The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-06 00:00:00

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exactly with any programme that he had yet seen
offered to the public by any existing association.
He took that opportunity of making some remarks
in. reference to observations that had been made on
the speeches delivered to his constituents at Bir-
mingham. He understood that certain friends of
the present Government thought he had treated
them with less than fairness. But it had always
been his policy to give to every Government a fair
trial, and if at the end of that trial he had been
otliged to condemn he attributed it to the faults of
the Government rather than to any severity of jus-
twe or judgment on his part. (Hear, hear.) They
had no measure of reform from the present Govern-
:l.l:m.... .hem, and he thought he was therefore
Justified in warning Reformers against putting their
eeting
trust in them, especially as they had unfortunately
been all their lives divided from them.
Some further discussion took place, after which

PRICE 4D• STAMPED, SD.

fair distribution of seats. He would say to his
hon. friend, " Go as far as you can in lowering the
franchise ; you can't go too far for me "—(hc
but the great difficulty they had to conquer would
be the proper distribution of seats. They had
already heard a gentleman express an opinion that
there should be a combination of boroughs. Now,
he knew that that would be the most mischievous
thing that could be entered upon. A combination
of boroughs meant this,—say there were half-a-
dozen of them, every man who came forward must
have half-a-dozen agents, half-a-dozen committees,
and he ought to have half-a-dozen breeches pockets.
(Laughter.) They must so distribute the seats that
all members must represent as nearly as possible an
equal number of people. He did not, in con-
fiding to
,Mr. Bright the task of drawing up
this bill, subscribe to all his opinions. He
differed from him in many things, but he had
that confidence in his hon. friend's ability, pro-
bity, and honour that he believed no man was more
deserving of the confidence which it was proposed
to plase in him. There were matters in which he
would not take his judgment, but in this matter
he had perfect confidence in him, and he believed
that all his friends would go with him when he
proposed that Mr. Bright should be requested to
draw up the Bill. (Loud cheers.)
Mr. MIALL seconded the motion, and expressed
concurrence in the opinions expressed by Mr.
Roebuck.

The resolution was then put and carried.
Mr. BRIGHT, who on rising was received with
.oud cheers, said he had been previously informed
by the committee by which these proceedings were
arranged, that it was their intention to submit
these two resolutions to the meeting, and, therefore,
he did,not come down without haring *emiiiiderid,
But he could say most truly that they placed him
in a position of extreme difilculty. 'With regard to
the first, he did not think now for the first time
that such resolution was necessary ; he had been of
opinion for a long time, but especially during the
last six months, that, if there were throughout the
country as strong a desire for reform as they
believed there was,—if reformers were as numerous
as they supposed,—if their case was as good as
they believed it to be, that it was desirable at
length that a Bill proceeding from the reformers
themselves, from earnest reformers, should be
placed before Parliament and the country. He
thought they had had sufficient experience to prove
that statesmen who had been touching the question
during the last few years had a very inadequate
notion of that which was wanted, and of that
which was necessary really to improve the repre-
sentation, of the people in the House of Commons.
He had never for a moment suspected that the last
two Bills that were introduced were introduced with
anything like a dishonest feeling towards the ques-
tion and towards the country. He believed with re-
gard to the last, which was introduced in the begin-
ning of the year 1854 by Lord John Russell as a
member of Lord Aberdeen's Administration, in fulfil-
men tof a pledge previously given that he would intro-
duce a measure of that nature, he believed if the truth
were known that he had very lukewarm support
from his colleagues in the Cabinet, and that the
political party of which he was then supposed to
be the chief did not much sympathise with him in
his propositions. He had been fettered, as every
man of his education, position, and class in this
country must be fettered—he had been fettered by
the great consideration—" How should he give to
the people of England the full and fair representa-
tion to which they were entitled, and at the same
time preserve intact, unbroken, and unimpaired the
vast power, if not absolute supremacy, of the here-
ditary peerage ?" (Hear.) He (Mr. Bright) was
willing to confess that, unless the people of Eng-
land became less liberal, or the hereditary peerage
more liberal, he did not see how that object could
be accomplished; for he thought so far as they were
called upon to act they must act under the impres-
sion that the people of England would not become
less liberal, that they were entitled to exercise a
greater power in the Legislature of the country,
and they must hope that, whatever changes might
be made in the House of Commons, the hereditary
peerage would learn from what was passing in the
country that it not only could but must make
greater steps forward in accordance with public
opinion than it had shown a disposition to do for
many years past. With regard to the second reso-
lution, for it was in that one that he was more par-
ticularly interested, he confessed that he had been
thinking of it for the last two or three days, not only
every hour but almost every moment. He knew the
tremendous responsibility it imposed upon him if
he accepted the charge they so kindly wished to
intrust to him. He had no pretensions whatever
either to lead the popular party out of doors, or to
act as a leader in the House of Commons. He had
never made any pretensions whatever to such a cha-
racter, for he knew how much in many respects his
disposition unfitted him for such a place. No man
could lead a political party long or successfully who
was not very pliant and supple—(a laugh)--though
he might be able in some sense or other to follow
the party. They knew he had not been very pliant.
(Hear, hear.) He had always endeavoured to fol-
low what he thought right in all cases that came
under his consideration, but he hoped he was not
unwilling, and he should not be unwilling, on that
question with which he was more directly con-
nected, to make whatever concessions were reason-
able and necessary to promote the object that they
had in view. The difficulties, however, were greater
than those who had but little knowledge of the
House of Commons would think. Members of Par-
liament were like other people and differed upon
every question that came before them, and they were
not free from those jealousies which sometimes
af-
fected minds not constitutionally dishonest, but pre-
vented them from giving that cordial co-operation
which was necessary for the attainment of a great
end. There were many who would not approve the
choice made by that meeting of the person to take
charge of this measure of reform, and would say
with reason that it was presumption in him to
accept the task ; but he could not but think that
whatever might be the bill that they promoted, and
whatever measure ultimately passed, they must en-
deavour rather to meet the general opinion then to
seek a permanent settlement of the question. Upon
the question of the suffrage and the allotment of
seats, whatever might be the provisions of a mea-
sure of reform, so many opinions were entertained
that it would be vain to hope that any measure
could be passed to which plausible objections would
not be advanced. These difficulties would be en-
countered
by any person in framing and conducting
a Reform Bill, and therefore the task, hard enough
for a Minister with a majority at his back, for a
private or independent member, with no following
and no power and patronage, no advantage to offer
to the wavering, and who could promise nothing
to those whom he asked to co-operate with him,
the difficulties were almost insurmountable. They
were none of them, in proposing this course, afraid
of the great body of the people. The man who
believed that a vote was a dangerous weapon had
made but very little progress in the study of reform.
When a man had no vote he looked for the enforce-
ment of his views by violence, but give him the
vote and physical remedies were entirely forgotten
by him. (Hear, hear.) It appeared as though he
at once lost all power of doing evil and looked for
the future only to the moral and constitutional
weapon—the fianchise. Therefore, in taking the
course he was now taking he should not be actuated
by any fear of any possible extension of the suffrage.
It was not looking fairly at the difficulty to say tha. t
if you offer one man a vote every man would be m
their favour. Let them bear in mind that they
lived in a country where till now it had been but
a dream with the working man that he could have
a vote at all. (Cheers.) They had a great House
as hereditary legislators possessing vast property
all over the United Kingdom. In the House of
Commons they had the sons, brothers, and nominees
of those hereditary legislators, and in the press they
had a large number of newspapers which appeared
to exist but to support the dominant party, and oc-
casionally doing a little for the public. And among
the public they had great merchants, wealth
bankers, professional men who had been taught to
believe that it was pernicious and hazardous to
their position that political power should be
spread with any degree of fairness among all classes
of the people. (Cheers.) In framing a Reform
Bill and in taking the necessary steps to carry it
out, they must take into considration not that class
only that had never yet been able to obtain poli-
tical power for itself, but they must also take into
consideration all existing opinions, from the most
timid and even the most retrograde to the most
advanced and even most reckless. And it was by
endeavouring to get all they could get, by invoking
all the power to help them that they could command,
that they would be able to propose to Parliament and
to the country any great and satisfactory measure
of reform with any chance of its passing into
law. He thought the proposition to frame a bill
founded upon the principles laid down in the circu-
lar a good one, and he could not therefore refuse
the onerous duty of preparing a measure and con-
ducting its progress through. Parliament; but he
must not be understood to undertake the framing
of a measure which should in all its details coincide