The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-01 00:00:00

LATEST INTELLIGENCE. Mr. Doulton, M.P., and his Political Conduct.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

THE PRINCE OF WALES.
BERLIN, Dec. 1.

The Prince of Wales arrived here this morning,
and proceeded to the Palace of the Crown Prince.

His Royal Highness is in the enjoyment of per-
fect health.

RUMOURED ABDICATION OF THE
EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN.
SOUTHAMPTON, Dec. 1. •
Advices received by the Seine announce that a
rumour was current at Vera Cruz that the Emperor
Maximilian had abdicated. He was at Orizaba,
and intended leaving Mexico in an Austrian frigate
about the 15th Nov.

THE SPANISH PASSIVE DEBT.
MADRID, Dec. 1.

The usual monthly auction for the sinking fund
of the Passive Debt took place yesterday. The
prices fixed by the Government were—for the first
interior, 27 ; second interior, 15 ; and for the
second exterior, 20.10. Private tenders were made
at 25.70 to 27.10 for the first interior, and at 12.45
to 16 for the second interior, No offers were made
for the second exterior.

SOUTHAMPTON, Dec. 1.

The Royal Mail Company's steamship Seine has
arrived in the river, and has hoisted the yellow flag.
There have been nine cases of yellow fever on board
the Seine, and two deaths. A. few convalescent
cases remain under treatment.

The ship is placed in quarantine ; the mails are
being fumigated, and will be landed soon.

There is a great improveinent on board the Seine
as regards yellow fever, when compared with the
last mail steamer Atrato. From the 7th to the 13th
ult., while lying in St. Thomas Harbour, 10 cases
occurred, none of which up to the 14th, the day of
sailing, had proved fatal. During the passage
home nine cases occurred, the last attack being on
the 17th. Only two of the nineteen cases termin-
ated fatally—one on the 15th and the other on the
18th, both persons belonging to the crew. The
whole number or cases occurred amongst the crew,
all the passengers escaped.
The mails are landed, but the ship will await the
decision of the Lords of the Privy Council.
There are a few cases still under treatment, but
the patients are fast approaching convalesence.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND.

SOUTHAMPTON, Dec. 1.

A commercial panic prevailed at Sydney. Many
failures had occurred, and others were expected.
The Colonial Treasurer's financial report of the
public revenue was satisfactory. There will be a
surplus in the present year of £70,000, and for next
year a quarter of a million sterling.

It was expected the Governor would establish a
National Bank.

Mr. Mainlay's exploratory tour to the north of
Australia was a failure owing to the heavy floods.

It was thought that a new colony will be formed
at Port Anson.

The Tasmanian Government offer 6 per cent. per
annum to any company that will lay a telegraph
cable between Victoria and Tasmania.

The Legislative Assembly had rejected the bill for
reducing the future Governors' salary.

The Hokitiki murderers have been sentenced to
death.

The Queensland Government had imposed addi-
tional Customs' duties besides the ad valorem duty
of 7i per cent.
The wheat crops promised to be abundant.

A meeting of Mr. F. Doulton, M.P., and some of
his principal supporters took place last evening at
the Horns, Kennington. The gathering was con-
vened by private circular, and about 100 persons
accepted the invitation.

Among those present were Messrs. Alderson, J.
D. Doulton,Triphook, Morgan, Coils, E. Rathbone,
F. Chester, Watts, Higgs, Penbey, Morris, Jeffree,
Baker, Paddon, Brickhill, Anderson, Stiff, Miller,
Snell, Callingham, and Funnell.

Mr. DOULTON said he trusted none of those pre-
sent would consider him wanting in respect for their
past kindness in not having previously called them
together. If he had thought it desirable they should
meet, or that he should have called the usual public
meeting earlier than customary, he would have done
so. But no intimation having been given him that
the course he took with regard to the reform ques-
tion was impolitic, it therefcre did not appear to
him to be necessary. He did not disguise the fact
that he could not henceforth look on some of his
supporters whom, prior to last session, he could num-
ber in that category, and if asked why he did not
comply with a request passed at a meeting held at,
the Horns some time back, he would state that he
did not believe that meeting was a fair representa-
tion of the body of the electors, and if he had com-
plied with its request he would then have acted most
ungenerously to those who had supported him. He
was grossly insulted at that meeting. lie would be
wanting in self respect to take notice of it. It had
there been said that he did not answer letters ; but
he had answered all except five or six, and when
he had his public meeting he would read those
letters. They were curiosities. Some threatened
him with death in 24 hours if the bill did not pass,
and others were most insulting. He appealed from
that meeting to the electoral body at large, and was
quite prepared to leave the little dispute to be settled
by that body. Some of those present might consider
his action impolitic ; but he asked to be credited
with honesty of intention ; he could conscientiously
say he was not swayed by any of the motives at-
tributed to him, and the vote he gave was a con-
scientious vote. What possible motive could
he have bad in voting against what he believed to be
right ? It might possibly have been his political in-
terest to vote with it. He would ask them to look
at the provisions of the bill, and the vote he gave in
reference to it. Some believed that he had always
voted in opposition to it, and that he had sold him-
self, body and soul, to the other party. From the
first moment the bill was discussed every Liberal
was expected to swallow the bill, the whole bill, and
nothing but the bill. He never regarded the quarter
whence a good bill proceeded. Whether the source
was Liberal or Conservative, he supported it. The
first vote was on Lord Grosvenor's motion as to the
redistribution of political power. When he saw the
bill proposed without any provisions of that nature,
he felt it was not a bill that could be supported for
any considerable time, as indeed nearly every other
Liberal member did. Mr. Bright had impressed on
his followers, " Repudiate every bill, whatever its
provisions may be, unless it contains not only an
extension of franchise, but also a redistribution of
political power." This Reform Bill did not touch
that at all, and after that vote Government adopted
that principle. The next amendment was that of
Sir R. Knightley on the Bribery Clause. He felt the
necessity of this, and he had always placed on his
addresses to his constituents the absolute necessity
that existed for some such provision. He certainly
did not vote against reform because he objected to
it, but because he objected to the Bill which pro-
posed to accomplish that object. The next vote
was on a motion by Lord Stanley. It was an ob-
structive motion, and therefore he voted with the
Government. The next was one moved by Mr.
Walpole, who proposed that the county franchise
should be increased to £2O. He again voted
with the Government, because he believed £l4
was better. The next vote was on rating as against
rental. He voted in favour of Lord Dunkelliu's
clause that it should be a rating instead of rental.
Very great difference of opinion prevailed among
Reformers on this question. The bill at that mo-
ment appeared a most mischievous bill. They had
then the Redistribution Bill. A precious bill that
was. He could talk to them an hour of the absurd
things that bill would have led to. They proposed
to group constituencies. In many cases there were
three boroughs which return five members to the
House. The bill proposed to group them together.
He did not object to that, but the absurdities of the
bill. Government evidently were not prepared to
produce a Redistribution Bill, and the whole thing
was immature and hastily drawn up. No two mem-
bers of the house, unless they belonged to the Go-
vernment, agreed on the statistics. Mr. Gladstone
and Mr. Bright notably contradicted one another.
Mr. Gladstone said the £6 franchise would place the
working class in the majority of the constituency.
He ventured to think that was not desirable. Mr.
Stuart Mill, now so greatly lauded, said, " no lover
of improvement could desire that the predominat-
ing power should be turned over to persons in the
mental condition of the working classes." The ob-
ject of the bill was to admit the really intelligent of
the working classes. It did not do it. It would have
enfranchised hundreds and thousands in various
parts of the country who were unfitted to occupy
the position, while it excluded many of the intelli-
gent citizens of Lambeth. He was prepared to
oppose any bill which extended the franchise indis-
criminately. The rule which applied to oue borough
did not apply to another. Household suffrage for
Lambeth would do nothing. Taking Preston, with
15,050 houses, the electors were 2,562. If every
householder had a vote, 12,000 voters would be
added, all occupying houses of less than £lO value.
Here in Lambeth household suffrage would not
touch the inhabitants. The Adullamites were not
the only Liberal members who opposed the Reform
Bill. The majority of the Liberal members rejoiced
at its rejection as much as the Conservatives.
He did not anticipate that state of things which
had arisen since, the abuse to which he had been
subject, or the misrepresentation of his motives, but
if he had he would have done the same. (Cheers.)
He did not suppose his future path would bean easy
one, but he was prepared for opponents. If he had
voted in favour of the bill there would have been
opposition. He did not wish to place himself in
opposition, but so long as he had the support of his
friends he would most certainly endeavour to retain
his position. He would meet his constituents in a
week or two. It was the fashion to decry those who
had not supported the bill and its every provision
as violent enemies to the working classes. He had
been curious to see how this would apply to the
apostles of the Liberal cause. The men most lauded
now were Mr. J. S. Mill, Mr. J. Bright, and Mr.
Gladstone, while the two papers most praised were
the Daily Telegraph and the Morning Star. Mr.
Mill once spoke of the working man —" The only
objection to which any great importance will be
found to be attached under the present condition is
the unprepared state of mankind in general, the
working classes in particular, their extreme unfit-
ness—(imagine Mr. Lowe saying that, or himself)
—their extreme unfitness at present for any order
of things which would make any considerable de-
mand on either their knowledge or virtue." (Laugh-
ter.) Recently he had said he considered that every
person claiming the suffrage should be able to read,
write, and cipher. For his (Mr. Doulton's) part, he
considered universal teaching must precede univer-
sal enfranchisement. The Morning Star, he believed,
uttered some sentiment like this :—" That the
working classes (were more susceptible and more
likely to be bribed than the upper classes." Mr.
Lowe said nothing more• (Hear, hear.) The Tele-
graph spoke of working men as a body that fuddled
their brains with drink, and prevented themselves
from exercising the franchise ; yet those men who
voted against the Bill, and were charged with
speaking uncharitable things against the working
classes, uttered sentences with nothing like such
sweeping effect. Mr. Gladstone enunciated very
much the same sentiment as Mr. Lowe, only he
clothed it in neater language, when he said that in
" descending from £l4 to £lO we were getting a
class of voters less independent than those above
them. The lower we went the more likely were we
to .get among those influenced by bribery." He had
to thank them personally for their attendance that

night, and hoped to see them present at the meet-
ing. No doubt large numbers of his constituents
would come, and great efforts be made to get a
preponderance of those who would not be con-
vinced, and not even inclined to hear. (Cheers.)
Mr. COLLS (builder, of Camberwell) stated that
personally he felt the bill should have been accopted
to prevent a worse one. He was in favour of a
large extension of the franchise, but the disposi-
tion of the working classes to tyranise over their
fellows had caused him to greatly modify his opi-
nion. If the bill was one with any very large ex-
tension of the franchise, the whole power would
be transferred into the hands of working men, and
the country be neither better, wiser, nor more
prosperous.

Mr. W. H. MILLER then moved the following
resolution:—

" That this meeting desires to record its unabated
confidence in Mr. Doulton as one of the represen-
tatives of the borough of Lambeth, and to express
its hope that he will, undeterred by the abuse and
misrepresentations of a small portion of the press,
continue the same honest and independent course
which has hitherto marked his political career."
Mr. NORRIS. seconded the motion, which was sup-
ported by Mr. Snell, Mr. Coils, and other gentle-
men, and unanimously adopted.
Mr. DOULTON having briefly acknowledged the
expression of confidence in him, the proceedings
were brought to a close.

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HER MAJESTY, &c.

WINDSOR CASTLE, Friday.
The Queen, accompanied by their Royal High-
nesses the Prince and Princess Christian and Prin-
cess Louise, drove out yesterday afternoon.