The Sun.
London, England, 1832-11-23 00:00:00

ELECTION FOR THE CITY.

A meeting of the electors of the Ward of Alden .te
was held this day at the Albion Tavern, Aldersgate-street,
to promote the election of George Grote, Esq., one of the
canditatts for the representation of the City of London.
The Chair was taken at one o'clock by Mr. Coulson,
Esq., M.D. . .

The CHAIRMAN opened the procceeding•, by intro-
ducing Mr. Grote to the notice of the meeting.
Mr. STACEY begged before Mr. Grote addressed th-
meeting, to read a letter which that gentleman wrote
to him in April last, in answer to one that
he (Mr. S.) wrote to him soliciting him to become a can-
didate at that time. The letter was a private one, but as
it was written when Mr. Grote could have had no per-
sonal object to gain, and as it spoke his sentiments at that
period, he (Mr. Stacey) hoped that gentlemen would not
be offended at its being now read, in order to show the
sentiments which be entertained. Mr. S. then read the
letter, which was as follows
" Threadneedle-street, April 26, 1831.

" Dear Sir,—l feel greatly obliged and flattered by your
kind offer of this morning, and not less sensible of the pecu-
liar good taste and feeling which marks the manner of ten.
dering it.
"I have resolved not to stand for the City on this occasion,
for my whole soul is absorbed by the paramount importance
of carrying for candidates pledged to the Reform Bill, and I
should defeat that object irretrievably if I stood forward as a
fifth Reformer.

" To aid as powerfully as I can the great cause now pending,
I hare become chairman of the committee of the four candi-
dates, all pledged to Reform, and all on the ground earlier than
myself—Thompson, Venables, Waithman, and Wood. In
their suceess I feel quite as warmly interested as I could do
in my own, and I would entreat you to exert your good offices
as zealously in their behalf as you would have been disposed
to do in mine. For on this occasion, the question is not so
much as to the general excellence of the persons chosen.
An issue has been joined between Mr. Word and the city on
this specific bill, and the ground object is to assure four city
votes in its favour in the next Parliament. The Parliament
will, in fact, be summoned for that particular purpose, and
will be dissolved, of course, after the measure is passed. I
shall feel particularly obliged if you will interest yourselves
among those friends who might honour me with any portion of
their regard, and intimate to them, in the strongest manner,
that the success of the roforming cause on this occasion is far
nearer to my heart than any object of personal ambition can
ever be to me, and I shall feel quite as much obliged by their
votes as if they had been given personally to myself.
" I remain, Dear Sir, yours truly,
" G. Stacy, Esq." " GEO. GROTE."
Mr. GROTE then came forward amid the plaudits of
the meeting. He said that no one was more astonished
than himself at the letter which Mr. S tracey had read to
the meeting. The sentiments, however, he had there ex-
pressed he still entertained, and he trusted that the infe-
rence which he had put upon that letter would be that
which the meeting had put; it had not been
written for any purpose of hie own, but expressed
truly the sentiments of his heart. He was very
much indebted to the meeting for the present opportunity
of making himself known to the Ward, and of stating
clearly his opinions. The meeting was well aware that a
Constituency so extensive as that of the City of London,
precluded the possibility of addressing himself to every per-
son.—(Cheers.) He felt that the first duty of a
candidate was to be distinct and explicit in all
his expression. He desired, if possible, to convey to the
meeting a full assurance that he was not altogether unde-
serving the trust which he sought to be reposed in him.—
(Cheers.) He desired to exhibit evidence of that, and
also to convey his views on those leading topics which
were now generally under discussion ; and whether
those views would be acceptable to the meeting or
not, be felt desirous, and to be his duty, to state them. In
doing so, he trusted he should not be considered as express-
ing double-faced sentiments, or seeking to entrap the
meeting by any evasion ; for, even if those senti-
ments titc,,ld be disagreeable to the meeting, or lost
him their votes; he felt it his duty candidly to
state them.—(Loud c►ie°ring.) The Worthy Chairmen
in opening the meeting had adverted to the state of affairs
as they at present existed, and had stated to the meeting
the importance, under existing circumstances, of making
a proper choice of representatives in the osuiqg
Parlia-
ment. No one felt more than he did the importance oiihat
choice.—(Cheers.) Up to the present period the House
of Commons bad been filled by a constituency whose
only wish was to uphold abuse; it was true that a few
valuable men had found their way into it, but their ser-
vices were lost to the nation in consequence of the bo-
rough proprietary Members overwhelming them. Under
the Reform Bill, however, he trusted that there would be
a House of Commons really chosen by the people,
and that it would be composed by men in whom
the people could place confidence. He trusted that the
people would then have a Parliament which would to t
fear to grapple with the entire system as it now existed,
and set about in right earnest to reform all abuses
(Cheers)—whose existence was owing to the corruption of
an unreforined Parliament. He would not disguise from the
meeting that he was aware the task of a Member in the Re.
formed Parliament would be a most arduous one; he was
well aware that it would require the greatest talents and in.
dustry, and those rare mental excellencies which few possessed,
and also a full command of general principles (and great saga.
city to apply them) in matters that came before the Legislature,
that it also required a kindly feeling towards the public, with
a determination to enter into all their happiness and misery.
If a Membersadlsot possess this, however valuable he might
be in private life,.wouldfall short of those qualities which every
Member of a Reform Parliament ought to possess. He did not
mean to say that he possessed all those qualities for which he
had adverted, but he had laboured to possess them.—(Cheers.)
And all those topics which would lead to a cheap and good
Government.—(Cheers.) Among other things that a Re.
formed Parliament would have to discuss would be
deficiencies in the Reform Bill itself. No one had tried
more than he had to promote the success of the Reform
Bill, but there was yet something in it that remained to be
done. In that Bill there was no provision to insure a most
important point. There was nothing in it, that he perceived,
which at all protected the voter from the risk he was under of
being turned out of house and home, and of being deprived of
all, if he voted in a manner that did not meet with
the approbation of those who employed him.—(Hear.)
That was an enormity which ought to be immediately re-
medied. If a candidate called on an elector for his vote, the
Legislature ought to furnish the latter with a shield against
all persons who might wish to put an obstruction to his free
decision, and on that ground he (Mr. Grote) would call on
the Legislature for the vote by ballot. He knew there were
many persons who thought it was unnecessary, but he could only
say he wished it had not fallen to his lot to hear so many acts of
oppression on the part of landlords towards tenants, and of cus-
tomers towards tradesmen, and if any persons listened to what
was still passing in many parts of the country, particularly at
Stamford, Newark, and such like places, they could not fail of
being sensible that no farther evidence was wanting of
the impracticability of having free and conscientious
voting. The Hon. Gentleman then read a statement in support
of his assertion, published in the daily papers a few days ago,
, in which it appeared that Mr. Hudson, a builder of Oxford,
had dismissed three of his workmen because they refused to
vote for Sir Charles Wetherell, and the paragraph concluded
thus—" Are not these sufficient inducements for the
ballot ?"—(Cheers.) He appealed to the meeting whether,
after what they had heard and read, they entertained a
doubt of the influence at work throughout England
by persons to govern the votes of those dependent on them ?
He regretted to say, that such was the nature of man, that so
long as the road to dominion was left open, so long would
men control the votes and feelings of those dependent on
them to serve their own purposes. If they should obtain the
vote by ballot, it would be necessary that the electors should
have a sufficient control over the conduct of those who
sought to represent them, and that could only be done by an
abridgment of the duration of Parliaments.—(Cheers.) The
present period of seven years operated as a temptation to per-
sons to obtain a seat, which, whether their conduct be
good or bad, they were pretty sure of retaining during that
time. He (Mr. Grote) thought that three years were
sufficient; and that if triennial were substituted for
septennial Parliaments, there would be greater assiduity and
attention on the part of the Members.—(Cheers.) Regarding
the ensuing Session of Parliament, the people should use every
exertion to procure free and independent Members, who
would undertake the duties rigorously and effeetively.
Among the first objects which would come before it
would be the state of the public expenditure. All
candidates for the next Parliament, whether Whig, Tory, or
Radical, were ready to pledge themselves to economy in the
expenditure, but he warned the people against those who only
spoke of it with their lips, and had not the intention at heart.
The object of economy was, however, most precious in his
sight, and he pledged himself that so long as he saw an unme-
rited outlay of the public money, so long would he cry out
against it.—(Cheers.) The immense aggregate of the expen-
diture since the commencement of the French war had made
the people look with indifference to each particular item, but
he looked to a Reformed Parliament for a remedy of that deep-
rooted evil, and to establish a wholesome and just ratio be-
tween labour and its reward. His opinion was, that any
person was guilty of an act of atrocity who received
unmerited pay, and that it was equally a fraud upon the coun-
try, en the part of the giver or receiver, as if it were a transac-
tion belonging to a private individual or a public company.—
(Loud cheers) Such persons ought to be discountenanced by
every patriotic citizen. In the present system of paying, there
is a total want of adherence to the just standard by which it should
be regulated. When a person wanted a good clerk or labourer,
he looked only at the qualities of the man and his fitness for the
situation, but that was not the case in matters of Government.
Those who were appointed to Government offices did not look
for merit, but to certain qualifications of high breeding and
connexions, as Mr. Canning had said they looked to a sort
of compound ratio to merit, to family, and to birth. It
was in that way that the higher classes had been ac-
customed:to manage the public affairs and appointing

persons: to the quarter-deck who were accustomed take upon
them the whole management of the ship's crew, thus making
an over-liberal provision for them, and making their duty easy
and profitable, to the neglect of the Company they ought to
serve.—(Cheers.) That was one of the most pernicious effects
of a bad Government, which not only impoverished the people,
but debased and corrupted them at the same time. The
Honourable Gentleman then proceeded to the question
of Church Establishment, and to the system of Ecclesiastical
remuneration in general. It was of great importance that re-
ligious instruction of the best kind should be given to the
people, and that those who administered it, should have the
command and respect of the people—(Hear, hear)—they could
not command those feelings without they were frugally
and moderately paid. By the present system the evils
of excess were widely contrasted with the evils of defect ;
Those who did the least received most extravagantly,
and those who the most received a miserable portion.
From the di itribution of the Church Revenues which were of
vast amount, the people did not receive what had been pro-
mi .ed them—a va!uAlle and efficient Ministry: If the pay of
the Church of England were put on an equitable footing, the
people would have more able Ministers at a much less ex.:
pence. That he would promise to do if he had the honour
of being returned to Parliament. Then, as connected
with the Church Reform, he would advert to the
question of tithes.—(Cheers.) He was decidedly of opi.
Mon that tithes were the very worst of taxes
ever imposed on a people. He had found that more was to be
said against, and less in favour of, tithes, than of any other
mode of taxation; and he was sure that any Church Esta.
blishment, of which tithes were a part,'Zcould never obtain
the respect of the people. They ought to be abolished at
once, care being first taken that those private interests
^which had grown up with them, should not sustain any great
loss. Tithes engendered a perpetual rancour between the clergy
and the keople, as was seen by the events taking place ir. Ireland.
What was going onl n that country was quite sufficient to pro.
duce the abolition of tithes in England, and he believed that if
their abolition be long delayed, the people in this country
would rise up against them as they were doing in Ireland.
Another subject was the House and Window Tax,
which system contained a great and grievous inequa-
lity which could only be cured by abolishing the tax
altogether. He should propose the substitution: of a
graduated Property Tax, which was a far better and more
convenient mode of raising a revenue than by any indirect
taxes. Then, as to the corn laws, he would recommend an sin.
mediate change in them ; they were baneful in every way,
destructive to the farmer, and highly injurious to the people
in raising the price of the greatest necessary of life. He
should propose a low and fixed duty on corn, son Ai prey. of
those great fluctuations that every now and then maul r d
one particular deviation there was from free trade which he
was called upon to notice, he meant the monopoly of this
China Trade, by the East India Company. It was exceed.
ingly injurious to the whole of the country, and he was
most desirous to see it thrown open without al:), delay.
It was a most iniquitous thing that the people of this
country were obliged to pay some shillings per pound for tea
more than the Americans, merely because the proprietors of
East India Stock should be enabled to pocket larger divi.
dends from their Treasury. There was one other point
upon which he must touch, and it was one which had occupied
much of the attention of Englishmen; that was colonial slavery.
It was a subject that could not be thought of without exciting
the deepest abhorrence. It was a cup of misery to the slave
and of poison to the master. He knew there were many gentle.
men who, while protesting against slavery, threw9bstructions in
the way of immediate emancipation. He was not one of those ; and
though he saw difficulties in the way of immediate emancipas
tion, it was not from any wish that the slaves should

not have that blessing, because they were, in his
opinion, yet unfit for such a state of perfect freedom.
He saw no reason why the masters should not have
that power which they now exercised taken from them in-
stantly, without a moment's delay. He desired . that they
should no longer have the power of inflicting the lash ac-
cording to their own notions of equity ; and if he were re-
turned to the Reformed Parliament, he would vote for it in-
stantly ; but still he desired to see the slaves enjoy
that sort of half freedom for a few years longer,
in order that by this state of imperfect interest
they might be brought into such a state as perfectly to
enjoy the freedom which the people of this country were so
anxious they should have.—(Cheers.) No candidate could
possibly understand his duty as a legislator without he attended
and gave much of his time to the subject of the education of
the people. He was a strong friend to the dinsion of edu-
cation throughout the country. However good thelaws might
be, and however cheap the Government, without edu-
cation there was no safe foundation for good
Government; though the crops might be beautiful, in fact.
although every thing_ in the land .'as .well.i- Yet if there
was an ignorant people there-cOilld be-no guarantee for a well.
ordered Government and a happy people. They might as
well look for a good crop where they had not sown, as look
for a happy people without learning. One thing much akin to
education, was that of literary institutions. To his pre-
sent hearers, more especially, he might address a
few words upon that subject, as, within a few doors of
them there was one of the most prosperous societies of that
kind which ever had been established, and he was proud to say
that he was one of the first subscribers to send supporters to that
institution. To what was its prosperity to be attributed?
The question was easily answered, it was governed by a Com-
mittee chosen from the subscribers, and chosen by the ballot.
(Cheers.) It did not depend upon the breath of any single or
batch of patrons, and that was the only reason why it had
prospered, and would continue to prosper. He now came to
the last question that stood upon his list, but it was one de-
serving of great attention—he meant the taxes on knowledge,
the most destructive which ever infested our land. Amongst the
most infamous of the acts of a borough Parliament was that in
which they gloried of having kept the people in ignorance. He
need only say, that he would most strenuously advocate the abe.
lition of all such, had he the honour to be elected.—[Cheers.)
He would not trouble them at any greater length, lie
had explained his views upon all the questions which
he thought likely to come before a Reformed Par-
liament. If there was any question which he had omitted
to touch upon, he would with great pleasure answer any ques-
tions from any of the electors present.—(Much cheering.)
Mr. ALCOCK said that there was one question which he
wished to ask the Hon Canddiate. He had spoken:of abolish.
ing the house and window tax, and substituting a graduate
property tax. In that tax did he mean to say that capital
in trade ought to be included, or ,that it should only be upon
funded and landed property ?

Mr. GROTE said that his wish was that the tax should be
imposed upon every sort of property and income, but he thought
that the capital in trade ought not to be so much taxed as
landed or funded property.
Mr. PORTWINE inquired whether the Hon. Candidate
would support bills for abolition of laws of primogeniture and
entail, and a property of qualification for Members.

Mr. GROTE said there was no law of primogeniture ; it was
merely a custom which he wished to see abolished. With re-
spect to the law of entail, he was decidedly against it, and he
thought that the choice of a body of electors was the only qua.
lification a member ought to have.
Mr. W. D. SAUL asked whether Mr. Grote thought the
Dissenters ought to be obliged to support the ministers of a
Church to which they did not belong ?
Mr. Grote said that his principle was, that every man
ought to be taxed only for the ministers of his own creed.
The Hon. Gentleman concluded by moving the following re-
solution :

" That this meeting is well satisfied that the views and senti-
ments entertained by Mr. Grote, as well as the ability he pos.
sesses to give effect to those views, eminently qualify him for
one of the representatives of the City of London in Parlia-
ment, and entitle him to the fullest support of this meeting."
Mr. PORT WINE seconded the motion, when be was in.
terrupted by Mr. Dillon who trusted he should not be consi.
dered irregular if he made a few observations. He felt satisfied
there was no one more entitled to the support of the electors
than Mr. Grote, and there was no one prouder to support him
than himself. Mr. Grote possessed all the qualifications requi.
site for the representation of the city. In a Reformed Par-
lilment, however, it was not enough that a man should
be of determined spirit generally, but he should also
be a man of philosophical and enlightened views. Capable of
aiding in the wielding of that immense machine, the real repre-
sentation of the people—(Cheers)—a machine which was ca-
pable of doing much evil, if it were not directed by able hands,
but capable of doing immense good if properly directed.
Reform was nothing but a means to an end. And would be mis.
chievous to the country at large, unless it sent into a Reformed
Parliament, men of an enlightened
mind, who will not only
carry Reform itself in an intrepid manner, but finish it by the
adoption of such measures as would render Reform a blessing,
and not a curse.— (Cheers.)

Tput from the Chair, and carried una.
iiiin
On the motion of Mr. STACEY, the proceedings of the
meeting were ordered to be advertised in all the daily papers.
Mr. GROTE shortly returned thanks, assuring the meeting
he should never swerve from those principles.
ohue,i3c motion was then
The meeting then broke up.

BRUSSELS, TUESDAY NIGIIT.—The
tile intentions of Prussia are now no 19nger a matter of
conjecture. Estafettes are continually reaching Brussels
from the frontiers with despatches, giving an account of
the marching of troops, and the calling out of the
landwehr. It would appear that the two principal points
far concentration are Crevelt and Aix-la-Chapelle, in
order to enter Limburg. Our Government are taking
measures as if they seriously contemplated a breach with
Prussia, and have ordered Liege to be strongly fortified
and declared in a state of siege. The different Generals
of divisions have received orders to take the most coin •
mantling positions, 8U as to be prepared for sudden attack.
It is reported that the instant a shot is fired at the
citadel of Antwerp, Holland and Prussia will enter Bel-
gium at three points at the saute time. The news froat
France, received by Marshal GERA RD, described an attack
from Prussia as very piobable, and order the Marshal to
form a junction with the Army of the East. He is like•
wise commanded to take po.se•siou ot Namur, and to set
11 that the Meuse is well proteced. .1 his looks very lime
general peace, and a happy result to the Anglo•(;11 i
t eery !—(Freon the Private Correspondent o' the Mari
ng Herald.