The Express.
London, England, 1853-01-07 00:00:00

THE ELECTIONS.

SOUTHAMPTON.
RETURN OF SIR A. E. COCKBURN.

TIMINDAY, JAN. C.

Although Mr. I3ailie Cochrane intimated in hid
address to the electors of Southampton that he was mat
going to run Sir Alexander Cockburn hard, and that he
was only going to poll a few votes, just to claim the rightte
the seat if Sir Alexander gets unseated on the previouspeti.
tlon, the Liberals were determined not to be caught napping,
and thedesperate attempts of the Cochranitcs to-day justified
the caution of the Liberal party, Mr. Bailie Cecinae
was about the town early this teeming on horseback, with o,
devil-me care indifference as to hich way the election weat,
and seemed more anxious to " witeh the town with noble
horsemanship" than to get into parliament. But this was
only a ruse, his committee, mo=t of tacm canning old
stagers, were about preparing to bring nto every Thin
is very evident from the following statistic :—There ate
about 2,200 voters on the Southampton register, but
taking into consideration the numbers that are at
sea, there are not above 2,000 available voters.
Out of these there are about 200 who always
remain neutral, and in a lift and death contest them
could riot be above 1,800 voters brought up to the pal
This was about the number polled at the last general elec-
tion. Now, this day there were very neatly 1,700 polled,
E 0 that it is very evident that Mr. Cochrane'. friends did
their best, for as to Sir Alexander's friends, they, whim
they saw that they had an overwhelming majority, limped
a little towards the latter part of the day. Sir Alexander
Cockburn his polled nearly a hundred more than he did :.t
the ..t election, and Mr. Bailie Cochrane two hundred less.
It is evident, therefore, that Sir Alexander's popularity her
increased, while Mr. Cochrane's influence has dineinialcd.
At nine o'clock this morning Mr. Cochrane was in a mino-
rity of 50, and that minority increased every hour, so that
it was evident throughout the day that Sir Alexander had
it all his own way. At the final close of the poll Sir Alex-
ander Cockburn hal above dOO majority, fur the uuraben
stood thus :
_ _ .

Sir A. E. Cockburn
Mr. Baiiie Cochrane 595
Everything went off in a quiet and orderly manner: the
Cockburnites were of course in imperturbable goad hamar.
In St. Mary's there was a shindy or two. The materials of
the polling booth in that parish, when done with, is always
considered the property of the mils, and it was laughable to
see with what rapidity the booth was demolished and the
materials taken away after the close of the poll. The
Attorney-General was busy the whole day walking abort
with his friends, and was much cheered by the people. At
the close of the poll a large gathering took place at the
Royal York Hotel, where Sir Alexander is stayint, and the
Attorney-General and several of his friends addremd the
assemblage.

AYLESBURY.
RETURN OF THE SOLICITOR-GENER.U.

Yesterday, R. Bethell, Esq., her Mniesty's Solicitor.
General, was re-elected fa the hundreds and borough of
Aylesbury without opposition. The election took place M
the County Hall, under the presidency of the Ili:turning
°dicer, and with very little ot that tuutult and excitement
which accompanies nominations in this town. Mr. Bethell
walked to the scene in company with the leiteinff electors
who support him, without any parade of nnsic or banners.
The pi-weeding lasted from eleven to two o'clock.—After
tko preliminaries,
Mr. Jonm GIBBS put Mr. Bethel in nomination, and
called his attention to a more equable system of taxation,
and to the abrogation ot church rates, and the vote by
ballot at elections.

seconded the nomination.
Mr. JOHN 1101:G111'0N who has more than once nom-
ec,efuliy contested the 'Aylesbury con-titueney, made a
speech at this period of the proceedings, in which he
pointed out a setriety of measures demanded by the a4rient-
tural interest. _ _ _

The SOLICITOR-GENERAL was then declared to be dug
elected, and on presenting himself he was received with
very great cheering. lie congratulated himself upon being
the only unopposed candidate who had for many years
stood upon an Aylesbury hustings, and he most sincerely
thanked the constituency for having, for the third time,
bestowed upon hint their confidence, and sent him to the
House of Commons as their representative. (Cheers.)
He congratulated them most sincerely upon the downfall
of the Derby administration, because he was o'diged to de-
clare that the fallen government was, from beginning to
end, a gross fraud upon the people of England. (Loud
cheers.) And he called it a fraud, b.-yet:so they wouldagree
with him, that all over this country, and in every age, it
was a dictum of moralityathat to do one thing and to pro-
less another thing was a fraud—that to seek support and
build up power upon false pretences was a deception and
a lie. (Cheers.) Ho would appeal to all of them if Lord
Derby's government had nut acted in this unmanly way.
When parliament met, he was one of those who thought
that the government should here been defeated at once
upon the motion of Mr. Villiers, and he hed so voted as to
aid that result ; but now, he must say, that he was glad the
government had had the trial of a few weeks, for,
by that means, they had proved their utter incompetency to
rule this nation. Lord Aberdeen had been entrusted
with the formation of a new cabinet, and he (Mr. Bethel')
was glad to say that the cabinet of Lord Aberdeen were
pledged, in the first place, to the introduction of a mea-
sure of franchise reform. (Cheers.) It was the only
ministry, under the eireumattinces, enpahle of conducting
the governmt ut of the Queen by securing confidence to the
people, and it was composed of the most experienced stater
men in the realm—of men capable of carrying out their
intentions. It was not within his (Mr. Illethell's) power to
indicate the character or the details of the reform measure
which the new cabinet would introduce ; but speaking his
own convictions, he must say that its first element ought
to be a large extension of the franchise—(lowl cheers)—
and next by the concession of the ballot for the
protection of the voters. (Three cheers for the ballot.)
Why, did the law not protect the flesh and blood of a voter
when he went to the poll ? A toads body was protected
from thoce who would crush it, and trample it down, and
hinder the voter by this means front recording his vete. But
WAS the man's mind and conscience, which really gave the
vote, not to receive the protection of the law ? (Cheers)
Connected with the transfer of property, his plan would
be to have a register of all real property, so that the process
of transfer would involve no more inconvenience nor ex-
pense than what was necessary to identify the owner ; and
those who had passed through the difficult process of a
Chancery suit would be able to appreciate the vast intent-
ance of a change of this nature. (Hear, hear.) The
great evil of our present law system arose from
the diversity of jurisdiction and the diversity of
statutes applicable to the different courts under
these jurisdictions, so that when one party wanted
a small mortgage for convenience or necessity, or a smell
transfer, he had bills coming in from different legal sip:ata;
whereas, if the same law of justice were applicable to all
branches of law, this evil would at once be overcome. For
example, the Ecclesiastical Court administered law by
statutes and advocates exclusive and restricted, and he
would change the jurisdiction by placing it under the same
authority as that which ruled at Westminsttr.
hear.) And, with respect to the law of church rates, which
came within the jurisdiction of Doctors' Commons, he would
certainly say that the state was bound to make provision
far the maintenance of those fabrics of worship which the
piety of our ancestors had bequeathed to us; but
he was disposed to destroy the present levy upon
these who did not go to church, and the present
uncertain nature of church rate exaction by the
appropriation of funds in the possession of deans and
chapters to church repairs. (Loud cheers.) Mr. Hughlin
had asked for his opinion about poor rates, and he re-
marked that on this subject the late Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer had roost grievously deceived the farmers. It had
been Mr. Disraeli's continual cry upon the hustings ; but
when the matter necessarily had to be alluded to in the
budget statement, that gentleman passed it over by observ-
ing that the farmers had now little to complain about.
(Laughter.) He (Mr. Bathell) urged that the law of Eli-
zabeth was made at a time when land was considered the
basis eta! personal property, but it was only fair that all de-
scriptions of property should for the support of the poor.
At the same time. wLe Cher this was to he done by a national

rate, by a new principle of assessment, or by a more
equal adjustment of the present law, he was not quite pre-
pared to avow. (A voice, " The Jews.") He maintained
that those who would exclude our Hebrew brethren front
parliamentary honours, ought never to pronounce the sacred
words of civil and religious liberty, because the exemption
of Jews from parliament was not upon political grounds, al
the catholics had been exempted, but solely on the graced
of their religious convictions, and he maintained
that a vote of the house of Commons was sufficient
to admit them without a new enactment. Our
conduct on this question reminded him of the boast
of the American, who contended that America was the
most liberal and free country en earth, and then tamed
round and said, " What shall I give you for that il--d
negro." (Applause.) In conclusiiu, 3lr. Bethel said
that his ambition in entering the House of Commons wse
to tarn his attention to the reform of the law, in the spirit
of an axiom laid down by one of the greatest, of their
ancestors, " that he who reaped advantage from a profes-
sion should endeavour to make it pure.' (Loud cheers.)
The proceedings were closed by the customary vote et
thanks ; and Mr. Bethel and his supporters r,tind to the
Lell Inn to dinner.

GLOUCESTER.
(ntox Ctill OWN COARESPO\DENT)
GLOUCESTER, Tlirft3D/tT.
The cleelara.ion of the poll by the Sheriff is se
to:Iowa.
Admiral Berkeley 761
:Ir. Rope

Majority for Admiral Berkeley 9l
Neither party had anticipated that the result would have
been 63 great a triumph for the government candidate.
Admiral Berkeley, in an address delivered to his party from
the King's Head Hotel last night, said he bad never bees
more tearful of the result of any election than of the one
just terminated. He added, that tho triumph was the
more gratifying to him, inasmuch as it bed been pro-
duced by the united and unbiassed and nnboughe rtf.erts.of
his friends and of the independent constituency.
ed
that there hail been any bribery or treating on hie tilt!:
but hinted at the presence of a " Fleisher" and a "Prod
from Derby. He attributed his largo majority over Mr.
Hope to two causes—the assistance rendered him cy Mr.
Price, his co-representative, and th .t gentlem-.• 'e'novas;
and to the nun-appearance in O'oucester of air. 11,,,re.
To.day bi.ls were issued notly ing thr.t there erou'el be a
public chairing of the member, but the wet oatl'oer pre-