The Sun.
London, England, 1818-12-18 00:00:00

WESTAIINSTERIANA.

Of all election theatres, Westminster is that
. which affords the greatest scope for election ta-
lents. More abundant in voters than London, than
even Middlesex, nay, than Yorkshire itself, still in
larger measure than by its numerical superiority
of electors, is Westminster the stage on which are
displayable to most effect the vat i?gated destepitie*
that crown with success a conflict for Parliamen-
tary ItepresentatiOo. If Westminster contains a
proportion of the low and ignorant, it compre-
hends also whatever is most enlightened and ex-
aired in the whole range of the British Constituent
BOdY. Westininster is the seat of Government, of
Legislation, of all Societies for Science and Art.
In it resides Or sojourns whatever is most learned
or critical in the empire. Yet is it not the. least
of Mode'rn wonders to have seen, as seen it has
been more than once in the last dozen years, that
the currule
.chair of CHARLES FOX should be aspir-
ed to by Candidates advertising their pretensions
—in broken English.

This,is not kti objection of pedantry. Large,
probably, in such a place as Westminster, very
large is the number who may give thtir suffrage
upon this plain feeling, that a man should know
gram Mar before he makes law. 'Tis true, the vote
of the crudest tells as well upon the poll-book as
that of the most accomplished ; but not so the in-
fluence or the example. An able management of
a Westminster contest, however, would not allow
even the Principal of that contest to compromise
the intellectual character of his cause. If its Can-
didate were diseased with an itch for bep►inting
himself, a judicious gui►lance of his election would
contrive to gag his pen.
Extraordinary as the representative aspect of

Westminster has been since the death of Mr. Fox,
still more 3o are the errors arising front that

aspect. The most mistaken commentaries hare
followed upon effects, whilst the effects have ne-
ver been traced to their real causes.

In Paris, at the present moment, a political duel
appears to be pending, which may,. perhaps, exhi-
bit to a shocked world, a fresh impression of the
carnage between St. Morys and Dufay, in the on-
molesting presence of no less than six acc!essaries

to that revolting slaughter. Could the depository,
whether in France or in England, of that preroga-
gative which the Prince of Poets has termed th*
attribute of Heaven,' find fit occasion for passing
by the comparatively innocent principal, and
making example of the guilty seconds, such a dis-
tinction would tend more than ten thousand trialq
at law to check the abuse of duelling--,.the use of
duelling is a different question. At the General.
Election of 1807, a second was (mind to carry, at
the deadly hour of night, a military message in.
the na►ue of one friend, reeking from a tavern, to

mnother Kentl whoa► at that identical tavern the
sender embraced only a few hours before, in wonted.
cotdiality. Another second. was, upon the same
occasion, not wanting, who permitted his princi-

pal, tinder such circumstances, to take counsel
only of- his co►-rage; and to quit his family bed
in order to encounter for possible mutuality of ho.

roieide, n person who, only six months anteeeft

dently,' proclaimed his readiness to perish upon rt
scaffold with this, his suddenly created antagonist.
No chance insisted on for second thon,ghts—no,
time exacted to prepare for the ' reckoning

period interposed for the innocent sleep, that
hahn of hurt minds,' which may by morning have
obliterated all irritations. Wi►hout entering into
the n►crits of the dispute between Sir FRANCIS

BURDSTT and his adversary in the crisis alluded to
—without dwelling upon the sample of genuine
Jacobin morality afforded by that incident to poor
PAULL—tiiii position is certain, that all sensible
minds sympathized with Sir FRANCIS 13u BDETT

upon that -duel. It was that duel, and not his po.

litics; Which first made Sir FRANCIS Altmber for

Westminster.
In fact, there was nothing tit serving the name
Of opposition to Sir FRANCIS BURDETT in 1807•
Colonel ELLIOTT, with a prudence becoming the

protector of much about the largest and loveliest
family in the world, retired early from ihe field.
Of another candidate upon that occasion, though

gifted with a genius only short of celestial, it was
an egregious weakness to have—nt all possible
places—ever even thought of Westminster. To

coincidences, therefore, is wholly attributable the
SUCCet,3 Of Sir FRANCIS BURDETT in the year 7.

—ln the year 12, the re-elections, not being op-
posed, throw no light upon the question of com-
parative strength. Strange, indeed, it would be

if the astuteness Of COBBETT had overlooked the

sot iline demonstration of Sir FRANCIS BUR.
DETT'S Westminster nothingness, put,_ as it has

been, beyond all doubt, in the thrte first days of
the late pinlL The Durdettites may tail at Cos-
IIETT ; hut till they rail the three first days of the
Lite poll out of the book, they but offend their
lungs' in vavnting their hero's weight in Test-

iiiister—tinaccom pulled by that something vt•hic'z
0,, the fourth day of the conflict, made manifest
tt.e impotence of Jacobin;Am when left to itself,

even in its-supposed emporium.
Many events have concurred to furnish a pretty
exact guess at the Jacobin strength in Westmio-
sttr. At the General Election of 1790 TooKE,
pr.slled 1619 votes. In 1796 that Gentleman advanc•
ed his poll to 2819, at ‘o4lt number, however,
it would be too to rate the mere Jacobinical
poll ; for many Whigs, many of high rank in that
party, divided their votes for TooKg, after his
trial for high treason. In 1502, when GRAHAM
gave up the contest, he had polled 1691 votes.—
The three first days of Mr. TooKE's and Mr.
RAFI AM'S pull tally very much with the three
fit at days of Sir FRANCIS in the late Election. In
1796 the three first days of 'room. gave 559 vo!es.
Tice three first days of GRAHAM in 1802 gave 343
votes. The three first days of Sir FRANCIS in
;lune last gave 484. The reader is left to judge
for himself as to the cause of the rise of Sir
FRANCIS ;upon the fourth, and each succeeding,
day of the late contention.

Yet, though no publication ever excited more
derision than Mr. 131tooKs's adoertisement, which
stated the expense of Sir F. BURDETT'S election
at about 12001,, still; may an actual expenditure
of twenty, nay, thirty, forty tnnes that sum, be
rcrfect ly compatible with probity in Mr. BactoKs
and the General Committee. It was boasted as a
►,it;h merit in Sit F. BURDETT, that his two Mid-
contests cost him 130,0001. No fact is
batter known than the declaration of Mr. Gue-
GORY, of Chelsea, who, during the most expensive
of the two contests, sat in the very house of Sir F.
B. in Piceudilill, as Chairman of the General Coro-
t►tittee, viz. "fhat he never knew of the illicit
experCiture of a single shilling.' It was not till
af►er certain juridical proceedings, caused by the'
falling out' of some honest Gentlemen, that the
public, and Nlr. GauGottv, as a part of that
came by' the real truth of those trans-
actions.

Towards a solution of Sir F. BURDETT'S success
ttpon and front the fourth day of the late poll, an
impeachment of the advertisement froth his Ge-
neral Committee is not a necessary ingredient.—
Wholy gratuitous, therefore, was Mr. Ilos-
}louses recent attestaticm to the correctness of the
accounts of the General Committee.—There is no
great hazard in predicting, that before Cundlentass,
HonnousE will be better instructed in the
• election axiom—that it is not in the records of a
General Committee, that the acts which vacate an
„election are ever to be !oohed for. Even in the
purest contests, properly conducted, a General
Committee is ►►ot , the repository ()fits mysteries.
Though bought in the piece at- Spitalfields, the
ribbons alone of a former Westminster contest
cost one of the parties 5000/.—its General
Committee being, at the same time, no more cog-
.llizant of the expenditure, still less of the source
of it, than the public at large. Had no epic nsa-
chinety come in aid of the spotless poll of Sir•,
FRANCIS in the late contest—had no God inter-
posed upon the fourth day, but God BROOKS, and
God l'iacioxs's God-like Committee, Mr. HOZ-
RousF, would not now be vouching the purity of
Sir FRANCIS BURDETT'S return.

The following Election postulatuni is here. set
• do n, literally and without the least qualification,
to wit—that a re:11 Westminster contest, the effi-
cient concerns of which are transacted in a Ge-
-inerid Committee, must infallibly be lost.
In the year 1750, the retreat of Lord LINCOLN
was so (pick, and the' success of Mr. Fox so
• that hut few election lessons were derived
from that contest by Mr.' Fox's friends. Ac-
cordingly, the Foxites, generally, came to the
conflict 01 1784 without any of that dis-
cipline for which they were afterwards so
celebrated, In the commencement of that
mighty struggle, the General Committee at the
Shakspeare was the efficient headquarters: and
whilst it remained so-, all went awry. A General
Committee, accessible by its nature to all comers,
is rot a scene for business. In vain was a Press,
in v,in a private Committee appointed at the.
Shakspeare. The Sanctum Sanctorum soot, became
a Babel. But the obviously wiong course sug-
gested by "degrees the right. The loss of Mr.
Fox's poll, day after day, keeping exact pace with
the contineance of head-quarters at the Gene-
ral Committee, brought his election into
danger of dving the death of Merculin—' being
ficiatched to dealt) by Sir CECIL WRAY. A
Ibmail knot, not exceeding five individuals, in a
small room, entirely apart from the bustle or Co-
vent-garden, restored the honours of the field.—
It was not, however, till the 23d day of the con-
test that they tinned the corner by a transporting
majority, as indeed it was, of 21, over Govern-
ment, in the person of Sir Cucte. Out of a little
✓oom in Bow-street (ludicrously baptised by one
of the Quintuple, the Egerian grot) issued the acts
which carried the Election. Into the Egerian
grot' not Mr. Fox himself (who, to quote old
Nuci'ttv's words at the St. Martin's
.scrutiny,
nevi r made his appearance without bringing sense
and manners with hitn,') not even Mr. Fox was
uniformly a welcome visitant. Reasonably not
so ; for, if all the parties were writing, each-
upon a different subject, even Mr. Fox could
not be other titan an interruption. Though
the contest of 84, however, commenced in
chaos, it finished in sytntnefry ; and the ad-
mirable system with which it closed its trimo-
ph Alit toils, was carried to still higher perfection
upon Lord J(IIIN TOWNSEND'S election in 88—
compared with which two contests, namely with
those of 84 and 88, all other Westmiuster Elec-
tions are mere child's play. Never.was tie va-
lue of system proved more strikingly titan in these
two struggles. In .1784, when the system was
defective, the result of a six weeks' poll was only
a majority for Mr. Fox of 235 votes—in 1788,
when the systent was perfect, an election of only
fifteen days seated Lord Junta Tow NSEND with a
majority of 823 ! As the polliet law now stands,
Mr: Fox had lost his election ; for on the 15th ,
day Sir C. WRAY bad a majority of 160 votes.
in a Westminster contest, more than in any
ether, is the sway of the petty passions fatal
The places will better conduce to success titan the
presence of men surcharged with pride, envy, and
sett-conceit: The nation most jealous of its li-
berty in biStorical annals reposed absolute autbo.'

rity in one person, wben public safety required
the temporary suspension. Midnight was chosen
for the time of conferring it, but still it was con-
ferred. For victory "in a Westminster contest
sufficient power must be seated somewhere; but
to place such power in a larger instead of a
smaller body would be inverting the first princi-
ples of business. Committees, whether general
or local, are essentially active. If otherwise, they
would be a nuisance, not a benefit. In all con-
cerns, the laborious must be guided by tie intel-
lectual :

' For they who think must govern those who toil.'
A General Committee sitting constantly .at Co-
vent-garden during the poll—Parish Committees
sitting as constantly in their several districts, all
these are indispensible to success ; there would
be no doing without them; bat they are not
scenes for deliberation in the hour of battle: If
there be nothing to direct the storm '—if there
be nothing to 'ride in the whirlwind ' whilst the
mass walks in it, all will be disjointed and desul-
tory ; and final failure is inevitable.
What's dove's done.' Past errors should poly
be referred to for future profit ; but no excuse
can be urged if experience should he found
fruitless. A proper management of a Westmin-
ster contest would simplify•the complicated, har-
monize the discordant, and reduce clashing ele-
'news to unity. It would not lighten one mem-
b r of its machne to overload another; nor accu-
mulate duties inconsistent and impossible. Its
interchange of communication, from the heart
to the extremities, would be as regular es the
blood's movement ; it would apply all available
talents according to their bent ; and neglect no-
thing even to the chilling of a ballad singer. Its
arms of warfare must in some degree depend upon
its adversary. Its chief weapon, however, will
be the understanding ; but its proportion as the
management is adequate to its charge, -no ex-
ample of the enemy will provoke it into ribal-
dry—into ribaldry, which ever disgusts good
(nen, gratifies those only whom it is vice to
please, and never makes a vote.
Without hinting one word against Mr. Hon-
Hausa, still less against the houourable, amiable,
and loyal family, of which he is a beloved part,
this position is utideniable—that his election for
Westminster, under all The circumstances of the
present juncture, would be, not a step merely,
but a stride too:ards revolotion. Before ‘Vt-st-
minster Mr. floauott.,e stands as the nominee
and disciple of Sir FRANCIS 13ORDETT ; and Sir
FRANC'S BURDETT is the Apostle, or rather the
God of Universal 'Suffrage and of Annual Parlia-
ments. Yet is there tto disadvantage of cause or
of candidate to excise oespair of Westminster,
with a good election system ; nor any superiority Of
oth that can prevail lapinv a bud one. What-
ever may be the case in other places, in Westilzin-
ster the best system is sure to carry the day.
Dec. 16, 1818. AN ELECTOR.

** As we wish to support the honour of West-
minster against the open and the undermining
hostility of FACTION, we have copied the fore-
going article from The Morning Post of yesterday.
It is evidently written by one who is animated by
sound principles,and who fully understands the sub-
ject to which his attention has been directed.—We
had not room for it yesterday, or we should not
have suffered " the coldness of delay to hang"
upon a production so well recommended by spirit,
knowledge, and an obvious regard for the honour
of Westminster.

CHARGE OF CHILD-DROPPING,

AGAINST A YCL:NG LADY.

About eight o'clock on last Tnesday.evening,
a fine male child, appgently not a week old, was
found in an old baikei, having on a shirt, and
wrapped up in a piece of blanket, laying at the
door of Mrs. Mary James, Tash-street, Grty's
Inn-lane. The poor child was nearly perished
from the cold ; it was taken in doors, where
every kind attention was paid to it ; and after it
was warmed and fed, it was carried to the work-
house of the upper liberty of the parish of Saint
Andrew, Holborn, in Little Gray's-Inn-line.
The following discovery has been made, which
has providentially led to the detection of its un-
natural mother, who proves to he a young Lady,
residing not far from the neighbourhood, and
who has hitherto borne a most exemplary good
character. Yesterday the Parish Officers, who
have taken up the case, a:tended at the po-
line-Offire, Hatton-Garden, where a private exa-
mination of all the witnesses took place, which
occupied above two hours, front whence it ap-
pears, that the young Lady (whose name, for ob-
vious reasons, we are not as yet at liberty to
mention), was delivered of the child in question
on last Saturday afternoon, and was shortly after
taken by the midwife to put to nurse to a poor
woman residing in Cletkenwell, where it re-
mained until Tuesday afternoon, when the mid-
wife, who lives in Kirby-street, went to the
nurse for the child, telling her the Lady wished
to see it, befoe she sent it into the country to
nurse ; she satisfied the nurse for lier trouble,
carried away the child, and the same evening it
was found as above described.' The nurse hear-
ing of the circumstance, suspected it was the
same child that was taken from her on Tuesday
afternoon, and went to the workhouse to satisfy
her suspicions, when she instantly identified the
child to be the same she had to nurse ; she
knew it b!,: a particular mark, and having on
the same shirt, but all the rest of the baby-
clothes were changed for worse. She then gave the
information that led to the present
.examination.
Two other women, who saw the child at nurse,
proved the same. Mis. the midwife, was
sent for and closely examined, when, to exone-
rate herself from the charge-, she was compelled
to disclose the unfortunate young Lady's name
who is the real mother of thechild,and whose family
are of the greatest respectability. The entire evi-
dence was taken down, after which a warrant was
granted to take her into custody.
There are many reports afloat respecting the
father of the child, which we do not think ourselves
warranted in ttatiog to the public,

PO ET It Y.

PROLOGUE TO A WORD FOR THE LADIES.

WRITTEN BY N. TALFORD, ESQ..
In pause of Tragic sadness, may a word
For old neglected Comedy he heard ?
For her who first, when Poesy was young,
To freshest life in sweet luxuriance sprung;
Drew forms grotesque in gay fantastic dance,
That half partook the gorgeous times' romance;
Threw 'mid the scenes of taught er,wisdom's hints,
And shed o'er folly, fancy's rainbow tints;
Her who, when fashion's glassy stream began,—
That mirror of the changeful ways of man,—
Stood near the polished flood, so gently fair,
And stole each beam and cloud reflected there;
Caught the gay bubbles of the crystal river,
To fix in variegated charms for ever.
Oh ! let her fail not!—Till Improvement's sway
Shall polish all the glorious soul hway;
Till mightiest strengths and weaknesses of man
Change by some patent philosophic plan ;
Till passions vary by mechanic aids,
And every gleam of wit in gas-light fades
Still shall she flourish—still delight to stoop,
To shed warm sunshine o'er life's lowest group;
Trace out new links the general soul to bind,
And make the world more happy and more kind.
Oh ! if your souls in childhood bounded high,
At merriest strains of ancient Comedy,
Joyed to drink in rich Humour's ceaseless draught,
And felt the heart grow gentler while ii qUriffed,
Assist our Author now, who dares employ
The strain that wakens long-neglected joy;
Gilds his bright scenes with old Good-nature's ray,
And scud all hearts in kindred joy away.

EPILOGUE,
SPOKEN IN THE CHARACTERS OF LORD OGLIIBY

AND CANTON.

Ld. Ogl, Fair Ladies, by your leave—the gay old beau
Yo,,r mothers cherished fifty years ago,
Your magic smiles, not less by biro adored,
To life and favour bare again restored.
But what an age is yours !where'er I turn,
Beings, whose very names I've yet to learn,
Force me, so novel is my situation,
To send old Canton out for information.
Canton !

[Canton enters.)
Canton. Mi Lor!
Ld. Ogl. Peace, Sir—no racket!
Who's that old Lady in the riding jacket,
Looking at me with supercilious grin,

Twiddling her lochs, and propping up her chin,
In Turkish petticoats, all spick and span ?
Canton. 'Oh! dat old Lady is young Gentleman.
Ld.Ogl. You blind old puppy—Gentleman ! absurd!
Why, you've forgot the meaning- of the word.
'Put on you glasses—look again, and see,
Is that strange animal a bi►t like me?
Are my legs muffled up, as if grown bandy?
Canton. Mi Lor, dat Gentleman is called- de Dandy.
You make de Lady weep-
-06,1. Weep, Canton, why ?
Canton. Your Lordship Gentleman is quite go by.
Ld. 00. Gone by, indeed! my style's then voted scurvy—
Scouted—men, manners, alt turned topsy turvy.
If that same sample represents the whole,
Ladies, I pity you with all my soul!
Your swain deposes you, usurps your ways,

Yon r rights,yoiir rouge, your station, and your stays'.
Say not his gallantry is on the shelf,
Of c curse, 'tis lavished all npori himself;

Let Fashion still herlevolnlions make,

And non' II assist him to his wine and cake--

Ask the coy creature of Ins friends in marriage,
Curtsy respect, and hand Lim to his carriage.
Canton. Ha! ha! ha! ha'
La. Yon brute, be quiet !
D'ye think the—Gentlemen can bear this riot ?
Laughing at wit, besides, is vulgar grow•n—
Canton. De Dandy never laugh, but at his own.
14. Ogl. Then iet him troop, if Lyre his smiles he grudges,
To France, and joint hat modern h rood—theFu DOES.
Canton. To change, a Paris, on de Opera bench,
His la la Anglois into I a la French.
04;1. Send the ivhole drove of Dandies there, for me.
Canton. Ah ! my for, stock de grand menagerie.
0g(. You needn't stay—
Canton. Ali-I Canton say no more—
Von Ladies smile—alat smile is for _lli I or.

Ld. Ogl. Fair Ladies, one word more—l had forgot,
I have a suit to you—reject it wot.
Let me restore your power, and what remains,

To-night exert among your loyal swains;

Drown qualmish murmurs in yorir own good cause,
And CEOV.II our Bard, fvr my salie, with applause.

LAW IN FELLIGENCE.

VICE-CIIANCELLOR'S COURT, Dec. 17.
PIRACY OF A MUSICAL WORK.
BURCHILL V. LONGMAN AND OTHERS.

Mr. frEmpL a 'moved for an Injunction to pre-
vent the defendants from selling or putting away
any copies of a musical work, composed by a ce-
lebrated Austrian, and dedicaed to one of the
Austrian Archdukes. The work in quevion was
assigned to the plaintiff on his paying 130 gold
ducats to the composer, and plaintiff thereby
thought himself solely entitled to the profits if
the work. In September last, he heard to his,
astonishment that the defendants were publish-
ing the very same work, and accordingly his :So-
licitor wrote to them on the subject. He applied
to the Court for protection, and therefore hoped
the Injunction would he granted.
The VICE-CHANCeLLOK declined granting the
Injunction till he was satisfied by an affidavit that
the work had not been originally published as
common property at Vienna ; tor if that were
the case he knew nothing.to 'prevent the defend-
ants, or any other persons, from selling and pub-
lishing it. if the affidavit stated that it was not
so published he would grant the Injunction ; in
the meantime he would allow it to stand over. till
the next Seal.