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THE Liis^iiAL CAMPAIGN INI…

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THE Liis^iiAL CAMPAIGN IN MONTGOMERYSHIRE. MR. STUART RENDEL AT TREGYXOX. On Monday evening, July 15, a public meeting was held in the Schoolroom, Tregynon, for the purpose of hearing the political views of Mr. Stuart Rendel. Mr. J. C. Bayard, of Gwernydd, presided, and the Hon. F. S. A. Hanbury Tracy, M.P., and a crowded audience were present. The CHAIRMAN said they were gathered together that evening, on purpose, as Liberals of that district of Mont- gomeryshire, to hear Mr. Stuart Rendel. a gentleman who had been brought forward by the party against the Con- servatives, who had for a long time held the representa- tion of the county. Why they had done so, he could not say, for he was sure from his experience of different parts of the county, that it was Liberal in thought, Liberallll feeling, and Liberal in religion. (Applause.) It had been so, however, and now the party had been looking about, and had found a gentleman in every way qualified to represent them. He thanked Mr. Rendel from his heart, and he u*-ged his hearers to unite every eriort to ensure his return for what might be a long term of Parliament. (Applause.) He would not say anything about the present member. He honoured and liked him. But they were not all of the same way of thinking he did not think the \v^,y the Government was carried on now was right, and he did not see why they should not bring forward a candidate, and support him with all their might, to re- present them and their way of thinking in Parliament. (Hear, hear.) They would now hear Mr. Rendel, and after doing so he wished them to support Mr. hendellI1 the election which was fast approaching. (tueeis.) There was one poiut he wished to allude to. Peace had been proclaimed as the result of the Congress. not the Liberal party come forward, headed by men like Lord Hartington and Mr. Gladstone, and put great pres- sure upon the Government, would they have gone into the Congress at all ? Xo, this country would have been at war now. He was sure of it. The Liberal party had objected to the six millions, and it was only when Lord Beacons- tield saw the opinion of the country unmistakably ex- pressed that he thought proper to go into Congress and the result had been peace. One of the principles of the Liberal party was free trade, another was equality in re- ligion, which had been brought forward by the VV m^~ the late Lord John Russell and others. They had brought about the free exercise of religion which they and he now enjoyed. (Hear, hear.) He concluded oy calling upon the Hon. F. Hanbury Tracy. The Hon. F. S. A. HANBLKY-TKACY, who was cheered on rising, said he had come there in the interests of Mr. Stuart Rendel, but had come not expecting to speak. He had intended not speaking at all, because that meeting was not connected with the boroughs, which he had the honour of representing, but was a meeting of the free and independent electors of Montgomeryshire, held for the purpose of having an opportunity of hearing the gentleman whom the Liberal Party had selected to represent them in Parliament. They bad been having several meetings in different parts of the county, the last of which, held at Liantyllin. had been rather am'-ismg. A gentleman, au agent fur Sir Watkin Wynn, had attended, as he had a perfect right to do. He had objected tu-it to what he (the speaker) had said, and then to what every one else had said. He complained that he (Mi'. lr^c>' had objected to tke rent dinner at Llanbrynmair, bu« ne had never objected to the dinner. He wished there to ue no misunderstanding in the matter. He had said tnat he was. glad to see Mr. Hughes and other Conservatives present, and that he nuly wished that the latter had held their meeting at such a time and place a.s would have gi*en tile Liberals an opportunity of hearing what they had to^»jy. Mr. Hughes upon that, thought he was sneeriug at t.ieiu. Afterwards he appeared to have become conscious or a feeling of having made a mistake. He asked, what had the Conservatives done to the different counties or England and Wales ? and he answered the question very much to his own satisfaction. He said that xar doing harm, they had done an immense deal of instanced the taking oil of the licence on sheep dogs- -I no doubt, had been a good thing, and it was one principadj advocated by members on the Liberal side credit should be given where it was due. In the year 17UI' a -0'T Government first put a tax upon dogs, in 1853, ho thought was the year, Mr. Gladstone reduced the tax, and also gave power to the Commissioners not to levy the tax in certain instances. He saw that it was much more im- portant to give the people a free breakfast-table, iree sugar, and free tea, than to allow the keeping of a lot of useless curs, so the tax was not altogether abolished, but was reduced. In 1367 Israeli reduced the tax still further, but at the same time first put ;the tax upon sheep dogs. The tax was therefore first originated with a Tory Government, was reduced by Mr. Gladstone, still further reduced by Mr. Disraeli, and at the same time first imposed upon sheep dogs. He therefore failed to see how they cou.u i claim much credit on that account. Taxation had been reduced by the Conservatives by increasing the income tax, and by levying a heavy tax upon tobacco, a policy of rob- bing Peter to pay Paul. Mr. Hughes had further ob- jected that he (Mr. Tracy) had not spoken upon any sub- ject they had not heard of before. He said he was a man who was well read, and was well up in many subjects, and with all Mr. Hughes's experience and accomplish- ments, how could he (Mr. Tracy) possibly expect to teach Mr. Hughes anything, or tell him anything new. Laugh- ter and hear, hear.) There were different ways of putting things, and he had put them from the point he felt, toe Liberal point of view. He ventured to suggest that he might have referred to the Burials Bill, and Mr. Hughes did not seem to like that. That was a question, however, upon which he thought all. Welshmen, and people in Montgomeryshire, whether Liberal or Conservative, shoiud be united. But what prospect had they of gaining that measure from a. Conservative Government ? It bad been said that the House of Lords stopped the passing of the measure. They had, however, passed one almost identical with Mr. Osborne Morgan's, but the Tory party in the House of Commons had refused to allow it to pass. 1 rom France, which had the name of being a very bigoted .and strongly Catholic country, he had recently had a letter from a friend showing that there was perfect freedom of burial, and that in a Catholic churchyard service and celebrant were left to the choice of the friends of the deceased. How long were we, who had compelled Turkey and the neigh- bouring states to have freedom of worship and equality of religion, going to keep them away from ourselves He was himself a strong Churchman; he had been brought up in the Church, and he felt b'.nind to do all he could for it; but he did not believe the Church of the minority should have all the State fund. He had some little delicacy in speaking in this matter, because the clergy-, man of that parish was present, and it might be thought that he was going out of his 'way to say something which he might have unsaid if he had not prefaced it with the remark that he was a staunch Churchman. He did not j believe that so long as it was a State Church it would be at liberty to work its own will, and for that reason he was thoroughly for the Disestablishment of the Church in Wales. (Cheers.) The Duke of Richmond had informed the deputation which he had accompanied that there were no spare funds out of which to grant the Welsh I niyer- sity any money, but at that time a Bill was brought into Parliament to devote for educational purposes in Ireland the money derived from the Disestablished Church, which they did not know what to do with. He had learnt on good authority that the Church in Ireland had never been reuie,»ered iu so flourishing a state, and this must tend to show that the Church could well sustain the loss of Disestablishment in this country. He was delighted to come there with Mr. Rendel, who attended to state what his views were. The Conservatives had held the county for 15 years, and they thought they ought al- ways to hold it. 1 hey saId there was no Liberal party, but he thought there was, and that that party was determined to bring some one forward, who, they thought, would have as good a chance of being returned as any other candidate. They could not have chosen a more able, or deserving, or who would become a more popular candidate than Mr. Rendel. (Cheers.) It had been thrust in their teeth that Mr. Rendel was not a Welshman, but he thought it was not of so much importance to have a Welshman as to have a member who would represent them on questions like the Burials Bill and other subjects upon which they felt deeply. (Hear, hear.) There were many qualities essential in a member of Parliament, and many things which might prevent gentlemen from coming forward. He would leave it to_ the meeting, after they had heard Mr. Rendel, to decide whether his feeling's were theirs. (Hear, hear.) If they were the same he trusted they would do their utmost to return him at the next election. (Cheers.) Mr. ST CART REXDEL, who was very warmly received, after thanking them for their cord;'il reception, said he had great reason to be gratified that evening, not only for their reception, but for their presence, for he was sure by their being there that they were Liberals, and that if there were any Conservatives present, by their presence that night they showed that they were on the way to be- come Liberals. (Laughter and applause.) With regard to the meeting alluded to by Mr. Tracy, no one could be Inore pleased that Conservative meetings were held in the county than the Lioeral candidate, for there was nothing he could wish for more than that there should be some Political education in the county where he wished to carry tue day. (Hear, hear.) Had the Tories usually held Meetings amongst them Xo, they had been allowed to go on recording a silent vote in favour of a silent member, nnt f° Montgomeryshire lay useless for all good purposes „ r five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years, but for a whole •ury> He for his Pa^t should always be gratified at anii?|'f^Ln opportunity of presenting himself before them, honrvJconstituents ot the county would do him the SDou bearing him, he should be too glad. He had marK >,aev,eral times at meeting already, and as the re- PronosPrf then made had been rather discursive, he to enter the four different meetings now arranged hear)—some subjects more in detail—(hear, was the Tt ? subject he would allude to that night taken the TBm Question. (Applause.) It had versitv Tem-o nine long years to carry the L"ni- a year opea which threw hundreds 0f thousands was alon» Nonconformists of the kingdom. That this land of sur,rt° in carrying a measure of justice in years to brin/thi^ ^tice. It had already taken eight certain, but L ,? Bur'ala Bill to its present position of take yet another0,,1116?118 immediate, success. It would sired to do justice Sood pUgh. The House of Lords de- bishops like the bisht Was true there were liberal-minded that of that Psh of that diocese, and clergymen like success. In 1873 but nevertheless they were far from a Liberal majority'! the Liberal party in power, with was brought forwardCur, the second reading of this Bill Mr. Osborne Morgan eVery prospect ot success by the House to make a \ni ?plause). When he arose in prISe he found the leadeech on that occasion, to his sur- ready to take up the defence rS,°Pposition present, and D,,raeu had deigned to take That was the first time Mr that was on the eve 0f the £ JP *he opnosition. But it was a trap successfully lffi?* of Parliament, an'] the Church of England. j 1 the Vote of the clergV of opposition to the measure, and > appeared in ot h.s speech then were, concluding words beheve to be insidious and ,f mea«nre which I W.K,| TH, '"F Z was that every person havin" i XXl Wlth them -,ii tn- parish church yard, had uo ri^ht to 1° Ve b«rie<Hnthl rights of his own particular ° be b«ned wilS Ih to being buried with the winch he was not in union. Jt w church, with old grievance, and was formerly in _5?. llot such a very In the old days, the priests could in certain cases, and they so used the privii „neral "tea country rose against them and compelled tWnPv tha,t i«t«r funeral rites. Burial grounds had not ala a ,mri" attached to churches, but in the days of glorious and pious ancestors, there had grown up a desire I buried within the precincts of the church, and this had spread, and was encouraged as an aid to reverence the church finding therein a moans of increasing her revenues by inducing people to put their hands in their por-kets t, for masses for the souls of tho-e departed anu s.>arc,d\ out ,f sight. That was the origin of the church yard, which had since come to be considered as the parson's freehold. Tt might be a point against them that they permitted church rates to be abolished, but it was only a very small one. Far from its being a small grievance, limited to some two millions, who could not bury their dead in cemeteries with their own services, it was one of the whole Nonconformist body, and he might say of the whole Liberal party. (Hear, hear.) It was most u ifair and unreasonable to call theta political Dissenters. They did care about the question, for they )erA felt they could not be Liberals without caring. (Hear, hear.) It was urged that the Burials Bill was Disestab- lishment in disguise, and there were many persons who would give them the former, but not the latter, and it was thought to frighten these persons with this statement. They apparently failed to see that there was in politics a kind of morality by which you must do right, and leave the consequences to a higher Power. (Cheers.) If any opposedthe Bill on the ground that, although it was right, it could not be passed without laying the Church open to attack, it was time to cut off the decayed limb, and to get rid of the cancer, which should surely be abolished in the interests of the Church. All would agree that nothing could be more melancholy than that the question of Dises- tablishment should be fought in the burial-grounds—in the grave-yards of the country. Even in savage times the spot where the dead lay was deemed secure from battle. He, like Mr. Tracy, was not a Nonconformist. He was « member of the Church, yet he claimed to feel quite as strongly in this matter as they did. To impose the burial service of a particular establishment upon a Noncon- formist was an indignity lie would gladly see taken away. But lie thought it was something worse for the Church. It was a mockery of religion in his mind. The clergyman who could deem it his duty to impose that service where it was not. desired, and who yet maintained it, was that clergyman of dogmatic principles who really believed that "the Dissenter was guilty of schism, which was a great sin, and that whoever died in sin would go to eternal damnation ? He might have been leading the Athanasian Creed, and the next day might be burying the victim of his maledictions in "sure aud certain hope." (Cheers.) It was natural that a man should wish to be buried by the man who had been his spiritual guide in life, and who would be the spiritual consoler of his bereaved ones, it was unnatural, almost wicked, that a man should wish to read the burial service over a man who had never attended his church, and did not believe in his doctrine, merely as a vindication of what he believed to be his national posi- tions, and his official privileges. (Cheers.) In con- clusion, the speaker referred to the words of the Bishop of Lincoln, written to a newspaper in 1S7G :—" The bishop and clergy and parish priests of England are not the owners ot the churchyards. They are only trustees of them under God, who is their proprietor, and they cannot without breach of trust, and without being guilty of a heinous offence in His sight, take away from God a single oot of a churchyard for the purpose of giving a share in it for public funeral services to persons who rend asunder this Church by schism, which is condemned by Him in His Holy Word as a deadly sin. Such an act on the part of bishops and clergy would be a robbery of God. It would be an act of sacrilege, treachery, and cowardice. It would not arrest Disestablishment it would only hasten lt." That, continued the speaker, was the language of one of the most learned, and revered bishops of the Church of England only the other day. Forty years ago and more, the Nonconformists of this country recovered the right of being married with their own rites. The gen- eration which gained that right had almost passed away. and had fai ed to gain the consummation of being buried with its own rites. That was a sad confession for this. which boasted of being a land of freedom. It was a strange thing that this final quital of life, this raising of sepulchre should cause s > much bitterness of feeling. thought they could say that a passage of the Gospel came before them Woe unto you, for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets and your fathers killed them. Irtdy ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathera for they indeed killed them and ve build their sepulchres." (Loud cheers.) Ir. WII.SOX, the representative of the district upon the central committee, moved '"That this meeting approves of Mr. Stuart Rendel as ? Candidate for the representation of Montgomeryshire In Parliament, and pledges itself to use every effort to secure his return." (Cheers.) The Rev. DAn;) WILLIAMS seconded the resolution, which was supported by Mr. RICHARD Luxrn. jun., and Mr. Ikiv. Mr. RTCHAEI* WILLIAMS, Newtown, read the fol- lowing — THE SONG OF THE KLECTIOX.—Tlwk, "Oaaaan." The rumour jjoes through all the land, That close at hand's the Election Electors: all precautions bke To m:tke a good selection. lienclel lio Kendel The man for us is Rendel A Lil-eril iiiinviiere can be found Jlore sound than fituart Kenuel. Retrenchment, liberty, and peace," These are his motto, we can ->ee To all reform a friend indeed, His creed just suits our fmcv. Rendel ho Rendel f Then up with Stuart !\e:i lei Let Tories still in U'vnn delight, But we will fight for Rendel For ages have the Tories trod a Kousih-shod the ancient Cymry. And still would keep them every one, To live on uwd and flummery. Rendel! ho Rendel Up like a shot with Ren.lel 'Ye11 muster at the battle call. And all will vote for Rendel. Perhaps your agent will some day can and say, with voice so threatening, You'll vote, remember, so-and-so, =" Or you II know there is a reckoning. Rendel oil Rendel! Who dares to speak of Rendel Sir Watkin owns the Hendre-grou, "Remember, John, not Rendel." Don't fear, but meekly answer thus Vonr words. Sir, I'll remember, And :tt the polling place I'll be Voting early for our Member." Rendel! oh Rendel You need not talk of Rendel But put crosx for all th, Ayainxt the name of Rendel. (Loud cheers.) Mr. WILLIAMS afterwards read the same composition into Welsh verse. ^he resolution was carried with acclamation. MR STCAKT RENDEL expreased his thanks for the vote of ^"nndence passed, and proposed a vote of thanks to the CHAIRMAN, which was seconded by Mr. JOVES, Pen-y-coed. fhe CHAIRMAN* replied, and the proceedings terminated.

CAN YR E T 11 0 L I A D

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