Fellow Electors,
Doubtless it is advisable we should Elect Men to serve on this
Board rather than One Man and so many Looking Glasses, or
_things_ to _reflect his_ will and pleasure simply.
Look at the two Lists already submitted to you--First, and
mark this--Mr. Isaac Badger proposes Messrs. J. R. Tilley,
George Bagott, John Marsh, William Beddard, Sen., E. Whitfield,
and W. Jacam, and no doubt he is sanguine enough to suppose
_you will do as you are told_, and Elect his nominees. Of
this select List you will be better able to form an opinion,
when you have fully considered the extent to which any one
of these Gentlemen has ever been mixed up in matters of real
_popular service_--with how many of the People's Institutions
or Philanthropic Schemes of this country is any one of these
persons identified--and how much, or how little, rather,
you have any reason to expect from them in any matter of
wide or general bearing on _your_ interests. "Grapes cannot
be gathered from thorns, nor figs from thistles?" so that,
with all forbearance for the Gentlemen whose names have thus
been dragged from their natural and proper retirement, your
attention is now invited to the following List of WORTHY
Candidates for your support and interest, viz:--The Rev. Doctor
Browne, Mr. Richard Smith, Mr. Elliott Hollier, Mr. S. D.
Fereday, Mr. W. C. Wood, Mr. George J. England.
These are, as you know, well-tried Men! These as you know,
have been your consistent Friends and Advocates for years;
_not_ pandering (like others) in some _Petty_ (or even _Pig_)
question for favours and smiles, with the view of making
that favour and those smiles, hereafter, the excuse for
tyrannizing over you in large questions; but who have striven
from time to time for your welfare and the general good--ever
resting satisfied in the midst of their efforts that time
would enable you to see that Truth is ever consistent with
itself--Liberality of Sentiment ever an instinct that should be
easily traced through the entire life, political or social, of
those who lay claim to it. And now
1st.--Whose efforts have been the most determined to secure
in this parish Comfortable Homes for the Poor? Who persuaded
the Landlords, that whilst they were getting from 15 to 20 per
cent. interest upon the miserable _dens_ they call _houses_, it
was politic _they_ should pay the Local Rates?
2nd.--Who have been the consistent supporters of all
Educational Schemes, by which the employer is secured an
intelligent and moral servant, in the place of a mere _tool_,
without thought or respect for himself; and in opposition
to that other _weakly_ theory that insists upon keeping the
_people_ ignorant, lest they should discover the _ignorance_ of
those called their "_betters_?"
3rd.--Who have (and without ostentation) supported schemes of
PUBLIC AMUSEMENT and RELAXATION? Those who believe that the
"Great Unwashed" are often whiter and cleaner than those who
sit in high places;--those who, as before stated, are anxious
to promote the general good!
4th.--Who have, from first to last, advocated the exposure of
all they do to fair criticism, and voted for the ADMISSION of
REPORTERS to Newspapers, in the very face of other gentlemen
who desire a _secrecy_ as strict as the Inquisition of old?
5th--Who is it--that can create any hope within you, that
whatever of rottenness there may be, even in the rottenest end
of Dudley, shall be cleansed in due time?--
The answer--you have already anticipated, is that which will
determine you to Vote for the Rev. Dr. Browne, Messrs. Richard
Smith, Elliott Hollier, S. D. Fereday, W. C. Wood, and G. J.
England.
Be not deceived! These Gentlemen are recommended for your
adoption because it is evident you may trace in _their_ past
conduct that _openness_ and that _independence_ which must ever
constitute true _manhood_; that intelligent persistence in
efforts for the general good, which is the best guarantee of
any "Trusteeship" being wisely sustained; WHO HAVE DISPLAYED
AN INDIFFERENCE TO BE GOVERNED BY ANY ONE MAN--or even by any
doubtful _hero_--whose chief recommendation could be, that he
"swears heartily," and "foams" angrily when he finds any one
near his august presence that deigns to think for himself.
Look to it well, you men of Dudley and the District, that you
select only such men as _can act for themselves, without first
asking what Mr. So-and-so thinks_. Depend upon it, that in this
case, as in many others, "it is better to bear the ills we (are
alleged to) have, than fly to others we know not of!"
"AREOPAGITICA."
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