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

THE SON, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 25, 1863. :MESSRS, COBDEN AND BRIGHT AT ROCHDALE, (From the Special Reporters of the limes.) ROCHDALE, Tuesday Night. A crowded public meeting, attended by about 3,000 per sons, was 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. isir. COBDEN, who was received with great cheering, evoke as follows : —lt is to me, as your representative, a very happy and pleasant omen to find my arrival here greeted by so large an assemblage of my frienls. It is the least that a.n be expected from a member of Parliament that he should once a year meet his constituents face to face to state to them his views upon the passing events of the day, and to hear from them in a public assembly like this what aro their wishes and views with reference to his future conduct. Generally, when a member makes his annual appearance, it is expected that he should have something to say with refer ence 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 session. The best 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 NVD s in its prime, and therefore you will not expect anything good from it in its decrepitude, (Laughter.) The so oner '.l is returned to the country, the better it will be ioJth Pir the country and for Parliament. Now I think, when a no'.v Parliament meets, it will have to be furnished with principles from the country. (Hear, hear.) The great lack . 61 . the present Parliament is that it is destitute of principle 41nd of purpose, (Cheers.) Probably we, whom the Freetraders of this country—we have a right to call Y or° largely urselves:Freetraders here if we have anywhere responsible for this state of things in Parliament, We have been, contrary to our professed principles, a ki n d of mono polists of the public arena for nearly the last qua rter of a century. It will be 25 years next nmonth since e ,first joined my hon. friend here to my left, and many a ta together to commence that effort t d e principles. During whicharound h as ended now in trade the complete recognition of free have occupied pretty all that time we may be said to ex clusively the attention of political parties awl of statesmen. We found the field occupied eating other principles. _by l a b ou rers who were advo- For, there were the advocates s t an ce, there were the advice cater of PParliamentaryße Reform, rn in of religious equality , d in the words " religious equality" I embrace the and f or example, with that great and glaring abuse, the deali l n ri:sh Church, which Lord Brougham has denounced as the foulest abuse in any civilized country, (Cheers.) Well, we elbowed out of the way those que s ti ons for we had a question in hand that would not bear delay. ' We were advocating a question of bread and employment for the people. (Cheers.) We have accompli s h ed our ob ject; this present Parliament has finished the work. It bad just lap guid force to carry the last remaining measures to complete the free-trade system, helped a little by the e xtraneous and rather exceptionable proceeding of a foreign treaty ; but with that aid this present Parliament has completed the work of free trade, by which I mean that it has settled that great controversy as between protection and free trade.. Doubtless there remains something more t o do. Our children must carry on the work. There is still the T'Lestion of direct and indirect taxation. (Hear.) There is 'still the question of a large reduction of expenditure in the government. But the great controversy as between protection and free trade is now settled, and I say the next Parliament will be required to be endowed by new princi :ples by the country when we have another general election. ( Ch eers.) Some people say there is great apathy and indif ference in the country. I don't think there is any want of interest in the country upon public affairs. (Hear, hear.) There is a lively interest in the public proceedings of the whole world, and the public mind is very demonstrative; but What 1 observe is that the attention of the country 'seer.es to be rather given to the affairs of other nations than to its own. (Hear, hear.) We are something as a nation as You would bo 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 have non-intervention on our lips, but there is always a de- :,ire in the corner of our heart for a little intervention for some special object or other abroad. (Hear.) I don't eharge this against any particular party or any Government. We have, all our little pet projects of intervention. For instance, souse would manage the affairs of the Americans, others W , Juld take in charge to regulate the affairs of Poland, o thers aro interested in Italy ; and so it is that, in spite of our profession of non-intervention, we arc in fact, as far as :way observation goes, interfering more than ever with the :affairs of foreign countries. (Hear, hear.) Some people say it is the telegrams. They say that Reuter's telegrams are the daily morning dram which stimulates and excites us with a great battle 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, 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 Plyrneuth, in which Liberal members have been recom mending that Government should enier 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 dictatesof those particular parties. (Cheers) From the beginning of this lamentable convulsion, from which you have suffered so much, one of the great funda 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 that they have made up their minds there can be but one issue to this war in America, and that is, separation between North and Seesth. I told you when I was here last—when that spirit, k 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—and society is, I must tell you, that upper ten thousand with whom members of Parliament are liable to cteene in contact at the clubs and elsewhere—looking at the I ' l -ding class, if I may use the phrase, that you meet in these t,urlieus in London, nineteen• twentieths of them have been r a l p convinced from the first that the civil war in America cu t onlyend in separation. How far the wish was father "4at thought I will not pretend to say. (Cheers.) I be beeu iu` olu t x t a he conviction has been a severe one, that it has territoryed on the belief that, looking at the vast extent . was imoi a;ieupied by the insurgents in the civil war, it could be troti e they could be subjugated by any force that been a most Fht against them by the North ; but there has classes to lamentable display of ignorance among those referred, if you may judge from the con_ duct of the org aus exponents of their ' N ' ri the press, which may be considered the anmething wonderedews. Theerrors in geography have been bear no comrison, aea ldighty rivers, with which ours can natural as running into one another in defianc of d their position, and an utter igno rance exhibited of the e x h a i i t ' of old cities with 100,000, or 150,00 0 inhabitants-- vast —where I have myself seen a 4 m l Pli l ing ports for raw produce s e of steamboats moored side by side. Your ruling elasSe t know nothing of this. af t e o rd and Cambridge in utter ignorance You don't find it in the books which the undergraduates are obliged before they can pass their examination. It is 51gtnorance of these resources that this opinion has been ee _ has o made ac quainted more than al: 137 % 112 : 0.8e : but I, whom accident, perhaps, in and I believe quainted as well with the statistics and geography confines country as of my own, have never bell of that mow lass than ever, that I or any out! this believe _ Bse will ever live to see two separateAnaeiroincas th : of the present United States of se views ot Ifo- cause same time I tell you candidly that America. it were ( n elleer r a ' l At the T should—with the o useless the h at al*' parties upon w commenting—regard as hopeless and subjugate the Southern States, It is the object with which the war was begun that in IDY C ol h n ers n) renders 1 success to the Secessionists impossible. they Y would moral and intellectual population of this country hadf the been systematically misled upon that question have been unanimously of that opinion. (Cheers.) IV© were told in the House of Commons by one who was o.nilexes great champion of democracy and the rights and of the unsophisticated millions, that this civil war was piori ginated because the South wished to establish Free-trade principles, and the North would not allow i t. I travelled in the United States in 1859, the year before 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 nf 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 returned, that I was disappointed when at Washington in 1819, because there was so little interest felt on the Free -trade question, there was no party formed, no public agitati l% e t l lle t re was no discussion whatever upon ' the sub • ject of rade and Protection. The political field was wholly occupiedslavery. (lea, by one question, and that question was I have not Seen .)ettl will mention an illustrative fact which cem ed be; to my mind it is conclusive on this subject. In De and when the conntryr;iB6°' while Congress was sitting, c as ou in an agony of suspense, fearing the impending rupture, their body, comprisin g se gresa appointed a committee of members,theu being one representa tive for every State then in That committee, called the Committee of Thirty_Zei°l" us state of 11, IS6O, to January 14, 1861. 11 4, sat from December th instructed by Congress to inquire into the peril() try to devise some means by which the catastrophe of and cession could be averted. Here is a report of tiheheapvorfocaeesd"- ill , s of that committee ; there are 49 Pages. e read repres entatives of the Slave s every line. States were invited by the representatives of the Free States to state candidly and frankly what were the terms Which they re quired in order tha t the y m i g ht bontinue peaceabl e in the Union. In every page you see their proposition brought forward, but from beginning to end thero is not one syllable said about tariff or taxation (cheers) ; from beginning to end there is not a grievance alleged but that W 1 ich was connected 'with the maintenance of slavery. "1 1 ere at e propositions calling on the North to give increased sem- rity for the maintenance of that institutio a. They are in vited to extend the area of slavery, to ma'ie 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- netted with slavery, It is slavery, slavery, slaverYt 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 u de cencye or any sense of self-respect, to get up in the ous of Commons and say secession has been upon a etquestionua and free trade and protection ? This is a war to perpetuate to defend slavery as it was left by their ancestors—l pt te of extend human slavery. (Cheers.) It is a war ' m ean a thing to be retained and to be apologised for—it is a war to establish a slave empire in which slavery shall be made the corner stone of the social system, and shall be defended and justi fied on scriptural and ethnological grounds. (Cheers.) Well, I say, God pardon the man this year of grace, 1863, should think that such who in a project as that could b e crowned with success. (Cheers.) You know that I h ave from the first never b elieved it p ossible that the South c ould succeed, and I have not founded that faith upon moral in stincts, which teach us to repudiate the very idea that any thing so infernal should succeed. No, it is because in this world the virtues and the forees go together, and the vices and 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 cora 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 se, cir cumstanced fight aga i nst a neighbouting coueerey where every working man was fighting for hie, 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 you have honour given to industry ; labour is held to be honour able. What are we told ? Have we not heard it used as a reproach by some people who fancy themselves in alliance with the aristocracy, some of our writers who would lead us to suppose that they aro 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 cere 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 from 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 France 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 wisdom to spate 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 evens 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 amen 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 aimillion 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 we confound when we talk of intervention in foreign affairs—the intervention is easy enough, but the power to accomplish the object is another thing, You must take possession of a country in order to impres s your policy upon it, and that becomes a tyranny of another,i, sort; but if you go to intervene ia Poland with a w to rescue the Poles from the attacks of Russia, I main tiliatlllB.tito, so far as England is concerned, you are attempt yPoossibility ; and if you can't do it by physical Unleati certain to d l l o can't do it by war, then I submit that you are by diploefloc store harm than good if you attempt to do it Y• Meer.) Mark what has been done in Poland on this occaeioto e we have had three Powers writing de spatches. threatened with forTain measures are acceded to Russia is ole s , What has been the effect of that ? It has made the wh e t', people united against these foreign Powers. They might not have been so exasperated 'tialtaitatineauraediately foreigners stepped against their own people :tuenethe'ana've been a b to t a roused to a patriotic finroyhozny,hnaovtetothoepwpehsoelette p to oppose some outside with them. (Cheers.) Powers that are attempting to interferewho ntointhfi have h been encouraged The consequence is that the Poled, placed in a position b y f a t the emhoorpee p o e f r f t o l o r foreign if you had never to go on . interfered at all. (Cheers.) s ome people will say," Do intend to leave these evil s without a re eled _ e „ you 3' r NVell I have faith in God, and I think there is a Divitie Prov'd world. I don't think I e n" that regulates this Providence has given • it into our hands to e xecute his behests • I think Whe n injustice is done, whether in Poland or elsewhere,the very process of injustice is calculated, if left to itself, to p roven, injustice produces weakness; its own punishment, because c injustice produces injury to the parties who , it . it. (Cheers.) But do you suppose that th e Almighty o hnemas e lves to this country or any other country the power and th ' re sponsibility of regulating the affairs and remedyingthe evils of other countries ? No ; we have not set a sufficiently pur e e example to be entitled to claim that power. When Ise 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 o u r ears the word " agosima .' 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 the Secretary to the Admiralty, who always enters upon the defence of any naval abomination with so much cheerful ness—(hear)—that really he seems to like the task,—he had lately been speaking at a meeting of his:constituents. He alludes to the horrible massacre which took place in Japan, and he says it is quite wrong to suppose that our gallant officers ever intended to destroy that town, Kagosima, with its 150,000 rich, prosperous, commercial people; it was quite an accident. (Laughter.) Unfortunately, he can't have read 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 would 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. He does not tell him to do all these things; he was to demand satisfaction, and, in case satisfaction were 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 were 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 front 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 ho had been attacked first. I remember that during our last war with the Burmese precisely the same manakuvre was resorted to—the only ship o f . war belonging to the Burmese Government was seiz . e . „; by our officers under their forts, and because. they ...red on our vessels in the act of carrying off their 7 - enole navy it was said they commenced the war, and the honour of the British flag required immediate bombard most of the place. Now, let us suppose that a French fleet came off Portsmouth and took three of our ships of war at Spithead and lashed them alongside their steamers, and then came within range of our forts at Portsmouth. If the commander of these forts did not immediately attack the French 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 y ou 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 believe, 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 faces 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 tho 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 de you have such sym pathy with this Chinese Government? It is ao 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. I am 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 • tions. They won't serve me, I am 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, end 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 iu 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 coun tries, and that the masses of the people of this country do not compare so favourably with the masses of other coun 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 portioa 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 thaa 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; you have all Germany now more or less invested with popular sovereignty, and I say that, with all our boasted maxims of superiority as a self-governing people, we don't maintain our relative rank in the world, for we are all obliged to acknowledge that we dare not intrust a political • , ' ensiderable part of the population of this country with poli tical(lagLc.iwer, for fear they should make a revolutionary and pi n edged o l u p s tah u ret s mi e es of h it et • h be o s u id r es, bear in mind that both our extension of the franchise. aristocratic partieshave already Queen has been to an extension of the franchise ; the classes in this they do not fulfilu country men datione yield to violence and made to recommend from her throne the ee tranchise. You have placed the governing in the wrong for all future time, if ; and sonieedpromises and adopt those recom mendations; statesmanship. t e o laa d tay s in proper season. (Cheers.) extent the masses of the people from the always running the risk of that which clamour what they will be obliged to what I think you ought, in tranquilly l and voluntarily, and t e h xclude to the present franchise, you are a very sagacious old 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 have one of them here ; you could not have a better. (Renewed cheers.) Ho 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 him yet—(laughter)—but I am 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 et 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 passed commend you to the favourable con sideration of those who have the power to enlarge the poli tical franchise of this country. (Hear, hear.) I think that what you aro going through will have another salutary consequence. It is a cruel suspense to which you are sub jected with cotton at is 8d or 23:a lb., instead of at 5d or 61 ; 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 probably 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. Kenseenee and carried by acclamation with one dissentient. The MAYOR then called on Mr. BRIGHT, who was received with great cheering. He said—A remark has been already made on a fashion just now peva:ling, 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 wanted 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 milloniuna I might ask, why such a vast concourse of persons within this building to-night ? (Hear, hear.) I fear that this picture which I have been partly describing is one which has come from certain artists' studios, if I may so speak, which are to be found rather in Downing-street than elsewhere, and that it is repeated through the country because it has been echoed by a very partial presa. 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, hear.) This is called a very rich country, and 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 we 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 and 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 find there nut 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 across 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 its 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 6,000,000 have no mote direct political power through our present organisation than if they lived in the most despotic country in Europe. (Cheers.) It is odd, it is most strange, that this country which is the parent, and boasts that it is the parent, of re presentative institutions for almost all the world—should thus for some cause which we understand, but which power 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 immediately heir to if he passes to any of our colonies, or if he passes to the United States. Now, if representation 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 and rulers, I ask you--not non-electors only, not the unenfranchised only. but the enfranchised—if there is not a gre at g rievance here' which it becomes us to attend to and redress? For some years past there has been no violent show of discontent. -"Vio lence is an immense influence—in the HOll5O of Commons it is very much spoken against, but unfortunately with too many Governments, ours among the rest, it is the thing they pay moat attention to. (Laughter.) The last victory which we, the people of England, obtained over our heredi tary masters was the repeal of 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 increase to these changes, but the main portion of it, I believe, may be fa irl y attributed to them. It is an increase so great that y our exports and imports have been more than doubled, nay, have near l y trebled, within the last 20 years, and the result of the increase of trade has been that the middle classes, the shopkeepers, manufac turers, brokers, merchants, an d persons connected with shipping have all had a wide r field far 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 these increased exports and the in creased internal trade, there has been much greater demand for labour; work has be en more steady to the workmen, and wages, I believe, in ever y p art of the country have ears considerably increased. Thi s naturally would lead to less of that discontent which we saw in former y ; but it does not in the least degree lessen the claims on the part of the great bode- of the people to the ir share of political power. (Cheers.) On the contrary, it increases the force of that claim, for if they are better in their circumstances and if they aro more educated, which is the natural result of greater prosperity, then they are more likely in to m trus a ted ke a wise use of whatever pol itical power may be B u t the wish has been so to their hands. (Cheers.) general and so notoriou s, and tie just, that nobody who has had the management of the e demand has been so affairs of the country has dareBd to deny Government the justicom - ce of it ; and you know that in 158 a posed of those whom we understand to be the avowed foes a bill of reform. of reform, yielding to that general wish, proposed a bill Now, I am oblige which they considderteodstpoebake, d in isr s e o s m pe e c s t e f n ull se y , of that bill. I think it was a very dishonest bill, It was intended, by doiteg nothing, to eornehow or other get up the idea that they had done Fo mething, iu order that the year after nothing MON 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 great 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 minious 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 Londonclubs 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 men 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 wore 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 grea. supporters of the Government, appear to do theirbest to pre vent the question taking gi ound again. Let us look a little at thelmodo 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 theslime 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, if I speak of Lord John tiussell, 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. He is not exactly the same sort of man in office that he is when out of office. (Hear, and laugh. en) 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 hint 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 farce 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 told that the bastard chivalry of the South is unconscious of the sufferings of the negro, though it astonishes the world, and cries to Heaven for remedy. I have known that the landowners of Ireland have lived in ignorance altogether of the misery of their perishing peasantry. I ash, shall we believe that it is 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 tho wealthy classes to a large 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 can never hope to attain ? (Loud cheers.) I believe that if the people of this country were really repre sented, if the wisdom and Pstice 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, intelligence, 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 recommend to you would, in my opinion, accelerate that progress in a degree to which few of us can now give credit I should say, if we were fairly represented, that feudalism with regard to the people of England would perish, and the agricultural labourer throughout the United Kingdom would be redeemed from that poverty and serfdom which up to this time have been his lot. It would take a night and take a long speech to go into the subject and conditeiohnave, that unfortunate class. But with laws such . which are intended to bring vast tracts of lanisdomgartsoowatthpeopliotsi: session of ono man, that one man may cal power. That system is a curse to t and d egrada the agricultural labourer to perpetual p h e e o x v e e o e r r u c t n y try, and dooms tion. I think, further, that if outritPryarliitawmoe:ltd wbaespaosfsaiibrlaentdo honest representation of the cc:: with regard to our foreign appeal to it with more policy, 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 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 no w 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 hear 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 soma of the 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 mass 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 wakes 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 of 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 en 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. It 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 the 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 if 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 the first accident it will demand to be established by Parliament and by law. The right is conceded. Lord Derby and Mr. 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 if 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 yeata have been profoundly dishonest or profoundly ignorant. (Cheers.) It I am 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 iu 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 developed 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 seen 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 are 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.) I A vote of thanks to the mayor, presiding, closed the pro ' ceedings. a:' A SCOTTISH MUSICIAN AMONG THE JAPANESE. —A letter from Yokohama, dated Sept. 11, says : it j'Ar. Marquis Chisholm, musical artiste, a native of Glas gow; arrived here from China a few weeks ago, and is giving concerts, attended with great success. Mr. Chisholm is the first musical artiste who has visited this remote part of the w 9/.ld, and the astonishment of the community, both native and foreign, was somewhat wonderful at the an nouncement of a series cf concerts about to be given, at a time when no European dare safely venture out at night unlesx armed to the teeth. At Nagasaki Mr. Chisholm performek• before an audience of Japanese alone, amongst whora were several of Prince Satsuma's officers, who scarce eight says before fought at the battle of Kagosima. The artiste 0:d all he could to catch the humour of his peculiar audienCe, but German, Italian, French, English, Scotch, and Irish music, grave and gay, they listened to with the greatest indif: creme, and at length made the following communication to the .crest -fallen musi cian in pigeon English :--' Coolie (servant) can go catchie Sing This (fetch) one placie (one) sing-song girl ( sin g ing tZirl)•, " song girl come, makie muchie more better sing_snni;. was Mr Chisholm's cue to his great success, for next moOeut there proceeded from his large harmonium an imitation of the wild shrill notes of these singing girls—and every girl in Japan is a singing girl—and tke rude accoo real that th a animent of th e ir little, wiry, three-stringed g uitars, s listeners were at once electrified, and listened h several to the pe of r formance with breathless attention ; a fter whic the company demanded that the instrument be dissected, and the hidden mystery revealed to them, a request which nothing to warrant th e i r suspi cioninside,was goo d-naturedly c om p lied wi t h on the part of our clever of their bei n g a Japanese instrument concealed countryman, when , finding t h e y came to the conclusion that after all our friend was 4 a r eal musicia n devil from the west,' and at a late hour sent a m ilitary escort to s ee him to his resid ence in t he English a P ti i s l ra ls s i n s d th e e i i n n t i ze ru n ni t.— a. I — ut H an ol d lo r w h a e y u ' m s settlemen t u nmolested. A [fArencivuer.untTetsauEm2 cause tory state of the blood, attended wi • th bad digestion and g eneral debility. A few doses of these Pills,takes in • are an effectual preventative against but any one who has an attack of . gout and rheumatism ; way's Ointment also, the powerful either should use Hollo bined with the effect of the Pills, properties of which, com bined These Pills act directly must infallibly effect a purify and improve ; they also y on the blood, which they give tone to the stomach, and t hus the whole system is in vigorated, and put into a condition whi ch enable it to throw off disease or check its approach, HEALTH OF THE WETROFOLI S. (From the .Registrar-General's Weekly Rau; en.) The deaths in London in the veek. that ended on Saturday were 1,475. A consid :Iralsla increase of mor tality has recently occurre d. In Octo b er and. deaths were the first week of No vember the weekly' less than 1, 300 ; b ut in each of the two. subsequent weeks they were considerably above 1, 400 The increase is both among young and old, but chiefly in the latter class. Sinc e last month the death of s of young persons have incr eased 15 per cent. ; those persons 60 years old and u p wards have it creased 26 per cent. In October the meanmpera tar it e has of the air was 51.5 deg., in the last two weeks been 41.6 deg. and 48.6 deg. The deaths in the preeent ro.,`urn are less that' the corrected average by 28. The births of last week ex ce3ded the deaths hi 495. There wore 20 deaths from vliallPox, 119 from scarlatina. Nine of the latter cas, '-. li occurred in th e. district of St. Luke, and 5 in t h t ' sub-district of Cripplegate. There were also sof a car l a tina in the sub-district of Hackney-road, attil 5 in Lime- house. Sixty eight deaths occurred fro m typhus and typhoid fever, of which there were 113 in the East division of London and 19 in the Son th. Phthisis was fatal in 161 cases , bror kchitis in 168, and pneumonia in 114. Pulmonar3 r oomPla int6 have become more fatal within the last fortniett• At the Royal Observatory, Greenwici 1, the mesa height of the barometer in the week we s 29.967'°' The mean daily reading was above 301'n . on five' days of the week. The reading rose to 33. ilin. Wednesday,' and it fell to 29.41 in. on Sr turdoP s The mean temperature of the ai r in the we ek 10 48.6 deg., which is 6 . 3 deg. abov e the aver age rl the same week in 43 years (as determined b, Y Glaisher). The mean daily temperature vat 01 siderably above the average throughout the week The lowest night temperature was 39.4 c)eg Friday. The highest day t em p erature w.as, 56.` deg., on Saturday. The range of temperat nre in the week was therefore 16.8 deg. The dif re. rena l between the mean dewpoint temperature al 1 air temperature was 4 deg. The mean deg' e of humidity of th 3 air was 86, complete satin .ti oa being represented by 100. Oa Monday and E 'r;dsl the humidity was 90 deg. and more. The 'win d ' blew generally from the south-west. The an want of rain measured was 0.13 in., all of which fe l try 011 Saturday. A heavy squall o f wind and rain occn ,a about ten minutes past 5 p.m. on that day, bul'; it was of short duration. At that time the plea s ure of the wind rose to 171 lb. on the square foot, the temperature fell 8 deg, in one minute. !' be mean of the highest temperatures of the water . of the Thames was 48,4 deg.; that of the lowest Ni as 46.2 deg. COUNTRY MARKETS• LE ED S—TUESDAY. The business transacted in wheat to-day was moderat extensive, and last Tuesday's prices were fully support eo: The demand for line barley was good , at is less mone y , Wl' other sorts neglected. Oats, beans, and other articles te: ° quite as dear. MARKET HARBOROUGH—TUESDAY. White wheat,:4ls to 445; red, 39s to 42s per 36 stop Malting barley at 37s to 38s7per qr.; grin din g , 28s to 31 74 per 30 st, Oats, old, 24s to 2 75; new,,, 21a to 23s per st. ; beans, 348 to 42s per qr. LIVERPOOL—TUESDAY. There was a good attendance at market to-day with a brisk demand for all good using q ualities of Aulerl: can wheat, at an advance of 2d to 3d per cental. Oats 111?_. changed. Egyptian beans slow , and 6d p er qr lowerlll price. Oatmeal neglected. American flour met a good quirt', at Gd advance. o f millert SHEFFIELD—TUESDAY. The market was thinly attended, and th ere was a stet b us i ne ss transacted, owing to the holding o f the wintt t fair. The sales made in wheat w ere stead y , at fully 13' Tuesday's rates. No change in other articles. 7 5 Uci Red wheat, per load of 3 imperial bushels...lss 0(1 to 1 „ ci White ...17s 6d to 19s , ',.., f f f New red f _ ..15s 6I to 1.7 u,,, New white „ ...17s Ot Ito 18s ',3 . 15s Od to 17 5 ulci Beans I) .• • od io' iis 0 , )9 Peas, per qr .. Grinding barley, per qr 3os Od t 0 ° Q •', pd Malting ditto, „ 34s Od to ,' od Oats 22s Od to : 2 ' 17 Flour, Is sd, is 7d, and is 8d per 14 lb. CORK—TUESDAY. R E d The following were the quotations this morning wheat, 7s 6d to Ss 10d; white, 8s Odlto 9s 3d , Carley, u,„ 4d to is 6d ; 4s 10d to 93 6d ; blackdo., 4s Od `" 5s 61, DUBLIN• A steady market for all go, torts slow. TUESDAY. bu t inferfor L kinds of grain, s, d. 0 . 4 . Oatmeal lO 0 to 13 0 Beans 0 to --6 , .. Bere .... -- 0 to - -- 1 u o Rapeseed .... 2 1 ° t° 2- Bakers' flour ~ 14 0 to 20 0 Indian corn .. 27 0 to 28 0 8. d. e. d. Wheat, white 23 0 to 25 0 Do., red 2O 0 to 23 0 Do., new 0 to 0 Barley Oats Do., black — 0 to 0 Foreign Mail Packet List. MAILS DUE. Australia and Mauritius, via Southampton. ...... Dec' via Marseilles ......... Dec' 1 Lirazil and Cape Verds, by British packet. ....... Dee. 2 9 Cape of Good Hoe , Ascension, and St. Helena.. N ov• k.;nina, rentuig, an Singapore, via Suuthampton.D ec. via Marseilles ...Nov. Falkland Islanda Uibraltar, via Southampton Nov. 2 61 India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton Dec. 2_, via Marseilles Nov. 21. India (Bombay), via Southampton Nov. 2 6 ' via Marseillea Dec. 6 . Portuga 1.... . M a lta, Egypt, and Aden, via Southampton Nov'. 2v via Marseilles N e wfoundland Nov. 2215: Oporto and Vigo U. S. and British N. America, by Brit. packet.... Nov. . 15. , . . by U.S. packet w f. by Canadian packet,Nev . .`, l ). W.C. of Africa, M- adeira, and T e n er ife Dec. 1; ,14 Bahamas, via New York Dec. 1 ' Mexico.. All parts of West Indies, including Chili, Peru, I D e c, 2 5 ' California. and British Columbia.. [ADVERTISEMENT.] —Consumption, all nervous, bilions . liver, and stomach complaints, in every stage, arc only sot gravated and accelerated by drugs of every description , b a ,. perfectly curable by Du Barry's health restoring Revsloll; Arabica Food, as proved by thousands of cases which " if been considered hopeless. We quote a few.—Cure No. 62,9 ` c ; Miss Lange, 18 years of age, cured after the medical men 13 '4 abandoned all hopes of her recovery from the last stage " Pulmonary consumption, with fearful cough, expectorati on, exhaustion, spitting of blood, perspirations, hollow ch eek emaciated to a skeleton. She is now, thank God, a perfectlY healthy, blooming, fleshy girl.—N. Lange, Commissair e . ' Police. Cure, No. 46,270. Mr. James Roberts, of FrinileJr Surrey, of thirty years' diseased lungs, spitting of blood, 8• derangement, and partial deafness.—Cure, No. 47,121. 14` Elizabeth Jacobs, of extreme nervousness, indig-estleu, gatherings, low spirits, and nervous fancies.—Cure, 1.4°,(1 54,816. The Rev. James T. Campbell, Fakenh am, Norf°l-ci of indigestion and torpidity of the liver, which had resiste all medical treatment. In tins, 11b, 2s 9d ; 21b, 4s 6d; 5 10, 118; 121 b, 225; 241 b, 40s. Barry du Barry and Co., No. 7 1 i i Regent-street, London ; also Fortnum and Mason ; and grocers and chemists in every town of the United Kingdom Births. POTTER.—On the 24th inst., at Westbourne-square, gYcl e ‘ park, the wife of Win. Potter, Esq , of a eon . Swo)E.—On the 224 inst., at 104, Eaton-square, the srj f i of Lieutenant -Colonel Slade, of the s th Lancers, - , at Southsea, the vir" e f son. : f of TOMPILINS.—On the 21st inst. H.M.S. Excellent, o Charles R. T. Tompkins, Esq., daughter. d eT l WitITEHEAD. — On the 2 4th ink " r ., at 25, d, o w , the wife of Lieutenant -Colonel F. G. Whitehe3 a eon, Marriages. a t oli ° BITRKE—FURBEIL— o On the 21st inst. at at the ‘-'-,. -b i o to Church, Clar en d on - square, Martin Myles , son of t he to Patrick Burke, Esq,, of Ballmasloe, county Galw g "' of Louisa, thi r d d aughter of George Furber, surgeo n ' Camden -town. 10 1 FORMIAM—HYDE.—On the 21st inst., at Northolt, c° ciao Middlesex, Mr. Ge orge F or dh am , t o Penelope A Hyde, niece of Mr. Drewitt, of Lewes, Sussex. Deaths. BAILEY.—On the 22d inst., William Huntley Batley' cl alas for-street, in aged 57. n os B.— Ox On the the 22dst., at Upper Holloway, Mr . .3 " Biggs, aged 66. r Cuitsori.—On the 23d inst., at Amersham.road. N ew —r Henry Curson. DUNNAGE.—On the 22d inst., at East Farleigh , Rev. James Arthur Dunnage, M.A., aged 56. kg , HINCKS.— On the 24th inst., at New-cross , Chas. IVO Esq., aged 61. Horx.m.—On the 22d inst., Robert W. Hopkins, of Preston, Lancashire, aged 82. E(1.1 PRICHARD.—On the 21st inst., William Prichard, apothecary, of 65, Charing-cross. : Pritired and Published by WIL LIAff ANDR London of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at THE SUN Office O. I Strand, in the Precinct ot the Savoy, In the CoUntY ° Ididdlesex.—Wednestay, November 25, 1863. NY. TIIF FAUST r -C A tAID , "'I LA --Arisec PP .AI Alg o telebra't And fl:%ortic, IV, p _ tan , he /nost Be °Pen and ball I) 0 Vie eel( elite this eat "wonder Indian li ons and Mo. iaiest , 2, , ti cio,„ Paran a ji II SUB TAPE riesa, a Pend.' ST.Tc On I liquids Organ St. Nic Father The objects Rollin distinc The arisinc St. ..r St. Nic TIIE Any entitle Josepl for m ai Citta St• Jo! sl l l l lk y I N'obili SOina L 0 —_____ IRA City, A Etit j Ch ar try try Div, Pe see, BI cassia costly teeth, bad c when Stria] Ex - xi' Two 1 inven . The Is AE brA y, stild Burin truss, oumfi sent A. A t Poi ofnce, *cm toroi ire each, -___ _ li - a i Cc Mas Co. 1 And And CO. And