The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-09-14 00:00:00

POLITICAL MISCELLANY.

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The electors of Wolverhampton, at a public meeting,
have passed resolutions to the effect that, as the great
question of free trade is now settled, they do not see any
public purpose to justify them on any public ground to
disturb the peace of the borough, and therefore they ear-
nestly request Mr. Villiers to do them the honour of con-
tinuing to be their representative. We presume, there-
fore, that there will be another election for South Lan-
cashire.
ELECTION OF SCOTTISH PEERS.—The process of elect-
ing the representative peers for Scotland in the next par-
liament was gone through last week, and was looked to
with more than common interest, from the circumstance-
of Lord Dundonald (who has recently been restored to
the order of the Bath) being one of the candidates. The
following are the sixteen peers elected, with the voting
for each :—Marquis of. Tweedale, 53; Earl of Morton,
54 ; Earl of Home, 54; Earl of Airlie, 51; Earl of Leven
and Melville, 56 ; Earl of Selkirk, 53 ; Earl of Orkney,
50 ; Earl of &afield, 53 ; Viscount Strathailan, 54 ; Lord
Saltoun, 55 ; Lord Gray, 54 ; Lord Sinclair, 50; Lord
Elphinstone, 54; Lord Colville, of Culross, 53; Lord
Rollo, 49; Lord Polwarth, 53. The only alteration in
the above list, from that of the reprgentatives of the
Scotch peerage in the late parliament, is the substitution
of the names of Lord Elphinstone and Lord Rollo for
those of Viscount Arbuthnot and Lord Reay. The fol-
lowing peers voted for the election of the Earl of Dundo-
nald :—Duke of Argyle, Marquis of Huntly, Earl of
Sutherland, Earl of Stair, Earl of Breadalbane, Earl of
Carnwath, Earl of Glasgow, Viscount Dunblane, Lord.
Elibank, Lord Torphichen, and Lord Cranstoun.
In consequence of doubts which have been raised with
regard to the difficulty in the way of Baron de Rothschild
taking his seat in the house of Commons, some parties
feeling interested in the matter laid a case before Mr. C.
Egan, the Chancery barrister, and the view taken by the
learned counsel is highly favourable to the honourable
member's return. It is to the following effect :—First :
I am of opinion that Baron de Rothschild, having been
duly elected one of the members of Parliament for the
City of London, is not, by reason of his being a member
of the Jewish persuasion, debarred from taking his seat in
the House of ComMons.—Secondly : I am of opinion that
Baron de Rothschild may lawfully be -permitted to take
the oath of abjuration according to the usual manner of
Jews, viz., on the Old Testament.—Thirdly : I am of opi-
nion that the oath of abjuration may lawfully be adminis-
tered to Baron de Rothschild, omitting the latter words
contained in stat. 6, George 111., cap. 53, "'upon the true
faith of a Christian." The learned counsel supports his
opinion by a most erudite argument, and cites various
ancient charters and legal decisions to show (notwith-
standing that some writers infer to the contrary), that for
upwards of 700 years the manners, customs, and religious
principles of the Jews have been respected and admitted
in judicial matters ; that whenever a member of the Jewish
persuasion has had occasion to make an affirmation, he
has been allowed to do so " on his hook," i. e., the Old
Testament ; that his right existed so early as the reign of
King John, (A.P. 1200,) and that there dLes not appear to
be any ordinance, statute, or legal decision to the con-
trary.— Globe.