The Express.
London, England, 1867-11-26 00:00:00

SOUTH LEICESTERSHIRE.

The nomination at the election occaidoned for
this division by the death of Mr. C. W. Puke, took place
yesterday morning at Leicester, on hustings erected in
front of the Castle. The High Sheriff (Mr. C. F. D.‘w-
sow), presided as returning officer. There was a large
crowd, but the proceedings were upon the whole con-
ducted with good humour.
Sir A. HAMA:MCC nominated Mr. A. Pell (conservative).
Mr. I.EBLINA seconded the nomination.
Mr. C. H. BIIACZBBIDGE nominated Mr. T. T. Paget
(liberal).
Mr. J. D. HAssle, M.P., seconded the nomination.
Mr. PELL, who spoke amid considerable interruption,
said, perhaps he should surprise some when he said that
his principles were liberal, for he could not allow the word
" liberality " to be handled solely on the other side. He
did not consider that the uprooting and the down-pulling
of our old institutions necessarily stamped a man as a
liberal. True liberality was the defending ourselves and
our neighbour' from outward attack, maintaining and
supporting that which was good in our institutions, ad-
mitting only that which was beneficial, and repelling that
which was bad. At the same time, he did not wish it to
be thought for a moment that be was not deeply and dis-
tinctly impressed with the feeling that change must
come ; but there was a great difference between allow-
ing an old tree to develop itself and pulling it down,
nn..l patting some miserable substitute in its
place. It had been said ant he was the nomi-
one of the tory party, but he bad given no pledgee, and
he was thoroughly and entirely independent, although he
should ranze hi.uself with the conservative rather than
with the liberals. His political view' were the result of

conviction ; he had thought them out for himself, and
they had not been impressed upon him by any external in-
fluence. In fact, he " paddled his own canoe." (Laugh-
ter and cheers.) It was • very small canoe, but such as it
was he paddled it on the broad, bright, and cheerful
waters of conservatism ; and he had no fear that he should
split upon any rock. There were one or two points upon
which he felt bound to touch ; and, first of all, he wanted
to refer to the unhappy condition of our sister country,
Ireland. He knew something of that courtry (although
probably his opponent knew still more) ; and he believed,
with regard to Ireland, that there were some faults on
both aides. If he were returned to parliament he believed
he should be able to take part with some effect in
our deliberations and discussions with regard to Ireland,
because • great deal of the dissatisfaction which prevailed
in Ireland arose upon questions partly connected with
the holding of property and the occupation of farms. He
believed it was too much the practice in Ireland to allow
small tenants to invest their money in improvements, and
then to oust them from homes to which they considered
that they had acquired a certain right through having
built them themselves. He did not wish to speak positively
upon these matters, but if he were returned to parliament
he should go there with no old tory prejudicea—(laughter)
—but prepared to give his best attention to all questions
connected with Ireland. The present ministry bad shown
its good intentions by appointing • commission to in-
quire into the condition of the Irish church. He trusted
that some good might result from • redistribution of the
funds of that church, but not from their appropriation to
other purposes than those for which they were originally
intended. With regard to the education of the people, he
was not one of those wbo believed in the necessity of what
Lord John Manners called the other day an educational
coup d'etat, for he thought that the great mass of the
people were so impressed with the necessity of their
children being educated that they were anxiously striving
to promote any scheme which promised to secure the
desired object. This, however, was one of the matters
which the government had in hand. They had also taken
up the question of factory acts extension—that was the
extension of those principles under which the factory acts
were framed to every class of manufactures. He hoped
they would extend the same principles of legislation to
agriculture. He had been asked about church rates, and
a gentleman on the other side had maids church rate should
be treated intellectually. For his part he had never seen
a rate treated intellectually ; it must either be paid if it
were a good one or abolished if it were • bad one, for you
could no more treat • rate intellectually than you could
treat a leg of pork intellectually. (Laughter.) Ile would
confine • church rate which might be made by • majority
of the ratepayers to expenses connected with the fabric
alone ; and the rate, when made, should be submitted to
the Poor-law &editor, to be passed or rejected, so that no
items but those relating to the fabric of • church were
inserted in it. With regard to the mime laws, if it could
be shown that there wu anything in them which inter-
fered with the rights of the people or the enjoyment of
property, he and those who supported him would be the
last to resist any change ; but they were not going to yield
to any foolish cry which might be raised. He hoped that
the question might be settled upon • generally satisfactory
basis. (Hear, hear.)

Mr. Psorr nest stood forward, and after paying a tri-
bute to the memory of the late Mr. Pack., said the other
day at Market Bosworth, his friend Lord Curzon put the
issue now pending in South Leicestershire upon its right
footing, when he said that the contest lay between
Mr. Disraeli and Mr. Gladstone, and that he (Lord
Curzon) preferred Disraeli with all his faults, to
Gladstone with all his virtues. His (Mr. Paget's) opinion
was, however, just the contrary, for he preferred Glad.
Kona with all his virtues, to Disraeli, with all his faults.
(Cheers.) The issue of the present contest was much more
an affair of the electors than of his (Mr. Paget's). He was
perfectly indifferent to it— (cries of Oh, oh," and
laughter)—but be was not indifferent to the 'prate' and
promulgation of those great principles of progress of which
he appeared as the humble advocate. If he were
sent to parliament, however, his vote should be given
to attain this object, that the country in which there
existed a liberal majority should be governed by a liberal
administration. He had the greatest respect for the
honest old tory party of England, but be had no respect
whatever for those tricksters and jugglers who brought
out a Reform Bill which kept the word of
promise to the ear but broke it to the hope
—(hear, hssi)—and be bad no respect for that great poli-
Seal tutor who educated his party in such a singular
manner. (Laughter.) He (Mr. Paget) believed that the
wrongs and miseries of Ireland must in some way or other
be removed before England could be at peace. He was
not one of those who connected Fenianism with Ireland,
but who could turn hie eyes to the sad and solemn
tragedy which had been enacted at Manchester without
feeling an absolute conviction that no government or
legislature could longer delay with safety legislation on the
subject of Ireland, which laboured under two great evils--
first, the established church in Ireland, and secondly, the
unsatisfactory tenure of land. The tenure of land ques-
tion suggested to his mind the many cases of landlord
dictation which he bad met with during the present election.
(Cries of " Shame.") He also held it to be a great injus-
tice that after a farm bad been let to a tenant, it should
be stocked with ame for the landlord to shoot and send
to market. In England we had no adequate trespass law,
and to a certain extent he believed a game law to be
necessary, but he was decidedly opposed to Lord
Berners' act for employing the police to assist
in the preservation of game. He (Mr. Paget) was an
advocate for an education rate, although he was
not prepared to say that education should be compulsory.
He was in favour of an education rate, because education
bad become more than ever necessary, after Mr. Disraeli's
tremendous bill. As Mr. Lowe said the other day, with
perhaps more sarcasm than civility, we had made the
people our masters, and now we must educate them. The
schools under the influence of the clergy, whether episoo-
palian or dissenting, did good as far as they went, but we
must have something more—a national system of education.
As regards church rates. if he were returned he should
vote for their entire and unconditional abolition. (Cheers.)
The Blots SHIRITI, took a show of hands, which was
largely in favour of Mr. Paget.
Colonel HALFORD demanded a poll for Mr. Pell, which
was fixed to take place on Thursday.
A vote of thanks to the High Sheriff closed the pro
ceedings.

A meeting of the inhabitants of Chelsea wan held
at the Vestry-hall, King's-road, yesterday evening, for the
purpose of hearing the political views of Mr. Charles
Wentworth Mike. Upon the motion of Mr. Livingston,
chairman of the vestry, seconded by Mr. T. Watkins, the
chair wu taken by Mr. W. Raserrrs. In introducing
Mr. Mike to the meeting the chairman stated that he con-
sented to preside at this meeting as an entirely unpledged
man. He wee desirous that any gentleman who offered
himself to the constituency should have a full, fair, and
impartial opportunity of giving expression to bis poli-
tical views. He was satisfied that W. Wentworth Mks
was prepared in this sense to address the meeting.

Mr. DILICE, after some brief remarks which had re-
ference to the local character of his candidature, proceeded
to state his opinions, which are those of the advanced
liberal school. After referring to the distinction which
had been drawn between means and ends, Mr. Dilke said
that, in spite of the general wish for cessation of agitation
in favour of steady progress in law-making and law
amendment, there were some alterations in the Reform
Act of last session that were of the most pressing gravity.
Abolition of the ratepaying clauses and a wider scheme of
redistribution were among these necessary changes. The
speaker had seen enough of the admirable working of the
ballot in Australia to be convinced that nothing but good
could attend its introduction into this country. He advo-
cated it as • measure for the protection, not ao much
of the timid voter as of the independent voter against
having his vote neutralised by that of the corrupt or weak.
Coming to the ends for which reform of parliament has
been sought, Mr. Dilke said that the first care of the re-
formed House of Commons should be Ireland. Mr. Mill
had struck the keynote when he asked for justice to that
country in the matters of church and land. After alluding
at some length to the im es of the education ques-
tion, Mr. Dilke ex himself in favour of the creation
of a ministry of ools, with control over the educational
funds of the whole country. " Compulaory education "
was a vague phrase ; the Factory Acta might be said to
have introduced compulsion ; in the widest move, how-
ever it existed nowhere—certainly not in Massachusetts.
Initiatory power to found schools where none existed
must be given to the educational department. Mr.
Bruce's bill was • step in the right direction. The speaker
expressed himself strongly in favour of legal reform
and codification of thu laws. He supports the
proposed bill for protecting the funds of trades
unions, on the wide ground of the edvisability of recog-
nising associations founded for any purpose not illegal.
Finance reform, abolition of the game-laws and of the pre-
sent justice system, and sale of crown lands, were other
questions on which the candidate spoke warmly. He also
declared himself in favour of awide sehemeof army reform,
including the abolition of flogging and of purchase of com-
missions, higher pay for the wen, and the direct respon-
sibility of the commander-in-chief to parliament. After
alluding to our foreign relations, the future of India, and
the unconstitutional action of the government in the case of
Abyssinia, Mr. Dilke concluded his address by touching
briefly upon local questions, and pointing out the necessity
of the equalisation of the poor-rates throughout all
London.

After Mr. Dilke had answered the questions that were
put to him, a reeolation, declaring Mr. Dilke a proper
person to be a candidate for the representation of the
borough, was carried unanimously.

THE Carms PLAGUE IN SILESIA.—A despatch
from the English Consulate at Berlin confirms the report
previously received from her Majesty's Consul at Dentric
as to the cattle disease having appeared iu certain die-
tricta of Silesia, on the Austrian frontier. The malady it
is staked has broken out in a more malignant form than
has hitherto been the case in Prussia, the districts of
Oppein and Ratisbon being the moat infected. The
commissioners of customs at the English ports have wider
these circumstances been instructed to call the attention
of their officers at the various ports wherecattle are landed
to the outbreak, and to direct that a most careful exami-
nation shall be made of all animals which have come direct
from Prussia, or which there is reason to suppose hare
been in the Prussian dominions.