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

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

Such blundering, when it shall be exposed in history,
will be almost incredible. The King of the Netherlands
was disposed to negotiate up to the last moment previous
to the entrance of the French army. The coercive mea-
sures put an end to negotiation, and placed the parties in
a new position, and one of far greater perplexity than be-
fore. The two conventional powers insist that the navi-
gation of the Scheldt shall be free?, Holland refuses to
entertain the proposition until her ships and soldiers are
restored. She does not say that it shall not be free ; she
only contends for the restoration of her property, unlaw-
fully detained, before she enters upon other propositions,
and listens to fresh terms.

If England and France yield, there is at once an end to
the difficulty. If they are obstinate, relying upon their
power, and pointing to their guns, then is this a quarrel
of Might trampling upon right—of insolent dictators un-
influenced by the spirit of justice. If they..are obstinate,
the war, or the peace, or whatever it is called, must be
recommenced both by-sea and land. It is a hard case to
see a brave and honourable nation not. only restrained
from punishing and subduing its refractory subjects,
but also compelled by foreign powers to submit to the
unrighteous conditions of the rebels. Is it for justice ?
is it for fame ? No, no ; there is' no equity in the case,
and there is no honour in laurels won in an unjust cause.
Why is Russia permitted to suppress rebellion in Po-
land, while England and France b.oast of being the rege-
nerators of Europe and the avengers of national wrongs ?
Simply beimuse the power is only assumed, and the boast
mere swagger. Russia was powerful, and took no coun-
sel from tile arrogant arbitrators of the west of Europe.
She claimed the right to settle her own quarrels without
their interference, and she did so most effectually. But
Holland being comparatively weak, was more at the
mercy of the regenerators. Fifty millions of people
making war upon two millions is a . splendid instance of
revolutionary heroism. It is like letting loose twentybull
dogs upon one terrier. They can menace Holland, but
they dare not whisper a word of remonstrance to theEm-
, peror of all the Russias. They can capture unarmed
Dutch merchantmen upon the high seas, in the cause of
the brave Belges ; but they have no sympathy, no con-
rageto spare in behalf of the suffering people of Poland.
They can hunt the hare, but they dare not beard the lion
in his den. They can make war upon such a small state
as that of Portugal, and they can even condescend to the
meanness of making this war by stealth, for the sake
of their principles—they can connive at that which they
are ashamed openly to avow—they can lend arms and
assist adventurers in every pitiful contest where revolu-
tion is the object; but they have not the courage to carry
their principles beyond the confines of perfect security,
even in a just and a glorious cause. Such are England
and France In the era of reform—assuming and arrogant
enough, but any thing.but magnanimous!

Every day renders it more obvious that ministers have
undertaken far more than they have it in their power to
perform. Hence the postponement, on Tuesday last, by
Lord Althorp of his important motion on the tithe system
of England to the 12th March. Hence, • also, the post-
ponement by Lord Colville, and at the request of minis-
ters, of his motion relative.to. the West Indies. -
Ministers find that the affairs of Ireland,- seeing that a
change has taken•place in public opinion within the last
few days, will of themselves afford warm work for the
next month, and perhaps eventually expel them from of-
fice altogether. The change to which we allude is this.
It has been discovered by certain of their lukewarm ad-
herents, that the Irish suppression bill has been intro-
duced without any previous inquiry. They contend that
such an act of arbitrary power, which places the life, li-
berty, and property of . every man, woman, and child in
Ireland at the mercy .of a capricious. Lord Lieutenant and
a few irresponsible officers of the army, should not be
conceded except on the ground of urgent and imperious
necessity. They further contend, that the necessity has
not been proved, inasmuch as no parliamentary commit-
tee has been appointed to examine witnesses and report
upon the evidence. The ministers have, in this case,
done that which no ministry ever did before. They have
satisfied themselves of the necessity, without calling for
any formal or elaborate investigation, and they desire the
aid of the legislature in suppressing
.the disturbances,
and restoring security by unconstitutional means. The
hauteur of the Whigs is proverbial. They disdain doing
that which the Tories, in their proudest days, would have
been ashamed not to have done. They pay no regard to
the sentiments .of Parliament ; but; trusting in their po-.
pularity, which they cannot see• is sadly on the wane,
they dethand extraordinary powers . without -being at the
pains to establish an extraordinary necessity. •
The question at is'sue is—we mean the question be-
tween them and their friends, for the Tories have nothing
to do with it—the question is, are the ministerial allega-
tions concerning Ireland true ? The Irish members deny
the fact. They insist that Ireland is not in the disturbed
state which is represented. They confess to a few .hun-
dred murders, some thousands of acts of violence, some
fifty or sixty riots about tithes, the existence of secret
rebels, and bands of yet unsworn volunteers; but despite
all this, they contend that Ireland is in as desirable a
state of tranquillity as any honest patriot could wish, and
that whoever asserts the contrary is a libeller of the
First flower of the earth, and fiist gem of the sea.

The confederated factions of Whigs, Liberals, and De-
structives, being thus at issue, Lord Althorp was com-
pelled to summon some 300 of them to the foreign office,
on Tuesday last, in order to drill them, if possible, into
better discipline and more passive obedience. The noble
lord was pleased to inform these honourable members of
the House of Commons, and who have hitherto been his
supporters, that it was the determination of the govern-
ment to carry the Irish suppression bill with all its pro-
visions and powers untouched and unabrogated ; and that,
if in this determination they should be opposed and de-
feated, they would, one and all, resign their offices. Cer-
tain modifications,. it is said, were proposed, to which
Lord Althoip would not accede. It was also proposed,
that the bill should be postponed for a few months in or-
der to enable a committee of the house to inquire into,

and report upon, the facts ; but even this the noble lord
would not agree to, and formally and solemnly repeated
the resolution of ministers to resign if the powers they
asked should be refused by the Commons. The meeting
broke up without coming to any arrangement, and the
consequence was, that Lord Althorp immediately went
down to the house and postponed, as we have already
stated, his motion which stood for that night, relative to
his tithe commutation bill for England.
There is, therefore, evidently what is classically called
a cross, either in the cabinet or between the cabinet and
its adherents. The Times newspaper, which sees how the
wind blows pretty clearly, told the ministers the next
morning, that if they did not consent to modify the bill,
the sooner they resigned so much the better ! In some cir-
cles the administration is actually considered as at an end,
and lists are handed round by certain speculators contain-
ing the names of those persons_ who are to compose the
ne w cabinet, with Lord Brougham at its head, Sir Ro-
bert Peel Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Duke of
Richmond Governor of Ireland.

All this, however, we presume is premature. The
Whigs are not exactly the sort of men to treat their ho-
nours, patronage, and salaries so lightly. But when a
ministry begin to falter the trimmers are ever ready to
desert them, if for no other purpose than to take credit
for having ousted them, and on this to found their claims
upon the new administration. But supposing the case
to be otherwise, and-that the strained and cracked mate-
rials of the cabinet hold together for some time longer,
still`this fear of falling will only induce the Irish mem-
bers, and the Hume and Tennyson party, to make greater
efforts to kick them over the precipice. The Suppression
bill, now that the Unions of Birmingham and London
have declared against it, will be contested inch by inch in
the House of Commons. There will be no lack of inge-
nuity, intrigue, vehemence, and agitation to protract and
defeat its progress. Public meetings will be called to
ring the changes without—motions for adjournment will
sound upon the echoes within—and Lord Althorp will
have more trouble in weathering the storm than any sea-
man experierree,d in the late hurricane. In short, we
much fear that he will be compelled to press forward his
Church Reform bill, before he is permitted to carry his
pacification measure.

.But this is not all. There is a secret source of annoy-
ance which the noble Chancellor of the Exchequer dreads
much more than the opposition of O'Connell and of the
furious harangues of the political unions. "The taxes !
are ominous words to Lord Althorp. He shudders at• the
bare thought of unfolding the budget and exposing his
necessities. He is called upon to repeal the house tax,-
tlie window tax, the stamp tax, she soap tax, and we
know not how many others, and yet, poor man, he has not
a shilling to spare, —not an excuse to offer except po-
verty, and not a remedy to propound that will not be con-
sidered nearly as bad as the disease. The noble lord is
certainly entitled to our commiseration. He has been
placed in a situation for which nature, notwithstanding
the labours of hii preceptor, has made him utterly incom-
petent. He is overwhelmed with promises, and the
pledges of others, which he is unable to perform or re-
deem. The people were told that the first exertions of a
reformed parliament would be devoted to redress griev-
ances, lighten the' pressure of the public burthens, ad-
just the inequality of taxation, and increase the comforts
of the labouring classes. They must now see that they
were either deceived by the ministers, arid the revolu-
tionary party, or that they deceived themselves. Wounded
vanity is hard to bear. They are the dupes of their own
credulity and ignorance; but the very consciousness of
this will urge them to demand, in a louder tone, thoie re-
missions of taxation which the Government cannot af-
ford. tinder all these circumstances we shall be very
much surprised if the present Ministers are in office this
day month.

BY the time our present number is in the hands of many
of our subscribers, they will have learnt, from other sour-
ces, the details of the first discussions upon the " Irish
disturbance suppression bill," in the House of Commons ;
a bill which promises to be a bone of savage contention
among the parties composing the present lower House of
Parliament; and bids fair to call into action all those un-
usual practices (unusual, though certainly sanctioned by
the forms and precedents of the house, when rigidly ex-
ercised) of calls, and divisions upon divisions, in every
stage of its progress. With such a course we are, at least,
threatened by the great " agitator ;" and that he should
carry into execution any threat which does not involve
da • his ngei to own person is perfectly and notoriously con-
sistent with the practice of his life. The tocsin has been
sounded, and the battle has begun to rage.
Whatever may be our opinion of the details of the pro-
posed measure, or of possible concealed motives among
those which have led to its presentation, we apprehend it
is needless for us.to say, that we are of the number of
those who think prompt and energetic steps necessary for
the suppression of those lawless and outrageous acts of
which the sister island has, for so long a time, been per-
mitted to be the scene. Were we to speak out our senti-
ments more fully on this subject, we should state that, not
only do we entertain that opinion, but that great crimi-
nality attaches to the general government, for not earlier
taking decisive measures to check the evil—however in-
consistent such measures might have been with their pre-
vious general practice, of fomenting acts of a violent and
dangerous character by. the ill-disposed part of the com-
munity, in furtherance of their own views of ambition,
and for party purposes of no creditable kind.
In declaring our conviction, that much of the evil with
which we are threatened might have been averted, by the
substitution, on the part of the ministers, of a timely dis-
play of just and prudent energy, for the weak dalliance
which has been held with ruthless demagogues, as pallia-
tives—whether
for their own or their country's sake is
immaterial to the question—we are not disposed to ex-
empt from a large portion of blame, for the course pursued
in, Ireland, that individual who, as the King's representa-
tive, is still, we fear, destined to administer whatever laws
may be enacted for the government of that country.
We cannot for a moment imagine that the noble Mar-