A dissolution of Parliament is at hand, and I hear of no other candidate for our suffrages besides our present Member. Is it not, however, worthy of enquiry, if this gentleman, a London Lawyer, a nominee, and personally unknown to the great majority of you, is the man of your choice, and a proper representative of your wants and interests in Parliament, and has he fair claims to be re-elected by you?

To justify these claims, what have been his doings since he held his seat for this borough? What has he done for the country at large, or for the constituency he represents? When the most momentous question that could be raised in a Protestant country was agitated—the revival of Popery in the endowment of the Papist College of Maynooth, was he at his post to defend the strongest bulwark of our national prosperity and glory—our reformed Christianity—or did he not skulk behind the scenes at each division on this vital question—and, by an ignoble silence, allow that measure which opens a broad inroad to the triumph of Popery, to pass without his vote? Is such a man worthy of the confidence of a Protestant constituency?—And in what other measure of national importance, and for the welfare of the people, has he taken any part? As to matters of local interest, his conduct in the case of the Bill for the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway will not soon be forgotten. To this measure, which promised the greatest benefit to the town and district, and which was hailed and supported by a vast majority of his constituents, he presented the most determined, unwearied and implacable opposition, and ever since it has passed has continued to throw every obstacle which malice or litigation could invent in the way of its progress. I say nothing to a number of other matters of local concernment, which, in proportion to their importance, redound as little to his credit.

And what has been his bearing towards those of his constituents who have held any official intercourse with him? Strong, or fancying himself so, in the interest of his patron, he has looked down upon them, if not with positive contempt, with the most supercilious indifference—riding rough-shod over them, their opinions, and their wishes, in the pure style of an “Irresponsible.” Too haughty to listen to their petitions, and acknowledging no one’s judgment or will but his own, his career has been as that of a tyrant among a nation of serfs. And yet he has the hardihood to offer himself again to the suffrages of these insulted constituents, and, strange to say, they seem prepared to sit down in this state of degradation.

But I shall be told that the honourable member has done great things for our borough, and that he has made full atonement for all his sins, in procuring from his patron—(one would think they were his own gift, if the selfishness of his nature were not too well known)—sites for a prison, schools, &c. And does he, or will you, my fellow electors, rob the noble head of the house of Dudley of these acts of justice and benevolence, or will you ascribe to the agent the act of the principal? Had MR. BENBOW never heard of that honourable name, I hesitate not to aver, that the borough of Dudley had been no loser at all in the matter.

Is he, then, I repeat, the man who ought to represent us in Parliament? And have we no one among ourselves equally, or better, qualified to support our interests, and to whom some debt, not of reproach, but of public gratitude is due? I think we have, and I would name THOMAS BADGER, Esq., as one. No man is better acquainted with the interests and wants of our borough than he is, and no man has exerted himself so much and successfully to promote them, or would labour more faithfully and zealously in support of those wants and interests. Living all his life among us, his character is well known to be unimpeached and unimpeachable.—Strong and clear in his judgment, firm and decided in his principles and proceedings, and well experienced, by years and business, in the knowledge of our commerce, and of men and things, and with a property sufficient to place him above temptation, he is well-fitted to serve the interests of his neighbours and his country. I do not know that he would accept the trust, but I think he ought to be invited to do so, and I throw out this hint in the hope that it may be taken up and succeed.

AN INDEPENDENT ELECTOR OF DUDLEY.

Dudley, July 20, 1847.

DUDLEY ELECTION.

A word in the Ear of an Independent Elector of Dudley.