The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-07-16 00:00:00

and the bulwark of the liberties of Europe.

And where is the loyalty and lofty principle by
which this approaching tide of evil is to be stemmed ?
Where is the point around which faithful men are
permitted now to rally in defence of the institutions
they revere ? It is not in a Government of pro-
fessing Conservatives that the lofty patriotism and
stern unyielding principle, which alone can save us,
are to be found. It is not in the legislature, in any
great party, in any constituted authorities, that such
a rallying point is afforded. The leading men of
all parties sedulously discourage a bold and prompt
stand for the truth. They teach us that we are to
be saved from the destroyer by concession to his
insolent requirements —by the abandonment of
stronghold after stronghold—by the abjectness with
which we bate our breath in his presence, and
prostrate ourselves at his command. We must not
only abstain from contending for the truth, but even
cloak its very expression, lest we should offend our
rampant assailants ! We must walk through the
world with a lie upon our face—with a smirk of
conciliation upon our lips, whilst the loyalty which
is burning in our hearts is revealed only in corners,
breathed only with closed doors, and in suppressed
whispers. Yes, whilst Popery carries herself erect
in our streets, mocking us with her flaunting em-
blems ; whilst disaffection parades before our eyes
its rebellious insignia, and tells us to our teeth that
it is only waiting its fitting opportunity to fall upon
us sword in hand; amidst the scoff of infidelity and
the exulting triumph of many-hued Liberalism, the
loyal Protestant subject alone must hide his feelings

and principles from the world, though they be those

of devotion to the throne and the institutions of his
native land ; must strike the banner dear to his
heart, and lay aside the emblems which all else may
wear ; must be humbly content if, on the anniver-
sary of a day sacred in memory, he is permitted to
go into the Church of his fathers, protected from the
savage insults of a ruffian mob by a posse of armed
police ! To this degradation—this folly—we have
come in once loyal and Protestant England !
What can we look for from further pursuit of
such a course as this, by which loyalty is repressed,
whilst the attacks of disloyalty and outrage against
the institutions of our land are invited by continual
concessions, regulated in amount and in depth of
insult by the fierceness with which they are de-
manded ? We can look for nothing save individual
shame and national disaster.

The town of Birmingham return a Conservative
member as its representative ! Birmingham, the
seat of the famed political association—Birming-
ham, whose Chartists and Radical Reformers threat-
ened once to march upon London, and coerce into
the adoption of " the bill, the whole bill, and nothing
but the bill", the Throne, the Lords, and the Com-
mons ! We can imagine the start of surprise with
which the venerable Earl Grey would receive the
intimation of this astounding fact; how Lord Al-
thorp would shudder over the mutability of human
things, as he contemplated the utter powerlessness
of a body with whom, in their day of pride, he
coquetted so lovingly; what contortions of delight
would agitate the countenance of Lord Brougham
and Vaux at the thought that, although now he is
not singular in his conversion from the miry paths
of Radicalism, into a path more wholesome and
cleanly, though a little devious, " Brummagem," as
his lordship politely prounounces it, is before him;
has repudiated its past political associations, and
arrived, as it were, per saltum, at the desired haven
of downright, honest, genuine, oldfashioned Toryism
which his lordship has yet to learn.
Well, admirably have our fellow-countrymen in
that locality redeemed themselves; and from our
hearts we thank them. A few more such victories
as this, and we should begin to hope that England
was still sound at heart, and faithful to her noble
institutions. A few more of such encouraging
manifestations of the spread of Conservative feeling
amongst us, and we should labour at our arduous
task in the full confidence that we were at length to
be bountifully rewarded for many a weary hour
which, in common with our brother journalists, we
have devoted to the advocacy of the good cause,
amidst discouragement and almost in hopelessness.
As it is, we hail this as the forerunner, at least, of
similar triumphs to come ; and we thank our
brethren in Birmingham who have thus shown to
the oppressed constituencies of the empire what
can be achieved when men set about their work in
earnest.

A very casual examination of the polling on Sa-
turday will prove that there is no mistake in the
reaction which has taken place, as exhibited in this
happy result. In the general election for 1835 there
voted for

Thomas Attwood l7lB
J. Scholefield .. .
Richard Spooner 915
the leading Liberal being thus 803, and the second
745, over the Conservative candidate.

In the general election for 1841 there voted for
G. F. Muntz
Joshua Scholefield
Richard Spooner 1825
the leading Liberal being thus 350, and the second
Liberal 138 ahead of the Conservative candidate.

On this occasion the following are the returns a
the hourly polling :

Spooner. Scholefield. Sturge.
9 o'clock .. .. 150 66 21
10 o'clock .. .. 619 315 119
11 o'clock .. .. 989 588 170
12 o'clock .. .. 1,283 813 227
1 o'clock .. .. 1,494 961 247
2 o'clock .. .. 1.611 1,075 265
3 o'clock .. .. 1,806 1,214 288
Final close .. .. 2,101 1,731 345
Majority for Spooner over Scholefield .. 370
Over Sturge .. .. .. .. 1,760
Over both together • • • • .. 25
Mr. Scholefield's committee gave Mr. Spooner three
more votes than reported by his own friends.

It is worthy of remark that:whilst, between 1835
and 1841, the late Mr. Scholefield had increased his
strength at the poll from 1660 votes in the former to
1963 in the latter year, or less than one-fifth ;Mr
Spooner in this time had doubled his strength, by
an increase from 915 to 1825. In this contest the
Conservative strength in the borough appears to
have gained 276 votes—the difference between 1825
votes polled for Mr. Spooner in 1835 and 2101„
the number polled on Saturday. The liberal
strength on the contrary has declined in actual
number of votes from 1825 polled for Schofield, sen.
in:1835 to 1731 polled for Schofield, jun. in 1844.
It is urged, we are aware, by the liberal party, in
extenuation of their defeat, that they have been
thrown over on this occasion by the marplot pro-
pensities of friend Joseph Sturge. But, if this
were even so, what does it prove ? That mere
whiggery and ultra-radicalism, which once pulled
briskly together towards their common prey, have
become sick of each other's discovered woi thless-
ness, and refuse further contact, whilst moderate
men, disgusted with the dishonesty of both, pre-
fer to. fall. back into the ranks of loyal supporters of
the
ft
anpcsltte:at
au, l
rt
hieoaondwsyeand
‘n,eort,i
cofiesd the liberties of their country.
Thethe thatuffi the.
votes disposedrecor
recorded
forb.y
Mr. Spooner exceed the combined amount of both
his opponents. What would they have more than
such a beating ?