The Sun. — London, England, 1863-11-25 00:00:00

ROCJIDALE, MESSRS.. COBDEN AND BRIGHT AT (F }ran the Special Reporters of the limes.) ROCHDALE, Tuesday Night. A cro• m o d public meeting, attended by about 3,000 per sons, vials held at Rochdale this evening, to hear an address from Mr. Cobden, M.P. Mr. Bright was present, and also add_ressed the meeting. The chair was taken by the Mayor of the borough. Mr. CoBDEN, who was received with great cheering, spoke as follows is to me, as your representative, a very kappy and pleasant omen to find my arrival hero greeted by so larvae an assemblage of my friends, It is the least that can b e expected from a member of Parliament that he should once a year meet his constituents face to face to state to them kin views upon the passing events of the day, and to hear front them in a public assembly like this what are their wishes and views with reference to his future conduct. tionerally, when a member makes his annual appearance, it Eie expected that he should have something to say with refer once to the proceedings of the immediately preceding session of Parliament. I should be much at a loss for a text if you confined me to the topics furnished by our proceedings dur ing _ the last sess i on. The b est I can say of the present Par liament is that it is drawing near to its end. (Cheers and laughter,) It failed to perform any service to the country when it was in its prime, and therefore you will not expect anything good from it in its decrepitude. (Laughter.) The eooner it is returned to the country, the better it will be both for the country and for Parliament. Now I think, when a new Parliament meets, it will have to be furnished with Principles from the country. (Hear, hear.) The great lack of the present Parliament is that it is destitute of principle and of purpose, (Cheers.) Probably we, whom I may call the Freetraders of this country—we have a right to call ourselves Freetraders here if we have anywhere--are largely reeponsible for this state of things in Parliament, W I e have been, contrary to our professed principle s, a kind o te m r oenfoa polists of the public arena for nearly th e last quer century. It will be 25 years next m onth since my, h on. friend here to my left, and many ar ound me, first Joined together to commence that effort which has ended now . in the complete recognition of free•trade principles. During of pretty all that time we may be said to have occupied lel ex clusively the attention of political part' an men. We fouled the field occupied by labourers who were advo cating other principles. For instance, there were the advo. cates of Parliamentary Reform, there were the advocates of religious equality, and in the words " religious equality" I erabrace the dealing, for example, with that great and glaring abuse, the Irish Church, which Lord Brougham hi.s denounced as the foulest abuse in any civilized country, (Cheers.) Well, we elbowed out of the way those questions, for we had a question in hand that would not bear delay. W e were advocating a question of bread and employment for the people. (Cheers.) We have accomplished our ob ject ; this present Parliament has finished the work. It had just languid force to carry the last remaining measures to complete the free-trade system, helped a little by the extraneous and rather exceptionable proceeding of a foreign treaty ; but with that aid this present Parliament has t rade, completed the work of free by which I mean that it has settled that great controversy Doubtless there remains as between protection and free trade. to do. Our childr en remains something more must carry on the work. There is still the question of direct and indirect taxation. (Hear.) There is still the question of a l arge re d uc ti on o f expen di ture in the government. But the great controversy as between protection and, free trade is required n to ow be se e t n t d le e d w , e a d nd b I say the . next Parliament w il l be !" )les b y the , oountry when we have another g y ene n r e a w l election. prtne- (Cheers.) Some people say there is great apathy and indif ferencet in th e country. I d on ' t t hi n k t h ere i s any want o f T reat in the coun t ry upon pu bli c a ff a i rs . (H ear , h ear .) ere is a lively interest in the public proceedings of the Itholo world, and the public mind is very demonstrative ; but what 1 observe is that the attention of the country seems to be rather given to the affairs of other nations than to its own. (Hear, hoar.) We are something as a nation as you would be in Rochdale as a borough if your town council were generally employed in discussing the affairs of Preston, Blackburn, or Manchester, instead of its own. It is curious enough that while we are devoting more than ever of our attention to foreign politics, we are still con stantly professing the principle of non-intervention. We he ye non-intervention on our lips, but there is always a de sl.re in the corner of our heart for a little intervention for 'some special object or other abroad. (Hear.) I don't charge this against any particular party or any Government. We have all our little pet. projects of intervention. For instance, some would manage the affairs of the Americans, others would take in charge to regulate the affairs of Poland, others aro interested in Italy ; and so it is that, in spite of our profession of non-intervention, we are in fact, as far as my observation goes, interfering more than ever with the affairs of foreign countries. (Hear, hear.) Borne people say it is the telegrams. They say that Reuter's telegrams are the daily morning dram which stimulates and excites us with 'a greatThattle in America, or a butchery in Poland ; that we have no taste for the simple aliments of which our domestic affairs are made up. For instance, we have at this present moment a party in this country actively advocating an inter ference in the affairs of America. When I say interference, I mean we have a party who advocate either recognition or something which means interference if it means anything. I have seen lately the report of two meetings of constituen cies in the west England, one at Bristol and the other at Plymouth, in which Liberal members have been recom mending that Government should enter into arrangements with some foreign Power in order that they may recognise the Southern States of America, and put an end to the war I observe that the ideas which pervade the public mind—at least, which pervaded it in the two cases I alluded to—is that this affair in America is to be settled in a peculiar way according to the dictates of those particular parties. (Cheers) From the beginning of this lamentable convulsion, from which you have suffered so much, one of the great Nude.- -mental errors in the conduct of statesmen, in the conduct of Governments, and in the conduct of a large portion of the influential classes in this country, has been tbat they have made up their minds there can be but one issue to this war in America, and that is, separation between North and South. I told you when I was here last—when that spirit, i f possible, was more rife than now—that I did not believe the war would issue in that way. I have stated the same opinion since in the House of Commons, yet I declare to you that, looking at what is called in cant phrase London society--rind society is, I must tell you, that upper ten thousand with whom members of Parliament are liable to t ome in contact at the clubs and elsewhere—looking at the rlg ittg class, if I may use the phrase, that you meet in these ""dens in London, nineteen twentieths of them have been t ' re lli l Y Convinced from the first that the civil war in America . „, o f, O n l y end in separation. How far the wish was father that thought I will not pretend to say. (Cheers.) I be lieve thattb•e conviction has been a severe one, that it has been founded on the belief that, looking at the vast extent of territorywas impossible they by the insurgents in the civil war, it could be tiroueilhey could be subjugated by any force that been a moat f a : a against them by the North ; but there has lentable display of ignorance among those classes to which duct of the or referred, if you may judge from the con exponents of th e e, views press, which may be considered the something wonderful, wsi,..:l:heerrorsin geography have been bear no compariso n , asse l ri slaty rivers, with which ours can natural as running into one another in defiance of their exhibited of th e exiat l et. Position, and an utter igno ranceof old cities with 100,000, or 150,000 inhabitants--v ast Shippi ng a mileof ports for raw produce --where I have my self seen steamboats moored side by side. Y our rulin g classes know nothing of this. You don't find it in the books of ioxfor d and Cambridge which the undergraduates are obliged, to study b e f ore th e y lut e' ignorance of can pass their examination. It is in resources that this opini has been con e , more thanany thin g els, has I, t hese ho accident, perhaps, made w ac m (Voirated as well with the statistics band. gee ZraPilY of that and I believe country as of my own, have never believed . Grate nations withi a''t now loss than ever, that I n one in this v n assembly will ever live to see two sep f kinmica. the(Cheers) \e'nfines of the present United States o if it were not Attho same time I tell you candidly that useless the at e been I should—with tho parties upon whose views I berty cause tempt to commenting—regard as hopeless and. If the opinion renders_ subjugate the Southern States. It is the object and urpoee 'with which the war was begun that in my (Cheers.) success to the Secessionists impossible. country had not moral and intellectual population of this they would b een systematically misled upon that question Isre were have been unanimously of that opinion. (Cheers.) a$ once the told in the House of Commons by one who w great champion of democracy and the rights and privileges * of the unsophisticated millions, that this civil war wa s ori ginated because the South wished to est ablish F travelled principles, and the North would not a llow it. I in the United States in 1859 , the year be fore the fatal shot was fired at Fort Sumter, which has had such terrible re • verberations ever since, I visited Washington during, the session of Congress ; now I carry a flag, and wherever 1 go whenever I travel abroad, whether it be in France or America, Austria or Russia, I at once become the centre of all those who have strong convictions and purposes in reference to Free-trade principles. (Hear.) Well, I confess to you what I confessed to my friends when 1 retuned, that I was disappointed when at Washington in 1650 , because there was so little interest felt on the Free-trade question, there was no party formed, no public agitation, the-re wad no discussion whatever upon the sub jest of rtes -trade and Protection The political field was wholly occupi e d b y * question, and that question was slavery. tel ear.) 4 ; . ' n e will mention an illustrative fact which I have not seen cited to my mind it is conclusive on this s ubject. In December, 0, while Congress was sitting, and when the country was - the impending rupture, an agony of suspense, fearing their body, comprising 33 Co ngressappointed memterb. a committee of shre for every State then in the Union.en being re then the Committcelotf Thirty-three, sat from December rum 11, 1860, to January.nto, t 1:61. They were instructed by Congress to inquiremeans be perilous state of the Union, and try to devise some rted. y fshlthe catastroph e of a se cession could be aye Here r 9 eport i ngs of there are 4 of the proceed ings that comm ittee ; pages, I h ave read every line. The re presentatives of the Slave S tates were invited by the repre senta tives of the Free St ates t what were the terms which they to state ca ndidly and fran kl y bontinue peaceable " in the d in order quire t h a t they might on tee their proposition brou g h t Union, In every page y THE SC N, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 25, 1863. I forward, but from beginning to end there is not one syllable said about tariff or taxation (cheers) ; from beginning to end there is not a grievance alleged but that a i ich was connected with the maintenance of slavery. 'I I ere at e propositions calling on the North to give increased secu rity for the maintenance of that institutio a. They are in vited to extend the area of slavery, to ma :e laws by which fugitive slaves should be given up; they are pressed to make treaties with foreign Powers, by which foreign Powers are required to give up fugitive slaves ; but from beginning to end no grievance is mentioned except the one con nected with slavery, It is slavery, slavery, slaver", from the first page to the last. (Cheers.) It is not astonishing that in the face of facts like these any one should have the temerity, with any regard to de cency or any sense of self.respect, to get up in the House of Commons and say secession has been upo n a question of free trade and protection ? This is a war to p er p etuate and extend human slavery. (Cheers.) It is a war not to defend slavery as it was left by their ancestors —I mean a thing to be retained and to be apologised for—it is a war to establish a slave empire in which sla ver y shall be made the corner stone of the social system , and shall be defended and justi fled on scriptural and ethnological grounds. (Cheers.) Well, I say, God pardon the man who in this year of grac e , 1863, should think t hat such a project as that could be crowned with success. (Cheers.) You know that I have from the first never believed it possible that the South could i succeed, and I have not founded that faith upon moral in stincts, which teach us to repudiate the very idea that any thing ao infernal should succeed. No, it is because in this world the virtues and the forces go together, and the vices an d the weaknesses are inseparable. (Cheers,) It is therefore I felt certain that this project never could succeed, for how is it? There is a community with nearly half of its popu lation slaves, and they are attempting to fight another com•• munity where every working man is a free man. It is as though Yorkshire and Lancashire were to enter into con flict, and it was understood that in the case of one all the labourers who did the muscular work of the country, whether in the field or in the factory, whether on the roads or in the domestic establishments, should be not only eliminated from the fighting population, but ready to take advantage of the war either to run away or fight against their own country. How could a community so cir cumstanced fight against a neighbouring country where every working man was fighting for his home? What chance of success would it have, even if left to physical force, without speaking of the moral considerations to which I have referred ? That is the position of two sections of the United States at the present moment. In the one case yoia have honour given to industry ; labour is held to be I:admir able. What are we told ? Have we not heard, ft used as a reproach by some people who fancy theanselves in alliance with the aristocracy, some of our writers who would lead us to suppose that they are of the aristocratic order, that Mr. Lincoln was once a rail splitter. 'Why was a rail split ter raised to be President of the United States? Because labour is held in honour in that country. (Cheers.) With such a conflict going on, and with such a result as I feel no doubt will follow, I fear to speak of such a contest as that as a struggle for empire on one side and for independence on the other. I say it is an aristocratic rebellion against a democratic Government. (Cheers.) That is the title I would give to it, and in all history, when you have had the aristocracy pitted against the people in a physical contest, the aristocracy have always gone down under the heavy blows of the democracy. (Cheers.) Let it not be said I am indifferent to the process of misery and destitution, ruin and bloodshed, now going on in America. No ;my indignation against the South is that they fired the first shot and made themselves responsible for this war. I take probably a stronger view than most people :in this country, and cer tainly a stronger view than anybody in America, of the vast sacrifice of life and of economical comfort and resources which must follow to the North from this struggle. They are mistaken if they think they can carry on a civil war like this, drawing a million men front productive industry to be engaged in a process of destruction, and spending two or three hundred million sterling without a terrible collapse sooner or later, and a great prostration in every part of the community, but that makes me still more indignant and in tolerant of the cause, while of the result I have more doubt than I have on any subject that lies in the future. Why do some people wish that the United States should be cut up in two ? They think it desirable that it should be weakened. Will that view bear discussion for a moment or not ? lam of the opinion which our statesmen were in the time of Canning, who thought it desirable that America should be strong, because it should thereby prevent Euro pean Powers from interfering in American affairs. (Cheers.) That has been the case hitherto. That country has pros pered. It has never come to interfere in European politics, and it has kept European Governments from interfering in other American States, which have not been so prosperous or so orderly as the United States. See what has happened already from this disruption of the United States. You have Franco gone to Mexico. You have Spain gone to St. Domingo. 'Why, there are horrors unutterable now going on in St. Domingo, because Spain has invaded that country with a view to reconquest ; and the French Government has embarked in a career in Mexico which I will only cha racterise as the greatest mistake committed by the present monarch of the country. These enterprises would never have been undertaken if the United States had not been in this civil war, and it is the least creditable part of these two enterprises that they have been undertaken because America was weak. (Cheers.) It only required that the North should have been a little weaker than it was, and then we might have had England and France, and probably other Powers, going to settle the affairs of the Union. Is that reasonable ? Don't you think we have enough to do at home ? Do you think that Europe has so much wischan to spare from the management of her affairs that she can afford to cross the Atlantic to set the New World in order? If so, what is the meaning of the utterances which we have lately heard from Imperial lips calling for a Congress of the Powers of Europe ? And what for ? To form a new pact for the European States, because the arrangement entered into at Vienna is, to use his own terms, torn all to tatters. That is not very consolatory for us. 'We fought for more than 20 years, we spent a thousand millions of treasure in that great war, and the only result we had to show was the Treaty of Vienna, and now we are told that it is all torn to tatters. I say that is not encouraging to enter upon a similar career again. At all events I take it to mean this, that Europe has quite enough to do at home witbout going, at the instigation of silly people, to interfere with the affairs of America. (Loud cheers.) I would not be thought to say one word agains the project of the Emperor of the French to hold a Con gress ; there is one passage in his address which prevents my treating it with unqualified opposition or indifference. For the first time a great potentate, the head of the most military and powerful nation in Europe, has called a Con gress, to devise, among other measures, the means of reduc ing those enormous standing armaments which are the curse and peril of Europe at this time. (Cheers.) But this I would say, that if there should be a Congress, and this part of the programme, a diminution of armaments, is not made the primary and fundamental object of that Congress, I am afraid it would only lead to an increase of the evil. (Hear, hear.) I remember the Congress in 1856, after the Cri mean war, which was to establish peace and enable us to reduce our armaments—we had a Congress in Paris, and they arranged the peace of Europe. What has happened since? There are nearly almillion more men trained o arms in the two services in Europe now than there were before the Crimean war, and England herself has 200,000, besides a gigantic scheme of fortifica tions, such as the world never saw before in one project. One of the objects for which the new Congress is to be called is to arrange the difficulties and troubles in certain European States. There is the case of Poland particularly referred to. Now, lam not unmindful of the claims of Poland or any other country struggling for what they con sider their rights---that is, where they can show a pro gramme of grievances, as I believe the Poles can do; but I have not much faith in the power of any one country to go and settle the affairs of another country upon anything like a permanent basis. This is the ground on which lam such a strong advocate of the principles of non-intervention. It is because intervention must almost in its very nature fail in its object. There are two things wo confound when we talk of intervention in foreign affairs—the intervention is easy enough, v _ but the power to accomplish the object is another main tain ," g• You must take possession of a country in order to '' lll ' l :ea your policy upon it, and that becomes a tyranny of another sort but if you go to intervene in Poland with a view to resc ue that,B the Poles from the attacks of Russia, I an i_ 0 far as England is concerned, you are attempt foree_if7:ussibility ; and if you can't do it by physical certain t , do more do it by war, then I submit that you are by diploma cy rl t T e e harm than good if you attempt to do it on this o ccasio ' n : V Mark what has been done in Poland spatches. 'Unless e have had three Powers writing des threatened with fore taill measures are acceded to Russia is e Zhat has been the effect of that ? It has made the whole people united against these people, but linnet have been so exasperated traateidiately foreigners stepped foreign Powers. They but sot have in ag ya' against t h t a h v e e ir t o h N e vn whole Ituasian , laitutoroused to a patriotic ~,,, them. (Cheers.) withos?pose some outside e beenencouraged frenzy, not to oppose the Poles Powers that ax e attempting to intere!roe. c h e e i p s e th e a f t fo th re e i P gn ol i e n a nl s su , enct, far more perileus to them than • been placed in a pos ition i you had never t rr o h g e o c L ils b c y qu th en e Some interfered at all. (Cheers.) people will say, "Do you intend to leave these evils without a remedy e„ well, I have faith in God, and I think there is a Divine Providence that regulates this world. I don't think Providence h as given it into our hands to execute hi s behests. I think when in Poland or el s ewhere, injustice is done, whether process of injustice is calculated, if left to i tse lf, to p eovaite its own punishment, because injustice produces weakness; injustice produces injury to the parties who commit it. (Cheers.) But do you suppose that the Almighty h as given to this country or any other country the p ower an d re sponsibility of regulating the affairs and remedying the the evils of other countries ? No ; we have not set a sufficiently pure example to be entitled to claim that power. When I see that Russia is burning Polish villages, I am restrained from even approaching them, because I am afraid they will point to Japan, and sound in our ears the word " Kag0811339." Here that word Kagosima brings me to a subject upon which I wish to say one or two words. I see that my noble frend Ithe Secretary to the Admiralty, who always enters upon the defence of any naval abomination with so much cheerful neeB'—'(hear)—tilat really he seems to like the task, he had lately bean speaking at a meeting of his constituents. He alludes to the horrible ma ssacre which took place in Japan, and he says it is quite wrong to suppose that our gallant officers ever intende d to destro y that town, Ka g o sima , with perms, commercial people ; hter.) Unfortunately, h e can 't h ave it was quite its an a l 5 c c o i , d o 0 0 : t. rich, j P a r u c; road the despatch which appeared in the Gazette, addressed to his own department, where it is stated that Admiral Kuper threatened the Japanese envoys who came on board the admiral's vessel the day before the bombardment that if they did not accede to the demands made upon them he woald next day burn their city. The conflagration was only carrying out the threat. But there is another circumstance in connexion with that affair, for which I feel greatly ashamed, —the stealthy, shabby, mean way in which it was managed to make it appear that the Japanese were the aggressors. Lord Russell's instructions to Admiral Kuper were that he might go and take the Japanese prince's ships of war, or ho might shell his palace or he might shell his forts. Ho does not tell him to do all these things; he was to demand satisfaction, and, in case satisfaction wore not given, it was suggested to him to do certain things by way of reprisals I and one of the things was to take the ships belonging to this prince. Well, the ships were moored—hid, as it were —concealed away at some distance from the city, and steamers wore sent by our admiral to seize these vessels, and they were not within miles of the fort which has been firing on our ships. Had the admiral contented himself with seizing these ships, which were three steamers of great value bought from Europeans, and waited to see whether this had brought the prince to his senses, there would have been no conflagration. But how did he act ; he lashes these steamers alongside his own, and then with his whole fleet goes under the batteries of the Japanese, and waits for several hours, and when the Japanese fire on him, he says that the honour of the British flag required that he should at once commence to bombard the place because he had been attacked first. I remember that during our last war with the Burmese precisely the same manoeuvre was resorted to—the only ship of war belonging to the Burmese Government was seized by our officers under their forts, and because they fired on our vessels in the act of carrying off their whole navy it was said they commenced the %, , :ar, and the honour of the British flag required immediate bombard ment of the place. Now, let us suppose that a French fleet came off Portsmouth and took tb leo of our ships of war at Spithead and lashed tb . r .,Lo alongside their steamers, and then came withi n• iange of our forts at Portsmouth. If the commander of these forts did not immediately attack the ;Tench with all his available resources he would assuredly be hung up to his own flagstaff on the first occa sion. (Cheers.) Is it not deplorable that we English directly we get east of the Cape of Good Hope lose all sense of honour, morality, or Christianity. (Cheers.) We resort to all the meanness and chicanery, and treachery, with which we accuse those Oriental people of practising upon us. We forget what De Tocqueville says in speaking of some proceedings of ours in India. He said "You ought not as Englishmen and Christians to lower yourselves to the level of that people. Remember your sole title to be there at all is because you are supposed to be superior to them," (Hear, hear.) Do you suppose these things can be done by an Englishman with impunity? Do you think there is no retributive justice that will mete out vengeance to us as a people if we continue to do these deeds, giving no redress, showing no compunction ? There is a writer at the Oxford University, one who writes bold truths in the most effective language, and who is writing for the instruc tion of the next generation of statesmen—l mean the Pro fessor of Modern History, Mr. Goldwin Smith, treating of this very subject, says " There is no example, I beli3ve, in history, from Imperial Rome down to Imperial France, of a nation which has trampled out the rights of others with out ultimately forfeiting its own." (Cheers). Do you think those maxims which we tolerate in the treatment of three, four, or five hundred millions of people in the East will not turn back to curse us in our own daily lives, and in our own political organisation ? We have acquired India by con quest and by means which no Englishman can look back upon with satisfaction. You hold India. Your white races are ruling that country, and has it ever occurred to you at what cost you rule ? We have lately had a report of the sanitary state of the army in India, from which it appears, if you take into account the losses we sustain in that country, by fever, debauchery, ennui, and climate, not by war, you are holding India at a cost of killed and wounded, if I may be permitted to use the term, of a couple of battles of Waterloo every year. Is not that a tremendous responsibility, accompanied by a tremendous evil ? Are you to allow your lawless adventu rers to penetrate into China and Japan and commit outrages there upon the natives ? The history of our proceedings in China at this time are as dishonourable to us as a nation as were the proceedings of Spain in the times of Cortes and Pizarro. When Pizarro went to Peru they did not commit greater Outrages than Englishmen are now doing in China. You have them mixing themselves in this civil war and rebellion for the sake of loot, and aiding the Chinese Go vernment in storming defenceless towns. These things are done at so great a distance that you do not feel them or see them, or know your responsibility; but the evil will find you out, and find out your children. I remember when in the House of Commons I brought forward the conduct of our agents at Canton, who were opposing the authority of the Chinese Government. I was met by the present Prime Minister with this argument—Why doyen have such sym pathy with this Chinese Government? It is so detestable a Government, the lives and property of the people are so in secure, that you can buy a substitute for a few hundred dollars if you are ordered to be executed. Another time I get up and oppose giving assistance to the present Tartar Government, when I am taunted by the same Minister with defending the Taepings—odious monsters I —to whom he applied all the epithets which he formerly applied to the Chinese Covernment. How is it that our Government is found in alliance with the most odious Governments of the world ? There is the Government of Turkey, which is our especial pet and protege ; there is the Government of China ; we have lately been interfering to help the Emperor of Morocco out of his difficulties ; and the Govern ment of Austria—which is only a Government and an army, and not a nation—is always our special pet ally. Why should the English people be identified with these proceedings? I will only say one word before I sit down upon a subject which I hope to see the order of the day again. lam talking very much against my own principles upon these distant questions. I want to see our attention called back to our own domestic affairs. I consider, notwithstanding the attempt to shelve it, that which lies at the bottom of all others is a reform in the representation of the country. (Loud cheers.) It has been a fashion of late to talk of an extension of the fran chise as something not to be tolerated, because it is assumed that the mass of the people are not fitted to take a part in government, and they point to America, and France, and other places, and draw comparisons between this country and other countries. Now I hope I shall not be considered revolutionary, because at my age I don't want any revolu • lions. They won't serve me, lam sure, or anybody that belongs to me. England may compare very favourably with most other countries if you draw the line in society tolerably high, and if you compare the condition of the rich and upper classes of this country, or a considerable portion of the middle classes, with the same classes abroad. I don't think a rich man, barring the climate, which is not very good, could be much happier anywhere else than in Eng land; but when my opponents treat this question of the franchise as one that is likely to bring the masses of the people down from their present state to the level of other countries, I say that I have travelled in most civilised coup. fries, and that the masses of the people of this country do not compare so favourably with the masses of other contr. tries as I could wish, I find in other countries a greater number of people with property than there are in England. I don't know a Protestant country in the world where the masses of the people are so illiterate as in England. These are not bad tests of the condition of a people. It is no use your talking of your army and navy, your exports and your imports; it is no use telling me you have a small portiox of your people exceedingly well off. I want to bring the test to a compari son of the majority of the people with a majority of the peo ple in other countries. Now, I say with regard to some things in foreign countries we don't compare favourably. The condition of the English peasantry has no parallel on the face of the earth. (Hear.) You have no other peasantry but that of England which is entirely divorced from the land. There is no other country in the world where you will not find men holding the plough and turning up the furrow upon their own freehold. I don't want any agrarian outrages by which we should change all this ; but this I find, and it is quite consistent with human nature, that wherever I go the condition of the people is generally pretty good, in com parison with the power they have to take care of themselves, and if you have a class entirely divorced from political power, while in another country they possess it, they will be treated there with more consideration, they will have greater advantages, they will be better educated, and have a better chance of having property, than in a country where they are deprived of the advantage of political power. (Hear.) It is more than 30 years since our Reform Bill was passed, and we must remember that during that time great changes have taken place in other countries : nearly all your colo nies in that time have received representative institutions; they are much freer in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada; much freer in their representative system than we are in England, and 30 years ago they were entirely under the tutelage of our Colonial-office. Go on the continent and you find there wide extensions of political franchise. Italy is more free, Austria even is stirring its dry bones; obli you have all Germany now more or less invested with t p i oliti P c o a w l popular sovereignty, and I say that, with all our boasted maxims of superiority as a self-governing people, maintain gedto our relative t r h a a n t k we in dar th e e no w t world, intrust 1 r w e e are den ' all con d.acna s .lg id er e o ra u b a l u e s p e ar o t f o i f t t . h b e e p s o id p e u s la b ti e o a n r o i f n t m hi i s n e d oun th t a ry t wbitthhpooluir epra,rtfibers fe b a o r it the o y ur sh a o r,i u s l t d oc m ra a t k ic e p a a r r e ti v e o s lu h t a i N o_ e n o a a r l y re a a n dy d extension of the n e e classes in this cot: pledged themselves made to recommend from her throne the Queen has been to an extension of the franchise ; the they do not fulfil th rY os mendations; and tome yield to violence and clamou r sound statesmanship. to do tranquilly in proper season. (Cheers.) alwaysextent the manningmasses s of r risk k e franchise. You have placed the governing in the wrong for all future time, if peoo a up r l o e t f h r e o r ra th th e , y ee will be obliged to e d promises and adopt those recom wuhallt I think you ought, in present 1 (1 y i ou y e ana l voluntarily, and of that sag e ncroZ are old which a yfureadrneyethoithe Conservative statesman once spoke of in the House of Com mons when he said, "I am afraid we shall have an ugly rush some day." (Laughter.) Well, now, I want to avoid that "ugly rush." I would rather do the work tranquilly and do it gradually— (hear)—but all this will be done by people out of doors and not by Parliament, and it would be folly for you to expect the House of Commons to take a single step in the direction of a reform until a great desire and disposition are, manifested for it out of doors. When that day comes you will not want your champions in the House of Commons. (Cheers.) You hallo one of them here ; you could not have a better. (Renewed cheers.) He and I began work at the same time, but I had the misfortue to be seven or eight years older. (A laugh.) Now, he has a good Reform Bill in hini yet—(laughter)—but I ant not sure that I shall live to be able to afford you much help in the matter. Before I sit down I congratulate you that the pros pects and condition of the community are not so bad as they were last year, and I hope they may not be worse than they are now. (Cheers.) I think the manner in which you have borne the ordeal through which you have passed has been creditable to employers and employed. Some men rise in the world by adversity; I think you have done so. You have shown that you are able to bear yourselves manfully against a very cruel and sudden disaster. I do not think that what has occurred will be without its significance even in a political point of view. (Hear.) I have heard in a ll directions that so far as you are concerned in Lancashire the conduct, the bearing, the manliness, the fortitude, the self-respect with which you have borne the ordeal through which you have pasted commend you to the favourable con sideration of those who have th e p ower t o e nl ar ge the poli tical franchise of this country, (Hear, hear.) I think that what you are going through will have another salutary consequence. It is a cruel suspense to which you are sub jected with cotton at is 8d or 2s:a lb., instead of at 5d or 6d ; but be assured that it is working its own cure, and in a way to place the great industry of this country upon a much more secure foundation than before. The Cotton Supply Association in Manchester has rendered a service to this district and to humanity, which prob a bly it will be hardly possible to trace through future ages, by sending cotton seed to that portion of the world where cotton can be grown, and by making the natives acquainted with the use of machi nery necessary to clean it. By such means, I have no doubt that in addition to a supply of cotton that will sooner or later come from the valley of the Mississippi, from African free labour—(cheers) —for I sincerely hope there will never be another cotton seed planted in the ground, with a view to your future supply, by e. slave in America—(cheers) — you will be supplied with the article essential to your com fort and prosperity to a larger extent, on better terms, and with a more secure basis than you ever enjoyed before. (Loud cheers.) The EX-MAYOR of Rochdale moved a resolution, declar ing that the Parliamentary conduct of Mr. Cobden had the thorough approval of his constituents. The resolution was seconded by Mr. H. KELSALL, and carried by acclamation with one dissentient. The MAYOR then called on Mr. BRIGHT, who was received with great cheering. lie said—A remark has been already made on a fashion just now prevailing, which is to say that at present there is no such thing as politics in the country—that there are no abuses to remove and no grievances to redress—that the lines which divided contending parties are obliterated, and that statesmanship is no longer waisted in regard to convic tions on legislation; but that we want clear-headed clerks who shall administer the departments of the Government. If we are arrived at this political ruilleniuna I might ask, why such a vast concourse of persons within this building certainto-n ighta?rtis(tBl,lesatur,dhioesa, if I ugly so speak , which are to ber.) I fear that this picture which I have been partly describing is on e which has come from found rather in Downing-street than elsewhere, and that it is repeated through the country because it has been echoed by a very partial press. My notion is that there are many facts in connection with the country which show that this picture is not true, and that there are still questions which it is worth our while to discuss. (Hear, near.) This is called a very rich country, sad there are in it many very rich men. At the same time there are in it, apparently per manently, no less than 1,000,000 of paupers, without reckoning the, I hope, temporary distress which prevails in this county—and there are, besides this number, at least 1,000,000—1 suspect much more than 2,000,000—0 f men, women, and children who are always on the very verge of pauperism. Now, if we take the real condition of the bulk of the people, if we regard the houses in which they live, if we remember the fact, already alluded to, that so many of them have no property, if we can scan narrowly the state of public instruction among the masses of the people, and if we compare this with the abundance and the luxury of other classes, I fear wo shall come to the conclusion, and I hope we shall, that there is some thing yet to be done by legislation in this kingdom to improve the condition of the great body of the people. (Cheers.) If now, when we are all so happy, and there are no parties and no politics, but everything has been set tled as everybody wishes, it is still necessary to collect from the taxpayers not less than about £70,000,000 sterling a year to manage the Government of this country, then I think it is probable that in that direction we might exercise some superintendence with beneficial results. (Hear.) If we look abroad and see that in this country, so industrious anti so rich, the soil, which is in every country the source of power and of freedom, is every year getting into fewer hands, then I think we may suspect that further legislation might be applied with advantage to improve the condition of the whole population. Again, if we choose to cross the Channel and see there a people whose government the Par liament of Great Britain has undertaken for a long period, and particularly for 60 years past, I think we shall see a state of things which is not flattering to the legislation or the administration of this country; we shall fled there not only that Church which I believe nearly every leading man of the Liberal party in this country during the last 30 years has justly described as a scandal to Christianity, as well as to legislation—we shall find not that only, but a people so despairing of their country that they break all the bonds of family, and all the ties which bind men in ordinary cases to their native soil, and they flee by thousands aerate the un known and mysterious ocean to a country which it is the fashion of leading and powerful men here to point to as one whose example we ought to avoid in every possible manner. These Irishmen are now very much in the position, with regard to land, that the agricultural population of this country are in, divorced to a large extent from their native soil ; their soil is in the possession of men, for the most part, to use a phrase of the late Lord Lyndhurst, but to reverse its application, who are alien to them in religion and in race ; you find after so much discussion with regard to Ireland for many years past, that its population is making its escape as fast as possible to the United States of America ; and if the United States were to send transport ships to Ireland, and offer to carry every Irishman and every Irish woman and child free of cost to the United States, and to send them on to the lands of the West, I am not certain that there would be men enough left in Ireland at the end of the year to cul tivate one-half of its soil ; but more than all this, we have 7,000,000 of men who are upwards of 20 or 21 years of age in the United Kingdom, and 6,000,600 have no more direct political power through our present organization than if they lived in the most despotic country in Europe. (Cheers.) It is odd, it is most strange, that this country e' which is the parent , and boasts t hat it is the parent, of r presentative institutions for almost all the world—shoul thus for some cause which we und erstand, but which power d ful people in this country often wish to conceal, shut out its own children from the franchise and from the right to have that which every Englishman becomes immediatelyp ately heir to if he passes to any of our colo nies, or i f he to the United States. Now, if representa tion is not a blun der, if the voice of a people in a free country is to be re garded as the voice of God to legislators 3/14 ru l e rs, I ask you--not non-electors only, not the unenfranchised ce here , but the enfranchised—if there is not a great grievan - which it becomes us to attend to and redr ess? For s=°l°y_e_a.rios past there has been no violent show of discontent, IT lence is an immense influence—in the House of Commons it it very much spoken against, but unfortunately with too many Governments, ours among the rest, it is the thing they pay most attention to. (La u g hter.) The last victory which we, the people of England, obtained over our heredi tary masters was the repeal o f the Corn Laws. There are many persons now, young men and young women, who have not the least idea what that law was. Without entering into any minute description of it, I will say that it was a law which had no parallel for cruelty and wickedness, ex cepting that institution in the United States of America which is now crumbling into ruin beneath the wrathful judgment of Heaven. (Cheers.) 'Well, the result of the re peal of that law and of other measures it necessarily led to was an immense increase in the trade of this country. I don't attribute all the inc rease to these changes, but the main portion of it, I believe , m aybe fairly attributed to them. It is an increase so great that your exports and imports have been more than doubled, nay, have nearly trebled, within the last 20 years, and the resu lt of the increase of trade has s been that the middle classes, the shopkeepers, manufa turers, brokers, merchants, and persons connected with shipping have all had a wider field fer their occupation, and have been, therefore, on the whole, much more prosperous than they were before. At the same time, as a matter of course, to provide for thes e increased exports and the in creased internal trade, there h as been much greater demand for labour; work has been more steady to the workmen, and wages, I believe, in every part of the country have considerably increased. This naturally would lead to less of that discontent which we saw in fottriet years; but it does not in the least degree lessen the claims st , the part of the great body of the people to the ir share of poltleell power. (Cheers.) On the contrary, it increases the force of that claim, for if they are better in their circumstances and if they are more educated, which is tho natural result of greater prosperity, then they are more likely to make a wise use of whatever political power may be intrusted to their hands. (Cheers.) But the wish has been so general and so notorious, and the demand has been so just, that nobody who has had the management of the affairs of the country has dared to deny the justice of it ; and you know that in ISSB a Government com posed of those whom we understand to be the avowed foes of reform, yielding to that general wish, proposed a bill which they considered to be, in some sense, a bill of reform. Now, lam obliged to speak disrespectfully of that bill. I think it was a very dishonest bill, It was intended, by doing nothing, to somehow or other get up the idea that they had done something, in order that the year after nothing more should be done. (Laughter.) The Parliament of that year —and it was approaching its end —though it was not a very old one, and, perhaps, it did not know that it was approach ing its end—the Parliament of that year rejected the bill, and the Government of that day called a new Parliament ; but, to Its groat dismay, that new Parliament followed up the practice of the old one, and actually rejected the authors of the bill, and Lord Derby's Government came to an igno minione end. (Laughter.) You recollect that there was a resolution introduced into the old Parliament which con demned their bill, and thus forced on a dissolution. When the new Parliament met another resolution was introduced, which being carried caused the extinction of that Govern ment; but both these resolutions pledged all the leaders and followers of the Liberal party, and both Parliaments, to carry a satisfactory measure of reform. What followed ? There was a great to do about who should come in. 'you have no idea of the scene in the Londonelubs when it is a question of who shall come in. (Laughter.) I know what sort of scene it is a t the Reform Club. There are a great many mete at the Re, form Club who look with intense interest to the advent of what they call a " Liberal Government ;" and it especially causes great excitement among expectant lawyers. (Laugh ter.) I believe at the Carlton Club there is just as much ex citement, and the hall of the club is like an exchange or a fair, and everybody can tell you of some rumour. One statement was that Lord Granville had been sent for, and I believe it was true, to make a Government ; but it was found that the old stagers, like Palmerston and Russell, did not wish to serve under a man so much their junior in politics, and therefore he found himself unable to form a Govern ment. Another story was, "that the Queen did not like Lord Palmerston because it was known that he did not like the Prince Consort." (Hear, hear.) And another story was that she did not like Lord J. Russell because Lord John was rather capricious. He went out of Lord Aberdeen's Government without giving three months' warning. (Laughter.) I am only giving you the rumours. (Laughter.) It happened that Lord Palmerston was supposed to be much less friendly to the question of Reform than Lord J. Russell, and the great powerful Whig families, without whom no Whig Government can live. They can live for a long time without the great constituencies supporting them, but not without the great Whig families. They were more in favour of Lord Palmerston, so Lord Palmerston came in, and he has remained in ever since. What was done ? Nothing that Session, there was not time. But the next Session came round. Time, you know, is inexorable, it comes round and makes its demands ; and it made its demand upon this Go vernment and for this bill that had been promised, and a bill was brought in. It was not a very large bill, but it was not a fraudulent bill. It was a bill that was perfectly honest to the extent that it went, and as such I believe all the other persons honestly in favour of reform gave it what support they could. It passed a second reading, The principle of the bill was, therefore, affirmed by the House of Commons with out a division, and then it got late in the session and the bill was withdrawn. Then came the next session, and there was the Qeeen's Speech without any reference to reform. Lord J. Russell got up in the House of Commons and made a speech in which he said they were not going to do anything on reform, and I certainly felt very much pained with the language he used, which I thought was not so respectful to the friends of reform as they had a right to expect from him. (Hear, hear.) The question therefore was repudiated ; all those promises were violated. From that time to this, as you know, the question has been put aside by this so-called Liberal Government, and I am sorry to say that a great many newspapers which call themselves Liberal, and great supporters of the Government, appear to do their best to pre vent the question taking gi ound again. Let us look a little at thelmode in which things work in this country, where the people are led alternately by one section of the aristocracy and by another. If you go back to what they call the very glorious Revolution of 1688, and trace the history of this country down to 1830, the time of the Reform Bill—a period of 140 years—you will find that the Government of this country was purely and solely aristocratic. The popular influence through representation might be said to be almost nothing. During that time those great families revelled in a taxation and patronage which were every year increasing (hear, hear), and I believe it is a fact to be demonstrated from the history of the peerage that at least half of the present families of the House of Lords owe their political existence to the slime and corruption of that period. (Cheers.) Now, this aristocracy, as you are aware, is divided into two parties. The Tory party is the most numerous; the Whig party is the least numerous, but has been generally, 1 think, the most intelligent. From the time of the accession of George 111., in 1760, to the Reform Bill in 1830—a period of 70 years—the Tories possessed without interrup tion power and offices in the State, and the Whig families, more liberal and intelligent, were almost entirely excluded. When there came, therefore, the great movement of 1830, 1831, and 1832—reform, it was consistent with all the prin ciples of the Whig aristocracy, as it was clearly in favour of their political interests, to join with the people in demanding and carrying a measure of reform they did so join them, and that measure of reform was carried. Since 1830 the wheel has been entirely turned round, and the Whigs have been for the most part at the top and the Tories have been for the most part at the bottom. Now, the Whigs, when they are in office, are not precisely the same kind of people that they are whea they are out of office. (Cheers.) Their con tentment is something wonderful ; they believe that the Constitution has attained its highest excellence. (Hear.) I recollect one of their own writers describes them, and uses some lines which I once quoted many years ago, though I did not quote those lines against the Whigs then, but was obliged to make a little change in them to make them apply to somebody else. (Laughter.) Speaking of this contentment of the Whigs when they get into office, he says " As bees on flowers alighting cease their hum, So, settling into places, Whigs are dumb." (Laughter.) Now, it I speak of Lord John 11 ussell, lam sorry to say he is no longer known by his old name, but Earl Russell of the Foreign-office. It must not be supposed that I speak of him with disrespect, although when I refer to what has been done in this matter it is not without pain. Ho is not exactly the same sort of man in office that he is when out of office. (Hear, and laughs er.) I have sat near him often when he was in office, and I was led to believe what I even now believe, that there is in him, notwith standing some capriciousness and some error, a genuine love of popular rights. I think it may be said of him, looking back to his history, that ancestral voices speak to him of freedom. (Hear, hear.) Well, when he is out I have known him insist on reform. I have known him unite with me and others in an attempt, and a successful attempt, to overthrow the Government which was not willing to gran us such reform as we thought necessary. But then again, when he is in office, in high responsible office, we see him taking a survey of the political landscape, in which he, I must admit, has done something, and we find that his con tentment finds expression in the phrase " Rest and be thankful." (Laughter.) Now, I hope lam not unthank ful for many blessings which we in this country enjoy, for security of person and property, freedom to speak, freedom to write. I hope lam one who will never be unthankful for many blessings which we now have, and which those who lived before us didn't enjoy, and if sometimes I see Content sit basking on the cheek of Toil—if I find the reward of in dustry greater than it was when I first stood before a meet ing of my townsmen, and have been permitted to put even a feeble hand to that good work—(cheers) —personally, I may say that I wish for " rest." To me it seems often that it would be an inexpressible relief if I were never more asked to stand on a platform, or see the fa rce of representa tion annually enacted in the new Palace at Westminster but thankfulness and rest in the conditionof this country I hold to be not only a folly, but a guilt. (Cheers.) I would ask you whether mankind, as it is with us now, is at its highest point. Are we, any of us, content with the real condition of the great bulk of our population ? Can legis lation and civilisation carry us no further and no higher ? Are we so used to, accustomed to ignorance and poverty that we do not see it? lam to ld that the bastard chivalry of the South is unconscious of t he sufferings of the negro, though it astonishes the world, and cries to Ilisaven for remedy. I have known that the landowners of Ireland h a v e lived in ignorance al to g ether of the misery of their perishing- Teasantry. I ash, shall we believe that it is ten unchangeable decree of the Most High that more than one half of the population of this country shall live in houses of not more than £5 yearly value, and that their children shall grow up in comparison with those of the wealthy classes to a largo extent uncared for and untaught; that life with them shall be but one long struggle to live, and that the sunshine which falls across and athwart our path shall only to them be the gilding of the land which they see afar off, but which they cau never hope to attain ? (Loud cheers.) I believe that if the people of this country were really repre sented, if the wisdom and justice of the English people, and not the prejudices and selfishness of classes, directed the in ternal and external policy of this land, we should find the great bulk of our people raised in a few years to a much higher platform of comfort, inte;ligence, morality, and in dependence than has ever yet been known in the realm of England. (Loud cheers.) I believe, for example, that, if the people were thoroughly represented, five years would not elapse—probably three years would not elapse--before there was established a system of education, universal and complete, for all the people equal to that which now stands alone in the world, that which is offered to the people of New England States of North America. If that were so, we should find that the self-respect of the people greatly increased, and we should just find that which Mr. Cobden described when he said that every man would receive more consideration from every other man than the great body of the working men in England now received from many above them in position. On all these points I believe improvemen as we are is going on; but the course I am endeavouring to re commend to you would, in my opinion, accelerate that ',regress in a degree to which few of us can now give credit I with say, if we were fairly represented, that feudalismdlitshme with regard Li the people of England would perishi, fl ri g ora and serfdom ht and agricultural labors. er throughout the United ly - hich t l up that poverty would be redeemed Irene to this time have been his lot- It wouhtl andtak a condition of take a long speech to go into the eubjec a s we have such that unfortunate class. But with laws s e great politi which are intended to bring vast tracts may excreta session of one man, that one man of land. into the pos poverty and degrade cal power. That system is a currseettuoatlhe country, and dooms the agricultural labourer to T o . u p t. r arliaruent was a fair and Lion. I think, further, that uccess with regard to our foreign honest representation ot theicountry, it would be possible to a ppeal. to it with more s polio. That policy would then be much more moral, It • would not be only geographically moral, as it is now—moral in Europe, where immorality would be dangerous, but very immoral at the east of the Cape of Good Hope, where immo rality is believed to be safe. If we could appeal to a majo rity of the people of England having votes for Parliament, I believe they would condemn with an almost unanimous voice the errors and crimes which the power of England is constantly committing and is now engaged in in the Eastern Seas. (Cheers.) If that were so, your £70,000,000 of taxes might very well be reduced by many millions. Those articles which the great body of the people consume so much of, and which are heavily taxed, 'would come to them much cheaper, and every million left at home and spent at home., and every million now wasted, would be employed in some profitable industry which would give increased em ployment because of the greater demand for labour, and give higher wages and a more independent position to the work ing man in every part of the kingdom. (Hear, hear.) I bear a great deal about the excellence of our institutions. 'We are taught to thank God that we are not—you recollect who did that—as other men are. We alter his exclamation and say, "Not even as this republican." (Laughter and cheers.) I have heard a very intelligent man say, who looked with a pretty impartial eye at what was doing with regard to some of tho English institutions, "The rich enjoy them and the poor endure them." (Cheers.) I confess I care very little for institutions or constitutions which look only at the rich and great, which neglect or stand in terror of the great mask; of the people. I disbelieve in efforts, however full of benevolence and individual excellence, which aim to raise the people by private or public charity. To me it ap pears that the largest donations of the rich afford but a tem porary and almost momentary relief to the poor, and as it is said that no man can redeem his brother or give to God a ransom for him, so I believe that no class can raise or save another class but by freedom and justice, and that the work ing men of England will never stand on their rightful ground until they are invested with the powers and with the dignity of citizenship, for " 'Tis Jehovah's plan That only manhood ever makes a man." I think we all have a right to complain that on this ques • tion of the political rights of the people we have been be trayed. (Cheers.) If I were disposed to be angry at the distance of three years time, I might say we suffered some thing very much like an insult, and if you were to turn back now and refer to the language of the debate when that bill was being discussed in the House o f Commons, you would agree with me in saying that the tone of some of the speakers was so insulting—mostly on the other side of the house — that in times of great excitement it might have been held to be little less than revolutionary. Now, is there a moral law for statesmen and administrations? Because if there be I sus pect some penalty will have to be exacted for this betrayal. The Whig party is admitted by its confidential friends and warmest admirers to be in a sickly state. It is an enfeebled and sickly party, and a political party which is enfeebled and sickly does not go long in that position without being despised. (Applause.) Look at the recent elections. If a man goes down to offer himself to a constituency with spe cial recommendations from the Prime Minister, and is proved to demonstration to be a most remarkable statesman by the press of the Prime Minister, he is nearly sure to be rejected. The constituencies are getting tired of shams — and I know it for a fact that in many constituencies some of the most earnest and excellent men who have fought the good fight of many previous contests are so shocked and disgusted with the course taken by the Government, parti cularly with regard to this great question of reform, that they come to any new contest with a languishing zeal, or stay at home and won't take the trouble to ascertain who is about to be returned. When a party gets into that condi tion you must be sure their end is not far off ; and I am afraid this Government now remains in power chiefly by the toleration of a section of the Tories who don't happen to like the only men among them who can be of any great ser vice to them in the House of Commons. 'When tho break up comes we shall be handed over, I presume, to the ancient and avowed foes of freedom, till the Liberal party is purified by a prolonged and deserved humiliation. (Loud cheers.) lam afraid that some of you who hope for better things will say that I have drawn but a very unpleasant picture of the state of affairs, not at all consistent with the advantages held in such great admiration in Downing-street; but it' this picture be a gloomy one I think there is a light beyond the gloom—(hear) —though our laws are the same, though Parliament is elected exactly as it has been for the last 30 years, notwithstanding this opinion will have become so powerful, that at the occurrence of tho first accident it will demand to be established by Parliament and by law. The right is conceded. Lord Derby and Dlr. Disraeli, Lord Palmerston himself and Earl Russell—all have conceded that it is necessary that there should be an extension of the franchise to some considerable portion of the people who are now unonfranchised, and it' this be admitted by the universal voice of Parliament, then I am quite sure that there will come some accident before long which will make that which is now only a hope, a reality to us. (Cheers.) But there is one point of this question to which I must refer before I sit down, and that is, that the enemies of popular right and power have been pointing to the dreadful proof which is afforded in America, that an extended suffrage is a thing to be shunned as the most calamitous thing possible to a country. I won't refer to the speeches that have dwelt with this question in this manner, or to newspapers which have so treated it. I believe now that a great many people in this country are beginning to see that those who have been misleading them for the last two or three years have been profoundly dishonest or profoundly ignorant. (Cheers.) Ii I stn to give my opinion upon it I should say that which has taken place in America within the last three years affords the most triumphant answer to charges of this kind. Let us see the Government of the United States. I might say a good deal in favour of it in the South even, but we will speak of the free States. In the North they have a suffrage which is almost what here would be called a man hood suffrage; there are frequent elections, vote by ballot, and 10,000, 20,000, and 100,000 persons vote at an election. Will anybody deny that the Government at Washington as regards its own people is the strongest Government in the world at this hour? (Cheers.) And for this simple reason, because it is based on the will, and the good will, of an instructed people. (Cheers.) Look at its power I I am not now discussing why it is, or the cause which is develop ing this power; but power is the thing which men regard in these old countries, and which they ascribe mainly to European institutions ; but look at the power which the United States have develo p ed I They have brought men. into the field, they have built more ships for their navy, they have shown greater resources than any nation in Europe at this moment is capable of. Look at the order which has prevailed at their elections,at which as you see by the papers, 50,000 or 100,000, or 250,000 persons voting in a given State, with less disorder than you have soon lately in three of the smallest boroughs in England—Barnstaple, Windsor, and Andover. (Laughter and cheers.) Look at their industry. Notwithstanding this terrific struggle, their agriculture, their manufactures, and commerce pro ceed with an uninterrupted success. They aro ruled by a president chosen, it is true, not from some worn-out royal or noble blood, but from the people, and the one whose truthfulness and spotless honour have claimed him univer sal praise, and now the country that has been vilified through half the organs of the press in England during the last three years, and was pointed out too as an example to be shunned by many of your statesmen, that country, now in mortal strife, affords a haven and a home for multitudes flying from the burdens and the neglect of the old Governments of Europe--(cheers)—and when this mortal strife is over—. when peace is restored, when slavery is destroyed, when the Union is cemented afresh, for I would say in the language of one of our own poets addressing his country, " The grave's not dug where traitor hands shall lay, In fearful haste, thy murdered corse away" —(loud cheers) —then Europe and England may learn that an instructed democracy is the surest foundation of govern ment, and that education and freedom are the only sources of true greatness and true happiness among any people. (Immense cheering.) A vote of thanks to the mayor, presiding, closed the pro ceedings. A SCOTTISH MUSICIAN AMONG THE JAPANESE --A letter from Yokohama, dated Sept. 11, says : , 4 311,r. Marquis Chisholm, musical artiste, a native of Glas gow; arrived here from China a few weeks ago, and is giving c encerts, attended with great success. Mr. Chisholm is t h e fi rs t ousical artiste who has visited this remote part of the world, r: nd the astonishment of the community, both native and forei n, was somewhat wonderful at the an nouncement ;3' of a series cf concerts about to be given, at a time when nt.' European dare safely venture out at night unless armor.'to the teeth. At Nagasaki Mr. Chisholm performed before an audience of Japanese Reveral of Prince Satsuma's alone, amongst whom were . officers, who scarce eight days bi. fore fought at the battle of Kagosima. The artiste did all humour of his peculiar audience, bi:t German,aaldtagayn, he could to catch the French, English, Scotch, and Irish musi. I(3A -fallen musi they listened to with the greatest indiffere: g:anavde made the following communication to the tree 0 go catchie cian in pigeon English :—' Coolie (servant). ca ..1). Sing (fetch) one placie (one) sing-song girl (si r ng: u ng g.. r on. , at length This song girl come, makie muchie more ab:tteesa, i for next mo:uent was Mr Chisholm 's cue to his ©harmoniumat an imitation Of g i r l s —and every girt there th e ly iproceeded notesf rom o f h t i hie e l a s e r g sn l ngin s 1 a d tke rude accompaniment of in Japan is a singing girx - e d gu itars, so real that the their little, wiry, three -str i ng bless attention; after which several of erlectrified, and istened to the per d that the instrument be dissected, rays e revealed to them, a request which complied with on the part of our clever l ft i oh s re t m e e n ao e nn i r cs company wereawni;hd demanded ea o /idt was goo finding nothing to warrant their suspi countryman, ef!ien, instrument , o • their being a Js.panese concealed inside, and the d nv°ctame to the conclusion that after all our friend was ' a good-dndaetuuredly . , they musician devil from the west,' and at a late hour sent a military escort to see him to his residence in the English settlement unmolested. [A D VERTISEMENT.] —Holloway's Pills and Ointment.-- A frequent cause of gout and rheumatism is the inflamma tory state of the blood, attended with bad digestion and general debility. A few doses of these Pills, takes. in time, are an effectual preventative against gout and rheumatism ; but any one who has an attack of either should use Hollo way's Ointment also, the powerful properties of which, com bined with the effect of the Pills, must infallibly effect a cure. These Pills act directly on the blood, which they purify and improve ; they also regulate the secretions, and give tone to the stomach, and thus the whole system is in vigorated, and put into a condition which enable it to throw off disease or check its approach, HEALTH ioroLis (From the Reyistrar-Generats Weekly Return.) The deaths in London in the week that e nded. en Saturday were 1,475. A considerable increase of morta lity has recently occurred. In October and the first week of November the weekly deaths were less than 1,30 0 ; but in each of the two subsequent weeks they were c onsiderably above 1,4 00 . The D ung and old, but chi e increase is both among yfly in the latter class. Since last month the deaths of young persons have increased 15 per cent. in cr those o d f persons 60 years old and upwards have ease 26 per cent. In October the mean temperature o f last two weeks it h as the air was 51 . 5 deg. , i n the. been 41.6 deg. and 48.6 deg. The deaths in the present rat, rn are less than th e corrected average by 28. The births of last week exceedoel the deaths by 495. There were 20 deaths from smallpox', 119 front scarlatina. Nine of the lat ter cases occa,-red, in the district of St. Luke, and 5 in the sub- d.istrict Cripplegate. There were also sof scarlati u,a in the sub-district of Hackney -road, and 5 in Lime" house. Sixty•eight deaths occurred from typhus fi n a typhoid fever, of which there w ere 23 in the BO division of London and 19 in the south. - Phthisis was fatal in 161 ca ses, br onchitis in 1 58 f and pneumonia in 114 . Pulmonary complaints have become more fatal within the last fortnight. At the Royal Observatory , Greenwich, the ateso height of the barometer in the week was 29.967 in. The mean daily reading was above 30in. on fiv e days of the week. The reading rose to 30.11 in. 03 Wednesday,i and it fell to 29.41 in. on SaturdeP The mean temperature of the air in the week r 7 5, 48.6 deg., which is 6 . 3 deg. ab o v e the average °I the same week in 43 years (as determined by Glaisher). The mean daily temperar,ure was coo siderably above the average throughout the week. The lowest night temperature was 3 9.4 deg., on Friday. The highest day temperatu re was 50 deg., on Saturday. The range of tern perature in the week was therefore 16.8 deg. The differenc e between the mean dewpoint temperatu. re and air temperature was 4 deg. The mean degree of humidity of the air was 86, complete r;aturation being represented by 100. Oa M onday 1' '"1 d le the humidity was 90 deg. and more. will a blew generally from the south-west. The'amount of rain measured was 0 . 13 in., all of which fell O r ; Saturday. A heavy squall of wind and rain of vurren about ten minutes past 5 p. m. on that day, but it was of short duration. At that time the pre sire of the wind rose to 17 1 1 b. on the square foot, en the temperature fell 8 deg, in one minute, mean of the highest tempe ratures of the wa ter ° the Th e am es was 48,4 deg.; that of the lowest NC° 46.2 COUNTRY MARKETS• LEEDS—TUESDAY. The business transacted in wheat to-day was modesuppor to u t ' ra extensive, and last Tuesday's prices were fully The emand for fine barley was good, at less money, It, other sorts neglected. Oats, beans, and other articles NS 1 31 ' quite as dear. MARKET HARBOROUGH—TDESDAY. White wheat,:4ls to 44s ; red, 39 s to 42s p er 36 stop f: Malting barley at 37s to 38s, per qr.; grinding, 28s to 3,1:: per 30 st. Oats, old, 24s to 275; new,, 21s to 23 s per' at. ; beans, 34s to 42s per qr. LIVERP 0 OL—T UESDA.Y.• err . with was a good attendanc e at market to-clay of raillerr. with a brisk demand for all g ood usin g q ualW ,err of Aul_,, can wheat, at an advance of 2 d t o 3d p er cental. Oat I P: t , changed. Egyptian beans slow, and Gd per ,qr price. Oatmeal neglected. American flour met a go odi quiry, at Gd advance. SHEFFIELD—TUESDAY. fa ll The market was thinly attended , and there was a 0 b us i n ess transacted, owing to the h oldin g of the glot fair. The sales made in wheat were steady, at fully Tuesday's rates. No change in other articles. O Red wheat, per load of 3 imperial bushels...lss Od to 17$ pda White • ..175 CAI to 195 I ~A ) / New red 1 ..158 6 1 to 17$1:Li _..178 Od to 18s vaa New white 11 .15s Od to 170 u ea Beans • • • 4:08 Od to 44 0 , vo-ti Peas, per qr . Grindinr , barley, per qr Malting ditto, ~ .. Oats 3 3 0 , 4 0 0 d d to w 3 3 8 2 : o . n a - ci 22s Od to 2-1 s v I, Flour, Is sd, is 7d, and la Sd per 14 lb. C ORK-T UES DAY. The following were the quotations this morning : , -- 1 5s wheat, 7s 6d to 8s 10d; white, 8s Od ..,to 9s 3d , barl ey ' to 4d to 7s 6d ; ; oats, 4s 10d to 9 s 6d ; black do, 4s Ok' 5s 61. DUBLIN — A steady market for all goo( torts slow. _ _ —TUESDAY. id kinds of grain, but inferia s. d. 0 Oatmeal Rapeseedß ee a le l e Bakers' ': flour ' l-21 11 401 °CIOOO a tog3 8 to 0: Indian corn ~ 27 GI to s. d. s. d. Wheat, white.. 23 0 to 25 0 Do., red .. 20 0t023 0 Do., new 0 to 0 Barley Oats Do., black — 0 to 0 Foreign Mail Packet List. MAILS DUE. p ee . Ig , Australia and Mauritius, via Southampton....• • ....... 13. via Marseilles ......... p ee . 4. clrazil and Cape Verds, by British packet. ...... ~..y . 29. Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St. Helella• • I .,`,"__ . o, China, Penang, and Singapore, via Southampton.ve° '.a.a, via Marseilles ...Nov. Falkland Islands Gibraltar, via Southampton .................. I"_i.. . f . India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton..lec. -,;',.. v'',. ' Nov. cl I n di a (Bombay), via Southamp ton via Marseilles Doe. 4, Portugal.... Dee' 0. Nlaita, Egypt, and Aden, via Southampton Nov. 0 1, via Marseilles Nov. * - 0, Newfoundland ..Nov• Oporto and Vigo .. AT ' 2s ' U. S. and British N. America, by Brit. packet... • •-• °v. by U.S. packet.... 421. by Canadian packet.N°T' 10, W.C. of Africa, Madeira, and Tenerille .......... P ee ' 17. Bahamas, via New York ... • Mexico .. Nv. ' , All parts of West Indies, including Chili, I'eru, j pee. -42 S California. and British Columbia. [ADVERTISEMENT.]—COLIBLIMptiOIII, all nervous, b il rf , liver, and stomach complaints , is every stage, arc o nly gravated and accelerated by drugs of every descr iption , " 0 perfectly curable by Du Barry's health restoring Revllic°lo Arabica Food, as proved by thousands of cases which' '"ni4, been considered hopeless. We quote a few. — Cur e No. 6'),%,j Miss Lange, 18 years of age, cured after the medical Dien c of abandoned all hopes of her recovery from the last s tag : O 9, pulmonary consumption, with fearful cough, expectoratJico, exhaustion, spitting of blood, perspirations hollow ch emaciated to a skeleton. She is now, thank ' .- God, pa er f da healthy, blooming, fleshy girl,—N. Lange, Commissaireteil Police. Cure, No. 46,270. Mr. James Roberts, of F rira „ver Surrey, of thirty years' diseased lungs, spitting o f b100c1,.,'" l o derangement. and partial deafness. — Cure , No. 47,121. '7" 0 , Elizabeth Jacobs, of extreme nervousn ess, indict To, gatherings, low spirits, and nervousfancies.--Cure, 54,816. the Rev. James T. Campbell, Fakenham, Neetoevi of indigestion and torpidity of th e liver, which had resistm, all medical treatment. In tins, ilb, 2s 9d; 21b, 4s 6d; 7; ., lie; 121 b, 225; 241 b, 40s. Barry du Barry and Co., N O ' 0 11 ia d °. Regent-street, London ; also Fortnum and Mason; and 0, grocers and chemists in every town of the United Il Births. 11 de' Esq , of a son. 4 , 1 , elf: park, the w s tADE ,On the 22d inst ., at 104, Eaton - square , °of - POTTER. Oniothoef 2 117 4th in i . ntp o l t a e t r N , Vestbourne-square, 3" of Lieutenant -Colonel Slade, of the sth Lancer s ' of son. wiP TO3I£3(INS.-011 the 21st inst., at Southsea, the . of i ' aughter. Charles It. T. Tompkins, Esq„ Aral NvnITEHEAD.-0a the 24th inst , at 25, Clifton - % a c w , the wife of Lieutenant-ColOnel F. it. W rllit°—eti ' a SOLI. Ff.MS. Excellent' Marriages. ,„ tll oli 6 BURKE—FUR/M—On the 21st inst , at the 'lo l6° IL Church, Clarendon-square Martin Myles , . son of t or, of Patrick Burke, Esq., o f nallmasloe,-county 0'11,:veoul Louisa, thi r d d aug ht er o f G eorge Furber. curb Ctunden-town. c o— FORDHA.3I—HYDE.-0a the 21st inst ,at Northolt, A I €1 Middlesex, Mr. George Fordham, .to Penelope 4' Hyde, niece of Mr. Drewitt, of Lewes, Sussex. paile, o Deaths. BAILEY.— On the 22d inst., William Huntley' 418, Oxfori-street, aged 5. ole ° j° Btocts.—On tht> 22d inst., at Upper Holloway, 141.* Biggs, aged 66. „ r 0, CURSON.—On the 23d inst., at Amersha m, road, Ne w " - ° Henry Curson n t, tlfi DUNNAGE.—On . the 22d inst., at East Farleigh, ii.e" 14ev. James Arthur Dunnage, M.A., aged 56. .g. CO HlNciis.—On the 24th inst., at New-cross, Chao. - 1° Esq., aged 61. , P3O HOPKINS.—On the 22d inst., Robert W. Hopka la ' of Preston, Lancashire, agod ,William Prichard f's (l.4 rRICHARD.-011 the 21st inst . -.. - ...._ pothecary, of 65, Charing-cross. ---. _ --- ------- , - V n , n gt , London : Prinzed and l'u,,fished by IVILLIAII ArN - ~z0:11'lf of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at TfiE Sus Offic e ' , - i ty ot Strand, in the precinct of the Savoy, in the Ca.* MiddlCileX,—Wedjaesclay, November 25, 1863. Ak\ NA c gUES't Street, / The I Chair to I/A [lncorp from Wit] tt Work Con, No• to ap . briDt Th( privili tianer, 70u T s ••m - 11 Dubli thine th ST. On liqui Orga St. 1S Tan Th objet Roli disti :Iris; Tau VIM Jos( form CE St. u cas cost teet] had whe Ste., Itnei stagy Alp Imp tali 9 fol rna inc pai Pi