The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-05-08 00:00:00

o the tyrant tn2"nritv for adopting- a principle
which the C,'//;•ori'M/e itsolf has strenuously advocated?
Efate Our liberal Town Councillors not given an admi-
q,. example of that " irresponsibility gently veiled
lgthinti, the cant of independence" which the radicals
ftlll,bi•on beh,,lf of the electors at large ?
But we have not yet done with the gentle editors of
seigronic/e. They sa., in reference to the majority
of Wednesday, that they must move the previous
question as the most insulting form in which they could
couch their refusal to listen to the just wishes of the
electors." Is it the first time that they have insulted the
electors and refused to accede to their just wishes ?
Look'at.the choice of the rejected candidates as alder-
men. Was riot that an insulting diiregard of the just
wishes of the constituency, and a display of " utter con-
tempt for public opinion and public feeling ?" Here,
again, the Chronicle is inconsistent, because it lavished
its praises on that grand infraction of the wholesome rule
of paving deference to the " just wishes of the electors."
Why was not a whisper heard against the proceedings to
which we allude ? Simply because the sixteen aldermen,
many of whom were rejected by " the people," were all
thick and thin radicals. Why do we now hear such
grumbling from the reckless faction ? Because the ma-
jority in the Town Council, in a fit of extraordinary
liberality, explicable only on the ground that they must
have had some sinister object in view, chose to nominate
one or two gentlemen of conservative principles for the
list of magistrates. It is a crime of unpardonable enor-
mity to show any favour to gentlemen of loyal opinions:
it is an act deserving of the highest praise to elevate
into offices of trust and responsibility the most ignorant
and contemptible of the faction. Such is radical con-
sistency.

It seems, however, that the tyrant maj'rity are not to
escape unpunished for presuming to vote in opposition
to their radical masters out of doOrS. Already,has the
Chronicle proclaimed war to the knife against the dis-
obedient and refractory crew, who have made such
" shipwreck of their principles.". Listen, reformers of
, Liverpool, to the following magniloquent appeal :
" The previous question be it then! We also move the pre-
vious question in the name of the Reformers of Liverpool, and
our previous question is, measures not men, principles not persons.
We have not all this time been struggling simply for a change
of masters in the Council, for a subverting of forty-one irrhs-
ponsibles so place sirty-foar in the seine position to ride rough.
4,hod over us.. Our watery has been " THE PEOPLE"—our
efforts have been for them, and for their privileges, and for
their right to be fairly represented in our local government by
men who were in all their proceedings to be responsible to
them. The electors are not a mere ladder by which others are
to climb up to power, and then to kick down the steps by which
whey ascended—on the contrary, they are the main point, the
Alpha and Omega, the all in all, according to our estimate of
the relative position of the represented and the representatives."
" Measures, not men—principles, not persons," is the
very motto which was adopted by the Times when Sir
Robert Peel assumed office, prepared to carry into effect
measures of real reform, and to act"upon principles of
real liberality. But what said the Liverpool radical
journals at the time? Did they not vehemently protest
against such a rule ? Did they not proclaim the Times
an apostate for its adherence to principle and its oppo-
sition to faction
It is,really amusing to hear the radicals now crying
put that they had. placed sixty. four irresponsibles in the
Town Council to ride rough-shod over them. It is gra-
tifying.,to perceive that the poor creatures have at length
found out that a radical town-councillor must necessarily
be an essentially tyrannical personage. We sincerely
hope that they will profit by their experience and take
care next time to send sixteen good and honest conser-
vativesto represent their interests. • Let us hope for
such " a happy termination of this 'untoward affair."
The following " elegant extract" cannot fail to excite

a laugh :---
" Who do our readers think rose to beard the electors by
moving the previous question, to mark his contempt for them?
Who, but Mr: William W llace Currie, seconded by Mr. T. B.
Barclay. Yes! Electors of Liverpool! Mr. William Wallace
Currie was the great arch-traitor and Judas of the day. With
honey and sugar, and butter and treacle, and flummery, and
every kind of smooth thing and every kind of sweet thing upon his
lips, he proceeded for some half hour or so to exhaust his round
of drawing-room phrases and courtly nothings to blind your
eyes and understandings—and then—proh pudor! MOyED THE
PREVIOUS QUESTION, seconded, as we said -before, by Mr. T. B.
Barclay—and—alas—that we shuuld have to say it—two and
twenty other members of the Town-council moved as satellites
'round these twin planets of apostacy in their eccentric course.
It now remains for the electors of Liverpool to show of chat
metal they are made. They have their fate in their own hands
—if they succumb, political slavery is too good .for them."
Really this is very amusing. "It is a very pretty
luarrel.as it is ;" and we shall certainly not. spoil it by
attempting to act the part of mediators. We leave the
" great arch-traitor and-Judas of,the day," and "the two
and twenty other members of the Town Council" •who
" moved as satellites round these twin planets of apos-
lacy" to their fate. The Chronicle has pronounced their
doom, and against the oracular decision of this avowed
organ of the radicals we have only one objection to make.
The Chronicle includes in its anathema (to use a pet
phrase of the testy Alderman for Rodney Ward) three
:conservatives. As to their fate we have no fears what-
ever, if they take care in future to avoid the
.folly of
voting with the radicals on any question involving a
political principle.
We cannot, however, quit the subject without noticing
the extraordinary declaration of Mr. Coglan, who said
" perhaps he should give a more honest vote if left to his
own unfettered opinions," that is, if allowed to avail
himself of vote by ballot, " because he could vote without
offending individuals." There is an independent repre-
sentative for you! Electors of St. Ann's:Ward, see what
sort of stuff the man of your choice is made! Will you
'trust him for the future ? What confidence can you re-
Pose in his political honesty ?
In conclusion, we may remark that the cause of all
this disturbance need not have existed at all. Why are
the members of the Town Council obliged to undertake
the invidious task of recommending individuals for the
Magistracy ? Why is not the duty of selection devolved
upon the Lord Lieutenant? We consider it to be our
duty to do all we can to set aside this whig-radical inno-
vation.

POSTOFFICE REFORM.—We are happy to inform our
readers that a petition is now lying for signature at the
several public places in town for a thorough reform of
tli Postotlice regulations. We are sure that a petition
which so universally concerns the public will be nu-
►nerously signed. We do not know that we can better
express our opinions on the subject than by quoting the
following petition from the Post Circular:—

To the Honourable the Commons of Great Britain and Ireland,

in Parliantont assembled,

The humble petition of the Rev. William Carus Wilson, of

Casterton Hall, in the county of Westmorland,
Sheweth—That your petitioner is duly sensible of the ad-
Vantages enjoyed by the nation from the Post-office system as
at present existing, as well as of the promptitude and courtesy
with which the the officers of that department attended at all
times to any application for redress or improvement.
But that your petitioner is of opinion that material altera-
tions might be made (and that without endangering the revenue)
which, to say nothing of the great advantages, would have an
importaiat moral influence on the country.

1. That the taxing of letters, not bs weight, but by the num-
ber of enclosures, and the consequent necessity for minutely
examining the contents, presents a temptation to fraud which
it would be highly expedient to prevent.

2. That it is equally expedient to prevent the strong induce-
ment which frequently presents itself, to violate the existing
laws of the country by the illegal transfer of letters.

3. That your petitioner is strongly impressed with a sense of
the expediency of grantin, to the poorer classes of the commu-
nity every facility of Correspondence, not only as a great pri-
°ilege which would be highly valued and is easily granted, hut,
which, in a moral point of view, would have the happiest ten-
dency on the charities of social life, and be the means of keep-
'NZ.
alive the interests of family connexions.

It is impossible to contemplate a mote gratifying reflection
than that the poore;t families in the realm have ceased to suffer
one serious aggravation of their lot, as consisting in a long and
hopeless severance from those most dear to them, and are now,
10 common with all ranks of the community, blest with every
facility of intercourse.
• 4- That, with reference to the moral view of the question,
Your petitioner suggests that a powerful and legitimate stimulus
,venlil hereby be given to education.
That for the accomplishment of these important objects, Your
petitioner st*lngly recommends the principle, at least, of Mr.