The Sun.
London, England, 1832-12-26 00:00:00

aloof from all parties by any thing like a party
name)—the subject uppermost with them all is
still the election. And no wonder. The elec-
tion was the first practical test of a great experi-
mental measure, the effects of which upon the
whole frame and structure of society must be
considerable. As for the Tories, they have
almost given up the ghost. Even the few suc-
cesses they have had, and they made the most
of them at the time, have not been sufficient to
keep their spirits from sinking. They know
well enough that though Norwich, and Liver-
pool, and North Essex, and a few other places,
have declared in their favour, the great mass of
the constituency has been true to the cause of
Reform. Even the corruption, the base and
sordid corruption displayed in so shameless a
manner at Norwich and Liverpool, though
bright spots in the Conservative map, are still of
too small account in the general estimate of Tory
prospects to contribute much to the satisfaction
of that dejected party. It is true that corrupt
voters in corrupt places have been driving their
unhallowed trade. But who was not prepared
for this ? Who ever expected—who ever said,
or thought, or dreamt that the Reform Bill
would, all at once, and as if by a magic spell,
convert a set of knaves into honest men,—
or forward the operation of whitewashing a
blackamoor,—whether imported from the
coast of Guinea, or reared up amongst the
dingy population of our own political nurseries ?
No black is a good lasting colour we all know,
and it is not in the soap and water of an Act of
Parliament to wash it out of the mind or out of
the skin. What we hope and expect is, that
such practices will not only be discountenanced
by the integrity of the people of England, but
punished by the efficiency of the law ; and that,
what between shame and fear, and the discou-
ragement which attends an unprofitable pursuit,
we shall soon see the ranks of knavery grow thin
even at Liverpool and Norwich. But, as we
have already said, the Tories are aware of this
themselves; and, therefore, the temporary elation
produced by their partial successes, has already
abandoned them. We doubt, however, whether
even their despair can figure to them anything
so melancholy as the appearance they are destined
to cut within the walls of St. Stephen's. It is
❑ot the mere difference of being in and out of
office, but a difference like that of life and death
that awaits them—the difference between Toryism
and the ghost of Toryism. If the spirit be not
yet laid we have taken the necessary steps to have
it exorcised, and the next meeting of Parliament
will exhibit it under the influence of that powerful
ceremony. How soon the day will arrive when
party, which has been hitherto the bane of this
country, shall cease to influence its councils it
would be rash to pronounce; but the fact is,
and we are glad of it, that both Whigism and
Toryism are on the decline—that party spirit is
on the decline, and that people are beginning to
look for intelligible acts as the only criterion by
which it is reasonable to be decided in their po-
litical preferences.—Morning Herald.
Hitherto the elections in Scotland have been
more decidedly liberal than those of England.
Indeed, it appears that not a single Conservative
will be returned for a borough in Scotland.
The Scotsman takes credit for this as a proof of
superior morality and intelligence in the popula-
tion of that country :
" The Conervativee," says our northern contempo-
rary, " will constitute between one-fourth and one-third

of the representation of the burghs in England, while the
burghs of Scotland, though much poorer and smaller when
taken in the aggregate, will not return a single specimen
of this antiquated race of politicians ! The fact is one of
many, which evince the great superiority of our Scottish
population in morality and intelligence. In tie English
county representation, we imagine the strength of the Con.
servatives will be rather greater than in the burghs. In
Ireland, on the other hand, both in burghs and counties,
its strength will be very small, though the Ministers will
not gain in proportion to what the Conservatives lose;
for the Repealers will be essentially a mischief-making
party, which will lie in wait for critical junctures, that it
may extort advantages at a moment of difficulty, or inflict
a blow on the men in power, whetter Whig or Tory. Its
leading object must be to weaken the Government, and
paralyse its motions."
A much better spirit seems to have actuated
the different classes of Reformers in Scotland
than here. We do not observe in Edinburgh,
for instance, Whigs sneering at Radieals, and
Radicals endeavouring to prevent the return of
Whigs. The Lord Advocate, on the day of
his chairing, in language which would have ob-
tained for him the appellation of " Low Radi-
cal" from the Lincolnshire Whigs, who en-
deavoured to throw out Sir William Ingilby,
declare " that Edinburgh has been, for the last
60 or 70 years, the head-quarters and den of
Toryism—the school of sycophancy and servi-
lity—the mart and emporium of jobbing, of
which it has carried on a vast and prosperous
trade, in which conscience was sold for office—
independence bartered for patronage, and men
recruited to keep down popular rights, either by
bounty promised, by daily pay, or by the hope
of promotion.—(Great cheering.) But, Gen-
tlemen, we have smitten the giant in the centre
of his den—we have hit hint on the heart ; and,
notwithstanding the roaring of his throat and
the shaking of his tail, what a pitiful figure has
he made, for when we came to the last tug, we
were all surprised at the facility with which he
rendered up the ghost.—(Great laughter and
cheering.) Notwithstanding, Gentlemen, that
Edinburgh is the hot-bed of Toryism—the
centre of jobbery in Scotland—where almost
every place of profit is in the hands of persons
whose ancestors fattened upon them—notwith-
standing all their wealth and long-established
habits of influence—the money and the labour
that has been exhausted—the perseverance and

obstinacy with vvhich they have maintained the
contest, they could not poll—out of a constitu-
ency of above 6,000, more than 1,519.—
(Cheering.)" On the other hand, Mr. Aytoun,
the candidate who retired, honestly declared, in
answer to the question why he resigned, " I simply
answer, that although I am in some measure op-
posed in principle to the Whigs, I am ten thousand
times more opposed to the Tories.—(Cheers.)
The Whigs do not fully come up to my prin-
ciples, but the Tories are diametrically opposed
to them altogether.--(Cheers.) Gentlemen,
you will remember that Earl Grey, a Reformer,
is at the head of one party, and that the Duke
of Wellington, who is the declared enemy of all
Reform, is the leader of the other. We there-

fore conscientiously give up in favour of the two
Right Honourable Gentlemen, because (I speak
to the Radicals just now), if we could not
choose Members exactly of our own way of
thinking, it was our duty to choose those who
came nearest to it—(Cheers)—that the right
way to give the Tories the coup de grace was
to throw our weight into the scale on the other
side.—(Cheers.) HOW different this from the
spirit displayed in Middlesex and so many other
counties in England ! In one. respect, there is a
loud outcry from all parts of the United King-
dom—namely, against the persecution to which
voters have been subjected. From the manner

o which property has been distributed in this

country, the evil complained of was foreseen b)
all persons of discernment. Some, led away by
great names, hesitated for a while to pronounce
in favour of the ballot ; but the horrible perse-
cution which they have witnessed has converted
all honest Reformers. -We have no hesitation
in saying, that, if voters be not protected by the
ballot, this country, during an election, will be
quite a hell upon earth. What man, for in-
stance, possessed of a particle of spirit, does not
feel his blood boil with indignation at the ex-
amples furnished by the Perth Advertiser of
Thursday last, and which have had their parallel
in almost every neighbourhood. The Scotsman,
alluding to the statements of the Perth paper,
says :
" We have letters ourselves descriptive of the innume-
rable acts of tyranny practised there, vouched by the
names of the parties. One of these now before us, says—
' Major —, of —, had two men on horseback riding
from morning to night among all the tenants of this dis-
trict, many of whom it is to be feared, will be frightened
into voting for Sir George Murray. Lord has sent
orders to all his tenants to meet on the polling day with
the tenants of Kippenross, and to march to Donne in
cavalry order, and to vote for Sir George only. is
of opinion, that when the tacks are out, Lord will
wreak his vengeance on those who do not obey him.' It
is thus that the independent yeomen of Perthshire are
marched in gangs, under their overseers, like slaves going
to a market, to be disposed of at the will and pleasure of
their masters ! It would be extremely appropriate, to
put a bitt in the mouth, or a halter over the head, of each
of the persons who submit to be thus degraded ! But it
will not, it cannot be endured. Every feeling of honesty,
decency, and independence rises up against it."
Our northern contemporary, who, we believe,
had once his doubts as to the expediency of the
ballot, has the following pithy remarks on the
subject :

" The proceedings of the Conservative candidates all
over Scotland are most flagitious. Corruption and undue
influence are not resorted to merely in some few cases;
but are their regular and staple resources. It is not too
much to say, that every Conservative candidate who has
succeeded, or will succeed in a contested electio❑ in this
end of the island at the present juncture, owes his return
to bribery or intimidation. They all represent money or
oppression ; not one of them represents the real sentiments
of the electors. We must come to the ballot."
Yes, we must come to the ballot, and the inso-
lent declaration of Mr. Stanley will only hasten
the measure. What might have been delayed
from a wish not to embarrass Ministers will now
be pressed from a point of honour. A principle
is involved in the matter. Ministers give a
pledge forsooth that a measure shall be final !
give a pledge that an independent Legislature
shall be shackled by those whose business is to
obey—not to control ! The Quarterly Re-
view, in the article to which we alluded yester-
day, exposes, not unhappily, the ludicrous la.
mentations of Conservative Whigs on the sub.
ject of the ballot. 'Why will they intimidate ?
—why will they persecute ? If they would only
leave persecuting, the people would not demand
the ballot for their protection. " When (says
the reviewer) the Ministerial pledge as to the
:finality (may we venture on the expression ?) is
hooted at by every voice, in every society, on
every side, their agents find it necessary to pro-
pose some excuse, some evasion !" And again,
they must have recourse to the Tories, and are
preparing to lay to their charge the mischievous
alterations i❑ the Bill, which they begin to fear
the new Parliament may be inclined to attempt.
" The measure was (say these conscientious ad-
vocates) wise, and healing, and tranquillizing,
and would have been satisfactory and final, but
for the obstinate and factious opposition of the
Conservatives." The Conservatives do not, of
course, wish to aid the people in the war against
corruption. But, unfortunately for those who
abuse the Conservatives, it is but too evident
that if they did not sympathize with them more
than they ought to do, they would not contend for
a state of things which leaves the people at the
mercy of the Conservatives. An endeavour is
now made to secure a sort of retreat for Lord

Althorp and Stanley. " We have before," says
the Globe of last night, " had occasion to ob-
serve upon the declaration of Lord Althorp and
Mr. Stanley, that the recent measure of Reform
in the representation is all that can be duly con-
ceded ; which, accurately interpreted, we pre-
sume, amounts to this undeniable truth—that
much having undoubteJly been done, the opera-
tion of the alteration should become an affair of
considerable experience before further proposi-
tions on the subject should be ministerially enter-
tained. The abstract doctrine that no further
alteration is ever to take place would be to
equal in absurdity his Grace of Newcastle, or
any other of the sapient dreamers of eternally
keeping things as they are. Setting aside the
jargon about universal suffrage, which, in the
existing state of society, every rational man must
observe would rapidly end in anarchy, we dis-
cover but two points on which further change is
forcibly or rationally demanded—namely, shorter
Parliaments and the ballot. Well, let them be
calmly and frankly contended for by those who
deem them essential, until either convictions be-
come a portion of the general sense of the com-
munity, or experience of the working of the re-
novated system prove to them to be unnecessary."
\Ve suspect there are few Reformers who would
stickle at the reservation, that no new law on the
subject be passed till their conviction become
" a portion of the general sense of the comtnu-
.

•
nay. If the sense of the community be the
only obstacle, it will soon be overcome.—Morn-
ing Chronicle.
Whatever difference of opinion may exist
among Conservatives with regard to the general
working of the Reform Bill, sure we are that
there is one portion of it to which they cannot
reasonably make the shadow of objection—we
mean the clause of the Marquis of Chandos, for
restoring the old borough system in the shape of
a vassal franchise. Fatally has that invention of
the Tory Marquis worked, and intolerable are
the fruits of it to the country. The Irish 40s.
freeholders were exclaimed against, because of
their supposed dependence upon their landlords
—but what was that dependence? A mere ac-
cident, or oversight was the occasion of it. In
its nature, the Irish 40s. freehold was a valid

. _ ._......
and respectable foundation for a vote, inasmuch
as at least one life, with a period of 21 or 31
years, was the usual term secured by his lease to

the te►►ant. The evil habit of letting rent lie in
arrear was the only real ground of the Irish
landlord's power over his tenantry, and it was
the tenant's own fault. But how is it amongst
ourselves under this abominable provision, in-
grafted on the first Reform Bill by Lord Chan-
dos, and most injudiciously (to say no worse
of it) interwoven with the frame of the second
Bill by Ministers themselves, when subject
to no visible compulsion ? The tenancy-at-
will franchise has so contrived matters, that
the voter's dependence on his landlord is abso-
lute, and neither produced nor increased by
poverty : so far from it, that the most prosperous
and solvent tenant, whose farm is of the greatest
size and value, has had the largest sums ex-
pended on it, and whose rent has been paid up
to the latest hour,—he, of all others, ►n pro-
portion to his prosperity and by reason of it,
—he must of necessity be, above all others, most