The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-08-13 00:00:00

FRIDAY MORNING, AUGUST 13, 1841

If some two hundred clergymen of the Established
Church were to meet in Liverpool for the sole purpose
of considering the probable effect of Lord John Rus-
sell's proposed tariff of sugar or timber duties, and to
remonstrate against it, we should immediately have a
most terrific uproar from the Liberals against so un-
becoming an instance of clerical meddling. The
church would be assailed as a mere carnal weapon in
the hands of politicians—an engine only of state-
craft; and the clergy would have every opprobious
epithet cast upon their devoted heads as the too-ready
tools of a system which used religion but as a cloak
for secular intrigue. Your Liberal is so particularly
anxious that the ministers of the church should up-
hold the dignity of their sacred profession, that, out of
pure regard and love, no doubt, he feels hurt and
grieved to see them exercise any of the ordinary duties
of citizens. He rails unceasingly at the constitutional
presence of Bishops in the House of Lords; he can
barely tolerate clergymen in the enjoyment of the pri-
vilege of the elective franchise ; but as to their pre-
suming to advise their congregations on political sub-
jects, or to use their influence in bdhalf of particular
candidates, or to their being, in short, politicians in
any sense of the word, he cannot away with anything
so contaminating to that heavenly-mindedness which
he would have residing in perpetual serenity and purity
in the pastors of the national church. It is remark-
able, however, that he does not consider such sublime
abstractedness to be at all necessary for the clergy of
his own party, for priests of the Church of Rome, or
reverepd gentlemen of the conventicle. Your Liberal
is a capital finger-post ;he points the way, but he fol-
lows it not. You are to do as I say," saith he ; not as
I do." The Romanist priests, who in Ireland encourage
every excess in political matters, are excused on the
ground of the severe provocation they receive in not
having their church, which is that of the majority, es-
tablished by law ; and the gentlemen of the conventicle
in this country are benignly overlooked, probably on
the ground that they are so few in comparison with the
ministers of the church, and that they are yet sufferers
for conscience-sake in the matter of church-rates.
However this be, the practice of Liberals fully confirms
the old rule, that one man may steal a sheep while
another may not look over the hed.

• Two hundred and eighty ministers of dissent are to
meet next week in Manchester for the sole and only
purpose of endeavouring to give the Liberals a lift on
the subject of. free trade in corn ; and not one discou-
raging word will your Liberal utter towards this inter-
ference of holy men set apart altogether for religious
purposes---with' matter so thoroughly non-religious
(if anything can be said to be so) and political. It
would seem that these ghostly men are not of the same
opinion with the censors of our church clergy on the
subject of clerical disfranchisement, and maintain with
St. Paul, that, though preachers of the word, they have
yet rights as citizens, froth the exercise of which they

sentients. .Doubtless this must be the case ; for these
gentlemen, though not in the true line of apostolical
succession, do maintain that they are successors.of the
apostles de facto, and claim for themselves the title of
Reverend as genuine pastors and overseers of the flock
of Christ. But, as we have said, they will not be re-
quired to excuse themselves for their approaching po-
litical overture by the laymen of their own party; and,
for our part, we want no apology of them. We insist
upon a certain degree of liberty for the clergy of the
church, and we will not attack the principle when we
see it acted upon, even in the extreme; by Dissenting
Teachers. The more important point to which we
would desire to direct attention is the natural, political
tendency of Dissent, and the vital importance of the
Church as the grand instrument of Conservatism.

The moment a man separates from the Church he
casts from him the strongest ligament by which a
British subject can be bound to the constitution of his
country. He can no longer desire to maintain a
church from which he has entirely detached himself
personally. He adopts some new religion, or some
new form of religion, and his new adoption necessarily
becomes the most influential principle within him.. He
falls into the train of Church-hating; he desires to see
the Church separated from the State; and as politics,
like misfortune, are sure to make strange bedfellows,
he associates himself with whatever party he conceives
most likely to aid him in effecting this object, however
dissimilar their more immediate or secret views may
be. Liberalism in any form is a fibre of the system;
and from No State Church to No Protected Home-
grown Corn, the Dissenter inevitably embraces the
whole of it. Hence the identification of the conven-
ticlers with tbe Russell budget. Little or no connec-
tion have they with the aristocracy, or gentry, or farm-
ers ; their strength lies in the oppidan population and
among th€ operative classes. They easily ally them-
selves with the Anti-Corn-Law League; there was
little difficulty, we dare say, in arranging matters be-
tween them; and this results in the projected aggre-
gation of the two hundred and eighty next week.
Whether the preachers will throw any new light on the
Corn Question or not we cannot pretend positively to
say; but certainly we do not expect it. After the
Hon. and Rev. Baptist Noel's miserable failure as a
writer on political economy, Nye can hardly expect any
thing very brilliant from the non-conformist divines, it
being something rather out of their line of business.
But it is not on the argument, but the excitement of
the occasion—the demonstration"—on which they
rely. If the argument bear but the proportion to these
more important points, of only one grain of wheat to
a bushel of chaff, it will be an abundance for their
purpose. They assemble as the mouthpieces of con-
gregations—as representatives of dissenting interests—
and as such, and as men practised at turning periods
and familiar with the use of exciting language, they
impart to their convention whatever importance may
be supposed to attach to it.

To show the sort of spirit in which these pious men
meet, we take the following from the reply of the Rev.
J. Leifchild, D.D., to the invitation to attend :
" Blessed be God!" he says, " the incubus is about to be
shaken off; and I am glad we have enlisted the cause of hu-
manity, which ought never to he separated from that of reli-
gion, into the means of excitement. May Manchester, which
has the glory of originating this movement, be honoured by
such a concentration of wisely-directed energies in the ensu-
ing month, as shall diffuse through all our rankS' a spirit be-
fore which the twin monster., of monopoly and priestcraft
shall quail and fall prostrate."
Another writes as follows :

" The subject of the corn laws frequently comes under con-
sideration of myself and congregation. One, a liberal, is
opposed to any change, but shuns the subject when the ques-
tion is mooted. Another professes to be in favour of repeal,
but he astonished me when in conversation with a pro-corn-
law man; he had voted for an anti-corn-law candidate last
week, and expressed regret that he did not know that that
formed a part of his political creed before he had gone to the
poll. A third I have reasoned with over and over again;
but his apparent conviction to-day seems to be quite forgot-
ten by to-morrow! We have, belonging to the church and
congregation, six farmers besides the five proprietors, and
only one, I believe, is favourable to a change in the corn laws.
I have publicly condemned them on many occasions, but, I
fear, to little purpose" (I !)

The Brighton Gazette, speaking of this meeting, re-
minds its readers that in the matter of the extreme
cruelty exhibited by the introduction of children of
tender years into the factories, and working them for
more weary hours than youthful human nature can
support, the friends of the .destitute children in vain
looked for and claimed effectual support from the dis-
senting ministers of Lancashire.

" Such, too," it adds, " was the case with the ' liberals'
and ' dissenters' of Brighton.' At the period when they de-
claimed so loudly against the monstrosities and iniquities of
West Indian slavery, we asked them, through the columns of
this journal as well as in personal interviews, why they be-
stowed no portion of their overflowing sympathy upon the
cruelly treated children in the English factories. Their re-
ply uniformly was, Let us attend to one thing at a time :
when slavery is abolished in the West Indies, then we shall
be ready to take up the cause of the factory children.' We
all know the result. Their object was attained in the West
Indies; and from that hour to the present not one step have
they moved, not one word have they uttered, in behalf of the
factory child. No ; they left it to the unassisted benevolence
of a tort' nobleman (the excellent Lord Ashley) to demand
that relief ; for not a single petition, not a single meeting,
nay, not even a single word did the liberals' and dissenters'
of Brighton contribute to aid the praiseworthy exertions of
his lordship. Out (we say again), out upon such base and
hollow-hearted hypocrisy ! '

These are certainly no testimonials in favour of the
ghostly confreres, or recommendation to that hospita-
lity so earnestly solicited for them during the approach-
ing conference; but with every drawback we cannot
esteem the assembly so very lightly as do some of our
contemporaries. We see in it the natural progress and
working of .Dissent; and we are made sensible of its
extreme danger to the State by such proceedings.
" The following," says the correspondent of a London
paper, "is a list of a few of the sects who endeavour
every Sabbath to instil their sentiments into the minds
of the Manchester operatives, and, as the conference is
open to all, a pretty political religious hash it is sup-
posed will he dished up on the 17th :—Unitarians,
Socialists, Roman Catholics, Jumpers, Baptists, Mo-
ravians, Screamers, Independents, Ranters, Brother-
tonists, Johannahs, Gadsbyites, Mormonites, (or Lat-
ter-day Saints), Swedenborgians, Mawlers, Bawlers,
and street preachers of every denomination." " Se-
veral Whig clergymen," he adds, " of the Church of
England, and some few Wesleyans and Primitive Me-
thodists, have signified their intention to attend the
conference." Such is the broad way of Dissent. Now
toleration is one thing, but neglecting the population—
leaving them open to the assaults of such instructors—
omitting to afford them the benefit of the National
Church—is another; and we do say that the Conser-
vative statesman who does not see the urgent neces-
sity, and vital importance of Church extension, with
reference merely to political consequences, must be
blind indeed.

A London contemporary, of the highest circulation
and acknowledged talent, arraigns the language used
by members of the Protestant Association when speak-
' ing of the Church of Rome, and the doings of its
priests in Ireland. He considers it offensive to good
taste, and calculated, by its irritating tendency, to do
harm rather than good. Now we should not quarrel
with a caution against unnecessary harshness of speech
coming from a friendly quarter, if, at the same time
that a gentle censure was passed upon the manner; a
hearty approbation and full concurrence were yielded
to the substance and purpose about which the manner
and language were conversant ; but we do not find
that such was the case in this instance. Now the
Times—for it is of that journal we speak--is a little
inconsistent in this matter. No journal has bestowed
more attention on the late Irish elections, and the
scandalous doings of the priests—than itself. It has
taken great pains to collect the most authentic infor-
mation concerning the intimidation and carrying off of
voters, and the connection of the priests with all the
outrages of this nature; and it has again sent back all
this information upon the world, clearly methodised
and digested, and accompanied by commentaries of
the most lively and suitable character. We cannot
speak too highly of its well-applied industry in this
way, nor of the great services it has thereby rendered
to the public. The Protestant Association, we were
glad to perceive, was early in the field to profit by
them, and, acting upon the data supplied by its exer-
tions, convened the meeting, and adopted those reso-
lutions to which we alluded on Tuesday. Now ought
not the Times to feel vastly well pleased, and think
itself greatly flattered, by seeing so early and so good
a fruit from its labours ? Is not a consequence of this
kind precisely the sort of thing at which every zealous
and honest journalist; aims when he engages in the
excitation of the public mind upon any important to-
pic ? The Times must surely he of this opinion, and
must
,have felt as we, describe, or it would constitute
such an anomaly among the journals as has-never be-

are not to be debarred by the puny barking of anydis. fore been heard of; and yet it applauds not the move-

ment, and very severely censures the speakers at the
late meeting at Exeter-hall ! This is certainly strange,
and not to lie accounted for by our philosophy. Would
the editor have a monopoly in the exposure of Irish
freedom of election, and the abuse of Popish priests
It was the Times, if we mistake not, that first gave
these gentry the name of " surpliced ruffians." Has
the editor formed of late any family or .other alliance
with them, that he will now permit none but himself
to speak of them with the smallest discourtesy ? The
following passage, in a speech by the Rev. Hobart
Seymour, seems to have been particularly displeasing
to the hypercritic and monopolist of the Times :

" Were not these outrages against law and order sufficient
to call. for a committee of inquiry? The priests were the
janissaries (f the crusade—they were
,not 21101'e honest than
those of illahomet,—not more pure than those of Paganism,
—not less inhuman than those of Juggernaut. They
awakened every species of outrage against property and
against life, their great design' being. to obtain preponderance
of power with the electoral body ; that object gained, they
would have little difficulty in obtaining such an ascendancy
in Parliament as would enable them to destroy the church,
and effect a separation of the two countries. Under these
circumstances he submitted that the Protestants of England
were bound to call for a searching investigation, which was
all that was required."

We admit that this language is strong, and some of
it superfluous. We have marked in italics one sen
tence which we should concur ourselves with the
Times in disapproving ; but when there is a great and
commanding object in view—when there is a deter-
mined enemy before us, of whose ruthless mind and
malpractices we have the most unquestionable evidence,
we should esteem it very bad policy indeed to divert
attention from the pursuit of, or combat with him, to
quarrelling with our most faithful associates in the
strife, or sporting criticism on mere matters of taste,
or trifling instances of indiscretion in their choice or
use of weapons.
.Our great contemporary should avoid
the example of that remarkably fine animal with a
splendid udder—we forget whether she was of the
Devonshire breed or not—but she was a cow, at all
events, famous for giving a great pail of milk, but
equally famous—or infamous, shall we say ? for
knocking it down, and spilling all again, after she had
yielded so bountifully for the benefit of our species.
The Times is wrong to spoil its good services to the
state by a frigid hypercriticism.
The Rev. Mr. Seymour, truly, need not to have said
anything about JanitsarieS, Priests of Paganism, or
Juggernaut—no more than the Times to have ever
spoken of " surpliced ruffians ;" this we grant ; but
in. either case we should not allow a little excess in
language, excusable always in the heat of debate, or in
the hurry of writing for the press, to withdraw our at-
tention from the more weighty matter, namely, the
gross crimes complained of, and the energetic endea-
vour to procure the punishment, or repression of them.
We care not what the men who do the deeds of the
Irish Popish priests are designated, provided their foul
career of crime and popular perversion be put a stop
to. There are some who have a great dislike to po-
lemics, and deprecate all inquiries by mere politicians
into the religious errors of Romanism ; this is indeed
a mistake on their part, because Popery is a mixed
system, and quite as much political as it is religious ;
but all can perceive the palpable fruits, and all are alike
challenged to deal with the actual results and open out-
breaks of the system. Now, when we see the energies
of government wisely directed to this end—when we
see the policy of repression steadily and rigorously
acted upon, we shall very gladly lay down the arms of
excitation ourselves, and feel happy in perceiving others
adopting the same course. There will be no occasion
to dispute concerning names; we shall no longer have
occasion to rouse the public mind, or to bring public
opinion to bear on the agency of administration; our
object will have been accomplished; the government
itself, awakened at last to the true character of Popery
and its priesthood, will have its attention fixed upon
the muffled incendiaries and arch-disturbers, and we
shall patiently await the good effects. In the mean-
while, we shall certainly deprecate, but with a liberal
allowance fo • the strength of provocation, every form
of exaggeration, and every use of terms beyond the
strict .and rigid severity of truth. We certainly like
to call a spade a spade, a pike a pike, or a knave a
knave ; and for our poor part, we should find it diffi-
cult to colour too highly or too darkly when we have
a phalanx of Irish Popish priests in our mind's eye, in
sitting or other posture, grouped, or isolated, awaiting
our portraiture ; but there are some men of exuberant
fancies, desperately given to the ornamental—and these
perhaps could exceed the reality. Such persons should
endeavour to curb their Nvits, and stick to truth ; for
they may depend upon it, it will be quite enough for
them.

The phrase a " Conservative democracy" was
sneered at some time ago by the journals of Liberal-
ism, as if such a thing were a mere jeu des mots, or an
impossibility; but since the elections, we observe, they
are somewhat less sceptical. on the subject. They have
discovered that it is possible for the humbler classes of
society to be Conservative in principle, and to exhibit
their principles in the most practically Conservative
way. The doubtfulness on this point arose, on the
part of the Liberals, we are well aware, from sheer
ignorance—ignorance of the people, and ignorance of
the great excellence of that happy political and reli-
gious constitution under which we live. Why should
the middling and humbler classes, if well instructed,
desire to change that constitution any more than the
upper ranks of society ? They enjoy the utmost
amount of liberty under it ; they are not hindered by
it in any career of honest ambition ; nay, its very
highest honours and offices stand forth as prizes at-
tainable by industry or talent to the very humblest
member of society. The extremely poor must have
much to lament in their lot in every conceivable form
of human polity ; but a religiously instructed and be-
nevolently cared-for poor will not be devoid of princi-
ples, and even amongst them we can conceive the
principles of a sound Conservatism as strongly che-
rished and exhibited after their manner, as among the
most affluent and elevated orders. Conservatism is
sincerely cherished, we have no doubt, amongst a
large proportion even of the extremely poor of this
country ; and this is owing partly to that judicious
culture of which we have spoken, and partly to the
benevolence and kindness shewn to them by the upper
classes. Could we suppose, for instance, that such of
the poor as might come within the influence of a per-
sonage like Lord Ashley would be very destructive or
revolutionary in their politics ? His lordship last week
made a tour through the manufacturing dirtricts of
Lancashire and Yorkshire, with a view to acquire such
information relative to the wants and wishes and inte-
rests of the manufacturing population, as would enable
him to pursue with effect his benevolent labours for
the benefit of the working classes. His lordship is
prosecuting his labours with reference to "a Ten Hour
Factory Bill, and his presence everywhere excited a
glow of enthusiasm and satisfaction among the opera-
tive classes. In the course of a speech at Leeds, he
said " his own political opinions were `blue,' or Con-
" servative ; but his Conservatism taught him to look
" upon station and property as not given to him for
66 himself alone, but as a trust reposed in him for the
" benefit of his fellow-men ; and if station and pro-
" perty were not thus used, he would say, let station
" and property go down to the working classes."
This is a noble sentiment, worthy of a Conservative
of the aristocratic order ; and a sentiment which
he was at the moment giving practical assurance
that he most sincerely entertained. Now, is it con-
ceivable that the factory operative should contemplate
the character of the speaker with any other than a feel-
ing of respect and affection, or his order with jealousy
or aversion? It is not to be supposed; and therefore
we say that such men do much to spread the Conser-
vative principle among the inferior ranks of society,
and that it is immensely in the power of the aristocracy
to promote it among them. His lordship, in the course
of his speech, adverted to many of the cruelties and
demoralising effects produced by infantile labour and
overworking in the mills, and spoke with confidence of
the good that has resulted from the discussions which
have taken place with reference to his bill, and of the
still greater good that may be expected from its passing.
His benevolent labours on this most interesting subject
must receive the applause of all good men, and we re-
joice to claim his lordship as one of our party; but in
truth the ranks of Conservatism abound with such
characters, though the individuals are not so well
known to fame. Mr. J. Benett, one of the members
for South Wiltshire, in the course of a recent speech,
the chief topic of which was the repeal of the corn-
laws, said

" He sincerely believed that the farmers had the, interests
of their labourers at heart. Unlike the manufacturers, they
did not, the moment that work was scarce, discharge them ;
they looked upon them as their friends—as their children.
They felt a great personal regard for them. For himself he
could say, that there was not a labourer on his estate or in
his parish whose character and circumstances he was not
acquainted with. He knew their children—he knew their
wants—and, as far as was in his power, he endeavoured to
administer to those wants. His friend, Mr. Budd, who sat
near him, felt precisely as he did on this subject, and so, he
believed, did every farmer present. lint in the manufacturing
districts they beard of workshops suddenly shut up, and as
many as 700 or 800 hands turned adrift, without a moment's
warning—the persons who had acquired immense wealth by
their toil caring not one jot for the pitiable condition in which
they were left, or whether they died of starvation. It was
asked of one of these gentlemen, who had amassed a large
fortune, and had purchased an estate in a distant county,
how he went so far from home? And what was his reply
Why, that as he had made his fortune by the spinning jenny,
he could not get too far out of the sound of it. He should
be ashamed of the agriculturist that could so express himself.
put there was a connexion between the agricultural labourer
and his employer that could never be dissolved. He was
therefore anxious that the landed interest should be protected,
in order that the labouring classes might be protected. Many
in that room perhaps had capital, and could live upon the in-
terest of it ; but the labouring classes were tied to the soil,
and required their support and their sympathies."

This, then, is Conservatism—and we are proud of it.
Yes, we like these displays of it, and we delight in
contrasting it with Liberalism—Liberalism that would
execute all its charities by act of parliament ! Certainly
that is an economical mode of performing them. First
there are the fifteen hours of white slavery in the mill ;
then over production ; then half work ; and then the
remedy—cheap corn, diminished wages, and the poor-
house hastile ! Admirable economists, these Liberals
and millocrats—worthy pupils and flock of the two
hundred and eighty members of next week's pious
conference. Their mutual adaptation and harmony
are wonderful.

There is a luxury in grumbling ; and we must con-
fess that we perfectly envy one, at least, of our contem-
poraries the opportunity which is approaching of

eLjoying it. For a . period of full thirty years our
venerable friend of the Mercury played the part of
first growler in this good old town. For thirty years
how he "fluttered the Volscians in Corioli" ! What
paper quillets—what riddles, charadel, and anagrams
—what prose and verse—he was woff to level against
tory ministries and tory corporations ! And now, after
ten years' floundering in a strange element—at sea
amidst reform bills, corporation bills, tithe commuta-
tion bills, and other quackeries—which to advoCate
efficiently involved the necessity of understanding
them—how pleasant to be restored to its primitive con-
dition as a growler, for which occupation no expendi-
ture of brain is necessary ! How delightful to be
thrown back upon the accumulated stock of jokes,
epithets, and arguments which, after ten years' careful
preservation from the sun and air, can be turned out,
like the relic of an ancient wardrobe from a Jew's
store, as good as new ! llow refreshing to exchange
the labour of defending, at an expense of ingenuity
which must have been awful, the blundering disho-
nesty of whiggery in the cabinet or the council-room,
for the comparatively easy task of collating paragraphS
of choice vituperation from " our note book," or "our
file of the Mercury," ,which, ,nutatis mutandis, will be
to the full as terrific and damaging in effect as when
,directed against tory heads some twenty or thirty

years ago

We really envy .the Mercury his forthcoming relief
from editorial cares. The simultaneous return of the
government and the corporation to conservative prin-
ciples must place our friend in a state of bliss, which
we pray may not soon be disturbed. It is a truth, and
in sober seriousness we say it, that whig journalism as
well as whig statesmanship has been out of its sphere
whilst in power; and, so far as we ourselves and the
Mercury are concerned, we shall be delighted to see
our friend unharnessed from the cumbrous armour in
which he has cut so sorry a figure and once more
sporting in his native element of fiddle-faddle.