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OPENING OF THE NEW CORN EXCHANGE.—HORSHAM.

…

R. H. HURST, Esq., the member for the borough said:—

… Now, with respect to his position in Parliament he must say, which was known to them all, that whatever may have been the shortcomings of the session they had just passed through, and whatever may have been the amount of talk without result, their member was not answerable for having inflicted on the house any lengthy speeches. There could be no doubt that a vast amount of time had been taken up by talk beyond that which was necessary, and if members would confine themselves more close to the subject in hand, instead of saying so much to the reporters, business would get on quite as well (laughter). Now, he was not going to advocate the position of a silent member of the House of Commons, because the time might come when questions would be discussed, upon which it would be as culpable to remain silent as it would be to talk at other times for the mere sake of keeping the house; therefore, if any anything directly affecting the interests of the people of Horsham came before the house, he should carefully watch it, and if necessary state his views upon the question (hear). Now there was one question which affected the interests, not only of the people of Horsham, but of the country at large; he alluded to the Reform Bill. He did not wish say anything that might be construed into party politics, but this was a question directly affecting the interests of the people of Horsham, because if the bill had been carried in its integrity, this borough would have then been linked with three other boroughs, with which it has nothing whatever to do (cheers). With respect to the general question of Reform, public opinion has got to such an extent upon it now, that it must be dealt with ere long, whatever may be the politics of the party in power; it must be met and solved by one side of the house or the other. There is a rumour very prevalent in some circles that government has it in contemplation to give the house a far more comprehensive measure than has yet been proposed, but this must taken for what it is worth; because it is not likely that government will yet make its secrets known to any beyond those immediately consulted; no doubt, however, the time has come when it must be dealt with. The question of Reform had resolved itself into three parts, in the first place the franchise demanded a large extension; secondly, a redistribution of seats —upon which question the bill of the late government was wrecked—has been necessary; and thirdly, which was made a great point of in the opposition to the last bill—there must be a readjustment of boundaries of large and growing towns, which have representatives or may be entitled to have representatives hereafter. It had been suggested that the latter question might be met by given to the Privy Council the power of directing the rearrangement of the boundaries of parliamentary towns. It was a subject which was considered most important by the Conservative party, because they said at the present time in the North of England, boroughs have so increased in size, and suburbs have grown up around them, that large portions are beyond the limits of the parliamentary boroughs, consequently the inhabitants cannot vote at the election of borough members, but are introduced into the county constituency, and swamp the county with an element which belongs exclusively to boroughs (hear). He did not anticipate that any great difficulty would arise upon this part of the question, because if a suburb really belonged to a borough there could be no reason why it should not be included in the borough constituency, rather than in the county. Now as to the extension of the franchise and the redistribution of seats, he thought it somewhat important that they should have been mixed up altogether. It was upon the question of the redistribution of seats that the great difficulty would arise, because in many cases individual personal interests would clash with political principles, and it was impossible to prevent votes upon certain principles being biased by personal consideration. Belonging to the great liberal party and generally adopting their views, he thought there could be no doubt that the franchise should be extended, that was a question of principle, a question of right or wrong, but if with that was mixed up the subject of redistribution of seats, much difficulty would be found in dealing with it. It was in consequence of that, that the last bill was thrown out, and it is not improbable, if those two points are mixed up together again, that the next bill will share the same fate (hear) Taking the case of a reduction of the franchise, up to the present time only — tangible and visible property in the shape of contributing to the burdens of the country had been represented —and personal qualifications had been put on one side. At the time of the Reform Bill a £10 rental was considered to be a natural basis for electoral qualification, but as time went on the people rose In the scale of intelligence and general knowledge, and evinced an earnest desire to possess the privilege of having a voice in the election of representatives. It had been particularly dwelt upon by Lord Stanley, and he had himself heard it remarked in that room, that the conservatives as a body had no objection to the demands of a very large number yet unrepresented, but they could not see how to define the line where it shall stop, and prevent the lower classes from swamping those above them. He thought this a very wrong way to look at it; it ought to be regarded as a matter of principle that if a man keeps a house, however small, he should have the right of voting for it, and it should not be so much considered what the effect of admitting him would be. The natural tendency of the household qualification is to become lower and lower by degree, they might put it at £8 first, next at £6, but he saw no particular reason why it should stop till it got down to a household suffrage. If a man occupied a small house, it was of as much importance to him as a large estate to a landed proprietor (hear). The hon, member then referred to personal qualifications and spoke,—without desiring to throw a slur upon the measure—of what is called the ‟fancy franchise,” of the bill introduced by Lord Derby’s government; if those qualifications were admitted, he apprehended the result would be that they would get down to Universal or manhood suffrage. Therefore he was disposed to think that those were not qualifications which ought to be admitted. Now, one word with regard to the position which Horsham was to occupy in the scheme promoted in the last session of parliament—it was to have been grouped with three other boroughs. Petersfield, Midhurst, and Arundel. There were some things which no fellow can understand, and why Horsham should be so associated he was at a loss to conceive (laughter).—One of these boroughs, Petersfield, had petitioned against the proposition, and had utterly repudiated having anything to do with the electors of any borough in the county of Sussex. Now, after his long connection with this county he was rather proud of it, and therefore could not see the force of their objection (hear). Petersfield itself was a pleasant, picturesque, and thriving little town, but from what he had seen of it, it did not present any such appearance to make one anxious to be joined with it (laughter). Taking Arundel, although it was nearer, and in the same county. it was in no way connected with Horsham, and as to Midhurst he knew nothing in business or other transactions that would at all identify it with their own town. Now, looking at Chichester,—and he should be very sorry to say anything disrespectful of the capital of West Sussex, especially in the presence of Mr. Henty, but they could not disguise the fact that it was decreasing in population about the same ratio as Horsham was increasing,—about 100 a year; yet it returned two members. Therefore taking all things into consideration. when the new Reform Bill was brought forward, and the question of the redistribution of seats came before the public, Horsham would have reason to say that it had a right to maintain its position. If it is necessary that more members should given to the great hives of industry existing in the north and other parts of the country, they should be taken from those towns which at present enjoy two members, but are decreasing in population and not from other places, which although they were, not quite so large, and return only one member, are thriving and increasing in importance (cheers). At all events, they might taken from those places which had been shown to have exercised the electoral privilege in an improper manner. The hon. member concluded by returning thanks for the honour done him.