The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-28 00:00:00

ELECTIONEERING VIRTUE!

(From the Times.)
We are not among those who despair of this
country. We see in it natural elements of strength
that may defy any enemy from without or traitor
within. It is not the Army that we trust, or the
Navy, or the Departments, or the Government
altogether, or the nobility, or the middle classes, or
the yeomanry, or the peasantry, or the religious, or
the patriotic, or the national feeling, or Norman
pride or Saxon independence, or public opinion, or
gentlemanly feeling, or anything usually supposed
to constitute the real pluck of the old British lion.
All these grand qualities are so alloyed and dis-
guisedthat we would rather leave to more partial
pens the task of proving their influence. We point
triumphantly, not to the ships which are at Ports-
mouth, and the fortifications which are not at
Woolwich ; not to Rifle Corps which are not any
where that we know of, nor to Armstrong guns,
which are not yet made; but to the strongholds of
British corruption—Ashburton, and Wakefield, and
Huddersfield, and Dartmouth. Is not it fairy land ?
Is not it Prince Arthur and Merlin over again ?
Show us a country where such candidates, such
agents, such electors, such electors' wives, are things
of every day occurrence, and we will show you one
that may defy all the world. The men who will
throw untold notes and sovereigns into an open
drawer in a committee-room,where all sorts of people
are coming and going, helping themselvs, stuffing
notes into envelopes, and filling their pockets with
sovereigns as a schoolboy does with nuts, just for
the pleasure of tacking " M.P." to their names for
a couple of years, won't sneak out of the way in
the event of an invasion. They will throw them-
selves into the gap, as they do into the front
parlour of a publichouse, when they know the
doings going on in the back parlour. They won't
count their money or the drops of life blood. Be
the way smooth or rough, they will go through it ;
be the obstacle moral or physical, they will go
slap at it. Perhaps it will seem even more of a para-
dox to express much reliance on the patriotism of
the gentlemen, sometimes with various names, who
are always appearing at a pinch to release one
elector from a creditor, another from a bill of sale,
another from his landlord ; but let it be considered
that human affairs want ready instruments, and
here they are ready enough, in all conscience. But
observe, on the one side, the plausibie exterior, on
the other the nervous reality. The plausible exte-
rior is the " appeal to the country," the virtues of a
£lO househoulder, the solemn decision of Ashbur-
ton, or Wakefield, or Dartmouth, or Huddersfield,
and the official auditor's return of Election Ex-
penses—say, £53 is. 21d. This is the outside.
This is the British Constitution as it appears in
books, and as it supplies a model to all nations,
and as it forms the basis for continual im-
provement. The nervous reality is the notorious
understanding that at any one of these places
last April an elector might by judicious manage-
ment obtain for his vote at least £5O. To which p
of these shall we trust the defence of the island .
We are ashamed to write it, but the truth must be
spoken •,• we would rather trust our livestothaeSde
political desperadoes, buying and sellingthe votes, n
committing all sorts of offences against
Consti-
tution, than to the 'enlightened gentlemen
wish.the ballot-box to be the only medium
between
who
.
i eians
seoteear be
have stern
an Englishman's heart and the House of ocfomhinci
Commons.ein
It is true that these characters see
two of these cases, and we
are
politicians. unfortunately
deprived of two enlightened
and inexorable committeespassed
s. Two
p t
judgment, one on Mr. Leathern, Mr. Bright's
brother-in .law, and member Wakefield, and
1
another on Mr. Schenley, of for
Dartmouth. We de-
plore the loss, of two such
beingmensucho avtilcees i
t novices
netrhale sairdte,
of the house, even while we are forced to admit
that, no doubt, through
k
their friends have rat
ndeed overdonet the thing in the
bribery.,he doings, at both these
strong—stronger, we think,
at the larger constituency than at the smaller.
Why should Ashburton 'be disfranchised for her
way
places of
were
exceedingly
Tozer, when Wakefield caR boast her Wainwright,
her Hinchcliff, hper Jeffries, alias Noble, and their
lady coadjutors . There is a noble simplicity,
however, in the story of Ashburton.
.There appears
to be a wish to reduce the personages of the drama
to thenst ni fewest possible. 0 l 180 voted, ninetymg
man who had been the
againety, and every
nyth. turned on one
object of rival atten-
tions ever since the first threat of a dissolution.
The vir pietate gravis who presented himself, or
rather was let down by a machine, to settle the
angry strife which had riven the boroughof Ash-
burton,
s -
burton, was a remarkable
character. After standing
and prosecuting various lawsuits, after being sued
for damages, and taking the benefit of the Insol
vent Debtors Ad Mr. Leeman finally cofygd to one

NEWSPAPER
-',.-Eiebr
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for considerably moreith, • ..,-1, -d .. ,I, ,
• ' - 4 2 .4' 44*-- '
i cm' sOme time he had had ", .
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. ,4.,
tlioen.oh a hundred. creditors m ' ,.. ~`,..r551.,i, n, . .
4
.... • „,,.(,,....:7 liim, every election agent line, i .414, 71- -.•
~.,
tuition, Rut of course he kept , •-. . ''' ti .. 4.
Modest he very properly was undelgtheist :. 7
Circumstances the greater the value or his voaxte./1. -
became evident that at article of such value rn
get its price, and must, . too, be sold in the open t!.
market ; so attorneys, and sheriffs' officers sur- ~
rounded the hustings, ready to pounce on the deb=
tor, and get. either }IN _body_ or his . vote._ _ Every__
Other vote on the register had been polled except 1
.those of the dead ; it was 20 minutes to four, an& •
(
he votes were equal. It looked almost like a Pro-
vidential interpositiOn. Mr. Leeman was, as he '
believed, the victim of persecution, and was now
proscribed for a paltry hundred or so. An angel
was at hand ready to. give a check for the amount,
and restore Mr. Leeman once more to society. _
It required some little management. He
might vote, 'and not pay his creditor ; or the
creditor might be paid, and the debtor not vote.
But the proper ceremonialwas hit on ; the chequer
was handed over to the delighted creditor, Mr. Lee- '
man- gave his vote, and Mr. Astell became the
honoured representative of Ashburton. Who can
scrutinize the ineaus when the results are so good?
Wakefield wants this unity of plot, but makes up
for it in grandeur of operations. If we are to judge
from the few cases gone into, the two candidates
must have spent at least £20,000 in trying which
,could most corrupt a constituency of near a thou-
sand. If anybody wants a fairy godmother, Alad-
din's lamp, Fortunatus's cap, Sinbad's diamonds, or
any other pleasant thing he •has ever read of, let
him go to Wakefield, take a small house in a by-
street, do nothing, get into diffieulties, and be
slightly indifferent to his reputation. Long before
the next election, a stranger, or somebody he has
just seen, will enter his house, and show the most
unexpected interest in- his affairs. The stranger
will ask . whether he has a son to put out in life,
whether he is 'himself a man of a grateful and gener-
ous temper, how he stands at the corner shop and
the loan society. Should he show any surprise or
look awkward, the stranger *ill request an intro-
duction to his wife, who, strange to say, will
exhibit a much greater capacity ' for business
than her dull husband. She will want £3O or
£5O; for what, Heaven knows. She will ask to
see the money paid r and, if she carries her
point, it will be laid on the table, and she
will pocket it, just returning an odd sove-
re.n. for- luck to- the bearer. If it is left to the
husband, besides being defrauded of his full per-
quisite;he commits the egregious folly of putting
his name to a promissory note, which, however, if .
he takes his wife's advice, he will not pay much
attention to. If his wife has all the wisdom of her
sex, after taking the .00 and leaving the bit of
paper in its place, the husband will satisfy his con-
science by voting clean contrary to • the purpose of
the transaction, and then communicate all these in-
terestin,g facts to Nun Election Committee. It is
impossible to say how much he will meet from both
sides by this management,- besides the credit to
himself and glory to the borough of Wakefield. As
for the politics of these two towns, we had almost
forgotten them. However, to give them their due,
it is evident that both Ashburton and Wakefield
are naturally and spontaneously Conservative. It
is painfully evident that it is only by bribery that
they can become Liberal. As, in our humble opi-
nion, it is for the public good that they should re-
turn Liberal members, we are driven to the con-
clusion that they must be either bribed or done
away with altogether. At present we seem to want
men of action rather than political parity ; su,
shocking as it is; we incline to the opinion that
these boroughs—we forget how many there are—
had better remain for the present marketable com-
modities. If they are not to be so, how is Mr. I3right
to have a Parliamentary following ?

LORD JOjINRUSSELL'S PRUSSIAN

DESPATCH.

Yesterday was issued with the Parliamentary
papers a copy of the despatch of the 22d ultimo
from Lord John Russell to Lord Bloomfield. A
translation of it was published in all the English
newspapers a few days ago, and, having been
obtained in a very roundabout way, was spoken of
by the Foreign Minister in the House of Commons
as containing inaccuracies. The original is as
follows :

Foreign-office, June 22,
My Lord,—Her Majesty "Government observes,
with, great concern, a disposition in Germany to
take part in the war which, has broken out between
France and Sardinia on the one side and Austria
on the other.

Upon the temperate and enlightened conduct of
Prussia depends, in a great measure, the solution
of the question whether the present war shall be
confined within the limits of Italy, or whether it
shall be extended to the whole of Germany, and,
perhaps, to other parts of Europe.
The Emperor NaTpolemi has declared that helms
no intention of attacking Germany. It is hoped
and believed that the Prince Regent of Prussia
will not become a party to an attack upon France.
But it has been argued that Germany, though not
assailed directly, is assailed indirectly; that if she
takes no part in the war upon the Po, she may
soon have to defend herself on the Rhine ; that the
fortresses of Austria on the Mincio and the Adige
are, in fact, the barriers of Germany against
France.

There is much loose and unproved assertion in
this statement.

It cannot be denied that the war between Aus-
tria and Sardinia is a war arsing (perhaps inevi-
tably) frem the condition of. Italy. For a long
period after 1815, Austria exercised a virtual
supremacy over the States of Italy ; of late years
Sardinia has favoured and fostered the Italian pas-
sion for independence.
Count Bud, when asked by Lord Augustus
Loftus to give an assurance that in no case would
Austria move a soldier across the frontier in Italy
without previous concert with France, replied in
these terms .—" No ; I cannot give you that assur-
ance, for it would be a surrender of our sovereign
power. We shall not interfere in any State
unless our aid is asked for, an?. in that case it
will be granted, and the knowledge that it will
be granted is the best preservative of order."
Thus Austria would not recede from her claim of a
right of interference, when asked for, nor Sardinia
renounce her pretensions to represent the sorrows
and aspirations of Italy. But, unable to carry on
such a contest alone; the King of Sardinia has asked
and obtained the aid of the Emperor of the French.
We are not now speaking of the immediate origin
of the war: my predecessor has fully explained the
views of her Majesty upon this subject. It is
plaint however, from the statement I have made,
that cause of war existed in the opposlt?, pretensions
of Austria and Sardinia. It is with no view to
Germany that this war has arisen.
The assertion that France, successful on the Po
and on the Brenta, will become aggressive on the
Rhine is an arbitrary assumption ; but the mighty
question of involving the continent in war ought
not to be decided on the ground of vague supposi-
tions and exaggerated apprehensions.
Neither can it be argued that the fortresses on
the Mincio and the Adige are the barriers of Ger-
many. . _

It must be borne in mind that the fortresses of
Peschiera, Verona, and Mantua formed no part of
the ancient confines of Germany ; on the contrary,
the country from Verona to the Adriatic formed, in
1792, part of a weak, unwarlike, and decaying
Italian state.
The utmost that can be said is, that while many
Germans consider these fortresses as a barrier for
Germany, many Italians consider them as not a
little menacing for Italy. The treaty of peace
must decide their future fate.
While these reasons for war on the part of Ger-
man states are manifestly insufficient, they are
strong arguments against a course so precipitate.
The Prince Regent of Prussia will, in his wisdom,
weigh the impolicy of exposing his country to be
considered the champion of the mal-administration
of Italy. It cannot be necessary for the security
of Berlin and Magdeburg that misgovernment
should prevail at Milan and Bologna. But in the
minds of the Italians, Prussia, appearing in arms
by the side of Austria, would be considered the de-
fender of all that Austria has done, and all she
has permitted.
There is another consideration of the utmost im-
portance. Hitherto there has been little excite-
ment on the subject of the war in France.
When the question of superiority in the field has
been decided, the two great powers engaged will
probably be very willing to put an end to the ex-
hausting struggle. But if France is roused to the
defence of her own territory bar the aggression of
Germany, it is impossible to say to what degree
gre
the passions of a national animosity
may
b
in-
flamed, nor for how long a period the continent of
Europe may suffer the calamities of war.
e
You have been duly informed of the
determina-
tion of her Majesty, supported by, the unanimous
sanse of her people, to maintain a strict neutrality.
*
Her Majesty has kept this cour:try free from all
engagements which might restrain her freedom of
Siajesty's Government
as the circumstances of Germany will permit. A.
as nearly similar
tahcatiton.lt is
Prussia
twhiellhaodpeepotfaheere,urse
tifm come, perhaps very
( when the voice
o
oNverk; will be heard
with effect, and argumerats in fa vow- of peace will
conciliatoryemay and frienilly p
be no longer unavailing,
You will read this despatch to Barn n Schletaitz,
and give him a copy.,—I am, &c.,
(Signed)

.T. RUSSELL.

E A KWEEK.
‘..., PART 1., Price One Shilling, will be published on
Saturday next, July 30.
Bradbury and Evans, 11, Bouverte-street.

jEtOYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE.
Under the Management .f Mr. Charles Kean.
THIS EVENING, DYING FOR LOVE.
After which, Twill be revived Shakspeare's Tragedy of
HEN 111
RY V. Cardinal Wolsey, Mr. Chas. Kean ; Queen
Katharine, T.
C. Sean.
To conclude with IF THE CAP FITS.
Commence at 7.

THEATRE-ROYAL, HAYMARKET.
Lessee, Mr. J. B. Buckstone.
,T
UGHTER HIS ETENING
TO the performances will commence with
DA
THE CONTESTED ELECTION.
After which, COOL AS A CUCUMBER.
To conclude with HALLOWE'EN.