The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-26 00:00:00

Mr. Unice, M.P., and his Constituents,

Mr. H. A. Bruce, M.P. for Merthyr, has this
we(ik met his constituents at the Temperance-ball
in 'that town ; Mr. W. Harris, the High Constable,
to:e the chair, and the room was filled.

Mr. BRUCE, on rising, was received with loud
cheers. lie said it was now two years since he had
the honour of meeting them in that hall. At the
time when it was his usual practice to call together
his constituents an important and laborious office
was offered to him by her Majesty's Government.
At that time also it had pleased God to affiice him
with serious domestic trials, and he hoped they
would excuse him on those grounds in failing to
meet those engagements, which up to that time he
had fulfilled satisfactorily to himself, if not to them.
(Applause.) At the present time there was no cause
to prevent his meeting them, and he therefore came
to render, 3.3 the chairman had said, an account of
his stewardship. The chairman had held out to him
that among his constituents there were some who
dissented from his opinions; as if that was a strange
matter. He had never been led to expect unanimity
of opinion among his constituents, and wished to
be allowed a free exercise of his own. He would
not weary them with going back over the routine
of the two last sessions, but he thought it would be
sufficient for all purposes to limit his remarks to
the last session. There was the same Government
in office. The same ruling principle was acted upon
in both sessions. Of course, if he had given any
vote in the session of 1862 in opposition to their
views, but of which he could not then recollect, he
hoped they would have the honesty to get up
and tell him so. (Applause.) The last session of
Parliament had been charged as having been in some
respects an idle one. He could not agree with that
statement. He personally had found it a most labo-
rious one. The duties of his office had generally
more closely confined him than usual; but with these
duties he could state that his attendance at the House
of Commons was third in point of numbers. Although
there was no great question brought forward during
the last session in the shape of bills, 165 were
passed, besides 38 private ones. Ho must say that
the expectations pervading the public mind of large
and important measures being carried out every
session were impolitic. The Poor Law, the Muni-
cipal Act, by which cheap justice was brought home
to the poor man ; free trade, and free trade not in
corn only ; these, and many other measures, whose
importance it would be tedious to detail, could not
be carried out every session. Had no measure been
introduced, the business of the session would have
been completed. Of course, in these very changing
times such an idea would he regarded as Utopian.
But it was true that it was no longer possible to
bring forward measures to improve the iaterosts of
importance which have been passed in former ses-
sions. At the same time, though few bills have
been presented, of what might be called by some
of national importance, questions of very great in-
terest had been discussed. The debates on interna-
tional law, as in the case of the Alexandra; the
question upon the subscription to the articles, the
subject of charities, our relations with America,
and one or two others, were topics of the highest
national interest, and also the inquiry into our rela-
tions with America. All these topics were con-
sidered and discussed with a great deal of earnest-
ness; and he thought, if they looked at these mea-
sures, they would consider that the House of
Commons had no need to be ashamed of itself at
anything which might have been said respecting
last session. One charge had been repeatedly made
in the columns of the 7imes, that the liberal party
seemed to have deserted its colours ; that
they have given up bills, and had failed
to perform the promises with which they
started; that they were responsible for the want of
energy displayed during the session. He was sure
they would agree with him this was not a fair re-
presentation of the matter. It was quite true that
government went into office pledged to carry a mea •
sure of reform of a wider character than that of their
predecessors. The measure, when introduced, found
much opposition, and it received very little support
frora the liberal party out of doors. The Reform.
Bill was lost, but there was no sympathy for it in
the country. At the time when the first Reform
Bill was proposed the constituency amounted to
1,000,000; of these h` was holievpil n”l3-. xna
longea to tho working classes. The proposition of
the government during the last session was to extend
the franchise to 400,000 more; this would have in-
cluded about 150,000 working men. The result would
have been that the working class would have repre-
sented one seventh of the constituency. This bill,
as might have been expected, met with strong oppo-
titian from the Conservatives, and the Liberals
abandoned the bill because they feit they could not
carry it. But when the bill was abandoned there
was no expression of regret on the part of the
country. When the Reform Bill was dropped the
whole country was in arms ; there was tumult every.
where. He could put his hand on letters that had
been sent to a relation of his asking him to head a
revolutionary movement. The country was then in
riot from one end to the other. On this occasion there
did not seem the ghost of a feeling iu its favour even
among his own constituents, though Merthyr would
11. ave been benefitted by the bill more than any other
'awn in the country. He thought by so doing
their tonstituency would have been increased to
14,0e414,000 of whom would have been working
but by this bill they would in a great mea-
sure have
the reprei.entation into the hands of
working 1,7"
eta He did not support the bill, fur
though he Nreot
lre who advocated a fair representa-
tion of the
Nvorg classes, at the same time he con-
sidered they ouhl
not to swamp the whole of the
eoestitueney. ‘I/4htt
tesult would doubtless have been
to put in the
e heed,.
of the working classes come
puces entirely,
t,e% whether it was proper
or not, had the country desired it it would have
been carried. Let this ee„„
izielp7r set: their hearts upon
and say that they are
f this or that move-
ment, and in a very short time that measure is sure
to be carried. He questioned 1,-
,lmemory in vain •
he did not remember any
one
of _s
al. constituents ex.'
pressing the slightest regret that the bill was aban-
doned. At the same time the letaimth w
ere accused
of not having brought forward any 04%4
It was not lire making
a radical organic chane• the business
of the Government to bring
—en they
for ward a cp",,"
had no chance of carrying. To give theele th
cr
instance of the strange fatality which
reeessuttithat he"t3
country at this time—he did not know ought
to call it strange, for after all it expressed a Vide
contempt of what had been done, for had the coml,
try set their hearts upon it the measure would have
been carried, therefore the epithet strange was mis-
placed; but that in all this there wo
na something
remarkable he could not but express his conviction.
Ho received a letter some time since asking him
why he voted against the Irish Church Bill. His
answer was that he did not vote against the bill, for
the simple reason that it never came to the vote.
At the same time, however much he respected Mr.
Dillwyn, he should have supported the Govern-
ment, on these grounds :—lt was wrong to intro-
duce a bill there was no prospect of being carried,
however well he might be satisfied that the state
of the Irish Church was a scandal to their coun-
try that could not be denied upon any single
principle of justice ; but the Government felt
a
the same time, in the present disturbed state
of the public mind, that there was no chance
of dealing successfully with that question. He
need not ask them if they considered it fair that
the endowments 'vehicle they believed were given
to a whole
people should be given to one
man or to one party. Thu question would not bear
the least examination, But when such a question
was brought forward the Government were bound
to consider whether if they brought forward the bill
d real ch
there MS an au CO 01 SUCCCSB. And be need
wnettter they thought any question of
nr:t tiEk them
such a nature relative to the Catholic church would
supported by a large have been eu majority. It was
nof that t:justice to the people of Ire-
land which had struck a black spot
en the history
n England. Ire bad answered. the question n put to
was of illustration, him in the lettcet ust by y though
he did not think he should have gone quite
so
tar
as Mr. DijIWY ; the same time as a
but: at member
of the Government he must sen at there was not
the queatio
the slightest chance of carrying e.
bject of Ireland,
Cheers,) Whilst he was upon the au

..........„
' he could not avoid making a few remarks upon the
effect of emigration on that country He could not
conceive why people should be astonished that the '
inhabitants left a country where wages were 10d. a
day for another country where wages were from Os.
to 7s. Was it to be wondered at that people desired
to better themselves, and leave for another rather
than starve in their own unfortunate country ?
(Applause.) They all knew that Ireland suffered 1
from an over population. It had an immense 1
amount of people. Ten millions depending upon a
soil which was scarcely sufficient for their support
in good seasons. In 1846, this country was visited
with a blight upon its root crop, and since that
period there has been a decrease of the population,
from emigration and other causes. What had been
the result ? The greatest beneficial change which
he believed had ever taken place in any other coun-
try. Up to 1860 the principal change had been a
diminution of the population, and an almost marvel-
lous increase in the value of property. Let him ask
them to consider what a great and silent revolution
was going on there, and whether they didtnoatt rank
tnink
that in a few years Ireland would take that
which was her inheritance (applause) both from the
nature of the soil and the character of her inhabi-
tants. One of the evils they all knew which afflicted
Irelatid was the lawlessness of the inhabitants.
While in this country all the people ranged theme
selves on the people were directly opposite. He
I held in his hand a paper relative to the decrease of
the population of Ireland. In 1841 there were 8
millions of people, in 1851 it had fallen to 6,550,000,
and in 1861. still further to 5,750,000. But with
this decrease of crime ; so closely were poverty and
crime united. In 1851 the committals were 24,600.
In 1861 they had fallen to 5,760; not one-fourth.
Murder, as they knew, was at one time a dreadful
feature in Irish history. The number of murderers
punished in 1851 WEIS 118; in 1861 these were re
duced to 30. In these times there were also many
cases of conspiracy. The number of cases occurring
in 1851 were 10, in 1861 they had'failen to nothing.
These things strongly illustrated the fact how closely
poverty and crime were connected. They saw here
that the population had decreased 25 per cent.
Property had in the same time increased 25 per cent,
and crime had decreased 75 per cent. What was
the cause of Irish misery ? It was the occu-
pation of small patches of land. In 1851
there were 301.000 of these pieces of ground, from
one to five acres in extent. In 1861 there were
only 81,000. Here they saw a gradual change
going on, and he was satisfied that in the future
they would find them by no means inferior to any
of the agricultural parts of the British Empire. He
remembered when he last met them, that Lanca-
shire and Ireland were the principal subjects
which occupied the public mind. It was time
to make a few remarks upon the patience with
which the English people have borne their
privations. Many persons believed then that the
failure of the cotton supply would not only be
the ruin of Lancashire, but the destruction of almost
every other branch of trade. Now, after two or
three years of this failure, instead of the country
being less prosperous than formerly, this, in some
respects, had been the most fortunate year that Eng-
land had ever known as a country. (Cheers.) There
wn.s great distress in Lancashire, no doubt, but in
almost every other part there had been considerable
prosperity, and yet at this time two of the greatest
orators—two of the greatest statesmen—took upon
themselves the trouble of informing the working-
classes that they were the most miserable, as a class,
of any in a similar position in any other nation in
Europe. There was one thing in which he should
like to see English workmen improve, and that was
in welting the most of their wages, toiearn to make
their money go as tar as they could. In this they
might perhaps learn a lesson from their continental
brothers. But to say that the English workmen was
inferior to the continental one was opposed to his
conviction, and must be so also to any one who had
examined the question. The same persons asserted
that an easy remedy might be found in altering the
tenure of land. That was a subject that might meet
with some objections ? Was it the desire of the
working man to possess land. England stood in a
peculiar position ; it was the most thickly populated
country in the world. The consequence was, that
being full, it caused a competition for land. The
alteration of laws would not reduce comopt;t;neelmt
would serve to increase it. The possessor of land
could scarcely realise more than 3 per cent. on land,
and was it likely that the man who only possessed
perhaps £2GO or £3OO would be content with 3 per
cent. when by investing it in cottages he could rea-
lise 6or 7 per cent. ? Some considered that if the
law of transmission was swept away competition
would be reduced ; but in fact this was not the point.
The most important question was that the French
law should be introduced into England. Then trans-
mission of land to their children would be dispensed
with, for it would be the duty of the Government
fairly to divide the land among the chil-
dren. The first effect of this system would be that
a number of persons now very miserable would be
very much improved in their circumstances. But
how long would that last? In England within the
last ten years the population had increased 4,500,000,
of which 2,000,000 had gone to the colonies. He
had not the census of France, to compare its increase
with England. A Frenchman, writing about the
condition of the French peasantry, gives us an in-
stance of the miserable condition of their own peo-
ple in comparison to the inhabitants of this country.
The greatest desire of the Frenchman was the pos•
session of land. What was the result ? He com-
plains that the conscription, which as they know
prevailed over all classes of the people, had en-
feebled the people, that the stature was declining.
He had read an account a short time ago upon hos-
pital management in England and France. The
article was written by a French physician at Paris,
and he asked how it was that English surgeons
could perform operations in English hospitals which
Frenchmen dared not attempt. Their hospita's
were as good, as cleanly, as well ventilated as those
in England. In the Crimea England lost 25 per
cent. ; France 70 per cent. If the people in Eng.-
were the miserable class persons would have us be-
lieve, how was it that the people of this country
could bear this last trial of man's strength ?—that
English people have so much more strength than
tee French, although they possess land, while the
English do not ? lie now came round to the Prison
Ministers Bill. At present they knew that ever 3
prison in England and Wales had a chaplain, and
that chaplain was a clergyman of the Church of
England, If the prisoner himself wished it—which
:as not often the case, because prisoners were not
glotiary religious set—if ho wished for the reli-
justiceetionsolation of one of his own denomination
tatakafor it, The bill was brought in to enable
ode_
nominations
in their jail a number of prisoners o
.4 nations to appoint a chaplain of tha
The number of dissenters in jail was
ohteehrulsearu4t,
pUB OU. r..
very small—(„,a
1
cognise as below
attached they did not re-
of their
attached theroseb,z _
g to their body any who had not
la members, or had not given
titPteictit_abil.ity,—while every die-
d in the list as belong-
ing,
bat 15
some token
to the Church of tnti4
reputable fellow was
end. They found there
1 ses Roman Catholics.
was a large number of pelsoe
The Irish form a very art, „,r .
population
e °Portion of the cri-
-17. Theyaft othrmey 3eepereer
cent. of the entire
urinal population of this count
per cent. of
the criminal that the Irish
population. It was not
were more subject to crime naturauy,, .
surrounded with to them stronger tern_ .
fall more easily, Their poverty made them y. This
bill the Government was able to carry thvon b
gI
although there was some strong opposition, aim —one
other bills to evhich his votes had been objecteZ
were that of Mr. Bornes' and the Oaths Lill.
Formerly they kucw that every WWI who refused
to take an oath in a court of juetico wese liable to
imprisonment. The Quakers, as a body, took a
strict interpretation of the words, " Thou shalt not
swear," and refused to make any other than an
affirmation in a court of justice, Tll6 Moravians
were determined to avoid taking the oath, and sub-
mitted to imprisonment rather than take the oath.
In consequence of this a bill was passed excepting
the Moravians and the Quakers. But there were a
great many other persons who conscientiously oh-
jented to take an oath, and a bill was pasted which
allowed every person who had a conscientious ob-
jeCtion to take an oath to make the effiemition.