The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-21 00:00:00

REFORM BANQUET AT MANCHESTER,.

MANCHESTER, Tuesday Evening.
A grand banquet was given this evening in the
Free-Trade Ilall, under the auspices of the National
Reform Union, to Mr. Bright, M.P., and a number
of Liberal members of Parliament. Mr. G. Wilson
presided. Covers were laid in the large room of the
Free-Trade Hall, whichlwas tastefully decorated, for
upwards of 900 guests, among whom were Lord
Houghton, Lord Tey-nham, Mr. Bright, M.P., Sir
F. Crossley, M.P., Mr. Ayrton, M.P., Mr. Baines,
M.P., Mr. Bazley, M.P., Mr. Fildes, M.P., Mr. W.
E. Forster; M.P., Sir John Gray, M.P., Mr. Had-
field, M.P., Mr. T. B. Potter, M.P., Mr. R. N.
Phillips, M.P., Mr. Cheetham, M.P., Sir J. Watts,
Mr. Jacob Bright, Mr. M‘Laren, M.P., Mr. 11. F.
Beaumont, M.P., Mr. W. S. Allen, M.P., Mr. T.
Barnes, M.P., Mr. D alglish,M. P. , Mr. Crum-Ewing,
M.P., Mr. T. Kennedy, M.P., Mr. Hibbert, M.P.,
Mr. Murphy, M.P., Mr. Platt, M.P., Mr. E. Potter,
M.P., Mr. Whitworth, M.P., Mr. R. Young, M.P.,
Mr. J. Heywood, Mr. W. Lawson, Mr. E. A.
Leatham, Mr. H. G. Thompson, Mr. H. Rawson,
Gen. Neal Dow, and a great number of the leading
Liberals of Manchester and the neighbourhood.

Mr. Layard, M.P., The O'Donoghue, M.P., Mr.
T. Hughes, M.P., Mr. Onslow, M.P., Mr. T. Cave,
M.P., Mr. Neate, M.P., Mr. Stansfeld, M.P., Mr.
Gilpin, M.P., Mr. Whalley, M.P., Mr. Finlay, M.P.,
Mr. Synan, M.P., Mr. White, M.P., and Mr. P.A.
Taylor, M.P., had accepted invitations, but were at
the last moment prevented from attending.
The usual loyal and constitutional toasts were
given from the chair, and were most enthusiasti-
cally responded to.
The CHAIRMAN then gave the toast of " Our
Guests," and said that they were met to assert the
right of the people to elect their own representatives
in Parliament, to denounce the traitors who had de-
serted the proper cause in the day of battle, and to
repeat the demand made at so many meetings for
the representation of numbers, sobriety, and intelli-
gence, instead of exclusiveness, rottenness, and cor-
ruption.
Lord HOUGHTON said that when he was honoured
with an invitation to this magnificent banquet he
reflected that only at Easter last he presided over a
large meeting of the artisans of Leeds to present a
petition in favour of a measure of reform. He re-
gretted that they were obliged to meet here to-day
on account of the measure of Lord Russell and Mr.
Gladstone not having become the law of the land.
It might be said that he had no business here. But,
although he was only here as a peer, they were here
in the indefeasible right of Englishmen to demand
the political rights for others which they enjoyed for
themselves, and in the consciousness that they asked
for what was just, reasonable, and politic. The
question was not this or that measure of reform,
but to secure an extension of the franchise which
would secure their fair rights to the people. When
that was secured, all the rest that was essential
would follow; and, in so far as they had abandoned
this principle, the late Government had departed
from a sound and statesmanlike policy. He be-
lieved that the essence of the Constitution from
its very beginning was that it had advanced with
the consent and intelligence of the whole people, but
he believed that England would not maintain her
position without a large extension of the re-
presentation of the people. Referring to one of
the mottoes on the wall, " Privileges are ephe-
meral ; the People are immortal," he said that
it might be true in a political sense, but at the same
time there were privileges which he would for ever
uphold, and which he could never forsake. They
were the privileges of the intelligent mind and of
the enlightened conscience, and, above all, the
privileges of the individual pulse and the individual
mind which beat in the heart of every Englishman.
(Cheers.)
Mr. HUGH MASON proposed, and Mr. E. R.
LEATHAM seconded, the following address to the
Liberal members of Parliament invited to the
banquet :

" The executive members of the National Reform Union,
consisting of 175 branches, and extending throughout the
country, speaking in the name of the Reform party and
the great unenfranchised masses of their countrymen, de-
sire to express to those members of Parliament who have
honoured them with their presence this evening the sincere
pleasure they feel in cordially welcoming to this banquet
men who in the late struggle were counted in the van with
those who in the House of Commons were true to theirprin-
ciples, and courageously vindicated the rights of the people.
While the members of the Union were willing to accept
and gave their earnest support to the bill of the late Go-
vernment as an instalment of reform and a pledge of ear-
nest purposes, they would suggest that it is now too late to
renew proposals so limited in their;scope, and would urge
upon the members of Parliament present the absolute ne-
cessity of all Liberals uniting, so that a real and adequate,
and not a sham, measure of Reform may be passed into law
during the next session of Parliament. They would call
attention to the great danger involved in longer trifling
with this vital and pressing duty. They would remind the
representatives of the people that other nations are advanc-
ing rapidly in the path of political freedom, and that while
those among us without the pale of the constitution are
fully alive to this fact, it is extremely perilous for their own
governing powers to persist in insolently rejecting their
most modest claims, thus causing them to doubt that under
the present system any real justice and freedom can pos-
sibly be attained, except at the cost of revolution. They
hold that for such a conviction to find a lodgment in the
minds and to sink into the hearts of the people would be
the most dire calamity which could befall the country. The
slanders againet their fellow-countrymen which had been
not only uttered in the House of Commons, but received
there with boisterous applause, have aroused their indigna-
tion, and they feel they would be recreant to their princi-
ples and disgrace their manhood did they not repudiate
with scorn such shameful and unmerited insults. The Na-
tional Reform Union would tender to the members of her
Majesty's late Administration, and to every member
of
Parliament who voted with them during the late reform
struggle, their unfeigned and most hearty thanks. Te the
Irish Liberal members they offer their warm sympathy,
and assure them that they and their countrymen will not
look in vain for the most earnest support this Union can
render in aid of any measures which may be proposed to
benefit the sister isle by just and righteous laws. In con-
clusion, while earnestly counselling thtehemyoswtocuolrd respect-
dial union
among all sincere friends of reform,
fully invite the representatives of Ireland to make common
cause and join with those
Eland, Scotland, and Wales
in determined efforts to coafrryngthose measures of reform
which must tend to promote the moral, social, and politi-
cal advancement of the people of these realms, andthe_ y
would earnestly pray that such efforts may speedily be
crowned with complete success."

The address was unanimously adopted.
Mr. W. E. FORSTER, M.P., who was most enthu-
siastically received, was the first to respond. He
was quite sure his late colleague, Mr. Stansfeld,
who was unable to attend through most serious in-
disposition, and Mr. Layard, who had not returned
from the Continent, would regret that they had not
been able to attend. As a very subordinate of the
late Government, he must, on their behalf, express
their gratitude to the men of Yorkshire and Lanca-
shire for the support which they had accorded to
the late Government and its Reform measure. As
a member of the late Government he might regret
the fate of their bill, but as a Reformer he certainly
could not, and history for the future would relate
that, owing to the obstructions offered to that mea-
sure, they were indebted to a sound and compre-
hensive Reform. For this, he must say, he felt that
they were indebted to four men. They were Lord
Russell, who did not like to see his sun go down
without completing his policy of Reform, to Mr.
Gladstone, and to Mr. Bright, and last, but not
least, to Mr. Robert Lowe. (Hisses.) He hoped
they would not hiss at the mention of that gentle-
man's name, who had done a great deal for the
cause of Reform, for it was his speeches that had
aroused the working classes from their apathy, and
enlisted them one and all la:
however the cause of Reform.
(Cheers.) They must not
, think that
the battle was over ; they had hard work still to
do ; their opponents were more determined than
ever to oppose them, and they must not
relax their endeavours. [A Voice._:, We are
ready for them.") Yes ; but they must keep ready,
and not allow themselves to be surprised. He felt
that just now the Conservatives were suspiciously
loud in their confessions of Liberalism, and that any
bill a Conservative Government would propose
would be a Conservative measure. When he said
this he meant in a party or class sense, for he was
most sincerely of opinion that a real Reform Bill
which practically met the wants of the age would
be most essentially a Conservative Reform Bill. This
being the case, they must still be on their guard, for

while they were perfectly right in giving to any
measure proposed by the present Government a fair
and candid consideration, they mustbe on the watch,
and not be caught by a plausible measure, which,
although giving a considerable extension of the suf-
frage, might neutralise it by spe3ious checks, and,
by manipulating the groups of boroughs and the
area of the county constituencies, make matters
much worse than they are now. (Cheers.)
Mr. BRIGHT, who on rising was received with
several rounds of cheering, said,--Ladies and Gen-
tlemen,—Although this is perhaps one of the most
striking and important meetings which have been
held in this country during the last few years, you
will perhaps be surprised to learn that I came to it
with a sense of almost indifference—not indifference
as to its importance, but with an absence of that
feeling of responsibility which has pressed so much
upon me upon recent occasions. (Cheers.) The
committee were kind enough to send round to their
agents a list of the speakers who were expected to
address the meeting. I found them much more
numerous than I expected, and I found my name
about half-way down the list. I took it therefore
for granted that I came here as a spectator and a
looker-on, rather than a prominent actor at the
meeting. Some gentlemen who were expected to be
here are not here. dr. Stansfeld and Mr. Layard are
unable to attend. -I shall trust to those who come
after me to say a good deal which I shall not take
up your time by attempting to say to-night. (Hear,
hear.) During the last memorable session of Parlia-
ment you will probably recollect that it was a very
common thing in the mouths of the opponents
of the Government to say that the working men,
the aggrieved party, felt no grievance, that they
scarcely expressed any opinion of the bill in its fa-
vour, or indeed any opinion at all on the question
of their admission to the franchise. I was repeatedly
charged with being in the position of a leader in a
cause in which it was said that, after all, I had no

clients and no followers ; that I made many efforts,
and called spirits from the vasty deep ; but that,
somehow or other, the spirits would not come, and
there was a general taunt uttered that, after all, we
were very much exaggerating the cause of thework-
ing man, and that the condition of the large class
was so comfortable and prosperous that they were
perfectly contented with the Government as it was
carried on, and with a Parliament so inadequately
representing thewhole nation. Well, I suppose that
that argument, so far as it was uttered and had any,
force, has been fully, if not to our opponents satis-
factorily answered, but these gentlemen have turned
quite round, and have now another thing to say
about these meetings. They say that the middle
classes stand aloof, nobody really cares for reform
but the working man, and that no great question
can be carried or sensibly affected in this country
by the action and opinion of working men alone.
They forget that general meetings had been held.
But after all the deduction they admitted therewere
a few thousandspresent, but theysaid that members
of Parliament and manufacturers, and what they
called the influential classes, were found to be en-
tirely absent. They appeared to have forgotten that
these meetings, at which the working men only at-
tended, were meetings called expressly by working
men and for working men ; but if they wanted to
know bow far themain objects of these meetings re-
ceived the sympathy of a more powerful class, they
might have come to this meeting to learn—(cheers)
—and might have attendedto the arrangements and
the meetingsin Birmingham. It would be impossible
in any town in this kingdom to assemble on a plat-
form a larger amount of what they call the respec-
tability and station than were assembled then and
there. (Hear.) If they had come to this hall on the
evening of this great meeting in Manchester, or
if they had gone to the great meeting in London or
to the meeting in the City-hall at Glasgow, they
would have found that all these meetings were most
influentially attended. In the town of Leeds I was
told that nearly 5,000 persons paid ss. each to be
allowed to attend the meeting in the Town-hall, and
I think that is some sign of the class of persons who
attended. (Hear, hear.) But if there were any ques-
tion on this matter I would ask these gentlemen to
come to the platform to-night. (Cheers.) Here is
the largest and finest hall in Britain, the largest and
finest hall in Europe, I believe the largest and finest
ball in the world, and yet this hall is crowded with
persons to whom our opponents, I think, unlessthey
are very fastidious, will admit the terms respectable
and influential. (Cheers.) I doubt if there has ever
been held in this kingdom a banquet more numerous,
more influential, more unanimous, more grand in
every respect than that which is being held here to-
night. Just now it is the fashion to flatter and
court the middle classes. The middle classes are
told that since the Reform Bill of 1832 political
power has been in their hands. Before 1832 it is
said that it was with the Lords and great landowners,
but since 1832 it has been in the hands of the middle
classes, and they are asked whether they are willing
to surrender that power into the hands of the more
numerous, and, as these people assert, a more dan-
gerous class, who would swamp not only the
highest class, the lords and great landowners, the
highest in social position, but they would also
swamp the great middle class, with whom political
power is now said to rest. (Cheers.) They try
to teach the middle classes that there is an essen-
tially different interest between them and the great
lords of the people who are not yet admitted to
their political rights and privileges. They say that
one class is in power and the other class outside of
power, and they warn the middle classes against
admitting the outsiders into partnership with them
for fear lest they should dethrone the middle classes
and set up an unintelligent, unreasoning, and selfish
power of their own. This is the sort of argument
that is used to the middle classes to induce them
to take no part in any measure that shall ad-
miti the working classes to a participation
n political power. (Cheers.) I should be ashamed
tomesntatnas is.
d this,
nany platform and employ such an argu-
(Cheers.) Is there to be found advo-%
cated in the writings or the speakings of any public
man connected with the Liberal or the Reform party
so dangerous and so outrageous a policy as that
which these men pursue ? for when separating the
great lords of the people into the middle and the
working classes they are setting
manodntohpoeyliasstsk
oyfopuotwo
ejroiiiin the miserameaganaidnsptercillaossus,
withthelasB
the past and present
determination to exclude for ever the great lords of
our countrymen from the common rights of the
generous English Constitution. (Cheers.) There is
no greater fallacy than that the middle classes are in
the possession of political power. The real state cf
the case, if it were put in simple language, would be
this—that the working men are universally excluded,
roughly and insultingly, from political power, and
that the middle class while they have the semblance
of it are defrauded of the reality. (Cheers.) The
difference of the semblance is this, that the working
o his o f hands
name
every man can hold up his h
classes come to the hustings at the election, and
when the returning
officer
asksand ,
fora show
although
is not on the register of voters. Every man can vote
at that show of hands, but a show of hands is of no
avail. On a recent occasion—perhaps it was when
I last stood on this platform—l stated certain facts
which have not from that day to this been contra-
dicted. I stated that out of every 100 men, grown-
up men, liable to taxes and expected to perform all
the duties of life, responsible to the laws throughout
the United Kingdom, that 84 were excluded from
the franchise, and that 16 only were included. I want
to ask whether the 16 out of the 100 may be said to
include all the middle class. (Laughter.) But there
is another fact, if possible, more astonishing still, and
that is that 3 men out of every 100 throughout the
United Kingdom, by their votes, return an actual
majority of the present House of Commons ; but if
a majority of the House of Commons be returned
by a majority so small as three out of every 100 of
the men of the United Kingdom, and if the other
House of Parliament asks for no votes at all, I ask
you whether it is not a fiction of the most tran-
sparent character that power, legislative and govern-
ing, in this country rests with the middle class ?
(Cheers.) What Mr. Forster says is quite true.
You may have suffered this or that, but you may
have the distribution of power so and such that even
the representation, bad as it is, may be made some-
thing even worse. (Cheers.) Take the case of your
boroughs alone, on which alone may be said to rest