The Sun.
London, England, 1847-07-20 00:00:00

It is common to all Members who have the honour of a
seat in Parliament, that they are desirous to avoid and
I am not an
not to
Itompursotvoowknn
tahactr
fotersmt —yse(iLf,aguegnhttleormeann,d cheers)
exception to that general rule.—(Cheers and laughter.)
But, gentlemen, I am sure I should be exercising a
most undue interference with the rights and privileges
of the citizens of London if, asking fortheir suffrages for
myself, I should presume to tell them who should be the
other candidates, and who they should think worthy of
their suffrages to make up the number of four candidates
to represent the city of London in Parliament.—(Cheers.)
' Gentlemen, it is for the electors themselves to decide ;
it is for those who have their confidence, and who are
forward amongst them, in the conduct of elections—it is
for them, I say, to decide what is the strength of the
party with which they are connected; and for myself I
may say, that I never was acquainted with any party in
this country which, being of opinion that they could
command the whole of the representatives, were ever
satisfied with one-half.—(Cheers and laughter.) I am
sure that in the election of 1841 there were none who
said in the counties of England, " These Whigs will be
too much beaten—let us give them one-half of the re-
presentation ; let us take care they are not too
much defeated when they come to the poll."
No such indulgence, I think, was afforded to the Liberals
in 1841, and therefore I say, gentlemen, it is for those
who know the strength of the different parties—which I
certainly have not the means of ascertaining—it is for
them to judge whether they have the strength to return
tour Liberal Members. It is a matter with which I have no
right to interfere ; and, therefore, it is for the electors,
and for the electors alone, to judge.—(Cheers.) But,
gentlemen, there is another charge—namely, that I have
in presuming to appear myself before you. after being
twice elected to the honour of representing you in
Parliament, allowed the Liberal Association of this city
to join my name with those of three other gentlemen,
most respectable and intelligent men no one doubts—
(Cheers)—but one of whom, it is said, being disqualified
by law to take his seat in Parliament.—(Hear, hear.)
Why one should have thought that my friend Baron
Lionel de Rothschild was about to come by " force of
arms" to break open the door of the House of Com-
mons—(Cheers and laughter)—and to get himself
admitted into the House by violence.—(Laughter.) I
am sure there is no man in this country who will take
care to obey the law more implicitly than my friend
Baron Rothschild—(Cheers)—but what he says is, that
"if you, the citizens of London think proper to elect me,
it v ill be after that for the law to decide whether I am
able to take my seat in Parliament or no."—(Cheers.)
And, gentlemen, upon general principles it is not for me
to find fault with his pretensions.—(Applause.) Gentle-
men, from the beginning of my political life I have al-
ways followed that great doctrine of Fox, that "acts
and not opinions ought to be the subject of punishment"
—(Cheers)--that religious opinions formed no ground
for civil disqualifications.—(Applause.) It was upon
that ground, taking my stand on that principle many
years ago—l believe it is now twenty years ago—
that I proposed to the House of Commons to
abrogate those civil disqualifications that barred the
way to office of Protestant Dissenters.—(Cheers.)
Gentlemen, it was upon the same principle, braving the
obloquy which attended that opinion, that I always gave
my vote for removing the disabilities which affected our
Roman Catholic fellow-subjects.—(Loud cheers.) And,
gentlemen, I know no limit to that principle.—
(Cheers.) I say—and I have repeatedly said in
Parliament what I now declare to you that
there ought to be no disqualification for civil officers
or for seats in Parliament on account of religious
opinions.—(Cheers, and a cry of "No Popery.") It
was on the ground of this general principle that I could
not repudiate or disavow the alliance which the " Liberal
Association" have made of my name with that of the
gentleman who solicits your suffrages, and to whom I
have already alluded. Gentlemen there are other ques.
tions—(Hear, hear)—which have been in agitation
since I was first elected to the honour of a seat in Par-
liament. I remember declaring in this room that
I thought if the weaver of Lancashire produced
a piece of cloth, and the husbandmen on the
banks of the Ohio grew a quarter of wheat, that these
two men ought to be at liberty to exchange their pro-
ducts, and chat no law ought to prevent that interchange.
—(Loud cheers.) That which I stated here in 1841,
I proposed again in the House of Commons in 1842. I
pointed out how fertile were the countries beyond the
Atlantic, and how desirable it was in any difficulty of
procuring food for this country that the abundant har-
vests of America should be brought over to this country,
while the manufacturing industry of this country should
send over their products in exchange.—(Hear,
hear.) And, gentlemen, what I then aaserted has
in the present year come to pass for the be
net of this country.—(Loud cheers.) For I believe
no less than 4,000,000 of quarters of grain of various
kinds will have been brought over, for the assistance of
this country, from America during the year.—(Loud
cheers.) And I, therefore, assert that even in press-
ing what I then proposed, a compromise— that in
supporting that, which I afterwards supported, when
I saw that there was no room or time for compromise--
a total abrogation of the duties on corn, I served your
interests, and did that which was for the general in-
welfare of the country.—(Loud cheers.) But, geode-
men, it has been said, and papers have been circu-
lated --actually in print! —of which the lan-
guage, in plain English, is this,—" These men
—the Whigs and the Liberals—have served you in
former times. They have helped you to get rid of the
links and fetters of religious intolerance—they have
helped to shake off the chain of commercial monopoly ;
dered, and, therefore, it is to our interest now to
turn off the servants who have done these things,
and endeavour to look for others by wnom some other
service is to be performed.—(Cries of " No, no," and
prolonged cheering.) Gentlemen, I don't wish to dwell
upon this topic, because I am sure that the hearts ef
Englishmen never would cherish so base, so unworthy a
sentiment—(Prolonged cheering)—and I feel sure that
the same principles which have animated men in your
service in past times are likely to animate them in future
times, when new questions arise through these new circum-
stances, and that they will apply the same principles to
them by which they have heretofore been guided.—
(Cheers, and" Don't let us have a final question.") But,
gentlemen, there have been questions which have of late
divided public opinion, and upon which public opinion is
not so settled as I could wish ; but I should say that it
is generally upon those questions of religious disabilities
and commercial monopolies to which I have referred, and
foremost among them is the great question of education.
Gentlemen, I am not here to deny that for many years
past I have looked anxiously to the increase of educa-
tion in this country. For that purpose I have taken an
active part in the British and Foreign Z.-,chool Society,
an institution which has done much to promote the
cause of education. I have considered education as a
good in itself. I have considered it as connected with
the cause of liberty—with the increase of liberty in this
country; and let me fnr a moment call your attention,
in order to show how deeply education is connected with
liberty, to that which takes place in the northern and
southern states of America.—(Cheers.) In the northern
states, where there prevails the utmost freedom—
(Cheers)—the State is most busy in favouring, in encou-
raging, and in promoting the cause of education, and
there the great proportion, the great body of the people
do receive in the schools there established a moral and
religious education.—(A Voice—" Why don't they
. emancipate the slaves?") And, upon the other hand,
in the southern states of America, where slavery pre-
vails, there education is discouraged—there education
is in many cases actually prohibited, because, as
knowledge is connected with freedom, so is igno-
rance connected with slavery.—(Loud cheering.) Gen-
tlemen, in promoting the cause of education, therefore, I
have sought to promote the liberty of the country. I
was aware, if not otherwise, at least by the failure of the
late Government in its well-meant attempts for that
purpose, that no one system imposed by the Legislature
would answer, or would be embraced by the various
religious persuasions in this country, and therefore we
have taken the plsn of adopting and favouring all the
Carious schools which the various religious societies
have set up, and in this manner doing our utmost to
promote the general object.—(Great uproar.) We were
told, that with regard to a great portion of the com-
munity—viz.,
uta;nithes
oth.
—tri
ies
(3:-
.Ade i
awouldrahnaoy:ici
ennrort
eat
munity—viz., Protestants dissenting from the Church—
Ima,feccreenpeteawnyithpltahneiorfreetugciaoutisoninwsthruicoh.
were course n
intendedot.") t To h ea v
oid minutes
that
pinietemrfeenrteanrcye. m
ißutnut e
,I
?dr
fnoouwndehdoldonin thernY dheacnladraationsu. Poi
1839, which enacts that while we ask for the •
inspection
of all schools to which Parliamentary aid is granted, we
inquire and inspect only into secular instruction, and
do not in any way meddle or interfere with, or inquire
into the nature of the religious instruction afforded at
those schools.—(Loud cheering.) I venture to ask you,
and I ask you with confidence,. whether, while we are
giving millions of money—nearly twenty millions—every
year for the purposes of defence for our army, for our
navy, for our courts of justice, and the various
other purposes of civil government, it is too much
to have sought for a grant of 100,0001. to promote the
better education and instruction of the people?----(Loud
cheering.) Of this I feel confident, that some misap-
prehension must have prevailed among the great body of
Protestant Diseenters, because, as I have said in that
society—the British and Foreign School Society, to
which I belong—and in every other society, I have
always found the Protestant Dissenters of this country
most eager and forward in promoting the general cause
of education ; and therefore, if we differ at all, it must
not be in our objects, but in some misconstruction or
misapprehension of a particular measure—a miscon-
struction and misapprehension which further in-
quiry and further reflection will, I think, not fail to
dissipate.—(Cheers „I Pa te • ( heers and counter cheers, &c., with cries
of No, , no.") Other questions have been started with-
out. as I think, any necessity, • candidates for the city ofL and upon which the other
those liberal principles . London, who do not profess
which those
see near me profess, have been forward
Now, gentlemen, I are not myself,in giving pledges.
questions apart from any officialcil speaking of general
position, partial to the
giving of pledges, because I have
the unfortunate results both to themselves,seeninmy
time
the character of the House of Commons, to
the reputation of those pledged. haveland to
seen many,
many persons pledge themselves never to a
removal of Catholic disabilities--(Cries of " Ngore; to the
—but when that great man the Duke of Wellington,oPe")
with his sagacious observation, perceived that the time
was come to. remove those disabilities- or to- -encounter
civil dissensions, those gentlemen, preferring the safety
of the country to keeping their own pledges, wisely,
but
not very much to their own credit, voted against the
age - • ments they had entered into.—(Cheers.) I have
engagements
seen gentlemen a little later pledge themselves to take'
Prime M. • declared
that
mister
off the malt. tat ; but when the
that the malt-tax was indispensably necessary to be re-
tained, they voted for its retention. I have seen also
ad some to the House of.
but very lately gentlemen who h