The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-12-16 00:00:00

tl;t Ziberpoot :Otanbarb.

TUESDAY MORAING, DEC. 16, 1845

TRE lIIIMSTERIAL CRISIS.

We have given, elsewhere, an account of the
events of the past week, which resulted in the resig-
nation of Sir Robert Peel's administration, and the
orders of her majesty being given to Lord John
Russell. We now proceed to convey to our readers
the latest accounts of the progress made by his
Lordship, as recorded in the London press. The
first in order which we shall take is the London
Times, who yesterday thus reports the present posi-
tion of affairs :

" Nothing, we believe, has yet been settled respecting
the new Ministry. Lord John Russell had another inter-
view with her Majesty at Windsor on Saturday, whither
he was accompanied by the Marquis of Lansdowne, and
conferences have since taken place between the heads of
the Whig pArty now in town, but up to a late hour last
night it would be rash to assert that his lordship had taken
any decisive steps towards forming a new administration.
_

With the example of Sir Robert Peel's short accession to
power in 1835 before their eyes, the leaders of the oppo-
sition may well deliberate before they rush into the pos-
Sennion of t•laces which the course.of events may force
them to vacate in the course of a few weeks. As matters
stand at present Lord John Russell may expect to meet
an adverse major ty in each house if he does not receive
c, not only of Sir R. Peel, hut of a large portion
party who have hitherto voted with him ; and it is
~onable, onable, therefore, that he should wish to mea-
t of support he will receive before entering
".= predecessor has bequeathed to

the suppor

upon the grea
him."
We may rr

lion that the Times, unlike some of
his other contemporaries, continues to treat the re-
signation of Sir Robert as irrevocable and the Whig
dy set tied in power. "It is true," he
s, " strangely true—that the tory government is

arty as

.ly true that a Whig government

The Morning Herald and the Morning
le leave us to infer that the course of Lord
something rather less plea-
ling which the Times seems
t is not such a certainty
r a while at least, that
The former says—
iaist.!rial Crisis. On
np.Anied by the Mar-
r_ Majesty at Wind or.
ieet of the interview

n Russ

rnmei

Lansdowr

to tell

crept t

',and

I their inability

on to construct a

permission to defer
'ow). The general
tical circles is that

a Administration

however, goes further
intelligibly hints to his
Lord John dare not, and

uccess, assume the
3 vernment, pledged

emporary Eays—

'likely that
lord can be

would warrant bitn
in this point we
,car
;rat the Liberal leader

The great event of the past week—the resignation
,f Sir Robert Peel's administration—we believe
there are few who were prepared for ; and the cir-
cumstances which have led to it are still so enveloped
in mystery, that it is difficult to say whether the
mass of the people, and the conservative party itself,
regard it as a calamity or a blessing. On Tuesday
~ last we expressed our belief in the substantial accu-
.Ct a courage worthy racy of the announcement, made by the London
we believe, of carrying Times, that the premier was prepared to repeal the
of the corn-laws, and we corn-laws. We still believe that he had determined
see a work accomplished
of public necessity couldxec upon and expected to carry that measure. What
.tempt himself." unforeseen obstacles have intervened to prevent the
~ from the above, that there carrying of his views into execution—whether they
in of Sir Robert Peel being the have sprung from a desire amongst his colleagues
i 'Ube to withdraw the exist- to retain the present sliding scale, or from a wish to
1 'iTiculture of the country, maintain their consistency and honour, by allowing
o - materially the present those men to take the credit or responsibility of the
U -4 Sir Robert Peel is measure whose advocacy has aided in bringing it
ea j measure of total and about—we are not in a condition to say, and feel it
-e , still only the assertion of idle to speculate about. The great fact that the
1( • It is certain, however, that conservative ministry is no more, is all that just now
your of n alteration ; and it is currently it concerns us to know of the past. We are now
Les here, that a graduat- ' about to have the destinies of the nation committed
,t n total repeal, is that which i to the care of Whig rulers—men, too, who, in most
Is his colleagues. Whether to of their views of public policy have, within the last
it measure, he may yet be able four years, gone very materially in advance of their
hi „fractory colleagues, and previously declared opinions. Lord John Russell
n state, in the event of Lord , has been summoned by her majesty, and is engaged
Dt r, his position tenable has in the formation of a new ministry; and, although
John, the Chronicle says, the unexpectedness of the summons, and the conse-
w e support of Sir Robert quently scattered state of his party at the moment
bl ~, of his usual supporters, of receiving it, has not permitted his arrangements
ip Jrt will be accorded we are very to be so far matured as to enable us to point out the
m
_.‘n to believe, unless we are to have a coalition men of whom it will be composed, we are left in no
ministry, which, in the present aspect of many other such doubt with respect to its principles and its po-
government has to deal with, is ' hey. With respect to these, the Globe of Friday,
that oil and water would harmo- which may be regarded as the ministerial organ,
----

of religion—to allow the parents out of these bete-
rogeneus masses to choose for their children what-
ever system of religion they may think fit, and to en-
force or sanction the teach►ng of that system, utterly
regardless of its character, whether it be one of di-
vine truth or blasphemous error, in Schools under
the patronage of the Corporation must be ever held
indefensible and wrong for the following reasons :
First, it would necessarily place error, which ought
to be banished from the world, alongside divine
truth, and invest with a power of attraction to the
children of the school generally, that would not fail
to leave on their minds an impression that error after
all must he a very harmless thing: and thus the dis-
tinction which exists between truth and error would
be gradually obliterated, and both would eventually
be cherished with feelings of equal respect, or treated
with marks of similar contempt—a result that would
gratify the most sanguine infidel.
Secondly—lt would imply that the honourable
Town Councillors, under whose patronage this thing
was done, though considering themselves responsi-
ble to Almighty God for their actions in private
life, ceased to be so in their capacity as trustees of
a public fund; and that consequently they were
prepared, out of that fund, to pay for teaching the
children of Roman Catholic parents all the errors of
the Romish Catechism, involving idolatry ; and the
children of Jewish parents the creed that designated
the Lord Jesus an imposter, and the New Testa-
ment a fabrication of the devil. We repeat that
they were fully prepared to do this, for they did it
in part, and if an opportunity had offered, would,
no doubt, have done it altogether. We ask, there-
fore, if the corporate body, in pursuing a reckless
course like this, were not likely to be accountable
to a higher tribunal than that of their constituents ?
We argue as believers in divine revelation, for we
have not yet been able to discover that infidelity in-
volves a single point of practical wisdom. And
let it be borne in mind that the subject under con-
sideration is not a secular one, but religious—reli-
gious instruction in the Corporation-schools. And
religion, if it mean anything, will ever contemplate
man as an accountable and an immortal being, and
teach him so to discharge his duties towards God
and his fellow-creatures, as to render a good ac-
count at the last day, and secure for himself eternal
happiness. But the Reform party, in adopting the
course which they pursued in the religious instruc-
tion of the children, acted as if all the responsi-
bility rested with the parents, and none with them-
selves. And so little sympathy or pious solicitude
did they manifest for the future and eternal welfare
of the children, that they allowed them to be taught
to hold certain doctrines as true and essential to
salvation, which they themselves at the same time
knew and believed to be false and utterly repugnant
to the word of the living God. In doing this they
were acting a false part towards eh e children. The
whole proceeding involved a want of common ho-
nesty as well as of moral rectitude. It way an awful
breach of sacred trust!
In conclusion, we would only remark on the il-
lustration used by our contemporary, that in em-
ploying a police force for the protection of the town,
the Town-Council, as Trustees for all, were bound
to consult the wishes of all, and extend the same
protection to Roman Catholics, Jews, and Pagans,
as to Protestants. Their doing so involved no vio-
lation of religious principle : it was a matter of mu-
nicipal arrangement affecting the present or earthly
comfort of the inhabitants : but religious instruction
in the Corporation-schools was a very different
thing, involving, as we have already shewn, the des-
inies of an endless life. In reference to this, the
'own-Council could only discharge their duty by
- such a system as they believed in their
consciences to be based on the broad and recog-
nized principles of eternal truth, as nothing but
truth could ever prove advantageous to the chil-
en, either in this world or in the world to come.

introducing

priucipie wi h t
nor to the
'self, iu accei

obviov

repeal wu

atile cii cl

ound his lately re

n Russell not tinclin

lout

t crisi

an aboli-
parties it

ahily on the our
roper to take. \V

hat such st

pestions whicl

d ming'

says-
-- " Upon one point we can, however, speak with confi-
--__ deuce. We have reason to believe that, notwithstanding
acid and talented speech of our fellow-towns- the manifest difficulties which a single glance assured him
-lan II orsfall, at the last meeting of must inevitably beset his path, Lord J. Russell obeyed the
_uncil, in vindication of the present system of summons of her Majesty with a determination to allow no
considerations of a merely party nature to interfere with
ucation in the Corporation-schools, has caused no or limit the tender of his services to her majesty and the
iall stir among the liberal press of the Town. In- country at the present juncture. Whatever obs-tacles are
ed. it was not likely that a statement so clear in
nowinterposed in the way of
,a final settlement of the
, • t, irihtt

Mderr

ntative in its matter, so
1, withal, so moderate
1 to go forth to the pub-
; made to awaken its
pri it was calculated to
arv, the Editor of the
strictures on this

n its cone

w question, mm

house of lords should, at the instigation of any portion of
the late cabinet, place itself in opposition to the course
deemed advisable by Lord John, and those who may be
prepared to act with him, the responsibility will be cast
without reserve upon the right shoulders. This will of
course result in a direct appeal to the sense of the coun-
try ; of the result of which, we can, in the present state
of affairs, have no doubt. The circumstances under which
the Peel cabinet has been broken up—the stare, present

.onvictic

Our co tempc

Mr. He

as offered son

ur duty to notice

introduced by t

zt they

waking of the system of educa-
ae Radicals into the Corporation
t their great error was a desire
s desired to learn, rather than
,s believed to be true."

tor of the Times has com-

1g terms

that tt

y we mai

is a correct statement,
f the Reform party to teach
_its what their parents wished
__a what they themselves believed
that Mr. Alderman licrsfall has
_or, either great or small, and we
one else can do it either. On the
:pat if the Town Council, who are
tives of the burgesses of Liverpool,
f the public funds entrusted to
education whatever, it

e to support out
3agement, any s

'duty to‘make

is their bounu,. such a one as will be
'reeable to their constituents, and that to Co otherwise
great a breach of tru.t as it would be to employ a
to protect the Protestant inhabitants of the
aud to leave those districts in which the Catho-
-ithout any protection whatever."

s reside

e is no att

~mpt to controvert the statement
Party were actuated by s desire to
children of their constituents what their
parents wished them to learn, rather than what they
themselves believed to be true, but it is denied that
in pursuing this course the Party committed an
"error." We think with Mr. Horsfall that they
committed a great error, and the Burgesses of Liver-
pool must have thought the same, for it was on the
school question more than any other, the Burgesses
became dissatisfied with their conduct, and at length
deliberately dismissed them from the Council Cham-
ber. We can only suppose one condition or state
of things under the ascendant influence of which a
Town Council as the representative of the Bur-
gesses, might undertake to support out of the pub-
lic funds entrusted to their management, such a sys-
tem of education as would be agreeable to their
constituents without committing a great error. It
could only be done when the constituents and the
parents of the children were themselves so en-
lightened—so free from prejudice and interested
motives—and so remote :from the power of external
temptations as to be unanimous in their request that
nothing should be taught the children at the expense
of the ratepayers but what would prove advantageous
to them, not only in this life, as tenants of earth,
but in that which is to come, as heirs of immortality.
In a world—in a country—or in a town like our own,
where, through ignorance, self-will, or mere love of
obliquity, large masses of the inhabitants are zeal-
ously attached to various and even opposite systems

that the Reform
the c

and prospective, of the country—and also a proper consi-
deration of the personal tranquillity of the sovereign—
conduce to urge the necessity of a speedy release from the
state. of uncertainty in which the late ministry has left
public affairs."
We are, therefore, clearly committed to a free-
trade ministry, and may expect to see the whole
powers of the whig-radical party, aided by the sanc-
tion of the crown, embarked in the effort to carry
out the views of the anti-corn-law league. That
this effort will receive any material resistance from
the conservative supporters of the late ministry we
are far from being assured, We look for no such
opposition from Sir Robert Peel himself, who, it is
confidently asserted, will look on in silence, whilst
the great measure of repealing the corn-law is being
i debated ; and we much question whether the Duke
of "Wellington, in the Lords,'„will take any step which
may tend to bring that house into collision with the
two other branches of the legislature. Agricultural
protection, therefore, we regard as doomed ; and we
may also assure ourselves of the same policy being
applied, with no sparing band, to other branches of
, the national industry.
That Lord John Russell, in his past administra-
tion of the affairs of the country, has not displayed
the ability which will be required to carry us safely
through such a sweeping change in our commercial
and financial system, is a fact of which even the
advocates of Free Trade must be painfully aware.
With a tariff at its maximum amount, a productive
duty upon foreign corn, and the sugar duties un-
reduced, his lordship and his colleagues succeeded
in producing a large annual deficit in the public
revenue; and at the close of their administration
left every branch of the public service in a state of
woful dilapidation. He has now to deal with a re-
duced tariff, and with a general revenue whose sur-
plus is only made up by a system of direct taxation
which is very generally unpopular. Moreover, he
has to encounter an increased expenditure arising
out of the necessity of placing the country in an ef-
ficient state of defence—a duty which the public
voice imperatively demands to be proceeded with.
He is about still further to destroy the sources of
our revenue by the repeal of the corn law, and pro-
bably an onslaught upon the sugar duties ; and will
have, besides, to battle through the cessation of
commercial activity and temporary shock to confi-
dence in all business affairs which ever attend the
progress of great political and economical changes.
Has Lord John Russell amongst the ranks of his
party abilities to meet these difficulties ? Does he
even enjoy that amount of public confidence which