The Statesman. — London, England, 1823-04-05 00:00:00

„~ 7'7 ~ .~~; ' --..- 7 - •Nr.or LOSS OF THE ALERT PAL T• ' ' 7 ... N'floiftY REI-:ORM. r 1 „ ••'.'—'..--- ------------ oPWIta V.lWrettlllt)Re w ho desired that uPs peoctical in a mode that was Constitutional, and the Honotmable Mellott, r who declared himself ag tinst Reform of any ~e-scripti scripti on, or under any possible cireuntatance.— (A;- plause.)-41-lere Mr. Gooeh said, that what had fallen from him was not unitertspooll Mr. Mac teista hn, its continuation, said, that the inter ruption and c oetraoliction of the lion. Heather g as e . him lunch satisfaetiom, because it was of some impor tance that what the Honourable Gentleman intettesek to say should be understood ; he would, therefore, step into the back ground, and Ist the Hon. Gentleman stand forward. Mr. Gooch then'said, that be had not declared himself decidedly egaiimt every plan of Reform; but that t o plan which had been submitted to the public wet his ap probation. Mr. Mecnosimas, having resumed his situation, pro ceeded. It has been urged as an argument against 11 , - form, that the projects hail been too numerous—eariaas and different from each other—to all those plans the Ho nourable Mew' er gave his determined resistance; boa he was willing to believe, and to hope that some cotoje rer might be tunnel in a corner with a plan which woilit reconcile the Ilonourable Member to the principle of Re form—if so, he must indeed be a conjurer (a langh). As • far as he understood the speech of the Honourable Urn deman, with the exception of that part of it in which he stated, in the overtiowinor of his kindness, that he tended to the business of the county without makifat er a dVilleti.)ll between friend and enemy, and for which at, tention he (Mr. M`D.) did not consider tee county under any great obligation to the Hon. Member Cries of .` n i. uto:"). With that exception the speech of his Honour , able Friend might he almost comprised in a question which he put in his place during the lest Session of Par i liament. On au occasion of p re sentino , a Petition Iron ? I . , t e fo Now r t t t r r e o ,:.. y l that county, his Honourable Friend asrieol this questimit —" put , i po non l e . y ionnbtio.liteheveptohckatetsof the measure me " r t. Ire (Ile. M.D.) had a reluctanhe turd a put treat iotself agaioe f , t the Honourable Gentleistan,—g respect r him, and it would deoight hint muck to see his Honour able Friend mend his ways , but he was almost tempts I oa that occasion to censure his Honourable Friend, ant to say, " Do you mean to doubt Boot the miasure of ft , - 1 form nould keep the hands of Government oat o f t h* farmer's pocket (applause)?" Reform could not restore what hau been taken away, for the best of all po ble reasons, because the money was spent—it WAS tor tioned out to the Holy Aides —it was btiried its the Imes of Walckeren. and lately it had been strangely applied ea building fortresses in the Netherlands. Retort's was called fur and was necessary ; but unless the influence ' the Crown was reduced, lie agreed with those let o thought that Reform of any kind wonlo; have little effect; but to reduce that influence would be the first duty uhi.ts an honest reformed Parliament would feel hound to per form. Any person who heard the lion. Member, woli'd be led to suppose that the present was the first clay the question of ltefortn had been broached in that county. — It would, however, be recollected, that when Mr. Pot, in 1756, declared that tinder tire then imitation of Vet tHouse of Commons no honest mats col 1 retests ter of this country; , and when he ha t ed d follow up Miti• tti a declaration by introducing his pion of Reform, both the Members for Suffolk supported hint. That propueit've was not carried—the House remained unreformed; o'l consequence was, that the country had now to pay tloi:oy millions annually for the bare interest of her debt. Swan was the consequence of an unreformed Parliament ; h it, above all, be would entreat the Meeting to look at ,the principle on which the p resent eystem slats le. —lf he were not mistaken, a Noble Peer of ele , t fortune and influence had lately condescended to recut - !mitre the desolate shores of that county,and to make a eei vire by a coup de wain (which might with as much propri ety be applied to the p slits of the hand) of the boroughs there s tuoted. Orford, at the first blast of his golden trump-t, capitulated ; Mr. Mayor and the Aldermen bareheaded, and for aught he knew, barefooted, surren dered et discretioa ; Dunwich held a parley, but as lie garrison was divided between two rival clines, it shut its gates and would out admit him. The campaign si as scarcely concluded when Cornwall seas invaded. The venerable Bodmin heard Isis voice, a d opened wide its gates to receive hint. whilst Causelford, * {sore, was heard to talk of terms. Ciu;onstitutional as it undoubtedf was„he did not mean to tied great fault with the Noble Lord, so long as things remained as they were—so long as the market vas lea open he Sale no reeson why the Noble Lord should not poss es himself of hair a were of boroughs ; they might, perhaps, fall into no better hands —bet certainly he should reproach the people, it', seeing and feeling those things, they did out raise a held and indignant voice for redo c 0 , ,, It . they iii.l net call fur Re form —if they did nut wish to correct too e innovations which time and time alone had mat e. lie was eens iners that many of those Borough-which had Gentlemen to represent them, scarcely knew the nature of 800 -e Members—indeed he made the experitnent at :114- borough, but he never could get more than the name of the Patron-0 laugh.) Gentlemen thus se a into Parliament for neither respect nor Sr inpothy foe those i boroughs. If this system were fullowe;1 up, and ail coi - k Odense between the people and those who assumed to re present them was at au rod, what would he the resource of the connwy—ewhat alternative would there he between corruption and force? It was to this imperfect system of representation that most of she public abases might he traced. To that might be traced a great military force on a peace establishment; to that might be traced those nnconstitutiotial measures which were paned in 1619 (Applause). —He feared he bad trespassed on their pa tience, (cries of .• go on, go on.") He would unlit Sara that af•or an exposition of the last few years, the landed interest in the House of Commons- was reshiced to a low ebb; they had done little or nothing. He had Kilted in vain for that spirit and energy in Country tieutleur ri which had distinguishes; their ancestors. if the Colony Gentlemen bad pulled toerther, and pnlleil for the inter ests of their Constituents, the weight of distress occa sioned by the alteration In the currency. and by other causes, would have been diminished. It was his opines that much good might be yet effected. In the first place, a reduction of taxes —a reduction in thi collection of the revenue. For agriculttolsts, lie saw for them ro relief but by the fair reduction of taxes—save this, that tie landlords might be liberal and !me tenants just. Wttlt respect to Frame, that country, it seemed, was rich 04 I wicked enough to attack independent states. Oppressed and outraged Spain came to England for succour—cle applied in vain It would app-ar that in the semedr gree that Fiance flourished, Lugland sank. These it would always consider as da y s of hstniliation to 'Theses[ land ; she had better shut hero-ti up and abjure foreien politics altogether. lint that was not to he done; ne cunistances, it had beet) recently said, might yet invoke England in a War in support of the Bourbons ; wok any British heart endure it?— ( " No, no.") —Y es, OW were---he was convinced that a majority might be le ie the House of Commons even to sanction such sortre su re. Ile could not better c onclude than to hope termination of the mi sfortunes of the country. It Mori were delayed, if the people were disappoilited in the!' just and reasonable wishes. he would tremble to OW. plate the alternative. The Hon. Gentleman coacleild amidst the applause of the Meeting. f o r Si lt r ef l o r. im it° i l . l i .L P t a ir rliTo P er t,ratednd Sir IV. MIDDLETON shortly addressed the Meeting'. tluteouPledticrooo,:.abgeihina.d WO Thanks were voted to the Sheritf, and tile Meetiloi broke up. PAKLIAM —• The following Odd — i--m•nteresting particulars of tn., most tuelanchitl y • ra t a etro ? ee, are delayed from the oral most relation of one of t he cabin paetteners, a reepectable t t atiesman in Liverpool, who was fortn n ately saved. The wagtail:it thus drawn un was r llhl;sheil in the Liverpool Courier of Wednesday last. It is a mournful detail. "We sailed from the Pigeon-house, Dublin, at half past eight o'clock on Tneolay evening. There l weruding e, as • nearly as I ran judge about f i fteen passengers, inc myself, in the cabin. Among them were three ladies, one of whom hail an infant about eleven months old with her. The appeal atter of the cabin passengers , was most efapectable. We had a favourite breeze thronghout the Eight- sod made the Welsh coast early ir the morning. About ten o'clock, however,(as I have since understood the breeze died away, and the packet was driven, by the) force of the current, towards the West Mouse rock. Capt. Morgan immediately ordered the boat a-head, in the full confidenee that it would succeed in towing the packet out of danger. But in this he was unhappily dim appointed, the unfortunate vessel being driven, by the strength of the tide, on the fatal rock. It was about half-past ten o'clock when she struck. I was in any birth, .113 the cabin, at the moment. The shock,though not very violent, was aufficient to rouse me. I started up instant ly, and found the passengers in the cabin in a state of c infusion and alarm. I immediately ran upon deck, and found it In a ainailar state of confusion. I returned to the cabin, and diecovered, with feelings not to be describ ed, that the water had, in the meantime. made its way into it. The confusion and alarm among the passengers below increased with theeinereasing (imager. The doge ith affriekt ; and even the gentlemen were alarmed at th imminency of the danger which threatened them. I immediately quitted this scene of horror, and, making nay way upon deck, ran up the shrouds. At this mo ment the water had risen to a considerable height in the hull, and baffled every exertion which was made by the passengers and such of the crew as remained on board, to hale it out. 1 now saw, for the tirst time, the boat a head, a short distance from the extremity of the bow sprit, with several of the packet's crew into ards I came e down the shrouds, and , ma kin g my way th bowsprit, endeavoured to get into the boat. I waa,how ever, prevented by some of the persons belonging to the packet around me, who stated; that if I were allowed to get its the boat, the wonld be a getheneral risk tush of being towards it, by which mean' re it woelii run swaturted, and thus r mined , the only chance of any per son being saved. Determined, however, to renew the attempt at a favourable moment, I remained partially concealed in the fore-part of the vessel. Espying my opportunitv when the boat was a yard or two from the extremity of the bowsprit, and when I had seen tbuthe ina last seaman get into it, I ran alon g the bowsprit, , t tempting to get into the boat, I unfe crew,ortunatewlyho fell int d o the sea. • I was taken u p by one of th pulle me into the boat, being the first passenger who was re ceived into it. At this moment several other passengers made their way along the bowsprit to endeavour to get into the boar, some of whom succeeded in gaining it, whilst others fell into the water and were drowned. The boat still remained at a short distance from the bowsplit of the l, those already on bo•trd deeming to come toovesse rear, for fear of a rush being made, it by unsafe tbe crowd left..on hoard the packet. to get in. The Captain toot made an attempt to resell the boat, by plunging into the water from the bowsprit, and swinging towards it. A rope was thrown towards him by one of his crew, which be was so fortunate as to grasp, and was pulled into the boat. As soon as be caught bold of d hine ro , se veral unfortunate passe n g ers, who bad plungeto the sea at the same moment as the Captain, were obseried to cline to hjs body, in the hope of saving themselves by that means; but, such was the crowded state of the boat, which was already almost level with the water, that the crew dared not venture to take any more into it, and they were abandoned to their fate. There were n at thisowed mo ment seventeen of. us in the boat. Whe we r finally off, we left fohr or five unfortunate men struggling In tl c weer, nth no chance of f escape from an untimely Ra ve, A boy about fourteen years of age, and who, as I um &Wood, was the cabin boy, n as about this time observed to lash himself to a piece of wood, and throw himself into the Sc". in the hope of supporting himself till the arrival of suc cour. Just as it was determined to quit the sinking ves sel, a man got hold of the boat, to which he clung, earc-st ly entreating the crew to take hiM in; bet they, fearing that the boat might be sunk by the additional weight on one side, laehed hlnito ; Sts side. In this state he remained for nearly boat 's en hour when the people, ending that he retarded the boat *ay throtteh the water, (the tide running strong:), against them) deemed it expedient, at all risks, to take him I'm. which they happily arcompliahed. During the time we we re rowing towards the shore, which was attended with -gr e at ilifiett.ty and fa ti g ue. I kept my e ve fixed upon the packet, which was driving fast of the island. Of the pre cise momeet at which she disappeared I cannot speak with certainty ; bu r sae must, I think have sunk about three-quar ters of en hou after we quitted her. and whilst we were is the act of landin ; for when I looked for her the I could not disco g ver her. and a man w ho met us when shore, we leaded, stated, that he had seen her go down. No sooner had the crew landed the passengers who were t e fortunaxhaustiontely sa ve'. several of whom were in a state of grea from having been in the water, than they heroically re s olv ed. altholigh the boat was full of water, to return, with all expeilitior, to the spot where the packet was supposed to base sunk. They went accordingly , and succeeded in re scuing three individuals who had sustained themselves in the water by some buoyant article, from a watery grave. " It were in vain to attempt to dceribe the scene of horror which the sleek of the packet ex er h ibitthe ed, w h en t h we w ere on the point of quitting for ev which crowded it. It was a scene which would have melted the herd , st heart. For some time before that moment, and rmes of prelervation had been entirely aban doned ; the unfortunate crowd were awaiting, is I , • whit suspense, the dreadful death which stared thence! it, the face. Many of them bad fallen on their knees, and ores imploring the mercy of Heaven • whilst others were sending up the moat piteous . and ' heart-rending screams, which drew tears even from those in the boat who had some chance of escape. " There were many women on board, with voting chil dren scen e hm they clung with a mother's toothless in this of desalt : the, frautie shrieks extorted by their maternal agony were most piercing , a nd a ere heard long after the- *bo his wholeat had qum family y on the , bear iiikinir wreck. A poor eoldier had d. consisting his wife anii several children, and waa observed endea vfonring to affaral that coasolation in this most awful situ ation which was denied to himself. In short, it was a s cene of horror wh ich has seldom been equalled, and as, I trust, I shall never behold again." This most dreadful shipwreck appears, from the infor. • xnation which we have been able to gather, to have been W els h .by the packet. being kept close in with 'the els shore. If a vessel can be run between the Sher. ries and the main-land, the paasage is, we understand, thereb considebly shortened. 'fhis, it is supposed, vas th e object o ra f the Captain (t ithe Alert ; but the breeze dying unexpectedly away, and a strong current running in th direction of the breakers, a loss of human en• sued, e the bare mention of which makes one shudder li fe . The Captain, we bear, is lake a man distracted, fearing that the catastrophe will be imputed to neglect or carelessness on his part. • The gentleman from whom we received the substance of the precening narrative, was not on deck when the vsel we drifting towtds the locks ; hut lie• satd that ites e o as his individual opiniron, as well as the opi nion of the survivors with whom he conversed, that no blame was imputable to the Captain. Tweuty-aine of the bodies have been fou nd, and taken to Holyhead church-yad. . . servo's' ateetreo. Yesterday a Meeting of the Nobility, Gertry, Clerey,' and Freeholders of this County was held at fitowmarket.' in puristic* of a Requisition eignedby 1,300 freeholders, and presented to the (fiefs Sheriff, Henry Usborne, El. fur the purpose of taking into consideration this pro priety of addressing a Petition to the House of Com- 1 , mons, praying that the representation of the British peo-: pie in Parliament alight be reformed immediately and effectually, so that under the auspices of a Constitu- 1 , tional body of real Representatives; the nation might be I rescued from its present distresses, and its interests and liberties permanently secured. The Meeting was held in the market-place of the Town of Stowmarket, and was numerously and respectably attended. Amongst the Gentlemen on the Hirelings, we observed the following: —The two County Members, Sir Win. Parker, Sir R. Hartland, Sir Wm. M iddleton, Sir -- Eagle, R . James M'Donald, Mr. Gage, anti several others. Shortly after one o'clock the HIGH SHERIFF took the Chair, and having read the Requisition, he shortly ad dressed the Meeting. There were, lie said, Gentlemen, present of different political opinions, but he trusted that every Gentleman who should address the Chair, would receive a full and impartial hearing. • Sir HENRY BUNBURY then came forward to propose the petition, he was received eith loud cheers. The Hon. Baronet commenced ty saying, that he had, in common with the Meeting, to regret ihe alsrenee oined f Lord Henry Fitzroy and Mr. Rigsby, who were detaby unavoidable causes. The Meeting would recollect that they. bad twice before petitioned for Reform, and that their petitions were not attended to 'with any e:Tect—but he was persuaded that good resulted from those petition= notwithstanding—they refreshed the memory of Hon. Members --they conveyed salutary hints—they tended (to use a phrase borrowed from the fancy) to take that the conc eit out of them—{ laugh.) Gentlemen in House had said, that the system, as it worked, was a very 'good one. It was, no doubt, a good system for the fina -1 jority of the House—aye. and a profitable one to o ( a 1 1 laugh.) It was a pity that the people did not catch that rose-coloured view of the subject ; be feared that I s.6ths of the people were not prepared to pronounce then e system a goo I one ( ruo, no.) It was then to be l that the inteeests of the people and their.opinions were opposed to the interests of Hon. Members of the House of Commons. It Was the duty of the county agai ato pe tition for Reform—they bad pledged themselves to do so. There was not, in his opinion; a more favourable oppor tunity for asking forlteform for the last 30 years The) did not stand alone, they acted w;th the country at large — with Yorkshire, smith Herefordshire , with 'Lincoln, and many other coo:vier. In Yorkshire alone the Petitioa was signed by upwards of 15,1100 freeholder(hear,hear). It had been contended by some persons, that the taxes that had been recently taken off s afforded a satisfactory' proof that the House of Common' was disposed to do afl that could be done for the relief of the people, and that, therefore, was unn ecessar y . He denied- Gm fact altoge ther. And first, with respect to the degree of relief af forded—be would ask was that relief, great or small, to be ascribed to the self-moving and generous patriotism of the House of Commons? No, the Minister saw the misery of the people ; be saw a storm rising around him, and be found It necessary to do something to alL.y it; he sent down his edict to take off taxes, bat he (Sir H.) felt convinced that if it had been the policy ot [ wouldi to put on instea on the p d of repeaart of ling taxes, he find equal facility the House o f Commons. He migh t he reminded that the language of Ministers bad of Late improved —he knew it, and be congratulated the country that the fart was so : he boped to see a more ell ghtened policy pursued. The condnct.of the Government with respect to Ireland—the measures which he hoped were about to he carried for the relief and tranquillity of that country, inclined him to draw a conclusion so far favourable to Ministers. He was ever reedy to do jostiee to the acts of public men in power or in opposition. Ile thartked Ministers even for the language they used—it was more liberal, more English like than they were accustomed to beat under the administration of Lord Castlereagh— (Cheers )—But whatever might be the oislies of the Mi nister, it he were disposed to be honest, to set for the good of the country stone, he could nit pursue that policy under the present•systero ; the Minister must bribe the traders in Boroughs; if he do no', the traders would look ont for a Minister less patriotic and less conscienti ins—(Dkar, hear t) —The Hon. Baronet next observed t on the thin attendance of Members during the present Session. At home, the country, from one cud to the other, resounded with the groans of the itueoverished, ruined farmer. Abroad, the Despots of the Cnntioent sere leagued tog• dire to put down the hopes and the liberties of mankind—.(Clieers.)—The Parliament had sat for two montlis—dnring that time, on nights when questions of the utmost importance were to he brotteht on, the Speaker could not make a House; and even when Houses were matte, on cnestiois of the utmost Interest, nut more than from 70 to I a 0 Members meld be prevailed on to attend. fhe Hon. Baronet next contrasted the present state of the House of Commons with What (he asserted) the Constitution of England intended the House of Commos should have 'been. • The arguments •of the Honourable Gentleman were nearly the same as those urged in the Petition. He then alluded to the conduct of " the Holy Alliance," an alliance (he said) ch of tyrants aga inst the liberties of mankind. —(Lond eers.) Those unprinciVed?donarchsturned their hearts and their arms against the Spaniards, merely because the Spa ' niards aspired tts a state of freedom; it never could be forgotten that when the Thrones of the Despots were crum bling, ey wrre upheld and preserved by . the pa tient fortitnde and heroic deya lion by of those the W id ood e nticaand l Spaniards (load cheers), supported treasure of England. Who but -must abhor the vile Toorbou and the crafty Muscovite —what Englishman, attached to the ancient Constitution of his country. but niust feel indignant and alarmed at the upon hostility of the tyrants of the West against all freedom and all re i - p r esentative Govern ments. To place Gr eat Britain n , that situation where she CQuld at all times he able to de feat the projects of these tyrant's, the union of her peo ple—the return of all abuses, particularly the reform of' her Representative System. was obsoletely necessary.— He wished for an effectual Reform; the details of the tneastireonight be gone into at a more convenient time. In a reformed Parliament the country might place con fidence; they would not stand in need of hints—they would act zealously for the public good, fur the redress of grievances and fur the support of the Constitution. A reformed Parliament, if they could not altogether re move the burthens of the people, would at least do all that could be done to lighten them ; they tumid not al low one particular class, and that the most u-eful in the country, to suffer whirl- a grievous pressure, whilst other classes were exempted from those charges by a whichorm th ed at press ure was in a great measure cau ref Parliament would establish harmony between the clergy and the people by au equitable commutation —a reformed Parliament would not tolerate the Game Laws—those odious reliques of feudal tyranny which brought down upon the bred of the poor man so much of vice and mi sery.-(Applause.) The Hon. Baronet concluded by saying that he had no personal object in coming forward. He took the opportunity of saying so, because interested, though distant motives; had been iniputed to him. He was ready to explain himself more fully on this point if the Meeting thought it desirable. Ile was a consider able landholder ---he lead a deep at ike in the country — lie had a natura l feelin g for its prosperity, for its glory and independence —besides as an English tientletnan he felt he had a right to speak his sentiments openly, hu .THESTATESMAN _ er . neatly andillirleesly before his coontrymes .—(6reat ap - please.) The Honourable Baronet then moved that the Petition he proposed should be adopted is the Pefitiou of the Meeting. [A copy of the Petition will appear in our next.] Sir %Vat. Penxest rose to second the Petition. lie so fully concurred in the sentiments expressed by the Ho nourable Baronet, that he felt it necessary only to say, thee he approved of the Petition which bad been just read. ut by the S The question was then p HERIFF on the Petition, and it was (with the exception of one or two hands) menthnously adopted as the Petition of the Meeting. • Mr. 6nocn, M.P. then came forward. The Honour able Gentleman was received with some strong marks of disapprobation, which occasionally manifeited themselves during the course of his speech. As a freeholder be claimed the right of addressing the Meeting. He stood there in the midst of his politica! enemies—he was not supported by one single political frieud—but he felt it his duty shortly to state his senti me nts. He always wis hed that the people sho uld enjoy the right of presenting Petitions to Parliament, though he might differ with them as to the expediency of certain measures. The Honour able Baronet said, that some taxes had been taken off, but lie would tell the Meeting that it could be proved by black and white, that not less than 22 millions of taxes hail been remitted by Parliament. For himself he never touched, directly or indirectly, a shilling of the public money. A voice in the crowd—" No; bet your sons have." Mr. flooen, in continuation, said, that if they intended to answer him by ridicule, he could not but wish them joy of their taste. — (" Don't be angry. Uallet t" a 11 11 00 — lie contended o o,v th t a li : t i n the h E e lreecitgince ofF r e fi n e c n b r i y s e t w h e a s T m h i o ; r d e , ex tendedfur 40s. then were as much as 401. now. He bad dispassion ' atelv considered the question of Refute% and he bad made i n d i I notto this, exis t t , h b a u t t nti they e Reform emfoursmt reform which humanitad been natureyet proeosed would be of any bene fi t to the people.—(Laugh ter, and murmurs of dis.upprobetion.)—T he Constitution, as it stood, was sufficient t heor re abues. The law was strong enourrh.—et Yes, Six Acts a le strong,indeed , " a laugh.) He did not mean to say tha t bribery and cor- IluhrpteiPfliotiirlenibildrlibery and corruption could be destroyed. For himself he had attended to the wishes and interests of his cons ituents without considerine whether they were his political supporters, or his political enemies—he would continue to do so; but he would not consent to have his bands tied. As long as he continued their Representa tive, he should remain free and independent. he saw no prospect of any Reform that could tend to make the people more free , mor e happy, or mere prosperous than they were at present ; but if the Petition were placed in his hands he should certainly feel it his duty to pre sent it. Mr. S. R. GAGE then stepped forward and was loudly cheered. tie addressed the meeting nearly as follows :-- Sir.—lt is along time since this county has heard the sound of my voice, indeed. 1 never had the honour of addressing you hut once, on the occasion of the election to the Commons' House of Parliament of mywand wortererhy friend Sir Win, Rowley. Having been long a front Englaud ever since the peace, to get out of the way of the rapacious tithe gatherer, and still more repacious collector of taxes, I re turn a g ain to this happy country (I say happy in comparison to others), and find it still 'groaning under burthene which, hoeever, partially re ', pealed, just to put the " flattering unction" to the souls 'of the higher orders, still bear too hard upon those orders l of men that are least able to bear them. To relieve them I declare must be the object of the present mee ing, noting hat a Constitotionel Reform in Parliament can possibly relieve them— list, as by the general law of the Constitution the majority is to decide for the whote. the Representation must be chosen by a body of constituents whereof ihe elective franchise Inv extend to the m tjority of the people. For, if the constituent body consiated of but one thousand for the %hole nation, the Representa tives chosen by that thousand would not, in any rational ' sense, be the actual Representatives of the People. That nothing less than a Constituent body rosined on a princi ple that extends to the majority, can be coostifittio , aily adequate to the return of an be actall represallyentation of the people, and that unless the people actu represented, they are not constitutionally represented at all.A new bsdy o f co nstitnents is therefore wanting, and i o ne, that n their appoi h nt m ent ten things ar e to be considered ; tey should be numerous enough, because numbers are neces sary to the spirit of liberty : the other, that they should have a competent degree of property, because that is conducive to the spirit of order. 'The Reform necessary, I think might be settled by a mode Committee of the present H. use. Of the necessity of Reform I pro pose to give the follows ; g argument :—The Constitunon consists of three order one monarchical, one aristocra tic, an I one popular ; the b dime consists in maintain in", the equipoise between them. This balance was lost in the firs part of the Norm ,n era ; it was recovere4 in some degree in the period of the Tudors and Stewarts ; at the Restoration it is supposed to have been again k recovered. Let us see if it has not been impaired since. lite Lords have been the most stationary par r t, House yi t by has au i ncre ase of their numbers, of late the Uppe obtained a great many patrimonial and private boroughs thereby obtaining an undue influence in the House of Commons, which does not constitutionally be d lon to t h e m. But the grea t alteration has happene on g th part of the Crown—as the memorable Resolution of the House of Commons itself said—" That th iottuence of the Crown had iucreesed, was increasing, e and ought to he diminished." A learned author has said—" that a free people will pay more taxes is it heh gre s ate the r al ea so ri te t han a people that are not free ;" and s e a ' r be cause they hive a compensation in the rights they en joy." The people of England pay upwards of fifty mil lions W the revenue. This purchase they pay for the Constitution --shall they not have the benefit of it ? How many enjoyments must every individual relitainish, and how much labour must he undergo to enable him to make of 6overnm thi th s contribution ? No people vier deserved er ent au the people of England at thisbettmo ment. Notwithstanding the severe agricultural distress felt by every class of his Majesty's subjects, therefore, I cheerfully give my v ote for the proposition moved by Sir It Bunhury. But one word more etc we part, and that to an Honourable. Member of the House in question (Mr. Gooch,) %show face is the very picture of roll hu mour and bad politics (taught .r.) There is a political effrontery about that Gentlemen, only equalled by his bad jokes in that Honourable House. 'I he lloneureble Gentletuan'e arguments tend completely to the " what ever is is rielit." lie reminds tae much of an incident j which happened to my brother, when in Lisbon some years ago. My brother, with that sense of morality be-1 longing to an Englishman, wus tote day inveighing strongly against the moral conduct of the Portuguese ni whet ladies in general, when a Portuguese nolteenuan standing by said to hint, " My good Sir, our fathers wore horns helm us, therefore we must wear them like wise." (Much laughter and applause.) Mr. James M‘Doetetee next presented himself, am! was received with the loudest and strongest expression of popular applause. He said that few, save those who Its I voluntarily absented themselves from their duty that day, stood in need of making an apology. Yet perhaps he was bound to do so, standing as be did ansonest lien tletnen,who on every account had superior claims to their attention. lie would certainly have remained silent haul it not been for the extraordinary and inconsistent speech of the lion. Member—on the point. at least, he had cense for congratulation—the contliet of that ulev—if con flict it could be called, whic h rested on such a speech ff ■ F NI 81 TA la