The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-11-13 00:00:00

MAGICIAN.
Nay, but we part not thus! I have power
To raise from its ashes the perished flower;
1 can show thee the place where the cool spring lies,
Too deep for the frost, 'neath the wintry skies;
1 can tell thee of herbs, with mysteries rare,
.That have power o'er the genii of earth, sea, and air;
I can teach thee to bid what wind shall blow,
And to bind the floods in their wildest flow!

POET.
Mighty the boon ! yet my lyre's sweet tone
Math spells and a magic all its own ;
Memor►es of days gone by 't will restore ;
Like thy mystical flower, they bloom once more ;
-Itean find out the hearts unfathomed springs,
Where the frost of the world no fetter brings;
'Lean bid the whirlwind of passion rise,
Or, stay the tear in the mourner's eyes!

MAGICIAN.
Yet—listen yet For those fragile strings,
Behold, I can give thee weariless wings;
We will not number the thousand miles,
As we pass like thought to the eastern isles ;
I will take thee to gaze on the desert plains,
On cities of old, and storied lanes,
On all thou hest longed in heart to see,
Lay. down the Lyre and come with me!

PORT.
Nay, not for this! la that lyre's sweet swell
I have heard the sound of the camel's bell,
And, with the spirit's inner eves,
I have seen the cities of old arise;
I haVe felt in my. soul the spice-wind's breath,
And raised up ptctures that know no death.
Pictures of beauty, and scenes so fair,
I marvel if brighter on earth there are!

MAGICIAN.
Heed me this,nnce! I can teach thee a lore
Mightier than all I have proffered before.
Dost thou not long, when thine earnest eyes
Are raised to the depths of the evening skies,
To toad in the orbs that sparkle there
More than their aspects of light declare?
Loan teach thee the language that is not of earth,—
Fling down the lyre, and at once come forth.

POET.
Oh—not with thee ! Let the clear stars be
Still full of wonder and mystery ;
Still let me look, with a child-like love,
On those worlds of light as they roll above;
Enough that my spirit hath reverently trod
On that starry path to the Throne of God,
That a holier 'Teacher their voice doth tell.—
Mighty Magician, I bid thee farewell!

CON7'EMPORARY PRESS.

THE MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.
(From the Manchester Courier.)
By what process of reasoning our liberal contem•
poraries have arrived at the decision that the munici-
pal elections throughout the country have resulted to
the advantage of their party, we declare ourselves ut-
terly- at a loss to conceive. We have always har-
boured an old-fashioned notion that facts are the sound-
sit premises in an argument, but it would seem our
contemporaries think otherwise, for they have set
aside the returns of the recent municipal contests, and
preferring an argument founded upon their own wishes
and inclinations, have ventured, on no better autho-
rity, to impugn the correctness of the conclusions to
which the conservatives have come.
In another column we print the results of the elec-
tions as far as we have been able to ascertain them,
and we believe the list is pretty nearly complete. The
total number of corporate towns there set down is
iisty-seren, and it will be seen by the following ana-
lysis that the conservative cause has signally triumphed
in the main :
Places in which the conservatives had majorities over
the liberals
in which the liberals had majorities over the
conservatives

in which no change in the relative strength of
parties has occurred
in which the conservatives and liberals have re-
turned an equal number of candidates 5
Uncontested 2

Total 67

Now we do not wish to identify and confuse this
return with the present constitution of the various
town-councils; and it is necessary to the fair discus-
sion of the question at issue, that the return should
be considered solely on its own merits, and as contain-
ing internal evidence of the steady advancement of
conservative principles. We are not going to deny
that in many places—for instance, Leeds, Liverpool,
aid Wigan,—there is still a preponderating influence
of liberal principles in the town-councils; and if our
contemporaries found their consolation solely on this
point, they will, for the present, be safe from molesta-
tion as far as we are concerned. But what we contend
for is, that in many places, including the three named
above, the conservatives have gained upon their ad-
versaries in returning more men to the councils than
they have ever done since the passing of the amend-
sent act. This, in conjunction with the majority
shown in the foregoing analysis, constitutes our au-
thority for declaring that the recent elections display
is their results a growing attachment in " the people"
to conservative principles, and consequently a propor •
tionate distaste of those held by our opponents.

THE REGISTRATIONS AND THE NIUNICI
PAL ELECTIONS.
(From the Standard.)
The reform-club scribe of the Chronicle at least de-
fame the credit of being indefatigable. He verifies
the poet's description most literally—
" Destroy his web—yriur care, your labour 's vain :
The creature 's at his dirty work again."
We dealt with his registration fallacies and fabrica-
tions two or three days since. He quits that subject
without regret, knowing that his main object is to de-
lude those who sett the Chronicle only, and flies off to
another topic, merely remarking—
" We settled the question or tory gain upon the parliament-
sty constituency some days back."
Certainly, it was pretty well "settled" for those
who read one side only ; but we have no fear that any
wig who is in the habit of seeing any other paper
than the Chronicle, will imagine that it was settled to
the advantage of his party. As to our own, or
Fraser's statements, the following notice from an ex-
cellent provincial paper, the Mill and East Riding
Tiggel, will show that we had been guilty of no exag-
geration to suit any party purposes.
"We have examined this abstract as far as our actual
knowledge suable' us to form a judgment, and we are bound
to say that Fraser understates the conservative case. In
Hall, for instance, he gives us a clear majority, on claims
sad objections together, of 14, whereas, our clear majority
was twenty-four. So, iu Beverley and also in Scarbro' the
conservative majority is understated. But, in such a matter
we cannot avoid lookiug to previous character; and, doing
so, we place implicit confidence in Fraser's Magazine; for, in
articles of this description—on passing political statistics—it
has never been once proved to be at all materially incorrect.
That the ministerial press should wish the subject thrown
aside we can very well understand; but we hope that the con-
servative newspaper press throughout the country will parti-
enlarly point out the abstract in Fraser as worthy of atten-
tion, and affording great encouragement to the conservatives
to eontiaue zealously at their work. Of course there are
many districts from wbich it has been impracticable to obtain
say return; but, upon an aggregate number of 6661 country
abjection. sustained, the conservatives sustained 4217, and
the wkigs and radicals only 2411; also, upon an aggregate
ainsiber of 6510 borough objections sustained, the conserva-
tives sustained 4277, and the whigs and radicals only '223.3;
and upon an aggregate number of borough claims made good
of 2295, the conservatives supported 1259, and the whigs and
radicals only 936. The conservative majority, therefore, in
tensity objections sustained is 1773; in borough objections
sustained, 25.14; and in borough claims sustained, 323."
So much for the registrations; now for the article
en the municipal elections, which appears in the
Chronicle of this morning, and which ends, as usual,
in a triumphant tone, although even its own state-
va ants, when examined, show a state of things as far
as possible from that which would justify the radicals
in any feelings of triumph or exultation. For—
!. He states the parliamentary boroughs of Eng-
land and Wales at 136, out of which he gives a list of
each as have proved the scenes of Whig radical victo-
ries in the late municipal elections ; and how many
does the reader suppose are these ?
Just 55 out of 136—0 r about two fifths of the
tirti..nle I Nothing very " triumphant" in this, surely ?
2. But, out of these 55, no fewer than 23 are places
of decidedly whiggish character, and in most of which
the influence of some neighbouring whip peer makes
them little elsts.,tho pose boroughs. As for instance
CI-Aster, Marffistcperl?s,Chichester Lichfield, Poole,:
rata" Wl'altilt 41, Affil legs 4nd others, All thes
...., ,- , ..: - :. \ • -....,these
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,
71 .";*.
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