The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-10 00:00:00

And yet—and this is above all what I desire to impress—a

measure :hould it be forthcoming so moderate as to contain
no such danger, and as to be proveably free from any such
danger or source of alarm, will be worth your utmost sup-
port—for believe me no political proposition can be proved
more true than this—l address myself to the working
classes assembled here before me—that if you in the per-
sons of a portion of your class once gain a footing within
the pale of the franchise, you become a part of the consti-
tutional bo ]y politic. Your political life may be said to have
commenced, and the future will depend entirely on the use
which you make of the vantage ground you have gained.
(Applause.) And not only will such a measure be worth
your support, it will, believe me, require that support if we
your
to overcome the disinclination of which I have spoken.
In this respect your representatives are powerless. We who
are on board the ship may discass the best course by which
to steer—we may argue the safety of the port which we de-
sire to make—but it is from you, the outside public, that
must come the breeze to fill our sails—and it is you only who
can supply that necessary motive power, (Cheers.) Now)
my resolution says " that the present state of Parlia-
mentary representation, excluding as it does a large ma-
y and unjust," any share in self.govern-
jmoernitte: i
so f m theost
upnesoaptlies
fafertoomr
just." And in my
opinion it is a condition of things which cannot be allowed
to remain long, because it would be a discredit to statesman-
ship, as it would be a disgrace to public spirit, could it
longer remain. Let me consider for one moment the ques-
tion of the present state of the representation, in that re •
seed of it in which 1 confess that I have myself the most
interest—l mean with reference to the extent of the fran-
chise. The present franchise stops almost exactly where a
class begins; whereas, its policy ought to be, ii not to ob-
literate, at least to tone down and to confine the already too
strongly-marked distinction of classes,
it seems as if it was
determined to stereotype
influences
in the const:tution of the coun-
try. The civilising social of late years have all
tended towards making less distinct and less offensively
marked these lines of demarcation between classes of society.
But the franchise seems to step in and to say they shall con
tines, as far as our political system is concerned, as broadly
marked as ever, and we will compel the working classes in
this country, with all their growing power and conscious-
ness of power, and with all their increasing intelligence, to
think for themselves and to act for themslves exclusively
and narrowly, as a class apart, instead of thinking and of
acting for themselves as a great fraction of a country and of
a harmonising whole, (Cheers,) Previous speakers have re-
ferred to the manner in which the distress has been borne
by the population of Lancashire, I am almost tired of hear-
ing the praises of the population of Lancashire from men
who don't seem inclined to carry
out those praises to their
logical results, (Hear,)
I was reading the other day a
speech of Sir John Kay Shuttleworth at the anniversary
meeting of the East Lancashire Union of Meehaniss' Insti-
tutes. It was a speech full of interest, of information, and of
food for thought, It was a review of the progress of the
working population of that large manufacturing district
during the last fifty years, Now, I would defy any man to
read that page of history, as I would call it, without
feeling how immensely better is the present than was
the past of that class, and without feeling how great
is the future before them, Sir John Kay Shuttleworth
showed to us the progress material, intellectual, moral,
social, and I confess for one that I think any man reading
that as a page of history might expect that the next should
be the record of the willing admission of such men to take
their share in the rights and duties of citizenship in the coun-
try which is common to us all. (Loud applause.) I have
spoken of progress—of the immense progress of the working
classes of this country, lam alive to that progress, and
therefore it is not, so far as I am concerned, because of mis-
government that I would demand Reform. Ido not say
that there is not always plenty for the Reformer to do—but
that is not the, true, that is not the logical ground upon
which to put your demand for Reform—because of that pro-
gress—because of that progress which has rendered it in-
evitable, and which proves it to be safe—and all the more
safe and all the more likely to fructify to the advantage of
the country, if it be willingly accorded. There are men in
statesmanship who fear this progress —who call it demo-
cracy, and who would seek to stem its tide. But that de-
mocracy alone is dangerous which is a reaction against
gross misgovernment, and which has its stormy birth in
days of ignorance, of bigotry, and of oppressive rule. There
is nothing of that which we should anticipate, but increased
stability to the institutions of the country, and new power
and added hietre to Our national life, elm o all and more
titan ever before, a reuniting tcgot her of the bonds which
bind class with class, till the lines of demarcation between
them shall he lost in the harmony of the constitutional edi-
fice. (Cheers.) And when you ask for Reform, ask for it
recognising all the merits and all the benefits of the pre-
sent and of the past, Ask for it as a right, for it is a right.
But ask for it alto as a duty. (Hear.) Make your claim
to the right of fulfilling all the duties of citizenship in a
great, free, and orderly community, and your claim will be
heard, Fur the times are ripening for that event; its advent
is accepted iu principle by the intelliger:Ld c f the country,
and it needs but one thing more to secure Its mlisatioz,