The Express.
London, England, 1847-08-11 00:00:00

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loss, to the liberal party, as he cannot be depended
upon.
Amongst the " promising young men" returned to
the present parliament is Mr. KEOGH, the member
for Athlone. He is a barrister by profession, a catho-
lic in religion, and a conservative in politics. He is
reputed to be a gentlemen of more talents than
judgment. For several years he has enjoyed a repu-
tation for political ability, and amongst the young
lawyers of the inns of court he is well known for
his talents as a declaimer. It is very safe prophecy
to speak of him as " a man of whom the world will
one day hear more." He has vast energy and great
audacity of character, a stentorian voice, great fluency
of speech, and vehemence of delivery. At the Irish
bar, he obtained very rapid success, and has a large
practice for &junior. Whether Mr. KEOGH will obtain
the influence he aims at we will not now conjecture.
He is likely, however, to prove one of the most active
speakers in the present parliament, and he will pro-
bably be found very useful by the PEEL party in
Irish politics.
We are glad to perceive the success of Mr. Sneth
at Duogarvan, and Sir DENUAM NORREYS at Mallow;
both members of the liberal party, opposed by the
fanaticism of the repealer.. The member for Mallow
is a most independent and upright public man, with
very fair talents for business. The liberal whigs in
Ireland are placed in an awkward position, between
the violence of the repealer. and the apathy of the
conservatives. Up to the present time, the repealers
have nothing to boast of in the contest.

As might have been expected, the Middlesex elec-
tion has ended in the total rout, horse and foot, of Col.
THOMAS WOOD and his tory friends. From the begin-
ning there was little doubt of the result, and at the
close of the first day's poll the late member was
plainly defeated. The final majority has proved so
decisive as to satisfy every one that nothing but the
most culpable apathy on the part of the liberal
electors could have allowed Col. THOMAS WOOD again
to occupy the post of member for the metropolitan
county. This contest has furnished another proof
that simple conformity to the industrial public policy
of the day will not satisfy the intelligent constituen-
cies. It is not enough that legislators will not oppose
they least be willing and able to aid it.
Rilfl7lll4MAB WOOD had come ow to the point of tans
trade in corn, but that was all. He was probably as
good a free trader as could be manufactured out of a
tory country gentleman of not more than average
abilities, but he was not imbued with that sympathy
with industry which is necessary for a representative
of Middlesex. Still there were powerful influ-
ences at work in his favour. The whole tory
aristocracy of the county actively supported him. His
opponent, Mr. OSBORNE, came forward without the
assent—almost in spite of the discountenance—of the
whig aristocracy of the county ; and it was quite cer-
tain that he was the popular candidate before he was
avowedly supported by the government. Moreover,
he is a young man without that species of family con-
nexion which hes, until recently, been deemed requi-
site for a county member. Such were his disadvantages.
But on the other hand he had proved himself an able
debater in parliament, and had taken his stand la Idly
and unreservedly on the side of industry and progress.
' This was sufficient. The Middlesex electors see that
it is not now a question of free trade in corn, or any
other particular commodity, but whether the dead-
weight of the land, or the living industry of the
community, shall rule this commercial nation. They
have done their part on behalf of industry. Hence-
forth, the battle of the industrious will have to be
fought in the counties. The towns—at least such of
them as are not mere nomination boroughs—are won,
for scarcely a city or borough member has been
elected on any other ground than as a promoter of
industry.
The Middlesex election confirms the opinion we
ventured to express several weeks since—that county
constituencies were far more open to liberal can-
didates than bad been generally supposed. That
opinion was not hazarded without warrant. We well
knew the impatience with which the liberal electors
in general, and a large proportion of the farmers in
particular, SAW the great families in one district, or
cliques of squires in another, preparing to send their
own delegates to the House of Commons with the
name, but nothing except the name, of representatives
of county 'constituencies. We then said that pro-
perly qualified candidates, of liberal opinions, would
gather about them the earnest support of county
electors, and scatter the devices of the tory and pro-
tectionist landowners to the winds.
Other county elections, as well as that of
Middlesex, afford corroboration of these remarks.
Wherever a vigorous effort has been made by a
liberal candidate, in whom the liberal electors can
confide, be has succeeded. Take the case of South
Essex. There the landowners imagined they could
palm upon the electors such a candidate as Mr.
Bou TER SMYTH, whose address formed one of the
most offensive compounds of ignorance and intolerance
which even county candidates have put forth. It
was obviously intended to attract the sympathies of a
backward and narrow-minded body; and the electors
of South Essex have done themselves great honour
by rejecting its author,and electing Sir E. N. BUXTON.
Let this 'be a lesson to the liberals in other
counties; for if South Essex, always deemed a
stronghold of toryism, could be carried, there are
many other counties and divisions of counties which
might return liberal members with far less dif-
ficulty. In many cases the effort is alone wanted.
Let the thinking middle-class electors in each county
organise themselves into a registration society, not
with a view to support a particular man, or a parti-
cular party, bat with the single object of giving the
middle classes of the county the power of combined
and prompt action upon the county election, and the
work will be well nigh done. The power of the land-
owners, who now domineer over the county consti-
tuencies, is in many instances as nominal as their
interests in their estates. Both are derived from the
forbearance of the real owners, and the interference
of the mortgagees would not be more fatal to the
squires' possessions in the one case, than an earnest
and combined movement of the electors would be to
their political power in the other.
See what resistance to dictation has enabled the
electors of West Gloucestershire to effect, with no
better card than a GRANTLEY BERKELEY to play with.
Surely these and other similar political incidents
elsewhere must make the leading liberals of
various counties somewhat regret their own apathy.
There is no reason why one third of the protection-
ist county members, who have been re-elected with
the gracious declaration of their intention to give
free trade " a fair trial," might not have been dis-
missed to the retirement of private life to watch the
great experiment.
It will be well clearly to understand what these
protectionist landowners mean when they talk of
giving " free trade a fair trial." Their fair trial
means neither more nor less than that they will
watch whether the circumstances of 1848 and the
temper of the community will bear an attempt to
perpetuate a 4s. duty on imported wheat. This has
been obscurely hinted by several of the apparently
conforming protectionists; but Lord OSSULSTON, the
protectionist opponent of Sir GEORGE GREY in Nor-
thumberland put it beyond all doubt. He said "that
with respect to the old battle cry of " protection to
native industry," he would just observe that, though
for the present in abeyance, it was by no means to be
considered at an end, for the protectionists were only
waiting for the result of a great experiment, which
had not yet reached the farmer." That is not to be
misunderstood. The protectionists are waiting to see
whether one or two fruitful harvests may not so
greatly reduce the prices of grain, that they will be
able again to delude all the agricultural constituencies
into a belief that farmers can be benefited by
" protection." That such sinister expectations
will be disappointed we arc satisfied, for the
farmers themselves are fully aware of the impos-
sibility of reviving protection. But a struggle for
the purpose will assuredly be made, if only for the
purpose of impeding and interrupting progressive
legislation. It was, therefore, no unnecessary cau-
tion which induced Mr. COBDEN to recommend the
free-traders to elect as their representatives none but
men of earnest convictions ; and the liberals have
well responded to that call.
It is necessary to keep prominently before the
public that the great work now to be accom-
plished is to secure the voice of the counties on
behalf of civilisation and progress. We must
lessen the obstructive power of
The dead weight of the land
fered to retard, as it hitherto '
cation of sound principles to
The farmers will no longer th.
into the landowners scale. Tenants
that " farmers' friends" are tleP
whose tender mercies the '
earnestly pray to be delivered.

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