The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-18 00:00:00

SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE
ELECTION.
(FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.)
Mein lELD, FRIDAY.

The nomination and re-election of the Hon. Colonel
Anson, on his appointment as Clerk of the Ordnance,
took place to-day. R.W. Hands, Esq., under-sheriff of the
county, officiated as returning .officer. No opposition to
the re-election of the Hon. and Gallant Colonel was
offered. The nomination of the Hon. Member was pro-
posed by the lion. Eiward Littleton, who, after compli-
menting the Gallant Officer for his past services as a re-
presentative, proceeded to say, that though the all-
exciting and absorbing question of the corn-laws
had now been, as was hoped, set at rest for
ever, there was much that yet remained to
be done, not only in regard to the sugar duties, but also
in reference to the policy to be pursued by the Govern-
ment towards Ireland. The state of that country was
described by the Hun. Gentleman as being a disgrace
to the people of any country, more especially those of
England, who looked upon it as a part of their own
civilised nation. As to the people as a mass, they were
ignorant, and sunk in poverty, while the external ap-
pearance of the abodes of the peasantry showed the
squalor and wretchedness which prevailed within them.
The crime of murder, too, he was sorry to say, in seine
parts ut the country was not considered such a heinous
elfenee as it should be, but what otherwise could be ex-
pected when the people were butlittlebetter than brutes ?
Al ter expressing his confidence that the present
Government would bring forward measures which
would benefit the people of Ireland, and would also
look with attention to the state of education, and the
sanatory condition of the towns and villages of this
country, the Lion. Gentleman concluded by proposing
the Hon. Colonel George Anson as a fit and proper
person, &c., anci retired amid loud applause.
The Rev. T. 0. B. FLOYER seconded the nomination
in a speech of some length, and remarkable for the
latitudinarianism displayed by the speaker in reference
to the question of national education.
There being no other candidate nominated, the Hon.
Colonel .Anson was declared duly elected.
The Hon. Member was then about to address the
electors, when C. J. Foster, Esq., late High Sheriff of
the county, came forward and said it was not his inten•
tion to offer any opposition on the present occasion ; on
the contrary as a Conservative—a Conservative more
in the literal than the party sense of the term—he
begged to say that he rejoiced at the unanimity which
had marked the proceedings of the day. Ho felt that
any opposition to the Government at the r resent
moment would be unfair to the ministry and injurious
to the country.—(Loud cheers.) He rejoiced to see the
unopposed elections throughout the kingdom, and he
did hope, that now the opportunity was afforded them,
they would think fit to bring forward measures that
would tend to improve the social and moral condition of
the people, and at the same time avoid any dangerous
and anarchical measures.—(Loud cheers.)
The Hon. Col. Anson then addressed the electors at
great length, and having thanked the electors for the
honour they had again conferred on him, observed that
by doing that they had not only sanctioned his indivi-
dual conduct, but also the coarse pursued by
Lord John Russell during the last five years;
and as well they had thus sanctioned the line
of future policy so recently laid down.—(Hear,
hear.) When they looked at the unopposed elections
throughout the kingdom, it did appear that there was a
general feeling that good principles and good measures
were the basis upon which the present Government
would act. After alluding to the course pursued by the
Whigs while out of office, and the triumphant acknow-
ledgement of the soundness of their policy by Sir. R.
Peel, the Hon. Gentleman proceeded to observe that
no danger need be apprehended from the course that
would be pursued by the Noble Lord at the head of her
Majesty's Government, as his past efforts had
ever been to repair and amend existing insti-
tutions, not to destroy, them.—(Hear and cheers.)
After thanking Sir Robert Peel for the great boon he
had conferred upon this country by the measures of
commercial policy, the Hon. Member proceeded to justify
his course of conduct in voting against the Irish Coercion
Bill—a measure which he denounced as unconstitutional,
and for which no necessity had been shown, inasmuch
as it had not been pretended. that the present laws had
been carried to their full extent. After stating
his opinion that no coercive measures, however
stringent, would reconcile a people to bad govern-
ment, the Hon. Member maintained that the more
effectual mode of destroying agitation, of quel-
ling bloodshed, and elevating the people of Ire-
land, would be to grant them the same political and
municipal rights as were exercised by the people of Eng-
land, and by improving their social condition. The
Hon. Member then briefly alluded to his intention of
supporting a more liberal system of national education,
as well as a due provision for the better regulation of the
sanatory condition of towns and villages. On con-
ducing, the Hon. Member was asked whether, in the
event of a Bill being proposed, qualifying parties to vote
in borough elections where they paid a rental of 101., he
would support it, and having answered in the affirmative,
the Hon. Gentleman retired amid loud cheers. A vote
of thanks to the Under-Sheriff was subsequently carried,
and the proceedings terminated.