The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-20 00:00:00

PAINLESS DENTISTRY,

24.Essns. GABRIEL, DENTISTS (Established
1815), of
London. ss, Harley-street, Cavendish-span,
11
Liverpool B4, Duke-street, and
Brighton
have just published a NEW PAMPHLET explaining their Pain-
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for four stamps.

MR. GLADSTONE AND HIS CON-

STITUENTS.

ORM SKIRK.

Mr. Gladstone yesterday afternoon attended a
crowded public meeting in the public hall of Orms-
kirk, for the purpose of addressing his constituents.
Mr. E. Musgrove presided and briefly introduced
the right hon. gentleman to the meeting.
Mr. GLADSTONE, on rising, was received with
great enthusiasm. He said—Mr. Musgrove and
Gentlemen,—The first if not the only duty that I
have to discharge among you is that of paying, so
far as acknowledgment can pay, a debt which is
now an old-standing one. It can hardly have passed
from your minds, and it has not passed, and never
can pass, from my own—that I was returned to
Parliament for the district of the county in which I
was born and where my childhood was passed.
Under such circumstances, by no means usual, it had
been my fate at an earlier period of my Parliamen-
tary life to lose the seat for the borough of Newark,
which I had long enjoyed, on account of the share I
took in sustaining Sir R. Peel in the adoption of a
great change in the economical policy of the coun-
try—a change much contested at the time, but
now acknowledged on all hands W have been dic-
tated by the truest NV isdoin. (Hear, hear, and
cheers.) On that occasion I found a refuge open,
to me in the University of Oxford, and for 18 years,
and in the course of four or five severe contests, was
so happy as to hold my ground through the indul-
gent confidence of that learned body ; but at. last
came the general election of 1865. At that period
the cup of my offences was full and running over—
(laughter)—and I believe that, so far as I have been
able to learn or judge, the final delinquency which
put me beyond all patience and beyond all bearing
was that I had made a declaration in debate in the
House ofeCommons on the subject of Parliamentary
Reform—(hear, hear)—to the effect that if we were
exposed to the extension of the suffrage, it became
us to show good cause why our fellow-countrymen
should not be admitted to that privilege. (Cheers.)
That was some four or five years ago, and great was
tlw horror that was produced by that revolutionary

which in 1865 bad come to be the basis of the Con-
stitution and the salvation of the country. Weil,
gentlemen, I won't pursue the political history of
the Right Hon. Gathorne Hardy, nor will I inquire
what the University of Oxford now thinks of the
manner in which it was led—l was going to say led
by the nose, but I am not sure that a University
has a nose—(laughter)—on that remarkable occa-
sion. But, gentlemen, my love of that much-
prized and valued honour, the representation of the
University, at any rate did this—it enabh;el me to
submit my name and character to you as a candi-
date for the representation of this great and dis—
tinguished county—(cheers)—and it enabled you
in a manner dictated only by your generous con-
fidence, and certainly warranted by no deserts
of mine, to return me to Parliament upon
48 hours' notice as member for the most popu-
lous district and for the greatest county constitu-
ency in England. (Cheers.) Allow me to offer you,
gentlemen, the expression of my cordial and most
respectful thanks. And I would not ask you to
treat the expression of these views with reference
merely to the terms in which they are expressed. I
think that you will feel, with me, that the best mode
of tendering thanks in any case where confidence
has been shown and an important trust conferred is
not by the use of inflated language, but is to testify
by the evidence of facts that that confidence has
not been abused, and that the trust so conferred, to
the best, at any rate, of a man's power, has been
fulfilled. (Hear, hear.) I must ask you, therefore,
gentlemen, to consider the manner in which I have
endeavoured to discharge the duties of the steward-
ship you have placed in my hands ; and, in my opi-
nion, these references to the past, which I shall
endeavour to divest, as far as possible, of any cha-
racter that could be offensive to any one—these
references to the past do, in point of fact, form the
truest and the safest test of the conduct you ought
to pursue for the future in the exercise of the privi-
leges and electoral powers that are placed in your
hands. Ladies and gentlemen, after the election of
1865 it was perfectly evident that the confidence of
the country was generally given to what was called
the Liberal party. A very powerful, and, I am
bound to sty, in many respects a most respectable
minority represented a different principle, but a
majority of 60 or 70 members in the House of
Commons professed adhesion to what is called the
Liberal creed in politics. Under these circumstances
it was absolutely necessary that the Government,
whether it continued under the guidance of Lord
Palmerston, or, as it ultimately happened, in the
event of his lamented death, that another distin-
guished statesman should succeed to the office of
Prime Minister—it was absolutely necessary that
Government should consider its position with refe-
rence to the long-contested and debated question of
Parliamentary Reform. We proceeded to consider
that position, and we endeavoured to take into view
what was known to be the state of opinion and feel-
ing in the country ; for in the consideration of
every great question in a country like this, which is
free both in theory and practice, you will agree
with me that no body of nen would be worthy of
the name of statesmen if they proceeded to frame
and submit measures to Parliament grounded
merely on their own individual ideas, and with-
out taking into view the opinions and the social
and political forces that act upon the body of the
community. (Hear, hear.) In the autumn of
1865 and the beginning of 1866 we had three
main facts to take into view ; I mean to say
three main facts after adopting the condition in
which we were unanimous, that considering the result
of the election, it was our absolute duty to consider
the question of receiving in Parliament the proposal
to widen the basis of our electoral system, and in
that way to strengthen the institutions of the coun-
try. (Hear.) These three facts were these :—ln
the first place, there was the attitude of the people,
and I mean by the people that great mass of the
community who were at that time generally excluded
from electoral power. That attitude was one of
calm and tranquil expectation, combined with ear-
nest desire ; but such was the confidence placed by
the people in the deliberations of Parliament, that
not only all noisy and turbulent, but even energetic
manifestations of that desire of the people for poli-
tical privilege, had been generally withheld, and we
therefore had to take into account this difficulty,
that when we came to make to Parliament a pro-
posal for Parliamentary reform, the reproach would
be cast in our teeth that it was a subject of indiffe-
rence to those ou whom we proposed to confer the
benefit and the privilege of the franchise. Next to
this we had to bear in mind a fact the existence of
which it was impossible to doubt—namely, that the
great middle class of the country-4 do not speak
now so much of the country constituencies as of
the constituencies in the towns—the great middle
class of the country admitted to the exercise of
a predominating power in the town elections
by the Act of 1832 were considerably di-
vided in opinion with respect to a further Par-
liamentary reform. Many, no doubt, were, as
I think in consistency they were, bound to be
friendly to the extension to their humble fellow-
citizens of the benefit they had themselves enjoyed ;
but there was also no inconsiderable portion of that
middle class who were either opposed, or if not op-
posed, yet indifferent and lukewarm with respect
to the extension of the franchise. We could not,
therefore, at that period count upon the earnest and
ardent support from that quarter which in the pro-
motion of many other liberal measures we could
confidently anticipate. Both those circumstances
were reasons for great moderation on our part ; but
there was a third, and it was more important than
either of the other two. We knew that there was
a powerful minority of 270 or 280 gentlemen in
Parliament who were banded together as one man
to resist the extension of the franchise. I mean to
resist a popular extension of the suffrage, for I do
not enter into questions about the creation of votes
in respect of income tax, and 20 other kinds of
voting, but we knew, or had reason to believe we
knew, that in our attempt to admit to the suffrage
any sensible portion of the labouring classes of the
country in addition to the few possessing it, we
should have to face the determined opposition of a
powerful party minority. So it proved when we
did introduce a bill of great moderation, the effect
of which would have been in the towns of this
country to give the franchsse only to those who
dwelt in a house possessing what it called
a clear yearly value of £7 and upwards;
and I take credit to those who were then
united together in the Government for having
used every effort that man could use to unite tc-
gether, by a conciliatory course, if it were possible,
tall parties of politicians in carrying harmoniously,
and in a friendly spirit, a change which might grow
to violence and danger, and which, it was quite
evident, must, within a short time, be carried.
(Cheers.) What happened in the year 1866 ? We
soon found that the Parliamentary dangers which
there was some reason to anticipate were likely to
be realieed ; that a section of the Liberal party was
ilcot dieiroso to ,7,0 al9Dg with u-4 in promoting any

and of our ejection from office and of their accession
to it, they would be no parties to the lowering or
degradation of the borough suffrage. (Cheers.)
That was the point which Mr. Lowe had in view.
Mr. Lowe was politically allied to us ; he did not
wish to place his power, and the gentlemen who felt
with him on Reform did not wish to place their
power and their votes, at the service of the Opposi-
tion for merely a party purpose. Ou the other
hand, such was their objection to Reform—most
erroneous and deplorable, I think —(cheers) —that
had they obtained, as they thought, for the chiefs
of the Conservative Opposition an unequivocal
and binding engagement that in the event of their
accession to office the suffrage should not be lowered,
they entered frankly into the warfare of the cam-
paign of 1866, and raised the members of the mino-
rity to such a point that they made to us a resist-
ance which we were unable to overcome. Well,
gentlemen, the result was that we retired from office.
We did not retire from office because the House of
Commons drove us out of it. At the moment we
retired we knew perfectly well that the great majo-
rity of the House of Commons, including the bu'k
of those who had opposed us on Reform, were de-
sirous that we should continue to retain it, and
were prepared to make a motion, the very terms of
hich they had made ready, expressive of their con-
fidence in the Government and the Councils of the
State. (Hear, hear.) Aware of these facts, gen-
tlemen, we came unhesitatingly to the conclusion
that the question lay between our existence as an
Administration on the one side and the question of
Reform on the other. We were not desirous to re-
tire, we were not insensible to the honour and the
distinction of being intrusted with the guidance of
the policy that is to govern a country and an empire
such as this; but we believed the interest of the
public in the settlement of the question of reform to
be of vital interest. We said, if we continued in office
we should still be exposed to the same description
of opposition as had up to that time barred our
way ; we knew perfectly well that if, on the other
hand, we retired from office, the triumph of Reform
was absolutely certain. (Great cheering.) Gentle-
men, there is an old saying that the bloo I of martyrs
is the seed of the Church. (Hear, hear.) That
which is true in religion is likewise true with re-
spect to other principles of power in this world,
and of value for mankind. (Hear.) It is sound
with reference to political truth as well as with re-
ference to religious truth. We were still assured
that in the blood of an Administration would lie
the seeds of the success of the great measure of
Parliamentary Reform— (cheers) and therefore
we laid down the ensigns of power, associated our-
selves with that cause, and thankful am I to say
that we have had that which, perhaps, may be
called the highest triumph of a party—namely, to
see their opponents themselves compelled to be the
organs of giving effect to their principles and fulfil-
ling their wishes. (Cheers.) Well, then, gentle-
men, we met again in the year 1867, and I will en-
deavour to deal very briefly with the proceeding of
that year ; but in giving an account of my steward-
ship, without claiming any such credit as your
chairman was pleased to award, either to myself or
to those with whom I ha I had the honour of acting,
yet I am bound to say that I know nothing to
lament and nothing to repent of in our proceedings
in the year 1867. Now, in the proceedings of
the year 1867 there are two things I will call
your attention to that are totally and absolutely
different from one another. One is the Reform Bill
of 1867, and what do you think the other is ? The
Reform Act of 1867. (Laughter and cheers.) If
you had those—the Bill and the Act of 1867
printed in parallel columns, you would yourselves
be able for yourselves to test the truth and accuracy
of my assertion. The bill of 1867, I said—in Par-
liament I was thought to say it in heat, but I said it
deliberately, and I repeat it now—was the worst
bill ever presented, the worst plan ever presented,
to Parliament for dealing with that great and im-
portant subject. Perhaps that may seem an extra-
vagant assertion. Well, then, gentlemen, I won't
go through the clauses of that bill, but I will tell
you this—and I don't think that what I say can be
contradicted from any quarter—the main object of
the bill was to open the suffrage to the labouring
classes. Now, I will only illustrate this in two
points. According to the best estimate that can be
formed, it would have admitted from 100,000 to
120,000 out of the 4,000,000 labouring population
of England to the enjoyment of the franchise; but
along with that extension of the power of the
labouring classes, what compensation, forsooth, or
remedy would provide against their supposed pos-
sible misuse of that power ? There were contriv-
ances, partly in the nature of suffrages to be used
by persons in virtue of taxes, and partly in other
various forms, but which may be summed up in one
phrase, which became sufficiently notorious—the
proposal of what was called the dual vote. (Hear,
hear.) Now, the effect of this bill for extending
popular privilege, while it gave 100,000 or 120,000
votes in the boroughs and towns of England, where
enormous masses of the population are excluded
from political power, would by means of the dual
vote have given nearly 300,000 new votes to the
very people who were already possessed of the suf-
frage—that is to say, instead of extending or in-
creasing, it would have immensely diminished the
power of the labouring class. (Applause.) Well,
gentlemen, I stand upon that proposition, if neces-
sary upon that proposition alone ; and I say that
that bill was a bill which would justify words of
course a great deal stronger than it is at all neces-
sary for me to apply to it upon this occasion, but
at any rate which justify those who declined to
give approbation to that bill, whether it called it-
self a Household Suffrage Bill or whatever else it
called itself. Besides that, there were a set of pro-
visions, in my opinion, the most offensive and the
most invidious that were ever embodied in an act
of Parliament with reference to those who were
called the compound householders, who form two-
thirds of the whole labouring community of the
borough, and consequently it would have left them
not only to go through divers formalities, but
likewise, by the payment of a money fine, come to
the exercise of the suffrage. Well, gentlemen, I
won't telkyou about the two years' residence, about
the
_absence of a lodger franchise, about the paper

admiration whatever, of the manner in which it has
been carried. (Hear, hear.) But I must look at
the Act in itself ; I must look at what it does for
the people of England ; I must look at what it
promises to do for them. If we must look at its
faults, we must ask whether it involves principles or
confessed admissions which are sure to lead to
amendments of those faults, and so, looking at the
Act as upon a great progress in the career of
British liberty—(cheers)—it has been said, forsooth,
that the Liberal party—the great bulk of the Liberal
party—offered opposition to the Act. Gentlemen,
it is not so. What happened is this. When the bill
was introduced, and when that bill, professing to
confer household suffrage, withdrew on the one
hand what it had given on the other, and subjected
to such impediments and embarrassments and to
such actual penalty the attainment of the suffrage
in the majority of cases, we all saw it was going to
be made the instrument, really, I may say, of poli-
tical terror, to those who desire to be voters in
England. What we said was this—" Away with all
these conflicting contrivances ; don't let us ask
whether the rate upon a man's house is paid by
himself, whether it is paid under the Small
Tenements Act or under the Compound Act by his
landlord ; quite enough for you and the public
authorities if the rate is paid at all. (Hear, hear,
and laughter.) Secure the payment of the rate if
you please, but beyond that let the arrangements be
made which are for the convenience of the respec-
tive parties—that is to say of the parishes, the
owners, and the occupiers." And therefore I made
a motion that the franchise should be enjoyed en-
tirely and irrespectively of the question whether the
rate was laid directly upon the man himself, or
whether it were laid upon him through his landlord.
For that motion 289 gentlemen voted. We were
quite willing, we desired rather to have taken a mo-
derate extension, say of £7 or £6, of the suffrage,
combined with clearness and with provisions that
would have made the enjoyment of the privilege
easy, rather than to have offered to the people some
high-standing boon which, when in point of fact it
came to be put to the test should be found to have
restrictions which would deprive them of the enjoy-
ment. (Hear, hear.) Well, the House of Com-
mons decided against us by a majority of 21, and I
am not going to throw any blame on those who
constituted that majority. When that question
was decided the Liberal party in Parliament made
no proposal and gave no vote except with re-
ference to the improvement of that bill; and,
gentlemen, I think I may say we did improve the
bill. We struck out the two years' residence
and reduced it to one :year, although _ that
two years' residence was proposed to us by the
Government. We were told through the mouth of
Sir J. Pakington that it had this recommendation
attached to it—that it was intende I to limit the
number of votes. (Several voices, " Oh 1") Yes,
that was the declaration made by Sir John Paking-
ton when he rose to support the two years' resi-
dence against the one year's. We got rid of the
tax franchise, we got rid of the voting papers, we
made some extension, though 1 am sorry to say we
failed in making any reasonable or due extension.
For the redistribution of seats, take the enormous
anomalies which, for instance, South Lancashire is
under. Not only is it now inadequately represented,
but after the dissolution would be represented very
little better. When we made a proposal for giving
additional members to large towns, the leader of the
House of_Commons declared if that proposal were
carried by the house, Government must reconsider
the whole question, which is the Parliamentary
method of telling the House of Commons that they
would have to drop the bill. (Laughter.) I was
obliged to rise in my place there and then, and to
say that if the Government dropped the bill we
should take it up. (Cheers.) IVel, the bill has
passed, and it has passed with some considerable
defects ; the redistribution of seats is totally ivade-
plate ; the provision with respect to rating, I cou-
fess, I think very objectionable; but, at the same
time, that is a matter that is in the hands of the
people themselves, and I do not wish to make
it a subject of political controversy. We
made another great mistake with reference
to what is called the minority vote. With regard
to that vote there are two questions involved—one
is whether minorities should be represented at all,
and the other is, when they are represented, at
whose expense they should be represented. Now
observe what we have done. The question whether
the minority should be represented at all is very
open to debate. Now, I prefer the old English
principle, and my idea of the Conservative process
is rather in standing by old English principles when
there is no strong reason for departing from them.
My idea is that the old English principle of dealing
with communities, of allowing each community to
speak for itself, and when the minority is dissatis
fled, of giving it an encouragement to struggle by
fair means to become a majority, I believe that it
is the proper basis of representation—(cheers)—
but still I admit there is a great deal to be said on
the subject. The mistake we have made is worse
than having come to an erroneous decision on de-
batable questions. I will illustrate what I am saying
by the case of Liverpool. I take the case of Liver-
pool, because the majority there has exercised its
electoral power on the last occasion, and on several
1 occasions, in a manner which I do not at all approve.
(Cheers and laughter.) I am not invested with the
privilege of choosing members for Liverpool ; pos-
sibly I should make a different choice if that
were so. I will assume that the majority in
Liverpool consists of 15,000, and the minority of
10,000 or 12,000. I take the number arbitrarily,
because I do not desire to be too precise. The ar-
gument is this—it is said that these 12,000 men are
so important that it is intolerable they should re-
main without representatives. Suppose that to be
true—and it is possible there may be gentlemen in
this room who think that the 12,000 should have al
distinct representation of their own—suppose, I say,
on account of their numbers, combined with their
intelligence, you will arrange a system under which
these 12,000 shall have a member. What 1 want
to know is from where that member is to be got.
Is it just or tolerable, if these 12,000 are to be re-
presented, to take them from the number we had
allotted to the 15,000 or more, from the 200, 300,
or 400 who constitute the voting majority in many
of the little boroughs of England ? It appears to
me that a grosser injustice could not be conceived
' than that after we had promised the majority in
Liverpool and other great communities, and after
in the case of counties the land had given to the
majority the power of returning those members
we should take one away from them and give it

• NEWSI
order to maintain the re ;-
ofor:hAicshhblurwtoilnl ,noort sotrom
tation ca
places, the names eee
with, because if I did you would prob4-mit''''
know whether they were in England or AbYvegi4;"
(Cheers and laughter.) There is another 'reetr---
tion of the bill which I still consider unsatisfactotV‘;
and that is with respect to the county franchise. I
do not think it wise to establish so great a differ-
ence as we have got between the occupation fran-
chise in counties and the occupation franchise in
boroughs. (Hear.) At the same time, while Ire-
serve my freedom to take any course at a suitable
time, and while I cannot pass by the subject of
Reform without naming those opinions, I do not
wish to name them so as to weaken the power of
those congratulations which I offered to you at an
earlier period of my remarks upon the pessing of a
bill which constitutes so great an epoch in the his-
tory and progress of British legisl,,tion. (Cheers.)
We have not done with Ref inn. (Cheers.) One of
the great charges made against our Government
was that we did no; propose to deal with all parts
of the question of Reform at once. But it was
found impossible to deal with the whole of them.
The only question dealt with in the manner to do
the smallest good in the last session was a part of
the question of franchise. It has been settled for
England, but remains unsettled for Scotland and
Ireland ; and as to redistribution, although seine:
good has been done, I put no great value upon is;
for if you touch the question you ought to do so in
such a way as to settle it. (Cheers.) Now, I
do not think it desirable to come here to rail per-
sonally at antagonists, and I have endeavoured to
avoid, as far as I could, falling into that error. I am
not going to rail, but I am going to refer—(laugh-
ter)—and in a si eech at Edinburgh, an I read it re-
ported in the newspapers, Mr. Disraeli, the dis-
tinguished gentleman who holds the position of
Chancellor of the Exchequer, says that in his recol-
lection, and I believe during his Parliamentary
career, there were 32 measures of vital importance
and benefit—in fact, as I understood, the 32 mea-
sures which have done so much good in the country
within these last years—that they had all of them
been supported by the party with which he was as-
sociated, and had been strongly, I think I even read
the words bitterly, opposed by the other quarters of
the House. Gentlemen, I read that declaration with
the utmost pain. It was beyond anything painful to,
find that there were these 32 measures, none of whi eh
I had had the pleasure of supporting, because, when
reviewed in my mind the measures I had supported
and the measures I had opposed, I found that almost
withoutexceptiou those measureswhich Mr. Disraeli
had opposed I had supported, and those whicla
he had supported I had opposed. (Laughter and
cheers.) I, therefore, found myself in this painful
predicament, of being totally excluded after a great
number of years of hard labour from having had.
anything to do with any of the good laws that have
distinguished our recent history and given satisfac-
tion to the people and strength to the institutions
of the country. But, gentlemen, there was no list
given of those 32 measures—(laughter)--and
cannot tell you to what a degree my curiosity was
excited with regard to that list. During the late
session of Parliament very trying circumstances of
a domestic character prevented us from asking for
any explanation of these matters, and likewise upon
other matters relative to that curious process of
what is called education—but it differs from educa-
tion in the ordinary sense of what is called educa-
tion—on the question of Reform, to which it
appears the Conservative party have, without
knowing it, been subjected for the last seven
years. (Laughter.) Now, of that process I will
only say one word in passing, and it is this, that in
general when people are put into education your first
object is to open their eyes ; but in this kind of
education it appears that it is essential that while
the thing is going on they should know nothing
whatever about it—(laughter)—and should suppose
down to the last moment the direct opposite ; but
that when the happy moment comes then they are
no longer treated like people going to play blind-
man's buff, the handkerchief is taken away from
their foreheads, and they are told, and they discover,
to their intense satisfaction, that they have been
undergoing without knowing it a process of educa-
tion for the last seven years. (Laughter and cheers.)
Well, gentlemen, among the advances in the art of
physic of late years there has been one very great
one—l don't know whether you experience the
benefit of it with the country practitioners as
much as we do in London—and that is the art
of making physic agreeable, and now in a great
majority of cases you take it without knowing it ;
and it appears to me that this system of medicine
has been adopted by the Conservative party of the
country, and that the Conservative party has been
dosed with principles of Parliamentary Reform
while it believed that it was walking in the opposite
direction. It now discovers what it has been about,
and seems perfectly well pleased; and if they are
pleased, gentlemen, I know not why we should not
be pleased--(cheers)—because the result has been
the attainment of an enormous benefit, and advan-
tage to the country. (Cheers.) I come back to
my point, and I should like to know if there is any
one that can tell me what were these 32 measures.
I declare to you 1 should be put very hard to it if I
were compelled to mention one of them—that is to
say, great measures of benefit for the people e hich
were strenuously supporte I by the friends of the
opposite party, and which were bitterly opposed
from another quarter—this is, of course, from the
Liberal portion of the house. Ido not know what
they were, but, gentlemen, I do know what they
were not—they were not the repeal of the Rowan
Catholic disabilities, which formed in part the
fulfilment and in part the promise of fulfil-
ment of the duties of this country towards Ire-
land, and of ourselves, as lovers of liberty to-
wards all our fellow-subjects, whether Roman
Catholics or not—(cheers)—they were not the
repeal of the disabilities of Protestant Dissen-
ters, they were not the repeal of the Corn Laws,
they were not Reform of Parliament, they were not
the introduction of principles of fair representative
government into the municipal communities of the
country ; they were not the repeal of the naviga-
tion laws, which was to ruin all our shipping, just
as the repeal of the corn laws was to have ruined
our agriculture, but which resulted in an enormous
extension of our shipping, as the repeal of the corn
laws resulted in immense increase in the value of
our prodace ; they were not the treaty with France,
which has opened and extended the commerce of
the country, and in extending the commerce of the
country has done more by joining two nations with
the right hand of fellowship, never again, I trust, to
be severed ; they were not reform of the whole
tariff of the country, which has given you, without
almost any exception, the absolute command of all
the raw material of labour and industry that the
world can yield without payment of a single
shilling to the Exchequer ; they were not
the establishment of that free press which now
circulates almost by millions, if not by millions,
throughout the whole of this country, and pene-
trates into every nook and corner of the land.
Well, gentlemen, I really thought, in my blindness
and benighted ignorance, that those were the mea-
sures, or, at all events, that they were the contested
measures, because some measures-1 ain thankful to
say, many good and valuable measures—have passed
the Legislature without contest. I thought it was
the contests upon these measures which had given a
special character to the Parliamentary history of the
age. Gentlemen, I still think so, and I ask you if
you think the spirit which formed and conceived and
dictated such measures is to continue to prevail in
the councils of the country ? (Cheers.) Let me
refer, in one v ord, to a Subject of the greatest im-
portance, which time absolutely prevents me from
developing. We must have a Reform Bill for Ire-
land. I must give the Government this credit—
that the franchise which they proposed for Scot-
land was conceived in a liberal spirit. The fran-
chise to be proposed for Ireland will, I hope, be con-
ceived in a liberal spirit also. I refer to it only
for the sake of saying that which I hold not
merely as an isolated proposition, but as a principle
to be applied to the whole policy of the country. If
this is indeed to be a United Kingdom, we must
endeavour to give one heart and one mind to the
people of all its three divisions, and that or,c; heart

and one mind never can be given to them unless
with perfect equality and impartiality. But, gen-
tlemen, I have referred to the past and to the spirit
in which past policy has been conceived ; possibly I
may be told that the repeal of the Corn Laws was
carried by Sir Robert Peel, and that Sir Robt. Peel
was a Conservative Minister. It is true that Sir R.
Peel was a Conservative Minister ; it is true that
ho carried the repeal of the Corn Laws, but it is
also true that because he carried the repeal of the
corn laws he was no longer allowed to continue a
Conservative Minister. (Hear.) Gentlemen, the
case is before you ; the performances as well as the
professions of individuals and parties %via in due
time be submitted to you, and 12 months may
elapse before you exercise your electoral pri-
vileges. The future of the country is fraught
with questions of the deepest interest. The ulti-
mate responsibility of the decision will not rest with
this man or that man who may happen to be Minis-
ter or may happen to sit in Parliament : it will rest
with you, the electors of England. All that we can
do is to bring before you to the best of our ability
the facts and the rights of the case; to ventilate
and discuss in the free atmosphere of this free coun-
try all questions and topics of public interest, and
leave the issue in your hands to accept with con-
tent your decision, whatever it may be, but to rest
in our own mind on the conviction that to the best
of our ability we have struggled and done battle
for the right. (Protracted cheering, during which
the right hon. gentleman resumed his seat.)
A vote of confidence in the right hon. gentleman
as the Liberal representative of South Lancashire
was then passed by acclamation.

THEA.TRE ROYAL, DRURY-LANE
Sole Lessee and Manager, Mr. F. B. Chatterton.
First Morning Performance of the Pantomime on
Saturday, Dec. 28, and every Wednesday and Satur-
day until Feb. 15. Children and schools admitted at
reduced prices to the following parts of the Theatre :
stalls, dress circle, and first circle, for Morning Per-
formance only.—On BOXING NIGHT (Thursday), Dec.
26, and every evening until further notice, will be per-
formed a new and original Farce, by R. Reece, Esq., en-
titled HONEYDOVE'S TROUBLES. Characters by
Messrs. Joseph Irving, C. Warner, J. Moiris ;
Mei-
dames Sate Harfleur and E. Melville. After which will
be performed the Drury Lane annual grand Christmas
Pantomime, written by E. L. Blanchard, Esq., entitled
FAW FEE FO FUM ; or, Harlequin Jack the Giant
Killer. The gorgeously beautiful scenery by Mr. William
Beverley. The characters in the opening: Miss Poole,
Itesdames Edith Stuart, Kate Harfleur, E. Mel-
ville, Carew, Blair, Corti, Amy Herbert, Hall, and
Mdlie. Anais Tourneur, premiere dausense ; Mr. Joseph
Irving (his first appearance this season), Messrs. Moreland
J. B. Johnstone, Naylor, Pennington, Mitcheson ; Master
Edward Lewis, Master Frederick Charles, and Master
Russell, the living Miniatures ; Master Percy Roselle.
The Harlequinado includes the services of those popu-
lar pantomimists (forming a treble oompany),
Messrs. Boleno, C. Lauri, and Tom. Dot, clowns ;
Messrs. Barnes, Morris, and Master Russel, pantaloons;
Messrs. Cormack, S. Saville, and Alger, harlequins;
Messrs. Sidney and Jelina, sprites; Mdlles. Fanny Lauri,
Adele Marion, and Eugenie Valckenacre, columbines.
The Juvenile Christy's Minstrels : Majilton the Gro-
tesque ; and the celebrated Skaters, Madame Fredreka
and Mr. Elliott. Stage Manager, Mr. Edward Stirling.
The masks, designs, and dresses, from designs by the
humorously-renowned Dyk-Wyn-Kyn. The music selected
and arranged by Mr. J. H. Tully. The dances and action
of the Ballet, and the general business of the children's
scenes, arranged by Mr. John Cormick. Costumes
by Mr. S. May and Mrs. Lawler. Private boxes,
one, two, three, four, and five guineas ; is. ;
dress circle, ss. ; first circle, 4s. ; balcony seats, 3s. ; pit
2s. ; lower gallery, ls. ; upper gallery, 6d. Box-office
open from ten to five daily. Doors open at half-past six,
the performance to commence at seven o'clock.

THEATRE ROYAL, II A YMARKET.
Sole Lessee, Mr. Buckstone.
THIS EVE IN G, OUR AMERICAN COUSIN'. Messrs.
Sothern, Raymond, Chippendale, Braid, &c.; Mesdames Burke,
Robertson, Chippendale, ie.
After which, TO PARIS AND BACK FOR FIVE POUNDS
Mr. Buckstone.
To conclude with A KISS IN THE DARK.