The Express.
London, England, 1867-04-15 00:00:00

RIPOILV MEETINGS.

BnimINOHAN.—On Saturday evening an open-air
reform meeting was held at the back of the Town-hall,
Birmingham. There were 500 or 600 persons present.
The Rev. Arthur O'Neill, who occupied the chair, opened
the procesdiap by • swish factsam length, ha the sauna
of which lie dwelt upon the that the present govern-
ment had made one concession after another to the de-
mands of the people. He went on to say that they would
drive the government on step by step as heretofore, till
they compelled them to recognise neither houses, nor
It rents, nor rate., nor anything but man. Mr. aMes
moved " That this meeting considers the decision arrived
at last night by the House of Commons in its retention
of the ratepaying clauses is another instance of their utter
incapacity to represent the interests of the people." The
motion was seconded by Mr. Rutherford, supported by
Mr. Thomas Wright, and carried unanimously. Mr.
George Nuttall moved "That in the judgment of this
meeting the conduct of the liberal members of the House
of Commons in reference to Mr. Gladstone's motion is in-
consistent with their professions in the cause of reform
and calls forth the utmost contempt of the people of thin
country—(cheers)—and we are determined to increase our
exertions for the principles of the League, and hereby
pledge ourselves never to rest satisfied until registered
residential manhood suffrage and the ballot shall be the
law of the land." (Cheers.) Mr. Dalirell seconded the
resolution, which was carried unanimously, after which
the meeting separated.
WocvaatiArarroN.—The liberal committee of the
parliamentary borough of Wolverhampton met on Friday
night, called together by their chairman, Mr. Henry
Walker, who presided. The petition presented in the
House of Lords from Wolverhampton was repudiated, and
declared to be =authoritative so far as it applied to its
representative character, and the authors of it were de-
clared to be unknown. The meeting declared themselves
in favour of an extension of the franchise, but were not pre-
pared to accept household suffrage. 'Theyrejected • proposi-
tion which desired to establish that " whatever may be the
basis of the borough franchise, this meeting is of opinion
that the condition of residence for at least 12 months and
the full and personal payment of rates should be strictlen-
forced;" but approved the following motion :—"That
this meeting is of opinion that a franchise equivalent to
a 51. rata) or • 71. rental deserve, the support of the
liberal party, and that a more limited extension would not
meet the exigencies of the case." The motion was originally
proposed without the rental clause, which was introduced
to prevent • division, many of the older members of the
committee being prepared to vote for an amendment which
advocated a 71. rental instead of the bl . rstal. The meet-
ing then approved of a lodger franchise, and then de-
clared, " Above all, and more important than any lower-
ing of the franchise, in the opinion of the meet-
ing, is the redistribution of nate—since, without •
much more extensive measure of this kind than is now
proposed, the House of Commons can never be brought into
full accord with the public opinion of the country.' There
seemed a general assent that within two years all the
restraints proposeoi as a check upon household suffrage would
give way, and that suffrage pure and Gimpy would follow
the success of the present bilL The meeting was an em-
phatic declaration of the views of the general body of the
electors of the borough.

The charge of the Lord Chief Justice of England
to the Grand Jury at the Central Criminal Court, in the
cases of the Queen against Nelson and Brand, is to be
published in a few days, revised and corrected by the Lord
Chief Justice, with the addition of notes. It will be edited
by Frederic Cockburn, Eaq., of the Crown-office.
THE ACCIDENT TO COLONEL TAYLOR, M.P.—The
accident which befell Colonel Taylor, M.P., on Friday,
arose while the hon. and gallant gentleman was opening a
soda-water bottle. The cork flew out and hit him in the
ball of the eye, inflicting great pain and injury, which,
however, is only likely to be temporary. Ile was, it will
be seen from the list, able to be present at the division on
Friday night.
THE PROPOSED GRANT TO LADY DARLING.—The
vote of 20,000/., sanctioned by the Legislative Assembly as
a gift to Lady Darling, formed the subject of • despatch
received from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and
laid before parliament on the 10th inst. It appeared from
this document that it is contrary to the rule for colonial
governors to accept any gratuities, and that, in accordance
therewith, Lady Darling could not be permitted to accept
it unless Sir Charles Darling withdrew from his connexion
with the Colonial-office. Mr. M'Culloch said that as it
appeared that at the time it was written Sir Charles Darling
was still in communication with the Imperial government,
the government of Victoria were not in a position to know
whether he intended to continue his connexion with the
home government or sever it. Should they learn, how-
ever, that it was Sir Charles Darling's intention to retire,
the vote of hurt session would he again brought down to
the house.—Melbourrse Aye, Feb. 24.
PLYMOUTH, APRIL 14.—The Norwegian barque,
Fido, 640 tons, of Arendal, from Belize, with • cargo of
logwood, was brought into Plymouth Sound this afternoon,
with seven feet of water in her hold. She was found
abandoned in latitude 43 N., 10.40 W., by the American
ship Plymouth Rock, who put seven men on hoard to
navigate her.
ADMIRALTY, APRIL 13. APPOINTMENTS. —T.
Murray, engineer, to the Racoon, and C. W. Wheeler,
acting second class assistant engineer, to the Chanticleer.