The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-08-22 00:00:00

TUESDAY MORNING, AUGUST 22, 1843.

Parliamentary history has afforded us many in-
stances of men entering the arena of the House of
C nmons, the idol or the bantling of a party, and
bizoming eventually its disgrace; but we never re-
member to have noticed a case in which the latter
consummation has been achieved, with such short
breathing time between, as in that of the League
member for the city of Durham. Other men have
graduated in their declension ;—from pretension to
oratory they have come to frequent talking only;
from chattering they have fallen to the rank of
bores ; and progressing still downward, have either
fallen into mute insignificance or, resigning the
hope of honourable fume, have rushed to the
achievement of an unenviable notoriety. But Mr.
John Bright has, in one short week, overleaped all
these ordinary gradations, and, baffled in his first
rt t(. lie ;refit, has at once resolved upon becom-
ing. ridiculous.

During the debate on Wednesday night, upon
the Chelsea Pensioners' Bill —a measure which
being d d for the preservation of law and order,
is of ( .e opposed vigorously by the ultra-Radical
sec ion of the House arid by the Anti-Corn-law
League—Mr. John Bright gave utterance to the
following assertion, which we give verbatim, in its
original quaker dress :

" There was a rumour in Lancashire last year, which
was rrry generally believed, and had never been contra-
dicted by the ministry, that a portion of the military,
when called upon to act against the rioters, had grounded
their arms and refused to do so. lie (Mr. Bright) did
not know that it was co, and would not assert it to be the
case; but he believed that the Secretary-al-War could
not yet up in his place and say that it is not."

Now we beg the attention of the public, and we
beg the att-ri'• 'f this honorable (.1) person's con-
stituents, to • ompound of mendacious insinua-
tion and jzsu,.:, —or, more properly perhaps, qua•
kerism. First, " there eas a rumour," which was
" very generally believe 6;" and that rumour " had
never been contr licted by the ministry." So far
the evidence is r, er loose—too loose to found a
verdict or even a s ,urge upon; and John Bright
proceeds to give it a little extra colouring. "He
did not know that it was so"—he "would not assert
that it was the case ;" oh, no ! he was quite inno-
cent of any knowledge of the truth of the circutn-
stance, which he charged against the governmelit;
and he would not assert that, which he nevertheless
hinted to he the case. The hint from a member of
the Society of Frit:lds, who never assert any thing,
is, as all the world knows, equivalent to an asser
tion, the most direct, from any other man. The
charge, conveyed it is true in quaker subtlety of
phrase, was therefore fu-y brought ; and John
Bright proceeded to clinch it by saying, in his pecu-
liarly knowing way, no doubt, that " he beliered
that the Secretary-at-War would not get up in his
place and" deny that his representation of facts was
accurate

We-defy all the world to produce a more direct
charge than this, coming from the lips of one who
from his cradle has been trained to the quaker art
of shooting his words round a corner. In another
man the whole passage would amount only to a
suggestio falsi; from the lips of a quaker, it is so
fortified c h circumstances that you would in-
stinctive; c ;nclude that he could bring direct evi-
dence of its perfect truth. And yet what was the
fact. The Secretary-.-t-War—and who would mea-
sure the credil)ility of the gallant Sir Henry Har-
dinge with that of this shuffling sectarian ?—" de-
nied positively that —lch a thing had ever taken
place"! John Brigi.t believed (7) that the Secre-
tary-at-War could not get up in his place and say
that it had not." He plainly said—or, at least, as
plainly as quakers ever do say a thing—that the Se-
cretary-at-War was aware of the circumstance ;
Sir Henry Hardinge—a soldier and a gentleman—
denied at once a. entirely the truth of the whole
facts insinuated!
But mark the next Flint& of the confronted
slanderer; how characteristic of the race of drab
and brown ! John Bright "did not state that such
was the case, hut merely that it was said so !"
A prototype of his, we remember, remarked to a
poor canine brute who had offended him, " I will
not kill thee, friend, bu I will give thee a had
name—mad dog, mad dog"! Veracious John's
evasion, however, did not serve him. There was in
the house a member, who though a liberal, is yet an
honourable man; and thus Mr. G. W. Wood re-
marked upon the statement of the member for

Durham.
Mr. Wood declared that " he had never even
heard that anything of the kind had ever taken
place, though he was in Lancashire all the time r)
on the contrary, he cculd assure the house that the
conduct of the military gave the greatest satisfac-
tion" !

In what light ought this man to stand in the eyes
of all mankind !

Our contemporary, the London Times, is angry
with Lord Sandon, for presuming to treat at their
proper valuo the impertinences of a set of young
members of the House of Commons, who appear to
be especial protogees of that erratic journal. His
lordship, on a recent occasion, took the opportunity
to intimate to Mr. B. D'lsraeli a fact, which has
suggested itself to many other people, that it is
scarcely decent in himself and the chi:lnc of self-
satisfied new lights of 'he house, who style them-
selves " Young England," to be upon every question
obtruding themselves as censors of the policy of
government; and the Times forthwith launches into
a denunciation of his lordship's conduct, as an at-
tempt to put down the expression of the " indepen •
dent views" o: the young gentlemen in question.
" Young England" is the personation of wisdom—
the reflectik:n the philosophy of " the Times." Young
England busies itself with important public ques-
tions whilst the rest of the world is feeding or
asleep. Ergo, Young England, argues our con-
temporary, ought to talk ad libitum, and to embar-

rass with its crudities the Conservative government,
which it professes to support, at its pleasure.
Now we cannot say that we have ever recognised,
in Mr. D'lsraeli, Lord John Mainers, Mr. Smy the,
and the rest of their coterie, any indications of that
surprising ability, or that striking wisdom, which
induce us to suppose that at any future time they
are likely to take a lead in the affairs of their coun-
try. We utterly deny that they fairly represent the
young intellect of the empire. To a certain origi-
nality of political sentiment they do indeed justly
lay claim ; and we are thankful that such is the
case. Theirs is indeed an original, and, we are
happy to think, a rare kind of Conservatism. They
possess somewhat erratic notions of the mode in
which Ireland is to be pacified arid England trade
happy and powerful; hut we do not anticipate for
their novelties any very general support at any pe•
rind present or to come. And hence we cannot dis-
cover their claims to he permitted to arrogate !.o
themselves the privilege of interrupting the progress
of Conservative legislation. Their constituents did
not send them to Parliament to strike out new paths
to good government—to invent a new Conserva-
tism ; and still less to dictate their fantastic lights
for the adoption of older and wiser and more trusty
leaders. They were sent to Parliament, not to ob-
struct, hut to support, the measures of a Conserva-
tive administration.

We are ready at all times to acknowledge the
claims of rising talent. We rejoice at all times to
see youth devoting its energies to public usefulness.
But we c-nnot see, in the fact that Mr. D'lsraeli
and his friends are zealous and attentive to their
Parliament;:ry duties, any ground for their assump-
tion of dictatorial authority towards a ministry,
every member of which is as far superior in mind
and intellect to the author of those fourth-rate
novels, which are supposed to be the work of Mr.
Benjamin D'lsradi's pen, as the Iliad is superior to
a penny almanack or a column of any one of our
radical contemporaries.

" What's in a name ?" was the enquiry of
Shakspeare; hut, in these modern days, the most
interesting query which suggests itself in the ques-
tion—What's in an oath ? Of a custom-house oath
the world knew the value, when such oaths were in
exi,tence. We refer not, however, to these. We
want to know the meaning of an oath, taken so-
lemnly in the face of their country, by peers and
members of the House of Commons, of which the
following is the wording :

" I do swear to defend to the utmost of my power
the settlement of property in this realm, as established
by the law ; and I disclaim, disavow, and abjure any
intention to subvert the Church establishment as
settled by law within these realms; and I do so-
lemnly swear that I never will exercise any privilege
to which 1 am or may be entitled to disturb or
weaken the Protestant religion or the Protestant go-
vernment in the United Kingdom ; and I do solemnly,
in the presence of God, profess, testify, and declare
that I do make this declaration and every part
thereof IN THE PLAIN AND ORDINARY SENSE
OF THE WORDS OF THIS OATH, WITHOUT ANY

EVASION, EQUIVOCATION, OR MENTAL RESER-
VATION WHATEVER, SO HELP ME GOD."
Of this oath we want to know the meaning. It
is taken by every Roman Catholic peer and every
Roman Catholic member who enters the British par-
liament. It was devised as a safeguard of the Pro-
testant institutions of the country when these men
were admitted to seats in the legislature; and we
want to ascertain to what extent it is such a safe-
guard—whether, in fact, it is in operation at all, or
is only a solemn mockery.

The debate in the House of Lords on Tuesday
last affords us some clue to the solution of our diffi-
culty, and that a very unsatisfactory one. It has all
along appeared to us inconceivable that men, who
had thus solemnly pledged themselves before their
country and their God, could yet entertain motions,
and institute motions, having for their object that
very spoliation of the Protestant institutions of the
empire, which they were vowed to abstain from en-
tering upon. That difficulty, however, was in part
got over by the plea urged by liberalism, that to take
a portion of her revenues from the Protestant church
in Ireland w s, not to weaken, but to strengthen
the position of that church. We are now, however,
placed in a changed position. We have no longer
bit by bit spoliation, such as might be justified by
such a plea, to contemplate. Roman Catholic mem-
bers of both houses talk now of no such meagre
measures. It is the total extinction of that church—
the total alienation of her revenues—the destruction
of the Protestantism of Ireland—which is now
openly, and s'ith their oaths before them, sought by
the Roman Catholic members of the legislature; and
it becomes a matter of solemn and serious conside-
ration to determine what is the meaning and efficacy
of this obligation, entered into." without any eva-
sion, equivocation, or mental reservation whatever,"
or whether it has any real binding force, or is any-
thing better than a barefaced and deliberate prosti-
tution of truth.

Lord Camoys and the Earl of Shrewsbury de-
clare to us that they do not hold such an oath to
exclude them from taking every legislative means
within their power to weaken the Protestant insti-
tutions of their country. They do not conceive
that it binds them as legislators at all ! They may
seek, notwithstanding such oath, every leg 1 means
of attaining the end which Popery has in view, and
against which the obligation imposed was directed.
What is this but to say that they do not take the
oath " in the plain and ordinary sense of the words"
in which it is expressed ? As legislators only it was
imposed upon them, not as men. It was upon their
admission to parliament that they were required to
swear that they would not "exercise any privilege
to which they were or might he entitled" to weaken
the Protestant institutions of their country. They
gave us this pledge as a quid pro quo—as the price
of their admission. It was dictated in good faith.
It was presumed to mean something. And if it
does not hind them, as members of parliament, to
abstain from legislative efforts—to abstain from
" exercising their privileges" as members of the
legislature—to disturb the settlement of the pro-
perty of the empire and the infliction of injury to-
wards the Protestant church, it means nothing—it
is a mockery and worse than a mockery
We ourselves certainly never anticipated much of

benefit from the protective (?) clauses of the fatal
act of 1819. We never hoped that good faith would
he kept with us by the more ruthless of the Roma-
nist faction. But we did expect that we should
witness somewhat more of honesty and sincerity
from such men as Lord Shrewsbury; that upon
them an oath so simple in its interpretation would
be binding ; and now, when we see its plain and
distinct meaning cast to the winds by such men,
we submit that it is something very like blasphemy
to permit it to be administered at all. The impo-
sition of an oath which means nothing is only offen-
sive and wicked.

By our publication of to-day, it will he seen that
we are fast emerging from that notoriety which we
have enjoyed, as a community, amongst whom com-
bustion is more frequent than amongst any other in
the kingdom, A fortnight ago we remarked upon
the fact, that within twenty four hours no less than

THE LIVERPO

four fir s 11.(1 occurred in the metropolis, causing a
loss of proprty estimated to amount to £36,000;
and to-fbiy we have to notice the occurrence of five
fires in London, involving the loss of, at the least,
three times that amount, and which have also taken
place within the space of forty-eight hours.
Of course, we do not say that the metropolis is
about to excel us in this species of performance.
At. any rate, however, the experience of the past few
weeks may serve to convince insurance companies,
and other people, that Liverpool is not the only loca-
lity in which cotton will burn, and spontaneous
combustion arise from improper stowage of mixed
merchandize. The experience of a ship on fire in
our own docks yesterday, the cause of which can be
attributed solely to spontaneous combustion, ought
to convince the world that, however bad may be the
reputation of this town, of its warehouse keepers,
and other grossly libelled people, the same events
will occur in whatever localities combustible articles
are closely associated.

THE MERCURY'S " FALSE WEIGHTS AND MEA-
SyRES."—The Mercury reiterates his attempted explana-
tion of his blunder by stating that he only spoke in irony,
though it it were so it was done in so undefinable a
manner that uo one could discover the wit of it but him-
-elf. lie calls us very ugly names, but in throwing them
at 114 they only rebound upon himself. He reminds u of
Goldsmith's country schoolmaster—
" Even though vanquished, be can argue still."

STATE OF THE WEATHER.—Since our last we have
had some of the hottest weather which has visited us this
summer; and the crops in our neighbourhood have bene-
fited surprisingly, the green tint of our corn having
given place to a yellow, which promises an immediate har-
vest. Although we had some very heavy rain on Monday
night, we cm trace no injury resulting. No corn has
been laid by it; and, from all that we have been able to
see of the crops, the prospect of an abundant yield of
wheat was never better. Potatoes, if we may judge from
the eve and the top herbage, are an excellent crop ; and
the quality, so far as they have been got in hitherto, has
not lately been excelled. Corn has already been cut in
several parts of this county and Cheshire. At present
(Monday night) a shower is falling, but there is no ap-
pearance of continued rain.

QUAKERS IN PARLIAMENT.-Our contemporaries, of
all shades of opinion, have been recently stating that the
county of Durham has had the unlucky preeminence of
returning the first two quaker members to the House of
Commons. The fact, however, is not so. The first qua-
ker member was undoubtedly Mr. Joseph Pease, who
was returned for South Durham. The second was Wm.
Aldharn for the borough of Leeds—a Pease—his father
having taken the name on inheriting a fortune. William
Aldham was second wrangler at Cambridge-the first qua-
ker who ever took such an honour. We observe that he
sailed in the Britannia steamer on her last passage for
America, and that it is his intention to make an extensive
tour in the United States and Canada, which, in all pro-
bability, will occupy the interval between this time and
the next session of parliament.

ROUTES OF THE WEST INDIA STEAM PACKETS.—
The following chanzed titne‘ of arrival and departure of
these packets may be depended upon as correct.

ROUTE OF FIRST PACKET.
Arrives at Madeira in 64- days
_ _

Ditto ditto Barbadoe3 in 20 days
Stays day.
Ditto ditto Grenada, in 22 days from England, where
steamers are ready to start for Trinidad, &c., Tobago, &c.,
St. Vincent, &c. The branch for Jamaica leaves Granada
on the 23 day.

From Granada, arrives at Jacmel, in Hayti, in 251 days.
Ditto ditto Jamaica, in 271 days, where
She lands mails for St. Martha, Carthagena, and Chagres,
conveyed by the company's schooner, which sails at 6 a.m.,
on the 28th day. The steamer stays two days at Jamaica,
proceeds to the Havanna, where she arrives on the 32t
days, stays 21 days (at this place she will meet the steamer
returning to England from Mexico, to which she delivers
any mails for Nassau, Bermuda, &c., also those for Hon-
duras. to the company's schooner which leaves on the 35th
days, taking mails for Belize and return to the Havanna,
by the 571 th days from the date of leaving England.) (On
the 35th day the steamer leaves for Vera Cruz, arrives in
414 d days rroceeds to Tamdico, and back to Vera Cruz,
stays in gulf 15 days, and returns to the Havanna by the
65th days.)
On the steamers meeting at Havanna, (the steamer
which left Jamaica, having transferred her mails to the
vesael which came up from Mexico,) the Mexican steamer
proceeds to Na=sau and Bermuda, at which place she
arrives on the 45th days after mails leaving England.
The answers to the letters received on the 27th day will
he taken away by a steamer which will leave Kingston,
Jamaica, on the 36th d y. calling at Jacmel, St. Juan, St.
Thomas, and Bermuda, where she will find waiting the
homeward bound steamer which arrived from Mexico.
ready coaled. She will there proceed to Nassau, Havanna,
and Jamaica, where she will arrive to receive mails for
the next Ist packet.

ROUTE OF SECOND PACKET.
Sails from Falmouth, 18th of every month.
As in first Packet she proceeds to G:enada in 22 days,
delivers the intercolonial mails, then proceeds to Jacmel
in Hayti and Kingston, where she arrives in 27 days, stays
one day, proceeds to St. Jago de Cuba, arrives there on the
19th day, stays at St. Jago de Cuba 2 days, returns to
Kingston, and leaves Kingston the 23rd day, with home-
ward bound mails calling at Jacmel, St. Juan in Porto-
Rico, and St. Thomas, where she receives the Windward
mails, and leaves St. Thomas on the 43rd day for England
via Faval.

V' The mails from Jamaica to Carthagena, &c., will
very shortly be conveyed by steam ships, instead of by
schooners as at present.

FORGING SEAMEN'S NOTES.—At the Police-court,
on Friday, William Alexander, a lodging house keeper,
and a seaman named Tyson, a foreigner, were brought be.
fore Mr. Rushton, on a charge of having uttered two
forged seamen's notes. William Topping, a shipwright,
who resides in Gibraltar-row, said that the prisoners
(both of whom he had known for two or three years) came
to him, and wanted to get two seamen's notes eashed for
£B. Alexander said the man he had with him (Tyson)
had engaged to go to Africa, as carpenter, by the ship
Peruvian, Captain Watkin, who had signed the notes.
Witness, who knew that Tyson had lodged with a person
named Styles, asked whether he had left his lodgings and
gone to his (Alexander's), and the latter replied that he
had, as he could get nothing to eat at Styles's. Witness
had seen the name of the ship and the captain (as he
thought " Watkin") in the Telegraph, and not doubting
but-the notes were genuine, he advanced £5 upon them,
stating that he would give the balance when the man
went on board to his work. Some suspicion afterwards
arose in his mind, and he went to Mr. Renton, whom
Alexander hid said was the agent who had shipped Tyson.
Renton said he had shipped no such man, nor had he
anything to do with a vessel of that name. Alexander
had also told the witness (Topping) that he had enquired
of Captain Watkin whether the man was engaged to go
with him, and that he found he was so and that all would
be tight. Information was given to the police, and the
prisoners were apprehended. It was also proved that the
same notes, or similar ones, had been offered by the
same parties for discount to Mr. Marks, clothier,
Old liall.street, but be declined advancing on them at the
time as he heard that the vessel would not go to sea for
some time. Captain Theophilus " Gwatkin " (not G.
Watkin), of the Peruvian, said that the signatures were
neither his writing nor his name. Alexander had also told
Topping that Tyson's tools and crothes, which were wan_
ted as security for the money advanced, were at his own
(Alexander's) house ; whereas it was shown that they
were deposited at the house of a woman named Shaw" for
safety ".—Tyson, on being asked what he lie had to say,
stated that Styles, with whom he had lodged, had drawn
out the notes; had told him that it would all be right, as
he would himself be responsible; and that, he, the pri-
soner, being ignorant in such matters, was induced to
accede. Alexander said the notes were given to bin as
genuine, by Tyson, that Tyson had been lodging at his
house some days and owed him money, and that he (Alex-
ander) knew nothing of the forgery. Mr. Davenport who
was for Alexander, took an objection that the notes were
not stamped, but Mr. Rushton overuled it, stating that it
had at the last assizes been decided that it was a forgery
notwithstanding the want
of tl,e stamp. The prisoners
were then committed for trial, but it was stated that bail
would be taken for them, in themselves £lOO and two
sureties in £so—for each.