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

GREENWICH.

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 cowl •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 Ho i• e 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 ha,
s)
d
that effect. (Hear, hear.) In his (Mr. Chambers
opinion one very great defect in the bill was thatit
i
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
give 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 under 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 his
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 Cireenwich
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 be 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 iBO, he returned them
the whole 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. Chambers
lare sure to be returned.

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 his 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 ruining 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
rd been introduced which certainly very mate-
ally affected the privileges of the watermen work-
ing on the .
ply and river, for it gave a right to any one to
people for- hire. He went to Sir G.
Grey, who wathteili the Home Secretary, and upon
his showing
impolicy of the clause in ques-
tion, he consentede.
that it should be removed.
([-leas, 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 any instance
in which he had given them the cold
might also tell them thathehim-
(Cheers.) He
him-
self, was by descent a sailor, and although he
would hise
would not at that moment state the
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, And he hoped he should assist to

'THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 28, 1859

small constituencies ? Let general rumour, which
he (the right hon. speaker) believed was in this in-
stance perfectly correct, answer the question. It
was because he knew that by the raising, by the
Carlton Club, of a fund of £30,000, or, as some per-
sons had said, of £lOO,OOO, to which the current
report was that Lord Derby himself had contributed.
£20,000 down, that that money might be so judici-
ously applied by travelling emissaries throughout
these boroughs that the elections in the country
might be unduly and improperly influenced. Now,
he could not think it was • a right thing, or a be_
coming thing, nay, he was sure it was not a consti
tutional thing, for the Premier of this country, if it
were true—for of course they knew nothing but by
report—to encourage the creation of a fund for such
a purpose, and himself a peer of the realm, forbidden
to interfere with elections, to subscribe to that fund
for the purpose of unduly tampering with such elec-
tions. The voice of the people should be freely ex-

ercised without any undue party or private influence
whatever. In this state of things therefore he was
unquestionably most desirous that the voice of the
people should be heard, and they should speak out
in a most unmistakeable manner as to the policy
which it was advisable to pursue, both in our
foreign relations and in the carrying out of mea-
sures for our domestic amelioration. Now, as in
regard to foreign matters he should express their
true policy in one word—" Peace," so with regard
to domestic matters, if he were to choose one word
to express their policy it would be " Progress."
(Cheers.) They were to go onward and not to fall
back, neither were they to stand still. They had
gone onward since the year 1832, the era of the
Reform Bill ; they had gone onward with accele-
rated rapidity since the noble efforts of the electors
had compelled the adoption of Free Trade, and he
said let them go on in improvement. But then he
thought that the party of progress was not the
party of Lord Derby—(hear, hear)—he thought the
party of progress was the great party that brought
in the parent of all the great liberal measures—the
Reform Bill of 1832—and he conceived therefore
that the true interests of the country would be best
committed to the hands of the reformers, not refus-
ing to the Conservatives the great merit of being
watchful observers of what was done by the Libe•
rals, not refusing to them the exercise of their
meritorious office, which was to see how others
were going on in their movement, and to check
them, propose obstacles and suggest difficulties to
them when they appeared to be going too fast. But
unquestionably the true policy and the true inte-
rests of this country require that its helm should
be held by a man who was convinced that the
country must, in the American phrase, still " Go a-
head," and not by one who supported a retrogres-
sive policy. (Hear.) Now a good many things re-
main to be done with which, he feared, the wars
and rumours of wars would interfere. A good deal,
he, said remained to be done both in the way of
domestic and social improvement ; but if it should
please God either that England should not be mixed
up in the war, or that the war might soon come to
an end, these were subjects to which unques-
tionably the representatives of the boroughs would
have to address themselves. (Hear, hear.) There
was much to be done in the improvement of
the administration of the law, and he wished the
public voice to be more effectually heard respect-
ing the management of public accounts, and the
mode in which the revenue was collected and ad
ministered. He wished to see the way in which
the accounts were rendered to the country simpli-
fied, but above all he wanted the day to come when
the Government should not belong to a few aristo-
cratical families—(cheers)—when high honour and
place and political power should belong to superior
ability-and be regarded as the rightful inheritance
of talent ; and unquestionably when this came to
pass the mode in which the ordinary duties of Go-
vernment were administered and in which places
were distributed would be altered, and,as he humbly
thought, greatly to the benefit of the community.
(Cheers.) After alluding to the subject of church-
rates, Sir R. Bethell discussed the question whether
it was right and proper that political liberty should
be extended to the working classes. He said he
admired much an expression which had fallen from
Mr. Villiers—that he would not agree to any man
being excluded from the franchise on principle.
That was the true principle on this subject. The
meaning of the phrase was that political liberty
ought to be extended to all on the fulfilment of cer-
tain conditions. They were personal •conditions,
the only conditions absolutely requisite for the use
and proper enjoyment of the boon to be conferred.
For what use would it be to give a man a beautiful
instrument to be employed in his trade if he did
not know the value of it, or was not qualified to
handle it ? Why the gift would be altogether use-
less. On the same ground would political liberty
be an evil, if it were given to any class not having
sufficient intelligence and independence properly
to exercise it. The great difference between the
reformers and the Ministry of Lord Derby was
this, and he begged his audience to mark it. The
Ministry said--" There shall be no political liberty
extended to any class below the £lO householders ;
we never will go lower; that shall be the ne plus
ultra, that shall be the impassable line." Now, un-
questionably the Reformers differed from that—
(hear, hear)—their great purpose would be to have
it established that there was no such impassable
barrier—their view was that as men grew up in
the country in independence, in material prosperity,
and in intelligence, so, from time to time, should
the question of the franchise as it existed and of
the further degree to which it might with propriety
be extended be taken into consideration. (Cheers.)
That the meeting would see was the philosophy
and principle of progress—proceeding on all occa-
sions according to the capacity of the recipient of
the act. (Hear, hear.) And so it was in religious
instruction. They might just as well take a lisping
child and tell to it some of the more recondite doc-
trines of religion as admit a party incompetent to
use the franchise with security within the pale of
the body of electors. He hoped, therefore, the meet-
ing would see in his right hon. friend and himself
a perfect accordance of opinion on that subject. He
heartily wished that there existed the same simi-
larity of opinion everywhere. They would have had
no Lord Derby or Lord Derby's Ministry to com-
plain of, if the great body of the Liberal members
of Parliament were not in the condition denounced
in Scripture of " a house divided against itself."
(Cheers.) This want of unity was a thing to be la-
mented—it was a thing which he hoped would in
some degree be remedied by the present election.
For himself, however, and he thought he might
speak also for:his right hon. friend, ho wished to say
that the electors must not consider them as avowed
partisans of any one particular leader. They would,
if elected, go to Parliament as the representatives of
those great liberal opinions on which the weal and
prosperity of the country depended, and he earnestly
hoped that enough of independent men would be
found in the House of Commons to compel unani-
mity, and to give to the country the benefit of a
great, a united, and a reforming Government. (The
hon. and learned gentleman sat down amidst loud
cheers.)
Resolutions in favour of both candidates were
carried with enthusiasm.