The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-16 00:00:00

that case they would have placed all these persons
on the roll in Sheffield, Rochdale, and the other
boroughs, which make up the 29 included, and the
extension of the franchise would then have been
equal and generous to them all. Mr. Forster has
alluded to the case of Scotland ; and what, let me
ask, has the Chancellor of the Exchequer done with
regard to that country. 1 sometimes suspect that
the Scotch are somewhat sharper than we are.
(Laughter and cheers.)- I joke a very excellent
friend of mine, who is a Scotchman, that the only
thing in my life with which I had nothing to do but
which I blame myself for, is, that I was not born
with some Scotch blood in me. (Laughter and
cheers.) What, I say, does the tight hon. gentle-
man do in Scotland ? There every occupier pays
only half his rate ; the landlord pays the other half ;
and yet in Scotland every householder above the
level of £4 —for below that sum they do not collect
the rates from the occupier—is to be enfranchised
by this bill. Ido not complain of that in the least ;
but I will tell you whatl do complain of very much,
and it is this—l complain that the Scotch occupier,
and who pays only half his rates, say 103., if he is
rated for 205., should receive a vote, while the
Englishman, who pays at least 153. out of the 205.,
is not to be allowed to have a vote. The Scotch-
man gets a vote who pays only half his rate, but
the Englishman cannot get a vote in a single in-
stance under this bill although he pays as much as
three-fourths of the rate. (Shame.) I presume
it will be the same in Ireland. In that country
occupiers below £4 do not pay any rates, and above
that they pay only half and the landlord pays
Ithe other half. The principle of this bill will I
suppose be extended to Ireland. I am not one of
those who depreciate the people of Ireland. (Hear.)
I think they have been too much oppressed by us
to justify any Englishman to throw a slur upon
their character ; but I will ask whether there is any
man within the three kingdoms who will say that
it is a wise, or necessary, or just act on the part of
Parliament to give in all the Irish boroughs a fran-
chise to those persons paying above £4, to give the
same to Scotland, and yet to deny it to the great
majority of the people of England who live in the
170 boroughs to which the restrictions of the bill
apply ? (Loud cheers.) Mr. Hibbert, the member
for Oldham, proposed to introduce into the Govern-
ment measure that particular clause to which I re-
ferred in the Compound HousebolderS' Act of 1851,
which gives the right of voting to the compound
hou,eholders, and there was an idea that Govern-
ment would be got to accept it. You recollect the
little negociations—(laughter)—that took place be-
tween the head whip of the Government and a
Welsh member on our side of the house. They
were cooking it all very nicely in the lobby. The
Welsh member thought he was cooking the whip,
but it turned out the very opposite way—the whip
was cooking the Welsh member. (Laughter.) In-
stead, therefore, of Mr. Disraeli, who, through Col.
Taylor, was to give the question his most candid
consideration—(laughter)—no man has so much
candid consideration as the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer—(renewed laughter)—doing what he said,
he turned round upon Mr. Ilibberd and said, with a
profusion of compliments about the beauty, elegance,
eloquence, and truthfulness of his speech, " I not
; only won't take the clause you propose ; I not only
won't accept it and give the benefit of it to the new
voters under the bill, but I will repeal it with re-
gard to the voters who are at present entitled to be
upon the register." He in fact, gave to all those
gentlemen who were so credulous with respect to
his candid consideration a slap in the face
which I hope they will long remember. (Cheers.)
In addition to what I have mentioned there
the
havewas a cnhoot sheenr tow a y
actin
• le of their bill and yet give satisfaction.
principle fw htihc he
they
liked
Ge
do vteor npn
preserve
rt
ve
might
They might have said to all the boroughs of Eng-
land and Wales to which this bill does not fairly
• give the franchise, we will give it to every house-
holder of a certain clear annual value, so that in
those boroughs where the bill does apply the prin-
ciple will work, and in those where it does not
apply it will establish another franchise which, in
the lone! run, will cone to the same result. Thus if
in Sheffield 28,000 men have the right to come upon
the register, in Birmin nu n
glnml49.9,&pritt.alV,
position. But no; they will not do this. They
stand by what they call the principle of the bill. and
; the principle of the bill merely means an enormous
/ most unjust, and I will venture to say a most
perilous exclusion of the great body of the house-
holders of the Kingdom. (Cheers). Well, what is
'it that it is our duty to do? Considering that we
have marched some distance since last December,
and a good deal further since this time last year,
we may, perhaps, fancy, with some truth, that the
end of our journey may ultimately be reached.
(Hear, hear.) Everything that was said last ses-
sion against the bill of Lord Russell's Government
is now, I think, pretty nearly given up. The lies
have served their purpose, and are now dropped.
(Laughter). Most of the things that were said
against Mr. Gladstone are also given up. They
have, it is true, found a good many new things to
things
say about him. Nearly all the they
said
about me are also gone ; and I think they have a
sort of idea that perhaps I may be of some little use
in helping. them to get through such parts of the
measure as I can by any possibility bring myself to
u
ought we to do, after
ask,e
I
so we to be content with
thesha
propositionsnogr td. e What,
n uof t cht
hl
in:, Are
bill? (Cries of " No, no.")
principles, whatever be its
bietsits assumed liberality, when
be
et
and becomes law, it shall, so far
Or are we to insist upon it that whatever be its
acceptable to
(Cheers.) Last year
ipbtra
pretences,
ti
passes
cesesp, whateverawrhliattme
as we can accomplish it, be at least a fair and equal
:INallrt.measure,ie bGladstone
r aoun boroughs
hssl
of
flol
tubhgeehjktui
isnntg aad nobdui equallyl.,
which as you know
did not go as far as many of us could have wished,
although it was a great recommendation to us that
the bill was so easy to comprehend. (Cheers.)
There was not a single dodge in it from one end to
another. (Cheers.) It said that every man in a
county who occupies a house and land of the value
of £l4 shall have a vote, and every man in a
borough, without any question of rating, Or pay-
ment of rates, who occupies a house of the clear
annual value of P,7, shall have a vote. Everybody
knew what that meant, and those who would have
been glad to go the length of £6 or £5, or even
,Gwoevreernombleignetd
itno
pcoasnsfi:ga tahagtrtehaet
householddifficultiesmeasure
like soufff
this through the house were so great
that it was necessary to conciliate the opinions of
others ; and even enthusiastic reformers, therefore,
seeing the clear and transparent honesty that had
been employed in the construe ion and framing of
the bill, gave it all the support in their power.
But the bill we now have was quite contrary, be-
cause there is scarcely a clause from beginning to
end in which there is not a dodge. The subtlety of
Mr. Disraeli's intellect, combined with the corrupt
experience of the electioneering agents of the Go-
vernment, have brought this bill to the condition in
which it was when it first made its appearance on
the table of the House of Commons. I say there is
only one answer that we can make to its proposals.
We must move on with an increased resolution and
an increased combination and union for the purpose
of achieving that great success which, though it is
not exactly at our feet, is not so far ahead but that
I think most of us can see it. (Cheers.) lam not
of opinion that the 29 boroughs in England and
Wales, or the boroughs in Scotland that will be
enfranchised tinder this act, will sit down and
say, we have got our table spread, and we
really cannot attend to what is said by our fa-
mishing brethren in the 170 boroughs. I blieve,
when they are enfranchised under the operation of the
bill they will be still more resolved than the exist-
ing constituencies are now that the bill shall be male
an equal and a just bill to all their countrymen in
all the boroughs. (Cheers.) Now, what I should
recommend to the associations connected with this
question is this, that they should proceed to estab-
lish and organise in every borough in the kingdom
a committee
for the special object of doing this
special work. (Applause.) As they were working
for their own enfranchisement in 170 boroughs, so,
in order that their own enfranchisementin the 29
favoured boroughs may be effectual for a better