As usual at the close of a general election, there
is much bruit of the bribery to which it has given occasion. Petitions on this score are threatened against the Members returned for Derby, Yar-
mouth, Liverpool, Berwick-upon-Tweed, and some other places—in all about twenty-five. This, considering the state of political mo- rality in a great number of our constituencies, is no very alarming array; and it is probable :that the threats will in the majority of instances lead to nothing—that they are but momentary expres- sions of disappointment and pique. This opinion rests not upon any idea that the electors have become less corrupt or more cau- tions, but upon the fact that so many elections were uncontested— parties knowing their respective strengths, and the weak abandon- ing the field without a struggle. In Ireland, where the strife was fiercer, hard blows have been more relied upon than pecuniary douceurs.
