14 AUGUST 1847, Page 1

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

THE election returns for the counties have mostly been made ; and the results are satisfactory. We notice neither THE election returns for the counties have mostly been made ; and the results are satisfactory. We notice neither the anticiated apathy nor- Protectionist reaction which might have been expected i the absence of that apathy. Pro- tectionism itself, indeed, has been rather apathetic, or has not been eminently successful in its dreamy fits of vivacity ; but the county electors have been much alive ; and in many parts it is ob- served that unit:3nel numbers came to the poll, although, from divers symptoms, it may be gathered that the bribery and cor- ruption bear no proportion to what they did in the election of 1841.

To glance at a few of the specific results, it appears that Free Trade has made some notable advances. The event in everybody's mouth is the return of Mr. Cobden forthe West Riding of York- shire ; which is the more striking in coming so close after the re- turn of Mr. Charles Villiers for South Lancashire. Mr. Villiers displaced the malleable Conservative Mr. Entwisle ; who made no opposition. Mr. Cobden displaces the somewhat more stanch Protectionist Mr. • Beekett• Denison. who would not venture to go to the poll. He pleaded the "sudenness "of the invasion; but those versed in election affairs usually consider that the candidate first in the field has by far the best chance.

Two questions of more than mere local interest arise—whether the Free-trade leaders will make their choice to sit for the counties or for the boroughs that have elected them ? There is some ad- vantage to the cause, no doubt, in the eclat conferred by these county elections ;. but. it Ls most certain that both the two Mem- bers, as well as the cause, are above such adventitious species of advertisement. On the other hand, there is a manifest advantage in standing by a faithful borough—a seat thus retained cannot but acquire a character of permanency. The decision of the Member in either case, we presume, will mainly depend on the comparative probability of securing a good occupant for the seat which his selection would leave vacant.

A step forward scareely less signal is the election of Mr. Os- borne for Middlesex, instead of Colonel Wood. The Colonel was a worthy country' gentleman, of the more -liberal class among Conservatives; • but the Metropolitan County felt that it ought not only to make a full vindication of free trade, but also to have a man of more mark for its impersonator. We believe the choice to be well made. Mr. Osborne has activity, acumen' and smart- ness: as a quasi-Irish Member, sitting for a small English bo- rough, he was occasionally indiscreet: probably the responsibili- ties of his new position will not be lost upon him. Two Ministers have been returned for county constituencies,— Sir George Grey for North Northumberland; and Mr. Edward John Stanley for North Cheshire, where he was beaten before. Sir George defeats Lord.Lovaine, a young aspirant in the Tory interest, and replaces Mr.-Cresswell; a Conservative. Mr. Stan- ley replaces Mr. Cornwall Legh, a Conservative. It is in the -counties, after all, that Ministers have their most marked triumphs, rather than in the boroughs. Even among constitueneieelhat have been stanch in Protec- tion, curious changes are observable. In south Essex, Sir Edward "Buxton, a Liberal, replaces Mr. George Palmer ; defeating Mr. Bowyer Smith, a candidate put up by the Country patty. One seat for Buckinghamshire is seized by the Whigs for Mr. Caven- dish. Since the election of Lord Seaham, the electors of North Durham, -good sleepy folks have discovered that he is a Free- trader of the Peel school,--as most young Conservatives arc be- coming; besides many old ones. In some counties the election has been complicated with per- sonal intervention of a very " unconstitutional ' kind ; and in two it has turned mainly on family squabbles. West Gloucestershire has returned Mr. Grantley Berkeley, in his new character of "in-

dependent Member," in order to baulk Lord Fitzhardin,ge and prove that Peers do not elect Representatives of the People. Monmouthshire has declined to oblige the Duke of Beaufort by substituting a Captain Somerset for Lord Granville Somerset ; the Duke desiring a change, because his Protectionism had not been adequately represented by his brother the ex-Minister.

Incidents of this kind, recurring from time to time, remind us of the imperfections of the famous Reform Act. Provisions were inserted in that statute purposely to retain for Peers and other landowners, indirectly, a considerable influence in the House of Commons, chiefly through the dependent tenants-at-will : when public opinion is quite settled on the propriety of confirming the old pretence that Peers and other landowners ought not to elect county Members at pleasure in order to thwart the Members elected by the country, those parts of the Reform Act of 1832 will be abolished.

On the whole, then, there has been more than the expected activity in the county elections. The electors have displayed more living interest, and at times more judgment: they have exercised to some extent a will of their own—have looked at the character of the men they were returning. A contemporary, see- ing this spirit, regrets that a greater push had not been made to increase the returns of Liberal Members. But it is by no means certain that such an effort would have had the desired effect. It would more certainly have revived a party-spirit, during whose slumbers some of these satisfactory results have been obtained; and it might thus have caused a reaction the other way. At the best, it would have substituted a few "Liberal" Members for a few called "Conservative," the originals perhaps to be replaced at the next election. By the present election the process of ad- vancing the whole body of Conservative politicians has been con- tinued, with such effect that many of them now occupy positions forward enough ti have frightened some moderate "Reformers" not a "hundred year; ago.