The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-12-04 00:00:00

THE STATE OF PARTIES

The majority for Lord John Russell's band on the speaker-
ship was 10; on the address, 7. Since those divisions took
place, the following changes in the representation have oc-
curred

1. In Windsor Sir J. Elley, on petition, has succeeded Sir J.
D. Beauvoir. _

In Canterbury Mr. S. Lushingtuu, conservative, has suc-
ceeded Mr. Villiers, uhig.
3. In Devonshire Mr. Parker, conservative, has succeeded
Lord J. Russell, whig.
4. In Staffordshire Sir F. Goodricke, conservative, has suc-
ceeded Mr. Littleton, whig.
5. In Invernesshire Mr. Chisholm, conservative, has suc-
ceeded Mr.: Charles Giant, whig.
6. In Nottinghamshire Mr. Gaily Knight, conservative, has
succeeded Lord Lumley, whig.
7. In Drogheda the Hon. Randal Plunkett, conservative,
succeeded Mr. O'Dwyer, whig.
8. In Cork county Mr. Longfield, conservative, succeeded
Mr. F. O'Connor, whig..
9. In Belfast Mr. -Dunbar, conservative, succeeded Mr.
M.Cause, whig,
10. In Oldham 111 r. Lees has succeeded Mr. Cobbett.
_ _

11. In Devizes 'l4lr. Es:court has succeeded Mr. Lucke,

In the three following instances changes have taken place
favourable to the ministry:-
2. In Ipswich Messrs. Morrison and Wason, whigs, have un-
seated Messrs. Dundas• and Kelly.

4. In Cork city Messrs. CaHagan and Baldwin have unseated
Messrs. Chatterton and Leicester. _ _

5. In Hull Colonel Thompson has succeeded Mr. Carruthers.
Now eleven changes in favour of the conservatives are equal
to a difference of twenty-two in a division, and live changes in
favour of the whigs make a difference of ten in a division:
deducting ten front twenty-two, we find a lialonce of twelve in fa-
vour of the oppoOion. But this is. nut all; Lord Milton's
death causes a vacancy in the representation, which the conser-
vative, Mr. Maunsel, will supply. Let it be remembered that
Colonel Thompson was returned for Hull by a majority most
insignificant in number, and against• a candidate totally un-
known to the electors; that Captain Byng was returned by a
small majority for Poole against a candidate (Sir Colquhoun
Grant) whose domestic misfortunes rendered his absence neces-
sary; and that the Solicitor-General was returned for Pernhyn
by a majority also insignificant in number, and was only saved
from ejectment by the tender mercies of a whig committee, who
could see no cause for inquiring into bribery, and resolved most
valiantly to hear no evidence of persons' acts until agency was
first established, when it is well known that the acts of a party
are frequently and generally the only evidence which can prove
the connexion between him and the canditate Mr. Stanley,
the member for Cheshire, was by some unaccountable accident
placed in a situation which did not render re-election necessary.
By whom, then, is a dissolution to be feared; and what party
has most reason to tremble at the approaching meeting of par-
liament? Is it the party which has gained by popular elections
an increase of force during the present year, whose ranks have
lately been increased in strength by the adhesion of many mo-
derate members disgusted at the alliance between the govern-
ment and the Irish mendicant? No! indeed the conservative
party have no fear of beil:g overwhelmed even in the present
parliament, and are ready to meet a dissolution.—Manchester
Courier.

EC, J.-.

O'CONNELL AND BROOKES'S CLUB.

"We," says the Times, "refer our readers to an emphatic,
letter from an eminent member of Brookes's club, who espies-
ses the same sentiments respecting O'Connell's conduct which •
Sir Francis Burdett has so manfully promulgated, and which
will find en echo in the bosom of every man of honour through-
out civilized Europe. Even' faction, though it may. shut its
eyes and ears for a while, will soon find its inmost chords Vi-
brate to an appeal founded On the fist principles of moral duty
and social intercourse."

We subjoin the letter thus referred to. It is addressed to the
editor of the Times :
"Sir,-1 read a few days ago in the Morning Chronicle a very
long article, the obj.3ct of which was to vindicate atr. O'Con-
nell, by showing that many years ago Sir Francis Burdett be-
haved very ill to the late Mr. Perry. I confess my inability to
discover the connexion between the hon. baronet's differences
in former times with that gentleman and the general demeanour
and language of O'Connell at the present day; nor do I see the
force of the argument which would urge the intemperance of
Sir Francis I3urdett as affording a valid excuse for the outrages
against decency which are daily and systematically perpretrated
by O'Connell. But, whatever may have been the feelings of
Mr. Perry towards Sir Francis Burdett, of this I am certain;
that had he been now alive and in the management of that
journal, he would have cut his rigid hand off rather than lend
it to the defence of a ruffian, from the disgrace of whose advo-
cacy he would have shrunk with the instinctive loathing of an
honourable mind; and any causes of alienation between Sir F.
Burdett and him would have been merged in a common senti-
ment of indignation and disgust against this violator of all the
sanctities of social life. But is the Morning Chronicle so blinded
or so stupified as nut to perceive that its argument is' worth ab-
solutely nothing ? Supposing all its facts to be true, there is
one grand point of difference which upsets its whole case. :What-
ever may have been the intemperance of Sir F. Burdett, how-
ever insolent or even scurrilous or abusive he may have been,
he was always prepared to tight, and to risk his life, &necessary,
either in defence of his own honour or in atonement for that ol
another; any man who was injured by Sir Francis would ob-
tain_that hauourable. redress. that satisfaction as it is called-rill
i
which consists not only the vindication of the ndividual, but the
protection of society itself. He never blustered about in the
security of-a self-conferred irresponsibility, and rioted in in-
vective and insult With a scornful and ostentatious exhibition of
cowardice, behind which he was piutected, as by an impenetra-
ble shield, from the vengeance of his victims. O'Connell is the
first moan who has teen permitted to emancipate himself from
the restraints-and penalties of those social laws whose authority
has been uuiversajly acknowledged as indispensable to the pre-
servation of social harineny and decorum; and, his connexion
with the whigs, discreditable and lamentable as it is, in all Ivey')
appears to me inure seriously to be regretted, and pregnant-with
more important consequences upon social- than tipnu political
grounds. Lord Melbourne and his colleagues will strut their hour
upon the stage, and give way_ to other interests and better men.
1 he solid fabric of the commonwealth may not suffer irreparable
damage in their bands, but what can -heal the wounds they have
inflicted upon the houour.aucl character of society ? It is the
first time that a great body of English gentlemen has agreed to
barter the sentiment of honour for the purposes of a party • to
grant a dispensation from its exigencies and obligations, and
only endure but court an individual whose conduct not one of
them but would rather die a thousand deaths than imitate in his
own ; the English whigs haJe announced to the world that
blackguard language and cowardlY behiviour, the offer of in-
sults, and the refusal of redress, shall be no ground Of exclusion
from their society. O'Connell is a civilian What Vile were
a soldier ? it is indisputable that if he wore the King s uniform,
his epaulettes would be torn from his Shoulders, and he would
be dismissed from the profession which he disgraced. Would
he in that case be deemed fit company for the noblest and the
bravest in the land ? How, then, is the case altered, and what
are the obligations of honour which are binding on the soldier,
but from. which the mere gentleman is free ? Or is it the pu-
nishment, and not-the crime; which would draw dbwn the stigma
of public reprobation ?. 'j'he moralist wilLnot.reeommend the
practice of duelling, but we have the authority of the greatestof
all moralists, of Johnson, fur the case in which the practice is
consistent 'Kith moral duty, and it is remarkable how exactly it
applies to the present argument. He says, "As then become in
a high degree-refined, various causes of offence arife, which are
considered to bd'of such importance that life must be staked to
atone for them, though in reality they are not so. A: hody that
has received a fine polish is easily hurt ; but before men arrive
at this artificial refinement, if one tells his neighbour he- ties,
his neighbour tells.him he lies also; if one gives his neighbour
a blow, his neighbour gives him a blow; -but in a state of highly
polished society an affront is held to be a serious injury ; it must
therefore be resented, or rather a duel must be fought upon its'
as men have agreed to banish horn their society one who puts
up with an affront without fighting a duel. New, it is never,
unlawful to fight in self-defence. He that will fight a duel does
not fight from passion against his antagonist, but from self-
defence, to avert the stigma of the world, and to prevent himself
from being driven out of society." Boswell very justly adds—
"Let it be remembered that this justification is applicable 00Y
to the person who receives the affroht, all Mankind must con-
demn the a7gressor." When Mr. O'Connell announced that
he had registered a vow in Heaven never more to risk the shed-
ding of human brood—if he had accompanied that art of moral
emasculation with a corresponding forbearance of tongue and
endurance of temper, he would have been invested with tho
safety and impunity of a priest or a woman ; but having sur-
rounded himself with all the immunities of invulnerability, put
of the reach of danger he is bold —out of the reach of shame be
is confident ; this; then, is the case with which society has to
deal—a case desetving exemption from all ordinary rele-sje-
casuse completely eccentric in itself, and unparalleled in the
records of social usage. It is the character of society itself, of
the nationalcharacter, which is at stake.. Ate English gentle-
men mutuallY,hound :3y that unwritten code of honour which
regulates social intercourse in every other part of the civilized
world ?or shall-it be proclaimed that in the Whig[ clubs of Lon-
don the blackguard and the coward may rear his unblushing
head without fear of shame ?
A MEMBER OF BROOKES'S.

THE LATE MELANCHOLY OCCURRENCE AT'FIAT-
FIELD-HOUSI4.-OFFICIA ItEPORT-, •

The following are the particulars of the abeve melancholy oc-
currence as collected by the Rev. Mr. Poole, chaplain to the
Marquis of Salisbury. They may be relied on as an authentic
statement of facts.. -Between four and five o'clock, the female
attendant of the late lamented lady left her averment. The
Marchioness was at the time occupied in writing a note at a
table, upon which were three lighted candles. Whether the flame
came in contact with any part of her &cis, or whether a spark
from the fire ignited it, cannot now be ascertained: Soon after
five, the alarm that the Dowager Marchioness's chamber was in
flames, was communicated by the housekeeper to his lordship,
who, with the Marchioness of Salisbury, were in their private
apartment. They both immediately ran in the direction of the
chamber of their aged relative. On arriving at the foot of the
stairs, the smoke was so dense that Lady .Salisbury could pro-
ceed no further. Lord S. rushed along the passage to his mother's
room, and was in the act of entering it when he was" met by one
of the men servants, who had succeeded in opening the door,
but was immediately driven back by the smoke and flame.
Lord S. pushed past this domestic, who attempted to hold him
back,'and, with the utmost intrepedity and determination, per-
sisted in making every effort to rescue her from the flantes.
Foiled in this attempt, he ran round to another staircase, but,
unhappily, every eflort was in vain, middle was obliged to than-
don all hope of entering the, flaming chamber. Lady Salisbury
meanwhile was left in a state of the most anxious suspense, not
knoWing whether he had succeeded or perished in the attempt.
The fire soon made rapid progress. The adjoining apartments
became one sheet of flame, which burst through the windows
and the ceiling to the room above. The wind was blowing to-
wards the house, and one apartment after another fell before the
destructive element, and the greatest apprehension was felt for
the safety of the whole-of the magnificent
.pile. -A party.wall,
of very great thickness, divided the burning ruins from the
chapel, and every effort was directed, to preient the flames from
finding an ingress to it. The chapel being placed at the extre-
mity of,the.western wing, adjoining the gallery, which _forms
with it a right-angle, nothing, humanly speaking, could have
saved the remainder of the building had the. flames ever found
an entrance into this wainscoted apartment. Fortunately, the
progress of the flames was checked. Nothing but a mass of
blackened smoking ruins is, however, now to be seen to the
south of the chapel. This part presents a melancholy contrast
to the east wing, which still remains in all its for Mer massive
grandeur. A deep feeling of horror is connected with the deso-
late appearance of the ruins arising from the certainty that the
remains of her who for more than- half a century reigned mis-
tress here, have found a tomb amidst the ruins of the palaee over
which she presided. The scene around the house during. the
progress of the fire was terrific. Pictures, books, furniture
lying :about, engines galloping 'in every direction, the alaium
bell ringing,, and leadpouting from the roof in torrents. The
flumes were also bursting forth from every window from the ground
floor to the roofer the building. Inquiries meanwhile were eager
ly made among the crowd, whether the Dowager Lady Salisbury
had been seen since the fire began, and when it was certainly
known t hat she had perished, the scene of terror, confusion and dis-
may was beyond the power of description. 'lt was not until twelve
o'clock that -the flames were entirely subdued. Every gentle-
man in the neighbourhood was present, and his lordship's
numerous tenantry also rendered all the:assistance in their
power. A deep feeling of sorrow and gloom now pervades all
ranks, who unite in deploring this awfully sudden termination
to the long protracted life of one who for so many years had on
all occasions proved a friend, to whom the poorest might ap-
peal in their distress with the certainty of meeting not only
prompt relief, but with the kindest sympathy...---Ifeeo/d. •

DrecmßEß 4,. 'i.435

r**w.sr_wt.,si..m v,ro:

TO CORRESPONDENTS

The lines of J. F. possess considerable merit, but they need
revision...

Ebz I.Liberpoot 4.7-,tanDarb.