The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-01-21 00:00:00

QUARTIONS ANSWERED.

At Bradford the other day, after Mr. Forster had ad-
drseed his constituents at great length, he was asked
a series of questions.—famongst otners—
A worktog man raked whether he won d vote for bring-
ing down • The Q Leon's pay' to 4100,000 year and for the
separation of Church aud
To which Mr. Forster replied, I am not prepared to vote
for cuttirg down the Civil List to 1,100,00) a year, for com-
mon justice, to Which the Cl teen is as much entitled as any
man or woman in the country, demands that if the Civil
List Is to be cut down, the Q aeon sliothl have returned t
her the Crown Estate., which were snrrendered to the
flatten at the time when the Civil List was agreed to, end I
, do Lot thinr that the country would be a gainer by the
change In reply to Me second question, Ido not
know whether I ought to answer it without having consulted
the Premier, but I suppose that I ~111 I rev to say that I
agree with the statement which Mr. Gladstone made on
Mr. Williams'. motion last Session. My personal opinion is
that as long as the mod ,rity of the people of this country
—which I believe to be the case at present—do not desire
the separation of Church and State, and as long as t hat
union is good, so long will I support it. (Loud cheers and
, hisses'.
In reply to a question put to him ahout the dowry of the
Pritwass Louise, Mr. Forster said, as a member of the Go-
vernment which may be expected te bring forward a vote
for the dowry of the Princess Louise, I cannot he expected
to say that I will not vote for anything that the Government
brings forward. Itft I will say as lf I were a private member
that I see no reason why the Princess should be fined for
marrying a Scotchman The dowry of the children of the
Sovereign Is part of the arrangement made when the Civil
List was adopted."
Mr. West asked if Mr. Fonder would support a motion to
release the Bishops from their attendance in the House of
Lords.
Mr. Forster: I must appeal to the sense of the meeting
whether this is a question that I can possibly answer. It
In not my fault if I have colleagues, tut I have duties to
these colleagues which lam bound to consider. The facts
are these :—Mr. Gladstone opposed a motion last sernsion
for the excluders of the Bishops from the House of Lords.
Against this fact I will eel what Is also a fact, that
I some time ago repressed an opinion that the Bishops
would be better out of the House of Lords. At the same
time I have no desire to leave you in any doubt as to my
course. I cannot support any motion to exclude Bishops
from the House of Lords unless at the Caine Lime clergymen
are admitted to the Home of Commons. If a motion is
made next Session for the exclusion of Bishops from Par'
'lament. and the Cabinet decides to oppose it, I cannot vote
for it. Ido not think ills a question en which I am called
upon to cease being a member of the Government.
A person In the body of the meeting next asked what
benefit tire working classes received from Royalty, that
"they should have them all to keep."
Mr. Forster Ido not know whether I ought to answer
such a question. It involves a very important question—
no less than altering the Constitution of the country upon a
most vital point. I, in COMMOn with every man who has
held public office, have solemnly sworn to be—what I am
sure every oue in the assembly is—a loyal subject to the
Queen (cheers), and I do not hesitate to say that enor-
mous suffering would be the resuit of the abolition
of Royalty. I see that Mr. aVinterbotham ham been very
unjustly complained of because In reply to a similar
question he raid that one advantage of a fixed execu-
tive such a. a monarchy war, that it rendered a country
less liable to revolution. I am aware that the case of
France is cited as an Instance where revolutions are frequent
in spite of monarchical institutions; bat it must be recol-
lected, on the other hand, that revolutions only became
frequept after the stability of the monarchy had been de-
: stroyell by the great revolution. Idu not say that this re-
. volution ens not a j ust one, but we have no occasion for a
revolution hi this country. (Loud cheers ) I he love the
nation a ould suffer enormously if one were attempted, and,
, farther, that, even as compared with the United states, our
, principle of an hereditary monarchy is not only safer. but
L attended with less cost to the country than a constant change
of elective Pfeeldenta

MR. GLADSTONE AND HIS
CONSTITUENTS.
Another meeting in support of the requisition call.
ing upon Mr. Gladstone to resign his erg, was held
in the Lecture Hall at Greenwich en Monday night.
Admission was by tickets gratuitously distributed
among persons presumed to be favourable to the
designs of the promoters; but a very considerable
body of opponents had found their way into the hall.
By way of precaution, the upper part tf the amphi-
theatre was separated by a line of rope from the lower,
in order to prevent any ugly rush. There were not
more than 500 persons present.
Mr. Pook conducted the business and Introduced
the chairman, Captain Hominy, and the speakers to
the meeting. Mr. Pook having read the requisition to
Mr. Glache one, and premised that he was addressing
freeborn Englishmen and not slaves, was followed by
the chairman, who accused their member of driving
away hundreds of families from the borough, and of
attempting to destroy the constltution of the country
by Radicalism.
Mr. M'Clure then moved a resolution calling on
Mr. Gladstone to resign. This was seconded by a
Mr. Watts, and spoken to at some length and much
vehemence by Mr. O'Brien, who joined to what had
already been said a denunciation of the pacific policy of
the Government. He wool I not ask, he said, for one
hour of Chatham, but " Oh, for one hour of old Pam! '
lie resumed his seat after several cries of "Question,"
and the resolution was put and carried by a majority
of about two-thirds.
Another resolution, moved by Mr. H. Mayhew,
called upon electors approving of the decision arrived
at to sign the requisition. The mover said he believed
Mr. Gladstone to be a master of debate and a man of
much chivalry, but that he had done a great deal of
harm.
The resolution was seconded and put to the meeting,
but, appareutly from the ayes and noes being about
equal, no declaration was made by the chairman as to
whether it was carried. Groans and cheers having
been called for and given by each party, a vote of
thanks hastily pasied to the chairman, the proceedings
I terminated with an unseemly row' in which the op-
ponents of the meeting struggled to get possession of
the chair to hold a meeting for themselves. In this they
failed, but not until the chair had been pulled to
pieces.