1 JANUARY 1831, Page 7

Tim PRESTON EnEcrtosr.—The scrutiny has been abandoned. The announcement was

made by Mr. Stanley's Committee on Thursday night, last week. Mr. Hunt was chaired on Monday. The validity of the return will now be left for a Committee cease House of Commons to settle; amt in the interim, Mr. Hunt will take his seat without further interruption. REFORM MEET] xo.—A meeting in favour of reform took p/ace at

Newcastle last week, which was very numerously and respectably attended. Mr. Liddel made a long speech in favour of rotten boroughs, because they had introduced such men as Mr. Brougham to Parliament, --and turned him out of it, he might have added, for he was convened to quit Winchelsea at an hour's notice. Mr. Hodgson spoke against

Resolutions for putting an end to the rotten boroughs and for vote by ballot were nevertheless unanimously passed. •

THE LOHD AvvocArn Axe THE FORFAR. B000uoes.—Mr. Stuart Wort..

ley and Colonel Ogilvy having abandoned all farther canvass in these hormiehs, the former in disgust, and the latter from the disqualification passel on him by the decision of the House of Commons Committee, a keen contest has sprung up between Mr. Jeffrey, the new Lord Advo- cate, and Captain Ogilvy, the brother of the Colonel. From same hesi- tation in the Lord Advoaate, and from lack of early information, the Captain has been enabled to take the field curlier, and hos ill consequence not only NOcured Forfar, where a resolution to support his pretensions has been unanimously passed, but, it is supposed, Cupar also. There is a P'!' war waging in respect of Cupar, between the friends of 3Ir. Jeffrey, and a " writer" or attorney, light Bailie John Shaw, a member of the Town-Council. It appears from a newspaper of the district (the Dun- dee Advertiser) that a reconnoissance on behalf of the Lord Advocate had been opened with Bailie Shaw, who had manifested a disposition to be made Distributor of Stamps—one of the sinecures by which the non- official services of Government dspendents are remunerated. In the mean time, Shaw's partner, who was in London in attendance on the Committee, either as a witness or as a professional agent to Colonel Ogilvy, had been engaged as Coptain Ogilvy& agent ; to which he tacked, as a matter of business (if we rightly nod the Dandec Advertiser), his own influence ftilti that of Shaw, as Town-Councillors, or electors ; and when the Lord-Advocate at length proceeded to reconnoitre, he discovered that nearly every spot of vantage-ground had been already occupied by the enemy. The consrapenee has been the pub- lication of Shaw's letters, and a great deal more discussion touch- ing his conduct than we have inclination to enter upon. For any thing that we can perceive, the contemplated arrangement be- tween Min and the Lord Advocate was meant to be one of pure convenience on both sides. The present prospects of the two candi- dates stand thus-31r. Jeffrey has the support of Perth and St. An- drews ; Captain Ogilvy of Forfar, and, it is supposed, of Cupar ; Dundee, which would have decidd the contest, is in abayance by dis- franchisement ; but then, Forfar is the returning borough, and, as such, in case of an equality of votes it has the castinesvote ; so that

Captain Ogilvy, provided he can secure Clipar, is sure of his election.

To prevent this otherwise inevitable consequence, Lard Advocate Jef- frey, it has been reported, will restore the braen charter of the borough of Hundee, the ex-members of whose Council have professed their readi- ness to support him, if he will give them an opportunity. This is an electioneering fraud—mere nonsense. Dundee will have no vote iii the pending election, more than it had in the last. Mr. Jeffrey will not, for the sake of a seat in a Home of Commons that will in all pro. liability not last a couple of months, injure himself and his party by sanctioning the infamous and corrupt principle on which Scotch borough representation is founded. He durst not, if he were willing, so grossly abuse the prerogative of the Crown. And yet there are symptoms in the present contest that would tend to shake our faith in the professions of the Scotch Ministerial Reformers. We find, for instance' in the case of Cupar, that the subordinates of the Lord Advocate—the Advocates Depute, as they are called—are foremost among the band of canvassers. Now we, who, notwithstanding Lord Brougham's maxim of " men and measures' "must still stick by the old-fashioned rule of "measures not men," inasmuch as we know no way of distinguishing bet ween the moral value of one set of men and that of another, but by their measures,--we, who would have condemned most unequivocally any attempt of the non-reforming Sir William Rae to employ the machinery of his office to influence a voter, must condemn its employment for a similar purpose by the reform- ing Mr. Jeffrey. We should be very much misunderstood, while were pu- diate such means of procuring a seat for that distinguished individual, were it supposed that we were not sincerely desirous to see him in Par- liament. We should, on the contrary, rejoice to see him there. We know no living man who, from the suavity of his manners, his unsullied integrity, his knowledge of all questions of modern policy foreign or domestic, his sound understanding, his brilliant eloquence, his keen but not caustic wit, is better qualified than the Lord Advocate is, to give de- light, and instruction, and correction, effectual because administered in gentleness, to the House of Commons. And we are bound, as impartial critics and occasional auditors of that Honourable House, to add, that no congregation of six hundred and fifty men in our reading or remem- brance ever stood in greater need of the infusion of a little live- liness and intelligence, to relieve the prosing, the blarney, the cant, the gallimaufry, the endless "mistaking, misquoting, misdating," the bad logic and worse English, of which every night of the bygone little session presented such unvarying and numerous Specimens. TURN.OUTS.—Messrs. 31`Connell and Co.'s mill at Manchester is still unemployed. Some attempts have been made by the turn-outs to stop other mills also, but without success. The turn-outs at Ashton-under-Lyne have been attempted to be met by their masters, some of whom have offered 3s. 9d., and others 3s. 11d., instead of the 4s. 2d. demanded. It seems therefore probable that these 'mutual dif- ferences will soon be arranged.