The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-12-29 00:00:00

DECEMBER 29, 1835

cessary incentives. Let us begin by noticing the quaTh
tication clause.

• The 28th clause says, "nor shall any person be quali'
fled to be elected or to be a councillor or an alderman of

any such borough who shall not be entitled to be on the
burgess list of such borough, nor unless he shall be
seized or possessed of real or personal estate, or both, W
the following amount, that is to say, in all boroughs di-
rected by this act, to be divided into four or more ward!,
to the amount o f one thousand pounds, or be rated to the
relief of the poor of such borough upon the annual value
of not less than thirty pounds."
This is the clause under which every very necessitous
person, of doubtful credit,
.and limited means, who pays
£3O rent annually,' imagines himself to be eligible to:
all offices under the corporation. But we beg to remind
the reader that this is Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S bill, and
that it is consequently, considering the legal character
and pretensions of his Liverpool adviser, exceedingly
contradictory and absurd.

By the clause we have quoted, it would appear that in
the larger boroughs, such as the borough of Liverpool,
any person, although not possessed of £lOOO a-year, if
rated at thirty pounds per annum to the poor is eligible!
This is a grand mistake. The bill contradicts itself
like its author in all. his public proceedings, in a very
foolish and ludicrous manner. The 2811) clause is as
clear as clear can be ; but what says the 50. h clause?
•
Listen, reader :

" And be it enacted that no person, elected a mayor,
alderman, or councillor, or auditor, or assessor for any
borough shall be capable of acting as such (except in
administrating the declaration herein-after contained)
until he shall have made and subscribed before any two
or more such aldermen or councillors (who are , hereby
respectively authorised and required to administer the
same to each other) a declaration in the words, or to_ the
effect following; (that is tn,say)„.
"I, A. B, having been elected mayor, alderman, coun-
cillor, auditor, or assessor for the borough {of Liverpool-)
do hereby declare that I take the said office upon.rnyielf,
and will duly and faithfully fulfil the duties thereof ac-
cording to the best of my judgment and ability, and I
do hereby declare that I am seised or possessed of real
or personal estate to the amount of one thousand pounds,
over and above what will satisfy all my debts."! !.!
We do not ask haw many of the newly elected coun-
cillors can honestly and conscientiously make this solemn
declaration. That is their business much more than ours;
but we allude to the strange circumstance, in order to
show the perplexing and contradictory nature of most
every provision in the bill.

The clauses which have reference to the mode of elect-
ing the aldermen and mayor next claim our attentions_
It is enacted, that all the new corporations shall consist
of a mayor, aldermen, and councillors. The last were
elected first ort Saturday, the old Mayor conducting the
election, revising the returns, ai d declaring in an official
form the names of the successful candidates. Having
done this, the functions of the old mayor, the aldermen.
the bailiffs, and the coroners ceased. All these officers
became defunct at two o'clock yesterday afternoon. If a
man should be found drowned, or commit suicide, there is
at present no coroner to sit on his case I The wiseacre
who drew the bill did not, perhaps, consider this of any
importance. The body must remain where it is laid, the
nearest public-house perhaps, until a coroner- can be
elected, which is not likely to happen before a fortnight.
It was also intended by the bill that the late mayor
should remain a justice of the peace until the Ist day of
May next; but, as there is no mayor or corporate officer
to swear him in, he is not a justice of the peace! .Such
blundering was never seen.
Well, then, we come to the election of aldermen on
Thursday next. They are to he elected by the council-,
lors, at least so says the act of parliament ; but it does
not provide a returning officer. In short, there is no
person named, or competent to declare the aldermen duly
returned. If they elect a chairman or president for that
purpose, he may select any sixteen burgesses he pleases;
for there is no penalty imposed in case he should obey
his own pleasure in preference to the wishes of his &al-
Here is aSempe, iF tever, there r.-nx cue. in the
world, and how they are to get out of it without endless
litigation, or the benefit of a second new bill, we cannot
even conjecture.

The same dilemma will occur on Friday, tl4 Ist of
January, in the election of mayor. There is no return-
ing officer—no man competent to declare upon whom
their choice has fallen ! ! !
We have numberless omissions and absurdities of this
nature to point out, but enough has been said for the
present. However, we cannot conclude without inform-
ing our readers, that jealousies and dissensions have
already broken out amongst the new councillors, as to
who shall have the honour of being the first reformed
mayor. The aristocratical portion of the radicals, who
say that there are not an hundred persons in the whole
of Liverpool fit for a gentleman to associate with, have
proposed Mr. WM. EARLE as mayor. They are opposed
by the low, or democratical . party, who prefer Mr. COG'
LAN or Mr. E. SMITH; but the divisions have run SO
high, that it is said a compromise willte effected. Mr.
WM. W. CURRIE. was named, but he says he is not rich
enough. Mr. WM. RATHBONE was proposed, but he
confesses he has not temper enough, a singular instance
of Mr. RATHBONE'S modesty and good sense. Under
these distressing circumstances, it is expected that Mr.
THOMAS BOLTON will be the mayor; if so, but whether
or not, we can promise our readers rare sport.for the next
ten months.