Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-04-21 00:00:00

ought toie carried out, "air you are the men of South
Lancashire that ought to insist upon it being carried out. I
ask it, gentlemen, on no selfish. grounds ; if you have
a commercial man, more adequate and better fitted
to represent you than I am, I will give way to him.
On the other hand, from the experience you have had of
me while your representative, I hope I have not unfaithfully
or inadequately performed those duties. (Hear, hear.) If
you are pleased to place me again in the proud position of
representing the most distinguished county, whether for its
intelligence or its wealth, I think that while you are carry-
ing out the sound principle in representation, you will be
returnin„o. a gentleman whom you will find as faithful to
your interests, and conscientious in the discharge of his
duties for the future, as he hopes he has hitherto been.
(Great applause.)
Mr. Pemberton Heywood was greeted with applause.
He commenced by saying,—Gentlemen, you are aware I am
no orator, and I shall not detain you long ; but on this
occasion I am happy to inform you that I have made a very
successful tour through many of the leading towns of the
county, and from the enthusiasm with which I have been
met leaves little doubt as to what will be the result. [A
voice—You won't go up.] Mr. Heywood :It is quite
clear, and it is desirable that we shouldhave a good Reform
bill, and not a sham one. (Hear, hear.) It is alsu quite
clear that we must employ those to carry it out who havelong
served the cause of reform. I shall merely refer to the fact
that I am for the £6 franchise for the county, and £lO
franchise for the borough. In these days, when we hear so
much of the competative examination, why should there not
be a competative examination for voting ? Why
should not men, who can stand an examination
in arithmetic and in a knowledge of the his-
tory of their country, why should they not have a vote ?
The merchants' clerks, who live in lodgings, they have no
votes ; but if there were such a system of competative
examination they would have votes. Then, I say, lam
favourable to the ballot. lam aware that a number of
men prefer to vote openly and in the light of day, but, I say,
a great number will not do so. Where I reside, there are
19,000 voters, yet, at the late election, there were only
between 7,000 and 8,000 to come to the poll. The shop-
keepers of London will tell you that they don't care much
about voting, for they were sure to offend some parties, and
for this cause I am an advocate for the ballot. lam also for
the abolition of the church-rate. I shall say no more on
that subject, for no one will accuse me of not being sincere.
I shall not detain you much longer, for I have made three
speeches to -day, and I am afraid I shall have to do the same
to-morrow. To a person of my experience this is a great
deal. (Laughter.) I hope you will do me the honour to
elect me, and I will, I promise, serve you faithfully. But
if, on the other hand, you should reject me, I will take it
very easy, and I will retire to my farm, and like old, father
Thames be content to glide pleasantly between the two
banks. (Applause, and laughter.) If elected to fill the
position which our chairman has held so long, and so
honourably, I would have great pleasure in following out
to a great extent the increase of the valuable institutions
which he has given you. I cannot conclude without
paying my respects to Mr. Brown and to express my regret
that he has been obliged to retire and place me in this
position. (Laughter.) But I will say that my reasons for
coming forward was because it was said that the com-
mercial and manufacturing community would lose their
interest, and that they would be superseded by two land-
owners, and if such a thing took place, it would be
said you don't want commercial members to repre-
sent you, that you don't care about them, and that
you are satisfied with landowners. It was said to me
that I was moderate and not unpopular, and that I might
be of use in fighting the battle, and I have now entered into
it, and will take a fair stand and fight it to the last. (Cheers.)
I have no more to say, except to urge that the voters among
you use their best exertions, for I believe it will be all
required. He did not think it right to leave the whole
matter to committees and chairmen, but each voter should
do what he could I will say no more, lam loosing my
voice, so I must sit down. (Applause.)
Mr. Gladstone came forward, and was about to address
the meeting, when
Mr. Owen rose in one of the upper boxes, and asked if
opportunity would be given to put a question to the candi-
dates ?
Mr. Gladstone said he would sit down till the question
would be put and answered.
Mr. Cheetham : I understand that there is some indi-
vidual in this assembly who wishes to put one or more
questions to the candidates. (Great interruption.)
Mr. Owen rose and was assailed with all manner of noises,
such as " bravo," " put him out," &c. He proceeded to
say, that he stood there, as a freeholder, by their own invita-
tion. He had been asked if he would be present
there, and whether he would have his name on the
committee to support them. He would say that
he was one that gave a liberal vote, who had
never voted, but with the liberal party. He had heard a
gentleman mention the Corn League, and he was a
member of that league, and an humble subscriber to
it as long as it lasted. (Cries of " Question.")
Well, the question he had to put was, if the candi-
dates would support the bill for the rating of
national property ? and he felt bound to nut the question
He did not like to take up their time, but he would like to
know from the candidates what sound, just grounds, they
had on which they could claim their support ? lie would
say the rate was so small that they wanted, for the benefit
of the poor, that it would not be 1-16th part in 20s ; and
yet they were told that that would drive the trade away from
the port of Liverpool ; but that was mere bosh. He would
say, let those who got the lion's share of the profits pay their
share of the rate. . He did not consider it would be right to
go the poor men's hovels, and make them pay their one,
two, or three shillings. His question was : Would they
support that bill ?
Mr. Cheetham rose and said : Gentlemen, the elector who
has just sat down has only exercised a proper electoral
right to put a question to those who ask his support, but I
am sorry to say that he has committed an error in arguing
the question, and if this were a fitting time and occasion, I
would be proud to go into the argument with him, but it
is not.

A Voice : It is.
Mr. Cheetham : What the gentleman has referred to is,
that there has been a bill before the house for the purpose
of rating Government property. Now, I should consider
the question how far Government property
A -Voice : What about Liverpool docks ?
Mr. Cheetham : If you ask me if I would support a bill
for the rating of Liverpool docks, I tell you that in time
past I opposed such a bill, and should oppose such a bill in
future. (Hear, hear, and hisses.) I know that in saying
this, and taking such a course, I may appear to oppose your
local interest here, but I am not the mere representative
of the electors of Liverpool, but of the southern division of
the county. lam bound to look to the interest of the many
and not to the few. (Hear, hear.) And I would ask any
gentleman here what would Liverpool be without her docks.
(Applause.)
Mr. Heywood said : Gentlemen, in reply to the question
that has been put by one of the electors, I beg to say that
I should be guided in this way. If there was a bill brought
in for the rating of national property, I don't see why the
docks—if they take in all the docks—l do not see any
great distinction now between the Liverpool docks and the
national docks.

A Voice : You won't go up.
Mr. Gladstone was loudly called for. He said—Gentle-
men, whilst I express myself as most grateful to you for
this summons, I hope you will pardon me for suggesting
that the usual course of proceeding on such occasions as the
present, it would be better not to call upon any one such as
myself to address you, but allow the business to proceed in
the ordinary manner.
A Voice : "Nix," there's Charley Turner.
Mr. Gladstone : You have heard the addresses of the
candidates, and a resolution is now to be proposed to you,
expressive of the confidence which you ought to place in
these candidates, and it will be for you to say what confi-
dence you place in them when you hear these gentlemen.
Mr. Holland will now address you.
Mr. Charles .Holland then came forward, and said he
would not detain them long. He was about to move that
the meeting give a vote of confidence in the two gentlemen
now before them. (Cries of " blow your nose.") When he
considered the importance of the constituency, the popula-
tion of upwards of a million and a half, who were
now to be represented, he thought that .it was an insult
to oppose Messrs..Cheetham and Heywood. Mr. Holland
was so often interrupted that his speech was soon brought
to a close, and he concluded by moving, " That it is the
opinion of this meeting that Messrs. Cheetham and Heywood
are fit and proper persons to represent the Southern Division
of Lancashire in the Commons House of Parliament."
Mr. James Ryley proceeded to second the motion. He
was frequently interrupted by cries of " Shnt up," " Who
combed your hair," &c., &c. He would not, however, be
put down. He said he would not keep them long. He
would give them his reasons for thinking that the two
gentlemen now before them were the proper persons to
represent them. He would call their attention to the
dissolution. It was said that the defeat of government on
the Reform Bill was owing to faction. [A voice : " Don't
tell lies.") He denied that it was faction. The immense
progress of South Lancashire during the past few years was
alluded to, and the speaker contended that this great progresss
had been owing—not to a set of gentlemen every act of
whose life was in opposition to reform. The Conservatives
thought that we were too prosperous —they wanted to put
the drag on the wheel to prevent us going too fast. They
were opposed to all reforms; yet, forsooth,they came out
now as reformers. But reformers of what kind ? Look at
the bill—is that reform ? That bill was brought in to keep
the Derby Administration in place and power. We are,
however, prepared to carry all the reforms necessary, hon-
estly and honourably. Fi_ e. concluded by calling upon the
electors of South Lancashire to support the two business