Ebir Cottittrv.
The Leeds election terminated on Saturday last, in the election of Mr. Baines. On Monday, the Mayor announced the numbers to be as follows—for Mr. Baines, 1,931' for Sir John Beckett, 1,917; for Mr. Bower, 24. Mr. Baines therefore had a majority over his Tory opponent of only 34. This result was obtained in the end by an ac- cession of Radical strength ; the Conservative manasuvres having failed at Leeds, as well as at Huddersfield, to induce many of that party to lend their support to the opponents of the Reform Bill.
The candidates underwent a tolerably close catechism on the day of nomination by Mr. John Heaps, the proposer of Mr. Bower. As Mr. Baines was the successful candidate, it may be worth while to take note of his answers to some of the principal questions which were put to him : the replies of the defeated gentlemen are of little consequence. Gene- rally speaking, Sir John Beckett refused to give any pledges, and Mr. Bower without hesitation promised all that was asked of him. Mr. Baines was on many points as cautious as Lord Brougham or Lord Althorp could desire. He promised to vote for the repeal of the Newspaper Stamp-duty, the Malt-duty, and the House and Window taxes, if Lord Althorp could spare the money. He would vote for an immediate alteration in the Corn-laws, the abolition of Impressment and Military Flogging, an inquiry into the state of Sinecures with a view to their abolition, an inquiry into the value of Church Lands in England and Ireland, and for the Vote by Ballot. He would not vote for a Property-tax including the Funds ; nor for Triennial Parliaments, nor for Household Suffrage' nor for Sir William Ingilby's motion to expel the Bishops from the House of Lords,—though he thought that the Bishops would be better out of the House than in it.
The Conservatives, though they started late in the canvass, compared with their opponents, polled about 320 more votes at this election than thelast • the Whigs 61 fewer. Had Mr. Baines been a more thorough- going and consistent politician, this would hardly have been the case. But it appears that, since the accession of his Whig friends to office, he has fallen back in some degree from the liberal principles which he once professed, and assumed the tone of a mere Whig partisan. Thus, in regard to the ballot and the extension of the suffrage, a few years ago he held Radical opinions. He has been induced by the acts of bribery and intimidation which his opponents are charged with having had recourse to during the contest, to resume his support of the ballot. But why did he ever abandon it ? If the Whigs are disposed to take warning from the signs of the times, they may learn a useful lesson from this election. Since their accession to power, they have evidently lost ground in Leeds ; and their candidate owes his return to the votes of Radicals, whom Whigs are in the habit of vituperating. Had the battle been between mere Whigs and the Tories, the latter would have gained a decided victory. The Ministers, apart from the people, are weak indeed. Mr. Baines, being now the Representative of one of the most important places in the kingdom, will be closely watched. His only chance of retaining his seat, is by acting on all occasions with perfect independence of those Ministers of whose measures he has lately been thought the too indiscriminate supporter.
Admiral Durham was elected Member for Devizes, in the room of Mr. Montague Gore, on Monday. The Admiral was the Tory oppo.- nent of Mr. Gore at the last election ; since when, Ile has become rather more liberal in his opinions ; while Mr. Gore resigned his seat because, as he *honestly states in his farewell address," he could not conscientiously support ninny of those reforms in Church and State
■ vhich, from his former sentiments, the electors might reasonably ex- pect him to advocate." An application was made to Sir John Hob- house to come forward ; but he considered that the ground was already occupied, and declined acceding to it.
The nomination of candidates for the borough of Totness took place on the 14th. Lord Seymour, eldest son of the Duke of Somerset, was time Whig, and Mr. Mayne the Radical candidate. There was vast uproar on and about the hustings. The mob pelted each other with tobacco-pipes and penny-pieces : one of the penny.pieces was thrown at the Mayor, and cut him severely under the eye, causing the blood to flow profusely. Mr. Mayne immediately withdrew, and refused to ad- dress the crowd after this outrage. A show of hands was taken, and decided to be in favour of Lord Seymour. The polling commenced on Monday.
The bill for preventing bribery and corruption at Warwiek., intros duced by Sir Ronald Fergusson, proposes only to- =7.;.4. :units of the borough to Leamington Priors, which contains 1,102 rate-payers. 4...o number of houses assessed, bond fide worth 10/ and upwards, is 1.00; „.;2!!lt will be a large addition to the constituency of Warwick.
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