The National Register. — London, England, 1809-06-18 00:00:00

nal breed had rig:its as well as man, which it was unjustifiable wantonly to violate. His !tight Hon. Friend (Windham) had compared the cruelty practiced against animals by a reference to field sports. Could he be really serious ? Could he conceive that the vulgar carman, in the habit of kicking his unfortimate horses in the belly, was justified by the co, l:let of men who were attached to such pursuits? Why, would the Right Hon. Gentleman sit down at table with the same feelings with the one as wick the other? It was ridiculous to suppose that he would. The House divided—For the Bill 40—Against it 27—Ma `jori ty IS. TVerrnesday, June 11. • 'The Speaker proceeded t 4 count the House, hut there appear *a hut twenty-eight ,Members present, it was of course ad jimurued: Thursday, June IS. The CrTANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER gave notice he intend ed to propo s e that the period for bringing in private petitions in the next Sessien should be limited to fourteen days. He also intended submitting to them, in consequence of seine of their late resolutions, the propriety of ordering that all private Bills should pass through the hands of one of the Clerks of the House (before they came before them), who should then be responsible for their accuracy. THE N&TIONAL REGISTER. PA TLLIAMENTARY REFORM. Sir T. Mtn DETT, in stating to the House his sentiments with respect to Parliamentary Reform, hoped to put a stop to those misrepresentations w hieh had gone abroad, w ith respect to his condo( t and inteptions. The misrepresentation he alluded to, he did not state pt ()crack from a malicious motive, from any wish to lower him unfairly in the estimation of the public ; those who circulated them, he was willing to believe, were mis taken in his character; he, however, felt his duty to himself, and the public called til.in him to explain away every thing like ambiguity with respect to the motives by which he was actuat ed. In bringin: , this sot:jet-I before the House, tt was not his totention to propose that they should come to a decision ona any gpecilie phi) tb,tt be Might have formed on the subject of Par lie,twet try Iterone ; but after swing his opinions coolly and , c ti v t o thy c:.li oo them for a pledge, Lao, Owe would in the nest session, take into their consider:l -t:en the stoic T)f the iepreseutation of the people. The subject, it was true, heti engrossed his attention, but his opinions were not rashly expressed, arid still less had he endeavoured to dist emieate discontent among the people, without knowing what the object was he wished to attain, and which, when woul•I lessen the grievances of which they complained. In his no'.hing milli be more reprehensible 11;io the conduct which had been uejustly attributed to him ; n am ely, mak ittg the dissai isued w hen no grievances existed ; or exciting dis content by proclaiming those ~ , ,Tevanaes to which a remedy could oot be Such au imputation conduct had never merited. In o pressing those sentiments which, in justice to himself, he could not suppress, he would endeavour to abstain from commenting at any letsgth on those evils which he consi &erect as resulting from the corruptions that so loudly called for a Parliamentary Referm ; he Would also be careful not to let fall any expressions that might excite the indignation, or call - th the asperity of either party be that Mouse. It was not his .wish to introdtte dkseetion, but to unite both parties in an a o icable discussion. It miglo, however, be necessary for him io notice certain doctrines Lich had been broached, and which he considered as standing on an nosiabitantiel basis. 3n doing this he w ould first show whence the mischief com,dained of arose ; an d, secon dl y, t h at t h e remedy was aim i ile, practicable, and consisv,at with the constitution of the c 'wary. If he could spew that the system mieht be easily and -with safety reformed, by referring to ti.e laws of the toed, he trusted slleh a remedy would not be opposed as endangering the best interests of the country. Comtption had been stated to be essential to the Constitution. Its cause had, in short, been so far advocated, that it should seem corruption was not tolerated for the sake of the Constitutiou, but the Cooflitation was tole rated for the sake of corruption. Ile admitted the influence of lire Crown. was just and neee , sttry.to a certain degree, to the sta bility of the Constitution. 'With respect to corruption growing with our - strengthened, as had been arse mat in that case the Ake* te and 'trent belted as JUNE 18. we gained strength. They ought to be arrested in their progress. The Constitutioa ought not to be suffered to fall to deray when we had detected the disease. Corruption had sometimes bco spared because the instances in which it had been alleged to ex ist were considered as unworthy of notice; at others it had nit been punished, because it was of such magnitnde that every effort to crush it imea prove nugatory. At one time it had been stated that thcscorruptions were trifling, mere cheese-pa rings. Be remembered a proverb, which might perhaps he not improperly applied to the case, at hich .aid, " all the King's cheese goes in parings." It is as now stated , that it had groy n so large that it was impossible to stop it. Whichever might be the fact, he thought we could not do heifer than oppose it ; if it was thought useless to nttempt to check the disease, it n; t he supposed we were rapidl hasteoing towards a dissolution : that was not his opinion—he thought corruption m'ght yet he restrained by such a H ()use of Canenous as the people bad a right to expect, composed of men who were really representatives of the nation. The questions which had been recently agitate.' in that House he had been told hart Hot h ing to do w it h a Pa rliamer.— tary Reform ; but he considered them as intimately connected with it. His ideas of the Constitution were drawn from the laws of the land. lie admitted the prerogative of the Crown was a part of the law of the land, Ite never had spoken against it, hut when it had been improperly executed through the influence of such a nonce as that. Ile it ished is restore the be lance between the influence oft he Crown and the people. eta i ing the mere forms of a Constitution when the more substantial parts were gone, was of little benefit to the people. What as Rome thus situated as desrrihed by Taeitus in the time of Ti berius ? " The state of the country, he raid, was most deplor able and hopeless, because while despotism existed, its tyranny was carried on under the forms of freedom." The more they were oppressed under the form of freedom, the more deplorable was their situation. Some people were very much alarmed at the idea of any thing like innovation. Lord Bacon Fait!, " Time was the greatest innovator of all, inasmuch as it changed all things." lf, while time changed every thing around them they stood still, he thought in remaining stationary they became the greatest innovators. Rotten boroughs were the consequeoce of the innovation 3 of time. From the time of William 1. to that of William 111. such a system as the present was unknown. The King, when sending forth his writs to convene the great na tional assembly, would not have thought of sending writs to St. Makes, to (WON and to Old Sarum, to procare representa tives of those rotten boroughs as they were now procured. The admission of the present system was, he contended, at mite depriving the Crown of its prerogative, and the people of their rights, and had even the effect of holding up the King as the enemy of the people. The Crown ought to pawls great and extensive privileges, yet at the same time there ought to be a proper check on those privileges, when improperly exercised. Ile did not wish to put a sword into the hands of the people to destroy whatever might become obnoxious to them, but he wished to provide them with a shield to defend them from those evils which might assail their dearest rights as men—as English men. A document issued by James I. was extant, in w hich writs were ordered not to be sent to rotten boroughs : several . other documents of a similar nature were in existence. lie maidtaincd that the rotten borough system had an ellect exactly the reverse of that which it was expected to produce, as, while it trenelied on the prerogative of the Crown, it was far from having a tendency to extend the privileges of.the people. It had called a third party into existence, which had risen both against tee King and the people. His wish was to unite the King aaki the People, by a bond sacred as permanent, by alle giance 'on the Ore hand, and protection on the other. This salatary change, be thought, might he easily effected. Lord Coke had said, that any departure from an established system was generally attended by evils, great as they were, unforeseen. The truth of that assertion was amply exemplified in the mischief which the introduction of the borough-motigeriog system had given birth to. The people, he maintained, had a right to a voice is that House, which, by the present systemohey were precluded from having. If Ihl borough-mongers could newts a majority ie the. ilouse of Common., they h ere in fact the so vereigns of the comers., and over the King they could oppress the country wit!) what taxes tleev thought trooper, tend at once trample on both Kiel; and . People. Tilis s)stem he could only cantsi ler as an t vii excrescence, is hich had E:7 rown'onCof the its nu vations of time, and become alike inimical to the nation and its Monarch. If,IN it how making any change in the constitu tion, but only by potting - thlt into action n hich the Constitutiou put into their ie yauees of such magnitude could be dune ur growth t and strengihe. 71as,...fne Nsetted, l it wa: . ~ • 4 eiti'ill f tle;tru ~...) --- - -4. Lr..ri: ~- --. i ` f. 44Ar 0 , . z : 4 •., - ' 1