The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-23 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

The following medical officers, attached to the
medical establishment at Fort Pitt, were yesterday
ordered to hold themselves in readiness to proceed
to the undermentioned stations :—Assistant-Sur-
gem D. C. Sinclair, 6th Dragoon Guards, and
Staff Assistant-Surgeon W. Venour, to proceed to
India; Staff Assistant-Surgeon R. White and Staff
Assistant-Surgeon A. J. Griffiths, to Dublin.
The following vessels have been taken up by
the Hon. Council for India for the conveyance of
reinforcements to India, viz. :—the Athenais, the
Janet Willis, the Tudor, and the Redan.
An order has been received at Chatham for the
following officers and troops belonging to the bat-
talions of infantry at that garrison to be held in
readiness to proceed to Calcutta :—One subaltern
and 48 men of the Bth (the King's) Regiment ; 1
subaltern of the 23d Royal Welsh Fusileers ; and
25 men of the 53d INiment. The following arc
also to be held in readiness to embark for Kurra-
chee :-10 men of the 61st Regiment, and 40 men
of the 94th Regiment. The, required amount of
tonnage for the conveyance of the reinforcements to
India was yesterday taken up by the Hon. Council
for India, the number of troops, of all ranks,about
to be despatched to India, being upwards of 1,100
men.

During the last three days 130 recruits km becn

REIGATE.
The nomination of candidates for the vacancy in
the representation of this borough, caused by the
appointment of the late member, Sir H. C. haw-
linsen, to a seat in the Indian Council, took place
yesterday at the Town-hall. The proceedings,
upon the whole, were unexpectedly quiet,, the a-
sence of flags and music (save that supplied by wan-
dering minstrels employed to shout forth the poli-
tical parodies peculiar to a contested election)
greatly diminishing the excitement that was wont
to prevail on such occasions. In consequence of
the uproarious proceedings at the meetin6 of the
previous evening, when Mr. E. James's intended
explanation was summarily disposed of, the autho-
rities deemed it prudent to take measures to pre-
vent any breach of the peace, and, accordingly,
swore in a number of special constables, in addition
to procuring the services of a body of the county
police. Fortunately, there was no necessity for
any interference on the part of either of these
bodies. At 11 o'clock the Town-hall was opened,
and was speedily filled by a numerous and noisy,
but good-humoured crowd, who, beyond occasion-
ally drowning the voice of the speaker of the
moment by their expressions of approval or dis-
satisfaction, conducted themselves in a most or-
derly manner.
Mr. T. MARTIN, the venerable bailiff of the
borough, having opened the proceedings with the
usual formalities,
Mr. G. G. lticraßnsos proposed the Hon.
Major Monson as a fitting person to fill the vacancy
in the representation of the borough. (Cheers and
hisses.)
Mr. J. SEARLE seconded the nomination.

Mr. T. NoßTir then proposed Mr, W. A. Wilkin-
son, whose name he believed would be most accept-
able to the electors of the borough. (Cheers and
e hisss.)
_

APTED seconded the nomination.

Mr. MONSON .then rose to address the meeting.
He said that during the many weeks the contest
had lasted he had endeavourea to act with courtesy
to all, and he trusted that he should pursue the
same course unto the end. (Hear, hear.) He had
been unsuccessful upon a former occasion because
many of his friends had already pledged them-
selves to Sir H. Rawlinson ; but they had pro-
mised 'to support him (Mr. Monson) upon a
future occasion. That occasion had now arrrived,.
and he was receiving that support ; but he was
taunted, as Sir H. Itawlinson had been, on account
of the fact that some gentlemen who were Cohser-
vatives gave him their assistance in preference to
his hon. opponent. Their late representative had
-been transferred from the House of Commons
to the Council of India, and in passing he (Mr.
Monson) could not avoid expressing his satisfaction
at finding that Lord Stanley had not confined him-
self to one side of the house, nor even to the House'
of Commons itself, in seleeting the members of the.
Council for India, but had gone beyond the limits
of that assembly in order top•Ocure men who by
their knowledge and experience were best qualified
to watch over the interests of our Indian empire.
(Cheers.) One of the principal measures of next
session must be one for the abolition of church-
rates. . (Cheers) He thought .it. was quite shock-
ing to witness the church-rate contests, and to find
the clergyman at variance with his parishioners in
consequence. He therefore was desirous of a just
settlement of that question by the total abolition of
church-rates, that Dissenters might both directly
and indirectly be exempted from them. (Cheers.)
Upon that subject he might observe that Mr. C. Gilpin
M.P., had impUted to his father, Lord Monson, that
he had supported church-rates in the House of Lords,
whereas the exact contrary was the fact. He
thought the hon. member ought to have ascer-
tained
the facts before making such a statement.
The next session must also produce a Reform Bill,
and his (Mr. 'Monson's) opinion upon that subject
was that. there were great masses of people in this
country who were entitled 'to the franchise.
(Cheers;) It was not for him to shadow forth the
coming Bill, which even the Ministers themselves
could not tell, but Mr. Henley said it would please
all parties, in which case, of course, all would be
contented. (Laughter.) But it would be useless
to extend the franchise without protecting the
voter in its exercise, and therefore he was favour-
able to the ballot—(cheers)—and would pledge
himself, if returned, to supp sit that measure at
every stage. He was opposed to opening places of
public amusement on Sundays. (Cheers and groans,
and a cry, " What about Sunday canvassing ?")
He did not desire to trench upon the enjoyments of
the people, but if once the line was.broken through he
believed the opening of theatres and shops on Sun-
days would follow. (Cheers and hisses.) After dis-
claimingany connexion with Mr. E. James as a
candidate. Mr. Monson thanked the meeting for
his reception, and declaring his conviction that he
should be returned by a large majority, sat down
amid the cheers of his partisans and the groans of
his opponents.
Mr. WILKINSON then appeared, and was greetedl
with similar expressions of feeling. He said they
had met there that day to perform what some
called a trust., but which he regarded a right, or
what should be a right, of everyman who was com-
petent to vote for a member to represent him in
Parliament. (Cheers.) As long, however, as large
numbers of the people were excluded from the
franchise he agreed that those who possessed the
power of voting were invested with a trust on
behalf of the non-electors, and to that extent it.
was a trust, and not a right. (Cheers.) That was
a state of things which he was glad to find his
hon. opponent concurred with him in thinking
ought to be altered. (Cheers.) As the question
was now a matter of personal choice between two
candidates, he must point out to the electors the
distinctions which he believed there were between
himself and his opponent. That gentleman was,
no doubt, an honourable and talented gentleman,
but he was young and inexperienced. (Cheers and
hisses.) He (Mr. 'Wilkinson) was no longer young,
and probably in 10 years' time Mr. Monson might
be the fittest man of the two, but in the meantime
there was work to be done at once, and for that
work he claimed to be the fittest man. (Cheers,
and cries of "No !") He was disposed to give a
vote to every man who was fit to exercise it.
(Cheers.) In order to secure the independence of
every
voter in the exercise of the franchisee
would grant him the protection of the
ballot.
(Cheers.) It was satisfactory to find that his hon.
opponent held the same views upon that poi nt, but
it certainly would have been a great antage if
those views had been declared at an earlier period.
(Cheers.) That gentleman had held no public
meetings, and therefore he had not given the
electors any
opportunity of ascertaining what his
real opinions were. (Cheers.) Then, again, as to
church-rates, he was glad to find his opponent, who,
in his address, only desired a" just settlement" of that
question, was now prepared to support their
immediate and unconditional abolition (Mr. Mon-
son assented). That declaration was gratifying to
Liberals, but how could the Tory friends
of -Mr.
Monson support a gentleman who advocated total
and immediate repeal of church rates? (Cheers, and
a cry, " Because he is the best of the two.") It
must be because he was the least liberal of the
two. (Cheers.) It had been ur ed against him (Mr.
Wilkinson) that he had beengrejected by his for-
mer constituency, but the same election that dis-
placed him unseated also Bright, Cobden, Cardwell,
M. Gibson, Sir W. Clay, and other men of greater
abilities and standing than himself. He did not
perceive how that fact made him less eligible on the
present occasion. (Cheers.) He had been five years
iu Parliament, and had never given a vote but upon
the suggestion of his honest and sincere convic-
tions. (Cheers.) He thought his opponent was in-
consistent in charging him in 1852 with displacing
Mr. D'Eyncourt, and in 1857 with being rejected
by the same constituency. If it wrs the constitu-
ency who rejected him in 1857,,it was also the
constituency who rejected Mr. D'Eyncourt in 1852.
(Cheers.) In conclusion, Mr. Wilkinson -admitted