The Monmouthshire Liberals,—Monmouthshire is at present Conservative,—held a great meeting
of over three thousand persons in Woodfield Park on Monday, Mr. M. W. Moggridge in the chair. Mr. Moggridge pointed out that this was no picnic, as no refreshments and no amusements were provided, and that those who came there came there solely to protest against the action of the Lords on the Franchise Bill. Mr. Dillwyn, M.P., who addressed the meeting, asserted that this was no acci- dental collision between the two Houses. It was the natural result of making the House of Commons a more and more faith. ful representation of the popular mind, while leaving the other Chamber absolutely alone. And that is the true secret of the whole business. It is absurd for Lord Salisbury and Lord Carnarvon to lay the blame on Mr. Gladstone. The special blame (or special praise) which Mr. Gladstone has earned, is that of being a true mouthpiece of the English people, the working-classes included,---which Lord Palmerston certainly
was not. As Mr. Dillwyn says, you must either reform the Lords, or restore the higher suffrage in the Commons. It is absurd to waste power by giving one Assembly the cue to pull one way, and leaving the other Assembly at liberty to pull the other. A violent Conservative meeting of the same kind, addressed by Mr. Dawnay, M.P., and Mr. King-Harman, was held on the same day in Sir William Worsley's park, near Mahon, in Yorkshire. Two large Liberal demonstrations were also held in Ayrshire on that day. So far as it is possible to judge, we should say that in every week of demonstration, the Liberal num- bers in the meetings of the whole kingdom are nearly double those of the Conservatives, and are much less attracted to the • demonstrations by adventitious lures.
Previous page
