The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-11 00:00:00

DEVONPORT.

In accordance with a numerously signed requisi-
tion the mayor of Devonport (Mr. J. Laity) con-
vened a meeting of the inhabitants, which was held.
on Wednesday night, at the Town-hall, for the pur-
pose of taking into consideration the Reform Bill
now before Parliament, and particularly the clause
having reference to the disfranchisement of the
officers and men of the dockyard, and to adopt such
measures thereon as may be deemed expedient.
The chair was taken by the MAYOR, who briefly
referred to the purpose for which the meeting was
called, and stated that if the Reform Bill now be-
fore Parliament became law, several hundreds of the
electors of that town would lose their votes.
The Rev. J. PYER moved the first resolution :
" That in the opinion of this meeting the bill re-
cently submitted to Parliament by her Majesty's
Government is insufficient, impolitic, and unjust,
inasmuch as, while its declared object is to extend
the suffrage, it would destroy the right of voting
now enjoyed by upwards of 100,000 of her Ma-
jesty's subjects, including the officers and artisans
of her Majesty's dockyards, without extending the
suffrage to the unrepresented masses of the people."
Mr. T. WOOLLCOMBE seconded the resolution.
There were one or two grievous blemishes in the
bill towards which he wished to draw the attention
of the meeting, because it appeared to him that they
demonstrated how completely. the whole bill was a
great sham. While in the first instance an enormous
number of 40s. freeholders would be disfranchised,
yet men who possessed a large amount of money,
and who chose to invest it in buying borough
qualifications all over England, had nothing to do
but to write their names on a piece of paper, and
send it by a twopenny post letter, and were entitled
to vote if they so chose for every borough in Eng-
land. [A Voice—We wont have it.] Was there,
he asked, anything like even-handed justice in this ?
On the contrary, it carried palpably, and on the
face of it, a manifest desire on the part of those who
had constructed the bill to throw into the hands of
persons possessing great wealth, and landed pro.
prietors, such an amount of influence as would
enable them to swamp the inhabitants of the great
towns and cities. (Cheers.) By the constitution
of the country, disfranchisement was the
highest penalty that could be inflicted on a
man who still retained his social station. If a
man was found guilty of bribery or corruption he
was disfranchised, and under this bill the man who
entered her Majesty's service paid the same penalty;
thus dockyard artisans were placed in the same
category as the corrupt briber. He was quite
sure that there was a settled feeling and deter.
mination among all classes at this day that they
will have those reforms carried out which they con-
sider necessary and essential to the well•being of
society.
The resolution was then put and carried amid
loud cheering.
Mr. H. MARLES proposed the adoption of
petition prepared for presentation to Parliament.
He had, he said, been inclined at first to give the
Government of Lord Derby his support, but he had
changed his opinions, for no sooner had the people
asked for bread than they were offered a stone.
Good would, however, arise out of the bill, although
the people had not shown themselves particularly
alive to the matter, perhaps, because they possessed
the strength of the lion, and when they roared and
shook their mane they compelled concession. As to
the disfranchisement of dockyard men—if it was
true that the dockyard was such a place of corrup-
tion, he wondered that some Hercules did not rise
up to clean that Augean stable; but let the me*
have the ballot and it would be cleansed in time
enough. (Hear.) The bill was a great sham—.
(cheers)—and Mr. Disraeli, as had been remarked
by a public print, when he introduced it, seemed to
say he did so because there was no other person
who could do it. It would, however, give a lesson
to the Whig party in the framing of their bill.
C. TRIPE, Esq., who was received with applause,
seconded the motion for the adoption of the petition.
Mr. AXFORD, who spoke from the body of the
hall, contrasted the present movement for reform
with the agitation of past days, and regretted that
the hall was not full. The details of the bill might
be amended, but its principle was bad, and he hoped
it would be thrown out.

The petition was unanimously adopted, and re-
ceived numerous signatures from those present.

SOUTHAMPTON.

A large meeting of the inhabitants of Southamp-
ton was held on Wednesday evening, at the Town-
hall to take into consideration the change proposed
by her Majesty's Government in our system of
Parliamentary representation.
The chair was taken by Mr. E. Palk (the Mayor).
Mr. Weguelin, one of the borough members, was
present, and was supported by a large body of the
leading liberals of the town. The hall was crowded
in every part.
Mr. PEGLER moved the first resolution: " That
in the opinion of this meeting the measure of Par-
liamentary reform introduced by her Majesty's
Government does not meet the requirements of
the present time or the just expectation of the
country ; for whilst it disfranchises a large number
of independent freeholders, it withholds the pro-
tection of the ballot from 'all voters, and unneces-
sarily restricts the just claims of the intelligent in-
dustrious classes to be enfranchised." Since 1832
England has risen in wealth, in intelligence, in power;
the middle and working classes had made great
strides in intellectual culture, and had adopted a
purer tone of morality, and yet the present so-
called Reform Bill, instead of taking a stride in
advance of its predecessor to suit the spirit of the
times, was nothing but a sham, and would not
satisfy the desires of the people of England.
Mr. Alderman BLATCH seconded the resolution,
and entered his earnest protest against such a mea-
sure.

Mr. H. POND supported the resolution, which
was carried unanimously.
Mr. Alderman CLARK proposed the second reso-
lution :—" That in the opinion of this meeting no
measure of reform is worthy the acceptance of this
country that does not recognise the claims of the
intelligent working classes to be enfranchised ; that
does not afford the ballot as a protection to the
voter; and that does not effect such a change in
the representation of the people as will enable all
elasses to be fully and fairly represented."
Mr. HARMAN seconded the resolution, which was
supported by Mr. J. T. TUCKER, and carried with
one dissentient.

Mr.WEGUELIN, M.P., addressed the meeting amid
loud cheers. He said the grounds of objection to
the Government bill were two. One that it does
not reduce the qualification of Totem in boroughs
to a sufficiently low standard, and the other that it
would have the effect of separating still further the
counties and towns, which were already too much
divided, and would bring the counties still more
under Tory dominance, whilst the boroughs would
be less independent. (Hear, hear.) The hon. gen-
tleman proceeded to discuss the provisions of the
bill, expressing himself in favour of the ballot, and
declaring that upon various grounds his colleague,
Mr. Willcox, and himself would give their deter-
mined oppogition to the measure.
Several other gentlemen addressed the meeting,
and a vote of thanks to the members of the borough
for their determination to oppose the bill, and a
petition to Parliament against it, were unanimously
adopted.