The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-10-15 00:00:00

CORRESPONDENCE.

ELECTION OF ALDERMEN.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
SlR,—The Municipal Election being at hand, I observe
there are six Whig-Radical Aldermen, whose time expires
on the Ist of November, and it is to the election of their
successors I wish to direct the council's attention. The
last batch of aldermen made by the conservatives were
taken not out of the council (which I contend is the legi-
timate mode) hut from out of doors, and these, with one
or two exceptions, were gentlemen who had not been pre-
emintly active in the conservative interest though wishing
well to the cause. Now, 1 assert that the aldermen
should be chosen out of the council, by which means
they are the choice of the burgesses, having been sent to
the council by them, and election ought to fall upon those
conservative members of the Town Council who have
served the longest and contested the wards they represent;
such is only just and reasonable, and what common sense
dictates. It is not acting fairly by those members who
have fought at the hustings, and been at both expense and
trouble, to have brought into the council chamber, as
aldermen, gentlemen who have never aided or assisted
their party to entitle them to the honor, (if such it may
be deemed,) and who would shrink from a contest for
councilmen.

A BURGESS OF ST. PETER'S WARD.
October 14th, 1841.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
shall feel much obliged by the insertion of the
following observations in your valuable paper; the im-
portance of the subject will, I hope, be a sufficient apology
to yourself and the public for my intrusion.
The increase of our commercial prosperity, the regula-
tions adopted for the improvement of the health of the
inhabitants, and the protection afforded their persons and
property, are topic., agreeable to a mind that feels an in-
terest in the welfare of the community. But my friendly
feeling towards my fellow-townsmen must be allowed a
wider range, and to embrace objects higher and better
than these.
If it be true of a nation that it is exalted by righteous-
ness, it must be proportionally true of a town. I have
carefully considered the large amount of means in opera-
tion for the spiritual improvement of our vast population,
and endeavoured to form some sort of estimate of their
probable success. In this investigation my attention has
been directed to a society, entitled the " Town Mission,"
with the constitution of which I have made myself ac-
quainted, and after an examination and scrutiny of some
continuance, I feel constrained to entreat for it the special
attention, and particular inquiry, of the public, as to its
pressing and imperative necessity, the benefits which have
already resulted from its labour, and the loud call for an
enlarged and liberal benevolence for its support and
extension.
The following extracts are from the annual report,
under the head, " Instructions to Agents," and deserve,
1 conceive, more than ordinary observation, as fully re-
futing the unfounded charges of Sectarianism, and every
thing like a disposition to proselytism, charges which
have been urged against it by those who are unfriendly
towards it, because mistaken as to its real intentions and
designs :—" You are aware that the object of the Liver-
pool Town Mission is, to promote the religious improve-
ment of the lower classes of the people." " Should sharp
or irritating language be addressed to you, remember that
a ' soft answer turneth away wrath' ; but do not persist in
calling upon those who refuse to receive you." " Make
yourselves acquainted with the daily and Sunday schools,
and places of religious worship, in the vicinity, that you
may exhort the people and the children to attend them."
" Let your conversation with the people upon what you
read be plain, pointed, and affectionate ; shewing them
thus, with all simplicity, that life and death are set before
them in the word of God, and beseeching them to come
unto Christ that they may have life. To insist upon
topics of minor importance, such as modes of church go-
vernment, &c., with a view of making proselytes to a par-
ticular sect, would be a gross violation of your duty, as
an agent of this society."
Thera is in this town an immense amount of human
beings, of whom it may be asserted—and, alas ! it is no
libel—they have no knowledge of God ; who never enter
a church or chapel to worship or to hear of God ; and
amongst whom it may emphatically be said, " Satan bath
his seat."
I hope my joy is not inferior to that of any Christian
man at the increase of places for the public worship of
God. My prayer is that the glorious Gospel of the
blessed God may be preached in them, with the Holy
Ghost sent down from heaven. But suppose these sanc-
tuaries to be increased in number and size to any extent
you please, it does not follow that the slaves of sin, and
ignorance worse than heathenish, will leave their haunts
of infamy and dens of depravity, to cross the threshold of
the house of God. Hence the pressing necessity of the
Town Mission, the great object of which is, to persuade
men, in plain, familiar, friendly phrase, to be reconciled
to God—to woo and win them to his public worship, by
forming in their courts and alleys, wherever an open door
presents itself, little neighbourly social meetings, for
prayer and reading the word of God, that an appetite
may thus be created for the bread of life—that they may
have the advantage of a little spiritual training, that the
transition may be easy and natural from the small meet-
ing in the court or alley to the great congregation in the
house of God. These unhappy outcasts of our species
cannot be reached by the means in ordinary use and ope-
ration. Experience has proved that nothing less is suffi-
cient than a moral invasion, and that an attack must be
made upon the camp of the enemy.
Mr. Editor, I feel encouraged, emboldened to propose
a question for public consideration. I ask, in the joint
name of religion, reason, and humanity, where an agency
can be found by which these merciful purposes can be
more successfully accomplished, than -by the.society for
which I plead ? As free from undue partiality as preju-
dice; and without fear of contradiction I affirm, that an
agency superior in spirituality, simplicity, and success,
remains yet to be discovered.
The agents employed are converted, devoted men—
taken from humble occurtations, knowing nothing of cold
and difficult dogmas, nor fine inflated figures—their only
arguments are compassionate concern for perishing sin-
ners, and their only eloquence is derived from the Cross
and the Crucified.

Such are the men, and let the hand of Christian sym-
pathy and benevolence furnish the Committee with more
money, and God will doubtless find more such men ; and
by the blessing of Heaven upon their labours, and the
labours of the servants in the different sections of his
Church, our moral wastes shall be brought into cultiva-
tion, and Liverpool become more famed for its religion
and morality, than it is for its merchandise and riches.
Subscriptions and donations are received at the Borough
Bank' by John Cropper, Esq.. President ; James Stitt,
Esq., Treasurer; Messrs. James C. Duncan and John
Oliver Jones, Secretaries, and any of the Committee.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your faithful and obedient servant,
MENTOR.

SHIP-BUILDING.