The Express.
London, England, 1866-06-23 00:00:00

CLERRENWILL.

Last night a crowded torchlight meeting was
held on Clerkenwell-green, for the purpose of memorial-
ising her Majesty to dissolve the present parliament. Mr.
Lucraft, cabinetmaker, who occupied the chair on a plat-
form erected for the occasion, opened the proceedings with
a short outline of the struggles the government had n.ade
to pass the Reform Bill. He said one result of this
political contest had been to make the name of Glad-
stone a household word, and the time had now come
when the right hon. gentleman must be urged to de-
mand manhood suffr.ge for the people. John Bright was
the true friend of the working man. (Cheers.) Like Mr.
Gladstone, however, the member for Birmingham was a
far greater friend to the constitution than any of his
revilers. It was a scandal that 44 members who were
returned to parliament to support reform had directly
opposed it. Fifteen others who obtained their seats upon
a similar understanding had preferred absenting them-
selves from the house to giving • direct vote against the
measure, and if justice was to be done in this matter a
final appeal ought to be made to the people. lie thought
the inhabitants of Finsbury agreed with him in this, for
according to his own estimate and the estimate of those
around him there could not be less than 10,000 people there
present. (Cheers.) He announced, in conclusion, that it
was intended to make a demonstration on Wednesday
nest either at Lincoln's-inn-fields or at Charing-cross. A
resolution was carried by acclamation, condemning the
majority which bad been instrumental in virtually reject-
ing the Reform Bill. and empowering the committee who
had convened the meeting to draw up • memorial praying
her Majesty not to accept the resignation of her present
advisers, but to resort to the alternative of dissolving her
parliament.

NATIONAL REFORM VNIM.
Yesterday afternoon a large meeting of delegates
from the Reform Associations in various parts of the
country was held at the Free Trade Hall. Manchester,
"which had been summoned to confer on what steps were
desirable to take regarding the rejection of the Reform
Bill by parliament, and the expected resignation of
ministers. Mr. George Wilson presided, and in opening
the meeting suggested that they should ask her Majesty
not to accept the resignation of ministers, but dissolve
parliament. The suggestion was received with great and
protracted cheering.—Mr. Heiden moved a resolution ex-
pressive of confidence in her Majesty's ministers, and call-
ing upon the Queen to dissolve parliament. He instanced,
as a precedent in point. the defeat of Lord Althorp on the
motion of Colonel Gascoyne, when the government had
been defeated by a majority of seven.—Sir James
Watts seconded the motion, which was supported ty
Mr. Henry Ashworth, who advocated the reso-
lution on the ground that many of the present
liberals had obtained their seal on false pretences.
To elicit the opinion of the delegates generally, the chair-
man invited such as chose to address the meeting. Dele-
gates from Southport, Keighley (Mr. Frith, who recom-
mended, now that the present bill had been rejected, the
people should no longer be willing to accept a 71. franchise),
Bolton (Mr. Grimshawi,Longton, in the Potteries, Halifax
Snowden), Dewsbury, Yorkshire, North Wales (Mr.
Sandwith), Macclesfield (Mr. Chapman), London (Mr.
Cremer), and many other places, addressed the meeting.
Most of these gentlemen reported a strong and earnest
feeling generally in their neighbourhoods in favour of the
view suggested by the motion, and some of them stated
that meetings had already been held for the purpose. The
sentiment appeared to be general in favour of the resolu-
tion. The proceedings hod not closed when our report was
despatched. A public meeting was to be held in the
evening, to which Lord Amberley, Mr. Mill, and Mr. Faw-
cett had been invited, but there was no probability they
would be present.