The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-12-12 00:00:00

CORRESPONDENTS

OASTLER.—We are compel

trust
Fill th

.rcury finds

gth wear-

:y and his body to the

[le Mercury for this timely

1 Having thus provided for the peace of the coun-

pile and venality. It will en-
Mr. Oastler to renewed exer-

)t that persecuting

he doors of hi

.oads, of harbours, &c., the en-

rT_TBLISIT

—We ar

cl also to withdraw

couragement of fisheries, and of emigration upon an

,üblications

extensive scale,

Upon the propriety of many of
these recommendations doubts may readily he en-

minion in the British empire.

tailbarb.

tertained. The consideration of the
, .

owever, is

ESDA

31O11NING, DEC. 12, 1843

In article a

ppears in this month's number of

o which we beg to request the

Lion of our read

Of the hundreds of va-

for tranquil

ng Ireland, which are

we have met with

ies of the subject are so

,scribed for; and, be-

ce of the writer's views, we

clmed

rom an impression that

rth the coming policy of Sir Robert

ent toy

is that country

So far as

tion may indeed be said to exist, for awhile—a power-
less wreck upon the waters,—hut its fate is doomed,
at least until vitality be restored, by the same profli-
gate expenditure of blood, which reared and ce-
mented its battlements, to be the barrier of the
liberties of the world against the encroachments of
the dark apostacy of Rome.

Such opinions such steady Protestantism of
feeling—may be sneered at by modern liberalism
Their indulgence and permanence may he destruc-
tive of the hope of " Catholic unity," in the eyes of
Tractarianism. They may bring down upon us the
enlightened contempt of " Young England." But
they are the opinions and feelings, nevertheless, of
three-fourths of the thinking and Protestant people
of OLD ENGLAND, who have not yet learned the
wisdom of purchasing, at the sacrifice of those prin-
ciples for which their fathers fought and died, on
the field and at the stake, the poor privilege of cry-
ing " peace—when there is no peace" !

On principle, then, we object to the endowment of
Popery, in this land or in Ireland—in any portion,
indeed, of her Majesty's dominions. But expediency,
we are told is to guide us upon this question. We
are to pay a species of " black mail" to Rome, to
purchase the cessation of the hostile attempts, now
making against the constitution and the entireness
of the empire, by the priesthood of Ireland. Who

are to be the guarantees of this compact being kept,
were it entered into ? What can assure us that the

priesthood would cease to employ their spiritual and
temporal influence over the people for the downfal

of our Protestant institutions ?

experience of

the fruits of past concessions warrant such expecta-

priesthood, in our colonies, diminished one jot
their insolent attempts at domination—their restless

we regret that the emergent,
law only can it be decided.

nt and some degree of con

ecent dinner given to

whom are unfit, though for opposite reasons, to be 'at once that it will not be submitted to. If made
'd Kith the liberty vehich is the birthright of a Briton.
a charge upon the propertyof Protestant landowners
a provinces thus treated with troops. If 30,000
not sufficient, send 60,000 ; and punish every I in Ireland, we say it is dishonest, and cannot con-
...,Lier, contained in th, last hamlet and village where the smallest outrage occurs by sistently be advocated by men who declaim against
spool Mercury. In the mean quar'ering a strong detachment of horse and foot on its
our contemporary for this ebulli- inhabitants. Five years ago the Sclavonian districts of i the charge upon such property, belonging to Pro-
.inst an ill-used man. Liberalism Hungary were in a much more troubled state than Mun- testants, for the support of a Protestant church.
.g liberation of Mr. Oastler—fears ster and Connaught are now. The Austrian government, Putting out of view, too, all the difficulties of detail
nest appeals to the Operative Clas- by adopting the process which we now describe, brought
id betray and trample upon ; and in
an organ, willing to do things round in three months. We see no reason why which suggest themselves, where is the assurance
heap u pon the object of its Ear a
the English government should not accomplish its object that the gift itself will not be turned against the
3. . •
1 falsehood, sufficient to keep him m as, shor,t.a. space of time, and with even less sacrifice
permanence of British connection, and the British
constitution in Ireland ? The very endowments
d, the writer would then introduce measures for the which we furnish are—let it be borne in mind—to
amelioration of the social condition of the people— be s%ielded by an alien power—by Rome herself,—
the formation of rail
who will never tolerate, on the part of her spiritual
subjects, any course which has not for its objects,
above all other objects, the spread of her own do-

The tie which binds the priesthood of Ireland to
sere. The main features of their flocks—the tie of dependence—and which,
__ —...
the policy recommended have our full approval ; whilst it reduces them to the position of beggars,
and we are confident must have that of every man I confers upon them a spiritual power, which would
who dare look our difficulty with regard to Ireland not belong to them as members of an endowed
fearlessly in the face. The subsequent measures of church, is not one whose value is under esti-
mated by the astute politicians of the Vatican,
amelioration can be discussed hereafter.
or by the hierarchy in Ireland. However we may
endow the priesthood, we have no security that they
A proposition has recently been mooted, in in-
fluential quarters, and will no doubt be brought at will abate one jot their exactions from the im-
poveriE bed people of Ireland, or consent to relax, in
an early period before the notice of Parliament,
the most trifling degree, the spiritual tyranny in
upon which we feel bound to express our views
clearly and distinctly, the more especially because which they now hold that people. The mind of Ire-
that proposition has met with a large degree of land is the weapon which they wield, and must
wield, unless they throw off the allegiance of Rome,
countenance from some of our Conservative con-
for the attainment of the ulterior purposes of that
temporariep, and a portion of the Conservative body
in the legislature and throughout the country. we power ; and Ireland chained down in abjetelavery
o
allude to the proposed payment of the Roman Ca- of soul—lashed now to frenzy, and now worked up
to enthusiasm by fantastic pictures of greatness
tholic clergy in Ireland—and in Great Britain, as
awaiting her—is an' instrument far more potent in
well, we presume—from the funds to be furnished
the hands of Ro is e,'lian Ireland tranquil, happy,
by the state, or, more properly, the people of the
United Kingdom. and submissive to , e constitution of the British
Upon every ground--of justice, of expediency, empire.
Still, it will be asked, why not make this effort to
and of principle—we must protest against such a
weaken the potency of such a weapon in the hands of
measure as the endowment by a Protestant people,
in this country or in Ireland, of a church which ac- Rome ? Our answer is,—we might consent, even
to so vast a sacrifice of consistency and character,
knowledges as its supreme head a foreign potentate
—a church which we believe to be idolatrous and on the part of the British Government, and the
British people, could its successful result be demon-
schismatic, and to entertain views hostile to the in-
tegrity of the empire, and the security of those Pro- strated. But we maintain that it is not in this
testant institutions which are wedded to the hearts direction that our efforts should be made. Advan-
of the majority of the British people. Such a church tageous, indeed, it would undoubtedly be, if we
we are content to tolerate; and its members we have could raise the standing, the morale, and the acquire-
ments of the priesthood of Ireland; but equally so
already admitted to a full share of the privileges
which we enjoy as British subjects. But we can go would it be if we could raise the condition and
no further. PRINCIPLE—aIas, how readily is this
character of the people of Ireland; and neither of
.
best guide overlooked in these days of expediency ! these objects, we fear, are to be obtained by subsi-
dising Rome. Such a measure would only he —will allow us to go no further. We can no more
t
ano-
clasp to the national breast an alien church, with its they step in that fatal course of concession, by which
the Protestant interests of Ireland have already been
anti-national hierarchy, and its Romish head, than
we can submit our liberties to the keeping of a fearfully weakened another step towards the
triumph of Rome, or a civil convulsion, which must
Popish sovereign. The genius of the British con-
stitution is essentially Protestant ; and when it decimate the Irish people.
ceases to be so—as it would do, should it ever de- One consummation, indeed, might be the result
of a state provision being made for the clergy of the
scend to pay open tribute to Popery—that constitu-
Church of Rome, which would not be without its ad-
vantages. It might enable a certain portion of the
clergy of the Church of England, by whose party
organs it is chiefly advocated, to fall back into the
position, which is evidently to be their ultimate one,
and save us the scandal of seeing men, in heart,

members of the former, submitting to receive the
wages of the latter. The transition would, un-
doubtedly, he more easy, and involve less of sacri-
fice, from a Protestant establishment to the bosom
of a state-endowed Popish church, than from a Pro-
testant establishment to a church, whose ministers
must stoop to practices distasteful and repugnant to
the minds of educated men. Nay the measure proposed
might even bring about that " Catholic Union" so
much sighed for in the cloisters of Oxford, and in
too many of the pulpits of English divines. We
cannot, however, contemplate the question in such
a light without regret and shame; and gladly leave
it without more than this passing remark.

The report of the committee of the Council, ap-
pointed to investigate the charge against Mr. Sands,
has thrown just about as much light upon the case,
submitted to its judgement, as we anticipated, at the
time of its appointment. It has declared that Mr.
Sands has acted " erroneously;" but that no moral
guilt attaches to himself, or to the firm to which he
belongs. We knew this before. We knew that
dishonesty was far from the character of the present
Mayor of Liverpool ; and we knew that he had acted
" erroneously" in the description of the whole of his
packages as trusses and boxes. Where there is an
indefinite limit between two descriptions of packages,
which even a rerP:-

ceiver of town-dues cannot point
out, a shipper of such packages must err, on one
side or the other, in his interpretation of the term
by which each is. known ; and the extent of his error
will be precisely regulated by the interpretation
which his judges chuse to place upon those indefi-
nite and apparently indefinable terms. Mr.. Sands,
in his capacity as a forwarding agent, has, perhaps,
by entering all his packages as boxes and trusses,
damaged the town's revenue; by the opposite course
he would have damaged the owners of the merchan-
dise which he forwarded. No one, unfortunately,
could inform him where to strike into that middle
course, in which we are told is safety.
There is one feature in the case, however, which,
we

, think, had the committee bestowed somewhat
more attention upon it, ought to have exonerated
Mr. Sands from the charge of. having acted even
" erroneously." Mr. Sands had, so far hack as in
1834, distinctly and directly raised the question, as
to the interpretation to be put upon the words
"cases," &r by disr^

'egarding, and intimating his
disregard of, the intimation, conveyed to him by the
receiver, that he was offending, in the course which
he pursued. By so doing, Mr. Sands virtually ap-
pealed to the only tribunal which could, or which
can now, settle the question,—viz., a court of law.
If Mr. Sands is wrong now, he was wrong then,
and ought to have been set right.
It may be true, or it may not—and it is matter
of opinion after all—that, as was urged by Mr.
North, " every man carried about in his own breast
a perfect knowledge of the definitions"—truss, bale,
&c. But even that is scarcely sufficient. Mr.
Sands, probably, or rather his clerks, would have
found no difficulty in saying of any package, in their
hands—" this is a truss ; this is a bale, and this is
a box." But Mr. Sands had a right to say—" tell
me what the law defines these to be ; do not leave
me to pit my judgement—my honesty—against the
judgment and the honesty of other merchants. Let
us know what we are doing, and place us upon an
equal footing 1" And such, in effect, he did say ;
and that appeal, made eight years ago, should, in
justice to him, to the commerce of the port, and to
the burgess estate of Liverpool, have been heard
and replied to.

We have little hope that the reference of the ques-
tion, now, to the Finance Committee can lead to its
satisfactory settlement. The Finance Committee
may lay down its reading of the matter ; the law
may lay down another. And again we repeat—and
has arisen—by the