The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-09-03 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

THE WATCH COMMITTEE AND THE

MAGISTRATES.

The public will no doubt remember a proceeding, which
we commented upon at the time, as a strange piece of ma-
gisterial—we might almost call it presumption, but we
shall only say—inadvertence, in which the stipendiary ma-
gistrate of our town was the chief actor, and some eight or
nine poor policemen, who bad been guilty of the presumed
offer.ce of belonging to the Order of Loyal Orangemen,
were the victims. Upon the occasion in question, Mr.
Rushton, aided by a portion of the bench, laid it down as
his decision, without any previous consultation being had
with the Watch Committee, whose province it had always
beta considered to be to appoint and to determine upon
the character and qualifications of the parties to be ap-
pointed and remain members of the police force, that the
policemen, thus found guilty of Orangeism. should either
withdraw at once from the order, or, in default, be dis-
charged from the force. Very naturally, this decision—
this encroachment upon their privileges—created some
dissati,fa.ction amongst the members of the Watch Com-
mittee, as it had done in those of the public. The Com-
mittee conceived that they had been treated by Mr.
Rushton, and by the Mayor acting under his advising,
with less courtesy and respect than were their due. : and,
as the issue, a legal opinion was directed to be taken by
the Town-clerk, who had considered in opinion with Mr.
Rushton.
Under these circumstances it was deemed desirable, and
indeed imperative, that a case should be submitted to
counsel ; and accordingly the Town-clerk was instructed
instructed to take the necessary steps—and we readily ac-
cord him the credit. of having taken every possible s'eps—
to lay such case fairly and impartially. We know that he
toots care to be provided with every document extant
showing the nature, objects, and obligations of Orange
Societies. Upon information derived from the order itself,
to that derived from its opponents, his case, we believe,
was drawn up, and no doubt fairly drawn up, and sub-
mitted for the opinions of Messrs. Kelly, Cowling, and
Cardwell, a tribunal not to be supposed either as politicians
or lawyers, to lean towards the poor Orange delinquents.
Well, the opinions upon this case have at length been
received, under date of the 23d of August—mind, after
the police, coerced as above, have consented to leave the
Orange order, and forfeit the advantages of the benefit
societies to which they had belonged for years past. And
what is the result? Does it bear out the interference of
the magistracy ? Does it inflict the wished-for pains and
penalties upon these poor and loyal men ? By no means.
We will ive its substance in proof of our assertion.
With respect to the powers of the Bench to dismiss the
men from the force, as the penalty of their refusal to leave
the Orange order, it says—(we are not quoting the pre-
cise words, which we have not by us)—
We think the Justices could not regularly and law-
fully dismiss any constable for refusing to leave the
Orange Society.
So said we, at the time ; and so said the members of
the Watch Committee.

Again, the opinion says—We think the Justices, by
passing Mr. Bolton's resolution, (to the effect that the
policemen i❑ question must either leave the Orange order
or the police force,) and communicating it through the
Head Constable, have acted in an irregular manner, and
claimed to exercise a power not vested in them.
Further, with respect to the powers of the Watch Com-
mittee, as distinguished from those of the Bench, the
opinion states—We think the Watch Committee is like
the Courts Leet at common law; and that power is
vested exclusively in them.
The real powers of the Bench are thus defined, as we
anticipated they would be defined and restricted—The
Justices have power of adjudicating cases and dismissing
for bad conduct.
Finally, with respect to the policy which ought to guide
the Watch Committee, the counsel state, in reply to the
case put that circumstances might arise in which Orange-
men would not be proper custodians of the public peace,
that—belonging to an Orange Society is no prohibition
according to the rules of the Watch Board ; and, as the
circumstance of Orange constables being called upon to
repress a disturbance in which Orangemen are prie e
movers is too remote to be provided against, it is in itself
no disqualifying matter in a constable that he belongs to
such a society, but purely a matter for the consideration,
as to its propriety, of the Watch Committee itself.
We are prowl to be able to lay this gratifying result of
an appeal to high legal authorities, which, we repeat, the
Town-clerk of Liverpool himself declares must he re-
ceived as impartial and fair, before the loyal Orangemen
of this town and of the kingdom. And, beyond its im-
mediate bearing upon the question originally at issue, we
beg to direct the attention, not only of the conservatives
of Liverpool, but of the entire kingdom, to the great
issue which it decides. It has been said that the Orange
order is an illegal order; that Orangemen are an ill gal
body of men, combined together in defence of the law,
and which, consequently, no good Protestant and Chris-
tian, anxious to pay due obedience to the powers that be,
can consistently join. Here, then, is the answer. The
Orange body is a legal body—a body worthy to be In-
trusted with the task of preserving the peace of the
realm! No light privilege is here accorded to them—on
light compliment paid to their legality and devotion to
the throne and the laws. The lying slanders of Popish
journalists, and the cold shoulder of timid Protestants
may henceforth be equally disregarded. The devoted
supporters of the principles of our glorious Reformation
—the pledged defenders of the reigning family of these
realms—are no longer to be treated as unworthy the pro-
tection of the laws of Protestant England, or of the en-
joyment of the liberties of conscience of which English-
men are permitted to boast. We thank the learned func-
tionary whose meddling has brought about, unwittingly,
a consummation so much to be desired. We thank Mr.
Edward Rushton and his prompters in this great enter-
prise, whoever they may have been.

THE NEW AMENDMENT TO THE POOR LAW BILL.
—At t he Police-court yesterday, a number of women
applied to the magistrate for summonses, under the new
law (which we noticed some time ago) against the fathers
of their illegitimate children, in order to compel them to
maintain them free of burtben to the parish. They were
each examined as to the time of birth, the party liable,
&c. and ordered to attend on Saturday week with such
witness or witnesses of their respective intimacy with the
party as they could produce, These are the first applica-
tions here under the new statute, and we doubt not but
we shall hereafter have to report on its total inadequacy.
DANGEROUS ASSAULT WITH A PITCHFORK.—John
Delap, was yesterday charged at the Police-court with
an assault upon Richard Bainbridge with a pitchfork.
The assault was the result of a quarrel. Mr. Rushton
said he could not liehtly pass over the use of such
deadly weapons even in the passion of the moment, and
committed the prisoner for trial at the assizes, with an
intimation that he might go at large on giving good bail
—himself in £BO, and two sureties in, £4O each. It
was stated that the prisoner had hitherto borne a good cha-
racter.

MR. ISAAC'S CONCERT.—We never remember to have
seen within the walls of our Amphitheatre, or of any
theatre in or out of Liverpool, a more brilliant assem-
blage than that gathered together on Tuesday evening to
partake of the rich musical treat provided by Mr. Isaac.
From an early hour the doors of the house were besieged
by parties anxious to secure the best seats in the pit and
gallery ; and, long before the time appointed for the com-
mencement of the concert, carriages began to arrive with
parties for the boxes and stalls, every place in which had
been previously taken. The arrangements inside were
very excellent. The front of the arena was boarded over,
carpeted, and formed into stalls, which were filled with
the elite of our town, the pit behind being also crowded
with a respectable audience. The spacious boxes, filled
to overflowing, presented an array of beauty and fashion
rarely seen congregated together; and the gallery even
was crowded to the ceiling. The front of the stage had
been covered over, to separate the space allotted to the
orchestra from the space occupied by the scenery, and to
throw the sound forward into the house, which object
was completely effected. We never, indeed, attended a
concert in any public place where the sound from the
highest to the lowest notes was more distinctly heard by
the whole audience. The orchestra, which was very ef-
fective, and was admirably led by Mr. Herrman, gave the
overture to " Der Freitchutz" in an exeellent style; but
their best performance was the overture to " William
Tell," which was magnificent, and electrified the house.
This overture, in itself a fine composiiion, was certainly
never heard in Liverpool to such advantage. Of the vo-
cal part of the entertainment we shall not attempt to give
any detailed notice, so far, at least, as those well known
singers, Madame Grisi, and Signors F. Lablac'ne, Mai io
and Paltoni, are concerned. Of them it will be suffi-
cient to say that on this occasion they sustained well
their part reputation, and elicited the marked applause
of the audience, testified by several encores. Signor
Mario, in particular, was in fine voice, and has very
greatly improved as a singer since we ast heard him.
Upon Madame Favanti's singing, however, we may
be [excused if we remark more at length, inasmucli as
that lady is a stranger to a Liverpool audience, and her
abilities and qualities have been the subject of some little
difference of opinion amongst musical critics. We place
her very far below Grisi in general execution, and even in
correctness of ear. She is not the same finished singer.
And yet at times she manages her wonderful voice so as
to produce effects, which would induce one to believe her
possessed of greater powers of modulation than those even
of Grisi, if she would put them in requisition. There is
a fascinating originality in her style, which to us is far
more pleasing than the more ambitious and ornate style
adopted by some other artistes ; and the studied plain-
ness of the greater portion of her efforts brings into more
beautiful and striking prominence the bursts of song, and
of exquisite rower and execution in which she occasionally
indulges. On the whole we much question if it can be
said that admiration more hearty was ever awarded by a
Liverpool audience to a new candidate for their favour,
than was on this occasion awarded to Favanti, mingled,
however, with a disposition to impute occasional faults, a
feeling which is, perhaps attributable to her peculiar style.
The pianoforte performances of Mr. Isaac were very ex-
cellent, end displayed great power of execution and taste.
They were deservedly and loudly applauded.

TAHITI OR OTAHEITE?—The othography of the name
of the " modern Cytherez." has been unsettled like almost
all names of places, by innovation. The members of all
our European Academies and Societies appear to have
settled that it ought not to be written " Otaheite," but
no two of their members can agree how it ought to be
written.

MORE HONOURED IN THE BREACH THAN IN THE
OBSERVANCE.—The papers have been talking about the
breach of faith the French committed by firing against
Tangier. This is the only breach, at all treats, their
firing made.—Punch.