The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-07-05 00:00:00

THE COMING ELECTION.

MR. LIDDELL AT THE AMPHITHEATRE

Mr. LIDDELL, at his second public appearance, which
was made on Wednesday in the Amphitheatre, was en-
thusiastically received by acr )wded meeting. Mr. Charles
Turner, with whom was Mr. Liddeil, was very warmly
received.

Mr. EDNIUND MOLYNEUX, who presided, regretted the
necessity they were under to elect new members ; but in
Messrs. Liddell and Horsfall they had found gentlemen
who, he had no doubt, would be acceptable to all.
Mr. J. A. TOBIN moved the first resolution :—" That
the cordial thanks of this meeting are due, and are
hereby given, to Charles Turner, Eso.. [immense
cheering and waving of hats,] —and to William Forbes
Mackenzie, Esq.,—(renewed cheers,)—for the zeal and
ability which they have always displayed in attending to
the intererts of this borough in Parliament ; and that this
meeting views with extreme disapproval the late pro-
ceedings adopted by the Radical party, which have de-
prived the town of the benefit of their services." (Loud
cheering.) In alluding to the last Conservative triumph,
Mr. Tobin said :—" That triumph you achieved by a
glorious majority, through the exertions of those gentle.
men whom I see around me and before me ; and I ven-
ture to predict, from the enthusiastic tone of this meet-
ing, that you are determined to achieve a still greater
victory—(loud cheers)—if our opponents should venture
to take their candidate to the poll.—(Hisses. A Voice :
" They daren't l") Mr. Henry Steele seconded the reso-
lution, which was carried unanimously. In responding
$o this vote,
Mr. CHARLES TURNER delivered a feeling and effective
speech, which was listened to with great respect, and
cheered with enthusiasm. He referred in the first place
to the feeling of pride with which he had received the
requisition to stand for Liverpool. a pride which was jus-
tified by his return with a majority of 1,500 above the
highest of his opponents. " I have no longer, gentlemen,"
continued Mr. Turner, " the distinguished honour of
being your representative, but the decision of no com-
mittee can deprive me of the honour of that requisition.
(Applause.) Nor can anything efface from my mind my
deep sense of gratitude to the constituency of Liverpool,
for the kindness which I have received. Gentlemen, it is
not my wish or my desire to arraign the decision of the
parliamentary committee ; still less is it my wish to im-
pugn, for a moment, the personal honour of any of its
members ; but, gentlemen, without doing either, with the
report of that committee in my hands, I may be allowed
to express my opinion, that the provisions of a very strin-
gent law have been construed more in the letter than in
the spirit, and I may also be allowed to express an opinion
that a parliamentary committee, constituted as it is with
a party bias, is not a fit tribunal for deciding—(hear,
hear)—those nice questions of law which have a material
bearing upon the state of parties in the House of Commons.
Gentlemen, no one, I think, will venture to say for a mo-
ment, that the last election did not represent the wilt of the
constituency of Liverpool. (Hear, hear.) If any one was
hardy enough to venture such an assertion previous to the
late inquiry, would he say so now ? (A Voice : " No.")
What has become of those charges which were so freely
made previous to that inquiry ? What has become of the
personal charge which was made against my own honour ?
That charge was scouted by the committee itself. (Cheers.)
What has become of those charges of extensive bribery
and corruption--sovereigns hid in rosettes ? (Hear. hear.)
What has become of the charge of debauching the
employe's of the post-office ? Why, gentlemen, all these
charges—the gravamen of the case—all these charges
have fallen dead. (Cheers.) And what has been the result
of the three weeks' inquiry before this committee, pre-
ceded, let me tell you, by many months of inquiry, guided
by the ablest and the most skilful legal knowledge that
London,Liverpool,and even I believe Southampton could
produce, and carried on, too, totally regardless of expense?
Why, gentlemen, the result of the investigation has been
that 25 labouring men having been given a day's holiday
by their masters, those masters thought fit do pay the
day's wages of those men. (Hear. hear.) Ido not mean
to say that that was lezal—(" No ")—but, gentlemen,
what is a holiday to a labouring man if his family are to
starve for it ? (Cheers.) No master with a kind heart
would give his man a holiday and mulct him of his wages.
(" No.") Well, then, gentlemen, what else was proved
before this committee ? Why, thus much was proved,
that at the different places of rendezvous where voters
were assembled for the purpose of being conveyed to the
poll, refreshments were on the table, of which those voters
partook ; but what do the committee say to this ? They
say that the payments made were not above the average
wages earned by those men. They might have said
that in many cases they were not nearly equal to them.
(Hear, hear.) What do this committee further state ?
They state that the refreshments were not of an extrava-
gant nature, and then they say that your members knew
nothing about those payments or refreshments; and then,
gentlemen, we are unseated. Ido not mean to say that
this is not law. I believe the decision of the committee
was strictly legal ; but I do mean to say that it is not
within the intention or the spirit of the act of parliament.
The act of parliament is meant to check payment as a
motive to vote ; but the committee also say that those
payments were not the motives which induced the decision
of the electors. (Hear.) Well, then, does the bitterest
Whig or Radical in the town believe that the payments
to those men influenced the votes one way or the other ?
(" No.") ‘N hy, it is notoriously not the case. Those
payments were made for the support of men's families,
and had no more to do with influencing a vote than if
they had been made to men in any other part of the
kingdom. Am I not justified, then, in saying that the
result of this inquiry reflects no discredit upon you or
myself ? (" None.") Gentlemen, for myself I will only
say that, proud as I was when I received the requisition
from 2,000 electors of Liverpool,—proud as I was when
returned at the head of the poll by so large a majority,—
I feel still prouder to-day to receive those marks of sym-
pathy which you have shown to me, and of the good
opinion entertained of me after the twelve months' expe-
rience that you have had of my conduct. (Cheers.)
But, gentlemen, I have detained you too long. The
great object of our meeting to-day is to hear addresses
from my hon. friend, Mr. Liddell, and from my friend,
Mr. Horsfall, as the representative of our esteemed and
respected townsman, his brother, Mr. Thomas Berry
Horsfall. Those gentlemen will speak for themselves,
and for myself I will only further say, that if anything
could alleviate my disappointment, and the regret that I
must feel for losing the distinguished honour that I have
had, that regret would be alleviated, in the first place,
by the kindness and the good opinion with which you
have received me and which you express for me. That,
gentlemen, is a balm to every wound ; that, gentlemen,
I shall always prize as long as I live ; and, gentlemen,
the next source of alleviation is the satisfaction of think-
ing that those places which have been vacated by myself
and by Mr. Mackenzie will, I have no doubt, be so ably
and so worthily filled. (Loud cheers.)
Mr. LIDDELL, in the course of a lengthened address,
expressed his sympathy with the meeting in their vote
of thanks to Mr. Charles Turner and Mr. Forbes Mac-
kenzie, the latter one of his old and valued friends.
" There is not a heart in this assembly," he said, " that
beats with more true and sincere sympathy, or that feels
more for the loss of the services of those valued men."
Allow me to say, also, that if any consolation can he given
to gentlemen in their circumstances, Mr. Turner has most
truly expressed the feeling that must necessarily animate
his bosom, that it is almost worth while for a man once in
his life to be the victim of injustice—the victim of a
vicarious punishment for the sins imputed to others—im-
puted, I say, but not proved against them. (Hear, hear.)
It is worth a man's while to become for once the victim
of such a trial as that, when the result is the manifestation
of such a feeling as I have this day seen displayed towards
my friend Mr. Turner. (Cheers.) Till within a very few
days I had not the honour and the pleasure of a personal
acquaintance with Mr. Turner. That gentleman sponta-
neously, as soon as the verdict of the committee was
announced, did me the great honour to call upon me in
London, when he made use of language which it would
not be becoming in me to repeat, but which he has par-
tially repeated to you himself to-day. He called upon me
to state that he had heard with pleasure that I was to be
selected as a candidate for Liverpool, and to offer me, on
behalf of his late constituency, all the advice he could
give me, and all the knowledge of the interests of the
town, which he placed at once at my service. (Applause.)
This, gentlemen, is the character you desire to see in a
public man. This is the character you wish to see dis-
played, when a man puts himself altogether out of the
question, and directs his thoughts only to the interests of
those who have invested him with responsibility. This is
conduct which I should he proud to take as my example,
and proud to imitate." (Applause.) Mr. Liddell passed
in review the injustice of parliamentary election com-
mittees ; an "able but improper" leading article in the
Ti»ies of the previous day on the subject of the recent
election battles ; the subject of the Navigation Laws ; the
Merchant Seamen's Act, and the Pilotage Bill—holding
that we should have a fair as well as a free trade ; the
Ballot, which he would strenuously oppose ; and the pros-
perity which he saw in store for Britain, from the present
emigration movement.
__

Mr. GEORGE HENRY HORSFALL, as the representative
of his brother, Mr. T. B. Horsfall, then came forward, and
was about to address the assemblage, whereupon a shout
was raised of " Three cheers for Bramley-Moore " This
was met by cries of" No split," " Turn him out,"
" Order," " Horsfall," &c. Order having been restored,
Mr. Horsfall rose and spoke at some length. His brother,
Mr. Horsfall, had no sympathy with the present anoma-
lous amalgamation which, under the premiership of Lord
Aberdeen, at present governed this country. (A. voice
" Three cheers for Lord Aberdeen.") He was certain
that Mr. Horsfall viewed with much distrust and suspi-
cion the close proximity which existed between the Popish
Solicitor-General for Ireland and the writer of the Durham
letter, and that he would view with suspicion any measure
which might emanate from the jesuitical brain of their
late opponent, Mr. Cardwell. (Hisses, confusion, and cries
of " Turn him out.")
Mr. FRANCIS SHAND moved a resolution approving of
B.
the nomination of the Hon. H. T. Liddell and Mr. T.
Horsfall as candidates for the representation of this
borough qt the ensuing election, and pledging the meet-
ing to use the most zealous and earnest efforts to secure
their triumphant return.
Mr. JAMES HOLME seconded the resolution, which was
likewise supported by Mr. Edward Mitchell, of West
Derby-road, an old freeman, and carried unanimously.
A vote of thanks to the chairman, moved by Mr.
LIDDELL, and seconded by Mr. CHARLES TURNER,
brought the meeting to a close at two o'clock.

WARD MEETINGS.
SCOTLAND WARD.
The Conservative electors met on Tuesday evening at
Mr. Pyecroft's, the Wheatsheaf public-house, Scotland-
road ; Mr. R. W. Houghton in the chair.
Mr. WM, CLARK moved a resolution declaring Messrs.
Liddell and Horsfall to be fit and eligible candidates to
represent Liverpool in parliament. The speaker com-
plained that he had not an opportunity of answering a
charge which he said had been made against him of having
bribed a number of voters, and stated that the fact would
cause him to redouble his exertions on the present occasion,
Mr. JAMES Buituouuris seconded the resolution, and
it was passed.
On the motion of Mr. Tuos. WATSON, a rote of thanks
was passed to Messrs. Mackenzie and Turner for their
services in parliament, and an expression of sympathy at
the result of the parliamentary committee of inquiry.

EVERTON AND KIRKDALE WARDS.

Mr. Carson presided at the meeting held on Wednesday
evening at Halliday's coffee-house, Everton.
Mr. T. D. ANDERSON moved, and Mr. MADDOCK se-
conded, a vote of confidence in Messrs. Horsfall and
Liddell as fit and proper representatives, which was
adopted unanimously. _

The Hon. Mr. LIUrELL addressed the meeting, and in
the course of his remarks stated that he had the authority
of the late Lord Chancellor, Lord St. Leonards, for saying
that the pretended delinquencies on the part of the Liver-
pool electors were no offence whatever, even against the
existing laws. ;Cheers.) He believed that Lord St.
Leonards declared that, in law, the acceptance of a day's
wages for a day's holiday was nothing in the shape of
bribery or corruption. (Great applause, followed by three
groans for the petitioners.)
Mr. T. ROSKELL proposed a resolution, pledging the
meeting to use its best endeavours to secure the return of
Mr. Liddell and Mr. Horsfall.

Mr. LONGTON seconded the resolution, which was
,nnanimously agreed to.
Mr. G. H. HoaseALL intimated that his brother had
written to say that he could not be here by Monday next,
but a special messenger was about being despatched for
him in order that he might be present on the day of no-
mination. He cautioned the electors against a placard
calling upon them to sign a requisition to Mr. J. Bramlev-
Moore, though it was not stated where it lay for-signa-
ture. He thought he was not wrong in assuming that it
lay at the office of William Rathbone, jun. (Groans.)