The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-08 00:00:00

WALSALL ELECTION.-THE ANTI-CORN.
LAW LEAGUE.—We know there are many persons who
doubted the wisdom of the interference to winch we have
alluded, but who determined to suspend their judgment
until the termination of the contest ; observing, that if the
League were successful, the result would prove they were
right : if unsuccessful, there could be no doubt that they
were wrong. We, however, arc not disposed to put the
question upon that issue. So far as the result of the elec-
tion goes, the League have failed ; but we cannot say that
their object has not been to a great extent answered, for
they have sustained the contest, on which they very rashly
entered, with a degree of energy and perseverance which
commanded the respect of all parties ; and, although
they failed, as we were pretty sure, and indeed pre-
dicted, that they would, everybody must allow that
their defeat has not been a discreditable one. Mr.
Smith was opposed by a candidate who had not
only finished canvassing the electors before he arrived, bit
who had been closely watching the borough for eighteen
months before, with a view to contesting it on the next
vacancy, and had consequently paid the most unremitting
attention to the registration, which was most shamefully
neglected by Mr, Finch and his friends. From state-
ments made to us on the subject, we have no doubt that an
advantage far exceeding the amount of the 27 votes by
which Mr. Gladstone eventually carried his election, was
gained at the last revision, by filling the register with
Tories who had no right to be upon it, and striking out
Liberals whose names ought to have been retained.
Under all these unfavourable circumstances, for Mr.
Smith to poll within 27 votes of his opponent showe.t
very extralrdinary strength, and proved that, with a little
attention to the register, and a fair start at the time of
election, the issue of the contest would have been alto-
gether different.--Manchester Guardian.
COPY OF A LETTER FROM THE LORD WAR-
DEN of THE CINQUR PORTS TO 'HIE DEPUTY `WARDEN..—
London, Jar. 18, 1841.—1 return the proceedings of the
inquiry regarding the conduct of Mr. O'Bree, complained
of by Captain Brown, of the Arabian, which I have per-
used with much attention; and upon which it is my
duty to pass a decision. It is melancholy that men
who are placed in the respectable situations of Cinque
Ports pilots cannot refrain from drink, and keep them-
selves sober, during the few hours that they arc em-
ployed on duty, and in charge of the valuable property
of her Majesty's subjects, and the lives of those who
employ them, as well as their own. I desire that the
Cinque Ports pilot, Thomas O'Bree, may be deprived of
his license, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the
Act 6 Geo. IV. c. 125. I beg that this letter may be
published, and copies sent to the Fellowship at Dover,
Deal, Ramsgate, and Margate. I repeat over again my
determination invariably to carry into execution the pu-
nishment which the law has enabled me to inflict on any

Cinque Ports pilot who may be proved to have been in-
toxicated when on duty. I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your most oly-dient humble servant—WELLINGTON.
R. H. Jenkinson, Esq."—kentish Mercury.
PENNY POSTAGE SYSTEM.— In the French
Chamber of Peers on Monday, M. de Montalembert said
he should feel obliged to the Minister of Finance if he
would state to the Chamber the result of the new plan
for the reduction of postage in England. M. Humann
( Minister of Finance) replied that the new plan had
caused a deficit of sixty per cent. in the receipt of the
English General Post-office. It was therefore impossible
(added the Minister) that they could make a similar ex -
periment there, particularly when it was known that the
English Post-office had suffered a loss of twenty-seven
millions of francs by the alteration of system. M. Mounier
said that, previously to the establishment of an uniform
penny postage in England, Scotland, and Ireland, the
rate of postage was enormously high. It was not, therefore,
at all astonishing that there should be a great deficit. He would
also observe that the information just communicated by
the Minister of Finance was founded on the returns of
1839. He had reason to believe that the returns of 1840
were more favourable.