The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-12-04 00:00:00

SYMPTOMS OF A BREAK-UP.
(From the Dublin Evening Mail.)
Notwithstanding the denials of the official, and demi -
official organs, Lord Noimanby is certainly on the eve
of his retirement from lreland—not to return.—
Amongst the most comical of the reasons assigned for
his departure at this precise moment, is that given by
the government journal—that he is going to look after
his estates in Yorkshire. We hope, sincerely, his
lordship may be fortunate enough to find them; and
others, we are sure, will join us in that aspiration.
But there are other indications of a break-up, which
cannot be mistaken. It is evident that ministers, pre-
paratory to their retirement, are about to perpetrate a
job so scandalous in its conception, and so monstrous
in its nature,,that one is really astonished at the hardi-
hood and recklessness by which it could be prompted.
A negotiation has been opened with Lord Plunket
by which his retirement from office is secured, in order
that the country may be saddled with an expense of
four thousand a-year to his successor, who will, of
course, be displaced within three months after his ap-
pointment.
Whether Baron Richards or Sir John Campbell is
to be the lucky pensioner we know not, nor is it in-
deed material.
As a preliminary step—one, of course, forming part
of the con-si-de-ya-tion—Mr. M'Causland, the bro-
ther in-law of Lord Plunket, yesterday resigned his
situation of secretary, worth two thousand a-year, but
not permanent, for that of clerk of the council, pro-
ducing seven hundred a year—the latter being a pa-
tent place, and the occupier not removable.
Mr. Corry Connellan, one of the gentlemen at
large, and, we believe, a barrister, is appointed ad in-
terim secretary to the chancellor.
What precise terms Lord Plunket—that best of " fa-
mily men"—has made for his other connexions does
not appear; but of course the next vacant bishopric,
for his son the Dean, forms part of the contract, and
which must be executed.

NATIONAL EDUCATION.
( From the Dublin Evening Mail)

Since the patronage of the National Schools has 1
Allen into the hands of the priests, the character of I
die teachers has so wofullv degenerated, that it be-
comes in many cases a matter oi doubt whether they
be one jot more moral, more loyal and orderly, or
more intelligent than the old hedge schoolmasters and
mistresses whom the Kildare-place Society had suc-
ceeded in suppressing. We do not mean to say that
the commissioners would knowingly or wilfully sanc-
tion the appointment of a drunkard—but we think
they ought to look more sharply after the appointments
of the priests. The following is a case in point
"Sergeant Reilly preferred a charge on Monday, at
the city police-office, against Mrs. Meade, mistress of
the National School, at Boher, near Kilteely, under
the superintendence of the Rev. Mr. Walsh, (Popish
priest of course,) for being drunk in the streets. Mrs.
Meade stated she came to Limerick to purchase clothes,
and not having taken breakfast in the morning, she
drank a little wine, mixed in peppermint water. Mr.
Yokes—l hope you don't teach the children to drink
cordials. I shall take care to mention to the Rev.
Mr. Walsh that the mistress of his school was taken

up by the police, who found I,Pr drunk in the streets,
and that I fined her 2s. 6d., or, in default of payment,
to be imprisoned 24 hours."—Limerick Chronicle.

MORE NORMANBY CLEMENCY.
(From the Dublin Evening Mail.)
Lord Normanby, unabashed by reproof, and un-
daunted by its consequences, continues his pernicious
interference with the administration of the law, and
sets the prerogative of the crown as a bar between
justice and crime :

"Another instance of the mischievous policy of the
Irish government," says the Ulster Times," has been
committed to us, and in detailing it, we give such par-
ticulars as will enable the Whiz, or any other liberal
print, to set us right, if wrong in any part of our
statement. Daniel M'Aleese, of Tullyagans, near
Dunloy, in this county, was tried and convicted at the
last summer assizes for this county, of robbing Patrick
M'Cormick on the highway, between Coleraine and
Ballymoney, and sentenced by the judge to seven
years' transportation. There was no mitigatory cir-
cumstance in the case—no doubt upon the evidence—
no recommendation from the jury--and no hope held
out from the judge ; yet this fellow returned to Car-
rickfergus gaol (for he had been sent to the Hulk) on
Saturday last, the Nth instant, having had his sen-
tence commuted to two years imprisonment. At the
expiration of this period this highwayman is to be
turned loose on society, in virtue of the Marquis of
Normanby's license, to plunder with impunity."

WHIG SIGNALS OF DISTRESS.
(From the Morning Herald of Friday. )
The Courier waxed melancholy, last night, while
contemplating the position and prospects of its patrons.
Our contemporary, after, indirectly, admitting the ut-
ter feebleness of the present officials, proceeds, as if
conscious of having confessed too much, to show that
Lord Melbourne possesses secret sources of strength,
which might enable him to crush the aristocracy—pro-
viding his love for the consttlution would permit him
to call these sources of strength into action !
" Were Lord Melbourne disposed to throw himself on the
radical reformers of England—a policy su often and so falsely
attributed to him by the tory press—the accession of strength
of which he stands in need would easily be obtained. Let the
ballot banner be displayed, and the repeal of the corn laws pro-
raised, and a shout of enthusiasm would rise from Caithness
to Cornwall, and from Galway to Kent. that would yield in
no way to the reform excitement of 1832. But such a line of
policy would necessitate a sweeping change in the constitution
of the House of Peers, and Lord Nlelhoutne, unkindly as he
has been used by it, clings stoutly to his order."

The display of " the ballot banner" would, we may
observe, drive from Lord Melbourne's side many of
those who now support him ; whilst a promise to re-
peal the corn laws would not gain him a single vote
either in Parliament or at the polling booths—for this
plain reason, that all the anti-corn law men in Parlia-
ment, and out of Parliament, are already on the side
of the whigs. As to "the masses" who rendered the,
reform excitement of 1832 formidable, let Lord Mel-
bourne talk to them of the blessings of corn-law re-
peal, and let him, if he can, derive fresh courage from
the withering scorn with which his proposition would
be received. If the Whigs would fairly fathom the
depths of contempt to which they have sunk, let them,
we say, try this appeal to " the masses" on the sub-
ject of tie corn laws!
Lord Melbourne, however, conscious as he is of his
strength, whenever it shall please him to exert it, is
yet merciful ; and rather than destroy " the tories,"
wicked as they are, why, the Courier tells us, his lord-
ship will pardon- their offences, and—coalesce with
them !

"The affairs of the country have arrived at a point which
makes a strong government indispensable. Can the tories
form such a government themselves ? If not, Will not some
among them sacrifice something of their party predilections to
enable the whiys to form one !"

The Courier is, beyond question, engaged to libel
its friends in office ! What, the pure, lofty, " liberal"
government coalesce with the " hereditary enemies of
all improvement"—with "the patrons of corruption"
—with "the obstacles to the progress of reform I"
The thing is inconceivable. The Courier must mis-
conceive entirely the meaning of its Downing-street
friends! Our contemporary does not seem to know,
that "patriotism" has, for a long time, required, above
all other things, that "the tories should be kept out."
To attain that great end, the whip chiefs have recom-
mended" that "all minor differences between reform-
ers" should be sunk! These chiefs, therefore, can
navßr dream of being themselves the parties to "let
the tories in." The offer, besides, is too tempting to
conservatives! Only think of the mighty accessions
in point of talent, and energy, and character, and po-
pularity, which the whigs would contribute to the
proposed coalition

CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.-TRADESMEN'S
SOIREE, EDINBURGH.

Provost White, of Leith, presided, and as the best speech
of the night was unquestionably that of Dr. Chalmers, we
give it as reported in the Edinburgh Courant:—
Dr. CH a I.IIIEKS. after complimenting the speech just deli-
vered by Mr. Guthrie, said,-1 am glad to be relieved from
the unwieldy subject of church extension; for I can fully
sympathize with my excellent friend who commenced the
addresses of the evening, in his statement that he felt bur•
dened and oppressed with the extent and magnitude of the
subject. Yet, in the short time which he expended upon it
—short I mean as compared with the magnitude of the theme
—he left on that theme the impress of his own profound and
pious feelings; and, in particular, he has enriched this great
argument with what was to me an original consideration—
(cheers)—and what is not always true of original arguments
—one that is eminently practical, of bringing the whole sub-
ject to that most decisive of all tests—tbe test of prayer. 1

shall not make any farther observations on this theme, but I
content myself with the hope that this original view of the
subject will be pressed home on the consciences and the reli-
gious sensibilities of all here present. I beg you will all
understand that, after we shall have fully completed the work
of what is now called church extension, I shall only consider
the work as little more than half done. I shall not consider
the parochial economy complete by the mere erection of a
church in every destitute district. The scheme of church
extension must be followed up by an adequate and commen-
surate scheme of school extension. (Cheers.) The paro-
chial economy will not be complete unless, in addition to
every church, there shall be placed a school—the one for
Christian, the other for common education—the one for the
Christian education of all the people, the other for the com-
mon education of all the children in a district. But you
must not imagine that because I make a distinction between
Christian and common education, therefore 1. understand
that in the learning of the school Christianity should have no
part, or that 1-at all give in to the heartless system of disse-
vering religion from education. Religion in Scotland gave
the first impulse to education. Knox and his associates—
(cheers)—Knox and his associates convinced the popular
understanding of the country that the Bible was the genuine
record of the communication from God to man, and that
within the tour corners of that book were contained the words
which were able to make them all wise unto salvation. This
inspired them with an intense desire to possess the faculty of
reading—that they might unlock the mysteries of the Scrip-
tures, and acquire -that knowledge of God, and of his Son,
Jesus Christ, which is life everlasting. This created a uni-
versal demand for education among the people of Scotland.
Therefore, let us never forget that religion is the parent of
the school ; and if the s.hool, by an act of unnatural rebellion,
should cast off the authority of its parent—if it should ever for-
get and disown its great progenitor, all the blessings and the
glory which it had conferred on the land would speedily de-
part from it. (Great cheering.) By the wretched exchange
of the bread of life fnr the mere husks of unsanctitied know-
ledge, the moral health of the youth of Scotland would wither
into extinction, just as surely as their physical health would
wither, if they were bereft of the nourishment of man, and
driven to the necessity ot' feeding upon ashes. I confess that
I look with jealousy and dislike on all the tamperings, on
the part of crude and incompetent speculators, with the sacred
business of education, (Loud cheers.) To take the Bible
from the school, if it is not droppina poison into the fountain
heads of morality, is at least to take away from those foun-
tain heads the healing waters of the sanctuary. (Cheers.)
Our people would indeed continue to be taught; but the
light put before them would be moral darkness; and we have
the authority of our Saviour for saying how great would be
that darkness. Knowledge, it is said, is power; and if know-
ledge is associated with religion, it heroines a power for the
virtuous and the good, and tells with the best and most bene-
ficent influence on the well-being' of society. But if know-
ledge is dissociated from religion, that does not destroy
the truth of the maxim that knowledge is power; but it is
power emancipated from the restraints of principle, and let
loose on society like the policy of an artful tyrant, or the
military science of a ruthless conqueror, only to enslave and
destroy. (Loud cheers.) Yes, gentlemen, we mean to
have our school, but we mean in the economy of the school
to abide by the good old ways of our forefathers. We mean
to have the Bible the regular and daily school-book. We
mean to have the Catechism the regular and daily school
exercise ; and these shall he taught (mealy and fearlessly,—
not dealt with as contraband articles.—not smuggled into
holes and corners of the Establishment, mended or mutilated
by human hands, that the message of the Eternal may be
shaped to the taste and prejudices of men, not confined to
the odd days of the week, or skulking into by-rooms, lest the
priests of an itolerant faith should be offended. No, gentle-
men, we will place the Word of God in the fore-front of- our
system of education ; and we will render it the unequivocal,
the public, the conspicuous object, becoming the Ch'ristian
and Protestant nation. If there is one association more in-
veterate than another in the Scottish understanding, it is
the association between the Church and the school. I met
with an instance of this three years ago in the Water of Leit
It was, in the first instance, suggested to get up a petition in
that district for an endowment to the new church. We pro-
posed no more at that time ; but it occurred to themselves,
and of their own spontaneous accord they determined to su-
peradd another petition—for an endowment to the school
also.- This was entirely the doing of the people themselves.
The first petition for the church, in a population of thirteen
hundred, was subscribed by six hundred and eighteen signa-
tures; the second petition, for the school, was subscribed by
six hundred and sixteen signatures. The truth is. these two
things, the church and the school, are held by a Scotchman
to be inseparable. A chords without a school would be re-
garded as an anomaly; and the only other anomaly which
would be still more violent and outrageous to the feelintas of
a Scotchman, would be a school without a Bible. (Loud
cheering.) But while I thus contend for the Bible, I would
not limit the education of the working classes, as some would,
to the tnere capacity of reading it. I would give them as
much education as they have taste and time for. Only grant
me that primary education shall be based on religion; and
after that interest has been adequately secured, you can
never overdo the business of education—you can never over-
enlighten the people. In this matter, let us seek first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness; and then we may
legitimately look and labour for the fulfilment of the pro-
mise, that all other things shall be added unto us. I have a
strong and confident anticipation—though it would require a
long argument to make it good—to rationalize it to you—l
have a confident anticipation that the result of a well-taught
and a well-principled population will he, that they will reach
a higher status in the community than they now occupy.
Less work—so that they may not be drudged like beasts of
burden; inure wages—(cheers)--greater leisure for the cul-
ture of the higher faculties of their nature—(continued
cheering)—and an indefinitely nearer approach in science
and all other sorts of scholarship to those who now stand
above them in apparently hopeless superiority. I do not
say that I shall ever see this ir. my day; but I am confident
that, it we Christianize the people, w7e shall intellectualize
them also,—that we shall transform them into kindly and
companionable men, with whom we may at all times hold de-
lighted converse; and the specimens of the intercourse that.
I have bad with them has given me a foretaste of those de-
lightful and brilliant anticipations. (Cheers.) Therefore it
is, that I, for one, am a friend to popularizing philesophy,—
mehanies' institutes;—to the copious supply of a large and
liberal information to all classes of society. Only let Chris-
tianity be ever present as it presiding influence to leaven all
and sanctify all, and then all will be right and safe; and the
blessed conjuncture will be realizsd, of our being at once au
intellectual and religious nation. 1 trust I have made my-
self understood—(loud cheers)—so far as to make it palpable
that I hold a Bible class to be an integral and indispensible
part of every school, and that I hold Christianity to be an
integral and indispensible part of every system of education;
for r confess that I look with no sympathy on the general Im-
provement of the national character from any scheme of
education, if it is merely an education of letters, and not an
education of principles. (Cheers.) It is not scholarship
alone, but scholarship impregnated with religion, which tells
on the mass of society. Apart from this, 1 have no confi-
dence in the efficacy of mechanics' institutes, or even in
primary and elementary schools, lot-building up a virtuous and
well-conditioned peasantry. There is a charm attached to the
school system of Scotland; and it is believed that if it
could be transferred into England or Ireland the same re-
sults would follow. But it is forgotten that a warm and
earnest Christianity animated the spirit of all our insti-
tutions for generations after they were framed ; and that,
wanting this, they are nn snore fitted to discharge the
functions of moralizing the people than a human skeleton
would be fitted to perform the functions or discharge the
energies of a living man. The school is wrought into our
ecclesiastical system, not in an intolerant or exclusive spirit,
but for the purpose of impregnating the boyhood of the land
with the religion of the Bible. A mere scholarship of letters
may diffuse intelligence among the people, but it is mainly
to the power of religion that that the moral greatness of our
people is owing. I cannot sit dOwn—(lond cheers)—without
expressing my unbounded delight at the meeting of this
evening; at the heartfelt cordiality which has evidently glowed
on every countenance. (Cheersa) To me this meeting is re-
commended as -being a meeting made up of all classes, for
my great lesson fora quarter of a century has been that the
different classes of society are kept too distant from each
other. 1 may state my own experience. I have made tens
of thousands of visits to the houses of the poor, and there were
not halt' a dozen where I was received with incivility or cold-
ness, but from • almost all I met a decent, and, in the vast
majority of instances, a cordial and friendly reception at
their hands. When I was in Loudon in 1822. I called on a
Member of Parliament, Mr. Joseph Butterworth, in Russell-
square—he was a pious mail and a Christian philanthropist.
It is a curious fact that the houses of the grandees in Lon-
don, and those where the most wretched of the London popu-
lation reside, are within a stone's throw of each other.—
Russell-square is in the parish of St. Giles's which is occu-
pied by the poorest, the most wretched and abandoned popu-
lation of London. He proposed that We should make a tour
through the houses; I gladly accompanied him, and we spent
the forenoon going from house to house, not on a pecuniary
errand, for that would have rendered doubtful the success of
the experiment if our object had been to get money, but with
a view to inquire into the state of education, and, without a
single exception, we were received in the most cordial and
affectionate manner by every one. Mr: Butterworth told me
it was only within the-last (we've months they had made the
discovery that this intercourse with the people was safe, or in
other words, the higher knew so little of the lower classes of
society that they imagined t hey could not pass over the
thresholds without the risk of personal harm and loss. .It
was no surprise to me, because for years I had been experi-
encing a cordial reception among the _poor, and I thought
surely that could not be a harpy state of things where such
malignant and obstinate prejudices existed between the higher
and the lower orders of the community. Let there be more
intercourse among us as brethren, and prejudices will soften,
and the breath of a new and bland spirit will go forth over the
whole land. I therefore feel personally grateful for the invi-
tation I have received to-night. 1 am delighted at this oppor-
tunity of approximation in the different classes. It is obvious
that we can be at no loss for congenial topics. You are aware
that the members of one profession are rather at a loss on
meeting with persons of another profession it' they are con-
fined to the things of this world; but we can be at no such
loss while our topics are of that catholic comprehensive de-
scription which have characterized all the topics of this
evening. We have met as members of one family, as crea-
tures of one God, as the disciples of one Redeemer, as the
expectants of one and the same blissful immortality. (Cheers.)
I am sure there are here materials enough for us, instead of
frowning on each other from our respective orbits, to continue
to live in peace and friendship, rejoicing in the fellowship of
a common hope, and in the brother hood of a common nature.
(Loud cheers.) We read a good deal of precursor meetings
and precursor associations. I hope with all my heart this
will be a precursor meeting. It is a very mixed assembly,
some people will say. I trust it will be the precursor of many
such assemblies, and first and foremost of such mixed assem-
blies as are to be met with every Sabbath in one and all of
the churches in Edinburgh. I look forward with an ticipation
interesting - —for it is by far the must experiment in the pre-
sent range of Church extension—to the erection of the new
church in the Cowgate, I know my friend Mr. Guthrie is a
house-going minister—(cheers)—and I also know that this is
the patent way to create a church-going people. I have a
confident hope that, by the blessing of God, I shall vet see
the day when, at the sound of its parish bell, every house in
the Cowgate. and of its lateral closes, shall pour forth their
families. That would be a mixed assembly such as we have
at present the honour and the happiness of enjoying. It is
said that a minister is a man of no rank—and that is true.
What is the reason? Because lie is a man of all ranks—fit to
keep company with kings, but Whose particular glory it is to be
a frequent inmate of cottages, and a daily visitor at the poor
man's dying Led. (Cheers.) I trust, that when this arrange-
ment shall be exhibited in the Cowgate, and multiplied over
Edinburgh, that which no adjustment, of politics has been
able to effect—the harmonising together of all classes of so-
ciety—shall be at last effected by gospel ministrations, and
by gospel charity. (Cheers.) I ought to express, in com-
mon with my friend Dr. Muir, the gratification which I feel,
not only fur the invitation and for the meeting of this even-
ing, but also the sincere feeling which is due to the venerable
patriarch of this assemblv—(cheers)—with the weight of
good old age upon his shoulders—in the language of the
Bible, " well stricken in years." (Cheers.) I trust that he
will not be the worse of the long attendance he had with us;
and that the confinement will have no unfavourable influence
on his bodily health, or his physical powers. (Cheers.) I
ant sure that I express his feelings as well as my own whets I
say that tin far as moral comfort is concerned, we have never
spent a night of more intense enjoyment than on the present
occasion. (Loud cheers.) One word more, and I have
done. When I expressed -my high • anticipations of a good
result from the arrangements in the Cowgate, I put forward
a qualifying clause when I said by the blessing of God. This
is an age of great and bustling activity; and the great dan-
ger is, lest we should put that confidence in the doings of man,
which is only warranted when we have an expectation, and a
well-grounded, hope of a blessing from on high. I deeply feel,
—much activity as I have had in several enterprises,—l deeply
feel that a sacred and impressive mockery awaits all our en-
terprises for the good of the Church, unless the band of God