The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-07-12 00:00:00

MR. O'CONNELL AND THE COLLISION.

When a man claims public homage to his acts of pro-
fessedly disinterested patriotism, one test at least appli-
cable to his pretensions, is his regard for truth. Mr.
O'Connell's second letter to the people of England, will
enable us to apply this test to himself individually. He
has therein preferred certain charges against the Rev.
Mr. Longfield, which have received from that gentleman
a most emphatic denial.
Mr. O'Connell never spoke a plainer truth than when
lie told us that his greatness had been thrust upon him.
He by no means wished, indeed, to convey the idea that
he was literally a worthless piece of lumber in the midst
of a creation teeming with worth and intelligence.—
Doubtless he thought it more politic to concentrate po-
pular odium on his adversaries, than to invite for himself
public a_pplauses ; and thus the seeming modesty of the
declaration was well calculated to promote the purposes
of his ambition. That he owes his ephemeral greatness
to circumstances was always self-evident, and to nothing
perhaps more than the over-acting of their part by his
opponents of the press, and a slavish acquiescence in his
policy by a pusillanimous administration. He was in too
great haste, however, when he ascribed his political im-
portance to the unyieldiness of the peers. The last act
of the drama had still to be performed when he made the
declaration; and the dignified assertion of their inde-
pendence, on a late memorable occasion, so far from
thrusting greatness upon the assailants of their heredi-
tary privileges, has done much to annihilate his political
importance. That consummation, indeed, he himself is
acclerating by such manifest disregard to truth as occurs
in his letter to the people of England.
The whole of Mr. O'Connell's career, if successful in
its revolinionary objects, would have been a standing li-
bel on the reform bill ; which essays to work out by a
constitutional machinery, and independently of agitation,
every needful improvement in our internal condition.—
That this plain truth is beginning to be felt by English-
men is evident from the result of the late elections. It
is not, less remarkable than true, that on the second day
of iolling the reformers of South Warwickshire were
made acquainted with the honest decision of the House
of Peers on the subject of the Irish municipal corpora-
tions bill. " Had there been," as was well observed by
the Lion. C..p. Percy, "that unanimous feeling against
the fords, which was so generally represented, would there
not have been such a rush to the poll as would have res-
cued the victory from those who are friendly to the inde-
pendence of that body ?"
The collision has passed away with less violence on the
part of the leaders of the House of Commons than was
anticipated. We suspect that Lord John Russell. will
learn wisdom from this defeat, and not soon again thrust
himself into a position, from which he had neither the
courage to advance, nor the courage to extricate himself,
without sustaining political loss and humiliation. The
value of the' constitution, meanwhile—that which, as a
system of checks and balances, has been the boast of
many a sage politician as well as "the spouter of froth
by the hour"—has been proclaimed, not by empty
speeches, but by facts of the gravest import.—Watch-
man.

THE MINISTERIAL PRESS.
A more complete exhibition of hollow braggadocia,
gibbetted to ridicule, than that which has attended " the
puff out" of the late "collision," never, we apprehend,
yielded its joint instruction and amusement to the Bri-
tish public. How the readers of the ministerial journals
may he able to relish this sudden change from roaring
madness to a shivering ague-fit, is nothing to. us, but to
a looker-on the contrast of the leading articles of one
week with those of the next would have the most amus-
ing effect conceivable, were it not for the disgust which
cannot but attend the perusal of such impudent charla-

tanerie.
Turn back, for instance, to the Morning Chronicle of
the day following the vote of the Commons on the Lords'
amendments (June 13). We have there such bursts of
violence as these:—

" The collision is at an end ! Grasp but the giant and he
dies! The Lords must yield ! The Lords have no alternative
but to strike their flag ! If we suppose them mad enough to
bold out, ministers have a plain course to pursue. The Commons
will not recede from their determination, and therefore the Lords
must receive that infusion of new blood which the constitution
allows in such cases."

On another occasion the same journal observes—
"We are quite at ease with respect to this collision. The
Lords are in what, in famftiar language, is called a cleft stick."

The Globe (June 17) is equally comfortable :

" The matter is settled as far as the majority of the nation
[query, Mr. Roebuck's opinion rj is concerned; and the only
questions now to be decided in reference to it are, What will
the Lords do ? and, What will be done with the Lards?"

The Courier of the 22d of June declares—

" If the Lords refuse to avail themselves of the locus peni-
tentecc afforded them by the concessions of the Commons, no one
can foresee what the result may fie."
Well, a few days have passed, the lords have braved all
this, have dared to do what, to the Chronicle and Courier,
it was inconceivable they should ever have courage to do.
Now, then, for the fulfilment of all these ,awful predic-
tions. The only question is, said the Globe, " What
will be done with the lords ?"
Now, what has been " done with the lords ?"—what is
going to be done•with the lords?
Hear the Courier of last evening :

" The question of peerage reform is not yet ripe for discus-
sion in the legislature. It is a new one to the country. The
public must be enlightened before the ministers can act. The real
reformer of the peerage must be—(what?)—Tax PUBLIC
PRESS (I) Their lordships are, for the present, consigned to
the newspapers (! ) and it must be their business to prepare the
nation fur that change, which is demonstrated to be necessary.
"Their lordships are consigned" not to Newgate, as
all the radicals of St. Giles's and Tothill-fields imagined
they would have been by this time—but " to the news-
papers." Whether bathos ever went lower than this is
more than we can at present recollect.
That mastermind—the true conservative—William
Shakspeare, has pre-imagined every absurdity that hu-
man beings can commit. In his Measure for Measure
be had sketched, three centuries ago, the leading article
of the Courier of last night.
" Elbow.—What is your worship's pleasure I shall do with
this wicked catiff?
" Escal.—Truly, officer, because he bath some offences in
him that thou wouldst discover if thou couldst, let him continue
in his courses till thou knowest what they are.
" Elbow.—Marry, thank your worship for it. Thou seest,
thou wicked varlet, now, what is come upon thee; thou are to con-
tinue, now, thou varlet, thou art to continue!"
In like manner, as the lords, doubtless, have " some
offences," the Courier is to discover them, if it can, and
meanwhile their lordships, wicked varlets as they are,
"are to continue."—Standard.