The Sun.
London, England, 1849-08-08 00:00:00

Obitifl

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 1849.

While the elevation of the amiable and eloquent
TALFOURD to the judicial bench has shed a new glory
upon letters, it has led to the disgrace of his once
Liberal constituency. Reading has ill testified its
affection for the memory of its late distinguished
representative, by proving itself false to those liberal
principles with which his name, his labours, and his

genius were identified. The borough which selected
the present Speaker of the House of Commons,
CHARLES SHAW LEFEVRE, as its Member in the
Parliaments of 1802, of 1812, and of 1818 ; the
town which chose as the champion of its political
opinions in the Parliaments of 1835, of 1837, and
1817, the celebrated author of the Athenian Captive,
THOMAS NOON TALFOURD, has forsaken its post as a
guardian of constitutional reform, has belied
all its dearest and most cherished predilections,
by filling up the vacancy left by the retirement
of Judge TALFOURD with a Conservative nonentity
such as Mr. STANFORD, the successful candidate.
Yesterday evening that gentleman—hirsute and
disfavoured—was announced to be at the head of the
poll, having obtained a majority of 142 when the
church bellse ung out four o'clock.
Now, the reason of this extraordinary result of
electioneering at Reading, reminding us in its
unfortunate result of the contest between Lord
CRELSEA. and Mr. CHARLES RUSSELL against Messrs.
MILLS and TOOKE, i 3 attributable not so much to a
dereliction of principle on the part of the Liberal
electors as to a perverse and culpable disunion, to their
own ignominious discomfiture, and to the ultimate
advantage of their antagonists. Against the solitar3
Conservative candidate were at one time opposed no
less than three supporters of Whig, Lib ral, or
Radical improvement—Mr. BOWYER, Mr. NORTON,
and Sir JOHN HARE. So that while the whole
strength of the Tory party was compacted to-
gether by the bond of unanimity, that of
the Reformers was frittered away in an
idle contention about the rival claims of three
would-be representatives. It is', true that Sir Jour'

HARE in the end withdrew from the approaching
struggle, but that retirement only took place so im-
mediately anterior to its commencement that it left
behind it all its inevitable ill effects, with not one
single compensative advantage. Even with the re-
tirement of Sir JouN HARE there still remained
confronting each other, Mr. BOWYER, at the head of
the moderate, and Mr. NORTON at the head of the
ultra-Liberal party. From the very outset on
the day of polling it was sufficiently perceptible what
would be the consequence of these egregiously blind
and suicidal machinations. As early as nine o'clock
the numbers polled were 31 for Mr. NORTON, 57 for
Mr. BowyEu, and 109 for Mr. STANFORD. And so
steadily was the advance continued by the latter over
his two competitors, that, on the closing of the poll,
the numbers were 107 for the Radical, 365
for the Whig, and 507 for the Conservative—the Con-
servative thus obtaining a majority of 35 over the
minorities of the Whig and Radical candidates com-
bined. Now, we cannot reprobate the conduct of the
Liberal electors with sufficient emphasis in thus
jeopardizing, and as it has actually now proved, ruining
their common cause for the momentary, gratification
of their rival predilections.

Frequently as this ill result has followed upon
similar manoeuvres, it would appear, from a wretched
experience, that nothing will ever open the eyes of a
constituency to the folly of such useless and really
culpable contentions, :when once their passions are
roused and their mutual jealousy excited. A
thousand instances exactly resembling yesterday's
election at Reading might be adduced,
and yet these glaring precedents were
not enough to warn the Liberal inhabitants- of
that borough from the shameful frivolity of their
melancholy and ruinous antagonisms. They would
rather render themselves liable to the charge of in-
gratitude to the reputation of their last eminent re-
presentative, Mr. Justice TALFOURD, than concede
one iota of their reciprocal animosity. The conse-
quence is such as we have stated—a consequence that
will create astonishment and indignation in every
Liberal constituency throughout the United Kingdom.
Had the fact transpired in the midst of the distract.
ing influences of a general election it might per-
chance have been unobserved in the divided attention
t
of the journalist. But, occurring as it dOes,
not only as an isolated contest upon which
a
every reflective observer's gaze is concentrated,
and taking place, moreover, during the in-
tetvlwhich:
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convocation
natio an of
autumn between
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Parliament, it
is impossible that a matter of such glaring wea/04.4$