The Sun.
London, England, 1835-01-09 00:00:00

TOWER HAMLETS.

DEFEAT AND RESIGNATION OF THE
TORY CANDIDATE.

Throughout the day considerable confusion prevailed, on
account of the proceedings of the friends of the Tory candidate,
who, though denied at the first request, persisted in soliciting
the electors very much to their annoyance. Much disgust
was also occasioned in consequence of about 100 poor men
parading the borough with a placard inscribed—" We are
starving; Captain B has deceived us, and wont pay us
our wages." They went to the committee of Dr. Lushirvon,
and stated that they were employed by the atilt-Man of the
Tory Candidate's Committee, a Mr. J 3—, a builder, who
promised them ls. 10d. a-day, but which they were unable
to obtain, and were discharged without a moment's notip.
Captain BURTON came forward amidst great confilsion.
Partial silence having been obtained, he seicl—Those of the
electors who read my address must have perceived the retmon
of my presenting myself before you. The sentintefit; con-
tained in that address I will maintain to the latest period of
my existence. In the same address some. A pause and
laughter.) I beg also to assure
tnat those principles I
am ready to maintain to
=---(esreat laughter and cries of
"Bravo.") - 'firm belief is that the policy tchich I profess
has greater tendency to promote the well-being of this coun-
try than any ether.—( Hisses and laughter.) lam happy at
a'l events of giving an opportunity to those electors who have
done me the honour of recording their votes in my favour.
I assure you it is impossible for me ever to express the deep
feeling of gratitude I feel towards them. To those of the
electors who differed in opinion with me, and recorded their
votes against me, I entertain towards them feelings of the
kindest nature.—( Bravo.) Whatever difference we may have
in political sentiments, I really believe they wish for the wel-
fore of the country—( Bravo.) I told you when I first presented
myself, that I was neither a Whig nor a Tory—( What then ?)
I repeat it—the only principle I have is the well-being of the
country—l look to that alone, and I belong to no other faction.
It was my determination to continue this election as long as
there was an elector remaining to poll ; but by the advice of
my friends, and with the good feelings which I have towards
this borough, I assure you I should be the last man to wish to
excite any unkind feelings amongst you, or to give you any
unnecessary trouble—it therefore only remains for me to assure
you that, as long as I exist, I shall entertain the kindest feel-
ings towards the electors of the Tower Hamlets, as I anxiously
desire that everything:done for them may be for their interests
and welfare.—( Cheers.) It must be perceptible to all those
who noticed the polling this day, that it is quite impossible for
me to contend against a coalition.--( Cries of there is no
coalition, and off, off.") I can only assure you from the re-
turns to my Committee, my votes are nine-tenths of them
plumpers. It now remains only for me to assure you thnt I sha'l
always entertain an anxious desire for your welfare, and that
I retire from you with the best humour in the world.—
( Cseers. ) I m ly •egret that there have been some mistatements
made of my political sentiments, and that some clamour was
made when I came forward to address the electors, which I
h ape I did with manliness, and I trust I may also add, with
proper gentlemanly feeling. (Cheers.)
Dr. LestliNeToN presented himself, and was greeted with
hue' cheers. He proceeded to address them as follows :
E'ectors of the Tower Hamlets, the battle has been fought
and the victory won.—( Cheers.) I regret not the trouble,
the expense, or the anxiety, which that struggle
entailed upon me, though I may regret that my friends have
been compelled to exert themselves and to occupy their time.
But I am proud for myself, for the vindication of my character
—( Hear)—for the support of my principles, and that a mag-
nificent majority has rescued this borough from being
stamped a Tory borough.—( Cheers.) I rejoice at the estab-
lishment of those principles that I have advocated, and the
example set to the metropolitan county and to the kingdom at
large. lam humbly grateful and proud, as an Englishman
and an advocate of our general cause.—( Cheers.)
Through the whole of this contest there was no one
point upon which my mind was not made up, except
that I saw myself the victim of the bitterest abuse and un-
bounded calumny, and therefore, without condescending to
follow the example of my political opponents, I have taken
care that not one word has escaped me in impugning the che-
rscter of any who attacked me.—( Cheers.) These are the
weapons with which I will not fight. Every man has a right
to his own political principles. He has a right to be a Tory
if he thinks fit, I quarrel nut with him, it is a question for his
own conscience to settle ; but if he is a Tory, let him
be found where be will, politically speaking, be supported;
but wherever he is found, I am his resolved and determined
foe.---( Cheers.) Coalition !—( Laughter.) Why, it so hap•
pens that between myself and my hon. colleague, after two
years' service in Parliament, where the most Important oues-
lions ever agitated were discussed, we have not_ ,liifore'd on
Was it not na-
tural, than five votes on the utmost ;
ants
then, that the friends of I:rtr. Clay should come for-
ward and support the who supported the same
principles that he stul S—( Cheers.) Was it not natural that
not only support Mr. Clay, but recollecting who
they
.should_
was la the field against those principles, or at least a gentle-
man whose principles, upon his honour, he did not yet know--
( Laughter)—but be they what they may, they are not those of
my colleague and myself; for he did not what we have
done, hoist the banner of Reform—not such reform as
Sir Robert Peel professes--( Hisses)---but that Reform
in State, and that alteration in Church, those great changes
throughout all the institutions of the country which the people
of England understand, (call them by what name you please)
which they understand and coeet, and ask for, and ask with a
loud voice, and shall and must have.—Vehement cheering.)
Now then, no wonder that a large majority of the
electors of the Tower Hamlets, united in their
sentiments, have supported Mr. Clay and myself,
as I humbly hope a large majority of the electors of Middles
sex will support Mr. Hume and Mr. Byng.—( Cheers.) We
arc strong--strong first in the justice of our cause, strong
next in the knowledge of that justice, and strong again from
the immense majority of the people having adopted those
opinions ; but strong as we are, let us remember the words
of my Lord Melbourne, " We are not strong enough to afford
to be divided." We must unite, and when I speak of we I speak
not merely of the elecrors of he Tower Hamlets, or of Mid-
dlesex, or of the metropolitan boroughs, but to all the people
of England—( Hear)—who know the Constitution, and value
the Constitution, and desire to have the Constitution preserved
in that state in which. when a rational man looks upon it, he
may say it is not deformed by abuse and corruption._
( Hear, hear, and loud cheers.) I concur in all the kind
feeling expressed by the gallant Captain, but I must say
when all that was dear to me was at stake, I looked to you,
and to your verdict, not merely your acquittal, but your honour,
trust, and confidence, and my deep sense of thankfulness for
the patricstic manner that you have supported me, is beyond
expression.
The Learned Gentleman then retired amidst the most en-
thusiastic cheering.
Mr. COATRS said—The proud triumph of the present mo-
ment is, in some measure, depressed by the absence of Mr.
Clay, who is kept, by domestic circumstances, from returning
thanks in his own person. But when I tell you that Mr. Clay
is watching the sick, perhaps the dying, bed of a beloved fa-
ther, I am sure you will not think the less of him as a public
Dean, because he has attended to the endearing charities
of private Loud cheers.) My maxim is, never to
triumph over the fallen.—( Cheers.) The gallant Captain
has declared that, notwithsta.nd the result of this election, he
is determined to stand by his principles. If I could collect
what those principles are, I would be in a condition to judgo
of the wisdom of ;his resolution.--( Laughter.) But as there
is a difficulty, I can duly collect them from his great master,
Sir Robert Peel—( Tremendous groaning)—in every mord of
whose jesuitical address the Gallant Captain says he concurs.
It comes to this, that the Gallant Captain is as much a Tory
as Sir R. Peel himself.—( Groans and cheers.) Ido not
object to the Tories retaining their opinions--I am too tole-
rent to object to opinions which I think to be mistaken. The
Tories, then, are welcome to their opinions ; but they are not
welcome to put their hands into the pockets of the people to
maintain those opinions —Cheers.) I took the liberty of telling
the Gallant Captain, when he offered himself as a candidate,
that he did not stand the most remote chance.—( Cheers.)
He did not listen to my suggestion. lam glad he came to
the poll, as I hope he will go away wiser than he came.—
( Cheers.) I know the men of the Tower Hamlets to be
firm, wise, and resolved never to part with the great princi-
ples of Constitutional Reform. ( Cheers.) But there is
a small, insignificant, and exclusive body of persons in this
but who knew nothing of their virtue or their patriotism, or
their resolution to take their stand upon the great principles
of Constitutional Reform. I hope those persons will be now
satisfied that this borough is determined to maintain those
great principles.—( Loud and continued cheers.) Something
has been said about a coalition. If such had existed, it would
have been laudable to all parties—for men to unite in ajust
cause is laudable, but no such thing has existed.--( Hear,
hear) What you have witnessed is the independent
conclusion of different men acting together to maintain
these great and constitutional principles common to you all.
This attempt to palm a Tory candidate upon this borough will,
I hope, be a lesson to that party.—(Loud cheers.) I
have now only to return you my most heartfelt thanks and those
of Mr. Clay, for your noble devotion and magnificent exertion
in this great cause. I wish Mr. Clay were here to tender
them himself, but you have a better reward than thanks, the
approbation of your own consciences, and a knowledge that
your votes were given to secure your own interssts. When
you look back to the great struggle that has been made to
cheat the people out, of their great charter—it will
be a sufficient reward for you that you fought the
battle of right against power, and of purity against corrup-
tion ; and that you joined to maintain the interests of the
many against the interested and fractious object of the few. I
will conclude by thanking you, in the name of Mr. Clay, and
of all the other Reformers of England, and by congratulating
you on the triumphant issue of the contest.—(Loud cheers.)
C. WHARTON, Esq., the Returning Officer, said that
he had just received a letter from Captain Burton,