Extracts.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VIII, Issue 492, 22 July 1857, Page 3

Extracts.

siilE ATTACK ON MR. LOWE

\o' (From the Times, April 1.) Happily for the good fame of the English eople, it is seldom we have to record an outrage such as has just disgraced the town f Kidderminster. j n these days there is hardly a politician who rejects the appellation of " Liberal," and has not a favourable word for the people and the extension of their right. What is the cause of this change ? Simply that we all feel that during the present generation, education, morality and humanity have enlarged their dominion o ver all classes. It is not too much to say that the tradesman of our time is in instruction and political knowledge the equal of the squires who legislated for us 50 years ago, and that the artisans of to-day are not inferior to the middle class who supported Church and State under Pitt and Sidmouth. No one now dares to talk of the " swinish multitude" or the "besotted herd." Mobs may be ill-clothed, ill-fed, and ill-mannered, but we had trusted that the days of riot and murderous brutality had passed away. Such a transaction as this at Kidderminster shows how inveterate are the instincts of barbarism and ignorance, and how continually, even in the midst of philanthropioal endeavours and spreading education, we must be prepared for the outbreaks of passion and the plottinss of malignity. We are far, however, from wishing to generalise from the.acts of a 'gang of ruffians to the character of the English working class. On the contrary, this is pre-eminently a case where the exception proves the rule. The very fact that the outrage of Saturday last has awakened through the country a general feeling of indignation is sufficient to show how far such events are from forming part of the ordinary current of English life. Nothing like it has occurred during the present elections ; nothing like it can we remember in the transactions of 1852 or 1853. We are not a vindictive nor even a passionate people. We can d ffer without anger, and be rivals without hostility. Our politicians respect each other at the hustings and in the Senate, and the constituencies have imbibed the moderation which characterizes the Legislature. Ordinarily the bitterness of an election scarcely survives the day of polling, and the voters are perfectly ready to take the advice of the best-tempered among them, and, satisfied with having fought well, to forget that they had fought at all. The Kidderminster contest, we are happy to say, was not of the ordinary kind. Neither the Liberal nor the Conservative party iis responsible for its scandalous results. Mr. Lowe, the representative of the borough in the last Parliament, and a member of the Government, was from the beginning certain of re-election. He was opposed only by a Mr. Boycott., a local solicitor, and it was the more disreputable partizans of this gentleman who were the planners and perpetrators of the atrocity. We gather from various quarters a sufficiently accurate narrative of what passed on the day of polling. It was evident from the first that the rival of Mr. Lowe had no chance with the electors. But he had with the lower classes of the town that kind of popularity which is always attainable by a local celebrity who chooses to work for it. It appears that the non-electors have been for many years at Kidderminster active sharers in the more demonstrative proceedings of election times. On the present occasion the mob had been raised to a high pitch of excitement by the addresses of Mr. Boycott and his friends. Mr. Lowe had been^ represented, in the usual style of electioneering oratory, as caring nothing for the interests of the borough, and as a party to the maintenance of excessive taxation. Mr. Lowe would not support Kidderminster institutions. Mr. Lowe wanted^to keep up the high price of tea. The consequences of this kind of speaking threatened to be serious even before the day of polling came. «is said that the attack which took place was probably organized the night before, Jor the electors in favour of Mr. Lowe were I warned that they might have some difficulty m getting back from the poll; and heaps of J stones were actually piled up by the side of the lane which led from the hustings to the ! own. By a singular arrangement the hustings were erected nearly a mile from jne town, and the Liberal electors were orced to pass through a long narrow street, We stronghold of Mr. Boycott's partizans, !j;' d,tne head quarters of his committee. "c police were, as mi^ht be expected, '"'sevably insufficient, and the special conwbles were taken from the class over >ich Mr. Boycott especially Bexercised his 'nu ence> The voting weut from the firgJ . "'avour of Mr. Lowe, and the rage of his PPonents increased every hour. The Saturday half-holiday brought a large addi-

tion to the numbers of the malcontents. Mr. Lowe was assailed with stones in the middle of the day, and warned by those who knew the temper of the mob not to appear again at the hustings. This advice was manfully, yet, as the event proved, unfortunately disregarded. About half-an-hour before the close of the poll the supporters of Mr. Boycott attacked the side of the hustings occupied by the successful candidate and his friends; showers of stones were hurled at them, and, from their crowded position, took effect. When the poll closed the rage of the mob rose to its height. Loud threats were uttered against the life of the elected member and his proI poser, and preparations were made for commencing the long premeditated attack. Mr. Boycott, according to one account, requested the crowd to be quiet; according to another, he declined to interfere in anyway. At all events, it is certain that he almost immediately quitted the hustings with his friends, and left his opponent at the mercy of the infuriated mob. The public will judge for itself of this act. Whether the Kidderminster populace had been excited by his own oratory or that of his friends, or Whether their fury was the result of some unintelligible impulse, certain it is that they meditated and had threatened the deadliest vengeance on Mr. Lowe, and Mr. Boycott knew it. How far, then, it was consistent with courtesy, with good feeling, with com- | mon humanity, to leave the place, bowing and smiling among the shouts of his partizans, when his adversary and a number of his fellow-townsmen were in danger of their lives, it will be for every well-thinking person to determine for himself. The departure of Mr. Boycott was the signal for the ruffians to como to close quarters. The booth was attacked with yells and execrations, and it was necessary to protect Mr. Lowe and his friends as they left the booth. The police formed, and, with the member, his proposer, and friends, commenced to fight their way along the lane. They were stoned all the way. •' On each side of us," says Mr. Guest, the County Court Bailiff, " the mob, 15 or 20 deep, were throwing stones with all- their might. They were I well armed. The women had stones in their aprons; the men had their pockets filled; every stone found a target in the body of some of our number. . . . [In this way we ran the gauntlet for 250 yards, losing one of our number at every stride. Those -who fell were savagely' kicked by the brutes around; and several policemen were disabled in rescuing them from their brutal assailants." There is little more to be said. Mr. Lowe was saved from assassination by the courage of Mr. John Sheppard, who dragged him into his house, covered with blood, and with a severe injury on the skull. Almost every one of the devoted party was more or less injured. We are glad to learn that Mr. Lowe is progressing favourably, and trust he will be before long restored to health. The excitement in the town has so little subsided that it was judged expedient on Monday to send for a detachment of cavalry. We need not say that the respectable portion of the community, without distinction of party, are in the highest degree indignant at the ruffianly outrage, and the coldness and callousness exhibited by individuals who might have done much to prevent it. The attack is felt to have been most scandalous and unprovoked, inasmuch as the contest was carried on by the successful candidate with the most perfect fairness and good feeling. We are told that " the Lowe party made no gestures of menace or triumph, and^ did not attempt to insult v.r coerce any one ; that Mr. Lowe has never in one instance descended to personalities; and his party.have not as much as published a single squib or placard reflecting on Mr. Boycott or any of his party." On such transactions we may well wait for the spontaneous verdict of public opinion. We may indeed congratulate the country that such a scene as has just been enacted at Kidderminster is [sufficiently rare to be the subject of astonishment and disgust. The courtesy and honourable spirit with which several hundred elections have been carried on throughout the three kingdoms among constituencies of all numbers and characters, is a proof how little brutality and violence form a necessary part of civil contests, and consequently how deep is the disgrace on all who perpetrated or abetted the shameful act we have related.