PROTECTION AND THE BOROUGH OF PETERSFIELD.
(From the Hampshire Chronicle of Saturday.)
A Court Leet for this borough was held last Monday, at the Town Hall, at which J. Currie, Esq., the recorder, presided, when the following appointments were made for the ensuing year, viz. — R. Roberts, Esq., mayor; Mr. E. Burnand, constable; Messrs. Triggs and Pocock, tithingmen; Mr. Carter, bailiff; and Mr. C. Knight, hayward.
In the afternoon, soon after five o'clock, about 60 of the principal inhabitants of the town sat down to an excellent dinner at the Red Lion Inn.
Sir William Jolliffe, Bart, M.P. for the borough, presided at the festive board, displaying his accustomed affability and cheerfulness, and in the course of replying to the toast of his own health, made the following observations :— He always felt great pleasure in meetings his constituents, and, perhaps, on this occasion he might, therefore, have been excused from entering upon the subject of his public conduct; but feeling that there never was a period when so much misapprehension and so much misconstruction prevailed, he would take the opportunity to offer a few remarks. To meet, as he did then, men who had twice returned him to parliament to represent their interests in the House of Commons, would always give him great pleasure (much cheering). He had each year told them what his opinions were of the times in which they lived, and he had found this course greatly to his advantage, although he had endeavoured faithfully to discharge his public duties, and had not forsaken any profession which he had made (loud cheers); still his conduct might be liable to be misrepresented. About the middle of the last session the country was in a sinking condition, when Lord John Russell announced that it would be his duty early in the next session to introduce a bill for the reform of parliament. This was a time when the country was sinking beneath his rule, and he hoped by this means to resuscitate the dying embers of his government (here). The old adage, ‟Give a dog a bad name, and hang him,” was never more completely verified and carried out than under this proposition (laughter). No sooner was this propounded, than an extraordinary circumstance occurred. A gentleman died, who was a constant supporter of the government, and a Free- trader. He was a Whig, and what was of more advantage to him, he was a millionaire of great renown. His death occasioned a vacancy In the representation of the immaculate borough of St. Alban’s, and on that occasion the electors had adopted the doctrine of free trade, buying in the cheapest market and selling in the dearest (here). No one resident in that borough could be found to represent it in parliament; but what could not be done by country squires, they found could be done by others; and at the election to which he alluded they had ‟two Richmonds in the field” — two men who espoused Lord John Russell’s free-trade principles, and engaged in a contest for the representation of St. Alban’s. ‟When Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war” (laughter). Parliament was petitioned against the return, and acts of bribery were proved without number (hear). Then came an exposure in the House of Commons, which beat anything on record in the annals of the country. Such a system of trickery and fraud was never before presented to a disgusted nation (here). He did not pretend to know the precise number of similar cases; all he could say, therefore, was that he did not believe the statement to be generally true (loud cheering). Be this as it might, where this state of things did exist, he doubted if they could not stave off some of the elective constituency, which, under such circumstances, was about to be proposed in the new reform bill (hear). The day had long since passed away when aristocratic tyranny could be set up in this country (hear). Let them look at another country only divided from our own by a narrow sea. That country, which existed under a democratic tyranny, was now changed, and a military government established, which was hailed as a blessing. He hoped he should never see such a state of things in this country; but seeing that a class to which he had alluded was numerously congregated, and exercised great influence over the laws of the land, it was not improbable that we might have to contend against a tyranny of this kind (hear, hear). With regard to parliamentary reform, he could say that any opinion ou the subject which he had given in that room he had seen no reason to change (hear). He was not a maker of constitutions, nor desirous of abandoning Conservatism to manufacture constitutions (cheers). That was the business of the new Whigs, who were anxious to manufacture constitutions for all (here). It was a work forged from the same anvil which another had doomed to destruction for the sake of reforging it ; therefore, he should have nothing to do with the construction of its mechanism (here). With respect to the opinions which he had long entertained on the subject of free trade, he adhered to them more firmly than ever (loud cheers). He advocated the matter on the same princple. One party said we should have a fixed duty on corn; but he said let them have a system of protection throughout (loud cheers). This country was not in a position to compete with all the world while our hands were tied (renewed cheers). Take the price of bread in France and England, and it would be found that corn was 15 per cent, cheaper In France; flour 22 per cent. and bread no less than 48 per cent. cheaper; yet this did not prove to him that the profits of the millers were greater in England than in France; but he believed the cause to be that baking and milling were more expensive here than in France (hear). How stood the case when they got to beer? A great depression had taken place in the price of barley, and some millions of money were expended for malting barley in England. A decrease of no less than 3,000,000l. had taken place in the price of this article, and where was the money gone to? Beer continued to be sold at the same price; therefore the community were not benefited by the reduction (here). The fact was that there were very few brewers and very few maltsters; and they having the trade in their own hands, a great portion of the 3,000,000l. got into their pockets (here). There was a worse case against the Free-traders, who received an enormous remuneration from spirits distilled from com. Much of the grain waa concocted into alcohol, yet the price of gin continued the same, and the public reaped no advantage from the depression in the value of the grain. The community, therefore, as well as the farmer, sustained the whole loss which they would otherwise receive. The community suffered by the operation of free trade, therefore, a readjustment of the whole machinery of taxation was wanted to make it consonant to the wants of the country (much cheering). It was not right that the tax on malt should be maintained, by which the monopoly of the manufacture of spirits was confined to a limited number of distillers, numbering under ten, who had the whole trade at their command, and the community must necessarily be the loser till the system was uprooted (cheers). There must be a total rearrangement of the public revenue in order to do justice to the land, and it must be raised solely by direct taxation (loud cheers). He addressed them now not as electors of Petersfield only, but as electors of England, and advised them to take care of the tyranny contemplated, which would deprive them of the power of helping themselves (hear). He might again offer himself as a person desirous of being elected to represent the borough (general cheering), and the result it would be presumptuous in him to anticipate; but he would solemnly entreat them, and the electors of the United Kingdom, to look for gentlemen to represent them in parliament who at least were not less attached to our ancient institutions, and jealous for the safety of the privileges of our constitution, than the humble individual who then addressed them, and took that opportunity of drinking their health (loud cheers from all parts of the room, which were repeated after the hon. baronet had resumed his seat).
The Chairman then proposed ‟The Health of Mr. Cruickshank and the Conservatives of Hampshire,” which was responded to by three cheers.
Mr. Cruickshank said he was afraid he must make some excuse, as he was labouring under a severe cold; but he could assure the company that neither a bad cold nor any other cause would prevent him from meeting them on that day, when they were assembled to do honour to their excellent representative, and to assure him of their support (loud cheers). We were now living in most anxious times and he indeed must be a man possessed of more than prophetic powers who would venture to say what would be the consequences of the next cession of parliament. He believed it was possible that Lord John Russell would retire from office in trying to bring in what he called his new Reform Bill (cheers). They would all recollect the promises which were held out to the country in that noted (he would almost say that notorious) letter which was written by his lordship to the Bishop of Durham (here). He would ask whether the promises contained in that letter had not fallen far short of realising that which was requisite to the salvation of the country? (cheers.) All he hoped was, that a ministry so divided as the present one would not give the noble lord the opportunity of making his contemptible innovation on the constitution when parliament assembled (cheers). At the opening of the session they would see many grievances brought forward, when they had no ministry capable or willing to redress them; and he hoped to see a powerful demonstration made, and that excellent and good man, the Earl of Derby, called to her Majesty’s councils (loud cheers)—a nobleman in whom the nation had such perfect confidence (renewed cheers). They knew perfectly well what was the present condition of France, where universal suffrage prevailed at one time, and the form of government was now changed into the most military and determined despotism that existed in any country (hear). Look at the dangers by which we were surrounded under the management of Earl Grey; we had been led into the Cape war, and by other acts of the government the country had been injured (hear, hear). In order to remedy this state of things, he repeated that they should return members to parliament whom they could look up to with perfect confidence, and none was more worthy of their deepest possible gratitude and confidence than their excellent chairman the hon. baronet (loud and continued cheering). He had never deviated one point from his political creed, and he indeed must be a bold man who would say that Sir William Jolliffe had ever departed from those principles which he professed at the commencement of his public career (loud cheers)
The company shortly afterwards separated.