The Sun.
London, England, 1858-06-30 00:00:00

dered, and it had ascertained whether the valuable
manure which might be wasted could not be
applied to the fertilisation of the surrounding
districts, and made to liquidate a considerable
proportion of the expense.
We must perforce be contented with make
shifts for the present year, but these should be of
the belt character, without reference to cost-,
which is but of secondary importanee, when the
lyJalth and life of two millions and a-half of
British subjects are concerned.

EAST .NORFOLK ELECTION.

(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)

So East Norfolk remains with the Whigs. The
contest has been a sharp one as the reports of the
polling show, and it is a very instructive one too.
Whether we would or no, having shown our face
in the county, as we made free to tell our readers
last week, we were forced to be present ; for we
had old friends there, and old friends hotly in for
a contested county election, as some of our readers
may know, will not let you rest in London if you
can give them a vote. You may tell them that
you care little which candidate beats, but they
will ask you in tones to which you may not for
old acquaintance-sake be insensible, whether you
do not care that they should be on the winning
side ; they will find out some mere showing of a
reason why, of the two, their man should be
yours it you. du vote, an,l vliel voa must and
share their hospitality for a day whether you eau
spare the time or not, at peril of their long dis-
pleasure. You may give a majority of one,—you
may help to make a small majority a little better,
or, it is just whispered, you, may render a mino-
rity lass despicable. What with such considera-
tions, and the good old fame of Norwich for
"cooping" voters likely to give theslip, what could
any one do but obey the summons? And how, then,
didyou vote? some inquisitive readers may ask. We
beg to remind them that we are out and out advocates
for secret voting, and how then can any one pre-
sume to ask us what our vote was ? We wish,
however of course to be obliging to all our friends
—so to our liberal friends we may reply—we
voted for the most liberal candidate ; that surely
is all they wish to know. And to our Tory friends,
for some we have, and good ones too, men who
can pardon all our Radicalism, because we can
afford to be independent and straight-forward, to
them we say, we voted as our father voted before
us. That we are sure is an answer which will
satisfy every true Conservative, for how could the
past be conserved if we do not stick to the ways
of our forefathers ?

Tuesday morning opened with no small
solicitude to both parties. Who was
to win no mortal can tell. A leading Tory lord
has been mortally affronted by his party, and it
is understood emancipated his tenants pro her vice;
" they were to be at liberty to vote as they
pleased," a boon, the meaning of which they well
understood, and doubtless used it aright. Other
Conservative landlords have, of late years, veered
round to Whiggism, and had proved their power
at the last election. Still the Tories had been
making unusual efforts . Sir HENRY STRACEY had
been first and actively in the field, and it was to
be, on his part, a thoroughly determined fight.
We went at eight o'clock to the Norwich polling
booths, where the arrangements were very good ;
on each side of the Hall where criminals were tried,
and the foot of the hill, on which stands the castle,
from which they would look down, if they could,
on the free and independent electors below, we
found two booths, surmounted respectively with
the names of STRACEY and COKE, and so widely
separated that even Irishmen would have found
it not so easy to "kick up a shindy:" However,
the not very large crowd which surrounded them
showed no disposition to do so. All was wonder-
fully quiet. A large proportion of the voters
were not personally kno;sn to the spectators or
each other ; rosettes and colours were rare. Cabs
with properly tinted placards ware almost the
only conspicuous party devices, though we did
notice one large orange flag with " CORE AND
DEFORM" for its motto. His opponent's favourite
motto seemed to be—" VOTE FOR STRACEY, THE
FARMERS' FRIEND." A friend they do need,
they generally think, no doubt, with the best
wheat at forty shillings a quarter. But we doubt
the old cry is now used up. Farmers think that
a bad harvest in France would be a better friend
to them than anything a legislator now can do.
Well, and what again of the two candidates and
the contest ? We cannot, we fear, add much to
what we have already said. Sir HENRY STRACEY.
calls himself a Derbyite out awl out. But it is
generally thought there is a very much more stiff-
necked Toryism in him than in the Noble Earl. He
is supposed to be one of the old hard class of Toriee,
and to be almost frightened at the liberal doings
of the Cabinet, by whose leaders he swears.
Truly or falsely such is his repute among the
Radicals; that now large body, therefore, in East
Norfolk almost to a man voted for COKE. A Con-
servative of the STANLEY type would, we believe,
have triumphed ; but a " farmer's friend," and a
breeder of nothing, and of less than nothing, if he
could help it, put some little opposition life into
the Independent Liberals. Then they did get
Mr. COKE—one clear political, noted above his
antagonist. He would vote for the Abolition
of Coo-eh-rates, if it ever came before the Com-
mons again, and would have voted for it had he
been in the House. This was at least en advance
on Lord PALMERSTON. It told far too much in
old Norwich, with its forty parishes, where a large
number of voters live, and where Church-rate
contsras have been bitter. As to the Ballot—
well, ho had not thought _much about it, but he
would do so ; and the report was that, on that
point, he was to be considered spevab/e. We
quite believe that he is ; that ho would at any
time vote for it rather than endanger his seat.
The battle is an instructive one both to Whigs
and Tories. The former must see that they will
have to advance from the PALMERSTON and Rus-
SELL position if they are to beat even an old
school Tory. The latter will see that they, toe,
must look out for the most liberal men of their
own party even for the counties. The very land-
lords themselves are beginning to move on a little
with the spirit of the times, and when the pre-
sent fathers are gathered to their fathers, the sons
will be found to have made a considerable ad-
vance. Let the Liberal leaders also know their
weak point, and liberal Tories their strong one.
Some of the Whig canvassers in the country dis-
tricts told us frankly that their greatest diffi-
culty wag Lae of their party. Voters
alleged openly that the Tories were dolog neetee
than the Whigs had done ; and in the midst
of hay harvest, and when they were not
even to have a glass of ale and a piece of
bread and cheese for riding, ten or a dozen miles
it might be, why should they put themselves out
of the way for such a small political gain ! Never.
theless Mr. COKE has won. An ancestral name,
deservedly popular among Norfolk agriculturists ;
the turning round of many of the Tory landlords
—on which before long we may have something
to say for the general good ; the hanging out the
vague "Reform" flag; the Parliamentary Church-
rate abolition ; and the alleged hardness of his