The Express.
London, England, 1855-01-20 00:00:00

SOIREE TO THE MEMBERS FOR MAN-

(72.011 TUN AZPOILYZIS OF TRI DAILY NNW AND NY
ILIKTILIC Tar,Rosati.)
. _

The saris at Manchester to Messrs. Gibson and
Bright, the member for that City, was held last night at
the Coen Zaeltaage, and was nucleon* attended, upwards
of 800 tickets having been sold, and applisations baring
been nude for Unitises beyond the capacity of the ream,
which with diSoulty seats so large a 'company.
It has been usual for the Manchester party to hold a
meeting immediately Woes the aseembling of parliament.
as a seams of Mai/gating t►e tone they would feel it desirable
to amums on the leading political queening of the day ; and
that has no doubt bees the object on this occasion, although
the form of holding it as "a wire* in honour of the repre-
sentatives" for Manchester, sad Magill's' the public by
the purebue of tickets is new. The usual form bulimia to
have meetings merely of the election committees of the
liberal members for the boroughs and two divisions of the
Gouty, and of the leading supperten of the liberal
members.

Jan.
Jae.

The doors of the Exchange were thrown open to company
at half-past (oar, and the speaking commenced at half•put
five o'clock. The principal guests were T. Y. Gibson, M.P.,
John Bright, Richard Cobden, hf.P., William
Brown, M.P., John Cherthans, M.P., Thomas Barnes.
11. P., Joseph Crook, M.P., Edward Eliall, M.P., George
Hadfield, M.P., James Kershaw, M.P., Major-General
Thoraces°, Denby Seymour, M.P., Captaia Peewit*, the
Mayors of Bolton, Oldham, and Ashton, Joseph Sturges
Dr. M'Kerrow, Dr. Davidson, Dr. Beard, Rev. William
tiaskeU, Rev. Mr. Bubier, Rev. H. Dunckley, W. H•
Derby, of Brymbo, near Wrexham, C. E. Rawlins (Wee:-
ham), and the following gentlemen who bad accepted in-
vitations as vice-presidents and on the executive com-
mittee :—Sir E. Armitage, Henry Ashworth, Robert Ash-
ton, Thomas Ashton, William Bayley, Thomas Bexley,
Wainwright Belihouse, William Bickham, Alderman Brad-
ford, Thomas Bright, Abel Buckley, Nathaniel Buckley,
James Burton, jan., J. C. Dyer, Thomas Goadsby, John
Grandy, Alderman Harvey, Nicholas Heald, Alszandeg
Henry, Alderman Abel Heywood, Alderman John Shaw►
cross, Thomas Hibbert, Samuel Ribbon, E. B. Lengworthy,
Daniel Lee, leis Mackie, R. N. Philips, James Procter,
William Rawson, Henry Rawson, William Sale, Theodore
Schnuck, Joseph Simpson, Robert Stuart, Benjamin Sy&
dell, Peter Walker, Alderman W. B. Watkins, James
Watts, Oldham Whittaker, Archibald Winterbottom,
Thomas Wrigley, John F. Petitjean, jun., Smith P. Robin-
son (boa. secretary), William Bradford, James Edwards,
John Fades, Arthur Francis, Samuel flodgkineon, William
Hodgkinson, Samuel Lees, William William
M'Cartney, Charles Macdonald, Robert Romney, lease
Shimwell, and Frederick Royse, Erqrs.
Mr. Gijon WILSON raided, and opened the pro-
ceeding..
Mr. T.M.Gluon, the senior member for the city, having
been called upon, spoke at considerable length, in the course
of his address be observed that remarks bad been made about
his hon. friends and himself voting in minorities so ens
'neatly; bat if that was meant as a reflection he might
reply, that during the last session he had had at least the
satisfaction of voting in minorities on moat important ques-
tions with the government. la reviewing, according le
custom, at these meetings, the measures of the put esselec,
the right bon. gentleman said it must be admitted thee It
had been an abortive session. Welt promises were bald
est by the government, but through the war and from other
souse most of the great measures introduced into paella
met had been defeated. The Reform Bill, he thought,
was wisely abandoned, but the Bribery Bill was one which
might not to have come to so impotent and lame a conclusion
it had ended in. The Queen's speech had said the
experience of the past had rendered it necessary to take
steps for preventing bribery and corruption, and therefore,
as no one could tell how soon a general election would take
place, it was at least necessary to have passed that measure
to have preveired the renewal of those scenes of corruption
that were so much deplored. The bill had been carefully
prepared by a committee, but the first parts of it had bees
struck out and emasculated. As the matter ended, the bill
was only passed for one year, during which it might have
been foreseen there was little probability of a general eke.
Lion occurring; and, therefore, it could only apply to a few
isolated cases. Bat he (Mr. Gibson) had no great confiding*
in any preventive legislation in reference to stopping lath
midati4n and, bribery at elections; there was bat one re-
medy, and that was what mast come at last—the vote by
ballot. (Chem.) There was another measure of an im-
portant character which bad fallen through—the emend.
potion of the Jews. London still had but three repro-
seutatives. Contrary to the advice of many leadiag members
el the liberal party, and of able lawyers, preceding govern-
ments had attempted measures of legislation rat►er than let
the house proceed by itself, sad they had brought in bills
which, h.d passed the Commons, but were rijected by the
House of Lords; but they had at last ►ucceeded in bringing
in a bill which bad been rejected by the Commons. (Hear.
hear.) The cause of the Jews had been mismanaged from
the beginning, and in the last attempt to settle it they
brought down upon the Jew opposition from new quarters.
by bringing into the same bill the question of the oath of
supremacy; and notwith•tanding all the eloquent declare:
tions of the country about religious liberty, we still laboured
under the stigma of a portion of our countrymen being
deprived of their civil rights on account of their religious
rpinious. (lieu.) He hoped that the next session, amongst
other measures, the newspaper stamp question would be

. _ _
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b y
On Monday evening a lecture was delivered in settled.A rem hilionhad been passed theHouise of Commons
the Lecture Room, Nelson-street, Newcastle-on-Tyne, by condemning the present state of the newspaper stamp law.
Mr. George Crawshey, on "Corruption in Parliament M The 11 mse of Lords had also adopted k resolution con.
the present day—its means and consequences." Them was demnatory of the stamp. The government had pledged
a numerous audience, presided over by Mr. Chun' Att- themselves to bring in a measure immediately after the
wood, who previous to calling on Mr. Crewabay to deliver meeting of parliament, and his advice was to repeal all the
his lecture, made a few remarks on the general object and
tendency of the discourse about to be delivered. The opt laws that now related to newspapers and pamphlets, and
uions of the British people he observed, had bees so widely coact no new ones—postage arrangements being left to be
perverted by the pernicious influences which had been settled between the Post-office and the Treasury, who bad
brought to bear to form the bends of party, that no intli- full power under existing laws to male such arrangements.
"Waal was now left free to form hie own opinion on his own
He wished to see the press emencipats d from all control
personal independent ground., or to adopt any other course
than attach himself to the leadership of some party in the except that of courts of law, our libel ;awe affording ample
state, and support titer views and course of conduct with- security for the protection of private character from
out reference to the question in each particular case, calumny, for he did net contemplate Bey arrangements that
whether those views ann that course of conduct WtTO just could by possibility leave individuals to be libelled
or unjust, salutary or pernicious. Re concluded by intro- impunity.
dusting Mr. Crairshay, who atter adverting to the corrup- with (Hear, hear.) When the newspaper
don practised in the days of Walpole, went on stamp was one into, there could be no question but
to assert that there existed at the present time • the public voice of the country would demand sac
system of parliamentary corruption more insidious the repeal of the paper duty, and then England will have
and dangerous than toe money purchase of mem a perfectly free and cheap press —(Hear, hear.) On the
bees' votes, vie, the securing of the votes of members •
by the distribution of that enormous and undue patronage subject of the war the tight hen. gentleman said—ln cep-
by•
the members of the House of Commons themselves proachipg this question he found himself met with this
placed in the hands of the government. The duty of par- mutat, that he was against all war, and therefore it war
limiest was to keep a check and a control upon the govern- entirely that he objected to this war. He did not know
meat. Our constitution was a constitution of checks, in whether it was worth while to make an observation upon
which one power ealanced 'mother. Consequently, when-
arliament there en. that matter, but his opinion was that war was sometime:
ever, in the conduct of a member of p
tired any selfish consideration whatever, either for him- unavoidable ; that -to man felt more strongly than Le did
iselfa his family, or his friends—say consideration, in fact, the miseries, the crimes, that attended on the prosecution
whatever, except that of endeavour:mg to serve his consti- of war, but as the world is constituted he was of opinion
Meats, that member to that extent was corrupt. The
that the honour and safety of the country might require it
duty of the House of Comm ins was to check and
to engage in was. The question with him was, whether the
control the government, but this duty was left merely
to what was called the opposition, and when the honour and safety of this country required it to
?en-
opposition were vaned to power, they were just gage in the war now being carried on He was
as bad as their predecessors. Alter denouncing the going to say there had been many causes assigned
bishops, who, he affirmed, were the meet systematically cur- for this war. One of the moat eccentric views
rapt class of voters in either Ileum, Mr. Crewskay deludedto the recent accession of Mr. Seymour to the recordenhip he bad heard was, that the advocacy of peace principles by
of Newcastle as as illustration of the system of political and his friend Mr. Cobden and others had led the Emperor of
parliamentary jobbery. If the government would make Russia to believe that he might commence an aggressive
use of • judicial appointment for the purpose of securing
poky without danger from England, who would engage
parliamentary influence, they would make use of any other
in no war; but he found that Mr. Cobden had not 'Peen
appointment for that punnet. And when he understood
and fathomed a single ease like Mr. Seymour's, he only re- the only person who had been at work engaged is spread.
quired to know the extent of patronage Mut vested in the ing peace views in the world. He found a correspondence
government to measure the extent of parliamentary corrup- published between a gentleman in the Foreign-office and
non. Having Instanced the many ways open to government Mr. i .
Mr. lemon, n which it was stated that Lord Palmerston
f is, rewarding their supporten and purchaeiog votes—in the
Post-office, Excise, Custom-house, government commie- had entered into a specific arrangement that Mr. Wikoff
siots, inquiries, inspectorship', sic., the lecturer passed On should write in the press of the United States, and of
to the serious effects of the cognisance of the foreign France and elsewhere, to represent clearly that the policy
diplomacy of the government being token from puha- of the English government was liberal, and especially paci-
ment, as shown in extracts welch he read from
the " secret conespondenee." ay wan as from a Sc. (Laughter.) So that Lord Palmerston had been
despatch of Lord John Russell's, written in 1853. engaged in publishing peace tracts, he presumed, at the
The remedy for these things was Lot so much an extension public expense, to lead the world to believe that the Britian
of the franchise—for a cry for an ordinary Reform Bill government was most reluctant to engage in war, and that at
would, jut now, only end in &lesion and more centralise- that h • • t' 1' m t that we were
the timee was minus mg to par us en
tioa—but the duction and abolition of centralisation.
Local bodice mast 'moven their lost privileges. They must threatened with dangers from foreign invasion, and when
at once seek to drew the strength away from London to the he had been long aware, as was alleged, of the ambitious
country. They were aware that there was already a very 'i designs of Russia. (Hear.) If preaching Peace tempted the
extensive municipal freneldee. Every ratepayer had a vote. Czar, most unquestionably Lord Palmerston was ea charge.
Let them act upon this and take an interest in the election
: of town councillors, and endeavour to put active, MUM- able as any one else with having been one of the causes of
: gent, and honest men into the cranial, who would reform the was. It was of little use now to discuss the cause of
all local abuses, and get national matters discussed in the the war, bound as we were with our ally to carry it on. The
councils. If a general election wore now to take place there mast useful course for them was to discuss the conduct of
I was a whole meestaa=atheal tzaPeetere in the heal.' the was and the mode of banging it to • termination. He
who required ex There were numbers of all
classes and ranks of *simulation, working men, manure°• thought the doctrine of the balance of power would never
: tnrers, whlgs, tense, radicals, and chartists, who entertained setae the Eastern question—that the balance of power la-
sentiments very similar to these he had expressed. He valved this two fallacies—first, that you could arrange
: hoped that these would go towards forming a new peetreo , that particular territories should be governed to
be designated the national party—if the word national,
, all time by particular ruling &mantes without reference
i could be applied to party; and that their object should be
the welters and salvation of England. The lecturer then` to the wishes of peoples; and, secondly, that by
sat down said load applanee. , Informing a power like Turkey that; whenever he was in

trouble you would come to the rescue, he was relieved free
the obligation of strengthening his own kiagdoa► and
securing hi► independenee, by the only means that had been
found capable of securing these results—a sound ►ystem of
policy at home. With regard to the conduct of the war—
even if it wee right, which many able statesmen doubted,
to make war for the security of Turkey whenever Turkey
was in trouble, sad which the Doke of Wellington refused
to de In the war between Russia and Turkey in 182 a—it
did sot follow that we were to laved' Russia. Denuding
Turkey against the Garman' of Russia was one thing, is-
ceding Russia for some indefinite purpose of humiliation

was another. It woe dear that the expedition to the
Crimea had been undertaken without any knowledge of
the difficulties the armies would have to encounter. Louis
Napoleon informed his troops at Boulogne, as soon almost as
the impolitic. landed, that Sebastopol had fallen; and some
two months ago even so ovations a statesman as the Earl of
Aberdeen informed his friends at Aberdeen, that perhaps
at this time he was speaking Sebastopol was taken. Whether
it was to he taken or not, it was clear that it bad been found
• far more formidable undertaking than its projectors an-
ticipated, and whether taken or not he doubted whether
the terms on which pesos was settled would be changed.
In the conduct of the war the government deserved credit
for haling adopted a more liberal view than ►ad been held
in former periods, in reference to the rights of neutrals.
He had himself su►mitted a resolution to the House of
Commons, previous to the inning of the orders in council,
in the spirit of the principles which the government to some
extent had since adopted—and whilst respecting the
rights of neutrals was a sound principle, and in
accordance with the spirit of the age, in com-
mercial matters, yet he hoped that that wretched
and degrading system of plundering small mer-
chant vessels belonging to the unoffendiag citizens of belli-
gerent parties would be discontinued, that private proparty
in war would be more and more respected ; and he had no
sympathy with the cry sometimes raised here—" Why spare
Odessa ?" Her Majesty the Queen, in giving orders to the
admiral. not to bombard the defenceless towns, and in
bombarding Odessa to spare as much as possible private
houses and stores—property in which not Russia alone but

the world bad an interest, had carried with her the appro.
betion of all intelligent and humane men; and we could
a have said we Were carrying on a war ,in the in-
terests of civilisation if we had committed an act only
worthy of barbarians, and which would have been
execrated by all mankind. (Applause.) For him-
self, he thought ha was in favour of settling
the war on the four points. He saw no moon
to doubt the sincerity of Russia, for if we were to
go upon the principle that Russia was not to be treated
with, it was better not to make proposals at all; and he
agreed with Lord Clarendon that a policy of suspicion was
neither wise nor generous. The fourth point—with re-
gard to the revision of the treaty of. 1841 in the interest of
the balance of power—was the only one in which a doubt
could be entertained of Russia's assent, for they had long
ago assented to the principle of the other three points; and
as we were informed by Lord John Russell that the pro-
posal which it would be his duty to make was very mode.
rate indeed, he (Mr. Gibson) presumed that the interprets-
don was one that Rossia would be willing to accept to
escape from the enormous evils she had to endure in the
inflictions of this war. The force of circumstances must
bring about peace upon terms similar to those that are con-
tained under the four points, and he thought all parties
ought to be glad of the opportunity of escaping from their
difficulties by this means rather than of prolonging the war
to an indefinite time, to end only fa a state of exhaustion,
and to be concluded by terms no better than those which
might now be obtained. (Ili ar, hear.)
Mr. Baton'', attributing the war feeling to the passions
rather than the noun of the people of this country, and
their extraordinary credulity in the press, which he at-
tacked in &spirit of great bitterness, especially the Daily
News, the Ilisatrakd Nemo, and the religious papers,
owned that his party might be in • minority on this ques-
tion, but cited the experience of the last few years in which
the Pope and the French invasion bad played such a
conspicuous part, as showing the ephemeral nature of their
delusions. It was said it Lord Pelmenton bad bran in
power the Czar would not have dared to cross the Pruth ;
but he referred to the noble lord's attack on Greece, and
his conduct in the affair of Hungary, to show that he was
no great friend of ltberty. He read the Queen's letter to

Lord Joint Russell at the time Lord Palmerston left the

Foreima-office, implying that he had arbitrarily altered and
moilitied documents after they bad received the royal
sanction, and improperly withheld despatches; and said
he had no confidence in a minister who could so treat
hi, Sovereign, or so sacrifice all real respect as to re-
tain office for a swile hour after receiving such a letter.
Be said a member of government bad spoken of tie army
of Russia as composed of eight hundred thousand men, sad
be characterised the government as stark staring mad who
could with that knowledge send such an army as we had to
the Crimea.

Mr. Connate expensed an opinion that negotiations for
peace were now going on, and said he had a very great
suspicion that the terms of peace were irrevocably passed to
Rusin and thin Russia had accepted them—that them
terms implied no loss of territory to Itossia ; and, therefore,
of course, not the permanent possession of any part of the
Crimea—in fact, that the terms were very moderate. lie
suspected that the government, having raised the ticvil of
War, had not the courage to announce to the public the terms
on which they sought to lay him at rest. (Cheers.) These
terms were very well known—they must be known, for
the diplomatists of Vienna took time enough for the inter-
pretation of their awn protocol from the tad to the 2dth
D cember, but then it must have been fully explained if
that were kept back either by this country or France, be-
cause orders bad been sent out to storm Sebastopol at any
cost. If this were done In the interest of a dynasty or a mi-
nistry, if blood was to be shed in torrents for the °nape-
ticn of a town, every street of which was barricaded, and
every house converted into a fortress, to be delimited by the
most determined troops in the world when behind
such breastworks, we should hear some day that'
twenty thousand of the allies had been put hors
de combat, while Sebastopol was delivered to the
license of the soldiery, and every conceivable outrage com-
mitted within it that could make it a hell on earth; and if
they found, from a comparison of dates, that the negotia-
tions had been protracted In this, then he hoped no ringing
of bells, throwing sip caps, or preaching from pulpits would
ever for a moment shield a government that had leaf itself
for any motives whatever to a deed so dark end indefsn-
sible.

Major General THOMPOOK, afterwards addressed the
assetiug. The assemblage cbeered the speakers with an en-
thusiasm unusual ma at such meetings.

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, JAN. 19.

The Mountgarrett peerage case, involving the
right to the title and estates of the Earldom of
Mountgarrett, came again before the Court of Ex-
chequer yesterday in the shape of a motion fora new
trial on the part of the Earl of Mounterrett, the
defendant in the cause. The arguments in the me,
were only commenced.
The estates of Sir John Marcus Stewart, Bart., in
the county of Tyrone, were sold yesterday in the
Encumbered Estates Court, and realised a sum of
59,135/., being on an average equal to 241 years.'
purchase on the net rental.
Mr. W. P. Leathern, of the north-west bar of
Ireland, has been appointed Recorder of London-
derry, in the room of the late Mr. Boyd.
The boards of guardians of Ballinastoe, Lou-.
and Portumna, the chairmen of which are
gain of Clanricerde, Lord Dunsandle, and ,
of Clancarty, have memorialised the Poor Las.
missioners for the dissolution of the Porto,
board, on the ground of the great diminution
pauperism in that district.
The Limerick Chronicle mentions the -
instance of Lynch law in the county of Clare,
or four women stole seven geese the other day
lands of Ballyea, near Ennis. They were
by the owners of the geese, who, scorning
routine of law, took the offenders and plunged
in a bog hole. They then cat the women's hair
to their heads, and turned them adrift.

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