The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-06-04 00:00:00

Icilius,

Mr. Peter Pringle.. Mr. Baker. Mrs. Pringle.. Mrs. Clarke
To conclude with
BOMBASTES FURIOSO.
King Artaxomines.. Mr. Baker.
General Bombastes IN Ir. G. Horncastle.
Distaffina. Mrs. P. Crowe.

On MONDAY next, will be repeated the favourite Play,
written by Sir Edward Lytton Bulwer, Bart., and performed
at the Theatre-Royal, Covent-Garden, 'ialled RICH ELI EU.
Cardinal Richelieu, Mr. Macready, as originally performed
by him in London ; The Chevalier de Mauprat, Mr. H.
Holl; Baradas, (on this occasion) Mr. Stuart ; Julie de
Mortemar, Mrs. Salsherg. To conclude with the Farce of
the SLEEPING DRAUGHT. Popolino, Mr. Baker;
Nonna, Mrs. Clarke.

aLhP Ethrrpool gz,tanbarb.

os7 csnt, isyrolsi.S. NOT 1,24111 WO* this 044 Olt tbstpti
last? There was ono class in tivorpotit--,Whicla had ndt
hitherto suffered amidst the general distress. Importers of
all kinds of goods had suffered ; but still there was a nume-
rous body in this town, the brokers, who had not yet suf-
fered to any great extent, because all goods, whether out-
ward or inward bound, must pay toll to their exchequer,
whether sold to a profit or not. But again be would ask,
how long would this state of things continue? how long
would the brokers be prosperous, if the trade of the princi-
pals continued to be carried on to a loss?" (Hear, hear.)
It is plain from all this that he was rather vexed to
find that Liverpool did not furnish him with such a
case as he could wish, and that he was under the disa-
greeable necessity of making the best, or rather we
should say the " worst" he could of the ungrateful

materials supplied him.
But what has saved Liverpool from the fatality which
the professor seemed so anxious we should suffer?
Just the fact of her not being a manufacturing town,
or depending for her prosperity exclusively. on manu-
faetures. We argue fawn this that it is good not to be
entirely dependent on manutactures—thot we might
have too much manufactures—and that the very dis-
tress of which our lecturer speaks, in Manchester and
elsewnere, is a sound and irrefragable argument against
that measure for which he contends. And why ? Ob-
viously for this reason,—because the anticipated effect
of it would be to make us more manufacturing and less
agricultural, and consequently, if not immediately, to
create more, much more of that very distress of which
the professor complains, but the remedy for which he
so entirely mistakes.

The Manchester Guardian has done us the favour t o
lay before his readers some extracts from those passing
remarks which were drawn from us by the late visit of
the factory irruptionists. I'Ve thank him for doing so,
because by this means we are sure they will fall under
the eye of some of the party we complain of. It
would exceedingly rejoice us to be in any way instru-
mental to their good. " Smite a scorner, and the sim-
ple will beware," saith the proverb; and again, "judg-
ments are prepared for scorners, and stripes for the
back of fools." And on this principle we have been
endeavouring to administer to the travellers a little
wholesome castigation.

It is true, our contemporary does" not see the matter
in the same light. He calls our language " furious
vituperation" " Billingsgate" —" blackguardism";
and he says he will " urge nothing in defence of his
fellow-townsmen against these foul-mouthed calum-
nies." Now as to our language, he may call it what
he pleases ; all that it concerns us to know is, that it
was just, appropriate, and deserved,—and on this head
we are perfectly satisfied; and with regard to his si-
lence in defence of his townsmen, we tell him that we
commend his prudence. To defend what is indefensi-
ble would be rather a tough job, and he wisely reserves
himself for something more hopeful.
There is indeed a line of defence which we would
suggest for the agitating party, but we doubt if our
contemporary would pursue it : it proceeds upon the
suggestion that these men who "go about doing evil"
—really " know not what they do." This would be a
charitable construction to put upon their labours of
mischief, and we should be glad to discover, and ready
to allow any likely ground for adopting it. " Men
seldom see the consequences of their own acts," says
Rochefoucalt ; and ignorance and blindness in this re-
spect, might, we think, be not unfairly pleaded for ths
rich men of Manchester and other places who join in

the present agitation.
For instance, they are stimulating the poor against
the rich—alluring the labouring classes with the pro-
spect of possessing the estates of the landowners ; but
they do not perceive that this is a " petard" which
might chance to hoist the "engineer himself." If
the multitude may rob the landowners with impunity—
if that lesson be taught and acted upon—what should
prevent the disciples of such instruction from turning
round upon their masters and plundering them also ?
Are the lords of the mill so very secure—is their pro-
perty so altogether inaccessible or indestructible, that

. .
they have nothing to fear from a robbery-instructed,
anti-corn-law-bred, league-educated multitude ? We
say, then, that it would be charitable, and not difficult,
to suppose that these mill-leaguers do not clearly see
what they are about, and if there is any score on which
their criminality can be extenuated, it is this.
As to that part of their scheme which consists in

dictating" to Liverpool, or other towns, whom we,
or they, shall choose as our representatives, we merely
laugh at it. They have caught the idea, we perceive,
from the " Catholic Association," as it is called, in
Dublin,—and so far as money, meetings, and mouth-
ings go, we have no doubt they will stick close to
the precedent. O'Connell is their master. The man
who betrayed the factory-children for £l,OOO is their
adviser and patron, and they may imitate his model in

all their external and internal arrangements ; but we
tell them there is one fatal barrier to their success, and
that is, " they have a Protestant people, and not a
servile Popish populace to deal with." The electors of
Liverpool will again choose Lord Sandon and Mr.
Cresswell, two honourable and faithful men, with
whom they have no fault to find—to represent them—
and the attempt to foist upon them the nominees of an
O'Connellized factory league—(exciting in their mind
only strong feelings of contempt and indignation)--
will have no other effect than to send them to vote for
the men of their own independent choice with more
ardour and in greater numbers.
We laugh at the dictation, and we despise the dic-
tators ; but we say advisedly and deliberately, that
there is no language we can use too strong to charac-
terize the abominable instrumentalities—the irreligious
and levelling principles they teach, and the foul cor-
ruption they use, in order to accomplish their ends.

We scorn the men, and we shall treat them in any

way that we think their merits deserve ; but as to their
principles we shall hold them up to eternal execration.

The news from China is only telegraphic, but it is
significant. The celestials have gone back from all their
agreements, and our men have been obliged to go for-
ward and take possession of Canton. We dislike the
origin of this business, and have found nothing to
admire in its management by the Elliots ; but it be-
gins at length to assume an aspect of deep and serious
interest. It seems highly improbable at present that
any amicable arrangement will be speedily come to ;
probably not before the celestials shall have received
several more lessons from us in the art of war.

The want of confidence motion has been again ad-
journed, and the Whigs manifest every intention of
dying hard. O'Connell and mob agitation are their
only hope; but their doom is sealed. The agitation,
though carried on extensively through hired agents,
does not ferment among the people. It don't work—
the harm is bad—sour—and the cake won't rise.
Alas, poor Whigs ! How chop-fallen you will shortly
be !

In our parliamentary report will be found an admi-
rable speech of Mr. Cresswell, delivered in the House
of Commons, on Wednesdry evening, during the de-
hate on the want of confidence motion. The hon.
gentleman has proved to demonstration, that the pre-
sent ministry have not now, and never have had such
a degree of the confidence of the house as to entitle
them to conduct the affairs of the country. In proof
of this, we refer to our representative's manly address,
where will be found a short but comprehensive history
of the various defeats they have sustained in a parlia-
ment of their own choosing. Mr. Cresswell has done
much to entitle him to the confidence of his constitu-
ents ; and we are glad to see an increasing regard for
the hon. member, manifesting itself amongst all classes
of the community.

Every enlightened member and admirer of the
Church of England, who may peruse the Visitation
Charge of the Lord Bishop of this Diocese (a report
of which we inserted in our last), cannot but feel de-
lighted with the sentiments therein so beautifully set
forth. They are sentiments admitably calculated to
gain over opponents from hostility, and confirm friends
in attachment; they are, we would say, emphatically
the sentiments mhose diffusion will ever be found most
conducive to the church's prosperity and welfare.
There are parties who profess great attachment to the
if not altogether, do,
establishment, and, in their excessive love for it,
raelmnootsttnembers of it ; but, instead of
deny salva-
ltiikone tthoeaPllaNpvihsots
a,
making converts, such bigotry is more likely to alienate
men from it. An enlightened people will love the
Church of England, not so much for her outward
forms, or any descent of which she can boast, as for
her pure and erangelieel decirinse, and the *unscrew;

1-,tkly ipp4tpgi 4.14. Whop" arkl
whom she supplies for the christianisation of the world.
They will esteem her as a 7neans, and cherish her not
the less because she would decline being converted

into an END

Never does she appear so gracious and
attractive as when she is preaching, not herself, but
the pure and simple doctrines of the cross—never
more repulsive than when she is, tractarianly, thinking
only of herself, and boasting of the privileges she pos.
sesses, and can bestow out of her vast treasury.
Church idolatry, in whatever form or guise it may pre-
sent itself, we do certainly condemn ; but if there- be
anything which would make us intensely love what we
would not idolise, it would be such a voice from the
temple—so bland, so attractive, so every way fascinat-

ing, as that of Doctor Sumner.
It would give us pleasurc to repeat, in this place,
several passages from the charge which have a peculiar
interest just at this time; but we are obliged to for-
bear, and must he content with the following passage
only

" The church is that body which assembled in the upper
chamber at Jerusalem, and there received the visit of their
risea Lord; the church is that party which abode together,
had all things in common,' and continued in apostolic fel-
lowship ; the church is that company of faithful men in all
ages and countries who maintained their fealty to the doc-
trines and institutions of the gospel. The ministers of this
church are thc'se called to serve the united world, to perform
the prescribed rites, to teach, to rebuke, to exhort, to warn,
to comfort, and to commit perpetually to their fellow men
the things which they have themselves received. Such is a
simple analysis of the church—the Holy Catholic Church—
of which Christ is the head, and with which He has engaged
to be present by his spirit to the end of the world. We
most beware of applying to the members of the body, which
members compose it, the power which really belongs to the
Head alone. If we speak of the ark of Christ's church, we
must bear in mind that we are still speaking metaphorically.
The ark is not limited to any -,pectal locality on earth, like
the ark of Noah ; it extends as far as the knowledge of
Christ extends, for He is the true ark that saves all that
commit themselves to him. The ministrations of the church
are those through which the community on earth enter,
but Christ is the only door through which heaven is entered;
still many will he admitted.intolthe risible ark who may
remain for eker excluded from the heavenly one. The
members of the church are branches of the vine; the
church is not the vine—that name belongs to Christ alone ;
the church is the pillar and ::round of truth, but the church
is not the truth, neither has it life in itself: Christ alone is
' the way, the truth, and the life,' through which every in-
dividual member of the church must seek access to God.
Yet all this, undeniable in itself, is practically contradicted
whenever the services, and the ordinances, and the ministe-
rial offices are magnified beyond their due proportions or
placed before the people with a prominency, arid we know
the importance of prominency, to which they have no claim.
Church principles in their proper sense we must approve.
All must approve of that cordial agreement with the articles,
that sincere preference of the services, that willing confor-
mity to the discipline of the church which shows that our
profession is honest and consistent; but, upon the contrary,
I must think that to set up, as it were, church principles in
opposition to the principles of the gospel, and to place them
in an invidious contrast is unreasonable and unscriptural.

There are other congregations of Christians which profess
the same truth. We honour those also, and gladly say,
• Peace be with all men that love the Lord Jesus Christ with
sincerity ;' hut we attach especial importance to the church
of the English nation, and we rejoice that it has pleased
God to distinguish her as a witness to himself. We are
thankful that the reformed church, of which most is known
in foreign countries is the church which has most strictly
adhered to primitive doctrine and discipline, and which most
nearly approximates both in her articles and creed, as well as
in the order of her ministry to Scripture itself, and to what
may be proved from Scripture. Let us, therefore, be con-
tent with these advantages, and let boasting be excluded. It
is no sign of greatness to vaunt of authority. In the sight
of man as well as God, he that humbleth himself is more
likely to be exalted than be who assumes an air of authority,
which could never be entrusted to man in after ages as it
was to the apostles, unless men, like the apostles, were en-
abled to read the heart. But though none can forgive sins
but God alone, and though regeneration is not of the will
nor of the work of man, but of God, yet God, whose spirit
goeth where it listeth, has given much to us which we may
justly prize as a talent, and esteem as an office of infinite
importance sufficient to give us cause to tremble at the posi-
tion we hold."