The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-27 00:00:00

PUBLIC TESTIMONIAL TO

EDW. BAINES, ESQ., LATE M.P. FOR LEEDS.

(Abridged from the Leeds Mercury.)

The retirement- of Mr. Baines from the representation
of the borough of Leeds, on the dissolution of the last
Parliament, was regarded by his constituents as a subject
of deep regret, not more on public grounds than because
it was occasioned by the failure of his health through
unintermitting attention to his Parliamentary duties.
Shortly after that event, a number of gentlemen in the
town of Leeds met to consider whether some testimonial
of public esteem and gratitude should not be presented
to their late representative, not only for his services in
Parliament, but for that energetic and unceasing advo-
cacy of reform and improvement—local, municipal, and
national—which Mr. Baines had carried out during a
period of no less than forty years—ever since he became
the proprietor of the Leeds Mercury. The suggestion of
such a tribute of respect and regard was at once re-
sponded to, and the subscriptions in a short time amount-
ed to several hundred pounds. We copy from the Leeds
Mercury of November 6, the following description of the
present :
" The present consists of a candelabrum or centre-piece
for the dining-table, 31 inches high, and four silver co-
vered dishes, richly ornamented en suite, weighing toge-
ther 700 ounces. From the base of the candelabrum,
which is triangular, presenting three faces or tablets,
rises a group of palm trees, from the foliage of which
spring six branches to hold lights. These are surmouted
by a highly-wrought bowl, with a border of oak leaves
and acorns. Three figures, representing Truth, Liberty,
and Justice, vory beautifully executed in frosted silver,
occupy the three corners of the base, and give an ex-
tremely chaste and elegant finish to the design. On one
of the tablets is a well executed landscape in bas-relief,
with emblems of agriculture in the foreground, and a
railroad in the distance. The second is occupied by a
printing press (identified with the Mercury by a caduceus),
a merchant vessel, woolsacks, bales of cloth, and other
appropriate emblems of commerce and manufactures.
The remaining tablet bears a suitable inscription."
Monday last was the day fixed for the presentation,
and the largest room in the town, the saloon of the Music
Hall, was fitted up for the ceremony. Shortly after noon
Thomas William Tottie, Esq., Mr. Baines, and a large
number of the Committee and other friends entered the
saloon, and were received by the company assembled
with enthusiasm. Mr. Baines was accompanied by Mr.
Edward Baines, jun., Mr. Thomas Baines, Mr. Frederick
Baines, his sons, and by his sons-in-law.
On the motion of Mr. Alderman J. Goodman, seconded
by W. W. Brown, Esq., T. W. Tottie, Esq., was called
to the Chair.

The CHAinmAx, on rising to open the proceedings,
was received with reiterated marks of applause. He
said, we are met on a very interesting occasion. It is to
do honour to an eminent fellow••citizen, who has deserved
well of his country.--(Cheers.) I do not consider it my
province, as your Chairman, on this occasion, to enter
into a detailed statement of the great services which Mr.
Baines has rendered to his fellow-townsmen and to the
country at large. It will devolve upon those who are
better qualified by their acquirements to discharge in a
more eloquent and affective manner than I can, that duty.
But I may be permitted to say, that through a course of
forty years, during which Mr. Baines has held a distin-
guished and eminent place as a conductor of the public
press, that as .a member of the British Senate during
three successive Parliaments, in which he faithfully and
honourably discharged his duties as a representative of
the people—(Hear, hear)—that as a man of unimpeached,
and I believe unimpeachable integrity, and of good moral
conduct—(Cries of " Hear, hear,")—he has promoted the
the cause of liberty and the best interests of his country,
and has entitled himself to the respect, esteem, and gra-
titude of his fellow-townsmen.—(Loud applause.) Un-
der these feelings I have become a subscriber to, and
with every kindly wish towards him and every member
of his family, I shall cordially concur with those gentle-
men around me, and with you, in inviting his acceptance
of these public shining testimonials, which, however they
may reflect to his mind our sense of his worth, they will
but imperfectly indicate the opinion we entertain of his
great and eminent services.(Loud cheering.)
J. 11. SHAW, Esq., said—Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and
Gentlemen, we meet not to raise a party shout in favour
of the hero of a future fight, but to convey to one whose
Parliamentary career is closed, the deliberate expression
of our gratitude for the past.—(Cheers.) We meet to
answer that appeal, which, when our friend, Mr. Baines,
first undertook the honourable office of our representa-
tive, he expressed his intention to make. He then told
us that he would endeavour faithfully to discharge his
duty to his constituents, and that he would return to us
to give an account of his stewardship.—(Hear, hear.)
That time has arrived; his Parliamentary stewardship is
at an end; the account of it is before us; and this meet-
ing, and these testimonies of gratitude, are the answer
of the constituency of Leeds to the appeal of their able,
indefatigable, and faithful steward.—(Long-continued
cheers.) Gentlemen, they tell him in language not to
be mistaken, that by his Parliamentary conduct during
seven eventful years, he has not only realised the most
sanguine hopes of his old friends, but he has been con-
stantly and steadily acquiring the respect and confidence
of new ones.—(Hear.) They do not tell him (nor, indeed,
could it be truly said of any public man) that there do
not exist among his friends differences of opinion on
some of those important topics on which it was his duty
as a legislator to bear part.—(Hear.) Undoubtedly such
differences do exist amongst the contributors to these
testimonials, as they must exist in every large body, and
more especially in a party whose leading principle is
freedom of thought.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) But
they tell him this, Gentlemen, that whatever be our dif-
ferences of opinion on some political topics, to-day, at
least, we are an united party.—(Hear.) We are unani-
mous in the expression of our deep sense of gratitude for
the services which he has rendered us ; we are unani-
mous in the expression of our regret that from the state
of his health we can enjoy the benefit of those services
no longer.—(Hear.) It would be difficult to point out
any tie measure of great piiblic utility which he has
not supported, and in many instances, not only by his
vote, but by taking an active part in the deliberations of
Parliament respecting it, by attending to its progress
through the House of Commons, by removing the
obstacles that stood in its path, and not unfrequently by
introducing valuable improvements which his sound
judgment and experience of business enabled him to sug-
gest.—(Hear.) The first measure to which I shall
allude is the great one of Parliamentary Reform.—
(Hear, hear.) It was not, indeed, the lot of Mr. Baines
to contribute in Parliament to the success of that mea-
sure, for it was by means of it that you were entitled
to send him there.—(Hear, hear, hear.) But he con-
tributed most materially to its consummation by his
labours in the public press and his exertions here. Nor
have his efforts for improving the system of registration
been confined to this country. They have been applied
to another, where, perhaps, an improvement in this
respect was even more wanted than it is in England, for
there the system was still more defective—l mean to Ire-
land; and here we have to thank °lir late representative,
not only for his exertions in endeavouring, at least, to
procure a better system of registration for Ireland, but
for his equally valuable exertions in assisting to defeat a
measure which, under the appearance of improving the
registration, went, in reality, to abridge the franchise.
(Hear, hear, and cheers.) Another measure, which
Mr. iaines could take no part in Parliament in pro-
moting, for it passed the year before he went there, was
the abolition of the Slave Trade.—(Hear, hear.) But
at home he most zealously contributed to the ac-
complishment of that great act of justice and
humanity both by his pen and by his personal exertions.
Another measure to the success of which Mr. Baines
contributed not only before he was returned to Parlia-
ment, but which he had the happiness of assisting in
carrying into effect by his vote and exertions in Parlia-
ment, was the measure of Municipal Reform.—(Cheers.)
That great measure became the law of the land the year
after our friend was sent to the House of Commons, and
to those who will examine the records of Parliament
during that period, it will appear that he not only voted
on every occasion where his vote was required for the
passing of it, but that he took an active part in the
deliberations of the House respecting it, assisted ma-
terially in steering it safely through the perils by which
it was environed, and introduced, or suggested to others
some most important amendments. Gentlemen, there is
another measure to which I will advert, for I consider
it to be one of the very highest importance, and it is one
in which Mr. Baines has always manifested a most lively
interest—l mean the question of National Education.—
(Loud cries of " Hear, hear.") For several years he was a
member of a Committee appointed to carry into effect
that most important object. By the incessant and judi-
cious labours of that Committee many of the difficulties
which formally surrounded the question were removed,
and although we are still far short of what we ought to
do for the promotion of that great purpose, we have
arrived at this point, namely, that the duty of the State
to provide for the education of the people has been dis-
tinctly recognised by the Legislature.—(Hear, hear.)
Gentlemen, I will not longer detain you by re-
ferring to the Parliamentary conduct of Mr.
Baines. There is, however, one topic which I
cann of conclude without adverting to, and if, indeed, I
could have forgotten it, (though that is impossible), I
should have been forcibly reminded of it by the sight of
my friend in the chair, and by the observations with
which he opened the proceedings. We have been hi-
therto considering only the Parliamentary conduct of our
late representative, but the public life of Mr. Baines did
not commence in Parliament.—(Hear, hear.) It is a
public life of forty years' duration.—(Hear, hear.) He,
like your excellent Chairman, is one of that honoured
band of veterans in the cause of Reform, who bore its
standard and fought its battles in times very different
from these.—(Loud cheers.) The task of modern Re-
formers is easy indeed, as compared with what those
veterans had to accomplish, who, through many long years
of apparently hopeless struggle, amidst discouragements
and difficulties on every side, and opposed by almost un-
conquerable prejudices, persevered in the maintenance
of their principles, till at last they conducted them to a
triumphant issue.—(Hear, hear, and long-continued
cheers.) Such men command respect from even politi-
cal opponents, who know how to value integrity and
consistency.—(Hear.)
Mr. Alderman G. GOODMAN was received with loud
applause. He said—Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gen-
tlemen, with respect to the testimonial which you are
about to present to Mr. Baines, I am satisfied that there
is nothing in it at all indicative of the value which we
entertain of his services.—(Hear, hear.) In that respect
it is quite insignificant, but it derives its value from the

r fact that it will be handed down to his children, and by
them to their children's children, as a proof of the esti-
I illation in which his public and private character, and
Ithe eminent services he has rendered to the country, are
held by his fellow-townsmen.—(Cheers.) The design of
this splendid testimonial is, in my opinion, most happy
and appropriate. The palm-tree which we see there
depicted is illustrative of a cause in which Mr. Baines
has spent so much of his life—the cause of Negro Eman-
cipation—(Hear, hear)—whilst those other figures,
" Liberty," Truth," Truth," and " Justice," are emblematical
of the various virtues which we think our late excellent
representatives so eminently possesses.—(Loud cheers.)
The services rendered byMr. Baines, Gentlemen, did not
commence yesterday. His whole life has been devoted
to elevating and improving the condition of his fellow-
men. He advocated the principles of Reform when Re-
form was very little thought of, and when, indeed, it was
dangerous for a man to avow such opinions. With regard to
the local improvements which have been effected during the
time that Mr. Baines represented us in Parliament, we
all know how assiduously he has laboured to promote
them, and how much his sound judgment and experience
tended to conduct them to a successful issue.--(Hear.)
I do not believe that our late excellent representative can
ever altogether retire fra.in public life—(Hear, hear)—
and although he now retires from the discharge of those
more important and areluois duties, in which he has
been engaged, and in t hich his health has suffered on
our account, yet I trust we shall find him, by his pen
and his personal exertions, continuing to advocate those
great measures of civil d religious liberty, and the ac-
complishment of those 1 improvements and rights,
Ica
which have so material tended to the benefit of the
community.—(Cheers.) i
Mr. Alderman BATESON was received with cheers.
He said, Mr. Chairman will Gentlemen—l scarcely need
remark to you, for you are all qualified to judge on the
matter, and probably much better than I am, that there
is no gentleman, either in Parliament or out of it, who
has more distinguished himself, or who has laboured
harder, both early and late, to remove that incubus—
that dead weight on the industrial energies of the coun-
try—l mean the Corn-laws—than our esteemed and
venerable friend.—(Cheers.) If that was the only claim
he had upon our gratitude, I think he is deserving our
highest regard, and I, for oue, tender him my most
sincere thanks for the great exertions he has made, both
publicly and privately, for the establishment of a sys-
tem of free commercial intercourse between all the na-
tions of the world.—(Hear.) In short, Gentlemen, I
consider him an honour to the borough of Leeds, and
worthy of our utmost and lasting gratitude.—(Applause.)
Mr. W. WEST was received with loud cheers. Ile
spoke as follows :—I have been requested by the Com-
mittee for arranging the proceedings on this occasion, to
make a few remarks on our late excellent representative,
in reference to two very important subjects, General
Education and the Abolition of the Slave Trade and
Slavery.—(Hear, hear.) And when I trace the progress
of popular education in this town during the twenty-five
years of my residence here, from the Philosophical
Society, which was instituted for the promotion of scien-
tific and literary tastes and pursuits among the more
wealthy and already instructed classes of our townsmen,
down to the Infant Sunday School, I find the name of
Edward Baines as one to whom we could often resort
for active assistance, always for experienced and valu-
able opinions and advice.—(Great applause.) On the
next subject, his endeavours for the Abolition of the
Slave trade and Slavery, I can speak with still greater
confidence.—(Cheers.) Fer eighteen years I have been
Secretary to the Leeds Anti-Slavery Committee, a body
whose irregular and fluctuating constitution rendered its
activity and vigour more than usually dependent on the
steadiness and constancy of a few individuals, among
whom our late Parliamentary Representative was ever
one of those most to be relied on.—(Hear, hear,) Be-
lieving that in the distribution of our calls to duty, that
field of labour was especially mine, and filling up the in-
tervals of more active exertion on its behalf, with record-
ing its forward or its retrograde steps, collecting auto-
graphs and other documents, and making it, in short,
alike a literary pursuit, and one of benevolence, I know
the minutest details of its history, better than many
equally ardent, perhaps, and far more useful.—(Hear.)
Mr. Baines took the same high ground which all must
take who plead the cause of the negro consistently and
with effect, on religious, on Christian
,principles. There
was no sickly sentimentality, nothing like it, " they re-
semble, it is true, men in shape, but are something be-
tween man and the lower animals in intelligence, yet we
should not therefore ill-treat them."--(Applause.)
He asserted their right to the utmost as mon,
their consanguinity to the fullest extent as brethren.
Amidst hope deferred, expectation disappointed, pro-
mises broken, when the heart was sick, and with less
overpowering, less enduring stimulus than an unalter-
able sense of duty, the hands would have been faint, he
on whose account we are met to-day was one of those on
whom we could always depend.—(Cheers.) Nor was the
soundness of his judgment less conspicuous than the
warmth and steadiness of his zeal.—(Hear, hear.) I re-
joice that the town of Leeds has possessed such a repre-
sentative. I rejoice that it has endeavoured to show its
sense of his value.—(Cheers.) He is every way worthy
of such a testimonial ; the testimonial is not unworthy
of him.—(Cheers.) May the rich metal which bears the
impress of our gratitude, never flow in another mould.
Long may it be ere it pass from him to his descendants;
long, very long, may they prize, not the gift itself, but
the virtues which earned it, as their best inheritance.—
(Loud cheers.) And while joining in the wish that no
distress, no reverses, may be so great as to deprive
them of this record, may his house and lineage, to the
latest generation, be preserved from misfortune which
could even tempt them to part with that which thus em-
bodies our esteem and our gratitude.—(Great cheering,
amidst which Mr. West resumed his seat.)
H. H. STANSFIELD, Esq., was received with loud and
reiterated cheering. He said I consider it one of the
proudest days of my life to assist on this memorable oc-
casion. The Romans decreed their highest honour, the
civic crown, to him who saved the life of a citizen. How
much more is it due to him who has devoted a long life
and sacrificed his health to the public service, and in en-
deavouring to extend civil and religious liberty to earth's
remotest bounds.—(Loud cheers.) I have an hereditary
feeling of respect for Mr. Baines, derived from one who
zealously co-operated with him when liberal opinions
were not so fashionable as they have been of late years,
and I have learnt from my father's lips to esteem and ad-
mire him.—(Cheers.) My own experience of active po-
litical warfare, in which I have had the honour to fight
in the same ranks, has only served to strengthen and
confirm those opinions.—(Cheers.) We are not assem-
bled here on any ordinary occasion. We are not met to
celebrate any party triumph, in which personal feeling,
too often, is mixed up with public principle. We are
assembled on a great and solemn occasion—to confer on
a patriot, a patriot's reward.—(Repeated cheers.) I
know of no greater reward to a public man, on returning
into private life, than the heartfelt consciousness that he
carries with him the gratitude, the affection, and the
esteem of those who have been benefited by his services.
—(Loud cheers.) lam sure it is the fervent wish of
every one here that he may be long spared to us, and
that he may see the full accomplishment of that which
his whole life has been spent in trying to gain—the de-
velopment of civil, religious, and commercial freedom to
its fullest extent.—(Prolonged cheers.)
The Rev. R. W. HAMILTON, on presenting himself,
was received with the most enthusiastic cheering. He
said—Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen—Some of
us have, in former times, come together and stood shoul-
der to shoulder and foot to foot, in many a well-fought
field, but this is a day of triumph. We have known
the toil and the hazard of the fight. It is far easier to
wave the palm than to brandish the weapon; and to vault
into the chariot than to drag its wheels.—(Cheers.) Some
have entered the field sooner, some later, but we are
now all as confederates and allies. But, for this moment,
we forget the many in the one.—(Cheers). I might,
perhaps, Sir, be entitled to approach the altar of pri-
vate friendship to-day, and lay upon it a chaplet
whose leaves have been thickening through more than
twenty-seven years, for Edward Baines is my well-tried
friend.—(Loud cheers.) But I rather now may
ask
what title I have to approach the altar of civism and
of pa-
triotism ? I feel I have a warrant, and I hesitate not to
declare that I am a descendant, and an unworthy Minis-
tert m isaid—cer-
tainly yk
f thatstr struck
communitye w
not very greatly preferring the object of his panegyric
ith n
that to them is owing every spark of civil and r-eligi • • panegyric
li '
-
berty that now survives—a spark it is no longer—it has kin-
dled into a blaze, and it seems to fire the zenith and the poles.
I
po es.
I shall merely conclude with a •
sentiment from an author,
who, as philosopher, patriot, and orator, claims our
highest homage. In the second Philippic ,against Marc
Antony, Cicero says—. I desire but- two thin gs ; one,
that when I die I may leave the Roman people free ; the
other, that to every one as he may merit the Roman
people shall give the due reward." My excellent friend
(addressing himself to Mr. Baines)—far distant be the
day of your death, and when you die may you see your
countrymen free ; and whatshall ' this da
y
will receive
will prove that neither a republic nor a monarchy is ne-
cessarily ungrateful ; that though we do not think we
can to-day pay our debt, at least we are forward and
honest in acknowledging it.—(Loud cheers.) Ladies
and Gentlemen, you may well have borne with me for
one thing—that I am the last speaker, and you will be
detained no longer from the ceremonial of the day. Now
you have heard our words, and occasionally, I trust, you
have found among us all words that burn—words that
spring up full, strong, and impassioned from our, hearts ;
but now the words die away in their latest cadence, and
we proceed, under the presidency of this veteran patriot,
to " the business of the day."—(Loud cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN than rose and said—Ladies and Gen-
tlemen, it now only remains for me, in discharge of my
official duty as your Chairman, to offer to Mr. Baines these
testimonials from his friends and fellow-townsmen, in
admiration of the integrity, zeal, and ability with
which lie has advocated the principles of civil and reli-
gious liberty during a public life of more than forty
years, and to evince their gratitude for his important
services as the faithful and indefatigable representative
of the borough of Leeds in three successive Parlia-
ments.—(Cheer.)
The whole of the audience then rose simultaneously,
and continued standing during the ceremony of presen-
tation.
The CHAIRMAN turned to Mr. Baines, and concluded
by saying, " May you, Sir, long live, and may your de-
scendants, to the end of time, enjoy this honourable tes-
timony of your worth."—(Repeated cheers.)
Mr. BAINES, on presenting himself to the meeting, was