The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-06-08 00:00:00

" But why will you not give a pledge to the different
meetings ?" Mr. Cardwell replied, " Because a member
of the House of Commons is thought nothing of that
pledges himself ; but," he added, " to you I pledge my-
self that I will not vote against it." (Hear, hear, and
expressions of disapprobation.) He (the chairman) then
asked him about the endowment of the Romish priesthood,
and lie said, " Mr. Tyrer, I will pledge myself in the
same way on that." He saw Mr. Cardwell immediately
after Lord John Russell's letter came out ; had a long
conversation with him, and said, " Mr. Cardwell, I am
going over to Lord John Russell's government ; I am so
pleased with that letter, that I will support his govern-
ment." Mr. Cardwell said, " The letter is written for a
purpose." Ile (the chairman) said, " Mr. Cardwell,
what man could write a letter such as that for a purpose,
as you state ?" He said, " Ye 3, it is written for a pur-
pose ; and I will tell you another thing ; Lord John Rus-
sell brought in a bill to the cabinet, but I am happy to
tell you it was cut up into mince meat ;" and (continued
Mr. Tyrer) Mr. Cardwell snapped his fingers over and
over again. (Expressions of disapprobation.) For these
two reasons he would not vote for Mr. Cardwell. He
could not give him a vote after those two broken pro-
mises. He had no faith in him, whatever he might. say.
Mr. Cardwell must really excuse him •, he had no confi-
dence whatever in that man. (Hear, and cheers.) Therefore
he was delighted to find two candidates brought forward
in whom he had entire confidence. He had known one
of them for twenty-five years, and the other for two years
and a half ; and when he was introduced to the latter he
said, " I wish we had such a member as Mr. Mackenzie
for Liverpool," little thinking then that they should have
him as one of their candidates on this occasion. (Cheers.)
Mr. Meceeezie, in addressing the meeting, referred in
happy terms to the circumstances which had induced him
to present himself as a candidate for Liverpool. "He
should not have thought of proposing himself for their
acceptance, had not the requisition, so numerously and
respectably signed, been presented to him, which put an
end to all doubts and difficulties on his part, because it
showed him that a large majority of the respectibility of
this town wished him to be their representative. (Hear,
hear, and cheers.) In obedience to that call, he had left
another constituency, which he had represented for fifteen
years, and which, at the next election, would most un-
questionably have returned him without a contest. (Hear,
near.) But he felt not only that it was his duty to his
party to go where his services were most required, but
also, to a man of ordinary ambition, the idea of the re-
presentation of the first port in the world was no little
thing. (Great cheering.) Ho was here, therefore, not
coming of his own accord, but at their request, and in
their hands he placed himself and his future political pros-
pects. (Hear, hear.)" Equally happy was his allusion
to the appearance on Change of the Whig-radical candi-
dates. " Their present representative yesterday appeared
on 'Change—(loud laughter, and cries of " Oh, oh")—
and though he ,Mr. Mackenzie) could not say that Mr.
Cardwell's reception there was of the most flattering de-
scription, yet in the Liverpool Times of that morning he
saw a report of a speech which Mr. Cardwell was sup-
posed to have made ; for although he (Mr. Mackenzie)
was at the time in the close neighbourhood, he protested
to them that lie could not hear one syllable. In the re-
corded speech he perceived that Mr. Cardwell said lie had
come down to Liverpool to give an account of his steward-
ship, that he had come here to prove to the shipping inte-
rest of Liverpool that they were in a state of delusion
when they supposed that their interests were suffering,
that he knew better than they did what their true interests
were. He said, moreover, that he (Mr. Mackenzie) and
his colleague, Mr. Turner, in the various speeches they
had made, had placed this question upon the wrong basis.
Now he (Mr. Mackenzie) would like to know before what
jury was the issue to be tried ? If it was to be tried by
the shipping interests, he thought Mr. Turner and him-
self had a better chance of a verdict than Mr. Cardwell.
(Hear.) Mr. Cardwell appealed also to the voices of this
constituency, at the same time telling them that, for the
most part, he considered their voices most treacherous
ones. Ile said, ` were the liberties of Liverpool to be carried
away by the treacherous voice of those who voted for his
political opponents.' He (Mr. Mackenzie) left them (the
electors) to appropriate that compliment to themselves.
(Laughter and cheers.) But upon the question of the
shipping laws, when their opponents appealed to a great
man's memory and to his acts—he meant Mr. Huskisson
—when they appealed to Mr. Huskisson in defence of the
entire sweeping away of the navigation laws, lie asked was
there anything which Mr. Huskisson did which could
justify such a course ? He no doubt relaxed the naviga-
tion laws ; but for every relaxation which he made he
demanded something in return from foreign countries ;
and satisfied as he (Mr. Mackenzie) was, that, in this
country, it was not easy for those acts to be repealed and
for legislation upon those great interests to retrogade, he
looked to some such process as that for the relief which
the shipping interest required, and he thought if we could
obtain from foreign countries something like those reci-
procity treaties which Mr. Huskisson obtained, that even
then we should be able to compete with the whole world."
One of the best received portions of the honourable gen-
tleman's speech was his promise, which we know will be
fulfilled, that, "if they returned him as one of their
members to the House of Commons, he would devote
himself with the assiduity with which he had always
devoted himself to his work in parliament, and take care
that their local interests should not suffer in his hands ;
and on no occasion should any Liverpool man come to
London and seek for parliamentary assistance, and ask it
from him in vain."
Mr. TURNER, in the course of a very able speech,
recurred to the opinions which, at the time of the last
election, were understood to be held by Mr. Cardwell on
the subject of the navigation laws. With respect to the
navigation laws, which they had all so deeply at heart,
and upon which depends the prosperity of this great
town—for without the shipping of this great port there
would be no occasion for its docks, and without the ship-
ping of this great port he need not tell them that the
land would be of little value, that its warehouses would
be of little value, and that its tradesmen would have no
business. (Hear, hear.) He was one of those who
thought reforms were necessary in the progress of human
events. Some reforms which were substantially neces-
sary could have been made in the navigation laws as they
originally stood ; but he believed it was uuderstood by
the gentlemen who supported Mr. Cardwell at the last
election, that he was favourable to such a reform as
would be of benefit to British shipping ; but it was never
understood that he would vote in favour of the entire
abrogation and repeal of the navigation laws. Whatever
might be said on either side, that was clearly the under-
standing of a great majority of the largest shipowners and
merchants of this port. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) The
abrogation of those laws had been, in his (Mr. Turner's)
opinion, a cause of the greatest injury and loss to British
shipping, for they were well aware of the ruinous freights
with which ships came home from the East Indies and
other parts, within the last twelve months, freights which
would scarcely pay the port charges. They were told.
and referred to statistics—which it was well known might
be dressed up to suit any purpose or any argument for
which they were required—that the shipowners ought to
believe they are in a prosperous state ; but the profit and
loss accounts were on the wrong side, and would tell a
very different story. (Hear, hear.) Those were the best
proofs whether they were gaining or losing money. There
was no difference between fair trade and free trade, but
there was a great difference between what their opponents
called free trade and what he and his party contended was
fair trade. Fair trade was free trade over the world ;
and no merchant would object to carry out free trade to
the fullest extent, so long as it was fair trade, and sub-
jected him to no disadvantages compared with the foreign
merchant and shipowner. He would not detain them
long with going into details, but a number of instances
might be enumerated, in which the British shipowner in
his transactions with other nations of the world was
placed at a disadvantage. They were well aware that an
American ship came here and took stores to Australia,
while a British ship could not go to New York and take
a cargo to California. (Hear, hear.) They must be well
aware also, that French and other foreign vessels had a
similar advantage over British ships. His opinions on
this subject he had frequently expressed during his inter-
course with many gentlemen around him, and he need
not go further into it.
The meeting was subsequently addressed by Mr. F.
Shand, Mr. Robert Woodward, Mr. Moss, Mr. Harold
Littledale and Mr. Bramley-Moore. The latter assisted in
settling for ever Mr. Cardwell's breach of faith with
respect to the Navigation Laws.
Mr. BRAMLEY-MOORE said :—He congratulated Mr.
Tyrer on the manly manner in which he had come forward
that day, and denied that which Mr. Cardwell had so
often asserted in this town—that he never gave any
pledge on the Navigation Laws. (Hear, hear.) Here
they had a gentleman who was known from his cradle to
the people of Liverpool, who stated most emphatically
that Mr. Cardwell gave a pledge to him, that he would
never vote for the repeal of the vital principles of those
laws. (Hear, hear.) How far Mr. Cardwell had redeemed.
that pledge every man in this town knew, and also how
far he had redeemed his promises on other subjects.
(Hear, hear, and cheers.) Mr. Bramley-Moore proceeded
to show that Mr. Cardwell had made a similar promise on
the subject of the Navigation Laws to Mr. Lockett, late
chairman of the Shipowners' Association, and he put it to
the meeting whether, with their experience of Mr. Card-
well's conduct, they would believe his jesuitry and
casuistry, or they would believe honest townsmen, who
stated that he gave them distinct pledges ? (Cheers.)
When Mr. Cardwell appeared on 'Change—(cries of " Oh!
oh !" and laughter)—he thought his reception there would
have been sufficient to satisfy him of the estimation in
which he was held for his services ;—(hear, hear)—but
the facts had been so far perverted, that in every paper he
(Mr. Bramley-Moore) had taken up that day, Mr. Card-
well was described to have had " a most flattering recep-
tion." (Laughter.) They would have been correct if
they had said that, instead of a flattering reception, Mr.
Cardwell had had a warm one,—(laughter)—for certainly
a warm reception he had, but such a one as would cool
him and satisfy bins that he could not longer continue to
misrepresent Liverpool in Parliament. (Long-continued
laughter and cheers.) After alluding to some passages in
the address which Mr. Cardwell was said to have de-
livered, and in which lie characterised the merchants on
'Change as treacherous, Mr. Moore concluded with
passing allusion to the letter of Mr. Ewbank, and referred
that gentleman to the assertion made that day by Mr.
Tyrer, arid to the statements of the other gentlemen who
had given evidence against the declaration of .Mr. Card-
well, that he had never given any pledge.
On Thursday night a numerous and enthusiastic meet-
ing of the electors of St. Paul's and Vauxhall Wards was
held at the New York Hotel, Union-street, Mr. Briscoe
and Mr. James Tyrer, chairmen of the committees, pre-
siding. .Aniongst the gentlemen on the platform were
Messrs. N. D.11)41,T. Bold, Beecroft, Hebson,Coulborne,
Dr. Games, Gibb, G. H. Horsfall, Lovett, Peel, &c.
Mr. I3atscoe, in introducing the candidates to the
meeting, made some excellent practical appeals to those
present as to the fact of the alleged prosperity of the tra-
ding classes. He remarked :—" It was said by the free-
traders when electioneering, previously to the abrogation
f the navigation laws, that Liverpool, of all other places,
efited by the change. But was that the

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