The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-10 00:00:00

A POLITICAL CENSUS.

The list of candidates corrected up to the present time
gives us the following figures :—There are in England and
Wales 449 Liberal and 360 Conservative candidates ; in
Scotland 74 and 22 ; in Ireland 106 and 6L Altogether,
the Liberals have put forward 629, and the Conservatives
443 candidates, a total of 1,072, for the 658 seats which
have to be filled. This number is not so large as was gene-
rally believed. But then it must be remembered that as
nearly as possible one-half, or about 330 seats, are uncon-
tested, so that the 742 candidates are really contending for
about this number. The maximum is obtained in Athlone
and Galway. At the first-mentioned town six candidates
are contesting one seat; in the second nine are contesting
two seats. Of English constituencies, Hackney, the least
illustrious of any, has the most competitors in proportion
to the number of seats ; they are six in number for two
seats. Manchester has as many for three seats, and thg
City has seven rivals for four seats-

MR. ARTHUR RUSSELL ON THE WORKING

CLASSES.

Mr. Arthur Russell, M.P., in the course of a speech to
the electors of Tavistock a day or two since, is reported
to have said : " While on this subject I would like to
give the working men of England a little bit of advice.
I do not know whether they will receive it well or not.
There is no surer symptom that the ruling power of this
country has passed into the hands of the working men
than the large number of flatterers and courtiers who say
all kinds of pleasant things to them in order to obtain their
votes ; and if you have read any of their speeches you
must have seen that their language is something to this
effect—that the aristocracy have had their day; that
they have only been actuated by selfishness and love of
pleasure, and that their reign has been put an end to;
that the middle classes have been actuated by selfishness
and love of money, but that their rule has been put an
end to. Now, the time of the working man has come ;
they are highminded and enlightened and generous, and
they do not require any knowledge or study to enable
them to understand public questions, but they judge
of them by instinct and impulse. Now, gentlemen, I
think there is nothing to be said in favour of igno-
rance in itself, and this kind of flattery is exceed.
ingly unworthy of the men who make use of it.
There are a great number of questions in politics which
cannot be judged by mere instinct or impulse, or settled
by three cheers ; there are questions of political economy,
of finance, of taxation, of commercial policy, of our rela-
tions with foreign countries, and so on, which can only be
understood by those who have given their attention to
them. Mr. Disraeli has not been ashamed to stoop to
this kind of flattery, for in a speech he delivered at the
Mansion House he warned the people against the evil
effects of over-education, remarking that over-education led
to a perversion of opinion and affectation of philosophy,
and that great questions would suffer in the hands of those
who were over-educated. For myself, I believe the day is
very far distant when it will be found necessary for us to
warn the people of this country against the danger of over-
education ; but when that time does come, then we can
deal with it. And I will tell you why I do not believe in
the sincerity of these courtiers of the working man.
They propose, in the same breath, to improve his material
welfare, and to instruct him by compulsory education.
But when that has been done, when the working men are
materially better off, and intellectually better educated,
will they differ from the middle classes, who are so selfish
and so bad ? Will they not lose those distinctive virtues
which are the character of the working man "

The lady who Las for the last six weeks been en-
camped near Dilston Castle, Northumberland, v.ho calls
herself the Countess of Derwentwater, and lays claim to
the Dilston estate, has rt last relinquished her uncom-
fortable position on the highway. On Fiiday she removed
to the house cf 11. Carr, at Sherncliffe, and on the same day
she went to flexliam, and entered into recognisance, at the
oflico of the magistrate's clerk, to provide without delay her
appeal against the decision of the magistrates, convicting
her of having obstucted the highway, and sentencing her
to a fine of 10s. and costs.

The London Free and Open Church Association
are anxious that the following questions should be put to
candidates for Parliament, namely— (1) Do you think it just
that parish churches should be appropriated, by renting or
otherwise to a small minority of the parishioners, to the
virtual exclusion of the great mass of the people ? (2) If
elected, will you aid the gradual restoration cf the parish
churches to the people, and oppose any attempted Church-
building legislation based on the violation of the parbchial
system by pew rents ?

The politicians of Sheffield having had some dis-
putes as to the amount of taxes paid by a working man earn-
ing X5O a year, one of them wrote to the Chancellor of the
Exchequer upon the subject, and received for answer,
founded upon an estimate of expenditure, from him, that
they would amount to 18s. Gd. per annum on the groceries,
and that other items are not subject to taxation. So far as
education is concerned, a portion of the taxes which would
be payable on the groceries would come back to the payer if
his children were sent to a school to which a grant is made
from the educational vote.

The magistrates at Blackburn are naturally ex-
ceedingly anxious about the election, the riots following the
municipal elections being so serious. Since then matters
have net been made better by the fights which havo taken place
in several workshops of the town. The ill feeling has if
anything increased. A meeting of the county and borough
magistrates was held at Blackburn, on Saturday last, and it
was resolved to ask the Homo Secretary to place at their
disposal within the borough, prior to the forthcoming elec-
tion, troops of the line and cavalry. Without such a force,
the magistrates expressed their fears that they would not bo
able to maintain the peace of the borough.
A terrific explosion occurred on Saturday at
Rochdale, by which six persons were injured. One of
the workmen- employed at the Gas Works was engaged
connecting a new meter intended to provide an im-
proved supply of gas to the town, and although cau-
tioned of the danger arising from the back pressure
on the meter, he appears to have removed the plug intended
to prevent it, the consequence being that the gas passed into
the building where several men were painting a now puri-
fier. The gas exploded with a fearful report, and the men
working there were injured, but it is hoped they will re-
cover. Precautions were immediately taken to prevent the
flame extending to other parts of the works, and in this the,
were successful.

There is a singular clause in the will of the late Earl
of Normanton. The personal property was sworn under
£700,000. Among other bequests the deceased peer leayesan
immediate legacy of £l,OOO to his second son, Herbert. He
further leaves the sum of £lOO,OOO upon trust to pay
the income to the same son Herbert for life, and after his
death one-half of the capital is to go for the benefit of
his widow and children, and the other half is to fall into
the testator's residuary personal estate. Tho deceased
peer, however, provides that in case his said son should not
marry within three years after his decease, or should marry
a widow, he is to forfeit a moiety of the benefit so given him;
and the testator declares that he makes this provision out of
his very great, true, and siAcero affection for his son Her-
bert, feeling assured that true happiness in this life is only
to bo found in the married state.

Monday being the anniversary of the birth cf
his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, her Majesty
the Queen provided a most agreeable surprise for the Prince
and Pliucess, who are now staying at Windsor.
At a quarter to eight o'clock Dr. Elvery, the organist,
of the Chapel Royal of St. George with choristers, assembled
in the Horse Shoe Cloisters, and proceeded to the cor-
ridor of the York Tower, one of the principal
towers of the Castle facing the Long walk, in which their
Royal Highnesses cccupy a magnificent suite of apart-
ments. Upon the arrival of Dr. Elvery and his -,:hoir in
the tower the singers serenaded the Prince and Prin-
cess with the following glees and madrigals:—"Merrily
Wake," Barnet; "Hail Smiling Morn," Spofforth ; "On the
Sea," Mendelssohn ; "Hark the Lark," Cooke; " Foresters
Soind," Bishop ; "In Summer's Cool Shade," Arnold;
" The Dawn of Day," Reay ; " Ode" (composed ex-
pressly for the occasion by the Rev. W. H. Bliss), G. J.
Elvery, "God Save the Queen." The voices of the choir
had a wry beautiful effect within the Tower, and at the
close or the serenade the choristers were hospitably enter!'
tamed with breakfast at the castle.