The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-24 00:00:00

The country ought not to, and does not know-
ingly demand this sacrifice, and it is to be easily
avoided by giving to every officer in command a
proper allowance of " table money." All flag offi-
cers and first-class commodores are allowed whilst
their flag is flying in the limits of their station, £3
a day table money. The sum is not too great for
proper display, although it is to be feared that too
many of those who enjoy it make a considerable
profitout of it. An allowance of tl a day would
enable a captain to do the needful with proper eco-
nomy; 15s. would not be too much for a commader,
nor 10s. for a lieutenant or master in command of
a sloop:or troop ship, with a proportionate sum for
gunboat commanders. It would enable each officer
to support his position properly without compelling
him to trench upon private resources.

REPRESENTATION OF SOUTHWARK.

Last night a public meeting of the inhabitants of
Southwark was ,held at the Bridge-house Hotel,
London-bridge, to enable the hon. and gallant and
hon. and learned members for the borough to sub-
mit to their constituents a statement of their pro-
ceedings in Parliament during the past session.
The chair was occupied by Mr. J. VICKERS, who
in a few sentences introduced the members to the
meeting, and expressed his own opinion that the
great requirements of the day in connection with

the Reform movement were the ballot, a great ex.
tension of the franchise, and a more equal distri-
bution of seats.

Sir C. NAPIER, who, on presenting himself, was
warmly cheered, commenced by observing that
when Lord Palmerston determined to support Sir
J. Bowring in vindicating the honour of the British
flag in China the House of Commons disapproved
his conduct ; but Lord Palmerston, like a bold
Minister, dissolved the Parliament and appealed to
the country. The result was an overwhelming ma-
jority sent to Parliament to support Lord Palmer-
ston's vigorous policy. A large fleet and a large
army were sent to China, and, by the great exer-
tions of generals, admirals, and civilians combined,
that large and populous country was humbled, am-
bassadors were appointed to reside at their Court,
the expenses of the war were paid, and an enormous
opening was thus given to the trade of this country.
Now that the deed was done, and that we had not
to pay for it, he supposed they would all agree that
Lord Palmerston upon that occasion was perfectly
right, while the House of Commons that cpposed
him was perfectly wrong. (Cheers.) Lord Pal-
merston finishedthat war with great spirit and great
courage, although, at the same time, he had upon
his hands the most horrible rebellion in India
with which this country had ever been called upon
to deal. By dint of great exertions Lord Palmer-
ston raised an army in this country and sent it to
India. He gave the noble lord the greatest credit
for raising that army, but he did not give him
credit for the way in which he had forwarded the
forces. He did not send them out in a proper
manner ; he did not take sufficient advantage of
the Red Sea, or of steam conveyance ; and the
troops, in consequence, did not arrive so soon as
they ought to have done. He did not blame Lord
Palmerston for that. The noble Lord was only
one of a very imbecile Ministry, and he was not
well supported by the First Lord of the Admiralty,
or by many others who ought to have supported
him. (Cheers.) Having excused Lord Palmenton
for not having, in the busy year of 1§57, brought
forward a Reform Bill, he observed that three dis-

tinguished statesmen—Lord J. Russell, Mr. Bright
and Lord Derby—were pledged to introduce :a
measure on the subject, and, therefore, he supposed
that something would be done in that direction.
He was perfectly independent of all parties, and he
claimed for himself the right to examine all the
propositions, pledging himself to support the best,
without caring one straw whence it emanated.
(Cheers,) At the commencement of 1858 Lord
Palmerston stood in the House of Commons backed
by one of the' largest majorities that a Minister
ever had. He was extremely popular, and all
expected that he would have a long and prosperous
reign, notwithstanding the shake which he gave to
himself by a very unpopular appointment. It was
no use mentioning names, but it seemed to him that
the Government of the day utterly lost their senses.
The majority which they had led them to despise
not only their friends but their foes, and they made
use of such language that the Liberal party in the
House of Commons thought it high time to give them
a lesson. (Cheers.) After referring to the introduc-
tion of the Conspiracy Bill by Lord Palmerston's
Government, and to Mr. Milner Gibson's motion
which resulted in the defeat of the Government,
being supported as it was by many of the Liberal
party as well as by the Conservatives, he proceeded
to describe the attempt which was made at the in-
stance of Mr. Cardwell to oust the Derby Cabinet
soon after its accession to office. For himself, he
saw no harm in the reprimand which was addressed
by the Earl of Ellenborough to Lord Canning on
account of his proclamation confiscating a whole
kingdom ; but there was great harm in publishing
that reprimand at a time when Lord Canning was
endeavouring to repress a mighty rebellion, and
when it was necessary that his authority should be
respected and maintained. The Earl of Ellen-
borough, however, by his retirement from the
Cabinet made the awl:de honorable, and he (the
gallant admiral) thought that they ought not to
its
members, the Government for the fault of one of
members, who had acknowledged his error and had
retired from office. No sooner had Lord Derby's
Government acceded to power than it was dis-
covered that they were made of very squeezable
materials, for they passed the Jew Bill and the re-
moval of the property qualification of members, and
allowed the abolition of church rates to be carried
in the House of Commons, although it was rejected
by the House of Lords. In addition to voting for
these several measures, he had supported, among
others, the ballot, the motion for abolishing the
freedom from arrest of members of Parliament, the
motion for preventing lawyers from bringing for-
ward questions in which they had a•pecuniary in-
terest, and the proposition for assimilating the
county and borough franchises. (Cheers.) When
the House of Commons had finished the business of
the session a great many of the members went to
Cherbourg,and he believed that he had had something
to do with advising them to go there. Since then the
public had heard Mr. Ayrton speak out, they had
heard Mr. Roebuck speak out, they had heard Mr.
Baxter in the north also, and also Mr. Coningham
at Brighton, all deploring the deficiency of our
means of national defence. He had long thought
that our means of defence were not sufficient. He
had said so for years, and he had stated it at meet-
ings where the.opinion was not popular, owing to
the fear of increased taxation, and at last Lord