The Sun.
London, England, 1822-12-13 00:00:00

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1822.

,_:AAIBRIDGE ELECTION.

We are again indebted' to The Bury Gazette,
(of the 11th instant) for a Second Letter from
MARCUS, whose first we inserted last week. We
are confirmed in our opinion that these Letters
proceed from the writer who produced those ad-
mirable Letters,*' in the same Journal, copied into
the SUN, in defence of the Bishop of PETERBO-
ROUGH'S memorable QUESTIONS, SO well calculated
to support the purity of the Established Church.
The sentiments on POLITICAL INTEGRITY, in the
subjoined Letter, are sound, mural, and convinc-
ing, and the observations on G :LATITUDE, towards
the conclusion, are just, striking, philosophical,
and eloquent. We rejoice to see such writers
come forward in this age of RADICALISM to sup-
port the best of Constitutionsaid the purest of
Religions.

To the Editor of the Bury Gazette.
SlR,—Having in my former letter stated such preliminary
remarks on the late University Election as I thought necessary,
I proceed to inquire into the nature of political integrity and
the danger of violating it. It is painful" to be obliged to ad-
vance sentiments which no man will probably be solicitous to
thank us for ; but where there are errors to be corrected and
misconduct to be repressedove must not suffer the calls of duty
to be merged in the feelings of compassion or respect.
A report was early prevalent pending the contest, that Gentle-
men of decided Whig principles were abOut to vote for Tory
candidates : that others of Tory persuasion were regarding
with no unfavourable eye the Whig candidate; and that others
again who were adverse to the Catholic claims, were enlisting
themselves in the service of those who professed,, and who were
known to be the acknowledged advocates of those claims.
These reports, I believe,- Sir, we may now venture, in a good
measure, to assume as facts. Few, after the perusal of the Poll
Book, will probably hazard a denial of them. I rather indeed
suspect, as the disingenuousness of such conduct must, some
how or other, be got rid of, that this singular anomaly of
political feeling is attempted to be defended on the broad
grounds of a- compulsatory bending to existing.circumstances ;
a grateful return for favours received ; a due preparation for
favours expected ; and a modification of opinion which every
man who sees cause for it has a right to entertain. It becomes
necessary, thereforel to point out to Gentlemen who are con-
tent to rest on such apologies. for such conduct,
thow
poorly these pleas of justification will avail them ; how destruc-
tive any compromise, however plausible, must be to solid prin-
ciple : and how little they gain in the patronage of the great,
compared with what they lose, and alas ! lose for ever, in the
estimation of the wise and good !
By what sort of casuistry men are able to separate moral and
political integrity, I confess I know not. The 'Whigs, in-
deed, in the plenitude of their worldly wisdom, have done it
repeatedly; but the Whigs arc no pattern for a correct mind.
Moral integrity is the binding virtue of private life; political
integrity holds together publiC bodies ; and both must be ex-
erted in a social state towards the production of social happi-
ness and security. It is a gross and "a lamentable error to sup-
pose, with these Whigs, that political integrity may mean any
thing or nothing, according as the wind sits fair or foul to
their current interest and purposes. They know'not, nor
ever did know, the value of it. It is a high and honour-
able virtue leading to high and honourable conduct'—its
foundations are deeply laid ; its spirit cast in no common
mould—it is built on purity of thought, purity of word,
purity of deed—a solid constructure and awful, but not more
awful than needed—for one of- the first duties of men, in
their' social capacity, is to be sincere—from their converse we
must know their hearts—from the general tenor of their prin-
ciples we must gather the particular line of their conduct, and
the rectitude of their lives must be the sacred pledge, never to
be violated, of the consistency of their integrity. Not to be
able to contemplate them in this strong and beautiful light
would be distressing. Not to be able so to contemplate them
in seasons of emergency would be both distressing and danger-
ous : desertions from virtue in men of virtue are always mor-
tifying.

To those who admit that political and moral integrity stand
On the same ground, and must be rendered amenable to the
same strict judgment, the violation of the former, under any
pretext whatever, must be inadmissable. But to those who
deny such a consanguinity, it may be further necessary to ob-
serve, that if we Omit the principle that men need not be sway-
ed by their political relations, it will be difficult to demonstrate
that they yet require to be governed by their private ones;
every argument for the transgression of the one, plead-
ing with equal potency fbr the infringement of the other.
And we surely need not be told, that where men are
permitted to abandon consistency for ther party views and
purposes, the corruption will descend till it mixes itself with
the common avocations of life ; and what the state of society
in such a case is likely to be, we may fairly leave to every one's
reflection to determine. •

Of the infelicities of conduct by which men are incited to
betray the natural corruption of the heart, none is more pro-
minent than the advocating a cause, through the medium of
vote or interest, which they confessedly hold not in esteem, and
which therefore all the cooler deliberations, all the honest con-
victions, all the higher powers and propensities of the soul,
must sequester from its communion and participation with
scorn. A man may be of any political party he pleases ; he
may entertain any crude and wild opinions, and defend them
in any wild and inordinate manner ; he may presume too
much upon his own, and too little upon the weight and in-
fluence of his opponents ; he may even feel or fancy it neces-
sary to disparage, as far as he is able, their very motives.—
But these, Sir, though grievous tributes upon a fair assump-
tion of opinion, and forceful temptations to a mind at all
prone to waver to divest itself of every regard to public
virtue, are yet totally unworthy to be put down as crimes
in the moral calendar, when compared with the conduct of
those who take up with one set of principles in theory and
adopt another in practice; who entertain peculiar opinions
for their private solace, and modifications of those opinions for
their public use ; who care little about the pricks and stings of
conscience provided they can slumber upon beds of roses ; and,
to bring the Whig leprosy now beginning to run in the blood
of Tory constituents home to our own doors, who to day peti-
tion the Legislature to continue the disabilities of Catholics,

* We repeat our hope that the Editor of The Bury Gazette
will fulfil his promise, and publish those Letters together, and
we hope also that he will add those of MARCUS, when he con-
cludes his admirable series.