17 JULY 1841, Page 1

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

Tun stream of County returns poured in only to swell the gains of the Tories. Some of those gains are at the cost of more than the mere seats to the Whigs : the useful man in the House of Com- mons, Mr. EDWARD JOHN STANLEY, is excluded ; Lord MORPETH, one of their most effective and Radical-looking Members, is kept Out; and the representative of the GREYS, Lord Howie's, is igno- miniously defeated. The proceeding at the declaration of the polls for West Yorkshire and North Northumberland have been as Interesting as any in the course of the election. Apart they are curious ; taken together, doubly so. Crotchety Lord Howie's was like himself to the last. His speech consisted of a jeremiade over the " short notice" of Mr. BAKER CRESSWELL'S having stolen a march upon him, and over the corruption and tyranny of the county, and the treachery of Northumberland's Duke, who first let him understand that he meant to tolerate him still, and then patronized Mr. CRESSWELL instead. Lord HOWICK, in language peevish to a pitch of incontinence, exposed the tactics of committee-rooms to vulgar gaze, chaffered retrospectively for individual votes which had been filched from him, and betrayed himself into a squabble ab,out some letters of Lord OSSULSTON'S which he had been read- ing.s4a. quieting of electors. All this hysterical gossip, the scan- tialnioniering of the hustings, accounted to Lord Howie's for his defeat. Naturally enough, it never struck him to seek the cause in the "Votes and Proceedings," where his name figures so strangely ; in the divisions on the Irish questions last session, in which he skipped from side to side, like a pith-ball, between the opposite poles of Lord STANLEY'S and Lord MORPETB'S electrics. With undoubted intelligence, much right feeling, and more honesty of intent than consistency of purpose, Lord Tlowicu sometimes has done and said things that have procured him to be rated as a statesman ; yet, impatient of a certain sequacious dependence of mind which reduces him to the second rank as a copyist, his egotism has a morbid craving for originality ; and that awkward condition of mind has placed him more than once in a ludicrous where he sought a snperdignified posture. To stick to the Irish Bills : he was then seen to fly away from his friends in order to propound certain in- ventions of his own, and was supported by the Opposition, who used him as a blind tool to break up his own party ; and again, when he had been used, was flung aside, nothing loth—for he courted rejection by new allies whom he in turn spurned as people with whom he differed in all things : he talked against the Whigs and voted against the Tories, carried his own proposition yet refused to follow it up : he seemed to take pleasure in inscribing decrees in the Parliamentary book of fate negativing all other things and themselves to boot. And that was his last act in general states- manship: yet he can only account for his defeat in Northumberland by Mr. CRESSWELL'S cunningly surprising him as he was canvassing in all the ease of an uncontested county, or by the frowns of Lord TANKERYILLE or the Duke at the Castle. In striking contrast with his brother-legislator is Lord MORPETH'S demeanour under defeat : though he did not affect to conceal his regret, it could not subdue his manly temper. Casting aside all petty election-agent cavil, he broadly admitted the extent of his discomfiture ; delivered the con- quered county with dignified fortitude into the hands of his opponent, asking merely the privilege of surrendering to the more worthy of his foes. And if Lord MORPETH has won his meed of praise it may he observed in passing, perhaps his successful antagonist, Mr. Woarmix has scarcely received his for the fulness of generous feeling which distinguished his bearing. Adverse parties have vied with each other in rendering honour to the manner in which the rejected Member for West Yorkshire turned defeat into a victory over circumstance, and made his last act of surrender one of the most imposing of his career. Turning from personal considera- tions, with a statesmanlike glance at the future, he asserted the damnatory effect which the conquest of West Yorkshire would have for the time; looking beyond to the reaction which must come here- after. Thus two of the most remarkable young nobles who have taken a part in public affairs retire fbr awhile. Both will be missed. Lord Moarrra's growing power of generalization, the habit of mastering his subjects, his force of language and happy knack of illustrating, will be wanting to the friends who have counted upon his support. Lord Howtex, uncertain, perverse, and fantastical in his impulses, still brought to bear upon most matters which he bandied, great ingenuity, much solid information, and, rare quality in the irresponsible legislator, persevering industry. Even antago- 691 nists will miss two men who gave substance and soul to the party contests of the day.

Besides these notable victories the Tories have achieved a host of others. Their majority may be counted, when all is done,

at certainly not less than 70. If the Irish returns somewhat

restore the balance, Orange energy, lassitude among the Liberals arising from weariness of the stock agitations, and disgust at the Irish Chancery job, have probably checked what the Whigs might otherwise have done to increase Sir ROBERT PEEI:S " difficulty with Ireland." The frantic vehemence of electioneering in the wilder districts of that hapless land, and even in Dublin itself, will effect little for the Whigs. All fears, therefore, lest the majority which they will have to oppose should not be sufficient at once to mark out the course which they must take, have passed away. The backstairs approach to the Court, if not blocked up, will pro- bably be little used for a time, because intrigues and manoeuvres of that sort would be futile. Sir ROBERT PEEL will not only have an office-commanding majority, but a majority which it will take a long time and much labour to reduce to such odds as might be attacked or circumvented with any chance of success. The Whigs, therefore, are doomed to pass through the purgatory of Opposition before

they are readmitted to the heaven of Downing Street : they are con- demned, not only to stop out of office for a time, but to be of some use

out of office, if they would regain that hold on public opinion which will take them back again—it will require much more to enable them to regain than to keep their post. As to their being borne in "upon the shoulders of the people" or on the tide of Anti-Corn- law agitation—ask Lord MORPETH what is their chance. The contest of the election in Ireland is not so called by any figure —it is a real struggle, in many places almost amounting to civil war. Force and stratagem are often the means for securing the returns. The fight for the capital was characteristic of the country : the po- pular party are charged with using open and lawless violence ; the Tory party, backed by the expiring Corporation, with resorting to chicanery. The subtler engine prevailed : the O'Counellite coal- porters perhaps broke more heads ; but, if very probable-seeming accounts are to be believed, the Corporation-officer broke down votes by wholesale. The Assessor, who determined the validity of the votes tendered, went so far as to reverse the decision of the Revising Barrister ; and, by a technical objection thus affirmed, he disfranchised large numbers who had fully conformed to the law according to its most recent interpretation. In the mean time, Mr. O'Cosiones old opponent, Mr. WEST, and a Mr. GROGAN, take the place of the Liberator and his colleague. O'CoriNELL, of course, is not to be kept out of Parliament : as seven cities contended for the dead HOMER, so three counties contend for the living DANIEL— Meath, Clare, and Cork. He is already Member for Meath, and will probably be Member for Cork ; and to Cork he promises to stick for this Parliament, if the electors return him.