The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-01-11 00:00:00

diminish those that arise from wealth and power. Translations
might be restricted, and glaring inequalities of income adjusted;
but the exclusion of Bishops from Parliament is too grave a
subject to be decided by youthful politicians at dinner tables, and
election booths, and in the inconsiderate effusions of ephemeral
pamphleteers. We arc not now legislating for an infant repub-
lic, or providing for the wants of a young democracy. We have
to deal with an ancient Monarchy, by the fundamental laws of
which Bishops have the same title to their seats in Parliament
that the Monarch has to his seat upon the throne. The su-
preme legislature may, no doubt, exclude them, but it is a
very grave and momentous question. The exclusion of the
Bishops, in 1616, preceded the execution of a King; their ex-
clusion now may be intended to precede the deposition of ano-
ther. Nothing can justify such a measure but what Burke
calls " The first and supreme necessity paramount to delibera-
tion and discussion;" a necessity, in short, which in common
language has no law.
If it is argued that the presence of Bishops in Parliament is
an obstacle to beneficial changes, I would reply that the objec-
tion, even, if tenable, is quite inadequate to justify the sepa-
ration of church and state. The Bishops have very little esprit
de corps. In the great questions that have recently agitated the
public mind, they have always voted on different sides, and, per-
haps, in the present ardour for legislative inuovatioe, prudent
men will not be sorry to see, in the House of Lords, a body of
non-hereditary legislators, sprung so immediately from the peo-
ple, that a Liverpool shopkeeper's son may be Bishop of Dur-
ham, who, without any power to prevent real improvements,
may help to check the passion for rash legislation, and dimi-
nish the momentum of precipitate change. I am, &c.,

PRESBYTER,

CONSERVATIVE REFORM.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

SlR,—The Whigs and Radicals, glorying in their numerical
superiority over the Tories, indulge themselves in a delightful
vein of irony, by ascribing to them a new-born love of Reform;
and the Hon. Mr. Stanley has been pre-eminent in this species
of argument. Do these gentlemen forget that the Tories were
Anti-Reformers, not on general principles, but on Lord Grey's
specific measure of Reform in the House of Commons? Would
it not be prudent in Mr. Stanley, before he indulges in his
triumph, to witness the deeds of his new parliament ? Never
indeed was there one in which the members have given more
pledges and professions, to serve their country with zeal; but
does Mr. Stanley anticipate that it will surpass all its predeces-
sors, in the soundness of its judgment, as well as in the vehe-
mence of its devotion to the public good ? Has he no misgiv_
inns that the apprehension of the Tories may yet be realized it
That apprehension was, essentially, that the new bill would
admit too great a democratic spirit into the House of Com-
mons, and thereby, endanger those practical benefits which
we have hitherto enjoyed.—That this is the true sense in
which the Tories were Anti-Reformers, will appear from au-
enumeration of Reforms, under Tory administrations, within
that period, in which, according to Whig Radicals, they in-
flicted the greatest injuries on the nation. I allude from
memory to the fiscal Reforms by Mr. Pitt, to his commercial
treaty with France,—to the Union with Ireland,—to his prin-
ciples of free trade, followed up by his disciples : witness their
inroad on the East India, and the Bank of England monopolies;
witness their Reform in our Criminal Law. Do these measures
deserve the sarcasms of Mr. Stanley? May not the authors and
the friends of their authors be presumed to have wished for
Reform, if not hastily, yet wisely? May, however, the fruits of
the new Reform bill testify that the Whigs possess a sounder
judgment than the Tories. May it augment, (in spite of my
fears) the prosperity, the union, and the glory of the British'
empire. I turn, with pleasure, from the sarcasm- of Mr. Stanley.
speech to the patriotism of Lord Sandon's. "Let us all unite
heart and hand in support of the executive Government of the
country." No exhortation can, in the actual position of public
affairs, be more appropriate, if confined to domestic measures;
let there be no factious opposition to ministers—let the Reform
bill be a final measure, in the only sense, that measures ought to be•
such, i.e. until some practical (not speculative) injury shall arise
from it, of sufficient moment to justify the hazard of a change.
I am afraid that, if we (Tories) follow the exhorta4on of Lord
Sandon, we shall be exposed to much sarcasm : our conduct
will be attributed, and particularly by the Whig Radicals, to
the humiliation of defeat; but a conscientious motive will steel
us against such aspersions, whilst we shall find many, many
Whigs, who will have the candor, the magnanimity, to do us
justice; who will appreciate our conduct, if it be bona fide
guided by the spirit which dictates this letter. Policy of a
lower grade advocates the same line of conduct, in the present
temper of the public mind ; the downfall of the whig adminis-
tration would be succeeded by one of more democratic elements
—those elements are in dreadful commotion—we have seen
them embodied in political associations, with their tens of
thousands of blind and ignorant followerslet us, let Whigs
and Tories, and all who are not Levellers or Destructives, unite
against the sovereignty of such combinations, let us not be ;
governed by Jacobin clubs under the name of the sovereign
people, a sovereign who will select or submit to, the "Marats"
of the day as its ministers ; I wish the Liverpool Tories may
coincide with my ideas, and set an example to the rest of the
kingdom ; hence, Sir, this address to you accompanied with a
hope that you will give it countenance and support. C.
Liverpool, 31st December, 1832. •

P. S. Since writing the foregoing, I have read an abstract of Mr.
P. Thompson's speech at Manchester, of which I had had before
only a verbal account: his calling the Tories hard names, and
his calling His Majesty's government, "the people's govern-
ment," is in bad taste and bad policy. I am willing to hope that
Lord Grey* willtell him so. There is, however, much to com-
mend in his speech, particularly as to our commercial policy,
it being in unison with the doctrine advocated by the late 'Mr.
Huskisson. I wonder the coincidence did not bring him to Mr.
Thompson's recollection—surely he does not include Mr.
Huskisson amongst the " Tory blockheads !" By the bye Mr.
P. Thompson's speech is not very complimentary to Mr.
Stanley—not to understand what a final measure means! ! altho'
he knew how much Mr. Stanley had committed himself and his
colleagues by these words—to what?—to words that had no
meaning ? surely Mr. Thompson ought at least to have under-
stood that by these words Mr. Stanley had committed the go-
vernment (whether the King's government or the people's
government) so far as to oppose any attempt, in the new Parlia-
ment, to shorten the duration of Parliaments. Will Mr.
'Thompson agree with Mr. Stanley in this opposition, or will he
not?—or do the two gentlemen merely mean to bewilder their
friends and admirers ? There must, ministerially, be more
eloquence than common-sense between them, when their ora-
tions lead to such chaos—such incomprehensibility, and that on a
questions of so much public interest. Will Mr. Thompson join
Mr. Stanley in opposing the Ballot, should it be mooted in the
new Parliament ? How strange if his speech has made such
questions pertinent, AFTER Mr. Stanley's declaration, in behalf''
of himself and His Majesty's ministers !
Ist January, 1833.
• Lord Grey will surely see in the example of Ireland, the insuffici-
ency of reasonable concession to satisfy the sovereign people, when
under the influence of its demagogues : the present cry in England for
a cheap government, will, when gratified, be louder fur one still cheap..
er—one of radical cheapness, and then will follow one still louder
as_inst the expense. of a kingly Government, even of a citizen king.
Let Lord Grey give us as cheap a Government as he approves in the
soundness of his principles, and in the calmness of his meditations, but,
let him beware of giving us one for the purpose of acquiring popu-
larity!