The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-09-24 00:00:00

We had remarked, in the article which has called
forth this reply, upon the want of modesty displayed
by our contemporary in setting his opinion—the
opinion of a person unlearned in the law—against
those of three eminent counsel, where the question
at issue was the interpretation to be put upon a
clause or clauses in an act of parliament. To this
he offers the following str !nge rejoinder :
"We may just ask where was our contemporary's
modesty,' in setting his opinion, and maintaining it, we.
suppose, as stoutly as he was able, against the decision of
Lords Denman, Cottenham, end Campbell ? Surely
these noblemen are as much entitled to the designation of
three eminent lawyers' as Messrs. Kelly, Cowling, and
Cardwell! Yet the Standard seems never to have sus-
pected them of infallibility, nor to have dreamed that he
was committing a breach of modesty in commenting, as
be did in no measured terms, upon their judgment in the
case of Mr. O'Connell."
In the first place, we must take leave to inform
our contemporary that we never set our opinion
against the decision of Lords Denman, Cottenham,
and Campbell, upon the legal portions of the ques-
tion at issue before them; and that, therefore, the
ohiections which we took to that decision were per-
fectly compatible with modesty. And if even we
had impugned the legal correctness of that decision,
—and we do now doubt its correctness, although
our contemporary seems well disposed to defend it,
—we had quite sufficient authority on our side to
warrant us against a charge of presumption. It
would not have been (as in this case of Rushton v.
Kelly and others) our own opinion against those of
Lords Denman, Cottenham, and Campbell; but
the almost unanimous opinions of the English and
Irish Judges—men of all shades of politics, and
large experience in criminal law—with a Lord
Chancellor and an ex- Lord Chancellor, both also of
similarly extensive experience, against the opinions
of a Whig Judge and two Whig ex-Chancellors, one
of whom never drew an indictment in all his expe-
rience ! There could be little presumption on our
part in impugning the legality of the decision of
the minority here, with such an overwhelming
weight of authority on our side.
The Courier is unfortunate in this attempt to
vindicate his modesty at our expense; but he is
still more so in his endeavour to defend his consis-
tency, in proscribing, or rather upholding Mr.
Rushton's proscription of, the Orange body:—
" We have never," he says " disapproved of the prin-
ciples of Orangeism, nor of Orange Societies, nor do we
now disapprove of them. We yield to none in admira-
tion of their general loyally, peaceableness, and efficiency
in the- discharge of all the duties of good citizens. But
what we say is. that a police force ought as far as possible
to be an impartial body, and that for this purpose it is
desirable that its members should be kept separate from
political assrciations of every description."
Strange conclusion ! Our contemporary admires
the " general loyalty " of Orangemen ; their
" peaceableness and efficiency in the discharge of
all the duties of good citizens ; but "—oh that awk-
ward word " but " how many a fine sentiment it
has marred !—" but" these " loyal," " peaceable,"
" efficient men in the discharge of all the duties of
good citizens," are unfit to discharge the duties of
a common policeman! Their being members of
the Orange Order has not, in the Courier's estima-
tion, diminished their good qualities; has not un-
fitted them for the discharge of "all the duties of
good citizens" ; yet a fanciful theory is laid down,
by which the possession of the very qualities re-
quired for the office of a guardian of the public
peace is to constitute a disqualification in its pos-
sessor ! How can any man reconcile with common
sense such logic as this ?
The Courier " yields to none in admiration of
Orangeism and Orange Societies"; and yet it is
singular with what scrupulous care he classes them,
throughout his recent lucuhrations, with Ribbonism.
The whole world knows with what motive the same
classification has been adopted by the originators of
this crusade against poor and loyal men. It was to
give a seeming impartiality to their proceedings—a
fictitious justice. The Mercury and her radical
friends would thrust out from the enjoyment of one
of the privileges of Englishmen the members of a
body known to be politically opposed to the party
of which they are themselves adherents ; and to
give a show of fairness to this proceeding—to
tempt unthinking people to hold up their hands and
exclaim, with Shylock, " Most righteous judgment !
a second Daniel ! "—they include in their ban the
members of an illegal and atrocious conspiracy,
whom they know at the time that the hands of the
magistrates cannot reach, because no man dare
tempt the law by confessing himself a Ribbonman.
That the Courier can he duped by so shallow an
artifice, we do not think ; and we cannot, therefore,
place any great reliance in his professions of respect
for Orangemen, when, with a knowledge of their
principles, their " loyalty, peaceableness, and effi-
ciency in the discharge of all the duties of good
citizens," he persists in thus holding them up to
the public eye in insulting and degrading associa-
tion with a band of felons and assassins. Our
contemporary can scarcely justify conduct like this.

The difficulty of procuring well qualified men for
the purposes of watching and guarding life and pro-
perty, combining at the same time the requisite
education and, what is also essential, sufficient bo-
dily energies, has long been felt in this and in other
towns. At the present moment, we believe, owing
to the increased prosperity of the country and the
demand for adult labour, few men, compared with
the number in former years, offer themselves to our
Watch Committee, possessed in a proper degree of
these two qualifications. Hence it has become an
object of important inquiry, by what means can the
authorities proceed in order to make the most of the
materials at their disposal ? By what means can
they proceed to give increased development to the
mental and physical powers of the members of our
police force?
With respect to the mode of developing the for-
mer, little difference of opinion can exist. Where
the elements of education are deficient, adult c.asses
might readily be formed under proper superintend-
ence. We apprehend, however, that the necessity
for such a course will not in a great degree be found
to exist, as the Watch Committee will scarcely ap-
point men n)t possessing an adequate knowledge of
the ordinary branches of education. In one point,
however, we are satisfied that, not only our own, but
every police force, is susceptible of much mental
enlightenment. It would save much of the time of
the magistra'e;, arid prevent many heartburnings,
if members of those forces were properly informed
of the extent of their powers, and the duties to
which they ought legally to confine them. For this
purpose the institution of a weekly lecture, in which
something beyond the mere regulations of the Watch
Committee and the Head Constable might be con-
veyed to these men—something of the main out-
lines of the law, as applicable to their office—would be
highly beneficial to themselves, and tend to increase
their efficiency and, at the, same tune, teach them to
confine their zeal, or their valour, within legitimate
bounds.

With respect to the kind of bodily training to be
applied, some differences of opinion may exist ; but
of one thing, we are confident, that a proper and
effective kind has not yet been applied. The bodily
requirements of a policeman are strength and ac-
tivity ; power of endurance, and capacity of calling
the physical energies into operation in emergency.
The latter qualification the monotonous every day
employments of the members of the force are not,
of themselves, calculated to create, or to improve,
if pre-existent ; and we will venture to say that the
kind of drilling, at present extensively adopted by
our Head Constable, will never produce it suffi-
ciently. What material benefit is it to the public
that the shambling ungainly men, who compose a
portion of our police, (mingled, however, with many
of a very different stamp) can " right about face,"
and even march with something like the military
precision of the awkward squad of a militia regi-
ment ? They have never to march in single or
double file to catch a thief; and, although, some
knowledge of military manceuvring may be occa-
sionally serviceable—in cases of riot or popular dis-
turbances—such military training should not be
exclusively resorted to. A course of exercising is
required which will invigorate the enti▪
re muscular
system, which will induce combined strength and
activity. Military exercising will never do this to
the extent required.
We would suggest to the authorities the resort to
a course of training and exercise for the members
of the police force, at stated hours, sim•
ilar to that
adopted in the gymnasium by Mons. Huguenin
and others, and which is beginning to be consider-
ed, as it ought to be, an important part of eitica-
Lion, even for the upper classes of society. A pro-
perly constructed gymnasium, of which that of M.
. Huguenin would furnish the model, could easily be
provided; and, whilst its use would certainly tend
much to the improvement of their health, it would,
, as surely, by increasing their physical powers, render
. the whole force more capable of discharging effi-