Misc Writings and Speeches, vol 4 | Page 5

it was
determined that the request should be granted." Such folly could have
been uttered only by a person profoundly ignorant of the history of
Methodism. Certainly nothing of the sort was ever uttered by me; and
nothing of the sort will be found either in The Times or in the Unitarian
report.
Mr Vizetelly makes me say that the Great Charter recognises the
principle of limitation, a thing which everybody who has read the Great
Charter knows not to be true. He makes me give an utterly false history
of Lord Nottingham's Occasional Conformity Bill. But I will not weary
my readers by proceeding further. These samples will probably be
thought sufficient. They all lie within a compass of seven or eight
pages. It will be observed that all the faults which I have pointed out
are grave faults of substance. Slighter faults of substance are numerous.
As to faults of syntax and of style, hardly one sentence in a hundred is
free from them.
I cannot permit myself to be exhibited, in this ridiculous and degrading
manner, for the profit of an unprincipled man. I therefore unwillingly,
and in mere self-defence, give this volume to the public. I have selected,
to the best of my judgment, from among my speeches, those which are
the least unworthy to be preserved. Nine of them were corrected by me
while they were still fresh in my memory, and appear almost word for
word as they were spoken. They are the speech of the second of March
1831, the speech of the twentieth of September 1831, the speech of the

tenth of October 1831, the speech of the sixteenth of December 1831,
the speech on the Anatomy Bill, the speech on the India Bill, the
speech on Serjeant Talfourd's Copyright Bill, the speech on the Sugar
Duties, and the speech on the Irish Church. The substance of the
remaining speeches I have given with perfect ingenuousness. I have not
made alterations for the purpose of saving my own reputation either for
consistency or for foresight. I have not softened down the strong terms
in which I formerly expressed opinions which time and thought may
have modified; nor have I retouched my predictions in order to make
them correspond with subsequent events. Had I represented myself as
speaking in 1831, in 1840, or in 1845, as I should speak in 1853, I
should have deprived my book of its chief value. This volume is now at
least a strictly honest record of opinions and reasonings which were
heard with favour by a large part of the Commons of England at some
important conjunctures; and such a record, however low it may stand in
the estimation of the literary critic, cannot but be of use to the historian.
I do not pretend to give with accuracy the diction of those speeches
which I did not myself correct within a week after they were delivered.
Many expressions, and a few paragraphs, linger in my memory. But the
rest, including much that had been carefully premeditated, is
irrecoverably lost. Nor have I, in this part of my task, derived much
assistance from any report. My delivery is, I believe, too rapid. Very
able shorthand writers have sometimes complained that they could not
follow me, and have contented themselves with setting down the
substance of what I said. As I am unable to recall the precise words
which I used, I have done my best to put my meaning into words which
I might have used.
I have only, in conclusion, to beg that the readers of this Preface will
pardon an egotism which a great wrong has made necessary, and which
is quite as disagreeable to myself as it can be to them.
CONTENTS.
Parliamentary Reform. (March 2, 1831)
Parliamentary Reform. (July 5, 1831)
Parliamentary Reform. (September 20, 1831)
Parliamentary Reform. (October 10, 1831)
Parliamentary Reform. (December 16, 1831)
Anatomy Bill. (February 27, 1832)

Parliamentary Reform. (February 28, 1832)
Repeal of the Union with Ireland. (February 6, 1833)
Jewish Disabilities. (April 17, 1833)
Government of India. (July 10, 1833)
Edinburgh Election, 1839. (May 29, 1839)
Confidence in the Ministry of Lord Melbourne. (January 29, 1840)
War with China. (April 7, 1840)
Copyright. (February 5, 1841)
Copyright. (April 6, 1842)
The People's Charter. (May 3, 1842)
The Gates of Somnauth. (March 9, 1843)
The State of Ireland. (February 19, 1844)
Dissenters' Chapels Bill. (June 6, 1844)
The Sugar Duties. (February 26, 1845)
Maynooth. (April 14, 1845)
The Church of Ireland. (April 23, 1845)
Theological Tests in the Scotch Universities. (July 9, 1845)
Corn Laws. (December 2, 1845)
The Ten Hours Bill. (May 22, 1846)
The Literature of Britain. (November 4, 1846)
Education. (April 19, 1847)
Inaugural Speech at Glasgow College. (March 21, 1849)
Re-election to Parliament. (November 2, 1852)