The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-10-30 00:00:00

TO THE BURGESSES OF CASTLE•STREET

'WARD.

GENTLEMEN,
rriii AT important principle of the Municipal Reform 'Act
1. which imposes upon the Reptesentative the periodical
duty of appearing before his constituents, for the purpose of
haying his claims to be useful to his fellow-citizens tested by
the voice of public opinion, places me again in the position
of becoming a Candidate for your suffrages.
I have not the wish, even if the opportunity existed, to
avoid the ordeal of a public and searching examination into
my votes and conduct since I have been a member of the

i'tiwn Council. Differing, as I may have done, from some
of my constituents on questions which have engrossed the
attention, while they have divided the opinions of the public,
I may, perhaps, without incurring t charge of egotism, be
allowed to state, that, in all the • tes I have given, I have
t
been actuated by an hottest an eattfelt desire to record
them in favour of those measures which I believed to be for
the best interests of this great and flourishing town.
Aware that the advocacy of general principles, whose truth
in the abstract is universally admitted, is not inconsistent
with a course of conduct tending to weaken, if not wholly to
destroy, their wholesome application to the institutions of the
country, I shall not shelter myself bPhind unme.rning and
vague expressions which allow a mental reservation of
opinions and views, in many instances of a personal and
selfish nature, and which are almost, in every case, opposed
to the best and lasting interests of the community.

.„,.
I ant now as ever, the opponent of that party- who, while they
possessed the power, denied to the People the extension of
civil rights; hut who, finding further 'resistance hopeless,
have, changed their policy, and seek, by conforming to the
spirit of the age, to recovert hat position from which they have
been driven by the united voice of the people.
1 am more than ever convinced, that, in the absence of a
National System of Education, it is the first duty of the Cor-
porate Body to provide, from the public funds, the means of
a sound Religious and Moral Education for the Children of
the Poor, irrespective of the differences of Political opinion
or of Religious Creed.

A knoWledgc,acrtiired from ekperience, of the capabilities
and expanding Commerce of this rapidly increasing Port
has caused me to arrive at the deliberate conclusion, that,
hoWever large the amount of Capital employed in any de-
partment, it must not he suffered to paralyze the energies, or
check the resources. of an enterprising and growing Mercan-
tile Community. From this conviction I have recorded my
vote in favour of building Warehouses on the Dock Quills,
believing that, in doing so, I was consulting a❑ enlightened
policy, which, cart ying its views beyond the present, seeks

to secure the pealed amount of god to the i!ea.test num-
ber.

Firmly believing, that nothing but the most searching and
vigilant controul of public opinion over the acts and votes of
the members of the Municipal Town Councils can preserve
in their full vigour the privileges which the Municipal Re-
form Act conferred upon the people, I am an advocate for
the unfettered expression of the constituency, through their
ward and public meetings, so as to preserve the utmost har-
mony and uepence between the representative and the re.
presented.
Acting upon these principles, should I again have the
honour to be elected, I shall cart' into the Council-chamber
a firm determination to discharge my duties to the constituency
uninfluenced by personal considerations and entit el; free from
the bias of party.
I remain, Gentlemen,
Yoar faithful Servant,
JOSHUA WALMSLEY.
87, Mountpleasant,26th. of October, 1838.