the combined force of interest and prejudice may succeed for a time in retarding them, they will never be able to overcome them. Well, Gentlemen, I care little in comparison with that. The Government may fall in the high and generous attempt; but I believe it has already passed on the watchword which will be the rallying cry of the contest, and the crowning shout of triumph. With respect to myself, Gentlemen, I cannot yet bring myself to the belief that in the West Riding of Yorkshire, in a cause like this, I am doomed to defeat. I believe, Gentlemen, that you may win if you choose. As long as you command, I am prepared to follow-as long as you sustain me, I am sure to conquer.

LORD VISCOUNT MORPETH'S FAREWELL ADDRESS.

[1841.]

INHABITANTS OF THE WEST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE,

I come yet once again before you, in the order duly assigned to me, as the lowest on the poll. I should be the last person, and it would be the last object I could have in view, to aim at concealing the magnitude of the triumph which our opponents have wrested from us; on the contrary, I clearly think it the most signal and the most decisive which has as yet been attached to the car of Conservative reaction. I have to resign the representation of the West Riding of Yorkshire into the hands of Mr. Wortley-I say, of Mr. Wortley; for let my defeat have at least this alleviation-I must consider him as my immediate conqueror. We are the old competitors; we have met each other twice before in no inglorious warfare. He knows better than I can tell him, that there are recollections and passages of our former lives which must make me prefer him to almost any other man as my successful rival; but in transferring my late position to his more fortunate hands, I cannot dissemble the price and splendour of the dower. I have been too fond of it, too proud of it for that. Some topics were glanced at by Mr. Wortley, which might seem to call for some comment-I will not say for some recrimination. But on such topics I cannot linger now. Mr. Wortley has, indeed, reproached us with having taken a leaf out of their book, and of aiming

at a monopoly of representation. Now, Gentlemen, notwithstanding the issue of our recent struggle, I, for one, can never regret that we have fought it double-handed, for I think, looking to what the decided opinions of this Riding have hitherto been, and to the nature of the questions submitted to its decision, that the defeat of one candidate would have been tantamount to the prostration of both. The public questions at issue must, of course, form the really important part of such a transaction as the present. With respect to them, also, I cannot fail to be sensible to the grave and intimate bearing which the decision of this great constituency must have, in the present conjuncture of affairs, upon the concerns of finance, trade, and commerce. Not, Gentlemen, that I can feel in a greater measure now than heretofore much of doubt or misgiving as to the ultimate success of the principles upon which the Government have staked their credit, and, as it would seem, perilled their existence. No, Gentlemen, not less in this hour of defeat than when I stood in this place on Monday last, surrounded by all the appearances at least, and perhaps some of the anticipations of triumph-not less do I feel persuaded that the opinions and measures of which I was then the feeble representative and advocate, are even now moving in their onward though unseen track, and hastening to their accomplishment. It is but too possible that the verdict passed upon them by this large Riding, and by some of the more important towns within it, may postpone the time for gathering the first-fruits, and may aggravate the burthen and inflame the heat of the day--but I most faithfully and hopefully believe that, happily for the prosperity of our species, the cause of truth and justice, on whatsoever side it lies, is, however slowly, sure in the end to be uppermost--and if there is one subject more than another on which a nation is most likely ultimately to see itself righted, it is on that which concerns its food. But, Gentlemen, I feel that I am no longer in a position which warrants me in troubling you with my opinions upon political questions, or upon matters relating to your own concerns. To yourselves I may properly and safely leave them. You have already in your day and generation done noble service to the cause of our common country. I trust that many more of such bright achievements are still in store for you, under whatever auspices they may be conducted. But, after the long period of our connexion, which has now lasted through eleven years, and five Parliaments after the transactions to which we have been parties, and the

terms we have been on together, I would fain hope that before we part you will allow me to say a few words further on matters more pertaining to my own relations with you. I am willing to flatter myself that even with my political opponents I leave behind nothing but political difference, and that we separate without any ground for angry retrospect, or for personal offence. But as to those with whom I have had the greater happiness of agreeing, now that so many recollections of considerate kindness, of disinterested zeal, of generous forbearance, of past struggles, and of past victories, are rushing at once upon my mind, I feel what language cannot embody, and thanks cannot convey. I have learned, Gentlemen, to love even the inanimate features of your lovely landscapes, with which I have grown familiar during my repeated canvasses among your heath-clad hills, and your wide-spreading valleys-but how much more has my spirit bounded in answer to the cheers which roused the mountain echoes, or to the welcome which ushered me into the busiest haunts of your living industry! I trust I need not debar myself from the hope, that in the various courses of life, opportunities may present themselves to me of showing an abiding sense of gratitude for your past favours; and I cannot help declaring, though it may seem to bespeak a more poignant sense of the loss I have sustained, that I do not think I could reconcile myself, for the present, to occupy any other seat, or to represent any other men. And now, Gentlemen, that I have to take my leave of you, bear with me, if I adopt for one moment a more solemn tone than I might otherwise have thought it fit to use on such an occasion; but I cannot refrain from putting up one fervent petition that the Disposer of all events and the Giver of all good may visit each and all of you with His choicest and most abundant blessings! May He store your garners with increase, and reward your industry with plenty! May He scatter the seeds of order, of temperance, and of domestic and public virtues, far and wide, amidst all your dwellings! May He crown each hearth and home with peace, with comfort, with content, and with thanksgiving, and ever supply you with those who can, I will not say more faithfully, but more efficiently, serve you! These, Gentlemen, are my latest words; thanks again-fare you well, and all good be with you!

THE ELECTION FOR THE WEST RIDING OF

YORKSHIRE

[FEBRUARY 4TH, 1846.]

ORD VISCOUNT MORPETH said: :

LORD

GENTLEMEN, ELECTORS OF THE WEST RIDING, AND, LET ME ADD,
OLD FRIENDS,

It is not-it cannot be-without varied and very deep emotions, that I find myself here again before you. Yes, even here in Wakefield, before a constituency of the West Riding, do I, the beaten and rejected candidate of 1841, now come forward in 1846, without having offered myself, without having canvassed, and, as it now seems, without being opposed. Not that we had not some rumours and some demonstrations of opposition. There has been plenty of blowing of trumpets-at least there has been plenty of braying. We first heard of the pretensions of Mr. Archer Gurney, of "Rock Vale, in the county of Devon." That sounds very picturesque; but I believe that the gentle stranger has returned to his sequestered home. I am told that he appointed a meeting in Wakefield, and that there met him there four Protectionists and seven reporters. All I hope is, that he did not convert the reporters, because I rate their intelligence sufficiently high to be persuaded that, whatever their employers may be, they are on the side of free trade. Well, next to Mr. Archer Gurney, we had a gentleman who, as I am reminded, speaks in somewhat harsher accents. He was not so much a candidate himself as a sort of godfather of candidates; only his godchildren have turned rather rusty. He has hit upon two gentlemen, both bearing names that have long been highly respected in the West Riding. But the first object of his application chose to go fight the battle of "native industry" in that particularly independent and selfdirecting borough-the borough of Ripon. It seemed a little cruel in him towards the godfather; but I think that Mr. Ferrand exercised

most cruelty himself towards his next candidate, because, if I am rightly informed, he has sent a certificate to state that he is not well enough to perform the duties of a high sheriff, which, I regret to say, cannot be performed either to-day, by the highly honourable gentleman who now holds that office. But, honourable and onerous as those duties may be, I dare, from experience, to assert that those of a representative of the West Riding are infinitely more trying to the health. The result is, that this day, when the question has been put to you, no opponent has come forward to dispute your choice. And how is it that this has come to pass? Will you, in my anxiety to account for it, allow me for a moment to refer to the last occasion of my meeting you in this town, and then take some credit to myself for having exhibited something of the spirit of prophecy in the remarks I then ventured to make. I said upon that occasion that the opinions and the measures of which I was then the advocate "are now moving on their onward, though unseen track, and hastening to their accomplishment." And I added, "if there is one subject more than another on which a nation is most likely ultimately to see itself righted, it is on that which concerns its food." And it is upon this question of food-this question which has stirred the mind of England to its inmost depths, that I am now come again to ask, and, as I believe to receive, the recovered suffrages of the West Riding. I further said, on that occasion, that the triumph of our opponents was the most signal and the most decisive which had yet been attached to the car of Conservative reaction. And may I not, Gentlemen, now say with equal truth that my return to-day-my unsolicited, uncanvassed, unopposed return-will lay the corner-stone of a great electoral reaction, upon which other constituencies and their representatives-nay, and higher than all, a sympathizing Sovereign herself-will come to erect the finished temple of perfect free trade! For I do feel that often as we may have met, and fully as we may have sympathized before, there never yet has been an occasion upon which our opinions and our hopes have been so much in unison as the present. I do flatter myself that the great mass whom I see before me consists of honest and simple hearts, wound up to a common aim. For I put it to you, what subject is there which can come so closely home to your interests, to your business, to your every-day life, as these laws which profess to regulate, and which do in fact regulate, your daily meal-which concern every class and condition amongst you-which