The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-13 00:00:00

v

GATESHEAD ELECTION, /(e1:::r
TO THE EDITOIL or THE O.ATHEAT) ottz,uavxt.
Sir,—l have to beg you will lay the- encloso
correspondence -before the public, by -r.ffording:' it a
place in your columns.
It is necessary for me to precnisf,‘, that I love
long been made sensible of an or-,:.nized plan being
adopted in this borough, by
Mr. Walters end eonI?
of his party, to injure my public character by the
unscrupulous use of misrepresentation and falsehood. -
So long as these &Woks mtre confinA to anony-
mous libellers, and to certain of Mr. Walters's known
assooiates, I felt that my best course was to meet
them with silence; but finding that, at a public
meeting held on the Low Fell on the 23id ult., Mr. _
Walters hal come forward in person as the abettor
of this system, I saw that the time was come for me
to defend myself. I thought-, it was due, equally to
to myself and to those who honoured M 2 ivi!h their
confidence, not tamely to allow a person speaking
openly and with the authority of a certain position in
sociay, to accuse me of conduct which involved a
high degree of political profligacy. I accordingly ad-
dressed the following letter to my friend Captain
Weatherley, in reference to certain of Mr. Walterea
mis-statements on that occasion.

No. I.
"My dear Sir.—l shall feel greatly obliged to you, if,
en the reeeipt of this letter, you will wait on Mr. Ralph
Walters, and ask him whether that which appears in the
Gateshead Observer of this day. as the report of a speech
delivered by him on the L3W Fell, on Tuesday, the 23d
inst., be in substance correct. If Mr. Walters do not
wholly deny its correctness, I rc quest that you will do
me the favour to call his particular attention to the fol-
lowing paragraphs.—
" 1. That I voted against Mr. Trelawney'a motion for
the abolition of church rates.
" 2. That, when various proposition were before tbo
House of Commons for granting an annuity to Queen
Adelaide; I always thought the largest amount-was the
best, and that I was one of those who voted that 100,000/.
per annum should be settled on the Queen.
" 3. That I was ono of those who voted an annety
of 50,0001. per annum to the King of the Belgians, anti
and 20,000/. per annum to the late King of Hanover.
" I will place in your hands the facts of each of these
charges seriatim.
" I did not vote at all on Mr. Trelawney's motion. I
was ill at this time, and I paired off with Mr. Chapman,
of Whitby, in favour of the motion.
" With respect to the late Queen Dowager's annuity,
wherein my conduct is described with so much invidious
detail, that annuity,was settled before I was in Parlia-
ment. Every part of this statement is erroneous.
" The annuity granted by Parliament to King Leopold
was voted about the year 1817, and has never aince been
W the subject of a vote. Mr. alters's assertion is, there-
fore, again erroneous.

" The annuity granted to the late King of Hanover
was voted by Parliament before I was born. It is true
that I refused to violate the engagement after Parlia-
ment had made it, but that is a different question. Mr.
Walters has again, therefore, asserted what is not, true.
" I cannot doubt that Mr. Walters will at once adopt
the only course open to a gentleman who has done nu.
intentional wrong to another—that of making frank and
immediate reparation for it.—Believe me, my dear sir,
yours very truly, " Wrixis.ar Hurr.
" London, Saturday Night, March 27, 1852."
On Thursday the Ist of April, I received this an•
ewer from Captain Weatherley :
No. U.
"My dear Sir,—l did not receive your letter and its
accompaniment till this morning. I immediately called
on Mr. Walters in accordance with your request. As I
did not find him at home, I left word with his clerk
that I would call on him again this morning at ten
o'clock. I have just seen him. Oa finding myself with
Mr. Walters I immediately laid before him the facts as
you have stated them. lam happy to say that I found
him disposed to take the proper course for a man of ho-
nour on such an occasion. He expressed his readiness
to contradict publicly his previous assertions, if he found
them inaccurate; but he asked for a little time to can
mine the facts. This I agreed to.
" Believe me, yours very faithfully,
"J. D. WEITHERLEY.
" Newcastle, 31st March, 1852."
On the receipt of this I immediately replied as fol.
lows :