The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-10-30 00:00:00

TO TILE ELECTORS OF CASTLE-STREET WARD.
GENTLEMEN,
911-1 E approach Gf the annual period at which you will be
it called upon to replace the retiring Representative of
your Ward in the Town Council appears to me to be the
most appropriate to address you upon a subject personal to
myself, as one of your Representatives in that body.
Having, at the first Election which took place under the
Municipal Act, been honoured by your choice as an indivi-
dual favourable to the cause of Reform; and having on ano-
ther and a subsequent occasion, notwithstanding that I had
differed from many of my friends upon one question which
had been debated in the interval, been honoured with a re-
newal of the Trust originally reposed by you in my hands, I
deem it my duty, at the earliest period, after having formed
my decision, to announce to you, that I have determined to
resign the Office of your Representative in the Town Council.

This decision, to which I have come after long and anxious
deliberation, has been induced partly by personal and partly
by public considerations. I should, however, be dealing
unlandidly with Gentlemen by whose free choice I have, on
two occasions, been honoured, were I not to avow, that, in
retiring from the Council, I am more influenced by those of
a public than by those of a private nature.

With an attachment to the cause of Municipal, as well as
of National, Reform as ardent as on the first day that I en-
tered the Council, and with as sincere a desire to co-operate
with its friends in its advancement, I yet feel, that, by my
occasional difference from the majority of that body in
opinion, on questions which they may deem essential to the
support of the cause, I expose myself to be charged, if not
with hostility, at least with indifference to the principles for
the maintenance of which, it is to be presumed, that you
Originally selected me. The approaching choice of eight
Gentlemen to fill the situations of the Aldermen who retire
by rotation seems to me to be one of the questions on which
I might, probably, differ from the majority of my colleagues.
They may deem it necessary to appoint to the Office of Alder-
man Gentlemen only who, in addition to their attachment
to Liberal Principles, will also support a Project which has
been recently discussed in the Council, and to which, as you
are well aware, lam opposed. To the appointment of men
for such a purpose, should it be attempted, I could not con-
scientiously agree; whilst many of my Constituents might,
if 1 remained in the Council and opposed the nominations,
consider me as having, by such opposition, attempted to
weaken the Predominance of the Liberal Party in the Coun-
cil, and thereby injured the cause of Reform itself.
Under these circumstances, I have, as the course most
congenial tp my own sense of propriety, as well as most can-
did towards you, resolved to resign a Trust which I might
not to be able to discharge with satifaction either to my own
feelings or to yours.

Th;nking i.ou, most sincerely, for the honour which you
have conferred upon me by twice sending me into the Coun-
cil as your Representative, an honour of which I shall ever
retain the liveliest and most grateful recollection,
I remain, Gentlemen,
Your obliged and obedient Servant,
CHARLES BIRCH.
Litittrlandqcouie, 26th, October, 1838.

TO THE ELECTORS OF CASTLE-STREET WARD,

GENTKtii
FJAVING been proposed at a numerous and respectable
Meeting of Reformers as a fit and proper person to
represent your Ward in the Municipal Council, in conse-
quence of the resignation of Mr. Birch, I cannot decline so
flattering a testimony of approbation on the part of my
Fellow-Townsmen, although I feel confident there are many
more useful and intelligent Reformers from whom afar better
selection might have been made. Without any pretensions
to talents for public business, I can only assure you that, in
the event of my election, you may rely on a fixed determina-
tion to fulfil the duties of so responsible a trust faithfully and
fearlessly, at all times using my best endeavours to promote
what I shall consider the best interests of this great com-
munity. Personally acquainted with but few of the Electors,
it may be expected I should offer some explanation of the
grounds on which I presume to solicit the honour of your
suffrages. Firmly attached fur a period of the last forty years
to genuine Whig principles, by which the Crown of these
Realins was happily settled on the present Reigning Family,
I consider it essential to the preservation of our glorious
Constitution, that such occasional reforms and improvements
should be introduced as are rendered necessary by alterations
in times and increased corruptions, incident to all human
institutions. A member of the Church of England, I heartily
join in approbation of the blessing of General Education
being extended to the Children of the Poor of all religious
persuasions, by means of the Corporation Schools; convinced
that they allot:11 the best opportunities of giving so desirable a
boon to the greatest possible number of children, in such
manner as will promote their well-being in after life, make
them good and subordinate members of well-regulatedsociety,
as well as capable of enjoying a ratior4ll system of liberty
and freedom. Respecting their Religious Instruction, it
surely cannot be in better hands than the spiritual teachers
of the different congregations to which their parents are at-
tached. With these observations, 1 have only to conclude
by repeating my promised devotion and earnest desire to
promote the best interests of all classes of my Fellow-towns-
men,• in case it should be the pleasure of this respectable
Ward to return me to the Town Council.
I sin, with great respect,
Gentlemen,
Your very obedient Servant,
EDW.. FILCHER.
7, North Joh-street, 24th Oct. 1&38-."': .