The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-11-29 00:00:00

MR. JOHN MORLEY, M.P., ON THE
REFORM QUESTION.

A crowded meeting of members of the Leeds
Liberal Association and the Six Hundred was held in
the Philosophical Hall, Leeds, on Tuesday evening, to
consider the proceedings on the Franchise and Redis-
tribution Bills. Mr. John Morley, M.P., attended by
invitation to speak upon the question. He said that
undoubtedly the movement of which they hoped they
wei e approaching the consummation began at the
Leeds Conference. The opinions he would offer on the
present position were not official or govermental,
but personal and independent of the convenience of
the Government or the success of parties. He read
in Conservative prints, and was told by the Conserva-
tives, that the advanced party had received an immense
rebuff and tremendous humiliation. But what was
the fact? It was only after discussion that the
Leeds Conference of 1883 selected the reform ques-
tion as that to be pressed forward. They pasted
three resolutions —one, to extend the franchise in the
next Parliamentary session; secondly, to extend it to
lodgers and householders in the counties; thirdly,
that a measure of redistribution should follow, giving
as far as possible equal value to every vote, and secur-
ing a true representation of the will of the nation. At
that time they expected at the best to get the Fran-
chise Bill in 1884, and with exceeding good fortune
the Redistribution Bill in 1885. (Cheers.) The
Tories combined in every way to baffle and resist
these expectations, and some Liberal journals
and leaders held aloof in a spirit of neutrality,
not benevolent, and gave counsel uncommonly
like rebuke. But what was the situation to-
day—the Franchise Bill practically safe and the
Seats Bill being settled by the leading men of both
sides on the very principle, enunciated by the Leeds
third resolution. Could it then be denied that that
Conference had achieved a victory, great, complete,
and with a rapidity undreamt of. If Tory journalists
would turn to their writings of thirteen months ago,
they would find humiliation indeed in their ridicule
of the Leeds programme now being literally realised,
but the means by which they hoped for the fulfilment
of their objects might be questioned. The Standard
said the Franchise Bill might have been passed almost
at a moment's notice on the terms and conditions
which were now to secure its passing, and it asked why
those conditions were not offered last July. But were
they not offered? As a fact, they were offered to and
rejected by the Conservative leaders. In support of this
Mr. Morley quoted from the speeches of Lord Harting-
ton at Accrington in October, wherein he offered to
allow the Tory leaders to satisfy themselves of the
terms of the Seats Bill, if they would then take up
and dispose of the Franchise Bill and then join the
Government in consideration of the Seats Bill, relying
on the good faith of Ministers and the sense of Par-
liament. That arrangement was declined by Lord
Salisbury, and, though repeated by Sir Charles Diike,
was again declined, yet that was the offer now accepted
by the Tories. . Where, then, was the surrender?
(Cheers.) Looking back on 'the proposals that were
made by Ministers, it would be seen they were now
doing nothing they had not proclaimed all along
their readiness to do, while the Conservative leaders
were doing something which they had declared nothing
would ever induce them to do. (Laughter and cheers.)
And there was another point on which the Tories had
changed their ground. They were now agreed to a
private communication; yet only ten nights ago Lord
John Manners declared with great emphasis and
amidst tremendous cheering from his own side that
they would have no private communication. He said:
"Produce your Bill on the table," and made an ad-
mirable theatrical effect by quoting the line in which
the spider invited the fly into his parlour. Did Lord
John think it was a Radical surrender when he saw
the fly driving up in his brougham to an interview
with the spider. (Laughter.) Considering the results
of the present situation, Mr. Morley said that if no
agreement was come to on the Seats Bill between the
Liberal and Conservative leaders the position would
remain unaltered, and the matter must be fought out
i
on the old lines. On the other hand, fan agree-
ment was arrived at, Lord Salisbury would give
an assurance that the Franchise Bill would be
passed, and the Seats Bill would not be introduced
till the assurance was given. Let any one who
felt uneasy, as he at first did, consider that and
them say whether there had been any surrender of
their principle. (Cheers.) Reviewing the alterna-
tives to the present arrangement, Mr. Morley said the
creation of peers did not seem a rational way out of
a dead-lock brought about by there being too many
peers. To dissolve Parliament would have been to
concede the right of the peers to dictate dissolution;
while resignation, if it had placed the reins of power
in Lord Salisbury's hands for only six months, might
in the present position of foreign affairs have had
most serious results. It had been asked what was the
result of the autumn agitation; the present accept-
ance of terms by the Tories was the result of it.
Having disposed of the suggestion that the Tories
might seek to weaken the Seats Bill, and urged that
their co-operation will actually render it more
thorough, the bon. gentleman remarked that
ever since July thousands of speeches and re-
solutions had declared that an hereditary and
irresponsible Chamber was an anachronism, a sine-
cure, and a great danger. From that they did
not withdraw in approving the present settlement.
(Cheers.) The Lords had gained nothing by their
unpatriotic action, but had rooted deep in the minds
of the new voters the conviction that the peers moved
heaven and earth to resist their accession to political
power and bar the path to the next move in the march
of political liberty. He hoped within six months to
see the Franchise Bill on the statute book, and then
with a more truly npresentative Chamber questions
would arise which would inevitably lead to one of two
things—namely, either a direct and angry collision or
to an acquiescence by the House of Lords in its posi-
tion henceforth as a consultative chamber, with
power of discussion, but no power to veto on the
popular will. (Cheers.) He trusted things would
also go so that Parliament would be able to pursue
refornis in county and municipal govermnent., the
land question, and in Irish administration! without
collision with the Upper House, but if occasion arose
the legislative veto of the House would be sent to
follow that of the Crown.

The first snow of the season fell in London on Nov.
21st, a soniewhat heavy fall occurring at about a
quarter to five in the morning in the City, lasting
until five. The cold was not excessive at the time, a
heavy storm of rain having preceded the snow, which
had had the effect of increasing the temperature.

SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTE ON TER
SURRENDER.
Sir Stafford Northcote presided at a dinner given
on Monday evening by the members of the Beacons-
field Club to Sir John Macdonald, prior to his depar-
ture for Canada.
Mr. Dixon-Hartland proposed the health of Sir
John Macdonald.
Sir John Macdonald, in reply, said that the great
men of England, no matter what their political home
connections, were all anxious to continue the bond
which connected the colonies with the mother
country. All educated men in Canada were Conser-
vatives, for the simple reason that they were the party
who believed in the connection between England
and Canada. No man could venture to offer himself
to any constituency in Canada, with hope of success,
if be did not assert that he was in favourof this con-
nection. (Hear, hear.) Contrasting the feeling
existing between the French and English Canadians
at the time of his entrance into Parliament with that
of the present day, he said at this moment there was
not a more loyal body of subjects to her Majesty than
the French Canadians. They were in fact French-
speaking Englishmen, and if there was one thing more
than another which they dreaded it was to be under
the influence of the modern Atheism and Communism
of the France of to-day.
Captain Cruikshank proposed "The Conservative
cause."
Sir S. Northcote in the course of his speech said:
During the last three or four months a great institu-
tion such as the House of Lords has been attacked,
and the country at largo are ready to rally around it
—(hear, hear)—and whatever may come of the great
question now before us this at least has come of it,
that whether we make a good or bad settlement of
the question of the redistribution of seats, the House
of Lords have manifestly and signally and remarka,dy
advanced, and gained a position in the eyes of the
country, and in the convictions of their fellow-citizens,
which is of inestimable value to the Constitution.
(Cheers.) When we speak of the Conservative cause,
I wish to point out that there are two kinds of
Conservatism. There is what we may call active
Conservatism, and there is passive Conservatism.
There are a great many passive Conservatives
all over the empire. There are a great many people
who think that upon the whole everything is not
exactly as it should be, but that upon the ;hole the
state of things is very good, and that they would like
it to remain as it is, and for their parts they would
never stir a finger to disturb their institutions. This
pessive Conservatism is good in itself, but it is not of
the slightest use. (Hear, hear.) But there is
active Conservatism, which is the spirit of the Con-
servative party as I venture to say it ought to be.
We ought not to content ourselves with merely say-
ing we do not want to upset all those things. We
want people who are ready to co-operate in the pro-
motion of those objects which are dear to the Con-
s-rvatives as they are to the mass of the people.
We want men who will devote themselves to the
questions which are of a domestic character,
and which have for their object the benefit of
the great masses of our communities, and at the
same time we are desirous to promote a feeling of in-
terest in the greatness of our Empire, and to preserve
the great Empire to which we have succeeded.
(Hear, hear.) We here are but few, and yet I have
no doubt that every man I see before me is able in
some shape or other to exercise an influence over
some of those with whom he comes in contact to dissi-
pate the great fallacies that are continually being pro-
pagated on questions at issue between the Liberal and
Conservative parties. (Cheers.) I hope and trust
that you, and other associations like you, may re-
member that this is a time to be up and doing, that it
is a time when we must exert ourselves and bring
out the true Conservative spirit which is latent
throughout the country. A great deal has
been brought out within the last two or three
months as to the courageous action of the
House of Lords. What we have got to do now
is to set to work and endeavour to convince the
people of this country that we have a policy, and that
we have views of our own, and that if we are sup-
ported by the people we will spare neither pains nor
labour in order to bring about the objects which we
have so much at heart. (Cheers.) Reference has
been made to the present position of reform and re-
distribution of seats. This is a question of a very
large character, and a question of no small difficulty.
It is a question which the present Government have
raised. They have made themselves responsible for
very large and important proposals; and it has been
our duty, as those proposals have been made before
us, to some forward and endeavour to define the
position of the Conservative party with respect to
them. You eannot expect that a great settlement
of the kind now in progress can be accomplished
without considerable changes in the representation
of the people, and there is no doubt whatever that
when the measure which is now in preparation coulee
forward there will be a great many people who will
be startled at proposals which may appear of a large
character. But that is not the point that we have to
consider. You have to consider how it is possible to
accomplish any change in the representation of the
people in such a manner as to give full and fair play
to all interests in the country. and to bring about a
settlement which may be of a durable and permanent
character. (Cheers.) Of course nobody in politics
is so unwise as to speak of any settlement as being
eternal. But these changes in the Constitution of the
country, these great alterations in the basis of the
representation, are not things that sluaild be en-
countered often. They ought to be settled on a broad
basis and in such a way as to give as little occasion as
possible for re-opening the question, and above all the
Conservatives of this country ought to fix their eyes
on this—that it is not the way in which you may cast
the constituencies of the moment, but the way in
which you may bring the forces of Conservatism to
bear upon the new constituencies when they are made.
(Hear, hear.) I remember bow when we were defeated
in 1868, there were men in every part of the country
who immediately took courage, and said that that
defeat must be wiped out without delay, who saw
that the right way to wipe it out was to address
ourselves to the new electorate and the great masses
of those who had been enfranchised. You saw in
the work that was done between 1868 and 1874 what
the triumph was when a proper application of Conser-
vative principles was made, and you will do the
same again, I venture to hope, even more
rapidly. (Hear, hear.) We are better prepared now
to meet the test than we were then. The eyes of the
Conservative party had not been opened then, but I
hope they are now; and I hope you will be able to go
with courage and success to canvass the Conservative
cause in these constituencies. (Cheers.) I for one
do not look forward with fear or uneasiness to the
future of Conservatism in this country. My belief is
that there is a great future before the British Empire,
and that the British Empire, by putting forth all her
physical and moral forces, will be able to maintain
and advance the great position which she has already
attained; and I am perfectly satisfied that if the people
of England do their duty they will not fail to receive
from our brethren beyond the seas that support which
all Englishmen are prepared to give. (Loud cheers.)