The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-07-05 00:00:00

5, 1853.

motive was given him by Lord Ravensworth, father of the the merchants of Liverpool, on 'Change assembled, if
honourable candidate which had that evening addressed them. they had . taken any interest to promote any particular'
(Cheers.) Now, he (Mr. Horsfall) thought that would establish
an intimate connexion between the electors of Liverpool and measure for the good of that vast_n. umber of their fellow-
Mr. Liddell. He thought they would not taunt him with being creatures ? And yet was not Liverpool closely linked
a stranger ! But that was a taunt which, as Mr. Liddell had with British India and the East, and ought it not to
observed, they had now the opportunity of throwing* back in respond with one voice to the call for reform which came
the teeth of their opponents, for they had been obliged to go to from these distant parts of the empire ? (Cheers.) He
Bombay for a candidate. (Laughter.) Since he came into that
room a gentleman had been kind enough to favour him with a would refer to one or two facts which must be familiar
copy of the Liverpool Journal—(hisses)—in which, for the first to them all, but with which, nevertheless, he would re-
time, he found the address of Sir Erskine Perry. And what fresh their memories. (Hear, hear.) The total exports
was the special recommendation that he urged m his address? to India from the British Isles, in the year 1850, amounted
Why, that it was "the party of progress"—(laughter)—should to upwards of £8,000,000, to China they were £1,500,000,
be represented. Why, who was best fitted to represent
the party of progress ? This Coolie judge, or the son of and to other portions of the East they did not amount to
that nobleman who gave Stephenson his first commission less than £12,000,000. (Hear, hear.) In the year 1814.
ofshipsconnectedwith this country belonging
to execute a locomotive? (Cheers, and a voice, " Why the the number
Tory, of course! ") He would not allow the Radical party to the India and China trade were 66, with 57,591 of ton-
to arrogate to themselves the name of the party of progress •, nage. In the year 1850 the tonnage from Liverpool alone to
they were all interested in the shipping of the country, and these countries was 135,597, being an increase of 500 per
they knew that no science or art had made such progress as cent.; and from the entire kingdom it was 539,934 tons.
ship-building. (Cheers.) He ridiculed the idea of Sir Erskine
Perry being qualified for the representation of Liverpool in kt the same time the value of the exports to Calcutta was
consequence of the addresses which had been presented to £7,274,683, and the value of the exports £4,123,213. To
him by the native population, on his leaving Bombay; and he Bombay the exports amounted to £8,442,212, and the
certainly recommended the electors to take the Hon Mr. Lid- imports amounted to £8,742,000. The trade of the east
dell in very great preference to Sir Erskine Perry. (Cheers.) was one with which Liverpool was intimately acquainted.
Mr. Horsfall drew attention to the fact that there would be a procession on the day of nomination, and he called on the free-
Now let him remind them that in the year 1812, under
men to attend in large numbers, and conduct themselves withclose corporations
the. East India Company—one of those •
peace, order, and propriety. (Applause.) He had had a letter which were now fast breaking up under those liberal
from his brother that day, and Mr. Horsfall stated in it opinions which now prevailed—the import of sugar was
that he will travel home with all possible rapidity, 76,889 cwts. In 1851 the imports into Liverpool, London,
taking extra posts, and travelling all night, that he and Hull, amounted to 120,000 tons, against 5,000 tons
might prove lii•tiself not insensible to the great honor paid that were imported under the old Tory corporation in
him by the constituency of Liverpool. (Cheers.) Travelling •
London. (Hear, hear.) There was an island in the east
on the Continent, unfortunately, was a very different thing
from travelling in England; and, as a friend at his side sug- in which he (Sir Erskine Perry) had travelled much, in
Bested, if they had had a George Stephenson and a Lord everydirection--hereferred to the island of Ceylon. In 1851
Itemoneorth oleic, he might have been able to tell preoissliy i the coffee produced there was 1,407,227 lbs. In 1851, IC
when his brother would be in Liverpool. (Loud Cheers.) lamounted to 35,000 lbs. He could go on quoting details,
Mr. HusoN, sai!maker, proposed the following resolution
—" That from the reputation which the Hon. T. Liddell gained at much greater length, but he was afraid he might weary-
by his devotion to the cause of ships, colonies, and commerce, them. He thought, however, that he had said enough to the support he always gave, whilst in Parliament, to every point out to them, as merchants of Liverpool, the causes
motion affecting the native industry of the country, and from of this great increase. Up to the year 1815, the old Tory
the high character of our respected townsman, Thomas B. I principles reigned dominant in this country. (A Voice
Horsfall, Esq., and from his knowledge of all matters affecting " And will yet.") Every place of honour, and of a dis-
the trade and interests of this great commercial town, this
tin wished character, belonged, as it were, to the aris-
meeting consider those gentlemen to be fit and proper can-
didates for the representation of this borough in Parliament, tocracy, backed up by the old and close corporations,
and pledges itself to use the most active and energetic awe. and other sinister influences at work all over the
sures to ensure their return." (Great applause.) empire. But at this period the light of truth
unanimously a Deed t O
o. ALT seconded the motion, which was also began to penetrate. in the year 1814, an attempt
N
Mr. J. A. TOBIN and Mr. BoLo subsequently addressed a w. sgreat monopolies
male to break up one of those
few words to the meeting, and a vote of thanks was then passed that were pressing upon the energies and vast interests
to the chairman, and the proceedings terminated with three of the inhabitants of this country. It began at that time
cheers for the Queen, for Liddell, and Horsfall, and for the to be seen that the merchants of England were the men
ex-members, and also for Mr. John Buck Lloyd. to carry out the best interests of trade in our dependencies,
and that there was no necessity for the existence of these
close corporations. And what was the consequence ?
Why all the interest of the Tory party was brought to
bear on the statements which were boldly made that these
opinions and prognostications of the merchants of England
were fallacious. If any of them would take the trouble
to read the blue books of the time which he (Sir E. Perry)
had done, they would ascertain that all the leaders of the
Tory party of the time predicted that it would be ruinous
to the interests of our Indian empire if the merchants of
England were allowed to carry a bale of goods to England.
Well, they, as merchants of Liverpool, knew well whether
the predictions of the Tory party had been realised by the-
fact. (Cheers.) The great increase which had taken
place with regard to other interests connected with this-
country, could be traced to the same causes he had already.
named. They all well knew the period when the trade
with China was not so much open to the merchants of
this country as it had been in later years. When an ex--
tension of this trade was talked of to the merchants of
this country, the Tory party came forward with the old cry
of ruin. All the old servants connected with Indiaand Chins:
who had the facts of the case at their fingers' ends, were
brought to prove that, if the China trade was thrown open to
the merchants of London and Liverpool, the country would
be involved in ruin. Well, look at the results. Look at
the enormous increase which had taken place in the
trade between this country and China during the last
twenty years, and what was brought to our shores from
China by the enterprise of the merchants of England.
He would ask them, had this not been caused by the ex-
ertions and efforts of the popular party ? By addressing
them as he had done, as merchants of Liverpool, he
believed he had paid the greatest homage which any man
could do to their intelligence as merchants, because he
did not come before them to pay compliments ; but he
did not despair, before he had been in Liverpool much
longer, of making his sentiments more widely known and
appreciated by the more temperate amongst those who
might now be opposed to him, and he hoped to be able
to convince them that he was a fit person to repre-
sent their town in parliament. (Hear, hear.) He
did not come forward in any boastful spirit, for he might
say that he was too sensible a man not to know his own
great deficiencies in this respect. He might say that when
he called to mind the great men who had stood in this
position—when he looked back to a Canning, a Huskis-
son, and a Brougham, who had all in succession
done as he was now doing, courted the favour and
support of the merchants of Liverpool, he must say
that he shrunk with a consciousness of his own insig-
nificance. But, on the other hand, when he looked back
to the men whom they returned at the last election
for Liverpool, and when he found they rejected that
man whom he was proud to call his friend—Mr. Card-
well. (Hisses, and cheers,) Moreover, when he looked
to the gentlemen who were asking their suffrages, he
must say that he was well content to measure himself
before the constituency of Liverpool with such men-
(Hear, and cheers.) He would tell them what he thought
they ought to do in Liverpool. In the first place, they
ought to get a man as distinguished as possible; in the
next place, they ought to obtain a man who was a sup-
porter of popular opinions, and who would maintain them
through life. But in the next place, and it was the
last, let them secure the services of a man who
was accustomed to the hard-working business of
life. This last character he did not shrink from.
Our countrymen had been called a nation of shop-
keepers ; it would be a more correct term to call them the
hard-working people of England. His position in life
answered to that description. He had been compelled to
earn his bread by hard work, and having now made a for-
tune, he was at liberty and quite ready to labour for the-
public good, and if successful on the present oceasion,
there was no community that he should labour for with
greater pride than the constituency of such a place as Li-
verpool. He should have another meeting to address
in the evening, and he invited both those who
were his supporters and those who might
be opposed to him, to come forward, and by
examining him on any point, ascertain what his general
opinions were. Should they elect him as their represen-
tative, he must say that a nobler field for exertion could
not be presented to any man alive. The hon. gentleman
concluded by thanking his hearers for the ant ration they
had paid to his remarks.
Mr. GEO. MAXWELL then came forward, and called
upon the merchants to give the hon. candidate their sup-
port. He concluded by calling for three cheers for Sir
Erskine Perry, which was responded to, mingled with
hisses.

SIR ERSKINE PERRY ON 'CHANGE

Sir Erskine Perry arrived in Liverpool on Saturday
morning, and proceeded to the Adelphi Hotel, whence he
lost no time in issuing an address to the burgesses and
freemen of the borough, which was published in the
evening editions of the local newspapers, and liberally
distributed over the town in the shape of posters. Yes-
terday Sir Erskine Perry addressed his committee at half-
past two o'clock, in the Royal Hotel ; but, as it was
represented to our reporters by parties connected with the
committee that it was strictly private, we are unable to
state what then transpired. At three o'clock the new
candidate made his appearance on 'Change, whither he
was accompanied by Mr. Robertson Gladstone, the chair-
man of Sir Erskine's committee, and Mr. George Max-
well, Mr. Thorneley, Mr. Thomas Bolton, Mr. George
Holt, &c. The ex-judge from Bombay was re-
ceived with some cheering—exceedingly faint, how-
ever, when compared with the welcome accorded
the Honourable H. T. Liddell last Monday. He
was also honoured with a few hisses, but, beyond this
and an occasional groan, he was treated with the utmost
respect during the whole of the proceedings: Instead of
entering the Exchange-room, he proceeded across the square
to the office of Messrs. Isaac Cooke and Co., where a party
of his friendsawaited his arrival. When the candidate made
his appearance in the square, it was raining heavily, as had
been the case for upwards of an hour; but, happily, the
crowd was not exposed much to the hydropathic treat-
ment, as in a few minutes the weather cleared up, and
during the delivery of Sir Erskine's speech it was quite fair.
Upon presenting himself at the window of Mr. Cook's
office, Mr. Robertson Gladstone was received with some
laughter and cheers by the crowd assembled below, which
was very numerous. Mr. GLADSTONE said he had very
great satisfaction in informing the merchants and electors
of Liverpool, that he had been deputed, on the present
occasion, to introduce to their notice, as a fit and proper
representative of their interests in parliament—and who
is to be the candidate on the Liberal interest at the pre-
sent election—Sir Henry Erskine—(derisive laughter and
cries of "Oh ! oh !")—he meant Sir Erskine Perry.
(Continued laughter.) He was a gentleman who, from
his long residence in India, possessed a proper and com-
plete knowledge of that important trade with India by
which the town of Liverpool was so much benefited.
(Cheers.) Sir Erskine Perry came before them as a
true Liberal—as a friend of free trade—(hear, hear;)—
and he had this advantage over one, at least, of his oppo-
nents, that he did not regard free-trade and its principles
as an accomplished fact. (Cheers and groans.) His
intention was, should he be placed in the proud position
of representative of the town of Liverpool in parliament,
not to make a stop-gap—(hear, hear)—for free-trade, but
by every means in his power to develope those principles,
in order that the people of this country might have the
benefit of that system which God, in his goodness, made
free, but which man had placed in a state of bondage.
(Cheers.) He (Mr. Gladstone) had no claim to intrude
upon their notice ; nor was it his intention to occupy the
time of the meeting, especially from the inauspicious
state of the weather. (Hear.) It only remained for
him to introduce Sir Erskine Perry, with the sincere
desire that he would be favoured with their support, and
that they would find, if he were elected, that he was what
he (Mr. Gladstone) believed bim to be, an able and
honest politician, in every wey worthy of their confidence,
and who was well qualified to do justice to the represen-
tation of this great town. (Cheers and hisses.)
Sir ERSKINE PERRY then presented himself at the
window, and, while his partisans received him with signal
marks of their favor, he was at the same time somewhat
heartily hissed—a considerable portion of the crowd im-
mediately moving from the square into the Exchange
reading-room. a movement which seemed to take the
learned candidate considerably by surprise, which he only
recovered upon his friends behind him suggesting that he
was to "Goon !" He said that, after the kind and flat-
tering introduction by his friend Mr. Gladstone, he con-
fessed that he felt a great awe in addressing the mer-
chants of Liverpool on their own Exchange. He had taken
the liberty of saying in his address, which he had posted
on their walls, that Liverpool was the first commercial city
on the face of the earth, and, as he was not one who used
words lightly, without chapter and verse to support him in
whatever he said—he might well feel inspired with awe
when he met the merchants of that capital—possessing,
as be did, such limited qualifications to recommend him
to their support at the approaching election ; for he was
well aware that many of the merchants of this town did
not coincide with him in the political opinions which he
professed. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) He knew them
to be the most intelligent merchants in the world • yet,
as he said before, the opinions of many of them did not
agree ordinarily with his own. Therefore, although he
did not anticipate that in an assembly of such intelligence
that they would all agree, with those principles which he
professed, and with which he sympathised, still he meant
to address himself to their intelligence ; and ho would
venture to detail to them some plain principles which he
thought ought to procure for him their support. (Hear.)
Were they as well informed on the subject of politics as in
their own business, they would not, he thought, fail to re-
turn unanimously the only candidate who came before
them possessing those principles from the results of which
they were now prospering. (Cheers.l He had been too
short a time in Liverpool to be able to make himself master
of the statistics attending the prosperity of this port; but
his attention had been drawn to these matters for many
years past. (Hear, hear.) His connexion with Liver-
pool was not of to-day, In that hall on his right hand
(the Town-hall,) he had several times partaken of
the munificent and princely hospitality of the Mayor
of Liverpool ; for it was as a member of the Li-
verpool bar that he had commenced his professional
life ; and never since that time had his interest
in te town allowed him for a moment to cease marking
the progress and prosperity of Liverpool. (Cheers.)
Well, such being the interest he had heretofore paid
to their prosperity, they would, perhaps, allow him to
call to their mind a few facts which, during the last eight-
and-forty hours, he had picked up. He observed, in
well-authenticated publications, that the trade of this
town, in one of the most important elements of her great-
ness, had increased in the last 20 years about 400 per
cent. In the year 1831 the cotton wool imported into
Liverpool amounted to 280,674,859 lbs. ; while, in 1854,
the import had increased to 761,000,000 lbs. (Hear,
hear.) They had traded for a hundred years past with
the African coast, and they would allow him to call
attention to one of the articles imported from that
country during the same period. In the year 1531 the
amount of palm oil imported vras'f7,oso tons : in 1851,
243,000 tons were imported, showing an increase in the
previous amount of 300 and upwards per cent. In the
year 1816 the total number of ships, inwards and outwards,
numbered 2.946, with a tonnage of 642,063 ; in 1850
there were 9,338 ships, with a tonnage of 3,262,253.
This showed an increase of more than 300 per cent. He
would mention only one more return—a return which
spoke volumes to those who understood it. It regarded
the amount of animal food consumed in this town and its
vicinity. From April, 1842, to March, '43, the cattle
introduced into this town numbered 59,455 ; the sheep
275,275. In the years 1852-3, during the same period,
the numbers of cattle introduced was 115,979, and of
sheep 347,480, showing an increase of 5,054 cattle, and
72,156 sheep. Now, having given these details, he sup-
posed many amongst his audience were saying to them-
selves Why allude to these facts. 'We men of
business, know them all as well as you can, and a great
deal better than yourself." And that was quite true.
But he did not allude to those as facts; he alluded to
them for the purpose of asking them whence it was that
they were visited with that immense prosperity. (Cheers.)
The period he had mentioned—the twenty years referred
to—had been twenty years during which the popular
principles had come to the helm. (Cheers.) They were
the twenty years which had witnessed the triumph of
the Reform Bill—that had witnessed the downfall of
close corporations—(cheers)—that had witnessed the ex-
tension of civil and religious liberty; but, above all,
that had witnessed the establishment of free trade.
(Great cheering.) They had been twenty years which
had witnessed the rule of the principles of that popular
party to which he felt proud to belong. (Cheers.) He
accused the merchants of Liverpool—those who threw
out Mr. Cardwell at the last election, and preferred to
that gentleman men who were opposed to free trade, and
in favour of protection and every retrograde movement—
he accused them to their face, because they were intelli-
gent men, of not understanding politics as well as they
did their own commercial business. (Hear, hear.) These
gentlemen knew how to comprehend and conduct their
own business—they were practical men, who looked to the
facts of a case, and dealt with it accordingly. If they saw an
opening in China, they would look to the attendant cir-
cumstances to see whether they should make a venture,
and that was all that was needful. But the politician has
to go farther than that ; and has to ask what are the
causes ? (Applause.) He would ask his audience one
question. There was a great measure now before the
public—a question affecting most deeply the prosperity of
this town, and not only that but the interest of a hundred
and fifty millions of the people of this empire. He asked

The hon. gentleman then proceeded across to the Ex-
change News-room, in company with Mr. Robertson Glad-
stone and Mr. Maxwell. He was received with cheers
as he passed through the room.