The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1865-06-27 00:00:00

IiOUE OF COMMONS.

MONDAT.—The questions were amasually ittneerota,
but they did nut retcr to anything of reinarkelie
interest. In ref mice to the reiort of the Patent Law
simindonera, Lord Stanley, one of the commies
tie ntertithierl remits doubts as to the nrovriety
01 maintaining Patent L.ws at all, and he was informed
that two oi nis coll. agues tzir J. Pakington and bit' H.
Cairns) were of the same upinon. lie jfltioj..ted that
the ilouso would have an opportunity of expremitis an
opinion on the eubject ; and if it Were carinedered desirable
io 'maintain the Patent Lear, • Sill embodying Qs
recommend•tions of .he commineioners would be intro-
out:. d niter some bedews with refeience Lang
Ainbvrley's pleasure trip, amid • oomplaint from Kr. D.
Griffith tat tho WnrS cretrty wad lit a" COIXIM011er,"
Mr. Hubbard found Nit wish the terins we 114 con-
cluded with the Zollrerein in the commercial treaty.
He w.,s replied to by Mr. Miner Gibson.

TUESDAY. —After w,veral questions had been put and
answered, the O'Donogbue called attention to the
disadvantagea under which the Irial2 ROOM 11 Catholics
laboured io not having a uoiveraity of their ow*, and
moved an addrew, to t e Throne on the Bulled. The
motion wee, however, after a long debate, withdrawn.

-
WEDNIIIBDAY. —The Hume eat four hour., &oil after
devoting some time to the discussion of variuu. Bills, it
was agreed on all aides that they iitiould be forthwith
withdrawn. The Bill. thus withdrawn were five 1111
number—tue Bill for aboliihing certain oaths tow takeis
municipal officers in Irelan i, the Merchant Shipping
I) spots. Bill, the Bank of Bileland paper currehoy
Ireland Bat, the Bducaticnal and Charit.ble Institu-
tions Bill (shidt had jmt been read a second time utter
division), and the Railway Clauses Bill. Other Bill.
were foi warded a stage.

THURBDAT.—Lord C. Paget detailed the ens which
weie being taken to in.ke every man in the Royal Navy
a swimmer. The second reading of the Cleric..! Sub.
scription Bill was moved by Sir George Grey, and Si this
Home t•ecretary consented to certain ainewhiseht. sap
nested by Mr. Whiteaide, the Bill was read • second
time without opposition. In committee on the Coamty
Courts Equitable Jurisdiction Bill, the Attorney.
General got an amendinent passed, increaaing se
salaries of the pi agent judges by £3OO a-year, to be paid
out of the ComMidated Pend, provided that the mitt, iee
of their sueoessors shall note:Geed £1.500 a-year. The
a!ter one or two other alterations, passed thrones
committee.

Brassey took the oaths and his testier,
Devimport, in the room of Sir A. Buller. re.ian,d.—Sir
C. Wood said that he i•hould not be able to make hie
financial statement in reference to India until Thur.day.
—ln reply to Mr. P. Griffitii,the Marquis of H.rtingtot•
etated tuat en tinier had been ismed requiring tier
hiejeatfa military chaplains to wear the surplice when,
officiating in fitter, instead of the black gown.—Mr.
Corry celled attention to the policy of the Government
in relation to t e naval reserve. He understood that
it was in contemplalion te reduce the oaa go rd. and
marines on .hore, and it was with the hope of arresting
that step that be h.d taken yr the q;uestion. Lord C.
Paget said they bad been enabled to reduce the marines
and the coastguard, for whose aeronaut in ennueutiest
with the revenue there was not the nece.i.iiy whit*
formerly existed. The Royal Naval II serve ounetated
at present of 24,000 men in • most effidistat state with
regard to training.—The House abjournett at 9.45 p.m.

___

THE REPRESENTATION OF WEYMOUTH.
_

apparent that, through changes of property and
I other circumstarices, the Couservative party had in-
!creased its strength in that borough, and any Liberal
was lighting a forlorn hope; in other words, had no
chance of success there. I have therefore, felt my-
self not justified in hr coming • political Din Quixote,
tn run my head against what may he called a " poli-
tical windmill." (Laughter.) I have, therefore,
timed my attention to another direction. My
attention in SO directed to the borough of Weymouth
hy a friend of your much respected, and I am not
I wrong in say ing, much lamented member Colonel
Preestun. (Applause.) " Why," said Churl
. Freestun's friend, "if you want to be chivalrous
why don't you go to the borough of %Vey mouth and
knock off the political manacles from the wrirta of
the conatitutente there." "Show me" said I "that
there is but • fair chance of tieing it, and I for one,
if you will give me a companion, am ready to come
down and make the attempt." (Loud cheers.) I
therefore am here, and I find that when I arrive
here I met with a reception which any man
might be proud of, a reception which, whatever may
be the result of this coutest, will engender in my
heart gratitude to the last momenta of my life.
(Applause.) Whatever the result of this contest
may be, whether victory or defeat, I shall leave this
town with feelings of gratitude for the reception I
have had, and for the support which has been given
sue. I am come, like my friend Edwards, to do my
duty, but I feel I have • right to ark of you that
you should do your duty ton. (Cheers.) Have
none of you reason to complain of the result of the
present representation of the borough' Has its
prosperity been increased by a Tory representation ?
[Voices : "No, no," and "Yea, yes.") On the
other baud, am I net justified in saying that its pros-
perity has suffered. [Voices, "No, no," and " Yes,
yea."] An honourable gentleman gays "n",' but am I
not riot in saying that before you returned Tory
representatives the Britannia swam the waters.
(Cheers.) [Voices : " Who t, salt her away ?" " The
Euke of Somerset."] The Britannia was a source
at least of considerable expenditure and benefit
to this town, and she would have been here at the
present moment if the representatives of this place
had been the friends of the Government, instead of
being those whose only purpose has been to drive the
Government frem office: [Voices: "Right enough;
you must hear the truth, my boys.l Could the Tory
repreaentatives of this berough with any grace,
go to *Government which they were opposing to the
utmost of their power, and ask of that Government
favour or justice for the borough which they repre-
sented ? If a man, who was doing the utmost in his
power to deprive you of your position, were to ask a
lavour of you, v. hat would be the answer you would
give ? Why, the same answer which the Go-
vernment would give to the Tory representatives of
this hough. I say, and maintain it, that this
borough has suffered materially, and will continue to
suffer materially, it it returns to the House of Com-
mons two members who are pledged to oppose the
government for the time being. [Great applause, and
a voice—" They are two dummies."] (Laughter.)
Therefore, I say when my hon. friend, Mr. Edwards,
made use of the remark that this borough was re-
presented by two Tories, I feel I have a right to say
he was under a mistake, that he should have said it
was misrepresented. (Loud cheers.) I do not ob-
jet to these two gentlemen altogether upon this
ground. These are local grounds which every ho.
rough, and this borough in particular, has • right to
take against its representatives; but I object upon
public grounds. I say that this borough, that every
borough, that the whole of this great empire is
indebted ti an extent which it is impossible ever to
repay to Lord Palmerston and his ih.ivernment for
the peace, prosperity, and contentment which the
people at this moment enjoy. (Applause.) Who
increased your revenue? Who reduced your taxa-
tion? Who, let me tell you, has, within a very
short time, taken twopence in the £ off your in.
? Who, I should like to know, has made
tea and sugar cheaper? Who has kept no out of a
war that would have shed the blood of your country•
men, and squandered your pecuniary resources in a
quarrel with which we had no sympathy, and in which
we had no righ t to interfere? (A pplauae. ) When I say
no right to interfere—so far as Christian advice
would go, so far as honest interference might be put
forth—it was our duty as Christians, as an indepen-
dent and enlightened nation, to give our beet advice
and use our beat offices, and do our utmost to pre-
vent the shedding of blood, and a fratricidal war,
which all must lament. But we had no right to go
further. (Cheers.) That would have been making
matters worse, and only making god the proverb—

. on.") Gentlemen, I have said that the prosperity of
this country is eutirely due to the Government of
Lord Palmerston. Now, I think, although figures
are dry things they are sometimes very couvincing
' things, becanse if you take two and two together, I
don't care how you puzzle your brains, you cannot
make more than four, you cannot make three of it,
and it is impossible to make five. (Laughter.) I
will tell you what that goy( roment has done in
positive figures and facto, and I will show you how
it is I am justified in saying that the prosperity of
this country is due to Lord Palmerston. During
his Government it has reduced taxation £16,000,000
Meiling ; it has taken off the National Debt
£10.000,000 sterling; it has reduced your ex-
penditure £3.000,000 sterling. I take these figures
from returns laid upon the table of the Howie of
Commons. I silk you if lam not justified in saying
that to the Government of Lord Palnieroton you
ow e the prosperity of the coontry. (Applause.) 1
sill follow this up by asking you another question ;
are you justified in sending to the House of Com
mous a man who will put a stop Li that advantageous
system of Government, who would throw you hack
into the old Tory channels by which your ex-
penditure would be increased, your revenue
be dimiuished, and instead of a seeing there would
more expense. (" Hear, hear," and "no, no.") Well
gentlemen, there is miotber question-the question
of peace. Do not we all sympathise ; have we not
all felt upon the question of the A merioan war?
Can there be a doubt in your minds that it has
been a source of great self denial to Lord Palmerston,
who hitherto has held up • ttreatening finger to
Europe, and said, " Dare to send a soldier or a ship
there, give me • saucy answer, and I launch the
power of England against you directly." Whys
however, has he taken another course ? Because,
with his great experience, with a calmness which age
alone can bring, the blood quiet and no longer boiling
and leap•tig in his veins, as it may be with us, with
judgment mature, with mind calm and collected, he
shrinks from the horrors of war, and the misery of
the people who have to support it by their taxation,
and he says " No, my sympathies, heart and soul, are
in this cause ; but what is nearer and dearer to me
is the blood and treasure of my fellow country nien."
(Applause.) Well, gentlemeo, you know very well,
(having enlarged somewhat more than is agreeable
upon the advantages which emanate from Lord
Palmerston's Government) every one of you I believe.
I speak not merely to Liberals but Tortea if there
is anyone in this room-(a voice : "There are
thousands, and they will he converted")-you know
very well that the creed of the Tory party has been
to expel Iron: power that Government which I have
shown you beyond all doubt, by facts and figures,
has been a Bout oe of benefit to the country which it
governs. (Cheers.) Now, gentlemen, that being
the cane, I ask you are you going to return again ,
two representatives to the House of Commons who I
are to continue that " little game." (Voices " No, i
No.") History has not been written for nothing.
The political bistery of this country contains GOO
example by which I think every constituency may 1
benefit at the present time. You know from that 1
history how Tory calumny, Tory hatred, and Tory I
virulence hunted to his last resting place the I
immortal Canning. Will you be the means of aiding I
that same party in hunting from office, and perhaps 1
hurrying to his grave, the man who haa conferred
upon you and your countrymeu at large them many
benefits. (Cheers and voices " Never.") I say if
you have no gratitude for that man, if you cannot
respect and reverence the services which he has
rendered to your country and to you ; if you are not
proud of knowing, as I have the means of knowing,
that in every part of the world, in spite of the
disparagement which the Tories may heap upon us,
for I have been almost in every part; I have been
in America, Germany, France, Switzerland, South
America, and the West Indies, an Englishman now
at the present time, spite (if all said to the contrary,
is a being around whom therein& kind of political halo,
which he owes to the dignity and independence which
Lord Palmerston has conferred upon this nation.
(Applause.) Now, gentlemen, I say, if out of
gratitude to such a man you will not support him in
the last hours of his Government, and it may be
of his life, if you will be so ungrateful as
to deprive him of that which I know is dearer to him
-tee gratitude of the people -thau anything a states-
man could desire, if you deny him that, you give
to the party who oppose him, by returning members
to Pailianient, an opportunity of hustling him from
office- with all respect I say it, you are ungrateful,
and it brings diegrace upon you. (Applause.) Rut
if I cannot appeal to your gratitude and self-respect,
cannot I appeal to your self-interest. You have
seen, and you know how much it is to your advan-
tage, that Lord Palmerston should be retained in
office, and if you will not consult your own interest
and selfrespect -if you are keit to - every sense of
gratitude -it matters not who speaks to you, it
matters not who appeals to you. (Cheers.) Now,
gentlemen, there are a few political and practical
meaanres which I have not touched upon. First of
all, there is the question of Church rates. Now) was
met once or twice to-day by this remark, from
persons who were evidently well-dumosed. They
said, "Why do you want to abolish Church-rates?"
I answered, "I do not want to abolish them if you
will show me how tido anything else. [ have eight in
my family who are living by the Church at the present
moment. Do you suppose lam going to do anything
against the Church which will help to deprive my
family of the means of living." Certainly not. I
say this. I am a Churchman; all my family are
Churchmet, and in no generation that I know of has
there ever been a member of a Nonconformist deno-
mination in my family, and I do not know that there
ever will be. But I say this. How would you like
I it ? Just reverse the order of things, and suppose the
It. iman Catholics were in the ascendancy in this
oonntry, and had a maiirity in Parliament ; if they
were to make an Act of Parliament that we should
subscribe certain rates in support of the Boman
Catholic Church, how would you like it, how would ,
anybody else like it? I will put it in another way, I
Suppose the Nonconformists had the means of passing
an Act of Parliament- -[A voioe : "How about the
Sisters of Mercy."] I can only assure the gentleman
who made that observation thst I shall be delighted
to discuss with him any conceivable subject, whether
mathematics, natural history, or anything else, at a
oonvenient opportunity, if he will only give me the
opportunity of saying • few words in conclusion.
Now, I say with regard to church-rates, putting the
case in another point of view, that if the Dissenters
had such a majority in the Home of Commons and
.outild pass an Act by which members of the Church
'of England should be obliged to support Dissenting
chapels, how should we like that? Well, let us,
because we must not be devoid of lemon or justice,
Stick to our faith ; let us as our forefathers did, he
'burnt in Smithfield or decapitated in defence of our
religion, but do not let us be unjust or ungenerous
fathom who consoienciously differ from us. (Loud
abeam) Believe me it is not politic ; believe me 1
from an earnest conviction that the real use-
and independence of the Church of England
. IS 'Much marred by the system of compelling those to
pport it who do not belong to its communion.
Well, gentlemen, if the opponents of Church-
rates and their supporters could meet and
nhake hands, and could arrange • plan by
'which this queetion so perplexing, so unseemly,
.10
'-let me say to the muse of religion-and so
'improper, zooid be amicably settled, I for one should
most gladly see that occasion arise, and shall give
my utmost and untiring effort to bring it about.
(Cheers.) But compromise has been tried by those
Who have been most anxious to settle the operation
'ley a fair arrangement and has failed, and there-
fore what is to be done ? [A. voice : " We have settled
It in Weymouth; those pay who like.") Legislation
~On Ois subject cannot be made in view of what may
"be the case in Weymouth or any other town. It
must be in view of the question generally, as It pre-
-limits itself in every part of the empire. Therefore,
if my argument is not applicable to the state of
'Affairs in Weymouth, I must be excused for my ig-
norance in dwelling upon &subject which after all
may not be apropos to toy audience. [A voice:
"How about the ballot ?'] Now there was a ques-
tion put from the audience with regard to the ballot
It is not a question which arises before me for the
first time, because I have had some practical expe-
rience for the necessity of the ballot, and have also
seen reasons why I think there should be some
qualification of it. Perhaps I may tell a little:
anecdote to illustrate the sequence of what I am
addressing to you. A. tradesman in a very consider-
able way of business-in an unusually extensive
way of business-in a borough of 1,500 voters,
was called noon by me and my committee to solicit
his vote. He said, "Captain Gridley, why do you
waste your time upon me. You know very well I
and my family have always voted for a Liberal;
you do not think 1 should vote for a Tory,
unless I were obliged to do so." I thought that was
one of the right sort, and my friends said " Well
:that cheers a fellow up, that does." A very
"little time after the nomination, when 3,000
hands were held up in my favour, we went over the
°means book. We turned to the name of this
gentleman. They said "Thus is a had case; he
cannot go with us" "What do you mean by that," 1
said. The reply was " I have seen a note (ruin the
1 bank -(it was a Tory bank)-which says, "Dear sir,
l I dare say you have not lost sight of the fact that
, your account is somewhat on the wrong aide at
present; favour us with &call before seven this even-
ing in order that we may have a little chat on the
subject." The tenour of that little chat was "You
. . .. .....