Zbe 13robince5.

We mentioned last week that Mr. Robert Hyde Greg had been no- minated by the influential Liberals of Manchester as their candidate to succeed Mr. Poulett Thomson. 3Ir. Cobden, it appears, took the lead in this movement—with a view, no doubt, of replacing a lukewarm, if not treacherous opponent of the Corn-laws, with a resolute and remark- ably well-informed advocate of free trade, and a successful man of business. Sir George Murray accepted the Tory invitation ; and Colo. eel Thompson appeared as the candidate of a portion of the Radical party, who have always held aloof from what may be called the Free Trade or Anti-Corn-law Liberals and the Whigs in Manchester.

Mr. Greg is brother-in-law of Mr. Mark Phillips, and an Unitarian. The Tories took advantage of these accidents to raise two cries against him,—first, it was intolerable that Manchester should be made a family borough ; secondly, that it should be represented by two Unitarians. The Wesleyan Methodists, influenced partly by religious prejudice, and S good deal by the Tory predilections which that sect has recently dis- covered, declared for Sir George Murray. The old " affair" of Sir George in Doctors' Commons was thrown in the teeth of the Methodists, and politicians were reminded of his gross breach of faith to the electors of Perthshire. Thus Sir George was in some respects an objectionable candidate for the Tories ; but he seems to have received the entire sup- port of the party. Colonel Thompson fought his battle with charac- teristic spirit—declaring for Annual Parliaments, Universal Suffrage, and no Corn-laws. Mr. Greg was in Geneva when selected by the Liberals—engaged, the Tories said, but untruly said, in establishing a cotton factory there ; and his absence occasioned some perplexity to his supporters.

Meanwhile, a difficulty occurred as to the proper Returning-officer of the borough. It originated in the dispute as to the validity of the Manchester charter of incorporation ; besides whieli, it appeared doubtful whether the Mayor's authority extended to the Parliamentary, or was confined to the Municipal Borough. This point at least was raised by the Tories. The Sheriff sent his precept to the old Borough- reeve and Constables; who fixed Wednesday for the clay of nomina- tion, and Thursday for the polling. The Mayor of Manchester, con- sidering his jurisdiction infringed, applied to the Home Office on the subject; and the Sheriff received orders to transmit another precept to the Mayor, and revoke that to the Boroughreeve. The Mayor fixed Thursday for the nomination and Friday for the polling; and as the Boroughreevc would not give way, it appeared that two elections would be made.

The difficulty had not been removed on Wednesday, the Borough- reeve's nomination day. After some deliberation, Mr. Greg's friends agreed to vote under the precept addressed to the Boroughreeve and Constables ; those gentlemen having declined a proposal to hold a joint- election. On Wednesday, the candidates and their friends appeared upon the hustings. The Boroughreeve was served with a protest against the election, signed by Mr. Kershaw, Mr. Cobden, and Mr. C..1. S. Walker, on behalf of Mr. Greg. After a brief address from the Boroughreeve, Mr. Kershaw ;imposed Mr. Greg ; whose qualifications for the repre- sentation of Manchester he contrasted with Sir George Murray's de- ficiencies.

Mr. Cobden seconded the nomination. He remarked, that there was no Whig or Ministerial candidate before the electors : why was that ? Because the Whigs had trod too much in the footsteps of the Tory party whom they had turned out. The Ministerialists did not acknow- ledge Mr. Greg as belonging to them, and called him a Radical : but if there were four hundred such Radicals as Mr. Greg in the House of Commons, there would be no Corn-laws : there would not be half the mills in ?Manchester at half-time, but full employment ; nor would two thousand houses in Manchester be now empty. Sir George Murray did not understand commercial and maul& w t tiring titiestimis, and had to sympathy with the people of Manchester : a certain C'Inu c•Iiiilrdellt who had taken Sir George through his mill, had some difficulty in making the gallant candidate comprehend the difference between lambs- wool and cotton-wool. Then there was Colonel Thompson, whom he

would rather have seen anywhere than marling - 11' •1 •••

As an opponent a pal MI( IlS LI.

. of the Bread-tax, the Colonel's services were great ;

u..01.as to his performances as a soldier, the man who made a yard of ejalth_was more useful titan all the soldiers in the world. Ile understood that stand Colonel had twenty-nine places on his list, where lie was ready to wait on Radical principles : he recommended Colonel Thompson

aa till he was invited, before entering any one of those twenty-nine towns.

Mr, T. Fielden, brother of the Member for Oldham, proposed Colonel Thompson; seconded by Mr. Condy.

Sir Gem, by par. Wood, a was proposed by Mr. George Clarke ; seconded , a Wesleyan Methodist.

The Boroughreeve called upon the candidates to address the meeting; and Mr. Walker came fbrward to represent Mr. Greg ; but Mr. Condy and other friends of Colonel Thompson protested against hearing the representative of an invisible candidate. Some electors demanded that the qualification-oath be put to the candidates. Colonel Thompson and Sir George Murray took it ; but a difficulty arose as to Mr. Greg. It was said that he ought not to go to the poll until lie had satisfied the constituency of his imalification, as the other candidates had clone; but his friends omtended that he might take the qualification-oath when he came to England. and that the law did not require it to be taken before. 31r. Walker abandomal his claim to speak fin' 3Ir. Greg ; and after an hour and a hulls interruption, Colonel 'Thompson addressed the electors. Ile avowed himself the supporter of " !lye and time opponcia of the Corn-laws. He

was opposed to the Poor-law while the Corn-law, wee: maintained, and to a sectarian s■ stem of education. Ile exhorted the Radicals to per- severance and f-esolution.

Sir George Al nrray referred to his past political lit", as entitling him to the support of ;Ill enlightened constituency. lbt the gnestion of free trade he spoke with great caution, and an evident resolution not to " commit' himself—

England was a great commerttial country. en I commerce and manufactures

were tier corner-shin's of her great lies, : and he thought that whatever tended to the detriment of commerce or manuftetures, should he strenuously re- sisted. (Low/ ..hc,rs.) The principle of free trade was sound in Heart', but it could not Is applied strictly and lit.vallyaworld 6e indiscreet to remove every restriction I•tt trade, and take away rol.ibitions from every branch of industry. That c.oldil be going too tin', as the industry of their own people should be protruded against Clic coo,petition of foreigners. The principle of free trade could not be c.arried into or,,t perfectly, but it was thew duty to come

as near as 111,S,Ilik to that principle ; and be thought that there should be such duties imposed as would serve as a protection to all the branches of industry. He would not exclude any branch, for that would display un-

justifiable partiality. Ile repeated, that every branch should. have pro- tection, but none should have more than a due and proper share of that protection ; and he knew the system upon which the Com-laws at

present existing were founded Iva, an ascending and descending duty. That system seemed rreccrliugly itlausilde when first introduced: it was thought to be a sort of machinery that was self-acting. NVIIHI would regulate and adapt itself to the eircumstanees under which the country might at any moment be. However, many persons in all departments of industry hcgan to think whether

it would not be better to have a fixed instead a ductuati»g duty. On that subject his mind was completely open ; and he would he always pleased to re- ceive The (pinions rf others on the steljeet, awl to give them a due and etnpre- judieed examination.

He had always beta friendly to education —

II c thought the more men were enlightened, the more sensible they would become of the value of good government. The more men's minds were opened by education, the more capable they would be of judging what was right and detecting what was evil in regard to government. But the plan of national education which had becen brought figwort' by the Government—be did not say with ziny had intent, very far from it—was, in his opinion, strongly objec- tionable, partictilarl■• on two points. In the first place, intellectual educa- tion should not Lc •!istinct and separate from religious education. He stem* objected to vonfiding the education of those who were to be the teachers of the youth of the country to a government hoard, whether that Oovernnwnt %yeti. Whig, Tory, or Radical as the inevitable consequence wmild lw, that they would infuse into the minds of youth a political bias, which was not the proper object of any system of national education. 'in national edueation he was ffivourable, and he did not think the funds of this great country could be better applied than in maanoting sneli an object. It must not he a political education. Politics were not the object of education. The sole and proper object was the general improvement of the intellectual and moral qualities of the people.

It was said that his profession and habits disqualified him from repre- senting Manchester— For his own part, he felt that a soldier who devoted his life to the service of his country had no reason to he ashamed of that service. ills professional duty had ever been exercised against the foreign enemies of this country, or in giving that assistance which England had geuvrously afforded to those coun- tries which had been invaded, and desired to recover their independence. With reference to the remarks which had load., respecting his alleged igno- rance, it was really too absurd to say that he did not know the difference between cotton- wool and Iambs-wool. Surely the gentleman most imagine he had never bought to pair of stockings in has life ; and if his various allega- tions had no other ffimulation than tint story of his visiting the mill alluded to, he begged to tissue him they would all WI to the ground, for he had not visited a mill since he had been to Manchester on the present occasion.

He declared himself hostile to time Ballot, and to the Poor-law as it now stood, but refused to pledge himself to vote for or against any par- ticular measure.

Declarations of the qualification of the three candidates were then formally demanded by six electors.. Sir George Murray and Colonel Thompson made the declaration required by law ; but Mr. Greg being absent, Mm. Dixon, on behalf of Colonel Thompson, protested against a show of hands being taken for Mr. Grog. and against his flame being

reg placed on the poll. Mr. W. Ittithhone ade a declaration, stating of what Mr. Gee !'s qualification consisted.

The Borom..;11ree‘ it called tin' a show of bands. Most were held up for Sir George Murray ; the next greatest number for Colonel Thomp- son ; the fewest fur Mr. Greg. The Boronthreeve declared the elec- tion to have fallen upon Sir Georg,. '‘Itirr.ty ; on which a poll was demanded for Colonel Thomps■et and 3Ir. Greg.

On Thursday morning. the titme,t activity was exhibited by the friends oe Mr. Greg and tiir GCOrgl. MIIIT;ty ; but Colonel Thompson's supporters, with few exceptions, al,stainel from voting ; and contented themselves with formally protesting against Mr. Greg's election in his absence, There were forty-seven pollitr,c-booths, and the business of the day seems to have been conducted in a pe:weable manner. The following is given as the state of the poll at different hours.

Murray.

(;rog.

Thompson.

Half-past eiiignleit l

471 ...

783 ... 365 642 ... 32 ... 00 ten 1049 ... 934 ... 00 Eleven o'clock 1193 ... 1039 ... 00 Ilaff-past eleven 1359 1207 ... 00 Twelve 1834 ... 1598 ... 00 Two 2807 ... 2452 ... 00 Four 3102 ... 2962 ... 00 Thus, at the Boroughreeve's election, Mr. Greg triumphed, by what must be considered a narrow majority in so large a constituency. A comparison with the numbers polled at former elections will show a Tory gain and Liberal loss of strength.

First Election, in December 1832.

Mark Philips P. Thomson Jones Loyd 2,923 2,068 1,832 Second Election, H. T. Hope. (Tory) ... W. Cobbett in January 1835. 1,560 1,305 P. Thomson 3,356 I Braidley (Tory) 2,535 Mark Philips 3,163 I Sir Charles Wolseley... 583

Third Election, in May 1835.

Mr. P. Thomson 3,205 I Mr. Braidley (Tory) ... 1,839

Fourth Election, in July 1837.

Mr. P. Thomson 4,127 Mr. W. E. Gladstone

Mr. Mark Philips 3,759 1 (Tory) 2,324

Fifth Election, in September 1839.

II. H. Greg 3,102 Sir G. Murray 2,962 While the polling was going on in the booths, the Mayor held ano- ther election, on the Boroughreeve's hustings, by that functionary's permission. Mr. Greg and Sir George Murray were put in nomina- tion, and the show of hands was in Sir George's favour. Colonel Thompson was not proposed, his friends being satisfied that the Bo- roughreeve was the right Returning-officer : they repeated their pro- test against Mr. Greg's nomination in his absence, and without making. the declaration of qualification. The polling was to take place yester- day. The result of this second election will be given in the Postscript.