The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-10 00:00:00

T_HE SETIV, LOIN

yes, I know it is—that provided a tribunal to deter-
mine the claims that might be brought against the
company, and also provided the means of re-estab-
lishing that company. What was done with that bill?
Regularly it was read in that house, and then, as all
such bills are, delegated to a select committee, chosen
by a committee appointed for the purpose of choos-
ing. They heard the evidence ; these people (with
a gesture towards his opponents) came against them
—against the bill; everyman was heard; the greatest
impartiality was shown to everybody ; the commit-
tee passed that bill unanimously. (Hear, hear.) It
went back to the house ; and now comes the one
great misdeed of mine—l did not oppose the third
reading of that bill. Certainly not, and for this
reason, that a bill like that sent to a committee is
invariably passed by the house unless some glaring
defect of justice has been manifested by the commit-
tee, and I should have made myself a fool if I had
followed the advice of some very wise gentlemen—
(cheers and laughter)—and opposed the bill. (Re-
newed cheers.) But there the matter did not end.
That bill went to the House of Lords, perfect power
of opposition was given ; that bill was unanimously
carried by the committee of the House of Lords, and
by the House of Lords themselves. Now, what
have I done wrong in the matter? (" A good deal,"
" Nothing," " Twenty-five per cent," and other
cries.) What could I have done? Some may say
the Town Council might have been the water sup-
pliers. The corporation went before the committee,
and the committee decided that the company was
the better of the two, and nobody ought to be more
grateful to me than the Council themselves. (Hear,
hear, and laughter.) They had no money ; they must
borrow money; borrowing money, they must pay in-
terest; paying interest, they must put on a rate; put-
ting on rates, they would have become unpopular.
(Cheers.) Now the unpopularity is on the head of
the Water Company; therefore, I say the Council
owe me a debt of gratitude rather than otherwise.
(Cheers.) Now I have done with the local ques-
tion, and I will answer any question on it that any
gentleman wishes to put to me. (Cheers.) Now I
am come to the great count in the indictment against
me—l opposed the Permissive Bill. (Cheers.) I did
oppose it, and if you return me to-morrow I will
oppose it again. (Renewed cheering.) Now my rea-
son for opposing it was this—first, that bill attempted
to deal with a matter that does not belong to legis-
lation. (No, no, and Question.) I am talking to the
question—rather too much I fancy. (Laughter.)
Again, it was an unequal bill. The rich man can
have his cellar stored with wine. He can get it a
hundred miles off. [A Voice—" Give him water."]
I can't drink water. (Loud laughter and cheering.)
I say it was an unequal bill. But, more than all, it
was a bill calculated to sow dissension and disquiet
and misery throughout the land. (Cheers.) It was a
bill asking the House of Commons to shirk respon-
sibility. If the law were good the house ought to have
passed it. They ought not to have said to every
parish, " Choose for yourself." What would have
been the consequence ? In every parish there would
have been a fight between these teetotal gentlemen
and the rest of the parish. They might have been
defeated ; they would have been. [Mr. Clegg—
" Sometimes."] Always. [Mr. Clegg—" Some-
times."] You cannot try it. (Cheers.) I say it
would have sown turmoil broadcast throughout the
country. One body of men would have been against
the other, and we should have had trouble enough
—more than the troubles that are cast upon you
from the elections to municipal offices and to Par-
liament. There would have been a constant fight
going on in. every part of England ; kindness and
goodwill would have been put an end to. (Cheers.)
That is the reason I opposed that bill, and not be-
.cause I have not the same horror of drunkenness
that the greatest teetotaller has. (" Hear, hear,"
" Oh, oh," from one of the Permissive Bill party.)
That teetotaller is a man of this sort—l will give
you a description of him. He believes himself to
be so good that he is almost a sacred character
(laughter and one hiss)—andto oppose anything he
says is a high offence. (Cheers) I have been brought
up in a different school. I have learnt to bear with
my opponents, and do not cover them with every
abusive epithet the English language contains, and
I don't do it behind their backs. (Loud cheers.)
There are cowards who stab in the dark. (Cheers.)
Yes, the pen is as dangerous a weapon as the dagger,
only with this difference--that the dagger is used
only by those who havethe courage to risk their own
lives, and as Mr. Canning said of a libeller, "If he
had the courage he would be an assassin." (Loud
cheers and laughter, and a, voice, "That's a hot'un,
Clegg.") I venture to say this : Turn me out, get
in whom you will, the Permissive Bill will never
pass. (Cheers, and no no.) There may be turbulent,
talkative people. [lnterruption from teetotalers. Mr.
Roebuck, turning to Mryillarrop, who was conspi-
cuous among them, said, " I wish you would be
quiet," and several voices in the crowd shouted,
64 Turn him out."] Now, I have done with the Per-
missive Bill, and I come to the third count of the
indictment. That is the opinions I have expressed
upon certain portions of our colonial policy. I have
said—and I believe it to be perfectly true—that
where the white man colonizes the brown man dis-
appears. (Hear, hear, and shame.) It is all very
well to cry " shame," but it is a fact. (Cheers.) I
don't make the brown man disappear, but he does
disappear. (A working man in the crowd shouted
something which we did not catch.) Now, my dear
friend, dou'tbawl. (Laughter.) Look at his history.
Those whom sentimental historians call the " Pil-
grim Fathers " went out to America about 1620
or 1630. There were some people who went before.
They went to Virginia. The moment they went
there they dispossessed the savage. They fought
him back across one river, across another ; at last
they drove him beyond the Mississippi, and then
the Rocky Mountains stood in the way. And now
you may travel through Canada and the greater
part of the United States and not see a brown
man. The same thing has occurred in Australia
—the brown men disappeared. The same thing
will happen, is hourly happening, in New Zea-
land. The same thing will happen, is hourly
happening, in Southern Africa. I said, can any one
deny it? (Yes.) A man who cares neither for his-
tory nor for truth can, but I who read history, and
believe it to be the truth, say that wherever the white
man colonises he dispossesses the brown man. You
cannot help it. -It is a decree of Providence, and
you cannot put it down. (46 Shame,'•' and cheers.)
" Shame !" Now I cannot understand the wisdom—
the sanity of " shame," and you may as well call it a
shame a man's hand is burnt when he put it into the
fire. (No.) It is an inevitable law. But if Ibe wrong
in that, is that a reason for you to turn round and say
" You who have studied these things, whose wholelife
has been passed in the consideration of them, hav-
ing views so different from ours"—these learned
pUndits—(laughter)—say, "We will turn you out?"
(A Voice—" Very proper, too.") Ah ! but you
won't do it. (Laughter.) You won't do it. (Cheers,
and renewed laughter.) Now that is my defence.
(Interruption from the opposition party, and a
voice from the crowd, " Show your face, you wi't
straw hat on," addressed to Mr. W. L. Humphrey,
and laughter.) Mr. Roebuck continued. Never
mind, never mind, let him bark, he can't bite, he
can't bite. (Renewed laughter.) And now—(dis-
order arising from the crowd's disapproval of Mr.
Humphrey's conduct.)
The MAYOR, addressing Mr. Humphrey, said you
had better stand with your back to the audience.