The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-09 00:00:00

AUL OSBORNE, M.P., AT LISKEARD.

Mr. Osborne, member for Liskeard, addressed his
constituents in the Town-hall of that borough on
Wednesday evening. The hall was crowded, and
the chair was taken by Mr. Andrew Hingston, sur-
geon.
Mr. OSBORNE, after a few introductory remarks,
alluded to the unproductive character of the late
session, which, however long or however fruitful
it had been in debates, had brought forth very few
measures of practical importance. He was, how-
ever, persuaded that when a Minister brought for-
ward well-considered and judicious measures the
House of Commons was never disposed to place
obstacles in the way of their passing into law. It
was only when no questions of importance were
brought forward that the house ran riot and con-
sumed too much time in irrelevant subjects. They
had, however, shown considerable discretion this
session, particularly in avoiding discussion on one
snbject—he referred to the dreadful civil war now
raging in America, because in treating of such a
topic offence would be given to both parties in Ame-
rica. While on this subject he might say he hoped
the people of this country would not be deceived
into the belief that this contest was at all connected
with the abolition of slavery. He was sorry to say
that those were not the grounds upon which they
were fighting ; and, if gentlemen wished to be con-
vinced of this he need only refer them to the mes-
sage of President Lincoln, in which not one word
was said about abolition ; nay, by a general order
they had prohibited the reception of any fugitive
slaves by the Northern army. If another argu-
ment were wanted it would be found in the
speech of Mr. Sherman, a distinguished member
of the American Senate, who was formerly a
great abolitionist, in which he declared that the
intention of the Government was not to abolish
slavery, but to subjugate rebellious subjects. He
(Mr. Osborne) believed it had more to do with a
question of money, and he found a singular confir-
mation of this opinion in the pages of Cobbett, who,
30 years ago, predicted the state of things now
existing. In his Political Register in 1833 he
wrote—

"This is a contest between the exporting and non-ex-
porting
interests of America ; all these Southern States are,
commercially speaking, closely connected with Birming-
ham, Sheffield, Manchester, and Leeds, and they have no
such connexion with the Northern States, and there is no
tic to bind them together except that of a mere political
nature. Here is a natural division of interests. The heavy
import duties imposed on British manufactured goods are
neither more nor less than so many millions a-year taken
from the Southern States and given to their Northern com-
petitor."
He goes on to say that " one day or other there
must be a rupture between the North and the
South." What, then, was the state of things in
America in the year 1861 ? They had seen what
was called the Morrill tariff, probably the highest
ever placed upon British goods by the Northern
States; and he believed the quarrel to be more
attributable to this than to any question of slavery.
(Hear.) He deplored, as every Englishmen does,
to see the Americans seeking to destroy one an-
other. He feared, also, that a reaction would take
place here ; if the Lancashire districts were pinched
for cotton there would be great distress, and he
could not see to what issue this unfortunate fratri-
cidal struggle would ultimately tend. The only
course, then, for us was to calmly await the result
and abide by our policy of non-intervention. (Ap-
plause.) Reverting to matters of home legislation,
the hon. member briefly alluded to three questions
of local interest, in reference to which. he had re-
deemed the pledges given when he was elected, by
supporting the measures introduced; first, the pro-
posed appointment of financial boards for the better
administration of the county rates. The bill,
brought in by his friend Sir John Trelawny on this
subject had not been passed ; but public attention
having been drawn to the subject by the discussions
in Parliament, he believed that the matter was in
a fair way of being placed on a satisfactory basis.
In reference to the next measure, he thought his
constituents had been a little remiss in not
drawing his attention to it, as this was
a great mining county ; he alluded to the
Preservation of Salmon Bill. Now salmon
was an excellent thing and they all liked it, but
they liked mining better —(" Hear," and laugh-
ter —and then there was one clause in this bill
which affected the mining interest by imposing
penalties for the destruction of salmon. Mr. Kendall
hai slightly opposed the bill, but afterwards with-
drew his opposition, and the bill was passed, but
the clause in question was modified, the penalties
having been reduced to £2O. Practically, how-
ever, he believed the bill would be a dead letter.
The third measure was one in which the ratepayers
of Cornwall were much interested, the Highway
Bill, which had unfortunately dropped. The hon
member next passed to the consideration of Sir J.
Trelawny's Bill for the Abolition of Church-rates,
and ascribed the failure of that measure in a great
degree to the injudicious zeal and too candid ad-
missions of the friends of the Liberation Society,
the president of which, Dr. Forster, had stated be-
fore the Parliamentary Committee that their object
was not only to abolish the church-rates, but to do
away with the State Church, and the result was
that at the last division the bill was negatived by
the casting vote of the Speaker, the numbers being
in the first division 281 against 266, and on the third
reading 274 for and 274 against. Although he was
a member of the Claurcb he was surprised that they
should suffer such a trumpery question to remain
unsettled, and to go on year after year fretting and
worrying those who dissented from the Church
purely on conscientious grounds. His opinion was,
that the question ought to be effectually set at rest.
Sir John Trelawny had done all that it was possi-
ble for one man to do, but it was not in the power
of any independent member to carry a question of
this kind to a successful issue ; and it, therefore, li
bec Arne the du
a bill for thelty of the Government to bring
in
abolition of this obnoxious im-
post. (Applause.) :\lr. Osborne next referred
to the Bankruptcy Government during the session.
It was a very important measure, and had been
passed after great exertions on the part of the
present Lord Chancellor, Lord Westbury. It had
undergone some mutilation in the House
ofe of
Lords, but it was doubtful whether the excision
the clause affecting the appointment of a chief
judge was at all material ; for the appointment was
regarded by very many as a sinecure. Speaking of
the ballot the hon. member said he doubted the
propriety of bringing a subject of this kind forward
year after year, for members became tired of the
constant repetition, and the question ceased to ex-
cite the interest it deserved. As an instance of this,
he remembered the last division upon Mr. Berkeley's
bill, when there were only 40 members present, just
sufficient to constitute a house, when Mr. Berkeley
rose to address the house, and on a division the bill
was defeated by a majority of 124. He (Mr. Os-
borne) had always voted for the ballot—(applause)
—because he thought it right people should have
an opportunity of giving their votes as they thought
best--(hear) ; but he had always held that the
effects of the ballot had been exaggerated on bath
sides. Those, however, were not the best friends of
the ballot who persisted in constantly dragging this
question before the house irrespective of time, place,
and other circumstances. He certainly did not think
the year 1861 afforded the most favourable oppor-
tunity for obtaining a settlement of any question of
Reform. After alluding to the minor Reform Bill
brought in by Mr. Baines and Mr. Locke King,
and to the impossibility of any private member car-
rying such a measure, he said it seemed impossible
even for Ministers to do so. He was one of those
who regretted that Lord Derby was not allowed to
go through with his Reform Bill; because he was
sure the Route of Commons would have licked that bill into some acceptable shape, and they would
then have had
tsettlement of this important ques-
tion. (Hear.
) t
with both parties seemed to have
treated this subiect
and be thought Reform great deal of insincerity,
in the same light asGoidsemtai.el to be regarded much
th spoke of philosophr=zy,
, as 4‘ Avery gooa
stable
jade on the
road." (Hear arra 4 , but a sorry
ghter.) And what
consequence So u
was the cense(' Some had made it a hobb
horse to ride into office, and then leftit—.(l :
aughter
—and the result had been that the great )
scheme of
electoral Reform had shrunk into the Lilliputian' - t