The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-25 00:00:00

Sir Charles Bright and his Constituents.

The electors and non-electors of Greenwich mus-
tered in considerable force yesterday evening in the
Lecture-hall of that borough to listen to an address
from one of their representatives—Sir C.Bright—in
which he gave them an account of the course he had
deemed it to be his duty to take in that capacity
during the last session of Parliament. Mr. Lovibond
presided, and introduced the hon. gentleman to the
meeting with a few prefatory remarks expressive of

his satisfaction witthis political conduct.
Sir C. BRIGHT then rose, and having observed
that he regretted it should have fallen to his lot to
address his constituents at a moment when such nn-

usual distress prevailed in the borough, proceeded
to say that when they had done him the honour to

elect him as one of their representatives no one
could have foreseen that the great Liberal party

would have been driven from power and sue-

.•
cecded by men who had in reality no majority
at their command. Some such contingency might no
doubt have been anticipated as likely to fallow the
loss of the venerable stAltsman who was then at the
head of the Government, as well as of such men as
Cobden, Sir C. Lewis, and Lord Herbert, but the
most experienced politician could hardly have sup-
posed there would have been so rapid a disorganisa-
tion of their followers as had since taken place. It
was, however, sufficiently evident, soon after the
opening of the session, that a number of members,
sufficient materially to affect the character of any
measure of reform which might be introduced, were
not disposed to act under the leadership of Mr.
Gladstone with the readiness with which they were
prepared to place themselves under the guidance of
Lord Palmerston, and that any bill extending the
franchise which might be passed would, as was said
of some children among the gipsies, be passed in a
state so disfigured that its own parents would fail to
recognise it. In making that remark he by no means
intended to contend that the Reform Bill which had
been brought in was the best which could be intro-
duced. The Government measure, in his opinion,
bad many defects. The clause proposing the disfran-

chisement of dockyard labourers, for instance, he
could not help regarding as a most objectionable
provision. That was a clause which had he believed
been suggested by the disclosures made in the case
of Devonport a short time before ; but from all that
had taken place he had little doubt the Government
would have deemed it right to abandon the decision
upon that point at which they had at the outset ar-
rived. While, he might add, he looked upon the bill
as having some defects, he thought it his duty to
give it his support as being a step in theright direc-
tion. Statesmen were not entirely their own mas-
ters, and in seeking to carry out a measure of re-
form they must adopt apolicy of conciliation. None
of them supposed that there was any magic in £lO
as a figure below which the franchise ought not to
be reduced. The bill of last session would, accord-
ing to the computation of Mr. Gladstone, have raised
the number of working men within the limit of
the franchise to something like 22 per cent. of the
total number on the electoral list. He did not pre-
tend to maintain that that or any other was the right
figure on which to fix, but he bad, taking all things
into consideration, deemed it to be his duty to sup-
port the bill of the Government, and neither he nor
his hon. colleague was absent from any of the divi-
sions upon it which had taken place. (Cheers.)
They all knew that the measure was defeated by the
action of a certain portion of the Liberal party, whose
motives, however, he would not call in question, be-
lieving that they had acted in the course which they
had taken sincerely in accordance with the dictates
of their own consciences. Besides, it was, in his
opinion, more profitable to dwell en the future than
upon the past. He had, it was needless to say, no
means of knowing what policy the present Govern-
ment meant to adopt on the subject of Reform, and
it was quite possible, taking into account the line of
conduct which had been pursued by that party in
reference to Roman Catholic Emancipation, and
other great questions, that they might in the ensuing
session introduce a measure of Reform to which he
would be all: to give his support. lie must, how-
ever, say that he did not think they would bring in
any such bill with a bonafidowintention of carrying
it, and if not brought in with that intention there
was but little hope, so short were our sessions, that
a Reform Bill could be carried at all. The old Tory
spirit was, moreover, still rampant, still advocating
intolerance in religion, monopoly in commerce, ex-
clusive legislation, and there was, he feared, but
little to be expected in the way of a Liberal scheme
of Reform in that quarter. (Cheers.) He had
said thus much on the important subject of the ex-
tension of the franchise, because until it was settled
the other business of the House of Commons and
the nation would be completely obstructed. But
there were other reforms which pressed on for set-

tleinent with almost equal urgency. The state of
education in this country demanded the earnest
attention of the Legislature, for he looked upon
it as being at present in the highest degree discre-
ditable to a nation which claimed to be in the fore-
most
rank in the career of advancing civilisation. If
an Englishman went to Prussia, to Bavaria, to
Saxony, or to Switzerland, he would find that the
children of the poor were there carefully taught by
competent teachers, and well clothed, while no child
was allowed to leave school before the age of 12. A
good deal of the success, he might add, which had
attended the Prussian arms in the recent war with
Austria was, in his opinion, to be attributed to the
fact that in that country children were in early life
subjected to that training which tended to make
them afterwards intelligent soldiers. But a reform
in our system of education was not the only other
reform of which we stood in need. The heart-burn-
ing question of Church-rates remained to be set at
rest, while there were also reforms connected with
our army and navy which demanded the most
serious attention of Parliament. (Cheers.) The
Irish question, too, must be dealt with, for there
was but little credit due to our statesmen for the
manner in which the affairs of that country had
hitherto been managed. Then came fiscal reforms,
but so long as the great subject of the extension of
the franchise continued unsettled, the attention of
the Legislature would, he was afraid, be directed but
languidly to those important matters. It was there-
fore his opinion that that great subject must be im-
mediately dealt with. (Cheers.) As to our foreign
policy, it must be, he thought, a considerable source
of satisfaction to those whom he addressed, as well
as to the country at large, to find that we had of
late years reversed the old system of having a finger
in every pie. (Cheers.) We were now fortunately
at peace with the whole world, with the exception
of some trifling disturbance with the natives of
Bhootan, and he was happy to think that the ques-
tion of the Alabama was placed upon a footing which
would prevent any complications arising between
this country and the United States. (Cheers.) We
might be taunted with cowardice by other nations
for consenting to refer that question to honourable
arbitration ; but the case of Brazil, in which the
disputes between the two countries were referred for
settlement to the King of the Belgians, would show
that, whether in dealing with a small or a large
State, he was anxiolis to be guided only by the dic-
tates of justice, and he trusted that all disputes which
might hereafter arise between us and foreign coun-
tries would be:settled in the same way. (Cheers.)
At the same time as all the nations of the continent
were making preparations for war; while renewing
their protests of amicable intentions, he thought it
was incumbent upon us to put our own house in
order, so that we might be in a position to defend
ourselves should any emergency arise. (Cheers.)
The lion. gentleman then briefly referred to the dis-
tress prevailing in the dockyards, observing that our
system of poor relief had broken down under the
pressure, and that he would the next day form one
of a deputation which proposed to wait on the Go-
v,:rnment on the subject of the equalisation of the
por rates. (Cheers.) He in conclusion expressed
his readiness to answer any question which any of
his constituents wished to put to him.
Mr. ROBERTS (a working man) next briefly ad-
dressed the meeting, observing that the body to
which he belonged had been designated by certain
members of the House of Commons as a drunken,
ignorant, venal, bad lot. It was true that Mr. Lowe,
by whom these epithets had been applied to them,
had since sought to qualify the language which he

used, in a letter which he wrote to the newspapers,
stating that he spoke only of the fag end of the pre-
sent constituencies. Such aspersions had, never-
theless, been cast upon the working man, but the
truth was that it was not of their ignorance that the
House of Commons and Mr. Lowe was afraid, but
of their growing intelligence, which would no longer
submit to be represented by an assembly two-thirds
of which belong directly or indirectly-to the House
of Lords, which had no sympathy with the working
classes, and regarded them as a mere machine.
(Cries of •' No, no !" and cheers.)
Mr. BELBEN then asked Sir C. Bright whether he
was prepared to direct his attention to procuring the
passing of measures for the equalisation of poor-
rates, the reform of the Court of Bankruptcy, the
reform of the licensing system, abolition of Church-
rates, appointment of a public prosecutor, a Com--
pulsory Education Bill, the reform of the Irish
Church, the reform of the army and navy, the
amendment of the law of master and servant, the
laws regulating capital aad labour, a bill to compel
railway proprietors and speculators to build proper
houses in lieu of thosewhich they caused to bepulled
down, a bill providing a court of criminal appeal,
and, best of all, a bill for the punishment of our
daring hordes of swindlers. (Laughter.)

Sir C. BRIGHT expressed his unwillingness to
pledge himself to support all those measures in de-
tail. (A laugh.) Whenever a bill relating to any
of them came before Parliament he should give it
his best consideration.

The meeting then, on the motion of Mr. D. Bass,
passed a resolution, which was seconded by Mr. J.
Bell, expressive of their confidence in Sir C. Bright
as one of their representatives.

The proceedings closed with a vote of thanks to
the chairman.

I ifeboat Services.

TEIGNMOUTH, Devon, Jan. 23.

Shortly after midnight this morning (states Mr.
G. P. H. Rowell) a telegram was received here
stating that a large vessel was on shore near Daw-
lish, and desiring that the lifeboat China, belonging
to the National Lifeboat Institution, might be sent
to her assistance. The crew were at once roused
and the boat launched with all possible speed.
The: wind had been blowing all day from the
S.E., and there was a heavy sea running.
After proceeding along the coast for about an
hour the lifeboat discovered the vessel between
Dawlish and Langton Point. She was anchored in
a broken sea close to the shore, in a very dangerous
position, and rolling very heavily. She was the
brig Thomas, of Milford, bound from Dieppe to
the British. Channel, in ballast. The crew of the
lifeboat advised the master not to leave his vessel,
and afterwards put two of their number on board
with the view of getting her off !tore. She had
both anchors down, but there was a tremendous
strain on them, and she rolled to such an extent
that the hawse-pipes and part of her stern were
carried away. The lifeboat remained by the vessel
some time until the wind veered to the S.W., when
sail was made and the brig stood out to sea. Should
the wind increase the lifeboat men on board will
take her into Exmouth. The lifeboat then returned
to her station, which was reached about eight o'clock
this morning. The cost of this lifeboat was col-
lected about three years ago in Hong Kong and
Shanghai, by W. H. Harton, Esq., and Messrs.
Gilman. Since the boat has been on her station
she has on several occasions rendered good services
to shipwrecked crewe.

WINC II ELS EA , Jan. 23.

This morning the French barque Marie Amelie,
of Quimper, stranded off this place (reports Henry
Barra, Esq.) The lifeboat of the National Life-
boat Institution on this station was at once launched
to her assistance. She took the ship's anchor out
to seaward, thereby preventing her drifting further
ashore with the tide, and the Rye Harbour steam-
tug has since towed the vessel off ; fortunately no
lives have been lost.

HOWTII, DUBLIN BNY, Jan. 22.

A vessel was seen in the offing yesterday with a
signal of distress flying (says Staff-Commander 11.
D. Barney, R.N.) ; she was drifting fast to the
shore. It had been blowing a gale from the east-
ward, and there was a heavy sea running. The
Howth lifeboat, belonging to the National Lifeboat
Institution, was thereupon at once launched, and
found her to be the Fanny nil!bury, of London,
bound from Liverpool to Sierra Leone, with a
general cargo. The master stated that he had lost

both anchors, and that she had ,struck on the Kish
Bank. The weather having moderated, and a pilot
having been taken on board, the vessel was fortu-
nately enabled to dispense with.the services of the
lifeboat.