The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-06-19 00:00:00

TO THE CONSERVATIVES OF LIVERPOOL.

GENTLEMEN,—It has always been a source of regret to the
class of conservatives to which I belong—the tradesmen's
body—that we are condemned week after week to have our
characters, our principles, and our objects misrepresented
by a base whig.radical press, which meets us at every turn,
and whose libels we have no means of refuting. It is true
we have conservative papers, conducted with talent, and pos-
sessing information infinitely superior to those of our oppo-
nents ; but from their very character, these papers find no
circulation amongst that class of our fellow-townsmen, by
whom low and scurrilous attacks upon private character, and
fraudulent perversions of the principles of public men and
measures, are the most greedily swallowed. The poison
spreads into every alley and every pothouse throughout
the town. It is vulgar and nasty, and therefore fitted for
such localities. But the antidote, however powerful, rarely
reaches the wound which has been created. We are oppos-
ing a rapier against the bludgeon of a ruffian, and fight at as
great odds as a gentleman in ball-room costume meets when
resenting_ an insult offered by a nightman, fresh out of a
" sough." •
There must be some reasons for this great inequality in
the respective power of Whig-radical and conservative press
to serve their party. There must be some reason for the
fact that whilst the one press—the whig-radical—thrives and
laughs, the other can barely keep above water, and not always
do that. The circulation of the whig press is much greater
than that of the conservatives but why is this so ? Are
conservatives so niggardly as to hesitate between the trifling
expense of supporting a respectable and constitutional press,
and allowing their opponents to libel and laugh at them with
impunity ? Shame if they be so.
The real reason of this inequality, I can believe, is, that the
whig papers contain a greater quantity of advertising intelli-
gence than the conservative, and are, therefore, bought and
read, from business necessity, by thousands of good conser-
vatives. To the conservative gentlemen of Liverpool this is
not a creditable fact, because I know that a great portion of
the property and trade of Liverpool is in the hands of the
party to which they belong. Let these gentlemen advertise
with their own party, and the conservative tradesmen of Li-
verpool will support their press, instead of one from which
they reap nothing but insult and slander in return. The
tradesmen and operative conservatives support you, gentle-
men of Liverpool, in your parliamentary and municipal
struggles—support them, by giving them a powerful press ;
we have already a talented one, to defend our characters
from the attacks of our opponents.—l remain, gentlemen,
respectfully, your obedient servant,
A CONSERVATIVE TRADESMAN.

LIVERPOOL PROTESTANT BENEVOLENT

SOCIETY.

Yesterday the Anniversary Meeting of this Society was
held at the George and Vulture Hotel, in Houghton-street,
where the members and their friends dined together in cele-
bration of the event. The day chosen by a society consisting
of constitutional men, who love their country and venerate
her institutions, could not be more appropriate than the an-
niversary of an event which hurled a foreign tyrant from his
fancied predominance, and " secured liberty to Europe—to
the world peace."
Apart, however, from political considerations, the object
of this society is to provide for poor operative Protestants,
by thoughtful providence, a fund to relieve their distresses
in case of sickness, and to afford them relief when the winter
of age shall have laid his frosty, though we hope kindly fin-
gers upon any of its members. This is only the -fourth anni-
versary of the Society. yet we are happy to add that, through
the exertions of the officers, there is a surplus fund, properly
secured, of nearly £300; and when we speak of the exertions
of the officers, we must in justice add, that most of the suc-
cess of this excellent Society must be attributed to the exer-
tions of Mr. Rowlands, dentist, who has spared no pains, nor
neglected any opportunity, of advancing the benevolent ob-
jects it has in view. No less gratifying must it be to the °pc-
naive Protestant to find, that when he resorts to a provident
practice to provide for future wants, sonic of the leading men
of this great community should show themselves ready to
assist in the good cause—that the names of a Sandon and
Cresswell, a Gladstone and Aspinall, a Horsfall and Sands,
&c., &c., should be found in the list of its members.
The room in which the members dined was fitted up in the
most tasteful manner. Immediately behind the chairman,
over whose head a canopy was erected, appeared a small neat
flag, on which was emblazoned the almost imperishable
motto of " England expects every man to do his duty," sur-
mounted on each side by the union jack,—
" The flag which for a thousand years
Braved the battle and the breeze."
_

To the right appeared splendid portraits of the Queen, her
Royal Consort, and the Rev. Hugh M•Neile, the great
champion of Protestantism. On the left was a beautifully
executed full length statue of the greatest hero of battles, the
Duke of Wellington, in the goodly company of the immortal
Pitt on one hand, and Sandou on the other, whilst near him
were to be observed the veteran General Gascoyne. On the
walls were banners with appropriate inscriptions, all bearing
upon the great principles of Protestantism. In one place
was to be observed the command of the great Ruler of the
Universe—" Search the Scriptures"—whilst near it was the
saying of our good old Sovereign, George III.—" I wish
every poor child to lie taught to read the Bible." Across
the centre was a festoon of laurel and other evergreens, and
at the lower end of the room were tasteful flags, with con-
stitutional inscriptions.
Having discussed the preliminaries, we must now proceed
to the substantials, which consisted of the most profuse sup-
ply of everything the epicure could desire, and we should
imagine that the most fastidious appetite might have found
ample means for its gratification. On the whole, the getting
up of the affair did great credit to the culinary skill of the
worthy host of the George and Vulture, Mr. George.
The president of the day was Mr. Rowlands, supported on
his right by J. Cooper, Esq., and on his left by Robt. Rigby,
Esq. Mr. T. Richardson occupied the vice-chair; and
amongst those present we observed A. Byford, Esq.,
Watham, Esq., James Owen, Esq., R. Brookes, Esq., It..
Coleman, Esq., Oddie, Esq., &c. &c.
The dinner was preceded and concluded by an efficient
choir chanting " Praise the Lord," &c.
On the cloth being removed, the following toasts were
given :

The PRESIDENT, in proposing the first toast, regretted
that the office he held had not fallen into abler hands. He
dared not trust his feelings to speak of the late diabolical
attempt on the life of our beloved Queen, which,he sincerely
thanked God, had not been successful. He should therefore
give—The Queen (loud cheers): may she never forget the
principles which seated her family on the throne of theEe
realms. (Drank with 3 times 3 most hearty cheers.)
Song—" God save the Queen."

The''PRESIDENT said he-;; proud to propose the next
toast, which was the health of no less a personage than the
husband of our beloved monarch, Prince Albert. (immense
cheers,) who, along with her, had escaped the hands of the
assassin. (Drank with the usual honours.)
The PRESIDENT next gave the health of the Queen Dow-
ager and the rest of the Royal family, which was drank with
the most enthusiastic honours, and followed by the glee of
" Hail, smiling morn.". _

The CHAIR MAN said he would next give the health of a
body of men to whom we were mainly indebted for the
health and prosperity we now enjoyed—he meant " The
Bishops and Clergy of the Established Church."—Three
times three.

Glee—" Here's a health to old England the Queen and the
Church."

The PRESIDENT, after calling for a bumper and eulogising
the Duke of Wellington, gave the health of his Grace and
may he see many anniversaries of this great and glorious
day. (Drank with most vehement applause.)
Glee—" The Mighty Conqueror."
The PRESIDENT next, after some appropriate remarks,
gave " Protestant Ascendancy," which met with a warm
reception.

A GENTLEMAN present, on being called upon, responded
to the toast.

The PRESIDENT then gave the health of Sir Robert Peel,
Lord Stanley, and the Conservative Members of the House
of Commons. (Three times three.)
Song.—" On Stanley, on."
The next toast was the healths of the patrons, Lord San-
don and Cresswell Cresswell, Esq., and the Honorary Mem-
bers, which was received in the most enthusiastic manner.
Mr. COOPER rose to respond, and was warmly received.
He returned his sincere thanks for the honour they had done
him. If there was one occasion more than another when it
was peculiarly aratifying to respond to a sentiment or toast,
it was iu the presence of men united together in one great
benevolent work—the furtherance of the interests of their
fellow-men ; and he only regretted that there was not
a larger number of honorary members present at this
meeting, to witness the enthusiasm that prevailed, and
the unanimity which characterised their proceedings.—
(Cheers.) He had no doubt that by a little exertion many
might be added to the list of honorary members, who would
be proud to dispense the wealth which Providence had blessed
them with in so benevolent an object. He trusted that ere
long the corporation of Liverpool would, like Wigan, contain
a majority of Conservatives, who would not, as the present
party had done, sacrifice the interests of this great town to a
bantling of their own. (Loud cheers.) The gentleman con-
cluded by proposing the health of the Chairman. (Three
times three.)

The Chaiiinan.responded to the toast in appropriate terms.
Then followed the toasts of Mr. • Jackson, who responded
in an excellent speech—the Vice-president—the Stewards—
the Secretary—the strangers who have honoured us this day
with their presence, to which Mr. J. B. Taylor responded—
the Conservative Press, &c. &c.
In the course of the evening several letters were read from
the honorary members, regretting that they could not be
present on so interesting an occasion. Several honorary
members were added to the list.