The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-11-11 00:00:00

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TUESDAY MORIcING,,

NOV. 11, 1845

To rise to an eminence amongst our fellow men is a
feat which only requires determination and perse-
verance to accomplish. To bear our honours
meekly, however, and at length to descend gracefully
into the position from which we rose for a time,
carrying with us, in our retirement, the undimi-
nished confidence and respect of our friends, is not
so easy. Our imperfect nature too often leads us
to forget ourselves in the hour of our elevation ;
and to excite jealousy, when we might win affection.
This difficult achievement has been signally ac-
complished by the gentleman who has just, on the
expiration of his year of office, vacated the civic
chair of this borough. Mr. Alderman Lawrence
ascended to that high office with many eyes strain-
ing to watch and criticise his conduct. He has fil-
led it with judgment, with liberality, and with dig-
nity; and has descended from it, not only without
having made an enemy, but with an increased host
of friends. As chief magistrate he has been firm
and discreet, amidst many trying circumstances.
As the representative of the wealth and intelligence
of this great mercantile community, he has so borne
himself on all occasions as to sustain and even ad-
vance our position amongst the other communities
of the empire. Whilst he has dispensed the hospita-
lities of the Town-hall with a liberal hand, and
without a leaning to party or to class, his private
munificence, which is a leading feature in his cha-
racter, has been unostentatiously, but bountifully,
exercised ; and in days to come, which we trust will
be many and prosperous, he will be enabled to look
back upon the year of his occupation of the highest
dignity which his fellow townsmen could confer
upon him, as one of which he has just reason to be
proud, and with which his friends have equal reason
to be satisfied.

Of the gentleman who is selected to succeed Mr.
Lawrence in the mayoralty—Mr. David Hodgson—
we entertain sanguine expectations. In every respect
—as a merchant, a gentleman, and a Christian, Mr.
Hodgson has shown himself worthy of this crown-
ing mark of the approbation of his fellow-townsmen ;
4nd we have no doubt that he will justify the confi-
dence which they repose in him, and maintain the
dignity of his high office, and the credit of this great
community.

We derive additional satisfaction from the eleva-
tion of Mr. Hodgson to the civic chair, from the
fact that his straightforward honesty and firm advo-
cacy of Protestant principles has subjected him to
more than his fair amount of Radical objurgation.
Almost alone he stood forward to protect the Pro-
testant and Orange members of the police force.
In his place in the Watch Committee he has dis-
countenanced the proceedings taken against the
licensed victuallers of the town. Hence, in a great
measure, the malignity with which he has been
assailed by the remnant of the Radical faction in the
Council, and the Radical press. On these grounds
particularly, we look upon the election of Mr. Hodg-
son to the Mayoralty as a declaration, on the part of
the majority of the Council, of their disapprobation
of the mode in which he has of late been assailed,
and their admiration of his consistency as a politi-
cian, of his staunch maintenance of Protestant prin-
ciples, and his honesty as an Englishman.

The course—some call it a hasty and ill-consi-
dered one—resorted to by the Bank of England,
for the purpose, it is assumed, of checking tli re-
dundant growth of railway speculation,—has cer-
tainly been most effectual, whether resorted to for
that object chiefly, or not. It has swept the market
of a multitude of the new projects : and will pro-
bably spare our senators a world of trouble on
committees. It has, however, we fear, like all simi-
lar remedies, been far too indiscriminate in its ac-
tion ; and, whilst extinguishing the mushrooms,
has, at the same time, cut down the sound fruits.
The mass of hastily got up schemes, whose pro-
jectors have had time to bring them out at pre-
miums, and reap the temporary prolit of which they

were alone in search, are he
effects. Their nece

'ond the reach of its

ry amount of deposits is paid
up. Their shares are in the hands of the good
easy public, who know as much of the merits of
the undertakings, in which they are embarked, as
they do of the philosopher's stone ; and solicitors,
engineers, secretaries, and provisional directors are
left to spend the money of the unfortunate share-
holders, in the mad attempt to bamboozle a com-
mittee of Parliament into the adoption of concerns,
from all connexion with which, or nearly so, they
have absolved themselves, and are now chuckling
at their good fortune, in getting rid of things so
rotten and worthless, In the mean time, the best
devised schemes are subjected to the same depres-
sion ; and many an excellent undertaking, because
got up at leisure, and with time allowed to enable
its supporters to make it complete in its leading fea-
tures and its details, is likely, from its late appear-
ance before the public, to be thrown back and sti-
fled in its birth amongst the mass of rubbish with

which the market is glutted. To the promoters of
such good schemes, the answer of Parliament will,
in all probability, be, "You are not in a position to
comply with our requirements; and you must be
content to look on, as incomplete projects, without
a Parliamentary standing, whilst we legitimatize un-
dertakings which we and you know to be almost
worthless. Such must, we fear, be the result of the
present monetary crisis, upon which we have fallen.
It will be a disastrous result to well regulated and
honestly directed enterprise, whilst, at the same
time, we admit it is checking, and has already
checked the growth of many useless and fraudu-
lent projects. The indulgence of idle grief how-
ever, is not the course into which manly English-
man ought to allow themselves to sink. The mis-
chief done is palpable; and the question is now—
how are we to repair it ?—how are we to preserve
the country and the community from its injurious
effects ?

One course we can warmly recommend to every
holder of stock in legitimate schemes, who can, by
any efforts, manage to sustain the present pressure
for money, viz., to hold on for a few months at least.
There is infinitely more harm to he done by exces-
sive fear than undue boldness. The thirtieth of
November, bear in mind, is the last day allowed by
the standing orders for the deposit of railway plans
with the various clerks of the peace, which doubt-
less a whole host of companies will fail in doing,
and thus far clear the market of their idle projects,
and perhaps awake their shareholders to a convic-
tion of the prudence of demanding back their
money—or so much of it as is left—for the purpose
of embarking it in legitimate undertakings.
Another word of advice we offer to the directors
of valuable lines, who have unfortunately delayed
the allotment of their shares too long. To them,
we say extend for a month, if found practicable, the
time allowed for paying up the deposits. By pres-
sing for money during a panic, with the Bank at
the same time applying the screw, they will effect no
good purpose, but rather damage themselves than
otherwise.

The election of a gentleman to supply the vacancy
in the Dock Committee, vacant by the removal of
Mr. Eyre Evans to a seat in the Council, is just
now creating great interest amongst the Dock rate-
payers, and the mercantile interests generally. The
candidates at present in the field are three—Mr.
Rankin (of the firm of Rankin, Gilmour, and Co.),
Mr. Ritson, and Mr. Benn, formerly an Alderman
of the town, and a member of the Committee in
which he again seeks a seat. The first named gen-
tleman is one of the most extensive of the ship-
owners of the port—we may say the most extensive
—and, from his great practical knowledge of its
commerce, and the requirements of its shipping, is
eminently fitted for a share in the management of
this important branch of its affairs, Speaking of
Mr. Rankin, we must beg to correct a misstatement
which appeared in a paragraph of yesterday's Albion.
Our contemporary says, "The supporters of the
warehouse interest intend to nominate Mr. Rankin,
of the firm of Messrs. Rankin, Gilmour and Co. ;"
the inference being evidently sought to be conveyed
that he is opposed to the erection of warehouses on
the Dock Quays. So far from this being the case,
we are assured that Mr Rankin comes forward with-
out the slightest connexions with that interest, and
that, if elected, he will enter the Committee with a
determination to provide warehouses on the Dock
Quays to the fullest practicable extent, and to give
every support in carrying out the efficient working
of the warehouses now erecting round the Albert
Dock,. and with every disposition to afford the mer-
cantile interests of the port a judicious extension of
the system.
A.n address from Mr. Ritson appears in our Ad-
vertising columns.

We have much pleasure in directing the attention
of our readers to our report of the proceedings of
the Highway Board, by which it will be seen that,
at length the town is promised that grand deside-
ratum of health and cleanliness,—a plentiful supply
of water. The motion of Mr. Cooper, is one
bold and large enough in its views to meet the
public emergency; and whilst we give credit to the
Board for having adopted it, we must say that
nothing less would have met with the approbation
of the public. The anxiety, however, which we
expressed last week, that there should be no colli-
sion before parliament, between this Board and the
Council, remains unremoved. We give no opinion
—although we may entertain one—as to the ques-
tion, which of the two bodies ought to seek the
act for carrying out the views of public improve-
ment, which they have in common; but must
continue to urge the necessity of its being settled
out of parliament.
Whilst upon this subject we must correct an im-
pression, to which our remarks gave increased
circulation, that any real slight could be cast by
the health of the Town Committee upon the High-
way Board, by the omission of the former to com-
municate their views or intentions to the latter
body, before reporting to the Council. Such com-
munication we are now convinced would have been
improper; the committee being bound in the first
instance to lay its views before the parent body and
receive its sanction.

We understand that the great Protestant meetins,
which we announced to be held on Monday null,
at the Amphitheatre, is postponed, for a short pe-
riod, owing to circumstances not known at the
time to the gentlemen to whom the preliminary
arrangements were confided. In a week or two,
we trust we shall be able to announce the day
fixed upon for giving expression to the Protes-
tant feeling of this great community, and its sin-
cere sympathy with the sufferings of the Irish Pro-
testant population.