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

Reform Meeting at Leeds•

A meeting, called by the Mayor of Leeds (Mr.
Luccock), in compliance with a numerously signed
requisition, got up under the auspices of the Leeds
Working Men's Parliamentary Reform Association,

-was held in the Town-hall of that borough on Tues-
day evening last. There was a large gathering on
the occasion, fully 2,500 persons being present. The
chief speakers were Mr. E. Baines, M.P., Mr. W-
E. Forster, M.P., and Viscount Amberley, eldest
non of Earl Russell. Lord Amberley, who is about
23 years of age, and who may be said to have made
his political debut on the occasion, was the great
attraction of the evening, and there is no doubt that
many persons, both Liberals and Conservatives,
attended the meeting in order to hear his speech.
He met with a very cheering reception, and was
listened to with deep attention.
The MAYOR, in opening the proceedings, said that
after he had' received the requisition from so large
body of his fellow townsmen as had signed it, he
had no hesitation in calling the meeting. The sub-
ject they had met to consider was one of the deepest
importance to the welfare and happiness of the
country. It was a subject which had engaged the
attention, not only of the present, but of other Par-
liaments ; for they found that the Earl of Derby,
as representative of the great Conservative party,
and Lord Palmerston, as the representative of the

great Liberal party, had both expressed their opi-
nion on the great measure which the meeting had

met to consider. They had declared that there was

a large, virtuous, intelligent, and independent body

of men excluded from the franchise who ought to
have it. (Hear, hear, and applause.) They had
met that night to petition Parliament in favour of

granting to that large and important body of men
the exercise of the electoral right which had been
denied them, and unjustly denied them, for many
years. (Cheers.) But there was another subject
for them to consider. There was at the present mo-

went a large body of men intrusted with the fran-
chise who had been unfaithful to their duty—(cheers)
—some men who, from want of moral energy
or from indifference, had, in their exercise of the
franchise,been treating it with contempt; others who
would sell their franchise fora pot of beer; and others
in a higher rank of life, who systematically and de-
terminedly set themselves to work in order to tempt
men to violence, and to do that which they knew to
be contrary to the best interests of the State. (Hear.)
It was for the meeting to say what should be done
with such men—whether they should be struck out
of the electoral list altogether, or whether they
should be punished in some way in which the law
may decide. (Cheers.)
Alderman CARTER moved the first resolution,
which was as follows :

" That, in the opinion of this meeting, the present House
of Commons having been specially elected to carry a just
measure of Parliamentary Reform, and the leaders of both
political parties having admitted its necessity, her Majesty's
Ministers ought not to allow the next session of Parliament
to pass without affording another opportunity to the House
to fulfil the pledges then solemnly given to the country."
The principal object of the meeting, he said, was to
call upon the Government, solemnly and earnestly,
as Englishmen, to redeem the promises they had
made in the Queen's Speeeh, and in the speeches of
the Ministers, to give the country, before their time
of office expired, a fair, reasonable, and just mea-
sure of Parliamentary Reform. (Applause.)
Mr. E. FINNIE, a journeyman printer, seconded
the resolution.
Mr. E. BAINES rose to support, and was received
with rounds of cheers. He commenced by saying—
I rejoice very much to meet an assembly under the
presidency of the chief magistrate to promote this
great cause, and especially I rejoice to promote this
great and noble cause, and especially I rejoice to
meet an assembly which has been convened
through the instrumentality of the working men
of Leeds—(cheers)—of the Working Men's Par-
liamentary Reform Association, which has been
now for nine years existing, and which intends
still to exist, to assert the rights of their order
and to extend the liberties of the people of Eng-
land. (Loud cheers.) All the operations of that
Parliamentary Reform Association, and most espe-
cially the resolutions and petition which will be laid
before you to-night, have been characterised by the
most signal moderation and fairness. I rejoice that
I have been able as your representative to appear in
the House of Commons, and with the full assent of
my judgment and my feelings, to endeavour to carry
the measure on which you have set your hearts.
(Cheers.) I am not in the slightest degree dis-
couraged by the delay which has hitherto taken
place in the accomplishment of the measure. Con-
sidering, as I do, that every year witnesses an in-
crease in the intelligence, an improvement in the
education, and an advance in all the moral qualities
fitting them to exercise the franchise, of that vast
portion of our fellow subjects who still remain ex-
cluded from the pale of the constitution, I am, cer-
tain that every year there is gathering behind us an
increased moral force that, without any physical
. violence whatever, yet will sweep away every ob-
stacleathat shall remain in its course, and carry the
establishment of the just rights of the people.
It is the cause of justice and the cause of liberty,
and it would be utter blindness to the teachings of
history, utter blindness to the power of moral con-
sideration, utter blindness to the force of those in-
stitutions which we already have in Parliament,—.
the press, the right of discussion, and the right of
meeting, to suppose it was possible for long to deny
the just rights of those who now claim to be ad-
mitted within the pale of the constitution. (Cheers.)
It is well and universally recognized that self-go-
vernment constitutes freedom in nations ; but sell-
government cannot exist for those who have no vote
in the choice of their governors, and therefore I say,
as I have said many times before, that I recognise
that there is real freedom on the part of those classes
who are excluded from the franchise ; and, at all
events, nobody will deny that which is the universal
guarantee for the protection not only of life and
property, but for the protection of liberty and all
that is dear. That guarantee does not exist
for those who are excluded from the ex-
ercise of the franchise. I do not think that I
should be just, that I should be doing what is
right, if I were to make you a long speech this
evening, because we are favoured with the presence
here of two visitors whom I am most heartily re-
joiced to see,—first, my valued friend and yours,
the hon. member for Bradford—(cheers)—whom
for many years you have now known as the stanch
advocate of the rights of the people—(cheers)—who
visits his old friends in Leeds—kindly visits them.
I am grateful to him for it, and he will address you,
I think, with more propriety at length than I should
do this evening. But I have also most gratefully
and with the utmost pleasure to acknowledge the
presence this evening of a nobleman whose name
recalls some of my earliest and dearest recollections
connected with this great cause and with the town
of Leeds in which we stand. Lord Amberley, bear-
ing the illustrious and venerated name of Russell—
(cheers)--comes here with a hereditary claim upon
yon respect and gratitude, for there is not a name
in the history of this century so closely, so illus-
triously
which and l
b theears ;
connected with the reform of our institu-
tions extension of our liberties as the name
and we should most forgetful
and ungrateful if we did
not remember that to his
father we owed it, thatb
the Reform Act, to he proposed, ten years before
confer
the franchise upon this
borough, and which itthen did not enjoy, and that
afterwards it was the very
has immortalised Act, which
actually call us
within the paleofhilne
ts*CChabeeomut.)to com-
joice that that young I re-
wn
afi
franchise,
ieteandni edf r m
mence his public career in a to
and which I
reason to be grateful to his father, which has so much
sure, will fondly wish for him a career as bight andain
as useful as Lord Russell has enjoyed.
hear.) But although I must speak shortl ear,
account of your wish to hear our visitors ad
yAreTs
you, perhaps you may think that, as you may think
think that,! as your representative and as having
taken a somewhat prominent part elsewhere on this
question, I ought to say a few words to you upon the
subject. (Hear, and applause.) What is our great
grievance? It is that three-fourths—I don't know that
three-fourths of you—but that three-fourths of the
many millions of the inhabitants of this country are
shut out of the enjoyment of those rights and