The Press. — London, England, 1858-12-18 00:00:00

THE PRESS, DECEMBER 18, 1858. also the powers vested in the Crown by the Act of Parlir meat we have referred to, and that your Majesty will issue accordingly an Order in Council, placing the ships of non• reciprocating countries "on as nearly as possible the same footing in British ports as that on which &Also ships are placed in the ports of such countries." In urgently soliciting your Majesty to adopt this course, we emphatically protest against any attempt to connect our application with any consideration of disputed systems of general commercial policy. The relief we could hope f r om your Majesty's gracious acquiescence would, we are too well aware, be but scanty and insufficient, but the im partial administration of the laws is an act of simple jos hes which it is natural we should claim ; and we venture, therefore, respectfully to submit to your Majesty that longer to withhold from an important, an aggrieved, and a sufieriog interest the alleviation, however slight, which the law has provided, would be an aggravation of what that interest has always regarded as au undeserved and im politic injury. Tt is satisfactory to as that if we should resolve to seek further redress, it will be to the Legislature we shall have to urge our claims, and that we shall not have occasion again to intrude, as we now do with great reluctance, personally on your Majesty. But, meantime, Parliament having been pleased to vest in your Majesty exclusively the power to afford the measure of relief we seek, we appeal with confidence to a Sovereign among whose strongest claims to the attachment of a loyal and devoted people will ever be recognized her uniform anxiety to dispense impartial justice, to redress proved wrong, and graciously to listen with readiness and attention to every reasonable remonstrance of her injured or suffer• ing subjects. MESSRS. BRIGHT AND GIBSON AT MAN CHESTER AND EDINBURGH. ON Friday evening, December the 10th, a soirée was given to the Right Hon. T. M. Gibson, M.P. for Ashton.under-Lyne, and Mr. John Bright, M.P. for Birmingham, " for the purpose," in the terms of the announcement issued by the committee who base conducted the arrangements, " of congratulating the hon. member for Birmingham on his restoration to health ; to celebrate the return of himself and his ;ate colleague (the Right Hon. T. M. Gibson) to Parliament for the boroughs of Birmingham and Ashton ; and to thank them for their patriotic con duct during the last session of Parliament, as well as for their long and faithful services as represents tire' for this city." The soirée was held in the magnificent Free Trade-hall, erected to commemo rate the triumphs of the Anti-Corn Law League, to which both the hon. gentlemen so materially con tributed. Letters were read from Lord J. Russell, M.P., Mr. Cobden, Mr. C. P. Villiers, 11. P., and Mr. L. King, M.P., and other influential members of the House of Commons, apologizing for their inability to attend the meeting. The following resolutions were moved and seconded, and carried by acclamation : That this meeting presents to John Bright, Esq., M.P., its respectful and cordial congratulations on his restora tion to health, and expresses its devout gratitude that he is thereby enabled once more to devote his great energy and eminent abilities to the service if the people. That this meeting records its high satisfaction at the return to Parliament, by important constituencies, of the Right Hon. Thomas M. Gibson, M.P., and John Bright, Esq., M.P., and hereby tenders its warmest thanks to the electors of Birmingham and Ashton-under•Lyne, for the obligation they have conferred upon the nation by revers• mg a shameful verdict, and restoring those gentlemen to the House of Commons. That this nicedm/expresses its admiration of the honest, consistent, disinterested, and patriotic conduct of the right hon. member for Ashton-under-Lyne, and the hon. member for Birmingham, during the whole course of their political connection with this city; thanks them most warmly for their public services on behalf of political, commercial, and religious freedom ; and renews its earnest hopes that they may long be spared to labour for the ad vancement of the best interests of the British empire. Mr. GIBSON, who was received with loud cheers, after expressing his sense of the honour now paid to him, proceeded to comment on the late speech of Mr. Lowe :—Mr. Lowe said he expressed one very confident opinion —be was very sure, he said, that nobody wanted Reform; that universal apathy pre vailed, and that there was indifference among all the classes of society into which he entered as to the proposals that had been made to reform the repro. seotation of the people. Now, the people of England were a business people; they bad their daily occupa tions. Men could not be constantly leaving their daily avocations for the purpose of promoting political measures, and it did no, follow that they must be sincerely desirous for changes that were proposed, and that their opinions might not be deeply founded. Mr. BRIGHT, who then addressed the meeting, merely reiterated the topics of his Birmingham speeches in such sort as to render any consecutive analysis unnecessary. Mr. Bright said, among other things Now, what is it that T propose ? That every house- holder, of course, because every householder is rated to the poor, shall have a vote; and if a man be not a house holder strictly, but if be have an office, or a warehouse, or a stable, or land—Sf ha hay, any property in his oecapatiou which the poor-law taxes—out of which he mnst con tribute to the support of the poor, then, I say, 1 would give that man a vote. Now, sixty years is a long time. We have members of the aristocracy of this country ex }Hnting themselves frequently on platforms on various occasions. They toll the people how wond er f u lly educa tion has advanced, how much Parliament grants every year, how much voluntary effort does, what a great step the people have taken forward. I wish they w ou ld come to the legitimate conclusion after all this praise of the people. Your statisticians may that 2,000,000 of the people are subscribers to benefit societies, and that they have now for funds more than 9,000,01,01. sterling. Is that no proof of providence? Is that no proof of improvement and advancement? Who is the man that dares stand before any considerable number of his countrymen and libel them by saying that that which Mr. Grey, that which Charles James Fox, advocated for you in 1791, you are still so turbulent, so degraded, that you are not fi t to be trusted with in the year 1858? And, of course, with regard to your small borough, you must take some point of population, and you must cut off all those belm.v it; yon must allow their present electors to merge, as they would necessarily merge, in the 101. franchise, which, in all pro bability, you establish for your counties. Bot still I know exactly how we shall be met—" Yon are going to Alum ncanize ns." Nothing is so dreadful to an Englishman who is thinking of emigrating across the Atlantic as that we should be Americanized in England. That is a phrase hi: some cunning knave intended to catch • good many silly dupes, and no doubt it will catch some of them ; but I should like to ask these gentlemen whether representa tion is is not an English custom and an English principle. They were Englishmen who first took it to the United hates. It is said that wherever an Englishman g :es, just at; he takes with him his white skin he takes with him the foundation of representative institutions. He has taken them already to the Cape; he is already as busy as possible in building up four or five monarchical republics in Australia; he has carried the representative system to Canada; he carries it wherever he goes. Why, the Bill of 1832 was a desperate measure in the direction of Ameri canizing us. It took some boroughs where twelve members of a corporation returned the members to Parliament, and it gave the suffrage to come 5,000 of the people. Was not that Americanizing such boroughs with a vengeance? The more yon extend your representation the more, of course, you become like that systematic and theoretically perfect representation which exists in the United States. Why, we have come now to a pretty pass in this country, and it is curious how free countries, and conwries that we deem not free, often exhibit just the same kind of thing at the same time. You know that lately a most distinguished Frenchman wrote a pamphlet about a debate in the English Parliament. He was charmed with the fterdom of debate, with the absence of all kind of difficulty in expressing our opinions. He went away full of this impression; and he wrote a pamphlet, in burning words, describing what he had seen in England, and by inference, of course, saying something that was not very palatable to those who are the present directors of the Government in France. 11 ell, what was done? It was found out that it was an indictable offence, and the advocate for the prosecution said in so many words, "You praised England, and in doing so you humiliated France." An humble individnal like myself comes before his constituents, and he finds a nation of twenty or thirty millions, chiefly Englishmen, on the other side of the Atlantic. He finds there, with some small exceptions in two or three of the Trans atlantic cities, which are more German and Irish than American, in all the free States laws and order and security for property equal to th.t which is found in any other country in the world. He says that to his constituents; be is indicted for it; they do not inflict upon him so many pounds fine and so many months' imprisonment, but some scores of writers for the press, men who, some of them, pretend to be in favour of liberty in England, but men who, if they were dressed in the garb that most becomes them, would be dressed in plush ; these men assail me, and, probably, if were in France and they were in France also, would do their best to indict and prosecute me. One word more upon this.—l hm.e said over and over again that perhaps I am the very last men in England who would propose any institution here because I found it elsewhere. I am not insensible to some things that appear to me to be errors in principle—some that are errors in practice—in the constitution and tile customs of the United States, but I protest against our being shut up to take nothing from America but cotton, and rice, and tobacco, aud, in fee - , we do take a good many other things. . . I cannot, of coarse, help the fact that Lord Carlisle for a moment has fallen into rather a foolish panic since I undertook to address my constituents at Birmingham. I can assure him that I do not wish to introduce American institntions here, but I want to argue this point, tha t the people of England are n( w in a cordition in which it would be just to them and safe fur all classes in the country that they should be widely intrusted with the possession of the elective frranchise. Now, I want to ask you before i sit down whether we can realize or whether we can do anything towards realizing such a project of Reform as tl.at of which I have given yon the very faintest sketch to-night. There is a danger awaits us. It is quite possible,—l think it is not entirely improbable, that if the present Government should introduce a bill very ineffectual, wholly falling short of what we have a right to expect, t itit there should be some combination of the most Unworthy portion of the Whig party with the present Government for the sake of (-timing that bill. It would be • grist misfortune to us if any such thing should happen. But that misfortune would be but tem porary. It would be a fatal act on the part of th e V. pats , to take anj such eeur.e as that. They would bring &Isola this great result. that the aristocracy, who were wholly opposed to free Parliaments in this country, would sit on one side of the house, and that we, who may be mmaldered of a more democratic party, would take oar 121 3 seats on the other; but I will undertake to say disc if that division should once take place in Parliament, every election would increase the power of the democratic section, and that the remembrance of the treason to the people which would be effected by conduct ruch as this would create an animosity against the ruling class, against which I believe they would be wholly unable to contend. I have now come to the conclusion of the observations I intend to offer you upon these questions. Of myself I must add one or two words. My posilon in reference to this question is just now, u you know, one of heavy revonsillihty. I feel it to be so,—l know it be so. I have been requested by those who believad they repre sented a large amount of public opinion to undertake the preparation of a hill to be submitted to the House of Commons during the coming session. I have not sought the office. I did everything I could to decline it without being guilty of an absolute desertion of what appeared to be my duty. I am told by some that are not friends of mine, and some that are my friends tell me, that I hazard whatever little reputation I have with the public In taking this course. If it be so I an only say that t►e creation or the sustaining of a reputation has never been the great motive in my poLtical life. I have said before, and every de) I am more sensible of it, how ill-qualified I am in many respects for the work I have undertaken, and I am more and more sensible of the almost insur mountable obstacles which lie in the path before me ; but I know that the cause is a just cause. I know that its success is necessary to the great future of this country, and I am perfectly certain that sooner or later it must prevail. From this platform Ido not speak to you only. I speak to all my oonntrymen. If they wish for Reform, if they think me honest, informed, capable upon this piestion,—if they bave any confidence in those with whom I am associated, then let them meet in their cities, their towns, their villages, in country parishes, even where free speech is not forbidden. Let them meet and speak, let them resolve, and let them petition. If they do this I think I con promise them that before long they will be in full possession and in the free exercise of those political rights which are not more necessary to their national interests than they are consistent with the principles of their boasted constitution. The hon. gentleman sat down amid hearty and long continued cheering. His speech occupied about an hour and twenty five minutes in its delivery. Ls soon as Mr. Bright concluded a very general move from the hall commenced. Mr. Alderman SIMPSON was unwilling that the organization now established should pass away with out Manchester showing that example to the country which it bad shown in past times, and which had produced for these islands. great, important, and valuable results. He therefore moved, — That the meeting, composed of the leading and active Reformers of Manchester and its neighbourhood, hereby expresses its desire that a Retwm Association should be at once organized fir the purpose of giving effect to the opinions of this county and district on the question of Reform in the agitation now existing ; that the Banquet General Committee be, and is hereby requested, to take the necessary steps for carrying out the preceding repo• lotion. A short time ago there was an attempt to establish a Reform Associatbn here, but it was limited in its object, contracted in its sphere, and promised always to be small and select, never great and powerful ; but the constituency had it in their power, from the large organization to which this resolution was committed, to have such a Reform Association as would represent the opinions of the great maws of the constituency. Reflect what a powerful answer it would be from auy Prime Minister to be able to say to Mr. Bright, when he brought in his bill, that the voice of Manchester was silent on the question. Many recent events showed that a change had taken place in this city, that the parties to the rejection of the late members were endeavouring to attach them• selves!to their old friends, that they sought repentance carefully and with tears; he would give to them the opportunity of reunion, and he believed that the resolution, if passed, would he enthusiastically received by the great body of reformers here. The motion was seconded by Mr. EDWARD WATICIN, and carried unanimously. Mr. GIBSON moved, and Mr. &war seconded, a vote of thanks to the Chairman, which was carried by acclamations, and the meeting separated with " three cheers for Gibson, Bright, and Cobden." On Wednesday evening Mr. Bright addressed a large meeting at Edinburgh on the same subject. He suid : They were not conspirators—they had no secret societies, and their correspondence was not opened at the Home .office. They had no object but to discuss the question in great meetings like this. They wanted to extend the political rower of the people. In so doing they must necessarily diminish the political power of certain small classes in the country. There was a time when the Crown in Eng land was absolute, and fiom adherence to absolutism one English monarch came to an unpleasant end, and another was driven away ; but the question between tile Crown and the people had been settled. They did not now propose to limit the power of the I Crown, but they did propose to limit the power of the aristocratic classt a, and to do that, not by injuring them, but by atlosing public intell*eee, p u bli c A interests, and pub:ic virtue to play their part in the legislation of the country. Tbey poperld thiply I