The Sun.
London, England, 1840-01-21 00:00:00

REPRESENTATION OF BIR-

MINGHAM.

BIRMINGHAM, MONDAY.
The High and Low Bailiffs, in conjunction with the
1
Mayor of the borough, a 4 returning officers, have fixed the
day of nomination for :Thursday next, and as the com-
mencement of the struggle between the supporters of the
respective candidates approaches, a clearer insight is ob-
tained as to the state of feeling amongst the electors in
reference to politics and claims of the two gentlemen by
whom the Reform interest of the town is divided, and by
which a breach has been made in the ranks of Ott Liberal
party, which time—a long time, I fear--'can only heal.
Many gentlemen whose names have been appended to the
requisition to Mr. Muntz, have already declared in faecur
of Mr. Sturge, while not a few of the nunsbcr which
swells the list have never sanctioned the use of their
names, or have no votes to offer to one candidate or the
other; hence the cause of the singular forbearance
exercised by Mr. Muntz's Committee, i i not pub-
/rifling a document, which, if genuine, would carry such
weight with the electors at large, as extib ting the feeling
of the Radicals of Birmingham in favour of that gentleman.
I's decidedly Whiggish complexion, too, would serve as a
key to the opinions of those by whom he is supported. i
Amongst these I may mention the Low Bailiff, one of 11.
Returning Officers, who has acted from the very commence-
ment as Chairman of Mr. Muntz's Committee. This
Gentleman, by interfering in the election, has subjected
himself to heavy penalties, and, of course, must feel his
position to be anything but agreeable, as his name has
officially appeareri in many of the placards and advertise-
ments addresseed to the electors. He will, of course,
throw up oe:e office or another, if it be not already too late.
Botk he clearly cannot fairly, honestly. or legally
hold, At a meeting of the electors of one of the
largest Wards in the borough, held on the 6th
tratant, it was resolved to address a communication
to Mr. Muntz, regretting the division which had been
caused amongst the Reformers ; and expressing their
belief that he had been induced to come forward under
tfalse representations as to the state of feeling towards Mr.
Sturge. Mr. Muntz's reply was received a day or two
back, in which he repeats his assertion that he " came
forward only to keep out a Tory," and " he had not seen
a single evidence to show that Mr. Sturge was sufficiently 1
popular to prevent the introduction of a Tory." Under
these circumstances, he places himself in the hands of his
Committee. Neither the electors nor lion-electors of the
Waid feel satisfied with Mr. Muntz's arbitrary assumption,
t rat Mr. Sturge is not sufficiently popilez—an assertion
yr licit comes with a very bad grace from one who, whatever
as 2ht have been his claims to popularity in past years, has
ceased to be regarded here as a tru-i friend of Reform.
The polling will commence on Friday morning, and before
the close of the day Birmingham. will have a representa-
tive in Mr. Sturge worthy of the town which is honoured
by his connexion with it—a rnsti who will zealously, ho-
nestly, and efficiently discharge the great trust reposed in
him ; or one whose life exhioits the extraordinary political
I,„„ses ',phut 'he last seven years of Republican, Chartist,
and Nt hi,. The men of Birmingham, whose intelligence
Mr. Nlautz has .o often lat d •ii when it s ived his purpose,
will, I trust, give tie geatlernah convint in; proof that the
clisracter they have received is not altogether undeserved.

vOLITIUAL SUMMARY OF THE
MORNING JOURNALS.

11 The Morning Journals of till.: day are chiefly occu-
pied with the discussien ot the Breach of Privilege
1 q rest ion. The .illorning Chronicle says :—" Sir Robert
P..:el showed by the toast irresistible arguments that
tnc Meuse could not proceed one step in the exer-
cise r. f its moA indispensable futi3tions, without
r",vhinicatiag the privilege attacked by the Queen's
B..nch. Th^ battle: is not over ; but if the House
ii
i ~let -with firmness, it must be victorious. Besides,
as wets well obrerrcd by the Attorney-General, the
long .!r tile discussion is continued, the better it will be
understood by the people." The Allorning Herald ob-
'L scrws :—" L:t us assume for the moment that the
r venerable Jud;es have misinterpreted the law applicable
Ito this mater. Such was the assumption of Sir Robert
I Peel. Such was the broad assertion of Mr, O'Connell.
l Still, even on the a'isumption which we have ventured
t.. to mal.e, the course adopted by the House is clearly
on unco-istitutional rourse. The House of Corn-
I, rnons is no Court of Review in any case of the so. t ;
still !cgs can it act as a Court of Revie.v in a case to
v.. 11 ( h it has itself in the earlier stages been a party."
The Times confines itsel to a summary of the speeches
in the House of Commons on the Privilege question,
I merely observing by the way that Sir It. Inglis " spoke
with brevity and vigour" on the subject.—The Morning
I Post remarks as follows :—" The ultima ratio of
, the Opposition was triumphant last night, as
; it gr n rally is ; and Lord John Rus c!i was
' compelled to give up the commitment, substitut-
i in; an order upon the Sheriffs to attend the
Ilouse at four o'clock this day. The dilemma in which
the Noble Lord is placed is rot a very creditable one.
Was he sincere at tirsc in affecting r 0 bedeve that the
commitment of the Sheriffs last night was a necessary
, step to the promotion of the privileges of Par-
liament ? Or did he at last suffer the privi-
loges of Parliament to be endangered, in
order that he might not be kept too late out of bed ?"
i Tne Morning Advertiser, in a leading article on the
stet jest of Sir J. Y. Buller's notice of motion of a want
of confidence in Ministers, remarks as follows :---" The
(present Government can have no wish to decline the
issue ; they can appeal with confidence to the history
of the last ten years, and challenge a comparison be-
tween their conduct and policy as a Government, and
' those of their opponents."