The Sun. — London, England, 1832-01-24 00:00:00

served, that one of the strongest of those objections was the diminution of the number of representatives, they therefore resolved not to propose any such diminution in the new measure. To do this, it becasne necessary to comprehend 9 3 additional Members in the present Bill. His Majesty's Ministers thought that if they gave the whole 23 to schedule B, they should be justly c:larged with dioHnishing, the tfficacy of the Bill. They, there- fore, re.olved to give 12 e!sewhere, an to rednee the numb,r in schedule B by 11 ; thus making that numher 30 instead of 41. The Committee would row decide whether, in •o doing, his Majesty's Governm-nt bad, in their opinion, done right. Any reductit•n in schedule B beyond tl,tt to 30, his Majesty's Mit:jeers felt would be a diminution of the efficiency of the mei-ure. Mr. GOULBURN proceeded, and vs;ntznded that the House h of great reason to comitlain of the conduct which 1110 been pursued towards them by his Majesty's Mini sters. They had to complain of the conduct of Alinisters with respect to the its: clause of the because they Were relnired to pronopor e upon it without having urn infwernation in their hands which might enable them to judge of its merits. They had to co o plain of the eenduet of Ministers with respect to the second cla•ise of the Bill, because, although certain information had been in th e mean while prepared, it had been in their han•ts for so limited a period, that they had not the rneins of examin ing whether or not the boroughs which it stow proposed partially to disfranchise came within the rule which the authors of the measure set up. When the Hon. Member for Louth wished to add rive to the number of boroughs to be wholly disfranchised in schedule A, the Noble Lord left him a loop-hole, by teliin7 him that although the numb r now agreed to in the chime was 56, he might propose that it should i. 6l when the sehedn:e came to be considered. But now when the No: le Lead thought that he (Mr. Goulburn) wished to rescue some of ti c boroughs in schedul e H from the 'grasp of destruction, be declared that the titmthr,r 30 had been inserted in the donors 43 the ernallsttt that could be adopted without in juring the etlic,tency of the Bill. That was not his (Mr. Goulburn',:j opinion ; and having thus shortly stated the g otre.,lll,:on which he resisted the introduction in the ':.',ause of the word " thety," he now moved that the word be otni•ted. Sir G. WARRENDER concurred in the Right Hon. Gentlctran's motion, hut on different grounds. He could . . assure his Majesty's Government that he approached the discussion with every wish that the measure might be ren m fficient, and consonant to the wishes of the reat m .jarity of the people. With respect, however, to the thirty boroughs comprehm Ivied in schedule B, they were either nomination boroughs, or they were not so. If they were nomination boroughs, he called upon the authors of the NIL en their own principles, not to leeve any of those berouge , s a single Member. He contended, bowever, that they were nor rieminatem boroughs ; and, therefore, that if the prieei o le of the Bill was to do away with nomina tion horneelms only, then the boroughs in schedule B should be left untouched. If he was right in saying that on the ground of disfranchisement those boroughs ought not to be touched, he should be right in saying that on the ground, of enfranchisement also they ought not to be touched. It was not necessary to resort to the disfran chisement of those boroughs in order to enfranchise those place. to which, in his opinion, the priv,lege of returning representatives should be limited. He begged to throw himself on the indulgence, on the generosity of the House for a few moments. It was with g reat pain he intrud e d open them et all. But, unconnect e d as he was with all parties in that House, it was only by throwing himself on their generosity that he could hope to be able to proceed He hail felt it conscientiously his duty to vote for the second read ing of the Bill in December; and in cemequence be had been assailed in various publications, and subjected to all the vituperation in which the press of this country sometimes indulged. He was so convinced, however. of th e great utility o the Press in general, that he had not been disposed to make any forme! complaint to the House upon the subject, or to call for the permishmmnt of those who, in his person, had made so direct an attick on their privileges. The reasons why lie had voted for the second Treeing of the Bill in December, although he had opposed it in June, were, that Minister: had !made some important concessions in the provision of the measure—that the circumstances of the times were materially changed—that the agitation of the question had paralyzed the commerce of the country—that, for the first time in the financial history of the country, all hope of a surplus revenue had • ceas,d—th.,t there was general discontent among the people—and that there was such insubordination among the inferior classes, and such an abeyance of authority among the superior, that in some of time principal towns and cities of the 'kingdom the ni d. had ot.taioed uncon trouled I , os=essi n of power Under such rircurnat :nee. he fe's ;t to Imp most desirable that the question should, it possible, be settled. The country was not in the immune seuation as that in which it was in 1830, when the Right Hon. Baronet under him made the unfortunate declaration, that to take a step to Reform anything was the way to prevent the Reform of everything. —(Question, ques•ion.) He was sorry to intrude on the attention of the House, but having been charged in one of the diurn ml prints with being guilty of apestacy and treachery, he had been desi rous, however unwilling, to come in contact with the Press, to exonerate himself from such an imputation. Any objection that he now made to the Bill was not made in a spirit of hostility : on the contrary, it was made with a desire to see the B;11 rendered a satisfactory measure. He had already shown that the thirty boroughs should not be included in schedule B on the ground of disfranchipenment ; he would now shoe , that they need not be included in it on the ground of en frenchissment. On what principle was it that the thirty boroughs comprehended in schedule B were to lose each eras Member? For the purpose of conferring the right ot returning thirty representatives on other places. Now he willingly admired that latge manufacturing and commer ciel communities which had grown up from insignificance to importance were fully entitled to represent itivt a who could conduct their peculiar interests in Parliament; but to the proposal to give representatives to large masses of the popul ttion, whose interests were already sufficiently at tended to in the House, was, in his opinion, unnecessary and injurious. That observation applied to many of the places to which representatives were givon by the Bill. There would be no difficulty in deducting fifteen 3lembers demon schedule C, and five more from schedule D. As to the proposition for giving three Members to certain counties, it was calculated only to produce disunion, ex crement, and confusion. From these, ten more Members might be deducted. One of the most injudicim us and in exeedient class of additions was, as be had already observed, to towns and places already sufficiently represented. Ile or. that eround, deduct all the proposed Members for the metropo'itan ttistriets. By the process which he had described, thirty Members would he obtained, being exactly equivalent to the number diminished by schedule B. The diminution was, therefore, unnecessary for the amount of enfranchisement which in his opinion ought to take place. Feeling allegiance to no one, with reference to ties question, but to the country, he should continue to persevere in the course which, after much consideration, appeared to hen calculated to effect a beneficial purpose; and on the grounds which he had stated ime would vote for the Right Hon. Gentleman's motion. Lord EASTNOR said that all who knew him were aware that he had steadily opposed time Reform Bill. He felt as strongly as ever that he could not have adopted that itnea•mre lo the faithful, honest, and conseientious dia charge of his duty. He felt compelled to oppose that Bill because it was a complete reconstruction of that House, in a manner which appealed to him replete with danger to the country. The circumstances which hid since occurred, however—the approbation which the Bill had received from a vast mass of the populetion, and from a consi deratmle part of time property ot the country, and the con viction which had grown up in his mind of the impossi bility that any Administration could in future conduct the affairs of tee country with that strength indispensable to success while the nomination boroughs were in existence, had induced him to make up his mind to the abolition of those boroughs, and to the conferring of the elective fran chise on some of the considerable towns now unrepresented. Thus tar he was prepared to go, but he could go no further. His apprehension of the Bill as it st.od at present was, that it would underinine and destroy the Constitution by making that Melee the representative of the excited passions. of the people, rather than of their calm, sober, and de liberate judgment. It wets impossible to doubt that if that were once to be the case, the Constitution was gone. With this view it would, fur instance, be impossible for hint to vote for the accession of the Metropolitan Members. He never could vote for the Bill while the clause including those Members remained in it ; for it appeared to him that it was precisely calculated to produce the very mis chief he apprehended ; because where so many represen tatives were backed by so immense de a constituency,rrdanr ous excitement was in the highestg n r e e t e l upon, the the Boone] th What ever alteration, howe ver, it was carried into effect was e deterini setter. For as long as the present question was agita ted, attention could ant be paid to the condition of the poor, to the state of manufactures, commerce, and agriculture, and to other important sub jects which required examination. There were two or three other parts of the Bill, which it left in it, wou.d prevent him from voting fur it. He felt strongly that in its present shape the Bill would be disadvantageous to the landed interest. There was one particular clause which Went to take away from the landed interest the weight which he was sure the authors of the Bill were desirous it te.iould possess. He alluded to tte clause by which the votes of certain residents in cities were to be thrown into counties. Now the two descriptions of individuals, the tosidents in town and the residents in the country, had listinct interests; and the admixture of the fortner in thto.e elections which ought to he strictly confined to the litter, must have a very pernicious effect. Mr. WEYLAND spoke at some length against the principle of the Bill, hut in so low a tone that his observa• tions were not heard in the gallery. We believe be said, that if the Government went on the plan of giving a new eawstitutional syatain of this country, then he could un oar-stand them ; but he was utterly at a I..ss to compre hend how they could hope to improve the present system by a Bill so full of anomalies as that now under considera tion. [A short,tatured and rather mean-looking man, but respect ably aftil•ed, rose in the middle of the gallery when the Hon. MeMber concluded, and exclaimed—" Gentlemen"—Several persons, in his immediate vicinity, attempted to restrain him, and pointed out the danger which he incurred by a breach of the privileges of the Loose, but he indignantly resisted their im portunities, and again exclaimed—" Gentlemen, I am com manded by the Lord God to till in this House the office of a Prap:ict. In the month of Lst January"—The Chairman of the Onnmittee here called for the Serjeant, and the Messenger put an abrupt termination to the history of the process of inspiration. The poor Prophet suffered himself to be conducted quietly out of the gallery, and proved, we understand, so harmlessly insane, that he was in a few minutes afterwards discharged out ofcustody. The whale arfOir excited very little at teotion.7 Sir R. PEEL proceeded to say, that he had last Session so fully discussed the principle involved in the present clause, that he had then little to add, but that after the moaturest investigation of the subject, and wholly unin fluenced by what had been said on former occasions, be had arrived at the conclusion—similar to that formerly s t a t e d by him—that it would be as injurious as it would ise unconstitutional to take away from the 30 boroughs set down in schedule B the right of returning more than one Member each. The very principle on which Mi nistei a attempted to justify the total disfranchisement of schedule A, went to show that they were wholly unwar raniel in depriving the borooghs of schedule B of a int&ty of their representation. For what was that principle? Why, that the boroughs in schedule A were mere nomina tion boroughs.—(Hear.) Now, for the sake of argu ment, let it be granted that they were nomination boroughs, and that as such it was tight to wholly disfranchise them, did it follow that therefore boroughs which Ministers did not and could not designate to be nomination ones, should in like manner suffer entire or partial disfranchisement ? —(Hear, hear.) Either the boroughs in schedule B were nomination boroughs or they were not ; if they were, why, on the Ministerial principle of disfranchisement. should they be permitted to return any representatives ' whatever ? If they were not, why deprive them of their full complement of Members ? 7 (11-nr..) Would it not he much more desirable—even with a view to check the evils of nomination—to add to the number of those small boroughs which were not under the influence of individual Patrons ? Then if they were to retain the right of return ing Members at ail, would it nut be better to prevent the ~,n.eronces of party collision and compromise, by allow ing those places to return two representatives? Bi.t all this he ha 1 entered into so folly on a former occasion, that he need not then repeat it. One word with respect to the clause fixing " 56 " as the number of boroughs to be contained in schedule A, on which he had expressed his •eutimeute on Friday last. On that occasion he had asked for delay in order that they might have the evidence hefore them on w!;ich they were c died upon to agree to a propo sition for depriving 56 boroughs of their franchise privi • ges, but was left in a minority, \lini'ters refusing to grant his rational reqncst. Judge of his surprise —indeed, he would say humiliation,—on finding on the morning of Sa , tirday, on his table, the very inlermation which Ministers refused to tarry fur even one day, and on a motion to olnain which delay he had, at ten o'clock on Friday night, been outvoted. The v,.ry promptitude with which the infiirmation was furnished snowed not only the justness and timeliness of his reqt;est for a short delay, hut also the essential im portanre of the information required to a due investiga tion of schedule A. Indeed, on this last head, there were I the " instructions" of the Home S-cretary of State to the gentlemen appointed to examine into and report upon the houndariea, population, taxe', rent ,1, &c., of the several cities an I boroughs included in the schedule of the present Rll, insisting upon the necessity of full and accurate in formation as of the last importance to the discussion o! the de'a'ls of those schedules. As, however, Ministers had refused to grant this information in the fist instance, it was but fair to presume that the !notion, fixing upon fifty-six as the numl,er of boroughs to be contained it, schedule A, did not preclude a discussion of the merits of !lie particular boroughs) to make up that number.— (Hear.) Th e evidence, he was sure, that it would not tie possible to fill up that number without violating the very principl e s on which Ministers protested ti ground their proceedings—but more of this on a future occasion. Tie argument of the Noble Chancellor of the Exchequer jut. tificatory of the clause fixing upon the number fi:ty-six, struck hint as unusually unsatisfactory. The Noble Lord I said, " We take fifty six, because that is the ❑umber of boroughs set down fur disfranchisement in our former Bill. Wed° not go farther, because we might thereby risk the success of our measure in the House of Lords, it being not probable that those who rejected a Bill with fifty-six dis franchised boroughs - .vould sanction one containing more ; and we cannot insert a lets numhtr, because the country which approved of the tnrmer Bill would not be satin tied with a less efficient disfranchisement schedule." To this he would reply, that though it might not be politic to send up a Bill with a larger number of disfranchised bo roughs than 56 to the House of Lords, it did not follow that it would not be very politic to send up one with a less number.—( Hear.) And then, if the circumstance of ti,e country's having approved of a particular number in a former measure were an argument compulsory for such number being retained in the new Bill, how did it happen that Ministers fixed upon " 30" as the number for schedule " B," being eleven less than the number in the Bill ap proved of by the people ?—( Hear.) If the country would be satisfied with 30 instead of 41 boroughs as the com plement of schedule B, was it not probable it would be equally satisfied with 50 instead of 56 boroughs in sche dule A ?—( Hear.) And if the number was to be thus taken at haphoz.ard in the first instance with regard to schedules A and B, without any reference to circumstance .s, might not the country be d s-atisfied that some pet number should not also be beforehand fixed upon for schedule C, which Ministers left to be determined by circumstances ? Ile should like to bear these questions answered. The Right Hon. Baronet concluded with saying that he would move either that the present clause he omitted altogether, or, what would practically be the tame, that each borough in schedule B should be permitted to retain its two Members. Lord J. RUSSELL, in answer to the Right Hon. Ba ronet's complaint of the refusal of delay for information re lative to the boroughs in schedules A and B, before time motion for fixing upon the specific number of those bo roughs, had only , 0 state that the evidence had no direct reference to any number, but to the particular boroughs which in a future stage, and after the evidence shall have been laid before the House, it !nay be expedient to set down for disfranchisement. If Ministers had framed the clans? to the effect that there should be 56 boroughs, each containing not more than 2,000 inhabitants, or 500 houses, then it might be reasonable first to ask for inform ation in order to determine whether so many boroughs an• swering to the description could be found ; but the pre sent question admitted not of such cavil, it being a matter (.f well•knewn certainty, that there were not less than 100 small boroughs in England whose representatives it would ,he mockery to consider as the representatives of the people of England.--(Hear, hear.) Ministers, then, in retaining the disfranchisement clauses of their former Bill, and filling up time 56 boroughs of schedule A, and the 30 boroughs of schedule B, as was proposed in the present measure, were only carrying into effect the great principle of their measure, which was to make that House virtually, and not nominally, the representatives of the people of England.—( Hear, hear.) That they were war ranted in fixing upon 56 boroughs for total disfranchise ment, would he made clear by the evidence alluded to by the Right Hon. Baronet. From that evidence it would be seen, that many small places now returning Members to tiat House had no electors, no returning officers, and, in some cases, were without any defined limits or boundary.—(Hear, and cheers.) Beeralston, for example, according to the papers on the table of the House, had nut one resid e nt voter, and the Commissioner could not ascer tain who was the returning officer.--(Hear, hear.) The Right Hon. Baronet had asked why his Majesty's Mini• sters did not mean to leave these 36 boroughs in the en j .yment of two Members : to this he replied, because they feared lest the boroughs in question might have an undue weight in the representation. It appeared also to be the opinion of the Right Hon. Baronet, that the power of returning one Member, and one only, would give rise to much local jealousy, bickering, and ill-will ; but who bad ever heard th t such had been the result of the exercise of a similar franchise in Abingdon and other places, where it had been in existence hitherto ? The event, in his judgment, would prove exactly the reverse, for an election of two Members, instead of one, generally produced an increase of party-heat amongst the partisans of the disap pointed, inasmuch as the.ptobability of success must have originally appeared the stronger, and a failure would there fore be attended with the greatest bitterness of feeling. Under the present defective state of the representation, at .certain crises of unusual popular excitement, the .force of public opinion, it was true, might occasionally overflow the duns designed to keep it down, but a moderate party, desir ous cnly or fair objects, would have no chance of succ.'ss, should they O'er themselves to the populace at a general election.—(C!eers from the Opposition.) He repeated that Close who only desired to tee economy and a fair Fyatem of national policy adopted by the Legisla!nre under the exicing form of representation, would inevitably find themselves defeated by bribery, monopoly, and corrup tion.—(Hear, hear.) The present order of things he he to be the very worst that could possibly prevail in a realm nominally free, and he therefore wished, instead ef it, to substitute that which the Constitution had originally contemplated. He demanded only that the people should h,+ve the power to send untrammelled an-I enlightened re presentatives to discuss their interests in this important in-inch of the Legi•iative Councils of the nation. Mr. FANE made a few remarks, which were totally inaufhble. Lord SANDON was understood to contend in favour of the rett nti , n of franchise in the rural boroughs. Mr. ADEANE would not consent to pledge himself to interfero with the franehiz , e in these 30 boroughp, without previothly inqui , ing into the i xtent of their claims to re tain the frdnehise as i - now stood. Lord AL THORP observed, that the Hon. G e ntleman's argument would have been much stron;cr under the former Bill than it was at present, as it had been already decided by the House of Commons that 41 boroughs wen• not entitled severally to a larger share in the r e presentation than Ministers now proposed to allow to the 30 in this seledule.—( Hear, hear.) It was not likely, therefore, that these 30 would include any borough which merited an additional Member, and he had no doubt that they would all of them he very sufficiently represented under the ope ration of the Bill. Mr. CROKER said, that placing 30 boroughs in a po sition in which they had never stood before, was rather a curious mode of restoring them to the state of constituency which hail existed before the bribery and corruption of the last century had reduced them to their present rank in the community with relation to the Legislature. He stood upon the argument of his flight Hon. Ftiend near him, and maintained, that the number 30 could hot be thus par tially disfranchised on any rational principle of fairness or sound policy. Even supposing the schedule curried, their next step must be to alter the Bill as at present worded, for Totness, which now stood in the schedule, must be tal;en out of it, and Wallingford, it appeared, was to be substituted in its more. Mr. C. PELHAM made some observations, the purport of which we could not catch. The question was then put, and the gallery was cleared for a division, when the numbers were_ ror the original motio❑ '2.10 For the amendment Majority for Ministers Oa our re-admission to the gallery, we found Sir R. PEEL on Lis legs, the question before the Cou:mittee being, that the part of the clauie following the words " from and after the end of this present Parliament" form pat t of the Bill. We understood the Right Hon. Baronet as declining to offer any formal opposition to this part of this clan.e. Mr. D BROWNE would not interfere with the pro gress of the Engli-h Reform Bill, but would consider it his duty to propose hereafter a certain number of additional Members for Ireland. Sir R. VYVYAN objected to the discrepancies in the returns respecting Ttristock, Ashburton, and other ho niughs, the returns of the Commis:ioner rating the number of houses lower than those of the returning officer. The Hon. B tronet also complained of some numerical errors, and protested sgAmst the loose mode in which the business of disiranchisement had been conducted. Lord J. RUSSELL would not enter upon the subject of Tavistock until a aub.equent stage of the proceedinc,4. He would merely say that the return of the Curntnis.ion:r had bee❑ taken in framing th:! 1311. Sir R. VYVYAN said that the ground of his vunpl a i n t was, that in the Parliamentary pader, No. 2, t':e borough of Tavistock was rated by the return, nut of the Commis ioner, but of the returning officer.—(He,r.) 4:iri.rise.l to hear a cheer from the other side of the hion , e, as the Noble Lozd's (Russell's) reply had only eon firmed his statement. Lord J. RUSSELL said, that when the Bill was brought in, he (Lord J. Russell) bad states], that the re corn was incorrtct, but that inquiry should be made. In quiry had b , en made; and now the Hon. Baronet corn- Wainer' because the originally inaccurate number ha 4 b en corrected, and the rtaht pitcher put in its pare. Mr. CROKER referred to the paper No. 8, as the amended return of Lieutenant Drutnmond, and supposed that his Hun. Friend had not had the opportunity of seeing i , . Mr. STANLEY begged to remind lion. Members of the question before the Committe. The second clause, enac•ing that each of the 30 boroughs enumerated in rel,e,lnle B should only return one Member to Parliament, was put and arced to. The third elitist-, enacting "that each of the plat:. is named in schedule C. should, for the:purposes of that Act, he a borough. and should as such borough include the place or places respectively which should be comprehended with , n the boundaries of such borough, as such bfiunda ries ahoul I be settle I and dceritied by an Act to be passed fur the purpose in the present Parliament ; and that each of the said boroughs named in the said schedule should, from and afrer the end of the present Parliament, return two Members to serve in Parliament," was then read. Lord J. RUSSELL, with respect to the present clause. in which the number of places enumerated in the schedule C was not specified, intended to follow the conrse pursued in last session, and take the schedule as p irt of the clause. lie had mentioned the subject to the Speaker, who ap proved of that mode of proceeding. The schedule C would therefore come under the consideration of the House immediately after the enacting part of the 3d clause should be agreed to. Mr. CROKER said, that his only objection to the pro posed course was, that he should be drawn quite unawares into the discussion of schedule C, for he had imagined the all the schedules were to be postponed until the rest of the Bill had been disposed of. Lord J. RUSSELL made a few observations in reply across the table, but they were not heard in the gallery. Mr. CROKER perceived that the present clause pro vided that a Bill should be brought in to ascertain the boundaries of the new boroughs, but notwithstanding that the boundaries of almost all the old boroughs hail been altered by the Commissioners, no provision had been made for the introduction of a all to determine those boundaries. Lord J. RUSSELL informed the Hon. Gentleman that it seas intended to inti educe a Bill for that purpose. Mr. GOULBURN conceived that it would be utterly impossible for the II use to come to a definite decision with respect to the boroughs named in schedule C, until the Bill determining their limits was before the House. He therefore wished to know when it was the intension of Ministers to introduce the Bill for ascertaining the limits of the new boroughs? Lord ALTHOIIP said it was impossible for him to answer the question of the Right Hon. Gentleman at the present moment, but he could assure him that it was in a state of forwardness, and that no time would be lost in introducing it, Sir C. WETHERELL said, that the Bill for defining the limits of the boroughs ought to go hand in hand with the Reform Bill. Lord NEWARK thought that the object of his pro posed alteration eras sufficiently apparent upon the very face of it; it was to get rid altogether of schedule D, without interfering with the adjustment in point of num bers of the 63 new borough Members with the 63 new county Members, as proposed by his Majesty's Govern , ment. The Committee would recollect, that when the principle of schedule D was so ably attacked by the Noble Lord, the Member for Northamptonshire, who moved in tke Committee in Aueust last, that the 26 hot oughs then in schedule D should return two Members each, one principal ground of resistance to that Noble Lord's mo tion which was urged was, that it went to destroy the ba lance, and that it would be a sort of breach of faith to the agriculturists if, for the sake of getting rid of schedule D, we were to have added 26 Members to the commercial towns. But, if his memory served him, it was at the same time admitted, by most of the speakers, and on al most all hands, that schedule D was faulty in principle , though the mode then imposed did not app ear to the House to tie the best way of getting rid of it. It was the recol lection of what passed then, which had induced him to guard his proposition against any similar objec tion. He did not propose to destroy ti 3 balance as now adjusted, or in any way to affect the balance or the num bers; except that as 63 happened to be an odd number, that would make a difference in the numbers created by the new schedule C, as compared with the present C and D; and that one, he thought, if it were give n to t h e West Riding of Yorkshire, would not derange th e b a l ance much, by being taken out of the schedule of bo roug h s. His proposition, then, rested first upon the inexp e di ency of left i 0 that D ; Ministers,cre;itinga it s appearscheiluleD to ; ainiidmt,hiait inexpediency adttlyacknowled ge d, if his M a j esty ' s not openly proclaimed, in the course which th e y h a d taken as to these very schedules. For by the f ormer plan of these schedules, C and D contained togeth er 53 M embers, out of which actually a M whereas now, out of 63, leaibr schedule. In short, it appeared that having ten m ore tihtYan was one-thirdn to are schedule Members to give to the towns, they had preferred that schedulfC should have nine of them, rather than add ten more places to schedull 1), at one Member a-piece. So that he thought it looked very much as if they had no great fancy upon the whole for these Cyclopean boroughs in schedule D. Now, his objection to the principle of a schedule D was twofold ; first, as to the places themselves, because he thought it was furnishing the majority in thos e populous towns with the power of utterly extinguishing' rnd overpowering the wishes and opinions of the mi floe ity; and because he thought nothing so likely to provoke violent contests ; and it ought not to he over locked that, in many of these places, that majority would probably lie of the lower, rather than the higher order of voters. And next, as to the general effect upon the country ; be could imagine no means more con ducive than the creation of this schedule D, to a succes sion of interminable claims on thee part of many other places, now treading close upon the heels of the smaller pla ces in the schedules, and which moat infallibly dtoi irre sistibly urge those claims if they see the principle of one M , mber acted upon ; and he would ask what should we he then prepared to meet them with, or how should we make room for them, but byre-opening the qmstion of di , - franci•ernent ? How should we resist Bradford in Wilt shire, and Trowbridge, and Doncaster OH ah,ve 10,000), and Leek in St,ffordsbire, and Mansfield in .:Vittingh..ev shire, and Copgleton in Cheshire, with little shott of 10,000 each, ufficss we drew some definite line, and did away with this plan of one Member? Tht.se were some of the grounds upon which he objected to a schedule I), and it now only remained for him to say a few words with respect to the manner in which he had ventured to pr.- pose to get rid of it. Of comae there were three ways of doing this; he might have proposed to merge ihe whole of 1:0 in C, but that would have ri quired addition of disfranchisement, for the two together wool I have tequired eighty-two Members instead of sixty-three, or he m , ght have proposed to omit the enfranchisement. of any of the places now in schedule ll ; but ti, is would have destroyed any thing like a balance between the new county and pew borough Members, as the former world then have been sixty-three, and latter only forty-f mr. Thereremained the third course, which was to adhere to the numbers as now proposed ; but to say to the towns, " we will give to the thirty-one most consider side among you each its two Mem bers, and whichever of you can prove yourselves so entitled shall be enfranchised accordingly." Thi-, therefore, was the course which be had ventured to propose. He was not pre pared at the present moment !•() say which were the places which would probably fail in making out their claim, but the test of houses and assessed taxes being once applied, vi.old 1 aye no doubt or difficulty- in determining thet point. In urging these considerations, he had no desire to see impairer! the great and suhstanti.,l boon which •his 8,1 l offered to the p.ople. It must be unnecessary for him to state that he brought forwatd this proposition from no feeling of hostility towards the Government or their measure. At the saute time it was tepidly unnecessary for him to say, that their only title to his humble suppot t must rest upon the merits of their mea-ures. He trust d that his conduct as an unpledged Measlier of Parliament through the Committee on the late Bill, would have ,L,ffi.. ciently proved that he was not one of those who were liberal merely from compulsion, or whose prtrio•ism was merely to he measured by the extent of their pledges. In tt inging forward this a!teration, his only desire was, that that settlement to which our efforts had been so earnestly long directed should lie as satisfactory and as nc final as possible. After a few words from Mr. CROICKIt and Lord AL- Titortr, which were totally inaudible in consequence of the continual buzz of conversation among Members in the blouse, the enA sling part of the third claw, was agreed to. The CHAIRMAN then put clause 4, which enacts that emit of the places named in schedule I) shall be a borou:,.l), and return one Member to Parliament. Mr. CHOKER expressed an opinion that the giving of one Member to newly created boroughs would be produc tive of inconvenience and mischief. C u i,m e l WOOD gave notice that at the proper oppor tunity be would move that Merthyr-Tydvil should return one Member. The claw , : wa4 titan agrfe•! to. The CHAIRMAN then put the question on clause 3, which is as follows : And be it enacted, that the borough of New Shoreham shall, for the purposes of this Act, include the whole rape of Bram ber, hi the county of Sussex, save and except such parts of the said rape as shall be included in the borough of Horsham, by an Act to be passed for that purpose in thiS pre ent Parliament and that the borough of Cricklade shall, for the purposes of this .A_ct, include the hundred: and divisions of Highwortb, Crick_ lade, Staple, Kingsbridge and Mahnesbury, in the county of Wilts, save and except such parts of the said hundred of Malmesbury as shall he included in the borough of Malmesbury by an Act to be passed for that purpose in this present Parlia ment ; and that the borough of Aylesbury shall for the purposes of this Act include the three hundreds of Aylesbury, in the • county of Buckingham ; and that the borough of East lletford shall, for the purposes of this Act, include the hundred of Bas seilaw, in the county of Nottingham, and all places locally si tuate within the outside boundary or limit of the hundred of Bassetlaw, or surrounded by such boundary, and by any part of tie county of York, or county of Lincoln." Mr. GOULBURN ebset ved, that this clause proceeded upon a correct prineip'e, by establishing t'-e boundaries of the boroughs, instead of leaving, them to be defined by another Act.—The clause was agreed to. The CHAIRMAN next put the question on the clause which enacts that the towns of Weymouth and Melcumbe- Regis stall he deemed and token to Le one borough ; that the towns of Penryn and Falmouth shall be deemed and taken to be one borough ; tie the towns of Sandwich and Deal shall be deemed and taken to be one borough, a nd that each borough thus formed shall return two Mem bers to Parliament. Mr. FRESHFIELD objected to the union of the two places. There had, he said, always existed a considerable degree of jealousy between Penryn and Falmouth. The ba)s belonging to the two places were accustomed to fight battles with each other, and no Penryn man was ever known to marry a Falmouth woman, and vice versa. The town were likewise rivals in trade. If they should be uni•ed, every election would be attended with contests which would disturb the public peace. If Ministers thought that Falmouth ought to return a Member, they might place it in schedule D. Under these circumstances, he would move that all that pat of the clause which related to Penryn and Falm,mth be omitted. Lord J. RUSSELL said, that all the information a hien Government had received showed the propriety of uniting the two pl a c e s. Mr. GOULBURN complained that Ministers kept all their information to themselves, and gave none of it to the House. The amendment Iraq then put, and n.gatived. Mr. GOULBURN nt.xt expre6sed hhi objection to the union of Sandwich and Deal. A NlEatern said that the inhabitants of those towns de precated the tini,,n. Mr. CROK ER moved " that Aldehurgb and Orford, in Suffolk, for the purposes of this Act, be d,emed and taken to be one borough, and from and after the present Parliament do send one Member to Parliament." Lnrd J. RUSSELL objected to the motion, as they were both inconsi:l”rable places. . _ Sir C. WETLIERELL concurred in the motion of the Rivht lien. Gentleman. Mr. CROKER declined dividing the Committee on the present occasion. If he should think it right, after fur- ther inquiry, be should again bring the motion forward. The amendment was then negatived, and the clause agreed te. Before elatie 7 WAS read, Sir R VYVYAN gave notice that when the Bill was before the House, unless he was better advi'ed, and unless there was more evidence berme the House, he should move that the Bill be referred to a Select Committee, to be chosen by ballot, to consider the propriety of limiting, bounding, and dividing, the boroughs as may appear just. Sir C. WETHKRELL and Lord ALTHORP made a few observations, which could not be heard. Sir IL PEEL complained of the errors in the •ulu• minous papers before the Howe. If the further papers were to be equally voluminous, he hoped they would be more correct. Sir C. WETIIERELL made a similar remark, and in timated a wish that the clause should be suspended till the volurninous returns were presented in a more correct shape. Lord J. RUSSELL said it was deemed better that Par liament should have the office of adjudicating upon these returns, which were therefore laid before the House as they were received. Although there was no report, the map would show the boundaries of places. Mr. KNIGHT observed that the intention of this clause was, that the representation should be regulated hereafter according to limits to he defined by an Act of Parliament which the present clause declares shall pass. Either the Crown therefor , , might be precluded from its prerogative of dissolving Parliament, or the country might be left without a Constitution. He, therefore, gave notice of a clause which should provide that this Act should not take effect till the Boundary Act should have passed. Mr. WILKS objected to the clause as too extensive, and b e yond the necessity which the measure of Reform required. The clause was then read. _ _ Mr. WILKS moved that the words in the clause" that every city and borough in England, which now returns a Member to serve in Parliament (except the several cities and boroughs enumerated in the said schedule A, and the several boroughs of New Shoreham, Cricklade, Aylesbury, and East Retford)," be omitted for the purpose of insert ing the words, " every city and borough in schedules B, C, and D." Before the question was put, a conversation took place betiveen. , ,Alr. Robinson, Mr. J. Campbell, Lord John Rut. .111, . sell, and Sir H. P,el, the purport of which it was in:- possible to catch. Mr. KNIGHT moved the addition to the clause of which he gave notice,—namely, that this Act should not take effect till the Act for defining the limits of the boroughs shall have passed. Lord ALTIIORP thought the amendment unnecessary, as he believed the ease was provided for in another part of the B 11. Mr. KNIGHT did not find that any such provision was made in any ptrt of the Bill. Lord ALTHORP observed, that it would be better to move the amendment as a separate clause. Mr. KNIGHT would withdraw it, on the understand inz that the Noble Lord would introduce such a clause. Loyd ALTHORP said, he would prefer not going into it now, as he was taken rather by surprise by the amendment. Mr. CROKER ,ugae•ted that, as it was now rvir the time (twelve o'clock) fixed for the termination of the Gotninittee, it would be better to report progress, and by the next sitting of the CAninittce the N“ltle Lord would have had time t , + con , ider of it.—:Crit:s of " Go on.") Mr. G BANKES said, , hat in fa . rne.s to both sides they aught now to report progress, and he made a motion to that effect. After a few words from Lord ALTHORC and Sir T. FREMANTLE, it was agreed that the Chairman Jrou!d re port prm.trrs,,. WILKS gave notice thathe would move hisamend ment on thy bringing up of the report. The House then resumed, and the Chairman having reported progress obtained leave to sit again to-morrow (t his day.) VESTRY ACT AMENDMENT BILL. Sir J. C. HOBHOUSE mined the second reading, of this Bill. It was not his intention to go into the details of the Bill at that late hour, but if the House would per mit the second reading, he would enter into them on going into the Committee. He would only observe at present, as a proof that the Act lately passed on thin sub ject could not he carried into operation in many pari , hrs, that in the parish of St. James, Westminster, there were upwards of 2,800 rite-payers, and that under the present Act only 135 couhl vote in vestry. This was the result of the amendments introduced into the late 13 , 11 by the Hcolse of Lords, and never could hive been the intention of the L gislature i❑ an Act which purported to give io the parishioners a controul over their own afftirs in vestry. Mr. MACKINNON said that the Bill which the Hon. Baronet had introduced would give the controul of the affairs of the parish into the hands of the lowest class of the pari.hioners. Mr. WEYLAND said that the 2,800 individuals to whom the Hon. Baronet had alluded might qualify the rn sdves as voters by paying the rates. Mr. G. LAMB urged upon his Hon. Friend the Mem ber for Westminster not to press this Bill at present. He thought thaw it would be a most premature piece ~f - legis lation to introduce a 1311 to amend an Act until time had been given to see how the late Bill would operate; but as yet it could not be carried into effect, for no parish could bring the late Act into operation until March. Sir C. FORBES was of opinion that before any altera tion was made in the late Act, time ought to be given to see its operation. Mr. HUME regretted to find an opposition given by the Government to the Bill of h e Hon. Friend, and the more so, as he had been given to understand lay several who had applied to him en the subject, that bard Melbourne ha 4 promised that the late Act should be amended. The Bill sent up to the Lords was a good one, but its best provi sions were destroyed there. If the Bill were allowed to to a Committee, he would undertake to show that the Act, as it now stood, was inoperative; as that few, if any, parishe , could c :ray it int , effect. Mr. nuNT supprted the second reading of the Bill. Sir J. C. HOBHOUSE, in reply, contended that the Bill now before the House was necessary by the great de fects in the Act of the last Session. Tie Howie then divided, when these appeared— For the second reading Against it 4 Majority against the s.cond reading The Corporate Funds Bill writ through a Committee.— Rrrort to-rnorrov,.. The Erni); zzleinent Prevention Bill wai read a seconi time.—'lb be committed to-aiorrow. On the motion of Mr. Wmtauirros, the Anatomy Bill went through a Committee, pro forma. The report was received, and ordered to be taken into further consideration on Wednesday next. The Charity Estates Bill was read a third time, and passed. Mr. W. BROUGHAM, after briefly adverting to the case of two individuals who are at present imprisoned in the Fleet for a contempt of the Court of Chancery (to which subject he had caged the attenrion•of the House on the preceding evening ) , moved for and obtained leave to !Ting in it Bill " to amend and enlarge the provisions of the Act of the Ist f William IV., cap. $6, for altering awl amending the law regardi, g commitments by Courts of Equity for contempt, and the taking Bills pro confesso." Mr. W. BROUGHAM soon after brought in the Bill, which was read a first, and ordered to be read a second time on Wednesday next. Adjourned at Half• past One o'clock. His Royal Highness the Duke of SUSSEX his returned to Kensington Palace from a visit to the Earl of LICHFIELD, at Renton Abbey. His Royal Highness. it is un lersteod, did not on this occasion extend his tour to Coloael WILDMAN, at Newstead Abbey. With respect to the stories which hare been circulated in the higher circles of the claims of Sir AuGusres D'ESTE, and Made ' !noise!". ELLEN D'ESTE, the children of the exalted indivi dual by the late Lady AUGUSTA D'AMELAND, it appears that, in 1806, his Majesty King GEORGE 111. grinned his Roy license to Letly AUGUSTA. MuenAy to assume t name of D'AmELANn, which was, in some degree, a recognition of her affinity to the Royal Family. The alliance of his Rovil Highness with Lady AUGUSTA Was formed at home, where they were united on the 4th of April, 1793, and were re-moiled by banns at St. George's clutch, Hanover-square, on the sth of December follow ing. At the period of his Royal Highness entering into this ne , rriztee, he wanted nine months of being of age, and was styled Prince AUGUSTUS FREDERICK:. Hie consort was the fourth daughter of the late, and sister to the present, Earl of DUNMORE and the Hon. ALEXANDER. 'MURRAY. It was confidently asserted at the time that the Prince addressed a letter to his father, begin permission to re linquish his contingent rights in the succession, and to 'retire into the character of a private gentleman, rather than h e sep :rated from Lady AUGUSTA; but this, of teary t,, course, could Royal n(ab; i4 g r r r a i t . i ge Actted,as, the marriage was con. paessted a message in 1772, on the recommendation of th e K ING, who n Houses of Parliament, authorising th e m to introduce some new legislative pr o vi s i on to prevent t h e d escen d an t s of sent to both GEORGE 11. from marrying without the approbation of his MAJESTY, his heirs and successors. Accordingly a Bill was introduced, enacting that no descendant of the body of King GEORGE 11. (other than the issue of Prin_ ce.ses married in foreign countries) is capable of contract ing matrimony without the previo is consent of the KING, signified under the Great Seal ; and any marriage con• tracted without such consent is void. All persons solem nizing, assisting, or being present at any such prohibited marriage, -- incur the penalties of prcemMire. The Court of Arches, accordingly, by a formal process, pronounced both his Royal Highness's marriage in England and that at Rome null and void, and her Ladyship, who lived upart from the Duke many years, died on the 28th February, 11330. It is now said, that although Sir AUGUSTUS and his sister are illegitimate by the law of England, the gal :ant officer will succeed, in failure of male issue of his pre sent MAJESTY and the Duke of CUMBERLAND, to the Crown of Hanover. C OR ONER'S INQUEST.—nn inquest was held last evening at the Hero, of Waterloo, Waterloo-road, on the body of JAatEs REID, many years in the employ of Mr. DEFREE, Savoy-wharf, who died in the station-house of the above district while in a state of intoxication. A witness who was in the watch-house when the deceased was brought in, proved to the police having pushed him in, and he fell on his head, and the witness never heard him speak after. The Jury returned a verdict, that the deceased died from excessive drinking, and reprimande I the police men for their inhuman conduct towards the deceased. THE PICTURESQUE.--A mail has been very recently started, in connection with the mail from this town, from Alinehead to the romantic neighbourhood of the Valley of Rocks, at Linton. A hitherto almost inac cessible district has thus, through the spirited conduct of the General Post-office, been satisfactorily thrown °pit— a circumstance of which, no doubt, the lovers of the pic turesque will not fail to avail themselves at the proper season.— Taunton Courier. _ _ A correspondent defends the intermixture of the succory or chicory root with coffee, on the pleas—fir,t, that it is wholesome; next, that it enables the vender t, sell his coffee, which, if pure, would be too dear for generid consumption; lastly, that it tends to destr the monopoly of real coffee. If all these pleas were true, they would make up a case to which we should have no objection that chicory or succory might be sold as such ; but to sell it mixed up with coffee, and as coffee, is evidently a frdta Timm BERLIN AND HAMBURG PAPERS. ~` ST. PETERSBURGH, JAN. 4.—The Emperor having de cided that the Polish order of the White Eagle and of St. Sta nislaus shall be added to the orders of the Russian empire, has been pleased to confer both orders on Prince Galitain, and that of the White Eagle on Privy Councillor Engel. llis Majesty has appointed General Yermoleff member of the Council of the Empire. The Gazette contains the names of eight traitors, who took part in the Polish rebellion, and have been sentenced to degra dation from their rank, banishment to Siberia, and the confisca tion of their property. .Is, according to the laws in force in the Grand Duchy of Finland, Jews are not allowed to enter that province, the civil government of those provinces in which Jews are now per mitted to reside, have received orders not to give them pass. ports to Finland. BERLIN, JAN. 13.—The pardons which his Majesty has gra. ciously granted by the amnesty to those inhabitants of the Grand Duchy of Posen, who took part in the Polish insurrec tion, without violating their official duties, has had the happy result of causing great numbers of landowners to return to their estates. As for those whose offences must be decided judicially, their pardon may be delayed for some time, as above one thou. sand processes before the tribunals will be necessary. It is honourable to the Prussian Polish regiments, that only five offi cers joined the insurgents. There is nothing certain at present respecting the destination of the Poles who do not return to their country (said to be 18,000 men) but it is generally believed that they will go, probably at the expence of France, to Belgium, to be incorporated with the army of that kingdom, in case of another attack by the Dutch, where their example would encourage the Belgians, and prevent such another defeat as that at Ilasselt. General timinski is spoken of as their Commander, in case the French Go vernment should consider further intervention as unnecessary. Our Cabinet seems likewise to he by no means inclined to an intervention, for fear of a general war, though the ratification may be delayed some time; and no secret is made of the wish, that the King of Holland may obtain better terms respecting the navigation of the rivers in his dominions, where no other Power should be allowed to interfere. BERLIN, Jay. 14.—1 t seems we may soon expect a visit of the Emperor of Russia, who is expected at Warsaw. Doubt less, without reason, this news has been considered by some as indicating an approaching interruption of peace; though, at this time, there is no Cabinet in Europe more inclined to peace than that of Prussia. The armies of Russia, too, have been much weakened by the wars in Turkey, Persia, and Poland. STOCKHOLM, JAN. 10.--The Cholera at Abo.—From the •21)th to the 27th of December, there we:e 52 new cases, 15 reco veries, and 24 deaths ; remaining, 29, H 81.71 W, JAN. 17.—We have now fo u r cholera patient., remaining.l3l Jrom the Hamburg Reporter.) BORSEN-lIALLE, JAN, 17, HALF-PAST Two P,x...-Great fluctuat:ons have been daily taking place in the price of stock, owing chiefly to the feverish state of the Bourse of Paris. On Saturday the price of Rentes on the 9th was received here by express, and stocks of every description fell in consequence.— Yesterday prices rose again. To-day business was dull in the beginning, but improved towards the close, on the strength of letters from Amsterdam, according to which Rentes had risen again to 64f. 70c. In Amsterdam, sales of French Rentes were effected at 65f. Discount 5 per cent. --- Anglo-Danish Loan 3 per Cent. e2 Anglo-Russian Loan 91% Hamburg-Ittissian Loan Russian Inscriptions, 5 per Cent. Russian Inscriptions, 1831 .... 83% Polish Bonds 113,i Austrian Rink Shares 1129 Ditto Metalliques New Austrian 4 per Cents BERLIN, JAN. 16.—Since yesterday, two patients in La Charite have been attacked by cholera and removed to the Cholera Hospital, where one died, and the other is the only cholera patient here.—Prussian State Gazette, Jan. 17. fi[CIIANCE6 ON LONDON. HAMBURG, JAN. 17.-13 ; two months, 13 6k. PETERSBUIWIL, JAN. 3.-10 19-32. LEIPSIC, JAN. 9.—Three months, 6 17k. VIENNA, JAN. 7.—Three months, 9 50. FRENCH PAPERS. CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, JAN. 20. The Minister of Commerce brought in a private Bill respect ing the department of the Marne.—Ordered to be printed. M. Voyer D'Argenson read a proposition relative to the mode of grants of mines by Government. He was ordered to be heard in support of it on Saturday week. The President announced the death of hl. Brousse, Deputy of the Aude. A deputation was nominated by lot to attend his funeral. The general discussion of the budget was then r2sumed. M. Thierry Poux eulogized the exposition, professed himself proud of the appellation of revolutionary in the most extended sense of the word, insisted on the necessity of economy, and declared that he should vote against the Budget. M. Falguerolles should vote for the Budget as amended by the Committee. H. Salverte referred to the riots at Lyons, the true cause of which had never been clearly explained ; and then drew a strong picture of the misery of the lower classes of the popu. iation. He next pointed out various departments of the Budget, in which he conceived that further reductions might reasonably be made. In the course of his address, the Hon. Deputy took occasion to allude to several questions not directly relating to the Budget; he censured the Government for compelling M. Nyemojowski, the late chief of the Polish Government, to quit Paris ; he repelled the idea of any union existing between tire patriots and the ('arlists, on the contrary, he said, that it was the Government who favoured the latter, by allowing them to retain offices from which the former vainly urged their removal. The Hon. Deputy also accused the Government of favouring the Carlists, in not having arranged that the Bill for abrogating the law respecting the celebration of the 21st of January should have been passed through the Chamber of Peers before that anni. versary. In conclusion he said, he should not vote against the Budget, because he considered it impossible to refuse it, but that he should throughout the discussion vote for every feasible amendment proposed with a view of diminishing the amount of expenses.—(Applause.) M. de Remusat said that the discussion of the Budget was the discussion of the whole Government, and that in the pre. sent instance both were deserving of the warm support of the Chamber. He concluded by combating the arguments and statements of M. ',aline relative to the st de of the country and the deficiency existing in the Treasury, accusing that Hon. Deputy of having lost his memory both in politics and figures. M. de Tracy, in his observation respecting those who took a share in the Budget, did not mean to throw reproach on those who received a salary from the State for their honourable ser. vices ; his remark applied only to the sinecurists. M. Lafitte, although not old enough to have lost his memory, was too old to be taken to task in the manner adopted by M. de ltemusat. He (M. I.afitte) had always carefully abstained from personalities, and ho had hoped that his example would have been followed. lithe Ministry wished to attempt to reflite any part of his statements, either political or financial, he was per- Letly willing to enter the lists in support of them. M. Larabit could not give his support to a Ministry which presented a Budget scarcely differing in any thing from those of the restoration. The President of the Council felt the necessity of once again laying open to the Chamber his views, principles, and feelings. lie reviewed the conduct of the Opposition, of which he formed a part during the restoration, and which he represe tied not at having been for 16 years engaged in playing a comedy which was to end in the tragedy of the destruction of the Monarchy, but as having sought only the maintenance of the charter, and the overthrow of the party who were endeavouring to under mine it. He next traced the manner in which, after the revo lution of July, the supporters of that revolution became divided into two parties, one of which, known under the name of" Move ment," wished, in opposition to the charter, to have recourse to States-General, and universal 6uffra,ge at home and imprudent war abroad; while the other, to which the name of " Resist ance" had been given, but which he (M. Perier) called the party of conservation, desired honourable peace abroad and constitu tional order at home. A dissolution of the Chamber soon after the development of these two parties, gave the country an op portunity of pronouncing between them. The majority of the Chamber pronounced itself on the question of the address, and, had ever since continued to support that party and that Admi. nistration of which he formed a part. He then, after alluding, to the perpetual attacks made by the opposition on the Ministry continued thus—" If after the numerous attacks made upon us in this Chamber, we have been able to obtain your suffrages, may we not be permitted to deny the propriety of the epithet Ministerial given to a system consecrated by proofs so reiterated, and proclaim it to be a national system?"—(" Hear, hear," in opposite senses from the different parts of the Chamber.) M. Bavoux—Say quasi-national. Boudet— Anti-national. (Numerous voices cried, " Yes, yes ;" and others, " It is in conformity with the opinions of the nation.") The President of the Council repeated " and proclaim it the only national system, since it has been adopted and supported by the legal representatives of the people."—(Fresh interruptions.) Odillon Barrot—No, I appeal to 30,000,000 Frenchmen, who are not within these walls. The President of the Council (addressing himself to M. Odillon Barrot)—You repeat, Sir, words which I made use of in lBi4, when I said, " we are but six in this assembly, but we have to back us 30,000,000 of Frenchmen." I then stood in this Chamber, with only five friends by my side, against a body introduced by means of the double vote and by fraud. We had every right then thus to express ourselves. But can you, (at the present day) bring the same accusation against the majority , shish has been the product of free elections, made under a law voted by yourselves ? Dare you venture thus to declare that it does not represent the country ? M. Dupin, aine—This puts the question in its true light. Members on the right—These elections have been made dur ing your administration. The Pre: id ,nt of the Council—lf you attack the result of these elect on you impugn the law voted by yourselves. Other voices—lt was not we who made the law, but the Chamber formed by the double vote. Garuier Pages—Can you say the Chamber of the double vote represented the country ? The President of the Council—To argue this is to go beyond all the rules of legitimate parliamentary discussion. This system, gentlemen, must be the system of the nation, since it has become yours ; for in what consists the nation, if it be not in those returned by free election, under a law passed with your concurrence and by your votes ? This truth must be ad. milted both in law and in fact, or the existence of a repre sentative Government must be denied, unless you establish that to ~,