The Sun.
London, England, 1840-01-04 00:00:00

BIRMINGHAM ELECTION.

(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)
BIRMINGHAM, FRIDAY EVENING.

The breach between the Reformers of Birmingham
appears, I regret to say, to be widenieg ; and the pt o-
babilities are every d:iy becoming stronger that this
present unfortunate division may terminate in the re-
turn of a Tory Member for our Radical borough. The
friends of Mr. Sturge, anxious to secure an union of par-
ties who ought never to have been divided, addressed a let-
ter to Mr. Muntz's Committee, offering to leave the ques-
tion of the claims of the respective candidates to the deci-
sion of a town's meeting, a majority of such meeting to de-
cide which of the two candidates shall retire from the
field, leaving the other to dispute the ground with the
common enemy. This overture, it is to be regretted,
has not. been met in the spirit in which it has been
made, and which effectually shuts the door against any
future attempt at compromises.

LETTER OF MR. STURGE'S COMMITTEE.
" Birmingham, Jan. 2.
" To the Committee for promoting the Election of G.
F. Muntz, Esq.

" Gontlemen,—The contest between the friends of
Messrs. Sturge and Muntz is most irrational. Ail par-
ties, with few exceptions, are actuated by the same prin-
ciples and propose the same objects. A great fault
has been committed, and great blame attaches some-
where. Such a state of things ought not to continue.
" Mr. Sturge was brought forward when the field
was unoccupied. This Committee, therefore, cannot
justly be charged with producing division in the ranks
of the Reformers. On the other hand we cannot con-
ceal that Mr. Muntz has been brought forward as the
opponent of Mr. Sturge ; and, under these circum-
stances, we believe it is impossible for him to accede to
the requisition you are about to forward to him. He
cannot forget that for three years he has refused to his
most intimate friends, that which his present supporters
now ask.

" First in the field, we are nevertheless the first to
take the necessary steps for obtaining peace and jus-
tice. Our present proceeding may by some be called
an overture' to Mr. Muntz's Committee ; we call it a
challenge.'

" Our proposition is, that in the event of Mr. Muntz
acc.'•ding to the requisition addressed to him, a town's
meeting be called by the united authority, and at the
joint expense of both Committees ; and that the ma-
jority of such meeting shall decide which of the Can-
didate:, Muntz or Sturge, shall retire ; and that such
decision shall be final and conclusive.
•' We d• not venture to predict the result, but we
shall surely rejoice at it, if it have but the effect of
combining all good men against the common enemy.
Signed on behalf of the Committee for the
Election of Mr. Sturge,
" W. HASLE WOOD SMITH, Chairman.

LETTER FROM MR. MUNTZ'S COMMITTEE.
" Birmingham, Jan. 2.
"To the Committee for conducting the Election of
Joseph Sturge, Esq.
_ .

" Gentlemen—ln reply to the communication re-
ceived from you this evening, I beg to forward you the
following Resolution unanimously passed by Mr.Muntz's
Committee :
" That in answer to the communication of the Com-
mittee for managing the election of Joseph Sturge,
Esq., the Committee beg to state that the proposal to
submit the qualification of Mr. Muntz, and Mr. Sturge,
to a Town's Meeting is entirely unnecessary, as that
question will be submitted to such a meeting, on the day
of nomination. Under these ;circumstances this Com-
mittee do not consider themselves called upon to enter
into any discussion of the other topics introduced into
the communication. _

" I have the honour to be, Gentlemen,
" Your most obedient Servant,

" THOMAS CLARK, Jun., Chairman."

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC BILL.

MR. O'CONNELL AND THE TIMES.
(From the Times of yesterday.)
But again, for " the newspapers"—oh ! ay, by all
1 means, for " the Times." He says, if the Ministers,
don't " protect him—O'Connell—and his gang of con-
spirators" what happens ? Poor innocent agitator !
aNd poor noodled of Ministers ! Let them first protect,
themselves. But. failing this protection, what is to
happen ? Why, " means must be taken to punish the
miscreants ;" and bow punish? Why, " the Irish
papers are to name them."
Scme old Speaker of the House of Commons—we
forget the Solomon—boasted that if a certain Member
had not retracted an expression employed by him, he
would assuredly have "named him." " And what
then 7' was the quiet answer. " Oh, God knows what
might have haepened." So we tell this furious knave.
Let him placard our names all over Ireland—let him
consnme his tpugh lungs in virulence and brutality
against us—let hirn" death's head' and "marrow-bone"
our dwellings if he dare. Here we stand—here we
laugh at him—here 1.-e have launched at least a couple
of hundred articles that scorched and blasted, and con-
signed him to an age of iniOny. Here if he fails to
complete'our threatened assassinztion, we will visit him,
and his odious life with a thousand more
such articles, exposing, scourging, " wringing"
for him his guilty " withers." " Nome" us !
What shame attaches to any man connected with this
journal ? What is the end and object of our ji,:bours
but our country's good ? Who has dared to offer us a
1. ribe ? We have done one wrong to England, we
acknowledge. We—aye, we it was—the Times—and
we glory not in it—that after 17 years of long unaided
struggle, brought round the repugnant voice of the
British nation in favour of a Roman Catholic Bill.
And well have we and our Protestant countrymen been
requited.
But we have years ago told this poor man's rob-
ber that we were at war with him—open war—war to
to the political: extinction of one of us—of Daniel
1 O'Connell or of the Times newspaper and the Con-
seri4itive and Protestant cause. He now knows what
he has to look for—let him make the best of it.
(From the Morning Post of this day.)
The Times acknowledges, in the following terms of
penitence and hnmiliation, that it erred most grievously
i in assisting the agitation of the Papists on the subject
1
of their disabilities ; and that we and its other Censer-
vative antagonists who struggled against the artful and
profligate clamour, and the pretensions it was intended
to support, manifested a more judicious and far-sighted
patr;otism :
" We have done one wrong to England we acknow-
ledge. We—aye, wx it was—the Times—and we glory not
in I:—that after seventeen years of long unaided struggle,
brought round the repugnant voice of the British nation in
favour of a Roman Catholic Bill. And well have we and
lour Protestant countrymen been requited."
Now, if it were possible, we would apply some
small balmy drop of consolation to the wounded
spirit of our humbled brother. We would willingly
persuade him that, in the anguish of his contrite
mil,,d, he accuses himself too deeply. Is ho quite sure
that
,he—tie alone—did all the mischief? Were not
other, L'hough feebler, labourers at work before, and
wiii him, I,:s this field of pernicious industry ? It is
not for every /,,an to be a Hercules—all cannot be gi-
gantic and irresis:ible alike ; but is it not just possible
that some little centribution, though far below the
measure or effect of what was done by our penitent
Contemporary, may have been made to the common
object by fellow-labourers of Jess mighty strength and
loss stupendous dimensions? We entreat our friend
not to be so utterly cast down by the oppressive con-
sciousness that he did all—ab,solutely all.—himself. Let
him take a little comfort. Did 1:ot ether Keimans as well
as he, though of comparatively 01:scure name and dimi-
nitive stature, enter the gates of C;',:.rioli ? We hope we
are correct, for, deeply as we commisse;ate the sufferer,
we would not willingly administer a delusive miti-
igation to the pangs of sincere and salutary remorse ;
but we certainly have some kind of vague and misty
irecollection of having heard of some such nama as
,those of Burke and Pitt, and Fox and W}ndham, and
,9 -attar: and Sheridan, and Tierney and Granville, and
a fe w other insignificant persons, who, according to
their vacions faculties and powers—humble, as no doubt
these /were when compared with the faculties and powers
of our FenitOnt Conte.mporary—were said to have done
sometiOng towards briq-ing " round the repugnant
voice of the British natioc," if, indeed, it was ever
brought r,ius'd at all, "in favou:r of a Roman Catbolic
Bill."
We advise our afflicted friend to ii: quire a little into
these particulars before he gives himse:l'. up a prey to
unfounded
utter desolation and abasement of spirit, in th‘.'
belief that he wag the only effective agent in I:.'° work
he so deeply dePl"es'

SOUTH A-N.IEIIIOA. The Maypo, Captain
Seymour, arrived at Liverpool on Thursday night, after
the quickest passttge fron' Lima on record, she having
been only 85 days from port to port. The Maypo has
on freight 500,000 dollars. The dates from Lima by i
this vessel are to the 10th of October. The Chili
troops were to leave Callao on the 18th for Valparaiso.
Santa Cruz had been elected President of Bolivia, arid
it was the general opinion in Lima that, immediately
on the departure of the Chili troops, a revolution
would break out in that city in favour of S3n!a Cruz,
a s Gomarra's Government was very unpopuinr: Se-
v,eralot the Chili troops had been assassinated in the
stroets, so much were they detested by the Limanese.
The state of trade was favourable. The Congress wag
in Session, but its proceedings had not been of general
interest.
LICENsii:D VICTUALLERS' ASYLUM.—On
Friday the half-yearly General Meeting of the Donors
at large of th.'s Institution, took place at the London
Tavern, to read and confirm the minutes of the iat. half-
yearly meeting, aild also the subsequent SpenialMeeting,
of Donors, to recei've the Auditors' account of receipts
and payments durinw the past you., and a Report lento
the Board of Manageoent on the state of the lnstita.
tion generally, to elect 'Trustees and Governors for the
ensuing year, and also to nominate an out-door Com-
mittee for the next twelve months, anti on general
business.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
(From the Globe.)
" Coming events cast their shadows before." The
past supplies drtta from which we may draw conclu-
sions respecting things to come ; especially when the
same harbingers appear to prepare us for similar events
Mr. George R. Dawson, the brother-ia-law of Sir
R. Peel, was the avant courrier of the Right Honour-
able Baronet's conversion to Catholic Emancipation,
which he announced at an election dinner at London-
derry. An equally important change avowed by Sir
R. Peel's jackal naturally produces a suspicion that Sir
Robert himself is about to become a convert to the ne-
cessity of another " Repeal," viz., that of the existing
duties on Corn. Mr. George R. Dawson has avowed
himself a convert to the necessity of repealing, or
greatly modifying, the Corn monopoly ! Mr. G. R.
Dawson, the Tory candidate for the representation of
Davenport, has discovered in the course of his canvass a
truth which, we opine, candidates for the representa-
tion of most towns will ascertain, that no candidate has
the slightest chance of success who is not prepared to
relax the injurious restrictions of the existing system.
How docile are Tory candidates when constituencies
become the teachers !—Mr. Dawson's speedy enlighten-
ment is a case in point :
" He had gone," he said, " into houses where he had
seen swarms of children, and the mother had anxiously
asked him how she could feed them ; as the father toiled
from morning to night, but could not sufficiently supply
their wants. He had found this in a great many instances,
and, if he bad any previous indisposition to the modifica-
tion of the Corn-laws, such a state of feeling would re-
move it. Why it would be useless for him to attempt to
contest the borough undertsuch a state of things. . . .
. . . . He begged to say that on the call of the con-
stituency lie could not refuse to help them to get a cheap
loaf."
We almost fancy the confusion of the Post on
reading this explicit recantation of a creed of which
the speaker was one of the most zealous professors,
and, consequently, one of the most orthodox authorities
in the estimation of our Contemporary. How unfortu-
nate, that on the very day on which the Post charges
us with incessantly and pathetically " appealing at this
moment to the distress produced among the poor by
deficient harvests," heightened, as we think and there-
fore state, by the Corn-law restrictions, Mr. George R.
Dawson, a Tory of the first order, should describe a
scene of domestic misery produced by those causes,
in terms more pathetic than any we are capable
of employing ! Surely the Post will not accuse so
staunch a Conservative as Mr. Dawson with en-
deavouring to excite popular violence ! Although
Mr. George R. Dawson is wise in discerning the
signs of the times, his declared readiness to spread all
sail to catch the aura popularis, will not obtain a breeze
of popular favour sufficiently strong to carry him into
port. There is, however, encouragement to the cause
of the Corn-law abolition in the change he has avowed,
not so much from Mr. Dawson's own importance, as
from his known connection with, and as the recognised
expounder of, the sentiments of others.
(From the Standard.)
Swift in his " Annus Mirabilis" cautions the persons
whose change of condition he indicates as a neces-
sary consequence of the grand conjunction of
" Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn," against two serious
errors into which they were like to fall first,
over-acting their new part next, an unconscious
relapse into practices consonant with old habits, but
quite inconsistent with the adopted character. " I
would earnestly entreat," says the Dean, "the Maids
of Honour (then Ensigns and Captains of the Guards)
that at first setting out they have some regard
to their former station, and do not run wild, &c."
We decline copying the detail of the danger from
old habits against which Swift gives a caution. Pro-
bably some of our readers have been reminded of
the "Janus Mirabilis" by the rampant loyalty of
which the Whig Romanist faction have lately given
so many proofs. It certainly surpasses the loyalty of
Conservatives at present, or the Tory loyalty of
the most Tory times. Never before was loyalty so
jealous that a man dared not to quote the most
familiar principles of the British Constitution, or
even the Scripture itself, without an impeachment of
treason. Never before—at least since 1641 or 1688
—did the Romanists of Ireland think themselves
called upon to muster their half-millions to protect a
British Sovereign from the British people. We may
safely, however, leave it to our readers' own recent ex-
perience to judge of the exuberant loyalty which the
wonderful year 1839 has raised in the Romanist and
Whig-Radical classes, previously not much distinguished
for loyalty of any kind.
(From the Courier.)
The story told of the drum-major who, whenever he
applied the cat, was assailed with the same bitter com-
plaints from the criminal under the penal infliction, until
at length, with patience worn out, the flog-master ex-
claimed—" What an unreasonable man you are ; strike
where I will, there is no pleasing you ;" this story, we
say, represents with a slight variation the case of a
Mot ning Ministerialist, who, say and do what the Con-
servatives may, is resolved not to be satisfied. When
the Duke of Buckitigh-m stands up in defence of the
Corn-laws and the agricultural interest, he is roundly
taxed with sacrificing the " good of the people."
to his own private interest, or the'interests of a class.
So also when Mr. George Dawson at Devonport bids for
the suffrages of the constituency and for favour in the
eyes of the Ministerial press by the declaration that,
" he begged to say that on the call of the constituency
he could not refuse to help them to get a cheap loaf,"
. . and even "if his interests as a landlord differed
with the course which the electors pointed out, he would
willingly sacrifice them.—(Cheers.) It might be said,
that these sentiments would place him in opposition to
the Conservative party—be thought this a mistaken no-
tion,for the object of that party was the good of the
people." The idea of a party whose object should be "the
good of the people," is of course entirely ridiculed by a
journal with some pretensions to experience in the parti-
cular school of which a jobbing Government is at the
head. Mankind is never estimated so uncharitably as
when measured by the precise scale of moral turpitude
and the filthy imaginings of people who have drunk
deep of the dregs of political corruption themselves.
Seeing that Mr. Dawson had in some sort iivowed
himself a monvert, and gave promise of becom-
ing a valuable auxiliary in the cause, it might
have been anticipated that his accession would have
been hailed by the Anti-Corn-law gentry with acclaims,
not the less rapturous from the hopes, under the cir-
cumstances, perhaps, to be allowed for, of such an
example leading to other secessions from the same
ranks. No such thing, however ; Mr. Dawson is re-
pudiated only as one seeking to " poach " on other
people's domains, and threatening to divide with surly
Cerberus the crumbs of such popularity as the
cha-
rity of his former Chartist allies had not inter-
cepted. The practical lesson to be deduced from this
fact is clearly that Corn-laws are but the hypocritical
pretence, and the " good of the people" but the hollow
watchwords of faction ; that in reality the modification
or abolition of the one is as little cared for by the Anti-
Corn-law pretenders, as the beneficial consequences fal-
laciously assumed to ensue for the others are truly be-
lieved