PAISLEY ELECTION.
TO TICE EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR.
Paisley. Tuesday, 2501 March 1831.
'SIR—The hopes of the Reforming party in Paisley, have been blasted for the present, and Sir D. SANDFORD is returned as Member. When I choed my letter to you last week, the hopes of the Radical party stood high. The joint canvass had just been concluded ; Mr. DOVGLAS had retired from the eon- teat; and it was naturally presumed that the efforts of that gentleman and his friends would be exerted in the cause of Mr. CRAW /V RD, the only remaining Radical in the field. The joint Committees had agreed upon a plan by which their suffrages might be united either upon Mr. CnAwru an or Mr. DOUGLAS as the only two Reform candidates; and the declared result was a majority its Mr. CR A wit to's favour. In these circumstances, what was expected front Mr. Dor ci.ss, and in what manner dill he act? Instead of calling upon his ft km& to unite in Mr. GRA W EV RD'S behalf and support the Reform cause, he departed for Glasgow, without a public declaration of any description. He is understood to have stated to his friends in private, that lie would prefer to s,s, Sit IL SA N ',Emu) returned ; and at all events we know this to be certain, that some of his retainers, persons who are the mere creatures of his will, exerted themselves by every means in their power, against Mr. CRAWFVRD and in -favour of his opponent. Stirred op by private influence, a body of front 79 to 80 of Mr. Dour: L A s's pledged supporters kept back from the first day's poll ; and on various frivolous pretexts, held meeting after meeting, to consider what course they were to pursue. fled they come forward on the first day, 3Ir. CRAW no's return was certain; or had they even voted in a body on the second day, a majority of from 20 to 30 for ME. CRAW Fr RD would still h lye been the result. On the second day, however, some of their leaders resolved to give no vote at all ; and nearly thirty, in the face of their avowed principles, went over to Sir D. SA N DFORD,—thus sacrificing to personal pique for the loss of their favourite candidate the cause to which they had openly pledged them- selves. The numbers for Sir I). SA NDFORD were further swelled by the addition of nearly the whole of Captain Goanoses votes, supposed to be from 200 to 300. The Captain had pledged himself to go to the poll ; and, as a man of might in religion, considered himself bound to keep his promise in appearance, although with a clear conscience he might break it in reality. On the evening previous to the first day's poll, lie kindly released his voters from their pledges to himself ; and as there was scarcely a shade of difference between the two candidates, they gladly flew to the embraces of his friend Sir D. SA NDFORD. Thus, by a paltry majority of :33, and a coalition of the most unprincipled nature, made up of Ultra Tories, Whigs, bigoted Churchmen, and a few renegado Reformers, Sir D. SANDFORD has been returned to Parliament.
Paisley, Radical Paisley, "sensible Paisley," as CORBETT has it, can no longer stand in the same proud position which she formerly occupied. She has made hut a poor exchange in the trimming half-Whig, half-Tory, no-pledging, laishop-loving Sir D. SANDFORD, for the sturdy old Whig, Sir JOHN MA X- wELL. Front the blame of this, however, must be exempted the true-hearted inhabitants of the town ; who have expressed themselves most unequivocally in Mr. CRAW 'Tim's favour ; and it would be unfair to brand a population of fifty thousand as deserters front the cause of Reform, for the act of 542 individuals. Mr. CR A W EU RD returns from the contest defeated, but not disgraced. He stands in a high and honourable position, secure in the good opinion of every honest Reformer who huts witiwssed his conduct. No man could have been more devoted in his endeavours to prevent divisions among Reformers; and this, I am persuaded, will be acknowledged ere long even by those who in the heat of passion have allowed their personal predilections to get the sway of • their cooler judgment. I may add, that the Reformers of Paisley look, before long, to have Mr. CRAWFORD as their representative. They are well aware that the coalition which has been so hurriedly patched up, is composed of too discordant materials to hang long together : they know that their present Mem- ber cannot continue for any lengthened period to satisfy a faction made up of such jarring elements ; and when the proper time comes, they will again look to Mr. CR A WFURD, and triumphantly place him as their representative in Par-
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