The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-02-26 00:00:00

L e

THE LIVERPOOL fI'ANDARD.,

PEZRUAMW M. N 6.

The a►iahaptist, perhaps, does not wish to see the fount
where he was first presented lest it should grate upon
this holier reminiscences of the brook or the horsepond.
But even this is not confessed ; so that, after fishing on
all sides, the only objection worth noticing is that of the
lioeinians relative to the Trinity.

The religious scruples or a unitarian ! The delicacy
'of a costermonger! The aromatic perfume of a lamp-
lighter ! It is true that the members of this sect do not,
as they say, believe in the Three Persons of the God-
head—and how they can believe in the bible, and not be-
lie this, we cannot comprehend—but what has their
belief or unbelief to do with the wcirds of a ceremony
initiatory of a contract which would not be more or less
binding if the objectionable words were omitted? We
Cannot discover the force of the alleged scruples. If
Miss EnpnEmra ANABELLA SMITH be about to be wed to
Mr. JostAs B. SNOOKs, did the form of the marriage ce-
remony ever prove the subject of discussion during their
most interesting courtship ? If it did, then we protest
against such people being married at. all, for most un-
questionably they would tear each other's eves out, about
some matter equally unimportant, before the expiration
of the first matrimonial fortnight. But, if the truth were
known, it would appear that they never once thought of
any objectionable words in the ceremony. They had
anxieties, probably, but no scruples. The lady may have
cherished some gentle misgivings relative to the per-
formance of JUSIAS' VOWS, but she had no fears as to
the perfect innocence and, propriety of the ceremony it-
self. Neither of them ever dreamt that they were com-
promising their unitarian teuetsby hearing certain words
uttered in their presence.
But the worthy JOST AS is a conscientious man ! Grant-
ed; but he is also an unitarian ; anti, if desirous to ease.
his conscience, what is to prevent him from distorting the
meaning of the offensive words, and-explaining- away the
construction of opposing texts, as his sect invariably do
with the hostile passages of scripture ? We should like
to know how a scrupulous unitarian would act in case of
a legacy being left him in these words :—" In the name
of the FATHER, SON, and HOLY GHOST, I give and he-
-queath to my nephew (so and so) the sum of five hundred
pounds." Would he have any scruples about receiving
the money ? Not he ; and yet he is overwhelmed with
scruples in a matter of trifling importance, simply be-
cause it serves him as a cover for attacking the Church of
England.
However, these scruples are to be respected in future ;
for Lord JOHN RUSSELL has brought in a bill to enable
dissenters to be married in their own conventicles, or in
private houses, by any priest or layman, by clown or
cobbler, in any form or manner they please, between the
hours of nine o'clock in the morning and three o'clock in
tile afternoon. But we strongly suspect the dissenters
will not thank him for the inquisitorial powers which the
bill confers upon certain bull dogs, who are to watch the
chapels, and be hereafter called registrars. Of these per-
sons we shall speak presently ; meanwhile let us wade
through the bill.
.Ist. After the Ist day of January next no clergyman
-of the Church of England can be compelled to publish
bans unless lie thinks proper to do so. The operation of
this clause will be, that none but friends and favoured
persons will have the honour of having their bans pub-
lished in the Church of England.
2d. Registrars are to be appointed in every parish and
-district of England—this will be rare patronage !—to
Whom all matrimonial candidates are to apply in the first
instance. The registrar books them ; and, at the end of
twenty-one days, he will give them a certificate that they
have been booked, for which they are to pay one shilling.
This certificate allows a clergyman of the Church of Eng-
land to marry them, upon payment of the ordinary fees.
The same registrar is authorised to sell licenses for ma-
trimony, at a week's date, for £3—,exclusive of the stamp
duty.
3d. •Marriages can only be celebrated, out of the
Church of England, in such chapels as are licensed places
at
.public worship, and are registered for the special pur-
pose of celebrating marriages in the books of the district
registrar. In these chapels they are prohibited from us-
ing the marriage rites of the Church of England. They
may perform any ceremony they plegye--.--they may dance
at sing—they may harangue each other or he dumb
--they may sit with their hats on or sit upon
their hats—all that the certified bridegroom is re-
quired by the bill ter Say to. thejAntihingbut certificated
bride, before two witnesf.es,,:,-i.,,Ear,:y/44,•.t0r fey
lawful wife." Marriages, hovieter, be 'celebrated
in the office of the registrar, in any form lie pleases, only
the words above quoted must be used.
- • 4th. What we are about to state is the most comical of
all the enactments, and the one which the dissenters will
kick at most furiously. No marriage is allowed to be
-celebrated, even in these chapels registered for the pur-
pose, except in the presence of the registrar and two
witnesses. He must superintend the whole of the inte-
resting ceremony. The bride cannot be given away un-
less he be a witness of the transfer and consignment.
"The union will not be complete unless lie declare it tobe
so. Lord JOHN, the friend of the dissenters, will not
allow his " dear friends" to marry or give in marriage
'according to their own fancy. He cannot. trust his scru-
pulous and conscientious friends. The registrar must be
present, like a bailiff in possession of a house for debt.
The dissenter, ambitious of marriage in his own chapel,
must submit to be obtruded upon by the dog in office.
The cur must be allowed to bark at the beggar. In
short.the whole ceremony will be like those scenes pecu-
liarly Irish, where PAT marries JUDY through the inter-
cession of the priest, and with the consent of a police
' officer, under a threat of criminal prosecution, and the

•fear of the gallows.
If the dissenters approve of all this we are content.
If they are grateful to Lord JOHN so are we. if they
are satisfied with this bum•bailiff sort of matrimony we
have no reason to be otherwise. They objected to Sir
ROBERT PEEL'S measure of last session ; now they have
one from their inestimable friend Lord JOll%, which, in
our humble opinion, is a thousand times more objection-
able, if it be not positively insulting. On this ground
alone it ought to be rejected. But that is their business,

not ours.
The difference between a marriage celebrated in a re-
gistered chapel, and one celebrated in the office of the
.registrar, consists simply of the difference of cost. The
one in the chapel is only to be charged one shilling—in,
the office the price is ten shillings, and cheap enough too
considering the wear and tear of carpets and other fur-
niture. It is, however, provided that in both places the
time must be from nine to three—and not with closed

•
doors.
We have left ourselves little room to offer any obser- '
Nations upon these the principal enactments of this pre-
cious bill. But some of them are so fraught with danger
to the peace of families that we must give them a brief
iaotice. It appears to -,!s that the provisions of the bill
are calculated to increase the number of clandestine mar-
, . riages. There is no publicity whatever made as to the
) iiii,,,intention of tha parties seeking matrimony. A man has
,Only to certify that he and his intended wife have lived
the district of the registrar for a month—a convenient
period at a fashionable watering-place—and he procures
a person—the ldndlord of the inn of course--whom the
registrar knows—who certifies that what the applicant
states is true. This being done twenty-one days soon
pass over, and the pair are wedded, without a friend or
relative or the public knowing any thing of their inten-
tions. It is true that on paying a shilling, any person,
. showing good reasons for examining the register will be
allowed to examine it ; but in these matters the parent,
f,,r nu'st interested, is the last person who is entrusted with
at,h, the secret. Thousands of marriages are prevented by
)111 the publication of bans, but by the new bill no publica-
OR, tion of any kind is required. The commons may pass
5-4 such an absurd measure as this, and a dangerous mea-
sure to boot, for it is like the politics of Loid JOHN ; but
the lords, we trust, the conservators of public morals,
,will'extinguish it.

Qiyl
e,fii974 .
92.70 Tile' House oT Commons, on Tuesday evening, endea-
-" ,e 9 Mired to convey a censure against o,r,,tige.L odges, in
a 7 e :',o!..'t:fo'rtiiijof' an impotent resolution. Ihe originators of
y-ii-itasure are, of course, the popish patty who

have made JOSEPH H mr, their cat's paw. on—the occa-
sion. ' But will it subserve their purpose ? No. If they
wish to put down Orange Lodges in Ireland they must
first suppress the tyraimy of the priests, and punish the
whole race of beggars and incendiaries. The Orange
s4stem is one of defence and self-preservation, and al-
it is to be regretted that such a mode of protec-
,on is deemed necessary, still we cannot condemn it so
,ong as the evils which afflict Ireland in the shape of a
pestilent priesthood, and a debauched and demoralized
population, with whom crime is sport, are suffered to
prevail.
At any rate we are convinced that the resolution of
the House of Commons will haVe no beneficial' effect
upon either party. It may furnish grounds of triumph
to the one, but it will mortify and irritate the other. It
will embolden the orangemen to cling faster than ever to
their clubs and combinations ; for in it they will see a
determination on the part of the present government and
their popish allies to crush, if they can, and utterly ex-
tirpate the protestant religion in Ireland. The attempt,
we venture to predict,;will fail ; but the consequences
will be dreadful.

A small but instructive l amphlet has been placed in
our hands, signed " An Edinburgh Burgess of 1786,"
which exposes a scheme of contemplated robbery, in
which his majesty's ministers are rather seriously in-
volved. 'We do notmean to say that these 11°11°41-able
persons appear in a new character On the contrary,
it is one in strict keeping with that which they have
played ever since they entered office, and were: permit-
ted to make the reign of WILLIAM the FOURTH. the.most,
unfortunate reign since the expulsion of the insane and
despotic STUARTS.
Unhappily for the nation, the whigs have been fat' many
years the popular party. This 'popularity sprang 'from
the concession which ignOrance invariably makes to false
liberality. The -multitude pay respect.toyretensiona=
to enlarged principles avowed—and to unbounded pro-
mises never intended to be redeemed. The mass of men
have no means of putting the sincerity of professing pa-
triots to the test. They take their words as the indexes
of their intentions. The loudest talker, and the vainest
boaster, is presumed to be the greatest patriot, simply
because he who runs the least rihk of being called upon
to perform his promises, is the more likely to advocate a
class of vulgar opinions which he well knows he has not
the power to carry into effect. Levity in principle is,
agreeable to the profane. His declarations, which cost no-
thing, are universally admired, and like the man _who
throws handfulls of shillings among a crowd of beg-
gars, he is extolled for magnificence and charity which
have no other seat but in his vanity and pride.
We have an example of this in Sir JOHN CAM Hon-
HOUSE. He lulled the sausage-grinders of Westmin-
ster into the notion that he hated flogging in the army
and navy, that he was an intense hater of long parlia-
ments, and a standing army in time of peace, and al
that sort of popular rubbish that goes down like good
beer into the receptacle of intelligence, the stomach of
a Westminster coal-porter. But no sooner was the said
Sir CAM appointed Secretary of War under the Whig
government than lie forgot all his principles—flogged on
as his predecessors did—sent annual parliaments also to
the halberts—sent universal suffrage to the knackers—
trundled all former pledges to the auction-room, laughed
at his early opinions, and consoled himself that quarter-
day made every amends for quackery and inconsistency.
As Sir JOHN CAM HOBROUSE acted, all the whigs have
acted. They have given us certain reforms which are
questionable improvements; but they have given us
nothing in the shape of reform or otherwise which has
not been purchased at the expense of a job, entailing
useless men, at exorbitant salaries, upon the country—
extending patronage to the most frightful extent—creat-
ing emoluments for hungry friends under the pretext of
enquiring into abuses, but, in reality, for no other pur-
pose than to render government influence as powerful
as patrona-ge and pay can•make it.
The whigs—the popular party-=the friends of the
people have done this reckless of all sense of decency or
shame ; and yet, degraded though they be, and generally
execrated as they are by the people of England, they
have contrived, by the aid of a popish rebel in Ireland,
to hold their places arid promote their revolutionary de-
signs. How long they will be permitted to continue in
this course depends upon the forbearanceand good nature
of our countrymen. We mistake much, however, if the
whigs do not speedily destroy themselves by their own
acts. They have tampered:oo'. ;yialently pnblic
credulity. .EXposure will; be their i nto ;.•.0.;,(16edS they
have done in the dark will,fre,iexsilai,teclitille fae of 'day ;
and, when the torn :from .their innumerable and
flagitious jobs,,their hour 'of annihilation. will come.
Would we had space to present a brief enumeration
of these jobs I The 'various commissions have been to
them a fruitful experiment—to the public a wanton waste
of the national resources. The municipal bill has placed
thousands of their needy creatures in office—made justices
of insolvents, and, in some places, councillors of men
who had been tried for felony. Four-fifths'of all the new
councillors and borough magistrates are dissenters. The
poor law bill has extended their patronage at the ex-
pense 'of the helpless and the miserable. It is now a
crime to be a pauper in England. In Ireland, none who
is mit a partisan-of their master rebel has the slightest
chance of preferment. New offices have been created
for popish attorneys. Every institution is unsettled, and
lawyers flourish upon the wreck of reform. Even the
sacred offices of the church and the universities are ran-
sacked for the sake of patronage. A Socinian bishop
sits with a popish priest in a commission for directing
and superintending national education. A Socinian
doctor has been appointed a professor of theology in the
University of Oxford. The Church of Scotland has
been placed under the surveillance of three or four raw
advocates and solicitors,without any pretensions to learn-
ing, intelligence, ,or independence. Even a high office
in the College of St. Andrews has been jobbed away to
a near relative of the Attorney-General. ln short, turn
which way we will, we find the whigs aiming at supreme
and permanent power by means of patronage, or rather
by a corrupt and profligate abuse of patronage.
The case of the corpotation of Edinburgh, and the
dock estate of Leith, referred :t.O in the pamphlet which
we noticed at the beginning of this article merits ex-
posure by itself. The municipal corporations of Scotland
were reformed in 1833; but as far as Edinburgh is con-
cerned, the reformers ata.,ayowedly incompetent to carry
on the affairs of that arity.-. They were involved by old
pecuniary engagements, and having no self-sustaining
credit; they have thought fit to
.throw themselves upon
the mercy of the government.: : I;lnable to conduct their
own affairs, they asked for and.received the assistance of
Mr. Lanouctmag,. of the BOard of Trade, who has ex-
amined their books, in the style Of a.third rate account-
ant, and presented a report thereon, addressed to the
Chancellor of the Exchequer. It would not surprise us
to see the same gentleman commissioned to examine and
adjust the affairs of the reformed corporation and the
dock estate of Liverpool ! If so, bond-holders, look to

your money ! -
The debts of the city of Edinburgh amount to £402,000.
Mr. LABOUCHERE proposes to fleece the creditors of one-
fourth part of this sum—rob them in the roost barefaced
manner—and give them bonds far the remaining 75 per
cent. bearing 3 per cent. interest ! The radicals of
Edinburgh, in all justice, ought to be taxed to pay their
lawful creditors. But,illr. LAI3OUCHERE is considerate—
Edinburgh and Leith return the Whigs to parliament !
The dock estate of Leidi owes £236,000, and it is said
that the trade of the port demands an extension of dock
accommodation. There is no inadequacy of revenue to
meet the interest of the debt. The difficulty is, how to
extend the docks, and pay the interest of the old debt.
Mr. LABOUCIIERE solves this difficulty in a trice. He pro-
poses to cancel one half of the debt, or £llB,OOO, at
once, leaving the remainder to be cancelled at another
opportunity in case of need. By this vile jub, for which
there is no excuse whatever, the public are to be plun-
dered of £236,000 to serve the dirty purposes, and pro-
mote the foolish vagaries of the constituents of the Soli-
citor-General, At t orney-Genel al, and the Speaker of the
' House of Counnins.
In the pamphlet-% hich is before us the whole job is

-

exposed in a most masterly wanner, and the propositions
of Mr. LABOUCHERE proved to be little, better than fraud.
rhe gist of the thing is this. The people of Edinburgh
will not pay their just4ebts, and consequently the cre-
ditor's are to be defrauded by an act of parliament. The
people of Leith imagine that new docks would increase
their trade, which-is a mistake ; but they have got this
foolish notion into their heads, and they are determined
to have new docks. They have, however, no money to
build docks with ; therefore the public must be robbed of
£236,000. That is the whole story in as few words as
possible. The interest of the three whig membars for
Edinburgh and Leith must he consulted no matter who
starves or is cheated.

There was yesterday a public meeting at the Sessions'-
house, over which the Mayor presided, for the purpose of
considering the policy of petitioning for the repeal of the
newspaper stamp duty. Mr. COGLAN, Mr. JAMES
BRANCKER, and Mr. RATIMON E were the leading persons

present.
Now we should like to be informed what Mr. COGLAN
and the other Worthies know, or can possibly know, of
the bearings of this very complicated question. The
Mayor, we regret to say, delivered a speech that was
singularly stupid. His principal argument in favour of
repeal was that magistrates could not be found to inflict
the penalties against the violators of the stamplaWs.
Why, Mr. Mayor ? Because certain magistrates support
a bad administration that is in alliance with the radical,
scamps and cheats,who violate the
If a law must be repealed simply because the law is'
broken, what security has any' than, for' the payment of
-
rent? It is easy for a rogue .to-say, I. wont'pay"--or,
•‘I will cheat," but is .he to be protected because lie is
perseveringly dishonest ? Such is the Mayor's .ariu-
ment.
As for the repeal of the stamp duty we do not care one
straw whickway it goes. If repealed the radical press
will suffer most severely by competition. The new legion
will eat the old legion up. If the conservatives be com-
pelled to measure swords with the cheap press, or the
penny press, we know who will come off worse. Our
whig contemporaries, we suspect, will not thank the
Mayor, or those literary personages, Messrs. COGLAN,
RATHBONE,,and LAWRENCE HEYWORTH.

for by this time he was strapped to the plank. The assist-
ants withdrew their arms from his supaort; and one of them
removing the black nightcap exposed the bare head of the old
man and its fine white hairs, which the. cold north breeze agi-
tated. A general exclamation of pity burst forth; but the
plank was descending—was then pushed forwardt-the,knife fell
and terminated the existence of " as quietly brave a man." said
one of the 'executioners afterwards, "as ever died!" Fieschi
turned not his:head; but a tap on the shoulder from one of the
executioners roused him, and he moved briskly to the scaffold.
He mounted the first two steps slowly; but, recollecting himself,
resumed the performance of his part, and finished it with gaiety.
He was—unlike the rest—attended on the scaffold by his con-
fessor, the Abbe Grivet.* His Lee was more pale than at any
previous moment„ while his fidgetty restlessness continued,
ue ye rtheless, undiminished. After having exchanged a few
words privately with his confessor, Fieschi bent his head towards
him, and received a warm embrace. The priest then retired,
and Fieschi, having obtained leave, addressed the spectators in
a few incoherent words, the burden of which was—" That which
I have stated before man I swear now before God. It was all
true. I have saved my country! I have spoken the truth."
This peroration over, he resumed his part. Rushing to the
plank, he wished to precipitate his fate ; but the-adroit persons
in whose hands he found himself left him no time to complain
of delay. hi an instant he was pushed under and enclosed iu
the grove through which the axe falls. That fatal implement,
still dropping blood, descended upon him, and he ceased to live,
in exactly four minutes from the time at which he and his
victims descended from the vehicles in which they had-been
brought to the place of execution.
The remains of Fieschi were then placed in the basket. Do-
zens of pails of water welts then poured on the scaffold by the
horrid men who had assisted in the tragedy, and afterwards on
the pavement beneath, which was for a considerable space de-
luged with blood. The remains of the executed men were then
carried off under an escort. The troops withdrew, the crowd
began to disperse, the carpenters to take down the guillotine
and its scaffold (those precisely used in the execution of King
Louis Philip's father, and of the the thousand others guillotined
during the first revolution), and in twenty minutes nearly all
who'had witnessed the scene of death had withdrawn. Those
who had desired to be spectators, and who had been kept back
by the soldiers, rushed forward in thousands to see all that could
be seen, and at this titue .1 retired. I returned again, for a
particular reason, about twelve o'clock. A group of men, wo-
men, and boys, were still on the spot. The guillotine and scaf-
fold' were by this time mounted on waggons, in the Faubouro,
Just. outside the barrier, objects of horror and curiosity. The
...executioner and his principal assistants. were yet at hrealfast in
theeoaret, before the doom of which the gUillotine, &c., still
reniaitied.
have arrived at,tlre,end of my revolting narrative, and am
glad of it. haVe seen three fellow-beings—three guilty men
-
if you before' my eyes. The nature of the impres-
sion produced upon me personally by the scene is of no conse-
quence, but it would be instructive to learn its effects upon the
public mind.
,Was it. desired by the country, although sanc-
tioned and direetKl by the law? Will it have terminated trea-
son, and plots, and conspiracies, and have deterred from the
perpetration of murder and regicide for ever? Will it have re-
stored popularity to the king, and removed that (but two well-
founded) dread of assassivatiou in which his majesty has noto-
riously lived during now four or five years ? Will it have ren-
dered preciiutiop .superfluous'? •Will it, in short, have proVed
one jot inure than that men are mortal? If nut, it will have
signally failed in its great purpose.
Fieschi wrote a great number of letters between.
.the'periods
at which he was condemned and executed. Some of these were
in answer to 4adies Who wrote to inns for the-purpose of obtain-
ing his autograph! Pepin is supposed to have made disclosures
and was urged at the last Moineut to.say more but this he de-
clinedkiing. These it is • said Will be laid before the public.
The body of Pepin was given up to his friends for interment ;
those of Morey aud-Fieschi.Were Sent- the surgeons fur dissec-
on. .

* This respectable clergyman had a difficult penitent to ma-
nage in Fiesehi;i‘vho"--;-half savage, half superstitious—carried
with hint to the scaffold, it is to be feared, much of the natural
ferocity his life had develOped.• He' was eternally raving about
M. Lavocat during'the cutting of his hair, and while the other
preparations for his death were proceeding in the Luxembourg.
" I leave my head to M.. Lavocat;"• he cried out repeatedly, " I
call you. all to witnes4 toy bequest. I bequeath toy head to M.
Lavocat, my si,ul to God, and my body to the earth." Finding,
that M. hadnot arrived, he cried out "where is M. La-
vocat? If he come not I shall die one of the d—d." The Abbe
Grivet ran overto hith ihstautly;reproved hint gently, and hold-
ing a -cracifii to his' lips, Fiesclikissed it, fervently.