The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-12-03 00:00:00

Dee. 3, 1844

MEETING OF MAGISTRATES.

was
n. Thursday a meeting of the Borough Magistrates
v..,eld to t.,ke into consideration the resolutions T f the
itch Committee as to the alleged interference with the
Pa .hce,
Some
a.olconversation took place as to sending the deposi-
O .s taken in Mr. Parker's case, when it was decided to
furnish therm, Mr David Hodgson having said there was
a,naptrit of hostii, y whatever in the minds of the Watch
other object
towards the magistrates, and they had no
object in view but to obtain information for the pur-
Po e- of investigating the conduct of one of their own
tbo_cloy, to their own satisfactian. They had pre-judged
°,ning ; and they were desirous to have the evidence in
oruer to go through an examination, so that they might
arrive at a just conclusion.
0.1; hi eresolations of the Watch Commi•tee (as given in
aandlB'g t) were then read, after which Mr. Rushton rose
-aid that at the last meeting they had rather a warm
been e
ii°,i vora n upon the matter, and the resolution that bad
a
passed upon his motion. That resolution
Contained what he believed to he essential to the good go-
verociameat of the poece force •, and there was also added to
°
_I. ~tt t t it should " be entered upon the general order book
he police force." '1 hat resolution passed unani-
s
rgri_oon,if Ito 2.vi
uiion, r. Dowling who was ordered to , xectite the
and so to enter it, called upon him (Mr.
be
.L'a liton,a ) the next day, and said he had some doubts
whether the magistrates had thought of the fact that " the
teonienral order-book " was the property of the Watch
_‘:g.itniittee, or that, properly, the agistiates had n 9
tight to order entries in it. Immediately he (Mr. Rush-
ton)co said " We have no right to eider it in the Watch
Wit mo,iittee's book ; get a book of your own, letter it
_h Minwes of orders' received by you from the Ma-
r_ rates, and enter the order there.'' He (Mr. Rushton)
ik.neetn. had a communication with the Mayor upon the sub-
the Tolle went over to his Worship, and saw him with
awl, wn-clerk He discussed the question with them,
0_ ~r 1."1 the specific
ling 11, pon his own rasponsibil ty, he excused Mr. Dow-
peof that art of the
ilteNlehicli related to there ntryrmance of the resolutp ion in the
t i
o get Committee's honk, desiring him at the same time
the tna-a;b2" of his own. in which to enter the order of
first n;r:'rates. He (Mr. Rushton) also said. that at the
ask for
ter, actietMg of the magistrates he would explain the mat-
boak a resolution to prevent any entries in the
~,„ s of the IVatch Committee. He then said to the
a'vjnoYtl7 that h, would take the further step of having
finally
meeting of the magistrates torthwith ; but it .vas
V.u., Y agreed that it would-not be necessary, as he (Mr.
w-il•dzuld not explain the whole business at the first
it,nl might he held. He had, therefore, now explained
ysr anti be trusted he had ex, rci,ed a sound diacretion, in
fere,""ting the inadvertence being carried into effect of en-
Iv 'g, their resolutions and orders upon the books of the
~'arch Committee, with which they. as magistrates had
notlong to do. (Hear, hear.) Upon some parts of the
Proceedings of the Vt'atch Committee, he had certainly
hadsumethin 1 He 'assured the magistrates, that it
. g 0 say.
", given him the greatest pleasure to read those pro-
-Fpedit g-,. They were an approach to an harmonious ac-
tion between those who had but one interest at stake—
the Watch Committee and the magistrates. The Watch
Committee had adopted, as one of their regulations, the
aubat 'lice of the resolution the magistrates had passed
last week, and this new regulation the NO atch Committee
could enforce as well as the magistrates could enforce
their order. They were, indeed, one and the same : and
therefore, he hailed the regulation es a sign of a good, and
PrnOer:feeling in reference to these matters, and wt 'e he
b
Watch
with great pleasure emanating from the body of the
Cornmi tee. It was one of those things that
vr"uld redound more to th it honour, and credit, in the
town, than any thing done by them for a long time pa-t.
He must however, take the tibeity of saying though he
agreed with these regulations, that he coulcrE permit,
neon any Occasion, any doubt to be thrown upon the au-
thot ity of the magistrates to issue ord rs for the direction
of the police force. He said this to save the right of the
magistrate.. He did not object to the form of the resolu-
tioa of the Watch Committee, which was skilfully drawn
—" That it is the opinion of this committee the above
resolution [of the magistrates] amount to a regulation
of the police forge—(he was 'very glad they had made it.
50)—and can only as such legally emanate from that
committee." The words as such saved all cavil about
the matter; but still the jurisdiction of the Watch Com-
me tee and the magistrates can
and he wanted it to be understood to each ,
came very near .
that the magistrates
had a right, a pre-eminent right, to give orders directly
from themselves, to the police force. If the Watch Corn- raittee should fortunately (for he should esteem it a very _1
fortunate circumstance) see in any orders which the ma- 1
gistrates issued, such power as might be conveni,ntly by
them applied to their own regulations, and by adopting
hem enlarge their own jurisdiction. it would give him the
greatest pleasure ; and he was sure the magi-grates would
issae nu orders to the police force which the Watch Com-
mittee might riot wholesomely adopt as part of their regu-
lations. He, therefore, begged to express the great plea-
sure he felt that the Watch Committee hail, by the fram.
lug of this, recognised the propriety and importance of
. keeping the officers of police beyond all interterence;
L a
whilst, at the same time, he must save the jurisdiction of
• the justices by saying that their order was in force, as
regarded them ; and, as the Watch Committee had made
it a regulation, it was in force, as regarded them.
There could be no cavilling, then, upon the matter : the
magistrates had ordind the Commissioner of Police to
communicate any interference to the Mayor; whilst the
Watch Conira tee had ordered the Head-constable to
communicate it to them, and they would lay it before the
Mayor. There was, therefore, little or no difference be-
tween them ; and, in conclusion, he was very glad to
move that the " evidence be sent to the IWiyor, for the in-
for_h_oietion of the Town Clerk and the Watch Committee."
Z.: blon.NuY seconded the motion.
siojunsr,vh._ppoosoN was very sorry to hear the expres-
sions
Watch ~,114d been used with regard to the language
of
perfe c -onlniittee's resolution, for he could ray, with
one et truth, that among the members 4it there was only
The sentiment, which was to give efficiency to the force.
~ 3' certainl-
y deprecated the assumption of their futic-
',va in the regulation of the police, not that they were in-
pt IduallY jealous, but because they had a duty to perform
in tie maintenance of their position and the support of
the law. They did think that the order of the magistrates
was an interference with them • but they did not see any
objection to it as a regulation. 'lt was a part of the whole
regulations of the police force, and the Watch Committee
did not object to the reiteration of it. After one or two
Other ohs-rvations, the speaker said that the Head Con-
stable and Commissioner had been required peremptorily
to carry out the order, by one of the magistrates, by lead-
ing it at the head of the force, and given to understand
that if he did not, there would be a meeting of magistrates
called the next day, for the purpose of exelcisinr, their au-
thority in his dismi-sal. lie was told that if he also asked
Permission from the Watch Committee to read the order,
the same consequences would ensue. He (Mr. H oigson)
did not think that this was a course which any tnagis,rate,
for parte ought to have taken with regard to the Head
Constable and Commissioner. However, the resolutions
of the magiatrate., such as they were, were distinctly fra.
Med to prevent the interference of any individual member
of the Watch Committee, without autt,ority, but if they,
as magistrates, were in a position to prevent that interfe-
rence, it was riot a little
singular that an individual
under .. c mistan
ma-
gistrate should take upon himself, any or A . -
ces, tne exercise of his authority to suppress a portion of
those resolutions without calling the magistrates together
to ask them whether it had their concurrence He quite
agreed that, in RD exigency, such an exercise of authority
was proper and right; Iv, in this case, where was the
haste ? Why were not the magistrates consulted ? The
Head Constable had himself sated he believed the whole
to be irregular, in fact that it was illegal ; and, after all,
what did he do? Why he only read a portion of the re-
bad induced ,he magistrates to come to the decmision. The
pirearhole cowained a charge against an individual, and
'"Rit no lawyer, he shout I say that whether the indivi-
dual accused were guilty or not, he was guilty of no legal
oterel cTion • therefore, any magistrate publishing and d--
clarin that
i laityg preamble so affect' g his character, would be
opposed to a pose, ution. He did not say it would
aatily be so, but he thought the oiscretion exercised by 1
.I';,(2oHead Constable a very sound discretion, iii not going
1:Int- re. the force arid publishing the resolution, as against
uh,i)ndiyidual member of the Watch Committee—a man
ea oldl'all not been convicted of anything the magistrates
...a . take cognizance of. He thought the decision of the
tie gnistrat. s at their list meeting moat extraordinary, and
be confess he was taken by surprise at it. He re-
Ped their decisions in general; they were entitled To
consideration,. at the hand of every individual, and he
thuouldh not speak of them with disresp .ct. But he had
had t very much since upon their proceediags, and he
were on with men upon the bench (not here) who
the i_Perrf'efly surprised, that, whilst they complained of
to
a‘dt.. fertnee of au ind:vidual with their offic rs—not
11 'id the bw bt t •
, u o give effect to it —they should not
gave been
they. w called together themselves to consider whether
body tould warrant the interference by one of their own
a,,,.,..,°0811Ppre5s one portion of the resolution they had
-4' '
r• Rust,
- the. last 'rota here said that he had been attacked by
again, onwsP,Laker, but lie did not mean to be provoked
say',,, of „o'er stron..iv
he • in.r••Hod -
5 his feelings might be row.ed, into
, reedy oese Pon what he had said last week, which
01 r • Rushton) had, and which lie deserved now. He
dismiss, or hold rad done no such thing as to threaten to
gunge to that I.f tott any intimidation, or we any 'in-
to aim,
and , eet to Mr. Dowling. Mr. Dowling came
tamed (ni th'le. he feared het resolution could not be en-
It e ara,
osho to
.. arch Committee's books; and he (Mr.
Want to
liisiigreed with him. Mr. Dowling then said " I
tie • , Your advice and I hope • i •
ou will g ve it to
Use 0 You tlink I '
'' n,, O. Ought to submitthis
-the t0r,,,,; es to the Watch Committee before I read it
cuclit ~,,t lie (Mr. Rushton) said, "Mr. Dowling, you
if yen deel you are either to obey the magistrates or
be stilton° ise t,o obey their orders the magistrates must
tfovois, 'led:. ' As to using any sort of threat to Mr.
it aa,, gof dismissal, or holding out anything of the kind,
NI "' 1-11 nolo- untrue T. flo ~
Alr. tip
ox.—He says so.
ige,q3er. "IT"..-it is utterly untrue: I deny it alto-
ane, rt
M ''olvetreG was sent for, and during the interval,
Mr. to,
vet tilt
,-,BliTox, again denying the assertion, said he
illaatiledge Isis honour to this point. He must, now
th, a,,Ts.charge had beer, made, demand a formal vote from
n.
r":7strates. as to his discretion in waiving the art of
o,!' t Jtiona referred to. p
b,y vipe,svrry strong personal allusions were here made
Air ;ts- Ralabone and Rushton.
%onto 'loloosola which did not mean to take the matter
O 'e manner ir, •
le 'le_ i it hid been taken tip by Mr. Rush-
teeth. '"e roaring and ge-; iculstion that came from that
foro than Wu re hest h..b. A --.• h ex:•l it,. to the town in their native
th e left bi e tcw in and hi- education to be estimated_ by
had 1, ll' Its
. .-r, e(Mr. Hodgscres) education and conduct
a- o anoth .
air. BAR
ler school.
E.-- lashould like to have the opinion of the