The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-08 00:00:00

ELECTION MOVEMENTS.

MIDDLESEX.
NOMINATION OF THE CANDIDATES.
Yeiertday being appointed for the:nomination of Candidates
for the representation of Middlesex, and there being a very
prevalent rumour that, although no opposition to either of the
late Members had yet been openly declared, it was still in-
tended by one side or other to make a struggle for the two
seats, Brentford presented at an early hour a scene of bustle
nearly equal to what has been observed at a contested elec-
tion. The bannermen of the Brentford Reform Association
paraded the street, displaying flags with various devices in fa.
your of liberty and free trade, whilst the Members of the Tory
Committee rode to and fro, equally ostentatious of Wood's
colours, and the banners appropriately inscribed with such
mottoes as " Speed the plough," and " Down with the
bastilles !"

Shortly before ten o'clock, Colonel Thomas Wood, the late
Conservative Member, preceded by a number of freeholders,
on horseback, who were headed by Sir Peter Laurie, arrived
upon Brentford Green, the usual place of the hustings, in a car-
riage and four, in which he was accompanied by Sir John Gib-
bon and Major Wood. He was followed by a train of carriages,
and a considerable number of people wearing his colours, blue
and orange favours, and shouting " Wood for ever," " Speed
the ploug," &c. &c.

At ten o'clock precisely the Sheriffs, Messrs. Gibbs and
Farncombe appeared upon the hustings, and proceeded with
the prescribed formalities. The usual oath was administered
to them by a Magistrate, Captain Hague, and when they had
read the Queen's writ, the Bribery Act was read by the Under
Sheriff, Mr. Bunhill. Mr. Byng not having yet arrived, some
delay took place, and in the mean time, Mr. Bacon (of Kent)
a distinguished Anti-Corn-law champion, came forward on
the hustings with a great bag in his hand. hich, he said, " was
not like Castlereagh's green bag ; for the papers it contained
were not intended for the destruction of the Queen, but for
the good of her people." He then, amidst loud cheering,
scattered its contents amongst the crowd. They consisted of
short, pithy, and instructive tracts upon the Corn laws, from
which we select at random and in haste the following :
" REMEMBER ! Every dozen of flour you consume pays
9d. tax for monopoly. The price is 2s. 3d., and it would

be Is. 6d. if there %Cu not a Bread-tax.
" Working men,—You are told that the masters are ty-
rants! Is that any reason why you should pay 9d. tax on
every dozen lbs. of flour you and your families eat?
" You are told the factory system is a curse. Is it made a
blessing by your paying 2s. 3d. a dozen lbs. for flour instead
of Is. 6d?

" You pre told that the masters want to reduce wales when
the Bread-tax is abolished ! Has the Bread-tax kept up
wages ?
" You are told the masters have reduced wages ? Then the
Bread-tax has not kept up wages.
" You are told that cheap flour moans low wages! Flour
s selling in America at little more than half our price, and
wages there are nearly double yours. Wages are always highest
when bread is cheapest.
" You are told rot to join the middle class in getting, a re-
peal of the bread tax.
" Working Men ! Who suffer most from the bread tax—you
or the middle class?

" You are told that the middle class kept aloof when the
working men opposed the bread tax ! The middle class were
then wrong and the working class right. Is that a good reason
why the working class should now be wrong because the middle
class are right?
" You are told to keep aloof from the Anti-corn-law 'hum-
bugs!' Your rockets cannot keep aloof; you pay 93. tax
upon every dozen lbs. of flour you and your families eat.
"You are told toiget the Charter first, and repeal the Corn-
law 'afterwards ! Will yin get the Charter any sooner because
you are paying 9d tax upon every dozen of flour you eat ?
" You are told that we may get the
CHARTER
as soon or sooner than we shall abolish 1112 bread-tax.
" Look at facts ! One hundred and seventy-nine Members
(4* the House of Commons voted in favour of Mr. Villier's mo-
tion for going into the question of the Corn-law, and forty-six
voted in favour of Mr. Attwcoi's motion for going into the
question of the Charter ; hundreds of newspapers advocate
the repeal of the Corn-law, and four newspapers advocate the
Charter.

" You are told that something very dreadful may happen if
we abolish the bread-tax before you get
UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE!
" Run the risk of all the consequences of getting three
loaves where you now get only two !
" You arc told that the Anti-Corn-law men are opposed to
Chartism ! They are opposed to no party ;—their motto is
breadism, and their wish is to benefit all parties.
" Remember ! Every dozen of flour you and your families
consume pays a tax of 9d. for monopoly."
Some of the crowd responded, amidst great laughter, to the dis-
tributor's comments upon the various papers he flung amongst
them, " Bacon, we'll go the whole hog with you." About
half-past ten o'clock the flags of the Brentford Reform Asso-
ciation, the members of which formed the van of Mr. Byng's
procession appeared upon the Green before the hustings.
Bair banners bore vat ious inscriptions ; such as
" The Queen • and the People " " Liberty, Free
trade. A fair day's work and a fair day's pay." One of
them carried a lofty staff, surmounted with a WOOO-en head,
borrowed from a barber's block, and decorated with a fool's
can. This was greeted with immense cheering and laughter.
The crowds in the area fronting the hustings previously to this
contained far more policemen than electors; but now it be- '
came densely filled in a few seconds, and the long line of car-
riages which accompanied Mr. Byng could with difficulty make
their way around the space upon the outskirt of the assemblage.
The venerable gentleman himself had been met at. Kew-bridge
by a body of the electors, who took the horses from his car-
riage and drew him to the hustings, his appearance on which
was hailed with prodigious cheering.
S. WHITBREA D, Esq.—lt was many years since he had pre-
sented himself before the electors of Middlesex to perform the
duty which was then imposed upon him. When he proposed
his Hon. Friend Mr. Byng in 1618, even at that now distant
period he had completed twenty-eight years of uninterrupted
service—( Hear and cheers)—for the county of Midddlesex.
He had now completed fifty-one years of uninterrupted
service, and it was for them to say whether he had violated in
any degree that mutual good faith and consistency which had
bound both parties together for so long a period. It was true
that Middlesex was a small county in comparison with others,
but being the metropolitan county it was the very first in im-
portance. The constituency enjoyed many privileges—amongst
them was the valuable one of watching over the conduct of
their Representatives, and it was for the electors to say whe-
ther Mr. Byng had ever shown even a single symptom of
wavering or hesitation.—(Cries of " No, no, ' and cheers.)
He knew that there were many and conflicting interests in the
county, but his Hon. Friend had never in the course of his
long Parliamentary life conciliated one interest at the expense
of any other—his whole object was to do all for the general in-
terests of the whole community.—( Cheers. ) The usual lan-
guage of proposers was that they pleaded for the cause, not for
the man ; but his Hon. Friend had served so long and so faith-
fully, that he could not on the present occasion separate the man
from the cause—when he spoke of one he spoke of both. He was
proposing a man who appeased before them for the 15th time—
the father of the House of Commons, and he trusted that the
manner in which they would that day treat his Hon. Friend
who had served them so long, would show whether they were
as consistent as his Hon. Friend. That long experience had
convinced him that the political principles of the political
leaders with whom he had acted in his youth, were the only
ones by which the Government of this country could be carried
on for the benefit of the people at large. It was with that feel-
ing that at his advanced age he came forward asking their
suffrages in order to support a liberal and a good Ministry.—
( Loud cries of " Oh, oh," and cheers.) He would fearlessly
assert that it was the conviction upon the mind of his Hon.
Friend, and be came forward in order to carry out that convic-
tion, to support a great, a good, and a liberal Ministry, who had,
with the sanction of the Crown—(Uproar)—they had better
hear before they condemned. He said that the Ministry were
about to introduce one of the most salutary measures for the
relief of industry that had ever been propounded. Undoubtedly
discussion upon that question was stifled, but that was not
the fault of the Ministers. It might be a want of taste on his part
to introduce any irritating topic, when there was to be no op-
position—( Cheers)—but he could not help speaking the truth.
—(Cheers.) He would content himself with proposing his
Hon. Friend, George Byng, Esq., who, by his consistency and
by his knowledge of the wants and the wishes of the constitu-
ency—who, by his unflinching integrity in public, and his
great benevolence in private life, as a fit and proper person to
represent the county of Middlesex in the ensuing Parliament ;
and it rested for them to show that there was some truth in the
stability of public favour.--(Cheers. )
Mr. fu FN ELL,IIII. P. , said he came forward for the third time to
second the nomination of his Hon. Friend, because every
time his Hon. Friend had established fresh claims to the favour
not only of the constituency of Middlesex, but to the country
at large.—(Loud cheers.) During his long Parliamentary
experience he had seen some of his political friends
wax cool in the cause. He had seen others become-
recreant and turn their traitorous arms against those
friends with whom, for a long period of years, they had acted,.
but the course pursued by his lion. Friend, whether in adver%)
situ or prosperity, whether his political friends were in or out oft
office, had still been the same. He had ever been found advo-
cating the cause of the people, and so long as the connection
existed between him and the constituency of Middlesex, they
would find him thesame.—( Cheers. ) Hitherto their struggles.
had been in favour of civil, religious, and political liberty. A
new struggle was now commencing, and never would it end
until they had been successful.; it was the cause of conamereal
freedom. He would ask was trade in that prosperous state that it:
could bear the imposition of fresh taxes ?—(Cries of " No, no.")
He would ask was the poor in that state that it was-
a matter of indifference to them whether the prices of provi-
sions was high or low ? Whether would the electors support
an increase of taxes, or measures which would increase the
comforts of the people—which would increase labour, and bring
provisions
gnsof
advocatedall kinds
ows•ei
measures,
erse,acahntiti f
whenall?—he
(Chf
s
sanctioned by the experience of his Hon. Friend, and through.
him by a large majority of the constituency of Middlesex,.
he had no doubt whatever that the struggle must soon .
corms-
tonomination a fvu favourable issue.
isisHs uoen..
Friend,lt was
and
dth
Ipolnegassniurieghhte
hoseccoonntidnedeit
fill that honourable post, which he hats e occupied upwardsof
half a century.
Sir Joust Gusuox then came forward. He said, Elzeters

of Middlesex—(Great hooting 9 hiss-ingTaTn- d cries of "
for some minutes)_l
shall give you plenty of time, iar
am in perfect good humour. —(Renewed uproar, and cries of
" Hush-a-by, baby.") As
ody
political ton °1
to Air. Byng's private character
ycoandl'ocrtditwas a very different thing in his
against it.—(Loud cheers.) But as
opinion.—( Great uproar.) It was natural that a Lord of the
Treasury, and the brother of a Poor la Co siomer,
should support the present Administration. Poor-law
theym •is favour
of the Poor -law ? • Were in
- aw —(Cries of " Yes," " No," and great
cheering.) He was a decided enemy to that measure, and
had shown himself so for years.—(Uproar, and a cry of
" Who transported the man for catching fish ?") He trusted
he had always done his duty as a Alagistrate, and he had done
it faithfully.—(Cheers, hisses, great confusion, and a cry of
" Who starved the cat ?") Englishmen generally gave fair
play, and heard both sides of the question, and would they re-
fuse to act in a similar manner?—( Renewed uproar.)
The SHERIFF came forward and requested that the electors
would give every gentleman a fair hearing.
Sir JOHN GIBBON resumed. He had heard the Queetis
name mentioned by one of the opposite party. He was, as
loyal as any one present. He loved the Queen—(Lauf.,later,
and cries of " Don't you wish you may get her.") Tha t was
why he wished to get rid of the Lords of the Treasury, and
the bedchamber Lords by whom she was at present sur-
rounded. He honoured and revered the Queen, but he dis-
liked the present Administration. With regard to Mr. I 3yrig•
he would say that his private character stood as high as his
public and political character stood low.—( Groans and hi
,sses.)
He therefore proposed, as that Hon. Gentleman's colic: quein
Parliament, a gentleman who would at least neutralise! its votes•
and who had fairly and honourably done his duty to his een.sti--
tuents, Thomas Wood, Esq.—( Great cheering and hiss; ng.)4
He repeated that the Hon. seconder of Mr. Byng pat
quite impartial in his advocacy of the present Ministry, ) Jeat
if they went out of office it would put money out of 'his y oc-
ket ; and if the Poor-laws were done away with, h7.s brot her
would be obliged to give up his office.—( Great contusion.) He
would conclude by proposing, as a fit and proper person to re-
present the county of Middlesex, Thomas Wood, Es
(Much cheering and uproar. )
COI. NEWDIGATE bad much pleasure in seconding the me.
initiation of Col. Wood as Member for the County of Ali oldie-
. sex, and he did so with the more pleasure because he believed