The Sun.
London, England, 1835-01-16 00:00:00

COUNTY OF EDINBURGH ELECTION.

EDINBURGH, ;TAN. 13.—The nomination for the county
took place this day. A few minutes before twelve o'clock,
the rival candidates took their places on the hustings, at-
tended by their friends, and were received with loud
cheering by their respective parties. The day was very fa-
vourable, and the multitude assembled might amount to
between 12,000 and 15,000.
Sir JOHN HOPE, of Pinkie, after bestowing some high
encomiums on the character of Sir George Clerk, proposed
him as a fit person to represent them in Parliament.
Mr. GEORGE COMBE, of Redlands, seconded the nomi-
nation.

Sir GEORGE DALRYMPLE was received with immense
cheering. He said that the last time he had been on the
hustings on a similar occasion, his Hon. Friend, Mr. Mur-
ray, of Henderland, acted that part to him which he was
about to act towards another. They could hardly expect
that the present Government would follow a liberal course
of policy ; else, why did they change the last ?—.(Cheers.)
They could hardly expect that ultra-Tories would go the
length of rooting out the evils of, and reforming, the Eng-
lish boroughs—that they would reform the abuses of the
Irish Church. His Hon. Friend, Sir G. Clerk, was a ser-
vant of that Government ; and, under present circum-
stances, not a fit person to represent the county in Parlia-
ment.—(Cheers.) But the person whom he (Sir John)
proposed to them was one on whom they could depend as a
staunch Reformer—Mr. James Gibson, Craig, jun., of
Rickerton.—(Great applause.) He could not be consi-
dered as otherwise than a decided Liberal, when it was
considered from whom he was descended. He was the
eldest son of Sir James Gibson Craig, the much-valued and
long-tried friend of the people.—(Great applause.) In one
of the Tory public prints, Mr. Craig had been called " Toni
Thumb." He (Sir John) never liked to indulge in com-
parisons, and never under-rated his opponents, for the best
of all reasons, because if he beat them there would be no
great merit in it ; but if " Tom Thumb" beat him, be would
be beat out of the field altogether.—(Laughter.)
Mr. FINNY, of Swanston, seconded the nomination.

SIB. GEORGE CLERK came forward amidst cheering and
hissing, and could not for some minutes be heard. He begged
to state to the electors, now that the Reform Bill was the
law of the land, he would, as he had declared when before
them upon the last election, act up to the true spirit of it.
—(Hissing and laughter.) He perfectly concurred with Sir
John Dalrymple in the sentiment which he quoted from Mr.
Murray's speech on the last occasion, that the Bill (although,'
however, a final settlement of the question) was looked on
as merely the means of securing good government for the
people. In that sense he (Sir George) was prepared to act
in its true spirit—to enter into a careful examination of the
institutions of the country, with a view of correcting those
abuses which time and other causes had introduced into
them, but not to weaken their efficiency, and destroy them ;
but, by removing those abuses, to fix them more firmly
in the hearts of every class of the community. He de-
clared himself as true a friend to civil and religious liberty
as any gentleman on the other side of the hustings ; and
should be ready to inquire into those abuses which did
exist in the Church Establishment of Ireland, for the pur-
pose, by so correcting them, of extending the means of re-
ligious instruction, connected with the reformed religion in
that part of the United Kingdom ; but he would not agree
to any proposal to withdraw from that country ,the means
of Protestant religious instruction.—( Hissing and cheer-
ing.) Neither would he agree to any proposal to reduce the
number of the clergy in that great city—(Hissing)—and if
Mr. Craig and his supporters were prepared to do so, let
them state it openly and boldly ; and if on that ground he
is to obtain the suffrages of any of the electors, to such
persons he (Sir George) could offer no claims of support.
The Ministers whom his Majesty, in the exercise of his
prerogative, had chosen, now appealed with confidence to
the people to give them a fair trial, and to judge of them
by their actions. They had set forth the principles upon
which they meant to act, and he (Sir George) considered
they had the strongest guarantee that they would act on
those principles ; because his Majesty 'William IV., who
gave them the reform of which they were so proud, declared
that he would still continue to act on those principles ; and
they might be certain that no man would be admitted to
his confidence whom he did not believe would act on the
same principle.—(Hisses and cheering.)
Mr. JAMES GIBSON CRAIG presented himself amidst
tremendous applause. He considered that at this momen-
tous crisis it was the duty of every man to waive personal
considerations, and to consider in what way he might best
serve his country. He came forward as the nominee of no
man—as the private friend of no man, but as the friend of
the people—(lmmense applause)—and he was willing to
stand or fall in defence of their rights and privileges. He
had been taunted by his Honourable Friend as having been
put forward as the nominee of Sir John Dalrymple. When
he (Mr. Craig) started for the county, Sir. John was many
miles distant, and for some days was not even aware of his
intention ; and his reason for coming forward as a candidate
was that he knew that the spirit of reform was still alive
in the country, and that it was of importance to undeceive
the Government as to the idea of a re-action, and more
especially to prove that it had not taken hold of the
people in such a county as Mid Lothian.--(Loud cheers.)
The Government now in power had come forward with
high pretensions of liberal measures, and intentions of
Reform ; and he would simply ask the electors if they
could, after their experience of the men who formed the
present Administration, believe that they were sincere in
their professions?—(No, no.) But even supposing they
were to believe them sincere, that, knowing the political cha-
racter of those men, did not exhaust the question. It
was known from their conduct that, although they pro-
fessed themselves willing to amend what they might choose
to consider abuses, yet what in the eyes of every true re-
former were proved to be abuses they had ever upheld.
Look back to their conduct in the Reform Bill ; and he
(Mr. Craig) wished that they had heard his honourable op-
ponents defence of that conduct. He (Sir George) now
told them that it was from no factious or selfish motives
that he opposed the Reform Bill in all its stages ; how
then he ,could use his utmost efforts to withhold from the
electors the privilegge they now enjoyed, he (Mr. C.) was