NEWS OF THE WEEK.
PREPARATIONS for the coming elections engross the attention of all who give time and thought to politics. The country is not quite so torpid as it seemed last week. A little spirit has been forced into the almost universal canvass. There is nothing that approaches to the national movements of 1831 and 1832, or even to that of 1835; but in certain localities men are beginning to rouse themselves into exertion, and the Conservatives especially show symptoms of a design to buckle to the work before them in earnest. It is clear that there will be many hard contests, to be .decided on local and personal, not national grounds. The at- tempt to revive the old party watchwords of " Tory and "Re- former " is not successful. Nicknames have lost much of their influence ; and it is no longer a sufficient reason to vote for this and against that candidate, that the one calls himself a Reformer and the other is denounced as a Tory. Were the Duke of WEL- LINGTON and Sir ROBERT PEEL now in office, the Spectator would be laughed at if it endeavoured to revive the rally-cry of "Down With the Tories," which in 1835 did such good service. Neither will it answer the purpose of the Ministerial party to pretend that they. are exclusively the Queen's friends. Everybody knows re-Vtietn is safe, whether Whig or Tory Ministers bit in her Cabinet. Personally, she has as much to hope from one party as the other, but nothing to fear from either ; for she is the Na-
tion's care—the People of England will take heed to her safety and comfort.
The Downing Street gentlemen seem lobe playing a fine game at present. The Standard asserts that they are privately assuring the Tories of their earnest desire to adopt a Conservative policy, and get free of the Radicals. No doubt, they would like such emancipation better than most things this world affords. On the other hand, some Radicals have a notion that Ministers mean to do something astonishingly Liberal, and that they are merely " patting" the Tories "on the back." The support which is openly given to Mr. LEADER and Colonel EvaNs ill Westminster, and the coalition of Mr. BYNG with Mr. H UME in Middlesex, may be quoted in favour of the Liberal intentions of Ministers. Lord JonN RUSSELL'S address to Stroud, the tone of the Chronicle, Globe, and Courier, and the coquetry with Conservatism which is evidently going on, induce a belief that Ministers contemplate reinforcement from the Tory ranks, which would enable them to dispense with Radical support. Nobody can tell what they will do, or what they intend. Enviable and honourable position for a Ministry ! But is not the policy more hazardous than prudent, after all ? Is there not danger of provoking both Tories and Ra- dicals to more bitter hostility by the attempt to outmanceuvre them both? Are the Whigs so very adroit at cajolery, and the objects of it so very obtuse?
With respect to the probable issue of' the elections, no altera- tion that we can discern has taken place during the week. Gains in one quarter are balanced by losses in another. A diminution of the numbers of the Independent Reformers in Parliament does not seem likely ; but as yet we can only conjecture results. In many instances, it is extremely uncertain who will go to the poll; and in many more, who will be successful. : Though it is not worth while for real Reformers to give them- selves trouble about the return of mere party men, yet they should not let the opportunity pass of obtaining pledges from candidates in favour of good measures. Votes for the Ballot, Short Parliaments, and the abolition of the Corn-laws, may be had in exchange for
support at the elections. There are many Whigs who will rather pledge themselves to certain Radical measures than lose their seats, wheirclosely run by their opponents. It would be a weak abandontnent of duty not to take advantage of the power which a near contest between Whigs and Tories puts in the hands of the Radicals. Remember how Sir HITSSE.Y VIVIAN was ut length screwed up to the Ballot-pitch in East Cornwall.
