The Express.
London, England, 1867-07-25 00:00:00

THE NEW OF

Last night a public meeting of the rate.
payers and inhabitants of Chelsea, Kensington,
Ful-
ham and Hammersmith was held in the Vestry.
hallht , King's-road, Chelsea, to consider what steps it
mig be necessary to take with respect to the represen.
tation of the proposed new borough in parliament.
attendance was numerous and influential, and Mr. T. The
Torrens, M.P., was unanimously called' to the chair,
and in an address which was warmly applauded, rm minded the meeting that for fifteen years he had been engaged in trying to get the new borough enfranchised,
and he rejoiced that the concession had come .at length
from no party. It had been conceded in a bill which met
with the approval of the people of England. That
measure heel met with the unanimous vote of
the House of Commons, and the Moose of Lords
had ratified the decision. It now, therefore, re-
mained for the electors of the new borough to do
their duty ; above all, they should endeavour to steer
clear of dictation, and at once set their faces against the
pernicious intiueuom of oorniption. His earnest entreaty
to them as an old friend and neighbour was to keep the
representation in their own hands, and never allow it to
be made the subject of a mercantile contrast or merce
nary treaty. Several gentlemen had saked him the wa
to Chelsea, but he had declined to become their fingery post ; and he was authorised by Lord Enfield, one of the
members for the county, who was reposed to be in the
field for the new borough, to state that he had no desire to
seek the honour. Mr. Rabbitts moved the first re-
solution, expressing the conviction of the meeting
that the li th clause of " the Representation of
the People Bill " was a just recognition of the
right, which had been too long denied, of the district to
direct parliaroentary representation. Mr. Chappell seconded
the resolution, which was put from the chair, and carried
unanimously. Mr. Nyas, of the Reform League, before
reading the resolution he had to propose, took the opportu.
nity of denouncing the Parks Bill as no less than a high.
way robbery of the working man, and he thought that no
one should be returned for the new borough who would
not pledge himself to vote for the repeal of that measure
should it pass into • law. The resolution affirmed that it
was premature to mognise any candidate at present, and
that • committee should be formed representing all diadem
of the liberal party, for the purpose of organising the
borough and of cooperating with others in the
work of registration, and the ultimate selection
of fit and proper candidates. Mr. James that
Mr. Piccadilly, seconded the resolution, and announced Gat
Mr. Goldwin Smith had been invited, but declined te
become a candidate. If, however, they could not get
eminent men like Goldwin Smith and John Stuart
let the electors turn their attention to men of usefulness
like Mr. Torre= and Mr. Thomas Hughes, the member
for Lambeth. He warned the meeting that the Reform
Club already had its eye upon the borough, and they
should take care it did not also use its heel. The onlyede.
guard against dictation was to have • preliminary ballot
before the day of election. Sir Wentworth Bilks, /LP.,
repudiated the suggestion that his son, who was a condi.
date, was the nominee of the Reform Club, and gave it as
his opinion, derived from experience, that only slang
men could stand the wear and tear of the House of Gn-
mons. Mr. Kingdom (Notting-hill), Mr. Freeman (Ess.
sington, a candidate), and others addressed the meeting
upon the necessity of keeping clear of electioneering
agents, and the resolution having been passed DMZ.
mously, the proceedings closed at a late hour with a
cordial vote of thanks to the chairman for his past and
present services in the cause.