The Sun.
London, England, 1840-11-24 00:00:00

IeVRNING EDITION)

15n:the Whig and Radical side of politics. Thera is I
but one consolation in this, and it is, that the cause
must beat a very low ebb which can furnish forth no
better championship for daily service than that of con-
fident ignorance and hackneyed abusiveness. We '
claim on our side an almost complete exemp
Lion from the common-place grossness to which we arc
alluding. We may be prejudiced generally, and pas-
sionate sometimes ; but we—it is of the Conservative
Press generally that we speak—respect the dignity of
literature even in newspaper controversy. One power-
ful journal, we know, is commonly accused of dealing
in very bold assertions, and occasionally using language
which is more conspicuous for its force than its elegance.
But even in this, we submit, there will be found nothing
with which an antagonist of sense and information need
he ashamed to grapple. There will be found nothing
such as we complain of in the Whig and R.d►ca'
journals ; no wretched flimsy ignorance, expressed with
a coarse affectation of contempt for learning and its
decencies—no raking up of the half-forgotten slang
of the streets, by way of answer to authentic state
ment and legitimate argument—no repititions, for
the hundreth time, of dull, stupid, personal abuse,
to which public opinion has long ago given the lit
direct—no encouragement of rabble prejudices, in
l.ioguage suited to rabble tastes. No ; these prac-
tices of the Whig-Radical press are not imitated bs
any of their opponents. There may be errors--
there may be haughtiness of feeling and violence
of expression—but the " swilled insolence" of vulgar
and ignorant conceit, the drunken fury of illiterate
presumption, which we charge upon certain portions
of what is ludicrously called the " Liberal " press,
no Conservative journal can justly be accused of.
The offensiveness apd public disgrace of this kind
of journalism are very great in all departments of po-
litical controversy, but they are particularly so in
(lus:ions of the relation of religious or Church grin
ciplc3 to the conduct of public affairs. In such dis.

- .
eussion.; ix;e rn;ght have hoped that even the moss
hardened would have shown some respect to the dignity
of the subject, and some regard to the calmness of ar-
gument which, if it be mooted at all, it certainly de-
mands. But we find that the Whig and Radical jour-
nak will neither keep silence nor preserve anything like
the correctness and decency of argument in what they

say. Insolent accusation—ignorant assumption—coarse
and ribalt; levity, are the weapons of controversy to
which they resort. We hope that at least some of their
readers will have the sense to see that such weapons
are not the proper ones to use in such a controversy.
and have the judgment to conclude that they ought ra-
ther to seek information and decide for themselves than
follow such incompt,terit guides.
(From the Times.)

The progress of Conservative principles, as demon

. . _
strafed by the late municipal elections, is fully more ap•
p.irtmt in Scotland than even among ourselves. In that
country, where the exercise of an open popular suffrage
in public affairs was almost unknown, the introduction
of the Whig Bill for transforming Town Councils into
violent po!i tical cabals served the purpose of its au hors
so successfully in the first instance, that under its c7rlier
operation, when the plausibilities of unbridled Liberalism
bid not yet been corrected by a bitter experience of
its evils, no constitutional candidate could attempt to
gain a seat in a Scotch corporation without the absolute
certainty of defeat. In England, even in the outset of
municipal reform, matters, though bad enough, were not
quite so hopeless as th:s. Proportioned to the larger
share v,Uch our borough population bad previously had

in the election of civic functionaries, the extension of
the franchise among them was the less liable to be per-
verted by a passion for novelties and extremes. The
moderate views of the better class of English voters
were doubtless overcome for a time by the extravagan-
cies of the nery conitituency ; but there was always
reason to believe that in this part of the kingdom the
evils in question would be only of short duration, and
that after the first turgid bubblings of the municipal
cauldron, its waters would become cool and clear, depo-
siting the sediment in its natural place. Accordingly,
even from the earliest days of our Borough Reform

_Bill, the returns of Conservative councillors were by
no means inconsiderable ; tho improvement has been
going forwsrd at a prodigious pace ever since, and at
the recent elections the defeat of the Whig-ItaeLcals has
been so general, that their former mischievous as-
cendancy is virtually at an end. In Scotland, how-
ever, the rc.,atiz Atka of a similar issue, though equally
sure, did certainly appear to us to be much more dis-
tant. The Scotch voters, notwithstanding their shrewd
reflective character, were likely, as we thought, to be
swayed by a spurious Liberalism for many years to
ceme. From the accidents of their previous position,

it appeared to us that the force of events in securing
corporation reform, which assuredly would have taken
place under a Tory Government ,as much as under a
Whig ono, was in danger of being overlooked ; and
consequently, that the extended privileges, which they
owed entirely- to the progress of public opinion, would
probably be ascribed by them rather to the peculiar in-
terposition of the Whigs than to a concurrence of causes
winch no Government could resist. Our anticipations,
therefore, that Scotland would for a tong while be
actuated by a ‘irulent but mistaken prejudice against
Conservative principles were naturally strong ; nor,

considering that in the short period of seven years this
prejudice has been very generally superseded by a pre-
ference for constitutional councillors, can there be a
doubt that such a ben,ficial change has been mainly
owing to the domineering partisanship of your Radical
Disse,.ting juntas, and the consequent disgust of the
community. 8.2 this as it may, it is certain that in the
principal towns of that cou►ttry a remarkable reaction
has taken place. For several years after the Municipal

Reform Bill had passed, the introduction of a Conser•

vative into a Scotch 'fown Council was scarcely erer
:heard of. Owing to the Liberal mania which influcn:la,l
numbers of Church folks, the Corporations were filled
to a g:eat eatent with violent political voluntaries.
In Paisley these_ ,decent gentlemen literally sold
the civic regalia, and also the Magistrates' pews in
thc parish Churches. In Kirkwall they violently
ou.ited ;he parochial clergy from their ancient legal
right of examining the parish school, and insisted on
that duty being usurped by a fierce anti-establishment
puipiteer. At Dunfermline and elsewhere they tyran-
nically deprived the town-councils of their legal repre-
sentation in the General Assembly of the Church ;
while, even in liliiiburgh itself, where the regular means
of religious instruction are notor:ously inadequate to
the wants of the population, they actually made a des-
perwe but ineffectual struggle to reduce the number
of the city clergy from 18 to 1:3 at one fell swoop.
Happily th,:se outrages had little other effect than
to involve their perpetrators in public odium. In
point of fact, they did a world of good. Intelli-
gent observers soon saw that the most noisy cla-

mowers for reform were always actuated, not by an
anxiety for the general welfare, but by some selfish
or sectarian purpose. Thay saw a Bailie Donaldson
panting for a ChamberUnship ; they saw a Sir Dick
Lauder lerretting for a salary from the Board of Trus-
tees ; they saw a Mr. Denham working furiously for a
suh-clerkship in the Court of Session ; they saw a
Bailie Stark half road (or a Judgeship in Ceylon ; and
tilt.), might, perhaps, descry the devoted Peter Crooks
nicking a dead set at the vacant agency for the Crown.
These cdilying scrambles, which have more or less sig-
nalize d the brief ascendancy of Liberalism throughout
Scotland, have contributed materially to the success of

the Conservatives in the late municipal elections. In
most of the contests the more rampant voluntaries and
lickspittles have been kicked to the wall. In
Mus:;clburgli, Stirling, Dumbarton, and Dunbar, the con-
stitutional candidates have been triumphant. At Dum-
fries the late Liberal Chief Magistrate was de-
feated in his own ward, and five out of the six new

councillors are in thointerest of a Conservative " Lord
Provost." Greeno,,:k was contested in only dace wards,
in two of which the Conservatives were successful. At
Glasgow the victory in favour of the Church and Con-
stitution has been so complete, that a Conservative Lord
Provost has been unanimously elected—a circumstance
which will secure the ascendancy of sound principles
in that quarter for many years_to come. In Edinburgh
th,-: contest this year has been rather of a peculiar cha-
racter. Wtook hen the municipal elections place, the
only question which divided the citizi_nsw as, whether
the new Lord Provost should be :Churchmen or a
furious voluntary Dissenter. Both of the candidates
for that high office were known to entertain liberal
opinions in different degrees—Sir James Forrest being a
staunch supporter of the Established Church, and Mr.
Adam Black one of thesurst virulent of her enemies.
In this contest, although Sir James has heretofore been
favourable to the. preseetnt. Ministry,n the Government
den
clique in Edinburgh d to oust him from the
chair, and to transfer it t'osivies Dissenting opponent.
On no prcvious occasion have
ployed to secure an ultra-liberal tergiuunialpeh. ffort'srhbeeewnheornle-
advnqising patronage of Mr. Adam Black, who is
rd t o bear
pub-
lisher of the Edinburgh Review, was broughte
upon the city reNspaer
ps, though, to
Edinburgh pl.( ss, it was nobly despised. To ,:foefettihiiei
ntraP
the
sinap!,,-minded, Mr. Black even condescended to
own bro!licr-in-law (a Frofessed Churchman aitn
servative) to forfeit public respect by ratting
to his ancieilt tabernacle hanLeriiigs. Ali the drudges
of the self-ristituted conclave, who call themselves
" toe inhabitants' Liberal committee" Were toiling day
and night in favour of Mr. Black's supporters. On the
mnrning of the election the supernatural übiquity of Sir
Gibio t Craig., of Recarton, in swearing and voting for
RI Black's candidates at the different polling-places,
was such es made every body exclaiv,
" There be sir Weveartons in tha field to-dly!”
,N,,vertile!e-s, the Conservatives returned an equal num-
'sn",_nof Councillors with the Liberals : and it gives us
3utimirt: satisfaction to state, that on Tuesday last the
oh..en7rdidate was elected Lord Provost by a ma-
' .3' 11 councillors to 14. The Town Council, re-
JaZto'"-g theparect,.nsions of another violent Dissenter, has
t,‘iro chosen.oon
tcnenservat.ivc treasurer by a majority of
a• •
raring rentarksi. gratifying results we offer the fol-
Ing place, the Scotch Dissent-
ers have been taught
with
the Church
p,pti:iyatt.hig election that, compared
constitute a pitiful
and powerless minority.. n' they
.n_ heretofore their vauntings as
to their numbers and fluence have heels _alagnilo-

quent in the extreme......
When it has been the pur-
pose of their Central Board (something like the three
denomination clique in London) to cut a figure in i
the eyes of the public, or to intimidate the Whigs
from granting additional Church endowments, 1
they have been in the habit of putting forth the I
most imposing arithmetical statistics as to their nume-
rical superiority. These conventicle frauds have been
repeatedly exposed in the Times, but such artifices we
may hope are now at an end. In the late struggle for
Mr. Black, the Dissenters not only commanded the
I united votes of every elector belonging to their re-
spective sects, but were supported by a very large pro-
portion of Liberals who adhere to the Established
Church. Yet see what they have made of it ! Could
the poll-books be scrutinized, we venture to say that
one-half of Mr. Black's supporters in the City wards
would be found to be Church people. What, then,
would have been the miserable figure of the Dissenters
had they prosecuted the contest on their own unaided
strength? We trust that they have now got a hum-
bling that will do them good ; and, in order to give a
salutary pungency to their chagrin, let them hear in
mind that the Church has been signally triumphant
under circumstances of defection in her own ranks
chat will very probably never occur again. In
the second place, this election has dealt a severe
and well•merited blow to the insolent dictatorship
of the Liberal committee. A score or two of pragmati-
cal shopkeepers have had the effrontery to take the
independence of their fellow-townsmen into their own
exclusive keeping. On all public occasions they ob-
trude their unsought and impertinent fiat as to the pre-
cise line of conduct which their mightinesses mean to
force upon the community. Only imagine the educated
citizens of Edinburgh being led by the nose by such a
gang as the Radical committee of Marylebone ! Yet the
latter gentry afford the only correct emblem of their kin-
dred caballero in the Scottish metropolis! Well, in the
late struggle, they issued their mandate in favour of Mr.
Black. Any voter daring to disobey was to be ex- ,
communicated from the ordinances of Liberalism, and
branded with the stigma of apostacy. The fury and
arrogance of their public demonstrations at the ward
meetings were only surpassed by their imperious dra-
goonings in private society. With the most insuffer-
Able impudence they have endeavoured to concuss the
Church councillors in Sir James Forrest's interest
by libelling them as political renegadoes. It has turned
out, however, to be all in vain. This domineering
faction has been subjected to an ignomious defeat
in common with their pet candidate ; and we ear-
nestly trust that the intelligent community who
have thus indicted that rebuke will follow it up
by spurning their interference on all future occa-
siees. That the city of Edinburgh should suffer
itself to be ridden by such enlightened partisans as
Mr. Morris Scott, the trunkmaker—bah ! it sickens
one to think of it ! A Morning Contemporaay, sorely
mortified at the issue, has exclaimed in accents of the
most touching anguish, " What readnebs can have
come over the Liberal party to induce them to commit
such a suicidal act ?" Let us tell our distressed brother
that the self-destruction he speaks of is only in its com-
mencement. In the last place, we cordially congratu-
late our Scotch friends on the good understanding which
has been restored between the non-intrusion and anti-
veto Conservatives. Throwing aside their temporary
differences, they have worked together most nobly in the
recent struggle. This is just as it should be. We have
already endeavoured to recommend the same harmony
and forbearance in regard to Parliamentary contests ;
and various encouraging circumstances have arisen
which induce u 3 to recur to the subject with more ear-
nestness than ever.

FRAN CE.