The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-18 00:00:00

BEI ORM MEETING AT BRID G WATER.

A crowded and enthusiastic meeting of the in-
habitants or the borough of Bridgwater was held
in the Town-hall on Wednesday evening, " to con-
sider the question of Parliamentary lteform; to
give the members for the borough, Colonel Tynte
and Mr. W. Kinglake, an opportunity of address-
their constituents; and to pass such resolutions as
may be deemed expedient.'
All the resolutions were passed unanimously.
The CHAIRMAN (Mr. Alderman Sealy) having

opened the proceedings,
Mr. J. BROWNE proposed the first resolution :
"That, in the opinion of this meeting, no Reform Bill
will be acceptable to the country which does not provide,
firstly, a large extension of the suffrage ; secondly, that it
be imperatively necessary that the right of voting shall be
by ballot ; thirdly, that the duration of Parliament shallnot
exceed three years ; fourthly, that the right of voting shall
not depend upon the payment of rates, but on being liable
'
to be rated to the poor at least six months previous to the

election.

The resolution, which was seconded by Mr.
BOSSITER, was carried amid much cheering.
Mr. J. THOMPSON proposed,
. That the members for the borough be requested to sup-
port the measures of reform approved in the first resolu-
tion in any Bill brought before the House ; and also that
the chairman send copies of the first resolution to Lord
Derby and to Mr. Bright, requesting their favourable con-
sideration of the points set forth in the said resolution."
Alderman HURMAN seconded that motion, which
was unanimously carried.
Colonel TYNTE, on presenting himself, was
greeted with tremendous cheering. He said,—l
am delighted to meet you this evening. I always
am delighted to meet you ; I should be the most
ungrateful of men if I were not, for never have I
appeared before you, your fathers, or even your
grandfathers, without meeting with the kindest
and heartiest reception. (Hear, hear.) When a
candidate and member for the western division of
Somerset I was favoured with the strongest and
most overwhelming support from the division
of Bridgwater, and that support has been
rendered me up to the present time, having had
the honour of being elected your representative for
the third time in Parliament. (Cheers.) I say
again that I am delighted to meet you this evening.
This is a most important meeting ; it is important,
because I am glad to say it will give the lie to
many who say that reform is little thought of in
Bridgwater ; because it will give strength to my
honourable colleague and myself to support what
you wish us to support in the House of Commons.
t'erhaps I may be travelling a little out of my way,
but as I have a little to say to you personal to
myself in reference to the last session, I may be
permitted to remark that the Thnes stated, three or
four days back, that the story of the last session
had been told about 300 times, and I am about to
take the liberty of making the 301st short tale in
reference thereto. (Hear, hear.) I stated on the
hustings of Bridgwater in 1857, having been in the
minority in the House of Commons on the Chinese
question, that I considered Lord Palmerston had
done his duty as a British Minister in standing up
for the honour of the British flag—(hear)—in up-
holding that honour and the honour of the British
Crown, in protecting the interests of British sub-
jects and the property of British subjects in the
Chinese waters. (Hear, hear.) I told you so on
the hustings, and you did me the honour to return
me at the head of the poll by a large majority. I
stated also that I-had confidence in Lord Palmer-
ston, which I trusted would never be changed.
Gentlemen, I never will tell you what is untrue.
I should be ashamed so to do, bearing the name I
do, and representing the constituency I do. I was
grieved to find that Lord Palmerston, instead of
sending an indignant answer to the insolent French
despatch—(hear, hear)—placed on the table of the
House of Commons a Conspiracy Bill. (Hear, hear.)
But, gentlemen I did not give a vote on that first
division, in which my hon. colleague, much to his
credit, took so active a part. Lord Palmerston was
not so well known to my hon. colleague as per-
haps to myself, for I have followed him for
many years, and I did not like to be the means
of hurling that Minister from his seat. The
thing went on, and 99 independent members
of the House of Commons voted against that Con-,
spiracy Bill. My hon. colleague, as I before inti-
mated,:was prominent on the occasion—(loud cheers)
—and above 200 members voted in favour of it.
Well, as the bill advanced, the English people
began to think a little, too. (Hear, hear.) When
Mr. Milner Gibson introduced his motion, either
myself or one dearer to me than myself—one of my
relatives—was very ill, and .I was unable to attend
the division on that proposition, or I should have
voted with Mr. Milner Gibson. (Hear, hear.) I
did not receive till the following day the resolution
which was passed, much to their honour, by the in-
habitants of Bridgwater. The 99 who voted in the
first division, and consistently voted in the second
division, deserve immortal honour. (Hear, hear,
and cheers.) Grieved as I was at the fall of Lord
Palmerston, yet I cannot but hold that in a certain
measure he deserved it for not having sent such an
answer as a British Minister ought to have sent to
an insolent French despatch. (Cheers.) English-
men are only to be governed by Englishmen.
(Loud applause.) Well, gentlemen, I will be very
short in referring to other measures connected with
the last session of Parliament. I supported mea-
sures which I have always supported—l supported
the abolition of church-rates. (Cheers.) I sup-
ported many other measures I need not specially
allude to—measures which are known as Liberal
measures—and I shall continue to support them,
the ballot among others. (Continued applause.)
There are many stories which members have had to
tell their constituents which I regret to say I can-
not amuse you with. I was one of those members
who went to Cherbourg. I did not dance jigs and
Scotch reels on the deck of the steamer which took
some 80 or 100 members to Cherbourg. (Laughter.)
I have no fear of Cherbourg. I have no fear of
Lewis Napoleon or any other Lewis invading
Bridgwater. (Laughter and applause.) You will
allow me, electors of Bridgwater, and my colleague,
to vote sufficient money to maintain a Channel
fleet, though you tell us to take care that that money
is properly expended on that fleet. (Hear, hear.)
Then we may laugh to scorn the guns of Cherbourg
or the Emperor of the French. (Renewed cheer-
ing.) Let the Liberal electors stand shoulder
to shoulder in Bridgwater, and the other
invader to which I have alluded will sustain an
equally ignominious discomfiture. (Continued
cheering.) I have told you on many hustings that
I never give a pledge. I never told you fnever
have given a pledge. Gentlemen, when your re-
presentatives give a vote in the House of Commons
they give a pledge. (Hear, hear.) I have voted for
the extension of the suffrage, but not to the extent
it will be necessary, I believe absolutely necessary,
now to extend it. (Cheers.) lam prepared to ex-
tend that suffrage as you wish it extended. (Much
cheering.) lam not prepared to give a mere uni-
versal suffrage, but I can see no objection whatever
to the suffrage defined by you this night. (Cheers.)
When on my canvass several people came to me
and said that they wished to vote for me ; that they
thought reform would do a deal of good ; but
Squire So-and-so, their landlord, was the other
way, and they must turn out, having no lease, if
they voted for me. (Hear, hear.) They hoped I
should help to give them the ballot if I went to
Parliament. (Hear, hear.) I then began to think
a good deal about the ballot. I began to think that
if it was only to protect one man in the county of
Somerset it was worthy of being passed. From
that time to this I have voted for the ballot, and I
need not tell you that. I shall vote for it again. (Ap-
plause.) The wider the range of the constituencies
--the larger the number of electors in this great
country—the more pressing will be the influence
brought to bear upon them, the more necessary will
be the vote by ballot. (Hear.) Another point in
your resolution is that the duration of Parliament
shall not exceed three years. Gentlemen, there I
am pledged again ; I have voted for that motion.
It is not a new question. By the former law the
Parliaments of England were only three years in
duration; but at a certain period, whether it was
thought that the Parliament to be elected in the
place of that to be dissolved would not be so
agreeable to the Ministry, or so subservient to
them as the Parliament then in office, I cannot
say—but, having a majority, they extended the
period of sitting to sex-en 30f ear an,
rd so it has been
ever since. The old lawnl artf was for a
3 hd
three years' Parliament. Certainly the opponents
of triennial Parliaments say that for the last 40 or
60 years Parliaments have been dissolved on an
three years, so that it makes little
average every
difference; still I shall vote for triennial Parlia-
ments, as I have done before. (Hear, hear.) The
subject of redistribution of seats is a difficult ques-
tion. I speak for myself—l should be very sorry
for Bridgewater to lose its members, or even one
member. No doubt, the few must give way to the
many ; and if some great national measure is ab-
solutely necessary to be wit
carried, h the loss of a
member for Bridgwater, why I suppose we must
submit to what, in my opinion, would be a dreadful
occurrence. (Hear, hear.) I cannot, and will not,
say more than this—l will give my best attention
to the subject. Having the interest of Bridgwater
at heart more than that of any other constituency,
I should not like to give any pledge on that sub-
ject, which I think has been very wisely omitted
from the resolution. What the Reform Bills to
come may be no one yet knows. We are told that
Lord Derby, as Prime Minister of England, has a
Bill, if not cut and dried, cutting and drying—
(laughter)—at all events, we shall know in a few
-weeks. Mr. John Bright, we know, is preparing
another ; that also is floating about, not quite set-
tled as to what it is to be. They are both very