An appeal is now made to you to record your Votes for Mr. Sheridan. Let us see what claim Mr. Sheridan has upon our support on the present occasion, before we assist again to return a man to Parliament who has so shamefully violated his profession and principles. Was not Mr. Sheridan returned for Dudley, at the last Election, as a Liberal Conservative, of the most independent kind, supposed to be above the influence of any section of the Electors; and has he not, at the dictation of a few Radicals, invariably voted in Parliament for all Radical Measures, and opposed Lord Derby’s Government to the utmost of his power? Did he not pledge himself to vote against the Ballot, and has he not voted in favour of the Ballot? Did he not promise to vote against the Repeal of Church Rates (unless an equivalent was given), and did he not vote for their total unconditional Repeal? This, then, is the man, on whose promises, you are again called upon to rely; to send to Parliament again, as an advocate of anything which his varied supporters may suggest.
If, brother Conservatives, the sacred cause of Conservatism is worth upholding in its national integrity, reflect, consider, and forbear to commit yourselves to such a humiliating course, as to vote for a man whose practices and principles you have so often condemned since he has been in Parliament. At some future period our cause will be on the ascent, and you will then regret having assisted to hand over the Borough of Dudley to Radicalism and Faction. Mr. Sheridan, you are told, has again promised your rash and indiscreet leaders, that he will this time support Lord Derby’s Government. How will that new arrangement meet the views of his Liberal supporters, for they will not be found “to blow hot and cold;” and pray ask him, what kind of Government he will support when Lord Derby’s rule is over? Why the natural inference is (taking the past as evidence) that Mr. Sheridan will support any Government which will please his next best supporters in Dudley! He has proved himself unstable, unsettled, and wavering in his political convictions, the “Shuttlecock” of any party that will promise him support; and as such, totally unfit to represent the intelligence and wealth of the Conservative interests; and a miserable guide for the Radical faction.
Are you determined to belie your Conservative principles and vote for a “Shilley Shalley Radical,” the man who has branded your honoured townsmen (the Bank Directors) with a breach of that trust which many of us (as Shareholders) have placed in their hands, in betraying to the public the state of your private affairs? Is such an unscrupulous Weathercock entitled to the support of the Constitutional Conservatives in Dudley, who have ever been ready to uphold and maintain, the honour of their townsmen, and the sacred principles of Constitutional Monarchy? Reflect, brother Conservatives, before you place your sacred trusts in the hands of such an uncertain leader; for the past has proved his political infidelity to our cause and interests, and your recorded votes in his favour will assuredly prove your political inconsistency. If you cannot conscientiously support Lord Monck, the Conservative Liberal Candidate, then stand aloof from this attempted unnatural compact; and calmly watch Mr. Sheridan’s “New Dodge,” with a few of the young and heated Conservatives; become again, another evidence of his own falseness, and a lasting monument of his supporters’ political blindness and folly.
Ask yourselves what political sympathy this man can expect at your hands, after the broken pledges that he has committed.
Reflecting Conservatives, let not the shade of our departed Conservative chiefs darken the path of the present crisis; and God forbid that the sons of our venerated townsmen should become the leaders and promoters of Radicalism, Inconsistency, and Confusion; for the Voter for a Conservative Pakington, six weeks ago, surely will not be found voting for a nondescript Sheridan at this coming Election.
AN OLD CONSERVATIVE.
Dudley, April 21st, 1859.
TO THE ELECTORS OF DUDLEY.
Gentlemen,