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

f

[PRICE op.

yards of me, that after the meeting at Normanton, never
was man approached by a deputation of greater respectability
and influence than I was. They said—" Come forward or
not, willingly or nor' we will not submit to this dictation
to the riding." I fenced with them as long as 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 I was. But the result was, they were determined to
have me, and I assure you that nothing but a sense of duty
to the riding could have induced me to consent to become a
candidate; therefore it is not I who came out voluntarily ; 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 good 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 be
would be content that a candidate should walk over the
course, it is natural to conclude that he is not diametrically
opposed to him.—(llear, hear.) 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 Romai
Catholics is abominable—l would moot it myself 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 CULLlNG—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
coali ion 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 in favour of religious equality;
but Mr. Denison is:not in favour of it.— (Hear, hear, and " No,
he is not.") I!'should be ashamed to be a Whig to vote for him
and against a Liberal; and I call on every Whig 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 theta consistently, and therefore I can respect hiewfor
his consistency. But I have no respect 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 religious 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.) 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 has 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. DENisosi—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 'non.
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,
Roman Catholics as well as 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 State have a right to
control the management. That may be so, but I have
given you my view of the case.
Sir Comasia.—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. DENISON—I can very well vote for giving money to the
Roman Catholic schools in Yorkshire, whilst at the same
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 yon that a great number of
the Whigs are going to vote for me—(Cheers from the
Tories, and disapprobation from the 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 isfention 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 I tell any man who is a
Whig and in favour of religious equality—any man who
holds this opinion, who votes for Mr. I)enisen,who has got
one principle for England and another for reland—(" 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 be 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 behas 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 of Yorkshire want
nothing but what is fair, and they don't want what is
unfair. My Honourable Friend said he wished to give the
children of the poor a religious 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 ran 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
children.--( Hear, hear, and " That's capital.")
Mr. DENISON—My Hon. Friend knows I never said any-
thing of the sort. What I said, at all events, what I
meant to say—(Derisive laughter, and cries of " Ab,
ah l")—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 the
State, and no other .• or will he vote for Roman Catholic
schools also being helped by the State? Does he or does he
not mean this ?
Mr. Dinersorr—l 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.)
Mr. DENISON—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, I over
vote for
(Laughter, and cries of " Shuffle, shuffle.")
giving money for education, based on the principles of the
Church of England.— (Laughter, and derisive shouts )
Sir CULLING-1f Rome hears us to-day, if there .are any
honest Catholics here, it will be said that if I am an op-
ponent, am at least a straightforward opponent.—(Hear,hear, and great cheering.) Our friend
says
Church of England schools. Will he help
other scho he wols with
State money ?—(Cries of "That's the question; answer it
like a man.")
Mr. DinsisoN—l 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—I 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
give them money to teach the principles of the Church of
England 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. DENlSON—No.—(Laughter from the Tories, and de-
risive laughter from the meeting.)
Sir CllLLlNQ—Crentlemen, let us have your attention.