The Express.
London, England, 1848-06-21 00:00:00

merely mentioned this fact to show that the subject to which
he was eddreesing his observations was not one which was
entirely new to his attention. Recent circumstances, both
abroad and in this country, had given the subject a more
than ordirisry value, and whether it was, as the hon.
member had been pleased to say, that the speech of the
noble lord at the head of the government had given
it au impetus, or from some other feit:oo, it wet, uo doubt,'
subject whialtthey would all be obliged to discu=s at their
next elections. (Loud cries of " Hear, hear.") Indeed, he
believed he might say, in the language of that learned
author, Hebreus Judaicus, it was a subject which lee who
should not argue was a bigot, and he who could not was a
fxoh I Cheers.) In the first place, they must consider who
were the pereons who wi iv making thole demands ; end he
wee sure that the largest end most numerni,, portion
throughout the country et the present moment csnsated of
persons who, from various causes, were guile ricg the
deepest distress—(hear, hear)—and who were Glamourous for
something which they hoped woad form a remedy for
their present condi ion. (Hear, hear.) No wonder that they
followed soy desperado—(conservative cheer.)—no wonder
that tee y looked forward with avidity to changes in the con-
stitution. (Hear, hear.) It was in vain to argue with such
men, and talk of the distribution of property, the depend.
ence of labour upon capital, and similar doetriues, becatue
they were not in a state to give them calm consideration.
There were, however, people with cooler heads and hiller •
bellies, on whom they would operate. There was
another class, increased, doubtless, by the education
which had latterly been se exteuded—he meant
the class of intellectual operatives—persons engaged
in all those trad.s and businesses in which science
was necessary. All those persona were deprived of
the eh ative franchise, and all were clamorous for it
hut they demanded it one and all, in the hope that it wculd
improve their physical condition. (Conservative cheers.)
As to theories, they neither knew nor cared anything *beat
them. What they wanted was greater enjoyment and In0f•
wages. (Hear, hear.) But besides all those clamorous SW
formers, there was a class of intellectual spcculeurs, doctors
without patients, and lawyers wi•hout Insets—(laughter)—
visionary dreamers of every kind. (Hear, hear.) Those
were the men who wanted at the present mo-
ment, not only in this country, but throughout
Europe, to turn the world into one great chaos and
so to improve at once constitutions and their own pockets.
All, however, seemed to have the strangest pos.ible notions
of the principles of government. Ile held in his hand tee • •
report of • meeting at which he believed the hon. member
for Birmingham was present. It was a report of which he
had taken especial notice, because it had appeared in a very
respectable journal, and was characterised so a model of
what a reform meeting ought to be. Now, when be said the
journal was respectable, he felt how hard it was to define
what was respectability. Gentlemen when presetting ti.
tions from their constituents always vouched for unit.
respectability. (Laughter.) But what he meant when
ing the journal in question respectable was, that it was et.
ceediugly well written, and enjoyed a circulation, he believed
one of the largest in England It was also one which
warmly espoused the reform question. (Hear, hear.) The
speech which he was about to quote from that journal re
Daily News of June 2] was delivered by an alderman ot ir-
mine ham, and was in the following
But of all things let the people be true to themselves; let there he
no disputes about mere words; for himself, ho had no hesitalott in
saying that he was a complete chartist, nothing more wir kw; but
was that to prevent him from joining hand and it oat in each a move.
meat as this, lad log wide minor diflcri pubic for a puo. good ! ;Hese.
hear.) He believed they were all loyal enough : knalanil hail flow
risked under the system of a king, lard., and eennion• ; and although.
if he were going to frame a new constitution, he might be disposed to
dispense with we king end the lords, still he would rather endure
ouch ills as those entailed than fly to changes which might produce
tgoodshtd, havoc, desolation, and misery. kChners ) Let, bowie;
the rulers of this counti y—the powerful in this country —remem.
her that there was a spirit of endurance implanted by filsl in
the heart of man beyond which he could not go. With a population
on the verge of starvation, what safety and security are to be ex.
pitted ! What the limits of end-ranee (mud he, may not be
spoken, even though they were known: but, when the period comes
that they are outatrebehed beyond their natural Inuit', farewell to
the love of order which knits men together—farewell to the ties ci
humanity' (Immense cheering.) Let Lord John Hassell bow,* at
that hour. Great as are the evils we have to endure—pest as are the
wrongs of which we have to complain—let Wan stand for "(watt, law,
and order ;" not bating one jot of our firmness of purpnwe to obtain our
just demands. (Cheers., 15e will adopt as our motto the threi words'
have just uttered to you ; but if the time COMPS when the bonds
which knit those together are runt asunder—it the prime minister
and legislators hesitate too long —let it not le laid to our charge that
we were the first to trample on social institutions awl to raise the
simnel for anarchy.
(Hear, hear.) Now he (Mr. Drummeind);would say, "What.
ever they were going to do with the present motion. he
trusted they would make up their minds one zed all to stead
by our institutions. (General cheering.) They must not
entertain for a moment the thought that the crown and lore,
were merely evils which might be endured. Everybody, to
be sure, had his partialities, and be must confess for Clot-
sell that there were institutions which he could part with
more readily than either the one or the other. (Laughter.)
But if hen. gentlemen thought we were rife merely because
we had thme institutions, they might depend up mit that
they were trusting to a rotten reed. The next thing to con.
eider was, what were these persons who were now agitating
for reform asking for. The hon. gentleman opposite said
it was for an extension of the suffrage. (Hear, hear.) To
that they were entitled. (Hear, hear.) lie was no party to
the Reform Bill, nor had he much confidence in it when
passed, but as it was the law he felt it to be his du y to carry
it out. By the Reform Bill they took away all the former
principles of the suffrage, and based it on the 10/. house;
but there was no principle in 101. which there was not in
191. 19s. 6d. As to the basis upon which the franchise
should rem, without entering into the various details which
had been adduced by the hon. gentleman, he would say, se
far as you could define property, there let the right of the
franchise appear. It appeared that all parties were dine-
tistied with the present Reform Bill, though he doubted
whether there ever was a time when the 'showing classes
were so fairly represen. ed as they were by the present House
of Commons. As to the argument about the preponderance
of the ari.tocracy, they mu-t understand what was meant by
the " aristocracy." In uncivilised sec sty the strongest were
the aristocracy ; in civilised society, the aristocracy were
those who, by their talents and wisdom, had obtained the
highest amount of influence. (Oh.) But how could they
define wisdom by act of parliament t The great object
civilised society was to make men love peace whether they
would or no ; and it was the duty of the executive, be they
who they might, to put down all attempts at mob intimida-
tion. They could not enact equality. There was no equa-
lity in all nature. He confessed that it was, in his mind,
a great disadvantage that the representatives of the people
were not thrown back more frequently upon their consti-
tuents. (Hear.) He did not mean in the °ltemise) way of
going bat to be scolded and turned away. In this re-
ap: et he considered the house was too much disconnected
from the people. He was therefore favourable to shorter
parliament• than seven years ; but he did not say whether
three years or one year would be the betetr. But as the
obi .•ct for which the Septennial Act was passed had ceased
he thought they should reeert to triennial parliaments. He
now came to the question of electoral district.. As he said
before, he would recommend that the suffrage should be ex-
ti nded to all who possessed property, and whether they Wok
the possession of a house or the payment of taxes as the test
was immaterial; but they should not give power to those
who had no property. There never had existed a society so
constituted • neither in the ancient republics of Greece, in
Rams, or elsewhere,l had there ever been a toed state so
constituted. (Hear, hear.) They had heard much
about property having its duties as well as its rights. What
WAS the meaning of this ? It was the duty of every man to
maintain himself in that position in society to which he be-
longed ; and as it was said of a nobleman not long ago that
he would be ready to die fer his order, so it was the duty of
every person possessing property to be ready to die for that
property, and not permit it to be infringed by eel means,
direct or indirect. (" Oh," and laughter.) Hon. gentlemen
who were acquainted with the works of this country of the last
twelvemonth—he spoke not of the doctrines of Louis Blanc
and others in France—must be aware that there was perva-
ding a large body of our most intellectual operatives a notion
that they did not share sufficiently in the produce of their
labour. (Hear.) That feeling was gaining ground amongst
them, and there was also another feeling obtaining amongst
them to some extent—viz , that every owner of property
WAS a public robber. (No.) Tussle propri. est rot
was the principle laid down in France; and did they not
hear the same principle put forwmd here ? (" No.") Why
had they not heard of tenant right in Ireland? Had they
not heard it asserted that the tenant had a prior right to
the land he cultivated over the landlord? (Hear.) He
contended that political power should be confined to those who
had property, and those who had ncne should he entirely
excluded from political power. He considered it also most
dangerous to suppose, as indeed was supposed, that there
was a necessary connection between an alteration of the con-
stitution of that house, and a diminution of taxation. He
was opposed, as much as the member for Montrose, to extra-
vagance, and desired as much as him to curtail the expendi-
ture of the country. (Hear.) But he conceived that each
question—the reform of that house, and the necessity of re-
trenchment—should stand upon a separate footing, and each
be decided on distinct grounds. If it were to lie admitted,
that a particular constitution of that house would secure a
diminution of the national expenses, then would it amount
to this, that it would be composed of represent dives who, to
satisfy their owe petty and local objects, would
sacrifice the national interests and honour. Consti-
tute the house as they plemed, and still it would
have no power to relieve the distress of the people. It was,
therefore, grossly deluding the people to tell them that any
reform of parliament could give them food —t:.at anything
hut misery was the lot of tae great mass of mankind, and
that that misery could be relieved by any legislation what•

ever.
Lord J. RUSSELL.—I rise thus early to address the
house because I think it is entitled to an explanation fro*
me of the views I entertain, not only regarding this motion,
but otner propositions to which it is nearly akin, and which,
after the speech of the hon. member for Montrose, I conjec-
ture are likely to follow it (as we understood). But allow
toe to allude to the petitions which have been presented to
this house, and to what the hon. member for bloatrose called
! the expression of a general op nion on the subject.
Upon that I have to say that it does not ap-
pear that, except for the provisi,ms called the people's
cbs er, there was any large or num.rously signed
patitiou presented to this house in the early part of the ses-
sion. Regarding those since presented, and regarding those
meetings which have been held to au; port the motion of
the hon. member for Montrose, there are two remarkable
circumstances one is, that considerable pains were
taken to misrepresent a speech which I made some weeks
ago—(hear, hear)—when notice of that motion was post-
poned by the hon. member, to the effect that I declared
therein that the people wished fur no reform. I have seen
it done with such care that in placards all the words which
implied my belief that there ought to be reform were care-
fully expunged, and in some cases directly the reverse stated.
Th' ,rerds I used were—" My belief is, that the middle and
woe .ng classes desire that there should be a gradual pro-
guts of reform; that this house should give its attention to
the questions before it, and that on peace and Una qtnadl