The Express.
London, England, 1866-11-21 00:00:00

REFORM BANQUET AT MANCHESTER.

MANCHESTER, TUESDAY RVIZIINO.
A grand banquet was given this evening in the
Free Trade Hall, under Nee sunrises of .the National
Reform Union, to Mr. Bright, M.P., and a nurnber of
liberal members of Parliament lir. G. liPtrniest•pubsified.
Covers were laid in the lerer room at lib Free Trade Hall,
which was tastefully decorated, for upirds of nine hun-
dred guests, amongst whom were Lord Houghton, Lord
Ternham, Mr. Bright, M.P., Sh F. Crossley, M.P., Mr.
Ayrton, M.P., Mr. Baines, M.P., Mr. Bexley, M.P., Mr.
Fildes, M.P., Mr. W. E. Forster, M.P., Sir John Gray, I
M.P., Mr. Hadfield, M.P., Mr. T. B. Potter, M.P., Mr. '
R. N. Philips, M.P., Mr. Cheetham, M.P., Sir J. I
Watts, Mr. Jacob Bright, H.P., Mr. Madmen, H.P.,
Mr. H. F. Beaumont, M.P., Mr. W. S. Allen, M.P.
Mr. Dalglish, M.P., Mr. Crum-Ewing, M.P., Mr. T.
Kennedy, M.P., Mr. Hibbert, 31. P., Mr. Murphy,
M.P., Mr. Platt, M.P., H-. E. Potter, M.P.,
Hr. Whitworth, M.P., Mr. R. Young, H.P., Hr. J. Hey-
wood, Mr. Wilfred Lawson, Mr. E. A. Leathern, Mr. H.
Y. Thompson, Mr. H. Rawson, General Neal Dow, and a
gnat number of the leading liberals of Manchester and

neighbourhood.
Mr. Loyard, M.P., The O'Donogbne, M.P., Mr. Thomas
Hughes, M.P., Mr. Ondow, M.P., Mr.Thontaa Csve,M.P.,
Mr. Neste, M.P., Mr. Stomata, M.P., Mr. Gilpin, M.P.,
I Mr. Whalley, M.P., Mr. Finlay, M.P., Mr. Brian, ILP.,
Mr. White, M.P., and Mr. P. A. Taylor, DIP., had as.
!opted invitations, but were at the isat moment prevented

fro-m
attending.
The usual loyal and constitutional touts were given
from the aliair,and were mostenthusiaatically reapondedto.
The CHAIRMAN then gave the toast of " Our Guests,"
and said that they were met to assert the right of the
people to elect their own representatives in parliament,
and to denounce the traitors who had deserted the proper

cause in the day of battle, and to repeat the demand
made at so many meetings for the representation of num-
bers, sobriety, and intelligence, instead of exclusiveness,
rottenness, and corruption.
Lord HOUGHTON said that when he was honoured with
as invitation to that magnificent banquet he reflected
that only at Easter last he presided over a large meeting
of the artisans of Leeds to present a petition in favour of
the said measure of reform. He regretted that they were
obliged to meet here to-day on account of the measure of
Lord Russell and Mr. Gladstone not having become
the law of the land. It might be said that
he had no business here—but although he was
only here as a peer, they were here in the
indefeasible right of Englishmen to demand the political
rights for others which they enjoyed for themselves, and
in the consciousness that they were asking for what was
just, reasonable, and politic. The question was not this
or that measure of reform, but to secure an extension of
the franchise which would secure their fair rights to the
people. When that was secured all the rest that was
essential would follow; and in so far as they had abandoned
this principle, the late government had departed from a
sound and statesmanlike policy. He for one could never
reconcile himself to the idea of depriving any class of its
political rights, for he believed that the essence of the
constitution from its very beginning was that it had ad-
vanced with the consent and intelligence of the whole
people ; but he believed that England would not maintain
her position without a large extension of the represen-
tation of the people. Referring to one of the
mottoes on the wall, " Privileges are ephemeral, the
people are immortal," he said that it might
be true in a political sense, but at the same time
there were privileges which he would for ever uphold,
which he could never forsake ; they were the privileges of
the intelligent mind, and of the enlightened conscience,
and, above all, the privileges of the individual pulse and
the individual mind which beat in the heart of every Eng-
lishman. (Cheers.)
Mr. HUGH MASoN proposed, and Mr. E. R. LEATHANI
seconded an address to the liberal members of parliament
invited to the banquet.
The address was unanimously adopted.
Mr. FoRsTER, M.P., who was most enthusiastically re-
ceived, was the first to respond. He was quite sure
that his late colleague, Mr. Stansfeld, who was unable to
attend through most serious indisposition, and Mr. Layard
who had not returned from the continent, would regret
that they had not been able to attend. As a very sub-
ordinate member of the late government, ho must on their
behalf express their gratitude to the men of Yorkshire
and Lancashire for the support which they bad accorded
to the late government and its reform measure. As a
member of the late government, he might regret the fate of
their bill, but as a reformer he certainly could
not, and the history of the future would re-
late, that owing to the obstructions offered
to that measure they were indebted to a sound and com-
prehensive reform ; for this he must say, he felt that they
were indebted to four men—to Lord Russell, who
did not like to see his sun go down without completing his
policy of reform ; to Mr. Gladstone and to Mr. Bright; and
last, but not least, to Mr. Robert Lowe. (Hisses.) He
hoped they would not hiss at the mention of that gentle-
man's name, who had done a great deal for the cause of re-
form, for it was his speeches that had aroused the working
dwell from their apathy, and enlisted them one and all in
the cause of reform. (Cheers.) They must not, however,
think that the bat de was over—they had hard work still to
do; their opponents were more determined than ever to op-
pose them, and they must not relax their endeavours.
(A Voice : "We are ready for them.") Yes ; but they
must keep ready, and not allow themselves to be surprised.
He felt that just now the conservatives were suspiciously
loud in their confessions of liberalism, and that any bill •
conservative government would propose would be • con-
servative measure. When he said this he meant in a
party or class sense, for he was moat sincerely of opinion
that a real reform bill which practically met the wants
of the age yenta be moat essentially a conservative
reform bill. This being the ease they must still be on
their guard ; for whilst they were perfectly right in giving
to any measure proposal by the present government a fair
and candid consideration, they must be on the watch, and
not be caught by a plausible measure, which although
giving a considerable extension of the suffrage might
neutralise it by specious checks, and by manipulating the
groups of boroughs and the area of the county constituen-
cies make matters much worse than they now were.
(Cheers.)
Mr. BRIGHT, who on rising was received with several
rounds of cheering, proceeded to state that he had felt in
the presence of so many leading men more as a spectator
than a prominent a:tor in the proceedings. The taunt
which was so repeatedly heard last session that the work-
ing class was perfectly contented with its position had, he
supposed, now been sufficiently repelled. Their opponents
now said that the middle classes stood aloof, but it would be
impossible in any town in the kingdom to assemble on a
platform • larger amount of what was called respectability
and station than was collected at Birmingham and there.
It was just now the fashion to flatter and court the middle
dares in order to get them to take no part
in a measure which would admit the working men
to the suffrage ; but there was no greater fallacy
than that the middle classes are in the possession of
political power. Out of every hundred men liable to
taxes only sixteen in the United Kingdom enjoy the fran-
chise ; and could these sixteen be said to include all the
middle classes! The working classes were insulted and the
middle classes defrauded. When I look (continued the bon.
gentleman) at the great middle classes of this country and
see all that it has done, and the political position in which
it has been to some extent allowed to rest, I cannot help
saying that it reminds me very much of the language
which the ancient Hebrew patriarch addressed to one of
his sons ; be said, " Issachar is a strong an.—(great
laughter)—arouching down between two burdens." (Laugh-
ter.) So on the one side there is • burden of 7i millions
of pounds per annum raised by way of taxes to keep from
starvation more than one million two hundred thousand
paupers within the united kingdom, and on the other
hand, and higher up in the scale, there is mismanagement
the most pow, there is extravagance the most reckless,
and there :is waste the most appalling and dis-
graceful which hes ever been seen in governments
of any counts7--(ebeers}—and the greed result of
this is a system whisk systematically shuts out the

million a, and which cajoles the middle classes by the
hone poems of • parliamentary government. (Laughter
and cheers.) I am delighted beyond measure, after
many years of discoidal, of contemplation, and of labour
in connexion with this great question, to believe that the
great bed 7 of the people, cell than middle class, or sell
them working clue, are resolved that this state of thiap
shall exist no longer. (Cheers.) Daring the last session
of parliament there was made by an honest government as
honest attempt to tinker the existing system ; for after all
the bill of last ession—honest, and well intended, and
valuable as it was—was still but • tinkering of a very bed
system—llanghter)—but the tory party refused even to
have it tinkered. (Laughter end cheers.) They remind '
I me very much of • wealthy but a most penurious old gen-
then= who lived some years ago in my neighbourhoods
and who objected, among other expenses, very mush to a

toilor's MU. He said b; had found out UNA 1; halo would

last longer than a patch. (Great laughter.) I am not
sure that that is not the faith of Lord Derby sad his
friends, for it was owe of their great arguments that if
the bill of the government passed it would inevitably
follow that something n.ore would almost immediately

be demanded. They were so anxious that things should re-
main as they are that they refused to admit 200,000 more
of the middle class by the lowering of the oounty fran-
chise ; and they refused with equal, perhaps with greater,
pertinacity to admit 200,000—but as I believe not mu*
more than 100,000—men to electoral rights. They would net
suppress nor allow the suppression of a single rotten
borough ; in fact, there was no abuse however intolerable,
however putrid, to which they would allow the legislative
reforming knife to be applied. They being thus determined
to keep things just as they were, we were obliged, to our
great midortune, last session to contend so much with
them ; and now they are in office they sail

themselves her Majesty.; servants, but they have not yet
dared to proclaim themselves the accepted servants of the
people. (Cheers.) Some of their papers, and some papa•
which are not theirs, give us to understand—for the newa.

papers are always understanding a great many things of
which they know nothing—they give us to understand
that the cabinet meetings which have been held during the
last fortnight have landed ns in this strange position, that
the mm against all reform six month, ago are now warmly
engaged in concocting • measure which shall be satisfac-
tory to the great body of the reformers of the country.
(Cheers.) Now my opinion is this. First. That the papers
know nothing about it ; and secondly, that the government
—we are obliged to call them the government—has notmede '
up its mind whether to bring in a reform bill or not.
In point of fact, Lord Derby is waiting to see what the
weather will be, and I suppose they will postpone the
decision perhaps for some weeks to come. Who knows!
They may wait till this day fortnight, or yesterday fort-
night. On Monday, the 3rd December, it is said that,
following the example of Birmingham, of the West Riding,
of Glasgow, and Manchester, and Dublin, the men con-
nected with the trades of London will make what they
call a demonstration : that is, on behalf of this question
of reform they will assemble, and peacefully walk through
some of the main streets of the west end of London, for
the purpose of showing that they take an interest in this
great question. (Cheers.) I know nothing of the !arrange-
ments except what I see in the newspapers, but it is
said that more than 1,000,000 have arranged to
walk in that procession. I hear, from no mean authority,
that certain persons at the West-end, attenders at the
clubs, and so on, are getting up a little alarm at what may
happen on the 3rd of December. What will happen we all
know. If the police do not interrupt to break the peace—
(cheers)—the peace will not be broken ; and probably what
happened on the last occasion may be of some use in
teaching the Home Secretary his duty on this occasion.
(Cheers.) There are some persons, doubtless, so credulous,
and so willing to wish well of everybody, as to imagine
that Lord Derby's government will bring in a satisfactory
Reform Bill. They say that Sir Robert l'eel and the Duke
of Wellington passed Catholic Emancipation—that Sir
Robert Peel repealed the corn laws, and why should not
Lord Derby pass a Reform Bill! Lord Derby is neither
the Duke of Wellington nor Sir Robert Peel (Cheers
and laughter.) He left both those statesmen in
1846 rather than unite with them to repeal the
corn laws, and he has never shown from that hour to this
one atom of statesmanship, or one spark of patriotism
that leads us to expect that on this occasion be will turn
round, and, neglecting his party, do something for his
country. (Hear, and cheers.) My opinion may be
no better than that of other men : this, however, may
be good advice—all reformers should be on the watch.
(Cheers.) There are enemies enough, and false friends
enough, to convince na that our cause is by
no means out of danger. But the next bill—
what must it be! I wish I could hope that
it would be as good as the but ; but one thing I think we
have a right to insist upon—that the next bill which is
introduced by a reform government should be, in regard to
its suffrage, based on the ancient franchise of the country.
(Hear, hear.) Household or rating franchise has existed
for centuries in our parishes ; it has existed for many years
in our municipal corporations ; it has never been found in
our parishes or corporations to be destructive to the inte-
rests of those districts. I my, therefore, we ought to
stand upon our ancient institutions. Earl Russell wag in
favour of extending the borough franchise down to the mu-
nicipal franchise, &WILL Gladstone approved of sucha mea-
sure. We know that the late Attorney-General, one of the
most eminent members of the House of Commons, openly
expressed himself in favour of that change. I believe the
liberal portion of the middle class would have no objec-
tion to see the franchise entrusted to all householders in
the boroughs. I believe if it were so extended we should
arrive at a point at which, so long at any rate
as any of us are permitted to meddle iu the policy of our
country, no further change would be demanded. (Cheers.)
I therefore am entirely in favour of it, because I believe it
to be wise in itself, and because it is the ancient borough
franchise of the kingdom. lam in favour of the con-
stitution ; I would stand by it whenever it of-
fered guarantees for freedom; I wouhl march in iti track;
that track is so plain that the wayfaring man, though a
fool, need not err therein. I would be guided by its lights
they have been kept burning by great men amongst our
forefathers from generation to generation ; our only safety
in this warfare is in adhering to the ancient and noble con-
stitution of our country, and when we have restored it to
its ancient power, and invited the great body of
the peop.e to take part in political power, then the
House of Commons will be the servant of the
nation, and not its master, and it will do the
bidding, not of a small and limited—often an ignorant,
necessarily a selfish, class—but the bidding of a great and
noble people. (Loud and protracted cheering, amid which
the honourable gentleman rammed his seat, having spoken
for upwards of au hour.)
Sir John Gray, M.P., Mr. Baines. M.P., Mr. Maclaren,
M.P., and Mr. Ayrton, M.P., also replied to the toast.
Sir F. CaosSLET, M.P., proposed the toast of " the
Ladies," to which
Mr. 11.21111 T TROMP:NON responded.
On the motion of Mr. Ttiomaia BA7-I.ev, M.P., seconded
by Mr. °item, M.P., a vote of thanks was passed to the
chairman, and briefly acknowledged.
The banquet, which was most elaborately and eflisiently
conducted, terminated at a very late hour.

MR. Lowe AND THE MAYOR Or CALNE.—The
following appears in the Star :—" In answer to a letter of
Mr. George Harris, Mayor of Caine, in the Times of this
day, I have to say, on Monday, the sth November, 1866, a
meeting of the Caine Town Council was held, at
which were present Messrs. C. Harris, H. Jefferya,
J. D. Bishop, W. M. Vizaril, T. Harris, H,
Waller, W. Webb, J. Rutherfor.l, W. Blades,
W. V. W. Langley, J. 0. Brinkworth, and Mr.
R. Healy, jun., the then mayor, who presided. The
question was put by the mayor. Provided Mr. Lowe be
invited to attend as usual, who will attend the dinner r
Mena. Langley, Waller, and Bleaden were for the dinner
(Mr. Jeffreys was absent at the moment), and the to.
mainder were against the dinner if Mr. Lowe came, so
that out of ten present to vote, only three were for It ; and
if this is not an' overwhelming majority,' I do not know
what is. It must be observed that Mr. G. Harris, who
was not then mayor, was not even present at this meeting.
I leave these foots to speak for themselves. As to Use
mayor's inviting Mr. Lowe to Caine, or his opinion of his
words, I have nothing to say.—l am, Sir, yours, ka,
—WILLIArr Wenn, C.C.--Caine, Nov. 19."
INDIA-omen, Nov. 19.—The Queen has been
pleased to appoint William Robert Seymour Vesey Rim
gerald, Esq., Governor of Bombay.—Gazette.