The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-11-04 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

The letter on the subject of " Whig Radical Impartiality and
Love of Justice" shall be inserted in our next.
We have not had time to examine the communication under
the title of "Splendid Picture."
The letter signed " Aufidius" has been received; but we must
make material alterations in it before we can venture to pub-
lish it.
" A True Conservative must excuse the non-appearance of
his letter to-day.
Matters of very pressing interest compel us to omit several ar-
ticles which are deserving of notice. A great number of let-
ters relating to the recent municipal election stand over until
Tuesday.
"A Ludicrous Scene at the Lyceum" requires a voucher.
"A Ladies' Man" suggests that facilities should be afforded for
the admission of ladies into the Amphitheatre on Tuesday
next.
We believe that the " Index Expurgatorius" may be seen at
the Athenaeum.
The vet ses of "A Young Conservative" will not suit us.

Eibtrpool eStanbarb.

FRIDAY MORNING. NOVEMBER 4, 1836.

When evidence of any fact comes from different and
independent sources, it furnishes that kind of cumulative
proof which brings the most satisfactory conviction to the
mind. It is but a few days ago that we had the delightful
task of recording the revival of conservative principles
in the town of Liverpool, as evinced by two of the most
numerous, most respectable, intelligent. and influential
meetings ever assembled here ; and when it is again
told, that, on that occasion, the sentiments of nearly
2,000 persons burst forth as with one voice in favour of
those ancient and venerable institutions which have con-
ferred on England its political greatness, and on its peo-
ple personal liberty, protecting laws, a daily extending
commerce, with all the concomitants of social comfort,
and the intellectual elegancies of life, is it not a theme
for exultation ? But we are still answered (for infatua-
tion has a tongue though no reason) that there is no re-
action. To demonstration therefore we again appeal.
An opportunity has just occurred for the free expression
of public feeling, and a scale, accurately graduated, has
been applied to mark the rise or fall of conservative and
destructive principles among us. On the election of 17
councillors, required by the provisions of the municipal
reform bill, we are gratified by the following result :-8
are returned, firm pillars of the constitution, and 9 pio-
neers who are sapping its foundations. Had the same
ratio obtained which existed at the previous election in
1835, conservatism would have found little more than
one supporter, whilst radicalism would have rioted in
nearly 16. How the municipal spirit falls! From little
more than one, on this election, conservatism has risen to
B—from 16, radicalism has fallen to 9 I and we may add,
with the surface still depressed, as indicating further de-
clension. If we apply the scale to the number of voters
not polled, as declared by the radical press, we find a still
more exhilarating evidence of change. In the election
of 1835, under the first chilling influence of the munici-
pal reform bill, the conservatives were 950 below freez-
ing point ; they are now 50 above it. The radicals were
then at the point where " spirit boils." Where are they
now ? At zero. Where will they be another veer ?
Fixed like the ice-bound coast of Greenland, which no
rays of the sun of radicalism will be able to melt again.
Will it be said that this is no proof of reaction ? What
other proof do they demand ? If they had such evidence
of the increase of their ranks, they would trumpet it
forth with intimidation loud enough to shake the land—
and it is not less evidence because Conservatism, like
Truth, rests quietly on the arm of her own righteousness.

But the radicals, under the secret mortification of de-
feat, always endeavour to buoy themselves up with future
hopes, and tell their deluded followers, as Don Quixote
told Sancho Penn, when lie was almost beaten to mummy,
of better things to come. One of those better things is
the return of another radical member to parliament at
the next election. Why, this is the desperation of mad-
ness, and resembles the expiring hope of the fallen an-
gels, who sought " courage in despair." The same prin-
ciples that have wrought this happy change in the
municipal aspect of Liverpool, are the same principles
that will prevail at a parliamentary election. Be the time
distant or near, the character of Liverpool will, whenever
that period arrives, be purged of that opprobrium, under
which she now suffers, for sending a conservative mem-
ber, with giace upon his lips, to bless his country, and a
radical member, with a withering blast, to curse the hap-
piness of the land.
We cannot stoop to comment upon the disingenuous
charges which rankling defeat has provokingly put forth
in the columns of radicalism. Like the irritated scor-
pion they carry their own death in their tail. But one
point may deserve a little notice. It appears from the
representations of the radical journals, that almost half
the number of voters for the town council of Liverpool
have not polled! What an addition is this to the triumph
of conservatism ! They who are not against ns are for
way that common sense does not
us. Explain it in any
instantly repel, and what does this silent language (this
non-voting) proclaim ? What ! has the charm of muni-
cipal reform lost its fascination ? Is the spirit of radical-
ism " laid," as other troublesome spirits are said to be,
quietly in the Red Sea !—or is radicalism that satisfying
luxury that " a little more than a little is much too much."
Have 2,497 voters exclaimed jam satis est u Oh, we
would say to our friends, and appeal to pasing events
for verification, see how marked a contrast there is be-
tween yourselves and your opponents ! They have fed
(though it was a hasty meal) to repletion; but ye " tem-
perate.in all things, " are like those, in whom it seems " as
if increase of appetite had grown by _what it fed on."

Nov. 4, 1836.

The wholesome pabulum of sound constitutional princi-
ples never produces satiety. It is the very condition of
error to find an end, though it may wander far—of pas-
sion to exhaust itself—but truth end virtue have a per-
durable existence; and though their course is never
marked by violence, yet it is always seen to be progres-
sive. We would apply these reflections to the latent
voters on this occasion—they have seen their error, and
with prudence stop—excitement has expended ite fuel,
and reason is restored. But let it be supposed, as, it
seems to be by the radical press, that these 2,497 voters
voluntarily dropped from their hands the exercise of their
municipal privileges, because they felt reluctant to take
a part in the heart-burning rivalry of their neighbours--
because they saw they could not vote without wounding
the peace of one friend—sullying the fair character of ano-
ther—or breaking through many of those ties that hold
close in harmony the social compact. Is this not an ho-
nourable feeling ? Would there were more of it ! But
what does it speak of the municipal reform itself? Does
it not place upon its head all these curses ? Is not this
passive conduct the severest reprobation that bill could
receive ? Is it not a practical denunciation of its prin-
ciples ? Yes, we say, let it be published throughout the
land, that 2,497 voters in the town of Liverpool, from
conscientious motives, relinquished all right and interest
conveyed to them by the municipal corporation reform bill,
and thus have virtually blotted it from the statute book.

But is this remarkable reaction without any assignable
motive ? Oh no. As clearly as any physical effect can
be traced back to its efficient cause, this restoration of
healthy principles in the public mind of Liverpool, ad-
mits of an easy and satisfactory explanation. Poisonous
drugs are sometimes active remedies of corporeal dis-
ease, and the poison of infidelity, and of political insu-
bordination, sometimes work out, by their virulence, a
moral depravity. " Who hath hardened his heart against
God and prospered," even in temporal things ? Shall
his " word" be under a human ban, and Providence not
vindicate it ? Shall it be withheld from the tender minds
of children, whom we are commanded to nurture' in its
pure precepts, and no mark of Divine displeasure follow ?
Shall it be mutilated at the caprice of man with impu-
nity ? " Cursed," says the inspired writer, "be he that
addeth or taketh away from the words of this book ;" and
shall we shut our eyes to the result because we cannot
exactly follow the inscrutable hand of Him who causes
it ? We call upon all who profess the name of' Chris-
tian, and who in truth and sincerity place their eternal
hopes upon the promises of God as revealed in his word,
to turn his eyes to our national schoolrooms. Where
are those promising aspirants who once filled those half
vacant forms ? What has so signally lowered the tone of
that busy hum of studious childhood ? Where ate the
thousands that were daily feeding upon spiritual truth,
and qualifying themselves, under a correct discipline, for
the future duties and destinies of life ? Where are they ?
Has a plague visited our streets, or a pestilence carried
away our offspring ? No ;—at least not the plague
that assails the body—not " the pestilence that walketh
at noon day," but that plague of unitarian or catholic in-
fidelity, which starves the soul—narrows the noblest
principles of the heart, and takes away from man his re-
fuge and his consolation in the trying moment of distress,
and in the awful hour of death. Ask the parents of those
hundreds of protestant children which are now withdrawn
from our national schools, why they forego the oppor-
tunity of providing them with education ? Oh, they
will tell you, with tears in their eyes, that the fault is not
theirs. They have the same solicitude for their children's
welfare that they ever had, but they cannot consent to
receive education at the expense of the religion of the
bible ;—and, but let it not be told in Gath, that the pro-
testant bible is excluded, or rather extruded from the na-
tional schools of Liverpool ! ! Perhaps we shall not be
believed when we acid, the melancholy truth, that with
this rejection of the protestant bible, that first fruit of its'
holy influence is also departed—prayer. Departed! nor'
it is banished. This first leading of the infant mind to
God is forbidden. But for the honour or the disgrace of
our town let this sealing or this redeeming testimony be
added. These things were not always so. Before the
spirit of popery and unitarianism was infused into our
councils, the pure, the entire bible was the fountain of
religious instruction, and thousands drank of the refresh-
ing waters of inspiration. The spiritual spring has been
since contracted, and the applicants fur admisaion (though
this is called a national institution, and exists in a protest-
ant country) are not protestants, but eatholies. In one
school, out of 835 pupils, there are but. 95 protestant
children, whilst all the rest, amounting to 740, are the
children of papists !! Is there any wonder why the pro-
testant bible is forbidden ? Would it not rather be a
wonder if it were admitted ?

Whilst we lament over this loss to the protestant rising
generation, (to many irreparable,) and deplore' the un-
hallowed cause of it, we cannot help admiring and com-
mending the firm and conscientious principle of those
parents who have determined, though with eh great a
sacrifice, "to choose the good and refuse the evil."
One cheering indication still points. to happier days.
In the four wards most proximate to the national schools•
viz., Scotland, Vauxhall, Pitt-street, and Great George-
street, conservative influence, that a year ago
,was at a
low ebb, is now swelling with a full tide. In every one
of these wards the late election has to record decided ma-
jorities in favour of conservative principles. In 1835
every one of these turned the scale in favour of radical-
ism. Has this corruption of school government not ef-
fected something ? But every ward is implicated in the
question—" He who allows oppression shares the crime.'
It is our duty to place the subject before you—it is your
duty to act with decision, and if you be remiss in your
endeavours to restore the protestant character to the na-
tional schools, it will not be easy to exonerate yourselves
from guilt.

We have but little space, and less inclination, to
render " railing for railing," or we should have no dllll
culty in replying to the vituperation of Mr. Hope. We
had received documentary evidence of facts—we publish-
ed those facts, with such comments as they. naturally
elicited ; but, assuredly, without any of that malignant
feeling so uncharitably ascribed to us. We value the
purity of our character, and hope never to soil it by
personal slander. Where we see injustice, we shall
fearlessly expose it ; but it will ever be with that candour
which marks rectitude of intention.

By an advertisement in our last paper it will be seen
that Liverpool is about to be gratified withi 'protestant
meeting. We shall never forget the eloquence. of one
of those meetings at Exeter-hall, London. Its thrills
have scarcely subsided, though more than a year has
passed over the first impression.
They originated in the asceo'lant aspect, of PapacY'
Political concessions had removed the weight which
pressed down the spring of Papal revenge, arid that nt"
changing spirit has given abundant proof that it bad lost
nothing of its energy. To the shame of protestant'
Britain, let it be proclaimed that almost every ne`l:
moon for the last two years has shone upon a ye's'
Catholic chapel. Schools and colleges are springing up
in every direction, and the " powers of darkness." were
never more successfully, though insidiously, at w°l.'
than at present. If we love the altars at which our fore•
fathers worshipped—if we love " the good news,of
joy" which was to be " to all people," let us attest au
zeal by giving our countenance to the .approaching
meeting.

KIRKDALE MICHAELMAS SESSIONS.—These sessions were
held yesterday by adjournment at the Court-house, in Kirkdale,
before the Rev. J. Brooks, chairman, Win. Edwards, Esqi, of
Lee, Esq., Adam Hodgson, Esq., Thomas Lyon, Esq., f
Formby, Esq., and several other magistrates. A number 0,
gentlemen summoned on the grand jury were fined £5 for non'
attendance, and considerable delay was occasioned by the,,le
tardy appearance, which was severely commented on by. tu
chairman. In the delivering of his charge to the grand JurY:
the chairman gave it as his opinion that the practice of ernploY
log counsel to plead for prisoners under the prisoners' counseg
bill would soon fall into disuse, as be thought the watchingau
the court over a trial as it proceeded, to sew that no unfair' ,
vantage was taken, was equally efficient. He also hl.ol;fr
approved of the new law for the commutation of tithes, as like!,
in its results to do away with the continual
,disputes between the
people and their spiritual teachers, which were now con
tinually occurring. The calendar contains upwards of foytY_
charges of felony and six of misdemeanour. No cases of
portance came on during the day. Towards the close of 06,
day the grand jury found a true bill fo.r misdemeanorir against
un reeaarn
Sutton,s
Mr. James Muspiatt, of Liverpool,.,tor creating, a nuisance. 10.31
ofhis
evxithriaollinwg-onrkos;iosiutsuagtaesdseisn the parish of Winwicit.