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

PERTHSHIRE ELECTION.

On Monday, January 12, the nomination of the candi-
date for the representation of Perthshire took place. Mr.
Maule left the Salutation Hotel, Perth, about twelve
o'clock, and proceeded to the hustings, accompanied by
Viscount Duncan, the Hon. Arthur Kinnaird, Mr. Oli-
phant of Condie, Mr. Nairne of Dunsinane, Mr. Camp-
bell of Olenfalloch, Mr. Nairne of Drumkilbo, Captain
Aytoun of Glendovan, Mr. Kinloch of Kinloch, Mr.
Drummond of Strageath, Mr. Stewart of Atholl Bank,
Mr. Henderson of Blairstruie, Mr. Martin of Newhouse,
Mr. Condie of Pitquhanatrie, and a numerous body of
proprietors, tenants, and feuars. He was no sooner re-
cognised, than the air rung with the most prodigious cheer-
ing, which lasted without interruptien until Sir George
Murray, the other candidate, some time afterwards, ap-
proached the hustings, when the most appalling noise, hiss-
ing, hooting, and every symptom of aversion, were shown
by the vast mass in front of the hustings, which could not
be less than 8,000. The Master-General of the Ordnance
was accompanied by Viscount Stormont, the Hon. John
Gray, Mr. Smythe of Methven, Mr. Belshes of Invermay,
Captain Moncrieff of Barnhill, Mr. Richardson of Pitfour,
Mr. Small Keir, advocate, Mr. Arnott, St. Magdalene's,
and the usual staff of the Tory party. The candidates
having mutually greeted each other, and the Sheriff having
taken his station, and read the writ for the election, and
the Act of Parliament against Bribery, he then called upon
the electors to proceed to the nomination of a representative
for the county in Parliament.
Mr. SMALL KEIR then presented himself and proposed
Sir George Murray, which was seconded by Mr. Arnot,
St. Magdalene's, who, very judiciously, did not attempt a
speech on the occasion.
Mr. NAIRNE of Dunsinane then presented himself, and
spoke to the following effect :—Gentlemen, in coming for-
ward to nominate the Hon. Fox Maule as a fit representa-
tive for the county of Perth—(Cheers)—l am sure that
Mr. Maule will not belie the favourable opinion you have
formed of him, nor disappoint the hopes which he has
excited in your breasts—being a man of the strictest
honour, the soundest constitutional principles, sincerely de-
voted to all our valuable institutions, and seeking only to
promote the best interests of the country, and the happiness
of the people.—(Cheers.) Mr. Maule's object is not to
destroy, but to improve—not to impair, but to invigorate ;
not to subvert whatever is valuable in our institutions, and
most dear to our affections, but only to remove those de-
fects which mar their utility, and defeat the objects which
they were intended to secure.—(lmmense cheering.)
Mr. CONDIE of Pitquhanatrie seconded the nomination.
Sir GEORGE MURRAY then stepped forward, amidst the
most frightful yells, hissings, and groans, which rendered
every effort which could be made to catch the scope of his
oration entirely futile. During the speech, which he per-
sisted in addressing to an unwilling audience, several hand-
fuls of sand and shingle were thrown upon the hustings ;
and the Sheriff, Mr. Maule, and the Lord Provost, fre-
quently interfered to preserve order : but as long as the
Gallant General spoke, the greatest confusion, and noise,
and hooting prevailed, to the most unparalleled extent,
without the slightest interruption, so that it is quite im-
possible to give the smallest particle of what he may have
spoken.
Mr. MAULE then presented himself, and was received
with prodigious cheering, and waving of hats, which con-
tinued for several minutes. When the cheering ceased,
the Hon. Gentleman addressed the assemblage in nearly
the following words :—Gentlemen, it has been said that I
am a stranger in the county. If I am a stranger, I ask
you what becomes of the boasted argument of our oppo-
nents, that a re-action has taken place in the public mind on
the subject of Reform ; for, if I am a stranger, the gratify-
ing reception that I have everywhere met with during my
canvass, and still more the cordial welcome I have received
from you this day, must be attributed to the cause I uphold.
Gentlemen, I stand before you, on public grounds—as a
friend to Reform in the true sense of the term—ready
and willing, and, I may add, desirous, to work out the Re-
form Act, in its real and genuine essence.—(Loud cheers.)
Gentlemen, my gallant opponent has stated that my politi-
cal opinions coincide with those of Sir Robert Peel and
his own.—(Laughter.) If they do se, I should like to
know how long this similarity has existed.—(Loud cheers,
and laughter.) It is not more than for six or even five
weeks, that these gentlemen have entertained these opi-
nions, which they were, in fact, driven to adopt, by the
force of public opinion.—(Cheers.) But, Gentleman, I
entirely concur in one thing expressed by Sir Robert
Peel,—and it is this, that the country is tired of political
agitation ; but at whose door can the charge of renewing
such agitation be better laid than at Sir Robert Peel's ?
—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) In November last, the
country was in a state of tranquillity which it had not
known for some time before.—( Hear.) Trade was re-
covering from the shock which it had received, through
the agitation antecedent to, and consequent upon, the pass-
ing the Reform Bill ; and the people, resting in hopes of
obtaining speedily these improvements to which they looked,
and knowing that the Melbourne Administration was one
in which they could repose their full confidence—(Cheers)
—were beginning to draw their attention from public af-
fairs, and to fix it on their own, when suddenly that Go-
vernment vanished from under their very eyes.—(Loud and
long-continned cheering.) Then followed an act, which I
take this opportunity of stating, that I consider to have been
as unconstitutional as it was unprecedented in the annals of
this country,—l mean the Duke of Wellington's holding
the key of every office in the State, and occupying every
avenue to the Crown.—(Loud cheers.) Gentlemen, it has
always been my opinion, that, much as the Duke of Wel-
lington has done for this country, in fighting her battles in
the field, he never has had any true or proper knowledge
of the state of public feeling in it.—(Loud cheers.) And
no greater proof of this ignorance can be found, than in his
attributing the peace and tranquillity of the country, at this
trying moment, to any confidence which the people had in
him.—(Loud cheers, and laughter.) The real fact
is, that this was owing to the moral intelligence which
exists among the people—to the general information
diffused amongst all classes, and the knowledge of
their own strength, as given them under the Reform
Bill, which gave them the constitutional means of obtaining
redress for every grievance.—(Loud cheers.) Gentlemen,
after this an Administration was formed, amongst whom we
might have expected to see some traces of a Reformer ; but
if you look over the list, you will not find one individual
amongst them who did not oppose the Reform Act from be-
ginning to end ; and one of the first acts of that Adminis-
tration was, to dissolve the first Reformed Parliament, and
to produce that agitation which they now pretend so loudly
to lament.—(lmmense and long continued cheering.) As I
think it impossible the country can place confidence in men,
who, for the sake of getting into power, have deserted the
avowed opinions of years, that is an additional reason why
I stand forward upon the present occasion to oppose one of
their Cabinet.—(Cheers.) I have stated on my canvass,
that if I have the honour of being elected Re-presentative
of the County, you will find me a zealous friend to the im-
provement of the institutions of the country, as far as con-
sistent with the character of the Constitution ; and an ad-
vocate of economy and retrenchment in every branch of
State expenditure.—(Loud cheers.) I may add, that the
Inca interests of the county, if committed to my charge,
shall not suffer from any want of attention on my part.—
(Cries of " Hear, hear," and loud cheers.) Notwith-
standing the assertions of our opponents, that the reformed
Government had done nothing for the people, we have
obtained many great and beneficial measures at their hands.
Much, however, remains still to be done. Amongst the
measures which we have obtained (speaking as I do in this
city), I must beg to allude to the Scotch Burgh Reform
Bill. And this naturally leads me to consider, amongst
those which are still in abeyance, a measure of the same
kind, which the late Ministry contemplated to confer upon
England ; and I am the more anxious to draw your atten-
tion to this, as it is the only real matter of reform in Sir
Robert Peel's address to his Constituents at Tamworth,
on which I can lay my finger,—and as, by his mode of
disposing of it, we may judge what we have to expect from
him as a Reformer. All he says is, that he has no inten-
tion of recalling the-Royal Commission, issued by the late
Government to inquire into these matters ; but he reserves
to himself the right of considering the report, and granting
the reform or not, just as he sees fit.—(Great cheering
and laughter.) This is another reason, gentlemen, why I
have no confidence in Sir Robert Peel or his Govern-
ment.—(Loud cheering.) Next, as to Church reform,
I am opposed to Church patronage.--(Cheers.) In the
Church of England there is a wide field for proper and
salutary reform, which, as a member of that establishment
myself, I am most anxious should be entered upon as soon
as possible. Most sincerely do I wish that those who have
the ordering of that establishment would set their own hand
to the work, as by far the most tender that can be applied
to it ; but if they do not, they may rest assured that the
Parliament will take the matter up and deal with it.—
(Cheers.) In regard to the Church of Ireland, I have
elsewhere expressed my opinions very distinctly. I believe
you will concur with me in thinking, that there is no
country under the sun for which the hand of Nature has
done so much, and in which that of man can be so little
traced in the way of improvement.—(Loud cheering.) I
am an enemy to all pensions generally—(Cheers)—and
more especially to any which would have the effect of re-
cognising the authority of the Pope in this country.—
(Great cheering.) The subject to which I shall next
allude, is one upon which, as it affects my Honourable and
Gallant Opponent, I should wish him to hear every word
that I 'say.: It is the relief of the Dissenters. (The
whole assemblage here observed perfect stillness.) During
my canvass, I have all along made a point of avoiding
allusion to this subject, except to the extent of stating my
own opinions on it ; but as I stated in my original address
that I conceived the
_Dissenters to have been ill-used at

the hands of their late Representative, I feel bound, in his
presence, to defend the charge.--(Great cheers.) As I
was on these very hustings at the time, I could not be mis-
taken as to the statement which Sir George Murray made,
that he was a friend to the admission of Dissenters into the
English Universities.—(Cheers.) I acquit him entirely of
having pledged himself to Mr. Wood's bill, or the bill of any
other individual, introduced, or about to be introduced, into
Parliament, regarding the Dissenters ; but he certainly re-
cognised the principle, that Dissenters ought to obtain ad-
mission into the Universities ; and, as a proof of his libera-
lity, I may mention a circumstance which has occurred to
my recollection at this moment, and it is this :—one of his
own supporters, by way of consoling me for our defeat, said
to me, " I believe you will find our man as good a Whig as
your own."—(Cheers, and laughter.) Gentlemen, Sir '
George Murray voted against the second reading of Mr.
Wood's Bill, and left me no other alternative than to assume
that he was adverse to its principle.—(Vehement cheering.)
Gentlemen, in consequence of that, I, as an elector, could
not have supported him ; and his conduct must now be
judged by the constituency to whom he has appealed.—
(Immense cheering.) Before I part with this subject, let us
compare Lord Stanley's mode of acting on that question,
with that of Sir George Murray. Hir Lordship had ex-
pressed himself adverse to some of the details of the bill ;
yet, recognising its principle, he gave it his support on the
second reading.—(Great cheering.) I shall now state my
own opinion upon the subject. As a friend of civil and re-
ligious liberty, I recognize, in this Protestant country, the
right of every one of choosing that path in religion which
he considers most conducive to his comfort here, and his
safety hereafter—(cheers)---and I shall be always an advo-
cate of any measure, having for its object the relief of the
Dissenters from those civil disabilities and temporal incon-
veniences, which they suffer from a conscientious difference
with the Established Church of the country.—(lmmense
and universal cheering.) The next point, Gentlemen, to
which I shall draw your attention, is the vote by ballot.
My views on this subject may differ from those of many here
present, but that is no reason why I should not lay bare my
opinion to you on it. The object to be attained by ballot
is to secure secret voting ; and I shall be sorry to find that
any considerable portion of the people of this great and
free country, should deem it desirable to have permission to
do that in the dark which they would be ashamed to do in
the face of the world. But supposing secret voting to be
established, I should very much doubt its having the desired
effect. For these reasons lam not an advocate for what is
understood by the term ballot ; but should intimidation,
whether from high or low—should bribery, or other undue
influence be found to impede the Elector in the exercise of
his privilege, a remedy must be forthwith sought ; and if I
have a voice in the Legislature, I shall support any mea-
sure tending to give protection, and a full, free, and fair re-
presentation.—(lmmense cheering.) With regard to the
duration of Parliaments, you are well aware that the Sep-
tennial Act was passed in the year 1716, for a temporary
purpose ; but, by some means or other, it has since continued
to be the law of the land. I hold that a period of seven
years is too long for any constituency to place confidence
in a Representative, or the nation to trust its interests to
any one Parliament. I hold, therefore, that the Act ought
to be repealed.—(Cheers.) The Hon. Gentleman then
thanked the meeting for their attention, and retired amidst
loud, long, and continued cheering.
The candidates having retired from the hustings, three
cheers were given for Reform, and the Marquis ofßreadal-
bane, the latter being unusually loud and long. A deputa-
tion from the Trades, thereafter waited upon Mr. Manic,
with an address, to which he returned a very gratifying
answer.