The penny press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1859-1860, 1859-09-03
Samuel Roberts and his plea for a Vote.

May, 1856, addressed to Lord John Russell, is
now resident of the United States, of land
where man, poor or rich, has vote. When
the proper time comes for him to be admitted
to the franchise of q freeman, We trust he will
be one of tho effective men of our country, in
counsel and in action. He is q bold thinker,
and writer of no common power. He breaches
Tomorrow, in Welsh, at the Welsh Congrcga-
tional Church, on Lawrence street, near Third
street. We trust he will speak in English be-
fore he leaves the city:
MY LORD: am a man; not, it ia true, very
big man, but am of q respectable size-rather
bigger than the Prime Minister. I am also a
man subject of Victoria Queendom, and have
lived in this far famed country of ours for half
q century, and have always been ioyal, strictly
loyal, zealousy loyal, consistently and con-
scientiously loyal, but have no uote; and now
thus respectfully write to beg of you to get
and gyC me a UOtc. have tried, in every
conceivable way, for full fifty years to gain a
vote, but have never succeeded. l learned to
read, write and cypher, and throw quoits, and
play bat, and hunt squirrels, and most other
school games, when quite boy, but neeer had
a cote. L learned numeration and multipica-
ton, and pounds, shllings and ponce tables,
and ayoirdupois weight and troy weight, and
long measure and land measure, and measures
Of capacity and solidity, and the divisions of
times and Of circles, but nerer had Uote. I
went through double rule of three, and barter
and partnership, and vulgar fractions, and po-
lite fractions, and invOluton and evolution,
and cube-root and duodecimals, and all the.
rules Of mental Arithmetic, but nerer kad
| UOtc. .sr. .f.... t.sg
Nay, more, I went repeatedly over the
Asses Bridge without once stumbling, and
could once understand the solution of "adfected
| quadratic equations" but neUer had a voe. I
never stole anything excepting penny bun,
once, from an old woman who had brought a
baskct-fuli'of such thing for sale on holiday
| to tho very door OF my fathers chapel. ] was
then three years three weeks old. My father
preached ne long, pleiu sermon on the
occasion, from the Eighth Commandment, and
made ms take the bun back to the old woman
and ask her pardon, and kept me in the prison
| of his study cell for six hours, and gave me q
slight taste of the virtue of the birch twigs
preserved over the mantle-piece, at the close Of
the term of my imprisonment, and he finished
| that service by short prayer, as beautifully
appropriate and affecting as any prayer over
pennea by an Arch Bishop. recoleet the
substance of that prayer even to this Iay. /
never stole anything since, and yet Ihdre neUer
had uotc. whistled after the plough on the
mountain side, and after the sheep on the
mountain top for months and for years, but
ncrer had eOts. I piled the scythe and the
sickle through tho hottest days of the harvest
season, and nourished the bill hook and the
mattock in the depth Of winter, but necer had
I tha rtc irpr hnH,p pN1 fbn
Wreckin on many June morning, whonI was
On the top of Pullywarthol, fetching turf fuel
for my mother; and saw the sun setting over
the back of Cader Idris on many July eve
ming, when putting the yearlings to sleep on
the top of Moelyrhyrddod, but neUer had a
uote. have borne the laborious duties Of the
ministry in an extensive district, superinten ded
classes, and schools, and congregations, bu
neper had a uotc.
| spoke, since | am in the ministry q vas
number of speeches of all kinds, good, bad
and indiferent and wrote great deal O.
prose and of poetry, and published books or
various subjects; and obtained prizes at sew
eral bright congresses OF bards aud essayist8
in spite Of aspiring Oconian grodudtes ant
Freshmen, but HeUer had cote. | then un
dertook the editorship of magazine, in which
boldly write away, month after month, OBJ
seryations and comments Oh the measures
and movements of monarchs and their min.
isters, OF governors and Cahirs, of popes ant
cardinals, of councils and colleges, and o
field -mQrshas and their glory, bat nercr hac
Uote. I do, certainly, try to write the
t,uth, and that may be neOf the reasons why
have necer had uotc. pay considerable,
amount Of government Dues" especially o
duties for tea and coffee, and sugar, Of whicl
things am fond, and yet 1 haze no rote.
pay good share of the soap, and leather
and paper duties, and pay for vast variety
Of other duty things, and yet / hare no Do'e
Perhaps if 1 could but learn to cock my nos'
in Cocbney style, bespout my ips according
to turf-fashion, and smoke away, during thest
long, cold winter nights, within the snug ba,
Of the "Queen's Head" halfa dozen prim'
Havana cigars, and if could learn 10 enjoy
as many, glasses of proof Jamaica rum, o
genuine Geneva gin. or fine French cognac
pagne, or still Burgundy, | might b.
get It vote. farm goodly numbe
Of acres of poor, wet, north-aspect land
on the side of n steep hill, for which
pay, in all shapes, much more than eithe
Mecch or Liebig could make of them bu
my clevor friend Richard P. b. G. T. G. X.
! Z. Chandos was not quito friendly enough t
favor me, for ho stopped just one stop too hig
, to reach me cote. L very seldom bet, my Lord
but will bet you i've pence half-penny tha
I "give away" in charity, and for educationa
, purposes-to say nothing of religon-fou
/ times as much, according to my income,as you
3 or any of your Cabinet colleagues, "give away;
, and should there be any difficulty in decidn
D this bet, your Chancellor Of the Exchequer-
' for he is learned in income matters-shall max
, necessary inquisition, any day you please
D and yet you allov me no uote. You see, m
Lord, that endeavor to study and to practic
the lowest humility and the highest egotism-
but can get no cote.
PosrscRIpT,-I add line or two, my Lore
just to say that you need take no Jtrtht
trouble on my account. l have pleaded
! vain. 1 see no hope Of obtaining my civ
rights as q British subject. L will wait n
longer. You will never again see mo sup
|, plant at your gate. You may now keep m
= vote. You may keep it forever, and may giv
y it to your groom, or to your priests cook, {
to any one you like. shall never want it.
have had my share of wrongs and mockipgs,
: your famous old country. l now go far ava
0 from the scenes of my boyhood, and tho hun
y BILE homes of my forefathers, to seek, at ii
I hands of strangers, a cottage and a gardei
r and o convarticle and sepulchre, in foreig
: country. tge.. ~
q RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATEs.-Tl
. Railroad Annual for 1859 states that in mir
q years, or from 1850 to 1859, the railroads
q the limited States increased from seven thol