The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-22 00:00:00

STOCKPORT.

The present members, Mr. J. B. Smith and Mr.
E. W. Watkin, both Liberals, are to be opposed by
Mr. Tipping, of Brastead-park, Kent, in the Con-
servative interest. At a meeting of the Liberal
party on Monday night,

Mr. J. B. SMITH addressed them at considerable
length, protesting against the assertion that the
Liberals were going to the country without any
election cry to boast A. Let the Liberals be tested
by what they had done. The question was well
answered by a Parliamentary document, issued on
the motion of Mr. Baines, showing the relative
condition of the people in 1831 and 1861. On
Saturday a paper was issued, having been called for
by Lord A. Churchill, showing what the present
Parliament had done, and it showed that there was
a decrease in the expenditure of £3,533,000, and a
diminution of taxation, including the present
year, of £16,000,000 during the five years. Be-
sides this, £10,789,000 of the national debt had
been paid off. Was not this a good election cry? Let
the Tories show what they had done. Out of all
that had been said on the question of reform some-
thing must result. The present system could not be
for a moment advocated, and he was not sure that
the most important question was not redistribution
of seats.

Mr. WATKIN also made a long speech. He was as
much opposed as any one to entrusting a particular
class of the community with predominant power,
and was not unfavourable to " lateral" extension of
the franchise; but it was fallacious to talk of reform
without also a lowering of the suffrage, which would
likewise be its enrichment, for it would admit within
the pale a large amount of intelligence, thoughtful-
ness, and prudence. Ile would support any Ministry
which would carry out " peace, retrenchment, and
reform." There was nothing which threw a better
or a greater light upon the value and consequences
of self-government, with all its mistakes, than to see
that at the end of their vast civil war the United
States were rapidly reducing their establishments to
a peace footing. The public opinion of this country
would no doubt go with any great statesman, of
whatever party he might be, who would lay down as
one of the new mottoes of the national party, as one
of the new purposes of the next Parliament and Go-
vernment, the initiation of measures having for their
object a general agreement for disarmament between
England, France, and the United States. It was not
necessary to wait for a reformed House of Commons;;
Parliament in the next session ought certainly to
take up the question of expenditure.

A resolution in favour of the re-election of the
hon. member concluded the proceedings.

TRURO.

It is probable that a second candidate will be
brought forward on the Liberal side—a step which
must certainly endanger the cause. Much ill feel-
ing exists in the Liberal ranks, one section of the
party being dissatisfied with the treatment of Mr.
Augustus Smith, the present member, by the
supporters of the Hon. Capt. Vivian.

WARWICKSHIRE (SOUTH).
Lord Duncan's prospects are more favourable
than ever for this division.

W HITEHAVEN.

Mr. Lyall, the present member for the town of
Whitehaven, has issued a farewell address to his
constituents, announcing that he intends to retire
from the representation of Whitehaven at the next
general election. He hopes that during the eight
sessions he has been their representative he has dis-
charged his duties faithfully, and alludes to two
subjects in which he took more than usual interest
—the Poor Laws, and retrenchment in India.
Upon the first he says :
" Many of my constituents are aware how deeply I was
impressed with the injustice with which Whitehaven, as
well as many other parts of the country, had been treated
by the operation of the old law, and how constantly, both
in and out of the House of Commons, I have urged upon
the Government that change now so happily accom-
plished."
The address continues :

" The other subject to which I may refer with some satis-
faction is the part I have taken with complete success, by
motions in the Sessions of 1862, 1863, and 1864, to get rid
of an unnecessary charge of £lOO,OOO per annum on the
Imperial Exchequer for the military expenditure of Ceylon,
as 1 felt it was one of the first duties of a member of Parlia-
ment to promote duo economy in the public expenditure
wherever it could reasonably be effected."

The hon. gentleman states that he has become a
candidate for the representation of the City of Lon-
don, which his father represented for many years in
former Parliaments, and bids his constituents fare-
well. Mr. G. Cavendish Bentinck will be his suc-
cessor in the Conservative interest.