The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-07-12 00:00:00

Che tourbrib,y Obscrint,

SATURDAY. JULY 12h, 1334.

THE PEERS AND REFORM.

THE thankfulness with which the ordinary
newspaper reader has gone up out of the
land of Egypt is sufficiently evinced by the
public attention now being directed to the
question of Parliamentary reform. It was
a relief, not only to the House of Commons,
but to the country to get rid of Egypt for a
time. It had occupied the House of Com-
mons, with few intermissions, five months,
and the fact seems tl- en to have dawned
upon the representatives of the people that
we 'Ave affairs of our own to attend to.
One of the most momentous of these is un-
doubtedly- the relation between the House of
Lords and the country generally, which is
raised by the recent debate upon the motion
for the second reading of the Franchise Bill
in the legislative chamber. It is not the
first time that the question has been raised,
and at such a period a glance at the events
of the previous occasion will be of some in-
terest.

: The accession of William IV. to the
' throne inJ une, 1830, was, singularly enough,
followed within a few weeks-by a revolution-
in Paris, which once more, and this time
I finally, drove the Bourbons from the land of
their misrule. Disorder is proverbially con-
tagious, and thus it came to pass that the
i French Revolution produced a very marked
effect upon,this_side of the Channel. -121nr
; seventy years, with but slight interruptions,
' 1 one party in the State had exercised -
' supreme power in this country. Thus the
benches of the House of Lords were crowded
-with Conservative peers, the creations oF
successive Ministers, and, to a considerable
extent, the House of Commons was com-
posed of nominees of the aristocracy, who
sat for decaying villages, while great towns
had.grown up in the nothern and midland
counties without representation. No one at
this time of day would defend such a system
as then existed. The rising in Paris was at
once followed in England by a demar,d for
popular rights, which was met by the Duke
of Wellington, who was then Prime Minister,
by a declaration that not only did the
King's Government decline to introduce any
'measure of Parliamentary Reform; but the
' Ministers would oppose any such measure
if brought forward by others. The accession
1 of a new Sovereign had as usual been
followed by a dissolution of Parliament;
and when the House of Commons assembled
in November, 1830, Ministers were at once
defeated on a motion by Sir Henry Parnell
demanding an inquiry into the Civil - List.
' The Wellington Administration resigned,
iand Earl Grey, who had been in opposition
three and twenty years, was called upon by
1 the King to form a Government, which he
I did. Then began that exciting conflict
which lasted a year and a half and which
ended in the passing of the Reform Bill.
Lord John Russell explained the provisions
of the measure to the House of Commons on
the Ist of March, 1831, amid the enthusiastic
cheers of his party, and the mocking
' laughter of the Opposition. On the 22nd
the second reading was carried by 302 to
301—an obviously too narrow majority to
work the bill through committee. This was
said on the motion to consider the bill at
that stage, when a division on a point of
detail was carried against Ministers by 299
Ito 291. Although the Parliament was only
' a few months old, Earl Grey determined
upon an immediate dissolut;on ; and in the
new House of Commons, which assembled
on the 14th June, the Reformers were in a
large majority. The second reading of the
bill was passed by 367 to 231, and the third
reading by 345 to 233. It came before the
LorLls for the first time in October, and was
rejected on the motion of Lord Wharncliffe
by 190 tolsB. Parliament was upon this
prorogued, and reassembled in Deceniber,
when the measure was again introduced and
read a second time by 324 to 162, and a third
time by 355 to 239. It was read a second
time in the Upper House by 184 to 175 ;
but on going into Committee Lord Lynd-
hurst carried an instruction against l‘tini-
sters, declaring "that the question of enfran-
chisement should precede that of disfran-
chisement." The adverse majority was 35.
Earl Grey resigned, and great public excite-
ment followed. The Duke of Wellington
found it impossible to form a Government,
! so Earl Grey was recalled, armed with the
following document: " The King grants
to Earl Grey and to his Chancellor, Lord
Brougham, power to create a sufficient
number of peers to ensure the passing of
the Reform Bill, first calling up peers'
eldest sons.—WlLLram R." The struggle
was thus practically at an end. The bill
rapidly passed through committee, and was
read a third time by a majority of 84 votes.
It received the Royal assent on the 7th
June, 1832, but by commission. The King
declared that no power on earth should in-
duce him to give his approval to the Reform
Bill in person, and kept his word. Bat a
perilous crisis had boen averted, and the
Lords by giving way avoided that creation
of new peers, which would not only have
passed that particular bill, but many another
measure which the Grey and Mc lhontal
Ministries found it so difficult to work ,
through the Upper Chamber. .