The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-18 00:00:00

_ELECTION IIV TELLIGENCE.

AND DVER.

Yesterday the electors of this little Hampshire borough
were convened in their Town-hall to elect a representative
in Parliament, in the room of Mr. Henry Beaumont Coles,
recently deceased, who, as a Conservative, had sat for the
place for ten years, from the summer of 1847, and again
from July, 1861, until his death. The number of regis-
tered electors is only about 250, out of a population of from
5,000 to 6,000. At the passing of the Reform Bill the con-

stituency was not more than 320, including freemen,—a
class now all but extinct there, and one wonders how so
small an electoral body could have so long retained the pri-
vilege of sending two members to the House of Commons,
as it does at this day. It is, however, but just to the com-
munity there to state that, 10 years ago, whatever may be
the case now, it was computed that an extension of the
franchise to £5 rated occupiers would have much more than
doubled the constituency.
On this occasion the only candidate was Mr. Cubitt, the
late Lord Mayor, who has long been identified with the
town by near residence and by property, and who, up to
July, 1861, had represented it in Parliament for 14 conse-
cutive years on moderate Conservative principles. Accom-
panied by a few personal friends, he drove into the town
yesterday morning from his seat at Penton, in the immediate
neighbourhood, and was escorted from the Star Hotel to the
place of election by some of the principal inhabitants. The
ceremony took place in the presence of Mr. Frederick
Ellen, the Mayor, who is the returning officer; Mr. Foot-
ner, the town clerk ; and a goodly muster of the people of
the place.
Captain PooRE, a retired naval officer and an old inhabi-
tant of Andover, proposed Mr. Cubitt to fill the vacancy in
the representation. He referred briefly to Mr. Cubitt's long
connection with the borough as its representative ; to the
circumstances, still fresh in the public recollection, under
which that connection was severed ; and to the fact that
during his mayoralty hundreds of thousands of pounds
far public purposes were spontaneously poured into his lap
without any other security beyond the confluence inspired
by personal character.
The nomination was seconded by Mr. T. P. CLARICE.

The MAYOR inquired if any other elector had a candi-
date to propose, and, there being no response, he declared
that the election had fallen on Mr. Cubitt. The announce-
ment was received with cheers.
Mr. CUBIT; aldressing the meeting, made first of all a
passing reference to the sudden death of Mr. Coles, and to
the void it had occasioned in a neighbourhood with which

that gentleman had been identified by residence during the
greater part of a long life and by the conscientious dis-
charge of Parliamentary and magisterial duties. For him.
self, he (Mr. Cubitt) was unable adequately to express the
grateful sense he entertained of their great kindness to-
wards him, and he gladly availed himself of the opportu-
nity of resuming the position of their representative in Par-
liament. There the course he intended to follow would be
the same as that which he had previously pursued—look-
ing at every public measure with a single eye to the welfare
of the great empire for which the representative body and
the other estates of the realm had to legislate, always
avoiding extremes and aiding in every endeavour to im-
prove the condition of the people and to raise the condition
of our common country among the nations of the earth.
(Cheers) Many important questions would demand the
careful deliberation of Parliament. The terrific struggle
which on the further side of the Atlantic was being waged
for the destruction of human life to an extent more horrible
than anything on record in the history of the world was
in itself sufficient to occupy their minds and to awaken
the most anxious solicitude, even if it were not attended
by the awful consequences to which half a million of our
own people were suffering victims. He was not prepared
to advocate an immediate recognition of the separate
government of the South; for, although he thought the
people had fairly vindicated a claim to such recognition,
he feared the time for it had not yet come. It would,
however, be the duty of Parliament to occupy itself with this
great question—careful neither to urge Ministers into the
adoption of measures that might involve us in difficulties,
nor to allow us to remain passive spectators of this vast
and terrible tragedy, if intervention on our part could be
made available in putting an end to the barbarous strife.
(Hear, hear.) There were also at this moment social ques-
tions of considerable importance requiring the gravest con-
sideration of Parliament. Foremost among them was one
which had never been dormant—he meant the treatment of
criminals. Much especially had to be done in the preven-
tion of juvenile vagrancy, in finding employment for and
in enforcing habits of industry on the young neglected out-
casts who swarmed in our great cities—(hear)—and who, if
neglected and left unaided in their helpless condition, must
inevitably grow up to swell the ranks of the class of hardened
criminals, who were pests of society. Still, in legislating
on this difficult subject, the feeling of mercy must not be
disregarded; but he hardly knew what ought to be done.
It seemed to him that to transportation they must recur—
(cheors)—but how was that to be done. We might not
inflict on our colonial communities the pollution of which
we were seeking to rid ourselves. On the other hand, with
the recollections of Norfolk Island, we must take care how
we deported the class of hardened offenders to an uninha-
bited, isolated country. He was indicating the difficulties
with which the question was surrounded, without ventur-
ing to solve them, and showing the necessity there was to
have careful men in Parliament, animated by an honest
wish to assist the Government of the day. From his ex-
perience in Parliament, where by their favour he sat for 14
years, he knew that it abounded with men of large and
active minds, who, if not great orators, were continually
dwelling on subjects like those. Mr. Cubitt added, in con-
clusion, that to the best of his ability he would endeavour
to promote the public weal, and to sustain the character of
the constituency who had done him that fresh honour.
With that the ceremony terminated and the people dis-
persed.

"REMEMBER THE G'_ROT7ER !"

(From Punch.)
A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

Remember, remember, the first of November,
Slippery, sludgy, and fog;—
For I sees good reason why this glummy season
Should keep us in pocket and " tog."
Hurrah !
Then a squeeze and a shake for Sir George's sake 1
A squeeze of the gorge for the friends of Sir George I