The Sun.
London, England, 1859-05-09 00:00:00

THE BIGHT HON. J. S. WORTLEY.

At a meeting of his commtttee and supporters held at the
Angel Inn, Sheffield,
Mr. WORTLEY said—l should not have ventured to make
another call on your attention and patience after the full
explanation I made of my principles here on another occa-
sion if it had not been for some circumstances which have
since occurred, and which make me desirous again to meet
you, if it had not been especially for a certain unwarrant-
able, uncalled-for, and unfounded attack made on me be-
hind my back and not in my presence. (Loud cheering.)
I at once honestly say that it has proceeded from a quarter
from which I should least have expected it., I have never
injured or said one word in derogation of the character of
Mr. Roebuck, either as a politician or as a gentleman.
(Cheers.) He has been my personal friend. We have
been on the most perfect terms of mutual and social
friendship ; and I never thought he would have been
the man, with his character and probity I never
thought he would have been the man unnecessarily
to step out of his way (loud cheers) when I
was absent, to malign me and attack me in a personal
way on the want of principle. (Loud cheers.) Gentlemen,
I have played a very different part towards that gentleman.
(Renewed cheers.) Some of you will remember, and some
of you may have been offended, by the terms of admiration
and friendship in which I have spoken of him in this town.
Only last winter, in addressing a large body of your fellow-
townsmen, I said that, whatever his principles and politics
might be, you might well be proud of a representative of his
large talent and abilities—the grandson' as I told the men of
Sheffield, of the illustrious Dr. Roebuck, who was the patron
and friend of James Watt. Those were the terms in which I
spoke of Mr. Roebuck in this town. If I had chosen, what
course might I have taken ? (Hear, hear.) Mr. Roebuck is
no Yorkshireman ; he is no Sheffield man; but a stranger.
(Cheers.) I, and those to whom lam related, your neigh-
bours, have never interfered in your political struggles in
the borough, believing that we acted wisely in taking that
course. We used no sort of influence at your elections.
But I don't think that I speak with too much vanity when
I say that if we had exercised that influence, and if I had
so advised my friends in this place—not by any influence of
power or property, but by the just influences arising from
neighbourhood and kindly feeling—Mr. Roebuck would not
have had quite that quiet seat at Sheffield that he has en-
joyed. (Applause.) If I had chosen to treat him as he has
treated me, and stir up opposition to him here, he might
not have been defeated m the election, but he would not
have had the untroublesome position which he has hitherto
occupied. (Cheers.) But, gentlemen, I never purposed
doing so, and I never should have thought of it, neither
will I now condescend to retaliate upon him. (Applause.)
But I must justify and vindicate myself from his aspersions.
and with your indulgent patience I will proceed to do so. I
have often heard Mr. Roebuck maligned, bath as to his
public conduct and also as to other matters ; but I have uni-
formly vindicated and defended him as a private friend, and
therefore I feel that this is a most ungenerous and un-
worthy return. (Cheers.) Well, now, gentlemen, what
is the accusation P Why, that I have been guided, in my
public life, not by principle, but by mean personal motives.
(Shame.) I regret to find that my opponents in this con-
test have not repudiated but adopted this unjust and un-
generous conduct ; for I hold in my hand a placard, largely
circulated at Leeds, and by the authority of my opponents,
in which are published the speech of Mr. Roebuck, the ar-
ticle from the Times, the article from the Examiner, and a
perfectly groundless article from the Leeds Mercury- I re-
gret to say that not only is this widely circulated., but my op-
ponents, the honourable candidates themselves have carried
it with them, and in the Bradford district at Apperley-bridge,
they made it the main topic of their speeches. (Shame.) I
have myself abstained throughout this contest from any re-
flections upon my opponents, and I have not said one word
I that could be considered personal or disrespectful towards
cheers)—by
; and I will not even now be tempted—(loud
f)R—hablmayrgsdhwtliiineuei,srs ungenerous conduct to retaliate upon
not
There eitherb
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d gentlemen,
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e
when the great Burke was a candidate at Bristol he made
one of his brilliant orations, and at the close of it the other
candidate was so abashed at having to follow that great
mat that the whole of his speech was, " I say ditto to Mr.
Burke." (A laugh.) Now, I don't think I shall be over-
stepping the limits I have set to myself when I describe the
ours, of my opponents in making use of this—they say
"ditto" to Mr. Roebuck, (.Laughter and cheers') As to Mr
Crossley, I don't think it necessary to add more to what I
said before. As to Sir J. W. Ramsden, he is an extremely
young man, and has a great deal to learn—(cheers)--end
among other things, he has to learn the eminence of public
life. (Hear, hear.) When ho is older—gentleman as he is
—he will know better than to treat his opponents as he has
treated me. (Cheers) But I must now notice the sub-
stance of the attack which is made upon me, and I state
at once that it is pure =mitigated untruth. (Loud ap .
plause.) Mr. Roebuck is reported to have said, " I recol-
lect that bon. gentleman in my early life, not only as a Tory,
but a very fierce and furious Tory, speaking always in great
contempt of the poor. He scorned to be governed by the
hard, horny-handed men who make England what she is.
He, the very cream of society, to be debased by such a pro-
ceeding. No, indeed, he was a Tory." Now, gentlemen, I
have mixed with Mr, Roebuck in society for 25 years, and
we have been brethren in an arduous profession. He must
therefore know what my political life has been; but I chal-
lenge him to bring forward anything at any time or place to
show the semblance of a pretence for his saying that he
ever heard
(Loud
de
cheeselanguage of oontempt for the people or the
p
I have undoubtedly spoken with
(Luse
contempt of the flatterers and deceivers of the poor—
(applause)—for as it was once beautifully said by Sir George
Murray, " Crowds have their courtiers as well as kings ;
and all of them are equally contemptible." (Hear, hear.)
It is of the flatterers of the poor—the democrats and dema-
gogues who deceive the poor—that I have spoken with con-
tempt, but towards or respecting the poor I have never
used such an expression. (Applause.) Neither have I
been "a fierce and furious Tory." I have always been a
Conservative, and I was what was called a Tory before the
name of Conservative was invented, but a fierce Tory, of
the school of Eldon and Wetherell, I never was. I was
always a moderate Conservative. (Cheers.) On my first
entrance into public life my leader and champion was the
great Mr. Canning—(cheere)—the eloquent champion
of Catholic emancipation, the illustrious antagonist of
the Holy Alliance in kurope, the fosterer and re-
generator of the liberties of Europe, the asserter of the
independence of the Spanish American colonies, and
who, to use his own beautiful and eloquent licagnaoe,