The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-24 00:00:00

LEEDS.

Yesterday there was a Reform demonstration,
under the auspices of the Reform League, at Leeds.
It purported to be a gathering 'of what is termed
the advanced party of Liberals from the whole
county of York, and p: o'oa,bly there were some per-
sons present from the chief towns in the thr, e Rid-
ings into which that great county is divided, but the
bulk of the Reformers who assembled were chiefly
from the great centres of industry in the West
Riding. The boroughs of Bradford, Halifax, Wake-
field, Sheffield, Pontefract, and Huddersfield, the
towns of Dewsbury, Keighley, Biugley, Batley, Os-
sett, and their populous neighbourhoods, with the
borough of Leeds and its immediate neighbour-
hood, furnished in the Aggregate a very large assem-
blage of both men and women. The day was fine
and sunny upon the whole, though in the morning
the sky was cloudy, and there were some indications
of rain. It was also a holyday, being Easter Tues-
day, and these-circumstances, coupled with the long
prepared effort's to make the "demonstration" as tell-
ing as possible by the aid of music, flags, banners,
and other devices pf an attractive character for " the
'raillion,"'tendered etrewhole as successful as its pro-
jectors could wish. The recent letter of Mr. Glad-
stone, the speech of Mr. Bright at Birmingham, and
the position of the Reform Bill itself in the House of
Commons, all combined to give more than ordinary
interest to the proceedings.
Shortly after 1 o'clock in the afternoon the various
members of the Reform League audits branches, dif-
ferent trades, temperance, and other societies, and
other persons who wished to walk in procession assem-
bled at the front of the Town-hall, and went through
some of the principal sweets to "Woodhouse-mow, a
fine elevated piece of ground within the north partof
the berough. There was nothing particularly striking
in the procession, and the whole was less numerous than
a like procession in Leeds on the Bth of October last.
Most of the flags, banners, and bannerets which bad
done duty on the latter occasion did duty on this, and
some of them had a rather tawdry appearance. Some
of the inscriptions about " Manhood Suffrage," " Vote
by Ballot," and the like being gilt paper pasted on
bunting or silk, and having been cracked by having
been folded up or the paste by which they had been
fastened having lost its adhesiveness, they hung
Th
ine
tishreds,mewlicmah theking procession
the words not
tooka in passing
easy to read.
passing any point
was less than an hour. The bulk of the persons walked
five abreast, and there was on an average about a yard
and a half or two yards between each row of per-
sons, including in the calculation the much larger
intervals of space which existed between different
bodies of men or societies. The number of carriages
and other vehicles, and also of horsemen, was less
than in the October procession, and there was cer-
tainly much less enthusiasm displayed throughout
the whole affair.

On Woodhouse-mow there were five platorms, as
at the meeting in October last, and at each there
was a chairman and a set of speakers, the principal
of whom were the same as spoke on the previous
occasion. The speaking from the several platforms
commenced at 3 o'clock. The following three reso-
lutions were proposed and seconded at each plat-
form, and were simultaneously put to the mass of
people assembled, only a very small portion of whom,
however, could hear either the speakers or the re-
solutions. They were adopted unanimously, and
with much cheering :
--
1. That this meeting is of opinion that no measure of
Reform will be considered by the working classes as final
which does not embrace registered residential manhood
suffrage, protected by the ballot, together with such a re-
distribution of seats as will place the representation in
accordance with the wealth, population, and intelligence of,
the nation.

2. That this meeting rejoices in the progress that the
principle of household suffrage has made in the recent dis-
cussions in Parliament, and earnestly calls on all sincere
Reformers to oppose those restrictive provisions in the Bill
now before the House of Commons which prevent that
principle being carried out in its integrity.
3. That this meeting expresses its deep sorrow and
humiliation at the present unsatisfactory state of affairs in
Ireland, and urgently presses upon the Government to pass
such immediate measures as will tend to restore propriety
and happiness to that country.
The speeches were chiefly condemnatory of the
present Reform Bill because of its restrictive charac-
ter; indeed, nearly the whole of the speakers advo-
cated manhood suffrage and vote by ballot. Though
Mr. Gladstone was alluded to, there was no expres-
sion of confidence in him, as he was deemed by the
speakers as not being far enough advanced in his
political creed. It is noteworthy that the several
chairmen, in putting the different resolutions to the
assembly, never asked for a show of hands to the
contrary, and that not more than one-tenth, if even
so large a proportion, of the multitule held up their
hands for the propositions submitted for their ap-
proval. Though the procession was not so great as
at the demonstration in October, the number of
persons on Woodhouse,-mow was equally as large,
or rather larger, but there was ample evidence that
hundreds, if not thousands, of them had assembled
as sightseers, and for a diversion in their keeping
of the Easter holidays. The proceedings throughout
were of an orderly character. No opposition pro-
ceeded from any quarter, not even from the authors
of the following form of petition, which had been
published in the earlier part of the day :

" TO THE HONOURABLE THE COMMONS OF GREAT
BRITAIN AND IRELAND, &C.
_ _

" We, the undersigned, respectfully believe that the
agitation for a better representation of the people in your
honourable house has become a public nuiruce, not only
Obstructive of trade and commerce, but to all useful and
practical legislation, and inimical to the peace and pros-
perity of the country. Your petitioners believe that the
bill introduced into your honourable house by has Majesty's
Ministers, having for its basis Residential Household Suf-
frage, with personal payment of rates, and other special
franchises contained therein, will satisfy the honest, loyal,
and well-disposed people of this country, and will settle
the question for a ion time to come."

The out-door proceedings were over by 5 o'clock,
and the weather remained fine to the last.

LEEDS, Tuesday Evening.
In the evening there was a public meeting in the
Corn Exchange,. which was well attended, but the
room was by no means crowded. The proceedings
appeared to excite less attention than has often been
shown at an ordinary meeting of Liberals in Leeds
ni‘olp.Par"t in the afternoon
at the time of a Parliamentary election. Mr. Amirr..Bsatha3::,_
pfAelrlo.Pdcie.AedliPnigr". W. E.
Eookbe.adFatotartstteeenr,evening meeting. Each
of these hon. members was received with much ap-
plause.
Mr. Alderman CARTER presided, and said that
the present position of the Reform question showed
that the Radicals were the only men still found
hnutt_
in
standing fast to their colours. lledelrndcloare declared
theowßwe faoartnhi meetingebest
everheie in Yolyrkshire. on llid
that
day

Mr. KELL, of Bradford, proposed, and Mr. Coun-
cillor GAUNT, of Leeds, seconded, the first resolu-
tion, which, like those following it, was the same
that had been adopted at the out-door meeting.
Mr. ERNEST JONES supported the resolution. He
said by Mr. Gladstone resigning temporarily the
leadership of the House of Commons it might be in-
ferred that he had resigned the £5 rating limit. If
Mr.• Gladstone wanted to lead them in a real house-
hold suffrage campaign they would follow him.
(Cheers.)
Mr. BEALES also supported the resolution. He
denounced the traitors in the Liberal camp. He
said Mr. Bright, at Birmingham, had spoken of
household suffrage and manhood suffrage as being
phantoms, but the explanation of that was that he
meant those suffrages were phantoms before the
eyes of a corrupt House of Commons. It was for
the Reform League to make those phantoms reali-
ties, and it was not idle to say that the temper of
the people on this patter was dangerous, and they

The resolution was then adopted.

The next resolution, whie.h was the second one
a lopted at the afternoon meeting, was moved by
Mr. Allen, of Leeds, and seconded by Mr. Snowden,
of Halifax.

Mr. 11•. E. Fortme, M.P., supported the resolu-
tion. Ile said that, though he came from the House
of Commons after an exciting division, in which the
Liberal party were defeated, he Would n. ~t allow
that the Radical Reformers stood before the country
a defeated party ; on the contrary, they had been
the conquering party since last year—(cheers)—
their principles had been gaining victories every day,
and the Conservatives found it necessary tiocompete
with the Liberals in professions of Reform. House-
hold suffrage was now so popular that the Tory
leaders and Tory newspapers tried to persuade the
people, in order to gain their support for the pre-
sent bill, that it contained the principles of house-
hold suffrage, but it would not do to be too easily
persuaded. The Ministry might not themselves in-
tend to deceive, but Sir S. Northcote had said
nothing could be more inaccurate than to call it
household suffrage, and another member of the Mini-
stry had described it as a bill for residential ratepay-
ing household suff rage. (A laugh.) He then proceeded
to examine what this suffrage was, and to compare
it with the present franchise, which he said might be
called a residential ratepaying £lO franchise. It
would be seen at once there was no great difference,
and that the difference was greatly in favour of their
opponents. This was the good part of their bill, that
it was not a resideutial suffrage,but it was given under
certain conditions to all householders, whatever might
be the Nalue of the house in which they lived. So far it
was good, but be could not disguise from himself that
the time for a £6 rental or £5 rating franchise was
now passed. Ile thanked the Tories and the
Go-
vernment for having done this much—that they did
not base the franchise on the value of the house in
which a man lived, but upon a far better principle
—the principle that the head of a family should
have a vote. This bill opened the franchise to
.700,000 householders under £lO, and so far it was
good. He stated at some length the objections
which are entertained to making the payment of
rates a condition of voting, and urged some other
objections to the present bill, and then said that with
respect to the Liberal party, if they were to have a
leader, was any otter passible than Mr. Gladstone ?
Mr. Gladstone had one fault, and with the present
House of Commons he (Mr. Forster) feared it was
a great fault, which detracted from the power which
otherwise his matchless genius and eloquence,
rivalled only by Hr. Bright, would be sure to se-
cure, and that fault was that he was too much in
earnest, but he believed that was a fault for which
the country would easily forgive him. The impor-
tance of that letter which he had written must not
be exaggerated. He did not interpret the letter as
Mr. E. Jones had done. He should be grieved in-
deed so to interpret it. There might be some calling ,
themselves Reforiners in the House Of Commons,
who had more confidence in the zeal, the reforming
zeal, of Mr. Disraeli than in the proVed services
of Mr. Gladstone ; there • might be some
Conservative Liberals who had more con-
fidence in the statesmanship of Lord Grosvenor than
of Mr. Gladstone, for the House of Commons was a
large body, and some of them were crotchety, so
crotchety that they had greater faith in Mr. Roebuck
than in Mr. Bright. (Cries of " No, no.") But the
House of Commons wits a representative body, and,
taught by the experience of political life, when
they found the country in earnest crotchety men
disappeared. (Applause.) Well,.theceuntry now
was in earnest, and by degrees the House-of Com-
mons finding that out the Liberal party would be-
come mere united and more inclined to put their
faith in Mr. Gladstone than they had hitherto been.
(Applause.)
Mr. STANSFELD, M.P., next addressed the meet-
ing. He took a view of the reform question which
showed that the change of mind in the ruling classes
was startling and extraordinary. Men had been
unwilling not merely to grapple with, but to touch
this question. Now, there was too much willingness
to meddle with it. In Order to get out of the way
he found many people not disinclinei to say that
Mr. Disraeli having cajoled his own party and
beaten the Liberal party, there was nothing to do
but to pass a bad bill and trust to another agitation.
to effect its amendment. Mr. Gladstone's letter bad
been interpreted in that despondent view, but he
(Mr. Stansfeld) was glad to be at this meeting and
to protest against that interpretation:; if that wasiNlr.
Gladstone's view, he (Mr. Stansfeld), as a humble
member of the Liberal party, should feel it his duty
to differ from him, because he was not prepared to
admit the incompetency of the Liberal party.
He was not prepared to make the present
bill equal to what the Liberals themselves
might have brought in, but still it was possible
to make it useful and acceptable to the country.
(Cheers.) Waiving the objection to the ratepaying
clauses, the principle of personal payment of rates
could not be applied with justice to boroughs where
compounding obtained. What was the position of
the Government by having defeated that view ?
They were bound so to apply the principle as that it
should work justly between the compounding and the
non-compounding householder ; but they could not
do so without making their measures so large that it
was questionable whether they would carry it. Mr.
Gladstone seemed to see correctly the Parliamentary
situation, and he therefore abandoned his £5 rating
amendment,because the situation was so changed that
the Liberal party must look at this question anew,
and take counsel together as to what should be done
in committee. His words in his letter were, " I
should then be prepared again to attempt concerted
action for the public good." Those were no uncertain
words, and the right hon. gentleman bad used other
language to the same effect. What, then, was the
question Mr. Gladstone called upon all Liberals to
consider ? It was what must be the concerted action,
and what the improvements in the Government Bill,
which should be attempted. He (Air. Stansfeld) agreed
with Mr. Forster that their clear policy was to unite
as a party on these two points—the two years' resi.;
dence clause, which should be modified, and the pro-
posal of Mr. Hibbert, which all were acquaintedwith.
The hon. gentleman went on to notice an attack made
upon him by the Times, which he said bad evidently
been in the confidence of Mr. Disraeli. He asked the
limes whether there had not been a collusion, or no
ground for an expression which he (Mr. Stansfeld) had
made use of at Halifax. It might be in the power, of
Mr. Disraeli to deceive the dissidents of the Liberal
party ; but a certain letter had been brought under
notice by Mr. B. Osborne, which Mr. Spofforth, the
Conservative Parliamentary agent, bad written, ask-
ing plainly, " Will the Government measure or Lord
Grosvenor's amendment best suit the interests of the
Conservative party in your constituency?" The hon.
gentleman asked what could be the meaning of such a
circular as that, and went on to enforce the necessity
for concerted action among the Liberal party. Ile
anticipated that Mr. Gladstone would divide the
house on the two years' residence clause, and the
Liberal party would degrade it, and pronounce its
own doom if it allowed this illusory measure to pass
without attempting to mould it in the manner sug-
gested by some of the amendments now on the table
of the house. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. BAINES, M.P., also supported the resolution,
and declared his utmost confidence in Mr. Gladstone
as the leader of the Liberal party.
The second resolution was then carried.
Mr. G. POTTER moved, and Mr. DERRICK
seconded, the third resolution, w hich was adopted.
The meeting closed with a vote of thanks to the
chairman.