The Express.
London, England, 1866-10-09 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 9, 1866.

party are new attacking you for your championship of a i be any freedom of election in • borough which on only
noble and righteous object-the political enfranchisement 1 rams 730 voters! nest this Is not the only borough of the
of thousands of your fellow-men. We hope the days not far ;
distant wbsnyour great efforts will be crowned with success. I '
kind • let us give only for a moment our attention to one
To you the people of the United Kingdom entrust their ior two facts. In England and Ireland there are sixteen
pause. In you they have unbounded confidence, and , boroughs, and the population of each of them is under
through you, God giving you health and strength, they , 5,000, but they return twenty members to parliament
trust coon to be able to shout with heart and voice the ln England, Wales, and Ireland there are not lees then
glorious word " ' Victory.'" 172 boroughs, whose population varies from 5,000, but is
Mr. BWOHT, on rising, was received with great enthu- ' under 10,000 persons, and they return 127 members to
sium, the meeting rising en muse, and cheering vigorously l
the House of Commons. (Shama.) You do not
for nearly five minutes. When silence was at length know much about little boroughs ; but there are small
restored the hon. gentleman said :-Mr. Chairman and boroughs in Yorkshire, as well as in Wales, and the south,
Gentlemen,-If I accept the address which has just been lin which a little compulsion or corruption, or • very acute
panned by this meeting, and banded to me by your chair. i sum. ,
y or that sort of combination which prevails
man, be smeared that I do it full of feeling-feeling in t'll° 1 amongst • few publicans, and which may be accounted for
first place of thankfulness to you for your kindness ; and, *if it cannot be justified by the exceptional position in which
in the second place, of fear, lest, in accepting it, I should they are placed, and the exceptional legislation to which
promise to do that which I am wholly unable to perform. they an subject. In these small boroughs any of those
Perhaps some of you, M your met meeting te-day, have things can make the difference whether me man or the
not suffistently measured the forces which are opposed other is returned to parliament. In point of fact there is
M you. In the carrying of any great Immure of reform no real representation in these small boroughs. In them
I must ask you not to imagine for • moment
it can be effected uit ware by one sling of some victorious the wishes of the people are nothing ;the representation is
in the handset 200 or 300 electors, manipulated, waxed, owe
arm, but that it must be done, and can only be done by ,
millions of pelled,sarrupted,andbribed. Taketwocemewhiahhavebeen
the combined and resolute efforts of
PeeSle- prominent during the past monies, and allow me to touch
(Hem, hear') Mr. Kell, In the nhinrwatigal ha has ad- upon the character of those unjust assertions which have
dressed Mewl, has referred to the opinions of a deer end , been thrown out on your character by a gentleman of great
lamented friend of mina. neediest one thing which he ; ebaity, capable of doing very great things, bat somehow or
nelgs4lindl•mh" he said alas "Mae the seam. of our I ether, I know not by what means, he Is always prevented
Mat egialahla iit wee this that the Welt Riding 'm 1 from doing them. He sits nominally for Cane in the
Yorkahlenfreely pronouncing its opinion influenced, ta a 1 House of Commons. In that borough there are 173 eke.
large eitage, the opinion of England, and on many great ' tan, but the Marquis of Lanedowse is the allgrevailing
.
accuiesetemfinally determined the policy of the govern-
influence in it, and there is no practical or real memento.
meet. ( ) Today the West Riding in multit- 1 lion left to the 173 nominal elector. Well, but this
dine= meetings has spoken with a voice loud enough , gentleman come, to the mime of Commons, and
to be heard all through the nation, and if I am not you know what he said. I received to-day a
I taisinkruted, that vast meeting of which you have formed a , letter from the town of Warwick, and I am glad to see
part decided by unanimous consent that the representation I that it is become a little more lively than it was when I
of the people in the English House of Commons was boa knew it on questions of polities. I have reeraved from
and uneatbfaceory to the last degree. You decided that . wand& a paper which stated that the calumnies-for
it was bed, not only for what it excluded, but also for , I believe them to be such-uttered against the
great body
what it included. Whilst it excluded the great bulk of of the working class ate printed 01placardsaiyi siren.
the nation it included every form of corruption and evil
; Lied amongst the workshops and ootteges of the working
of which a representative system is capable ; and YOU came 1 classes of that borough. I wish they were circulated in
to resolutions which meant this-that you would change
1 every workshop in the kingdom. I say that unless you
this system if it lay in your power, and that you (the un- ! tarn your faces against the man who has thus wanted
enfranchised millions) would stand the exclusion no longer. I you, who would injure you and then Welt you, I do
(Cheers.) I suppose that after this meeting, and the great, 1
, not know know what lengths this language and conduct
events of this day, we shall have no end of criticising upon I may go in the coming session of parliament. This
our conduct and our speeches. I find that some 1 gentleman who ham not • sonatitueney-f or the man
writers, criticising the alannatMal I made a led" Iby whose favour he was returned to the House of Commons
night ago at Manchester, complain that I maid very has now gone down to the tomb-this man returned to
much the same thing that I had said at parliament in defiance of the British constitetlari, in de-
Birmingham. I believe that a charge of this nature was film* of the orders of the House of Commons, which Ins
brought mere thee t,OOO yearsago against one of the dii,ciered that any attempt on the pert
of any peer to in,.
wisest of the ancient.. They said that he was always terfere with the freedom of election is • breach of privi-
saying the same thing about the same thing-(laughter lege-this man used this language in speaking of the men
and cheers)-and he asked them in return whether they :of whom the bill brought in by Earl Russell and Mr. Glad-
expected him to say • different thing about the SIMe stone proposed to give the franchise. He asked us whs.
thing. (laughter.) I have another answer to make to they it we wanted venality, ignorance, drunkenness, and
them critics; and it is this-when they have answered the means of intimidation-if we wanted impulsive nate-
what I have already said about this thing, then I will try electing violent people, we should go to the sop or bottom ?
to tell them something new. (Load cheers.) Now the He said he knew what sort of persons lived in these small
case which we submit to the thinking portion and the , bongo, between 71. and 10/. rental ; we have bad a lone
fair portion of our countrymen is a very simple one. We 1 expes lance of them under the name of freemen,
say that we are the citizens of a country that has had re- 1 and it would be a good thing if they were dis-
presentative institutions for many centuries. There is no i franchised altogether. He also said that one of the
time when history goes back when there was not • , results of passing this bill, which he did something to
representative assembly of some kind within the I prevent, would be an increase of corruption, intimida-
kingdom of England. We say further, that the House of tion, disorder, and all those evils which usually happen at
Commons te the only real basis-if not the only true se- I elections. And then be describes the second result, that
curity-for the people of these realms. We know, every- `the working men of England, finding themselves in • full
body knows, that the crown in our day cannot give free. majority of the whole constituency, would awake to a
dons to the people, neither can it materially impair our I serse of their power, and would do the most dreadful
freedom. We know further that the House of Lords, from I things which he describes. He says they would be no
its very constitution, from the nature of its being, cannot longer cajoled at elections ; they would set up shop for
be relied upon as a safeguard for the freedom of English- 1
themselves ; they would have objects to carry as well as
men. (Hear, hear.) We know that representation, and • I their neighbours, and would unite tocarry those objects.
just ant a faissepresentation, is that which alone makes a He rye they have the machinery already; . they
free country. One of our colonies, now the United States have trades unions and leaders, and the power
of America, 100 years ago knew that they could not be lof combination : and so he describes the terrible
represented in the English parliament ; they would not 1 or destructive thing" that you would do if you had the
eland taxation from a parliament in which they were not ' franchise ; and be says of the House of Commons, as long
represented ; they threw off therefore the supremacy of as we have not passed this bill we are masters of the
the English crown, and declared themselves a free and in- situation. Now, I have said often that I don't in the least
dependent state ; and at this moment there is not an blame the speaker for frankly speaking his sentiments. I
English colony from Canada to New Zealand that would 1 think the sentiments are altogether erroneous; I think
not also throw off the supremacy of England if the ; the courage which made him express them very unfortir
parliament or crown of England denied to it or their repro. 1 nets; but I only consider the sentiments as of importance
sentatives a responsible government. (Hear, hear.) In I because they were welcomed with enthiaiesm, and apps
fact there is nothing whatsoever that distinguisbee us from I rently by a unanimous consent, by the whole tory party
any despotic country in the world in the matters of political lin the house. But there is another gentleman, who door
freedom except the possession of a representative assembly. I not sit on our side of the house, and who now, by favour of
So we have been taught, the people of this coon- I Lord Derby, governs over 100 millions of people in British
try have been taught, in my opinion foolishly and 1 India. That gentleman sits fur a rotten borough also-for
wickedly, to hate and despise Austria and the kingdoms of I the borough of Stamford. If the member for Caine sits
the Two Sicilia', or Naples as it lately existed, and mainly I by favour of one marquis, the member for Stamford site by
because those countries were despotic countries in which favour of another marquis; and he was the man wheumailed
the people had no influence in their government. Well, Mr. Gladstone with an unusual-perhaps in him not un-
then, we come to this conclusion, that the parliament of usual-but with a notable animosity, because Mr. Glad-
England, and mainly the House of Commons, is the fowl- stone said that the great body of the unenfranchised men
dation of the law and of order, and that unless the people of England were worthy of consideration, for they were our
are heard in that house the people are not the source of . own flesh and blood. (Cheers.) I say that the House of
power, and they themselves are but little removed from • i Commons, according to the spirit and meaning of the Bri-
despotism-not of the crown-but of a privileged and tish constitution, and according to the spirit and meaning
limited clam (Cheers.) I believe that the House of Corn- of its own standing orders, has no right to admit within its
mons has no pretence whatever for its existence, except walls any man representing, not a free constituency of his
that it speaks for the nation, of which it is a part. It countrymen, but a single lord and peer of the realm. Now,
was not established to speak for the crown and the dy-
nasty : it was not established, or ought not to exist, to i sem.
I if there be in the House of Commons not a few of this
if there be representatives of half a dozen great
speak merely for nobles and great landowners. It has not
the pretence to be a popular assembly, if itlandowners who sit for counties, is it to be wondered at
speaks more : that liberal measures make so small and difficult progress
for the boroughuiongers ; and I say that its character is
bench
when on i '
degruled its benches can be seen by scores money- within the walls of that house ? I was very much struck
1 towards the end of the last session by an answer that was
bag M.P.& (Cheers.) M.P.' who have walked into their 1 given to me by one of the most accomplished members
seats for Lancaster, Totnes, for Yarmouth, or for a score- I of that house, who has taken his meat there only since the
or it may be for two or three scores-of other boroughs, last election ; and I believe there is no man in the house
which are very much in the same predicament. (Cheers.) I whose opinion en a point like this is more worth attention-
Whilst speaking for these-for the crown-for the nobles- I asked him, as he sat there from the beginning of the in-
fer the great landowners- for the boroughmongers- I sion-say from February till the month of June-what he
I thought of the House of Gnomons? His answer to me
for the men who have purchased their seats in
parliament-the Rouse of Common' is no security I was given in language of positive sorrow. He said that he
for the freedom of the people ; and if it speaks for only * was shocked and discouraged by what he had seen, for, he
one out of six or seven of the people it is no fair represrepresents.l said, " I think this is • house in which no good cm be
tion of the nation. If it exists at all, if it is to be I done." (Hear.) Now, for what are we met here to-night,
either in accordance with the principles of the English 1 andfor what did-I will not say 100,000,0r200,000,0r a quer-
constitution, it ought so far to represent all classes of the ter of a million-but a multitude whom no man could
people, and that every man, whether he has a vote or not, 1 count-why
and that
can himself feel that he has an interest in the house did that multitude so-day quit all its usual
labours and avocations, march long miles through your
it watches fairly over his rights and his interests. (Cheers.) country to gather on your neighbouring moor ?It was to
Let us take a ease, and if we had a meeting every week :
proteseagainst this state of things, and if possible to change
during the year we should have in some way or other fresh 'it ; and we are resolved-now you agree with me-(hear)-
eases to dissect. There has been during last week an I
1 we are resolved-(great cheering, the people rising, and
election in a small borough in Wales, the town of Brecon; , waving hats and handkerehiefs)-that every member who
what happened there? There were two candidates ; the I
sits in the House of Commons shall have • free consti-
carcase was a very small one, but there were candidates I tuency, and that every working man tbroughoutthe United
reedy'. One was a gentleman of whom I ern say nothing
Kingdom shall form • fair portion of every free coned.
but what is in his praises, for I happen to know that he ' inency. We prep.", in fact, to restore the represents•
resigned or quitted the representation of the Duke of 1
1 tion and to restore the fair and free action of the English
Marlborough's rotten borough of Woodstock because be , eousiltation. We believe that there is a spirit created in
would not subject his own honest liberal convictions to I Birmingham,
the views of his brother, the Duke of Marlborough. I Yorkshire, in the Newcastle and Durham districts, and in
Well, Lord Alfred Church tory
ill was one candidate. I forget Glasgow in South Lancashire, in the West Riding d
and the West of Scotland, there is a power rising
the name of the other. [A Vorez-" Howell Gwyn.") That I which, fairly combined, can do all this. (Loud cheers.)
sounds very Welch. That was • furious contest ; public ; The Workin _
g men must combine, and they must sub.
meetings wereheldand speeches made, and there was scan- 1 scrim. A penny a week or a penny a month, from-
vase of the most pertinacious character. lam told that the ,
. the thousands and from the millions, would rams
agents of the great and powerful houses were begging, and I funds that would enable you to carry on the
coaxing, and compelling that they might get votes, most gigantic and successful agitation that this country
and the end was the tory candidate polled 128 and the libe. I bee ever seen, (Cheers.) It is mainly your own voice that
ral candidate 102, so that ittook just 230t0 return this last
I will decide your own fate. Ido not quite agree with some
I made member of the House of Commons. Before the Re-
of the observations of our chairman-the obsess actions
form Bill the borough of Brecon was a borough returning,
which have been made to-night-u if tthemwere a chains
I believe, two members to parliament, and the electors between between you and the middle class. It is not so, and it
consisted of ten burgesses. I believe that they did not :
ought not to be so; and if you will take out the small
make an even] dozen, although they might make eleven; horoughe, in which the middle class themselves are not
and the Reform Bill extendedtbe franchise and so added to I independent, you will find in nearly all the great towns
it that Brecon had something more than 200-230 have ! of the kingdom that there is a powerful middle class in.
just voted. I ask you whether it is possible there should ,
Science in favour of the enfranchisement of the working
be any fair representation in a borough like this? I heard ' dames ; and bear in mind, further, that even of that highest
from private sources, and I see it Astrid in the news- I ohms in the social scale-that class which has great wealth,
that at least two noble families have been very 'ant high title, end great privilege-that in the history of
active in their interests through their agents. Noble England there have always been men to stand out from
families that I am told came in with the Con- that clams to contend for liberty with the great body of
,tliqusr,earlo,B,Lned suit. ff. asl know it igA laughter.) nal7eve i their countrymen. If the nation is to be split into two
~,,...-7. ve..-----',...4...4..,,,Ler did.. ,'''''''...a.,,,,•‘ and u_,,,,,,,.,,,,---a---" parts, and there is to be a wide golf between them, there
`-'''' noble, ---1."."1 " '.... ''''''. any ch..----__. is nothing for the future but subjection, for you are power-
that I have been able to make, they an obscure and less to obtain your end; but working with a large portion
unknown to an eminent degree. How can than papal,

[TWOPENCE

of the middle elms, and with the most intelligent and pub
of the highest social elms, we may find throe great ISSIIP
sures snoomplishod without any violation of public pesos,
and without any disruption of that general harmony white
might to prevail throughout all classes of the people.
(Cheers.) Therefore I may this—rely mainly on yourselves.

. .
Ear you are the great nation excluded. See what you have
done. lem not saying this to natter, for no word of fiat-

ter? to the working Mum, or to soy other alms, ewer pared
my lips—but when I look over this country, and see the
ultimo youhave built, the maned, you have made, the manse
factures you have produced, the cargoes which freight the

ships of the great of mercantile nation the world has ewer
seen—when I see that you hare converted, by your labour,

what was once a Wilderness these islands—into •

fruitful garden when I know that you have
created this wealth, and that you are a
nation whose name is a word of power through-
out all the world, then I feel confident that by
your united exertions, in conjunction with the Naiad).
class, you can overthrow for ever the dominion of the dais
of which yea complain. (Cheers.) The few martitg,
which have been held since the close of last session of par-

vament have had a prodigious effect. Why, there at. news-
paper writers who could not see a bit from February to
July, and now the males are as it were dropping from

- - -
their eyes; but this gradual imptovemens of vision is going
on most extensively throughout the country, and it is mid

now that the fork; are hall repenting the mune.
they took during the last session. When I may that Lord
Derby is act a reformer, they eharp me with railing at Lord
Derby, and they my that it is a positive owe of
Mocking injustice to charge the twice with being hostile
to reform. Well, my memory may not be as emirate as
that at same people, but I do recollect that during the
lest session 200 gentlemen, who call themselves tones, ob-
jected to Mr. Gladstone's bill because it proposed to admit,
according to Mr. Gladstone's estimate, 901,000 working
men and some of the unenfranchised b,000,000 to the sat•
fag.. Now, it may be that the tortes did not eare about
this, but all they wanted was power and place. Lord
Derby, in the speech which he made just after be came
into °Moe, intimated in very distinct language, which I
quote from memory, that if he had refused to soserp‘it
when the Queen offered it, it would have been t►e
bresk.up of his party, for they bad looked on the Tremor,
benches so long, and with such internment of Tinian, with
such eagerness, with such hunger for what wee there, that
if he had not even for sir mouths allowed them to get

there, they would have sail that he was not worth follow-
ing, and that they gave up the chase and would not do rics
say longer. For this what did they do ? They wasted
• whole session ; • they have disturbed the whole
country, and have made these great meeting' me-
canary. They have disgusted and estranged the
uneefranchised dames mealy to supplant Earl Russell in
one house, and Mr. Gladstone in the other. In America
there are many political parties ; there is a party that is
always seeking office, and it goes by the name of Bread.
sad-Butter party, audit turns out after all that the party
of Lord Derby is not an anti-reform party, but • Weed-
and-butter party. (Cheers and laughter.) For six mouths
of office—or it may run on to nine or twelve—they have
rejected an honest and good measure ; they have betrayed
the true interests of the people ; and I have seen men on
that bench who would sell the mace, which is the symbol
of loyalty on the table of the house, if by doing so
they could give to themselves fixity of tenure on the
ministerial benches. (Cheers.) Now I must ask you in
all seriousness to let the country know what is our object,
what you propose, and how far you are honestly asking for
what you believe to be good. I shall not appeal to the
writers in newspapers—one of whom, and not a very cre-
ditable one, is concealed somewhere in this town ; I shall •
appeal only to the truth-loving vast majority of the people of
this country. Ourobject is this,torestore popular representa-
tion in this oountry, to rusks the Home uf Commons the organ
and representative of the nation, and not of a small class
of it. If you look over all the world, you will now see
that representation is extending everywhere, and the (te-
pee of its completeness is becoming the measure of na-
tional liberty, not only in the North American continent,
but in the nations and kingdoms of old Europe. (Cheers.) I
have mentioned the North American continent. To-mor-
row is the greatest day in the United States, when per-
haps millions of men will go to the poll, and they will
give their votes on the great question whether justice shall
or shall not be done to the liberated African. In a day or
two we shall hear the result, and I shall be greatly sur-
prised if that result does not add one more proof to these
already given of the solidity, intelligence, and public
spirit of the great body of the people of the United States.
I have mentioned the North American continent. I refer
to the colonies which are still part of this empire, as well
as to thoee other colonies which now form this great and
free republic, founded by the old Genoese at the end of the
15th century. A friend of mine, Cyrus Field, of New York
—(cheers)—is the Columbus of our time, for after no less
than forty pewees across the Atlantic in pursuit of the
great aim of his life, he has at length by his cable moored
the new world close alommide the qld. (Cheers.) To
speak from the United Kingdom to the North American
continent, and from North America to the United King-
dem, new is but the work of a moment of time, and it
does no. require the utterance even of a whispe-. The
English nations are brought together, and they meet
march on together. The spirit of their government meet
be the same although the form may be different. If it be
true that • broad and generous freedom is the heritage of
England, our purpose is this, to establish that freedom for
ever on the sure foundation of a broad and generous repre-
sentation of the people. The right hon, gentleman then
resumed his seat amidst loud cheers.
Mr. E. MULLS and Mr. Eimer Joses proposed and
seconded a resolution similar to that passed at the 11/0111.
ing meeting, acknowledging the services of the liberal
members of parliament who had supported the canes of
the people.
Mr. Fussell, M.P., who responded, was loudly cheered
for IMO minutes. He said he esteemed it • high honour
—he thought the highest that was ever bestowed on him--
to receive the thanks of the meeting, which had proved •
worthy ending of a magnificent demonstration, in company
s :th the distinguished patriots who hail been mentioned.
' tor himself he Could only say that, knowing the character
of the working men of the West Riding, of Leeds and Brad-
ford—knowing their virtues and their faults—if be had
not mid what little he did say in the House of Com-
mons on their behalf, he should have most greedy mis-
conceived his duty, and disgraced the constituency he err-
presented. Before Mr. Gladstone took up the question it
scarcely was worth attention, but it could now be no
longer trifled with, and the settlement of it could no
longer be postponed. The man who of all others
had placed the question in its present condition, he was,
next to Mr. Bright, the best abused man in the House of
Commons. (Hear, hear.) And why had he been so
abused? Parliamentary polities, and especially paella-
meutary politics upon the question of reform, had become
utterly unsound, insincere. and untrue ; and all those who
were content with this insincerity greatly condemned the
conduct of those who had made it difficult, if not impos-
sible, for the future. All those who claimed the credit of
being liberals while they carried out and supported the
conservative policy—all those who wished to run
with the hare while they hunted with the
hounds—bitterly blamed Mr. Gladstone, because
he had forced them to choose their side. (Cheers.) Well,
so strong was this insincerity in the House of Commons,
that sincerity in the House of Commons—especially upon
this question—was generally considered bad manners.
They knew the chine that bad been brought against Mr.
Gladstone—that in the Deadest of the Reform Bill he had
lost his temper—but this he had always observed, that
when Mr. Gladstone showed he was in careeet he was
invariably charged with being in a passion. For years Lord
Pahnerston, as a liberal premier. and as the bead of the
liberal party, governed the country mainly upon conserve-
tire principles. He did not blame Lord Palmerston for
that ; be honestly believed that Lord Palmerston thought
he was doing his duty, and there were many men now
who praised him forte At any rate there was no dis-
puting the fact, and there wee also no dis-
puting the result—that, whatever Lord Palmerston's
motive, the effect was that the liberal party
was becoming weakened and demoralised, especially
upon this reform question, and it would speedily have
been utterly destroyed. Mr. Gladstone bad made that
state of thing"; impossible for the future. Alluding to
the absence of Mr. Baines from the meeting, he said that
although Mr. Ban./ was not with them that night they
would find him faithful and most efficient in support of
their cause in parliament, when parliament met again.
He concluded by observing that for his own part he was
not an advocate for manhood suffrage, but preferred
household suffrage. lie bespoke a fair bearing for any
measure that might be introduced by the present govern-
meat, and hinted that it was not impossible that Mr.
Disraeli, like Sir Robert Peel, might close his career by
sacrificing his party, and producing a really liberal bill.
A vote of thanks to the chairman terminated the pre.
"endings.