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

GENERAL ELECTIONS

IN THE COUNTRY.

DEVON (SOUTH).-NOMINATION.

EXETER, JAN. 14.—The nomination for the southern
division of this county took place at the Castle-yard, yes-
terday, before R. T. Bishop, Esq., the Under Sheriff, the
High Sheriff, E. P. Bastard, Esq., being unfortunately ab-
sent, owing to the death of his brother.
The precept having been read, R. W. NEWMAN, Esq.,
of Mamhead, now rose to propose the Right Hon. Lord
John Russell, which announcement was received with long-
continued cheering.
Captain BULLER, R.N., seconded the nomination.
STAFFORD H. NORTHCOTE, Esq., proposed Sir John
Buller.

Sir E. S. PRIDEAUX, Bart., seconded the nomination ;
and there being no other candidate,
Lord JOHN RUSSELL now rose to address the electors,
and spoke as follows :—Gentlemen, in appearing before you
as a candidate, it is my good fortune to have acts, and not
professions, to refer to.—(Hear, hear.) It is my good
fortune, because we all wish to correct abuses in the coun-
try—we all wish to preserve the institutions of the country
—we are the friends of liberty, and we are all the enemies o?
licentiousness.—( Cheers.) But, gentlemen, as long as we
all keep in these general terms, it is very difficult to see
what a candidate, seeking to represent you, may wish to
hold as his sentiments and his opinions.—(Cheers.) Now,
gentlemen, what I wish to allude to. is not any representa-
tion of mine to-day, but I refer to the conduct I have pur-
sued in Parliament during a long series of years—l refer to
acts which I have not the wish to propose, but acts which
stand now enrolled in the statute-book of the United King-
dom.—(Cheers.) Gentlemen, when I appeared before you
the first time, it was your wish to obtain this—that the
members of the Commons' House of Parliament should be
nominated by the people, and not by individuals.—(Cheers.)
Gentlemen, it was then opposed—it was then contended
that the people had not a right to elect representatives on
their own part, but that it ought to remain as the privilege
belonging to certain individuals, which they might exercise
or dispose of for money as they pleased.—(" No, no," from
the Tories.) Now, gentlemen, we have got rid of that
which I call an abuse, but which they call one of the sacred
and venerable institutions of this land.—(Cheers and laugh-
ter.) Because, gentlemen, we have got rid of that which I
call an abuse, to know exactly what you mean by it ; now
I meant those close and corrupt boroughs when I used the
word abuse.—( Hear, hear, and cheers, above which arose
from the Tories the cry of " Tavistock.") Now, if
any gentleman wishes to bear anything about Tavis-
tock, I will mention that before I have done my
speech.—(Hear, hear.) Now, gentlemen, if you will al-
low me to go on—we have obtained a redress of that
grievance, we have obtained a reform in Parliament ; and
the Reform Act, with all its power in the country, is now
in the keeping of those who formerly opposed that reform.
—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) Now, gentlemen, you will
recollect that they predicted from the Reform- Act a gene-
ral revolution—that the Crown would be taken off the
King's head—that the Church would be destroyed—that
the fundholder would lose his property—that there would
be a general anarchy and confusion.—(Hear, hear.) But
now they pretend to keep sacred this very Reform Act.—
(Cheers and laughter.) Now I ask this question, do they
believe in their prediction or not ?—(" To be sure they
do.") If they do not believe in their prediction, I say,
what becomes of their political sagacity, and how can you
believe; in future, in any of their predictions or their poli-
tical opinions ?—(Cheers.) But I say, if they still be-
lieve in them, how can you believe in their present since-
rity, when they say they will keep that Reform Act in-
violate ?—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) That, gentlemen,
is one of the- questions which occurred to me in the
present state of affairs. Gentlemen, I had the honour
of being a member of that Government, of which Earl Grey
was the head "and chief.—(Cheers.) Gentlemen, Earl
Grey came forward, when he entered the Ministry, with no
elaborate professions—no preliminary manifestoes—but
with three simple words, Peace, Retrenchment, and Re-
form.—(Cheers.) Gentlemen, to the plan implied in
these three words Earl Grey conscientiously adhered ; he
has preserved peace—he has carried into effect retrench-
ment—he carried into operation reform ; and then, gentle-
men, I shall venture to say that he preserved peace withont
any sacrifice of national honour.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.)
He carried on retrenchment—(" What has become of the
fortresses in Belgium ?")—he carried on retrenchment
without any abandonment of the national faith—(hear,
hear).—he carried on reform without the disturbance of the
national tranquillity. These, gentlemen, were the pro-
fessions, these were the acts of Earl Grey ; and I will say
now, as I have ever said, that there never was a Mi-
nister, who united to a more incorruptible sense of
what was due to public justice, a more conscientious love of
public liberty.—(Hear, hear, and loud cheers.) Gentlemen,
the course of that Government of which Earl Grey was
the head, has been interrupted ; but, gentlemen, the vir-
tues of that Reform Act which Earl Grey was the author
and means of carrying, are yet to be reaped.—(Cheers.)
There is still nothing which, in the next session of Parlia-
ment, if Parliament had not been dissolved, would not
have been carried out. It was necessary to take into con-
sideration the question of Corporation reform. It was, in
the opinion of the late Government, necessary to restore
to the people the due control over the funds, and over
the election of Corporations.—(Tremendous cheering.) It
was necessary, in their opinion, to carry into effect the
reform of the Church, such a reform of the Church as,
preserving the Church establishment, and strengthening
that establishment, would give more to those who labour
More, and less to those who labour less.—(Long-continued
cheering.) Gentlemen, it was, in the opinion of the
late Ministry, necessary to propose remedies for the
grievances under which the Protestant Dissenters of this
country still labour.—(Loud cheers.) Gentlemen, it was
likewise necessary and it was the greatest difficulty of
all, to apply a remedy to the deep-seated and long-en-
during grievances of the people of Ireland.—(Reiterated
cheers.) Gentlemen, upon all these subjects the late
Ministry would have been prepared, at the opening of the
session of Parliament, to have proposed measures to that
Parliament.—(Hear, hear.) Gentlemen, it has now fallen
to -the lot of other Ministers to bring forward such mea-
sures as they may think fit to propose. Gentlemen, with
regard to these other Ministers, I have no hesitation in
saying, that not agreeing with their principles, they are
not likely to have my confidence ; but, gentlemen, this I
will say, that no consideration of -party, nor any other con-
sideration whatever, will ever induce me to vote against
any measures which I think may conduce to the benefit of
the country.—(Three cheers for Lord J. Russell.) Gen-
tlemen, I think I heard in the crowd, and I mentioned it
before, some one calling out the word " Tavistock."
—(Hear, hear.) Now, gentlemen, the borough of Ta-
vistock was one of those close boroughs, in which an indi-
vidual had the nomination ; it is now a borough in which,
like the other boroughs opened by the Reform Act, the
right of election rests in the people themselves.—(Hear,
hear.) It is, I believe, a borough quite as capable of mak-
ing a choice of good Representatives as the borough of Ho-.
niton, or any other borough in England.—(Laughter and
cheers.) Gentlemen, Ido not mean to detain you on the
present occasion with any further explanations on my opi-
nions—they are so well known by the part which I have
hitherto maintained in Parliament.—(Hear, hear.) I will
only say that I shall continue to maintain the same princi-
ples which I have hitherto done, the same opinions whica
made me propose to relieve the Protestant Dissenters from
their grievances—the same opinions and principles which
induced me to propose the Reform Bill to Parliament, in
order to give the people a real representation—these prin-
ciples and opinions will continue to be the guide of my Par-
liamentary life, so long as I shall be honoured by the con-
fidence of any portion of the people of this county.—(Loud
and continued cheers.)
Sir JOHN BULLER next rose, and was received with
mingled cheers and disapprobation. He said that it was
perfectly true, that every man's public life must have a
beginning, and he was only in the commencement of his.
He could not, therefore, refer to his acts, but must base
his pretensions on professions. He then proceeded to pro-
fess himself a Reformer, in the usual style adopted by the
new Reformers, and promised to support the present Mi-
nistry as an independent man, without giving them any
general pledge of support.
There being no other candidate, Lord John and the
Hon. Bart. were declared duly elected.
As soon as the election was over, Sir J. Buller rode in
procession round the city. Lord John dispensed with that
honour ; but he was escorted to the hustings by one of
the most numerous and respectable cavalcades ever seen in
Devonshire, composed chiefly of stanch, honest, and re-
spectable yeomen, some of whom had come forty miles to
join the procession.

ESSEX (SOUTH.)
CHELMSFORD, THURSDAY NIGHT.—The polling com-
menced this morning at nine o'clock, and has been conti-
nued throughout the day. The Conservatives are using
their utmost exertions to swell their numbers on this day's
poll, in expectation that the friends of Mr. Branfill, the Re-
former, ' will decline the contest • but I am well aware the
idea is fallacious. The Reformers know too well the strength
• which they have in reserve, and what is due to their own
cause, to strike their colours till the last moment. Mr.
Bramston resides near this town, and therefore has, of
course, great influence in the neighbourhood, so that Mr.
Bramfill never expected much success in this district ; he
trusts to his friends in his own neighbourhood, and at Brent-
_ wood and Romford, for that majority which is to show the
Conservatives that the people of Essex will not submit to
have two representatives of that body forced upon them.
If the Reformers bad been earlier in the field, there
•