The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1885-06-02 00:00:00

PIIDDLETOWN.

LiuKRAL Mecrixe.—An open air noreticg of
Liberals was held here on Fndey evening, and the
result exceeded the anticipations of the nest sanguine.
Considerable opissition eXpmted in this Coneer-
tive strough..l.l. but this was, we are glad to say, not
v.l-s. There seas a large audience, an attentive
hearing was giii•n to tin. speakers, gnat enthueiaein
was displayed, and at the chew a hearty vote of cow
fidence an the i lovernment Wa..pauseel.—The Bev F,
Vaughan awl voted to the chair, end the rey. gentle-
man was suppirted by the liev. I'. NeAVP, Mr.
Hackney_ (liarrietes, Ilirminghani), and Mr. S.
Pike.—The Chairman, in a capital meeting address,
expressed his pleseire at being preempt, &set mid he
was tdraenl to be able to show his cobeirs ad to
manifest his interest in the great Liberal (2111,10.
01111611 W.) 11.- had always entertained a great
interest in the welfare of the labouring classes, and.'
had always endeavoured in his h ble way to
benefit them, but always ..ii what he considered to lie
coiisiitsiiis,iial princi dos. (Hear, hear.) And in refer.-nee
to this matter s expresso his regret tie lions. of
Lords had thnovn out the "medical relief" amend-
ment. They had given them It greet teem with tine
hand —the power pi vote—and with theotber they had
taken it away again, (Hear, hear). He coneilere4 it
one .4 the neat dastardly things he knew. (Loud
simians:). It might not affect Middletown so
but lie mem d that at 11,. adwitisor end the
Avenel the mune. they manned wax simply this. There
was tie doctor living within three miles, and his fan.
to Ilmedwiusor was is., which no working 1111411 could
afford totiay, Theredore it was • petered rule, if any
.4 the labouring people waisted tuedical aid, they had
gimp', to go to the relies Um officer lo get al order for
the doctor, so that in the whet.. .4 that dietii..4
working men who wen cempelled to have parochial
medical relief would le. disqualifies!. (Shame). He
the datemente of a recent epeaker
to the enormous anemia .4 money Mr, (Bedouin..
had takeu out .4 the pockets of the people, and
alluding to the 44,411161 a that heti attended the
Government, quoted the words of Lord Itilon, no
mean authority, to She egret I.el II the.. Hums,.
ordeal.' diftimiltiee which the Pm reier had bad Pi
contend with since lie had been in office well' the .
krY left him by the prey ',els Government. (Ap-
.) There wen. the troubled in Zulidand, the I
Transvael, 4.fghanietan, and Egypt. They did not
mean to may Mr. G(edstono wsi always right.—(A
Voice " ,tlexandria.") a person paid to him
not low/ago the great mistake Was sue est snot that
was II •he agreed with wi him, but he kee ditj he
not thin he
ireginning ef that great mietake was smite
time hefort the shot wet fired, and he had to adinit its
The Chairman asked theni iv consider the benefits
that the Liberal party had costarred on them,
educational and otherwise —which enables( them to I
rise like the late President Garfield fess,. the lowest ,
to the highest position in the State. The Liberal
Government had Dow put into their hands the
weapons wherewith to fight the battle of life, and it
was for them to use them. (An individep the
audience, who evidently bed MAO pre to
intemipt,bere interjected a remark, which drew from
this Chairman the smart retort —" Never take Notice
of every deg that barks "—which was greeted with
such roars .4 laughter that twored toe much the for
nattiness in question, and he "walked.") The
Chairman, after • few words on the absolute secrecy
of the ball.&, called is Mr. Pike to Addeo... the meet-
l'ike Give moved —"That this meeting
desires to express its gratitude is her Majnity'l
Government for the many nasseuree el referral, which
in the face .4 the nioet heavy difficulties at, home end
abroad, they had been enabled to place on the statute
book, and that they had been enabled to lead the
country to • just and honourable Conclusion to what
might have been a great and dissitnius war." In
epeakieg to this, Mr. Pike refuted the statement
that they were • "pesouat-any-priee party," but at
the estate thee sited who had to suffer for the love of
country, and wise Pad to low the brunt of war
but the working. men I (Applauts.) They had to
" pay the piper." Hear, hear.) The fact
was they believed a ataa•asaait night, to think
several times before he committed this greet oaths to
a disastrous war, and to a great 1111471fiCtl .4 ita blood
and tresiere. There had been too much light-hearted-
nese in this matter at other.isople'e expense. They
were in " Tory-town" that n jght, although he was glad
to say they were not all Toriee there. (Applause.)
Some one had asked him if they would carry the
resolution there, and he replied, ' Trust the working
man .4 Poddletown for that—and if the melt doll,
the women will." (Cheers.) He was confideet they
would give the verdict ..n the side .4 the Liberal
Gweentnent. Mr. Pike then criticised the speech of
Sir Staffoird Northcote on the previous night. Allud-
ing to the medical relief clause, he was afraid it weuld
be the 'lllOll6lOl Of striking off the list thousand.,
pew working men. The Lord*, in their wisdom, had
enacted that they should be made pauper* by having a
box of pills, ur a bottle of medicine. That was Toryism.
(" They ere previa*, ") Some one had well said there were
many of these 'Tortes receiving thousand' of tounde
111 out-door relief in the shape of mese-os, yet beciuse
they had a 2}d, box of pills and a is. bottle"( medicine
(which perhaps did not cost the medical man more
titan a penny) they should he disqualified. (Shame.)
He contended it was a cruel shame, lint ho was
confident the day was not far distant when the clams
should be inserted, and should lie made the law .4 the
land in spite of Toryism. (Cheers.)—Mr. Hackney
delivered an effective speech, and at the outset he
called attention to a statement tnade at Bridport
the effect that Mr. Pike had used such foul language
at a meeting at Burton Headstock that the newspapers
could not insert it. Mr. Pike could well deny that,
and he Put it to the meeting if they had had any such
language that night, and they 11114ght to know if it
were true or false. (" False., That statement warn
made by Mr. Farquharson. (Hiss., and voice*:
" lfe's a beset), ;" "We don't want any white-
washing.") He Was glad is, see Mr. Farquharson was
us well known, and that a roper appreciation MSS
placed upon the statement& ha made. Air. Hackney
then proceeded to refute in detail the swaths/tote wade
by the Tory leader in Devonshire on the 14-66,uy
night. Alluding to the land question, Mr. Hackney
*trued that owswattip of land must be conditioned
with responsibility. Whoever possessed it must pro-
duce more food than at present. They were in favour
of the compu/sery_purclume of land. They 'mew
somethien about Ifonomformist chapels in Puddle-
hear)—end why, he asked, should they
not be able to csisupsl the landlord to ern them a
smell plot of land for the erection of a chapel instead