The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-09-27 00:00:00

MR. GLADSTONE Ili SCOTLAND.

Mr. Gladstone, at the conclusion of his visit to the
Earl of Strathmore, left Glamis Castle on Monday
morning for St. Martin's Abbey. Immediately after
luncheon Lora Strathmore drove his guests to Glands
Station, from whence they proceeded by train to
Coupar Angus. Mr. Gladstone was received by Sir
Donald Currie and Sir Andrew Clark, and proceeded
to the centre of the town, where a platform had been
erected and large crowds had assembled. Mr. Mac-
farlane, the chief magistrate of Coupar Angus,
occupied the chair, and there were also on the plat-
form Sir J. Kinloch, the Rev. S. Gladstone, and most
of the leading Liberals of the town and district. As
soon as silence was restored, Sir Donald Currie briefly
welcomed Mr. Gladstone in the name of the electors
and non-electors of the district; after which Mr. Mac-
farlane presented an address to the right hon. gentle-
man on behalf of the Coupar Angus Liberal Associa-
tion. Colonel Cowper, of Fabon House, presented
an address from Blairgowrie. A third address was
read by Mr. John Smith on behalf of the Alyth
Liberals.

Mr. Gladstone, in the course of his reply, said:
Gentlemen, in these addresses you have most justly
pointed to the urgency of carrying the bill that was
presented to Parliament during the last session.
(Cheers.) It is most urgent on more grounds than
one. The question now before us, and the question
which I hope will be settled next month or the month
after, is the question of the franchise. But if, un-
fortunately, that question should not be promptly
settled the controversy will not fall to the ground.
(Cheers.) It will raise wider issues and more decisive
results will have to follow upon the movement of this
year in favour of the extension of the franchise.
Gentlemen, how does this matter stand? In 1831
for the first time, I may say, reform was seriously
proposed by an administration, and it then created
the utmost alarm in what I may now call the
weaker - minded portion of the community.
(Cheers and laughter.) Gentlemen, lam of opinion
that the alarm was not altogether unreasonable,
although it was undoubtedly condemned by the results
because of the great. novelty of the matter, and be-
cause the principles of prudence, up to a certain point,
led men to suspect the effect of great changes with
regard to which experience affords you no guide.
That was the case in the reform of 1831, but you
carried it, and the results of it, it is now universally
admitted, have not only been most beneficial to the
country but absolutely essential for its welfare and its
good. (Cheers.) Well, in 1867 and 1868 the same
experiment was again tried, and further admissions
of large bodies of the people to the Parliamentary
franchise were enacted by law. The Tory party
themselves do not venture to deny that the extension
of the franchise of that period has been highly advan-
tageous to the country, and has tended, not to
weaken, but to strengthen its institutions and to in-
crease respect for the law. (Cheers.) 'Well, then
gentlemen, we are going to try the same thing a,
third time ; and there is this difference, that where
there was great novelty in the Act of 1832, and
where there was considerable novelty in the adoption
of the household suffrage, in what we now propose as
to the main and principal enactment there is no
novelty at all. (Cheers.) We are asking, substan-
tially, nothing except the extension in the counties to
the same class of people who already vote with very
great advantage to the country in the towns. Under
those circumstances, I contend that opposition to such
a measure is divested of all appearance of reason,
and that not a plausible argument can be urged in its
defence. (Cheers.) It is quite true that when driven
to extremities our opponents disclaim opposition to
the measure. (Laughter and cheers.) That dis-
claimer is tolerably well understood. (Laughter.)
The House of Lords have said," We are quite willing
to pass your Franchise Bill provided you will join
with it another bill which will so increase its compli-
cation and its difflculty that an attempt to pass both
together will be absolutely fatal to them, and we shall
remain where we are "—(cheers)—and it 'is under
those circumstances that they assure you they have not
rejected the bill. (Cheers.) But, gentlemen, they say
also that our contention is that the House of Lords is
no longer to have any independent force, but is in
everything to adopt the judgment of the House of
Commons. (Cheers.) I won't now enter upon the
questicn how far the House of Lords has exercised
with wisdom its legislative functions, but this I will
say, that it is most unfair to say that we seek to extin-
guish its independence, because on the occasion of
this particular bill we contend that they ought not to
enter into conflict with the nation. (Cheers.) Why,
gentlemen, for the last fifty years to any one
acquainted with history it is well known that there
has hardly passed a session in which the House of
Lords has not materially interfered with the proceed-
ings of the House of Commons, and yet although
these interferences have in every case been adverse
to Liberal Governments, and although the country has
almost always demanded to have, and has had, a
Liberal Government, yet all these interferences have
been borne with patience, almost uniformly with
patience and in silence, and no one has attempted to
circumscribe that very large province within which
the House of Lords has followed its own will. But,
gentlemen, we do say that there are limits
to those proceedings—(cheers)—and that whatever
may be said—and I could say a good deal
about the manner in which an hereditary assembly
may be of use for certain purposes; yet the best
friend, the wisest friend of the hereditary principle
will, I am sure, be ready to say that it never can be
safe when it is brought into conflict with the repre-
sentatives of the power of the country. (Cheers.)
Well, gentlemen, that is the issue which we have
before us; we want this bill settled, and then we
want to go on to give a more just distribution of
seats, so that political power may be distributed over
the country, in a manner as equitable as possible.
(Cheers.) What will be one of the features of any
possible redistribution bill? Why, it will be that ten
or twelve, possibly more, additional members will be
given to Scotland. And is it to be dreamed of for a
moment that I or that any one of those who are act-
ing with me on the Government, should be unwilling,
should be slack, should be otherwise than eager to
give more members compatibly with justice to a
country where we are received whenever we go by
meetings such as these? (Cheers.) Gentlemen, lam
of opinion that those local meetings in places com-
paratively small are in some:respects more remarkable
even than the great assemblages in the larger towns
of the country. They afford a proof that it is not
only in those places where political intelligence circu-
lates rapidly and powerfully that there is a feeling on
this matter, but that it pervades the whole of the
land. (Cheers.) Gentleman, I will detain you no
longer. You have conferred upon me a great honour,
you have strengthened my hands by the manifestation
you have made. (Cheers.) The part which falls to
us you may rely upon it we shall endeavour to per-
form, and the country will likewise, I believe, do its
part, so as to bring about that speedy, that safe, that
beneficial consummation which we all heartily desire.
(Loud Cheers.)
The party then re-entered the carriages and drove
off to St. Martin's Abbey amid applause. In front of
the Abbey a considerable crowd had assembled to
welcome Mr. Gladstone, and when the carriage had
drawn up on the terrace, the Rev. Robt, M`Master
read an address of welcome agreed to at a public
meeting recently held in the neighbouring village,
and the Rev. Mr. M‘Murchie, from Scone, then
presented an address of a similar character.
Mr. Gladstone, in the course of his reply, said: I
find in these addresses which have been presented to
me no avidity for abstract change. I find no dis-
position to raise great organic questions without neces-
sity. I find, from temperate, loyal, rational declara-
tions of opinion, that that measure which has been
before the country is a just, a moderate, and a neces-
sary measure. (Cheers.) It is impossible to deny, I
think, its moderation or its justice, unless we are pre-
pared to contend that the people of the counties in
this country are of a totally different stamp and order,
and of a totally inferior stamp and order, from those
in the towns. Gentlemen, the nation, in my opinion,
has said and is saying that it must have this measure.
The question is not whether it shall have the measure
but whether it shall have it at once and Without the
raising of other and wider controversies, or whether,
in consequence of a more prolonged struggle, those
and larger questions are also to be raised. Gentle-
men, I may say that, whether from the influence par-
tially of years, but also from the influence of conviction,
lam a man of peace. (Cheers.) I wish to see pro-
gressive legislation advance with rapidity if we can
have it, but with security and with solidity, and with
the general contentment and union of the people.
(Cheers.) We have found by experience that the ex-
tension of the franchise has not, as was predicted and
feared by some, set one class against another, but on
the contrary has produced union of classes and
obedience to the law and love of the institutions of
the country, continually increasing from generation
to generation, and from year to year. (Cheers.) I
rejoice to find such evidence of a sound and healthy
state of the public mind meeting me wherever I go,
and springing up around me on every side. (Hear,
hear.) There can be no doubt as to the issue of this
conflict. God grant it may be speedy. God grant it
may not disturb the harmony of the country, but may
eoutinue to place the concord of all orders on a yet
mu re stable basis, and may contribute yet further to
the strength of the union and the prosperity of this
great empire. (Loud cheers.)

A FEAT IN TELEGRAPIIY.—A Washington letter in
the Boston Globe says: "The special telegraphic re-
port of the two last National Conventions were unpre-
cedented for their accuracy and completeness. For
the four days of the Republican Convention 1,660,178
words were telegraphed special through one of the
companies—an average of 413,000 words a day.
During the four days of the Democratic Convention
1,522,960 words were telegraphed special, or an aver-
age of over 380,000 words per day. A competing
line, which also did excellent service at the conven-
tions, sent about 70,000 words a day, and the other
Companies probably sent an amount equal to that. It
is safe to assume that over 4,000,000 words of specials
were telegraphed from Chicago during the eight days
that both conventions were in session. Hundreds of
thousands of words were telegraphed the few days
preceding the assemblage of each of the conventions,
and tile revenues from specials to the Telegraph
Companies during both convention weeks at the
Chicago offices could not have been less than 50,000
dollars.