ELECTIONS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VIII, Issue 493, 25 July 1857, Page 3

ELECTIONS.

(From the Guardian, April 1.) The battles of the boroughs is -over,-,and c tI.P counties has begun. The field men. ThereiieCol, IB Sr!«rht Gibson, bowled over like nine There too (so pl 2L is the fortune of war) is pleasant fTZk re^ tted K* all who k™z £° rd idS Berkely, of whom so much h11"^ be said-and Frederick Peel, of err pe«h«ps the iess said the.better"TZ slain by upstart antagonists, are Swell * and LVdVred Hervey Here I p S at last the restless Layard, and beside £■ united by a common calamity, his old Tmv Colonel Lindsay. Stop traveller— jTwmple on J°hn Geol' ge PhilliT e' Hat unhandsome corpse, over whom wneinff fiends from Basinghall-street are Jeoinning- to hover, was once Mr. Humph, Iv Brown. And in yonder heap, indiscriminately slaughtered by the blind "hand of chance, lie the representatives ol all shades of Dissent—Pellatt, Chambers, Walrrisley, Miall, Fox, and Clay. The humane spectator, a prey to conflictin* emotions, seeks refuge in a subtraction sura. WHat can be done in this way we have tried elsewhere, but we must frankly sa y that] no known rules of political arithmetic will enable us to work out from such a confused mass of figures a real satisfactory result. The main features of the contest, so far as it has gone, stand out indeed pretty plainly. The overthrow of the " Manchester men" is one. The general advance of Liberalism at the expense of Conservatism is another. A third is the return of a number of men calling themselves with more of less of justice, Conservatives, but bound, however vaguely; to'support Lord Palmerston. A fourth is the growth o*f the local and personal element, both on the hustings and in the House. These latter influences, however, added to the general unsettlement of men's minds and .the disturbing'effect of the China question, which has struck across the ordinary* course of party politics and pushed, as it were, the balance awry, are enough to baffle the discernment of the most experienced calculator. In Finsbury, where you have nothing but a personal squabble among an Islington attorney, an Old Bailey [barrister, and a " Buuhill-row Major," each doing his best to throw mud! at the others, —and in Lambeth, where it has been a mere parochial contest on a large scale, the thing speaks for 'itself. At Manchester, jealousy of the dictation of the old Anti-Corn-law League, which had attempted to constitute itself en permanence, has been the chief agent in substituting for Bright and Gibson two very inferior men. Mr. Akroyd, at Huddersfield, owes hit* victory in some degree.to his manufacturing eminence and high respectability, which makes him, we have reason to.believe, a good exchange for Mr. Cobden; and similar causes doubtless assisted Mr. Hornby, Mr. Bernard, Mr. Mills, and many of the successful candidates elsewhere. Still the return of Conservatives at Leeds, Blackburn, Bolt on, Preston, Taunton, Gloucester, and Carlisle is a fact ■entitled to weight and to be regarded with [pleasure. And at Hull Lord Ashley, as a j" Liberal Conservative," beats one '-Radical [Reformer," and follows on the Keels of [another. | The designation chosen by Lord Ashley jhas become common for the first time in jthis election. - A strong dash of Liberalism [is now held indispensable to the Conservative candidate for a borough. This marks jtjie fact that the whole mixed body of political opinion in England has adv&nced in the jLibeial direction. Whilst in the continental pations the tendency of Conservatism is to pemain perfectly stationary, and stiffen into [something impracticable and obsolete, in pngland, as in America, it follows the profgress of the mass, and represents rather the influence of property and of those ■bawts aud traditions which are to the spirit in a Country what age is to youth than devotion to any sharply-deft ned Jet of principles or opinions. The anarchy now reigns within this party, and the general understanding that everybody is at | rty to choose his'own-line, scatters its pmbers very widely, and leads to unusual mergences and eccentricities. The contrast et-ween the two extremities of the Liberal ply has always been sharp and broad; &| S, 18 now reflected on the other side, and botl i! ld Lelt' af* th-e Continental phrase is, i«& shade off into the Centre by many gradations. Everybody now"!' refo/ 8 »S f°r " Peace' retrenchment, and jLi m: Almost everybody is Lr some r cension of the suffrage. Church rates are lasT n qu®Btion- Only the b^lot, which She '^j into that convenient category on Ither t " d° e8 "bt yet fi&ui'e in il 6W the jj- • Judging 'from the rejibrts,' you

might take the hustings speeches of a dozen Liberals and a dozen Conservatives and shake them in a hag, and no one could tell which was which, unless perhaps by the larger professions and more thoroughly fan ■in-hand attitude of the latter. There is' no greater-distance certainly between Lord Palmerstdn and that honest undertaker now member for Greenwich, who " desired the total abolition of the income tax, and would do all he could to take the burthen from the shoulders of the tradesmen and working classes aud place it on the rich "—so inconsistent sometimes are men's intentions with their desires—than between the Conservative candidates for a nomination borough and for a manufactuiing town. Listen to ' them at quiet Stamford. They are talking of the " ancient and venerable fabric of our constitution "-—" the glorious inheritance bequeathed to us by our ancestors." Ah, those are the good old words, which meant at once so little, and so much. Listen again at Chatham and Sheffield. Sir F. Smith "advocated a large extension of the suffrage—in fact, he hardly knew how far he would not go. He was for total abolition of church rates." Mr. Overe'nd " was as. liberal as Mr. Roebuck. He would advance as fast as Mr. Roebuck." Stop, gentlemen ! Such 'breathless eagerness to outrun your enemies will only carry you clean out of. sight of your friends. The Liberals, on their p;irt, are large and lavish in their pledges. These chiefly relate however to church-rates and the ballot. Of the suffrage we hear comparatively little from them, and the indifference which seems to prevail on this point helps to give the election as a whole that chequered and heterogeneous aspect which strikes the eye. The bidding for votes is high, but the political excitement small. Whilst Liberal Conservatives abound, the Peelites, the I original owners of the name, are almost exterminated. A vote against Sunday 'tradinghas unseated one member ; a motion, in favour of Sunday amusements has proved fatal to another.. The Ministerialists, though uppermost, have some important losses to set against their numerical gains. Lord Balmerstoii's popularity has carried several seats; yet the risks and casualties of subordinate members of his Government have been more than usually severe. Being himself the genius of inconsistency, at least in the public eye, he is in his element among this jumble of contradictions: sink who mayi he swims ; he rides gaily on the top of the wave, whatever goes to the bottom; and even the steady tide of old fashioned Toryism and Whiggery which the county elections will pour in before the close of v 'thej week, whilst it will redress in some degree the balance of parties and fill the vacant place of the Opposition, will probably carry him for the moment higher than ever. The complaints of corruption and intimidation are few, and with one exception the contest appears to have bpen conducted with decency and good temper. The exception of course is the riot at Kidderminster, in which Mr. Lowe was brutally and seriously hurt. The only remarkable instance of a seat absolutely thrown away is the case of Dudley, which, irritated into a tit of independence 'by its patron's unceremonious treatment of Sir Stafford Northcote, has i elected literally le premier venu, and a Mr. Sheridan is member for Dudley by an ; accident like that which in the last Parliament made Mr. Murrough M.P. for Blidport. Lord Ward, who cultivates with some success the character of the popular nobleman, seems to have taken the rebuff with temper, and his forbearance in not sending his nominee to the poll may assist him to regain his lost influence hereafter.