The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-11-05 00:00:00

We should imagine that the result of Friday's
municipal contests must have convinced all but the
stupidly obstinate of the Radical party in this town
of their unhappy and hopeless political imbecility.
" The friends of justice to all classes, and the welfare
of the town at large,"—as our poor Mercury ludi-
crously styles his faction—have been victorious in
one contest ! " A number of persons of a certain
description"—as the same oracle styles the Conser-
vative candidates for municipal honours—have de-
feated, in fair fight, the " well-connected gentlemen,
fit to appear in the public service, and able to com-
prehend the bearings of questions affecting the general
and local policy of this great community ; and—
strange to say !—that community itself has had the
casting voice in the struggle. Surely in this there
must be something Radically wrong. We must
want a reform of the Municipal Reform Bill; and
we long to know what is to he the specific, by which
the Radical faction—the rejected of the people—
the despised of the constituencies which themselves
created—are to be restored to authority in the local
affairs of our borough. Positively, if things go on
at the present rate, before long we shall not have a
single specimen of the genus to ornament and en-
lighten the Council chamber—a calamity to be de-
plored !
We wish we could say that the faction have made
their exit from the political arena like gentlemen.
They have not. Their proceedings on this occasion
have exhibited them in a very different light, as we
shall briefly shew. In North Toxteth they carried
the contest to a close, with a candidate who had not
only declared, by letter to his committee, that he
" could not, on any consideration whatever, under-
take the duties of a common councillor," but had
even intimated that, if they persevered, and he was
elected; they must " be prepared to pay the fine of
his non-serving of the office." Surely this was wan-
ton and disgraceful factiousness ! In South Tox-
teth, again, they fought the contest against the Con-
servative, with a candidate wh' had previously de-
clared by letter that he " most decline, in the most
explicit manner, the honour" of h ing proposed ;
and enumerated suit a list of bodily afflictions to
prevent him, as rendered the liberty taken with his
name a piece of heartless cruelty. The very letter
in which this intimation was conveyed, and which
stated that, "whilst I con willing I am writhing with
pain," should surely have preserved him from being
so indecently trifled with, and from the additional
pain of the defeat which has resulted. The nomina-
tion of Mr. Gladstone for Great George's Ward, in
the Radical interest, contrary to his expressed
wisbes, is similarly scandalous, whilst the pro-
ceedings of the faction in Pitt-street are perfectly
disreputable to all parties connected with them.
The most rotten of the disfranchised rotten boroughs
never took more scandalous measures for getting up
a contest, or proved themselves less worthy of the
franchise, than the parties in question.
We are sure that the whole of these proceedings
will meet with the reprobation of the respectable
members of the Whig-Radical party. No course
can be imagined so eminently calculated to prolong
their exclusion from the confidence of their fellow-
townsmen, than a continuance of such practices.
We beg pardon : there is one influence almost
equally efficacious, viz : the twaddling insolence
with which their opponents are continually bespat-
tered by such scribes as those of the Liverpool
Mercury, of which the article from which we have
quoted above, affords a few specimens. Whig-
Radicalism in Liverpool has indeed cause to ex-
claim "save me from my friends ! "

The announcements conveyed in the address of
Mr. Moss, at the meeting of the Grand Junction
Company, on Friday last, possess an interest not
only to the holders of shares in that Company, but
to all who are embarked in Railway undertakings.
We are now formally made aware of the fact, which
we. had always anticipated, that those two great
Railway properties, the Grand Junction, and the
London and Birmingham Lines, have ceased to be
carried on in concert with e :eh other—have entered
indeed upon a course of antagonism; and we have,
in the address in question, the opinions of a gentle-
man, perhaps better and more intimately conversant
with Railway management than any other man in
the kingdom, as to the effect, upon the interests of
the Company over which he presides, of the unfor-
tunate Split which has taken place. These opinions
we purpose examining, having first, however, briefly
noticed the proceedings which the Grand Junction
Company have resolved upon adopting, with a view
of strengthening their position.
The course, Mr. Moss states, is for the Grand Jun-
ction, " to be prepared for any alternative" ; and an-
nounces that, accordingly, "all needful measures
are being taken for putting before parliament their
Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton, and also their
Shrewsbury and Stafford Lines," relying upon the
judgement and fair consideration of the Board of
Trade, to decide which of the rival schemes offered,
are the most likely to be conducive to the public
benefit. Mr. Moss cannot think that parliament
will allow new lines to be made, running parallel
and close to the Line of the Grand Junction Com-
pany ; but, allowing the worst to happen, and such
competition to be directed against them, he believes
that, "the lines authorised, or to be authorised,
north and south, as well as in Ireland, will, to a
great extent, compensate them for any loss of traffic
which threatens them"; and, he reminds the share-
holders that they possess an advantage in the race
of competition, arising from the cheapness of con-
struction of their own Railway. He depends, too,
upon the arrangements recently made and contem-
plated, for promoting the convenience of the public,
amongst which, he mentions most prominently, the
increased number of second class trains already pro-
vided; the increased comfort and reduced price of
the third class trains, and improvements now mak-
ing, and hereafter to be made at their stations.
From all these considerations, he deduces the con-
clusion that, -"if parliament would only protect
them against unnecessary competing Lines, the
public would be vastly benefitted, for the Company
have no wish for exclusive advantages, their view
being to divide with the public the profit of increased
traffic, both in the way of low prices, and increased
accommodation."

We agree with the hulk of the opinions here ex-
pressed; and, with Mr. Moss, feel assured that Par-
liament will not sanction any needless competing
Lines, provided the Grand Junction fairly, and in
earnest set themselves to the work of providing all
the reasonable accommodation within their power.
to the various important localities which lie adjacent
to 'their Line. We cannot, however, but regard it
as an unfortunate circumstance, and one calculated
to weigh seriously against them with any Commit-
tee, before whom their claims to protection may be
laid, that they have hitherto done so very, very little
in this direction, considering the vast margin of
profit at their disposal. A Company, which con-
cedes to the loudest requirements of the public only
upon compulsion, is not usually the object of public
sympathy, when attacked in their monopoly ; and
we are not, therefore, so certain as we should other-
wise have been—nor, we suspect, is Mr. Moss him-
self—that several of the proposed competing Lines,
to which, as natural appendages to their own Line,
the Grand Junction Company might have fairly laid
claim, will not be thrown into the hands of theii
present projectors. The legislature, as evidenced.
by the Railways Regulation Bill-of last year, appear
to have arrived at the conclusion that some strong
coercive policy is required to force existing Corn•
Fames into concessions to the convenience of the
public; and there are many schemes sanctioned last
session, which tend to prove that the weapon, in
which their greatest reliance is placed, is encourage-
ment to competing Lines. We cannot, therefore,
assure the proprietors of the Grand Junction Line,
of immunity from legislatorial reprisal for the past.
Their fancied exclusive property in the country
through whiCh their Line runs will, we are confident,
he srrOngly ar4l-.successfully attacked; and, although
we rely, With a . great a confidence as Mr._ Moss
thi 'elasticity and resources of the con-
cern oVer "whose interests he so ably and honestly
presides, wte feat that, for a time, the shareholders
must prektu, kit some sacrifices of interest upon
their' ifiveslmves and less imposing dividends.
The future 'welfare of the concern is, however,