The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-02 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JUNE 2, 1865.

upon our friends, not discouraged, and, I must say,
putting a good face upon the matter, went back to
the work and raised the 400 to 800. (Cheers.) I
speak in round numbers. (Hear, hear.) Well, con-
sidering that after all Mr. Raikes has a party in
Chester, and considering that the number that can
be polled in Chester is, as I am told, not more than
1,900, the presentation of a requisition with 800 names
did appear to show—at any rate, to show presump-
tively—that the man who received it was the choice of the
majority of this city. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) But even
then, gentlemen, we did not hurry to a conclusion ; but we
said to Mr. Fenton—Produce a superior or equal manifes-
tation of strength, and we will retire from the field. (Hear,
hear, and cheers.) Nay, more, we say so now. I make
the promise again. (A voice—" He can't do it ;" which the
chairman reported to the right hen. gentleman to be " He
can do it.") By all means let him do it. (Hear.) We
made that proposition, and what was Mr. Fenton's answer?
He looked with a critical eye at the requisition and he said
—" Here are 100 men that I knock off upon one plea or
another. Three have signed thrice ; 15 having signed
twice ; 15 more, or 40 more, are not qualified to vote, and
some more invited your son to come out, but did not pro-
mise to support him." In that way about 100 names were
made up. (A Voice—" Four hundred.") Now, wait a mo-
ment, my friend ; don't be in a hurry. My good friend, if
you will just take one thing at a time we shall sooner get
to the end. As regards those hundred names, I trust to
the supporters of my son—(renewed interruption, during
which Mr. R. Sherlock, as on several previous occasions,
exclaimed, " Order, order ; chair, chair !")—I trust to the
supporters of my son and the framers of the requisition to
deal with those particular criticisms ; but for the present,
for the sake of argument, I will suppose that they are good
and I will suppose that 100 were knocked off : but then, as
my friend opposite has reminded me—and I had not for-
gotten it—Mr. Fenton took broader grounds and said—
" Good heaven ! worse than all, here are 294 Conservatives"
—(cheers and laughter)—all of whom this ruthless man
proposed to disfranchise at a stroke. Now, that was a ter-
rible proceeding, and what was the ground of it? The ground
was that they had voted for Mr. Humberstone at the last
election. Now, gentlemen, you know thehistory of Chester
better than I do ; but I am told not 294 simply, but that the
number of 500 or 600 voted for Mr. Humberstone. (A
Voice—" 600 or 'NO.") And therefore I confess lam not
prepared to disfranchise 294 gentlemen. (Hear, hear.) I
do not approve the conduct of the party which calls itself
Conservative. (Hear, and cheers.) Ido not think it is a
Conservative party. (Hear.) Ido not think its measures
tend to the real preservation of the interests of the country
—(hear, and cheers)—but for a great many of the gentle-
men in that party I have a great respect, and I must say
that upon their votes I am by no means prepared to say
that I do not set some value. Suppose that to be true, then,
and suppose Mr. Fenton could bring down the names on
the requisition from 800 to 400, did not he see that that
made it not the less necessary that he should accept the
test? (Hear, and cheers.) His business was to say, "I
decline your•men in buckram, but your real men I'll tackle,
and I will show you a list on my side better than yours."
(Cheers,) But Mr. Fenton has done so such thing. (A
Voice.—" Not yet.") We cannot wait for ever. (Cheers.)
Mr. Fenton did not say he wanted a reasonable time to do
it in ; he said he would not do it at all, and therefore it is
not a question of "Not yet, my friend." (Laughter and
applause.) Mr. Fenton declines to do it at all. Mr. Fenton,
the man of business, the chairman of the Great Western
Railway, really becomes poetical and mystical, and he talks
about anonymous and unknown personages, about agents,
and Heavens knows what, a,nd the supporters he has got,
but he does not produce them in black and white. (Loud
cheers and laughter.) Now, gentlemen, I hold that this
demand of ours was a reasonable demand, and that we
have thrown by that challenge upon Mr. Fenton the re-
sponsibility of the division that exists at Chester. (Loud
cheers, and a few cries of No, no.) Well, gentlemen, that
is the part in these election proceedings for which I am
especially responsible. If this contest proceeds, if it goes on
to its natural consummation, there will be a good deal ban-
died backward and forward.about who was the cause of this
mischief ; and as my conscience is clear, I wished to lay the
case before you, that we have not moved except upon a re-
quisition signed by 800 men, from a constituency in which
not more than 1,900 can be polled. (Cheers.) Now, gen-
tlemen,lhave been brought into this contest rather more—
(At this point the hon. gentleman was interrupted by the
noisy demonstrations of a few persons who had before
shown a disposition to disturb the proceedings.) My sin-
cere desire is (said the Chancellor of the Exchequer) that
you should hear; but that must depend on yourselves.
The CHAIRMAN (rising with great indignation)—Cla-
mour, and insult your own understandings ! (Hisses and
groans, which were received with increased vehemence.)
, When the Chairman again exclaimed, " Clamour, and in-
sult your own understandings ;" adding, "the Chancellor is
a better talker than any of you."
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER having patiently
waited till there was a lull proceeded—Well, now, gentle-
men, I am going to make you a fair offer. The mayor is
so kind as to give me a good character, hut at the same time
it rests with you entirely to determine by your own wishes
and nothing else whether I am to address you on any
matter connected with this election. (Loud cheers, mingled
with cries of disapprobation from a few malcontents.) All
I would venture to suggest is, and I think it is a fair ap-
peal, that if it bo the desire of the great majority of the
meeting that I should say something upon the state of this
election, the minority, and the small minority, of the meet-
ing should pay some attention to the wishes of the majo-
rity. (Loud cheers.) Now, gentlemen, I have taken some
interest in this contest, and I have been endeavouring to
improve my mind by a reference to the political literature
of Chester, in which I have found some interest from my-
self forming the subject of a considerable portion of it.
(Laughter.) I refer particularly to speeches that have
been made by and in the presence of the gentleman
called the Tory candidate—l mean Mr. Raikes. (Slight
interruption.) Now, I must express my regret that the
discussions at that gentleman's meetings have not been
confined to political matters, but that matters affecting
personal character, and even matters which might be
designated as foul calumny (loud cheers) have been in-
troduced either by the error of the reporters or by the
error of the speakers. I shall not allude, gentlemen, to
subjects of that class. I shall deal with them not here,
but elsewhere. (Cheers.) But I hope, and I give it as my
best advice and injunction to my son, and I trust I may
address it as an earnest entreaty to his friends, that on their
parts in this contest everything of this kind shall be sedu-
lously avoided. (Cheers.) I pass on from that to the
question of politics of large and general interest, and these
are matters of fair remark. (Hear.) I have read Mr. Raikes's
speech. I think he seems to be a young gentleman of con-
siderable readiness, and he has got cut-and-dried opinions
upon all the questions of the day. (A laugh.) Not only so,
but he has contrived to form judgments upon all the men,
old enough to be his father or grandfather, who have been
spending, 30, 40, 50, or 60 years in the service of their
country. (Laughter.) Now, Mr. Raikes is reported to have
said that for the last six years there has been no Govern-
ment in this country. Well, there has been no Government
of the kind Mr. Raikes wishes to have. (Loud cheers and
laughter.) There has been no Government such as there
was 50 years ago, when the Corn-laws and Six Acts were
passed. (Cheers.) There has been no Government of any
description, Mr. Raikes says; but I submit to you that there
has been a Government of some kind or another. Who are
the men forming the Government of the country? Lord
Palmerston and Lord Russell. (A Voice—" You are the
pillar," and loud cheers.) Lord Palmerston is a man who
has established what I may justly call a world-wide repu-
tation. (Cheers.) Almost wherever the name of England is
known his name is known along with it, and I must add that
he is a man whose services, whose experience, whose esti-
mable and popular qualities have given him a high place in
the favour and affections of his countrymen. (Cheers.) And
yet, forsooth, there has been no Government daring the
last six years! (Renewed applause.) And what is Lord
Russell ? Who will write the history of this country for this
generation without giving in that history to Lord Russell
ono of the proudest places? (Cheers.) It is the practice,
gentlemen, and the just practice, to decorate the breasts
of our soldiery with medals and with clasps for the
gallant actions in which they may have fought ; and if
it were the practice likewise to decorate the breasts of
statesmen with medals and clasps for the good laws they
have passed and for the benefits they have conferred upon
the country, why the breast of Lord John Russell would be
nothing but one mass of clasps and medals. (Loud cheers.)
And yet, forsooth, there has been no Government in the
country during the last six years ! (Renewed applause.)
But I did pick out in a part of that same speech that some-
thing was passed—l scarcely know what to call it—l be-
lieve it is known as the Commercial Treaty with France.
(Laughter and applause.) It seems there was a treaty of
that kind made about the year 1860, though there was no
Government in this country, and, says Mr. Raikes, that
treaty has very much disappointed the expectations of its
friends and the expectations of its enemies. Now, it is said
to be a good rule in this wicked world in which we live
just to believe one-half of what you hear. (Laughter.)
Therefore, I believe one-half of what I hear from Mr. Raikes
in this matter ; I believe the French commercial treaty has
disappointed the expectations of its enemies. (Laughter
and applause.) But with regard to the expectations of its
friends, I want to know where in the world Mr. Raikes got
his information about the French treaty. I venture to say
there is not one of its friends along with him. He must
come eavesdropping at some of your meetings in order to
know what the friends of the treaty have wanted. (A laugh.)
Now, I will not presume to say what the expectations of
the friends of the 'treaty have been, but I might say that
not only no lawyer, but no dreamer ever invented a state-
ment more exaggerated or more absurd than the statement
that their expectations were disappointed in regard to that
treaty. (Loud cheers.) What has that treaty done ? It
has added to the value of trade between England and France
23 millions of money (cheers), and besides adding so much
to the value of the trade with France, inasmuch as the
legislation of that treaty was not confined to France, it has
added, I believe I might say, more than as much, but I will
venture to say at least as much more to our trade with
other countries of the world (cheers), and if we are able to
say that 40 or 50 millions of money in the shape of benefi-
cial exchange have been added to the transactions of this
country by the conclusion of that great instrument, is that