The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-06 00:00:00

SOUTHAMPTON.

The nomination for this borough took place yesterday
in the Town-hall, Southampton. As there was some
opposition to the re-election of Sir A. J. E. Cockburn,
on his acceptance of office under the new Ministry, the
proceedings were chararterised by considerable anima-
tion. Mr. A. B. Cochrane, who was defeated at the
last general election, contests the borough with the At-
torney-General, but his opposition is not of an active
character, as the hon. gentleman relies upon the peti-
tion presented against Sir A. Cockburn for bribery and
treating, and will, in the event of his re-election to-day,
present a petition and pray for the seat. After the
usual formalities,
• Mr. R. ANDREWS, ex-Mayor, proposed Sir A. J. E.
Cockburn. The Derby Government, he said, had had a
fair trial, and now we had a new Ministry, in which
were Radicals, Whigs, Conservatives, and Tories. He
was very glad to see the mixture. It had all the talents,
all the power, all the desire, and he believed all the
ability to carry out measures beneficial to the mass of the
people. As to the petition which had 'been presented
against the late election of the hon. Gentleman, Sir A.
Cockburn, he believed, would sooner give 1,0001. than
that this petition should be withdrawn, and the present
Attorney-General would come out of the inquiry a spot-
less and honest man. (Cheers.)
Captain BowvEn seconded the motion.
Colonel CRABBE proposed Mr. A. B. Cochrane as a
fit and proper person to represent the borough of South-
ampton. Mr. Cochrane was before the electors some
four or five months ago ; and, although he was not suc-
cessful, he had polled a very large number of votes.
The hon. gentleman's opinions were, he believed, the
same now as they were when he last presented himself
before them, and he was still anxious, as he had always
been to carry out measures for the benefit of the work-
ing classes, as well as for the rich. (Cheers and disap-
probation.)
Mr. KING seconded the nomination. With regard to
the malt-tax, he was, of course, as a brewer, in favour
of beer—(laughter)—but he doubted whether it would
be for the benefit of the working classes to take oft' the
malt-tax ; for he believed the greater part of the proposed
remission would come into the pockets of the brewers.
This was a personal question, and he did not think it
ought to have been put to him, but, as it had been put,
he had answered it candidly. (Cheers and laughter.)
Sir A. J. E. COCKBURN, on presenting himself to the
electors, was received with great enthusiasm. e asked.
for the indulgence of those present, as he had been suf-
fering for some days from severe indisposition, which had

not been improved by the exertions he had gone through
within that period. After alluding to the career of the
Derby Ministry, and exposing the defects of their finan-
cial and commercial measures, he went on to say that
the new Ministry had been formed of men of various
shades of opinion, and no one would dispute that it em-
braced an amount of ability such as no Government
which had been seen in this country within the last half-
century had been enabled to bring to the administration
of public affairs. (Cheers.) On the same bench in the
House of Commons would now sit Lord John Russell,
Lord Palmerston, Sir James Graham, Mr. Gladstone,
Sir Charles Wood, Mr. Sidney Herbert, and Sir William
Molesworth—(cheers)—in the Cabinet ; out of the Cabi-
net, besides, there would be such men as Mr. C. Villiers
and Mr. Bernal Osborne ; and if her Majesty's principal
law advisers should be less efficient than might be desired,
he could say that his colleague and coadjutor was one of
the ablest men who ever raised a voice in Westminster-
ball, and he would add that two more sincere and zeal-
ous reformers of the law could not be found than his
colleague and himself. (Cheers. The present Govern.
ment was one which, if you looked at the various mem-
bers of the Cabinet as politicians, as orators, as states-
men, and as administrators, might challenge comparison
with any Administration ever formed. (Hear, hear.)
But they were told it was a coalition ,- and England, the
late Chancellor of the Exchequer had told us, did not
" love coalitions." No, England did not love coalitions,
if by coalitions was meant a combination of men who
sacrificed principle for the sake of power and place ; but
if they found men forgetting their own personal claims—
(hear)—if they found men uniting where there was no
sacrifice of principle, and for the interest of the public
service, to form an Administration which could carry on
the Government of the country efficiently and well, the
people of England, who loved to be well served, who
loved to be served by men of ability, and talent, and
experience, would not object to a coalition, which, while
it involved no sacrifice of principle, brought into the pub-
lic service the greatest possible amount of talent and
ability. But was there any sacrifice ofprinciple on the
part of any of the new Ministers ? Don t let them blink
the question. He had been charged with having sacrificed
his principles and his political honour to a desire of place,
and with never having had any other motive than that
which actuated the adventurer and the place-hunter.
These were serious charges, and ought not to be want-
only or recklessly made. His principles had been known
to them from the time he first came forward to contest
the borough, and if he believed that in joining this Ad-
ministration he should sacrifice aught of those principles
—if he believed the government wished to go backward
instead of forward, or that they were less likely to attain
the objects which he had at heart, in common with his
e(CcthoeresrstO
t place,
otherhe would
ohid Government.askthe
electors
—he should think himself unworthy of
standing before them if, under such circumstances, he
had
But,
joinedinthethifirss o r any
remember what were the principles he had always main-
tained, and whether they were likely to bei compro-
mised by association with the present Administration.
It was true that the Prime Minister
was Lord Aber-
deen, with whom as a party man he had not hitherto
acted in common. But lio
one could deny that Lord
Aberdeen and the members of the party who had
acknowledged him as their head were at least
men as to whose honour, probity, and integrity' there
could be no question.
Sir R. Peel, n. They were the men who, with
.gave up place and power in order to carry
out that " just, •
thse, and beneficial measure"—(loud
cheers)—whereb
theings of industry were light-
ened and the food ofe
they scattered personal and people cheapened. For that
party considerations to the
winds ; for that they forewent place and power, and
bmi sll tted for six years, as it were, to remain a com-
paratively small and insignificant party in Parliament.
(Hear, hear.) But their political honesty was only made
the more apparent and manifest by this. What had
been the first object of Lord Derby when called on to
form a Ministry at the first resignation of Lord Jsoshi!
Russell ? Why, the first person to whom he addr:e..., T
himself was Mr. Gladstone and his party ; but Mr. (loT:e-ir
stone refused to unite himself with Lord Derby in power
—another proof of the right hon. gentleman 's political
considerations of a
honesty, and of his superiority to all c°ll gr a at discus-
personal character. Then there came this
every one would
sion upon the budget—
a questiotire, as
the country. By a
admit, of most vital importancehe
face
of Parliament and
union, which took place in
et
peat, party and the
of the nation, between th
Liberals, the financial scheme ,
as Mr. Gladstone
had already publicly dee of the late Government
was defeated.
Previous
concert,
there was none. The
union of parties against the late Government arose
out
.
istances and •
f the circun , it resulted in
of the nature o .
It then bee
defeat to the Ministl9- ame necessary
to forma new one. He acknowledged
without re-
serve that he did not believe any Government could
stood against that serried phalanx which
Pave
*sts andrepre-
sented the agriculturi the greater portion of the
aristocracy, unless composed of the remnantof Sir
Ro-
bert Peel's party and the Liberals. (Hear, hear.) It
was necessary for the public servic
time financial schemes of the late .97-nay, more, deeming
with danger, if not destruction,Ministry to be fraught
to the empire, he
believed not only thpublic required that that . with . lc service, but the public safety,
Administration should not be suffered
to return to power, (Hear.) It was necessary, there.