The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-09-06 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDAR.D.

THE "NATIONAL" EDUCATION SYSTEM.

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BROWN-STREET SUNDAY AND DAILY

SCHOOL SOCIETY.
cm the Ulster Times.)
Yesterday week, was held the annual meeting of the popular
and useful institutions above-named; and we never remember
to have witnessed, on any similar occasion, an assembly more
entitled to respectful consideration, from numbers, from intel-
ligence, from the uniform respectability of the attendance, or
the variety of classes from which that attendance was drawn.
Every grade of society found there its fitting representative,
from the gentleman or hereditary landed property, to the pro-
fessional man, the merchant, the tradesman, and the mechanic.
All were there, all ready, with equal zeal, though with various
degrees of ability, to .promote the sacred cause of Scriptural
education, and to record their abhorrence and contempt of that
disgraceful fraud, by which the style, title, and emoluments of
a uational system of education, have been conferred on a scheme
of which none but Roman Catholics can conscientiously avail
themselves. The ladies formed no inconsiderable part of the
throng. but we think they scarcely constituted half of the con-
gregation; a circumstance which was noticed, with much point
and felicity, by one of the speakers. The hour fixed for the
meeting was twelve, and before that time, the school-room in
Brown,street was already crowded. About a ,quarter past
twelve, Sir Robert Bateson took the chair. On the platform
we obServed James Emerson Tennent, Esq., M.P.; William
Cairns, Esq.; Rev. Dr. Cooke; Rev. Messrs. 111'11w:sine,
Bennet, Cousins, &c., and among others, one stranger, whose
name was soon circulated among the company, and whose
presence excited sensation—the Rev. Mr. Crotty, of Birr.
Sir Robert Bateson, having been voted into the chair on the
motion of Mr. Cairns, seconded by the Rev. Mr. Brand, ob-
served that the meeting was convened, agreeably to public
notice, for the purpose of celebrating the twenty-sixth ,anni-
versary of the Brown-street Parochial and Sunday Schools.
The hon. baronet then proposed that the ineeting should be
opened by prayer, which was accordingly done by the Rev-
Mr. Wilson. .

Die Chairman expressed the pleasure he experienced in
meeting so numerous and respectable an assembly; affording
so splendid an evidence of the interest taken by the inhabitants
of Belfast in the success and prosperity of the excellent institu-
tion whose anniversary they met to celebrate. He felt great
pleasure in being able to assure the company that the institu-
tion was in a highly prosperous condition.
Mr. James Hart, the Secretary, read the report, the tenour
of which fully confirmed the statements made by the Chairman,
as above reported.
In consequence of the immense throng of individuals who
were unable to gain access to the very spacious school-room in
which the meeting was originally assembled, a proposal was
here made to adjourn to a more roomy building, and, after some
conversation, Dr. Cooke's meeting-house was fixed on for the
purpose. That immense edifice was little more than adequ*
to the accommodation of the audience. When the removal had
been effected—
. .

-- -----
The Chairman again rose, and observed, that the change was
calculated to give great and general satisfaction. The bon.
baronet added, that as the place in which'thev were now col-
lected was consecrated to public worship, he hoped the corn.:
pally would feel the propriety of abstaining from those marks of
approbation which were customary on such occasions, and to
which he was sure they would be impelled by the enthusiasm
with which they entered into the subject under discussion, and
the eloquent addresses they would probably hear;
The ltev. Mr. M•llwaine then rose to propose the first reso-
lution. which was as follows : _ _

" Thatthe Repurt now read, and the statement of accounts be
received, and printed under the direction of the new com-
mittee."

Although he had not`hoen among those who were foremost in
the field, and who had originally fought the battle and gained
the victory they were assembled to commemorate, he was yet
ready to contribute his feeble support to the great cause at
issue. It was the cause of protestantisin againit popery; of the
Bible against Infidelity ; and in such a cause no man could in-
nocently remain neuter; least of all, a minister of the Gospel.
When the question was first mooted as to the Merits of this so-
called national system, he was quite new to the controversy;
but it required no extraordinary acumen to discover that prin-
ciples were involved in the dispute, nor was he long in recog-
nising the principles in question, as those fot Ohich he would
readily surrender his life. Under this official system, the Bible
was to give way to books shaped and moulded by man. He saw
with dismay and horror, papists and infidels cutting and carving
the Bible to make a better book than God's book. This was a
proceeding which he never could tolerate or sanction. He
further saw that the board recognised the superintendence of
Roman Catholic priests with as much cordiality and weight as
that of legitimate teachers of the Gospel. The instructions of
both were acknowledged as of equal value, and the influence of
both encouraged as equally salutary. Against the principles
involved in such proceedings as those he protested. They were
not the principles of the,reformers; they were not the princi-
ples of the compilers of that liturgy to which he had pledged
his solemn faith. Experience had proved the incompatibility
of the scheme with genuine Christian principles. The protes-
tant clergy who had been deluded or entrapped into co7opera-
tion with the board were rapidly withdrawing from the un-
hallowed connexion.
The Rev. Mr. Wilson seconded the resolution.
The resolution was then put from the chair, and unanimously
carried.

The Rev. Hugh I'Neile then rose to move the next reso-
lution

That this Society continues to avow and maintain the un-
restricted rights of all parents to determine how much of the
ordinary school hours their children shall employ in reading
the Holy Scriptures, and considers every restriction of this
right an unwarrantable infringement upon that liberty where-
with Christ has made his people free."
The Reverend Gentleman spoke to the following effect:—
Sir, I fell no difficulty in complying with the wish of my
Hon. Friend in the chair, and claiming your indulgence,
while I point out the application of the principle declared
in the resolution I hold in my hand, to the course we are
now met to advocate. That principle is briefly and simply
this—the unrestricted use of the uninutilated word of God; but
before I enter farther on the subject, allow me to recur to the
recollection of a meeting similar to this, held two years ago, at
which. also I had the honour of being present. At that meet-
ing, yotir society determiop.l not to associate thenselVCS with
that board which is so improperly called national. The history
of your progress from that period to the present is pregnant
with 'instruction and encouragement. Actuated by the laudable
desire of participating in the aid to be derived from the public
funds, you requested the assistance -of the board towards the
proiecution of your ancient system of education. To this pro-
posal a qualified assent was given. Delusive hopes were ex-
cited; plausible and specious replies were returned; such as
certainly were understood to bold the word of promise to the
ear. But the equivocal character of the language employed
roused suspicion ; ambiguity led to inquiry, and it soon hecaMe
manifest that your principles, and those of the board, were fun-
damentally opposed. The correspondence which passed was
curious and instructive; it betrayed the real character of the
scheme propounded by the board, while it happily exposed the
subtlety with which the friends of the project were prepared to
promote its success. But if the correspondence which then
took place was instructive, the history of your progress since is
not less encouraging. Your prosperity has been such as your
most sanguine friends scarcely ventured to anticipate. You
have enjoyed the full-measure of that blessing which ever
awaits the intrepid assertors of principle. You spurned the
wages of compromise—you surrendered all claim on the public
purse, prostituted to unholy purposes—you threw yourselves
with unhesitating confidence on the resources of christian zeal
and christian benevolence, and you haVe not been disappointed.
Funds have flowed in upon you from all quarted. Debt has
disappeared; your sphere of usefulness is exteuded; yout trea-
sury is replenished. Are these facts no encouragement? Do
they not attest the Divine blessing on your proceedings? You
will all unite with me in the devout and gratefnl admission that
they do. Let me, then, now remind you once more of the pre-
cise principle which you have been thus manifestly blessed in
asserting. It is the unrestricted use of the unniutilated word of
God. This principle constituted the very pith and marrow of
the reformation struggle. To this principle Wicliffe bore wit-
ness in England, even to the death. This principle Luther
proclaimed from the recesses of a Saxon convent. Zuinglius
and Calvin echoed it amid the Alpine fortresses of freedom, and
Knox in Scotland struggled and triumphed in the same sacred
cause. Rome—papal Rome, alone refused to acknowledge its
inestimable worth She kept it veiled in unknown tongues, or
immured in conventual solitudes; under her tyrannical aria its
noblest champions died on the scaffold, or agonised' at the
stake; and had her power of vengeance but corresponded with
her ruthless will, the precious heir-loom would never have
descended to us consecrated with the blood of its defenders.
This statement is no effusion of bigoted calumny : it is the grate-
ful record of a plain and simple truth, attested by a mass of his-
torical evidence which none will dare to controvert or deny.
The reformation was the instrument by which, as by a- moral
earthquake, God broke this blood-stained power down; and the
mightiest achievement of that epoch was the command-deli-
vered to the Bible in the vernacular tongues of Europe; " Go
free." I heard with delight the statement of the chairman; that
experience had proved the National System must be considered
as a system for the education of catholics alone; that protss-
tants had all and every where withdrawn themselves front the
connexion. This speaks well for protestant principle in Ire-
land. I am not afraid of open, but of concealed, enemies. I
am alarmed when I see ministers. of the protestant chusehes
joining the unhallowed standard of our enemies. Ministers of
the Church of Scotland have come forward as defenders of the
liberal policy in religion. There must he something wrong
when this is the case. Scotland banished Popery with the strong
hand, and the uplifted claymore. Yet at the present moment
there stands in Edinburgh a spacious nunnery:—The-,tosie- of
protestantism in that country must have degenerated Prc-
testant principles are no longer valued, for their own sake, as
they once where. The truth is, there is a deepseated and latent,
but in:dignatit infidelity, at the root of this fearful change. The
cant of the day represents all 'religions as equally entitled
to consideration and respect, but this liberalism is the offspring
of infidelity, and its real name is indifference. These liberals
are all tolerance when differences of creed are discussed. They
smile over the discrepancies of religious opinion, with an
urbanity which is quite delightful, until its secret motive is de-
tected. But let the same individuals differ on a scientific-ques-
tion—their politeness, their teleiation vanish in an instant.
Let two of them differ on one of the most imperfect and crude
of scientific theories—that of Geoloey—and the controversy
will be waged with a bigotry quite as aciinionious and as-fierce
as ever charged on theologians. The solution is simple—here
they are in earnest: they attach importance to the subject;
but the case is far different with respect to religion. What an
admirable spectacle of courtesy must the boardexhibitl papist
and protestant —trinitarian and sociniau—adjusting their
fling differences with an unruffled equanimity of demeanour;
which the most accomplished dissembler at the gaming table
would vainly attempt to emulate. It requires all the firmness:
"and more than all the sagacity of the reformers, to fight our
battle now. You, sir, (to the chairman) have heard the system
discussed in an assembly., where every attempt to probe it has
been evaded, with a dexterity which has been but too successful in
imposing on uominal, and perhaps, on sincere protestants. For
I am far from saving or thinking that all those who in England
aid and abet this pernicious system, are intentionally guilty
of treason to the protestant case ; but I do say that the policy of
the Roman Catholic church is the same as it ever was, and that
it wears the mask of liberalism only because liberalism is the po-
pular delusion of the day. It is of the essence of a dupe that he
should he unconscious of the delusion of which he is the victim, and
all the dangers by which protestantism is now threatened arise
from the partial miccessof what may be properly denominated the
sly system. It is the trimming which is so popular on one hand, and
the heartless carelessness which prevails on the other, that has re-
duced us to the humiliation of seeing a single protestant Caine
affixed to an application which binds him to the restricted use
of a mutilated bible. Where, oh where, is the blush of protes-
tant shame at the record of such a fact! .Let us become a more
bible-reading and prayer-addicted people, and we shall be in-
spired with energy to sustain the combat, and in the conscious-
ness of a sacred cause to remain as insensible to the assaults of
our adversaries as the rocky pillars of our coast to the waves
that break, and foam, and roar around their base. The Word
of God frustrates the policy and humiliates the pride of man,
convincing him that his only hope is in that free salvation which
is vouchsafed to the repentant prodigal however short his prac-
tice may'have fallen of the standard erected. by the formalist.
In proportion as that sacred and life-giving word is valued
among us will the spirit of primitive protestantism 'revive,-and
kindle, and cumin auicate. (Hear, hear.) Let the ministers of

the gospel speak faithfully, and fearlessly, and urgently on this
all-important topic ; for, in employing the Word of God, they
wield that weapon of wtherial temper which, in the hands of
Luther, cleft the mail of popery, and left it, like the image of
Dagon, a maimed and quivering trunk on the threshold of its
appropriate temple. No milder form of war will enable us to
cope with the reviving monster; no feebler weapon penetrates
the hide of the Leviathan.

Dr. Cooke seconded the motion, and spoke to the following
effect :—Sir, in supporting the resolution which has been pro-
posed with so much eloquence and ability by the reverend gen-
tleman who has preceded me, I wish to advert to one fact which
is of considerable importance in estimating the character and
claims of the institution on whose behalf we are thus assembled.
The Brown-street Society was not merely characterized by its
assertion of the unrestricted use of an uumutilated bible—it was
originally one of those dupes so happily described by the reve-
rend mover of the resolution before the meeting an unconscious
victim of delusion; it is an emancipated thrall. In the pride
of our hearts we thought we had carried away captive the board,
when we fund that we had " caught a tartar," that we were
ourselves the prisoners • and that at the moment when we fan-
cied ourselves secure dvictory, defeat and discomfiture awaited
ns. What is the real character of the national system? It is
most important to put an end to the popular illusions which pre-
vail on this point. That system is founded on this simple and
distinct basis. During four hours of every day you must not
open the Word of God. This is the plain and incontrovertible
state of the case. The board propose to us the following bar-
gain:—Give us four hours daily, and we will give you this
money; grant us only this little portion of the day, in which
the opening of God's Word shall be a crime, and you shall re-
ceive an usurious price for the guilty compliance. What ought
to be the answer of protestant christians to such a proposition ?
We find an example in point in the response of our blessed Sa-
viour to the proffer of all the kingdoms of the earth and their glory
as the reward of momentary assentation to the powers of darkness.
No! never will I consent for one moment to barter away the
birth-right of Protestantism—the heir-loott't purchased by the
blood of inv ancestors—the inalienable pledge of participation
in the privileges and promises of the gospel. Unite before me
whatever there is of worth and piety in the Church of Scot-
land; whatever of dignity in the Church of England; combine
the popery of one and the socinianism of another, and the lati-
tudinarianism of a third, in confederate entreaty, and, as a free-
born Protestant, I will never yield this sacred right; for, in the
• moment when I do so, I might be summoned to that great ac-
count where no pretences could veil the sacrilege. Lose not—
I implore you—lose not sight of the principle. " Give us up
this petty interval, and you shall have all that cupidity can de-
sire." No, not for an instant—for in that instant I may be
summoned to account. Moreover, if I join this plausible board,
I must " encourage" popery. There stands the word. It can-
nut be obliterated or explained away. Nonsense is equally non-
sense from the lips of an archbishop or an arch-heretic. In
another way were the regulations of this board constructed with
the obvious purpose of "giving a heavy blow and a great dis-
couragement to protestantism." It is a national crime to en-
dow popery. Let any protestant nation commit this crime, and
the sun of that nation is set for ever. But it is an undenied and
an undeniable fact, that, ir. practice, the board has turned out
to be a mere engine for the endowment of popery. As an ex-
ample of this, I will state what occurred the other day in a pa-
rish in the county of Down, at no great distance from the spot
where we are now assembled. The popish priest of the parish
in question, aided by a few of those liberal protestants who have
been so well described this day, succeeded in getting up a
school in connexion with the beard, at which all the young Ro-
man Catholics of the neighbourhood were duly congregated. A
poor presbyterian widow was prevailed upon by assiduous solici-
tation to send her little daughter to this nursery of papists. No
sooner did she make her appearance than she was assailed by a
volley of interrogatories as to her faith, and one of the embryo
inquisitors asked where she went on Sunday. She answered,
"'lo the meeting-house." " The meeting-house!" cried the
whole fry in concert, " then what business have you here ?
Father will kick you out like a dog—and so you ought."
l'his, be it observed, was in Ulster—in Protestant Down ! I
rejoice to hear that Protestants are everywhere withdrawing
from their connexion with this abominable system. With what
pleasure did I hear of the secession of that accomplished and
exemplary individual, Mr. Ward; nor can I describe the gra-
tification I derived from the protest of Lord Stanley, against
the invasion of England by the system. I am told that John
Bull has been put to school—the experiment will do him good—
it will serve to admonish him that what sits so ill on his sto-
mach may possibly not agree to a hair with Paddy. There was
a retributive justice in the fact, that an Irishman had the ho-
nour of whipping John into a sense of his error. The Liver-
pool affair has taught England that Protestantism does not rely
exclusively on the public funds for support.
Mr. Emerson Teunent, in a very eloquent speech, proposed
the next resolution. _ _

Rev. Dr. Bennett, Wesleyan minister, dwelt on the necessity
of religious education, without which secular and scientific edu-
cation was only an instrument of mischief.
The Rev. Mr. Beamish, Wesleyan minister, moved the fourth
resolution.

The motion was seconded by the Rev. Mr. Cousins.
The Rev. Dr. Cooke had been anxious to procure a hearing
for the Rev. Mr. Crotty, of Birr, on the present occasion, but
the late hour to which the meeting had been protracted rendered
him apprehensive that he should be intruding too far on the pa-
tieuce of his audience. The Rev. Dr. then entered into some
particulars of the proceedings of the reverend gentleman, and
of the success which bad attended his efforts to wean his con-
gregation from the superstitions of Romanism.
Mr. Crotty then came forward. After expressing the ad-
miration with which he had witnessed the evident progress of
Belfast in opulence and importance, and the contrast presented
by the province of Ulster'generally to the other districts of Ire-
land, the reverend gentleman attributed this superiority to the
happier faith which prevailed in the North. This feeling in-
spired him, though a stranger, with a lively sympathy, arising
from the essential identity of his religious sentiments with those
of the individuals by whom he was surrounded. The circulation
of the pure and unmutilated scriptures was the peculiar privilege
of protestantism, and the only instrument for the diffusion of
genuine christianity. He, therefore, called on those around
him, by every means, under every oilliculty, and in the ex-
tremity of danger or of suffering, if such a crisis should arrive,
never to compromise or surrender this precious privilege. How
great a change had been effected among his followers by the
limited distribution he was able to make of the scriptures, none
Who had not witnessed it would believe. Ile had, from pruden-
tial considerations, judg'd it better to employ the Douay Testa-
ment, but his own feelings would have prompted him to use the
protestant version. He should return to Parsonstown more
than ever convinced, from what he had seen in Ulster, that the
diffusion of christian light was the great thing necessary to re-
generate Ireland. He had grapplNl for eleven years with su-1
perstition, and all the engines of sacerdotal tyranny had been
vainly employed to put- him down. The government had united
with the priesthood in this impious crusade, and the bayonets
of the castle had been associated with the thunders of the Vati-
can. To the hand of God alone was it due that he had made
such advances as those of which Dr. Cooke had spoken. He
had emancipated two thousand of his fellow-thralls from the
yoke of superstition. He had succeeded in withdrawing
his congregation with himself from the error of their ways.
And in this point of view he presumed to think that a peculiar
interest and a peculiar importance attached to his exertions.
What had been effected by the recantation of individual priests,
as Nolan. or Crolly, or Burke ? In a national point of view, no
thing. What was wanted was a movement among the priest.
hood, which should bring their flocks with them; and protestant
might be assured that very slight encouragement would effect
it to an extent which would astonish the most sanguine. Many
were the priests in Ireland who were groaning under the yoke
of prelatical tyranny; who were standing on the tip-toe of ex-
pectation to watch his appeal to protestant sympathy; who were
disgusted with the gross impositions of which they were the un-
willing rools ; who felt self-degraded by the means to which
they were compelled to. have recourse to extort from the misery
of their flocks the sums exacted by the rapacious hierarchy of
Rome. If a ray of hope were extended to those individuals by
the protestant public, they would eagerly follow its guidance,
but if they were now checked and disappointed, they would sink
at once more into sullen apathy. Torpor and insensibility would
seize them, and you would vainly endeavour hereafter to awake
them to your aid. If ever there was a time which called for
harmony and co-operation, the present was that time. Popery,
supported by the bayonet and the sceptre, is making a struggle
of unprecedented energy and art. In England, those who should
be up and stirring to resist its advances, slumber in ignorant
security. No slumber was ever adapted with such consummate
skill to every variety of human character. Varying its form,
hue, and guise, with Protean versatility, in spirit and in genius
it is ever the same; ever aiming at asceudancy. But history, ex-
perience, and reason, alike tell you, said the rev. gentleman, that
popish ascendancy is incompatible with your national institu-
tions, with the protestant religion, and with protestant freedom.
By these considerations, I conjure you to come forward and
lend a helping hand to those who will be yoursurest allies in the
contest which is assuredy impending.—He then drew a power-
ful picture of the sacrifices made by a Rowish priest in Ireland,
who abandoned his church—of the affluent competence he for-
feited—of the power he surrendered—of the alienation of friends
he encountered—of the positive contempt he braved, and the
probable danger he incurred. We regret that our limits forbid
us to du more than present an imperfect sketch of one of the
most impressive addresses to which we ever listened, and
which Mr. Crotty concluded by stating, that in Dublin, he
had collected
_nearly £600; that it was necessary to pro-
vide for the accomodation of two thousand of his own people,
besides numerous protestant visitors ; and that lie had re-
formed the Liturgy by the expurgation of the grossest errors
of Rome. He produced a copy of the reformed service for
the inspection of the gentlemen on the platform.
Dr. Cooke announced that he and his Elders would gladly
'receive contributions towards the -oltjeet- of Mr. cvatty'Ajour-
ney.
Thanks were then voted to the chairman, and the meeting
adjourned.

MEI4:TING OF THE SHAREHOLDERS uF THE

EASTERN COUNTIES RAILWAY.

A meeting of the shareholders of this railway was- held on
Thursday, at the Clarendon-rooms, L. Heyworth, Esq., in the
chair.
The Chairman said, that at a previous meeting it had been
resolved that the directors should be written to send down Mr.
J. C. Robertson, their secretary, to explain to the Lancashire
shareholders the various particulars respecting the speculation
on v hich they wished to be informed. A letter had been re-
ceived, to which he would now call their attention.
A letter- w is then read from Mr. J. C. Robertson, in which
he stated that the directors could not, officially, give assent to
the demand of the Liverpool shareholders. They considered
that Mr. Robertson's attendance was inexpedient, because, if he
went to one body of shareholders, he should go to another, and,
indeed, like application had been made from Norvitich and Man-
chester. The directors could not, under the act, call any but a
general meeting, which would take place on the 26th of Septem-
ber, being a much earlier time than the act demanded. The
directors recognized the importance of a good undetstanding
between them and the Liverpool subscribers, mho were more
numerous and (from their experience in railroads) more influ-
ential than those of any other place, and hoped that, at the
general meeting, the Liverpool subscribers, would attend. The
letter highly eulogized the ability of Mr. Hall, who had
gone to London to examine into the particulars of the specula-
tion.
Mr. Bolton moved a resolution of confidence in the directors,
and regretted that Mr. Robertson could not attend.
Mr. Ellis Yates seconded the Motion, which was carried nem.
eon.
A Gentleman moved that the Liverpool shareholders were
entitled to share in the direction of the company.
Mr. Wotherspoon asked if the present directors went out
next meeting.
The Chairman.—Not until February, 1838.
Mr. Smith wished to know how the affairs and prospects of
the company were.
Mr. Hall said the report of the House ,of Commons showed
that the investment might return 23 per cent. Some of the
heavier shareholders in Liverpool, however, wished to examine
snore minutely into the pi ospects of the company. He accord-
ingly had proceeded to London, and found the directors and the
secretary most willing to afford him the fullest information. He
bad not bought or sold one share since his return, nor would he
buy until this meeting was over, (Applause.) For passengers
alone they calculated on receiving £338,000 per annum ; or, if
the usual railway estimates were made, there would he .C4,5(),000

TUESDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 6, 1836.

Our Parisian intelligence up to last evening does not
enable us to announce, as yet, the formation of the new
French administration. Up to Wednesday evening
Louis Phillipe was unsuccessfully engaged in endeavours
to reconcile the conflicting interests which prevented a
satisfactory arrangement with Messieurs Guizot, Monta-
livet, and Drechatel, under the Presidency of the Count
Mole. This, however, entirely failed on Thursday morn-
ing. It is said that M. Guizot has no objection to M.
Mole having the Presidency of the Council; but that he
wishes the majority of the new Cabinet to be composed
of his own partizans. To this M. Mole, as may naturally
be inferred, objects, as it would confer on him merely a
nominal Presidency, in which objection it is generally
supposed, by the best informed in the diplomatic circles,
be is supported by M. Biny, who has become entirely
weary of the Doctrinaire party. Indeed, the Jour•naldes
Debats, the organ of that party, gives up, with apparent
mortification, the prospect of any union being effected
between the three Ministers alluded to, and M. Mole as
President. By another journal it would appear, that M.
Guizot stipulated for the Presidency for himself, or to be
allowed to dispose of the three chief appointments, in-
cluding the ministry of the interior; and, also, that he
made the dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies a point
with the King, in the event of the new Cabinet not being
able to command a majority therein, but to which, also,
his Majesty evinced great objection. There is much
conflicting discussion and opinion on these points in the
French papers. It is also said, that General Sebastiani
declined the war department, which our London informa-
tion corroborates, that gentleman preferring a residence,
with the conduct of the embassy there, to the turmoil of
the former•, in the existing state of Spanish affairs.
There are few Men in France possessed of equal infor-
mation on the subject of Spanish policy and the character
of the population with General Sebastiani. Be was one
of the confidential officers of Napoleon, during the critical
campaigns of 1811, 1812, and 1813, and has always been
esteemed an able diplomatist; and he.too_ well knows the
difficulties he would have to contend against; and, if we
are not greatly mistaken, would be one of the first to ad-
vise a direct intervention. In this emergency the veteran
Soult has been sent for by the King; but it is well known
that he has long sought retirement from public or active
life. He has acquired his rank and his " la;n•els ;" and
would not be pleased to relinquish them in the tingraclous
task of settling the Spanish Liberals down to rest under
their trumpery waste paper Constitution. M. Thiers
retains office ad interim.

The Moniteur gives positive information that General
Rodil is definiti,..ely appointed to the command of the
northern army and Minister of War. hi Spain the
Cortes are convoked by a decree of the 24th of August
for the 24th of October, by virtue of the electoral law of
1812. Cordova has fled to France, having narrowly
escaped assassination on his route. He had arrived at
Bayonne with some other officers of rank, together with
the Countess de las Navao, the unfortunate mother-in-
law of Count Donadio, who was slain at Malaga.

It does not appear that !turalde either surrendered or
betrayed the cause of Don Carlos in his late disaster. He
made his escape, and was joined by a great many of his
comrades; and the particulars of the court martial ordered
to try him were hourly expected in town. Gomez is pro-
ceeding vigorously. On the 20th ult. he detached the
Brigadier Arroyo with a large body of troops to the city
of Valencia, in old Castile.

Reflecting on the critical aspect of the times in which
we live—the awful increase of democratic faction—the
progress of irreligion, on the one hand, and the increase
of papal power on the other, aided by the degenerate
policy of public men, hostile in all their measures to the
best interests of the nation, we feel it to be our duty to
make a decided appeal to the feelings and to the under_

SEPT. 6, 1836,

standing of all those who love the British constitution,
or who are not insensible to its great value as an insti-
tution of human government.

That constitution, the theme of Montesquieu's praise,
who said " it never would fall but through the triumph,
of the legislative over the executive power in the state,"
stands at this moment in peril of dissolution. We are
neither prepared to mystify the truth—disposed to create
false alarm—nor allow our judgment in the performance
of a public and grave trust to be diverted from its honest
purpose.

We have taken our stand upon a principle—that fun-
damental principle which 'eared up and established the
British constitutional monarchy—which has made it all
as it is, and by that principle " we stand or fall ;"—but,-
as we can make no compromise with false philosophy—
no covenant with popery or infidelity—so are we resolved
to perish on the ramparts of that constitution which has
given to the empire the four greatest blessings which
can be enjoyed by man in a state of free society—se-
curity of person with security of property—the freedom
of political opinion, and the freedom of religious wor-
ship in the unrestricted use of the word of God, all of
which have raised this country to an elevation of wealth,
vigour, and intelligence, never possessed by any other
people in the history of the world; and created that na-
tural aristocracy in all the elements of our social struc-
ture, without which there would be no subordination.
It is clear, then, that we stand in the front of the
"battle ground," opposed to the principles of the " Ge-
neral Justice Association," and opposed to all the demo-
cratic clubs, which contend for a principle the very oppo-
site to our own—a principle at once anti-monarchical-
revolutionary, and republican with the latter—absolute,
unconstitutional, and papal with the former ; but masked
with all the art that jesuitism can invent, and false elo-
quence uphold, to effect its purpose. Are we to yield to
either? We say, No! We appeal to the conservative
associations of England, and to those of Lancashire and
Cheshire especially, to aid our humble efforts in erecting
that barrier against the swelling tide, which is imme-
diately necessary for our preservation.
Compare the result of that security and prosperity
which we have described to the consequences which
would ensue from the establishment of the ancient Gre-
cians—•' Tyranny of the four hundred,"—or from an ir-
responsible and arrogant oligarchy of the Whigs awl
liberals, as evidenced by their acts during the past ses-
sion—their poor law despotism—composed of a mere
majority of that intractable assembly, in which even
Brougham, with all his sarcasm against the conservative
lords, has put his seal, as an incompetent body to manage
the legislative functions of this mighty empire, without
an independent supervising control ! Experience, an-
cient and modern, has proved what a majority of the
English House of Commons, unchecked, are capable of
performing; but it is quite sufficient for our present pur-
pose to refer to recent acts, fresh within our memory,
and before the eyes of every man of reflection from one.
end of the kingdom to the other.

It is not an easy task to define the mode by which
fictitious majorities, for merely factious purposes, and the
most unconstitutional designs, are obtained in the pie-
sumed independent House of Commons—but every man,
the least practically acquainted with the present mode of
.
conducting the business of that house, is thoroughly
aware of it, although, if a purely independent and con-.
scientious representative of the peoples' rights, he has
not the power of controlling what he knows and feels to,
be a glaring evil, and a stumbling-block to the true in-
terests of his country. In illustration of this position.
we here quote, as directly in point, the sentiments ex-
pressed by a constitutional writer of the present time.'
whose work, neither the Whigs nor their allies, have at-.
tempted to answer, although so conspicuously brought
under their notice, by the leading Reviews and Conser-
vative journals of the last and present year.

"The grand source of most of the mistakes and erroneous
decisions, in matters debated by popular assemblies, arises from
the impure influence ofprivate persons, of some notoriety or pro"
perry, upon great numbers, styled, in common phraseology,
leading men and heads of parties : if these are not influenced by
motives of real public utility, the consequences are obvious.
Whenever we find a string of words put together, sustained
and carried by a fictitious debate, which passes for the vote or
resolution of the whole assembly, and which we cannot possibly
reconcile to prudence or public advantage; we are justified in
coming to the conclusion that such a vote is, primarily, the con-
ception of a single brain—promoted by an obsequious party,
and confirmed, under the usual methods, by a purely artificial
majority. It is not possible to conceive how some of the tnea-
sures of the late Parliament could have passed the Honse of
Commons under any other circumstances." * * r

"Where the object sought for is mainly to be attained by
party spirit or influence, the means designed to the end, are en-
compassed and applied according to the circumstances,_-thus,
they are too frequently such as cannot be justified, even on the
broad principle of common integrity; and this is the dark part
of the science of politics, not generally known to, nor duly con -
sidered by, the public at large. Hence the desire to court
popular favour, and to obtain the means of exercising undue in-
fluence, which the people are ever too ready to grant to design-
ing men, in the hands of whom they generally become the ready
agents—the voluntary engines for creating a power which is
ultimately turned against themselves—uor, is it an easy task to
convince them of the delusion practised under their misled feel-.
ings or angry passions,—thus, when a leader is once fixed, there
will never fail to be followers, (0! imitatores sernum pecus,)
although he may be the worst of the flock! The calm punish-
ment of experience may indeed at length convince them of their
folly, and its consequent evils, but experience comes too late to
be available against the mischief completed, and they are left
without remedy—for the few independent stragglers that re-
main, are borne down by the torrent.—(From a Constitutional
work, entitled The Lords and the People, dedicated to the King.
London, 1833. Edwards. pp. 203, 206, 207.—Part 2. cap. 4.)
In the above selected extract, from a very elaborate
work on the political institutions of Britain, ancient and
modern, we have, at a bird's eye view, a perfect illustra-
tion of the composition and policy of the majority of the
present House of Commons, under the leadership of the
whigs, and the influence of their radical and anti-protest-
ant allies—it developes their entire system, and its pre-
mises are fully borne out, as we undertake to prove, by
once again recoursing to the leading acts of the last two
sessions, taking them seriatim, for which we are partly
indebted to our able contemporary of the Times.
The underground conspiracy, and slanderous treachery,
which, for purely factious and party purposes, (under the
barefaced pretext of assisting a great political prigcipled
supplanted the late upright, and, on all hands admitted.
efficient Speaker of the House of Commons, under the
iniquitous compact made at Litchfield House—the tyran-
nous and grossly partial proceedings in the case- of the
Ipswich borough election, against men merelYriceuSed or
a breach of privilege—the conflicting partial policy i"
favour of the popish supporters of government, (in the
Carlow bribery affair,) the prime agent therein, having
been the leading prosecutor against the Ipswich conser-
vatives, allowed to get off unscathed,--the unconstitu-
tional denouncement of that truly loyal protestant body''
the Orange Association of Ireland; and the tacit support
of ribborrism and popish combination against the authoritY
of the law—the introduction of a republican system of •
irresponsible legislation into the English corporations'
the determined appropriation of the revenues of the Irish
protestant church establishment, under a feigned- surplus'
to strictly anti-protestant uses—the designed establish-
ment of popiali, and the utter extinction of the protestant
corporations in Ireland—the encouraged exercise by the
Whig government of a tyrannous controul over the con-
stitutional and legislative functions of the Jamaica house
of Assembly, representing the interests of the West In-
dian colonies—the jobbery with regard to Canada and
our North American possessions—finally, the united effort
with the government, to introduce the principle 0f an
oligarchy into the constitution of the House of Peers,
account of its upright opposition to all the daring Pri"'
pies evolved in this summary catalogue !
Now, men of England, the free descendants of tlje no
blest ancestry upon earth, is the question put fairly
contra
fore you ? We say it is, and defy the sophists to n
diet the merits of our case—the jesuits to parry our argu-
ments—or the all-sapient whigs to smother our vc
tion, by either their logic or their rhetoric, ocr:their:
ability to 4‘ make the worse appear the better cause...
jvvui:
seek then an impartial verdict at your bands, and
even contend for, but That nay,justice which .1
tice for England"---justice for Ireland
we will e. 7
.ncon_
the British state, we will not accept, nor place any