The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-14 00:00:00

t discuss •reform ;• but we have heard a• speeehtha,
will resound, throughout Europe and the world.
Mr. Roebuck has taken a most masterly re7:ew of
the eireuthstances of the case. I agree in it all with
• -
slight exceptions, though on• same points I diff'rquinaeltiona
co ipetitive speceli He is a' statearman. of 30 years'
fialn him materially.- do' ot profess to
stAldingi listened to in the House7l‘o!.C'ltf,:m.ms.a.nd
• I,lti.ir(caft.(gill.tionti. totlnice
oeofi.tiiiterly)e.l.stigoill::lo7ttlolettfienies
IS tlic
anxiety 'of the honest and.iiidustrions classeS to be
enfranchised, and that man is 'entitled to respect
who by honest means obtains the power to Note.
Speaking on principle, all men who 'contribute to
the taxes ought to, be• enfranchised; though from
policy demand is made for household suffrage, and
I advise you to adhere to it. I have here a return
from which it appears that, deducting the property
tax, out of 60 millions of taxes paid; 35 to 40 mil-
lions are paid by the unrepresented people. A com-
paratively small amount is paid by those who
assume the power of electing the representatives of
the people. Is this just? (" N 0.",) Should it be
continued? (" No.") Nothing can be more delusive
Wan the present system of representation. We
hare now probably 30 millions of people: The
return of which I -shall speak shows that ,of these
30 millions only 1,200,000 are nominally electors.
'Beluctint, double entries, double qualification,
&c., I do not believe the actual electors are
1,000,000.- Here, thug, you have one in six of the adult
males represented, and the sooner we remedy that
anomaly the better ; and even the division of, this
small number of elector's :puts • a cheat upon; the
people.- There are. 330 members of the House of
Cominons returned by 195,000 borough electors.
There are 35 boroughs-which return 70 members,
and, deducting the other constituencies from the
rest of the borough electors only 195,000 , are left.
Thus not 200,000:electors return a majority of the
House of Commons, and five sixths of the number
are wholly :unrepresented. I have here a list of 22
boroughs returning 24 members, yet their united
constituencies are only half the number of electors
of Sheffield.• These boroughs only pay half the
amount of, income-tax paid by Sheffield. Mr. Had-
field went on to show the insignificanee of Knares-
borough, Thetford, and other little boroughs as
compared with the larger constituencies. He
compared the Tower Hamlets and Marylebone with
the Irish boroughs, showing the- immetise prepon-
derance of population and taxation on the part of
the metropolitan boroughs. Few of. these small
boroughs were free .agents„ and, - when free, were
influenced. by. bribery. Was our representative
system m
Should.") to re t
rest n rottenn%ti.e st ebna
e• likere thate
choiceof t he'
("
N o
pe
i.eyo pel ?
of the
th
elclire
Crown
\y mighti x
in danger
deanpt to hear.
geeci.
the
peerage againjn dtahe ngoelrd.
But the cry -of, wolf had been raised too often.
When Catholic emancipation was granted Lord
Elden shed tears, and said that the sun of England
had set for ever, but the stupid sun- had continued
to shine more. brightly than before. (Cheers.) Free
trade was granted .in defiance of predictions that
the land would go out of cultivation, and yet land'
vas never 'so valuable as . now, and • the landlords
much had been -benefited. as ,as any other class.
(Cheers.) ..Whatpeople in the world were so fit to -
be trusted as the people of
.England? Let them-
not-be judged by 20 or 30 men who had disturbed
the meeting, and for what purpose he could not
imagine. Let it not go abroad that that
little clique were the people of Sheffield. For
the true homst. working classes he .had the
sincerest respect, and desired. to see their
rights enlarged. Let me (said Mr. Hadfield) give
reasons why the. people of England are to batrusted.
In 1837 we imported to the value of 187 millions,
and we• exported 146 millions, the produce of the
labour of our honest working classes. These were
the results of the people's labour. Surely, these
men are to be trusted. Surely their interests, are the
interests of the country. (Cheers.) I will never
while I live cease to urge their claims. (Lou d cheers.)
There are now openings for our trade unheard of.
Waiving the question of the character of the ruler
of France, I ask if we have not bound up with our
own the interests of France ? Ilet exports and im-
ports are 307 millions, •:.nd if her ports were thrown
open, like ours, to the commerce of the world, Eng-
land and France would be united by a commercial
interest equal to that between England and Scot-
land. We bind Our colonies to us not by soldiers,
but by the free governments we give them. Canada,
whatever she may have done in the past, now de-
sires the English alliance, and-will- not leave us.
Consider what is going on in an intellectual and
literary way. Fourteen years ago the number of
letters was 70,000,000, and they are now 504,000,000.
There were 71,000,000 of stamped newspapers then,
and I believe now there arc 250,000,000 of news-
papers annually. The periodical literature of Eng-
land exceeds that of all other countries. In this
state of things I ain sure that any such disturbance
as occurred this morning must be put down. Then,
as to education. In 1851 there were 2,500,000 pupils
in Sunday-schools, and 318,000 teachers, the elite
of the country. The Sunday-school teachers have
the confidence of every man, and ask only freely to
train the children of the poor man in morals and
religion. If any men deserve to be more respected
than others it is those 318,000 teachers, and I think
they enjoy more of the confidence of the people
than any others. There is a glorious competition
going on between the clergy and the dissenting
ministers. My principles are known, but I rejoice
'in the labours of the pious clergy. Mr. Hadfield
went on to quote some statistics as to religious in-
struction to show that there can be no danger in
trusting the people with- the franchise, as there is
amoral machinery
.at work that will give security
to society. Referring to the future he said there
never was a time of more hopeful prospects. The
-.question now to be asked (lie said) is, how can we
pour on the people the blessings of cheapness and
abundance ? Can we not have returns from India
and our colonies far greater than were ever known
before. The people of Manchester have issued a
statement showing that we are paying for the
slave-grown cotton of America £10,000,000 a year
more than its fair marketable value, and every
ounce of that cotton might be raised in India..
(Cheers.) Let roads be made and the means
of irrigation be provided, and we could have
100,000,000 of produce a year from India,—
and half that :would regenerate India. Joseph
Hume said we never could enrich India without
enriching ourselves. We desire now that the
just claims of the people should be recog-
nised, and that their desire for economy an
improvement may tell on the House of Com-
mons. -Are we equal. to the task which a
gracious Providence has imposed upon us! The
great Creator meant the fertile earth to supply the
wants of all his ereasures. The only difference
between myself and my hon. friend is that I desire
to see this country- untrammelled with the affairs
of despots—(cheers)—and that. English interests
Only should be attended to. Of our debt,
£500,000,000, Was incurred by the war acrainst,
liberty in • France. •and £100,000,000 for the war
against American independence. Let us, then, keep
out of war on questions raised by despots ; let us
preserve peace, and England will fulfil her destiny.
(Cheers.) After paying a compliment to the order
and regularity Of the meeting, he • said it was an
answer to the disturbance of the morning, and he
hoped the time was coining when every honest, in-
dustrious man, uncontaminated by crime, should
possess the elective franchise. (Loud and continued
cheering.)
The MAYOR then announced that the members
Were ready to answer questions.
Mr. ABEL' HINCTICLIFFE—From the very cun-
ning way in which- Mr. Roebuck spoke of slavery
in America, he seemed to wish you to understand
that it was caused by universal suffrage. (Hoot-
ing and cries of " Question.") The question was,
did Mr. Roebuck hold that opinion?
Mr. ROEBUCK—There is no universal suffrage in
America". Republican institutions are very different
things from universal suffrage. I don't talk with-
understanding what I say. (Loud cheers.)
• Mr. HISCHCLIFFE—Did you wish us to believe
that it arose from Republican institutions ?
Mr. ROEBUCK—I did not. I said nothing about
Republican institutions. I said there was slavery
in America and yet their declaration of indepen-
dence.
In answer to Mr. Levy, Mr. ROEBUCK said he
proposed that every elector disfranchised in a small
borough should vote for the county.
Several questions were put to Mr. Hadfield as
upon to
powers,
to the Municipal Act, to which he replied. he had
been requested to prepare a bill to abolish the pro-
perty qualification of town councillors, which he
thought reasonable, as it was abolished for members
of Parliament. He was in favour, too, of the ballot ;
but he doubted. whether paupers should be put on
the list of burgesses,' because they were subject to
the influence •of the overseers. He strongly ob-
jdeecetleadr te
toh
ac
to rtihmety• a twe
uolffid n
e ereSt be
exercise
Prejudicially.to the Church of England. He thought
that obnoxious. Nor did- lie approve that the
mayor should be prohibited from going in his in-
ing calledtheir