The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-10-23 00:00:00

say that that was the best speech which had been delivered
that evening. It had been well said on the preceding night,
"-brother conservatives," and he now addressed them by the
title of "brother operatives," for they were all operatives in
one good cause. Ah, they must work; for they were now
attacked an the sapping and mining system—(hear, hear)—
that was the relic of the past year—but they were Coldly as-
sailed by men who had sworn before their altar and their
God that they would carry out their purposes. He wished
Lord John Russell were there, to witness the enthusiasm
which was displayed. He could never despair of the consti-
tution when he beheld so many good old English hearts of
oak about him. (Cheers.) The whig-radical press said that
the operatives are too deeply imbued with revolutionary sen-
timents ever to have any sympathy or conneeion with con-
servatism. Now, that meeting gave them the lie. He had
heard of persons who had repeated their own lies so often,
that at last they believed them; and again, of persons whose
wish was father to the thought, and the whig-radicals stood in
one, if nut both of these predicatneuts. It was the father of
many lies—of a progeny as numerous as—(there was a simile
somewhere, a very appropriate one)-011, as numerous as
Lord Grey's relations. (Loud cheers.) He believed it had
been calculated to a mathematical nicety that, to the 176th
or 178th cousin, they were all feeding and fattening on the
public purse. Reform and retrenchment had been a golden
shower to them—another Jupiter, for it had poured gold into
their laps, and perhaps for a purpose somewhat similar to
that for which Jupiter came down to visit Daiwa. (Laughter.)
He shoe!d like to see the ministry leave their offices, but they
would never do so unless they were treated as the father of
the present Sir Andrew Agnew once treated an intolerable
bore that used to infest and fasten upon him and his neigh-
bours—namely, informed him very roundly that it he did not
depart forthwith he would be thrown out at the window.
They had had Lord John Russell here in the "Queen's
Artns"—(laughter) —but bow had he been received by the
people? That answer could be answered by any one. Then
there is as O'Connell had passed through also. Had his
" hurrah for repeal" wakened the echoes of Downing-street ?
Most probably it had. At any rate, ministers had now played
the queen; did they intend to play the knave also? (Laughter
and cheers.) Let O'Connell and them play together, and he
would he bound that Dan would beat them hollow at beggar-
me-neighbour. (Renewed laughter.) lie had just been
reflecting at what game it was probable that they would beat
him (O'Connell), and he had found it out—it was at thimble-
rig or blind-hookey. If they be false cheats and swindlers
—he did trot say they were, for if he should do so, he would
have to swallow a dose of Liverpool Jfercure--(laughter)—
he hoped they might all hang together, and each one might
interpret the saying in his own way. He believed that the
ministers intended to throw another tub to the whale—to the
radicals next session, which was to be iu the shape of ale-
peal of the corn-laws and of national education. After some
few remarks upon those questions the speaker concluded
amidst much applause.
.Mr. CA R DWELL was then called upon by the chairman.
He begged, in the first place, to return them his thanks fur
having enrolled his name on the books of their society, and to
assure them that he -drank the toast of " Success to their
Association" with very great pleasure. The natne Lord
John Russell had been frequently brought before the meet-
ing; but was it surprising that, in addressing such a body,
they should allude to his visit ? It was the visit of a man who
called the demonstrations of conservatism the whisper of a
faction. He had been entertained here at a select, but never.
as he (Mr. Cardwell) hail heard, a numerous party; and
there tie noble lord had expounded political privileges, one
of which was, that men had a right to meet for the expres-
sion of their opiniona. But if' he had been present there, he
would net have thought that it was a right. If he had been
at the Amphitheatre, when the conservatives filled it three
times in one week, he would not have thought so • and he
(the speaker) believed that the home secretary would nut he
very forward in telling his radical friends to meet. But the
whigs, the most insignificant of all parties, were to have the
unchecked right of meeting whenever and fur whatever they
cuoose, lie called them an insignificant party, and they
were so. The radical had his thousands, and the conserva-
tive his tens of thousands; but where were the whigs? And
what should be•said of the whisper of faction now ? What
must be thought of the government of which Lord John
Russell was a chief, when he, that mighty statesman, as he
was termed, with Atlantean shoulders, fit to bear the weight
of mightiest monarchies, was not received here by a single
plaudit? He (the speaker) thought that the epithets which
had been applied by the whigs to the conservatives were
much more applicable to themselves; and it might to he
asked how it is that that _miserable monopolizing minority
can hope to continue in office? Lord Melbourne had de-
clared, in the House of Peers, that so long as the people of
England supported hint, he would never resign. Why, strip
him of the rotten boroughs retained by the whig party, and
you deprive him of more than the number of members com-
posing his majority in the House of Commons. (Hear,
hear.) After showing that the whig government hail made
the nation as contemptible in the eves of foreign nations as
they themselves are in the eyes of 2uglishmen, the speakee
called on the conservatives to be up and doing—to show to
other nations that Britons could still vindicate their rights,
and to make known what a free people, with full scope, could
do for their free institutions. lie would have them to coin-
bine. together in associations such as that, and to show the
whig government that the conservative democracy of this
mighty empire has rallied round the altar and the throne.
(the speaker was highly applauded throughout, and sat
down amidst loud cheers.)
Lord SAN DON then rose for the purpose of proposing the
health of a gentlemen well known and appreciated by all pre-
sent. It might, he said, perhaps seem surprising That the
toast had not been given before; but he- could assure them
that tire 'delay had entirely arisen from the modesty of the
individual. lie begged to give the health -of their worthy
chairman, a man admired for the honesty of his purpose, and
the staunchness of his conservatism.
The CHAIRMAN briefly retuned thanks, and before sitting
down gave the following toast:—" The Duke of Wellingson
and the House of Peers." ( Enthusiastic applause.) •
Glee —" The mighty conqueror."
J. B.,Weses Esq.,: was then called upon, and briefly but
eloquently addressed the meeting. He said that he had been'
called upon by the learned gentleman, who he was proud to
call his friend (Mr. Cresswell) to give his opinion respecting
the system of educatien which had been introduced into Ire-
land, and he would beg leave to give them the most eloquent
definition of that system he had ever seen or heard, and which
had been given by one of the most distinguished clergymen:
in Ireland. He said—" We may speak of this system in the
words of Mary at the sepulchre—a They have taken away
my Lord, and 1 know not where they have put him." (Loud
cheering.) The speaker concluded by proposing the health
Of Sir Robert Peel, whom he warmly eubigised.
The toast was drunk with the usual honours.
Song.--" Like a plain-dealing soldier has Wellington
spoke."
Lord SAN DO N then gave—" The Merchants of Liverpool."
Glee.—" Ye Gentlemen of England."
• Mr. J. 11. Lewneece said he should consider it a reproaeh•
to himself and the merchants of Liverpool were he to allow
this coat to pass by without acknowledgement. Ile thanked
the company in their mime, for the compliment, and begged
to assure them that he should be always ready to come for-
ward in the support of the great cause in which they were
esigheed. (Cheers.)
Mr. CRI,SSWELL, at the request of the chairman, rose to
propose as toast, esteeming the honour conferred upon him to
he a great privilege. It was trot the last upon the list, nor the
least, and one that ought to be drank with three times three.
His eloquent friend on the left (Mr. Roby) hail the privilege
of giving " The Operative Association and the Operative
Classes : and he was about to propose the health of a set of.
men, who, though inclining to the operative plusses, were mot
altogether included in them. They were operatives in the
complete sense of the word ; for they had earned the political
-privileges which they enjoyed, and they had shown by their
conduct that they deserved these privileges—inasmuch as
they had exercised them, almost invariably, in suppoit of the
constitution of the country—he meant the freemen of Liver-
pool. (Tremendous cheering.) To speak as a lawyer' he
had two distinct species of evidence of their being friends to
the consitution ; one was, that they almost invariably re-
corded their votes in favour of the conservative candidates ;
and the other was, that a destructive administration never
ceased its attacks upon their liberties. (Loud and continued
cheering.) One day such an administration would tell them
that they were anxious to extend the suffrage, in order that
every one might have a rightto vote; and then, because a
particular class exercised their franchise with independence,
it would exclude such a class from the suffrage. (Cheers.)
He should have regretted it had they left the room without
bearing testimony- in favour of the independence of time free-
men, and expressing their hope that 'every independent
Member of parliament would protect their interests. They
had earned their franchise in the towns in which they had
lived, and which under their care bad grown and flourished
for centuries. He Wes glad to see the cordial co-operation
between them and the other inhabitants, and he trusted their
union would continue, and that there would never be found
wanting friends to protect their interests. (Cheers.)
Lord SA N DON Said it was impossible for him, who had mM
long hail the favour of the freemen of Liverpool, and who in
a great measure owed his success in four fields to their ever-
to hear the toast proposed without a word to show his hearty
concurrence therein. (Cheers.) They. had earned their
freedom by apprenticeship; and he hail just been reminded
that this day seven years he entered his apprenticeship in the
service of the people of Liverpool. (Cheers.) - if honour
was to be gained by honest industry continued during a pe-
riod of seven years, he hoped they would not judge him un-
worthy of the title of an honest freeman. (Cheers.) When-
ever he heard the tinhonr of the class alluded to impeached
in parliament, he always endeavoured from his seat to defeud
them. (Cheers.)
"The Independent and Honest Freemen of Liverpool."
(Three times three and one cheer more.)
Mr. A SPI NAIL was loudly called for, and acceded. He
said he never could find the ieason why he was so honoured
as to be called upon invariably to return thanks for the free-
men of Liverpool, exee it that be was the- largest amongst
them. (The honnitrable gentleman's dimensions are some-
thing like those of the Prinee of °tide.) lie had a pride even
greater than that, and whirl' was always, and ever would be,
in his breast, that he was the last 'Mayor of Livernool who
had been elected by the freemen generally, instead 'of a close
corporate body. (Hear, hear.) Why the practice had been
taken, by the whig 'ministers, from the people, he did not
know, except that, being mostly conservatives, they could
not support that ministry in their wicked designs. (Cheers.)
He was proud to he it fieeman; he had ever been so; and
he would remain so; he had never recorded his vote in any
other way, but always refused to give it as a householder.
He claimedit as his birthright; and the whigs had attempted
to rob him of it; they had succeeded witli others ; but his
franchise was left to him, and he would exercise it only for
the people's advantage, in the support of •conservative prin-
ciples, and for the benefit of the country. (Cheers.) He
begged to thank Lord Sandon and Mr. Cresswell bathe kind
manner in which they had introduced the toast, and the com-
pany flit the way in which they had received it. (Cheers.).
Mr. Rowlands sung the snug; —• Ohl England is the land
we love."
" The 'Tradesmen's Conservative Association,"—three
tames three.
Mr. S. Flossie. said it would ill become him at so late a
period of the evening, to occupy the attention of the meeting
for any length of time; but as the assuciation• of which he
had the honour to be chairman was the subject of the toast
just drank, and was in a great measure, if not altogether,
identified wills that eociety concerning which they had niet,
he could not help saying a few• -words. It was not for him to
say much as to the principles ou which these associations
were founded, as his sentiments on that subject were well
known, • tie felt that both societies had hitherto discharged
their duties with honour—they were something like the
Siamese twins; there was a band of union between them that
could not he separated without. danger to the existence
of both of them ; If that ligature were severed both
must fall. (Hear, hear, hear.) He directed the .attentiou
of the meeting to the inscription or, one of the banners.
Which informed them that they were associated to protect the
church of their fathers, to give stability to the throne, to stand
by the Queen—God bless her!—(arisen)—and to secure to
our childrareasettalosse of our poorer blethrea_ae edueetioe
that shuuld he founded on the Bible, the whole Bible, and
nothing but the Bible: (Cheers.) While he did not under-
value the arts and sciences, and had not thought at improper
in himself, as a tradesman, to devolg a few leisure hours oc-
casionally to the pursuits of literature, be would rather see
his countrymen Christians than philosophers. He had no
sympathy with those who looked upon man as a mere moral
machine, who had no need of instruction from the pages of
holy writ. The call on the tradesmen of Liverpool
the operatives to repudiate these. notions had been ably an-
swered, and he had no doubt that if, by the turn of circum-
stances,• an appeal should be necessary, it would be as
promptly responded to. (Cheers.) tie would remind them
that there would. ere long, 1;e introduced into Parliament a
system which he detested and abhorred, because it was founded
on false philosophy and Popery ; and against this it would
he their duty to present petitions, to raise their voices, and to
make one united stand, and say such a bill should never pass.
(Cheers.) As the working classes were the bens and muscle
of the land, he would have them educated so as to form a trait