The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-01-17 00:00:00

CONTEMPORARY PRESS,

THE O'CONNELLITE MEETING AT DUBLIN.
(From the Morning Herald.)
The meeting of the Ministerialists in Dublin, on Fri-
day last, may be regarded as one of the expiring efforts
of the desperate faction which has rioted on the pa-
tronage of Ireland for fire years past. In itself, the
affair was utterly contemptible. The speeches were of
the sorriest description—disgraceful, indeed, they might
be termed in reference to the lack of talent exhibited,
to any but a congregation of O'Connellites.
The impudent cant which these petty fogging traders
in agitation pour forth is, in itself, utterly disgusting.
They talk of " oppressed Ireland," of " tory tyranny,"
and of the necessity that exists for " striking a blow
in behalf of Ireland," as if they really believed in the
existence of some conservative plot for the extermina-
tion of Irish Papists ! Lord Brabazon spoke of the
present Ministry in the following strain :
"But, remember, at thp same time, and allow me most
anxiously to impress it on your memory, that it is not for any
mere empty objects we fight, but that we are entering into
a struggle for the sustainment of those sacred principles of
justice which are professed, and, what is more, acted upon
by the Governnient under which we have the happiness of
living—(cheers,) which are bringing forth abundant fruits in
Ireland, and in innumerable instances have conferred practi-
cal benefits on the empire, (Hear, hear.) I think there is
no man here that will not agree with me in saying that we
are bound to make the greatest sacrifices to maintain those
principles ; and the man that does not agree with me is un-
worthy of the cause he has adopted. (Hear.) The under-
taking in which we are engaged is of no small moment. It
is of the most vital importance, and this must strike every
man who recollects that our opponents are actuated by a
spirit of the most determined hatred and hostility to this
country. The spirit is now far stronger than it ever was be-
fore ; for the people in all parts of the country, at least in
England, are stirred up by a parcel of men whom I may call
politico-religious crusaders, who are going about from town
to town misrepresenting us,-and putting forward as facts as-
sertions that are most essentially opposed to truth and sense,
and thus gulling the people. (Hear, hear.")
What may this impudent gabble really import ?
What are " the principles of justice," in reference to
Ireland, professed and acted on by the whigs ? The
" principles" which the mountebanks now in office,
along with the mountebanks of the " tail," were wont
to style " the principles of justice," were the " princi-
ple" of the Municipal Corporation Bill, and other
"principles" of the same stamp. But these principles
are now abandoned ; and it is impossible to prove that
any one of those "principles," the assumed necessity
for asserting which led to the establishment of the
Lichfield-House alliance, has ever been "carried out."
No : the whigs have pocketed public money; O'Con-
il el and his satellites have revpil. in the Patronage of
Ireland;
and both O'Connell and the -wings haxe
laughed at the simplicity of those who expected them
to redeem the pledges which they gave in 1835.
In so far as " principles" are concerned, the Irish
Papists owe more to the conservative government which
passed the Emancipation Act than to all the whig go-
vernments that ever existed. The ingratitude with
which O'Connell and his gang have requited the fatal
" concessions" of 1829 is a natural consequence of
that great mistake on the part of the Duke of Wel-
lington and of Sir Robert Peel. Grapes are not to be
gathered from thistles.
The following observations by Lord Brabazon prove
that the whigs are pretty conscious of the dangers that
surround them.- if their Popish body guard shall fail
them, the present occupants of office feel that all is
lost :

" Gentlemen, remember that the very existence of the pre-
sent ministry, in consequence of the nicely balanced state of
parties in the House of Commons, and the country generally,
depend mainly, if not entirely, on the steady support, and
upon the stability of that support they alone rely, which sends
Irish members to Parliament—(hear, hear). On their sup-
port the ministry alone depends at this present moment, and
it is therefore necessary for the constituencies of the country
from one end of Ireland to the other, to put them and their
return to Parliament in such a state of security as will place
them beyond the reach of danger—(hear, hear). By a little
exertion, by timely energy they may place themselves and
their representatives in such a position that all attacks, no
matter from whence they come, will prove fruitless and hope-
less—(hear, hear). I ask you, gentlemen, is not that a game
worth playing for? Is it not a a game worth contending for?
Is it not a game for securing that which we should be all
ready to make sacrifices for, however little or great they may
be ?—(hear, hear.)"
Assuredly, the "game" is worthy to be played by
the Popish faction. The power of mal-administering
the law in Ireland is of infinite importance to the im-
plaCable enemies of England.
Mr. Sharman Crawford took part in this miserable
exhibition. The worthy gentleman has evidently been
compelled to succumb to the O'Connell influence. He
prated, accordingly, in the most approved "liberal"
fashion about the necessity of "union amongst all
classes of reformers."
The Duke of Leinster and the Earl of Charlemont
sent an address to the people of Ireland—an address
which expressed nothing but the determination of these
noble persons to adhere to the whigs at all hazards. It
were a pity if the whigs should lose such supporters
at such a time !
The hero of the day was Daniel himself, He ad-
dressed the rabble before him in his customary style of
brutality—of stupid, unredeemed brutality. The open-
ing sentences of this harangue furnish a fair specimen
of its merits :
" Mr. O'Connell then came forward. He was received
with cheers. He said lam not able to speak, because lam
extinguished. (Laughter.) Sure I was extinguished by the
gin-drinking vagabonds of the London press. (Laughter.)
Then as I am extinguished, will you tell me what I am to
do? Then, first, hurrah for old Ireland, and hurrah for the
Queen. (Cheers.) Well, these hearty cheers bring me to
life again, and I believe I must make a speech, though it
shall' be a short one;' and if I were an orator, as you all
know I am not, there never was a period in the history of
these countries when it was more necessary to raise the voice
of genuine oratory in support of universal rights than the
present' moment. (Cheers.)"
II the " universal rights" of Ireland have yet to be
established, what have Mr. O'Connell and his honest
Whig allies been about for five years past ?
The second object of this Dublin meeting—the first
being to impart a semblance of strength to the whigs
—was blazoned by Daniel towards the close of his
harangue. That object is to put pence into the mendi-
cant's pouch. Daniel is not the man to work for
nothing.
" The Protestants and Catholics have united in working
out the temperance cause, and yet the orange gang say there
is some horrible conspiracy on foot--(a laugh). We mean to
amalgamate the two associations, the Loyal Reform Asso-
ciation, to which I belong, and the Reform Registry Asso-
ciation, which meets in Westmorland-street, and of which
many f the gentlemen present are members—(hear). Every
man who pays a pound will be recognised as a member of the
committee ; and none who can afford the sum, you may de-
pend, will refuse to give it. Then, all the members of Par-
liament and gentlemen of fortune connected with Ireland but
residing in England, will be appointed members of a com-
mittee to sit in England, and then we shall be enabled, five
or six of us, to go to Lord Palmerston and other noble lords
to ascertain whether their agents in Ireland are bringing up
, their tenants to register—(hear, hear). We will write from
London to every proprietor among the liberal interest in Ire-
land. From Donegal to Kerry we will stir them up with a
long pole—(laughter). We will thus get up an association,
in which shall be combined persons of various shades of opi-
nion—(hear, hear). Many causes lead to slight differences
of opinion. I, myself, hold opinions differing from persons
of unsuspected patriotism. I mean, therefore, to move that
an association be formed in which all persons paying one
pound, and all members of the two societies already formed,
will be admitted. The honourable gentleman then read the
names of the finance committee and the rules of the proposed
society, and concluded by saying, thus we will get the screw
on all reluctant persons ; for I have ever remarked that some
people are never so patriotic as when their patriotism and
interest run in the same channel—(hear). This association
will prove a stumbling block in the way of hypocritical Peel,
and it will frustrate the plots and defeat the machinations of
the daring Bradshaws and Robys—(cheers)." •
The." pounds" of which Daniel speaks will, we ven-
ture to predict, prove marvellously few. The whole
affair, regarded in the light of an attempt to get up a
demonstration in favour of the whigs must be pro-
nounced a signal failure. On the following day, a "re-
form banquet" was given ; and there, too, O'Connell
was the leading orator. His speech at the banquet
was even worse than his speech at the meeting of the
previous day. The man is, in fact, a driveller, who
endeavours, by the most brutal scurrility, to compen-
sate for the decay of powers, never of a high order.

THE WEST INDIES.L.-EDUCATION OF THE

NEGROES.

We have
been the Guiana Chronicle.)
„Gniuch struck by the observations of the
Editor of the
indulged in They
Free Press," in a recent number that journal.
th
call the attention of the Executive
and the House of Assembly, to the immoral language habi-
tually, in open streets, by the lately emanci-
pated classes. Obscenee
.and ribald discourse, mingled with
blasphemy and curses,
Who is there seem to pervade their ordinary inter-
course.e, who will not say that such con-
duct finds a counterpart inher
this colony ? Go into the mar-
kets, or even listen to tstreets in the evening,
and language hem
when strolling through our
every pure mind falls the most disgusting to
continually on the ear. No parent is
safe in entrusting a child to the
Mind, accustomed to gross expressions,
care, for if he do, the infant
gradually loses all
refinement, and a moral prostitution of intellect is sure to be
the consequence.
How is this to be remedied ? By a LAW, says the Editor of
the Free Press. We do not agree with the writer. A law
may slightly check, but cannot suppress, such immorality.
We look to a higher source, and point to a system of NA-
TIONAL EDUCATION.
" Educate but do not hang them," said Mr. Stanley, in
his able essay on Poor Laws : words, though few, still
with much that is worthy of reflection : for ignorance
ge-
nerally the precursor of crime, and " crime leads to dealtsh_ Sir William D'Avenant, who lived in times not very fa-
Urnsaelje. to the principles of free government, thus expresses
in .The received opinion that a people should be con-
tinued Ignorance i, a maxim sounding like the little
subtlety. of one that is •
a statesman onlyby birth or
beard, and
merits not his
rude, e • place by much thinking. , For ignorance is
,ensorous jealous, obstinate, and proud ; these being
exactly the ingredients
In no single age rts of which disobedience is made."
at present in ave greater changes taken place than are
are made, progressant; and
the revolutions in which king-
domsthe most momentousn
constitutions rise and fall again, are not
materially affect us. :rheeiethfreer are they those which most
of printing could never be felts produced by the discovery
'til education and the diffusion of extensively by any country
k
general, that the most humble peasantnowledge bad become so
newspapers, read them, or hear them read.
could have access to
" it is politic to keep the people in The maxim that
seem to have place in some minds (witness an "anee'" as would
a late English paper for labourers, wherein it i advertisement
that a " preference will be given to those who
is announced
read nor write"), will not be maintained ina can neither
any country
where the rulers are conscious of good intentions,
and trust
in the intrinsic value of the institutions which it is their duty
to to sustain. For they well know. that the best mode of
strengthening those institutions, is to make the people '
see
how closely their own well-being is connected with the sta_
bility of the state, and thus render them " wise to obedience."

The tide of immigration is daily turning to this colony •
people who understand not our, nor each other's language,
will ere long crowd upon us. -How will the complicated
rules of society be observed in this Babel-like confusion of
tongues? No amalgamation with the natives of this conti-
nent, or the rescued African, can take place without the
sympathy of a general oral communication. How can the
mutual jealousies likely to arise froin this non-intercourse be
remedied, if the new denizens of our state have no common
" store of knowledge," whence they can attain a ma►tery of
the language of those with whom their fate is to be for ever
cast ?

But, independent of this politic argument in favour of
education, there is another as powerful, namely, the present
immorality of our people, and which, we think, education
would most certainly remedy. Look at the " penal gang,"
as it passes through our streets! Does one single man
exhibit the slightest sense of his degradation, or compunc-
tion for the crime which produced it ? No : with him the
moral effect of the punishment is lost, because he knows not
shame, and the penalty he pays is only appreciated by him in
proportion to the amount of labour to which he is con-
demned.

Would this be the result if the negro were educated ? As-
suredly no. Instruction would produce a feeling of sensi-
bility, and many a crime now looked upon without a fear oi
mental abasement, or without reference to the opinions of
his fellows, would then be avoided with horror.

We have thrown out these few observations in the hope,
that the subject of National Education may be taker► up by
more influential persons, and in the desire that the attention
of our Legislature may be directed towards it. It is a sub-
ject more important than at first sight appears, for its effects
are not only immediate, but prospective. We are too fond
of living in the remembrance of the past, and not looking
forward to the future. To dwell with the past is the mistake
of him who, avoiding the living realities of this world, so-
journs in the misty region of his own abstractions. In the
language of the celebrated Dr. Phelan, "To watch and pro-
vide for those silent influences which time is continually
shedding ; to correct irregularities, some as they arise, others
in their causes ; to make every new measure a liberal ana-
logy from the past, and a safe precedent for the future, and
thus, while the parts are in unceasing flow, to secure the
continued stability of the system. These are the noblest
cares of a statesman—the cares which approach nearest to
the plastic energy of Providence, ' reaching mightily from
one end to the other, and sweetly ordering all things.' "