23 Aug 1836 Vacancy for East Cumberland - Cumberland and Westmorland Newspaper Transcriptions

23 Aug 1836 Vacancy for East Cumberland

On Friday the House of Commons ordered a new writ for the Eastern Division of
the county of Cumberland, in the room of Mr. William BLAMIRE, appointed Chief
Tithe Commissioner. Captain BULLER and Mr. JONES, the Professor of Political
Economy in King's College, are the two Junior Commissioners.

---------------------

(From the Carlisle Patriot.)

Many months have not elapsed since a report became current that Mr. BLAMIRE, one
of the members of the eastern division of Cumberland, was devoting all his time
and talents to obtain a knowledge of the tithe question, in order that he might
qualify himself for that very snug thing - a commissionership. But no sooner was
the whisper breathed forth to the public air, than up rose a tempestuous
contradiction from Mr. BLAMIRE's adherents. He accept a place, indeed! He become
a pensioner! No, no, Iago was "too honest" for that. We had our doubts, knowing
how frail is the material of which such public characters are composed, and all
we could say was, in the language of the Turk, "Bismillah!" - we shall see. Mr.
BLAMIRE meantime pursued his studies, talked about tithes, read about tithes,
dreamed about tithes, made speeches about tithes; in fact, he seemed to live
upon tithes. He was literally the man with one idea. At length came the end of
all his labours - the Tithe Bill passed both houses, and became the law of the
land. Now, thought we, for the touchstone; let us see what all this has been
about. And sure enough the patriotic member doffed his disguise in a moment, and
by the juggle of a Minister becomes, presto, a tithe commissioner - ay, and that
too the very first. Not a moment was lost. Alas, for profession; here is
practice! Mr. BLAMIRE fished for a commissionership, and he hooked his prize.

A meeting of the Whig-Radicals was summoned on Tuesday, at the Coffee-house; the
drum was beat to arms, and after a long to do, it was resolved to be put in
requisition; who? - who do our readers imagine this wise conclave selected as a
fit candidate to represent the agricultural interest in Parliament? Why, no less
a person than our old acquaintance, Mr. William JAMES, once member for the city
of Carlisle, as he remembers to his cost, the advocate of a total repeal of the
Corn Laws, Universal Suffrage, Vote by Ballot, Annual Parliament-man.

But the most absurd piece of the plot is to come yet. The freeholders to take
upon themselves the office of dictating to the county who shall be their member,
are of the monstrous number of 10! Ten only could be found, after many hours'
running to and fro; and who are the 10? Why, first, we have Henry HOWARD, of
Greystoke: by the way, how is it that he is not the man, for we have heard for
months that Lord CARLISLE would back him against Sir J. GRAHAM? But that, it
seems, is a flash in the pan - another of those ingenious inventions of which so
many people in Carlisle are proud, and we envy them not their skill. Then we
have Major AGLIONBY; and why is he not selected, for we believe a more estimable
man (always save and except his political opinions) does not exist? But even he
must give way to "Barrock Billy." Then we have Mr. William CRACKENTHORPE, who
does not reside in the county, and Mr. Joseph SALKELD, who is an Irish absentee,
with a few acres of land only in Cumberland. These are all the county gentlemen
that could be found to ask Mr. JAMES to represent 4,623 freeholders. Four in
number; the glorious quarto! The immortal four! Why, the thing was too
ridiculous to think of. Well, what was to be done, for it was evident that some
show must be made, and a lucky thought jumped into the head of one of the four.
"Ah," said he, "by the by, the town-council are now met; there will be a
glorious haul. We know they are all right;" and accordingly the town-hall was
scaled, and the requisition handed round. "There is MOUNSEY, the mayor, he is
safe, put him down - there is Peter the Great, ditto; down with him. There is
Alderman FERGUSON there, for a wonder, he will do - there is CONNELL, he used to
be yellow, but now he's a Rad - ay, he is a sure hit; there is - no, no, the
rest won't do, they have been behind the curtains, and know rather too much of
our hero. So we had better decamp."

But still what a pitiful muster! "Oh," said one, "let us peep into the
magistrates' room; we may chance to catch a loose fish there," and accordingly
they hooked Mr. T. C. HEYSHAM; so here we have four country gentlemen, a mayor,
two aldermen, and two common-councilmen dictating who shall represent the
eastern division of Cumberland. Oh! no, we beg pardon, there is also Mr. John
ELLIOT, the tail; why that young gentleman is placed so prominent we know not.
Of this we are sure, that if it is put to the test, the result will be that Mr.
JAMES will be expelled by a vast majority of freeholders. The Blue party in East
Cumberland could not put forward a worse candidate to secure the suffrage of the
freeholders. Curiously enough it happened that Mr. JAMES was in Carlisle on
Tuesday, and this tremendous requisition was handed to him, but it is said that
he gave a shake of the head as ominous as Lord BURLEIGH, put it in his pocket,
and galloped off to Allonby to consult his better half. So the affair remains.
It may at last all go off in a mist.

Some of the agricultural party, we hear, talk of nominating Mr. HOWARD, the
present member for Carlisle; but a gentleman has been named on the Conservative
side, who, if he consents, would stand most deservedly high in estimation, from
his rank, his connexions, and his sentiments, but above all, from his good old
English feeling and Conservative principles. A few hours will, in all
probability, throw a great deal of light on the subject.