The Sun.
London, England, 1818-06-26 00:00:00

Coven,'ry, June 25.

Moore
1180
Eiiice
iiuttt•rworth

LIVERPoo:, EL,Ls.CII.)N.

[RECEIVED TOIS MORNING .3

The following Speech wias delivered from the
house of Jung BOLTON, Esq. by the Riglit ;ion.
GEORGH CANNING, at the Close of the FIFTH
DAY'S POLL I

GENTLEMEN,—Two thousand two hundred and forty free-
men have now pulled. Of these, 1290 have honoured me
with their suffrages. The majority with which I staad over
Lord Sefton is as 1290 to 979; a majority of 311.

Gentlemen, undoubtedly this is a ur)st satisfactory, and,
with a view to the co:iclusion of the contest, a most decisive

majority. But, in the spirit of truth in which I have always
addressed you, I must not omit to call your observation to
the circumstance, that, upon the poll of this day, there is a
diminution of my majority by 11. This is uo very consider-
able loss, indeed ; it is one which we can afford, and it is
one which we can repair; but it is fit th At it shOuld be dis•
tioctly stated.—(Applause.)
Gentlemen, I have been considering with myself to what
cause this small, partial, and temporary retrogradation is to
be ascribed. Not, certainly, to any want of zeal on the part
of my friends : because this day has brought to the pull a
greater number of voters than ever attended at any poi in
Liverpool. But, I think, Gentlemen, I have discovered the
cause in myself,—and in my own misconduct From the
moment ,of my arrival among you, I have been guilty of a
great omission. It too often happens, that those who have
received great benefits are, so Ling as they continue in the
uninterrupted enjoyment of thfro, unmindful of the hands
from which they were received. I state this infirmity of our
nature, not as a sufficient apology, but as the best that I can
offer, for having, during the course of this election, omitted
to ascribe clue influence to the female part of your comma-
nity.—(Applause and laughter.)
Gentlemen, 3 am this day punished, and justly, for that
omission ; but (like our majority), I trust, it may yet be re-
trieved. You will he my witnesses, that, on former occasions,
• I was not remiss in tracing to its true source the unexampled
success that attended my first election. You who knoW how
mach I owed to the good wishes of the female part of the in-
habitants of Liverpool, know also how gratefully and gladly
I acknowledged the obligation : and if I have 'hitherto
neglected to renew those acknowledgements, the minority on
the poll of this day, small as it is, would be a sufficient hint
to remind me of my fault; and the'glory' of this day in the
exhibition of beauty which it has brought faith to witness my'
return home, would be a sufficient inducement to me to wake
haste to confess and to repair it.—(Applause.)

But, Gentlemen, however remiss I have been here, I have
not been forgetful, elsewhere, of the claims of the female
world to due Orticipation in matters of election. Of the
plans of Parliamentary Reform on which, in my place in Par-
liament, I have bad occasion to comment, I hare commented
on none with snore indignation and rebuke than on that
which, admitting the whole population to a vote, pre-
sumptuously excluded women from a right of suffrage,
falsely denominated universal.—(Much laughter.)--I do not
mean to say, fur I will not flatter even the fair part of my
auditors, at the expence of truth, (at least before so large
an assembly as this ;)—I do not mean to say, that even the
association of the softer sex in the new system of elective
franchise would entirely reconcile me to an extension of it,
which, I think, would be full of mischief. But these is one
pledge which am quite ready to give, and which, I trust,
they will think satisfactory; that I never will consent to any
plan of universal suffrage in which they are not included,
(Applause and laughter.)
Gentlemen, having now frankly confessed my crime, and
offered the best 'atom ment in my power, I will not profane
the day by mixing any other topic in my address to you; nor
by addressinglo you, Gentlemen, the least worthy halt of my
auditory, any thing in which the female part of it are net
immediately concerned. I will not even exhort you to perse-
vere in your exertions iu my favour, without ad.ling, that.
though the day is not yet arrived on which Lad.es are allowed
to come forward in their own per suns to the bar, you arej.
nevertheless, to take them into your Councils, and to rely
upon their advice and upon their influence in the conduct and
fur the success of the Election,,—(Applause