The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-06-07 00:00:00

the life of a fellow-creature into a hero ;—which leadi
even females, and those respectable ones too, to luxu-
riate in the hearing of condemned sermons, and even
to buy finery to dress up the murderer upon the gal-
lows. But we can see no parallel between such a feel-
ling and the expression of loyalty and thankfulness of
a meeting such as that to which Mr. William Rath-
bone addressed the language under notice. We can
see nothing in the calling of such a meeting, upon such
an occasion, which bears evidence of a design to inflict
either "posthumous" or any other " honour" (?)
or what Mr. Rathbone called "martyrdom" upon the
miscreant whose attempted crime had been the occa-
sion of its being called together. Why then should
such a meeting be deprecated as calculated to confer
undue importance upon the crime and the criminal ? ,
Is it lest the world, following Whig example, set them
in the case of a similar occurrence two years ago, should
set about the task of tracing that crime to the agitation
which denounces the law of the land as MURDEROUS
and the legislators of the land as MURDERERS ? Is it
to hush up inquiry into the connection between agita-
tion and such attempted crime ? Is it lest Consetva-
tive loyalty should, seize upon such an occurrence to
break forth into that frantic and howling denunciation
of its political opponents which disgraced the Whig
press two years ago, and turned even a meeting called
for the same purpose and in the same spot as that held
on Thursday last into a bear-garden ?
If any of these are the motives of Mr. Rathhone's
anxiety that the attempt upon her Majesty's life just
made should not be elevated into an affair of impor-
tance, he may, we can assure him, allay his fears. We
shall not imitate the unworthy example set us, even to
put a stop to the agitation which we cannot, neverthe-
less, view as any other than one calculated to lead to
the worst and most fatal results.

The world was just emerging from the cloud of ill
in which ten years of Whig misgovernment had

plunged it; the shock occasioned by an attack even
upon the life of our beloved Sovereign was fast sub-
siding ; when the entire Conservative body of the em-
pire are once more submerged in dismay and grief—a
grief, too, from which there is apparently no escape,
and which, as loyal men, we must endure in unrepin-

ing silence. The astounding fact has just been re-
vealed to us; and visions of bedchamber plots and
apron-string conspiracies flit before our bewildered
gaze. Bright faces, formed to dazzle and delight,
frown horribly upon us. Curl papers and eau- de-
Cologne, cambric caps and robes-de-nuit, rudely dashed
in our faces, have hurled us back from the pinnacle
of renewed hope and strength into the " slough of
despond," if not into the pit of Acheron itself.
Listen, reader, to the narration of this heart-rending
calamity, and then " to breakfast with what appetite
you may." But first let us premise that, on the ho-

nour of the Liverpool Albion, it is strictly true—

" As true as truth has ever been of late ;"
hat that veracious oracle has derived the information

from one who himself moves in the circles of which
he speaks, and who is well acquainted with all that

passes therein."

Sic loquitur Albion :
In plain words, then, THE QUEEN, on compulsion, tolerates
the tories as her ministers, but she will not acknowledge

them as her friends ; and bitter are the lamentations occa-
sioned by this marked dislike and distaste to them on the
part of royalty. In the language of our informant, " great
dissatisfaction prevails amongst the tories at the marked pre-
ference shown by her majesty to those who were about her
during Lord Melbourne's premiership ; and Peel is never
asked to dine, if it can possibly be avoided. Another source
of disappointment is, so many whips are asked to the parties
at the palace. The Queen corrects the list herself, and the
Lord Chamberlain has been obliged to tell many of his nu-
merous applicants, who are tories, that he has no power, the
Queen herself choosing whom she shall invite."
There's for you, gentlemen and Conservatives ! The
Queen only tolerates you " upon compulsion "—a
thing, by-the-bye, which the immortal Sir John Fal-
staff would never have stooped to do. " Peel is never
asked to dine." Poor man 1 There is a consolation
for him that, unlike some ministers we could name, he
has his mutton chop and pint of port at home. "So

many Whigs", too, " are asked to the parties at the
palace." Lucky dogs ! Again : " the Queen corrects
the list herself," and the Lord Chamberlain (poor
functionary !) " has no power." Heart-rending pic-
ture ! At this moment it is presented in all its bitter-
ness to our mind's eye. There stands her Majesty,
late the object of the affectionate fears and the devoted
admiration of her loyal subjects ; and there the Cham-
berlain, with " list" and pen in hand. " Strike me
out the name of that peer !" exclaims the Queen;
" he's a Peelite." The Chamberlain " looks and
sighs" ; and the aspiring hopes of an heir to an earl-
orn, a marquisite, or a dukedom, are dashed to earth
Again : " put me down that Whig for my
next party." The tailors at the west end forthwith
stand two inches higher in their pumps at the distant
prospect of a cheque upon the Treasury for a debt hi-
therto deemed hopeless; or some Sir Timothy M‘Did-
dle, from the manufacturing districts, adds another
blazoning to the forged coat of arms upon the panel
of his chariot !
But proceed we with our worthy Albion ; and be
grave, reader, whilst you peruse the following philoso-
phical and truly poetical remarks :
" Such are the sorrows and the griefs of those who are
struggling for the highest places in the fashionable world.
We, in the distance, may smile"—(much in the fashion of a
fox smiling at a bunch of grapes, or a monkey grinning
through the bars of his cage at a nut-vender's basket)—" and
think that such things are of marvellously small consequence,
but we are much mistaken." (Very !) " These trifles are all,
are everything, the summum bonum of happiness and of life
itself, to the gay and giddy throng who flutter in the precincts
of courts, and, like motes dancing In the sunbeams"—(beau-
tiful and original .0—" ind no pleasure except in mingling
in the most brilliant circle of fashion which royalty patronizes.
Exclusion from this is misery to them. The poor creatures,
then, are much to be pitied. It certainly must be very horri-
ble for them to feel that they are considered as not " pre-
sentable" by the most exalted personage in the realm."
Melancholy picture this, reader ! and " pity 'tis 'tis
true"; for the Albion informs you that you " may de-
pend upon the truth of this piece of COURT CHIT
CHAT ! His authority is of the HIGHEST ORDER !1"
It is moreover that of one who MOVES IN THE CIR-

or ever !

CLES WHICH HE DESCRIBES !!!

Naughty tell-tale ! Who, we wonder, can he be,—
this being who moves in the circles which he describes,
and is hand-and-glove with our friends of the Albion-
office ? The editor of the Liverpool Times would, we
should imagine, give his ears—a bargain they would
be—for such a palace correspondent ! WE wouldn't
give a button for a dozen such.

LOCAL NEWS.

The British and North American royal mail steamer
Britannia, Captain Hewitt, sailed, on Saturday afternoon,
for Halifax and Boston. She carried out upwards of sixty
passengers and a heavy mail. The Acadia, which would leave
Boston on the Ist and Halifax on the 3d instant, may be ex-
pected to arrive about this day week.
THE LATE ALBION BAN K.—A meeting of the shareholders
of this bank, recently disolved, was held on Tuesday last, at
the Clarendon-rooms, to receive the report of the directors,
J. H. Sanderson, Esq., in the chair. The shareholders, it
appeared, had received back their subscribed capital, £25 per
share, and the surplus, after defraying all the outstanding
liabilities of the company, would, it was calculated, enable
the directors to make a final payment of nearly £7 per share.
The report was received, there not having been more than
six dissentients to the recommendations of the directors.
The sum of £l2OO was voted: namely, to the directors £500;
to the manager, Mr. Hugh Mackay, £300; to the two cashiers
£l5O each; and to the clerks £lOO.
MEETING OF THE INHABITANTS OF BIRKENHEAD.—A
public meeting of the inhabitants of the above town was
held, at the Town-hall, on Friday night. to adopt congratu-
latory addresses to her Majesty and Prince Albert, on the
recent providential escape of her Majesty from assassination.
The meeting was numerously and most respectably attended.
J. D. Case, Esq., was unanimously voted to the ehair. The
first resolution was proposed by the Rev. Andrew Knox,
who, in a very eloquent and feeling manner, alluded to the
recent atrocious attempt on the life of her Majesty. He,
had, he said, no doubt that such a burst of loyalty would be
manifested throughout the country as would convince her
Majesty bow deeply the attempt upon her life was felt by her
people. The other resolutions were proposed and seconded,
in strong sympathetic terms, by the several gentlemen who
took part in the proceedings. Before the company separated
Mr. William Jackson proposed three cheers for the Queen,
as that was the first meeting at Birkenhead in which the
different political parties had united. The proposition was
carried out with hearty good-will.
FORGERY.—Charles Grace was placed before Mr. Rushton
on Saturday, charged with having forged a cheque for £4O on
the Liverpool Banking Company, in the name of his em-
plover, Mr. Henry Stuart. Officer 182 of the metropolitan
police, C division, stated, that he apprehended the prisoner
in London, as a vagrant. On questioning him he learned
that he had absconded from Liverpool with £4O in his pocket,
which he had obtained by forging a cheque in the name of
his master. He was taken before a magistrate and remanded
for one week, and inquiries were made at Liverpool which
proved the correctness of the statement. A clerk from the
banking company proved the payment of the cheque on the
21st April last. Mr. Henry Stuart said the prisoner had ab-
sconded from his service a few days previous to the presenta-
tion of the cheque. The body of the cheque was filled up in
the handwriting of the prisoner : the signature was not his
(Mr. Stuart's) handwriting. The prisoner was committed
for trial.