The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-01-18 00:00:00

unearthly likeness to each other,

one night in t

he House of Peers, the Earl referring to

istrious " father ;" " no, no,'

said BROUGIIAM,

`you mean your great grandfather." BROUGHAM

meant
prodig

t in Inc:

; not in relation

p. The laugh was

!fit the clubs, I can assure you, that a dissolution of Par-
is looked upon as by no means a distant object;
for my own part, I cannot understand how such an event

is to be avoidt

Lord JOI-IN R

ssF.m., though styled

the leader of the House of Commons,

es not—as he

thinks he ought—play first fiddle elsewhere, as formerl

to not hesitate to state, that he

holds office only pro tem.; nay, th

noble lord Dims

were it put to him, would frankly avow as much. In this
lite-
Not

here does he

rary labo

) ? sink lower, or retire to his

's on the " Life of Charles James Fox ?"

likely. Then again, the members of the United Service
Club, one and all, are speaking of the Duke of NORTFIIIM-
BERLAND superseding Sir JAMES GRAHAM at the Admi-
ralty. Old naval men certainly say that, in their expe-
rience, they never had a better first lord than his grace.
And it could not well be otherwise; as Lord PRUDHOE,
be was a dashing sailor, a man and a gentleman in the most
dignified sense of the terms ; superadded were his tastes
as a scholar and an antiquarian. There are, it is believed,
two or three other hitches in the Government, of which

more anon

I don't know if many of your readers are well acquainted
with the good old Borough of Southwark, where abide
stituency of one of HER MAJESTY'S
bight Sir WILLIAM MOLESWORTH, the

nof the ballot. Southwark is famous for two or
three things : among these aro its ancient hostels with
their social clubs ; since the election of Sir WILLIAM,
the ballot has been freely discussed at these friendly
meetings. Now, I do not mean to say that the bal-
lot is unpopular among the majority of Sir WILLIAM'S
constituents ; but certainly some quondam supporters of
the system are altering their views, wisely saying to each
other, " What's the use of secret voting to you or to
me, who have known each other's politics all our lives ?
And this will be found the simple state of the case all
over the kingdom, even among the most numerous and
scattered constituencies. The fact of which way a man
will vote, must and does ooze out. In Liverpool is there
a single voter, up to the highest merchant, whose
politics are not well known ? Not one. 'Why, then
have secret voting ? I am not going to " argufy the
topic ;" that's not my province. Even in literary and
scientific societies Lord BROUGHAM, no mean authority,
seems to think the ballot a humbug. The last time
I saw the noble and learned lord exercise the ballot-fran-
chise was at the Royal Society, the first literary society in
the world ; the assistant-secretary went round with the
ballot-box, containing one entrance for the hand of the
voter, with hidden divisions for yea and nay. Now Lord
BROUGHAM did not wish even the secretary to know how
he voted, as that functionary undoubtedly would have
done, had he held the ballot-box in the usual manner.
Frequent practice would enable the most obtuse secretary
to know which way the hand tended, hence which way
the fatal ball, if black, fell. Lord BROUGHAM, like a
" knowing shot" as he is, took the ballot-box in his arms,
and dropped the ball undetected, as he liked. The scene
was very laughable. Of course, ballotting for members of
Parliament, should such a chimera ever be called into
action in this country, would be managed differently.
Perhaps, as it has passed into a proverb that " they
manage these things better in France, the late ballot in
that staid country may afford a precedent.
What is that restless, discontented, deil-ma-care old
sailor, CHARLES NAPIER, about ? Depend upon it, Ad-
miral NAPIER is not now darkening the doors of govern-
ment offices for nothing. For once in his life he appears
Joyous--happy. Though some Whigs are in who used to
annoy him, and Lord JOHN RUSSELL too, their wings
are clipped, and Admiral NAPIER may yet have some-
thing to say • Lord JOHN is neither Premier nor at the
Admiralty, and this causes great joy in the stout heart of
the Admiral. The fact is,—and your shipping and com-
mercial friends may rely upon it—that Sir JAs. GRAHAM,
after all, is practical at the Admiralty, and knows where
he can get the best advice ; and though, in my humble
opinion, as well as in that of one or two old sailors, the
Sidon steam Government ship, called " Drunken CHAR-
LIE," it rolled so,
PIER at the expense of under the eye of Admiral NA-
the country—is a mistake, " the
old Commodore" can give
noble advice ; and, if I dared
tell you all I know, the
authoritiesni: at the Admiralty
have much need of it. In aTpticEll point of view, Sir J.
A
GRAHM is below zero. he.
prac7ismerdi halonweth where it
listeth ; and Sir JAMIE, a
chopping and changing, is as uncertain ash thed
w mat. pdo aolipcal
said• Let him console himself as much as he may lyerhis
e:
" doctrine of expediency, for which he and
divers
other placemen have sacrificed consistency, which used to
be considered by sterner politicians, when GE,. 111. was
the distinguished mark of a sound statesman,
afraid, king,
to return to affairs nautical :—The Dauntless, I
ought to have her namete changed, as the Beelszmfbub
at suggestion of a rev.had
ewelfever
scion of an
hers sometime ago, I
who declined svaiisliionngsuanndder
ytehlleo ours
aristocratic house,
of such a " Prince :"—bad pro,
Little INANE, as his friends call
require sound advice.
him, is out-spoken ; and be exhibited this characteristic
too soon and too frequently,—a dangerous error some-
times ; hence Lord JOHN'S hints about indiscreetness
and that sort o' thing. The Admiral is looking much
better than he has for some time past. lie gathers his
ancles—apparently failing, though he has not had the
gout for forty years—into decent Wellington's or good
high-low's, which is a great improvement to his under-
standing. This last is poor. N'importe.
A word or two touching the present state of our steam
navy. Notwithstanding all the brag of certain authori-
ties,
England at the present moment possesses a better
and more available Screw Steam Navy than all the world
besides. There are our old friends—built on the old
principle—the Blenheim, La Hogue, and the Ajax, at
present being adapted to the screw principle, without
altering their build. Besides these, in a few months will
be ready for sea—all on the screw—the Albert, 120 guns
the Wellington, 130, the Marlborough, 130, the Hanni:
bal, 90, the Exmouth, 90, and the Royal George, 120;
together with half-a-dozen frigates. In emergency we
can draw upon our mercantile steam marine—the Ori-
ental, the General Screw Company, the South American,
the Peninsular, the Cunard line, &C. " Think of that,
Master Brook." I have been led into these remarks in
consequence of the magnificent banquet given at South-
ampton on Wednesday evening, by the directors of the
General Screw Steam Shipping Company, probably for
rank (mercantile), wealth, and intelligence, never
equalled.
Of the sights ever seen, the most grotesque and noisy,
if not altogether interesting, the exhibition of foreign and
domestic poultry now open at the west end, must carry
away the prize. To call It a feathered Babel is to say
nothing ; a moment the creatures are quiet, anon one of

adoptec