The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-11 00:00:00

Mr. Bright, M.P., at Rochdale.

ROCHDALE, April 10.
About nine o'clock this evening Mr. Bright rose
to address a crowded meeting of the Liberals of
Rochdale, which had assembled for the purpose of
choosing a candidate for the representation of that
borough in Parliament, as successor to their late
highly-esteemed and much-lamented representative,
Mr. Cobden.
A resolution approving Mr. T. B. Potter, of
Manchester, as the Liberal candidate, having been
Proposed by Mr. G. L. ASHWORTH, seconded by Mr.
Alderman HEAP,
Mr. BRIGHT supported the nomination in a speech
of considerable length, in the course of which he
said—The Rochdale Reform Association sent a de-
putation to London to ask me if it were possible
that I could give up the position which I now hold
as the representative for the borough of Birming-
ham to stand as a candidate for the representation
of my native town. (Hear.) I felt that to be a
very kind proposition on their part, but I felt also
what I think they felt, and you will feel—that,
looking back to the circumstances under which my
connection with Birmingham commenced, it would
not be consistent with an honourable return for the
confidence then reposed in me that I should leave
the position in which I was then placed to accept
that of the representative of any other constituency
in the empire. (Cheers.) Mr. Ashworth, who
moved the resolution, has referred to the high cha-
racter of the late Sir Thomas Potter. I know one
man who bids fair to approach him, and that is the
son, who is proposed to you to-night. • (Applause.)
I have known Mr. Potter, I think, from about the
time when he left school, and I believe that from
that time to this he has held the opinions that
were held by his father before him, and which
I venture to say will at some not dis-
tant future time be held by every educated
man in this kingdom. (Cheers.) We come to this
contest upon a fair field, and with a fair issue before
Us. We have two candidates offered to us, we have
two faiths tendered, we have two systems of legisla-
tion and government offered to us, and we must make
our selection. Some people say there is no difference
now between Whig and Tory. Well, I don't quite
believe that, though there are some whigs very like
some tories—(laughter)—but in the two candidates
that are now offered to you there is a wide and essen-
tial difference—(applause)—and a man must be
most ignorant and most stupid if he cannot perceive
it. (Laughter.) What is it that makes this country
a better country to live in now than it was when all
the grown up men here were children ? Why is it
that you have not had for years past the discontent
that was almost universal 40 years ago ? Why is it
that you have among all classes of the community a
better and a kinder feeling than existed in the days
of our fathers ? I hold it to be for this reason—that
during the last 20 years there have been made great
changes in many branches of our legislation and ad-
ministration, and that the bulk of the people—for
whom governments too often care but little—find
themselves better treated than they were in past
times. I believe that the changes in our legislation
during the last 30 years have saved the country from
anarchy, and its people from all the dreadful conse-
quences which attend political convulsion. (Hear.)
The candidate opposed to us, Mr. Brett, comes be-
fore you in his own address as a distinct and firm ad-
herent of Lord Derby, and therefore an acceptor of
Lord Derby's policy. (Applause.) I tell you that
Lord Derby's policy has been a policy, first of all,
that two millions should be placed on short rations
of food; that all that odious, imbecile, and wicked
system of protection should be maintained—(cheers)
—and his policy was to keep France and England for
ever apart by destroying the efficiency of that glorious
treaty of Mr. Cobden—(cheers)—and his policy was
to keep the millions ignorant, because he refused to
allow the admirable penny newspaper to enter the
homes of the people and to instruct them daily
(loud applause) ; but these men are all in 'favour of
the good that has been done. (Laughter.) When
we have given years of our lives (enthusiastic cheer-
ing), when you have encouraged from youth to
manhood the spread of just principles and the esta-
blishment of wise laws, and have done all this•in the
teeth of the combined opposition of all the Mr. Bretts
in England, then the Mr. Bretts come forward and
say that the repeal of the corn laws was a good
thing (laughter), that the French Treaty was a
valuable measure, and the freedom of the press was
a great blessing, but they still stand with Lord Derby
(laughter), and if you will ask them about any one
single question not of the past but of the future—

of the next 20 years ! you will have to fight as great
a fight for every future good against the Mr. Bretts
(laughter) as you have fought against their class and
order of mind for the last 20 years. (Cheers.) I
bought a Tory paper for a penny (laughter and
cheers) this morning, and I was reading a speech
said to have been delivered by Mr. Brett, and I
thought I would see what sort of a notion he had
about Parliamentary Reform. He is very compli-
mentary to the working classes who have no votes
(laughter), he is even so complimentary as to say
that he thinks they have as much honesty and in-
telligence as the classes above them—that is, above
them in the possession of property ; but he is very
much afraid of one quality the working classes have
—it disturbs him hugely—and that is, there are so
many of them. (Loud and prolonged laughter.)
Well, generally it is considered an advantage to a
country that it should be populous. lam afraid, if

there be a great many that are comparatively poor
in this country, there would have been more if Mr.
Brett's politics had been carried out ; but if the work-

.
ing classes, the unenfranchised, have equal honesty
and intelligence with the other classes, I want to
know how anybody can feel alarm at the addition
of the qualities of honesty and intelligence to our
elective body. (Cheers.) Mr. Brett's theory is, that
the unenfranchised classes., are so many that they
would submerge and swamp what he calls the classes
above them. I don't believe it is possible for honesty
and intelligence in any quantity, however large, to
swamp honesty and intelligence in a smaller body.
(Cheers.) I will undertake to say—and I hope that
time may come when my prediction may be proved
to be true or otherwise—that when the honesty and
intelligence of the working classes are added to the
honesty And intelligence of the other classes we shall
have represented in the Parliament of this kingdom
an infinitely greater quantity of honesty and intelli-
gence than we have at present. Remember the
Parliamentary history of this borough. Since 1841
no Liberal candidate in Rochdale has canvassed per-
sonally any voter or paid any portion of his election
expenses, and there is not a borough in England
whose annals are more creditable, and every way
more honourable, than the annals of the Liberal
Portion of the constituency of Rochdale—(loud
cheers) ; and, hereafter, when our voices are hushed
When I can no longer speak, and can no longer
listen—there will be
who, speaking of generations of your townsmen
your late representative, Mr.
Cobden, will stimulate our posterity to patriotic
deeds, and will tell you that he, the ablest and in
services the greatest of his countrymen, once repre-
sented this town. (Great cheering.) If those who
come after us can say this, may' not say it to-night ?
(Cheers.) I cannot trust myself to speak of him
as I could wish. As I have said elsewhere, I must
leave that to some calmer time, when my nerves
have recovered somewhat from the shock that they
have sustained during the past week ; but
this I
will say, that I should feel wherever I went--were it
in England or any other part of the world—ashamed
to acknowledge that I was one of this consti-
tuency if it should now turn its back upon itself,
upon its own principles, its own interests—all that
it has held sacred and all that the friends of humanity
admire and regard and look forward to, and should

return a man whose politics would reverse the very
dial on the face of time and would turn your back

from the progress and the good which we have seen

of late years spring around us, to an age almost of
political barbarism, and, throughout the country, of
ahnost universal discontent. (Loud cheers.) I ask

you to adhere to the :grand policy of the past.
Do not ask Mr. Potter to go from house to house

with half a dozen influential men to beg and entreat
yolu. votes. Don't ask him to defray the expense

of a contest. Let us keep ourselves pure among
ourselves, and pure before the eyes of the country
and the world ; and let us who ask for •Parha-

mentary reform
,
who want to add to our present

" honesty and intelligence"—(laughter)—that vast
amount of honesty and intelligence which is now ex-
cluded from the franchise, conduct our elections
as we have conducted them for five and twenty
years. (Loud cheers.) The time is critical, the ques-
tion of reform is not in the distant, but in the near
future ; there is nothing but the tenure of office of
the present Prime Minister that blocks the way.
When the change comes that some day must come,
there is nothing in the shape of a Liberal Ministry
that can survive a month without a determination
to undertake this question of admitting a large num-
ber of our countrymen to the franchise. Let me beg
of you, then, electors, to perform your duty. Lord
Palmerston, Lord Russell, and many others who
are opponents to the ballot, say that it is necessary
that those who have no votes should be able to see
how those vote who have votes. (Laughter.) If
that be so, if there be any feeble brethren—
(laughter)—among electors who are hesitating now
between the evil policy of Mr. Brett—a policy
which is receding every day into the dark ages—and
the wise policy of Mr. Potter, let the non-electors
help those feeble brethren. (Laughter and cheers.)
Let us by the memory of the past and by our hopes
of the future feel that it is a great trust which is re-
posed in us to make a part of the Imperial Parlia-
ment, and to assist in legislation which shall affect
the fortunes of millions and millions of men in every
part of the world. (Cheers.) The hon. member
sat down amid prolonged cheering.
The resolution was then put and carried with en-
thusiastic unanimity, not a single hand being held
up in opposition to it.

Mr. Potter addressed the electors later in the
evening.

The Confederate Cruiser Shenandoah.

By the arrival of the Madras we have received
intelligence from Melbourne to the 23d of February.
The principal item of intelligence is an account of
the proceedings the Government of Victoria has
been compelled to take with regard to the Confede-
rate war steamer Shenandoah, which put into Hob-
son's Bay on January 25. It has been reported that
the vessel had actually been seized by the authori-
ties, but this is an exaggeration of the facts. In
consequence of information Communicated to the
Government it felt justified in placing a strict guard
of police at the slip on which the vessel was under-
going repair, to prevent any breach of neutrality by
the enlistment of British subjects. But the Go-
vernment did not intend to detain the ship, and as
soon as her repairs were completed she would pro-
ceed to sea. We give the details from the Australian
News of February 23 :

"The arrival of the Shenandoah on January 25
created much excitement in Melbourne, as it was
reported she was commanded by Capt. Semmes, of
the Alabama. This, however, is not the case ; the
name of her commander is Waddell. On receiving
his application for permission to remain in the har-
bour long enough to make some necessary repairs,
a Cabinet Council was held, at which it was decided
that the Shenandoah should be allowed to remain

till put in working order. She is a clipper-built
screw steamer of 700 tons, exclusive of the space
occupied by the engines, and of about 250 horse
power. She was built on the Clyde, which has
become famous for turning out blockade runners.
A wooden ship with iron frame, and iron masts and
yards, she was no doubt built for the work in which
she is now engaged, and for which she is admirably
adapted. Seen from the pier, the Shenandoah pre-
sents only the appearance of a smart, trimly set
boat—evidently a swift sailer ; bitt there is nothing
rakish about the craft, nor anything that would
rouse suspicion as to the pacific nature of her in-
tentions were she to steam unheralded among the
shipping of any port. The disguise could hardly
have been more complete or effectual. As the vessel
consumes her own smoke, it is not discoverable at a
distance that she lins steam power ; and she might
easily be taken for a merchantman, as indeed she has
been by many a captured Federal ship. Among her
crew may be found representatives of almost every
European nation. The forecastle is a Babel of lan-
guages, no less than 14 tongues being spoken on
board. The officers, of course, are all Americans
of the South. The steamer had been placed on a
slip for repairs, which were proceeding rapidly, when,
on the 13th of February, the police magistrate at
Williamstown issued a warrant for the arrest of a
British subject, named Charley, charged with having
enlisted on board the Shenandoah. The officers of
the ship refused to allow the warrant to be executed.
In consequence of this refusal the Government
ordered all British subjects employed in the repairs
of the ship to cease working, and a guard o f
30 policemen was placed on the'slip to see that the
Governor's order was obeyed. Their instructions
were not to interfere with or in any way coerce the
officers or men properly belonging to the vessel, but
to maintain among British subjects the strict neu-
trality of the port, and to prevent the slip beingused
during the suspension of the facilities previously
granted. What further action may be resorted to
will, of course, depend to a great extent upon the
course Captain Waddell may choose to adopt. The
steps taken by the Government thus far have been
in strict accordance with international law. It is
entirely a matter of grace on the part of a neutral
Power to allow a vessel belonging to a belligerent
Power to enter a"port for repairs, or to take in
stores. This international privilege is conceded on
the one hand, and accepted on the other, on the dis-
tinct understanding that all the conditions of strict
neutrality will be honourably observed on the part
of the belligerent, and that, if anything is done by
him which is either a violation of international or
municipal law, the privilege that had been granted
may be suspended or absolutely withdrawn."

Rumours were current in Melbourne of a formal
seizure of the ship, and a collision between the police
and the crew. But nothing of the kind had occurred,
and the repairs were proceeding activelybut quietly
up to the day the Madras sailed. The Shenandoah
had obtained a supply of provisions, and as soon as
she had taken her coal on board would proceed to
sea. The police had arrested four British subjects,
charged with enlisting on board the steamer, but
the inquiry into their case had not commenced.
In a sitting of the Assembly, Mr. M'Culloch, the
Chief Secretary, explained that the guard had been
placed over the Shenandoah in consequence of Capt.
Waddell having denied that any men had joined
his ship since her arrival, and refused to give up
the men named in the warrants as British subjects
who had unlawfully enlisted. He added :--
" I am sure it will be admitted that the Govern-
ment had taken the proper course to carry out and
support the intention of the British Parliament in
respect to the Foreign Enlistment Act, and the in-
tention of the proclamation of her Majesty with re-
spect to the observance of neutrality. There is no
doubt that this man Charley, for whom the warrant
was obtained, and of whom we were assured that
he was not on board, was in the uniform of the ship .
_on various occasions at all events. Now, it ap-
pears to me and to the Government that if anything
can be a violation of strict neutrality this is it. My
hon. colleague the Minister of Justice reminds me
that we have not yet proved that this man Charley
wore the uniform of the ship, but we have the state-
ment of various persons that such was the case, and
I have no doubt but further information will be re-
ceived on the point. In the meantime the Govern-
ment have obtained what they really desired to ob-
tain in the first instance—that all the persons who
joined the ship illegally should be removed from the
vessel. That having been done, we have removed
the suspension of leave to her Majesty's sub-
jects to carry out repairs, and to assist the vessel off
the slip. Captain Waddell will, of course, be
ordered to remove from this port at the very earliest
possible date."

The ship Rinaldo, belonging to Messrs. Liston,
Young, and Co., is stated to have arrived at Calcutta from
London, per telegram, received yesterday morning of date
the 6th inst.

THE NEW ITALIAN LOAN.--The Italia of the sth
says :—" The loan appears to have been finally
conceded to Baron Rothschild, one half at the rate of 59 per
cent., the other is thrown open to public subscription. This
accounts to a certain extent for the rise in our funds. No-
thing certain is known as to the rate for the public subscrip-
tion ; but the Government will probably notify the same to
us as soon as Baron Rothschild will have somewhat raised
the Italian credit. The action for libel brought by Big-
nor Sella against the responsible editor of the Ji:onar Ghia
Raliana will come of( 9 Thuroday, the lath inst."