The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-11 00:00:00

MR. WYLD, M.P., AT BODMIN.

On Monday evening, Mr. Wyld, one of the
Liberal Members for Bodmin, addressed a crowded
meeting of his constituents, inthe Guildhall in that
town. Among those present were Captain Alms,
R.C.R., Dr. Couch, Mr. C. Sergeant, Mr. Mudge,
Mr. Hambly, Mr. S. Liddell, Mr. Ireland, &c.
Mr. WYLD on making his appearance was loudly
cheered, and after silence had been restored, he
stated that the Mayor, Mr. Cummins, had thought
it not fitting for him to take the chair, filling the
position he did, and be would. call upon the meeting
to select their own chairman.

. Mr. IRELAND having been voted to the chair he
briefly addressed the meeting, and called upon the
Hon,. Member to address his constituents.

Mr. WILD said it had always been his custom to
visit his constituents at least once a year, not pre-
cisely to give them an account of his stewardship,
but as it were to take counsel of them upon the
events of the day, to repeat to them some of the
events that had passed and to judge what his and
their conduct would be in future. (Hear.) Last
year he had not the good fortune to present him-
self to them, and he was then engaged on a matter
which he trusted would not be distasteful to them.
The Parliamentary session had teen a long and
wearisome one. During the session of Parliament
there was an arduous struggle going on in the
Peninsula of Italy—(hear, hear)—and a man whom
he was proud to call his friend—Garibaldi—
(cheers)—was struggling there to emancipate his
country and to confer freedom upon some twenty
millions of people ;--he (Mr. Wyld) had humbly
assisted him during the earlier part of the year,
and he went out to see what assistance he' could
render him at a later period of the year. He
belonged to what was called the Constitutional
party—he was in favour of Constitutional Monar-
chy,, and many ardent lovers of liberty were fearful
lest the contest in Italy should take a Republican
aspect—and they hoped by their counsel and their
aid, humbly as it was, to maintain the struggle in
the great and glorious path of constitutional and
monarchical freedom. (Hear.) He therefore was
absent from England, humbly rendering his aid in
the great cause, and he trusted that would be an
apology for his not having visited them on the last
occasion. (Hear, hear.) To his mind there were
only three great events of the last session of Parlia-
ment which were for a moment worthy of conside-
ration—namely, the Reform Bill, the Commercial
Treaty with France, and the attempt to repeal the
Paper Duty. With respect to the Reform Bill, he
confessed that when the Government introduced it,
which they did, he presumed, in conformity with a
pledge in the speech from the throne—that they
were not in earnest to pass it through the House
of Commons. (Hear, hear.) There was a want of
earnestness on their part which convinced him it
was never intended to be carried. There were one
or two good points in the bill. One was the exten-
sion of the suffrage in the towns, and the other the
reduction of the franchise in the counties ; but the
distribution of the seats was a proof that the Go-
vernment did not intend to carry the bill. While
interfering with a small portion of the boroughs, it
left untouched the nominatibn boroughs, and those
which were admitted to be, he was sorry to say, seats,
of corruption. At the very commencement of the
session, when Mr. Gladstone brought in his Com-
mercial Treaty with France, any one conversant
with the affairs of the house could see that it was
intended the debates on that treaty should stifle
the Reform Bill. The commercial treaty was as
yet comparatively untried (hear, hear) but
there was one of the provisions in it to which he
strongly objected, and that was, the extension of
the wine licenses throughout the country. (Cheers.)
Happy was he to say that that which was supposed
would be a great success was a very great failure—
(hear)—for very few licenses had been taken out
through Great Britain. After speaking in the
highest terms of Mr. Cobden, he went on to state
that if the treaty effected only one tithe of the ob-
jects it was said it would, namely, that of cementing
a lasting union between the two countries—a great
sacrifice indeed was worthy of that object, because
England and France united could consolidate the
peace of Europe. (Cheers.) Another measure
which was proposed was the repeal of the paper
duty. He confessed that he had a very strong
feeling of respect for that measure—(hear)—but he
had never taken a very strong or active part in it
because he was immediately and personally con-
nected with its repeal. It would be to him a matter
of considerable personal and pecuniary advantage,
therefore he had always thought he ought not to
take a prominent part in the advocacy of its repeal;
but notwithstanding his own personal interests, he
entertained a strong feeling in favour of that mea-
sure, because although the repeal would be a great
sacrifice to the revenue he believed the country
would be amply repaid. But the House of Commons
passed it, and the House of Lords refused it, and in
consequence a great constitutional question remained
unsettled,_ because for nearly two centuries the
House of Lords had been quiescent in matters of
taxation, and it was a great question for the consi-
deration of the people of this country whether a
body of noblemen nominated by the Crown, or
whether a hereditary body of peers should have'
the power of taxing the people. The paper duty
sunk into comparative unimportance compared with
the great constitutional question ; it was at present
unsettled, and he doubted not but that, in the pre-
sent session, it must he agitated, and would be set-
tled. He was afraid, if he referred to the measures
of the last Parr lament, he should weary them, there-
fore he would briefly remark on what had passed
in the present session of Parliament. Short as it
had been an amendment was moved on the speech
from the throne by the hon. member for Brighton,
and although he might not have quite agreed in the
terms in which it was moved, yet he joined with
him most heartily in the object of the amendment
—(hear, hear)—which was to confer indirectly a
censure on the administration for having omitted
any mention of reform in the Queen's speech.
(Cheers.) When it was remembered that the pre-
sent administration took office simply on the ques-
tion of Reform—when it was remembered that Lord
John Russell's resolution led to the last dissolution
of Parliament, when also a vote of confidence at the
commencement of Parliament was taken upon this
very question—it was no answer for her Majesty's
Government to say, that the people are apathetic,
for they took office on that condition alone, and
they were bound as men of character, as men of
feeling, to bring forward a measure of Reform.
Were the people apathetic when Lord John Rus-
sell proposed his resolution, or were they at the
last general election ? He contended that the peo-
ple were not apathetic ; and he
asked, did Lord
John want meetings similar to those held prior to
the passing of the Reform Bill, in
1832, so that
they might manifest their wishes by turbulence.
The people were now quiet and reflecting,
and we now lived in an age when the peo-
ple argued and reasoned. With the cheap
press, with the great circulation of books, with
education increased to a large and enormous extent
since 1832, the people did not manifest their opinion. •