ELECTION PROSPECTS.
PREPARATIONS for another election arc becoming general. Every provincial newspaper supplies more or less of electioneering intel- ligence. It is evident that the Whigs cannot weather another session, though they may rub through the present, with the MEL. BOURNE house of Commons ; and as the Tonics expect a large ad- dition to their numbers in the next House—and stand in need of it to counteract the now ascertained hostility of the Court—they would speedily dissolve Parliament should they regain office. Under these circumstances, the preparations for an election can hardly be regarded as premature ; and sonic investigation of the relative strength and prospects of parties becomes interesting and may be useful.
The first question is—how stand the registries ? The succesS of the Tories last autumn we find thus described in our own file ; which we did our best at the time to render reliable for subsequent consult at ion-
" The registration in England proceeds as it began—favourably for the Tories, adversely tbr the Liberals. We look in vain for the record of Liberal gains in town or country. * * * The Morning Chronicle proclaims thot the regis-
tration is disastrous to the Tories, and that the Whigs are triumphant Its own columns, furnishing detailed accounts of the proceedings, eNhibit the utter titbity of this assertion."
Too easily might we quote proofs of this statement, but it is
unnecessary. Few will deny that, since the general election ill 1837, the strength of the Conservative party on the registries has been augmented materially. There is, however, another point for consideration : will even the registered Liberals vote to nearly the full extent of their number? On this head, we possess some pecu- liar, though possibly not exclusive, information which we can trust. For instance, on the authority of an active Whig, much employed in the drudgery of elections in a provincial borough with about 20,000 inhabitants, we learn that the Liberals, consisting chiefly of shopkeepers and mechanics, had resolved not again to offend their wealthy Tory customers by returning a Whig Member—and no Radical has a chance in the place alluded to. Our informant de- plored the determination, but could not blame those who adopted it ; for he confessed, that much pecuniary loss had been sustained by these men in support of their principles, and that they had been disappointed in the advantages expected from a Liberal Adminis- tration. For many years one Whig and one Tory had been re- turned; but at the next election the success of two Tories is cer.- tam. There is similar information, though not so precise and • Spectator, 6th October 1838. rest, with regard to other boroughs in the same part of the country. But Parliament may not be dissolved till after another registra- tion, when the Liberal numbers may be increased, and new vigour infused into their ranks. How are they to be inspirited ? Grant that, at present, a kind of vague " loyalty" has been excited, which might stimulate numbers to support " the Queen's men "—it will assuredly evaporate before next October: it lacks substance, and will disappear under the operation of reflection and weightier motives, affecting the material welfare of voters and their families. At the last election, when the Whigs were less damaged, and her Majesty far more popular than she is now—when even sober politicians were sanguine of benefit from the change at Court—the cry of "the Queen and Reform" did little for the party that raised it. Besides, the bet- tering of the registries is the question ; and for the performance of that tiresome duty, it would be difficult to excite enthusiasm at any time, by any means. In the heat and bustle of an election, great effects are sometimes produced by an adroit use of a popular senti- ment or prejudice ; but success in the Registration Courts must mainly depend upon the comparative diligence, money, and in- fluence of the contending parties. It therefbre, it be true, as the Ministerial journals assert, that a revival of "loyalty" has taken place, and that, forgetting past disappointments, the constituencies are resolved to support those Ministers who " protect the Queen from insolent Tory domination "—if the age of chivalry has returned, ,thd a gallant determination to keep Lady NORMANBY in the Royal Bedchamber has swallowed up every other care,—wait es. ssi ,ther registration, but strike while the iron is hot ; hoist
AVA t4A
the petticoat i;
every hustings, and let " The Queen and her Bed- chap her" be the RCIOSMerS' rally-cry to the poll !
Shy that Ministers mill not depend entirely upon public sympathy for the Queen, but deseseve Libcrtd )port by promising good
measures both of institutionai and administrative Recorin. The chief difficulty they would encounter., lies in the general scepticism ag to their being in earnest. Where is the security that their measures will be curried-that popular aid and the Crown's power will be employed to control the Lords' majority ? It is impossible to feel reliance on the accomplishment of Whig promises. Last week, Ministers were turned adrift " without a character," and how are they to regain it ? They will have no opportunity of proving their sincerity, until strengthened in a new House of Commons ; and how can Ministers obtain an increase of force in the House of Commons, with a prevalent suspicion of their treachery to the Liberal cause ? It would seem, then, that the promise, from the present mea, of good measures, coupled with the "loyal" feeling of which Whig journalists make so much, will not have the desired effect of rousing popular enthusiasm in their behalf, or of inducing dependent electors to incur pecuniary loss and the enmity of powerful Tories for the sake of returning Government candidates. It might be possible to make such chseges in the personnel of the Administration as would procure credence for its professions: men of untarnished reputation might possibly be induced to join sonic of the present Ministers in a new Cabinet. Where are those men ; what are their dispositions ; and what is the real design of the present Cabinet ? These questions must be satisfactorily answered before any politician, not fitted by credulity or dishonesty to be s;. tool in Lord Meutounxes hands, can pretend that a reconstruc- tion of the Cabinet on a truly Liberal basis is to be expected. What, then, should real Reformers do ? Out of the general wreck, they :;hould strive to preserve the most valuable articles. Even in the present Parliament there are those who have not "bowed the knee to Baal "—who have not held themselves ready at a Minister's bidding, or trone to "the Offices" with their votes and consciences in hand, saying, " What will you give us for these ?" Out of Parliament, though probably not much known beyond narrow circles, every one can name some, in all respects better qualified for enlightened legislation, than nineteen-twentieths of those who fill the Rouse of Commons. The state of the working population in- duces us to mention one description of persons—rare indeed, and the elite of their order, but yet to be found in every district—who might, most advantageously to all classes, be introduced into the Legislature. There are men of moderate means and inexpensive habits ; distinct, on the one hand, from the nouveaux riches-that pestilent set whose ambition is to figure in a court-dress and dine with a lord—and on the other from the frothy spouters who have brought the Chartist movement into deep discredit : there are such men, for we have occasionally met with them, capable of thinking soundly and of expressing their thoughts well and forcibly : their sympathies are with the working population, though them- selves so superior to the mass : their practical knowledge is greatly needed in Parliament, and their appearance in the Legis- lature would be most grateful as well as useful to the discon- tented and unrepresented majority of the people. This hint will be understood in several constituencies, which we do not name at present, but we shall keep them ie our eye, and say more when the best time arrives.
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