The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-04-09 00:00:00

THE LEVANT MAIL,

Our ordinary express has brought us letters from our cor-
respondents in Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Malta, received
by the Levant mail, which reached Paris on Tuesday last.
Their contents are of some interest.

Our letters from Alexandria, dated March 17, state that
Mehemet Ali had returned from Cairo on the 15th, leaving
Ibrahim. Pasha there, invested with full administrative pow-
ers over the interior, as well as over the affairs of the Mili-
tary and Marine of Egypt. They had liberated Sheriff Pasha,
ex-governor of Damascus,..from the arrest in which Abbas
Pasha held him, and had apppointed him Chief Inspector of
Finance in the room of Hussein Bey, lately disgraced. Coun-
' cils had been held in Cairo, and serious injuries made into
the recent mismanagement in Syria. It was declared that
60,000 men were necessary for the effective government of
Egypt, and Said Bey had been sent up the Nile to concert
measures for a new conscription, as the Pasha has only half
that force on foot at present. It was believed that he would
experience great difficulty in raising that number, while the
attempt was regarded as calculated further to embarrass the
question which then occupied the attention of the. Divan.
The chief causes alleged for the necessity of raising the
army to 60,000 men are the hostility of the natives of Abys_
synia, led by a chief who many years since destroyed the
Pasha's son, Tussoon, and the threatening attitude of the
western Bedouins, who it is said were in a conspiracy with
the late Said El Gharbi against the Pasha. The eastern
Bedouins had also recommenced their attacks on the govern-
ment conveys in the Suez Desert. The Pasha had paid off
the long arrears of his army, and was now discharging those
ue to his marine and to their children. He was building
barracks for the sailors in Alexandria; the National Guards
of both cities were still constantly exercised ; a marriage was
on the Lapis between a son of Ibrahim Pasha and a daughter
of Soliman Pasha ; and apparently nothing was neglected to
strengthen his defensive position against the Porte.
Lieutenant-Colonel Napier had sailed with the Maronite
Emirs and Druse Sheiks for Syria on the 9th of March in
one of the Pasha's corvettes, and had encountered a severe
gale.

On the same day 10.000 cantars of the Pasha's cotton had
been sold, at 14 7-10 dollars per cantar, at public auction.
Storms and rains had set in at Alexandria from the 10th
to the 14th of March, and the cases of plague had risen to 15
per day. The returns from 23 villages in the Delta for 13
days, ending the 10th of March, were 1001 cases, of which
838 cases had been fatal, and the remaining 163 still remained
to be reported on. _

Private letters, received there from Constantinople, speak
of the apparently favourable disposition of the ambassadors
of Russia and Prussia to listen to his argtunents against the
extent of the conditions named in the hatti-sheriff of the 22d
of January. The accession of M. de Montebello was looked
on as favourable to his pretensions. The new French gerant
of the consul-general, M. de Rohan Chabot, had arrived at
Alexandria on the 15th of March, and M. Cochelet was to
leave in a fortnight.

Our intelligence from Constantinople comes down to the
17th ult. Nothing had yet been decided respecting the reply
which the Porte would return to the letter addressed by
Mehemet Ali to the Grand Vizier, to solicit, through his in-
terference, some modifications in the hatti-sheriff, granting
him the hereditary government of Egypt. The Divan had
already held several meetings for the purpose, and Redschid
Pasha had also had frequent interviews on the subject with
the foreign ambassadors. It was believed that the Eastern
affair was on the eve of a satisfactory arrangement.
The Ottoman fleet, after remaining a few days at St.
Stephano, waiting a favourable wind, set sail on the 16th,
and shortly afterwards entered the Bosphorus. The Sultan
had repaired in his steamer to the Kiosks of the Seraglio-
Bournou in order to witness the event. The Mahmoudieh
ship of the line took the lead, and on doubling the point of
the Seraglio fired a salute of 21 guns, which his Highness or-
dered should be instantly returned. All the other vessels of
the fleet followed the example of the Mahmoudieh.
The fleet consisted of 26 sail ; eight ships of the line, tan
frigates, two corvestes, and six brigs, and other light vessels.
The entire population of Constantinople and its environs
lined the banks of the channel, and crowned the heights
which overlook the city in order to enjoy the spectacle. In
the course of the afternoon, the Sultan went on board the
Mahmoudieh, accompanied by all the Pashas, and compli-
! mented Admiral Walker, in the most flattering terms, on his
conduct throughout the recent occurrences. When his
highness had retired, the members of the corps diplomalique,
and all the commanders of the ships of war stationed in the
harbour, visited the admiral's ship, where they were received
by the Capitan Pasha, Said Pasha. It was computed that
only 8,000 of the crews of the fleet had returned to Con-
stantinople. In June, 1839, when it left for Alexandria, they
amounted to at least 21,000 men. The rest had died of the
plague or remained in the service of Mehemet Ali. All the
vessels were in the most filthy condition.

M. de Pontois, the French Ambassador, having obtained
leave of absence, was to take his departure in a few days for
France, in the brig Fleche. M. de Perceval was to act as
Charge d' Affaires in his absence.
The Superior Board of Health having been officially in-
formed of the existence of the plague at Jaffa, St. Jean d'Acre,
Tyr, Said, and Beyrout, ordered that all vessels proceeding
from Syria should undergo quarantine.
The Consuls of Prussia and Austria at Alexandria were
preparing to return to that city. M. de Medem, the Consul-
General of Russia in Egypt, had left for St. Petersburgh.

The Portafoglio Maltese of the 22d ult. brings news from
Tripoli of the 11th. The Governor, Askar Pasha, had been
confirmed in the administration of the regency for another
ysar, to the great annoyance of the population, who expected
that he would be recalled. The firman of the investiture
was published with great pomp on the 10th.

Our Athens letters contain no fact of importance

Efinrpool Atanbarb.

FRIDAY

MORNING, APRIL 9, 1841

The quarterly official statements of the revenue be-
gin to be in the condition of royal speeches, and have
certainly lost a great deal of their value of late years.
The last return, published on Monday, is in no better
predicament in this respect than many of its predeces-
sors

It exhibits on the whole year a decline of
£309,280, and on the quarter a decrease of £70,514.
But the decline, we learn, was wholly without effect

on the prices of public securities.
The reason assigned by the City correspondent of a
metropolitan journal for the dis-esteem into which these
documents have fallen, is, " that they exhibit a one-
sided account, in which the whole of the receipt, but
a small portion of the expenditure, appears, and do
not possess the merit even of good statistics, by which
the fluctuations in the commerce of the country may
be determined."

The only fact deducible from the present return is,
that all the increased taxation has not maintained the
income of the country at its old rate. The principal
sources of revenue which show a decrease, are the
Customs and the Post-office—the former amounting
to £301,042, and the latter to no less than £833,000.
The increase is to be found principally in the Excise,
which exceeds the last year by £489,299. The Stamps
also have increased £162,722, and the Taxes £275,019.
Though the total deficiency may not be very formida-
ble, yet, looking at the increased expenditure, it is
impossible not to feel some apprehension as to the
balance of ways and means with the demands upon
them. The decrease in the Customs seems regularly
progressive, and in the last quarter the Excise has
begun to decline—two facts which, taken together,
certainly constitute rather a bad feature. The monied
interest, however, do not appear to indulge in any
notion of a loan, and for the reason that they are un-
able to judge to what extent the stock and money
belonging to the Savings Banks may be available for
public purposes.

With regard to all these Matters, however, her Ma-
jesty's Ministers have learned the happy knack of
" taking things easy." Revenue defalcations—wars,
or rumours of wars—disturb them not ; and really, if
we were among the confiding few who repose in their
superior skill and management, we should consider
the circumstance a happy one. We are disposed to
look perhaps too closely into the state of our affairs
(it is a trait of the national, character), and to postpone
the enjoyment of mirth and jollity till we feel assured
of those more important matters being in a satisfactory
condition ; but who can be sad when Ministers seem
so tranquil ? Customs and Excise may fall, but quar-
ter-day comes round as pleasantly to them as ever;
and if a "cheap postage" be any consolation, they
can enjoy it in common with the rest of her Majesty's
subjects. How enviable is the state of Britain, in
possessing so placid, so pleased, and so happy a set of
Ministers ! By-the-by, it would be a pity if Mr. Ewart
should abandon his motion for adding a " Minister of
Education" to the company, particularly as we under-
stand that Thomas Wyse, Esq., M.P. for Waterford,
a Lord of the Treasury, and a Papist, is quite ready
to take the appointment.

The Albion is exceedingly incensed that Dr. Byrth—
a clergyman in his eyes worthy of all commendation—
should have been treated to a few hisses at a public
meeting consisting exclusively of members of the Es-
tablished Church. This Whig journal is so tender of
the dear Doctor, that he would not have " the winds
of heaven to visit his face too roughly," and has a
great many unsavoury similes for those who were to
naughty as to sibillate at his admired pattern of patient
endurance and Christian charity. " Pandemonium"
and " reptiles" are trifles from his pen when speaking
of the meeting, and its members—a sort of language
which, when so applied, has a tendency, we fear, to
bring "poetry" into discredit. Certainly there are
some who look upon that "sweet inspiration" and fiction
as one and the same thing—and we are satisfied that it
is miserable scribbling of this description by Whigs,
which has given occasion for this ill opinion of the
divine art. As the Devil (who was the first Whig)
was a "liar from the beginning," so all his descend-
ants are in this sense, unfortunately, poetical. But
due allowance being made for the poetical propensities
of our Whig contemporary, we would beg to ask, if
he would have the denouncer of Protestant Associations
applauded in an Assembly of English Protestants?
Forbid it, Honesty ! No; Englishmen are candid„ and
like to express their feelings freely ; and long may they
40 so, and have the power also to gratify so laudable
an inclination, say we.

eoPei'V

Pt. ,uyrtit rioclar64 that he bat
he said, at the meeting alluded to; but we can only
judge the truth of his assertion by hid act 2, and, in
our humble opinion, denouncing Protestant Associa-

Lions is not a satisfactory way of showing it.
When "bad men combine—(the saying has become
a proverb)—it is time for good men to associate."
And when good men hare such a call to union—as
certainly they now have— what better bond of fellow-
ship can they require than the Protestant religion ?
But perhaps 1)r. Byrth would say, that we have no
need of any such combination at present—that we may
commit the cause of Protestantism to the keeping of
ministers, our liberal Parliament, the Whig party, and
such prelates (and there are not many such, we rejoice to
say) as the Bishop of Norwich. Among all such per-
sons there is, probably, as the Doctor says, " a con-
viction rapidly prevailing of the injurious influence of
the proceedings of Protestant Associations ;" and on
this account they, of course, entitle themselves to our
confidence. Full of Christian charity, they frown upon
us, and smile upon our adversaries, and are " con-
vinced" that we are only doing ourselves a great deal
of harm with our " Protestant Associations."

Well, we are plain-going people; and when we find
men associating and battling together for a particular
object, we are apt to think not only that they are mighty
much in earnest about it, but going the right way to
attain it, and that none oppose them, or would prevent
them so doing, but those who have no wish that they
should succeed. Our understanding will not carry
double and run with Dr. Byrth on this point; that we
confess. With regard to the sibillation affair, the ex-
aggeration of the Radical journals is ridiculous ; in
fact, the token would have passed off as a mere nothing,
had it not been for the perseveringly injudicious con-
duct of the Doctor himself.

We have in a former paper spoken of the facilities
which the corn duties afford as a subject for agitation,
but we did not particularly observe upon the danger-
ous uses to which the agitation itself might be ap-
plied. It requires, however, but little consideration to
perceive that sedition could not well mask itself under
a more convenient disguise, and that in carrying on
our controversy with the agitators, we are warring for
the most part not against a mere financial or commer-
cial regulation, but against the encroachment of the
lower upon the upper orders of society—against social
disorganization and political revolution.
We do not prefer this charge against all who advo-
cate the extension of free-trade doctrines to the article
of bread-corn. On the contrary, we dare say that
some of the most intelligent of those who thus argue
are themselves deceived, and perfectly sincere in their
error; but we have not the same opinion of others
who profit by their countenance, and arc supplied with
weapons from their armoury. Gladly do these persons
catch at every argument that favours the doctrine, not
that they love it for its own sake, but because it favours
their secret, revolutionary, and levelling purposes.
The corn duties, it is admitted, are imposed, in the
first instance, for the protection of agriculture ; and,
the ownership of land belonging chiefly to the aristo-
cracy, it would seem, at the first blush, that they are a
provision made for the advantage of the aristocracy,
and for theirs only. But it is demonstrable 'that their
policy is of no such limited kind, and fairly regards
the interest of all classes, although the aristocracy may
more immediately and directly reap the benefit. Enough,
however, is it for the seditionist to possess such a han-
dle for his purpose in the immediate operation of the
duties. He exclaims—" they are a tariff of the rich
against the poor; it is by such laws the wealthy are
maintained in opulence, and the poor depressed by po-
verty; away with all monopolies; let there be no re-
striction on the trade, and the poor man's wants will
be all supplied."
Now it is easy to perceive to what dangerous pur-
poses such a theme is capable of being perverted, In-
deed it is perfectly obviotis that the anti-corn law agi-
tation is only a very old sedition under a new name;
but we fear that its propagandism has proceeded, and
is proceeding to a much greater extent than is gene-
rally supposed. Anti-corn law lecturing, and scrib-
bling, and free-trade mongering in every possible
shape, have been too long at work without opposition
or restraint, not to have produced very considerable
effects. Where they exist, what may we expect to find
among the simple and ignorant, but hatred of the
laws, and of those who, they are taught to believe, are
the occasion of nothing but privation and injury to
them ? They are not led to consider how they would
be affected by the degradation of the aristocracy and
the impoverishment of the agricultural classes. Like
the man in the fable who destroyed the goose for the
sake of the golden eggs, they are rather desirous of
degrading them, under a similar delusive conception as
to the result. With the national debt, and all its fiscal
sequences, they never imagine that they have aught to
do; and so they rush e gerly forward looking for fruits
which they suppose that nothing hinders them from
reaching, and enjoying, but the envious monopoly
which the rich derive from, and secure to themselves
by the corn duties.

Now we say that this is a dangerous delusion, and
that a people whose minds are charged with such sen-
timents are a proper subject of alarm and anxiety to
the well-affected in case of any sudden emergency,
such as an unfavourable season, some sudden depres-
sion of trade, political excitement, or other circum-
stance that tries men's dispositions. Chartism tells us
plainly what it is, and what it wants, and puts us on
our guard. A Chartist obviously needs nothing to
make him a rebel, but arms and opportunity ; but the
anti-corn law agitator is a more sly and insidious, but
not a less certain mover in the same sphere. The one
would destroy with club or fist—the other by secretly
administering the poisoned draught—and it is the only
difference between them. It is the business of the
anti-corn law schoolmaster abroad to sow enmity be-
tween the rich and poor, and to advise the latter to
seek his own supposed good, careless of whatever loss
or injury others might sustain. He diffuses his poison
through society, and no antidote follows to counteract
its effects; and this, we humbly conceive, is a state of
things which ought not to be.

Crowded as are our columns, we must not omit to
congratulate the burgesses of St. Anne's Ward, and
the inhabitants of Liverpool, on the successful termi-
nation of the noble and constitutional struggle of yes-
terday. The eyes of the country have been fastened
on the local contest which our friends have manfully
fought and won, and we are glad to find that another
proof has been added to the many we already possess,
that .Pnglishmen now properly appreciate the blessings
which their forefathers did so much to obtain. Mr.
Parker is well qualified in every respect for the ho-
nourable position he is called to occupy, and the result
is the more gratifying, as he has been the means of
defeating a deserter from the Conservative camp. The
numbers at the close were—
Mr. Parker ...
Mr. Chalmers 177

ajority

parker 7

The discontinuance of the Tracts for the Times,
under circumstances of condemnation, is rather a sa-
tisfactory event to those who, from the first, were im-
pressed with a strong opinion of the anti-Protestant
character of these polemical essays. It is going some-
what too far to say that the writers entertained any
serious ideas of putting peas in their shoes, and per-
forming a pilgrimage to our Lady of Loretto, or that
to many of the errors of the Pope's church they are
not still very seriously opposed. Such a charge has
not only no sufficient proof to sustain it, but is contra-
dicted by the essayists themselves in several of their
learned and laborious lucubrations. In fact, they ar-
rogate to themselves the merit of taking up the very
best ground from which Romish error can be refuted,
and invite all other sections of the Protestant church
to join them with a view to the more certain and com-
plete accomplishment of the work. The Tractarians
are therefore not:Papists; but it would be possible to
travel many degrees from pure -Anglicanism without
coming exactly upon the meridian v Romanism, and
we may be fully justified in concern g the Tractarian
heresy without laying our irtdicti4nt for so capital and
telonious a charge as that of absdrutipPopery..
It is rather curious to obseive4 the Papist party
take every opportunity to proctaim, and boast of the
near approximation of Puseyite 'doctrine to that of the
"ancient" churcty:they aisurdly call their own.

Docor Wiktmiati, the weli4otown Popish ceelesiagt

of the London district, has just published a letter in
the " Tablet,"—a Romanist publication—in which he
declares that he hailed the first signals put up by this
party with the utmost joy, as a promise of their speedy
return to the mother church, which was ready with
open arms to receive them; and that experience had
confirmed him in the truth of the presentiment.
Many other influential members of his party have said
the same thing; and all have concurred, up to his
" holiness" himself, in expressing unbounded gratula-
tion at the rise and progress of Tractarianism. Yet
the policy which has suggested this cause of proceed-
ing is not so obvious.

One would suppose 'that, if Popery were really mak-
ing way in the Church, it would be the policy and the
interest of Romanists to keep silent, and give no alarm
on the subject : that if they really believed the Tracta-
rians ware preparing fora relapse into Popish error,
then it would be wise on their part to take no notice,
and avoid interfering with them in any way whatever.
Such would appear to be the line of conduct which
they would be most likely to pursue ; but in point of
fact it is not what they have pursued. Are we to infer,
therefore, .that the tendencies of Tractarianism are dif-
ferent from what the Papists represent 'them, and that
the self-gratulation and exuberant joyousness of this
party are merely simulated, not real; and that their
secret opinion of the doctrine is different from what
they express ? Such an inference would be erroneous.
No; the fact we believe to be this : there are, as we
have already observed, many stages between pure
Anglicanism, and Popery, and the Romanists though
naturally and fairly exulting in the dissemination of
semi-popish doctrines, must still be destitute of all
reasonable hope of English divines going so far in this
direction, as absolutely to seek reconciliation with the
see of Rome. Supposing Puseyism then to be a sort
of half-way house, Papists may rejoice that those who
go so far have relinquished Protestantism ; but their
cup of felicity is not full, because the wanderers go
not all the way, and are in all probability more likely
to remain where they are, than to go further. Under
such circumstances, we find, on looking more closely
into the case, that the policy acted upon by the Pa-
pists is what we might properly expect from them,
viz.—to take every opportunity to boast of the spread
of ;Tractarian doctrine as evidence of a schism in the
Church of England ; and a further proof of that
favourite but unfounded position of theirs—the want
of unity among all who separate from their commu-
nion. By acting on this policy, if they cannot
strengthen the church of Rome, they may hope to
weaken the church of England. The advantage has
been given them, and they have not been slow to
make use of it. Hence all this anxiety through the
press, and every other convenient medium to trumpet
forth the rapid advances of Puseyism—the acknow-
ledgment by Protestants, as they allege, that the
Reformation went too far, and that Popery is not
half so deeply immersed in error as our Re-
formers have esteemed it. In this way, we admit
a great advantage has been given them ; but we do
not, at the same time, by any means concur in the
supposition that Popish Anglicanism either has made,
or is likely to make, that progress in the Church which
our watchful but lying adversary is anxious to have
us believe. He forgets that our Church rests her
foundation on the Bible, and that even the Puseyites,
though they attempt to make tradition the interpreter
of Scripture, have not dared to remove the sacred
foundation. Now it is impossible for either Popery
or Puseyism to make any great progress among a
Bible-reading population. Such, at least, is our hum-
ble opinion; and Puseyism, like other heresies, we do
confidently believe, will, for this very reason, soon
wither away and die. 'We rejoice in the condemnation
it has received by the Board of Oxford University,
and by several of the venerated prelates of our Church;
we greatly rejoice in this, and hope that yet further
official and influential censure awaits it; but we con-
fess that we repose our confidence more largely on the
fact to which we allude, than on any other circum-
stance, actual or prospective. The Tracts for the
Times may cease at No. 90, but the lifeless dumb-
show of religion, which exalts the priest and degrades
the people, may easily be advocated in some new form,
and under some different title.