The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-05-24 00:00:00

TUESDAY MORNING, MAY 24, 1853.

THE WEEK.

A WEEK devoted to the celebration of the Whit-
suntide holidays is not one likely to furnish many
exciting topics. The weather during the whole
time has been brilliantly fine, with warm sun and
cloudless skies, and the thousands who had been
for weeks, if not months past, in populous cities
pent, determined to make the most of it. The
trains from Manchester, Bolton, and other hives of
industry, brought in thousands, and the pleasure-
seekers, like seals, rushed to the water, until every
available steamboat, in all directions, was crowded
beyond the verge of comfort.
The usual weekly meetings of the public bodies
presented few features of public interest, the dis-
cussions partaking of that holiday character which
implied that nothing serious was intended.

On Saturday the Argentine, a new iron steam-
boat, to open the Brazilian line, was launched from
Mr. John Laird's yard at the Dingle, and yesterday
the same enterprising builder sent forth the Charity,
the third iron steam-vessel constructed by him fir
the African Steam Navigation Company.
The Liverpool Election Committee were chosen
yesterday, by ballot, and all are on the qui vice as
to the result. The committee will be sworn on
Thursday, and commence business on Friday.

CHURCH RXTES.—Hundreds of thousands have
been wasted in litigation, amounting altogether to
a sum which collectively far exceeds the total of the
rates actually in dispute. Exclusive dealing, dis-
continuance of empoyment, dispossession of ten-
ants from their occupancy—all the worst features of
the worst election contests—have marked the feud
between orthodoxy an dissent, between parish-
independence and churchwarden-control. And of
all persons who have suffered by this state of things,
the clergyman has suffered most. A mediator in
all other quarrels, in this quarrel he becomes, not
voluntarily, but as it were ex-officio, a kind of party
leader. The result is, a considerable diminution of
his influence wherever the church-rate battle has
been sharply fought, and a proportionate increase
of dissent. It would not be amiss if the opinion of
the working clergy could be taken as to the expe-
diency of continuing church-rates on their present
footing. Making all allowance for the love of tra-
dition which their habits and profession inspire, we
believe that a clear majority of three ur four to one
would be returned in favour of a change. And not
without cause; for, independent of the feuds and
heart-burnings to which we have alluded, the law
is absolutely inoperative wherever a strong party
has an interest in resisting it. Judges, lawyers,
clergy, churchwardens, vestry agitators, are all
equally aware of the fact. Since the litigation of
the Braintree case especially, it is an ascertained
fact that a majority of any vestry cannot practically
be coerced into imposing a rate. The rate may
therefore he defeated wherever one-half the rate-
payers are found to oppose it; and the small nu-
cleus of dissent is, in most boroughs, certain to be
swelled by a large addition of the economical, the
discontented, and the lovers of peace—the latter
anxious to bring about the only possible settlement
of a controversy which otherwise threatens to be
endless. We do not write theoretically. It is cer-
tain, as any recorded fact can be, that in almost
every large town where church-rate disputes have
run high they have ended in the total discontinu-
ance of the rate, and the adoption of the voluntary
principle. Innumerable instances are to he found
in the Report of the Parliamentary Committee of
ISSI. Now, the solution of such a result is not to
be found merely in the greater activity of one party,
and the sloth or indifference of the other. A wide-
spread phenomenon indicates a more deep-seated
cause. Practically, the verdict of the ratepayers of
England has been pronounced against the enforce-
ment of rates, in all places where they fall heavily
on Dissenters as well as on Churchmen. The
reason is plain. Prima facie—we say no more—a
case of injustice appears to be made out. The
popular sympathy is against the law ; and, opposed
to popular sympathy no law can, in this or any
country, he effectually carried into execution. The
question, then, stands thus : Church-rates must
be maintained, lest our churches fall into disrepair
and decay; church-rate law must be reformed, lest
a sense of unfairness impede its working altogether,
as it has already done to some extent. Can such a
solution of the problem before us be found ?—The
Press.

POLITICAL PROGRESS.-A CONTRAST.

(From The Press.)

THERE are two men in England who occupy intel-
ligible positions, and only two. They are both
Liberals, both Reformers, and both Lancashire men,
and these are Lord Derby and Mr. Bright. With-
out Lord Derby the Reform Bill of Lord Grey, of
whom he has been the only faithful disciple, would
never have been carried. As Irish Minister, he
established the system of National Education, abo-
lished tithes, and remodelled the Church. As
Colonial Minister, he abolished slavery. Prime
Minister for less than a year, he reformed the Court
of Chancery, established the complete defences of
the country, and, though baffled by a combination
of parliamentary sections, with which the country
never sympathised, laid down such a basis of finan-
cial reform, that his successors can only copy,
appropriate, and exaggerate his plans. Lord Derby
is a disciple of progress, but it is progress in the
spirit of the English constitution, and of the
national character. He represents, therefore, Eng-
lish progress.

Nit.. Bright is also a disciple of progress ; but it
is not—and avowedly it is not—progress in the
spirit of the English constitution and of our national
character. Speaking of our electoral system, and
especially of that half million of county electors
whose purity and public spirit mainly uphold at
present our representative scheme, he has declared
and lamented that " political power is deposited
with them," and that " he, for one, seeks to change
the depositary of power in this country." Mr.
Bright, therefore, is against the main elements of
the House of Commons. At a banquet at Liver-
pool, returning thanks for the health of the House
of Lords, Lord Derby had taken occasion to vindi-
cate the character and usefulness of that assembly.
The next day, at Manchester, at a dinner given to
the Minister of the United States, Mr. Bright boldly
controverted the arguments of Lord Derby, and
gave it as his opinion that a senate should be elec-
tive, and not territorial. Mr. Bright, therefore, is
against the House of Lords. His opinion of all
religious corporations and establishments is never
concealed. He unequivocally condemns them.
Mr. Bright, therefore, is against the Church. He
is, in short, against all the estates of the realm.
Mr. Bright, then, also is a disciple of progress ; but
it is a progress in the spirit of the American con-
stitution and of the American character. He re-
presents, therefore, American progress.
Lord Derby would effect all necessary changes
by the wise management of existing powers, that
is, by traditionary influences, to which the commu-
nity is accustomed, and to which it defers with a
reverential recollection of past services. The policy
of Mr. Bright is to sweep away all existing autho-
rity, and, instead of traditionary influences, to avail
himself of power in its crudest, or, as he deems
most logical, form—that of a "tyrant majority."

THE INDIAN CHARTER.—Tae numerous meetings of
the Cabinet have been mainly devoted to In !,an affairs.
We may, therefore, confidently expect to see announced
a comprehensive and well-considered measure. 'Without
anticipating what that measure may turn out to be in all
its details, it is easy enough to expect that the present
Board of Directors must be improved and corrected by an
infusion of responsible members, appointed by the highest
authority, and consisting of men conversant with public
affairs, and a knowledge of government, and of the vast
empire to be dealt with, wholly or in part, under their
guidance and jurisdiction. It may be necessary to intro-
duce such a change as this sparingly at first, but, in the long
run. the responsible element must necessarily be brought
to form the larger portion of the growing power. The
administration of justice has excited so much attention at
last, and been so unsparingly exposed, that a full and
searching inquiry must be instituted, with a view to a
complete reform in this most important of all the engines
of good government. The union of judge and of exciseman
in one and the same person, and appointed, too, by such
incompetent authority, must be totally put an end to.
Nothing short of a better selection of educated men, to
administer the laws, can or ought t satisfy public opinion
now fully aroused to the necessity 0 is thorough change.
These will, in all probability, form the leading features of
the proposed changes. The details affecting the general
government of India were so fully settled by the last act
for renewing the charter of the company, and the condi-
tions so minutely laid down, that probably much less than
is generally supposed will remain to be done in the new
organisation for the government of our Eastern empire.—
Observer.