The Sun.
London, England, 1835-05-13 00:00:00

. We published yesterday in the greater part of our
impression a statement of the
numbers polled on the
first day of the great contest then in progress for the
representation of the West Riding of the county of
York, so far as it could be made up at Wakefield at
half-past seven o'clock on Monday evening. It will
be seen that it required extraordinary efforts to enable
us to lay such early information of the progress of the
great struggle in the North before our readers in Lon-
don, when we state that Wakefield is 188 miles distant
from the metropolis, and that the intelligence was
conveyed to us in the period which intervened
between half-past seven o'clock on Monday night
and a quarter-past eight o'clock on Tuesday morning,
or, in other words, in twelve hours and three-quarters,
being at the average rate of fourteen miles and
three-quarters per hour throughout the whole
distance. We lament that the information thus im-
parted to our readers with such extraordinary celerity
was not of a more gratifying character. It was in-
deed of a nature fatal to the hopes we had cherished
that the West Riding of the county of York was about
to add its testimony to that so recently given by the
southern district of the county of Devon, to the pro-
gress of Conservative principles throughout the coun-
try'. In the absence, • however, of this corroborating
testimony, gratifying as it certainly would have been,
we do not see any reason to doubt the fact that Con-
servative principles hare made a great and important
progress. Our reports intimate that the defeat of the
Conservative candidate in Yorkshire is to be ascribed
to that intimidation which, ever since the ex-
citement produced during the discussions of the Re-
form Bill, has influenced in a greater or less degree
the issue of every contested election. And we
have no doubt that this cause has operated in the
present instance to a very considerable extent. It is
manifest that amidst a dense population such as exists
in the great manufacturing districts of this kingdom,'
of which the West Riding of Yorkshire is one of the
chief, a system of intimidation may, at a period of
great excitement, be very easily organized, and that,
when once fairly constructed, and set in motion, it will
retain its power and activity after the occasion which
called it into being has long passed away. We have
little doubt, therefore, that the disastrous issue of
the Yorkshire contest, in which the friends and
the cause of the British Constitution have sus-
tained a defeat, is in no slight degree to be ascribed
to that system of intimidation, to that machinery
of brutal violence, to that influence of " brickbats
and bludgeons," which the Whig Administration
and their advocates took so much pains to es-
tablish while the Reform Bill was in progress,
and from which the former are still well disposed to
reap all possible advantage, although some of the latter
have become acutely sensible of the pernicious opera-
tion of the deadly apparatus of violence and terror
, which they assisted to construct. But it is not to
intimidation merely that we ascribe the mischance
which has befallen the cause of the British Constitu-
tion in Yorkshire. That misfortune is owing, in a
considerable degree, as we are persuaded, to the past
Inegligence and apathy of the Conservative party them-
selves. They have permitted their opponents, the
Destructives, to outstrip them in a sphere of exer-
tion more legitimate than that, of which the " brick-
bat and bludgeon " are the weapons and the
symbols. Not in Yorkshire only, but in many
other parts of the kingdom, the Conservative party
have been notoriously and inexcusably negligent
of the important business of registration, forgetting,
or disdaining, the effect which this neglect must pro-
duce upon subsequent elections. Hence it arises that
from towns and districts where Conservative principles
decidedly predominate, we have had Members returned
to Parliament whose opinions and conduct show an
utter absence of sympathy with the feelings of the po-
pulation which they ostensibly represent. This error
will, we hope, be speedily corrected. It is essential to
the final triumph of the Conservative cause, of the
cause of legal order and legitimate Government in
Great Britain, that its friends should exert themselves
to acquire all the political power which the new system
of representation has left them the means and op-
portunity to obtain. They may condemn the Reform
Bill as much as they like, they may, as, indeed, they
must, despise the motives and feelings which ac-
tuated its authors, but these sentiments, however
natural and just, afford no apology for neglecting to
avail themselves of the resources which that measure
has left to them, resources, perhaps, greater and more •
effective than its authors contemplated or intended, for
the defence and preservation of those institutions
which they believe to be essential to the welfare
and safety of the State, and which the authors of
the Reform Bill do not disguise their intention to
overthrow. The heart of the country is sound—.
so sound that it may be doubted whether any
possible system of representation would justify
despair, or that inactivity which flows from it, on
the part of the friends of our national institu-
tions. If authority be required in support of this
manly and British view of our position, to whom can
the Conservatives of Great Britain look with so much
confidence as to Sir Robert Peel ? Does his conduct
present an example of cowardice ? Is there any-
thing in his language to indicate despair ? No. He
enjoins the friends of the Constitution to regard the
Reform Bill as a part of it. He says—use the Bill so
that it may not become the revolutionary measure which
will realise the expectations of its authors and abettors.
He proclaims his conviction that the enemies of our
Constitution may be beaten with their own weapon.
He is a statesman who does not merely profess. He
acts. The Conservatives of Great Britain have seen
him accept office---and relinquish office—in conformity
with his professions. They now behold him, without
an imaginable motive which is not purely patriotic, to
prefer office to interest, ready whenever his country re-
quires his services to accept office once more in pursu-
ance of the principles which he recommends to others.
Is it possible to imagine higher authority ? Was a
guarantee more perfect ever offered for the sincerity of
human declarations ?—Morning Post.

Upon an average of three years during the war, Lord
Eldon's net income was 19,233/., and in the year 1811 it
amounted to the enormous sum of 22,7371.

Wednesday last crowns of immortelles (everlasting
flowers) were brought to the foot of the column in the Place
Vendome, by many of the common people of Paris, to cele-
brate the anniversary of the death of Napoleon. One amongst
them succeeded, by the aid of a long pole and hook, in plac-
ing a crown covered with crape on each of the four eagles
which ornament the angles of the pedestal.—French Paper.
THE PROPOSED SIIAKSPEARE COLUMN.—The
metropolitan journals, in announcing this grand national pro-
ject, have invariably assigned as its intended site the neigh-
bourhood of Gads-hill, or some of the most elevated situations
near the mouth of the Thames. We have therefore hitherto
abstained from urging the greater advantage in which it would
appear on our far loftier cliffs ; either as a landmark, or in its
more professed character of a monument to the memory of the
Bard of Avon. But we have now the satisfaction to state that
Dover has been suggested in the highest quarter as the place
of all others the most appropriate to receive and protect this
intended token of a nation's gratitude. And where, we would
ask, could a statue of Britain's heaven-born bard find a " local
habitation" so fitting as in the vicinity of the hallowed spot, to
which his mighty mind bequeathed the proud distinction of an
immortal " name ?" Placed near -

The dread summit of that chalky bourn"
it would present an object of interest to the admiring world,
and form a shrine for the visits of additional thousands to the
numbers who annually make a pilgrimage to its " high unbend-
ing head."---Dover Telegraph.
THE LACE TRADE.—No material alteration nas
taken place in plain nets or quillings since our last week's re-
port. Figured goods are much in demand. Bobbin-net,
tatting quillings, of good qualities, are scarce, and in request.
Some important sales have this week been effected in Grecian
quillings and fancy nets. An advance upon cotton is talked
of; should this be realised, which we expect will be the cue,
several descriptions of bobbin-net must inevitably rise. We
understand the demand for blond is decreasing, and that the
prices are lowering. Another Report :—Fine nets of all de-
scriptions in breadths, and plain of a good quality, have a
ready sale, and fetch the usual price. There have been a few
buyers in the market these last ten days, who have bought
very largely in figured goods, and orders to a considerable
amount for fancy articles and figured goods have been given,
which cause a degree of activity in that branch of the trade.
There is no material stock in hand of blond, and it is the
fault of the makers if they reduce it in value, as they have
the means of keeping up its price. There has been a new
list of prices for bobbin thread sent out to the trade phis
week, which is an advance of about from seven to ten points;
in that case nets must inevitably get up.—Nottingham Re-
view.