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

STAND.AJID, TUESDAY, JULY

THE NUNNERY QUESTION.

REV. W. F. TAYLOR'S LECTURE AT THE

CONCERT-HALL

On the evening of Thursday lest, a lecture on the subject
of " Nunneries" was delivered in the Concert-hall, Lord
Nelson-street, by the Rev. W. F. Taylor, the incumbent
of St. John's Church. The lecture was delivered under
the auspices of St. John's Protestant Institute, an exceed-
ingly useful society, recently originated in Liverpool.
Mr. J. P. Evans was called upon to preside, and among
the gentlemen present on the platform we observed the
Revs. G. L. Ireland, J. Bardsley, Carpenter, Sayers, and T.
Sutton ; and Messrs. G. Nixon, Thomas Gregory, Owen
Williams, J. B. Williams, and G. Ward.
The proceedings were commenced with prayer by the
Rev. G. L. Ireland, secretary of St. John's Institute,
after which

.....„. .. - ~....
The CHAIRMAN introduced the lecturer to the meeting.
He said, any person who had paid any attention to the
subject on which the reverend gentleman was about to
speak must be convinced of the fact that it had assumed a
very serious aspect. It behoved them to be well acquainted
with the exact position and true character of the Nun-
neries, and he thought every person present would feel
grateful to their friend Mr. Taylor, for kindly agreeing
to lecture on what had been so prominently brought be-
fore the attention of the public. (Cheers.)
The Rev. LECTURER, on coming forward, was welcomed
with loud cheering, and prolonged rounds of the Kentish fire.
He said that great gathering showed that he had not miscalcu-
lated the popular feeling when lie determined, with the blessing
of God, to deliver a lecture upon the question of nunneries. It
was no small pleasure, indeed, to behold such a large and in-
fluential assemblage of Protestants, anxious to hear all that
was to be told on the present excitins•-, topic—a topic to which
public attention in this country had been recently attracted by
the bill introduced into the House of Commons by Mr.
Chambers. Before entering upon the subject, he thought it
right to mention that, from the mixed character of the
audience, he would be necessitated to cast a shroud over much
that was base, foul, and immoral in connexion with nunneries;
that he would have to leave the worst unexposed. and hold
back much that was likely to create the most startling effect.
Crimes of the most horrible character were essentially wrought
up in the very constitution of the nunneries • but to the worst
he dare not aUude. And he further deemed proper to men-
tion that the facts he would state were all quoted from authori-
tative documents of the Church of Rome. He had not pro-
duced a single Protestant authority. The books he would use
were " The Spouse of Christ," by St. Alphonso Liguori, and
" The Pontificate Romanum' " besides a few newspapers. In
the first section of his lecture the rev. gentleman contended
that nunneries were manifestly an interference with the
personal freedom of intelligent beings—that a coercive
power and a controlling tyranny was wrought up in the very
system which ought not to be tolerated in a free country like
England. The very aspect of a conventual establishment,
suggested at once that it was the abode of despair and tyranny.
Whythose bars, those bolts, those prison-lik e doors and walls—
precluding access from without, and escape from within?
Why were the Romanists more anxious to keep the people out
of such buildings than the citizen was to preserve his house
from intrusion? These very bars, he contended, afforded
prima facie evidence that a nunnery was a prison. (Cheers.)
Were the Romanists afraid that the people of England would
break in and do injury to the poor unprotected nuns? (Hear,
hear.) He thought rather that those bolts and bars were there
to prevent the escape of individuals who might reveal facts
that would bring the blush of shame to the cheek of their
priestly betrayers. Females were admitted into nunneries at
an age when they could not possibly be aware of the tremen-
dous sacrifice they were about to make. And this did not
constitute the only evil of their early reception ; for the con-
secration service read to the poor girls was of such a polluting
character, that we start back with abhorrence from its blas-
phemy. Every female who had been consecrated must, neces-
sarily, from the nature of the service, be aware of sins.
the existence of which no female ought to know. Let a nun
be as pure as an angel, she must, by the private examination of
the bishop, be theoretically aware of sins which she ought not
to be aware of, and which -he dare not name. A female might
be admitted upon her novitiate at twelve years of age, and he
asked what did a girl of that age know of the world ? She knew
little, and it was quite proper that she should know little. At
that age her physical frame was not matured, while her heart
was innocent, if he might so speak, of the affections which
might ultimately arise there. And yet, at the age of sixteen,
she might take the irrevocable profession upon herself of per-
petual celibacy. (Hear, hear.) Previous to taking this vow,
the nun had to be examined by the bishop, and. one of the
points upon which he had to question her was, whether she had
been constrained by force to go into, and remain in the nun-
nery. From this rule, it was evident that even the Romanist
allowed that she might be forced into the convent. Else, why
this examination of the bishop's? Must there not have been
a necessity for that law before the law was passed? The exist-
ence of a law plainly indicated the possibility. and even the
existence of. the crime or evil against which it is directed. Our
legislators do not pass a law for a merely possible crime, but
with reference to a crime which exists and has existed. In
England there was no law against cannibalism—the genius of
the people was opposed to that crime; but there were statutes
directed against bull-baiting and cock-fighting, for both of these
disgusting recreations had existed. Hence, argued the lecturer.
if the crime had not existed, the " holy" Council of Trent would
not have occupied its time, as it did, making a law by which
the person is subject to anathema who shall force a virgin or
widow into a nunnery. (Loud cheers.) And so, when the
Roman Catholic asked him, " Do you wish to adopt Mr. Cham-
berg's bill, because we have people confined there against their
will ?" he (the lecturer) would reply, "Yes ; and your own
Council of Trent proves the suspicion to he true." (Continued
cheering.) Step by step he would prove it to be true without
the shadow of a doubt. It was a law that a nun should not
get out of the convent, not for a single moment, nor under any
pretext, except it was for a purpose approved by the bishop. 1
If a nun escaped she incurred the penalty of excommunication.
And, :if any person would endeavour to lead a nun away,
unless they made restitution and expressed penitence, the
most dreadful anathema of the churcn was pronounced over
them by the bishop—an eternal malediction consigning them,
body and soul. to eternal perdition, and assigning them a
portion with the devil and his angels. The canon law en-
joined that, if a nun escaped from a convent, the superior
should call in the aid of a magistrate to assist in the capture of i
the runaway ; so that, were England under the power of that
law, and were a nun to escape in this neighbourhood, the
mayor of Liverpool would have to send Captain Greig and a
body of constables after the escaped prisoner. But, thanks
be to God, the Church of Rome had not the power in this
country, and, thank God, she never would have. (Loud and
prolonged cheering.) Another law with respect to nuns ran
thus :—"That, if any pretend that they have been forced into
the house, they are to be judged by their own superioress and
bishop." How was she likely to have justice meted out to her
when that lady superioress might be the tormentor from whom
she wished to escape, or when the bishop might have a very
good reason for deciding unfavourably in order to preserve the
reputation of her priestly betrayer. (Hear, hear.) Liguori,
in his "Spouse of Christ," observes—" It is true that even in
the cloister there are some discontented souls." Now, the
people of England did not seek to force any woman out of a
Convent if it was her wish to remain there; but they demanded
freedom for the "discontented souls." (Loud cheers.) They
knew that a girl at 21 had a great many notions which a girl at
12 or IG had not ; and Liguori showed that convents were not
to all bowers of bliss, when he remarks, that a nun must
enjoy " a foretaste of heaven, or an anticipation of hell." The
lecturer, in the remainder of his lecture, proved that nun-
neries were the moneymaking machines of the Romanist
Church, the interest, or less than the interest, of the money
tbirmouhatnblytheeach principalnun supporting
going t o
t. thehe c
hurpossessorch at
her during
d e a
01 e. r Kee
nunneries
elrietshe-
building all
inthe Englandchurches and
hear) Mr. Taylor likewise alluded to
which
iasttsthewebreottom of fine
elsewhere. (Hear, '
the horrible tortures resorted to in nunneries, when a
refractory "Religious had to be corrected, and demanded if
r
nor
which the
we should tolerate those"e ecclesiasti"cal bastiles in this free land
lfi
there
magistrate b e
lc;
tf
and where hundreds of poor girls might be sighing
not enter?—places, over which the law of England was to have
no control,
for liberty in vain, and for whom there was no liberty save to
pine and die. The habeas corpus act would not reach them,
and he was afraid that Mr. Chambers's bill would be a dead
of ours.
kind (dLeoscurdibcerdie,ga qfth No,
tloo
o lf ) Should
letter, like the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill. He would advocate
total suppression; and if there were any who wished to serve
the Pope, let them go and live with him at Rome, and serve
, him there. In proof that the nuns were not free to leave the
convent, he quoted from Liguori, who distinctly stated that it
was impossible to escape. lie also quoted from Liguori to
prove that the nunneries were frequently the scenes of dancing
and debauchery—that profane songs and operas, and other
carnal amusements, were at times the occupations of those
very creatures who were too good to look up to heaven. (Hear,
hear.) in reference to the question of the celibacy of the nuns,
lie contented himself with a reference to the uncontroverted
statements of Pierce Conolly and Mr. Hogan. the celebrated
converts ' • and also to the case of Dr. Achilli v. Father Newman,
in which the Romanists themselves produced evidence of the
depravity existing, among their own priests and nuns, and
I enabled us to convict them out of their own mouths. Refe-
rence was made to the case of Miss Talbot, who wrote from her
convent that she was quite contented and happy (this while
under coercion). and who, when ordered out by the Lord
Chancellor, whose ward she was, instead of running back.
rushed into the arms of a husband. And he wished to God
all the nuns in Britain were out of the convents, and honestly
urgingsiuepe tvi
suppressed,
sne
married. (Cheers.) The lecturer made a pungent assault
i'itsi l
ttahle l y n d
ne o ,
t a t o
s
upon Lord John Russell, for his opposition to Mr. Chambers's
ceasebill,
ands
exertions concludeduntil l
being inconsistent with those glorious ideas of liberty which
animate the breast of every true Briton. The meeting, which
was large and respectable, gave utterance to their feelings by
loud bursts of applause.
The Rev. G. L. IRELAND moved a vote of thanks to the
Chairman, which was seconded by Mr. WILLIAMS, and carried
by acclamation.

The Rev. J. BARDSLEY, superintendent of the Scripture-
readers, who was loudly called, and whom the audience wel-
comed with many rounds of the Kentish fire, delivered a brief
and pertinent speech, and concluded by moving a vote of
thanks to Mr. Evans for his admirable conduct in the chair.

Mr. NIXON, one of the churchwardens of St. John's, seconded
the motion, in an exceedingly neat and pungent speech, and it
was carried with great enthusiasm. The proceedings ter-
minated with the singing of the doxology, at a few minutes
before ten o'clock.

There were a number of Roman Catholics present, and it was
expected that some discussion would take place, but no attempt
was made to deny the statements made by the reverend lec-
turer,—a task which would have been attended with some
difficulty.

NEW MAGISTRATES.—At the quarter sessions on Mon-
day last, the following gentlemen took the oaths and their
seats, as magistrates of the county :—B. P. Gregson,
Esq., Caton, near Lancaster, and John Gardner, Esq.,
Fleetwood.

IMPORTANT TO ASSURERS.—The theory and practice
of Life Assurance have been recently greatly improved,
and it is quite certain that the public are much indebted
to companies of a comparatively modern date for many
advantages which the old ones never thought of extending
to them—not from want of inclination, we dare say, but
from an adherence to old systems of management, which
rendered them blind to the various modes in which Life
Assurance might be employed to benefit the assured, and
yet leave a handsome profit to the assurers. The
Sovereign Life Assurance Company is one of these bene-
ficial companies, and it has had a most successful career.
Established in 1845, it had at the close of its seventh year
effected 1,268 policies, covering assurances to the amount
of £561,374 75., proposals having been made for the sum
of £1,059,820: and so carefully were the lives selected,
and the business managed, that only £6,683 10s. Gd. had
been required to meet the claims by death, being less than
245. per cent. on the amount assured, and only a little
more than one-seventh of the amount of premiums paid
—viz., £43,587 Bs. Gd. The business of the office has
gone on steadily increasing, the assurances effected with-
in the last three years exceeding those of the first four by
about 23 per cent. ; and Mr. Neison, who had examined
the accounts prepatraory to the declaration of a bonus,
stated a singular and important fact at the last annual
meeting of the company—viz., that "if one-fifth of the
lives assured in this office were to die to-morrow, there
was enough in the coffers of the company to pay every
demand," The usual average of mortality is, however,
about one per cent. ; the company cannot, therefore, be
in a better position in order to secure confidence. After
making allowance for every liability to the 31st of
December, 1852, the company is in a position to declare a
bonus which adds to the policy a sum equal to 75 per cent.
on the amount of premiums paid. We instance one case,
showing the extraordinary benefit accruing to the assured :
A man aged 25 has, during seven years, paid £153 Bs. 4d.,
being £2l Hs. 4d. each year, to secure £l,OOO at his
death, whenever it may happen. By the division just
made he has no less than £123 7s. added to his policy, so
that at death his family will receive £1,123 7s. and this at
the first division only ! There are few companies which
can show such a result—one of fuck immense consequence
to tin aßevied,--G/oPe,

5, 1553.

CORREPSONDENCE.

Letters addressed to the Editor should be accompanied by the
real name and address of the writer, not for publication, but
as a guarantee of good faith ; this is indispensably requisite
in any statement of facts.

The Editor wishes it to be understood that he does not hold
himself responsible for the opinions or statements of his
correspondents.

To the EDITOR of the LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

MR. BRAMLEY-AIOORE AND THE INDEPEN-
DENT BURGESSES AND FREEMEN OF THE
BOROUGH OF LIVERPOOL.

SIR,—So this town is to be put to the expense of another
Election, and ill-feeling arising therefrom; and all for what? To
satisfy the ambition of one man, and he a Conservative. I fear-
lessly state, that had it not been for Mr. Bramley-Moore
coquetting with the Radical party, that they would never have
dared to have contested the approaching election ; and it was
only when they found Mr. Moore employing the very same
tactics which Mr. Cardwell did, that they seriously entertained
the idea. Some parties still affirm that Mr. Bramley-Moore
will not go to the poll. Stuff! Let them read his Address to
the independent Burgesses and Freemen of Liverpool in this
day's Albion, and posted all over the town. I, for one, would
have voted for Mr. Moore, had he been brought forward in the
first instance, but, as matters stand, I should consider myself
a traitor to the Conservative party were I to do anything of the
kind. The Electors and Freemen ought not to be deceive!, but
stand fast to their principles as one man, and vote for Liddell
and Horsfall. They are bound to treat any person who may
cause dissension amongst them, whoever he may be, as an
enemy; and, unfortuntely, the friends of Mr. Bramley-Moore
have put him in this position. If they are true to their own
interest, they will return Liddell and Horsfall with a triumph-
. _ .

ant rnajority.—l am. Sir,
'Change, 4th July, 1353

A FREEMAN.

THE COMING ELECTION.
To the EDITOR of the LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

S 111,-1 presume it has been arranged, to gratify Mr. Moore's
inordinate ambition, and to gratify his spleen, to divide our
party and let in a leveller. Let us hear no more of political
consistency, and love of our cause; it is clear personal matters
influence our leaders, and that all professions go to the wind
when pride and wounded vanity rankle in the breast. Mr.
Moore has, I suppose, your support, and that of Mr. Mellor,
Mr. Bigham, and 400 to 500 Radicals, who have signed his
requisition, to make a show, and entrap Mr. Moore. The bait
has been swallowed, and now look at Mr. Moore's position,—
disowned by his BEST FRIENDS, and the laughing-stock of his
worst enemies,—he may detach as many Conservatives at
may lose us a Tory member, but cannot poll as many as will
give him the ghost of a chance himself Surely, he has no
reason to complain ; Mayor, Dock Chairman, &c., he has been
honoured with; a dock has been called after his name, and
his friends do not forget that he has done service to the cause,
and would have been ready to repay his past exertions.

What can now be done, if he wars against the judgment of
his party, and puts himself forward, opposed to his oldest and
best admirers? He must certainly sink his political character
as a Conservative; and if mishap overtakes us next Thursday
or Friday, on the obstinate self-love of Mr. Bramley-Moore

will be properly placed the odium of acting Marplot to crowds
of delighted Papists and Infidels.

Oh, shame, where is thy blush ?"

It is not too late, if Mr. B. Moore is anxious to preserve a
sound political character, to assist his old friends, and to
check the exultation of his and our enemies ; let him come
boldly out, and say he will not consent to break up his party
by any compromise with hangers-on at the Angel Inn, and
that he does not recognise Mr. Mellor as his commentator.
Mr. Mellor, and Mr. John Bramley-Moore t—how are the
mighty fallen

The Standard brought out Mr. Cardwell, who broke us up
for seven years; we are now united, and I hope the Standard
will not again assist in breaking up our loyal party for another
seven. Assuredly, if we have one of our selected candidates
placed in jeopardy, we shall consider it done by professed
friends, and no amount of repentance can atone for such a
political sin.

"Awake 1 arise ! or be for ever fallen."

At another time let us have Mr. Moore, and we will work
with hearty good will for him ; but if he allows the Mellors,
the Hodsons, and the Angel Inn clique to rule him, his politi-
cal influence is set, and he is no longer worthy of the united

exertions of his friends and party.—Yours, &c.,

CRANMER

P.S. We shall want no more articles about 141aynooth or
Popery from the .Standard, if its influence lets in a Whig and
pro-Popery candidate—a connexion of a levelling newspaper
editor and proprietor,—Mr. Perry.

[Our fearlessness at any attack is shown by our giving
publicity to the above. The Standard, under its present
management, is not responsible for the course pursued
in 1847, and will yield to none for independence of tone,
as well as for fidelity to principles. Before any candidates
were brought forward, we suggested the names of Messrs.
HORSFALL and BRAMLEY-MOORE; the latter was not acted
upon ; and, as the former, in conjunction with the Hon.
H. T. LIDDELL, has received the general support of the
Conservative party, we strenuously exhort all, who value
the maintenance of Constitutional principles, to unite cor-
dially in the support of those two gentlemen.]

THE GREAT BRITAIN SCREW STEAMER.

O❑ Friday last, a party of private friends and gentlemen
connected with the literary department of the Liverpool
press, were entertained by Captain Mathews, on hoard
this magnificent vessel, as she lay in the Sandon Dock.
Before sitting down to the repast, the gentlemen on board
were conducted over the vessel, in order to set the im-
provements and alterations which have been effected in
her since her return from the golden regions. The nau-
tical men expressed a very high opinion of the alteration
in her rig to that of a clipper-ship, and prophesied a great
acceleration to her sailing powers by the change. Every
one admired the elegant saloon and state rooms for the
chief-cabin passengers, while surprise was manifested on
finding such excellent accommodation in the second cabin,
so superior to the same class cabins in the sailing vessels.
In this department we observed that the number of this
class of passengers that can be taken is reduced, thus giv-
ing more accommodation for the remainder. The tore
cabin has been done away with, and the after one has been
painted in light and pleasing tints, giving the apartment a
very agreeable appearance. Indeed the comfort and com-
pactness of the arrangements were the theme of praise of
all on board. At three o'clock, about forty gentlemen sat
down in the chief saloon, under the genial presidency of
Captain Mathews ; Captain Martin, Messrs. Gibbs,
Bright, and Co.'s overlooker, occupying the vice-chair.
There were produced from the famous " kitchen" of the
Great Britain substantial viands and delicate dainties,
with wines of the choicest vintages, and full justice was
done to the edibles. After the usual loyal toasts had been
disposed of,
Captain MATHEWS rose and said he had invited his
friends there, to show them what alterations had been
made to get the ship to perform the shortest voyage pos-
sible to Australia. They had combined the best sailing
to her steaming powers, and had fitted her with the latest
and most approved form of screw-propeller,—Griffith's
patent. The Great Britain was now rigged as a clipper-
ship, and would do to sail with any ship afloat. (Cheers.)
He (Captain Mathews) was quite proud of the manner in
which the alterations had been made, and had every con-
fidence in their success. They had reduced the number
of second-cabin passengers, to give the others as much
comfort as possible. He trusted it would never be said
again that they were over-crowded. Every improvement
that could be made had been (lane to the satisfaction of
all concerned. In conclusion, he sincerely hoped their
anticipations would be realised on Monday, when they
were to make their trial trip ; and he knew that the public
had a similar feeling. Wherever he had been, all over
the world, he had found that there was a feeling in favour
of the Great Britain. (Cheers.) He was glad to see some
of the representatives of the local press, and he would
propose to the company, as a toast, " The Press of the
World,"

Mr. WYNNE acknowledged the toast, and proposed
" Success to Messrs. Gibbs, Bright, and Co."
The toast was received with all due honours, and re-
sponded to by Mr. HENRY BRIGHT in an eloquent speech.
He said that the object of the owners of the Great Britain
was to wake her, if possible, the finest merchantman that
sailed on the seas. He thought all present would agree
with him that they could not have a more meritorious
captain, or a better set of officers than belonged to her,
and he begged to propose their healths. (Cheers.)
Captain MATHEWS replied, on behalf of himself and
his officers, for the kind manner in which the toast had
been received. Speaking personally, he said he bad now
been a commander, off and on, for upwards of twenty
years, and never had any serious mishap to any ship of
which he had the charge. He had never cost the under-
writers a single sixpence. He did not say this boastfully,
but merely to show them that he had had a most fortu-
nate career ; for he did not know how soon he might be
as unfortunate as some of his brother commanders. He
went to sea at ten years of age, and had now reached
fifty without ever being shipwrecked or meeting any dis-
aster. (Cheers.) With regard to his officers, he was
going to take the same officers and most of the same men
who had been with him on her last voyage to Australia,
and in whom be had every confidence. (Cheers.) Cap-
tain Mathews then proposed the health of Capt. Martin,
overlooker for Messrs. Gibbs, Bright, and Co., who had
superintended all the alterations made on board the Great
Britain since first being fitted for her Australian destina-
tion ; but, as that gentleman had left a short time pre-
viously, it_7as_r_iot responded to.

lir. J. H. NIGHTINGALE proposed the health of the
gentlemen connected with the office of Messrs. Gibbs,
Bright, and Co., coupling with it the name of Mr. Bye-
water.

Mr. CRAWLEY proposed—" The Ladies."
Mr.
BELCHER responded to the toast.

Mr. TowsoN, of the Sailors' Home, proposed " Success
to the Great Britain herself." Steam, so far, had not
gained great advantages over sailing vessels, in the voyage
to Australia, as it had done on shorter voyages ; but
he thought the time was coming when it would succeed
there as much as it had done in other points of the globe.
He thought the advantages of establishing a coal depot
at the Falkland Islands were very great. All that could
afford to travel by steam ought to do so, as it ensured
comforts which counterbalanced even the cost of the
voyage. He thought the Great Britain was likely to
accomplish great things this voyage. The toast was re-
ceived with great applause and acknowledged by her wor-
thy commander, who said that he hoped, when they came
back from her trial trip, they would be able to say some-
thing more about her capabilities. tCheers.)
Mr. LEE then gave " Success to the Colony of Aus-
tralia," and hoped that every shipload of passengers that
went thither, would impart additional strength and vigour
to the already strong and vigorous colony. Re then
alluded to the projected docks at Melbourne°, and elicited

from Captain Mathews the information that docks of a
most commodious character were being completed at
Sydney.

After spending a most agreeable afternoon, the com-
pany separated about four o'clock.

THE LIVERPOOL WRIT - PARLIANIEN•
TARY .IANCEUVRING.

A petty battle, fought during the past week, over the
Liverpool Writ, has been decided in favour of common
sense and justice. The Liverpool Election Committee
gave birth to a report almost unparalleled in parliamentary
annals for inconclusiveness and stultifying self.contra-
diction. Each half of every paragraph contradicted the
other ; each paragraph contradicted some one that pre-
ceded or followed it ; and the last nullified all the rest.
Yet, though the committee could not reason, they could
act; and, to the astonishment even of their own friends
in Liverpool, they voted out the sitting members. Their
zeal, indeed, outran the occasion ; for the sudden, and
on the whole unjustifiable, verdict found the Liverpool
Liberals without the means of setting up new candidates.
Not so the Conservatives of that great commercial town.
The strength of the cause is there so fully felt, that men
of the highest local influence are willing to stand, know-
ing that, although every art of unscrupulous partisan-
ship be resorted to in order to render the struggle severe,
the result is certain. And there is among the Liverpool
Conservatives an earnestness and activity in the cause
that merits this confidence. The Liberals, dismayed at
seeing Messrs. Liddell and Horsfall in the field, and
rushing everywhere to find victims to succeed Messrs.
Cardwell and Ewart in the honour of defeat, were unpre-
pared for an immediate contest. At all risks, then, the
writ must be stopped. and time be gained. To this
scheme Lord Dudley Stuart was induced to lend himself.
When Mr. Freshfield, on Wednesday afternoon, moved
that the writ do issue, the noble lord rose to " speak
against time," drawling on with dull and unintelligible
verbiage, amidst the derision of the house, long after the
stock of ideas wherewith he had armed himself had be-
come exhausted. At length, as six o'clock struck, the
noble and magnanimous electioneering agent attained his
object, and the manoeuvre so far succeeded. On Thursday
the attempt was renewed ; but this time Lord John Rus-
sell committed himself to a participation in the disre-
putable trick. Appealed to by Mr. James M`Gregor
not to leave Liverpool without representatives, when such
important commercial questions were coming on, the
leader of the Whigs " was afraid that the house would
be too much occupied to go on with the subject." In
other words, the coalition candidates could not be found,
or were not screwed up to martyrdom point, and the dis-
tinguished party chief condescended, for the nonce, to do
the work of Mr. Coppack. The matter was not, how-
ever, to be easily shelvEd. Even at nearly three in the
morning the adjourned debate was resumed, when Lord
Dudley Stuart, compelled this time to appeal to the house
instead of to the clock, moved the suspension of the writ
till the 20th of July—a course which Lord Palmerston,
in the absence of Lord John Russell, modified into a
proposal of postponement for a fortnight. For surely
in a fortnight some candidates could be caught ! The
energetic remonstrances of Lord John Manners and Mr.
Malins defeated even this adroit " move" of the noble
Home Secretary, who, " on learning," of course for the
first time, " that the committee had recommended the
issuing of the writ," withdrew his objection, and ulti-
mately the writ was ordered to issue forthwith.
We congratulate the Conservatives of Liverpool on this
result, so well merited by their promptitude and con-
stancy. Their city has indeed escaped a multiplicity of
dangers. Persisting, from some singular perversity, to
return Conservative members, Liverpool has been
threatened on various hands with the disfranchisement of
its freemen ' • with the ballot ; and with an interregnum of
representation at the very time when a new dispensation
of the commercial policy of the country is under debate.
To leave the second city of the empire unrepresented at
such a moment was a step which nothing could justify,
and which despair only could have suggested even to the
Whigs. It is pleasant to know that the attempt has been
so utterly tallied, and that the consequences promise to
recoil in discomfiture and disgrace upon its authors.—
The Press.

THE HON. H. T. LIDDELL AND THE
REPRESENTATION OF LIVERPOOL

Gallant Liverpool is like what Napoleon said of the
Great Duke, we have lost and lament, at Waterloo, " It
is beaten but will not know it." A. snug trio majority
liberal packed in a House of Commons committee, with
the vacillating member for South Shields at its bead, ap-
pointed to try the merits of a petition aginst the return of
Messrs. Charles Turner and Forbes Mackenzie for that
great port, decided according to a foregone conclusion
against the validity of that return, on the ground of cor-
ruption by their friends or agents, said corruption con-
sisting ;in the enormous fact that "twenty-five labour-
ing men (electors) had been given a day's holiday by their
masters, who had paid those men their day's wages," to
enable them of course to exercise their rights:as electors,
without exposing their families to one day's hunger or
abstinence in consequence.

So conspicuously as the names of patriot Rathbones
have flaunted on all occasions for half a century past at
least, it is odd their old fellow citizens, singularly blind
to their surpassing merits, should never to this day have
cast a longing eye upon them, or breathed the softist
whisper of desire, for the distinguished favour of their
representative services for Liverpool. Happy tribe, who
can thus so plainly.

" Read opinion in their townsmen's eyes."
We repeat it—the gallant spirit of constitutional Liver-
pool cannot and will not be beat. Less than ever now are
the Conservative party likely to succumb, when their un-
scrupulous opponents, self-sweated of their tens of thou-
sands at the last contest, and from their insolent attempt
since by election petition to swamp the voice and dictate
the votes of the vast majority of the constituency, will be
so much the less found with the means for the wholesale
practice of that scandalous corruption to which, whether
represented in meal, or in malt, or in hard metallic, they
owe the votes of that miserable minority which could be
duped into being dragged through Coventry with such a
motley set of leaders. The Conservatives were forecast-
ing for the emergency that might possibly arise, and on
its arrival were prepared accordingly. They present
themselves with two excellent substitutes for the capital
members who for a season are lost to the constituency.
To fill the place of Mr. Forbes Mackenzie Mr. Thomas
Berry Horsfall is offered, a gentleman whose name is
associated with all that is respectable, trustworthy, phi-
lanthropic, and truly Christian in Liverpool,—a name,
indeed, historically connected with the seaport which
justly boasts to be the greatest in the world.
To succeed Mr. Charles Turner, that inestimable citizen,
merchant, and gentleman, who is cherished, as so well he
deserves to be cherished, in the hearts of the magnificent
community among whom his lot has been cast, the Hon.
Henry Thomas Liddell, our invaluable neighbour, and
one of the chief ornaments of these counties, has been
called upon with one acclaim to come forward, and he
has accepted the invitation. Conservative Liverpool has
honoured herself no less than she has distinguished the
heir and representative of the noble and time-honoured
house of Ravensworth by such a selection. The friend,
pupil we may say, of the immortal George Canning and
the illustrious Huskisson ; the friend also and fellow.
collegian. who won high honours, of the Earl of Derby,
Chancellor of Oxford University that is, and first scholar
we may say that was, he could not present himself with
higher credentials of character in justification of the choice
of a bcdy so enli,z litened as a Liverpool constituency. We
can testify of him, moreover, as can all in this the northern
metropolis, and in the great communities surrounding,
that in addition to the various eminent qualifications, and
the amiable qualities which he holds in common with the
noble family he is connected with and so endear him and
them to us, Mr. Liddell possesses in an extraordinary
degree those special acquirements which should peculiarly
recommend him to the favour of a mercantile and indus-
trial community. In the Commons' House, when a
member, no one more exerted himself, and none was
better accomplished by position and knowledge for the
task, in the defence of the great shipping interests, those
of every class inclusive engaged from the shipbuilder and
shipowner and shipwrights, down to the lowest operative,
even rope and sail makers and sailors, against the rash
experiments of ignorant theorizing legislators ; so also
with respect to mercantile and manufacturing interests.
We can state, and the columns of this journal will bear
frequent testimony to the fact under his own signature,
that few men, statesmen or not, are so well versed as Mr.
Liddell in all those great questions of finance, currency,
banking, and political economy which have been and yet
are in agitation amongst us. We fearlessly assert, there-
fore, and challenge contradiction, that for the suffrages of
Liverpool it would be impossible to find a man with
higher and more substantial pretensions, and appreciated
as they are, and called upon es he has been, by the most
influential inhabitants of that great port, as well as by the
mass of the electors at large, no doubt can be entertained
that the present candidate will become the successful
member.—Newcastle Journal.