The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-07-11 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

ginated in the absence of Rajah and the eastern car.
The fireworks were on an extensive scale ; and, in addi-
tion to the usual display in front of the representation of
the city and bay of New York, a little paper balloon was
let off from the centre of the gardens, from which a va-
riety of beautifully -coloured fire-works shot forth ' • and a
magnificent pyrotechnic illumination, " Thanks to our
Patrons," concluded the evening's entertainments, with
the exception of the ball, which continued until midnight.

THE GRAND HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITION AT THE
CORN EXCHANGE.—This show took place on Thursday
last, and realized all the expectations of the most sanguine
s. The display of plants, flowers, fruit, &c., was
, and the day being fine the attendance was very

amatet

numerous. The exchange was tastefully decorated with
evergreens, &c., and the whole arrangements were highly
creditable to the " management." We cannot find space
for a list of the successful competitors for prizes; suffice
it to say that nearly all the horticulturists in the neigh-
bourhood, and also the nurserymen, who have before dis-
tinguished themselves by their skill and perseverance in
producing rare and beautiful specimens, were successful;
and that the awards of the judges, (who were somewhat
puzzled to decide,) were admitted by all connoiseurs to be
just and legitimate. 'We lament to say that some parties
in genteel attire, meanly carried away some of the fruit,
&c., which, in some instances, gentlemen's gardeners
are required to return. We concur with our contem-

porary the Chronicle, that a practice so disgraceful ought
hereafter be averted by the introduction of a few of the

ELECTION OF AN ASSISTANT OVERSEER AND COLLEC-
TOR FOR THE TOWNSHIP OF WALLASEY.—ID conse-
quence of the collector of parish and other rates, for some

years back, having left the locality, it became necessary
to choose a successor ; and, accordingly, a meeting of the
rate-payers took place on Thursday evening last, at the
Ship Inn, in Wallasey village. The attendance was
numerous, and amongst those present were the Curate
and several influential gentlemen of the locality. Mr.
Bateson was called to the chair, and neatly introduced the
business. It was proposed by several of the parties pre-
sent, that securh y should be found by the successful can-
didate for the office, to the amount of £4oo,—though the
salary, as regards the rate-payers in this department is

under £3O per annum. A gentleman resident in the village
stated, in effect, that the security required ought to be ap-
portioned to the salary, which was but small, and in order
that they might engage the services of an efficient and
honest man, who might-not be enabled to procure so large

£l5O, which he considered would be quite sufficient, (if
the books and accounts were properly looked after, to
ensure the parishoners from all loss. This proposition
was agreed to, and the meeting was adjourned to this day
(Tuesday), for the purpose of electing an assistant over-
seer and collector to fill the situation now vacant.

THE
LIVERPOOL CONSTITUTIONAL ASSOCIATION

On Tuesday last, the quarterly meeting of this associ-
ation was held at the Clarendon Rooms,—Mr. Alderman
Molyneux in the chair. That gentleman expressed his
regret that Mr. S. Holme's health prevented his atten-
dance, and read a letter from him to the effect that had
he not been forbidden by his physician he would have
been present.

Mr. BUCKMASTER, the secretary, then read the report
The following are the heads :

The memorial to the Council, calling their attention to the

frivolous objections made by parties on the registries, had been
presented, and received very general support.
The committee had drawn up a petition to the Commons
praying for the exemption of Liverpool from the operations of
the Health of Towns Bill. The petition was signed by 1661
persons. The deputation from the committee had had an in-
terview with Lord Morpeth, and have since reported-
-Ist. That a petition signed by one-tenth of the ratepayers of
any borough having a local act must be presented.
2d. That on that petition a local enquiry must be made.
3d. That should the local enquiry confirm the petition, then
a special act has to be passed to place it on Lord Morpeth's
bill. Thus, for the present, it rests; but it is the opinion of
the deputation that it is next to an impossibility Liverpool will
ever be affected by it.

The committee had taken some steps with respect to the Na-
vigation Laws, and being solicited to oppose any alteration in

•....,..4.11C111,1111 }Pi 111,11/I.CO VI LiIUOG IgA,7IS, 011. 13.1JVACI, 011 • 'a.,
H. Horsfall, and Air. James Tobin, agreed to propose and se-
cond certain resolutions.

At the request of some influential merchants, the committee
had drawn up a petition to the House of Commons, praying
for enquiry into the negligence of officials in the Colonial Office,
withholding certain documents of great importance from the
committee on the Sugar Duties. It was signed in a very short
t; leading

rime by most of the leading mercantile men of the toin, and
had been forwarded for presentation. The committee in con-
clusion state:—

"That in the present condition of the country, when doc-
trines subversive of that real liberty which is enjoyed under
our monarchial institutions are openly promulgated, when our
finances are injured, our commerce prostrated, our colonies
ruined, and our artizans thrust upon the nation by parliament,
under the specious name of free trade, it is the paramount duty
of all lovers of their country to join an association, which has
for its objects the preservation of our liberties under that form
of government which has for ages stood the test of trial, and to

preserve our privileges on the basis of commercial reciprocity
with all nations, in order to insure for the artizan, the peasant,
the operative, and the merchant seaman, that fair reward for
his labour which Englishmen have been used to enjoy. And,
combined with a provident expenditure, to enforce a sound
and equitable system of taxation, which shall combine the
greatest return to the national exchequer, with the least pres-
sure on the English producer and consumer."

Dr. TRENCH, on rising to move the adoption of the re-
port, was received with rapturous applause. He said :
The absence of Mr. Holme imposes upon me the agree-
able duty of now moving the adoption of the quarterly re-
port. It is gratifying to recognise, in these labours of
your committee, the successful advocacy of those great
constitutional principles which form the basis of this asso-
ciation ; and it is encouraging for us to know that the Li-
verpool public has responded, with enthusiastic adherence,
to all those appeals which have been made to English
honesty, in favour of English faith, vested rights, and good
old English customs. (Cheers.) It is no vain boast to
assert, that the impulsive tide of selfishness, which passed
with irresistible force over the length and breadth of the
land—which filled the country with the crude fallacies of
Manchester economists—which swept Whigs and Peelites
into the whirlpool of free-trade, and into the shoals of ex-
pediency—which threatened to overwhelm the moral
grandeur of this great empire as effectually as it has effaced
the prosperity and social happiness of the citizens—that
this mighty wave of error, which the Times was wont to
call " the great fact," has been first stemmed in Liver-
pool. Yes, sir, the ebb shall date from those large town
meetings of our borough, where Christian philanthropy
warred face to face with the dreamy notions of the fol-
lowers of the Cobden Rousseau; and where English mer-
chants defended, in this mart of commerce, the claims of
British industry,. British capital, British colonies, and
British ships, against the bastard liberalism of slave-deal-
ing traders. Yes, sir, the ebb is certain, though it may be
slow; for its reflux is impeded by many a foul encum-
brance, and many an accumulated wreck ; but the tide
will surely obey the great law of error and pass away, and
men will wonder at their own simplicity. They will
wonder and make a by-word of Charlatanry, of Cobden
and his Co,ooo—(hear, hear, and laughter)—of the base-
ness of Sir Robert, and his treachery to his part;,. They
will not wonder at such an old fact as the Whig's incom-
petency. The report of your committee refers to the op-
position given by this association to Lord Morpeth's
health of town's bill. Now, sir, it is a cunning device of
Whiggism to insert some single seed of their political gar-
ner in every social measure whish is offered to the public ;
and it is consistent with the Machiavellian policy to know
that this seed will germinate and bring forth the fruits of
evil. Now, sir, the Whig seedling of the gentle Morpeth
is called centralization. It is an exotic—an early yield of
" Robespierre's Free Trade of Liberty;" and it is not the
least curious of the anomalies of these modern times, that
this centralization, with this accompanying functionarism,
which sprung up in the wildest moments of the French
Revolution, and became the crushing instrument of the
tyranny of the Jacobin democracy, should have been
adopted by all the despotic states of the continent as the
suitable machinery of their government. And yet it is
scarcely curious, if we recal the numerous bastiles of the
Whig poor-law with which it has already defaced the once
beautiful surface of once merry England. Now, sir, this
system of centralization is repugnant to the spirit of the
English constitution—it is opposed to the municipal self-
government, and to all control of the people over the ad-
ministrators of their financial expenditure. It leads to all
the abuses of unrestrained patronage, and all the wasteful-
ness of uncontrolled commissioners, and yet its financial
cost is-nothing to its moral cost in that deteriorating in-
fluence on the industry, the habits, and the moral condi-
tion of the people. It was on those high grounds that
this association opposed Lord Morpeth's bill, and I must
congratulate the committee on the energy they displayed
in obtaining for Liverpool an exemption from its baneful
influence. I need hardly say how cordially I sympathise
with those concluding sentences of the committee's report
which portray the pressing dangers of these troublous times
and urge upon us the necessity of unrelaxed exertion in
the good cause. It is, sir, when the spirit of anarchy and
civil discord stalks over the nations of continental Europe
—when the sedition of the English Chartist and the trea-
son of the Irish Repealer add force to the propogandism
of French. Republicans—it is when inexoraole theorists
would follow the phantoms of their crazy imaginations
through all the horrors of a bloody contest—it is in such
appalling times as these in which we live that an English-
man may ask, with anxious apprehension,—Who are our
country's ministers ?—who are the pilots of the looming
storm ? Oh, sir, they are a shifty set—imbecile in coun-
cil, yet bold and powerful in patronage—unknown by le-
gislative acts, yet familiar by Gazette appointments.
These Russells, Elliotts, and Greys are the evastating
locusts of our land—the instruments of a wrathful lispen-
sation on our afflicted country. Who are our pilots for
the coming storm ? They are placemen by profession—
statesmen by an accident—ministers by the sufferance of
contending parties. They have neither wisdom to ori-
ginate, honesty to maintain, power to carry into effect,
any legislative measures. Do Ido them justice ? Look
at their budget ! It was carelessly improvised at a sit-
ting, heedlessly altered in a night, and recklessly aban,
Boned in a day. They have a Chancellor of the Exche-
'er who announced the necessity of taxation

...reaseu
tbr increased defences of the country, and who proves, in
one short month, that this plea was trickey cheatery.
They have a Prime Minister squeaking out his haling
finalities when the great colonial empire is hastening to
destruction. They have secretaries hurking documents,
and they have the Lord Grey, " proud of his name, but
unmindful of his honesty," asserting his right as a peer of
parliament to falsify the petitions of his clients. It was,
sir, a law of ancient chivalry, that he who perverted the
truth, qui de'lluisoit la verite, was a craven knight; and
yet tis nobleman shall boldly boast an infamy in the once
honoured hall of England's peers. They have a foreign
secretary—our friend the protean Palmerston--who, wield-
ing the mighty force of England's name. forgets or trans-
poses the proud motto, "parcere subjectis et debellare
superbos," for he is a bully to the weak and a paltroon to
the strong. He forgets his country's interests in the gra-
tification of official piques and places, the honour of Eng-
land in subserviency to some paltry personality. These