The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-03-28 00:00:00

ADDRESS TO THE MAYOR.

Oh Wednesday some hundreds of the merchants,
bankers, and inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood
of Liverpool, assembled in the Council-chamber, at the
Town-liaIl; for the purpose of presenting an address 'of
thanks to Thos. Berry Horsfall, Esq., Mayor, for the
exertions his worship had so recently and successfully
made to preserve the peace of the town. :The address
containettl2oo signatures ; but there is very little doubt
that had it remained in the public rooms and offices a few
days longerjthenumber of signatures would, at least, have
been trebled: The address was presented by the Rev.
Rector Campbell, who willingly undertook the office, in
the unavoidable absence of Rector Brooks.

The Mayor occupied the chair in which he usually sits
during the proceedings of Council; on his left sat William
Shuttleworth, Esq., the Town-clerk, and near him, Mr.
Dowling.

The Rev. Rector CAMPBELL opened the proceedings
in the following terms:—
Mr. Mayor,—lt is with the greatest satisfaction that I
find myself chosen as the instrument, however unworthy,
of presenting to you, whom I have so long valued as a
personal friend, the address which I hold in my hand ;
conveying to you the cordial thanks of a large and influen-
tial body of your fellow townsmen, for the temperate
firmness you displayed during the late apprehended dis-
turbances, and expressing at the same time our devoted
loyalty to our Sovereign, and our firm attachment to
those monarchial institutions under which we enjoy, I
believe, as great a share of personal liberty as is consis-
tent with personal safety in the present state of human
infirmity. Prevented by my sacred profession from ten-
dering you any active assistance in the preservation of
public order, I nevertheless rejoiced unfeignedly at the
alacrity with which all classes of society sprung forth in
its defence at the call of public duty :
" With hearts resolved and hands prepared,
The blessings they enjoy to guard."
'
But as a preacher of peace I rejoice more unfeignedly that
although your precautions were wisely directed, their
services were not required ; and that the attempts to
influence the passions of the people, have signally failed.
It was, perhaps, to be expected that the successful efforts
of a neighbouring people to overthrow their government
should stimulate the hopes of the few amongst our peace-
able and orderly population who are the enemies of all
government. But this surely is a precedent we need not
follow ; and while we cannot deny to other nations the
liberty of changing their institutions as often as they
please ; we shall reserve to ourselves, I hope, the happier
privilege of preserving and improving our own, remem-
hpr:nit this, that social evils can only be cured by social
remedies. That free institutions are perfectly compatible
with the most disorderly licentiousness of national morals,
—that our besetting sins of luxury and extravagance in
the higher classes, and careless improvidence in the lower,
are not to be cured by forms of government, but by reli-
gious discipline and personal self control. One lesson of
practical wisdom, however, sir, we may all of us learn from
the " fears of change " which are now " perplexing
nations," and that is the mutual dependence of all classes
of society upon each other. "The head must not say to
the foot I have no need of thee." The master and the
workmen are bound together by the tie of mutual interest.
If wealth is created by labour, labour is fed by wealth.
Without the labour of the workmen the capital of
the master will be less profitable ' • without the capital
of the master the workman's labour is utterly value-
less, and his occupation gone. And above all, the
wealthier classes must not forget that their privileges are
given them by God, not for personal indulgence and selfish
enjoyment, but for the promotion of his honour and the
good of their fellow creatures in the sacred intercourse of
Christian charity. Apologising for the length of my pre-
fatory remarks, which, perhaps, may be justified by my
station and office, I proceed to read the address which has
been entrusted to my charge. [We published the address
in our last.]
The Rector's speech and the reading of the address were
frequently interrupted by loud applause.
The MAYOR replied in the following terms :—I thank
you, Mr. Rector, for the kind manner in which you have
introduced the presentation of this address. I am sure
that you will not consider it any disrespect to you if I offer
no observation in reply, it being, as I understand, the
custom on occasions like the present to abstain from offer-
ing any verbal observations ; and it being likewise, I need not
tell you, more in accordance with my own feelings to ab-
stain from doing so. I will, therefore, read a reply to the
address. I have just received—an address, the value of
which, I need not tell you, I prize mosthighly. (Applause.)
The MAYOR here read the following written reply, which
was enthusiastically received :
" Gentlemen,—The assurance of the esteem and respect of
my fellow-townsmen would, under any circumstances, be very
gratifying, but to receive that assurance, under the circum-
stances, and in the manner in which it is now conveyed to me,
I shall ever consider one of the most interesting events of my
life. _ _ _

" I will not conceal from you, gentlemen, that the few days
to which you allude in that address was a period of much anx-
iety. Aided, however, as I was, by the whole body of the ma-
gistracy, and especially by the unwearied attention and able
advice of our stipendiary magistrate, Mr. Rushton, seconded,
as our efforts were, by the noble and spontaneous expression of
public opinion and public feeling on the part of the inhabitants
at large, I never entertained a doubt that any attempt to dis-
turb the peace of this town would have been effectually sup-
pressed. And most cordially do I join with you, gentlemen, in
referring, with the deepest gratification to recent events, as a
continued evidence of those feelings of devoted loyalty toi the
sovereign, and of the love of good order, which have ever dis-
tinguished the town of Liverpool.
" But, gentlemen, whilst I thus gratefully acknowledge, on
behalf of the constituted authorities, the cordial assistance and
co-operati,n of every class of the community, and the equally
prompt and decided manner in which the wishes and the orders
of the magistrates were carried out by the executive. I desire
also, to concur with you in acknowledging our entire depend-
ence on that divine aid, which alone effectually stilleth the
tumult of the people.
"Gentlemen, it only remains for me to thank you, as I do
most sincerely, and through you, those of my fellow-townsmen
whom you represent, for this very gratifying, though, I cannot
but feel, in a great degree, unmerited expression of your
thanks."

Loud applause followed the delivery of this address ;
and immediately after the deputation withdrew.

MR. CARDWELL AND THE INCOME TAX.

The following correspondence has taken place between
Mr. Maconald, the secretary of the Liverpool Confedera-
tion for the revision of taxes, and Mr. Cardwell, on the
subject of the memorial calling on the latter to resign
his seat on account of his vote on the Income Tax :
National Confederation Rooms,
Liverpool, March 18, 1848.
EDWARD CARDWELL, ESQ., M.P.
am directed by the Committee of this Confede-
ration to advise you, that in consequence of your late
opposition to a more equitable adjustment of Income
Tax, the electors of Liverpool, for whom the Confedera-
tion act in this matter, have felt themselves compelled,
by a sense of duty which they owe to their own interests
and to the interests of the trading classes of this kingdom,
to call on you to resign your office as one of their represen-
tatives in Parliament. It is scarcely necessary for me to
state to you that, as the Electors view it, the relation
between a Representative and his constituents, and the
identification of interest, should be entirely beyond a
question. The Electors of Liverpool have seen with
much regret that you do not recognise this duty or re-
sponsibility, but that considerations of a totally different
nature, as stated by yourself in one of your late speeches,
are made the foundation of your decisions. But they
cannot admit your right to disregard their sentiments or
their interests in a matter of much importance to
them ; and entertaining' this view of your duty to them,
they are sure they will be excused for declining a con-
tinuance of confidence in form, where none exists in
fact.

Under such circumstances it is presumed that it cannot
be your wish to retain the nominal representation of
Liverpool, and that you will gladly avail yourself of the
opportunity now afforded, of enabling the Electors to
choose an individual who may be more suited to their
views.

The requisition, calling on you to resign the representa-
tion of Liverpool, is forwarded by the train of this even-
ing to the Liverpool Office in London, to the care of Mr.
Wainwright. It was before the public for 40 hours, and
was signed within that short space of time by 7545 indi-
viduals. The requisition was intended to be by the Elec-
toral body alone, but, notwithstanding every precaution, it
has been found that many individuals have signed it who
were not on the Electoral list, but who are ratepayers and
payers of the Income Tax, and therefore could not be
restrained from conveying to you,through the medium of
the Requisition, their sense of ie gross injustice which
the present law imposes in the principle of levying that
tax.

A scrutiny has been made of the names and the num-
ber of non-Electors so signing may be estimated at about
1000, leaving 6545 Electors. It is indeed probable, from
the respectability of the parties, that the greater portion
of the 1000 non-electors are at this moment qualified to
vote—at least will be on the register for the ensuing year ;
but as they are not so now, they have, in the scrutiny,
been separated from the Electors.
In conclusion, I have to communicate to you ,the ex-
treme regret of this committee, that a connexion from
which much had been expected to the town of Liverpool,
should have been interrupted so speedily, and in a man-
ner so painful, and that nothing but the strongest sense
of duty could have induced them to be the medium of
communication with you in this matter. They shared in
the universal discontent with your opposition to an equi-
table adjustment of the Income Tax, and therefore fully
sympathised in the steps taken by the Electors.
I shall be glad to be the medium of communication
for your acknowledgement of the receipt of the Requisi-
tion,—and I have the honour to be, Sir, very obediently
yours, J. M. MACDONALD, Secretary.

Whitehall Gardens, 21st March, 1848.
MR. MACDONALD, SECRETARY, Bcc., NATIONAL

CONFEDERATION, LIVERPOOL.
SIR,—I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
and of the accompanying memorial, calling upon me, in
consequence of the vote I gave in the House of Commons,
on the 3rd instant, to resign my seat.
I receive the memorial with the respect which is due
from me to any document signed by so considerable a
number of the electors and inhabitants of Liverpool.
It is necessary, therefore, to review the obligations I in-
curred when I accepted the honourable responsibility I
ani thus required to surrender.
I must be permitted to remind you that, in 1842, when
I entered Parliament, the first important question, on
which it became my duty to decide, was the imposition of
the Income Tax for three years in its present state. The
reasons advanced for its adoption were the necessity of
providing for a large deficiency of revenue left by the
former Government, and the importance of relieving trade
from several oppressive imposts.
At the expiration of the time so, limited, not only had
these reductions.of taxation been supplied by the devel-
oPement of industry and the consequent increase of con-
sumptlon, Ira the revenue had rccoveredl-2rom a deficiency
of more tlamt.two. minim, and. tlav incolPe•Was
.