The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-12 00:00:00

THE MEMBE:RS FOR SOUTH' lfrA RK AND
TREIR CONSTITUENTS.

A large meeting of the electors of the borough of
Southwark was held last night at the Literary Institu-
tion, Borough-road, to hear from their members, rsTr. A.
Pullatt and Sir C. Napier, au account of their csaduct,
in Parliament during the last session. Mr. John Vicars
occupied the cheese
Mr Peeresee first addressed the meeting. He was
glad to be able to congratulate his constituents on the
cessation of war and on the prosperity which bad accam-
piteried the return of peace. He had recently returned
from a tour in the manufacturing di-tricts, and he was
glad to find that work was abundant there, wages liberal,
and that capital was fairly remunerated. He would con-
gratulate the country, too, on the state cf our foreign
alliances. The French alliance was a new fact in Eng-
lish history, but we were such close neighbours, and the
two nations had so much to learn from each other, that
it was to be hoped their alliance would be perpetual.
With America our relations were now most satisfactory.
With the internal relations of the United tates we bsd
nothing to do, nor had we any right to interfere in the
settlement of the important questions which are now
agitating the community there ; but we were so united in
blood, in interests, and in associations that a quarrel be-
tween us would be one of the greatest calamities which
could occur. Turkey was not naturally such a c,ose ally
to us as America or Fiance, but we bad taken up her
cause from a desire to protect her from oppression, and if
a proper policy were pursued she might still become a
useful member of the body of European nations. It was
to be hoped that everything would be done to reform
her internal administration, otherwise there was no
doubt but that she contaiaed within herself elements
which must lead to her ultimate decay. During the
last session there bad been 120 public and 139 private
acts passed in Parliament, but none of them excited very
great interest, except, perhaps, the Bishops' Bill and
the Vic :-President of the C anted of Education Ball, Sir
W. Clay's bill for the Abolition of Church Rates passed
its second reading by 221 to 178, but it was not pressed.
Mr. Berkeley's annual motion on the ballot had had his
support, but it had met its usual fate. The great
novelty ce the session was Mr. Disraeli's speech at the
end of it, in whic he maintained that all the use ul
measures which had been passed be the G ivernment
were to be attributed to Conservative principles. (A.
laugh.) One of the most important measures of the
session was the Police Bill, which the Government suc-
ceeded in passing after considerable discussion. "Corn-
ing events," it was said, " cast their shadows before,"
and the event of the session showed that the Irish
Church was shaking to its foundation, and that the day
was not far distant when it would cease to exist. Not
later ago than the 16th of Oct. the Times had written as
follows :
" But there can be 'no doubt that voluntaryism is
what we have adopted as a principle. This is the rule
which we have adapted as an empire. Wherever our
colonial empire spreads the voluntary principle will go
with it. It is part and parcel of our Imperial policy.
'No State aid to religion' is the watchword everywhere
except at home." .
And there could be no doubt the principle of voluntary-
ism in religion and education was every day gaining a
gre iter hold on the public mind. During the last session
no less than 94,000,0001. had been drawn front the
pockets of the people either in loans or taxation, and yet
to all appearances our resources were not affected in the
slightest degree. There was every reason, therefore, to
c ingcatulete the country on the manner in which it had
passed through the war. Private members, it was said,
had been much more fortunate in legislation than the
Government last session. He himself had had the satin

faction of passing three bills. The first was in relation
to the law ,:t crossed checks. Owing to a decis on of otte
of the judges considerable confusion had been created in
the commercial world as to what was really the law on
this subject, and he had accordingly introduced and
passed a bill which laid down the rule that no crossed
cheque should be payabe except through an account.
He had also passed a bill regulating the registration of
marriages. This was at first intended to appiy only to
Dissetit4s' marriages, but in the Course of its progress
he had been obliged to extend it to all marriages, and he
.bad the satisfact ea of thinking that it had tended very
considerably to improve the law on this' subject, An-
other question which he had taken up was the Smoke
Act. A bill cattle down from the Lords abolishing the
exemptions contained in that act, and having at Lord
Palmerston's request taken charge of that bill in the
Lower House, he had been successful enough to pass it
through that house with the addition of amendments

which greatly increased its scope. He had also voted in
favour of Mr. Gibson's Oath of Aljuration Bill, of Lord
Goderich's :notion for the examination of candidates for

the civil services, and for Mr. Spooner's motion against
the Maynooth grant. The Limited Liability Bill had
bad his cordial support, and it would be found, he be-
lieved, to work advantageously for the commercial com-
munity.. The fore;go policy of the country was at the
present moment of great importance. Non-interference,
be believed, to be the proper policy of this country.
We ought not to interfere to force constitutions on na-
tions not fitted for them, nor ou the other hand ought
we to interfere to support foreign despots on their
thrones against the will of their subjects. Among the
social reforms they needed was a map registration of all
estates, to be kept by a Government officer, and to be
held as registration of titles, as in America. The cx
. .

penses of obtaining private acts of Parliament ought to be
very much reduced, and on all occasions he had deemed
it h►s duty to endeavour to remove the evil wh►ch at pre-
sent existed iu this respect. Another reform needed was
the appointment of public prosecutors, and he should be
glad to support any measure on this subject. Atter Lord
J. Russell's failure last session it was not very pro-
la,ble that any educational scheme containing a rating

clause would "be again laid before Parliament-just yet.
After such a decided refu•al on the part of Parliament, it
seemed more likely that the opinions of suc!l men as Sir
James Graham, Mr. Gladstone, and Mr. Henley in fa-
vour of the voluntary principle would prevail. At the
end of the session he had introduced a bill for the aboh-

Lion of itnprisonment for debt, and it was his intention
to proceed with it next session. The principle of his bill

was to give to the insolvent debtor whose debt had not

been caused by any criminal act of his own the same pro-
tection which was at present given to bankrupts. He was
of opinion that the income tax wa" not at present equally
assessed on the agricultural and manufacturing classes.
The mode of asse,sii,g farmers on their rentals gave them
opportunities of evading the :a c, and this ought to be sit
right without delay. (ilea'.) Coming to local matters, he
should deem it his duty to support the opening of a line
of communication from London-bridge to Westatain,ter
through Southwark, as lately proposed by the Board of
Works, (Bear.) To the particular route he could not at
present commit himself, but the improvement was greatly
needed, and ought to be proceeded with at once. (blear.)
(A. voice in the weeting—" Are we to have Southwark-
bridge free ?") That was a question in which he had
taken the deepest interest, he bad eat on a committee on

the subject, and he should always do his best to secure
so great an advantage to the borough. (Hear, hear.)
The bun. gentleman, after congratulating the meeting on
the superior position occupied by this country in material
resources, agricultural improvements, and manufacturing
intelligence in comparison with the other nations of the
world, sat down amid loud cheers.
Sir CHARLES NAPIER then presented himself, and was
warmly received. He had been sent to Parliament, he
said, with a commission from his constituents to give all
the support be conscientiously could to the Government
of Lord Palmerston. He had given the noble Lord's
Government all the support he cJuld, for he was a very
old friend of his, and he had a very high appreciation
of his abilities, but there had been several occasions in
the course of the session on which he had been obliged
to vote, against him. The first was on Mr. Brotherton's
annual:motion to prevent business of importance being
proceeded with atter 12 o'clock at night. That was a
most useful motion, but, of course, it was opposed by
the Government, as, If carried, it would have deprived
them of many opportunities of passing bills without op-
position. He had opposed the Government, too, on
Captain Scobell's motion for a reform in the administra-
tion in the navy, and on the bill for allowing contractors
to sit in Parliament. This last was an absurd notion,
for it was not to be supposed that any contractor in his
senses would vote against the Government which gave
him a job. Only let the Government give him (Sir
Charles) a good contract, and he suould be ready to vote
for them himself. (Loud laughter.) He had voted against
toe Government ou the question of opening the British
Museum on Sundays, not that he saw any harm in it
nimself—(cheers)—indeed he thought it likely to be use
tul in drAwing working men away from the publichouses,
but he was infOrmed that there was a strong feeling
against the measure in Southwark—(no, no)—and he
had voted in accordance with what he believed to be the
opinion of his constituents. (A. voice, " You voted
wrong, then.") Ho had voted for the abolition of Church
rates, and he had voted against the Goveinnient on the
billeting question, when they were left in such a, large
minority. He had voted against Lord John Russell's
education resolutions, because. he thought it impossible
for any Government to give em education to the people
which would be satisfactory to all parties. The only
mode of getting over the difficulty was to give a secular
education, and to leave religious teaching to the clergy
of the different denominations. (Hear.) He had voted
in favour of Mr. Spooner's motitin, though, in his own
opinion, he believed the present to be a very unwise
time to raise, the question. Hail it been a political
matter he should have followed his own convictions,
but as it involved a matter of 'religious feeling he
had thought it necessary to be guided by the opinion
of his constituents. He had therefore voted against the
grant, but he had also voted against all other grants for
religious purposes, so as to do equal justice to all parties.
Lord Goderich's motion for opening the civil service to
competition had had his support, and he would in like
manner support a motion to throw open the army and
navy to all classes. (Hear.) When the war began we
knew nothing of Russia. We th ought ;nothing of the
Russians, but the defence of Se bastopol showed that
they had more talent and energy than any other nation.
Never had a fortress been sn well a nd so nobly defended.
At the last they were losing 1,000 men a-day by the
infernal fire" of the allies, as one of their generals
called it. We ourselves were 'entirely unprepared for
the war. For years Parliament and the couutty had.
been crying out for reductiop, milyAry education had

[PRICE 4D. STAMPED SD•

been entirely neglected, and we had nothing whatever in
the shape of a staff. He well recollected the Duke of
Wellington saying to him, soon after his return from
Portugal, " If I were to put 10,000 men in Hyde-park,
I could not get one man in a thousand who could take
them out again:: Sufficient attention bad not been paid
to military training. Put English soldiers before tie
enemy, and they would fight liko " devile," but when they
had to provisiontheroselves, and to go throueh the actua
work of campaigning they were nowhere at first. There-
fore he did net thick that either the generals or the Go
verreneut were aeswerable f, sr the lovg siege of Sebas-
pol ; it was the system which had been pursued by
Parliament for years before. Neither were the Govern-
' went to be blamed for the fall of Kars. The siege of Se-
bastopol was still proceeding, and it was impossible for
the allied generals, without risk to that operation, to send
any help to Kars. It was an unavoidable misfortune, and
the Government had nothing to do with it. The people
of this country did not inquire for themselves—they
looked to the Times newspaper to he told everything, and
tit ey believed all they were told. The consequence wag tha.
officers were efrai to take commands for fear of being
abused by the Times. From the language of Lord Pa
merston at Maechester and at the Guildhall it wool.
appear that peace depended upon whether Russia kep
her engagements or not. It was to be hoped she wool:.
He bad nut altogether approved the peace, but he sup
posed it was the best we could get at the time. He sh 'We
very much have liked to make her pay the expenses o•
the war. We had to act, however, in concert with the
French Government ; and, wheo two Governments were
acting t .gather, there could not be as much unity as it
but one Power was concerned. He uid not feel able t
decide at present about the French alliance whether it
was good or not. He hoped the French nation would
always be with us for good purposes, but it certainly gave
him some misgivings to see a nation which was fee
fighting alongside of a nation which was not free. Louis
Napoleon was a great man and a clever man or he tout
not have done all he had done. Had he not got rid of a
.roublesorne Parliament, for instance? (Laughter.) There
were some people in England who would be very glad te
de the .ame thing if they could. It would very muce
simpli'y their work, and they would get their merit:.
much tire easdy ; and really Parliament COW seemed
no use except to vote supplies. That was all they ap-
peared to be called together for. Legislation seemed to I,
brought to a deadlock, and unless some new arrangements
were devised for the transaction of business it, would be
to get on. The house ought to be divide,
into large committees before which different bills coin,

be discti.ed in their detail.' at the same time, and the
whole house might afterwards have the opportunity of
nuciding on the merits of each. In this way there won

he a chance of doing something.

As to the war in tn

Baltic, it had not been well conducted. It was know,
a year before the first campaign that we were going to
,var, and he had in vain urged the Admiralty to prepare,
to cyninission ship, and to chp.ipline men, but it war
not until February, 1854, that they began to get ready.
Flere the Ministers were to blame. For the disasters In

the Crimea, of which—to praise the Times for once—lts
correspondent, Mr. Russell, had given so accurate and
striking a picture, they were not to blame, bat they
. were to blame for not having made better naval prepa-
rations. Still they were only following the policy o!
economy which had been insisted on by Parliament for
years. In 184 D, when we were engaged in the Syrian
war, the French had a larger fleet than we bad, an,
600,000 men under arms, and there was but little doubt
that, if Louis Philippe had adopted Thiers's policy, an
army might with ease have been thrown on our shores.
We were in the same unprotected state when the Tahiti
affair occurred. He would not now go into the question
of the Baltic campaign, which had been settled, as far as
it could be settled at present., in the House of Commons
He had told there a plain, straightforward story, every
word of it true, though it could not be expected that be,
who was unused to debating, could make head success
fully against Sir James Graham—a most unscrupulous
man—not to U,B a harsh word—(langhter)—who could
make black white, and white black, at his pleasure.
Since the conclusion of peace he had been to Cronstadt,
to satisfy himself whether he had done right or wrong
in not attacking it. He found the fortifications stronger
even, he confessed, than he had believed them to be
when he was there with the fleet. In fact they were
perfectly and entirely impregnable. The Grand Duke
COnstantine had granted him an interview, and had
shown him all his plans of defence, and, certainly,
more judicious and more proper plans never were can
ceived. He was a man of great talent and ability, and
bad spoken to him in a perfectly honest, plain, straight-
forward way. His remark to we, sa►d the gallant
admiral, was, "It you had attempted to come in there
would have been nearly 1,000 guns bearing on your
fleet, there was not water enough. for your large ships,
the channel was narrow, and it was so thickly filled with
infernal machines that our own ships going in and out
were afraid of being blown up." " Will you allow me,'
said I, "to speak plainly to you ?" Why did you not
come out to meet us at Kiel! We were then badiy
manned and badly disc.pfitied. If you bad come out I
don't know what the consequences might have been."
" AI)," said the Grand Duke, "if I had bad screws I
should have come out to meet you. I did not know
that you were so badly manned until it was too late."
And I think, added the gallant admiral, that it was
luckily he didn't come. Not that there was an Eog
lishman there who would not have fought to the last
drop rather than retreat ; but after all, ships without
disciplined men are no better than fortifications without
soldiers. People are fond of talking about the British
navy being unconquerable ; but the British navy is men,
not ships. (Hear, hear.) The gallant admiral then pro.
needed to allude to the late correspondence between
himself and Sir R. Peel. That, he said, was not yet
concluded. He had written to Lo,d Paimerston, desir•

ing him to lay his case before the Cabinet, and nut having
recived an answer to that letter he h,td writtea a second

time, and until he had received au answer trout the noble

ilori it would only be right in bias t..) maintain a due
'reserve on the subject. He wai not afraid of having his
conduct investigated. He had demanded an investiga-
tion, and if the Government did sot grant it, it would

go far to prove that they were afraid that something
:would come out which would pr-judice them in public
opinion. The gallant admiral then sat down amid loud
cheers.

A vote of thanks was then proposed and carried to
both the hon. members for their conduct in the oast
session, and the proceedings terminated.

MR. EDWIN JAMES, Q.C., AT BULL.

HULL, Nov. 10.

This evening a large and influential meeting of the
electors of Kingston-upon-Hull assembled in the Corn
Exchange for the purpose of hearing from Mr. Edwin
James, Q.C., one of the candidates for the representa-
tion of the Borough, an exposition of his political
opinions. Amongst the leading inhabitants we noticed
Mr. Middleton (in the chair), Mr. Alderman Abbey,.
Mr. A'derman }Lundell, Mr. Cob (banker), Messrs.
Richardson, Dobson, Brodrick, Carlill, &c.
The CHAIRMAN having introduced Mr. James to the
electors ith a few appropriate remarks,
Mr. JAMES, who on comingiorward was received with
loud cheers, said—Mr. Chairman and gentlemen electors
of the borough of Kiogeton-upon-Hull, I have come
amongst you as a perfect stranger, and as stick you have
given me a welcome. Ido not come forward to oppose
the interests of my friend Mr. Clay, for whom I had the
honour of being counsul on the petition presented
against his return, and it would be ungrateful is me to
appear before you as his opponent ; but grave doubts
exist as to his eligibility to be elected as your represen
tative in the present Parliament, in consequence of his
having been unseated on the petition presented against
his return. I curve amongst you indspendeetly, and the
same as any other liberal candidate. if I believed Mr.
Clay could sit as your representative, I would not for a
moment jeopardise your interests. It would be a hard
day for Huh if he were elected by your suffrages, and
was then unable to take his seat through a legal impe-
diment. I come here, therefore, rather than that the
common fie—the Tory—should succeed. Esther than
tnat the interests of this borough should be sacrificed, I
put myself forward asa liberal candidate. (Hear, hear.)
I am aware of the responsibility I have undertaken iu
coming here, and I am also aware of the objection
which ()Ascii to having lawyers in Parliament, and
properly so, in many cases. But if a lawyer attends to
your interests, he is the best qualified to advance them.
I know the position you are placed in in consequ,nce
of the elevation of my friend Mr. Baron Watson to
the bench. I have carefully perused the blue book
on the Local Dnes Bill, which your late representative '
advocated so ably and so warmly. He has done much
to remove the prejudice which exists against members of
Parliament being lawyers, and in support of this I ap-
peal to the electors to say whether he has not discharged
the trust imposed on him with honour and fidelity. I
am not here for the purpose of asking you to pass any
resolution or pledge, but merely to address you so that
overl
the electors of Hull may become acquainted with my
i.
litieal sentiments, in order that they may ponder
them, if from circumstances it should turn out that Mr
positions e
should o
orfe pthr eebseeßne,t)xuytseoenudo.
fe
dl.
Com-
mons tCohfl
ianyok.ps
tihnhoiaoatnl d n
the
th oadtt.
e bmtehoiecn a
r ai franchise
h elementi
may be placed ona more extended basis. (Hear )
The measure for the extension of the traiehi,e pro-
pounded by Lot d John Ru-selt ought to be remembered
with gratitude by every man .1 in.iependence in tins.
oauntrar. Public apiniou will 'out. carry au exteesion (,f
the franchise, and if I nave the .uonour (d becoming your
representative, I wiil do my best to .upport it. (Ciieers.)
On the question of educatisn, I may say it is tretved in
different ways by different parties, and the consequence
is that the country is left without what she is entitled to
—a comprehensive system of education. There should
be no ki • •
ec.ariamstia to mar such a scheme. Ou Church
rates, I stated in my address that had I the honour of
being in Par lament. I should have advocated the bill in-
troduced by Sir W. C:ay for the abolition of Church rates,
and I hope to see some such measure speedily adopted.
I am a member of the Established Church, but I think,
if the fends of that Church were well administered these
would be ample for its wants. I would not tax the Dis.
seater, by an impost which is odious to him, for a Church_,ey
which has ample revenues of her own. (Cheers,) Church
ray the rare, are imposedto secure theluicuriea of
oh luxuries pay
service. Thee, let those who require