The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-01-11 00:00:00

THE PORTARLINGTON ELECTION & CHAIRMAN
OF MR. THORNELY'S ELECTION COMMITTEE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL ST,IND4RD.

SIR,—In your paper of last Friday, with one exception, I
believe, you have stated correctly, the various interests which
were congregated at Portarlington in opposing Mr. Gladstone's
election ; and you will probably feel some degree of surprise
when I tell you, that this exception was the influence of no less
an individual, than the distinguished chairman of Mr. Thorne-
ly's Committee !
On the first day of the Liverpool Election, a letter was ad-
dressed and forwarded by post, to a Mr. Mara, the Counsel re-
tained to attend the Portarlington Election on the part of Col.
Darner, Mr. G.'s opponent, bearing the signature of Mr. Wil-
liam Rathbone, as Chairman of Mr. Thornely's Committee,
which I am well informed, stated, that on the suggestion of a
Mr. Sheil, he volunteered his services to save the Borough from
returning such a Representative as Mr. Gladstone; to effect
this object, he told him, for the information of the Electors,
that Mr. G., his Father, and Family, were all decided Tories ;
that they had always been opposed to "liberal" opinions; that
they had not only been active in the support of Sir Howard
Douglas as a Candidate for Liverpool, but had actually brought
him forward ; that they had been most instrumental in bring-
ing forward Sir Thomas Hesketh for the County, and, as the
climax of their political crimes, he charged them with being
the principal originators and chief supporters of your valuable
'paper!!
We must, no doubt, conclude this was all very friendly and
patriotic on the part of this redoubtable Chairman, written too,
at a moment, when flushed and confident in the hope of local
victory, and feeling the more disposed to invite others to parti-
cipate in the benefit of "liberal," alias " rev olutionary" prin-
ciples. To make sure of his object, this letter was despatched
so as to be received at Portarlington at the time of the nomi-
nation there !

Who, then, will venture to call in question conduct that was
so obviously disinterested, benevolent, neighbourly, and free from
every envious or malignant feeling; or, for a moment, doubt
its being the overflow of the pure radical milk of human nature,
perhaps imbibed from that sect of which he was, if not still, a
member, towards the ignorant and benighted Electors of Port-
arlington, whose good alone he had at heart ! But mark the
result; the unfortunate result! Although this Mr. Mara read
this precious and praiseworthy composition on the hustings, so
stupid were the audience, that not one cheer was heard ; for it
did so happen, that Col. Darner. was the greater Tory of the
two candidates ! The letter was then offered, as the last re
source, to any one who might wish to possess so choice a spe-
cimen of good taste and correct feeling; but, to the lasting
shame of Portarlington, no one availed himself of so "liberal"
an offer. Your's,
Bth January, 1833. A. B.

** We much regret, that our columns should contain a
communication, so uiscreditable to one of our townsmen, as
that which our Correspondent has placed in our hands for pub-
lication. We join with him, most cordially, in condemning
such conduct: and though we disclaim in principle, and in
practice, devoting any portion of our columns to unjustifiable,
personal attacks, we can not, however painful the task, turn a
deaf ear to the exposure of what we consider in itself to be
iirtually wrong. From this duty, we shall not shrink; and we
leave our readers in this instance, to draw their own conclu-
sions, assuring them, that we have not given insertion to the
above communication, without taking care to inform ourselves
as to the fact. —EDIT. Liverpool Standard.

THE FREEMEN AND TIIE NEW ELECTORS.

-,TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

• Sts,—Though not profcissing to be the "organ" of any party,
I take the liberty of offering, through the medium of your pa-
per, a few observations upon the letter of An Elector under the
Reform Bill, which appeared in the Albion of Monday last. The
writer, after first claiming attention by a striking heading,:—
" Disfranchisement of the Freemen,"—proceeds tacitly to inform
us, by his addition of letter 2nd, that he is about to favour us
with a series of disquisitions on this momentous question. With
due deference to real and sterling worth, and with a politesse
,;singular in the character of a Byrom-street shopkeeper, (to
which class I presume the writer to belong,) he opens his argu-
ments on the subject by a quotation from the speech of Lord
Sandon at the late dinner. Omitting-to offer any remark on
the prior part, of the quotation, which doubtless will be a loss
deeply felt by a discerning public,, he proceeds to dilate upon
the concluding words of his lordship,—" I consider it no dis-
grace to have the support of loyal and worthy men, who, though
poor, represent the mercantile body on whom they depend."
His lordship's justly considering it no disgrace to be returned
by a body of men who deemed him a worthy and fit person to
represent their interests, appears to have afforded this lues na-
tura of a writer of a " series of letters" a fit subject for his
luminous observations. He demands, "Is it come to this, that
Lord Sandon should be obliged to thank the almost pauper
freemen of Liverpool for securing his election ?" This Elector
under the Reform Bill must certainly have overlooked the prior
remark of his lordship,—" I think it no disgrace to be supported
by a body of men whom Mr. Canning and Mr. Huskisson were
proud to represent,"—or certainly he would not, in his ignorant
foolhardiness, have dared to question the judgment of a body
who have returned as their representatives men who have been,
in the political horizon, planets around whom the chosen ex-
M.P. of the elector would have moved but as a satellite. If the
judgment of the man is to be estimated by the fulness of his cof-
fers, perhaps this Elector under the Reform Bill himself possessed
a greater proportion of that species of judgment after exercis-
ing his right of voting than he had claim to before. If riches
are the source of honesty and principle, it is well for this elector
that he can at any time procure a sufficiency of what his doc-
trine bespeaks him so much in want of.
From his r&aarks on the speech of his lordship, he proceeds
to favour the public with a critique on the speech of Mr. Holmes,
and endeavours to prove, by a curious specimen of logic, that
what is to be gained from the freemen, " besides the sweat of
their brow," is their votes. He wisely omits any reference to
the prior part of Mr. Holmes's remark, where he says, " If
well treated, they (the freemen) would never vote against the
wishes of their masters," but reverts to the concluding words,
where he says he believed it to be a duty to get something out
of them besides the sweat of their brow. Now taking the latter
part in conjunction with the former, it is evident that Mr-
Holmes refers not to their votes, but to the feeling of gratitude
that that kind treatment must naturally awaken, and with this
gratitude a reliance also upon the masters who 'employ them to
forward such measures only as would tend to increase the trade
of the master, and by.that means better the condition of the
servant.
With a sort of prophecy, he informs the public, that this is
the last time any " tory member will be able to make such a
boast," as being returned by the freemen; and by a bookworn
simile he announces that public opinion, like a "mighty river,"
is rushing onward to destroy all franchises; and that the mea-
sures of Messrs. Benett and Wason, by removing the "in-
cubus of rotten freemen," will enable that respectable body, of
which he is the (very) humble " organ" to return, as their re-
presentatives, those only whom they may deem competent. In
answer to an opinion given in such firm and dicisive language,
I cau only exclaim, not in the scriptural phraseology, he has
chosen to conclude some observation in his letter, but in that of
the immortal bard in the merchant of Venice,—

" A Daniel come to judgment."