The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-06-07 00:00:00

advance the interests of Rome; but this opinion
was strongly denied by those who were then
believed to be gentlemen and men of honour, and
the Legislature, with too ready credulity, which
was intended for magnanimity, gave up the ob-
jection. In vain did the late Earl of ELDON warn
the country of the 'consequences of opening the
door which they might never be able to close
again : in vain did 'the people who had profited by
the experience of history petition Parliament against
the concession.: that Minister was in power, of
whom it has been said that he never advocated a
cause which he tEd not ultimately betray, nor
oppose a measure which he did not ultimately
support.; and 'Sir ROBERT PEEL, w'ho had
been 'returned Tor Oxford University, as the
especial champion of Protestantism, was found the
foremost in persuading a too pliant Parliament to
grant Romanist Emancipation. Not six'years had
elapsed since the passing of the Bill, -when Sir
Rontrer FETA, was himself driven from office, by
the very men whom he had admitted to power
voting for the celebrated Appropriation Clause,
which was to the effect that any surplus of the
revenue of the Church of Ireland, not required for
the spiritual care of its members, should be applied
to the general education of all classes of the people,
without -religious distinction. 'lt mattered little
that thc-succeeding Ministry were .unable to carry
o'ut the measure upon which they obtained office.
Lord MELBOURNE acknowledged that it was a
heavy 'blow and great discouragement to the
Church, and the majority was obtained through
the-votes of those who had solemnly sworn that
they-would never exercise any privilege to which
they may become entitled, to disturb or weaken the
Protestant religion or Protestant Government in the
United Kingdom ; and that this declaration was
.made in every part thereof, in the plain and or-
etnasaioryne, equivocation,enseoftheu oorrels
moefntthael e
• oath, without
itiohoutany
what-
soever.

This manifest violation of a solemn
engagement was made -when party :feeling ran
high, and the prime-mover was •the professing
ProteTtant Lord Josna 'RussELL ; bub,years have
since, elapsed ; time should have brought reflection ;
andswe might have expected that, with so pressing
emergency, men would have paused before they
'wilfully committed deliberate perjury. . Alas ! for
'the•folly of relying upon the honour or-honesty of
those who are under thetbraldom of Romish priests !
On'Thesday last, a resolution was submitted to the
Hou€eof Commons, having been moved andiaeconded
by Romanist members, -"Mtat a Seleot,Committee
be, appointed to inquire into the Ecclesiastical Re-
venues of Ireland, with the view of ascertaining
how far they are made applicable to the benefit of
the ' Irish people." The, motion was ounningly
worded, but no sane man. Will doubt its scope and
tendency, and yet we findßomanist members, who
had taken the oath which we have referred to,
voting for its adoption, thereby proving that their
strongest oaths are straw,,ohen the object to
establish• the ascendancy of Rome upon the ruins of
Protestantism.

The motion was opposed by the Ministers, Avho
for once felt ashamed of their allies, and, with 'the
-aid of the Conservatives„ who are the only -,true
friends of. Protestantism, it was rejected by a ma-
jority 0f2&2 to 100, the minority being swelled by
-the votes of ultra-Radicals _and professing Dis-
-seaters, who,care not with wbotmLhey join, so long
as they can injure the Church. The division
afforded a lesson which ought Cnot to be lost sight
of in agitation rfor future legislation.

MINISTERIAL DIFFICULTIES. --BREAK-Up
OF THE COALITION.

THE vresent.ministry commenced with the inherent
weakness of being composed of every phase of
political opinions, .excepting only the ~hest of all,
and already it has.commenced to tumble into decay.
One of its worst features, however, was that traitor-
ous truckling to Rome, by which it was .hoped to
secure the Arotes of the Brass Band, and ,the mis-
chief of such an unholy alliance is apparent in the
first untoward discussion. The motion for .a new
appropriation of the ecclesiastical revenues of Ire-
was opposed by. Lord JOHN RUSSELL, ,who
Ire-
land, upon which we have commented in another
seems, in an ultra-Protestant mood, and he
avratsic,leit,
has given such great offence to his Romanist col-
leagues, that the defeat of the motion was followed
by the resignation of Messrs. KEOGH, MONSELL,
and SADLEIR, and subsequently by Sir THOMAS
REDINGTON. The matter, however, has been
hushed up, as will be seen by the correspondence
which we have given in another column. Lord
ABERDEEN, to save his Irish friends, has repudiated
Lord JOHN RUSSELL ; but though the wound has
been salved over, it is strongly suspected that the
next resignation will be that of the little Lord.
Such a weeding of the Ministry would he in itself,
no doubt, an improvement; but it is deeply signi-
ficant of the disgraceful position of parties. The

...
aThesion of these men to ABERDEEN Conservatism

was not without some understanding, with which
the negociator for their support has been unable to
comply, and their resentment is displayed in a
wholesale defection, designed for a twofold purpose.
It serves to prove to their own party their fidelity
to the interests of Rome, and, by reuniting the
faction in hostility to the Government, to enforce a
concession to their demands for the intelligible
consideration of a parliamentary majority. When
will the electors of England be convinced of the
importance of returning Conservative representa-
tives, in order to spare the humiliation of a British
Government being at the mercy of our worst foes,
tue emissaries of Rome