The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-05-17 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, TUESDAY, MAY 17, 1853.

A GRAND SELECTION OF MUSIC
will be performed at the
PHILHARMONIC HALL,
THIS EVENING,(TuEsn.4.x), the 17th instant, including
MENDELSSOHN'S FINALE TO LORELEY.

the celebrated writer of the Protestant letter to the

BISHOP OP DURHAM, which excited so much
Romanist rancour. But the arguments upon which
the Ministerial Leader of the House of Commons
based his opposition to the measure, form one of
the most singular features in the discussion; for while
they evidence the consummate tact for which he is
notorious, they afford a proof of that utter destitu-
tion of principle, and that base truckling to expe-
diency which have always thrown suspicion upon his
professions, and rendered a Liberal Government the
most dangerous enemy to English liberty. The ex-
perience of history is all to go for nothing,—the most
glaring instances of tyranny and intimidation, for the
basest purposes, are altogether disregarded. Lord
JOHN RUSSELL has only one object in view—to
maintain a Parliamentary majority by the aid of the
Romish Brigade, whose price he can so well ascertain
—and he would not believe that our Romanist
fellow-subjects were so indifferent to political freedom
and so destitute of the feelings of humanity, that
they would willingly see our laws set at nought, and
lend no assistance towards the liberation of their
own relations. He may be quite right, but his
arguments are altogether wide of the question. We
believe with him that our fellow-subjects who
profess the Romish religion, may be as zeal-
ous as ourselves in defence of their persdnal
liberties, but they are the victims in the matter,
and require that assistance from the legislature
whicb they are unable to obtain for themselves,
and which a Liberal Government has, as far as it
could, refused to give them. The real offenders
are not our fellow-subjects, but crafty and tyrannical
priests, who own no allegiance but to the BISHOP
OF ROME, and who do not attempt to defend their
position but upon the absurd plea of spiritual
authority, which is made the instrument of the
most grinding despOtism the world ever saw. It
may be said, and indeed it is assumed by the pro-
fessing Liberals who joined the Minister in his
ineffectual opposition, that such a measure is a
gratuitous insult, inasmuch as it has not been
called for by those for whose benefit it has been
proposed. Their helplessness in this respect con-
stitutes the necessity for the enactment. Such an
argument might with equal force have been
applied to the bill for the protection of women
and young persons en-gaged in mining operations
and children employed in factories. Their parents
would never have demanded a restriction against
the means by which they gratified their cupidity
at the expense of their helpless offspring, but
the humanity of the Legislature interfered, and,
unasked, threw the shield of its protection
over those whose very weakness and inability
to demand a remedy constituted the strongest
grounds for its being granted. So in this case,
the pitiable victims immured in Nunneries have no
power to avail themselves of the boasted privilege
of habeas corpus, nor even to make known their
griefs, and so long as they and theirs remain under
that spiritual thraldom, that slavish superstition
which is the stronghold of Romish influence, their
groans are unheard, their sorrows unredressed, and
they become at once the victims and the instruments
of their own degradation, unless the strong arm of
the law be interposed to rescue them from perpetual
imprisonment, and restore to them their birth-
right of light and liberty. It is a shame
that—with the exception of Spain and Portugal,
which are sunk in the lowest depths of mental de-
gradation—Protestant England is the only country
in Europe where Nunneries are permitted to exist
without the pale of legal supervision ; that—with
the exception of Turkey—England is the only
country where the Jesuits are permitted to practise
their nefarious arts unchecked ; and yet it is for the
maintenance of such a system that the pseudo Pro-
testant Lord JOHN RUSSELL iS found exhausting
his ingenious sophistry, and lending all the weight
of his ministerial influence. Will Englishmen, and
copecidlly the liberty-loving Radicals, never have
their eyes open to the folly of which they are guilty
in supporting the present Administration, that
heterogeneous compound of pretended Liberals,
renegade Conservatives, ultra Puseyites, and avowed
Romanists ? Principles have been thrown to the
winds, but we have the satisfaction of being able
to record the fact that, through the votes of the
Conservatives and some few Ministerialists, who
had more honour than their leaders, the motion
was carried by a respectable majority, in spite of
the combination against it.

PRINCIPAL VOCALISTS:
Miss LOUISA PYNE and Herr STAUDIGL.

SOLO CONCERTINA:
Signor GUILIO REGONDI.

Galleries opened to the Public, UNDRESS.

Front Seats, ss. ; Back, 2s. 6d. See advertisement in another
page.

TO THE GOVERNORS OF THE LIVERPOOL
DISPENSARIES.
MY LORDS, LADIES, AND GENTLEMEN,
IN offering myself for one of the appointments nowva-
cant as HONORRAY SURGEON to the LIVERPOOL DIS-
PENSARIES, I respectfully solicit your Vote and Interest on
the Day of Election. If successful, my best efforts shall be to
further the object of the Institutions.
I have the honour to subscribe myself,
Your obedient Servant,
4, Moss-street. HENRY HULME.

PARLIA'SIENTARY CONSPIRACY.

BRIBING THE IRISH MEMBERS.

IT is not long since a charge was openly made
uocfeathe Whig
the Irish
saegcatiinosnt
members to vote against Mr. DISRAELI'S Budget,
osfointl:e oCfathhieneleta, doifnghamveinmgbienrds
u
which proposed to extend the Income-tax to Ireland,
the implied promise that the succeeding Minis-
try would retain the exemption of Ireland from the
impost. Upon this charge being repeated in .the
House of Commons, the truth of it was distinctly
and emphatically denied both by Lord JOHN Rus-
SELL and by Mr. HAYTER, the Whig-Radical
whipper-in, and for a time the public, who were
unaware of the casuistry of parliamentary denials,
believed the whole charge to be a malicious slander.
From a conversation, however, which took place in
the House of Commons, on Thursday last, the
statement appears to be not altogether without
foundation. Several of the Irish members gave
their own version of the conversations on the sub-
ject which had taken place, and which Mr. HAYTER
did not deny ; and though it was admitted that the
statements made by the supposed representative of
the Whig-Radical party did not amount to an
actual engagement, enough was said to lead the
Irish members to the belief that such was intended,
and several of them avowed that they gave their
votes against Mr. DISRAELI'S Budget, because
they distinctly understood one of their own body to
say, that he had authority to state that, if the effect
of the votes of Irish members were to throw out
Lord DERBY'S Government, in the event of a Whig
Government coming into office, the Income-tax
would not be extended to Ireland. Admitting this
account to be true, it displays a treachery on the
part of the Whigs':of which even their enemies
hardly believed them to be capable, and a systematic
corruption and subsequent betrayal which out-
rivals the days of Sir ROBERT WALPOLE. All
that the denial amounts to is the actually
making of a promise, but the inference was
allowed to be drawn ; and when we bear in mind
the bribery, by implication, which has been con-
sidered sufficient to unseat Mr. MARE for Plymouth,
because he is a Conservative, we may demand
the same measure of justice for those who are
Ministerial leaders. Mr. HAYTER was known to
be the whipper-in of the Whig-Radical party, and
consequently the man through whom communica-
tions with the several sections of Liberalism were
usually made; and though, with diplomatic caution,
he carefully guarded himself against any admissions
which might prove inconvenient, he said enough
for the bait:to take, and the Brigade votes made up
that majority which unseated the Conservative
Administration. The scheme was successful, as far
as concerns those who held out the lure, but the
Irish members gained nothing by their motion.
They ousted Mr. DISRAELI, who would have laid
on the burden very lightly, and admitted Mr.
GLADSTONE, who has not only imposed a heavier
Income-tax, but added to the burdens of Ireland an
additional duty of eightpence per gallon on Spirits.
Such are the fruits of Whig truckling to Irish
agitation ; and such are the members of the

Imperial Legislature returned by priestly influence
and intimidation. With parties otherwise so nicely
balanced, that the Conservatives had the bare ma-
jority, this faction of Rornish representatives have
just sufficient strength to turn the scale on either
side; and being open to the highest bidder, as they
were when the notorious Lichfield-house compact
was entered into, they readily seized upon the bait
which was laid for them, and selling their prin-
ciples, found, when too late, that they had sold
themselves. To take the mildest view of the affair,
it was disgraceful to those concerned in it, and
justified the anxiety which was felt to bring the dis-
cussion to a close, as one which would reflect no
credit on a British House of Commons, though,
unhappily, it is a complaint for which it would be
hopeless to expect a remedy.

MR. GLADSTONE'S FINANCIAL POLICY.
AFTER a lengthened debate, during which several
amendments to the proposed Income Tax Were dis-
cussed and finally defeated, the CHANCELLOR of
the EXCHEQUER has carried the resolutions for
this portion of his Budget; and on Thursday he
proceeded to enter upon the next important item of
imposing a duty on Successions to Real Property.
As this proposal will also meet with much opposi-
tion, and as the Whitsuntide recess has interposed
another delay, we may anticipate that the Session will
be far advanced before the whole scheme will have
received the fiat of Parliamentary approval, more
particularly as several of the items have to undergo
modification. In entering at large into a defence
of his scheme to subject real property to legacy duty,
Mr. GLADSTONE dwelt with much apparent sin-
cerity upon the alleged inequality of the present
system ; but it must be remembered that though
now exempt from legacy ('uty, real property is
subject to charges from which personal property
is free, and even when compared with leasehold
houses and lands, the latter has always been pur-
chased at a lower price than freehold, on account
of the exemption, so that those who have pur-
chased freehold property on the security of the
existing law, have paid more for the fee simple on
account of the freedom from legacy duty, and, if
the proposition should be carried, will have the
tax imposed on them. Mr. GLADSTONE has esti-
mated the ultimate yield of this tax at two millions
a year; but it has been asserted by good authorities
that it will produce considerably more, and, if so,
it will he imposing new and heavy burdens upon
land, although the promises of Sir ROBERT PEEL
to make compensation for the Repeal of the Corn
Laws are still unredeemed.

PROSPECTS OF BIRKENHEAD.
THE prospect which was held out a short time since
of an amicable arrangement for a transfer of the
Birkenhead Docks to the Liverpool Dock Trustees,
seems, for the present at least, to be set aside,
owing to the extravagant demands of the Birken-
head proprietors, upon which we commented last
week, and which were brought before the Dock
Committee on Thursday, when they "declined to
accede to the terms named, as being excessive, and
having no reference to the real value of the pro-
perty to which those terms refer." This result is
to be regretted, not only on account of the trade of
the port, which might be materially benefited by
having dock accommodation on both sides of the
Mersey, under one management, but also on ac-
count of the town of Birkenhead, which is suffering
from the evil of having several companies, whose
interest is to act in unison, but whose practice
seems to be to destroy one another. The disputes
and litigation which appear so rife between the
Birkenhead Dock Trustees and the Dock and Ware-
house Company afford strong evidence of the neces-
sity of placing all the interests under one manage-
ment, or they will succeed in driving from the
place every one who would be of most advantage to
it. Mr. LAIRD, by his skill and enterprise in the
building of iron steam-ships, has done much to
improve the neighbourhood by the employment of
a large number of workmen, whose wages circulate
in the locality, but obstacles are thrown in his way
which may result in driving him elsewhere. The
Patent Candle Company, who were about to
establish a factory which would give employment to
eight hundred workmen, have prudently withdrawn
from the scene of senseless litigation, and gone
several miles further up the river; and any similar
attempt to benefit Birkenhead will be hopeless, so
long as the representatives of the several Dock
Interests are acting in antagonism to one another,
in the defence of pretended rights. Litigation on
such subjects is bad enough when confined to in-
dividuals, but it is infinitely worse when carried on
by public bodies, whose interests ought to be
identical, and the only solution of the difficulty is to
place the whole under one management, as was
sought to be done by the proposed transfer of the
whole of the Dock property to Liverpool. It may
be remarked that one of the principal causes of the
commercial greatness of our town arises from the
simple fact of the whole of the Dock property being
under the same control. Had the several Docks
been the property of individual companies, the con-
sequence might have been ceaseless disputes and
litigation, from which we are happily free; and if
Birkenhead would share in our advantages, and
attain that position, to which, by her favourable
locality she is so well entitled, it can only be
effected by pursuing a similar course, and entrusting
her Dock property to a management which has
worked so well, and produced such magnificent
results. With reference to the value of the acqui-
sition, we may observe, that Liverpool has, from
necessity perhaps, neglected a branch of trade which
might have been carried on to a considerable ex-
tent, and under much more favourable circum-
stances than attach to most ports. While our
Docks have been crowded with the shipping of all
nations, but little has been done to add to the
Mercantile Marine, and our Shipowners have been
compelled to go to distant places to purchase ships,
which might have been built at home, and furnished
employment to a large additional population. This
has arisen, in a great measure, from the want of
available space, which is still being required for
Dock extension ; but much would be gained from
an acquisition of the other side of the Mersey, and
we might then reasonably anticipate as rapid a
progressive increase for the future, as has taken
place within the last ten years.