The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-16 00:00:00

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LONDON, TUESDAY, JULY 16, 1850.

The Protectionist journals are uttering joyous
pains in consequence of a supposed reaction in
favour of the obsolete principles of monopoly. Ac-
cording to our contemporaries Ireland is the chief
scene of the retrograde movement, and they rely on
the late election for Cork city, and the forthcoming
election for the county Mayo, in which Mr. BUTT,
the eminent Irish Queen's Counsel, is said to be cer-
tain of success, as affording abundant evidence of the
accuracy of their statements.
At the time of the Cork election we fully and
clearly explained the causes that led to the return of
Colonel CHATTERTON. They were altogether of a
personal, and not of a political nature.
The private chsracter of the Gallant Colonel was as
popular as his public opinions were distasteful
to the constituency. His family had for many years
been resident in the immediate neighbourhood of the
city, and when he himself retired from the service in
which he bad attained so distinguished a position, he
entered on the occupation of the family mansion.
During the fearful and trying scenes that followed
the mysterious disease which destro3ed the food of
nine-tenths of the people, the Honourable and Gallant
Officer maintained the post on which he had entered,
and contended as boldly against the famine and ac-
c )mpanying pastilence as he had formerly done
egainst the enemies of Lis country. He faithfully
discharged the duties of a resident gentleman,
and did much to alleviate the sorrows and
mitigate the sufferings of his unfortunate
neighbours. 113 had also another claim, which
afforded him no ordinary assistance in his canvass.
The " brethren of the mystic tie" muster in consider-
able numbers in the " beautiful city," and perhaps in
no part of the empire are the obligations of Mt'sonry
more ardently cultivated ; each member of the Order
was, and we may also say is, at all times ready to
" help, aid, and assist" his brethren in every emergency.
Now, the Gallant Colonel at that period occupied
very high rank in the Order—no less, we believe)

than Provincial Grand Master for South Munster,
and he thus obtained very many votes which might
otherwise have been recorded in favour of his op
ponent.

But these advantages, important as they un-
questionably were, would still have been
insufficient to have placed Colonel CHATTERTON
at the head of the poll, had it not been for the unfor-
tunate division that occurred among the Liberal party.
Had Sergeant MURPHY been a candidate the result
would have been very different. The Learned Ser-
geant was an especial favourite with all classes in
his native city, where his family had long deservedly
maintained the highest character. During the time
he represented Cork he had won golden opinions
from all sorts of men, and there was an universal
feeling of regret when he resigned the trust he had
so faithfully and efficiently discharged into the hands
of those by wham he was selected. It is enough to
say, that his successor did not give equal satisfac•
tion. It was said that he did not bestow
very great attention on the local and commercial
questions about which the citizens of Cork felt deep
interest, and that he did not respond so promptly to
the various communications addressed to him by his
constituents as Sergeant MURPHY was accustomed
to do. It is certain that at the next general election
he was defeated, and that when he again came for-
ward,
on the death of Mr. CALLAGHAN, there was a
general feeling of dissatisfaction expressed by some of
the staunchest Free-traders and most uncompromising
members of the Liberal party. Sergeant MURPRY
was the man for the people. They would have him
and no other, and when Mr. M'CARTHY refused to
submit his pretensions to the decision of the most in-
fluential electors, and declared his determination
to go to a poll, the discontent and dissatis-
faction greatly increased, and many refused to
go to the hustings. It was not that they desired the
return of Colonel CHATTERTON, but they were de
termined to 'nave any representative rather than Mr.
ALEXANDER M'CARTHY. This election, then, could
not be received as a fair test of public opinion in the
south of Ireland on the important question of free
trade or protection. It arose solely from local causes,
wholly unconnected with topics of general interest.

If Mr. BUTT—we should, perhaps, say Professor
BUTT, for by that title he won fame and his
present distinguished rank in his profession—should
be elected for Mayo, it will also be owing to per-
sonal and not to political causes. There is, per-
haps, no individual in Ireland of greater ge-
neral popularity than the Learned Gentleman.
It is not merely his eminent position
as a barrister, his legal lore, benevolent disposition,
and brilliant and persuasive eloquence, that would
gain the suffrages of the electors ; but he has the re-
putation of being an ardent Nationalist, enthusiasti-
cally attached to his native land, and anxious to pro-
mote her welfare and prosperity at any risk and at
any price. Many may believe that he is mistaken in
questions of detail, that he is mistaken in many
points, but his heart is supposed to be in the right
place, and when,that opinion is entertained inlreland all
minor errors are regarded is a very favourable light,
and looked upon as venial faults, which each man
hopes that time will remedy. His disposition is
essentially Irish ; he has many of the virtues and
some of the faults of the national character,
and we can easily conceive that an enthusiastic and
warm-hearted people would prefer such a man as a
representative to even respectable mediocrity, where
there was no diversity of opinion.
_ _ _

But the strongest recommendation of the Learned
Gentleman will be the able, zealous, and disinterested
services which he rendered on the occasion of the
I state trials to SMITH O'BRIEN and his unfortunate
companions. His conduct on that occasion gained
him the good-will and respect of every member of the
young Ireland party. His successful defence of Mr.
Gavris DUFFY added to that feeling ; but the
generosity to poor O'DONAGUUE completed
the charm. When he discovered that
his client was unable to defray the heavy expenses of
the trial, he not only placed his gratuitous services at
the disposal of the prisoner, but also, we believe,
afforded considerable assistance from his private purse.
The letters breathing thanks and gratitude that have
arrived from the antipodes—from O'BRIEN, from
MEAGHER, frolllll4MaNus, and O'DONOGHIJE—are not,
and cannot be speedily forgotten. It is owing to these
causes, and not to a coincidence of:opinion in favour of
protection that Mr. BUTT'S election for the county of
Mayo is rendered extremely probable. Neither
should it be forgotten that the Mayo constituency
cannot be considered as fairly representing the
people. The state of the Irish county franchise
has recently been brought under public notice.
Perhaps in no part of the kingdom are
deficiencies more remarkable than in Mayo. That
county has an area of no less than 2,1.30 English
square miles, and a population, according to the last
census returns, of 388,887 persons ; but the regis
tered electors only number some 350 voters, or rather
less than one elector for every 1,000 persons. Under
such circumstances, then, we are entitled to protcst,
and we do earnestly protest, against the result of the
approaching election for the county of Mayo being
accepted as a test of public opinion in Ireland on the
great question of free trade, or in favour of restric-
tive imposts of any description, whether for purposes
of revenue or of protection.

We refer our readers to a letter which appears in
another part of our impression, and which we have
extracted from the columns of our able and spirited
contemporary, the Leader, on the subject of the "il-
lustrious obscure," who, last week, had the
modest assurance to wait upon Lord Jons
RUSSELL and the Marquis of CLANRICARDE
and to arrogate to themselves the character of " the
representatives of the weekly press of the metro-
polis." It is really amusing to find these
pious persons straining at the gnat of the postman
and complacently swallowing the camel, in the
shape of men, and horses, and boys, and country
agents, who carry the Sunday newspapers to the
railway and distribute them over the country for the
especial and_ pecuniary benefit of these " unto guid."
These men, horses, boys, and agents, are, it
is clear, engaged in a work of necessity. Some of
thf se gentlemen bare the modesty to suggest that the
Gazette should be published earlier (that is to say
that the London Gazette should not contain the pro-
ceedings of Friday) for their especial convenience; of the
feasibility or advisability of such a plan we leave those
to judge who remember 1844 and 1845, when the
Gazette contained the reports of the Railway Commis-
sioners on the various schemes submitted to them,
many of which bad not been agreed on until
late on the Friday afternoon. The pro-
posal that Saturday and Sunday papers should
publish on a Friday afternoon is as outrageous a plan
of confiscation as was ever propounded. The Sunday
papers go to great expense to procure the latest and
most accurate reports of the proceedings of Saturday,
so as to be to Saturday what the daily journals
are to every other day in the week. The
journals represented by the deputation are published
on Thursday, Friday, or Monday, and are made up
entirely from the morning papers, and it is to bring
the Sunday papers, in the producing of which a
vast deal of labour and a vast deal of money
has been expended, into competition with those cheap
products of scissors and paste which are published on
Friday that these gentlemen aim.

The Sabbatarians boast of the number of
signatures which they have obtained to their
petitions. The exposi before the Committee
of the House of Lords on the Liverpool water
Works Bill will enlighten the minds of the public as
to the manner in which these monster petitions are
got up. It appears that a petition, purporting to be
signed by 19,000 ratepayers, was presented against
that Bill. It was represented to their Lordships that
the greater number cf these signatures were forge-
ries, an investigation was ordered, and the fol-
lowing evidence was taken :
" Duncan M'Arthur was called, who stated that he
had been employed by ihe rate-payers' committee to ob-
tain signatures to their petition. He had only three days
to obtein dime s;griatiircs. Ho had written many of the
signatu:e: to the petition himself, end when ho had got
the vat lc us sheets filled up with names he then carried
them to the committee. Out of the whole nemb?r he
might have obtained thirty genuine signature-. He
he?, upon ono occasion, gone to a public-house,
where he bad sat down and written about 300 of the
signatures which app-ared attached to the petition.
Whilst he was at that public-house three others of the
agents and himself had dipped themselves into a water•
butt, so that the committee, when they arrived at their
place of assembly;',should believe that they bad been
walking about all day in the rain.—(Local laughter.)

They walked in the streets in that state. Never called
at the houses of the ratepayers at all.
" Cross-t ximined by Mr. James—Was in no regular
employ; callcd himself a bookkeeper; kept his own
books, This did not give him a livelihood. Had been for
years employed in getting petitions signed. Assisted in
getting signatures to the late petition in fav,ur of the
navigation-laws.
" Chairman—Had year a sheet to get signed for
that petition? Witness--I had, my Lord.
" Mr. James—Have you not stated that that petitior,
which purported to be signed by above 50,000, was not,
in truth, signed by 5,000? Witness —I have, and it is
the truth.
" Mr. James—Did you, then, treat those gentlemen
in the same way as you have treated this ratepayers'
committee, by taking in a list of false signatures
to their petition? Witness—Yes, I did ; in the
present ca3e I certainly received instructions to
get no names but of those persons who were rate-
payers; but we adopted the course we did, of writing
signatures ourselves, in order that the committee should
feel that we had well earned our money, by getting a
long list of names to the petition. Tue witness then
went on to say that he had been paid by the day, and
not according to the number of signatures he obtained.
" Three other agents' then made similar statements,
and the nonchalar.ce with which each admitted that he
bad forged a large number cf tignatures excited much
astonishm eat."

Will the Sabbatarians inform us how many agents
of the APARTHUR class they have employed to get up
the petitions presented by Lord ASHLEY, and how
many times, and in how many different capacities,
each pious postman and righteous Pest 'office clerk,
anxious for a holiday, has signed each petitio❑ ?