The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-11 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 11, liir77

Mr. Trteeiczaex has appeared in the City of
Oxford as a candidate for the suffrages of that
important constituency. It need hardly be
added, by way of inforrntion to the many thou-
sands who are already familiar with his writin(7B,
that the distinguished novelist has entered has
appeal for the votes of the electors, as a truly
Liberal Candidate. Of that there could scarcely
have been the shadow of a doubt, for a single in_
stint, in the minds of those in any way acquainted
with the social views and the political bias of that
very outspoken Gentleman in the Barnacles, Mr
MICHAEL ANa EL° TITMARSH. Culla any on 3
mistaken in this matt possibly have been
regard to the principles and aspirations cherishel
in the large heart beating with such full and
generous pulses under that ample vest, and with-
in the embraces of that voluminous outer integu-
ment of broadcloth ? Hardly—it were li" e
short of an impossibility ! Th 3 satirist of Tll,l
Snob Papers," the sarcastic c) nmemurator
of " FITZBOODLE,"
the cynical biograp! e
of " YELLOWPLUSH,"
the Lecturer, first
of all, up)n the curiously congoni.ll
t heme of the " English Humorists," and after-

wards upon the still more curiously uncongenial
theme of " The Four Georges"—could scarcely,
ire conceive, in these matters, have been in any
way misapprehended. Had there been really the
smallest chance of our being mistaken in him
when viewing him through the medium of his
earlier and minor and more miscellaneous contri-
butions to our light literature—the risk would
have been very rapidly and effectually precluded
by the perusal of his three great serial fictions—
his clever and caustic Vanity Fair—his tedious
yet brilliant Pendennis—above all, his inimitable
and thoroughly delightful Netvcomes—this last-
nent loped, beyond all manner of doubt, as yet, his
Nlasterpiece. It is not alone, however, through
this romantic Triad on Trilogy that we may re-
cognise the enlarged views of the truly Liberal
Politician, or the comprehensive sympathies of the
genuine and practical Philanthropist. Those
views and those sympathies are, so to speak,
the very "form" and "colour" of the most
unstudied and casual, as well as of the
most ornate and elaborated of Mr. TILICKERAY'S
varied literary productions. His liberality and his
benevolence breathe not more through these latter
than through the most effervescent trifles stored
up among the motley contents of the Wallet of
his Miscellanies. Each in turn may be found—
readily by those who list—to have given life to
t he germ or core of the minutest paragraphs ever
contributed to Punch, by him who was once upon
a time chief among the glories of our Great Weekly
Droll--" The Fat Contributor !" Remembering
all this, remembering everything we have ever
read from the pen of W. M. THACKEUAY, under
the pink cover of his Christmas books, or under
the yellow cover of his monthly serials, in Fraser
or in the Quarterly, here, there, and everywhere
during the last busy quarter of a century
—we are not in the least surprised to find that
dear old friend of us all speaking out most stur-
dily and bravely, as befits him, to the Oxford
Electors—speaking out boldly and explicifly,•as a
thorough Reformer—not as a bit-by-bit Reformer,
fiut as a root-and-branch Reformer. Success go
with him in his canvass ! He declares himself to
be " heart and soul" for The Ballot ! He avows
himself to be an advocate for an extension of the
Suffrage—of course not for Universal Suffrage,
but for a very appreciable step onwards in it'
direction ; in other words, for an Extension of
the Suffrage—lmmediate and Comprehensive !
lie proclaims himself to be opposed to Triennial
Parliaments, but adds to that not very surprising
declaration the assurance, that if the City
of Oxford approves of Triennial Parliaments
he will vote for them nevertheless. Added to all
this, he utters to the electors the rather super-
fluous avowal (coming from him !) that ho is in-
dependent of "Every Ministry and Everybody."
THACKERAY need hardly have said that anywhere.
But he has said it—and in saying it he spoke but
a truism familiar to us all. And so—again, sry
we, Success go with him in his canvass through
that old classic c:ty of the Western University.
If the constituency wishes to honour itself, as well
as this far-famed Candidate for its suffrages, it

will duly, before many days shall have elapsed,
constitute W. M. TIJACKERIY, M.P. for the City
of Oxford.

A notable incident will be found recorded
among our Law Reports under the heading of the
Northern Circuit—dated York, July 9. It will
he perceived that the Learned Judges of that
Circuit—Mr. Baron WATSO.T and Mr. Baron
CnANNELL—having arrived in the city of York
on the previous afternoon, having heard service
at the Minster, and having immediately opened
the commission at the Castle, upon the following
morning breakfasted, according to ancient custom,
with the Lord Mayor, and then, viz., upon that
ninth day of July—formally commenced the bivii-
ness of the session ! Now, just observe for a
few moments what that Business of the Session
turned out to be. In the first place, Mr. Baron
WATSON after breakfast proceeded in due course
to the Guildhall to try the city prisoners.
" There was, however," says the revoort,
"nothing thee° for Ilia Lordship to do, and the
necessary formalities having been gone througl-,
his Lordship left in less than half an hour."
Quick work, certainly, and work in every way,
and in the highest sense of the term, encourag-
ing. But mark what occurred imme liately after-
wards in duo succession ! Mr. Baron GRA.NNELL
about noon charged the Grand Jury at the Castle
—and Mr. Baron WATSON soon after took his
seat in the Civil Court, having, it will be remem-
bered, just made very short work indeed of Ne-
ttling, down at the Guildhall ! Well—first
of all we will consider for a moment what
Baron CIIANNELL had to do at the Castle.
His Lordship found upon the calendar Vie
names of seventy prisoners, no less than
ten of whom were on bail 1 And the Report adds
—as truly as sententiously—" Both in number
and character of trims this is a very light calen-
dar." But as to the Civil Causes ?—how about
them ? Why, we find the comment of the Report
yet more emphatic about them—and no wonder !
For it is observed with reason, " The entry of
civil causes is of a characVir 'unknown in tie re-
;oflection of any member of the Northern, Circuit."
A statement few will feel disposed to question for
an instant, after glancing at the next sentence.
"For the North and East Ridings there is an entry
of seven, causes, and for the West Riding,
up to five o'clock, only three causes were
entered !" By way of hopeful consolation it is
added, howbeit, immediately afterwards—" For
the latter list, however, causes may be entered up
to twelve o'clock to-morrow," meaning yesterday.
Lit us take a peep irate the Civil Court down at
York nevertheless, and view things there as they
actually were on Thursday. Quoth the Report,
" On taking his seat, Mr. Baron WATSON inquired
of the officer of the court the state of the civil
list ?" Knowing perfectly well, as we do now,
what was coming, can't we fancy the result of the
next proceeding? " Mr. BELL having informed h's
Lordship"—All the faces under the Wigs lengthen !

Silence of course for a second or so—and then : "Mr,
Baron WATSON (lo the Bar)—` This is a terribly
lad cause list !'" Meaning—fur the Public--a

Igloriously good one ! WhereupOn we find Mr.
WARREN, Q.C., the Learned Recorder of Hull, and
the facetious Author of Ten Thousand a Year,
exclaiming, after the manner of a Greek Chorus
(and not the least bit of doubt in the world,
with a twinkle of fun in the corner of his
jeye 0—" To see the nakedness of the land
I have ye come !" The matter, however, is alt:-
gether, too serious for joking, and the Learned
Judge, Mr. ►Btrou WATSON, nait'elY ad'l3 (with a
grave face) "This is very bad, very bad." Quite
I a Lawyer's view of the ease ! But, seriously, w,.
ask—ls it not most encouraging ?It realiy
I seems to give one tto glimmering of a hope of our
proving after all a little less litigious than
hitherto ! GOD send it may be so, in all time
to come, the lawyer's biassing notwithstanding 1!

Wo have just had in hand, before an election

committee, a very nice little specimen of trustec-

eleetea, and their responsibility to non-electors ;
:led Vie would just ask Lord J. ETJSZELL how

the working of his precious theory. It
please d the electors of England this year to ex-
tingudsh the two most conceited parties in the
Horse of Commons the Peelites and the
Le:iguers—not that the country was ungrateful
for their past ser rices, nor that it underrated
their talents, but it was heartily sick of their
astlumption, and wished to show them that Eng-
land could go right enough without their ex
cathedra counselg. Mr. F. PEEL MS amongst the
victims whom it was thought well to sacrifice as
one of the self sufficients ; and the good people of
Buxy considered that an intelligem manufacturer,
in the person of Mr. PHILIPS, a brother of Mr.
MARK PHILIPS, once of Parliamentary reputation
at Manchester, was a desirable substitute. Mr. F.
PEEL was tolerably liberal, to be sure, for a
Peelite red-tapist, but Mr. Parws was altogether
much more of a Liberal, and a people's man to
boot somewhat "extreme," as his opponent
would say ; still, it was fair that the people
should have a few men in the Muse " extremely"
of their way of thinking ; particularly as my Lord
JOHN RUSSELL does affirm that he wishes all
classes to be represented there ; and the class
which would prefer Mr. Palms to Mr. PEEL is
a very large one indeed—we should say the entire
working class of the kingdom.

But how were the operative', the non-electors
of Bury, to secure this man. They were hearty
for him, because they knew that his " extension
of suffrage " and " ballot" Programme was not
a mere hustings ruse ; and, ,ike the rest of us,
they prefer a man of tried attachment to their
creed. They had no votes. Yet Lord JOHN
RUSSELL had told them that the (mein seven at
Bury who had votes, were their electoral trustees.
" Well," they argue, " we will see that these
trustees of ours do their duty. They are respon-
sible for doing it. We will make them feel their
responsibility." They organise themselves accor-
dingly, and form a non-electors' committee. The
movement must have been popular, for some 300
or 400 men were engaged in it for a week,
and on the two days before the election
about 1,000. " A captain " and three or
four " assistants " undertook each district.
Non-electors, customers of the shopkeepers,
were selected as most suitable t 3 wait upon them,
and apprise them that the non-electors, for whom
the said shopkeepers wore trustees, wished them
to carry out their trust faithfully by voting for
Mr. PHILIPS ; and, as there ought to be, and
must he, some moms of enforcing responsibility,
the operatives hinted that desertion of the shop
on the part of the working men, would be the
penalty of desertion of duty on the part of the
trustees. We gather these facts from the state-
ments of Mr. PEEL'S Counsel, and they appear to
have been corroborated by the evidence. Of
course, if it should turn out that the good people
of Bury think themselves libelled by the Counsel's
remarks, we shall be most happy to tender any
apology whatever. The only difficulty would be,
the difficulty of censuring such apt pupils of so
profound a Statesman as my Lord JOHN RUSSELL.

We know his Lordship may say that the cestui
quo trusts used undue influence with their trus-
tees. But, what is due influence in a case like
this ? Great numbers of these shopkeepers
were, no doubt-, between two fires. A few
Peelite customers, each with more money in his
pocket than a groat many of the operative
customers put- together, were demanding a vote
for Mr. PEEL. In these manufacturing towns,
however, the custom of a considerable number of
operatives is frequently of as much-consequence,
and often of more, than that of the few richer cus-
tomers. Our strength lies in numbers, therefore,
say the non-electors ; we will club together and
balance or overpower the Peelite customers. And,
according to the best accounts, they did gain
some seventy votes for their candidate ; while his
majority not being more than thirty-five, it seems
quite probable that their influence, duo or undue,
carried the election. Mr. PEEL thinks the influ-
ence was undue ; perhaps Lord J. RUSSELL would
think the same; but what, we ask, were the poor
costui quo trusts to do ? Were they to go round
with a petition or memorial to the shopkeepers,
backed by some thousands of operative signatures,
and begging the sellers of gowng, caps, and bon•
nets, of tea, sugar, and plums, of flour, bread,
and meat to vote for Mr. PHILIPS ?—this would
lock something like intimidation. Were they to
hold a "mass meeting," as JONATHAN calls it,
of the workmen, this would be spoken of in the
same terms. The plain fact, however, was, that they
knew the strength of the PEEL influence in Bury
—they thought that undue influence, and they
determined to bring equally undue influences to
bear on their own trustees.

011 the assumption that Lord JOHN'S trustee
theory is right, and that the shopkeepers woull
not, or dare not hive voted for Mr. PHILIPS, but
under operative compulsion, we maintain that the
conduct of the non-electors was quite natural if
not defensible. If the " Constitution" as Lord
JOHN says, " selects" the ten-pound householder
as a voter for all the other householders, then the
" Constitution" is bound to furnish the means
of enforcing the voters responsibility, and if it does
`, not, the un-enfranchised householders may well be
excused for devising the means to enforce it them-
selves. The case is so much the stronger because
the class who would have intimidated the trades-
men into voting for Mr. PEEL, is a class which
has votes. A class, therefore, which has no need
to interfere against those who have not ; nay, a
class which on the trustee theory is itself bound
to consult the wishes of the non-electors instead of
opposing them.
Indeed it is hardly possible to exaggerate the
absurdities of this dishonest fiction. First, as we
have just observed, the trustee voters can only be
trustees for the six in seven .who are unrepresented,
other wise it would result that all the
trustees were as a body trustees for
themselves ! Secondly, if trustees for the un-
represented, they are bound to consider, primarily,
how they shall best represent the wants of the
unrepresented. The show of bands at the
hustings, therefore, or at least the vote of
a meeting of non-electors should guide the
electors in their choice of a candidate--but, in
that case, why not give a direct vote to the non-
electors ? Lastly, the electors cannot be pre-
sumed to vote for the interests, in distinction
from the wishes of the non-electors ; for not be-
lons,ing to the excluded classes, being indeed of a
different social grade, they cannot know its inte-
rests so well, or care for them so much as for
their own.

There is, iu truth, neither sense nor sound
policy in giving a vote to an elector, unless it be
made his own vote ; unless he be thrown upon
his unbiassed judgment, and freed, as the Ballot
would free him, from selfish and personal consi-
derations. We have little doubt that, left to
themselves, and protected by secret voting, the
electors of Bury would have preferred Mr.
PHILIPS to Mr. PEEL. The shopkeepers them-
selves would probably have voted with their best
constituents, the working classes ; but, whatever
the result, we must maintain that to the full
extent of the suffrage, be it what it may,
each voter ()light to givis his own, not a dictited