The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-15 00:00:00

GREAT LIBERAL MEETING.

Yesterday, at noon, a meeting of the members
of the Bristol Liberal Association was held in the
Tailors' Hall, in that city, for the purpose of
considering a letter addressed by Sir S. Morton
Peto, Bart., to George Thomas, Esq., the
chairman of that body, in which the hon. member
offered to place his seat immediately in the hands
of the electors, should they consider that course de-
sirable. Notwithstanding the shortness of the notice
and the inconvenient hour fixed, there was a large
attendance from all parts of the borough.
Geo. Thomas, Esq., presided, and amongst those
present were Messrs. W. H. Wills, C. J. Thomas,
H. J. Mill; J. Woodforde Flookes, J. Terrell, H.
W. Green, W. Brittan, E. S. Robinson, H. Cop-
ham, J. Wethered, Thos. Waterman, H. Thomas,
Wilberforce Leonard, T. Powell, G. H. Leonard,
I. Riddell, J. W. Hull, G. F. Powell, E. G. Clarke,
G. Thomas (Redland), F. N. Watkins, J. M. Kemp-
ster, T. Coleman, Jos. Eyre, P. Rose, A. W. War-
ren, E. S. Rossiter, &c.

The CIIMRMAN, in commencing the proceedings,
explained the circumstances under which the meet-
ing had been held, and read the following letter
from Sir Morton Peto, addressed to himself :-
9, Great George-street, Westminster, S.W.,
June 7, 1866.

My dear Mr. Thomas,—You will see in the Times and
other papers to-morrow the report of a meeting of our cre-
ditors, and I enclose you a statement submitted thereat.
You will observe that it shows an excess of assets over
liabilities exceeding a million sterling, and this is taken at
the present extremely depressed value of securities. lam
deeply conscious of the responsibility attaching to my posi-
tion as representative of so important a constituency, and
feel it right to place myself unreservedly in the hands of
my friends. Should it be, in their judgment, at all desir-
able that my place as their representative should be filled
by any other person, I hope they will have no delicacy in
at once frankly expressing that opinion. So far as lam
concerned, I shall ever cherish a lively remembrance of the
kindness and warm-hearted friendship of my Bristol friends,
and I feel I should not be showing my sense of it except
by adopting this course.—With sincere esteem and regard,
I am, dear Mr. Thomas, very faithfully yours,

S. MORTON PETO.

George Thomas, Esq.
The CHAIRMAN said he was sure that all which
they had heard went to show that with Sir M. Peto
as their representative in Parliament they had the
right man in the right place. (Cheers.) If they
wanted to know the real character of a man they
must try him under adversity, and they could not
have a better proof of Sir Morton's worth than his
demeanour under adversity, which they must re-
member had not been brought on by himself. The
chairman went into some particulars with reference
to the " bearing" system, in order to show how
much capitalists and commercial men were at the
mercy of a class of persons who took liberties with
other people's money, and expressed his belief that
almost all the great concerns which had been stopped
might, with judicious management and proper for-
bearance, have gone on. There was a case the
other day in the papers in which a man was com-
pelled to stop who had £160,000. Now, that •was
a very hard case. Their member (Sir M. Peto) had
more friends than some other men. They had heard
that he had friends who were ready to advance him
half a million at once. (Cheers.) Well, if those
men who knew Sir Morton so well, and knew, too,
what they were about, had that amount of confi-
dence in him, surely they could not help having the
same feeling. (Loud cheers.) So far from any one
having reason to complain, they had cause to feel
more than ever sure that they had chosen the right
man to represent them, and that his character, in-
stead of standing lower, stood higher than ever it
did. (Loud cheers.) He begged to move :
" That this meeting desires to express to Sir S. M.
Peto, Bart., M.P., its deep sympathy and condo-
lence under the trying circumstances in which his
firm has been placed by the late monetary panic."
Mr. C. J. THOMAS, in seconding the resolution,
alluded to the vast concerns in which Sir Morton
Peto had been engaged, observing that he employed
men, who were equal in number to forty regiments
of soldiers. Sure he was that any gentleman so
circumstanced as Sir Morton Peto had been would
command their sympathies and condolence. (Hear,
hear.) How much more, then, would it be accorded
to the hon. baronet, who had wound himself around
their hearts ever since they returned him as their
representative in Parliament.
The resolutions having been carried nenz. con., on
the motion of Mr. W. H. WILLS the following re-
solution was also agreed to, namely :--" That this
meeting considers that Sir M. Peto has acted with
the highest honour in placing himself unreservedly
in the hands of his friends in this city, and while
expressing its undiminished confidence in his cha-
racter and integrity, trusts that he will long continue
to give his valuable services as one of the represen-
tatives of Bristol in Parliament."

Thanks were then voted to the Chairman, and
sundry cheers given for him, Sir Morton Peto, and
Mr. Berkeley. The utmost enthusiasm pervaded
the proceedings.

Colliery Explosion at Dukinfield.

MANCHESTER, Thursday Evening.

An explosion took place this morning about eight
o'clock at the colliery of Mr. Astley, Dukinfield,
near Ashton, which, it is feared, will be attended
with great loss of life.
About six o'clock 72 men and boys descended the
Victoria pit, and the noise of the explosion is said to
have been heard at the mouth of the shaft, which is
500 yards deep, at a quarter to eight. Soon after-
wards Mr. Wielding, manager of the pit, descended
with a number of men to render what aid might be
necessary, and in the course of about three hours
they had succeeded in rescuing about 30 men and
boys and sent them up the shaft. Many of these
were badly burnt, though none were dead. There
were four surgeons in attendance to advise what
should be done, and in the worst cases the sufferers
were sent home. Several are reported to have died
since. Of those still left in the mine there were
poor hopes. Some of the men brought up say that
those who had gone to the rescue had not, up to 11
o'clock, been able to approach the seat of the
fire and explosion. They say the air-ways and
bratticing are destroyed, and that even some of the
roads have been blown up, so that there is little pro-
spect of the unfortunate colliers in that part of the
mine (30 to 40) being rescued alive. The fear is
that if these have escaped the fire they will be cut
off from air. The probability is that many hours
will have to elapse before any approach to them will
become safe or practicable.
Accounts up to 6 p.m. from Dukinfield say that
four dead bodies had been sent up, and 28 more had
been discovered in the main level. The explosion
is supposed to have occurred at the bottom of the
dip, 300 yards up the main level, beyond where the
28 dead bodies were found. It is supposed an old
working filled with foul air had been tapped there,
and caused the eatastrophe. Eleven are still missing
and are supposed. to have been killed in the dip.
This makes a total of 43 killed.

At the forthcoming general meeting of share-
holders of the Crystal Palace Company the follow-
ing resolution will be moved by Sir Charles Fox :
" That the opening of the Palace and Grounds to
shareholders or their friends on Sunday is not in
accordance with the sacred character of the day, is
an evasion of the company's charter, and is produc-
tive both of pecuniary loss to the shareholders gene-
rally, and of detriment to those servants of the com-
pany who have in consequence to attend on that
day ; and that the directors be therefore requested
to make arrangements for keeping the Palace and
Grounds entirely closed during every Sunday."
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