Several elections have taken place, of more or less importance,
—those for Rutlandshire, East Suffolk, Dorsetshire, and West- minster. By the three former, four Protectionists are returned in place of three Peel-Free-traders; in Dorsetshire not without a Free-trade speech from Lord Ashley, worth ten elections or as many votes in Parliament.
On the surface, the Westminster election looks like a mass of anomalies. One journalist congratulates Sir Robert Peel on the de- feat of his colleague, CaptainRous, because General Evans, being a very stanch Free-trader, will be a useful supporter for the new • measures. Other journals point to the defeat of the Captain as a judgment on Sir Robert—a sign of popular dislike to his present course; as if any such inference could be drawn from the return of Sir George Evans ! The triumph of the particular-candidate indeed, is not so veil deep in ita signcanoe. The two were mach upon a par on the score of legislatorial qualiftcationa.—one a soldier, the other a sailor; both party men; both adopting creeds current in their factions. But the General was a man whose steady docility was much more to be relied upon by his party than the Cap- tain's friends had found their candidate to be. And the Whigs were not idle. They are looking beyond the present measures before Parliament : they do not feel unmixed dissatisfaction at any embarrassment befalling the Premier • on the contrary, while they support the measure—that they must do—they are not Un- withng to turn an honest penny towards their party resources, against the time when they shall return to place. General Evans, as the world goes, is such an honest penny. There was another party, too, active in the contest,—the old Whig-Radical or Radical "Reform" party of Westminster, mindful of old tra- - ditions, and annoyed at having been unable at the last election, to keep, unadulterated and unbroken, the Liberal represen- tation of the city. Besides, Captain Rous came to this election with personal disadvantages. However he may have • anticipated the most recent changes of opinion, he had before talked loosely and indiscreetly. In 1841, he annoyed
• those important personages the managers of elections, by the unceremonious abruptness of his appearance : he put them out then, and now they have put him out. Really earnest Free- traders anxious for the success of the substantial measures, would have been more suspiciously disinclined to fall in with these _pettier motives, but for the fact that the utmost exertions were • made to assure such liberal Liberals that no demonstration was 'intended against the Minister or his measures—quite the reverse ; and in that faith great numbers voted for Evans.
