The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-07-13 00:00:00

TO THE ELECTORS AND FREE BURGESSES

OF LIVERPOOL.

GENTLEMEN,
IN acceding to the request which has been made by
some influential members of your body that I should lay
before you, in an address, the main principles which guide my
political conduct, I cannot but pay a just and hearty tribute to
the worth and ability of those representatives of whose services
you are about to be deprived. It would argue great presump-
tion in me were I to hold out an expectation thathe know-
ledge and devotion with which Lord Sandotrand Sir Howard
Douglas have discharged their functions, as your representa-
tives, would be displayed by me. I shrink at once from any
such comparison. But, should you be pleased to confer that
honourable-office upon me, I will, according to my powers,
faithfully fulfil its duties. .
So - many and so various are the subjectiof debate which,
either at the present moment do, or in the future Parliament
will, interest the Constituencies and Legislature of the Empire,
that it is almost impossible in an Address to do more than ex-
press, in:genera/terms, the principles on which a Candidate
acts.

Mine require no elaborate definition. In religion lam a
Churchman, in politics a Tory. You, gentlemen, need not be
reminded that the cry which would associate intolerance with
the one and incaracity with the other, is as unfounded as it is
illiberal. It is to the Tory constituency of Mr. Canning and
Mr..Huskisson that I address myself. As a Churchman, then,
the integrity, independence, and increased efficiency of the
Church—as a Tory, the maintenance of an historic Monarchy,
the consolidation of a mighty empire, and the happiness of a
noble people—are the objects, both in public and in private life,
I humbly endeavour to subserve.
The various members of that empire appear to me suscepti-
ble of a closer alliance. The social and moral condition of that
people admits and demands amelioration. To a Statesman's
eye the Colonies of England must present a field for careful and
paternal legislation, and every measure that can guard and
promote the welfare of our Colonies, and stimulate their com-
merce, will receive my active support. It has been truly said,
that England and her colonies can form a Zolverein which shall
eclipse that confederation whose pretensions now perplex our
merchants and our Ministers.

But the Tariff which regulates our commerce requires a ge-
neral revision. The recent changes that have been made in it
do but point out, and in some measure increase, its anomalies
and inconsistencies,. Why some foreign productions which
enter into competition with our own are to be admitted at a
nominal duty,.while Tea, so important an article of consump-
tion to our people, is charged with a duty equivalent to 200 per
cent., and Tobacco with one equal to 000 per cent., baffles all
explanation. Nor can any cause be shown why some of our
native productions and manufactures should be subjected to
' vexatious restrictions and exorbitant taxes in order to permit
a partial system of free imports from other countries. Allow
me to stun up my opinions on these subjects in the words of a
letter I had recently the honour of addressing to some gen-
tlemen of Liverpool :—" With respect to the future commercial
policy of the country, I am prepared to advocate the removal
of these fetters which the present vexatious system of Excise
imposes on our native industry, and to reduce all Customs'
Duties to that point which will combine the greatest amount of
it-Imo:lc with the greatest amount of revenue.
Upon the principle of the Navigation Laws I entertain no
doubt or hesitation. The wisdom of that system has been mil-
-1 ply proved by long experience ; nor is it to be endured that our
maratime supremacy, and consequent national inviolability,
should be endangered in order to gratify the dogmatism of a
modern school of political philosophy. Against the extreme
views of that school I have an this Parliament vindicated the
principle that it is the duty of the State to protect the rights
and grant the just claims of poverty and labour; nor shall I
shrink from asserting, on all occasions, that the State is the
protector.of the poor.
The recent and general discussion to which the Bank Charter
Act has been subjected has failed to convince me that it is wise
to maintain its present unyielding character. The require-
ments of legitimate commerce call for its relaxaton.
The system of foreign centralization has made great strides
of late. It is, in my opinion, alien to the ancient free cha-
racter of our people and their municipal institutions, and will,
I fear, if earned to the extent developed in measures recently
submitted to Parliament by her Majesty's present advisers,
produce far more serious and lasting evils than any it can
remedy. Your own town contains noble proofs of what local
intelligence and energy directed to great, even to national,
objects can effect; and we should ill exchange the principles
and habits that have produced such results for those which,
confining all power and responsibility to the distant central
authority, take away the incentives to activity and exertion
from the local community.

From this imperfect exposition of my principles you, gen-
tlemen, will, perhaps, be able to say whether they qualify me
to appear as a Candidate for the Representation of your ancient
and loyal Borough. Should you, in those assemblies where
the claims of Candidates for that honour are discussed, express
an opinion favourable to mine, I shall take the earliest oppor-
tunity of presenting myself before you, and thus give you the
power to demand a fuller .explanation of my views and senti-
ments than in the limits of an Address I am able to afford;
while, on the other hand, should you manifest a disinclination
to such opinions, I shall at once desist from the arduous,
though honourable, attempt to represent so great a Constitu-
ency, and incur so vast a responsibility.
I have the honour to remain, gentlemen, your obedient
servant,
London, July 9, 1847

JOHN MANNERS.