The Express.
London, England, 1865-12-14 00:00:00

BIBYINGBAY, WIDNEODLY Naar.
A town's meeting of the inhabitants of Birming-
ham, convened by the Mayor, was held in the Town-liall,
Ws evening, for the purpose of taking into consideration
the question of parliamentary reform. The ball was crowded
is every part. Mr. VAT'S, the Mayor, presided, sad he
wee supported by Kr. Bright, M.P., and numerous local
celebrities. Mr. Schole6eld, the other representative of the
borough, was prevented by ill-health from being present.
A letter was read from the hon. member, apologising for his
absence, sod declaring his readiness to rapport say real
measure of parliamentary reform which may be introduced
by the government in the forthcoming minion of par-
liament.
The proieedinp having been opened by the Mayor in a
brief speech,
Mr. Aklennaa LLOYD moved, ssoondsd by Mr. B.etwozo,
" Thai laths spielers of this meeting the state of the country
is pendienty famenshie for immediate legilatioa on the
subfearof pedometer, esteem, and that the repeatedly
enwreeW opinion and the regarded pledges el the Mere
pannineet aessaless el the present governmeat ludo it
esperany ineandseed yen the Wetly minietey to repro
E at ones a eoropeshensive mauve of reform calculated to
jest ompestalleme sY sulked of the liberal

Fgrt7."
Mr. Bittosr, when the cheerio, with whisk be was re-
ceived, had subsided, rroeseded to elaist the forbessiew e.
the meeting for Mr. Scholefield, who wee suffering boss
overwork to a large latest in their endow The hon. gem
tissue thee went os to congratulate the meeting Cu the
large liberal majority in the new pullemeet, sad the
brighter political prospects of the esontry under •
noinister who had grows old in his sidesheaset
to freedom. The lodes, however, were lam satin
led. Sir John Pakington wan apparently dominos to
form • new porn, to Mende' men like Lord ?lobe,
Hownwo, and Mr. Lowe, end to exclude • sturdy inde-
pendent member like Mr. Nominate and Mr. Disraeli,
who has told us that England doss sot love caditioses. Sir
John ?angina sad Mn Added', hod spoken ol the
advance of the republiew party b England, but they bad
no right to style • political party in this moserldned
onntry—a party bending the vast mender el
the people—republican. Mow:chin had been over-
thrown by • corrupt eherelt, • tyrannous and • pro.
algae court, • feeble and corrupt administration ; but
the great changes which bed taken plain since 1
the duets of Birminham resounded thirty yews 1,
ago with the noise of mss gathering in favour of
Inform, had put the Queen of England mere securely nun
She throne than was any monarch who had ad there dung
Inn preceding period of English history. No men in the
Mod wished to wrest the sceptre from her hand ; the people 1,
liming that the throne is in oo degree the enemy of freedom
law its Influence lent te that faction of which Sir Jolts'
l'aldsgton was the latest spokesman. Referring to the'.
reform bill which is to come into pediment next month,'
tlr. Bright said he oreppesed It would be founded epos the
bill el 1860, • bill which passed • second reeding without •
Antonio. and which bad not only bees approved of
by the ministry and the lows, but hsestily
1 esesated to by the Queen and the Prises Osumi.
life should like, therefore, to know on what authority ilk
John Pakington dared to arum* that those who were to
its favour were republicans, and that to grant the demand
which the people were malting mouldable the constiantles
I Ibe
log the Howie of Peers. Mr. Bright then refereed te
egions, et Sir J. Eliot, of Lord Somers, of Oherles Jesse
Fox, of toed Orey, of Lord Doshais, wed Ed the lab Dios
e! Richmond, to show that they were more is sestedanse
1 with the opinions of his (Mr. Bright's) peaty then
11 with those of Sir John Pekingloa. " I wonder, for
Imy owe part Mentioned the honourable gentle.
men), how these saes (Sir J. Ningbo and tits
ether eowereattee leaders) propowded soy opinion at AL
If you bad • lawyer who invariably lost every cause with
whit* he was connected, who always gam *Dims which
the judges on the bench revolved, you would sot thee, I
should think, have much confidence in his legal knowledge
(Laughter.) If you had • doctor, and it wee an invariable
rule that every house he entered to give advice he estered
again • fortnight or so later to attend his palest to the
churchyard, you would not have much faith in
such • doctor. (Laughter.) Yon would say, indeed,
that this lawyer and this doctor must base •
marvellous effrontery to dare to offer an opinion at all, and
still more to take • fee for R. (LengSter and cheers.) I
should say that men of this character wen audacious pre.
tenders. Thew very stateemeo, after having howled sad
shouted danger to the crown, danger to the constitution.
danger to ,the church, danger to everything, ever since we
were little childree, even now at this very moment, whoa
everything that they have cried is falsified by the
ever
event,
are just aa ready to shout danger as they
were before. The other day there was • meeting
at Malden. I do not know much of that country, brat.
judging from what we heard from that quarter, I should
say that politically speaking it is by no meow • lively part
of the country to live in. Several members of parliamout
spoke on that OCCOOiOO. Ose of them, with a flippancy pad.
Lively alarming in so roan • statesman, said that if they
gave the working wealthe franchise be would not know whet
to do with it. If any one were to ask the working msn
this question—l mean any one of the party who does not
intend to give it to bite—let him turn round
and reply, " What have you done with it You hue had
a vote ever since you were 21 years of age. What have you
done with it? Have you given a vote in support of any of 1
the government measures over which the country is now 1
rejoicing all this time? You may rely upon it that I shall,
make as good •we of my vote as ever you have done of
yours." It is just the 00100 00 if the debtor is asked to pay
• sum of moon, and were to reply that he would not until'
the creditor gave him • guarantee that he would elm
ploy it for the debtor's benefit (Laughter.) They
would like that the working man when enfranchised
shall do as his employer or landlord wishes him to do with
his vote. I hope that the only course that the workbag
man will follow with respect to his landlord and his em-
ployer will be that he will wander the wishes of his land-
lord and employer, sod see whether be considers their ex.
ample one that is to be followed, and follow it if he does.
but not otherwise. If I were to tell thew gentlemen eon
Min things they would not be so ready to give
you • vote. If I told them that in this
civilised and Christian country a man would be
sent to prison for the sake of preserving, and to • geese
erns', • sport that is absurd in this thickly populated
country; they would not he more disposed to give you • Total
if they thought that you would provide • remedy for this
state of thins ; neither would they be if I were to tell
them that in the act great manufuriog districts the working
man his no regular eduatice, and that half the children
are growing up without anything at all that eis called is.
'traction, and I should say that if the peopl had their
franchise they would remedy all this, mad there would
be no danger if you did anything of the port.
Foolishly underrating and not comprehending even their
own church, they would refuse to give you the vote lest
you should do so great • good to your people. (Cheers.)
have jolt seen • report of a speech delivered last night by
Mr. Watkio, who has recently returned from the United
States. Speaking of edwatioe, he says that taking the nine
Northern States to contain 10,000,000, and half of the
people, he found there were 40,000 schools, and an
average attendance of 2,133,000 children, the total cost of
their ednoatno being nine million dollars. In the four
Wester* States, with • population of 6,100,000, there are
37,000 schools, and an average attendance of nearly one
million and • half scholars, at • coat of 1,250,000 dollars.
Theo in • population of sixteen million there
are 77,00 e school., to which every poor child can
go, st • cost of 3,000,0001. • year. Be thought
this highly to the credit of our AM•601111 (maim,
and I perfectly agree with him on that point. (Cheers.)
But I venture to say that if the franchise is the United
Kingdom were es wide as it is in thew Northern and free
States, within five years there would be established in this
country • system of education sa universal as that which
produces each admirable results amongst our cousins
across the Atlantic. (Chews.) If • man were to turn to
Ireland, where, I am awry to sm. Shier are not so pleasant
as they were in this country, what would he say if 1 were
to point out to him that during the lifetime of the oldest
pore ns is this room it has been • country in which there has

been continual inotortioes, or attempts at rehellir.
la that country the prisciples of the great cocoa-
Indoor party that resists all dangerous coecessions
had been carried out to their fullest extent. With regard
to the land, there have been 200 acts of pargameat passed
hi favour of the landlord and not cue in femur of the
treat. (Oheers.) Look it the choral—l ma always sorry
to have to say thinp which appear is to thi I
character of the church—the chunk religious is one We&
the church political is another. (Chasm.) Don't let any • '
labouring, serer protestant clergyman is Ireland think
I am undervabilag any sorrier he may tear -11
to 'peek of the chinch as • political roe*. -
trios est down in that country, not by the opinion of the
people, but by the power ce the tory people in Begherr
I say that so long as that church exists, there never will •
be, them sever MB be is the nature 01 the hazer nil
there never ought to be content and tranquillity
in
Inked. (Beer, her) And thin is not all that we suffer.
Look et America in oonsectirm with this (masa. Mew
may Irishmen have emigrated to America ? *pied. bar
gathered there whom sags or (ear drove item their waited
homes, and in America they form a parties of
Nu people perpetually hostile to Beglasil. TM
Birth who emigrate (sad the berth ese • Pere
se ace* disposed to pet up with bra ant
lencesS thee
the Irish)—the Scotch who emigrate,
whether te Orr& oe
the Vatted States, sr or them lie enemies el this
seentry---they 'peak of lisglard. d flethand. el Behar.
el the United Kingdom, with roper and theries, *
the Irish had been treated as the Sarah have bees treated
the whole of that Irish nation on the American con-
front, instead of being hostile, bitterly sad use .
changeably bathe to Eeresid, word haw been. I
believe, moth smaller hi ite number, and jar r frier* to
se, en the emigrant& from Soothed are. (Hear, hear.) I
should like to sib of this great cionstitriend piety which
is le be formed by Lord Etre, Mt. Homes, Xt. Lowe.
Nit J. Paldngtoo, and anybody else—l shield like to a*
them, whether it Is interred that the Writhe:eh should
be perpetually =brined, or whether ft sherd fall—se I
em
certain before long' it must fall—before the rearing
intelligence end err of juries cd the people
of the United Weeder (Cheer) Wire thus
primes fear is the—a trader of power. I eseollest.
is
1860, whim the Friaries Bill was under diaries la per.
liament, • noble lord who site on the opposite side of the
house, and who is very acute, end sometimes very candid.
rising and saying that it was nothing to him to know that
the working people were Warrior and frugal. latelligent
and iodependeet. What he objected to wee the iressfer
power from the perms who sew held it In this osmatry.
But is 1688 there wise eossidemble kinder a peter
The monstehy for • time wee is greet danger. Jeers 11.
either ma away or was drives away, and the re-
eerie' • =oath bad hie power very
miter m
by the irks of gatherer. Does anyose
believe that the ministry hat been worse off, or
that the people have not bees better? Is 1832 the
aristocracy of the country, the teritceial earislossoy
whir ruled from 1688 to 1832, was shoes ci sow of ite
authority--dos anybody believe that the aristeoratie
families of this corny or their heads have really safe
fend by that rasp? I hold that as the people grow in
wisdom, indepsodenoe, and intthigesoe, there most be a
gradual transfer of power ; the crown has lost the power
which it once had, but I do not think that say me pro.
ors to diminish its power further. The pesos have like
wise lost some of the power that they suns had, lout are
they any wore,'. The people bays more than they had
before, and there is little doubt that the people are all the
better for the change. Now, let me refer for • moment to
the greet and useful changes that have been made during
the but thirty yearn. There still remains, as I said,
five million heads of families entirely unreprieseted. New,
omens your attention for a momeet to the ISO of those
&mills& Then is moose them one million. or rather more
than one million, in the United Singer who are clamed is
the unfortunate list of pauper. There if another willies
just above popery but always in peril lest they should
become paupers; their condition and prospects an set sere
favourable than that. Now look to the *war lag
lowest strata of this ponies of the oceniauoity.
Look to their abject maitre, to their poverty, to their
'arise, to their utter hopeissisem of say good. Why, in
the United States, eves in the Southern States, daring the
reign of slavery, every sepia had en ides that there was a
day of jubilee for him—but to these people, to this class of
the lowest strata in this country, I am here to state that
them is neither the belief of anything better nor soarer, as
&mikados after it. Have you read • paragraph whir lately
appeared in the newspaper about J. Cross, a Devonshire la.
bearer. He worked six days in the week ,he hed rather
character from his employer, for whom he had worked 24
year, at the rate of P. per week. (Cries of shame.) John
Cross bad a family of seven children to provide for out of
these wages, in his hovel—that is, his castle. For • feeble
wife and an infant child he took—legally, I believe,
be stole—a wooden hurdle of the value cd simpers.
For the offence he was tried before the wegistmtse, and
*entered to 14 or 20 days' imprieounisot. I am not de-
fending the stealing of hurdles. (Laughter.) No doubt
certain English newspapers will say that I em. (Continued
laughter.) lam not even finding fault with the nag's-
trates who committed the man. I will not speak evil ot
dignitaries ; but I tell you that many thousands of cases
like that of John Cross are to be found throughout the
country, and especially in the south, and that their Poodi-
tion is such that hitherto the most anxious investigation
has been unable to solve the mystery ai to how feast your
hey keep
body and soul together.
eye over the country and look at these five millions of
families, and the desperate condition of this strata of them.
Is it not true that this anagram:bleed section may be said
to tail and toil, koowisg almost no rest (Cheers.)
Compare it with the ruling clam ; but if I do I shall be
charged communism—(anghter) ;it will be said that
I wish to divide the property of the rich and squander it
amongst the poor ; that I want to take the lands of the
rich and to divide them amongst the poor. (Her.
hear.) But compare this great toiling and unentran-
chised section with the section who may be considered the
governing classes. Look at Oa worth. Look at it. ostenta-
tion. Look at ite luxury. Behold its weariness—for there
is weariness amongst them ; but it is the weariness of
satiety—and see how they rush from place to place, as
it were to discover some new pleasure—(" hear, hese
and cheep)—but that great section of whom I have sporra—
n:Pit great section •ho have built up the power of this
country—this unestranchised people, without whom Bug-
ler would be nothing bats power which a division of the
coodpental army might subdue and annex—that greet
amino of Si. millions of families is excluded from any
share of political power, and the small section, con-
tainiog vast numbers of excellent perms, is poten-
tially the governing power in this realm, (Cheers.)
Now, let me put to you before I sit down a simple proposi-
tion, and putting it to you through theta gentlemen who sit
below me -(the reporters) to whom freedom in this country
is so greatly sod so constantly indebted—let me put it
through them to all the people of this kingdom—if of the
five millions who are now shut out, one million were ad•
mitted—you will mark the extreme, or en some will say, the
blameable madention of that suggestion—bet if only one
minim were admitted, would not the cry of the toildaden
and the suffering, which even now attends to heaven, reach
further and be heard even on the floor of parliament?—for
do not forget that the ear of the Supreme is nearer even to
the lowliest of us than is that of our rulers.
but if that voice were heard in parliament, would it st,
perchance, do something to still the :oar of faction, and to
bind the powers of statearoseship to the high sod the holy
pof humanity and of justice' I speak net the
iurpose
ris of party. feel myself above the level of party.
(Loud cheers.) T speak, as I have ever redireared to
speak, on behalf of tee unenfranchieed—the almost voiceless
millions of my countrymen. Their claim is just, and it is
eoustitutionaL It will be beard—it cannot be rejected.
To the outward life monarchs end parliaments seem to rule
with an absolute and uoquestionable sway ; but—and I
quote the words which one of our old puritan poet. has left
for OS

There to on earth a yet ammeter thing,
Veiled tho It be, than parliament or king.
That wigwam thing is the tribunal which God ban set up
in the COOICI•110MI of mea—it is before that tribunal that I
us now permitted humbly to plead, and there is awns
thin in my heart, a small hot via excellent voice, whisk
Mlle me that I shall not plead in vale.
Bright resumed bis seat amid great cheering, hula,
spoken foe nearly an bout and a half.
The resolution was agreed to, and the proceedings were
soon aka brought to a clam