Broadside entitled 'Tom and Jerry, a dialogue between a Whig and a Tory'

Transcription

TOM AND JERRY.

A DIALOGUE BETWEEN A WHIG AND A TORY.   

As Jerry Whig went out one day                Says Jerry, Tom, I'm glad we've met,
He met his friend Tom Tory;                        To have some conversation;
Now Jerry was a Scotsman bred,                What must be done for Britain's sons,
And Tom was England's glory.                I want your observation.

Tom.?My friend, Jerry, you ask me what must be done for Britain's sons ? what
more can be done for them than what we have done ? in 1829 we granted them Eman-
cipation ; they then petitioned for Reform, we granted them that also ; now, my friend,
I wish to know what more they want. Jerry ?I wonder you should speak obout
Emancipation, all the good it has done is, that it it has got some great men into high-
er situations in life thon those which they had been before. but it is an old sayiny,
Tom, 'a man that has a goose will get a goose 'but on the other hand, see what it
has done especially for the poor Irish 40s freeholders; it has driven numbers of them
out of their bit places, and sent them to wander to other nations in search of employ-
ment ; now, Tom, you see, a man that cannot pay £10, of rent, he is debarred from
his rights; so when he is exempted from having a vote for the representative for his
country, he ought to be exempted from Taxes : but as for Reform, we have got very
little more than the name.

So now, friend Tom, you plainly see                Our duty now we must fulfil
There's something more still wanting:                Unto the British nation.
It's time to set the prisoners free,                Make them give up the Corn Bill,
For Freedom they are panting.                       And Tithes' abomination.

Tom.?My friend, Jerry, it would not answer for either you or I to middle with
the Corn Bill, as we have great landed properties, for self-interest goes far : how
would the farmers pay us our rents if we were to do away with the Corn Laws ? but
let the poor suffer as they will, we must mind No. 1.

The poor no longer we must scoff,                Against Church Patronage give your voice,
Belonging to this nation,                        This time, I now do charge you,
Thisthing call'd Tithes must soon come off        And let the people have their choice,
To lighten their Taxation.                        Of choosing their own Clergy.

Tom.?My friend, Jerry, I really am surprised to think that a man endued with
such knowledge as you are, would speak against the tithe system ; you know very
well that the tithe system is of an old standing : for when Abraham was returning
from the slaughter of the kings, he gave the tenth of the spoil to Melchizedek: the
tribe of Levi was allowed no inheritance in the land of Canaan, but the tithes. Jerry.
?We are bound to support Church and State, I think that is all very true, Tom, but
they had no glebe lands in those days, nor so many hundreds a-year off Government:
they could not drive through the nation in their coach-and four, and their livery ser-
vants, neither could they pay a man £40 or £50 a year, to officiate in their place, they
had to stick to the altar daily, and live by the altar Tom?But, Jerry, you speak
about taxes, you know that we are to render to Cęsar the things that are Cęsar's.
Jerry?Aye but, Tom, we have got too many Cęsars now-a-days to oppress the poor:
but, Tom, it was an easy thing in those days to pay tribute, when they had nothing.
to do but go to the sea, and catch a fish with a piece of money in its mouth?an easy
way indeed to pay tribute : but Tom, thero's no such fishes to be caught now-a-days
?if there were, the poor would get but little share of them.

In February, the 4th day,                        O'Connell and a number more,
We all must go to London,                        Are joined in a communion,
To fall to work, without delay,                       To have justice done to Ireland,
I think we'll see some fun done.                Or a repeal of the Union.

Tom.?My friend, Jerry, I know Mr O'Connell is a long-headed man, and a man
of great talents, he certainly must be a very wise man, for he has wrought himself and
his friends into Parliament by his policy, but there are very few men get into Parlia-
ment but what have self-interest at heart : now, my friend, Jerry, I will ask you a
questien, If you had signed your portion over to a friend before witnesses, how would
you get it back? It would be impossible unless your friend was willing to give it up
again?O'Connell may say what he pleases, but at this very time he will meet with
great opposition: how many Reformers, at the last election. who promised to do won-
ders for the people, but when they got into Parliament, they were like the chief but-
ler with Joseph, they soon forgot them they acted far worse than the Tories. Jerry.
?I confess you have spoken the candid truth, yet we must do something for the poor.

Now, Jerry, man, let us agree,                The poor right manfully have stood,
To you I will strike under,                        To have their country righted,
We'll set the British captives free,                We're all come of one flesh and blood,
And pluck their chains asunder.                Then why should they be slighted.
        
Menzies, Printer, 30, Bank Street, Edinburgh.

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