Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-04-25 00:00:00

THE ELECTIONS

THE Dissolution having been finally decreed
by her Majesty in Council, on Saturday, and the
writs for the new Elections issued that afternoon,
the country is now fairly embarked in the great
conflict, the issues of which are fraught with such
momentous consequences to the highest interests of
the Kingdom. Her Majesty has thus early, in
accordance with the intention expressed in the
Speech pronounced in the Royal name, at the
prorogation, " dissolN ed the present Parliament,
with a view to enable her people to express, in the
mode prescribed by tke Constitution, their opinion
on the state of public affairs. " Such is the
acknowledged object. And it cannot be denied, that
it is there correctly expressed,—that an appeal thus
made to -the country is "the mode prescribed by the
Constitution ;" and.that the appeal is really made to
the constituencies of the Kingdom to obtain, through
their votes for representatives in a new Parliament,

" their opinion on the state of public affairs." Sir
JAMES GRAHAM has complained, we see, to his lath
constituents, the electors of Carlisle, that the Royal
Speech made no mention of Reform. But the state
of public affairs must be taken to include Reform.
No one can form an opinion on such a subject with-
out taking Reform into aceount. Sir JAMES, how-
ever, considers that the real question at issue is,
whether the people will have Lord DERBY without
Reform, to rule over them, or whether they will
have a large extension of the suffrage, and a re-
distribution of iieats. Well,—it may be all this ;
or, at any rate, all this may be involved in the
question at issue ; just as there may be involved in
it, whether Sir Limes himself is,,or is not, to occupy
a prominent place in the Reform Administration he
expects to follow closeiy on the elections. But that
would still, we opine, be quite consistent with the
declaration made in her Majesty's name, that the
Dissolution has been had recourse to .as the neces-
sary, the constitutional means of enabling the people
to " express their opinion an the state of public
affairs."

The addresses of the candidates, on both sides of
the (p.estion, continue to afford materials for thought,
as well as for entertainment, A General Election
is a time when not only have candidates to
tell the people what they think, or, at least, what
they wish it to be supposed they think ; but when
the people themselves feel at liberty to speak their
minds pretty freely. Nay, some of them, not con-
tent with speakinv freely, must needs be acting more
freely still, In the metropolitan borough of Finsbury,
f9T inStAnoo, t#.llo peo* have been kicking up a row,

because Sir MORTON PETO will persist in being a
candidate against the will and pleasure of the-more
noisy and liberty-loving section of them,—the said
Sir MORTON not being quite up to the mark, in their
estimation, as an advanced Liberal. Scenes of what
the reporters grandiloquently call " unmitigated
uproar" having been the order of the, day where-
ever Sir MORTON made his public appearance,
the hon. gentleman appears to have modified con-
siderablyhis opinions as to the expediency of driving
down the franchise much lower in the social scale.
" The £lO franchise in counties," he has told them,
" was the lowest he could admit. He could not
desire to see a lower county franchise. With regard
to the boroughs, he desired to see a lower franchise,
but he told them frankly that he would not give it
to those who had not proved themselves fit and
proper persons to • use it. He would not consent to
see the upper and middle classes trodden down by
the unintelligent mob." Such uncivil expressions as
these, in the face of the "unintelligent mob" itself,
had the effect, as might have been expected, of adding
fuel to the flame; and the result is, that Finsbury
is made almost too hot for one of so Conservative a
temperament as Sir MonToN---a temperament made
more Conservative still by the conduct of the afore-
said " unintelligent mob," and which will doubtless
constrain him to exclaim hereafter, when opposing
too low a franchise, Experto crede !
To come from the metropolis into the country,—
We find one of Lord PALMERSTON'S late Cabinet, Sir
CHARLES WOOD, addressing the electors of the West
Riding in behalf of the two Liberal candidates,
advocating an arrangement which, we fear, would

not go down in many counties,—not even in South
Lancashire. " I wish to say," he observed, " that I,
a landowner, in conjunction with the whole body of
the Whig landed portion of the riding, am anxious
to see a manufacturer as a colleague of Sir JOHN

RAMSDEN, we are anxious to prove that our pros-
perity depends on you ; that agriculture, trade, and
commerce are indissolubly bound up together. Peo-
ple deny that sometimes ; but do you send a proof
from the largest constituency of Great Britain that
a landowner and manufacturer are sent together to
represent the joint interests of the riding—interests
which are those also of the whole empire." Now, it
is quite true that agriculture, 'trade, and commerce
are indivisibly bound up together,—manufactures
are quite as indissolubly bound up with them, too, for
that matter. But that will scarcely be admitted, we
think, as a reason why landowners and agriculturists
should of necessity prefer a manufacturer to repre-
sent them, if they can• return one who, from being a
landowner and agriculturist himself, may, in their
opinion, be likely to sympathise all the more warmly
with their interests. _ _

At Bristol, Mr. BERKELEY has raised a hue and
cry against lawyers as representatives of the people
in Parliament, why or wherefore, on this occasion in
particular, does not very clearly appear ; save and
except, it is true, that the hon. gentleman is being
opposed by a member of the legal profession.
" Well now, gentlemen," he says to the electors,
" a barrister, no doubt, is very often understood
to be a very clever man. But I remember the
definition given of a barrister by the late Lord
Thurlow, and it was to this effect : He said
that the education for the law, if it felt upon a
broad and expansive mind, would have a good effect
upon the mind, for it would show the 'great power
of the mind ; but if the education of a barrister
fell on a narrow and contracted mind, God help
the consequence! And so it is, gentlemen ; although
we have great and distinguished men in the House
of Commons, and although we have great and dis-
tinguished men on the bench, to whom I give every
praise, and whom I respect, yet I do venture to say
that counsellors in the House are a very great bore.
It is so felt by every member of parliament. It is
a fact that in any matter where there is a question
of law mentioned, the barristers jump up on all
sides. You never get rid of them ; they seldom
debate in the fashion of the House of Commons :
their quirks, quibbles, special pleading, dwelling on
little points, and omitting the great ones have become
perfectly tiresome and wearisome to the House."
This was certainly cutting right and keft. For
there are barristers of all parties. One of the most
advanced Liberals of the day, the recent political
hero of Marylebone, Mr. EDWIN JAMES, is a
barrister. So -that Mr. BERKELEY'S anathema has at
least the merit of impartiality. Where the Law
Officers of the Crown are to be obtained, of course he

does not stop to inquire.
We have but room, at present, to notice one other
amusing incident. Mr. FITZGERALD, one of the
Under Secretaries, has made his late constituents
laugh, by exhibiting the properties of mutual
repulsion which prevail in Lord PALMERSTON
and Mr. JOHN BRIGHT respectively. "Mr.
BRIGHT," he declares, " has said of Lord PAL-
MERSTON that his meddling and quarrelsome policy
is one of the greatest evils with which this country
has to contend, and sooner than accept kim again as
Premier he would take any other member in the
House; and my Lord PALMERSTON has said of Mr.
BRIGHT that he deals with every policy as if he
were dealing in yards of cotton, and that the great-
ness of this country will be gone if ever the business
of this country should be trusted in the hands of any
man entertaining his opinions." And yet have we
Lord PALMERSTON and Mr. BRIGHT apparently
fighting in the same ranks, the great battle of
Reform ! Such are some of the changes and chances
of political warfare which are so apt to be manifest
at a General Election.