The Sun.
London, England, 1859-04-28 00:00:00

GREENWICH.

A meeting of the electors of ibis borough took
place on Tuesday night, at the Union Tavern, Bal-
last-quay, East Greenwich, for the purpose of meet-
ing Mr. Montagu Chambers, and of hearing from
him an exposition of his political sentiments. A
considerable number of electors were present,. and
Mr. Chambers was loudly cheered on hi entering
the room. Mr. Whiteway took the chair.
Mr. CHAMBERS then addressed the meeting, and,
after some preliminary remarks, he said it had been
asserted that he was unfriendly to the watermen,
but nothing could be further from the fact ; and
he said that the manner in which, in his legal
position, he had fought for the watermen in
their struggle with their powerful opponents,
the Pier Company, was a convincing proof, as
it appeared to him, that the statement was not
true. He was not a nautical man, but he be-
lieved that he had gained some reputation
in conducting what were called running down
cases, and he was always anxious to assist by
every means in his power the men working
on the river, and to help them to carry out their
manly-sports of rowing at regattas, as he believed
that it was in a great measure owing to the manly
feeling that was engendered by these sports that
this country owed its naval superiority. (Hear.)
He had also, when in Parliament, with the assist-
ance of that gallant old sailor, Sir C. Napier, pro-
cured the expunging of a clause from a bill that
had been introduced which certainly very mate-
rially affected the privileges of the watermen work-
ing on the river, for it gave a right to any one to
ply and carry people for hire. He went to Sir G.
Grey, who was then the Home Secretary, and upon
his showing him the impolicy of the clause in ques-
tion, he consented that it should be removed.
(Hear, hear.) Although, therefore, some malignant
people had represented that he was no friend to
the watermen, he defied them to show any one un-
friendly act on his part, or show an, instance
in which he had given them the cold shoulder.
(Cheers.) He might also tell them that he, him_.
self, was by descentl a sailor, and although he
would not at that moment state the name of his
ancestor, who was considered to have distinguished
himself in the service of his country, he would
inform them that he was a true English sailor, and
passed fifty years of his life afloat. (Cheers.) Mr.
Chambers then proceeded to state that he had
always done everything in his power to benefit the
town of Greenwich, and he said that he had ren-
dered all the assistance he could to carry out the
scheme for the erection of docks, which he believed
would be highly beneficial to the town ; and he
was happy to inform them that, according to the
rules of Parliament, the bill would be taken up in
the next Parliament at the stage at which it was
dropped, 4nd he hoped he should assist to

carry it into law. (Hear, hear.) In his address
he had stated clearly what his political opinions
were ; and with regard to the Reform Bill
that had been introduced by Lord Der`-y, he was
opposed to it because he thought it was not of a
character to be satisfactory to the coun y. (Hear
hear.) Mr. Bright, in one of his speeches, had
very cleverly said that the effect of that bill had,
however, been to constitute the House of Commons
into a society for the diffusion of information among
the people upon the important subject of Reform,
and he quite concurred with him that it had had
that effect. (Hear, hear.) In his (Mr. Chambers's)
opinion one very great defect in the bill was that it
did not declare that the proper mode of voting was
by ballot. (Hear, hear.) The Government, by
their proposition to disfranchise all the dockyard
servants, were clearly of opinion that they were
liable to some coercion, and yet at the same time
they did not adopt the only method that would
Five them the opportunity of recording an honest
independent vote.
(Hear, hear.) He (Mr. Cham-
bers) did not believe it was true that these honest
respectable men permitted themselves to be in-
fluenced in the manner described, and he believed
that it very frequently happened at an election
that when they were expected to go up to the poll
and vote in a particular manner they did exactly
contrary to what was expected of them, much to
the disgust of the parties who sought to obtain
their votes unfairly. (Hear, hear, and laughter.)
Still, however, the Government evidently thought
they were liable to be coerced, and with this view
proposed to disfranchise them, and this admission
he considered a very strong reason in favour of the
ballot. (Hear, hear.) He would now allude to his
present position in the borough, and he could assure
them that it was a very agreeable one, and that he
had strong hopes of success. (Cheers.) A certain
party had got up the parrot cry of his " dividing
the Liberal interest," and some persons had asked
why he came there. This was a cry that was only
raised by the parties connected with a certain
club not far from Pall-mall, who sought to
get all the boroughs of England tinder their
control, and to have no members returned for them
except through their recommendation, and who
were merely puppets, who moved according as
they pulled the strings. (Hear, hear.) As to
dividing the Liberal interest, his reply to that was,
first catch your Liberal interest, as Mrs. Glasse
said, " First catch your hare." (A laugh.) His
motto was, first come first served ; and as he had
served this borough as their representative on a
former occasion and defied any one to say that he
had ever given any vote that was not in favour of
Liberal principles, he considered that he was en-
titled to their confidence, and had an undoubted
right to come forward again and offer himself as
their representative. (" Hear, hear," and cheers.)
He had also been twice applied to by his friends
to come forward upon the occasion of a single con-
test taking place, but he had declined to do so ;
but it was perfectly well understood that he in-
tended to become a candidate upon the occasion of
a general election taking place. He never desired
to intrude into the borough, but upon the occasion
of a testimonial being presented to him, which was a
proof of the opinion that was entertained of him and
his political conduct, he might state that it had
been subscribed to by the very poorest as well as
the comparatively rich among his constituents ; he
was earnestly applied to to become a candidate,
and he had done so. (Cheers, and a cry of " You
shall go in at the head of the poll.") During hls
canvass he had been received in the most flattering
manner, and many who were formerly his political
opponents were now friendly to hin. (Hear, hear.)
It appeared to him that the borough of Clxreenwich
had a very important duty to perform on the pre-
sent occasion, because it was in their power to show
that a member could be returned for a large and
extensive constituency without expending an enor-
mous sum of money, which was a strong argument
used by the opponents of reform for not taking
away any of the members of the small boroughs.
An offer had been made to return him free of expense,
but he considered he had no right to put his hand
in their pockets for such a purpose, and he was
ready to pay all legitimate expenses, and he left the
electors to say, by their votes, whether they con-
sidered him a fit man to represent them or not.
(Cheers.)
Mr. SANDERSON said, as one of the parties con-
cerned in the dispute that took place between the
pier-owners and the watermen, which had been
alluded to by the hon. candidate, he thought it
right to inform the meeting that although Mr.
Chambers certainly acted most ably as the counsel
of the watermen, when they took him his fees,
which amounted to £7O or £BO, he returned them
the wholo of the money.
A resolution that Mr. Chambers was a fit and
proper person to represent the borough in Parlia-
ment was then proposed and carried unanimously,
and the meeting separated. The general impres-
sion is that Alderman Salomons and Mr. Uhambers
are sure to be returned.