The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-11-04 00:00:00

our.ow. n friends!

/We had set our hearts upon at length breaking
through the thraldom in which Castle-street Ward has
ever been held by the Radical faction. An excellent—
an unexceptionable candidate presented himself, brought
forward by a requisition such as has rarely been pre-
sented to any gentleman by any constituency. We
have reason to know that the result of the canvass was
unusually satisfactory—that, in fact, no reasonable
doubt could exist—if Conservative PROMISES were to
be relied upon—of Mr. Glazebrook being placed in a
proud position at the head of the poll. How was it,
then, that Mr. Hugh Hornby—a gentleman about
whose opinions there could be no mistake—a gentle-
myr who did not even condescend to ask for the votes
or the confidence of the constituency—was permitted
to be returned to the Council, by a majority which, if
not so great as we have seen in former years, is at
least sufficient to shew that his victory is to be attri-
buted to no mere accident ? From the commencement
of the contest to its close, Conservatives must have
seen that every vote which could be brought to bear
upon this ward would be required. There was nothing
in the contests in other wards to justify the use of the
double votes which might have been polled here ; and
we do not believe that those votes were so used.
Why, then, our defeat Why the discrepancy which
exists between our expectations and the results,—be-
tween promises and their performance ? We grieve to
say it—our defeat, and the non-realisation of our
hopes, we must attribute to conservative supineness.

We blame not the committee or the canvassers for
this untoward result. They, we have no doubt, did

their duty. They trusted that men, heretofore reputed
to be warm in the cause of Conservatism, would not
shrink from their duty—would not trifle with their
plighted word—merely because Mr. Hugh Hornby was
" a most respectable man," a " gentlemanly man," an
"ornament to his party"—merely because they met him
on 'Change, and were on terms of intimacy with him
in private life. From such men they looked, and the
public looked, for CONSISTENCY—that fearless con-
sistency which sacrifices private feelings to public duty,
—and most deeply do we regret that they and we have
been so fatally disappointed.
Upon Pitt-street ward, too, we had set our heart,
and were perfectly sanguine of success, as were the
committee of the Conservative candidate, Mr. Taylor.
In this contest, however, we attribute less of blame to
those Conservatives who have failed in their duty, inas-
much as most of them, we believe, were of an humbler
rank in life than the defaulters in Castle-street. The
influence brought to hear on them was great ; the per-
sonal activity of their opponents was great ; the candi-
date brought out against them was perhaps the only
one who could have fought the battle with any chance
of success ; while against their own candidate,—a gen-
tleman who has moved hitherto almost exclusively in
private life,—detraction and misrepresentation were
unscrupulously and unsparingly directed. Still, we
cannot acquit of blame the Conservatives of Pitt-street;
and we are almost inclined to believe that they do not
stand acquitted before their own consciences.
Of Vauxhall we had our hopes, but not so decided
as those we had of Pitt-street and of Castle-street ; and
we scarcely think that the Conservative party in the
town have sufficiently discharged their duty towards
this ward to warrant us in laying the blame of defeat
at the door of the constituency itself. Of the voting
in this ward we have before us an analysis, which cer-
tainly shews that it might have been won. By this ana-
lysis we observe that—

Mr. Case had votes ...
Conservatives, (duplicates included) who either did
not vote, or voted in other wards

Mr. Blackburn bad votes..

Radicals, as above

Twice registered in the ward
Doubtful,—

—did not vote

Total number on the revised list

Add to Radicals the doubtful,

Deduct from Radicals actual promises to Mr.
Case, but afterwards voted for Mr. Blackburn

- 173

Con. Rad

153 173

And the utmost force the latter ought to have com-
manded would have been..
Add the above 27 to the Conservative column.... 27

And we have

Conservatives 180
Radicals 150

Leaving for the Conservatives a majority of 30

This would have been the Conservative majority if " every
man had done his duty ;" and it agrees very nearly with
the result of the canvass, as made up the evening before
the election.

We trust that we shall not again have such a result
to notice in this ward ; and we do not, therefore, regret
that it has been this year contested, although without
success. An excellent committee has now been drawn
together; they know now their strength in the ward ;
and in the next two years we trust that the burgesses
will he enabled to release from their duties the two
Radicals by whom they are at present misrepresented.

And now let us glance briefly at the proceedings to
which, along with the supineness of professing Con-
servatives, the success of the Whig faction in the above
three wards and the strength which they have shown
in some others is principally owing. And, first, turn
we to Castle-street Ward. In that ward, we are in-
formed that two Conservatives who had signed the
requisition to Mr. Glazebrook have recorded their
votes for Mr. Hornby—nine who promised their
votes to Mr. Glazebrook voted for his opponent—
and sixty-two who promised Mr. Glazebrook did
not vote at all ! What influence, we ask, has
been at work to produce a dereliction of duty so
shameful ? Our police reports will show that even
personation of dead men has not been a species of
trickery left out of the tactics of the " Liberal" friends
of " purity of election." True, it could not be proved
by whom the fellow Feeny was suborned to this
atrocious attempt, and his connexion with the Radical
committee of Castle-street Ward could not be brought
to light. The public, however, will be well able to
form their own conclusions as to the really guilty
parties; and, at any rate, when such practices are
resorted to by supporters of the Radical candidate,
less directly connected with him than his own com-
mittee, but still working for him, and apparently ready
to dare all hazards to promote his success, there can
be little difficulty in arriving at the conclusion that a
very low degree of morality has characterised the Radical
proceedings, and in accounting, in some sort, for the
betrayal, by some Conservatives, of their duty and
their solemn pledges.
With resnect to Pitt-street Ward, we have had there
to battle with a system of personal and grossly unfair
attack, such as we venture to say has never disgraced
even Whig-Radicalism in any contest in which it has
been engaged in this town. Mr. Taylor, the Conser-
vative candidate, we have before stated, has hitherto
been known only in private life. Taking advantage of
this circumstance, the committee of Mr. Fawcett com-
menced at once, not to impugn his principles, but to
bring against him the charge that, in his private
capacity, he had not contributed even so much as
from his standing in life he ought to have contributed,
to the charities of the town. "Of no less than fifteen

of the Liverpool benevolent institutions," the com-
mittee, through their chairman (Mr. M'Clellan),

it will be found that iu Only sithseril,

to THREE ! !! three guineas being the grand tote of

his charitable contributions,

f .course: