By the sudden death of Mr. W. C. Lister, the
Member for Bradford, another vacancy in the new House of Commons has occurred. The following particulars are from the Leeds Mercury of this morning- " We announce with very great concern the awfully sodden death of Wil- liam Cnnlitfe Lister, Esq., the recently-elected Liberal Member for Bradford, and son of the retired Member, Ellie Conliffe Lister, Esq. The honourable and learned gentleman died on Thursday night, at Farfield House, near Addingham,-of rheumatic fever, with which he was seized in consequence of exposure to wet and cold whilst on a shooting-excursion. So sudden and violent was the disease with which Mr. Lister was attacked, that a physician who was summoned from Leeds to attend him, Dr. Hobson, had not time to reach Addingham, but was met by a messenger at Guiseley to say that Mr. Lister bad expired! Mr. Lister was a barrister on the Northern Circuit, and was held in great estimation among his brethren at the bar for his amiable and excellent qualities. His lamentable decease occasions a vacancy in the repre- sentation of that Borough. We possess no information at present as to the intentions of the two parties in Bradford ; but we hope that W. Busfield, Esq. of Upwood, the old Reform Member, will be again placed in the situation where he earned so much of the respect and esteem of all parties. We under- stand that a meeting of a considerable number of the Liberal electors of Brad- ford took place yesterday morning; when it was resolved to send a deputation to Mr. Busfield, at Upwood, to ask whether he would consent to stand if put in nomination ; and his reply would be communicated to a general meeting of the Liberal electors yesterday evening. The Tories are said to have sent a deputation to the Honourable James S. Wortley, who is at Lancaster on the Northern Circuit, to come forward as their candidate."
A correspondent of our own communicates some of the electioneering statistics of Bradford-
" This event will cause another decided loss to the Liberal party. Mr. Hardy, the Tory candidate at the late election, (only one Tory stood,) had a majority over Mr. Lister of 72, and had, moreover, 558 plumpero ; whereas Mr. Lister had only 540 votes in the whole. So it is evident that if a second Tory had been brought out at the late election, he must have been returned. However, as the same parties have to vote again (the new list of voters not coming into force yet) another Conservative will certainly be elected. " There is certainly no foreseeing events of this kind ; but could the Liberal party have foreseen this, they would have acted with more honour towards Mr. Busfield, the second Whig candidate; who would have been returned had the promises of the Whig party been faithfully kept, namely, to split their votes with each other to the end of the contest, (never doubting, I suppose, but that both would be returned, and Mr. Hardy thrown out, as before.) But this needs explaining : Mr. Hardy's friends, finding that their candidate was secure, considered Mr. Busfield the better man of the other two, and therefore split a few votes with him. This was late in the day ; and Mr. Listers's immediate friends observing this, ceased splitting with Mr. Busfield, and plumped for Lister. These immediate friends were, Mr. Lister's father, (Mr. E. C. Lister, the late Member,) his two brothers, two or three tenants, and two of the Whig lawyers. These votes turned the scale again, and finally placed Mr, Lister four votes before Mr. Busfield. By this management Bradford is altogether lost to the Whigs for the present. You may say, that the conduct of the Whigs was a mere retaliation for that of the Tortes; but then, the pledges of the Whigs to each other ought to have been fulfilled : the Tories bad broken no pledge, and why should they?" " P.S. While writing, I may point out a small inaccuracy in your late elec- tion returns ; the deceased Member, W. C. LISTER, was a new Member ; the former Member, E. C. Dolma, was his father, and retired in his son's favour."
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