The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-29 00:00:00

A VOICE—But we came to hear your opinions.

Mr. LEWIS—They were invited to listen to the
opinions that might be expressed at the meeting,
not to express any opinions of their own ; but he
ventured to say that no reason had been pointed out
why he should not have been intrusted with the re-
presentation of the borough, and if they had trusted
him originally, he thought they had still greater
reason for continuing their confidence in him. (Hear,
hear.) He would therefore claim their trust and con-
fidence, and he had every reason to believe he would
retain it. (Hear, hear.) He would, however, retain it,
not by truckling to any body or to any party, but by
holding to his own opinions, and by honestly and fear-
lessly asserting them. (Hear, hear.) He could say,
with all sincerity, that the greatest feeling of pleasure
which he experienced as member for the borough
was derived from the fact that, not only at that
meeting, but in the House of Commons, in the face
of all England, he could state that he was the free
and unfettered representative of Marylebone—
(hear)—that he was never asked any questions, or
obliged to give any pledges as to what measures he
would support. He hoped he should continue to
be independent, and if he were prevented from doing
so they had better discharge him at once. He at-
tended that meeting with his colleague to hear the
views of his constituents upon the question of Reform,
and he confessed he did not understand why they
should be talked at by some of the speakers as if they
were not Reformers. If they looked at the division
lists of the last session they would find that he and
his colleage voted in favour of the bill introduced
by the Government. (Hear.) They did so because
they believed a Reform Bill necessary, and they
were still of the same opinion. (Hear.) He was
not going to pledge himself, and he never would
pledge himself to any particular course of action.
If he did so he should at once sacrifice the indepen-
dent position of which he was so proud ; and if he
was called upon to sacrifice it he should cease to
be their representative. (Hear, hear.) He sought
their suffrages as a Reformer, and if they looked
back to the votes which he had recorded they would
find he had always supported every measure of Re-
form that had been introduced into the house. He
was just as anxious now for Reform as he had
always been, but would not pledge himself to sup-
port any particular measure. He hoped that his
conduct in the past would be accepted as a gua-
rantee for the future, and with this assurance he
trusted they would be satisfied. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. CHAMBERS, M.P., next addressed the meet-
ing. He said he would endorse all that had been
said by his colleague, but inasmuch as he had no
previous connection with the borough, he could not
point to his former conduct as a guarantee for the
future. He would, however, repeat what he stated
on the hustings—that he was prepared to support
the most liberal measure of reform that any Liberal
Government brought forward. He thought that was
a more practical way of dealing with the question
than if he had given a definite pledge as to what
particular sort of a bill he should vote for. (Hear.)
When he failed to do that, then it would be their
duty to call him to account. (Hear, hear.)

A vote of thanks was then passed to the hon.
members for their attendance at the meeting and
the explanations they had given, and after the usual
vote of thanks to the chairman, the proceedings ter-
minated.

TILE " SPECTATOR," remarking upon the late
thaw, and observing that Thursday and Friday in par-
ticular were for the season warm, facetiously adds :—lt is
reported, indeed, that on Friday the sun_ was seen by A
policeman in the Strand, but this requires confulnati"'