we suppose they will find some means request that I would become a candi of spending it.' This report appears to have been premature, but only premature. The Tories first applied to Mr. Perceval, who declined to stand. Sir Henry Hardinge then recommended them to apply to Mr. Gladstone, and subsequently, if he refused, to Sir James Graham, whose chances of success in East Cumberland were considered desperate. Mr. Gladstone was accordingly seen, but he declined to give up a safe seat at Newark to encounter an almost certain defeat at Manchester. The Tories, notwithstanding, determined to put him in nomination, and his name was placed before the electors. These proceedings were unauthorised by Mr. Gladstone, who neither issued an address nor appeared before the constituency. A report, however, was speedily current at Newark to the effect that he had agreed to stand for Manchester; and in reply to this, Mr. Gladstone wrote the following address to the electors, dated Clinton Arms, July 22nd, 1837- My attention has just been called to a paragraph in the Nottingham and Newark Mercury of this morning, which announces, on the authority of some person unknown, that I have consented to be put in nomination for Manchester, and have promised, if elected, to sit in Parliament as its representative. I have to inform you that these statements are wholly without foundation. I was honoured on Wednesday with a deputation from Manchester, empowered to date for the borough. I felt the honour, but I answered unequivocally, and at once, that I must absolutely decline the invitation; and I am much at a loss to conceive how "a most respectable correspondent" could have cited language which I never used, from a letter which I never wrote. Lastly, I beg to state in terms as explicit as I can command, that I hold myself bound in honour to the electors of Newark, that I adhere in every particular to the tenor of my late address, and that I place my humble services during the ensuing Parliament entirely and unconditionally at their disposal.' The other candidates in the Manchester election were Mr. Mark Phillips and the Right Hon. C. Poulett Thomson. Reports continued to be rife respecting Mr. Gladstone, and it was said that he had promised to produce £500 towards the election expenses, if returned. His name was taken to the poll contrary to his wishes, and at the nomination he was proposed by Mr. Denison, and seconded by Mr. Gardner. The former enlarged upon Mr. Gladstone's extraordinary talents, and his determination to maintain, firm and indissoluble, the union between Church and State. The show of hands being against the Tory candidate, a poll was demanded on his behalf, which closed as follows:Thomson, 4,155; Phillips, 3,760; Gladstone, 2,294. The numbers polled for Gladstone were certainly most surprising, considering that he had discountenanced the nomination, that he was never upon the scene, and that the Tories were deprived of the advantage of his great eloquence. The Liberals themselves were astonished at the strength of the Tory vote, alleging (by way of explanation) that their opponents had been most energetic, and had supplied dinners and liquor to about three hundred voters, which had the effect of altering their political principles! The Conservatives, after the election, gave a dinner to their candidate at the Bush Inn, Manchester. In responding to the toast of his health, Mr. Gladstone expressed his regret that they should have fought such a contest with so mean a name as his, and that they had the further disadvantage of attacks made on the cause in his absence. 'I have been told,' he said, that certain parties in Manchester were pleased to send over to Newark a Radical candidate to oppose me. I believe Manchester receives annually. from Newark a great deal of useful commodities in the shape of malt and flour; and I suppose it was upon the principle of a balance of trade that this Radical candidate was sent. If, instead of sending back this Radical candidate, they had sent back one of their sacks of flour, they would have sent back what was nearly as intelligent, and much more useful.' This sally provoked much laughter. When the speaker resumed, he congratulated the Conservatives of Manchester on the energy which they had manifested, and on their exhibition of a strength which was the nucleus of future success. The new Parliament assembled on the 20th of October, the young Queen attending in person to open the business of the session. Little progress, however, was made towards the settlement of important public questions before the two Houses were prorogued until the 16th of January. In the year 1838 the troubles of Canada were still uppermost in the public mind. Lord John Russell introduced a proposal, in the House of Commons, for a bill to suspend for a certain time the existing constitution of Lower Canada, and moved at the same time an address to the Throne pledging the House to assist her Majesty in restoring tranquillity to her Canadian dominions. Mr. Roebuck was subsequently heard at the bar of the House, on behalf of the Assembly of Lower Canada, after a previous protest by Mr. Gladstone against any acknowledgment by the House of Mr. Roebuck as agent of the Assembly. On the motion for committing the Government bill, Mr. Hume moved its rejection. A long and very lively debate ensued, in the course of which Mr. Gladstone reviewed the order of events which had led to the existing disasters. He believed that the repeal of the Act of 1831-which made over the duties of 1774 to the Assembly-would have prevented the late occurrences. He next examined Lord Gosford's correspondence, and pointed out therein the most glaring contradictions. He concluded his speech by a series of very severe strictures on the incapacity and folly displayed by Lord Gosford and the Colonial Office. The Chancellor of the Exchequer endeavoured to answer the |