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 LETTERS 
 
 CONSEEVATOE-ELECTOE, 
 
 ON 
 
 THE POLITICAL CONDITION 
 
 AND 
 
 PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION OF THE COUNTY. 
 
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 DUBLIN : 
 
 HODGES, SMITH, & CO., 104, GRAFTON-STREET. 
 1859. 
 
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 ROBERT PEEL DAWSON, ESQ, M.P., 
 
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 SM» fatk, 
 
 CASTLE DAWSON, 
 
 THIS EDITION OF A SERIES OF LETTERS ON THE POLITICAL CONDITION OF 
 
 HIS NATIVE COUNTY OF DERRY- 
 
 A COUNTY SO FREQUENTLY REPRESENTED IN PARLIAMENT BY MEMBERS OF HIS 
 
 FAMILY, 
 
 nob most fioortljilg teprmutcb hrr limsdf— 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, 
 
 FROM A HIGH SENSE OF HIS INTEGRITY, AND CONSISTENT, AND UNSWERVING 
 ADHERENCE TO THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 
 liberal attb jeuligljtmb (ftonsirfraltixe progress. 
 
 1 th June, 1859. 
 
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 A PSALTER OF DERRY. 
 
 LETTERS OF CONSERVATOR-ELECTOR. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The letters reprinted in the following pages were originally 
 published during the years 1856 and 1857, in the columns of the 
 Londonderry Journal and Coleraine Chronicle. They treat, as the 
 title-page indicates, of the political condition and parliamentary 
 representation of the county of Derry. Although addressed to a 
 limited circle, they take a wider range, and canvass fully and freely 
 the principles and land-marks of party, as now agitating our political 
 horizon, and may prove of general interest, particularly at this 
 juncture. Before we advert to the circumstances which called them 
 into existence, it may be convenient to give a resume of the parlia¬ 
 mentary representation of the county for some years before, in order 
 that the general reader, who may not be sufficiently en-courant with 
 its political condition, may have a more distinct perception of the 
 point and tendency of those letters. 
 
 For some time previous to the year 1815, Major-General Sir 
 William Ponsonby was one of the representatives of the county. 
 On the 18th of June in that year he fell, with many other gallant 
 British and Irish soldiers, on the memorable field of Waterloo. In 
 consequence of the vacancy thus created, the electors w T ere addressed 
 by Mr. Ponsonby, who was a relative of the late member, and by 
 Mr. Dawson, afterwards the right Honorable George Robert Dawson, 
 of Moyola-park, Castle-dawson. The latter gentleman, who was then 
 in the twenty-fifth year of his age, had been private secretary to his 
 brother-in-law, the late eminent statesman and premier, Sir Robert 
 Peel, baronet, when Chief Secretary for Ireland. Mr. Dawson ap¬ 
 peared at the hustings, and was returned on the 15th of August, 
 1815 . Pie afterwards occupied an important niche in the political 
 temple of fame, and therefore some notice of his career may not 
 
 B 
 
 565?I 
 
 v) 
 
2 
 
 form an uninteresting episode in our narrative, nor be deemed an 
 unreasonable digression. 
 
 Mr. Dawson was the head of an ancient and influential family, 
 long settled in the county, to whom the inhabitants of native descent 
 were much attached, because, as they said “ the Dawsons were 
 purchasers, not confiscators.” Early in the reign of Charles the 
 First, 1633, his ancestor, Thomas Dawson, Esq., brother to the right 
 Reverend Doctor Robert Dawson, Bishop of Clonfert, of the Anglo- 
 Norman family of Dawson, of Acorn-bank, Soerby in Westmore¬ 
 land, purchased from Sir Thomas Philips, of Toome Castle and 
 Limavady, the Moyola Estate, consisting of about seven thousand 
 acres of the most fertile land in the county, which is now in posses¬ 
 sion of his representative, Captain Robert Peel Dawson. From 
 thence his descendants and their family connexions, the Beresfords, 
 Rowleys, Jacksons, Hills (of the city of Derry), and others, almost 
 exclusively represented the county and its several boroughs in the 
 Irish Parliament. The most distinguished among them, and they 
 were all men of ability and intellect, was the Honorable Arthur 
 Dawson, of Castle-da wson, baron of the Exchequer, unquestionably the 
 most able, versatile, and accomplished man of his day, who repre¬ 
 sented the county from the year 1729 to the year 1742, when he was 
 raised to the bench. 
 
 Mr. Dawsons published address to his constituents at his first 
 election was a model of brevity, and exemplified, in a remarkable 
 degree, the old proverb “ little said is soon mended;” it contained no 
 avowal of principle, nor pledge to any party, or public question 
 whatever, which probably was the wisest course for a young and 
 untried man to pursue. The electors, therefore, took him upon trust. 
 Although he was not a frequent speaker, he soon became dis¬ 
 tinguished as a ready and fluent debator. His opinions were always 
 delivered in the house with such candour and earnest sincerity, as 
 to win the respect of even his political opponents; while his tact 
 and eloquence, combined with much suavity of manner, commanded 
 attention, and excited admiration for talents of no mean order. In 
 January, 1822, he was appointed Under Secretary of State for the 
 home department, and in six years afterwards, January, 1828, he 
 became Secretary to the Treasury. An idea may be formed of the 
 opinion entertained of his integrity, and of the estimation in which 
 he was held, as a public man, even by his political opponents, when 
 the late Mr. O’Connell, in the heat of party strife, said of him, on the 
 occasion of reviewing the conduct and public character of the Irish 
 representatives in general, “as to the county of Derry, one of its 
 
3 
 
 members belongs to the Treasury, and the man, I believe, most 
 disposed to be honest who does belong to the Treasury.” 
 
 Mr. Dawson occupied a prominent position in public life for up¬ 
 wards of a quarter of a century, and held various important public 
 employments. In office he was recognised as an efficient and 
 able man of business. Of a decidedly practical turn of mind, he 
 mastered the most minute details in the public departments in which 
 he officiated. Whether in or out of office, his public conduct was 
 regulated with a view to the advancement of the material interests 
 of his native country, as, for instance, on the grand jury and distil¬ 
 lation laws; and his firm and independent stand against the imposi¬ 
 tion of the stamp duties. In his earlier and later speeches there 
 shone forth occasionally a gleam of national and patriotic sentiments 
 of an enlarged and generous kind. In his maiden speech in the 
 House of Commons, on the 26th of April, 1816, on Sir John New¬ 
 port’s motion on the state of Ireland, he said, he had “no idea that 
 the evils under which Ireland laboured were to be healed by the 
 panacea of one specific remedy,” and after eloquently portraying 
 the advantages which his country possessed in the fertility of its 
 soil, the temperature of its climate, its numerous harbours, and the 
 physical capabilities of its people, he went on to say, “ and yet its 
 history has been an almost continued scene of revolutions and mis¬ 
 fortunes, with the exception of that glorious period when her par¬ 
 liament was rendered illustrious by the brilliant eloquence of the 
 right honorable gentleman opposite” (Mr. Grattan). 
 
 Any attempt to asperse the national character of the Irish people, 
 was certain—irrespective of class or party—to draw from Mr. 
 Dawson a prompt, but withal, judicious vindication, for he was ever 
 distinguished for prudence and tact. On the debate on Mr. Brown- 
 low’s motion, in June, 1828, on the improvement of Ireland, and 
 state of her poor, some of the English members, on Mr. Dawson’s own 
 side of the house, stigmatized the Irish reapers and labourers, who 
 flocked to England for work in the harvest season, as “ mendicants” 
 and “beggars;” upon hearing this, Mr. Dawson, although he spoke 
 and voted against the motion, manfully turned aside to defend and 
 vindicate his poorer countrymen from the ungenerous attack, and re¬ 
 buked their assailants, his own political friends, at some length, in 
 terms alike dignified and creditable to his head and heart; “ he could 
 not,” he observed, “ regard these honest and industrious men in the 
 light of mendicants, as they had been represented. They caine to earn 
 the wages of honest labour, and did not deserve to be stigmatized as 
 beggars.” 
 
4 
 
 In a few months after Mr. Dawson had thus spoken, he attended 
 the celebrated dinner at the inauguration of Walker’s monument in 
 the city of Derry, on the 12th of August, 1828, and delivered on 
 that occasion an eloquent and brilliant speech of upwards of two 
 hours’ duration, which created at the time a profound sensation—a 
 speech, of which it was happily and truly said, by the writer of a 
 memoir of the Dawson family, that “ it might be contrasted not un¬ 
 favourably with some of those great public efforts which rendered 
 the Irish orators of Grattan’s day so illustrious.” In the course of it 
 he observed, “ As one of the descendants of the warriors of that day, 
 not indeed of those who endured the siege in the city of Derry, but 
 of those who volunteered their services to King William, I attend 
 this anniversary; I attend it to mark my approval of the revolution 
 of 1688—to contribute by my purse and presence to establish what, 
 I trust, will be a never-fading memorial of our respect and gratitude 
 for their valour, their fortitude, and unparralleled patience and suffer¬ 
 ings, but I wish it to be particularly understood that I do not attend 
 here to mark any triumph over others. 1 wish to blot out for ever the 
 recollection , that the victory of those days was achieved over natives of 
 the same soil . I cling only to the blessings which we have gained, 
 namely, the enjoyment of a free constitution, and I will not diminish 
 the value of such a legacy by a heart-burning reference to national 
 strife, and tearing open afresh the wounds of civil warfare. In the 
 struggle between James and William the citizens of Derry were the 
 first to show their attachment to the principles of liberty, and set a 
 noble example of their devotion to freedom of conscience; but what 
 person, having in common the name of Irishman, will say that he 
 peruses the narrative of those scenes, where the glory and the 
 misery of his country are blended together, without mixed feelings 
 of triumph and disappointment? Let us give our meed of praise to 
 the valour, the fortitude, and the skill of Walker, but who, or where 
 is he, that in the exultation arising from the display of national virtue 
 can refuse the same praise to his gallant adversary Sarsfield ? Both 
 were Irishmen, both were brave, both skilful, and both have 
 conferred immortal honor on the character of the Irish soldier; but, 
 unfortunately, their prowess was proved in the shedding of the blood 
 of their brethren of the same land; and, although both were heroes, 
 whose personal qualities were calculated to shed a lustre on our 
 national annals, the misfortunes of the times have compelled our his¬ 
 torians to paint them according to the bias of their political feelings, 
 either as martyrs or as traitors.” This noble speech, breathing in 
 
5 
 
 every word liberal, just, and generous sentiments, was not, by reason 
 of the feverish state of party feeling at the time, received by some of 
 those to whom it was addressed in the spirit it deserved. But after¬ 
 wards it drew from O’Connell, the political adversary of Mr. Dawson, 
 the following peculiarly graceful expressions of admiration, at an ag ¬ 
 gregate meeting of the people of Cork, held on the 27th of August 
 following:—“After praising the gallantry of the Reverend Mr. 
 Walker, governor of Derry—and he deserved praise—Mr. Dawson 
 turned to the faded glories, and almost neglected tomb of Ireland’s 
 bravest partisan—the illustrious Sarsfield. Spirits of the brave! 
 there is a secret sympathy and communion with you ! The valorous, 
 the enthusiastic, the generous Sarsfield, slumbered in his grave for 
 years until George Robert Dawson points to it, sheds the only tear 
 that was shed for years on it, and flings his flowers on the grave of 
 the departed hero, who recognizes the garland, as cast on it by a 
 kindred spirit, although the orange lily should find a place on the 
 wreath of which it is composed.” 
 
 Reared and educated in the ultra school of politics, Mr. Dawson, 
 though possessing a highly-cultivated and generous mind, had for 
 some years opposed the concession of equal civil rights to the major¬ 
 ity of his countrymen. But in the progress of time as men’s minds 
 became more enlightened, and prejudices began to disappear, 
 eminent statesmen, impelled by a regard for the public good, and 
 the tranquillity and material prosperity of the nation, commenced to 
 look at the question in a wiser spirit, and with an anxious and 
 honest intention of settling it to the satisfaction of all parties, and of 
 removing so fruitful a cause of disquiet and discontent in the public 
 mind. Mr. Dawson, as well as the Duke of Wellington, Lord 
 Beresford, and numerous other able and enlightened men, disen¬ 
 thralled their minds from mere party views and sectarian prejudices, 
 and, in their solicitude for the public good, joined the party of Con¬ 
 servative progress of which Sir Robert Peel was the illustrious 
 founder, and passed along in the popular current of enlightened 
 legislation. Mr. Dawson’s views on that great question were not 
 suddenly adopted, as we may judge from the liberality of his speech 
 at the Walker testimonial dinner. His former opinions had under¬ 
 gone a change some considerable time before the government took 
 up the question as a cabinet measure. 
 
 On the memorable 30th of March, 1829, the Emancipation Bill 
 passed the House of Commons; and in the ranks of the majority 
 with Mr. Dawson were found, among others, his colleague, Alexander 
 
6 
 
 Robert Stewart, Sir Robert Peel, Sir George Hill, of the city of 
 Derry; Sir John Beresford, and Lieutenant-Colonel Beresford; 
 Colonel Bruen, of Carlow; Sir Henry Hardinge (afterwards Lord 
 Hardinge); Sir Arthur Chichester, of Carrickfergus; John Leslie 
 Foster, of Louth; Lord Arthur Hill, of Down; three members of 
 the noble house of Lorton, namely, the Honorables Henry, 
 William, and Robert King; the Hon. Thomas Knox, of Dungannon ; 
 Sir William Rowley ; Alexander Saunderson, of Cavan; the Earl 
 of Mountcliarles, county Donegal; Sir Edward Sugden (now Lord 
 St. Leonards); James Montgomery, of Ayrshire, the relative of 
 Lord Eglinton; the Hon. Francis Prittie, of Tipperary; Sir 
 Christopher Cole, the Earl of Bective, and Lord Stanley, now the 
 Earl of Derby , and Conservative premier. In the House of Lords 
 there voted on the same side with the Duke of Wellington, among 
 others, the Bishop of Derry, the Marquises of Downshire and Lon¬ 
 donderry, Viscount Beresford, Lord Hill, Lord Lyndhurst, the 
 Earls of Clare, Kingston, Belmore, Ranfurley, Caledon, Chichester, 
 and Lucan; also the Duke of Northumberland—a goodly array of 
 staunch Conservatives, of whom few will venture to assert they were 
 not as deeply attached to the throne and constitution in church and 
 state, and equally as desirous to conserve and uphold them in their 
 integrity, as the most ultra politician of the present day. In such 
 company, and cheered on by the approving voices and judgment of 
 such men, the Right Honorable George Robert Dawson proceeded 
 in the tolerant and statesman like path he had chosen. His speeches 
 and votes during the progress of that measure, and at its close, 
 caused an estrangement between him and a portion of his consti¬ 
 tuents, who, while they laboured under the influence of inflammatory 
 addresses, and the excitement of party feelings, would not permit 
 themselves to be reasoned out of their prejudices. But those feelings 
 afterwards happily subsided, and those prejudices disappeared, and 
 he and they lived long enough afterwards to witness and acknow¬ 
 ledge the beneficial results of that measure in its tranquillizing effects 
 on the public mind, and the total absence of danger from it to their 
 civil rights and religious institutions. 
 
 It is but a trite aphorism to say that time has a sedative effect, and 
 changes the aspect of things ? It brings with it, as it rolls in its 
 cycle, new faces and new ideas, with numerous changes in the old. 
 Exactly thirty years after Mr. Dawson had delivered that noble 
 speech in the banquet hall of Derry, at the inaugural dinner of 
 Walker’s monument, inculcating Christian forbearance, and deprecat- 
 
7 
 
 ing the exhibition of party triumphs, fit precursor as it was of his libe¬ 
 ral conduct on the great question referred to, another banquet took 
 place, and another speech was uttered on the same classic ground. 
 On the 18th of August, 1858, the Royal Agricultural Society of 
 Ireland had a grand dejeuner in the city of Derry, which was pre¬ 
 sided over by the Conservative Earl of Clancarty: and there, within 
 sight of that same monument of Walker, the right royal viceroy of 
 the Queen, the Earl of Eglinton and Winton, stately knight of the 
 tournament and Conservative Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in pre¬ 
 sence of upwards of 600 noblemen and gentlemen, most of whom 
 held extreme Conservative opinions, was loudly and approvingly 
 cheered by the assembly, as he spoke in the following classic 
 and eloquent terms, which might be said to be a paraphrase of 
 that speech of Mr. Dawson’s:—“The cloud,” observed his Ex¬ 
 cellency, “ that appeared at one time to have settled permanently 
 over Ireland has been dispelled. Everything now shines on the 
 Irish (hear); political strife, I may say, is almost in abeyance (hear); 
 civil and religious liberty are established on so firm a basis , that the 
 man who would advocate a return to bigotry would be set down as in¬ 
 sane (great cheering). There is but one plague-spot left, and that, 
 I trust, has almost ceased to fester. There is nothing but sectarian 
 animosities standing in the way of Ireland enjoying a happiness and 
 prosperity not surpassed by any nation on the earth, and for which 
 her great internal resources, her fertility, and the genius of her 
 people so eminently qualify her (hear, hear). These animosities 
 have, no doubt, to a great extent disappeared with customs and 
 enactments , some of which tended to foster them , and some of which 
 perhaps ought to have never existed. The bow of peace and safety 
 seems to have arched its broad circle over us; but as the form of the 
 rainbow is too harshly defined, the colours too distinct; as the 
 orange and green present too strong a contrast to each other, so do 
 these quarrels and heart-burnings prevent that perfect union and 
 brotherly love which ought to exist among you; and I trust that they 
 will meet, ere long, and that like it, they will be blended into 
 the harmonious glow of the cloudless and meridian sky (cheers). 
 And now, gentlemen, before I sit down I must be allowed to say a 
 few words with respect to the old and interesting city in which I 
 find myself. Coming, as I did, for the first time yesterday here, I 
 could not but be struck, not only with its beauty, with its position, 
 but I could not help referring to the historical, traditionary, and 
 glorious memories which it carries along with it (prolonged cheer.*). 
 
8 
 
 I could not help even going back to its earliest days, and remember¬ 
 ing that in ages, and ages long ago, before the Danes or Saxons came 
 among you, on this spot where now stands this commercial and fine 
 city, there stood Daire Calgaich —“ the Oak wood of the fierce 
 warrior,” a name full of the temperament of the people that then ex¬ 
 isted here; but perhaps foreshadowing the courage that would in 
 comparatively modern times give Derry a world-wide celebrity 
 (cheers). Then it became from Daire Calgaich to Derry Columkille 
 —from the city of the fierce warrior to the city of the pious saint. 
 I can’t find myself in this city for the first time without admitting 
 and expressing my admiration of the defence of your city in the 
 seventeenth century (cheers). It was a defence of which you have 
 every right to be proud (hear).” His Excellency then referred to 
 the celebration of the centenary of the opening of the gates towards 
 the close of the last century, at which the Roman Catholic Bishop 
 attended, and the sermon was preached, by their pious and dis¬ 
 tinguished citizen, Dr. Vaughan Sampson, in which he “ inculcated 
 humanity and moderation, and brotherly love,” and continued:— 
 “ There is no man who admires nationality more than I do (hear, 
 hear) ; there is no man who thinks more highly of patriotism ; and I 
 believe that from this feeling springs all the highest attributes of 
 humanity, and that the greatest actions men ever performed were 
 done under its influence; but that all rejoicing, such as I have al¬ 
 luded to, should be discontinued if it should lead to strife and bad 
 blood, 1 cannot too strongly inculcate upon you (hear). And not only 
 through you, for I believe I am not speaking to any one who does 
 not agree with me, but through you to the thousands of your fellow- 
 countrymen who are proverbial for their loyalty, unimpeachable 
 for their patriotism, but perhaps too uncompromising in their demon- 
 t rations. Let the words which I have just uttered sink deep into 
 your minds; and while you take just pride in the courage, zeal, and 
 fidelity of your ancestors, and glory in the old walls, every stone of 
 which tells a history of patriotism and courage—a romance in each of 
 them, abandon all emblems of party-spirit which are no longer required, 
 triumphs over your own brethren—all tokens of savage strife, which 
 now live but in the page of history, and which , I trust, with God's 
 blessing, will never again be renewed. And as Columba succeeded 
 Calgaich, let the spirit of Christianity and good will among men banish 
 the demon of strife; and let Derry open her gates to all—be they Celt 
 Scot, or Saxon—whatever may betheirrace or whatever may be their re¬ 
 ligious persuasion'' Those eloquent words of the Lord Lieutenant, so 
 
9 
 
 creditable to bim as a statesman, a Christian, and a gentleman, contain 
 a noble vindication of the opinions which the Right Honorable George 
 Robert Dawson gave utterance to in the same place in August, 1828, 
 in language not less chaste or beautiful, and indirectly a well-earned 
 panegyric on the tolerant course which that gentleman afterwards pur¬ 
 sued in the year 1829. But in those thirty years of the past a great 
 change had come over public opinion. The sentiments which at 
 the commencement of that period were received in sullen silence by 
 some, and with open marks of disapprobation by others, when fall¬ 
 ing from the lips of Mr. Dawson, whose enlightened and sagacious 
 mind was so much in advance of a great many of his cotemporaries, 
 were at its close loudly and enthusiastically applauded when uttered 
 by his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant. And here to their credit be 
 it recorded, that Mr. Dawson’s cotemporaries, his early friends and con¬ 
 stituents, who were still alive and present at the banquet, even those 
 who had disapproved of his later political career, were the loudest to 
 cheer that noble sentiment of Lord Eglinton, “civil and religious liberty 
 are established on so firm a basis , that the man who would advocate a 
 return to bigotry would be set down as insane .” Could it have been that 
 a flitting memory of the past, and of their early friend, struck that 
 generous chord, and gave deeper feeling to their emotions on the 
 occasion ? 
 
 After the passing of the Catholic Relief Act, a combination was 
 formed, not in the county, but elsewhere, to prevent Mr Dawson’s 
 re-election. A certain personage, who had himself voted for that 
 measure, was disappointed in obtaining certain favours from the 
 ministry, which he thought he had a right to expect, and resolved 
 to oppose the government candidates, wherever he had influence. 
 Acting on that determination, he orginated an opposition to Mr. 
 Dawson in the county of Derry. And that opposition was conducted 
 with such address and skill as to conceal the true nature of its 
 origin and object, and to create in the public mind the impression 
 that it emanated from the constituency themselves, upon public 
 grounds connected with Mr. Dawson’s conduct on the measure of 
 1829. Disappointed and annoyed at this proceeding, Mr. Dawson 
 declined to go through the ordeal of a contest, and did not present 
 himself for re-election, at the general election of 1830, but addressed 
 the electors of Harwich, and was returned for that borough. In 
 some years afterwards he retired from public life, and filled the 
 office of Commissioner of Customs until his death in London, in the 
 month of March, 1856. At the general election of 1830, Captain, 
 
10 
 
 Adafterwards miral Jones, and Sir Robert Bateson, both belonging 
 to the ultra party, were elected for the county of Derry; and Sir 
 Robert Bateson was succeeded in the representation by his sons 
 Captain Bateson and Mr. Bateson successively. Admiral Jones and 
 Mr. Bateson were the representatives in the year 1856, when the 
 first of these letters was written. 
 
 Thus, for upwards of a quarter of a century, commencing with the 
 year 1830, the county of Derry was represented in the imperial par¬ 
 liament by members of the ascendancy party. During that time no 
 effort was made, either by the liberal or radical interest, except on a 
 solitary occasion in the year 1852, which will be noticed hereafter, nor 
 at any time whatever, by the numerously growing party of liberal and 
 enlightened Conservative progress, to arrest the domination of that 
 party. It was taken for granted that its political influence was all 
 powerful, and that no other party was sufficiently strong to enter the 
 arena as antagonists with any chance of success. But the general 
 election of 1852 dissipated that illusion, and demonstrated in an 
 unmistakeable manner that the electors of the county of Derry were 
 not deficient in public spirit; on the contrary, that they were animated 
 with a desire to assert their independence, and advance—perhaps too 
 rapidly, in the paths of progress. In that year the Earl of Derby 
 became premier in consequence of the defeat by Lord Palmerston of 
 the Russell ministry, on the question of a local or general militia. 
 A general election ensued, and Mr. Greer, a member of the north¬ 
 west bar, till then comparatively unknown as a politician, unex¬ 
 pectedly addressed the electors on advanced liberal principles. Hav¬ 
 ing instituted an active canvass, he came spiritedly to the poll. He 
 was defeated, it is true, but the majority against him was, under the 
 circumstances, by no means disheartening. The numbers at the close 
 were, for Captain Bateson 2,091; Admiral Jones 1,912; and Mr. 
 Greer 1,513. The spirit evoked by that contest was not allowed to 
 expire; meetings were held from time to time in different parts of the 
 county, at which animated addresses were delivered; and the all- 
 important engine of the press was imported into the agitation. 
 A cheap and rather ably conducted monthly periodical, called the 
 “ Independent Elector,” was started in Coleraine, which owed a 
 large share of its inspiration, it was said, to the then recently rejected 
 candidate. Be that as it may, it did good service to his cause and party. 
 A politico-religious association was also formed, called the “ Pres¬ 
 byterian Representation Society,” which professed a wider scope, 
 taking within its range the Parliamentary representation of the entire 
 
11 
 
 kingdom, with the object of having members returned to Parliament 
 exclusively of that denomination. Whatever influence that body pos¬ 
 sessed was also pressed into the service of the advanced liberal party 
 in the county. But its exclusiveness and sectarian aspect created 
 strong feelings of indignation in the minds of the great bulk of the 
 electors, and injured, in a material degree, the cause it had espoused. 
 
 We have thus given a brief resumS of political occurrences in the 
 county of Derry down to the year 1856. Early in that year it was 
 rumoured that Admiral Jones intended to retire. Another contest 
 was, therefore, it seemed, inevitable. The last one had opened a 
 breach where none should exist—namely, between landlord and 
 tenant; and in general anything but feelings of mutual kindliness 
 and good-will subsisted between the parties. Judging of the future 
 by the past—seeing that the ultra party had been startled from their 
 fancied security, and awakened to a sense of danger, and the necessity 
 of redoubled exertion to maintain the power which was fast slipping 
 through their hands—at the same time that their antagonists, beaten 
 at the last election by a majority of four hundred less by one vote, 
 could not be over sanguine as to the result, except under extraordi¬ 
 nary popular pressure, or a false move of their opponents—the 
 approaching contest promised to be an exciting one, and to bring in 
 its train many additional heart-burnings and sacrifices. Under those 
 circumstances the writer of these letters, who had frequently before 
 laboured as a volunteer in the columns of the leading local journal 
 for the moral and political elevation of the county, was tempted to 
 enter again into the arena of political discussion,—to take friendly 
 counsel with rational men of all parties, to cast oil on the troubled 
 waters of the late contest, and unite landlord and tenant in a fra¬ 
 ternal bond of political union. With that object the more moderate 
 and sensible among the ultra party were appealed to, and urged to 
 eschew the antiquated and senseless ascendancy policy, and to 
 advance, in the spirit of the age, into the ranks of the rapily-increasing 
 party of enlightened Conservative progress, out of which they could 
 select, and from amongst themselves, as the future representatives of 
 the county, young men of undoubted ability, holding moderate poli¬ 
 tical opinions, equally acceptable to the landed gentry and electors 
 generally, and thus to elevate their important and historic county in 
 the political scale. 
 
 Public opinion had stamped with its fiat Captain Robert Peel Daw¬ 
 son as combining all the qualities essential to constitute such a re¬ 
 presentative. He was in the prime of life, and had retired from the 
 
12 
 
 Guards on his marriage with the Hon. Elizabeth Brownlow, eldest 
 daughter of that deservedly-popular nobleman, the first Lord Lurgan, 
 by his lordship’s first wife, the Lady Mary Bligh, daughter of the 
 fourth Earl of Darnley, and had taken up his permanent residence as 
 a resident country gentleman, in his father’s life-time, at his ancestral 
 seat, Moyola Park, Castledawson. He was a resident landlord of 
 independent fortune; and as deputy lord lieutenant, grand juror, 
 justice of the peace, and poor-law guardian, had become thoroughly 
 acquainted with the social and fiscal state of the county, and was an 
 efficient and practical man of business. Of frank and polished man¬ 
 ners, and possessing a large share of the intellectual ability of his 
 family, besides entertaining moderate and enlightened Conservative 
 opinions, his return for the county seemed most desirable as initiative 
 of a new and enlightened policy; and hence the advocacy of his 
 claims, in these letters, to the representation, upon public grounds. 
 
 The appeals from time to time energetically, but temperately and 
 respectfully, made by the writer—not in the language of invective and 
 reproach, but of remonstrance, entreaty, and advice, were not un¬ 
 heeded, nor unproductive. They roused and fixed public attention, 
 created discussion, elicited the expression of kindred sentiments, 
 similarly entertained but not spoken nor acted on; and eventually 
 promoted, in a remarkable and gratifying manner, the principles enum 
 dated, and the policy and line of action indicated and advised. 
 
 It has been suggested since from different quarters that those letters 
 are deserving of preservation in a collected form, and hence their 
 republication by the Editor, who has added a connecting narrative 
 of political and electioneering proceedings, terminating with the 
 recent election. 
 
COUNTY OF DERRY ELECTION. 
 
 i. 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE “ LONDONDERRY JOURNAL.” 
 
 Sir, —My attention has just been called to an article in a late 
 number of the Derry Journal , relative to the future representation of 
 the county of Derry, and stating that Robert Peel Dawson, Esq., of 
 Moyola Park, Castledawson, would be a candidate on the first 
 vacancy. The time has certainly arrived when some fresh blood 
 should be infused into the inert mass of the political constitution of 
 Derry. For a quarter of a century, and more, this once active and 
 high-spirited county has been in a lethargic state ; only at rare 
 intervals exhibiting symptoms of vitality. The interests of so im¬ 
 portant a constituency require something more in a representative 
 than the mere physical ability to walk into the lobby of the House 
 of Commons and record a vote, “ Infans pudor prohibebat profari 
 or once in six months to talk puerilities to the reporters’ gallery on 
 some clap-trap unimportant question. How differently it was repre¬ 
 sented in former times, when the name of Derry was known and 
 respected in the Irish House of Commons, and in the senate of the 
 imperial parliament. When the combined ability and eloquence, 
 and personal dignity and influence of its representatives, the witty 
 and accomplished Arthur Baron Dawson, the sound and sagacious 
 Ponsonby, and the brilliant and ever ready eloquent statesman and 
 man of business, the Right Honorable George Robert Dawson, re¬ 
 flected back the lustre of their genius on the electors who did 
 themselves the honour, and exhibited the good taste and discrimina¬ 
 tion of returning such men to represent them in parliament. 
 
 The apathy of the gentry, whose supineness and negligence have 
 caused the county of Derry to retrograde and sink into a nonentity 
 in the imperial parliament, has created a growing dissatisfaction 
 among the constituency, which burst forth on the occasion-of the 
 
14 
 
 last election, nearly 1,500 electors, more than three-eighths of the 
 entire, having recorded their votes for Mr. Samuel Greer, a very 
 deserving and estimable gentleman, but till then comparatively un¬ 
 known as a politician in the county. That intelligible demonstra¬ 
 tion ought not to be idly lost sight of by the landed proprietors and 
 gentry of Derry, promoters, as they have been, of the vis inertia in 
 the county, for it speaks loudly of their waning influence, and of the 
 frail hold they have on the constituency. What has been once done 
 may be repeated, and with more decided effect. Drawing the line 
 too tightly causes it in the end to snap, with the loss of all power of 
 control; while releasing the rein enables the charioteer to guide and 
 direct, and in time to check the impetuosity of the steed. The 
 growing intelligence of the age demands that intellectual progress 
 shall advance, pari passu , with the development of physical science, 
 and that the old stage-coach of politics should be laid aside in this 
 age of steam and electricity. The time has arrived when those who 
 wish to retain power and influence in the county must discard the 
 old stand-still and selfish policy, and advance into the safe and 
 middle course of enlightened Conservative progress. 
 
 The course of the landed gentry of Derry county is clear, safe, 
 and intelligible. Let them associate and select candidates from among 
 their own class, whose moderate political views will bridge over the 
 extremes of opinion; men who, while prepared religiously to guard 
 the great and time-honoured institutions of the country, and to pre¬ 
 serve the just rights and prerogatives of the crown and privileges of 
 the aristocracy, will not hesitate at the same time to improve those 
 institutions, to extend rational liberty and freedom of conscience 
 and equality to all, and to give just protection to the creative industry 
 of the tillers of the soil. 
 
 No other county in Ireland requires in a greater degree the active 
 energy and fostering care of able and influential representatives in 
 parliament. It is rapidly retrograding in the social scale. The late 
 Census Report emphatically demonstrates its inferiority to the 
 counties of the west of Ireland in educational knowledge and intel¬ 
 lectual training; and why? Not that the people have less natural 
 abilities and capacity. The Presbyterian and Protestant descendants 
 of the brave old hardy pioneers and settlers from the braes of Scot¬ 
 land ; men of broad good sense and shrewd intelligence; the Roman 
 Catholic natives, of lively imagination and creative fancy, inheritors 
 of those learned men, who, in the middle ages, when almost every 
 other country was in state of barbaric ignorance, fed the expiring 
 
15 
 
 lamp of learning and faith, and won for Ireland an European repu¬ 
 tation for literature and intellectual power, are as susceptible of 
 mental improvement, and as desirous of attaining it, as those of 
 any other part of this or any nation; but they have been deserted 
 and left to themselves, unaided by their natural guardians, the 
 landlords. The latter have degenerated from the friendly and 
 fostering feudal chiefs of the olden times, to be the mere recipients 
 of the produce of their tenants’ toil and labour, and hence the down¬ 
 ward tendency of the tenantry in the educational scale. 
 
 The degeneracy of Derry is greatly to be deplored, for in its geo¬ 
 graphical position and capabilities that county has great facilities 
 for improvement and development. It is almost square, forty miles 
 long by thirty broad; its head at Moyola, and its base at the Foyle. 
 It contains more than half a million of acres, of which three-fourths 
 are arable, bounded on the east by Lough Neagh, and the river 
 Bann, now navigable, and Lough Foyle, with the Atlantic ocean on 
 the north; an immense water-pow T er in the interior, on the banks of 
 the Faughan, the Roe, and Moyola, and their numerous feeders and 
 tributary streams, combined with rich mineral resources It is also 
 most productive in grain crops and flax, and opens up an immense 
 field for improvement, through the attentive agency and aid of repre¬ 
 sentatives of acknowledged ability and energy, added to parliamen¬ 
 tary weight and influence. 
 
 The attention of the constituency has been directed for a length 
 of time towards Captain Robert Peel Dawson, as a gentleman posses¬ 
 sing in an eminent degree the requisite qualifications essential for a re¬ 
 presentative to restore the county to its pristine and legitimate posi¬ 
 tion and influence in parliament. He is known to be a gentleman of 
 moderate and liberal Conservative views, favourable to an equitable 
 adjustment of the relations between landlord and tenant, and a 
 rational reform, administrative and representative. He is a resident 
 landlord, and as grand-juror, magistrate, and poor-law guardian, 
 thoroughly acquainted with thefiscal and social condition of the county. 
 He is also the head of an ancient family long settled in it, many of 
 whom were its representatives; and connected, maternally and 
 by marriage, with distinguished and influential families in this 
 country and in England, besides having a highly-cultivated mind, 
 and a large share of the intellectual ability of his family; he seems, 
 therefore, to have more than average qualifications to represent the 
 county, and to be entitled to bring to bear upon any question before 
 
16 
 
 parliament a weight and authority which would soon be felt in a 
 manner most gratifying to the constituency and conducive to the 
 material interests of the county. The unopposed return of Mr. 
 Dawson, selected by gentry and electors at large, would also be 
 a graceful act, now that the grave has closed over the remains of his 
 father, their former highly-gifted representative; and by restoring 
 the intimate relations which so long subsisted between the con¬ 
 stituency and the Dawson family, would harmonise with the better 
 feelings of the electors, and prevent the disagreeable ordeal of a 
 contested election. 
 
 I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 CONSERVATOR. 
 
 11th April, 1856. 
 
 The subject having thus been opened by “ Conservator” in the 
 columns of the leading liberal journal of the county, his Fides Achates, 
 “ Elector,” appeared immediately after in the columns of the 
 Coleraine Chronicle —-a journal of opposite politics—to advance a 
 similar policy among the sound-thinking and enlightened of the 
 dominant party. 
 
 II. 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE “ COLERAINE CHRONICLE.” 
 
 S IR? —A letter signed “ Conservator,” published in the Derry 
 Journal of Wednesday, on the electioneering politics of the county, 
 and the probability of Mr. Peel Dawson’s return without a contest 
 at the ensuing election, is deserving of attention from its moderation 
 of tone, and the thorough knowledge the writer appears to have of 
 the political condition of the county. 
 
 There is much truth in his observation as to the necessity of 
 this important county being represented in parliament by men of 
 talent and influence. Constituted as the imperial parliament is, 
 representatives, in order to possess weight and influence, must range 
 themselves on either side of “ the House,” behind the treasury 
 benches, or front row of the opposition; even then how seldom is it 
 that mediocrity effects any practical good ? On great party questions, 
 high sounding in name and beautiful in the abstract, a vote will be 
 important in retaining or putting out a party, but for all purposes 
 of practical advantage, either to the constituency or locality repre¬ 
 sented, there it ends. Perchance the party with whom the mem- 
 
17 
 
 bers of a county are identified is in office; if so, probably balf a 
 dozen of landing waiterships or clerkships in the customs or excise, 
 and the patronage of a casual vacancy in county offices, are placed 
 at their disposal by the “ junior lord,” or on a rare occasion one of 
 themselves may become a junior lord or an Under Secretary; but 
 beyond the dozen or so recipients of that limited patronage, and a 
 few quarters’ salary to the fortunate member himself, what benefits 
 do the great body of the constituency or the locality represented 
 derive ? 
 
 Important party questions are periodically brought forward with¬ 
 out a hope of their realization, merely to dazzle the uninitiated, 
 distract public attention, and hoodwink the people, while the real 
 business of legislation proceeds continuously under the surface, 
 like a deep and noiseless stream in a thunder-storm, undisturbed by 
 the jarring elements above. It progresses through the medium of 
 class interests and class combinations, guided and directed by men 
 of sound practical knowledge and ability. In these solid advantages 
 of legislation Ireland rarely participates, and why? Because her 
 representatives as a class do not possess sufficient social weight, 
 business habits, or information of a really practical or useful kind—- 
 they make capital after-dinner speakers, good roarers at Maynooth, 
 ecclesiastical titles, monks and nunneries,—the Established Church, 
 Regium Donum , and scriptural education—admirable wranglers at 
 parochial and vestry meetings, self-sufficient and superficial pro¬ 
 pounders of indifferent law on the magisterial bench, and very pert 
 and pragmatical talkers in a grand jury room or at a road sessions, 
 but for real ability and comprehensive grasp of thought on great 
 practical matters, and in steady and industrious application to the 
 business of legislation, they shrink into insignificance in comparison 
 with their brethren, the English and Scottish representatives. Hence 
 it is that they are rarely placed upon practical business committees, 
 and that the shipping, banking, mining, cotton, iron, manufacturing, 
 colonial, and numerous other English interests are carefully attended 
 to, guarded, and developed, by a continuous stream of legislation, 
 worked out before committees, and by commissions, inquiries and 
 reports. Whilst, therefore, the English and Scottish representatives 
 and people are steadily pursuing their material interests, and grasp 
 the substance, our countrymen are unfortunately in dream-land and 
 contending for the shadow. 
 
 If we are ever destined to attain social amelioration and material 
 prosperity, it is full time that we should initiate a new era, each in 
 
 c 
 
18 
 
 his own locality; for instance, to combine in this county of Derry, 
 which, informer times, occupied a distinguished place in the senate, 
 honest men of every station, shade, and party—to recollect that this 
 is an age of progress , and that while the world is careering on its 
 axis, it involves more than a metaphysical contradiction that Derry 
 should stand still, and not discard, some at least, of its antiquated 
 notions and historical theorems. W hy not re verse its recent policy, and 
 return to the higher standard of the past? Why not send into par¬ 
 liament young men of fresh and vigorous intellects, and enlarged and 
 generous susceptibilities, who, from family ties, position, and influ¬ 
 ence, trained habits of thought, energy, and business-knowledge, and 
 enlightened Conservative views , would of necessity command respect 
 and attention in parliament? Such men would enlist English and 
 Scottish members of every political complexion, in forwarding 
 measures calculated to develope the material interests and resources 
 of this county in particular, and add so far to the wealth and general 
 prosperity of the kingdom, instead of being mere cyphers—pooh 
 pooh’d, or made use of as occasion may require, for a vote to for¬ 
 ward mere party or personal objects. 
 
 The sooner that arrangements for an election are made, at a public 
 meeting or by requisition, the better, for so far as we are enabled 
 to judge from the aspect of the political horizon, the electors will be 
 called upon, before the summer passes over, to exercise their constitu¬ 
 tional privilege at the hustings. That cohesive element, war, which 
 alone cemented the heterogeneous mass of the coalition ministry, 
 is over, and peace proclaimed. Already symptoms, not necessary 
 more particularly to allude to, of the rickety condition of the cabinet, 
 are “ looming in the distance.” “ Breakers ahead” are also appearing. 
 Enlightened Roman Catholics at New Ross, Sligo, and Athlone, 
 have emphatically declared for resident landlords of moderate 
 Conservative views. That all-important body, the Catholics of 
 Ireland, have hitherto sent a large majority of representatives to 
 swell the ranks of the Whig and Radical parties—have, in fact, not 
 only extinguished the influence of the Irish Conservative party in 
 the senate, but virtually through that majority represented this king¬ 
 dom. Withdraw that influence from the one side and cast it into the 
 scale on the other, and the aristocracy and respectable classes of 
 Ireland, who adhere to the throne and constitution, as guaranteed 
 and established by the Bill of Rights, will regain their ligitimate 
 position and influence. But how is this to be accomplished?—not 
 certainly by the constituencies of northern counties and boroughs 
 
19 
 
 irrationally continuing to act on the principles of exclusion, and “no 
 surrender,” when there is nothing to exclude, and less, if possible, to 
 surrender,” but fairly and in an honest, a generous, and frank and 
 confiding spirit, to meet half-way the growing good feeling and 
 confidence of the Catholics of tlie south and west by returning 
 moderate , and enlightened , and liberal-minded Conservatives to 
 parliament, and not unreasoning and irrational bigots, who think 
 and act towards their fellow men upon the principle 
 
 I do not like thee, Doctor Fell, 
 
 The reason why I cannot tell— 
 
 I do not like thee Doctor Fell. 
 
 And from whom would that graceful act originate with more propriety 
 and effect than with the electors of the historic county of Derry ? 
 Who more competent and with higher claims to stand forward 
 and close the breach ? Who better entitled to grasp the hand, and 
 generously reciprocate the good feeling and confiding spirit of the 
 men of New Ross, Sligo, and Athlone, than the descendants of those 
 brave men who raised their standard of freedom on the maiden walls 
 of Derry, and combated successfully to establish, as they believed, 
 the throne and institutions of the country on the broad basis of civil 
 and religious liberty ? It would indeed be a gratifying and glorious 
 circumstance to see a constituency, such as the county of Derry can 
 boast of, throwing down the gauntlet of peace and progress, by re¬ 
 turning two, even one representative of a type such as I have 
 described, and as “Conservator” has more distinctly indicated, and thus 
 to take the lead in indoctrinating a new policy, alike consistent with 
 true Conservative doctrine and the resuscitation of the legitimate 
 power and influence of the aristocracy. 
 
 As this subject is one of vital importance, socially and politi¬ 
 cally, to the character and well-being of the county, I may, if not 
 trespassing too much on your valuable time and space, recur to the 
 subject at a future period.—I am, &c., 
 
 Elector. 
 
 A letter appeared in the columns of the Derry Journal , under the 
 nom deplume , “ Inquirer,” requesting the editor to ask his “ clever 
 correspondent, ‘ Conservator, what is the difference between the 
 Presbyterian and Protestant,” aphrase used by “ Conservator” in his 
 letter to the editor, and was answered as follows:— 
 
20 
 
 III. 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE “ LONDONDERRY JOURNAL.” 
 
 Sir, —I am apprehensive that your very hypercritical correspon¬ 
 dent, “ Inquirer,” seeks to involve me, a simple layman, in the 
 vexata questio of doctrinal points, by slyly asking me to define “ the 
 difference between the Presbyterian and Protestant?” However 
 disposed I might otherwise be to oblige so facetious a gentleman, 
 he will be pleased to excuse me, on this occasion, from trespassing 
 on the delicate and lawful domain of the clergy, to whom I respect¬ 
 fully refer him for enlightenment on the subject. But while I thus 
 eschew the tender subject of difference of forms in religious belief, I 
 have no objection to consider the course which the highly respectable 
 body of electors, members of the Presbyterian church, ought, or are 
 likely to take at the forthcoming election for the county. When 
 episcopacy, in the reign of the first Charles, backed by the civil 
 power in the hands of the tyrannical and unscrupulous Strafford, 
 sought to bend the Presbyterian mind to conformity, the members 
 of that body stood up firmly and unshrinkingly for the right of 
 freedom of opinion. For a time they endured persecution in its 
 defence, but ultimately took to the hill-side and battled for it with 
 the spirit of freemen. In the succeeding reign of Charles the Second 
 they again passed through the ordeal of persecution, but in that of 
 his successor they had recourse once more to arms in defence of their 
 civil and religious liberties, which were menaced and endangered, as 
 they believed, by that monarch. In the after reigns of different 
 sovereigns of the House of Hanover they were found generously 
 aiding their less fortunate fellow-citizens in their efforts to escape 
 from the pressure of the penal laws, and to attain equal civil 
 rights. 
 
 Honourably identified with the right of free discussion and the 
 principles of enlightened legislation, the Presbyterian body, true to 
 their traditions, are not likely to range themselves on the side of 
 intolerance; for them, old and worn-out party cries, unmeaning as 
 they are mischievous, will find no sympathetic attraction and no 
 congenial response. “ Down with Maynooth,” “ Perish the Church 
 Establishment,” screamed on the platform and re-echoed from the 
 hustings, will not legalize a moderate and equitable tenant-right, 
 stimulate the springs of industry, carry measures of financial and 
 administrative reform, and lighten the burthens of the people. 
 
 In an utilitarian age like this, when men’s minds cease to wander 
 
21 
 
 in the realms of fancy, and, abandoning the utopian, cultivate the 
 real, imaginary grievances and shadowy forms of danger, disentombed 
 from the grave of history, and artistically dressed up—Tussaud 
 fashion—will not affright or divert the rational and thinking Presby¬ 
 terian mind from the contemplation of those material things on 
 which, in a terrestrial sense, the true interests of society hinge. He 
 will reflect and ponder on the past, and ask himself how far he has 
 been benefited by the representative system in his county for the 
 last quarter of a century. What good results have flowed to him and 
 his neighbours, the Episcopalians, from listening to the watch-words, 
 and following the ignis fatuus of sectarianism ? He will look 
 around him and perceive the wonderful changes which have taken 
 place within that time in the material world. The old mountain 
 road of his youth, which careful ran up all the hills, and shied at 
 vales and level ground, has given way to the broad mecadamizedroads, 
 levelled by embankments, deep cuttings, and the other appliances of 
 engineering skill. He will see the once wonderful canals, which 
 conveyed artificial rivers up hills and down valleys, with living 
 cargoes and freights of the various products of the country floating on 
 their bosoms at the speed of eight miles an hour, superseded by the 
 steam engine, careering on great iron-bound causeways at the rate 
 of sixty miles an hour! Nay, steam itself distanced; and electricity 
 flashing the thoughts of men from shore to shore, through the 
 surging waves of the great deep, across mountain and valley, through 
 the dense forest, and over the snow-clad hills, to the uttermost bounds 
 of the earth. He will observe everything around him changed, pro¬ 
 gressing, and improving but political thought, and action, and 
 legislative capacity. Under those circumstances he must feel it 
 incumbent on him to inquire into the causes, and to do his part to 
 remedy the evils, not by an impulsive stride to the other extreme, 
 but to take a moderate course, and advance in the direction of 
 improvement and enlightened Conservative progress; to reflect that 
 others of his fellow-citizens are not so advanced as he is in liberal 
 ideas, and that some allowances should be made for their defective 
 education and prejudices, or exaggerated notions of their rights and 
 privileges. 
 
 But in taking the liberty of respectfully tendering the above ad¬ 
 vice to the Presbyterian body, I would, at the same time, anxiously 
 recommend them to avoid, if possible, running counter to the' 
 views and opinions of their landlords. No doubt that body have 
 hitherto, for a series of years, acted a part in the county repre- 
 
22 
 
 sentation neither creditable to themselves nor profitable to the 
 country. They have made Derry nearly a reproach and a bye- 
 word. But they are awaking to a sense of the duty they owe 
 to their order and the true interests and respectability of the 
 county. It is well known that they are now disposed to meet, to 
 some extent, the wfishes of the electors, and not to import into the 
 county a stranger to it, which would be an insult to themselves, 
 but to select a resident landed proprietor of moderate opinions. 
 In that case it would be most desirable for the electors to meet 
 their views, to such an extent, at least, as would involve no violation 
 of principle. 
 
 To the landed gentry I would say, if you are wuse in your genera¬ 
 tion, and seriously hope to preserve, intact, your legitimate influence 
 in guiding and directing the proper exercise of the elective franchise, 
 you have now an opportunity of reconciling your own ideas with 
 the just views and aspirations of the constituency. Although Mr. 
 Peel Dawson is not before the electors, and has not yet addressed 
 them, it is well known that he is determined to come forward at the 
 next election and to claim a renewal of that trust and confidence 
 which has so long subsisted between his family and the electors of 
 the county of Derry. A large number of the gentry will support 
 him as the candidate having the best hereditary claims, and the 
 most likely to reconcile conflicting interests, and to bridge over, as 
 I observed before, the extremes of opinion, while his nomination by 
 his own order would be accepted by the electors generally as a 
 graceful concession, and an indication that the landlords had at length 
 evinced some respect for the feelings and opinions of their tenants. 
 
 I am, &c., 
 
 Conservator. 
 
 The last letter created some feeling of uneasiness in the minds of 
 the party represented by the Coleraine publication, the “ Indepen¬ 
 dent Elector ,” who saw danger looming in the distance to advanced 
 liberalism, upon purely sectarian principles, in the advice of “Conser¬ 
 vator” suggesting a middle course, and fusion of landlord and tenant, 
 by selecting a resident landed proprietor of moderate opinions.— 
 Therefore, in the next issue of that periodical a letter appeared signed 
 “ a Presbyterian Elector,” an alias of “ Inquirer,” in which the writer 
 Combated the opinions of “ Conservator,” and repudiated his advice to 
 the Presbyterian body, and said, “ It is possible that a few of the class 
 “ Conservator” terms gentry may be induced to support Captain 
 
23 
 
 Dawson, for pedigree has, I fear, even in this age of improvement and 
 progress, a great amount of influence in Ireland, where unfortunately 
 men are not always valued and appreciated for their worth and useful¬ 
 ness.” These sentiments were further developed in succeeding 
 numbers of the same periodical under another alias, “ Perambulator,’’ 
 who reviewed the pretensions of “ expected candidates ” at the com¬ 
 ing election. As to one of them he observed; “ the next expected 
 candidate is Captain Peel Dawson, the nephew of Sir Robert Peel, 
 who has some hereditary claims upon the county, and may yet dis¬ 
 play many of the statesmanlike qualities of his distinguished relative; 
 one of his backers, under the title of “ Conservator,” describes him in 
 the Londonderry Journal as likely, if elected without a contest, to 
 bridge over the schemes of opinion, and conciliate all parties, but un¬ 
 fortunately opinions are of too fluctuating and unstable a character, 
 to afford firm foundations for a bridge, unless it be very much of the 
 nature of a castle in the air, requiring no material support.” “Peram¬ 
 bulator’s” review was not left unnoticed by our friend “Elector, ” who 
 published the following letter on the subject:— 
 
 IV. 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE “ COLERAINE CHRONICLE.” 
 
 Sir,— “ Elector,” in the columns of the Coleraine Chronicle , and 
 “ Conservator,” in the Derry Journal , have aroused into activity a 
 third party, in the person of “ Perambulator,” a good-humouredjgossip, 
 who, becoming interested and excited, set out upon a journey through 
 the county, and details in the columns of that respectably conducted 
 cheap publication, the Independent Elector , the marvellous things 
 he heard about expected candidates, as he journeyed fromNewtown- 
 limavady and Greerstown, to Downhill and Ballynacree, and thence 
 across to Maghera, Castledawson, and the petit village of Money- 
 more, where, however, his good humour seems to have forsaken him. 
 Like the renowned hero of Cervantes, he yearned for a pass at arms, 
 and poising his lance, drawing down his vizor, and spurring his 
 steed, the ungentle Rosinante, he charged an ancient military knight 
 there, and retired from the field, like his great precursor, with a 
 shivered lance and doubtful honours. 
 
 Our peripatetic friend enumerates no less than ten candidates for 
 the “ sweet voices of the electors.” Some of them, no doubt, pos¬ 
 sess average ability, and would make very respectable representatives 
 of constituencies which had not lost prestige in the senate; but 
 
24 
 
 the rule that pervades the mercantile world governs the political. 
 If once a county or borough retrogades and loses caste, it requires 
 quadruple ability and influence to restore its credit. That the 
 county of Derry unhappily has occupied that unenviable position 
 for the last quarter of a century is conceded by all who are not wil¬ 
 fully blind to passing events. The representation has been most 
 unsatisfactory alike to the landed proprietors and the educated and 
 mercantile and farming classes generally, most of whom, however 
 reluctant they be to confess the humiliating truth, do not consider 
 themselves to have been represented at all; and hence the unex¬ 
 pected and indignant outbreak, and nearly successful effort of the in¬ 
 dependent farmers at the last election to prostrate the power and extin¬ 
 guish the influence of the landlords,.to whose criminal apathy and 
 indifference they attributed, and not without reason, the pre-existing 
 and anomalous state of the representation. Had it not been that 
 feelings of delicacy restrained many influential gentlemen and elec¬ 
 tors from precipitating the retirement of their aged representative, 
 Admiral Jones, on the eve of his voluntary severance of the con¬ 
 nexion which had so long subsisted between him and them, as also 
 the rather extreme views and exaggerated notions of tenant-right 
 advocated by the popular candidate, and the vituperative attacks 
 made on the landlord class on the occasion of the last election, the 
 gallant dash of the fifteen hundred tenant farmers would have been 
 crowned with success; since many electors of various shades of 
 opinion, and not a few of the landlords themselves, tired out and 
 discontented with the existing state of things, would otherwise have 
 joined, to open the county and establish its representation on a 
 rational basis. 
 
 “ Perambulator,” who seems to be a very nervous gentleman, with 
 good intentions, need not be alarmed at the imposing array of can¬ 
 didates which he has paraded like chessmen on the board, for even 
 if they should not succeed in accomplishing that rare feat which has 
 immortalized the domestic animals of St. Canice (Kilkenny), many 
 of them will at least spare the electors the trouble of investigating 
 their relative claims at the hustings. As the perilous moment 
 approaches, when sheriffs and assessors, attorneys and canvassing 
 agents, poll-clerks and job-coach proprietors, committees and tally- 
 rooms, hotel-keepers and “ my account at the bankers,” appear in 
 perspective, the number of candidates will have become “ small by 
 degrees and beautifully less.” These after all are the material things 
 —the hard realities, which cool down the patriotic ardour of aspirants 
 
25 
 
 for senatorial fame. Few men in this utilitarian age, in which prac¬ 
 tical good sense is the guiding element of thought and action, will 
 hazard the loss of three or four, perhaps six thousand pounds, and 
 sacrifice their own ease, comfort, and health, and the prospects of 
 their families, for the mere chance of obtaining an ephemeral and 
 shadowy honour—the privilege of keeping late hours, doing much 
 hard work, and holding levees of their supporters and others seeking 
 after place and patronage. Therefore our too credulous friend, “Per¬ 
 ambulator,” may be prepared to see at the hustings but four, possibly 
 three only, out of the ten whom he has named. In well-informed 
 circles these four are understood to be Mr. Bateson, of Belvoir, one 
 of the sitting members, Captain Peel Dawson, of Moyola Park, Cas- 
 tledawson; Sir Henry H. Bruce, of Downhill, and Mr. Greer, of 
 Greerstown. The name of Sir Francis Ileygate has also been men¬ 
 tioned, but that gentleman possesses the shrewd good sense of his 
 country, and does not disguise his disinclination to encounter the 
 drudgery, turmoil, and expense of political life. He prefers the calm 
 retirement of his beautifully-wooded demesne of Bellarena, ganed 
 by the serene sky and revivifying air of Myroe, to the foetid atmos¬ 
 phere of St. Stephen’s, and the fogs of his native city of London. 
 
 But, having the candidates, what are the principles they profess, 
 and which the electors are called upon to affirm? Probably no 
 other county in Ireland presents such heterogeneous opinions, and 
 conflicting interests, and jealousies; but, however political parties 
 may differ on minor points, they will fuse at an election into three 
 leading and distinctive classes, representing as many principal 
 creeds—the Orange or ultra Protestant ascendancy party, 
 
 Its antithesis, the powerful Radical party, 
 holding extreme and rather liberal views of the rights of property 
 —having little respect for landlords, and vested interests or monopoly 
 of any kind, and still less for church establishments and similar insti¬ 
 tutions. And lastly, the party of enlightened Conservative progress— 
 a middle between either extreme—highly educated, most numerous, 
 and rapidly recruiting from the ranks of the other two; belonging to 
 he aristocracy and identified with its traditions, interests, and feel¬ 
 ings ; while preserving the rights and privileges of its order, it keeps 
 pace with the progress of education and science; pursuing a liberal 
 and just course towards the industrial and productive classes, it gives 
 them protection for the fruits of their skill and capital ; while 
 easing the springs of industry in every department from the pressure 
 of unequal taxation, it concedes to all the free and unrestricted 
 
26 
 
 exercise of opinion, and imposes no penalties for the adoption of one 
 set of ideas more than another; upholding, conserving, and im¬ 
 proving the institutions of the country, and adapting and arranging 
 their machinery in harmonious action with the spirit and progress of 
 the age, it seeks to consolidate and establish them on that broad and 
 indestructible basis, the affection, respect, and veneration of a free, 
 happy, and contented people. 
 
 The four candidates named are fair types and representatives of 
 those different classes of opinion. As to Mr. Bateson, he has been so 
 long before the public, and his opinions and public conduct so well 
 known, they may safely be left without observation to the judgment 
 of his constituents. Sir Henry H. Bruce, as an Orangeman, and 
 Grand Master of the Orangemen of the county of Derry, is 
 peculiarly qualified, in every respect, to represent the Orange 
 or Protestant ascendancy party. Mr. Greer, an astute lawyer, is 
 a fair exponent of the views of the Radical or “ advanced Liberal 
 party,” and Captain Peel Dawson, who possesses a cultivated mind 
 of the highest order, and a large share of the talents and ability 
 of his family, is admirably qualified to represent the rising and 
 powerful party of enlightened Conservative progress. 
 
 A calm and thinking and well-informed people, free from pre- 
 j udices, and anxious for free altars and happy homes, prosperity and 
 peace at home and abroad, will have little difficulty in choosing the 
 side on which to range themselves; but on this subject a few words, 
 if necessary, on a future occasion. 
 
 Elector. 
 
 In the meantime an election took place in the county of Longford, 
 of a very suggestive character, to which “ Elector” drew the parti¬ 
 cular attention of the electors of the county of Derry, in the follow¬ 
 ing letter:— 
 
 V. 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE “ COLERAINE CHRONICLE.” 
 
 Sir, —A few of the circumstances connected with the recent 
 election for the county of Longford are suggestively instructive in 
 reference to the next election for the county of Derry. In a former 
 communication the generous and confiding spirit of the Catholic 
 electors of New Ross, Sligo, and Athlone, were adverted to. In all 
 
27 
 
 three “ respectable Cawtholics”—as Lord St. Leonard used to designate 
 the Roman-catholic habitues of the D—Is halfacre, (so the uppercastle 
 yard, Dublin Castle, is facetiously called)—were successively rejected 
 for moderate Conservative landlords, and the Protestant gentry and 
 electors of the northern county of Derry were asked respectfully to 
 reciprocate the growing good feeling and liberality of the Catholics 
 of the south, by selecting representatives, not of the ultra and 
 almost effete high Tory school, but of the moderate Conservative 
 class, and thus set an example in the no longer “ black” but 
 “ bright north,” which would give a powerful impetus to the move¬ 
 ment in the south, and pave the way for the restoration of the 
 legitimate preponderance of Irish Conservative opinion in the 
 imperial senate. Those views and that suggestion would seem to 
 have been anticipated and acted upon in another way and in a 
 distant and unexpected quarter. The Honorable Mr. King Harman, 
 representing the interests of the house of Lorton, stepped out of the 
 ultra ranks on the occasion of the late election in Longford, and 
 met half way the opinions or prejudices, if you will, of his former 
 opponents, the Catholic electors of that county. Like a reasonable 
 gentleman, as he is, he saw that the charter of religious equality 
 had destroyed the prestige and extinguished the principle of exclu¬ 
 siveness, and that it would be futile and unproductive of any bene¬ 
 ficial results to aid any longer in the vain attempt to obstruct the 
 practical developement of that measure. He would not, his acts 
 declared, be guilty any more of the absurdity of standing out in the 
 stream and attempting to dam it up from flowing in its natural 
 course; but rationally and wisely he accepted the altered state of 
 circumstances. Although not elected, for his modified views were 
 rather tardily avowed, and another was earlier in the field, yet there is 
 no doubt of his return on another and more fitting occasion. Will it 
 be said that the house of Lorton is indifferent to the interests of church 
 and state? No family battled with more vigour, and struggled 
 with more gallantry, or for a longer period of time, at the registry, 
 and on the hustings, for the interests and principles of high Toryism, 
 or made more personal and pecuniary sacrifices to sustain them; and 
 yet the representative of the interests and political opinions of that 
 family has come forward within the last fortnight and manfully avowed 
 a modification of his views more in unison with human progress and 
 the enlightened spirit of the age. And was not that a wise and prudent 
 course on the part of Mr. King Harman, and consistent with true 
 
 i 
 
28 
 
 Conservatism, to give way to some extent to the opinions or prejudices, 
 if they be so, of the great body of electors, and restore the reins which 
 a dogged adherence to obsolete ideas had allowed to slip into other 
 hands ? Would it be unbecoming in the landed gentry and educated 
 classes of the county of Derry to follow the example of the noble 
 house of Lorton? To cast aside like him some of the leaven of 
 party prejudice and sectarian irrationality, which are wholly 
 unknown among enlightened men of the world who have travelled 
 and mixed in society beyond the narrow circle of their respective 
 localities;—to take the lead in indoctrinating and engrafting on the 
 public mind a generous and truly Conservative policy, and thus pre¬ 
 serve their power in the county while they add to their popularity; to 
 appear less to yield than to make graceful concessions to the public 
 voice; and above all, to do away with that most injurious and 
 strongly existing prejudice, that the representation is made the sport 
 of cliques and cabals in the grand jury room, or in the closet of a 
 few busy and self-sufficient gentlemen, who assume an arrogant tone 
 of dictation to the more moderate and retiring of the landed pro¬ 
 prietors and gentry, and ignore altogether the existence of the 
 electors. Would it not be wise in them to keep in view the historical 
 lesson painfully taught to the gallant chiefs of the high Tory party in 
 the reign of Charles I.? Had the chevaliers and court party in that 
 reign made, in time, moderate and graceful concessions to the people, 
 the head of their ill-fated monarch would not have rolled on the 
 scaffold, nor his son, the second Charles, and his adherents, the chival¬ 
 rous high Tories of England, Ireland, and Scotland, been exiles for 
 years from the homes of their childhood and affections. The writer, 
 whose instincts, sympathies, and feelings are identified with the 
 aristocracy and landed interests, and who sincerely desires the pre¬ 
 servation of the Corinthian columns of the state, would, therefore, 
 respectfully suggest to the landed gentry of Derry to calmly view 
 the subject apart from party prejudices or predilections, with an 
 anxious desire to adjust the representation on a more healthy, and, 
 at the same time a sounder and more permanent basis. From amongst 
 their own class, and in their own county, they cannot fail to select 
 representatives of ability, position, family influence, integrity, and 
 popularity, alike acceptable to the electors and creditable to them¬ 
 selves, as for instance Captain Peel Dawson, to whom the eyes of 
 the more moderate and enlightened of the electors are now turned; 
 but above all they should reflect that the franchise, in this free 
 
29 
 
 country, is a sacred trust, held not solely to advance local or personal 
 interests, but for the developement of the power, prosperity, and 
 glory of a great empire and a free people, now happily in amity 
 and alliance with the most civilized and tolerant of European 
 states. 
 
 Elector. 
 
 21st May, 1856. 
 
 Mr. Bateson, to the regret of numerous friends of all shades 
 of political opinion, fell into permanent ill-health, and resigned 
 the representation at the re-assembling of parliament in the 
 month of February, 1857. Mr. Greer almost immediately after¬ 
 wards addressed the electors, and by himself and his friends com¬ 
 menced an active and energetic canvass of the constituency. The 
 landlords of the county were also on the alert, and a meeting of their 
 entire body was convened for Monday, the 16th of February, at 
 M‘Crotty’s hotel, Coleraine, “ to secure,” as stated by the published 
 advertisement, “ the return of a fit and proper person to fill the 
 vacancy.” In contemplation of that meeting, “ Conservator” 
 addressed the landed gentry of the county through the columns of 
 the Derry Journal as follows:— 
 
 VI. 
 
 TO THE LANDED GENTRY OF THE COUNTY OF DOWN. 
 
 Gentlemen, —The retirement of Mr. Bateson, whose continued ill- 
 health we all must lament, creates a vacancy in the representation of 
 your county, and the writ for the election of a new member was 
 forwarded from the Hanaper Office on the 12th inst., and is in the 
 hands of the Sheriff. One gentleman, Mr. Greer, is again in the field, 
 and has already addressed the electors. Passing by his claims for the 
 present, I observe from the Coleraine Chronicle , of Saturday, that a 
 meeting of your entire body has been convened for this day (Monday), 
 at M‘Crotty’s Hotel, Coleraine, “ for the purpose of taking into con¬ 
 sideration the best steps to secure the return of a fit and proper person 
 to fill the vacancy ” The measure thus indicated is a politic one, 
 and perfectly constitutional, for you are electors, as well as proprietors 
 of the soil, and have a deep interest in the prosperity of the county, 
 and a right to see that it is properly and fairly represented. But when 
 you meet and discuss the subject, will you permit small rivalries and 
 jealousies to disunite you and create discord and disunion, as 
 
30 
 
 occurred frequently before, in your grand jury room, and then 
 separate without arriving at any practical or useful result. If you 
 do, you virtually abdicate your position, and negative your legiti¬ 
 mate influence; and the tenantry will take up the question, and 
 settle it, without your aid, accordingto their own fashion, and hence¬ 
 forward you may bid adieu to that political power which, in your 
 hands, has been wielded for the last quarter of a century, with little 
 self-respect, and less prudence and discretion, and which you will 
 have lost for want of prompt and united action, and timely conces¬ 
 sion to public opinion. Will you, therefore, with the object of 
 avoiding that most disagreeable denouement , divest yourselves for a 
 time of your prejudices and predilections, cast aside your rivalries 
 and jealousies, and calmly enter upon a resumS of the political con¬ 
 dition of the county and its representation, with one who is not hos¬ 
 tile to your interests, nor to your order; but, on the contrary, whose 
 sympathies and feelings are identified with yours, and who now 
 ventures to address you with frankness and sincerity. 
 
 You should recollect that your county has obtained an historic 
 name. When your ancestors saw that their cherished privileges 
 were, as they thought, assailed, and their religious liberties threatened 
 by the adherents of the House of Stuart—the high Tories of the day 
 —they combined as one man, to resist what they conscientiously 
 believed to have been a tyranny and a despotism. On the walls of 
 Derry they clustered, refused admission to Lord Antrim’s regiment, 
 and closed the gates. In that long siege of patient suffering and 
 death they baptised with their life’s blood the principles of civil 
 and religious liberty. A cloud in after years overshadowed that 
 heroic act, and the spirit and principles it evoked. Other men with 
 opposite ideas led the sons of the men of the revolution away from 
 the paths trodden by their ancestors, into the ranks of their 
 opponents, with such adroitness and skill as to impose upon the 
 rising generation the belief that they were identified with the 
 principles and following in the footprints of their fathers; and as on 
 each successive anniversary they stood on the maiden walls, in proud 
 commemoration of the shutting of the gates, the flag they bore was 
 not the flag of their fathers, but the standard of intolerance, carried 
 by their fathers’ enemies, and which, to entrap and deceive, had been 
 dyed in the colours of the revolution. But, in ’82, that glorious 
 period in the page of Irish history, your fathers, grandsons of the 
 men of 1688, returned to the principles for which their ancestors 
 had sacrificed so much—the Protestants of Derry, with their 
 
31 
 
 brethren of the other five counties of Ulster, assembled with arms 
 in their hands, in the church of Dungannon—the representatives of 
 143 corps of volunteers—the national guard of Ireland, were there 
 in their military uniforms, and with outstretched hands, and upraised 
 eyes to heaven, boldly asserted, in that sacred temple of religion, the 
 independence of the Irish parliament; and proclaimed, while the 
 buts of their muskets rang with responsive music on the floor, their 
 joy at the relaxation of the penal laws affecting their less fortunate 
 Roman Catholic fellow-countrymen. The spirit of nationality thus 
 evoked spread with electric speed, and penetrated into the hearts of 
 the masses of the people; again, in 1783, they met on the old 
 historic ground; and, in the Presbyterian Meeting-house of Dun¬ 
 gannon, Harvey, Bishop of Derry and Earl of Bristol, with the 
 leading men of your county being present, demanded parliamentary 
 reform. Thus you perceive that bigotry and intolerance were not 
 the legacies which your fathers bequeathed to you. They were 
 thoroughly national and tolerant as they were brave; and would it 
 be any discredit to such of you as may have been indifferent for a 
 time to the principles which they cherished, to mitigate to some 
 extent your views, and approximate them more towards their ideas? 
 The present vacancy affords you an excellent opportunity. Will 
 you embrace it, and prove, by uniting the present with the past, that 
 you do not lag behind the growing spirit of the age. Recollect 
 that, from the earliest period of time, the county of Derry has been 
 represented, with but few exceptions, by men of enlarged and 
 enlightened views, commencing with the first parliament, in the 
 reign of James I., 1613; from thence members of the houses of 
 Rowley and Beresford, with whom the Dawsons, of Castledawson, 
 w r ere closely related, represented it down to the eighteenth century. 
 For twelve years, from 1729 to 1741, the versatile and intellectual 
 Arthur Dawson, of Castledawson, afterwards the celebrated and 
 witty Baron Dawson, of the Court of Exchequer, was one of its 
 most gifted members. Again, the Ponsonbys, able and patriotic, 
 were its representatives, one of whom fell on the field of Waterloo, 
 in 1815, and was replaced by the Right Honorable George Robert 
 Dawson, whose talents, ever ready eloquence, comprehensive intellect, 
 and masterly knowledge of public business, reflected honour on the 
 landed gentry and tenant constituency who sent him into parliament. 
 He represented you for fifteen years, and during that time Derry 
 acquired a world-wide reputation; the name of “ Derry Dawson,” 
 like household words, being on everybody’s lip. The connexion 
 
between you and him was severed in 1830, under circumstances 
 painful to both, and which cannot be more appropriately described 
 than in the language of a late gracefully-written biography of him 
 and his family, published in the Belfast Daily Mercury . “ Reared 
 
 and educated in the ultra school of politics, though possessed of an 
 enlarged and generous mind, Mr. Dawson for some years opposed 
 the concession of equal civil rights to the majority of his country¬ 
 men. However, in the progress of time, men’s minds became more 
 enlarged and enlightened, prejudice began to disappear, and eminent 
 statesmen, who had previously opposed it, impelled by a regard for the 
 public good, and tranquillity and material prosperity of the nation, 
 began to look at the question with an anxious and honest intention 
 of settling it to the satisfaction of all parties. Mr. Dawson, and 
 many other able and enlightened men, gradually disenthralled their 
 minds from mere party views and prejudices—joined the party of 
 Conservative progress, and passed along in the popular current of wise 
 and enlightened legislation. Although his views on that question 
 were not suddenly adopted, for his former opinions on it had under¬ 
 gone a change upwards of a year before the government had taken 
 it up as a cabinet measure, yet his speeches and votes on it at the 
 close caused an estrangement between him and some of his consti¬ 
 tuents in his native county of Derry, who, while they were in a 
 passion, would not allow themselves to be reasoned out of their 
 prejudices; but these feelings have long since subsided, and he and 
 they have lived to see and acknowledge the beneficial results of that 
 measure, in its tranquillising effect on the public mind, and the absence, 
 comparatively, of religious strife and sectarian bitterness, while the 
 apprehension of danger from it to their civil rights and religious 
 institutions has wholly disappeared.” The London companies, and 
 other leading landed proprietors of the county, took a more favourable 
 view of Mr. Dawson’s conduct on that occasion. In 1830 the Court 
 of Directors of the Irish Society passed a resolution in his favour, 
 and after the Act of 1829 had passed, the Drapers* Company,landlords 
 of Moneymore, unanimously voted the freedom of the company to 
 him. From the most remote period of time the London companies 
 took a direct and active interest in support of the family of Mr. 
 Dawson, in the representation of the county, as, for instance, in 1763 
 the Irish Society passed a resolution in the Court of Directors, 
 under “ letters patent,” requesting the tenantry to “ promote the 
 interests of Mr. Secretary Dawson to be one of the knights of the shire 
 for the Society’s county of Londonderry, and to make known such 
 
33 
 
 the Society’s desire and recommendation in favour of Mr. Dawson 
 to all the freeholders.” 
 
 You are aware that a remarkable change has taken place as well in 
 the intellectual, as in the material world, since 1830; the principles 
 enunciated by the Catholic Emancipation Relief Act of 1829, and 
 the Reform Act of 1833, have been steadily advancing since 
 in a course of development; no rational being now dreams of a 
 retrograde movement to penal laws and rotten boroughs. Has the 
 representation of the county of Derry during that time been such, 
 as, on a calm and dispassionate review, is calculated to excite 
 satisfaction in your minds? Has Derry kept up with the spirit and 
 progress of the age, or has it not stood still on the old intolerant 
 and now effete policy, impracticable and useless, conferring upon the 
 representation neither value nor weight in the imperial parliament? 
 Would it not be wise of you, who have the power, if you promptly 
 and judiciously exercise it, to seize the present opportunity, make 
 some concession to the growing intelligence and liberal views of 
 the great body of the electors, who are disinclined and reluctant 
 to run counter to your opinions, and acting upon the principle 
 of enlightened Conservative progress, once more to range yourselves 
 under the time-honoured banner of your fathers, and not under the 
 spurious flag which their enemies and yours surreptitiously palmed 
 on you for it. The extremes of Radicalism and Orangeism are un¬ 
 suited to this enlightened and tolerant age. Public opinion has 
 stamped its disapprobation of them, and pronounced them vulgar , 
 and once the fiat of fashion has passed against them their requiem 
 must be sung. The question now arises, what is your best course to 
 pursue on this occasion. Your Roman Catholic brethren in the south 
 point it out to you in clear and indelible characters—the electors 
 of New Ross, Sligo, and Athlone, and lastly, Clonmel, indicate 
 your course, and in the silent but emphatic language of example, 
 call upon you to stand forward and generously reciprocate their 
 good feeling, confiding spirit, and total absence of sectarian¬ 
 ism. You have now before you one candidate avowedly in the 
 field, Mr. Greer. Does he come up to your standard? Are you 
 prepared to accept him ? You must make up your minds to do so if 
 you attempt to thrust upon the electors an opponent of an ultra or 
 intolerant stamp. Take the latter course, and you will only swell 
 the ranks of Mr. Greer, who comes forward now, as he did on the 
 last occasion, in undisguised hostility to your power—to efface your 
 prestige and extinguish your political monopoly in the county. I 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 need scarcely ask you that he will have neither your good wishes 
 nor support, and that, unaided by you at least, he will have to battle 
 for the representation on the principles of “ Presbyterian representa¬ 
 tion,” which he avows in his address, and of which he is the first 
 champion in the field. Are you prepared, as it is rumoured, (prob¬ 
 ably by some enemy to your order,) to put forward and nominate 
 Sir Henry II. Bruce, of Downhill? He is an amiable gentleman 
 enough in private life; has delivered one or two public lectures in 
 Coleraine, of the average kind, on literary subjects; has spoken a 
 few common-place things on the subject of postal arrangements; 
 made himself agreeable by catering for the public amusement in 
 getting up the races of Downhill, and presiding at convivial 
 meetings of Orange lodges, as Grand Master of the Orangemen of 
 the County of Londonderry. These are the only public acts of 
 that gentleman which have come under my cognizance, and the 
 public acts alone, of public men, are fit and proper subjects for 
 public criticism. Are they, I ask, the qualifications, and Orangeism 
 {ostensibly avowed ) the principles suitable in your minds for the 
 representation of the County of Derry, in this age, and at the end 
 of twenty-seven years of its political stagnation? Will you raise 
 again the flag of intolerance, and proclaim to the great British and 
 Irish empire, that one corner of it, bordering on the Atlantic, and 
 with an old historic name, is still backward and unenlightened, 
 and lagging behind the spirit of the age ? Neither Lord Derby, 
 nor Disraeli, nor Sir John Packington, would recognise such an ally. 
 Under what political leader, then, would Derry range itself, or to 
 what influential and really respectable party become allied? None 
 whatever. The high Tory and well-informed and respectable paper, 
 the London Standard, of Saturday, avows, and it is pregnant evi¬ 
 dence of the spirit of the times, that “ Lord Palmerston is the most 
 suitable minister that can probably be had under the existing consti¬ 
 tution.” The present ministry is, therefore, in all probability des¬ 
 tined, with some modifications, to have a long tenure of office. 
 Is the County of Derry to continue isolated, contrary to its interests, 
 without participating in the advantages of an alliance with the 
 leading interests of the day ? Supposing that your good sense and 
 sound discrimination will negative the claims of the Grand Master 
 of the Orangemen of the county of Derry, and permit that gentle¬ 
 man, as I think you will, to enjoy the pure air and bracing breezes 
 off the coast, at his beautiful mansion of Downhill, and continue 
 his avocations as a country gentlemen undisturbed, what then will 
 
35 
 
 or ought to be your ultimate decision ? I respectfully submit that 
 the safe and honourable course for you to pursue, will be to turn 
 your attention away from either extreme, the Radical or the Orange 
 or Protestant ascendancy party, to select a candidate from the middle, 
 or party of enlightened Conservative progress in your county, 
 happily described recently by “ Elector,” a well informed writer in 
 the Coleraine Chronicle , as “a middle between either extreme— 
 highly educated, most numerous, and rapidly recruiting from the 
 ranks of the two extremes, belonging to the aristocracy, and identi¬ 
 fied with its traditions, interests, and feelings- While preserving the 
 rights and privileges of its order, keeping pace with the progress of 
 education and science, and pursuing a liberal and just course towards 
 the industrial and productive classes—giving to them protection 
 for the fruits of their skill and capital, and easing the springs of in¬ 
 dustry in every department from the pressure of unequal taxation; 
 conceding to all the free and unrestricted exercise of opinion, and im¬ 
 posing no penalties for the adoption of one set of ideas more than an¬ 
 other; upholding, conserving, and improving the institutions of the 
 country, and adapting, and arranging their machinery in harmonious 
 action with the spiritand progressof the age, and thus consolidating and 
 establishing them on that broad and indestructible basis, the affection, 
 respect, and veneration of a free, and happy, and contented people.” 
 Out of this party in your county, a thinking and well-informed, and 
 educated class such as you are, will have little difficulty in making a 
 selection, alike honourable to yourselves and gratifying to the 
 electors ; and here permit me to close with some observations of 
 mine on the subject in a former letter addressed to the respected and 
 able editor of the Londonderry Journal, which may appropriately 
 be repeated here :—“ The attention of the constituency of the 
 county Derry has, for a length of time, been directed towards 
 Captain Robert Peel Dawson, of Moyola Park, Castledawson, as a 
 gentleman possessing, in an eminent degree, the qualifications 
 required for the restoration in parliament of the county of Derry to its 
 proper position and influence. He is a gentleman of moderate, 
 liberal, Conservative views, favourable to an equitable adjustment of 
 the relations between landlord and tenant; a resident landlord, and 
 thoroughly acquainted with the social and fiscal condition of the 
 county as grand juror, magistrate, and poor-law guardian; the head 
 of an ancient family in the county, many of whom were its repre¬ 
 sentatives, and connected, maternally and by marriage, with distin¬ 
 guished and most influential families in Ireland and in England, 
 
36 
 
 combined with the possession of a highly-cultivated mind, and a large 
 share of the ability of his family. He appears to have more than 
 average qualifications for a representative of Derry, and entitled to 
 bring to bear upon any question coming before parliament, a weight 
 and authority, which would soon be felt in a manner most gratifying to 
 the constituency, and conducive to the material interests of the 
 country. His unopposed return, selected by gentry and people 
 would also be a graceful act, now that the grave has closed over the 
 remains of his father, their former highly-gifted representative; and, 
 by restoring the intimate relations which so long subsisted between 
 the constituency of the county of Derry and the Dawson family, 
 would harmonise with the better feelings of the electors, and prevent 
 the disagreeable ordeal of a contested election.”—I am, gentlemen, 
 with much respect, yours faithfully, 
 
 Conservator. 
 
 16 th February, 1857. 
 
 The meeting referred to took place at the time and place 
 appointed, and it appears Sir Henry Harvey Bruce was requested at 
 it to become a candidate, but declined on the score of expense. 
 “ I felt,” as he afterwards stated in his published letter, “ my duty 
 to my family would not justify me in expending a large sum of 
 money, when, perhaps, I might be obliged to do so in a week again.” 
 After his refusal, an universal invitation was given to Mr. Clark 
 and accepted. The selection of the latter gentleman, and the pub¬ 
 lished address of Mr. Greer, in which Presbyterian representation 
 appeared as a prominent feature, were thus commented on, in the 
 Derry Journal , by “ Conservator” :— 
 
 VII. 
 
 TO THE LANDED GENTRY AND ELECTORS OF THE COUNTY OF DERRY. 
 
 Gentlemen — I congratulate you on the auspicious era that com¬ 
 mences with the present election. Hitherto your views were 
 separate and antagonistic, but are no longer so. Since I last had 
 the honour of addressing you, the contemplated meeting of landed 
 proprietors has been held at Coleraine. The “ coming man”—Thane 
 of Downhill, whose shadow was kept so long floating before the gaze 
 of the electors, was not forthcoming for the struggle, and ingloriously 
 left the field, although it is said he hastened home from the fasci- 
 
37 
 
 nating allurements of the carnival in the Eternal City, to embrace 
 the long-sought object of his ambition; and the landed gentry selected, 
 not an ultra candidate, to raise again the flag of intolerance and 
 ascendancy, so long represented, but untruly represented, to be the 
 standard of the men of the revolution, but a gentleman identified 
 with the views and holding the principles of the brave men who 
 closed the gates, and changed a dynasty, rather than permit, accord¬ 
 ing to their belief, the hydra of intolerance to raise itself in this free 
 country; a gentleman of the party of liberal and enlightened Con¬ 
 servative progress, the esteemed and much-respected Mr. Clark, of 
 Maghera. This timely concession to the opinions of the great body 
 of the eleetors, which the writer has so frequently and earnestly 
 urged with deference and respect on the attention of the landed 
 gentry, is not only strategic, in an electioneering sense, but a grati¬ 
 fying indication of their advancing liberal spirit, and resolve to 
 restore the county to its pristine position in the scale of represen¬ 
 tation. It is true that considerable disappointment has been felt, 
 generally, that their choice did not fall upon Captain Peel Dawson, 
 whose various claims pointed him out to be the most suitable and 
 desirable representative of the county. However, next to him, Mr. 
 Clark, an amiable and intelligent, and universally respected country 
 gentleman, of advanced and enlightened opinions, will enlist the 
 largest share of support, and the best wishes of the constituency; and 
 from Captain Dawson’s generous and unselfish nature there can be 
 no manner of doubt, however much he might have prized the honour 
 of the representation himself, that there is not in the county a single 
 individual who rejoices more at the selection of Mr. Clark than 
 he does, and who, considering the close identity of their political 
 sentiments, will afford him more frank and cordial support. The 
 present contest, therefore, if it can now be called one, will present 
 the gratifying spectacle of united action, and an unbroken front in 
 the ranks of the landed gentry, and harmony and cordial good-feel¬ 
 ing between them and the great body of the electors. Mr. Greer, 
 unfortunately for himself and for the peace of the county, has raised a 
 sectarian cry, and has come forward upon the sectarian principle of 
 Presbyterian representation, which is illiberal in its tendency, and 
 offensive to tolerant and enlightened men of all sects, but especially 
 so to Episcopalian Protestants and Roman Catholics, whose support 
 he does not condescend to seek, and who, in all probability, will 
 demonstrate to his discomfiture, are not the contemptible one-third 
 in number of the electors, which he insinuates they are. Mr. Clark is the 
 
38 
 
 friend of tenant-right as well as Mr. Greer, In so far that he seeks to 
 adjust and equalize the mutual rights of landlord and tenant, and 
 set the matter fairly and equitably at rest. Identified, as he always 
 has been, with the principles of the revolution as they existed and 
 do exist in reality, and not as they have been misrepresented, he is, 
 in the proper sense of the term, the advocate and friend of civil and 
 religious liberty. He would impose no restraints on the free exercise 
 of religious belief, nor penalties for holding one set of ideas more 
 than another, but concede to all the right of private judgment, 
 unrestrained and unshackled, as they were adjusted by the Bill of 
 Rights. Where, then, exists that material difference between him 
 and Mr. Greer, whom I regret to be obliged to call “ the sectarian 
 candidate,” that the tenantry at this election should oppose for the 
 latter the views and wishes of their landlords—gentlemen who have 
 on this occasion, with such good taste and good feeling, exhibited in 
 their selection of such a moderate and liberal-minded man as Mr. 
 Clark, an anxious and earnest desire to meet the tenantry half-way, 
 and to cultivate in future more amicable and friendly relations with 
 them.—I am, gentlemen, faithfully yours, 
 
 Conservator. 
 
 23rd February, 1857. 
 
 The opinions of “Conservator” on the coming.contest, especially as 
 to the sectarian element imported into it by Mr. Greer, were not 
 singular or unsustained. “ The question arises,” observed the editor 
 of the Derry Journal , in that paper of Wednesday, the 25th of 
 February, 1857, “ how are those liberal Episcopalian, Presbyterian, 
 and Roman Catholic electors—who have hitherto sustained the 
 liberal cause, and free from any sectarian or sectional bias—to act 
 upon the present occasion ? Certainly, they are placed in a strange 
 difficulty. If they support Mr. Greer they support him in that 
 sectarian character which his address implies; and, if they vote 
 against him, they vote against the party of progressive reform.” The 
 last observation, however, was not critically correct, for Mr. Clark 
 avowed he would support well-digested measures of reform, and aid 
 in the remedy of abuses. 
 
 After an active canvass on the part of the respective candidates, 
 the nomination took place in the Court-house, in the city of Derry, 
 on Monday, the 2nd of March, 1857, before William Henry Scott, 
 Esq., the High Sheriff. Mr. Greer was proposed by the Rev. Robert 
 Gray, Presbyterian minister, and seconded by John Adams, Esq.; 
 
39 
 
 and Mr. Clark was proposed by Major Scott, and seconded by 
 J. Barre Beresford, Esq. The polling took place in Coleraine, 
 Derry, Newtownlimavady, and Magherafelt, on the Thursday and 
 Friday following; and on Monday, the 9th of March, the Sheriff 
 announced the result of the poll to be—for Mr. Clark, 2,500; and 
 Mr. Greer, 1,457 : majority, 1,143. He then declared Mr. Clark 
 duly elected. 
 
 The result of the poll had been generally known before it was 
 officially announced, and was commented on by “ Conservator,” in 
 the columns of the Derry Journal , in the following terms :— 
 
 VIII. 
 
 TO THE LANDED GENTRY AND ELECTORS OF THE COUNTY OF DERRY. 
 
 Gentlemen, —Since I last had the honour of addressing you the 
 election has terminated by the triumphant return, as I anticipated, of 
 Mr. Clark. His opponent, Mr. Greer, of whom I intend to speak in 
 no other terms than respect, miscalculated the feelings and temper of 
 the electors. In his efforts to rouse the Presbyterian constituency, 
 and range them on his side, he committed the grave mistake of over¬ 
 looking the fact that his opponent was an estimable country gentleman 
 of moderate views, and identified, in political sentiment, with a large 
 majority of those who were sought to be arrayed against him. Mr. 
 Greer, it is plain, expected, and had prepared himself to meet another 
 and very different person as a political antagonist—a gentlemen, no 
 doubt, estimable in private life, but identified as the leader of a party 
 of extreme and illiberal sentiments; and the weapons, therefore, 
 which Mr. Greer employed were used against the wrong man, and 
 in their recoil wounded himself. Presbyterian wrongs may have 
 existed a century or century-and-half ago—prelatic power and 
 Episcopalian tyranny may have deprived them of civil rights, and 
 imposed restrictions on the free exercise of their religion; but those 
 things are matters of history, and history—in the language of a noble 
 and intellectually distinguished man, who had himself been of that 
 faith in his youth, but glided in his manhood into the more attractive 
 form of Episcopacy—being, as he said, “an old almanack," should 
 have been left as such by Mr. Greer, undisturbed among the moths 
 on the dusty shelves of the unfrequented library. To disentomb 
 those old stories and dress them up in modern attire, with a view to 
 excite party animosity and religious strife, did not evince much love 
 of harmony or charity of sentiment. All sects have in turn perse- 
 
40 
 
 cuted wlien in power; it was the fashion of the times, but if Prelatists 
 and Round-Heads were unreasonable and fiery zealots, why should 
 their descendants, who have been reared up with far different ideas, 
 be charged with the absurdities of their fathers ? The good-humoured, 
 and to all appearance tolerant gentlemen, who thronged the platform 
 at the side of Mr. Clark, in the city of Derry on Monday last, did 
 not exhibit, either by gesture or language any evidence, of persecuting 
 tendencies, or illiberal or sectarian views. They defended them¬ 
 selves with moderation against the fierce invectives of their opponents; 
 and the language of both the proposer and seconder of Mr. Clark, 
 the former—Major Scott, u a fine old country gentleman of the olden 
 time;” and the latter, Mr. Beresford, a man of spirit, was marked by 
 a deprecatory appeal against the introduction of sectarianism into the 
 contest. The endorsement by them of the opinions avowed by Mr. 
 Clark, in the few observations which he was permitted to make 
 amidst the clamour of his opponents, sufficiently attest the advanced 
 state of their political views. “ 1 am,” observed that gentleman, as 
 reported in the Coleraine Chronicle u the nominee of no party. I 
 come on the invitation of a number of the most influential electors of 
 the county , but I will enter parliament, if you let me, free and un¬ 
 fettered—unshackled and independent—looking to measures and not 
 to men. As to the geat question of tenant-right, I will advocate any 
 measure that will have for its object the protection of the property, 
 of the tenant. I will co-operate in advocating any measure that 
 may be introduced with a view to the reduction of our taxes, and the 
 improvement of our domestic institutions .” After the expression of 
 such views, and the well-known opinions of Mr. Clark on other 
 equally important subjects, it was unfortunate of Mr. Greer to have 
 proceeded further, and to have contested the county at all, but 
 especially on purely sectarian grounds. But here it should be 
 distinctly understood that it was neither the power nor the prestige 
 of the landed gentry which carried the election, and they are fully 
 aware of it. 
 
 It was the respectful deference they gracefully paid to the opinions 
 and feelings of the electors in selecting and placing before them, not 
 a stranger, nor politician of extreme views, but a gentleman of the 
 county, of moderate opinions. Had they persisted, on the advice of 
 false friends, and the persuasion of aspirants to cheap parliamentary 
 honors, in an attempt to thrust on the constituency an ultra party-man, 
 the result would have been different, and the abuse and vituperation 
 with which they were assailed would have been accompanied with 
 
41 
 
 the still greater mortification of defeat. In the hour of victory, with 
 1,143 of a majority, and the necessary inference that Mr. Greer will 
 not again come forward, and that, on the next occasion there will 
 be an easy run over the course, at a small expense , there will, no 
 doubt, be a more than ordinary number of aspirants for the second 
 place on the approaching dissolution of parliament and retirement 
 of Admiral Jones. It would not be a matter of surprise, judging of 
 human nature in its various phases, if even the gentleman of domi¬ 
 nant opinions, whose “ duty to his family ” would not allow him 
 recently to incur the “ expense ”—whose timidity, or something else, 
 hazarded the triumph of sectarianism and defeat of the landed interest, 
 until Mr. Clark manfully occupied the post of honour—would come 
 forward and modestly seek the representation, but the high-spirited 
 gentry and electors will know how to deal with his pretensions, if 
 he should have the questionable taste to present himself; and it is 
 therefore unnecessary to waste more words upon him. Another 
 class may also emerge into public view, and suddenly discover that 
 they too entertain similar moderate views as Mr. Clark. It would 
 be but justice to these gentlemen of sudden conversion, to permit 
 them again to retire into the privacy of domestic life, rather than to 
 expose them to the danger of relapse. Men whose opinions vary 
 in proportion to the near approach or distance of the glittering 
 object of desire, are not to be depended upon. It is the man of high 
 principle , who acts upon his convictions , and neither temporises 
 nor vacillates , who is deserving of your countenance and support , 
 for on his integrity and honour , as a public man , implicit confidence 
 may be reposed. Of such men are Mr. Clark and Captain Peel 
 Dawson, who have pursued a steady and even course unde- 
 viatingly, until public opinion in the county has advanced and 
 stamped their ideas as its own. You have selected the one, and it 
 remains for you to proceed in the same consistent and politic path, 
 and return the other. Both are identified in political opinion—con¬ 
 servative, moderate, and enlightened; looking to measures not tomen; 
 advocates of a reasonable tenant-right, alike acceptable to landlord 
 and tenant—giving to the latter protection for the property which he 
 creates by hi 3 industry in the soil; reducing taxation; improving 
 and conserving the domestic institutions of the country, and advo¬ 
 cating every measure which will tend to its stability, its prosperity, 
 and its glory. It is publicly understood that Captain Dawson, a 
 gentleman of independent fortune and intellectual ability, has for 
 some time desired the honour of representing this, his native county, 
 
42 
 
 and of re-establishing the intimate relations which so long subsisted 
 between his family and the constituency; but that motives of delicacy 
 towards the sitting members, and deference to the opinions of his 
 brethren of the landed interest, whose political sentiments, until 
 recently, were not so advanced as his, have hitherto deterred him 
 from formally declaring himself and seeking the representation; but 
 the general election which approaches, the vacancy which will 
 necessarily take place, and the existing moderate views of the landed 
 gentry, identical with his, as enunciated in their selection of his 
 friend and neighbour, Mr. Clark, will, it is to be hoped, induce 
 him to abandon his reserve, and respond to the wishes of the 
 electors. With “ Clark and Daivson ’—“ Dawson and ClarV —as 
 rallying cries at the next election, all opposition will be futile, 
 since landlords and tenants, acting in harmony and good feeling, 
 without any disturbing element to intervene, will present a suffi¬ 
 ciently formidable barrier against any future attempt to disturb the 
 peace of the county.—I have the honour to be, gentlemen, your 
 obedient servant. 
 
 7th March, 1857. Conservator. 
 
 The editor of the Derry Journal , in commenting on the result of 
 the election, took a somewhat similar view of it. “ For one reason, 
 at least,” he observed, “ we must say we rejoice at this result; we 
 rejoice at it because it furnishes unmistakeable proof that the electors 
 of Londonderry have determined to allow no sectarian feeling to 
 influence them in the choice of a representative. We are quite sure 
 that at the approaching general election they will be actuated by the 
 same feeling; and that, no matter who may be the candidate for the 
 county, they will give their support only to men who, in the words 
 of our correspondent, ‘ Conservator,’ act upon their convictions , and 
 neither temporise nor vacillate .” 
 
 Mr. Clark had scarcely taken his seat when a general election 
 unexpectedly took place. Lord Palmerston, having succeeded Lord 
 Aberdeen as Premier, conducted the country through a great war, 
 and finally concluded an honourable peace. But, the Russian war 
 over, he appeared to have no distinctive home policy, and created 
 a growing dissatisfaction in the minds of the majority of his sup¬ 
 porters of the liberal party, in his obstruction to practical measures of 
 progressive reform, while his favourite bellicose foreign policy was 
 
43 
 
 felt to be involving the country in too many disputes, A coalition 
 was, therefore, formed against him; and the wanton bombardment 
 of the city and forts of Canton, upon the most trivial provocation, in 
 the affair of the ship Arrow, was seized upon as the pretext for a 
 combined assault upon his administration. On Thursday, the 26th 
 of February, 1857, Mr. Cobden brought forward a motion in the 
 House of Commons condemnatory of the aggressive measures against 
 the Chinese—a people with whom England was not at war—and 
 asked for a select committee. The debate lasted four nights, during 
 which the minister found himself assailed by the ablest men in the 
 house, including Cobden, Sydney Herbert, Lord John Russell, 
 Disraeli, and Gladstone; and at three o’clock on the morning of 
 Wednesday, the 14th of March, the motion was carried by a 
 majority of 16. Lord Palmerston, instead of resigning, as his oppo¬ 
 nents had hoped,resorted to a dissolution of parliament, and appealed 
 to the country. So soon as it became known that the country was 
 on the eve of a general election, various rumours were set afloat, and 
 much speculation entertained as to the future of the representation of 
 the county of Derry. The usual skirmishing of outposts commenced 
 through the columns of the public papers by “ Correspondents,” 
 “ Independent Electors,” “ Lovers of Fair Play,” &c. 
 
 “ Conservator-Elector ” did not enter the lists. The writer felt 
 that his self-imposed mission of political propagandism in the county 
 had been accomplished, when Mr. Clark, a gentleman of moderate and 
 enlightened Conservative opinions, was adopted by the landed gentry, 
 and returned by an overwhelming majority over a candidate, who, 
 although professing to entertain advanced liberal opinions, was in 
 other respects the champion of sectarianism. Having sown the seed, 
 and elicited such a decided manifestation of approval of the opinions 
 advocated in those letters, the writer deemed further appeals unneces¬ 
 sary, and felt that both landlord and tenant should be left for the future 
 to the uninterrupted developement of the enlightened and moderate, 
 and anti-sectarian course they had so honourably initiated. Hence 
 the curtain drops on “ Conservator-Elector,” who appears no more 
 before the public ; it only remains for his editor to narrate subse¬ 
 quent events, which singularly verified the predictions of the writer, 
 and stamped his ideas with the impress of success. 
 
 In the Derry Journal of the 18th of March two addresses ap¬ 
 peared in the advertising columns, one from Admiral Jones, an¬ 
 nouncing his retirement, and the other from Mr. Clark, thanking 
 
44 
 
 the electors for his return, and intimating that he would seek a 
 renewal of the trust. The editor, in commenting on the coming 
 election observed—“ Should the landlord and Conservative party 
 select a man of moderate views , that would be actuated by no sectarian 
 feeling , but that would obtain the support of members of all creeds and 
 classes , it would be the height of indiscretion for Greer , with the preju¬ 
 dices that have been excited against him , again to offer for the county. 
 On the other hand should a candidate of Ultra-Orange and High 
 Tory politics be selected , Mr. Greer may be enabled to rally around 
 him a large majority of the constituency. 
 
 The Conservative landlords of the county held a meeting of their 
 entire body at Coleraine, on the 11th of March, 1857, to select and 
 agree upon a candidate. The meeting was adjourned to the 15th r 
 and further adjourned to the 20th, but in the meantime Sir Henry 
 H. Bruce, without waiting for their decision, took the independent 
 course of issuing an address to the electors on Patrick’s Day, the 
 17th of March, in which he promulgated rather a safe policy, viz.:— 
 
 “ In the present distracted state of parties it is difficult,” said the 
 honourable baronet, “ to enlist under a banner , but I have great con¬ 
 fidence in the general policy of Lord Derby; though, as a Conservative, 
 jealous of the honour of his country abroad, 1 cannot regard Lord Pal¬ 
 merston on all occasions as an unworthy minister of this great country. 
 A staunch and unflinching advocate of our Protestant Constitution , 
 nevertheless have the greatest respect for the rights of con¬ 
 science and am equally an advocate of civil and religious liberty .” 
 
 The meetings of the landed gentry, to select a candidate, were not 
 open to the public, but the following version of the proceedings, given 
 editorially in the ‘ Londonderry Journal,’ of Wednesday, the 25th of 
 March, 1857, we have reason to believe is substantially correct. “ It 
 is understood that at a previous meeting, held at Derry on the 11th 
 inst., the names of four gentlemen were submitted for consideration— 
 namely, Sir Frederick Hey gate, Sir Henry Bruce, Captain Dawson, 
 and Mr. Beresford, who bound themselves severally to abide the result 
 of the meeting. The two latter were selected, and on a division, 
 Mr. Beresford was chosen, subject to the approval of the Marquis of 
 Waterford, as head of that gentleman’s family, and a large landed pro¬ 
 prietor in the county. A deputation, consisting of Major Scott and Mr 
 Cromie, was accordingly sent to Curraghmore, to consult the Marquis; 
 but Mr. Cromie fell sick on the way, and Major Scott alone represented 
 the opinions of the meeting to his lordship. An adjourned meeting 
 
45 
 
 was held at Coleraine on the 15th inst. to receive Major Scott’s state¬ 
 ment of the result of his mission. A letter was read at it from Sir H. 
 Bruce, stating he would not come forward, and the meeting was further 
 adjourned to Friday, the 20th, when the gallant Major attended; 
 but in the meantime Sir Henry Bruce having changed his mind, 
 did not wait for the decision of the meeting, and addressed the 
 electors on the 17th of March. Major Scott stated at the meeting, 
 as the result of his interview with the Marquis of Waterford, that 
 his lordship’s advice to Mr. Beresford would be not to come 
 forward, and Major Scott added, in reference to Captain Dawson, 
 who stood next, that the Marquis stated he would not consent to his 
 candidature, and would refuse him all support. A very large 
 majority of the meeting gave expression to their decided dissatisfac¬ 
 tion at this announcement, and invited Captain Dawson to address 
 the constituency instantly, and proposed to send a new deputation to 
 Lord Waterford, in order to prevail on his lordship to reconsider 
 the matter, and rescind his veto; but Captain Dawson replied that, 
 considering the Marquis of Waterford’s influence, and that Sir 
 Henry Bruce had already issued his address, he would not be the 
 cause of creating disunion, and would not therefore address the 
 electors on the present occasion. The result was that Sir Henry 
 Bruce ivas adopted'' 
 
 Mr. Clark and Mr. Greer also addressed the electors. 
 
 Although Mr. Greer’s address contained a promise of “ steadfast 
 adherence” to the principles he had “ already professed,” there was 
 a judicious omission of the paragraph about “ Presbyterian repre¬ 
 sentation,” so prominently put forward by him on the previous 
 occasion. 
 
 The feeling created by the address and selection of Sir Henry 
 H. Bruce, in the minds of the important and influential liberal party, 
 was unequivocally expressed in a short and pithy editorial article 
 in the Derry Journal , of Wednesday, the 25th March, in which the 
 editor observed:—“We were not disposed to quarrel with the 
 selection of Mr. Clark by the dominant party, believing him to be 
 a good and useful man, but their selection of the Grand Master of the 
 Orangemen , the enemy of National Education , and the uncompro¬ 
 mising enemy of the Ballot , is simply the sign that the old spirit is 
 not dead, but sleepeth. They have shown fight against the people, 
 and have thrown down the gauntlet; now let the people lift it. If 
 they had been a little moderate in their way , there would have been 
 no contest; but, as they have provoked it, let it come.” 
 
46 
 
 The three candidates, Mr. Clark, Mr. Greer, and Sir Henry 
 Harvey Brace, appeared on the hustings on Saturday the 5th of 
 April, 1857, being the day of nomination. Major Scott proposed 
 Mr. Clark, who was seconded by John Barre Beresford, Esq., of 
 Learmount, who observed that “ Mr. Clark would not be slavishly 
 attached to any political party , but would conscientiously and 
 independently vote for every measnre having for its object the 
 prosperity of the country.” The Reverend Robert Gray proposed 
 Mr. Greer, and observed that “ this election was an appeal to the 
 good sense and enlightened views of the electors of these kingdoms, 
 whether they were to have an ultra Tory or a moderate liberal 
 government. He trusted the electors of the county would show 
 their abhorrence of party demonstrations by rejecting the represen¬ 
 tative of such misguided opinions.” 
 
 John Adams, Esq., of Ballydivitty, seconded the nomination of 
 Mr. Greer, and stated if Sir Harvey Bruce had not issued his address 
 before the meeting of landlords was held, another man, altogether 
 different, would have been put forward by them. 
 
 William Wilson Campbell, Esq., of the Castle Portstuart, proposed 
 Sir Plenry Harvey Bruce, as a gentleman whose principles and 
 opinions were identical with their own. 
 
 Henry Kyle, Esq., J. P., Laurel Hill, seconded the nomination 
 of Sir Harvey Bruce, who would, he said, if returned to Parliament, 
 be a good member, and ever record an honest and independent 
 vote. 
 
 Mr. Clark then proceeded to address the electors, and said he 
 would not bind himself to any party who woidd not aid in the remedy 
 of abuses. When well digested measures of reform were introduced 
 he would lend his assistance to carry them into execution , irrespec¬ 
 tive of the source from which they emanated. If again returned to 
 parliament he could conscientiously promise he would never stoop to 
 pander to the prejudices of any class ; he would be the represen¬ 
 tative of every class of the community. 
 
 Mr. Greer followed at great length, and went over the various 
 topics introduced into his printed address. He also specially assailed 
 the candidature of Sir Henry H. Bruce. 
 
 Sir Henry Harvey Bruce lastly addressed the electors, and said 
 in j oining the Orange Society he was not actuated by any feeling 
 to keep up sectarian differences. He confessed his political leanings 
 were in favour of Lord Derby, but he would not own a blind or 
 factious obedience to any minister. 
 
47 
 
 On a show of hands the sheriff declared them to be in favour of 
 Mr. Clark and Mr. Greer, when a poll was demanded on behalf of 
 Sir Henry H. Bruce. The polling took place in the usual polling 
 place throughout the county. 
 
 The result was officially announced by the High-Sheriff on Good 
 Friday, the 10th April, 1857, as follows:—For Mr. Clark, 2,404; 
 Mr. Greer, 2,339; and Sir Henry H. Bruce, 1,676. Majority for 
 Mr. Greer over Sir Henry Bruce, 663. 
 
 The High-Sheriff then declared Mr. Clark and Mr. Greer duly 
 elected. Mr. Clark, in returning thanks, said the electors had sent 
 him into parliament 'politically free and unfettered . Mr. Greer 
 observed, he would consider himself bound to promote all local 
 interests, even of those who were opposed to him. 
 
 Sir Henry H. Bruce said it was at all times disagreeable to have 
 to address a body of electors as the unsuccessful candidate, but to 
 him it was doubly so, having come forward as the exponent of a 
 cause. It was very evident that he had mistaken the policy of the 
 county. If the great Conservative cause had lost in his person, he 
 must deeply regret it ; if his candidature had damaged that cause, 
 there was no one who more bitterly deplored the circumstances under, 
 which he now retired, as the worthy baronet good-humouredly said, 
 “ with a flea in his ear.” 
 
 Within twelve months after the last election another change of 
 administration took place. On the night of Friday, the 19th of 
 February, 1858, Lord Palmerston, who previously headed powerful 
 majorities in the House of Commons, was defeated on the Con¬ 
 spiracy to Murder Bill, by a majority of nineteen in a House of 449 
 members, and on the Monday following, February the 22nd, he an¬ 
 nounced his resignation, and stated that the Earl of Derby was en¬ 
 trusted with the formation of a new government. The events 
 which have followed are familiar to the public, and need not be 
 recapitulated here. The present government is composed principally 
 of statesmen who were of the ultra-Conservative party. The Earl 
 of Eglinton is Lord Lieutenant, the Right Honorable Joseph Napier 
 Lord High Chancellor; the Right Honourable James Whiteside 
 Attorney-General for Ireland; and Messieurs Grogan and Vance, 
 Spooner and Newdegate, deep in its confidence, or its staunchest 
 supporters. And yet, the advent to power of the friends of the 
 ultra or ascendancy party in the county of Derry does not seem to 
 indicate a continuance in the principles and policy of that party. 
 On the contrary, they have, one and all, eschewed the ascendancy 
 
48 
 
 policy, and have taken their stand on the principles and policy of 
 enlightened Conservative progress, as advocated two years before in 
 the letters of “ Conservator,” and “ Elector.” The published senti¬ 
 ments of different members of the government since their accession 
 to office, uttered by them in parliament and at the hustings, and 
 other public places, are suggestively instructive to such of our men¬ 
 tally antiquated friends in the county of Derry, as still linger with 
 the fondness of a first love over the reminiscences of sectarianism and 
 party strife. While they demonstrate the sagacity of the writer, and 
 the singular identity of his sentiments with those of the different 
 members of the government, as if—a very remote hypothesis indeed 
 —those letters diad formed the political text-book of the government 
 party. 
 
 The adoption of the Earl of Derby by the ultra-Conservative or 
 Protestant ascendancy party, as their political chief, is in itself a sig¬ 
 nificant fact, and heralds the vast change which the opinions of that 
 party have undergone. His lordship’s antecedents, which we shall 
 briefly notice, warrant the conclusion that his tendencies incline 
 towards enlightened and progressive reform, and the maintenance 
 of the principles of civil and religious liberty. In 1828, when simply 
 the Honorable Mr. Stanley, he entered public life as Under Secre¬ 
 tary for the Colonies, and soon after joined Sir Robert Peel, the 
 Right Hon. George Robert Dawson, and .others in support of 
 Catholic Emancipation. In 1830 he became Chief Secretary for 
 Ireland, under the administration of the then Nestor of reform, Earl 
 Grey, and signalized his official connexion with the country by large 
 measures of reform, considered at the time by many of his present 
 adherents as dangerous innovations. He introduced the national 
 system of education into Ireland. In 1832 he proposed and carried an 
 “ Act for the Relief of the Clergy,” as it was called, and also the 
 Tithe Composition Act—measures which laid the foundation of the 
 great Remedial Act of 1838, which converted tithe composition into 
 rent-charges, at a reduction of twenty-five per cent, of the income of 
 the clergy, casting, at the same time, the burthen of its collection 
 upon the landlords, whose estates became charged with it in perpe¬ 
 tuity. The country is also indebted to him for the Church Tempo¬ 
 ralities Act—a sweeping measure of reform in the Irish Church 
 Establishment, which abolished two archbishoprics and eight 
 bishoprics, whence the saying, that “ Lord Stanley bowled over 
 Irish mitres like nine-pins,” followed by the doggrel lines— 
 
 • • • On ! Stanley, on ! come throw !— 
 
 When off he knocked ten mitres at a blow l 
 
49 
 
 The Irish Reform Bill was also introduced by him ; and he sustained 
 the chief burthen of its carriage through the Commons, with that 
 great mental prowess, undaunted spirit, and singular debating ability, 
 which characterised him—encountering and worsting in every 
 assault the extremes of party at either side—Radicals as well as 
 high Tories. The former assailed his measures as insufficient, while 
 the latter clung to acknowledged abuses in Church and State, as if 
 the stability of the empire depended on their retention. His lordship 
 was truthfully described in those days as the very “ Hotspur of 
 debate.” It is one of the many singular vicissitudes of political life 
 to find the dashing subaltern who was foremost in the most sweeping 
 assaults on the strongholds of Toryism, transformed into the aged, 
 but stout-hearted chief, now marshalling under his banner the sur¬ 
 viving remnants of that once formidable party, whose power he 
 helped to break, and assuming office as their leader. 
 
 Therefore, if we may judge from the past career of the Earl of 
 Derby, it is manifest that he is as liberal and enlightened, and as 
 staunch a reformer, at least, as Lord Palmerston, the Irish policy 
 excepted. The ex-minister would give, and has given practical 
 effect to the spirit of the Emancipation Act, while the premier, tram¬ 
 melled by his Irish adherents in their uncontrollable rapacity and 
 desire to appropriate every good thing to themselves, has unwisely, 
 for the stability and reputation of his administration, ignored that 
 great measure by systematic exclusion from public employment of 
 the parties chiefly intended to be benefited by it. 
 
 As to the present home policy of the Earl of Derby, his lordship 
 foreshadowed it on the 1st of March last year, in his ministerial 
 statement in the House of Peers. Upon that occasion he observed, 
 “of late years the distinction which had existed between parties had 
 been greatly lessened, and the lines of party were much less distinctly 
 drawn—the grades of opinion melted so insensibly, the one into the 
 other, that no one could say where one opinion began and 
 another ended—he should maintain the institutions strenuously, but 
 he should not hesitate to propose well considered measures of 
 improvement and progress, and should suggest improvements where 
 improvements could be safely introduced. There was no greater 
 mistake than to suppose that Conservative principles inclined to 
 prevent progress; they lived in times when the arts and sciences 
 were making rapid strides, and when intelligence was thereby 
 more widely advanced, as the institutions must be adapted to the 
 altered condition of the country, and the increasing intelligence of 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 the people.” As to parliamentary reform, he said, “ they would 
 direct their best attention to existing defects, and the possible amend' 
 ments that might be made in the existing law respecting the repre¬ 
 sentation of the people in parliament.” 
 
 This distinct enunciation of a progressive and reform policy was 
 adopted by every member of his lordship’s administration. With 
 respect to his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, we have 
 already noticed his able and eloquent anti-sectarian speech at the 
 Londonderry banquet of the Royal Agricultural Society, and it is 
 therefore unnecessary to repeat his sentiments here. 
 
 That distinguished and eminent lawyer, the Lord Chancellor of 
 Ireland, the Right Hon. Joseph Napier, having ascended the bench, 
 the politician became sunk in the judge, and of course no expres¬ 
 sion of political opinion can be expected to have fallen from him. 
 But on the occasion of a dejeuner on board the Empire Queen in 
 Dublin harbour, on the eve of the departure of that vessel for 
 Melbourne, his lordship, in returning thanks for drinking his health, 
 Sfave a slight shadowing of altered sentiments. “ He began political 
 life,” he said, “ upon the high Tory principle of protection and so 
 on, but he confessed he was now a convert .” And in his masterly and 
 unrivalled paper on jurisprudence, read for him by Lord John Russell 
 at the meeting in Liverpool of the National Association for the Pro¬ 
 motion of Social Science, he indicated still further his opinions on 
 progressive reform with that chasteness of style and purity of. diction 
 peculiarly his own. “It is” he observed, “ a matter of great public 
 consequence, that our laws should he kept in harmony with the pro - 
 gressive spirit of this fine nation; they ought to hear the impress of the 
 age in which we live. The use of timely remedies is a standing duty. 
 The continued neglect of functional regularity leads to chronic 
 disease and organic disorder. All analogy and all experience, from the 
 pruning of the tree to the repair of the building, teach us that the 
 Conservative spirit is necessarily remedial , and that the demands of 
 time cannot safely he postponed." The other members of the govern¬ 
 ment having seats in the House of Commons successively enunci¬ 
 ated similar opinions in the month of March, 1858, at their re-election. 
 
 The Right Honorable James Whiteside, Attorney-General for 
 Ireland, of whom we may at least say, as an eloquent and brilliant 
 orator, is a credit to his country, in his address to his constituents 
 of Enniskillen, on Tuesday, the 9th March, said, “ my notion of 
 true Conservative policy is, to maintain with inflexible firmness all 
 the land-marks of our happy constitution, while I would remove the 
 
51 
 
 obstructions which impede its free and useful action; in order to make 
 the nation contented with the laws under which we live, we must adapt 
 these laws to thewants and wishes of the people. I believe in this sense 
 there is no limit to improvement, and that the progress of decay 
 must he met by that of renovation. The constitution of England 
 resembles the oak of the forest, slow in growth, rooted in the soil, 
 expanding in the sun, immoveable by storms and tempests, and of 
 majestic beauty; they may lop off a withered branch , but preserve the 
 trunk untouched .” 
 
 Lord Naas, Chief Secretary for Ireland, on his re-election for 
 Cockermouth, on the 4th March, said, “ The present Government 
 will devote all its consideration to measures of improvement and 
 progress. I believe the opinion of almost every man in this country 
 now is, that the time has come when some advance may be made in 
 our representative institutions. The present grovernment will 
 propose such measures as shall meet the growing intelligence of the 
 age , and will guarantee extended powers to the people of this country .” 
 
 Colonel Taylor, lord of the Treasury, on his re-election for 
 the county of Dublin, at Kilmainham, 11th March, observed, “ True 
 Conservatism is consistent with progress, but it should be progress in 
 the right direction. He would always be found voting for repair where 
 repair was wanted ; but he would also be for cutting down that 
 which was no longer necessary, owing to the intelligence of the age.” 
 
 The Right Honorable Benjamin Disraeli, Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer, stated in his place i$ parliament, on the 15th of March, 
 “ The government wished to maintain the institutions of the country 
 but they wished to improve them, and they believed the best way 
 to maintain them was to improve them.” 
 
 The Right Honorable Sir Fitzroy Kelly, Attorney-General for 
 England, on his re-election for East Suffolk, 6th March, said, “ I 
 shall be ready to support and assist any measure for the extension of 
 the elective franchise to every man in Britain qualified by property or 
 by education to exercise it with independence and intelligence And 
 as to Church rates, he said, “ I do think that those who do not, 
 and who upon religious scruples cannot, with propriety attend our 
 churches, may well complain that they should be obliged to contribute 
 to their maintainance •” 
 
 Lord John Manners, President of the Board of Works, on his re- 
 election for North Leicestershire, on the 8th March, said, “ I see no 
 reason why I, in conjunction with my colleagues, should not, when 
 the proper time arrives, do my utmost to devise a measure of parlia- 
 
52 
 
 mentary reform, which, while it would serve to uphold the equilib¬ 
 rium of the different elements which compose our English social 
 and parliamentary policy, would at the same time tend to rectify 
 admitted abuses and impart additional stability to those great and 
 time-honoured institutions which have rendered this country the 
 proud abode of tempered liberty and self-sustained order.” 
 
 Mr. C. B. Adderly, Vice-President of the Committee of Council 
 on Education, on re-election for North Staffordshire, 8th March, in 
 speaking of a reform bill, said: “ In a free country like this admis¬ 
 sion to the political franchise ought to be the rule, exclusion the 
 exception; and as property and intelligence spread, so ought the 
 franchise be extended pari passu.” 
 
 Mr. Henley, president of the Board of Trade, on his re-election for 
 Oxfordshire, on the 6th March:—“ Looking back at our history for 
 the last 200 years, and observing the struggles we have gone through, 
 we cannot but see that the great ends at which we have arrived have 
 been achieved by prudent, careful revision of our laws and institutions .” 
 
 Mr. Sotherton Estcourt, President of the Poor Law Board, on 
 his re-election for North Wilts, on the 5th March:—“ It is no longer 
 possible for any minister of England to stand still. Why ? Because 
 the national voice clearly and decisively says, this is an age of 
 progress and improvement ; although we are opposed to organic 
 changes, we are desirous of improving, so far as our understanding 
 can go, those institutions which we find existing.” 
 
 Lord Stanley, Secretary for the Colonies, on re-election for King’s 
 Lynn, 4th March, speaking on the subject of parliamentary reform, 
 observed:—“ I believe there is no statesman now,in whatever part of 
 either house he may sit, who considers or calls the reform bill of 
 1832 a final measure. I think that in our present parliamentary 
 constitution there are anomalies removeable by legislation , and ano¬ 
 malies of which the evil is not merely theoretical but results in prac¬ 
 tical abuse . Whatever discussion may take place on the subject, 
 either in the present or in any future session of parliament, will be 
 carried on in a very different temper, and with very different feelings 
 from those of twenty-five years ago. I say that not merely on account 
 of the gradual approximation of opinion among leading public men , 
 which is one of the most remarkable phenomena of our time.” 
 
 Major-General Peel, Minister for War, on re-election for Hunting- 
 ton, 4th March:—“ I am perfectly willing to adopt that definition 
 of his principles to which the noble lord (Derby), on a recent 
 occasion, gave expression in the Lords, viz., while we firmly and 
 
53 
 
 strenuously maintain the great institutions of the country, we shall 
 not hesitate to propose and support measures of undoubted improve¬ 
 ment and progress, and to introduce, whenever we may deem it 
 necessary, safe and well considered amendments. There can he no 
 greater mistake than to suppose that a Conservative ministry means 
 a stationary ministry .” 
 
 Sir John Pakington, first lord of the Admiralty, on re-election 
 for Shoreditch, 3rd March, speaking of reform said: “ If any idea 
 could be more untenable than another, it would be to say, because 
 twenty-five years ago the Conservative party were alarmed at the 
 changes then proposed, and afraid that they might result in mischief 
 to our institutions, that, therefore, we are disqualified from turning 
 our attention to the subject now. I for one repudiate such a doctrine. 
 
 I will not be so fettered in my political action—great changes have 
 taken place in our institutions—and while I honour consistency in 
 public men, there is nothing I dishonour more than for a man to say, 
 because twenty-five years ago I was influenced by this feeling or by 
 that, I am not to act in such a manner as the interests of my country 
 demand.” 
 
 Mr. Inglis, the Lord Advocate of Scotland, on re-election for 
 Stamford, 3rd March:—“ It appears to me that the time has come 
 for a full consideration of the laws regulating the representation of 
 the people, with a view to ascertain whether they cannot be improved 
 so as to effect the great ends they are intended to serve—not merely 
 that which may be called a fair, adequate,and complete representation 
 of the people, but that the representation shall be so arranged as to 
 produce, as much as possible, the best representatives.” 
 
 Sir Hugh M‘Calmont Cairns, Solicitor-General for England, whose 
 brilliant career at the Chancery bar in England and in parliament 
 reflects so much credit on the capital town of his native county 
 of Antrim, on his re-election for Belfast on the 5th March, said: 
 “ The great curse of Ireland was, that it was governed probably 
 by all, but certainly by many administrations, not for the country at 
 large but for a faction (cheers); we do not want any clique in Dub¬ 
 lin Castle (cheers). Every day I live convinces me that the geatest 
 blessing any country can enjoy is liberty of conscience.” 
 
 Whether the present government, during their short tenure of office, 
 have redeemed their pledges and professions thus made, is a question 
 upon which a conflict of opinion is entertained, and the discussion of 
 which would be foreign to our task. We may, however, observe, that 
 the fact of the introduction of the late bill to regulate the elective fran¬ 
 chise—from the quarter whence it emanated—attempting to reform 
 
54 
 
 the Reform Act, to extend the franchise to the working classes on the 
 grounds of education and intelligence; to enlarge the area of represen¬ 
 tation by new constituencies, consisting of large masses of the middle 
 and lower classes, hitherto unrepresented, is in itself a significant ad¬ 
 vance of the Conservative party in the paths of progress, and not to be 
 lightly considered. But blinded by party zeal and scramble for power, 
 the practical advantages of the measure were overlooked by liberals of 
 every shade, whether of moderate or advanced opinions. Its leading 
 feature—the reduction from £50 to £10 in the amount of real 
 property qualification—a change that would have increased the 
 number of electors in counties in England by upwards of a quarter- 
 of-a-million; the money property qualification, such as deposits in 
 savings’ banks; and the educational and professional, and lodgers’ 
 franchises, all indicated an immense advance in the way of reform, the 
 importance of which has been lost sight of in the heat of party warfare. 
 The lodgers’ franchise led unmistakeably towards universal suffrage, 
 while the voting paper in lieu of personal votes emphatically pointed 
 in the direction of the ballot. It is but simple justice to acknowledge 
 that the bill contained a greater variety of franchises, and necessarily 
 more extended representation, than any other bill that has ever yet 
 been introduced. It may be very smart, and redolent of Brum¬ 
 magem wit, to call them “fancy franchises;” but a scheme which, 
 in short, recognised a limited amount of education, possession of a 
 very small amount of personal property, and residence as a lodger 
 for twelve months, paying a few shillings a-week rent, as additional 
 franchises, cannot, with any degree of fairness, be described otherwise 
 than as a measure calculated to confer substantial political advantages 
 upon the working classes, who have made England what it is. Other 
 bills, for instance that of 1832, disfranchised large classes of voters, 
 and subsequent bills produced by Lord John Russell, who aspires to 
 the proud distinction of the “ Nestor of Reform,” disfranchised other 
 classes; but the bill in question disfranchised no class , while it con¬ 
 ferred the right to vote on many who had not that right before . 
 However, the Whigs and Liberals of all shades, with few exceptions, 
 combined against it, and the bill was rejected; some will say, most 
 appropriately rejected, on the morning of the first of April, 1859, by 
 a majority of 39 in a house of 626 members. Intead of resigning, 
 as his opponents expected he would have done, the Earl of Derby 
 followed the precedent set by Lord Palmerston, and appealed to 
 the country. That appeal has since been responded to by an acces¬ 
 sion of strength to his party of about thirty additional members, of 
 which Ireland has contributed nine, and the Conservative party has 
 
55 
 
 been placed, for the first time since the passing of the Emancipation 
 Act, in a majority in Ireland ; and this has been mainly effected by 
 Catholic constituencies. The example set by New Ross, Sligo, and 
 Athlone, when Conservator-Elector was writing, has now been 
 followed by the counties of Clare, Limerick, Roscommon, Water¬ 
 ford, and Wexford. An instructive lesson, and a golden opportunity 
 it is for a wise statesman, whose mind soars with dignity above the 
 petty prejudices and narrow views of interested cliques and parties. 
 
 At the election which has just terminated, the political aspect of 
 the County of Derry assumed the precise hue which Conservator- 
 Elector had laboured to impart, three years before. Captain 
 Peel Dawson and Sir Frederick Hey gate came forward on the 
 principles of liberal and enlightened Conservative progress, and 
 anti-sectarianism, supported by the landlords and gentry of the 
 county, and the great body of the electors, and Mr. Greer stood 
 upon the same principles and support as he had done on the last 
 occasion. Captain Dawson addressed the electors as follows:— 
 
 TO THE ELECTORS OF THE COUNTY OF LONDONDERRY. 
 
 Gentlemen, —The announcement made by the government of 
 their intention to dissolve parliament, in consequence of the existing 
 political crisis, must cause you to consider how the vacancies in your 
 representation can be best supplied. 
 
 Being led to believe that my name has been favourably noticed 
 for that distinction, and intimately connected as I am with your 
 county, both by residence and property, I venture to offer those ser¬ 
 vices which a close identification of your interests with my own 
 induces me to hope will not be considered unworthy of your accept¬ 
 ance. 
 
 Though scarcely expecting, within the limits of an address, satis¬ 
 factorily to discuss the various public measures which may engage 
 the attention of a new Parliament, I trust that the present appeal to 
 the country will strengthen and confirm the Government of Lord 
 Derby, whose enlightened policy in our foreign and domestic relations 
 encourages a confidence in his administration of public affairs. 
 
 The ministerial measure of reform for England and Wales appears 
 to me to have the merit of extending very considerably the franchise , 
 of providing the means of voting without the presence of the elector, and 
 of recognising the necessary influence of property and education, 
 while it is founded on no exclusive party grounds. 
 
 The relations between landlord and tenant will have my most 
 
56 
 
 anxious consideration, with a view to their adjustment on a basis of 
 mutual equity ; and should the bill promised by the Irish Attorney, 
 General afford to the cultivator of the soil an adequate protection for 
 the fruits of his industry , it will, I trust, lead to a settlement of this 
 important question. 
 
 The general and local taxation of the country requires supervision, 
 and I will advocate every remedial measure tending to the alleviation 
 of the burthens of the people , and to such retrenchment of the public 
 expenditure as is consistent with the exigencies of the state, and our 
 dignity in European diplomacy as a first-rate power. 
 
 I would uphold the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, it being 
 my anxious wish to see every mans conscientious convictions respected 
 in this mixed community . 
 
 Although adverse to dangerous experiments in the way of legis¬ 
 lation, I would, assist in all measures of social progress. 
 
 The local interests of the county, will, at all times, especially claim 
 my anxious attention and solicitude. Every measure calculated to 
 improve and develope its resources will be promoted with all the 
 energy and influence I can command. 
 
 Should I attain the high honour of representing you in parliament, 
 I should be found diligently engaged in the discharge of my duties 
 at Westminster, or constantly residing amongst you, and equally 
 accessible to all. 
 
 Trusting that, before the day of the election, I may be enabled to 
 wait on the great body of the electors, 
 
 I have the honour to be, Gentlemen, 
 
 Your most obedient and faithful servant, 
 
 Robert Peel Dawson. 
 
 Castledawson, 11th April, 1859. 
 
 The address of Sir Frederick William Heygate was substantially 
 the same as Mr. Dawson’s. The substance of Mr. Greer’s address 
 was a recapitulation of his principles—tenant-right, grand jury 
 reform, and the ballot, the re-modelling of the ecclesiastical courts, 
 and a reform of the right of burial. 
 
 The nomination took place in the Court-house on Tuesday, the 
 10th of May, 1859, in the midst of a scene of indescribable confusion. 
 
 Ten o’clock was the hour named for commencing the proceedings, 
 but long before that time the building was nearly filled by those who 
 had secured tickets from the Sheriff. The grand jury gallery was 
 devoted to the gentry and their adherents, and an opposite gallery 
 
57 
 
 was occupied by the supporters of Mr. Greer. On the opening of 
 the doors to the general public, the house was crammed in a moment 
 in every part. The appearance of each of the candidates as they 
 entered was the signal for bursts of welcome from their friends 
 and groans from their opponents. 
 
 Mr. Hugh Lane, of Newtownlimavady, and Mr. Pilkington, of 
 Dublin, attended as the conducting agents of Sir F. W. Heygate and 
 Mr. Dawson respectively. Mr. George Proctor appeared for Mr. Greer* 
 
 The High Sheriff, W. L. Conyngham, Esq., presided, and the 
 Sub-sheriff, Thomas Chambers, Esq., read the writ, but it was in 
 dumb show, and not a word was heard. 
 
 The High Sheriff said he was ready to hear any one who had a 
 candidate to propose, and begged the noisy occupants of the galleries 
 to be quiet. 
 
 A voice—“ No friend of Greer’s will get a hearing here this day” 
 (cheers, groans, and laughter). As we have limited ourselves in 
 space we can only glance at the speeches of the different parties, 
 except those of Mr. Peel Dawson, which we givem extenso, as reported 
 in the local papers. 
 
 John Adams, Esq., J.P., Ballydivitt, proposed S. M. Greer, Esq., 
 but the noise and confusion rendered the remarks of that gentleman 
 almost unintelligible. In the course of his observations Mr. Adams 
 said that Mr. Greer had redeemed all his pledges, and if he was 
 worthy of their support before, he was doubly worthy of it again 
 (hear). He had hoped that the landlords would have been satisfied 
 with one representative, and that Sir Harvey Bruce would have been 
 the man returned without a contest, along with Mr. Greer (no, no, 
 and confusion). It would have given him pleasure had Sir Harvey 
 Bruce stood with his friend Mr. Greer, and he would have given him 
 a vote (cheers and confusion). Mr. Adams next proceeded to canvass 
 the claims of the other candidates, and concluded by proposing Mr. 
 Greer, who was seconded by David Burnside, Esq., of Eglinton. 
 
 Major Scott proposed Sir Frederick Heygate in a storm of cheers 
 and counter-cheers. He said the question was as between the late 
 and present government. Sir Frederick Pleygate was the son-in-law 
 of the late esteemed and lamented Conolly Gage, Esq., whose estates 
 he possessed; and as to his political opinions, he referred to his 
 address, in which he declared himself to be a Conservative and a 
 supporter of Lord Derby’s government (cheers). 
 
 John Barre Beresford, Esq., (Learmount Castle) seconded the 
 nomination. He supported Sir Frederick Heygate most cordially, 
 
58 
 
 because his opinions were consistent with his (Mr. Beresford’s), and 
 he believed with the opinion of the majority of the constituency. 
 “ Sir Frederick Heygate is, continued Mr. Beresford, opposed to 
 Democracy , Radicalism , and Sectarianism . Gentlemen, I care not to 
 what creed a man is attached , he should he allowed to worship God as 
 he pleases; buthe should not stir up evil passions among his neighbours 
 for the purpose of securing a temporary victory. I repeat I support Sir 
 Frederick Heygate, because, he is a moderate Conservative—opinions 
 which 1 believe agree with those of the majority of the electors of this 
 great county (applause). 
 
 William Hamilton Ash, Esq., of Ashbrook, said he appeared 
 to propose the son of his late right hon. friend George Robert 
 Dawson. In seeking for the honour of your suffrages, Mr. 
 Dawson has no selfish or personal object in view. He does not look 
 out for any situation under government, and when the sweets of office 
 are obtained, to shake off the mantle of patriotism, and leave an 
 unpleasant feeling between landlord and tenant. I venture to recom¬ 
 mend Mr. Dawson as the representative of one of the oldest families 
 in the county , and, as far as I know , a good landlord and a valuable 
 magistrate in the district where he resides, and one who will at all 
 times be accessible to any freeholder who wishes to consult him on 
 private business. Mr. Dawson has told us in his address that he will 
 give an independent support to the government of Lord Derby, and 
 on those Conservative principles I did not hesitate to plead the 
 cause of my friend on the hustings to-day. I beg to propose Robert 
 Peel Dawson, Esq., as a fit and proper person to represent the county 
 of Derry in parliament (great applause). 
 
 S. M. Alexander, Esq, seconded the nomination, and said,— 
 Mr. Dawson is no stranger to this county; his name has been asso¬ 
 ciated with its representation for a long series of years; his ancestors, 
 for several generations, have been the trusty and worthy representa¬ 
 tives of the interests of this county, and I hope the result of this 
 election will place in the same proud position the gentleman whose 
 nomination I have now the honour to second (cheers). The present 
 age is pre-eminently an age of progress; by progress I mean that 
 steady, enlightened, and safe advancement which characterises the 
 march of all civilized communities (cheers). Reforms, social, legal, 
 and administrative, have been carried; the trade and commerce of 
 the country have been wonderfully developed by a wise and liberal 
 commercial legislation; the social progress of the country, and the 
 imperial greatness, have made rapid strides during the last ten or 
 
59 
 
 twelve years; and I think that no one can deny that those great 
 results are mainly to be attributed to the wise measures of that illus¬ 
 trious statesman, the late Sir Robert Peel, the near relative of the 
 gentleman whose claims I take the liberty to submit to your notice 
 (great applause). But, gentlemen, I do not rest Mr. Dawson’s 
 claims for your support solely on the merits of his ancestors or con¬ 
 nections He is a gentleman intimately connected with this county 
 by property and residence; his interests are bound up w T ith the 
 interests of the people whom he aspires to represent; his character 
 as a landlord is well known. No one can with justice accuse him of 
 having unduly exercised the powers of property, or neglected its 
 duties (cheers); he is a friend to tenant-right (applause); he will, 
 with all his heart, advocate any measure which will tend to a satis¬ 
 factory settlement of that question, which has of late years excited 
 so much interest in Ulster (great applause). In his presence I have 
 a reluctance to say anything which may be deemed too laudatory; 
 but, gentlemen, I must say he is well known to be a man of sterling 
 talent and extensive information (cheers); he is one who is w r ell 
 qualified to represent you in parliament; and, if returned as your 
 representative, he will go there as the exponent of the wishes of his 
 constituents, without any personal interests to serve. I think I may 
 say in his behalf that the ambition which he cherishes, and the great 
 distinction which he covets, is to represent this, his native county, in 
 parliament. Gentlemen, the settlement of some important questions 
 has of late years very materially modified the relation of parties to 
 each other, or rather, I should say, the boundaries and limits of 
 parties have been so much mixed up and confused that it is very 
 difficult to distinguish between them. There are now very few 
 questions on which politicians , who are sincerely attached to the great 
 principles of our constitution , are much at variance ; but, however 
 parties may differ on minor points, I can boldly declare to you that 
 Mr. Dawson will never be a party to any measure which will have 
 the slightest tendency to Americanise our institutions , or detract in 
 the smallest degree from that principle of the constitution, which, 
 while it scrupulously protects the rights of the subject, maintains 
 also the sanctity of the throne (prolonged cheering). After some 
 further observations on the policy of England during the present 
 war, Mr. Alexander concluded by seconding Mr. Dawson’s nomina¬ 
 tion amidst applause. 
 
 The High Sheriff having asked whether any other gentleman had 
 a candidate to propose, and was met amid confusion by cries of no, no, 
 
60 
 
 Mr. Greer came forward and addressed the electors at considerable 
 length* amid a storm of cheers and counter demonstrations. He 
 said his honourable opponents sought by a combined opposition to 
 oust him from the position he already held. He came before them 
 relying on his past services (cheers). He had not sought for, nor 
 obtained situations of personal advancement, and therefore claimed 
 the merit of having been a disinterested servant of the people of the 
 county. He asked them not to throw away the benefit of his 
 experience by sending forward two untried men, of whom, without 
 any personal disparagement, he would take the liberty of calling two 
 novices (laughter, in which Mr. Dawson and Sir F. Heygate heartily 
 joined). He claimed to represent the wishes and feelings of the 
 county, particularly on the subject of tenant right (cheers.) Mr. Greer 
 then criticised the published addresses of his opponents on that 
 subject, and went into details of their private dealings with their 
 tenants, to show, as he contended, that their practices were not in 
 accordance with their professions of tenant-right principles He 
 next referred to the ballot, which he said was the only sure means of 
 getting rid of the evils of coercion and intimidation. They would 
 have no electoral freedom without it (cheers). He then alluded to 
 the abuses of the grand-jury system, and the necessity of grand-jury 
 reform, also to the non-appointment by the government of Presby¬ 
 terian chaplains in the army, and said in 1852, when he first appeared 
 upon those hustings, he had hoped to have had the gallant Captain 
 Dawson by his side as the champion of the rights of the people, 
 and was sorry he had come forward as a Conservative to support 
 the class of the gentry and the government of Lord Derby, who 
 were opposed to the people’s rights. He would, therefore call on 
 all his friends to give no votes to an enemy of the people, but to 
 plump for the friend of the people (cheers). 
 
 Sir F.W. Heygate came forward amid applause, and in course of his 
 address said, I come here, gentlemen, as a moderate ^Conservative; I am 
 no supporter of ancient abuses. While I wish to maintain our 
 constitution in its ancient integrity, I know that from time to time it 
 requires and must be reformed. It is because I have these feelings 
 that I believe the present government to be most worthy of support 
 (cheers, groans, and confusion). I regard the franchise as a trust to 
 be exercised for the benefit of the rest of the community, but that 
 trust should be accessible by means of honesty, industry, and talent, 
 and if it be a trust, I consider that it is necessary that the force of 
 opinion should be brought to bear upon the exercise of it. I am, 
 
Cl 
 
 therefore, decidedly opposed to the ballot. I believe that it would 
 be utterly inconsistent with the open spirit of the constitution 
 (cheers and uproar). The experience we have had of it is not 
 encouraging. Universal suffrage and vote by ballot have been tried 
 and failed. In America it has led to universal corruption ; in France 
 to an unlimited despotism. Gentlemen, I am a determined advocate 
 for civil and religious liberty. I wish to see every man free to 
 exercise his religion in the way in which his conscience dictates. So 
 long as I believe the present government, as I do believe now, bring 
 forward liberal measures, calculated to advance the good of the 
 country, I shall be their supporter, and no longer (cheers and up¬ 
 roar). As to the question of tenant-right, I believe it to be the 
 desire of landlord as well as tenant to have it settled. I myself 
 claim to be a most decided tenant-righter. I wish to see every tenant 
 secured in the fruits of his honest industry (cheers,) and if any 
 fair bill is brought forward with that object, it will have my decided 
 support. I do not pledge myself to the details of any bill, because 
 I cannot tell what may be brought in; but any bill that is founded 
 on justice to the landlord as well as the tenant, if I am returned as 
 your representative, I shall be most happy to support (hear, hear, 
 and prolonged cheering). I am averse to all exhibitions of sectarian 
 feeling , and will still live on in the best of terms with my neighbours , 
 no matter what kind of religion they profess —to put in practice now 
 what has been always my practice heretofore—to give the same im¬ 
 partial justice to members of all denominations. 1 do not think the 
 feeling of the county is in favour of the advanced radical views of the 
 Bright school advocated by Mr. Greer; there is no general desire in the 
 county to support these extreme radical views. If I ivas inclined to be 
 liberal before I have learned what makes me much more liberal now. 
 If I am returned as your representative, it. will be my fervent 
 endeavour, not to promote the interest of any class , or support any 
 form of politics or religion in particular , but the interests of all , 
 high and low. I can assure you that, if you chose me, my first and 
 last efforts will be to do my duty faithfully, and honestly to promote 
 the interests of the county and country at large (loud cheers). 
 
 Mr. Peel Dawson next addressed the electors, and was received with 
 loud and prolonged cheers. He said : Mr. Sheriff and gentlemen, it has 
 long been my desire to meet upon the hustings the electors of London¬ 
 derry county; and I do thus express my gratification upon the pre¬ 
 sent occasion,because I am sensible of much kindness received, and 
 most powerful support assured to me, during a long and arduous 
 
62 
 
 canvass of nearly a month’s duration (hear). In that time I have sought 
 the electors in the most public thoroughfares of this great and impor¬ 
 tant county. I have visited them in the domestic privacy of their 
 own homes, and in the crowded streets and market-places, and have 
 not from any one met with an unkind word (cheers). Therefore, 
 whatever the issue of this election may be, I can at least boast that I 
 have acquired friendships which I might not otherwise have had an 
 opportunity of forming, and that the remembrance of such kindness 
 will ever remain indelibly engraven on my heart (prolonged applause). 
 More than two centuries and a-half have elapsed since my family 
 first settled in the county of Londonderry, and since that period three 
 of my direct ancestors have been chosen by your constituency to 
 represent their interests in the Irish and imperial parliaments 
 (cheers). By no means do I mention this with a view to establish 
 any hereditary claim, for I cannot admit that such claims are worthy 
 of recognition without there is a corresponding appearance of 
 eligibility in the candidate who seeks the high honour of repre¬ 
 senting you in the legislature of the kingdom (hear, hear). I have 
 made my residence among you now for many years, and I have 
 endeavoured anxiously, though perhaps feebly, to discharge all those 
 duties which were incidental to my position, and I have ever found 
 that your interests and my own were completely identical (hear, 
 hear, and cheers). As I intend to live, so I hope to die a resident 
 in your county; therefore, if you commit this honourable trust to my 
 keeping, you will have ample opportunities of making your wishes 
 known to me, and of perfecting my knowledge of all your local 
 requirements But you may say, perhaps, that I am speaking too 
 much about myself; therefore, abandoning further personal observa¬ 
 tions, I will state plainly the course on public questions which I shall 
 consider it my duty .to adopt, in case I am entrusted by you with 
 your representation. I do not consider that it would be for your 
 advantage, or consistent with your own freedom of action, were I to 
 pledge myself minutely on matters of detail. Your representative 
 should be enabled to form his own conclusions according to the cir¬ 
 cumstances^ the times, and the ca:es which may arise, though I 
 admit that his opinions ought generally to reflect the feelings of those 
 he is sent to represent (hear). I have, since the formation of Lord 
 Derby’s government, watched with interest the course of his foreign 
 and domestic policy (hear) ; I declare unhesitatingly my approval of 
 that policy, and I acknowledge that on my part there exiscs a wish 
 to see him retain successfully the conduct of public affairs (hear). I 
 
63 
 
 am of opinion that it is highly creditable to the present government 
 that, in a period of unexampled difficulty, they undertook, and have 
 since ably carried on, the business of the country, though opposed, 
 as they have been, by a large numerical majority of the late House 
 of Commons (cheers and groans). It may be in your recollection 
 that, in a recent address of Lord Derby to his supporters, he stated 
 that on his entrance upon office he could only rely upon the cordial 
 assistance of about two hundred and twenty members of the House of 
 Commons; whereas, on the last important vote we find that the 
 number of his adherents had swelled to two hundred and ninety- 
 seven, and that in the fullest house on record he was only left in a 
 minority of thirty-nine (cheers). By the course of the English 
 elections now brought to a close, and by those which have already 
 progressed in Ireland, I think we may have every reason to believe 
 that the power of the government will be greatly strengthened, and 
 that if they have not actually secured a working majority, at least 
 that the new House of Commons will present an assembly which 
 will afford to their proposed measures a fair trial and just considera¬ 
 tion (cheers). Nor have the government shrunk from the responsibility 
 of introducing and of endeavouring to carry to a second reading a 
 measure of reform, which, though promised by three successive 
 liberal administrations, has been as often withheld (hear, hear, and 
 cheers). In my judgment the government, though not perhaps very 
 wisely, still honourably undertook to solve this difficult question, 
 and though there are details of their bill from which I differ, I own 
 it appears to me to contain the elements of a substantial measure of 
 reform (cheers). Admiring, as I do, the intelligence and independence 
 of the working classes , 1 would advocate their admission to a fair share 
 in the representation of the country, hut I ivill not consent that a mere 
 numerical preponderance should outweigh the legitimate claims of 
 property, industry, and education (loud cheers.) By the ministerial 
 measure of reform, nearly 500,000 electors would have been added to 
 the constituencies of the kingdom, and, while scarcely admitting the 
 principle of disfranchisement at all, it would have afforded to the grow¬ 
 ing and advancing population of large and unrepresented towns, and 
 to the more important English counties, a greater share of the 
 electoral power (cheers). But, as that bill has been withdrawn, 
 and as the government intentions with regard to reform in Ireland 
 have not transpired, it will be the duty of the new House of 
 Commons to consider any measure which may proceed from 
 either the government or independent members in respect of an 
 
64 
 
 improvement in the representation of the people; and I will only 
 say that I shall he guided in any vote I give by a determination of 
 yielding no exclusive advantage to any particular class or party , and 
 that in my belief every interest, whether agricultural, commercial, 
 or manufacturing, has a right to common justice and equal con¬ 
 sideration (applause). It is impossible for me to omit any longer 
 to notice the disastrous and deplorable state of warfare now being 
 carried on in Europe. To preserve peace, our government, aided 
 by the sympathies of an anxious people, have exhausted every means 
 of conciliation towards those jealous and despotic powers, whose 
 ambition or interference have again commenced to deluge the fair 
 lands of Italy with blood and desolation (cheers). On the heads of those 
 emperors and kings will rest that awful responsibility of the future; 
 but reserving, as our country has done, absolute and complete right 
 to maintain a neutrality, I shall devoutly hope that England will re¬ 
 main strictly a mediating power (hear.) God grant that she may be able 
 to do so, but I must recognize as a wise forethought, the strengthen¬ 
 ing of our maritime defences, and the re-construction and re-estab¬ 
 lishment of our fleet. For the restoration of peace to Europe, and 
 the security of our coasts, I desire to see the power of the govern¬ 
 ment strengthened at home, so that foreign courts may be forced to 
 respect their position; I will, therefore, deprecate any change of 
 government in these most anxious times (hear, hear, and loud cheers). 
 If I wanted any further illustrations of the wise course pursued by 
 Lord Derby’s government since their assumption of office, I would 
 refer to India pacified, and the most formidable rebellion that ever 
 threatened our colonial empire quelled, of peace and order preserved 
 in all our transmarine possessions, and tranquillity secured at home 
 (cheers). In our domestic legislation, I would remark the many 
 improvements which have of late taken place in the administra¬ 
 tion of the law, the more easy transfer of land through the agency 
 of the Landed Estates Act, the public faith kept with regard to the 
 income tax, and the condition of a flourishing and increasing revenue. 
 It is for these considerations, that, should you place such power in my 
 hands, I would he inclined to afford to Lord Derby s government a tem¬ 
 perate hut independent support; and acting, as I shall be, with the 
 conviction that had Providence further prolonged the life of that great 
 statesman—and honest man—Sir Robert Peel, with whom it is my 
 greatest pride to have been by the ties of relationship allied, and who 
 gave me at the baptismal font the name I most unworthily bear, 
 that it would have been found that his political career was again 
 
65 
 
 associated with those whose policy has neither been obstructive nor 
 reactionary (loud cries of hear, hear). Living as we do in times of 
 change, I would uphold the landmarks of the constitution , though 1 
 consider rational progress as necessary to the age we live in; we ought 
 only to change with a view to amendment—we ought not to alter merely 
 for the purpose of destruction. My opinions on tenant-right require 
 no concealment. I have ever rejoiced in the prescriptive existence 
 of such amicable arrangements as would secure to the tenant the value 
 of his unexhausted improvements (loud cheers). There exists a 
 general desire that such permissive system should be confirmed by 
 legislative enactment (cheers). In order to carry that object, I will 
 consider any bill, proceeding from whatever source, which may deal 
 with this important question. I shall hope to see the discussion 
 rather in a committee of the House of Commons than on any stage 
 of the measure affecting the principle. I would endeavour on this 
 subject to inculcate mutual forbearance, mutual conciliation. No 
 extreme view can lead to what I shall anxiously assist to promote— 
 complete security without confiscation, ample leasing powers , and an 
 equitable adjustment of interest in the ownership and cultivation of 
 the soil (cheers). It has been my determination through life to afford 
 to others the same right of opinion which I will consistently claim 
 for myself (cheers). I have always lamented the existence of 
 any sectarian views with regard to politics or religion , and which 
 have , 1 believe , vastly prejudiced the interests of our common 
 country (cheers). I never have nor ever will encourage an 
 attack upon the opinions of those who differ conscientiously from 
 myself —(cheers)—nor would I desire to see any man debarred 
 on account of his religious convictions from the attainment of any 
 social position to which his own talents or the confidence of his coun¬ 
 trymen would entitle him (cheers). Deeply attached as I am to the 
 communion of my own church , and ready as I shall ever be to defend 
 her from any hostile attack , I must necessarily remember, if returned 
 to parliament by a varied constituency, that it will be my duty to 
 reconcile , as far as I can, conflicting religious interests. I would, 
 without the sacrifice of principle, recollect that 1 equally represented 
 members of the united church of England and Ireland, Presbyterians, 
 Roman Catholics , and other religious communities (hear, hear). I 
 cannot expect to satisfy every one, but my‘object will be to render 
 justice to all (loud cheers). Such are the general grounds on which 
 I present myself to the electors of this county ; it will be for them to 
 decide whether I am a person suitable for so important a trust (cheers) 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 If, however, I might indulge in a prophetic spirit, I would 
 hint my belief that when the High Sheriff declares the recorded votes 
 taken in this election, I shall be found to occupy that proud position 
 which I have sought from your favour (loud cheering). I would 
 appeal to those friends of the cause which I advocate, to be unremit¬ 
 ting in their exertions for placing the names of those candidates to 
 whom they have given their confidence very early at the head of 
 the poll (cheers). Let us remember that a battle well begun is a 
 victory half achieved. To those gentlemen who have proposed and 
 seconded my nomination, I return publicly my most grateful thanks. 
 From their character, their position, and their popularity, I feel that 
 their recommendation will have due weight with the electors. I am 
 aware that they have said more in my favour than I deserve, but 
 their kindness in undertaking the task will be ever remembered by 
 me (cheers). If, therefore, at the close of this election, I find myself 
 returned as one of your representatives in parliament, my time from 
 that moment will be given to your service, all private considerations 
 will yield to a sense of public duty, and happy shall I be if, in the 
 performance of that duty, I shall be in any way enabled, by any act 
 of mine, to advance the honour of God and the prosperity of my fellow 
 countrymen (loud cheers). 
 
 A show of hands was then taken by the Sheriff, who declared it 
 to be in favour of Mr. Greer and Sir F. W. Heygate, Bart. A voice 
 —“ It’s all a mistake, sir” (laughter). “ We are all for Dawson. Dawson 
 for ever!” (cheers and laughter). A poll was demanded on behalf 
 of Mr. Dawson, and the voting arranged to take place on Friday 
 and Saturday ensuing. The crowd then dispersed, cheering loudly 
 for the various objects of their applause. Mr. Dawson appeared to 
 be the favourite with the most vociferous portion of those who 
 thronged the doors of the Court House. 
 
 The opinions of the liberal party, represented by the Derry Journal , 
 as to this contest, may be collected from the following remarks on 
 the subject by the editor. “ The second vote should be given to the 
 candidate whose views approach the nearest to Mr. Greer’s. By 
 common consent Mr. Dawson is that candidate. His liberality in 
 religion and politics is in advance of his order, his conduct to his 
 tenantry is represented as all it ought to be, and the traditions of his 
 family are a guarantee that his name will never he associated with a 
 dishonourable action. To those electors who are good enough to 
 attach value to our opinion, we say unhesitatingly, vote for Greer 
 and Dawson. Of Sir F. W. Heygate we say nothing. All parties 
 
67 
 
 concur in admitting that Mr. Dawsons return is certain. We trust 
 Mr. Greer’s chances can, with truth, be similarly described. The small¬ 
 est difficulty would never have been encountered in his re-election 
 had his friends exhibited less prejudice and more Christian charity.” 
 We must also not omit to notice the following opinions coming 
 from very opposite quarters, as published in the same paper :—“Mr. 
 Dawson has undoubted talent, and an independent position in the 
 county, which would make him an eligible representative. His near 
 connexion to the late Sir Robert Peel (a name dear to the heart of 
 many a suffering operative for his liberal and far-seeing measure of 
 free trade), will give him a position in the British senate in which he 
 could be of the greatest use to the county. He has a character for 
 liberality; and his politics, as stated in his address, are moderate and 
 Conservative. Sir Frederick Heygate in politics is known to be a 
 Liberal-Conservative, while his conduct on his estate and neighbour¬ 
 hood has ever shown him to be free from all sectarian prejudice and 
 to be a real supporter of civil and religious liberty.” Signed “ A 
 Presbyterian Elector, Newtownlimavady.” The next writer dates 
 
 from Culldaff, and is signed “-C. C.” Addressing the Catholic 
 
 electors, he observes, “The Tories always gave us good measures; 
 the probability is they will continue to do so. The Whigs never 
 gave us any good measures ; what hopes have we that they will 
 
 change their policy for the future?.Have you 
 
 studied the political history of your country for the last thirty years ? 
 It was Sir Robert Peel who first opened for you the portals of the 
 Constitution, and gave you a voice in the imperial legislature. You 
 may be told, 4 it was a slow and tardy concession, ungraciously con¬ 
 ceded, when it could be no longer withheld.’ Granted; still it was 
 conceded, and that by the Tories also; for the Whigs had neither 
 the liberality to introduce the measure, nor, if they had introduced 
 it, had they the power to carry it into a law. It was the enlightened, 
 the liberal, and I will add, the Christian policy of the same great 
 statesman that granted free trade, that opened the ports during the 
 years of famine, and thus preserved the remnant of the Irish race from 
 
 utter extinction.Robert Peel Dawson bears the 
 
 name and is the near relation of the most enlightened and the most 
 liberal statesman of modern Europe—the man who gave you free 
 trade, unfettered your religion, endowed your national college, 
 and admitted you to a share in making the laws of your country. 
 Captain Dawson is not a patriot of yesterday. He has a name, a 
 family, and a character to support. He will never deceive you. Return 
 
68 
 
 him at the head of the poll. Vote for the supporters of Lord Derby, 
 and the poor Catholic soldier, as he lies wounded on the field of battle, 
 and looks around him, and sees his own soggarth-aroon standing by 
 his side, will lift his hands and bless you. Vote against the sup¬ 
 porters of Lord Derby, and you will have contributed your humble 
 assistance to restore to power the writer of the infamous Durham 
 letter, the author of the Titles Bill, the calumniator of your religion, 
 and the exterminator of your race Do you think it safe, during 
 these perilous times, and on the very eve of a European war, to 
 entrust the administration of the nation to the hands of the anti- 
 Catholic Palmerston ?” 
 
 THE POLLING. 
 
 As previously stated, the polling was appointed to take place on 
 Friday and Saturday. On those days the votes were accordingly 
 taken at the several polling places throughout the county. At the 
 termination of the first day’s polling it was very evident that 
 Mr. Greer was defeated, it being considered impossible to pull 
 up the large majority then recorded against him. The numbers 
 were—For Dawson, 2,228; for Heygate, 2,115; and for Greer, 
 1,429. Majority of Captain Dawson over Mr. Greer, 799; and of 
 Sir F. Heygate, 686. The second day’s polling increased the majority 
 against Mr. Greer, the final numbers being— 
 
 Dawson. Heygate. Greer. 
 
 City and Liberties of Derry . . 
 
 . . 104 . 
 
 . 105 . 
 
 . 67 
 
 Tirkeeran. 
 
 . . 283 . 
 
 . 309 . 
 
 . 459 
 
 Kennaught. 
 
 . . 746 . 
 
 . 749 . 
 
 . 306 
 
 Town and Liberties of Coleraine . 
 
 . . 236 . 
 
 . 237 . 
 
 . 62 
 
 Half Barony of Coleraine . . . 
 
 . 320 . 
 
 . 301 . 
 
 . 274 
 
 Loughinshollen. 
 
 . . 939 . 
 
 . 767 . 
 
 . 622 
 
 
 2628 
 
 2468 
 
 1790 
 
 Majority for Dawson, 838; for Heygate, 678. 
 
 DECLARATION OF THE POLL. 
 
 Monday, May the 16th, 1859, being the day fixed for the official 
 declaration of the poll, the doors of the Court-house were opened 
 at eleven o’clock and the general public admitted. Previously the 
 choicest seats had been secured by those who had obtained tickets. 
 
69 
 
 Mr. Dawson and Sir F. Heygate appeared on the bench, attended by 
 their proposers and seconders, their professional agents, and a large 
 body of the gentry. Mr. Greer, the unsuccessful candidate, was also 
 present on the bench, attended by his agent. The Hon. Mrs. 
 Dawson, accompanied by a party of ladies, occupied seats in the 
 grand jury gallery. The uproar was deafening, the noisy occupants 
 of the galleries expressing their opinions very vociferously, and 
 making the various notabilities, when recognised on the bench and 
 elsewhere, the subject of many humorous sallies. 
 
 The High Sheriff called on the meeting to be silent while he 
 declared the numbers ; but not much attention was accorded to the 
 request. Amid the clamour he announced the numbers as before 
 mentioned. The announcement was followed by groans, cheers, and 
 shouts of all descriptions, in the midst of which the Sheriff declared 
 Mr. Dawson and Sir F. Heygate duly elected. 
 
 Mr. Dawson then came forward to address the electors, and was 
 received with several rounds of hearty cheering from all parts of the 
 court. He said,—Electors of the county of Londonderry, by the decla¬ 
 ration just officially announced the High Sheriff has returned me as one 
 of your representatives in Parliament—a position than which none can 
 be more honourable for any man to occupy, and which to my feelings, 
 from former associations, must be most deeply gratifying. No words 
 of mine can express the amount of gratitude which I entertain 
 towards the constituency, who have sent me by a very large majo¬ 
 rity, and at the head of the poll, to represent their interests in the 
 imperial legislature (cheers). I find that considerably more than 
 half the number of the whole constituency have recorded their votes 
 in my favour (loud cheers). I am proud to acknowledge the general 
 amount of support which I have received, not only from those 
 occupying the highest stations in society, but from all classes, and 
 from all religious persuasions (cheers). I have observed, during a 
 long personal canvass, a general desire to entrust the representation 
 of this county to the hands of those whose residence and mutual 
 interests are bound up with the well-being of the people. My 
 expectations have not been deceived, and I believe the result of this 
 election will be esteemed most gratifying to a large majority of the 
 constituency (cheers). 1 wish to record my sense of satisfaction on 
 finding that the choice of the electors has fallen equally with myself 
 on the person of my honourable colleague. From an intimate 
 acquaintance with his ability, his talents, and his straightforward 
 character, I will predict that his election will secure for this county 
 
70 
 
 the services of a most valuable representative (cheers). With a 
 complete concurrence with him on political and social questions, I 
 augur great advantage from an undivided vote from this county in 
 the House of Commons, and I feel certain that we shall be enabled 
 to work zealously and harmoniously together for your service (hear, 
 hear). I shall go to parliament with the intention of assisting the 
 present administration so long as they adhere to a safe, moderate, 
 and progressive policy (cheers). I speak advisedly on this 
 subject, because I have been told that in the leading journal of 
 the empire I have been placed accidentally in the wrong column; but 
 I assure you that I shall take means to rectify that error as speedily 
 as possible. I cannot doubt the intentions of the government 
 towards Ireland, and I am rejoiced to find the expression of the 
 Irish constituencies is even stronger in their favour than, compara¬ 
 tively considered, either in England or Scotland (cheers). There 
 must be nothing retrograde nor illiberal in their course of policy— 
 they must regard without partiality all different existing interests— 
 and so long as they act in the manner which I shall consider most 
 conducive to the welfare of this country, so long I shall afford them 
 a confiding and a general support. The learned candidate, in the 
 course of his address on the day of nomination, was pleased to place 
 on paper some questions, referring to my relations with the tenantry 
 with whom I am proud to be connected. No notice of these ques¬ 
 tions was given previously to me, and so great was the confusion at 
 the time, that I found it impossible to take them into consideration. 
 He mentioned the names of three persons, alleged to have been 
 evicted from my property, and who had cause of complaint against 
 me. The best answer and refutation I can give to the learned 
 gentleman is to state the following fact: two out of the &ree named 
 possess the electoral franchise, and so little did they consider them¬ 
 selves aggrieved by any act of mine, that, though never canvassed- 
 nor solicited by me, they recorded their votes, very early on Friday 
 morning last, in favour of myself and Sir Frederick Heygate, and 
 against the cause of the gentleman who has mixed up their names 
 with these election matters (great cheering). I can, moreover, state 
 that they possess freehold interests, and are perfectly independent of 
 any influence on my part. Since the period of my father’s death, 
 when I first came into possession of my estates, no evictions have 
 occurred on my property (cheers). I beg the learned gentleman 
 will mark the date of this assurance, because I cannot hold myself 
 responsible for anything which took place before that lamented 
 
71 
 
 event. I did consider that when we met the electors on the hust¬ 
 ings it would be for the purpose of discussing public question, and 
 of expressing our opinions on matters of public interests (cheers). 
 I believe these insinuations which the learned gentleman did not 
 consider it unworthy of his position to make, arose from a feeling of 
 disappointment, that when after he had canvassed my neighbourhood 
 pretty closely, he found that my nearest neighbours were among my 
 warmest supporters; and I can assure him, with pleasure, that the 
 vote of every man residing upon my property, many of whom 
 possess freehold and independent interests, has been recorded in my 
 favour. To my proposer and seconder, to those gentlemen who 
 have acted as a committee, and to my agents generally, I return my 
 most sincere thanks; they have kindly given me their confidence; 
 it will be my determination to prove that that confidence will not 
 be misplaced. I am deeply sensible of the responsibility of the 
 position which I have sought; I am aware also of its difficulties; 
 but my study through life will be to show that I am not unworthy 
 of the representation of this county, in which I am placed through 
 your favour (loud cheers). Permit me, in conclusion, respectfully 
 to add, that the restoration in my person of those intimate relations 
 which for so many years, and in various times, existed between the 
 constituency and different members of my family, will ever be to 
 me a source of unceasing pride and gratification (loud applause). 
 
 Sir F. W. Heygate then stood forward, and was received with 
 loud cheers; in course of his speech he said—I shall never feel 
 anything but gratitude for the favours I have received at your 
 hands, and I hope, now that this contest is over, that the tenant- 
 farmers of the county will ever remember that there should be no 
 feeling among us but that feeling of mutual regard which should 
 exist between the landlords and themselves (cheers). I thank you 
 for the kindness with which I have been everywhere received. I 
 go to parliament as the nominee of no man or body of men (cheers). 
 I go to parliament as the representative of all, determiued to secure 
 equal justice for every person, of whatever rank or party in the 
 county (cheers). But there is one class especially, whose claims I 
 have never heard publicly mentioned—not even by my learned op¬ 
 ponent, who proclaims himself the only true friend of the poor man. 
 The class to whom I now allude are the labouring class—the class 
 usually termed “ cottiers” in this country (loud cheers). They till 
 the soil. They gather in our harvests; and I am sorry to say that 
 their position is not by any means what it should be. This class I 
 
72 
 
 would especially desire to improve. I am aware that little can be 
 done for them or for any other class by legislative enactment alone; 
 but I think it is the duty of us all to benefit and improve the condi¬ 
 tion of those below us, and, so far as in us lies, endeavour to raise 
 them in the social scale (cheers). There has been no cry of tenant- 
 right raised for the labourers. I hope to see their condition improved. 
 Gentlemen, I must allude to the very handsome manner in which 
 my honourable friend Mr. Dawson has spoken of me. I do not 
 deserve the flattering encomiums which his kindness prompted; but 
 I can truly declare that, throughout a canvass of five weeks, we 
 never felt the slightest jealousy, except a jealousy as to who could 
 best secure the triumph of what we believed to be the good cause. 
 (Cheers, groans, and laughter). Sir Frederick then thanked his 
 friends and conducting agent, Mr. Lane, for their exertions, and 
 continued: Now, in matters of this sort, the claims of another 
 class should not be forgotten. Although I put this class last, I 
 doubt not that, in this country at least, it will be considered that I 
 ought to have placed them first. All must acknowledge their irre¬ 
 sistible power—I allude to the ladies-(loud cheers, in which 
 
 the remainder of the sentence was lost). Gentlemen, I am delighted 
 to hear that cheer. It convinces me that the people of this country 
 are, as they always were, a gallant race. [A voice— would you say 
 a word about the crinoline ?~] (Roars of laughter.) In conclusion, 
 I can assure you that it shall always be my honest endeavour to 
 perform the duty I owe this county to the best of my humble 
 ability (applause.) 
 
 Mr. Greer then came forward, and addressed the electors at con¬ 
 siderable length, in course of which he said, I had reason to believe, 
 from my canvass through the county, and from the promises which I 
 had obtained, that my return was all but certain. Unfortunately, 
 as events have proved, my calculations were founded upon promises 
 which have not been kept. I am sorry to say that influences have 
 been at work, to which I will presently advert, which have contri¬ 
 buted to place me at the foot of the poll by so large a majority. I 
 must say, before I advert to the causes which in my mind have 
 produced this result, that I acknowledge the courtesy and gentleman¬ 
 like bearing which my opponents , the members for the county , have 
 shown to me in this contest. I have to say, that towards them per¬ 
 sonally I entertain no feelings but those of kindness and respect 
 (hear.) On public grounds, I regret extremely my failure in the 
 present contest, because I believe that, at present, the largest and 
 
73 
 
 most important interest in the county is entirely unrepresented 
 (cheers, and cries of “ no, no”). More than that, I believe, so 
 far as I can judge—and you will be the judges whether I am right 
 or not—I believe that the great and absorbing interest of the tenant- 
 farmers of this county will be misrepresented—(“ no, no,” and 
 cheers.) Mr. Greer then proceeded to complain of the means by 
 which he was defeated, and made a long and discursive statement of 
 circumstances connected with the canvass, nomination, and polling, 
 and indulged in personal charges against different persons, amongst 
 others the Under-sheriff, who indignantly denied them, and 
 challenged him to put his finger on any of his “ public acts” which 
 could “justly be described as improper.” Mr. Greer then thanked 
 his agent and friends for their exertions, and the humble tenant- 
 farmers for recording their votes for him undismayed, and said— 
 I feel deeply grateful to these men, and I have to beg of them, 
 for their own sakes, to continue their exertions, to renew 
 their efforts, until, in the end, the county be freed from the thraldom 
 under which it is now labouring (loud cheers). My own services are 
 at your disposal. I offer them in any way which may be considered 
 the most available for the interests of the county. I will not desert 
 the cause of tenant-farmers; I will not desert the cause of electoral 
 independence, whether I be in or out of parliament (cheers). My 
 time, my labour, my money, are ready to sustain, to establish, and 
 maintain such an organisation in the county as will act, not by 
 impulse, or from time to time, but which will be steadily continued, 
 and not shrink from its work until the county be thoroughly freed 
 from electoral thraldom (cheers). I now retire without any feeling 
 of hostility towards my opponents, and I have only to say that I 
 wish them and all the members of their families, every happiness, 
 personally, socially, and politically, for I have no feeling but a feeling 
 of kindness towards both the one and the other. (Mr. Greer con¬ 
 cluded amid general cheering ) 
 
 Mr. Dawson came forward and said—I have now to undertake 
 the last and most agreeable duty of this day, which is to propose a 
 vote of thanks from the constituency to the High Sheriff, for the 
 ability and perfect impartiality which he has shown through the 
 progress of this election. Being a neighbour and friend of my own, 
 I can with pleasure testify to his worth; and I congratulate the 
 county upon the fact that his high office is filled by one of ancient 
 lineage, unsullied character, and acknowledged usefulness (cheers). 
 I would remind the electors of this county that it was through his 
 
74 
 
 instrumentality and authority that the Londonderry regiment of 
 Militia was raised, and under his command assumed that high 
 character for discipline and soldier-like bearing it posesses (loud 
 cheers). If called upon again by the exigencies of the public 
 service, he will lead it on to the fulfilment of that public duty 
 which he has so satisfactorily performed himself in every position of 
 life. I propose a vote of thanks to the High Sheriff (renewed 
 cheers). 
 
 Mr. Greer seconded the vote of thanks, and bore testimony to the 
 High Sheriff’s courtesy and impartiality. The vote was passed by 
 acclamation, and, in responding, 
 
 The High Sheriff, alluding to the disturbance mentioned by Mr. 
 Greer, said that, beyond some slight row in Newtonlimavady, he 
 had been apprised of no breach of the peace in the county during 
 the election. He also bore a high testimony to the good order and 
 correct conduct of the public in the course of the contest. And 
 made a suitable acknowledgment to the compliment paid by Mr. 
 Dawson to the Londonderry regiment of Militia. The crowd then 
 dispersed. 
 
 The honourable members for the county afterwards returned 
 thanks formally to the electors, through the local journals. That of 
 Mr. Dawson was in the following terms:— 
 
 TO THE ELECTORS OF THE COUNTY OF LONDONDERRY. 
 
 Gentlemen, —For the honour that you have done me in returning 
 me to parliament as one of your representatives, I return you my 
 most grateful thanks. It is a position of which any man might be 
 proud, and my chief desire in life will be to watch over and advance 
 your interests. After a close attention to the parliamentary business 
 during the approaching session, it will be my pleasure and duty to 
 wait upon those electors who have done me the honour of sending 
 me to parliament with so triumphant a majority. 
 
 I have the honour to be, Gentlemen, 
 
 Your most faithful and obliged servant, 
 
 Robert Peel Dawson. 
 
 Londonderry, 16th May, 1859. 
 
 Mr. Greer’s defeat by Sir Frederick Heygate, between whom and 
 the late member the struggle virtually lay, had been attributed by the 
 opposite parties to different causes. The liberal paper, the Derry 
 Journal , states on this point:—“ Mr. Dawson’s election is a thing 
 which every one foresaw; but the return of the honourable baronet, 
 
75 
 
 and the defeat of the gentleman who for the last two years had so 
 worthily represented this county in parliament, is a result which the 
 friends of progress could hardly have anticipated. It was his own 
 friends who deserted him. Those who were loudest in the election 
 cry; those whose bay was the deepest in the chase after electoral 
 freedom, were the very men who disgracefully slunk away in the 
 hour of trial. There are several further reasons why Mr. Greer’s 
 minority is now so large. There is not the same feeling of enthu¬ 
 siasm abroad as prevailed in 1857, with reference to those questions 
 which enlisted his special advocacy. For example, tenant-right 
 has, like its own apostles—like Mr. Sharman Crawford and Mr. 
 Greer himself—received bad treatment from its dearest friends. It 
 has been ridden to the death. Again, those professions of religious 
 equality, so strenuously advanced at the election of 1857, have been 
 thrown into somewhat glaring contrast with the practices of 1859, 
 as illustrated by the Gavazzi episode , and by other occurrences 
 which we just now forbear to specify. Towards the end of his 
 canvass the clergy of his own persuasion put him forward rather as 
 a great representative Presbyterian than in any other capacity; and 
 his advisers and counsellors at the press—people who ought to have 
 known better—were also foolish enough to virtually rest his claims 
 on the same narrow basis of sectarianism. The result is now before 
 them. Mr. Greer is beaten.” The Conservative Londonderry 
 Guardian interpreted the causes somewhat differently. “ He was 
 rejected,” observes the editor, “ not for his Presbyterianism, but 
 for his bitter radicalism , and his rancorous efforts to array class 
 against class. The majority of the Presbyterian body knew this, 
 and a goodly number of them gave their cordial aid to secure his 
 defeat.” 
 
 We have now arrived towards the end of our “ Psalter of Derry,” 
 or register of the political and electioneering events of the county for 
 a period of upwards of forty-three years, commencing on the 15th of 
 August, 1815, with the return of the Right Honorable George 
 Robert Dawson, and ending on the 16th of May, 1859, with the 
 election of his eldest son and heir, Robert Peel Dawson, Esq., on 
 whose shoulders the mantle of his distinguished father has appropri¬ 
 ately fallen. 
 
 “ His return”—to use the language of ‘ Conservator,’ in his first 
 letter—“ selected by gentry and people, (is) a graceful act, now that 
 the grave has closed over the remains of his father, their former highly 
 gifted representative, and by restoring the intimate relations which 
 
76 
 
 so long subsisted between the constituency of the county and the 
 Dawson family, harmonizes with the better feelings of the electors, 
 and will prevent the disagreeable ordeal of a contested election” 
 at any future period. 
 
 After writing so far, we find the government of the country 
 passing through an ordeal which perils its existence. The members 
 of the new parliament had barely taken their seats when a trial of 
 strength took place between the two great contending parties in the 
 house. On Tuesday, the 7th of June, the Marquis of Hartington 
 moved, and Mr. Hanbury seconded, an amendment to the usual 
 address on the Queen’s speech, expressive of want of confidence in the 
 government. The debate was adjourned to Thursday, and further 
 adjourned to Friday, the 10th of June, when the house, consisting of 
 633 members divided—for the amendment, 323 ; against it, 310; 
 majority against ministers, 13. The government of Lord Derby is, 
 therefore, virtually at an end after a brief existence of sixteen months, 
 and owes its defeat to a parliament created by itself. Its illiberal and 
 sectarian Irish policy, and the reactionary and injudicious speech, a 
 few days since, of Lord Derby in the House of Lords, tended very 
 considerably to its overthrow. But “ we must in justice,” 
 says the editor of the Freemans Journal in commenting on the 
 result, “ to the now broken administration say that during their 
 official career they manifested deep sympathy for this country, and 
 never allowed an opportunity for advancing its material prosperity 
 to escape unused. In this they formed a rare and brilliant exception 
 to all English cabinets of our day, and had not the deep bigotry of 
 the Irish officials, and their stolid stupidity prevented the adoption 
 of a liberal policy in Ireland, and insisted on making Catholic exclu¬ 
 sion the unbending rule of their Irish government, we do not hesitate 
 to say the majority last night would have been the other way, and 
 that the Derby cabinet would have been saved from dissolution by 
 Irish votes given with the hearty approval of the people of Ireland.” 
 A new administration formed of the liberal party, including both 
 Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell, with a considerable sprink¬ 
 ling of the Peelites and the advanced liberals, under the premiership 
 of the first-named noble lord, will now take the helm of public affairs; 
 but with a solid and compact opposition of 310 members, the new 
 administration must appeal to the country to gain an increase of 
 support, and, therefore, another general election may be expected 
 about the spring of next year. 
 
 In reference to that general election, and the political future of 
 
77 
 
 the constituency of the county of Derry, we have a parting word 
 to say. From the brief outline which we have sketched of the 
 principles and public career of the premier, the Earl of Derby, and 
 selections from the published opinions of different members of his 
 government, and other of public men of the ultra party, couched in 
 language, and avowing principles of liberal and enlightened Conser¬ 
 vative progress, such as the writer of the letters of “ Conservator- 
 Elector” advocated three years before, and with which the landlords 
 and majority of the electors of the county of Derry have identified 
 themselves, as evidenced at the hustings and in the polling booths;— 
 in the anti-sectarian sentiments of his Excellency the Lord Lieute¬ 
 nant in the city of Derry in the month of August last, which were 
 warmly and enthusiastically applauded by that assemblage of land¬ 
 lords and tenants, gentry, electors, and non-electors, who crowded 
 there and formed round the noble lord on the occasion a bow of charity, 
 liberality, and peace;—in the result of the last three elections—the first 
 returning the moderate and liberal Conservative Mr. Clark, the second 
 excluding, for an advanced liberal, the candidate of the ultra or Pro¬ 
 testant ascendancy party, and the last stamping with disapprobation 
 the extremes of both, in the selection, by overwhelming majorities, of 
 two members, resident landlords, of moderate but liberal and progres¬ 
 sive opinions:—in the repudiation by the electors of sectarianism in 
 any form, and from any quarter, and their approbation generally of the 
 late government measure of reform, and of the necessity of progressive 
 and enlightened legislation—there need be no apprehension of a 
 retrospective policy on the part of the electors of the county of 
 Derry, nor of relapse from those principles of moderation and progress 
 which they have adopted, and so nobly sustained and vindicated. 
 The county has now recovered from the fever into which it was 
 thrown by the contests of 1852 and 1857; rising regenerated and 
 refreshed, it has settled down into its natural state. The ordeal 
 through which it has passed, though painful in many instances, in 
 the rude shocks given and sustained, have had beneficial results. Both 
 parties have been taught grave lessons, and have profited by them— 
 each having given way something to the other, and formed an 
 amalgamation of opinion upon the middle-ground of progress, tempered 
 with moderation. Let them, therefore, generously obliterate the me¬ 
 mory of their past struggles and look only to the future. The party 
 of advanced liberalism will have all they can reasonably desire in 
 the course of time, and that not far distant. The present county 
 members, pledged to Conservative progress, cannot stand still, even 
 
78 
 
 on the existing land-marks of party, but must advance still further 
 with the progress of the age. The late ascendancy party having 
 wisely tacked in their course, will see that they are equally interested 
 in the passing of beneficial measures of practical reform and the 
 remedy of abuses; while the realization of full and perfect equality 
 of civil rights among all classes and persuasions will clear the way for 
 an honourable rivalry between them, to advance their material pros¬ 
 perity and elevate their common fatherland. Therefore, banded 
 together, landlords and tenants, gentry and people, they will no 
 longer stand still, but advance, and amalgamate with the party of 
 “ liberal and enlightened Conservative progressa party appropri¬ 
 ately described by Elector as “ a middle between either extreme; a 
 party highly educated, most numerous, and rapidly recruiting from 
 the ranks of the others; belonging to the aristocracy, and identified 
 with its traditions, interests, and feelings; while preserving the rights 
 and privileges of its order, keeping pace with the progress of educa¬ 
 tion and science; pursuing a liberal and just course towards the indus¬ 
 trial and productive classes; giving them protection for the fruits of 
 their skill and capital, and easing the springs of industry in every 
 department from the pressure of unequal taxation.; conceding to all 
 the free and unrestricted exercise of opinion, and imposing no penalties 
 for the adoption of one set of ideas more than another; upholding, 
 conserving, and improving the institutions of the country, and adapt¬ 
 ing and arranging their machinery in harmonious action with the 
 spirit and progress of the age; and thus consolidating and establishing 
 them on that broad and indestructible basis, the affection, respect, 
 and veneration of a free, happy, and contented people.” 
 
 Feeva 
 
 THE END