The Express.
London, England, 1849-12-11 00:00:00

x PRESS. TUESDAY r EVENING. DECEMBER 11, 1849.

Second peso of U.. to Mr. Eissia Eldisos, Headieglj-
bili, Leeds. _ _ _ - -

iIIDULII or Plos.—Mr. C oroieltael. Sowerby.park, near
Tootk. Y..rkabore ; Mr. Haul', Fletch uip.teart. MUT Do-
vish,/ ; Mr. Bill, Bretf.rws, mar Evesham. Worceuutr-
alum.

OUR REPRESENTATIVE SYSTEM

EVESHAM (CorrieueD). •
Mr. Borthwick, although beaten at Eve4ham in
1832, continued to keep up his communiratioire with
the town. " Toe Blues" were his friends there, and
tee Blues in the interval between '32 and '35, were
pitting strength at Eyestrain as elsewhere. The Re-
form /emaciation bad broken up, and new combina-
tion+ had been formed, of which "the Blues" took
eve re advantage.
\Veen Sir Robert Peel set abed forming his
at:minis:ration, he did not neglect. to secure all rho-
.e
members of parliament whose votes could be consi-
dered doubtful. Sir Charles Cockerel' was our of
these. Throughout his long parliamentary career
this gentleman had uniformly sided with the govern-
m nt of the day. He was one of Mr. Canning's small
and feeble party in 1827. He voted with the Dale
against Catholic Emencipatioe in 1828, and with the
cabinet in favour of it in 1829. In 1832 he was in
favour of Reform, and now in 1835, having been ap-
pointed en honorary member ot the Board of C ntrue
he was prepared to give • " fair trial" to S.r Robert
Peel's admuustration.
Tnis was aa immense advantage to Mr. Berth-
wick and the Evesham Blues, because as Sir Charles
Cock.relr's parry wu the strong party at Evesham,
the whig candidate was placed in • position of area-
gonism to the Cockerelle, and chose who supported
the or.e could not, it was presumed, ooescientioualy
support the other.
In addition to this drawback, Mr. Hudson, the sit-
ting member from 1832 to 1835, had other crusts of
discoursgemeut He had given some offence by
personal inattention to his friends, and by a want of
that liberality which had distinguished the m.mberts
for Evesham under the old system. Mr. Hudson
dia not, upen this occasion, e• ter the field so early as
his opponent. He exhibited }Hie confidence in his
support re and they did not show any great en+
thuautem for him.
The el. ction was fixrd to take plea on Tuesday,
the 6•ln ot Jesuitry. On the night of Sunday, the
4th, Mr. Hudsor, to the surprise of his friends,
announced his intention not to stand ! During 'the
cl,y he hid gore taroulh his canvassing book, and
he bad found, he said, that he was in a clear minority
of 5, and thst defeat by a larger number was quite
within tee range of pr whitey.
Mr liudso- 's supportets were exceedirg'y en-
raged. Tney. represented the awkward and unplea-
sant eosition in which they would, at suce 'a time, be
plated by his retirement, and they ea-neatly entreated
him to go on. Mr. Harlem, h rwever, poeitive'y re-
freed. So at one o'clock on M aday morning, the
*bigs despetch.d a hot se-express to London to bring
dowu Mr. Edward Hodge.
On the Tuesday miming, Mr. Bulge was put in
nomination. But on the eteni, gof that day
toe express returned from London with • letter firm
thee gentlemen, decliuiter to contest the boreugh.
Accordingly, on Wednesday mornieg, instead ot
a poll bee g taken, Sir Charles Cockerel' and
Mr. Borthwick were declared the sitting mr
bers—a return which we might have called a quiet
one, but that it was attended by a most unpleasant
personal encounter.
During the canvass previous to the nomination,
tome bids had b en publish. d at Petersham requesting
to know who Mr. Borthwick was? It was Meted that he
had heen an actor at the S trey Teetere ; but in reply
to this a le• ter of the manager was printed, in which
he a' erred that 'lr. Peter Borthwick had only played
twice as an amateur performer. It was also averred
that he bed been a printer at Dalkeith, and that his
iresiness there had b,” n unfer wait ; but this also
was denied by Mr. Bortewicker friende, and the
wh le matter seemed to rest upon iris nuation.
At the hustings, however, en influential elector of
•h- borough thought it his duty to exemine Mr.
Berthwitk on this subject. lie beked him if he was
the same Mr. Borthwick who was in the firm of J.
sad P. Borthwiek, borkeellers of Dalkeith? Mr.
B etewek decried the allegation.
Kr. May then eroduced three documents purporting to
he afield espies from the sessions re:envie of the United
Sect tot .n Church at Delkeith, h. wing tne si.mature of their
clerk In these d arum nis it was s ated that Pet., Borh.
wick, • bre kw Iler at 1./..1k ith, had been called belure them
en the subject of his suspension in 1827; that in the first
instance his reasnis wen unse.isfactury, but that when the
cue was referred to the presbytery at Edinburgh be dis-
elehned their aoth.rity and was declared a fugitive.
The extract cram Ails Sessions Record was aittr-
sta.& prated, and was as Weever:
Dslk, ith, June 15. 1827.
The &Won mu t and was constituted by the Hee. the
U deratsr.
Compeared Peter B.rthwick, lebn was rug-N.OO from
Church nt. rship on the 2thil • f April last. The S nano
enter• d upon hi• eau, aed having converted with him at
considerable 1-hgh mar& g hie proceedings whilst in
D rikei.h, such as occupying a high-rated house, gar-
den, shop, tits.. and entert.ioing large parties, the wh. le
,H,M11.1 out to be at the public cep. nee. he having n mon.,
of his own, it also b, rag plain that tic business was quit. in
adequate to support his eitshiblins nt, to. Se‘sion being
much disuti.fl• d with his ea; 'creations or the above, a mo-
tion w e made, seconded, end u awimuttily can led, to rel. r
hie ease entire ly to the Preobvtery. their clerk being conjoin. d
t •erty up said ease to the pu ehytery. Extracted from the
8-114,.11. Iternr,t, JOHN CLEOHOHN. Se=lion CI. rk.
In addition to this there wee • statement bearing
the Bromism, of twelve inhabitants of Dalkeith.
They ~rated that Mr. Peer B ethyl& was theaters-
man who was in trade at De keith, feed trace l his life. The y
...id Mr. B rr wick was • stir en; in divinity pravisiss to his
engagingin tattiness as • hookerher at D•ikeith, he having
utended the Divinity Ha.l of the United Secretion Church
Glasgow, in the autumn of 1824, and cons neoced bushier
a- a bookseller at the term of Whitsunday, 18.15. His failure
occur ..1 in Ap•il, 181 ; that cis creditors pee him no cer-
tificate of honesty; that 4s 31. io the peed waa p.id, and
they added. " we do nst prote.e to 'mow how Mr. B wtheriek
raised hi,sself suddenly Iron poverty to couspatetiv,
In reply to all this Mr. Peter Borthwick, amid the
triumphant cheers ot his friends. gave a stout, unhesi-
tating, and complete di teal to the charge. He
declare' that " he was no be ksaler, nor piper seller,
nor any tidier. He denied that Le Lad over hen a
bat krupt. As to the church referred to he never had
had anything to do with it."
The tact was, some parties connected with him in name
and tie. of near eneeaneeiei y were involved in difficulties
by the panic ot 1825. If, in such eircumetances, he gave
his mewl to pay the debts of persot.s in such distress—not
his d bee, hut theirs—was he to he blamed ? He hail paid
all his debts In the affair, although not liable at all. He
was a bookseller, a paper-seller, or arty s. Iler.
He gave his name to those persons
his whom
he was connected. Th, y never were ankrupts.
He pledged his honour as a gent'. man. that
what he acid was true. He never hed anything to
do with the Church referred to. He never was Bible to be
warded from P. * • He declared moat a llmrly that
'he facts were as he had rtat..d Mr Borthwick then elo-
quently alluded to Mrs. B irther,ek, who w.l present, and
much of whose property, a. well es his own, had, he said,
been suriflud in an act' f kindness.
It appeared that the original suggestion as to
Mr. B rrthwick's earlier career had come to Evesham
through the medium of a paper called the Bath
Guardian, then under the editorship of Mr. Cyrus
Reddrog. This paper had made the statement in a
letter bearing the signature or "Umbra, the Rig-
, amuffin," which letter was apropos to a report that
Mr. Borthwick, who then resided at Claw rton, near
Bath, was about to be put in nomination for that city.
11Mr. Borthwick pledged himself to prosecute. the Bath
Guardian for the publication of a libel. The Blues
loudly cheered this resolution, and others tock good
care that there should be no escape from a fulfilment
of the pledge.
Accerdirglv writs were issued against the publisher
of the bath Guardian. The Bath Guardian being
a well-supper ed liberal paper, and having reason to
believe itself in the right, accepted boldly Mr.
Borthsrick's 1r gal challenge, and pleaded the truth of
all its facts as a Justification. The Bth Guardian, it
must be raid to its honour, set an exempla to the
press in this matter, at a time ween • prosecutions for
libel were more to be feared than they are at present,
It spared no experts) to get proof f every allegation,
distant as Dalkeith was from Trenton where toe cares
was to be tried. And week after week the Bath
Guardian returned to the charge, affirming the truth
of every word that it had pubeehed and daring Mr.
Borthwick to go to trial.
Whilst this case was pending. the Blues bad a fes-
tival at Evesham in honour of Mr. Borthwick's elec-
tion. It took place on tie 4:h of June, 1835. The
Bath Guardian thought 'ha • very admirable oppor-
tunity of getting evidence, and at tie same time
of annoy ing Mr. Borthwick's friends at Evesham. There
.recording' y came over from Bath, a person of the
name ot Drummond, who h.d been brought to
that city from Drlieltb, where he had known
Mr. Peter Borthwick intimately. Previous to
the dinner an elector of Evesham addressed a
note to the chairman, offering to introduce to the
meeting "a getarman from Beth, and a native of
Scotia' el, who h»s ii.timaely re Tre'n•ed with Mr.
Peter Borthwick, the bookseller and stationer at