The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-09-23 00:00:00

L'RD

Nof so, Mr. Bolton—he would exclude the pool. kom
the benefit of religious instruction, unless a balance in favour
of the corporation can be realised from the churches. Glorious
liberality ! Mark -this, ye industrious poor of Liverpool, who
have hitherto enjoyed the privilege of sitting unmolested in our
churches—a privilege secured to you by the munificence of your
former corporation—and remember the men who would, if they
dared, deprive you of your rights.
Mr. Lawrence Hey worth, as will be seen by our report, (the
fullest and most accurate that has appeared) followed Mr. Bol-
ton. His speech consisted of an enthusiastic eulogy on the
voluntary principle, and a comparison of the claims of the church
in Liverpool with those of the Jews and the Roman Catholics.
We must here protest against the application of the term sect,
by which he contemptuously designated the Church of England.
A sect means a thing cut off or separated from another thing
agiecably to this defioation derived from the original seco, the
dissenters are sects—broken off, or separated from the parent
stock—the church. This gentleman announced the notable dis-
covery that " religion ►s•as above all things, to be carried on the
principle uffree trade!" It is a great pity that there is no market
for carrying on a free trade in common sense, in which valuable
commodity Mr. Councillor Lawrence Heyworth is woefully
deficient. " Religion never existed but by divine appoint-
ment, and could not be supported by compulsory measures."
This certainly sounds like a non sequitur. Was not the old
testament dispensation of divine appointment ? Did it not also
flourish, and answer the design of its establishment, although
supported by " compulsory measures ?" If Mr. Heyworth had
been a Jew, (we do not say he is one) and had lived under the
rigour of the Levitical law, would not his instinctive abhorrence
of " compulsory payments" have led him toresist the payment -
of tithes? Would he not, by doing so, have resisted the ordi_
nance of God ? But, what ewe modern radicals fur such an-
tiquated authorities as the old testament ?

Mr. Alderman Brown met the resolution by a very temperate
amendment, which merely required the appointment of a com-
mittee for the purpose of considering the whole subject of church
property, and of securing the most desirable management of it,
dne regard being paid to the accommodation of the poor bur-
gesses. How was this very modest application received by the
conclave of reformers ? We shall see..

Mr. Duncan informed the council, in seconding the imend-
ment, that " he would willingly increase the stipends of the
clergy, instead of diminishing them, as he considered they were,
inadequately paid." This, however, was not the question to be
decided, the resolution chiefly affecting the minor expences',Of
the churches. The expression of liberality towards the clergy
in which Mr. Duncan indulged, called Mr. Councillor Sutor
Blackburn upon his legs. This gentleman's speech, together
with the remainder of the proceedings must be left for discus-
sion until Tuesday, as our remarks are already protracted
beyond our anticipations. But we must have a word or two at
parting with the radical councillors who planned and concurred
in this fresh attack upon the church. Let them remember that
the officers whom they intend discarding from our churches
have relatives and connexions possessed of rotes, which will never
again be thrown away upon treacherous voluntaries in religion
and republicans it) politics. Let them Lear in mind that the great
majority of the people of Liverpool are churchmen; that they ex-
ceed the aggregate number of papists, dissenters,and infidels in
the ratio of 5 to 3; that their sympathies on behalfof our venerable
establishment have been aroused by the assaults of her enemies;
and that they will sacrifice many of their political opinions rather
than suffer her to be demolished. Let them remember that
their proceedings are narrowly scrutinised by a discerning
public—and, above all, let them reflect that the ELECTION IS
APPROACHING ! Conservatives of Liverpool—churchmen of
Liverpool—be active in your exertions, and rest not satisfied
unless you can iu three years obtain a preponderating influence
in the town council. You can accomplish this—you will obtain
it, if yon continue united and steady in the pursuit of your ob-
jects. Then we shall wrest the schools from the hands of the
priests and place them once more under the legitimate controul
of the clergy—then we shall not be ashamed of the ridiculous
proceedings of a mongrel band of councillors, chiefly charac•
terised by their reckless contempt of public opinion, and their
ferocious assaults upon religion.

The great importance of the question, deeply affecting the in-
terests and usefulness of the established church, must plead an
excuse for having pursued our commentary to such length.
We record with shame the humiliating fact 'that the majesty of
protestantisra is obliged to bow to a despicable and degraded
faction, who have gained a temporary triumph by deceit and
falsehood—that the religion for which our forefathers fought
and bled, supported in numerous instances by the signal inter-
positions of Providence, and intimately identified with the
liberty, the security, the happiness, and the glory of our
country, should be made the subject of ridicule in a reformed
council chamber and jeered by profane and senseless unitarians.
But we cannot despair. The cause of truth must and will pre-
vail. We are ready and eager for the battle. The conserve.
tives have hitherto looked quietly on while danger was threaten-
ing; but now they must obey the call of duty and unite in
defence of their king, their religion, and their country.

, The present position of the British Nation, in imme-
diate connexion with its foreign policy, and the attitude
it ought to assume, are, indeed, questions of momentous
interest. At no one period, since that which preceded
the burst of the memorable French revolution of 1792
has the general repose of Europe been so seriously
threatened, as at this moment; and if ever any man,
filling the important post of Foreign Minister to a great
nation, incurred an awful responsibility, that responsi-
bility has been incurred by Lord Palmerston, to and with
the English people, primarily, and towards Europe,
secondarily. His Lordship's position, as the representa-
tive minister of a powerful monarch and a powerful peo-
ple, is, we repeat,, one of fearful account to himself, per-
sonally; but it is of still greater moment, in connection
with the further consequences, which are daily develo-
ping themselves. In spite of repeated warnings in Par-
liament, given by men of the most upright bearing in
character and intelligence—men whose personal experi-
ence had enabled them, from their station and opportu-
nities to take a comprehensive view of our foreign
relations—to form an accurate judgment of the means
which should be employed to preserve the credit of the

English name, and the balance of European power, on
legitimate principles,—the principles of moderation com-
bined with'security and freedom from vassalage,--in spite
of the ample demonstration which has been made by the
break-up of six Cabinets in France, and three or four in
Spain, within a very short period, the unavoidable results
of a system of political expediency, time-serving and de-
grading in all its leading features,—in spite of the labo-
rious efforts of a highly talented, and never more
thoroughly independent press at home, has the Chief of
Downing-street brought us into a dilemma from which
we can hardly hope to escape, even by the entire sacrifice
of his own honour, and the irretrievable destruction of
his already bankrupt reputation, as a statesman and a
diplomatist! But, what do appearances indicate ? Is
there any one redeeming prospect held out to us, where-
by a hope of honourable extrication presents itself?
None whatever at his hands; and we envy not the dis-
cretion of the Statesman, nor the callosity of the man,
who can, to all appearance, remain insensibly dead to the
surrounding danger, nor that perversity of talent and
self-complacency, which has placed us in a condition so
truly 'lamentable and humiliating, the sport Of revOlution
on the one hand, and the laughing-stock of Europe on
the other, for our effeminate diplomacy—diplomacy which
would have been a scandal to the libertine and degener-
ate age of the Second Charles. We will simply ask the
question, is this land of independent freedom, renowned
through all the nations of the .earth for its independence
and its moral. energy; its sterling principle, to be made
the dupe of that ancient sacerdotal hypocrite, in his wily
policy, who, Napoleon most aptly termed " the arch
Cameleon of political intrigue," or the sport of the vain
fantasies of his pet child of a dozen ministries,—of him,
whom Canning would not honour with a seat in his
Cabinet,—whose inconsistencies of political principle
form his greatest, if not his only claim, to confidence—
driven from Cambridge and rejected, spurned by his
own College, in the teeth of all the power and influence
of Lord Grey, and the interest of the Duke of Devon-
shire ? Disclaiming all feeling of animosity towards
Lord Palmerston, personally, we again simply ask the
question, are the public pretensions of this Nobleman,
such as to give him a rational claim to the national con.
fidence ? if they be so, in mercy's sake, in justice to his
Lordship, and in justice to the Administration of which
he forms so prominent a link let them be defined, that
the Conservative Press of Britain may not unjustly at-
tach a stigma to his name, which will deprive him in all
time to come of the reward of his merit,—this justice to
Lord Palmerston, we ask, at the hands of the thick and
thin defenders of reckless Whiggery.

The welfare of our common country demands that this
subject should be treated firmly, yet dispassionately—the
public and political honour of her name—the domestic
and vital interests of her citizens, and the credit of her
arms, are all involved, bound up in the question before
us ;—that question we reduce, if possible, to a still more
intt-liigible basis, namely, shall England, after thirty