The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-12 00:00:00

edifice of their liberty and consolidating the work
of their independence. (Hear, hear.) If it had given
such amazing gratification to the English Court,
the English Cabinet, and the English people to see
a people in Italy building up the edifice of their
own liberties, he trusted no man would say that
that meeting was not well employed in endeavour-
ing to build up and consolidate the liberties of Eng-
land. (Cheers.) Having expressed a hope that the
anticipated united Italy would include Rome and
the State of Venice, he said that the population of
the new kingdom would certainly not exceed
24,000,000 of souls, whereas he had already shown
that 5,000,000 of families, including 25,000,000 of
souls of this country, had no vote in the election of
members of the House of Commons. (Hear.) He
proceeded to advert to Lord J. Russell's Reform Bill
and the probable increase which it would have
made in the constituency of Great Britain, remark-
ing that the believed, in a most generous compu-
tation of the measure, the 15.0000. working men
to be admitted under that bill to be at least
40,000 above the number; and the hon. gentleman
continued by alluding to the desire of the House of
Lords only to have the franchise reduced to an £8
rating in boroughs, which, he said, was equivalent
to an ordinary rental of £9 or £lO. Was such an
insult, he asked, possible in 1860, or would it be in
1861 ? Was it possible that the blindness of
Italian Dukes, that the perverseness at Venice, the
obtuseness at Naples, that all which had passed
before us during the last few years had passed in
vain, and that Conservative gentlemen in both
Houses of Parliament had learnt nothing from it.
Having remarked that he had never listened with
such indignation as he had to the miserable and
insulting slanders which had been hurled in Par-
liament against the great body of the working
people of England, Mr. Bright dwelt at some
length upon the intelligence and prudence of the
working classes, and their claim to possess the
franchise, as was manifested by three co-operative
societies in his own town (Rochdale), and stated
that out of 32 persons composing the managing
committee of those societies, the aggregate annual
transactions of which amounted to £380,000, only
one possessed a county vote and one a borough
vote. such a state of things was intolerable, and
he should be ashamed of himself if he did not take
all fitting opportunities of denouncing this exclu-
sion and inviting his fellow countrymen to oppose
themselves to it and assist in obtaining their just
right. (Loud cheers.) Mr. Bright urged that the
great centres of population and manufacturing
industry, such as Leeds, Manchestak, and Bir-
mingham, should speak out on the question,
believing that if they did so no Cabinet .Minister
would oppose the bringing forward of a Reform
Bill, and that when it was brought forward there
would be none of the higgling about rating and
rental that there was last session. (Applause.)
Mr. Bright observed that great movements were
going on in various countries, and as examples,
he pointed to France, Italy-, Austria, and
Russia. Should Englishmen, he asked, alone sleep!
Should Englishmen, dazzled with what they saw
abroad, forget altogether the duty which they owed
to themselves at home ? Should £70,000,000 ster-
ling of taxes, representing £75,000,000 of human
labour, be annually raised and spent, and should
6,000,000 Englishmen, who had the main power
in raising it, have no concern in that matter ?
Should every working man give at least two hours
per day extra toil and sweat to support a Govern-
ment whose policy he could in no degree influence,
and which shut him out from the commonest rights
of citizenship and spurned him as though he were
a wild beast in human form. (Loud cheers.) He
told them honestly he could not believe it. He
knew there was among the people of this country
an overwhelming preponderance of feeling in favour
of Parliamentary reform ; it would come ; it might
be delayed; it could not be prevented; it would
come by honest, enlightened, safe steps such as the
friends of Reform recommended, or it would come
hastened by some great accidents which none could
foresee, and which might bring changes and feel-
ings which might shake our political and social fab-
ric to its base. (Applause.) It was because he
dreaded disorder, because ne knew that resistance
to just demands was the fertile parent of confusion
in every State—it was because he wished England
to be great and ghnious, and free and moral that he
urged the working classes—the unenfranchised mil-
lions, to insist upon their just rights, and it was for
this cause that he counselled the ruling classes to
grant those :tights, although it might be that this
counsel 14ight be in vain. (Mr. Bright, who spoke
nearly aya hour, resumed his seat amid renewed
ap,„4.3Aise.)
The resolution was then put and carried unani-
mously.
Another resolution, in favour of the ballot and a
more equal adjustment of the numbers of the popu-
lation in the electoral districts, was proposed and
seconded. It was supported by Mr: Leatham, and
also adopted.
The proceedings terminated with the customary
votes of thanks.