The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-01 00:00:00

MR. BRIon-rs Abb.PM

The senior member for Birmingham has issued an addres
seeking re-election. It is as follows :
" I have reason to believe that it is your Wish that I
should bees me a candidate for the honourable office of one
)f your rspresentativ es in the Parliament about to be elected;
[ therefore offer myself as a candidate, and ask for a renewal
3[ the confidence you have so long reposed in me. After
twenty-five years of parliamentary life, and after tenyears
spent in your service, I shall not enter into an elaborate
statement of my opinions on public questions. I have
been permitted to explain them so fully in your Town Hall
an so many occasions, that my views can scarcely be mis-
understood by any amongst you. The cause of Parlia•
mentary Reform has made great progress since the last
seneral election, but a good deal remains to be done. ,The
small boroughs are still to be got rid of, and the large popu-
lations will still demand their fair share of political power.
The extension of the franchise has been granted under
circumstances which have acted with great and needless
hardship upon the small householders. I did all I could
to prevent this in the session of 1867, and I shall be glad
to assist in applying a remedy if I have a seat in the
new Parliament. I regard the question of the ballot as
of first importance. Whether I look to the exces-
sive cost, of elections, or to the tumult which
so often attends them, or to the unjust and cruel
pressure which is so frequently brought to bear upon
the less independent class of voters, I am per-
suaded that the true interest of the public and
of freedom will be served by the adoption of the sys-
tem of secret and free voting. It is in practice, and is
highly valued, in almost every other country having
representative institutions, and I regard it as absolutely
necessary to a real representation of the United Kingdom.
The foremost question for the new Parliament will be our
treatment of Ireland. You know my views on the Irish
Church Establishment and on the land question. In
dealing with the Irish Establishment we are not pro-
moting the spread of the Roman Catholic, or
damaging the influence of the Protestant religion. We
do not touch religion at all. We deal only with the poli-
tical institution, which has wholly failed to secure any
good object, and which has succeeded only in weakening
the loyalty and offending the sense of justice of the great
majority of the Irish people. Our opponents speak of
their zeal for Protestantism, and their loyalty to the Con-
stitution. I prefer a Protestantism which is an alliance
with Christian kindness and with justice, and my
loyalty to the Constitution leads me to wish for
the hearty union of the three kingdoms in alle-
giance to the Crown. I believe that Christianity
and the Constitution will be alike strengthened in these
islands by the removal of the Irish Church Establishment.
At the coming election, Birmingham will send three
members to Parliament ; but, by a scheme which is con-
trary to all previous constitutional practice, it is intended
that the majority of the electors shall only have two
voices in the House about to be chosen, and that one
of these shall be rendered useless by the vote of a
member not chosen by, but elected contrary to, the
will of the majority. Your constituency is increased in
number from 14,000 to 42,000 voters, and by this
scheme it is intended that, in the great division which may
take place in December next, Birmingham shall, in fact,
throw only one vote into the parliamentary scale. I regard
this as an outrageous violation of constitutional principles
and practice, and I cannot suppose that you will support
any candidate who approves of it as applied to your borough,
or who is anxious to extend it to other constituencies of the
kingdom. The great town constituencies have carried the
AViS3 changes which have been forced upon Parliament
of late years, and the ' Minority Clause ' has been enacted
to lessen their power, and to reduce them to the level of
small boroughs which return only one member to Parlia-
ment. I hope at some time before the election to have
the'opportunity of meeting you in your Town Hall, and of
discussing this and other important questions at greater
length than is possible in this address. If you send me to
the next Parliament, I shall endeavour to act as becomes a
representative of one of the foremost constituencies of the
empire."