The Sun.
London, England, 1833-04-24 00:00:00

MR. BARCLAY'S COMMITTEE would
have allowed the foul aspersions thrown upon them
by Mr. J. J. Wright at a Dinner given to Mr. Alderman
Thompson, on the 9th in-tant, to pass unnoticed, as this
person's practice of alternately praising and calumniating
every party in the town arid state is sufficiently wet;
known in this neighbourhood to reader his vituperation
here perfectly harmless.—But the knowledge that his
inane abuse has been noticed by the press of the metro-
polis, where its antidote, acquaintance with the character
of the man, does not accompany it, induces them to give a
formal contradiction to certain of his statements. It were
endless to quote all the false and infamous passages in this
person's speech, as reported by different newspapers; but
they feel it due to themselves to declare, that Cie following
statements contained in it, which the speaker has thrown
into the form of interrogatories, are entirely devoid of
truth. He asks, " Have we not heard of threats, menaces,
and intimidations ? have we not heard of notices to quit
threatened on tenants ? have we not heard of custom with-
drawn and custom promised? coals forbidden to be
sold to certain individuals, and quick turns premised
to others? have we not seen the agents of a Noble Lord
drag the electors to the poll like sheep to the slaughter ? "
—Mr. Barclay'a friends give a decided negative to all
these interrogatories, and dare the calumniator to the
proof, with a firm conviction that the characters of their
opponents would not issue pure from a like examination.
The Committee take ►eave further to remark on the pas-
sage which imputes to them the attempt to induce per-
sons, who had signed the requisition to Alderman Thomp-
son, to violate their engagements, " thus tempting them
(to use the wards of Mr. W.) to commit an act of moral
profligacy that makes the mind of every honourable man
shudder to contemplate," that signatures to the Requisi-
tion had been obtained on such various conditions, not ful-
filled—such as that a worthy Baronet was to be raised to
the Peerage, that there was to be no contest, &c.—whilst,
in no ascertained case had the real object, the system of
agitation, by which Captain Barrington was to be driven
from Parliament, been honestly avowed, that the " shud-
der " of the honourable man would be elicited only by
the mancouvres by which so many electors were meanly
entrapped.
Mr. Barclay's Committee suggest to Alderman Thomp-
son whether the general tenor of his own speech is con-
sistent with that passage of it in which lie disclaims the
wish to keep alive any unkind feeling called into existence
by this contest? They would -ask whether individuals
who have long held a high rank in the esteem of the in-
habitants of this neighbourhood, should be subjected to
the unmerited sarcasms of a comparative stranger e Lord
Durham's reputation has long been public property ;
and be has passed through the ordeal unsullied. Sir
Iledworth Williamson'e public life has been of shorter
duration ; but whilst it has lasted it has been unim
peachahle. Mr. Thompson has the best wishes of this
Committee, that his Parliamentary career may be as
pure as that of the individuals to whorn he has imputed
intentions of which they are incapable. His lamenta-
tion over the honour of the legal profession, called forth
by the circumstance of Mr. Barclay's law-agents hav-
ing polled for that gentleman—a lamentation echoed by
one of his " constitutional advisers," a Mr. Proud—
ought to be considered rather as a proof of his own igno•
ranee of the practice of elections and of the law on the
subject than of the heinousness of the offence. The prac-
tice is by no means unusual, and was observed by Mr.
Bell's law-agents in the recent contest for the Southern
Division of Northumberland.
Mr. Barclay's Committee had nothing to do with the
surcharges to which Mr. Thompson refers, nor had Go-
vernment. They were imposed by the local authorities,
in the ordinary course of business, indiscriminately on the
supporters of both parties. The Honourable Member de-
clares his intention of bringing this case before the House
of Commons. Nothing would give Mr. Barclay's friends
greater satisfaction than Parliamentary investigation of all
the circumstances connected with this election.
Sunderland, April 17th, 1833.

MONTHLY REPORT OF CORN,
BY ORDER OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 1116 MAJESTY'S