The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-22 00:00:00

MR. EWART, M.P., IN DITMPRIES.

Oa Tuesday night the member for the Dumfries Dis-
trict of Burghs addressed a meeting of his Dumfries con-
stituency in the Mechanics'-hall, which was well filled on
the occasion. Provost Turner occupied the chair, and
briefly introduced Mr. Eivart, who was received with
cheers. He said—Mr. Provost and gentlemen, it is not
without emotion that I hear those testimonies of your kind
regard, which you still honour me by bearing towards me.
It is true, as my excellent friend the Provost has said,
that 1 have been in the practice of coining here, I believe
with scarcely an exception, annually since I have had the
honour of representing you. 1 think it is a wholesome
thing for a_ member to seo his constituency, and for those
whom ho has the honour of representing saying to him
what they think proper, so that he should acquire from
this return to his mother earth—as in the fabled mythology
of old— new force and new vigour and . new resolution to
support that which is good in his propositions to the
Legislature, and to oppose all that he deems to be evil.
(Applause.) Now, gentlemen, I can truly say that what-
ever may have been the effects of the opinions of others
on my conduct, it has always been animated by a desire
to do my duty, and I have been sustained in that
desire by the kind reward with which you have
allowed it to be attended. Iu the few words which I shall
address to you I shall advert in the first place to domestic
affairs; in the second place, to what has happened abroad;
and in the third place, to the humble endeavours of myself
to carry into effect what I thought was for the general
benefit of the country. With regard to domestic matters,
it would be almost impassible to avoid bringing first the
great question of Reform. That is a question that agitates
the country from the one end to the other; and although
persons may take dill, rent views of it, they all see the
injustice of the present state of things. What are the evils
under which we are at present suffering ? An inadequate
representation of the people is the most obvious. In the
next place, there is a most unequal division of the localities
that send members to Parliament ; and, in the third place,
I grieve to say that we have in England, at least, and per-
haps in Ireland, but, Z am happy to say, not in Scotland,
manifest indications of corruption. I hold that the real
remedies for these evils aro that, in the first place, there
should be a more equal distribution of constituencies. In
the neighbourhood of where I reside in England there is ono
town belonging to a noble Marquis that returns two mem-
bers, and another small place whero a few hundred voters
return two'members. That is an anomaly that should be
done away with, and that can only be done by a re-arrange-
ment of the localities that send members to Parliament, so
as to make them more adapted to the requirements and the
necessities of the age in which wo live. I need not say
that I hold the extension of the franchise to be indispen-
sable fer the security and welfare of the country. IR the
last session of Parliament, we were offered a fair compro-
mise of this question, which was rejected. I know not
what we shall have offered to us by the other party, the
present Government. Of their liberal tendencies you are
all aware. (Laughter.) Whatever may be their tendencies
—whether liberal or not —I believe they will be obliged to
fellow the impulse of the popular tide, and to concede some-
thing to the people. Now, what may that be ? I heard ono
member of the present Conservative party advocate Reform
to the extent of household suffrage ; and I have heard the
Attorney-General of the late Government advocate the
same thing; and if the present Government offered house-
hold suffrage, I would deem it my duty, as far as I could, to
support it; if it was the general opinion of the House of
Commons, I would not be one to oppose it. From the
speeches to which I have referred, I deem it not impossible
that such a proposition may be made by the present Con-
servative Administration. But, as I said before, it is im-
possible to go on without a proper and fair distribution of
the localities which send members to Parliament. The
hon.gentleman went on to say that he should like to see the
system of voting-papers in use at University elections
adopted at elections generally, and to condemn the disgrace-
ful-state of corruption in which recent inquiries had shown
a number of English boroughs to be. In Scotland he was
not aware that any corruption existed at all, which ho
attributed to the superior education of the people. But
corruption was not confined to political affairs; it had ex-
tended to the money market ; and in recent speculative
proceedings there had been a want of British honour and
of common prudence which reminded them of the days of
Sir Robert Walpole and the South Sea Scheme. He went
on to say that ho hoped next session would see the aboli-
tion of Church rates, and some effetive dealing with that
colossal iniquity the Irish Church, which proceeded on the
assertion of the supremacy of the Church of the minority
over the Church of the people of the country. He then
referred to the state of India and the famine prevailing in
some districts, and said that two things required for her
prosperity next to governing her justly were increased
Means of irrigation—water being, so to speak, the life-blood
of India—and increased communication by road and rail
lie next alluded to the result of the war in Germany, and
the consolidation of the German empire, which ho regarded
as beneficial to Europe; he congratulated the working
classes on their prescience in upholding the cause of the
North against the South in the American war; and de-
plored the error made by the Emperor of the French in in-
terfering with the affairs of Mexico, which furnished a use-
ful lesson to politicians. He believed that the proposed
foreign interference in the affairs of Romewould meet with
a similar fate, and be contemptuously rejected by the Ita-
lian people. He then glanced at his own legislative efforts
in connection with the abolition of capital punishment, the
introduction of the decimal system, the extension of free
libraries, and university reform ; and after thanking his
constituency for the trust so long reposed in him, said he
hoped, whenever he resigned his honourable position, lie
should restore that trust to them uneoutarninated. (Cheers.)
On the motion of Dr. M'Culloch, seconded by Councillor
Ewing, a vote of continued coufi fence in Mr. Evart ai
unanimously agreed to.

SOUTIIA3IPTON, Oct. 20.—(Reuter's Telegram.)
The North German Lloyd's steamer New York, flout New
York on the 7th, has arrived. On the Bth she spoko the
steamer Bremen. The New York experienced
ale fino went
ommenced her
to the morning of the 13th, when a heavy g c
from the eastward, increasing to a hurricane at 4 p.m., and
at 7 sho shipped a heavy sea, completely sweepin
wo seamen
g her for-
ward deck. The ship's chief carpenter and t
were killed and two others hounded. No news has been
received of the Saxonia, which left NeW York at tho same
time as the New York, and doubtless encountered the
same weather.
The bodies of the two porters who accompanied
the party which recently met with the fatal accident on
Mont Blanc have been found, but no trace has yet been
discovered of the remains of Captain Arkwright.