to appear as opposing any man professing liberal opinions,and his hope that Mr. Lyttelton would declare in favour of repeal, and thus allow him to aid in his election; but that if he could not, and if the electors of Walsall could not find a suitable candidate in their own town, or their own neighbourhood, there were abundance of men of talent and high principle who would be glad to give them their services in procuring a repeal of laws which were rapidly reducing the borough, and the country, and its industrious population, to utter ruin. Mr. Rawson's short address was received with a warmth of applause which showed that he had an audience of decided opponents of monopoly; and the meeting separated without a single remark from Mr. Lyttelton, his law-agent, or any of his friends.
Next morning the cause of the silence of those who had previously been his supporters soon became obvious. He had been invited on the belief that he was a corn-law repealer, and several of the most active even on his committee, amongst whom was Mr. Joseph Hickin, afterwards secretary to the League, declared to him and to us, that they could not vote for him unless he unequivocally pledged himself to vote for total repeal. Our deputation, having been joined by Mr. William Walker, Mr. Kettle, and Mr. George Wynn, of Wolverhampton, went out amongst the influential electors, and ascertained, beyond a doubt, that there was a sufficient number of corn-law repealers to dictate their own terms to the liberal candidate. In the meantime a placard had been put forth calling on the electors to withhold their promises until they heard an address from Mr. Acland, in the evening, by which time it was expected that explicit answers would be given by the candidates to the question which had now been put to each of them by the deputation.
In the afternoon we received the answers of the candidates. Mr. Gladstone trusted that he would not be cons-
