The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-03 00:00:00

Mr. Layard and his Constituents,

Last night Mr Layard addressed his constituents
at the Bridge-house Hotel, Southwark. The large
room in which the meeting was held was scarcely
more than half full when the proceedings com•
menced, but it became densely crowded long before
their conclusion,

Mr NEWMAN, on being voted to the chair, ex.
pressed his opinion that from the decorous and be•
coming way in which the working people of Lanca-
shire had behaved under extremely trying circum-
stances it was evident that the time had come for
an enlargement of the franchise, and, recollecting
Mr Gladstone's speech on the subject of Reform
during the last Session, he thought that they might
proclaim that Mr Gladstone was the coming Pre.
mier of this country. (Cheers.)
Mr LAYARD then presented himself to the meet•
ing, and was received with loud cheers. He said
he hoped that all present were his constituents, or,
if not, that the time was not far distant when they
would become so. (Hear, hear.) Ho was there
that evening to remind them that another year in
their political and natural life had elapsed ; and this
occasion reminded him of a ceremony which he ob-
served in India, where, at an entertainment given
him by a Rajah, he noticed that at regular intervals
a person entered the apartment and uttered some•
thing in a loud voice. His host explained that it
was an old custom for a person to come in and pro..
claim ,at stated intervals that an hour had passed
away, and that he hoped the itajah had made good
use of the time which had passed, and would also
make use of the time which was to come. (Laugh-
ter.) With respect to local matters, it was natu-
rally his duty to act as his constituents wished;
but on accepting office they gave him a sort of lati.
tude not to give so much attention as he otherwise
might to all the smaller questions of the borough.
He was fortunate in having such a colleagne as Mr
Locke, than whom no metropolitan member de-
voted himself more thoroughly and conscientiously
to the discharge of his local duties. (Cheers.) He
was glad to see Southwark partaking in the gene-
ral prosperity, and having new streets and lines of
communication opened ; but these marks of pro-
sperity gave rise to the question, what was
to be done with that large class of work-
ing men who were ejected from their dwellings,
and for whom no provision was made in conse-
quence of being deprived of their dwellings.
(Cheers.) When he last met his constituents he told
them that that question had not escaped his atten-
tion, and he must say now that he really saw no
means of meeting the difficulty, except by the work-
ing men forming committees among themselves for
discussing the matter, and then proposing some
practical remedy. He did not see why the co-
operative system, which had led to so much im-
provement in the manufacturing towns of this
country, should not be brought to operate in this
matter. (Hear, hear.) Nothing could be much worse
than the habitations of the working men in that
borough. If any means could be hit on for improve
ing them an inestimable benefit would be conferred
on the working classes. The model lodging houses
were merely experiments, showing the way in
which the thing might be done, but it remained
for the working classes to perfect the experiment
and to carry it out to a successful result. (Hear,
hear.) He next adverted to the question of St.
'Thomas's Hospital, and said that Southwark ought
to be eternally grateful to Dr. Rendle on account
of the hospital not being removed to a great dis-
tance from the Borough. (Applause.) Turning next
to political questions, he remarked that though it
Was the custom to denounce speeches on foreign
politics, he was afraid he must fall into the general
ruck and talk a good deal about them. He wished
first of all to say a few words on the Danish guess
tion— but let them not suppose that he was going
to re-open that mysterious matter, of which they
must have heard quite enough already. Still, on
reading the speeches delivered (lining the Recess,
he scarcely found one that did not touch on that
unhappy question, and therefore he desired to Bay
a few words respecting it. There was no name
more connected with civil and religious liberty
than that of Earl Russell, and it wets, therefore,
very hard that things which were not true in re-
ference to the conduct of the Danish ques-
tion should, by constant repetition, become to be
accepted as true. If they had done him the honour
of reading the speech which he had delivered in the
House of Commons during the debate on the Danish
question they would probebly- bo of opinion that he
disposed pretty completely of the accusations against
Earl Russell. That debate went by the name of the
Danish debate, but the object of it was not to do
either good or harm to Denmark, but simply to turn
Lord Palmerston out of office. (Hear.) In love and
war everything was said to be fair, he therefore
supposed that in a great Parliamentary struggle the
same might be alleged, and therefore one cannot
complain of the misrepresentations which wore made
use of to damage the character of an oppanent.
Earlßussell was accused of having used the language
of intimidation, but he (M.r Layard) proved by the
despatches there was not a single phrase which
might bear the character of intimidation that had
not been Equally used by France and Russia. Earl
Russell always consulted with those Governments,
and therefore the accusation that it was the noble
earl that used the language of intimidation was false
and fell to the ground. He was confident that pos.
terity would do justice to Earl Russell, and likewise
to Lord Palmerston. it had been said that the con-
duct of the Government had lowered the prestige of
England, but that he did not believe; for the Go-
vernment only adhered to engagements, and sought
to carry out a treaty whichawhet her right or wrong,
had been entered into. (Hear.) As soon as England
found that other parties to the treaty were not pre.
pared to carry out its terms then she desisted, and
gave Denmark to understand that nothing more
could be done in her behalf. (Hear.) There was
another topicwhich had been equally subject to mist
representation—that of China. Lord Palmerston had
been accused of desiring to make China another India,
and of wishing to go to war with that country, the
population of which was 300,000,000, for the purpose
of taking possession of it. It was always difficult
to disprove a mere assertion, but all he could say
was, no such intention ever existed. He had been
blamed for speaking in the House of Commons in
favour of the China policy of the Government, bee
cause some years previously he had voted against
Lord Palmerston on the subject of China. But
there was no analogy between the two cases, and
his vote was really given in support of the view
which ho formerly advocated, and which he firmly
balleved had been carried out by Lord Palmerston's
Government—namely, to settle matters peaceably
and by treaty, instead of by cannon-shot and by
battle. (Applause.) This country had now complete
peace with the Chinese Government, and instead of
England now going to war on account of a quarrel
between some governor and a British consul, these
matters were now settled at Pekin, and brought to
a proper conclusion. That was the way the Eng-
lish Government now dealt with China, and he
thought it would be most wicked for a civilised
country to take advantage of a nation semi-civilised.
(Hear, hear.) The English had been defending in
China the treaty ports, which under a treaty were
open to a foreign trade generally. In a few years
an enormous trade had sprung up, but at the same
time a rebellion of a formidable character—that of
the Tee pings--broke out, and had its principal seat
near the city of Shanghai. The Taepings threat-
ened to attack and destroy that settlement, for they
were mere bands of robbers, had no system of ad-
ministration, and went about devastating every-
thing within their reach. What, then, was to be
done? Either Shanghai must be abandoned, and
the loss to English trade would have been most
asrious, or England must send troops against
the Taepinge, or enable the Chinese to
fight the Taepings themselves. England adopted
the latter course, and that policy had been most
successful. Shanghai was again a free port,
When the Taepinga took possession of it they
rerlueNi that beautiful city to ruins, and no sooner
had the Taepings left that place than the city was
again becoming populous, He believed the policy
pu„lied wee a good policy, and though the leaders
of patty attacked them they never announced any
alternative policy. The only alternative policy was
that brought forward afterwards by Mr Cobden,

from whom anything that dropped was worth lie•
tening to. (Cheers.) He was a man of great
ability, and took an original view of the subjects
on which he treated, but anything more impracti.

cable or more likely to lead to general war than his

plan could not be conceived. It was that the Eng•
lish should withdraw from Pekin and China and

take possession of three or four islands along the