Welsh Newspapers

Search 15 million Welsh newspaper articles

Hide Articles List

13 articles on this Page

1UL MAIXWAIUXGS MANIFESTO.…

News
Cite
Share

1UL MAIXWAIUXGS MANIFESTO. ..« 1 1 WK WVIV hivouivd on Lues<*ay evening last, will ;i political manifesto bv the representative IIf thtt Denbighshire boroughs—Mr Townshend Maimvaniur. The visit of the hon. gentleman to Wrexham, like his political veerings, was .juittf unlocked for ?y his own supporters, ?nd ap'K'ars t" have taken mo?t partic bv surprise. Tlieiv was no ])iiblie aunouneemont of the event Till mid-dav on Tuesday, but Mr Mainwaring made n;> in some decree for the shortness of the by iiiak-iii- a personal call upon his principal supporters, and inviting them to come and hear his review of the past, and solicit- ing their support for the future at the same time assuring- them that he was indulging in .• T J J the fonu hope, amounting almost to an assu- ranee, that he should be returned unopposed. Notwithstanding these friendly calls, accom- panied as they were by the most cordial greet- ings. it was very obvious when Mr Mainwaring ascended the platform in the Town Hall, that his adversaries had mustered in much larger numbers than his friends. The select few who composed the latter portion of the audience were apparently doubtful what their representative's piesent political creed might be. They were aware that lie had lately voted for the total and iniiiK-diate abolition of church-rates, and for aught they knew, he niglit have made some subsequent advance in a Liberal direction, so as to rentier it exceedingly problematical who. ther thev could claim him as their own or not. There was. therefore, no demonstration the lion, member- eauie into the room,—ascended the platform—commenced his s peech without an attempt ::t a ch iv; l i L l.. Although Mr M ah warm- was brought for- I t. 1 t ward bv ihe Conservative party in 1 ^-37 against the Liberal candidate. Mr James Maurice, he yravelv assured us on Tuesday evening that he came out and went up as a professed supporter of Lord l'ahm rston. He now comes back a :-nr¡;"1't. of Lord I'abncrstou's political anta- i)olI'L-,i,,?.il aiita- -■m: and successor in the Premiership—Lord D?rby. If we will return him again, he will ?u"p"rt any ministry without reference to party which will uphold the honour of our country abroad, and which will propo&e measures calcu- lated to ameliorate and elevate the^condition of the people. He voted for Lord Palmerston's Conspiracy Bill, because it was a difficult and delicate matter of diplomacy—he tacitly re- 'ic-s at its defeat because Englishmen have such an inherent love of freedom, and proves the righteousness of the decision by poetically ex- claiming Britons never shall he s laves." He repudiates consistency as a kind of cant phrase, and abhors the ballot on account of the large amount of humbug connected with it. But if electors insist upon the protection of the ballot the elected will expect the same privilege Co- ercion he believes does not exist, and in proof of this opinion he appeals with the utmostsim- plicity to his audience whether there is an indi- vidual present who was ever coerced-if there he he implores him to come forward and de- clare it. If Mr Mainwaring can be said to have any political creed at all. it is certainly one of a very original character. Nominally he is a Conservative, his friends and connections arc Conservatives, lie is brought forward and sup- ported by the Conservative party, and, although he appears to have dropped the word in his written address, in his assiduous canvassing peregrinations, he calls chiefly upon conservative friends. His published address will suit any party as it does not enunciate a single political principle. His oral address in the Town Hall leaves us in the same blissful ignorance—it gives us not one single definite pledge for the future. Outside the House of Commons he appears to be unable to make up his mind on any one single subject. We often hear that the interminable speech making that goes on in the House of Commons seldom influences a single vote. Members go with their minds made up, and while the debate drajys its slow lcnojrth along they lounge in the smoking rooms, sleep in the galleries, gossip in the lobby, or while away their time at the clubs, trusting to tho elect ric wires to apprize them of the approach of the division and the London cabmen to con- vey them thither in time to record their "aye" or "no." Mr Mainwaring is an exception. He sits aii(I listeii,Iives and learns. The process of conversion is slow but then it is sure. As an anti-church rate advocate, he is now fairlv abreast of any of the supporters of the 1 ibera- tion Society. It has taken two sessions of Parliamentary oratorv to convince him, and he ]':ii-lianic-iit.irv oi-atoi-% to conv liiee Ii i ni, ni-i d he had a narrow escape of running into a third be- fore he finally made up his mind. Bat here he is now. having substituted a voluntary for a eaiupulsory rate in Henllan, voted in Parlia- ment for their total abolition throughout the nation, and he will not rest until he wins over ihf bishops to do the same thing in the House li,,sll()I OS ti) (1,) the ,;aiiie t-Iiiii?,- iii the ]louse could make up his mind by the ordinary methods of reading, conversation, and other similar operations, by which the bulk of man- kind lbnn their opinions. He would then he aole to appear nelore the electors with delmed ideas, lixed principles, and less crude notions on the popular questions of the day. Such a course would be more manly, more inte1ligih]è, and ?? i?cl assured also, it would be to all par- -iii( I A%-L' I'o(, l assure d a l so, it %> be to a O l)ai-- ties more satisfactory. While we cannot but rejoice at the prospect of seeing our borough representative an out and out reformer, should the term of his natural life be of suflicicnt duration for his entire con- version at the rate of two years to one single advance, we cannot but regret that his trim- ming and vague semi-reform programme enables him to catch many waverers and timid politi- cians and keep out a better man. Although it suits him at times to appear as a kind of re- former, his real sentiments on the points which have obtained the sanction of all earnest reform- ers throughout the Kingdom, are of the most unsatisfactory character. He evidently has a lit il k- horror of the ballot. Such a thing as co- enioii he believes does not exist. If1\lr Main- waling is sincere in this opinion, we would not trive much for Ins knowledge of human nature or the ways of the world in general. Coercion dm-? not always assume the form of a cudo<rel— aut's 110 t as..?iiiiie tli(-? ioriii () f t cu(-I ?,e l it more frequently adopts much gentler means. A knowin g nod—a scented note—one single word—will sometimes take a man up to the I polling booth to vote against his convictions, and make him utter with his lips what in his iniiiost heart he cordially disavows. Mr Main- waring, in his perambulations of our town often meets with a tradesman who has leceived fa- vours from Marchwiel Hall, or stumbles over former domestics. We could point to such indi- viduals in the possession of the franchise in this town, whose political principles were by no means in unison with Mr Mainwaring's, who have lecorded their votes in his favour, but would not have done so had we been in posses- sion of the ballot Perhaps this cannot be called coercion, still it is an unjust and unfair influence much to be deplored, and one which nothing but the ballot will remove. Mr Main- waring's argument that we must allow the bal- lot to the elected if we ("ranted it to the elec- tors, was much more flimsy than Lord Joliji liussclTs resolution, which he so readily saw through, and was effectively torn to shreds by the reply of Mr Charles Hughes. We have not space to enlarge upon the shortcomings of Mr Mainwaring in reference to the reduction of the franchise in boroughs. He pertinaciously refused giving anything like a straightforward answer on this point. He is evidently terrified at the idea of a six-pound franchise, and talks about some imaginary in- tei-ests somewhere being swamped if we are not cautious how we proceed. There is great fear that if we go on increasing our expenditure as we have done during the last twenty years, that we shall be swamped altogether. Let us try a new element in the constituencies, for un- der the present system all attempts at retrench- ment are utterly hopeless. S.

- - . - - - - --CI THE OllEAT…

LOCAL NEWS.I ---

BOROUGH MAGISTRATES' COURT.-…

MR. AIAI- NWARINGI.S I VISIT…

-.ð-- - 1 WREXHAM BOABD OF…

OVERTON.I

[No title]

THE GAS WORKS.

--..-LATEST -MARKETS.I

[No title]

Family Notices

Advertising