The Sun.
London, England, 1852-07-19 00:00:00

CLOSE OF THE POLL.

Vyse „, ... ... ... 1,832
Knightley ... ... ... ... 1,832
Houghton ... ... ... ... 166
SOUTH NORTHUMBERLAND.
CLOSE Or THE PULL.

Liddell ... ... 2,316
Beaumont ... 2,306
Ridley ••• ••• ••• 2,033
WIGTON BURGHS.
OFFICIAL DECLARATION.
114‘Taggart
Caird

... 140
... 139

NEWRY:
JULY 17, 11.30 I.M.

Kirk,,,
Hallewell

FERMANA6H.
Brook and Arehdall returned.

MIDDLESEX ELECTION AND POPERY.
Times.
The interests involv(edFrom in the
a contested d election are of 'two
kinds—the first attaching to every Member who is returned,
the second only to certain men in certain districts.
From Connemara to the Orkneys the nation must needs
' feel an anxiety and interest in the return of every Member
who is to make up an unit in the grand total which repre-
sents the national will; and when we consider the popular
constitution of these islands, and the vast influence which
that constitution, either directly by the prestige of our power,
or indirectly by the force of our example, is calculated to
exercise on the destinies of mankind in every portion of the
world, we may well regard the result of every election as
an event of no trifling magnitude in the history of the world.
But besides this general interest, there are contests for
certain places where the constituency is large and important,
the candidates distinguished and influential, and the prin-
ciple clear and well defined, which attract an attention and
an interest which no mere increase or diminution of Par-
liamentary strength can adequately represent. Such, we
must admit, was the recent deplorable contest for the town of
Liverpool, such the lately terminated election for the Uni-
versity of Oxford, and such the pending conflict for the re-
presentation of the metropolitan county of Middlesex. As
far as we are able to judge, the principle at stake in
the rivalry between Mr. Bernal Osborne and the Marquis of
Blandford is exactly the same as that which animated
the opposing parties in the recent election for
Liverpool, The enormous Irish emigration which
the distresses of the sister island have poured
upon our shores has carried with it the passion,
the virulence, and unreasonableness to which those who in-
terest themselves in Irish politics are, unhappily, too well
accustomed. Belfast, Dublin, and Liverpool have been three
chosen battle-fields on which these rival factions have exhi-
bited their bitterness and intolerance. Zealous even to the
shedding of blood, determined, to use their significant ex-
pression," to win, tie, or wrangle," and providing themselves
for the purpose of a peaceful election with weapons which
might figure more aptly in the sanguinary encounters of a
civil war, the Orange party have succeeded in these three
great towns, and now, ',flushed with success, seek to snatch
from the cause of liberality, toleration, and progress, the
county of Middlesex itself. While the contest is going on,
we are to hear of nothing but Protestant and Papist,__ the
When
Pope and the Bible, red stockings and black gowns. Wh
it is over, Mr. Herries or Mr. Beresford are quite ready to
convert a theological success into an economical victory, and
and
to claim as a stanch Protectionist the Member who w
re-
turned as a rabid and illiberal Protestant.

Comparing the rival candidates for Middlesex together,
there seems little to choose between them if weighed by the
no-Popery standard. The Marquis of Blandford voted for
Maynooth, and Mr. Bernal Osborne against it. Mr. Bernal
Osborne voted against the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, and the
Marquis of Blandford for it. It would seem, according to
this statement, that neither of these gentlemen has a right
to say to the other, " I am more righteous than thou ;" but
by a more solemn demeanour and the support of persons
better known in the religious world the Marquis has con-
trived to persuade the electors that his opposition to the
Pope is far more genuine than that of his antagonist. If
we might presume to offer a word of advice to this great
constituency, it would be, to let the question of which hates
the Pope most stand over for the present, and to decide the
election on more tangible and more important grounds.
All over the country Protestantism has acted as
a lightning conductor to Protection, and Popery
has been a term of abuse expressly reserved for
the advocates of Free Trade. What connexion
there is between freedom of private judgment and
commercial restriction on the one side, and free trade and
slavish religious tenets on the other, We are at a loss to dis-
cover; but certain it is that victories gained by an appeal
to Protestantism have uniformly been claimed for Protec-
tion, and that repulses designed for the Pope have uniformly
been ascribed to aversion to the doctrines of Free Trade. It
is melancholy to see large bodies of men thus diverted from
the cause that is, to that which is not, at stake, and induced
to support economical fallacies under the mask of religious
verities. We shall not readily be suspected, after the in-
dignant protest to which we have given utterance, of any
wish to support the Pope or defend his aggressions. But let
us ask those who stifle the voice of truth and reason by the
cry of "No Popery" whether they have ever considered
what those words mean, and whether, if they should be
able to return a Parliament composed of Members
elected under this cry, Popery will cease to exist. They
may recall the Parliamentary grant from Maynooth, but
when they have done so, will Popery cease to be the religion
of millions of people of these islands, possessing votes, return-
ing Members. and equal to themselves in the rights and pri-
vileges of citizenship? Do they really wish to put an end
to the reign of toleration—to rescind the Emancipation Act,
and to re-impose upon the Roman Catholics those grinding
civil disabilities, the disgrace of our nation, our Parliament,
and our faith? Do they believe that when they have
die of
stroyed Maynooth, the Roman Catholic religion wille 'band
inanition for want of priests to perform her ordinanc,s
that because they are not suffered to be educated mast
they will not be educated at all ? Has experience ett Idown'by
shown that the Roman Catholic religion can be Pueeular cla-
Acts of Parliament, by hustings' invective, or P.
mour? And if we must have Roman Catboleic
h i religion, are
it
they must have priests for the exercise of ti citizens, and
be better sub-
they prepared to prove that these piestaairmanca, or Valla.
jects or better citizens if educated at S up within the
spirit of our noble
dolid, Douay, or St. Omer, than if brought
der the se
jurisdiction of British law and under the not so, if Popery
Constitution? If those things. -t or no, and • ate exiat in
will exist whether they shout Aga