The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-07-03 00:00:00

CONTEMPORARY PRESS.

I Yesterday the Princess de .Beira, the Prince of Astu-
rias. and the two Intantes of Spain, embarked-at Wool-
wich in the government: steamer Pluto,' Capt. Duffel],
with their respective suites, for Rotterdam, On their way.
to Turin. With the exception of the farour of a govern-
ment xeSsel for their :conveyance, the. :least that could
have been' granted after the repeated-instances otperstinal
danger to which they, hare been exposed; no courtesy or
protection was shown
,to those 'illustrious '.exiles. 'They
went on board withent receiving any of those dernonstra,
I,tions of -consideration- and respect invariably .paid to
persons of- their rank. This, may be a sign of the times;
but it is in a. bad taste. The Princess Tie Beira is the
daughter of the late King John VI. of Portugal, the old-
est ally of the British crown, and who during his lifetime
suffered severely through his attachment to us. Since
she resided in: England it must be regretted that the
Princes's has not experienced that hoSpitality to which
her rank arid amiable • manners entitled her. This will
be painful to those-who know her. predilections in our
favour, or her esteem for our national character, and re-
collect the friendly attentions which she invariably paid
to. EnglisliMen in Portugal, Brazil, and Spain. Her
.Royal Highness travels under the title of the DucheSs
de Arquips; the Prinee of Asturias. under that of the
Duke de Viana; the Infante Don. Juan.as -the Marquis
de los Arcos; and -the Infante Don Fernando as the
Marquis de Salvatierra. In the selection of these names
the Princess evinces her devotion to the Carlist 'cause,
and her romantic regard for the Navarrese, who hare so
gallantly contended for the throne of her brother-in-law.
All four places are memorable in the present contest, and
all in Navarre.—Morning Post.

The speech of Sir Robert Peel, on proposinc, an
amendment of the bill for the reform of Municipal Cor-
porations, to the effect that a certain qualification should
be required in the membeis of the governing body,
avoided all abstract or theoretic reasoning upon the sub-
ject, and presented to the House of Commons and the
country an admirable display of practical information and
statesman-like sagacity.
The examples and illustrations by which the right
hon.' baronet adorned • and enforced his argument could
pot fail to work upon the minds of his auditors the effect
which
.he intended, namely, to convince them of the
justice and the prudence of the amendment which he
proposed. But the speech must have had an effect, we
imagine, greater even and more extensive than that
which it was intended to produce. The argument was
meant to show that the proposed amendment was wise
and good. What it did really demonstrate was, not only
that the amendment was wise and good, but that it was
in'thi true and only honourable sense of the word a very
popular amendment. Sir Robert Peel pointed out• the
kind of municipal government which had been found to
work well, and to afford general satisfaction, in all the
large towns of England in which a corporation by charter
is not established. That government in all its depart-
ments and in every instance is composed of persons in
whom the legislature has required some fixed and deter.;
minate qualication, either as Possessors of property to a
certain amount or as the occupiers of houses rated at a
certain fixed sum per annum. • The boards which super.
intend the paving, lighting, watching, and other local
affairs in all our large unincorporated towns, without, we
believe, a single exception, are constituted,
.by act of
parliament, upon the principle that some qualification
having reference to property is indispensable in the
selection of the persons who are to compose them. These
boards have generally been found faithful to their trust
and efficient in the execution of its duties. They have in
very few instances, if in any, afforded cause of complaint
or dissatisfaction to the inhabitants at large.
Here, then, are fifty examples of legislation for the
attainment, of objects either absolutely identical with, or
strictly analogous to, those which the Corporation Bill
professes to have in view. And every example is , a
successful one. Why, it may reasonably be demanded,
amidst the blaze of light which these examples shed upon
the subject, should government prefer to take an import-
ant, perhaps an irrevocable, step in a direction where
there-is nothing but darkness? Why Strike Out a, new
path when there is already in existence a broad • and
smooth highway leading directly and securely to the
desired object? Why reject all that experience has taught
when it has taught so much and so well, for sake of•a
blind hazardous speculation ? Why, in a word, prefer
chance to certainty--danger to safetv—darkness to light?
We can imagine—and this is the only way. of account-
ing for the course government has determined to pursue
in this matter—that Lord John Russell and his colleagues
may have expected to secure to their measure a greater
degree of popularity by, rejecting the principle of quali-
fication, than by adopting it. But even this, apology,
poor and inadequate as it would be, seems to rest upon
no solid foundation. In most of the cases in which the
legislature has exacted a qualification for the members of
local boards or trusts, the bills were framed and intro-
dticed to parliament, in pursuance Of.the spontaneous
suggestion of the inhabitants of the towns whose affairs
were to be subjected to the new management. How can
it be doubted that the principle of qualification is a popu-
lar principle in England when in such a multitude of
instances we find considerable portions of the people, not
submitting, however, cheerfully, to the application of
that principle, in deference merely to the authority and
wisdom of the legislature, but distinctly suggesting •to
parliament the expediency of adopting and enforcing it,
as a valuable guarantee to them that affairs in which they
are interested will be faithfully and judiciously adminis-
tered ? We cannot conceive any other test of the popu-
larity of a principle so satisfactory and conclusive as that
which is afforded by such spontaneous suggestions and
applications to the legislature, proceeding from masses
Of the people, not at a period or upon an occasion of
political' excitement, but • when their minds are occupied
exclusively by the calm and sober consideration of what
is best f'o'r the general convenience, advantage, and
security of the town in which they reside.
A division took place on the amendment of 'Sir
Robert Peel, when, as is not unfrequentiv the case in the
House of Commons, all ,the argument c, liavin been on
one side, the majority of numbers was found•to'be on the
other. • The necessary correction of tire clause.will now
devolve upon the Rouse of Lords; and we•do not regret
that an opportunity is thus afforded.to their lordships-to
do at once a very wise and a very popular thing.
We cannot quit•the subject of •the-Municipal Corpora-
tion Bill without referring our ministerial contemporaries
to the explicit acknowledgment of Lord John Russell of
the fairness and candour with which; his political oppo,
nents in the House of Commons .trove treated that im-
portant measure. The ministerial journals have' been
labouring incessantly, since the-.bill was first introduced,
to impress upon their readers the notion that the Conser;-
vative party are desirous to defeat it, or,, if ,that be. int.;
possible, to obstruct and delay it as much as possible:
They will now find that the leader. of their own party
entertains a different opinion; that although a person by
no means disposed, as indeed he cannot well afford, to do
nlore than justice to his antagonists, he could not do so
much less than justice as to withhold. the avOwal that
whatever obstruction or delay the bill had experienced,
no portion of either could fairly be ascribed -to the
opposite side of the house.------Morning Pay/.

The new church bill, or rather church abolition bill, for
Ireland, is a fair, however melancholy,-illustration, as it
is a direct and necessary consequence, of theprinciple on
which this ministry came into office. It is a popish meat
sure. It is an O'Connell measure. It is a measure which
Lord Morpeth vainly attempts to disguise or palliate un-
der the name of promoting-religious " PEACE," as if op-
pression were - "peace,"- spirtitttion- " peace," or pro;
testant humiliation " peace;' ,or as if popish supremacy
ever could bring any peace but that of death to political
freedom, to social happiness, or, in what regards the
united kingdom, to its union and stability.
The tone •Of Lord Morpeth's speech is as promising to
popery as are the provisions of his bill. His lordship
pretty plainly apologizes to.the landlords for. not robbing
the church to a greater extent than. 30 per cent. for their.
benefit—the poor, ground-down, ill-treated Irish land-
lords! and to the " people of Ireland," viz., O'Connell;
and Co., for leaving any church at all in the country,:
which be admits he does only because be .finds.it there
already, since, if he had not, being a "sane man," (?)
he never would have dreamed of founding one. This,
spirit, we grieve to say, runs through the whole of the;
noble viscount's oration. He seems to regard his own.
meditated work as a paltry, pusillanimous, over-scrupu-
lous, ". bit-by-bit" subversion of the established church
of Ireland—and casts a deprecating eye to the repealers,:
as much as to say, " I would do more for you, if I had
not still the prejudices of these d— 'English protestants
to deal with."

We pass over, without much comment, the first branch
of the noble lord's machination—that, namely, which
goes to the commutation of tithe, which he manages,
after the fashion of his party, to make far more complex,
and far less complete, than the bill of Sir' H. Hardinge—
seeing that be dabbles in the same paying backward and
forward, taking away an ell of income from the clergy;
and repaying them an inch from some other (and in the
present case a non-existing)' source, as in the whigmea-
' sure of this time twelvemonth ;---then again throwing
the whole principle of redemption overboard, the most
solid security of the. church revenue in after times—al,
though he' finishes, to do him justice,
.with that very same
plan for remitting 'to the clergy the undistributed frag-
ment of their million, which"of course they, could not re-
ply, that very same plan proposed by. Sir; Henry Har-
dinge; but met by. the..wnig-radicais of last. March with
unblushing and inhuman clamour. Well do we: .te7
collect that night. The whig-radical opposition, amongst
whom then sat I,qrd John Russell, would insist that by
the original terms of their grant to the clergy, the, latter
were bound-to-repay the million to the Treasury, or as
meta of it-as'tbey had received out of the arrear of tithe
which they -were' to -recover: 'Yet these whiz-radicals
were precisely the persons who declared that not a