The Sun.
London, England, 1852-07-26 00:00:00

THE SUN,

electors has, in an equally ungracious manner, ousted
Mr. BERNAL, the Liberal Chairman of the House of
Commons. Another has betrayed the same indiffe-
rence to the merits of Mr. GREENE, the occupant of
the same post in the Legislature during
the existence of Sir ROBERT PEEL'S Government.
Perhaps, indeed, the most remarkable circumstance
noticeable in the catalogue of newly-elected represen-
tatives is the peculiarity of so many able men being
discarded and of so many men of doubtful capacity
and dubious antecedents being selected instead. This
circumstance could not but be matter for serious
regret even during an ordinary situation of affairs,
but at the present juncture, when the ability of the
new Members must be universally recognised
to be
of the utmost importance, it must be regarded as a
calamity that the men of experience have been
thrown aside through a shameless preference for men
of no experience whatsoever. Fresh blood is, of
Course, always desirable in the House of Commons as
elsewhere, but still more desirable is the avoidance
by the constituencies of any wholesale experiments
in the way of legislation by means of send-
ing " raw recruits" to the senatorial phalanx
at Westminver. To discard a tried and
valuable representative simply because of an
idle anxiety to have some change in the representa-
tion, is, perhaps, of all acts on the part of the electors
the most perilous, as it is of all certainly the least
capable of extenuation. Yet never was a Parlia-
ment named by the country more strikingly dis-
tinguished by this characteristic of fickleness among
the constituencies. The Cabinet has thereby been
deprived
extraordinaryofnlen whose abilities
would
h a ve severalrenderedinstances
them
acquisi-
tions to the group of
Members supporting
the DEBBY Administration. The Derbyites have in
this manner been debarred from the advantage of
securing to themselves the ready eloquence of Mr.
ELLIS, formerly Member for Newry, the powerful
influence of Mr. MILES, the ex-Member for Bristol,
as well as the ingenious and daring calculations of
Mr. YOUNG, hitherto the representative of Scar-
borough. While such have been some among the
individual losses of the wanißtrv, the losses have been
personally, more than numerically, greater to the Op-
position. That must be admitted. It is a fact that
altogether defies contradiction ; and one, moreover,
that we regard with only the more intense chagrin,
because we attribute it less to the energy of the
Alinisterialists than to the shameful and
shameless neglect of the energy lying
dormant on the aide of the Opposition. For any
practical purpose, it is idle, however, to utter those ex-
pressions of lamentation. As the record of misfor-
tune they are essential, nevertheless, at the present
moment, when the general election is on
the very eve of its termination—and not
only as the record of misfortune, but also, and
in a very peculiar manner, as a warning against
its recurrence. Before the excitement of the
recent contests had anywhere commenced, be-
fore even the period of the dissolution had
actuelly arrived, we took every occasion
to remind the Liberal constituencies in the United
Kingdom of the danger, of trusting too implicitly
to their known superiority over their antago-
nists. More particularly, it was our desire to
bid several of the most remarkable of those
constituencies beware of, the insidious appearance
of a DERBY candidate at the moment when the anti-
Ministerial forces were divided into two or three—
sometimes even into so many as five or six—differen

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sections, by the simultaneous appearance —of
so many Liberals, anxious to be selected
by the liberal possessors of the franchise as their re-

presentative&

In several instances we have re

juiced to observe that the designs of the enemy
have been wor3ted. But in others, unfortu-
nately, the device has been found to suc-

coed to very admiration—insomuch that men
known to be the popular favourites have been hare and
there placed at the very bottom of the poll, to the
amazement of their own over-confident, and, there-

fore, culpably-negligent supporters. From these
considerations it is that we rest assured the result
would be found to be marvellously different in the
event of another dissolution speedily taking place, in
which case the least energetic would be roused
from their recent lethargy, and a marvellous accession
of numbers would be speedily perceptible on the side
of the Opposition.

We can make every allowance for the excitement
occasioned by a general election. Men's blood can-
not run very sluggishly or coldly when there is so
much at stake, and when every means are adopted to
inflame it to fever heat. But there are limits which
cannot be exceeded with impunity, which no degree
of excitement can justify or extenuate. Physical
force cannot be tolerated in any shape or form. It is
absurd to speak of "freedom of election," when such
gentle modes of persuasion as can be found in blud-
geons or brickbats are resorted to on the most trivial
occasion. Bullets and cold steel are even more
objectionable than paving-stones or shillelahs. Mob
licentiousness is bad enough, in all conscience, but
military license is still worse; and no occurrence
in which the blood of her MAJESTY'S subjects is spilt
can be passed over sub silentio, or without the most
stringent and searching investigation.
We have had to narrate many disgraceful riots,
in connexion with Irish elections, in which the offen-
ders have disregarded all sense of decency, giving
fall scope to their evil passions. But the last de-
plorable and fatal transactions in the County of
Clare, if the accounts that have been transmitted in
reference thereto can at all be depended on, far
exceed in atrocity anything that has hitherto taken
place. Several lives have been lost, 'and those chiefly
of innocent parties, who had not been in any de-
gree concerned in the unfortunate affair. Making
every allowance for the exaggerations and rah.
statements usuel •on such occasions—and the
notorious freqilency thereof induces us to refrain
from expressing a decided opinion until the
receipt of more authentic inteliigen
ce—
it is, at least, certain that five persons are dead, and
several others seriously wounded; and that these in-
juries were inflicted by persons in her MAJESTY'S
service, and
in the presence of a gentleman in the
commission of the peace, and of two officers of the
314 Regiment. These unquestionable facts impera-
tively dmand:
inquiry, which must be conducted in a
fair and
s, impart.lel spirit. Anything having the
would ,infiaanlPP:arattince of bias or prejudice
slightest
extent,
and° popular mind to the ut-
mostuperhaps lead to very la-
mentable results.
they cannot obtain justice theerom the constituted people believe that
autho-
rities, they may strive
to
hands, and we may again behold e into their own
bawds of d
assassins patrolling the country organize
into the inhabitants. and striking terror
In the inquiry that must be instituted it will be
desirable to ascertain clearly and unequieoe.all
:Ist. Under what circumstances the several 37
were confined in the Temperance Relit at Tit
°toend-
votees
.
gate, more especially whether there was any forcible
abduction or illegal detention ?

2dly. How far Mr. DELmEGE Was warranted in
his interference?—a question that MUskin some degree
depend on the answer that may be returned to the
former interrogatory.
"3E4. How or in what manner, and on what
reinesentation, the assistance of the military was
obtained.

4thljr, Whether the electors taken from the
Temperance Hail
of the militate were desirous of availing themselves
Y escort, or whether they were, as
asserted, carrie
d fr
booths ? o as prisoners to the polling

.sthly. What was the nature of the violence used
towards the soldiers, whether it was of such a
character as to induce a well-founded apprehension
that their own lives or limbs might be endangered if
they permitted the assaults to be continued' without
adopting measures for their own protection ? And
(Wily. Whether they could not have repelled
their assailants without using firearms, and
whether,
even if they were justified in adopting some steps,
those resorted to were not excessive, and far beyond
the exigency of the case ?
On the answers that may be returned to these in-
terrogatories will depend the further measures that
may be required, and, as we have already stated, it
is essential that there should be no ambiguity on any
of these points, but that the real facts should be
clearly and explLitly set forth. Tha honour of the