Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-07-03 00:00:00

works. and all the other various descriptions of
manufactories would be idle, capital remain
unemployed, and the population of the district
without work, wages, or the common necessaries
of life.

By the skill, the industry, and the attention of
Liverpool to the commercial wants of the age,
our Docks have gone on increasing in extent and
capacity every year, and bringing to the estuary
of the Mersey the products of all nations,
whereby fresh fields of industry are opened up
to the artisan population—outlets are made for
unemployed capital—and the revenue of the
country is vastly augmented as each cycle of

time comes round. For acts such as these—acts
which bear on them the impress of civilisation,
patriotism, and philanthropy, what is the reward
which the professedly liberal and enlightened
episcopal metropolis of Lancashire offers—
nothing but bare-faced robbery—the abolition,
or, at least, transference of those very Dues
which were the foundation of Manchester's
greatness.

A decision more iniquitous, in a public point
of view, than that which Sir JAMES GRAHAM
gave on this day week, it has never been our lot
to read. It is one, however, which must be
disputed ; and the sycophants of Railway
interests and expectants of Treasury appoint-
ments taught to know and feel that Liverpool
has its just rights, and will maintain them.
A population of nearly half-a-milli m, if united
as 9ne man, can by firmness and determination
make the very Ministers quake before their ire.
The Rouse of Lords, too, are unlike the
Commons: their decisions are noted for their
justice, and the calm spirit of discussion by
which they are arrived at. Soon will their
Lordships have to consider the Mersey
Conservancy Bill—soon will Liverpool have to
raise her voice, through counsel learned in the
law, against this bantling of spoliation. Before
that, we again urge a Towns' Meeting ; and
every man who feels an interest in the town
have an opportunity of telling, by their signature
to a respectful protest, that the wealth, the
intelligence, in a word, the whole population
regard the measure as one of inexcusable and
barefaced public robbery.

THE House of Commons was engaged on Tues-
day night discussing Mr. BERKELEY'S motion
for leave to bring in a bill to cause the votes of
Parliamentary Electors of Great Britain and
Ireland, to be taken by way of Ballot. At the
late general Election, loud and earnest were the
declarations of candidates on the subject of
Reform, and of their desire not only to extend
the franchise, but to protect it by means of the
Ballot box, Hustings pledges we are not dis-

tronca - - - sreat
majority of instances, they are only made for the
sole purpose of being disregarded and advisedly
broken. the Election petitions which are now
engaging the attention of several Select Com-
mittees of the House of Commons, but too
clearly demonstrate, that, at the very moment
when these declarations about the purity of
Elections and the universal tendency of bribery
and corruption, as well as the imperative neces-
sity of putting a stop to such a nefarious sys-
tem, were being made, the agents of several can-
didates were busy at the very work which their
employers had so eloquently stigmatised. These
has evidently been a want of sincerity in all the
clamour respecting " Purity of Election," and the
wish of the great bulk of the members of the
House of Commons to eradicate it from our
political system. The vote of Tuesday night,
and the tone and temper of the House in
attempting to cough down the arguments of
every member who spoke in support of the
motion, is so strong in confirmation of the fore-
going that we shall not pursue the argument on
this point further.

Let the House of Commons decide as it may,
the question of the Ballot, we belong to that
class of politicians who regard it as essential to
the purity of Election, and the certainty of good
government in this country. Let us examine
the arguments advanced both for and against the
proposition of Mr. BERKELEY. In the first place,
that honourable gentleman clearly demonstrated
that as matters now stand, the utmost bribery
and corruption prevail at Parliamentary Elec-
tions; and one of the most telling arguments
was the fact that, in consequence of the want of
the Ballot, the Corn-Law agitation was pro-
tracted for many a long year. By the system
of open voting, the landlord party were enabled
to curb the votes, and, by means of bribery and
intimidation, to secure the return of their own
nominees, who, to the very last, resisted the
adoption of a system of Commercial freedom
which has positively advantaged the very class
who indulged in vague and gloomy forbodings
that they would be ruined, and the country
entirely destroyed, by the admission of all
articles connected with the sustenance of man
duty free. Now, if these premises are correct,
it is quite evident, although an Elector is required
to give his vote as he pleases,--according as

his sense of duty to his country, and his God
sugg-;st,—that he cannot do so openly. There
is connected with almost every man some-
thing or other which renders it a matter of
expediency that he should have, if he chooses,
the opportunity and privilege of exercising his
franchise in secret. Well, indeed, did Mr.
BERICELNY remark when he stated that " open
voting was nothing but a ratification of a treaty
between dishonest men; and secret voting was
the non-ratification of that treaty." But let us