Welsh Journals

THE USE Ji GLEANEE A Local Register of Events and Magazine of Information. No. 9. Published Br J. H. CLARK, at " The County Observer" Office, Use. PRICE 3d CONTESTED ELECTION, 1874. MONMOUTH BOROUGHS. (Continued from our last.) Mb. Cobbes, on rising to speak, was received with loud cheering. He said—Mr. Chairman and gentle¬ men electors of the Borough of Usk, the sudden and unprecedented manner in which Parliament has been dissolved, has brought upon us a general election much sooner than we anticipated. It may be in the recollection of many of you that twelve months since, in obedience to the call of a large and influential number of the electors of these boroughs. I was induced to give a promise that I would come forward as a candidate at a future election. That time has now arrived, and I am here before you to answer to that call, and to redeem the pledge I then gave. (Cheers.) An address has been issued by me within the last few days, which I presume most of you have seen. In that address I have stated that I am prepared to come forward as a candidate who will give an independent support to the Conservative- party. (Cheers.) Now I wish first of all to tell you, as far as I can, what I mean by that word, " independent." I do not mean it in this sense— that if you are good enough to return me to Parliament, that I shall be independent of you, and go my own way regardless of your wishes, Ear from it. Many men go into Parliament to support altogether a leader, whom they will follow to the right or to the left, however the case may be. That is not my intention. I feel that there is something beyond the mere exigencies of party; and I feel that the House of Commons exists for something beyond party, and this is to secure our domestic and general benefit. My attachment is firm to the Conservative party, but there are many minor subjects which are not embraced in the Conservative policy upon which a candidate may be independent. On those subjects I shall act independently, and I hold that a member does not go to the House simply as a delegate, or to vote this way and that way without judgment. I claim, therefore, that you should allow me to exercise my discretion in all minor matters. (Cheers.) My desire is, according to the best of my ability, to speak on some political subjects which, are of chief interest, and when I have given the best explanation I can of those subjects, I will leave it in your own hands to say whether you deem me a fitting person to represent you in the House of Commons. (Cheers.) Mr. Gladstone has issued a manifesto. It took the form of an address to his constituents, but it was intended as a manifesto to the country, to give his reasons for dissolving Parliament, and why he and his colleagues should retain the confidence of the country. It has been called a '* prolix narrative," and it is truly so. I must say it is rather tedious, I do not see very many salient points in it. There is very little in it which may be described as a cry with which to go before the country. The chief thing in it is the go lden bait of five millions of money, Beyond that he tells you he was forced to take the step of dissolving Parliament because of the failing confi¬ dence placed in him by the constituencies. And in that he tells you truly. Let us look back at the last five years. Since the last general election forty or fifty seats have been lost to his party, and gone over to the Conservative party. (Cheers.) The con¬ clusion I draw from it is simply this. There is no really particular issue before the country, as in 1868. At the last general election certain Irish questions came to the front, upon which the constituencies were called to decide. Now there is a much broader question. Now, it is between a Liberal and a Conservative policy. In speaking of a Liberal policy, I would wish you to understand that I include in that term the whole of the Liberal party. In the • House of Commons the Conservative party were as one man. Mr. Gladstone's followers consist of many heterogeneous elements. There are the moderate Liberals, the more advanced Radicals, Home Rulers, and a few Republicans. There are many Liberals in the House of Commons who might very easily cross the narrow line and sit upon the Conservative side. Inasmuch as they do not call themselves the followers of Mr. Gladstone, they may be ranked together as the extreme tail of his party. Those are the people who are guidedto a great extent by the deliberations of the Cabinet. AVe may give them credit for one thing. They have got a catching and high sounding title. The word Liberal is very catching. A liberal man is a generous man, an open-hearted man. (Cheers ) I desire to be so—to be liberal in the ordinary relations of life, though not politically. That word, as applied to parties, is not always indicative that the one is more generous and open-handed than the