The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-07-16 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We
4re obliged to postpone some admirably written letters for
weatintl or room.
aa thank Ones of Them for his hints about a certain witness,
with respect to the subject generally we say "wait—only
wweait a little."
probably open a " battery" on Friday, but it re-
quires rather a long gun to reach London.

Zbe Eiberpool &tanbarii.

TUESDAY MORNING, JULY 16, 1833.

From the Cornubian, a Falmouth paper of Saturday's
Pte, we have extracted some important intelligence from
: rtugal• If this news may be depended upon it is the
°St decisive that has occurred since the landing of Don
:34° in that unfortunate country. It is stated that the
,lP°sing fleets of the two brothers met off Cape St. Vin-
cent' that a furious engagement took place, and that the
to
jsl3'4l force was discomfited and captured by Captain
°p/Es.
OllCince the above was written we have received the
4:ion journals of yesterday, which fully confirm the
e°lints from Falmouth, and the intelligence in the next
pa
despatches,
The Birmingham steamer, which brought the
has arrived in Dublin.

If there be any of our friends who do not see the ne-
(l°4lT of clearing for action, we. beg, with respectful
theterence, to hint to them, that they must be drowsy in
h: extreme. An election is nearer at hand than most
haryl3Ple dream of, and that it will take place before many
I,,,°llths elapse is to our mind a matter of certainty.
ge twentieth of July, that is to say Saturday next,
tlhe
the last day for recording claims to vote under
Provisions of the reform bill. All persons who
1,41Pe in houses rented at or above ten pounds, and
ted accordingly in the parish books, have a right to
hole in all city, town, or borough elections, provided they
:.°e rented the house (shop, warehouse, or other pre-
-8e8)-for twelve months, and resided in the said city or
The
for six months previous to the twentieth of July.
" cost of registering a vote is only a shilling, but it is
,eeessary, in order to qualify a voter, that he shall have
paid all arrears of poor rates due in April last, previous
c> the twentieth of July.
t We entreat all conservatives, therefore, who have,
tram inattention, indolence, or other causes, neglected to
strange as it may appear, it is chiefly among the higher
lasses that this neglect of an important duty is most pre-
Zent. Let them for once bear in mind that it is not for
f ell' own sakes that we call upon them to register, but
97 the good, nay, for the very salvation of that country
Which they are the ornaments and the natural
'llardians. We do not ask them to come forward as a fa-
ti°4l. ; we call upon them to perform a duty. The poli-
eal Unions have taken care to secure the franchise for
thieir members. When bad men combine, good men
I°llld unite; and the parties to whom we more particu-
-4 ittLlY address ourselves have no excuse for delay or neg-
,:thiti a matter of such simple execution, and yet of
°it great importance.

I,4rd GREY has postponed tile discussion on the Irish
til"lll.eb Reform Bill from yesterday till to-morrow, and
it Bch
we approach the hour of trial the more anxious
eons te
Public mind on this vitally important and great
rtitutional question.
Meat bill 1148 for its object the repeal of the act of settle-
-11111,-4 af 1688, and a direct violation of the articles of
4`°a between England and Scotland in the first instance,
hid ngland and Ireland in the second. We are told by
11.80 "".JESTY'S ministers that the Protestant church in
4441" is a cumbrous and useless establishment, that the
atliti,`'er Of bishops is disproportionate to its members,
tivecliat the incomes of the remaining prelates are exces-
-4e s-'/' large. They, therefore, propose to abolish ten
irseb' 4PPIY the revenues thereof to other purposes, and
Upon °se a tax upon the rest of the church dignitaries, and
ttitn-ri all clergymen whose incomes exceed a specified
ch,4" who are the parties who propose this scheme of
the r bb Whigs ery ? The it, - The immaculate Whigs !
v
st4tid. ery men with whom the revolution of 1688 is a
ittith-Ing toast ! WILLIAM THE THIRD of glorious and.se
aq°llal memory, and the Whigs of his day, ourwi .d
Itelateligious ancestors, made the church of England
;i7(l a Part, and a prominent part too, of the British
tollictiltiett. They were at the greatest pains to secure
its Pale'
church, to its bishops, and to all the clergy within.
ti„vate, their respective rights, privileges, and immunt-
-4,' I.° Protect them from future inroads, to place them
Niec()aci the control of Parliament, and render them as
this t 1 43 the KING'S honour and the KING'S oath. Fork
o 41)urPese all the Princes of the House of Brunswick
,
by sseending the throne of England, have been required
Nl3"t7hforrns
of the constitution to swear upon the gos-
Nit, a' they will, to the utmost of their power, " main-
t le laws of God, the true profession of the gospel,
and 4e Protestant
44dtPoreser.ve unto the bishops and clergy of this realm,h
rig/14 the churches committed to their charge, all such
141tto than 4 Privileges as by law do or shall appertain
In ent
°r any of them."
toilowa.dditi on to this, the fifth article of the union has the
and :,nis Clause. viz., .‘ That the churches of England
one pr —and, as now by law established, be united into
churcitretestant episcopal Church, to be called the united
a'op.,h. Of England and Ireland, and that the doctrine,
a9tnrcll 3discipline, and government of the said united
the 11411 be, and shall remain in full force for ever
1.1414i,3att1e are now by law established for the church of
the ,44,(1, and that the continuance and preservation of
ei,enel.q united church shall be deemed and taken to be an
If al and fundamental part of the union."
kt. 40,,anguage have any meaning, it is as clear as the sun
w.
wua day, that the Irish church bill, if carried into a
the par °aid be a flagrant violation of the act of union on
tioh
ort, °f Parliament, and a deeply dishonouring viola-
The ki !us oath on the part of WILLIAM Tug FOURTH.—
hig „ 111° Swears that he will preserve to the utmost of
",417‘ivet• the "rights and privileges" of the clergy,—
tllkt-:;•vdeges which they then enjoyed, as well as any
l'ostt 'gilt be conferred upon them. It is in every re-
litio-440callser vative oath. The clergy might acquire ad-
once
bylaw, and these the KING is bound

to respect and preserve; but the KING cannot impair
these rights, or diminish these privileges in the slightest
degree, even with the consent of Parliament, without
laying perjury on his soul, breaking his covenant with
the ALMIGHTY, violating the tenure by which he wears
the crown, and virtually signing his own abdication.
We defy all the casuists of Europe, including the
Archbishop ofDIiBLIN, to satisfy any well-regulated mind,
or convince any man of sound reason, that any other con-
struction can be put upon the oath than that which we
have given to it. What is the meaning of the oath if it
do not impose a compulsory protection upon the Pro-
testant Kings of England ? It would be an act of im-
pious fo]ly to make a man swear not to do that which
he could not prevent. It would be absurd to swear a
king to give protection to a church over the rights and
privileges of which lie had no control. It would be an
insult to heaven and the holy sacraments to administer a
vow which could not be kept, or which might be broken
with impunity. The KING, per se, cannot rob the church;
the oath was not imposed in order to keep the KING ho-
nest; it was not administered for the purpose of restrain-
ing the SOVEREIGN from breaking into a church, like an
ordinary burglar, and committing an act of sacrilege by
stealing the communion cup, or the minister's surplice.
No, no. Far different were tile obligations it imposed,
and the conservative duties it exacted. The KING can-
not be a consenting party to any measure interfering with
the rights and privileges of the church or its clergy, with-
out committing a deadly sin, and trampling upon the awful
sanctity and moral obligations of an oath registered on
high !

And even if the obligations were less sacred, or the
construction less doubtful, why should his MAJESTY be
placed in a situation which makes him the instrument of
other men's fraud, or a minister's folly, or a faction's
crime ? Is the nation unanimous on the subject of this
spoliation scheme ? Quite the reverse. A large portion
of the people are indifferent as to whether it does or does
not pass. The Roman Catholic members have voted
against the bill. The Catholic priests declare that they
have no wish to degrade the church or swamp the bishops.
A majority of the people revere the church and love their
SOVEREIGN, and it is but a vile remnant of a party com-
posed of levellers in politics, and latitudinarians in reli-
gion,--the sweepings of every obscure sect,—the disaf-
fected of all creeds,—the vanity-puffed Unitarian, and
the rank atheist,—these, and these alone, support mini-
sters in the scheme of plunder.

It is painful to see WILLIAM THE FOURTH placed in a
situation so humiliating when compared with that of
WILLIAM THE THIRD; but from this situation he must be
rescued by the peers. If they do their duty this bill will
be the last act of folly on the part of the GREY administra-
tion. If they do their duty the church will be preserved,
and the Whigs consigned to perpetual obloquy. They
have done the state much injury. They have made an
unhallowed effort to overturn every venerable institution
in the country. They have run riot with the mob till the
very rabble are ashamed of them. The minister has
piped and the incendiary has danced ; the fire has blazed,
and anarchy has had its hour of madness and blood; but
thanks to the people after all, their good sense has re-
turned, the fever is allayed, sober reason has resumed her
throne, and the minister of injustice will speedily receive
his reward. We have had enough of the pledged Parlia-
ment—of this common house of fools and sans culottes.
Let it be dissolved, and two hundred of its present mem-
bers will never again be returned to any Parliament. If
the lords do their duty, and the KING is properly advised,
we shall have a new election before the middle of Sep-
tember.

We gave, in our last number, the resolutions of the
West India meeting in London, on Wednesday last,
which we anticipated by some general observations on
the character of the bill brought in by Mr. STANLEY, pro-
fessedly for the adjustment of this most vital question.—
Our opinion, formed upon the very hasty perusal which
we had then been enabled to bestow upon the bill, in-
duced us to state, that it " is drawn up in such gross and
manifest ignorance of all the fair bearings of the case, so
much at variance with their (the ministers') own recorded
sentiments, and so utterly destitute of justice or reason
in many of its details, the result entirely of that self-
willed but lamentable determination to legislate on their
own defective knowledge of the questibn, rather than seek
the opinions of experienced practical men, that they find
it can never pass even the present House of Commons
in its existing shape ; and that it must share the fate of
every other measure brought forward during the session ;
it must present the appearance of a piece of patchwork—
or, like the mass of stone separated by the quarryman,
who, in his vanity, imagines he is an artist, it is only an
incumbrance upon the earth until the master hands have
chiselled it into shape and order." Hence we inferred
of Mr. STANLEY'S
the real motive postponement of the
second reading to last night—hence, also, we expect to
find that stage of the bill further procrastinated, perhaps
indefinitely. We do not blame Mr. STANLEY for thus
adjourning the consideration of the principle of the bill,
which it is the object of the second reading to decide
upon. The principle of the bill ! why, if it have any
principle at all, it is that it is made to oppose and unsay
almost every thing that is prominent either in the gene.
ral sentiments verbally expressed on the question, or in
the spirit of the recorded resolutions of Parliament. We
do not, therefore, we repeat, blame Mr. STANLEY for this
postponement, in order to afford time for a little ration-
ality being infused into the bill; but we do most strongly
and unequivocally condemn that system of legislation,
of which the leading features are precipitancy and igno-
rance, to say nothing of more exceptionable qualities,
but too manifest throughout numerous clauses of the pre-
sent measure.

The resolutions of Parliament, it will be remembered,
distinctly laid it down, that the measures to be taken
should be of such a nature as to combine the welfare of
the negroes with the interests of the proprietors—that
"towards the compensation of the West India Proprietors"
a sum of twenty millions was granted—and that provision
should be made for an efficient magistracy to be establish-
ed in the colonies, and to provide for the religious and
moral education of the negro population, on liberal and
comprehensive principles. This is the substance of the
resolutions. The explanatory arguments admitted that
no arrangement could be safe or satisfactory which did not
ensure the cordial co-operation of the colonial legislatures
to accomplish the object in view. On the 7th June the
standing committee of the West India body in London
recorded their determination, in consideration of the
grant of twenty millions, to " recommend to their friends,
and solicit the authorities in the West Indies to frame,
without delay, such laws as will safely, immediately, and
effectually carry the said resolution into effect." This
,was meeting the question honourably and fairly. It is
not possible for us to know whether, at that period, the
framing of the bill had been extensively proceeded in.
But, whether that be so or not, the instrument, when
brought to light, exhibits as much duplicity, as great a
variance with the previously avowed outline of the plan,
and as thorough an ignorance of what is necessary for a
" safe and satisfactory settlement" of the business, as if
those lectures successively given by the West India body,
in their practical capacity, to the present Colonial Secre-
tary and his predecessors, during the earlier months of
the year, had been altogethor spared. There is not a
single clause applicable to the colonial legislatures
in which those bcdies are not treated with contumely,
degraded, and insulted. Nay, they are absolutely
annihilated in their legislatorial capacity. The ap-
propriation of the compensation fund is mixed up
with every kind of condition calculated to produce delay,
vexation, and uncertainty ; and clogged with all sorts of
expenses, at the mercy of the men called commissioners,
which expenses are to be taken out of the fund specifi-
cally applicable to the compensation of the proprietors by
the fourth resolution, although the fifth of those resolu-
tions distinctly provides for the expense of the magis-
tracy, religion and education being otherwise defrayed.
And what a magistracy ! Not content with defrauding
the colonies of their legislatures, in direct violation of
their respective charters, they insult the whole respect-
able population by entirely depriving them of their ma-
gisterial powers ; and placing them tinder one hundred
magistrates paid at £3OO per annum, selected, most .pro-