The Sun.
London, England, 1826-06-13 00:00:00

RENDING.

Yesterday the election commenced fur two burgesses to serve
in the conning Parliament for the borough of Reading. A strong
opposition being announced, the usual display of the banners and
colours of the respective candidates was made so early as five
o'clock in the morning ; before six o'clock the vicinity of the
committee-roomy was crowded ; and at half-past seven o'clock
the Town-hall was in part occupied by the principal friends of
the parties, and the remainder was filled shortly after by a tre-
mendous rush of the townspeople, many of them both then, and
at intervals throughout the day, deafening the ears of those on the
hustings with their conflicting clamours. The candidates are the
old members, Mr. Monck and Mr. C. Fyshe Palmer; and their
rivals Mr. George Spence, the barrister, and Mr. Edward Wake-
field, the author of several statistical works. The usual licence of
familiarity with the respective candidates was claimed and exer-
cised by the crowd in the area of the hall, when they made their
appearance with the Mayor on the principal seat of the hustings.
Mr. Monck was assailed with a cry of " No Monk," &Tun upon
his name, in 'consequence of his vote on the Catholic question.
Mr. Fyshe Palmer was in the same vein of humour culled " a fish
in troubled water." Mr. Wakefield, in allusion to the recent
transaction in which his son was engaged, was met with cries of
" No girl-stealers." " No child stealing, Neddy," " Who stole
his wife ?" &c. and Mr. Spence was simply called " Old ►pence,"
although a gentleman just entering the prime of life. The respec-
tive parties among the crowd were not tired by the repetition of
these jokes for a considerable time.
The Alarm% said, that in conformity with his duty as Chief
Magistrate, he now called upon them to put iu nomination two
fit and proper representatives for that borough in the ensuing Per-
i liament. The gentlemen who came forward for such purpose of

nomination, and the candidates themselves, would have an tin

doubted right to he heard in the due order of their presentation.,
and it was of the essence of justice, as well as of mutual conve-
nience, that all these gentlemen should be heard by the electors at
large with the utmost patience and impartiality.--(Applause.)—
lie asked, as a fellow-townsman, for this practice of their justice
and candour ; as a magistrate, he demanded it of them, and would
assuredly enforce this claim without favour or partiality towards
any particular party.—(Cheers.)
Capt. HALL, R.N. then rose to propose Mr. C. Fyshe Palmer,
as one of the representatives for the borough in the next Parlia-
ment, and pronounced a warm eulogimn upon the publie and pri-
rate character of that Gentleman.
Mr. Wet. CHAMPION, sen. seconded the nomination.
Mr. C, Fvetts PALMER then addressed the electors, and was
received With the applause of his friends, and the occasional dis-
approbation of his opponents.
Dr. SALMON came forware to propose Mr. Monck, and said j
, that there were two obvious questions which presented themselves
on such an occasion as the present. The first was, what were the
qualifications necessary for their representatives; and secondly, in
any and what degree the gentlemen had them who were condi- j
dates for that distinction ? With respect to the first, they had to j
consider whether they would adhere to those who had given them
tried prods of their consistency and public principle, or whether
they would venture to embark their cause with any person or'
persons, who wavered with every popular breath, who were con-
sistent only in their inconsistency, and who made professions mat-
ters of barter and marketable commodities—whose conduct In/
either new and unknown, or else known only to be involved in mys-
tery. Tie concluded by eulogizing the public and private virtues
of Mr. Monck.
Mr. It MAttsit came forward to second this motion, and was
immediately *wiled with the conflicting opposition of the crowd
in the hall. The conflict was vociferous, cud variously main-
tainedparties; but, notwithstanding the most
Mayor to maintain order and
impartiality, the silence of either of the parties was only partial
for the remainder. of the day. Mr. Marsh asked the electors,
setluobuys ande rreerat'etdivselforts of the May
whether• es friends of social order they were not getting bad
boys, in being thus so boisterous, and complimented the
-Mayor upon his exertions, which showed that whatever were
uhlidnissreulfk,eanadn‘ovilsetenintlitelivs
his private political opinions, he would maintain the dignity of
his station as a Magistrate, and the candour of his character
as a min.--(Great applause, . and renewed interruption.)
There was no use in this interruption, his friends opposite knew
that he could take more beating than a badger, so that while they
made
were taiarnen4,l);jtoehefe,
byheeli
neaould be quiet. !Ldmi
he could
turn,
jlprlead,te interests?—(A cry of
ter.)---Whom did they
really mean to return to Parliament—honest men, who would
consult the publie who would only regard
their.own narrow " No, the inte-
rest Pope, poor old man ; if the electors of

Reading knew how little the Pope had to do with the present
question, they would not trouble themselves much about his
Holiness. Why had the present cry been raised against their old
and tried representatives ? Merely because they had shown them-
selves the friends of freedom, and the enemies of monopoly.
There was the rub ; little did he think he should again- see the
day when the electors of Reading would he dragged at the tail of
a brewer's dray, end the 'friends of a free retail trade in beer re.
proached and calumniated for wishing that John Bull, like Boni-
face, should drink his ale, ay, and -.sleep on it. This was the
crime, this was the cause of the hostility. In fact, it resembled
the senseless clamour among the ancients against Aristides.
" What has Aristides done to you," said his advocate, " that
you demand his banishment?"—" Why," said the proscriber,
" I am tired of hearing every one calling him Aristides the
just."—(Applausi.)—So-it was here; the monopolists and bigots
were tired, it would seem, of having representatives whose worth
was acknowledged by all good men, and they (or some of them)
vociferated for a change.—(Considerable interruption, and a cry
of " What good have they done the town of Reading?)—He
would meet that question. Of Mr. Monek he could speak lotig
before his connexion with their town; he knew him before he
had succeeded to the possession of wealth, and when, with tobite
rate menus, he was the silent and generotts contributor to everY
generous and humane institution among them. He, indeed, did
not chronicle his bounty—he bad published no accottnt of the
distribution of his coals and soup.—(Alluding to the delivetY of,
these articles by Mr. Wakefield last winter.)—Mr. Monek scorner'
so to proclaim his acts—he remembered the lines of the poet—
" Who builds a church to God and not to fame,
" Will never mark the marble with his name."
If half the trouble were taken to disseminate truth that there
had been to circulate falsehood, the enemies of Mr. Monck would

have found to their mortification that they were vainly traducing
a man, who

Did good by stealth, and blushed to find it fatne.li-0-(Applanse.)

lut really it was tiresotue to dwell upon such a topic—it Wag
ireadhare and vexatious—it was like ascending Vesuvius at thR
_ _

riqk of falling down into the ashes. With tespect to the Catholic
question, in what a situation must parties in this country be, if
they were to split upon this single, point, when they ligteed upon
all the other great leading points of public policy. Why Mt
imitate the conduct of the n►uiisters, who agreed tti diffcr on thli
question, and yet to retain their places?—(A laugh.)--Whet *at
to become of the Reform in Parliament, what of the Corn Laii"?;

if the men who were ready to do the good work were not to be
supported, beanie of their mode of thinking on the subject of
Catholic Emancipation ? It was really trifling with common
sense. Amongst reflecting men there was really no vital difference'
of opinion at this moment, except as to the mode of accomplishing
their object, for they were agreed in their principles. It was ridi-
culous, then, fur well-meaning men to split upon one subject, and
leave the rest undone in consequence. There was, however,
another set of men who raised objections, and set up the yell of
" No Popery," and who reminded him of the lines of the poet—
" I think the Pope is on his back,
" But though 'tie fun to strike him,
" I think the devil's not so black
" As many help to rtiake hint."
Thesi good folks affected to overlook a reasonable ground of
alarm, and then to contend with hhadotm They exclaimed,
" Fly front the Pope and. the Devil, and stay with no, God, ski
the King."--(Loud laughter.)--•Ile entreated them not to permif
; this question to be made a
,stumbling block in favour of the enemy,
' whose great anchor and hope it was. Their opponents no doubt
chuckled at the idea that all went on.smooth till they could charge

them with trying an intrigue with the scarlet lady of Babylon.—
(A. laugh.)—" Now," said they, " that we have got them stuck
upon the beast with all the horns, let us send in upon them two
of our blue • devils (alluding to the colours of the opposite party)
to complete their confusion." Aud who were the persons who
attempted to effect this purpose, and what their pretensions ? in
a country like this, consisting of three branches, there was a na-:
tiunal and justifiable prejudice in favour of men of wealth and sta-
tion, to take the lead in popular representation. God forbid,
! however, that in this country, where station and honours were
open to the acquisition of humble men of high desert, that the
want of aristocratical birth should he deemed fatal to the NC
pretensions of any honest man of talents. if the gentleman neat'
hint (111 r. Wakefield) had not the intrinsic qualifications of birth :tut
station to entitle lihn to be their representative, upon what else were
his pretensions founded ? He bad no desire to inquire with any invi.
dious personality into Mr. Wakefield's claims upon . them, any
more than he would have to dwell upon those domestic fracas
which sometimes occurred between man and wife, in which hard
words were at a short distance followed by soft kisses, and all
was well again. (A laugh.) Mr. Wakefield was only known
to them for about a year and a quarter---he would ask any nun c f

sense and judgment, of whatever party, if his conduct had, dining
that period, been such as to characterize the manners of a person
of nice honour and delicacy of feeling.—(Mingled cries of Yes"
and " No.") There was always among gentlemen when they dif-
fered upon public grounds, a courtesy shown to each other, which
marked the superior character of that station. How had Mr.
!Muck. been lately treated in his absence from Reading while
engaged in the arduous and zealous discharge of his Par-
liamentary duties ? Had not attempts been made to under
'nine bins in the meanest wey ? He was quite at a loss to
describe such conduct in its proper colours ; but how to found
upon it any claim for support was truly ridiculous. lie bed
not words to describe such a claim by a. new candidate for the
suffrages of the electors of Reading. For the latter to accept
it would only resemble the connexion of those ill-assorted
matches, which the young god of love sometimes made to the
great disquietude and dismay of grave families, and could
only be illustrated by, Swift's heroine's practice of marrying a
gentleman in the morning, and running away with the footman
on the same night. The readers of Swift would recollect that
she left a letter on her father's table, stating--
" That love ne'er thought of rich and poor,
" She'd beg with Ned from door to door."--(Loud laughter.)
lle repeated, that to talk of the new gentleman's claim was quits
ridiculous—were he (Mr. Marsh) a professor of poetry, who had
newly bridled his Pegasus, to canter up the bill of Parnassus, he
could not in his utmost fancy imagine such a claim ; they might
tin, indeed, as Nell had done in St. Giles, when gut consigned her
honour and a 51. note to the care of the log's-meat-man, and ex-
ultingly exclaimed, in the words of the old ditty—
" You may say what e'er you will,
" Yet I'll do all I can
" To make myself agreeable
" To the dog's-meat man."
(Laughter, and renewed tumult.)—What, then, really were Mr.
Wakefield's local pretensions, and what- his politics? He we.
only known as a person who had written a clever statistical book
on the elate of Ireland. In that book he was the liberal and en-
lightened friend of Catholic Emancipation.--(Here Mr. Marsh
road a strong extract to that effect from Mr. Wakefield's book, in
which he complained of Mr. Pitt's acceptance of office without
making conditions for the settlement of the Catholic question.—
Renewed uproar.)—Oh, that mine enemy would write a book!
An ancient bad expressed a wish that he could have a window in
his bosom for all men to see his-heart. Mr. Wakefield was not
glazed, or else be (Mr. Marsh) thought he should be able to dis-
cern an expression of scorn and contempt ; for the mean instru-
ments, who, notwithstanding the recorded avowal of his senti-
ments, were weak enough to become the elements of his eleva-
tion, and the dupes of his equivocal professions. But it was not
enough that this candidate should come upon • them ; there must
be another-...a learned gentleman of great private respectability/
he was ready to admit, but of whom publicly they knew nethioite
who was, as it were to be smuggled in without having his bos-
rummaged, to see how much of his wares were contraband, albv,l,
how much
is
flottaheentlliking:ehrte!
had
das
the
eo disputing about taste—ht heti
o and dfislgikeni sliggisureeal it;ntgtanl,itslhtrei.irs,:stuffshlen: L.°
d laughter)
' 54 1.
h
re, in, Parliament
they might do very well for themselve:toblulitt7llQhget'-'te*'
consti-
tuents. Hudihras said that—
£s I.l.ll‘bri lawyers
ahragview morea icfr:Evrt,,,tellente ;
" But make their own a
" Of others' quarrel like the
They
a"hva;wise,
llAßkyne'pal tioti,uitrtieuitriE.ll-4ti:ietsico'unifil.ll'htvehee-rifirs:esipnuisrteeerse."in Parliament.
He did. not know whether Monsters hairs stood on end, but they
might lately; for when they thought of the snares, and traps, and

•
springs, always set to catch the lawyers, they might address a
Prime Minister in 91ie language 'which Shakspeare had put- into
the mouth of the dying Cardinal Beaufort, upon seeing. the sup-
posed apparition of the good Duke Humphrey—
,l Comb down his hair,
see,. seeait stands on cud,
• Likerlimeetwigs, set to catch my winged soul."
it was only substituting the word vote for soul, and the analogy
would be complete, for really, charity should lead us to suppose
that lawyers were like Turkish ladies, who were supposed not to
be troubled with those accountable incombrances, when they got
into Parliament, and on the threshold of the good things,—the At-
torney and Fplicitoregeneralehipe, and the Justices/tips of Chester.
Mr. 3,loNest came forward to acknowledge the kindness of the
electors in putting him in ,nomination, and thanked the Mayor
for the impartiality of his efforts to secure a hearing fur all pu-
ttee. He also eipressed his pleasure upon finding that there were
now four candidates seeking
,to represent them in Parliament.
Their borough, therefore, must be admitted to be now a free it'll
open one, and be rejoiced to feel that he had contributed to place it
upon so independent a footing. It was in support of these prin-
ciples that therhedprospered under Atte auspices of Mr. Lefevre,
in the year 1802, and be hoped they would Jong maintain the
station which they had so honourably acquired.
Mr. BLACKWELL SIMON OS put in nomination Mr. Edward
Wakefield, and was seconded by Mr. Quire, who reviewed the
parliamentary conduct of the two old members, which he charac-
terized as useless and inefficient, and at some lenath contended
that a great reduction of taxes bad taken place of late.
Mr. Wax Erato then► stepped forward, but the mutual inter-
ruptions of the contending patties rend6red it quite impoesible to
hear his observations distinctly. He, disclaimed in the most
pointed terms having taken an undue advantage over any other
candidate, and explained that sO far erell having meanly under-
mitred any,, 11e had not canvassed t nt il r. week after Mr. Vyshe
Palmer bad encireased the etcetera. When the use of gentlerennly
OliViey was talked of by some of his opponents, bow was it that
they permitted their retainers to deal out all ruanner of low scur-
rility, falsehood, calonmy, and forged letters, against private life
With respect to hie piddle priuciples, he would scorn supporting
them by such nets ; and were a friend of his to resort to them in
favour of his interest, he should leave the borough the very next
moment. \Viten the electron were told that he was as unknown
Man, it might be perinitted to him to say, that he had, during
more than :10 :tears, had thelionour of being consulted on int-
portant public questions by seine of the greatest men of his day—
by Mr. Pitt, the late l.ord 4lelville, cud many others; The
noise vkiii at length so great that Mr. Wakefield because quite
inaudible.

The Iler. bt. Wtst'prOposed Mr. George Spence as a fit and
propel. peilon'to represent their horungli in Parliament, cid paid
ri high tribute to the"publie and private merits of the learned gen-
tleman.

Mr. Dime seconded this proposition.
Mr. Seestrz Alluded ti, the ceinparative disadvantage under
which hiclabintred, by this being his first appearance as a candi-
date, and the 11!,equent prejudice miller which he laboured. He
s" 'll, UlOl, upon public grounds alone; and if a Tory were the
OirriiiCter defined by 111 r. Marsh, lie;• for one, had no pretensions
o that name. As to the hopes of promotion. from lute politics,
which bad been glanced at, he appealed to his past conduct, as the
best answer to such an imputation. His reason for opposing the
Catholic question wag, that he was averse to granting political
power to a Oct which had always abused it, and maintained a
dominion over kee opinion mid the right of private judgment,
which was never attempted by imy other religious sect. With
respect to the wretched condition of *Wand, he thought the
diffusion of echieatimi And if the lights of the Gospel would
do more good for the people of that country than any of those
other meattires open which so much stress had been laid. He
disclaimed having attempted to create a cry of '" No Popery ;"
tin the enntrary, he bad done all in his power to oppose ,its
introtltletion: He differed limn the old Candidates, becouse he
l'fitanglit their opposition to Ministers 'was systeMatic, and
carried to a Culpable i:ktreini,." Upon all great questions, he
should be forind the advocate of a proper economy..:---(Applause.)
At half-post six o'clock yesterday evening the number. were—
Mr. Month 45 I Mr. Spence - - 42
Mr. Wakefield 48 Mr. P. Palmer - 41
In the evening theseVerat candidates turd their friends addressed
the populace, hywhOm they were escorted to their hotels. The
poll is expected to last for two Or three future days.