The Sun.
London, England, 1832-12-10 00:00:00

FINSB URY.

Mr. BISCHOFF propcsed Charles Babbage, of Dorset-
. street, Manchester-square, as a fit and proper person to
r present in Parliament the borough of Finsbury. This
was tl.e first time the electors of this borough had had the
..pportunity of exetcising an elective franchise, and for
which they were indebted to our present Ministers.—(Cries
of " No; to the people.") Could any one heir the name
,if Grey without adoration, or that of Broughlm, proba-
bly the greatest man who had ever existed? It was the
duty of the electors to send into Parliament, in
answer to the call of the Reform Bill and
of Ministers, liberal and able men ; and one more so could not
be returned than Mr. Babbage. He was of pure and excellent
political principles, and an unflinching Reformer.—(Cries of
" Why don't he pledge himself then ?") He would watch over
the public purse, and take care that their money was not lavishly
expended. He was a decided opponent also to the corn laws.
He had likewise invented a machine for calculation.—(Loud
laughter, and cries of " Nonsense, nonsense.") He was a gentle-
man, moreover, of the greatest literary attainments, and would
be an ornament in Parliament. -
Mr. MARTIN seconded the nomination in a short but empha-
tic speech.
Mr. THomAs WILSON then came forward to no_
initiate Christopher Temple, Esq. Mr. Wilson was an old in-
habitant of Islington, and felt proud that the elective franchise
had been now given to the poor, and it was of the utmost im-
portance to send in able and honest men. Mr. Temple was of
decidedly liberal principles, and was determined that every re-
trenchment in Church and State should take place.
Mr. THOMAS CHALLICE seconded the nomination.
Mr. Temple was opposed to all monopoly, and a friend
to vote by ballot.—(Cries of " How long has he been so ?")
Ever since he had seen that corruption stalked abroad.
Ile had come to a determination that those steps
ought to be taken which would secure to the people their
rights in the only way in which it seemed possible now to have
those rights secured.
Mr. S. C. WHITBREAD came forward as a simple elector
to propose the Rt. Hon. Robert Grant as a fit and proper per-
son to represent this borough in Parliament.—(Mr. Grant's name
was received with loud hissings from almost all parts of the mul-
titude.) Mr Whitbread did not know why the name of the Rt.
Hon. Gentleman should be received with such expressions of dis-
approbation.—(Cries of "Because he is a perisiouer.)" He was no
pensioner.—(Cries of" His family are pensioners.") He had beets
loog and faithful servant to the public ; and his coining
forward to offer himself for Finsbury the electors ought
to consider as a great compliment to them.
Mr. RUSTELL seconded this nomination. He con•
sidered it would be a disgrace to the electors not to return
Mr. Grant.—(Loud hisses.)
Mr. NICHOLSON next came forward to propose Mr. Se-
rgeant Spankie as a fit and proper person. Ile was a gentle-
man who had been an advocate of civil and religious
principles ever since he had been a man. He lived among the
electors, and was a practical man. He was a candidate who
was sure to have the approbation of the greater number of the
persons present.— (Cries of " No, no," and hissings.) He was a
man highly calculated to support reform, and he had been
greatly instrumental in obtaining the extensive reform which
had been granted to the electors.—(No, no, no.) He (Mr. N.
would not take up more time than to assure the electors tha
Mr. Sergeant Spankie was the most likely man to serve them
(Great confusion, and cries of—" No, no; enough, enough.")
Mr. R. BELL seconded the nomination.

Mr. RoGEas had left a sick room for the purpose of dis-
charging a duty, and that was to come forward to put in nomi-
nation Thomas Waklcy, Esq. of Greenford Hall, as a proper
person to be returned to serve in Parliament. Much had been
said about gratitude to Ministers. It was immaterial whether
the Bill had been obtained through the exertions of the
Ministers, or of the people themselves.—(Loud cheers.)
It was the duty of the electors to work out the Bill, now
that they had got it—to consider it only as a means to an
end. It was for them now to work for themselves.
Had the candidates who had already been proposed
pledged themselves ?—( Hear, hear.) The electors ought
to have the written signatures of the candidates upon ques-
tion-, which most vitally concerned the public. He had
the honour to support Mr. NVakley, because he had pledged
himself to various points of great importance. He had
affixed his name to them, and done it willingly. He was
a most able and honest man, well known to the great mass
of the electors, and highly deserving of their support.—
( Loud cheers.)
Mr. H. SMITH came for.vard, with great satisfaction, to
second this nomination. He hoped that Mr. WAKLEY
would receive universal support.—(Cries of "He will, he
will.") A little exertion would return him, and be hoped
that that exertion would not be wanting.
The candidates having now been put in nomination,
Mr. Babbage catre forward to address the !tinting. The
ground on which he had to offer himself to the suffrages of
the electors, was his having examined all the manufac-
tories of the country, and his feeling that it ought to be the
object of the Members of the next Parliament to see that
the manufacturing interests of the people were immediately
attended to. Again ;it would be his duty, if he were sent
to Parliament, to exert himself in the retrenchment of all la-
vish expenditure. Taxes ought tobe lessened,tithes ought tobe
abolished. On the subject of Church Reform he was also a
large Reformer. Slavery also he detested, and he held it ne-
cessary to be abolished when it was possibly consistent with
their safety. On the subject of the corn laws, connected as it
was with the manufacturing interests, he felt deeply inte-
rested. The corn laws would ever have his earnest attention,
and he trusted that soon they would be abolished. As to tri.
ennial Parliaments, he held that the septennial Parliaments
were unjust, and that they should be repealed. On the subject of
the ballot, he was a strong advocate for it. He likewise would
advocate the diffusion of knowledge throughout all countries.

Mr. TEMPLE was the next to address the meeting.
He offered himself to the acceptance of the electors as a
sincere Reformer, as no doubt all candidates throughout
the country would this day. His feeling and sentiments
had been fully stated over and over again, and he would
therefore not detain those present very long in repeating
what hail been so often stated. The Learned Candi-
date then proceeded briefly through some of the details
which l►e considered mainly interested the electors. He
was a friend to the reduction of taxes, vote by ballot, free
trade, and abolition of slavery. He hoped to have the
support of the electors, and for that he would feel greatly
obliged.
The Right Hon. Rosetta. GRANT now appeared. It
was some time b►fore he could obtain a hearing. The
following paper was handed up to him

" EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND SUBJECTS OF KING
WILLIAM THE FOURTH IN SLAVERY!
" TO ELECTORS.
" The following question is recommended to be put to every
Parliamentary candidate, upon the subject of British Colonial
Slavery :
" In the event of your becoming a Member of the next
Parliament, will you vote for and strenuously support measures
for the immediate and entire abolition of Colonial Slavery ?
" By the immediate abolition of slavery is understood the
substitution of judicial for the private and irresponsible autho-
rity now exercised by the master, securing to the slave an
equality of all civil, political, and religious rights with the free-
born subjects of Great Britain."

lie hoped that at all events he might f.btain a heating.
He declared he nor any of his family had ever received a
shilling of pension in their lives. The electors might reject

him, but if they did so, it ouv,ht to be upon true grounds.
As to the office he held of Commissioner, with which he
had been taunted of receiving 1,2001. a year from it, or
having received it, he denied most positively that he had
either received the 1,2001. or bad the slightest expectation
of receiving it. He received not one farthing more for his
office than what a popular Committee considered him entitled
to, it being one-third less than his predecessors in the same
office had always received. He would not enter into the details
of the 13 names he saw posted up before him, implying, no
doubt, that they were relations of his, and upon the Pension
List. There was only one of them (his own brother) to whom
he stood in the slightest relationship, and he had received one-
third less than his predecessors. With respect to the other
names (and particularly five names of ladies) he knew nothing
whatever. He had never examined into who they were.—
(Cries of "You ought to have done so.") He would now do so,
and without much delay.—(Hear, hear.) Turning from this
subject, what was it that Ministers had done ? Certainly it
was the people who had carried the Bill—(Cheers)—but the
Ministers had been their faithful servants ; and surely when
they had done all in their power, and so much, the people
would not now turn round for the purpose of removing them,
seeing they had laboured for the people to the utmost extent
that any set of men could possibly do. His past conduct was
to be taken as a pledge for his future. He had accepted office,
for the first time in his life, under Lord Grey's adminis-
tration ; but it was under a written declaration that a free
and efficient measure of Reform should be brought forward,
for such a measure only was calculated to satisfy the people.
—(Cheers, and cries of" Off, off ") No doubt, it was
not to be expected that the electors were to return a
Minister--they were to exercise their discretion, and send
into Parliament those men of the purest and most able talent.
--(A cry, " Wakley then is the man,"—much laughter.) The
Right Hon. Gentleman entered into a detail of what the electors
considered past conduct, which produced much disapprobation
and confusion. (There were loud cries set up of" Let's hear some-
thing about your future conduct—we know what your past is.")
He would leave the election in the hands of those with whom
the Bill had placed it. If they elected him, he hoped his past
conduct would be a guarantee for the future—if they rejected
him, he trusted it would be upon true grounds, and not upon
those of falsehood and calumny.
Mr. Sergeant SPANKIE was received with hisses inter_
mixed with a few cheers. He had been for the last
30 years an advocate of liberty and freedom. With re-
gard to pledges, God forbid that he should fetter and
pledge his understanding, which had been given to
him to be exercised on all occasions upon the best
consideration of the different subjects submitted to him ; as
to being pledged, therefore, pledged he would not be.—
(Cheers and great confusion.) As regarded the assessed
taxes, however, he regretted to see that the Nobility and
gentry were so lighty loaded with them, compsred with
the measure of impost upon the lower classes of society,
and without pledging himself, he declared his intention not
to support such a system. As to triennial Parliaments, it
might be that it ss ould have to come to that, but at pre-
sent it was too early to talk of altering the dura-
tion of the Parliament.—(Great disapprobation.) It
was a subject of great importance, and very likely to
lead to a controversy of opinion. As to Church
Reform, he was a strong advocate for it.—(Cries of " What do
you think of tea ?") He would prefer a glass of brandy and
water to a cup of tea, but at the same time, when the subject
of cheap tea came to be considered, he would give it all the at-
tention he could.—(A cry of" What do you think of the Bishops
in the House of Lords ?") He was sorry to see them there, a
place where they ought never to have been, and never to be.
He hoped to be elected as their representative.
Mr. WAKLEY was loudly and long cheered. Whatever
the Bill had done, it ought to have given five Members for
Finsbury, because all who had preceded him had expressed
themselves as full of confidence, that they would prove
efficient representatives, though not one of them
had come forward upon direct pledges.—(Loud cheers.)
He (Mr. NV.,) had pledged himself, and he had
done so for two reasons; first, as a proof of his sincerity ; and
next, that the electors might not lie deceived if they re-
turned him to Parliament. He desired to make a few
observations on the subject of pledges. Was it the desire
of the electors that the taxes should he reduced ?
(Cries of " Yes, yes.") Was it their wish that slavery
should be extinguished ?--(Yes, yes.) Was it their wish
that the corn laws should be abolished ?—(Yes, yes.)
Was it their wish the franchise. should be extended ?—( Yes.)
Then why should they think of sending in a man to represent
them in Parliament who was not of the same opinion ? and if
the candidate for their suffrages was of their opinion, why
should he refuse to pledge himself? It was easy to make
speeches, whether legal or mechanical, but it was not easy to
stand up in the House of Commons and stem the torrent of
corruption. The way of getting individuals to come for-
ward for that purpose was to get men who would
Pledge themselves—(Hear, hear)—and the choice was now in
tie hands of the electors themselves. He (Mr. W.) had
been in the House of Commons occasionally, and had ob-
served for himself the wheedling and cozening that went
on in that House. As soon as he made his appearance there
as a Member of that House, which would be on the 29th
of January next—(Much laughter)—sotne of the half
Tories out of place, and some of the Whigs in place,
would come to him and attempt to wheedle him. They
would say to him," Wakley, you have got a turbulent con •
stituency in Finsbury—(Laughter)—it's all very well for
you to talk as you do out of doors, but here you must come
a little into our way—You must soften down the fungus
which you find here, and we will grant you a little of
what you ask."—( Hear, hear.) He was sure that such

would he the cr language used when he appeared as
a Member there. And all would yield to such language
who did not go there pledged men. He pledged himself,
and why ? Because it was impossible for a man who de-
pended on his public character to go to Parliament
pledged and then to break that pledge. Well, then, it
was absolutely necessary that taxation shoul I be reduced ;

and as to public offices, in one sense they might he put up
to public auction. Let men be put into office who w. uld
do the not k for moderate incomes. No doubt Mr. Ser-
geant Spankie would be glad to take the office of Judge

in the Court of Common Pleas at a salary of 1,5001.
a year. The Judges presiding there had not half
the experience of the Learned Sergeant, nor were they half so
competent, and yet the puisne Judges had a salary of 3,500/., and
the Chief Justice no less than 8,000/.—the President of Ame-
rica having only 6,0001. If, then, such a talented Judge as the
Learned Sergeant would make could be got for 1,5001., and he
might be induced to accept of I,oool.—(Much laughter,
in which the Learned Sergeant joined)—why should the
poor man have to pay 8,000/. for the purpose of putting
an additional layer of powder on the wig of the Chief Justice?
In regard to the reduction of taxation, it would be necessary
to look to the Pension List, and he (Mr. W.) would there have
to take the largest sponge he could meet with, dip it into a
gallon of ink, and wipe every name off he found there. To
talk of vested rights was absurd. Was it not as necessary

to look to the vested rights of the working man and the
tradesman? Much had been said about practical reduction. It was
for the people to deprive the Government of the means of being
dishonest, and then to trust to their integrity.—(Hear, hear,
and laughter.) And if they who had the purse strings in
_ _

their own hands did not choose to take care of how it was
opened, how could they think that those who had hitherto
had the power would not continue their corrupt practices
The country wanted a cheap King—it wanted a cheap fo-
reign Queen.— (Hear, hear, hear.) It wanted a cheap
Ministry, such as would be consistent with the present times ;
though at present there was nothing but a profligate expendi-

ture, and the public had as yet derived nothing from the pass-
ing of the Reform Bill. The Ministers were not even pledged
to any thing for the public good, although it was far from his

intention at present to make any attack on the conduct of the
present Government.—[Here some person on the hus-
tings interrupted the speaker by an observation which
we were not in a situation to hear.]—The Times
newspaper had predicted that there would be violence
and disorder at this meeting ; as for himself, he would say, if
he had an enemy present, let that individual step forward
and offer an insult to his opponents—if he had friends
there, nothing could gratify him so much as to assist
in supporting every thing in the shape of order and de-

corum.—(Great cheering.) On all occasions in which
he had come in contact with his opponents, nothing but
politeness and civility had transpired, and the circumstance of
seeing at that moment all the placards without a particle of dirt
upon them—without a spot, except so far as they were defaced

by the names they bore—(Laughter)—was a sufficient answer of
itself to the calumny that had been circulated. He had heard
with attention all the other candidates had had to say. He
claimed of others the same indulgence ; and if the person be-
hind him, who had taken upon himself to interrupt, had any
thing to say against him, let him manfully stand forward

and make the statement.—(Cheers and loud calls for the
individual to come forward, but no one having presented
hitn,elf, the candidate proceeded.) Mr. W. then addressed
the meeting at very considerable length and sv,ts throughout
loudly cheered. He exclaimed against the tithes—against
the inequality and injustice of the laws of the coun-
try—against the taxes upon beer—against the conti.

nuance of slavery—against the taxes on knowledge
—against the injustice of the present Reform Bill
towards the agricultural labourer, to whom it gave no vote—

against the taxes on windows and the assessed iaxes.. The
disliked police in the uniform of soldiers ; he ob-
jected to so large a standing army as was always
kept up, and declared that the only mode of
getting that altered, was to take away from Govern-
ment the means of supporting it.—(Cheers.) Let the
Government adopt measures calculated to make persons
happy in their own homes, and there would be no
necessity for regiment upon regiment to keep them
in order. Should they be pleased to return him to Parlia.
ment, they might rest assured that he would serve them with

fidelity, and never deceive his constituents
as to any one pledge
he had ever given. He retired amidst immense cheering.
The Returning-officer now put the election to a show of
hands, and named the candidates in the rotation in which they
had hem nominated. In the result he declared the election by
the show of hands to have fallen on Thomas Wakley, F.sq., and
on the Right Hon. Robert Grant. The declaration of the
election,baving been in favour of Mr. Wakley (which was by an
immenie majority) was received with great applause ;

whereas the declaration that it also had fallen on
%Ir. Grant, was received with almost an unanimous
shout in the negative, the electors declaring that it had fallen
In Mr. Temple, as Vie second best, and that Mr.
Satchell had acted partially. The confusion prevailed
for a considerable time. Mr. Temple and the electors
wished it to be put to a show of hands again, whether he
or Mr. Grant had the majority, but the Returning-officer refused
to comply, and then a poll, first on behalf of Mr. Babbage and
then on behalf of all the candidates, was demanded.
The Returning-officer's deputy stated that the poll
would take place on Monday morning, at 10 o'clock, and
finally to close on Tuesday, at 4 o'clock. He likewise stated the
different places, and the order, in which the votes would be
received throughout the borough.

Mr. BISCHOFF moved a resolution of thanks to Mr. Satchell
for his able and impartial conduct.
Mr. WHITBREAD seconded it, and it was said to be car-
ried by a show of hands.
Mr. WAKLEY hoped that all his friends present would
go to the poll on Monday and Tuesday, each taking
with him at least six others; and on Wednesday
he was sure they would have a far more triumphant ma-
jority than they had even had on the present occasion.
Adjourned till Monday morning.