Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-10-29 00:00:00

BANNER'S Asylums and Churches, as if either
the one or the other had anything to do with the
return of fit and proper men to a Corporation
which, all parties are agreed, requires immediate
reform. In the article which appeared in this
paper of Monday, we unfortunately repeated
what some of Mr- BANNER'S friends had stated,
namely, that "Mr. BANNER has given us our
Asylum for male and female orphans, and that
he has erected a church for that Asylum." To
this very unpardonable assertion of Mr. BAN-
NER'S supporters, we added—" This read very
much like a libel on the very long lists of sub-
scribers who paid down their money for those
good and holy purposes; and on these lists the
names of a large number of the Liberal electors
of St. Peter's, and other Wards, will be found
recorded." This last paragraph has given very
serious offence to Mr. BANNER'S party, who
allege that Mr. BANNER built the church in
question "at his own expense." Now,
we willingly accept this allegation
as true ; but what becomes of the
Asylum ? That was certainly built by sub-
scription, and to that subscription many of the
Liberal electors of Liverpool contributed. There
is nothing then so very inconsistent in our state-
ment after all. Tire public divide with Mr.
BANNER the honour of performing those works of
charity and piety, which we regret exceedingly
have been so indecently brought into electio-
neering squabbles; and we regret the more, that
a most unfair attempt has been made to saddle
Mr. CHARLES Wru.snen, as the Chairman of Mr.
BOWRING'S Committee, with the authorship of
the offensive article.

All this, however, is very childish, and we
mightjust as well be charged with having made
the scribes of that whining decrepid saint, the
Liverpool Courier, low, rabid, and abusive
scribblers. • Mr. CUARLES WILLMER is not the
author of the article of which Mr. BANNER'S
friends complain, and even if he had written
it, we should be slow to admit that it contained
one word which could convert a professional
saint, like the Courier, into a stupid, depraved,
and vulgar slanderer. Having said this
much, we take our /cave of this
branch of the subject. We rely on broad and
incontrovertible facts for a triumph in St. Peter's
Ward, and in all the other Wards where an
opposition to corporate corruption has been
~.raised. We employ reliable figures to show that
the Ratepayers' money has been spent without
mercy by the prodigal majority in the Council.
We talk of sums of 18,000 0001. or 29.000,0001.,
which represent the indebtedness of the port and
Borough of Liverpool. We assert, without the
fear of contradiction, that a Borough rate must
be levied on the inhabitants, if an immediate
stop be not put to corporate jobbery. Mr.
BANNER belongs to that side of the Chamber
who think that no harm has been dine, and that
the Burgesses have no cause to complain. We,
therefore, pass by, once fur all, Mr. BANNER'S
unimpeachable and praiseworthy character in
private life, and must continue to urge the
Municipal Electors to select men to represent
them in the Council who combine with great •
private worth the public virtues for which we
contend. These are not times to tolerate the
wasteful expenditure of past years. The sponge
must be applied to the Borough state, in some
form or other, before the party to which Mr.
BANNER clings can hope to regain the con-
fidence of the town, as the guardians of the
corporate till.

We are not called :upon to discuss a question of
morals. Money constitutes the great grievance
of the day in this Borough, and we are glad to
;find that the Burgesses of Everton Ward are
making becoming exertions to return GEORGE
MELLY. This gentleman is opposed to us on
the water question, but in all other respects he is
a fit and proper man to send into Council.
With
.regard to his Pike views, we may safely
leave our readers to judge for themselves, as they
will find his opinions-on this question reported in
another column. Meanwhile, we do not despair
of seeing Mr. MELLY, if returned, recording
his votes .on the rational aide of the Chamber.
He is a eletermined enemy to every species of
jobbery, sad will enter the Council, pledged
to resist ptatligality in all its varied forms
such are tk.e. men the Burgesses,. without
dittinction of :creed or politics, must desire
t`o ~ape triumphantly returned. But to secure
this object, no exertion must 132 spared by
the Liberal electors. Toe Prodigals are
on the ialert, and will resort to every stratagem
to carry out their designs." The success of all
their monster jobs for the ensuing year depend
mainly on the result of this Alumicipal election.
rn
That we have a considerable miority of votes
in nearly all the Wards is .q.uite certain, and that
there should be any doubt entertained as to the
return of the Liberal candidates, is most strange.
It locks as though the Liberal voters were indif-
ferent about that of which they boast so loudly,
and shrink from a contest in which the principles
they advocate are placed en their tri.d. We feel
assured, however, that this will not be the case
on the day of polling, and that the Liberal voters
in all the contested Wards will follow the spirited
example set before them last year in Lime-street
Ward. A few more such victories this Novem-
ber will go far towards insuring the speedy
reform of the Liverpool CorporatiDn, and putting
the Ratepayers in possession of some knowledge
of what the extent and value of the Corporate
Estate ifeally is, and how far it can be made
available to meet our heavy local incumbrances
and current expenditure.