The Sun.
London, England, 1835-02-26 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 26, 1835.

ELECTION PETITIONS, &c,
(From the brutesand. Proceeding sqf the House of Commons.)
Rocny.stia.-4'etition of William Nicholson and others, Free-
men and Electors, complaining a thiit Fieption • to be taken
into consideration upon Tuesday the 17th of March' hat, a :1,
Ditorr wrrc H.—Petition of John Hodgetts Hodgetts Foley,
Esq., complaining of that Election ; to be taken into consideration
upon Tuesday the 17th of March next, at a quarter of an hour
after 3.
DUBLIN ClTY.—Petition of John Mallet, Thomas Walker, and
others, Electors, complaining of that Election; to be taken into
consideration upon Thursday the 19th of March next, at 3.
STA YEMlD.—Petition of Rees Howell Gronow, Esq, complain-
ing of that Election ; to be taken into consideration upon Thurs-'
day the 19th of March next, at a quarter of an hour after 3.
NEW WiNnsou.—Petition of Sir John Elley, complaining of
that Election ; to be taken into consideration upon Tuesday the
24th of March next, at 3. _

CANTERBURY.—Petition of the Right Honourable Stephen
Rumbold Lushington, complaining of that Election ; to be taken
into consideration upon Tuesday the 24th of March next, at a
quarter of an hour after 3.
IPswicu.—Petition of Robert Gill Ranson and others, Electors,
complaining of that Election.; to be taken into consideration upon
Thursday the 26th of March next, at 3.
STANDING ORDERS.—SeIect Committee appointed, " to whom
sball be referred all Reports from Committees on Petitions for
Private Bills, in which it shall be stated, that any of the Standing
Orders of this House have not been complied with ; and to report
their opinion thereupon from time to time to the House :"—Sir
John Wrottesley, Mr. Littleton, Mr. Byng, Sir Matthew White
Ridley, Mr. Spring Rice, Mr. Estcourt, Mr. Bonham Carter, Lord
Viscount Clive, Mr. Pendarves, Sir Edward Knatclibull, Lord
Viscount Ebrington, the Earl of Surrey, Lord Viscount \lorpeth,
the Marquis of Chandos, Sir Thomas Fremantle, Mr. Hume,
Lord Viscount Sandon, Mr. Tooke, Mr. Wilbraham, Sir 'Robert
Price, Sir Charles Burrell, Mr. -1..v-elyn Denison, Mt. Robert,
Palmer, Mr. Loch, Mr. Guest, Mr. Wilgon Patten, Mr,O'Con‘
nell, Mr. Robert Clive, Sir Robert Inglis, Lord Viscount Lowther,
Mr. Alderman Wood, John Hay, Mr. Alexander Pringle, Sir
James Graham :—Power to send for persons, papers, and records ;
'Five to be the quorum.
PUBI.IC BUSINESS.—ResoIved, " That, in this present Session of
Parliament, all Orders of the Day set down in the Order Book for
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. shall be disposed of before the
House will proceed upon any motions of which notices shall be en-
tered in the Order Book."

PaivaTE BlLLs.—Standing Order (18th June, 1811) read :
Resolved, " That this House will not receive any Petition for Pri-
vate Bills after Friday, the 13th of March next."
Resolved,—That no Private Bill be read the first time after
Monday the 13th of April next."
Resolved,—" That this House will not receive any Report of such
Private Bill after Monday, the 22d of June next."

FASHIONABLE INTELLIGENCE.

ARRIVALS.

The Earl and Countess of Limerick and famil, in Mansfield-
street, from Southill-park, Berks ; Viscount Maitland, at. the Royal
HOtel, Jermyn-street, from the north; Sir George and Lady Crewe
and family, at the Berners Hotel, from their seat, Calke Abbey,
Derbyshire ; Viscount Sidmouth and the Hon. Misses Addington,
at Bath Hotel, from Richmond; Colonel and Mrs. Wall and family,
in York-place, from their seat, Wortley-park, near Winchester;
the Bishop of Elphin and family, in Albemarle-street, from Ireland;
the Earl of Orford, at the St. James's Hotel, from Ireland; H.
Lowther, Esq., M.P., in Grosvenor-square; Baroness Kenmuir
and Lady Caronline Hamilton, at Mivairt's Hotel, from Brighton ;
Lord and Lady Acheson, at the Carleton Hotel, from the Earl of
Gosford's seat, Worlingham-hall, Suffolk ; Major Ormsby Gore, in
Portlandsplrce, from Shropshire ; Count Gaarfiand, at Patterson's
Hotel, Brook-street, from Paris; Count Jagero, at ditto, from ditto;
Hon. Rev. L. Barrington, at dito.

ADDRESS OF THE_RIGHT HON.

EDWARD. ELLICE.

TO the ELECTORS of the CITY of COVENTRY.
Naples, Jan. 24, 1835.
GENTLEMEN,--I have just learnt, through the public
papers, that in my absence you have again conferred upon
me the honour, and entrusted me with the duties, of your
representation. I know, as yet, none of the circumstances
or occurrences of the election—none of the causes which
led to Mr. Bulwer's retirement, from any other source than
that which has informed me of my own.return. My grati-
tude is, however, wholly due to those friends whom it has-
been my good fortune to preserve through the various and
difficult contests to which they have been exposed on my
behalf; and to the large body of electors who have uniformly
and consistently supported them in maintaining those prin-
ciples which have so long connected us as constituents and
Representative. Had it been their pleasure to place their
have relieved me from its ;."".creasing duties, I should have
representation in Ot,l.ier and more efficient hands, and to
felt satisfied that their deeision been dictated by a full
sense of the emergency under which they
tverecalled upon
to make it, and have acknowledged my oblth-:.!ions for
their past unvarying attachment. I will now return
England with as little delay as possible, to attend to those
duties your good opinion has again imposed upon me, and
trust that I may arrive nearly in time for the commence-
ment of the business of Parliament, during which my at-
tention will be unremittingly directed to promote and pro-
tect your local interests. In the meantime, as it has not
been in my power to offer these explanations on the hust-
ings, which' "ne due on similar occasions from a candidate
to a conseitiency, it is my duty to take the earliest oppor-
tunity of assuring you, that my political opinions have un-
dergone no change, and that I shall be guided in the future
performance of my Parliamentary duties by the same prin-
ciples which must have secured for me this last and greatest
proof of your oonfidence. My best efforts will continue to
be directed to the removal of every just grievance, to the
suppression of all abuses in the administration of public
affairs, to the enforcement of the most rigid economy, and
to the decided march of such judicious and salutary re-
forms in our various institutions, .as the admitted abuses
and defects in many of them, the progressive changes in
society, and the advancing spirit of knowledge and infor-
mation, require. I will support the repeal of the Septen-
nial Act, rendered ridiculous except for party purposes, by
the recent most unnecessary and indefensible dissolution.
Although I do not so clearly see as others, who profess to
have inquired more deeply into the subject, the advantages
of substituting the ballot for open voting, I fully admit that
the people have a right to the best protection that can be
devised for the independent exercise of their elective
franchise ; and if proofs are adduced that it has been in-
vaded by undue practices at the recent elections, or
sufficient arguments are offered in discussion, to convince
me that the ballot will secure that protection, I shall have
no hesitation in voting for it. It has always appeared to
me that the advantages expected, and the dangers appre-
hended, from such a deviation from our long-established
practice are equally over--ated. If I entertain grave
doubts on the subject, they arise from a reluctance to ex-
change the protection against the influence of wealth, and
the intimidation of power, which the action of public opi-
nion on the open exercise of the franchise now affords, for
the uncertain security, against practices of bribery and cor-
ruption, which the ballot would give us ; we must be cau-
tious in our endeavours to find a remedy for one evil, not to
incur the danger of another.
With respect to other points connected with the Re-
form Bill, I am perfectly Willing to assist in removing such
defects and imperfections as experience may have shown to
exist in the first enactment ; but I shall be equally reluc-
tant to depart from the great landmarks on which that
measure was originally introduced. My chief desire is to
see a government prepared to act with firmness and decision
up to those principles which would have found ample sup-
port from a vast majority of the last House of Commons.
It is difficult at this distance, and with no other information

_.. _
than the papers give me, to state so explicitly and can-
didly, as has been my custom at our elections, my general
views on the existing state of affairs. No events, in my
opinion, could have been more disastrous for the country
than the late change of Government and the dissolution of
Parliament. The first probable result of the agitation and
excitement occasioned by them, may be the defeat of the pre-
sent Administration, on the first vote in the new House of
Commons. Unless public opinion has undergone an entire
revolution, this Ministry cannot have been successful in
obtaining the election of a House of Commons with
which it will be possible for them (perhaps not for any other
Government, from the closer division of parties, and the
struggles it must produce) to carry on the ordinary public
business of the country with facility and dispatch, if they
should even succeed in getting into that state of probation,
which they only profess to desire. The reaction in public
feeling, on which these measures are said to be justified,
exists only in the minds of men who either do not under-
stand, or cannot appreciate, the occurrences of the last
four years.
A great revolution has taken place in the distribution of
the power by which the Government of the country is con-
ducted. Up to the passing of the Reform Bill, including
the short period of the Administration of the Duke a
Wellington, who made the unsuccessful experiment to
ceinbine a great reduction in patronage and the means of
corruption, with the administration of public affairs in an
unreformed House of Commons, the whole power of the
Government was in the aristocracybf the country. The
smaller boroughs, the whole representation of Scotland,
and a large proportion of that of Ireland, were entirely in
their hands. Their landed possessions gave them a para-
mount influence in the county elections. The small por-
tion of members returned by the large towns were sufficient
only, with the assistance of public opinion and the press, to
prevent greater abuses of that power than those of which
the public so loudly complained.
It is useless to re-enter upon the discussion of the Re-
form since effected, or, according to the different views of
parties, of the merits or demerits of those who assisted or
opposed the people in that great contest. All now agree
in submission to the main principles on which the question
must be considered to be settled. But are all equally
ready to abide by the necessary consequences of that settle-
ment ? It has transferred the power of the Government
from the aristocracy to the electors qualified under the
provisions of the Bill, and the only Administration that can
maintain peace and give satisfaction to the country must
march in accordance-with-their opinions.
No person can deprecate more than myself the conti-
nuance of agitation. There was none at the time of the
dismissal of the late Government. The advisers of the
measures which have led to a revival of it, must be respon-
sible for the consequences. He must be a wiser person
than I pretend to be, who can foretel the extent of them.
There is only one -point on which there can be no difference
of opinion. If it appears, from the character of the re-
turns, and the preponderating feeling in the new House,
that neither the individuals, nor the measures of the Admi-
nistration (for it is impossible to separate them), are likely
to obtair, sufficient support to enable the Government to
conduct our affairs with efficiency and confidence, nothing
can add more to our already overwhelming difficulties,
than what is called "a fair trial," or, in other words, allowing
them to totter on from day to day, to their certain fall,
wasting the public time, and aggravating still more, in una-
vailing discussions, the bitterness and rancour, of which the
first symptoms are evident in the elections. Can they, or
will they, govern on the principles entertained by the last
House of Commons, for there cannot be the slightest doubt
that a great majority of the present will entirely sympathise
in, if they do not go beyond, them. This may soon be
ascertained on their promised measure for the reformation
and reduction of the Irish Church Establishment. This
question has occasioned the greater part of our embarrass-
ments since the return of the first Reform Parliament, and
has, either directly or indirectly, led to the destruction of
the two last Governments. In this respect an useful lesson
may be at least derived from past experience. Why was
it necessary that Lord Stanley and Sir James Graham
should retire ? And why did their friends, agreeing with
them on all other subjects, most reluctantly consent to the
sacrifice of their personal feelings, in being obliged to sepa-
rate from them ? Because it was ascertained that the prin-
ciple, insisted upon by them, of restricting the appropria-
tion of the Church revenue of Ireland exclusively to " ec-
clesiastical purposes," was in opposition to the views of the
House of Commons, and that it was impossible to conduct
an Administration, goaded day by day with notices of mo-
- tions to affirm the principle of a different appropriation,
withdrawn several times from a fear of breaking up the Go-
varnment ; and at last persisted in, in despair of an agree-
ment in the Cabinet on the subject.
Sir Robert Peel's declaration distinctly affirms the prin-
ciple contended for by Sir James Graham and Lord Stanley,
and is the only very explicit statement in his address to his
constituents. Can those members of the late Government,
or Parliament, who consented to sacrifice their friends, now
turn round and support an Administration with whom they
I have the same difference on this vital question, and as far as
. Can be yet seen, little agreement on any other? Or is it ex-
pected that a majority of representatives, elected by the