POSTSCRIPT.
SATURDAY NIGHT.
This is not a time when the election of a single Member of Parlia-
ment can create any extraordinary interest, since the fate of the Mi- nister does not at present hang on " working majorities" of few or even one vote ; nor did the peculiar circumstances of the Dartmouth election contribute to enhance any general interest. Both candidates might be useful men in Parliament. Mr. Somes is a " Tory," and favours cer- tain commercial restrictions ; but his practical acquaintance with sub- jects of commerce and colonization would go to make his counsel of value. Mr. Moffatt is a Liberal, a Free-trader, and a supporter of Penny Postage ; but his admiration for past achievements of the Whigs is so uncompromising as to suggest that his own policy might in practice be limited to theirs—that the two candidates, in short, did not differ more than Peel and Russell.
The nomination took place at Dartmouth on Thursday. Mr. Moffatt
was proposed by Sir Henry Seale, as "a gentleman of considerable lite- rary acquirements, of large fortune, and one who, if sent to the House of Commons, would there advocate the principles of free trade as far as the exigencies of the State would softly permit." Mr. Codner recom.: mended Mr. Somes as the largest shipowner in the world, and one who could appreciate the advantages of such a port as Dartmouth. A notice from two electors was handed in, declaring that Mr. Somes held a con- tract under the Commissioners of the Navy, and therefore could not be elected. Mr. Somes denied that he held any such contract. The candi- dates then addressed the electors. Mr. Moffatt avowed himself a Free ' trader, and the friend of the Whig Ministers, on whose good services he
enlarged ; and as to the interests of Dartmouth, he recommended a rail
way as the sole thing to revive its trade : if elected, he undertook that the works should begin in two years. Mr. Somes dwelt on the injury that removal of restrictions would cause in transferring trade to foreign ships, and thus throwing mariners out of employ ; and he denied the charge of bribery and intimidation, insinuated by his antagonist. There was some recrimination in these speeches : Mr. Moffatt called Mr. Somes a "red-hot Tory "; Mr. Somes charged Mr. Moffatt with being the unavowed nominee of the Anti-Corn-law League. The show of hands was in Mr. Somes's favour, and a poll was demanded for the other.
At the close yesterday, the numbers were, according to the Conser- vative report—For Somes, 125; Moffitt, 118 ; majority for Somes, 7.
In the event of a vacancy occurring at Horsham, we understand it is the intention of Mr. Platt, Queen's Counsel of the Home Circuit, to offer himself to the electors as their representative.— Times.
The Leeds papers report the probable retirement of Mr. Hardy from
the representation of Bradford, on account of declining health. Mr. Gathorne Hardy, a barrister, son of the present Member, is named as likely to be a candidate in the Conservative interest ; Colonel Perronet Thompson, in the Free-trade interest.
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