The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-02-13 00:00:00

COX I'EMPOR.IRY PRESS.

The rapid progress and advance of conservative prin-
ciples may be clearly.and satisfactorily traced in the daily
announcements which occupy our columns of meetings
and dinners either to celebrate the return of candidates
•whose claim upon the confidence and support of the elec-
toiial body was their attachment to the constitution in
church and state, and their expressed determination to
maintain it at all hazards and under all circumstances, or
to make such arrangements, dictated by past experience,
as may secure victory on any future occasion. This is as
it should be.

'The electors of Surrey,animaied by the double triumph
itchieved by their constancy and exertions, have not suf.
fered the feelings which ensured victory to evaporate in
the successful issue of one contest, but manifest •at this
'moment redoubled strength and vigour, while they render
tr.ittst tribute to the gallant officer who represents one
.division of the county, and the excellent and consistent
gentleman to whom the interests of the western portion
.of it ard entrusted, fot their readiness to co-operate :in
-the good work of rescuing the intelligence and respecta-
"bility of-the district from the, miserable burden of faction
and:ignorance which had previously oppressed it.
Nor have the elect Ors of .Kent been backward in follow
in;; up the election 'of"KnatClibnll and a Geary. lire find,
.on reference to the provincial prints, that societies are in
'daily course of formation to secure the independence of
'the county, and by the happy and %v.ll-aimed union of
people of all ranks, having. one object in view, to convince
ineredulous, to confirm the wavering, And to 'animate
the well•dismied with the practical assurance that the
interests of the noble and •the peasant, the wealthy and
the indigent,the exalted and the humble, are, in point of
fact, inseparablesave by the mutual ruin and destine-
tion which are the objects of the wicked and de raved of 1
all classes—Of an 4alite or a Thistlewood, a Bonaparte
or an O'Connell. ..

We-are happy, moreover,-to learn that in'plaees where
:the •tyseof orderand conservative reform•haS met with
a nrOmentary reverse or temporary. heck active measnres
are in progress to prevent the recurrence of a similar
evil; and that hopes, sanguine- and weli-foonded hopes,
-are entertained of a very different issue, even in boroughs
which have hitherto presented the most unfavourable And
least cheering aspect, when-another opportunity -presents
itself for the.exercise of the elective franchise. 10 prove
that we do not .exaggerate the influence, direct and in-
direct, exercised by these manifestations of public feeliug,
and the exertions consequent upon them, we may cite
the case of Leicester. That town was in the year; 1831
. and 1832 completely in the hands Of the radicals and
destructives.. Loud and noisy were the vauoting-s of the
partisans of .that amiable faction. In their judgment, or
at least in their expressions, " no conservative would
ever dare to show his face in their (their, Heaven save
formed, the registration is 'carefully 'attended to, the
the mark !") bog ough. A conservative society is, hoWever,
friends of the cause assemble and eipress their determina-
tion to " dare," if not to " do, nobly." The honest
artizan meets his employer, the industrious tenant his
landlord, aa equal terms, at the festive board.
.He hears
sentiments such as he had been falsely told were alike
alien from conservative hearts and lips.
.He- reasons With
himself—" Can these men be tyrants' or oppressors? Do
we find them so in practice or in our intercourse ?" The',
answer is evident; they acknowledge their mistake; and
• contribute to the formation of auxiliary societies, an ana-
lysis of which we find in•our excellent. contemporary, the
Lei,.,e.yter Herald. An election takes place. The result,
then, speaks for itself. Radicalism is defeated, and con-
servative pricipin obtain a signal triumph. Nor let it be
'forgotten that in Leicester the successful- candidates were
attached by private and personal ties, as well as on public-
- principles, to the administration of Sir Robert Peel; a
:fact which renders the argument more complete and con-
clusive.
Aga,in, then, we urge the formation of similar asso-
ciations in every county and town in the united king-,
'don,. Each .day's.. experience adds to our conviction
that such means, and such exeritons alone are want-
ing to ensure final and complete success and secu-
rity. What excuse can we make, what defence
can we 'plead, if We neglect so obvious, so easy._
nay, so certain a course ? . We may, indeed, talk of tour
loalty;and prpfess.our attachment to the institutions of
the land; but such idle tongue service, such empty pro-
fessions, will but serve to increase our responsibility and
'consequent guilt, who, knowing what was right and good,
and.the'certain means of attaining it, have sacrificed ob-
jects which ought to be held so precious to a mean and
selfish indolence and apathy, or a love of ignoble ease.
" Et propter vitain vivendi perdere cathas."
—Morning Post.

We have read with feelings of contempt and disgust
many of the articles which have appeared in the news.
'papers, avowedly the organs of the ex-ministers and
Other opponents of Sir Robert Peel's government; but
ascregards the question whether Sir Charles Sutton or
Abercromby is the best qualified for the office of,
speaker, we are not aware that any of the London op-'
position writers have deviated from the Course which
they had marked ont for themselves. The Alaneheileri
Groirdian is the only newspaper which has advocated!
'both sides of the question. Will it be believed that our
-contemporary; who on the 31st of January deprecated all
opposition to- the re election of Sir CharleS Sutton, on:
saturdqy last expressed himself "as sincerely desirous of,
seeing the choice of speaker fall on Mr. Abercromby
as
•any one can be, even .of those who in another sphere of
action are exerting themselves to secure that object I I"
Ue who on the 3lst. Of January said that the tvhigs, by
supporting Sir Charles Suttorlyvo years ago, "havie con-
cluded themselves itgaillq.-11..',..e,C1ing to tin Satur-
-day laq,t. publishesr a long-atkiailap4-:whieh.he attenipts
to
birrgtirv, :on rounds-utterly firttenable, the opposition
'which these same whigs hive dn-leratint!d upon, and his
otiin change of .Ue
tell: as, iel-elielici strri of njusStiir-
-ficatlor,, that if his opioion as to the r
Charles Sutton had undergone no change, he should have
:opposed.it for the
4,mio.e reason that the men he, is. con--
tent 19'1.00W rts are ;trtn,gly set against it. Such
is the independt,:ict-! of th, :.Vanche•yterquardial! The
.other circumstance upon winch our contemporary- at._
'tempts to justify his change of opinion, is that of the late
speaker leaving " several times in the coursed the last.
session pi rposely thrown in the way of lite tories an advan-
tage over the government." On the 31st tilt. Or ccn-
temporary "qoes,tioned the justice of this imputation ;"
but on Saturday he believed that there is a degree of•

_ ~,

We refer our readers to an article which we have copied
from a. Sunday paper, 40 which appears in another column
tinder the head " Effects of the New Poor Law Act,'.' It

will he seen that persons whose character and re
. ,• •
putation place them above suspicion-411y are CO)9nel
Nipier, Add iral -Trollope, Captain Burt, and others-
4pPealed to the magistrates 9f a certain provincial dis-
trict to relieve sonic unhappy paupers from the cruel
treatment tc. Web .they were subjected by an assistant
overseer. The magistrates, it seems, found that-under
the heartless poor law act they had no power 'to remedy
ilea shoCking evil to which thesediumane gentlemen had
. called their attention. That unchristian law—really and
in, fact more horrible than the romantic :obligation of
Shylock's bond—required that a, resident gentry and
.pl,a&-,istracy should stand by and see their-fellow-creatures
r!afirer or perish—the law restraining these natural
guardians of the poor from alleviating their pains or
saving them from death. All they could do was
to apply to the Central Board in London.. We
need hardly -say that they had recourse to this for-
ltirn hope withent delay. But what was the reply from
the London tribunal, that holds in its hands the life 9r
death of every stricken pauper in the provinces ? Why,
that, " the engagements of their assistant commissioners
were at that time so urgent to meet the demands of their
services in Other, par is of the country that no one of them
cnuld be detached to investigate the case." Thus; we are
to have the pour perish from ill-treatment, because our
late ministers and late-parliament would commit to a few
persons in 'London the regulation of every parish in
England and 'Wales! The commissioners did indeed
send. papers to the parishLoflicers—ay, copies of the
.charge that they Were killing or sulr4ifing their feljow-
-creatures to die when human aid could rase
Papers on such a subject And the commissioners re-
ceived answers to the papers.they sent. Whatunswers?
The narratiye states that thti were unsatisfactory ;"
and sent triSt 4a assistaot,commissioper, a Mr. Mott, was
despatched from the Central Board; but 'nark, :,diristian
•reader, " TWO orthe paupers DIED skortly BEFORE the
arrival of 'tire assistant 'commissioner." Coroner's in-
quests were held upon the bodies of these wretched
brings, and here are their verdicts:7—Yerdiet on Harriet
Slinns—" That she came by her death byriatural e ruses ;
but we
.flnd that. there ,was culpable negligence on the
part of the parish-officers in the first part of her illness,
during, her residence in the workhouse of the parish."
Verdict on Thomas Hill, the idiot—" By the visitation
of (4.41t1 he came to his death; but the jurors are of opi-
nion that if proper ,nutriment had beets supplied to the
said Thomas Hill, he might have existed longer; and
they. therefore pass a censure on
!he parish-officers."
We will not trust ourselves to comment upon this
'horrible occurrence. It is true that the poor law act is a
.part of the law of the land, but there is nothing in mo-
rality, nothing in the custom of this country, which re-
quires merit o cease from exposing arid calling for the
repeal of a hat law. Anil sq we deal with this execrable
statute. That any but'an heathen people should endure'
it long is utterly impossible, when cases like these occur,
and the crime of infanticide, as the journals of each day
'denionstrate, 'is so fearfully on the increase. That this
pct./oust, in'effect, be' repealed, we have no doubt; but
at the same time, the fact that such a law did once 'exist
in this christian and .civiiiied land will for 'centuries to
come be a deep and damning stain both upon the minis
ters that proposed and the parliament that passed it.
Times.