The Express.
London, England, 1855-06-14 00:00:00

independence was destroyed, and the predent Houseo f
Commons bed shown itself more vehement in proinot
inn the i of party than any other interest .
fhe great contention between the two parties had been how
the one should be kept snit of office and bow the other should
get in. What he wanted to see was the formation of a really
independent party in the Monte of Commons. If they could
only get me hundred gnod men in such a uoduon, the work
would be half done. (Hear, hear) According to the theory
of the constitution, it mutts duty of the House of Com-
mons to creek and control the gmernemat ; hut on
thoughtful observer could walk into the gallery, still more
into ate lobby, of that house, when important ; uslie ques-
tions were being dismissed and decided upoo,without feeling
that the attendance of members seemed ti be put in the
'same category at a lounge down 13ond.strs,t, or a visit to
a private assembly. (Hear, hear.) If Mr. Layard was
going to be baited—(loud and long continued chesre)—or if
nano other exciting Kent was going to be enacted, the gal-
leries would be lull of men covered with red tape or
with red costa, who were come to enjoy the spectacle.
Ai to arything like an adequate idea of the responsibility
which attached to their position, he would ask whether, ex-
cept in the ease of some hundred members, there was the
slightest indication of it? (Cheers.) As there were members
of different parties connected with this object, it should be
clearly understood that each speaker would be alone re-
sponsible for his statements. Tree association world be
responsible only for its own official documents. He bad no
Imitation in raying that the House of Commons was
at nresent a mere sham. According to the census return of
11351 there were in this country Stout four-and.a.half
'afflict's of men of twenty years and upwards ; while at the
same period there were only about nine hundred thousand
men who had the power to vote. (Hear, hear.) lie held
that that state of things was net rate, and he would invoke
both conservatives and liberals to join in demanding
a change of !which he might safely say that the sooner it
took place the better it would be for tte country. Under
the present system, it was not the independence. not the
wealth, not the intelligence of the country which was re-
presented in parliament. The association appealed to the
sense of individual responsibility an this subject. Although
they were not going to be lavish in their expenditure, their
modes of action would involve a large expenditure of
money ; and the public might depend upon it that if the
a.socistiem were adequately supported in London and the
country, it would quietly and effectually bring out the
whole cue, and then leave it to the people to decide the
question. (Cheers.) He would now read the following
letters : _ _

"Eaton-place, June 11.
" Sir,—l regret very much that a previous eneagement
on Wedneeday evening next will prever.t toe from having
the pleasure of attending the meeting of the Administrative
Reform Association, at the Theatre Royal Drury-lane, on
that day. The members of the association will he glad to
see, by an advertisement in the Times on Friday lest, Jane 8,
that the Minister for War, Lord Panmure, offers the ap-
pointments to the Royal Artillery sod the Royal Engineers,
in the senior or practical class, in the Academy et Wool-
wich, in July next, to open eompetiti n among natural-
hero subjects of her Majesty, who, on or before the 2..1:h
June, may send in certain certificates then mentioned of
age, education, &a. Woolwich Academy, and the Artillery
sad Engineer., are thus opened to the best candidates whom
the kingdom can furnish, and the merits of the candidates
are to be tested by a competing examination, which is the
fair way to try their qualifications for this branch of the
public iservice.-1 remain, sir, your obedient servant,
"To Samuel Brown, Esq." "JAMES 11111 WOOD.
" Blandford, Jute 7.
" Sir,—With every good wish for the success of the move-
ment, which seeks for the establishment of the principle of
'the right men in the right places.' I feel I myself should
be quite in the wrong place in taking the part at the meet-
lag, on the 13th inst., to which you so kindly invite me.
My opinions can have little public weight, and ouch a way
of expresriog them would hardly be consistent with the
position of a eoustry rector. The root of the evil is—
patronage. So lone as all electioas, borough or county, can
only be successfully carried on by retaining the solicitors of
local influence, this root remains untouched. A lawyer, to
have influence, must be the go-between of the constituent
and member. Men sell their votes to push their own or the
fortunes of their relatives, through government influence.
The solicitor makes the purchase ; he is retained to do
it. The member must pester the ' Hayter' of the
day, for the patronage he wants ; the ''layette must give
it, or chance to the ministry the loss of a rule. If members
would not ask for pieces, or constituents think they have
this sort of lien on their member, your work would he half
done. It is not this or that government which is to blame,
but tipsters to which three oarts of society, in oue shape or
other, are parties. That we owe to this system the evils
that have nearly crushed our real power as a nation, I have
no doubt. Nothing can check it bat the highest pressure of
public opinion, enforcing more real honesty alike in the
constituency, and in those it rehires to represent it. Did
we once live to see an honest House of Caveman. returned
by a really pure constituency, there would be no fear but
the right men would be found for the right places. It
won't be a political millennium, however,of which I can dis-
cern no warning sign.—Yours truly,
" S. G. OSBORNE."
" No. 7, Hertford-street, Mayfair, June 9.
"Sir,-1 regret that it will not be in my power to avail
myself of the invitation with which you honour me—to at-
tend the meeting of the Administrative Reform Associa-
tion, at Drury-lane, on Wednesday neat; hut, as I feel
quite satisfied that the association, with the guidance under
which it fortunately commences its labours, can only be pro-
ductive of public good, I have much pleasure in pending the
enclosed cheque fir 10 guineas, which will, as I perceive,
constitute me a member.—l em, sir, yoars obediently,
" W. Ctay."

Th 2 CHAIRMAN introduced the following letter with the
statement that the writer had promised to speak at the nett
meeting of the association :
" Tavistoek HOURP, Monday, June 11, 1865.
" Dear Sir,—l regret that I cannot attend the meeting at
Drurylane Theatre on Wednesday night, 1. acing a duty to
discharge elsewhere, to which 1 have been pledged for
months. I have enrolled myself a member of the Adminis-
trative Reform Association, because I believe it to be im-
possible for England long to hold her pl..ce in the world, or
berg to be at rest within herself, unless the present system
of mismanaging the public affairs and mis speudigg the
public money, be altogether changed; because I daily see
stronger and stronger reason to entertain the conviction that
it never will be really amended in coy essential respects,
until a general determination that it must be, is so extended
thronehout the country, that it shall make itself plainly
heard, even within the very thick party-walls of the Route
of Commons ; because the steady union of gr. at numbers
of earnest men is essential to this result; and because I
hope the emaciation will effect such union by boneiely in-
structing the people as to their real wrongs, and their pea:a-
te mecca of righting them for the common good. Yon
know that literature is my profession—it is at once any
business and my pleasure, and I shall never pen beyond it,
The association eau render me no service but as one of the
mummuuity, and I join it in no other character, and with
no other purpose.—Dear sir, faithfully yours,

"S. Morley, Esq."

CHARLES DICKENS."

The CHAIRMAN added that in calling upon Mr. Layard,
the member for Aylesbury, he felt constrained to icy that as
an emaciation they had at present no repro entative in the
House of Commons, though they thankfully recognised
fellow-wo•kers there. They rejoiced, therefore, to see
that Mr Layard h d come to a determination to j yin this
movement; and he veatured, with the greatest possible con-
fidence, to assure Mr. Layard that if he persevered to the
straightforward and independent course on which he had
entered, be would have the weight, the influence, and the
thought of England at his back. (Loud cheers.)
Mr. LAYARD, on rising to address the meeting, was hailed
with immense and long-continued cheering. After i. bad
subsided, be said there was a very g 1 and a
very deep-seated conviction abroad that this country
was very grievously misgoverned. (Hear, hear.) Now that
was cot a conviction which was limited to a few, or
which had been hastily arrived at; on the contrary, he
believed that it was very deep•seated ; that the movement
which was the consequence of it, unlike most movements
which had taken place in this country, was essentially a
movement organised and carried on by those who, above all
others, represented the intelligence, the wealth, and the
enterprise of England. (Cheers.) If he were called upon
to divide England into two parties in connezion with that
movement, be should say, " On the one side you have all men
of common sense and of good sense, all men of responsibility
and of wealth, all men who, by their own toil, by their own
perseverance, and by the sweat of their own brow, hoped to
raise themselvee, and to do good public service ; on the
other side, you have a small party who claim for themselves
a monopoly of government, and who live, grow fat, and
vegetate upon those corruptions and evils, which we, please
God, are determined if possible to reform " (Loud cheers.)
Why, if that were cot the cue, was the chairmen there
that evening ? As he had told them, he was a man of busi-
ness ; he was a man who essentially depended upon tran-
quillity and pablic quiet to enable him to accumulate that
wealth and to acquire that position to which he was so justly
and
comlnfattsci:"Her.ecseAFtahnneddrej representativesithehesachairman
other
ogf
hadelnitteleramtrueenraerio, fo
ftaharetlaa,etter
from a gentleman who was the most distinguished
man in literature in this country, informing them
of his intention to join the movement. What was
it that drew such persons from their ordinary avo-
cations? It was the conviction that the were times
when agitation, however dangerous it might be, wee
necwary to correct greater evils than agitation itself
produced. Now, what was the feeling which that association
and himself represented ? It was this, that whilst, during
a lung period of comparative peace, all that concerned the
private relations and the private enterprise of this country
had made a progress unexampled in history whilst
national monuments—he used the word national, for what
he referred to was national in character, though the result

of private enterprise—had arisen around them, the govern-
ment of the country had been standing sell. (Hear, hear.)
They were told that, after all, many of the lerdier men In
the City were not connected with the movement. That did
•ot surprise him. lie did not pity the asivieiation, but he
pitied these who kept aloof from it. (Cherry) Such,
however, had always bean the case in such matters. There,
wars • great malty men who thought that the best
patriotism consisted in • reg►rd for their private
intermit ; there were Otters who, from natural
temperament, did not like to join any movement while

I