The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-08-09 00:00:00

month.

In another. column, under the head " Advertisement,'
will be found a series of letters, in. which two gentlemen,
Messrs. RIDARD-and WILLIAM RATHBONE, the latter
name too much before the public lately, cut a very painful
and deplorable figure. Of the former we have every dis-
position to speak with forbearance ; and we regret as
much as his best friends must do, to see him enter the lists
as his brother's champion, at a moment when silence would
have been discretion, and when any ostentatious or in-
temperate vindication of that brother's character could
be of no avail' in the face of notorious facts, and in defi-
ance of living witnesses. Mr. RICHARD RATHBONE
must be convinced of this before now, and Mr. WILLIAM
RATHBONE must also be :deeply sensible that to fra-
ternal affection he is indebted for that darker shade of
odium which now attaches to his reputation.

The correspondence to which we allude has reference
to a charge made at the public meeting of yesterday week,
by Mr. SAMUEL HOLME. This gentleman accused Mr.
WILLIAM RATunosE of having insulted General GAS-
COYNE during the Liverpool election of 1831. This charge
having been publicly made, was met, not by the accused,
but by his brother RICHARD, who 'addressed a letter to a
contemporary journal, in which he used these words :
" This statement is, within my personal knowled
absolutely, entirely, and in erery part of it, FALSE."
. .Mr. HOLME is herein accused of uttering, not of in-
venting, but of giving circulation to a falsehood. Mr.
.RICHARD RATHBONE states that he knows, of his own
personal knowledge, that the statement was false, thereby
meaning, if language have any meaning, that he was an
eye witness of the transaction, and the whole tranaction,
and in a condition to make oath that the whole of the

allegation was untrue.

Mr. RICHARD being a voluntary witness in favour o'
Mr. WILLIAm's innocence, and the terms of his contra.

diction being unqualified and peremptory, Mr. HOLME
is again furced into the field in his own defence. This
gentleman having in the first instance made the charge,
was bound eithei- to substantiate or retract it. In justice
to himself and the reputation of others, he produces his
witnesses, and publishes three letters from three gentle-
men of unsullied character, and unquestionable credi-
bility, who severally state that they saw, at the time
specified,
.Mr. WM. RATHBONE insult General GAS-
COYNE in the most vulgar, violent, ungentlemanly, and

dilsgusting manner
••-' Here, then, on the one side, are three unconcerned
and impartial witnesses, who verify the truth of the ori •
ginal statement; and•on the other we have the assertion
of the accused party, and his very innocent and injudi-
cious brother. The public will be at no loss to decide
who is right and who wrong.
Mr. R. RATHBONE asserts that every part of Mr. Ifoi..mE's
statement was false. Mr. WM. RATHBONE, on the con-
trary, admits that he hissed General GASCOYNE. RI-
CHARD asserts that the falsehood of the statement is
within his personal knowledge ; and yet it does not ap-
pear that he has any personal knowledge on the subject,.
WILLIAM, per contra, admits that which RICHARD de-
The former does not deny that he hooted, or
_trust his head into the carriage, or insulted the Gene-
ral ; he only denies the statement in vague terms, -ad-
mitting at the same time that he made a goose of him
self and hissed " old age and respectability." RICHARD
says in his first letter that he contradicts the statement
" in the name, and with the authority" of his brother
WILLIAM ; and " brother WILLIAM" in his first and last
letter, states that he is sorry" that his brother has done
!. So are we—very sorry—and so must be all their
lends.

We should have stopped here, but for the hypocritical
and insolent tone assumed by Mr. WILLIAM RATHBONE
—a tone so unsuited to his situation, and which no man
of good feeling would assume with such a shuddering
charge impending over him. He says that his brother's
defence has " called forth three respectable eye•witnesses
to circumstances which had never • any existence." Is
this a sneer ? or is it playing the sycophant and the

• - -
slanderer in the same breath ? These witnesses are " re•

spectable" enough, as he and all the world knows, to con-
vict him, first of insult, and secondly of falsehood. - If he
be desirous to extricate himself from the charge, we beg

ini; for his own sake, not to employ his brother as his

counsel.

But he stands upon his public character, forsooth !
The name of the patriot is the honour of the man ! WM.
RATHBONE must be believed on WM. RATHBONE'S word !
He says, "let that portion ofthe public to whom my cha •
ratter is not in itself a • sufficient refutation of the ab-
surdity of the charge, judge which party is most likely to
be correct." This is not ordinary vanity ; it is imperti-
nence". It is taking a liberty with the public which Mr.
WILLIAM RATHBONE is not entitled to do. He knows,
or it is time he should know, that the public do not care
a pinch of snuff;
,or Sir Jorot KEY'S pledge, either for
him or his character; and this lie would learn if he were
to try the experiment to-morrow. Almost every respect-
able-merchant, and the .great majority of the inhabitants
of Liverpool, are disg*fed with his conduct, and feel the
greatest indignation at the factious measures in which he
has joined, the party feuds he has kept alive, the angry
passions he has excited, and the personal enmities he has
created and done his utmost to perpetuate. He knows,
besides, that this is not the only insult he has offered-to
his superiors, nor the only vulgar ebullition which has ex-
posed him to contempt. Why so chary of his honour on the
present occasion It is not the first time he has insulted
dgentleman, and been compelled to make an humble,
if not an abject apology i

The first session of the reformed Parliament is draw-
ing near its close, and honourable members, tired of talk-
ing, or nauseated with dull harangues, are taking their
leave, sans ceremonie, some for the moors, others for the
sea coast—all anxious to escape from the noise and dust
of London. It is expected that the houseS will be pro-
rogued in the course of a fortnight.

On Tuesday, the Commons voted a milliOn sterling to
Pay up part of the arrears due in the shape of tithes to the
protestant clergy of Ireland. The Roman Catholics of
Ireland must be delighted beyond measure at- seeing
their, just debts saddled upon us English Saxons. By a
fraudulent conspiracy they succeeded in depriving the
ministers of religion of their dues, and now. they have
completed,- to the very utmost, their original designs by
making the people of this part of the empire pay for their
acts of fraud and injustice. They are nut only released
from these arrears, but they are further gratified, by receiv-