The Sun.
London, England, 1859-04-23 00:00:00

SIR ,TAZIIES URAIIA3I AT CARLISLE.

(From the Times.)
For anybody who can take an interest, at a mo-
ment like the present, in a piece of real English
life at election time, we can confidently recommend
the appearance of Sir James Graham at Carlisle as
a picture not likely to be surpassed. We have had
nothing half as good through all the proceedings
of the national canvass. Not a week ago we told
the public that the true principles of antagonism in
a British borough amounted simply to Blue against
Yellow, and at Carlisle the fact comes out with
marvellous distinctness. Sir James goes down to
address his old constituents, and talks to them for a
good hour together, but as to the peace of Europe,
or the policy of Governments, those are not the
topics for the Cumbrian market-place. It is all town
and county. but especially town—the doings of the
Blues and the misdoings of the Yellows, with as
many squibs and jokes, and strokes and stratagems
as would have been brought up a hundred years
ago. The scene is positively refreshing, and takes
us back to the days of llogarth and Lord Bute.
Sir James decided to throw off with an appeal
to his own long-established and unchangeable
character—rather a bold position to occupy, but one
which he defended nevertheless with considerable
success. At any rate, he was Sir James Graham
and a candidate, and a candidate for Carlisle, and
much the same shifty sort. of man that he had been
three-and-thirty years ago. So here was a species o
political identity admitting of actual verification,
and that went for a good deal. He had addressed
that very constituency on that very spot (as the
" scene reminded" him) in the year 1826, and some-
body fortunately remembered that he had done so
" on the top of a carriage," a t.oucu of eircusastance
which was instantly improved. "Ali! on the top of
a carriage! I was afraid that another generation
had come which knew not. Joseph, and that you had
forgotten that day, but I am glad to find a friend
as old as myself who remembers it." Sir James
quite warmed up the thought ; he was " revived"
and "encouraged," till at length he went in boldly
for something like consistency altogether. " I was
then the advocate of the people and of popular
rights, and lam so now. I was then a Reformer,
and I am so now. I then fought under the blue
flag; I fight under the blue fl 3 still. (Great
cheering.)" This was an intrepid stroke, for some
naughty people at Carlisle had that very week been
describing him as a weathercok, and saying that
the place for him was not the top of the poll, but
the top of the C ithedral. They had even gone
further. They had fished up one of his old circulars,
and " Since I came here," said Sir James, " while I
was at dinner, an old address of mine, two-and-
twenty years old, has been published from the
printing-shop of the yellow party upon blue
paper!" In this document he P pgeared in
black and white, or rather in black and blue,
as a regular Protectionist, and decidedly " op-
posed to the extension of the existing suffrage."
Confronted with himself in this very inconsiderate
fashion, what was Sir James Graham to
say? Nothing but what he did say,—viz., that
he had been in error, and made very grave mistakes,
as he now fully admitted. After all, if he was the
same man now that he had been in 1826, that was
pretty well enough for anybody. Why pursue
him through all the vicissitudes of the thirty
years' interval ? " Talk of inconsistency ! Let
any man pass through a public life as long as mine
and not change some of his opinions, and I say that
he may plead consistency, but it is at the expense
of his judgment and his sense. You are right,
Sir James. When all things are changing, a
politician must either change too or be left be-
hind.
The present expression of the great Blue and
Yellow conflict at Carlisle is found in the dispute
about a third candidate, and not so much in this
candidate's opinions as in his connexions and
pedigree. The gentleman is a nephew of Sir
James Graham, and a grandson of Mr. Wybergh.
To this alliance the Yellows stoutly object
They ask if Carlisle is to become " an appanage of
Netherby," and they have reprinted some an-
cient poetry disparaging to the late Mr. Wybcrgh's
memory. So Sir James is compelled to take up
this topic in right earnest, as a point on which the
electors of Carlisle feel very deeply. " Now, who
was Mr. Wybergh ? Mr. Wybergh was one of
the oldest members of the Blue party. He was
the intimate friend of Jockey of Norfolk, one of
the founders of the Blue party, but he was no sub-
servient follower of that great man. . . He was
the' most hospitable man, the most convivial com-
panion, the most agreeable of men. He knew a
joke, he loved a joke, and he was not the worse of
that ; and if my nephew is a chip off the old block
(laying his hand on Mr. Lawson's shoulder) .his
connex•ion with Mr. Wybergh will never disgrace
him, nor incapacitate him from representing Car-
lisle." This defence was received with great popu-
lar applause ; the arguments told, and things looked
well for uncle and nephew. Sir James does not retain
his old following quite absolutely, it is true, for the
very gentleman who proposed him in 1832 has now
opened a poetical miscellany under the title of the
" EleCtion Muse," in which the prevailing tone of
the stanzas is not complimentary to the baronet or
his claims ; but, for all this, he is confident, and is
on the point of " telling the Yellow candidate" so,
when he recollects that boasting is absurd, " espe-
cially at elections."
Even bribery and intimidation assume at Carlisle
the tints of those fatilbus colours which pervade the
atmosphere of the borough. S'r James refers to a
particular species of compulsion which, in his
opinion, is the hardest and most cruel of all--the
screw which a banker can put upon a customer
keeping a cash credit with him. " And this I say,"
continued he ; " if there be any Yellow bankers who
put this pressure on you, frankly avow it, and try
what a Blue banker will do for you." OF course,
it-would never do to insinuate that the actual con-
•stittrency of Carlisle was amenable to unlawful
-appeals ; this Sir James cannot think of, but in a
general way he gives ominous warning. The
coming elections, he says, are to be carried by
money. The Carlton Club money is abundant, and
the non-electors, in Sir James's opinion, cannot do
.
better than preserve their brethren from attack.
It would be an excellent office for men on the verge
of becoming and
electors themselves.
gentlemen in green spectaclesLodoakrk ouwt
igfosr.
ariv suspicious
After the nomination, if there are
let the non-electors watch
persons of that kind,
them, follow them, find them out, see their trans-
actions, and if there be law in England, or in Parlia-
ment, we will bring the transgressors to account."
If Carlisle is disturbed by any of these ugly prac..
titioners, it will-not be for want of caution.
It was only when Sir James had retired from
the Market-place to the Assembly-room that he
ventured in the comparative seclusion of his sup-
porters with his practical impressions respecting
the affairs of the country. From these communica-
tions we learn that he still entertains a conscientious
objection to the ballot, but in deference to the
opinion of his adherents he has not only omitted to