The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-12-13

The Great Reform Movement In Eng.

which there were present two Peers
and several members of Parliament.
They resolved that as "men do not
gather grapes ofthorns or figs of this
Ties, nothing was to be hoped from a
Tory Reform Bill. If Tory, it could not
be good, and If good, it could not be
| Tory. So, whatever the bill. thew 90
against it and fight the Tories and
they resolved also to raise a fund of
$4,000 to fight them with.
Mr.. Bright made the speech of the
occasion at the banquet in the evening.
he said: II doubt if there has ever
been held in this Kingdom a BANQUET
more numerous, more influential more
unanimous, more grand in every re-
| spect, than that which is being held
here tonight +"
He told his hearers that the idea of
the middle-classes having any political
power in England was a delusion.
The workingmen are roughly, insult
lngly and universally excluded; and
the middle-classes, while they have the
semolance, are defrauded of the reali-
| ". Ot every one hundred men. eiChty-
| four are excluded from the suffrage
and sixteen admitted; but the majority
| of the House of Commons is ACTUALLY
elected by three per cent of the adult
male population. OF the defrauded
middle-classes it might be said 'Issa-
char IS strong ass, crOuching down
between two burdens.' On the oneside
there is burden of seven and n half
millions of pounds per annum, raised
| Oy way OF taxes, to keep from starva-
ton more than one million two hun
dred thousand paupers within the
| United Kingdom; and, on the other
hand, and higher up in the scale. there
is mismanagemeut the most gross
| there IS extravaganza the most reck-
| leSs-and there is waste the most an
palling and disgraceful which has ever
been seen in governments of any coun-
try; and the grand result this is of a
! system which systematically shuts
out the millions, and which CaJOleS the
middle-classes by the hocuS p0cus of u
Parliamentary Government. The To-
ries will not even have this bad system
tlnkered. They remind me very much
of wealthy but Il most penurious old
gentleman, who lived some years ago
IN my neighborhood, and who object
ed, among other expenses, very much
to tailor's bill; he said he had found
out that hole would last longer than
a patch"
1t was jolly dinner speech, with a
| strong bouquet of old port about it, and
was received with abundant laughter
and cheers. Mr.. Bright referred TO the
London workingmen's procession,
which is to come off next Saturday, in
| which there are to be, he said, more
than 100000 persons. The telegraph
had 1t 100000. 1t would be difficult to
| get 10000 persons into a mile of the
London streets, in moving order, so
that we shall have IA procession at least
twenty miles long, to 20 from st.
James, Park to Chelsea, about three
miles. twill therefore have to march
in seven divisions. But l leave the
marshals to order it. The printers will
have nothing to do with it. The police
| Will not stop the traffic. The Govern
ment does not forbid the assembling in
st. James Park, for fear of the ratings,
and there is something of n panic at the
| West End at the idea of such an in
vasion-tor to be sure that, hanging on
the skirts OF the great army of working
| men VIII be an assembly Of all the
roughs and all the thieves of London,
| prepared for any eveutuality.
| The true reform bill for England is, to
make fair standard of intelligence and
worth for the suffrage, and then educate
the people up to that standard: and the
best strikes for the trades organizations
would be strikes for universal educa-
tion, for common honesty, for purity of
| elections, for unauthorized food and
just weights and measures, for decency
and sobriety.
And the subjoined from Thos.
Hughes' last letter to the Tribune:
The Great Reform demonstration at
| Manchester, OF which l spoke some
what doubtfully last week, came off on
Monday and Tuesday with very con-
siderable success. trust that the slight
mutual jealousy which seemed likely
at one time to sever the Reform Union,
or the middle-ClasS movement, from the
Reform League, the working class
movement, is passing away, and that
the Manchester banquet did something
toward bringing about this result. Mr.,
| Bright made very powerful speech at
the banquet in the Free-Trade Hall,
| which you will all no doubt read, SO
that shall only be using up my space
to no purpose by trying to pnraphrase
it. The feeling about it here is, that the
onslaught on Lords Derby, Stanley,
| Cranbourne, Mr.. Disraeli, and the rest
of the new Government was too savage,
and likely to do them more harm than
| good. In fact l think the lockers -on
with the calmest and longest heads are
inclined to think that the Tories are
very likely to make themselves safe for
some time by some such policy as this.
They will bring i'll very moderate
reform bill, perhaps with E2O suffrage
in counties, and IS in.bOroughs. The
| House will read that or any other
reform bill n second time. Then the
bill being in committee, the Tories will
say, now, gentlemen, we don't mean to
follow the fractions and unreasonable
conduct of Mr.. Gladstone in the last
session, which we so strongly depreca-
| ted at the time. We shall be ready to
bow to the opinion of the House as to
| all details. Let the House take our
measure and make what they please of
| it. So the Liberal side of the House
| will lay hold of their measure, grum-
bling and swearing privily at them and
their lodges, will knock it into good
household suffrage bill, and pass it,
and that from that moment we shall see
such a rally of timid folks to the Con-
| servative side that their Government
! Will be almost certain to hold its own
| for some time. This is the most know
| ing political forecasting which we have
| going at present, and give it for what
| il is worth, not altogether agreeing, bnt
| still seeing much plausibility in it. The
! point on which all men seem to agree
| Is that, If no bill is forthcoming, the
| Ministry must fall before Easter. Ger
| tainly, timid and highly-solveut Liber-
| ais OF Conservative prOclivities are liy-
! ing in trying times for their wavering
4 faith. The bugbear Of the trades-unions
| frightenS them out of their proprietieS
| altogether; and here are the trades go-
/ ing to hold monster meeting, and to
make procession all through the west
| of London, on the Sd of December.
I They talk about stopping all the
1 workshops and turning out mill
lion strOng-which is moonshine; !;
but half that number will scare many
| a weak brother out of the cave of Adult
lam into the Tory desert beyond. To
add to their discomfort, every post from
the North brings news of more strikes,
1 of the terrible ruin in the iron trade, of
1 league between all the colliers and a
| threat OF stoppage. If they would only
/ look a little deeper into this Seething