Star. — London, England, 1830-02-19 00:00:00

....null 01 a member , of that ~. filet Was the principle which stood recorded in that house; and it was owing to a petition lying on their table, from a society of patriots calling themselves the fsieode of the people, and of which society lair Fos and Mr. Grey were member,, which petition a right ham gentleman, whose loss he deeply lamented (Mr. Tietney).. was said t.' helm drawn up on the part of the friends of the people, —that psper. in the year 1793, decluei that 160 members of tha t house were returned, not only by the interferenceobot on the nomination of 1 e very small number of peers. The petition eared to prove this tact at the bar of the house. The house wen much the same In tec.e days as at that time. (A laugh.) He deeply regretted that that right hon. gentleman did not now live to vote on this question, as Le always did vote, and always stood forward with great ability, in defence of those fundamental rights of the people of Eng. land which he (Sir Francis Burdett) now advocated. With respect to the motion before the house, he -was bound to say that he could not apprehend; at once all the details ; but he understood it to be a great measure of reform, which was sup. ported by very considerable ability, and that its object was to endeavour to restore to the people of England a share of the constitution of the country, to which they had as great a right as • peer had to his tide, or the King to his seat upon the throne. He regretted to see that the democratic branch of the constitution did not retain its proper share of power, and every en. deavour to restore the liberty of the people he would do all in his power to advance. The very denial of the house to disfranchise East Retford—was a refusal to adopt the plan of Lord Chatham, to infuse new blood into our crazy constitution, to enable it to bear its infirmi. ties. IVhen it was considered that a great portion of the talent and .Indertanding of the country was not permitted to find a vent for its opinions in that house, when great abilities, and every thing en lightened in the empire, were excluded by the present system -of things—and when the house absolutely threw away an opportunity to gain some credit with the people, by the disfranchisement of what was called, in that hour*, a corrupt borough, but which he (Sir F. Burdett) did not consider more corrupt than many others and' refused to admit representatives from the great town of Birmingham, and as a plasteroo the sore, proposed to throw open the votes to the hun dr,d of Bassetlaw, the people might naturally feel irritated at the house for refusing to concede to their moderate, perhaps too meiderate,wishes. —He trusted that this motion would unite the whole country with the people of Birmingham in demanding that fair and full reform which the people of England were entitled to, and a redress of that worst of grievances, a corrupt representation of the people. (Hear.) He trusted that the noble lord would persevere in his schemes of re form, ants that he (Sir F. Burdett,) after 33 years of unremiued efforts, might see the object accomplished. " Notwithstanding the length of my career in this undertaking," said the hon. hart. " let the standard of reform be again raised, and lam as ardent as ever I was, impaled to enlist under its banners, be they reseed by whom' they may." The only struggle really worth making was for a reform in parliament. The only distinction in that house should I be those members who were in favour of reform and those who were not—thole for the people of England and those against them—(hear, hear) ; this was the only true distinction, and every man would know where to take his place. After the terminational that calamitous reign, the reign of George 111.--he called it cala mitous in respect to its foreign policy, its encroachments upon the liberties of the people, and the burdens of taxation cast upon the country, which, in spite of the virtues of the man, made that a most calamitous reign for the country. Look at our situation now. " Look," said the hon. baronet, "at myself. I have gone through the whole process under the present system of representation, . and a most ruinous one it has been. Early in life, I came int., this house in order to defend the constitution 'of England. I purchased my seat of a boroughmonger—(A laugh f. I purchased it of the Duke of Newcastle--(A laugh). He was no patron of mine; he took my money, and by purchase I obtained a right to speak in the most public place in England. With my views, and with my lure of the liberty of my country, I did not grudge the sacrifice I made for that commanding•consideration. if I had abused the right I thus purchased, and passed through corruption to the honours of the peerage, I should not enjoy the satisfaction I now feel. But I feel it to be a greater honour to be one of the people of Eng. land, in whose hearts the love of liberty can never be deraeinated, than to enjoy the highest title which it is' in the power of the' most profligate ecec minister to bestow—(hear, bear.) The hon. baronet pro. c: to say, that having gone through the whole system of cor. ruption, he could not help having a fellow.feeling for the eke tors of East Retford, who had had the good sense, at least, to all themselves, not others—.(hear.) Having been detected, it was very well for the house to punish the offence • but who could say, "I am Awe ?" He then felts great compunc tion towards the electors of East Retfoed; for their instance, so far from being a mischief, was really &mitigation of the system. It seemed as if the house was acting on the principles of ancient Sparta, where theft was no offence, but the detection was punished. It was the mal-adroitness, not the commission of the set, that was prohibited--not the crime, but the want of address in committing it. The house was in the same predicament. The members for rotten boroughs were nominated bp peas, and of course they could not oppose the opinions of their patrons, A man of honour could not sit in the house and vote against the opinion of the peer who nominated him. In such a way as this, the people were excluded from the house of their repre sentatives, though they gave them power. True it was that some gentlemen, said, "we represent the people of England at large." This was a fallacy which reconciled many consciences. Such was the mode in which elections were managed, that no person could stand for a county without being ruined, or at least run into diffi culties. He (Sir F. Burdett) had gone through all this ; he had stood for a county, though he would not have given twopence for the representation of that county, his object having been to ex pose the abominable system and the oppressive tyranny of solitary confinement in England. To expose those abuses, it was that he stood upon the hustings at Brentford, though he really would not have given twopence foe the representation of the country. He could have got returned for East Retford at a much cheaper rate, and have been a more independent man. He had also gone through the re. medial operation, as it was called, of the Grenvi ll e act; so that, as he had sounded all the shoals and shallows of the system, it was not wonderful he should be a great advocate for an altered*. The plain question was this—ought the house to be an as. , sembly of retainers of the crown, or of representatives of the peo. pie of England ? He (Sir F. Burdett) would put it upon that lame. At the end of the American war appeared a person whose eloquence and talents would have:enabled him to restore the country, but who proved the remote cause of all our presets distress. Mr. Pitt burst forth with an eloquence which dazzled the judgment, but there was another cause which conciliated more pau. nsans than even his eloquence and his abilities. The strongest hold he had on the partiality -tof the people of England, was advocacy of the principle he (Sir F. Burdett) now advocated.— lit was parliamentary reform which lifted Mr. Pitt to the cabinet and to political power. Mr. Pitt told the people, when the tales were only fifteen millions a year, that without a Winn' in parliament, they might expect fresh wars, corruption of_wroey kind, and an increase of the public burdens. He (Bir Fra Burdett) had experienced still mote of the operation of the system than be had mentioned. He had been &convicted libeller.—(Hear.) - e• Yes, a convicted libeller; and be should not scruple to venture again, when he conceived that the rights and liberties of the people • demanded the risk.—(Loud cheers.) He did not forget, however, that by the new law of libel, a law which was a disgrace to the stature-book, he might, by a second contiction, suffer the punish • event of transportation. Fur aught he knew he might be again tried for libel ; and if he were convicted, as convicted he moot probably would be—for he knew not of what stuff juries must be composed, to return such verdicts as they bad remedy seen—he might be sent:to pass the rest of his life at Botany Bay or at any other foreign de pendency of England; and ii he quitted ' England, it would be whim of little importance where be might end his then miserable life. That would not, however, deter bias; nor would it, he trusted, dam any honest Englishman from pursuing that course which was dittoed MI him by a sense at public duty. Though he was not wllling li t i e mi t vice any man to court dimmest unnecessarily, am to oppose single-handed to the united force of a powerful and, per ha ps, a yin. 6 dictive government, he would himself never quail before it, nor stand in awe of our atrocious libel act. (Hear, bear.) Say it he must, be the consequences to himself what they might, that as the house was now constituted, our personal liberty, the liberty of the • press, every liberty that we enjoyed,werairsjoyed one and all on mess sufferance—(hear.) What the right boo. Secretary might be inclined to do, what his bon. and learned friend the Attorney.Oenetal might be instigated by the Cabinet to do, he could not venture to predict. Of his honourable and learned friend he wished to - speak with affection_.even with gratitude, for he had been his able, and honest, and intrepid defender. He could not be. him that his hon. and learned friend had instituted the late pro. aecutions of his own accord,--he could not believe that he , bed followed them up, except with great compulsion ; but be that 1 and be all things as they might, he hoped that he should have die fortirude never to desert those great principles of constitutioisl liberty which he had est out in life b asserting, and which he was not reluctant to die in defending. He t K that no *blood= wad ip? be made in the t stage to the pro tion of shamble seetpds. It was so usual to allow a bill to be Introduced W. the b ee , that he could net conceive it likely that any opposition wenil be wade to the moiled foe leave to introduce this bill. He OK not mesa tp say that the measure met altogether with his a fee Ile did not go to the ententoo which he himself sho uld to push It. He had himself leopar d two modes of reform, ono of width canasta in giving the t of outrage to all rooms who paid direct taxes in the 'there . either church-rata or PIX"P.... Let that made be adopted, o r . any ether mode foe infusing ago spirit 1 1110 She WON and he Amid be mount. (Rear, hear.) 2:4114ii. ‘ • ' • of England, and against those most sacred privileges which . olrepilpunded upon the acknowledged sovereignty of the people of rid, where was the security of the people ? It was a high breach of the constitution and of the privileges of the commons of England, wet a peer should interfere in the election of a member of that house. He understood that there was sheerly on the order-book a mo tion ror giving the right of election to the great manufacturing towns of England which were present unrepresented. He trusted that if that motion were carried, there would be another pro posed for communicating the same right to'the great manufacturing towns of Scotland, which were in a similar predicament. But the representation of all our large towns was es absurd in practice, and ibrmrd such an anomaly in our constitution, that the whole system deserved to be revised. Hon. gentlemen had talked much that evening of assimilating the law of England and Ireland.— ' Now, with regard to Ireland, it should be recollected that Wand already enjoyed • reformed representation, and that ludand sis.now represented—for she has got rid of the small bo. roughs—would form the model of an efficient reform for Ragland. It was not, however, his duty to go into that discussion at pre. sent : it was sufficient for him to feel now as strongly as ever ha did, the imperative necessity of reform. He hoped,--and from the info:option which he had recently received from different parts of the country, he believed,--that the people of England were at last beginning to bestir themselves, and to place sufficient confidence iti their own powers of exertions. He understood that petitions would be sent to the house so backed by ability and union,—.such union as he had recently seen with pleasure exhibited at Birming. ham,--and mixed up with so much caution and discretion, that it would be impossible for the house not to take this important ques tion into its most serious consideration, with the hottest intention of adopting such reform as was suited to the state of the country. Sir J. SCARLETT complained of the incidental manner in which attacks had been made upon him, when a motion relative to his conduct would soon be before the house. Ile saw no reason why the honourable baronet should pass such a censure on his conduct; but as these censures had been so frequently passed in that house, he should avail himself of the piesent opportunity of noticing them. There was no one act of his professional life that he could think upon with more satisfaction than the prosecutions for which he was so generally assailed He denied rat the pro secutions were forced upon him, and he would shrink from no part of the responsibility. His conduct ought not to be looked at by a side wind. Those who valued the liberty of the press acknow ledged that it required correction, and he had acted upon that prin. ciple, and unless people meant to hold up that the liberty of the press , was to be the tyranny of the press, which no man would have the courage to resist, or to assert the right of private character, the prosecutions he had instituted were of a useful tendency. He had objected to the present law because he thought the old law sufficient ; but he acknowledged that the new law still stood on the statute book. If nobody resisted the tyranny of the press, no private character was safe—sice multi see remedies pail poseunt. He had accepted office without compromising any principle, and tith the approbation of his political friends. lie wished it to be understood that he would not remain with anyadministration which wished him to exercise any official duties contrary to his own opi. nions. Something should be done to prevent the tyranny of the Press. He would leave the Press with full liberty, and he would give full effect to Mr. Fox's Bill, which left the Press to the pro. tection of juries, and he would say that judges were reluctant to bias juried upon such occasions. Lord J. RUSSELL said, that he had known his hon. and learned friend (the Attorney-Oentleman) for many years, and had never known him profess any opinions but such as were favourable to the cause of freedom. lie should therefore wait to hear his explanation of his conduct in the recent prosecutions before he ventured to give any opinion upon it. (Hear, hear.) He could not, how. ever, refrain horn remarking, that there had lately appeared in the newspapers words attributed—perhaps incorrectly—to his hon. and learned friend, which, if they were correct, be must say could not be looked upon without regret. It was only the other day that he read in the newspapers words said to have been used by his hon. and learned friend, which led him to suppose that his hon. and learned friend objected to the public's canvassing the opinions of judges and juries. He hoped that his honourable and learned friend would be able to explain these words away at the proper time. (Hear, hear.) The noble lord then proceeded to state, that in voting with the- noble marquis upon the present occasion, he did , so not upon the grounds upon which the noble marquis had put it, but upon the grounds upon which he had not put it. He voted for it pot because he thought that it was a question which , ought to be referred to a committee of 21, but because he thought that it was a question which ought to be referred to a committee of the whole house. The noble lord proceeded to ridicule the idea that the house had acted unfairly to such boroughs as it had dice. franchised for corrupt practices, inasmuch as it was notorious that rereices equally corrupt prevailed in every part of the century. was no ground for applying, as a noble lord had done, the , quotation, "Bat veniam corvir.a.vexat censure columters." The earlobe, who received 201. for their votes, .and then went and swore that they had received nothing. m was done at Orampound, could not be considered as very innocent doves. (A laugh.) Mr. PEEL was unwilling to give his vote without accompanying it with a few observations, lest he should be deemed to be acting dim. raspeetfullyto the:noble marquis who bad brought the motion forward. Bat as he disapproved both of the object which the noble marquis had be vkw, and of the mode in which he sought to aceot it,he should White the fairness of the noble marquis himself, by artng that he tek.l give his most decided opposition to this bill in its very first He certainly did not expect to have had a general discussion that evening on the question of reform, and he thought that the desultory speech of the hon. member for Westminster was a an& dent proof that it was not convenient to have such a subject thus irregularly discussed. After exciting the laughter of the louse by 1 noticing the extraordinary title to the bill., which professes to be a bill not for preventing but for regulating abuses in elections of I math= to serve in parliament, the right honourable secretary peopled to observe that the speech of the bon. member for West. abater was particularly open to the objection that there was in it " eloquentis sails, sapsentia pantos," (a liugh) ; for though there was in it of declamation much, of argument there was less than he badever heard io any former speech of the hon. baronet. If be had :: ti into the house accidentally, and with ou t k now i ng t h e su bj ect of debate, he should have supposed the hon. baronet to have been g en eloquent speech, not in favour, but in opposition to a Whew in parliament. Be admitted that the house was improperly asnetituted—that it contained men of the greatest talent in the country .individuals, whose respectability in private life could not be 'questioned—members, who, to use the bon. baronet's own phrase, were addicted to all the qualities which were calculated to raise the character of the country, and who were equal to any others in any port of Europe. (Hear, hear.) It was an important a dmi s si o n coming from the hon. baronet, that the house assembled men of eminence, talent, and private virtue—(Sir F. Burdett nodded as. sent)—actuated by the purest views --(Sir F. Burdett, "No, no ;") and what rendered this admission the most extraordinary was, that the bon. baronet concluded it by contending that th e mode in which these eminent, and able, and virtuous men were sent here, vitiated all their good qualities, and rendered them noxious and dangerous. (Hear, hear.) Then, when the honourable baronet entered into a history of the constitution of the house, his ar gument was all in favour of the small boroughs. The honour. able baronet was one of those individuals who would go down to posterity as one of the most distinguished men of his day : and yet be had told them, " When I was first returned to this house, I was returned for a small borough, owing no obligation to the party who returned me;" and had then proceeded to contrast his election with that small borough with his election for a populous county. He said, " I was a candidate for the representation of a large county. I carried my election at a large expense;" and yet he added, twice over, " for the honour of representing that county I would not give twopence." Under such circumstances, seeing that the hon. baronet valued his election for a small isemmgb more than he did his election for a populous county,—seekag that Mr. Pitt, whose talents the hon. busses admired to have bean NIL did w p dent to tender•ititu, if he had been y ohs sawiewe of his country, had first entered P ha ' eery d that many other eminent men had made their ibisthrillit in a similar manna—aiming that Mr. Fox-r *lauded him the representation of a larp town, found refuge in small borough, he thought that the boa. Wrmet and the house ought to weigh well the pea dud geed effected by the existence of these small boroughs before they involved them all in one sweeping condemnation. (hear.) As to the motion of the noble marquis, he was quite cer tain that the house would never agree to it. The noble marquis moved that the house should devolve on a committee of twenty. one members chosen by ballot, the power of destroying all the Boroughs which they should suppose were incapacitated, by corruption or otherwise, from sends members. He would never be a party to; that wholesale depreciation of the elective franchise; and he would never give his assent even ;to the first stage of a bill which conferred such power upon any cos. mince. A committee so constituted might inflict great wpm' and injustice. It might be ministerial—it might be oppdsidwa —but be it what it might, he would anew osneept to user 1 any committee to to any secretary et to dna a had forfeited its ri and to order him to give IMNIII II . 4 = Gamete of that that it had forfeited its shaft in the sem. swelnelem. Next he objected to the noble malquis'ablon lipase paying members of parliament. They had that nWit been estagisd la dimming the propriety of reform ; and yet the bill whisk was M. Glint that reform contained a proposition snaMing them lb Ir. poopeiste to themselves 400,060 -annually--a mop modest pee red. mini one well sicelated to recemissed dm beam M couddatee. The aside mega wee Dee . AMR. two .4 47 is *my *seer, amid kiwi risen =se every iseity. nrealber I doe th ewbes thee be i s a amoeba se doable the Wee et a Weigh asuebei. If i ew ,h e thwegel. thee at the average ens paid to me th awsbee, the bane to sit six days in week, sad th e wan se IS wake, t h e sum annually se Mil athebeie wail lIMIPort is 410,1110. (11theaid ranWO) Oa daaa 0 1 0 11 011 gal o.ft 66 Pa* lerd t ool[ mi, aid ebb . g thew a woe be 1 thethisd. poplin. Ithrippiisltheit de eitheimee, the &triples -4. of catching a few stray votes—thanking bun for having openly de. dared his plan of re form—he would state with equal fairness and sincerity, that is was his intention to take the sense of the house on the motion for bringing in the bill, Viscount HOWICK observed that, from the manner in which the benches of that house were filled, it was impossible to expect any Fnoobject fer the benefit of the people. The hon. bart. below him i a r t ik Burdett) was rot able, with all his great talents, his well. wn perseverance, and his tried integrity, to prevent the pass ing of any one of those measures whirl had brought the eoun. try to its present state. dlr. Pitt, who commenced his career as a reformer, soon deserted the interests of the people. His gnat energies were first displayed in the strenuous support of those interests, but he soon found that a losing game. He saw that the voice of the people in that house was weak and powerless, and that the voice of another class, which had been raised to influence, was all powerful there ; and to that class be attached himself. They now beheld before them a large portion of that party on whom hir. Pitt relied, loudly clamouring for what was little less than national bankruptcy. Such was the state of the house, that it might be justly asserted that the people of England were not represented in parliament. The consequence was, that i system of profligacy and extravagance was pursued which had brought the nation to the verge of ruin, and those who caused it were now afraid to meet and encounter the distress. They now came down, and to relieve themselves they called for the sacrifice of the na tional faith; they were anxious to defraud the national creditor of what was due to him under the moat solemn pledges.—(Hear.) He knew that this was not a very popular feeling on the subject, but he could not avoid stating his opinion boldly. To him it appeared that no. thing could essentially serve the country but a perfect and complete reform of that house. Mr. O'CONNELL said, the principle on which the proposed bill proceeded was that of popular representation, and the effectual exclusion from parliament of placemen and pensioners. The adopt. tion of that principle would be truly beneficial to the people, and be wished to see it carried into effect. He would have the mem. bers of that house completely free from every taint of influence.— They should neither have wages from the people, ear salaries from the crown—(Hear, hear). Those who spoke so confidently of the purity of the House of Commons could not, however, deny that 78 of the members received of the public money, not less than 180,000/. a.year. Doubtless they were all honourable men, 011 conscientious men. One of them, it appeared, had recently given a vote according to the dictates of his conscience, and what was the consequence?_ Why, he was immediately dismissed from his situa don of groom of the bedchamber—(Hear.) The King himself, it was said, with his own royal hand, struck his name out of the list of his household—(Hear.) Had there, he asked, been no new writ moved for, on account of the member who had been raised to the vacant situation? Ile supposed that that individual was as con scientious amen as any ; bullet him beware how he obeys the dictates of his conscience, or there might chance to be a second and even a third removaL Assuredly the house could never be pure while any man in it was liable to be thus controlled. He (Mr. O'Connell) being elected by the people, denounced, on the part of the people, all those who received the public money for betraying those who sent them to parliament. He called on the house, in the name of the country, to accede to the proposed measure. )ne great reason which induced him to support the bill was, because he was of opi nion that none but real representatives of the people should sit in that house : and that object the bill was calculated to effect. The lion. member for Wootton Bassett had defended the existing arr. tem ; but did he deny the fact, that there was a great body of ficti tious representatives within those walls ? 243 members of that house were returned by peers, and 150 by commoners. In short, if they went through the whole list of members, they would find that a great majority were returned, not by the people, but by corrupt influence. Was that the British constitution ? No : it was the very reverse of it. The principles of the constitution went even beyond the provisions of this bill. For his own part, he thought that all who paid taxes should have a right to vote. He, as a radi cal reformer, would say that every man who paid a tax, directly or indirectly, should have a vote, ioorder that so far he might have an opportunity of regulating the taxes which affected him; and of pre serving his property. It was not property that should be represent. ed, but man that should be represented. It was said that the present system worked well. How had it worked well ? It had created 000,000,0001. of debt, which was now pressing on you, while the peo ple were crying out, on account of the prevailing distress, from one end of the country to the other. And what was the answer to their cries ? A lively speech, ornamented with a few stale jokes, from the right hon. secretary, and something of the same kind from the bon. member for Wootten Bassett. Oh, this was mockery, and the tale will tell badly when it is narrated to a starving population. When he saw gentlemen of high talent and great private worth assisting the minister in all his views, it convinced him more than as thing else of the necessity of reform ; because it was clear that suc h men who would be pure if they could, were borne away by their associa: don with a tyrannical oligarchy. When be saw that, he was more than ever satisfied that there ought to be a radical reform. He spoke for the people, and on behalf of them. He was anxious to see them by t he principles of a refined and limited monarchy, and saved from the piercing fangs of a tyranntal oligarchy. Mr. BROUGHAM said, the right hon. gentleman opposite seemed to bare taken a very erroneous view of the motives which induced gentlemen to support the proposition of the noble lord, al. though they differed from him on some of the details of his Bill. Could it be supposed that his noble friend, the member for Ayles bury, or his hon. friend the member for Cornwall, would support the measure, in the first instance, merely for the purpose of strang ling it hereafter ?—(heer.)Nothing, surely, could be more ridiculous Cr senseless than such conduct. The fact was, he understood, that his hon. friends,though they did not approve of every part of the measure, yet gave their entire approbation to some parts of it ; and, on that Principle, if it were pushed to a division he foe one would give his vote in Its favour. Some of the provisions of the bill—that for instance, which assigned wages to members of parliament, did not meet his wishes; but when he looked to other parts of it, he should be deviating from the consistency of conduct he had ever maintained on this subject, if he did nut give the noble lord an opportunity of carrying those portions of his measure into effect. He thought the proposition for admitting all copyholders to vote, the provision for the diminution of expellees at elections, by lowing votes to be taken in the neighbonrhood of the elector, — the clause for allowing Scotch cities, boroughs, and counties, to enjoy the franchise as it was exercised in England, which was in itself a most valuable alteration (for Scotland was admitted, on all bands, to be without a shadow of represention,)—he thought that Ausee points were well worthy the serious consideration of that Renee. (Hear, hear.) One of the worst parts of the system was asassaal with places where the electors were not very few, but wises ites.residenm were allowed to vote. If that class of voters ware cut off; it would be greatly in favour of English reform; for k was these out-voters who created all the confusion, discord, and bdbmy, which generally prevailed. (Hear, hear.) In his opt oleo, however, it would have been better if the noble lord had agreed be the suggestion that had been thrown out, but which be bad re. sired with contempt and Indignation. He meant the t fon to a general resolution k favour of reform, of intro. race speci fi c plan. He tit was set issesdasat with the noble otd's plan, and was Isle to the assets Oche great gyration of parliamentary ream. e, dashes, wield ressenmend the noble lord to substitute for his modes as asealassi to this cf.', feet.—. 64 That this house is of video that& mans in the represen mike of the people is expedient:* (Tim Marquis el Illand s' Isis willing to do so.")—the stele Sod odght agree to this general sot sistion. with respect to reform, without Incurring the censure of basks token this apareedx the l = et as:bin a few stn whoa. He had beard , and with indio his hemperable and is : Mad the member ter oases Bassett, presume to charge ths noble lad who boa supposed the cause of Parliamentary "Ann so ably, (and who, bi believed, was a sincere convert), with having made a ludiesews honk& WW I t and hA r at the same thus, amused his bessumble Mood, the member star, with baying mein is nolo* duress Make. sad learned Mood would lgo v i s t a merard, 'Numb ts: last as the noble lord bad that sigh; asthma is geed of his country, or, whoa edsee ght them entrad, it be would support them with OM half the ability and domeity of his Waking the member for Wesuninstm, be would had, wia plasma, bin as quisition to the patriot list et thee hems (Hear). Mr. H. TWISS said, M bad not the remotest Mae et to the noble marquis any ash feeling as the hos. sad lesdipm. tleman adverted to. Mr. STANLEY esoM sit support a MB now, which he Mew he must oppose bertsAw. Mr. MABERLY, though a reformer, could not oppose the motion. Lord ALTHORP would vets for the motion of his noble reladso, if k were pressed to a divkks but he thought the best course would be to adopt the a'. 'ant. The Marquis of BLANDFORD Melly replied. He stated that he did est coodder it Decoreeoy to detain the boom but a toes taw miasma, for that positively nothing bad been advanced bee the masks ;Me which seemed to _make 3 ,l*y. He toast bow. ever, modes two points ea width the Ms. estestary site hod communicated with a sneer, bad arse Nis a les# at his expense. The Bret related to a west in the this elibehM be bad plepesed. The weed it regulating," had bas eased at as aboard as wiled to aimmisi. It soma the right ben.. /atlases wee wheW *mast ass lit Me year 1•74 a bid has read a woad thee, and assemild, is that lase, biro lag the way same title the mettle lad bad fee tlis pasta bill. _He was clearly bolus out by pasha. doodah he Wilde of that MI was " a bill kr regalotha cassis k depdas et meabai to serve is Parllameot. The mbar paha a wlthirthe right bee. sesstary swayed to create a laugh, sad as ushisseable iagesseisa at the arum of the noble lad, was as ass sides a the othenthe of the were of aseadasse. The aside ' .agil 111 said the dgil bus. eseselay bin hr 1 •1 1100 . a desire to appropriate to themselves a part of the public money, it, on open, fair, legal, and honourable manner. What hypocrisy ! ex claimed the noble lord, do not you, every one of you, obtain larger sums of the public money by dishonest, flagitious, and covert means ? The house divided, but owing to the forma of the house, the question, in point of fact, though not of form, wu taken on the original motion— Against it l6O For it Majority Mr. BROUGHAM said that as many member had left the house during the division, it might be better not to put the amend. ment.—Adjourned at halt past one o'clock. THE EVENING STAR. LONDON. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19. We shall print at full length on Monday the Bill for restoring the Representation of the People, which the Marquis of BLAN DFORD moved for leave to introduce last night into the House of Commons. The speech of the Marquis of BLAN DFORD, intro ductory to his motion for leave to bring in a Bill, "-to restore the constitutional influence of the Commons.in the Parliament of England," will be read with feeling s of equal interest and admiration. By very few—if f e w any of the living Reformers, who have distinguished themselves by submitting plans of reform to Par. liament—has this great and comprehensive ques tion been treated with such a condensed use of historical and constitutional authority, such a power of precedent, illustrated by usage and by statute. Besides all this, a strain of old English eloquence, such as that House has for at least a century been unaccustomed to hear—not over-ornate, and yet by no means destitute of ornament—pervades the speech of the Noble MA RQU is, and carries persuasion with it to all uncorrupt and candid judgments. The Minority is almost more than minor : but its record speaks eloquently the disgrace of that House, and the glory of the Noble Mover . Sir FRANCIS BURDETT—belying by his true conduct some insidious reports, which had been spread indus triously by the rotten at BROOKS'S—gave an ef fectual and noble support to the motion. His indignant allusion to tho apostacy of the Attorney- General from the constitutional principles in which he formerly affected to glory, stung that renegade placeman to the quick. He rose to defend himself, but all that he advanced only fastened upon him more irremovably the stigma which he seemed ashamed to carry. He said something about " the liberty of the Press being the terror of the Press"—he should have said ratber,the terror of real-administrants and corruptionists —and he justified, before an unrevolted Howse, the per secutions which he had conducted. Let bim say what he pleases, in their justification—he is paid well for the dis graceful work : but it is time now, since the Press has so few friends, and so many enemies, that it should adopt some means for the counteraction of this malignant spirit. The treatment of Mr. ALEXANDER, in New gate, has been incredibly scandalous and cruel: the public would scareely believe—if we were to narrate the particulars of the first days of his imprisonment—tbe unnecessary coercions and restraints, the infamous per sonal indignities which were heaped upon him. But we shall return to this. To Sir FRANCIS BURDETT, then—independently of the strong support which he afforded last night to the motion of the Noble MARQUIS—the popular Press of this country owes a debt of unfeigned gratitude, for the chastisement which he gave its oppressors. Sii ROBERT WI LSON spoke, also, in favour of the general necessity for Parliamentary Reform, but avowed himself unpre pared for such an extensive restoration of Con stitutional practices, as the Noble MARQUIS ap peared to contemplate. He, also, spoke of his pre vious distrust of the Noble LORD, but admitted that—by his present conduct—he had removed that unfavourable feeling. The Honourable and Gallant Member appeared to indicate a certain point, up to which he felt himself authorised by his Constituents to support reform: but this point stopped far short of the renova tions, proposed to be introduced by the Noble Loan. We were not aware—until we read this debate—that the men of Southwark were so moderate, in their sympathies for the Constitution: but, doubtless, they know best, what standard of parliamentary purity they have commissioned their Representative to exert himself in their names to obtain. We cannot dismiss, without one other remark, the speech of the• Honourable and Gallant Member—it is this : that his use of the phrase, " authorised by his constituents," seems to favour a doctrine, at which all independent mind. must revolt. A member is chosen by his constituents— or ought to be— , because of their good opinion of his political principles and powers of judgment, pre viously formed. But in the great aggregate Ab sembly of the Representatives of the People, he is to speak his own best persuasions accord ing to his own judgment, and not to be over ruled by the opinions of any knot whatever. For any one body of 'constituents—when considered relatively with the mass of national electors—dwindles immediately into a comparative knot of men. This putting forecuti, therefore, in a great deka, of whatever may be the sal or pleasure of the speaker's constituency, is but the making that constituency a stalking-horse, behind which te shelter opinions, which the person speaking may feel it either inexpedient, or reproachful to avow. We cannot topetrongly record our disapprobation of such a pru de*: it only saves the person resorting to it, in the eyes of the unsegacious. To be sure, though, that is a great deal : but we do not envy the manoeuvre. Want of space obliges us to forego much more, which the discussions of last night suggest: but we cannot too cordially thank Mr. BEN ETT of Wiltshire and Mr. O'Cow ELL, for the spirit in which they supported the Noble MAIQUIs. Mr. HolillOusz—notwithstanding his profession of radicalism—Ave cannot help saying, made bat an epicene sad suspicious figure ; and there were others, whose support was wrung from them by position in which they stood, rather than from any antipathies with which they are known to regard Peale sasteary corruption. Hortacx Twice is beneath anima:id vindoo. The thanlis of the People of gngland are due to the Marquis of BLANDIVILD--and no doubt they will be loudly expreased—for the dauntless and tho ages explain which he has given to the sys lima 4( beViNeible abuse and depravity, which hes el bog dipileed.—nad still deprives them—of their Oesatileilional right to vend their own Representatives is Phillessent. , • Zama s Primed ad Pibilsbed by imp Moves, ge she Pees- Orme ITe.l, Piebett-pleesaemple list. t l / 4 ..1 1 / 4 9;1 • .111, )11( „ ir e ' 6:s4 43.1.eve,A7t