Then Mr Williams, the rector, followed, a gentleman who had many
staunch friends and many bitter enemies in the town. He addressed
himself chiefly to that bane of the whole country--as he conceived
them,--the godless dissenters; and was felt by Tregear to be
injuring the cause by every word he spoke. It was necessary that
Mr Williams should liberate his own mind, and therefore he
persevered with the godless dissenters at great length,--not
explaining, however, how a man who thought enough about his
religion to be a dissenter could be godless, or how a godless man
should care enough about religion to be a dissenter.
Mr Williams was heard with impatience, and then there was a
clamour for the young lord. He was the son of an ex-Prime
Minister, and therefore of course should speak. He was himself a
member of Parliament, and therefore should speak. He had boldly
severed himself from the faulty political tenets of the family,
and therefore on such an occasion as this was peculiarly entitled
to speak. When a man goes electioneering, he must speak.
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