The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-01-01 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

he has now commented at least as unhappily on this same
speech, after he professes to have read it in a trustworthy
form.

Unless our eyes deceive us, we read in the last Mercury
the following words : " Mr. Stanley and his colleagues
may not choose to identify themselves, as ministers, with
any ulterior measure affecting the Reform Bill, such as
abridging the duration of Parliaments, extending the
suffrage, or voting by ballot. In whatever light they
may view
.these changes, they will not, it, seems, bring
them forward themselves."

What means this hypothetical language, on points
which Mr. Stanley's speech has put as directly and cate-
gorically as it was possible to do? what inference could
be drawn from this paragraph, but that there was no
clear intimation, in Mr.. Stanley's speech, of the course
which the members of the Government, as members of
the Government, would be bound to pursue ?
A little lower, however, the MerCury lets the cat out
of the bag.
" When Mr. Stanley declares it to be the determination
of ministers to resist every effort for an extension of
Parliamentary Reform." &c.
But this the ingenious Editor contrives to interpret as
merely a refusal to proceed unless "pushed on by the
irresistible vox populi:" i. e: the Unions and the Press.
According to our interpretation this " irresistible" voice,
of the Mercury and its friends, is exactly what ministers
are pledged to resist. Let our readers judge whether
we are warranted in our interpretation. Mr. Stanley
says, in p. 5 of his speech,—
"If therefore, gentlemen, it should be attempted in
another Parliament to bring forward any of those sweep-
ing motions for shortening the duration of Parliaments,
and extending yet further the elective franchise, or of
introducing that which I believe is falsely styled the
protection of the ballot, to those measures, as individuals,
and as members of the Government,—we are bound, and
I announce at once and openly .our determination—to
give a decided opposition. (Applause.)"
We have looked in vain for any qualifying appendage
to this manly__declaration, for any tiling bearing the re-
motest resemblance to the stultifying and nullifying
comment of the Mercury, " unless pushed on by the irre-
sistible vox populi."

PROSPECTS OF THE COUNTRY.—There are two essen-
tially different characters, either of which great popular
movements may assume. In the earlier stages of their
progress, all their features are alike : but, at a certain
point, their paths diverge. Unhappily the name remains
unchanged, long after the substance has undergone
essential alterations.

They commence, of course, under the title of resist-
ance to oppression and abuse. We say, of course, be-
cause, whatever be the real motives of those who stimu-
late and direct the movement, they are compelled to
adopt these as their ostensible principles. If they acted
otherwise, they could not rouse the people, nor obtain
a sufficient mass of physical power to work their will ;
and, unhappily, there commonly exists quite enough of
misery among the lower orders, to form a groundwork
for political agitation.
After the attack has proceeded to a certain point, and
the assailants are, in a measure, released from those pru-
dential restraints which kept them on their good beha-
viour ; after, in short, having acquired a pfeponderating
power, they are compelled, by the progress of events, to
indicate their determination as to the mode in which that
power is to be made use of and applied : a new crisis has
,arrived, and two alternatives are open. Either the domi-
nant party sets earnestly to work with those measures of
practical amendment which it is now enabled to model at
will; or, neglecting measures of practical good, it car-
ries still farther its desires for abstract change, and
thereby manifests, too late, perhaps, for present preven-
tion of the evil; but not too late for the instruction of
posterity, the baseness and insincerity of its professions;
and shows its intention to have been, not to remedy
abuse, but to snatch its pr ofits from the hands of others,
in order to enjoy and to enlarge them for itself ; not to
minister fairly to the wants and interests of all classes of
society, but to play one class against another, until all
are enfeebled, impoverished, and reduced to such a state
of lassitude and indifference, that they have lost alike the
feelings of appetite for power, and of repugnance to
oppression,—till they have gone through so long and so
exhausting a course of excitement, that suffering itself be-
comes far more endurable than exertion. This is the har-
vest time of your, true Revolutionist; he fills the vacant
throne of power for himself, and for himself alone.

In such a crisis as this,- our beloved country is at pre-
sent placed. It now remains to see what will be th e
course of the party which has carried the Reform Bill
into a law. It will either direct its attention to measures
of practical legislation, in that case deserving, and, we
hope, insuring the support of all true Conservatives; or
it will lend itself as fatally as heretofore, to measures of
wild and indiscriminating change in the institutions of
the country, and commit itself once more to the Political
Unions and Revolutionary Press.
That Press will still continue, whatever may befal, to
labour faithfully in its vocation of falsehood and slander.
That would be a wise and good government which should
manifest an intention to resist all further advances towards
republicanism, and seriously to bestir itself to amend
our practical legislation ; to preserve social order, by the
extinction of illegal unions; to discountenance the licen-
tiousness as well as maintain the liberty of the press ; to
foster the trading interests of this country, by avoiding
all that shakes public credit and confidence ; above all,
to consider and relieve the condition of our peasantry,
crippled in physical comforts and.debased in mental inde-
pendence by the operation of the poor laws in particular,
but also by the unhappy Beer Law; and to provide some
antidote for that bane to the morals, and to the health of
our manufacturing population, the present factory system.
Particularly must they attend to these latter points. No
government which now omits them, can deserve the
support of honest men. It is in vain that the Conserva-
tives would exert themselves to maintain our institutions :
—those institutions are not worth the maintaining, un-

less something, unless much be' done, to elevate the con- '
dition and character. of that population for whose use and
benefit they are designed. As fellow-labourers in this
cause, we hail alike men of all parties. Would to God
that we could lay aside, in reality and truth, the jea-
lousies of party, and the appetite for power, and seriously
and dispassionately consider those awful and overwhelm-
ing difficulties and dangers which are in store for us,
unless the wisdom and strength of the Legislature devise
a remedy for evils now rapidly eating into the very heart
of our national character.
A national character is of slow growth, and therefore
also of slow consumption. But its restoration is slower
than either. Under the influence of silently, but most
effectually, operating causes, the national character of
the lower classes in this country, which forms, be it
remembered, the only sure basis of national greatness
and glory, has been gradually declining. In the manu••
facturing districts, children are brought up in alarming
depravity and ignorance ; in the agricultural parts of
the country, that sense of independence, which is so
intimately interwoven with the feeling of moral obliga-
tion, is attenuated almost to extinction ; and as, if one
plague more were wanting to complete the ruin of the
English peasant, we have been visited with the inunda-
tion of beer shops, caused by the act of 1830. With
these evils is connected the deficiency in the means of
the church establishment to meet the growing evil, and
the misappropriation of some of those funds which it
actually does possess.
Our rulers must remember their duty, as before God,
to provide, up to the uttermost of their means, for the
spiritual as well as the physical improvement of the
people whom he has committed to their care. Let our
Government reform the Poor Laws, substituting, if it
be practicable, the system of spade cultivation; let them
extinguish the beer shops; let them regulate the factory
system ; let them provide for the Christian education of
the people; let them proceed cautiously-and sparingly
with all changes, except such as are of an evidently
practical• tendency, and they will confer on the country
inestimable advantages; they will redeem their own
characters in the eyes of its most respectable and influen-
tial inhabitants; they will more than counterbalance the
evil they have done, by their rash Reform Law and the
unscrupulous means they used to carry it. They will do
all this; but will they receive the support of the Politi-
cal Unions and thßevolutionary Press ? We trust they
may : a portion at least will be reclaimed; a large portion
we fear will not. But they will have the support of the
king, of the legislature, of the religion, influence,
and property of the country ; of the nation at large,
from the highest to the lowest, except where small
fractions of it are unfortunately misled, by the abomin-
able machinations of demagogues whose intentions are
simply these,—first, to delude their followers to the de-
struction of others, and then, to destroy those followers
themselves.

IT was not our intention to have noticed a correspond-
ence which appeared in the Liverpool papers of last week,
and in which the editor of the Albion figures conspicu-
ously, but the attempt which this individual makes in his
paper of yesterday, to justify the assertion of a wilful and
deliberate falsehood, demands exposure. We will, very
briefly, review the facts. The article which has given rise
to the correspondence appeared in the Albion of 24th
December, under the head of," The late Election." After
stating, that at a meeting of a deputation from Lord Sandon
and Sir Howard Douglas's committees on the Wednes-
day morning of the election, " the Douglasites proposed
to commence proceedings on Thursday, by paying the
old freemen their wages, as an inducement to vote for
Lord Sandon and. Sir Howard Douglas, and which propo-
sition was rejected by the Sandonites ;" the article con-
cludes thus :—" What the worthy aldermen (Leyland and
Robinson) proposed to do was, we have not the slightest
doubt, actually, carried into effect, and brought the free-
men forward in overwhelming numbers to vote for Lord
Sandon and Sir Howard Douglas," &c. &c.

The editor of the Albion admits, in his letter of 25th
December, that when called on by Mr. P. Wright, the
law agent of Sir Howard Douglas's committee, " he felt
not the slightest hesitation. in informing him, that the
paragraph was in consequence of a communication he had
with Mr. James- Heyworth." In the same letter the edi-
tor of the Albion writes—" I have not the slightest doubt
that his (Mr. Heyworth's). object (in calling on me) was
to state to me, personally, that I had, in my editorial ca-
' pacity, been guilty of an injustice to Lord Sandon's
friends, in expressing, in my paper, my conviction that
treating and bribery had been practised at the late elec-
t hon." Knowing such to be the object of Mr. Hey-
worth's communication, the editor of the Albion puts for-
ward a statement as directly opposite as possible, assert-
ing that Lord Sandon's election was effected by bribery,
in paying the freemen's wages ; and, for this statement,
he has the unblushing effrontery to give Mr. Heyworth
as his authority. The purpose of the respectable gen-
tleman whose name has thus been introduced, in refer-
ring to what had passed at the meeting of the deputations,
was, manifestly, to show that a proposal to pay even the
small sum of two shillings and sixpence to every free-
man was decidedly rejected. His naming the leading
and influential members of the two committees, who
were present, leaves the matter perfectly free from any
doubt. Yet it is upon this communication that the edi-
tor .of the Albion dares to charge, in direct terms, such
men as Mr.. Leyland and Mr. Robinson With bribery.
The letter in yesterday's Albion, from the editor, is
one of the most abject publications we have ever read.
Having asserted, in his letter of 25th December, that
Mr. Heyworth expressed his willingness to the statement
being made Inown, the editor, in his paper
.of yesterday,
says, " the supposition that the statement would be pub-
lished never, it is probable, crossed Mr. Heyworth's
mind. I inferred," he adds, " from his statement, that
the deputies held what might be considered a close, if not
a secret meeting; and that when_ he used the words—' a
proposal was made to us,'—the proposal proceeded, as a
matter of course, from the Douglasites to the Sandonites."
The affected anxiety of the editor of the 41bion to ,ap-

peal to the public in vindication of his character is very
ludicrous. He may compose and comfort himself with
the consciousness that no one can injure his character.
There are some men, whom it is impossible to lower in
public estimation.

THE BALL, last night, at the Town-hall, for the benefit
the ladies' charity, (about 900 tickets having been sold,) was
attended by about 780 persons. The dancing commenced soot
after nine, and continued until an early hour this morning.—
We regret to add, that we did not notice amongst the number
those influential families belonging to this town and its neigh
bourhood, whose presence would have given a tone, and bee'
an encouragement to other individuals, to come forward in th
cause of charity.
On Friday last the half-yearly public examination of th
children educated in the Corporation Free-schools took placf
before the worshipful the Mayor, and a highly respectable
though not very numerous, party of ladies and gentlemen.
The manner in which the children acquitted themselves ii
reading, arithmetic, and their religious exercises, evinced
perfect acquaintance with the various studies in which the'
were examined, and met with the approbation of all present
The Mayor, through the Rev. Rector Campbell, by whom th
examination was conducted, intimated to the children the satit
faction he had experienced in witnessing their proficiency, am
expressed a hope that they would carry with them into private
life, the lessons of order and piety which had there been meal
cated, and that, through the blessing of the Almighty, the'
might grow with their growth, and strengthen with the;'
strength.—The modest and cleanly appearance of the girl
was particularly observable, and gave a fair promise of thei
becoming, in after-life, not eye-servants, but servants of God.
in discharging the duties of their several stations with humilit'
and cheerfulness, and obedience to their superiors.

LONDON LATEST NEWS.

(From our Correspondent.)

LONDON, Saturday Evening, half-past 7 o'clock.
The chief topic of public attention to-day has been the future
position of the Dutch Monarch, whose refusal to deliver up his fort;
at the nod of Marshal Gerard, has caused some alarm among our spe•
culators who discern in it the germ of future war. The consequene(
of this has been that Consols for the account, which on Thursday were
done as high as 86, have been to-day at 851, closing at 851 1
In our Foreign market a similar reaction has taken place. Th(
highest quotation of the Northern Bonds since our last advice, haS.
been 1001 for Russi n, 701 for Danish, 43 for Dutch, and 761 for Be/
g►ian. The closing quotation for Dutch was 421 I, for Belgian, 754
for Russian, 994 1004, and for Danish, 691 70. There has been sour
little enquiry for Spanish Bonds within the last day or two, and th(
quotation has advanced to 164 4, which is the closing price this af.
ernoon. The general belief that M. Zea Bermudez will not long re•
tain office at Madrid, is the reason given for the improvement. W
have been without any intelligence of the slightest moment from Por-
tugal for the last few days, and there is no business doing in either the
Stock or the Scrip.

Some mention of a new Austrian Loan has been made within thi
last day or two, but we know nothing certain on the subject. On
corroborating event is that Mr. Solomon Rothschild passed throng]
Frankfort, on his way to Vienna, a short time since, and has arrived
in that capital.

Our last accounts from the Mauritius state that a violent tempest
had destroyed full one-third of the crop, the loss to the Planters being
extreme. Sugars were quoted at 41 to 5 piastres. At Bourbon, thr
finest sugars are at 61, and coffee is quoted at 15 piastres per bale.
We learn from St. Petersburgh that, up to the Ist Oct., the exports
from Taganrock during the year were 9,336,608 roubles of tnerchndi.
and the imports were 5,563,560. The exports from Marianpol during
the same period were 2,682,054 roubles.

We observe an account from Bombay, stating the receipt of a lett
from Persia, with intelligence that the Prince, Abbas Mirza, had 0.
dered 30,000 men to march upon Hirat, and that this movement wa4
only the prelude to an advance upon India conjointly with Russi
This, whether a mere on dit or possessing any foundation, seems
have caused some excitement at Bombay.
We find, by the accounts from Oran, to the 24th ult. that the French
had succeeded in establishing regular markets there, which had begun
to be well attended.

The latest accounts from Malacca confirm the intelligence of the ter-
mination of the Malacca war, by the capture of Tabu, the residence of
the Pang,uloo, who had fled into the interior. A reward of 1000 dollars
had been offered for his apprehension.

Our port letters of this morning inform us of two Dutch vessels sent
in by our men of war ; one the Paramaribo, from Surinam, bound to
Amsterdam, sent into Margate Roads, by H. M. S. Volage • and the
other the Indien, from Batavia, bound to Rotterdam, sent into Ports'
mouth, by H. M. S. Ada.