The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-15 00:00:00

COLCHESTER ELECTION.

The nomination for this borough took place yes-
terday afternoon on hustings erected in front of the
Town-hall. The Mayor (Mr. P. 0. Papillon) pre-
sided as returning officer. There was a crowd of
about 1,000 persons. Much noise prevailed at in-
tervals, but, upon the whole, the proceedings were
of a good-humoured description.
Dr. BaEE proposed, and Major BISHOP seconded,
the nomination of Mr. E. K. Karslake, Q.C.

Mr. J. B. HARVEY proposed, and Mr. 11. S.
GOODY seconded the nomination of Dr. Brewer.

Mr. KARSLAKE, in addressing the electors, said
he trusted that many of the men who were beneath
him, and who had not the franchise, would have
it when he next had the honour of addressing them.
There were also many young gentlemen, inhabitants
of the borough, present, who had not at present the
franchise, and as he hoped to represent the borough
for many years—(laughter)—he trusted he should
have their support also in due time. He might sum
up his principles by stating that he was an advocate
of reform and progress, but he was an enemy to
revolution. (Cheers and groans.) He was an enemy
of those measures which would tend to undermine the
foundations of our time-honoured constitution. Mr.
Harvey, who wasprobably much engaged in business
appeared to have forgotten what happened in 1859.
Mr. Harvey had said that those present ought to be
surprised at hearing for the first time Conservatives
advocate reform ; but he had forgotten the mea-
sure brought forward by her Majesty's present
Ministers in 1859, and he had forgotten, or
he had chosen to forget, that that mea-
sure fell through because of that spirit of party fac-
tion which was, he hoped, going to cease this session,
and which was based on the desire to obtain office
at the expense of the country at large. He had not
heard from the proposer and seconder of his hon.
opponent one word as to the extent to which they
or those whose principles they advocated were pre-
pared to go as regards a lowering of the franchise.
He would state what his own views were ; but as he
should go to Parliament for the purpose of support-
ing in its integrity a great party, he must go there
in a spirit of compromise ; for not even the noble
lord at the head of her Majesty's Government could
have all he wished for. What must be done was to
lay down such a line as would effect a compromise
between both parties, and would secure for many
years to come—perhaps for the whole of the present
generation—a settlement of one of the most difficult
questions with which the Legislature ever had to
deal. No one could deny that we had arrived at a
great crisis in parliamentary history ; no one could
deny that we had a great problem to solve, and it
behoved all of us, for a time at least, and for the
sake of the nation at large, to exert our best en-
deavour to solve it. Five or six years ago, during
the " rest-and-be-thankful" reign, we had a Con-
servative statesman at the head of affairs, who, by
a singular combination of circumstances, was thrown
into the same truckle bed with other persons enter-
taining totally different opinions. Now we had
three parties to deal with, and by the speeches which
the chiefs of each had lately issued we had a clear
and distinct exposition of their sentiments and of
the limits to which they were prepared to go. It
would be remembered that Mr. Gladstone's bill of
last session proposed a £l4 suffrage in counties, but
he fixed the borough franchise at £7 instead of £6.
By the statistics which Mr. Gladstone produced it ap-
peared that a £6 franchise in boroughs would have
added 242,000 electors to the constituencies, while a
£7 franchise in boroughs would only create 144,000
new electors ; and Mr. Gladstone deliberately pre-
ferred a £7 franchise to a £6 franchise, thus enunciat-
ing a principle which he enunciated over and over
again, that it was not well to make sudden and
sweeping changes in the depositaries of political
power. There were now thus three parties in the
State—her Majesty's Ministers ; a party headed by
Mr. Gladstone, who had positively pledged himself
to support a fair measure for the representation of
the people ; and a third party headed by Mr.
Bright—(cheers) —who advocated sometimes man-
hood suffrage, or at least houshold suffrage, such as
would swamp the present constituencies. He (Mr.
Karslake) might sum up his own creed in words
partly his own and partly those of one of our most
able men and best writers and statesmen—he meant
the present Chancellor of the Exchequer. (Cheers
and groans.) He reverenced the past, he did not
revile the present, and he was prepared and desirous
to bring about a good, and, as far as might be, a
filial and comprehensive settlement of the reform
question in the future. The reform question was
not intrinsically of paramount importance, but it
had become so by the force of circumstances. But
the questions which he regarded as of the gteatest
importance were :—First, the protection of the
Established Church—(laughter)—and next, the
maintenance of our army and navy on such a foot-
that no foreign country should be able to inter-
fere with us, so long as we did not interfere with
them, and so that no body of rioters in any part of
Great Britain should be enabled to overawe the
Executive Government. (Hear, hear.) Alluding
to the project for the federation of the North Ame-
rican provinces, the hon. gentleman said he was for
the maintenance of colonies,
which he regarded as
the brightest and proudest glories of Britannia.
(Cheers.)

Dr. BREWER, who spoke at great length, also
complained that the hon. candidate on the other side
had not enlightened the constituency as to the true
nature of his political sentiments. As to the question
of reform, he would ask which party hadshown in the
greatest degree either their attachment to the people
or the honesty of their intentions. The party which
had staked the existence of their Government itself
upon the proposition which they were prepared to
leave before the country ; or the other party which
came forward with this proposition—" If you will
give us place and power, if you will give us the pa-
tronage of our position, we will allow you to do
what you like upon the subject of reform." (Cries
of " No, no," and cheers.) Ile would ask any man
who wished to be returned to support the party now
holding power, " What are your special views with
regard to reform ? Are you a member of the Salis-
bury faction, of the section which acted under Gen.
Peel, or of that which Mr. Disraeli led himself ?"
Because Mr. Disraeli was as much opposed to Gen.
Peel and his section, and to Lord Salisbury and his
section, as it was possible for the most advanced
Radical to be to Mr. Disraeli himself. Mr. Disraeli
was the black beast of his party. (Laughter.) Every-
body knew that it was with the utmost difficulty
that Mr. Disraeli could obtain permission to pro-
ceed as he had now clone by resolution ; and even
now there was no reform measure before Farha-

ment, but simply some resolutions which were a re-
petition of the principle of their last Reform Bill.
He objected entirely to any system of bolstering up
the Church of England by church rates. It was not
a shocking and filthy system of Churchmen putting
their hands into Nonconformists' pockets which
could keep up the Church ; the security of the
Church depended upon the truth which it taught,
and the way in which that truth worked in the
hearts of the people. With regard to education, he
considered that he wanted good sound teaching
among the people, so as to maintain public morality,
public virtue, and public independence. The stabi-
lity of the country rested upon public opinion, and
that public opinion must be enlightened. Mr. Kars-
lake said he considered a good army and navy of
paramount importance. Ile (l)r. Brewer) sup-
posed it was wanted to keep down any expres-
sion of the wish of the people contrary to the will
of the Government. Ile would tell Mr. liarslake,
however, that the people were not to be in-
timidated, and that reform was a matter of para-
mount importance, as it was of the utmost necessity
that the House of Commons should be a fair repre-
sentation of the people. With regard to the
Government resolutions, he must strongly condemn
any attempt at legislation by class as impolitic and
unconstitutional.

Dr. BREE asked Dr. Brewer whether he would
vote for household or universal suffrage.
Dr. BREWER, amid great confusion, stated that
any one going into the House of Commons must
vote with his party, and not attempt to carry out
any crotches of his own. He was prepared to
stand or fall by what was done by the responsible
leaders of the Liberal party.
Dr. BREE and several other leading Conservatives
emphatically declared upon this that Dr. Brewer
appeared under false colours.

Mr. KARSLAKE, in answer to questions, said he
was in favour of some measure for the protection of
voters, but he was decidedly opposed to the ballot.

A show of bands was taken, and was declared by
the mayor to be in favour of Dr. Brewer. A poll
was demanded on behalf of Mr. Karslake, and was
fixed for to-day (Friday).