The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-01-16 00:00:00

MEN AND MANNERS IN AMERICA.

This book, by the author of Cyril Thornton, which is already
well,known to the generality of readers, has reached a second
edition. In the present state of political excitement in this
country, it may be useful to 'emu what opinion. is entertained
by our American brethren of the recent changes that have taken
place in our representative system, and of the results they are
likely to produce. , This information is given in. Men and Man-
sters in America, and is well.deserving the attention of all par-
t ies amongst us. It is a sagacious opinion, as coming from a
people who, from the nature of their own institutions, and from
their habits of political reflection, are•fully capable of appreciat-
ing the consequences of political changes, and it is a disinter-
ested opinion, as coming from' the people of a country whose
locality. and peculiar government place theta in a state of corn-
parative indifference as to what chaqges are taking place in the
ancient institutions of Europe. •We subjoin what the author
describes as the opinion of the people of Boston and New York
on the subject of precipitating parliamentary reform, ,&e.:--
"'The great majority of the more enlightened class in both
cities regarded any great and sudden change in the British:in-
stitutions as pregnant with the most imminent danger. In their
eyes the chance of ultimate advantage was utterly insignificant
when weighed against the ceitainty of immediate peril. You
at present,' they said, 4 enjoy more practical freedom than has
ever in the whole experience of mankind been permanently
secured to a nation by any institutions ; your governMent,
whatever may be its defects, enjoys at least this inestimable ad-
vantage—that the habits of the people are adapted to it. This
cannot be the case in regard to any change; however calculated
to be ulrimatelyheneficial. The process of moral adaptation is
ever slow. and precarious, and the experience of the world de-
monstrates that it, is far better that the intelligence of a people
should be in advance of their institutions, than that the institu-
tions should precede the advancetnent of' the people. In the
former case, however theoretically bad, their laws will be practi-
cally modified by the influence ot public opinion ; inahe hatter,
however good in themselves, theycannot he secure or beneficial
in their operation. We speak as men whose opinions have been
formed flow experience under a government popular in the evi-
dent sense of the term. We pretend not to judge whether change
be necessary. If it be, we trust it will at least be gradual; that
your. statesmen will approach the work of reform with the full
knowledv that every single innovation will occasion the necessit
of puny. The appetite for change' in a people grows with
what it feed's on. It is.. insatiable. Go as far as you will, at
so:ne,point you must, stop, and that point will be short of the
wish of a large portion, probably of a numerical majority of
your •population. By no concession does it appear to us that
you can avert the battle that awaits you. You have but the
choice whether the great struggle shall be for reform or
pu operty."
The observations of the author on the subject of universal
suffrage, and its progressively baneful influence on the stability
4't rthe union of the states, are equally pertinent and important:
subjein them for the serious consideratieu of. those-whose
enthusiasm for speculative liberty exceeds their discretion in
estimating the practical advantages of institutions consolidated
by the tacit consent of time, and adapted to the modes of
t‘liitiking and acting of those with whose security they are co-
existent :

" Universal suffrage is the rock on which-American freedom
is most likely to suffer shipwreck. The intrinsic evils of the
system are very great, and its adoption in the United-States
was the more monstrous because-a qualification in property is
there not only a test of intelligence, but of moral character.
" American legislators, seeing no immediate danger in the
utmost extent of suffrage, were. content to remain blind to the
;attire. They took every precaution that the rights of the poor
:Ilan should not be encroaches on by the rich, but never seem
have contemplated the possibility that the rights of , the
'titter might be vioiated by the former. American protection,
like -Irish reciprocity, was all on - one side. It was withheld
where most needed—it was profusely lavished where there was
no t isk of danger. They put a sword in the hand of one com-
batant, and took the shield from the arm of the other."

TO THE EDITOR OF THE STANDARD.

Sir,—Mr. Thomas Sheppard, who is again returned . for
Frome,,has been called a radical. He is no radical. He is a
conservative whig. His opponents professed destructive prin-
ciples.
Allow me to refer you to Mr. Sheppard's vote against the
second reading of the bill for the infecting of. the universities
with dissent. Mr. Sheppard had voted for the first reading of
that bill; but after the dissenters threw off the mask, he, in the
most manly, way, avowed the change in-his sentiments, and
voted accordingly.
For thus acting as his conscience dictated, Mr. Sheppard has
been 'visited with the most malignant hatred of a portion of the
dissenters of Fiume, Who. formed the rabid pack which yelled
at the !keels. of Mr. Bridges. But thanks to the loyalty and
patriotism of the majority in the borough .of Vrome, " The
Devil's Own" have been beaten, in spite of the most infernal
.rAforts of his ministers and deacons.. .

The destructives also claim Sir Ralph Lopez ! another con-
ervative whig ! If their impudence be tolerated, they will next
laim Lord Stormont and Sir R. Vyvyan ! VERITAS.
London, January 10, 1835.