The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-30 00:00:00

PIIF SUN LO DON, MONDAY EVENITG, DECE nnu, it 30, 183.1.

the hustings to thehon. baronet's hotel. Does any
one remember that picture of "Chairing the Mem-
ber," the last of the series of Four about the Elec-
tion limned a hundred years ago by the master-
hand of HOGARTII ? That laughter-moving
picture, in the centre of which the drove of
pigs is taking to the water hardly as kindly as a
brood of ducks, while the newly-returned M.P. is
toppling from his throne of state in the midst of a
sudden skrimmage in the background ! About as
comfortable must have been the sensation of Sir
ROBERT CLIFTON, the other day down at Notting-
ham, in the crisis of his anticipatory ovation. But
then the newly chosen M.P. for Nottingham has
his exquisite compensation—now that he can amuse
himself by conning over that delightful little ex-
hilarating sum in subtraction—

Sir Robert Juckes Clifton .... 2,513
The Earl of Lincoln

Majority for Sir R. J. Clifton .. 1,391
More than two to one (269 more than two to one !)
—and this with an intrinsic difference between the
political views (shall we call them principles?) of the
opposing candidates, most aptly to be represented by
the juxtaposition of six and half-a-dozen. Certainly,
however, there was this difference between the
confronting Liberals who aspired to represent Not-
tingham in Parliament, that, in common parlance,
Sir ROBERT went the whole hog—stuck at nothing
—announced himself a reformer a l'outrance. With
fantastic little rumours all the while flitting about
him, that this harum-scarum Radical candidate was
backed meanwhile by—what political metropolitan
institution, in the name of fortune, is it supposed P
Not by a select committee at WYLD'S Reading
Rooms, Leicester-square. Not by an inner
council of the Society of the Cogers hard by Temple
Bar. No—but in the name of all that is wonderful,
by the full authority, and the ample purse, and the
high aristocratic sympathies of the Tory Carlton
Club in Pall-mall. Rumours to that extra-
ordinary effect becoming at length so rife,
down at the actual scene of contest, that Sir
ROBERT CLIFTON felt himself at last constrained
to revert to them. But—how ? By a solemn and
explicit contradiction ? With an elaborate, and
authoritative, and conclusive refutation ? Nothing
of the kind. By faseetrously affecting to receive
the information with joy—and gravely announcing
his intention (with a twinkle of the eye) to apply
to the Carlton for the liquidation of his expenses!
It is undoubtedly true that the Conservative electors
of Nottingham helped to swell the majority of the
Radical candidate to the extraordinary dimensions
we have seen that majority attained by the time
the poll closed at 4 o'clock. But that is an old story
enough—and it is no more serious matter for
surprise in itself than would be the reite-
ration of the familiar little proverb about
extremes meeting ! Here, however, is Sir
ROBERT CLIFTON returned by an overwhelming
superiority of votes as M.P. for Nottingham in the
present Parliament—he whose earliest claim upon
the attention of the electors down yonder was
simply and literally (the fact is within anyone's re-
collection, transpiring as it did only the other
day amidst explosions of laughter) that the vastly
liked—Fox Hunting ! Not the Abolition of Church-
rates, not the adoption of Vote by Ballot, not the
extension of the Electoral Franchise—those were all
very well, no doubt, in their way—but—Fox Hunt-
ing. The plain truth truth of the matter is—put
it how we may—Sir ROBERT CLIFTON has been
elected now as member for Nottingham, not
only as an out-and-out Reformer but especially
and essentially as a bright-eyed, merrily
outspoken, good-humoured gentlemanly wag. He
has fairly laughed himself gaily into his present posi-
tion. It was a wholly super fluous piece of brutality,
that, on the part of one of his more impassioned
constituents—the hurling of the stone at Lord
LINCOLN as he ;painfully wended his way back to
his hotel from the hustings, leaning upon the arm
of his physician—the missile flung by the wretched
miscreant who perpetrated the outrage, striking
the Doctor (and not the Patient) upon the shoulder.
The successful candidate might well have said to
his supporters as TALLEYRAND to the young and
inexperienced diplomatist—pas de zele ! Jokes
were missiles quite formidable enough to the gay
hand of the Radical Baronet now returned as M.P.
for Nottingham. It was perfectly in keeping somehow
with the whole of these seriocomic proceedings,
that one of the seconders at the Nottingham nomi-
nation was Alderman RECKLESS : and that another
conspicuous orator there was named (what he cer-
tainly was not upon those hustings) Mr. HEARD.
Remembering that the Earl of LINCOLN, the
defeated candidate, appeared before the electors
peculiarly and especially as a supporter of Lord
PALMERSTON'S Government—are we to look upon
the triumphant return of the waggish Radical
baronet, his oppponent, as the last evidence of the
so-called Conservative Reaction P We should like
to ask Lord STANLEY.

Oct. 19, Nov. 16,
1861. 1861. Increase. Decrease
2',718,871 2;x,804,87 26,001;
3,411.524 3,503,81 90,2'13
3,000,221 I 3,00,131 8,910

27,192,616 27,317,817 125, 01 )
4,256,980; 4,513,062 256,( 82 )
6,140,274' 6,458,197 317,923

37,5 S 9,870 38,289,0761 .€609,206