The Sun.
London, England, 1830-09-03 00:00:00

REPRESENTATION OF SOUTHWARK,

MEETING OF DISSENTERS IN FAVOUR OF
LORD JOHN RUSSELL.

Yesterday evening a numerous meeting of Dir.
scoters and others was held at the City of London
Tavern, with a view of devising the best means to
obtain the co-operation of the Dissenters of London,
who are electors of Southwark, to procure the re-
turn of Lord John Russell fur that borough, in lieu
of the lute J. R. Harris, Esq.
At half-past six o'clock, THOMAS WiEsoN, Esq.
took the Chair. He stated the objects of the meet-
ing, and eulogized the conduct of the Noble Lord,
in whose cause the meeting had been called. He
considered that the Dissenters of England owed a
debt of gratitude to Lord John Russell for his zeal
in pressing upon the attention of the House of
Commons the repeal of the Test and Corporation
Acts.—(Hear.)—Ministers were at present look-
ing much to public opinion as their guide, and he
firmly believed that, as a reform of the House of
Co:nmons must soon take place, that the people
would effect that reform. Lo rd John Russell would
not waste a fortune in his endeavours to get into
Parliament for the borough of Southwark. The
time, he hoped, had gone by when candidates were
expected to enter the town with flags, On which
were denoted the amounted they intended to give
to each voter. He thought the borough of South-
wark would do itself honour by returning Lord John
Russell, and he therefore cordially supported the
objects of the present meeting.
Mr. PELLATT, of St. Paul's church-yard, rend a
variety of letters in support of the objects of the
meeting; these were from Messrs. Hnnkey, the
bankers; Rogers, Towgood, and Co. bankers; the
Rev. Joseph Fletcher, and from some other clergy-
men of respectability in the dissenting world ; they
all warmly espoused the cause of Lord John Rus-
sell, a debt of gratitude to whom was due by the
Dissenters generally, for the great and successful
exertions he made for a repeal of the Test and Cor-
poration Acts.
T. WOOO, Esq., rose to move the first resolution :
in doing so, he observed that the Dissenters ought
to take shame to themselves for not having, long ere
that time, testified their gratitude in a public manner,
to the Noble Lord who had wrought such a change
in their behalf by the repeal of the Test Acts ; that
Noble Lord had upheld in the truest sense of the
ward the glory of his ancestors, and shown that ho
was a worthy scion of their house : it was a fact, con-
tinued the speaker,that a Government was at all times
anxious to buy up talent at any price, but amid all the
temptations thrown out by the Court, and all the
temptations by which a young man like his Lordship
was surrounded, he still nobly stood on independent
grounds, and he was superior to every temptation.
After glancing at his Lordship's recent defeat at Bed-
ford, and the late events in France, Mr. Wood con-
cluded by moving, " That Lord John Russell, by
his noble exertions in the cause of civil and reli-
gious liberty, in bringing about a repeal of the Test
and Corporation Acts, is entitled to the gratitude
of all Dissenters."—( Loud cheers.)
Mr. PEt.LATT seconded the resolution..
BENJAMIN Worm, Esq. (brother to Alderman
Wood), rose to address the meeting. lie said he
was not opposed to the resolution which had just
been read, but he wished to set the meeting right,
that it might not act under any delusion as to Lord
John Russell's sentiment*.---( here great opposition
to the speaker was evinced.)—He begged to read
the following letter from Lord J. Russell :
"
Srit" Newnham, Aug. 29.
have the honour to acknowledge having re-
ceived a letter from you, informing me of a report preva-
lent in the borough of Southwark that 1 had accepted an
invitation to become a candidate fin that borough, and
likewise apprizing me that although Mr. Calvert cannot
become a candidate, he has protnised to represent South-
wark, if elected. You naturally wish, therefore, to know
my intention upon the subject.
" In answer to this request, I beg to assure you, that I
have not received any regular invitation to become a candi-
date for the borough of Southwark, nor, had I received
one, should I have thought it right to listen to it, until
the death of Mr. Harris had eteati.d a vacancy, and Mr.
Calvert had refused to supply that vacancy when called upon.
Now that the calamity has occurred, and Mr. Calvert has
avowed !dimwit' willing to serve, I can hate no hesitation in
declaring that he shall nut have to encounter any prcten-
sloes of mine. Whatever other reasons I might have,
either for accepting or declining the honour of being a
candidate for Southwark, it is quite sufficient for me that
you have already, in the person of Mr. Culvert, a gentle
man of sound principles and independent conduct, who
will again be prepared to testify in the House of Corn-
pions the attachment of his constituents to the cause of
freedom—their hatred of corrupt government, and their
seal in behalf of that indispensable reform, to which- the
country has in the late elections given its sanction more
decidedly and intelligibly than it had done for IA) years
before.

" I remain your obedient servant,
G. R. Corner, EN., tt J.:11 TISSELL-
Cmterhury-square, Southwark."
The confusion again became extreme, and ISIr.