The Express.
London, England, 1866-10-17 00:00:00

THE EVENING MEETING.

The evening meeting was held in the City Hall, Candle•
rigp, which was crowded even to inconvenience. Mr.
Bright, on entering the hall, was loudly cheered. Mr.
D.thourmic, M.P., presided, and among those on the plat-
form, in addition to Kr. Bright, was Mr. Graham, 11. P.,
Mr. T. B. Potter, M.P., Mr. Duncan Machina, M.P.,
Mr. H. E. Crum Ewing, M.P., Mr. J. Merry, M.P., and
Mr. E. Beale+, Provost Macfarlane, of Paisley ; Provost
hi' Kay, Bailie Hay, of Dundee, he.
The CHAIRMAN, in opening the proceedings, briefly con.
gratulated the city of Glasgow on the demonstration which
had that day taken place.
Mr. PROUD/001 moved the find resolution—" That this
meeting (while recording its indignation ►t the resistance
offend in parliament to the working alarms and their advo-
cates) calla upon the people of this country to insist that
the question of reform be no longer trifled with, and to
rally round those men who uphold their cause."
Mr. G. NnwroN seemaded the resolution, which was sup-
ported by Mr. S. Basun, and unanimoualy adopted.
Mr. G. Boss than read an address to Mr. Bright.

DU. Bitioste—who was received with enthusiastic cheer-
iag—proceeled to say that than vest nnetters gave him
• etzeseg some that the day wee feat approaching which
would see the triumph of their caries, and when the IWO-
Utica of the country would cease to he conduated by a
privliapd class in a sham parliament. The bon. gentle.
man proceeded to give illeatrations of the inadequate re.
regmetation et the people, as shown. by the paucity of
&cokes end the anomalous Civilian of their privileges.
He • intiesested incidentally that Lord Rumen
wee is favour of a general election after the
rejeggie of the late Reform Bill, but the great
sort attendant upon our present system prevented
it. Now (continued the honourable member) if the
ehck of the House of Commons were placed at
Temple-bar, and it he had orders to lay his hand upon
the shoulder of every well-dreamed and apparently clean
washed man who pieced through that ancient bar until he
had numbered 668, audit the crown summoned those 668 to
be the perlienent for the Meted Kingdom, my honest
weeklies is that you would have • bettor parliament
than now exists. (Loud cheers.) Now, this assertion will
stagger scam timid and oomegood men ; but let me explain
sayself to you. It would be a parliament every member
of which would have no direct constituency, but it would
be • parliament that would meet and act as a jury, that
would take some heed of the facts and arguments laid
htlee• it. It would be free, at any rate, from the elms
limitable' which weigh upon the present House of OM.
MOMS j it would be free from the overshadowing preemie
of what ere called noble families. It would owe no alle-
giance to great landowners ; and I hope it would have
fewenmen amongst it seeking merely their own gains by
enteriag parliament. Why, with the parliament which
we have now, and have had, facts and argurnenta go for
ye* little. Take that question to which I have referred,
of limiting the supply of bread to the people.
nit corn law was on the statute book for thirty-one years
1 --dlteen years before the paring of the Reform Bill, and
fifteen years after the passing of that bill ; but from the
I Anil hour of its enactment until the hour of its de-
stniction, the facts and argument' against it were equally
okSr and equally conclusive. They would not be con-
vineed though one rose from the dead, and that which eon-
, Armed them at last was the occurrence of a great famine in
li4luid, which destroyed, or drove from the country, hun-
dreds of thousands of the citizens of the empire. I main-
yin with the most perfect conviction, that the House of
Osinmona, representing, as it now does, countice and
hodoughs such as I have described, does not represent the
tgieffigenee and the justice of the nation, but the preju-
dlens, the privileges, and the seltiahness of a class. (Cheers.)
Mir, what are the reistlin of this system of legislation ?
of them have been touched upon in that address
*Oa has been so kindly presented to me. You refer to
do laws affecting land ; are you aware of • fact which I
esir stated the other day in an essay on this subject—that
isaf the land of Ragland le is the pommies of fewer then
115 f men? Are you aware of the fact that half the land in
asetiond is in the poseserion of not tome than ten or
twelve men ? (Cries of " Shame.") Are you aware of the
felt that the monopoly in land in the United Kingdom is
growing constantly more and more close, and that the
result of it is this—the Faded extirpation of the middle
dem as owners of land,and the (mutant degradation of the
tillers of the soil ? (Cheers, and a cry of " False," fol.
treed by *ouster-Exile of " True.") Take • matter about
*Wel many Scotch farmers know something—take the
pipetual grievance of therm. laws. In theglouse of Com-
mons that queetion can scarcely be discussed. The landed
interest, as it did in the late cattle plague debate, trample
down government and borough members, and everybody
and everything that thwarts their inclination. (Cheers.)
Take the general—l am sorry to say the too general—sub.
serviency of the tenant farmers in the matter of elections.
In our country—in Scotland—l entertain the hope that
yo will lead the way to the deliverance of the farmers
f this slavery. In the last elections for Kincardine-
andi for Aberdeenshire the tenant farmers have taken
Volitis" of thew counties into their own hands. I hope
I believe that the tenant fanners of Scotland, the
most enlightened agriculturists that live on the face of
the earth—l hope they, with perfect deference and perfect
courtesy to their landowners, will still exert their legiti-
mate and right influence in the election of members for the
counties in Scotland. But take what some of you cannot com-
prehend, take the helpless poverty of the farm labourers in
the southern counties of England. I know not whether there
has been much improvement in their condition for two or
three centuries past. Their wages are very low, their
helplessness is extreme, their power to deliver themselves,
their power to combine, seems at the lowest ebb. Look at
their ignorance. A friend of mine, a member of the House
of Commons, who lives within six miles of the royal town
and castle of Windsor, told me only the other day that he
knew the came of • family near his house in which there
had grown up eleven children, not one of whom could
read or write in the least degree—(cries of " Shaine ")
and he said that he had lately had in his employ upon his
property seven men, of whom four oould neither read nor
write, two of them could read most imperfectly, and one
of them could write about as well as the other two could
read. (Laughter.) Bear in mind that all this exists within
six miles of the royal castle of Windsor ; it exists in a
neighbourhood where lords and squires and established
clergymen swarm. (Laughter.) Such is the state of igno-
rance of that population at this moment. In the county
from which I come girls from the age of 15 to 21 are earn-
ing, many of them, I believe, double the weekly wages of
the able-bodied farm labourer—the head and father of a
family—in some of the south-western counties of England.
But what must be the ignorance of that population, with
much wages offering to them in Leacashire and Yorkshire,
that they scarcely hear of them ? They seem to have no
aspiration to better their condition, and there is no sensible
emigration from these wretched counties to the more
prosperous counties of the north. Your address refers to
pauperism. The gulf of pauperism in the United King-
dom at the present moment is so great that there are
more than I,2oo,ooopaupers. The pauperism of the United
Kingdom last year (and it will not cost leas this year) met
the ratepayers—those who pay taxes for the relief of the
poor—more than 74 millions sterling, and this does not
include many thousands of vagrants who also come occa-
sionally under the name of paupers. Now look, I beg
of you, to this mass of misery. It is so great a mama that
benevolence cannot reach it. If benevolence could do it
there would be no pauperism in England, for in no
country, I believe, is there more benevolence than in the
United Kingdom. (Cheers.) The kindness of the women
of England is beyond all measure and beyond all
praise. There does not exist among created beings
beneath angelic ranks those who are more kind and
charitable than the women of the United Kingdom. But
benevolence can touch scarcely the fringe of this vast die.
order. There is another virtue we could add, and that
virtue and that quality is justice. (Hear, hear.) It is not
benevolence, but justice, that can deal with giant evils.
It was not benevolence that gave the people bread twenty
years ago, but it was justice embodied in the abolition of a
wicked and a guilty law. (Cheers.) But justice is impos-
eible from a class ; it is most certain and easy
from a nation ; and I believe we can only reach
the depths of ignorance and misery and crime
in this country by an appeal to the justice, the intelli-
gence, and the virtue of an entire people. (Cheers.) That
address has mentioned another question—the question of
your national expenditure, of your army and navy. I will
state only one fact with regard to the navy. I believe
since the great war—since 1815—that the navy of this
country has cost more than 400,000,000l.sterling. I believe
that during the bat six years it has oast as much as the
United States navy during the same time. We have been
in a condition of profound peace ; the United .States have
had to build or buy 600 ships, to man them, to furnish
them with munition/ of war, and to At them during the
greatest struggle that any nation ever waged. (Hear,
hear, and cheers.) And yet at this moment, after spend-
ing so much, we have Sir John Pakington, the great
reconstructor—(laughter)— coming into office and promising,
not to extend the liberties of the people, but to recon-
struct • navy on which such enormous and countless sums
have already been sunk. (Cheers.) Then take the WAIL
Well, something has been done to make the taxes more
equal. But take the taxes which are levied under the name
ei probate and legacy and succession duties ; and I will
give you a ease, which it is just /meals you have before
heard from my lips. A member of the Holies of Commie—

at least he was when he sari w.e this feet, thenel•ll
sorry to say ha is aot one nova member et the Band
Commons told me be had had left $o him by • Isms
related to him by blood an *date in land worth 21,0001..1
the timber upon it wee worth 11,0001. ; altogether PAIL
The tax when the property is left to • person vim is hot
• relation of the man who leaves it is 10 per con.; Ali
tax, therefore, on 32,000 i. would be 3,2001. ; AIM
if any one of you received • legisey Ines AM is
cash, in shwas, In shim in stook in 011000
in any of three things whisk are sot lank le*
houses, he would pay 3,2001. ; but my friend reesighti
his legacy in land and the timber upon it peid
just 700/. And why ? For this reason otly—thatthe lair
was made by a landlord and propertied parliament, and
the Owners sad inheritors of lands sad houses were wan-
dered specially worthy of their regard. (Hear, hoer.) 'But
maybe kaked--no doubt by woe men who OW this
meeting will tehe sip his pen to write • criticism upon my
speech at this meeting—hole cornea it if parliament is so
bad that so many good things have been done by parlia-
ment during the last thirty or forty years? I acknowledge
that good things have been done; and I ought to know,ter
canoe I have been concurred to the doing of muse of thew
(Loud cheers.) But by whom were they dies? Mainly
by that force is parliament which is sent them by Ifeeilrnti:
and free borough constituencies of the kingdom. (".lierer,
hear," and sheers.) The members for the great towns,
&NN& bet a taineetty and not • were large asipseley,
are the moving force by which these good things hotelmen
done. (Renewed cheers.) It has not been the policy of
the furies to do pea things ; and I have sew the time
when the whigs have been mush. lam seekee 'bent them
than I could have withed--(reemeed
have sprung from the people, end the people have carried ,
them. What there has been of real representation la-par-
liament has urged these measures forward—what there has
been of sham representation has uniformly opposed these
measures. (Cheers.) Now, I am et opinion that the rich
people of 'a sonntry invested with power—and, speaking
generally, rich people alone cannel selleinatly oars for
the multitude and the poor; they are personally kind
enough, but they don't sue for the people in the
bulk. They have read • passage •in the Holy
Writ that " the poor ye have always with you "
(laughter)—and therefore they imagine that it is a
providential arrangement that • small motion of the
people should be rich and powerful, and that the great
mass of the people should be Imeiworking and poor.
(Mushier.) It is a long dietwgs from castles and mandolin
and great houses, which abouridin luxuries; team condition
of the great mass of the people, *holism no property, and
too many of whom are almost en the verge of poverty.
We know very well, all et us, how much we are inflosneed
by the immediate cgrownstaasse by which we are can
rounded. The rich find everything just as they like—the
country needs no reform • there is no country in the world
so pleasant for rich people as this country. (Laughter.;
But I deny altogether that the rich alone are qualified to
legislate for the poor, any more than that the poor alone
would be qualified to legislate for the rich. (Chem.)
My honest belief is, that if we could he all called upon to
legislate for all, that all would be more justly treated,
and would be more happy than we are now. (Cheers.)
We should have then an average—we should have the
influence of wealth, ant of high culture, and of those
qualities that mine from leisure. And the influence of those
robuster qualities that come from industry and from
labour. (Hear, bear.) Suppose, now, that without argu-
ing for this or that particular meagere of reform, we
could add another million to the existing constituencies.
What would be the result? We should modify the con-
stitnences. Instead of the people coming to the hustings
at the nomination and holding up their bands for this can-
didate or that, and having for the most part no power in
the elections, the inhabitants of the town would have annul
greater power than they have now. The constituency
would be less open to management than it is at present ;
majorities on one side or the other would be larger
and less open to corruption, and we should have
members whose opinions end whose conduct would
be modified by this infusion of new and fresh Mood
into the constituencies which send them to parliament.
(Cheers.) We should do this further, we should bring the
rich and the great into more contact with the people, and
into a better acquaintance with human wants and with the
necessities and feelings of their countrymen. (Renewed
cheers.) What other thing would happen? I dare ven-
ture to assert this, that parliament, then, would not revile
and slander the people as it does now--(hear, hear)—nor
would it cheer with frantic violence when their countrymen
are described in hideous and hateful colours. Probably
what I all the " Botany Bay" view of their countrymen
would be got rid of, and we should have a sense
of greater justice and generosity in the feelings
with which they regard the bulk of the nation. (Cheers.)
If there was more knowledge of the people, there would
assuredly be more sympathy with them, and I believe the
legislation of the house, being more in accordance with the
public sentiment, would be wiser and better in every re-
spect. (Loud cheers.) The nation would be changed.
There would be amongst us a greater growth of everything
that is good. (Cheers.) I should like to aak if there are any
ministers of religion in this audience. (Several voioss—
" Yes, yes.") I have sometimes thought that I should
like an audience al 4,000 or 5,000 of them, to whom I
could preach • political sermon, and to whom I could tell
something which I fear their theological schools have
failed to teach them. An eminent man of your country—
the late Dr. Chalmers—in speaking of the question of
free trade, and particularly of the struggle for the
abolition of the corn laws, uttered these memo-
rable words. He said he thought there was no-
thing that would so tend to sweeten the breath
of British society as the abolition of the corn
laws. I believe now that there is nothing which would so
tend to sweeten the breath of British society as the admis-
sion of a large and generous number of the working dames
to citizenship and the exercise of the franchise. (Loud and
prolonged cheers.) Now, if my words should reach the
ears and reach the heart of any man who is interested in
the advancement of religion in this country, I ask him to
consider whether there are not great political obstacles to
the extension of civilisation, and morality, and religion
within the bounds of the United Kingdom? We believe
these ministers—you and I—we believe in a Supreme
Ruler of the Universe ; we believe in His omnipotence ;
we believe, and we humbly trust is His mercy.
We know that the strongest argument which is used against
that belief by those who reject it is an argument drawn
from the misery and the helplessness prevailing. I
myself should be driven to admit the almost overwhelming
force of that great argument, but I am convinced that
just laws, and enlightened administration of them, would
change the face of this country. (Loud cheers.) I believe
that ignorance and suffering might be lessened to an incal-
culable extent, and that many an Eden, beauteous in
flowers and profuse in fruit, might be raised up in the
waste wilderness which spreads before us. But nodose can
do that ; the clam which has hitherto ruled in this country
has failed miserably. It revels in power and wealth,
whilst at its foot, a terrible peril for its future, lice a
multitude which it has neglected. (Cheers.) If a ohms
has failed, let us try the nation. (Loud cheers.) That is
our faith ; that is our purpose ; that is our cry. " Let um
try the nation." (Cheers.) This it is which has celled
together these countless numbers of the people to demand
a change. And as I think of it, and of these gatherings,
sublime in their vastness and their resolution, I think I
discern as it were above the bill-tops of time the glim-
mering of the dawn of • better and a nobler day for the
country, and for the people thnt I love so well. (Loud

cheers.)
Mr. Bright then resumed hie seat, having spoken for
nearly an hour.
Mr. GIIARLDI, M.P., pursed a vote of thanks to Mr.
Bright for the greet service be bad rendered to the cease.
Mr. !Mawr, in reply, said—Only for one moment,
whilea rim to tell you bow deeply I am sensible of your—
whet shall I my—your unanimous kindness to me to-night;
still I beg to join in the warning which you have heard
from my learned friend, Mr. Ernest Jones—that you should
not fall into the danger and the error of hero worship, but
that ye:llll,o4dd rely mainly upon yourselves for fighting
your owe battles ; and order to fight it out. let me beg
of you to unite, as mach as you ma, all the people of Boot-
lend with you. Organise reform associations in weer
town. Bo properwls if need be, wHL fonds. Be prepared

"To rits Hoer Excluner M•reerr.
The bunkble address et the commissioners under the. ,
Aberdeen Police and Waterworks Act, 1862.—Mey ft
Ouse your Majesty,--We, your Majesty's dutiful sub-
jects, the commissioners for the introduction of the new
water supply to the city, acting on behalf of the comma-
Mfg, gratefully approach your Majesty with the ex-
premien d the love of the people of your ancient sky of
Aberdeen for your Majesty's person and government. We
fed your Majesty's present most gracious act of con-
descension to be an instance of the sympathy in works of
public usefulnesa and in all the efforts of your people to
advance their social well-being which has been so nobly
eisametanistic of your Majesty's reign.
" We ars thus eneoureged to may to your Majesty that
the works now constructed will convoy to the city the third
supply of water which has become necessary during the
present century. In 1806 the daily supply wu 60,000 gal-
lons, since ineremed to one million, and the citizens will
long delight to connect your Majesty's name with the imp-
ply of six millions of galloes of pure water from the Dee,
about to be opened to them by the act of your Majesty's
hand, tarrying inereased health and comfort to all, and
especially to the poorer dames.
" That Heaven's choicest blessings may rest on your
Majesty sad your royal family ; that your designs for the
good of your subjects may be prospered as heretofore, and
that your Majesty may long reign in the love of your
people, is oar unmet prayer.
" Alas. As ousel,
" lard Premise sad Chairman eft the Commissioners of
Police of the City of Aberdeen.
" Dated this 113th day of October, 1866."
Her Majesty then read the following reply :
" !thank you foryour dutiful address, and am very sensi-
ble of this fresh mark of the loyal attachment of my neigh-
bours the people of Aberdeen. I have felt that at • time
when the attention of the country has been so anxiously
directed to the state of the public health it was right that
I should make an exertion to testify my sense of the bi-
parttime of • work so well calculated as this to promote
the health and comfort of your ancient city."
The Queen then, assisted by the Lord Provost,
turned an ivory handle over a silver disc which
opened the gauge tank and admitted the water full
flow into the main reservoir, the band playing, and
the large crowd cheering heartily. She then de-
clared the works opened.
Her Majesty immediately drove back to the sta-
tion, en route for Balmoral. She was accompanied
by Prince a.jd Princess Christian, Princess Louise
Prince Arthur, Sir Stafford Northcote, the Duchess
of Roxbarghe' &c. She seemed in excellent spirits,
and expressed herself much pleased.
A company of four hundred ladies and gentle-
men afterwards sat down to luncheon, the Lord
Provost presiding.