The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-06-12 00:00:00

FRIDAY MORNING, JUNE 12, 1835.

We have received New York papers to the 17th May,
but they contain no political intelligence of any inter-
est. A steam boat had been blown up and a number of
persons killed: and in New York a serious fire had oc-
cnrred, us usual; but in other respects, the republic
had made no other further approach towards a monarchy.
The state of the cotton market will be found elsewhere.

If we were disposed to treat Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S
scheme for i eforming the corporations as a party quest ion,
we should be content to accept it as a boon to the con-
servatives. It is well known that at least one half of the
boroughs in England and Wales are managed by the
agents and dependents of whig noblemen, or by needy
and obscure tradesmen, professing whig, liberal, and radi-
cal principles. Derby, for instance, as Sir ROBERT PEEL
showed, is little better than a political dog kennel to the
Duke of DEVONSHIRE. The corporation of London itself

has long been a nuisance, the removal of which would
give satisfaction to every good man. The breaking up
of that abominable system in which Sir JOHN KEY was
hatched, and which has been completely under the control
of the WOODS, WAITHMANS, HARMERS, GALLOWAYS,
Deputy Mws, Deputy FIGGINS, and other worthies,
would be a real blessing. Its annihilation would do
our heart good; for better men, and honester men, would
then have some chance of admission to the municipal
offices of the capital.
The change would be beneficial in most other places,
so that upon the whole we entertain not the slightest
doubt that the tories, as a combined party in England and
Wales, would be gainers instead of losers by Lord JOHN'S
levelling measure. We, however, object to the scheme
on principle. It recognises spoliation. It gives the
sanction of parliament to a direct and unconstitutional
interference with the rights of property, which cannot
end with corporations, which cannot be confined to joint-
stock anti chartered companies, but which must sooner or
later take impertinent liberties with the borrower and
lender, and lay its rude hands upon the unthinking and
over confident fundholder.

In our last we offered an opinion as to what we con-
ceived would be the duty of the corporation of Liverpool,
in case the measure of Lord JOHN should be made appli-
cable to this borough. We took the liberty to suggest
that their first act, under such circumstances, si ould be to
call a meeting of their creditors. We not only are of the
same opinion still, but we go a step further, and contend
that the corporation are bound in duty towards their
creditors to assign all their property in trust to respon-
sible parties for the benefit of their creditors. Stich an
assignment would be strictly legal, and perfectly justifi-
able under the peculiar circumstances of the case.
If, for instance, the people were to take it into their
heads that the present mode of electing the directors of
the corporation.of the Bank of England is derogatory to
the interests of the nation, inasmuch as these directors
can make a rich man a pauper, and a pauper a rich man
in a single hour, by a simple operation upon the cur-
rency; and moreover being convinced of the impolicy of
such a system, were to obtain an act of parliament, confer-
ring upon the ten pound householders or rate-payers of
London the right to elect annually the directors of the
Bank—what in that case, we ask, would be the duty of
the Bank? They would as sensible men probably act in
this manner. They would, first, as quietly but as_quickly
as possible, sell all the exchequer bills they hold. As the
government are compelled to take them at par in pay-
, ment of taxes, the Bank could not lose much by selling
the whole. They would, secondly. discontinue to dis-
count bills. They would, thirdly, call upon their con-
stituents to remove their deposits, and the government
to repay the money lent to the state. All this would, of
course, cause great confusion—thousands of bankruptcies
—wide spread ruin—general insolvency, perhaps, ending
in the stoppage of cotton mills, the discharge of work-
' men, the suspension of all grand undertakings, the star-
vation of the labourer, the surcease of all the cranks and
wheels of industry.

What of that? Patriotism deals with principles, not
with interests. It battles for rights, not for goods or
profit. It would exclaim, " Perish trade !—perish indus-
try !—perish capital the noble cause of LIBERTY
AND EQUALITY !" The bank directors, in self-defence,
would reef in, no matter what might happen. The
lower class of patriots would undoubtedly suffer—the
higher class of patriots would suffer more. Let us see
how the interest of one class bears upon another. Sup-
pose that in London there were a sugar-baker who was an
immense patriot, and he had exerted his influence with
the people to compel the legislature to pass a measure
giving to the tenpounders of London the right to elect
the directors of the Bank of England. The bank, deem-
ing it necessary to resort to the preservative measures to
which we have alluded, would, by unsettling public cre-
dit, make very short work with the credit of thosugar-
baker. He might be a man of mighty oratory at a bal-
cony in Shoreditch—at a tavern in Billingsgate—at a re-
form association in the back slums ; but all this would
not prevent a decline in the'price of sugar, or save the
lumps. To the dogs he and his concern would probably
go ; or, in other and more classic words, he would turn
up. What a catastrophe ! A patriotic sugar-baker
ruined by his own wilful measures! A patriot reduced
from affluence to beggary ! No matter ; it could not be
avoided : for the old cry, as he begged a half-crown from
a friend, must ring in his ears—perish interests—live
liberty ! The low zlass of patriots would harmonie
most delightfully with this cry. They would say, affect-
ing commiseration—" It is true that Mr. BRASSNOSE, or
Mr. TENPOUNDS, or whatever his name might be, is a
bankrupt, and is hard up for potatoes and small beer; but
what of that? What right had he, being a patriot and a
friend of the people, to be a sugar-baker ? We want no
sugar-bakers. They are the enemies of the operative
and intelligent classes. They make a sort of refined su-
gar for the rich—for the aristocrat's punch, his today, his
tea and coffee—they gain a living by pandering to a false,
luxurious, and unnatural appetite—they make no sugar
for us—on the contrary, by refining, as they call it—by
mixing cow blood with slave blood—they produce a
bleached thing called loaf sugar, which we patriots never
taste ; and in the consumption of the raw material for
this purpose, which is downright waste, and an abuse of
the blessings of PROVIDENCE, they increase the price of
that wholesome and nutritious article which we consume."

Tu,;(l4y we, understand there. is to he a meeting of the
reformers and patriots of Liverpool in Clayton square,
and we hope that some clear-headed radical vi iil make
use of this argument.
Meanwhile we return to where we set out. The at-
tack upon the corporaions by Lord JoxN RUSSELL is not