New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-12-01
THE ENGLISH ELECTIONS
tvRoM DIR OWN CORRESPONDENT

on Mondav: ON Tuesday such piece OF serious
work done as England has not seen the IKE Oh iol
score of years. This English people Is 80 pr@c..~
minded that when the strain of business Is OH they
rush into sheer folly as relief They cannot Den3
their minds to a great act of political revoiuuoh
without great act of traditional buffoonery tne Jay
before You may be sure there Is no extravaganco
in any American election which will compare WIN
the absurdites of that ceremony which is here called
nomination. If anything surpasses it, it is the sors
of Importance which it derives from the elaborate
reports in next days papers. There were 1S4 nomi-
nations on Monday. There must BIO more than
hundred columns of reports. Except for compliance
with a needless formaty and except IN tnoso
borouphs where candidates are returned withoue
oppositon. the performance was about as important
as a village vestry meeting. 1t has little OF no innu-
ence on the actual elections OF the following day.
perhaps il ia some consolation to the Independents
Briton who cannot vote to be able to hold mp his
hand for candidate. People say moreover that inc
show of hands sometimes carries over the doubtful
vote TO the side which seems strongest with tho
mob
The hastings for Westminster were placed AT mo
base of the Nelson column in Trafaigar-square'
historical site, but not the site where tney ha'o
heretofore stood From the days of Fox and Sheri-
dan the Westminster nominations have Deen "s"o
in Covent Garden, the hastings leaning against
u.
No place could be better adapted to preserve the
usages of the British Constitution for none COMO
provide more ample supply of cabbages and tnr-
nips for pelting the candidates. Once, nomination
would scarcely have been complete without the cab
bages and turnips and dead cats, but innovation
lays its hand the most venerable customs and Oh
Monday no missiles were thrown. Except for its
lack of these convenience Trafalgarsquare Is far
better than the Garden. No spot in London is more
crowded with memories. Nelson looks down from
the top of his ugly column. The Royal Academy
faces the north side of the square. Northumberland
House stands in the southeast angle. with It's
well-known gateway, surmounted by the Ion
crest of the Percies-the tail pointing, in ac-
cordance with the legend toward the royal palace OF
St James You can almost the house where
Bacon was born and the house where Spen-
ser died of hunger. From the front OF the must
ngs you look down Whitehall past the old statue OF
Charles l., marking the spot where the regcides
were executed on to the still more memorable site
whe re Charles I. himself was beheaded. On either
side rise the great Offices of government. the ADM
rally, the Home Guards, the Treasury, the famous
banqueting house of Whitehall built by lingo Jones,
the honse where Cromwell lived, and closing the
view. the houses of Parliament and Westminster
Abbey fill the southern sky But it is only foreigners
who trouble themselves to remember OF notice these
things The roaring mob that filled all the space
b etween the Column and the Statue OF Charles.
light have been tribe of Red Indians, except that
| the Indians would have been less noisy and many
degrees more civil.
| Side by side stand hastings and polling booths
names which impose the imagination much moro
| than the things themselves do on the senses How
many times have not read with respect about
the "hustingsr don't know how old the name H.
The structures which 90 by that name in London
are rough pine sheds with sloping roof looking like
nothing so much as the horse-sheds which abut Pm
| an old-fashioned Westinghouse in New-England
| town. The hastings are larger and higher. and have
PLATFORM TO which You ascend from the rear. 'Whst
they call polling booths crections equally orna-
mental about onehalf the hight and SIZE divided or
into pens, lettered and numbered. in which sit tho
recording officers and up TO which march the voters,
each selecting number corresponding TO one on =
card with which he is supplied, and the initial letter
Of his own name On the day of nomination the poll
ing booth devoted roast chesnuts and baked POI
tatoes
The nomination for Westminster was at noon, on
Monday, 18th November At quarter TO u there were
not 200 people in front Of the husngs Twenty min
utes later there were some thousands, and pretty
rough crowd it The official who presided over
this mob, and who is called High Balh. arrived
promptly The candidates escorted by their conf
mittees took possession each of onehalf the plat
FORM and the formaity of reading the writ and
some other matters which precede the nominations
were gone through. What they were l have no
notion, for although stood on the hustiDgs within
few feet of the officer not word was audible.
Part of the crowd were evidently ORGANIZED Mr.
w. IL. Smith had summoned the newsnen together
from the four quarters OF London. and there
they We're, compact and enthusiastic Tor their
chief Capt Grosyenor, too, had party OK
supporters in equally solid phalanx, while Mr..
Mills were. distributed, without organiza.
ton through the crowd. The business OK
the Liberals was TO prevent the Tories from beng
heard and rice versa, and seldom has any business
been better DONE Sir Erskine Perry proposed Capt
Grosvenor tit and proper person 10 represent inc
Civ of Westminster, which Mr.. Seymour seconded.
Then Mr.. Mallerson proposed Mr. Mill, the only
sentence caught being that Mr. Mill was not only
one of the greatest but one OF the best loved Oh v
Englishmen. Mr. Smith nominated in like man
ner and then came the speeches OF the candidates,
beginning with the young scion or noouftN.
whom il is the fashion 10 recognize as senior MEMBER
and it is possible that some of them were really
heard by half dozen persons, among whom may
have been reporter or two who sat close under Sbd
noses of the different speakers: There was no no
else, and there was even pretty good order In thu
middle of this swaying crowd but there came up
deafening roar, unceasing and tremendous, and ths
sound beat about us with force out OF all
proportion to the opponent members. Wa
endured it for an hour and little more: then
the ceremonies were pronounced competey
the High Bailitf declaring that the show Of
Capt. Grosvenor demanded a poll, and the poll MAS
appointed for the day following. Elsewhere much
rOughcr occurred, and no doubt the place for
who was in search of material for caricature.
OF for illnatured comment. the eastern borough
of London, the Tower Hamlets. which includes
Whitechapel and Bethnal Green. But even in Y
borough like Westminster. where rowdylsm rs kept
under in daylight the absurdty and rudeness of the
proceedings are great and the utter useessness II
the ceremony manifest, that one does not risk