The nomination was on Wednesday. The usual preliminaries were gone
through at the Guildhall ; and then both parties adjourned to Parker's Piece, where the hustings were erected. Mr. Sutton's party, with crimson and white favours, occupied the right of the hustings ; Mr. Gibson's, in buff and blue, the left. About three thousand persons were present ; and the Mayor presided.
Mr. George Fisher proposed and Mr. Bartlett seconded Mr. Manners Sutton. Mr. Bartlett thus described his qualifications— Mr. Sutton was a member of an ancient and honourable family. ( Immense uproar, and cries of " Bribery, bribery ! ") lie had been carefully brought up in those principles which the Conservatives so greatly admired ; and, what was more, to that very day he had acted consistently up to them. He had shown no mean talents, no slight ability. His courtesy and affability were allowed on all hands; they were appreciated by his opponents.
Of Mr. Gibson he had more to say— He was surprised that a gentleman advocating the Ballot, should present himself to a constituency who were acknowledged to be divided upon that ques- tion ; and it was somewhat extraordinary that a gentleman opposed to the pre- sent Corn-laws should present himself to the electors of a large town in an im- portant agricultural district, where there was no manufactory whatever, to solicit their approbation. Mr. Gibson was likewise the friend of a system of education which excluded religion of any description from taking. that pro- minent position to which it was entitled ; and yet he was candidate in a town which could boast of one of the most religious populations in the country, and possessed a University which ought to be the very nursery-bed of sound reli- gion and true education. Mr. Bartlett had once met Mr. Gibson at a public dimmer, when lie was the able advocate of Conservative principles : to-day he was a Whig candidate. He did not mean to say that a man had no right to change his principles, if he had good grounds to change upon ; and Mr. Gibson was bound on the present occasion to give a proper explanation of his peculiar change—a change not from one trifling point to another, but a change from the very height of stern Toryism down to the depth of Radicalism.
Professor Henslow, amidst much uproar, proposed Mr. Gibson ; and Alderman Richard Foster seconded the nomination.
Mr. Manners Sutton then came forward. He was assailed with cries of " Bribery !" but declared " upon his honour as a gentleman, that he knew nothing of the matter.' He declared himself a friend to educa- tion, but a foe to the Government scheme. He supported the Corn- laws, because the repeal of those laws would throw poor men out of employment, and render England dependent on foreign nations for food. He resisted the Ballot, because it would not produce secrecy of voting, and would tend to spread immorality. Mr. Gibson delivered a spirited address, from which we take some of the best passages. He justified and explained his change of opinions and party, and vindicated his right to follow a conscientious and inde- pendent course of action. He taunted the Tories with their prostitution of religion to party purposes— Truly it was well and easily done to paint a Bible upon a banner, and to let the effigy of that sacred hook flaunt front the windows of a tavern, reeking with drunkenness and echoing with riot. Surely this Was making the Bible dbadge of party, not that emblem of universal charity and love and forbearance, which it ought to be. Not now for the first time did they see religion made an in- strument of power. He knew that the Roman Catholic religion had been made an instrument of power in bygone times, but he little expected to see the Protestant religion so prostituted. If such conduct was persisted in, what could be the result but intolerance, and persecution, and bigotry, as bitter as the Popish Church ever entailed upon the laud? [Here a scene of &Twilid confusion ensued, with cries of " Damn the Boman Catholic religion !"] Mr. Gibson said he wished to kitow by what principles of truth or justice it was that Roman Catholics and Dissenters should be excluded from the benefit of even that partial education grant which was now doled out, and t ssa, contributed their portion of the taxation from which it was,drawn?° the Tory party to say in defence of such justice as this? ..-."41 defended bribery and corruption— They would defend it, he supposed, on the same principle that tity Did they attempt to disprove the bribery and corruption to which tluyyd just had recourse in Cambridge? He and his friends did not make without foundation. They did not send out anonymous bills andthseass77 They made no foolish charges which could not be substantiated. Thie-,:: no vague rumours abroad to raise an unjust outcry. They went into ts" -"' court of justice before the people and the country, and there they ero e"1 shameful Tory bribery and corruption had been resorted to, and proved it incontestible testimony. ( Cheers and uproar.) They did not appear cans as men who were not backed by &Ms : they did not proceed until theirma,S; which could not be broken down, knowing well the just severity or ethe - for unjust prosecutions and false imprisonmen,tvsio'll'ilatedrehewaarsantioiteaNeowtotfhedokohlw upon the mind of any man, woman, or child, donee, that Samuel Long, the Tory agent, had been emplo(yceidieheys,soamnde crier of dilate. That was the fact—there was no denying it. Mr. Manners Sutton's friends and supporters, to purchase a vote for their - " 01t, oh I" from the Tories.) lie pledged his honour and his life to prove He had the evidence of documents found in the pocket of Samuel Long, proved, that the sovereigns which were found on his person were not his het the friends' of Mr. Manners Sutton ; and that he had them to assist in the work of corrupting the poor electors of the borough. They knew that George Smith was a 1 mud of the Liberal cause, and therefore it was that they sent l him. They knew others who were true to the same principles, and they hit that they were poor ; and therefore they sent to purchase them. and au it not disgusting that men, pretending to conscience and to public virtue, doll deliberately set about corrupting their fellow beings, depending on their seems. ties, and endeavour to buy them, as they would a pig at a market ? ltlr, %A. ners Sutton of course knew nothing about it. (Cheers and laughter, and cries or " I") He never had any thing to do with the bribery. Noun of vs friends knew any thing about it. Nobody knew any thing about it. Se never knew any one who had confessed, when bribery was committal, to her any thing about it. It was generally done in such a deep, subtle way, the those individuals who had had the chief hand in it managed to escape unde. elected. lie regretted deeply that his honourable opponent had fallen into and hands, and that he should have risked his reputation amongst them.
He was himself perfectly free and independent : could Mr. Suttonsay as much ?—
He called on Mr. Sutton to declare whether he would be adverse to a repel' of the Corn-laws in case the principles of Sir Robert Peel regurfing that measure should undergo a change ; if Sir Robert Peel should be anxious tore. peal those laws, it was his opinion that the Tory party, costa they get ii of that refractors, member of their body the Duke of Buckingham, would dolt to-morrow. The Times newspaper spoke sometimes strongly OR the subject. The Times had sometimes in its columns a great deal of nonsense, but at other times it would place its foot on that insect the Morning Post, which like aq, would die without an effort. Dr. Chalmers, the High Church lecturer, who in London supported the measures of the Tories—Dr. Chalmers hail mittens a large octavo volume to prove that the Corn-laws were unjust, and that they must be repealed. lie was at liberty to act on his own unbiassed opinion. He had no high birth to boast of, and no sinecures. He could not trace his pedipe from William the Conqueror, and boast of a long line of ancestors. lie hoped the four-pound-ten men amid the nine-pound men would return the gold they Ins received, and come to them and add to the heap of gold then in their pusep shin. They had nearly thirty pounds of High Church and Carlton Club gold; and he hoped that to-morrow morning they would have more, because they knew where it was, and who the parties were that had received it.
The Mayor declared the show of hands to be slightly in Mr. Gibson's favour, and a poll was demanded for Mr. Sutton.
Wednesday night was a busy time with both parties. The Liberals accuse the Tories of profuse bribery and treating, and the charge is re- torted by the Tories on the Liberals. The account in the Meriting chronicle states that undecided voters were made drunk by the Con- servatives, and with their pockets crammed with sovereigns, carried off in chaises to Royston, Newmarket, Bury, and Norwich. Mobs pn• raded the town ; and Mr. Gibson, who had gone down to the part of Cambridge called Barnwell, to see what was going on, narrowly escaped serious injury. lie was rescued from the mob by a small party of friends. Mr. Gunning senior, one of the most respectable men m Cam- bridge, was knocked down, kicked, and waverely cut in the head. The polling commenced at eight o'clock on Thursday. The Tories gained possession of the booths, and excluded the Liberals by main force ; and it soon appeared that a decisive majority had been secure] for Mr. Manners Sutton. The numbers announced were— AT TWELVE O'CLOCK. THREE 497 TREE O'CLOCK.
643 433 Sutton 574 Gibson Gibson 64 69
TWO O'CLOCK.
612 Sutton O'CLOCK (FINAL.) ---
Sutton Sutton 717 Gibson 511 Gibson 617 101 Majority for Sutton 100 There was a good deal of fighting in the course of the day, but no serious injuries were inflicted.
Previous page
