The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-09-13 00:00:00

pose as well, th

interest, when the people witl

about the result. He may, hov

mark, and compass I

als own defeat without desig
The great fault of the Reform Act of 18

was throwing too much power into the
the shopkeepers of small towns, essentiall3

class, who, with little wisdom and destitute of
principle, have sought only to shift their own bur-

dens without caring who suffered froth the change.
If the same privilege were extended to the work-

ing classes, it might be that the representation
would be more essentially Conservative ; for expe-
rience has shown both in France and America,
where the popular suffrage has been appealed to,
that the operatives are the stoutest advocates for
Protection to native industry.

All experiments in government should, however,
be carefully avoided as dangerous, except when
imperatively demanded by urgent necessity, which

Cannot now be said to exist, and therefore any

attempt on the part of the Ministry to interfere
with the present state of the representa

ion cannu

be too strongly. condemned. But if a change were
at all defensible, there al:

me points in the pre-

sent system to which it is possible to

considerable amendment might be made, though
we dare not anticipate that the Ministry, bound

attempt it. Ireland returns a much larger number

of 'representatives to the imperial Parliament than
she is fairly entitled to, either by comparison of

population or amount of taxation. The number
should be reduced,rna every borough disfranebised
that returns members at the bidding of liomish

priests. It would be a beneficial weeding of the
House of Commons, and a wholesome check upon
priestly intimidation, which, in Ireland, has made
freedom of election a farce. It would thin the
ranks of the Romish Brigade, and render great
questions less dependent upon such 'aid ; and if
the same number in the House of Commons is still

to be preserved, ti

re many

to wh

se might be advantageously
transferred. Why should the City of London re-
turn four members to Parliament, and Liverpool,

with a larger constituency, a

population, return only twO? The plan of Mr.
DISHICELI, to give two more 'members each to
South Lancashire and West Yorkshire, might be
carria out, and the representatives of other popu-

lous -counties might be similarly augmented,

Birkenhead and the surrotuarling district might be
formed into a Parliamentary Borough, and as the
preponderance now rests toolargely with the shop-
even to the interests of shipping and commerce
keepers of England, a greater influence might be
by extending the franchise 'to more of our seaports.
'Mese, however, are but suggestions of What
Might be done, but we do not entertain the
slightest expectation that 'they will emanate rom
the party now in office ; While we view any Change
Which they are at all nay to propose as fraught
With more mischief than ,can be compensated-by
any remote probability of-advantage.

1r the Ministers werenow called upon to. concoct
one of those unmeaning documents lmown as a
Speech from the Throne, they would, no doubt,
declare, as usual, that HER MAJESTY continued to
receive from all Foreign Powers the most-flatter-
ing assurances of amity end good-will. Yet there
islittle in Foreign Affairgupon which the Ministers
could congratulate the country, and we may find
that, notwithstanding -the many prefesgons of
peace, we are upon the verge of hostilities of which
it 'is difficult to foresee the end. The threatened
outbreak between Russia and Turkey, *liiCh had
been almost precipitated-through the vacillation of
Lord ABERDEEN, was bekved to have been set at

rest through the judicious remonstrance

DROUYN DE L'HUYS, the French
Foreign Affairs, the conference at Vienna to modify
the-terms of the arrangement, and the readiness of

Minister for

the EMPEROR or RUSSIA 'to accept the note pro-
posel by the Great Powers. It was confidently
concluded that Turkey, acting by the athice and
under the protection of England and France,
would at once have received the friendly mediation,
and that the whole affair would have been at an
end;'but it appears that shechas been availing her-
self of,the delay, and, emboldened by the proximity
of two -powerful fleets in the Bay of Besika, has
been eidlecting all her Mohammedan forces to
make war on her own account,.unless her altera-
tions of Ihe note agreed to
b the conference at
Vienna 'ere acceded to. The.latest telegraphic
despatch: tates that, while the EMPEROR OF RUSSIA,
in his desire to preserve peace, Will consent to the
y
terms proposed by the Great Powers, he will not
accept the .alterations made by .the SULTAN OF
TURKEY. -The only solution, therefore, of the
difficulty is., for the latter to give-way, unless the
conference will consent to make tthe proposed
alterations : and, in that case, a peaceful ter-
mination of theaffair may reasonablyhe anticipated.
The question, however, is
capable of another aspect,
if the reports from the East may be relied upon.
It is said that thet-SunTAN is not a free agent, but
that his subjects insist upon his not surrendering
any point involvinz. Turkish

leas 0:

honour for the sake (of peace. The call for aid has
;been responded to w.ith religious enthusiasm, not
only through the Tutkish dominions in Europe,
hut from her dependencies in Asia and Africa.
The troops are animated with zeal for their faith
in the PROPHET ; and, relying upon their numerical
strength, are solicitous for war ; so that, instead of
coneoXng any demand for ,the sake of preserving
peace, the tendency is in theopposite direction. If
this view of the case be correct—and it may be
that Mohammedanism in Europe, being

loomed to

destruction, will precipitate its fate by own act
—the preservation of peace will be beyond the

teetion of Turkey, may assih in her annihilation,
in the vain attempt to restrain the fury of her in-
habitants, In whichever way- the question be
viewed, it is far from satisfactory ; and that this
opinion is generally entertained, is shown by the
recent fall in the English Funds, and the inaction
which now paralyses almost all commercial opera-
tions. The affair is not Also without interest as
affecting the position of the English Cabinet ; and
reports are current as to important changes in
contemplation. Almost all parties agree in the
condemnation of the Earl of ABERDEEN, whose an-
tipathy to Louts NApoLEox prevented that cor-
dial co-operation, which, if it had been acted upon
in the first instance, might, perhaps, have pre-
vented the first misunderstanding, and all the sub-
sequent difficulties. The Earl of CLARENDON has
proved himself to be manifestly incompetent for
the duties he has undertaken, and Liberal predi-
lections point to Lord PALMERSTON as the fittest
man to supersede both. Such an alternative may
be but the choice of evils ; but when it is evident
that a change cannot be for the worse, there is at
least a hope that it will be for the better. Eng-
land has by far the greatest interest at stake ; and
yet she has been compelled; through Ministerial
incapacity, to yield to France, both in influence
and diplomatic skill; and though, if blows succeed
to words, the British fleet will, no doubt, prove its
superiority, it is mortifying
to think that its ex-
ertions might have been spared.
With the United States of America we have
peculiar interests to be on friendly terms, but the
correspondence which
has just been published
respecting the proposed tripartite treaty for the