The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-04-18 00:00:00

THE COALITION CABINET.

WHEN the present session of Parliament was
commenced, the Ministerial programme was so
redundant of legislative measures to be brought
forward, that many persons began to imagine they
judged erroneously in believing a Coalition to be
incapable of action. Alas for the folly of relying
upon promises made by ministers tainted with
Whiggery. Not three months have elapsed ; and,
while nothing has been done, the list of abandoned
measures is greater than that of bills to be pro-
ceeded with, and will be still further increased,
until the close of the session will present a blank—
a fearful lesson of the mischief of admitting men
to office who wriggle into place on false pretences.
The Reform Bill has been abandoned, from its utter
impracticability, and the confession made with
tears of undisguised mortification ; the Oaths Bill,
which was to secure Mr. ROTHSCHILD a place
among nominally Christian legislators,bas virtually
shared the same fate ; the alteration in the Law of
Settlement, which had undergone such careful
consideration by the only man in the concern with
any pretensions to honesty, has been withdrawn,
owing to the officious intermeddling of men who
had never considered the subject at all, and made use
of the Bill in order to throw a sop to the Cerberus
of their Irish Romanist allies ; the long-promised
Reform in the Law, which had excited so many
hopes of amendment in the practice of our courts
of civil and criminal jurisdiction, has been shelved
from having been entrusted to incompetent hands.
Such a list of defeats would have been enough to
destroy any administration having the slightest
regard for political honour, and the true pride of
place ; but Whigs and Peelites have a tenacity for
office which overrides every other consideration ;
and those who pretend to be independent members
of the House of Commons show a reluctance to vote
them out, as though a ministerial resignation
would be a calamity instead of a subject for national
rejoicing. In the absence of any practical legisla-
tion, it might have been thought that the exigencies
of a war would have called for financial arrange-,
ments in order to meet the expenses of the coming
struggle; but the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
has contented himself with doubling the income-tax
for the next six months, leaving everything else to
the chapter of accidents, and the vaunted increase
of revenue which the paralysation of commerce and
the strikes in the manufacturing districts will do
very little to realise. If public affairs can be con-
ducted in such a slovenly manner, and the people
are content to be so governed, it may be a question
for serious consideration, whether the attendance
of Parliament may not be dispensed with, and
merely a committee appointed, to register such
ministerial decrees as Mutiny Bills and Votes of
Supply ; while, for all purposes of oratorical dis-
play, the reporters for the morning papers would
be a sufficient audience. It was once the practice
for a ministry to be guided by intelligible princi-
ples, on which they were content to stand or fall ;
but, while other nations have been struggling for
constitutional government, Great Britain has been
content to fall back upon a system of bureauocracy,
which is a disgrace to the boasted intelligence of
the age.

GOOD FRIDAY AND EASTER-THE

HOLIDAYS.

THE first-named of these days, devoted as it is to the com-
memoration of the great Christian sacrifice, has peculiar
claims upon the attention and reverent observance of all
Christian communities ; the second, commemorative of
the fulfilment of CHRIST'S earthly mission, His glorious
resurrection, and triumph over death and the grave,
must stand equally high in the Christian's estimation and
regard. It affords us much pleasure, therefore, to record
that the observance' of both days was, in Liverpool, at-
tended with all the external indications of religious pro-
priety and decorum. Good Friday, in accordance with
general custom, was observed as a close holiday. Business
of every sort was suspended, and in the several churches
throughout the town divine service was attended by
crowds of earnest and devout worshippers.

When morning service had been concluded, thousauds
upon thousands of our industrious population, tempted by
the summer-fineness of the afternoon, and a desire to
combine healthful exercise and the inhalation of invigo-
rating fresh air, sought recreation in the rural districts
and small towns adjoining this great mart of commerce.

Numerous sources of attraction being found on the Che-
shire side of the Mersey, the river steamers were in great
requisition, and wafted crowds to all the ferrying points,
and Birkenhead, Seacombe, Egrement, Rock Ferry, Eas-
tham, and other places, were literally crammed. The more
adventurous excursionists by such conveyance found ample
means, of gratification in the steam-boat expeditions to
Wales, the North-west Lightship, and other aquatic
trips. The railways lent their expeditious aid in convey-
ing passengers to and from the town, and were numerously
patronised. Still shorter, if not less pleasant, journeys
were made by many hundreds in and on the- various
omnibuses plying to the outskirts of the town, all the
favourite localities in which were densely crowded. The
parks, too, were crowded by groups of gay promenaders,
the merry voices of playful children lending their joyous
music to the general scene. The other points and sources
of attraction, such as the Zoological Gardens, where the
Aztec Children formed a leading feature of interest, the
Botanic Gardens, &c., were well attended by crowds from
our own densely peopled neighbourhoods and by parties
from a distance. The town and its environs though
much crowded was orderly in all respects, and the pre-
valent decorum gave nnequivocaltestimony to the general
good behaviour of all classes.