The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-04-17 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

general, and in the opinion of the commissioners a just, dissa
tisfaction with their municipal institutions," and "that the
existing corporations of England anti Wales, neither possess
nor deserve the confidence or respect of his Majesty'saubjects."
(p. 49.) Tina is to say that there is a great majority of dissa-
tisfied towns, and. a majority of dissatisfied inhabitants in each
dissatisfied towu; whereas it appears, Ito far as the existence of
diss o isfaction can be collected from the printed circuit reports
that the reining which in the loose language of conversation is
termed general unpopularity'exists onty in a small proportion
of these ceminauities, (see tables hereto annexed,'pp. 22-320
and whilst it is thus proved by the evidence that such dissatis-
faction does not exist in a great majority of the incoraorated
towns it is impossible to ascertain the absolute extent of dissa-
tisfaction or distrust in the places wheie (according to the cir-
cuit reports) it does prevail. In the report it is assumed to be
a general and preponderating feeling; but the evidence does
not.affurd (nor could it afford) any sufficient data from which
such an inference can be drawn. There is no evidence of the
numerical proportion of the non-contenrs to the rest of the in-
habitants. The report further affirms, and offers as the grounds
upon which parliament is to pronounce a penal judgment. and
iu addition to the before-mentioned "general" and "just dis-
satisfaction," "a distrust of the self-elected municipal coun-
cils," "a distrust of the municipal magistracy, tainting with
suspicion the local administration of justice, &c.," but the
cammissioners have not the means of measuring the extent of
such dissatisfaction, distrust, or suspicion with any degree eif
-accuracy. The individuals (and what were their numbers,
whether few or many, is not stated) who came before the circuit
commissioners for the purpose of testifying upon these points
can only be received as competent evitle'nce so far as they speak
to their own opinions. But their opinions do not afford a test
of the opinions of those who remained at borne, and respecting
whose sentiments the commissioners could not, from the very
nature of things, obtain any information.' In such matters even
the result of a poll at qn election is a very insufficient test;. for
very many of those individuals whose opinions and sentiments
ought to be collected and consulted abstain from active inter.-
ference in public affairs. And if it be disirable, as it may pos-
sibly be on future occasions, to collect the opinions of the inha-
bitants of a town upon their municipal• constitution, no certain
' mode can be adopted, excepting by the double operation of
opening a general declaration book at the Guildhall, 'and also
of sending the parish or ward officers round from house to house
to collect the "contents" and "non-contents" of such inha-
bitants. By nothing short of this process cart the deliberate
deCision of an inhabitancy be obtained. In a inure qnestion of
property the legislature requires a specific record of "assents,"
and 'dissents," and " neutrals" to the line of a canal or a tail.:
road; and the same precaution is fully as desirable where the
measure concerns the rights of a whole community.
With respect to the "just dissatisfaction" assumed by the
report to be "general," Sir Francis quotes a
.great variety of
cases from the evidence to prove that this feeling is nut well
•founded, just, or generally entertained. We take the following'
cases referred to by the learned gentleman in illustration of his '
•reason in gs : , .
Inßaubury, where all the several charges against the cor-
poration were. disproved, the cominissiuners repokthese refuted
charges as "proofs of the existence of an inveterate suspicion,
and distrust on the part of the inhabitants towards the local ma-
gistracy, which leads even intelligent and well-instructed per-
sons to believe improbable suggestions and accusations upon
little or no. evidence." (Evidence, p. 14; app. p. 3i.) In
Evesham " complaiuts were made of the narrow and exclusive
spirit in which the body is perpetuated. Every one who is
known to entertain opinions at variance with those of the in-
fluential. part of the corporation is carefully excluded from that
body." (Evidence, p. 54; appendix, p. at) But in the fol-
lowing page the commissioners proceed to state that, "as far
as we had the means of judging, it appeared that the municipal
authority was vested in the beat hands, with reference both to
intelligence and character, to be found in so small a district;"
thus contradicting, by their own testimony, the preceding evi-
dence as to the unfair exclusion of parties opposed to the cor-
poration ; yet nevertheless the commissioners come to the con-
clusion " that whilst such a persuasion (i. e. of injustice) as we
have described prevails, whether with or without reason, the
administration of justice must be attended with a degree of dis-
credit and mistrust which cannot but be prejudicial to every
social institution." (Evidence, p. 55; app. p. 34.) In Glen-
cester, where all the charges brought against the corporation
are dismissed, and the corporate Management of the town
proved to be meritorious, "it was strongly urged by the parties
oppOsed to the corporation that though the business were never
so well conducted by the present corporation the jealousies and
animosities occasioned by the system of self-election were pro-
ductive of great evil to the inhabitants at large." (Evidence,
p. 62; app. 31, 35.) In Marlborough the commissioners say
that "although upon a full inquiry we find the decisions of the
borough inagist rates in several instances of imptttedm ibsicason. duct
have been correct, the conviction of their political opponents,
pro-
ducestl t atjumd gainnye nOtt. isth
e worst
al o a
of
justice." (Evi-
dence, political
p. 85; app. p. 36.) In Reading all the 'various charges
brought against the corporation are dismissed; scone of these
involving a grave inculpation, viz., corrupt partiality in grant-
ing leases of the corporate property to their own members. Here
the commissioners state that the "mayor, aldermen, and assist-
ants, constitute the ruling body of the corporation; they are
self-elected, and it 'may probably be ascribed to this circum-
stance, and to the fact that members of the same family have
happened to belong successively to the corporation for the last
fifty years, that their conduct is viewed by the inhabitants of
Reading with a degree of jealousy and dissatisfaction which
their official acts taken by themselves are by no means sufficient
to account fort" (Evidence, p. 113; app. p. 37, 38.) In Bris-
tol the state of public feeling is such "that it seems doubtful
whether the corporation could now do an act of real liberality
without becoming liable to suspicion and reproach." (Evi-
dence, p. 1223; app. 70.) And in the majority of cases the
cause of dissatisfaction is the preference given by the corpora-
tion to individuals of a particular party. But all bodies and
sets of men will prefer individuals of the same mode of thinking
as themselves, and as far as it is an evil it is one which the law
never can recognise, because the law never can afford a remedy.
Such then is the nature of the dissatisfaction and distrust of the
municipal magistracy, assumed by the report to be "general,"
and pronounced to be " just;" but which may be dismissed .
with the one remark, that although such dissatisfaction must be
carefully, temperately, and dispassionately weighed and consi-
dered, and neither slighted, nor contemned, nor despised, still
that the epithet of "just," as applied to the same, might to be
expunged from a document professing to assist the deliberatious
of parliament.
We genie next to the general charge of lavish .expenditure
for corrupt purposes. -
The report (page 45, sec. 108) states, that in " some • towns"
largo sums have been spent in bribery, end the other illegal
practices of contested elections. From the context it appears
that parliamentary elections are inferred, and that the stuns
were expended out• of corporate funds. As specific examples
the report quotes the notorious case of Leicester in 1826, and
states that " in Barnstaple and Liverpool the funds of the cor-
poration have been wasted in defending from- threatened dia•
franchisement a body of freemen who had been proved guilty of
bribery." With respect to Barnstaple, the money was expended
in opposing a bill introduced into parliament, after a contested
election in 1826, intituled " An Act for the Prevention of Bri-
bery and Corruption in the Election of Membe‘e of Parliament
for the Borough of Barnstaple, in the county of Devon," and
which bill was thrown out tin the House of Lords, (Evidence,
p 433; app. p. 43,) thereby affording an inference that the
freemen were not proved to be guilty of bribery before that tri-
bunal, and that, acting as conservators of-its corporate privi-
leges, the corporation was bound to oppose the bill. It is not
altogether unworthy of notice, that the circuit commissioners
roceed to state that " no part of the funds of the corporation
of Barnstaple] have ever been expended in contested elections.
'he corporation have been generally divided in opinion upon
the merits of the- candidates; they have not, as a body, there-
fore, interfered." (Evidence, p 433; app..p. 43.) 13ut the
main objection to this section of the report is, that the reader
cannot possibly discover that the evil, great and crying as it
certainly was, is now entirely remedied, the very case of Leices-
ter having been the cause of the introduction of the bill, since
passed into a law, (2 and 3 W. 4, c. 69,) "for preventing the
application of corporate property to the purposes of election of ,
members to serve in parliament." No other corporation ex-
cept Leicester appears on the face of the printed reports to be
charged with this abuse. The report thus assumes as a general I
charge " that revenues, which ought to be applied for the pub-
lic advantage, are diverted from their legitimate use, and are
sometimes squandered for purposes injuriops to the character
and morals of the people;" . whilst the chief and priucipal
foundation for this charge, in which all corporations are in-
volved, is an abuse or act of delinquency committed by one
corporation, and which abuse has been thoroughly and effec-
tually reformed.
'1 lie report states (p. 46, sec. 117) "that the debts incurred
by many corporations have been seeded to their present amount
by the most negligent and improper management. At Berwick-
upon-Tweed, where the freemen manage the affairs of the cor-
poration, and possess commons of the value of about £6,000 per
annum, they have borrowed money expressly for the purpose of
dividing amongst themselves." It is strange that Berwick-
upon-Tweed, the only specific example quoted, should be
brought forward thus prominently in a general report upon the
corporations of England and Wales. Belonging to this corpo-
ration is a very large tract of land, divided into three great por-
tions ; one of these portions is subdivided into smaller parcels
called " stints," which the burgesses take in severally; another
portion, formerly common land, and upon which each burgess
was anciently entitled to a right of pastuve, is now inclosed,
but the rents are divided amongst the burgesses. A third por-,
Lion of the land is held for the general purposes of the corpora-
tion ; and the burgesses in guild assembled have very ample
powers fur governing and disposing of all their lands. Under
these circumstances they have purchased the tithes, and-paid
for repairs and various other charges out of the aggregate or
corporation portion; and up to the year 1817 they paid the
poor's-rate in the same manner, borrowing money to make up
deficiencies, by which means a very large debt has accumulated.
(Evidence, pp. 1443, 1449; opp. pp. 72, 73.) No doubt can be
entertained of the extreme impolicy (perhaps illegality) of such}
a course;" but at the same time it is equally certain that the'vacts
of a community thus circumstanced afford no standard whatever
for estimating the management of other corporations. The
abuses of Berwick-upon-Tweed, brought forward as the promi-
nent feature of the case, is one from which no general conclu-
sion can• be drawn, and which no general enactment could
remedy. The reform must be effected by a local act adapted to
the special circumstances of the corporation. As to the debts
'incurred by the mismanagement of many not named corpora-
tions, no judgment could be pronounced without a very minute
examination of their affairs; and it appears from the reports
that the circuit commissioners did not always conclude that the
amount of debt incurred by a corporation was a proof of negli-
gent and improper management. ispoongst the largest debts
incurred by any corporation in the west of England is the debt
of Plymouth, viz., £39,000 on mortgage, annuities payable an-
nually £2,124. 10s. 84., &c., (Evidence, p. 594;) and yet the
commissioners report, that "we have not visited any corpc ration
in the west of England so well managed in all respects as the
corporation of Plymouth." (Evidence, pp. 595, 596; app. pp.
50, 51.) More will be said about Plymouth in another part of
this protest, p. 16.

Inefficiency of Magistrates.—The report states that the cor-
porde "magistrates, generally speaking are not looked upon by
the inhabitants with favour or respect, and are often regarded
with peculiar distrust and dislike." "The corporate magistrates
are often selectedii om a class incompetent to the dischaige of
judicial functions, and the consequence has been 'a great defect
in the administration of justice. And in sueport of this posi-
Akin, the report quotes the unprinted case of Last Retford, rest-
ing upon the evidence of the "respectable individual who had
been clerk to the magistrates ;" the unprinted Wenlock case,
and • the lliatmesbury case (Evidence, p. 79, app. pp. 25, 36),
where the magistrates are often unable to read and ante. And
the report proceeds to state "that the evils resulting from the
ignorance and inefficiency of the borough magistrates are height-
ened by gross defects in other parts of the judicial system.'
The assumptions in these passages bear upon the personal
qualifications of the borough magistracy for the (Zees which
they hold. The question.oi personal competency for offices is
a question in all cases one of great delicacy, and involving
much cousideration of collateral circumstances; and whenever
it becomes necessary for the law to designate (either directly
or indirectly) any peculiar class of individuals as fit for peculiar
offices, or (either directly or indirectly) to exclude them as un-
fitted, the saute question offers one of the most difficult pro-
bleats of practical legislation. And it is only necessary to ob-
serve that the' data contained in the evidence are nut adequate-
fur the solution of the problem. Malmesbury (like Berwick-

upon-Tweed). is an isolated case, the borough being in fact a.
territorial 'community, in which the 'principal objects of the
cogotation (except so far as it has been kept up for parlia-
ntfutary purposes) are the distribution of the town lands, after
a singular custom which- is probably as old as the reign of
Athelstaue, froin whom (as they suppose) they received their
first charter. (Evidence, pp, 70, 79, 80, app. pp. 35, 360
The report does not offer arty other example of a aimilar anti.
cut constitution, nor of 'sinniar want of education-09.nd iustruc
tion. It is true, that in certain Welsh boroughs, Aheravon-
Kenfig, K.elgerran, and St. Clears (Evideuce, pp. 165. 269,'
479, 377) the reports state that the magistrates are unacquainted
with business, and so ignorant of the English language that
"scarcely any information could be collected from them" (p.
165); but inasmuch as it appears from the reports that the coin- '
missioners were uuprovided with an interpreter the incompe-
tence of the magistrates could not be easily ascertained; and it
is submitted that ignorance of the Welsh language w.aild (in ,
the magistrates) have opposed a more serious obstacle to the
transaction of business in a remote Welsh borough, where the
inhabitants do not speak English, than the deficiency animad-
vet ted upon by the commissioners. '". •
But with respect to inefficieocy it may be collected that the
opinion of the inhabitants is nut. entirely iu unison with the
opinions expressed iu the report. For in that same report,
when treating on the borough courts, it is said, " notwithstand-
these defects, a very general desire was expressed on the part
of the inhabitants of these boroughs, where the civil courts bad
fallen into disuse, for their, revival." It is nut unworthy of
notice that in the particular Case of Chard, the circuit commis-
sioners argue strongly against the opinion of the inhabitants,
asserting that "the boon"—the extension of the powers of the
civil court—"which many of the inhabitants appear to desire,"
would not be valued by them, nor answer its proper ends,
unless it were accompanied with an alteration in the mode of
choosing the members of the corporation.--(Evidence, p. 1212 )
Popular Con:ilia—The Corporation of Plymouili.-1 he com-
missioners state in the report, "that they 'have considered that
the terms of the commission do not authorize t hem to recom-
mend specific measures for the improvement of the corporate
system, and that they have therefore refrained from pointing out
even the'most obvious remedies for the imperfections they have
observed, unless so far as the suggestion of the remedy in some
cases is unavoidably implied in the state of the evil." But
without inquiring whether they are or are not correct with re-
spect to their powers, it appears, that although the report does
not suggest any specific measures, yet that "popular controul"
and "the influence of public opinion" are prescribed by the
whole tenour of the. report as the specific remedy for the " prin-
cipal defects which they have found in the municipal constitu-
tions of England and Wales." Now, with respect to the prac-
tical effects.produced by popular control and the influence of
public opinion, the fullest proof is afforded by the evidence that,
taken by themselves, these elements of government are not suf-
ficient to secure a good local administration. The corporation
of Plymouth is noticed by the circuit commissioners as " the
• only instance which occurred to us iu the course of our inquiries
of a corporation framed and acting upon popular principles.
Not only are the mayor and aldermen elected by the common-
alty, but the management of all the corporate affairs has, since
the year 1803, been in the hands of.the freemen at large. This
power has been exercised by them with much prudence and
discretion, by the appointment of a committee of twenty-one of
their number, by whil:l all the business of the corporation is
,conducted." (hvidence, p. 595; app. pp. 50, 51.) But im-
mediately afterwards it is stated, " the committee of twenty-
one" (previously designated by the commissioners as "an ex-
cellent board of management") have not, nevertheless, in the
management of the financial affairs of the corporation acted
with that caution and discretion whia might have been ex-
pected from them. (Evidence, p. 595; app. p. 51.) They
have involved the corporation in great difficulties by most im-
provident speculations. 4,1 enormous debt has been contracted,
which at present there are no means of discharging. (See
above, p. 11.) The funds required for the erection of the gaol
have been wasted in the erection of an hotel and a theatre. The
next presentations to two of the churches have been sold, and,
' instead of employing the proceeds upon the repairs of those
buildings, they have applied the money in reduction of their
general debt, so as to lender it " necessary to impose a church-
rate, a measure of course very unpopular amongst the inhabi-
tants." The corporation have cut off the supply of water from
the public conduits, " which afforded to the poor a cheap and
easy means of procuring an article of the highest necessity."
( Evidence, p. 591; app. p. 50;) and this for a most inconsi-
derable profit: Very valuable reversions have been alienated,
and the sources of future increase of revenue have thus been
destroyed. By-laws have been passed, considered as unfairly
restrictive of the rights of the working classes, and continue on-
repealed, notwithstanding the discontent which they have occa-
sioned; and the corporation maintains what, in the opinion of
the commissioners, is an undeniable connexion with' the ma-
nagementof the poor. (Evidence, p. 585, 586, 591, 59'2, 695,
596; app. pp. 49, 50, 51.) And the conduct of the body thus
forcibly characterized by, the circuit commissioners " we have
not visited any corporation in the west of England so well ma-
naged in all respects as the corporation of Plymouth, which we
attribute to the efficient control exercised by the public over
the elections of the members of that body, ana to the publicity
which is given to all their proceedings," (Evidence, p. 595,)
and exhibiting the full operation of. the principles held out by
the general report as the very basis of municipal reform, is
marked by the principal defects assumed by that very same re-
port to be the consequence of secrecy and want of popular con-
trol.