The Express.
London, England, 1868-09-01 00:00:00

Rol- AWOL

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MR. CAIJIDNIIIL4 41412P01t1.

' OXFORD, Voatn.
, •
Mr. Mew% one of the present members, sad
Mr. Verses Meressurn who is also a aendidete for the h.
presenlatien pf the pity, rest • large number of the =S.-
ben of the Liberal AProciation, by invitation, in the Oorn
Tachange, at elegem QOM* this evening, and spoke et
manderable inigUi es the meet prominent topics of the
diay. The galleriel and platform were fully occupied by
ladies, and the body of the hall was well filled.
the chair was taken by the mayor itolria!„;.R. OM*,
and there were also present rterfessar Alderman
Sadler, and many of the members of the town eounail.
The 4tepasise congratulated the emaciation on the
great number of members prevent. At the lot mestiag
the number of members of the Liberal Associatiou was
1,760. At the present eminent the number amounted to
4i40, and be was perfectly oouvinced that it would soon
amount to upwards of 3.000 of the registered electors of
the city of Oxford. (Cheers.)
Mr. Csamesm, who was received with loud cheers,
then addressed the meeting. He said that whatever
revising barristers might !AV it wee evident that within
the city of Oslo; d the geadis:r sex took al(rea& interest in
the success of the liberal cause. tamers.) There were
many hundreds of voters who, without drying formally
joizad the association, would cordial!" joist is supporting
his hen. friend and himself when the day of election
arrived, and lie thought they were justified in bolding a
confident tone, and as being *dm this sanguine, with
regard to the result of the electron. (Obsess.) His be-
lief was that tho voice of , the city had spoken umnistake-
al ly, and that the whole body of the tionstiluency, from
Alderman Sadler down to the youngest voter who had
bee u taking up his franchise, would vote, riot iii favour of
what were called the comititutimial candidates, ;hot in
firmer of the liberal cause—(cheer!)—the cause of justice
and of right. .(Cheers) He did not profess to be a
prophet, but t appeared to him that what was going on at
°road win going ou prittty generidlf among-t the con-
stituencies of . the country, leo, and he entertained no
doubt whatever as to the restatt pf the election generally.
And when he tow some of the feud active minded mem-
bers of the lament administration ;welting for themselves
agreeable residences in her Majesty's Oiliest ootonimi law
IM,PiOIII4 it appeared to hies tint he wrest draw a some-
what sanguine augury with regard t • the.te estimate of
the probable result of the elections. (timers and
laughter.) The liberals had said so much, ;041 their
opponents had said so little. that he scarcely felt entitles:
to fatigue the minds of those present by este:i:W7 into
these subjects that occupied the attention of tune country
at the joresent meuesut. There was the question of the
Irish church to be derided by the corning parliament.
Was it possible that any cue present wished to hear
another word on that subject icle res,) Being so
challenged be would say a few won on that pibt.
One thing of great interest to him and to the men OH,
rally l hapyroed since he last addressed tin
When theassolatioae re= the Nab ex.—,
peadinakt noose of - ••
Males
Welt

-. ...,ere WAS one cir!uni-

. . ...served with great tweet, and that was
moat one of the ablest and best of public men in the
country did not vote for them, but was conspicuous by his
absence from the division list. (Hear, hear.)
the last few weeks Sir Hamden Palmer had vindicated
Mr. Gladstone from the charge brought against bun of
having taken up that question not from sincere conviction
and a true sense of public duty, but from party motives
and persdnal ambition. (Cheers.) All the cobwebs about
the coronation oath and other similar matters had been
swept away by that powerful band; and that to him (Mr.
Cardwell) had been a source of the most sincere gratifica-
tion. The wise and the prudent conquered difficulties by
daring to attempt to do so. The weak and foolish
shivered earishrunk at the path of d and created
the impossibilities which they feared. No anger,
w what had
been done in Canada could be socomplished in Ireland.
When, some fifteen( ears ago,dhmtat and dis-
endowment were applied to Canada, the change was of the
most satisfactory description, tending in the first place to
tranquillize Canada, and in the second place to add
strength, energy, and vitality to the church which was the
subject et that change. (Cheer.). He would mention •
few of the results which had taken place in consequence
of the change which had taken place in respect to the
church of Scotland. because they were there more remark-
ably developed than in the history of any other country.
Scotland contained a population about equal to that of the
metropolitan districts, and the freechurch constituted about
one-third of that population, and they were not the richer
party. Nowwhat hidbem the result of that change? They
had raised in the coarse of 25years what theycalled a ensten-
tation fund for the clergy, and the amount exceeded two
millions and a half of money. (Hear. hear.) The annual
receipts for the present year amounted to about 180,0004,
every clergyman receiving a minimum income of 160/., and
there were other sums, bringing up the average income to
2001.—an amount equal to the average of the established
church. (Hear, hens Besides this they had maintained
missions with liberality: they had built nearly
1.000 churches. and the whole amount contributed
by that body of men during 25 years was
about .8, 000 0001: (Loud cheers.) An established church
was just in England. It was not just in Ireland. Where
the etablialiment was different, the machinery must be
different. The established church ought to be the church
of the poor. But that condition was not fulfilled in
Ireland. where. as Mr. Macaulay:justly said, it tilled the
rid, with good things. but sent the poor empty away.
dicer. hear.) The advantage of a voluntary,chun:h was
said to be that it was mote rapid in conversion, and
bought mire persons into its fold. The church in Ire-
iid had been in existence for 300 years. Many dis-
tinguished nou hid passed from it into the church of
Rome. but it would be difficult to show that it had won
n any converts to the protestant church. (Hear, hear.)
The question of the Irish church had not been brought
forward as a religious question. but as a question of jus-
t, a and policy—‘cheers)—nod it was so regarded by the
Rr-n.an catholic laity. He WAS convinced that in these days
the un.on of this United Kingdom could only be preserveil
by a ',Amy of justice. (Cheers.) It was au old, and wafer-
use. iely a true saving. that England's difficulty was Ire-
land's opportunity but he asked the electors of the
United kuigd,m to return to the next parliament men
who would establish such a mode of governing Ireland
that there should be real and not a paper union between
the two islands—(Lheers)—that there should be no differ-
ence of sentiment and of interest, and that when next the
crown and the government of the country shall be ea-
=lto any difficulty there shall be no distinction
em the three parts of the kingdom in the cordiality
with which they will rally round our inetitutions.
(Cheers.) There was one other subject to which he
would allude, and that was the question of expendi-
ture, sad the increase which had taken place in it since the
rentogovernment oame into office. He would not attempt
go into any details, but he would state that the
expenditure, which was very high in 1862, decreased
during the time that Mr. Gladdene had the management
of the finances of the country, and had now gone rip to the
point which it had attained in 1802. In that year the
government had inherited the reconstruction of the navy
from Sir John Pakington, and they had to deal with the
war in China, and the estimates were very large. Their
=ta then talked about bloated armament., and
the government on account of the expenditure.
In 1867, just after the Chinese war, an attack was made
on Sir C. Lewis for the purpose of reducing the e.xpendi-
tura, and Sir Stafford Northcote, in his "Review of
Twenty Years of Financial Arrangements," alluding to the
defence which had been made for Sir C. Lewis against
that party motion, said that during his experience in par-
liament he had never known a successful effort to reduce
the expenditure in any other way than by leaving to the
government the responsibility of reduction and parlia-
ment informing them generally that the scale of expendi-
ture which they pro_ pond did not meet the views of
parliament. He (Mr. Cardwell) regarded the British
army and navy as the two noblest instruments of the kind
that had ever existed in the world, and should be sorry to
sacrifice their efficiency for the sake of any saving. (Hear,
hear.) But he believed that one of the first duties of the
new parliament would be to examine the whole of our ex-
penditure collectively, and to see whether it was possible
not only to m,aintainbut to ensureefficiencyand atthesame
time promote reasonable retrenchment. (Cheers.) With
respect to the question of reform great credit bad been
taken by the party in power for enfranchising so large a
body of persons. The spirit in which the supporters of
that party were disported to act was illustrated by the fact
that in the city of Oxford 700 objections had been lodged
for the purpose of cutting off the voters from the franchise.
(Hear, hear.)
Mr. VERNON ITARCOMIT. Q.C. who was very cordially
received, subsequently addressed the meeting.