ABSTRACT
Mr. Finch, one of the members for Walsall, having signified his intention to retire from Parliament, the two parties in the borough-for there, as in most boroughs, there were only two parties organized-soon found a candidate each. The tories invited Mr. Gladstone, the son of Mr. John Gladstone, of Liverpool, a young gentleman fresh from the university. The liberals invited a young man, a cornet in the Guards, who had the merit of being brother to Lord Lyttelton, and nephew to Earl Spencer. The Council of the League, acting on their thrice affirmed resolution, resolved to send a deputation to Walsall to invite the electors, and especially the members of the Anti-Corn-Law Association there, to put the pledge of total repeal to both the candidates, and Mr. Wm. Rawson and myself were appointed to that duty, and to take with us Mr. Acland, one of our lecturers, whose ready eloquence and electioneering experience might be found useful to aid either of the candidates who would declare in favour of free trade in corn. We arrived in Walsall just in time to attend a meeting at which, for the first time, Mr. Lyttelton addressed the electors. His speech was that of a very young man who had been schooled to utter a few common-places, of a seemingly liberal tone, without a single definite declaration of principle. At the close of his address, Mr. Acland told him in an under tone that a deputation was there from the League, for the purpose of ascertaining the opinions of the candidates as to the total repeal of the Corn Law, and said they would not press him for an immediate answer, as the question was one which ought to receive a very deliberate consideration; and he, therefore, suggested that the answer should be reserved until the next day. Mr. Bolton, of Wolverhampton, the law agent for the candidate, not trusting his principal to reply, loudly asked if the League would not prefer Mr. Lyttelton, who was a liberal, and friendly to revision of the Corn Laws, to Mr. Gladstone, who was a tory and a
MR. LYTTELTON. 177
supporter of protection ? Mr. Acland said: " D o you ask me publicly before the electors ?" Mr. Bolton said he did. Mr. Acland said he could only answer for himself; but there were two respectable members of the Council of the League who could answer for that body. He went on to state the avowed principles of the League, and to show the benefits it anticipated from free trade in corn, his remarks being received with marked applause from an audience which had been silent during the delivery of Mr. Lyttelton's school-boy address. " Do not," said he in conclusion, " take my exposition of the principles of the League. Mr. Prentice and Mr. Rawson can state them authoritatively, and Mr. Lyttelton will be able then to tell you whether he agrees with them." I felt that we had no right to address a meeting expressly called to hear Mr. Lyttelton, but the invitation, or rather challenge, had come from his own agent, with his assent, and I accepted it. I stated the original constitution of the League, which was to obtain total repeal, and referred to the resolution of the delegates in London, that they would not give their support to any candidate, whatever his politics might be, who was not in favour of repeal. I said that as a reformer myself, I should be glad if Mr. Lyttelton, a professed liberal, declared his opinion to be in accordance with that resolution, that we might recommend him to the members of the Anti-Corn-Law Association in the borough; but if he did not, the League would certainly give the electors an opportunity of recording their votes in favour of a repealer, without any regard to the political opinions of the candidates then in the field. I concluded by saying that if the electors wished to hear, more authoritatively, the prin ciples of the League, they would perhaps hear Mr. Rawson, its treasurer, and one of its earliest members. By this time Mr. Lyttelton and his law agent seemed to repent their public invitation to answer the question of the latter, and Mr. Rawson being called for expressed his unwillingness
178 WOLVERHAMPTON DEPUTATION.
