The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-06-15 00:00:00

O.

try, in the Answer to that question, all is comprised
that is important to know at the present crisis.
Ministers dissolve the parliament for the express pur-
pose of ascertaining whether the people will place confi-
dence in them after the resolution agreed to by the
present House of Commons; and every member whom
the people shall choose at the next general election
must be either a confider or a non-confider in the
spendthrift, profligate ministry of Melbourne, O'Con-
nell, and Co. Is it " manly" then, we ask, of Sir J.
Walmsley, to offer himself to the electors of Liverpool,
and tell us, indeed, about his opinions—for which no-
body cares a rush—on various subjects, and yet en-
deavour to shirk from this most important and vital
one ? We may guess aliunde under whose banner the
knight would quickly enrol himself if he got into par-
liament ; indeed we have no doubt at all upon the sub-
ject ; his knightship was formed by nature for a joint
of the great tail ; but certainly in this most " manly
and straightforward" address, the point is most pro-
foundly reserved.
We cannot hastily pass from the subject of this
omission, because we do think that it will prove—nay,
that it is already FATAL to the Walmsley cause. It
shows in the most satisfactory manner that it is a rot-
ten one—a cause which no manly and independent
elector in Liverpool can support. If the knight be a
confider in a ministry which in the short space of ten
years has added nearly £8,000,000 to the national
debt, and has caused a deficiency of income in the
present year of £2,421,776, why is he ashamed to say
? And if he do not confide in them, why has he
not the courage and manliness to declare it ? Will
any plain-dealing, straightforward elector vote for a
man who evidently tries to sneak off from this declara-
tion ? We think not. The ministerialists know very
well—his own clique, perhaps, know well—what Sir
Joshua would do, and what he would be, if they could
only pitchfork him into the House of Commons; they
are not deceived, and will not, we dare say, make any
complaint of his evasiveness in public ; and we only
beg of all independent electors not to be deceived
either, but just to mark as a shabby and shuffling trick
worthy of liberalism, the paltry trap laid to catch their
votes by an abstinence from any clear and unequivocal
declaration of ministerial adhesion, or otherwise, in
the address in question.

" Deals in no equivocation—avows principles which
ought to command support in a commercial town." So
saith the Mercury ; but we look in vain for either the
explicitness or the principles in the courtly protocol.
The statements are, in fact, just as ridiculous as the
omission we have been speaking of is egregious.
They may mean anything, everything, or nothing.
They are a perfect melange of jumble and stuff—sug-
gesting nothing so clearly to our mind as the idea of
an addled egg. _ .

It took Sir Knight some twenty years of trading, it
seems, to find out that " prohil iitory and protective
duties for the benefit of particular classes are inexpe-
dient and unjust." Poor man ! how long has he been
making the discovery ? Why we found out as much be-
fore we were six months in business—and we disco-
vered moreover that there is nothing more necessary and
useful than the protection of particular classes when it
is set up with a view to the general good. It is on this
principle we defend our agricultural, our manufactur-
ing, our shipping, and all other interests, and we know
that it was by acting on this principle our country
arrived at the eminence she has so long enjoyed.
" Free trade ;" but we need not say anything on this
slap-trap affair ; we are all free-traders—wizen we can.

" The diffusion of knowledge ;" that is a part of our
trade, and we only wish that Sir Joshua would deal
more extensively with us ; sure we are that the
gain on his side would be immeasurably the greater;
but as to the diffusion of knowledge by a system of in-
struction without religion, by what he would most
improperly call NATIONAL EDUCATION—we are sur-
prised at the ignorance or stolidity which could induce
any candidate for Liverpool to think that he could catch
votes—out of the Romanist or Socialist, or Socinian
circles, by avowing himself a favourer of such a system.
And here we shall close for the present. Of course we
have not done with the subject altogether ; but we have
had enough for to-day. We submit that even on this
showing the knight's address is anything but what the
Mercury says it is, namely, manly, straightforward,
unequivocal, and so on. There is only one point in
which we can concur with our ministerial contempo-
rary, and that is, that it is in every respect in strong
and, we may add, most melancholy contrast with the
addresses of our Conservative favourites. There is no
doubt at all on this head.

There was a splendid Protestant demonstration at
the Amphitheatre on Friday evening, which was par-
ticularly refreshing to us after the numerous cotton-
mill gatherings we have been lately obliged to endure,
and the quantity of fuz we were at the same time
obliged to swallow. The house was filled to the very
top most row, and the ladies were there in great num-
bers ; and delighted we were to see them, applauding,
smiling, and encouraging. You never find ladies at
anti-corn law gatherings—not one; never. Aad why?
Because the ladies of England are LADIRS—WouId
not be seen among such rabble—and would give no
countenance to such un-English objects as the foreign-
grown corn brawlers seek to attain. The greatest de-
corum and order prevailed, as is always the case when
Protestants meet; but the decorum or the order was
very far from being that of a Quaker's meeting-house ;
nothing at all like it—no such thing. It was impossi-
ble to be grave when Mr. M`Neile or Mr. James was
making some tremendous exposure of the anti-corn
law humbugs, and then, because laughter was the
most decorous thing possible, the people laughed
heartily and joyously. The speaking was admirable
and to the purpose; there was business in it, and some
people's business has been, we suspect, completely
done by it. We wish Sir Joshua Walmsley had been
present; not from any ill-natured motive, we do
assure him, but for his good, that he might learn with
his own ears and eyes how perfectly well the intelligent
classes of this town understand the foreign grain im-
porting question, how perfectly unscathed they are
by all the fire of Manchester eloquence, and how des-
perately small the chance is of a free-trade corn-
dealer getting in for Liverpool cn the strength of
Manchester dictation. We wish Sir Joshua had
availed himself of this meeting. we say, to have learned
all this ; and the medicine, though perhaps disagree-
able at the moment, would, we are sure, have done
him good, perhaps cured him of his Quixotism
altogether.

The genuine English feeling which was so often
displayed in the course of the evening in bursts of en-
thusiasm, was really too much for our nerves; it was
painfully delightful. May John Bull live for ever !
said we; he is worthy of immortality. There he is for
Church and State, and Sovereign, just as he was in
his greenest days, and as to Radicals and foreigners he
hates them as well as ever be did, and more power to
his elbow, old boy ! By the bye, Mr. M`Neile's open-
ing speech ought to be circulated far and wide. It was
an admirable show-up of the Cobdenites. It ought to
be printed in a cheap form and distributed by tens of
thousands among the working_ people ; it could not

fail to open their eyes to the delusions sought to he
imposed upon them by the leaguers. They circulate
their trash daily and in untold numbers. Let not our
Conservative friends hesitate to do the same. A few
pounds spent over such a course will be well repaid.

The bill for un-Christianising the State—so far as an
arrangement for the admission of Jews into municipal
Offices could effect it—was thrown out, in the House
of Lords, on Friday. Having frequently expressed
our dissent from this measure whilst it was in progress
in the House of Commons, and the grounds of it, we
have now Only to express the satisfaction we feel in
noticing its rejection. It is, we think, a good omen,
and we take it as a sort of prelude to that course of
Conservative legislation which we shall henceforward
expect under the ascendancy of constitutional principle
in both Houses of Parliament.

UNIVERSITY or DUBLIN.—It was at one time feared that
a radical candidate might slip in for this university, and it
meeting was held in the college, on Thursday, with a view of
starting Dr. Stock or some other ministerial supporter.
are glad, however, to perceive that there is no prospect of
such a project succeeding, the only ground on which it rested
being a schism in the Protestant party, which is happily
healed, and there is every likelihood of union, and of course
success. Much disapprobation has been felt and expressed,
as the public are aware, with the conduct of Mr. Shaw, but
it is now happily allayed, and he and his present colleague
will therefore without doubt be the future representatives of
this learned body.