The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-18 00:00:00

A crowded and enthusiastic meeting of the in-
habitants of the borough of Bridgwater was held
in the Town-hall on Wednesday evening, " to con-
sider the question of Parliamentary Reform; to
give the members for the borough, Colonel Tynte
and Mr. W. Kinglake, an opportunity of address-
their constituents; and to pass such resolutions as
may be deemed expedient."
All the resolutions were passed unanimously.
The CHAIRMAN (Mr. Alderman Sealy) having
opened the proceedings,
Mr. J. BROW NE proposed the first resolution :
"That, in the opinion of this meeting, no Reform Bill
will be acceptable to the country which does not provide,
firstly, a large extension of the suffrage; secondly, that it
be imperatively necessary that the right of voting shall be
by ballot ; thirdly, that the duration of Parliament shallnot
exceed three years ; fourthly, that the right of voting shall
not depend upon the payment of rates, but on being liable
to be rated to the poor at least six month's 'revious to the
election."

The resolution, which was seconded by Mr.
ROSSITER, was carried amid much cheering.
'Mr. J. THOMPSON proposed,
1 4, That the members for the borough be requested to sup-
port the measures of reform approved in the first resolu-
tion in any Bill brought before the House ; and also that
the chairman send copies of the first resolution to Lord
Derby and to Mr. Bright, requesting their favourable con-
sideration of the points set forth in the said resolution."
Alderman HURMAN seconded that motion, which
was unanimously carried.
Colonel *TYNTE, on presenting himself, was
greeted with tremendous cheering. He said,—l
am delighted to meet you this evening. I always
am delighted to meet you ; I should be the most
ungrateful of men if I were not, for never have I
appeared before you, your fathers, or even your
grandfathers, without meeting with the kindest
and heartiest reception. (Hear, hear.) When a
candidate and member for the western division of
Somerset I was favoured with the strongest and
most overwhelming support from the division
of Bridgwater, and that support has been
rendered me up to the present time, having had
the honour of being elected jolit representative for
the third time in Parliament. (Cheers.) I say
again that I am delighted to meet you this evening.
This is a most important meeting ; it is important,
because I am glad to say it will give the lie to
many who say that reform is little thought of in
Bridgwater ; because it will give strength to my
honourable colleague and myself to support what
you wish us to support in the House of Commons.
Perhaps I may be travelling a little out of my way,
but as I have a little to say to you personal to
myself in reference to the last session, I may be
permitted to remark that the Times stated, three or
four days back, that the story of the last session
had been told about 300 times, and I am about to
take the liberty of making the 301st short tale in
reference thereto. (Hear, hear.) I stated on the
hustings of Bridgwater in 1857, having been in the
minority in the House of Commons on the Chinese
question, that I considered Lord Palmerston had
done his duty as a British Minister in standing up
for the honour of the British flag—(hear)--in up-
holding that honour and the honour of the British
Crown, in protecting the interests of British sub-
jects and the property of British subjects in the
Chinese waters. (Hear, hear.) I told you so on
the hustings, and you did me the honour to return
me at the head of the poll by a large majority. I
stated also that I had confidence in Lord Palmer-
ston, which I trusted would never be changed.
Gentlemen, I never will tell you what is untrue.
I should be ashamed so to do, bearing the name I
do, and representing the constituency I do. I was
grieved to find that Lord Palmerston, instead of
sending an indignant answer to the insolent French
despatch—(hear, hear)—placed on the table of the
House of Commons a Conspiracy Bill. (Hear, hear.)
But, gentlemen I did not give a vote on that first
division, in which my hon. colleague, much to his
credit, took so active a part. Lord Palmerston was
not so well known to my hon. colleague as per-
haps to myself, for I have followed him for
many years, and I did not like to be the means
of hurling that Minister from his seat. The
thing went on, and 99 independent members
of the House of Commons voted against that Con-
spiracy Bill. My hon. colleague, as I before inti-
mated,:was prominent on the occasion—(loud cheers)
—and above 200 members voted in favour of it.
Well, as the bill advanced, the English people
began to think a little, too. (Hear, hear.) When
Mr. Milner Gibson introduced his motion, either
myself or one dearer to me than myself—one of my
relatives—was very ill, and I was unable to attend
the division on that proposition, or I should have
voted with Mr. Milner Gibson. (Hear, hear.) I
did not receive till the following day the resolution
which was passed, much to their honour, by the in-
habitants of Bridgwater. The 99 who voted in the
first division, and consistently voted in the second
division, deserve immortal honour. (Hear, hear,
and cheers.) Grieved as I was at the fall of Lord
Palmerston, yet I cannot but hold that in a certain
measure he deserved it for not having sent such an
answer as a British Minister ought to have sent to
an insolent French despatch. (Cheers.) English-
men are only to be governed by Englishmen.
(Loud applause.) Well, gentlemen, I will be very
short in referring to other measures connected with
the last session of Parliament. I supported mea-
sures which I have always supported—l supported
the abolition of church-rates. (Cheers.) I sup-
ported many other measures I need not specially
allude to—measures which are known as Liberal
measures—and I shall continue to support them,
the ballot among others. (Continued applause.)
There are many stories which members have had to
tell their constituents which I regret to say I can-
not amuse you with. I was one of those members
who went to Cherbourg. I did not dance jigs and
.Scotch reels on the deck of the steamer which took
some 80 or 100 members to Cherbourg. (Laughter.)
I have no fear of Cherbourg. I have no fear of
Lewis Napoleon or any other Lewis invading
Bridgwater. (Laughter and applause.) You will
allow me, electors of Bridgwater, and my colleague,
to vote sufficient money to maintain a Channel
fleet, though you tell us to take care that that money
is properly expended on that fleet. (Hear, hear.)
Then we may laugh to scorn the guns of Cherbourg
or the Emperor of the French. (Renewed cheer-
ing.) Let the Liberal electors stand shoulder
to shoulder in Bridgwater, and the other
invader to which I have alluded will sustain an
equally ignominious discomfiture. (Continued
. cheering.) I have told you on many hustings that
I never give a pledge. I never told you I never
have given a pledge. Gentlemen, when your re-
presentatives give a vote in the House of Commons
they give a pledge. (Hear, hear.) I have voted for
the extension of the suffrage, but not to the extent
it will be necessary, I believe absolutely necessary,
now to extend it. (Cheers.) lam prepared to ex-
tend that suffrage as you wish it extended. (Much
cheering.) lam not prepared to give a mere uni-
versal suffrage, but I can see no objection whatever
to the suffrage defined by you this night. (Cheers.)
. When on my canvass several people came to me
and said that they wished to vote for me ; that they
thought reform would do a deal of good ; but
Squire So-and-so, their landlord, was the other
way, and they must turn out, having no lease, if
they voted for me. (Hear, hear.) They hoped I
should help to give them the ballot if I went to
Parliament:- (Hear,_hear.) I then began to think
a good deal about the ballot. I began to think that
if it was only to protect one man in the county of
:Somerset it was worthy of being passed. From
that time to this I have voted for the ballot, and I
need not tell you that I shall vote for it again. (Ap-
plause.) The wider the range of the constituencies
--the larger the number of electors in this great
. country—the more pressing will be the influence
brought to bear upon them, the more necessary will
be the vote by ballot. (Hear.) Another point in
your resolution is that the duration of Parliament
shall not exceed thres years. Gentlemen, there I
am pledged again ; I have voted for that motion.
It is not a new question. By the former law the
Parliaments of England were only three years in
duration ; but at a certain period, whether it was
thought that the Parliament to be elected in the
place of that to be dissolved would not be so
agreeable to the Ministry, or so subservient to
them as the Parliament then in office, I cannot
say—but, having a majority, they extended the
period of sitting to seven years, and so it has been
ever since. The old law of England was for a
three years' Parliament. Certainly the opponents
of triennial Parliaments say that for the last 40 or
50 years Parliaments have been dissolved on an
average every three years, so that it makes little
difference; still I shall vote for triennial Parlia-
ments, as I have done before. (Hear, hear.) The
subject of redistribution of seats is a difficult
one
ques-
tion. I speak for myself—l should be very sorry
for Bridgewater to lose its membe'rs, or even
member. No doubt, the few must give way to the
many • and if some great national measure is ab-
solutely necessary to be carried, with the loss of a
member for Bridgwater, why I suppose we must
submit to what, in my opinion, would be a dreadful
occurrence. (Hear, hear.) I cannot, and will not,
say more than'this-I'will give my best attention
to the subject. Having the interest of Bridgwater
at heart more than that of any other constituency,
I should not like to give any pledge on that sub-
ject, which I think has been very wisely omitted
from the resolution. What the Reform Bills to

come may be no one yet knows. We are told that
Lord Derby, as Prime Minister of England, has a
Bill, if not cut and dried, cutting and drying—
(laughter)—at all events, we shall know in a few
weeks. Mr. John Bright, we know, is preparing
another ; that also is floating-about, not quite set-
tled as to what it is to be. They are both very

!E.F01231 MEETING AT BR ID G WATER. able men. I glory in the name of Liberal, but
without distinction of party I will, to the best of
my ability, give my vote for the best me inure that
is brought forward—for that I think most likely to
be produstive of good results—for that which I
, think best calculated to meet with your approba-
tion. (Cheers.)
Mr. A. W. KINGLAKE, on presenting himself
I to address the audience, was hailed with repeated
bursts of cheering and waving of hats. He
spoke as follows :—Gentlemen, I know that
there are many here who differ from me in
political opinion • but I rejoice to say that ever
since I have had the honour to represent this
borough in Parliament my relations with my
opponents.. -have bean of the happiest de-
scription—they have always, been courteous and
civil to me, and I venture to say there is no man in
this room, however strongly opposed to me in
politics, will say I have been otherwise than cour-
teous and civil to him. (Applause.) You are all
aware that her Majesty's Ministers have prepared
a bill for the reform of Parliament. You arc also
aware that Mr. Bright is understood to have a bill
for a similar purpose in preparation, and I think
that you have done wisely in meeting here for the
purpose of congratulating yourselves, as it were, on
the principles which you hold in reference to this
great question, and of comparing your views with
those entertained by the men who have the honour
at present to represent you in Parliament. It would
seem that there are four questions embodied in
your resolution, and one of the last, I think, is the
one which purposes with reason to make a man's
vote for a member of Parliament not dependent
upon the circumstance of his having paid his rates.
Well, gentlemen, in that view I entirely concur. I
cannot conceive that it can be right to make the
franchise of any man dependent upon the mere
question whether he has paid his rate or not ; for
surely it is contrary to all principle that the en-
joyment of a political privilege like that of voting
for a member of Parliament should be made to
serve the base purpose of a mere legal process to
induce a man to pay his rates in time. (Hear, hear.)
There is another point with regard to the duration
of Parliament. 'All, or most of us, are aware that
under the law as it now stands Parliament may
possibly endure for a period of no less than seven
years. I think you will all agree that that period
is a great deal too long. You, of course, under-
stand that this is not a question upon which any
member of Parliament will pledge himself as to the
exact vote which he intends to give; but I have no
hesitation in assuring you that I cordially concur
in the proposition that the duration of Parliament
ought to be shortened. (Hear.) I agree with my.
friend Colonel Tynte, in saying how much better it
is to refer to A vote you have given than to deal
in vain promises. I have had an opportunity
of giving a vote on a question introduced by Mr.
Wrightson which has an important bearing on this
resolution. Mr. Wrightson introduced a bill to do
away with that provision of the law which compels
any member of Parliament, after accepting office
under the Crown, to go to his constituency and ask
theta to sanction the step he has taken. I opposed
that measure—l opposed the introduction into Par-
liament of a bill to change the law on that subject.
I think there is no principle more wholesome than
that framed into a law in the reign of Queen Anne
—viz., that if a gentleman receives a lucrative office
under the Crown, he ought to go back to his con-
stituents and inquire from them whether they will
or will not ratify his decision in that respect.
(Loud applause.) A still more important question
is that with respect to the extension of the suffrage.
I have said to
.you on a former occasion that the
political principle to which I always appeal in
questions of this description is this : I put my trust
in the people of England. (Cheers.) I do firmly
believe that the people of England are a wise and
an orderly people, and that the more you trust
them the more you will find them worthy of your
confidence. (Continued applause.) Many of you
are engaged in commerce ; and I am sure what I
am about to relate has happened to a number of
people in this room. You are engaged in business ;
you have a son growing up, just attaining to man-
hood; you are bringing him up to your commercial
business; you would be glad to find that he could
keep your accounts, post your books, and do those
acts which you are accustomed to do for yourself.
Well, somehow or other, you find that as long as
you only show him how to do that kind of thing
he is not a very docile pupil ; you have the notion
that no one can do the work for you except your-
self ; but at last a time comes when you are obliged
to trust somebody else; you go away on some jour-
ney ; you say to your son, " I am obliged to go, if
you will not post these books properly they will
not be done at all, I must trust to you ;" you come
back and find that everything has gone on just as
well as if you had been present. Now, why is it ?
How is it you have been able by a sudden process to
make your son, who was perhaps a flighty and
idle sort of person before, diligent in the tran-
saction of business ? Because you trusted him!
(Cheers.) You told him unless the work was done
by him it would not be done at all ; he felt the re-
sponsibility you cast upon him; he transacted the
business as well as you would have transacted it
yourself. I apply the parable—if parable I may
call it—l apply it to the extension of the suffrage.
Many of you may think your poorer fellows are
less thoughtful and more flighty than yourselves.
Why is it ? Because they have not been trusted
with the franchise. (Cheers.) Intrust them with
the franchise, accustom them to talk of politics,
accustom them to debate questions which rise in
our healthy political struggles, and you make men
of them at once. (Loud applause.) I will answer
for it—only trust an Englishman—only make him
know he is a person charged with responsibility,
and he will do his duty to himself and the country.
(Renewed and protracted cheering.) Gentlemen,
that is the view which I take with regard to the
extension of the suffrage. (Hear, hear.) If I was
speaking now in the year 1832, I might have to
rest merely upon hope and expectation, but can I
forget the history of the last eight and twenty
years ? Will any one here present point out one
single Act of Parliament which has been forced on
by the people of England, which is not both wise
and just ? (Renewed applause.) Why, the first
great measure that passed after the Reform Bill
was to submit to a vast national sacrifice of money.
For what purpose ? Was it for any base or selfish
purpose ? No ; but for the purpose of obtaining
the emancipation of the negro. (Cheers.) I cannot
now go through the whole history of the period,
but I may notice that the last great measure has
been the change with regard to the importation o
corn. (Cheers.) Is not that a measure the people
were justified in pressink upon Parliamen ?
(" Hear, hear," and great applause.) Can any one
tell me that during the whole period from 1832 to
the present time the people of England, intrusted,
to a great extent, with political power, have in any
way so abused it that we should shrink from ex-
tending the suffrage ? (" Hear, hear," and
protracted cheering.) When we say we will ex-
tend the suffrage we do not mean that we will
give with one hand and take away with
the other—we do not mean that we will enable a
voter to give a vote with his lips, which is dic-
tated to him by his landlord, or his master—we
mean that he shall give a vote which really ex-
presses his political opinions; and this brings me
to the question of the ballot. (A voice—Ali, to
give a vote so that he can sleep afterwards.) In
England it is the law that there can be no wrong,
and no crime, without a remedy : a remedy has
been here suggested, and no other can be found;
therefore it isq feel bound to support the ballot
(Great applause.) It is vain to say that the pro-
tection it gives may not be perfect—it cannot be
denied that, to a great extent, it will protect the
voter—it will protect any prudent voter who
chooses to hold his own counsel, and to give a con-
scientious vote. We are not fighting against a
bugbear; that there is really such a thing as intimi-
dation, I can prove to you by a tale of the last
election. At the time of the last glorious election
if I may venture so to call it—(cheers)—there was
living in this town a man in a comparatively humble
sphere of life, but universally respected. The
man of whom I speak is -William Allen. (near.)
He was a skilful moulder in iron; his wife also
carried on a trade, and contributed to the susten-
ance of the family. The couple were bringing up
their family in a highly respectable manner, and
no people could be more respected in their station
of life than William Allen and his wife. (Cheers.)
William Allen, at the last election, ventured to give
a vote for my friend Colonel Tynte and myself.
(Hear, hear.) For that crime William Allen was
discharged from the service of his employer. (Cries
of " Shame.") He was not so situate as to be able
to find employment in Bridgwater, and for that
crime he became, as it were, an exile from his native
town. (Renewed cries of " Shame.") Gentlemen,
I need hardly say, when I knew the man was in
trouble on account of a vote which he had given
for me, I never rested until I saw that the evil
circumstances in which he was placed were re-
trieved. (Continued cheering.) I am glad to
be able to inform you that he is now in a better
situation pecuniarily than he was at the time he
gave his vote, because he is permanently employed
in the establishment at Woolwich. (Hear.) But
gentlemen, is this a light matter atter that a.n.
honest livelihood in this town should indus-
trious workman, an man,l gaining an
i
from his native town on account of giu'vingeananhoenxelset
vote at an election V What remedy have we for
this ? (Loud cries of " The Ballot.") You all
answer " The Ballot ;" and I, too, answer "The
Ballot." (Great applause.)
.It seems to me that
the time has now arrived when, if we are to have
Reform at all, it ought to be an efficacious and