The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-01-11 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

our supreme ruler, .and our House of Lords an inde-
pendent co-ordinate branch of the government, and if
they may, in the exercise of their judgment and con-
science, disannul that which the people through the Com-
mons' House have sanctioned—then, indeed, we admit
that the balance of the constitution is professedly pre-
served, but the means provided for its preservation them-
selves ensure its destruction ; for the cry will be, to what
purpose did we fight the battle of reform, and revolution-
ize the constitution of Parliament, if a King or a House
of Lords is still to 'remain an effectual barrier to the at-
tainment of our wishes ?

Such is the harvest, the promised harvest of peace, and
confidence, and order, which we are now to gather !
Until these difficulties be solved, let us not be betrayed
into commendations of the reform bill generally, on the
score of enactments, which, when compared with the sum
total of the measure, are only of tenth-rate importance.
The desert has its oases ; so has the reform law its ad-
vantages.

But, if we wish to ascertain how far these enactments
are connected with the bill as a whole, even in the esti-
mation of the Bill-men themselves, or are to be regarded
as a fair sample of the results of the measure, let us ask
such a man, what his language would have been, if one
had abstracted from the bill schedules A and B, the
£lO and metropolitan clauses, and had left these regu-
lations alone ? He would have said, that the whole sub-
stance and body of the bill had been utterly destroyed,
and nothing suffered to remain except a few shreds and
patches of its vesture, an absolute mockery and delusion.
Let us beware, therefore, of his insidious attempts to
gain extensive admissions upon such contracted grounds,
now, when he finds it convenient to attach importance to
these regulations. For the results of the reform bill,
we must look farther and deeper.

THE NEWSPAPER PRESS.—It iS a favourite doctrine
with some of our contemporaries, that the dependence of
Newspapers on the public taste for their circulation and,
therefore, their existence, is an adequate guarantee for
their observance of the laws of delicacy, truth, and hon-
our. And we find, in a late number of the Albion, those
who impute delinquency in this respect to the press gene-
rally, termed " vulgar-minded men,"—an epithet, un-
happily chosen at best : for these are the last description
of persons who would concern themselves about the in-
fraction of those laws.
But let us address ourselves to the real merits of the
case. A private man, says the Albion, forfeiting openly
his honour or veracity " would be consigned over to
deserved contempt. So it is with the press." We rejoice
to hear that this is the case with individuals ; but we
had thought, that there were too many' cases• of persons
known to be unscrupulous as regards the laws of morality,
who unfortunately maintain their footing in society, by
dint of their powers of amusement, or their ability to
bestow favours, or their flattery to those with whom they
associate. "So it is with the press." Take a than of
unbending firmness, and he may be able to resist that
deteriorating tendency, which is naturally produced by
the' habit of writing with a view to ?teasing rather than to
instructing. But the fair question is this :—What is the
one essential condition of a Newspaper's existence ?
The favour of a party. And what procures favour with
a party Is he, who tells the truth, and the sithple
truth, who avoids all appeals to prejudice and passion,
who reproves with severity the vices of his own friends
and patrons, who rejects all surmises unsupported by
evidence, however flattering to his prepossessions, who
looks neither to fear, nor favour, nor profit, and turns
neither to the right nor to the left, is he the man most
acceptable to a political party—nay, taking it at the best,
to the public at large ? Why then was Aristides banish-
ed ? Why did Socrates drink hemlock ? •We fear to
tread on holy ground, or we would ask, why the Saviour
himself was led to execution amidst the jeers of an
unanimous people,—if it be correct that truth, unadul-
terated truth, is the first and dearest object to the mind
of man in its inquiries ?
It is true, that the ultimate judgment of the public is
commonly right, and therefore improbable that a corrupt
press should flourish for a great length of time. But
their immediate judgment is very frequently wrong, both
in moral and intellectual queStionS. Otherwise, why do
worthless • Annuals sell thousands of their copies, while
Wordsworth's poetry circulates by units ? Mark then
the inadequacy of the remedy. One tribunal of appeal
is remote and difficult of access, while the patronage af-
forded to newspapers is immediate,—on the spur as it were
of the moment,—amidst the heats of party feeling, where
judgment can never fairly or freely operate.
We have before observed, that the object of an Editor
must be, to sell his newspaper. If truth be the prevail-
ing taste of the public, then indeedtruth is his immediate
interest, and he will tell it as a matter of course. And,
in many cases, where passion and interest are not involved,
truth will be the prevailing taste, and the newspapers
constantly will pursue a creditable course. We might
instance many questions or huthanity and charity which
the public voice favours and sanctions, and on Which the
newspapers are commonly right.
But, will any man in his senses say that human
judgment is an equally good moral criterion, when we
look to the case of subjects where our political passions,
or our desire for an exciting kind of amusement, may be
strongly' roused ? On the contrary, it is evident that in
the first instance, what the generality of mankind want
is, a garbled statement such as may coincide with their
temper and prejudices : in the second, they will seek
for food to the stimulated appetite, even though it be
afforded them at the- expense of decency and of private
•
character.

In other times, it might be invidious to support this
view of the question by examples, but in our present
state, they are unhappily so notorious as to dispense
with the necessity of observing any delicacy on this score.
If then public principle be necessary to the well being
of a newspaper, and if a large circulation• is an unequi-
vocal test of its presence, why is it that the Times circu-
lates by • far more extensively than any other paper in
England ? a paper whose notorious and avowed rule it is,

to fight with, and for the strongest, whatever their prin-
ciples may be : and which, in illustration of this rule,
praised the Duke of Wellington, and grossly vilified the
Whigs in August 1830, and then praised the Whigs and
vilified the Duke in November 1830, although neither
the Whigs nor the Duke had violated any pledge, nor
swerved in the least from their accustomed line of con-
duct, in the interval which elapsed between these two
periods.

Or, if observance of the laws of decency, and regard to
private character, be essential to the prosperity of a news-
paper, why is it that the Age, notorious for a contrary
behaviour in both these respects, enjoys, (we believe), a
larger circulation than any weekly paper in London ?
We fear that both reason and experience • go to prove,
that we are not to look, generally speaking, for patterns
of truth and honesty among " gentlemen of the press."
The mind of one who writes habitually in this character,
is, unless it be possessed of extraordinary rectitude and
firmness, diverted from the contemplation of truth as his
object in inquiry, to that of popularity; and though there
is not a constant and uniform opposition between them,
yet it is but too obvious, that they are not unfrequently
at variance, and consequently that the natural tendency
of adopting the lower law instead of the higher, will be
to blunt the mind to the sensations of candour and fair-
ness,—to disqualify it by degrees from duly estimating the
weight of testimony, and from makingfull allowance for
the circumstances and prejudices of opponents: just as,
in private life, he who adopts the opinion of society for
his standard of action, though he may be an amiable and
a popular man, can never attain to the dignified and con-
sistent character of one who follows implicitly the law of
Revelation, and the delicacy of his feelings undergoes
proportional deterioration.
The public should keep it in mind, as a general cau-
tion, that one who writes in a newspaper, though he
would persuade you he is a judge, is in reality an ad-
vocate.

IN another part of our paper will be found a report of
the evidence of. the principal witness at a coroner's in-
quest, held at Tipperary, upon the bodies of two men who
were shot by a military party; and we reccommend to
our readers a perusal of the evidence, as affording some
insight into the state of society in the sister country. It
appears that two gentlemen of the first respectability,
Mr. Low and the Hon. Mr. O'Grady—the former a
magistrate—had gone to a district in the county of Lim-
erick, in order to protect some electors who were preven-
ted through fear from coming to the hustings. The pea-
santry soon recognized the gentlemen, signals were made
in all directions, and the country for many miles round
poured forth its inhabitants—men and women. Alarmed
for their safety, the gentlemen pressed forward to a mili-
tary station, where they got an escort from an officer and

a small party of soldiers. This in no degree dismayed
or deterred the country-people ; on the contrary, they avow-
ed their determination of instantly despatching Mr. Low
and Mr. O'Grady, and there can be no doubt but that, as
was sworn at the inquest, the ferocious savages intended
to .slaughter the, w,hoolo- party. At length, and when in
imminent peril, the soldiers fired, and two victims paid
the penalty of their atrocious temerity, will it be be-
lieved that, upon the clearest evidence of facts, such as
we stated, the 'Coroner's jury could not agree, and, after
being lucked up the whole night, separated without find-
ing any verdict ! We fear that this extraordinary cir-
cumstance is to be aceounted for by the reigning influ-
ance of intimidation ; and we confess it must require no
ordinary strength of mind to be proof against the appre-
hension of popular resentment, in a country where human
life is held so cheap, and. where the laws are a. dead letter.
It is worthy of remark, that the candidates in whose in-
terest Mr. LoW and Mr. O'Grady were engaged, had
both voted for the Reform Bill, and were thorough sup-
porters of ministers. They had also pledged themselves
to vote for the abolition of tithes; so that here was no
tory or high-church excitement. The state of the popu-
lation of Ireland, especially the south, morally and phy-
sically, is more depraved and degraded than can well be
imagined; certainly no parallel is to be found in any
country in the world pretending to civilisation. Here is
an ample field for the philanthropy of those who seem to
reserve all their sympathies for the West India negro,
whose zeal outruns their discretion, and overlooks the
mischief to the slave himself which results from their
unwise interference. We earnestly desire to see the
day when the rights of justice and humanity will be alike
vindicated, and when the slave is for ever freed from
bondage. But is the negro half so debased and wretched
as the peasant of the south of Ireland ? Do our whining
sentimentalists shut their eyes to the miserable and
starving hordes of Irish paupers who periodically infest.
this country, to the great injury of our agricultural la-
bourers ? Is there nothing .in their .nakedness, their
sgiralid wretchedness, to claim some portion of that en-
terprising benevolence which, like charity, should begin'
at home, but which seeks an appropriate and exclusive
sphere for its exercise in remote regions, and amongst a
population whose true condition is little understood and
grossly misrepresented. In the name of the Irish pea-
sant we would make the appeal,—" Ant NOT I A MAN
AND A BROTHER."

THE CABINET is in a state of decomposition. Some acces-
sions are talked about. Various changes are certainly in pro-
gress, and will be effected before the meeting of 'Parliament.
Nobody will be surprised at this; for how can Mr. Stanley con-
sent to act with people who permit such a very shallow person-
age as Mr. Poulett Thomson the free use and license of speech ?
And how can Lord Goderich remain at the head of the colonial
department, after being forced by the colonies to eat his own
orders, and after the winds and the waves have absolutely thrice
over returned Mr. Jeremie upon his hands ? And how can the
➢Marquess of Anglesey carry into effect the meditated declara-
tion of war against the volunteers of Ireland and the O'Con-
acne ?—Guardiun and Public Ledger.

BRIGHTON, JAN. B.—General Sir Howard Douglas left yes-
terday for Bagshot on a shooting excursion. The gallant Ge-
deral was a frequent guest at the Royal table during his sojourn
here.—Court Circular.
AFRICAN EXPEDITION TO THE NIGER.--A vessel is arrived
at Deal, which brings advices that the African Expedition to
the Niger, from Liverpool, consisting of the Quorra and El-
burka Steamers, and the Brig Columbine, had touched at Cape
Coast Castle, on the Bth October, all well, and had proceeded
on their voyage to the river Nun, in the Bight of Benin.