The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-10-08 00:00:00

REVISION OF THE MUNICIPAL LI;9:T.

The annual revision of the Municipal List Was coninienced
on yesterday, at ten o'clock, before the Mayor (SAMUEL
HoLluE, Esq.) and John Yates, jun., Esq., and Henry Brem-
ner Esq., as Assessors. Mr. Bretherton appeared for the
Liberals, and Mr. Buckmaster for the Conservatives. On
entering the Court,

The -MAYOR said—Before the proceedings commence, I
am anxious to make a few, obsertations;.which I think my
public duty requires. It is with no slight degree both of
surprise and regret, that I find objections of a wholesale
nature have been made to the extent of 21001 I would
really ask the gentlemen what is to be gained by this —not
a fair and legitimate expression of public opinion certainly,
but an unworthy triumph, reflecting no credit on any party,
and displaying personal enmity and ill-will (hear, hear). The
legislature certainly never contemplated such wholesale and
frivolous objections as have been witnessed hi our registra-
tion courts. Vigilance is indeed necessary, and even credit-
able, and either party ought to be watchful, lest by trickery
on the_one hand, or fraud on the other, the registry should
be swamped by hundreds, or even by one person,. who had
no right legally to be placed upon it, But that vigilance is
quite a different thing from the wholesale batch of objections
which are made against hundreds, I may say thousands, of
well-known men, resident rate-payers; and all these notices
have been served on them, on the very last day, even the
very last night, allowed by the law. That men well-known
as burgesses, where there cannot be a shadow of a doubt as
to their qualification, by some technical or frivolous objec-
tion made by the letter of the law being strained in
contradiction both to its spirit and essence, should be
compelled to leave their avocations at great personal sacri-
fice, and probably pecuniary loss, to attend here day by day,
or otherwise be deprived of their vote, is so unjust that it
ought to be universally deprecated. (Hear, hear). Many
persons are so annoyed at this system, that they voluntarily
submit to be struck off rather than incur the loss of time ne-
cessary to secure their votes. Can this be right or constitu-
tional ? I think a man may indeed be regardless of his pro-
perty, or wasteful of his money, but he is not to be robbed
of it ; and though a man may care very little for the posses-
sion of the franchise, still that is no-right that he should be
unjustly deprived of it. Now, I have taken up the list of
objections in one of the wards since coming on the bench,
and I observe there such names as Mr. Banker, Mr. Bullen,
Mr. Ewart, Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Horsfall, Mr. Kersley, Mr.
Manifold, Mr. Stewart, another Borough Magistrate and Town
Councillor ; Mr. Booth, another Magistrate, Mr. J. H. Tur-
ner, whom I have personally known to have inhabited the
same house for thirty-five years; and the names of several
others equally well known and respectable gentlemen. Now,
I ask are these things fair ? I think in one ward, Rodney
Ward, there are 1100 names on the original list, and of
these no less than 800 are objected to: I say this is an un-
fair and most unconstitutional proceeding. The legislature
ought to interfere in this matter, and where the objection
failed, costs ought to be given in this municipal the
same 'as in the parliamentary revision, though I
hope the period is not far distant, when one
registration will do for parliamentary and municipal pur-
poses. For a long period, in past times, I was subjected to
this annoyance, and I remember that on one occasion I had
to make a journey from Scotland to Liverpool to preserve
my vote at a period when my parochial assessment amounted
to several hundreds a year. lam not sure if an action were
brought in the County
i Court that one would not get re-
dress for the loss and inconvenience caused by these frivo-
lous objections ; but yet I think it would be well worth to
try the experiment. I do not wish these remarks to be
binding on the two gentlemen who are sitting with me in an
official capacity. I take the responsibility on myself in thus
saying what I conceive to be imperatively necessary. The
wholesale system of objections to men, in the hope that they
cannot, or will not attend, and so be truck off the registry,
is a foul blot and stain, discreditable to those who do it, I
care not of what party they are (hear, hear), and I unhesi-
tatingly condemn such a system as unjust, oppressive, and
unconstitutional. If I speak strongly upon this subject, it
is because I feel strongly upon it. We are compelled, I
presume by law, to strike off those who do not appear when
called upon the second time ; but whenever I am obliged to
do so in the case of well-known men, against whom merely
technical or frivolous objections are made, or in the case of
any man, against whom there is urged no valid objection, I
shall consider that my office imposes on me the painful ne-
cessity of inflicting on him that legal injustice.
Mr. YATES said that he had no objection to say that he
honestly agreed with what the Mayor stated.

The MAYOR said hehOpWtliat the parties who had
served the objections, would agree together, and would
withdraw crowds of those which would be perfectly futile.
Mr. BUCKMASTER said that in Rodney Ward for many
years back unity of feeling had existed, and were it not that
his friends understood that a large issue would take place,
of objections, known to be perfectly frivolous on the. other
side, they would not have prepared. or issued objections on
their side. An issue certainly did take place,. and they did
the same ; but as it would bd a great inconvenience to many
gentlemen to attend, he was instructed to make an offer to
withdraw all their objections provided the other side did the
same. That offer had not been responded to, and there-
fore nothing remained for him but to persevere in the
objections. _

The MAYOR hoped that the other party would now
accede to the offer, and he was sure that it would be very
creditable to both parties if they did. There was the case
of Mr. Turner, for instance—.

Mr. BREMERTON said that as the Mayor seemed specially
to refer to him, he should say that he could see no dif-
ference between Mr. Turner and any other burgess in the
town. He could not agree with his Worship as to the ob-
jections being frivolous, and, with the greatest deference for
the Court, he should say that his Worship's remarks would
be much better after the revision, because then they would
have a fair opporttmity of knowing what was frivolous, or
what was not ; and by that means the shaft would be aimed
at those who merited it, and not in the general and sweeping
way in which it had been aimed. He was not called on as
an advocate to defend the issuing of these objections, but
merely to do his duty; but in doing that duty he would not
draw any distinction between Mr. Turner, or Mr. Gladstone,
and any other man who might hold the franchise. Mr. Tur-
ner would come on in his place as any other man ; and he
(Mr. Bretherton) thought that the late revision, consider-
ing that it was the largest revision ever held in this country,
was conducted, as the presiding Barrister had been pleased
to state, most admirably as to order and temper; and he
thought they would not depart from that in this instance.
The observations made did not affect him personally ; he was
merely an advocate, and in the discharge of his duty he
would know no distinction between any men. _

Mr. YATES said he conceived that his experience for twelve
years in these matters, enabling him to know what propor-
tion the valid to the invalid objections should hold in such a
list, fully justified him in pronouncing the opinion he had
done. That opinion had been expressed by the Mayor, and
he (Mr. Yates) should allow it to stand. •
Mr. BRETHERTON : But the proceeding which has been
adopted is not unconstitutional ; for the only way by which
the balance of parties can be preserved, as the present regi-
stration machinery exists, is the one we have adopted. You
must not blame the people who make use of such means, but
you must blame the law which adopts such a machinery.
You must not blame the men, but the system.

The MAYOR : The system I do blame 9 but at the same
time I cannot withdraw one word against those who make
these frivolous objections, whoever they may be. (Hear.
hear.)
Everton Ward was the first taken up, and it was resolved
that the names should be gone through alphabetically.

MR. BAINBRIGGE'S LECTURE.—Last evening, Mr.
Bainbrigge delivered a lecture on the " Physiology of the
Mind," at the Collegiate Institution. After a brief intro-
duction, the lecturer proceeded to point out the connection
between the mind and the body, and showed how the one
could not be overtaxed without the other being propor-
tionably injured by the exertion. He then dwelt on the
importance of physiological science in connection with educa-
tion, and illustrated his argument by showing how it would
lead parents to observe more clearly the tendencies of their
children, and thus enable them to develope their good, and
check their bad qualities. He then asked what time should
education commence ? And he answered it by saying that,
though various answers had been given to the question, yet,
in his opinion, the earliest dawn of consciousness should be
the starting point of education. For, from that period, the
mind receives impressions, and we should never teach
children what they should in after life unlearn. The lecturer
then eloquently pourtrayed how the subtlest truth in meta-
physics was to be found in the Scripture, " Love is the ful-
filling of the law ;" for love led us to duty, and, in the per-
formance of duty, "the law" was fulfilled. Passing from this
head, he proceeded to consider the formation of character,
and its importance, not only to the individual, but to society.
The lecturer dwelt on this head at considerable length, and
impressed on his hearers, that as the formation of character
determined the fate of the individual, so was it the more
necessary that parents and teachers should watch every
phase of its development in the child and pupil. The
lecturer was warmly applauded at the conclusion of the
addresss.