The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-05-25 00:00:00

POLITICAL GOSSIP.

Lord Ashley left town on Saturday for Bath, on an
electioneering visit.

Sir Robert Peel is using great exertions to secure Mr.
Cardwell's return for Oxford University.
Alderman Johnson has announced that he will offer
himself for the city of London, on the Tory interest.

Mr. David Salomons has announced hiinself a candi-
date for the representation of Marylebone, in the place of
Sir C. Napier, who has been called into active service.
Lord Sandon and the Recorder of Liverpool are mem-
bers of Mr. Cardwell's committee for the Oxford Univer-
sity election.
Ipswich.—Mr. J. N. Gladstone and Mr. Lane Fox
have announced that it is their intention to offer them-
selves again as candidates at the next election.
The latest rumour is that Parliament will be dissolved
on the 19th or 20th of next month, if public business ad-
mits ; if not, the dissolution will not be later than the
first week in July.

The present members for Sunderland, Mr. Hudson and
Mr. Barclay, it is understood, in the event of a dissolution
of Parliament, are likely to be re-elected without a show
of opposition.
LEICESTER ELECTION.—The committee of delegates
have, it is said, fixed upon Mr. Robert Gardner as the
other candidate with Sir Joshua Walmsley for the support
of the Liberal voters.

The Cambridge Chronicle, the organ of the university,
intimates that a strong effort will be made to oust Mr.
Goulburn at the coming election, in consequence of his
siding with Sir Robert Peel.

NEWCASTLE-UNDER-LINE.-Mr. Colquhoun, one of
the sitting members, some time since gave notice of his
intended retirement, and Mr. W. Jackson, of Birkenhead,
announced his intention to offer himself.

Mr. Muntz and Mr. Scholefield are to be brought for-
ward by the Liberals for Birmingham ; but the return of
Mr. Spooner is certain for one of the seats, as, in addition
to the support of Conservatives, he will receive that of
Wesleyans and all consistent Protestants.
RAILWAY M.P's.—Mr. David Solomons, Chairman of
the Reading, Guildford and Reigate, and Bardeaux and
Cette railway Companies, and Mr. John Bagshawe, a Di-
rector of the latter Company, and of the Eastern Counties'
Company, arc candidates for the representation of the
borough of Marylebone.
WAKEFIELD.—The anti-educational mania which has
split the Whig party in Leeds, has also caused the rejec-
tion of Sir E. N. Buxton as a Whig candidate at Wake-
field. The cry of " the Chapel in danger" absorbs every
other cry. The Radical is merged in the Dissenter. The
consequence in Wakefield is, that a liberal Conservative,
Mr. Sandars, will have a good chance of success.
THE FACTORY BILL IN THE LORDS.—The following is
the minority of eleven who voted on Monday in the House
of Lords against the second reading of the Factory Bill :
Lord Chancellor Cottenham • Earls Auckland, Burling-
ton, Clarendon, Lonsdale, Radnor ; Lords Ashburton,
Beaumont, Brougham, Monteagle of Brandon, Wrottesley.
Lords Camperdown, Vivian, and Foley paired off against
the bill. Earl Grey and Lord Campbell voted for it.
John Bowes Esq., has announced his intention of re-
tiring from South Durham, and one of his reasons is the
expense of the contests. He says that no constituency is
less open to the charge of corruption, yet that a candidate
intending to carry through a contest with any spirit must
prepare himself for an, expenditure of at least fourteen or
fifteen thousand pounds. It is generally understood that
James Farrer, Esq., a near relative of the Earl of Eldon,
who contested the county at the last general election, will
be Mr. Bowes's successor, and as the honourable gen-
tleman entertains very opposite political opinions to those
of the present member, that will be a gain of one seat for
the Conservative party. It has not yet been announced
whether Lord Henry Vane intends to offer himself again
to the electors, but the probability is that he will do so.
OXFORD, MAY 18.—A third candidate for the represen-
tation of the University has been brought forward, in the
person of Mr. Charles Gray Round, M.A., of Balliol Col-
lege (in the First Class in Literis Humaniorilus, Easter
Term, 1818), the member for North Essex. A paper has
been circulated containing the names of Mr. Round's
committee, at the head of which is the Rev. the Provost
of Worcester ; amongst the names are—the Rev. Dr.
Faussett, Margaret Professor of Divinity, the Rev. Dr.
Ogilvie, Regius Professor of Pastoral Theology, the Rev.
Dr. Bandinel, Keeper of the Bodleian Library, the
Rev. Dr. Bliss, Registrar of the University, the Rev.
Vaughan Thomas, 8.D., Corpus Christi College, the
Rev. R. Mitchell, B. D., Prcelector of Logic, the
Rev. W. Sewell, 8.D., Fellow of Exeter College, &c.
Mr. Round voted against the Dissenters' Chapels Bill,
the Maynooth Endowment, and Free Trade, and resisted
Mr. Christie's motion for an inquiry into the state of the
Universities. He supported Sir R. Inglis's motion in fa-
vour of Church extension.
ELECTION PARTIES.—The conformation of rival par-
ties which will be taken up at the approaching general
election, constitutes a subject to be now dealt with
as one of leading interest. In the vicinity of Brighton
we see them already in practical operation, where that
sterling Protectionist, Mr. Ellman, sets an example of
straightforwardness and unmistakeableness ; while Lord
Cantilupe is a sample of the class of candidates that you
can never hold to any fixed principle, and Mr. Shelly a
pattern of the shilly-shally supporters of all such double-
dealers. With Peel, as the decoy duck of the past, in
connexion with the single affair of free-trade, we have
'done. Of the future increasing school of Peel and Popery,
and what-not, with his ever-shifting maxim of " the time
is come," we shall have yet much to do; and Ellman's
Socratic system of putting plain questions, and requiring
direct answers, must be the invariable policy of electors
who do not choose to be " bamboozled." The "move-
ment party "—moving no one knows whither—is like a
floating swamp—without direction, and without basis.
MESSRS. GLADSTONE AND CARDWELL.—The claims
of both these gentlemen, who are candidates for the rep-
resentation of Oxford University, are in many respects
strong. Whatever may be said in praise of either of
them may equally be advanced in behalf of the other.
Both are aspiring and rising statesmen : both bear names
which are as " household words" in the college halls and
academic groves of which, in their day, they were amongst
the brightest ornaments. Both carried off the highest
honours which Alma Mater has to bestow upon those
who most distinguish themselves in their examinations.
Let us change the scene from Oxford to Lancashire, and
the parallel may be pushed still further, and after a most
extraordinary fashion, between the rival candidates. Both
have been residents of Liverpool, in the same street,
(Rodney-street,) and, what is more curious still, the same
house, the family of Mr. Cardwell having occupied it
after that of Mr. Gladstone had removed from it. And
it is a house of some celebrity, being hallowed, as it were,
by the presence of illustrious statesmen within its walls.
From its windows the immortal Canning delivered many
of those thrilling and delightful speeches which enchanted
his admiring friends in this locality, and carried the fame
of his eloquence to the ends of the world.
THE PROPOSED NEW POOR LAW.—If the Whigs had
been as strongly intrenched in power as were once their
immediate predecessors, we should not have heard Sir
George Grey moving for leave to bring iu A bill to amend

hay 25, 1847.

the laws relating to the administration of the law for the
relief of the poor in England. But whatever the motive
which has dictated it—whether in submission to public
opinion, or in deprecation of hostility at the forthcoming
elections—we receive with pleasure this great step towards
a beneficial change in the new Poor Law. system, by the
abolition of the Somerset House administration. In-
stead of the nominal triumvirate but. real despotism of
single chief, a new commissionis to be appointed by the
Crown, on the plan of the Board of Controul for the
affairs of India. The president of the board will, be
eligible, together with one of the secretaries, to a seat
in Parliament ; and in the case of the former, his not
being a member of either house would make his position
too unpleasant to be very long tenable. The other mem-
bers of the Board are intended to be the President of-the
Council, the Lord Privy Seal, one of the Secretaries of
State, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer: The new
Board is to make all its reports to the Crown ; there is to
be an increase of assistants under the name of inspectors►
and the new system is to have a term of probation of five
years, when the whole subject will be again brought be-
fore parliament. This reform or reconstruction of the
superintending machinery of the Poor' Law system, is
not accompanied by any proposals for interfering with
the unions as they now exist ; but in committee such
clauses must be added, or such powers given to the Board,
or shall compel the reduction of the extent of the present
Unions, provide for the employment' of the inmate's in
congenial occupations to their former pursuits, and pre-
pare for enabling them to return again to society as useful
members of the community, instead of being as now a
permanent burden upon the ratepayers of- the district.

FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL SUMMARY.

It is now generally admitted that money for commer-
cial purposes is somewhat easier. The bank is beginning
to discount more liberally, and rood bills at moderate
dates are readily passed, whilst loans can be secured even
upon six months paper. This improvement has imparted
a firmer tone to the market for our leading staple ; cotton
—which may be quoted about id. per-lb. higher than last
week. The sales of the week ended Friday were 29,490
bales. Of this quantity 7500 were for export, and 1850 on
speculation. The imports for the week were 40.813 bales.
We have little that is gratifying to notice with respect
to the market for manufactured goods. The short time
working is still continued • and it is to be regretted that,
even with the existing high prices of food, attempts are
making still further to depress the condition of the opera-
tive classes, by reducing wages. The demand for the
country trade is very limited ; and foreign orders are only
given out with a sparing hand. It is believed, however,
that the ability of the manufacturers generally to sustain
the severe demands made upon them is most satisfactory;
and that few serious casualties will occur if the pressure
abates within any reasonable time, and a moderate amount
of forbearance is used. The seasonable weather, which
we are now enjoying, has already given confidence to
most parties that we have seen the worst ; and we should
not be surprised to see a speedy resumption of activity
throughout the manufacturing districts. The high price
of the raw material, however, is still a serious difficulty
to be surmounted.

The Corn Markets throughout the country have received
a check from the benignant character of the weather
which we are enjoying. In our market on Friday the
decline on wheat was fully 2d. per bushel; and ls. per
barrel on American Flour. We shall therefore, probably,
now see the question, as to the stocks in the country
tested. Farmers are proverbial for holding too long ; and
pressing sales in hot haste when markets are on the down-
ward turn. From all that we can gather, the stocks in
their hands are not large. The ports of the Baltic, how-
ever, are now opened ; and we may shortly expect an ad-
dition to our present supply from that quarter, as well as
from the Mediterranean. At all events we trust the
pinching point is past ; and with the prospect of a fair,
and not so very late a harvest as a few weeks ago was
anticipated, we fully expect to see a very material decline
shortly. Perhaps it may be found that there is more
stock in warehouse than is generally anticipated.
We have given, elsewhere, some statements as to-the
short supply in the hands of growers, in some of the
agricultural districts in the north of England ; and we
learn that some of the southern counties are similarly
situated. Several purchases were made in our own mar-
ket last week, for the supply of Devonshire, &c., the -
farmers there having so far sold out as to leave an in;ufn-
cient supply for the consumption of their own popula'
tion.