ToPICS OF TH.E DAY.-
O'CONNELL FOR Ire ESTMINSTER.
hatred. The RAPHAEL at- selves, and benefit the object tt' their
tack has not only exposed e.ie hypocrisy and malignity of these new-light sticklers for tearity of election, but has also forniahed additional evidence of 'elr. O'CoseatELL's earnestness in the Anti-
Tors. eause. Those w'no employed Mr. HAMILTON to set RAPHAEL
upon O'CONNELL, have, by giving us an authentic history of re-
cent .clections for Carlow, strengthened Mr. O'CONNELL'S claims
to the gratitude of Reformers. And this is the tiine chosen for
!Thames, Arnold, from. an attempt to turn the Member for Ireland out of Parliament.
As to Irish elections, it has become a system with the Tories to Parliament, has, we repeat, been reduced to a system by the operatives of the Carlton Club. If we cannot, they reckon, pro- cure the election of Tories, we can, having plenty of money, and electors, he should therefore sit in Parliament : a small mi- nority of votes is better than a large majority, provided you nothing compared with the state of the purse. And all this is
offered passages. Members have been ousted in the same way ? what has been the There is much to be said in favour of the old site for the Houses cost to Reformers, in this Parliament, of contending for their of Parliament. The sentimental reason, " the historical associations seats before Committees ? what part of the elective machinery of the locality," is not without its weight when joined with others is defective and requires amendment ? These questions will now more strictly Utilitarian. Westminster has been time out of mind the be seriously agitated, and the result must be such an improvement seat of the
of the Reform Act as will deprive the Tories of their only chance of ever again possessing a majority in the Great Council of the
under one splendid edifice, of which that at the corner of Downing But now, though the Tories will lose all that the public gain Street forms a portion, has yet to be carried out ; and, notwithstanding by their having turned O'CONNELL out of Parliament, how will we cannot admire the taste of the design, it is not so bad as to make this event affect their bile noire individually ? Seven Members us wish that it were not completed, being already begun. The site is of Parliament (we speak on good authority) have already offered less out of the way than ever, since the town is stretching south. to resign in his favour. AU Ireland is open to him ; and not a westward. Indeed, it is very little more out of the way than St. few places, we have reason to believe, in England and Scotland. James's or Charing Cross, which have been proposed as sites. The Deprived of his seat, he never stood so high in public esteem. improvement of that part of Westminster lying between the Abbey, Could this feeling towards him be more usefully displayed, than the Park, and the river, will be a necessary consequence of the re- by his election for Westminster in the room of General EVANS? more loudly for the besom of reform than this squalid nest of filth and —we mean not permanently, but until the next dissolution of Par- avretchednev. A wide street leading to Belgmve Square, with squares liament. Until the wrongs of Ireland shall be redressed, the fitness opening to the Park, would be a profitable as well as an elegant im- of things would seem to require, as we observed on a former occa- provement. This site has also the essential advantages of quietness sion, that the Member for Ireland should continue to sit for Dublin. secured to it, by the Abbefin front, and the Thames in the rear, and But this is a new case, which puts the question in a totally different . by its being removed out of the main stream of traffic. Trade does not light. We are supposing that O'CONNELL has lost his present seat. interfere with the business of legislation, nor legislation with trade. By his taking the empty place of General EVANS, instead of dis- In a more crowded neighbourhood, or less removed from the direct tho- placing some Irish Reformer, Ministers will gain a vote ; which,
sent a great body of Englishmen? Finally, the Protestant
power pod place? have striven for a year past to revive in England the rancorous cry of " No Popery"—who, spurred on by their black passions, would rather plunge their country into a reli- gious war, and even uproar the universal peace, than suffer the mortification of remaining out of power. The practical lesson which they would be taught is this—that the Reformers of England acknowledge no religious distinctions in politics. And would not such a declaration of feeling by the Protestant Reformers of England act well, by way of example and emulation, on the Catholic Reformers of Ireland? Yes, if O'CONNELL be returned for Westminster, English Protestants may hereafter be elected by Irish constituencies, and more Irish Catholics be re- turned by bodies of Englishmen. This opportunity of putting an end to religious distinctions, and giving more reality to the Union, is too good to be thrown away. General EVANS, it is said, has left with a friend in England, discretionary authority to accept the Chiltern Hundreds for him. But at all events, he would surely resign his seat upon learning how the case stands. May the electors be "up and doing." By promptly, seizing this opportunity to serve their country, they will wipe out the sort of disgrace that has been cast upon them by poor old BURDETT'S Toryism, and recover their most honourable position at the bead of the Reform consti- tuencies.
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