The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-03-01 00:00:00

HILHARMONIC HALL

TRIS EVENING (TUESDAY),
TIT LAST NIGHT BUT FOUR OF
.LONIAS'S UNRIVALLED BAND
OF FIFTY PERFORMERS.
; Stalls, 2s. ; foxes, 2s. 6d.
'See Prograrrimes of the day.)

kirrlission, Is

March 'lst,

PHILHARMONIC HALL,

OWI ICG To T I
DI E
THE IMMENSE SUCCESS ()F 'ALBERT'S GRAND
EXPOSITION .QUADRILLE
Together
It.will again be repeated THIS !EVENING, (TUESDAY);
with II New GRAND SELECTION from
WILLIAM TELL.
,Advission, One Shilling •, Stalls,
Two Shillings ; Boxes,
Two Shillings and Sixpence.-
tberpoot #ptanbarbf

TUETDAY• MORNING, MARCH 1, 1853
lb

.4' ELECTION PETITIONS—REFORM OF
IT THE REFORM ACT.
thaw's predicted by the late Sir -ROBERT PEEL,
tothe first attempt to alter the Reform
Act would
11.411 e from those who were most clamorous for ~ the
,
he
~,
't)(1
14. the Whole Bill, and nothing but theßill
the many charges of corruption .at . .
tion at; the late
investigation
e;i7n, which .are now undergoing
:a,„e l'espective,Committees, have been alleged as
ode-11a for a chan,ge in the Act being made. No
t will deny that much of the baser arts of per-
tlzion were made •use of at the last Election, but
Ive must not forget that the majority of cases have
ten proved against telf-styled Liberals ; and yet
the organs of Radicalisaa assume a virtuous indig-
Ntion, as though old Toryism had been in the
g part, however, of
itseendant, and perpetrated all the vices in
131: The most amusin
this
:41upt to agitate for a new Reform Bill, is that
fikeu by ,one of our Liberal contemporaries, who
the all the mischief to those mutilations of
'4 old Reform Bill, by which the franchise of 80-I.(3l'gh
1.(31'gh Freemen was retained—fifty-pound tenants.
4t, •
I will allosved to vote for Counties
• by the Chandos
eflbilee--and sundrysmall Boroughs retained, instead
be and
in schedule A.
oh. g set clown
Id
i,ecti°o come from a Conservative of the old
e it would have been intelligible ; hut o
eCnate from a professing Liberal, serves to
4141,' the shifts to which this faction will re-
was The whole aim of the Reform party
to ", to extend the right of Suffrage, in order
the ha
the governing power as far as possible in
Nallatids of the people. To this end no exertion
threBPored, and no means left untried—even to the
to Lon of sending an armed force from Birmingham
1101:dondo
L.. n---to coerce the Legislature by mob
this ,'"; and the great difficulty was to restrain
li,liituernocratic tendency, by imposing a reasonable
to re. 13.1. qualification for the franchise. The clause
c414:4111 the votes of Freemen and the CHANDOS
e Nre directly in favour of the Reform move-

ment, for they virtually extended the Suffrage; and

yet these time-serving politicians now pretend to
see great danger from them, because they have not
operated exactly in their favour. They have not
the honesty to state that the real grievance is, that
such voters are more often to be found exercising
their franchise in support of Constitutional prin-
ciples; but they betray their own perfidy, even in
the arguments by which they endeavour to main-
tain their position. In Boroughs, they say the
Ten-pound Householders are the only proper de-
positories of representative power, and the Freemen
ought to be disfranchised. In Counties, a directly
opposite course is taken. There, the small Free-
holders should reign uncontrolled, and Fifty-pound
occupiers should not interfere. Is it possible to
suppose a more flagrant instance of perversion of
sense, for party purposes, than this fast and loose
mode of argument, in order to serve a sinister pur-
pose ? Counties may be carried by wholesale fag-
got-voters, so long as they return Radical repre-
sentatives ; but substantial occupiers, to the value of
fifty pounds a year, should have no voice in the
matter. Boroughs can be won more easily by
the ten-pounders ; and, therefore, the Freemen are
to go to the wall. The objection to the retention of
the smaller Boroughs is equally unreasonable; and
the more so, when we bear in mind that one of the
principal features of Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S new
Reform Bill, which met such an ignominious fate
last year, was the wholesale introduction of small
Boroughs among the favoured few which at present
enjoy the franchise. It is a favourite plan of these
pseudo Reformers, who have no other princit,le
than the advancement of their own interests, to draw

comparisons between the number of voters in large
and small towns, and affect mighty indignation at
the injustice of the hundreds having as many re-
presentatives as the thousands. Let us look, how-
ever, for an instant at the working of the system.
With the exception of Liverpool, Dublin, and a
very few other large towns, the ablest, the most
honest, the most consistent, and the most re-
spectable members of the House of Commons are
returned by the small Towns and the Counties.
But what have the large constituencies yet to show
us a 'With very few exceptions, the prediction that
the Reform Act would have the effect of admitting
into the Legislature men who were a disgrace to it,
has been realised by the large Boroughs. 'We have
only to go to the great Metropolis, and out of its
twenty-two representatives we shall not find one
whose vote is to be relied upon in favour of the
maintenance of the principles of the Constitution.
Nor shall we fare better if we go to Manchester,
Leeds, Bristol, Hull, Salford, Edinburgh, Glasgow,
or the West Riding of Yorkshire. As a defence of
the Coustitution, large Towns are a failure; while
the Statesman who is too honest to stoop, in order
to pander to mob popularity, must resort to the
small Borough, or find no place in Parliament..
The numerous investigations which are now
taking place with reference to the practices at the
last election may appear to show a sad want of
morality to have prevailed; but it should be recol-
lected that much of this is owing to the greater
strictness of the inquiry. It may be that the cor-
ruption at previous elections was not exceeded, but
formerly the Committees possessed no power to
examine the candidates themselves, and to this
alteration, giving a greater facility of discovering
facts, may be owing much of the apparent enor-
mity on the present occasion.. The Radicals, how-
ever, can claim no credit for purity, for they are as
much, if not more, deeply implicated than their
opponents, and in many instances have pursued
the inquiry with a vindictiveness of feeling which
betokens anything but a regard for the purity of
election. Under any,eircumstances, however, sys-
tematic bribery and 4reating is highly to be con-
demned ; and while we repudiate altogether the
charge as endeavoured to be fixed upon Conserva-
tives, we should willingly concur in any measure
which would operate as an effectual •remedy. It is
to be hoped, however, that the number of seats
rendered vacant, and the knowledge that a strict
inquiry must follow such practices, will prove a
sufficient warning to deter from their commission
in future.

THE RONIISH COLLEGE OE NIAYNOOTH.

THE proposition has been made to the House of
Commons for a 'Select Committee on the subject of
tire Romish College of Alaynooth, with a view .to
the withdrawal of the grant of i.. 30,000 a year; and
the motion having been virtually defeated by .an
amendment which throws the inquiry open to all
religious endowments, the final decision has been
postponed until to-morrow (Wednesday). It can
hardly be necessary at this time to expose the utter
absurdity and folly of a nation, avowedly Christian,
contributing to the education of such pestilent
firebrands as Romig' priests—a class of men who
are idolaters in religion and traitors to the state,
who preach sedition, and keep their ,dupes in
ignorance and spiritual thraldom. The grant to
Mavnooth College is a standing disgrace to the
country ; and yet among the votes in its favour were
those of several members of the present Govern-
ment, and an array of professing Radicals. It is
gratifying, however, to observe that the Con-
servatives generally voted for the motion.; and
among them were Messrs. TURNER and MAc-
KENZIE, our own representatives, and Mr. Lions-
.FALL, M.P. for Derby.