The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-10-30 00:00:00

Last evening a meeting of the friends and supporters
of this gentleman was held in the Derby Arms, Kirkdale,
for the purpose of promoting his return as a representa-
tive for these wards in the Town Council of Liverpool.
The large room was densely crowded long before the
hour appointed for the meeting, by some of the most
influential municipal electors of the ward, amongst whom
we noticed Dr. Chalmer, Dr. Arnold, Messrs. Ledger,
Kitchen, A. King, W. Unwin, Reason, R. Kirkpatrick,
W. Duckworth, Yates, T. Bird, Higginson. Maddox,
Hall, Ackerly, Jordan, W. Haydock, R. Jones, Chapman,
Stevenson, Swift, J. Roberts, Orrell, Rouke, Walker,
Kendal, obinson, Crook, &c.
On the chairman of the committee, Mr. C. Hall, and
the candidate, Mr. Stitt, with the most active members
of the committee entering the room, they were received
with the greatest enthusiasm. Silence having been in
some degree restored, Mr. Holt rose and said : We are
now approaching the hour when we shall be called upon
to record our votes, and to decide who is to be our
representative—(cheers)—and I trust that the very
friendly and enthusiastic feeling which has been exhi
hied will continue, and will be also exhibited on the
day of election, when we shall have to decide the issue of
this contest. (Cheers) I have been told by a person
who are more familiar with political contests than I am,
that he had never seen electors behave better, or more
respectable, than the electors of this ward had done on
the present occasion. (Cheers.) I trust that this is an
augury that we are about to enter into a better state of
things, and I do hope that the electors will henceforth
apply their minds in considering the questions which
more peculiarly effect themselves, and that they will
intelligently choose the men to represent them who will
best advocate their interests. It appears to me that it
should be one of the great objects of men who take a
part in these meetings that he should endeavour if
possible to rise the standard of intelligence, to infuse
their minds into the minds of those who are about to
represent them, and to strive to rise the intelligence and
morality of the electors, and that the men such electors
send into the council should be a reflex of themselves.
(Cheers.) On a former occasion I referred to the value
of our municipal institutions, they are the most ancient
of all our institutions, they have been handed down
to us from people who praised freedom and
liberty, and they have ever been praised
by liberal minds, and will ever be held sacred by such
people. It is important that we should regard the rights
of these municipalities, and we should endeavour to
preserve them in all their purity and integrity. I say if
we have a- wish to preserve this safeguard to our
liberties, we have a right to preserve intact these
institutions. and I do say that he is the true Conservative
who will endeavour to preserve and uphold these insti-
tutions. (Cheers.) It is not my intention to trespass
on your time, when the field more properly belongs to
your candidate. It his opinions that you have to hear,
and not mine. I have had the honour of being the
chairman of the committee for conducting his elections,
and I therefore concern myself more with the topics
which relate to those duties which I have taken in my
hands, than to make speeches. It is my duty, as it
appears to me, to lead you forward in that path of
rectitude and right, by which alone I desire to see this
gentleman returned, and I trust on the day when
you are called upon to record your votes in favour
of the gentleman who now stands forward to seek your
suffrages: (Cheers.) There has been a topic referred
to during the contest in which we are now engaged, to
which I must direct your special attention, because it is
one of the utmost importance—l allude to the press—
(ebeers)—and
I am happy to say that the press, as far as
we are concerned, have accorded to us every facility for
promulgating our opinions, and bringing our views
before the public. But our opponents have made a
great complaint, and that is, that as far as the press is
concerned that they are not fairly reresented—(laughter)
—on their side They say that they have not got news-
papers to support them. (Laughter.) For our part we
have no reason to complain. (Cheers) We are repre-
sented by the intelligent press of the town. (Great
cheering.) The Liverpool press supports our cause.
But, gentlemen, if they are not satisfied with the way in
which they are supported by their press, have we any
reason to complain. We, as the representatives of enlight-
enment and progress, will not be sorry to see them
increase their representatives if they can. Let them
proniulgate their ideas through the press, and then we
should have an opportunity of knowing what those
ideas are. (Loud cheers.) Gentlemen, we have a
cheap press. (Cheers.) Let them come within the
sphere of competition. (Laughter.) Gentlemen, I
trust, with cheap newspapers, and thanks for them, that
every elector will avail himself of that source of infor-
mation of reading for themselves, not trust to what they
hear, and make themselves familiar with the topics which
more concern them. Read, I say, not only the news of ;
the day, but read the debates and the discussions which
take place in the Town Council. (Immense cheeringt)
Let them read what is said by their representatives, but
do not do that alone, but let them read also the divisions
—look to see how your representatives vote—(cheers)—
and when the time comes for their re-election, let them
consider those facts—let them see how they voted, and
when those men come again forward for their re-election,
decide by the votes they have given—(cheers)—and, if
they deserve it, record your votes in their favour. Do
not, I say, be satisfied with reading speeches, but look to
the divisions, and if they have voted in that way which
will be beneficial to your interes's, and to the
interests of the town, support them ; but if
they have not, then, I say, don't consider the
party to which they belong, but reject them. (Cheers.)
All I ask of you is to do your duty—use your own
judgment—when they come back to ask for your votes—
if they have fulfilled their promises support them. Your
candidate has not given you any pledges, nor will he,
but he has promised to fulfil the duties to the best of his
ability. (Cheers.) I will not further occupy your time,
as the chairman of the committee I have nothing further
to say. We have stated our opinions fairly and openly.
The field is open for our opponents to do the same, and
I trust from what you have heard, and what you will
hear, that you will do your duty, and that on the Ist of
November you will give your votes to the best man. I
shall now conclude by introducing to your 'notice, our
respected candidate Mr. Stitt, in whom I do not think
you can find a better representative. (Great cheering.)
Mr. Stitt then rose and was greeted with prolonged
cheering. When silence was restored, he proceeded to
thank the great assembly for the cordial reception he had
received, not only on that, but on all occasions when
he had the honour of presenting himself before the
electors of the ward, and from the approbation which he
had received at the hands of the electors, he argued it
was an approval of the sentiments he had already deli.
vered. (Loud cheers.) He thought it the duty of a
candidate to let his constituents know his sentiments,
and, although he had already given expression to his
sentiments, he would again, even at the risk of repeating
some of his opinions, trouble them with a few observa-
tions, (Hear, hear.) There should be a confidence
between the representative and the represented, and this
was the only basis of their representation. (Loud cheers.)
He bad said so much at former meetings, that he bad
little to add ; but, at all events, the meeting of that
evening proved one thing, that the -infant was still
living, or, as his friend, an Irishman, would say, " He
was to the fore"—(much laughter)—and more than that,
he had been engaged taking notes, and he had noticed,
with much amusement, he would confess, the attempts
made by his opponents to be jolly—like Mark Tapir
under 'the circumstances. (Hear, hear, and cheers.)
and their proceedings during the contest most forcibly
reminded him of the conduct of a worthy divine, who
was particularly distinguished for two things, namely,
the singular emphasis and industry with which he
quoted his text, and the singular ingenuity he had in
avoiding it. (Cheers and laughter.) He went round
and round it, from left to right, and from right to left,
above and below it, and at last when the hearers thought
he must go slap into it—what did he do ? Why he
took a flying leap, and jumped right over it. (Loud
sheers and laughter.) And so it was with his opponents
—they announced their text, but they jumped over it
Itenevred cheers.) He went on to say, that his op-
ponent, by one of that gentleman's supporters, was
likened into Moses, and by another, into a fine
old bottle of port wine. (Roars of Laughter )
but he did not find much fault with that, so long as it
stuck to the text—(hear, hear, and laughter)—but there
was only one step, as they y all knew, from the sublime to
the ridiculous—but did they stick to the text ? (Hear,
hear.) No, they acted like the worthy divine, and jumped
over it. (Cheers). One cried
t out, Whigs and Tories !"
Very good. Another shoueod t't Church and State !" and
then they had a fine lecture
th vnerhel3lig
Fes and difficulties
showed the
that beset youth. A our
advantage of being tongue-tied,yan th-anauttlywas a strong
recommendation to be a councilman.al (Great laughter
and cheers). He did not at underrate
. these
thought
tt still
such
these advantages in a member of thecohuentehdo,o
they left the original text untouched, but
advantages were fast fading away before the public, and
were falling into oblivion (Hear, hear.) They would,
however, permit him to say that they had to decide (on
Saturday) between the qualifications of the two candi-
dates—(hear, heara
)--because that was the real question
of the business before them, and that was the selection of
the best qualified man to represent them in the council—
their interest and their wishes in that assembly. (Hear,
hear.) He did imagine that some ability to speak was
of some small importance in the person who was to
become the mouthpiece and representative of a great
community, but it was thought otherwise by his oppo-
nents, and that a silent member was the best man. (Oh!
Cheers and laughter.) They were told that the work was
was to be done in committees, and that speeching
was a decided bore; but even in committees, he
Pe_was of oPluimithat to Do able to talk was or ooze