The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-07-26 00:00:00

political existence—noeiiven to the moribund
Reform Association of this town:— -Listen to the
words of our local DEMoiTHENES at-its last meet-

ing; if With him we deplore so desperate a state of
_,_.
financial matters, cki:Nve fail to receive consolation
from the hopeful principles he enunciates". "It was
deplorable," said Mr. JEFFERY, "that gentlemen
should be said. to allow a paltry X5O to stand in
• their Way, merely because that society was in a
state of bankruptcy, and not, for the first time :
if they had lived on faith in the past
.why should
they not live on faith for.. the future ?". 41--labit.
breeds in us a second natule." • The Reform Asso-
ciation is in a state of Bankruptcy ; but what of
that ? It is not for the
.first time ! That
which might at first have produced an embar-
rassing sense of disgrace by usage becomes
as . imperceptible -. to the mind •as - if the
abnormal were the natural and proper 'Con-
dition some old-fashioned people cling: to
the antiqUated notion that Reform should always
begin at home ; but your "Advanced Liberal "
scouts the idea. "Physician heal thyself" is a
precept which has no place in the .philosophy-of
these pseudo-Reformers. Its twin.. sister, ",the
-Financial Reform Association," has signally
failed in its attempt to reform -fhe7-iiatioThial
. .
finances ; but if it is still capable of any "action,',
it is to be hoped its next effort Will be directed
to the financial condition of this distracted and
bankrupt " Reform Association." Nirqpl4 ,an
amalgamation be of any use ? or are both in an
qually deathbound 'condition, and about to enter
e tomb together ? Even that cheerless pros-
3ect

may be preferable to dragging on a Miser-
,ble existence of habit and repute bankrnptcf.

What a mockery of truth, and an affront to
;he town, is our "Reform Associa.tion!' Not
:outent with having done its utmost to obstruct

the cause of true Reform in the State, it would
now seem to have betaken itself, through the
chairman of its last meeting, to the propagation
of commercial immorality. Already bankrupt,
and not for the first time, it is boldly and reek-
iessly urged that they may still go on incurring
heavy posts, trusting to future contingencies for
ability to meet their debts! By the application
of such a rule, what reckless extravagance might
3ootrobuegshanßcatinoknepd ?.AskßyßEacptrinAgnio,n
Sirsuch
joaHtIN insaneDEAN
principle,
I:ll9:4,cl:'arll4d
.ent bankrupts whose enormities have recently
itsheeryloanngd crime have
frau
dwile_
lot witnessed Of late years ? What else ruined the
itartled the commercial world—ask them what
they think of the principle 9f action now enun-
ciated by the Chairman Of the last meeting of the
" Reform Association," and they will tell you,
perhaps with tears in their eyesl that to such a
.delnsion they owe their degradation. There is
scarcely a long-winded Radical in any village
,throughout the country who , does -not believe
himself capable of becOming an efficient "Minis-
ter of Finance;" and it is not improbable that
Mr. lEFFOT also 1.543,,i1:4N t,O, lPgiSiativti honours.
-Ts the principle he announced on Tuesday last
that on which he desires to legislate in the finan-
Aal affairs of the nation ? Mr. GLADSTONE has
doubtless given us a Budget founded on a simi-
larly fraudulent basis ; but he has . shown some
sense of public decency in attempting to defend it
on more
,tenable grounds., Mr. lEFFpiT alriady
occupies a prominent position in connection With
our local administration and municipal finance :
his
_aim is to reach the chair of the Finance Com-
mittee, Does Mr. JEFFERY rest his claim• to
that distinction on the programme which
he has just submitted to the Reform Aaociation?
Truly the commercial world has come to a sad
pass when the head of a firm so very extensively
engaged in business as Messrs. - ;JEFFERY,
JEFFERY, & Co., has the coolness publicly to
advise a bankrupt firm—or association—not to
allow a paltry sum of money to stand 'in their
way in entering canon a new speeulQtion, imt to
Mr.., .-.. jatyl that means Wlll ue found by which
to liquidate their liabilities at the close of the
. . . .
year f Was there ever anything so noxious in
the most "obsolete" and " rotten old Toryism"
as the poison which distils from- this latest bud
developed from the deadly night-shade of-" Ad-
vanced Liberalism?"

The public meeting which Mr. JEFFERY insisted
upon having called for to-night, can ..no more
be looked upon as a meeting of, or connected
with, the Refoim Association (bad as it is), than
was the disgraceful "mass meeting" which the
association has openly disowned. . It is - quite
manifest that it is altogether an affair of Mr.
JEFFERY'S own. After all, it will be somewhat
like a representation of the play of " HAMLET)"
With the character of lIA4LET aniated for Mr.
JEFFERY concluded Tuesday's farce by telling the
handful of " friends " around him, " that he
regretted that circumstances would compel his
absence in the South, and prevent him attending
the meeting !" The object of the meeting pro-
posed to be held this evening, as explained by a
gentleman understood to be personally interested,
in a very small way, in the manufacture of paper,
is to adopt, not discuss,—Ahat would he out of the
question—a motion to the effect " that the
people of this country had enjoyed the im-
memorial right to tax themselves only through
their representatives ; that the refusal by the
Lords to pass the bill for the repeal of the paper
duties was a flagrant violation of that right ; that
it is the sacred duty of the House of Commons, as
the gUilciian qt' the rights 0f the people, to
exercise their power ; and that if they refused to
do so, their character as public men must be
seriously compromised in the people's estimation."
If resolution mean anything at all, it is an
indignation resolution - ostensibly against the
Lords, but more directly and chiefly against the
House of Commons, and especially against Mr.
aLAOSTONE, Mr. BRiOHT, Lord JOHN RUSSELL.
and others, who, after charging the Lords with
aggreision and using violent language to provoke
the Commons to " action," have now seen dis-
cretion to_ De tne oetter part of valo'ir, and
declined, to support .Lord .FERMOX'S motion
pledging. th 9 llpuse t 9 adopt "a practical
measure," We trust the speakers to-night will
keep this in. view. They surely will exonerate
Mr. IItsRAELI and the Conservative party from all

blhme. Did- not they to a man, on a division, go
into- the same lobby with Lord ERMO-ii 13- Let
this be distinctly inidqatooa then, that the Radi-
cal meeting to-Uight ought properly ,to have no
Other object in view than to exonerate the Con-
•Servative party in the House, and to expose and
denounce the insincerity and onNitlititiea of
Mr, QLAPsToNE, iVli', 14TOHTI and Lord' Jong
Rpsvf,L.

" My voice is still for open war,
Of wiles more intricate I boast not,"

may sound very well from the chivalrous JEFEERt
and as a cry may greatly contribute to that gen-
tleman's popularity with the mob ; but we
r.
world sblicit his attention to the words of states-
man, who would seem to have learned some few
particles of political wisdom from bitter expe-
rience. The CHANCELLOR of the EXOHEQUER'S
last utterance in the House of Commons, .on .this
;-übject was I "entertain serious objection to
motion. (Lord FERMOY'S) that it is incum-
)ent on the House to-adopt a practical measure
ar the restoration of ,its rights and privileges.'
"o what does that declaration a..uount 2 To so
tany words; and no more thalwords. It does not
alvance the HoUse one inch to .a praCtical *solu-
tic' of the question, while it gives to the
colt try an appearance of being. in earnest
witout any real pledge or guarantee for:onr-sin-
eery. So far as words are concerned,' we have
use them in: sufficiency. We ought not to pro-
Cegt to. accumulate resolution upon resolution.
Weiave said ail that-it is useful to.say. Do not