The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-09-25 00:00:00

WARD MEETINGS

NORTH AND SOUTH TOXTETH.
A numerous and highly-respectable meeting of the electors
of the North and South Toxteth Wards was held at Mrs.
Powell's spacious room, Jackson-street, on Wednesday
evening, to nominate candidates, and to make such other
necessary arrangements, on the conservative side, as would
secure their return at the approaching election of members
to the Town Council.
The chair was occupied by Mr. DUNCAN Ginn, who, in
opening the proceedings, spoke as follows :—Gentlemen, you
are so well aware of the purpose for which we are assembled
this evening, that it is unnecessary for me to detain you in
going into it at any length ; but I should wish to observe,
for the guidance of those who may be desirous of recom-
mending or nominating any candidate, that it be expressly
understood by them that they must have obtained the con-
sent of any one whom they are about to propose, because a
regulation of that kind will save a great deal of turmoil and
confusion in our arrangements afterwards. It is for you to
suggest, to nominate, and to recommend whom you think
fit. You are aware of the necessity of having upright and
proper men to represent you in the Town-council, and it is
unnecessary for me to tell you that we have arrived at that
time when it becomes incumbent on you to make a bold
struggle. (Cheers.) In fact, it is like do or die in the mat-
ter. No half-measures ought any longer to be depended on ;
and, for my own part, I can only say, that I am willing to
act in conjunction with you, as well as to render such assist-
ance with my purse towards the legal expenses of the contest
as shall be fair and reasonable. (Loud cheers.)
Mr. HoßsFam., then rose and said :—I have great pleasure
in proposing the following resolution :—" That John Shep-
pard, Esq., is, in the opinion of this meeting, a fit and pro-
per person to be put in nomaintion as candidate for South Tox-
teth Ward (No. 15) at the ensuing municipal election." I
feel, he continued, that Mr. Sheppard is so well known to all
present that very few words will be necessary to recommend
him to the attention of the electors. He is a man eminently
qualified, and perhaps, without meaning to cast any dis-
paragement on others, as fit, if not the fittest man to repre-
sent South Toxteth Ward in the Common-council. (Hear
and cheers.) He is a man of independent property—was a
county magistrate in Ireland—is not fettered from discharging
his duty by any business, and we know, from what we have
seen of him, that he will be diligent in his attention to our
municipal affairs. (Loud cheering.) lam sorry to say, many
of our conservative members do not give that attendance in
the Council that we had reason to expect, but I am quite
certain Mr. Sheppard will act differently. I know not that
I have anything further to say than that he is a true conser-
vative, and not afraid to face his opponents—that he will
stand firmly by our venerable institutions, and support the
church and state in all their original purity and integrity.
(Loud cheers.) We cannot disguise from ourselves the fact
that the Town Council is a political body, though they only
profess to regulate our municipal affairs; and, viewing the
body in this light, I feel bold to say that Mr. Sheppard is a
man strongly attached to the church—that he will use his
utmost exertions to support her—that he will endeavour to
rectify her proved abuses, and, therefore, that he is extremely
well qualified to represent this ward in the council. With
these few remarks, I beg to propose the resolution. (Loud
cheers.)
Mr. THOMAS HUNTINGDON seconded the first resolution,
which was put from the chair and carried unanimously.
Mr. ALEXANDER SMITH, Jun. said—Since entering the
room, a resolution has been placed in my hands, which I shall
have great pleasure in moving, but before doing so, I would
make a few observations on some circumstances that occurred

since the last annual contest in these wards. (Hear, hear.)
I have been connected with our municipal elections for a
long time—indeed since the commencement, and I never
met before so numerous or respectable an assemblage as I
have the pleasure of seeing here to-night, and this is a con-
vincing proof to me that the efforts made within the last
twelve mouths, to raise the conservative spirit of these wards,
have not been used in vain.. (Cheers.) We have now the
satisfaction of seeing hundreds of electors present, not only
anxious to take part in the proceedings of the evening, but
to record their votes also in favour of the candidate to be
proposed on this occasion. (Hear.) I assure you that it is
a most gratifying sight to me, and to those who have been in
the habit of acting with me, to find so many assembled here,
all united, I believe, in one common feeling of regard and
esteem, for the constitution under which we live, and which
we have been endeavouring to maintairr for years past. A
tearful struggle we have had. (Hear, hear.) We found,
when the municipal act was first passed, that the flood broke
in on us in such a way as that persons were returned to the
town-council possessed of nothing like religion, having no
regard for monarchical government, or any other thing which
we reverence and esteem; but I firmly believe that the en-
suing election—that which is shortly to take place—will
prove, to the community, that a different spirit now pervades
the town ; for numbers have come forward and enrolled
themselves as electors, determined not to suffer such pro-
ceedings again to take place—proceedings which have dis-
graced us in the eyes of the empire for years past. (Hear.)
We have had persons who have been literally thrust down
our throats—men with whom we have had no connection,
and who have had no common interest with us; and some
have been brought forward as town-councillors, and others,
who have been rejected by the electors, have been brought
forward as aldermen ;—so that the qualification of an alder-
man appears to have been, that he was discarded by the
electors, and that they refused to return him. (Hear, hear.)
But now a great struggle is about to take place. The oppo-
site party have been using every means in their power to
intimidate the electors, and to secure to themselves a
majority in the town-council, but their efforts will be frus-
trated. (Cheers.) We have known men, who were members
of the town-council, and members of the Dock Committee,
and members also of the Market Committee, going round,
and not soliciting, but absolutely demanding, the votes of the
persons over whom they thought they had influence. (Loud
cries of " Shame.") I dare say there are persons now pre-
sent who were so circumstanced, and who remember a
gentleman, whom Isaac Holmes knows very well—(hear, and
a laugh)—saying, that he was a member of this, that, and the
other eommittee, and absolutely demanding that the persons
engaged in the different departments in some measure under
his controul, should vote for this, that, and the other indi-
vidual. lam happy to know that there are not many who
would be dictated to in that way, and I am sure such a spirit
will he evinced to a greater degree at the present time. I
think the period is not very distant when our party will have
the ascendancy in the town-council, in spite of the ma-
noeuree and efforts made use of to keep us out. (Cheers.)
You are aware that very many important measures will have
to be brought forward during the ensuing year. During the
last session of parliament bills were obtained for making,
within our ward, two very extensive docks, the Hercula-
neum Dock and the Harrington Dock. These are points to
which I shall take the liberty of calling your attention, be-
cause, if anything can conduce to our prosperity, it is the
erection of these docks in our immediate neighbourhood.
(Hear, hear.) I am speaking to men who are owners of
property, and to others who reside and carry on their busi-
ness in these wards ; and I believe I am correct in informing
,
you, that measures are now in progress for following up the
bills obtained in parliament—that very shortly you will find
the Herculaneum Dock Cower y bringing their measures to
maturity—and that you will shortly see large docks here es-
tablished. (Applause.) No doubt these docks must bring
a vast number of persons to reside in these wards. No doubt
they will be of material benefit to every shopkeeper, and to
every owner of property in the district ; and, therefore, I
think you must allow, that we ought to return such persons
to represent us in the council, as will follow up and bring to
maturity such beneficial plans as these. (Loud cheers.) It
is our duty to look after ourselves; and I am sure that, in
returning independent and able men as our representatives,
we shall best effect the objects we have in view. It is a well-
known fact, that the radical party in the council are opposed
to these plans. (Hear, hear.) They don't want to see docks
here, but they want to have everything under their own
thumb, and they cannot bear anything like competition.
Now, so far as I have learned any business, and I dare say
your experience will teach you the same, there appears to
me to be nothing like competition to enable the merchant to
carry on his trade with advantage to himself and those around
him. Here, then, is an opportunity afforded of erecting
docks on the shores of the Mersey at half the expense at
which the Town Council can erect them to the westward of
the Salthouse Dock ; but they refuse, because they want to
establish a monopoly for their own benefit. (Hear, hear.)
I suppose they have nephews and cousins to appoint as
warehousekeepers and so forth ; and, for my part, I have no
objection to their providing for their nephews and cousins
out of their own pockets, but I have every objection to their
doing so at our expense, or at that of the tradesmen of Li-
verpool. (Hear.) The gentleman I ant about to propose to
you, as a candidate for the ward in which I live, is Mr. Har-
bord. (Cheers.) He is very extensively engaged in busi-
ness in Liverpool, and owns several warehouses. (Cries of
" He's all right.") I sincerely hope he is ; but remember
that it will depend on you to make him all right on the first
of November. I have now great pleasure in proposing the
following resolution :—" That it is the opinion of this meet-
ing that Richard Harbord, Esq., is a fit and proper person
to be put in nomination as a candidate for North Toxteth
Ward (No. 16) at the ensuing municipal election."
Mr. T. H. CARTER seconded the resolution.
Mr. T. M. GLADSTONE here came forward and said—Gen-
tlemen, before this resolution is put from the chair, perhaps
a few words front a party who feels a strong interest in the
proceedings of the meeting, and an elector, may not be un-
acceptable. (Loud cries of " Hear.") It was intended that
I should second the nomination of Mr. Harbord on this oc-
casion, but such was the anxiety of the meeting, that an op-
portunity was not given me so to do ; and I ant glad of it,
for it shows the state of feeling that exists in this numerous
assembly, and which is an augury, I trust, of the success that
shall attend our exertions on the first of November. (Cheers.)
Mr. Smith, having about the saute experience as myself in
these wards, has fully entered into many details respecting
the advantages that would accrue from having fit and proper
persons to represent us in the council ; but, why do I refer
to these things ? Not that former defeats should make us
lax in our exertions now, but that we should, one and all, en-
deavour to be first, in the day of battle, to mount the breach,
and nail the colours of the constitution to the mast-head.
(Great applause.) I cordially agree in the terms of the reso-
lution now proposed—first, because Mr, Harbord is a con-
stitutional conservative—secondly, because he is an inhabitant
of the ward, and next, because he has a stake in the town.
I question much whether many of those who have passed
through, under the colour of reform, should be said to pos-
sess a stake in the town,
but we are desirous to place the re-
presentation in the hands of those, who, having a stake .them-
selves, and having no interest the advancement of any par-
ticular scheme, should do their duty fearlessly, without any
predilections but those which govern all conservatives, and
which will, I am sure, govern Mr. Harbord. (Hear.) In
the advancement of improvements, we may, many of us,
differ, but I think we cannot do much worse than has been
attempted tq be done, with the property of the town, at the
hands of its present representatives in the Town Council.
(Hear.) When we consider that they are pressing a course
which must cost the town some thousands of pounds,—l al-
lude to their attempted introduction of plans, which seem to
be the god of their idolatry, and which cannot fail of being an
injury to all who reside in the town. (Hear, hear.) I per-
ceive that it is the custom, when reform candidates come
forward, as in Exchange Ward, to advocate triennial parlia-
ments and universal suffrage through thick and thin—so that
they seem ready on those annual occasions—to introduce any
agitation, no matter how extensive ; and are not satisfied with
confining themselves to municipal affairs, but carry their de-
structive principles into the very heart of the constitution it-
self. They are not content to speak on local matters, but
they must needs go to refer to that unEnglish mode of voting
—vote by ballot—by which a man could smile in your face
and stab you at the same time with a dagger to the heart. If
they want universal suffrage, my opinion is that we may as
well have a female House of Commons as one composed ex-
clusively of the masculine gender. (Hear, and laughter.)
But, passing from these considerations, allow me to say that
it delights me to behold such a meeting as the present. In
despite of former defeats in these wards, I trust that, when
the election comes round, and that when I shake Mr. liar-
bord by the hand on the Ist of November, lie will be your
representative. (Loud cheers.)

Mr. THOMAS DOVER, next rose, and said—Gentlemen,
the following motion has been put into my hands :—" That
this meeting pledges itself to use every legal exertion to en-
sure the return of John Sheppard, Esq., and Richard liar_
bord, Esq., to represent these wards in the town-council at
the ensuing municipal election. He then continued :—I am
sure there is not a gentleman present who will not cordially
agree with this resolution. At the same time I wish to draw
you attention to one word that it contains, namely, " legal,"
and that word has been inserted in it because illegal exertions
are about to be made against you by our opponents, and they
do not disguise it. It is their intention, I say, from the num-
ber of frivolous objections they have made, ao to extend the
tin e of the revision, that the fourteen days will be expired
before they are gone through, and that we shall be obliged to
fall back on the list of last year. (Hear.) I believe I am

the first to make known this fact ; but we have not much
to fear from that list, for we might have returned fourteen
members under it; and if every exertion is made, not only
in these wards but in every other, we shall increase that in
number, and then what will become of their trickery and
what will become of themselves? 'Why, we shall place them
where they ought to be, namely--nowhere. (Hear, and
laughter.) I care not, then, which they take ; let them take
this year's list, and we'll lick them ; or last year's, and we'll
lick them ; so that whichever list they take, lick them we
will. (Loud cheers.) In looking round ms, and seeing so
large a number of gentlemen in the room, I am quite sure
they must feel interested in one subject—namely, the system
of education pursued at present in the corporation schools.
(Hear.) There has been a great deal said about those schools.
Some will tell you that the Bible is in the schools, and some
will tell you that it is not in them. There is an immensity
of shuffling, but the truth appears to be this, that the system
of education is such as that the members of the church of
England and many of the dissenters cannot conscientiously
send their children there. (Cheers.) Your determination
ought to be, to get a scriptural education for your children,
and that the reading of the scriptures shall begin and end the
business of the school. (Hear, hear.) We all know that
children look to the door when the hour of breaking up ar-
rives, and that the time for putting the Bible into their
hands is not when they are sighing for liberty. In fact,
to put the Bible into the hands of a child at such a late
period of the day, is to give him a distaste for the word
of God. (Hear, hear.) I am not so uncharitable as to
say that has been the intention of the council, but the sys-
tem pursued unquestionably leads to that deplorable result.
After some further remarks on the building of warehouses,
the speaker concluded by saying :—I hope you will use your
most strenuous exertions to return both the candidates pro-
posed to you. I hope that you will not only give them your
votes early on the Ist of November,
but turn out as canvass-
ers, and bring up your neighbours, in order that we may not
only beat them in these wards, but beat them in many of the
others also. We are now going to reform. (Cheers.) We are
going to be once more what we used to be in times past—
loyal people, Christian people, church people; and the time
is not far distant when the mayors of Liverpool will not go to
the Socinian chapel, another to the Roman catholic chapel,
and a third, perhaps, to a socialist meeting. Oh ! that will
be a glorious day when we shall see our first conservative
mayor going to church. (Great cheers.) 'We shall all ac-
company him, and take our wives and daughters along with
us, so that the numbers will be so great that even St. George's
Church will not be able to hold the hundredth part of us.
The speaker resumed his seat amidst great applause from all
sides

Mr. ROBERTSON seconded the resolution proposed by the
last speaker, which was put and carried unanimously.
Mr. SHEPPARD then rose, and addressed the meeting at
considerable length. He commenced by observing, that he
thanked them from the bottooi of his'heart for deeming him
a fit and proper person to represent their interests in the
common council. If he was so successful as to be returned,
he would use his best exertions to serve the several classes to
which those present belonged. They had heard a great deal
to-night on the different questions which agitated the public
mind in Liverpool ; but all he could say was that, with re-
gard to the education question, he would give it his deepest
consideration. To the constabulary force of the town he
would lend his best attention, in order to have efficient offi-
cers, and equally efficient sub-constables. After some fur-
ther remarks, he concluded by calling on them to dismiss the
radicals from their town council, and when the opportunity
offered, to return Lord Sandon and Mr. Cresswell. Mr.
Sheppard resumed his seat amidst loud applause.
Mr. H kRBORD next addressed the meeting. He cordially
thanked them for the reception they had given him, and,
being a plain man of business, and no orator, he could only
assure them that, if returned, he would endeavour to main-
tain, as far as in him lay, the constitution of the country.
He had ever been a member of the Church of England, and
hoped lie should never disgrace her by any act, public or pri-
vate, of his life. At the same time he had a kindly feeling
towards all conscientious and Christian dissenters ; and he
believed he might assure them that his politics would ever
be guided by the word of God, and not the impulses of the
moment. (Cheers.) _

Mr. GLA:DSTONE'theII proposed three cheers for Mr. Isaac
Holmes and the other conservative members of the town
council, which was loudly responded to by all present.
Mi. HoLmEs returned thanks, and the meeting separated.

the conservative interests of the town. (Hear, hear.) Mr.
Cooper, moreover, had frequently come forward in this man-
ner, and upon one occasion, with regard to the rank piece of
jobbing near St. James's Market, he ably exposed the trick-
ery which was attempted to be practised. He believed Mr.
Cooper was the means of completely altering the intentions
of the party as to what should be done, and to make them
completely ashamed of themselves. -(Cle-ers.) Mr. Cooper,
at first, was merely a member of one committee—the Gar-
dens Committee; he was sent (he supposed) to the Mount to
look after the crows—(laughter)—but he had a greater duty
to perform, for there were vultures to be looked after. (Hear,
hear.) In that respect he had performed his duty, for he
had, in a great measure, prevented the vultures from doing
what they wished. Mr. Cooper. therefore, was highly de-
serving of their support at the forthcoming election. (Loud
cheers, and shouts of "He shall have it.") The following
—which was the , last—year, Mr. Houghton complained
that he had been placed upon too many committees.
(Hear, and cheers.) Mr. Houghton, he (Mr. Holmes) be-
lieved, was a gentleman who wished to pass through the
world without being much censured or much buffeted ; he
expressed a hope, therefore,tbat the council would allow
him to retire from the watch committee. He (Mr. Holmes)
moved that Mr. Cooper should be placed on that com-
mittee ; Mr. Houghton seconded the motion ; and Mr.
Cooper was placed in a situation from which he was enabled
to be more useful to the ward and to the town than he other-
wise could be. (Hear, hear.) With regard to himself (Mr.
Holmes) and four or five others, they were not allowed to
have their names upon the list of a single committee. The
individual who was going to retire from Pitt-street ward—
(cheers)—came forward and in the most insulting manner
said (the very words by him should never be forgotten) " If
some of the wards had disgraced themselves by sending cer-
tain members to the council, we will not degrade ourselves
by placing them upon our committees." (Hear, hear.) He
(Mr. Holmes) trusted that Pitt-street ward would not be
again disgraced by sending that impudent and insolent
man into the town-council. (Laughter and cheers.) As he
had stated last night elsewhere, that person's political creed
was totally contrary to the principles of two-thirds of the
electors of Liverpool, and his religious creed to that of 99
out of every hundred. Therefore it would be a scandal to
the ward to return a man who, neither in politics nor reli-
gion, could have any feeling in communion with any ward in
the town. He believed he had told the meeting he was an
elector of this ward ; but perhaps he was not. He had never
yet (although he had formerly opposed the conservative inte-
rest when all were mad for " reform," as it was called) been
served with an objection to his vote. The moment, how-
ever, that he came into this ward, he was served, first, with
an objection to his parliamentary vote as a householder, and
afterwards with another to his municipal vote. (Hear.)
Mr. COOPER here entered the room, and was received
aith deafening applause.
Mr. HoLmEs proCeeded to say that lie regarded not the
objection to his parliamentary vote as a householder, because
he was a freeman of the town of Liverpool. (Three loud
cheers were here given for the free Men.) He had four sons,
who were likewise free, and these were four more votes for the
other side to consider. (Cheers.) He mentioned this to
show that the objection to his parliamentary vote as a house-
holder, must have been from sheer malice. (Hear, hear.)
When he received notice of the objection he went to the
office of the Reform Association, and told them that if they
would withdraw the objection he should be obliged, but if
not, that Sir Joshua Walmsleysand every radical member of
the Town-council, including both his brothers, should be
served with objections in his own name—that he might meet
them before the Town-council, the revising barrister, and
before the mayor himself. Mr. Holmes then went on to
say, that there had never been a single question discussed in
the counsel upon which Mr. Cooper and himself had not
supported each other. This was very gratifying when they
had the insolence of power to contend against. The meeting
were well aware of a late public meeting of the Reform As-
sociation, and of the trepidation in which the radical mem-
bers of the council now were. Mr. William Rathbone was
dreadfully afraid of the forthcoming election ; and he be-
lieved that the greater number of the objections in Pitt-
street ward had been for the purpose of causing the
election to be taken upon the old register which was much
better for radical purposes than the present. They were made,
he repeated, to return Mr. Wm. Rathbone, because with the
list as it stands he would have no chance whatever. (Cheers.)
The speaker then proceeded to comment at considerable
length upon the proceedings of a reform meeting in Exchange
ward, and upon the gratuitous insult in Mr. O'Connell's
speech at the Queen's Theatre upon the natives of the prin-
cipality, and upon several topics of a local nature. He con-
cluded by an energetic call upon the meeting to return Mr.
Cooper which was responded to by loud cheers and cries of
determination to do so.

Mr. COOPER (having been introduced by Mr. Robinson)
then addressed the meeting. He said that after having served
the burgesses for three years, it gave him great satisfaction to
learn that he still retained their confidence. (Hear.) If
it were any gratification to him in the first instance to have
been surrounded by numbers who had voted in his behalf,
how much more gratifying must it be to his feelings, after he
had been weighed in the balance, to find that he was not
considered wanting. (Cheers.) if he had studied his pri-
vate interest or comfort, he should have retired on this oc-
casion ; for his business, and the number of men in his ser-
vice, required a great portion of his time. But when he saw
an unconstitutional step taken for bringing in the constitu-
ency of New Bird-street against the respectable constituency
of Great George's Ward, he could not refuse to come for-
ward to aid in averting the downward course. (Cheers.) A
great deal had been said against the old freemen, but he
must say of them, that he had never yet known them to
break their word, and that it was infamous on the part of
government to disfranchise them from the right of electing
the mayor. (Hear.) 'Why were they deprived of that?
The freemen of Liverpool ought to have had a vote in the
election of the chief magistrate, and for the other members
of the corporation. (Hear.) We had heard a great deal
about the liberality of the liberals, and he would point out an
instance of it in the Town Council. Great George's Ward, it
was well known, returned three conservative members. It was
usual for the members of a particular ward to have the care
and control of the markets in that ward ; but although they
had had seats in the council for three years they were denied
a vote upon the Market Committee, and not one of the mem-
bers for the ward had a voice in that committee. (Hear.)
To whom was the care of St. James's Market resigned? To
one man from Scotland and another from Ireland—Mr.

Jordan and Mr. Duncan ; and he (Mr. Cooper) appealed ic;
the meeting whether under their management the " widow's
landmark" had not beeh removed in that market. (Hear.)
It had ;—(cheers)—and if a very strict look out had not been
kept over those gentlemen many more things would have
gone wrong. He considered the next election as one of mo-
mentous interest. It affected the question of how the poor
should be educated—whether, indeed, the poor should be in-
' structed in the entire word of God, or whether they should
have unitarian principles thrust upon them. (Loud cheers.)
At the last municipal election they had sixty hostile voters
thrust upon them for this ward, but still the bur-
gesses nobly did their duty by returning Mr. Robinson
' by a majority of 22. (Cheers.) Having that example before
them, he felt perfect confidence that they would be able again
to return him (Mr. Cooper) to the council. (Cheers.) But
to accomplish this it was of deep importance that every man
should put his shoulder to the wheel, especially as nearly
every vote in the ward had been objected to in a most infa-
mous manner. Mr. Cooper proceeded to detail a case of one
conservative burgess (Mr. Orton), who had lived in the same
house for 35 years, having been objected to, and to enforce
the necessity of attendance on the revision. He concluded
an energetic speech by calling upon the burgesses to take
care of the registration, as the only certain means of carrying
the ward for the conservative interest.
A vote of thanks was then presented to the chairman for
the able manner in which he had presided. The compliment
was suitably acknowledged by Mr. Quirk.
Mr. COOPER then moved a similar vote to the secretary,
which was seconded by Mr. J. W. WAGsTAFF.
Mr. COURTER briefly replied.
Mr. ROBINSON proposed, and Mr. COOPER seconded, a
resolution of thanks to the committee of the Ward Conser-
vative Association, which was passed unanimously.
Mr. E. WRAY, the conservative candidate for St. Peter's
Ward, and Mr. WHITE next said a few words; and when
they had concluded, the meeting dispersed, highly gratified
with their prospects of SUOCeSS in the forthcoming contest.