The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-01 00:00:00

THE RETURN FOR BURY.

Mr. Thomas Wrigley, chairman of Mr. Philips's Committee,
has addressed the following letter to the Editor of the limes :
" Sir,—l see that in your comments upon the elections,
and also in your analysis of Ministerial gains and losses, you
treat the return of Mr. Philips as a casualty' in respect of
the Government, and you classify him under the head of
Conservative.'
" When I tell you that Mr. Philips is a son of the late Mr.
Robert Philips, of the Park, near Manchester, and the brother
of Mr. Mark Philips, who so long represented Manchester, and
who might have retained that position up to the present time
had ho chosen so to do, you will form some idea of the stock
from,which our present member springs.
" The truth is, that Mr. F. Peel was the repiesentative
not of the town and people of Bury, but of a coalition nu-
merically small, but very powerful in point of wealth and in-
fluence, composed of all the Tories or Conservatives in the
place and a small section of the Liberals, who, in 1852, took
the town by surprise and possessed themselves of the repre-
sentation. Mr. Robert Needham Philips is returned by the
Liberal interest, I may say by the whole town, on what you
would designate advanced' Liberal principles. Ile goes into
Parliament unfettered by any trammels as to supporting this
or that Government, and while he will give to Lord Palmer-
ston or any otber Minister, whero the interests, dignity, or
honour of the country are in danger, an earnest support, ho
is essentially an independent member, prepared to act against
any Government which refuses (as in the case of Lord Palmer-
ston upon Mr. Locke King's moti)n) to concede Vim pro-
gressive reforms which are essential to a true representation
of the people.
"The electors and inhabitants of Bury have adopted a course
which, I trust, will be followed by all the Lancashire bo-
roughs, and all popular constituencies—in determining not to
allow their borough to be made the sport of Ministerial
tactics. They say that a town with 30,000 inhabitants ought
not to be a pocket borough in support of Government, in
utter disregard of the opinions of the constituency upon the
great questions that come before Parliament. They consider
that in permitting these popular constituencies to be absorbed
by Ministerial candidates, so far from adding force to the
opinions of the people, its direct tendency is to smother their
voice, and to deprive the House of Commons of that liberal
and independent element so essential to force on those mea-
sures of reform, political and administrative, which the coun-
try has a right to expect, but which no Government seems
disposed voluntarily to initiate.
" I have thought it necessary thus briefly to explain the
motives which have actuated this constituency in substitut-
ing Mr. Philips for Mr. Peel ; they arc actuated hi n° Pc.r-
send disrespect to the latter, but they prefer 'to be iepie-
sented by a gentleman who can take au independent position,
whose political opinions are in harmony with their own, and
who, from his residence among them, and his kindred pur-
suits as a British merchant, may be at
supposed to
sympathise with them in all that affects the commercial pros-
perity of the country at large."

THE ANCIENT CHURCH AT DOVER.—It is Officially
announced that there is no intention to disturb, for the
present, the ruins of the ancient church at Dover Castle.