The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-27 00:00:00

21R. Ty. WILIZAMs AND 1118

CONS772'brENTS.

Last night, in pursuance of .a custom long since
established, Mr. Williams met his constituents at
the Horns, Kennington, in order to give an ac-
count of his Parliamentary duties. Although the
weather was very bad, the room was crowded
shortly after eight o'clock.

'lle chair was taken by Mr. Stratton. It was
hardly necessary (he said) for him to tell them that
their representative had always met his consti
tuents at the end of every session to explain his
conduct. It was scarcely necessary to tell them
that the late session was a log and protracted one ;
and certainly their representative had been most
constant in his attendance to his duties. They had
now an expensive war with China—they had
an increased income tax—but where was the Re-
form Bill ? (Hear, hear.) He agreed with Alder-
man Salomons, member for Greenwich, that until
the people demanded a proper measure of reform
they would never get it. Let them show they
appreciated fully their rights and privilegesTlet
them convince the Legislature of their determina-
tion that those rights and privileges must be
granted, and he promised them they would very
soon have a measure of reform in accordance with
the wishes of the country. (Cheers.)
Mr. WILLIAMS then came forward and was very
warmly received. The bon. gentleman appeared
to suffer from a severe hoarseness, so that his ad-
dress to bis constituents was not by any means a
personal enjoyment. He was, he said, gratified
to see so many of his friends present that evening,
notwithstanding the inclement state of the wea-
ther. He invited them to come for the purpose
of hearing him render an account of his con-
duct during the last session of Parliament,
and to give them an opportunity of asking any
explanations they might think proper. In order
to do that, however, they must allow him in the
first instance to finish his address, which he pro-
mised them would be very brief indeed. The last
session was an unusually long one, having lasted .
more than seven months, and the proceedings of the
House of Commons were so delayed by. one cause or
another that no business was proceeded with,
although they sat during later hours than on former
sessions, and sometimes till three and four o'clock
in the morning. Little indeed was proposed for
the good of the country, because the time was lost
in useless talking and idle discussions. (Hear.)
Very recently—indeed he might say within the last
two days —a very extraordinary publication made
its appearance from Mr. Bass, the member for
Derby, who has been looking into the proceedings
of last session, and especially the amount of talk-
ing, and it turns out from his statement that up-
wards of 10,000 speeches were made during that
period. (Hear, and a laugh.) He pointed out very
particularly those made by the metropolitan mem-
bers, and expressed a hope, from the experience the
house has had of their conduct, and the example
they had set, that no more members would be given
to the metropolis. Now, those gentlemen whom he
named, he (Mr. Williams) had seen using their en-
deavours on all occasions in stopping proceedings
which led to jobs, especially when any expenditure
of the public money was concerned, and that, too,
at a time when Mr. Bass had been long in bed.
Such proceedings as these required a little talking;
and with regard to himself, some of his friends
around him were of opinion that he ought to talk
more. (Hear, hear.) He generally confined his
observations to the reckless expenditure so often
indulged in, to topics which touched the pockets of
the people of this country, and he could assure
them that such a task required an amount of labour
of which they could form no idea unless they
knew what it really was. There were many
thousands of items in the estimates of the expen.
diture for the year, which must be looked into
most minutely, and he ventured to say that not
one member of the House of Commons gave
himself the trouble to perform the same task.
But that was nct all. The items of the year had
not only to be examined minutely, but he compared
them with those of the preceding 30 years and of
former Governments, and asked how it was that it
was now-a-days three times as much as in the days
of the late Sir Robert Peel and other Ministers

who governed this country. (Hear, hear.) The
INlinisters had no answer to give, and endeavoured
to laugh the matter off, but he (Mr. Williams) did
not rest satisfied with that attempt at an explana-
tion. He sometimes divided against the proposed
item, and would do so oftener if proper support
were given him. Sometimes he could not get a
seconder, and when he was so fortunate as to pro-
cure one he was generally supported by about 25
against two or three hundred on the part of the
Government. He did, however, one good thing—
he pointed out the extravagance of the estimates,
and the fourth estate of the kingdom in the gallery
reported it to the country, who in that manner
learned how the public money was expended. The
only measure of any importance pissed last session
was the commercial treaty with France, which he
believed would be productive of a vast amount of
good, because it reduced duties on many articles
necessary for both countries, and abolished others
altogether. (Hear, hear.) He believed it would
be productive of great good—(a cry of " No, no")—
and with that conviction he gave it his cordial sup-
port throughout, with one exception, and that as
regarded a certain portion of the silk-manufactures
of this country. He voted for a postponement of
that portion of the treaty, because he believed it
would have a very injurious effect on his old friends
in Coventry. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) He, and
those who supported him, were, however, unsuc-
cessful, and by that means a very great pressure
indeed came on that trade, which suffered a great
deal in consquence. That was the most mischievous
part of t!..e treaty. (Cries of "No, no.") Depu-
tations from almost all the trades in the kingdom
went to Paris to consult with Mr. Cobden, and to
give him the necessary information, all of whom,
without exception, spoke of him in the highest,
terms possible, as having conducted those nego-
tiations with the greatest ability, and advantage
to his own country. (Cheers) s ) He (Mr. Williams)
believed it would have a good effect in carrying out
an extensive trade in this country, and the deputa-
tions declared they could export manufactures into
France, now that certain duties were taken off and
others reduced, at a very good profit indeed. (Hear.)
It was a most extraordinary thing that two of the
greatest and richest nations in the wot Id, with only
a narrow sea between them, had for many ages
carried on a commercial system which amounted
almost to a positive prohibition of any trading
intercourse between them. This country had of
late years reduced its tariff very considerably, but
France maintained its almost prohibitory system
until this treaty was entered into. The next mea-
sure was the Reform Bill, which was almost
smothered with talking, and after a long and pro-
tracted discussion was finally withdrawn. He and
others denounced it as a sham reform, and he was
justified in doing so. They must remember there
were five millions of men in this country now de-
prived of the franchise, and to remedy that evil it
was proposed to reduce the franchise in boroughs
to £6, and in counties to £lO. But all sorts of
objections were thrown in the way, especially as
regarded lodgers, and the payment of the poor
rates. It was calculated that that measure would
admit only 250,000 new voters out of five millions,
and yet they called it revolutionary. It was pro-
posed also to take one member from each of 25
rotten boroughs, having a population less than 7,000,
and what did they propose to do with those seats ?
Why, instead of their being returned by voters who
sold themselves at an election, they were handed
over to the landlords of counties to be driven like
cattle to the poll. They next proposed to give addi-
tional.h members to Liverpool and Manchester wit
a constituency of 3,000 voters less than Lambeth,_eeds
another to Birmingham with 12,000 atnd Leeds
15,800 less than this borough. A great majority
of the small boroughs sell themselves; tytilecryejetasonlBe
elector in the country had the samei
residents in the metropolis.
obtain
pro-
ceeded with he would have eHndaedatvoure
justice for the constituencies of the metropolis, and
oor-rate should not
also that the payment of.t
be necessary. In his opivneiroa▪ nP its withdrawal was
get a proper bill until
no loss, nor would they. .e
the people of Great Britain demanded it in a manner
not to be mistaken. The next measure withdrawn
was the Bankruptcy Bill--a measure certainly of
great importance ; it contained 551 clauses, but it
was defeated because the Attorney-General insisted
on making the officers who should retire entitled
to a pension equal to thei▪ r present salaries. He
(Mr. Williams) submitted a motion for the purpose
of abolishing flogging in the navy. He had done
so for several years previously, and produced cases
of the greatest tyranny and brutality. The Admi-
ralty promised to bring in a bill to remedy the
present system, and passed it, by which the despo-
tic powers of captains of men-of-war were entirely
done away with. In future no man in the navy
can be flogged or punished unless tried by a regular
court-martial, when he would have the power to
defend himself. The worst part, however, of his
duties, and to which he directed especial attention,
was the expenditure of the country. They must
remember that in the present year it amounted to
76 millions--a sum which must astonish them when
they came to consider it. There were in addition
three or four millions for the war with China,
which now amounted to 12 millions, and they might
depend upon it the cost of that war woulde.b
serious, and would come out of the people's poaerk
A more uncalled for or a more unnecessarw originwaorf
never commenced. They all knew
th
that war. Mr. Bruce went up th!opre.ihEoeriver with
lgens pieced
a large fleet to get the treaty some
by the Emperor. There were ousta