THE HAMPSHIRE REFORMERS.
WINCHESTER, MONDAY, SEPT. 26.
The leaders of the Reform party in Hampshire dined together at the George Hotel here this evening, having previously held a meeting for the purpose of forwarding the Liberal interests of the county. The purposes of the meeting were purely those of business, and none were summoned to attend it save those who were calculated, from their position in the county, to aid by their opinion and influence the great object of the Reform Association; to cleanse every borough and district of the county of those Members who at present misrepresent them. These are, of course, entirely directed at present to the southern division of the county, and to the city of Winchester, and, from the character of the proceedings of the meeting today, and the business-like mode in which they were conducted, the Conservatives and the Stanleyites have much more than a sufficient cause for apprehension; in fact, from the statements made there, and the authority upon which they were made, there can be no doubt, not only that Mr W. B. Baring will not have twenty votes for the city, but that Lord Palmerston and Sir George Staunton will be the members for the Southern Division of Hants with a triumphant majority at the next election. At the meeting which was held in the afternoon, nearly two hundred of the elite of the county, as regards property, intelligence, and influence, we are present. Amongst them were Messrs. Shaw Lefevre and J. W. Scott, the Members for the Northern Division of Hants; Mr. Ralph Ettwall, M.P., Mr. C. J. Hector, M.P., Sir Henry Tichbourne, Bart., R. Tichbourne, Esq., J.P., the Rev. Sir J. Barker Mill, Colonel G. Purefoy Jervoise, J.P., E. Nightingale, Esq., J.P., James Weld, Esq., J.P., John Young, Esq., Mayor of Winchester, Captain Blackistone, R.N., Henry Holmes, Esq., Henry Marsh, Esq., James Theobald, Esq., Henry Knight, Esq., Winnall R. Knight, Esq., W. Spain, Esq., &c. &c.
G. P. JERVOISE, Esq., on being called to the chair, observed that it gave him great pleasure and satisfaction to see so numerous and respectable an assemblage met there that day for the purpose of considering the means they possessed and would be able to collect in order to carry into effect the great object, the reform which they had contemplated, and which, through their exertions, they had obtained from Parliament.—(Cheers.) Their secretary (Mr. Hector) would presently lay before them a statement of the condition in which they stood, from which they would learn that they would be well able to fight the battle of reform in the full confidence of the success of the cause which demanded their support.—(Cheers.)
Mr. HECTOR, M.P., then said, that he had in the first place to regret the absence of his co-secretary, Mr. Bonham Carter, who was prevented from being present only by indisposition; he had yesterday, however, gone over the account of the constituency with his Hon. Friend, who had shewn that he had not been inattentive to their interests, however he might suffer from indisposition, for he had forwarded to the proper quarter the grounds of objection to such votes as were to be opposed in the districts of New Forest and Christchurch, which were those from which chiefly opposition was to be apprehended.—(Cheers.) He was happy to find that any difficulties they would have to contend with were much less than those of last year; and he trusted that before they separated, the list of subscription would be more than adequate to fight their battles with the Tories.—(Cheers.) In respect to the southern division of the county he had statements which assured him that every thing wore a brighter aspect, and there was no doubt that the Tories would be there beaten, and that Sir George Staunton and Lord Palmerston would be returned at the next election; so, that from the present state of the registry, with the additions which their efforts would be enabled to make to the list of liberal votes, the northern division would, not only maintain, but would improve upon its present position; and in the Southern division they would you be able to make a successful stand against their opponents.—(Cheers.)
Henry Marsh, Esq., said, that the object for which they had met was not to make speeches, but he was still happy to inform the meeting that the whole county had got the power in case of an election to place itself in the position in which it should stand.—(Cheers.) This assurance, however, should not induce them to relax their efforts; for, although the enemy appeared to be asleep, yet they slept as the Bristol merchants were said to sleep—with one eye open—(laughter)—they, therefore, should take care also to have one eye open, at least to the efforts of their opponents; and, he felt sure, that they would not be satisfied until they had the principles of Reform carried justly into effect, and equal justice dealt out to every part of the Empire—(loud cheers)—here he could not but allude to one essential part of the Empire—Ireland—(hear, hear)—and he was satisfied of that because England had obtained municipal and other reforms. He would not sit down quietly and say, let the Irish do the best they could for themselves—(Cheers.) This was a great empire, and, if they wished to maintain it, they would bind up each portion of it as one people, and that could only be done by bestowing a free and enlightened system of government upon all.—(Hear.) He would not to detain them longer, but would conclude his observations by proposing a vote of thanks to the Members for the Northern Division of the county, for their attention to its interests, and those of the county in Parliament.—(Loud cheers.)
J. GUITON, Esq., seconded the motion, which was carried by acclamation.
Mr. SHAW LEFEVRE Said that it was indeed a source of great gratification to him to acknowledge the flattering compliment which had been paid to his colleague and himself, and he felt proud at all times to have the opportunity of giving his aid to his constituents in promoting the course of Reform.—(Cheers.) In regard to the southern division of the county, he firmly believed that it was the intention of Sir G. Hamilton to present himself to its constituency when another election should occur, and he was sure the Reformers there would give him a triumphant support. In regard to Lord Palmerston, however, it was a delicate matter to ask him what his intentions were, thought it was impossible for him, representing as he did at present, another constituency, to say what he proposed to do at the next election.—(Hear.) His (Mr. Lefevre's) Hon. Friend had alluded to the measures of last session, and had said that it was impossible that Englishmen could remain satisfied with the results.—(Hear, hear.) Now he could assure them that if others were satisfied he must enter strongly his protest against this, for he saw no reason whatsoever for satisfaction.—(Cheers.) It was true that about one hundred statutes had been passed, but amongst them there were few indeed of those important questions in which Reformers took an interest which had been passed through more than one House of Parliament.—(Hear, hear.) There was one Bill, indeed, which he was happy had become the law—the Tithe Bill—which was, in his opinion, the greatest boon the Parliament had in its power to confer on the agricultural interests of the country.—(Hear.) That, however had been passed, and he would add to it the Births and Marriages Bill, which was now the law, and which was one step towards that religious liberty which they had been so long desirous to achieve.—(Loud cheers.) But what had become of the Bill for the Reform of the Irish Municipal Corporations?—(Hear, hear.) Those corporations had been acknowledged by the Tories to be corrupt, although Lord Lyndhurst had denied that this acknowledgement had been made; but when the question was before the House of Commons there was not an individual upon the Tory benches, who was bold enough not to say that the bodies were corrupt, and they gave the best possible test of this by voting their entire abolition.—("Hear," and cheers.) Why, however, had not the Bill passed into a law?—(Hear.) Because it was said that it would confer power upon the Roman Catholics, who in numbers prevailed in the towns of Ireland; and, would they believe it, that Lord Lyndhurst, who was the most eloquent advocate for Catholic Emancipation, was the first man to do all in his power to prevent its benefits having force by preventing Roman Catholics obtaining municipal rights and privileges.—("Hear, hear," and "Shame.") Then, as respected the Irish Church Bill, what had become of it? They well knew how the hearts of all Reformers were set upon the appropriation clause. It was for the principal which it involved they recognised, not so much for any immediate benefit it would confer upon Ireland; but the Bill had been sent down by the House of Lords with this cause struck out. They were not astonished, therefore, that the Commons rejected the bill that's mutilated?—(No, no.) The Tories certainly said that that clause tended to the destruction of the Protestant establishment in Ireland; but he (Mr. Lefevre) would like to know of what advantage to it had been all the advantages it had hitherto enjoyed?—(Loud cries of "Hear.") Instead of promoting religion they had the contrary effect, and the Roman Catholic religion had increased in proportion to the endowment of the Protestant establishment in Ireland.—(Loud cheers.) Such had, however, been the fate of the two measures in which Reformers had taken the most interest last session; but he was not astonished that the Lords had rejected of them.—(Hear.) When the last Tory government came into power, they stated that they were ready to adopt measures of reform; and many Reformers had thus been deluded by false hopes; and at the elections which ensued the bad management of the Reformers, and the long purses of the Tories had given a short triumph to conservatism. A large portion of the press also had laboured to prove that a Tory reaction had taken place, and that the House of Commons did not represent the wishes of the people. It was no wonder, then, that the Tory Lords had pursued the line of conduct they had adopted.—(Hear.) They all remembered what their conduct had been at the time when the Reform Bill was under consideration—when nothing but threats of the annihilation of their order could make them yield, at the period when Lord Grey's Government was superseded; and was it matter for astonishment at their conduct in the instance to which he now alluded?—(Hear.) But although he was well aware that, if they persevered in this they would destroy the order to which they belonged, yet he did not despair of a happy result if Reformers united for this they would be enabled to stem the strong tide that had set against them.—(Hear.) Let Englishmen, then, be but true to themselves, and they will coerce the Lords into reason.—(Hear, and cheers.) He hoped, then, to see Government at the commencement of the next Session introduce measures of sound and just policy, without any compromise with their opponents.—(Loud cheers.) Let them persevere with such measures as should follow that Reform Bill for which they had struggled so hard.—(Cheers.) He hoped that thus would be completed the charter of religious liberty in the extinction of church rates—(cheers)—and that tardy justice would be done to Ireland, which the people so well merited, if they were determined to show that the union between the countries was not a mockery, that Catholic emancipation was not a delusion; if they are satisfied reformers by their straightforward policy, and he was sure they would, there was no danger as to the result; for let the Lords again reject such measures, and then let the Government appeal to the people, who would return such a Parliament as would refuse to grant sixpence from the national pocket until the grievances of the empire were redressed.—(loud cheers.) The Hon. Gentleman again repeated his thanks for the compliment paid him, and concluded amidst loud applause.
Mr. SCOTT, in returning thanks, wished that the compliment applied with equal force to him as it did to his Hon. colleague. There was one matter in which they were much indebted to his Hon. Friend—his exertions on the agricultural question last Session.—(Hear, and cheers.) He had indeed given a coup de grace to the "farmer's friends," which it would be long before they would recover.—(Cheers.) He (Mr. Scott) had always in his Parliamentary conduct followed the dictates of his best judgement, and in future battles for reform, in future Sessions of Parliament, he trusted his conduct would be such as to merit their approbation.
Sir JOHN BARKER MILL, in a brief speech, in which he assured the meeting that there was no more zealous reformer than he was, proposed a vote of thanks to the Hon. Members for Andover and Petersfield, who were then present, for their honest and constant Parliamentary conduct.
R. TICHBOURNE, Esq., seconded the motion, which was carried amidst loud cheers.
Mr. R. ETWALL, M.P., in returning thanks, said he was deeply grateful for the approbation expressed regarding his Parliamentary conduct. He had always endeavoured to adhere to the principles he had a avowed when he first entered into public life, and to prove to the reformers of Hants that he was a reformer, as he had professed himself to be—(Loud cheers)—he would assure them that his future conduct would resemble that for which he had received their thanks, and he would not delay them longer, as the meeting was one of business, and much was yet left to be transacted.
Mr. HECTOR, M.P., in returning his cordial thanks for the compliment they had paid him, would say that he took precisely the same view of the measures of the last Session as had been taken by his Hon. Friend Mr. Lefevre.—(Cheers) He was glad that he heard hinted something like a stopping of the supplies if the Lords did not make themselves amenable to reason.—(Cheers) He was a plain-spoken man, but it always had been his opinion that till they stopped the supplies they could not restrain the House of Lords in the course it seemed determined to pursue.—(Cheers.) Not that he would go to such lengths until he was called on by his constituents, nor did he think that any Member of Parliament would be justified in doing so, but let the constituency of the county call upon their representatives to act thus, and they would be ready to do so, and if constituencies did not so call upon them they would not do their duty to themselves or to their country. He could only say that he considered this to be the grand specific for reforming the Lords, and that when his constituents called upon him to lend his aid in achieving it, he would be at his post to obey their directions.—(Loud cheers.)
On the motion of E. Nightingale, Esq., seconded by J. Weld, Esq., a resolution of thanks was voted to J. Young, Esq., the Mayor of Winchester, for his services as Treasurer of the Reform Association of Hants.
Mr. Young returned thanks, and said that he would be glad to repeat his service in the present vear.
Captain Blackston, J. P., said that allusion had been made more than once to the expediency stopping the supplies. Now, in his opinion, such measure was only resorted to for the purpose of coercing a ministry which was opposed to the people, and he could not see how it would act beneficially on the Lords when they were opposed to the wishes of the nation. He considered that a reform of the House of Lords was to be preferred, and that the question should be brought prominently before the empire. At present the political machine resembled a vehicle with drag on one wheel. Now this would do very well whilst they were going down the hill, but he considered that the business of Reform was to advance up the hill, and a propelling motion was, therefore, to be preferred to the drag.—(Cheers.) If the Lords merely yielded to intimidation, it would not be an equable movement; it would not be a movement upon which the Legislature could uniformly proceed; but let the country turn its attention to a serious organic reform of the House of Lords, and they would make them a much more respectable body as a portion of the Legislature than if they proceeded to act upon it by intimidation.—(Loud cheers.) The longer this reform was delayed, the more productive of agitation to the country would be the delay ; but if that body persisted in their present course, the business of the nation would be to insist upon an immediate reform of the Lords. —(Great cheering.)
W. Spain, Esq., then said that he was aware Sir George Staunton would be ready to stand as a candldate for South Hants at the next election; and, that having hitherto acted as an agent for Lord Palmerston there, he had every reason to believe that would stand also.—(Loud cheers.) There could be no doubt of their success, for they had lost the last election in consequence of circumstances of which the meeting was not aware. The fact was, that at Portsea and Portsmouth there was a large number of voters who were influenced in some measure by the government in power, and although most of those had conscientiously promised to vote for the Liberal candidates at the last election, yet, when it was thought by them that the Tories were likely to continue for a short time in power, they had broken their promises, and the broken promises in Portsmouth alone, had they been fulfilled, would have given a termination in favour of the Liberal candidates—(Hear.) Next time, however, there could be no doubt of the result, and the southern division of the county would no longer continue misrepresented.—(Loud Cheers.)
A vote of thanks to the Chairman was then passed, and a Committee to conduct the business of the registration was appointed, and retired to promote the object of the meeting.
A subscription was then made, which in the course of the day we understood amounted to a large sum. These are the exhibitions of re-action in favour of Toryism in agricultural Hampshire.
The dinner took place in the ball-room of the George, where a large company sat down at five o’clock.
Mr. Shaw LEFEVRE in the Chair, and Mr. MARSH in the Vice-chair.
After the cloth had been removed, and the usual number of loyal toasts proposed from the Chair,
Mr. Marsh said that he had now the agreeable duty to perform of giving the health of the Members of the Northern division of Hants. —(Loud cheers.) They owed much to their exertions, but particularly to those of the Hon. Gentleman, which had been devoted to their agricultural relations —(Hear)—but he felt bound to say, that although he would give those exertions all the praise they deserved, yet that Hon. Gentleman did not, in his opinion, go far enough; and he (Mr. Marsh) desired to drag him still farther. His Hon. Friend, in the report he had drawn up, had given the farmers but cold comfort when he told them that it they had skill, energy, and capital, and exercised them, they would do well. —(Hear.) Now, he believed that the farmers of the country had both skill and energy; but he would ask where the capital was to come from? His Hon. Friend also advocated the repeal of the half of the malt tax, but he (Mr. Marsh) would say, that if that only was repealed, the expensive machinery employed in the collection of the remainder would still be the same as before. —(Hear, hear.) His Honourable Friend may say that he (Mr. Marsh) was a currency quack, but since that confiscatory measure called Peel's Bill had passed, the capital of the farmer had become dilapidated, and the only means of relief that could be administered to the agriculturist was either to bolster up the industry of the farmer to the amount of his burthens, or to reduce his burthens to a level with the produce of his industry.—(Hear.) His friend, however, would tell that the currency question could not now be touched, and if not then, the burthens upon the farmer should be reduced, and this could only be done by a revision of the entire system of taxation, and he contended that the millionaire and the absentee should be more highly, and the farmer less extensively, taxed, and that thus the latter would have a sufficiency for themselves and superfluity to the county.—(Hear.) He would be glad to hear his Hon. Friend’s opinions on these points, and, meanwhile, he had great pleasure in proposing his health, and that of his colleagues.—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. Lefevre returned thanks in an eloquent speech, in the course of which he observed that he was convinced that the repeal of Peel’s Bill would have no effect in supplying capital to the farmer. He knew that the agriculturists had lost money in consequence of that measure, but even more mischief would result from any effort to retrace their steps.— (Cheers.) When he sought and recommended a repeal of one-half the malt tax, he did so with the sanction of a Commission, of which Sir Henry Parnell was the head, and he knew that that reduction could take place, and the revenue not suffer if a reduction in the price of foreign barley was made at the same time. —( Hear, and cheers.) Then, in respect to the property tax, which was advocated by his friend Mr. Marsh, he (Mr. Lefevre) was once of the same opinion, but upon examination he found that, instead of such a tax affecting the millionaire it would affect those individuals of the middle classes whose savings were vested in the funds and who were the principle fundholders; for he found, in consequence of a return for which he moved two years ago, that of 180,000 persons receiving dividends from the funds, at least 100,000 did not receive from them more than 10l. a year; therefore, it was not upon the millionaire the burthen of a tax upon funded property would fall, but upon the middle classes, who had invested their savings in the funds. —(Hear.) Besides this, the effect of a property tax upon the manufacturing interests would be deplorable, and would have the effect of driving the manufacturers and operatives of this country to the continent and to America.—(hear, hear); and they had now passed the Rubicon, and it did not remain to be decided whether this was an agricultural or a manufacturing country —(hear, hear) ; but they might rest assured, that long as manufactures flourished in Great Britain, so long would agriculture flourish with it; and whilst the population of England remained at its present extent, it was the duty of the government to encourage the Manufacturing interests, for those of agriculture would necessarily flourish in consequence, and the best prices be obtained for their fat stock and their malt and wheat —(Cheers.) He was sure then it would be allowed that nothing could be so mischievous as to damage the manufacturing interests, and drive the operatives to different countries—(Cheers.) As to the machinery for the collection of the remaining half of the Malt Tax, which he proposed should remain, being expensive, it would be a mere nothing when compared with the reduction of the other moiety of the tax, and he had every reason to hope that the day was not far distant when the agricultural interests of the country would be as prosperous as ever. Scotland, which was more heavily burthened as regarded rent and rates, was in a high state of prosperity ; and every witness examined before the Agricultural Committee last Session, stated that they had been in a high state prosperity for the last four years.—(Hear.) What reason, then, was there for the depression in England ?—(Hear, hear.) He thought that if the farmers exerted themselves, and looked more to their own resources, and not to the belief, as they had been taught to do, that Parliament could save them, the result would be different from the circumstances in which the agricultural interests were now placed. (Hear, and loud cheers.) The Honourable Gentleman concluded by thanking them for the honour they had conferred on him.
Mr. Scott, in returning thanks, said that he agreed altogether in what had been stated by his Hon. Friend and colleague.—(Cheers.) He had been recently through Scotland, making himself acquainted with the means through which the farmers there had so much improved their condition, and he found that these results had proceeded from their industry and economy, which he was persuaded did much more for them than any legislative measures could do. —(Hear, hear.) He intended to try their system himself, in order to afford a practical example of what he had seen in that country, where, instead of two horses to their plough, and three or four to their carts, they made one answer the purpose where one could do so; and where a rigid system of agricultural economy was observed.—(Hear, hear.) He hoped that this example would soon be followed in this country and prosperity would instantly follow.—(Cheers.)
Several other toasts were drunk, and several admirable speeches made by Messrs. Hector, Marsh, Jervoise, Sutton, &c., &c., when the company separated