The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-10-22 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We cannot inform " A Member" sihen Mr. Charles Ramble
will deliver his readings et the Mechanics' Institution. The
lectures at the Collegiate Institution are invariably advertised
in all the Liverpool papers; bur. for sonic season whic!i we
cativot explain, the announcements of a similar description
at the Mechanics' are confined almost exclusively to the
Radical press.
A correspondent most pathetically deplores the great danger
passengers are exposed to, where our great areas, Ranelagh
pace for inFtlnce, and chief thoroughf,,res. are intersected
by other streets. in consequence f the rapid or furious driring
of hired carriages; more especia ly during the evenings of
winter &c., bofdre the lamps are available. And when our
streets are ight.Al up,—he ohserves.—it is no easy task to keep
safe from the fearful perils alluded to.
The letter from Ormski,k in nr next.
The young lady who christened the Georce Canning Plot Boat
yesterday week was Miss Bullen and not Miss }Urine:, as we
erroneously stltcd.
We know nothing whatever of the party alluded to by " A
Churchman."

" An Assistant" and " Beaver" who address us on the subject of a
holiday or half holiday along with the closing of the shops on the
day of the laying of the foundation stone on Wane:lday next should
really have forwarded us their communications earlier. We should
have cordially seconded their views. At present we can only wish
them well. Such an era in the history of this locility would have
warranted a little sacrifice on the part of their emp!oyers, many of
whom, would, no doubt, like w ell en,ugh to enjoy the scene them
selves.

Cbt Rib-envoi .AtanDar.b

TUESDAY MO 1?A /NG, OCT. 22, 1844.

In another column we have offered a few remarks
upon the subject of the approaching Municipal
Election ; and find that, in doing the same, a con-
temporary of Saturday, the Journal, has thought
proper to raise an objection against the eligibility of
a gentleman, whose name is mentioned for the office
of Mayor for the ensuing year. We refer to Mr.
James Lawrence.

It seems that, by section 49 of the Municipal Act,
it is provided " that on the 9th of November in
every year the council of the borough shall elect,
out of the aldermen or councillors of such korough,
a fit person to he the Mayor of such borough."
Mr. Lawrence happens to he amongst the number
of aldermen whose period of office 'expires on that
day; and the Journal, somewhat too hastily jumps
to the conclusion that, as -such, being no longer one
of "the councillors or aldermen" he is legally in-
capacitated for election to the Mayoralty. For the
satisfaction however, of our contemporary, and the
council, we beg to intimate that this very point has
alriady been raised before the Court of Queen's
Bench, and twice decided in favour of the eligibility
of a retiring alderman under similar circumstances.
In the first of these the Queen v. Muddy, to he found
in the 18th volume of the Law Journal Reports, it
was decided that an outgoing alderman may be duly
elected mayor at the quarterly meeting on the 9th
of Novembere and that his election is not voided by
two outgoing aldermen having, voted for him, such
Outgoing aldermen continuing members of the
council until new ones are elected, which election
takes place after the election of mayor. In the
second case the Queen v. Stanley Lord Denman,
C.J. thus confirmed his former decision :
In the case of the clue•-n a. Stanley, M r.Maddy, although
an retiring alderman, was still an alderman, and as such
one of the connril, and elLible as mayor; anti the election
of mayor heitg the first thing to be done at the quarterly
meeting on the 9th of November, Wai rightly elected
mayor. Being mayor and so, ex-officio, member of the
council, he was competent to give any vote for which he
was not expressly disqualified; but any member of the
council, who is an out-going alderman, is expressly dis-
qualified froth voting in the election of the new' alderman.
Mr. Maddy wa s,tll an ow-going alderman, and subject
to this disqualification. lie could not, therefore, vote
originally for Stanley's motion. if ho could not vote
originally for him, the else never arose in Which he would
have a casting vote for the time as mayor. It follows,
therefore, that Stanley seas not duly elected."
So much then for the legal part of the question ;
and now that we have had so prominently brought be-
fore us the coUsideration of Mr. Lawrence's claims to
the office, to which
.his friends are wishful to raise
him, we may, however much we should have pre.
ferred leaving the selection in the hands of the
council, take the opportunity of saying a few words.
Mr. Lawrence has been a member of the Watch
Committee since the year 1836. •He has sat as its
chairman for three years past; and the activity,
firmness and impartiality which he has ever dis-
played in the discharge of his onerous duties cannot
be sufficiently admired. In cases of fire, especially,
he has always been amongst the first at his post,
and his services have been incalculable and most
praiseworthy. He is a member too of the markets
committee Enfl the highway board, upon which, as
in every department of the public service to which
he has devoted himself, his attention has been most
unwearying and most useful. We know no greater
compliment that could be paid to the tradesmen of
the town—no appointment more likely to give
universal satisfaction—than Mr. Lawrence's elevation
to the office of chief magistrate.

The crisis in the affairs of Ireland appears now
about to arrive which all sensible, men have long
ago anticipated. The arch agitator, Daniel, has
thought proper to make a Jim Crow movement;
to jump round from Repeal to the senseless and
ricketty crotchet called federalism; to defer the ex-
pression of the craving of Ireland's masses for
nationalists, and to become the fawning slave of a
a new Whig alliance. But in attempting this, he
. has a little mistaken his powers. The pirouette of
the old imposter appears destined to be a solo per-
formance for alas, " young Ireland" refuses to
dance at his prompting, or to be dragged in the
mire of his selfish and tortuous policy.
The split already has betrayed itself, in a letter
addressed to O'Connell by Mr. Duffy, of the Nation,
one of his recent companions in prison; and we may
with certainty discover from -the tone of the writer,
which is firm and yet respectful, that the slippery
• agitator has now very different materials to work
upon from those which, in times past, be has moulded
to his will :—that, in fact, he has instilled principles
and awakened hopes in the breasts of those earnest
and ardent men,-who may be regarded as the young
blood of Ireland, which will not be suppressed or
postponed at his mere and selfish caprice. These
men have learnt to contemplate the reality of national
independence, which O'Connell, in his anxiety to
mystify the eyes of the 'British people, has inured
even himself to view as something too shadowy and
'unsubstantial for accomplishment. Whilst he has
been making the cry of Repeal a convenient lure for
the pence, and :shillings of his ignorant fellow
countrymen, they have been preparing in earnest
for its achievement. Whilst he has prated of moral
force as his only weapon, they have looked forward
_ to far other, more direct and holder means of
working alit their objects; and they will no longer
submit to be duped by the timid and plausible
speciounesses with which their former leader has
been in the habit of gulling and bewildering the
mind of confiding Ireland. We may now, at length,
as the result of this movement, expect to see a little
light thrown upon the subject of Repeal. We•shall
know at least what it means, and how the more
daring and earnest of its advocates expect it to be
carried.
\V perfectly agree with the objections urged by
Mr. Duffy to the adoption of the .principle of
Federalism in place of Repeal. There can be no
half-way house, no compromise in such a question
as this. Utterly delusive as we believe to be the
expectations of the Irish people, of advantage to be
derived from a local and indepedent legislature, we
look upon the present project of a federal parliament
• as a mere mockery, and its proposal as a paltry
subterfuge to enable a defeated bully to back out of a
position which he feels to be dangerous, and to en-
able him during the remainder of his unruly career
to pocket the money wrung from his wretched
fellow countrymen, without perilling wh. t is dearer
to him than any earthly object—the safety of his
precious person. But it will not do, Daniel. you
must go on now with your eager and excited allies,
or abdicate at once I

---
We are happy to have it in our power to thank
the Directors of the Liverpool and Manchester
Railway on behalf of the public, for tile satisfactory

regulation of their fares, which thy have now an-
' flounced to come into operation on the 2nd Novem-
ber. We could have wished indeed to see the first
class fare reduced a little lower ;—say to 54. 6d:
each way, with the return ticket at nine shillings;
but we must not be unreasonable. The principle
.is conceded that a necessity exists for this, and
other old lines of railway; to come down from the
extravagant rates hitherto imposed upon travellers,
to a scale consistent at once with the convenience
of the -public and a fair remuneration for the enter-
prise of proprietors. Experience is daily shelving
that the abundant capital now directing itself to the
formation of these undertakings will eventually
crush attempted monopolies ; and with this fact ad-
mitted by the chait man of the Liverpool and Man-
chester Company, 'in announcing their new regula-
tions, we may be assured that they will see the ne-
cessity of further concession whenever circumstances
arise to call for them.

A contemporary, we observe, who has moved in
this question of !ow fares in common with ourselves,
endeaVonrs in his last publication to depreciate the
value of the boon now accordd by a complaint of
alleged insufficiency of accommodation in the
new carriages of the second class trains. We can
only say, for ourselves, that we have used them and
can see no reasonable. ground for the complaint
urged. They are quite roomy enough for passengers
of ordinary dimensions.

We have seldom been more amused than by the
lame attempt of the Mercury to fabricate a political
grievance, out of our remarks upon the question
now at issue between the Works Committee of the
Dock Trust and the warehouse owners. The poor
gentleman has been well prompted, doubtless ; but
unfortunately;the prompters have not succeeded in
driving, if they intended doing so, the real facts of
the matter into his stolid intellect. He is as deci-
dedly abroad as if he had just arrived from Kain-
skatcha to start in his career of local journalism.

It is almost a folly to notice such trash as the
Mercurydeliyers himself of on this occasion ; but
unfortunately he fibs a little in his facts, and there-
fore we must set him right, for the sake of the nu-
merous wiseacres who imbibe his wisdoin in the
cellars and taps where he finds his extensive circula-
tion(.'). Our wise contemporary urges, in excuse
for Messrs. Evans and Aiken, who have certainly
managed their business very astutely, that the ware-
houses round the Albert Dock have, " in compliance
with the suggestions of Mr. Stewart"—a compliance
scarcely to have been expected from such all-suffi-
cient authorities—been built in detached blocks ;
that some five feet have been taken to widen the
quay of the Salthouse Dock, and, ergo, the Works
Committee were justified in taking- the space, thus
given up, from the quays of the Albert Dock, and -
converting it into warehouse accommodation. This
plea may stand for what it is worth. But when our
contemporary states that only "about one-fourth of
the space under the warehouses" has been appro-
priated
" to the stowage of heavy goods," or, in
other words, to warehousing purposes instead of
quay room, he states that -which, in his own polite
vocabulary, he ',would fill up by a very significant
line, thus : , but what we shall only term
such an erroneous statement as we firmly believe he
would not make, if he had ever inspected the ware-
houses in question, and knew what he was talking
about. A walk round the Albert Dock works
would convince him that he is wrong, and, of
course, he will acknowledge that he is so—some day
far distant. Vain tnen like our friend of the Mer-
cury, take time before they confess that they are in-
fallible.

Another statement in the Mercury's article con-
vinces us that he is innocent of any knowledge of
the subject which has drawn from him his remarks.
He says that " if the_ warehouse owners go to law
with the dock trusteca"—a proceeding which he is
striving to bring about, and which we should be
sorry to witness, as we are satisfied that is is un-
necessary—" the result can only be either the com-
plete stoppage of tho works, with the loss of all
the money expended upon them, or their demolition
and erection on a different plan." Poor gentleman
He may just as well tel: us that tearing a leaf, and
that 'a blank one, out of that. elementary work to
which he has apparently confined his studieS, and
which is familiarly called "The Horn Book," would
have, as its awful result, " either the complete stop-
page of the works" of the pedagogue, with the loss
of all the birch expended upon his unhappy subject,
or the " demolition". of the alphabet End its " erec-
tion on a different plan." There is no more diffi-
culty in making the works in question what they
were intended to be, and what the act of Parliament
contemplated, than there would be in reducing our
contemporary's " high-lows" into slippers.
It would really be a treat if the Mercury would
confine his remarks to matters which he under-
stands. A treatise upon peg-tops or tet-totums
from his pen might send us to sleep with some com-
fort; but the serious business of the world he ought
certainly to leave alone.

A correspondence appears in our paper this day
between Mr. John Moss, the chairman of the
Grand Junction Railway, Mr. Geo. Carr Glynn, the
chairman of the London and Birmingham Railway,
and Mr. Ormsby Gore, on the part of the provi-
sional committee of a proposed line of railway be-
tween Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton, which in-
volves a question so important in its results to the
interests of the shareholders of the two great lines
that we cannot resist the opportunity which it af-
fords us of addressing to the respective boards a few
words of advice. But first let us endeavour briefly
to place the subject a little more clearly before our
readers than a hasty perusal of the lengthy and
somewhat disjointed document published may
perhaps do.
One of the principal causes of the collision which
took place recently between these two boards, and
excited such alarm in the minds of their constitu-
encies, was a disagreement between them with re-
spect to the line, and the mode of formation, of this
Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton Railway. The
Grand Junction directors, who had stirred in the
matter only at the earnest solicitation of a party in
Shrewsbury, wanted the communication with that
town to be made from Stafford, having ascertained
that " as regards the North (Manchester and York-
shire for instance), no point on their line further
south than Stafford could he considered as offering
any considerable accommodation; whilst, as regards
London and the East, they found. that the Trent
Valley Railway would shorten the road to London
nine miles, besides giving a direct communication
with Derbyshire and the East." Such a line was
accordingly determined upon, a subscription list
filled up, and preparations made for going to Parlia-
ment. At this point sprang up the rival Shrews-
bury and Wolverhampton scheme, which was
warmly espoused by the London and Birmingham
board, jealous apparen ly of the !caning of the Grand
Junction Board to the adoption of the Trent Valley
line ' • and a serious disagreement between them en-
sued, which was however terminated, or thought to be
terminated, by an arrangement entered into on the 3d
of July in which the course of the two companies,
as to the support to be given to any proposed new
lines, was laid down. The following was the stipu-
lation with respect to the Shrewsbury scheme, by
which it will be seen that the choice of the line to
be formed, viz., from Wolverhampton instead of
Stafford, was conceded by the Grand Junction,
reserving to themselves, however, its formation.—
" The London and Birmingham Board is prepared,
with the concurrence of their Shropshire party
(which they will use their best endeavours to obtain)
to withdraw from the guarantee towards the Shrews-
bury line, the Grand Junction, with the concur.
ience of their Stafford shareholders, undertaking to
make a line to Wolverhampton, and guarantee four
per cent. on the capital, and an equal division of
future profits; the Shrewsbury Birmingham share-
holders (under the same condition as the Stafford
and Shrew -bury) having an option of half the capi-
tal, the Grand Junction Company having a lease in
perpetuity, and working the line a manner conve-
nient to that part of the country."
This stipulation certainly appears plain enough,
and was accepted at the time as perfectly satisfactory
to all parties. Misconstruction, however, will break
in where powerful parties, mutually jealous, are at-
tempted to be bound together by any mere form of
words. Misconstruction has broken in, each party
to the contract accusing the other of having evaded
its spirit, and meaning, and neglecting to ulfil its
provisions. The Shrewsbury party claim the right
the»2selves "to make the line," leasing it when
made to the Grand Junction Company, and repu-
diate having ever agreed to the interpretation which
the latter put npon the stipulation above quoted ;
twoh
sayilst theth e
least London o
f it,
no
and
re Birminghamat
inclination Board tdo i s
bprlianyg,
their allies.to reason and amity. The results it is