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

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Reform Meetings. ‘‘.

NOTTINGHAM.
A meeting of the inhabitants of Nottingham to
promote the cause of Parliamentary Reform was
held in the Exchange Room, Nottingham, on Friday
evening. The Mayor occupied the chair, and there
were present, among others, Sir R. Clifton and Mr.
Paget (the borough members). The large room
was crammed to suffocation.
The Rev. J. R. LIT= proposed--" That the
present state of Parliamentary representation, ex-
cluding as it does a large majority of the people
from a share of the Government, is most unjust and
unsatisfactory."
The resolution was seconded and unanimously
carried. _

______
Mr. HEATH proposed the second resolUtion—
" That further delay in remedying this injustice,
after it has been repeatedly admitted in speeches
from the Throne and by the leaders of both parties,
would be derogatory to the character of Parliament
and destructive of public morality."
This resolution was seconded by the Rev. P. W.
CLAYDEN and carried unanimously.

Mr. PAGET and Sir P. CLIFTON both spoke strongly
in favour of the movement.

The proceedings were of a perfectly unanimous
character.

ROCHDALE.

On Thursday
evening a crowded meeting of the
inhabitants of Rochdale presided over by the Mayor
adoption( (Mr. Tat ham
of
a)
petitionw a held
from in
the Public H
non-electors
a 1 l , f
of
thefth
e
borough to the House of Commons " for the speedy
passing of such a measure of reform as will give the
rights of citizenship to the great body of the indus-
trial classes." Several aldermen and town coun-
cillors accompanied the mayor upon the platform.
The MAYOR briefly introduced the proceedings.
Mr. W. SHEPHERD, a non - elector, moved—'
" That this meeting is of opinion that it is the duty
of the present House of Commons to pass a measure
of reform which shall admit the great body of the
working classes of this country to the electoral
franchise ; and further, that the meeting views with
just indignation the conduct of Lord Pahnerston's
Government in failing to redeem the pledge it gave
upon accession to office, to use its full influence to
carry a Reform Bill."
Mr. W. COOPER seconded the resolution.
Mr. Alderman HEALEY supported the resolution..
Mr. E. ASHWORTH (a town councillor) made a
long and eloquent speech, which he began by say-
ing he was invited to this meeting by the non-
electors' committee, and he wished it to be dis-
tinctly understood that this was a non-electors'
meeting, organised and arranged for by them-
selves, and that all the speakers were in-
vited by them alone, without any intimation.
stimulus, or suggestion whatever from the electoral
body. (Cheers.) It appeared as if, by an almost
magnetic influence, the great masses of the people
were once more burning with something like that old
enthusiasm which had carried them and the middle
classes on to so many victories in the past, and was
the best earnest of triumph in this cause for the
future. He thought that working men had a peculiar
cause for disgust with the present Government and
the present Parliament. What must we think of the
man who made them a promise to obtain a certain
end, and, when he had gained that end neither
regarded them nor his promise? Would any
other assembly in the country have so trifled
with the language of the Queen ? Had the
Royal speeches been addressed elsewhere would
they not have been responded to years
ago by a large and just measure of reform ?
But it was not so. There was something waited
for. What was it ? For 32 years the people had
been petitioning for reform. But it was rightly
said by Earl Russell's eldest son—(loud cheers)—
that the delay arose from that indisposition to self-
reform which was universal in human nature. The
House of Commons would never reform itself ; it
must be reformed by the great mass of the people,
whose servant it ought to be. And he believed they
were prepared to test the matter at the next elec-
tion. (Cheers.) The history of the last Reform
Act had been calmly and cleverly written by a
f ellow -townsman—(cheers) —and surely some respect
might be claimed for the words of a clergyman, the
son of the vicar of Rochdale--(cheers)—when,
speaking in Conservative circles of that great mea-
sure, he said that in some places it positively im-
paired the direct influence of the working classes
by restricting the suffrage where it had been
nearly universal. That was a strong argument
for supplementing the Reform Act now by
not merely extending, but restoring the franchise of
the working classes. He (Mr. Ashworth) repudi-
ated the language of those who had the audacity to
say the people had earned or merited by their con-
duct that franchise which was their birthright.
What had been the conduct of the electoral body
itself during the crisis of distress which had tested
the magnanimity and the loyalty of the unenfran-
chised operatives ? Had all the possessors of votes
kept clean hands and resisted temptation, though it
was not backed by a dying wife and famishing
children ? Had not scores and hundreds of the
electoral body despised her Majesty's proclamation,
violated the laws—(cheers)—and for the sake of the
pelf they might gain and fatten upon, sought to
weld faster and firmer the bonds of slaves in
another land ? (Great cheering.) It had been
said that the working classes, in the day of
their prosperity, waxed fat and kicked—that
they were insolent in their demands ; and
if they were the only classes who were ever
insolent in prosperity, he should certainly be
inclined to disfranchise every insolent working man.
(Laughter and cheers.) But that was no argument
for the disfranchisement of the men who were not
insolent. (Cheers.) He retorted upon those who
excluded them this accusation of insolence, and he
concluded by pointing to America in her strife as a
vindication of the greatness of democracy. That
strife was not the result of democracy, but of its
union with an aristocratic element, which could not
fail to produce trouble. It was as certain as Divine
truth itself that democracy would never pass away,
would never fail—(cheers)—and if it made mistakes,
those belonged to no class or section of the people,
they were unhappily the common heritage of man-
kind. (Great cheering.)
The resolution was also supported by Mr. G. T.
KEMP, and was carried unanimously.
The adoption of the petition was spoken
Mr. J. Petre, jun.; Mr. T. Cheethaw, gr. L.
Hartley, and Mr. Councillor Robinson. upon by