ebt trountrp.

The election for East Cumberland took place on the 2d instant, at Carlisle. Major Aglionhy of Nunnery proposed Mr. James ; whom be described as a real Reformer, anxious that the country should derive the expected benefits from the Act of 1832—

" I think, for my own part, that it is high time we should be in possession a them. The blessing of cheap government is still withheld from us. I had hoped, that after the passing of the Reform Bill, all political animosities would have ceased ; and that instead, we should have had an emulation between the two Huie.es which should have been most serviceable to the nation. But, in- stead of this, we have seen the wishes of the people disregarded in some things and utterly contemned and rejected in others. I should be sorry to say any thing to lower the authority of the second branch of the Legislature; but when see them forgetting that the object of all laws is the happiness of the people, I must enter my protest against their proceedings. It would have been more consonant with their high character to endeavour to gain the affection of the people, instead of struggling to gain that power which they have lost, and which they ought never to have possessed. They may think that bit-by-bit reforms will saisiy the nation ; but they are greatly mistaken. It is impossible for the nation to be satisfied until it gets relief from the burdens of which it complains. The people grudge that more is bestowed on the Church than they deem necessary ; they grudge the Pension-list, which they look upon as a waste of their means, for the aggrandizement of courtiers, their wives, their daughters, their sons, and sons-in-law. And, above all, they begrudge an overgrown Colonial establishment, intended only for the benefit of the Aristo- cracy and their connexions—an establishment adding military to clerical bur- dens. It is our duty to endeavour to obtain relief from those things of which we complain ; and to do so, we must send to Parliament as our Representative =unflinching Refiminer ; and such a man I look upon Mr. James to be."

He adverted to the abuses of the Irish Church-

" Having lived for some time in Ireland, I have been an eye-witness to the working of the system, and can speak from personal experience of its effects. I resided for some time in the archiepiscopal city of Tuam, where the popula- tion is as distinctly Catholic as tae population of Spain; and yet there is a Protestant cathedral, with all the appendages of such an establishment—except a congregation. I have always been the humble friend and advocate of reli- gious freedom. What I dim for myself is, freedom to worship God in my own way. That, Mr. High Sheriff, is your birth-right ; it is mine too, and I will not surrender it but with life. What I advocate is the cause for which John Hampden laid down his life in the field of battle; it is that which Wash- ingtun and Bolivar succeeded in establishing, and for which Kosciusko fell. I congratulate the electors of E tat Cumberland that there is no opposition oa this occasion, tarcause it shows that the bold front which the Reformers at once assutnerl on a vacancy being declared has put down every chance of successful opposition. It proves that we in East Cumberland are unchanged and un- changeable. It proves that, in the words of the noble poet, we are at all times ready to

..Snatch from the ashes of onr sires The emiwrs or their former tires,

Awl ieave our NOtiv a hOpe. a fame.

They too will rather die than shame.'

It proves that the love of lib .rty is not yet extinguished in East Cumberland;

it proves that the spirit still exists to defend our best rights; and for one 0-.4rust it may never die. I beg now, brother electors, to propose William James as our Representative; because, throughout his public life, he has ever been found faithful among the faithless, and becauer I believe that he will represent the feelings and the wishes of a large majority of an enlightened constitu- ency."

Mr. Henry Howard, of Greystoke Castle, seconded the nomination

of Mr. He mentioned that he had proposed Mr. Blamire at the first election under the Reform Act, and paid some compliments to the talents and services of that gentleman. He believed that it Would be impossible in the eresent crisis to select a more fitting suc- cessor to Mr. Blamire than Mr. James- " I say crisis, because, although the country is enjoying almost unexampled prosperity, I cannot conceal from myself the critical state into which our our political affaits have been thrown by the differences between the Lords and the Cotnmons. Major Aglionby has alluded in strong terms to the conduct of the House of Lords; and in what he has said I folly agree. It is clear that the Lords are making a determined attempt to regain the power which they had in their rotten boroughs of dictating to the House of Commons; and it is impas- sable to approve of their opposition to every improvement proposed. It was said, I believe by Mr. Canning. that those who objected to every improvement because it was an innovation, might have to subunit to innovations o hich were 150 improvements; and this may be the fate of those who now oppose every reform. I have certainly a strong opinion in favuut of a House of Lords; but

I have an opinion still stronger in favour of good government. The Lordkbl their present conduct, seem determined to try not only the question of go

government, but of the right of the people to representative government. This is a queebon. which. the people must settle by sending men to Pediment of uncompromasing principles—men strongly opposed to the present system, and who will not be content with the minimum of reform which it may.please the House of Lords to offer us. Whatever may be the opinion of the House of Lords as to Reform, there can be no mistake as to Mr. James's opinions; and in sending him as our Representative, there can be no mistake as to

ours. If we send Mr. James, they cannot tell us there is reaction. Ile will not be the pledge of such a feeling. I have had many opportunities of

witnessing Mr Jalltlefes conduct in Parliatnent, and have frequently voted with him. I may have differed with him at times, and I may do so again ; bath

conceive it to be the duty of every honest Reformer to act with those of whose sincerity in the cause there can be no doubt, although they may occasionally differ on minor paints. And depend upon this, gentlemen, I should not have been found here to support Mr. James, unless I had been satisfied that he would lend his utmost aid in forwarding Refirrm both here and in Ireland Reform of the Church was probably one of the most prominent subjects now before the public. Ile had no objection to consult the heads of the Church upon the

subject ; but he saw no reason why the people should be satisfied with the mi- nimum of reform which they haa proposed. Mr. James had ever been the

consistent friend of religious liberty ; and he was quite sure he was not the man to refuse to the Irish people a full participation in the civil institutions of this country, because they haspened to entertain different religions opinions."

I No other candidate being proposed, the High Sheriff, amidst very loud cheering, declared Mr. James to be duly elected. That gentleman then stood forward to address his constituents. After alluding to the numerously-signed requisition he had received to become a candidate to represent them, and thanking Major Aglionby and Mr. Howard for the handsome manner in which they had spoken of his services, he pro- ceeded as follows- " You will not, I think, consider it necessary that I should enter at any length into a profession of my political opinions. 1 am glad to feel that that is not required of me, as they are well known to you. You are all, I believe, well aware, that from my youth upwards I have been a warm and devoted friend of liberty. When I first had the honour to come forward as a public man in 1820, I espoused the same political creed as I do now. The opinions I then

proposed were the result of the best reflection I could at that time bestow upon public affairs; and certainly the experience of the sixteen years which have since elapsed, so fir from altering thoseopinione, has only served in my mind the more firmly and the more strongly to establish their truth. I assisted, during many a weary and sleepless night, in struggling to obtain a Reform of the House of Commons; not considering its accomplishment as an end in Itself, but as the meaus to greater ends—as the means, as I hoped, of securing the freedom, the in- dependence, and the happiness of the country at large. I most certainly expected, after the struggle to obtain the Reform Bill was over, that you would then only have had to express your wishes through the legitimate channels, your Repre- sentatives, and that good and wholesome laws would, as a matter of course, have been enacted, suitable to your wants. I thought, after the experience the Tory. Lords had on that occasion—after the triumphant manner in which the Duke of Wellington and his party were then defeated—they would have seen the useless- ness of contending against the People, and would have quietly allowed them to govern themselves through their chosen Representatives. It seems, however, that I was mistaken ; for we are now, I lament to say, nearly in the same poai- tion as before the passing of that great measure. Some improvements and re- forms have undoubtedly taken place ; but as yet we have not obtained thew fruits of the measure which might reasonably have been expected ; and I agree most fully with my friends who have preceded me, that we never shall obtain our rights, that we never shall obtain justice, until the House of Lords be also refimmed and in some way made responsible to the nation. ( Great cheering.) The whole of the mischief appears to have arisen from the excessive creation of Peers during the latter reigns—especially during the reigns of George the Third and Fourth ; for it should never be forgotten in considering this point, that the real, the ancient nobility of England—the Russells, the Howards, the Coven. dishes, and others—these are the friends to Liberal principles—these were the supporters of Earl Grey its carrying the Reform Bill—these are the supporters of the present Liberal Government. During the session of Parliament just ended, the Government introduced and passed through the Commons various measures of improvement, which no sooner reached the Lords than they were immediately hurhed—or mangled to such a degree as not to be recognized by their original authors. Some of these were of a conciliatory character tower& that most ill-fated country, Ireland."

He referred to the various measures of improvement destroyed by the Lords during the late session, and then to the course which the Reformerc should take to prevent the recurrence of such disasters- " The great question now for consideration before the country is, not so much what reforms are desirable, but what impediments must be removed in order to obtain them. No doubt the object of the factious conduct of the Tory Peers is to drive the present Ministers from office, in order to bring about their own selfish purposes. You have been pleased to send me to Parliament, and I shall go there resolved to do all in my power to support the present Liberal Government ; and I ask you, the electors of East Cumberland, if you are not also disposed to go along with that Government in advancing the cause of steady Reform ? if you will not also support an Administration acting on the principles of liberty, shaping its course in accordance with the feelings of the nation, anxious to consider your wants and redress your wrongs, willing to thrmv open to all who requite them equal r:ghts and privileges? Or will you suffer yourselves to lie governed by an irresponsible faction, actuated by views direcdy opposite tu those of Reform, defending every abuse, resisting every mea- sure conducive to the national welfare, and resolved, as far as they have the power, to make the Reform Bill valueless? Gentlemen, you may rely upon it, so long as the Peers possess irresponsible power, so long will abuses be nurtured and cherished ; theit object evidently being to thwart every good measure which he Cummons, after days and nights of the severest toil for months together, have sent up for their consideration, and one half of them not even being at the trouble to attend to perform this office. It is their privilege to decide questions which they do not know, awl t3 give their opinions upon subjects affecting the interests, not only of this nation and of civilized Europe, but of mankind, with.. out having been ptesent, and of course not having heard one single word of the debate. What would you sty of twelve jurymen who should take upon them- selves to decide a cause of iinportance, nine of the number not having heard one word of the evidence. Would you be satisfied with their verdict? ( Cries of "No, no!") I ask the most Yellow man amongst you, would you be satisfied. with their verdict ? (Loud cries of "No, no f") The first thing to be done, then, in my judgment, towards a reform of the House of Lords, is to abolish the right of voting by proxy. It is a disgrace, in my opinion, to any legislative assembly. This, and more, must be accomplished, unless we he prepared to give up all pretensions to the character of a free people, and submit at once to lbe the slaves of a domineering and haughty oligarchy. Gentlemen, in the course of my perambulations round the county during the last week, with the view of making myself acquainted with the opinions and wishes of those good men and

true who were likely to become my constituents—and I regret the impossibility of paying my respects to more than a very small portion of the four thousand six hundred electors whose acquaintance I hope at a future opportunity to make

—I must say I found a very general concurrence of opinion with my own. A few, certainly, told sue that they thought stone of soy opinions rather extreme, or, to use their own W01419, that I was a little bit too much of a Radical for

them.' But, mind ye, every man, without a single exception, said he would vote for me rather than for a Tory : so that, you see, if Vi'higgimin is at a pre..

mium, Radicalism is at par, and foryistn, I rejoice to say, at a discount in East Cumberland. ( Loud cheers and laughter.) One gentleman could not vote for me because he thought me a perfect Democrat, and that a Democratic Govern- ment would be a ty rannieal one. I told him I had no wish for a change in the form of government; that I loved and admired the Constitution as handed down to us by our forefathers ; and that I hoped no organic change would take place so long as that Constitution was found to work well and justly for the in. terests of the nation. But when one branch of the Legislature assumes to itself the whole power of the poi-,a btUr to all salutary legislation, and goes be • yowl the province which Montesquieu and othet able writers assign to it— that of assisting the People against the encroachments of the Crown, and not of opposing their wishes—it certainly then becomes a matter for the national consideration, whether, at the first convenient opportunity, a change should not be made. The nation hap only to will it, and it will be dune, a. the Reform Bill was before it. But talk of the tyranny of a Democracy, indeed! what tyranuy can be greater or more galling than that a hundred and seventy individuals, placed in power by the mere accident of birth, should possess the power of thwarting every good measure and opposing every improvement. I observe the reporter of the Patriot newspaper near me. I hope he will take a note of these words—what tyranny can be greater than this? By the by, that charming paper, which has no better argument against its political opponents than vulgar personalities pray note that down, too. ( Great laughter.) Don't say the candidate then proceeded to attack the writers in the Patriot; say that lie defended himself from those unjust attacks, by stating the truth—that the writers in that paper had no better argument to make use of than low-minded personalities. But I beg pardon for this digression. I was proceeding to comment on the shame- less conduct of the Peers in stopping all legislation ; and as not sati,fied with this, but finally adding insult to injustice, through the mouth of their leader the noble Baron 1.polhorsr, who was likened with great justice by Lord Mel- bourne to King Charles's Minister, the Earl of Strafford. You all know what became of hint. (Applause. ) I ant willing to hope that this gross insult to the nation was spoken in the heat of debate, unpremeditatedly, unadvisedly. If so, the English people, who are of a forgiving nature, may pardon and over- look it ; but should this noble lord pursue the same unconciliatory awl reckless course during the next session, thereby endangering the Constitution and even the Monarchy, I hope that the popular cry for justice against Lyndhurst will become as loud, and prove as effective, as it was against Strafford in the time of Charles. Sure I am, that in such a case be will deserve a similar fate to that of his great prototype before him. (Applause.) These are my sentiments at the present crisis. I never shrunk from the declaration of my opinions, when the word Reformer was allied to every thing base and infamous; and I have the less reason to do so now."

Mr. Crackenthorpe read a letter from Mr. Blamire, thanking them for the support he had received. A vote of thanks was proposed to the High Sheriff; and the assembly dispersed ; the ceremony of chairing being dispensed with, on account of the unfavourable state of the weather.