The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-16 00:00:00

REFORM -MEETING IN FINSB URY.

Last night a large public meeting was held ih
Cowper-street, City-road, convened' at the instance
of the Political Reform League, whose charter, as
sketched by . themselves, contains four points—
namely, registered manhood suffrage, vote by
ballot, triennial Parliaments, and a more equal ar-
rangement of electoral districts. There might be
between 400 and 500 people, chiefly working men,
present, and that at least three-fourths of them
were non-electors was proved by a show of hands
called for in the course of the evening with the
view to test the relative members present of the
franchised and the unenfranchised. Several women
were among the audience. The meeting was sup-
posed to be of the inhabitants of the Tower Ham-
, lets, but we believe the place in which it was held
is locally situated within the borough of Finsbury.
Mr. Hows, a member of the Metropolitan Board of
Works, acted as chairman ; Mr. Digby Seymour,
the Recorder of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Mr. E.
Jones, were among the principal speakers, and the
proceedings lasted from 8 o'clock until after 11.
Mr. NEWCROFT, a working man, moved the first
resolution, in which it was contended that the time
had come when the franchise should be extended so
as to include every man of the age of 21 years, of
sound mind and not undergoing punishment for
crime, and that it would be highly unjust to the
great body of the unenfranchised to introduce into
Parliament a Reform Bill in which the constitu-
tional right of a man to the suffrage should not be
fully recognised, while no increase of the suffrage
would be satisfactory unless accompanied by the
ballot. He complained that in this age of steam,
railways, and electric telegraphs the working
classes made no corresponding progress ; and
the reason he assigned was that the whole of
the political power of thecountry was in the hands
of one class, who had used it for their own special
advantage and to the detriment of those beneath
them in the social scale. Everything, he added, im-
proved in this country except the people, and they
were constantly deteriorating. There was a deal of
maudlin feeling about juvenile crime nowadays, but
he contended that it was poverty which made juve-
nile criminals, and that poverty was the result of
oppressive taxation, brought about by class legisla-
tion. If all men had equal political rights the laws
would be made for the benefit of the whole commu-
nity instead of for the few. The result would be not
to pull down the rich, but to lift up the poor.
The re blution was seconded by Mr. BRADLAUGH,
a very young man, in a speech which was frequently
cheered, and in which lie inveighed against class
legislation and contended for manhood suffrage and
the ballot. "
Mr. DIGBY SEYMOUR then addressed the meet-
ing. He had always felt, he said, that there was
something noble in the longsuffering endurance of
the unrepresented and un enfranchised people of this
country ; and he hoped the same nobility of soul
which had enabled that part of his countrymen to
bear their wrongs with calm submission, and occa-
sionally with indignant remonstrance, would cha-
racterise them still. The leading journal the ether
day asked, " What did they want with a Reform
Bill? Would it lessen, for instance,the expenditure
on foreign wars, or cause the country to build
fewer harbours of refuge ?" The Times would have
the country believe it would not ; but he would ask
the writer in the Times who paid the great bulk of
the taxes in the country—did not the incidence of
taxation fall mostly on the- great body of the la-
bouring classes, and did not he think that if the
toiling millions were allowed a little more voice in
the legislation of the country their po'der would be
felt in reforming so anomalous a state .of things ?
Whose blood was it that was shed at the Alma and
Inkerm in, and beneath the walls of Sebastopol ?
I Who manned our ships of War but the brothers
and sons of those who had as yet been denied the
right of voting ? (Cheers.) He believed that
when the 'limes, or any.other paper, pointed to the
apathy alleged to exist in the country in reference
to reform, it mistook for apathy what was really a
feeling of universal consent, and that it would be
difficult to find a :man throughout the whole of
England who was not desirous of seeing some re-
form or other brought about in our existing repre-
sentative system. He held that it was to patrician
and aristocratic influence and to the growth of
Whig families that the country was indebted for
the present state of the electoral laws. Mr. Sey-
mour then proceeded to unfold a scheme of Parlia-
mentary Reform of his own, in which—leaving the
county representation to be dealt with by Mr. L.
King—he laid down as a cardinal point, that no
borough ought to send a member to Parliament
that had less than 7,000 inhabitants. The result of
that, he said, would be to disfranchise 42 boroughs,
beginning with Abingdon and ending with Wells.
(A laugh,) As a previous speaker had cracked a
joke at the expanse of Sir W. Hayter, the present
member for Wells, he (Mr. Seymour) must treat
them to a parody he had made oifihe song 'of
" Kate Kearney":—

Oh, have you not heard of Will Hayter,
Of new members the clever creator ?
Of the stroke of his pen
Have a care, honest men,
There's a charm in the quill of Will Hayter.
(A laugh.)
From his smile so bewitchino;ly beaming
You'd ne'er think of mischief he's dreaming;
But oh, who can tell
How potent the spell
Of a telegraphic message from Hayter ?
We may call ourselves Radical freemen,
But what cares he for you or for me, men ;
If you can send back,
A good Treasury hack,
That is all that concerns Will Hayter.

........... .._ .
(Laughter.)
lie described his plan of Reform morein detail, the
general result of which was to allot 333 members
in the whole to the boroughs, as against 158, the
present number of county representatives, and
nine new county members, making the total num-
ber of representatives to the House of Commons
500; and he contended that if they could get 333
members in the way he had proposed they might
defy the whole power of the aristocracy. lie would
have a residential qualification of not less than 12
months' duration, and associated with registration ;
but excluding persons subject to any legal dis-
ability or who could not read or write. (" Oh,
oh !" and disapprobation.) He would also exc Ilde
all persons convicted of felony, and persons who
within 12 months preceding the claim to vote had
bocroeenenchlicilioddnerNediebt:d off aggravatedd assaults up( n worn 'n
classes to rally callingr orounr e workingstandardof
the an dPolitical middle
du
ontnkh eetnhn es , . ('0 h , oh !' ). H e
that it was not for them them,
Reform League ; telling
pi. 0 v ao. t
theirthe sameright
s, time,hnt
for those who had dailreendiatiooodfetphrive them of those
rights to defend the
T liea,by Mr. Pass-
The motion, whic,:, was supportedem. (Cheers.)
11101 e Edwards and Mr.
waswitiirleviriecth ti‘hiar.
re.dENßVisthEosTll t
sat:
::,5 s dissentient.said
it 3, was then put a id
• carried
he differed from many of the sentiments