The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-08 00:00:00

TEWKESBURY, MONDAY.

The nomination for this borough, consequent
upon the appointment of the Hon. F. Lygon as a
Lori of the Admiralty, took place to-clay ; and
small as the constituency is the population of the
borough is under 6,000, and the place therefore
comes under Schedule G of the Government Reform
Bill.

The MAYOR having opened the proceedings with
the required forms,
The Hon. W. COVENTRY nominated the Hon. F.
Lygon as a fit and proper person. to represent the
electors in Parliament.

Mr. BOLDING, tanner, and a borough magistrate,
seconded the nomination.

Mr. PnossEß nominated Mr. Humphrey Brown,
claiming credit to him for his ten years' servitude
to the borough.
Mr. T. CHANDLER, -bootmaker, seconded the no-
mination. •

The Hon. F. LYGON addressed the meeting
amidst some interruption at first, but on the arrival
of about 50 of the Gloucestershire constabulary
better order was maintained. Having briefly alluded
to the measures of the present Government since
they had been in office, he came to the subject of the
Government Reform Bill, contending that it was a
measure worthy of the Conservative party. That
party had never advocated universal suffrage,
though they were for extending it to large classes
who were at present excluded from the franchise.
He admitted that under the Government bill there
would be millions excluded, still it was impos-
sible to maintain that large extension which
Mr. Bright and others advocated without peril-
ling the constitution of the country. He thought
it better, of the two evils, to exclude a few who
were legitimately entitled to the franchise than to
admit those who were not fit to discharge the func-
tions of electors. He thought it highly.
.advisable
that there should be a mixing of classes in the re-
presentation of the people in the House of Com-
mons. It was not right, in arranging a bill for re-
forming the representation of the country, to over-
look the claims of important commercial and mer-
cantile interests in the large towns and to leave
them unrepresented, while towns like Tewkesbury
sent two members to Parliament. The redistribu-
tion of seats under the bill now before the House of
Commons had in view the enfranchisement of those
large interests with the least possible disturbance
of existing interests and rights. :He then went into
statistic's to show that it was in the small boroughs
and among small constituencies that they. found the
electors animated by the greatest zeal in political
matters; In conclusion, he thought the govern-
ment of the country, in bringing forward this bill
for the reform of the representation of the people,
was entitled to the confidence of the country.
Mr. HUMPHREY BROWN was received with loud
cheers by his friends and by groans from the other
party, and a cry of" You are a disgrace to Tewkes-
bury> ' In the course of his address he said, the
Government Reform Bill was as great a sham as
ever was proposed to the country. The working
classes, who, by the help of education, cheap litera-
ture, and a cheap press, had become sufficiently
intelligent to exercise the privilege, had been
ignored. He should be as glad as any
person to see the great Reform question
settled. The working classes were fully entitled
to the franchise, and he would tell them that
the man who earned his 15s. a week wages paid
more taxes than Mr. Lygon did. The working
classes paid two-thirds of the taxation of the country.
He then alluded to the clause in the Reform
Bill which would exclude county voters living in
boroughs from voting for the boroughs, which he
condemned, and said that under the bill the
Tory party in Tewkesbury might create a sufficient
number of votes outside the town to swamp the
legitimate borough constituency. Mr. Lygon had
not said a word about the ballot, for his party knew