The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-05-10 00:00:00

THE IRISH MUNICIPAL REFORM BILL

MEETING AT THE SESSIONS'-HOUSE.

(From the Third Edition of the Liverpool Standard of Friday.)
This day, at one o'clock, a meeting, called by the Mayor, in
consequence of a requisition which bad been presented to him a
few days ago, was held in the Court-room, in the Sessions'.
house, Chapel-street, for the purpose of "taking into considera-
tion the present critical position of the Irish municipal reform-
till, and to consider the propriety of addressing the King and'
the House of Commons thereon." Shortly after twelve o'clock
a number of persons had assembled at the various doors leading
to the Sessions'-house, whiCh gratuallY increased till the doors
were opened, at. a few minutes before one,' when a rush took
place, and the room was almost immediately filled. Most of the
influential gentlemen of the conservative and radical party were
present.
The MAYOR took the chair, amidst the cheers of the meeting.
He said that the time appninted for holding the meeting having
,expired, he would at once proceed to the object;for.which it had
been convened. That object the meeting already knew. When
the requisition was presented 'to him, upon examining it' he
found that it was expressed- in such general terms as not to
pledge the meeting to anything without the fair sense of the
public of Liverpool being taken upon it. It was 'open to Atli-
taaavoebion, and any, resolution that any person thought proper
to propose would not be interfered with by it.. Under those
circumstances he could not refuse to call the meeting together.
His tiwa sentiments were perfectly well known to the meeting—
(hear, hear;)—and while be would always firmly maintain his
own sentiments, he should never prevent the free expression of
those of other persons, however much they might be opposed to
his—(great cheetiog) expressed in a moderate and tetn-
-e-w hen
perate spirit. He trusted every gentleman present had come to
-the meeting with similar feelings, and that no person would be
interrupted whilst speaking, or prevented from having a fair
tearing. (Hear, hear.) Clamour was not reason, nor was in-
terruption argument. (Cheers.) The town-clerk would read
the requisition which bad been presented to him.
The Tows-o.ERK then read the requisition to the Mayor, and
the notice by which the meeting was convened.
Mr. JA hiss B RANCK ER presented himself to the meeting, but,
immediately upon his name being announced by the Mayor,'
an uproar of the most fierce description was commenced. Hiss-
log, hooting, and ejaculations of various kinds were heard far
several minutes. After the MAYOR and several of the gentle.
men around him had appealed to the meeting to hear Mr.
Brancker, that gentleman rose again. He said it had fallen to
his lot on that occasion, as junior counsel, to open the plead-
ings. (Laughter.)-I.The speaker here seemed at a loss how
to proceed. After a little delay, be took a piece of paper from
the table and saidl—,He would propose the following resolu-
tion—" That this Meeting is deeply grateful for the corporation'
reform granted to England and Scotland." (Great disapproba-
tion.) That did not look like gratitude, at any rate. (Loud
laughter.) Nor unanimity either. (Contiuned laughter. ) Stith
was the importance of the question they were met that day to
consider, that he did not expect to find any other feeling
than a favourable one. (Loud cries of " You're disappointed-,
though.") Gentlemen, seeing that England and Scotland have
had the benefit of corporation reform, we wish the same bless-
ing to be extended to Iceland (Disapprobation.) If you de-
ny that boon to Ireland, you do her great injustice. You will
break the act of union (laughter) and refuse to carryout the
princip
( Hear. leg
) of the great measure of catholic emancipation.
the o
of
vales in the House of Commons had first begun
pposO.' ton
and
Irish corporation reform, but they were de-
feated there.
misbegotten' 'bon now Lord Lyndhurst had taken up the
it upon the nation. (Great Hobert Peel, with the view of thrusting
n.
Ly n rst upon e interruption.) They had begotten
vvizzened-faced old P pen' (uproar)
,(Uproar) and had made a tool of a
like a sheet of dirty white(peri°' of " Shame") whose face was
had turned his name ueside"der' (" Shame, shame,") and who
peerage (shouts of inai7nationown for the purpose of getting a
the speaker's observation was loamstl.dst which the conclusion of
entl, emen, ifyou will give us
Mr. 13R ANC KER continued 6 )
fair Play we'll beat you.
A Yeice.—Give us some common sense.
Mr. BRA NCKER.—I will if you will call on me tooolorr. ow.
(Laughter) ,
Mr. Braucker at length sat down.
The MAYOR desired the town-clerk to read the resolution,
which he did as follows.:—

" That this Meeting is deeply grateful to the legislature of
the United Kingdom, for the reform effected by their wisdom
in the municipal institutions of England and Scotland, the
gorid effects of which are already felt and acknowledged."
Mr. N. ROBINsoN rose to move au amendment. He begged to
express his entire dissent from the resolution and the observa-
,tions of the preceding speaker, and it was his intention to move
an amendment. (Great applause.) If the bill proposed by his
'Majesty's government had been carried through the House of
Lords, it would in his opinion be an unjust interference with
the just authority of that house. (Cheers.} They might send
delegates to the House of Commons, and influence them as they
thought proper; but the moment they sought to overawe the
House of Lords, they not only would destroy the independence
of that house, but the monarchy itself. (Immense cheering.)
Mr. Robinson concluded by handing to the town-clerk the fol-
lowing as an amendment:—
" That this meeting, feeling the utmost confidence in the
House of Lords, and feeling the greatest satisfaction in the
course adopted by them, most sincerely deprecates any attempt
to interfere with their rights."
Mr. ROBERTSON GLADSTONE seconded it.

Tile MAYOR said he thought Mr. Rubinson's amendment did
not sufficiently bear upon the original motion; upon which Mr.
Robinson withdrew it, and begged to move a direct negative
upon Mr. Brancker's motion. The Mayor rose and put the
original motion, when there appeared about '230 hands held up
in its favour.
,On putting the negative the show iu its favour
were as two to one. Several persons cried out "we have it by
three to one at least."

The MAYOR then said it became his duty to declare it as his
opinion, backed by that of the Town-clerk and his assistant,
that MR. BRA.NCKER'S RESOLUTION HAD BEEN
NEGATIVED.—[This announcement was followed by im-
mense cheering, waving of hats, &c., which lasted for some
minutes.
Mr. BRANCKER then rose and complained that the room was
too small to contain the whole of the meeting—he should move
an adjournment.—(This announcement was followed by im-
mense laughter.)
The MAYOR said he should not adjourn the meeting, which
was received with loud cheers. ' _ _

Mr. BRANCKER said, after the declaration of the Mayor, he
should not trouble them farther with any remarks.—,(Laugh-
ter.) The xoom had been packed.—(Cries of " Who locked
the doors?") Mr. Brancker then shouted at the top of his
voice, "Then we shall have a meeting of our own on Mon-
day."

•
Mr. I'. B. Floasear,r said nothing had given him greater sa-
tisfaction than the remarks with which the Mayor had opened
the meeting. He felt, however, (interruption;) the most deep
and unfeigned regret to see his (the Mayor's) name as the chief
magistrate of the borough, and as the representative of the King,
affixed to a declaration which must have been drawn up, he
would notinsinuate by himself, (confusion;) and which`coald not
be considered in any other light than a studied insult, on the part
of those who formed it, upon the House of Lords.—(Cheers.)
He did not hesitate to say, that this meeting had been got up
for no other purpose but to attempt to intimidate the House of
Lords ; but be trusted that the loyalty of the people of Liver-
pool would that day decide that they wood not only defend to
the last the rights and libertieS of the people, (interruption,) but
that they would preserve alil:e, with the equal hand of justice,
the pierogatives of the Crown and the independence of the
Peers.—(Cheers.) He would refer to a few of the remarks
made by Mr. Braucker. He would not dwell on the courteous
language which he had made use.of, and which was sufficieut to
condemn him in the eyes of every resecbtable man.—(Cheers.)
His language, with regard to the House of Peers, was disgrace-
ful —( Hear, hear.) He would willingly. believe, from what he
knew of that gentleman, that it was intended as a joke, but such
remarks as those, on such a question, were too serious to be put
as jokes in times like the present.—(Confusion.) He thought
the chief a rgumeut in favour of giving corporate reform to Ire-
land made use of by Mr. Bran cker was, the great blessings 'which
had been conferred by a similar measure ou Englantlaud Scot-
land. Setting aside, as he did, the principle of self-election, to
which he was opposed, for those days were gone by—setting that
aside, be did not hesitate to say, that men must be judged by
their acts; and he should not be afraid of judging the acts of
the old corporation by those of the new.—(Great cheering,)
What had the new corporation done for them ?—(Mingled
cheers and hisses.)—he was only replying to the arguments of
Mr. Beaucker. He hoped he was not out of order. Mr. Hors-
fall continued.—He was going to ask them what the new cor-
poration had done.—(The uproar here was so great as to pre-
vent the speaker from proceeding.) At length, he said, finding
it totally impossible to obtain a fair and impartial bearing, I
beg to move this resolution, assured that no other man will be
haard after I have been prevented from being heard.
The MAYOR here interposed, and deprecated the proceedings
of the party who were interrupting Mr. H.
- Mr. Hotisea Le then handed his resolution to the Town-
clerk. It was the same as the one moved as an amendment
(see above) by Mr. Nicholas Robinson, and which the latter
gentleman now seconded, amidst the cheering of the meeting.
Mr. T. BOLTON said he should oppose the motion of the last
speaker. He by no means agreed with the interference of the
House of Lords in a measure which had passed successfully
through the House of Commons by large majorities. He op-
posed their interference with, the bill because he thought it was
calculated to do good to Ireland ; and to give those equal rights
to Irishmen which England and Scotland had obtained.—(Dis-
approbation—cries of" We won't hear him—you wouldn't hear
Mr. Horsfall.") The majority of the people of Scotland were
presbyterians. Had that ever been made use of as an excuse
why they should not exercise their rights ?—(Hear, bear.l—
then should an attempt be made to withhold the rights of
the Irish people because it was said the majority of them were
catholics (Confusion.) He was anxious that the people of
Ireland hould have equal rights with those of England and
Scotland—that local government should not be a sectarian mat-
ter, but that all should have privileges alike—and he knew of no
measure better calculated to obtain that object than that muni-
cipal reform which had been conferred upon them. (Laugh-
ter.) Mr. Bolton then proceeded to say, catholics were not ex-
cluded from the corporations previous to this bill, yet no catho-
lic had ever been elected. The corporation of Liverpool, which
had been referred to by Mr. Horsfall, had, daring the last fif-
teen years, expended more than their income by nearly
£600,000. Not an improvement had been made but at the ex-
pense of saddling posterity with a debt; and the effect was that
the new council were hampered by paying an interest on that
debt of nearly £41,000 per annum. He wished to prevent such
a system in Ireland—that they should have municipal reform.
The annual election of the members of corporations would
keep them honest. He begged to propose the following amend-
ment upon Mr. Horsfall's resolution :—"That this meeting is
anxious of seeing extended to Ireland the same measure of re-
form as is granted to Great Britain, feeling confident that it
will produce similar beneficial results to that part of the king-
dom."

Mr. Wm. BROWN rose to second the amendment. He said
he did not coincide with the obloquy which had been thrown
upon the House of Lords. He should be very sorry to see any-
thing like coercing them. He thought the march of mind in
the rising generation would correct all abuses that might there
exist.

Mr. T. B. Hoaseact., being called for, rose. He said, the
only additional difficulty he now felt was, that instead of having
simply to reply to Mr. °Brancker's remarks, there were other
observations which it would be necessary for him to advert to.
He did not stand there as the apologist of either the old corpo-
ration or the new, but he would maintain that that debt which
Mr. Bolton had said was a corruption was no corruption at all ;
for what had been the object for which it was contracted ?
(Cheers.) It was to improve the town for them and their suc-
cessors; and it was for the meeting to say whether it was better
for them now to reap the benefits, or have left it for their suc-
cessors to do so. He was not going to say anything more on
that part of the subject, but he would allude to some of the
blessings conferred upon them by the present corporation.
Mr. Bolton had remarked on the respect they paid to the
wishes of the people. Was their very first act in accordance
with the wishes of the people ? (Hear, hear.) It was well
known that at the day of election for town-councillors, five of
their political partisans were rejected by the people. What did
they do? They got them elected into the council as aldermen.
(Great cheering and uproar which prevented the speaker from
proceeding.) They surely could not be afraid to hear these
charges when the parties were present themselves to answer
them.. (Cries of " Question," in which the Mayor interposed.)
What then did these gentlemen do in the respect to the wishes
of thepeople ? The next subject he would refer to was, the
manner in which they had discharged their duty in the election
of their officers. Their first step was to elect a very respectable
man, Mr. Radcliffe—a political partisan—with a snug salary of
£2,000 a-year. (Hisses.) They next elected Mr. Crook de-
puty town-clerk—(uproar, in which the Mayor interposed)—
with a snug salary of £7OO a-year ; and this too when an
equally respectable man had offered to do the duties for much
less—a gentleman who had been accustomed to the office, and
who would, if elected, have afforded equal, if not greater satis-
faction than the town-clerk himself- (Uproar.) They next
appointed Mr. Wyberg with £5OO a-year. They next elected
Mr. Hall, as sitting magistrate, with £1,300 a year, and this
they did from the public funds to do what the magistrates of the
old corrupt corporation, as Mr. Bolton would call them, had
done fur nothing. (Cheers,)
Mr. SHIEL said he disclaimed having come to the meeting
with the intention of takidg part in it. (Laughter.) At his
time of life when the top'cif his head was going a little grey,and
the hair was departing, he was too prudent to risk his reputa-
ten on a false assertion. (Laughter.) Mr. Shiel addressed
the meeting for several minutes.. His observations, however,
were in substance the same as those delivered by Mr. Bolton;
in addition to some personal remaiks which he made to a person
in the body of the meeting, who, as Mr. Shiel thought was in-
terrupting him. lie strongly advocated the principle of the
right of the people to elect the members of the corporation.

, CHARLES WILKINS, Esq.; the barrister, who some years
since distinguished himself in Manchester and theether
factoring towns in Lancashire, by his exposj of the political in-
consistencies with& late Mr. Cobbett, here stepped forward on
the balcony, and said that he trusted he might he allowed as a
British subject and a temporary resident in Liverpool, to ex-
press his views on the subject, for the consideration of which
that meeting had been avowedly. convened. He was the' more
an4ious to do so, because as yet he had not heard one sentence
;that even glanced at the question. They had been amused by
the recriminations of the old and new corporation. With their
squabbles he had nothing to do, nor would he allow himself to
be drawn into their quarrel. " A plague on both your houses,"
said he. (Here some one in the crowd asked, " Who sent for
you?" Ile begged to assure that meeting, with as much
solemnity and veracity as the gentlemen who preceded him,
that previous to his entering that- meeting, he 'laid not " the
shadow of an intention of addressing them." (Here Mr. Wil-
kins imitated the manner of Mr. Shiel, the previous speaker.)
But although he would not consent 'to be one of the corps
dramatigtie in this rounicipal exhibition ; yet as a spectator
he would infer thathis previously-formed opin ions of corporations
'were correct. 'Admitting the charges orr both sides to be true
that the.former corporation had been lavish in their expendi
ture, and dishonest in entailing debts upon their posterity—
admitting also that the present corporation had given equal
Proofs Of delinquency; that they had adopted views avowedly
liberal, but really tyrannical, for party purposes, did it not tend
to show that power has a tendency to corrupt, and that he who,
like Scott's Davie Gellatley, when clad like his fellows, was the
object of their esteem •and _compassion, but when clad in the
party:colaured garb of power and place became the objett 'of
heir hatred and derision? 'For his-part hecared not whether'
the corporation were typified by the sleek Falstaff-like person.
ages Who lately graced the civic chair, or whether it selected as
its representative one who gave not such outttard proofs of
thriving on corporation viands—whether its functionaries exhi-
bited in the Dandy-Dinniont-like costume of the late distuilnirs
of the night; or in the buttoned, buckramed,'and batoned-ani-
form. of. the Bens d' armerie who now parade the streets: He
hatflearnt enough of mau to know that power had a dominion
over:his integrity and judgment; thirt id nine Cases•-ont of ten
it rendered him tyrannical to his fellow and degrading to him.
self. It was the possession of that power that rendered the late
corporations in Ireland so objectionable; and the same cause in
men of different pretensions, ho; of like propensities, would
produce the same effect. He knew Ireland well, and, as a ne-
cessary consequence," he loved'lreland;' hp had visited her to
become acquainted with her; he had no prejudices to foster, no
preconceived opinions to maintain, his vlsit was one purely of
inquiry; and he was compelled to confess that she contained
more physical advantages than any otherland which it had been
his font:lie to visit, (and he had seen a great portion of Europe;)
that he was also forced to confess that her political advantages'