The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1841-02-16 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

GLANCE AT THE POLITICS OF THE WEI3K.  (From our London Correspondent.)  The subjects which have this week occupied the attentiore of parliament, although productive of no decided results as regards the relative position of the two great contending parties, have yet not been unimportant. The ministerial measure for prolonging the existence of the poor law commission, and increasing the already too extensive powers, by which the Somerset-house triumvirate are enabled to " grind the faces of the poor," may, I fear, be considered as already carried. Some alterations may perhaps be made in the bill when in committee ; but there is little hope that an important amelioration can be gained in the working of the law, by any thing short of the destruction of the absolutism at present vested in the commissioners, and which it is obvious that the ministry are resolved upon perpetuating. As an instance of the cold-blooded philosophy of its I ninisterial advocates in the House of Commons, I cannot refrain from calling the attention of your readers to a few r marks which fell from Lord Howick, and which occupy a prominent position amidst the general mass of heartless sentiment, emanating from the whig party during the debate. It was urged upon the house by Sir Edward Knatchbull, as an.  instance of the unfeeling principle upon which this malthusian measure is at present worked by the Somerset-house trio, that the guardians of a parish in Kent had been refused the privilege of saving from utter starvation, by the admi nistration of temporary out-door relief, a number of their industrious poor who, during the late severe weather, were unable to pursue their ordinary argricultural employments, and. consequently deprived of the means of providing for the  pressing wants of themselves and their families. And what was, in substance, the reply of the utilitarian lordling ? Why, that the utter impenetrability of the poor law commissioners to any feeling resembling humanity constitutes the very essence of the system. The starving to death occeasionally of a few men, women, and children, will afford a useful lesson to the labouring poor of the necessity of encouraging habits of provident saving, and of laying up n store for such emergencies as the one in question ! Upon the same principle the charity which has been so humanely administered in  Liverpool during the last month should have been withheld, and its recipients lacerated into the acceptance of the corn forts of the union &utile (not the Liverpoo 1 Workhouse), unless they should have preferred to die of starvation in a ditch, or to earn, by the commission of crime, the comparatively humane shelter of a prison.  But enough upon this topic. One thing, however, I may as well remark. The people of Liverpool are about to experience the coil of the serpent round their necks, and the system is threatened to be put in force in all its cold-bloodcd atrocity—damming up the sluices of that charity which 110`11 prompts the parochial authorities to minister to the tempo— rary wants of the poor, and rendering poverty a crime, punishable with perpetual imprisonment, and with the severing of every social tie, whenever the alternatives of starvation, suicide, or the gallows are not embraced in preference. The proposition of the Board of Trade to equalize the duties upon East and West India rum will, there is little doubt, be carried into effect during the present session. It is gratifying, however, to notice the intimation which was afforded by Lord John Russell during the debate, that at length the government are ready to bring in a measure of immigration, to relieve the present difficulties of the West India planters. It is presumed that his lordship is in earnest. So far as the session has progressed, notwithstanding their defeats out of doors, the ministry have carried matters with  a tolerably high hand. The conservative party in the House of Commons appear to be dispirited by the unaccountable apathy which hangs over the proceedings, and. is evident in the man►►er of their leader, Sir Robert Peel. Upon every question hitherto upon which he has addressed the house, his remarks have been full of the most biting—l may say bitter sarcasm ; yet, whilst thus lashing the imbecility and inconsistency of the ministerial policy, the spirits of the great leader are manifestly unprepared for a movement en avant, and his vote is ever ready to give the negative to his reasoning. It is probable that Sir Robert may be waiting his time; but it is not altogether certain that the conservative par ty may be always disposed to pursue the same course. Connected with this immovability of the right hon. baronet,. considerable interest has been excited by the able letters which have appeared in the Times, , under the signature " Catholicus." It is very improbable that the sentiments which the writer deduces from the language of his unfortunate Tamworth speech, can be those ,-which Sir Robert intended to convey to the world as his own ; yet the castigation which he has received will not be unproductive of benefit, if it serve to convince the right bon . baronet how much it is beneath the dignity of a statesman And a moralist. such as he confessedly is, to clothe his real opinions, upon so important a subject, in a garb which, at the least, is susceptible of being mistaken. Sir Robert has no reputation for sincerity to throw away; and the experience of the past ought to remind him how valueless is that species of popular applause which is gained by temporising with principle. The approaching trial of Lord Cardigan continues to excite considerable interest, which has been deepened by tlys publication of an admirable letter addressed to the membors