The Sun.
London, England, 1837-08-02 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 1837.

presents, /owe unequivocally than some others in the
same category, the most gratifying evidence of the ra-
pid progress of sound constitutional sentiment. At
the last Kilmarnock struggle, the Conservative candi-
date could muster only 153 votes out of a constitu-
ency of 1,451. Last week the pompons and prosing
Doctor had enough to do to rally 438. Kilmarnock
and Dumbarton, which were formerly his strong bul-
warks, have on this occasion rejected him, and ac-
cordingly Dr. Bowring is done for. Observe, too,
the sort of gentleman whom these burghs have chosen.
Mr. Colquhoun is in all respects the very opposite of
his dislodged predecessor. First of all, he is an elder
of the Church of Scotland, determined to advocate and
support her claims for additional accommodation to the
poor. 2dly, He was one of the leading speakers at the
great London meeting in favour of Church-rates. 3dly,
Having thought and written well en the condition and
prospects of Ireland, he is a resolute opponent of
the Papist faction. On all the most important
questions, therefore, of home policy, his vote will
be in decided hostility to the Whigs, whom he cordially
despiseF. Mr. Loch, the Duke of Sutherland's man-
of-all-wink, is to be opposed in the Caithness dis-
trict by Mr. Dempster, of Skibo, a circumstance which
augurs extremely well for the success of Sir George
Sinclair in the county. If the popularity of Conser-
vative principles had lost ground among the rural con-
stitut ncy, it is not very likely that Mr. Dempster
would have felt encouraged to make an appeal to the
burghal population. At the same time, considering
the plenitude of the Duke's purse, together with the
natu:al desire of his Grace to maintain his brother-in-
law in the Irish Secretaryship, we have our own doubts
whether Mr. Loch's access to such a pocket may not
prove eventually too powerful for the constitutional in•
clinations of the electors. We almost think that the
worthy Conservative might have fought the Dundases
in Orkney with a better chance of success. Upon the
whole, it is evident that though matters in the Scotch
towns hare not yet regained the sober equilibrium
which the Reform Bill destroyed, they are assuming
an aspect of the highest promise. Already the Minis-
terialists are forced to acknowledge that the boroughs
in England and Scotland have done little or nothing
to improve their wretched condition in the late Par-
liament. The counties, we expect, will give a still
deeper tone to their lamentations. A Whig official
lately said, '' If we do nothing more than retain our
cH ground, a Conservative Ministry is inevitable."
The shrewd fellow's remark is one which we cordially
concur in.—Times.

Amongst the victories gained by the Reformers yes-
' terdav we have to announce one defeat, which we ad-
mit is a subject of peculiar mortification, though the
circumstances which caused the disaster being such as
may be guarded against in future, it is to be hoped
that the occurrence will operate a salutary effect on the
elections which are as yet undecided. East Surrey is
disgraced, lost—the Hanoverian candidates have been
returned—not so much from the effect of Tory artifice
and corruption, though practised to the usual extent—
not so much from a dearth of patriotic feeling arriongs
the electors, or a desertion of the principles of Reform,
as from the most culpable negligence and mismanape-
ment of those whose duty it was to marshal to the'
polling-houths the forces of Reform. We are unwillingly
compelled thus to express ourselves in terms of censure;
but when we state, which we do on authority, that at
two o'clock yesterday the managers of the election of
the Liberal candidates knew nor which of the electors
had or had not voted, and were consequently ignorant
where to seek reinforcement in the time of need, though
there remained unpolled a number of electors of well-
known Liberal opinions, far more than sufficient to
out-number a majority twice as great as that which
elected the disciples of despotic authority—we trust we
shall not be accused of giving an unnecessary or un-
timely reprimand. In the counties, the electors being
in less close and constant association amongst them-
selves, and from want of such association perhaps less
eo2nisant of their real interests, and certainly less sti-
mulated by that emulous zeal excited from bodies of
men co-operating for a common end, the activity of
professional agents must exert a far greater influence
than in cities and boroughs, where the daily inter-
course of the electors begets a spirit of independence
and union which scorns the threats of aristocratic
tyzannv, encourages the timid to adhere to the dictates
of conscience, and terrifies the dishonest from a selfish
sacrifice of the general good. The partially isolated
farmer meeting those of his own class only on Sundays
and market-days, is far more liable to yield to intimi-
dation and undue influence, than the shopkeeper who
has his neighbour's eve constantly upon him. Inde-
pencEntly of this, we venture to assert that there are
many electors in East Surrey who did not know whe-
ther the election was to terminate yesterday or not, and
many more who would affect such ignorance to excuse
a dereliction of duty originating from other causes. Let
the counties of England take warning from this dis-
graceful and disastrous defeat. And, above all, let
Middlesex organize and put forth all its energies to
repel the assault against its representation. Hcre
Mr. Hume, as in the city was i\lr. Grote, is the
especial object of Tory hostility, and for the same
reason, that of being the representative most active
in purifying the institutions of the country from
their putrefactive abuses. On this subject we
direct the earnest attention of the Middlesex elec-
tors to a letter from one of their own body in
this. day's Advertiser, wherein they will find a
revelation of the scheme by
,which the Tories hope to
make the county subservient to their own oppressive
and iniquitous purposes. Our Correspondent asks,
" What are the Reformers to do ?" The answer is
obvious—Vote for Hume and Byng. There must be
no plumpers, nor votes split with the Tories. It is of no
service to return one Reformer, and have his vote in
the House of Commons neutralised by a Tory. This
would be equivalent to a disfranchisement of the county.
The Tories have been long scheming against the in-
dependence of Middlesex, and this is the moment to de-
' feat their machinations. Their present object is to return
Mr. Wood, to the exclusion of Mr. Hume. They have
no hope of Mr. Pownall at present, but by the return of
Mr. Wood they design, first, to neutralize the county,
and thus prepare it for an unqualified subjection to Tory-
ism, whenever an opportunity may arise to foist another
Hanoverian on the representation. This is the mode
in which the Tories propose to destroy the Constitution
of Great Britain, or at least the best part of it—the
Reform Act—not daring, and not having, at present,
the opportunity to attempt that act by a proclamation
sbnilar to the Royal Patent by which their idol, Ernest,
robbed the Hanoverians of the very semblance of po-
pular Government. Will any elector with the least
regard to character, seeing the fair statement of the
case thus dispassionately laid before him, perpetrate
such an act of political turpitude and self-debasement
as to vote for Wood and Pownall, the mere nominees
of the faction who are conspiring the overthrow of his
country's freedom ? Is there one elector to be found in
the whole county of Middlesex who will not blush to ac-
knowledge himself a supporter of the Duke of Cumber-
land and his policy ? If there he let him by all means vote
for\Vood andPownall—the Liberal candidates would be
disgraced by his suffrage. There must be no plumpers
nor split votes in this contest. For the individuals Byng,
Hume,Wood, Pownall, we care comparatively nothing ;
it is the principles they represent which is all. Our
direst personal enemy should have our strongest sup-
port, if a Reformer : our dearest personal friend, our
strongeet opposition, if a Tory. The prosperity, peace,
and freedom of a whole people, is not to be sacrificed
to individual predilections. This is a struggle for a
nation's rights, and every elector who supports the
cause of Reform shall receive a reward from a partici-
pation in the benefits of its progress, more than ten
fold that which might accrue front an acquiescence with
the dictates of exclusively individual interests. For
Hume and Byng, then, electors of Middlesex, unless
you wish to become the serfs of a Cumberland des-
potism !—Morning Advertiser.
The Whig Ministers, who have latterly affected to
he smitten with such a feeling of intense and pre-
eminent loyalty that they cannot brook the idea of the
people of England giving any opposition to pet sons
whom the Sovereign chooses to retain in office, forget,
or think it convenient to appear to forget, their own
conduct when they formed the unexampled confederacy '
to drive out of office the chosen Ministers of William
IV., and coerce the King in the selection of his respon-
sible advisers. In that case the King had dismissed his
Ministry, and appointed others. The Ministry of Sir