The Sun.
London, England, 1867-10-25 00:00:00

and I expect much and immediate fruit from
their labours. I shall have some suggestions to
make myself, and that one favourite suggestion of
mine will be adopted among other very stringent
provisions, namely, that henceforth every man con-
victed of taking or giving a bribe will be incapaci-
tated for ever. Not for five years, not for 10 or 20
years, but incapacitated for ever from sitting in
Parliament, or from voting at Parliamentary elec-
tions. There are very many of you who look to the
ballot as the best cure for electoral corruption.
(Applause.) It will certainly do something—it
will do much, but it will not do every-
thing. A more stringent law will al.o be re-
quired. I, as you know, have voted for the ballot,
ever since you sent me to the House of Commons ;
indeed, speaking from memory, I believe I have
never yet missed a division on that subject. But I
say to you of the ballot, as I have said before, if
you wish it, and are really determined to have it, do
not trust to me or any one else, but obtain it for
yourselves. Members of Parliament are but the
reflection of your opinions. Choose men who share
your views, and your business is done. I see some
other imperfections in the act itself. Do you
desire the rating clauses—(loud cries of "No ")
—the inconvenience of which has no doubt already
made itself felt ? If so, the matter is in your hands.
Hitherto the attainment of your wishes has been a
task of great difficulty, but henceforth it will be
comparatively easy, and the voice of the people,
which formerly had but a feeble utterance, will now
make itself heard without an effort. (Applause.)
And in this lies the great value of the Reform Bill
of 1866. The other great subject with which the
Reform Act has dealt has been handled very im-
perfectly. I mean the redistribution of seats.
(Hear, hear.) And I have always been of opinion
(and I said so when I last addressed you in Sep-
tember or October last year) that this was a work
that should be left for the next parliament. But
whether this be so or not, to have tried for anything
more last session would have been to have risked a
very valuable franchise ; but which, once safe,
brings everything else in its wake. (Applause.) Be
sure that on the whole our business has been well
and honestly done. And yet I constantly hear the
cant phrase, "A condemned House of Commons."
Condemned ! Who condemns it? Why, this last
act is its triumphant vindication, and is the best
proof of its honesty and of its usefulness, and
comes as a crowning act of thirty-five years of
legislation, and the best, the wisest, and the most
beneficent act within the record of constitutional
history—(loud applause)—a legislation almost en-
tirely directed to the well-being of the largo masses
of the country—thirty-five years, mind you, during
which time England has increased in numbers, in
wealth, and intelligence beyond any precedent. And
thanks to whom ? Why, to the courage and wisdom
of the reformed Houses of Commons; and may those
who come after us do better stiff. But if everything
was so right, what occasion was there for any
change ? This was a very natural question, and
one which was very urgently insisted on by Mr.
Lowe, and by others who would have wished us
to stay where we were. (Hear, hear.)
Let me see if I can answer that ques-
tion. I am not about to discuss the ab-
stract right of a man claiming as a birthright the
possession of the franchise, but very few will deny
that a man has at least a right to be well governed.
The object of good government is the well-being
and contentment of the people. However wise your
laws may be, however well they may be admini-
stered, Government have failed in this great object
if the people are not contented. The people were
not contented. They had gradually increased in
wealth and intelligence, and were desirous for a
more direct participation in the legislation of the
country ; and it was right that their demand should
be considered as soon as it became notorious and
unmistakable. (Great applause.) In this last con-
sideration I am disposed to find a solution of the
great puzzle how it has come to pass that a very
radical Reform Bill has been passed by the Tory
party. In the hour of our triumph at least we may
afford to be generous, and to give to our opponents
credit for the same honesty of intention which we
professed ourselves. (Cheers.) lat le tst am not
disposed to join in an indiscriminate abuse of the
Tory party, and any charges of bad faith, aban-
donment of principle, and so forth. (Cheers.) The
great bulk of a party merely follow their leaders,
and they can do no better. It is with the leaders
that we have to deal ; and let us see how their case
stands. Every party likes being in office better
than being in opposition, and so far as my expe-
rience goes in this respect we are very much alike.
But if the leaders of the Tory party were now here
among you, I make no doubt that very many of
them would tell you we always believed that it
would be better to leave the constitution where it
was. They would probably tell you more. They
would probably go so far as to say, what is more,
we say so still. Right or wrong, the people de-
manded large constitutional changes, and they de-
manded them in a voice to which no wise states-
man could be deaf. When it was so perfectly clear
to us, we believed that it would be better to do
the work thoroughly than by some half measure
to leave it, may be for years, simmering through
the country, a constant source of irritation, and
a stoppage of other business of great, if not
of equal, importance. Perhaps it is no busi-
ness of mine to state the case of my oppo-
nents. I think, however, that it is so fair a case,
and I feel so large a debt of gratitude to them for
having carried a measure which we Radicals never
could have carried for ourselves, that I at least am
determined to keep a civil tongue in my head, and I
am not disposed to look a "gift horse" in the mouth.
What are we to expect from our new constituencies ?
Why, the good sense and energy of Englishmen, an
honest pride in the new power which they will shortly
possess, and some sense of the responsibility which
that new power has cast upon them. (Cheers.)
Why should it not be so ? There are as good fish
in the sea as ever came out of it. (Hear, and laugh-
ter.) Wby we have always said, for years past,
that we could find as good constituencies outside the
electoral pale as within it. Did we mean what we
then said ? If not, more shame for us. But, if we
did mean it. away with all silly fear that the inte-
rests of England are about to suffer, because may be
double the number of her sons have a direct voice in
their regulation. Many people tell me that large
numbers of our new voters will be too ignorant to
understand the responsibility which you have
thrown upon them. Let their triumphant answer
to this charge be, as I venture to prophesy it will be,
to send to St. Stephen's a House of Commons
pledged immediately and fearlessly to undertake the
great work of national education. (Loud applause.)
This subject is far too wide for me to enter on it to-
night, but it will be a subject of interest, not only
within the walls of Parliament, but throughout the
whole country, for some, I hope not long, years to
come, until the work is done, as we always do our
work at last, thoroughly and well. (Applause.) I
shall look upon an early and general agitation in
this direction as the best and most convincing proof
that we have done well and wisely. For the future
I have no fear. I have great hope. (Cheers.)
And there is no reason in the prayer with which I
shall now conclude that the House of Commons
elected under the new order of things may not be
less mindful of the honour of England and of the
wellbeing of her people than have been those who
have preceded them since the Reform Bill of 1832.
(Loud cheers.)
Mr. NottwooD then addressed the meeting. Ile
agreed with Mr. Clay that the great measure of re-
form which they had just passed would be the open-
ing of a new page in the constitutional history of the
country, yet deeply regretted that in the session of
1861; the Conservative party, aided and abetted by
certain malcontents on their own side of the house,
prevented the passing of Lord Russell's measure—a
measure in which there were no attempts at restric-
tions, checks, or counterpoises, like those of the
Tory bill when first introduced. Mr. Norwood
claimed credit for the Liberals rather than the Go-
vernment for the success of the cause of reform, and
criticised rather sharply the vacillating mode adopted
by the latter in the early stages of the bill. They
only moved because they were compelled to move,
and, he considered, treated the house more like a
debating society than the British House of Cow-