The Express.
London, England, 1852-07-22 00:00:00

THE MIDDLESEX ELECTION.

(horn the bad, News.)
Middlesex has dope its duty. The result of yes-
terday's polling fully justified the promise of the pre-
vious day, and the two Liberal candidates have again
been elected members for the metropolitan county.
When the elections began a fortnight ago, the first
contest offered a good omen of what would follow—
the virtual close of the struggle yesterday is an equally
promising indication of what the general elec-
tion—despite all mischances—must et:cure. The
Tories boast of the Conservative members for
Essex—we may now point to the Liberal mem-
bers for Middlesex. The example of the town
constituencies of the metropolitan county from
Westminster, through Marylebone and Finsbury, to
Tower Hamlets—has been admirably followed up by
the county itself; and ten representatives for the
very heart of the empire will sit in the next parlia-
ment pledged to the principles of progress and sound
reform. The slow-witted natives of the flats and
marshes of stagnant Essex glory in their choice of
obstructive politicians. It is quite natural they
should do so. Like to the like. The
district is doubtless fitly represented by the
men whom Essex has chosen, but that
choice indicates more than the state of feeling in
the part of the kingdom which glories in Major 11E-
RESIORD and his colleagues. Essex may be said to
typify the ministry for which that county has sent
supporters:; Middlesex, on the other hand, may
be taken as an illustration of the party of pro-
gress. Essex has secured her obstructive.; Middle-
sex has secured her Liberals. Essex votes for
going back, Middlesex for moving forward. Es-
sex desires to linger on the crippling and
sickly crutches of protection ; Middlesex, with
the vigour of a generous manhood, cries, "Let
the best cause win," and declares for Free-trade.
Ministerial Essex—the county of calves—intends, if
it can, like the ministry, to have its own way in the
coming parliament; but its sister county, wiser and
more prosperous in its possession of the seats of in-
dustry and intelligence, even now shows its power of
securing a majority. Protectionist Essex is fairly
beaten by Reform and Free-trade Middlesex, and
the present electoral relations of these neighbouring ,
counties already foreshadows the coming decision of '
the new parliament.
The Reformers and Mr. OSBORNE have had an up ,
hill fight, and though the difficulties that stood in
the way of victory may sweeten the triumph which
has been won, we cannot avoid once more alluding
to the fact that the Tory opposition which brought
Lord BLANDFORD into the held was directed against
the untitled Liberal candidate. A glance at the
returns from the polling districts will show where
the strength of each side chiefly lay. The rural
neighbourhoods of Bedfont and Enfield, and the
fashionable quarters of Tyburnia and Pimlico, with
the City of London, gave strength to the BLANDFORD
party ; whilst the good Liberals of Brentford, Beth-
nal-green, Mile-end, Hammersmith, Finsbury, and
Uxbridge, secured the victory. The Derbyites
seemed to think the son of the wealthy Marquis of
WESTMINSTER unassailable—at all events they did
not assail him. Their efforts were directed against Mr.
OSBORNE, in whom they recognised a representative,
not of any section of the aristocracy, but of the
people—a man who relied for support less on
the quartering, of his escutcheon, or the length of
his rent-roll, than on what he had done for the
Liberal cause in the House of Commons. To
secure a sufficiency of such representatives all
Liberals should do what they can to dimi-
nish the cost of election contests. A county
election, as at present conducted, is apt to
be s very costly amusement, and that very
cost has a tendency to make men shirk so ex-
pensive a proof of their patriotism. Men who do
not want to sell a constituency should not be required
to buy their seats too dearly. The second day. poll
doubles the cost of a county election, and so doubles
the penalty inflicted on those who might be willing
to do Liberal duty in counties. Yet the experience
we have had during the last fortnight shows as a rule
that a county contest is in truth decided on the
first day. Middlesex is another proof of this. On
Tuesday the Liberal majority was 93 ; yesterday it
was 167. An examination of the polls that have re-
cently from day to day appeared in our columns, will
further illustrate this practical fact. In no case has
any candidate on the second day passed, or even
headed, one who had obtained the lead at 4 o'clock
on the first day. A very small proportion only of
the voters poll on the second day. In hard-fought
Middlesex, it is only one-third of the total number ;
and in most cases only a sixth or seventh. Is East
Cumberland it was only a tenth. The second day—
as a rule—never reverses the verdict of the first.
Last session a very proper effort was made to pass an
Act limiting county elections to one day, let us hope
that the new parliament will complete what the last
one discussed—the limitation of all polls—like city
and borough polls—to one day.
The triumph in the metropolitan county is all the
more valuable for the circumstances under which it
has been won. Like the country itself at this mo-
ment, the county of Middlesex is officered by the
enemy. Just as the reactionary party have posses-
sion of Downing-street, so may it be said the mac-
tionists hold the reins of authority in Middlesex.
Lord SALISBURY, the Lord Lieutenant, is the very
beau ideal of a Tory bigot. Wealthy, intolerant in
a faith that trembles on the very verge of Rome, and
full of personal prejudices as of religious bigotry, he
becomes the fit leader of a magisterial bench, selected
chiefly by himself and evident'', with a shrewd
eye to its peculiar partisanship. The bench
thus selfishly pecked has a thousand ways
of making its influence felt—just as Down-
ing-street has in its larger field. The publicans
the tax collectors, the innumerable parish official;
—clerical and lay—are influenced by the unmis-
takeable indications originating in Hatfield House.
But all in vain. The county has done what the coun-
try will soon do. Middlesex, we repeat, has fulfilled
its duty in a way to vindicate its position as the
metropolitan county—the centre of the intelligence,
the enterprise, and the independent public spirit of
this empire—an empire made great by the very quali-
ties which, in the teeth of innumerable local diffi-
culties, won the election of yesterday. The cir-
cumstances and qualities that have beaten Lord
SALISBURY in Middlesex must beat him and his
friends in St. Stephens. Flourishing in the pros-
perity of Free-trade men no longer place their faith
in aristocratic myths, or rely for fortune upon aristo-
cratic patronage. Unshackled commerce has opened
the race to the swift and offers the prize of battle to
the strong, and people cheerfully enter the arena to
win for themselves the fortune which fate and their
own:qualifications may secure. The day is gone for
cooling heels in great men's ante-chambers, and
flushed with the success that has awaited our new
independence in national action has come an inde-
pendence of thought which refuses allegiance to aris-
tocratic or official Shams. Men now look in politics
for the realities, the principles, and the honesty,
which they know to be touchstones of success in
the daily avocations of life, and finding just now the
reins of power in the keeping of a clique of political
renegades and impostors—incompetencies and
shuffiers—their common sense revolts at the display;
and we shall soon sec enacted in parliament what
was yesterday rehearsed in the county of Middlesex.
Lord SALISBURY, though Lord Lieutenant, Custos
Rotulorum, and Heaven knows what else, has been
beaten on his own ground—Lord DERBY cannot
very long escape a similar fats.

SUDDEN DEATH AT CRlVlCEL—Yesterday a match
was commenced at Copenhagen-Mx" between the Albion
and United Amateurs' Clubs ; but about two o'clock
Mr. John Dcwduey, an old and respected member
of the Albion Club, in the act of making a run suddenly
fell and in a few minutes expired. lie bad only just
taken bat, wowing one for his first bit, so that it in
dowthne,
quite evident that the fatal result was not the effect of
fatigue. Medial assistance was obtained instantly, but the
vital spark had fled. The deceased complained of ill health,
and said that during the last week he had suffered from
sun-stroke, bat declined standing out of the match, though
advised to do so by several friends. There is no doubt that
disease of the heart wu the cause of death. Out of respect
to the deceased the match was immediately discontinued.
Mr. Dewdney was closely verging on 60 years of age.
Tax DRUBE lhoottens.--As for the laziness of
Drum. I will give you • good notion of that—en %Inez-
, aggerated fact. One day, while 1 was sporting among the
mountains, I came upon some men who were making a
stone hedge, while there were others digging a ditch in toil
of the lightest kind—mere loose mould. They were at
work with wooden spades of ordinary size, and to each
spade there were allowed three men! Two men were at
the handle, and to the lower part of the handle ropes were
attached, by which a third man helped the other two in
lifting up a spadeful of soil. How many Drums make a
navvy t—Dickens's " llouseAold Words."