The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-03-08 00:00:00

SIR JOHN CAM HOBHOUSE'S VESTRY ACT,

A requisition having been received by the churchwardens, to
ascertain whether the required majority of the rate-payers are
in favor of or against the adoption of the act 1 and 2 W. IV,
c. 60, (20th Oct. 1£31;) by which the Select Vestry A e`, com-
monly called Sturges Bourne's Act, under which the affairs of
this parish have been conducted during the last twelve years,
would be superseded, we lay before our.readen an abstract of
its principal enactments.
The churchwardens, within twenty-one days after the Sunday
following their receipt the requisition, are to fix some three
successive days, beginning at eight in the morning and ending
at four in the afternoon, for receiving the votes of the rate-
payers for or against the adoption of the act.
The vote of the rate-payer is to be either printed or writter,
or partly printed, or partly written, and must be addressed, an.,
delivered, to one of the churchwardens at the place appoiired'
for receiving the votes.
The votes to be examined and compared with the last ra!e'
made for the relief of the poor; and if the whole number of
persons voting is a clear majority of the rate-payers, and two-
thirds of the votes given eke in favour of the act, it is to be
adopted. • •
No person is to be deemed a rate-payer under this act unless ,
he shall have-been rated to the relief of the poor for the rhole.
year immediately preceding his vote, and shall have paid
all-
the parochial rates, taxes, and assessments then due from him
or her, except such as have been made or become due within
the preceding six months.
In case the rate-payers determine against the adoption of ?he
act, another requisition cannot be made for this same ply_po.,e
within three years after such determination.
The number of vestrymen, being resident householders, to be
in proportion to the number of rated householders, xiz. •
Vestrymeta. - Rated Householders.
'l2 for not exceeding . lOOO .
24 if above
36 if 'above
12 for every additional
The number is in no case to exceed 120; but it is to be ob-
served, that if a parish contains 9001 rated householders; it is
imperative that the vestry for managing its affairs shall consist
of one hundred and twenty vestrymen, consequently, that
would be the number for Liverpool.
The rectors, vicar, perpetual curate, and churchwarden!, are
to lie part of the vestry. The overseers are not mentioneu.
The qualification of a vestryman is, that he shall be a resi-
dent householder, rated at not less than £lO per annum. In
London the qualification is £4O.
Under this act the votes for the election of vestrymen are to
be taken by ballot, during three successive days, from eight to
four o'clock; each rate-payer delivering a folded paper con-
taining the names of the persons for whom he votes; and each
rate-payer is to have one vote, and no more, for the members
of the vestry.

Any person forging, or falsifying any name or writing, in
any voting
_paper, or obstructing or preventing the election,
may he convicted before two justices in a penalty of not less
than £lO, nor more than £5O; and, in default of payment, may
he imprisoned for not less than three, nor more than six calen-
dar months.

The election of vestrymen to take place in the month of May
in every year.

At tlie'hist election after the adoption of the act, one-third of
the vestry to retire from office by lot; on the next ensuing an-
nual election, one-half of the remaining part of the first vestry
to retire by lot ; and, on the third annual election, the last re-
maining part of the first vestry are to retire from office.
At every subsequent annual election, those vestrymen who
have been three years in office are to go out of office, and the
rate-payers are to elect an equal number, and to fill up vacan-
cies occurring by death or other causes.. Vestrymen may be
re-elected.

In a parish requiring 120 vestrymen, nine of them being pre-
sent at a meeting of a vestry, all orders and directions given,,,
and contracts and engagements entered into by them, (if con-
firmed at any subsequent meeting of the vestry,) are to be as
valid and effectual, binding and conclusive, as if done by all
the vestrymen for the time being.

" 'Tis passing strange" that the Corporation of Liverpool
should be eulogised at Portsmouth as One of the most liberal,
and denounced- in Liverpool as one of the most corrupt bodies
in England. A meeting of the inhabitants of Portsmouth was,
latel,Theld for the purpose of petitioning Parliament to include
the body corporate of that borough in list of Corporations
who are to undergo the process of reformation. On that occa-
sion Mr. Casher said, that " the Corporation of Liverpool had
widened the streets, built churches, and made other improve-
Ments ; that a schedule was hung up in the Custom-house and
other places, and that the dues were engraved on brims plates
which the collectors exhibited when they made claims. At
Porttmouth there were no visible improvements, and no one
could tell to what tolls the Corporation was entitled."—Hamp-
shire Telegraph.—Verily, a prophet is seldom honoured in his
own country.

Col. Campbell has been sent to Alexandria by our Goverif-
ment. Although Mehemet Ali has consented that a treaty.
based on certain principles, shall be executed between him and
the Sultan, the terms are not settled, and Colonel Campbell
will have arrived in sufficient time to assist the Consuls and En-
voys of the other great powers in recommending to Mehemet
the acceptance or imposition of such terms as may conduce to
the establishmenrof permanent peace.

SHERlDAN.—Sheridan was above the middle height; his
limbs were well formed, but rather heavy, and his shoulders
somewhat round ; he had one leg perceptibly larger than the
other. His face, in the lower part, was fat, and all over too
rosy for a very temperate or very discreet man. His eyes were
most remarkable—large, of a dark colour, and shining, as if
fire came from them; when near and immediately in front of
him, few could bear to look steadily at his countenance. In
pronouncing his orations, he had endless grace and variety of
action; using both arms' with such propriety, that by their
movements one might nearly conjecture what ho was saying.
His voice had in it almost every sort of musical sound ; it was
sometimes as sweet as the notes of a violin, and at others es
mellow as an organ. He was so great a master of original wit,
rhetoric without rules, and, natural eloquence of every kind,
that he made those who heard him speak, believe him in the
r_ for the time, be the subject of his oration IN hat it might.He was, in short, neither moral, learned, nor wise; but FO
amazingly clever that he completely. imposed himself as silt'',
upon his hearers, while declaiming either on the hustings or iu
parliament.—Piozziana,or, Recollecliuns of the Lie Mrs. Picizi.