The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-05 00:00:00

suggestion which involved me in
a good
deal
of
un
friendly criticism—namely, that I thought the time
had come, or would soon come, when it would be
the duty of the working classes to make use of that
great organisation of theirs which extends over the
whole country, the organisation of trade and friendly
societies, for the purpose of bringing to bear upon_
the Government the united power of a just demand.
(Cheers.) I said, further, that I believed one year
o ,
thnrl
oyuogfh tthheeiurn ietxeidsti action
no
ifl i
stahtei 0
tslv,owrkoiunlgd cllvahsoslelsy,
change the aspect of the Reform question. Now it
appears that the counsel which I gave eight years
ago has become the counsel of those who are ill
_favour of the enfranchisement of working mei,.
That counsel has been adopted recently to a large
extent, and every man in the kingdom feels that the
aspect of the question has been wholly changed.
Bat, as has been already said to-night, it is very
difficult to please those by whom we are opposes's.
And, as was said eight years ago, so it is said row,
that it is very undesirable that associations like these,
which were not formed for political purpos, should
be worked for political ends. Well, that is a matter
of which the members of these societies must be held
to be the best judges. (Hear, hear.) We have known
societies
oethNch.
iieeeerrthai
elshos
aycovieefeat
the
entered
gcot
orhoeuadatt
thdrlayiadt r
weregit
nieoelya r
ilcpynortnoaofvl profess t s
converted
the
eh o be political
politics.de i
angtoripel:kliitituri:vcasall
societies for the purpose of sustaining
an P.ct of
Parliamtht which denied an honest and f • air supply
of food to the people of this country. (Chees-s.) And
even now, when agricultural societies and farmers'
clubs meet, we hear that sort of curious and confused
political discussion which takes place when the coun-
try gentlemen and county members make speeches
to their tenantry and county supporters. (Laug'n_
ter.) But these critics of ours say that this raea-
sure—the combination of the trade unions for poli-
tical purposes—is one which excites their fears, and
is of a very formidable nature. It was precisely
because it would be of a formidable nature that I
first recommended it. (Cheers.) The fact is that the
millions can scarcely stir but the few, who are timid
and in some • degree ungenerous in these matters,
feel this alarm. But you cannot help being numer-
ous. (Laughter.) If you had had a better Govern-
meat during the last hundred years—if the land had
been more in the bands of the people, and less in the
hands of a small class—if you had had fewer wars,
lighter taxes, better instruction, and a freer trade,
one-half of those in this country who are now called
"the working classes" would have been in comfort
and in a position equal to those whom we call the
middleclasses. (Loud cheers.) But this is your great
difficulty, and it is the great difficulty of our oppo-
nents. You are too numerous to be let in with
safety, and they are finding out that you are too
numerous to be kept out with safety. (Cheers.)
Now, if these associations and the combination of
those societies be formidable, who made them formi-
dable ? These societies took no step until they were
challenged to it by the speeches, the resolutions, the
divisions, and the acts of a great party in the Par-
liament of the United Kingdom. Did they fail to
have fact and argument in favour of the change that
was proposed last session ? No, but fact and argu-
ment had no effect upon whatever there is of rea-
soning power in the ranks of the Tory party. Did
that party think that the working men in England,
those who built this greaty city, those who covered
this land with great cities, those who have cultivated
every acre of its area, those who have made this
country a name of power through all time and
throughout the whole world—did they for one mo-
ment imagine that you would lie down and submit
without voice to the scandalous and unjust imputa-
tions heaped upon you ? (Cheers.) Did they thinks
that you would be silent for ever, and patient for
ever, under a perpetual exclusion from the benefits
of the constitution of your country ? If they are
dissatisfied with this movement, what would they
have? Would they wish that, as many did fifty
or sixty years ago, instead of making an open de-
monstration of your opinions, you should con-
spire with a view to change the political consti-
tution of your country ? Would they like that you
should meet in secret societies, that you should
administer to each other illegal oaths, that you should
undertake the task of midnight drilling, that you
should purchase throughout London and the pro-
vinces a supply of arms, that you should in this
frightful and terrible manner endeavour to menace
the Government, and to wring from them the con-
cession of your rights ? But surely one of two
modes must be taken. (Cheers.) If there be a sen-
timent of the people, a deep and wide-spread senti-
ment of injustice no longer tolerable, then, judging
from all past history of all people, one of two modes
willbe taken—either that mode, so sad and so odious,
of secret conspiracy, or that mode so grand and so
antobtlheiswmhiocmh
eynotu
ahearvoe,ma d
theop te d. ( C
Channelhe, e risf. ) Y t
heou reportshave
which tohfe
the
eovpelranu whichment I sanctions
deploreareand condemn.
true, exhi-
bitionaudnemn .
ling,dawY nrooi
and insurrection.
lei havedana
snluitdkor eratheresee
asen
uens . ecdtchli rl
ms secret
tteewhonseuoaorr
srecekei
eae:
working
g ayens
dm,
aaa un di
threatno oaths
gf al
avnni ad l dewnr
who
lo
0-e
defence men
of BritainGorfeaotr int o
maintenance of their rights ? (Cheers.) Well, I
hold, then, that men in this country, whatever be
their abstract opinion on this question of a wide
extension of the suffrage, should really rejoice at
the noble exhibition, the orderly and grand exhibi-
tion of opinion which has been made by the work-
ing men of England and Scotland during the past
three months. (Cheers.)
there be a grievance, and Well, now, I.said that if
there is a grievance, there must .
voice to express and proclaim it. . .
griev-
ance of which you comp . .
live, you are the citizens,
country which is called constitutional
a despotic government necessarily be a
What is the a deep sentiment that
lain ? It is this—that you
the native inhabitants of a
; and what •is
your government is. not
but that it •
chic government of an oligarchy,. .
meant by that is this—that
vernment a large and essential
conducted by the honestly.
the people; and tohfaat monarchy, or an oligar-
chic is a go_
portion of which is
elected representatives of
the grievance is this—that this Con-
stitution, so noble in its outline and in its purpose, is
defaced and deformed, and that, when you look at
it, it seems in that respect absolutely worse than
any other representative Constitution existing in the
world—(cheers)—for I believe there is no repre-
sentative system whatsoever at this moment, in
America or in Europe, that is so entirely deformed
from its natural, just, and beautiful proportions as
is the representative system of this country. (Cheers.)
What can be more clear than this, that the aristo-
cracy of land and wealth usurp the power in both
Houses of Parliament ? (Cheers.) The Lords repre-
sent themselves and generally the great land-owners,
it may be, with great fidelity ; but at the same time
we must admit and deplore that at least one-half of
the House of Commons is in fast alliance with the
majority of the House of Lords. (Cheers.) Now, I
said before, and I repeat it again, that there is no
security whatsoever for liberty under a government
unless there be, as an essential power in it, a fair
representation of the nation. An illustrious man,
the founder of the great province and now the great
State of Pennsylvania, William Penn—(cheers)_
in the preface to his Constitution of that province,
a Constitution of the widest and the most generous
people whatever
are abpe a ther:y
"Any govern-
freedom, uses these words—he says,
ment is the ttohethleawpseorpullee
auunddetrheit,
to the laws ; and more than tl • •
for
is t yranny, oli-
garchy, or confusion." Now, let us ask ourselves, can
it be truly said, can it be said without the most direct
falsehood, that the people of this country, through
the House of Commons, are really a party to the
laws that are made? (No.) It is not contradicted,
it is not disputed at all, that only 16 out of every
100 men are found with their names upon the elec-
toral roll, and are able, all other circumstances
favouring, to give their vote at a general election. •
And it is not disputed that half the House of
Commons, that an absolute majority of that House,
is elected by a number of electors not exceeding
altogether three out of every 100 men in the
United Kingdom. (Cheers.) Now, I have taken
the trouble to make
a little calculation from the
facts contained in a very useful book published by
a very old friend of mine, Mr. Acland, called " Ac-
land's Imperial Poll -book," -book " from which a great
amount of valuable information may be had on this