The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-08 00:00:00

REPRESENTATION OP GREENWICH.

Last night Lieut.-Gen. Codringtotr was afforded an-
other opportunity, at a large public meeting of the inhabi-
tants of Greenwich, convened in the Lecture-hall, of
stating the grounds on which he presents himaelf as a can.
didate for the vacant seat in the representation. He was
accompanied by Mr. J. C. Lethbridge, Mr. A. R. Bris-
tow, Mr, J. Lang, Capt. Pengelly, Mr. John Wilson,
and several other members of the constituency, who
, signed the requisition to him to offer himself as a candi-
date. There were also present, as at the meeting at
Deptford on Monday night, several of the electors who
take a conspicuous part in opposing the gallant General
principally on the grounds of his refusing to support the
ballot, including the Rev. Mr. Gascoigne, a Unitarian
minister at Deptford, Mr. Tassel', and others'. Sir
William in a brief speech last night recapitulated his
political opinions in much the same terms as he did at
the meeting at Deptford on Monday- evening, and as
reported in this journal on the following morning. At
the conclusion of his address Sir William expressed his
readiness to answer any question that might be put to
him with the view to elicit his opinions on points on
which he might have omitted to touch ; and in reply to
Mr. Gascoigne be said he looked on the continuance of
the 9d. in the pound on the income-tax which was added
to maintain the war as a po-itive wrong, now that the
war was concluded, and would do all be could, short of
a national breach of faith, to get rid of that part of the
tax. He would not, however, assent to its unconditional
removal, for there might be outstanding obligations in-
curred during tne war for the liquidation of which it
might be essentially necessary. Adverting to the
ballot, in answer to a question from the same quarter,
he said he regarded anything like coercion, bribery, or
intimidation over an elector in disposing of his vote as
a positive wickedneEs and grossly improper ; &at he had
never been able to see that the ballot would guarantee
that perfect freedom in the exercise of the suffrage which
all men desired. That opinion bad not been formed
yesterday, for years ago he maintained it against his
father, who was long i❑ Parliament, and a decided ad-
vocate for the ballot.
Mr• W. BENNETT, an elector, asked Sir William, amid
strong expressions of disapprobation, if he was prepared
to remain neutral on the question of the ballot, if elected,
or to pledge himself not to vote against it.
Sir WILLIAM said he had been asked if he was pre-
pared to stultify himself by not expressing any opinion
be might entertain if returned to the House of Commons,
He would not pledge himself to do any such thing. He
added, in reply to Mr. Layton, that the tax upon income
was, as it appeared to him, most oppressive, taken inde-
pendently of property. He was quite willing to support
the principle that the tax should be placed on property
in preference to incomes ; but further than that he would
not give a specific pledge, for he would not consent to
be their delegate to vote any particular way on any par-
ticular occasion. He should be unworthy to represent
them if he did otherwise. He stated, in answer to Mr.
Cleoornison, in reference to the vexed question of educa-
tion, that he would support to the utmost of his ability
any measure that would tend to advance education, irre-
spective of creed. To questions put by Mr. Allford and
Mr. Stonehouse he said he would not pledge himself to
support a 51. elective franchise ; nor would he support
a suffrage based on purely educational grounds, simply
because of the intangibility of such a qualification.
The difficulty of applying such a test would be inter•
minable, because no one would know where to draw the
lte.

A WORKING; MAN, who spoke from the body of the
hall, said be felt himself as much entitled to the frau•
chise as any gentleman educated at Oxford or Cam-
bridge. (Cheers and laughter.) As he was on his legs
he would ask the General if he was prepared to vote for
promotion by merit and not by, purchase in the army ?
He was induced to put that question from a considera-
tion of the general mismanagement of affairs in the
Crimea, which the public, and himself among the rest,
had come to attribute to the command of the army in
its several branches being intrusted to members of the
aristocracy, nursed in the lap of luxury, one of whom
was known to have preferred snug quarters and the com-
forts afforded on board his yacht at Balaklava, instead
the
roughing it
answerit wi with
himthe rtahnakt
la
uneds
tfii
01 en
,i camp. Let
him another. (Laughter and cheers.) would ask
Ueneral CoDRINGIoN said he bad been asked a diffi-
cult question, for was merit not the very thing they all
wanted to find out 1 What was merit, and how were
they to discover it? He could only say he was not pre-
pared to vote for the abolition of purchase in the army.
(Disapprobation and counter cheers.)
The WoRKING MAN inquired if the General would
support any bill having for its object the opening of the
Crystal
on
Palace,
Sundays,he only
the British
nwhich
and
labouring National
Gallery
wen bad leisure to visit places of recreation 1

General CODNINITON said he must candidly repeat that
he would not pledge himself to give any particular vote.
He had, however, no hesitation in saying that he thought
it exceedingly desirable that the Crystal Palace should
be opened on Sundays, and, indeed, any other place of
innocent recreation for the poor classes, provided it was
not a place in which drink was sold.
On the motion of Mr. Lang, three cheers were given
for General Codrington, and the meeting, over which
Mr. Noble, an elector, presided, separated.
Mr. Sleigh, the other candidate in the fie'd, addressed
a meeting of the electors at Woolwich on Tuesday
evening.
Yesterday Mr. William Jones, a solicitor in extensive
practice in the city, and a resident within the borough,
who some time ago announced himself as a candidate in
the Liberal interest, issued an address stating his inten•
tion to retire from the contest now that a man with the
recommendation of General Codringto❑ had entered the
field. He states that when he first became a candidate
no other bad offered himself whose position and antece-
dente gave him the slightest chance of becoming the re-
presentative of Greenwich, and with only Mr. Sleigh as
an opponent he and those who supported him (Mr.
Jones) felt clnfident of ultimate success.

THE LATE GALES.

The fate of the Violet, Dover and Ostend steamer, is
now beyond all doubt. The wreck seen on the southern
edge of the Goodwin Sands, as reported in The Sun of
yesterday, has been ascertained to be that mail packet,
and every person on board of her has perished. Part
of her cabin doors, her Chainbox, a saloon chair, and
other articles, identified as having belonged to her,
were picked up by fishing boats, and taken into Folke
stone yesterday. There were also picked up a black
trunk, "Arthur Majendie, Esq.," being painted on the
lid, and a small black parcel. Captain Smithett, of
the company's service, in a communication which he
forwarded to th• directors, expresses his opinion that,
from the position in which the wreck lies on the
Goodwin, Captain Lynes, having imagined that he had
run his distance, caught a glimpse through the falling
snow of the Gull Stream Lights, and mistaking them
for those of the South Foreland, actually steamed
right down on the sands. Several disastrous casua ties
have occurred recently through masters falling into the
Nicole mistake.
An inquest was held yesterday at Ramsgate, before
Mr. R. Joines, coroner, on the bodies of three men
found at sea, lashed to a lifebnoy, near to the wreck of
the Violet. The dec,•ased were identified by Wm. Kay,
second mate of the Empress, as Nathaniel Harman and
Samuel Sharp, and although the witness did not know
the name of the other, he stated that all three were
stokers on board the Violet. James Hogbrin, master
of the Ramsgate lifeboat which went to the wreck,
proved the finding of the bodies lashed to the buoy.
They were taken into the boat and brought to Rams-
gate. Captain Luke Smithett stated that the Violet
was commanded by Captain Lynes, who was a very
efficient officer. Her crew consisted of 17 men. He
did not know how many passengers were on board, but
be had heard three out of four declined to come by her
from Ostend, in consequence of the bad weather.
The jury returned a verdict of " Found drowned."
The lugger Victory, of Margate, which went down
off the North Foreland during the gale on Monday
night, contained 10 courageous boatmen who had gone
out to render help to distressed vessels. The catastrophe
is reported t I have been witnessed by the crew of another
lugger, the Ocean, who made every exertion to rescue
the unfortunate men. Unhappily they did not succeed,
and their own boat nearly filled in their noble attempt,
Two American Alps were wrecked in the vicinity of the
Downs. The Lion, Captain Ryan, from London for
Callao, went ashore near Kingdo Deal,—crew says 4;
and the Northern Belle, Captain. Tate, from New York
for London, driven ashore at Kingsgate. The crew
were lin the rigging all night, and suffere,d severely.
Tney were rescuad by the lifeboat at dayb-•eak. At the mouth of Orford Haven, bear Orfordn'ess, a fatal loss
took place just before daybreak on "...`uesday morning.
The brig Rocketer, from Sunderland, was driven on to
the beach, and the mate and four nearn.en perished, the
71Tleassstleirilaoprt7yeanittiCere,wiartll
IdB threewent
thoandsg saved. The
(name• unknown) went ashore &Pit'
short distance to th
southward t,f the Nees,. The b. •
Sarah, belonging o
London, from the north, was
igoked on the Whitaker
Spit• At Lowestoft and "
wrecked
tli more shipwrecks
Larmou
dee& Another collier
are reported. The Zee
brig Blenheim, of Stockton
and Darlington, boat)
near the
4 to London, are ashore
Pauline, French school, Ibyr, brig, of. Scarborough,