The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-23 00:00:00

WESTMINSTER.

Yesterday evening a public meeting of the elec-
tors and non-electors of Westminster was held at
the Pimlico Literary Institution,.Winchester-street,
for the purpose of supporting Mr. J. Stuart Mill.
As this was the first public meeting which has been
held since the amalgamation of the cominittees of
Mr. Stuart Mill and the Hon. Capt. Grosvenor it
was regarded as of more than usual importance.
Mr. C. WESTERTON having been called to the
chair, briefly opened the proceedings.
Mr. JOHN NOBLE moved the first resolution,
which affirmed that it was due to the position and
reputation of the city of Westminster that it should
be represented by persons qualified to guide it on
political questions, and that Mr. Mill would be a
fitting representative. Mr. Smith, he urged, was
unfit to be their member, inasmuch as, if elected,
his opinions, whatever they might be, would be
under the control of his aristocratic Tory friends
who had brought him forward.
Mr. HESTER, on seconding the motion, consi-
dered that the return of Mr. Stuart "Mill would go
far to redeem the metropolis from the reproach
which had been cast upon it in consequence of the
members which had from time to time been returned
by the metropolitan boroughs. He believed that
Mr. Mill would prove above corruption, and that he
would never be tempted to take office in order that
he might be silenced, like many eminent Radicals,
whose speeches were in former years of the highest
character, but who, since they had taken office, had
been struck dumb. (Hear.)
Dr. BREWER gave a general view of Mr. Stuart
Mill's political and theological principles, the adop-
tion of which he maintained would be for thebenefit
of mankind. It had been said that Mr. Stuart Mill
was a mere thinker, but from personal knowledge of
him he could assure the meeting that Mr. Mill was
a most eloquent:speaker. (A Voice—"He will not
give us a specimen.") He would very shortly ap-
pear among the electors. (Cheers.)
Sir J. TRELAWNY, M.P., who was announced as
a personal friend of Mr. Stuart Mill, next spoke. To
say that he was an Atheist was an unfair and disin-
genuous charge, and those who made it were moral
assassins, who would stab a fellow-man in the dark.
(Hear, hear.) He had been an ardent student of Mr.
Mill's works, and he would undertake to say that
there was not a passage in the whole of them which
would warrant such a charge. He believed that the
working classes had no better friend than Mr. Mill,
who would strive to bring them into closer relation
with the higher classes than they had hitherto been
L able to obtain.

Mr. J. BEAL thought that when Dean Stanley,
the Bishop of St. David's, Mr. Gladstone, dignitaries
of the. Church, Edward Miall, a leading Noncon-
formist, and others supported Mr. Mill, the charge
which had been Ynad© against hire was acattged. to

the winds. Upwards of £l,OOO had been already
subscribed to secure the election of Mr. Mill. The
contest on the part of Mr. Mill would be condieted
upon the purest principles, and doubtless he would
win. (Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN then proposed to put the resolu-
tion to the meeting, a suggestion which caused con-
siderable interruption. At length,
Dr. LOVE ascended the platform for the purpose of
moving an amendment :—" That Mr. Mill is not a
fit and proper person to represent Westminster."
A terrific uproar ensued, which lasted half an
hour. At length the resolution in favour of Mr.
Mill was declared carried.