The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-01-31 00:00:00

MR. DISRAELI'S ADDRESS.

Mr, Disraeli has limed the following address to the
electors of Buckla banish ire :
Gentlemen—Nl r. Gladstone has Informed the electors of
Greenwich thst her el sj ssty has 100 advised by her
Minister to dissolve the present Parliament.
Whether this step has been taken as a means of avoiding
the humbllng coutemion by the Prime Minister that he has,
ill a fresh vleletlen of Constitutions's' law, persisted in re-
taleing for several mouths a seat to which he was no longer
entitled, or lan been resorted to by Ills Government
in order to p setpone or evade the day of reckoning
for a on carried on without commueicatlon with
Parliament, sod the expenditure for which
meet lass not estictionee, it Is untie° /vary at pr s-at to
consider. It Is sufficient to pot,it out that if, antler any ole-
ci,n,itofloes, the course altogether unprecedented —of
calling together Parliament by epeeist gammen& for the
deep itch of business, and then dissolving it before its
meeting, could be justified, there is to the present case no
reps h-whatever suegeated why this was not due six weeks
ego, and why the period of the year aerially devoted to beater.
before Enter, which must now be wasted, should not thus
have been sand.
Gentlemen, I appal to you agate for the continuance of
that CtrilllnuCO which you hove exiended to me on nine
different ocemions, running over a period longer than •
generation of men.
The Prime Minister has addressed to his constituents
prolix narrative, in which h• mentions mousy of the questions
that have occupied or may occupy public atteutioo, but in
which I line nothing definite as an tee policy he wouidpuesue,
iitlipt this. IMO, hissing the prospect of a large sur-
plus, ho nil. it retadeed in pswer, devote that surplus
to tee remission of taxatten, whiele would Ise the course
of any party or say Mielstry, lint what Is re-
markable In his proposals is that, on the cne hand, they are
accenspenied by the all. epaieling information that the surplus,
In order to mike it ade quite, must be enlarged by an" ad-
justment," which must mean an increase, of existing texts ;
tha that, en the other hand, his principal measures of relief
will belts eltmlnntion of local taxation and the a,olltion of
the Income-tex—mraeures which the Conservative party
here always favoured, ane which the Prime ell:Meier and hes
Idensis have always opposed.
Gentlemen. I have ever eialeevotired, and if returned to
Paella oent, I shall, whethet In or out of office, combine rye
endeavour, to propose or support all measures calculated to
Improve the es niitis nof the people of this klisgeom. But
I do not ttiolt this great end is advanced by incessant and
hamming legislation. Tee &slates people ere governed by
their customs as much as his their laws, and there Is 'mitring
taey mere dislike than unnecessary restraint end meddling
interference In their alleles. Generelly speaking, I should
say of the adreluistratmn of the last eve years that it would
have been better for us all if tiers had been a little more
energy In our foreign policy and • little less In our domestic
legislation.
By an act ot folly or of Ignorance rarely equalled, the
present M lefty reilnqulshed a treaty which secured us the
freedoni of the 'traits of Malacca for our trade with China
an I Japan' and they at the same time entering, on the
West Coast of Metes, into those " equiv ,cat and entang.ihr
emsagem,nta" ssblch the MHO" Minister sow deprecates.
Involved us in the Ashantee war. Tr e honour of the country
now requires that we should prosecute that war with the
vigour necessary to-ensure emcees ; but, when that honeur
is vindicated, it will bathe duty of Parliament to inquire by
what means we were led bito a costly and destructive con-
test, which neither Parliament nor the cutlery have ever
•suctleued, and of the necessity or justice of which, in Its
origin, they have not been reaMs aware.
The greatin eta further r Item of the House of Commons
I. ogalnanegested by the Ministor. I think unaviiely. TOO
NIZOMPUt for extending to the counties the household true.
chin of the tow., on the grounst of the existing system
bclre anomalous, Is itself falladous. ifeereh as always beets a
differeuce betweee the freuchtses of the two divisions of
the country, and no O. has argued ne TO strongly than
Ike preesest Prem. Minister neatest the covitemplated
Ide silty of suffrage. The Centervative party view
this volition withont prejulice. They have proved
that City aro not afraid of popular rights. But the late
ft-form Ant walla large immure, which, in ceejunctiou with
the ballot, has scarcely been ts sted by experience, end they
will hesitate before they sanction further legislation, which
will inevitably involve, among ether considerable changes,
the disfranchisement of at least all boroughs In the kingdom
coulee telog less then forty thousand Inhabitant'.
Gentlemeri, the Impending general election is one of no
mean importance for the future character of this kb plea.
There is reeson to hope from the &duress of the Prime
Minister, putting ruble some ominous suggestions whlch 11
...tains as to toe expediel cy of a local reed subordinate
Legisi es sire. that he is riot cerialeli at pre.,it opposed toner
netioted (Barnette., or to the melliteriebee of the integrity
of the emote. Bee, ontoriatodely, among his adherents
some mead the Monarchy : others imi nce the independence
of the House of !nerds ; while there are Heine who would
r.I • l'arilement altogether from shy share Oa the govern-
!it •b etrte portion or the United Klegdom.
°there, sots, urge him to persit his peer'''or eniley by
dleeetabliseing the enelicen, as he bees despoiled the Irish,
Cherch ; while trierd cols/Ives in his l'elenet openly con-
cur rlth them iv their derive reit Tether to threst religleu
Irene the plane w bleb It °relit te eeenpy 111 natters's'
erlueation.
These, gentlemen, as solemn Issues, and the 'roper etne
general election meat decide them. Their solution must be
arrived at whin Imeepe Is more deeply stirred then at any
periled since the geformytka, and when the cause of MvU
liberty and religious freedom mainly depends upon the

strength and stability of England. I ask you to return me
to the Boum of Commons, to resist every ptoposal which
may Impair that strength, and to support by every means
her imperial away. It. DL9W.LI,
Ilughenden Manor, Jan. 24, 1874.