The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-09-01 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

Heart of Mid Lothian must be as familiar with the cir-
cumstance as we are. This PORTEOUS was dragged to
the gallows, as the gamblers of Vicksburg were, and

hanged !

What were the consequences? The magistrates of
dinburgh were charged with a dereliction of their duty.
hey were held responsible for the riots which had oc-
'44arred and the fatal consequences which ensued. The
city was deprived of its charter, and the citizens were
fined in a Aim which made Arthur's Seat and the Calton
Hill look very piteously upon each other. It was a just
1 sentence. A crime had been committed— law and jus-
tittld been outraged—the supreme power, in the per-
s° of the King, had been insulted and trampled upon ;
aal, in order to vindicate the sovereign authority and the
omnipotence of the law, it was necessary to punish the
conservators of the local commonwealth.

This we say, borrowing from example, is English jus-
tice placed in fair contrast with the law and justice of the
free, moral, and just republic of the United States of
America. In this country we are proud to proclaim to
the world that the vindication of law is the first princi-
ple, which is held in the most sacred regard by the peo-
ple of England. No matter who the man is—no matter
how horrid the charge may be against him—no matter
how daringly or bow wilfully he may have assailed pub-
lic rights or personal security—he is deemed innocent,
under the clearest charge, until proved to be guilty by
evidence snbmitted to a jury, of his countrymen. This
is not only our law—it is also our invariable practice. Is
it so in America—in the land of freedom? Let recent
events answer.

The most singular and anomalous part of this pro-
ceeding on the part of America is that, as far as the ac-
counts go, and they reach to many days subsequent to
the murders, no cognizance has been taken of them by
the authorities of the United States. The facts are, re-
corded, the crimes are admitted ; but we hear of no ju-
dicial proceedings—no inquest upon the dead bodies—no
inquiry into the facts, which in the most arbitrary nation
of Europe would even before the coroner be deemed a
prima facie case of murder ! All the newspapers give
publicity to the deeds of guilt and shame—some of them
—most of them, to their honour—more especially the
New York Daily Advertiser—condemn the atrocity as
bringing odium upon a free country, and an odium so
identified with crime that it must call down judgment
upon a people who by their sufferance of it make them-
selves parties to the crime—still the voice of the govern-
ment is not heard, the law sleeps, the victims are in their
graves, the murdered are unavenged; even the blood-
stained homicides seek no retreat in the bosom of
penitence or by supplications for pardon at the throne of
mercy.

‘Ve notice this stolid reluctance more in sorrow
than in anger. The people of the United States, ren-
dered bold by commercial success, and even impious by
toleration, offer no humble prayer at the footstool of OM-
NIPOTENCE for forgiveness. They regard not the throne
of mercy. They do not look upon homicide as a crime.
They have robbed so long in the fields of the red Indian
that• they consider the power they have usurped to be in
accordance with the decrees of HEAvEg. This is a fear-
ful state of delusion. He who fishes with the long line
must expect entanglement. The Americans have done
so too long. In proof of this, as regards the outrages in
Jackson, we beg leave to subjoin the proclamation of the
Governor of Mississippi. It is a curious document, and
deserves the closest attention :

PROCLAMATION.

By H. G. Runnels, Governor of the State of Mississippi.

Whereas, it has been represented to the executive, that there is
a band of lawless, base, villainous white men traversing the
country, endeavouring to get up an insurrection among our
slaves. And whereas, it has been further represented to the
executive t hat disclosures have been made by those concerned,
well calculated to excite the most serious apprehensions that
a widely extended conspiracy is on foot, calculated to produce
an alarm, and call forth the vigilance and energy of our
people;

. .
I do therefore issue this proclamation, exhorting all good
citizens, and exhorting the officers, both civil and military, to
use the most untiring vigilance to suppress all such insarrec-
tionary -movements, and 'to apprehend all such suspicious
persons, and deliver them over to the proper authorities, that
they may be brought to condign punishment. To which end
especially call on the members of the board of police of each
county and district; to exert the authority given to them by an
act of the legislature of the 27th December, 18.33, of organizing,
in their respective beats, active and efficient patroles. I repeat
the importance and necessity of much vigilance in all quarters
of the state; and should it become necessary, I do hereby order
the quartermaster-general, and each of the assistant quarter-
masters-general, to deliver the arms of the state into the hands
of the people for their defence, taking the receipts of responsible
persons fir the same, and at the same time having due regard
to the proper distribution according to the exigencies of the
case.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and
caused the great seal of the state to be hereunto affixed
at Jackson, July 13, 1835. 11. G. RUNNELS.
By the Governor :
David Jackson, Secretary of State.

It will be remarked here that Governor RUNNELS does
not pretend to say that he has received any evidence
upon oath as to the facts upon which i e founds his inju-
dicious proclamation. He only says that it has been
represented to him, where ? when ? under what circum-
stances ? Was it at the tea table, in the tavern, or in
Some gaming-house ? These are the places for idle gos-
sip and foolish scandal, where the alarmist " half dis-
guised in liquor," as the Cockneys say, sits with open
mouth and long ears. It was represented to this wise
and zealous governor, that a band of "lawless, base,
villainous white men" were " endeavouring to get up
an insurrection among the slaves." This was treason
against the state ; be was bound to inquire into the facts,
but he was equally bound to listen to no representations
which could not be deposed to under the sanction of an
oath. Some of the best informed of the American jour-
nals are of opinion that there was no ground for the
charge whatever, and that not a single slave in Missis-
sippi was cognoscent of any such intended insurrection.
But the people seem to be rabid. Their attack upon the
post-office at Charleston was absolute madness. They
destroyed all the letters and papers they found ; if they
had been desirous of tracing the insurrection to its au-
thors, they should have bad the letters and papers and ex •
amine(' them. It was pure insanity, if not something
worse. We wait the judicial investigation of these pio,
ceedings with some anxiety.

The unfortunate Morning Chronicle states, that when
the municipal corporations bill was returned to the House
of Commons on Friday last, it was received with groans!
By whom think you, gentle reader? You may guess at
once—by JOSEPH HUME and DANIEL O'CONNELL ! Yes,
by JOSEPH and DANIEL, two men whose very names are
to the senses of every intelligent person what the sham-
bles or the knacker's yard is in the dog days.
The house, however, despite the groans of these most
filthy patriots, ordered the bill to be printed, and Lord
JOHN RUSSELL moved that it be taken into consideration
on Monday—last night. What the house means to do
with it we neither know nor care. If it pass, it will be
at the best, notwithstanding many excellent amendments,
a difficult, if not an impracticable, measure. If the com-
mons agree to reject the amendments, well and good, for
they have done more foolish things within the last four
years. We consequently look forward to what they may
or may not do with perfect indifference. The ministry
and the Joeiles of the press, aided by the tramping tink-
ers of the commissions, have done their worst to rouse
the "people," as they call the gin-wallopers of London
and Birmingham, and create an angry collision between
the commons and the lords; but they have most signally
—most miserably failed. We defy the whole set, backed
by the house and the tail, to get up even a decent row.
The political unions are nearly extinct, having first be-
come bankrupt ; and, even if they were in better feather,
they would now have no power. The simple tradesmen
who trusted their leaders with long scores in the beer-
houses—too long ever to be discharged—now bitterly
regret that they placed any confidence in a class of men
whose greatest pride is to cheat one another. THOMAS
ATTWOOD has declared that the confederated nailers and
chimney-sweeps, of which he was the president, owe
several hundred pounds in this way, which he fears—and

laughs in his sleeve while ho says so—it will never be
convenient to pay.

The game, then, of the faction is played to its last
card. We know their agony by their groans. From
one end of the country to the other the utmost disgust is
expressed, and the utmost contempt felt, towards the
House of Commons. The respectable portion of the
operatives of Manchester have already formed themselves
into a conservative association, and their proceedings,
which we have reported elsewhere, reflect upon them the
highest honour. More energetic declarations, more
sound principles, more sensible speeches we have rarely
read, and we earnestly recommend them to the perusal
of the public. In short, never were any ministers in a
more helpless or deplorable situation; even the tail is in
convulsions; it is, as a popish priest would say in dog
latin, in extrernis—it wags for the last time !

DINNER OF THE MANCHESTER UNITED OPERA-
TIVE CONSERVATIVE ASSOCIATION.

(Abridged from Wheeler's Manchester Chranick.)

On Monday evening, at eight o'clock, about :350 operatives,
and several gentlemen of conservative principles, sat down to a
substantial dinner in the Manor Court-room, provided by Mr.
Heatley, of the Plume sand Feathers, Bank Top. The room
was plainly and neatly prepared for the occasion : behind the
chairman waved a flag bearing the royal arms, and in the centre
was a portrait of the Duke of Wellington mounted on his
charger. Various banners adorned other parts of the room.
The chairman was Mr. Longdale, an operative, and Mr.
Ritchie, calico-printer, officiated as Vice-president. As soon
as they had taken their seats a private band, in attendance,
struck up " God save the King," the company simultaneously
rising, which was followed by bursts of applause and waving of
handkerchiefs. After grace, the clashing of knives, forks. and
plates for about an hour Indicated that a most important part of
the basiness of the evening was zealously followed and suffi-
ciently relished. When the cloth was removed, the Chairman
prefaced the first toast by saying, that when be considered the
occasion on which they were met, and witnessed the scenes be-
fore him, he felt, whilst he was conscious of his incapacity for
the office he held, he was entitled to claim their kind indulgence,
as he was unaccustomed either to address or govern large as-
semblies_ _Nothing, should be wanting en his part to promote
the cause of conservatism, which was well worthy the supporta
every lover of religion, of' his king, and his country; and now
surety was the time to come forward, when there was a confe-
deracy in the land to overturn all their dearly-cherished posses-
sinus—when it was fashionable to be disloyal, and, disobeying
the injunctions of scripture, to " speak evil of dienities," and
not to submit to their rulers, who were " a terror to evil doer,
and a praise to them that do well." (Cheers.) lie was glad
to see around hint so many of his brother operatives who had
not bowed to the false god, the god of reform, which had un-
settled every institution which their good forefathers had been
instrumental in planting, and which they were in the habit of
supporting under the comprehensive name of " Church and
Krug." Ile hoped they would persevere and rally round that
standard, and he doubted not they would speedily be swelled
into such a body that when they next assembled a rooni might
not be found large enough to contain them. lie urged them to
be united, and to fulfil‘that beautiful passage of scripture—
" Behold and see how pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell
together in unity " The first and most appropriate toast, as a
loyal subject, which he could propose was
" His most gracious Majesty King William the Fourth."—
(Loud and protracted cheering.)
The chairman next proposed
" The Poliar Star amongst British females, and the brightest
Jewel of the Crown—Queen Adelaide, and may she long live
and enjoy happiness."—(Three times three and one cheer
more.)
" The Princess Victoria, the presumptive heiress to the British
throne ; may wisdom direct her, prudence respect her, and
Britain protect her."—(Three times three.)
The Chairman.—To the next toast I am sure there will not be
one dissentient voice, for it is
" Our Glorious Constitution in Church and State, and may the
noble machine framed by our ancestors never be put out of
order by disloyal workmen."—(Great cheering.)
Mr. Johnson, who professed himself a man who feared G
and loved his country, spoke against the Whigs, whom he consi-
dered, instead of the preservers of the institutions of the coun-
try, to be its destroyers. They had broken the act of settlement
and violated the coronation oath. If they had numerical strength,
the conservatives counterbalanced it by their superior enlight-
ened and moral north. Let the wheels of the state machine be
well oiled by conservatism and all would yet be well.
The Chairman next gave
" The House of Peers, and may they retain their independence
for ever."—(Three times three and one cheer more.)
Mr. Ritchie, the vice-president, said he contideredthe House
of Lords a body of nobility particularly useful and essentially
requisite in our mixed form of government, in order to support
the rights both of the crown and the people, by forming a bar-
rier to withstand the encroachments of both. It was therefore
necessary that they should be a distinct assembly—have distinct
deliberations and distinct powers from the Commons. It would
be found by reference to history that all friends to the British
Constitution, of whatever rank, and whatever time, were firm
supporters of that house; while on the other hand, democrats
and republicans of every grade had been its most inveterate ca-
lumniators and foes. But were they surprised at this? No,
fur they were well aware it was the natural result of the politi-
cal opinions of the respective parties. When a man had a fa-
vourite object in view which he was determined to accomplish,
and knowing at the same time, there was a certain obstruction
existing and that whilst it remained be never could succeed,
would he not exert himself to the utmost and use every means
to remove that stumbling-block out of his way ? Thus they had
the cause of all the scurrilous and infamous abuse that had-been
' heaped on their lordships' house within the last four years, and
particuliely since the municipal reform bill came before
them. Thus one member of' the House of Commons makes a
threatening speech if the other house dare alter the bill; ano-
ther writes a violent tirade against them in the whig newspa-
pers, and tells it; readers that the lords were always a nuisance,
and ought to be annihilated as enemies to liberty. But in au
swer to all this base democratic falsehood he would put the his-
tory of his country into every man's hands (Cheers.) for there.,
he would find that from the period when the great bill of rights
was obtained from King John,
,the lords had been the best
friends of popular liberty, (Cheers.) cautiously interfering with
and 'carefully preserving their rights. They laid all read that
a House of Commons once expelled the bishops from the I-louse
of Lords, murdered their king, abolished the peers, and then,
mark the result ! declared their own sittings to be permanent,
thus destroying at once the whole elective franchise of the na-
tion. (Tremendous cheers.) They kept the citizens of Lon-
don down by billeting soldiers on every house—removed the
gates of the city, to give readier access to their military under-
lings—till the populace, goaded to madness, binned their par-
liamentary representatives in effigy, at Temple-bar, when Crom-
well came and turned the villains out, writing on the door, this
house to let. (Tremendous cheers.) But they had first got rid
of king and •lords previously, or they dare not to have acted in
that despotic manner. It would appear that there were now
many honourable members who wished to play that game again,
and they were called honourable men ; 0 yes! no doubt, as
Mark Antony -sail, they were " All, all, honorable men ?"
(Cheers.) A whig reforming paper in this our own town had
told his readers, •` we," says he, "have always held hereditary
wisdom in contempt." Surprising wisdom ! A Daniel come
to judgment! Did he think any person believed that wis-
dom descends from father to son? He could assure him, at any
rate, that there were none in that assembly who entertained so
ridiculous an idea. Nay, he would go further, and say that
they subscribed to the opinion of Hudibras, that a lord may be
an owl—but then they were equally welt convinced that a calf
may be an alderman, a goose made a justice of the peace, rooks
made whig commissioners and trustees, and noodles be dubbed
with the editorial "we." (Cheers.) The members of the
House of Lords, he presumed, were like other individuals in
every respect—some were richer than others, and others more
intelligent, and no doubt some more eminently virtuous, but
with-individual character they had nothing to do. It was the
collective wisdom of that house they wished to support. It was
their collective wisdom they wished the nation always to have
the benefit of. And the fact that it sits by hereditary right, so
far from lessening it in the ()Acorn of the people, increased it in
a very great degree, for thus only was it placed beyond the in-
fluence of the crown itself, (hear,) and the low debasement of
cringing to democratic insolence. It was, in short, far superior
fbr every essential purpose, as a second house of the legisla-
ture, than if elected by any system the wisdom of man could
devise; and their respect was still increased when they saw it
receiving into its body men worthy of all the honours their
country could bestow, some for great military service, others
for naval, and others for senatorial or diplomatic abilities. The
people were to consider it as the great national depository of the
wisdom and of the intellect of the country. (Cheers.) But
let bins not be considered as an advocate of the crown and the
aristocracy alone. No, they were alive to the rights of the
church, and the necessity that exists for bishops to represent the
interests of their church'in the House of Lords, as the clergy
could not sit in the House of Commons, if the bishops were for-
bid the upper house the church would not be at all represented
in the legislature; for that very reason, therefore, which the
enefalei of the establishment wished them to be expelled,
(heai,)'do they—the real " people"--wish to retain them; and
as fully as they were sensible of the importance of the third
estate as either of the others, and would stand by the House of
Comm Ons in all their just constitutional privileges, and would
as strenuously oppose any inroads upon them, so they would
throw the shield over the other two. The British constitution
which gives this empire the blessings of monarchy without des-
potism' the advantage of an hereditary legislature identified with
the well-being of the nation ; a national church where the poor
have the gospel preached to theta; a house of representatives
possessed of full powers, to protect the rights of the people, en-
courage agricultere, commerce and manufactures;—this was
what they wished to preserve from democratic anarchy, despotism
and confusion. And now let him ask what would tie the result
to the country if the destructives succeeded in their designs. A
king might be dethroned or murdered—he is but a man, but the
power he exercises cannot be destroyed. The executive power
must be placed in the hands of some one or more; who were
they to he? Be they who they would, they could not hold it
long:" another faction would arise and overpower them, and
they, in their turn, would be destroyed. In the meanwhile the
people.would be governed by bloodhounds,—each party having
only rine consideration, namely, to chain all others down, and
preserve themselves in their unstable power; as the scriptures
said of Satan—they Would have " great wrath"—being well
aware that they had only a " short time" to endure; Let France
witness! It was now 42 years since the French murdered their
king, and, after being cursed with republicanism in various
forms, and despotism in the person of Bonaparte—they were
now seemingly further from obtaining freedom than ever. Even
the sane party in this country who applauded to the skies their
three glorious days, now told us that if the citizen king suc-
ceeded in his designs the French will be the most degraded
slaves on the face of the earth. (Hear.) So much for the glo-
rious days! Such were the consequences of driving legitimate
monarchs from their thrones. He and those he addressed were
not of the number who call history an old almanack. They
knew it was the only source from which a knowledge of man-
kind could be derived; they knew the study of it as storing the
mind -With the wisdom of ages, and they. held that noble and
learned lord anything but a friend to the instruction of the peo-
ple who called it an old almanack. It was acquaintance with
history that would alone preserve men in the true political path ;
it was a knowledge of history that could alone prevent men
from becoming the dupes of whiggery:
The next toast was—
" The great Captain of the Age, his Grace the Duke of
Wellington,"
which was drunk with loud and continued cheering; after which
Mr. Bennett, au old soldier, who had fought under his grace,
gave a brief account of his several campaigns from his first en-
tering into the army down to the decisive -battle of Waterloo.
(Tbe old soldier entered rather more into detail of the various
services of the Duke of Wellington than the time and patience
of the company would admit. Arriving at the battle of the
Pyrenees and I houleuse—" Too long—too long," c:ied a voice

in the room. "Toulon !" ,exclaimel the veteran, shouldering
his crutch and turning up his spectacles—" I say it Was Tou-
louse—being there present, a serjeant in the -- regiment of
foot.")
The Chairman said he was sure the next sentimentwould be
enthusiastically received. If not called upon to serve his coun-
try in a military career, he had not less distinguished himself in
a political career—the individual was the late foreman of the
lower shop.
" The Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel (tremendous applause) and
the conservative members of the House of Commons."—
(Renewed cheering.)
" The land we live in."

The Vice-President proposed the health of Mr. Longdale,
the chairman, which was drunk with much applause.
" The venerable Earl of Eldon, that stanch supporter of con-
servative principles." (Cheers.)
The Chairman next proposed the health of a much-calumni-
ated and reviled body—
" The venerable bishop and the clergy of the diocese." (Cheers.)
Mr. W. Marshall, an operative, spoke to the unjust and un-
founded charges that were brought against the clergy, and urged
his operative brethren to assist in putting down the infidels of
the day and their popish coadjutors. He denied that the work-
ing clergy were overpaid, and begged to direct their attention
for an example to the Rev. Hugh Stowell, of Salford, who vi-
sited the by-lanes and streets to find out fitting objects to whom
he could administer spiritual relief and counsel ; the Rev. G
Dogard, of St. Andrew's Church, was also an amiable and per-
severing minister, entitled to respect and praise; and he might
also direct them to the Rev. A. Hepworth, of Chorlton-upon-
Medlock, who, in the eleventh hour of his age, went from house
to house to administer consolation and reclaim sinners. A stand
should be made against encroachments on the established
church, and the middle classes of the people would do it whe-
ther the higher orders did so or not. (Cheers.)
" The army and the navy."
Song, " Old England for ever," by Mr. Potter.
" The members of the county."
"The conservative members of the boroughs of Lancashire,

• .
and may they speedily increase."
" The South Lancashire Conservative Association."
" The town and trade of Manchester and Salford."

"The operative conservative steam-engine, and may its powers
increase and drive the various fumes of infidelity and sedition
from our land."
"The boroughreeve and constables of Manchester and Salford."
" The magistrates of the division."
Song, "The fine old English Minister," by Mr. Neville.
Final toast—" The conservatives of Great Britain and Ireland."
Speeches were delivered p_y Mr. Sheldrick and Mr. Stan-
field, operatives, also by M'l. Thos. Potter, (not the magistrate, )
of which, however, our limits do not allow us to give even a
brief report The principal part of the company retired at-a
seasonable hour. 'the whole proceedings terminated as they
had commenced, in an orderly and admirable spirit.