The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-10-31 00:00:00

TUESDAY MORNING, OCT. 31, 1843.

We embrace this, the last opportunity afforded to
us, of calling the attention of the Conservative con-
stituencies to the struggle for municipal honours
which will take place to-morrow. That, in many of
the wards, the contest will be vigorously urged by
our opponents, we entertain not a shadow of doubt.
The Whig-Radical faction still hanker after the
power and patronage which, in past years of misrule,
they enjoyed,—still long to regain their lost supre-
macy in the administration of our local affairs,—still
long to be enable I once more to level "heavy blows
and great discouragement" against the Established
Church of the realm, and to plant the cloven foot
of popery upon its ruins. Infidelity and dissent still
gloat over the prospect of clutching within their
poisonous grasp the unformed minds of the children
of our working poor; and revolutionary agitators
are not wanting who look forward to the erection,
within the Council chamber itself, of normal schools
of sedition, from which to direct insult and odium
against the Throne and the Constitution, and to war
against the peace and laws of our country.

If Conservatives would avert the fulfilment of
these iniquitous and malevolent designs—if they
would not once more submit to be prostrated be-
neath that galling tyranny, from which they so
lately freed themselves ;—they must be up now, and
stirring, and resolute to maintain their present proud
position ; there must be no trimming, no wavering,
no fainting in their ranks. Above all, there must
be no unworthy jealousies;—no indulgence of merely
personal animosity or spleen ; no disposition to peril
THE CAUSE-a nobler than ever interested humanity
—for the gratification of any merely private feeling
towards the individual, who steps forward, or who
has laboured, in its defence.
We are led to the above remarks by intimations,
which have reached us, of an intended opposition—a
Conservative opposition too (o—said to be contem-
plated against a gentleman who, above many—many
of his fellow Conservatives in the Council, has de-
served well of the entire Conservative constituency;
and whose rejection at this crisis, we firmly believe,
and are prepared to prove, would be a blow to the
Conservative administration of the affairs of this bo-
rough, more fat:‘l and disastrous than it could sus-
tain by the rejection of any other member. Need we
say that we refer to Mr. Sands, the present Con-
servative candidate and, during six years of arduous
struggle within the walls of the Council chamber,
the faithful Conservative member for, Exchange
Ward ? Against this gentleman, menaced already
by a Whig-Radical candidate, it is now fully under-
stood in certain quarters, to which we have no wish
to point, that a Conservative opposition is already
organised; which hopeless of success itself, is con-
tent, by dividing the Conservative force, to seat in
the Council chamber, as the representative of the
ward, a Whig-Radical, whose only claim to notice,
as a public man, consists in the fact that he has ever
been, and continues to be, the echo and the shadow
of that great luminary of the Council chamber and
the Dock Committee, Mr. Alderman Evans.

We might perhaps reasonably indulge a hope that
the fact of such a determination on the part of any
body of Conservatives was a weak invention of the
enemy,—that " the wish was father to the thought."
But so weighty are the interests involved in this con-
test, that we cannot refrain from the duty of im-
pressing upon the Conservatives of the Ward the
disastrous results of any attempt of the kind, how-
ever insignificant the number and the influence of
those engaged in it. At the present moment, Mr.
Sands, as the Chairman of the Dock Estate, is en-
gaged in an effort to provide, for the increasing and
prospective wants of the port, an increased amount
of dock accommodation; and in furtherance of this
object, so loudly called for by the shipping interest,
backed by the leading mercantile associations, he has
acted with an energy and singleness of purpose
which ought to earn for him the gratitude of all but
a few crotchetty members of this great community.
On the other hand, it cannot have escaped the ob-
servation of our fellow-townsmen that an attempt
is about being made to revive once more amongst us
the agitation of the dock warehouse question—to
impel us once more before Parliament in pursuit of
that still untried good, for which we have already
bartered one of the most valuable possessions of the
Dock Estate--the control over the strand of the
river Mersey; and that the means, by which this pet
object of the party is to be accomplished, is the in-
fliction of continued inconvenience and loss upon
the commerce of the port by the refusal of any fur-
ther increased accommodation than that which is
assumed as the result of warehouses upon the dock
quays. The leader of this movement we need not
say is the indefatigable alderman and journalist, Mr.
Eyre Evans; and we venture to say that no one will
rejoice more sincerely and obstreporously thanithat
ingenious gentleman at the success of any hostile
effort, which will remove Mr. Sands, not only from
his sphere of usefulness in the Council, but also
from his position as Chairman of the Dock Com-
mittee, though this, we believe, is impossible.
We ask of the Conservatives 9f the ward,—are
they prepared, by the injurious course which they
are pursuing, to pander to the gratification of Mr.
Alderman Evans,—to give cause of glee to every
enemy of the Conservative cause and every oppo-
nent of well matured measures of local improve-
ment, and of bitter grief to the great mass of their
own party throughout the borough? We trust they

are not,—that they will yet pause in their ill-advised
course,—that they will allow private grievances,
whatever they may be, to be privately expiated,—
and remembering the importance of the trust which
the possession of the franchise confers upon them
for public purposes, make use of it only to advance
that great cause and those great principles of which
hitherto they have been the foremost assertors.

Upon the question now at issue, with respect to
the necessity of providing increased dock accommo-
dation for the increasing shipping of the port, by
the purchase of the Harrington Company's pro-
perty, and the strand north of the Dock Estate, we
have remarked at length in another article. To one
point, however, mooted at the meeting of the Dock
Committee on Thursday, we are under the neces-
sity, on account of its great importance, of address-
ing a few additional observations. We refer to the
principle which ought to guide the Finance Com-
mittee and the Council, in fixing the price of their
land, so to be disposed of to the Dock Committee.
It is urged by Mr. Alderman Evans, and the fa-
vourers of his crotchets, that the price of the north
strand should be a nominal one—at the utmost ss.
per superficial yard—inasmuch as the land to be
sold has been " made" for the corporation by de-
posits of excavations from the dock works. We
cannot admit the justice of the conclusion, although
we readily admit the fact upon which it is based.
The land in question has been advantaged by the
receipt of the waste soil from the Dock Estate ; but
it has also served as a convenient deposit for that
soil, and, but for its existence, a more expensive
scite must have been found. It has been " made"
by the Dock Committee, not as any matter of favour
to the Corporation, but as a matter of favour to the
Dock Committee; and the latter have just as little
right to profit by its enhanced value, as they would
have to profit by the enhanced value conferred upon
any neighbouring land, by the construction of a new
dock, or other works, which might bring it into the
market by giving it a frontage for business pur-
poses.

The fact is, the Dock Committee ought to have
purchased the strand in question years ago, at the
time (in 1822) when they bound the Corporation by
act of Parliament, to make use, or sale, of it for no
other than dock purposes ;—when, in fact, they fas-
tened it as a dead weight upon the Corporation.
They should have bought it before they made it of
this increased value; and, having neglected so to
do, they have no right to any forbearance from that
body, to whom has naturally and justly fallen the
advantage which they themselves refused or ne-
glected to appropriate, when within their reach.
That part of the question, then, we must treat as
decided against the Dock Committee. They have
no claim upon the Corporation, as, of right, to any
preference over an individual purchaser. It is
urged, however, that they ought to be favoured—
that they ought to have handed over to them valua-
ble portions of the Corporation property, at a nomi-
nal price, as a matter of policy, the welfare of the
town at large being identified with the prosperity of
the Dock Estate. Again we admit the premises,
but deny the conclusion. The town is undoubtedly
benefitted by the extension of the shipping of the
port ; but that the Corporation, who are virtually
trustees of the property belonging to the burgesses,
have a right to part with that property at a price be-
neath its fair value, to advance the interests of the
dock ratepayers—a body composed, as the Chairman
of the Committee observed, of the consumers of
exported and imported produce throughout the
world—we cannot admit, even although their own
interests are thereby indirectly advanced. There is
no limit to which such liberal complaisance might
not be carried, if once we admit the validity of this
argument; and we must remember that the Dock
Estate is richer and more able to bear its own hur-
thens than that of the Corporation.
The true principle, upon which alone the two bo-
dies can treat for this or any other property is, that
each body should look only to the interests of the
constituencl, by whom it is elected. That this will
be the course of the Finance Committee of the
Council we trust. They m ill insist upon, not an ex-
orbitant, but a fair price for the land now to be sold,
in justice to the burgesses whose property it is; and
in despite of the jesuitry of an anti-local faction,
who would willingly squander that property for the
advancement of their selfish crotchets and pet theo-
ries. The Corporation stand urgently in need of
an increased surplus fund, to enable them to carry
out the various improvements required within the
borough without pressing upon the means of the
inhabitant householders; and from no source can
such fund be more legitimately augmented than
from the sale, at an equitable price, of those portions
of the Corporate Estate which, unproductive at pre-
sent and likely to continue so, for strictly corporate
purposes, can, as in the case of the north strand, be
converted to valuable use by the Dock Committee.

The agitation, for Repeal still continues, despite
of its abandonment by O'Connell for the modified
measure of a " Federal Union," and the impending
prosecutions against that incendiary and his satel-
lites. The "monster meetings," it is true, are for
the present discontinued ; but we have, in their
stead, demonstrations of the promptitude with which
the peasantry can be summoned to a general rising,
by signal fires lighted from hill to bill ; we have the
usual weekly meetings in " Conciliation Hall," at
which the usual quantity of sedition is given forth
to the world ; we have daily accessions to 'the ranks
of the disaffected, and vast additional sums flowing
in, to swell the fund by which threatened rebellion
and treason are fed by a coerced and plundered
people. With these " signs and portents " before
us, rendered more striking by the continued pour-
in of troops, from every available quarter, into
Ireland, we are fully justified in asking—What is
the nature of the crisis towards which these demon-
strations are tending, and for which Government
are making such energetic and vast preparations ?
That the ministry of Sir Robert Peel are in
earnest in their determination to put down the
agitation for Repeal, and to avert the threatened
dismemberment of the empire, we entertain no
doubt. That the prosecution against the leading
incendiaries will he firmly carried on to a convic-
tion, we as little doubt. But the next step—what is
that to be ? O'Connell evidently—his first cowardly
tremor having passed away—laughs at the personal
consequences to himself, to arise from the present
step. He anticipates probably a fine, which would
be promptly paid from the Repeal exchequer, and
the amount substituted by treble exactions from his
duped followers. Such an issue, however, cannot
be contemplated by Government ; or why this con-
tinued movement of troops to Ireland ? Something
more serious than a mere pecuniary atonement must
be intended, or else some ulterior and more decisive
steps, to strike at the agitation itself, and not merely
at the leading agitators, must be in preparation.
Perhaps, jocular as O'Connell now affects to be, the
issue of the approaching trials may lodge himself and a
few of his myrmidons within the walls of Newgate,
or some other equally secure place of confinement
for would-be rebels. In this case, it is quite possi-
ble th .t all the force at the disposal of Government
may be required to preserve thz peace of Ireland ;

for it was asked, a week ago, by the arch-agitator
himself, whether, upon the occurrence of such an
event as his incarceration, "those outside would be
'any safer than those within." His own person se-
cure from injury, it is little indeed that the cowardly
rebel will care for the lives of his ignorant and be-
trayed followers. The very event—an outbreak
and attempt at rescue—which he himself thus insi-
diously suggested, would perhaps take place; and
for such an attempt the Government are no doubt
preparing. But, we ask, is it wise in Government
to stand patiently waiting, although prepared, for
an event so calamitous in its results as this may be ?
Is it wise to permit, under their very eyes, and al-
most within hearing of the Castle of Dublin, the
same seditious proceedings to go on day by day—
the same dangerous organization to be perfected—
the same illegal levying of funds to continue, and
additional hundreds of hot-brained fools to be
drawn, week by week, within the meshes of trea-
son,—when one more prompt and vigorous step in
advance would suffice, either to bring rebellion to a
premature head and crush it at once, or to break
up the organization by which it is pushed forward ?
We submit that such a waiting policy is not wise—
is not just. The proceedings of O'Connell and the
other traitors, now about to be put upon their trial
before a jury, have been visited in their persons as
illegal; and if the executive has not already power
to prevent as well as to punish sedition, that power
ought at once to he sought from Parliament, in
justice to those who, day by day, encouraged by
the tacit posture of the authorities, are bringing
into jeopardy their own liberties, and the lives of
thousands who look up to them for guidance.

The columns of the Albion, yesterday, contained
another article upon the subject of Dock Extension;
which, although no doubt it expresses the views of
Mr. Alderman Evans, we shall not attribute to the
pen of that gentleman, but rather set it down as the
clumsy and bungling performance of the editor
himself, duly crammed for the occasion. The very
little which the article in question contains will re-
quire from us a very brief reply. And first 'et us
deal with the " statements of facts," which, in our
notice of the Alderman's own production last week,
we are accused of leaving " almost unheeded, and
altogether unanswered."
The Albion's echo of the Alderman states that, at
the meeting of the Dock Committee on Thursday,
" the purchase not only of the Harrington and the
Corporate property was again decreed, but that of a
quantity of land at, it seems, the selling parties'
asking price." Now we say, fearlessly, that the
latter fact never seemed at all I There was nothing
in the proceedings of the Dock Committee to lead
to the supposition that such was the case; and the
assertion, therefore, is as disingenuous as it is dis-
honest. So far from the price concluded upon
being the "asking price," we can state on authority
that it is very considerably below such price. So
much, therefore, for " statement" the first.
The Albion says this purchase "was thrust upon
the Committee, without previous notice or inquiry"
as to the traffic, &c. And, pray, how was it thrust ?
It was the deliberate resolution of the majority of
the Committee ; and unless Mr. Alderman Evans
is himself the Committee, this statement is as wide
of the truth as the first.

We shall pass over the absurd statement of figures
with which the Albion endeavours to frighten the
community. A deficiency of £51,000 per annum,
he maintains, will he the result of the carrying out
of the resolutions of the Dock Committee. Our
contemporary does indeed give the world credit for
an amazing amount of gullibility !
But we must turn from the Alderman's—we beg
pardon, the Albion's—statements, and anproach the
small modicum of argument with which he fur-
nishes us.
" As a question of dock warehouses or no dock ware-
houses," urges our contemporary, " it is clear, that, if
warehouses cannot be had on a central dock, they should
be taken on any dock. Everywhere they will he invalu-
able : but, if they are particularly desirable in central
situations, it will he open for a compromise with our
warehouse oligarchy, who may, perhaps, permit a smaller
quantity in the desired situations, in lieu of the larger
elsewhere. What reflections does not this state of
things give rise to ? "

Aye, " what reflections" indeed ! For only revert
to the previous arguments of the writer, and see
how astounding is the inconsistency. To effect the
proposed purchases, and to furnish the increased
dock accommodation required, would create a defi-
ciency of £51,000 per annum in the revenue of the
dock estate, and double the existing dock rates;
but expend another million, in erecting warehouses
round a timber dock and a steam and coasting dock,
and the Alderman is perfectly satisfied ! Add ware-
houses to your scheme, exclaim in concert Messrs.
Evans and Ripley; and we will go with you in all
the " extravagant purchases" which you propose !
But the warehouses in question, we are assured,
are only to be warehouses upon paper—a kind of
goblin to terrify the warehouse-owners withal. A
most excellent device truly, and worthy the most
astute disciple of Loyola! Alderman Evans will
wink at the sacrifice of £51,600 per annum, if you
only give him a clause in your act of Parliament to
fling in the face of the" Warehouse Oligarchy."
Yet this man is your paragon of dock economists !
A question to Mr. Evans in conclusion—for we
must really be excused the task of noticing the re-
mainder of this twaddling production. If we re-
member right, the original proposition to purchase
land from the Harrington Dock Company emanated
from a gentleman, supposed on most occasions to
be tolerably well agreed in opinion with Mr. Evans
—viz., Mr. James Aikin ; and, on his motion, Mr
Sands was requested to treat for such land, to the
amount of 50,000 to 60,000 yards. The whole
quantity of land at the disposal of the Harrington
Dock Company was found by that gentleman to be
only 120,000 yards ; and very wisely he decided
that to purchase only half—even had the company
been disposed to sell it, which they were not—would
be perfectly suicidal on the part of the committee,
as adding at least 50 per cent. to the value of the
remainder, which would at some future day be
wanted ; and he, therefore, treated for the whole.
Now, let us enquire of Mr. Evans what will be
the difference, as respects the interests of the Dock
Estate, of the two courses—viz., that sanctioned by
Mr. Aikin's original motion, and that pursued by
the chairman of the committee. It will require, say
the 50,0000 or 60,000 yards, first directed to be
purchased, for the formation of the proposed new
timber dock ; and, had only that quantity been pur-
chased, the Harrington Company would have had
the remainder of their land, as we have already
stated, enormously increased in value, and been en-
abled, should any further purchase have been found
necessary, to exact a proportional large price from
the Dock Committee. But the whole of the land
being purchased, the advantage arising from the
proximity of the dock to be built accrues to the
Dock Estate, and we firmly believe will be almost
sufficient to make up the cost of the quantity
originally sought to be purchased.

Will the alderman inform us how he reconciles
his support of Mr. Aikin's first crude proposition
with his present virulent opposition to the judicious
and economical course adopted by the Chairman of
the Dock Committee ?

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

DISASTROUS RESULTS TO IRELAND OF AN
ATTEMPT TO CARRY THE REPEAL BY
VIOLENCE.

The lavish abuse which has been heaped by Mr. Daniel
O'Connell upon the writer of the letters on the condition

Ireland, from which we extracted largely in our last
publication, has very naturally stamped them, in the esti-
mation of the public, with an authenticity of character, of
which otherwise they might have been deemed unworthy.
We therefore make no apology to our readers for present-
ing to their notice a few further extracts, which vre recom-
mend in particular to the serious consideration of the
duped followers of O'Connell in this locality. Referring
to the delusion of the Irish people, with respect to their
numerical superiority, the writer remarks : •
" The poor people forget, or they have never heard,
that although positively many, they are comparatively few.
The Roman Catholic peasantry of the south of Ireland are
greatly outnumbered by the rest of their countrymen, in-
cluding the loyal and well-affected Catholics and Protes-
tants of Ireland, and the great body of the English and
Scotch people.
" But mere numbers form only one, and by no means
the most important, element in a military question:

",The sea is entirely at the command of the British go-
vernment. No part of Ireland is much more than fifty
miles from the sea. Our ships of war and steamers would
command the maritime towns and coast, and convey
troops to the flank or rere of any rebel force that might
be assembled in any part of the country. There is no part
of Ireland in which an insurrectionary force could take up
its position, and say, " We are safe here."
" The country is also, for the most part, very open and
weak, in a military point of view ; there are no fences
which could oppose any serious obstacles to the manoeu-
vres of regular infantry, and in most parts of the country
cavalry might act in numbers sufficient for a contest of
this description. The island is also now perforated in
every direction by good roads ; it is true that there are
some mountainous districts in the west which would afford
strong positions ; but the question would not be decided
in the mountains. As far as that district is concerned, it
would be sufficient to watch any rebel force that might as-
semble there, and it must soon melt away of itself for want
of provisions.

All the strongholds of the country are in the hands of
the government, and its officers and troops are fully pre-
pared."
With similar ability the writer combats the assumption
that the Protestants of the North of Ireland would hold
back in the event of a struggle. In such a crisis, he re-
marks,—
" All minor differences will be absorbed by the porten-
tous consideration of the maintenance of their relizion and
liberties. The northerns are quite as ready to fall on as
the Roman Catholic peasantry of the sou►h ; and it will
be seen that such is the case the moment the restraint
which is at present imposed upon them by the government
is removed."

The following observations as to the disastrous conse-
quences of a prolonged contest are fearfully impressive
and true :

" The actual loss rf life is the least of the evils which is
entailed by a popular war ; when the contest is merely be-
tween the governments, the people look on while the re-
gular armies fight it out ; and, after a campaign or two,
the matter is decided, without much injury to either party.
Even in our own civil wars, although infinite evils were
entailed upon England, the contest was in the main be-
tween the regular armies on each side. But if an insur-
rection breaks out in Ireland, the struggle will be between
the people and with the people. Every town, every vil-
lage, every farm-house will be a scene of conflict; the in-
dustry of the country will be suspended, the stock of food
and the means of future production will be destroyed—
within six months there will be a famine, and within six
montl.s more there will be a pestilence, to say nothing of
the widows and orphans. There is no European country
which would suffer so severely from the effects of a popu-
lar war as Ireland, because none is more populous and
none less provided with varied resources. In order to find
a parallel to the effects of such a warfare in Ireland, it
would be necessary to go to those districts of India which
have been the scene of murderous and long-continued con-
tests. In the struggle carried on in the south of Ireland
in the reign of Elizabeth, which is known by the name of
the Desmond war, the people died by hundreds in the
ditches, with grass in their mouths, with which they vainly
endeavoured to satisfy the cravings of hunger. This has
been repeatedly referred to by O'Connell, as a proof of
the atrocious cruelty of the English. It was no such
thing. The Desmond war was a strictly popular war,
such as we are now threatened with; and the necessary
consequence of such a war, in a country circumstanced as
Ireland, is, that the sources whence life is sustained are
dried up. In such a case the miserable people have no
choice given them between famine, pestilence, and the
sword. They fall under all three. Will it now be said
that the loss of a million or two of lives would be the only
sacrifice which the people would have to make, and that
the survivors would be benefitted by the change ?"
The improbability of any successful foreign intervention
is shewn with equal force. But the most important por-
tion of these letters is the following concluding passage :
" And let not these poor deluded people count on the
British soldier abandoning his colours. Some drunken
men, who have had liquor given them by the repealers,
may roll down the street, shouting nut, in the frolicsome
thoughtless style of such people, Hurrah for repeal'.' but
if it came to be a question whether they would be true to
their sovereign and to their own pledged faith, even these
persons would do their duty perhaps as effectually as their
more steady comrades; and as soon as the first blood is
spilt, see who will be the greater tiger of the two.
" And will there be no defection in the rebel camp?
They are now all apparently united, because the popular
current runs so strongly in one direction, that all are
obliged to yield at least an outward conformity to the pre-
vailing idea. But wait, I say again, till the time comes
for showing colours, and see how many of the gentlemen
who now cheer you on to the brink of the precipice will
jump down with you. Are you so mad as to imagine that
several persons whose names will at once occur to you,
will ever dream of hoisting the white cockade ? Even
among those who will break out with you, is it to be ex-
pected that all will remain true ? There is an old Irish
adage, Roast an Irishman on the spit, and you will be
sure to get another to turn him.' Many will soon weary
of the contest. Others will begin to doubt whether it be
eventually attended with sucress ; and there will be no
want of persons who will gladly avail themselves of any
opportunity that may offer of making their peace with the
government at the expense of their former associates."

THEFT FROM A BUTCHER'S SHOP.-At the Police
Court, yesterday, a boy named Joseph Bennett, was
charged with stealing 51b. of beef, from the shop of Mr.
Hughes, Heath-street, Toxteth-park. He had gone in
with two other boys to ask for a light, and while it was
being procured by one of the others, he ran off with the
meat, but was pursued and captured. Being an old
offender he was sent for trial.

A " PETTY" ROBBERY.—At the Police-court. yester-
day, a man named Thos. Mc Rema, was charged with
robbing Michael Caine of the sum of £3. 12s. 6d, in
cash. It appe'ared that they both lodged at the house of
a man named M'Dermot, in a court in Stockdale-street.
and both rose about the same hour yesterday morning,
the complainant to go to his work, and the prisoner to go,
as he said, to the back yard. The former soon afterwards
missed his money, and suspicion fell upon the prisoner
as the only one who had gone out. The money was after-
wards found concealed under a slate in the roof of the
"petty," to which he had gone. He was committed for
trial.
THE WEATHER.—Since the gale of Friday night and
Saturday the weather has been extremely changeable.
Sunday was fine and sunny, though coldish, with a wes-
terly wind, and the number of parties who visited the
Cheshire side of the river in the afternoon, by the steam-
boats, was great for the season. The evening was clear,
with a bright moon, and towards the close inclined to
frost. Yesterday morning, however, the sky again broke
with occasional showers, and towards day-light rain set
in, which became heavier, and continued almost inces-
santly throughout the day, and last night until the time
of our going to press. The potatoes yet ungathered, and
some patches of corn in various parts of our county which
had not fully ripened, may suffer some injury from the
excessive wet in low grounds ; but we do not anticipate
any serious or extensive damage.
The Church of England School Society, which has now
for seven years pursued its most useful course, is about to
hold its annual meeting in the Lecture-hall of the Colle-
giate Institution, the Bishop of the Diocese taking the
chair. It is extremely gratifying to witness the progress
and success which educational efforts have made in Liver-
pool since the formation of this society. Not only are
there twelve schools in connection with it for the educa-
tion of the labouring poor, but the Collegiate Institution
supplying the demand for sound and scriptural education
in all classes of society, and the Female Orphan Asylnin
providing for the wants of the most destitute, testify that
neither the zeal nor the benevolence of the friends of edu-
cation in Liverpool is exhausted. The meeting, we doubt
not, will be very interesting, and acquires fresh importance
from the effort which the Church of England is now making
to place a religious education within the reach of all her
members.

ANTI-CORN-LAW LEAGUE AT HALE.—A meeting of
the Floral and Agricultural Society of Hale and Halewood
lately took place. When the business of the meeting was
over, the following extraordinary scene occurred :—Our
patriotic Col. Williams, in his " Russia ducks," mounted
the platform, and expressed his wish to address the people
on the subject of the corn laws, and bad assembled not a
few persons to hear his rhapsodies, when suddenly he was
interrupted by the appearance of a gentleman in authority,
who inquired the object of the meeting, and by whose
permission he thus intruded upon the business of the day.
Col. Williams indignantly replied, " that be was a magis-
trate, and that he did not know of any authority to pre-
vent him acting as he thought proper." The gentleman
replied, "no man has authority to act in this ancient and
"twheho gehnatslem re,
moan
loyal borough without permission of the chief magistrate.
th
e
And,authority
t py, r
thanay,
m"e ? said
That,ol.
Williams,rpl d
" I will shortly shew you—l am the Mayor of Hale ; and
I will not allow any demagogues to disseminate
false doc-
trines or mischief within my province;" on which the
mayor ordered the platform to be cleared, and the gallant
colonel and his squad were compelled to fly and take
served,
yro
venture,
this
utiorl county.
what
Thus
may
refuge in a public-house in the immediate neighbourhood :
and thus was this fanatic prevented disturbing the peace
verylatafeaaguebe and
whenever loyal
po
theytin o
h
.should your Cobdens, your Brights, and others of the
be termed sacred ground,

PROSPECTS or THE APPROACHING ELECTION.

We propose, on the eve of our Municipal struggle, to
enter upon a brief and candid examination of the merits
of the various candidates, and to speculate, as correctly
as the data in our possession enables us to do, upon their
relative chances of success. In doing this we shall take
the different wards seriatim, as they stand numbered in
the Municipal Register ; and that we may not mislead any
of our readers into the indulgence of over-sanguine hopes,
or, on the other hand, unduly excite their fears, we must
in setting out distinctly state, that our judgment will be
formed not from any acquaintance with the state of the
canvas in the various wards, but from a conviction, formed
by a consideration of the result of past elections, of what
may be achieved by exertion and energy on the part of
the various committees. We commence then with

EVERTON WARD.—In this, one of the strongest con-
servative wards of the town, the candidates opposed are
Mr. David Hodgson, the retiring conservative member,
and Mr. Christopher Rawdon, on the Whig-radical interest.
At the last election Mr. Francis Shand walked over the
course without opposition. In the previous year, how-
ever, the ward was contested and won by Mr. Thomas
Shaw, conservative, one of the present sitting n:;-,,ihr•rs,
beating Mr. M. Ashcroft, radical, by a majority of 127,
which we may assume to be the present conservative ma-
jority of the ward. The gentleman who now again seeks
the suffrages of the conservative electors has, during his
period of office, fully redeemed every promise made at the
time of his first election; and without entering at all into
the merits of the rival candidate, Mr. C. Rawdon, the
rejected of St. Paul's Ward at the last election, we shall
only say that he is not the man, if there be such a one,
who can shake Mr. Hodgson from the position which he
deservedly occupies in the esteem and affection of his
con=tituents.

SCOTLAND WARD has on most former vacancies been
strongly contested, and with varied success. Last year
Mr. Richard Houghton, a gentleman possessed of great
local interest, was elected without opposition. In the
year preceding, Mr. Isaac Holmes, after a hard fight, was
returned by a majority of ten votes. The present re-
tiring member, Mr. Thornhill, if we recollect right, only
won his seat within the last few minutes of polling, by a
majority of two ! In this ward, therefore, we look for-
ward to a neck and neck race, the result of which we can-
not foresee. Mr. Thornhill possesses great interest
amongst the Radicals of the ward, the result of his doings
in the Market and Watch Committees, and has also,
from his subserviency to their dictates secured the coon-
ttmance of some of the leaders of his party. We may
therefore expect to see every exertion and even trickery
put in requisition to secure his return. He is opposed on
this occasion by Mr. Thomas Vernon, a sound and able
Conservative, although newly embarked upon the arena
of local politics; and if his Conservative friends work
hard, and those gentlemen who have influence in the
ward can be induced to lay aside the apathetic indifference
with which, it is said, they have hitherto regarded the
coming contest, there is Conservative strength sufficient
in the locality to place a good Conservative at the head of
the poll, and Mr. Thornhill where he ought to be at the
bottom. The contest, however, we repeat, will be se-
vere, and to win it will require all the energy of the Con-
servative party.
VAUXHALL WARD.—In this ward Mr. Case was beaten
at the last election by Dr. Blackburn, by a majority of
34. The Radical candidate this year is Mr. Thomas
Chalmer, the defeated candidate for St. Anne's; opposed
to him is Mr. Thomas Case, who at the last hour has been
induced to come forward. Let the electors of Vauxhall
do their duty, and Mr. Chalmer will be once more de-
feated.

ST. PAUL'S WARD is contested by Mr. Blundell, the
retiring Conservative member, and Mr. Thomas Deakin,
who was beaten by a majority of 21, at the last election,
by Mr. J. C. Thomson. The partisans of Mr. Deakin
on the present occasion are seeking to strengthen his local
influence by an alliance with the body called " Badgers ;"
but the ruse, we are inclined to think, will not succeed
against a candidate so well known and so highly esteemed
in the ward as Mr. Blundell.

EXCHANGE WARD was yielded to a conservative last
year without a struggle; was won by the conservatives in
the previous year by a majority of 29 ; and in 1840 was
carried by the present member, Mr. Sands, by a majority
of 44. We have referred to the prospect of the present
contest elsewhere ; and can only say here that if the
strength of the two parties is to decide the contest, Mr.
Sands will beat the radical, Mr. Holt, with scarcely an
effort. If the conservative interest is divined, however,
the radical will be elected and the Conservative character
of the ward sullied for ever. We hope such a consum-
mation will be averted ; but time alone will show.

CASTLE-STREET is in the hands apparently of Mr.
James Aikin, who will probably not be opposed, although
we know not why. Mr. Aikin is no doubt a respectable
man ; but a more bitter politician does not sit in the
Council chamber. We believe that, with exertion, this
ward might have been carried, and even yet the chances
of success are not hopeless. The Radical majority, last
year, was only 35 ; and with the double votes, which
might this year be brought without danger from many of
the other wards, and the known improvement in the regis-
ter, Mr. Aikin might very possibly be sent to superintend
his ship buiding in the Isle of Man, instead of favouring
the world with his unitarian sentiments, on education and
other matters in the Town Council.
ST. PETER'S renowned in story as the Gibraltar of Mr.
Bright, is contested by Mr. Tinne on the Conservative
side, and by the great gun of Radicalism, Thomas Bolton
on the part of the almost defunct faction. The strength
of this ward is now undeniably Conservative. Last year
it was won by Mr. Samuel Holme, by a majority of 115 •,
in the preceding year it was won by a majority of 25 ; and
on the retirement of Mr. S. Holme this year not a Whig
could be found bold enough to contest it. On the present
occasion, to secure the return of the sworn enemy of
Town dues (the mainstay of the wealth of our Corporate
estate) and of the Freemen (to whose tried Conservatism
is to be attributed many and many a Radical defeat,) the
faction will move heaven and earth, no doubt, hut against
a candidate whose name is so intimately connected with
the trade of the port as is that of Mr. Tinne, and who is
moreover so eminently qualified in himself to represent
the interest of the ward, we do not anticipate for Mr.
Bolton anything less than a sound thrashing. Gibraltar
is ours now.and we intend to keep it so !
PITT-STREET WARD.—The candidates here are Mr.
Thomas Toulmin, the retiring conservative, and Mr.
Benn, formerly a radical alderman and deputy-chairman
of the Dock Committee. The former, although during
his three years of office he has not prated incessantly like
some of the members of our municipal body, has stuck
manfully to his duty and his principles; and on all occa-
sions has been found supporting the good old cause. Mr.
Benn we can only describe as one of the Evans clique—a
thorough-going whig partizan. With two such candi-
dates, the ward ought to be won, and, we trust, will be
won for the conservative. Notwithstanding the fact that,
mainly owing to the unscrupulous efforts and misrepre-
sentations of a certain bustling vendor of slops, it returned
a radical last year (who, by the bye, has never, that we
know of, opened his mouth, and rarely been present even)
by a majority of 19, the ward, as was shown by Mr. Aspi.
nail's majority of 42 the year preceding, is thoroughly
conservative; and, if due energy be used, we fully expect
a victory on this occasion for the conservative candidate.
GREAT GEORGE'S WARD was vacant, and a conserva-
tive elected, last Wednesday, without opposition. Mr.
John Sothern is the conservative candidate, and is op-
posed by Mr. Thos. Taylor, the bookseller. The electors
must be on their guard, and " ware tricks." Mr. Chal-
linor, it may be remembered, was last year nominated at
the last hour; and the serpent—whiggery—has not lost
his cunning.
RODNEY-STREET.—In this ward—a known conserva-
tive stronghold—Mr. Birkett is opposed, from sheer ra-
dical spite, by Mr. William Lassell. The claims of the
former are sufficiently known to every true conservative ;
those of the latter we never heard of, and we much ques-
tion whether he could discover them himself. Of course
Mr. Birkett will be plentifully bespattered with whig-radi-
cal abuse, and will win triumphantly in spite of his oppo-
nents.

ABERCROMBY WARD.-Mr. BoutfloNver, opposed or
not opposed, will win in a trot.
LIME-STREET.—In this ward Mr. Kilshaw, the present
Conservative member, is opposed by Mr. Thomas More-
croft, the beaten candidate at the last two elections, and
formerly member for the ward ; and we fully anticipate
that the contest will be severe, although we are quite as
certain that it ought to result in a Conservative victory.
Mr. Kilshaw has deserved well of his constituents. As a
worker upon committees (the Markets, the Watch, and
the Health of the Town) he has been indefatigable; and
if the constituency do their duty, as they ought, the Whig-
radical lawyer will have another X added to the already
abundant tokens of rejection which he bears about with
him. In the last contest the Conservative candidate,
against the same Mr. Morecroft, had a majority of 77.
In the contest preceding, with a constituency prepared by
" precursor" and other similar efforts of Whig-radicalism,
the same Mr. Morecroft (who has an appetite for a licking
like that of the twin sister of the horseleach) was defeated
by a majority of 8, after a life and death struggle. On
this occasion we hope to see a result more like the former
than tLe latter; and that the lawyer's craving cry of
" Give ! Give !" may be responded to, by the honest
electors of the ward, by an unmistakeable trouncing,
sufficient even to satiate the leachlike longing of a Whig-
radical attorney.

ST. ANNE'S WARD.—Thanks to the revived spirits of
the Conservatives of the ward, St. Anne's is not without
a struggle to be handed over to the keeping of the Whig
faction, represented by Mr. Joseph Hornby—in office a
hack member of the dominant clique which a few years
ago rode roughshod over the town, and now the plausible
professor of moderate views and middle course measures.
At the last hour a good Conservative, Mr. H. G. Harbord,
has come forward to rescue the ward from impending de-
gredation ; and we trust that victory will crown his chi-
valrous efforts. At the same time we feel that the contest
will be a severe one, and the slender majority of the last
two years-8 and 10—ought to be a warning to the com-
mofit,t,exe
otospuurtrefnordtehr eliypearnydeniferbgeyatinwtihiledcie inon test. We attempt to predict the result ; but Mr. Harbord has
some tried and trusty friends in the ward who will think
their harness.Ne
shall
Let them go on and prosper.
WEST DERBY will be won, opposed or unopposed, by
Mr. G. H. Lawrence.
SOUTH TOXTETH.—Mr. Glazebrook (the gentleman
who last year fought such a gallant fight for Castle-street
Ward against the picked man of the Whig party, Mr.
Hugh Hornby) opposes the present Whig member, Mr.
Platt. If the good Protestant Conservatives of the ward
allow
mhiionia t
itoo
be
nao
d defeated,indusweindustry. They
shall
. They had
haidn ka lmi t tal
jeo
roi
tfyt hei r
last
year of 78, and the year preceding of 44 and surely such
an overpowering numerical superiority hits not been swal-
lowed up by earthquake or any other convulsion.