The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-09 00:00:00

ItEPtESENTATION OF HERT-
FORDSHIRE.
The election of a Member to serve in Parliament for
county of Herts, in the place of Lord Grimston, who
called to the Upper House of Parliament by the de-
Lease of his father, Lord Verulam, was held at Hertford
yesterday.
It being generally understood that there was to be no
opposition, there was, of course, none of the excitement
that
attended a contested election. The only candidate
in the field, Mr. T. P. Halsey, was attended to the hust-
ings by about 150 gentlemen on horseback, and a num-
ber of flags and banners.
The usual proclamation having been made, and the
writ read, by Mr. Longmore, the Under-Sheriff,
Sir H. Mstix stood forward, and having briefly stated
the object for which they were assembled, requested
that the electors would give every gentleman who might
please to address them a patient hearing.
Mr. D. RADCLIFFE then proposed Mr. Thomas Plumer
lf they as a fit and proper person to represent the
runty of Hertfordshire in Parliament. Eleven years
a4o he had proposed their late representative, Lord
Crimston, and at that period, as at the present, the con-
d'r'en and the prospects of the agricultural interest were
tl:, all-absorbing topics of interest in the public mind.
A the period to which he referred a gloom hung over
3 culture, not from the acts of any Government, but
b ause it had pleased Providence to afflict them with bad
harvests. Almost ever since, however, with the exception
of the exaggerated failure of the potato crop, the har-
vests had been abundant, but yet, at a period of al-
most unexampled prosperity, when the country was
hadpy and contented, when there was a great demand
for labour, and every branch of the national industry was
in a pro:,perous condition, they had been thrown into a
state of almost unparalleled excitement. And what was
the cause of all this ? Why, because amonster, hitherto
unknown in this country, a monied monopoly, has been
suffered to rear its hideous horn, and make giant strides
to invade their hearths and homes.--(Hear, hear.)
When he had the honour of addressing the meeting at
the agricultural dinner of the county, he told them that
ho doubted the sincerity of Sir Robert Peel. He at that
time thought he could discover the small black cloud in
the distance, which he expected would burst and spread
destruction around ; but upon that principle of English
justice which considered every man innocent until he
was proved to be guilty, he would forbear from
branding him with treachery until they knew what he
really meant to do ; but, at the same time, recent oc-
currences plainly showed that it was necessary for them
to ho on their guard. It had been truly said
that ingratitude was so hateful a crime, that
the man who was guilty of it could not be
guilty of any other, for all were comprised in it, and he
was still willing to believe that Sir Robert Peel would
not be a traitor to those who had placed him in power.
Upon this vital question of protection to agriculture,
however, there should be no temporising ; and he was
sorry to see, that at the meeting at Bedford, Lord Al-
thorp had likened their position, with Sir Robert Peel at
their head, to passengers in a train on the railway who,
expecting to go at the rate of thirty miles an hour, found
that the engineer was taking them at the rate of a hun-
dred ; and when they remonstrated with him upon the
danger to which he subjected their lives, his only answer
was, that there was another train behind him coming at
the rate of a hundred and fifty miles an hour, and
they, therefore, thought it better to go on with him,
than to run the risk of travelling by the still faster train.
He must venture to express his opinion that they were
foals who would travel with such an engineer at all, and
that the better course, if he persisted, would be to get
another engineer to conduct the train, and to pay no at-
tention to the 150-mile an hour train behind them, but
to feel assured that the result would be that it would
destroy itself, but would not injure any but those upon
it.- —(Hear. and a laugh. A voice in the crowd, " But it's
nearly at the station.') He need not tell them that by
the 150-mile an hour train he referred to that unprinci-
pled band of conspirators known as the Anti-Corn-law
League—(Hear, and interruption)—a set of men who
were denounced by the respectable persons of all parties
in politics, and whom the great head of the Whig party
in that county, Lord Dacre' had denounced as a
monied oligarchy.—(Cheers.) It was not so much what
th Anti-Corn-law League said that he objected, to as
hat they did. They might get an audience together
in Covent-garden Theatre to hear them spouting, the
-:ene as they would go to see a pantomime or any other
xhibition, and all their talking there would have no
o,,,ri;t effect on the laws of England than dancing "Jim
w."—(Laughter.) But what made them formidable

, that they presumed to interfere with the privileges
Parliament, that they had tampered with the elective
‘_ta"chile, and had endeavoured to separate the mina-
• tee uring and the agricultural interest, and to set them
in opposition to each other.—(Hear, hear.) They were
toll that the League had obtained large sums of money ;
and with what object ? Was it for patriotic pur-
pose: ? No. Their leaders unblushingly repudiated
,)ity patriotic views, and Mr. Heywood, at a meet-
ng at Manchester, unhesitatingly admitted that
the,e sums of money were intended to be ap-
plied to furthering the interest and increasing the profits
r,,f the manufacturers. A great deal had been said
sheet Lord John Russell joining the League, and de-
claring his adherence to what was called free trade ;
but he must say that, in his opinion, it looked more like
aarrying out that feeling which prevailed in the mind of
Lucifer, that it was better to " reign in hell than serve in
he even."—(Cheers, and interruption.) He could conceive
many humiliating positions, such as being a joint of
J'Connell's wit ; or the feelings of Mr. Macaulay, when
he wrote his humble epistle from Edinburgh, when he
3xoc.cted to he indicting a high-flown document from
Windsor Castle ; but, in his opinion, nothing could be so
Humiliating to any person of character as an association
with the infernal League.—(Hear, and laughter.) There
was not, however, in his opinion, any cause to fear the
result. The British lion was moved, and he would
shake like dewdrops from his mane the scum of the
League. Let them wait patiently for the meeting of
Parliament, and they would then see whether the
Minister would dare to propose any measure such as has
been threatened, and whether he would league himself
with those who declared their object to be to destroy the
aristocracy of the land. If he should do so—if he should
thereby declare the legality of the exercise of this money
monopoly—then, at the eleventh hour, the agricultural
interest of England would come forward and beat their
'3p7onents with their own weapons.—(Cheers.) There
should be 100,000/. subscribed in every county in Eng-
land.—(Renewed cheering.) He knew a great number
of gentlemen now ready to come forward with a thou-
,D,TO pounds. He, a plain country gentleman, would
out down his thousand pounds, aye, and would sacri-
fice half his fortune, rather than yield to the
tyranny of these democratic despots.—(Great cheering.)
lien and money were ready ; and if it should come to
what he alluded to, he had no doubt they should scatter
i3right and Cobden, and the other members of the
League, like chaff before the wind. While upon this
mbject of the proceedings of the League, he begged
_ave to address a few words to the labourers, and to
idvise them not to be deluded by the specious argu-
ments that were made use of by the League, and to look
spun every man as their enemy who endeavoured to in-
duce them to believe that those who were above them
were indifferent to any privations they might undergo,
ar that they were the cause of their suffering them; and
when they talked of cheap bread to them, they should
ask them to tell them the condition of the peasantry in
tLe countries where bread was cheap. He could tell
them this, that in Italy they would see poor wretches
scrambling for a piece of orange-peel when a hatful of
;ranges could be had for a penny.—(Hear, hear.) After
some further observations, the Hon. Gentleman con-
.7Juded by proposing Mr. alsey, in the usual form.
Mr. JOHN BEGO, of Stanstead, said that, as a tenant-
arwer in the county, he had great pleasure in seconding
-1., nomination of Mr. Halsey to represent the county
'arliament. lie had come forward and boldly and
o testly avowed his principles, and he had no doubt he
could act up to them ; and he trusted that, when the
liament met, the Members would do their duty, and
the promises made by them at the last election.—
Hear, hear.) It might be said that no political ques-
t ice was at present actually before the country as Par-
lament was not sitting ; but he trusted that if, as was
aleaured would be the case, Sir Robert Peel was to
tee met to deprive the agricultural interest of any
portion of that small protection which they now
t ijoyed, that the landed proprietors of the country would
:ia together to resist such an attempt. At the time of
~eo panic caused by the recent changes, when Lord John
'..tussell was called upon to form an Administration, he
.114 sustained a loss of 8L upon two waggons of corn,
and he had no doubt he must have continued to have sold
t the same loss if he had succeeded in doing so; but for-
t enately he was not strong enough for the place. The
pflect of depriving agriculture of the protection it new
enjoyed must, in his opinion, be most ruinous—it would,
at all events, reduce the price of agricultural produce by
)ue-third, and which must necessarily fall upon
the labouring population. He farmed five hundred acres
of land, and had to till fifty-seven mouths from the pro-
duce of his farm ; bat if his receipts were diminished
one-third, it would be impossible for him to continue
t support his labourers, and he must discharge the
greater portion of them ; and although be might be most
'unwilling to do so, yet he should have no alternative.
The Riau &team having inquired whether any
)ther candidate was to be proposed, and receiving no
answer, he declared Mr. Halsey duly elected.
Mr. HALSEY then stood forward, and was loudly
dileered. He said that if he was not able to return thanks
in an adequate manner for the high honour and trust
filet was reposed in him, it WAS not from any want of
,ratitude, but solely from a want of proper language to
oxpress his feelings. He felt that it was a great honour
for him, a young man and untried, to be elected their
representative, and he could assure them that he had a
trong determination to merit their kindness by his
deeds. He was aware of the great responsibility that at
ail times was attached to the position of a Member of
parNanient, but that responsibily was very greatly in.
,:le2sed in times like the
present. Still, however, he
'loped that,
by steady adhesion to the principles be
!sad espoused, he should be able on a future occasion
his stewardship that would
o) give an account Of
and
,honourable to himself.
e satisfactory to them,
A° believed that his political opunons were pretty well
town in the county; but on this occasion he might be
•ccused for making a few observations upon the present
ate of affairs. The circumstances of the present race
A month ago they saw a
cut were most peculiar.
- stry, apparently strong in itself, and possessing a
r majority in Parliament, suddenly dissolved_not
,- any external agency, but from internal dissensions.
•. : • saw Lord John Russell sent for to form an Admi-
. tion, and although there were very few things
that Noble Lord would not attempt, yet there was
• sing that he clearly could not succeed in, namely,
; .aining any portion of public confidence or sympa-
,or a party that four years ago was ignominiously
,ed from power by the Lamest
eseanitu°Ce" , safely
willof
dthe-
e Lord John Russellwit.% unanimous ti fe
jtr ered of a still-born Administration, and he Meat say
that it was a most happy deliverance foi the copat,y.