The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-12-17 00:00:00

place in Mr. Cobden's service ?" Exquisite simpli-
city ! Mr. Cobden has a cottage to let himself—a
supernumerary cottage provided for the purpose.
"He may sell his cottage, however." Yes, poor fel-
low, he may do that—at just the price of a thing
which Mr. Cobden has made a superfluity where it
stands, or may choose to promulgate his ban against!
A nice specimen this of " liberal" purity ; but a
better is the following proposition :
" Then there are numbers of young men employed in
this town as clerks, &c., in counting-houses, who live in
lodgings. I have heard many complain that lodgers can-
not qualify ; but some of these young men might club
together and buy a house, and, by letting one of their
number have the key of it, they will confer a vote upon
him. Any clerk in a warehouse or Office may by this
means put himself on a perfect level, as far as the
electoral franchise is concerned, with Mr. Scarisbrick, of
Scarisbrick."

Of course the young man who has " the key" of a
house which, confessedly, is not his own, will have
no difficulty in swearing to his ownership before the
revising barrister! Such is the League estimate of
the morality of its dupes. And yet Mr. 'fuos. Black-
burne " did not think that this was an immoral.
mode of procedure" ! Alas, how faction blunts the
perceptions and obliterates the high principles of
even honest and respectable men !
Whatever may be their glaring dishonesty, and
however quixotic some people may think these pr.>
jects, we must contend that they cannot with safety
be regarded with passive contempt by the Conser-
vative public. The unscrupulous and unprincipled
efforts threatened by the League must be met by
Conservative zeal and activity. If our opponents
mine, we must countermine, unless we wish to see
the representation of this important district surren-
dered into the hands of an anti-national and reck-
less faction, and the House of Commons itself be-
come an enslaved tool of an unconstitutional and
dangerous body of conspirators against the laws and
the liberties of the people.

It is with some reluctance that 'we turn to an ex-
amination of the lengthy epistle which Mr. Miller,
the late Head Constable, addressed last week to his
Worship the Mayor. We have certainly no wish
to inflict an injury upon Mr. Miller. Wt regret
much the unfortunate position in which he is placed ;
but we regret still more to remark in his conduct,
since he has occupied that position, a perverse ob-
stinacy of disposition, and a love of public contro-
versy, which, we fear, will• ultimately provoke from
the Watch Committee, in pure self-defence, retorts,
the necessity of which they would willingly be
rpared. Mr. Miller was `•let down" very easily by
the Committee; and, in the matter of his salary,
very liberally dealt with. He was free to seek other
employment ; the only stigma against him (if that
could be called a stigma,) being an error, on his
own pa'rt, of the extent of the discretionary control
vested in him by his office. By the charitable for-
bearance exercised towards him by the Committee,
that body voluntarily placed themselves, for his bene-
fit, in a position which might be misunderstood to
their own injury`. He drove them at length to the
task of setting themselves with the public, which
they endeavoured to do by their recent report, in
which much, which would have told materially
against him, was still forbearingly kept back. His
recent letter, however, compells ourselves, as jour-
nalists, for the repudiation of an important branch
of our local government, to be more explicit; and
if the result is not attended with pleasant conse-
quences to himself, he has at least no individual but
himself to blame.

We pass over the introductory remarks of Mr.
Miller, and proceed to quote the third paragraph, in
which he commences his vindication :
" But now for the charges, such as they are. In the
first place, the report of the Watch Committee (accord-
ing to the abstract in the newspapers, whence alone 1
derive my knowledge) states " that during thd time Mr.
Miller acted as Head Constable, the printed rules and
regulations of the police force had not been carried out."
In answer to this, I say, that I exercised what I con-
ceived to be a sound discretion in carrying out those rules
and regulations. Having, as I thought, the management
of the force, I earnestly thought to bring it into the high-
est possible state of eficiency, and in so doing I necessa-
rily placed some reliance on an ezperience of no limited
character, gained in the discharge of the duties of a
similar situation."

Now, if anything could prove decisively the truth
of the charge in the Committee's report, this para-
graph proves it. We ask our readers to mark the
passages which we have given in italics. The Com-
mittee complain that Mr. Miller has not carried out
the printed rules and regulations of the police
force.' He replies, "he exercised what lie con-
ceived a sound discretion" in carrying them out !
In other words, he set his own discretion above the
Watch Committee's rules and regulations. He
constituted himself both Watch Committee and
Head Constable ! He relied "on an experience of
no limited character" in his own person; he gave
little, if any, deference to the experience of the
Committee.

We might perhaps have been better disposed to
pardon this assumption and disobedience of in-
instructions, could we discover it to be the first
time, or this the first place, in which it has been
displayed. But this is not at all the case. We
have before us a report, dated last year, by a Com-
mittee in Glasgow, where Mr. Miller recently held
the office of Head Constable, in which the same as-
sumption of superior authority is laid to his charge.
That gentleman had been directed to make returns
to the Commissioners " on the state of crime in
Glasgow for the year ending 31st December, 1842."
The report in question was further directed to be
made " under the superintendence of the Committee
on criminal affairs." With respect, however, to
the latter direction the report states, that "the Su-
perintendent did not deem it necessary to consult this
_Committee on the subject !" Quite in keeping this
with his preference here of his own "sound discre-
tion," as superior to the authority of the "rules and
regulations of the police force" given him to follow !
But Mr. Miller's assumption did not stop here.
He presented his report to the General Board for
their consideration ; but that Board, in the words
of the report before us, " were surprised to find on
the following morning, and before they had been
allowed time or opportunity to look at the return,
it appeared at length in the Glasgow Herald, without
the order or sanction of the Board or its Committee."
Surely this bears out abundantly the truth of the
impression which our Watch Committee, and no
small portion of the public, have come to with re-
' spect to Mr. Mille's vanity and self-reliance. In
Glasgow he -et his own " discretion" above the
orders of his superiors : here he has pursued pre-
cisely the same course.
But to come to the next paragraph, which is as
follows :
" The second charge is, That Mr. Miller had not
made himself acquainted with the duties of his office.'
What is meant by the duties of my office ? If the Watch
Committee mean to affirm that I am ignorant of the duties
of a Head Constable,/ would 85 k how it is 'hat I held the
office in Glasgow for many yea, s- and discharged its du-
ties in such a manner as to gain the approbation both of
my employers and the public ? If they mean to say that
/did not turn my attention to the state of things existing
in this town, with a view of completely mastering them,
and bringing to bear on them the whole amount of my ex-
perience and knowledge, I must say that my ' Report on
the present system of police management, and proposed
alterations therein,' furnishes an answer to that charge.
In that repprt /went most minutely into the whole sys-
tem of duty in Liverpool—a thing which it would have
been impossible for me to have done if I had not made
myself acquainted with it—showing where I conceived it
to be defective or bad, and proposing such alterations as
thonglit would not only add to the efficiency-, but pro-
mote the personal comfort, of the force. Some of my
suggestions, I am sure, Mr. Whitty would have himself
proposed, had he continued at the head of the force, or
at all events, he would have approved of them. Up to
this moment, however, the committee have not taken my
report into consideration, showing that with them an
nnreflecting adherence to old rules, and a mechanically
exact execution of them. constitute a higher el ,*tu-i to ap.
probation than a zealous attempt to obta;ii greater
efficiency.by modification or substitution."
Perhaps the quotations which we have given
above, from a 'report of a committee of the Glasgow
Town Council, will he thought suffieicilt to prove
that the "approbation," which Mr. .7:‘.!iller was in
the habit of receiving from his superiors, has not
been of the most unqualified nature. We shall re-
gret to have to produce further evidence of his '
standing with the members of that town council.
The reference, however, to his vitunted•" Report on
the present system of police inar.,,,;e:nen!-, and pro-
posed alterations therein," as conclusive of his
knowledge of " the whole system of ch',.y in Liver-
pool," is still more inifo,turiatc, thehrepor: in qucs-
ttun being, we are credibly informed, merely the sub-
stance of suggestions made to him, bp.' ins:!,rue-
tions, by :lie superintendents of the 'force, and put
into. the shape of a report by a certain subordinate
member of the force more capable than himself of
drawing up such doctunet:!s.! Further, we are as-
:Aired that, so far from Mi. Miller being perfectly
converse nt with " the whole system of duty in Li-
verpool," he scarcely knew, without reference, in
what police section any one street in Liverpool was
situated; and repeated difficulties, in carrying out

the orders of the Watch Committee, were the result
of that ignorance. We turn again to his letter :--
`'The third chaige is That Mr. Miller had not attended
the bridewells and stations at intervals during the day
and night.' Here is something specific, and to this alle-
gation I answer distinctly that it is not correct. I ques-
tioned the expediency and utility of the regulation enjoin-
ing me to visit the brideweils and stations at certain
hours, because fixed and regular visits would destroy the
object in Liew. That which is known or expected is pro-
vided against ; bet when the visits are irregular, there can
be no temporary provision made—all must be right at all
times, or there will ultimately be detection. But that I
did visit the bridewells and stations frequently, though
irregularly. the entries in the books will testify beyond
denial. In fact, so far from not having gone round the
town sufficiently often, my opinion is that I went too fre-
quently. A tuund discretion, I conceived, called upon
me to modify, in practice, the rule; but the spirit of the
rind was observed with fidelity."
We disdain to remark upon the obvious quibble
contained in the use of the words marked in italics;
but we must deny the assertion that Mr. Miller
visited the Bridewell and Stations " irregularly" or
" frequently." The books will show that such visits
were anything but frequent, and were almost, if not
altogether, " regularly" paid before twelve o'clock
at night. The entries during Mr. Whitty's time of
service will show a very different result.
With respect to the fourth charge of the Watch
ComMittee, that Mr. Miller had selected as Inspec-
tors "young and inexperienced officers," the reply
appears so foolish that we have some difficulty in
bringing ourselves to record it. He says, " surely
the Watch Committee must be aware that young
men, who have been but a limited period in the
force sometimes exhibit an amount of intelligence
and a degree of aptitude far exceeding those of
officers of long standing." A gentleman who bases
so much of his pretensions upon his great experi-
ence, should scarcely have been so communicative
as to the stupffying effect of " long standing as- an
officer. Perhaps Dogherry was right after all, in
choosing as his captain " the most desartless man."
But the fifth charge. Hear Mr. Miller !

" The fifth charge I cannot help regarding as both a
rivial and a strange one—namely, That Mr. Miller kept
himself aloof from the superintendents and inspectors,
and that his general conduct and demeanour had been so
haughty and overbearing as prevented intercourse with
him.' Haughty and overbearing ! If haughtiness cony
sist of a systematic abstinence from uncalled for frmill-
arity, then must if plead guilty ; for, ever since I first
took charge of a police force, I have considered it my
duty to keep both officers and men at a respectful dis-
tauce, (I) as one of the necessary means of securing that
' general disopline' which I am accused of having neg-
ected or deteriorated. At the same time, however, it has
always been my earliest desire and endeavour to promote
the comfort of the men to the very best of my power—to
show them kindness in deeds, and, when brought into
necessary contact with them, kindness in words. I never
regarded it as part of the duty of a Head Constantable
to indulge in prolonged and familiar chattings with the
officers of the force on irivial matters, having no con-
nection with their business or my own ; but when they
had police business to transact with me, or I with them,
they found, I can safely say, nothing f haughtiness or
overbearingness in my conduct."

This is certainly the most extraordinary passage
in the whole letter, and might almost tempt one to
inquire from what vast altitude Mr. Miller stooped
to accept of the office of Head Constable of Liver-
pool, and six hundred a year. May we, however,
instead, direct his sublime consideration to the fol-
lowing direction, as to the duties of a Head Con-
stable towards the superior officers of the course,
contained in the printed rules and regulations, a
hook which he seems to have perversely disre-
garded :

" He," the Head Constable, " will have the whole of
the force under his control, and will be held accountable
for its good order and efficiency. He- should, therefore,
by frequent personal intercourse, make himself well ac-
quainted with the superintendents and inspectors, and
thrive with the character and conduct of every man in the
establishment. He should be firm and just, yet kind and
conciliatory."

We put it to any unprejudiced man whether Mr.
Miller's interpretation of his " duty" is in keeping
with the plain rule of such " duty" here laid down.
He keeps his officers at " a respectful distance"—
perfectly correct, and yet perfectly compatible with
the requirements of the Watch Committee. He is
" kind to them" only " when brought into necessary
contact with them!" He never indulges in "prolonged
and familiar chattings" with them. How ineffably
sublime, but how opposed to the spirit of the corn-
mittie's injustice ! He is by them required to
" frequent personal intercourse," not only to gra:-
ciously unbend himself, when brought into " neces-
sary contact with them," as with something unclean.
He is to make himself " well acquainted" with
them ; and, however repugnant " long and familiar
chattings" with such people may be to a gentleman
of Mr. Miller's refinement of ideas, the " noli me
tangere" line of deportment towards them, is
scarcely, in our opinion, that best adapted to enable
him to fulfil his duties to them, to the Watch Com-
mittee and the
.public.
We are tired of perusing further in detail the
various paragraphs of this injudicious production ;
but there is one portion of it in which he attempts
to prove his vigilance as head constable by enume-
rating the duties, not his own, which he has per-
formed since his appointment, which we must
notice, so strong an illustration does it afford us of
the nature of the deficiencies complained of by the
Watch Committe, and of the truth of all that we
have heard of his conduct in the position which he
held in Glasgow. " I prepared," he says, " a return
of 4,000 streets and houses in the borough which were
destitute of either name or number—a return of
upwards of 1400 cellar entrances which were in a
dangerous state—a return of nearly 400 places where
the streets and parapets were in a state of disrepair,"
&c. ; services no doubt of great value, and evincing
vast industry and talent. But these were not the
services for which Mr, Miller was engaged and paid,
but precisely the kind of intrusions upon the func-
tions of other parties for which Mr. Miller was dis-
tinguished in Glasgow. Had he confined himself
more to his legitimate duties, possibly the Commis.
sioners in that place would not have had to com-
plain either of gross remissions on the one hand or
of undue presuming on the other, or the Watch
Committee here to resort to those inquires which
have resulted in Mr. Miller's present unfortunate
position.

We trust we have done now with the subject,
although we have ample matter before us for further
remarks. It shall be Mr. Miller's fault if it is re-
newed, as it is his fault that we have at all been
compelled to bring it before our "eaders.

SIR HENRY POTTINGER.—This distinguished individ•
nal, accompanied by !.ady Po, Thger and family, i2ol.
Malcolm, and se.vera. of their f.'ends end connections,
arrived about half-past six o'clock, last night, and he was
immediately conveyed in the mayor's carriage to the
Adelphi Hotel, where he will remain during his brief so-
journ in Liverpool. Shortly after his arrival at the
Adelphi Ski-levy was waited upon by a deputation from
the several mercantile associations of the port, consisting
of Mr. Charles Turner and Mr. Ciosthwaite' to ascertain
at what hour this day, (Tuesday,) it would be convenient
for him to receive addresses from those bodies. The
ceremony was appointed to'take place a. tso o'clock this
afternoon in the Town.hall. Two addresses are intended
to be presented, one from the East India Association of
this town, and another in which all the other associations
have united. The dinner in the evening, which will take
place in the great ball-room at the Town-hall, will be one
of the most magnificent and imposing displays of influence
and wealth that has taken place in this town for many
years. The room is one of the most commodious in Li-
verpool, and on this occasion its capabilities will be put to
the test In accommodating the numbers who are eager to
do honour to the distinguished guest. The arrangement
of the tables is such- as to afford every, comfort to the
guests, whilst there will be ample space for the attendants
to discharge their duties without crosding or confusion.
Along :he room, from east to west, there will run the
-principal table, which will be slightly elevated over. the
rest; at this table his Worship the Mayor will preside,
and at his right hand the welcome guest of Liverpool will
take his place. The following noblemen and gentlemen
will also occupy seats at this able :—Lord Stanley, Lord
Sandon, Mr. Wm. Entwisle, M.P., Major Pottinger,
Col. Malcolm, the High Sheriff, Sir George Larpent,
(Chairman of the London East India Association,) Archi-
bald Hastee, Esp., M.P., Deputy Chairman of ditto, Mr.
Thos. Haley, jun., Chairman of the Manchester Cha':ber
of Commerce, &c. &c. Eleven tables will be extended
from the principal table, at each of which there will be a
vice-president of the evening, and four stewards. The
vice-presidents are the cheirmen of the various intrcan-
tile associations of the town. Amongst the guests there
will be a native East Indian gentleman, named Mohun
Lal. who is upon a tour in this country, and who is de-
scribed as a man of most intelligent and enquirins. mind.
Mr. Baron Gurney had been iuvited bat we understand
that resterday the learned judge ruluctantly felt himself
under the necessity of declining the invitation in conse-
quence of the delicate state of his health. Altos-ether
seats are at present provided for 392 individuals, being
the wi:ole number of tickets issued, but last night there
were sbn st fifty applications more so that it is possible a
a few ware may be accommodated. As to places we be-
lieve that those who arrive first are iii:ely to be the most
fortunate in that respect, for we are informed that each
gentleman as he arrives will be conducted to his seat.
Horabin's band will perform during dinner, and Mr.
Holden's company of glee singers are ..gaged to be in
attendance. Mr. Lynn, of the WaterloXs kliate,l, provides
the cuisine.—Sir Henry Pottinger will retrain in- this
town until Friday morning next, when he will proceed to
Manchester where the same evening a magnificent. enter-
tainment will be given to him at the Town Hall, at which
the Mayor of the Borocgh will preside.