be Cutintro.
It is not generally known that the Reform candidate for St. Alban's, Mr. H. B. Ward, is the author of the very able work On Mexico which has already gone through two editions, and which pos- sesses a greater and completer mass of solid and statistical informa- tion on that interesting country than any other that has yet appeared. Mr. Ward held, the responsible and arduous situation of Charge' d'Affaires from our Court to the Mexican "Government, at a time of great difficultyand excitement, duringwhich both countries are indebted to him for his able and upright management of our affairs. We state thus much in answer to some vulgar handbills put out by the Tories Who support Mr. Turner ; where Mr. Ward is ignorantly spoken of as an untried man, whose qualifications for the Senate require to be proved. Happy indeed would it be for the nation, if such talents were less sparingly scattered among the Aristocracy and the "country gentlemen" than they are at present. Talents without wealth, in this money- loving nation, can do but little ; and money without talent is not in re- quest for a Reformed Parliament. Where both are united in an indi- vidual, the " honour " of the representation belongs to the town which can boast of such a member. Sir Francis Vincent will no doubt be returned with Mr. Ward, notwithstanding the bribery practised by the Tories, in the shape of suppers, &c.
The Blackburn Gazette of Wednesday gives an account of a gross outrage, which calls for, and will doubtless receive, a serious investi- gation. It appears that Mr. Irving, who is a candidate for Clithere, had announced his intention of visiting that borough on Tuesday. Clithero stands in the midst of the populous parish of Whalley, in which there are not fewer than one hundred thousand souls. The peo- ple of Whalley are all Reformers, and they determined to give the Tory candidate a welcome. He was received by hootings and hissings from an assemblage of ten or twelve thousand persons, and the hoot- ings were soon diversified with showers of stones; and Mr. Irving was fain to escape with as much speed as a pair of horses could make. It does not appear that any greater damage than a broken chaise-window was the result of these proceedings ; and there the affair might have rested. Unhappily, Colonel Clayton, Mr. Whitaker of Simmondstone, and the Reverend R. Noble of Whalley, three Magistrates of the neighbourhood, with a view to keep the peace, thought proper to send for a couple of troops of Dragoons from Burnley, to escort Mr. Irving back to the town. In the evening, accordingly, he returned accompanied by the Dragoons. The consequence, as might be foreseen was a ren- contre between them and the mob, in which eight or ten individeals of the latter were severely wounded. Mr. Dickenson, a surgeon of Colne, nearly lost his eye ; and one person had his arm broken. The Black- burn-Gazette is a sturdy Reformer, and his intelligence maybe coloured by his peculiar views; but we must confess, that on the face of the ac- count, there is no apparent exaggeration. Mr. Irving's canvass, we need not say, is over at Clithero. The riot was noticed in the House of Commons last night, but Ministers had no additional information to communicate.
On Tuesday evening, a meeting was held in the room of the Radical Reformers' Union, in St. Peter's Square, for the purpose of consider-
ing the best means to secure the return of -Mr. Wailes to Parliament, Its one of the representatives for the borough of Leeds; when several re- isolutions were adopted for that purpose.—Leeds Mercury.
The Totness Reformers gave a grand dinner to Lord John Russell on Friday. Mr. Cary, of Follarton, presided, and above three hundred gentlemen partook of the sumptuous entertainment.
A petition, numerously and respectably signed, has been forwarded to the Commons from the town of Battle, praying the House to pre- vent the employment of the standing army to collect tithes in Ireland, by refusing further supplies, should it be persisted in.—Brighton
Guardian.
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