Mr. E. A. Leatham and Mr. Baines made good speeches
at the Leeds banquet to commemorate the passing of the Reform Bill. Mr. Leatham devoted himself to a very amusing ex- posure of the Government, to whom he professed no gratitude at all, for he did not regard them as the givers, though he was grateful for the gift. Mr. Baines told how Lord Derby had per- sonally cross-examined him (Mr. Baines) before Lord Grey's Committee of 1860, with a view to show that so large a franchise as a 61. borough franchise would be very dangerous indeed in Leeds, and had examined the Conservative agent (Mr. Bond) in chief, with precisely the same view. Mr. Baines -himself advocated frankly and •heartily the admission of members of .the working class into Parliament on an equality with members of all other classes, though .he very wisely added that of course they must not be regarded as exclusively representatives of their class, any more than tradesmen or merchants, but as representatives of the whole constituency, and indirectly, of course, of the whole Empire.
Previous page
