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Leader (1850-1860), 10th September 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1024

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      Untitled Article

      1 O 24 THE LEADER , [ No . 494 . Sept . 10 , 1859 .

      Untitled Article

      POLITICAL FORESliADOAVINGS . A public dinner has been held in the Corn Exchange , Leicester , in honour of Mr . Unwin Heygate , who contested that boroiigh at the late election in the Conservative interest . Upwards of 200 gentlemen were present , Mr . Miles presiding on the occasion . Mr . Heygate ; after adverting at some length to the downfall of Lord Derby ' s administration , and the necessity- of attention to the national defences , said he would now just advert to the everlastingly recurring subject of reform . They had now a Government for the fourth or fifth time p ledged to the introduction of a reform bill , and he would say

      -that if the Government would bring forward a really fair and liberal measure he spoke the feeling of the Conservative partv when lie-said they had nothing to fear from it , and would offer it no factious opposition . He had long been of opinion that there existed in this countrvrt large class of intelligent and educated operatives , nofyet enfranchised , who might be safely admitted within the pale of the constitution . He stated that at the time of the election , and his experience during his canvass , so far from diminishing that feeling , confirmed and strengthened it . In fact , he had no " hesitation in saying he was in favour of the admisfion of a large number of the workingclasses to the franchise . In a speech delivered by one of the vice-chairmen it was stated that the

      friends of Mr . Harris , a defeated Liberal would openly support Mr . Heygate at another election . At Chelmsford on Monday 750 of the Liberal electors and their friends gave a dinner to Mr . Wingfield Baker , the late member for South Essex . On this occasion , several members of Parliament were present . Mr . HardcastLb , M . P . said : —Whatever the new reform might be . , as a humble member of the House of Commons , would undertake not to be deluded by any . such traps as were laid before the House last year by-the Government of Lord D . erby , for he would vote for no reform bill which did not secure to all those classes who deserved it a share in the franchise . —Mr . Bakkk referring to the same topic observed that the working classes must in

      future be a moral power iu the state ; if they were to exert an effectual influence on public affairs they must make their intelligence felt . A reform bill was promised for next session , and he hoped the promise would . be realised . If it were tp be realised it must give the country that which was essential for its realisation—viz ., a 10 ^ . franchise in counties ; without this it was impossible for the working classes to have that share in the representation to which they were entitled ^ Referring to local matters , Mr . Baker urged that the Liberal part of the county must be prepared and united for a contest . —Mr . Stjtton Westers , M . P ., remarked that the nonelectors must ask plainly if they would obtain their rights ; and what was quite as much to the purpose , they knew whom to ask . They would not go to Lord Dei-by for a reform bill . True , his lordship had recently given a specimen of his skill in that

      line . Nevertheless , Englishmen were not quite ready to give the Tox * y leaders credit for being reformed into reformers after such a delusive measure as these pretended converts to reform produced when they undertook to deal with the subject . The names of Lord John Russell and Mr . Milner Gibson were in themselves a guarantee that the coming reform bill would be proportioned to the increasing intelligence and growing capacity of the people . The agricultural constituencies wei'e'formorly the strongholds of Toryism ; . but ; a wondrous chaugo had now come over the spirit of their dream . Even the most obetinate of the self-styled farmers' friends had abandoned that claim to peculiar favour ; tho bubble of protection had bui-st , and it was difficult to see how the agricultural constituencies could go pn . mueh longer in blind relinnco on rho politicians who , intentionally or not , had so grossly cajoled them with baseless hopes . __ . ... who at the latolec

      The Hon . "William Napikji , o - tion intimated hie intention to offer himself as a candidate for Selkirkshire at tho first vacancy theroafter , addressed a mooting of tho doctors on Friday evening , Mr . Napier expressed himself afl of moderate Liberal principles , but guarded against liis boing expected to go along with either the Radical or Whig party . Mr . Murray , of Philiplmugh , is also a prospoctivo oandklato for tho county on more advanced Liberal principles . At Iluddorsfiold , on Thursday , a company of 3 , 000 ladies and gontlomcn assembled to do honour to their representative , Mr . Leatham , who has lately passed through tho purgation of ucontostod election , tvpd consequent petition . At this demonstration of course John Buiciut was present , and equally * of course , that personage favoured tho audience with a Bpcoou of two or three hours' duration . He said , there aro por&ons who say that politics are at an

      end in England- —that there is no such thing in Parliament as party , and that there is no real or essential difference between the various sections of the community who fight the contests at Our general elections . I believe , on the contrary , that political contests are not over in England , but that some most ¦ important and hereafter to be regarded as memorable conflicts are only about to begin . After giving a sketch of political parties from 1832 to the present time , in order to prove that the British Parliament does not represent the people , Mr . Uright continued : —For many years past there has been only what we call wasted sessions of Parliament ; and I am so distressed , so weary , so disgusted , and at times so hopeless , that I often at the end of a

      useless session think myself a fool above all other fools for spending my time , my labour , my life in the House of Commons , and am half resolved , as a duty to myself and my family , to seek the only office that possibly I may ever hold—the office : of steward of the Chiltern Hundreds . I am frequently tempted to take myself from Parliament and to cease labouring in a field where there is no soil to grow anything , and upon which neither the shower falls nor the sun shines . All that we have done of late years has been to vote with a listless apathy millions of money for which you have toiled . We have squandered scores of millions that under a just and economical Government would have remained in your pockets ; we have added tax to tax : we have , it is true , taken some off ;

      we have shifted an uncomfortable burden from one shoulder to the other , but the burden remains . It grows larger , and , if you did not stagger and fall beneath it , it is because your industry , your productiveness , your resolution , and your patience surpass those of any other people in the world . The hon . member proceeded with his usual good taste and eloquence to enlarge upon various matters connected with the church , the landed interest , arid the army : there was nothing however particularly novel in his remarks , which principally consisted of a repetition of the abuse which he delights in showering upon the present state of things . A recent military flogging at Woolwich , the description of which has been shamefully

      exaggerated , was too tempting a text to be neglected by Mr . Bright , and the method of handling it was certainly not deficient in breadth of assertion or in heightened colouring . Upon the subject of reckless expenditure in the navy the hon . gentleman ' said : —You who have been in the gallery of the House of Commons know that I have opposite to me there a phalanx , when they are all there , of some 300 members—that Is , of the Tory party— -and I am not about to exclude all on our side from what I am going to say about them ; but I will undertake to say , and , what is more , to prove , that if you will take those 300 men , and add up everything which they pay directly and indirectly in taxes to the State , and put it on one side of the ledger , and on tho other

      side put everj'thing which they and their immediate families receive from the state in appointments and salaries in one branch of the public service or another , then it will appear they receive three times , 1 believe five tinies , I think I should not err if I said ten times , as much as they pay . Why , then , am I to be asked to go to their stolid phalanx of tax received and tax expended , and to beg and implore them to be more moderate in the use of the public money ? Every addition of a million to pur taxes and the State revenue is adding another stake to the parsimony of the privileged classes of England , and until you come to this point that you look them in the face , and say , . ' Parliament shall not be the instrument of the House of Lords or of tho groat

      territorial proprietors , but shall fairly represent the groat body of the people of England , ' there is no remedy for the grievance of which you complain . " Having touched upon Indian mismanagement , ho remarked : — ? ' And so I presume it will go on until some great revolt— -some other great catastrophe . Parliament still slumbers on , and , when another great earthquake comes , if it be an earthquake heavy enough ' to shake them wido awake , you may have an improvement , of tho Government of India ; but till , then , or until tho peoplo of England are thoroughly represented , and take this question up , I fear there is small

      chance of any real justicd to tho unfortunate population . " Of tho taxos on tho people of England ho said , "You havo aGovoniment with all tho power of an absolute Government , but without the responsibility of an absolute Government . You have a Government which consists of about 400 groat , somo of thorn rich , all of them titled families , and they aro assisted and buttressed up by all tho untitlcd territorial possessors throughout thq United Kingdom . They rulo you , and they tax you , and they spend your taxes freely . (* ' Hoar , hoar . " and laughter . " ) Now , I havo not tho slightest animosity against those pooplo . ( Hear . ) I like thorn to bo in their own , but their own place is not , to my thinking , governing without my consent ( laughter ; , nor govorning you without your consont . Ho

      concluded in these words : — "I have never shown myself , as it is termed , the mere demagogue , who panders to the cry of an ignorant prejudiced multitude ( hear , hear ) , against his own -light and knowledge and conscience . I have been us free to withstand what I felt were the errors of the people ( hear , hear ) as I am now ready to withstand and to condemn the errors and the injustice of the Government ; but I say that if- , the people governed—unless wo are less virtuous and less intelligent than even our rulers flatter us by telling us that we are

      - —if the people governed , instead of a class , the nation and humanity would gain . It is for this , and this alone , that we demand a better and a free representation . We believe it would be the highest wisdom , looking a little ahead , for our governing class to concede it , and avc are as convinced as we are of our own existence , that the permanent power , welfare , peace , and grandeur or this nation depend upon our obtaining that which we seek—a fair and free representation of the whole people in the Parliament of England . "

      It is announced that a great Conservative banquet will be held on the 15 th instant , in the Mote Park Maidstone . A pavilion will be ereete ( l ,. eapaple of accommodating more than 1 , 000 guests . The chair will be taken by Earl Stanhope , and the invitations include the Earl of Dkkb y . "No doubt , " saj-s the Kentish Gazette , "it will be extremely inconvenient to the noble -ex-premier to come all tho way from Knowsley at a season when he invariably dispenses old English hospitality to a large cm-lu of his friends . At the same time we arc not entirely without hope that he may be present at this influential gathering . " At a meeting held on Friday last at Dumbarton , for the formation of a volunteer rifle corps , the Duke of Moxtnosii said : — " We know that we are

      now more liable to invasion than formerly . "We must feel that , notwithstanding the great amity that is professed by a neighbouring country towards us , which we reciprocate and' are anxious to maintain , yet we cannot feel so safe as if there was a constitutional government in that country , wlien the whole is dependent on the single will of one individual . We must feel that there is no check upon him if he should think it to he to his advantage- —but I think he won't find that—to attack this country . He has not the check of a parliament or of the representatives of the . nation , or the more mild influence of the country through ' the public press , and therefore we cannot possess all the security which we should have without being armed for all contingencies . This feeling has spread all over the country , and has been spoken of in Parliament , and the expressions there given forth have been endorsed by the . people at large . "

      Untitled Article

      THE STRIKES . The master , builders have resolved to re-open their shops on Monday next , to such operatives as arc prepared to give their assent to the " document . " Some people are of opinion that as tho shops are to be re-opened , in a day or two all animosity will cease ; that the employers and workmen will act with cordiality , and that building operations will proceed as they Mere wont to do previous to the unhappy strike . Wo see no probability of so desirable a result arising from tho more throwing open of their establishments by the employers , tho oflensivo document remaining . The nine hours'

      movemonfc has led to the establishment of 1 ho Control Association of Master Builders , an institution established in self-defence ; then the Anti-Wtrikt ^ Committee , and lastly , an association of builders foremen . All these bodies act independently . Mnny of tho foremen nre wholly opposed to tho document , as " arbitrary , un-English , and dognullng to tho workmen , " while others have no objection to it . Mr . Ballard addresses meetings of tho operatives at intervals , ulmost daily , in tho Adelaide Gallery . Tho Anti-Striko Committee havo now thrco places for tho enrolment of members—tho hoad quarters at wuriior

      the Adolaido I ^ oonis , an office in Little - strcet , and another in tho Eustbn-TOii . l . Appeals havo boon rccoivod by tho Antl-Striko Comimttco from country builders to bo supplied with the U > inmlttoo ' ft publications j and wo aroinl ' orinei u " somo frosh publications aro about to ho Issued trom tho press containing statements respecting tlio existing conditions of affairs amongst the employers , tho employed , and tho Conference of the untteu Building Trades . Wo wore informed , onW o . luosday ovoning , that up to that tlmo abovo 500 noiisooiety men had joinod tho Antl-S ^ iko Committed and we havo hoard that it is not intended that a »> of tho members who havo joinod the Committee shall rocolvo rolluf-monoy until aftor Monday noMTho claimants for such relief must be nonsociety mon ,. who wore ' thrown out ol emi > Wmont In oonfloqucneo of tho closing ol ' » " « shops on tho Oth of August , and who w i return to their employment on Monday ivim

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 10, 1859, page 1024, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2311/page/4/