The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-11-15 00:00:00

Ive, who believe that Providence governs the moral wort .1

1)y the in%iroin_entalit v of•agen!s,should_not make provi-
.ion to have :lm iitzents-ready, whenever an exigency

tu.,ty re9uire.

Again, the Frierrds, Itpon principle, de-

cline going to law,ltnil this, as well as the foimer scru-

ple; is an amiable feature in the character of their doc-
trince-.--4‘ Why do ye not rather -suffer wrong." Shall

we, who believe such precepts to have a restricti-ie sense,

applicable to Christian societies alone, shall we exonerate
them from all contribution to• maintain the executive de,

••paitipent of our constitution?—shall the iudicial bench be
broken '-down because one mection of christians think it

oughtnOt to be supported 2—and thus, were we to. follow
out the 'principle laid itovi,n :by -Mr. LuAington, and ela4
ruOrbnslY Iterated by those who cast all their thoughts

into'the same mould, we should soon find every corner of
the 'Constitution crumbling away—the "principle" of

not paying for that we disallow, would be a bonas offered
. „
to ei.:qry disaffected menzber of the slate-to declaim against
its institutions. The collector 'of rates and taxes would

be met in almost every house with some disclaimer of

the object fOr which they, were' demanded, down to the
licentiouS leveller, who talks obstreperously about free.-

doin of which he understands nothing, who would ask
for the demolition of nil government, it being his desire,
that man should return to his pristine independence—an 3
this leveller, who is but the extreme term of the series,

has as just a claim to be heard, as these clamourers fur

the extinction of church rates, so far as buth of them rest

upon the same principle, that what they diallow, the

ought not be called upon to support.

. But is this opposition to church rates an isolated ques-
tion ? .-Does not the dissenting eye look beyond it?
Was the church rates not the second object in the group
Mien- theleAt,and.corpOratkon acts were the titst ?—and
do they' not view in the back ground of the picture the
abolition of tithes ?—and all caught and comprehended
one iyncean glance of dissent? But do they think

that recent events have
.not also quickened our dis-

cerornni Apathy and credulity, though they slumber
long, In:v1)e aroused to activity and distrust—the hand
of _benevolence may be closed by ingratitude—and a sense
ctbused,kindoess put us on our gliard against a repe-
tition Of treachery. There is, hoWever, one obviousdis-
tinction between the test and corporation acts and the ex-
action:of .church rates; the former were temporary out-
works erected to defend the estAblishment from the as-
saults of those enemies whom ensigns had not a suffici-
ently niarked character to distinguish to what party they
belonged—When the predominance of the national church
was fully established upon those principles upon which
it was originally founded, but which a spirit of persecu-
tion had attempted to shake, then she exercised, as it
ever is her delight to do, the character of generosity—
she pulled down those outwork., and proclaimed tolera-
tion to an extent which prudence might almost suspect
incompatible with social peace.
_ _

.We have said, there is a distinction between the test
and corporation acts and the exaction of tithes. The
former we 'have shown to be only accidental to church go-
vernment—the latter we think essential to it. " You
take my house when you do take the prop that cloth sus-
tain my house; you take my life when you do take the
means whereby I live." The abrogation of the former
left the church entire—the extinction of the latter will he
the infraction of a "principle" endangering its exist-
ence ; let us.therefore take heed to the slightest invasion
of " principle." The whole consequences of such an in-
vasion are seldom seen. If the tide, from the violence
of the gale, should sometimes rise and overflow the banks
'which-shut in our fields, we can easily estimate the da-
mage Sustained, and if the evil he of frequent recur-
rence we can provide against it ; but if it has penetrated
through the base itself, though the- mischief at first may
hbe'little, it will every day, increase, and eventually bring
with it irretrievable ruin. Should we concede the aboli-
tiOn of church rates, on the ground above alleged, that
he who does not acknowledge an institution ought to be
relieved from supporting it, how can we refuse the aboli-
,tiLm of tithes? The arguments which are valid in-One,
case, are eqUallv valid in' the other—they are founded
. upon the same principle; and rest assured that.the,
sertici-§, 'after such 'a
victory, will march on vs itli redoubled
speed, and brandish their weapons,with all the enthusi-
atiM:?l,§ucceSs.. Against the principle, therefore, stand
firn4'.Rnd you will cast dismay into the enemy's camp.
But we have to complain not only of. the injustice of

the claim now urged by di-sseuters, but the spirit and the
manner in which they urge it. Such a combination or
flippant indecency, and constitutional insubordination, is
hardly to be found upon the record of our history. Un-
like honest men preferring a conscientious claim, they
have recourse to the stratagems of malignant sarcasm,

to the arrows of wit clipped in poison, and to the grossest
ribaldry. We think it needless to quote examples in
verification of our charge, as any one of the speeches
of any one of the orators at the metropolitan meeting
will abundantly supply them. But we must now call, for
a moment, the public attention to the means which a re-
gularly organized association has put forth, as alone likely
to obtain for them what they ask. Will it. be believed,
that a body of men professing to be holier than their
neighbours—to he preachers of submission to " the pow-
ers that be"—to inculcate the truth " that laws are not
made for a righteous man," but for the disobedient and
unruly"—to " honour kings"—that such men should
conspire to set an example in contrariety to all these
wholesome precepts of good government, and to encou
rage all their clan to refuse payment of a legally autho
rized rate ? Do they hope to shelter themselves under
the specious cloak of passive resistance ? Is it a virtue—
a christian virtue assuredly it is not—so to act as to in-
cur the penalty of a broken law ; and is not the seizure
of their gOOds, in 'Payment of a refused demand, the
penalty affixed by law for such contumacy? Dissenters
must have very plastic consciences, that can so easily
take an impression from the .seal of self-will—they are
subtle casuists, who can reconcile strange contradictions,
and, very probably, will feel no compunction in setting
an exunple to the CountrY, of refusing obedience to its
laws, whenever caprice may prompt. They tell us (for
So a ininning paper reports) that there will not be found
brokers enow in the land to carry out the executions of
the law. What a shameless plea for resisting the pay-
ment of a tax I It.s the rdea of injustice coupled. with
craft' in its worst form; and what a precedent will it be
to qua. iffy arefusal of payment of any other tax by any
other iftNtion of the unquiet in the.land ?—when minis.
.tera of the gospel teach insubordination, and practice
what they 6,ach, where will ignorance; urged on by the,
incitements ,of political demagogues, ;atop,? Shall we
any longer feel wonder at the systematic refusal of the:
deluded Catholic in Ireland, to pay tithe's'? . Shall we ex-
press surprise at the acts of desperation that folloW'in.
the train of this doctrine ? All is, without a shade of
distinction, the same in principle with the refusal of
churchrates. A body of 'men who claim for themselves
the highest step on the ladder of holiness have copied the
example'of a country of rebellious Catholics, in resisting
the laws of that government under which they live, from
which they derive all their temporal blessings, and to
which they owe a cheerful obedience. Nay more, in ag-
gravation of the crime. of Ireland, they add hypocrisy to
their offence, because they teach doctrines from their pul-
pits which they discourage in civil life. We have not
space to-day to pnrsue this subject further ; and we shall,
probably, ,very soon he recalled to it by parliamentary
proceedings.

On Wednesday last Lord Stanley passed through St. Quen •
tin with his family on his road to Paris, whence he will proceed
to Italy. •
FIRE.—On Sunday morning, at about one o'clock, the po-
liceman on duty in Byrom-street became sensible of a smell of
fire in the neighbourhood et the shop occupied by Mr. Manegli,
provision-dealer,' Byrom-street. This continued to increase till
about three o'clock, when, as his attention had been continually
directed to the spot, he saw smoke and slight tongues of dusky
flame issuing from the shutteis.ef-Mr. Manegli's shop. He
mediately roused the family, and g-ave the alarm to the officera.
in the NiCinity. Intelligence wits-conveyed tolhe Fire Police
Station,-and. the engine*, under ,theit4romand: of 'flewitt, ware
quickly on the spot. In the meantime the fire had (ascended
into the first storrvitt'trittqa rlitrtitr,"and before the engines
could bP gut into play.,tlittiu.th but little ti,4lP;lia,4S,l.APed. it bad
attained a very al-inning heightrand ity.wm-,eyident that the
Whole interior of tb, hui!dinv: w910(1 be ronstinied. When the
engines got fairly to woilc, b4tyer, the fire.began gradually to
give way before the iin,i,t,rsogtitifi,tv,of water titat S thrown
in (item it, and by half-past nor .914211:
'inti -cutt.-tely sub.
.A small quwititv r;rPp'eri'v savetiliv the exertions
,
of the prilier. Air. Nlatiegh, wc• ore Nippy to stare,. was insured.
ll.shel,iritit s‘at,,.a
pi.ilitvos uftslitlaie I li:e WasCCAtil..ned by the necessity of burst-
ing (1),1 'the front rto the deliretanceof the inmates,
lie
active and intrepid.