The Press.
London, England, 1858-03-06 00:00:00

Fut

the question which commonly goes by the name of Par-
liamentary Reform, or, in more fitting terms, which means
the cousitteration and arrangement of the system of repre-
sentation in the House of Commons. My lords, lam old
enough to remember, and to have been in the Cabinet, not
when the last Reform Bill was introduced, but when it was
under discussion ; and when I look back to the violence of
reeling, to the bitterness of political excitement and of
party spirit, and to the passion which accompanied the
passing of that great and important measure, my wonder
is, not that there should be in it defects and blemishes
which the experience of twenty-five years has aptly brought
to light, but that under such circumstances there phould
have been devised and carried through Parliament a mea-
sure which for so long a period has to a certain and no in-
considerable extent effected its purposes and satisfied the
people of this country. (Hear, hear.) My lords, be-
lieving that, with all its anomalies and all its imperfections,
that act has given to the country a representative system
the result of which is a House of Commons which fairly
and fully represents the feeling of the numbers as well as
of the intelligence and the property of this country, I
should myself have been well satisfied if it had been the
pleasure of Parliament that no legislation upon a subject
so exciting should be called for or demanded from the
Government. ( Hear, hear.) I cannot, however, exclude
from my consideration the fact that for three or four years
not only has a demand been made, but • promise has been
given by successive Governments, of the introduction of a
Reform Bill. This promise has been given occasionally
even in the name of the Sovereign and in the speech from
the Throne. My lords, I must venture to say that I
think it is a practice not deserving of imitation to appear
in the speech from the Throne personally to Pledge the
Sovereign to measures which have not been well
and fully considered by her advisers, and which they are
not at once prepared to lay before Parliament. (Hear,
hear.) In my opinion it is highly inconvenient
that from session to session a question of this im-
portance and of this interest should be perpetually
kept dangling before the Legislature, and that session
after session it should be hung up till a future day ; and,
my lords, having regard to the inconveniences arising
from this state of things, and to the promises which sun-
cessive Governments have made, I have felt it my duty in
conjunction with my colleagues to look into this important
question. I will not pledge either myself or them to in-
troduce either now or at any time a bill upon this subject.
I prefer to go beyond rather than to fall short of any pledges
or promises which I may give in this house ; but this I may
say, that as soon as the pressure of parliamentary business
enables us deliberately and carefully to consider the ques-
tion, we will direct oar attention to the defects which exist
in the laws regulating the representation of the people in
Parliament, and to the amendments which may be made in
those laws; and that we will give that attention with the
sincere and earnest desire to trifle no longer with this
great question, but with the hope that we may be able in
the next session of Parliament to lay before the Legisla-
ture and the country a measure upon that subject which
may for a time settle a matter of such deep importance,
and which, if we cannot hope to please everybody—which
would indeed be a most extravagant expectation—may at
least be accepted as a fair and reasonable measure by
moderate, impartial, and well-educated men. (Cheers.)
I am aware that in making this early announcement I
am perhaps somewhat premature, but I thought it was de-
sirable that your lordships and the country should at once
know that, while we are not prepared in this session of
Parliament to introduce or to assist in passing any measure
dealing with so extensive a question, we are prepared at
the very earliest moment practicable to give our diligent
and anxious attention to the subject, with the earnest hope
that that consideration may lead to a successful issue.
( Hear, hear.)

I have now addressed your lordships at greater length
then I could have desired the observations which I have
found it necessary to make upon my assumption of the
►mportant office which I have now the honout 4o till. My
lords, I can only conclude, as I began, by assuring you
that I deeply feel my own incompetency for the discharge
of the duties of that office; but this I can truly say, that I
bring to their performance an earnest and conscientious
desire faithfully and diligently to discharge them as in the
sight of God and in Vie presence of the people. Small as
I know my own powers to be, and great as are the diffioul
ties I shall have to encounter, there is One who guides the
destinies of nations, and who by weak and inefficient
instruments is sometimes pleased to produce great and
signal effects. Frusting to His guidance and to His
blessing I will venture to take upon me the charge which
has been intrusted to me by my Sovereign, with an
earnest hope and prayer that, be my Administration long