The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-08-26 00:00:00

VACANCY IN THE REPRESENTATION OF EAST

CUMBERLAND.

On Friday the House of Commons ordered a new writ for the
eastern division of the county of Cumberland, in the room of
Mr. William Blamire, appointed Chief Tithe Commissioner.
Captain Buller and Mr. Jones, the Professor of Political
Economy in King's College, are the two Junior Commis-
sioners.

(FROM THE CARLISLE PATRIOT.)
Many months have now elapsed since a report became cur-
rent that Mr. Blamire, one of the members for the eastern divi-
sion of Cumberland, was devoting all his time and talents to ob-
tain a knowledge of the tithe question, in order that he might
qualify himself for that very snug tbing—a commissionership.
lint no sooner was the whisper breathed forth to the public air,
than up rose a tempestuous contradiction from Mr. Blamire's
adherents. He accept a place, indeed; He become a pensioner!
No, no, lago was "too honest" for that. We had our doubts,
knowing how frail is the material of which such public charac-
ters are composed, and all we could say was in the language of
the Turk, " Bashmallah !"—we shall see. Mr. Blamire, mean-
time, pursued his studies, talked about tithes, read about tithes,
dreamed about tithes, made speeches about tithes : in fact he
seemed to live upon tithes. He was literally the man with one
idea. At length came the end of all his labours—the tithe bill
passed both houses, and became the law of the land. Now,
thought we, for the touchstone; let us see what all this has been
about. And sure enough the patriotic member doffed his dis-
guise in a moment, and by the juggle of a minister becomes—
presto—a tithe commissioner, aye, and that too the very first,
Not a moment was lost. Alas, for profession ; here is practice !
Mr. Blamire fished for a commissionership, and he hooked his
_ _

A meeting of the whig-radicals was summoned on Tuesday,
at the coffee house, the drum was beat to arms, and after a long
to do it was resolved to be put in requisition, who?—who do
our readers imagine this wise conclave selected as a fit candidate
to represent the agricultural interest in parliament? why, no
less a person than our old acquaintance, William James, Esq.,
once member for the city of Carlisle, as he remembers to his
cost, the advocate of a total repeal of the corn laws ;—universal
suffrage, vote by ballot, annual parliament-man.
But the most absurd piece of the plot is to come yet. The
freeholders who take upon themselves the office of dictatirni to
the county who shall be their member, are of the monstrous
number of ten! Ten only could be found, after many hours'
running to and fro ; and who are the ten ? Why, first, we
have Henry Howard, of Greystoke. By the way, how is it
that he is not the man, for we have heard for months that
Lord Carlisle would back himself against Sir James Graham ?
But that, it seems, is a flash in the pan ' • another of those inge-
nious inventions of which so many people in Carlisle are proud,
and we envy them not their skill. Then we have Major Agli.
onby : and why is 'he not selected, for we believe a more esti-
mable man (always save and except his political opinions) does
not exist, but even he must give way to " Barrock
Then we have Mr. Wm. Crackanthorpe, who does not reside in
the county, and Mr. Joseph Salkeld, who is an Irish absentee,
with a few acres of land only in Cumberland. These are all
the county gentlemen that could be found to ask Mr. James to
represent 4,633 freeholders. Four in number—the glorious
quarto! The immortal four! Why, the thing was too ridicu-
lous to think of. Well, what was to be done ?—for it was evi-
dent that some show must be made, and a lucky thought jump-
ed into the head of one of the four. "Ah !' said he, "by the
bye, the town council are now met; there will be a glorious
haul. We know they are all right," and accordingly the Town-
hall was scaled, end the requisition banded round. " There is
Mounsey, the mayor, he is safe, put him down—there. is Peter
the Great, ditto, down with him—there is Alderman Ferguson
there, for a wonder, he will do—there is Connell, he used to be
yellow, but now he is a rad, aye, he is a sure hit. There is—
no, no; the rest wont do, they have beerkbehind the curtains,
and knritsv 'rather too much 'orsour hero. So We had better de-
camp."
But still, what a pitiful muster ! " Oh," said one, " let us
leep into the magistrates' room ; we may chance to catch a
oose fish there," and accordingly they hooked Mr. T. C. Heys-
ham : so here we have four country gentlemen, a mayor, two
aldermen, and two common-councilmen dictating who shall re-
present the eastern division of Cumberland. Oh no—we beg
pardon, there is also Mr. John Elliot, the tail; why that young
entleman is placed so prominent we know not. Of this we are
sure, that if it is put to the test the result will be that Mr, James
will be expelled by a vast majority of 'freeholders. The blue
party in bast Cumberland could not put forward a worse can-
didate to secure the suffrages of the freeholders. Curiously
enough, it happened that Mr. James was in Cat lisle on Tues-
day, and this tremendous requisition was handed to him; but it
is said that he gave a shake of the head as ominous as Loid
Burleig,h, put it in his pocket, and galloped off to Allonbv to
consult his better half. So the affair remains. It may, at last
of all, go off in a mist.
Some of the agricultural party, we hear, talk of nominating
Mr. Howard, the present member for Carlisle; but a gentle-
man has been named on the conservative side, who, if he con-
sents, will stand most deservedly high in estimation, from, his
rank, his connexions, and his sentiments, but, above all, from
his good old English feeling and conservative principles. A
few hours will, in all probility, throw a great deal of light on
the subject.