The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-01-07 00:00:00

Vottrp.

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE. SOUL.
• By Sir John Davies.

INSCRIBED TO THE SOCIALISTS.
O ignorant, poor man, what dost thou bear
Lock's within the casket of thy breast ?
What jewels, and what riches hast thou there ?
What heavenly treasure in so weak a chest ?

Look in thy soul, and-thou shalt beauties find,
Like those cshieh drowu'd Narcissus in the flood ;
-Honour and Pieasure both are in thy mind,
And all that in the world is counted good.

Think of her worth, and think that God doth mean
This worthy mind should worth} things embrace ;
Blot not her beauties with thy thoughts unclean,
Not her dishonour with thy passions base.

Kill not her quickening power with surfeitings ;
Mar not her sense with sensuality ;
Cast not away her wit on idle things ;
Make not her free will slave to vanity.

And when thou think'st of her eternity,
Think not that death against her nature is ;
Think it a birth : and when thou goest to die,
Sing like a swan, as if thou wettest to bliss.

And if thou, like a child, didst fear before,
Being in the dark, where thou didst nothing see ;
Now I have brought thee torch-light, fear no more;
•
Now, when thou diest, thou canst not hood-winkd be.

And thou, my soul, which turn'st with curious eye
To view the beams of thine own form divine,
Know that thou canst know nothing perfectly,
Whilst thou art clouded with this flesh of mine.,

Take heed of overweening., and compare
Thy peacock's feet with thy gay peacock's train
Study the best and highest things that are,
But of thyself an humble thought retain.

Cast down thyself, and only strive to raise.
The glory of thy Maker's sacred name : •
Use all thy power that blessed Power to praise,
Which gives thee power to be, and use the same.

CONTEMPORARY PRESS.

THE REV. HUGH M`NEILE.
(From the Cork Constitution)
We cannot say that we are surprised at the vitupe-
ration lavished on Mr. M‘Neile. has given the li-
berals little reason to like him, and by the bitterness of
their revilings we may estimate in some degree the da-
mage he has done them. Were he an easy, idle, good-
for-nothing-fellow, the radicals are too cunning to
rouse him by any" reproach to his indolence; and he
might pursue his path in peace; but becUuse he is the
opposite of all this?—because he is ardent, active, and
determined—because he has done his Master's work
with his Master's will; and laboured to preserve the
land from Papal pollution and • Papal perfidy, he is set
upon by men who know nothing-either of ale religion
they abuse or of the principles they profess. To Mr.
M'Neile, and men like him, England owes obligations
which, to the latest hour of their lives, she will be un-
able to repay. They have contributed. more than all
her politicians, to save her from the revolution on
which_she was so blindly rushing. They have shown
her the abyss into which she was about to plunge.
They have arrested her in her mad career. and brought
her back to a recognition of those high and hall Owing
principles which are her best distinction and her best
defence. So far as Mr. M`Neile is concerned, we have
this admitted in a Liverpool paper (the Chronicle) of
Saturday. It is a paper which never makes its appear-
pearance without an attack upon Mr. WiNeile, and the
attack is generally seconded by the voluntary virulence
of some half-dozen correspondents. Yet listen to the
testimony borne by this paper to the exertions of Mr.
M‘Neile

" Mr. M`Neile is worth his weight in gold to the tory par-
ty in Liverpool. We wish that we bad a few such active
men on our side of the question. When first, he settled in
Liverpool, the liberals were triumphant, and the tones a de-
feated faction amongst us. He has almost reversed the state
of things. He has been the most zealous, hard-working agi-
tator who ever toiled for any cause. He has roused his party
to fresh exertions—he has cemented them together—he has
devoted all his strength and energies to their service—he has
stood by toryism through evil report and good report, and
worked for it with an ardour and a zeal which, bestowed upon
a bett6r cause, would have been far beyond all praise."
- - -

This is the testimony of an enemy, and-after such a
testimony Mr. M`Neile, had he no higher motive,
might pardon the enmity of his adversaries. Here is
the secret of their hostility. But for this, he might
plot and poison as he pleased. The " Jezebel Jere-
miad would have passed without rebuke, and not an
arm would have been thrust between the traitor and the
Throne. But Mr. M‘Neile has no such impunity to
expect. He has placed his country under too many
obligations, and he he has touched her enemies in a
point the tenderest that can be pressed on consciences
of shame and guilt. He has exposed the profligate
principles by which, in 'an age of ignorance, they im-
posed upon the world—he has denounced them with a
fervency and a force which. have impressed the public
mind, we trust indelibly, with a conviction of their in-
famy ; and were he but aided as energetically as he
ought, it would be difficult, notwithstanding his hold
upon the human heart, for the Old Serpent again to
enfold any considerable portion of England within his
coil. In truth, we are now in a position to estimate
the amount of our obligations to men like Mr. M'Neile.
Blessings brighten," as the poet tells us, not while
they are with us, but, " as they take their flight ;" and
it is only when England—should it ever please Provi-
dence so far to abandon her—it is only when England
is again within the grasp of Popery—her candlestick
removed, her light extinguished, her people performing
a pilgrimage to some holy well, or indulging in the in-
tellectual recreation of bowing before some' idol which
their hands have made—it is only then, should a little
of the salt be sparOd to preserve the case from putre-
faction, that aright sense will be entertained of the
magnitude of the services which the Champions of
Christianity have conferred on her. It is the fashion
to hold these men up as the enemies of the people. Why
they are the best friends the people ever had. It is for
the people they have toiled and fought—would we could
say, and conunered. Night and day have they devoted
themselves to their interest. In season and out of
season have they laboured in their service, and la-
boured, too, to secure for them.a freedom better than
master ever conferred upon a slave : yet because they
have done this they are misrepresented and reviled.
But, " the disciple is not. above his Lord." This is a
part of their wages, and they must he content.
Let us Conservatives, however, learn a lesson from
the example of Mr. W.Neile. we see what, even on
the admission of an opponent, has been effected by a
single man. Few, we know, can accomplish what has
been accomplished by ability and energy like his ; but
hare we done what in us lay ? Are we doing it now ?
Are we acting like men who, instead of being con-
tent with reposing under the laurels plucked by others,
are endeavouring each to gather a laurel for himself ?
If not, how can we affect surprise when the battle goes
against us ? Shall we, with the means of victory in
our hands, suffer ourselves; to be driven ingloriously
from the :field ? What answer can we give to men
who, having borne the burden and heat of. the day,
shall point to our remissness as the cause of their
defeat ?