ing that Church which was the stronghold of tyranny. He was in favour of a sound education, and was not afraid that those who had it would be the foes of liberty.
There was a want of a transfer office to abolish the present cumbrous form of law, which would be a great boon to the nation, whether lawyers liked it or not. There was also the Income Tax, which was never intended to be permanent; yet, when it was proposed to abolish it by a member of the present Government, Lord Palmerston and Sir George Cornwall Lewis said No, no! it must be permanent. The, as to our Foreign policy, no one knew but at that moment men were engaged in deadly conflict; and to whom must they attribute it but to Palmerston? [No! and hisses]. The point was should Lombardy belong to France, Italy or Austria. By the treaty of 1815 it was to belong to Austria; but latterly on certain conditions she would give it up. Palmerston would not agree to it; and, no sooner was the Battle of Novaro fought, than he said “I wish you may get it.” Then as to the Reform Bill, it should be one that would give the greatest amount of votes to the people; and he contended that the one proposed by the present Government would do as much for the country as did that of 1832 [No, no!]. Referring to one of its provisions, Mr. Williams said, if their ex-Mayor, Mr. Rock, were to live at Fairlight, under the present arrangement, he would be deprived of a vote; but in the new Reform Bill he would not. He had much pleasure in seconding the nomination.
Mr J. Rock, jun. proposed F. North, Esq., with mingled feelings of regret and pleasure – pleasure for the name he proposed and regret at the unfittingness of the time, when we knew not how soon we might ourselves be plunged into the strife which was now threatening the Continent, and for which he thought the Government was highly culpable. He was no orator, and therefore they should not expect such a speech as had come from Mr. Robertson’s proposer and seconder. He had not the energy of the first nor the lungs of the second, but he would just touch on that subject which was a personal one. He would thank Mr. Williams for his kind expression towards himself, but having passed his life in the town and its public business, he thought it very improbable that he should not take some measure for the protection of this vote. He would at once propose F. North, Esq.
Mr. S. Putland had pleasure in seconding the nomination of an old friend, and one who helped to gain so much for us in 1832.Some had found fault with the Reform Bill of that date; but, for the time, it was a grand move in the right direction. As to the present Reform Bill, he would call it a deformed bill, for it was full of deformities. In reference to the contest -
