The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-28 00:00:00

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LONDON, THURSDAY, MARCH 28. 1850.

?on Mr. WINGRoVE COOKE, after his late brilliant ad-
venture as a Parliamentary candidate, should be a
name respected by the Liberal inhabitants of Col-
chester. If his effort to seize the prize carried off by
his Protectionist opponent was altogether unsuccess-
ful, his political circular, addressed to his supporters
after the excitement of the election had subsided, has
gone far to show the Reformers among that consti-
tuency the real amount of their culpability. Of
course, like every prudent aspirant for the suffrages
of the multitude, he has administered this wholesome
11,„lipr" corrective in very sugary and palatable language.
isos t . His bolus of accusation is carefully gilded over
le with compliment. Those who would inevitably
have shuddered at the bitterness of his
home truths, had they been imparted to
them undisguised by any assuaging blandness of man-
ner, will long since this have smacked their lips with
indescribable relish over the saccharine suavity of
his adulation. Without expressing other sentiments
than those of repugnance to the eulogistic epithets in-
dulged in by Mr. Coosu, when speaking to his sup-
porters at the recent contest, a style of phraseology
which is wiiortunately but too often adopted by other
candidates similarly situated, we can nevertheless
comrr end most earnestly, on-1 with all encomiastic
emphasis, to the attention of the voters of Colchester,
the circular transmitted to them individually within the
lase few days by the hand of their united Mentor and
panegyrist. We can smile, fur example, with a sort
of pitying forgivenness at his designating the 389
electors who inscribed their names in the polling-
booksW m favour of himself, Mr. iNnaovz CooKE, as
~a " sacredbund." But, at the same time, we can ap-
plaud the wisdom, the point, and the shrewdness of
that felicitous metaphor by which he warns the con-
constituency against their dread of their wealthier

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political opponents—saying, " Depend upon it that
this (their) INTIMIDATION is a nettle that
stings those only who daily with it, and
is harmless to those who grasp it." Happy
would it be for all sections of the community if the
smaller tradesmen and tenant-farmers and artizans
could recognise the truth of this inimitable sentence.
Then, but only then, might the necessity for the Bal-
lot, as a preservative alike from intimidation and cor-
ruption, be removed. Then, but only then, might
we witness that bold, and manly, and right English
system of open voting when every elector might
register his vote at noonday with a defiance of all
threats alike, whether coming from landlord, from ma-
nufacturer, or from affluent customer. As human
nature, however, is at present constituted, and especi-
ally in these days of mercantile competition, we can-
not dream of any such fortunate concurrence of cir-
cumstance. Alas ! for the day—there are plenty of
gaps and chasms in the forum, but not a CUBTIIIS to
jump into 'em ! Therefore it is, knowing the age,
beholding the characteristics of our generation, and
perceiving she necessity for improvement, we are re-
solute, clamorous, and importunate in our demand for
the Ballot.

Without the Ballot to shelter the 239 timorous
voters who abstained at the last Colchester election
from exercising their rights and powers of the fran-
chise, Mr. WINGROVE Coosa was defeated, his Pro-
tectionist antagonist coming off victorious. Fear of
the consequences kept aloof from the contest all the
Liberal possessors of the suffrage in that borough, ex-
cepting the "sacred band" of 389 ! Eheu, for the
political gallantry of the traders of Colchester ! Ai,
for the somewhat Quixotic, because wholly ineffectual
adventure of the Free-trade candidate! But how in-
effectual ? Because of the absence of the Ballot, and
the presence of intimidation. Saith Mr. Coosa upon
this particular :
" There were two hundred and thirty-nine electors
who did not vote. Can any one point out a real Tory
among all that number? What! could a hearty. -Tory
look on and see his man winning, his cause triumphant,
end not run shouting to the polling-booth to share in
the victory !—No, there are no Tories among this 239.
They are weak brethren—men who love their wives and
children enough not to vote their bread directly out of
their mouths, but who satisfy their consciences by saying
' I will do you no harm: Give me an enemy rather than
such a man! Let me at least have to do with men whom I
can respect! And lam told,. that among these are some,
who, in times of peace, pretend to guide the sentiments
of others—ardent Reformers, who are frightened at a
poll-booth—would-be leaders, whose full•blown princi-
ples shed all their blossoms under the frown of a far-
mer's wife—sturdy enemies of power, whose public
virtue oozes out at the finger-ends as the shadow of a
Tory customer falls upon their door. And such men as
these would assume to lead—to lead my 389 1 Be you
sure, my dear Sir, the poll-book is the best test of public
virtue. Let the man who does not vote shelter himself
behind what crotchet he pleases—' it is of no use'—
there is no chance'—self• fulfilling prophecies, that
Bunn only lam afraid'—believe him not. Treat him
as soldiers would treat a comrade, who, after being a
braggart in barracks, is nund a runagate in the field,"
An excoriating but deserved flagellation of the backs
of these said 239 political recusants. At them ! Mr.
COOKE, " with a will " and with a vengeance. They
have only themselves to thank for the castigation—
their pitiful dereliction of their first duty as citizens
having called down upon them this well-merited
punishment. By reason of their pusillanimity at the
polling booths comes the drum-head court-
martial Of Mr. WING/LOVE COOKE'S CORl-
memorative circular, with his literary cat, and
his political triangle ! Out upon them as
electoral defaulters, they have the sole responsibility
of their poltroonery—let them alone be answerable
for the moral assault they have provoked.
Having vented his ire against these 239 " weak
brethren" who turned out in the late contest
to be "nowhere,' and, in doing this, having
exposed to their own comprehension the
miserable culpability of their weakness,
Mr. Coosa very explicitly points out to them
the folly of their having abandoned the 389 staunch
Free-trade Reformers, and thereby secured the triumph
to the Protectionists.

" I have," says he, "the official returns of exports
and imports for the year ending the sth of January,
now before me, and I entreat your attention to a few of
the facts they disclose. We have had imported into
England during that one year, in addition to live flocks
and herds that would stock and devastate an English
county—in aiditioa to a million and half hundred-
weights of potatoes—in addition to upwards of a million
hundred-weights (1,070,638) of beef and pork—in ad-
dition to live millions of quarters of barley, oats, and
Indian corn—in addition to alt this mighty mountain of
human food, we have four millions and a half of quar-
ters Lf wheat (4,509,626), and nearly four million hun-
dred-weights (3,937,219) of flour."
Ills statements having proceeded so far, he then
undertakes to explain the meaning 9f the figures,
and by so doing to simplify their application in
his argument. Reducing the wheat to flour, and
the flour to " what we can all comprehend—QUAßTEßN
LOAVES"—he demonstrates, with a due deduction of
one-twelfth for offal, that we have imported in the
shape of wheat and flour, during the year last past, no
less than " twenty-seven extra quartern loaves for
every man, woman, and child, throughout the British
islands"—altogether 699,760,304, or within a fraction
Of SEVEN HUNDRED MILLION QUARTERN LOAVES.
Yet these pitiful 239 (who could have given
the majority sweepingly in favour of the
Free-trade candidate), standing in awe of
their landlords and wealthy customers, kept
aloof and thereby abandoned the victory to the
Pro!ectionists. As Free-traders, we thank Mr.
WINGROVE COOKE for the production of a circular
which readers these things so glaringly conspicuous.
As upholders of the Ballot, we thank him again—
satisfied that contests and commemorative addresses,
such as his, must tend ultimately to improve, not only
individual constituencies like that of Colchester, but in
like manner also, the rest of the electoral population.

The chief, if not the only, objection to the measure
brought in by the Solicitor-General, for the purpose
of providing " more simple and effectual securities
for advances to purchasers of encumbered estates in
Ireland," is, that it will act as a practical prohibition
to the sale of any properties in that country, save
through the agency of the Commissioners. The pru-
dent proprietor, who has hitherto kept himself free
from debt, or who, at least, has managed to avoid
charging his lands to one-half their actual value,
will be unable to dispose of any portion
thereof, without submitting to a sacrifice of
three or four years' purchase on the rental.
The advantages already conferred on the pur-
chasers of estates at the " new auction mart, in Hen-
rietta-street, Dublin," are sufficiently tempting to
induce all capitalists to look almost exclusively to
that quarter for investments. There they will receive
a clear and unquestionable title free from doubt or
difficulty. No time will be consumed, or money ex-
pended, in its investigation ; there will be no prolix
and verbose recitals contained in the deed of con-
veyance, which, as Baron RICIIARDS jocosely re-
marked, " may be kept in a small box ;"
but, above all, a new sort of title will
be constituted, which in any future dealing with the
property will dispense with the necessity of all retro-
spective deductions of title, and of all searches and
inquiries, which are so vexatious and annoying to
vendors or borrowers. These are points that will not
be overlooked or lost sight of by persons desirous of
acquiring real property ; and while estates possessing
suchlncidents are in the market no others will be
sought after or bid for except at a considerable reduc-
tion in price.

The inducement to look for such properties will,
however, be greatly increased by the provisions of the
present Bill. The purchaser will obtain facilities for
raising money that will be altogether wanting to the
owners of other estates. He may grant mortgages to
half the value of his new estate without incurring one
shilling expense either for stamp duty, investigation
of title, or deed of convey once, and these mortgages
may be made for sums so small that they will freely
pass from hand to hand like bank-notes. A person
may send out a 51. debenture, charged upon
a large estate in the. neighbourhood, and
bearing interest at four or five per- cent.
per annum., to his butcher or grocer, for the purchase
of a leg of mutton or a pound of tea, and it will be
readily accepted by the tradesman, who will know
that it will fructify and increase while locked up
in his strong box, and that at any moment he can
dispose of it without loss or inconvenience to any of
his neighbours. It will, in fact, possess all the attri-
butes of a well regulated and judiciously-devised
currency. The fortunate purchaser of sin "encum-
bered estate" will thus be enabled to act as a banker,
issuing hi,s own notes to the community, without ,

THE SUN,