The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-01-08 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

had redeemed their honour—had signalised themselves
among the electors of England— their character would
descend unblemished to posterity. The key-note of all
these commendations, the sum and substance of their
sense was—they had returned two 'reformers.
Time passed on, and Lord. Sandon was chosen to fill
Mr. Denison's place. His lordship was not, even then,
deemed a thorough reformer. True, he was a man of
business; he had earned high academical honours, and
their promise was not falsified by his parliamentary
career. But these qualifications were nothing, abso-
lutely nothing, to the radical press : though intending to
vote for the bill, he was not considered a thick-and-thin
ministerialist, and suddenly an oblivion of the glorious
deserts of the Liverpool freemen swept over the minds of
our radical editors, and sly reference to the delinquencies
of 1830 began to be heard in whispers.
The bill being now passed, Lord Sandon stands forth
as a conservative;—and in that character is chosen, to the
rejection of Mr. Thornely. The radical press instantly
remembers its duty—wonders how it ever forgot the cor-
ruptions of November, 1830—sinks completely the glo-
rious expiation of May, 1831, and thunders forth against
the freemen of Liverpool, its loudest and fiercest am.
themas.

Can anything be more sickening ? If the freemen had
again truckled to the revolutionary faction, again that
faction would have overlooked the corruptions of 1830.
Their odour may be impure enough; but it is odd, that it
should be less tolerable after the lapse of two years, than
it was found after only six months had intervened to re-.
move its offensiveness. Yes, freemen! so long as you
will condesCend to wear the harness of the journalists,
and to move at their bidding, you shall be lauded to the
skies, be your vices what they may : but, beware of re-
turning to your ancient habits—beware of recollecting
that friendly relatiai which subsists between you and
your employers—beware of accepting the recommenda-
tion of a known and tried and faithful friend, instead of
that tendered by a newspaper—beware, in short, of be-
ing influenced by gratitude, or by loyalty, or by attach-
ment—for, if you do not avoid these motives, you will be
scouted and reviled as the scum of the earth by those
same journals which, if you will but be obedient and
obsequious, will coax you, and hug you, and say fine
things of you again, once, twice, thrice, and as long as
you please.

We shall not be sorry to see the guilty punished. But
we trust, that the labouring class in Liverpool will not be
disfranchised as a body. That class has never been ade-
quately represented: and, under the new be less
represented than ever. Besides which, they are a fitter
constituency, taken generally, for this town, than the
small shopkeepers, inasmuch as, through their masters,
they have a more direct connection with those commer-
cial interests which give us our peculiar character.
But, especially, observe the moral law of the radical
press. Anti-reforming vice is perfectly odious to them;
but reformzng vice is bearable enough.
Observe, too, that the time when bribery became noto-
rious and well-nigh universal in Liverpool, was at the
very first election when the master-tradesmen, no poli-
tical interest being involved, refrained from using their
ancient and legitimate influence.

THE BALLOT. —The pertinacity of Radicalism has
exerted itself to the utmost, in pressing this theme of
strife upon the public attention. The newspapers, having
now become the principal vehicles of public information,
have it in their power, up to a certain point, to determine
the relative degrees of importance which different subjects
shall be permitted to assume in the judgments and views
of their readers, by laying upon them more or less
stress, and by allotting to them notices more frequent or
more rare, and space larger or more restricted, in their
columns. In this manner, to no inconsiderable extent,
they create the interest which they have described as
already pre-existing: at the expence of truth, we admit?
but this, unhappily, is no great objection, generally
speaking, in the eyes of a journalist.
It is obvious that these arts are now in full eXercise,
among those active and indefatigable partisans who con-
duct the rovolutionary portion of the press, and who
have favoured the Ballot with their peculiar patronage,
as a measure calculated in an especial manner to change
the character of our institutions, and of our people.
It is likewise obvious, notwithstanding the delusion
which the GOvernment papers strive to raise and propa-
gate on this subject, that the radicals are not, as a party,
excluded from the parliament. Every balloter we think
ourselves warranted in terming a radical ; and we con-
ceive, upon inspection of the returns, that England has
returned not less than 60 or 70 decided balloters : to
whom Ireland will add, between repealers and tithe-ex-
tinguishers, about fifty more : and Scotland, perhaps, ten.
Here then we have a body of 120 or 130 persons ready to
support ballot at once—whilst it has also received, at least,
the conditional sanction of Lords Althorp and J. Rus-
sell—to whom, if he were worth mentioning at all, we
might add Mr. P. 'Thompson.

We propose then to give .a digest of the arguments
upon tile Ballot: for it is desirable that a question so
mischievous (as it appears to us) should be discussed and
decided as speedily as possible.
First, let us consider the pleas usually urged in its.
favour. They are, that - -
l. It would prevent intimidation ;

2. It would prevent bribery.
I. Mr. Stanley has shown in .his speech at Lancaster,
that intimidation would be but very partially obstructed by
the ballot. How few persons would be able to keep their
own secret perfectly close ! To effect it, a man must not
only conceal his vote, but he must carefully avoid any ex-
pre-sion public or private, of opinion on politics, for where
he does not, the vote will of course be inferred from the
general complexion of his sentiments, and we shall have
the far more severe and unmanly system of punishment
tz pan bare suspicion, degrading to him who inflicts it,
and oppressive to those who suffer under it from the ad,
ditional evils of uncertainty, and the possibility of its

falling upon those who, after all may not have committed
the act for which they are punished.
2. As regards bribery, Ballot would be still more inef-

IN the 'Liverpool Albion' of yesterday the followini

passage occurs :

"The writer in the STANDARD shrinks from the justi6•
cation of his charge, and leaves the printer and publishe
to bear all the consequences personal and pecuniary
which may yet follow this malignant and cowardly atta
on our editorial and individual character."

The late correspondence between the editor of tbi
A/biou and the publisher of .the Standard, is also gives
in yesterday's Albion; from it we make the following
extract of a letter addressed by the publisher of this pa
per to the editor of our veracious contemporary.
"I have no hesitation in saying, that for this and eve:
other article which appears in the STANDARD, the wrt
ters will hold themselves responsible."
We presume it is unnecessary for us to remind oT
readers that the charge, as it is termed, which we ma(
against the editor of the Albion rested on his own admi,
sion—that he had named a highly respectable gentlema
as authority for a statement directly the reverse of wh;
"he had not the slightest doubt" that gentleman i,
tended to communicate. It is rather indiscreet in ti
Albion to talk of prosecutions and such like. The ye
article which gave rise'to our animadversions was a gro,
and unfounded libel, for which the Editor may yet
made responsible.

The following declaration; signed by 418 Shipwrights of th,
Town, has-we understand been handed to the Mayor. It woul
be well were the other trades to follow the example of tiv
Shipwrights, and show to the calumniators of the freemen, thr
they have both the spirit to repel the unfOunded charges whit
have been brought against them by the friends of Messrs. Ewl
and Thornely, and also the determination to recollect the
insults upon a future occasion. '

To the Worshipful' the Mayor, and Bailiffs, Returning o,fficers

the Borough 4. Liverpool.
We, the undersigned, Shipwrights, Free Burgesses of
Borough of Liverpool, respectfully beg to state, that we ha
seen with great concern, a placard on the walls of th.
Town, setting forth that vile and corrupt practices have be
resorted to, at the late Election on the part of Lord Sandon
Friends; and that we have been pointed out as men unworth
to hold the Elective Franchise, because we took an active pai
in the proceedings of the second day's polling, and because NI
entertain different political opinions with those who we
opposed to us on that occasion.

• Now, we, the undersigned, Shipwrights, Free Burgesses
this Ancient and Loyal Borough, do hereby declare, and ma
known to you, that we never received any bribe, either
money or promises, nor any fee or reward, during any part
the late Election, for our votes, all of which we are ready
declare in a more solemn manner, if required ; and, we firm.
believe that the statement to which we refer is a gross calumn:
sent forth by the radical press to mislead the legislature and tf
country, with the view to wrest from the working Burgesses ti
Elective Franchise, which has been enjoyed by them. and th‘
fore-fathers under various ancient and royal charters grant
to this Borough, from the days of King John, to King Georg
the Fourth of glorious memory.
To Ships, Colonies, and Commerce, we are firmly attache(
by them we obtain for ourselves and families the means
maintenance ; and we will promote and maintain, as far as
our power lies, the principles of our glorious Constsiutic
because on them is founded the prosperity of Ships, Colonil
and Commerce, and the strength of the nation,
We are,
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