IC* 6pettator-,Z Alsectinber 28t1j, 1850
The election contest at Sl'Alban's has been one of unusual excitement. At the nomination, Mr. Jacob Bell, the wealthy Quaker chemist, was proposed by Mr. Kinder, and seconded by Mr. -Bowman, amidst cries of " How much did you get?" and a multitude of similar imputative exclamations. Mr. Carden. the London Alderman and Sheriff, was proposed by Mr. Searancke, a Conservative Churchman, and seconded by Mr. J. Bennett, a Dissenting Liberal, with speeches which asserted the venal character of their borough in past times, and declared the intention of a party now to redeem the character of the constituency. the speeches of these gentlemen were interrupted with ejaculations by the crowd, showing their habitual debase- ment by bribery. " More men." said Mr. Bennett, " had been poisoned by gold than by arsenic." "Oh, then," exclaimed one, " you ought to be dead long ago." Another. "1 likes poison." " Would not the man who bought you sell you also?" continued Mr. Bennett ; hundreds answered, "To ,ke sure he will—you and all of us: we like his drugs. wholesale and retail; and so do you " Mr. Bennett declared that the pawnbroker could vouch that money was flying about ; and the smaller landlords were getting their arrear rents paid up in a manner inconceivable. As a man went by him the other day, another man said, " There goes another who got five pounds for his vote and confessed it ;" and the man who was accused walked on hanging his head like a bullrush.
[The result of the diction was ; Bell, 276 votes, Carden, 147.)
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