The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-13 00:00:00

BOROUGH' OF MARYLEBONE:ELECTIOA,

Last night a crowded and influential preliminary
public meeting of the electors of this borough took
place at the Victoria Tavern, Mornington-road, St.
Pancras, convened specially for the purpose of hear-
ing an exposition of the political opinions of Har-
vey Lewis, ;Esq., of Grosvenor-street, Grosvenor-
square, late Liberal candidate for Hull.
J. R. Collins, Esq., vestryman of St. Pancras, was
unanimously called to the chair, and supported by
Messrs. Nicholay, Whitmore, D'lffanger, jun.,
Douglass, Ross, and a large number of other old and
influential Reformers.

The circular convening the meeting having been
read, _

Mr. PETER GRAHAM, on rising to introduce Mr.
Lewis, said he was one of those who brought that
gentleman forward. He was a descendant from an
eminent Welsh family of the highest respectability,
who had studied for the bar, but at the death of his
father, found himself in possession of an ample for-
tune, and now he was extensively engaged in
banking and commercial pursuits, a large proprietor
and active director of one of the most prosperous
joint-stock banks in the country, and chairman of
the Mercantile Marine insurance Company. Mr.
Lewis, from his great experience and knowledge of
how to conduct business, and from his study for the
legal profession, was just the kind of man they
wanted to represent this great constituency in Par-
liament in place of Mr. Edwin James, whose resig-
nation he regretted. He (Mr. Graham) then called
called upon Mr. Harvey Lewis to state to them
his political principles, and hoped they would
badger him well. (Laughter and applause.)
Mr. HARVEY LEWIS, in an able and lengthened
exposition of his political opinions, said he ad-
dressed that meeting with considerable embarrass-
ment, inasmuch as he looked upon it as representing
the intelligence of this important district of the
borough, and hoped he would be acquitted from
any charge of presumption in aspiring to the post
so ably occupied by that learned. gentleman, Mr.
Edwin James. Although he (Mr. Lewis) had been
defeated when he was a candidate for Hull, he was
not ashamed of his antecedents, and had the pleasure
of'being able to refer them to the marked kindness
he received from the Liberal electors on that
occasion, and he had the proud satisfaction of being
able to exhibit at any time of his life a testimonial
subscribed for by 12,000 working men of that con-
stituency. (Hear, hear.) Therefore he felt,
without a blush of shame, he could come before a
greater constituency and say he was prepared to
represent them in default of a better man. (Hear.)
He took it that no Tory or lukewarm Liberal had
any right to seek their suffrages. His political
opinions were thoroughly, completely, and unalter-
ably Liberal. He viewed with very great regret
the way Reform had been shelved in the House of
Commons. He was for Reform, and was anxious
for as great extension of the suffrage as would meet
the growing requirements of the age. He was a
thorough advocate for the Ballot, for economy and
retrenchment, and the total abolition of church
rates, although he was a firm Protestant and mem-
ber of the Established Church. He was also in
favour of Law Reform as absolutely and essentially
necessary; and it was almost a work of supereroga-
tion to say that ho was a friend to Free Trade. In
regard to his foreign politics, he believed this coun-
try was not called upon to fight about the quarrels
of other countries, and their assistance by moral,
and not physical force, was all the assistance they
ought to give, and which they should offer to every
foreigner struggling for his freedom. (Cheers.)
He was a bitter opponent of centralisation—(hear,
hear)— and he thought it was very much to be de-
sired that all attempts to interfere with their local
interests should be promptly put down. If the
feeling of that meeting was favourable to him he
should at once declare himself as a candidate, but
he entreated the Liberal electors not to be divided.
If they honoured him with their confidence, as long
as he had life it should never be betrayed. (Ap-
plause.)
Mr. WHITMORE moved, and Mr. SILAS TAYLOR
seconded, the following resolutions :—" That the
political principles of Mr. Harvey Lewis, as ex-
pressed by him this evening, are in perfect accord-
ance with those entertained by a large majority of
the electors of Marylebone, and this meeting is of
opinion that he thereby is well qualified to repre-
sent the borough in the Commons House of Parlia-
ment, and pledges itself to give him its cordial
support."
After a variety of questions had been satisfacto-
rily answered,
Mr. Alderman BLUNDELL, who has been mayor
and magistrate of Hull, gave Mr. Lewis a very ex-
cellent character, and strongly recommended him
as an honest politician, well deserving to be a re-
presentative of this borough.
Mr. JOHN BRADY, M.P., and other gentlemen
'having supported the resolution, it was then put to
the meeting and carried but with but one solitary
dissentients, amidst profound applause.
Mr. LEWIS, in returning thanks, hoped that no
division in the Liberal interest would take place,
and as it had been intimated by their chairman
that the election would would take place so early
as Wednesday next, no time should be lost to call
an aggregate public meeting, when he was 'willing
to have his name submitted with others, and to
abide by that decision, rather than any split of ,the
party should ensue.

The usual compliment to the chairman closed
the proceedings.
Amongst the candidates for election now
talked of are Mr. Wingrove Cooke, recently one of
the correspondents of the Times in China; Mr.
Phinn, Q.C., late member for Bath; Mr. Montagu
Chambers, late member for Greenwich; Mr.
Marshman, late Chairman of the Electric Tele-
graph Company ; and Mr. Campbell, a wealthy
Australian merchant.

Mr. GEORGE WINGROVE COOKE met some friends
in the borough last night who approved of his
address, and entered into arrangements to secure
his return. Meetings were appointed to be held
in all parts of the borough at the earliest possible
period to give him an opportunity of personally
expressing his opinions.

MARRIAGE WITS d DECEASED
WIFE'S SISTER.

An influential and numerously attended public
meeting was held yesterday in connection with the
Marriage Law Defence Association, at Willis's-
rooms,.for the purpose of opposing such a change
in the Marriage Law as would render marriage
with a wife's sister legal. Vice-Chancellor Sir W.
Page Wood occupied the chair, and on the plat-
form were noticed, among others-Lord Redesdale,
of
the Hon. J. Napier, the Bishop of Salisbury, the
Bishop Moray and Ross, the Bishop of La-
buan, Hon. T. Lygon, M.P., Mr. G. Northcote,
Mr. Roundell Palmer, the Rev. Principal Cuning-
ham, Sir W. James, and Mr. A. J. Beresford
Hope. A prayer having been offered up by the
Dean of Westminster, the chairman, in open-
ing the proceedings, said that at the meeting,
which was held in that room last year, he
had been called upon to move a resolution, and had
addressed them at some length upon the subject
they had met to consider. He should not, there-
fore, detain them long himself, but would indicate
those gentlemen who would address them, and who
would take part in the deliberations of that day.
Last year they had the Duke of Marlborough in
the chair, and they had also the assistance of two
distinguished prelates—the Bishop of Oxford and
the Bishop of St. David's, who were prevented by
their official duties from giving aid on the present
occasion—they had also the assistance of many of
the laity, because they desired it to be known that
the present question was not purely an ecclesiastical
one. It was not even a moral question alone, but
it must be regarded as pre-eminently a social ques-
tion. deeply affecting every family in the country,
because it was a question affecting the alteration of
that law which had been the law of England ever
since the existence of England itself. The Hon. J.
Napier moved the first resolution,—" That this
meeting is convinced that any alteration of the mar-
riage law which would prevent marriage with a
wife's sister, or any other person within the degrees
of consanguinity, now prohibited by law, would be
fraught with great danger and injury to religion,
morality, and family life." The Bishop of Salis-
bury, in seconding the motion, said he had just ar-
rived from Salisbury to attend the meeting by in-
vitation. He felt some reluctance to enter into a
subject which touched upon one of the most delicate
of Uod's institutions, but the arguments of their
opponents compelled him to come forward and speak
against the conduct of men who had impiously out-
raged the laws of God and man. The restrictions
on our marriage laws had existed for upwards of
1,200 years, and our very liberty depended upon
their being maintained in the present state. Mr.
' Colquhoun supported the motion, which was then
carried unanimously.. Mr. Beresford Hope moved,
" That this meeting will endeavour to promote
be every means in its power an effective resist-
ance to the bill now before the House of Commons
for legalising such marriages." He said there were
some evils on the side of Constitutional Govern-
ment. Great political questions were settled satis
factorily, but great social questions were often
turned out of the right path by a most contemp-
tible by-current. He advised them to petition,
to agitate, and to put pressure upon their repre-
sentatives, and also to impress upon them that
voting against the wishes of four-fifths of the
respectable population of England would be very
likely to cost them their seats. The motion was
carried, and a vote of thanks to the chairman
closed the proceedings.