ELECTORS OF DUDLEY be _Men._--_Think_ for yourselves.--_Vote_
for yourselves.--Do not allow any Lord to rob you of your
franchise.
If you vote for Sandars you sanction the right of Lord Ward
to choose your Representative.--You abandon your right of
selecting one that is independent.
If Sandars be elected he dare not vote in opposition to his
Lordship's will, if he did he would soon cease to be Member for
Dudley, under such circumstances he will be Lord Ward's and not
your Member.
How has Lord Ward treated Sir Stafford H. Northcote? Most
shamefully; there is proof in this town that Sir Stafford did
not go to North Devon as a matter of choice.--He abandoned
Dudley because Lord Ward abandoned him for Voting honorably
on the China question in opposition to the Ministry which has
the support of Lord Ward, on that ground his Lordship sent us
Mr. Sandars.--Now this Gentleman told us at his first Meeting
that he had his Lordship's support, that his Lordship spent a
quarter of a million annually in 'this Borough' (we suppose
this was a mistake, and that he meant 'the world') and that
therefore his Lordship had a right to be represented.
The meaning of this could not be mistaken, but let us ask why
does not his Lordship act and vote for himself in the House of
Peers? Let him use his hereditary privileges for the protection
of his rights and not rob us of ours.--We would not ask by what
means his ancestors became entitled to the Estates the income
whereof enables so large an expenditure; but we will tell his
Lordship that were he alone upon those Estates, and had not the
assistance and labor of the surrounding inhabitants, he would
have no income to expend--Thus it is clear that his Lordship
is indebted to the people, and not the people to him. Shall
he then hold us in hereditary bondage with the very means the
people create for him? Shall he put a veto on the use of our
intellects and nominate _his_ as _our_ Representative without a
struggle on our part? Could our ancestors arise they would be
ashamed of us, they would weep to see us licking the dust upon
the heels of power without an effort to be free.
This nominee tells us he is a supporter of Lord Palmerston on
the China question, which means that he, Sandars, will back
the _murder and wholesale butchery_ in China of thousands of
innocent men; he will support the Government in burning and
destroying the houses of the rich and poor at Canton; he is
the man to aid and abet the breaking out of war on the part of
the English, without the knowledge or assent of the people, or
of the Parliament: he is the man to uphold the Government in
setting the vote of the Peoples' Representatives at defiance:
he is the man who talks of assisting in the reduction of the
Income Tax, and yet will afford facilities for the expenditure
of our money in war without our knowledge or consent: he is
the man who on the hustings at Bewdley alleged that he was a
follower of Earl Derby, and now comes here in opposition to
that Nobleman on the very question which has broken up the
present Parliament.
ELECTORS "awake, arise, or be for ever fallen." Men of all
shades of Politics, Whig and Tory, buckle on your armour, go
hand in hand, beat back the foe that would rob you of your
franchise. Shew your independence, let cowardice be distant. It
is not a question between Whig and Tory that we have to decide,
(Sandars is neither Whig or Tory,) but between Independence
and Mental Slavery. The days when Lordlings treated Villagers
as Serfs and Vassals have passed, and it is only history that
should remind us that such things were.
Shall we return to serfdom and vassalage?--No.
Is the Lord of our manor to nominate our man, and say as of old
"to hear is to obey"?--No.
Stir yourselves, put an end to your lethargy, rally round
the standard of the worthy, independent, and intelligent Mr.
SHERIDAN; go forth to the battle determined to defend your
rights, even as our ancestors would have done with their blood,
and Victory shall be yours.