The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-07-30 00:00:00

this clause power uas given to certain commissioners to
suspend the appointment of clergymen to rectories or
other livings " where divine service shall have been in-
termitted for a period of three years." The- power here
proposed was to be retrospective, and when we consider
what the state of Ireland has been for the last three years,
the injustice and cruelty of the enactment are as glaring
as possible. There are, it appears, upwards of sixty pa-
rishes in Ireland where there is no resident clergyman,
and where no service has been performed for some con-
siderable time. But why ? Hear the answer of the Earl
of LIMERICK, the father-in-law of the under-secretary to
the Treasury, Mr. SPRING RICE. "The reason why, in
some of them at least, service had.nOt been performed of
late," says Lord LIMERICK, "was owing to the clergyman
being apprehensive for his life. If such a power were
acted upon, it was most likely from the hostility which
the peasantry bore against the clergy, that no Protestant
clergyman would dare afterwards to appear in these pa-
rishes." ! !
The Earl of WicxLow expresses a similar opinion.
He says that " out of two hundred parishes which would
come under the operation of the clause, there were but
sixty-six in which the commissioners would be warranted
in suspending the benefice, and of these sixty-six there
was a large majority in which the non-performance of
the Protestant service was occasioned by circumstances
over which the clergyman had no control."'
The Bishop of EXETER adds his testimony to the fore-
going as follows :—" He believed that the omission of
divine service had not occurred in one single instance
owing to the misconduct of the incumbent."
These being uncontroverted and incontrovertible facts,
what are we to think of that hollow and deceitful policy
pursued by Lord GREY, by which, under the pretext of
securing the Protestant church in Ireland, he was strik-
ing a blow at its very existence, obliterating its land-
marks, destroying its outposts, and robbing its humbler,
persecuted, and unhappy ministers of the last remnant of
their property ? But such was the object of the 117th
clause in the spoliating bill. The hand of blood had been
raised against the secluded pastor—his flock had been
scattered—the walls of his temple desecrated—by whom ?
By the savage peasantry—the slaVes of an idolatrous
worship—instigated by demagogues, and their masters,
the priests; and this being the case, Lord GREY steps
forward to sanction their illegal acts, and complete the
robbery and the banishment which these savages and
heir priests had commenced._ Every man of good feeling
—every Protestant, magi-cry shame at the bare mention
of this contemplated act of sacrilege ! It was not enough
that the Protestant clergyman should be persecuted—it
was not enough that he should be driven from his home
and his pastoral duties—it was not enough that he should
be hunted by ruffians, seeking his life—no, it was not
enough—he had been made the victim of outrage and
violence, and therefore he was to be made the martyr of
Whig law and ministerial church reform ! The law had
been trampled upon,—rebellion, if not encouraged, had
been unchecked,—the plunderer had been conciliated in-
stead of being punished, and to complete the climax of
folly, fraud, and crime, the innocent was to be sacrificed
in the room of the guilty, and private property to be con-
fiscated merely to gratify the barbarOus and fiendish feel-
ings of the priesthood and their votaries.
On the motion of the Archbishop of CANTERBURY the
clause was modified, and the intentions of ministers were
defeated. On this defeat poor Lord GREY threatened to
resign, and why did he not ?

Since our last publication the proceedings in Parlia-
ment on the Slavery Abolition Bill have equalled irr im-
portance any that have taken place from the first agita-
tion of the question. They are especially impressed with
those qualities which we designated in that number by
the terms " incertitude and irresolution on the part of
ministers ; and on the side of the natural enemies of the
colonists the same determination to commit injustice that
has ever marked their conduct." Let the proceedings of
Wednesday and Thursday last answer for the correctness,
or otherwise, of this opinion. On Wednesday evening,
upon the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moving the or-
der of the day to go into committee, Mr. CLAY proposed
a resolution " that it is expedient that foreign sugars be
admitted into this country for refining for exportation."
Upon this Mr. POULETT THOMSON moved and carried,
as an amendment, " that it is expedient that sugar be
admitted for refining, under lock, for the purpose of ex-
portation."
The amendment was one so manifestly necessary on
every account, as a measure of precaution for the protec-
tion of the revenue, not less than for the avoidance of
gross injustice to the British planter, that its adoption
was quite a matter of course ; and we have no hesitation
in declaring, that, bold and inconsistent as ministers have
shown themselves in their career, it would have required
more of hardihood than even they .poSsess to have con-
sented to the introduction of a measure for the refining
of foreign sugar less guarded than the import of the words
of the amendment in this case goes to establish. The
discussion upon this subject presents a field for observa-
tion of which we propose to avail ourselves; but that we
shall defer for the moment, in order to advert, which we
do with feelings anything but satisfactory, to those parts
of the business of Wednesday and Thursday applicable to
'the question of apprenticeship, as forming an important
feature of this " fearful experiment."
Need we ask if the discussion of Wednesday night, on
Mr. BUXTON'S motion for the abridgment of the agreed
term of apprenticeship indicates continued hostility to
the colonist ? Need we ask if the debate of Thursday
marks that feeling as less prominent; or is calculated, on
the other hand, to absolve Mr. STANLEY, as the member
of the executive government more immediately before us,
from the charge of " incertitude and irresolution" in the
execution of his official duties ? We may refer to what
we have said within a few weeks on the subject of the
projected distinction in the terms of labour for the so-
called praedial and non-prmdial negroes ;—we may then
refer to the rejection of Mr. BUXTON'S motion of Wed-
nesday, and remark upon the freedom, the more than
anxiety, the exultation with which Mr. STANLEY came
forward, on the next afternoon, to defraud the planters
of five-twelfths of the sorry protection which was left to
them by the bill. When we have done this we may then
ask—and the question is put with mingled feelings of
shame and indignation—ls it ignorance or irresolution—
folly or fraud--cowardice or corruption—is it any of these,
or a compound of all, which has led to the gross breach of
faith thus unblushingly committed by the Govern-
ment in their dealings with the colonists ? The first
perusal of the bill, framing distinctions between the
different classes of labourers, forced upon our minds
strong forebodings that something lurked under those
provisions which portended further injury to the op-
pressed West Indian. We did not give utterance to our
suspicions on this head, however freely we animadverted
on the impolicy of such regulations. Our anticipations
were of the nature here expressed ; we had, neverthe-
less, hopes, feeble ones we 'admit, that they might
prove erroneous. Our jealousy of the misconduct, and
want of either reason or justice in the course pursued by
ministers on every branch of the question, was strong,
as, we contend, it was justifiable ; but we had still
trusted in some degree to the belief, that the measure of
injustice to the Colonists was, on all hands, deemed full;
—full it certainly was to the brim, and running over.
We could not imagine that a series of resolutions, sifted
as were those passed by the House of Cornmons,—pro-
fessedly drawn up by ministers "after deep and anxious
deliberation,"—avowedly connected in their parts, with
full and mutual dependence. upon each other,—explained
not once but over and over again, where explanation
was wanting, in the sense in winch we contend that they
were understood by all the world, as regards the term
of apprenticeship being fixed at twelve. years, without
distinction of classes ;—we could not, we repeat it, ima-
gine that, with such resolutions, so recorded, and thus
verbally affirmed in the strongest manner, in the spirit and
sense which, we maintain, should have rendered them
impervious to dispute or quibble,—never could we sup-
pose that further acts of fraud and injustice so glaring as
those now brought to light could be contemplated. The
evidence of the week goes far to justify the imputation
that the original distinction of seven and twelve years
in the term of service of the two classes was a matter of
concert between the government and the abolitionists;
a mere stepping stone, to ease the descent to the shorter
term-for the whole number of negroes ; and that a.cor-
responding line of conduct, in some other and leading
parts of the question, may occur, is by no means a mat-
ter of improbability, thus frittering by
the remnant
of the colonists' hope, in the exact ratio of the destruc-
tion of public character, honour, and principle, in mi-
nisters. These may seem harsh expressions ; but they
are merited, in no qualified degree, by those to' whom
they are applied ; nor are we disposed to record, in less
forcible terms, our feelings with regard to the weak,
the vacillating, the disreputable course that has been
followed from the commencement of the inquiry into
West India affairs ; a course that will too soon develop
circumstances and events from which we should be glad
to feel justified in averting our regard.
If, in the amended form in which the question of re-
fining foreign sugars now stands, we might feel (his-
, posed to apply less strong language to that part of the
affair, we have still no inclination to flinch from a free
examination into the motives and objects of those more
immediately interested in that branch of this mighty
subject. We will, however, reserve ourselves for that
discussion with an intention of entering upon it when
the .provisions of Mr. POULETT THoNisores bill shall be
before us.

We are sorry to hear that the Earl of Lonsdale has been in-
disposed since his arrival at Lowther Castle, haying caught a
severe cold on his journey from the seat of his brother, Sir
John Lowther, Bart., of Swillington. We..are happy to hear,
however, that his lordship's health is improving.

STATE OF TRADE.—We have no material alterations to no-
tice in the state of the woollen manufacture in this neighbour-
hood. The demand continues good, but the merchants are re-
luctant 4.) give, a price commensurate with the. rise in the raw
material, and the •clothiers, thcreforet still complain of small
profits.—Leeds httelligimeer,