The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-08 00:00:00

4) lidin C

1 LONDON, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1849.

Leominster has at last—without tainting its cha-
racter with corruption—obtained a representative.
Mr. FREDERICK PEEL, the son of the illustrious
Baronet whose name is renowned throughout Eu-
rope as a statesman, was yesterday elected, without
-opposition, to fill the seat for this borough, vacated
'by the appointment of Mr. HENRI- BARILY to the
Governorship of Guiana. In consequence of the
'recent retirement of Sir EDWARD BULWER LYTTON
from the contest—a retirement which, for the sake
of literature, we cannot have the heart to lament—
'the proceedings yesterday, in the remote agricul-
tural borough of Leominster, were entirely di-
vested of excitement. After going through the
prescribed formalities, the returning officer de-
clared the youthful candidate to have been
duly accepted by the constituency. Through
a singular coincidence, therefore, the small and se-
cluded town of Leominster is represented in Parlia-
mpnt_ by the sons of two of-the wealthiest commoners
in England—the descendants of that Sir ROBERT
PEEL and of that Sir RICHARD ARKWRIGHT whose
-.genius, probity, and enterprize are for ever associated
with the history of Saxon industry and of British
manufactures.

,On the occasion of his triumphant appearance yes-
terday before the body of electors, FREDERICK PEEL,
Esq., M.P. for Leominster, shrived his political con-
science with the candour and independence befitting a
popular representative. He at once repudiated the
notion of his entering the House as a servile
and obsequious delegate. He reserved to
'himself the right of modifying his opinions,,
"accordingly as time and experience might
influence his undnveloped, but ripening judgment.
•As to the fundamental basis, the,relative foundations,
or the general framework of the Constitution, he
avowed his loyalty in
Language the most ex-
press and unconditional. To the triune Govern-
ment of QUEEN, Lords, and Commons, he proclaimed
his unalterable 'allegiance. " I desire,,, said he, ".to
preserve to,each of those three branches of the Con-
stitution• the exercise of their respective functions
and a due proportion of the legislative authority of
the ,State." Anything that would tend to
weaken the cohesive tendency of these distinct
but exquisitely interwoven power's, he views
as not only reprehensible, but as directly
,opposed to: the dictates and antagonistic to the
principles of true patriotism. With this enthu-
•siastic devotion to the maintenance of our institutions,
the young Member for Leominster combines, however,
a disposition to forward in. every rational manner the
great cause of social and political reform. In this
'respect he coincides in that noble opinion so nobly
expressed. by one of our most celebrated statesmen,'
that " our institutions might be preserved for the pur-
pose of improving them, and might be improved for
the purpose of preserving them." The truth
of that glorious axiom has so fully
im-
pressed itself upon the national understand-
ing as to have led to the union of.those principles
of amelioration and of conservation which tend so
materially to stabilitate, and yet to develop and ad-
vance the gigantic fortunes of the empire. Mr.
FREDERICK PEEL has .by this avowal, more even than
by his honourable and now historic name, identified
himself with that party of Liberal Conservatism
which differs only in title from the party of our most
distinguished Reformers. In proof of this he pro-
ceedB from generalities to details. He confesses his
realliness Aid the economical labours of financial
innoati9n--with a proviso' (the reasonableness of
which ' r*ther Airy COLUMN nor Mr. Mae-

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