The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-03-16 00:00:00

THE GENERAL ELECNON,

MANCTIPATER.—On Friday a meeting of electors opposed
to the sitting members was held at the Corn Exchange,
to nominate two candidates in opposition to Messrs.
Gibson and Bright. Mr. Alderman Neild occupied the '
chair. Mr. J. A. Turner moved a resolution, stating that
in the opinion of the meeting it wilt due to the electors
of Manchester to give them an opportunity of declaring
by their votes whether or not they have been truly repre-
sented in Parliament during the last ten years. Mr.
Turner Said, if the opponents of the present members
were in a minority, they were a very influential minority,
and they had 4 eight to express a deliberate opinion as to
the course the members had pursued. Mr. 0. Heywood
seconded the resolution, and it was carried, though not
without opposition. Mr. Jeremiah Garnett moved that
r. quisition be immediately set on foot requesing Mr.
L iwe, M.P. for Kidderminster, and Sir John Potter, to
offer themselves as candidates. The resolution was
seconded by Mr. Pander, a foreign merchant, and carried.
Mr. Dorrington moved a resolution appointing a com •
mittee to conduct the opposition, and the gentlemen
present were solicited to volunteer to serve on the cone
rnittee. The molon was seconded by Mr. W. Callender,
jun. Mr. Lowe, we are confidently assured, has not the
remotest intention of contesting Manchester.
OXFORD. —Ou Thursday evening, Sergeant Gazelee ad-
dressed about one thousand persons, making known his
political principles, which are Palmeretonian. He
advocated the extension of the suffrage, but ridicu'ed
the idea of universal suffrage, vote by ballot, an equitable
adjustnient of the income tax, tr-ennial Parliaments,
abolitithe of church rates, and reform of every kind.
Messrs. Langstone and Cardwell have both issued their
addresses, calling on their constituents for a renewal of
their suffrages. Mr. Cardwell defends his vote on Mr.
Cobden's motion in the following terms The speech
from the Throne invited our attention to transactions of
a lamentable kind, which had recently taken place in
China, and papers on that subject were submitted to us
for our decision. If the government had then announced
the intention, which has since been made known, of send-
ing out a superior authority to China, the motion, which
was actually made,-would have been quite unnecessary,
and 1, at least, would not have voted for it. No such
intention 'was expressed, and Parliament was obliged,
(Hier to approve or to condemn extreme severities
resorted to by the Plenipotentiary of China, in a manner
wholly unauthorised by the spirit of his instructions
from -the Home Government. In such a case, every
man is bound to express by his vote the sincere convic-
tion of his own judgment. I gave my vote solely from
a sense of duty, to have acted otherwise would have been
to violate my own conscience, and to forfeit my own in-
dependence.
KIDDERMINSTIsR,.—IMr. Lowe has to meet a formidable
opponent in the person of Mr William Boycot, whose
political opinions may be stated to be Conservative
RAical rather than Liberal Conservative. Mr. Boycm's
popularity is, however, principally owing to his personal
character. He is the eldest son of the late Captain Boy-
cot, and has been long established as a solicitor, in most
extensive practice, and, indeed, it is notorious that it
was by his influx nee and exertions that the late Mr.
Godson, Q.C., who represented this borough in several
parliaments, was returned.— Weekly Register.
STROUD —The Right Hon. E. Horsman, Secretary for
Ireland, and Mr. Scrope, the sitting members, have
published addresses soliciting re-election, declaring them-
selves supporters of Lord Palmerston's Goveinment and
advocates of the ballot, abolition of church rates, exeen-
sion of the suffrage, law and administrative reform, free
trade and economy in the national expenditure,
Noe-Timm/on—Mr. Ernest Jones has issued an address
to the electors and non-electors. The opinion and objects
he avows are well known. He says he conies forward
because he has been long pledged to do so, and therefore
the blame of dividing the Liberal party, should it be
dividtd, cannot justly fall on him.
Gueerswien.—A numerously attended meeting of elec-
tots was held on Friday evening, at the Pier hotel, Wool-
kvich, to consider the best means of securing the election of
two staunch Reformers as representatives of the borough.
The chair was occupied by Mr. Cherry, and a resolution to
•sn-•pert Mr. Montague Chambers, at the coming election,
ras met by an amendment to the effect that Mr. Chambers
bit'vtag been ebsent on divisions on the ballot, Locke King's
'otion for'the extension of the franchise, end other impor-
tant questions of reform, was unfit to represent the borough.
el long discinsion ensued, and the amendment was carried
by aconsiderahle majority. A resolution, opposed to Gen.
Codrington was then carried, with four dissentients ; and
a tliscustinn then took place as to the propriety of in-
viting Mr. Alderman Salomons to become a candidate.
Ultimately a committee was appointed, and the meeting was
adjourned.
BIRMINGHAM.—Messrs. Mime and Scholefield have
formally announced their candidature ; the rumours of an
opp,sition have died away.
PORTSMOUTH, MAE CH 13.—There are now no opponents
to the sitting-members, Sir Francis Baring and Lord Monk.
Sir • Frrdsrick Smith retired yesterday, preferring the
prospects at Chatham to those at this place.
STOCKPORT.—The first definite step with reference to the
future representation of Stockport was taken last Friday,
when a meeting of electors connected with the Stockport
Reform Association was held. As the result of this meeting
we may state that Messrs. Smith and Kershaw will stand
for the borough. The Tories have not a chance. _

)3,IITsToL.-4 movement is afloat hero to induce Sir S. M.

}veto, the eminent contractor, to come forward and oppise the
re—election of Mr. H. Berkeley. The bon. baronet is now in
Algeria, so that some time must elapse before his answer can

be received. We can, therefore, only say at present that the
movement is promoted by some of the leaders of the Pro'es-
tant and Temperance party, to whom Mr. Berkeley's conduct
on religions matters and the Sunday Beer Bill has given deep
offence, and that they calculate at least on rendering his return
doubtfull.

Soirrnampros.—Cant. Mangles has positively declined to
allow himself to be put in nomination as a candidate for the
borough, or to become in any way the cause of dividing the
Liberal interest, Now that the Liberals are again a united
party, it is expected that no opposition will be attempted by
the Conserva.ives, there being at least in the borough a
majority of 900 electors on the Liberal interest. A meeting
was held on Thursday night, unanimously agreeing to support
Mr.. Weguelin.
CAMBRIDGESIIIRE.—The sitting members offer themselves
for re-election, and there is little doubt of the return of the

Yorke and Lord George Manners. Mr. Ball has

issued an address. It is said that a requisition has been sent
to Malta, to It. J. Adeano, Esq., the owner of the extensive
13abrabam Park estates, and a Liberal.
RyillX.SHlßE.—There is mow a probability of a contest in
this county. A meeting for the purpose of considering the
desirability of the present representation, is called for Thursday
next, at the Town Hall, Newbury. It is intended to get up
a requisition to Mr. John Walter, M.P. for Nottingham,
whose father, several years ago, was returned for this county,
after a most severe struggle. If the number of signatures
should be such as to afford a reasonable probability of his
return, it is believed that the hon. gentleman will accede to

the wish that he should be nominated. Other names are

mentioned as likely to contest the county, and among them
that of the Right Hon. E. P. Bouverie, President of the Poor
Law Board, and son of the Earl of Radnor, who is the owner
of considerable property in the county. Should either or both
of these gentlemen consent to be nominated, it is not
unTikely that ono or more of the present members will
withdraw.
Nostlat LANCASHIRE.—As yet there is only one candidate
in the fold, Lord Cavendish, though it is almost confident
that Colonel Wilson Patten will again offer himself. Rumour
has it that Mr. R:chard Assheton Crosse, of Lancaster, is
being brought forward by the Conservatives, but nothing
authentic had transpired up to last night. After a meeting of
Lord Cavendish's supporters at the Red Lion Hotel, Preston,
he issued an address in which he owns himself a supporter
of Lord Palmerston.
DEVONSIIIRE.—Some unexpected and 'important events
Love taken pies in this county. Sir.T. D. Acland, who
hai represented North Devon for a period of twenty years, has
soured, and so also, as we previously anuoureed, has Mr.
L. N. Buck. In their room, three Conservative candi-
da!es have been announced—Sir S. H. Northcote, the
present' manber for Dudley ; Mr. G. S. Buck, the pre-
rent member for Barnstaple,, and the eldest son et Mr. L. N.
Ruck ; and the Hon. W. C. Trcfusis, eldest son of Lord
Clinton. ft is said that the Rolle, Acland, and Fop tescue
interest in the county will unite in favour of Sir S. H. North-
coie and the Hon. Mr. Trefusis. In Barnstaple, Mr. James
Taylor, of Birmingham. and Mr. M. Gore, have come forward
in the Liberal interest ; and Mr. Guinness (the present ment-
he!) ; Sir W. Fraz'r and Mr. Laurie on the Conservative
side. The two latter gentlemen were unseated for bribery on a
fo.mer occasion in this borough. In Exeter, some of the
Conservatives being dissatisfied with Sir J. T. 11. Duckworth,
have brought out Mr. R. S, Gard, a gentleman of large
property.

LE) r.:STER —Election machinery is getting fairly to
work in this borongh, 111 r. Harris's friends are deter-

minec: to put him forward, notwithstanding the fact that
Sir Joshua IValmsley is invited by a requisition, signed
by 1.3:,0 electors, and which would have been considera-
bly augmented had it been known at tife time of the
canvass that an election was so near. A numerous
meetink of electors has unanimously adop'crl Sir Joshua
Walmesley and Mr. John Riggs as the two candidates cri
the Liberal interest. Sir Joshua Walmeqley and Mr.
Briggs have issued addresses. Neither say s anything
aho :t the Cant,n affair, and othe,wisi th it addresses
are very meaningl as. Bolt these gentlemen voted against
Mn Cobden. Sir Joshua Walnasley has issued, the following
address :—" I am at a loss for language to express my grateful
Apprec:atiotz of the prompt and decisive course you have taken

to assure me of your confidence and support. Such requisitior a
as those with which yon have honoured me have seldom fallen
to the lot of any representative ; and I beg to say, that so
long as life and health shall remain to me, no effort of
which I am capable shall be wanting to promote the wishes
and to advance the interests of a constituency who have
given me so generous a support. My intention on finding
myself at issue on an important social question with some of
those for whom I entertain the highest respect, was to retire,
with the present parliament, rather than disunite the Liberal
ranks. The fact, however, that the question to which I refer
cannot again become a legislative one until public opinion
has undergone great change, has rendered such a course on
my part unnecessary. This, coupled with the numerous
assurances of approval of my general conduct as your repre-
sentative; induces me again to seek a renewal of your
suffrages. Acts rather, than professions should be the tests
of public men, and years of experience have enabled you to
form a just estimate how far my conduct has been in accord-
ance with those principles which first recommended me to
your favour. lam fully alive to my own ' shortcomings ;'
but zeal in your service and devotion to your interests, irre-
spective of party considerations, have formed no portion thereof.
Thus much I can •conscientiously assert, that each effort I
have made, each vote I have 'wooded, has been in unison with
those principles of civil, political, and religious equality, for
the advocacy of which the inhabitants of Leicester have long
been conspicuous. The limits of an address render it
undesirable to enter upon explanations for which other op
portunities will be afforded, and I will only add, that should
you honour me by a renewal of your confidence, the same
independent course which I have hitherto pursued will direct
my future conduct, and I shall specially labour to secure that
first object of my political life—a just system of national
representation."
TIVERTON. -It is intended that Mr. Amory, grandson
of Mr. lleathcoate, one of the present members, shall offer
himself for the borough as the colleague of Lord Palmerston.
Mr. Heatheoree retires through advanced age.
SHREWSBURY.-Mr. Tomline, Liberal Conservative mem-
ber, has issued an address to the electors, soliciting, a renewal
of their suffrages. Mr. R. A. Slaney, the Liberal candidate
(At present at Turin), has issued an address, wherein ho rests
his claim for support upon his unflinching advocacy of the rights
of the p.ople, and of his adherence to sound Liberalism. He
will no doubt be returned at the head of the poll. " NV. B.'s"
well known "good and safe man," has not yet succeeded in
finding a Tory candidate well furnished with cash, and the
Tory freemen, who have hithetro hid a pretty good share of
bribery, are very uneasy.__ _ _

TEWKICSBURY.---MI. Humphrey Brown, the director of the
Royal British Bank, and the Hon. Frederick Lvgon; Boa of
Earl Beauchamp, have issued addresses to the electors. Mr.
Brown offers himself for re-election. The Hon. F. Lvgon is
a conservative in politics, and a new candidate. Mr. Martin,
the second sitting member, has intimated his intention of
again offering himself. Mr. Cox, the other conservative can-
didate, has retired.
CALLBLIC.—A meeting of tLe Liberal electors was held on
Friday afternoon. 'Film were about 250 electors present,
and Mr. John leving was called to the chair. Mr. George
Gill Mounsey made 'a statement to the effect that Sir James
Graham expressed his strong sense of the difficulty in which
the Liberal party in Carlisle had been placed by the opposing
votes of their representatives on the Chinese question, his
opinion that so great a difference ought not to exist between
them, and his perfect readiness to retire if the electors should
be of opinion that Lord Palmerston ought to be supported.
Mr. Mounsey thought that the question on which Sir James
Graham and Mr. Ferguson differed was one of persona, and
not of principles, and intimated that, in his opinion, each should
be allowed to regard:rt, as heretofore, as an open question. Mr.
Cartmell, however, submitted to the meeting two questions—
shall Sir James and a new colleague be accep ed ;
or shall Mr. Ferguson and a new colleague be accepted.
Several gentlemen insisted that the basis of action should
be that of adhering to reform, not in support or opposition
to Lord Palmerston. An amendment to this effect was
proposed ; but, as the gentlem►n who had an interview
with Sir James Graham, believed him to be entirely adverse
to coalition with Mr. Ferguson, the meeting seemed to feel
that there was no option but to vote on the questions
submitted by Mr. Cartmell. After many expressions of
regret and dissatisfaction at the issue being thus narrowed,
the vote was at length taken, and it was decided by a large
majority to adopt Mr. Joseph Ferguson and a new col-
league. Mr. Perronet Thompson, son of G neral Thcmp-
son, was then proposed as a proper person to be put in
nomination, in conjunction with Mr. Ferguson. Mr.
Thompson, who was in town, was sent for, and he addressed
the meeting, announcing himself an independent supporter
of Lord Palmerston, in favour of an extension of the
suffrage, and of the ballot. The motion was then carried
nem. con.

The Press of Ssturday says :--" It is too early yet to
speak with any certainty of Conservative prospect All
we know at present is, that they impr)ve day by day. The
Conservative connection in the next parliament in all pro
bability will be stronger and more compact, and will be
reinforced by some eminent rising talent ;-xvhi e the Liberal
party must be irreconcilably divided, so long as Lord
Palmerston's government subsists."

The Lancet would be glad to Gni that some thirty or
forty medical gentlemen we-e omndidates for seats in the
legislature. In many boroughs, if the interests of the
resident medical practitioners were to be cinsolidated, there
cannot be a doubt that medical candidates would be suc-
cessful." Our eatemporary: thinks that in Sinthwark,
Lambeth, Marylebone, Finsbury, and Greenwich, by the
hearty co operation of the profession, medical candidates
might be easily returned. "We should rejoice." it says,
" in seeing Sir Benjamin Brodie put up for Middles.' in
opposition to the quack patron, Lord Robert Grosvenor."

EXTRAORDINARY CONVICTION OF A RESPECT
ABLE TRADESMAN .FOR GAS STEALING.

At the Marlborough street Police Court, on Saturday, a
charge of a serious and extraordinary character was pre-
ferred at the instance of the imperial Gas Company,
before Mr. Hingham, the magistrate, against Mr, Henry
Tilbury, bressfounder, fieisher, and gas-fitter, &c., in an
extensive way of business, at 54, Upper Maeylebone
street, S'. Marylebone. The charge, which was that of
" gas stealing," excited considerable interest, in conse-
quence of the respectable position the accused held as a
tradesman, and the number of hands in his employ; the
court was crowded by his frienie and workpeople. Mr.
Cooper, barrister, and Mr. Willoughby, of the firm of
Willoughby, Cox, and Willoughby, attended on behalf
of' the company, and the accused wag also represented by
counsel. It appeared that the accused carried on his
business at the premises, 54, Great Marylebone street, iu
the rear of which he had extensive workshops. On the
28th of February, from information received, Mr. 'Hersey,
the superintendent, and the company's inspectors, were
induced to make a visit to Mr. Tilbury's premises, as he
burnt the company's gas by meter, and there was strong
ground for believing that the vast amount of gas consumed
by him *AS not registered by the meter. On inspece
lion they discovered a pipe connected with the main of
the company, before reaching the meter, carefully passed
through and concealed in the wall, passing through the
house and into the workshops, by which no less than
30 lights and six melting stoves of various descriptions
were supplied with gas, c ,nstuning an enormous (r entity.
The pipe was passed betwoen the ceiling and the walls of
the workshop in a very clever mintier. Mr. Tilbury was
present when the inspectors paid their visit, and on being
informed of their suspicion, he at first denied it, but sub
sequently confessed that he had committed the wrong, and
that he had been using the pipe and burning the gas sur-
reptitiously fora period of two or three years. The com-
pany had, however, traced out parties who were concerned
in putting the pipe up, and were in a position to prove
that they had been robbed in this manner for a period of
something like five years, to the extent, at the lowest
estimate, of 1,000 cubic feet of gas per day. When dis-
covered, the accused exclaimed that he was a ruined
man, and should become the inmate of a prison, and his
wife of a nesdhon,e, Where she had previously been.
Mr. Cooper said the company had no desire to press the
case harshly against Mr. Tilbury, but in consequence of
the continually increasing number of robberies com-
mitted upon their property by tradesmen, even in
large and respectable ways of business, they hod deter-
mined, instead of proceeding for money penalties,
to proceed by common law for the feloni's of stealing
their gas. Although in this instance they could prove
their loss to be to the extent of many hundreds of thou-
sands of cubic feet of gas, they had only proceeded
against Mr Tilbury, on a charge of stealing one thousand
cubic feet of gas, namely, on the day when the mis-
appropriation was detected. Mr. Til,ury, who appeared
deeply humiliated and affected at his position, pleaded
guilty, and threw himself upon the mercy of the company
and the court and, in answer to a question from the
magistrate, implored that he would deal with the
case and not send him for trial, He was already a
ruined man. Mr. 13ingham said be thought the com-
pany had, considering the enormous character of the de-
preciation, dealt most lenierely with the accused. Taking
the circumstances into consideration, notwithstanding the
respectable position the defendant might hove previously
held as a tradesman, he should not be discharging his
duty to the public unless he inflicted upon him some
punishment !Cr an offence which he must say was of a
very serious character. He therefore sentenced him to
two month,' imprisonment. Mr. Tilbury bowed to the
decision of the magistrate, and a most extraordinary
scene presented itself, nearly all the persons in the court
—chiefly his workpeopte—rushing forward to shake bands
with hint on his removal from the (VA to the cell prior
to being removed to prison. A similar charge against a
Licensed victualler in Marylcbone, in an extensive way of
business, has been (maned, and stands remanded at Mary-
lebone police court, • •

IMPERIAL P_VRLEAMENT,

(By British and Irish Magnetic Telegraph.]

11015 $E OF COMMONS.—SATURDAY
The Speaker took the chair at one o'clock.