The Sun.
London, England, 1847-07-17 00:00:00

SIR ROBERT PEEL'S MANIFESTO
TO THE ELECTORS FOR THE BOROUGH OF
TAMWORTH.

Drayton Manor, July 15.
Gentlemen,--There appears every probability that a
dissolution of Parliament will immediately take place.
If it be your wish that I should continue to represent
you, I place my services at your command.
I have received the offers of support from more than
one place of the first importance in respect to corn-
meraial enterprise and wealth, and to the number of the
constituent body ; but having represented you for many
years, and having received from you, under trying cir-
cumstances in public affairs, signal proofs of your esteem
and confidence, I ant unwilling, by any act of mine, to
interrupt the connexion which has long subsisted be-
tween us.

But I cannot seek your support on any other than
publie grounds, and as the position in which I stand is
in some respects a peculiar one, I feel it necessary to
transgress the limits of an ordinary address, in soliciting
your attention to the course which I have pursued in the
present Parliament, and in explaining, so far as is con-
sistent with that freedom of discretion which is essential
to the proper discharge of Parliamentary duties, the
general principles to which, if re-elected, I intend to
conform.

When you last returned me to Parliament I held the
chief office in the Government of this great empire. I
am now addressing you in a private capacity, rejoicing
in the recovery of leisure and independence, without the
intention or wish to resume either that authority which
belongs, or ought to belong, to the possession of office,
or that influence which is conferred by the lead and
guidance of a great political party aspiring to power.
But I am not, on that account, the less anxious to vin-
dicate, to your satisfaction, the motives by which I have
been influenced, the measures to which I have been a
party, and the general course of policy of the Admiuis•
tratiun with which I was connected.

The chief acts of that Administration, and the circum-
stances which led to its dissolution, must be familiar to
your recollection.

You have now ample means for judging whether the
conduct of the Government, in respect to the external
relations of this country, was calculated to promote the
public welfare. You can contrast the position of affairs
in 1841 and 1846, and can determine whether the sta-
bility of our Indian empire has been impaired, or whe-
ther a succession of glorious achievements in the field,
and the vigour and firmness, and, above all, the justice
and moderation of those who have directed the public
councils in India, have not increased throughout the
East respect fbr the British name, and promoted willing
obedience to British authority.
There is, I fear, some justice in the reproach, that the
people and the Parliament of this country are coin
paratively indifferent, excepting under circumstances of
sudden excitement, to the administration of foreign
affairs. But it would be a grievous neglect of duty on
the party of those whose choice of representatives will
determine the general character of the future Parlia-
ment, to exclude from their serious consideration this
great department of the publie business.
When the late Government was formed, the charge of
that department was committed by the Queen to a
Minister of whom I may say with truth, that he suc-
ceeded in acquiring the esteem and confidence of every
honest man engaged in the diplomatic service of other
states, and he made that esteem and confidence
conducive to the great object of his political life—the
maintenance of honourable peace.
It is for you to judge whether Lord Aberdeen acted
wisely in disregarding those appeals to national pride
and national sensibilities which, if not provocations to
war, were great impediments to the maintenance of
peace, and in resolving to adjust, if possible, by means
of amicable arrangement and mutual concession, the
petty differences which constantly occur between powerful
nations, and which, if treated in any other spirit, are
easily inflamed into national quarrels.
It is for you to judge, in reviewing our discussions
with the United States, whether it would have been
wise to have insisted on extreme rights of territory
on the north-eastern frontier of the province of Maine,
and on the banks of the Columbia river, and thus (even
if war could be averted), to have ensured for another half
century a controversy full of bitterness and irritation;
or whether it was not the better policy to propose, in
the spirit of peace, conditions perfectly compatible with
the honour of each country, and not requiring from
either any sacrifice, territorial or commercial, which
would not be dearly purchased by the cost of a single
week's hostilities.
But, Gentlemen, however important are the considera-
tions to which I have been adverting, there are others,
in respect to which, from their relation to our social
condition and domestic policy, you will probably feel a
more immediate concern. The most prominent at the
present time are those connected with questions of reli-
gion, and with the recent changes in our financial and
commercial legislation.
On these points I desire to enter into unreserved ex-
planation with you. I write without concert or com-
munication with any other person whatever, and the
views and opinions, therefore, which I may express are
expressed on my own behalf exclusively.
I feel, Gentlemen, ihe deepest interest in all that con-
cerns the welfare of the Established Church. I feel that
interest, from sincere conviction of the truth of its doc-
trines, and from the firm belief that the Established
Church is capable of being made, and through the tem-
poral zeal, and active exertions of the highest spiritual
authorities, is in the progress of being made, the most
powerful instrument that exists for administering the
consolations of religion, for spreading the knowledge
of divine truth, and for supplying the imperfections of
human laws, by the obligations and restraints of religious
duty.
I have resisted, and shall continue to resist, every
paltthhr
aeo
npco
ecclesiastical
of
Church,
oho ian p paoroypp
pruiaraprt
toi aping
tanyihne Unitedportiondirect
connexionKo ifo t
ghde 0 rme
,vwet tro
ue
et
hs
theeo
rf
Church.
walrmat
havet :of felt iet ,n however,attachment
the
in
interests
ebe s
ts qoufi t consistent
Churchnsi s ten t
to witht ak a
a leading part in those measures which had for their ob-
ject the abolition of ecclesiasticalsinecures, the curtail-
ment of excessive emoluments, and the application of
such a portion of the revenues of catrhedral and col-
s o was not
remedy
requiredfo the f purposes of
those
t ei
ocshtiut rocthe a
i ons ,
t the partial
great evils
in the social and spiritual condition of this country.
A very few years since it was publicly declared on
the highest authority, that " a vast proportion of the
people of this country were left destitute of the opP or-
turaties of public worship and Christian instruction."
Of this fact, such proofs as the following were adduced:—
That there were in London and its suburbs four parishes
containing an aggregate of 166,000 persons, with church-
room for 8,200, being not quite one-twentieth of the
population—that there were in the same district 34
parishes with a population of 1,137,000 inhabitants, and
church-room for 101,632 persons—that in our own
neighbourhood, in the diocese of Lichfield and Coventry,
there were 16 parishes, each having above 10,000 inha-
bitants, with an aggregate population of 235,000 persons,
and church-room for about 29,000.
No doubt it was within the competency of Parliament
ot provisioneksein t
h e m e
afoosr
ot
fh er
es
lin pg Folyu
so fi
ntshtersuec
tailoanr,mbi n di
by large
ei _
grants of public money derived from general taxation; j