The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-05-07 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

THE MAGISTRATES, THE TOWN COUNCIL

AND THE ORANGEMEN.

The meeting of the To am-Council on Wednesday last
throws a little more light than we had pretioosly upon the
proceedings of the author tit s with respect to the seven
members of Orange beiiefit societies, who have been dis-
covered to belong to the Liverpool Police Fiore; and, vy,
must say, the disclosur, made do not very materially
prove the Lit sition o' he L•agisti ay. What is it taw, is
urged in defence or the proceedings ef that body, a id in
mitigation of the charge ht•ought against them of having
slighted, by the c:mrse with they ad 'pied, the Watch
Committee oF the Gan.. I? It was explained by the
Mayor t a Vie whol • affair, so tar as regards the qu-s-
Lion of ()rang-Ism to the police-force, originated out of a
procession, " said to he at Oran'te procession ;" an I
which has proved, to use the la iguage of Mr. Henry
Lawrence, to have been " a pat. y pracession of a few lads,
with yellow ribbons and a cracked drum." With the
fact of such a procession having taken place, as his cue,
the Stipendiary M igistrate bustled to the Mayor. w th a
face fall of horror doubtteas, and teade to him "certain
representations;" ho what were these we know not. We
van only gu sa that they were representations which had
beer, conveyed to biniself by the late Head Constable,
Mr. Whitty, to the eff.•ct that there were a large number
of Orangemen connected with the police-foree. The
Mayor sent for the Tawn-Clerk to share and advise -.hit
him upon the important representations t:f the Stipen-
diary ; and, haying so consulted w'th the Law Officer of
the Council, suggested, very pr •perly, that they should
communicate with the Watch Committee. So tar, then
affairs were conducted quite regularly ; and had the May-
or's suggestion been adopted, the injurious collision
which has since arisen between the Watch Committee and
the Magistracy w .old hate been avoided.
But su:•h straightforward course was not that advised
by Mr. Rhshron and the Town-Clerk. " The objection
they had "—we quote the Mayor's words as rep"rt d
—" was s;nl3), tips: they thought the matter might be
kept perfectly quiet, and do a- in a qaiet way (I) They
did not think it wool.' be necessary even to consult the
bench of Magistrates" (I I) So far then, by his worship's
own showing. :io question had arisen as to conflicting
jurisdictions, between the Watch Committee and the
Bench. That body was not to be asked to lend the sanc
tion ~f their authority to any cows which na•got b.•
adopted; but, in a quiet way, Mr. Edward Roshion, was
to assume the powers of a Fouche, the Mayor's room w s
to be converted into a bureau of secret police, and the
community was to he astounded by some sub master-
stroke of policy as was wont, in the days of the Empire,
to startle France and the world !
But it will be aslted—what, during al) this time and all
this awful secrecy, had the questi,:n of Orangeism in th.

police force, to do with the •' paltry proce.sion of lath,

. .
with yellow ribbons and a cracked drum "—the fl'S'lmeti
origin of the moveni,nts of the Mavor, the Stioentl-arv.
and the Town-Clerk ? Ila l a..y one of the seven Orange
policemen neg.ected t t enf ire • order on the occasion of
the procession in question ? We have never heard that
such was the tact ; and had it been, we should have heard
of it soon enongh. We assume, then-f...r0, that no sacti
neglect had occurred, and proceed with the doings of our
secret tribunal.

Mr Whitey, Mr. Miler, and Mr. Dowling were sum-
moned to its nreseoce. ant directed to make such ingoirif-s
as should en .ble the stipendiary and the Mayor —nat the
magistrates. mi .d—to detect the turfor 'rode parries who
were to b quietly done for. Bur, ! be,re such con-
summation c ,u1:1 he eff-rterl, the wi.ol.i affair got out !
The Mayor would have us infer tl,a this unfortunate eon-
r temps oc-nr red owing to the ins,rucii nis given to Mr.
Whitty and Mr. Mill r being laid before the Watch Com-
mittee; and a contempor.iry declares that the proceedings
in the Mayor a room, which shoul I have been kept as "A
POLICE SECRET"(!)—from whom?—would never have
been divulged bat her -he c'rcanis‘ance of Mr. Harhorki,
a member of the Ora rge orde-, being also a member of
the 1.% etch Conitoiitr,e! That bosh these conclusions are
erroneous, we know; and in fact that they are so, is self-
evident. Mr. Whitt had inform-d the seven men them-
s-Ive., and. we bel eve, the whole torre, of the resolution
to which the Mayor and st uendiary had corne—(that
Oraruemen were ineligible tor the situation of police
constah'es) —some days before the Watch Committee
knew that anything of the kind was in agitation. Why
should the Watch Committee fly tin in indignation, if,
whist quietly, the proceedings of the Mayor and stipen-
diiry had been regularly conducted, and Mr. Whitty's
instructions recorded at the time in the proceedings of
that committee? Upon this part of the defence—f.r as
such it appears to he given—we feel assured thrt we need
say no more; and with respect to the disclosure of the
great " police secret" by Mr. Harbord or any member of
the Watch Committee, it was kri,,wn to our elves. and,
we venture to say, to the Mercury as well, (who appears
to have been well primed as to what was goitigon.) before
either Mr. Harbord or any other member of the civil-
mittee knew a word about the matter!

The doings in. the Mayor.'s .room, and the " Police
Secret" of Mr. Whiity, having transpired we need not
descrihe the alacrity with whicii the m.tjoiity of the ma-
gistrates (who were themselves, in the first instance not
to have been consulted) ruseed to aid with thetrauthin sty
the Mayor and Mr. Rushton, and thus brought to a full
head the very pretty quarrel in which they bad got them-
selves involved with the Wtech Committee. Knowing as
we do the materials of which that bench is in a great part
composed, we are not surprised at finding that Mr.
Rishton's conduct received their sanction ; but it does
strike us with some little si,rpr's- to see the names of one
or two cooservaiive gentlemen recorded, as the unenqui-
ring regiair rs of Mr. Rushton's or any body's decrees.
If Mr. Ru-bton's secret police bureau had thought it po-
1-tic and prudent to act, without the concurrence or
knowledge of the Watch Committee, there was no earthly
reason. secrecy being no longer necessary, for persisting
in the course of slight towards that holy which ha-I been
oriiinally and unfortunately adopted ; and we cannot but
think that, on reflection, the gentlemen in question will
be dissatisfied with their silent acquiescence in the pro-
ceedinls of th- Radical msjority.
We are quite disposed to acquit the Mayor of any desire
to outstretch the authority of his office, sir to shew any
want of attention to tee Watch Committee, throughout
this affair. He wished to have communicatr d with that
body. But it is not at all clear that Mr. Rushton and
the T.iwn•clerk can be excused so eas-ly. Both these
offic al parties appear to have set themselves above, not
only the Watch Committee but the bench as *el; and
this c ticlusion is not at all weakened by the explanation
of the Town-clerk, that the Watch Committee were to be
communicated with "at the proper tune." Their pur-
pose was—and would have beets carried eut if the " police
secret" could have beets well kept,—fi•st, quietly to pro-
nounce the law, and then quietly to weed tie force; and
then, po-s b!y, the empty compliment would have been paid
of informing the Watch Committee of their proceedings.
Tnat such project was nit su •cess'ul, and the cottimitt-e
retidered merely the recording holy of the presiding genius
of the police-con t, we have to thank the able stand mode
against the encroachment meditated upon their powers by
Messrs. Aspinall, Harbord, Turner, and other of its
members, which we are happy to see adequately appre-
ciated by the major ty of the Couticil. Whatever may
he the opinion of the authorities to he consulted, with
respect to the legality or illegality of the Orange oiler,
and the el gibility of memb: rs of that body to situations
of public trust. we are confident that the expression of
public opinion which has already be- n elicited, will pre-
vent any fur her attempts of the bench, or a sin Ale, but
eminent, memb -r of it, to arrog ite an auttio&y wh'ch, if
they do possess, which we donor, might be wielded with-
out the very injurious result of weakenme, by outward
ant delibe ale sl.ght, the moral influence and ti.iisequent,
usefulness of a body, to whose labours the public of Li.

verimol are sn deeply indebted.
A few words, with res. ,ect to the outcry which has been
raised against Mr. Hari-ion!. as a member of the Vatch
as
,ain improperm em.
nCootmtmh
ei Committee 11154, sits.
ttrhre. Itlfe timeis er
erroneously
oiunbfliuy elt3lTireldo—ffiocfe
ther—
Let
rv''dast to highlye
t;
Orange Order. It .as urged by Mr. Itatlilione, at the
mem-
ber eoerrue
.;:fncsigtui
hcoechf
)11rnmt hte,eaetrbnc.,,ho.alngdcil:v,ot
Committee.
attqmt,
remwist,,r,
e:t
dehH.a
and
idht
tpraonpyosmeentttbeeroopfintiohne
wh'ch Mr Rathhone thus volunteers d, in his capacity of
magistrate, as a resolution in the Council ; and, if he
succeed in the effort to carry it, he sill earn the adulation
of the Mercury, and—the indignation of the Council.
With this challenge we take leave of the subject.

MERCURIAL Ef.EGANCIES & AMIABILITIES.

Our very excellent contemporary, the Mercury, is just
now in anything but a sweet temper, which we are com-
pelled, in candour, to attribute to the rapid decline taking
place in the number of his advertisements and in his
circulation, and the increase of those of two or three of
his contemporaries,—our own paper in especial. We are
the more irresistibly driven to this conclusion from the
tact that all, or at least the principal proportion, of his
ire is dirt•cred against those contemporaries. We give a
few specimens of the tlegancies with which he bespatters
us. in chit he tacttioosly st)les his notes " To Corres-
pondents," hut what the world might sppropriatay call
" Grunts from the Mercurial stye." We quote verbatim,
and in older.

•
3 he Crescent tiny tory asks—"
Our half brother of Liter Court"—
The conductor of a shameful paper"—
Tne veracious Mail"—

" The Crescent tory"— •
" Our fiend of the Courier"—(Our friend is not ma-
terially damaging the Mercurial property, and hence, per•
hap. his being let down so easily and with so sweet a
name.)
Th sz are but the titular insolencies of which the spleen
of a failing organ vents itself. The insolence of remark
is infinitely ',tore disgusting and indecent. The conduc-
tors of a pint acknowledged to be the 1, apt talented in
Liverpool, ,•r in Lancashire,—whose influence is solely in
Ho.ops to let", " Situation., uaoted," and " Wanted
a maid of all work," &c.,—ought to be more modest.

EARLY CLOSING —We are glad to 'perePive that the
boot-makers are about to adopt the now almost general
system of arty r losing.
GRAND CONCERT AT THE ROYAL AMPIITTHEATRE.
—A grand concert is antiouixed for to-morrow evening
at the Royal Amphitheatre, under the patronage of the
Worship:til the Mayor. It is fo the benefit of Miss
HamiLon, of the Ph•lharmonic Concerts, a highly ta-
-1440 and deservirg young is y, who has for this occa-
sion, engagiged. at a great expense, a coostellation ot
talent. instrument 1. as meil as vocd. Am ,ngst the
•' stars" viii a-pear the !.ar famed Herr Ernst, tile greatest
t-f the day; Sign Palt..ni, of ihe Lahti') Opera
Hon. . London; Mr J R eves, from the Theatr.
IL Y4l. D u. y • 14ne ; Mts. pianiste; Mr. S. Per
fiats!, t.nd many tavourite 've,-e• torm Mr.
‘4, rge will I reeide vt toe want), Hun i. is lull)
a i,,a•ekt that the entertainment will be a rich treat tt.
he irflisical world.