The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-04-06 00:00:00

than that which we have assigned him. History, indeed,
records the name of Thomas Bolton as the last of his species
who bloomed in the council chamber ;—as the ultimate or
penultimate joint in the tail of the incubus which for some
ten years has been allowed to desecrate the seat of the
mayoralty of Liverpool. The virtuoso may prize his name
as he would that of the last man who was hung at " Tyburn
tree"—as he would the last three shilling piece which was
issued from the mint—or any other similar curiosity ; but
we have no wish to convert our gallery into a receptacle for
such commodities—into a store-room for the odds and ends
of humanity. We purpose decorating its walls with the
lineaments of great men—of men whose names like those
of Sir Joshua Walmsley or Mr. William Earle deserve to
live in the world's estimation for ever ; but Thomas Bolton
is only great by courtesy,—great for one twelve months by
virtue of his office—great as the present head of the Town
Hall menage, and as the " most desartless captain" of the
Town Hall dogberries.

We remember having heard somewhere a story of a Flemish
painter, who having been paid to paint the " facial develope-
ments" of a worthy burgomaster, after several ineffectual
attempts, threw down his brush in despair, and with a noble
disinterestedness returned the money which he had received.
The burgomaster had not a face to paint ; ergo, the artist
could not earn his fee. Our mayor is in this respect not
unlike the worthy burgomaster ; and we must, with all due
submission, band over the painting of his exterior to some of
those less aspiring artists who execute all house signs—paint
" jolly carters" or " merry cobblers"—and occasionally con-
descend to coat with rainbow, hues, the shafts, body and
wheels of a cart, or a wheelbarrow. The red rotundity of
visage which won the hearts of all beholders in the person of
"sweet Kitty Clover," whose face was

" As red and as round and as fat,
As a red pulpit cushion, or redder than that,

is not to our taste ; although, when combined with the ro-
bust frame and the stout nether limbs of his worship, the
whole might furnish an admirable subject for such an artist
as we have alluded to. The addition of a blouse-vuglo, a
tmock frock—to the snuff-brown " Benjamin" and the drab
"unmentionables" of the mayor, would furnish as excellent
a representation of the jolliest of carters, as ever swung upon
a post or blew the froth off a pot of beer.
But after all, what are externals ? Beneath this rough and
somewhat unprepossessing exterior may lie a soul stupid in
all the rarer essences of humanity.
" Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear ;"

and such a gem may be the mind which slumbers beneath the
massy frame of our worthy chief magistrate. Some " mute
inglorious Milton"—some " Cromwell, guiltless of his coun-
try's blood"—it may be, after all, which, in our blindness, we
now slight in the person of Mr. Thomas Bolton. We fear,
however, that such is not the fact ; that a very ordinary and
somewhat bitter kernel it is which is contained within that
rough and unpromising shell. In every thought and in every
feeling Mr. Bolton is a thorough " utilitarian"—a mere mat-
ter-of-fact man. Taste, fancy, imagination, he possesses
not a very particle of.
" A primrose, by the river's brim,
A yellow primrose is to him."

A light cloud flitting over the blue face of an April morn is
to him no more than a hint to put his umbrella under his arm.
He never dreams, except he has eat a heavy supper, and then
it is only of a fall in the price of " Boweds" or " Orleans,"
or of a protested bill drawn upon a Yankee speculator in
bank stock or backwood allotments. He never wrote nor
never read a line of poetry in his life. Painting, sculpture,
music he cares not for. His balance sheet at Christmas is to
him a more pleasing object than a master piece of Raphael.
A column of figures in his ledger he would inspect with
greater interest than the column of Trajan.
All these, however, are very praiseworthy habits, no doubt,
in your mere man of business ; and in this character.vo rea-
dily admit that Mr. Bolton is unexceptionable. In his private
capacity—on 'Change, in his counting-house, or by his fire-
side—we have every inclination to be satisfied with him. In
his public capacity, however, as a politician, we cannot accord
to him the same meed of praise. Contracted utilitarian
views and a sour and overbearing spirit have ever distin-
guished him in his public conduct. He would not waive a
prejudice even to win the good opinion of an opponent, but
rather insist upon his humour, purposely to aggravate his
hostility ; and as the natural result of this unamiable spirit,
he is about the " best disliked" man of his party—to which
circumstance, no doubt, in a great measure, he owes his ele-
vation to civic pre-eminence. That " impartiality" and
" gentlemanly conduct" which in Sir Joshua Walmsley won
the unvarying applause of our contemporaries, is not, we fear,
likely to be a shining characteristic of the present Mayor—
to whom, should he ever be rewarded by the honours of
knighthood for his assiduities in " toadying" the persons of
any of her Majesty's imbeciles, we would suggest the title of
Sir Bruin, in addition to his patronymic of Bolton ; and for
his crest, a hand grasping a soup ladle—gastronomic taste,
we believe, having been the only taste ever displayed by his
worship, and that which has alone distinguished his mayoralty.

DISCONTINUANCE OF THE "TRACTS FOR THE

TIMES."

The important communication which the above title con-
veys is made in a letter addressed by the Rev. Mr. Newman
to the Bishop of Oxford. His lordship has gravely stated
that he considers that the Tract No. 90 is " objectionable,
and may tend to disturb the peace and tranquillity of the
church ;" and " advises that the Tracts /or the Times should
be discontinued." In compliance with this remonstrance,
Mr. Newman has announced that No. 90 will doge the series.

MEETING OF THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING
CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE AT LEEDS.

On Wednesday evening, the anniversary meeting of the
Leeds District Society for the Promotion of Christian Know-
ledge, was held in the Music Hall, Albion-street, Leeds, and
was very numerously attended. The Lord Bishop of Ripon
presided.
After the first resolution had been passed unanimously, the
Bishop announced that the second resolution would be moved
by the Rev. Dr. Hook, the vicar of the parish.

The Rev. Dr. Hook immediately rose and was received
with the most cordial cheering, which lasted for some time.
When the applause had subsided, he said—My Christian
Friends, I thank you for that long and loud applause. (Re-
newed cheers. It tells me that whatever others may say of
me lam still secure of your support. (Loud applause.) It
tells me that you adhere to those principles and doctrines
that I preach—those good old high church doctrines. (Loud
cheers.) It tells me that in whatever Protestant pulpit Popery
may be preached, in my Catholic pulpit you hear only those
doctrines of the Church of England by which Popery can be
refuted. (Renewed plaudits.) My Christian friends, we
can no longer shut oar eyes, after what we have heard in
various parts of the country, to the lamentable fact that the
Church of England is now divided into two parties. It is a
lamentable fact ; and I should very much have wished that
it had been otherwise. In my humble sphere I have endea-
voured even to avoid the appearance of forming a party, the
appearance even of " lording it over God's heritage," and
God Almighty knows that it never was my wish. (Applause.)
But parties now are formed. A party has been found act-
ing in a party spirit, and on party tactics, in various parts of
the country ; and in self-defence a party now must be formed
to meet it. (Cheers.) We can no longer halt between two
opinions ; we cannot attempt to hunt with the hounds and to
run With the hare ; we must take our part ; and as far as I
am concerned I will nail my colours to the mast of high prin-
ciple, and blow high or blow low come sunshine or come
storm, through the grace of God, I will adhere to them. (Loud
applause.) Now, my Christian friends, I will tell you what'
I mean by our taking a decided part. It is often said, I have
heard it frequently said, by laymen " What are we poor lay-
men to do ?"—laymen who are perfectly determined to take
their own course—but, " what are we to do when we find
that on some particular points the clergy are themselves
divided ?" I will tell you the safe course, which is this--to
discover what party acts on those general principles which
we generally approve, and to that party to give our support,
notwithstanding the occasimaal extravagancies to which indi-
viduals of that party may be led by their enthusiasm for all
that is high, elevating, and holy, for the demonstration of
their principles for the edification of the church or the glory
of God. (Applause.) Now the two parties into—
The Bishop of Ripon.—Perhaps my learned friend will
allow me to observe that this is scarcely consistent with—
(The renewed plaudits of the assembly prevented the rest of
the sentence from being heard, if uttered.) My Christian
friends, we are come here to promote the cause of Christian
knowledge, and I do earnestly—(a repetition of, the cheers
prevented his lordship from proceeding.) Hear me, while I
in Christian kindness beg my Christian friend to consider
whether he may not confine himsejf to the subject we are
met to promote. (Great excitement prevailed.)
The Rev. William Williamson, in a stentorian voice, ex-
claimed, from the upper part of the orchestra—" Hear the
bishop, heat the bishop, hear the bishop."
The Bishop rejoined—" I have been heard—l have spo-
ken," and resumed his seat.
Lr. Hook (after a burst of applause)—lf I had been
allowed, I should have shown how the subject on which I
have been speaking may be made to bear upon the object of
our present meeting ; but after what our respected diocesan
has said I shall content myself with saying nothing more
than requesting you to adopt the resolution that I proceed
to read to you— _

" That this meeting is deeply impressed with the liberality
which the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge has
shown, both by the grants for various purposes to this town
and neighbourhood, and by the great reduction which has
been made in the prices of Bibles and Testaments."
On this point it will be unnecessary for me to detain you
any great length of time. You all know how liberally the
grants have been made by this -society. You are all well
aware of that, and, therefore, I feel quite certain that you
will gladly and cordially adopt the resolution which I now
submit to you. (Loud and long continued cheers marked
the conclusion of the Rev. vicar's address.)
[We take the above from the Leeds Intelligencer. of Sa-
turday last. In a subsequent speech, Dr. Hook apologised
to the bishop for " having unintentionally disturbed, or
nearly so, the harmony of the meeting."]

The perpetual movement has for countless years, it seems,
acted as a night mare to many of the ingenious manufac-
turers of the Jura. One of them had been for twenty years
occupied with this chimerical pursuit. , Last year he thought
he had attained the desired discovery, and constructed a
machine so admirably contrived that it went with the most
perfect regularity for eight successive months. This cer-
tainly was a most flattering result, and encouraged the in-
ventor to entertain the full hope that he had found out a
principle hitherto deemed non-existent. Alas ! the delusion
was doomed to pass away. About a week ago the wonderful
piece of mechanism came to a sudden stop, and with it the
life of its visionary contriver ; for, on the following morning,
he was found self-suspended to a beam in his barn.