The GLIO Site

REPRESENTATION OF SOUTHWARK.
MEETING OF SIR C. NAPIER’S SUPPORTERS.

     Sir Charles Napier met the electors of the borough of Southwark, resident at Rotherhithe and its vicinity, last night, at the Europa Tavern, and notwithstanding the extreme inclemency of the weather, as well as the fact that the gallant admiral, for want of sufficient room to hold a meeting, had to address them from an open window, the crowds assembled in thousands. Nay, they not only gathered together from all parts of the district, but were exceedingly dissatisfied whenever it was hinted that, for the sake of common humanity, the speakers could not detain them on such a night in the open air, with the rain pouring in torrents on their devoted heads. Dr. Roberts, Mr. C. Legg, and other gentlemen of the committee, were present. 

     At seven o’clock precisely the chair was taken by Mr. Crystal who introduced the candidate to the vast assemblage, after he had explained the objects of the meeting. 

     Sir CHARLES NAPIER then said, that in consequence of the lamented death of Sir William Molesworth, their late representative, the electors of the borough of Southwark, were called upon somewhat unexpectedly to exercise the elective franchise in the choice of a member to represent them in Parliament, and it behoved them to look round and consider upon whom their choice should fall. There was, as he had heard, several, four or five, candidates in the field soliciting their confidence, and amongst them was Mr. Scovell, a gentleman locally connected with the borough. The other gentlemen also put forward some pretensions to their support. Well, admitting all this, he himself came before them simply as a sailor.—(Cheers.) It was not for him to detract from the qualifications of these gentlemen, but he thought that he was equally entitled to their confidence, and he hoped at least that he was as well known as any of them. —(Cheers.) These gentlemen and himself were all courting the same lady, and it was for them to say who should win her.—(Cheers and laughter.) He was a sailor, and if he were elected one of their members he trusted, and he might say, they believed that he would do his duty honestly.—(Cheers.) It might be said that he was old, but he could tell them that he had some good stuff in him yet. He began life without having had an old bird to warm his nest, for he worked his way up against all difficulties, until he became a commander at a very early age, and then he had the ball at his own feet, when he was able to rise according to his own merits, and upon those merits alone he had fought his way up to his present position.—(Loud cheers.) When he became a commander he had the ball at his foot, and though he became a captain in due course, and had gone through the remainder of the war, if not in very distinguished, at least in a very creditable manner, yet he could assure them it was not all coleur de rose with him. It was said that, in addition to his being too old, his only object in going to Parliament was to have his revenge in a private manner on Sir James Graham. Now that he denied. He had no private quarrel with that right honourable baronet; he dealt with him only as a public man, and with the question at issue between them, as a great constitutional question, or, in other words, whether a Minister of State was justified in perverting letters of an officer he had employed in the public service, and by that perversion to endeavour to stultify his character in the minds of Englishmen.—(Loud cheers.) Another constitutional question was also involved, namely, whether his coadjutors at the Admiralty were justified in adopting the language addressed to him (Sir C. Napier) without their having read it, or even guessed what it contained ? —(A laugh.) Well, no doubt they were surprised, and justly so, for they could not imagine that men could be found who could sign orders without reading them, but he could assure them that often happened at the Admiralty—(a laugh)—and they would agree with him that it ought to be corrected as soon as possible.—(Cheers.) He denied again, most emphatically, that he had any private quarrel with Sir James Graham; he was too insignificant for that, and as for the difference between them, he was quite content to leave the decision of the matter to the English public.—(Hear, hear, hear.) He did not think, however, that he would again present himself as one of the rulers of this country, for the people now understood him, and would treat him accordingly.—(Hear, hear.) Well, to come to another topic. After he (Sir Charles Napier) was promoted he was turned adrift, and he then betook himself to serve a campaign under the late Duke of Wellington, in order to see and learn the art of war, in a campaign on land as well as sea. Subsequently he served in various campaigns in foreign countries, the more especially in Portugal, where he contributed to hoist the flag of liberty; and afterwards in Syria, where he put an end to one of the most despotic Governments that ever existed on the face the earth.—(Hear, hear.) He was not only a sailor, therefore, but a soldier, and he begged to remind them, that he signed a treaty with Mehemet Ali, which put an end to a war which secured the peace of Europe, though diplomatists had been bungling at it for five years before.—(Cheers.) When he returned home after that expedition he was sent into Parliament by the borough of Marylebone, for which he sat six years, and he could assure them that his political principles were then as now—in favour of the liberties of the people.—(Cheers.) If any gentleman of the borough of Southwark would take the trouble of turning over and examining his votes during that period, they would find that he had on all occasions performed his duty in compliance with the wishes of his constituents. —(Hear, hear.) He voted with Sir Robert Peel for free trade; he endeavoured to reform the Admiralty, and although he was then taunted, with conjuring up unnecessary alarms, as being an impracticable man, he believed that now, when the country saw its danger, they fully acquiesced in the justice of the warnings he gave at that time.—(Cheers.) If they sent him into Parliament now, he would insist on those reforms being carried out—he would use all his endeavours to carry on the war in a manner which would lead to a lasting and honourable peace, and thus contribute to cheapen their loaf—which, Heaven knew, they wanted at that moment.—(Loud cries of “Hear, hear, hear.”) They all knew he was a thorough Reformer, and voted for cheap bread; he had been always a free-trader, and his opinion then certainly was, that they had not gone far enough in the way of reform.—(Cries of “Hear, hear.”) He was not yet, however, prepared to support universal suffrage; he believed, however, that as the people advanced in education and intelligence, they would be fit for it, and he should then most cordially give it his support; but while he advocated an extension of the present suffrage, they must, he thought, draw line somewhere, to act as a land-mark. He thought, then, that that of the tax-gatherer was sufficient, and that every man coming to the poll with his proofs that he was rated to the poor, ought to have a vote.—(Hear, hear.) Now, to show the enormous inequality in the present franchise, he would take the borough of Petersfield. In that borough, any man who paid 10l. was entitled to a vote, while his next neighbour, who paid 50l. a year rent, was deprived of the same privilege, because he lived in the county.—(Cries of ‟Hear, hear.”) There was not common sense in that; but if they gave a vote to an individual who paid taxes to the State, then this absurd anomaly was got rid of.—(Cries of ‟Hear, hear.”) With respect to Admimstrative Reform, so-called, he thought the advocates of it had taken the wrong sow by the ear. —(A laugh.) They must get Parliamentary reform before administrative reform could be obtained thoroughly, and they must, in the next instance, reform themselves.—(Laughter.) At present, if a man stood for county or a borough, he must be prepared to incur a large expenditure; and the aristocrats like to keep that system up, because though men of great talent and experience may wish to get into Parliament, they were too poor; they had not the means of standing a contest against the odds against them, and the representation was thus secured in the hands of the oligarchy.— (Loud cries of ‟Hear, hear.”) According to the present system people cannot go up to the hustings unless they were canvassed for, and brought up. They must be run after, and almost forced; and that keeps out from Parliament many a man who could serve his country well.—(Cheers.) Now, he was opposed altogether to that system. He had issued an address to the electors. He was determined to go to the hustings, and to the poll, and he hoped and trusted the electors of Southwark—if they preferred him to any other candidate—would come up early and secure his return.— (Cheers, and cries of ‟We will.”) With respect to the present war, he had already given his opinion upon it at several other meetings, and it was hardly necessary that he should go into a detail on the present occasion of all that had happened since its commencement. He said the contest was badly carried on by persons who were placed in prominent positions in the state, the duties of which they did not understand, and that cost the electors of Southwark and the country an enormous sum of money, and what was of more value, the best of British blood.— (Hear.) But let bygones be bygones. Sebastopol was now taken, and the fleet was free; the consequence of which was, that all the accounts they received by electric telegraph gave them accounts of the dreadful disasters which occurred to the enemy, while nothing of the kind happened their own forces.— (Hear hear.) There was another question to which he wished to refer. They had all heard of ex-Ministers or statesmen who called themselves Peelites. Now that, in his opinion, was bad name to call them by. They were not Peelites, but the refuse of the administration of that distinguished statesman. If Sir Robert Peel had been now alive —the man who won free trade and granted it to the people —he would have prosecuted this war with vigour and determination and have brought it a different conclusion from that which his so-called followers would wish it should terminate.—(Cheers.) They were not worthy of the name of Peel, for he was an able and energetic minister, who would have conducted the government of the country as well, and better, than any minister which they now possessed —(Cheers.) Next to him was Lord Palmerston—(cheers)—who certainly at the present crisis was supported by the whole country; for he verily believed, that if the people were polled one one, an overwhelming majority would be found to declare in his favour.— (Cheers.) Under his administration more energy had been shown than they had previously experienced—more troops had been sent abroad and, with the exception of the expedition to the Baltic, things had gone on very differently.—(Loud cheers.) As to the fleet sent there, surely means ought to have been taken to send out more than 16 or 20 gun boats. Surely, after the repeated warnings given, 100 or 150 ought to have been despatched, and a different result would have followed.—(Cries of ‟Hear, hear ”) He hardly knew if had any other topic on which to offer anything new for their consideration. With respect to church reform, he wished to see a reform in the Church; for did not wish that a bishop should receive an enormous salary, while the poor working clergyman, the poor curate, had scarcely as much as would support him or his family.—(Cheers.) The curate, with his wretched income, performs all the duties of his station—he attended to the sick, and he shared sometimes his own scanty pittance with them; he was a good man and a good preacher, and yet he was left to toil on in hopeless poverty. He knew in his own neighbourhood a good man, who had been a curate for 20 years, and now he had just as much chance of getting  a living as he (Sir Charles Napier) had to be Archbishop of Canterbury,— (Laughter). For his own part, he was not quite sure that it would not be better for the bishops to stay at home with their clergy in their different dioceses than to spend so much of their time in the House of Lords.—(Hear, hear.) That, however, was a question of great importance, which required more consideration than could be bestowed upon it at that time. He (Is Charles Napier) forgot to mention to them that it was his intention, if they elected him, to give his general support to Lord Palmerston; but he would not commit himself to any man or Ministry; he would support them when they were right, and when they were wrong he would oppose them.—(Hear, hear.)  At his time of life he had nothing to desire from any one, and he should therefore go into Parliament for the benefit of his country, and not to receive favours from any Government.—(Cheers.) He was not the man to seek for such things, who had refused high honour because he could not accept it with a clear conscience. In doing that, he meant no disrespect to his Queen, for there was not a man in her dominions more devoted to her service than he was. He would sacrifice his life for her honour; but after the manner in which he was treated by her Ministers, he could not have acted otherwise.—(Cheers.) He was not the man to be bought. He had acted independently all his life, and would continue to do so to his dying day.—(Cheers.) The man now returned for the borough of Southwark will be by  the people.  If they did not like the way in which their representative conducted himself they would soon again have an opportunity of displacing him, for the present Parliament, when assembled, would not hold together he believed six months; and if they elected him, they would then have an opportunity of turning him out, if his opinions and votes did not accord with what they expected. The gallant admiral then retired amid loud cheering.