The Sun.
London, England, 1831-05-02 00:00:00

WESTMINSTER ELECTION-.(THIS DAY.)

This being the day appointed for the election of two Members
0 serve in Parliament for the city of Westminster, a great
crowd had assembled in Covent.garden market long before the
ime appointed for the • election to commence. About a quartet
pne o'clock bands of music, and the huzzas of con-
;regated thousands, announced . that the candidates, Sir F.
Burdett and John Cam Hobhouse, Esq., were approaching. In a
.ew minutes afterwards the procession reached the grand hotel,
did. on the late Members alighting from an open carriage, the
acclamations and cheers of the populous rent the air. The bands
)f music at the time playing " God save the King." There were
t great number of flags and banners, bearing appropriate inscrip.
'ions; amongst the most splendid was one with "The King and
leform" on one side, and on the obverse .• Long Live the Kink
tnd Queen,"
Precisely at one o'clock the High Bailiff, attended by Sir
Francis Burdett, John Cam Hobhouse, Esq., Mr. Hume, Ad-
.niral Sir Edward Codrington, Colonel Evans, and a great num-
ter of the most respectable inhabitants of Westminster, appeared
in the hustings. The cheers at this moment were most entliusi-
.stic and deafhing.
Mr. SMEDLEY, the Deputy-Bailiff, read the precept, the
'ath against bribery and corruption, and the other routine busi-
less having been gone through,
Mr. GEO. LYNDEN ptoposed Sir Francis Burdett as a fit
tnd proper person to represent the city of Westminster in Par-
iament. The noise and cheers of the populace were so great
-hat it was utterly impossible to hear a word that the Hon.
gentleman uttered.

Mr. CARPUE seconded the nomination. He would not take
.ip their time by descanting on the merits of the different candi-
lates, as they were well known to the whole of the electors of
Westminster.—(Yes, yes, they are, and go on, go on, never
mind the rain.) The rain at this time was falling in torrents.
Mr. Carpue continued—He would repeat, it was then necessary
for him to pursue such a course, but he begged leave to
say, that it was the duty of every man in the land
'o come forward and support our glorious and patriotic
King and his excellent Ministers in the grand cause of Reform.
—(Tremendous cheering.)
Mr. DE VEAR proposed John Cam Hobhouse, Esq. The con-
duct of that gentleman in Parliament was too well known
to need any eulogium on the present occasion, he had been four
times elected by the citizens of Westminster, and he had always
faithfully discharged the trust reposed in him. He had no doubt,
therefore, he would on the present occasion be unanimously re-
turned to represent their interest in the Commons House of Par-
liament.—(Great cheering.)
Mr. BARBER BEAUMONT said that it was with thegreatest
pleasure he seconded the nomination of Mr. Hobhouse. That
gentleman had done nothing to forfeit the confidence of the elec-
tors of Westminster.—(Cries of No, no, he has not." He
(Mr. B. Beaumont) had closely watched the Parliamentary
conduct of their late Member (Mr. Hobhouse), and it had fully
answered in every_ particular the expectations of his friends.—
(Cheers.) Mr. Hobhouse's eloquence was known to them all,
but, perhaps his assiduity was not so well known. That
gentleman in all affairs that related to the interest of the
parish, or to the city of Westminster at large, had on
all occasions most narrowly watched and successfully
supported their interests in the House of Commons.--(Cheers.,
He combined great genius with the most upright integrity.=
(Cheers.) He was most eloquent and yet a hard-working man in
their cause.—(Cheers.) He had also exerted his great abilities in
favour of the great question of Reform, which now entirely
engrossed the attention of the country. His exertions, how-
ever, were so well known in that grand cause, that it was unne-
cessary for him to detain them with a repetition of them.. After
some further observations, which we could not hear,
Mr. S sIEDLEY came forward, and proclaimed that Sir
Francis Burdett, Bart., and John Cam Hobhouse, Esq., were
duly elected to serve in Parliament for the city of Westminster.
Sir F. BURDETT then came forward.—lt was now twenty-
seven years since his first election commenced with the electors
of Westminster, during which time it had never been inter-
rupted. They had always fought together on the broad basis of
Parliamentary Relerm.—(Cheers.) That great measure was now
about to be triumphantly carried, at the call of the King, and
the voice of the people of England.—(Great cheering.) The Hon.
Baronet here went into a detail of the Bill, and expressed the
great satisfaction he felt at the manner in which the out-voters,
whose interests were most likely to be affected, by it came for-
ward in its support. That description of persons had done their
duty to their King and country, and he hoped all others would do
theirs. The out-voters had relinquished their interests and their
only reward was their country's liberty. But that constituted
higher virtue than all the sacrifices that could be made by per-
sons in higher st itions.—(Cheers.)—They had set an example to
the electors throughout the country, that the non-resident voters
were willing to entrust their interests to the residents. In fact
a general patriotism pervaded the land.—(Great cheering.) He
hoped from what had taken place in the elections already decided
that the great commercial town of Liverpool would take
a warning, and retrieve its character .from the stigma
,of the last election. He hoped the electors would prove
themselves adverse to corruption, and comr forward in
support of their King and their country.—(Loud cries of
Bravo," and great cheering.) Give battle to corruption,
and then the boroughmongers must give way.—(Cheering.)
They had subscribed a great and heavy purse to enable
them to buy and sell the rights of the people, but
when the measure of Reform was carried they could no longer
trade in their illegal traffic. (Cheers.) He had heard Sir Robert
Peel say, in the House of Commons, that he would go down
to his electors, holding the Bill in his hand, and although it was
known be was opposed to it, he would trust to that Bill
for success. (Hisses and groans.) Now he (Sir Francis Burdett,)
judging from the elections as far as they had gone, thought
that the Right Hon. Bart, if he held the Bill in one hand, he
must hold something in the other of very different materials.—
(Great cheering) For a trifling expence the boroughmongers
would be defeated, and he was confident the Bill would not only
be carried, but carried triumphantly by the voice of the people.
His Majesty had exercised one prerogative—he had another to ex-
ercise should it be necessary, whicd.was, to dissolve Parliament
again, and then refuse to issue his writs to the rotten boroughs.
(Loud cheers.) Let the people be united, and the King would
never desert them. It was mainly owing to the electors of West-
minster that the subject of Reform had advanced to the stage at
which it had now arrived—(Cheers)—and he earnestly invoked
their continued and increasing exertions.
Mr. HOBHOUSE now stood forward and thanked the electors
most heartily for having again returned him as one of their re-
presentatives. It would be his utmost pride throughout life to
reflect that he had been one of these engaged in bringing
about so glorious a result as had already been achieved by the
Reformers.—(Cheers.) At home, at Hastings, at Lewes, and
at numerous other places, but more particularly to that
place which had been' so long the hot-bed of corruption
and servility, the great commercial city of Bristol.—(Loud
cheers)—of which lie could speak from some know-
ledge of the place, it being partly his native town there, where
for so many years the flag of corruption had waved over its free
citizens, the most gratifying and glorious constitutional victory
had been accomplished.—(Cheers.) Here the rain came down in
torrents. The Hon. Gent. continued to say that our King had
nobly done his duty, and it remained for his subjects to dis
charge theirs.--(Cheers.)—lt had been said that it became the
people of England to raise to his Majesty some grateful national
tribute, in testimony of the meritorious and unexampled services
he had' rendered to his people.—(Cheers.)—And there had been
some difficulty thrown out as to the inscription suitable for such
a memorial ; but, in his opinion, nothing was requisite but
the simple and unvarnished statement of his birth. What
could be in any way more appropriate than these words :—" A
grateful people to a patriot King.—(lmmense cheering.) Having
gabraledtifyt
said so much, he would take his leave for the present, and
daiff bf
rreeen t
representation.ci r c u m st a n ces
should he ever have the honour of meeting the electors of
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re h t
hey would
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pass, many others. would be en.
Should the present Reform Bill
o agpPe to ar
the privilege confined to themselves, but most generously desired
hoirsi tchoenssat
constituents—(Cheers)—for uee
to have it extended to others, that they might have the right in
themselves of choosing those by whom they were to be pro-
tected, by whom their laws were to be framed, and by vi horn
their property was to he preserved as their own —(Cheering.)
Mr. GEORGE HUME moved the #hanks of the electors to
Mr. Morris, the High Bailiff; for his able and impartial conduct,
and the motion having been carried enthusiastically, and ac-
knowledged by Mr. Morris, the meeting was dissolved.
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