The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-10-17 00:00:00

MR. GLADSTONE'S ADDRESS.

The following is Mr. Gladstone's address to the
Electors of South-west Lancashire:—
. . .

Gentlemen,—From you. the Electors of the South-wester-
Division of the County of Lancaster, I solicit a renewal of
the trust, which iva.s coded to me in ISaa, in a manner de-
manding from nie 1... ullar ~zratitude, by the Constituency of
the entire Southern I aviaion.
I then Came before you as the advocate of a ;mlley of trust
in the people, tempered by prudence, and averse to violent
and hasty change.
In the spirit of that profession, I was a party in 1866 to
proposals for the extension of the franchise, which I thought
the smallest that could meet the jest claims of the mien-
franchised classes, and which were studiously limited in
order, if possible, to disarm jealousy, prejthilee, and fear.
We were met by an opposition, not indeed as direct, but
yet its persevering and detrimental, as was ever offered to
any measure. Al length a point was reached at which the
Government of Earl Russell found that the resignation of
their offices appeared to be the most becoming method by
which they could secure the early triumph of Reform.
We reagne.l accordingly. result woo, that the oppo•
fleets of rednction in the franchise took office, and found
themselves compelled by the public sentiment, after much
vacillation to make pi oposals on that subject, which, though
not only narrow, but strongly reiwbonary in the shape in
which they were presented to Parliament, hissed in the pass-
ing ..f a measure, larger and more democratic than the Bill,
which in lena we were told, by the highest authority, would
recline oar institutions to the pattern of the American
Republic.
Front the extensive, though unequal enfranchisement,
which has thus been secured for the people, past experience
awl all present signs lead me to anticipate increased strength
for our institutions, and a snore vigorous march, both of
legislative anti administrative policy.
The Pills which have been passed, and especially that
relating to England, introduced by the Government, but
amended and almost transformed by the (opposition, present
the marks of conflicting handiwork, anti lend a doubtful as-
pect tea settlement, which ought to have been conclusive.
site is did. Indeed, I fear that the experience of the present
year already proves to lie, not only of great, but also of
pressing importance. lit 1,07, two heal lred and eighty-nine
gentlemen voted that the borough franchise, founded on
rated occupattat , should be enjoys, ulike,whether the rate
were laid on the owner or on the occupier. The felol,lion of
this proposal Jy Parliimient, under the intanice of the
Government to drop the bill if it were carried, has leil to
grievous incenvenience anti vexation in a large number id
boroughs. :hie You will readily believe, that we, who
struggled hard to avert them, shall be not less anxious,
under moo favourable auspices, to remove.
The rapid growth of wealth, especially among the classes
the Areatest activity and enterprise, has led, for a number
Of scars past, to a diminished watchfulness, outside the
wails if Parliament, respecting the great cardinal subject of
economy fit the public charges, and the relation between the
Income of the State and its expenditure I earnestly desire
that the paramount interest of the lately enfranchised
classes in thrifty administration may operate powerfully to
bring about a change. This tendency cannot but be strength-
ened by the present decline of the permanent revenue, and
tho addition, since the present Government took Mike
of three 11111110114 111 mend numbers to the public charges,
apart from the dent:ands of the Abyssinian war. This in-
crease has extended not less to the civil than in the military
and 113,41 departments. In my opinion it has not been jus-
tified either by the wishes of the country, or by the demands
of the public service.
I perceive with satisfaction, that attention has of late
boot increaaingly directed to the local charges of the
country. Their amount, the manner id their incidence, and
the means provided for their administration and control,
appear to Ilemand careful consideration. It will in my
opinion be just and politic to allow to ratepayers, by the
principle of representation, a control over county expen-
diture.
It/ question Is at the present slay niece complicated by
differences of opinion than that of primary education. But
all are &great both upon its vital importance and upon Its
pressing urgency. In the year 1039, Earl Russell, for the
Government of Lord Melbourne, placed upon official record
the desire of her Majesty that the rights of conscience
should be respected, and that the youth of this country
should be religiously brought up. Further measures are
certainly required bi establish and secure the first id these
great principles ; and they need not in my opinion Involve
the slightest disparagement of the second. I think that the
declaration of Earl Russell still marks the proper basis of
national policy in Education for the Three Kingdoms. But it
has become increasingly desirable that the State should stand
clearly apart from responsibility for the teaching of particular
and conflicting creeds In schools aided by grants from any
national fund. . .

There are many subjects of public moment, some of them
especially affecting your great awl varied interests, which I
am unable to notice within the limits of this Address.
For at this time one question, or group of questions, over-
shmlows all the rest. The state of Ireland, and the actual
temper of no small portion of its people towards the Throne
and Government of the United Kingdom. Imperatively f
demand the care of all public men, and of all good citizens,
who would seek, not merely to live by expedients from day
to day, but, looking onwards into the future, to make pro-
vision, as far as human means avail, for the strength, con-
cord, and stability of the Empire.
The object of a truly liberal policy is by equitable hut de-
cided measures to make the insane of law in Ireland re-
spoiled, as it is in Great Britain to make it respected, by
making it loved ; and to create this attachment by creating
Is the national mind the conviction that law is a friend and
not au enemy ; the friend of every class, but especially of
those classes which have the greatest need 44 its protection.
The present House of Commons has four times been called
upon to suspend the Act for securing personal liberty in
lrelanol ; but it has not forgotten the work of improvement
ins that countly.
In 1660, the Government of Earl Russell addressed itself to
one anis 'lately vital portion of this work. hy introducing a
Land Bill for securing to tenants the value of their improve-
ments, which the obstruction of the Ministers now in power
preventeol from passing into law.
But this year, those Ministers, rightly judging that the
necessity of coercion did alit impair the obligations of
justice, very deliberately proposed a policy bar Ireland ; dial
not shrink from the I mentions of Education and Religion ;
asked to establish at the charge of the Exchequer a Roman
Catholic University: anal declared their readiness to recognise
the principle of religious equality in lrelanool by a great
change In the status it the anendoowed clergy of that country,
provided always that the Established Church should be
maintained in its integrity. In this statement, for the sake
of accuracy, I have adhered as nearly as may be to the lan-
guage which they used.
We thought that Ministers had mistaken alike the interests
and the convictions of the country. We refused to open a
new source of discord through the estatolishment by the State
of any denominational university. We repudiated the policy
of universal endowment. But, acreenng with the Govern-
ment that the subject was ripe. we proposeol a counter-plan
of disestablishment of the existing Church, with strict s egarol
to the rights of property and to vested interests, but without
establishing any other Church, anti with a general cessation
of State endowments for religion In Ireland.
The Church of Ireland is the Church of a minority, in-
significant in numbers. True, wl.ile insignificant in numbers,
that minority is great in proved. , in education, and in power.
All this does not amend, but aggravates the case. For if a
National Church be not the Chute h of the Nation, it should
at least be the Church of the pc, r. Every argument which
can now be used in favour of civil establishments of religion
Is a satire on the existence of the Church in Ireland.
Bet while that Establishment is thus negative for good, it
misapplies the funds meant for the advantage of the nation
at large. It remains as the memo Aid of every past mischief
and oppression. It embitters religions controversy by in-
fusing into it the sense or the spirit of political injustice;
unit it carries the polemical temper into the sphere of social
life fuel public affairs. Nor need we feel surprise when we find
that, shire the penal laws began to be repealed, the relative
number of Protestants in Ireland appears to have
In the removal of this Establishment I see the discharge of
a debt of civil justice, the disappearance of a national,
odtlloBt a world-wide reproach, an condition inolispensable to
the kuccess of every effort to secure the pence and content-
ment of that country ; finally, relief to a devoted clergy from
a false position, erampeol and beset by hopeless prejudice,
unit the opening of a freer career to their sacred ministry.
This is a great change, and it can only be effected with
the abl of much energetic, and much considerate support.
In the manner of proceeding we ought, I think, to be
governed by three considerations a regard for Irish
Interests and feelings; and enlartost equity towarols those
who would lose in point of civil privilege; anal a careful heed
to the spirit of equal dealings throughout the detailed ar-
rangements.
After all that them rules can warrant Iran been done, there
may remain a considerable property at the disposal of the
State. The mode of its application can only, in my Mag.
meet, he suggested to Parliament by those who,. as a govern-
ment, may have means and authority to examine fully the
provision now nuele by law for the various public and soeial
wants of Ireland, and to compare in eachl case both the
urgency of the demand, and the facility of meeting it with
general satisfaction.. It would, however, ill consist with the
principle of the measure for which we are now contending,
If the State, having disestahlished the Church, were to apply
its funds to the teaching of religion in any other form.
T., suns up this great subject—
Rest as we are, by common consent, we cannot. Endow-
nient of all, after the events of the last Session, is out 44 the
question. Retrenchment or mutilation of the existing
I 'hurch, by reduction of its spiritual offices, has been pro-
posed by a Royal Commission ; hint Into not learn, from the
latest and most authentic declarations of the Ministry, that
they adopt that, or indeed any other, method of proceeding.
We, olf the timiosition. Gentlemen, have alone our part. The
matter now rests with you. me path, at least, lies before
you, broad, open, and well olefined. One policy has advocates
who do not shrink from its avowal. it is the policy of bring-
ing absolutely to an end the civil establishment of the Church
if Ireland. It has received the solemn sanctions of the repre-
sentatives whom the nation chose in 1015. For this line of
action, the only one post, and the only one available, I con-
fidently ask your approval.
I have the honour to be, Gentlemen,
linter grateful anal faithful servant,
W. E. GLADSTONE.

Mr. Gladstone's address, the Daily News says, 18 in
almost every respect a contrast with that of his T.
wat
It declares a policy. Where the Prime Minister in-
dulges in inaccurate and misleading generalities, the
Leader of the Opposition supplies the needed correc-
tion by the precise statement of facts.
7he Times, on the other hand, complains that the
address is somewhat feeble in composition, aml not
very weighty in argument; and an apology is offered
for the right hon. gentleman's alleged reluctance "to
commit himself with a policy of a bold aml original
character."
• • - ••

The Telegraph thinks that, on the question of the I
Irish Church, perhaps, Mr. Gladstone dons more than
justice to his Conservative adversaries. He states
that they "very deliberately proposed a policy for
Ireland." The "very deliberately" may be a sly,
sarcasm aimed at Lord Mayo's memorably long-winded
and exhaustive oration—exhaustive of everybody and
everything; but it were flattery to give to his hazy
outlines of vague intentions the honourable name of
a policyiforni,g Par remarks that Ministers propose
nothing after having proposed a policy of bribing the
Catholics which was scouted by them and by Pro-
testants alike. Mr. Gladstone proposes a more excel-
lent way, and the country, now to be appeasd to, will
not hesitate to walk in it.
The Morning Herald characteristically disposes Of
the documents US a tisine "of misrepresentations,
sneers, and disruptionist aphorisms."
In the opinion of the P«Il Mall Ga:ette Mr. Glad-
stone's address presents a favourahLi contrast to Mr.
Llihraeli'. It is plain and linsiness-like, and states a
strong case simply and frankly.

GOOD NEWS ABOUT Dr. LIVINGSTONE.

Sir R. Murrhi,on, who has always expressed the c.-
victim that till; eminent traveller is still alive, in a letter to
rue of the papers writes :
Rejoicing as I shall with all my countrymen if the
report of Dr. Livingstone having lieen heard of within
a week's march of Zanzibar should prove trite, I
natmally cling to the belief in its tnahfulness, Mag. I
much as in my last addriss to the Royal Geographic:a
Society I stated that I thought my illustrious friend
would return to that island, and that in such case we
should probably hear of him this autumn. As I
founded my original persuasion that Livingstone had
not been killed on or near the Lake 'Nyassa, as affirmed
by the mendacious Johanna men, jurlgin4 from the
evident falsehood of their story, and reasoning also
on the character, endurance, and objects of the great
traveller, so I trust that the reafwal4 I have assigned
for believing he would in all probability return by
Zanzibar will not be forgotten. We have, indeed, to
learn whether lie traced the waters of the Lake Tan-
ganyika into those of the Albert Nyanza. if he did
this he will have settled the great geographical
problem of the true watershed of South Africa, and
will have removed the sources of the Nile to a much
more Southern latitude than the great equatorial lakes
dieMarefl by Spoke, (=rant, and Bake%

The COUNTESS of DERWENTWATER.
_
Very 1:v !e iv. ethy r 15/tl. tot& place on Thnrsda%
in conheekton with the temark:Ll,le claim to !Mato',
Castle and estates, (says the Northern Daily Express.)
The countess remained encamped on the road, and the
opposition camp still retained its former pmition.
Both are gradually assuming a more prominent
character. The camp occupied by the conntess has
been covered anew by strong tarpaulin, kindly supplied
by a gentleman belonging to Winlaton, whilst that of
the men in the employment of Mr. Grey (or rather of
the Admiralty) has also been renovated so as to better
withstand the cold and rain. A large number of
persons visited the interesting, though painful scene
during the day, but none were allowed to see her lady-
ship, however persistent their appeals for admission.
Of course, Mrs. Carr, of Shorncliff, who has been
, most attentive all along, entered the tent as
usual in the discharge of her kind and much needed
services to the countess. We regret that her
ladyehiv still suffers very much from cold and want of
rest. }or about a week she has not been outside the
diminutive tent, and, as a consequence, she has during
the whole of that time been occupying a crouching
and painful position. Neither suffering, threats, nor the
earnest entreaties of her friends can induce her to
review her decision or to forego her aim. Sir John
Swinburne, Bart., a distant relative of her lady-
ship, has in vain tried to prevail on her to accompany
him to his residence and, take up her abode there.
Her medical adviser has unsuccessfully endeavoured
to persuade her to study her health and give up living
in tents. Cold nights and wet days have also done
their utmost to induce her ladyship to seek more com-
fortable quarters, but their eloquence has likewise been
contemptously disregarded. Her enemies have
taunted her and called her insane, awl held threats
over her head, but she has proved indifferent alike to
their words and deeds.

- -
The strange proceedings of the Countess have fuernhalietl
the Daily Telegraph with a theme for the following leader
. .

Between James Ratcliffe, third Earl of Dements
water, beheaded in 1716 on Tower Hill, in the presence
of a weeping crowd, and A melia, "Countess of Der-
wentwater," camping out during the raw October
nights of 1868, near her ancestral dehinissnes, there is a
wide chasm of time and circumstance. The hapless
young lord lost his head in a cause not worth the sacri-
fice. The Hanoverian dynasty, as represented by
George 1., had not very valid claims on the popular
affections, but the Pretender had still less. The :
Jacobites, or adherents of the House of Stuart, were
compelled to rely, as the strength of their cause, upon
his legitimacy rather than Ins personal good qualities.
In the month of October, 1715, the Earl of Dement-
water took the field with a body of horse, and pros
claimed the Pretender in Morprth, Alnwick, aud other
places near the northern border. Reinforced by
Scottish sympathisers, the Jacobites made their way
as far as Preston in Lancashire, where they were met
by an overwhelming force of Royal troops, and com-
pelled to capitulate. The last noble descendant of the
house of Ratcliffe was brought to London and
conveyed through the streets pinioned like a common
malefactor. He was committed to the Tower, and
soon after impeached, with several other rebel peers,
before the House of Lords. All attempt to escape
the judgment of that assembly appeared so hopeless
that the ill-fated defendant pleaded guilty, and imme-
diately afterwards received sentence that he must be
hanged, cut down alive, have his bowels taken out and
burned before his face, and finally have his head
severed from his body, and his body divided into four
quarters, 'and these must be at the King's disposal."
Great exertions were made to procure a remission of
this fearful paktum-it. The Earl was a mere youth of
six-and-twenty years old. The Countess of Dement-
water obtained access to the King through the intro-
duction of two powerful nobles, and implored the
Royal clemency. Even the House of Lords, which had
pronounced the fatal sentence, addressed the Crown in
favour of the doomed man. The sullen, relentless
answer was, that his Majesty would do "what he
thought most consistent with the dignity of his Crown
and the safety of his people." The unhappy martyr
of the worthless cause of "King James the Third"
I was beheaded on Tower-hill with several of the corn-
',anions of his mad attempt. It was &cruel, vindictive,
bloodthirsty age, and the best lesson it teaches us is
one of thankfulness that our lot 19 cast in happier
time.
Of course' as an immediate consequence of 1119 at-
tainder, Lord Derwentwater's property was forfeited.
Blaekatone, who is apt to view our laws through a rose-
coloured medium, ways this confiscation is founded on
the consideration that he who has violated the funda-
mental principles of government, and broken his part of
the orginal contract between the King and the people,
has abandoned his connection with society, and has no
longer any right to the social advantages which he en-
joyed—among those advantages being the right of
transferring property to others. This attempt to justify
the practice of visiting the sins of fathers on their
children, does not appear to be absolutely conclusive.
The crown gets by the forfeiture the property, not only
of the attainted man, but also of his offspring; that
is, gains at the expense of persons who are in no
sense wrongdoers. The law on the subject has
been modified in modern times, and some day,
probably, all our laws respecting the forfeiture of the
property held by criminals, must be subjected to
revision. For the present, however, such a reform
does not belong to the sphere of practical politics.
Lord Derwentwater's estates were entailed under his
marriage settlement, by which he took an estate for
life, with remainder to the sons of his marriage in tail
male. Three or four years after his death, claim to the
estates was made on 'behalf of his infant heir, and the
case was heard before a tribunal then existing, called
"The Delegates to Determine Appeals from the
Decrees of the Commissioners of Forfeited Estates."
There was also a great Chancery suit arising out of
the same claim. The matter, in all its phases,
involved some of the most abstnise questions of our
real property law, particularly with reference to the
technical meaning of the word " purchaser," and the
operation of statutes affecting the " purchase" of laud
by Papists. There was a considerable division of
opinion among the Judges; but the result Wits
unfavourable to Lord Derwentwater's heir. In the
time f George L the Courts were not eager to divert
Crown estates, and transfer them to the sons of Papists
and traitors.
If the legal questions were considered dubious then,
we may regard, at least, without impatience, any more
modern attempt on the part of the Earl's descendants
to recover their ancient property. Apart from the
legal merits if the question, there is something
Peculiarly striking about the way in which "the
Countess of Derwentwater" has chosen to assert her
fancied rights. That a century and a half after the
beheading of the rebellions Earl aml the confiscation
14 his property, a descendant of his should claim to
be the hem of his dignities and estates, is a strange
enough fact in itself. And a touch of the picturesque
is given to the legal contest by the lordly way in which
the lady took possession of the ruined family mansion,
and in which, when thrust out by the unsympathetic
law, she encamped under the greenwood tree on the
ancestral estate, declaring that she would die on "her
own land" rather than leave it in the hands of
the Commissioners of Greenwich Hospital, The
Chancery suit has bernm in the woods, in to semi-
feudal fashion. The lady has manifestly lwen
told on legal authority that her claims are valid,
, and it is easy to see why a strong, fervent,
I temperament should be aroused to the most determined
course by the thought of wearing a proud name, aml
owning a great estate. Nor, when the law of attainder
is manifestly bad, and when a shadow of right thus
rests on the lady's claim, in it possible to regard her
struggle without some sympathy. Quite apart from
all technical speculations, the encampment at Dilate=
is a visible pet test against a law which is not defensible.
The right of the Crown to the lands and chattels of
convicts depends upon no uniform rule, but is subject
to many arbitrary exceptions. For instance, attainder
for murder or treason disinherits the heir, but attainder
for other kinds of felony has not the same operation.
It is impossible to justify these distinctions by any
satisfactory reasoning. They are capricious and artih-
cial, and the existence of them suggests that the law of
forfeiture is fundamentally erroneous. It was the
creation of a cruel age; it applied to a state of society
which no longer exists; it is as much out of date as the
headsman's axe, and we may hope that at no remote
day it will be abrogated altogether.