THE COMING ELECTION.
WE have before us two announcements touching the qualifications of candidates for a place in the new blouse of Commons,—one from the electors of Lambeth, who are now for the first time entitled to vote for their representatives in Parliament ; and one from the electors of Cupar Fife, in Scotland, who are in a similar predica- ment, although, unlike Lambeth, the town of which they are in- habitants has enjoyed the right of sending members to Parliament for centuries. The declaration of the good men of Lambeth runs tints- " All the electors of the new borough of Lambeth are equally interested in the franchise being used with judgment. in choosing representatives for the dis- trict to a Reformed Parliament. Therefore, in the event of a premature canvass on the part of the candidates, we would suggest to our fellow-parishioners, as a precautionary measure, that no promise of support should be given until after the respetive qualifications of the persons seeking our suffrages have been tho- roughly investigated. " 11W first Reform Parliament have muell to do, requiring able legislation ; and upon its acts, whether good or haft, dep:rals the future fate of this country. " Reformers and Anti-Retbrrners are now embarked in the same Call,C j they must equally submit to the laws of a Reformed Psi 11511(1 Let us then pun together Mr our mutual good—let us cooperate in scrutinizing the pretensions of candidates.
" Needy anti desperate men may hope to be elected by unworthy means, and
thus to better their fortunes at die e7;pv:Ise of the country. Ambitious and rich men may be solicitous of elevation to a seat in the House of Commons, with- out any other qualification for a legislator except their wealth. To all such candidates we object : to the hands of tho former we will not trust our property, and the safety of families; td the heads of the latter we cannot confide the power of legislating for us, mid the guidance of the country in troubled times. " In candidates who are desirous of our support, we require the following qualifications—l. Characters of unsullied reputation, of hl9h moral worth. Abilities fitting fin- a It yislator, a, well from natural endowments as from pre- paratory aetptimarnts. At the proper time we pledge ourselves to step forward, and to maintain our newly-acquired rights."
On some of the points embraced in this declaration, we made a few observations last week. The prayer of the Son of Agar, we fully agree with the people of Lambeth, is, politically as well as morally speaking, a wise one—" Give us neither poverty nor riches :" the one leading very naturally to Ishonesty, the other to that forgetfulness of those who made him, which in a member of Parliament is equally injurious. The danger of riches is perhaps the greater ; both because the want of opportunity, in a Reformed Parliament, will natu:ally keep a poor rsgue honest, and because roguery is quite as compatible with wealth, and as fre- quently accompanies it, as it does poverty. There is another reason why riches should not be sought for in a metropolitan district, —they are least necessary there. He who has a moderate com- petency, can as effectually do the business of such a borough, as he who has a million in the Stocks. He has no sacrifice but one— his time—to make ; and if his trade, or his manufacture, ay, or his shop, will permit that sacrifice, and if he possess the other re- quisites, " moral worth and abilities befitting a legislator," we. would unhesitatingly prefer him, with 500/. or GOO/. a-year, to the Squire or the jobber with 50,000/. " Reformers and Anti-Reformers," say the men of Lambeth, "are now embarked in the same cause." We demur to this obser- vation. We believe the Anti-Reformers are embarked, as they always have been, in their own cause. We do not believe they
intend to pull with us. We believe that their object is to back, not to pull; and that the only way to keep the boat moving, is to banish them from the thwarts and the stern-sheets ahke, and to steer her and pull her ourselves. They may lie in the bottom, if they like: we don't object to that—if they keep quiet. The declaration of the men of Cupar we take from the following paragraph in the Scotsman- 44 A numerous body of Reformers in Cupar, impressed with the great import- mice of returning as a member for that district of burghs, at the next election, a person of character and ability, devoted to the cause of the People, and un- trammelled by party politics, have publicly announced their wish for the appear- ance of a-candidate of this description, whose political principles are mainly in accordance with those advocated by Mr. Hume."
These Cupar Reformers are sensible fellows. Their test is an intelligible one; and the plan they have adopted of procuring can- didates to whom such a test may be applied, is straightforward and effectual. There are sundry things in and about the excellent Member for Middlesex, that we could wish to see amended : we are often sadly vexed by his blunderings, or, to give it a gentler mine, by the trick which be has of committing himself: but, take him all in all—for constant, steady attendance, for close and anxious devotion to the interests of the community, for strong, plain sense, and, when occasion calls it forth, for eloquence even— for Mr. HUME can be eloquent, strange as that announcement may appear to those who recollect his attempts at speaking some ten or twelve years ago—we know no man, nay we know no ten men in the present House of Commons, with whose presence there the public could not more easily dispense; nor do we know one whom we would more readily offer to his countrymen, or to their brethren on this side the Tweed, as a model of a good and worthy member of a Reformed Parliament.
This notice of Mr. HUME leads us to the consideration of a test that has been suggested to us by a correspondent, whose sincerity we have no reason to doubt, however we may differ in opinion,— namely, that a pledge should be exacted of all members of the future Parliament to support the Abolition of Negro Slavery. Mr. HUME is an Anti-Abolitionist. We are far from stating this as one of his recommendations ; we mention it merely to show how improper it would be for electors to pitch upon one test, and that a narrow and isolated one, by which to reject or accept a can- didate. Let us not be mistaken— “.We would not enter on our list of friends The man who, needlessly, sets foot upon A worm ;” much less him who needlessly sets foot upon his fellow. But as little would we take for our friend the man who turned aside to spare the insect, merely because he did so ; or choose for a member the men who was friendly to Slave Abolition, for that one qualification. The di tlicult nature of the subject of Abolition, practi- cally speaking, might well give pause to an honest man—it would give no pause to one that was not honest—but that is not the ques- tion that we have at present to argue. What we wish to impress on electors, is the superior importance—or, if they will stickle for abstract principle, the more urgent nature of other subjects. We ought to do all things, says an authority which we do not err in denominating one of the highest practical philosophy, " decently," and, he adds, " in order." Now, to the decent dcing, we object not ; but we must insist at the same time on the due order. The slaves require our serious consideration, and ought to have it ; but let the evils that press our White brethren to the ground—that convert them into virtual, if not actual slaves—be, as of right they should be, first inquired into. We want cheap bread, diminished taxes, equal law for Englishmen, as well as freedom for Africans. The African will get his due, if he occupy a second place in our thoughts.
There is another reason why such a test as Slave Abolition ought to be sparingly and carefully applied—it is incomplete. Many will give it, that would not give a pledge for the advancement of good government in any one department of the state—because they think it a pledge that will never be exacted, unless in a debate or a useless division. Is it forgotten, that some of the sturdiest sticklers for the abominations of Sarum and Gatton are Abolitionists ? Is there an elector in the empire so simple as to trust such men? Can they be sincere in their dislike to the im- purities of the stream, who would resist every attempt to cleanse sts source? Is it forgotten how long PITT, hollow in all things, contrived to support the Slave-trade by means of Schedules A and B ; and that it was only by obtaining the command of them, that the eloquence of Fox succeeded in suppressing it ? Nothing, surely, can more effectually prove the insufficiency of a test, than the filet that it may, and will in many cases, be found equally applicable to Anti-Reformer and Reformer—to the advocate of all abuses and their most honest enemy.
If of two candidates for the representation of a county ot town, both, fortunately for the electors, should be disposed to give all the pledges which an honest Reformer would require, the pledge to support a motion for abolishing slavery might be added; but we would demur to the policy of such an addition even in that case. .11 we were well assured of a candidate's honesty and intel- ligence, and if he were of Reforming principles, we would not de- .sz.re to tie him down to any peculiar treatment nf individual ques- tions. It is not the best proof of a man's fitness for a legislator, that he is over-ready to give particular pledges. A sound-thinking man cannot but know, that, unless where circumstances are fa- vourable, the discussion of a question may rather retard its settle- ment than advance it. Of what consequence is it for a man to pledge himself to moot a case every session, if by his improper. choice of the time, or by his ignorant advocacy, he only strengthen the arguments of his opponents? Besides, if we pledge a member to a particular course on a particular question, we pledge him against any other course, whether more or less judicious. What reason have not the Abolitionists themselves to lament the ob- stinacy of Mr. WILBERFORCE in standing out against Mr. Dux- DAS'S proposition ? Had Mr. WILBERFORCE accepted that propo- sition, slavery would long ago have ceased to exist; and yet he would have forfeited all his pledges had he done so.
The case of Pledges has been well put by Colonel MABERLY to the Chatham electors-
" I voted for the present Corn-laws," said the Colonel on Tuesday, "which are some modification of the old laws, not because I thought the alteration suf- ficient, but because it was as good a one as I could then obtain. I am de- sirous of obtaining a fixed low duty on the importation of foreign corn."
Now, this is not a Corn-law pledge, in the strict sense of the - word, but it is the pledge of a sensible man ; and we would greatly prefer him who made it (on that ground, though perhaps not on others) to his competitor, who on the same occasion came forward to pledge and promise to do all things, in any way and every way, . with the tide and against it, in season and out of season. "What can you do ?" said a slave-dealer to a slave. "Every thing," was the answer. "And you ?" said the merchant to another. "Why, nothing : as my companion can do every thing, there will be nothing left for me to do." The merchant took the second slave.
To revert to a point with which we set out. Let the Reformers everywhere imitate the sensible electors of Cupar, and, if they have not a man of like heart with Mr. HUME among themselves, boldly advertise for one; taking care always, where it can be got, to have the certificate of the worthy Member for Middlesex, that the like- ness is real, and not pat on for the nonce.
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