The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-11 00:00:00

rflE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 11, 1858.

MESSRS. GIBSON- AND BRIGHT AT

MANCHESTER.

MANCHESTER, FRIDAY NIGHT.

This evening a soiree has been given to the
Right Hon. T. M. Gibson, M.P. for Ashton-under-
Lyne, and Mr. John Bright, M.P. for Birmingham,
" for the purpose," in the terms of the announce-
ment issued by the committee who have conducted
the arrangements, "of congratulating the hon.
member for Birmingham on his restoration to
health ; to celebrate the return of himself and his
late colleague (the Right Hon. T. M. Gibson) to
Parliament for the boroughs of Birmingham and
Ashton ; and to thank them for their patriotic
conduct during the last session of Parliament, as
well as for their long and faithfulservices as repre-
sentatives for this city." The soiree was appro-
priately held in the magnificent Free Trade Hall,
erected to commemorate the triumphs of the Anti-
Corn Law League, to which both the hon. gentle-
men so materially contributed. The soiree derived
its chief interest from the fact that it was the first
occasion on which the two ex-members for Man-
chester have appeared here in public since their
rejection by this constituency. The doors were
opened at 5 o'clock, and the ladies and gentlemen
who had obtained tickets, after partaking of tea,
coffee, and other refreshments which had been
provided in the ante•rooms, proceeded to take their
seats in the great hall, which soon filled rapidly
with an eager and excited concourse of both sexes.
Shouts of applause greeted the arrival of the prin-
cipal persons, who successively took up their posi-
tion on the platform. When the two ex-represen-
tatives of Manchester were expected to make their
appearance, the grand "organ gave out a sonorous
welcome in the familiar notes of " Auld Lang
By a spontaneous, and as it were electric
impulse, the huge gathering caught up the touch-
ing strain, and, thrilling with enthusiasm, as
Messrs. Gibson and Bright entered the arena of
their former triumphs, stood up simultaneously
and accorded them a vehement, prolonged,
and deafening reception. The heroes of this
ovation, though evidently struggling to re-
Press their emotion, were visibly affected by
the demonstration of feeling of which they were
the objects. Mr. G. Wilson, the well-known Pre-
sident of the League of former days, presided on
this occasion, and on his right sat Mr. Bright, and
Mr. Gibson on his left.
The following letters, from Lord J. Russell,M.P.,
Mr. Cobden, Mr. C. P. Villiers, M.P., and Mr. L.
Xing, M.P., apologizing for their inability to
attend the meeting, were then read :

" Pembroke-lodge, Richmond, Nov. 27, 1858.
" beg you will express to the committee who have
been appointed to make arrangements for the soiree to Mr.
M. Gibson and Mr. Bright my regret that it will not be in
fIY power to attend as a guest on that occasion.—l have
the honour to be, your faithful servant,
" J. RUSSELL."

" Midhurst, Dec. 4.

"My dear Wilson,—Your letters ought to have been
answered long ago, but it is a task which I should still like
to put off, for it does seem unnatural to send any but the
old familiar answer. But, with a word or two of explana-
,tion, I must throw myself on the kind forbearance of my
mends. After the last election, as you know, I came to
the resolution of withdrawing, for a time, from public life.
1 did so in'no spirit of resentment, and from no sense of
grievance at not having been returned to Parliament. I had
no such feelings. But finding myself, for the first time for
nearly 20 years, free to choose, other responsibilities pressed
upon me ; I felt that a life of incessant political action had
involved no little neglect of duty (some of it, I fear, irre-
Parable), towards those to whom nature had given the first
claims on my time and attention. I therefore stated pub-
licly my intention to claim, for a season, the privileges and
inununities of private life. The announcement, however,
seems to have been viewed as very much on a par with
the coy utterance of nolo episcopari; for I have continued
to receive the usual invitations to public meetings, and
scarcely a vacancy has since occurred for any boroughs
for which I have not been solicited by parties, with
/tore or less authority (often with very little, I dare say),
to become a candidate. And this brings me to the point I
'Wish you to be good enough to consider. If I were to at-
tend the banquet to be given to our friends, Bright and
Gibson, in Manchester (and who can doubt that I should
have been glad to do so ?) without being prepared to resume
the duties of public life (which at present I am not), I fear
I should not only falsify my past pleas and excuses, -but be
Unable with consistency, to decline other invitations,
several of which have been forwarded to me in anticipation
of my visit to Manchester. Let me then entreat you, and
4_1113' kind friends of the committee, not to put painful temp-
tations in my way. I shall be with you in spirit at your
great gathering. The object you have in view, that of ex-
tending the sphere of liberty, will always have my hearty
sYnipathy. It would be strange, indeed, if you and I had
not faith in freedom, after having seen, in one path of
,htunan progress, that freedom, and literally nothing but
-Qreedom, has yielded a greater amount of prosperity and.
,eententment than could have been conferred on this coun-
FY by a whole volume of acts of Parliament. I have faith
ut freedom, not only in its application to trade, but to all
the pursuits and interests of humanity. Let us cherish
alike liberty to speak, to write, to worship, and last, though
/tot least, liberty to vote. Wishing you, what I know awaits
You, a great and happy meeting, believe me, yours truly,
"George Wilson, Esq. " RICHARD COBDEN. '

" 39, Sloane-street, London, Dec. 4.
" Aly dear Sir,—l beg to acknowledge the receipt of an
been
which, on the part of the committee, you have
"eetL goodenough to send me, to attend the soirecto Messrs.
Gibson and Bright, which will take place at the Free Trade
1411, in Manchester,on the 10th inst. and I have to regret
that the present state of my health will prevent my having
the pleasure of attending on the occasion. With every wish
that the meeting may be attended with advantage to the
cause of reform, I remain, my dear sir, very faithfully yours,
" George Wilson, Esq. 106‘ C. P. VILLIERS?'

" Woburn-rtark. Chertsey, Nov. 25.
" Dear Sir,--I regret very much that it will not be in
1117 Power to be present at the soiree to be given to Messrs.
Gibson and Bright. I am, indeed, glad to see that the
constituency of Manchester has come to its senses, and pro-
Poses magnanimously to make the only anzende in its
Power by offering, in the handsomest manner, a public dis-
avowal of its ungenerous conduct on a late occasion ,when,
'without even an excuse, Manchester rejected the disinte-
rested services of her late members.—l have the honour to
De) Your most obedient servant,
" P. J. LOCKE KING."
" George Wilson, Esq.

It was stated that letters had also been received
froth the following gentlemen, regretting their
inability to attend :—Mr. J. A. Roebuck, M.P. ;
Mr. A. H. Layard ; Mr. W. J. Fox, M.P. ; Mr.
Williams; M.P. ; General Thompson, M.P. ; Mr.
J. L. Ricardo, M.P„. Mr. H. Pease, M.P. ; Mr. W.
litrart, M.P.; Mr. W. S. Lindsay, M.P. ; Mr. C.
Gilpin, M.P, •, Mr. C. Foster, M.P. • Mr. J. White,
M.P. ; Mr. E. Miall, Mr. R. Gladstone •, Sir J.
Paxton, M.P. ; Mr. J. Heywood, Mr. F. Crossley,
M•P.; Mr. J. Locke, M.P.; Sir A. H. Elton, M.P.;
S. Beale, M.P. ; Mr. H. Woods, M P. •, Mr. J,
eheetham, M.P. ; and Mr. M. -J. Bass, M.P.

The CHAIRMAN, in opening the proceedings,
referred at some length to the circumstances under
Vhich, at the last general election, Mr. Gibson and
V. Bright were defeated by . the union of Whigs
and Conservatives, and the grief caused by the re-
sult to all true Reformers. In the adjoining
borough, a subordinate member of her Majesty's
Government—(groans)—announced to the as-
sembled people that Lord Palmerston at Broad-
Inds would hear of the degradation of Manchester.
4'_ut, now, at the end of 18 months, where were
they P The member for Salford visited his con-
stituents, and no praise of his late master formed
the staple of his speech. (Hear, hear.) No vote of
Planks rewarded him for his past services, and no
telegraphic message was sent to Broadlands an-
?,l?iincing the receipt of such a vote. (Hear, hear.)
Ile proceeded to pass a high eulogium upon Mr.
Gibson 'and Mr. Bright for their services as
Freetraaers and as Reformers, and the sentiments
expressed met with warm applause from the meeting.
The following . resolutions were moved and
seconded, and carried by acclamation
:
"That this meeting presents to John Bright, Esq., M.P.,
lte respectful and cordial congratulations on his restoration
t health, and expresses its devout gratitude that he is
ereby enabled once more to devote his great energy and
eminent abilities to the service of the people."
"That this meeting records its high satisfaction at the
return to Parliament, by important constituencies, of the
Right Hon. Thos. M. Gibson, M.P., and John Bright, Esq.,
I•P.,
and hereby tenders its warmest thanks to the electors
44)., . Birmingham and Ashton-under-Lyne, for the obligation
';..PY have conferred upon the nation by reversing a shame-
'l4,, 1 verdict, and restoring, those gentlemen to the House of
'°,lllraons."
" That this meeting expresses its admiration of the
r"uest, consistent, disinterested, and patriotic conduct of
hon, right hon. member for Ashton-under-Lyne, and the
member for Birmingham, during the whole course of
their political connexion with this city, thanks them most
'warmly for their political services on behalf of political,
rllitnercial, and religious freedom, and renews its earnest
.„.°P es that they may be long spared to labour for the ad-
a-lleement of the best interests of the British empire."
Mr. GIBSON was received with loud cheers. He
thanked
the meeting for his reception, and said he
looked with no little pride upon having been a re-
ttesentative of Manchester for 17 years, and when
e placed in his house the document now presented
his children would look upon it with pride,
and feel that he had conferred upon them an ho-
110Iir by his long representation of so great and im-
30ortant a constituency. The principles which they
trthe meeting) professed now, and had always pro-
ie,:sed, suffered no defeat at the general election of
t '57. There might be temporary clamour or momen-
tary depression, but the principles themselves were
4°linded on the rock of eternal truth. (Hear.) The
bad
passing defeat of the general election
qd but a tendency to give additional freshness and
to the supporters of those principles. (Ap.
h au.se.) The chairman had spoken cf him as having
a,l been originally connected with the landed interest,
4 he was still connected with it. He contended
at all interests were identical since the passing
()r
°f the
great measure of free trade, and the adoption
cue policy of commercial freedom ; and he believed
thatt_ no man ever served the landed interest better
faellsin he who promoted the prosperity of the mann-
aepring interests. He had been reading speeches
fouivered in various parts of the kingdom, and he
wilouln d on? to-day delivered by a gentleman with
this constituency were once invited to form

an intimate alliance—he alluded to the Right Hon.
R. Lowe. (Hatt and laughter.) The right hon.
gentleman made an observation in his speech that
was not very encouraging to the reader. He said
that he was at a loss to express an opinion upon the
present state of public affairs., (Laughter.) That he
knew nothing ; that he could conjecture nothing—
(continued laughtar)—and that he was not much
more ignorant than the rest of his fellow-country-
men. (Laughter.) But Mr. Lowe, notwithstanding,
expressed one very confident opinion—he was sure,
he said, that nobody wanted reform—(laughter) ;
that universal apathy prevailed, and that there was
indifference among all classes of society into which
he entered as to the proposals that had been made
to reform the representation of the people. (Laugh-
ter.) When apathy was talked of, he wanted to
know what it was expected that people were to do.
(Hear, hear.) A man had an opinion, and he was
prepared to give proof of that opinion by his vote
at an election, by his attending public meetings, by
his sympathising as best he could with the cause ;
but the people of England were a business people;
they had their daily. occupations. Men could not
be constantly leaving their daily avocations
for the purpose of promotiog political mea-
sures, and it did not follow that they must be-sin-
cerely desirous for changes that were proposed
and that their opinions might not be deeply
founded. (Applause.) But he wanted to know, if
there was all this apathy, what was the meaning of
there being so many volunteers to reform the re-
presentation of the people in high places. He never
knew before that ardour for reform prevailed among
the Prime Ministers of England—of all parties,
Whig, Conservative, and Peelite. Lord Derby pro-
posed a Reform Bill, Lord Palmerston was going to
propose a Reform Bill, only it was not ready when
he retired from office. (Laughter.) Lord John Rus-
sell he believed to be sincerely desirous. to promote
Parliamentary reform. (Hear.) They had Lord
Derby, about to reform the representation of the
people, and yet to say that nobody wanted reform.
The fact was that these men had the sagacity to
see that the country required reform—(hear, hear)
—they were bidding against each other to give What
they plainly see is' the obvious demand of the great
body of the people of this country. (Applause,)
But why was reform especially wanted? One rea-
son was that the country did not possess, with the
present Heim of Commons, an effective control over
the public expenditure. (Hear.) Reform was to
enable the people of England to do this • that the
country should not be involved in secret diplomacy,
of which the people knew nothing, by arrangements
made between foreign powers and Ministers of
State, in wars and expenditure which it was after-
wards found impossible to curtail or control. At
this moment the expenditure of England was, to his
mind, appalling; it could not, and he was certain
would not be permitted by a Parliament that really
represented the feelings and wishes of the great
body of the people. (Hear, hear.) He believed the
reason--vas-that, up to the present time, the people
had not been in possession of the knowledge and
information requisite to form opinions upon public
expenditure ; but that under an extended suffrage,
and with a cheap and free press circulating politi-
cal and all other knowledge among the great body
of the people, a future Parliament would be able to
exercise that effective control over the expenditure
of the country which, up to the present moment,
had not been accomplished. (Applause.)
Mr. BRIGHT then stood forward to address the
meeting, and was received with the most vocifer-
ous cheering, accompanied with the waving of hats
and handkerchiefs ; the tumult of enthusiasm
lasted for several minutes. Silence having been
restored the hon. gentleman spoke as follows :
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen,—l -cannot tell you
how much I rejoice in being permitted to meet so
large a number of those whom I may describe as illy
old and dear friends in the political cause. fear,
however, that the reception which you have granted
to me to-night, and which you have but this instant
given to me, is calculated in some degree to disturb
the balance of the mind, and to interfere with that
calm judgment which is demanded by the circum-
stances under which we have met together, and by
the gravity of that great question which is now
being discussed in every part of the united king-
dom. I know not whether there are persons who
will look upon this meeting in the light of the
commemoration of a defeat which we have sus-
tained ; to us it wears more the aspect of the cele-
bration of some great success; and may we not say
that we are successful—that, notwithstanding the
vicissitudes which wait upon the career of public
men and the progress of public questions of a free
country, we find, as we look back over a term of
hears, that those beneficent principles which we
ave so often expounded and defended on this
ground are constantly making advances anti acquir-
ing more and more influence over the minds of all
our countrymen. Forty years ago the spot where
we are now assembled became famous—thousands
of the population of Manchester and its neighbour-
hood gathered here, not in this magnificent hall,
but Under the wide canopy of heaven • they met
only to plead with the ministry and Parliament of
that day that they may be permitted some share in
the government of their country, and that they
might be permitted further to possess that natural
right which one would think no man -would
ever deny to another, namely, the right of
disposing of the produce of his labour in the
open market of the world in purchase for his daily
bread. That meeting was dispersed by the rude.
arm of military power. The tragedy of that day
proved at once the tyranny and brutality of the
Government and the helplessness and humiliation
of the people. (Hear, hear.) Now, you have seen
a Ministry representing and supported by the poli-
tical party which committed that iniquity voting
in the House of Commons, in favour of a resolution
which declared that the repeal of the corn laws has
been a great blessing to this country ; and after
having 26 years ago obtained one instalment of
reform, you have now the amazing spectacle of a
Ministry, representing and supported by that same
political party, engaged at this very hour in the
arrangement of the clauses of another bill which
will still further extend the political rights of the
great mass of the population,of the country. (Loud
cheers.) Seeing this, then, who would despair ?
Since I have been able to think maturely upon
public questions—since I have been able and have
been perniitted to open my mouth in these the pub-
lic councils of my countrymen, I have never for one
moment despaired; and when I look around me
and see this magnificent—l will say this powerful
assembly—(cheers)—my hopes and my faith are
confirmed, and I gather fresh strength for what-
ever struggles I may have to encounter. (Loud
cheers.) My friend Mr. Gibson has in his speech
steered clear, to a great extent—l may, perhaps,
say entirely—of the details connected with the
question of Parliamentary Reform. I think at this
moment, wherever men assemble to discuss political
questions, it would be a great misfortune if some
one present did not go into some of the details con-
nected with the question of Reform, and perhaps
in the peculiar position in which I now stand with
regard to it you will not expect that I should leave
the subjected untouched. (Cheers-) Now, let us
recollect that whatever is said upon this question
will meet much hostile criticism from persons
who are not at present with us. You know that a
few weeks ago I addressed large audiences of my
constituents in Birmingham on this important sub-
ject, and you are aware to what kind of hostile
criticism those speeches have been subjected. It is
not in human wisdom to make speeches to please
everybody—(laughter and cheers)—ond it is not in
human wisdom to attempt to do it. (Renewed
laughter and cheering.) I shall take the course of
addressing myself to that subject according to the
light I have with regard to it from great study,
from much consultation with others, and from an
honest wish I have that the question of reform
should be rightly viewed by every intelligent man
among my countrymen. Now, we wilkvmeednotnio,tn p-
pose
three things that we do not want.
pose in the smallest degree to call in question or to
limit the prerogatives of the Crown. I believe we are
prepared to say that if the throne of England (and
we hope that it may be so) be filled with so m
dignity and so much purity as we have known it to
be in our time, and as we know it now to be—
(cheers)—we hope that the venerable monarchy of
England may be perpetual. We do not propose
even to discuss, much less to limit, the legal and
constitutional privileges or prerogatives of the
House of Peers. We know, everybody
knows, no-
body knows it better than the Peers, that a House
of hereditary legislation cannot be a permanent in-
stitution in afree country—(cheers)—for we believe
that such an institution must, in the lapse of time,
require essential modification. Last year or the
year before the Queen herself proposed to nominate
persons to life peerages. That was deemed a vital
change by the present members of the House of
Lords, and in a manner that was not gracious to the
Sovereign or respectful to the nation they almost
insolently rejected the attempt of the Crown and its
Ministers to introduce into that Chamber a member
whose peerage would exist only during his life.
We don't want to discuss that question now. We
want to discuss that question which is immediately
before the country, and which the Government
has brought before the country—for we did not
take the initiative on this occasion—a question,
moreover, in which we are deeply and closely in-
terested. The House of Commons is so called, I
presume, because it is understood and intended to
represent all those portions of the vast majority of
the people who are not included in the privileged
and titled classes. The Constitution, if I know
anything about it, intends that the house should
fairly, openly, "and widely represent all the great
interests of our wilt population, who are called
upon to obey the !legislation which is mainly

enacted by that house. Now, 1 wish to ask you
this simple question—Do you believe after exa-
mining the figures which have been placed before
you for months and for years past, that the House
of Commons does at present fulfil honestly its in-
tended place in the representation in thus being
the organ and the expression of the opinion of all
classes of the population of Great Britain and Ire-
land ? (Cries of " No, no.") You may have a shadoW
and a form of representation as of anything else.
You know very well that you may have gorgeous
temples, and you may have, in wonderful ostenta-
tion, all the outward symbols of religion, and yet-
there may be wholly wanting the life of Chris-
tianity itself ; and you may have a million or more
of electors, you may have canvassing and nomina-
tions, and polls and returns, and a house of legisla-
tion, and speeches, and contentions of parties, and
divisions, and laws enacted, and yet there
may be only the form of representation, and
its life and spirit and reality may be altogether
absent. (Cheers.) All this we had previously to
1832, yet nobody says now that we had a repre-
sentation before that time. All these things, or
nearly all of them, existed in France previously to
1848. A great deal of it exists there at this moment,
and yet there is a general impression that repre-
sentation is not free there, as there is a general be-
lief, a knowledge, that it was not free here pre-
vious to the passing of the Reform Act. I should
like to put in as few words as I can what we think
the House of Commons should be. It should be a
house composed of men sent up by the free election
of so many of the people voting with such an
equality of power as shall give a real expression of
the opinions of the nation. If anybody says that
we are for levelling doctrines, and that we intend
to have a President instead of a Queen—which is
a favourite theory with some people—you, at least,
will not believe them. And I ask them to read
again, if they choose to read once that they may
not misrepresent, what I am now proposing.
Now, what is the English constitution P—l never
saw it. (Laughter.) I never heard of anybody
who had handled it. It is not, in very words, in
any book; but there is, notwithstanding, some-
thing which we all understand in the British Con-
stitution. It is not a think meant entirely for the
Crown. The Crown has its limits by act of Parlia-
ment and by custom. Nor is it intended entirely
for a hereditary Peerage. The House of Lords
has its prerogatives and its privileges well defined;
but the Constitution does not confine itself to caring
for the Monarch on the throne or the Peer in his
gilded chamber. The Constitution regards the
Commons as well. It regards you and me and all
the people of the United Kingdom, and it professes
to take within its pale all these populations and
these interests, and to give to them as complete a
shelter and, as complete a voice as it gives to the
Queen or to the Peerage. (Cheers.) But if you
want the House of Commons elected by so many of
the people as shall give a fair expression of the
people's wishes, can any living man say that it is
so when five out of every six of all the men he will
meet, if he traverses every county from John
o'Groat's to Land's End—from Cape Clear to the
Giant's Causeway--have no more votes at the poll
for a member of Parliament than if they lived in
South America or South Africa ? They have no-
thing whatever to do with it except to look on,
or sometimes to hold up their hands, and some-
times to shout for one candidate or the other, but
if you think it necessary that your members
should be elected by some fair number of votes,
that votes should be given with something like
an equality of power—how far are you from
this when Commons,
hear that 330 members of the
'House of Commons, more than one-half of the
whole number, are returned by less than one-sixth
of that very small number of persons to whom the
franchise is intrusted ? You give votes to a million
out of six millions, and you alloi,v one-half
the House of Commons to be elected by less than
200,000 of those electors. Then, if bribery be
somewhat common, and if intimidation, whenever
it can be practised, is almost universal, how can
you eome to the conclusion that there is any real
freedom of election whatsoever when you survey
the whole representation of the counties and
boroughs of the kingdom ? Now, I will ask your
attention for a moment to the counties. They, as
you know, return their members by votes chiefly of
two classes--freeholders and occupiers of land or
houses of the value of £5O a-year and upwards. Of
these occupiers of £5O and upwards there are about
200,000, but of occupiers between £lO and £5O, as
I find from a return recently made to the House of
Commons, there are not less than 400,000, and by
the present law these 400,000 are entirely ignored
and excluded from the franchise, and the 200,000
being to a very large extent occupiers of land, and
for the most part without leases, are in a great
measure dependent upon the good will of their
landlords, and their votes, speaking generally, are
employed to swell the power of the great landed
proprietors at all the county elections of the king-
dom. (Cheers.) Now, Lord Derby, the present
Prime Minister, is a man who has the power of ex-
pressing very accurately what he means ; he is a
greet master of the'English language, and he once
gave us an illustration of 'what is understood in
English by the county representation. He said, if
anybody would tell him what were the politics of
three or four of the great landed proprietors of any
county, he could tell at once what were the politics
of the members for that county. (Laughter.) We
might fancy, if we did not know something of it our-
selves, that this was some conjuring trick, but it is,
in point of fact, nothing but that which we all
know—the three or four great proprietors are the
constituents of your county,and the members are the
representatives of those great proprietors. They '
have, unfortunately for us, small sympathy with
commerce, and they have never manifested—at least
for the last 60 years—any sympathy whatever with
Reform of any kind,—how should they ? They
are connected with the peerage and with the great
territorial power; the members of their families,
generally speaking, do not come into the occupa-
tions of trade ; they find employment, at least they
find salaries —(laughter)—in the military or in the
naval services or some other service of the country,
or they take shelter from the storms of life in some
snug family living in the church. (Laughter and
cheering.) I venture to say that if it were possible
to have an accurate account of the receipts and
payments of those families, and there are many
hundreds of them, I believe there are some thou-
sands who receive more in the way of emolument
and salaries of one kind or other from the public
revenues, from the 60 or 70 millions of taxes which
youpo b
io annuallyestate
,;%rr
ha ii so eh,
for o r
the fro mt
mteh
entrusted orti o n ot fo
the
e
is
established church,—l believe they receive far more
than the whole of the taxes which they annually
pay to the expenditure of the State. (Cheers.) But
'we won't find all the fault with the counties; the
boroughs are not at all in a satisfactory state. I
was looking down a list the other night beginning
—I
ht
itsheTovenia•
name,
—the largest population,
a7nldbcoormouignhgsd, down to some one which is the smallest,
forget
- -o
ofb uNtv foohu nhda
sthat there
population were o
f
10,000 persons. I think 10,000 is but one-third
the average population of one of the wards in Man-
chester. (Cheers.) The whole population of the
71 boroughs is only 467,000, which is not very
much more than the present population of Man-
' chester and Salford, and yet these 71 boroughs re-
turn 117 members to the House of Commons—(cries
of " Shame !")—while Manchester and Salford return
only three members ; but if you go a little lower,
to 8,000 as a standard, you will find not less than
54 boroughs, and their whole population is
exactly 316,000, which is precisely the popula-
tion of the city of Manchester at the census
of 1851, and these 54 boroughs return 89 mem-
bers, while Manchester returns only two. (Shame.)
Now, if Manchester and Salford, by some tradition
oJust
ttsh,7 ej pastui
members,sft
t eoe eorsros
conditionsemdi f
Manchester
accident
we
you
which
e ohti
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hftsa naooNdnm• have
assertionat
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oo itnthahhaaodt
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ua
(Cheers.)d But there is another point which you do
not fin out from the population tables, and it is
that, whereas the boroughs of Manchester and
time or
fcoalisdholyasatthaenyothliekreL acting wisely at one
(laughter)—at least
they are free to follow their own information, their
own light, their own convictions ; but these little
boroughs are not so free. Half of them, I dare
say, arc little better than what we used to describe
by the unpleasant term of " rotten." (A laugh.)
They are under influence of some kind or another
—a very small conclave indeed ; two or three
persons in a very small borough can have a great
inflence. A neighbouring landowner, some subtle
and not very scrupulous lawyer, by turning the
screw, can, if lie likes, turn the scale—(a laugh)—
but these 71 boroughs, returning 117 members, or
54 boroughs returning 89 members, are not only so
small in populatio2, but, for the most part, they
have no great pretence to any power of free elec-
tion whatsoever. I now come to the result of all
this,—that a House of Commons so formed becomes,
for the most part, as we know it is, a sort of
deputy to the House of Lords, and an organ of the.
great territorial interests of the country ; it hates
changes with an animosity that nothing can assuage,
it hates economy. Let any man propose in th,
House of Commons that there shall be a fah
committee appointed to which shall be sub
mitted those enormous estimates of which w(
have so much reason to complain, and you will fine
that very few members will vote for such a com
mittee, and it will be stoutly resisted by the Go.

vernment, whether formed from the Conservative
or the Whig section of the house. (Laughter.)
The house hates equality of taxation. The suc-
cession duty is a glaring instance ; the income tax
is another instance scarcely less glaring. They
give to property vast influence in the Government
of the country, and they perpetually shield pro-
perty from the burden of taxation. (Cries of
" Shame.") It was the same before the Reform
Bill as it is now. Some people are of opinion that
we have had much better legislation since the
Reform Bill than we had before. Ido not deny
it, but I believe it is owing much more to the
general intelligence of the people—an intelligence
which has penetrated into the House of Commons
and into the House of Lords—than to any more
exact representation of the constituency—than to
any change that took place by the Reform Act.
You know that before the Reform Bill Catholic
Emancipation was granted when a civil war was
about to break out in Ireland; you know that the
Reform Bill itself was granted when an insurrec-
tion, perhaps a revolution was at the door, and you
know that in 1846 the repeal of the Corn Law was
granted, not because the House of Commons or the
House of Lords wished to grant it—(hear)—by
no means ; for I believe that not more than 100
members had ever voted for Mr. Villiers' motion
for the repeal. Still, it was granted in 1846, be-
cause a portion of the kingdom was visited with a
famine so intense that Lord John Russell, in order
to describe its magnitude and severity, compared
it to the famines which are recorded to have deso-
lated parts of Europe during the 13th century. It
required famine, not a scarcity. There had been
many scarcities, as you know ; there had been a
scarcity for years : on more than one occasion thou-
sands and hundreds of thousands of families had been
pressed into penury, and not a few into premature
graves, and yet the Corn Law was not repealed.
To quote the lines of the unhappy Chatterton—

" The civil power then snored at ease
" While soldiers fired to keep the peace."

It was not till the famine became so sore in the land
that all Europe and the civilised world were
startled with the horrors that floated across every
ocean, and in every gale, that the Parliament of
England at last consented to take their hand from
the food of the people. (Loud cheers.) You know
that a large party, a party who are now in the
possession of the Government, assailed and de-
nounced Sir Robert Peel as a traitor and a coward
because he did not make a still greater fight on
behalf of the most odious monopoly that ever
existed in any country—(cheers)—and now they
do not give you the ballot, not because they don't
understand it as well as you do, but precisely be-
cause they do understand it. (Hear, hear, and
laughter.) Do you suppose there would be such a
whip in the House, such a steady and powerful
phalanx of members brought up—county members
especially—(laughter)--to vote against the ballot,
if they did not believe all we say in favour of the
ballot ? (Hear and cheers.) You have had it dis-
cussed since the Reform Bill. Argument has been
exhausted for 20 years, yet fOr all that they don't
give you the ballot. Take the question of church
rates. A bill to repeal the church rates has just
passed the House of Commons, but how many years
has it been discussed? The arguments were the
same before I went into the House of Commons
that they were during the very last session. Take
the question of the Game Laws. (Cheers.) Is it
to be tolerated—would it be tolerated by the people
of this country if they were fairly polled, that
there should exist in a populous nation like
this an exceptional and most cruel code of laws,
whose object is to promote to the greatest possible
extent the preservation of wild animals for
the pleasure of the territorial and wealthy
classes ? (Hear, hear.) The law has never yet
said that game was property—it treats itais some-
thing else—it dare not say that game is property,
and it cannot say so—(heal ;_hut we have in
several Acts of Parliament eaous,eass
°Tufa nthyet outmostcatch
complication—traps of every kind,
the poacher as the poacher has to catch the game
—(laughter and cheers)—ani you have in this civi-
lised and Christian country—we are not at all dis-
cussing the United States—(laughter)—ancient
Monarchy, an hereditary peerage, an Established
Church, and all that can be necessary to preserve
law and order. According to the opinion of some
of those who criticise what I say, you have, in the
months of November and December particularly, in
every year men going out armed, not to protect
cows, and sheep, and poultry—(hear, hear)—well
recognised and understood property—for nobody
attempts to meddle with them, but to preserve that
which the law dares not designate as property, and
the preservation of which it dares not commit to
the ordinary guardians of the public peace. (Cheers.)
And you have further from your towns; your vil-
lages, and country parishes bands of men armed to
the teeth, instigated occasionally it may be by want,
more often probably by the love of adventure—you
hare bands of men of this kind prowling about in
almost every county endeavouring to destroy this
game, and you have charges such as we have had
described to us within the last month, in which
several of our fellow-creatures have fallen victims
and have been murdered. No—dukes, and lords,
and county members, and great men of any name
may be represented if you will, but do not tell me
that a Parliament and a House of Commons that
perpetuates this enormity represents the intelligence
and morality of the Christian population of this
country. (Cheers.) And, to show you how little a
Prime Minister is master of his own actions in the
face of that great territorial interest, let me tell
you that when I, some years ago, and before I had
any political connection even with Manchester,
gave notice of a motion in the House of
Commons for a select committee to inquire
into the operation of the game laws—
to inquire merely—such was the anxiety, such
was the trembling terror of these gentlemen that
Sir Robert Peel was obliged, or thought it prudent
to call all his followers together into Downing-
street, and there to reason with them, and obtained
their co-operation in the course which he felt him-
self bound to pursue, which was to consent to the
committee for which I meant to move. I need not
tell you that the committee produced very little
result. Committees of the House of Commons very
seldom do ; for what the House is, committees gene-
rally are : and, if a committee happens to stumble
upon something valuable, it is generally distasteful
to the House and immediately rejected by it. I be-
lieve that no great measure passes the House of
Commons merely because it is just ; it passes some-
times because the
.people are restive, sometimes
because the exigencies of party require that some-
thing should be done ; but it does not pass—l state
it fearlessly after 15 years sitting in that House—
a great measure of justice does not pass because it
is just. (Cheers.) Then I come to the conclusion
that reform is necessary, but I can show you fur-
ther that it is inevitable. (Cheers.) The Govern-
ment is at a deadlock without parliamentary reform.
The only great result of the Reform Bill in the
House has been this, that it has introduced about
100 men who do at times show some amount of in-
dependence, and. they act free from the shackles of
the Tory or Whig sections of the aristocracy, and
it is by our wor it is by our speeches, by our
k,
votes, that we transfer the Government from one
party to the other, but we make it impossible for
either of them to conduct the Government upon the
antiquated principles which we and the people of
England are ready to abolish. (Cheers.) Now, I
.will ask you another question. What is the ob-
vious, the simple—in fact, the only mode by which
you can reform the House of Commons ? If a man
is hungry, he eats ; if he's thirsty, he drinks ; and
if he is cold, he puts on an extra coat, or goes
to the fire. If the number of the electors
is too small, extend the suffrage ; if it be tolerable
that more than half the House of Commons shall
be returned by one-sixth of the electors, or that
the population of Manchester should return 89
members in some other parts of the country, and
here it only returns two, the obvious remedy is to
take from the one scale and put into the other ;
and, if there be this bribery and this intimidation,
the remedy to which every man points who has
considered the question and who wishes for free-
dom of election is the remedy of the ballot. You
have read, I have no doubt, some, I hope not all
of those interminable articles which have been
written since I was at Birmingham. (A laugh.)
You have read, probably, some of the speeches
which have commented on what I said. I was
charged with wishing to adopt republican institu-
tions, levelling principles, and t 3 introduce some-
thing or other wholly destructive of everything
good and noble and admirable in this country.
Well, I find the suffrage in the boroughs is £lO.
What did I propose ? I did not propose to put it
at £9 ; that would have been to be laughed at ;
these very writers and speakers would have said,
"Why, what a lame business this is, dissatisfied
with £lO, happy with £9 !" (Laughter.) I did
not go for £B, nor for £7, nor for £6. The Reform
Bill, stopping at £lO, drew a line, on one side of
which were the constituencies we now have, and
on the other side the great body of the working
classes ; the working classes were purposely ex-
cluded by the adoption of the £lO franchise, but
the £9 would not have admitted them, any more
than the £8 or the £7. The £6 would have ad-
nitted a considerable number, and £5 probably
would admit nearly all of them that can be ad-
mitted. Well, I thought it was not worth while
making, as the saying is, " two bites at a cherry."
rf you wish to admit the working classes, for that is
he question (cheers)—you must bring the suffrage
town to a point that will admit them, or else you are
+nly practising upon them precisely the same sort
,f legislation tey complain of with regard to the
:ill of 1832. But then I find a most admairable thing

all ready to my hands. I find in all the parishes
-from the time of Queen Elizabeth—and, for any-
thing I know, from the time of Alfred—l don't
know how many hundred years it has lasted—a
franchise, with which everybody has been con-
tented, which nobody has condemned, and which
has done no harm to law, or order, or the security
of property. I find that when Parliament came to
legislate for Poor Law unions they adopted this
same franchise as the basis of the union franchise ;
when they came to legislate for the corporation,
they adopted, with some restriction, the same fran-
chise. Why tell me that this franchise does not
act properly in the United States ? For my argu-
ment I do not care a farthing whether it does or
not. We have tried it here in our parish-unions,
our corporations ; and I say if it acts on the whole
advantageously in those departments of represen-
tation, it may be trusted without danger, in that
more important representation which concerns our
Imperial Legislature. (Cheers.) I am in favour
of authority, particularly when it agrees with my
own opinion. (Laughter.) I will read from an
authority which is not one at any rate that the
Whig party ought to think lightly of. In the year
1797-60 .years ago—Mr. Grey, afterwards Lord
Grey of the Reform Bill, brought forward a motion
in the House of Commons for a Bill to establish
household suffrage in all the boroughs of the king-
dom. I will not give you what Mr. Grey said
about it, for I have not any portion of his speech
with me. But I will give you the words of Mr.
Fox—Charles James Fox, the greatest light, I pre-
sume, that the 'Whig party has ever offered to the
country. Charles James Fox said this :

"I think that to extend the representation to house
keepers is the best and most justifiable plan of refonn. I
think, else, that it is a perfect recurrence to first principles.
I do not mean to the first principles of society, nor to the
abstract principles of our Constitution. According to the
early history of England and the highest authority on
our Parliamentary constitution, I find this to be the case—
it is the opinion of the celebrated Glanville—that in all
cases where no particular right intervenes the common law
right of paying scot and lot has the right of election in the
land. Sir, this was the opinion of Sergeant Glanville, and
one of the most celebrated committees of which our Parlia-
mentary history has boast. and this, in my opinion, is
the safest line of conduct that you can adopt."

Now, what is it that I propose ? That every house-
holder, of course, because every householder is rated
to the poor, shall have a vote, and if a man be not
a householder strictly, but if he have an office, or a
warehouse, or a stable, or land—if he have any
property in his occupation which the poor law
taxes—out of which he must contribute to the
support of the poor, then I say I would give that
man a vote. Now, 60 years is a long time. We have
members of the aristocracy of this country exhibit-
ing themselves frequently on platforms on various
occasions. They tell the people how wonderfully
education has advanced, how much Parliament
grants every year, how much voluntary effort does,
what. a great step the people have taken forward.
I wish they would come to the legitimate conclusion
after all this praise,of the people. Your statisticians
say that 2,000,000 of the people are subscribers to
benefit societies, and that they have now for funds
more than £9,000,000 sterling. Is that no proof of
providence ? Is that no proof of improvement and
advancement ? Who is the man that dares stand
before any considerable number of his countrymen
and libel them by saying that that which Mr. Grey
—that which Charles James Fox, advocated for you
in 1791, you are still so turbulent, so degraded, that
you arc not fit to be trusted in the year 1858 ?
(Hear, hear.) And of course, with regard to your
small boroughs, you must take some point of popu-
lation, and you must cut off all those below it ; you
must allow their present electors to merge, as they
would necessarily merge, in the £lO franchise,
which, in all probability, you establish for your
counties, But still. I know how we shall be met—
" You are going to Americanize us." (Laughter.)
Nothing is so dreadful to an Englishman who is
thinking of emigrating across the Atlantic as that
we should be Americanized in England. (Laughter.)
That is a phrase by some cunning knave—(laughter)
—intended to catch a good many very simple dupes,
and no doubt it will catch some of them ; but I
should like to ask these gentlemen whether repre-
sentation is not an English custom and an English
principle. They were Englishmen who first took
it to the United States. (Cheers.) It is said that
wherever an Englishman goes, just as he takes
with him his white skin he takes with it the foun-
dation of representative institutions. He has taken
possiblethemp u
publics
c s
in
ialreadyAu building
tor
at
iea
u; Cpah pef
four
hasu; r he
ore is already as busy as
carriedfi ve
the
re monarchicalpres re en:
tive system to Canada ; he carries it wherever he
goes. Why, the Bill of 1832 was a desperate mea-
sure in the direction of Americanizing us. It took
some boroughs where 12 members of a corporation
returned the members to Parliament, and it gave
the suffrage to some 5,000 of the people. Was not
that Americanizing such boroughs with a ven-
geance? (Laughter.) The more you extend the
representation the more, of course, you become like
that systematic and theoretically perfect represen-
tation which exists in the United States. (Hear,
hear.) Why, we have come now to a pretty pass
in this country, and it is curious how free coun-
tries, and countries that we deem not free, often
exhibit
,just the same kind of thing at the same
time. You know that lately a most distinguished
Frenchman wrote a pamphlet about a debate in the
English Parliament. He was charmed with the
freedom of debate, with the absence of all kind of
difficulty in expressing our opinions. He went
away full of this impression ; and he wrote a
pamphlet, in burning words, describing what he
had seen in England, and by inference, of course,
saying something that was not very palatable to
those who are the present directors of the Govern.
ment in France. Well, what was done ? It was
found out that it was an indictable offence and the
advocate for the prosecution said in so many words,
" You praised England, and in doing so you humi-
liated France." An humble individual like myself
comes before his constituents, and he finds a nation
of 20 or 30 millions, chiefly of Englishmen, on the
other side of the Atlantic. He finds there, with
some small exceptions in two or three of the Trans-
atlantic cities, which are more German and Irish
than American, in all the free States law and order
and security for property equal to that which is
found in any other country in the world. (Cheers.)
He says that to his constituents ; he is indicted for
it; they do not inflict upon him so many pounds'
fine and so many months' imprisonment, but some
scores of writers for the press, men who, some of
them, pretend to be in favour of liberty in England,
but men who, if they were dressed in the garb that
most becomes them, would be dressed in plush—
(loud laughter and cheering)—these men assail
me, and, probably, if I were in France
and they were in France also, would do
their best to indict and prosecute me. One word
more upon this—l have said over and over again
that perhaps I am the very last man in England
who wouid propose any institution here because I
found it elsewhere. I am not insensible to some
things that appear to me to be errors in principle—
some that are errorsin practice—in the constitution
and customs of the United States, but I protest
against our being shut up to take nothing from
America but cotton, and rice, and tobacco—(laugh-
ter and cheers)—and, in fact, we do take a great
many other things. I am told that my friend Mr.
Platt, a member of a very eminent firm in this
neighbourhood, has a wonderful machine from
America with which to make bricks. We know
that the agriculture of this country has been greatly
advantaged by the importation of reaping machines.
from America. We know that those persons who
are going about so apprehensive of innovation have
particular reason to be delighted with America,
because they have received from that country the
invention of the revolver. At this moment, in the
Government small arms establishment at Enfield,
they have patent machinery from America for
making gunstocks. They can turn out a gun•
stock, I am told, in 32 minutes fit for
the barrel—what a dreadful thing to think of !
(laughter)—and I am sure Mr. Miles, if his Protec-
tionist principles have not long ago deserted him,
will be horrified to hear that they have actually
brought Americans over to show the English how
to work them—(continued laughter)—but there is
much more behind. The Times, and other leading
newspapers, are printed on machines which were
either made inAmeriea, or being made in this coun-
try, were made upon the American patent. Further
than this, don't you remember that the gentry, the
West Enders, including even the ladies, have
been subscribing 11) guineas a piece to invite a
clever farmer from Ohio to show them how to tame
a horse. (Laughter and cheers.) Anything but
politics—(laughter)—you may delight yourself
with their charming poets, if you like—with Brian t,
Whittier, and Longfellow—you may interest and
instruct yourself by their great historians Bancroft,
Prescot, and Motley. But if you ask how frce po-
pular institutions are working among your owncountrymen on the America continent, you are Le-
nounced as unpatriotic, and at any rate treasonable
to the House of Lords. (Cheers and laughter.) Mt.
I am not without great examples in this country.
I will read, if you will allow me,
gentlemen. From
was parfc:..l irly galling to those
a passage which
gene-States
o farailTypoi
nr t
all o f
them sovereigns e c c h i
anßirmingham,d independent I said,
Americah
Ihave
lwtohpeorsee d
tao
.franchise
tThere
eNiv.ei dies aasnthat a
cwt
and
equal ngiiiitouotf
maeirni
ybeolf.s t floe
sthtaeteesletchtoerps,roatne
protection
there
is
of•
the ballot; vet in America we fit I law, order, and
property secure, and a population -n the enjoyment
of physical comforts and abundance such as are not
known to the great body of the people of this coun-
try, and which have never been known in any coun-
try in any age of the world before. Now, Lord J.

Russell a short time ago was at Liverpool at ameet-
ing of the Social Science Association, and he made
a speech, many parts of which were most admirable
and instructive. He referred to America in two parti-
culars, and showed how in the States of New York
and Louisiana the laws had been codified and sim-
plified. He said that with a few days' study a man
might make himself perfectly acquainted with the
laws with regard to land and landed property. Lord
J. Russell, who was not afraid to look abroad on a
question of this kind, said he did not see why an
old country should be tormented with a system which
was unnecessary and which it was found so advan-
tageous to dispense with in a new country. The
noble lord said, " It is education which enables the
United States of America to proceed in their won-

derful career, upheld by the most popular institu

tions, without serious disturbance of law and order.
(Cheers.) I will also quote another nobleman, a most
estimable man, too, a man who has in his time done
great justice to the people and institutions of the
United States—the Earl of Carlisle. Eight years
ago, when the state of America was fresh in his
mind, he delivered a lecture, from which I have
taken two extracts. Speaking of the elections in
that country he says :—" Elections may seem the
universal business, the topic and passion of life, but
they are, with but few exceptions, carried on with-
out any approach to tumult, rudeness, or disorder ;
those which I happened to see were the most sedate,
unimpassioned processes I can imagine. In the free
States at least the people at large bear an active
and, I believe, on the whole, a useful part in all the
concerns of internal government and practical daily
life." And then, speaking of the condition of the
people, he said—and you will note how far it cor-
roborates, how far it extends even what I said :
" The feature which is the most obvious and pro-
bably the most inevitable is the nearly entire ab-
sence—certainly- of the appearance in a great degree
—of the reality. In no part of the world, I imagine,
is there so much general comfort among the bulk
of the people, and a gushing abundance struck me
as the permanent character of the land," and then
with his own generous sympathy, he went on to say,
" it is not easy to describe how far this consideration
goes to brighten the face of nature and give the
room for its undisturbed enjoyment." I cannot, of
course, help the fact that Lord Carlisle for a moment
has fallen into rather a foolish panic since I uruler-
took to address my constituents at Birmingham. I
I can assure him that I do not wish to introduce
American institutions here, but I want to argue this
point, that the people of England are now in a con-
dition in which it would be just to them and safe
for all classes ,in the country that they should be
widely intrusted with the possession of the elective
franchise. (Loud cheers.) Now, I want to ask you
before I sit down whether we can realise or whether
we can do anything towards realising such a project
of reform as that of which I have given you the
very faintest sketch to-night. (Cheers.) There is
a danger awaits us. It is quite possible--I think it
is not entirely improbable—that if the present Go-
vern ent should introduce a bill very ineffectual,
who y falling short of what we have a right to
exp c
)fii
t, that there should be some combination of
the. most unworthy portion of the Whig party with
the present Gavernment for the sake of carrying
that bill. It would be a great misfortune to us if
anything should happen. But that misfortune
would be but temporary. It would be a fatal act
on the part of the Whig party to take any such
course as that. They would bring about this great
result, that the aristocracy, who were wholly op-
posed to free Parliaments in this country, would sit
on one side of the house, and that we, who may be
considered of a more democratic party, would take
our seats on the other ; but I will undertake to
say that if that division should once take place in
Parliament, every election would increase the power
of the democratic section—(loud cheering)—and
that the remembrance of the treason to the people
which would be effected by conduct such as this
would create an animosity against the ruling class
—against which I believe they would be wholly un-
able to contend. (Renewed cheers.) I have now
come to the conclusion of the observations I intend
to offer upon these questions. Of myself I must add
one or two words. My position in refe-
rence to this question is just now, as you know,
one of heavy responsibility. (Hear, bear.) I feel it
to be so—l know it to be so. I have been requested
by those who believed they represented a large
amount of public opinion to undertake the prepa-
ration of a bill to be submitted to the House of
Commons during the coming session. (Loud cheers)
I have not sought the office. I did everything
could to decline it without being guilty of an abso-
lute desertion of what appeared to be my duty. I
am told by some that are not friends of mine, and
by some that are my friends, that I hazard what-
ever little reputation I have with the public in
taking this course. (No, no.) If it be so I can
only say that the creation or the sustaining of a
reputation has never been the great motive in my
political life. (Loud cheers.) I have said before,
and every day I am more sensible of it, how ill-
qualified I am in many respects for the work I have
undertaken—(no, no, and cheers)—and I am more
and. more sensible of the almost insurmountable
obstacles which lie in the path before me ; but I
know that the cause is a just cause. (Reiterated
cheering.) I know that its success is necessary to
the great future of this country, and I am perfectly
certain that sooner or later it must prevail.
(Cheers.) From this platform Ido not speak to
you only. I speak to all my countrymen. (Re-
newed cheers.) If they wish for reform, if they
think me honest, informed, capable upon this ques-
tion—if they have any confidence in those with
whom I am associated, then let them meet in their
cities, their towns, their villages, in country pa-
rishes, wherever free speech is not forbidden,
(Hear, and a laugh.) Let them meet and speak,
let them resolve, and let them petition. (Cheers.
If they do this I think I can promise them
that before long they will be in full posses-
sion and exercise of those political rights
which are not more necessary to their national
interests than they are consistent with the
principles of their boasted constitution. (The
hon. gentleman sat down amid hearty and long-
continued cheering. His speech had occupied
about about an hour and twenty-five minutes in
its delivery.
As soon as Mr. Bright concluded a very general
move from the hall commenced.

Mr. Alderman SIMPSON was unwilling that the
organisation now established should pass away
without Manchester showing that example to the
country which it had shown in past times, and
which had produced for these islands great, impor-
tant, and valuable results. He therefore moved—
" That this meeting, composed of the leading and active
Reformers of Manchester and its neighbourhood, hereby
expresses its desire that a Reform Association should be at
once organised for the purpose of giving effect to the opi-
nions of this county and district on the question of reform
in the agitation now existing; that the Banquet General
Committee be, and is hereby requested, to take the neces-
sary steps for carrying out the preceding resolution."

A short time ago there was an attempt to establish
a Reform Association here, but it was limited in
its object, contracted in its sphere, and promised
always to be small znd select, never great and
powerful ; but the constituency had it in their
power, from the large organisation to which this
resolution was committed, to have such a Reform
Association as would represent the opinions of the
great mass of the constituency. Reflect what a
powerful answer it would be from any Prime- Mini-
ster to say to Mr. Bright, when he brought in his
bill, that the voice of Manchester was silent on the
question. (Hear.) Many recent events showed
that a change had taken place in this city, that the
parties to the rejection of the late members were
endeavouring to attach themselves to their old
friends, that they had sought repentance carefully
and with tears ; he would give to them the oppor-
tunity of reunion, and he believed that the resolu-
tion, if passed, would be enthusiastically received
by the great body of Reformers here. (Applause.)
The motion was seconded by Mr. E. WATKIN,
and carried unanimously.
Mr. GIBSON moved, and Mr. BRIGHT seconded,
a vote of thanks to the chairman, which was carried
by acclamation, and the meeting separated with
three hearty cheers for Gibson, Bright, and Cobden.

Loss OF A BRITISH SHIP AND TwO OF THE
Cnvw —The ship Jantzec Berg, which arrived at Antwerp
the Bth inst., reports • that on the 18th Nov. she fell in
with the American barque Sarah Anise (Qy. Sarawak),
which had on board the crag, of the ship Garden, which had
been aband,med by them some days previous. Two of the
crow,
however, wero drowned shortly before the vessel Wag
deserted.
REFORM MEETING AT ROCHDALE.—On Wed-
nesday evening a meeting, convened by requisition, was
held at Rochdale, to consider the subject of Parliamentary
reform and the representation of the borough. Mr. Alder-
man Henley occupied the chair. A resolution in favour of
manhood suffrage, vote by ballot, triennial !Parham cuts and
re-arrangement of members based upon liopulation, was
carried almost unanimously, as was also one pledging the
meeting to assist Mr. Bright in passing a comprehensive bill
during the next session. It was also resolved in the event
of a dissolution to take measures for the return of Mr. Cob-
den for the borough. There were about eight or nine
hundred people at the meeting.
COUNTY COURT ARRANGEMENTS. Mr. W.
Walker, of Wilsie, near Rotherham, Judge of the County
Court Circuit No. 13, comprising the towns of Sheffield,
Doncaster, Barnsley, Rotherham, Goole, and Thorne,
having applied to the Lord Chancellor to be allowed to re-
linquish a portion of the dirties of his circuit, as being too
heavy for one judge, his Lordship has been pleased to
assign to Mr. Walker the courts at Sheffield and Rother-
ham as the future sphere of his duties. At the last sitting
of the Doncaster Court, the attorneys practising- there pre-
sented to the retiring judge an address expressive of their
regret at the los:, of his services, to which Mr. Walker re-
sponded in feeling terms. Mr. 'Wildman, of the North
Notts district, will succeed Mr. Walker as judge in the
vacated portion of his circuit.

SPAIN.

The Madrid journals of the 6th have arrived.
The Gazette contains a decree addressed to gover-
nors of provinces relative to the distribution and
examination of " tickets of residence," whicheverybody is required to have under pain of impri-
sonment. The Gazette also contains a decision of
the Supreme Tribunal of War, fixing the order of
precedence to be observed by the different regi-
ments of the army. Thin decision has been ren-
dered necessary in consequence of a conflict about
precedency having arisen at Malaga, between a
corps of infantry and one of artillery. The sale of
public property held in mortmain was going on
with great rapidity, and prices much higher than
were anticipated even by the most sanguine of the
advocates of the measure were being obtained;
lots, for example, put up at 2,000 reals, had fetched
6,000 or 8,000. It is stated that the Minister of
Foreign Affairs had concluded with Belgium and
Portugal treaties for the protection of literary
property, similar to those with England and
France.