The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-01-20 00:00:00

by the passing 'of the rehrin bill, the men by whom that great
charter of our liberties was secured not choosing to carry any
further measures through a Parliament which according:to their
declaration had been unduly and improperly elected. (Cheers.)
This was the motive for the former dissolution—but he asked

them as platn 'Englishmen was there any motive for the present
dissolution? (Cheers and cries of " Yes.") The difference
was indeed vastly wide. The object of the present dissolution
was to crush and counteract the effect of that wise and just
measure. (!,,` No," and cheers.) The sudden change which had
lately taken place had astonished ail England, (laughter,) and
no one could assign any probable cause for it. (Renewed
laughter.) They had been told, indeed, that the late Ministry
was incapable and imbecile, (loud laughter,) that it was divided
within itself (cries ofl" True!") by div isionsovei which it could not
get—that it was going too far—that it was going to plunge the
nation into destruction—and that it was leading the way by
what their opponents were pleased to call clanitatr, but what
they would now very gladly call public opinion. (Cheers and
laughter.) Great boons had however been granted to English-
men by this Ministry—of their dissentions no man knew any
thing. (Loud laughter.) But. every. Englishmen knew that
they were united and persevering. in one object—the good of this
country. His Majesty, however, in the exercise of his undoubted
prerogative, had dismissed these servants in whom the people had
confiikenee,andin as summary a manner had dissolved parliament.
Having done so his first act Was not to choose men whose tno-
delete principles might have brought about a happy medium,
hut he sent for the great enemy of all reform (Hisses) that
great and noble miloary chief, the Duke of, Wellington.--
(Cheers.) No man present would join in cheers to that great
man more heartily, than himself, but not iu his civil character.
He thought he had deserved the titles he had gained and the
emoluments be had received at the hands of the nation, but he
did not think that he was fit to take in hand the government of
the rational people of England. So convinced was the Duke
himself of this, that he did not attempt such a task. He knew
that his drill.serjeant notions were too much for the people,'
(hisses and laughter,) and therefore he looked about him for
the cleverest man he could see in the country, (loud cheers,)
and who he thought would go down best with the people of Eng-
land. (Cries of "We wonder he didn't look for you.") Witn
all' the haste that post horses could carry him, he brought that
great man, Sir Robert Peel, to undertake the government (loud
cheers,) and no sooner had he arrived than he informed the
people in what way he intended fo govern them, by publishing
to the electors of I'amworth an address, which had been al-
luded to at the other end of the lusting—ably written and ad-
mirably constructed—but meant nothing. (Cries of " Oh!"
and laughter.) It was acknowledged, indeed, to be one of the
cleverest, but, at the same time, one of the most vague pieces
of sophistry. (Laughter and cheers.) It professed to be the
manifesto of a reformer. (Cries of "So it is.") It talked of
reform, end the writer took credit to hiouelf for having sup-
ported reform measures. It professed a willingness to reform
acknowledged abuses, and its object was to put the electors in
such a good humour as would insince them to support the abet-
tors of that manifesto. But for fear this deception should be
carried on too long, out came at last the list of enderstrappers,
(laughter,) and such a list of deterininei anti-reformers, of
intolerant high churchmen, (hisses and cheers,) •of • promoters
of public expense, of abetters of every thing that was corrupt in
sinecure governments, lie had thought it would have been ditliciilt
to find in England. (A cry, "They never were in Bow-street")
For himself he would say that he never would bust such men.
To defeat reform in this county every possible mancestvie would
be put in play, and every trick would be tried to cajole the
electors to believe in the reforming spirit of one of his opponents,..,
and to give their votes to the other. He himself having de-
clared at rather a late moment that it was no longer his wish to
sit in parliament (cry of " what a calf,") the canvassers of Lord
Francis Egerton had taken an opportunity of saying that he
was to fill his (the speaker's) place in parliament and iu poli-
tics. (No. no.) The minds of the people were to doubt easily
persuaded that one lord would do as well as another (Laughter,
and cries of " You are the Lord knows who,") but these gen-
tlemen had also endeavoured to persuade the simple that Lord
Francis 'Egerton was a refortner. Now he thought, as a man of
honour, that every one who had promised his vote under such a
view, was released from his liability. A handle had also been
made of words which fell from him at one of the meetings in
Clayton-square, which an hon. gentleman had been pleased to '
say le ought not to have presided at. lie there said that at
this crisis all reformers ought to merge their differences and unite
in one common cause. He added that heaves a radical refor-
rner,—a radical reformer such as the term meant twelve Years
ago, the men who in that day were so styled (Cry of " tart-
wright!") being now merely moderate wings ; and the measures,
the advocacy of which was enough to hang or transport a man,
being now adopted. But he would appeal to his conduct and
his votes in parliament whether he was a man who in thi ; day
would be designated a radical reformer. He ha i been atta:nsed
in another way by his excellent friend Mr. ..Vilorana tt, woo
had been pleased to say in pelts: that his opponents were men
oue of whom was opposed to the church, and the other of whom he
believed cared nothing at all about it. (Laughter.) Now,
conversation upon religious subjects was a thing he had always
avoided. ( Loud laughter.) He did not believe that in the
whsle course of his life he had ever had six words upon the
subject (renewed laughter) with the honourable gentleman.
He wished the church to be distinguished by the good it did,
and not by the pelf it pocketed. (Cheers.) His lordship then
alluded to a disagreement which was reported to have occurred
between him and his late colleague. lie declared that no such
difference existed and that the rumour arose front the simple
circumstance of his not having canvassed a portion of the
county in company with Mr. Wood, and not being present at
the recent dinner at Liverpool, at which Mr. Wood attended.
He concluded by asking whether the electors had forgotten the
conduct of the tortes for the fifty years dorm;; which they were
in power—whether they had forgotten the ;truggle they had
had, and the victory they had recently obtained over them—
whether they intended after all, humbly and blindly to lay them-
selves down at their feet, anti say, " We are not fit to think for
ourselves, much less to act,"—whether they were prepared
basely to give back the power which they had wrested from
• them ? .

.......
Mr. G. W. Noon next presented himself to the electors. We
regret to state that, owing to the distance at which we were
placed, and the low tone in which Mr. Wood spoke, we aro able
to make only a very imperfect report of his speech. As soon as
we could obtain a hearing. we understood him to say that. his
object was to remove fiv-liat was useless, to improve what was de-
fective, and to retain all that was valuable in our institutions.
He had seen nothing. that auproached to revolution in the
country since the passing of the reform act. The tendency to
extreme opinions was much abated, and men were now junking
for the redress of practical grievances, and which they were de-
termined to have redressed. (Cheers.) They had seen the,
whig ministry replaced by an oligarchy, and the question for
the electors was, would they or would they not have confidence
in the new ministry? For tis.paet he did not expect from their
hands those reforms which the country expected. A friend of
his had asked them whether they would confifle in Sir It. Peel.
(Cries of "No," from the Whigs, and three cheers from the to-
ries.) He distrusted the men whose character was before them,
and since they had assembled there he had found another ground
far his opinion. He had observed, what he considered one of
the signs of the times, that every observation ifino praise of the
reform bill was met with a sneer by the geurfewien decorated
with blue ribbons. From what Sir It. Peel had done he could
not believe that he was a siuceie reformer, and he was strength-
ened in this opinion by the fact that Lord Stanley would net
take office, because he had no ground to sunpose that ministers
would carry into effect those principles of reform which lie sup-
ported. Nevertheless he should not refuse good measures,
either from factious or any other motives, from men with whom
he did not agree in opinion. He had been represented as op-
posed to the agricultural interest; but no man regretted the
present agricultural distress more than he did ; and, in his opi-
nion, a fixed duty upon corn was a better security for the corn
grower than the preseut system. One of the honourable can-
didates had represented bun as hostile to the church, but this
was on unfounded assertion, for he was in uu respect opposed to
it. When the House of Commons had beets called rip e. to de-
clare that the revenues of the church were larger than they
ought to be, and that they should be devoted to other purposes,
he gave his support to the opponents of that motion. He had
also given his vote for the grant of a million of money to the
clergy of Ireland, and the only.pretext which could be alleged
against him of want of respect for the church arose from the
bill brought into parliament to admit dissenters to the universi-
ties.. Would that meeting maintain that dissenters were not
entitled to enjoy a university education? And this was all that
he sought to accomplish by his bill, and what he believed to be
doe to that great body. 'I he interests of the professors in the
universities, their rights, their privileges, and their emoluments,
were all secured by his bill; and he was perfectly willing to
abide by the question, whether that bill was a disgrace to him
or not. Au attempt had been made by a gentleman whom he
wished to have heard on this occasion, to injure him at the last
election, by throwing doubts on his religious principles. The
reception which those remarks met with was a. rebuke which
might not to have been forgotten. He had told him then that
such matters were between himself and his anaker, and if there
was nothing against his character as an honest men and a.good
citizen, it was an affair in which no man had a right to inter-
fere. Since that time he had seen in the columns of a news-
paper a letter, in which he was charged with not being a chriS-
non, a thing of which the gentlemuu who charged him could
know nothing. Mr. Woou then went into some detail respbct-
ing his religious opinions, in which he disclaimed being either
a follower of Calvin or Socinus. In reference to the support
afforded him by the Derby family, he said that he was surprised
at being.taunted with it, fur if he was dot very much Mistaken.
Lord Francis Egertou had paid a visit on the sane errand.
He concluded by expressing his determination, if elected, of
devoting all his energies to the service of the county.
Lord FRANCIS EGERTON then came forward, and was re-
ceived by the most general and enthusiastic manifestations of
feeling which it ever was our lot to witness. As soon as silence
was secured, the noble lord addressed the assembled 'throng to
the following effect:—lf at any time since he accepted the in-
vitation which had brought him here on the present occasion,
if he had ever felt the difficulties and the labours of the task
which he had undertaken, the present was that moment, and
the occasion when he was called upon to follow as be had dune,
in the course of his canvass of the county, the gentlemen with
whom he had the misfortune to enter into competition for the
favours and suffrages of the electors of the southern division of
the county of Lancaster—gentlemen whom he was sensible had
the advantage of more general personal acquaintance, and a
longer connection with the county than himself—a comparative
stranger. (Cheers.) To one of those gentlemen, indeed to the
lion. gentleman who had last addressed the meeting, and who
had spoken of him (Lord F.. Egerton)' in terms siAlattering,
he felt bound to return his heartfelt acknowledgments.. lie
should have lunch preferred, however, to have owed his intro-
duction to the county (which he termed this day's proceedings
to be) to some incident of his conduct with reference to com-
mercial pursuits, in which (merchant as that hon. gentleman
was) he claimed a common interest, if not an intimate con-
uexion. (I.oud cheers.) In the noble lord who had addressed
hint by the title of friend--a title which he most cordially re-
turned to the•noble lord, assuring him that it was a privilege
which he (Lord F. Egerton) should proudly retain until the
noble lord should find reason to withdraw it from him, and
which privilege also the noble lord might keep-sin that noble
lord he saw the representative of a family whose territorial
possessions were (if he might use the expression) interlaced
with the commercial capital of this great county, and thereby
possessed of many opportunities of winning that esteem and
regard which was only to I;e acquired by means of neighbour-
hood and intimacy. (Cheers.) Stranger as he t Lord Eger-
on) presented himself, he could not but feel the full force of
tall these disadvantages—strongly he felt them, but fearlessly
he would lace them (cheers), for he was here on the present
occasion with nu sinister motive—not actuated by personal or
ambitious feelings, but in the completion of an act of duty con-
sequent upon the invitation which, with satisfaction to his
conscience, he could no more refuse to obey than could the sol-
dier refuse the trumpet's call to battle ; for the diSohedieuce of
which infamy and disgrace was the penalty. (Loud cheers.)
In the course of his visits to various parts and districts of the
county, the performance of which had been, owing to indisposi-
tion, less adequate than he had hoped to have discharged his
task, be had been afforded so many opportunities of explaining
the political principles which he sought to Support in parlia-
ment. that he thought it unnecessary fur him to enter into
a further detail of these principles on the present occasion.
Ou all questions which had been put to him he had fully, freely,
and fairly. responded in the course of his canvass—he had re-
pelted no inquiry—nay, he had st.bniitted to be catechised, and
he believed his examiners, whether they did or did not differ
from him in sentiment, admitted that he had responded with