Star. — London, England, 1817-05-21 00:00:00

r did, under that Queen, restore the Constitution to its former situation. and repeal much of what had been enacted against It by Henry VIII. What emrld Englishmen think, when they knew, that, con sidering all circumstances, they were not so secure with regard to their privileges at the present time as they were in the time of the bloody Queen Mary ? (Ilear,hter,heee.) National religion was restored to l its former situation; for theta it would appear that the Catholics were the great body of the people, and Queen Mary adhered to short and constitutional Par- 1 liatnelitsh - not one of which would be found to have lasted.Jor (Inc year. Then they would come to the reign.of Queen Elizabeth, and they would find there only two on Parliaments, but without a standing army, without any thing but the affections of her' subjeus ; for she was too wise to oppress them, and too .honourable to deceive them. James the First Lad kept the Parliaments assembled for a very consi. derable time, but the people had not then known a long Farlitinhitt to be a grievancehathey had only felt hardships tram r.c,t having had Parliaments ar all e and having procured Representatives, they thought themselves safe under their hands. Na prac tical ill indeed had at that time accrued from long Pariliaments. They then came to the reigned Charles. thelfirsi. He was not content to follow the exam ple of. Queen Dieabetb, or to cmhorrn try the laws which those who preceded her had enacted, but he tried to do without a Parliament altogether. Hav ing made Weeniinster Hall subservient to his views upon the cowry, he contrived to make the laws his instruments in subverting the liberty of the people; but.he had nn standing army to support deed, it he had had a standing army. he very much doubted, that it %soul., have that night been a ques tian, whether that Heuse should be reformed ? After he had hied to do without a Parliament, he found it necessary for his interests to convene one; but even then he had not: the means of corrupting' Members to his purposes, which were since employed. Then came the struggle for independence, which the conduct of the King occasioned, and the House knew how that struggle had ended. The Parliament, after having been some time assembled, acted upon the principle of keeping power whilst they had it, and a ter having fought the battles of the people, became Chantelves as great a grievance as that they had pre v,:theh failing on their constituents. They passed an Act for their own permanence. It appeared that a great man, who then began to grow eminent, wished h. confer on the count , y a lasting benefit. It was h.:mewl:at singular, but it. was true, that Oliver Croat. v.-ell was a great reformer—(ficar, heor,)--tor that person, when he bad acquired a considerable it:fit:- vice over the Parliament, offered to them a pi.:n of Reform, the best which was ever submitted to their consideration. That plan was so good that Lord Clarendon had said, it was a pity that it had not come from abetter quarter, from a more warrantable pet sun, and that it was certainly calculated foe the wel fare of the country. It was, however, decided that Oliver Cromwell should either give up his situation, which, considering his condition, was equal to a self condemnation to the staff ld, or the plan would not be adopted. The peop:e then looked towards the reetoretion of Charles 11. as to a new era, and it' might then have been hoped that the Constitution would be placed upon a firm• basis. But it hap pened that Charles was a King who bad no feeling.: He followed up what Charles I. bad begun ;he at tempted and obtained the corruption of the House. Lord Clarendon himself had expressed a wish that the " generous folly," as he termed it, of the people might have been less manifested, and was sorry that stipulations had not been made, which in the end might have been of great use both to the Crown and, to the people—which might have preserved the fa mily-upon the Throne, and have saved the people from many of the miseries whi c h they caused them to endure before they were expelled from it. That Monarch bad then wished to re-establish Popehy in the country, though at that time the Roman Catho lics were certainly the minority of the people ; and through his whole conduct he was in opposition to the nation, and be kept a Parliament undissolved for a period of sixteen years. That Parliament, though it was so corrupt, that it obtained the name of the Pensioned Parliament. would not suffer the King to make himself independent of the people ; they would not allow him to have a standing army, and when at length he found that they would not fulfil what he required of them, he dissolved them. The disputes between Charles 11. and the Parliament, were, in fact, only a repetition of the disputes which bad taken place between the Parliament and Charles I. James 11. then attempted not only to corrupt tan Parliament in itself, but to procure undue elec tion. He pursued a course worse than that of the former Monarch; things, consequently, came to a crisis, and he was obliged to abdicate the Throne. They then came nearer to the present time. and par ticularly to the declaration of the Prince of Orange, dated from the Hague. After stating various other grievances, that Prince had mentioned the corruption ! of the House of -Commons. That corruption het, stated to exist in the King's using undue means to' procure the election of Members. He stated that a lair, full, and free Parliament, and that the grievances • which had been represented to him, could only be redressed by a free election of Parliament. Islan)h petitions had been presented to King James, request iug that be would call a free Parliament, and, as it was expressed, tree in all circumstances. He made a promise that such a Parliament should be elected : but then be said, " How can the Parliament be free in ail circumstances when the Prince of Orange in. Ounces 100 voters ?" One of the principal charges I against Richard 11. was, that he had packed the Parliament, and Rapin observed, that the Parlia ment was continued for the period of five months, which was considered very unusual. and as an exces sive exercise of the King's prerogative of prorogation. Richard 11. then having been dethroned, and James 11. having abdicated, because they attempted to in fluence elections, which ought to be free, as was de clared in the very word, what did the House think of individuals claiming a power which was never permitted to the Crown ? He next should draw the attention of the House to a part of the subject which required their serious attention, and in connection with arhich he should mention a petition which had been presented in 1793 from a Society in favour of Reform in Parliament. What he had now to notice will one of the greatest teat which the comity had to lament. The petition stated. that eighty-four in dividuals did, by their own influence, seed into that House one hundred and fifty-seven Members, and the fact was ready to be proved. That number, he ap prehended, was full two-thirds of the whole House ; but that was not all, for there were 150 more sent by 70 powerful individuals, making the total number a decided majority in that House—(Near, hear.) — Thus a set of individuals claimed the executive power, by having the right to dispose of the property, and even of the lives of his Majesty's subjects. He would rather leave the power entrusted to the Crown en tirely, than that it should exist in an underhand man ner, which made it much more distressing. Even Justice Blackstone, who in his own time was a Court Lawyer, who was considered a time-serving man, and who, so much was the state of things changed, was now considered rather Jacobinical, had said that the Constitution was the King, Lords, and Com mons, and that its excellence consisted in each branch being independent of the others. He had also said, that when any great encroachments were made upon that House, there would be an end of the Constitu tion. If there should be any alteration in the state' of the House, it was the forming it into a more complete representation. The country ought not to be governed by a narrow aristocracy. But there was au aristocracy which ruled the country. They were the men, in fact, who could controul the King, and trample upon the people. These were the men who had the purse.strings of the nation at command. History informed us of various governments which mankind had had, and persons had at various periods been attached to each. Some praised monateby ; 1 some were particularly attached to aristocracy ; and othe:s admired democracy. Under each of these go vernments men had at some period or other lived happy; but in no nation was it ever said that an oh. garchy. such us that under which England laboured, was calculated for the happiness of mankind. An aristocracy, properly so called, could have no inte test but in the happiness of the people whom they governed, nor could a monarch if he viewed his in terest properly. A democracy in the small States in which it had most commonly existed, was calculated to render the people happy who lived under it, to give energy to the country, and to add to the extent of human intellect. The government of England was however an oligarchy of the worst possible species— an oligarchy of borough proprietors, who might have no other property but that which gave them an inte rest in the plunder of their country. Such an oli garchy was most odious, and at the same time most contemptible— (Hear, hear).—And was the country to continue with a representation so constituted against the direct tenour of the Resolutions of Parliament itself ? The farther they retraced their history, they would find their laws breathe more of the spirit of real freedom and independence. In the law of West minster t;ie first, it onus enacted to the same effect that nu }peat man should interfere in the bringing about of an election. The Bill of Rights had not been altogether decisive upon the subject of elections, whin a single line might have settled what was re quired to preserve their privileges to the people. Not withstanding that the Convention Parliament did not sit long enough to complete the great work which they had commenced, the ex ykio power of the At oorney-General was not contemplated by the law, •and ought to be done away with. That power, how ever, unknown to our ancestors, had been given to the Attorney-General; - and that officer of the Crown might now imprison or hold to bail any p-rson for particular offences. What. after such a power, be came of all the panegyrics which had been lavished upon our Juries ? What became Of all that the lu minons Lord Coke had written, stating that no man could be disturbed in his person except he was first 'tried by two Juries, ;he first of which should examine, whether there was really any ground for what accii tation might be brought against him ; and thelecond, a lair and impartial jury of his countrymen to try him for whatever offence he might have committed against the laws. The praises that were lavished upon those institutions were all mere rhapsodies, for the benefits which might have accrued from them were lost by what had been since enacted. The Ho nourable Baronet then proceeded to thew that 1,11 A• chiavel, Montesquieu. and Locke had severally said, that the downfall of England would follow the cor ruption of the House of Commons. Plato had won der ed that that should be good in politics, which was bad in all other transactions relative to human life. Poli tical corruption was a thing considered very indefinite by some people, but it was really too easily capable of definition. Mr. Wyndham had said a good deal upon the subject, but he had quite misunderstood it. Nothing could be more ridiculous than the language held upon the subject in general. The fact was, that political corruption meant the acting publicly for an interest separate front the general welfare, and a man might be very moral and very religious without be ing the less corrupt politically. Suppose a person possessing Parliamentary influence to have a son, or some other relation whom he wishes to have made a Master and Commander in the Navy, he would go , to the Minister of the day and express his wishes, urging at the same time the influence which he pos- ' sessed. The consequence would be, that the ap,- pointment would take place, and all the former stora panions of the individual thus promoted; would na 'turally wonder what superior merit could have raised their former equal above themselves—(Hear, Afar). But this, it will be said, is the fault of the people, who encourage the system ; and it had been interred, that corruption was greater the nearer we got to the bottom. The people, in reality, could have but one common interest ; but the House, as it warat pre• sent constituted, could not be uncorrupt, although its Members individually might be the reverse. if it' was their interest to seek support from the public at large, they would cease to be a corrupt body ; but as it was, many would yield to considerations of pri vate advantage. The Government must necessarily be good when it was compelled to go hand in hand with the people. At present there was a deficiency of common honesty. By this term he did not mean to accuse any man, all he intended to infer, was that honesty which was overturned by a hint to a Member. Although Parliaments were for seven years, a Member who came into the House under so. perior influence must often act against his conscience, or else be guilty of holding a place contrary to the wishes of those from whom he derived his power...- A question had been raised, whether Members ought to be guided by the opinion of their Constituents but this question would never have been asked if they were Representatives of the People. If they had been chosen in this way, there would have been none of those regular meetings against which Bill upon Bill had so lately ken' passed. There would have been no occasion to have locked for redress, because they had no confidence in the House of Commons.-- A Noble Lord could not then have successfully ur ged to the Knitter, that " we are seven of us," and have obtained- his ends** by the simple repetiti;iii of those words. Ministers could not carry on the Go vernment without the support of the House, and the majority of this House was chosen by one hundred and fifty persons. The very idea of such a thing would have made our forefathers start. They would have been astonished at seeing a Minister detected in subverting the Constitution, and hearing the practice defended, though contrary to the very spirit of the Constitution itself. He had often thought that im peachments had been cattied too far, particularly when they had been the work of parties; and even in the case of the Noble Lord who had been unfor tunately detected, be should have thought it hard if impeachment had followed. But the detection was a strong argument against the principle, and hr hoped the public and the people of England would pin an end to such a dangerous system —(Hear, hear.) He wished to injure no one, but he wanted to put a stop to a course of proceeding which was leading the country to the very brink of ruin. There was a time indeed when the bare mention of such doings would not have been borne by the House—(f/ear, hear.) — When Mr. Pitt introduced his plan for the Reform of Parliament, he gave due consideration for maiden coyness, but all that coyness had now completely worn away to give place to unblushing effrontery as gieat as could be devised. M my different medes of remedy had been violet out ; but silver insitting upon the existence of the grievances, lie should leave it to the House to decide as to what remedy coil,' be applied. He should not go into any discussion upon the abstract principle. 'He was satisfied with point ing out where the grievances lay, and the greatest of those he conceived to be the nomination of indi viduals to seats in the House of Commons. He hoped to be able to ;Alice the House to inquire into that fact. The country Gentlemen who used to be fore most in the cry of liberty, were new yielding every thing, and fearing only that the Government of the country was not sufficiently strong. He, however, would wish the Ministers to have more of honesty and less of strength, and think of affording relief to* a wretched, taxed, overburdened, and starving people. Instead of our possessing a happy population, there was no country in Europe.so severely distressed. It was the interest of the landed proprietors to look to the condition of a couutry, in which the .inhabitants could not live by their industry—(hear, heir). Relief could not be expected from those connected with the system of corruption, nor was there any way in which it could be effectually afforded but by a fair representation of the people; and without this all attempts at amendment would be fruitless. IVlien the Representative found, that by taking a sh:liing from the pockets of his constitumits, he WAS taking as much from himself, then there would be an. end of. that profligate expenditure which had lasted for years. Country Gentlemen were now obliged to forego their ancient hospitality—they were driven by necessity from the seats of their ancestors—(Hear, hear,) they were driven by their creditors to foreign .countries. To nothing was this owing but to the syecem of cor ruption, and there wanted nothing but the Gentlemen to compel the redress of grievances which had given rise to all their complaints. They would then be again placed in the situation of their forefathers. There was a want of power on the part of the Crown, and of virtue on the part of the people. From these two sources spring the bulk of the mischief. It had been formerly said, that the public did not want a Reform. This might again be said, when personal security was at an end, and when meetings for the purpose of ex pressing grievances were prohibited, and by the House of Commons too, which ought to be the guar dian of their liberties. The people were in a lar worse state than ever, and instead of being protected they found the /loose of Commons in array against them. He could cite from great authorities the con. sequences of suffering the House of Commons to con. tinue unelected by the people at large. Pitt, Fox, and Earl Grey, had lilted up their voices, and tw person had wore diligently laboured in the cause of Reform than the late Mr. Burke, notwithstanding he had become to enemy to it from having taken alarm from the French Revolution. Yet no man more felt the grievance than he did. The Honourable Baronet then read an extract from the works of Mr. Burke,' pointing out the necessity of Reform. He would leave it to the House, whether his observations were not cor rect. We had indeed King, Lords, and Commons, hut the practice of the Goveinrnent prevented the Crown from exercising its prerogative, while any man might purchase a shine in the Sovereignty. By the laws of the Athenians, it was High Treason fur any but a citizen to come to the Assembly or the,People; but in this country, it was no Treason against the Crown, nor was there Treason in attempting to sub vert the rights, laws, and libesties of the People.— No subject that was popular out of the House had the same fate within, and it was there even deemed magnanimity to.disregard popular clamour. Vari ous Petitions had been laid upon the table of the House,complaining of the corrupt state of the country, which had been neglected in defiance of common de cency and US COlllatVll sense. Inquiry was clearly necessary firm the inroads which had been made. At the Revolution, it was requited that the Privy Coun cillors should sign their names to the advice they tendered to the Crown, in order to incur their respon sibility. A law subsequently passed to prevent per sons holding placer. from having seats in the House ; but every thing .that .could be considered a security WAS removed, or suffered to remain a dead letter in the Statute-book. The House had no common feel ing with the people. '!'fie representatives were alas ters and net servants, When the Septennial Act was passed, Dr. Johnson, who would be looked upon as a Gentleman in this day, although he might not have been considered so in his own time, stated, that no thing could be compared to that measure, by which persons who had been elected foe three years only should have elected themselves for seven years.. At that period it was pretended that there was a Popish faction endeavouring to re-establish the exiled family upon the Throne, that in the then state of the coun try an election, might b e dengetens. But this could not be pretended now. Instead hay/eyed jaxebige s the people were reminded of jacobins, and were told that nothing ought to be done because some wenld never feel satisfied. He should move " That leis House do appoint a Select Committee to inquite 'leo the state of the representation of the country." Mr. BRAND seconded the motion, and said, that after the luminous and discreet sp eec h which been just delivered—( Hear)—he mi g ht not, perhapsbe justified in taking up the time of the House ; but feeling the urgency of the present distresses, and knowing that the situation of the people was so de. plorably altered, he should beg the indulgence of the House in making a few remarks. Every thing pcin. ted out the necessity of adopting a prudent Retorts', unless it was intended to resort to military coercion to preserve an outward appearance of tranquillity.-- He regretted that the subject was not brought before the House at an earlier period cf :he Sansaim, as the people were materially involved in the question._ The House could nut be said to represent the people in a constitutional sense. The people had petitioned, c a f n m d st t i h t e u i t r i petition s onal r irights, : s ae , d a nbdeebny deprivingmetb p y s t e taking ißnt them a mo w rmo a t heir t y cliurlir d liberties under pret e nce of preserving internal (Het. He wondered ell those who opposed oppose the immense military establishment prop sed, lie should have imep,ined, that the weight. sled re spectability attached to the Petitionets ought to have altered the vices which seemed to have been taken of them. The country has been strongly excited this ye a (Hear, hear, from the Ministerial Benches) — they had been excited by their distresses— (1/ear, hear) —and their views had been properly directed to the state of the admieistretitm. Aithough some of their Petitions had been given in strong .language, yet some of them had been worded in such a way as to have demanded attention. The nomination to Seats in the House by Peers and Conimoners was most in jurious to the people, and was subversive of th e i r constitutional rights. The triendi of Ministers in tee House were in proportion to the Opposition as five to one, but the County Representatives were only as lour to three. This pleinly proved the difference between the landed and pet sone' interests. He \k ould say but little of Universal Suffrage, because that point was not under discussicn ; but even if test were allowed, the propostion between the Counties and Jeuenu g h s wouH be tee sonic. Virtual represen tation was not adaeted to the seise ill this V"1 , 11/y; that had been the oeihion of Sir William Jeers;-- and Mr. Burke, when it had tesen asserted in the House of Commons that America was as virtually represented as Manchester, had said," What, will yea turn to them the shameful part of your constitution ?" If the House of Commons were merely to execute .the decrees of Ministers, the snots dangerous conse quences would follow from the wanton confidence ia their representatives on the part of the people. There 'must lee. A limit to the sufferings of a loyal people,, and the ii. use .s di ii.) , 11141 to heir their cumpleints and to listen to their praeer. There was nn seasoa to the contrary', except A misapplied anelegy of this country esid France. What drums the people to arms against the Government, and occasioned the Revolu tion ? Bishop Burnett s aid, that men had been ap pointed to manage the elections, that the King slept have a Parliament to his need, and that nothing had caused so much disconcert as the return of 44 Mem bers for the county of Cornwall. It had been trely said by Burke, that " late reformations were c .nde I tions with a cutiquering enemy, while early reforma tions were amicable eriangements with a frierely I power." Should the voice eat those who plead the cause of the people be stifled or disregarded, he much feared that the consequences predicted by the Ho nourable Baronet would speedily be realized. The Honourable Gentleman concluded by declaring that he cordially seconded the Motion. 1 Sir JOHN NICHOL opposed the Motion. For his part, he held it undeniable, that this nation ea ; jnyed many and great benefits under the present Con . stitution ; and before blessings of that kind were to be put to the tisk, he thought they would pause at least, to consider, that the Constitution being a II1A• chine of checks, it might either be. stopped by altera tion, or urged on to destruction. It was sufficient, in his opinion, to know that the machine at present work well., Wbat could be in theory more absurd than that twelve Jurymen should be unanimous in their opinions, yet whet system worked more purely in practice ? He admitted that all Governments ought to be for the benefit of the People; but an equal representation of the People was not necessary to the legitimacy of Government, unless it were shewrr that such a representation mould be produc tive of a greater proem tion of happiness to the ?ensile. The House of Comminis should be composed ist all the wisdom, integrity, :and knowledge that could to brought into it. For the wisdom, it should be eve posed of men of talent; fur the integrity, of men o: character and property ; and for the knowledge, et statesmen, commercial men, agriculturists, ik: : — . And, he would ask, if such were net the coraliasileill of the House of Commons now ? In his opinion, :'•e didereut sorts of Representatives were pretty equslly distributed in the House. Representation, co-exten sive with direct taxation, would be an alterative of various parts of the Constitution, which were liner-. woven with the manners of the people. If that were the case, the popidetion of this Metropolis being s 3 numeons, would become, like the Metropolis ot France in a recent iestance, the complete ty!a'it of the country. Such an alteration would cause tse House to be composed of tee demagogues of , he j'" 1.1 icts which sent them up; of those who ceeed Sent flatter and cajole the lower orders of the people. It is true, many of the petitions complained et escise sive taxation ; but if they complained of unnecessel taxation, it must he denied; because the taxation WAS absolutely necessary to discharge the interest of tl'e public debt. He admitted that this arose Ilona the *A.:: we had been involved in, but if that Hause had lesee , lt s unison with the,people, would we have had fewer wars . Was it so in the Democratic forms of ancient or rac dern Republics? In our own country, every We since the Revolution bad been one according to the _ wishes of the people. Neither did he believe that if our form of Government had been more democreec. our expenses in war would have been less. At ieie time the expenses of the French Republic were nJt less than :ere millions sterling per mouth. Let tears 'not be guided by pi:nilller clamour ; even popteet feeling might be misdirected : but wheats the florae could street with popular . feeling properly directed, 4 would alwees :Attend to sech lecliess. ,Musts pars