TOPICS OF THE DAY.
SIR JOHN HOBHOUSE—THE CONTEST FOR
`6 WESTMINSTER.
IN commenting last week upon Sir JOHN HOBHOUSE'S resigna- tions, we took it for granted that they were both bond jide,—that the Westminster electors would have to look out fur another re- presentative, and Earl GREY for a successor to the Irish Secre- taryship. With regard to the latter, there seems to be no doubt, that, although there was a good deal of mystification about the business,* the resignation was actually given in, and accepted. But as respects the representation of Westminster, it appears that we were entirely wrong in our assumption, and that we judged far too favourably of Sir Joni. We were simple enough to believe that with his office of Irish Secretary he bad also taken leave of his seat for Westminster. So indeed it appears that he has ; for he has been disgracefully beaten in his attempt to regain it. But it turns out that, from the very,first, nothing was further from his thoughts than to resign his seat in Parliament. That is the only interpretation at least which can fairly be put upon the following passage of a speech delivered by him to the parishioners of St. James's, on Wednesday last.
He begged their attention to the effects which would be produced if they did not again return him. Who after that would ever voluntarily resign his seat? Look at the Metropolitan boroughs, many of the representatives of which had not liko him refused to vote at all, but had actually voted against the wishes of their constituents. Now suppose these gentlemen should be called upon next week to resign their seats, what would they say if in the interval Westminster barl refused to reelect him ? Would they not say—" Oh! look at the manner in which Westminster has treated Hobhouse. After he had resigned a lucrative and honourable post, and even his seat in Parliament, rather than vote against the known wishes of his constituents, yet, when he presents himself before them ready to promise, that, now he was untrammelled by office, he would vote as they wished, and notwithstanding he had voted with them on all other occa- sions for fifteen years, they had refused to reelect him."
It seems, then, that Sir JOHN HOBHOUSE only resigned in the full expectation of being reelected. His pathetic "Farewell, Gen- tlemen,' was merely a piece of acting. There is no mystery about this resignation, at all events; whatever may be thought about his retirement from the Secretaryship. The intimation conveyed in the above quotation, that the electors of Westminster would treat him with injustice should they prefer another candidate to himself, is extremely unbecoming. Westni:nster is not a close borough. He was the servant, not the benefactor, of his consti- tuents; and his recent refusal to represent their notorious opinions by his vote on a trying question, proves that he was not always to be depended upon as a faithful one. Certainly, if either party has a right to complain of the other, Sir JOHN 11013HOUSE is not the one. But we are told that the other Metropolitan members will refuse to resign when called upon, unless they feel assured, by the result of the contest for Westminster, that they have nothing to fear as to their reelection. A pretty argument, truly, for a man to advance under such circumstances as Sir JOHN found himself placed in ! and a fine compliment he pays to the electors of the Metropolitan districts, who would, he appears to think, immedi- ately reelect Dr. LUSHINGTON and Mr. W11. L1 AM BRO IT GH AM, just as if they had called upon them to resign for a mere joke, in order to have the fun of a fresh election !
This is a specimen of the stuff which Sir JOHN HomtousE has been dealing out to his constituents dining the past week. His speeches have been compounded of vanity, spleen, and mis- representation of facts. At a meeting of the parishioners of St. Margaret and St. John, on Wednesday, he said that " the sacri- fice which he had made was beyond what any public man had ever made before ;" and again, that his remaining on the hustings on Tuesday " would have placed his life at stake—it was threa- tened to be sacrificed." Now it must have been excessively an- noying to be hooted and groaned at, and pelted with mud and cabbages by the mob; but far worse scenes have often occurred at the Westminster elections, and there really was not the slightest danger that either Sir JOHN HOBHOUSE or Mr. ESCOIT would have been torn to pieces like DE W ITT.
The attempt which he made at a meeting of the parishioners of
St. Ann's to retort upon Colonel EVANS meeting charge of being a placeman, because he holds a commission in the Army, proves how hard pressed Sir JOHN has been to make good his ground against his antagonist. But the assertion which followed,—namely, that "when he held his late office he could have deprived Colonel Evans of his pension at a moment's notice by the mere scratch of his pen "t—could only have been uttered by a man whose sense of decency was either totally extinct, or overpowered for the time See, for example, how ambiguously Sir John HOBHOUSE meets the ru- Irish and English Church . Reform Bills are scarcely launched= moor that his surrender of the Secretaryship was a mere piece of dexterity, to that the renewal of the Bank and East India Charters and the help him for the moment out of a bad Oosition. 'West India question have not been settled? Is it not, on the " I have, it must be confessed, been surprised that a report equally calumnious and absurd has been circulated, that I have not retired from the Secretaryship of Ireland. contrary, notorious that the Government have been shamefully or that I am about immediately to return to it. I was quite at liberty to return to office, unprepared on all these points ? Whose fault is it that on two but haft I done so I should have told you of it. evenings this week forty members could not be mustered ? " The fact is, however, otherwise; and I am brought forward totally unfettered by any engagement whatever."—Address to the Electors, published is the Newspapers of Almost every man in E. i Monday. • been, or at the present time, is easier than for Ministers to bring Let it be remembered that this is a piece of deliberate composition, by a con- forward any one of the great questions on any evening which siderable master of language, and not the random effusion of a person ignorant suits their convenience. But the fact is, that they have not learned of thd force' of words. their lessons : no Ministry ever faced Parliament so grievously • l• This is from the report of the Times. By a reference to the corre- spondence between Colonel EVANS, Lord Dosrsoxxx, and Admiral Fr.xmisro, unprepared to transact the business of the nation. The attempts in another part of our paper, it will be seen that a somewhat different turn is which their organs of the Press are making to oast their trans-. now given by Sir Joint to this expression, gressions upon the shoulders of the Iudepeudent members of the by the acuteness of his ireftated feelings. Could Sir Jolts; really mean to assert, that he could hoe cashiered a gallant and deserv- ing officer in his Majesty's servic6, "at a moment's notice, by the mere scratch of his pen?" Are the pensions of half-pay officers really held at the mercy of the Secretary at War? We had marked several other passages in Sir JonN's elec- tioneering harangues, as well deserving of animadversion ; but we suspect that our readers by this time have had enough of the subject. It is fitting, we think, that the public conduct of a man who has.stood forth very prominently, and with uncommonly strong pretensions to superior political purity, should be thoroughly scrutinized. We regret that the result of such a scrutiny should be so decidedly unfavourable to one whose talents and character we have been in the habit of admiring, and have more than once sincerely praised. But, as we feared would be the case, the pos- session of office has hampered hfin ; and his character for discre-
tion and plain-dealing has been seriously damaged. •
The result of this contest, and the circumstances which led to it, inculcate a useful moral. They afford every encouragement to the future exertions of the Independent party in Westminster and elsewhere, to select men to represent them in Parliament who are untrammelled by official connexions, and whose political honesty is above suspicion. We find that Sir JOHN HOBHOUSE had the strenuous support of a remarkably well-organized party, which has for many years controlled the election for Westminster. There was no want of money or influence among his friends. He is himself a practised canvasser, and made unusual exertions on this occasion. Notwithstanding his resignation, he was known to be the Govern- ment candidate, and was supported by the Ministerial .retainers. He is acknowledged to be a man of varied accomplishments, of industry, eloquence, and experience in the business of Par- liament—highly qualified in almost every respect to make a most efficient representative of a large and important constituency. On the other hand, the party which brought forward Colonel Evans is, comparatively speaking, uninfluential and inexperienced. They had no electioneering machinery to put in motion, nor a guinea to spend. The Aristocracy and the Government were united against them ; and at the last contest they had sustained a severe defeat. Then, without meaning the least disrespect to Colonel EVANS, no kind of comparison can be drawn between his qualifications and those of his opponent: he has neither his experience, his habits of business, nor his powers of speech. How then did it happen, that in the teeth of all these disadvantages, and in spite of every thing which one would suppose must insure his defeat, lie has been triumphantly returned? Simply because. the electors firmly be- lieved him to be an honest, straightforward man. lie had no apologies to make, no explanations to offer : he practised no ma- nagements, but stood upon broad and intelligible grounds. The Westminster electors consider political honesty in a representa- tive as the main, if not the only thing needful : they therefore elected Colonel EVANS and rejected Sir JOHN HOBHOUSE. Let the trading politicians of the day ponder this result well. The result of this election ought also to be taken as another warning by the Ministers !
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