The Sun.
London, England, 1833-10-05 00:00:00

YORK MEETING IN HONOUR OF TIE
LATE MR. WILRERFORCE.

A meeting of the nobility, Clergy, gentry, and
other individuals resident in or connected with the
county of Yolk was held on Thursday, to devise
means of paying a becoming tribute to the memory
of the late Mr. Wilberforce, who for thirty years
represented this, his native county, in several suc-
cessive Parliaments. The appointed place of as.
sembly was the beautiful Music-hall in the capital
of the county, which, at twelve o'clock, wes com-
pletely filled by a most respectable auditory, the
greater portion of whom consisted of elegantly
dressed ladies.
At one o'clock the Lord Chancellor led the way
from the Committee-room to the orchestra, on en-
tering which he was most rapturously greeted. His
Lordship was followed by his Grace the Archbishop
of York, Earl Fitzwilliam, Lord Stourton, Lord
Morpeth, M.P., Lord Milton, M.P., Sir Francis
Wood, Bart., Miles Stapylton, Esq., H. Gaily
Knight, Esq., G. Strickland, Esq., M.P., George
Cholmley, Esq., &c.
On the motion of Lord STOURTON, the Arch-
bishop was called to the chair amidst loud applause.
The Archbishop of YORK said, they had met
together on that occasion in the discharge of a most
solemn duty, to pay the tribute of deserved respect
and gratitude to the memory of the late Mr. Wil-
berforce, who, with credit to.himself, and advantage
to the whole human race, had, in five successive
Parliaments, comprising a period of 28 years (a
period, it should be remembered, of unexampled
difficulty), been returned to Parliament for that great
arid important county. Already had his native town,
proud of such a man, taken measures to perpetuate
his name and worth. But the feelings of regret
caused by his death were not confined to his native '
town, nor to his native county. Every where had
been heard the sincere and affectionate expression
of sorrow for the loss of such a man.—(Applause.)
No sooner was his decease known in London, than
the entire of the rank, and the talent, and the virtue
of that great city, without any distinction of reli-
gious sect or political party, came forward to pay the
last honours to the venerated remains of the advocate
and the benefactor to the human race. Whether
as a sincere and steadfast patriot, whose mild
and fascinating eloquence gave grace and strength
to every cause, or as the Christian philanthropist,
actively exerting himself for every good and
laudible institution, and diffusing throughout his own
immediate circle blessings and comforts to all, they
might rest assured that the name of Wilberforce,
associated as it ever would be with the remem-
brance of his never-ceasing efforts in the great cause
of negro emancipation, by the carrying of which
thousands would be liberated from degrading bond-
age, and have a course open for them to receive
moral and religious education, which in no other
way, and without such efforts, would never have
been attained—they might, he said, rest assured that
that name would go down ennobled to the latest
posterity—(Great applause)—and that it would be
unfading in its lustre, so long as genuine virtue and
piety should have place or record in the world.—
(Applause.)
Earl FITZWILLIAM said it had been his lot in
early life to be placed in situations which led to 811
intimate acquaintance with Mr. Wilberforce, and he
could safely declare that it was impossible to do
otherwise then to love and venerate a man whose
whole study, thought, and purpose appeared to be
to help and assist others.—(Applause.) The Noble
Earl concluded by moving the first resolution, which
was briefly seconded by Sir Francis Wood, M.P.,
and carried unanimously. It was as follows :
" That the great abilities of the late William Wilber.
force, industriously exerted to the latest hour of his life,
in the genuine spirit of Christianity, for the attainment of
objects of the most enlarged benevolence, have acquired
for his memory the veneration of his fellow-citizens."
Lord MORPETH fully agreed in an observation
which he had heard, that the main ingredients in
Mr. Wilberforce's character were not so much the
high endowments with which he was gifted—not
the eloquence that never palliated what was wrong,
or the wit that never sported with what was right—
as that habit of life which led a man, prodigally
gifted by nature, to walk at all times, and under all
circumstances, humbly with his God. The Noble
Lord concluded by moving—
" That the connexion so long subsisting between Mr.
Wilberforce and this county, which he represented in six
successive Parliaments, during a period of twenty.eight
years, calls upon us to transmit to our posterity some me-
morial of a character so worthy of the imitation of those
who engage in public life."

Mr.BEILBY TIIOMPSON, M.P., seconded the rem
lotion, which was carried unanimously.
Mr. GALLY KNIGHT moved the third resolution—

" That while this meeting highly approve of the plan
which has been proposed for erecting a column to the
memory of Mr. Wilberforce at Hull, his native town,
they are of opinion that there should also be a memorial
of him plaeed in some situation in which the inhabitants
of the several districts of this great county should feel a
common interest."

He knew what was the prayer of his deceased friend
--" that he hoped to God to see emancipation, but
he equally hoped to see compensation."—(Hear.)
Mr. STRICKLAND, M.P., in seconding the resolu-
tion, said it might be said of Mr. Wilberforce, that
in whatever light you viewed his character, for reli-
gion, or for benevolence, it was not, like our nor-
thern clime—

ti Obscurely bright,
"But one unclouded blaze of living lisht."—(Cheers.)
The LORD CHANCELLOR was rz..ceived with three
distinct rounds of applause. He had, he said, the
happiness of addressing that great and respectable
meeting at a period of their discussion and of their
proceedings which rendered it almost impossible for
him to add anything to what had already been ut-
tered as to their more immediate object; for those who
had preceded him (and none, they would all agree,
with more ability than the most Rev. Prelate in the
chair) had so completely stated the matter which
had brought them together,and had given such appro-
priate expression to the feelings by which all appeared
o be animated, that he was certain that by adding any-
thing to what had been said he should only weaken
its effect. Thoy were indeed assembled to do honour
to themselves rather than to the memory of Mr.
Wilberforce, whose name was known all over the
world, and wherever it was known was loved and
venerated, and to whose name and memory he might
be permitted to say it was altogether superfluous to
erect, whether at Hull or at York, or at any other
place, no matter where, any of the ordinary monu•
ments by which lesser men and their deeds were
handed down to posterity. Nevertheless, he was
far from differing from that which was evidently the
unanimous feeling of the meeting and of the county,
that there should be some outward and visible sign
as it Were to express the feelings of the people of
Yorkshire towards the late 11r. Wilberforce, to
testify their gratitude for his eminent services, and
at the same time to warn others to avoid those paths
in which they might shipwreck their own fair fame,
and to dedicate, as he had done, their endowments
and their lives in the service of his species and of
humanity, But he thought they had now arrived at
a period of their proceedings at which it behoved
them to Consider in what way they could best and
most usefully, and therefore of course, most appro-
priately, embody, in the tribute which they proposed
to erect, those feelings which they shared in common
with the whole of their country, to which the name
of Wilberforce would ever be an honour. Now, in
looking at the manner in which they could most
usefully and appropriately embody their feelings,
he could not help being impressed with the
consideration, and asking himself, " how would
Wilberforce himself have best liked those feelings
to be expressed and perpetuated ?" and if he might
be allowed to form a judgment, after an inti-
mate acquaintance with him of upwards of 30 years,
during which period he had been associated with
him in many works, in which, though the humblest,
he could justly say, he was not the least zealous of
his coadjutors—if these circumstances justified him
in forming a judgment as to the way in which Mr.
Wilberforce would have preferred a tribute to be

en dered to his memory, he should say that he
rwished for no marble—that he wished for no brass
—that he wanted no inscription ; but that they
would best testify their affection for his name and
exalt his memory who amongst them did the most
to imitate his acts, and who effected the most good
for their fellow-;credtures in proportion to the means
allowed.—(Loud cheers.) Therefore, without im-
pugning, but, on the contrary) fully admitting, the
propriety of some memorial in the capital of his
native county, arid,
if advisable, in the great Min-
ster of the city—(Appldtide)-4e thought it should
be a principal object of the exertions necessarily con-
sequent on that day's meeting, that some institution
at once
which should of usefulnessud bearl and
the m
respectshouldnaea
ud perpetuate
be fo rme formed
—one
the spirit of Wilberforce, and enable his country-
men to imitate his virtues. Perhaps it would
nor be improper in him just to mention the
course which had been followed in London. The
Committee, which certainly enrolled all that was
great and illustrious of every party or sett, no mat-
ter what, felt that the best course for them was to
apply their energies in the collection of subscrip-
tions in order to found some institution after the
name of Wilberforce, with a view to promote li-
berty, or religion, or morality ; that would be settled
hereafter; and to make the tablet in Wetminster-
abbey rather supplementary to this object than the
institution supplementary to the tablet. Whether
they would be enabled to found a local institution
of such a nature in Yorkshire depended upon the
amount of money which would be subscribed, and
upon so many other circumstances beyond present
control, that it would be futile to enter into any
speculations upon the subject. But if they were
enabled in that county to erect some institution
under Mr. 'Wilberforce's name, and devoted, as his
whole life had been, to useful and benevolent pur-
poses, and also to raise a tablet in the Moister to
his memory, sure was he that it would redound
more to the credit of Yorkshire, because it would
be productive of so much good to the country at
large, both by way of example and otherwise. He
knew there were many worthy persons in the county
who entertained the same opinions; some of them he
had communicated with,and these persons,for peculiar
reasons, which, however,it was no less their ditty care-
fully to weigh, objected altogether to such a memo-
rial as a monument. Let those persons, then, sub-
scribe to such an institution : indeed, he believed
they were perfectly ready to do -0, and others would
subscribe to any other memorial which it might be
desirable to erect. Now, if he (the Lord Chan-
cellor) were asked what sort of an institution he
should recommend, he would only say there were
numerous classes of persons to whom some founda-
tion would be a blessing. There had been for many
years at Liverpool an institution for persons who
from their birth had been afflicted with blindness,
which had been extensively useful in its results,
though wholly insufficient for the wants of so po-
pulous a district. In Yorkshire there had never
been such an institution, though in no county was it
more wanted. But he confessed that his own views
went beyond such a limited institution, and he was
not without sanguine hopes that a fund might lie
collected in Yorkshire, where had begun, and been
carried on, and brought to a successful issue, the
abolition of the African slave trade, and where also
had originated that spirit which had at length
forced on measures for the extirpation of negro
slavery,—nor assuredly until the eleventh hour, and
when it could no longer be delayed even for a mo-
ment,—a fund which would enable Yorkshire also
to effect the good work, not of extirpating slavery,
—for, thank God, we knew it not in this country,
—but of extirpating ignorance, which unhappily we
did know to a horrible extent, and the bitter fruits
of which we were tasting, and should continue to
taste.—(Applause.) And then he trusted, when ig-
norance was conquered, the execrable but legitimate
offspring of ignorance would also be triumphed over,
—he meant discord, intolerance, and vice.—(Loud
cheers) If we were told that Parliament had the
power to attain this noble end, he, must say that his
hopes in such a quarter were not very strong—(and
he averred he spoke with all reverence and affection
for that body)—when he found the supplies for
educating the people were voted at so late a period,
and to so limited an extent—late, because 15 years
had elapsed since the publication of the report which
recommended a grant—and limited, since that grant
was bestowed, to the amount only of 20,0001., at a
time when 20,000,0001. were given—jusily he did
not deny—fitly he would say nothing about-- with
his full concurrence, certainly—his full approbation
—as a compensation for the abolition of negro
slavery. He thought that the efforts of the people
were still wanting for the purpose of promoting edu-
cation, and that Parliament would render no sub-
stantial assistance until they themselves took the
matter into hand with energy and spirit, and the
determination to do something. Sincerely, then,
did he hope that that day's meeting would cause the
collection of a fund for the establishment of an in-
stitution having such an object, and that there would
still be sufficient to erect an outward memorial of
the name and to the memory of that great arid good
man, whose virtues they had met to celebrate, and
whose example they had all professed so earnest a
desire to imitate.—(Loud cheers.) The Noble Lord
concluded by moving the following resolution, which
was briefly seconded by the Rev. WILLIAM VERNON
HARCOURT:—

" That the nature of such memorial must, in some
degree, depend upon the aggregate amount of the subscrip-
tions which may be received, and that it is advisable (if
the sum raised be adequate) to found a benevolent insti•
tution of as useful description in this county, and to put
up a tablet to the memory of Mr. Wilberforce; but
should the subscriptions be insufficient to accomplish such
an object, that they shall be applied to the erection of a
monument."