ELECTION INTELLIGENCE.
Mr. Atherton, the new Solicitor-General, was reelected for Durham on Monday without opposition. He declared strongly for reform, including the ballot, was not sanguine touching a speedy settlement of the Church- rate question, and gave a hearty support to the principles of foreign policy announced by Lord John Russell at Aberdeen. The Raiding election has been very sharply contested. The nomina- tion of the candidates took place on Monday. Alderman Andrews pro- posed and Alderman Harris seconded Sir Francis Henry Goldsmid ; and Mr. J. H. Simonds proposed and Dr. Cowan seconded Mr. Ralph Ben- son. The speech of Sir Francis Goldsmid was directed to show the un- reasonableness of the canting cry got up against him for Tory purposes. Mr. Bencon and Dr. Cowan had made the contest turn on religious grounds, hoping to reap therefrom political profit. Sir Francis showed that Jewish emancipation had been effected by the aid of Liberals, Tories, Churchmen, Dissenters ; by the leaders of Mr. Benson's own party—Mr. Disraeli, Sir John Pakington, Lord Stanley, Sir Fitzroy Kelly. Sir Francis had not been brought forward because he was a Jew but be- cause he was a Jew, it was proposed to rejectitim. That is inconsistent with religious liberty. Mr. Benson provoked a- noisy opposition by raising an accusation of corrupt conduct against Sir Francis and by refining to name the cor- ruptud parties. The uproar lasted nearly half an hour ; but at length, Mr. Benson was allowed to proceed. Those who argue that religion had nothing to do with polities did not take sufficient thought of what they said. They must have forgotten that the House of Commons itself opened with prayer. (Cheers, and a pugilistic combat in the centre of the hall.) If they cared not whether a Member of Parliament were a Christian or a Jew, they would surely care as little whether the House of Commons were filled with Roman Catholics or Pro- testants, and they must do away with the Protestant succession of the throne. (Cheers and cries of " Oh !") If Sir F. H. Goldsmid were re- turned to the House of Commons one of his first duties an the approaching session would be to consider the question of a revision of the 'English liturgy.(Cheers.) How could a conscientious Jew try his hand at a re- construction of the liturgy of the Established Church ? It was absurd to pretend in the year 1860 that a constituency had not a right to elect a Jew to Parliament. All he argued was that in so doing they acted wrongly and unwisely. The new year was commencing under an atmosphere of pros- perity not often paralleled. 'What, then, was the great question that agi- tated their minds. They were asked to raise the cry of civil and religious liberty, and they were told that it was their bounden duty as a Christian constituency to elect a Jew. (A cry of " Oh ! " and "Ho persecution !") Did his opponent look as if he was persecuted ? (A laugh.) When the Jews were at the top of the moneyocracy of Europe, the canting cry that they were persecuted ought not to be raised. (Cheers.) The show of hands was declared to be in favour of the Christian can- didate. At the poll on Tuesday the Jew beat the Christian, or rather the Liberal beat the Tory. The numbers were—Goldsmid, 661; Benson, 551; majority for Goldsmid, 110.
At the declaration of the poll on Wednesday, Sir Francis Goldsmid completely refuted the charge of bribery directed by Mr. Benson against his side. It appears that the alleged bribery agent is a thick and thin Tory, who had been placed on the register by the Tories in the teeth of Liberal opposition, and that he had never been canvassed even by the Liberal agents. Towards the end of his speech Sir Francis said that the 11th of January was a most fortunate day for him. After having been called to the bar, the first of his religious community, now about twenty- seven years since, two years ago, on the 11th of January, 1858, he was the first of that community to take his place in the courts as one of her Majesty's counsel, and on the second anniversary of that same day he had the still greater satisfaction of hearing the mayor of their boroug,li declare that he had been elected by this constituency as their Member m the Commons' House of Parliament.
Mr. Benson addressed the meeting. He claimed to have contested the election on special purity principles—a statement which elicited plenteous laughter. That seemed, he said, so ludicrous a thing in Reading. Whereupon Mr. Rogers remarked, "It is a ludicrous thing on the Tory side." Mr. Benson exculpated Sir Francis Goldsmid from having any- thing to do with bribery ; but refused, on request, to withdraw a similar charge against the Liberal committee, on the ground that he had never made one—a statement contested by Mr. Rogers. Mr. Benson said-the Conservatives had exerted themselves nobly, and that neither time, money, nor labour, had been spared to make them win. Finally, he ex- pressed a hope that Sir Francis might live long to enjoy the honour con- ferred on him.
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