The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1832-11-27 00:00:00

By the last intelligence received from Oporto, it wield
appear, that the fate of Don Pedro's exp6ilitipn-i > no
longer doubtful, and that, ere thiS, himself and his army
are either prisoners, or have made their escape from that
country which they so rashly and foolishly invaded. A
more Quixotic enterprise could scarcely be imagined,
than the attempt to conquer Portugal with 8 or-10,000
men, the best of them but adventurers, and the great
bulk.Consistingpf the outcasts, of every nation of Enrope.
It has always been matter of astonishment to us, that any
one acquainted with Portugal eould:anticipate , any other
result to such an enterprise; for whatever Don Miguel
may be, and we believe he cannot easily be describeB as
worse Ilan he is, he commands the physical force of the
country, by means of the priesthood, who wield it at their
will, and whose influence and favour he has secured, by
being; in his turn, their 'slave. Had Don Pedro been
successful, we are by no means certain that the change
would have been any improvement for Portugal herself,
but that is a question with which we have no concern—
between an unfeeling tyrant, and an extravagant, un-
principled libertine, there is, at best, but a choice of evils.
We refer our readers to the accounts. brought by the Li-
verpool steamer for details. . .

NEXT to the critical situation of our national affairs,
the most engrossing subject of public attention is the
approaching election for members of Parliament. What-
ever may have been our opinions as to the majority for,
or the expediency of so large a measure of innovation,
commonly designated reform, as is contained in that bill
which has now become the law. of -the land, we are dis-
posed, as good and loyal subjects, to yield that law im-
plicit obedience, and to give our most zealous exertions
to ma-ke it productive of as much good, or as little harm,
as possible. We ;can :have but one desire, in common
with every sincere well-wisher to his country, namely;
that-the qualityof the' House of Commons may thereby
be improved, and that, as far as is possible,, men may be
chosen members of that body, not merely capable of re-
Presenting our local and particular wants and wishes,
but who are qualified to take. an enlarged and compre-
hensive view of the multifarious foreign, as well as do-
mestic relations and interests of the. country at large ;
men who, unfettered by inconsiderate pledges to: pursue
any particular, line of eonduct, in :relation to subjects
which are, and ever must remain, open to .difference of
opinion, will carefully hear, and 'calmly 'reflect upon the
arguments which may be used for or against them, and
will honestly and conscientiously vote according to the
result of their deliberate judgment, as unaw-ed by their.
fears of a mob, as uninfluenced by the •smiles of a court.
We earnestly call upon our fell6w-townsmen on the pre-
sent occasion to examine' the pretensions of the several'
candilates for their suffrages by this short and 'simple
tA, and not to be led away by plausible professions,
addressed more to their feelings and 'prejudices than to
their judgment. It is an easy matter fo'r' a candidate to,
compose an address, full
,of common-place • declamation,
about matters which feW take the•trouble -to investigate,
and fewer still understand " Lawi equal and humane,—
justice accessible and cheap,—commerce free and univer-'
sal,—religion purified and disenthralledi" these are all
fine sounding words, but what do they amount to ? We
confess ourselves unable to attach:any precise or definite
meaning to such expressions.
Again, "Triennial parliaments,---vote by ballot,,--re-
duction of expenditure,—revision of the system of taxa-
tion,—abolishing the corn laws,—freedom of trade, and
negro emancipation," are all topics excellently calcula-
ted to attract public attention, and to enlist the feelings
of the unreflecting multitude in favour of the candidate
who professes to advocate them ; yet they are matters
about which the best and wisest of our statesmen have
been unable to agree, although each point has been
investigated and discussed with the most earnest de-
sire to arrive at a just conclusion repeatedly during the
last half century. Is it likely that an unfledged as-
pirant for Parliamentary honours should have been
able to jump, all at once, to a sound decision upon
such vast and complicated subjects, which have so long
baffled the efforts of the wisest heads to unravel ? We
shall take the earliest opportunity of reverting to
this subject, and of examining somewhat more minutely
the professions of those who now solicit our suffrages;
meanwhile, we would most earnestly caution the electors
of Liverpool to beware of promising their votes to any
one who pretends'to pledge himself to a particular line of
conduct, without heating bdth.sideS of the question; and
we cannothetter enforce this advice, than by quoting the
opinion of one 'whose ' authority will not be called in
question by reformers especially,—we allude to Sir
.Franeis Burdett, from whose 'address to the electors of
Westminster we make the following extracts:—
" With respect to pledges,. a mental epidemic seems to pre-
vail highly injurious to the public cause,—a system of self-
deception, by which knaves are taught to catch fools !--a
diseased appetite in the people 'to bepromise-crammed, accom-
panied with a fatal belief, that promises may be relied on when
honesty cannot.—Gentlemen," continues Sir Francis, " this
pledging system appears to me •to have in it a quality directly
the reverse of that•which is attributed to mercy,--instead of
being twice blessed, it is twice cursed,—it injures both him who
gives and him who takes,—in fact; it is playing a game at which
knaves are sure to Win.—WhO can doubt that a person being
pledged detracts greatly from his weight and authority? Who
can doubt, that if he is sent to a deliberating assembly, he will
be naturally and rationally listened to with distrust, and eyed
with suspicion ? Thus, your champion is sent forth with a
stain on his escutcheon,—a knight, without his spurs, marked
recreant before he enters the lists."

OUR attention has been directed to a pamphlet which
has been, within the last few days, gratuitously. circulated
in this town. It is -entitled "An Address to the Mem-
bers of the Liverpool- Mechanics' InStitUtiori, delivered
12th September, 1832, by. Samuel Hope, Esq., Presi-
dent." We trust that, in conducting the Standard, our
practice may always correipond. wita our disposition to
avoid personalities. When, however, an individual steps
from the ranks of private life; aseendi the chair of the lec-
turer, and delivers an elaborate address, which he after-
wards publishes, with his name affixed, he assumes all the
rights and responsibilities of. authorship. Our duty re-
quires that we should notice this publication.
Whether we refer to the Matter of the style, there can
be but one opinion as to the "address" being wholly un-
worthy of the man of science andthe scholar. We sin-
cerely regret that a gentleman of Mr. Hope's fair charac-
ter should identify himself with such mischievous absur-
dity as this production conveys lo those to whom it was
immediately addressed. With the better informed of the
community it can, possibly, do no harm. Truly these
are the days of untried theories.. Will our readers be-
lieve that Mr. Hope labours to prove that every branch
of science, botany, .geology, hydraulics, mineralogy, as-
tronomy, mechanics, chemistry; arithmetic,p .geometry,
and algebra—and to• these he adds history--7rnay be ac-
quired without the pupilhaving ever leant to• decypher
the alphabet. This notable project he prOpounds "to
the pupils connected with the Institution,.and to those of
its members who form the working classes." • To the for-
mer he especially addresse,s himself, telling them that
their utter ignorance of even the alphabet." is no absolute
bar to the attainment of all the benefits of the course -of
instruction above described." .His way of effecting this
object. is by means of lectures, which, he says; are a more
expedient mode of communicating ,kriowledge. " than the
dul', tedious, and, comparatively, unprofitable process of
poring over a book." '..11e admits that an accurate know-
ledge of our own vernacular tongue, an acquaintance with
In ;dery languages and the Greek and Roman audio's,
require the study of Woks.; but, as respects the sciences