The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-20 00:00:00

Parliamentary. Reform.

A deputation from the city of Glasgow waited
upon Earl Russell yesterday, at his official residence
in Downing-street, Westminster, to present a me-
morial agreed to at a large public meeting held in
Glasgow, on the subject of Parliamentary Reform.
There were present on the occasion—Mr. R.
Dalglish, M.P., Admiral Erskine, M.P., Mr.
M'Laren, M.P., Mr. Craufurd, M.P., Mr. Crum-
Ewing, M.P., Mr. Graham, M.P., Mr. Potter,
M.P., Mr. Baines, M.P., Colonel Sykes, M.P., Mr.
Govan, Mr. Cranston, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Muir,
and Mr. Pearson.

Mr. DALGLISH, having introduced the gentlemen
constituting the deputation, read the memorial,
which, after setting forth the reasons why a reform
in the representation of the people in the Commons
House of Parliament was essentially necessary to
the good government of the country, concluded by
calling on her Majesty's Government to introduce
a bill having for its object the extension of the
franchise to £lO rental in counties, and £6 rental
in cities and boroughs, together with a more
equable distribution of seats.
Mr. GOVAN said he had been appointed as one
of the working classes of Glasgow to represent that
body on this occasion. He need not dwell on the
necessity of Parliamentary Reform, or the justice
of the popular demand for an extension of the
franchise. These points had been conceded, and all
that was required of him to do was to ask his lord-
ship to exert his powerful influence to enact a Re-
form Bill that should be liberal and substantial.
The meeting at Glasgow was attended by persons
of all classes and of various shades of political
opinion ; yet, with a view to bring the question
of Parliamentary Reform to an harmonious settle-
ment, they had consented to a compromise,
and had expressed their willingness to accept
a £lO franchise in counties and a £6 fran-
chise in boroughs. He considered this limita-
tion both reasonable and fair. There would be no
danger in basing the suffrage on these grounds. The
working classes had no interests inimical to those of
any other class in the community. All they pos-
sessed and all they sought to acquire was intimately
bound with the welfare of every other class, and,
therefore, any extension of their possessions and
acquirements could not fail in promoting peace,
virtue, and equity throughout the land.
Mr. CRANSTON observed that in constituting a
new franchise he believed the working classes would
prefer having it founded on the rental rather than
on the rating. With regard to a new distribution
of the Parliamentary districts, great good was an-
ticipated to result from any measure that should
have that object in view. The abuse would then
no longer exist of some places with a constituency
of only 350 electors sending to Parliament as many
members as other places where there was a consti-
tuency of 3,000. As long as that system continued
no good could be hoped for by any alteration of the
franchise. It was said that the working classes had
shown considerable apathy on the subject of Reform;
but this might be accounted for by their having been
disappointed in the non-fulfilment of the promises
which had been held out to them ever since 1832,
and which had finally driven them into the forming
of trades' unions, co-operative societies, and to self-
legislation. By these means they had reduced their
hours of labour, and at the same time raised their
daily wages. It was from the Legislature they had
been taught to expect those benefits, but they had
at length discovered that they could do it better for
themselves ; and hence the alienation of classes.
They saw the influence of the working classes in
France, and yet they were not more intelligent or
patriotic than the working classes of Great Britain.
It was the same in America, and yet the working
classes of this country were quite as good citizens
as they. They, therefore, with the greatest respect
and confidence, called upon his lordship to introduce
a measure of reform that should be effectual and
lasting.
Mr. CAMPBELL thought the present a most oppor-
tune moment for introducing a Reform Bill, inas-
much as his lordship's Government was strong, not
only in the majority it possessed, but in the sym-
pathy and confidence of the people. The antecedents
of his lordship and of many members of the Govern-
ment gave the people a right to expect that their
interests would be properly attended to, and the
question settled in order that public men might be
able to devote their time and attention -without dis-
traction to those other important questions which
concerned the general welfare. Because, after all,
Parliamentary Reform was but a means to an end.
Mr. MUIR said that while the people of Glasgow
differed very widely with each other on points con-
nected with Parliamentary Reform, yet they were
willing to come to a compromise and to assist his
lordship with all their might in carrying a £6 rental
franchise in boroughs, and a £lO rental franchise in
counties ; at the same time they were all of opinion
that no such measure would be satisfactory without
a redistribution of seats. He trusted that the mea-
sure to be proposed by his lordship would be such
as again to awaken the enthusiasm of the country.
Mr. GRAHAM, member for Glasgow, strongly sup-
ported the views of the memorialists, both as regarded
the reduction of the franchise and the redistribution
of seats. Whether those two objects should be the
subject of one and the same measure was a ques-
tion which he was sure the confidence of the coun-
try would leave entirely for his lordship to decide.
At the same time, he would suggest one considera-
tion of no slight importance. If his lordship and
the Government were satisfied that they could
carry simply a measure for the reduction of the
franchise, and in so doing perhaps even strengthen
their means of afterwards dealing with the ques-
tion of redistribution, by all means let them
take that course ; but if they had reason to doubt
their ability to lower the franchise even by a sepa-
rate measure, it would then certainly be much to be
regretted, not only that the question of Parlia-
mentary Reform itself should be turned over to their
political opponents, who, in the case supposed,
necessarily become the Government, but that that
Government should have it in their power to point
to an imperfect measure of Reform as that which
had been introduced by their predecessors. It would
be much better that the Liberal party should now
introduce such a measure as that even, if defeated,
no party which might succeed them in office should
be able to point at as a defective measure.
Mr. DUNLOP, member for Greenock, said that
with regard to the redistribution of seats the people
of Scotland attached great importance, as many
parts of. that country suffered gross injustice from
the undue influence given to certain places by the
present system. He therefore thought the two sub-
jects might be combined in one measure, and then
if the Government were defeated, they might ap-
peal to the country with greater hope of success,
inasmuch as they would be able to say that they had
brought forward a perfect measure of Reform. If,
however, his lordship thought a different course was
desirable, and that a bill limited to the question of
franchise simply, not only with the intention but
with the certainty of carrying it, then he believed
his constituents would be ready to support the noble
lord in supporting that course. But with regard to
the extension of the franchise he was afraid he could
not promise rtimilar forbearance. Anything like a