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

The Chancellor of the Exchequer on Parlia-

mentary ReforM,

[A summary report of the following speech appeared in
our yesterday's impression.]
(From the Liverpool )liercury.)
Last evening a public meeting of the Chestet
electors, favourable to the election of Mr. W. H.
Gladstone, one of the representatives of the city,waE
held intheMusic-hall;Chester. The hallwas crowded
in every part, and Mr. Gladstone was most enthu-
siastically received when he entered the building.
Mr. GLADSTONE, who met with a very cordial re-
ception, spoke as follows :—Mr. Chairman, freemen,
and independent electors of the city of Chester,—l
assure you it gives me great pleasure to meet this
immense audience to-night, and to hear the very
favourable indications with which you have been
pleased to greet my rising. I may as well state
at once that I am not going this evening to de-
liver to you a very lengthy oration ; but I was
anxious to take an early opportunity of coming to
meet the electors face to face in order that they
might be satisfied of my existence, and might be able
to form a judgment as to whether I was a proper
person or not to be returned to Parliament to re-
present the Liberal party in Chester. (Loud cheers.)
I wish, indeed, I could say that I was the only
gentleman who was anxious to get your votes as the
representative of the Liberal party ; but no matt can
regret more than I do the division that seems likely
to take place in that party. I have, however, at
least this consolation—that, if division there must
be, the responsibility for it will not fall upon me.
(Cheers, and mingled cries of Yes, yes, and No, no.)
Just listen to the fact of the case. This day week
I received a requisition (Oh, oh ! and laughter),
signed by about 800 people. (Cheers.) You must
remember that I was almost unknown in Chester,
and then you will be better able to judge of the
value of the requisition. What was Ito do ? Was
I to say, " Oh, this is nothing ; go back with it ;"
or was Ito come out? (Cries of " Come out.") I
believe you will agree with me in thinking that I
;vas justified in coming out (cheers), and I made a
proposal to the other Liberal candidate that he
should endeavour to exhibit a similar manifestation
of strength if he could. (Cheers.T That proposal,
as you know by the printed letters which have ap-
peared on the walls, was declined. Well, what was
the inference from that? I suppose every reason-
able man will agree with me that the only inference
to be drawn from that refusal was that Mr. Fenton
was unable to show a similar amount of strength.
(Cheers, and some confusion.) I wish to call
your attention more particularly to one of the
reasons which Mr. Fenton gives for declining
that proposal. I will read you what he says of
the requisition in his own words :—" I myself,
in the course of my canvass, have met with several
—nay, many—who considered that in signing they
were paying the compliment to the distinguished
family of which you are a member of asking you to
state your views upon political questions. How can
I, therefore, accept your proposal, which as a test
would be altogether illusory ?" (A Voice—" Read
it all.") Now, I wish you to recollect what were
the words which stood at the head of the requisition
presented to me. They were these :—" We pledge
ourselves to
,use our best exertions to secure his
return." (Cheers, and a voice, " That's false.") I
want to know whether it is considered right for
people to sign a requisition like that and then hold
themselves at liberty to " cut and run ?" (Laugh-
ter and applause.) I have yet to learn that the
people of Chester attach no more weight to their
pledges than that, and I confidently hope that all
who signed that requisition will stick to it. (Cheers.)
Now, I wish to mention an objection that has been
currently made against me. I have been strongly
objected to being the son of my father. (Cheers and
laughter.) It has been argued that because my father
is endowed with talents which very few can boast of
—(loudcheers)—therefore it follows that I must be,
I think they said, a Lord Dundreary. (Laughter.)
Well, I wish you to judge for yourselves on that
matter. (Cheers.) Butit has been said that lam put
forward entirely on the merits of my father. Well,
gentlemen, if any will give me their votes on that
ground I certainly will not decline them. (Cheers
and laughter, and a voice, " We would rather have
your father.") lam anxious that you should all
come here to form your own judgment on that
point. (Cheers.) Ido not want to be forced down
your throats ; I wish you to judge for yourselves
and select the man you like. (Cheers.) There is
another objection which has been made against me
—namely, that my father has supported the Dee and
Mersey Railway Bill. Well, that is no reason, I
suppose, why I should do the same. (Cheers and
laughter.) Perhaps you will be good enough to
take my promise that if you are so kind as to re-
turn me for Chester the interests of Chester shall
thenceforth become my own. (Loud cheers.) I
will certainly overthrow every private consideration
for the interests of Chester, and be exactly as if such
a place as Hawarden were not in existence. (Hear,
hear, and cheers.) Now, gentlemen, the vacant
seat which is being contested will be vacated by Mr.
Humberstone. I have no personal knowledge of
Mr.Humberstone, but from all I have heard of himl
believe he is a most excellent representative of Con-
servative politics, and I sincerely respect him.
(Hear, hear.) But I wish to put this question to
you—ls Chester to return another Conservative
candidate in the place of Mr. Humberstone ? (Loud
cries of "No, no.") I believe lam correct in say-
ing that ever since the passing of the Reform Bill
Chester returned two Liberal members until the
election of Mr. Humberstone. (Hear, hear.) I
call upon you to be true to your old traditions this
time, and not to elect Mr. Raikes. (Cheers.) Now,
Mr. Raikes has been making a speech, or rather he
has been making two speeches ; but on looking at
the second speech I thought it was principally com-
posed of fanciful allusions, poetical quotations, stories
from the "Arabian Nights," anecdotes about country
maidens, and so forth. In the first speech, however,
he touched upon political questions ; and what was
his object? lie was unable to substitute any pro-
gramme for what he wished to overthrow, but he em-
ployed himself in picking holes in the Ministerial
policy. What does he say ? He says that " for
the last six years we have had an American Admi-
nistration, indeed, but we have had no Govern-
ment." (Laughter.) Now, I think, I can answer
that by asking another question. If that be true,
why did not the,Tories walk in ? (Loud cheers.) We
all know that they were not able to do it, and if
they had done it they would very soon have had to
go out again. (Laughter and cheers.) Then Mr.
Raikes went on to say, among other things, that
the commercial treaty with France had failed to
satisfy its friends. I think this statemant must
have astonished even those Conservatives who were
listening to that address. I thought every man,
woman, and child knew of the enormous increase
that had been given to trade and the immense sti-
mulus which had been given to industry by the
French treaty. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) One fact
is stated very simply. Since the French treaty our
trade with France has increased 90 per cent. (Hear.)
That is a little fact which I should recommend Mr.
Raikes to put in his pipe and smoke. ( Laughter and
applause.) But the commercial treaty has not only
done this. It has also bound us in bonds of
amity with France (Three cheers for Mr. Cobden
were here called for, and heartily given). Some
time ago there was a great panic in this country,
and everybody thought wewoetre going to be invaded.
The Volunteer force was
g
up
Volunteer force still thrives and though the
a'nd long may it
thrive (hear, hear)—yet that panic has disappeared
p
ar
and I venture to say that, although f
one
means means of preventing war between two nations, vet
there is another motive still more Powerful,
and
that is self-interest (hear, hear) ; and I think that
it is no small boast of Government that they have
been able, by establishing (motives of self-interest,
between the two countries, also to preserve
the peace of Europe. (Hear, hear). Well, the
financial policy of the Government was disparaged
in the same way. Mr. Raikes did not deny the pro-
sperity of the country, but he tried all possible
means to refer it to another cause than the true
one. He said it was owing to the energy of the
People, or to climate, or to Providence. Well,
perhaps it was ; but I think he was very like
Job Trotter, in " Pickwick," when he did not
wish to see Samuel Weller, when he looked up the