The Sun.
London, England, 1826-05-05 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR—While the struggle was lately making by
various Candidates for a seat at the Board of Direc-
tors of the East India Company, to havc remarked on
the publications then sent forth, might have excited
suspicion that the service of a particular individual
only was aimed at. But considerations of a higher
nature require that the public 'should be set right on
some important points,l involving the welfare of our
splendid Empire in the fast ; and with this view,
I take the liberty of addressing to you the following
observations

Two houses of agency have. of late years taken upon
them to influence the Electors; to manoeuvre the Elec.
tions ; and to nominate the successful Candidates. Those
houses have extensive connections, and great power
over the proprietors ; and they have redwed the pro-
cess of Election to a system, as skillfully adjusted
for practical effect, as that which governs the choice
of Members of Parliament in any clok Borough.-,-
The one house takes a noviciate by the hand ; the
other house takes a noviciate, by the hand; and on they
go, training up their protegees, as race horses are trained
for Newmarket. They usually have two or three colts
on the turf at a time,, to follow in succession according
to their ages. First, they are walked , round to the
ladies and gentlemen, to sheer their . paces,. display
their pedigree, and rehearse their exploits. Then the
proprietors are privately canvassed to back them, and
this is done most systematicAy. . A Secretary is kept,
to whom all information is confided, and he can tell
by a reference to his books, not only how every one
voted at any particular election, but who influenced
the voter to vote in that particular way on the parti-
cular contest. Thus the vulnerable side of every
elector, being known, is assailed, and the event of any
struggle can be calculated almost to a certainty. Thus,
too, these houses are filling the Direction with their
friends, and the Sovereign Council of the most popu-
lous and extensive half of the Britieh dominions, is
becoming a mere branch counting-house, for executing
the orders of trading firms. These firms are not only
carrying their mercantile views into effect, but they
‘
dispose, of, a great part of the valuable patronage, the
civil appointments, the commissions in the Army, &c.
while the -King of England cannot name one Ensign,
though. the army is larger than his army, and, the ter-
ritories the
,Most extensive and populom over which he
reigns. ...
The progress of this uscnrpation has At, lath attracted
the attention of several intelligent- Members of the
Court oT Directors; and Of the Court of Proprietors,
who foresee the fatat tho degrading consequences, of
the full estabhuhigt,,,a such un ascendancy ; 'O4
they have resalited tOftsteent he entire domination-4,44,

frustrate it wholly not being in their power. At the
lait election, Mr. Carnac and'Mr. Tucker were the
,eleves of the two houses which opposed them to Mr.
Stuart. AU three are it men for the office, if free to
act ; but no candidate is or ever was more fit than
Mr. Stuart, though his qualifications did not recom-
mend him to the trading patrons. But for that very
reason the newly generated party, jealous of the ho-
nour and authority of the Company, exerted itself,
and brought in Mr. Stuart triumphantly high upon
the

Pending the contest, some silly person attacked in
the newspapers this independent party, clumsily at-
tempting' to conceal himself by endeavouring to make
it appear that these attacks came from the trading
patrons ; but the author was obviously the propagator
of the scandalous stories in tbe John Bull respecting
Mr. Tucker's juvenile Indian amours. That writer,
on this recent occasion, accused some of the Directors
of corruption, of bestowing patronage on Proprietors
to induce them to vote for Mr. Stuart ; and, singular
enough, Mr. Mackinnon, in his last circular, thanking
those who voted against him, as well as those who
voted for him, boasts of the 697 "independent votes"
given to him, thus exciting the suspicion that all who
did not vote for him did not vote independently, but
corruptly. Does he mean to say that the 1,700 who
voted for Mr. Pattison, or even the 1,300 who voted
for Mr. Stuart, were not independent voters ? No
doubt the friends of Mr. Mackinnon used the same
influence with the electors, as those of the other Can,
dilates probably did. The seat of Mr. Tucker's
strength might be in Devonshire-square ; that of Mr.
Came in Fitzroy-square ; and that of Mr. Mackin-
non might be confined to the .StOck Exchange:
But to leave Mr. Mackinnon, and to return to the
viiter in the John Bull, and recently in the other
papers. - - -

• What writer complained that some of the Directors
acted corruptly, and violated the privileges of the
Court of Proprietors by canvassing for. Mr. Stuart.—
Now, if there be a corrupt course on such an occa-
sion, it is that of neutrality by the Directors. These
Gentlemen always in a body recommend for re-election
their former colleagues, who go out and come in again
once in four years. This is a selfish, at least, if not a
corrupt course. It is an avowed combination of the
whole Directory to support each other, when once
chosen, .however infirm, indolent, or inattentive any of
the Directors may be. One .of the first duties of the
Directors is to employ, to watch, and to encourage able
servants: but is it not much more their duty to pro-
mote the election of able masters ? Is it, not a selfish
pusillanimous dereliction of their duty to stand by
silent and neuter, while the Proprietors, in ignorance,
are choosing men whom the Directors know to be
unfit, merely that they (the Directors)., may not render
themselves obnoxious to the friends; of a particular.
Candidate, and thereby endanger their own re-election,
at the end of four years, on such an occasion of con-
test as that which has recently taken place ?
It will be fortunate for the interests of the Company,
if the Directors do as they are bound to do, bestir
themselves, bye pointing out the proper from the im-
proper Candidates. Possessing, as the Directors
must, a superior knowledge of every man !offering,
their opinion may be much more relied upon than that
of a few friends, meeting at a tavern to send out a
puffing advertisement in favour of an eleve of two
trading houses.
Complaint has also been 'made by the same recent
writer in the newspapers, that some Members of Go-
vernment canvassed for Mr. Stuart. And why not ?
It appears to me to be as much the duty: of the
Boaill of Ct•attoul AS of Ai Court of Directors,' to
point out who are and who are not proper candidates.
The custo7a of sending out letters from that Board
wss first disiontinued by Mr. Canning, when he was
At the head of it ; but this he did more in a spirit of
than. of prudence. What reason did he
give ? That those lettefs.cArried with them no power:.
that on this occasion .400.,80ard was not a' Board of
Controul. Thus the iiiipotence Of Government in
'the elections was confessed, though the recent writer in
the ncwhpapers insists upon it that Government, or
some of its servants, have exerted a corrupt influence
in Mr. Stuart's favour.

I shall feel obliged by your making this communi•
cation public ; and remain, &c. • A. B.

The Rev. George Preston, A., has been ap-
pointed second Master of Westminster Sehool. Yes-
terday the following Gentle Men were elected from
Westminster College :—Messrs. Goodenough, Page,
Biseoe, Hall, and Partington, to Christ Church, Ox-
ford ; and 'Messrs. Dunlop, Carron, and Heath, to
Trinity, College,• Cambridge.
Michael Nolan, Esq., has offered himself as a Can-
didate to represent the ancient Borough of Bridgwater,
at the approaching. General Election.
A Deputation from the- Committee for the Ma-
nagement of the Monies': Fund for the Relief of the
Distressed Manufacturers left
„town on Wednesxlay,
with a portion of the money already subscribed for
the disturbed districts in various parts of Lancashire.
The accounts by the French Mail of 'yesterday an-
nounce the arrival of the Nancy, merchant vessel, at
Bourdeaux, from Calcutta. She sailed on the 15th
January, but as she was immediately placed under
quarantine, no papers or letters were yesterday -re-
ceived.

The Journal du Commerce of Antwerp, received
yesterday, ives an extract of a letter from Port-au-
Prince of the ,15th March, which-announces that The
Treaty of Commerce concluded in France by the De-
puties of Hayti, with Conimissioners appointed for
the purpose, has been rejected by. the Haytian Govern-
ment..

3ome symptoms of a revival in trade have mani-
fested themselves in Huddersfield. In the woollen
manufactory of Messrs. Pedley and Co., situated at
the Paddock, the work people are employed.from day-
light in the morning till ten o'clock at night, and se-
veral. other factories are pretty fully employed, , but the
general business of the town is still very flat, and the
sales in the Cloth-hall are by no means so brisk as is
usual at this season of the year.- York Herald.
The King has already bestowed the following sums
on the distressed workmen of different places, viz.—
Spitalfields, 42,000/..; Manchester,.l,o6o/! ; Maccles-
field, 1,000/. ; Blackburn, 1,000/. ; Rochdale, 5001.•
Lower Damen 1001.; Thornton, 1001. To whirl:
a further sum of 500/. was on Sunday ordered by his
Majesty.to be given to Ole distressed poor of Bolton,
making in all the sum of 6,200/..
We understand that the demand for the tickets of
admission at the ensuing Ball for the relief of the dis-
tressed weavers of Spitalfields is so great, that the
Lady PatriVnesses will be under the necessity, after the
present week, of increasing the prices of the tickets.
A correspondentsuggests, that all thetheatres might
give the proceeds ofone night's representation, in aid
of the subscription for the relief of the distressed menu-
pcturers.