The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-10-09 00:00:00

THE CONTEST IN EXCHANGE WARD.

The election for a representative in the Town Council
of the burgesses of Exchange Ward took place on Satur-
day. The causes which rendered an appeal to the ward
necessary are stated in the Council proceedings; but the
result of that appeal was, from a variety of circumstances,
anticipated with the utmost anxiety, and hence an interest
was lent to the affair which does not always attach to a
similar event. Mr. Horsfall, as a pro-Pikist, was denoun-
ced pretty generally, but was supported by the very ene-
mies of the obnoxious question, on the ground that his
opponent, although an anti-Pike man, was the nominee
of the National Confederation. When the two questions
came to be weighed, the love of a •• local supply" was
allowed to give place to abhorrence at the principle of
dictation so unmistakably assumed by the National Con-
federation clique. Mr. Johnson, the new, candidate, had
his friends at the Mersey Hotel on the evening preceding
the election, and at that meeting the utmost confidence
was expressed as to the result being favourable for their
candidate. Hope is proverbially seductive however, and
the morrow proved the unstable foundation on which the
promoters of Mr. Johnson's election had built. The fol-
lowing hourly declarations of the state of the poll show
that, from the very commencement of the poll, the Con-
federation nominee had not the ghost of a chance of
success:--

EACH HOUR'S POLLING.

10. 11. 12. 1. 21. 31. 4.:

Horsfall .... 79 157 207 221 246 256 265
Johnson .. .. 14 39 44 64 72 75 76

Majority for Mr. Horsfall,.. 189.
The utmost excitement prevailed throughout the ward
during the day, and the committee-room (the Bolton
Arms, in Chapel-street) was besieged towards the close
of the poll by a crowd of persons, chiefly belonging to the
operative class, whose anxious demeanour betrayed the
interest they took in the certain issue of the pending contest,
which was most injudiciously extended by Mr. Johnson's
party to the time limited by act of parliament. At four
o'clock the crowd round the door of the Bolton Arms had
greatly increased, and the persons composing it began to
testify their approbation of the final statement of the
numbers polled, and shortly afterwards
Mr. G. H. HORSFALL stepped to the window of the
committee-room, and addressed them. He said the close
of the poll left him with a majority of 189, which was al.
together so unprecedented, that it warranted him in devi-
ating from the usual course, and thus publicly thanking
them for their noble support. His opponent, Mr. John-
son, was a gentleman of respectability, wealth, and stand-
ing in the town. Politically he was no opponent, but it
behoved them to observe narrowly the circumstances un-
der which he sought their suffrages on that occasion. He
(Mr. H.) contended that his opponent came before them
at the instance of the National Confederation, and that
his addresq was the address of that body. The National
Confederation arrogated to itself the power (or at least
the attempt) to dictate to Exchange Ward. (Hear, hear.
A voice, "It won't do.") He agreed with them, it
would not do, and he thought the majority just declared
fully justified him in saying that such an attempt at dic-
tation would not do. It was not his intention to detain
them, but he would just express the great satisfaction he
felt in seeing that the merchants, tradesmen, and opera-
tives of Exchange Ward would not allow themselves to
be dictated to by a confederate club, and it further indu-
ced him to hope that an auspicious inference might be
drawn relative to the contests to be decided in ovember.
It was conclusive to him that the wards would not sub-
mit to any meddling or any dictation on the part of the
National Confederation. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. Horsfall was long and loudly applauded at the con-
clusion of his observations.
The Confederation have thus received a fall in the most
important contest, as far as ward elections are concerned,
in which they could be engaged. Doubtless they will
allege that their opponent's strength lay in the fact of the
ward being exclusively the merchants' ward, and conse-
quently the stronghold of the enemy. But this is not
the case. Exchange Ward contains a numerous body of
tradesmen, and a still larger number of the operative class.
In fact, it may challenge any of the central wards as to
the number of small tenements, such as are occupied by
operatives, contained within its boundaries. The truth is
the Confederation makes up in valour what it wants in
strength ' • it has overshot the mark. A few days ago and
it was all confidence, but the recent election has read it a
lesson that will go far to sober its calculations of future
operations. Not even the nom de guerre of "no pike"
will induce the electors to barter independence for the
thraldom of a clique.

A VOLUNTEER OPINION UPON CALIFORNIAN
GOLD.

Volunteered opinions of philosophers are proverbially of
little worth, resembling in this respect the "travelling"
opinions of lawyers, given without the magic of an endorse-
ment upon a brief, or the prescriptions of physicians, who
have not been regularly called in. We are therefore little
disposed to give credence to the following opinion, con-
veyed to us on the authority of the Leeds Mercut y.
Our contemporary says:—
"Sir Roderick J. Murchison, Professor Rogers (of the United
States), Professor Sedgwick, and other e.ninent geologists,
assembled at the British Association for the Advancement of
Science, last week, concurred in the belief that the supply of
gold from California was not likely to be such as permanently
or materially to disturb the value of the precious metals."
In the first place we are not aware that any of these gen-
tlemen have ever visited the locality ; and, in the second,
we doubt if one of them has the slightest notion how
much will be required to " disturb the value of the pre-
cious metals." We remember, by the bye, an opinion,
given in a similarly off hand style,. by a certain Doctor
Dionysius Lardner, to the effect that it would be imprac-
ticable to cross the Atlantic in a steam vessel. Our
M`lvers•have long ago solved the question to the worthy
Doctor's discomfiture. Dr. Buckland. has recently been
similarly unfortunate with respect to the London clay.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.
(BY EXPRESS.)