The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-12-31 00:00:00

bodings of ill. We trust we shall be so. But we
must, nevertheless, insist that unless by Conserva-
tive watchfulness, in the year to come the evils
which we have pointed to will assuredly be accele-
rated and ultimately descend upon our heads.

We beg to call the attention of the authorities of
our town to the ruffianly and disgraceful proceedings
of a set of fellows who weekly desecrate the evenings
of the Sabbath, by holding Repeal meetings, at
which all kinds of uproarious brawls take place, in
Paradise-street. If we have hitherto rightly under-
stood the genius of the British laws, such meetings
as these are not such as are allowed by them in this
Protestant country. Toleration to Popery we give--
toleration to dissent we give—we admit of the right
of free discussion ; but political meetings held on
the evenings of the Sabbath, at which money is
raised for seditious purposes, and unseemly broils
indulged in, are, assuredly, not amongst the things
which ought to he permitted in the heart of a well-
ordered and loyal community; and we trust, for the
sake of decency and good order, that they will be at
once put down.

We have, in another article, expressed our fears
of the assaults meditated by Sir Robert Peel's Go-
vernment against the integrity of the Protestant
institutions of our land ; and that the prosperity
which, partly by the aid of his measures, has visited
the commercial communities of the empire during
the past year, will interfere to prevent any Conser-
vative opposition to those attacks, by which the
permanence of an administration, so pregnant with
benefits to the pockets of some of its supporters,
may be endangered. Since writing the article, we
have perceived the following paragraph, which ap-
peared in the Dublin Evening Mail of Friday last :

" ANTI-TRINITA RIAN COL LEGES.—We believe we may
now state with certainty that Sir James Graham, and
that portion of the Cabinet which encourage every thing
anti-Protestant in Ireland, have come to the resolution of
founding two colleges—the one in Ulster, the other in
Munster; Belfast and Cork being the localities fixed
upon, in opposition to, if not in rivalry with Trinity
College, Dublin. It is, we understand, decided upon,
that these new establishments are to be founded and pro-
vided for by special charters and parliamentary grants,
independent of all other funds ; and that for the present
they are to have the power of granting degrees in medi-
cine, law, and arts ; and, of course, for the sake of old
Ireland and Lillibolero, in music. For the present—
mark for the present—the anti-Trinitarian Stinkomalees
—the Back-lane Colleges revived—are not to have the
power of granting degrees in divinity. This is a con-
cession for which we hope the Provost, Fellows, and
Scholars of Trinity College will feel, as they ought to do,
abundantly grateful."

Surely such an announcement ought to excite
every true friend of his Church, and of that noble
institution to which the sister country, and even
our own town, owes so greatly the spread of ‘Pro-
testant truth amongst us, to hurl their indignant
reprobation against its authors. But no. A few
of the honest operatives of the land may be induced
to stand side by side with their clergy in opposition
to such an attempt to endow Popery and Infidelity
at the public cost; but the leading members of the
Conservative body will hang back and crouch be-
neath the encroaching foot of utilitarianism, and
the contempt of their more humble, yet more ho-
nest, labourers in the cause of the Constitution,
exclaiming, as they cling to their fast-filling money-
bags, in the spirit of Horace's miser—

" Populus me sibilat
Ac mihi plaudo, simul ac contemplor
Nummos in arcs I"

May we ask of them for whom it is—to conciliate
what faction it is—that Sir Robert Peel has resolved
upon these outrages upon one of the noblest Pro-
testant Universities in the empire The character
of that faction—alas it is almost too numerous and
potent to be called by the name—is illustrated, far
better than it could he by any description of ours,
in the narrative, which will he found in another part
of our paper, of the late infamous proceedings at
the funeral of the Earl of Limerick. It is to con-
ciliate the offscourings of the Repeal and Popish
parties that Sir Robert Peel consents to throw down
the strongest Buttress, which stands between them
and the preservation from ruin of the Established
Protestant Church in Ireland ! It is to win the af-
fections (!) of men, whose Hates, handed down from
father to son, through a period of nearly fifty years,
have just developed themselves in a violation of the
decencies which ought to attend the solemn rites of
Christian burial of the meanest of their fellow-men,
and a wolfish attempt to sacrafice to their fury even
the insensate ashes of its illustrious object. The
murderous rabble of Limerick demand " Secular
Education"; a conservative administration are about
to found for their use a University r We turn from
the subject with sorrow and shame.

THE FUNDS, SATURDAY NIGHT.—The amount of
business transacted at the Stock Exchange to-day was
limited, and prices scarcely so well supported as yester-
day. The final quotation of Consols for the account this
afternoon was 1001 to ; Bank Stock left off 210 to 211 ;
Exchequer Bills 625. to 645. pm. ; Three per Cents. Re-
duced 1001 to ; Three and a Quarter per Cents 1033
to 1; and India Bonds 775. to 795. pm. In the foreign
stock and share markets the jobbers, in the absence of
more profitable occupation, were employed in arranging
their half-monthly accounts, which will be finally settled
on Monday. Although several of the speculative securi-
ties have shown a good deal of fluctuation, it is to be
hoped we shall have to record no defaulters. The value
of cash for accommodation in these markets ranges from
5 per cent. and upwards, and lower rates perhaps may
with some parties be accepted, where security is of the
first character. Spanish Five per Cents. closed 271 to A ;
the Three per Cents. 38 to 1; Russian 119 to 120: Pe-
ruvian 29i to pi ; Portuguese 60 to 61; Mexican 36# to
#; the Deferred 16+ to 1; Dutch Two and a Half per
Cents. 641 to ; the Five per Cents. 99 to 1; Danish 89
to 90; Columbian 141 to 1; Chillan 100 to 102; Buenos
Ayres 39 to 41 ; Brazilian 883 to 8n ; and Belgian 102
to 103.

ACCIDENT TO THE VENERABLE ARCHDEACON CL &EKE.
—During morning service at Eastham, on Sunday last,
an accident, we are happy to say not of a serious nature,
occurred to this venerable divine. The Rev. Archdeacon
was proceeding from his pew to assist in the Communion
service, when, it is supposed, his foot caught the edge of
the bass matting of a step in the aisle, and he fell pros-
trate upon the floor. At first it was imagined that the
accident was the result of a fit, and considerable commo-
tion was excited, numbers of the congregation rushing
from their pews to assist the venerable gentleman ; but
we believe the cause was as above stated. A considerable
suffusion of blood from the face flowed down over his ca-
nonicals, which were further saturated by the water sprin-
kled upon him to restore consciousness ; and after a short
time he was led into the vestry, after which the service pro-
ceeded. From enquiries made subsequently, we learn, that
although unable for some time to leave the vestry, the
archdeacon was not materially injured, although severely
shaken. The rev. gentleman is, we learn, in his 84th
year.

THE LETTER CARRIERS.—We are gratified to learn
that the memorial of this body has at length received at-
tention in the proper channel, and that certain inquiries
have been set on foot, preparatory, we hope, to the prayer
of the memorial being, in some degree, complied with.
But we must confess that we were much surprised to learn
that one main inquiry was, how much each postman rea-
lised, annually, by what are termed " Christmas Boxes."
To make this uncertain and fluctuating contingency a con-
nected link of consideration in their salaries, appears ri-
diculous, if not paltry, since the amount will vary, ac-
cording to temper and circumstances, and, in many dis-
tricts, be too trifling for any one to notice. An import.
ant branch of our public revenue ought not to parley upon
such trivial casualties; and it is not perfectly consonant
with that good faith that ought to be held with the public,
to make calculations upon their freedom of heart and
friendly dispositions, as an excuse for withholding a full
and regular salary to the real working branches of the
Post-office department; nay, it will appear in the public
eye something in the shape of an additional tax imposed
by the head department. We say, do the handsome thing
at once, by conceding such addition to their wages as the
merits of the case will clearly warrant, and not conde-
scend to pauperize their servants by expectancies of so
frivolous and changeable a nature as " Christmas Boxes."
DANGEROUS FOG.—Yesterday morning, and throughout
the day, a dense fog set in in this town and neighbour-
hood, so that gas was required in the public offices and
places of business. At some periods an object could not
be distinctly seen across the main streets, and the omni-
buses and other vehicles had to proceed with caution.
On the river the vapour was generally still more thick,
and passed in successive clouds along the water, so that
vessels were frequently not to be distinguished beyond a
few yards. The ferry steamers had, as might be expected,
to keep a sharp look-out, and were frequently in no little
danger of collision. During nearly the whole day, the
vessels at anchor in the stream, those on their way, and
also the floating landing stages, kept up a constant ringing
of bells, gongs, &c., to avert accidents ; but, so far as we
can yet learn, nothing serious occurred. The wind,
which on Sunday prevailed from the southward and
eastward, ranged, during the fog, from south to about west.
—lt may be remarked, as rather extraordinary in this
part of the country at least, that the fog was not continu-
ous to any great degree in any particular locality, but
changed alternately in a short time from dense to thin ;
so that at one time, at the same place, the blue sky was
" almost" seen in patches above and the sun " shining"
but with diminished lustre ; at another time the whole
sky was obscured, and the sun, if not entirely hid, re-
sembled a ball of crimson colour. From the same cause,
(the successive clouds of fog,) the higher masts of proxi-
mate vessels in the river were distinctly seen over the ap-
parent smoke, and in the next minute their hulls only.
One or two slight collisions took place in the river but
no material damage was done.