The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-25 00:00:00

as to the selection of a name from a list of Li-

beral Candidates, all of them gentlemen of high
qualifications. The Earl recommended that Mr.
HORSMAN, •on account of connexion with the
FITZWILLIAM family, should not be a Candidate,
his son, the Hon. G. W. FITZWILLIAM, being
Member for the Borough already. Mr. CORNE-
WALL LEWIS was .selected. Now, it would have
been higher-minded of the Earl to decline any
remark whatever ; still we may allow that a Peer's
friendly advice might be taketi by gentlemen who
deemed his knowledge of public life better than
their own, without intending to make any corrupt
use of it. There were, however, other facts prov-
ing that the Earl had not been so scrupulous as
his best friends could wish him to have been. NV e
quite acquit him of anything like deliberate inten-
tion to corrupt, or even very harshly to override
the popular wish. Any candidate in " the MIL-
TON interest" would, of course, be a Liberal one ;
but probably the majority of Peterborough Libe-
rals would like " something more than a Whig"
now, and to the extent of that " something more"
the influence of Earl FlTzwrwAra is most likely
repressive on the Liberal party in the borough.
His Lordship has, we believe, a thoroughly feudal
conception of the deference due to a landed chief.
His offering his son, the Hon. C. W. W. FlTZ-
hardly twenty-two years of age,
WILLIAM, when
to the electors of the West Riding of Yorkshire,
and to fill, too, the place of Lord MORPETH, and
be the colleague of RICHARD COBDEN, shows that
he considered aristocratic descent to be a compen-
sation for extreme youth, and for the want of
almost every qualification appropriate to the first
constituency in the kingdom.
We have no doubt, therefore, that Earl FITZ-
WILLIAM has, as strongly as his political creed and
antecedents permit, much more the feeling that
Peterborough ought to go with him, than that
he ought to go with Peterborough. Till

the time of the Reform Bill, indeed, the FITZ-
WILLIAM family had no competitors. They were
the borough of Peterborough, they returned whom

they pleased, and the electors deemed themselves
happy to be represented by the nominees of a
Whig Lord. The Reform Bill, however, although
intended to give the Whig aristocracy the triumph
over the Tory section, ruffled, nevertheless, the
composure of some Whig boroughs too, and Peter-
borough has been contested since that period four
times by Conservatives unsuccessfully, and twice
(successfully at the poll) by Mr. WHALLEY in the
Liberal and independent interest. This was na-
turally a greater offence than the opposition of a
Conservative, and it seems as if the MILTON in-
terest had never been more indignant than with
this Liberal defeat. At least it is now that we
hoar electors complain of " interference." Of
personal interference the report entirely acquits
the Earl ; of indirect interference they more than
imply that there was too much. The Crowns
were an old payment of 10s. each to all electors
who choose to apply for it, till the time of the
Reform Bill. The defence was that it had become
an heirloom, which the Earl felt bound in honour
not to discontinue. It plainly appeared, how-
ever, that they were regarded as influencipg votes,
since in 1837 the Conservative party subscribed
to present " Blue Crowns," on account of the dis-
advantage at which they were placed by the FITZ-
WILLIAM crowns. Also, that if any candidate
split his vote he received but one crown, and if
he voted wholly wrong, none from the Earl. In
February this year it was stated the agent received
orders to pay the crowns irrespectively of votes.
The agents, however, did not pay them to several of
Mr. WHALLEY'S voters, and no rebuke followed.
Another charge, the raising of rents to the dis-
affected, must be regarded as sustained. The
Earl is the chief landlord of Peterborough, his
rents are acknowledged to be easy, and of coui se
he has a right to obtain what rent he can. The
fact, how ever, is, that advanced rent was demanded
of none but those who voted wrong. It was as-
serted to be a merely casual coincidence. The
public, however, can draw but one conclusion.
Proofs of withdrawal of custom are naturally of a
I vague and inconclusive kind. We are waling to
give Earl FITZWILLIAM the benefit of that vague-
ness ; but of one mode of interference, that of
aiding a petition against Mr. WHALLEY, there
could be no manner of doubt. Mr. WILKINSON,
who conducted the petition, received 5001. by
cheque from the Earl; also 4001. and 600/. from
Mr. WALKER, chairman of the MILTON interest
committee. " Nor has it been distinctly shown,"
say the committee, " from whence these sums re-
ceived from Dr. WALKER were supplied." In a
word, there is little doubt that Mr. WHALLEY was
unseated on a petition, the expenses of which were
paid by the Earl, who had counsel's opinion taken
first as to its probable success. The FITZWILLIAM
case is a good one for honest Reformers to study,
because it is by no means a glaringly offensive one.
The Earl inherits the feeling of family influence,
and he uses measures of intimidation, or resorts
to donations in the most natural form ; yet he is
a really liberal Peer. Evey candid man, however,
must confess that he was drawn beyond the line
of duty. " Crowns" are but annual bribery,
and easy rents, which should be a wealthy man's
plan for possessing a regularly paying tenantry,
have been perverted into a means of intimidation
or of punishment. Abetting the petition against
a Member of the Lower House, is defended by no
one. Mr. WALPOLE'S Bill would do some good at
Peterborough ; it would make the agents and the
crown-taker mere cautious, but the tenants would
be left as unprotected as ever ; nor do we see how
they could be reasonably protected, while the
poll-books recorded their fidelity or their treason
to the MILTON interest.

Although there is a general concurrence of
opinion with respect to the extraordinary advan-
tages attaching to a decimal system of currency,
there is by no means a similar unanimity as to
the mode in which the proposed change should be
carried into practical operation, so as to produce
the minimum of inconvenience during the period
of transition. Many persons whose observations
display great acuteness, combined with consi-
derable practical knowledge of the question under
consideration, have taken exceptions to various
recommendations of the committee,moreparticn7 a rly
to those suggesting the pound sterling asthe unit of
the new system, andlimiting the contemplated cop-
per coinage to pieces of one, two, and five mils, and
thereby ignoring the coin of four mils, analogous
to the penny, which otherwise might be retained
in circulation for a considerable time, the change
of value—only 4 per cent.—being of compara-
tively trivial importance. There certainly appears
to be much weight attachable to these objections,
and as it is of the utmost importance that the
change when effected should be final, so as to have
receivean
brought theb
no further tampering with the circulating medium,
it is exceedingly desirable that the matter should
On the first
ford
effecting
consideration, before the measure
the important alterations should be
system, iteifm:Srotesaptteaamrlipalme
ednits.cussion, and most calm
that thepoint,d as to the unit-of the new
suggestion , and with much apparent truth,
car-
ried out,
accounts for which the
usacctountry has hitherto been
remarkable—that,
cur-
rency has ever been adopted
tbheeeilllntiaitl,ewhatever it might
similar decimal
atiy
larger other
than
an nation,
the
ctleinetreesimnaelvedrivisliioanvinofg
sufferers
by It is also urged that
fr<uned chiefly, if not altogether, with plan is
the larger transactions, while there is aatovtielwto
dis-
regard of the interests of the poorer classes,a who,
a time at least, will be considerable
by the changes, and that, in consequence thereof,
the unit should be of much less value than the
pound sterling, and that it should be such as to
St
permit the retention of the` maller denominations
of coins now in circulation nd must commonly in
in the
transactions use among the less wealthy classes, and thus to
bring the least possible amount of
change
impo
the
rtance,
This last is a, matter of considerable
transactions in which these parties are. co ncerned.
tn-
as in any such alterations it is found that
he co
dealers invariably take advantage of
er cent.
sinners, insisting upon an increase of 20 p
in their profits rather than surrender even 4 per
cent. to their customers ; and the report itself
shows that the Government are anxious to set an