The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-23 00:00:00

attempted to get over the difficulties ? By giving
way in defence of their own previous opinions and
all their own principles—giving way, when they
thought they were going to be defeated, to the
Liberal majority of the House of Commons, not by
leading the majority of the body .n the course
which they considered advantageous to the public
interest, but in followhig the Liberal majority con-
trary to their own feelings and opinions for the sake
of avoiding defeat. Now, gentlemen, is that a course
of conduct deserving the confidence of Parliament or
of the constituencies of this country ? I own I
have no confidence whatever in Lord Derby an d
his Administration ; first of all, because of lais
avowed political opinions; and secondly, because
of the party by whom he has always been sup-
ported. They are the Tory or Conservative party,
and he the leader. For the last quarter of a cen-
tury he and his friends have always stood in oppo-
sition against anything like advancement, or pro-
gress, or improvement, or reform, in this country.
Therefore, I say, they are not deserving of your
support or mine. But they have endeavoured to
obtain the support of the Liberals in Parliament,
and some acts which they have spent their lives in
resisting when proposed V from the other side have
now been agreed to. The speaker then instanced
the admission of the Jews into parliament, and
proceeded :—Lord Derby seemed to be rather like
a coquette with two lovers on either side, oglinrs
the one, and pressing the foot of the other under
the table, and trying to persuade both that he is
all in favour of their views. (Laughter.) Lord
Derby tried to satisfy his own friends that he was
a good Conservative, and on the other side, press-
ing the foot of the Liberal party, persuaded them
he wanted progress, improvement, and reform,
calling them to witness what he would do if they
would stay and assist him. He was endeavouring
to balance himself o_n_a tight rope, from which
.he

was sure to get a fall. fie (Mi. Bouverie) had a
perfect conviction that Lord Derby and his friends,
however much they yielded to the Liberal majority
in the House of Commons at present, would, if a
chance were to turn out, be as vehement Tories as
they were before. (Loud applause.)` The hon.
gentlemanthen drew attention to the all-engrossing
subject of Parliamentary Reform. He did.. not
think that either himself or his constituents needed
to be convinced of the expedience of Parliamentary
Reform ; they had all been of that opinion for a
long time. Now, one important and main part of
any future Reform Bill must be an extension
of the franchise. (Cheers.) No bill without in-
cluding that would deserve the name of reform ;
for they all knew that there were large classes of
people in this country who were quite competent
to use the suffrage, and who ought to have it.
(Cheers.) If Lord Derby proposed a measure that
would enfranchise these masses, he would have his
hearty support (applause)—for he was very
strongly in favour of granting political liberty to
all classes. But he was against settling the matter
entirely by population. He did not know that it
would be for the advantage of the kingdom if Lon-
don, with its population equal to that of Scotland,
returned as many members as the latter did; nor
did he think that it would be advantageous to the
Kilmarnock burghs if Glasgow, with her 400,000
inhabitants, were permitted to represent her pecu-
liar habits and pursuits and feelings by ten times
as many as themselves. Then, let them look at the
allotment of representatives to Ireland, the country
that gives the smallest number of members to popu-
lation. Now, if they had recourse to population
for deciding the number 'of members, they must at
once grant 50 additional to Ireland. He respected
the Irish members, but he did not know nor did he
think they were prepared to say that the Irish
element should be increased so much. (Hear.)
Several questions were then put to Mr. Bouverie,
and answers having been given to them,
The CHAIRMAN proposed a vote of thanks to Mr.
Bouverie for his able address, and for his great
trouble and kindness in representing them so long.
(Applause.)
Mr. BOUVERIE having acknowledged the com-
pliment, a vote of thanks was, on the motion of ex-
Provost DONALD, passed to the chairman, and the
meeting separated.

LABOUCHERE, M.P., ON THE _NEW

REFORM BILL.

The annual civic feast was held at Taunton on
Friday, presided- over by Messrs. Easton and Bar-
nicott, bailiffs of the borough. The right hon. H.
Labouchere, ex-Colonial Secretary, and Mr. Arthur
Mills, members for Taunton, were present.
In reply to the toast, " The Burough Members,"
Mr. LABOUCHERE said—The worthy bailiff who had
proposed his health had made him out to be a very
venerable personage. (Laughter.) He had given
him a sort of paternal character in which he (Mr.
Labouchere) could hardly hope to aspire. He was
not a young Irian, but he hoped he had a little
work left in him still, and therefore he did not ex-
actly, like to be spoken of as a veteran. (More
laughter.) The worthy bailiff said as he (Mr.
Labouchere) had represented Taunton so many
years he must be the father of the House of Com-
mons. There were a good many gentlemen in that
house who were born long before him, and also
some who were elected representatives before him;
and although he was, perhaps, one of the elder
members of the House of Commons, he could
through their kindness boast of that which very
few could boast—that he had represented the same
constituency Which he had represented before the
passing of the Reform Bill, and by whom he had
been sent to Parliament ever since that Reform
Bill was passed. (Cheers.) And that reminded
him of a topic on which he was anxious to say one
or two words. He was well aware those were not
occasions on which party differences ought to be
introduced, but there was one subject which largely
interested all of them as electors of Taunton, and
as that was, perhaps, the only opportunity he
should have before Parliament met, he was anxious
to say a few words upon it. (Cheers.) It had
been announced by her Majesty's Government that
a new Reform Bill would be introduced in the
next session of Parliament. For his own.part, he
had no doubt such would be the case, and it was
hardly possible but that this bill would materially
affect their position and interests as a constituted
body. (Hear, hear.) Now, he thought it right
to say to them that he considered iu Would
be his duty—and he knew but little of their
feeling if he supposed they did 'not wish him to
perfotm that duty--,to consider that mea-
sures not solely or even principally as regards
the constituency he had the honour to re-
present, and which he ought to be attached
to, if ever member was attached to a constituency,
but he should consider it in reference to its bearing
upon the great interests ofthe community. (Cheers.)
He would also say that of the nature and details of
that bill he was profoundly ignorant, he had no
connection with the Government which would
bring it forward, and could only form the vaguest
conjecture of the form and colour it would be. But
he conceived that a measure which would affect the
future generations of England should be regarded
not as to whether this or that set of men shall oc-
cupy the bench of office, and he should look upon it
with every feeling of deference to the wellbeing of
the country, and not as a question which pertains
to a mere political partisan. (Cheers.) He had no
wish -whatever to see the constituencies of England
put up as-it were to auction, to be obtained by the
most unscrupulous bidder. (Loud cheers.) But if
that measure should appear to him calculated to
improve, purify, strengthen, and to enlarge our re-
presentative system, that bill should liave his sup-
port. (Hear, hear.) If on the other hand it be
merely a specious pretence—if it should appear to
him not to be calculated to produce that end for
which alone the representative system was of any
value, namely, the good order and good government
of the country, he should fearlessly oppose it, and
he would trust to the good sense and public spirit
of the men of Taunton to support him in that course.
(Loud cheers.)
Mr. MILLS also acknowledged the toast. He said
his right hon. colleague had referred to the coming
Reform Bill. He (Mr. Mills) was hot in the confi-
dence of her Majesty's Government, and knew no
more of the provisions of the bill they intended to
bring forward than he did of another bill—that of
friend John Bright. (A laugh.) They had come
to such a pass in legislation that they could not
have one bill announced but they had another for
the same object. Last session they had two India
bills—he was not sure they hadn't three ; next
session they were promised two Reform Bills,
and they might have three; but whatever might
be the fate of them, he trusted, notwithstand-
ing any change in the representative system
his relations with the constituency would be in no
way interrupted. The hon. member then referred
some length to local and personal topics, and con-
cluded by saying that in any new Reform Bill he
should be glad to see a clause introduced for the
entire abolition of " Parliamentary Christmas-
boxes," a practice which he understood had long
been regarded as one of the time-honoured institu-
tions of that ancient borough. (Laughter.)

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