The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-03-25 00:00:00

GOOD FRIDAY.

The STANDARD will remain on sale this morning at the
Office, until about Ten o'clock ; and it may be ob-
tained afterwards at WILLMER and SMITH'S,
Church-street, AYLWARDS, Lord-street, ARNOLD'S,
South John-street, Pucit's, Marybone, and at the
usual places.

ebr kibrrpool &tanbarb.

FRIDAY MORNING, MARCH 25, 1842

It will be seen from our parliamentary report that
the debate upon the financial propositions of govern-
ment, by the factious course adopted by the opposition,
has been adjourned until after the Easter recess. At
present we have, however, neither time nor space for
any remarks upon_ it.

Amongst the recent arrivals by the packet-ship Ox-
ford from New York, we observe the names of Sir
Allan M'Nab and Dr. Thomas Rolph, from Canada.
The latter gentleman has long been favourably known
to the people of the united kingdom, in connexion with
his zealous efforts in the furtherance and promotion of
emigration to that valuable andinteresting portion of
the British dominions; and it will afford great satis-
faction to the friends of that cause, to know that he
has again crossed the Atlantic, with the authority and
sanction of the Canadian government, to prosecute his
efforts in that hallowed and patriotic work. Sir Allan
•M`Nab, who visits England for the first time, proudly
and honourably distinguished himself by his gallant
conduct in the outbreak of 1837, and the invasion
from the United States frontier in 1838. At that pe-
riod, it will be remembered, Upper Canada was with-
out a British soldier to defend the regal authority then
so violently menaced, and by the timely assistance af-
forded by that gentleman at the head of the unrivalled
militia of that province, British supremacy was sus-
tained, rebellion crushed, and the daring invaders of
British soil taught that the authority of Great Britain
was too deeply rivetted in the hearts and affections of
the people of Canada to be overthrown by such efforts.
We believe that he has been for many years a member
of the legislature of Canada, and was Speaker of the
House of Assembly at the interesting period we have
referred to. For his meritorious services her Majesty
rewarded him with the honour of knighthood, and
every legislative body in our North American colonies
passed the highest commendations on his fidelity and
worth. We doubt not he will receive a warm and
hearty welcome from all the friends of the colonies
throughout the united kingdom.

After the close of the Easter recess Sir Robert Inglis
will bring before the House of Commons the impor-
tant question of Church Extension, and the result of

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and religion. We can have no knowledge, of cothite,
of the particular measure which it is the intention of
the honourable baronet to propose, and we cannot,
therefore, at present speculate upon the amount of
support which he will receive. A large demand upon
parliament cannot possibly be granted under the exist-
ing circumstances of the country, and ought not to be
A recognition, however, of the principle of
church extension at the expense of the state will not,
we think, we unfavourably received ; and we do trust
that the Conservative majority in parliament will not
shrink from asserting that principle, and will rally to
the support of the honourable baronet who has made
for years past such noble efforts in its behalf.
We do not ask, and the friends of church extension
throughout the country do not ask, that the state
should be dragged into a Quixotic attempt to supply
at once the large deficiency of church accommodation
which has accumulated during past years. We do not
propose that the state should take wholly from off the
shoulders of the people the responsibility of prOviding
the means of public worship for the masses who at
present are destitute of those means. The wealth of
the supporters of our holy church must still be drawn
upon largely, to enable her to extend her fostering
arms and bring into her fold all her children. Indivi-
dual benevolence must not be permitted or encouraged
to lock up its sympathies and sink into apathy. We
ask no measure from the state which can have these
tendencies ; but, on the contrary, we desire such an
interference only as would stimulate rather than dis-
courage contributions from individual wealth. We
wish only to see the state going hand in hand with
those amongst the supporters of our established reli-
gion whose efforts are, even now, contributing so
largely to supply the spiritual-destitution which- exists
amongst us ; and we think there are few men so bit-
terly hostile to our church who would object to see the
state occupying such a position towards her.
It is not solely upon grounds of expediency—not
solely because by so doing it would be promoting the
happiness, tetnporai and eternal, of the people—that
we wish to have the aid of the state in the important
work of providing spiritual instruction to our destitute
population. We urge such a course rather because we
desire to see the state doing what is its strict and impe-
rative duty. A Conservative government, we contend,
is bound to look this duty fairly in the face. We trust
that they will boldly recognise it as binding upon
them ; and it this be done—if the principle is once
assented to that it is the duty of the state to watch
over and provide for the spiritual safety of the people,
as it already provides for their temporal safety—we
care little for the extent of the aid in the first instance
to be conceded.

We know that it is urged by some even of the
friends of our established religion and of the cause of
order, that, by strenuous efforts, all which is required
will ultimately be done for the church from within her
own pale. We should be glad indeed if we could sa-
tisfy ourselves that any well-grounded hope exists of
such a result. Time indeed may do much in some
places to supply the deficiency of church accommoda-
tion which exists throughout the country. In the
large manufacturing towns which have sprung up
within the last few years the wealth which successful
industry has accumulated will in time be devoted to
provide the means of religious instruction for the po-
pulation, Slowly, it is doing so at the present mo-
ment ; but in the mean time we must bear in mind that
the constant movement which our commerce is making
over the entire face of the land is daily creating the
very destitution of which we complain. Large masses
of population are constantly being settled down in
some particular localities ; and it is in• tbeee cases,
where no realized wealth exists upon which to draw,
that the assistance of the state is most wanted, and,
indeed, is imperatively called for.

It is with feelings of sincere regret that we notice
the course, which has been determined upon by go-
vernment, with respect to the distribution of the funds
set apart for the promotion of national education in
Ireland. Upon this subject a question was put to the
Secretary for Ireland, on Monday night, by.the Re-
corder of Dublin, requesting to know from his lord-
ship " whether it was the intention of her Majesty's
government to make any proposal for extending the
schools in Connexion with the Established Church in
Ireland, and to give them what they had not in fact
enjoyed since the establishment of the board of edu-
cation—a due proportion of the funds annually granted
by parliament " for the purpose in question ; and the
reply, which was received with acclamations of delight
from the opposition benches, was distinct and direct,
that no alteration would be made in the existing system
of distribution;—that the schools belonging to the es-
tablished church, the conductors of which are not
ready to place themselves under the control of the
education board, will continue to be excluded from the
enjoyment of aii;ky share in the grant provided by the
liberality of the -nation; in fact, that education in the
tenets of Popery, amid in semi-infidelity, is to be favoured
with the sunshine of ministerial favour, whilst instruc-
tion in the principles of our established religion, and
the teaching of the unadulterated word of God, are, so
far as the influence of a conservative government can
effect that object, to be discountenanced and put down.
In common with every sincere Protestant, we deeply
regret this determination on the part of Sir 'Robert
Peel's government; but we are very far from feeling
any great surprise at its existence. Bold and firm as
has been the conduct of Sir Robert with respect to his
financial policy, we have bitter cause to remember that
a firm adherence to a great principle, when placed in
antagonism with ,merely temporal expediency, forms
no part of the characteristics of this great statesman.
By the concession he has made to liberalism upon this
question, he has, we have no doubt, done that which
will secure to him the approbation of a few of the luke-
warm members of his own party ; but he will be mi-
serably disappointed if he supposes that he has conci-
liated one member of the party which is at this moment
ready to engage in a factious opposition to every mea-
sure of his government. By this untoward step, we
hesitate not to express our perfect conviction that he
has made no fast friends in any portion of the empire
—not even in Ireland herself; and that, at the same
time, lie has shaken the confidence in his administra-
tion which the Protestants of that country, and of
England as well, were inclined to accord to it, and
thereby gone far to alienate from him the hearty sym-
pathies of that great party whose zealous support, in
the hour of struggle, has always been the firmest safe-
guard of the throne, the altar, and the constitution.
The present, Sir Robert Peel may depend upon it,
is not a time when the affections of such a party should
have been wantonly thrown to the winds, in the vain
hope of conciliating the dark, unappeasable spirit of
Popery. But we will not at this moment press a sub-
ject so painful.