The Sun.
London, England, 1832-12-18 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF I HE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Conservatives have at last succeeded (it would
appear) in their advertising for a candidate to represent
the great metropolitan county. In vain did they for some
days after Lord Henley's retirement announce to th,
public that they had a seat in St. Stephen's at their sole
disposal, and they were ready to convey it over, for a
pepper-corn consideration, to any respectable gentleman
who was willing to hoist their colours and to adopt their
ereed. In vain did they even send a deputation to a
defeated candidate for the city, to beseech him to be so
good as to allow himself to be made a county Member on
their nomination. In vain did they, when they failed in
this quarter, follow the conduct described in the Gospi
parable, and go ont "to the hedges and high.
ways" to invite a Member "to come in." No-
body would stir a step at their bidding, probably
because, though the estate was eligible enough, and
offered on very easy conditions, everybody doubted the
goodness of the title, as it had been carried into tie
Master's Office, and had come out with a negative
torn his Honour. At last, however, a Scotch Nabob.
who has come " from Indus to the poll," and who his
been al far north and south as Mr. Hume, his rival, has
been induced to accept Conservative terms, and to try
how far the people of Middlesex are prepared to belie all
their former professions and principles: Sir Charles
Forbes, the present Conservative candidate, has not any of
the pretensions of Lord Henley. He is so fir from being
a Refotmer, that we much doubt whether he is even a
" Conformer." He opposed the Reform Bill in all its
stages, and he has opposed every motion for improvements
in our laws or retrenchments in our expenditure, for the
list fifteen years. If he obtain a seat, therefore, with
any of the three other candidates, he neutralizt's a reform
cote, and by this means blots out the whole influence
of the metropolitan county on every division. We
announce this undeniable fact to the freeholders and
electors of Middlesex from no personal hostility to the
lion. Baronet, but solely from a sense of duty, and
from a regard to the consistency of this enlightened
and important district of the empire. We have no further
election intelligence to communicate to-day of any striking

iiovelty. The known returns and the state of the polls,
which will he found in another part of our paper, will he
found as satisfactory as formerly. We regret to state that
riots have occurred in some places, for which the working
of the Reform Bill can in no case be made responsible.
They have either been occasioned by the desperation of the
Conservative faction,—by the disappointed rage of the
Radicals,----or by causes altog• ther foreign to the exercise of
electoral privileges. Indeed, even the persons most op.
posed to the great measure of Reform in its essential
provisions for destroying rotten-borough influence,—
for extending the franchise to large towns,—end
for admitting new c'asses of chi/ens to electoral
rights, are compelled to acknowledge the immense be-
nefits of its executory regulations. The expedient of
previous registration, the establishment of numerous
polling-booths at convenient distances, and the conse-
quent limitation of the poll to two days, are found to be
an efficient provision against all riots except those which
are concerted between Radical Rumps or Conservative
Clubs. In order to afford a practical illustration of this
remark, we extract from the Herts Mercury of Saturday
last an account of the diagraceftil scenes which took place
at Hertford during the late eh ction for that borough.
We remember nothing in the whole history of old elec-
tioneering violence in which the Tory faction has written
their infamy in darker characters. Though the account
is long, eve willingly give it insertion, for two reasons,—
first, because our former narrative of the events of the
election had been inadvertently taken from a Tory print
which misrepresented them,—and secondly, because a nar-
rative of this kind is not likely to be a barren record of
corrupt barbarities, but must lead to Parliamentary in-
quiry. Ira a leading remark which we made on the con-
duct of the elections, u e ascribed the violence which
disgraced Hertford to its proper source,—namely, the
corruption of the Conservative party ; but our remark was
trot borne out so well as it is now by the account which
we then copied from another journal. We are the more
distressed for these scenes when they do occur (though
happily their occurrence is rare), that we know the
eyes of all Europe are upon us in this first trial of our
great Reform measure. We at home can explain the
secret causes of excesses like those which have disgraced
Hertford, Norwich, and some other boroughs; but fo-
reigners are not always so fortunate as to find the clue,
and are apt to ascribe to the operation of the system dis-
orders which are merely accidental and extraneous. The
French, especially, who were so accustomed to (write:,
alter their own " glorious days," thought that we ought
likewise to have hail our tumults in consequence of Re-
form. They have, however, been well nigh undeceived,
and we are happy to find that all the respectable Journals
of Paris have done homage to the order and becoming
conduct of our metropolitan elections,— Times.
That the machinery of the Reform Act must undergo
considerable alteration, especially as regards the extensive
disfranchisement which it at present produces, can admit
of no doubt. It is no impeachment either of the measure
itself or of its authors, considering its vast extent and import-
ance, that it should not prove all perfect in its outset, or that,
like the Constitution which it se much renovates and im-
proves, it should itself he susceptible of, and call for, im-
provement. One of the striking defects of the Act, and
that to which the early attention of Parliament will, we '
crust, be drawn, is the not having provided for the sum-
mary, instantaneons disfranchisement of any place where
any thing like a system of bribery may be proved to pre-
vail. We are aware of the objections that may be urged
against punishing the innocent in common with the
guilty, and it is on that ground that we allude to places
where a system of bribery exists, in contradiatinction to
a few solitary instances. Ira fact, such instances as the
latter must neceasarily be rare. An odd vote or two
may, in the end, sometimes turn the male, and be, there
fore, worth a high price; but, generally speaking, the
enlarged constituencies obtained under the Reform Act
render this improbable, and reduce bribery—as in the
pres nt Norwich election—to a wholesale, rather thsu
to a retail, traffic. But wherever it exists the law should I
meet it in a bold and uncompromising manner. Wretches
who can barter the highest rights of freemen for a mess
of pottage are unworthy of being allowed to remain within
the pale of freedom ; while the tainted lazar-house which
contains them should be shunned and held up to shame
and avoidance. We care not from what side or what
party such practices proceed ; the crime is the same,
whether committed in a Conservative, or a Radical, a
Whig, or Tory garb. We shall be happy to find, at the
end of the present elections, the instances are few. But,
numerous or few, they should be dealt with in proportion
to their enormity. Let the briber and the bribed be
made outcasts of civil society ; and let the renovation of
our representative system be marked in the outset with
determined hostility towards those who attempt to renew
the defilements and corruptions of a &Lased and gone-by
era.—Morning Herald.
We have heard with eonaiderable satisfaction that II:.
Charles Wynn is likely to fill the now, more than ever,
important office of Speaker in the ensuing Parliament.
This office is one that, from its peculiar line of service,
requires peculiar studies. Much reading, mach know-
ledge of the law and of precedent, as well as intimate ac-
quaintance with the usage and practice of Parliament, iJ 1
necessary ; and, as there is something laborious and dis-
tasteful
to most minds in this species of application, the
circle from which this high functionary ahoold be
chosen is, at all times, a very circumscribed one, If
those qualifications were formerly considered iodise
pensable, bow much more so are they at the time
at which we write? Among the indivi.duals generally
named as aspirants to the Chair, there is not one whose
pretensions will bear any comparison with those of gle
Right Honourable Gentleman alluded to. Mr. Wynn
has passed the greater part of his political life in rendering
himself master of the dirties of this arduous office. He was
originally brought forward by the Whigs, in oppiisition to
the late Speaker, Mr. Manners Sutton, end, though un-
ssuccessful when opposed to that gifted individual, die

---; .
testimonies then h.o.rne by Mr. Wilberforce and others to
his qualifieatio ns. were such as to leave no doubt of his
high pretensions to the honour to which he aspired,
even in the eyes s$ his opponents. To those pre:
unsiont Mr. Charles Wynn has since a.-14.ed the
additional claim of some fifteen years' experienze,
during which time he has devoted himself almost
exclusively to the study of the forroa 3.nd precedents of
Parliament. At the period to which WF have alluded,
he ranked among his suppprtoro many Members of the
present Adininistration; and arnon others Lord Brougham
and Lord Altborpi 'Mr. Wynn is nut brought forward at
this juncture by any party, or for aoy party Pri"see•
He
stands upon his character and his universally acknow-
ledged fitness for the Chair ;and, when we consider the
composition of the.. Parliament over the debates of which
the future Speaker will be called upon to preside, we are
of opinion that a more judicious selection than Mr. Wynn;
or one more likely to give satisfaction to the country at
large, it would be impossible to make.—Mornirig Post.
The nomination of the candidates for Middlesex took
place yesterday, when Sir Charles Forbes boldly advanced
to the relief of the disconsolate Conservatives. It would,
indeed, be most disgraceful to the metropolitan county,
were a man, to whom the country is more indebted ttaul

to any other individual for services in the Howe of Com-
mons, to be thrown out by a gentleman, who, whatever
he may be in his private capacity, is the very last person
whom, on public grounds, the freeholders of Middlesex should
elect. But we will not so far libel the freeholders of Middlesex,
as to suppose for a moment that they will allow themselves
to be so disgraced. Sir Charles is held up by the Conserva.
tive Journals as a Saint of the first magnitude, as one
whose latchets Lord Henley is not worthy to unloose.

" We rejoice," exclaims the Standard, " that England may
yet escape the sin and disgrace of exhibiting the denouncer of
all who would acknowledge the Providence of God as the re-
presentative for the metropolitan county. Sir Charles Forbes,
than whom there lives not, we believe, a fitter representative
of the character of a Christian Englishman, has consented to
replace Lord Henley ; and could we recall the time which that
weak and wavering person's misconduct has sacrificed, the
late defection would be more than compensated. However, if
the Christian electors of Middlesex do their duty—and if they
are indifferent, or even lukewarm in the discharge of it, their
pretensions to religion of any kind are extremely questionable
—if the Christian electors exert themselves—as, if they are
really Christians (and not merely such in name, they will—to
disarm the enemy of their religion of the power of injuring it,
they are perfectly able to return Sir C. Forbes and Mr. Byng.".

We are told in Scripture, that a sparrow shall not fall
on the ground without the permission of our Heavenly
Father, and we know that, whatever takes place, does
so ender the Divine Providence. But it has long been
held by those who have the interests of religion most
deeply at heart, that it has suffered by nothing more than
by the indecent familiarity with which men who wish to
pass for being more righteous than their neighbours, are
constantly referring to Providence. We have a curious
instance of this abusive reference in a book published
seven years ago, " The Diary of Henry Teonge, Chaplain
on board a man-of-war, from 1675 to 1679." Henry
Teonge was very poor, and made various efforts, without
success, to borrow money to retrieve his cloak, left in
pawn. He had been only a few days at sea, when Provi-
dence, he says, threw some necessaries in his way, which
he turned to account—that is, fairly stole them. "And
here (he says) I might tell you what Providence put into
my hands, which, though little worth of themselves, yet
were they of great use to him that then wanted almost
everything. Early in the morning I met with a ragged
towel on the quarter-deck, which I soon secured. And
soon after, Providence brought me a piece of an old sail
and an ear'hern chamber-pot—all very helpful to him that
had nothing." Wm. Huntington, in his Bank of Faith,givei
a display of providences which must be quite refreshing to our
contemporary. Breakfast, dinner, and supper were sup-
plied to him every day by Providence. We had imagined
that the indecorum of this langu ige was now generally
felt. But it seems, when all other modes of assailing
an honest and virtuous man fail, a leaf out of Hunting•
ton's book is gladly welcomed. However, the electors of
Middlesex must he blind, indeed, not to see through all
this despicable cant. An affectation of regard for reli-
gion is assumed—for what ? To protect corruption, to
further whatever tends to degrade and demoralize a peo-
ple. Mr. Hume, in labouring, as he has done, to correct
abuses in the Church, has proved himself the best friend
of religion, but not the friend of those who seek to make
religion a pander to their avarice. As be observed at the
meeting yesterday, " lie was the friend of the Church,
and therefore was the advocate of a proper Reform in the
Church. The present system of Church Government,
they all knew, did not promote ' peace and good-will on
ea7th,' which was the object of religion—(Hear, hear)—
but, on the contrary, excited dissatisfaction throughout
the country." Of all the contemptible, trashy objections
to a public man ever urged, that of his being irreiiaions,
because be objected to the impropriety of introducing
Providence into Acts of Parliament, seems to us the roost
contemptible, the most trashy. The gentlemen who
gravely put forward such objections, have formed rather
too low an estimate of the understandings of the Middle-
sex electors. The time for this trickery is gone 4.
.1/netting Chronicle.
The Irish elections are running strongly in favour of
repeal. Messrs. O'Connell and Ruthven head their op.
ponenta by upwards of 1,000. We regret to see the
animosity with which Sir H. Parnell is attacked in
some of the repeal newspapers. We had imagined, after
the declaration of the Catholic priests, that a candidate
would not be started in opposition to him. The Pilot
labours hard to effect this, and all because Sir Henry, in
his financial writings, has endeavoured to show that, in
spite of various adverse circumstances, Ireland has still
been advancing in wealth. No one can either doubt the
industry or the honesty of Sir Henry ; and this bitterness
against him, because in a work of financial research his
conclusions may not always square with those of the Re-
pealers, would surprise us, if anything from Ireland could
create surprise. It would be a disgrace to the country,
were a Member so highly esteemed by all parties, and ca-
pable of rendering such efficient services to Ireland and the
empire at large, to be excluded, merely because his views
of the condition of Ireland are not so gloomy as those of
the Repealers. —Morning Chronicle.
The foul influences have been unsparingly employed.
From all quarters we hear of bribery and intimidation.
In the small constituencies these powers must generally
prevail, and already there are cases for a new Schedule A.
Nomination boroughs have been farted like mushrooms.
The final measure has allowed of the instant reproduction
of the vice it was professed to abolish. The often declared
principle of Lord Grey was "representation, not nomina-
tion ;" but it has escaped, for the
,final measure is as
leaky as the sieves of the Belides. The only way of
making it hold is to place it in the balloting urn, so excel-
lently retentive, If the safeguard of secret voting be not
immediately afforded by the new Parliament, we hope that
the inhabitants of enthralled boroughs will petition that
their franchise may be transferred back Gattons, Sarums,
Bramhers, and such places, where there are sticks and
stones bearing the name of towns, but not people to be de.
moralised or oppressed. We repeat what we have often
asserted, that, if nomination is to exist, the least pernicious
kind is that which affects will corruption the smallest
number of persons ; and we now find realised in too many
places a fear we have expressed, that the extension of the
suffrage without the ballot would be the extension of de-
bauchery, or the tyrannies. There are inventions so ma-
lignant as to have been attributed to the devil ; but surely
there is none so truly infernal as the system of obtaining
legislative power by the production of a certain amount of
dishonesty. " Make knaves, and you shall make laws," is
the condition, even yet, in too many places. We admit,
however, that a tort of representative effect is had by this
practice ; for the morality of the corrupted constituency
is not unaptly represented by the morality of the corrupter.
We never, for a moment, expected that these vices would
cease with the working of the new law under the eye of
corruption or tyranny; but the constituency has proved
narrower than we had anticipated, and, of course, less able
to grapple with the powers applied for its subjugation.
It is now, in many piacea, of the unhappy mean—too few
for independence and honesty, too many to be given up to
debauchery or thraldom. According to the information
we he,ve received from various quarters, in no general
election within our time have the undue influences been
so vigorously exezzised. Nor is this suprising ; for a tri
is to he made whether they will have their old effects in
the altered system, and, for an experiment so important
to the pillagers of the public, no exertion or expense is
spared. Norwich is a conspicuous example,—the theatre
of the Scarlett abomination. The Bast Anglian says—

" We stated in a leading article that the ballot must soon
succsed to the present mode of voting, or the Reform Bill
would be utterly stultified. Since that article was written,
fresh and repeated instances have come to our ears of the use
to which gold has been sucsessfully employed in the pollution
of poor men to abandon their iislinpiples, and vote against
their consciences, in support of the old Tpry syTtem. The re,
turns won the canvass were, as we know from the beg aWlu)
rity, a majority's), considerably more than 400 in favour of Ow,
ney and Ker. We im,o4v, too, that a very great number of poor
electors, when called on yest,er,day to fulfil their promises, re.
plied, that they were ofibred 5/. a piece to vote for Stormont
a-irghBg4er bril;.ttW' .e1:10iv,
and
j,that they should so vote Ktless they had a
i
to the great disgrace of rn anyof the pew 101.
electors,--to the disgrace of those who have just come WO the
enjoyment of their franchise, and wish to be regarded as stand,
ing in a decent station in sockar,—Wat many of these have
thus sold their votes, and wallowed in corrupti9n. We know
that, at the moment we are writing, a list of more the names
p!traes
Aro Si.eked off; as having thus ferfeited their pledges."
A printe correspondent represents to us that—
" The funds of ;..Ere Conservative Club have been lavishly,
and by no means ineffectiyekyilipplied among the poor freemen
of the city. One voter's canary bird was purchased for twelve
ineas ; another poor old fellow was caught by a mousetrap
baited yip; ill. ; in other instances the temptition bar-
rels of beer ansl sacks of flour were too strong for integrity;
and an honest 011;04AI:sr sold three dozen pair of shoes at 21.
per pair."
This, indeed, realises the notlops which Sheridan's
Stafford electors entertained when toasting Parliamentary
Reform, that, as ;n the old system, they had for a ;rote,
in an improved system Sl;ev would pouch ten. The case of
Sir James Scarlett at Norwich is, we are told, so flagrant
es to be cognizable by law. But, satjefactory as it would
be to see that aspirant to the Chief Justiceship Taped in
the King's Bench priann for his most foul offence, we yet
think it worse than idle to fix on particular cases which
happen to stand out a little more prominently and tangibly
from the common course of malpractice. Preventiott is
better than punishment; gspecially when the prrention is
general, the punishment individual. The ballot is the
only resource. We see at Leeds that the committees of
Mr. Macaulay and i%lr, Marshall threaten to publish the

names of persons who attempt intimidation. This is a
miserably partial check, for where the intimidation is sue-
cessful,—where the dependence is greatest, and the greatest
protection is needed,—the oppressed party dares not utter
complaint, and his wrongs remain unknown and unno-
ticed. Secret tyranny has co-existence with open voting.
The example of Stamford aided very considerably in ad.
vancing Parliamentary Reform. A petition from the
burgesses was intrusted to Mr. Tennyson, praying that
either protection against the undue influences should be
afforded to the voters, or that they should he relieved of
the franchise subjecting them to corruption or persecu-
tion. This unanswerable argument for the ballot lay in
' Mr. Tennyson's pocket, for reasons more familiar to his
pocket than to us. Had it been read in the House, we
can imagine the silence and awe that would have attended
such an appeal, and the tremendous effect that would have
ben produced by it on the country. Here Were men
crying, " Have mercy on our consciences ; make us pat
pro-titute or persecuted for your false pretences. We
I would be honest : spare us, 0 Legislators. Our trusts
are snares to us ; they expose us to the temptations or the
tyrannies : protect us in the discharge of our duties, or
take the thing from us for which we are doomed to be
slaves or martyrs." In settling the boundaries, a district,
wholly the property of Lord Exeter, was added to the
borough of Stamford. Lord Althorp, we remember, was
warned of the effect ; and, with a prudery which should
always be suspected, he answered that the arrangement
accorded with the general rule, and be could not deviate
from it because of any advantage it might be supposed to
give a particular individual, or some words to that elect.
His Lordship, in that signal piece of impartiality, omitted
to observe that the principle of the Reform Bill was para-
mount to the plan for carrying it into effect. The princi-
ple was representation, not nomination ; and if it was in
any instance clear that the effect of a measure of detail was
to convert a half-emancipated borough into a close no-
mination borough, the subordinate plan should have
given way to the governing principle, and not the govern-
ing principle to the plan for giving effect, or, in this case,
defect to it. The issue is, that the Boundary Bill has
bound Stamford hand and foot, and delivered it to the will of
Lord Exeter, who has succeeded at last, through the Re.
!ono Bill, in the aristocratic object of making rogues or
slaves of the poor voters. Hating the people as these
tyrants do, how they must enjoy demoralising and degrad •
hag them, and making a roguery which is as aristocratic a
settlement about a great house as the rookery used to be
esteemed. Men of Lord Exeter's sort have as much pride
in the number of subject or corrupt creatures they can
muster, as the squires have in the abundance of their game.
The boroughs are preserves ; the gamekeepers, the Black
Georges, the Conservatives. The Reform Bill, it has been
seen, was fatal to the struggling independence of Stamford.
There is, however, a virtue in this measure which shows
its own vices and indicates what is needed. Thus, in
mechanics, there is a contrivance called the tell-tale, which
denotes any error in the working of the machinery; and
so, in destroying the freedom of Stamford, the Bill dis-
covers, in a most signal instance, the mischief it works
without the ballot. In many other places no resources
of intimidation have been left unemployed ; and the Bir-
mingham Journal lately mentioned that, at Walsall,

" A partisan of Mr. Forster's waited upon a voter of Mr.
Attwood's, and, amongst other arguments to induce him to
desert his colours, asked him how he could expect that Mr.
Forster would ever act in his magisterial capacity on his behalf;
if he voted for Me. Attwood ?"

The fear of injustice is thus presented to turn the elec-
tor from the path of duty; and doubtless with our Magic.
tracy the fear is not groundless. We have hitherto glanced
at the darker parts of the scene before us, because it is
of the very first importance that the points of error in the
new system should not escape observation; but there are
bright places in the view, and many signs of excellent
promise. The return of Mr. Grote at the bead of the
poll for the city, is a circumstance for the proudest exulta-
tion—exultation that we have such a man, and yet more
that we have thousands capable of so justly valuing him,
and placing him where his talents and excellent dis-
positions will he armed with power for the service of
society. We can imagine no better sign of advancing
intelligence than this, for Mr. Grote's worth is of
the kind which requires worth for its recognition.
Mr. Roebuck's success at Bath, despite of lying, evil
speaking, and slandering, the most strenuous exertions of
the Hotihouse party (of the unscrupulousness of which we
have ample experience), and all the aristocratic and cleri-
cal influences, is also indeed a great victory, signalising,
among other things, the impudence of the braggart Times,
the Bobadil of the press. Westminster enjoys its Baro-
nets. We wish it may not repent its choice, but fear we
shall have frequent occasion to remind it of its wilfulness.
Yet we know it is passing pleasant to a number of pursy,
portly gentlemen, with powdered heads, to take off their
hats and say, " How d'ye do, Sir John ?" or " How d'ye
do, Sir Francis ?" and to have a gracious recognition in
return, and go home to their wives and families and say
that they met Sir Francis or Sir John, and that he was
very affable ! 011 that qtrability what slaves it makes
in this land of boasted independence! We are certain
that Mr. De Year is well repaid for all his toil and trouble
by that " Dear De Year," in the Baronet's note to him.
" These little things are great to little mea." But other
causes have favoured the Baronets. The portly and pow-
der-headed class could not have carried the election with-
out other aid, the nature of which has been thus stated by
Mr. Place:—

" The state of the poll did not result from apathy, but from
apprehension. He recollected former elections. At one of
them Mr. Stockdale advertised that he should publish the
names of the voters, and the way the votes were given. That
had its effect. The loss of the franchise was as nothing com-
pared with the certain loss of custom, so that at the ensuing
election the apprehension of publicity prevented thousands
from voting who had voted on former occasions, or who had
promised votes. On the present occasion their committees
had not been efficiently formed, and their canvass had been
very imperfect ; while the committees and canvass of their
opponents had been most efficient and successful. Besides, a
well-known attorney had been told that money was no object
so long as Colonel Evans could be defeated. It now only re-
mained for them and the country to do their utmost to secure
the ballot. With the ballot the next election would secure
them two independent Members.

The Times very foolishly treats the result of the West-
minster contest as a victory over Ultra-Radicalism. This
e.innot be, for Sir John Hobhouse is either what the Times
would call Ultra-Radical or he is renegade. His supporters
contend that he is an unchanged man—the same in
opinions and purposes as was chosen by the electors in
1519; and in 1819 he was an Ultra-Radical, not con-
tent with householder suffrage and triennial Parliaments,
and pledging himself to strive for a Reform of greater ex-
tent. The opponents of Sir John at the last election op-
posed him, thinking that, as he refused to declare his
opinions, they were changed, and he was no longer Ultra-
Radical; but the voters who have honestly supported him
did so in the belief that he was true to the opinions which
had first obta,ned their suffrages, and an Ultra •Radical in
1832 as in 1819. His friends can, therefore, boast so vic-
tory over Ultra-Radicalism, unless, by separating the
Baronet from Ultra-Radicalism, they fix him with apos-
' t cy. Sir John's victory can only have been over those
who suspected him of not being Ultra-Radical, as he was
when he obtained his seat for Westminster. His sup-
porters must believe him to be this, or a renegade, who,
having changed his side, has not the courage to declare
that he has done so. Sir John certainly has not wished
the electors of Westminster to suppose that his opinions
are altered ; and he owes his triumph either to a forced
majority, or to the belief that he is yet Ultra-Radical, or,
as we think, in part to this delusion, and in part to the
force of the Ministerial and aristocratic influences. The
complacency with which he congratulated the electors on
the victory they had gained in returning him, was vastly
arousing as a specimen of naive self-conceit, or of the ins
peqtance of a man to himself ; and he seems to have been
too crafty cr top conscious to fall into the error of the
stupid Timer, and to des;:ribe the victory as one over his
old opinions, which it was necessary to his supcess to have
supposed his present opinions, though it was in-
compatible with the Ministerial service to profess
them. He would have had himself believed stanch Radical
by the electors, and aristocratic Whig by the Whigs.
Notwithstanding all disadvantages, and obstacles to a free
choice, the new Parliament• will goat with the stream of
public of inion, and proceed in the course of improvement.
The same power which, in the rotten system, compelled
a partial reform, most ;Doke itself obeyed in the House
about to he put to trial. The compliant charapter of the
Legislature is, however, no certain criterion of the virtue
of its constitution. The dissolved Parliament was as
yielding to the demands of the people as this is likely to
he; zinil tdogla we should be sure of a commanding ma-
jority for all good objects, vie should yet argue that it is
not enough to look at the general ;esit4 in Parliament;
and that while any vice continues in the elective process,
there is matter calling for further reformation, as the trio_
rdo of some portion of the people must be depraved by it,
and as tile:c; roost be a corresponding vice in the Legisla-
ture. The represeni:at.ves Norwich, Chatham, Stam-
ford, and such boroughs, old and new, caznot, it is true,
retard ti,e onward cause of things in Parliament; but
surely it woi:4l be better to have the advantage of the ser-
vices of men of taientp apd probity in place of the cor-
rupter, the factious partisan, or the incapable nominee ;
and it is also even more desirable that bodies of electors
should be protected against the seductions to dishonesty,
and that many may not be made rogues that some few may
be made Members of parlifupept: }he means of security

are simple—the ballot, and a sufficient extension of the
franchise. Give that, and temptation is paralysed, inti-
midation annihilated, and the elector has no motive to
knavery or subserviency. The morals of the people should
be the first object of the State : the habits of duty should
never be broken in upon ; and wherever an opportunity is
carelessly left for a practice against honesty which could he
prevented, there is a foul reproach to the Constitution.
Holding these opinions, we are not satisfied with merely
looking at the gross number
.for and against our objects
in the House; but we look also to the effect of the elec-
tive process on the probity of the people. We know,
moreover, that till the people are protected against the foul
influences, there can be no security for steady good go-
vernment. We shall have a compelled service; how
su-
perior would be the spontaneous : we shall have a majo-
rity obeying the public sentiment, but how much better
would br a majority partaking in it. There is no doubt
that Government will have the support of a large hetero-
geneous majority, composed in part of the official serviles
(who would go with any Government that gave them
Place), the Members of the nomination boroughs of the
reforming Ministry ; in part of the Moderates who see
that movement is irresistible, and who think that the
Whig Ministers will he as able as they are willing to make
it, to the utmost possible degree, slow and wavering; in
part of the Independents, or Radicals, whose business will
be to extract from the existing Government all the good
of which it is capable—to stimulate to useful measures,
and strengthen in the prosecution of them. In the West
Indies there is a mode of getting cocoa-nuts without
climbing or cutting down the tree—it is by pelting the
monkeys in the tree, who, in return, fling down the nuts
at their assailants. Now, if the Radicals, who neither
want to climb nor to cut down the tree, throw stones at
the exalted monkeys, it is not to knock them front the
branches (where they are much more at home just now
tha❑ a superior sort of creatures would be), but that they
may fling down the fruit, which is the only retort they
can make to our volleys. The Tories will present a pretty
strong muster, we conjecture. Considering the limbs that
have been lopped off, the body has rallied and mustered
its vicious strength from the corruption of the country
with surprising rapidity and energy. They are indestruc-
tible, except by the balls of the ballot-box, which would
rattle them down in a trice.—Examiner.

Our anticipations of the past week have been realized
by the events of the present ; as far, at least, as they re-
lated to the defeat of the Conservatives. Out of sixteen
Members returned for the metropolitan cities and boroughs,
these is not one who would not indignantly reject the im-
putation of belonging to their party. The foes to improve-
ment will doubtless account for their discomfiture, to the
satisfaction of the few who trust them, by declaring that
no exertions were made to prevent it—that they considered
it wiser to wait until the public mind had recovered its
former healthy tone—until monopolists and borough-
mongers should once again come into fashion. But what
is the fact ? Have they indeed been idle and uninterested
spectators of the contests which have just terminated ?
or, on the contrary, have they not been striving, might and
main, to holster up the pretensions, and force the election,
of their partisans ? Have the Bank and the East India mo-
nopolists, the London and West India Dock Companies—
been indifferent to the success of Mr. Lyall or Captain
Marryat ? Have not their dependents received an intima-
tion perfectly well understood, that their votes were to be
given to the Conservative candidates, or that the ensuing
Christmas would be any thing hut a merry one to them ?
The fact is, that wherever there was the least probability
of intimidation or corrupt influence being effectually em-
ployed for the return of a Conservative candidate, they
have been unscrupulously employed for that purpose. The
Tories have not been defeated without a struggle.
They die hard, though they fight with unlawful weapons.
We are proud and thankful to see Mr. Grote at the head
of the poll for the city of London It is the place which
his talents, independence, and clear and sagacious sense,
entitle him to occupy. There has been no concealment on
his part of the principles and measures which he intends
to support in Parliament. Neither, indeed, can any fault
be found with his three colleagues on that score. The duty
of coming to a full understanding with their constituents,
on all important points, is frankly admitted and fairly per-
formed by them all. The electors in the city, then, have
chosen their representatives with their eyes open. Alder-
men Wood and Waithman have reasserted their adherence
to their well-known political principles; and Mr. Grote
and Sir John Key, the new Members, have given their
constituents every reasonable assurance, that their endea-
vours shall be unceasingly directed to procure cheap and
good government for their fellow subjects at home and
abroad. The result of the Westminster election cannot in
every point of view he considered quite so satisfactory,—
though, here, it is pleasant to find that the disunion of the
Reformers, and the ill-managed, if not also ill judged, at-
tempt to substitute Colonel Evans for Sir John Hobhouse,
did not lead, as some apprehended that it would have done,
to the introduction of a Tory candidate. These unf.irtu-
nate gentry are indeed sadly out of place among large and
extended constituencies; and it may safely Is predicted,
that three-fourths of the few who will find their way into
the Reformed Parliament will owe that honour to the rotten
boroughs, which were suffered to survive the general
slaughter of their comp anions in corruption. Sir Francis
Burdett and Sir John Hobhouse have been returned by
considerable majorities ; notwith-tanding their absolute re-
fusal before, during, and subsequent to, the election, to give
even a decided opinion on any one of those interesting and
important subjects which they will he called upon to dis-
cuss in the Reformed Parliament. They go to the House of
Commons not merely unpledged, but absolutely at perfect
liberty to vote on any question, in any way which at the
time may happen to suit their private inclination, or the
views of the Minister. We do not mean to insinuate that
they are likely to turn traitors to their party or their prin-
ciples; but they have positively refused to give the electors
any assurance that they will not do so. Hitherto, no con-
stituency in the empire has been more determined to exact
from their candidates a full and open declaration of their
political sentiments and intentions, than the electors of
Westminster. Both the present Members, at former elec-
tions, have pledged themselves in the most unqualified
manner, to advocate and support the most searching mea-
sures of retrenchment and reform. But now, they even
consider themselves insulted by an intimation of a desire
on the part of their constituents, to learn how they mean
to vote, when the introduction of the ballot and the repeal
of the Septennial Act shall be brought under discussion in
Parliament. Never, indeed, was any Roman mob more
severely lectured by a haughty patrician, than the electors
of Westminster have been, by the very men who owe all
their importance to popular support, and have hitherto
been the foremost to acknowledge the obligation. The
electors, however, have kissed the roil ; and after a feeble at-
tempt to bar them out, the authority of their masters is re-
established, for the present. Sir Francis Burdett will pro.
bably ere long take his departure for the House of Incas-
rabies. But Sir John Hobhouse is yet in the prime of
life ; and has a long course of ambition, and we trust of
usefulness, before him. We advise him, therefore, to be
circumspect in his movements—to take especial care that
he does not trip—for lie is a marked man, and will be
closely watched. It is quite impossible that his late con-
duct should not have awakened suspicions, which will
not soon or easily be laid to rest. If his political opinions
remain unchanged, why, in the name of common honesty,
should he shrink from saying so ? If he stil perseveres
in his determination, so repeatedly expressed, to cut down
the army estimates, and abolish military flogging—to re—
pe the Septennial Act and taxes on knowledge—why
not say so, like an independent man, in the face of his con-
stituents, and in the teeth of the Ministry ? There was
no occasion whatever to have " tied himself hand and
foot" to vote for any particular measure at any particular
time. But it was necessary to his character (though not,
it appears, to his election), that his sentiments and inten-
otiuotriscoonneeianiimpoeintatnotr
epoigunityso
cs
ahtoi nolnd. have
is aesn
clearg v e n
as with-
day-
light in the country, that the possession of place has
hampered the Hon. Baronet in the expression of his opi-
nions. Should it also hamper him in his votes, notwith-
standing his recent triumph, we firmly believe that he will
be unseated at the next election. His opponents will
manage matters better another tithe—they cannot by any
stretch of human ingenuity contrive to manage them worse
than they have done lately. We regret to find so few in-
dependent Members returned for the metropolitan districts.
They are nearly all 11 linisterialists—
excellent and honour-
able men certainly, in whose hands the liberties of the
country are safe, and who would scorn to turn their seats
in Parliament into sources of private advantage, accord-
ing to the old aristocratic and corrupt custom ; but,
with one or two exceptions, we see none who would be
ready to press disagreeable measures of retrenchment and
reform noon a Whig Ministry. Mr. Flume will find, we
have no donut, efficient allies in Mr. Grote and Mr. Ten-
nyson ; but sturdy opposition to a Ministerial job can
hardly be expected from. Dr. Lushington, or Messrs.
Grant, Horne, and Spankie. We fear, indeed, that this
honest
yA p
:Member,
tobee ar, rta.
like I
Alder-
mant m
last-named gentleman will he found but a poor substitute
fin. Mr. Cabbage, He certainly will require looking after.
ay
be very
Wood, His addresses and ptofcssams are very like those of a tra-
ding
politician. He has a cforanol
past,
datdho
haraci t
and speak as to his future
conduct, in somewhat vague anti general terms ; but an
untried man, like Sergeant Spankie, vehemently suspected,
too, of having panned hi; conscience to a brief from the
01, propert o refer to his

India House, should be clear and explicit in the exposition
of his political creed. We wish that the electors had
exacted a promise from him to resign his seat whenever
he should be required to do so by a majority of his consti-
tuents. But in Finsbury, as elsewhere, there was too
much taken upon trust. If it is necessary, however, to
watch Sir John Hobhouse, the Learned Sergeant assuredly
must not be suffered, through his comparative insigni-
ficance, to escape without a searching scrutiny into his
Parliamentary conduct.—Spectator.
The week has furnished us with a specimen of the
March of Election, unequalled in the history of the country
for its rapidity and smoothness. Already very nearly ab
the Borough Members of England are chosen. It was
asserted, and repeated till everybody was weary of hear-
ing, that the Reform Bill would never work. There
have been more contests on the present occasion than we
remember ever to have taken place; indeed, hardly a
town in the island has been free from such a visitation ;
and yet, wonderful to he told, this non-working Bill has
worked so well, that we absolutely look round with a sort
of disappointed feeling, and ask ourselves, if it be possible
that the whole affair is gone by already? In the metro-
polis, seven contested elections have not produced one-
tenth of the commotion that one used to do, although the
number of electors polled, in most of the districts, was
exceedingly great. Throughout the country, the case has
been in all points similar. In two or three instances a
row has taken place, but hardly any interruption—not
more than an hour of extra polling was sufficient to make
up. A few of the Tory leaders have pushed their way
in. Sir Richard Vyvyan, Sir Robert Peel, Sir Henry
Hardinge, Sir James Scarlett, and some others, will still
grace the House, to show, by specimen, what its ancient
composition was : but alas ! what can leaders, however
able, effect, where there is none to be led ? The Tories
bring their staff to the combat ; and an army would
hardly insure their victory. It is worth while to note the
causes that have led to their admission where they have
gained admission : they are the dregs of the old corporate
constituency, by which the otherwise wholesome cup of
Reform was allowed to be polluted, and the remnant of
the nomination boroughs, which the Ministers in their cle-
mency were pleased to spare. What are the remedies?
Household suffrage, by which every man who has or claims
to have a standing in the community will gain a vote ; the
ballot, by which every man may b -stow his vote freely ; a
new Schedule A, including nine-tenths of Schedule B,
and about a dozen of the tail of the unscheduled bo-
roughs. The two first are essential, and must he had.
The Reform Act, with all its defects, has worked ad-
mirably for its makers ! Never was there a Parliament in
which the Ministry were so strong. The factions, honest
and dishonest, have melted before them. They have
hardly a Conservative to hold them back, or an Ultra-
Radical to push them on. They may do es hatever they
please. As they are strong, we trust they will be wise.
If they mean to persevere in the right way,—of which,
in some instances, their electioneering politics have given
but indifferent proof,—a career more glorious than even
that which they have hitherto run lies before them. If
they stand still, or retrograde, a reckoning so much the
more severe awaits them. They who sin without excuse,
must look to be punished without mercy.—Spectator.
The elections for the boroughs are, with few exceptions,
completed, and the returns afford abundant confirmation
of the prediction of those who brought forward and sup-
ported the Reform Bill. Property, when combined with
character and an honest intention to redress the just
grievances of the people, has in almost every instance
triumphed over the arts of the demagogue ; and the Mem-
hers of the new Parliament of England will at length
speak the sentiments, and he subject to the influence, of
those they profess to represent. In the metropolis on the
day of nomination we were compelled to admit that the
majorities seemed on the side of those whom the friends
of their country would reject; but we expressed a belief
at the same time that many of the persons who ventured
on that occasion to give utterance to their opinions were
not entitled by the Reform Bill to give them effect. The
result has fully justified our assumption. The metropolis
and its boroughs, after polling above 40,000 voters, have
selected men whose private character gives us assurance of
their public probity, and who are neither pledged to Mi-
nisters nor to systems, except in so far as they may find
the one disposed to promote, and the other calculated to
effect, the comfort and happiness of the people, and honour
and integrity of the State. In the country we may say
that on a balance of all the returns yet made they will
be found to promote the same ends. Radicals have in
some places—by coincidences which never may and pro-
bably never will occur again—crept into a brief existence.
Tories, in others, have profited by family influence and
the flickering blaze of expiring prejudices; but the num-
ber of both is too limited for power and too contemptible
for interference, while a masa of high-minded, honest,
and well-informed gentlemen enter the House of Commons
as the organs of the local interests, the commerce, and
the manufacturers of the boroughs. Of the counties we
cannot yet pronounce with any confidence an opinion ;
but, looking at the spirit which animates the towns, we
cannot believe that the results will be very different. One
thing is certain—that the Ministers responded to the
almost unanimous voice of the nation when they declared
for Reform ; and that, unless they display an ignorance
and incapacity beyond all that our annals make mention
of, they will command majorities which will enable them
to achieve all that can be desired by the philosophic politi-
cian, or the most ardent lover of unsparing economy and
retrenchment.— Observer.