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The case of Lord Ashley* the circumstances of which it is impossible longer to conceal, demands very serious reflection from all who consider the importance ot the Tory party’s standing at this moment upon the high ground of honour and morality. It will be remembered by our friends, that last summer, when a great subscript on to meet legitimate election expenses, was spoken of (we think the ministerial newspapers named some such sums as six or seven hundred thousand pounds), wc remonstrated against any such proceeding. We felt that though to subscribe for the legitimate purposes of an election contest, when it arises, is perfectly fair and even laudable, the collecting of a great fund beforehand, for even the legitimate purpose of unnamed and undefined elections, would be at best imprudent, inasmuch as, in the first place, it would offer a kind of bounty to contests against, as well as for, a preponderating Tory interest—and, secondly, it would provoke that kind of natural jealousy which all men feel against combinations of every kind, and which all men, who happen to he poor and honest at the fame time, feel against too lavish an employment of the power , of -money. Nothing, indeed, is so offensive as the . phrase, too common in the mouths of rich men of all j parties, My money shall prevail ; a phrase j which implies, that all who are not rich are cor- J ruptible or insignificant. Thus, in various ways, I the boasted Tory subscription of last summer 1 was productive of great mischiefs, all of i which we foresaw. But there was, we con- 8 fess, one error which we did not anticipate on the part of the subscribers. We did not expect ( that they would leave themselves open to the 1 imputation of a failure in their engagements, whe-ther implied engagements or expressed. Knowing i the great private worth, the vast wealth, and the unstained honour of the principal patrons of the subscription, knowing too—what they -plight! to know—that the stake played for, is one in- which they have an infinitely greater interest than any who stand below them either in rank or property, j we gave them full credit for common sense and com- r mon honesty enough to redeem their pledges, when * the forfeiture of those pledges must involve some- r thing very like the ruin of the party upon which d depends the safety of the country, and, in an f1 eminent degree, the safety of the order to which the alleged defaulters belong. iiThe case of Lord Ashley is simply this. This foung, and not very wealthy, nobleman, was, at a most critical moment, and at short notice, invited to f. )ffer hirnself for the representation of Dorsetshire, iis opponent there being a near kinsman of the G Prime Minister, and an exceedingly rich man, and, ye believe, a person of popular manners, as well as
Newspaper Details
London St James Chronicle and General Evening Post
London, Middlesex, GB
Tue, Jan 17, 1832
Page 4
Full Page
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Anonymous
USA 23 Aug 2023
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