The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-10-19 00:00:00

thin; wa4 to

whof4 r.ach iligeoi4fort6 would nbt b.

likely to wa4tA tam time of Council, But.wo know
of no warrant which any prt of the discussion would
afiord for the Mercury's lacnbration ; that which, we
conceive, will be generally thought most remarkable in
that conversation was the consummate folly of Mr.
Alderman Sheil and his worshipful brcker, the mayor
--the umistakable doodle and noodle of the transac-
tion. The one would not allow their schoolmistress to
be asked of what religion she is of ; the other clinches
the argument by declaring that it is " impertinent" to
propose such an interrogatory. Now, we would hum-
bly ask, are not these very fit persons to have the care
of schools, or the appointment of teachers for the rising
generation ? We have to thank Mr. Harbord for put-
ting the question, and eliciting such an exhibition of
Popery and Socinianism in the persons of the two
worthies above-named, and Mr. Hodgson for the
manly candour with which he avowed his opinions ;
but we repeat, that as to what measures a conservative
council will adopt on the subject of education, it is pre-
mature as yet to speak, and the question need not now

be agitated

What we have at present mainly to look to is the ex-
clusion of radicals, and the election of conservatives—
to make our municipal and parliamentary policy homo-
geneous, and to give to Liverpool what it has too long
wanted, A DECIDEDLY CONSERVATIVE GO•
VERNMENT !

The recent arrivals from the United States have not
solved for us the question of peace or war between
Great Britain and the people of that republic ; and yet

they have disclosed a state of things existing upon the
frontiers of our Canadian possessions which it is im-
possible to contemplate without serious misgivings.

The power of precipitating a collision between the two
countries is at this moment placed absolutely in the
hands of a band of lawless and savage " sympa-

thizers" in the northern states of America, whom the
government of that country either will not or cannot

restrain within the bounds of law and order ; and al-

though it is quite possible that the immediate cause of
jealousy between the two countries—the trial of M`Leod
—may have passed over without those results which
have been anticipated, yet it is quite clear that without
some immediate and stringent measures are resorted to

by the government of the United States to repress the

violence of tone and conduct towards Great Britain,

displayed by their frontier population, the disastrous
calamity of a war between the two countries may be
averted for a time, but must ultimately, and at no dis-

tant period, be the issue.
We are no advocates for war, at any time or with
any country ; and especially we should view with deep
sorrow any serious embroilment with America. As a
=lion we have no quarrel with her which could justify
a resort to the sword for its settlement. As a nation,
we do not think that she entertains towards us those
feelings which would hurry her government into the
adoption of a hostile policy towards us. But the ques-
tion nevertheless arises and presses for solution—" Can
we much longer remain at peace with a country which,
whilst it professes towards us sentiments of friendship
and respect, neglects, at the same time, to take ade-
quate steps to restrain its lawless and savage popula-
tion from making continual inroads upon our territory,
and abetting rebellion and outrage amongst a portion
of our people ?" This question, we submit, presses
urgently for solution; and it must be solved satisfac-
torily to the British nation before we can hope for any
security for our Canadian possessions, or look forward
to the enjoyment of any permanently peaceful relations
with the American government.

It may be said, indeed, that the government of the
United States has, within the last few weeks, taken
measures to repress the hostile aggressions of its fron-
tier population upon 'our Canadian possessions. The
President has indeed issued a proclamation for the pur-
pose ofdiscouraging the formation of secret associa-
tions, amongst the citizens of America, for purposes of
hostility to Great Britain ; and threatens those to whom
it is addressed with the certainty of condign punish-
ment—and, moreover, with the withdrawal of Ameri-
can protection, in case, during any of their lawless.
incursions, they should fall into the hands of the
tish Canadian authorities. But is thiS all, we. ask,
which the government of the United States is entitled
to perform ? Is it sufficient for a nation, claiming to
be a civilized nation, and to be recognised as such, to
declare merely her own non-participation in the out-
rages which may be committed by the individual peo-
ple or states which compose it, and to entail upon the
country which has the misfortune to be its neighbour
the necessity of a constant watch and ward to restrain
the commission of those outrages ? On the contrary,
it is certainly the duty of such a nation, herself, to take
strong and prompt measures upon all occasions when
she anticipates that they may be required, to compel
her subjects to maintain inviolate her own relations
with foreign nations, and to treat any attempt to vio-
late those relations as an act of, rebellion, to be put
down with the same rigour as if it had been directed
against her own internal arrangements.
The government of the United States has not done
this ; and the tardy proclamation of her President can-
not and ought not to be accepted as evidence of a
sincere desire for the preservation of peace with Great
Britain. It is an acknowledged fact, that the " sym-
pathisers" of the American frontier, to the number of
fifty or sixty thousand men, avowedly waiting only an
opportunity to rush into a war of aggression in Canada,
are provided with arms from the arsenals of America
herself; and it was undoubtedly the dutyof the Ame-
rican government, with the experience of the past be-
fore it, to take care that an opportunity of providing
themselves with such arms should 'not be left within
the reach of its unruly citizens. The American exe-
cutive is, or is not, able to coerce its people into the
order which is required to be observed in a civilised
country. If it is thus able, it is deeply to be censured
for having neglected to exert that ability; if it is not,
it has no right to usurp the character and to be treated
as an independent power.
We trust that, still, we shall be able to preserve our
present peaceful relations with the United States; but
we cannot conceal from ourselves the fact that the pre-
sent anomalous position of the government of that
country with respect to its state legislatures presents
abundant grounds of fear for the permanency of those
relations. The American government must strengthen
its executive power. That government must put down
from within the prmdatory spirit of its frontier popula-
tion ; unless it is resolved to draw down upon itself
the just hostility of every country which has established
institutions and order to protect-7-unless it is resolved
to throw itself beyond the pale of forbearance from
every civilized state. America has its points of weak-
ness as well as Great Britain; and if by her own
" laches" with respect to the conduct of a portion of
her people•she- wantonly provokes retaliation, she must
not be surprised if Great Britain, or any other nation,
should cauterize those points of weakness, and stir up
the same strife within her own bosom which she is ob-
viously bent upon raising within those of her oppo-
nents. The debilitating curse of slavery is upon her.
The population of her southern states are within the
reach of the breath of agitation ; and that breath may
fan into existence a flame before which all the powers
of her democracy will strive in vain. Let her, then,
not depend too much upon the world's forbearance,
unless she desires to see her advancing prosperity
struck down at one desolating blow, and the fabric of
half a century's growth prostrated in one hour of wild
outrage by the manacled hand whose blood and toil
have cemented it together !

We had not intended to discuss Mr. WNEILE'S
claims on the fair consideration of a Conservative go-
vernment for promotion, but to leave the facts to speak,
which in this case they do most loudly. But the
elaborate article upon the subject which appeared in
the Chronicle of Saturday last, written with an affecta-
tion of candour, but with real malice, must plead our
apology with the reverend gentleman for a defence
which we could well wish had fallen into abler hands.
Before Mr. McNeile came to Liverpool, his talents,
eloquence, and activity in the cause of our national
church, had made a deep impression on the religious
portion of the community ; and wherever he was an-
nounced to preach or speak, whether in London or the
country, the churches and rooms were found too small
to accommodate the multitudes of all classes who
thronged to hear him. We well remember. the dense
masses of attentive auditors by whom he was periodi-
cally surrounded in the Church of St. Clement Danes,