The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-06-09 00:00:00


JUNE 9, 1535,

owe to certain parties, a Million of money. We
,believe
we ate not far from the mark, but we take the round grim

for the sake of simplicity. Who lent this large sum to

. _
the corporation of Liverpool ? A few gentlemen of for-
tune, some retired merchants ; but the greater portion of
it is lent by retired tradesmen, in their own names, but
for the benefit of children, and survivors who have not yet

any direct control. Who borrowed this money? The
members of the corporation, who, being a self-elected
body, had no other credit than that which rested upon
their well-known wealth, honour, integrity, and intelli-

Bence. The lender reposed confidence in them, because
they were men of unquestionable responsibility and un-
-blemished character. The money was lent to such men
as the LEYLANDS,the BOURNES, the `RIGHTS, the HORs-
VALLS, the ROBINSONS, the MOSSES, the LAWRENCES, the

THOMPSONS, the ASPINALLS, the TOBINS, and many

others, all equally respectable. These gentlemen were
trusted in their capacity as trustees as they would be and
are trusted as private individuals. One or two of these

names &one would be sufficient security for the whole

ilebt of the corporation of Liverpool. The lenders, there-
fore, when they lent their money, had every reason to
believe that they had a life interest in the security of

these gentlemen. They could have had no misgivings
while such affluent and honourable men had the manage-

anent of the property.
But what does Lord Jos RUSSELL propose to do
lie proposes to open this important trust, in whicl

£1,000,000 of debt and £90,000 annual income are a

stake, to.the'meanest and scurviest rogue who pays poor.
rates in the town of Liverpool. The burgesses are not

consulted—the creditors are not consulted; the vested
interests of both are treated with contempt ; no qualifi-

Cation is required ; the paltriest quack and cheat who has
lived-three years in the borough is made as eligible as
those ‘vho have resided ia.lhe town during their whole
lifetime, us their fatfiercal before them, and pOssess as
much property as would purchase all the ten pound houses
in the county.

This we say is gross injustice towards those who have
lent money to the corporation of Liverpool. They lent
their money to the LETLANDS, J3OURNES, WRIGHTS,
HORSFALLS, &c., in whom they had confidence ; not to
WALLACE CURRIE, not to FEET, the staymaker, not to
PATRICK SHIEL, not to Dr. COLLINS, not to URQUHART,

the carpet-man, not to GODFREY BARNSLEY, not to one
HARVEY, Or one HARBOTTLE, or one RATHBONE, or one
THOMAS BOLTON. NO. - They lent their money to re-
sponsible, honourable, and independent men ; not to
talking chat latans, with pockets and heads alike empty;
not to persons alike bankrupt in credit and reputation;
and therefore, before this transfer of an important trust
can be concluded, they are entitled either to have their
loans returned or be heard in their own defence.

This right is too clear and undeniable to be chal-
lenged—this contemplated wrong too obvious and bare-
faced to be defended. We know not what course these
parties will be advised to pursue; but that which it is the
duty of the corporation to adopt cannot admit of the
slightest dispute. It is this. Before the. common coun-
cil can consent to the provisions of Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S
it is their duty first of all to CALL A MEETING
OF THEIR CREDITORS. They are bound to explain
to their creditors that the trust will be transferred, should
this bill pass, into OTHER HANDS. They must tell
them that they will not consent to act as trustees, even if
clected, subjected and exposed to the annoyance and tur-
moil of a contested election every year—that they will
not join the mob in a scheme of plunder—that they will
not associate with the persons who are likely to be re-
turned as members of the common council,- and that, be-

ing no parties to the fraud, they are willing to act for
their benefit before it be TOO LATE.
This, we say, is the duty of the corporation ; and, as
honourable men, we cannot see how or upon.. what
grounds they can hesitate to perform it.
The next point is that Which concerns the burgesses of
Liverpool. In this corporation, as in most others, a bur-
gess is entitled to certain privileges, some of them valu-
able, and, which he has acquired by inheritance or servi-
tude, or has received as the reward of services rendered
to the town by his father or some near relation. The
property of the corporation belongs to the mayor, bai-
liffs, and burgesses. It is as much their property as the
toll dues upon Covent Garden market in London are the
property of the Duke of BEDFORD. It is as much their
property as the railway is the property of the sharehold-
ers, or as the steam-boats are the propeity of any steam-
packet company. The privileges they enjoy are proper-
ty. They have the power to transmit these privi!eges,
being property, to their children and to their apprentices.
Now, flow is this property-privilege acquired by a stran-
ger? By servitude as an apprentice toa burgess for a
term of seven years. This is the purchase money. The
apprentice has given a certain quantum of labour for his
privileges, just as if he ltad'paid so much money for the
same. It is his prolierq', to him for life, and to his sons,
ennditionally,in perpetuity. It is as much ins owN as
is-the house he has purchased, the property left him by
his father, or the coat on his back which he has bought
and paid for.
But how does Lord JOHN RUSSELL
.propose to treat
this property ? He sweeps it away from its lawful own-
ers, and from the face of the earth, without inquiry,
without consideration, without offering the slightest com-
pensation. The bill abrogates, annuls, and extinguishes
for, ever the _rights and privileges of the free burgesses.
He proposes that every man who has paid poor rates for
three years in the town of Liverpool shall have the ex-.
clusive powers hitherto and at present vested in the bur-
gesses. What they served seven years to obtain he nul-
lifies—and he gives it to those who shall have for three
years paid poor rates !
Let us see how this Will work. A young man, a na-
tive of the town, the apprentice of a freeman, fulfils his
indenture at the age of twenty-one. Will be have a vote
fcr a member of the corporation ? No, says Lord JorrN;
he is not eligible to vote until he is twenty-one years of
age, and therefore he must take a house, and pay poor
rates for three years more; before lie ..:an be eligible to
do that for which he had served seven years as an appren-
tice ! On the other hand': down comes from London a
dapper retailer of tapes and buttons—he takes a shop in
a back lane—he pays• poOr rates for three years—HE
IS ELIGIBLE TO VOTE! •
Is not this injustice ? is not this foul wrong commit-
ted against -a 'working .apprentice ? Why serve seven
years but to obtain his freedom, which will be denied
him under the bill, and conferred upon a stranger, upon
a troop of Irish pig drivers---upon comparative foreigners.
If the people of England Auction such a bill as this, then
will • we believe that they are ripe for palling to pieces
every institution of thenionarchy. And to think too
that it is a.son of the Duke of BEDFORD who leads the at-
tack upon property—a Than whose property is more vul-
nerable and assailable than that of 'any peer or com-
moner in England—who possesses more grants from the
crown, and questionable ones too, inasmuch as he who
made them obtained them' for very different purposes than
to confer them upon the worthlesi but convenient per-
sons who swept the dust in the anterooms of the palace—
the favourites of a tyrant. If corporation estates are
thus to be handed over to a lawless democracy, how long
will it be before the estates of the nobility meet the same
fate ? Not long.
But let us consider the bill in another point of view.
Lord JOHN proposes to give the public at large an inter-
est in borough property. 'lf they are entitled to this at
all, which we deny, surely they are only entitled to it
in the ratio of their property. Those who pay poor
rates exercise a control over the election of their officers
in proportion to the amount they pay. This is a wise and
just law. It has reference to property and it is based on
Property. Why not adopt this rule in borough pro-
perty ? Why should KEET, the stay-maker, who never
Paid a farthing of town dues in the whole course of his
life—who never contributed a sous towards the improve-
, gents of Liverpool—why should he have as great a voice
is the election of corporate officers as Messrs. TAYLOR
and POTTER, Mr. DUNCAN GIBB, or Mr. BIBBY ?_ If it
be a question of property, give us, then, in the name of
iustiee and common -sense, the benefit of what Lord
404114 has termed the "legitimate influence of property."

That would not suit his purpose. The "legitimate influ-
ence" is only allowed to be exercised in whi g boroughs.

But the bill is contrived for a diversity of purposes
purely of a party and selfish kind. Since the first acces-
sion of the whigs to power, their sole and undivided aim
has been to create patronage. Every change they have
proposed—every measure they have carried—every bill

they have introduced, has had for its object the enlarge-
ment of their sphere of action, the extension of their in-
fluence, the aggrandizement of their power. In the bill
before us, they reserve to themselves the patronage and
appointment of all recorders. If any corporation wishes
to have a recorder, and choose to give him a good sti-
pend, they will condescend to nominate one. This, of
itself, is a direct attack upon the independence of the
bar. GOD help the poor tory who shall aspire to the
honours of a recordership ! Adieu to the Sir CHARLES
WETIIERELLS, Sir FREDERICK POLLOCKS, Sir WILLIAM
FOLLETTS, and the best men of the bar ! No barrister
will have a chance who does not kiss the ground before
the feet of a Whig. Every lawyer will be made a depend-
ent upon the crown who hopes for preferment, particu-
larly if, unlike Mr. JAMES KENNEDY, he have no borough
or slaves to barter.

But this is not all. The municipal bill is to create a
host of commissions—another bait for hungry, briefless,
and talentless lawyers. A commission i's to be appointed
to examine the claims upon corporations, and decide as

to what bonds can be cancelled—what creditors cheated.
Think of thiS, good people who have lent money to cor-
porations ! A second commission is to be appointed, ob-
viously for the purpose of robbing the corporations of
their church patronage. This will be an expensive and
durable affair—but more grist to whig lawyers. A third
commission is to be appointed to determine the bounda-
ries of boroughs, which will take care to sack as much of
the public,money as possible, and prolong the inquiry- to
the latest period. '
Sneli are the jobs, apart from the more glaring injus-
tice contemplated by Lord JOHN RUSSELL. It requires
no ghost to tell us that the whole time of the present ses-
sion will be occupied and exhausted with the present cor-
poration reform bill. It will be the month of August
before it can pass the lords, if ever it pass their lordships,
who will be blind indeed if they do not see that it is an
attack upon them. Wilhite country endure this? Will
the protestants of England remain silent and see the
clergymen of Ireland murdered in cold blood, in open
day, and not call upon parliament to put an end to the
horrid scenes which distract and disgrace that mob-ridden
and ill-fated island ?
But another repulsive part of the fraud remains to be
exposed. There is no clause in Lord JOHN'S bill which
has reference to the corporation of London. The most
corrupt borough in the King's dominions is passed over.
Householders are not admitted to neutralize the votes of
the venal and corrupt livery. The noble author of the
bill tells us that the reform of the London corporation
will form the subject of another. We put no confidence
in his professions—we do not believe him—because Lon-
don comes as much wiAbin the grasp of reform—comes
more within its grasp, if justice be done—than any other
borough.

Mr. Tnomas aisti, the member for, we forget where,
we take to be as consummate a blockhead as ever drew
a blank in the lottery of wisdom, and yet by accident he
sometimes raves in the right key. The other night he
brought forward a motion in favour of what might be
called " flying stationer parliaments," much to the hor-
ror of Alderman WOOD and the Cockneys, by calling up-
on the House of Commons to vote itself an occasional
sail to Dublin and a ride to Edinburgh. We are not sure
that Btsn did propose the ride northwards, but the sail
westwards we take leave to be positive about.

He drew—that is a professional word—the attention of
the house to the policy of holding parliaments in Dublin ;
the house laughed, and Brsn's ticket did not turn up a
prize. But still that is no reason why it should not have
done so. London is certainly most inconveniently situ-
ated, being at the extremity of the island, and not acces-
sible without a considerable expenditure of good money.
FEARGUS O'CONNOR, it is true, is relieved from the trou-
ble of riding so far on the outside of a mail coach, after
a desk passage across the channel; but there is Mister
O'DWYER, and Master NIORGAN, and PADDY FINN, and
JOHN BRADY, and Dr. TERENCE O'BALDWIN, of Cork,
and the two O'RUTHVENS, and a pretty considerable troop
of other worthy.and honourable persons who have no mo-
ney to spare for such costly excursions, and not any su-
perabundant credit at the coach offices. On them, there-
fore, it is a cruel hardship to he obliged to travel, even
in a waggon, from
.Bristol, or Liverpool, to• London. It
would unquestionably be much more. pleasant and con-
venient for these excellent persons to have a parliament.
in Dublin, the only drawback being that it would be
equally and deplorably hard on the HUME tail, the
BUCKINGHAMS, ROEBUCKS, HARVEYS, BULWERS, Bow-
RINGS, WAKLEYS, DUNCOMBES, and WHALLEYS, IO be
obliged to go to. Dublin. •
But let us treat. the subject with strict impartiality. If

the-convenience and the pockets of the Irish joints are to
be consulted, is nothing to be done for the patriots who
are located on the north side of the Tweed? Will no
man say a word in favour of that candle-snuffer of a
statesman who is known by the title of WALLACE of
Kelly ? To oblige himwhy., should not the parliament
sit occasionally in Greenock? Just imagine for a mo-
ment, most jocose reader,. the British parliament sitting
in Greenock !
But to be serious, thereare several of the Scotch mem-
bers who can as ill afford to travel to, and live in London,
cheap though lodgings now are, as many of the Irish
members. The charity of Bisu, therefore, was one-
sided and unkind towards Scotland,• for if he imagines
that a 'Scottish statesman could live at less expense in
Dublin than in London, he- is mightily mistaken. Our
own opinion is that the imperial parliament should. be
held in the centre.of Great Britain and Ireland, and the
spot we take to be Oldham, a remarkably neat place,
nice people, excessively amiable and polite, where the
fine arts and the higher sciences are cultivated to an im-
mense extent. Mr. FIELDEN'S mills, we presume, are
convertible, and old COMETT would be quite at home.
There are few pigs and not many potatoes in the vici-
nity. We recommend the idea, quite an original one,
,to Mr. Btsit. •

LONDON LATEST NEWS.

City, Saturday Evening, Half-past Seven o'clock.

Our consol market has rallied since our last report, and the
price of consols for account has been 'at 91i, rather buyers.
Money has been easy owing to the liberality,
.with which the
bank has discounted for respectable parties. The market for
consols has been rather flatter to-day, which is generally the
case on Saturdays, and the last quotation was 91. Consols, 3
per cents, are shut for the dividend, as are the new 22 per cents
and India stock. The floating securities have improved consi-
derably—Exchequer bills having advanced to 34 36 prem., and
India bonds are 14 to 16 prem.

In the foreign market, however, the panic to which we al-
luded in our last is far from recovered. Spanish bonds and
scrip must be considered as nearly unsaleable, the former being
quoted at 30 to 40, and the latter at 11 to 13 discount, and we
do not hesitate to say that any attempt to realize even their
depreciated prices would be to any extent impossible. It would
seem from the private advices from Spain that the Spanish go-
vernment is in a state of great disorganization, and that the in-
telligence
of the triumphant career of 2umalacarreguy had made
a marked impression at Madrid, notwithstanding every effort
used by the government agents to prevent the news obtaining
currency. Some sales of Portuguese bonds, upon which the
dividend is now in course of payment, caused them to fall on
Thursday to 84 ex dividend,
,but some money purchases made
yesterday advanced them to 88. They have, however, again
dropped, and are now sq. All the trans-atlantic bonds must
be considered entirely nominal ;—Columbian are 34, Chilian
48, MeXican 341, and Brazilian 82. The northern bonds are
tolerably steady ; 991 is the price of Belgian, 100; a that of
Dutch 5 per cents, 55i that of the 2,1 per cents, and 7% that of
Danish. In shares everything is entirely nominal.
Our accounts from Jamaica, of a similar date to those men-
tioned in the last LIVERPOOL STANDARD, state that cases of
yellow fever had shown themselves at Kingston, as well as on
board some of the ships in the harbour.

We have also late dates from Canada. A rumour was cur-
rent at Quebec, founded on credible information from Montreal,
that the leaders of the Montreal convention had resolved upon
not coming to meet the royal commissioner unless he be named
by parliament, nor attending at the meeting of the legislature