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

men now before them, and putting
,the resolution to the
meeting

It 11 Ili carried triumphantly.
Mr. Robertson Gladstone then came forward, and watt
received with loud cheers, and with considerable interrup-
tions. Owing to the noise which prevailed, he was very im-
perfectly heard in the beginning of his remarks. He was
understood to say that the interruptions proceeded from the
members of a party who professed a very wide extent of
christianity, and boasted of religious qualifications
far superior to those of any of their fellow men.
(Cheers.) Although a very humble authority, he would
venture to suggest, that one of the first of Christian duties
was to act towards our neighbour as we would have our
neighbour act to us. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) Addressing
as he conceived he did, an asemblage of Englishmen, he
expected that they would, at least, hear all that was to, be
said, give it their attention, weigh it closely in the balance
what was good in it retain, and what was bad reject. (Hear,
hear.) He appealed to their friends on the right, for the
sake of order and decency and of common respect for their
human nature, that however indifferently they might esti-
mate the individual addressing them, and he claimed no
superior merit, and, in all human probability, was not as
good as any one of those he was addressing, they should,
at least, in the spirit of fair play and of righteousness, give
him that hearing which, as a member of the community, he
had a right to demand at their hands. (Cheers.) He had
no personal interest in advocating the cause of the people.
(Cheers.) He left his home, his trade, and his occupation
to advocate principles, because he believed they tended to the
good of the many, and not merely of the few ; and if they
thought he was their enemy, if they thought he sought for
things which selfishly concerned himself,- and excluded
them from the pale of the same advantages, then they ought
to bid him at once to cease from his occupation. (Cheers.)
He feared that—although he had been very kindly
invited to address them, he had perhaps little matter
which they would consider worth giving an ear to. He did
not need to retrace the steps which had been taken,
especially by Mr. Cheetham, with reference to the reform
bill which had been prepared by her Majesty's late govern-
ment, •of which Lord Derby was the head. To a very
ordinary intellect that measure spoke for itself ; and if,
after conscientiously reflecting upon it, they were of opinion
that it contained any provisions which were satisfactory
to them, and which were calculated to work for the public
good, keeping in view the interests of themselves and of
those who were to succeed them, it was unnecessary for him
to say another word. But if, on the contrary, they believed
that it was a gross fraud upon the people—(cheers)—that
it was an attempt to monopolise votes for those over whom
the government had a control, at the expense of those
over whom they had no control, and so to obtain a pre-
ponderance, then he called upon them to unite
with him in taking such steps as would thwart the inten-
tions of the Government, and at the same time point to the
whole world the conduct of those who would deprive them
of the privileges to which they had an undoubted right.
(Cheers.) In doing so, they should at the same time
proclaim to the world that they would not submit to any
measure becoming the law of the land which did not contain
in itself a full and ample security that the people of the
country should have a substantial representation, such as
would entitle them to speak with freedom the sentiments
they entertained, and would give them those salutary laws
which they demanded for themselves, and required to
see carried out for the good of the country. (Cheers.)
Permit him for a moment to dwell upon the question of the
ballot. Individually and without any hesitation he
at once declared himself a sincere advocate for the
ballot. He knew they had a very strong party to
contend against. It consists of the more wealthy
classes of society, who enjoyed certain annuities in
their own clubs, and similar institutions if they deserved
such a title. The ballot was adopted there, and why was
it adopted ? It was for the purposes of hypocrisy. (Hear,
hear, and cheers.) A member of a club observed that there
was a party applying for entrance into the club of which he
was a member. " Oh," he says, " this man is a vulgar
fellow, he springs from the ranks"—any one of you
(pointing to the audience. Cheers). "He was one of
the unwashed; be was not fit to show up ;
he was no society for him," and he had not the honesty or
the courage to tell him so, and, therefore, bbhind his back,
without letting him know that I am his bitter foe, he would
assume a mask of friendship and continue on the best of
terms with him, but when his back was turned he
would vote against him. That was the use of the ballot
made by those who desired to withhold it from the great
masses of the people. That was the picture on one side.
Now let them look on the other. The great masses of
the manufacturing and trading classes of Great Britain,
did not want the ballot for the purposes of hypo-
crisy, but they wanted it to defend their social rights,
to stand between them, and to be a guard to them,
precisely in the same manner as a police officer stood
between the innocent and the parties who were desirious to
assault the innocent. The opponents against whom they
had to contend, were, in plain words, the members of the
aristocracy. He did not profess to separate the community,
and say which part was the aristocracy, and which was not,
but if any class of the society, aye, if any man professed to
tell him that he was better than his fellow man, he would
say to him, show him the credentials. (Great cheering.)
He turned again for a moment to the Reform Bill, although
it might be considered, and he believed it was considered
in the world, that he was a very advanced Politician or
what was called a Radical. He remembered from his
early school associations, that the term Radical
meant something which had direct reference to the root of
an evil. He asked any gentleman present, connected with
the medical profession particularly, whether lie was able to
deal with a disease he had not absolutely to go to the root
of it ? One of the accusations held out by those who sup-
ported the Reform Bill was that those who opposed it bad a
tendency to universal suffrage ; and if he should ever live to see
a real reform bill introduced, which was very doubtful, they,
judging by the rate. at which reform advanced in this
country, each measure taking about a quarter of a century
on an average, nothing would delight him more than to
stand forward in a public meeting, and propose universal
suffrage. (Great cheering.) By universal suffrage, he
meant the right of a man voting, at twenty years of age,
whose character was untainted by crime, and who in all
other respects, by education and other circumstances, was,
fitted to give a vote. In this world everything was pro-
gressive. In 1832 the Reform Bill, which they then
obtained, was an advance on their former position, confor-
mably with their progression. They had advanced since that
time in everything which was honourable, and therefore
the period had arrived when they were entitled to enlarged
privileges, corresponding to their increased education and
advancement. Let them go on with their systems of
education, let instruction cover the whole surface of the
earth, let every man be raised in the scale of society, let
him be taught so that he may be able to instruct himself,
and to provide for the instruction of those for whom he was
responsible. Let these systems be carried on, and no one
would rejoice more heartily than himself, when the period
should arrive which would at once prove the necessity of
giving every man that constitutional right to which he had
alluded—the right to vote. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) He
denied the right of any man to withhold from his fellnne--e
oil. Tsar;
the same privilege which he himself j •
Referrinngiadtoe by Mr.s Heywood,ome o
f their
eir Mr.
opponents,G l adstOnietletttiheda(t the
gentle-
manas-
sertion
Heywoodne e of
hadhe anti-corn o
selectedrn law
league. was
IPPet declaredfrward that a s
aMaro.
by the people of Liverpool because of the excellence of his
character, and his high position. He remarked that these
opposing candidates set forth in their addresses that they
belonged to the Established Church. With every respect
for that church, he thought the irregularities and the
various defects of that institution required a severe testing,
and a close and searching reform. (Chears.) Tie desired
to see the huge revenues possessed by its highest authorities
given to those who held the plough. (Cheers.) He wished
to see increased among its ministers the cultivation of
brotherly love towards every sect, be that sect what it
might. (Cheers.) After some further remarks urging the
claims of Mr. Heywood and Mr. Cheetham upon the meeting,
on account of their principles and character. Mr. Gladstone
resumed his seat amid loud applause.
Mr. Cheetham proposed a vote of thanks ttobteliceocmhpaliirmmeaill,
which was carried by enthusiastic acclamation.
the
Mmeetr. Brown
ing then dispe haring brirsed.efly acknowledged

SOCIAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION.
We are compelled by pressure on our space, to hold over
the report of the meeting of the Liverpool Local Committee
of this Association. In our nett issue we shall publish a
full report.

_ AN HONOURABLE HONOURABLE EXAMhe following notice has
been posted by an extensive employer in Bristol holding
Conservative opinions :—" It is my particular wish, in refer-
ence to the forthcoming election, that every voter in my
employ should use and give his vote with the same freedom
I claim myself, and have no regard to the way in which I
shall vote myself, one way or the other."
AMERICAN THEATRICALS.—PiccoIomini and Ullman have
had a quarrel, resulting in the breaking of the contract
between them. The little prima donna is at New Orieans ,
conductor
and will continue her concert tour with most of the members
of the opera company. Mr. Muzio, beingmusical.
is acting as
interests during Piccolommi's engagement, and the agent sent over by Mr. Lumley tot?o out for his
Orleans Delta,
business agent. Of Mr. Ullman t- ekneew
says :—" The last
which has a pique against the manager,as
stowed away in an empty
we heard of him was that
he levee,bewlabelled ' this side up, with
sugar hogshead on
care,' preparatory to t shipment for New York as freight."
an operatic manager more energetic
It is all very funny to make jokes. about Mr. Ullman, but it
will be difficult to find
and able than he has been.