The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-06 00:00:00

THE MEMBERS OF ROCHESTER AND

THEIR CONSTITUENTS.

On Monday night, at eight, a crowded public
meeting of the freemen and other electors of Roches-
ter was held at the Corn Exchange in that city, to
hear addresses from the sitting members, Mr. Ser-
geant Kinglake and Mr. P. W. Martin, explanatory
of their view-s—oa various important questions.
The chair was occupied by Mr. STEELE, who
commenced the proceedings by alluding to the ser-
vices rendered by the hon. members during the
period they had represented the constituency. At
a recent meeting, convened by the'Reform. L-ague
and held in that city, he dig not atter' I, because he
vas not in favour of manhood suffrage ; but he must
ay that every credit was die to that League, and
especially to Mr. Bright, for keeping the Reform
question in a state of agitation, and it must not be
allowed to rest until a good sound Ref,rm Bill was
carried. He had no faith in such a bill being car-
ried by the present Tory Government, and fully
believed that the Liberals would soon find it neces-
sary to kick them out.

Mr. P. W. MARTIN, M.P., after alluding to
various local topics, said he had now represented the
city eleven years, and it was very probable that some
of his best friends might not agree with him in
everything he had to say, but they would find that
he had honestly redeemed his promise to t
suppor
measures calculated to benefit all classes of the com-
munity. He had voted for the Reform Bill of the
late Government on every division that took place,
except one, when he paired. He thought that no
true Liberal member of the House of Commons
could look back at the results of the last session
without a feeling of chagrin and regret that such an
excellent opportunity had been lost for settling, at
least for a considerable period, the vexed question
of Parliamentary Reform. Personally, he should
have voted for a much more advanced measure, and
had a twenty-pound franchise in counties, and an
eight-pound borough franchise been passed, as it
ought to have been, eleven years ago, they should
now have been looking for a more liberal franchise.
It was a great mistake to-suppose that after the last
general election the Liberal Government had a clear
working majority of 70, because out of this so-called
majority there were 28 members who in the previous
Parliament had voted against a six-pound borough
franchise. Taking this as a test, therefore,
the Liberal majority would dwindle down to
16. He believed that Mr. Gladstone was per-
fectly honest and sincere in his endeavours to
carry his bill through the house; but from the day,
it was introduced, when he heard Mr. Gladstone
say that there were only 12 days to discuss it, he
thought that it stood very little chance of being
passed. One of the greatest mistakes in the bill
was the 16th clause, which provided for the dis-
franchisement of dockyard workmen. After detail-
ing the efforts made by himself and other members
to strike out this clause,- which would have been
done had the bill passed, Mr. Martin observed that,
strong advocate as he was for a comprehensive mea-
sure of reform, he would not step over the floor of
the House of Commons to support Earl Russell's or
any other Reform Bill if that game was to be re-
peated. The question of reform could not be left
in abeyance, and would continue to impede the
progress of all other legislation until it was settled.
He agreed with Mr. Baines, Mr. Bright, and other
einiuent reformers, that it would not be sound
policy to go to the extent of universal or manhood
suffrage at present—not that he feared to trust the
masses of the people with political power, but be-
cause he thought that such a measure would tend to
paralyse trade, render capital nervous, and thus
injure all classes. He did not say that in the course
of a few years manhood suffrage would not prevail ;
and if it was the law to-morrow, he, for one, did not
believe that there would be any ugly rush upon the
rights of property, but that things would soon settle
down much in the same state that they were before.
If manhood suffrage prevailed he very mach ques-
tioned whether many working men would be sent
to the House of Commons. For his own part he
should very much like to see 40 or 50 bona fid
representatives of the working classes sitting as
members of that house, and then the other members
would be able to learn the opinions and wishes of
the great mass of their countrymen. For the
future he should vote for any comprehensive
Reform Bill that appeared likely to be carried.
The question itself might be full of danger, but the
greatest danger of all was not to carry a Reform
Bill at all. Last year the country generally would
have accepted the Government Reform Bill ; even
the democratic leaders out of doors were satisfied
with it ; but delays were dangerous, and such a
moderate measure of reform might be rejected with
scorn on another occasion. After alluding to the
fiscal and commercial reforms effected by the late
Government, Mr. Martin expressed fears that when
the budget came before the house it would be found
that the country had made a very bad exchange.
Mr. Sergeant KINGLAKE, in the course of a
humorous address, said his 'hon. colleague and him-
self should be at St. Stephen's to-morrow in order
to learn the great secret—was there to be a Reform
Bill or not? It was said, " Wait till the Queen's
Speech is delivered, and then we shall know all about
it." That he did not believe, for his own opinion was
that the Tories were at a loss to know what to do
with the question ; but if anything was said about
it in the speech it would be with a view to postpone
it. The reform question had been used for years
as a shuttlecock to serve the purpose of the party in
or the party out, but that would not do any longer;
and as the Tories had turned the Liberals out be-
cause their Reform Bill was not good enough, if they
did not bring in a better they must go out of office.
A vote of confidence in both hon. members was
then unanimously adopted; and after a vote of
thanks to the chairman the meeting separated.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

CAMARTHENSHIRE HUNT STEEPLECHASES.

TUESDAY.

The Hunters' Stakes of 3 sous each, with 40 added

Three miles.
Mr. Green Price's The Nun, by Fly by Night —nip,
aged, 12st 71b
Mr. Roberts's Milford, 5 yrs, 12st 71b (G. Holman) 2
Mr. Wallace's The Thane, aged, 12st 71b...(Mr. Thomas) 3
Mr. Barker's Saucobox, aged, 12st 71b (H. Edison) 0
Mr. Lewis's Freitag, 6 yrs, 12st 4lb (T. Owen) 0
Mr. Powell's The Fawn, list 91b (J. Pope) 0
Mr. Russell's Sir Anthony, 12st 21b (T. Davies) 0
Mr. Merton's Jack o' Newbury, 6 yrs, 12st 71b (Owner) 0
Betting-5 to 2 agst Milford, 4to 1 agst The Nun, sto
1 agst The Fawn, 6to 1 agst The Thane. Won by three
lengths; a length between second and third ; Jack o' New-
bury was fourth. The Fawn and Frietag fell. The win-
ner was objected to on the ground of being liable to race-
horse duty, and the ease stands over for further investi-
gation.
The Open Steeplechase (Handicap) of 10 sovs each, h ft
with 100 added ; winners extra. Four miles. 81 subs.
Mr. Powell's Daisy, by Hercules—Rose's dam, aged,
12st. 51b J. Pope 1
Mr. Williams's Arlescott, aged, list 111 b ..... (H. Ellison 2
Mr. Martin ns Mulbery, aged, lOst 111 b ...... (J. Holman 3
Mr. Powell's Flyfisher, aged, 12st 71b......... G. Holman 0
Mr. Yates's Merrimac, aged list 121 b ...... (Mr. Hobs,,n) 0
Duke of Hamilton's Meerschaum, aged, list 71b (J. Page) 0
Mr. Rowland's Garus, list 111 b ..... .......... (W. Reeves) 0
Mr. Owen ns Pensioner, lOst 71b ............. (Mr. Thomas) 0
Mr. Lewis's Aprilis, 6 yrs, lOst 71b .............(T. Davies) 0
Mr. Ducrow's Ballet Girl, 6 yrs, 10st 91b...(Mr. Milward) 0
Betting-5 to 2 agst Merrimac, 7to 2 agst Aprilis, 6to 1
each agst Daisy and Meerschaum, 10 to 1 each agst Ballet
Girl and Garus. Won by a length and a half, three lengths
between second and third, Meerschaum fourth. Aprilis
and Garus fell.
The Cambrian Selling Race of 3 soya each, with 40 added;
winner to be sell. Three miles.
Mr. Barker's Saucebox, by Vengeance, aged, list (..£10)
(11. Ell:800J
Mr. P. Herbert's Robin Adair, aged, llst (..£7O)
(Mr. Milward) 2

Botting-6 to 4on Robin Adair. Won by several lengths.
Mr. Ellison claimed Robin A
RACING Fix:rt
FEBIt

•
JRES FOR 1867.
UARY.
Nest Drayton 26
Derby

Lincoln Spring ......... 19
Harrow Spring ...... 21
Nottingham ............... 26

Liverpool Spring
Chelmsford Spring
12
18
Margate...
19
Warwick Spring

101 r.
Bromley
f;psom Spring 2
Lewes Spring 2B
Croxton Park 29
tIL. .
Phirsk
11
Newmarket Ist Spring 22
Durham ..
Catteriek
Chester 3O

Cardiff
Northampton
Windsor Spring 4
Edinburgh Sp. Meeting 6
Newmarket Craven 8
Abergavenny

NOVE.

Liverpool Autumn 5
Shrewsbury Autumn., ll

:MBE R.
I Leamington Hunt