The Sun.
London, England, 1836-09-28 00:00:00

REFORM MEETING
IN HAMI'Sr

A N
lIRE.

D INNER

WINCHESTER, MONDAY, SEPT. 26.—The leaders of the
Reform party in Hampshire dined together at the George
Hotel here this evening, having previously held a meeting
for the purpose of forwarding the liberal interests of the
county. The purposes of the meeting
were purely those
of business, and none were summoned to attend it save
those who were calculated, by their positiono.eairntt objecthecoutlt of
y,
to aid by their opinion and influence the
the
rie
tof the county Reform ,
oi tyof tie members
me cleanserswho
every
abtoiesorugehn7ddis-
t
present them. These are of course entirel-
misre-
sent to the southern division of thi uirected at pre.
e•
and, from th
the meeting to-day ,
."1 county, and to the city of
: character of the proceedings of
were conduce- and the business-like mode in which they
~ the Conservatives have much more than
a suatent cause for apprehension ; iu fact, from the state-
-11-.ents made there, and the authority upon which they were
made, there can be no doubt, not only that Mr. W. B.
Baring will not have twenty votes for the city, but that
Lord Palmerston and Sir George Staunton will be the
Members for the Southern Division of Ilants, with a tri-
umphant majority, at the next election. At the meeting,
which was held in the afternoon, nearly two hundred of the
elite of the county, as regard property, intelligence, and
influence, were present. Amongst them were—Mets:.s.
Sliaw Lefevre and J. W. Scott, the Members for tl'.e North-
ern Division of Hants ; Mr. Ralph Etwall, M.P., Mr. C.
J. Hector, M.P., Sir Henry Tichhwarne, Bart., R. Tich-
bourne, Esq., J.P., the Rev, Sir J. Barker Mill, Colonel
G. Purefot, Jervoise, J. P., E. Nightingale, Esq., J. P.
James Weld, Esq., J.P., John Young, Esq., Mayor of
Winchester ; Captain Blakistone, R.N.,, Henry Holmes,
t sq., Henry Marsh, Esq., James Theobald, Esq., Henry
Knight, Esq., Winnall, R. Knight, Esq., W. Spain, Esq.
&c. &c.
G. J. JEavorsE, Esq., was called to the chair.
Mr. HECTOR, M.P., then said that he had in the first
place to regret the absence of his co-secretary, Mr. Bon-
ham Carter, who was prevented from being present only by
indisposition. He had yesterday, however, gone over the
account of the constituency with his Hon. Friend, who lint
shown that he had not been inattentive to their 31.‘ilerests,
however he might suffer from indisposition, for he had for-
warded to the proper quarter the grotrads of objection to
such votes as were to be opposed in the districts of New
Forest and Christchurch, which were those from which
chiefly opposition was to be apprehended.--(Cheers.) He
was happy to find that any difficulties they would have to
contend with were much less than those of last year ; and
he trusted that before they separated the list of subscrip-
tions would be more than adequate to fight their battles
with the Tories.—(Cheers.)
HENRY MARSH, Esq., was happy to inform the meeting
that the whole county had now the power in case of an
election to place itself in the position in which it should
stand.-7(Cheers.) This assurance, however, should not
induce them to relax in their efforts; for, although the
enemy appeared to be asleep, yet they slept as the Bristol
merchants were said to sleep—with one eye open—(Laugh-
ter)—they, therefore, should take care also to have one eye
open, at least to the efforts of their opponents ; and he felt
sure that they would not he satisfied until they had the
principles of Reform carried justly into effect, and equal
justice dealt out to every part of the empire.—(Loud
cheers.) Here he could not but allude to one essential
part of the empire—Ireland—(Hear)—and he was satisfied
that because England had obtained Municipal and other
Reforms, she would not set down quietly and say, let the
Irish do the best they can for themselves.—(Cheers.) He
would propose a vote of thanks to the Members for the
Northern Division of the county, for their attentir to its
interests and those of the country in Parliament.
J. GUITON, seconded the mnt;:on, which was car-
ried by acclana;,tion.
Mr. SHA:w LEFEVRE said that in regard to the southern
division of the county, he firmly believed that it was the in-
teuti'm of Sir G. Staunton to present himself to its consti-
tuency when another election should occur, and he was
sure the Reformers there would give him a triumphant
support. In regard to Lord Palmerston, however, it was
a delicate matter to ask him what his intentions were, for
it was impossible for him, representing as he did at present
another constituency, to say what he proposed to do at the
next election.—(Hear.) His (Mr. Lefevre's) Honourable
Friend had alluded to the measures of last Session, and had
said that it was impossible that Englishmen could remain
satisfied with the results.—(Hear, hear, hear.) Now, he
could assure them that if others were satisfied he must
enter strongly his protest against this, for he saw no
reason whatever for satisfaction.—(Loud cheers.) It was
true that about one hundred statutes had been passed, but
reinongst them there were few indeed of those important
questions in which Reformers took an interest which had born
passed through more than one house of Parliament Hear).
There was one Bill, indeed, which he wits happy had
become the law—the Tithe Bill ; which Was, in his opinion,
the greatest boon the Parliament had it in its power to con-
fer on the agricultural interests of the country.--( Hear,
hear.) That, however, had been passed, and he would add
it to the Births and Marriage Bill. which was now the law,
and which was one step towards that religious liberty
which they had been so long desirous to achieve.—(Loud
cheers.) But what had become of the Bill for the reform
of the Irish Municipul Corporations ?—(Hear, hear.)
Those Corporations had been acknowledged by the Tories
to be corrupt, although Lord Lyndhurst had denied that
this acknowledgment had been made ; but when the
question was before the House of Commons there wee not
an individual upon the Tory benches who was hula enough
to say that these bodies were not corrupt, and they gave
the best possible test of this by rating their entire aboli-
tion.—(Hear, and cheers.) Why, however, had not the
Bill passed into law 2—(Hear, hear.) Because it was said
that it would confer power upon the Roman Catholics,
who in numbers prevailed in the towns of Ireland ; and,
would they believe it, that Lord Lyndhnrst, who was
the most eloquent advocate for Catholic Emancipa-
tion, was the first man to do all in his power to pre-
vent its benefits having force by preventing Roman Catho-
lics obtaining municipal rights and privilefics.—(llearl and
" Shame.") Then, as respected the Irish. Chtirch
Bill—
what had become of it ? They well knew ho' the hearts
of all Reformers were set upon *)tie appropriation clause.
It was I,Ur the principle whit!, it recognised, not so much
for any -immediate bends: it would confer upon Ireland ;
but Bill had been sent down by the House of Lords
'with this clausr.; struck out. They were not astonished,
therefore, tioat the Commons rejected the Bill thus muti-
lated.--(No, no.) The Tories certainly said that that
clause tended to the destruction of the Protestant Esta-
blishment in Ireland ; but he (Mr. Lefevre) would like to
know of what advantage to it had been all the advantages
it had hitherto enjoyed ?—(Loud cries of " Hear, hear.")
Instead of promoting religion, they had the contrary effect,
and the Roman Catholic religion had increased in propor-
tion to the endowment of the Protestant Establishment in
Ireland.—(Loud cheers.) It was no wonder, then, that
the Tory Lords had pursued the line of conduct they had
adopted.---( Hear, hear, hear.) They all remembered
what their conduct had been at the time when the
Reform Bill was under consideration—(Hear)—when
nn,oatkheintghbemutytiheid,
threats of the annihilation of their order could
at the period when Lord Grey's Govern-
ment was sueerseded ; and was it matter of astonishment
at their conduct in the instance to which he now alluded?—
(Hear, hear.) But although he was well aware that if
they persevered in this they would destroy the order to
which they belonged, yet he did not despair of a happy re-
sult. If Reformers united for this, they would be enabled
to stem the strong tide that had set against them.—( Hear,
hear.) Let Englishmen, then, be but true to themselves,
and they would coerce the Lords into reason.—(Hear,
hey`.., and cheers.) He hoped, then, to see the Govern-
ment, at the commencement of the next Session, intro-
duce measures of sound and just policy, without any com-
promise with their opponents.—(Loud cheers.) Let them
persevere with such measures as should follow that Reform
.Bill for which they had struggled so hard.—(Cheers.) He
hoped that thus would be completed the charter of reli-
gious liberty, in the extinction of church-rates—(Loud
cheers.) And that tardy justice would be done to Ireland,
which its people so well merited, if they were determined
to show that the Union between the countries was not a
mockery—that Catholic emancipation was not a delusion.
Mr. SCOTT returned thanks.
Sir JOHN BARKER MILL proposed a vote of thanks to
the
Hon. Members for Andover and Petersfield who were
then present, for their honest and consistent Parliamentary
conduct.

R. TICHIIO R
carried amidstul NE'
- '"
mr.
R.
FirwoAut.d cheers.
Mr. IlreToit,.-A'l,
the compliment the;
view of the measure
by his Hon. Friend Ms.
that he had heard hinted
M.P., returned thanks.
Supplies of the Lords did not make
reason.—(Cheers.) He was
had always been his opinion that
Supplies they could not restrain the IL
course it seemed determined to
Eso seconded the motion, which was
had
returning his cordial thanks for
of
.rhaid him, took precisely the same
Leeflast session as had been taken
something
He was glad
like a stopping of the
a l themselves amenable to
atamtl.isipoken man, but it
so ; but let
they stopped the
pursue.. (Cheers.
of Lords in the
called on by
Vheers. Not
that he would go to such lengths until-1%n";
his constituents, nor did he think that
Memberth of
Parliament would be justified in doino•
con-
stituency of the country call upon their representativceoenSstt.oact thus, and they would be ready to do so ; and if
tuencies did not so call upon them, they would not do their
duty to themselves or to their country.—(Loud cheers.)
He could only say that he considered this to be the grand
specific for reforming the Lords, and that when his consti-
tuents called upon him to lend his aid in achieving it, he
would be at his post to obey their directions.—(Cheers.)
On the motion of E. NIGHTINGALE, Esq., seconded by