The Sun.
London, England, 1867-10-07 00:00:00

PROGRAMME OF THE LIBERAL PARTY.

Mr. Baxter, M.P. for the Montrose district of '
Burghs, addressed his constituents on Thursday!
night in the Public Hall, Arbroath. In the course
of his speech the hon. gentleman gave a sketch of
the programme likely, in his estimation, to be
adopted by the Liberal party during the coming
session. He referred to the fact that he had con-
stantly upheld the necessity of admitting the working
men of this country to a share of political power.
Ile rejoiced so much at the passing of the Reform
measure that he was content to let the means
adopted to bring it about sink into oblivion.
He did not, however, question for a moment
the sincerity of the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer in promoting a great enfranchisement
of the people. He was much deceived if there
was a greater Radical in the House of Commons
than Mr. Disraeli. He was persuaded that that
right hon. gentleman believes that he had done a
great and good thing for the country. Ile hoped
the rumour was true that Government was about
to grapple with the question of the Irish Church in
a manner that will give the liveliest satisfaction to
all Reformers. He (Mr. Baxter) advocated the
disestablishment of the Irish Church and the ap-
propriation of its revenues to secular purposes ;
he condemned the proposal to endow the Roman
Catholic priesthood out of its revenues. It
might, however, be possible, though not wise,
to delay doing justice to Ireland, but we could
not without absolute danger refuse to provide,
and that immediately, for the education of
England. The various sects bad attempted to
educate the masses, and they had signally failed ;
his trust was that the very first act of a reformed
Parliament will be to sweep away the existing edu-
cational department altogether, and begin the work
ab initio, on the basis that secular education should
be provided for every child in the country by the
localities, who should be compelled to tax them-
selves for this purpose, and who should manage their
own schools. There were many who thought that edu-
cation, in order to be rendered universal in this coun-
try, must be.made compulsory on parents. Before
endorsing that opinion he should like to try the effect,
of compelling ratepayers to erect schools, to be
managed and supported by themselves. It was
high time that Oxford and Cambridge should be
opened up to all classes of her Majesty's subjects,
without distinction either of creed or social rank.
The laws of entail or primogeniture are relics of the
middle ages, which we must get rid of very soon,
and hoe looked upon the continued aggregation of
vast properties in the hands of one man as a most
serious evil. Such, in his bumble opinion, was the
programme likely to be adopted by the Liberal party;
and who was to be the leader? As to who ought to be
there was little doubt. In point both of intellect and
oratorical power Mr. Gladstone was head and
shoulders above every one on our side except Mr.
Bright; but there should beno misunderstanding, and
he hoped that thcse who took the same view of
future policy as had then been indicated would
make it clear to the right hon. gentleman that those
were their terms ; that no temporising measures
would do ; and that if he intended to lead on the
party to Liberal victories he must throw himself
heart and soul into the cause, cut himself loose
from all ecclesiastical trammels, and regard the
Oxford of his youth as a mere house of bondage.
Mr. Baxter also expressed his belief that we shall
be driven to adopt the ballot, not so much as a
means of preventing bribery and intimidation, but
in order to facilitate the process of voting.
Tories as well as Liberals entertained this view.
He disapproved of the proposal to increase
the number of members in the House in order to
provide for the necessary additional representation
of Scotland. To gain the needed seats the second
member should be taken from every borough in the
United Kingdom having less than 12,000 inhabi-
tants at present returning two members to Parlia-
ment. lie was, he confessed, notwithstanding his
former declarations to the contrary, gradually in-
clining to the adoption of the American system of
equal electoral districts.
Mr. GRANT DUFF, M.P., also addressed his con-
stituents at Elgin on Thursday. After alluding to
the figure made by Mr. Disraeli and the Conser-
vative party during last session, to Mr. Glad-
stone's leadership, and generally to the political
history of the session, he made a particular
reference to trades unions. He observed that these
societies should be amply protected by law, so far
as their objects, even when economically unwise,
wero not morally wrong, but severely punished
when they interfered with that liberty in others
which they looked for themselves. As to educa-
tion ho favoured a compulsory system, and he
pointed out the need for amendment in our
secondary education. Reforms in our military
system, the codification of the English law, Mr.
Locke King's bill dealing with the landed property
of intestates, and the ballot were among the other
topics of Mr. Grant Duff's speech.