The Express.
London, England, 1848-12-26 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 26, IMB.

OUR REPRESENTATIVE SYSTEM.
TOTNEBS.—(CoNct.onec.)
It wee the last thing in the world to be desired by
either tory or whig in Totnees, that the proceedings
of the Blount and Barry-Baldwin contest should be-
come the .abject of parliamentary enquiry. It was
in every point of view far too serious a matter Tor
that. Neither party could afford to visa the exposure;
and the borough itself would have stood a fair chance
of disfranchisement under it. So when the double
return was made. the question on both sides was, how
could exposure be best avoided P
Parliamentary counsel are the most knowing fel-
lows in the world. There is nothing that they cannot
manage. where parties are not over obstinate,
is the way of getting them oat of
a serape. On this OCCIINOII they luckily
discovered, just at the nick of time, that there was
"a flaw" by which the election war vitiated entirely.
The mayor ought to have all awed an interval of a cer-
tain number of days between the proclamation of the
writs and the election. Ile bad done so ; but one of
the days allowed was a Sunda —dire non. Instead,
therefore of proceeding to attack each others pull, the
part. s proceeded to attack the acts of the returning
officer; and the poor mayor, who had related to give
a outing vote, in the amiable desire to be particular!
now " *offer( d martyrdom from both
eke.," to both sides declared t' at he deserved. The
oommln.ee, in a few hours, declared the mayor's pro-
eeedir gd alt Roller and reported to the house
that the diction was null and void.
A new contest was as little agreeable to the two
partite priccipally concerned as had been the pros-
pects t.t parliamentary enquiry into their acts and
deeds. ne hotter) Waned to the sheriff of the county
ol I). v. It Fl ~/-w writ for the cl.cli"n of a burgess to
serve in ariiam-nt for the borough of Totnese. The

sheriff sent an officer to serve the writ upon the mayor;
but the mayor was not to be found. Neither was the
deputy appointed to represent the mayor in his abe
sews Neither was the town clerk
in the ale
on whom
service would have been legal
seem of . the ethers. The lady mayoress sad
tie wives of the ether two AWN haew Dodds( et
the whereabouts of their bads and mestere. Bo the
akeriffis cam had to go home *gala, end the matter
was brought ander the notice of parliament by Sir
Thesis Fremantle. Bat the AtleraerCieussel (who
was es the other side of polities) did aist Sisk say
riga foe* case hid been made out that the may=
sad other caws were evading service at the writ I
sad, before further steps Gull be takes. the mayor
reteried.
Net only was the serperatisa Asset, bat the can-
Maths were absent afro! Gnat anxiety was ex-
;pawed shoot them by their sonstitnents, and rape-
by the publicans. Everybody wantad a little
, asp ef somthift, bat there seemed to be no autho-
r els whatever to keep the top ea the tarn. It be.
came quite evident that, if the candidates were
I awl/ again at all, they were neither of them coming
Iselll they were obliged. At last Mr. Barry Baldwin
' male his appearance. He did not look by any means
in Nish high feather as before : few men do who
have jest spent from 5,0001. to 6,0001. for nothing.
He boasted uifinitely less of his Irish estates; on the
contrary, he delicately apologthed for hie absence on
the ground that he had bad " several matters to
arrange " before he left London. It wen evident, to
use the plusaeology of " the ring,* that he had re-
ceived " a staggerer."
Where was Mr. Blount? A large party of the
orsagemob waited on the Loodoe road day and night
to receive him, bat he did not come. His canstiteents
Bret grumbled, and then openly &baled him. He re-
plied-by haters to them kindly and courteously, bat
he gave no maim Irby he stayed away. No one in
Tatum knows to this day what were hie motives, sad
411 that is eaggested is that he bad received a gentle
hint that he weld not get in without damaging the
Seymour interest very materially. Mr. Blount paid
his bills—it is said nearly s,oool.—and left his oppo-
nent to win if be ould.
Tie Reform Club, however, were meshed not to Ist
the tura fall into tory hands in that quiet way if they
odd help it. 1840 was no time for the whige to
Mae a vote. So they sent down a man to fight the
teem—young Mr. Osborne. The same seines that
W occurred a mouth before were repeated : the fight
promised to be as desperate in its circumstances, and
as close in its result. The scale, however, was
turned upon this occasion by a knot of truly iodepen-
I dent men. There are chartists at Tetuan de-
voted readers of the /IWsern Star, and no doubt
shareholders in the Land Company. At the election
between Blount and Baldwin, these chartists had
bees mighty difficult to please. They had reposed no
meditate in either candidate, and had cross-quer
tined them in private and in public until both par
ties wished them at Jericho. Ultimately some had
vital one way and some another, for what reasons
'shady knows. Bat on this second occasion they
ceeld not be got to make up their minds at all. It
was impossible to satisfy them. " Would 501. do it—
come ? " "Vu there hanyven hinfamous henuff
to suppose that hiudependent men vould sell
their privilege as free Britons, for a matter of fifty
plod?" The chartists held out till the last moment.
At the last moment the whole bunch of them voted
for Baldwin, and that gentleman was returned by •
majority of 7.
The chartists, immediately after the election, began
to exhibit signs that they were prospering in life.
One of them opened a banker's account in the town,
very much to the banker's surprise, with a deposit of
1251. Another took a public-house. and palu about
the same sum of money as a premium. But it has
been since remarked (and let this be a lesson to ,
voters everywhere) that not one of them prospered or ,
did welL The publican's house was soon shut up.
The man who had lodged his money at a banker's
looked out one morning from his window, and found
the bank was shut op too.
These two elections and their attendant proceedings
are estimated to have cast Mr. Barry Baldwin a mat-
ter of 8,0001. It must be a large Irish estate indeed,
that will stand this. Some people in the town had
" promised " to subscribe towards the expenses, but
it was
Mr. Baldwin had some help. Some parties con- ,
oerned in a joint took bank then existing in Totems, ,
but which has since closed its doors, lent certain of
his friends for electioneering purposes a sum of
money, the application of which wen not closely
looked into. It was a long long time before the ,
individuals concerned got beck the ash. They did
so at last, bat not without more "to do" in various
ways than is quite p'essant to think about even vow. i
The frightful feuds and party warfare which sprung
up in the town in consequence of these elections have
not ceased to exist, and are scarcely aba'ed in their
intensity to this hour. There was nothing which was I
not seized on as a subject of party fight. Even
Charity, which usually der ends with ,arch benignant
graoe. on those who deserve and need her aid, was
here invoked to minister to party purpose". Nothing
caused more continues in the town than the case of
an old blind man named Welsh. This Mr. Welsh
was an elector, and had always been a whig. He was '
anxious to obtain a pension from the benevolent fund
known as Hetheriagers s Charity for the Bli ad, which is
administered by the governors of Christ's Hospitals
He made some interest with his owa political trends
to secure the accomplishment of his object, and this
coming to the knowledge of the tories, they thought
to 181161111 hie vete by getting Mr. Baldwin, who lea ;
want of the hospital, all the credit of securing the ;
men the peeks. If you believed what the tories
said at the time, you would be perfectly astonished at
the Maar sad trouble Mr. Baldwin underwent in
this fatty, and at the enormous sum be spent in
=penny steamboats from Westminster to
to attend the committees and courts in
A pension of 201. a year was granted
re e7lll,4belikemd Mr. Trollops,, the hospital-clerk, wrote '
him a letter, sowing him in a postscript that "it
was solely and entirely through the influence of Mr.
Barry-Baldwin that it was secured! Welsh, bow- I
ever, was not to be humbugged out of his vote. With
the Pertiaacity which is often peculiar to the blind, he
insisted on plumping far the whig. A very. short ;
time after he had done so, he received a letter inform- ,
ing him that hie name was struck off the list of pen-
Sours upon Hetheriogton's charity ! It appears that
the recipients of that charity must not be persons pos.
sassing more than 201. a year. Welsh's theme war
ISM a year, the proceeds of an annuity ; bat he was
also in weekly receipt of a trifle from a benefit club ;
to which he had subscribed in his more prosperous
days. Thepresident, treasurer, and almoners of Christ's I
hospital, in full court assembled, having had this
fact laid before them, were induced to tame to the j
conclusion that Welsh mad got upon the list
by
frau-
deka misrepresentation, and they struck him off
(after the election) ignominiously !
The liberal party in Totness certainly gave Mr.
Baldwin a severe blow in making him fight two un-
I expected battles for the seat. He had scarcely been
fixed in it a year, when the general election came.
Mr. Edward Petro and Mr. Teed, the Cheatery bar-
rister, cams down and 4:summed the town with Lord
Seymour est the lord of the Curators " Sn-
ap.* Beim the polling, however, they both
gave way, Lord Seymour and Mr. Baldwin were
elected neeppiteed. The independent party in Totness
cannot to lids hour be induced to believe but that
this electiou was arranged, and that the two members
who WON volumed got in by a compromise. Lord
Seymour imaiss it stoutly ; hut the town will not be-
lieve his; and at the last election (1847) so unpopu-
lar was the noble candidate in cone gamut of this
prevailing impression, the he was pelted upon the
hustings for what the people called seilinu his party.
The last election was a curious one. Mr. Baldwin
lad escaped in 1841, but the liberals were determined
to give him a turn now. They brought a new man and
a wealthy one into the field—Mr. Sampson Ricardo.
Mr. Baldwin wax very lachrymose at the time of Mr.
Iticarde's arrival,` frankly admitted to his friends
that, " in the re state of the share market," he
had not much to spare. Mr. Baldwin found his secu-
rity, however, where perhaps he least expected it.
Mr. Ricardo stood upon parity principle, and would
not bribe. A comparatively small • xpenditure would
probably bare won his election ; bit he would use
none of those means, and Mr. Baldwin's " linneys"
consequently carried him. It wan a close contest, how-
ever, as it wax, the numbers being—fa Baldwin 154,
Ricardo 151. It woe anticipatedt hat the numbers would
;have been i qualoind so they would have been bat teethe
bad faith of a voter. A man who hrd ab-en'ed himself
' from the town in consequence of d. he, was found out
and canvitas.d for Ricardo near !.",dun, and having

promised to go down to vote,gred nosey to pay
the expsaties of hie wee. two farmers,
a father and ma wewilegle. also triads ci Ricardo,
when fit was satheir ge= s
ageat, sakes drili sonleg
they
were oscies d
the hos=i o required. These parties, however,
were pregermi vets, sad were reserved until the
Let asemmit. Whoa the time arrived for polliag them,
it was hand impoodhle to win without the
non midget whir mole his apparease. The Mew
never same. Mr. Bienedifs Made coovequeatly suf-
fered the &olio to go. Hail the three voters been
polled. the auefissee would have been made equal,
and the mayor would have given a outing vote for
the libmal 41111Miiits. As it was, the election was
tweed_
_M a haw who pocketed his emplane with
r/W9fl his eagegensents.
By them means and seek as these are our borough
representatives returned to parliament! "Cowshed
voters" turn the male and elect the "noble lord" and
" honourable gentleman" who have the bower to sit
far Totems. 'The Seymour family at the prowl time
Memos 70 votes, of which from 30 to 40 are " Un-
offs." The dakeh Moines has Increased, is hmosoo.
ing, and will inereass. If Lard 0
Seymour hadn
t MI •
word at the last eieetion. ho ha woint 10"
011bd seatkW tb. Ikea seellisft and it i,
•S a Wa
sore gabfest with the why Ilse Ms loth* m-
mend a Arid sooleslhe mole es ssisstise Massp if-
Mr. Baldwinhe hamsMr. Is as us wow. Bis deabt-
fal whether. it orgf ohoosolsosso, he
would soossei doillto the manor
of Barstow gaff its " liniry voters." He
=no leaser the preasp of "enormous
property ia IrelanC" whavevrith poor Mr.
Parrott was taunted in '39. He has done little or
nothing for the town. Ourston• is an empty house,
and Mr. Beldwin's visits to his 000stituents have
become more and mere rare as the different " boards
of directors" have required his auusdanee. This
gentleman, is the mum of his connexion with the
town, has effected the single oldret of making Tetsuo;
en expensive borough. In 1833 Mr. Parrott's election
cost him leas than 381.; in 1840 the money spent at
the two amulets was sot lees than 14,0001. l The town
is stet the batter for it; on the contrary, it is • vast deal
wane. There is nothing oath. rise in Totness save and
ONO the 0 linneys " which are forced at a hothouse
Nob of iooromo, and are maintained at a hothouse
emit of posiostioo. New " linneys" spring up in
nilliffoollll hem at every succeeding registration.
Desperate attempts have been made to strike some of
them off, on the ground of "insufficient valise," but
the evidence (as it invariably is upon such points) has
been very conflicting, and the barrister is always in-
land to.o construe the act liberally and give the
ester the benefit of the doubt." Usually the "
voters are sons of tenants of the duke, or of
tradesmen in the town, or are labourers era some adja-
swat estate—" sets men" any way. They nasally let
out the " limey " to some one in or near the town who
keeps cows —so that milk and batter are cheap in that
quarter, and you need not be surprised at finding
"clotted cream "on very humble tables. l'he system
is one, however, that it is high time to put a stop to;
and parties in the town are beginning to entertain
that impression dressily. Among the mom respect-
able inhabitants of Totnem yon will find a lively sense
of the indignity of their position, and an earuest de-
sire to me a change! The refixes suggested is to
unite Tomer with Dartmouth and Ashburton, two
small neighbouring boron ha, each returning a single
member, and to include them all in an elec-
toral district with Torquay, Newton Bushell, and
perhaps one or two adjacent places of small popula
Lion. This would give a constituency sufficient in
number to aeutralise the influence of the " limey "
voting. Until this change is eft cted, Totting, we
fear, must remain a borough subject to all the bed
influences of our electoral system—territorial influ-
ence, corrupt Influence. and manufactured vote influ-
ence in ens of its moat flagitious forma.

INDIAN WHEAT IMPORTED INTO ENGLAND
A correspondent cf a morning paper thus writes on
this subject A ship having just brought a cart) of wheat
from Bombay to London. the opportuni y meats favourable
for making some observations on a subject of nearest. Al.
most ever/part of India has the advantage of two annual
barmen The one sown shout June, or at the beginning of
the rainy season. is reaped at its conclusion. It consists ol
tits 1611010 corn, jar—'he " dorm" of the Arabs, several
millets, among others that called Italian millet, numerous
palms, nom nearly allied to haricot beans than to any, Wing
else known in this country. The spring. or dry mason, har-
vest is sown in Octi.ber, when the rains have tossed, and is
reaped in Febraery or March. The crop* consist of wheat,
barley, and common millet. Some Europeans cultivate oats.
Beans, peas, lentils, chin pea, snit ; igen pea are also cult
rated, with other pulses ofthe germs Moro!' a, the same to
which the French ben belongs. Thereon, therefore, a peat
variety of canals and pulses for toed, and some can be spared
for esprit. Wheat is by many considered specially a p *duos
of Europe, but we are indebted for this, as for many other
plants to the East. It is probably a native of the elevated
region whin stretches from Affghanistan to the Caspian, as
it was cultivated by the earliest civilised nations. Its Hebrew
name chitin, is considered to he the same as the Arabia
*latch, and similar, in mond at least, to the English when.
From the elevated Persian melon, this plant has travelled
sorb into Europe, and south into India, where it as gray be
cultivated In the cold winter months, bot is ego very iseptely.
The Agricultural Society of India petitioned parliameot, slat
the year 1843, for the privilege of sending wheat to Oren
Britain, on the same terns as bad already been conceded to
Canada. The society eacertained, from laquiries circulated
mow is samnbars, that wheat 000ld be landed in Calcutta
at from 1 rupee to 2 rupees 12 num per mound of 821 b. from
different toads One Bengal residency ; the cheapest being
from the how ;provinces, not oely 06 6000110 t of their rill-
oily, bat ales trim the cultivation being cheaper, in con-
signing* of the facility of intrados from the retuning
imandatism, especially on the hanks of rivers. The greater
denser of the oath-western producer, where wheat is the
prisenal eldest of cultivation, is dm ad only to the greater
• and to the inhabitants themselves being lugs con-
somme of wheat, bat also to the cultivation being more ex.
pensive in sousequease of the occasional necessity for int,
gatng is well& Canal Irrigation would much ditnlnkh
i miens of sapesee. Mr. Speeds, of Calcutta, states the
ammo piles et who
in Calcutta during 12 months to be
lr. 13e. * 'this, which it eluded the various profits of
native megibente and brown between the grower and the
shipper, he nnimed from actual sales of the best quanta.,
whin sine mere toweeod. The grain is dearest in Septem-
ber end Oatelmr, sr sheet the period of sewing the seed, and
his Mar* when the ern hes jun boon harvested.
?Fa=li the avenge pries at Ir. 18a. 4p. per mend, and the
rupee at A. (it is sew only Is 9,1.). then the prim will be
about Is. 11. for a mend of 82 2816. The avenge weight
of a bushel ot wheat beteg eelb., then about six mann&
will he wipired to make up a quarter of wheat, which will
thus, ea es seat &e at 21s. in Calcutta. The freight
may be When at gm Isn, and, es about five quarters of
grain p to • K then we mast add 20s. fur the freight, end
not We Sash M. fin meet, iwaranite, shipping charges, do.
The as* el UM* wheat Is Eartlend will thus he at least
EX. mot* minable& What Dr. Dares cultivated some
wheat at Bu soh, es 'oversewed ezperiment, sad sent it to
Liverpool, the expos= Weaned where *bout 66.. per
quarter. Logo was sustained, pertly biome some of the
wheat bosuns damaged. But he calculated WO in ordinary
season it might be leaded at Liverpool for 40s. quarter.
Mr. Speeds thinks that it night be sent hem DsYstts for
33.., Int it doss not appear that freipht can be ealealated
lower than I have done. Ewen from Odessa the freight, a
sheet time dam, was Its 7d. per quarter, and the price of
Wheat from 813 a. ed. to Me. 6i. per quarter ow WWI ship. It
is not probable that mu wheat an ever be Ilmesght to this
country in or di *
nary years, from the great Masser, sad
the difficulty with which it can be preserved is a semi
state, or free from weevil ; noggin tin maw be dust
with we. Bat there is one pelat he 'disk Wand Sykes
hes already drawn attention. sad w hioh in sesame Sykes
reneity will be one of great importance, and that is, that
wheat sad barley are ripened is Janus?, and February, that
Is, at least five Sr six soothe before those ol England are
available, so that they might reach this country before that
ens by the route of the Caps of Good Hope. The quality
of some of these Indian wheats is excellent. Thekind called
*bodkin is theaght hishlhighly of, as grown near Patna, end the
bread ot Chaser 81160746 is celebrated among Indians
for its whiteness ; bat it is only when anions of meta
are examined by experienced brokers that we are assured
of their superkeity over similar rodeos from other Otero.
In June, 1847, two kinds t f wheat, which were than owe
years old, were shown to an experienced eorn factor. He
immediately pronounced them to he of fine quality, and
valued the sof: kinds at SOL, and the lard at 80s. the
quarter. Colonel Onorley, the officer in elocin sf t: e
south-west frontier of Bengal, learning this, crammed was
fresh specimens of these wheats from the Nerbudda, and
mat them to Calcutta, and theme by the overland route to
England; bat *mash reaped in January they did net roan
this before the end of Septeashrr. Their superior quality
has astonished away of the best lodges. The white
soft wheat was considered by some te be Talavera wheat, but
to be unusually lbw sad of an especially excellent colour.
It was veined in the beginting of November at from 66,. to
68s. per quarter, has the meet valuable for a millet's p1u..2
poses. This was several shillings above the highest-prised
wheat then la the English market. Its whitener it owes
to the neer of darn, which makes it softer, and thus
mere seedy attacked by weevils, of which it contained a few;
but even in this state it weighed 6416. to the bushel. The
other kind of wheat, called Julaiya, is a hard wheat,
and therefore not liked by cams, as It wears down
their millstones. It was valued not higher than 605..
to 62e. Sun wheat requires more help from others
of a loner nature in grinding, and is sometimes
stencil; bat this vary hardness seems to enable it to travel
trim r, as this has arrived in emelisint order, and ws
iahs
8311 h. to the bushel. Indeed, the example whin is now five
inters old looks as well as ever It m
is uted. that this hard
wheat is more highly Lumped by tho natives of Indis, and

ille1.11i•• • hYther pries for It bongo they fromider it more
neMilent. in the oath or It OM hard wheats aell
better than the soft wheelie, bolas beet adapted for
main macosnai sad vensiesill, 118 Me bike kinde an
far mak kw ape. Them peoilerldes of the Med wheats
an der le the pregame of a
visit; sad
el the few Veit This why
the Mime Of who 6411 r toorn Mil bake
ir egenasr le muse nnediese, and it *Aim Mem
in glee* Om he it *as kr the beautiful soft
etlea MMus, Oat la the volley of the
Naiad& the abotil2rwimue at 3 tepee M
while the hard wheat Mabee 4a apes Ise the p m
tity. At lamer she sump pies et wheat b hem h. Id.
to 71. M. • perifor. The limit it areal pains an every-
where meet efeenpgr theyadiese, so that the native or India,
with hie her wage", ie We to to a roinparativelti=
whe. tteit
ate, I Zit it wFrom
ould ltsir p=lls e, In moat
Id those ladles
years, to pt some here before the home mop were in the
market, sad this, in a poi of mucky, would be a pest
advantage to the cossumen, and no doubt also to the ler
porters ; bat the Tiers or Broad are, unfortunately, be-
coming dry es the wheat is besoming ripe. Bes sad the
Nerbudda are her Inland. Improved e0111M11013••• of a
more rapid astute are therefore essential for both countries
to derive the full advantages of local pegallarities. The
inereased demand would no doubt raise die pets ht India,
bat increased egitivation world bring it down *phi. let-
Moire, sal the interukange of seed, mononr
,be returns per sere which mow vary from twisty
to fifty bushels. While corlider!ag the import of Wheat
late this emistry, the copulas may be taken of "India( to
the aumerons small grains end guises which India produces,
and upon which its inhabitants subsist. Though smaller,
they are probably not on that second nutritious. But
prejudiee would no doubt prevent their being employed
es food for the people here, In the same manner that ens. and
Italian corn ate objected to, they might be employed as food
fir cattle, pip, and fowls, and thus relean some of the other
meals ea hod ire man.