The Sun.
London, England, 1847-08-02 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, AUG UST 2, 1847.

Several of the constituencies in England and
Scotland have irreparably disgraced themselves by
sacrificing either men of distinguished character or
principles of the truest patriotism, by the most
sordid, the most contemptible, and the most splenetic
opposition. Edinburgh has in this manner, from the
pettiest of all possible motives, forsaken a man whose
genius, whose eloquence, whose liberality, and whose
consistent statesmanship were honourable alike to
himself and his constituency. In rejecting the Right
Hon. THOMAS BAHINGTON MacABLAy the Liberals
of Edinburgh have gratified a momentary grudge, but
in so doing they have permanently separated them-
selves from an orator and a legislator of consummate
ability. This electioneering apostacy on the part of
ignoble emulation with the voters of Bath. Mr.
ROEBUCK is ousted after fifteen years of eminent
Parliamentary services ; Mr. MACAULAY is dis-
comfited with equal callousness by the very men
whose interests he has been supporting with such
unrivalled oratory and such unyielding integrity
of purpose. Like the ingratitude evinced by.
the people of Lambeth in throwing out
their veteran representative, Mr. HAWES, that
of the people of Edinburgh is without any
palliation whatever. It is as deplorable a piece
of tergiversation in point of sincerity as the rejection
of Sir JOHN CAM HOBHOUSE by the electors of Not-
tingham. The Liberal interest has lost in Mr.
HAWES and in Mr. ROEBUCK two strenuous and emi-
nent supporters. The Government has, in the ill-
success of Mr. MACAULAY and of Sir JOHN CAM
IlonHousE, been grievously worsted for the time
being.

A miserable example is afforded to the minor con-
stituencies of the empire by the meanness of the po-
litical desertion of Edinburgh. It is not so much
because Mr. Macau'.Av is one of the most brilliant
orators of the age—it is not so much because he is one
of the most eloquent and majestic writers in the
English language—it is not so much because of the
scope of his literary attainments, and the superb
fecundity of his imagination, that we con-
ceive the electors of Edinburgh have evinced
extraordinary obtuseness of perception in re-
jecting him. It is because, with these lavish and
beautiful evidences of Mr. MACAULAY'S genius, he
combines the most generous principles and the most
staunch consistency. By rendering him the unsuc-
cessful candidate on the city hustings, Edinburgh
has for ever severed the connexion hitherto main-
tained between herself and the present Pay-,aster of
her MAJESTY'S Forces. Mr. MACAULAY himself de-
clared this on the termination of the contest ; nor can
we be in any manner surprised at the resolution of
the Right Hon. Gentleman, when we consider that he
has been discarded, not from any positive difference
of political opinion between himself and his con-
stituency, but from a sorry paroxysm of local ani-
mosity, under the transparent pretext that he was
disentitled to the suffrages of the Edinburgh voters,
because he objected to pledge himself deliberately and
definitively to a particular line of conduct upon a
certain problematic question of a politico-religious
character. In refusing to enter into this conditional
agreement, Mr. MACAULAY has sacrificed his imme-
diate chances of obtaining his old seat in Parliament,
but he has thereby likewise preserved his character
unblemished. Not so his late constituents. In pro-
posing this pledge they de
graded themselves, and
lost a man of a capacious intellect, a sound heart, and
a pure conscience.

Glasgow has acted in a manner singularly oppo-
site. It has elected as its representatives
ofaetwo.
candi-
dates qualified for that office by theire
al and
municipal experience. Mr. MACGREGOR will, we are
satisfied, fulfil the anticipations which have been
heretofore excited by the genius evinced by him
n
in political economy, both as a writer upon that science,
and as a practical promoter of free trade in his capacity
as secretary to the Board of Trade—Mr. MACGREGOR
will, we are satisfied, fulfil all the anticipations thus
created now that he has obtained a passport to the
Legislative Chamber at Westminster. If Stockport
has betrayed the popular party by associating with
Mr. COBDEN a man imbued with all the Conservative
prejudices of Mr. HEALD, Glasgow, at least, has
been true to itself and to the people by giving Mr.
MACGREGOR as a colleague to Provost HASTIE. Mr.
K ERSHAW has been rejected by Stockport, but Mr.
MACGREGOR has been accepted by Glasgow.
Amongst all the vicissitudes of the general elec-
tion, however, it is ni:.shtichsathisfactory to watch the
extraordinary success
hitherto attended
the Liberal candidates. Birminashabm assumes a posi-
tion only denied to it hithertog a
bewildering
casualty —it sends two Liberal?
Bradford sends two Cambridge Parliament
tot ohani— Chester,
Cockermouth, Derby, Devonport, Durw
Edin-
burgh, Finsbury, Glasgow, Greenwich, lierhEefdoirnd,
Kingston-upon-Hull, Lanabetli, Leicestir, L. • field,
14arylelebane,
Macclesfield, MaitQrb Manchester,

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