The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-06 00:00:00

DECEMBER, 6, 1848. [PnicE

You may talk as you like, but I say as Yorkshiremen you
would be ashamed of yourselves if it was to go through the
world that you have to go out of the county to seek a re-
presentative. You have done yourselves no credit in electing
one alien (Mr. Cobden), and, therefore, don't go out of the
county again for a second. Don't let it be said there is not a
man in the West Riding capable and fit to represent you and
your interests in Parliament.—(More hubbub and. noise.)
You have in Mr. Dension a man of the West Riding, he
lives amongst you, you can appeal to him on all occasions.
As to his ability to serve you, I leave him to answer any
question you may put to him.—(Cries of " We won't have
him," 'and much noise.) I tell you this, Mr. Dension is pre-
pared to answer any question in a straightforward, frank,
and manly manner, without any shuffling. He is no shuffles,
and Without any equivocation or shuffling he will answer any
question you may put to him. I beg to introduce Edmund
Denison, Esq.
EDMUND DENISON, Esq., then presented himself, but the
cheers from the friends who surrounded him were drowned in
the 'tumult of groans and hisses from the people below. He
said—Gentlemen, I appear before you as a candidate for the
honour of representing the West Riding in Parliament, not
for the purpose of gratifying my own feelings alone, but in
obedience to the earnest request presented to me by parties
of all shades of politics, that I would give the electors of the
West Riding the option of choosing between two candidates
as to their fitness to represent them in Parliament.—(Hear,
hear, and uproar.) It is on the ground of duty, and duty
alone, that I now appear before you ; and in order to make
my observations as short as possible I will promise you
this most safely, that whatever occurred in 1847 with
respect to myself, I will on this occasion most undoubtedly
give you an opportunity Of going to the poll.—(Cheers
from the Tories, and cries of "We don't want you," " We
wont have you.") Most of you in this large district
of the Riding are more. or less engaged in trade, and
therefore I have no doubt that much attention has been
paid by you all to the question of free trade. My Hon.
Opponent has done me the honour to quote, though some-
what ambiguously, my opinions oil free trade. Gentlemen,
do as you like with his definition of free trade, but do me the
honour to listen to mine--(Hear, hear,) I say if by free
trade is meant a reduction of the duties on all the articles
imported from abroad, especially if those imported are neces-
saries of life, then I am in favour of such reduction; and I
tell you that, with the exception of one article, which I
shall not leave unnoticed, during the time 1 had the honour
of representing you in Parliament I supported every such
reduction proposed by her Majesty's Ministers most heartily.
Having stated that he voted against the repeal of the corn-
laws, which he would not seek to re-enact, Mr. Denison
repeated his opinion, previously expressed at Brad-
ford, that free trade meant a total abolition of
all duties on articles imported into this country,
and contended that as his opponent did not go
this length he was not, any more than himself, a thorough
free-trader. He suspected that in Halifax, as elsewhere,
those who advocated free trade had got more of it than they
liked— ("No, no," and a cry of " Then you would go back,
would you ?")—and those who advocated a repeal of the
corn-laws never meant them to be abolished. and wished
part of them back again.—(Cries of " Nought o't sort ;"
" Don't you ;" "We don't believe it.") I find, said the
Hon. Gentleman, that a great number of respectable persons,
advocates of free trade, said, " I did not mean 'free trade t
.applyito me, only to my neighbour."—(Laughter, and cries of
disapprobation.) " I want," say they," protection for my
goods, but to make free with those of others."—(No, no,
and disapprobation.) It was a very popular subject; and
although some said it was humbug, a great many per-
sons thought it would lead them into a land flowing
with milk and honey.—( Laughter, and cries 'of " Non-
sense.") • " Oh," said these persons, " but we did not
mean this." But you have got these laws repealed,
and I tell you I will not vote for the reviving of them. So
much for trade, and so much for the corn-laws. My friend
(Sir Culling) did me the favour to refer to a private trans-
action of mine, not connected with Parliament, and he al-
luded to some observations of mine relative to a reduction of
the salaries of the clerks engaged on a railway with which I
am connected. He said, I should have begun at the top.—'
(Hear, hear.) How does he know I did not ?—(Laughter
and cheers.)
Sir CULLING—I will tell you how I don't know. You
said you had cut down the salaries of the clerks, and you
said nothing about anybody else.—( Hear and cheering.)
Mr. DEsnsore—That may be a satisfactory reason for my
Honourable Friend making the observations he did, but
it would have ill become me to boast of any reduction with
regard to myself. But I tell him, if he will become a share-
holder in the railway of which I am chairman, and ask me
the question, I will give him an answer, but I wont answer
him here. Mr. Denison then proceeded to the question of
economy, and professed himself as anxious as his opponent
could be to retrench, if it could be done with safety to the
constitution of the country. His. Hon. Friend had promised
to vote for the ballot, but he would not, as it would give
additional facility for deception. On this point he referred to
a conversation with a respectable tradesman at Leede who
had complained that a good customer, two days after he had
voted, came and paid his bill, and left his shop, because he
had voted against the customer.—(Cries of" That's common
enough in Halifax.") Mr. Denison observed—Now, if
we had the ballot, and this man had been applied to, he
would have said, " Oh, to be sure, you are a very good
customer, and I shall be happy to give my vote as you
wish. Pray give my compliments to Mrs. So-and-So, and
say I hope she liked that sugar I sent her."—(Laughter.)
Well, he then goes quietly into a corner, and puts a ball into
the wrong box.--(Laughter and hisses.) Now I do hope
tradesmen will exercise their own judgments, and set their
I customers at defiance, if they wish to compel them to act
contrary to it. After stating that he should oppose any ex-
tension of the suffrage, he spoke at length on the subject of
State education, concluding his remarks by observing that
he would call upon the State to furnish money enough to
enable the working classes to insure their children a good
religious education. As to the endowment of the Catholic
priests, he was with his opponent on that matter, and should
vote against any measure of the kind. The Hon. Candidate
concluded by answering a question put to him from the
crowd, as to whether he would vote for the separation of the
Church from the State. Mr. Denison replied that he would
not, and, added he, " I'll tell you another thing, when the
dissolution between those two elements does take place, they
will both fall to the ground. I will vote for them being united
as long as I live."—(Cheers, hisses, and groans.)
Sir CULLlNG—Gentlemen, I want to say a word on a sub-
ject which has been referred to elsewhere by my Hon. Oppo-
nent. I have told you already that what I say behind his
back I will say before his face, I have told what I am about
to mention behind his back, and I now repeat it In his pre-
sence. I have been reading what he said at Barnsley the
other day. He said, "if he had studied his own interests he
would have remained quietly at home, and he would have
been content to do so, and allow them to elect the son of their
respected neighbour,. Lord Fitzwilliam. But that young
gentleman retired, and he bad no hesitation in saying he did
wrong." Now, gentleman, did not Mr. Fitzwilliam tell you,
did he not tell the whole world that he intended to vote for
the endowment of Popery in Irelanct?—(Hear.) Then why
did not my friend oppose him, holding, as he did, the opinion
which is so opposed to that entertained by himself.
For qui facit per alium, qui facit per se, which means
that if a man will do any act through another
man, he will do it himself.—( Hear, hear, and cheers.) Now,
Gentlemen, I don't mean to say for one moment that my
Honourable Friend does not mean now what he says, but it
appears that a fortnight ago he would have voted for a
gentleman who openly professed himself to be favourable
to the endowment of Popery in Ireland.—(Hear, hear.)
How, then, do we know that before the end of another
fortnight my Honourable Friend may not change his opinion
again ?—(Hear, hear, and cheers.)
Mr. Destisose--My Hon. Opponent, though not inten-
tionally, I am sure, does me a great favour by reading my
speeches.—(Laughter.) I cannot say that I return him the
compliment of reading his.—(More laughter.) Now I wont
quarrel with the words he has put into my mouth, for I
believe the reporters pre perfectly correct. He says I was
favourable to the return of Mr. Fitzwilliam. I say now
what I have said for the last month or six weeks. I have
said that if any one gentleman of respectability belonging
to the riding had come fprward I would not offer him an
opposition, whether that gentleman should happen to be
Mr. Fitzwilliam or any other good Whig.—(Laughter and
derisive repeats of " A good Whig.") I would not have
come forward, for I did not wish to disturb the peace of the
riding, but to keep it quiet.—(Laughter and interrup-
tion.) And I was anxious, rather than to have engaged
in this contest, to have remained quietly in my arm-
chair at home. I had had the honour of representing
you once--(Cries of " Misrepresenting us")—and a great
honour I considered it to be; but I tell you that,
looking at the laborious duties a representative of this
large constituency is called upon to discharge, I was not
anxious for the honour a second time. I will tell you how
it was. Those who suggested that the son of a Noble Lord
should come forward as a candidate, afterwards not being
very well satisfied with him, asked him to retire from the
field.—(lnterruption, and cries of " It's not true.") I say
those who met at Normanton passed a resolution in favour of
young Mr. Fitzwilliam standing as a candidate, and I must
say that it would have been quite as well if, before doing this,
they had had a alight acquaintance with him before doing so.
Bat without knowing him, or what his opinions were, they
pass a resolution in his favour, and afterwards, when he will
not comply with certain conditions, they say, " Oh, you are
not the man we took, you for."—(Laughter, and repeated
cries of "It is not true.") Well, they set to work to make
the progress of the canvas so hot that the young gentleman
is obliged to retire. Well, one word on another point as to
myself. I never promised to vote for him. And I tell you
another thing, if he had asked me I should have told him I
would not vote for him ; and I will tell yeti why. Because
I had long ago made up my mind on this subject of the
endowment of the Roman Catholic priests.—(Cheers
from the Tories.) I could refer you to passages in
my speech, delivered when Mr. Cobden was brought
out to oppose me.—(Cries from the Tories of " We'll have
him out next time.") I hope you have had enough of
him.—(Cries of "No, no," and " We'll have him again.")
I say I can refer you to passages in that speech, which
have
of you, I dare say, have read; and if not, it is here, I.h
Ivto ties angoati,nst
there-
fore,
you, taken up to suit the humour of the day. It was then
ainn
dn
I° ywa
nin
pocket,cie wn t theagnlopinion,eddßloi aisaid
i na
at slhBom4l ryc opponent priests. It
t now suggests to
fsoertttlehdiscßonidviincgtiofairly I was
and acandidateo p e nl,openly.
a.
conviction
before,in mya odwlnexmpirneds'sewdhietn
whywho was in
him, and would not oppose Mr.
—(Hear. hear.) But my Hon. FriendFitzwilliam,says,do I oppose
favour of the endowment of the Roman Catholic priests
whilst I am opposed to it?
Sir CULLING—Yes.
Mr. Desersore—l will tell you why. I was in London
when 1 'first read the account of the retirement of Mr. Fitz-
william, at which I was very much surprised; and on the
following morning I saw in the newspapers an exceedingly
well-penned address to the electors of the West Riding,
signed Culling Eardley Eardley.—(Laughter.) I said to
myself, this is the man for them—he will walk over the
course—he is a thorough-going free-trader, and everything
else that seems delightful.--:(Laughter.) I said, '• Well, Mr.
Fitzwilliam's friends may do as they please, they may do
what they think proper; and they, the electors, may do as
they like, it is all the same to me." I came home from Lon-
don on Friday night, when I heard there had been a meeting
at Normanton of the Conservative party, with some Whigs.
understand they said " This is too bad. We wont stand
Fitzwilliam being turned out, and Sir Culling Eardley, who
is not connected with the riding, being brought in." They
accordingly went to work, and passed resolutions in my fa-
vour unanimously. This was the conversatioe.—(Cries of
"We don't want it.") No, but you shall have it 'all. It is
owing to your friend on the other side. He accuses me of
getting up opinions for the moment, which I have proved to
yep, itin9t the Mil I have 144 witiong Within

yards of me, that after• the meeting at Normanton, never
was man approached by a deputation cif greater respectability
and influence than I was. They said— "Come forward or
not, willingly or not, we will not submit to' this dictation
to the riding." I fenced with them as long ai I could. I
appealed to them, and desired them to look out for some
other person who would be more fit to represent the riding
than 1 was. But the result was, they were •cletermined to
have me, and I assure you that nothing buf a sense of duty
to the riding could have induced me to consent ,ssi
beeomea
candidate; therefore it is not I who came out volunta74 ; it
was others who made me, as: they were determined not to
be over-ridden in the way that was attempted.
Sir CULLING—I am sure my opponent will admit now
that lam a ;sod hand at drawing a cover.—(A laugh) And
now, I think, you will. understand better how matters are
than you did before.—(Hear. hear.) When a man says he
would be content that a candidate should walk over the
course, it is natural to conclude that he is not diametrically
opposed to him.—(Hear, bear.) But if I found a man was
going to do a thing which was disgraceful and abominable
—and I think this intended endowment of the Roman
Catholics is abominable—l would moot it mysclf and oppose
him.—(Hear, hear.) I am glad to hear that my friend
would have voted against Mr. Fitzwilliam on this point.
Yorkshire now knows this for the first time, and probably
Mr. Fitzwilliam knows this for the first time, and I only
hope that Mr. Fitzwilliam will go and vote against him.
Mr. DENISON (interrupting Sir Culling)—What I said
was this: Mr. Fitzwilliam never asked me for my vote, but
after that declaration of his in favour of endowing the Ro-
man Catholic priests in Ireland, I should most undoubtedly
have voted against him.—(Loud cries of " Hear, hear.")
Sir Cometa—Gentlemen, I only repeated my friend's
words in saying that he would have voted against Mr.
Fitzwilliam. Gentlemen, it is high time that this unnatural
coaliion of Whigs and Tories was put an end to.—(Cries of
"It is," and loud cheers.) It is now clear that every Whig
who votes for my friend Mr. Denison votes against his own
principles.—(Cheers.) Now I like men to do what they say
they will. A Whig says he is'ln favour of religious equality ;
but Mr. Denison is;not in favour of it.— (Hear, hear, and "No,
I he is nots,") kshould be a.skainacgo be a Whig to vote for him
and against a Liberal; ands'Pali on every Wbig who may
venture to vote for Mr. Denison—if such there be—to come
forward on the day of nomination—to state their reasons
why they vote so entirely against their principles.—(Loud
cries of " Hear, hear.") I have a great respect for consistency.
My friend is a man of honour and a straightforward gentle-
man. He professes to be a Tory, holds his opinions and acts
upon them consistently, and therefore I can respect him for
his consistency. But I have no respest at all for a man who
calls himself a Whig, is in favour of religious equality, and
after that goes and votes for Mr. Denison against religious
liberty.—(" Hear, hear," and loud cheers.) Gentlemen, I
want to know what my Honourable Opponent means by
" religious education." Does he mean an education based
on religions liberty, or does he mean an education based on
the principles of the Church of England ?—(Cries "of course
he means his own.") No, I believe he means a system of re-
ligious education aided by the State, money being given by
the State both for Church schools and for the schools of
other denominations.—(Cries of "Not he.") Now I want
to know whether he would give money to assist Roman
Catholic schools in Yorkshire and Lancashire?—(Hear.)J If
he would do this in England—that is, give money for a re-
ligious education in Roman Catholic schools in England—l
want to know where his principle is, if he will not give
money to the Roman Catholics in Ireland?—(Cheers, and
cries of " Hear, hear," and "Bravo.") Now, Gentlemen, I
think Halifax hasi done a good day's work. I think we
have afforded you some little amusement, and have brought
out a' little truth.—(Hear, hear.) Any principle which
wishes the union of Whig and Tory is not a true principle,
for instead of leading to religious equality it will lead to the
opposite.—(Hear, hear.) A Whig, as I have said, professes
to be in favour of perfect religious liberty. My Honourable
Opponent, as you will have seen, would do one thing in Eng-
land, and another thing in Ireland. I therefore, in order to
be quite sure on the point, ask, would he give money to help
Roman Catholics in England, and if so, why not give money
to help Roman Catholics in Ireland ?—(Cheers.)
Mr. DENisori—Gentlemen, we have come into a new stage
of the proceedings. Instead of being questioned by you, I
am put into the witness-box to be examined by my Hon.
Opponent.—(Laughter.) I thought I had come to submit
my opinions to the electors, but never mind. What I mean
by religious education is this—that the children of poor people
may have an opportunity of being educated according to the
principles of the Church of England,—but I believe all parties,
*man Catholics as welLes others, if they choose to apply to
the State for assistance, will have assistance granted to them ;
it is, therefore, their own look out if they do not choose to
avail themselves of it. I know why they object. It is said
that those who grant the money of the Slate have a right to
control the management. That may be so, but I have
given you my view of the case.
Sis. Cumasia.—The question which I put to my Hon.
Opponent is—Will he vote for a system of education that will
give' money to the Roman Catholics in Yorkshire? And if
he will, upon what principle does he refuse to give money to
the Roman Catholics in Ireland ?—(Hear, and loud cheers.)
Mr. Derstiosi—l can very well votefor giving money to the
Roman Catholic schools in Yorkshire, whilst at the tame
time I would not take the money of the State to endow the
Roman Catholic priesthoOd.—(" Answer the question,"
"Shuffle," and much laughter.) My Hon. Friend says a
great number of the Whigs cannot consistently vote for me.
I will take the liberty of telling you that a great number of
the Whigs are going to vote for me—(CheerS from the
.Tories, and disapprobation from thb people in front)—and I
think there is no inconsistency in their doing that.—(Cries
of "Hear, hear," and loud laughter.) And I consider myself
honoured by their intention of doing so, because I think it is
the greatest compliment to a man who has served the riding
for six years, that the Whigs should throw overboard a cer-
tain amount of their politics to vote for the man who will
best serve them.—(Laughter, and cheers from the Tories.)
I know the Whig gentry, and I do not think that any
Whigs who vote for me will be afraid to come forward
and at once state their reasons for so doing. They will
say to my opponent, " We have a right to vote for whom
we like, and we will not ask your permission to do so.
On the whole, though we differ with him (Mr. Denison)
on many grounds, yet we think he will come to do our
business better than you (Sir Culling), whilst he (Mr, D.)
will better maintain the institutions of our country, and we
will therefore give him our support."—(Laughter.) And,
standing here before you, I say, from the information I pos-
sess, I feel confident that I shall once more have the honour
of representing you.—(Cries of " We wont have you," and
much uproar. )
Sir CULLING—I have a question to answer which is put
into my hands in writing; but before I do that, allow me to
reply to one observation of my honourable opponent. I
don't object to persons throwing over party, if by that is
meant politics, but I do object to them throwing over their
principles.—(Loud cheers.) And 1 tell any man who is a
Whig and in favour of religious equality—any man who
holds this opinion, who votes for Mr. Denison, who has got
one principle for England and another for freland—(" No,
no," from the Tories, responded to by loud shouts of
Yes, yes.”)
Mr. DENISON interposed some denial of this view, as we
understood, and added—it my Honourable Opponent goes on
as he is doing, the sooner he leaves Yorkshire the better, for
the electors will tell him they are themselves quite able to
judge as to the manner of exercising their privilege of electing
a representative of the riding.—(Laughter.) My friend must
forgive me for telling him that before he'has done, the Whigs
of the West Riding will be as tired of him as (we could not
catch the remainder of the sentence, from the noise'and in-
terruption offered to the speaker).
Sir CULLlNG—Gentlemen, the people .or Yorkshire want
nothing but what is fair, and they don't want whet is
unfair. My Honourable Friend said he wished to give the
children of the poor a religions education.—(Hear, hear.)
He said, as I understood him, that he would give religious
education to any parties, or to all who applied to the State
for pecuniary assistance to help them so to do.—(Hear,
hear.) He will, therefore, give education to children in
Catholic schools—not secular, but religious education—
(Loud cries of " Hear, hear")—an education based on Pro.
testant principles.—(Hear, hear.) Gentlemen, you will
admit I have been pretty successful in drawing the cover,
and I will run the fox to his home.—(Laughter and cheers.)
Well, oar friend said he would give education based on
religion to all parties, amongst others to the Roman
Catholics ; and therefore, in England, he will help the
teachers who teach Roman Catholic doctrines to their I
children._( Hear, hear, and " That's capital.")
Mr. DENISON—My non. Friend knows I never said any-
thing of the sort. What I said, at all events, what I
meant to say—(Derisisre laughter, and cries of " Ah,
ah I")—what I meant to say was this—l would have
all of our children educated in the principles of the
Church of England ; but I am quite willing for those of
other denominations to have aid from the State, if they apply
for it.—(Hear, hear, from the Tories.)
Sir CULLING—My Honourable neighbour is quite inca-
pable of reconciling the two things. Our. friend must say
one thing, and only one. Does he say to-day that he would
vote for the Church of England schools being helped by this
State, and no other ; or will he vote for Roman Catholic
schools also being helped by the State? Does he or does hp
not mean this ?

-117: iii;;;N —I have answered the question more than
once.—(Laughter, and cries of " Shuffler, answer the
question.")
Sir CULLING—I will not leave this gallery till I have an
answer. Does my, friend mean to help the Roman Catholic
schools or not ?—(Cheers.)

---Mi.DENisori—:Then I will answer my friend in another
way. I will vote for the application of money by the State
according to the resolution of the Committee of Council on
Education, and I will give no other answer.—(Laughter, and
cries of " It's no answer," "Shuffler," &c. )
Sir CULLING—WiII my opponent tell us whether the plan
he proposes is one which will give assistance to Roman Ca-
tholic schools as well as to Church schools; and if so, will
he have any objection to vote for assistance being given to
Roman Catholic schools?—(Hear, hear, and cheers.)
Mr. DENISON—I have answered it over and over again .
(Laughter, and cries of " Shuffle, shuffle.") I will vote for
giving money for education, based on the principles of the
Church of England.—(Laughter, and derisive shoats.- )
Sir CULLING—If Rome hears us to-day, if there are any
honest Catholics here, it will be said that if I am an op-
ponent, I am at least a straightforward opponent.—(Hear,
hear, and great cheering.) Our friend says he will help
Church of England schools. Will he help other schools with
State money ?—(Cries of "That's the question; answer it
like a man.")
Mr. DENISON-4 will, if they come within the rules of the
Committee of Council on Education.—(Laughter.)
Sir CULLING—Then I ask, do the Roman Catholics come
within the rules of the Committee of Council on Educa-
tion.—(Cheers, and cries of " Bravo.)
Mr. DENISON-4 believe they do, but I am not sure.
Sir CULLING--I want to know if they come within these
regulations, as our friend says he would act on the principle
of giving assistance to those schools which come within the
rule alluded to.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. DENISON—Again, I say, for the tenth time, that I
would have their children to be educated according to the
principles of the Church of England.—(Cries of " Send him
to school again," and " Shuffle, shuffle.")
Sir CULLING—I believe Roman Catholics to be honourable
men, and as such, they don't profess to hold the doctrines of
their own Church, and teach their children Church of Eng-
land doctrines.—(Hear, hear.) And to tell them you will
Egive them money to teach the principles of the Church of
ngland is neither more nor less than insulting them. Will
my opponent give money to teach the principles of the
teachers in •these Roman Catholic schools?—(Cries of
" That's it, stick to him," and much laughter.)
Mr. Damisort—No.-(Laughter from the Tories, and de-
risive laughter from the meeting.)
Sir CV1441.1•1q....C/rtlltkinlerli let 114 Iwo yclui attentive.