The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-01-08 00:00:00

FUTUREBALANCE OF PARTIES.

There is no concealing the fact, that a great majority,
probably two-thirds of the new House of Commons, will
represent what may now be called, with perfect justice,
the revolutionary party ; that is, the large body who con-
sider the ieform bill as only a means to an end, and value
it just because it opens the floodgates to that torrent of
innovation which proMiSeS soon to overwhelm all the in-
stitutions of the empire, and subject
,us, if not so rapidly,
yet not the less, surely; to all the levelling principles of
reVolutionary Franee.
There is, however, no room for unmanly despondency.
There is, in the first place, a well-founded confidence to
be placed in the superintendence of Providence, and the
justice of the cause which we support. We are not striv-
ing, to uphold any decayed. or corrupted monarchy, like
that of }ranee in 1789, or any tyrannical and oppres-
sive government, like that of Charles I. and James 11.
We are supporting, on the contrary, the most glorious
monument of civilisation which the world has ever seen;

institutions which have united, to a degree unprece-
dented in an yforrner age or country, the vigour of popu-
lar enterprise, with the steadiness of aristocratic deter-
mination—a constitution which has blended, beyond any
other which ever existed, the utmost extent of popular
freedom with the highest degree of public order; under
which the empire has grown grey in years of renown,
and all the classes it contains attained an unprecedented
degree of public prosperity. Those who believe in the
existence of a Supreme Power, and the moral govern-
ment which it exercises over the affairs of the world, can
never believe that such institutions are to be permanently
destroyed, till those who share in their blessings are un-
worthy of them, and they have ceased to promote the
great ends of the social union. Till this is the case, there
is always hope.
There is, in the next place, a most important ground
for hope, in the vig-orous manly, and in many places,
successful stand, 'which the friends of liberty have made
against the combined efforts of ministerial influence and
rabble excitation. There never, in truth, was an oppo
sition placed in such trying circumstances, or so portent-
ous an union effected, to overwhelm every manly and
independent feeling. The patriot, in general, is sup-
ported either by the government or the populace. He is
either applauded by those whose weight and station enti-
tle them to most respect, or by the vast multitude of his
fellow-countrymen, who share in his feelings and animate
'his exertions. At this time, from an unprecedented com-
bination; these opposing forces draw the same way. The
attraction of the sun and the moon operates in the same
direction, and can it be wondered at that a flood-tide is
the Consequence ? None of the ordinary motives which
influence an opposition, are now allowed to operate in
swelling, their ranks ; neither the applause of the people,
nor the favour of government. Nothing remains but the
naked feeling of patriotism, unchePred by the applause
of the multitude—unrewarded by the smiles of the great.
But if this unexampled combination has diminished their
numbers, it has purified their ranks and ennobled their
cause. It is now separated from all the passions which
seduce and taint mankind ; from the giddy love of popu-
larity, the selfish crouching to power, the disgraceful
shrinking from danger. The Conservatives who have
now stood forth to defend their country from the assaults
of the revolutionists, are men who have rejected every
temptation, and braved every danger at the call of
duty; and such conduct, even in this scene of wickedness,
will not go without its reward. The time will come
when their conduct in having done so will extort the ad-
miration of a grateful world; and even at this moment of
party triumph and assumed exultation, it is envied by all
among their opponents who are worthy the name of men,
and hated by their unworthy followers. from the bottom
of their hearts.

In the third place, the Conservative party have good
cause to hope, from, the evident and universal impression
which they have made on all educated classes in the state.
The elections for Oxford, Cambridge, and Trinity Col-
lege, Dublin, dernpnstrate what every person acquainted
with the society of persons of education in every part of
Great Britain has long known to be the case, that the
present Ministry are with that class the most unpopular
that ever held the helm of affairs.

The Whig candidates could not shew themselves
Oxford- or Cambridge.; and at Trinity College, they w
defeated by a majority of three to one. Strong in:
Tower Hamlets, Marylebone, and St. Giles's,—irrestil
ble among the weavers of Manchester, and the b 134,
smiths of Birmingham, they could not venture a stritr
with the educated gentlemen of England even at '
Whig University of Cambridge. This is a decisive o'
as to the future fate of the empire. Brute strength, g
sical numbers, cannot, in the end, contendfAvith int&
tual superiority; the diamond edge of genius will s•
bonds which the strength of millions.could not bra
The arms, and legs, in a moment of intemperance,
cease to obey the head ; but the eternal subjection'
matter to mind will not the less, in the end, be assert
It was not thus at the outset of the French Revoluti'
all the educated classes there urged on the movem
and their heads began to fall before they were convin'
of their error; but the superior intelligence and'habit
thought of England have saved it from this ruinous it
tuation. The coming storm has been seen by the edu
tion of the country, and they have set themselves ni
fully to resist it. They were too late in doing so to p
vent the onset of the storm, but they may still influe
its direction and moderate its fury. The sway of the
volutionary party is rapidly subsiding in the educatA
classes ; it is altogether extinct in their higher grad
and dying out in the lower. It is still paramount in
middling and lower orders, because they are always sw3
ed by the principle which ten years before influenced
higher. In the present inundation of Movement me
bers into the House of Commons, may be discerned
natural consequence of the absurd pseudo-liberality whit
six or eight years ago, distinguished so many of
young men of rank and fortune at the universities.
the opinions entertained by their successors at this ti
is to be found the harbinger of a brighter day to futu
times, and the mirror of public opinion, after a long
terval of disaster and suffering, in future years.
These anticipations must be still farther strengthen
if it is recollected, in the fourth place, that the middli
orders, in whom the strength of the Revolutionary p
now lies, must soon be exposed to individual surer'
and misery in consequence of the infatuated course wli'
they have pursued, and the wicked leaders whom ti
have chosen to follow. All the great interests of t
country, and with them all the small interests of
,t
country, are at stake. The Church is the first victio
and it has spread its roots too far through the middli
classes, not to excite a general and heartfelt feeling of
gret and indignation when it is despoiled of its anti
inheritance. The Corn Laws, and the Funds,
they are assailed, will each affect the livelihood and 5
sistence of millions. It will no longer be the politt,
power of the higher orders which will be tied to the sts)
to be worried by the dogs of revolution, but the fort ',
and subsistence of large masses of the.people ; and t
triumph of the Revolutionists will be dimmed by ~

tears of the orphan, the cries of the destitute, the vr3'
ings of the dying. When those disastrous events occo
as occur they will, it is impossible that a large portion
the middling and lower orders should not break off fro,'
the leaders who have ruined and betrayed them 11
lament the misery which will then be created, we 0
do our utmost to alleviate it, so far as we can, but 11
know that it is unavoidable. Misery and suffering trill
tame the fierceness of passion in nations as well as in°
viduals; the laws of nature are not to be broken W

impunity ; and those, who, disregarding the voice of ,
dom, will yield to the tempter, must in sackcloth
ashes repent of their sins, not less in the political t
the moral world.

Lastly, the talent and courage which has burst for
among the young and brilliant leaders of the Consery
tive band, encourage the wannest hopes of the fate
the empire, when they arrive at such a station as to rd
its councils. Difficulties and dangers create men ; ri!
the ability which in ordinary times might be buried
obscurity, or perhaps lost in frivolity, is, in these-stirrft
and trying thnes, called to a nobler sphere, and traiW
to the exercise of more animating duties. It is with fee
ings of no ordinary pride that we notice the brilliant el
ertions which Scotland has made at this eventful ens!
Manchester has rejected Mr. Hope Roxburghshire
probably do the same to Lord John Scott. These even
only prove the total unfitness of the class to whom d
Reform Bill has given power, to exercise it to their oo
or their country's advantage, and sets off in brighter e
lours, by the force of contrast, the splendid talents whirl
they were unable to appreciate. The brilliant eloquenel
sound constitutional principles, and enlarged views
these eminent young men, prove how fit they were.
form the brightest ornaments of the Senate ; their re'
tion, the miserable prospect of salvation which the
form Bill affords to the country. But let them not
discouraged ; the time will come, when they will spe
to as willing as they have hitherto found adverse au.'
Fences among the lower orders, and when the admiratu
which they have universally awakened among the ed
cated gentlemen who could understand, will be shared '
the ignorant multitude, who will then have learnt by s '
fering to appreciate them.
The duty of the Conservative band, who, in the mi'
of the general democratic madness, find a place in '
Legislature, is sufficiently plain. Let them adhere st:,
dily to their principles ; recollect that on them, as
sacred band of Thebans, the sole hopes of their cow)
now rest; and that,- victorious or vanquished; the adv,
ration of posterity and•the gratitude of their country
attend them if they never swerve from the path of du
Let them join in no coalitions to throw out the Ministr!,
disgrace themselves by no unions for a momentary trl!
urnph with the Radicals ; but steadily and uniformly co
sider Revolution as the demon which they are sent the,
to combat, and, by the blessing of God, will ultimate'.
conquer. By uniformly adhering to this principle, the
will remain perfectly clear of the march of innovatie!
and all its ruinous excesses and consequences : they 0
have nothing to reproach themselves with in their pub
career; and when suffering has taught the people tbe
errors, and anguish has• tamed their passions, it is to th '
that the nation will turn with tears of repentance, 9
their patriotism which it will celebrate in strains of e
ul tat i on.—Blackwood's Magazine.

THE PORTUGUESE WAR.
The state of our reWions with Portugal has becc4
so anxious, so much perplexed by contending faction
and likely to involve this nation in such embarrass°
consequences, that we believe we shall gratify.,our rc
ers by a general and fair outline of the question.
this matter we take no side The competitors for
Portuguese tbrone are equally indifirent to us,
41
errors or crimes of the parties are not within our e.,
mate. Don Miguel and Don Pedro are to us the
Yet we very deeply regret the, circumstances, wile
arising from chance, caprice, or necessity, which 111
placed England in all but a direct position of war,
so old, so faithful, and so important an ally as Portilroy
If Don Miguel were personally guilty of every er,l
that could degrade the human character, we might 00
and hate the individual,=we might pronounce him *iv
to sit upon a throne, if IR will, but the arbitration uif

not rest with us. The Portuguese nation, fully
quainted with , the man and the character, have cil

him for their monarch. And which amongst our red
settlers of nations, will venture to say, that they t
wait for the approbation of England on the mat
If they have chosen ill, the -ill be on them. Mkt
choice can be no more an affair of ours than the calo

The Portuguese have.shown that their choice was srl
taneous : they have 'Aince shown that they adh.el
their choice, they are at this hour holding out der