The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-03-21 00:00:00

ABERCROMBY AND RODNEY STREET WARDS,

A joint meeting of the liberal 'electors of the Abercromby
and Rodney street Wards was held in the new public room,
Hardman street, at seven- o'cleck, last' night. There was a
very numerous attendance of electors. Among whom were
Messrs. Thomas Brocklebank, W. F. Macgregor, Thomas S.
Raffles, G. Melly, H. A. Bright; E. Greg; Dr. Hannah,
Rev. Hugh Stowell, 'Brown, Edoch Harvey, H. A. Ewer,
Steward, Aldis, Holbrook, Smith,' Beeman,' Benn, Mundy,
Ross, Daniels, Francis Thornley, Thomas, Gair, C. E. Raw.
lins, and Philip Rathhone. ,
Mr. Thomas S. Raffles was. called on amid loud applause to
take the chair. •
r The Chairman opened the. proceedings by expressing his
regret at the absence of Mr. W. Earle, who had written to say
that he was prevented from attending by being suddenly called
away ,to London upon public business ; and of Mr. H.
Branker, who was kept away oby a. domestic calamity. He
then remarked tbat there appeared to himisempdanger of
their losing sight at that election of the principles which
they all held so, dear as members of a liberal party.
Their opponents had got np a strong cry to go to
the country upon at the present election. He did not in
tend to pin., his faith .upon :Lord. Palmerston, er 'upon
any man, and he did not see that this was a question
between Lord Palmerston and Lord Derby entirely. (gear,
bear.) But they all knew very well. that Lord Palmerston
had been a party to the passing of all the great liberal
measures which had been passed by parliament during the
last thirty years. (Hear, hear.) He did not mean to say
that Lord Palmerston had done this entirely of his own
accord, or without some pressure from without had supported
all those measures, but, he belonged to the governments
which passed them, his vote had never been given on the
wrong side, but always on the side of political progress; and
so long as they saw him acting as he had done, be felt quite
convinced they were taking thd right course •in returning
such ni aan,as Mr. Ewart,to parliament to strengthen his
cause.,(Hear, hear, and cheers.) On the contrary; they
knew..that Lord Derby bad receded from the Liberal party,
that he began life as a Liberal, and was 'now g
Conservative . (Hear, bear.) .On these ground's he therefore ,
called upon. the meeting not to be led away by alti
party cry got up at the present moment, but to
remain true to their principles. The last time -Mr. Ewart
.came before them, • he could only appeal to his private
character, but now he could point to his recorded votes.
and it would be found that from the day he went into
Parliament.down to the present time he bad voted upon
the right side and he (the chairman) challenged any one
to show that Mr. Ewart ,had given a wrong vote since he
went there. (Hear, hear.) He therefore called upon the
meeting to plump for Ewart. '(Chews) • In doing so, he
remarked that Mr. Horsfall appeared to have no disinclina-
tion to go back to Parliament with Mr. Eerart :as a col
league, judging from the expression he made use of at
the meeting held in the Amphitheatre, when he teferred
to the possibility of his being so returned ; and when
the chairman observed,: according to the' reports in the
newspaper, the name of Mr. Ewart 'was received with
enthusiastic cheers, even at a Tory . meeting. z (Hear.)
After some further Otriervationa, the chairman -again called
on all present to vote for and support Mr. E wart, and then
resumed his seat amid loud applause.
Dr. Hannah,•in a few words, in which Ite .eulogised
the honesty atif. indep.e,nde.nc s of Mr. E wart, preposed
the firit;risolutiOn, which was as follows :s—" That as
the next' Parliament will witness the introduction of anew
Reform Bill for the .extension of power amongst the
People, and for more completely securing its honest
exsreise, as well as those .other questions-in 'which the
rights:and happiness of the people are deeply concerned,
it is the duty of the liberal electors of •Rsdney street
and Abercromby Wards to promote' the return to
Parliament of a man, whose independence. and whose
liberal opinions will not fail him in the, hour of„ need."
(Cheers
Mr. U. Melly seconded .the motion. He referred to
the admirable addresses of Mr.. Ewart, in which. he dis-
tinctly avowed himself an advocate of reform, and asked
the meeting whether they would endorse that declaration?
(Hearehear.) He would ask them, was the political
government of this country to be a progressive and
improving government, or not ? In snch days of
intellectual progress as these, did they wish to have a.
'government which would progress with the wealth, end.
'intellect of the `counfq ? Tliey „were becpming more
intellectual every day, and was their government to be
the only institution among them behind hand? On that
account he did' not wish to seefat government in po4rer ivhose
'name was Conservative, and if they agreed with him in that
they would plump for Ewart. (Cheers.) Did they wish
their fellow citizens at Birkenhead to have a representative in
? (Hear, hear.) If they did he would say again
"Plump for Ewart," for in him' they would find a.staunch
and earreq Quaportcr of reform. and extension of theiranchiee.
(Cheers.) He (Mr. Melly) was not in ..favour of a Chartist
progression, but he was in
_favour of a political 'progress cern-
mepeurate with the intellectual progress of the, country ;- and
it was because the Tories before refused to grant reform until
the country was on the eve of a revolution, that he wished• to,
see such liberal minded men as Mr. Ewart in parliament..
(Hear, hear, and cheers) Another question which. would
come before parliament was that of national• education, and
what did Mr. Turner say in reference to that? When asked
was he in favour of an extension of education, he replied that
if the children were edncated in his_religion, then he would
have them educated; but they 'all knew what that meant.
(Hear, hear.) It signified no education at all—(hear, hear)
—and therefore he (Mr. Melly) would repeat, that if they
considered an extension of education necessary (and who would
deny it when they saw the amount of crime in the country t)
they should' " plump for Ewalt" (Cheers.) In conclusion,
Mr. Melly urged on the meeting that they were in hlttQc
bound to return Mr. Ewart at the head of the poll, for of
his return there could not be a doubt, and t could be
done only by. " plumping for Ewart." (Applause,)
Mr. P. Rathhone supported the motion. He defended'
Lord Palmerstpn's foreign policy, from the charge of its
being an aggressive and turbulent oats, and urged that
though the last five years was a period pregnant with in-
formation for Governments and people, yet judging by
his addressere.Mr. Turner, like the Bourbon, had learned
nothing. (Cheers.)
The motion was unanimously adoptod.
Mr. Ewart then came forward,- and was received with enthu-
siastic applause. When silence had been restored, he said
Gentlemen, and fellow townsmen, after the long time which
occupied in addressing you the other evening in the Amphi-
theatre—and most of whom I now see here were, no doubt,
present on that occasion--I really feel that it would be
somewhat presumptuous in me to detain you at any length
upon the present occasion. Gentlemen, it is very well known
that I came forward as a candidate for your suffrages upon tbe
last occasion, at the earnest request of 'many of the Liberal
party. (Hear, hear.) I have no particular fancy•for being a
member of parliament. My Occupations were quite enough, in .
the duties and pleasures to which I was more particularly
attached. But when my, fellow townsmen came to me and
told me that, in the situation iii which they stood, they had a
claim upon my services, I could not hesitate for a moment
to throw myself entirely into the conflict. (Cheers.) Gentlemen,
I have now been your representative for very nearly two
sessions. It is not for the representative himaelf to giye any
particular account of whet he has done. The papers of
the day tell you the way in which the members of pulite,
mant have voted upon every question : and it is you to
say whether your member has been attentive to his duties,
and whether your member has 'voted according not only to
the professions which he made at the time- he was a
candidate, but whether he has voted according to the
wishes of bis constituents. (Hear, hear, and applattse.)
Gentlemen, the parliament which is very nearly dissolved,
which will be dissolved very ely this very evening, if
not , to-morrow, has been dissolved upon a. question
connected with the Chinese war, 1\ ow I have no
hesitation in saying that so far as my general feelings are
concerned, I am not one of those who are fond of engag-
ing in war. (Hear.) But, I may say, that, looking at
all the circumstances of the case in this Chinese affair, I
cannot see how it was possible for the government to do
otherwise than they did (Hear, and cheers) When
we read such accounts of the dreadful atrocities
which Commissioner Yell has committed at Canton—
when we read of 70,000 people- whom he
actually murdered in • cold blood in Qua year—
when we saw how 'he offered a reward of 30 dollars for every
.European head which was brought to him, I did feel
that ..we :were bound to support our plenipotentiary in
the course he took upon that occasion. (Hear, hear, and
cheers.) •It was not the time for me to enquire whether 'he
was right pr :wrong: lam not speaking, altogether-of the
Chinese nation, but I am speaking of the deeds of such
men as Commissioner Vh, And I did feel That if there
were any hesitation upon our part, could net say what
the dreadful consequences , might be. (Hear, bear, and
eheers.) ' Ids, therefore,. on that account, and without
enquiring into all the technicalities of the case, whether
the loreba, Arrow, was a British vessel or not. I felt that
it was abiolutely necessary to support the government in
their support of our superintendent c.t Canton. (Cheers.)
I felt it the more because I saw that' advantaga wes being
taken by two parties in the state—and I do not allude to
Mr. Cobden—l beg it to be distinctly understood, because
Mr, Cobden, as I have already declared, was always !or