The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-02-14 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, AND GENERAL COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER:

the merits of the question at issue. Almost all
disputes between mercantile men depend less-up('
the technicalities of common law than upon old and
well-understood usages of merchants ; and there-
fore can be decided with far more facility by those
long practised in them than by lawyers, who judge
more by the letter than the spirit of laws, and who,
in many cases, hear of mercantile usages for the
first time in cases which they are called upon to
argue. In this port, for instance, a local tribunal,
sitting at frequent intervals, might decide almost
every question which could possibly arise, with but
little expense to the litigants, with the advantage
of a speedy decision, and based upon principles
which would be recognised by both parties. Under
present circumstances injustice is often submitted
to, rather than by resorting to the only available
remedy incur an additional loss.
The assimilation of the mercantile laws of
England and Scotland is also becoming of more
importance, as the transactions between the two
countries increase in amount and frequency.
Merchants in each have creditors in the other
country, and yet so diverse are the laws by which
they are governed, that what is justice in one is
not so in the other. Such distinctions might have
been less injurious, and even defensible, when a
spirit of nationality rendered each country jealous
of preserving its own laws, but commerce has
broken down the barrier which divided such near
neighbours ; civilization has obliterated national
distinction—at least as far as mercantile opera-
tions are concerned—and it only requires a reform
of the law to remove an anomaly 'which proves
detrimental to trade and injurious to the interests
of both countries. A step, however, has been
taken by the inquiry which is now proceeding,
and we trust that the Commissioners will not relax
their exertions until the whole subject has been I
thoroughly investigated, and the most practical I
and efficient remedy pressed upon the attention of '
the Legislature. It is a question more really
beneficial than the reform of the representation,
which Lord Jourr RUSSELL has threatened to
inflict upon the country, and which no one had
called for ; and our representatives will be doing
good service to their constituents by lending their
aid to the movement.

A SHORT time since we called attention to the
serious defect which existed in our laws with
reference to bills of exchange purporting to be
drawn abroad, and yet, from being really drawn at
home, rendered invalid even to innocent holders.
The subject, which is of greater importance than
many may at first sight be inclined to imagine,
was brought before the House of Commons on
Thursday, when the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHR-
QUZR said that the subject was under his consi-
deration, and he hoped to be able to propose some
efficient remedy during the present session. In
this he may find some difficulty, if the object to be
kept prominently in view be the preservation of the
revenue derived from Stamps. A far more impOr-
tant object, however, is the security of commercial
credit, by removing all causes of distrust from
documents of which it is impossible to test the
validity, and this security is the more imperative
from the faCt that, suspicion having been once
aroused, the means of fraud are more generally
known, and the security against it as distant as
ever. The only practicable alteration required is
to render all such instruments valid in the hands
of innocent holders, and to impose a heavy penalty
on the parties committing the fraud. If some
such alteration be not speedily made, bankers and
bill-brokers will be afraid of discounting foreign
bills without an additional guarantee, by which
serious obstacles will be imposed upon commercial
transactions.

IF Whig performances were at all proportionate to
Whig promises, great might have been the expecta-
tions of purification from electoral corruptions, ac-
cording to the self-laudatory flourish with which the
Ministers announced their intentions of grappling
with this pretended monster difficulty. Whig mo-
rality was sadly shocked at the profligacy which had
characterised several recent elections ; some of the
little boroughs it was deemed necessary to sacrifice,
in order to keep up the delusion of popular virtue ;
and, as nothing but the wisdom of a Whig was
competent to deal with such a grievance, Lord JOHN
RUSSELL assumed the heavy responsibility, with
much about the same sincerity of intention as he
evinced on behalf of Protestantism by his Ecclesias-
tical Titles Prevention Bill. Any other course
would, however, have been base ingratitude ; for
bribery and corruption in England, and the intimi-
dation practised by Romish priests in Ireland, were
the steps by which Lord JOHN and his party
mounted into office ; and, therefore, a really pre-
ventive measure would be the exercise of a Roman
virtue of which the Whigs are incapable, and which,
in their case, would prove a political suicide. This
may account for the conglomeration of absurdities
which Lord JOHN RUSSELL explained, on Friday,
as the details of his proposed Bill, and for which he
received the ironical thanks of Sir FITZROY KELLY,
who said the country was indebted to him for the
trouble he had taken upon the subject; but his
Radical allies, with more sincerity, told him that
the only remedy would be the Ballot. The Bill
proposes to reduce the penalty for bribery from £5OO
to £5O, and that the names of voters convicted of
bribery should be struck out of the registry and
inscribed on a black list. The candidate, also, is to
be disqualified from sitting in Parliament for ever,
and the unsuccessful candidate, if he have two-
thirds of the votes of his opponent, is to be seated
in his room. Another Bill proposes that election
petitions should be submitted to a preliminary
committee, with functions similar to those of a
grand jury, so that encouragement should be given
to the prosecution of such complaints with less
fear than at present of being involved in heavy
costs. With every pretension to the accomplish-
ment of an effectual remedy for the evil complained
of, there appears to be a complication of machinery
which will fail of its effect for the slightest good,
but, in unscrupulous hands, may be made the en-
gine of the grossest tyranny and injustice. There
needs none of the dilatory and expensive process
which this Bill does' nothing to i•einove, nor is the
imposition of a heavy penalty, whether £5OO or
£5O, at all necessary to render bribery almost im-
possible, if the Whigs have the slightest intention
to purify Parliamentary elections : but their sin-
cerity has never been shown, and, in the cumbrous
proceedings now proposed, Lord JoHN RUSSELL
evinces the same disposition as heretofore to keep
the , word of promise to the ear, and break
it to the hope. All that is requisite is, for the
revising barristers to be invested with powers to
investigate charges of bribery, as objections to the
retention of names upon the registry, with power
of appeal to a superior court upon giving security
for costs. The inquiry conducted on the spot, with
the circumstances fresh in recollection, and wit-
nesses immediately accessible, would be compa-
ratively inexpensive ; while the punishment of
disfranchisement, speedy and certain, would not
only operate as an effectual check to such practices,
but also purify the registry from the voters who
are guilty. As for any attempt to punish the
candidate, it would either be inoperative or unjust.
Except in a few notorious instances, which are not
likely to be repeated, no candidate would be per-
sonally concerned in the commission of bribery ;
and to impose so heavy a penalty as perpetual
exclusion from Parliament for the offence of ano-
ther, who, though ostensibly au agent, may have