The Sun.
London, England, 1835-04-25 00:00:00

DEVONSTITRE ELECTION.

(FROM OUR PLYMOUTH CORRESPONDENT.) •
MEETING of the FRIENDS and SUPPORTERS. of
LORD JOHN RUSSELL, at PLYMOUTH.
LORD VISCOUNT EBRINGTON being present.
This day (Thursday) a' meeting, of Lord John Russell's
Plymouth District Committee, consisting of upwards of 130
gentlemen and others, his Lordship's friends, was held at the
Mechanics' Institute, in Princess-square, Plymouth. The
Meeting was both numerously and highly respectably attended.
We should think that upwards of 300 gentlemen were present
On the occasion. About half-past twelve o'clock Lord Ebring-
ton entered the meeting, accompanied by Geo. Wm. Soltan,
Esq., the present, and Richard Bayley, Esq., the late Chair-
man of the Committee; John Collier and Thomas Bewes,
Esqs., our borough Members, and other gentlemen. His
Lordship was greeted on his entrance by the cheers of the
assembly, which continued for some time. GEO. WM. SoL-
TAN, Esq. having taken the Chair—
The CHAIRMAN addressed the meeting as follows :—I
have much pleasure in informing the committee and the other
friends of Lord John Russell, that the returns of the canvass
received this morning from the country parishes in this district
are highly satisfactory.—(Loud cheers.) It behoves us, how-
ever, not to relax in our exertions, but to place Lord John Rus-
sell high on the poll, so as to show to the people that the elec-
tors of the south of Devon are fully sensible of his worth and
excellence. ( Continued cheering.) Our opponents are
wealthy, influential, and active. Statements the most un-
founded, and imputations the most base, have been made
against us, and even the sacred temple of religion, has been
profaned to disseminate principles adverse to our interests.
—( Cries of " Hear," and cheers.) The country at large
looks forward to the result of this election with the utmost
anxiety. I therefore call on you to secure the result of this
election—the independence of the South of Devon.---( Cheers. )
Our opponents have endeavoured to further their cause by
abuse of Lord John Russell--but our cause needs none, it
stands on noble ground. It cannot but be highly satisfactory
to all present; to see a Nobleman now associated with us in
the (good cause—(Loud cheers)—and though he has ceased
to be one of our representatives, that he has not ceased to
take an interest in our welfare.—( Continued cheering.) The
statements which the meeting will receive from the Noble
Lord will be highly gratifying. I cannot but offer our thanks
to the patriotic people of Manchester, for the way in which
they had come forward, when they heard of the factious op-
position, offered to Lord John Russell—in a few minutes they
subscribed 5001. Let this example stimulate us. Let every
man take up the cause as his own. Let not one leave this meet-
ing, without making a firm resolve to secure to Devon her
lasting independence.—( The Chairman sat down amid loud
cheers.)

Lord: Viscount EBRINGTON, M.P., then rose to address
the meeting, and was hailed with loud and continued cheering.
As soon as it had subsided, his Lordship spoke as follows:
After the kind and flattering terms in which your Chairman
has introduced my name, and the manner in which you have
been pleased to receive it, I feel that no apology is necessary
from me in presenting myself to you.—( Cheers. ) Besides,
the sentiments which we entertain with regard to the imme-
diate object of this meeting, I feel an additional claim to ad-
dressing you, after the honour you did me when I was last with
you, by presenting me with the freedom of your town. It is
then as one of yourselves, both as a citizen of Plymouth and as
an elector for the Southern Division of Devon, that I stand
forward to congratulate you on the return to power of the Mi-
nisters who carried the Reform Bill, and who now desire to
carry out its legitimate results. For those objects the town of
Plymouth made a noble and determined stand, and sent to Par-
liament men who had always stood forward in defence of
the rights and liberties of the people.• I say I congratulate you
on the return to power of men pledged to carry out the first
fruits of the Reform Bill. I congratulate you also on the
opportunity now afforded you to manifest to England and to
Europe at large, that no change has taken place in your senti-
ments, by again conferring on the author of the Reform Bill
that honour which he values so highly. I have the satis-
faction to state to you that notwithstanding all the calumny
that has been used, all the misrepresentations which have gone
forth, and to the propagation of which I am sorry to say some
gentlemen have lent themselves who must have been satisfied
of their absurdity and untruth, in the shape of newspaper pa-
ragraphs, and anonymous handbills.—l say, notwithstanding
all this, I have the satisfaction of stating to you that from all
the information which I have received, no reason exists to
doubt that the cause of Liberty and Reform will triumph on
this as it has on so many former occasions.—(Loud cheers.)
To so intelligent and respectable an assembly as this, it would
be useless for me to reply to those anonymous slanders,
more especially as my Noble Friend who is the object of them
will before the day of election take an opportunity of address-
ing the electors of this district in this place, and of stating
for himself his views and principles, and of calling on you to
judge not by the slanderous and anonymous aspersions I have
referred to, but by his own declaration, coupled with his past
political conduct. That party who claim all the religion, and
all the loyalty, as well as all the talent and rank of the country,
tell you that it is the intention of my Noble Friend to over-
throw the Established Church in this country. They ground
that imputation on the resolution proposed by him, and carried
in the House of Commons, on the subject of the Irish Church.
On that subject I have not taken my opinions from hearsay,
but my connection with respect to property in that country,
has enabled me to form my own opinions on the subject from
personal observation. At the last public meeting held in this
county, relative to the relief of the Roman Catholics, I stated
as I do now, that the existence of a Protestant clergyman,
draining tithes from a parish without a church in it in which to
do duty, and without a parsonage house—of a clergyman
without a Protestant parishioner before whom he could perform
the service of the Established Church, even if he had a resi-
dence and a church—l stated that the existence of such a
thing was a scandal to the religion which it was its object to
disseminate. I had seen the existence of such things in Ire-
land. To that statement I adhere. It was in consequence of
that opinion, which has been since confirmed, that I supported
the resolution of my noble friend. And what does that reso-
lution amount to ? That after full and ample provision for the
spiritual wants of the Protestant Church—and that in a better
manner than it is now provided for—for with all the wealth of
the Church, the spiritual wants of the Irish Protestants are
not now sufficiently provided for—that the surplus funds to
the establishment of schools for the purpose of promoting
scriptural education—schools which should be common alike
to the Protestant and the Catholic, according to the plan of
my Lord Stanley, approved of by the Archbishop of Dublin
and other heads of the Church in Ireland—a plan which, ex-
cluding those points of Scripture on which Protestants and
Catholics disagreed, yet retained all that infinitely greater
and more important portion in which all Christians concur—
this is the system of appropriation which was proposed by
my Noble Friend. It was not, however, proposed to obtain
the surplus by taking any part of the income which any cler-
gymam now living received from the Church, but as sinecure
livings drop in, to appropriate them to this plan of national
education.—(Loud cheers.) I put it to you, as Christians
and moral men, whether such an appropriation is not better
calculated to promote real religion and true morality, than
that which gives large incomes to clergymen for duties
which they cannot perform, and exhibits them as ministers
of the Gospel only in name and in emolument. So much,
then, for the sacrilegious plunder of the Irish'Church. For
myself, I am, and always have been, a very sincere friend
of the Church of England. But I stated long ago my opinion
that the honour as well as the usefulness of the Church would
be advanced by a better distribution of the funds—giving
greater incomes to the working clergy, reducing those of the
less efficient dignitaries. When I made that proposition,
many years ago—it was received as my Noble Friend's has
been—l was denounced as a sacrilegious spoliator of the
Church of England, and accused of a desire to subvert the
whole establishment. I have lived to see the day when the
same treason has been propounded by the very heads of the
Church itself—l have seen them propose a measure for bring-
ing more nearly to an equality the revenues of the Bishops,
and augmenting small livings at the expense of the sinecure
dignitaries, and a Tory Administration approving of this plan.
And I do not despair of seeing the time when the persons now
so loudly denouncing the proposition of my Noble Friend will
be among the foremost to acknowledge its benefits. Another
charge against my Noble Friend and his colleagues in the Mi-
nistry is a supposed alliance with Mr. O'Connell. Ido not stand
up to defend the language of Mr. O'Connell; no man has re-
gretted more than I do that his talents and influence should have
been misapplied as they have,in promoting agitation and violence
in Ireland. I feel less scruple in stating it here, having not shrunk
from doing so in his presence in various discussions in the House
of Commons. You have seen that the head of the Administration
has stated that any support which Mr. O'Connell may give to
the Government has not been purchased by any conditions
made by that Government, either directly or indirectly with
him. If, in consequence of the changes which have taken
place, and the measures which have been propounded for the
pacification of Ireland, he is disposed, without any conditions,
to alter his course to that Government—l put it to you whether
any advantage would have been gained by the Government—
or whether they would ever have been justified in repu-
diating the support which Mr. O'Connell may be disposed to
give them? The Government do that which they believe is
right, without reference to Mr. O'Connell on the one hand, or
the heads of the Orangemen on the other. Let them do so—
let them steer that straight and upright course which will tend
to the happiness of Ireland ; and if, in doing so, they can ob-
tain the support of Mr. O'Connell, they would be guilty of
folly, which would not only incapacitate them to administer
the affairs of a great country, but even those of a parish vestry,
if they allowed themselves to be swayed by any false shame
or personal hostility to be diverted for a moment from doing so.
'I have thought it right to say so much, because I am aware of
the gross misrepresentations which have gone forth, and which
has, I fear, in some cases produced effect. But lam con-
vinced that this is not the case with you, from the course
which you have taken, and the principles which you have so
consistently maintained in support of civil and religions liberty.
I ought perhaps, therefore, to apologise to you— (cries of
" No, no," from all parts of the room),—More especially as
I hope my Noble Friend will have an opportunity himself on
Thursday next of :explaining to you fully the whole of his
public conduct. I hope, Gentlemen, you will impress most
deeply on every elector not to judge of my Noble Friend by
misrepresentations of his enemies, but to hear from himself
his explanation of his own conduct, and of the intentions of
this Government, and then let them judge for themselves and
give their votes, as they may consider they ought. (The
Noble Lord sat down amidst loud and continued cheers.)
W. HODGE, Esq., of Devonport, next addressed the
meeting, and referred to the cry raised by the Tory party of
the Church being in danger, and clearly pointed out the fallacy
of the cry. He then noticed the Irish question, and attributed
the whole of the grievances of which Ireland now complained
to misgovernment, and instanced the great benefits which