The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-18 00:00:00

MARYLEBONE.

A meeting of the friends and supporters of cOl.
F. Romilly, who has addressed the electors as a
candidate for the seat rendered vacant by the resig
nation of Viscount Ebrington on account of
ill-
health, was held last evening at the Literary Instf-
tution, Edward-street. The meeting was numer
ously and influentially attended. Mr. J. A. Hanker
was called to the chair.
The CHAIRMAN said he was strongly in favour of
good blood, and he believed that this was especialll
to be found in Col. P. Romilly, whose father was a
leader of the reform movement, and had set the
AI
stone rolling which had gathered, and was "
gathering such great weight. He had great plea-
sure in introducing the gallant colonel, who was not
an untried man, having already sat in Parliament
for the borough of Canterbury. (Applause.)
Col.. ROMILLY, who was warmly received, stated
the circumstances under which hehad been induced
to retire in 1854, when the borough was contested
Eby the late members, Viscount Ebrington and Mr'
Bell, and those which induced him now to come
forward. As it was only right that he should ply
faily before the constituency his views on public
matters, he would state, on the subject of refornr
that he deprecated any changes 'of a rash character,
which might endanger the constitution and imperil-
the liberties which under it Englishmen had hitherto
happily enjoyed. (Applause.) He stood by the three
estates of Queen, Lords, and Commons. The latter
represented, or ought to represent—(laughtetbe
industry, intelligence, and respectability of the
country; and he believed that the prevalent feeling
of dissatisfaction with the constitution of that house
arose from the belief that as at present composed it
did not worthily represent the people in these re-
spects ; and some measure of reform had therefore
been rendered necessary. Out of the entire populs"
lation of this country only one million were regis,
tered electors, and he believed that justice would
not be done until that number had been doubled.
As they were well aware, there were numerous
boroughs in England with only a few hundreds 00
the roll, who yet possessed a parliamentary repre-
sentation equal to that of Marylebone with its
20,000 voters. Whatever reform bill might be car:
ried, he must express his opinion, that although
there was something peculiarly above board, Eng;
lish, and manly in the system of open voting, an'
although in a large borough like theirs there raigb'',
be fewer objections to its operations, yet those who,
like himself; had seen its working in smaller place;
must admit that it was attended with immoral an
injurious effects, and in his opinion open voting led
to bribery, undue influence, and tyrannical corn'
pulsion. (Cheers.) He by no means advocated secret
voting, and he did not believe the ballot to be ate"
gether unobjectionable, but as the lesser of two evill
he was prepared to accept it ; and he warmlyurge
that at least a trial should be given to a system by
which a man was enabled to vote freely and inde-
pendently, and without asking for any man's Per:
mission. (Cheers.) He looked on the present
duration of parliaments as unusually lengthened'
and was opposed to all restrictions of a religious
_
character, and to compulsory taxation for religious
purposes. On this ground, therefore, he was an or
ponent of church rates. (Cheers.) With regard to
minor questions, he believed that economy in pu,b
lie expenditure was being gradually lost sight of
""
(laughter)—an evil effect which they owed to the
habits of profuse expenditure engendered by the
Russian war, and which he thought it ought to be
the study of politicians to correct. On the question
of foreign policy his desire was anxiously for peace,
and he trusted that by inconsiderate interference
we might not be dragged into war. (Applause.)
British sympathies, however, would always be 011
the side of the oppressed, and such an addition
ought to be made to our forces as would lend efreet
to our peaceful remonstrances. (Cheers.) In eon'
elusion lie pledged himself to devote his best ener
gies to advance the local interests of the borough.
In reply to Mr. BELTON,
Col. RO3IILLY declined to pledge himself to the
details of any Reform Bill, as the Government hs"
undertaken to bring for ward the entire questies
within the next fortnight. In his opinion Mal:
lebone, with its population of 350,000, would u"
entitled to a large increase of representation.
Mr. H. PALMER moved—" That this meeting,
having heard from Col. Romilly a statement on the
political questions of the day, is of opinion that 10_
is eminently qualified for filling the vacancy in the
borough caused by the regretted resignation of
Viscount Ebrington."
Mr. D'IFFANGER, jun., seconded the motion.
In reply to Mr. FIELD,
Col. ROMILLY stated that the ballot had aIWI
been admitted to be a most difficult subject to deal
with. But, as he understood it, it was a system 11
which perfect secrecy was to be ensured, so tha
the voter, even if he thought proper, would not have
the power of proving for whom he voted, because,
if he possessed this power, undue influence would
speedily compel him to exercise it. (Hear.) 1"
France, where vote by ballot nominally existed;
two Government officials accompanied any voter cs
whom they had doubts to the ballot box, and if bie
put in his paper folded it was taken for granted
that he had voted in a manner contrary to their
wishes. The system of ballot which he would select,
and which he would support, would be one by
which secrecy would be most fully obtained. ,A
In reply to a question as to whether he' Wall'
support manhood suffrage,
Col. ROMILLY stated that he would not suPPe-
rt
a franchise which required as the only qualificiii
tion that a party should have attained the age '
21. (Hisses and counter-demonstration.) He would
ardently support any franchise in which • intelly
genet was combined with property.
An amendment was proposed by some person in
the gallery, to the effect that Col. Romilly's deelfli;
ration of political opinion was not satisfactory' -
the electors of Marylebone, inasmuch as he was net
prepared to vote for residential manhood suffregt
and vote by ballot. The arguments of the spealrfe
resolved themselves into a warm eulogy of tu
people's charter.
The amendment was lost upon a show of hand*
and amid considerable uproar the original resolu-
tion was put and declared to be carried.
A meeting of liberal electors, on behalf of someother candidate, will be held this evening.

THE IIUI?RICANE ON WEDNESDA I

NIGHT.

SHIELDS, Thursday Noon.—The hurricane of
yesterday evening has done a serious amount of
0
injury throughout this district. It swept over the
counties of Durham and Northumberland, from tP
N.N.W., and lashed the rivers until they appeared
like arms of the sea. The reaches of the Tyne mat
a very wild appearance, and small craft had gretlf
difficulty in getting a clear course, especially nee
the bridge, where numerous instances of keels ror
ning foul of each other occurred. A melancholy
accident took place opposite St. Lawrence, abelinf
two o'clock in the afternoon. The ship Marys, "0
Teignmouth, Capt. Mitchell, was lying off 00
guano works, and four of the men went in the aural
boat, carrying away an anchor from the vessel,
When they were in the middle of the river the boat
_
capsized, and the whole of the men were throl
into the water, and two of them, we regret to ad',
were drowned. The alarm was given by some),er;
son who saw the accident, and Mr. '-'
Laws, scullerman, who plies between the Ouse'
burn and the opposite side of the river, illy
mediately pulled off to the assistance of the nr-
fortunate men. One of them he never saw at P
another was just sinking for the last time Nvb,eo
"
a.
Laws came alongside. A third man was struggllll''
desperately to reach the shore, but the wind W
so strong that he was able to make little progresg'
and Laws picked him up in a very exhausted state;
The fourth man had managed to catch hold of tP,.,
boat, and was seated on its bottom when he Ns"7,
rescued by Laws. The names of the two men vo't
are drowned are Joseph Ponsford (married), mate 1r
the vessel, and Wm. Chapman, of Yarmouth. Thes
bodies have not yet been recovered. The gale ic't
very severe at Sunderland, and many houses I°o9c
slates, tiles, and chimney tops. As a eompanT.lo
children were returning from school, and wlil
passing the old walls known as the " Magrt
opposite Sunderland Church, in Church-street, t",
whole front wall fell with a tremendous craw'
burying a boy and a girl in the rooms. After the
rubbish, &c., had been removed, it was found 015 t
the boy was killed, his head being almost flattene;
but the girl was only slightly injured. The bode
of the boy was instantly removed to the dead-ho
near by, where it was discovered to be that of Jct;
e
Burn, eight years of age, son of a sailor of the Ors°
name, residing at Stamp's-lane. A vessel was 9, of
nearly capsised in the river, and a g d
ood deal
i
damage was done. Three houses were nearly
,re
molishcd by the gale at Blvth ; and other dam'!"
is reported in various parts of the country. the
telegraph wires were parly carried away bYbout
storm. We have now mild weather. Wind a
west.

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