The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-03-15 00:00:00

ant of sense

POLITICAL IMMORALITY.—There is a grow

cancer in our constituent system ; corruption
vails to a frightful extent amongst the poore

, _ e-
r voters

in nine boroughs out of ten; and whenever there
is a tolerably even balance of parties, money carries
the day. Cambridge and some other places have
been " found out :" in that consists their special
guilt. Practically they are not one whit more cor-
rupt than scores of places which have heretofore
escaped exposure. '1 he evil is a system of low
franchise. Reduce the franchise to £5, and there
will be 400 purchaseable votes in Cambridge at
about £4 per vote. This is perfectly understood
by every man who has taken a part in borough
electioneering. You may declaim as you like about
purity of election; it is a myth, which nobody be-
lieves in except gentlemen and ladies in easy chairs.
And so it will remain so long as we have Liberalism
prating about extended franchise. Amongst tile
lower order of voters, the franchise is becoming to
be almost universally regarded as an article of
commerce. " I have no particular principles," said
a Canterbury voter before a committee the other
day; " I am open to anybody, and do not see why
I should not vote for anybody who makes it worth
my while." Give these men the ballot, and a bag
of sovereigns, to be distributed upon the success
of a certain candidate, and every borough in Eng-
land will be bought every election, without the.
chance of subsequent inquiry, for ballot and elec-
tion committees, of course, cannot co-exist.--
Cambridge Chronicle.

MINISTERIAL PROTESTANTISM.—The English
ministers from time to time care nothing_ at all
about Protestantism. They are utterly indifferent
about it. Catholic emancipation was granted in
palpable derision of the principle by which England
professes to be governed, and the endowment of
Maynooth is a savage onslaught on the same. Erg-

lisp statesmen in general are infinitely superior to all
religious considerations, unless they can have an
opportunity of injuring the Church. There is suffi-
cient proof of this in the speech of Lord John
Russell the other day, when he advocated the admis-
sion of Jews into parliament. The difference be-
tween him and the Jews was so exceedingly small
that it was not worth while to keep them out. That
difference being only this—they differed about the
value of the Gospels. Thus, when it suited the
minis*

erial convenience—that is, conscience—not
only was Protestantism thrown overboard, but
Christianity itself. The writer of the Durham let-
ter sees no harm or sin in Judaism, but he cannot
bear Catholicism. The Four Gospels are of no
moment in his eyes when he pleads for the Jew;
but, if there be a question of justice to the Catho-
lics, then he becomes an intolerable Protestant, and
stands up for the purity and simplicity of his Faith,
and denounces the " mummeries" of Popery.—The
rrr,hict

SIMILE BRIDGE AFFAIR.--There was
omething far more manly in the refusal of the late
government to prosecute at all, than in this con-
temptible compliance with the base and hollow form
of an arrangement, followed by the contemptible
farce called a trial,' from which the spirit of justice
had evaporated while the skeleton was held together
by the gibing machinists of the Crown. A jury
havingbeen sworn without challenge, which included
" nine magistrates" of the county, Mr. Attorney-
General made a very long speech " for the prosecu-
ended by producing " no witnesses." A
ry of magistrates, without a challenge, and a pro-
secution without witnesses, constitute a novel mode

of giving effect to the inquisition. But they ren-
dered all the effect ever desired or contemplated by
the government, and that was the discharge of the
prisoners, and the public justification through the
farce of a " trial," and a verdict of acquittal of the
whole proceeding at Sixmile Bridge. This is jus-
tice—justice for the Dooleys and their dead bre-
thren of Sixmile Bridge, whose sacrifices brought
the present government into power t—Dublin, Free-
man's Journal.

CANADA CLERGY RESERVES.—The majority
upon the second reading of the bill was not ex-
pected to reach forty, and exceeded eighty ! The
government had, of course, all the Infidels and
Romanists to a man. But they had, beside, a large
section of Conservatives, who used to follow Lord
DERBY'S lead. But that ought not to astonish,
however much it may annoy, their former chiefs.
What sort of lessons have the late government
taught their followers on religious questions? The
ex-cabinet ministers, one and all, walked out
of the house on the recent Maynooth division.
Upon the subject of Irish education, too, the late
government, while in office, grievously disappointed
their Protestant party, and Mr. DISRAELI voted
against his friends on the Jew bill ! Is it any
wonder, then, that the disorganization of the party
should progress part passe with the disappointment
of the public.—Dublin Evening Herald.

" THE DRYING UP OF THE EUPHRATES" is
a sign of the times. The Turks encamped in Eu-
rope many centuries ago, and enslaved Christian
people without profit to themselves. They are
bankrupt and powerless. Nemesis is approaching
for them, and the hour is at hand for the fulfilment
of their own prophecy, as well as ours, when they
shall be driven back into the Kara Khoum, or
!` black dust" from whence issued the tribes whose
boast it was that, where their chief's horse set his
foot, the grass would never grow again. It is a fact
that European Turkey has withered beneath their
sway : and it is clear that England, Russia, France,
and Austria, are preparing in the name of civili-
zation each to get what she can of the spoil. Our
great interest is to procure a permanent right of
way to India. It is the interest of other powers, at
least they think so, to deprive 11S of that right.—
Church and State Gazette.

THE GOLD DISCOVERIES.—Happy continents !
who reap all the benefits of our commercial system
without risk, and gather fruits while they churlishly
refuse to support in any degree the burden and heat
of the day. Surely, if nations could be grateful to
foreign benefactors, the statue of Sir Robert Peel
would occupy a conspicuous place in every city of
continental Europe, and adorn the slave-marts of
Virginia, of Cuba, and Brazils. He bequeathed to
them the gross profits of all our gold discoveries;
and now the furnaces of the Royal Mint are heated
day and night to meet their leche-like cry for

" More, more:" Nothing must be suffered to re-
tard their activity : while Her Majesty's struggling
subjects, who crave a little brief attention to their
pressing necessities, are told by the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, pretty much in the same tone that
al:pampered lacquey would announce to beggars at
the gate, that they must " wait till their betters are
'—Dublin Evening Mail.

served.'