The Sun.
London, England, 1840-10-07 00:00:00

§3lllT+

LONDON:
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1840.

The contest for the Mayoralty is closed, and
Mr. llAoarEo. is defeated. The numbers at the
close of the poll were, HARMER, 2,294; JOHN-
sox, 2,713; PIRIE, 2,741. Mr. HARMER has
therefore lost by 419 votes. The whole number
polled was not above 5,035, or the half of the
Livery. We see much in the contest to regret,
but mcist in the issue.
Personally, Mr. HARMER has gained much by
it. He has been made better known to the Li-
very, and their respect for him has increased. On
the hustings, yesterday, with a proud feeling,
which his competitors must envy, and which must
make his enemies smart, he could use the fol-
iating language :
Gentlemen, there is an old maxim, which I have
found to be strictly true on this occasion, it is, " That
prosperity gains friends and adversity tries them."—
(Cheers.) Many individuals, who.were profuse in their
expressions of regard, and stated how anxious they
were to do me any service when those services were
not wanted, have upon the present occasion, when their
support was required, withdrawn themselves.—(Cries
of " Shame.") But if I have been mortified at the con-
duct of some from whom I certainly had a right to expect
something, I have been highly gratified by the zealous
sappo-t I have received from others with whom I had
but u slight acquaintance.—( Hear, hear, and cheers.)
It has been a source of the highest satisfaction to me to
see some of the old friends with whom I associated in
my younger days, and whom I believed to have gone to
that " bourne from whence no traveller returns," coming
here, and giving me their vote, and shaking me cordially
by the hand.—(Cheers.) Many of those friends have
been Liverymen of 40 or 50 years' standing.--(Cheers.)
To witness the support I have received, notwithstand-
ing the ealur:,nies that have been heaped upon me, has
given me the most heartfelt satisfaction, indeed, many
of my friends have come from a considerable distance
in the country, at their own expense, in order to vote for
me, and thereby defend me from the foul aspersions that
have been cast upon me.
Mr. RICHARD TAYLOR. (the well-known
printer), than whom there does not exist a more
intelligent or more conscientious man in the
Common Council, bore the following testimony to
Mr. HARMER'S character:—
No person could look at Alderman Harmer without
seeing that he was a good-hearted man. In his own
ward he had done the greatest good, and he was one of
the most pains-taking Magistrates that ever presided on
the Bench.—(Loud cheers.) He was a man also of
great private virtue, and his charity, though not brought
before the public, was extensive. lithe majority against
Alderman Banner had been ten times as great as it was
at present, he should have been proud of standing by,
for be thought that a more honourable, upright, and con-
scientious man did not exist.—(Cheers.)
Having quoted these passages to satisfy our
readers that Mr. HARMER is a worthy man, and
has been subjected, for a party purpose, to most
harsh and unjust treatment, we must leave the
personal part of the question, to explain the prin-
ciples on which we took up the contest, and sup-
ported Mr. HARMER to the best of our ability. If
it were a mere personal, or party question, we
should think that we owed a very humble apology
to our distant readers for saying so much on a sub- The trial of Captain REYNOLDS is now over.
ject which chiefly concerns our own locality. All the information that is to be obtained has been
That it is of public importance must be evdent given ; and, while the sentence is receiving the
by the warmth with which the whole of the Tory sanction of the Horse Guards, we shall pronounce
Journals have taken up the matter, and have filled our judgment on the whole affair. The facts are
their columns day after day with leaders, letters, and few and simple, and a great talent for analysis is not
communications, vituperating Mr. HARMER. It required
is true that the aristocratic Whig press has been to come to a satisfactory conclusion.
The first step is, that the Earl of CARDIGAN,
silent on the subject. On one day, and one day on bei:ig asked at a private party, in his own house,
only, the Morning
Chronicle contained a para. " Where are the Captains REYNOLDS," replied
graph, which we fwebore at the time from inserting, rudely, and as the answer wasgiven to a lady, most
because it was calculated to do injury to Mr. 'JAR- rudely," That they shall never eter my house again," The question of Medical Reform is slowly ac-
a/Eles cause; but on no other occasion did it con- or words to that effect. The observation was reported quiring a public interest commensurate with its
lain one line of its own on the subject. The Globe to Captain iiEYNOLnS, whether accurately or not importance. It has found its way from the columns
was almost as silent. The Times, the Moning is of no importance, who, thinking the observation
Resale!, O. CAR-
, the Morning Post, the Standard, the calculated to injure him, wrote to the Earl of the Lancet and the Medical Gazelle to the
more imposing pages of the British and Foreign
Courier, on the contrary—and some of them had
point of view, seem
DIGAN for an explanation or disavowal. The , been at the work for weeks—exerted all their power.;
was private Review, the last Number of which contains a very
faernd.tgentlem.
daily again t
3 r. HARMER. He had the influence to us of no earthly importance,, sensible
, well-intended article on the progress made
I
Ibv the advocates of Medical Reform during the
of Parliament. That a question so
of the two Aldermen put in nomination aaainq but it was at once polite, firm
him. All the • anly. aSession
:It
Saints were against him. The Instead of answering that letter as a gentleman important to the whole community, without regard
Bishops and theL
"le* as he says, were against him. to have answered it, the Earl of CARDIGAN I
The vilest arts were employed by his opponents to .1
ought
to sect or party, has hitherto made so little progress,
called Captain REYNOLDS from the ranks, and in is mainly owing to the purely professional form in
blacken his charactera .
Withotol# laAtifri,iii.c;tutid influence the people. the presence of the Adjutant and the Major gave which it has been treated by medical writers. These
truth the most vulgar him directions not to send
.any letters to him gentlemen assumed, on the part of their readers, a
prejud)e Cre appealed to; the
o, Monarchy and; unless official acid officially directed. Now this knowledge f facts and an acquaintance with
•

Considering the arts and the influence which
were employed, it is an astonishing thing to have
upwards of two thousand Liverymen voting accord-
ing to our view, for complete freedom of dis-
cussion. Some of them might only mean to
support the principle of rotation, or a personal
friend, or an honest man ; but the Tories put the
contest on a high religious and political ground,
and, according to their view, there must be in the
Livery more than 2,000 enemies of the Monarchy
and of Christianity. They call themselves Con-
servatives, and they have, by claiming a despotism
over opinion, converted a humble contest for the
Civic Chair of the Metropolis, into an enduring
strife about the first principles of Government, and
the truth of Christianity. Mr. HARMER has been
defeated, but the power and circulation of the Dis-
patch have been promoted. He has been ex-
cluded from the Civic Chair, but those opinions
and principles which the Conservatives call dan-
gerous, have been spread far and wide through the
land.

This news, which was communicated to the
French Government by telegraph from Madrid, in-
cludes all that was known in Paris on Monday re-
lative to Spanish affairs.
The tone of the French Journals of
Monday, is exceedingly warlike. The tem-
pest without had found an echo in the Ca.
binet, half the members of which were for
war, and the other half for peace. The KING
headed the peace patty, which, including his MA.
JESTY, constituted a majority by a single vote. But.
Louts PHILIPPE being something more than an
individual in the National Councils, the prepon-
derance was greatly in favour of the peace side of
the balance. M. THIERS had quite gone over to
the left or ODI LLON BARROT party, trusting to mob
influence to secure the triumph of his policy. M.
GUIZOT on the contrary declared for the KING'S
side, and advised the convocation of the Chambers,
and the appointment of a new Ministry. The
contest in France is furious ; but every thing
depends on the Chambers. It is a pity that the
removal of M. THIERS from office was not resolved
upon before the country was in such a ferment as
to take the question of peace or war out of the
hands of statesmen, to be decided by popular
clamour or accident.

. Another principle of very considerable public
interest, namely, how far the proprietor of a publi-
cation is to be responsible for, or identified with,
the opinions it promulgates, has been brought
under discussion by this contest, but we shall post-
pone cur remarks on that till another opportunity.