The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-03-01 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDAhty.

Vottry.

A CALL TO THE PROTESTANTS OF ENGLAND.

(From " For Ever, anti other Devotional Poems." By a Clergyman of
the Church of England.)

OW lien on occasion of the suppression of the .13ible in the Plan of National
Bdaeationfor Irelinul.—APßlL 1832.

PROTESTANTS, awake, assemble!
Or for ever fallen lie !
Is it not a time to tremble,
When the fatal blow is nigh ?
hen the foe's unhallow'd finger
Rests on God's eternal Word,
Shall his faithful servants linger I
Will they then desert their Lord

Shame to this long-favoned nation,
h ame and sorrow be her meed I
If the ark of her salvation
Be abandon'd in its need 1
Brightly on the page of story
Deeds of other days may shine,
But the Sun of England's glory
'Will 'mid scorn and woe decline.

Sworn to keep the faith of Jesus,
Caa we perjured Traitors prove ?
! from yonder Heaven he sees us,
With a look of anxious love !
Oh ! with such a look to chide us,
Such a quenchless love to cheer,
With our martyr7d Sires to guide us,
Can we bow to sloth or fear ?

Hark ! our Sister Island, weeping,
Calls to us across the wave—
" Christian brothers ! are ye sleeping?
" I am wounded—come and save !
" Think—if ye refuse assistance—
" Who will pity or deplore,
" Should the Light that g,ilds existence
" Sink 'ere long on England's shore ? "

Yes ! we come !—the spell is broken !
'Tis the summons of the Lord !
Protestants the vow have spoken,
Hear it Earth ! and Heaven, record !
Like our Fathers, we may perish
On the glorious battle-field,
But what they could die to cherish,
We will never live to yield !

REMARK UPON A WIDOWER'S NARRIAGE.—"Ood forgave
him once, and he has married again!"—My

FORCE OF HABIT.—A decayed gentlewoman being obliged for
her livelihood to go about with muffins, used in a faint voice to
ejaculate, " muffins and crumpets ;" adding, in a still more
under-tone, " 1 hope to goodness nobody hears me."—lbid.
FOREIGN JOGRNALS.—By Colombo papers, to October 13, we
learn, that the mail-coach travelling introduced into Ceylon,
continues to open the way to a better acquaintance with the in-
terior.—A Hobart Town Courier, of the same date, says, "Tahiti
is becoming a great place for settlers now. We have Dutch,
English, and Americans, here as settlers. Several are turning
their attention to sugar-making. I believe there were upwards
of forty tons of sugar made last year on 2 ahiti. The natives
themse4es made a good quantity, and bartered it to ships that
touch here."

FRENCH NOTIONS OP THE NEW PARLIAMENT.—The Courrier
de l'Ettrope says, "English reform, in many points, resembles
our revolution of July. The new elections in England, like
ours, have thrown into the House of Commons a considerable
number of legal men and men of letters, whose barren loqua-
city replaces the weighty and substantial eloquence which cha-
racterized the Parliamentary discussions in the time of Pitt,
Fox, Burke, and Lord Grenviiie. The prolongation of the
debate on the address is proof of our assertion. It *as a kind
of review of the new orators, who were all eager to take up
their position."
CHINON, by the river, is grand and picturesque. It is on the
right bank of the Vienne, and is sheltered between craggy hills,
on the top of the loftiest of which are the remains of the once
formidable castle, which for a thousand years held the surround-
ing country in awe. It was the favourite residence of Henry the
Second of England, and the scene of his last moments, in 1189,
when, broken-hearted by the undutiful conduct of his children,
he left the world with a malediction on theca upon his lips. And
here, ten years afterwards, his son, the lion-hearted Richard,
closed his valiant career, and his giant-like ambition, in the
narrow precincts of the grave. This castle was the chosen abode
of Charles the Seventh. The apartments he inhabited are still
in tolerable preservation, as is also the room in which Joan of
Arc was introduced into his presence, and, selecting him, in his
assumed disguise, from the nobles by whom he was surrounded,
declared to him her divine mission. Here likewise it was that
his unnatural sou, Louis the Eleventh, whilst yet dauphin, dared
to propOse the assassination of his parent, to the Comte de Cha-
baunes, the favourite minister, who had virtue enough to shrink
from the horrible crime, and revealed the intention to his royal
master. The dismal oubliettes may still be traced, close behind
the fire-place, in the principal sitting-room; so that the haughty
prince might be stretching his legs over the fire, with the utmost
nonchalance at the moment that the unfortunate wretch who had
offended him might be precipitated, at his very side, into this
horrid grave. Alas ! that history should have recorded this to
have actually been the case with that mirror of chivalrous honour,
Francis the First, in company with one of his mistresses; but
having seen such incontrovertible proof of the monstrous cruelty
of the ages of despotism, I can now believe almost any thing that
is told of them; and amongst the rest, the account of a French
writer, which, before, I thought only adapted for pages of ro-
mance. " The chamber which this monarch occupied," says
he, speaking of Louis the Eleventh, at the chateau des Loches,
" was exactly over the frightful dungeons in which the unfortu-
nates, cast in by his orders, languished. What reflections could
a king make, thus taking up his abode above the herrible vaults
from which the last sighs of his expiring victims were breathed !
What hope of pardon for these despairing wretches, when he
who alone had the power of granting it, could thus unfeelingly
repose immediately over the spot where they were suffering ! A
considerable time after the death of Louis the Eleventh, a cap-
tain of the name of Pontbriant, governor of the chateau, dis-
covered an iron door, which he caused to be opened, and traced,
by the light of flambeaus, the subterranean passages, the entrance
to which its purport was to close. After advancing a little way,
he perceived a second iron door, which was opened, as the first;
he Chen penetrated into a vast dungeon, at the extremity of which
he beheld, exactly under the apartments of Louis the Eleventh,
a man sitting on a stone bench, leaning his head on his hands.
No doubt the unhappy wretch had died, in this position, of fa-
mine and despair ! There was nothing near him, excepting some
linen in a small trunk. Pontbriant approached, and touched
him; but only a hideous skeleton, of large proportions, remained
beneath his band, at the pressure of which, slight as it must have
been, the flesh and garments had instantly fallen to the earth, a
heap of dust !" It is natural enough that tyrants should be cow-
ards; the castle of Chinon, like most of the same period, has
several subterranean passages, to favour escape in case of any
sudden attack. One, in the corner of the king's dormitory, ian
not only to the river, but under the bed of it, to a chateau on the
other side, within sight of the castle; and thence to another, it
is said, at twelve miles distance. What a.picture might the
imagination draw of a blood-stained, conscience-stricken mo-
-nasal, thus flying by torch-light through the very bowels of the
earth ;_ his glittering robe and trembling diadem impeding his
coward flight ; fear leading the way—hate pursuing him ! whilst
above, in the blessed sunshine, and pure breezes of heaven, the
shepherd throws himself on the enamelled turf;

" With all his little flock at feed before him,"
ignorant alike of the troubles and crimes of the great !—But
enough of horrors. * * * The interior of the quadrangle is
laid oat in garden grounds, watered by a well two hundred and
forty-eight teet deep. This well was, eight years ago, the scene
of a 'most calaraitous accident : the mouth of it was, by most un-
pardonable negligence, left open, with only a temporary cover-
ing of straw over it; so much worse than nothing,, as it hid the
appearance of dauber. Hanging over the aperture was au almond.
tree, whickluxurtant in blossom, caught the attention of a young
lady, the boast of Latouraine for her beauty, and the ouly child of
wealthy parents, who, with their daughter and a few friends, had
colipli:orn some distance, on an excursion of pleasure, to explore
the...remains of the castle—her eyes fixed on the fragrant flow-
ers above her head, she thought not of the cavity beneath;
she 'sprang forward in youthful hilarity, to catch th-e branch—
het.'ftiot touched the straw.—in an instant she disappeared, and
was, no More ! Thus, without a, moment's warning of her fate,
realising, in days of peace and refinement, the barbarous death
of the oubliette*, in the darkest ages of cruelty.—Six Weeks on
the Loir.

MOHAMMED ALI.
(From the Bulletin de la Societe de Geographie.)
The government of Mohammed Ali is loudly censured by
those who pretend that he is ruining his country by depriving
it of money and men. Those who knew Egypt before he pos-
sessed himself of it are satisfied that the Arabs were never
richer nor better clothed. If the revenue of Egypt is at pre-
sent considerably increased, it is not by any additional burden
on the people, but by increasing the extent of his possession,
in consequence of the conquest of Sennar and Cordofar; by
cultivating a much larger quantity of laud, by the introduction
of new_ products, such as indigo, &c.
If the actual commercial- exportation and importation of
Egypt be compared with its former amount, it will be found to
be at least as fifty to one. One year with another it exports in
cotton alone from a hundred to a hundred and fifty thousand
bales;' its importations are considerable, especially of metals,
timber for building, arms, manufactured cloth, &c.
This prosperity, these products, and this commerce, have their
main spring in the genius and activity of Mohammed Ali. The
Fellahs, left to themselves, would never dig canals, would never
make sakiehs, except to water the doura necessary for
their subsistence ; and Egypt would furnish only a few quintals
of bad cotton. Her new manufactures would become useless,
and the importation of specie, which is at present several mil-
lions, would in that case not exceed a few hundred thousands
of frOxics.

Mohammed Ali cannot be compared to those avaricious
pashas of the rest of Turkey, who burden the people and extort
revenue, in order to amass treasure. That of Egypt is em-
ployed in maintaining the army, in constructing buildings and
o• introducin manufactures of all kinds, in founding useful esta-
blishments,' in sending, at a great expense, persons for instruc-
tion to Europe; consequently, all the revenue of the country
is expended for the benefit of the country; and the result of
this generous government is, that Mohammed Ali is forming,
in ali the arts and sciences, men who will soon be prepared, or
who are already prepared, to co-operate in the civilisation of
their country.
It is, nevertheless, true that the military force which Moham-
med Ali keeps up, is by no means in proportion to the popula-
tion, and that the expense of this army demands contributions
which press heavily upon the people ; but however excellent
his intentions, and however great the benefit which he has con-
ferred upon Egypt, all had not sufficed to shelter him frym the
intrigues and the injustice of the Porte, which often put the
government of Egypt up to auction, by sending assassins to at-
tempt the life of a man who had already rendered services to
the empire, above all, by the conquest of Mecca, and the de-
struction of the tribe of Wahabites, who threatened nothing
less than the invasion of Syria after Arabia. It is, therefore,
for his own preservation, and to secure to Egypt the continu-
ance and the happy influence of his reforms, that Mohammed
Ali has considered it necessary to create a formidable army in
order to give him the means of resistance.
Mohammed Ali had never thought of revolting against the
Porte; very far from that, he had always manifested towards it
the greatest submission; paid it annuallyla considerable tribute,
much exceeding that of his predecessors;-
it sent pecuniary sub-
sidies whenever stood in need of them; and, more than all
that, maintained for a long time an army in Greece; defended
the exhausted empire of the crescent against the most mortal
foes, and subjected to its authority the islands of Cyprus and
Candia.

Mohammed Ali was then, in point of fact, the most faithful
and firm supporter of the Porte, the supporter even from whom
it derived the greatest advantages. Nevertheless, the Porte
could not pardon him his power. Mohammed Ali was not
ignorant of this, for he has powerful friends at Constantinople,
as well as in all the rest of Turkey. •
Various motives rendered it necessary for Mohammed Ali to
possess himself of Saint Jean d'Acre; first, because there was
an enemy in that place who had been armed by the Porte
against him, and then because he had experienced from
Abdallah Pasha insults which his honour would not allow him
to leave unrevenged; the Porte not having shewu any disposi-
tion, to obtain for him satisfaction. -

Mohammed Ali, in his expedition to Syria, had, in the first
instance, no other intention than to chastise Abdallah Pasha,
and replace Saint Jean d'Acre in the power of the Porte. The
Porte, far from interfering amicably, and in a manner honour-
able to Mohammed Ali, threatens him, and sends an army to
fight him. It does more, it names governors in the room of
him and his son; it employs, at the same time, anathema and
;excommunication against him. Mohammed Ali was compelled
to exert himself in his own defence. Eventually, Saint Jean
d'Acre falls into his power; he announces it to the Porte;
he makes a last act of submission, by declaring that, having
obtained satisfaction for the insult lie had received, he was
ready to restore the place.
How has this proposition been received by the blind and
haughty divan? It has prepared new troops, and issued insult-
ing proclamations against Mohammed Ali and his son, whom
it hopes to intimidate by threats, but whom it only further
alienates.

Mohammed Ali is considered by the Mussulmans as a war-
rior, the liberator of holy places. As for the military forces of
the grand seignor, Mohammed Ali knows perfectly, how to esti-
mate them ; he has never doubted of victory. He has frequent-
ly said that all the threats of the sultan were rodomontades,
and that his army of children, without discipline, without ex-
perience, and badly commanded. would never resist the brave
Arabs, led byhis son. In fact, his famous army of eighty or a
hundred thousand men has been. destroyed, according to Mo-'
hammed Ali's prediction. His artillery, his ammunition, &c.
have fallen into the hands, of Ibrahim Pasha.

The fate of Ibraham Pasha is bound up with that of his fa-
ther, towards whom, besides, he professes the sentiments of the
most submissive and devoted of sons. Ibrahim Pasha pos-
sesses military taste and genius. He is gifted with the greatest
intrepidity and courage. In his campaigns in Hegiaz and in
the Morea, he acquired the manner of warfare and the affection
of the Arab soldiers. He exercises over their minds the magic
influence which Napoleon exercised over the French. The offi-
cers of his army have had several years' experience. Most of
them made the campaigns of Ilegiaz, Sennar, and the Morea.
The principal chiefs are devoted to Mohammed Ali; the greater
part of the generals and colonels are his relations, or slaves
brought up in his house) who are as much attached to him as
his own son. The others are also tried men. The Arabs are
very good soldiers, brave, sober, obedient, supporting without
murmur the fatigues of war. They are incapable of being se-
duced, for they love their chiefs. In a word, Mohammed Ali's
army forms a homogeneous body, well organised, and animated
with the best spirit.
As for Mohammed All's naval force, it is composed of five
superb men-of-war and several frigates, without reckoning a
pretty large number of other vessels, such as corvettes, brigs,
and galleys. All these vessels are new, well armed, well
equipped, and manned by experienced-sailors. The ships of
the line ate mostly commanded. by able. officers, among whom
are several French and English. The admiral who commands
the fleet, Osinan Pasha, is a person distinguished by his edu-
cation and intelligence,. having resided a long time in Europe,
being intimately acquainted with the French and several other
languages, understanding perfectly naval discipline, which he
has organised, and in a manner created in Egypt, and being a
brave man, and possessed of imperturbable coolness.
The fleet, therefore, of the Viceroy of Egypt, although in-
ferior in number to that of the Sultan, is capable of "meeting
the latter; it is even almost certain that if it meets it united,
it will beat, and probably destroy it; for the grand Signior's
fleet is composed of bad ships, badly armed and equipped. The
crews have been formed from a mass of wretches, vagabonds,
labourers, and shopkeepers, impressed in the streets of Constanti-
nople. On these accounts the Captain-pasha, and other chiefs,
are so conscious of their weakness, that they avoid meeting
Mohammed Ali's fleet. What can be expected from sailors
like those who rau away with so much precipitation and fear
from the Greek fire-ships ? The. viceroy's ships have already
captured a corvette, a brig, and several other vessels, which
surrendered without firing a shot; so that the success of the
naval force is not more doubtful than that of the army.
Mohammed. Ali is the only man in Turkey capable of re-
covering the disorganised, crumbling, and dismembered em-
pire. All the acts which have signalised his government in
Egypt, are, it seems to us, unequivocal assurances that the
empire would flourish and be consolidated if he were to take
the reins.

It is probable that Mohammed Ali will not desire to pro-
ceed by giving up his position. To all appearances he will
confine himseif to the conquest of Syria. That province suits
his present possessions in Egypt. He will be too sensible of
this ever to resolve to abandon it. The Porte will never be in
a state to dispossgss him of it—above all, since he has become
master of Saint Jean d,'Acre, which in his hands will be im-
pregnable, and much more than it was before, if, in repairing
the fortifications, lie causes them to be re-established alter the
best plans.
While Syria, in the power of Mohammed Ali, will become a
new outlet for European commerce, this prince will subdue the
barbarous manners of the inhabitants, which hitherto have nipt
every germ of civilization.' It is always with the greatest diffi-
culty, and never without danger, that travellers can journey in
it. Every body is acquainted with the destruction of the French
factories by Djezzar Pasha, the vain efforts which in our days
have been made by one of the first powers in the world to esta-
blish a consul at Damns, and, finally, the vexatious and exac-
tions which Christians sustain in the Holy Land. Mohammed
Ali's conquest, therefore, is a real benefit to commerce, to the
sciences, and to humanity.