18 JULY 1835, Page 10

HULL ELECTION PETITION.

OUR readers are aware that a petition has been presented against the return of Colonel THOMPSON for Hull. There is not tine slightest doubt, if the scrutiny which it is said will be demanded, is gone into, and the Colonel's seat vigorously defended, that his small majority will be increased twenty-fold. It is also, we understand, ascertained that an exposure will be made of the corruption of the Bull freemen, which will be of excellent service to the cause of purity of election. The personation, at the poll, of absent electors, by men hired to perjure themselves for that purpose, has been practised to the extent of some hundred votes ; and this, not unusual proceeding in Bull elections, could be proved by the Reformers before a Com- mittee. But it must not be forgotten, that the expense of sup- porting this investigation will be heavy ; that all the witnesses must be brought from a distance of two hundred miles, and maintained in London. It is on the cost of the proceedings that the Tory petitioners rely. They know that although Colonel THOMPSON is a gentleman of independent means, he is not as rich as the House of BARING. in which Mr. MILDMAY is a partner, and that he has not the stock-purse of the Carlton Club to back him. Therefore they hope to frighten him off the field by the expense of an investigation before a Com- mittee.

We do not think that the Member for Hull would be justified in expending his private fortune in the defence of his seat : it is the cause of the public, not his own, of which be is the able advocate : it is more especially the cause of the Hull Liberals, and we call upon them earnestly to act as if they were aware that it is so. They should instantly commence (if they have not already commenced) a subscrip- tion to tight the petitioner in the Committee, and thus prove them- selves worthy of being represented by a man of Colonel THOMPSON'S talents and high character. In this good work, too, they ought to receive, and to claim by direct application, the aid of Reform Asso- ciations, as well as of rich individuals calling themselves Reformers, throughout the country.

The game that the Tories are playing is sufficiently plain : they are seeking to bear down all before them by " weight of metal." The constituencies must club their means together to defeat this system : it is not to be expected that, single-handed, man to man, the Liberal Members can compete with the gorged aristocrats and jobbers of the Conservative faction. The purse of the People must he their trea- sury in such cases as that of the Hull petition.