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    There is , however , in the proceedings of the -week , an immense set-off against this single Episcopalist escapade . For one prelate who has erred , there are many more eminent divines , as well as laymen , -wno have converged upon the essential work . Meetings really in furtherance of education have been hfikl a , t Xdverpoo ^ 'Glfta ^ ow , and Edinburgh . At laverpool and Glasgow $ he object was to promote reformatory schools for juvenile delinquents ; but sud * schools are treated very properly a * : heing > albrnnch of \ e < &sm&on

    rather than of ttriminal ^ hrw . The object is to prevent crime rather than to punish it ; and Mr . Adderley has shown that a large proportion of juvenile offenders are so iron , no criminal propen sity , bnt from -want of training and knowledge . At Glasgow the meeting was attended by the Conservatives and Liberals ; the good 1 effect ef some charitable institutions of the city was recognised ; but the necessity of reformatory schools on a public basis was distinctly asserted . The same necessity was affirmed at Liverpool , with the most Tpr ^ arTrablo ooiubination ¦ of supporters . -,

    not degenerated ; we hope and believe they have n 4 r—K&te have heard that the engagement of hands for the navy goes on well . But an ugly incident occurred the other day when Admiral RichardJPImndas went down to meet the crew of the TAeiu , newly arrived in England ; we do not meW&ts announcement Ihat we are oailM « ve of a mar wit& Russia , fir we all believe th » jfc » and sopft of u * * re not soimr ; we . mean his aunqmnce

    m < AH to 1 km crew , t | oA thejr should not l&paid offi hut $ m * do ^ nya » d r ^ uired to fceep irj « er- > vice , Hfcer the planef limited enlistment ; Conduct like this , when men have been for more than six years at sea , is very like breach of the pledge . At all events , the compulsory return of the men is very like impressment , and probably will have a bad moral effect on men who have not already enlisted . Nor dow « believe that there is the slightest necessity for so unfair a step .

    If any inducement could be used in the shape of increased pay ; or bounty to make the men come back to their ship , well and good , and there is every reason to suppose that if they had been fairly treated lay therb officers , a comparatively slight bounty , with the promise of a second holiday upon the payment of the bounty , however brief that holiday might be , would secure every man of the crew .

    The Edinburgh jaaeenng . was . not less remarkable on another ground . At Liverpool the Reverend $ Er . Campbell declared-hiB belief that the religious difficulty could easily be overcome , since the essentials could lie taught m schools without rais « - ing sectional dtSerences . At the Edinburgh meeting lite difference of opinion on religions subjects was recognisedVnot only by the speakers , but' by the- fonhal l ^ ngusge of the resolutions- ; at the same time the Iteverend Dr . Guthrie expressed a fee ^ mgv ; shared no doubt by others , when he said

    that religion ocdtd not be entirely excluded from Soottiih « tehoois ; but the meeting resolved to suspend ^ spute upon detaDs , and called upon Goi&TBBuent to- bring 'forward a satisfactory measure on their own responsibility . Government , therefore , is ejected to reconcile the discordant sects , < andtodo lor them what they cannot do for themselves . —to-make them agree upon the object . which Aey declare to be necessary , but cannot ! agree upoltr—pabKc education with an infusion ofs iK > n-seotarian € lhRstianity . ' of

    The

    Taytewr sailed from Liverpool only to reach the bottom of the sea within forty-eight hours . Disasters amongst great emigrant ships are becoming common , and tlie publi < £ lwth in Australia as well as in England , want to know the reason vrby . At present the evidence is incomplete ; but there are three circumstances that demand investigation . Notwithstanding her experienced commander and fine condition , the Tayleur- seems to have had unusual difficulty in beating to windward . Notwithstanding her being built of iron , which renders the

    use of water-tight bulkheads easy , she appears to have filled at once , like a pitcher with a hole in its side . Her crew are said to have been Lascars and other rubbish from any country , who could scarcely understand the English language or discipline , la this the operation of free trade in our navigation laws , which permits the crews of ships to be collected from any rabble of any country ? It is to

    be hoped , at all events , that the crews collected for our navy will be of of a better stamp , which at present the progress of enlisting the Coast Guard Volunteer Corps i * promising Capt « n Cra , gjo In Scotland , has found that tie seafanng folk reuftml ) er W tllt , forcfathcr 8 them , Mr . Co > den notwithstanding i , rutllcr an object of emulation . Th , declare ^ they have

    Untitled Article

    FOLEEICAIi GATHERINGS . Sheffebij > . —In the evening , after MrHadfieldhad rendered an account of bis own private doings in fferiiament to bis constituents , a large and useful meeting was held in the Music Hall . As the British public likes , in quiet times , to give a convivial character to its gatherings , the speech-making was preceded by a ** banquet , * of which tea and coffee , cakes and fruit , formed the elements . The assembly was the more remarkaMe ^ rom f the fact that Yorkshire and Lancashire were represented by their Liberal members . There were eight in all : Mr . GobSen . Mr .

    householders of this country the depositories of political power , one effect of this would be'to cause the middle and the . appwi'jRlasses to be more in earnest in enlightening those Miho wer « 3 | hiM |^^ niit'tod into partnership with theru in directing ^ ijg } oMltrftJUing the destinies of the ^ empire . Therefi > r # jl Dc ^ vire iha > th « measures which would by this be broafeht t « ^ | feaT , io the upraising and enlightening of the masses of tfcfB Pimp le , even if it arose from a feeling of selfishness tgjjl of iwlf * preservation , would ultimately tend to remove «!« £ •¦«( which at first sight they might be disposed to iuctkine jxtension of political power would lead to . I . tiwcjGo ^ a ^ a not an alarmist . But do not fear that we Ball h ^ ve % K ) large a measure of reform ; we do not move yery ^ fi ^ ja j ^ Ja-eottJltrj ^ : we are rather Chinese in our ttiJK- ' Wi ( Ufiir ^ a great aeal to precedent , and anything « $ ieh has-been , in ( ExistencejRr twenty or thirty years has a chance of existing £ for a very Jong time ; therefore , we are not likely ^) have universal sum-age in . England . But I should be delighted -far-See a measure brought in by her Majesty ' s Ministers , that would bring a million more of the people within tbe electoral pole : and I say if double the present Bomber « f th * electors of this country were enfranchised , I cannot doubt bnt good in every way would result from it- — good to those who have got that number associated with them , and . good to those who are elevated and enfranchised because it would draw forth the virtues and self-respect by which they would be inspired by the possession of the

    francmse . " Artisans are more independent than genteel shopkeepers ; but the exercise of undue influence must be prevented . " Open voting is a feudal institution in this country . It is as much a . badge of feudalism aa the corn-laws were . ( Cheers . ) It is because somebody in this country thinks he has a hereditary right to control somebody else ' s vot * . In other countries the ballot is not a matter of controversy . There is not a party—I might say there is sot an individual—in America , France , Spsifi , Sardinia , or Belgium r who openly advocates a return to open ,, voting ; and wAere men recognise the free and uncontrolled right ttf another to the exercise of his opinions , there is not an argument to be found against the ballot . I repeat it , open voting in this country is a badge of feudalism as much as the corn-laws were . I maintain more ; I maintain , thai free trade was not

    more demonstrably proved to be sound and fair in its principle by such writers as Adam Smith , M'Cullodi , Bicardo , and others , than the ballot has been demonstrated by the intellectual power of Bentham , Grote , Mill , and others to be right and -fair as a mode of voting at -parliamentary elections . ( Cheers . ) I say that argument has done all that argument can do in the question . It wante organizati on to do it —Qovd cheersy—and I wiH add , wit * all sincerity , my firta belief fcbat if , instead ofbeinr nearly fifty , I was only thirty , or the age when I . began the agitation of the corn-few , I would by organisation in this country uudertake and pledge my honour-to carry thebaOlot in leas than f » f » reaxs . ( Low ^ cheers I say that the bonwaeh electors are the most intelligent .

    pure , and patriotic B » the kingdom . 1 speak as a county member , when I say that the borough voters are the most intelligent , patriotic , and independent in tha country , and so far from their being deprived of . their fair portion of the franchise , I say that it is to the interest of the community that they should have a larger amount than they now have , and that it should be accompanied hy the ballot . ( Cheers . ;) Then they point to the counties , and say that there have been no such scenes of corruption witnessed there as you have had in your boroughs . No ; corruptionandintimidatioa have ceased in the counties ; domination has taken their plac # . ( Cheers . ) There is no eketerat Hfe at all in fivesixths—I might have . said nine-tenths—of toe county

    constituencies of the country . They are handed over from the scion of one great proprietor ' s house to another , in the diningroom of the greatest proprietor of the county or division . What makes me most indignant in talking of this question of the ballot is thia—they refuse even a trial of it in one electoral constituency , and the very class who resist it are using the ballot themselves in all their clubs and all their societies . I am constantly hearing fresh evidence of the universality of the ballot . I knew it was in use in all our clubs , societies , and religious bodies , at the India House , and in almost all of what is called ' genteel society . ' These very people , who stigmatise it as low and un-English—which is something worse than murder—( laughter ) - —or church

    burglary— - ( laughter)—these very people are using it themselves in all their own societies . It was hut the other day that I paid a visit to Oxford . Oxford University is certainly the very last place in the world I should have supposed to have been addicted to anything revolutionary or un-lingUsb . ( Laughter . ) Well , I found in all their proceedings in the University of Oxford , in all the proceedings , of Convocation , that everything they do , except in the election of members of Parliament , they do it by vote by ballot . ( Hear . ) The tickets with which the vote is given , recording the votes of the master of arts , are banded in to the proctor ; he sums up the number of votes , and having finished his duty of scrutineer , there is a sort of brazier brought in , with a

    lighted fire in it . The brazier is placed on a sort of tripod or antique stand , and into this fire all the voting papers are put , and burned before the separation of the Convocation , in order that no trace or proof may be left of how the parties have voted . ( C hears . ) Oh ! it I wore about 15 years younger , I would go through the country , and I would say , let us vote as they vote at Oxford . ( Cheer * and laughter . ) What I mean by voto-by ballot is this : That there shall bo nt > record kept of how a person votes . That is vote by ballot . " If the franchise -were more widely extended , blunders in legislation would be corrected . " Wo all know by reading the timewhen the

    ( for we do not many of us remember ) great war of the French revolution broke out in 17 'J 3 . It was a . people ' s war . Everybody called out for war with France . We also know that when two years of experience had taught the mass of the people that war brought famine prices , bad trade , increased pauperism , beggary , and misery , masses of the people assembled round the coach of George 111 and around tho coach of l'itt , calling out' Peace , peace , ' Br « id , bread , ' ' No 1 'iLt , ' ' No war . ' Aye , but tins peop le had not the power to chnnge their minds then ; not having u vote , the power wiis in the hands of a separate class * , tin

    Bright , Ixwd Goderich , Mr . Hadfiebi , Mr . Cheetham ; Mr . Crosaley , Mr . Barnes , Air . Pilkington ; . andtwo frond Cheshire and Derbyshire—Mr . Kershaw , the member for Stockport , and Mr . Heyworth , the memtier for Derby . The speakers proposed and seconded reaoluttons expressing their -views , which we append below : . Each speaker had a separate topic , but in speaking all of them touched upon the question of Reform in general . There was only one toast given by the chairman , Mr . Alderman Hoole , of Iieeda ,- —• " 3 ? he Queen , God bless her "—and then Mr . Cobden spoke . He went over the whole ground , treating of the fitness of . the working classes as depositories of political power ; of the extent of the suffrage consistent with safety ; of the ballot ; and the influence a reformed Parliament would exercise . He contended

    that , although " not much engaged in advocating " organic changes , " yet by the free-trade triumph , the advocacy of education , and other things , something had been done to elevate the people , and indirectly to extend their political rights . " Give me , " he said , " an intelligent , sober , and prosperous community , and I will defy any oligarchy , or any political faction , which evear did or ever can exist , long to exclude such a community from their fair share of politicalpower . ( ^ Cheers . ) And I would say , on the other liana—and the experience of the world has Ja-tely very mnch proved it—yon may write upon parchment whatever form of constitution you please ; it may be a republic , written in characters of red ink , or it may be a monarchy with universal suffrage—whether it be

    in Europe or in South Amenca , yon may give such a constitution to those who are ignorant , debased , and degraded , and you will not maJte them a free people any more for that . Now , . gentlemen , in having accepted this first resolution at the hands of your chairman , it may , of course , at once be believed that 1 consider the jpcople of this country ~ a large section of the people of this country—fit to exercise and ought to have au enlargement and an extension of their political rig hts . I am not here speaking as an advocate of universal suffrage—I don't say that the million of agriculturists of this country are all intelligent enough to exercise those political rights with advantage to themselves or with

    benefit to others . I am sorry for it ; I wish it were otherwise . 1 don't pretend to say there are not many inhabitants of our towns who are neither respectable enough , intelligent enough , sober enough , nor economical enough to render the extension of the franchise too them either beneficial to themselves or useful to you . But I say 1 do believe there is a very large section outside of the present electoral pale , who are fit to enjoy the electoral franchise , and who ought to possess it ; and who , if they were admitted , would tend to increase the stability of our present social and political fabric , hnd reader it more linn and durable than the present system . " "t « m not much afraid of an extension of the franchise to a very largo extent . I have never , as 1 have told you , been very much engaged in advocating tliia extenwion but I have never had any fears aibout it . My opinion is , that if bV any ucoident you should obtain any very wide eateusion ol the suffrage , bo aa to umke tho bulk of the

    Untitled Article

    74 THE LEADER . Saturday ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 28, 1854, page 74, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2023/page/2/