The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-06-26 00:00:00

CONTEMPORARY PR ESS.

The first report of the-ic-41M-mis.sioners of
,Population
Inquiry; is, curious for the facts which it developes, and
luteresting_for the .very important nature of thOse poli-
tical questiona out of which it grew," aswell- as of th9se
the settlement, or at least the discussion of which by'par,
liament, the itppearaace.of that reportanastareatly help
to accelerate.. It.presents• to us the _serious intelligence
that the,wholeprotestant.population of Ireland, dissenters
from the, established,chorch included, falls rather short Of
one-fifth of the'ehtire'bwy., arthe.inhAttatts, and that
the members
.ofllie-established church amount to'between
one-sever-4)1,0d. one-eighth of the computed nauk6er of
Irish papists.. • • • . •
Upon the 'face of it this appears to be a condition of
things for the trioSt'deliber'ate and.skilful le
gislatiop,;hoth. Droll aptd,. ecelesiastierd,for maintaining,
with anylilieliboadof truth or stability, the government
of Ireland, without the constant naterreation of.:•military
force. To us•thei-e can he nothing more id;e than an at-
tempt to impugn, ilOwn by,CritteiSni;lhe general
.accuracy.Pf ~tin, report alluded. to, so, far as its calculation
-f the numerical strength of the several sects of the Irish
perriri,e is concerned. An exact account of. numbers Can-
-not he fairly looked--- forail'we can :require iSratt approai,
inatiOn to the ita4lland- that.,SeeMS tar_us to have been
liecured by the Means. vybich the, commissioners have re-
sorted to, with sufficient accuracy for all purposes of ge7
neral reasoning, or of practical and useful policy. The
difference even of half a Million'9f of people on one side or.
the -other would make., none in the argument,,pf what
ptight;:to be done.or:left nndone;.and whatever-may have
been.themotive which:dictated this commission, or the
description of measures which it was designed to intro:
duce, (nor do we mean to 'justify °tie. or the other,) it is
Clear from the language of the report, that the, sources
iyheke the corniimisioners derived their information with
kegard to the members of the established church of Ire-
land were so full and so authentic, as to leave little, if
any, hope that further investigation would do much.to
wards altering the ratio between their reported amount
arid that'Ottlie ItbMineilliOlTePOPulation. , In, our judg-
meat, we beg leave to..sq,•that . the mode of arguing
which has of late become fashionable on. this subject
ought to be iMmediately abandoned. The very princi7
ples'froth 'which political experimentalists deduce-thejus-,
tiffcation of their, prOceedings against ..the chnrcli are
those which recommend to us a directly opposite course
of action. The sum of their logic amounts to this—
" Protestantism is weak in Ireland we Will therefore
. ,
crush it altogether."
.•
•
Now eery days experience, 0 less than every record
of times past, ought. to. convince the statesmen .of the
country, that sympathy with England, and attachinent to
her, that is to say the only bonds -of peaceful and inter-
national union by which Ireland is connected with treat
Britain, are to be Toitnd aniongit her protestant inhabit-
eats, and in them alone, There is no use in talking .or
ivriting abstractedly on such a question. We know as
well, perhaps, as most ,of !our neighbours; that, generally
speaking; the church which enjoys the confidence,, ard,
directs,the faith; of the :majority- of any natiOn,Trovided
such majority be not a mere excess of ignorant and brutal
IWinhers,'not embracing,. but excluding, the intelligence
and morals of society, is that which ought to be the esta-
blished church. In Scotland, tOntorrow, Could We by a
Word-overthrOw the preshyterian.sstablislimerit'ind sub-
stitote episcopacy, no earthlY,power should induce us to
attempt the change. Any—every—form oil christian
worship, every ecclesiastical authority, which leaves
mankind the exercise of their reason, aail abstains frOM
intruding on, the temporal interests and affairs of life,
maybe safely. recognized by .the state when a, large pm.,
tion of the people are in fay.our of it. But popery is a
manifest and fatal exception to this rule. The articles of
the, popish faith, where they relate to things spiritual
•
merely, we have.nothing to Say to, The Sacraments of
popery do' us .no harm. Its .countless miracles are no
slutnbling hlocks to-us. Its mutilation of the decalogue
is no affair of ours. •But thechurch government of popery,
involving the spiritual aethority exercised lily the popish
priesthodd.ovqr their4ienitents and their congregations,
is an affair -whiCh operates direqly or .indirectly ,upon
every portion of the community, protestant and Fiopish.
It plants in 'the, very heart of society a .despotism
croaching inexorably and indefatigably upon every ether
power which exists on ,earth and Where it. is acknOw..
'edged byariyitate'tO be the established religion, all its,
efforts are.exerted, and have hitherto:been exerted with
unvarying success,,for the subjugation of the state to its
own policy and Cotincils. • There is no country of modern
Europe' where the popish priesthood hap,, been fia..
Icing period inv..ested.vith the authority and theprivileges,
of an, established church, • wherein its constant aim. has:
not been the acquisition of political power. Auricular.
confession alone is 'an instrument by which, if skilfully,.
and unscrupulously gunied a popish Jaiiv cannot fail
be.ensiaved,
.these,Otintries, but in Ireland..only as.
yet,. with any dangerous,.consequences, the whole force
and machinery of priestly influence over the minds of its
subjects is aimed at the destruction of protestantism
under its nickname of" Heresy;" and,:ai a means to that
paramohnt and init„crlity end, it-is specifically directed to
the, subversion of the British— that is' of the protestant—
poWer and dominion over Ireland. When we see Irish
papists assurning.the mask of liberarpolitics, and leagu-
ing with a political party amongst ourselves for. the:
attainment of certain objects, which, however innocently
and kortourithlk'siet;iieci by their protestant ,associates,
must *mote and push. forward- infallibly other objects to
which those protestants are blind, and.which they would be
shocked at beingcharged with facilitating, we need beat no
loss to understand the true spirit and motive of such pseudo-
liberal papists-, we can see at once' how to separate theirge-
nuineschemesfrom,theirhypocriticalprofessions. V4'
,e cap
detf.,:ct in thciriupoit . °fan Etiglish corporate ref4m,.for
gliypigt control
,oftheir 01173 municipal interests.into the
hands , of. English protestants,.the precedent which ixthus
tole. laid for that so-called municipal " reform" an
land which is to surrender the whole corporation system
of that country into the hinds of Irish papists, the next
step immediately and• inevitably preceding the abolition.
of:the Bi'itish sovereignty over that alien race. This
moment we conscientiously believe is the last at which a
stand can be made for' the crown of the House of Bruns-
wick, and for the reformed church established that
union, Which O'Connell.and his priests have stvern, and
are by their position, as well as their passions, coMpelled,
Po. f vet todiis'sblve. Our, nerves are not weak,
ncir. is our nreutal constitution credulous, but. signs and
prognostics are thickening round us which it would be
madness to overlook. The very proceedings Which took
place last Saturday, and the disclosures then, and there
made public of the. " standing orders" and Principles of
the Church of Itorne in...lreland, Pow ripened into .a
fierce, well-organized, and darin& System of aggresion,
are well worthy of the deep. consideration of our.protea-
tant brethren and of English statesmen.—Times.

Mr. Gisborrie is the great hero=the self-immolating
patriot—who encounters all the labour and trouble in
the Ipswich election case. But pour Sir John Campbell
is very unhappy, and takes it very Unkind in. Mr.
Gns-
borne to cut out ivork,—aptl iucliwork,for him. Sir
John does not 'forget Stafford, though Mr. Gisborne
doei,—and he ought not,—for we believe he was: the.
right hon. gentleman's colleague in the representation of
that Place at tile election. respecting- which the following
apropos piece of evidence, taken before a committee of
the House of Commons on the 19th of June, 1833, is on
record :

" Mr. Webb was examined, and staled, 'At Sir J. Campbell's
election, two years and four months ago, out of 566 raters u•ho
pulled fur him 1 paid myselifor 521:at the rate of £3 10s. for a
single vote, and £6 fur plimpers" '

. .
Of a verity the law officers .of the Melbourne admini-
station, in
.all bribery cases, must feel very agreeably;
and when they rise up to speak on the subject must
possess a charming consciousness orthe good grace with
which their ''aSlorns.and aphorisms respecting purity—
their "wise saws and MODERN INSTANCES"—must come
from them;—SirJohampbell, the English corruption-
dispeller, with the above pleasing quotation staring him
in the face,—and Mr. Perrin, the Irish bribery-punisher,
with the following morceau for his adversary to debate
wherewith to,commence his reply:—
"Resolution I.—' That. Robert, Harty and Louis Perrin,
Esqri., were by their agents guilty of bribery at the last election
for the said city'—meaningDublin !"

And Sir J. Campbell is an Attorney-General !—and
Louis Perrin was an Attorney-General, andfs a Judge!!
and Mr. Gisborne hopes, we suiipetie, '.to. be an Attorney-
General—for was he not member for Stafford
The moral fitness of all this may be doubted, but the
practical utility is, we should think, questionless. Fur
what says the proverb?
" Set a thief to catch a thief;"
Though God forbid we should apply the quotation to Mr.
Gisborne's proceedings,—or question the purity of.Mr,
Gishorne.'S morality,. But certainly the retrospective
opetation of the following naution, on. the books of the
:house, for discussion this day, may have a very Imkward
effect upon some of " the Immaculates" above nailed—
" Mr. Edvyard Buller—On going into committee on Stafford
DisfianVi*.ineut Bill, to move that a Select Committee be ap-
pointed tia4Otire into the' bribery and corruption which have
prevailed` ipitetiOns 'for repreSentatives for the borough of
ford; andl„o*Port the result" of: thir inquiries to the house,'.
and May Make even the King's Attorney-Generat "fid-
getty" in his seat on the treasury bench.--Morn, Post.

•
•
. . .
DUBLIN
DUBLIN ELECTION—THE COMMISSION.—The system
of intimidation so successfully practised at eleCtions
in Ireland, extends itself through .every depariMent
in Which liberals or Roman catholics, take .a .prominent
lead. This, has in no instance been more. thorotighly
exemplified than in the course pursued.by thpse to,_,Whorn
the defence of Messrs. O'Connell and, RtitVen'lla.i
intrusted, in the. ingpiry. now Dialing 6,21:0refl
13.0.4rVg"giPg, objections shnufd • be
made, and,capii'ous .catises of delay,„sought—seeing that
protraottp was
,the object Of the 'parties, was to have
lbeeilAkonttil; but 'We 'really think that the gentlemen