The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-27 00:00:00

NORTH DEVON ELECTION.

(From the 'Western nines.)
The result of the North Delon Election has grieved
more tha ~.;has surprised us. We had ,expected a
favourable result, though misgivings as to the effect
of the Corn-law panic had occasionally entered our
mind. We did not_ think that the strong phalanx of
Reformers in- • thWasistherta,TriVision—th at the influ-
ential landlords prAssing liberal principles, and prac-
tising them up to the full extent of their professions—
that the mass of the people-Alt-animated by a desire
to see a Reform Candidate returned=that the .combined
influence of these various classes, the enthusiasm of a
popular cause, and the leadership of a great man—great
in all qualifications requisite for public life, and estima-
ble in all the relations of private life—we did not think
that with these advantages—with these elements of
strength—that North Devon could be wrested out of
the hands of the Reformers. The last seat is gone—
four Tories riot in their " pride of place," and the
fruits of reform lie withered and dead on the ground.
Do we despair ? Alas ! no. We are old enough to
have seen prospects far less promising and cheering
than even the dreary void before us. The North has
required some such a defeat, miserable and mortifying
as it is, to rause as to a sense of our duty. The battle
is to be fought in the Registration Courts—said Sir R.
Peel. BothjaatliieNassented to it. The Tories acted
on it, andW.;.Cli, is seated for North Devon.
The apatlfeaf the 'Reformers in North Devon
is the result-4•an over confidence in their strength,
and they ArtA,..„.eperience the bitter fruits of
neglect. ButfWcorifess that we should never, under
the existing stale of things, have looked to return
a Member for North Devon, had we not more con-
fidence in the acreage of the Whig landlords than in
the force of Tory principles. With the Chandos
clause in operation, and the intimidation which the
Tory landlords netrer scruple to exercise, the Counties
are gone whe ijg property does not directly pre-
ponderate. If• r- confidence in the North, it was
from a belief tha preponderance of landlords_ was
on-the side .of liksik,tws! _and looking at: the liberal
spirit of the toviVitionAelieved, and sOl believe, that
the strength of th7l9ftision Fes with the Reformers—
and yet we have id why? Because
our enemy bad resources, had pre-
pared himself fa let oirhis arms,
and took the 6, ioisits, and ready for

the fray at the
Every man 01
rangement was

pe`t•r
istered—every ar
was ready to start

at a minute's n

td yet the Reform

ers had slept as ,my did not even
exist—instead of ited and practised
foe lying encam ,ates. Looking at
the combination ..nich made up the
majority of the Tories, it is matter of wonder that their
majority was not greater than it really is. Tbey fought
their battle with a reckless desperation. They had
every thing at stake. If Mr. Buller should have proved
victorious, they knew that Sir Thomas Acland,was a
doomed man, and all their boasted triumph would have
vanished into air. The landlords commanded, the
parsons intreated or denounced, and the agents bribed.

Bribery can be proved as clear as day-light, and
in cases sufficiently numerous to vitiate the prin-
ciple on which the contest was conducted. At
Iltracombr, a man who bad promised to vote for
Mr. Buller, could not be induced to come up in the
course of the first day. In the evening he was missed
from his quarters. The following morning he walked
up into the polling booth with a blue ribbon at his button
hole, and tendered his vote for Buck. Mr. S. M.
Cox directed the briberyoath to be put to him. It was
read, and he refused to vote. In order that there
should be no plea of ignorance, the man was directed
to read it himself. He did so ; it was fully explained

to him, and after" three quarters of an hour had elapsed,
he departed without voting, having declared that his
conscience would not
~permit him to vote. It is said
that this man bad received seventy shillings as a bribe—
but though he had the weakness and dishonesty to take
the bribe, he was not scoundrel enough to seal the dirty
bond by laying perjury to his soul.
This is one case. We mention it as a fact that can
be proved. Too many others can be produced to keep
it in countenance. And this is the way in which the
ancient institutions of the country are to be upheld,
the Church is to- be maintained, and the blessings of
social order secured. This is the cause so sacred in
the eyes of the Clergy, that they sever all the bonds of
social life—the tics of personal honour—the obligation
of friendship—in support of their "great cause"—a
cause based on fraud and misrepresentation, cemented
by perjury, and crowned with the demoralization of the
people, whose virtue, the Tories hypocritically pretend,
is the object of their peculiar regard and affection. Can
there be anything more shocking than the exhibition
which this miserable farmer made, as he stood in the
polling booth, with the dirty bribe in his pocket, and
the guilty consciousness of the filthy contract that he
had entered into, rankling in his mind, as he doubted
and hesitated whether he should swear through it, or
confess and retreat. Rather would we see our adversa-
ries triumph a thousand tunes, than purchase a victory
by such means.
Overwhelmed as we are with the pressure of local
matter, we have not space nor time to enter into all the
topics which this contest suggests. The people must
either go back to Toryism, or secure a free exercise of
the franchise. The ancient right of the freeholder is

entirely swallowed up in the extended franchise of men
mocked with a vote which they dare not sercise, and
cursed with the possession of diQcernment an penetra-
tion enough to understand the deep humiliation of their
position. It is idle to talk of coercion and intimidation,

if nothing be done to resist them. We must either
advance boldly and bodily for the ballot, or claim an ex-
tension of the suffrage, to counteract the influence of
the Tory landlords and clergy. Why should a man
who rents a ten-pound house in Torrington, or Bide-
ford, or Crediton, be not as well entitled to vote as the
occupant of a ten-pound house in Exeter. The oppo-
nents of the ballot are bound to find a remedy for the
mischief instilled into the Reform Act, by the Tory
Chandos clause.
We have merely thrown a few cursory thoughts to-
gether on the subject, reserving ourselves for a full
consideration of the various causes that conspired to
this defeat, and an exposition of the tactics of the Tory
Squires and Clergy.
In the meantime, we will state that this rebuff will
prove i❑ the end of the most signal service to the Re.
formers—it will rouse their zeal and unite their efforts.
We can tell Sir Thomas for his comfort, that mea-
sures are already commenced for an organization that
will most materially alter his prospects of security.

Facts which have come to our knowledge, induce
us to call the attention of individuals who have defective
Eye-sight and Hearing, the one being much connected
with the other, to pay a visit to the Messrs. S. and B.
Solomons, 39, Albemarle-street, Piccadilly. Cases of
this nature require early attention, or doom to civil banish-
ment unhappy individuals, while early management might
restore those valuable blessings to the advantage and plea-
sures of society. The Messrs, Solomons have a simple
method, and have invented an Operative Voice Conductor,
the size of a seven-shilling piece, it fits into the cavity of
the ear, it is not the least perceptible, by which the slight-
est whisper at a public assembly is heard with distinctness.
Their newly-invented Spectacle Lenses, immediately they
are placed before imperfect vision, it is at once brought to
nature.

------
" THE IDLER IN ITALY," BY THE COUNTESS
OF BLESSINOTON, just published by Mr. Colburn, is one Of
the most delightful books that has issued from the Press
for many years. It teems from beginning to and with
healthy views of continental society as contrasted with
English, with delineations of character, vivid sketches and
descriptions, good-humoured satire, and pungent remarks
on all that could fall beneath the observation of a sprightly
and intelligent traveller. Herself the centre of attraction
wherever she moved, few writers have had such opportuni-
ties of mixing in society, and of founding a just estimate
of character from actual observation. Of upwards of two
hundred individuals, English and Foreign, introduced by
name to the reader in these volumes, more than one hun-
dred and fifty are sketched with the bold yet delicate out-
line of a master hand, and these sketches, without a par-
ticle of malice or ill-nature, form the most peculiar and
interesting feature in the book, and are creating the great-
est sensation among the fashionable circles. Indeed we
know of no previous work so abounding in personalities,
and yet so entirely free from anything in the least offensive
to the parties interested.
The Moniteur publishes a letter from M. Rey,
the author of a " History of the Hospital of Great St.
Bernard, announcing that a dreadful epidemy had mani-
fested itself on the 16th ult. amongst the inmates of that
establishment, which bad proved fatal to • several of them.
The disease was brought thither by a mendicant family
from the valley of Aoste, who remained two days and a
half in the hospital. It was so instantaneous in its action,
that of the twenty-one persons in the house—namely,
thirteen monks and eight servants—who were attacked,
three only escaped catching the malady. The two servant
women, who had been in closer and more frequent contact
with the mendicant family, were first infected. The monks
and the servants who assisted them down the mountain
were the next attacked. Two of the servants expired be-.
fore medical assistance could be given them from the valley
of Aoste, and four of the monks died on the 4th and .sth
instant. There was every hope of saving the others.
A. CURIOUS MISTAKE.—At the last Lewes
Assizes a prisoner was indicted for stealing a faggot—i. e.
a collection of cuttings bound together, value 2d. On the
prosecutor's appearing Lord Abinger inquired how large
the faggot was; and the man replied that it was three feet
in girth, and about five feet high. His Lordship ex-
pressed his surprise at the dimensions, and at the cheapness
of timber in Sussex, and afterwards, when summing up,
drew the attention of the Jury to these facts, inferring that
the prisoner must have been well aware that so large a
piece of wood could not have been put by for waste. It
was not until the Jury were considering their verdict that
his Lordship was informed of his error, and received a- freo
translation of the word faggot.
On Sunday afternoon, at five o'clock, Mr.
0:Connell, who had arrived from London by the morning
railway train, embarked on board the Government steamer
for Dublin._Liverpool Albion.
Mrs. Trollope, the celebrated authoress, was in
Bradford last week, collecting materials for the villainous
caricature of the factory system, now in course of publica.
lion from her pen.—Holifax Express.

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