear to have
been adverted to ; and it is, that it is most probable be-
arrival there the whigs who sent. hint will be out
of Office. • In-this case hat is to become of the high
commissioner; commander-in chief, vice-admiral,• &c.
Surely all' these•high-sounding titles will not induce the
conservativesio accept" him as an hen-4901n. Should
such be,llie case Ins lordship's. campaign, like.that_of a
certain other great commander, will_have consisted in
4‘ marching up the bill and down again."

THE BALLOT.
(From the London Times.)

The last- argument we offer in condemnation of secret
voting-mitts - irreligious, and immoral tendency—is one
which we• are quite aware will have little. weight with
tile principal advocates of the project; but it is just on
this account that we press the argument the more ear-
nestly upon soch men as Sir George Sinclair and others,
whin may he capable of appreciating its importance, and
willing to bow to its authority.
As Christians are enjoined to be patterns of every
personal, social, and political virtue, so:in the discharge
of duty they are not only warned against :yielding to
" theism- of -me;: which bringeth a snare," but they are
bothird to "renounce the hidden things of dishonesty,"
and to let their. "light so shine before men that others
may behold their good works," and. be instructed by their
example. Now, without pretending., .to indite a homily
upon tots su.)lect, we may be excused for suggesting.
that tlteexeiciseoi-•cowardice or concealment in regard
to any action aPci;ng the public interests were to go
directly in the teeth of these obligations, because, be the
action good or.bad, the cause of virtue must eqmally,suf-
fer, from secresy; - being deprived of, a salutary example
in The one cuse; and of the • means of- exposure in the
other. In all cases of.contested. elections the character
and qualifications of
.canditlates,must, necessarily. be a
test of the moral discernment and political integrity of
voters... •
If
aChristian,lcting -conscientiously.; find it a right
thing, to str:rport or reject a particular candidate, (no
matter whether Mr. Pownall or Joseph Hume,), the in-
terests of. religion, according to. ,his. own views, be lie
chwrchtnan or dissenter, conservative or liberalist,•impe7
ratively verjoi,e that he should giveurn open tes;imony,
in :order that toe di.oinctions between truth and error,
wi!101n and Coll v, moiai;tv and vice, piety and sectarian-
ism, may, noi he,confounded and lost. Assuming, Then,
that every elector is desirous to give a virtuous rote fur
the'benelit of the commonwealth, publicity-is obviously
essential coy the full accomplishment- of his purpose.
The secrecy pf his suffrage would denude; it of, ail the
moral or exemplary inlitience. that ought to attach to
every vir loons action. On thesupposition,for iustance,
that Dr. Pve Smith had possessed no means of recording
if an Open-aniraer the conscientious vote' which he re-
c-btly 2014! 'n favour of Joseph Hume, it is evident that
the-eNeelence of Joseph's character, the. uprightness of
voling that bruck is while, 'the. propriety. of designating
a leeislative recognition of Divine Providence as. cart/
add heti,g, toe duty of encouraging the Canadians to
thiow off the :Janeftil domination of the mother country,
and the spirituality of establishing the ballot nor the pro-
tecilinanf •perfidy and ingratitu:le—it is evident, we say,
that'had.tire'Doetor's tote been a -secret. one, his high
publiC sanction in favour of these matters, which he
doubtless believes to be in accordance with the word 0(
Goof, would have been lost; the world would.. not have.
hacithe. advantage of knowing that Dr. Smith considers
Joseph Horne a better public character than Mr. Pow-
mail; and consequently more worthy of a Christianssop.
port and imitation; and the light of. the Hotnei ion Ga-
maliel would, have been so prevented`froni sit;,/id.,, as
neirirer to reprove the wickedness of.the Protestant con-
stitoenev 14idlilese%, nor to ratify the choke of tile
13,50istr vhi erg or liillennv. In short, ,viewing Christi-
ans as "tire chqdren of the light and of the day," the
ballot. w,01,41t1 maniresilv.restrict the operation of an
portrtai -law of the Redeemer.

:'in-whntever way, the votes of electors maybe
aettplly-gi Yen at the piici..ing-ploce, as proposed ht Mt%
6''.411r4, no. ortson can pretend that promises will nos be
etacietlun4r the contemplated system as inexorably as
at, present., Rio-device can possibly prevent this; and
the-same disability to• nitlthold pledges, which is sup..
prised to be the bane of the existing plan, most he equally
felt, uncleianv new arrangement, as long as the gentry
441 deal With tradesmen, or let their firms to tenants.
Onserve, we are not now questioning the facilities wirich
the bailor artrris for breaking those promises. To the
lovers of "tile hidden s" of dishonesty" we may
niomeniatily concet4 that its folds for coveting them in
thick daiLaess are impenetrable. But we are lerion;ng,
at present with ieligious men: audio reference to .such
persons, we are.enritied to maintain, broadly and abso-
linelv, that whenever a promise is really given, they ale
bound at all sacrisces to fulfil it. We frankly own, how-
ever, that although there is no moral turpitude in moVely
asking. a promise, theme must he very serious guilt in
giving it contra, yto •one's conscience. The utmost cir-
cumspection and independence should be exercised in
listening to applications for a vote, and still mote in fa-
V-orreing them: A high. sense of. duty should be the de-
termining. principle in all such cases. The power of an
arialicant In injure •a voter forum a cogent reason: why
the latter should nut permit his.conscience to be ensnared
by a mere regard to his worldly interests. To resist
every solicitation, threat, or bribe,. is the bbunden dirty
of ever, upright elector whose convictions of, propriety
arty opposed to such influences. But when once his prO•..
miss is-actually given, there is no conceivable plea. that
can justify its violation. The ballot may cloak his du-
plicity, and the confessional may pretend to absolve it ;
yet, as long as the " man that sweareth to his hurt and
changeth not" is declarer! in- Scripture (1516 Psalm) to
be an Object of Divine approbation. it is plain that the
rule involved in such applauded fidelity Must be impera-
tive upon every ,professlir of Christianity . and, conse-
quen!lvi. asno device-can be found to prevent lice asi,;ng,
and giving of promises, no e:Tedient.can be Fe.orirci to,
(!insi'stenrfb with religious principle, to secute impunity
for their infringement. •
Finally, the ballot can be viewed by Christians. no
otherwise than as -a dexterous contrivance to protect a
ittran'S worldly interests at the expense of .iris integrity.
We have already seen that the e%action -:and
.giving of
promises cannot possibly be prevented. 7 Now, an elector
will either be disposed to vote according to his promise,
Or he'! will nut. We therefore contend, that as in.the
one case there is no neceBsity for concealment, so in the
other there ought to be no protection for treachery. A
cowardly and mercenary promise is bad enough ; a base
andlkulking violation of it is still worse ;. but an ela-
borate and legalized plan to facilitate such doings is.
worstuf all: it is a systematic plot against truth and
tighteonsness If any serious person support.the ballot,
whether chutchman or dissenter, he is " doing evil that
good may come ;" albeit, with the additional aggrava-
tion., that the evil thereof is as palpable as the good is
doubtful, even were it fully realized.

The way for religious men to test the•thing is to take
,actual case of evely•day occurrence. Sir George
So-andsSo is a candidate for the stOrages of a large con-
atitnenev. Mr. Thingunibob, the boot,maker, a member
orShepheed's-market meeting-house, whose•minister has
.iefus:.d to pay his church:rates, works for him. The ba-
ronet's committee beset Thingumbob for his vote, who,
wnxiiins to teep both his customer and his consci-
ence, permits his name to be booked among Sir George's
pledged supporters. *Nay, rte. must even enrol himself
On one a em plover's parochial. committees. He does
attends ail-its meetings, is-privy to -all its,coun-
ells, busies himself in sending out cirentars, and does all
*hat mist bootibaker: can do in, apparent.furthetance of
tit patron-1s int'er'ests. But when• the day of .balloting
terrivek, the-unhappy tradesman's dissent Bets the better
of his honesty, and he blackballs the candidate whom he
baK"ptoresseil to support..., The ethics of Shepherd's
Irigri/i'rPrkrail:over: the morals of the 15th Psalm. r If
any Christian' can either prevent this under the ballot
system or vindicate it, we respectfully invite him to try