The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-14 00:00:00

WIGTON SHIRE,

WIGTON, JLLY o.—This picturesquely situated and pretty
town was this morning the scene of great excitement and
bustle. Political parties here are nearly at a balance. Great
exerti ins are made by the Conservatives to maintain their
victorious position, and exertions as great are not wanting on
the part of their opponents to take from them their vantage
in
nlB37election the contest,a most keen contest
nwasro u n d
maintainedA t th
he-e,
e laste
ant election,
a t t
hepresent
promises to be fully as severe, if not more so.
The hustings were en-cted against the market-cross. At 12
o'clock the candidates and their friends proceeded to the hust-
iogs. The electors and non-electors assembled amounted to
about 1,500 persons.
The Sheriff, Mr. J. WALKER, having opened his Court, and
gone through the usual preliminaries, called on any elector to
come forward and nominate a candidate.

Sir W. Al AX WELL then came forward, and proposed Mr. J.
Blair, as a fit and proper person to represent them in Parlia-
ment. He was Recondad by Colonel H. Blair, of Dunskey.
The nnise createdby the Liberals made him quite inaudible.
Mr. MTAGGART, M.P., for the Wigton district of burghs,
came forward and proposed Captain Dalrymple, as a fit cen-
didate for their suffrages. In doing this, he bore testimony
to Mr. Blair's, the late Member's zealous attention to the in-
terests of the county. He had honestly done his duty to
those who returned him. But who had returned him ? A
knot of 20 or 30 Tories. It was for them to decide whether
they would support Captain Dalrymple, the scion of a noble
house, who had Liberal principles born in him, or Mr.
Blair, who had not even the advantage of being a Scotchman.
—(Laughter and cheers). He hoped they would follow the
example of Kirkcudbright, and return Captain Dalrymple by
a triumphant majority.
Mr. GIFFORD, of Blairboy, seconded the nomination of Cap-
tain Dalrymple.
Mr. J. BLAIR, the Conservative candidate, then stepped
forward to address the electors. The noise and uproar created
avure, however, so great that we could not distinguish a word
he said for a long period. We understaod him to deprecate
the budget brought forward by her Majesty's Ministers, and
the manner, when beaten on that, that they had appealed to
the country, without the hops of success, merely to embarrass
their opponents. More than half of the population, the capital,
and the industry of this great country were engaged in agri-
culture, and yet the Ministers hed brought forward measures
calculated to effect the ruin of that great interest. The la-
bouring population would in no way be benefited thereby, for
wages would be reduced by the proposed Corn-law in greater.
proportion than the price of bread. They had been told not
to submit to !the dictation of Tory landlords, but. were there
not many of Lord Stair's tenants who would gladly vote for
him, heart and soul. if they dared do so?—( Tremendous up-
roar.) He concluded amid loud cheering and uproar.
Captain DALR.YiriPLE then came forward. He hoped to
deserve the commendation which had been be,towed upon him
by his mover and seconder. He had few claims on the electors.
he had no public character and no political experience, and he
felt great diffidence in corning before them. But he came for-
ward on their invitation so struggle for the advancement of
those principles vhieh were dear to them, and to overthrow
those of their opponents--( Bear.) Mr. Blair had made
the Corn-laws a very prominent topic. and claimed the
Support of the fanners from his support of that law.
He denied that Mr. 'Blair was more a friend of ' the
farmer than he Was. How could he be an enernY'of the
farmer, when the whole of hissupport, and thainonis h-
eady, were derived from the land? He was again,t the present
Corn-laws, because all the great authorities of Digland op-
posed those laws, as in to the landed pdpietor, and
still more so to the farile.r. Thee had been MMe' for the
purpose of creating high rents. The great evil of the Corn-
laws was that they created uncertainty and fluettiittiini.
and gambling transactions, by which the Corn-law merchants
made great fortunes, and the farmers were often ruined.
But there were other subjects besides the Corn-laws—there
were such things as civil and religious liberty, and this was
the occasion on which to speak of them. He wished to give
a full and free representation to the people and protection to
the voter. Would Mr. Blair do this ? He wished enfran-
chisement to go hand in hand with education, and that all
should have a vote who had intelligence and education to
justify it.—(Cheers.) He wished to extend the benifit of
education to all classes of the community, without any exclu-'
sin. whatever on the grounds of religious creed. Would Mr.
Blair do this's' He would give entire freedom of conscience to
the Dissenters.—(Cheers.) These were the great points of
difference between the Whigs and the Tories. He would read
to them a statement of what were the effects of Toryism when
the Tories left office in 1830. The Gallant Captain then read
a long statement from the Annual Resister, stating that mid-
night burnings and incendiarism took place all over the coun-
try, that great disorder prevailed, and finishing with the climax
that the King had been obliged to refuse to dine with the
Lord Mayor. The Gallant Captain then proceeded to a state-
ment of the amount of the national debt in 1784, when the
Whigs left office, and compared it, with the amount when the
Tories left office in 1830. The Tories had lost us America,
then our most valuable colony, now our most formidable rival.
The people of Scotland were now an enfranchised body. %Viso
had
from
mt them
them?
—a t franchise?if ear . nd
wanted who htt ds e
e tried
hold
the
farmers
happy, rich, and independent, and to secure these objects he
should think it his sacred duty to attempt, if returned by them
to Parliamen'. But there were those who called themselves
the farmers' friends, who, after the farmer had paid his rent, in-
sisted on his vote, and did their best to ruin him if he refused it.

lie wished to look on the farmers as friends. and not as slaves.
—( Cheers.) In conclusion he begged them to come early to
the poll. undi come all, and then they would make such an ex-
ample of their opponents that the very boldest Tory in Scot-
land should feel his hair stand on end.—(Cheers.)
The &met FF then put the question to the electors to choose
their representative, and declared the show of hands to be in
favotir.of Captain Dalrymple.
Mr. Blair, having demanded a poll, the Sheriff appointed the
poll to commence on Tuesday next at nine o'clock, at Wigton
and Stranraer, and to conclude at four o'clock on Wednesday.
t •

Tjfiresident of the Nottingham Farming and
• lit - 0
Grazing. ociety, on presenting a prize cup to a young
man, thus addressed him—" Now, young man, take this
cup, and remember always to plough deep and drink
liallow,'!,.