The Sun.
London, England, 1835-12-15 00:00:00

TO THE IN----tDEPENDEN ECTORS
OF WESTAIINS •

THE SUN, LONDO

GENTLEramv,=l:lavine• received a r from Mr. Dc-
veer, with a Morning Chronicle's leport a meeting at the
British Coffee-house, of some of the electors of Westmir=
ster, of which he was Chairman, I find myself placed in a
situation not.new to me, and therefore not surprising nor
painful, but which calls upon me for.this address. I have
frequently, in the course of my life, risked and incurred
censure for doing that which I thought right. In those
cases my private feelings have been always offered up at the
altar of the public. Accustomed to look into my own
mind for satisfaction, and not abroad to receive it by reflec-
tion from others, I have never hesitated to take any step I
thought might be useful ; and in endeavouring to make a
stand against the introduction amongst us of a tone and
style of language and manners, which, if tolerated, would
render society a curse instead of a blessing, I have done
that which my own mind tells me I shall never repent.
The letter addressed _appropriately to the members of
Brookes's respecting Mr. Daniel O'Connell was unques-
tionably, intended to be an appeal to the public. Poli-
tics, however, are not necessarily connected with it. I
might, for example, agree with Mr. Daniel O'Connell
in all his political principles and opinions—if any man
can tell me what they are, or, harder still, what they will
be a month hence—and yet think his language and man-
ners not to be borne. On the other hand, to his opinions
and principles I might oppose the bitterest hostility, and
yet have for him, personally, the utmost esteem—might
cultivate his friendship, and covet his society. Mr. Penn-
cey puts the question thus at the meeting—" not as between
Mr. Daniel O'Connell and me, but as between England
and Ireland." There is certainly no dispute between Mr.
Daniel O'Connell and me ; which, indeed, he makes a
charge against me, as he says, " unprovoked attack ;" and
this, which he considers a charge, I consider a justifica-
tion. The question for the consideration of the public is
not between ?,Ir. Daniel O'Connell and me, but between
Mr. Daniell O'Connell and civilized society. It is,
whether a person, disregarding all the proprieties and
decencies, let alone courtesies, of civiliztd society, ought
to be countenanced and sanctioned : the question is
thus made plain, and so I have it, stript of all false
adjuncts as bare as lEsop's crow. Mr. Pouncey ended
with saying " my letter had given him sincere pain ;"
for this I am sincerely sorry, for there is not a
man in Westminster whom I esteem higher or feel
more regard for than I do for Mr. Pouncey, " warm
admirer and supporter of mile," or not. Mr. Prout sup-
poses me a tool in the hands of others, and the llforning
Chronicle ingeniously points to Mr. George Sinclair—this
affords him an opportunity of calumniating both. I agree
with Mr. Prout that, if culpability attaches anywhere, tool
or no tool, I am equally culpable, for the act and deed is
his who signs and seals it ; nor do I shrink from it or its
consequences, be they what they may. To the good sense
and good feeling of the electors of Westminster I fearlessly
appeal ; so does Mr. Daniel O'Connell, at least so I col-
lect, as far as I can collect anything, from his skimble-skam-
ble episde from Derrvnane, where it seems this Jupiter
Tonans, or Jupiter Scapin, has retired to forge some light-
ning, red with uncommon vengeance, to blast the " betrayer
of his party, his principles, and his country." Well, I await

;he thunderbolt with the utmost composure, like Horace's
ust man, so ludicrously translated by Mr. Creech, and
;herefore so apt to the present purpose—

" Should the whole frame of nature round him break,
He, unconcerned, would bear the mighty crack !"
Jupiter assumed many shapes, you know, amongst others
that of a bull—not an Irish bull, nor a "Pope's bull—
but an honest John Bull ; so Mr. Daniel O'Connell, who
is an excellent actor, assumes many characters ; and he is
to-come out for the first time in the character of a fine gen-
tleman, all finery and perfume, essenced like a milliner,
" redolent" of " civet ;" he calls for an ounce of it, if to

" sweeten his imagination" it will hardly suffice, but he is to
perfume his very words and pour forth the vials of his
wrath, his indignation, and patriotism in eau de rose, and
all this upon my head. Why, I shall be " all redolent,"
like himself. His greatest difficulty, however, will be to
discover the word he is in search of ; it will be a mon-
strous long word if it express all that he sets down for it—
no mouth, no, not Garagantua's, will be large enough to
pronounce it, and as to Lord Burleigh's celebrated shake of
the head, it will be a trifle to it ; but hear him himself,
making an essay at his new vocabulary. "He who betrays
his party, his principles, .and his country," shall be " a
foolish fading gentleman ;" and he who, " with one
virtue and a thousand faults, abandons that virtue, but
corrects none of his faults, shall be—l do not at present
know exactly what—but I will discover some perfumed
word, so soft as not to shake the shattered nerves of the
most unsound, personally as well as morally; of the anti-
quated roues of St. James's." You may well stare, gen-

tflea!ien, and rub your eyes, and ask one another what dots
all this mean ? CEdipus himself would be puzzled, much
more an elector of Westminster, where we have not been
used to such highflown gaudy rhetorical style, such poetic
prose—he only who can discover the word, can discover the
meaning. At the commencement of this exquisite epistle,
they would call it illigant in Ireland. Mr. Daniel O'Con-
nell calls on his countrymen to mark what he endures for
their sakes, for his " principles of civil and religious li-
berty," and " for his loved and abused land." " I receive
all," he says, "as the wages of my devotion." Does he
mean to say these are all the wages he receives ? He then
bombastically adds,
" For it is treason to love her, and death to defend."
Why, what braggish balderdash and fustian is all this !
what empty, vain, and absurd vaunting, at a time when
there is no danger—when, instead of facing danger and
death, he quietly and securely pockets 18,0001. or 20,0001.
a year. - If any reliance can be placed on the Irish press,
he talks of being engaged in a strife, not of words, but of
things. Again I ask, what things—that is to say, perilous
things ? What reality, what risk of any sort or kind has
he ever exposed himself to, out of devotion to his "beloved
country ?" There is only one part of this strange epistle
of any importance, and to that I do request your particular
attention, and that you will bear it well in mind. He calls
me " a foolish fading gentleman," meaning thereby, " one
who betrays his party, his principles, and his country."
This is what he undertakes to prove, or to attempt to
prove ; which, if he does not, I shall pay no more regard
to any thing else he may choose to utter, than to the gabble
of a goose ; for he has deprived both his tongue and pen of
all power of either causing scandal or giving offence. One
gentleman proposes to the meeting to summon a public one,
for the purpose of getting it to require me to resign my
seat. This another objects to, as giving too much import-
ance to the letter. Another says, "if not a tool, it follows
I am an apostate,"—" a non sequitur, master serjeant," as the
man says in the play. As to Whigs and Tories, I beg leave to
say I have the greatest regard and friendship for many of
both denominations, and no regard for either as a party.
My war, political, was with the boroughmono-ers ; I have
lived to soe them; thank Heaven ! decently interred—
being dead, so is my enmity. Mr. Kemp complains of my
treating deputations with incivility. I was not aware of it,
certainly never intended it, and really wonder that any one
can have supposed I could by possibility intend it. I never
coiled the people before the hustings rabble—l detest the
term, I think it inhuman, not fit, to apply to any collection
of human beings, however low or degraded. As to the
ballot, which Mr. Kemp, I think, supposes I am against,
my answer is short—l supported it both by speech and
vote. I always thought it a convenient, orderly, and easy
way of taking votes ; I never thought it pregnant with such
prodigious advantages as many expect to derive from it. As
to the Corporation Bill, I am inclined to think that it
would have been better to abolish the old Corporations,
and not to have created new. As to my resigning my scat,
before alluded to, unless called upon by a majority of
my constituents, I should not think myself at liberty to
do so, even if I wished it. In my opinion it would be a
desertion of my post, and unfair to the great body of the
electors ; so that, maugre all cavil, calumny, and malig-
nity, this post it is my purpose unshrinkingly to maintain.
The electors of Westminster may dismiss me, but I will
never desert them, nor retire without giving them notice,
and ample time to make such arrangements as they may
think desirable. I remain, Gentlemen, as ever,
Your most devoted very humble servant,
FRANCIS BURDETT.

SCHLEGEL'S NEW WORK, " THE PHILOSOPHY
OF HISTORY."—" The Lectures of Frederick Von Schle,el
have just been published by Saunders and Otley. Few
publications of equal importance have for many years is-
sued from the press. The original work ranks foremost
amongst the philosophical productions of Germany, and
is the broad pedestal upon which the fame of Schlegel must
be erected. It is not a work that should be monopolized
by one nation—it belongs to mankind, and especially to
Christianity. The style of these Lectures possesses a na-
tural loftiness which harmonizes admirably with their matter
and their great aim."—Abridged from the Herald of Nov. 6.

Madame Vestris is well enough to drive to the
Olympic every evening, and remain an hour, but her me-
dical advisers, fearing a relapse, prohibit her from performing
until after Christmas. Her new character in the Beau Ideal
she has given up for the present.

"THE POETRY OF LIFE," BY THE AUTHOR OF
" PICTURES OF PRIVATE LIFE."—" Miss Stickney is
destined to ,hold a very high place in the useful lite-
rature of her country. We cordially recomtnend these
valuable and beautifully written volumes ; they will afford
both instruction and delight, and supply another proof that
the female pen can be vigorous as well as graceful, useful
as well as elegant. How exquisite is the author's paper on
the Poetry of Grief.' The Poetry of Woman' is grace-
fully, but not as powerfully
,written ; but the chef d'oeuvre
of the work is the Poetry of the Bible.' Miss Stickney's
mind is of a very high order."—New Moidhly.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1835.

BIRMINGHAM and DERBY RAILWAY.

pußLic MEETING AT TAMWORTH.

On Tuesday last, pursuant to a requisition to the Bailiffs
of Tamworth, a highly-respectable meeting of the inhabitants
of that boroughsand its neighbourhood was held at the Town
Hall, for the purpose of expressing their opinion of the
projected railway from Birmingham to Derby, passing
through Tamworth and Burton-upon-Trent. The Mem-
bers for the borough, the Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel and
the Right Hon. William Yates Peel, and many of the
neighbouring landowners were also present ; and a deputation
from the Directors of the Railway Company, consisting of
Henry Smith, Joseph Walker, and William Beale, Esqs.,
attended from Birmingham.
The Right Hon. Sir R. PEEL spoke to the following
effect :—Mr. Bailiff and Gentlemen, I attend this meeting
with great satisfaction, not only as your Representative in
Parliament, but also as an individual deeply interested in
the prosperity of this town and neighbourhood. In moving
the resolution I hold in my hand; I must, with Mr. Smith,
disclaim any intention to dictate to you the views you should
take with reference to this subject. I move it, in order that
every gentleman present may form his own unbiassed opi-
nion, and that a question which is so interesting to all of us
may be open to a fall and free discussion ; and I hope that
any gentleman who may wish for explanation or informa-
tion respecting the proposed railway, will avail himself of
this opportunity to acquire it ; and if he entertain any
doubt upon the, propriety of the• undertaking that he will
express it, in order that, if it can be, it may be cleared up
by the gentlemen who attend here from Birmingham upon
this occasion. • I shall first read the resolution, by the mov-
ing of which I shall conclude my observations.—[The
Right Hon. Baronet here read the resolution.] This reso-
lution, you will perceive, affirms two propositions. Ist,
That the projected railway will be conducive to the general
welfare of the country ; and, 2ndly, That it will tend to the
local interests and prosperity of this town and neighbour-
hood. Gentlemen, you are far too enlightened to render
it necessary for me to say anything as to the great utility—
nay, the vast importance, of having throughout the
kingdom a cheap and rapid mode of communication. I
do not hesitate to avow myself favourable to the principle
of communication by railways ; and on all occasions I
shall give my cordial support to such undertakings, pro-
vided I am satisfied they will succeed as speculations,
and prove a profitable investment of capital to their pro-
jectors. It is no reflection on the parties who have ori-
ginated the undertaking, that their main or primary ob-
ject is their own individual profit, for it is only by indivi-
dual gain that the general interest is advanced ; and, unless
it can be proved to me that the views of profitable invest-
ment with which this undertaking is commenced will be re-
alized, any doubts I might entertain of its success would be
materially increased ; for, in order that it should succed as
a general measure, it must be shown to be profitable to
its promoters. I am, Gentlemen, favourable to such un-
dertakings, because lbelieve that our commercial interests
are best promoted by a rapid ,communication, which will, as
it were, bring_ together remote parts of the empire, and
unite all our great commercial towns and agricultural dis-
tricts. It is absolutely essential, in crdcr to maintain our
commercial superiority over the rest of the world, that the
most favourable means of transit through the country should
be adopted : for we are now in a perfectly different position
from that in which we were during the late war. At that period
nearly all the neighbouring countries were the scene of war-
fare, and their inhabitants were consequently precluded from
competing with us in commercial pursuits. We had a ma-
ritime force, by which we commanded the seas, and hence'
we enjoyed a monopoly of trade and manufactures in the
markets •of the world. • During the war which ravaged
Europe from 1793 to ISIS, we had a monopoly not, only
of the trade and commerce of Europe, but of,nearly the
whole of the globe. Peace happily succeeded, and has
since prevailed, and other countries are now, and have
been for some years past, directing their energies to the
improvement and cultivation of their manufactures and in-
ternal resources ; in fact, so rapid has been their progress,
that they now compete with us in nearly every branch of
manufacturing industry and commercial enterprise ; and ,it
is my opinion that 'it will be impossible to maintain our
superiority, and struggle successfully against this powerful
competition, unless we exert all our energies to bring into
operation every improvement which skill and intelligence
can devise. We must not, gentleman, close our eyes to
the fact that railways are now being established on the
Continent, and that they exist to a great extent in the
United States of America. Nor can we, by any means,
prevent our artisans and our capital from leaving the coun-
try, nor our machinery from being exported, if there should
appear elsewhere a fairer prospect of profitable employ-
ment. I think, therefore, that we are bound to encourage
these undertakings in every part of England, whenever we
have rational grounds for believing they will succeed. I
cannot doubt it is for the general interest of the country
that they should be established. If by a railway com-
munication the journey from London to Birmingham
can .be performed by a merchant or .manufacturer in five
hours instead of thirteen, thereby enabling him to go to
London, transact his business, and return the same
day, the great advantages arising from so rapid a com-
munication must be obvious. Again, whatever improve-
ment in communication which will enable the poor man,
in the present state of the poor laws, to carry his la-
bour, perhaps the only valuable property he possesses,
to the best market, and where it is most wanted, must be a
decided advantage not only to him but to the community at
large ; and it is of great importance that these lines of rail-
way be laid down with a view to the general interests of the
country. It appears, therefore, to me, that it is of the
utmost importance to the country—that it is, in fact, indis-
pensably necessary to the maintenance of its present emi-
nence and superiority, that such undertakings should be
encouraged. So much for the bearing of the subject upon
the general question. I shall now draw your attention
more particularly to the effect of the line under discussion
upon the interests of this town and neighbourhood. I hold
in-tray hand a map, showing the line of railway from Lon-
don to Birmingham, and from Birmingham to Liverpool.
It comprehends also most of the large towns in the West
Riding of Yorkshire, and comprises, in addition, Hull,
Gloucester, and the country lying between these various
places. Then, Gentlemen, you are probably aware that a
railway is now in process of execution between London
and Birmingham, which will probably be opened to the
public in about three years. There is also one in execu-
tion between Liverpool and Birmingham, which will be
completed in about two years. Thus Acts of the Le-
gislature have already passed which will make Birming-
ham the centre of communication between London,
Liverpool, Manchester, and other great manufacturing and
commercial districts. There are also Bills in contempla-
tion for other lines of railway, which have not as yet re-
ceived, but which will,. in all probability, receive the sanc-
tion of the Legislature in the ensuing Session of Parlia-
ment. One of these, for which notice has been given, is to
unite Derby with Leeds, and this railway will immediately
pass through, or touch upon, the following important
places :—Chesterfield, with a population of 10,000 ; Shef-
field, 91,000 ; Barnsley, 10,000 ; J-luddersfield, 81,000 ;
Halifax, 199,000 ; Leeds, 123,000 ; Wakefield, 24,000 ;
and I am given to understand that this railway has received
very general encouragement, and that there is no probabi-
lity of any very considerable, and certainly of no successful,
opposition to it ; and we may, therefore, take it for granted,
that, irk the course of the next Session of Parliament, an
Aa Arilbe obtained for uniting Leeds with Derby by rail-
way communication. There is also another line proposed
to unite Birmingham and Gloucester. At the close, there-
fore, of the next Session of Parliament we shall probably
stand thins. Besides the lines of railway frnm London to
Liverpool through Birmingham, there will be a line between
Birmingham and Gloucester, effecting a direct communica-
tion to the port of Bristol, and through it to .the West In-
dies. We shall also find a line connecting Derby with Leeds.
Supposing this to be the case, I think, Gentlemen, under
such circumstances, you cannot entertain a doubt, when
you consider the wealth, intelligence, and commercial en-
terprise of the people of Yorkshire and the North, that they
will, by some means or other, effect a Communication with
Birmingham and its 'important adjacent districts, as well as
the other parts of the kingdom, by an union of these great
lines. The question, therefore, is, in what manner that
union is to be effected. The Gentlemen present, who at-
tend from Birmingham on this occasion, propose to accom-
plish it by uniting Derby with Birmingham by a rail-
way passing , through, or - near Burton-upon Trent and
Tamworth. The propOsal is, as I apprehend it, that the
railway shall pass from Derby to Nether Whitacre, by way
of Burton and Tamworth, in one continued line, and that
it shall there diverge, one line leading to Birmingham, by
way of Yardley, and the other uniting with the London
and Birmingham railway, at or near Hampton-in-Arden.
Now, Gentlemen, I presume it will be the general opinion
of this meeting that to such a proposition, supposing these
to be "the best lines for effecting the objects contemplated,
we ought to give our assent and support. It certainly ap-
pears to me, upon a cursory examination of this map, that
it is by Tamworth that a line from Birmingham to Derby
should run. It is in a direct line between the two places,
and not only so, but I apprehend that, on account of the
wallies and the natural levels of the country, it will be
found that this line can he executed at considerably less ex-
pense than any other. In all probability in regard to dis-
tance, a shorter line to London from Derby might be de-
vised, and it is probable that other presposals will be made
for connecting Derby with London by way of Nottingham
and Leicester. Supposing this to be the case, it can in no
way affect the line between Derby and Birmingham. There
can be no doubt that the population of Yorkshire and
the north, • in conjunction with the other interests con-
cerned, would insist upon a more direct communication with
Birmingham and the West of England then could be of-
fered by way of Nottingham and Leicester. It is also. to