The Sun.
London, England, 1837-07-28 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PU3LIC JOURNALS.

If public opinion is to be_ anywhere inferred from
the results of elections, it must he in those of large
constituencies. - Hence the elections in the metropoli-
tan boroughs are far more conclusive as to the sense of
the people, than the clee:ione in places frLie,
the smallne•,.s or the dependent cirenmetences of the
constituencies, they are subject to the controul of all
manner of unfair influences. In all the metropolitan-
boroughe Reformers have been returned ; and nearly
all the Reform candidates by very large majorities. If
this be not evidence of public opinion, we beg to know
what ie.? Yet the Times declares " there is hard's, a
tradesman east or Qf Temple-bar who has not
'Lthe
been outraged by threat or fir'fir'..,_,with tale %1047,:°.
titu
betrayal of the trust reposed in him by the
tion." How is this ? The numerous constituencies of
London, Westminster, Mary-le-bonne, Finsbury, and.
Southwark outraged by threat or bribe ! Who were
the threateners ? Who the bribers ? According to
the Times, the Tories constitute the majority of rich
men in all these districts. The idea of the poor
men bribing or threatening the rich is ridiculous.
But then, quoth the apostate, " There is not a right
of appointment to any office, however mean, vested
in any functionary of Lord Melbourne's Govern-
ment, which has not been bartered on condition
of prompt pat meat by a vote, or kept in abey-
ance to extend the influence of the-Treasury by a mul-
tiplicatiOn of open-mouthed expectants." We are to
understand, then, that though the Ministry, as the
Times told 115, exerted their whole influence a few
months ago to oL,tain a victory for Mr. Leader over
Sir Francis Burdett, that influence was insufficient in
Westminster alone, anfl yet it has now been sufficient
to obtain not only a greet majority for Mr. Leader
and Colonel Evens in Westinioeter, but a great majo-
rity for the Refoim candidates in a:! the metropolitan
boroughs. These is no use in mystifv:Pg a very plain
matter. During the contest between Mr. Leader and
Sir Francis Burdett, the old renegade did certainly
succeed in deceiving not a few of his old supporters to
his asseverations of consistency ; but many electors
also were either intimidated into voting for Sir Fran-
cis, or into abstaining from voting at all. During the
present election Tory intimidation, which before had
been concentrated in the metropolis, is diffused
throughout the country, so that the electors
are less subject to the pressure of corrupt in-
fluence. A general election leaves the metropo-
litan borough free to exercise an independent suf-
frage ; for the aristocracy of all parties, in a great mea-
sure, withdraw to the different parts of the country
ivith which they are more immediately connected. Still
we do not believe that the Tories could have succeeded
in returning Sir Francis Burdett against Mr. Leader,
except in the very peculiar circumstances under which
the last election took place. The election was unex-
pected, time had not been allowed to undeceive many
of the electors with respect to Sir Francis's epos-
tacy, and there was no organization on the part of
the Reformers. Again and again the Westminster
electors have defeated the Court and the Tory
aristocracy united. But if Westminster may be
vexed but cannot be conquered by intimidation,
the other metropolitan boroughs are still more
favourably circumstanced. But to attribute the
result in all these boroughs to threats or bribes
is such an outrage on truth and probability that
its very extravagance renders it harmless. if
the • Tories, then, have been everywhere beaten
in the metropolitan boroughs, we cannot have a more
decided proof that what influence the Tories possess
anywhere is derived, not from public opinion, but the
means the Reform Bill has left them of defeatinc, the
independent suffrages of the people. For though the
metropolitan boroughs possess too numerous and too
independent constituencies to be managed by unfair
means, it is but too true that in a number of the old
boroughs throughout the country, the returns are ef-
fected by intimidation, and more especially by bribery.
In all of them there is a certain number of voters
known to be venal, and the election is generally deter-
mined by these men. In some, though we trust not
many, of the new boroughs the election is determined
by the venal votes. Our Contemporary, the Stand-
ard, who is a great adept at mystification, and who is
a master of all languages but that of sincerity, has,
for instance, discovered that " the election of Green-
wich is incomparably the most important that has
taken place since the passing of the Reform Bill."
And why ? Because it has been discovered that
Greenwich differs from the neighbouring metropolitan
borcoghs in being manageable.
Ho.'v happens it," exclaims our Contemporary, " that
Mr. Wolv;rley Attwood succeeds by hundreds at Green-
wich, as a Conservative candidate, while all his brother
Conservatives b: the metropolis, except Mr. Palmer, were
defeated by very large majorities? Mr. Wolverley Att-
wood has very high personal and hereditary claims, we
admit. He is a man of great worth and talent, and the
son of a gentleman second to none in the House of Com-
mons in the highest attributte of genius and virtue. But
it would be an extravagancy insulting to Mr. Wolverley
Attwood himself to say that he is as distinguished a man
as Sir G. Murray, or the superior of that Gallant Officer in
talent ; or to pretend that, upon any consideration of virtue
or ability, he could claim to take precedence of Mr. Dudley
Perceval or Lord Teignmouth."
A very slight acquaintance with Deptford, a great
part of the population of which is so poor that in the
evidence taken before the Police Committee it was
stated that they must subsist by thieving incursions
into the neighbouring districts, as they were without
visible means of employment, would serve to account
for the success of Mr. W. Attwood. Mr. W. Att-
wood, as the publicans can tell our Contemporary,
spent much money on the venal voters, and the votes
of the respectable electors were nullified by such
means. Sir G. Murray might have succeeded as well in
the boroughs of Greenwich, Woolwich, and Dept-
ford, as Mr. W. Attwood, had he spent as much
money. But our Contemporary pursues this subject
farther :
" On the other side, Mr. Attwood's opponent, Admiral
Napier, is at least not inferior in merit or prestige to any
of the successful Radicals in the metropolitan representa-
tion. We clearly, therefore, must look beyond personal
considerations to arrive at the reason of Mr. Attwood's
success ; but that reason will be soon seen to be wholly free
from mystery. In a few words Mr. Attwood began early
and pursued his object with constancy and skill. When
we name Mr. Attwood particularly, we do not at all in-
tend to exclude his Conservative friends in the borough
from their due share in the praise of a glorious and most
important victory. But we are tracing the modus operandi
in an experiment upon new matter, and we are firmly con-
vinced that the first element of success in the case of
Greenwich, and the indispensable element of success in
rescuing all the metropolitan boroughs is that the man who
is to be the representative, and not merely a Conservative
association, should begin early and work hard. Mr. Att-
wood-began early ; two years and a half ago he declared
himself a cauilidate. He gave the Greenwich constituency
so long to consider his character, and during that whole
time the Conservatives of Greenwich, knowing that they
had a man worthy to lead them in redeeming the charac-
ter of the borough, and knowing that it would be contested,
laboured indefatigably to insure his success."
Mr. Attwood's opponent, Admiral Napier, is cer-
tainly a man of very distinguished merit ; and if merit
alone could succeed with such a constituency, Mr. Att-
wood would certainly have been defeated. But the
modes operandi, to borrow our Contemporary's phrase-
ology, is not fighting but bribing. Cicero informs us
that when Ile returned from Sicily to Rome, he found
that all his meritorious doings abroad • •
availed him no-
thing. In the same manner- the inhabitants of Mill-
lane, Tanner's-hill, and the pauperised regions of the
•iarish of St. Nicholas, were not curious Co know how
Aui7n •laNapier I had succeeded in destroying the fleet
()I Don Miguel, but how he would " come down"
z.t this election. If Mr. Wolverley Attwood had been
the veriest tool of Don Miguel or the tyrant King of
Hanover—if he had been one of those Englishmen
unworthy of the name who have fought the battles of
Don Carlos, and endeavoured to restore the Inquiei-
tion in Spain—he would have equally succeeded by
lisia guineas against Admiral Napier, who, though
greaz in deeds of arms, is but a tyro in election war-
fare. We see no remedy for this venality but such as
it is vain to expect. We have had our first reform, for
which we have reason to be thankful. Though Re-
;formers cannot do all the good of which they arc de-
c.:foils, the Reform Bill prevents the Tories from doing
evil.—Morning Chronicle.
T,: e Tories appear to have an uncommon appetency
for a dmatelsing ; they absolutely boast as much of their

defeats as others would of victory. The Times, after
stating that Mr. Perceval " laboured under a disadvan-
tsge"—that of being a Tory we suppose—:: which it
::as next to ier.l7oFstble to overcome —that the " Bo-
rough business"--like all in which Mr. Richards
makes a party—was '' purely ridiculous," anal that the
fascinations of Alderman Farebrothcr and the Knight
f Kerry evl!cd saris " personal predilections" in
Lambeth, that the elec!or: remained. insensible to tine
Tory blandishments of Mr. Bald.. in, broe.dlv acknow-
leges that it is neither :: surprised nor disappointed" at
the result of the contests iii Finsbury, Southwark, and
Lambeth. So much for the pompous vauntiop,s with
winch the poor dupes of expiring Toryism, Perceval,
Baldwin, and Richards, were cheered into struggles
wherein they had not a chance of sucess ! It appears
to fornidi mitter of exultation to the Tories to be aid,:
a shCW of oppol:'.on in the metropolitan ho-
roughs. Dei'catea as they have been by majorities of
thorrsands in Ensbury, Westminster, Lambeth, and
e
Southwar k, their surprise appeals not to arise from
their discomfiture, but from their baying bean- permit-
ted to show their faces to those honest and indepen-
dent constituencies. This reminds us of an Irishman
who boasted of having been in conversation with
George the Fourth at the time of his " visitation" to
the Emerald Isle, and having been asked what his
Majesty said to him, replied—" Faith, sure enough, I
was staning in the way of the King's po-chay, and his
Majei.ty said, git out u' that you sprilpeen (says he),
or you'll be kilt: " This was a memorable era in
Pat's life, and always when he wished to show his con-
sequence he spoke of the honour thus conferred upon
him. So with the Tories ; they have been kicked
out, ignominiously kicked out of all the Metropolitan
boroughs ; they have attempted to stand in the way of
Reform, as Pat did in that of his " Majesty's po-
chay," and received a similar caution, "git out o the
way you spalpiens, or you'll he kilt,"—and this fur-
nishes them a subject of exultation, upon which we
beg moat iiincerely, to offer them our congratulations.—
Morning Advertiser.

We are disappointed at the result of the metropolitan
elections ; but, after all, the Conservative party in the
House of Commons will be no worse off in this respect
than they were before, and so far as a public demon-
stration goes we have gained, even by those unsuccessful
contests a great deal. Never since the Reform Bill
was passed have Conservative Candidates been so well
supported in the metropolitan districts which that Bill
created, and at the time that Bill was passed neither
Radicals nor Conservatives calculated that within five
years a Conservative candidate might venture to show
his face in these districts at election time. Though it
be true, then, that the expectations which were formed
some days ago have not been justified by the result,
there is no wound for any feeling of despondency in
the Conservative mind even with respect to the metro-
politan elections. We have not gained what we hoped
for, but we have most decidedly gained, by an approach
to success which some time ago was not dreamed of.
As to the boasting of the Radical party upon the
occasion, we are not in the least surprised at it ; nor
should we be at any other additional instance of the
falsehood upon which the statements of that party
are generally bases. 'We must, however, bear in mind
that this boasting has nothing but falsehood for its
basis, and ought, therefore, to be regarded with cool
contempt. In which of the metropolitan districts have
the O'Connell slaves gained anything ? The only diffe-
rence between the circumstances attending the present
contests and those which have taken place before is,
that the Conservative candidates have polled about
twice as many votes as they did on former occasions,
while the O'Connell candidates have not advanced at
all. If the Radicals find any matter for joyful triumph
in this we commend their ingenuity, and we heartily
wish them a speedy increase of such causes of re-
joicing. If it were allowable to indulge in so extra-
vagant and fantastical a supposition as that the Ra-
dicals were in the slightest degree affected by a sense
of shame, or by any compunctious visitings on the
score of gross dishonesty, we should consider them
fair subjects of pity, even in the midst of their ap-
parent satisfaction. But a knowledge of facts for-
bids us to give way to any such romantic notions.
At the moment that they prate of liberty, they know
they are gaining votes by the exercise of the grossest
tyranny. Even while they are shouting about inde-
pendence and freedom of election, they know that the
most unscrupulous exercise of Government influence
has been resorted to. They are very well aware that
they are prostituting the influences created by the Re-
form Bill to a grossness of slavery such as no borough
patrons of former times ever thought of exacting, and
all this they call a triumph of their principles !
Heaven defend us from such principles. They are
so hardened in vice that they do not feel, and scarcely
see, the blackness and baseness of such proceedings ;
but the flagitious facts are not, therefore, the less real,
nor will their "blindness of heart" be the less effective
in bringing on that ruin which sooner or later always
waits upon depravity. From the first hour that
the Metropolitan districts of ten pounds a-year
voters were proposed, the Conservatives well un-
derstood the political evil of which such districts
would be the source. They clearly foresaw, and
emphatically stated, the dangers to the cause of os-
tler and settled Government which would arise out
of such a new Constitution. To that Constitution
they are now bound by the law of the land ; and, how-
ever adverse it may be to their interests as a party, and
in their opinion, the welfare of the country, they will
support it, because the evil of disturbing so important
an alteration of the Constitution is greater than that
arising from the alteration ; but, in estimating the
effect which the late election results ought in reason
to have upon the Conservative mind of the nation,
we should never forget what the Conservative antici-
pations were when the metropolitan election districts
were constituted. In the progress of the last edition
of the Reform Bill through the House of Commons,
Lord Chandos brought forward a motion against the
creation of these new districts, which he supported in
a speech of great good souse and genuine liberality.
Upon thnt occasion R. Peal re marked that " It must
be obvious to all who heard him that the Members
returned to sit for these districts would represent a
political, rather than a manufacturing or commercial,
interest, and that political interest, in general, a popu-
lar, or democratic, interest." The prophetic sagacity
of that obssrvatron has since been confirmed by the
event. On the same occasion Sir George Murray
greatly distinguished himself by a most able speech,
from which we take the following eloquent extract :
" He wished to speak with all respect of the 101. house-
holders in the metroplitan districts, but it was a well known
and notorious fact that those persons were of an inferior
station in life to 101. householders in most country
towns. Those householders would have an immense in-
flueuce in the election of Members, and therefore he
concluded that the Members for those districts would
he compelled to support the extreme popular opinions
which might prevail at a particular moment. He was
far from wishing that public opinion should not have its
due influence upon the Legislature, but he should like
to see that opinion come, like the light, gradually dif-
fusing itself, and not coming, as it would if this clause were
adopted with respect to the metropolitan districts, in pas-
sion, prejudice, and mist."
Ilow idle, then, are the taunts of our adversaries
upon the results of the elections in the metropolitan
districts. We knew from the beginning that these
places would he the strong-holds of demoeracy, or—
what comes to the same thing—the strong-holds of
profligate violence. Thanks to the effects of expe-
rience, and the gradually and surely increasing con-
viction of the baseness of W hig- R a(li cal Govern-
ment, these districts have turned out much bet-
ter than was at first expected, and the voice of the
intelligent gentry is not quite overborne by the cla-
mour of that class which Mr. Coleridge (in allusion
to the very subject which sve are now discussing) de-
scribes as one which, " iu all countries and in all ages,
has been, is now, and ever will be, the least patriotic
and the least Conservative of any." We, therefore,
ttireny i
thatp 1 o there
n siesr v aatni %): theeslpeoaisi
(tie gn
cr oyuonidl Radicala'ocreouilt
of
the metropolitan elections. The candidates who have
so nobly and so disinterestedly stood forward as repre-
sentatives of the Conservative cause upon this occa-
sion are not only sure of that best of all gratifications,
the sense of. having done well and faithfully under
discouraging circumstances, they are not only entitled
to the respect anti gratitude of every honest friend to
the Conservative cause who has witnessed their ex-

er:iow, but thov have the proud testimony in their
favour of an amount of support %illicit, but a short
time aso, none of their party deemed possible upon
such a scene of political conflict.—Morning Post.

We cannot too often repeat, that upon the Jesuit of
the present election, probably more than upon any
which ever perceded it, depend the peace and welfare
exiitence, of this great country—its
existence at least iii that proud position of unrivalled
pre-eminence in ail that exalts and ennobles human
nature, which has hitherto been the boast of every
Englishman. All that relates to this momentous elec-
tion should therefore monopolize the cares and atten-
tion of every lover of his country, and he should strive
ai if the whole result depended on his single exertions,
never forgetting that, whether used for good or evil
purposes, the great powers now about to lee intrusted
to the national representatives will in all probability
be rttained by them for seven long years. Among,
the many evils produced by the modern system of agi-
tation is one against which it is the duty of every
honest man to warn the electors at this critical
• juncture. It is the baneful practice of electing ob-
scure individuals, men of no established character or
standing in society, having no property or other
stake in the country, and without natural talent or
useful acquirements to redeem their other deficien-
cies, merely because they unsempulously ewallow
every pledge which the electors propose to them. The
last Parliament was full- of these men ; of such were
formed the pliable joints of O'Connell's tail, and
nearly the whole of the English and Scotch Radicals.
So palpable are the motives of these persons for get-
ting into Parliament, that one would thin.k their
threadbare professions could deceive no one ; and that
they should succeed in imposing on the electors is ano-
ther striking illustration of the blind infatuation and
maddening effects produced by political agitation. What
can be the motives of such individuals to become Mem-
bers of Parliament, but to raise themselves by any means,
degrading and unprincipled, to a rank to which neither
their position in society nor their pecuniary means,
nor their talent or attainments, or any other circum-
stance entitle them to aspire, or would ever have
enabled them to reach ? And what is their ultimate
object in so doing ? None, none whatever. No
honest ambition, no patriotic feeling, as their sub-
sequent conduct but too clearly proves. None, but
to get places for themselves and their friends, by a
dirty thick-and-thin support of the Ministers of the
day, with perhaps the praiseworthy adjuncts of being
able to snap their fingers at their creditors, of cutting
a dash in order to pick up an heiress or a well-endowed
widow, and some other such laudable and patriotic
motives. Having nothing to lose, not even in charac-
ter and standing, those persons are of course ever
ready to join in anything by which they may hope to
gain, however reckless may be the scheme, unprin-
cipled the means of effecting it, and ruinous its conse-
quences. Nay, more : the smooth title of peace and
prosperity is not the element in which such men can
succeed. If the vision of the community were not
obscured by the mist of agitation and their blood
heated by its excitement, the enormous deficiences and
utter insignificance of those quacks would stand forth
in all their naked reality. Hence it is that constant,
perpetual agitation, the unceasing fanning of the
flame and stirring of the political caldron, is necessary,
to their very existence, lest, if the foul mixture should
cease to boil, the bubbles would no longer rise to the top,
and the dregs would sink to their natural place, the bot-
tom. But let us ask the electors, are pledges on two or

three political questions, which, too, are made mere
vehicles for the advancement of party purposes, the
only considerations in choosing a representative, in se-
lecting a Legislator for such a country as Great Britain,
for a land equally pre-eminent in commerce, manufac-
tures, and agriculture, and i❑ which an endless multi-
tude and variety of great interests so unceasingly
require the vigilant superintendence and fostering care
of the most g►fted, most experienced, most honest,
and most zealous of Legislators? If our representa-
tives be not men thoroughly conversant with the
great sources of our national prosperity, and who have
a deep stake in their welfare, how can we hope to see
effected those important Administrative improvements
from which the whole kingdom would really derive
that practical benefit which political quacks vainly
promise us will result from their crude and pernicious
schemes ? Had the majority of the late House of
Commons been composed of representatives possessing
those qualifications, instead of being mere party
brawlers and unprincipled demagogues, as empty of
head as of pocket, session after session would not have
passed away in mere empty assertions of principles—
the far-famed appropriation clause, for instance—but
this valuable time would have been spent in conside-
ring the numerous improvements of which the various
branches of the public service are susceptible, and by
which commerce, manufactures, and all the other great
channels of industry could be encouraged and in-
creased. What reception did Mr. Hill's proposition
for the ref'orm of the present system of letter-postage
meet with from the Whig-Radical Ministry—and
what has been the fate of every question nut imme •
diately connected with the current of political agita-
tion ? All such questions have been either immedi-
ately cushioned, or, if brought before Parliament, it
has been found impossible to " make a House" to
enter into the consideration of such insipid subjects,
or they have dragged on their slow and weary way
without comment or remark, accompanied only by the
snoring or gaping of the few Members whom, not zeal
or conscience, but the fear of their constituents, had
induced to be present. Disgraceful as it is, this is a
true picture of the recent state of things ; and such it
must remain, if candidates are elected merely because
they are base and subservient enough to swallow any
pledges asked of them, without the least reference to
all the other qualifications which are so imperatively
required in a British representative. If the electors
will send such men to Parliament, they must expect
that they will follow their only vocation—that of keep-
ing up agitation and turmoil, that they may fish in
troubled water, and of turning their backs upon all
useful and practical measures, because, however bene-
ficial they would be to their constituents, they bring
no grist, but some trouble, to the mill of the dema-
....

gogue.—Times.
%%'e think there are several reasons of the very
strongest kind which ought to weigh with the English
people, and which, we have no doubt, will do so, if the
proper means be taken to bring them under the con-
sideration of the electors. In the first place it was not
known at the last election, and it would have been un-
charitable to have conjectured it, that the Whigs could
be at once so unprincipled and so mean as to sell
themselves to the Irish demagogue and his tail as they
have dune. It was not believed, even by the most
experienced Conservative politicians, that the Whigs
could be so base as to consent to be the political
agents of the Romish faction, and to engage in carrying
into effect the virulent hostility of that faction to the
Established Church of Great Britain and Ireland.
We cannot, then, be surprised that the peop!e at large,
who had so much less oppoltunay of appreciating the
true nature of Whig fidelity, should have been similarly
mistaken in this matter. The miscalculation was in-
deed au honourable error on the part of the Conserva-
tive leaders, and the Prote2tant public throughout die
country. Just and high-minded men are not the first
to suspect the absence of like sentiments in others, and
to suppose that the Whigs, whose policy had been so
reviled, and whose persons had been so ridiculed by
Mr. O'Connell, would cringe to him, and comsent to
his terins for the sake of his support ; to suppose this,
until the flagrant act was done and published, would
have been, on the part of honourable men, impossible.
Now, however, the thing has been done. Nuw there
is no doubt. Now it is quite certain, that, so far as
Ireland and the Irish Church are concerned, the present
Ministers are the Ministers of Mr. O'Connell. They
are pledged to the persecution ofProtestantism,and who-
ever gives a vote in favour of a Ministerial candidate,
gives an indirect, but still a certain aid, to this persecu-
tion. We hope that every Protestant elector will bear
this in mind. We hope that every man, before he repprai;
his vote, will ask himself whether, by doing so, he is
helping on the persecution of Protestantism in Ire-
land, or contributing to a majority in Ow Honse of
Commons who will dojustice to Ireland in good earliest,
and begin by saving the Protestant Church from the
hand of merciless oppression under which it suffers,
In the second place, the electors of gnOand must now

THE SUN, LONDON, FIUDAY„JULY 28,