The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-10-28 00:00:00

PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION.

As there will positively be no printed verbatim Report
of the important Meeting held in the Amphitheatre on
Wednesday, other than that which appears in our
columns this day, parties desirous of possessing it are
advised to apply at once for a copy of our present
publication.

Ebr Zibtrpool &tanbarb.

FRIDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 28, 1842.

Is the spirit of sound Protestantism dead in Liver-
pool ? Has the heart of this great community ceased
to feel the value of those Protestant privileges for
which it has battled so stoutly ? Are we prepared to
lay aside our watchfulness, and once more permit the
turbulent spirit of Popery to be heard within the
portals of the legislature, and to dictate in our muni-
cipal councils ? Let the splendid meeting in our Am-
phitheatre, on Wednesday, furnish the reply a
prompt, an indignant, a resolute No ! The spirit
which has borne us on from triumph to triumph—
which has enabled us to beat down the hand raised to
deface and defile our most venerated institutions—
that spirit is not dead ; is not sleeping, or disposed to
sleep. Nay, we believe most firmly—and the over-
whelming demonstration of Wednesday is the voucher
for our correctness—that, since the passing of that
fatal measure which first let in the troubled waters of
Romanism to sap and destroy the vitals of the British
constitution, the mind of this community was never
more determined in its abhorrence of the soul-enslav-
ing errors of Rome, and in its love for the pure and
Christian doctrines and practices of our own beloved
Protestant Church, than at this very hour !
It is true, there are men amongst us—few in num-
ber, however—who are ready to say to themselves,
" the battle is over; the day is our own, and we can
now lay aside the maintenance of that Protestantism
which was our strength and shield. We can now
convert what were our war-cries into open questions.'
We can be liberal' "—oh, what a world of mean-
ness and hypocrisy is hid beneath that word " liberal !"
—" we can be forbearing; we can be all things to all
men." We ask such men, dare they now " lay the
flattering unction to their souls" that such are the
opinions of the people of Liverpool? Will they palter
and trifle with the spirit of enthusiastic devotion to
the cause of Protestant truth which filled that vast
arena with the wealth, the talent, and the moral worth
of this great town ? Dare they equivocate with the
voice which was there raised ? Dare they mock the
ear and the hopes of such an assemblage of their
fellow-townsmen ? We trust not ; for if there was one
truth conveyed by the spectacle of Wednesday more
palpably than another, it was that the Protestant
people of Liverpool have in time past been combating
for great principles, and will not be defrauded of one
iota of the enjoyment of them—will not be satisfied
with their enjoyment in anything less than their full
integrity !

Yes: no trimming—no time-serving conservatism
can be endured by a people thus resolute and stedfast
in their convictions. In ordinary struggles for ordi-
nary objects—in agitation for a merely temporal and
evanescent end—the excited feelings subside readily,
and apathy follows upon the heels of success. But
such a struggle it has not been in which our Pro-
testant Associations have been, and are yet, engaged ;
and apathy has not followed the degree of success
which has blessed their labours. The earnestness with
which they have worked out thus far their objects,
still animates them. The zeal, the watchfulness, which
inspired them, are untired ; and by such bodies, pro-
fessing Conservatives may depend upon it that they
will not be permitted to step aside one moment from
the straightforward path of Protestant duty without
being admonished of their faithlessness.

The objects for which our Protestant Associations
were formed are not yet all achieved, although some
of them have been. We have remodelled and swept
clear of the pollution of popery our Municipal Council
and our Schools. We have planted Conservatism in
the ascendant in Parliament. We have a Conservative
administration. But have we PROTESTANTISM in
the ascendant either in the British House of Commons
or in the administration of its government ? We have
not; and the work of our noble associations is not
vet done : the time at which we may lay aside our
agitation has not yet arrived ! We must still look
forward, and go forward, to the achievement of our
entire task; and whilst we do this—whilst for this we
maintain our organisation, our enthusiasm, our earnest
zeal—it is not to be dreamt of that, as wise and
faithful soldiers of the cause which we have embraced,
we can neglect the duty of securing the fruits of past
victories. Amongst these, we fought hard for scrip-
tural education for the children of the poor—for the
eve fight
the whole Bible, in our schools; and whilst
re
now for sound scriptural education for the
millions of
our sister land, and for the millions of our
own land, surely no human being can have the folly to
suppose that we will allow ourselves to be deprived of
that benefit at home, within our own borough, which we
are so anxious to extend over the length and breadth
of the empire !

Again, let us draw attention to this noble display of
Protestant feeling, and ask, is there nothing in the fact
that—with all their merely local objects attained, with
political triumphs around them, which might have
served to satisfy, if not to weary, of agitation—such a
a meeting, so enthusiastic, can be drawn together in
this the second town of the empire? Is there nothing
in such a display of feeling for the Statesman to ponder
over and take cou ns el by ? There is something

there is much. Oh! that statesmen—Conservative
statesmen—would be wise, and read it Then, in-
deed, we should see them throwing down the miserable
crutch of expediency, and standing erect in the strength
and the beauty of the principles of Eternal Truth, sup-
ported by the united arms, cheered by the united
voices, and beloved in the hearts of a united Protestant
people ! Oh ! that statesmen, Conservative statesmen,
would take up this, their true position ; that they
would resolve to govern this Protestant land upon
sound Protestant principles ; that they would educate
its children, and protect and% strengthen its men and
women, in the sacred truths of the Scriptures, as
expounded by our holy Church ; and with-what con-
fidence they might then defy the assaults of all ene-
mies,—the insidious canker of " liberalism" within
our fold, or the world in arms without ! Oh ! that
statesmen, Conservative statesmen, would do this ;
and England, which now presents, upon the map of
Europe, a dark spot blotted over with misery, with
wretchedness, with irreligion, with moral disease and
crime—England, which utilitarian and "liberal' legis-
lation has converted into a mighty LAZAR-HOUSE—
might once more present her fair face to heaven,
cleansed and renewed; and be hailed once more by
admiring nations, as MERRY ENGLAND, HAPPY
ENGLAND, FREE ENGLAND, INVINCIBLE, because
PROTESTANT ENGLAND !

Let us again implore of our Conservative friends
to be active and watchful in every ward, and,
above all things, to beware of WHIG-RADICAL
TRICKERY ! In some wards we know that success is
counted upon as certain ; in others, it is imagined that
opposition will not be even attempted. Beware of
being over-sanguine! The faction, depend upon it,
will die hard. Not one ward, we firmly believe, will
be left uncontested, however hopeless may be the
chance of victory !

Already we hear, that in Everton, in Pitt-street, and
in Scotland Wards, Radical candidates are in the
field. In other wards they will be nominated at the
last hour. With what view is this course pursued ?
In the hope of being successful in a fair stand-up
fight ? Not at all. It is in the hope of profiting by
Conservative inattention to the canvass and the poll-
ing, and of preventing our duplicate votes telling
upon the contest in two or three of the business wards
of the town. Neglect Everton, Scotland, West
Derby, and other suburban districts, and Exchange,
Castle-street, Pitt-street, and St. Peter's may be
wrested from our grasp !
As an example of the underhand mode in which the
faction is bestirring itself, we direct attention to a
circular, signed "S.T. Hobson, Chairman," which has
been extensively addressed to the burgesses of Rodney-
street Ward :