The Express.
London, England, 1848-07-07 00:00:00

good that plan, abet, bed the voters had the
protection of the ballot, lie would not have bean elected.
'LLauftlll''.t.) There was only that one borough out of four in
Buck% which was net open to undue influence ; and he was
ao..ty to say it was sliding from its first virtue ; it had her n
wooed by " a gay seducer." (Laughter.) The annual rate-
' able value of Bucks was 674,0001. and it sent el -yen mem
oers to parliament. The annual value of Middles. z was
7,293,0001., and it sent fourteen members to parliament.
(Hear.) Ile might also instance Sussex and Lancashire;
but the proporti ins were so ridiculous that the system de-
mutt d its own object, and failed to represent even the pro-
perty of the country ; for population and property were very
n. arty connected, and it was only in exceptional cases that
they did not go tom thee (Hear.) By granting the pro.
tection of the ballot the house would du much towards prov-
ing the sincerity of its desire to put a stop to bei-wry. All v.°
arguments yet used in opposition to the ballot were founded
enure on mealtime Ist than on reason. The hold, lona (J. Bowls)
had referred to America, and said every man's vote was known
there though they had the bullet. 'I his was • proof that
the ballot' did away with intimidation and bribery, and
hence a man was careless whether his vote was known or not.
(11. ar, hear.) The noble lord had a:so referred to the
°teener' of the National Assembly in France, where the
ballot was resorted tat; and this he seemed to think • clinch-
hag argument, which was to fright the isle from its propriety.
But under the former dynasty in France, out of a populetion
to 31,000,000, hut 200.000 men had voted for the deputies;
and it was owing to the ballot alone that any indepen sent
men fumed their way into the chamber. 'Abe superiority of
the ba.let had been proved in tho recent elections, for it was
only by rte peon ohm thut any men of conservative prin-
ciples could have been returned. (Hear, hear.) The usual
ugumeut regaled the ballot was a sort of hustings de-
clemation, —.that it was un-English; hut was it
taut more uu-English to traffic in vote., and snake
a poor trader vote against his conscience? (Cher.)
Probably many members were aware that the com-
mits o of four who eat nn the Reform Bill in
1831, sou noised of Lord Grey, Lord John Ituwell,
Lord Duneannon, and Lord Duream, recommended that
the ballot should be introduced, and that the duration of
parliam: nts should he shortened. This could not be denied.
And when the Chandus clause was introduced in that house,
Lord Al horp had deelsred that Et would ho a great step
toward. rendering the ballot et cessary ; and Lord Grey
had wed the same argument in the cell. r house. He
would ask tho'c twenty gentlemen who voted fur the ballot
in 1812, woo of whom had wed some very hard laegu age
towards the noble lord at the head of the government,
whether any of Wt m would be swayed for an instant by the
arguments with which the noble lord oppmed the
ballot in 1848. Twenty eupporters of the gnvernment, and
two cabinet ministers voted for the ballot then ; he
hoped they would 100 true to their co. urs, an n vote
I.r it now. (Hear hear.) The qu anti anon of members
question had not been touched on by the hou. member f
Odintrom. This was by no means part of " our runlet t in-
to itu ions ;" it was quite a moot innovation. In 1703, a
parliament, which was very jealous of the commercial classes
and di shoes that all the power of the country should be
vented in the landed gantry, pulsed an act by which no min
who had leas than 30 ayar in land could sit in par.itament.
The art had been since altered by Mr. Warburton's, met. Mr.
Macaulay—whether he was in tun cabinet or riot at present
nobody knew—(laughter)—lied said, " It is no part of the
constitutions of the keyed .m that a qualtli,attion shall be re.
reared ; nor is it a part of the consequences of the emote-
tioo. it was iutroduced by a had parliament, now het iin
110 great esteem, for the purpose of de tearing the revolution,
and ez cluding the protestant succeioala to the crown."
What did the hon. member for North Warwickshire
(Mr. Spooner) think of that? (Laughter) Anodise
question was as to the duration of parliament.. If
ever th- re was a monstrous infraction of the constitution,
it was in parting the septennial bill ; it was one of the whig
jobs of toe d ny. If tile noble lord at the teed or the goy: en-
meat looked through th : records of the duration ot parlia-
ments, he would find that, since the reign of Gorge
11., trey lied averaged fire years and • Ina (Hear.)
The Septennial Aet was • fraud from the commencement,
and you (said the hon. gentleman) who wish stare super
tsiatiguas alas, are bound to repeal it. (hear, hear). 1
shou.d have stopped hex, had taut the noble lord thrown
out a challenge and denied that the government of this
country was carried on for the bent fie to the arismcracy—
and he quoted Tact' us. (Leuehter.) The hon. member
for Surrey also (Mr. H. Dcurco.ond) quoted " D eld's Par
lianientary Comp mama," to show how many vulgar feelows
without grandfathers, were ..embers of pm t. (Much
laughter.) Well, 1 consult . Dodd (leen4hter), and her. are
the results. I find, according to Dod.l, that thee are forty-
two boroughs still sub j. et to local nalluence •. thirty-three
era under the direct influence of ppet(llear, hear.)
Eighteen members in this house represent eleven whig
peer-, mad thirty-three represent twenty-two tory peers.
(Hear, hear.) And these forty-two boroughs have
as much influence in the house as the cities of
London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Liverpool, and Glas-
gow. (Ilea, hear.) But when the noble lord ra)s
that government is nut carried on for the benefit of the aris-
tocrat!! , here is any aeswer—again according to Dodd.
(Utaghter.) There are 6 marqui-ea in this house, 8 carts,
26 viscounts, 36 lords, 61 baronets, and 10 hon. mist. es.
There are. altogether 271 persona connected with peers and
the aristocracy in the house, besides 44 officers of the army,
8 or the navy, and those who are officially connect. d with the
grow riament, making, in the whole, 331 members who are
under the. narect influence of the &newer cy. Let it not be
supposed that lam attaeltiog the inuividuals. ( Hear, hear.)
I am attacking the system, not the men ; and I say that the
power of the aristocracy has increased, is inereming, and
ought to be diminished. (Loud cheers.) We have beard
somewhat of family petitions in this house. Why, what is
the whole foundeuon of the present government in this
country? Its Cyanide:km rests upon family arrangements.
The wnole cabinet are relatd to each other by ties of
birth or merriege. (near, hear.) They form a snug
family party. Mesa, hear, and lauahter.) And they so tar
differ from smother exhioition enlied the " Hippy Family"
—(laughter)—that, whereas in the one ease all the animals
are deselect by birth; in the other, whilst admitting the
great knowledge and talents of iedividuels, you can only
account for their rickety_ offspring in kind Wm by knowing
Brat the parents are all r toted. (Much laughter and
cheers.) For the sekeof decency it was chequered perhaps
by some liberal statistical members. (Laugatter.) Some
m -usher of a large constituency, which he would not be
likely to reverent again, may be caught and cribbed
wr his whig consistency and firmness. (Laingliter.) But
even thew members become so altered when they get on that
be ne h,t nat,lake Sheriden's old juke about . he Irks/We Children,
you aeon W have disfigured th, in to make them pass fur
your "son, (Great laughter.) Tne n able lord ask. d, it we
w .uld prevent the Moravia and Stanley* from having

places. -
Lord J. RUSSELL said he had never said anything of
the kind.
Mr. OSBORN E.—l can assure the noble lord that I did
not mcau to hur. his feelings. (Laugater.) I say that the
flowaros and the Stanleys have as goo I a right (and no
alum) as others to have places. (Hear, hear.) And it is
somewhat singular that few of the Rewards and less of the
Staidays are in public places. (Hear, hear.) There arc
othi ra there who have n,t such good claims, and who make
a good thing of them. (Laughter.) We do not complain
that men 01 the name id II sward and Stanley have places,
hut we c 'asphalts teat *. Lord Tons-noddies " are pushed
into office, while other men of equal, and perhaps better,
retensions, but nut of such high birth, are excluded. (Hear,
Gear.) Ido not sec why a relative of my hon. friend ( dr.
flume) should not get a place in the Mint, when qualified
for it, without danger to the constitution, as weal as if
he had then the son of some peer. (Hear, hear.) The pre-
sent government is a government of great families merely.
Are the members a that government remarkable for any
great or overpowering talents? (Laughter.) is the colonial
Wilco so well administered? Is the financial department so
well attended to? (Hear, hear.) Arc you Steeping your
promises when out 01 office to Ire' and ? (Hear, h ar.) Are
these the reasons why you are keeping your p aces ? No,
you arc keeping them because none of the peat families
ore prep: red to take your places. (Hear, Lear.) Yon arc
keeping the government because the people cannot make
lards ail the bedchamber Of got lords in the other house to
thump the red ban. Tue people of this country only want
a governin-nt ol practical men; and my conscientious belief
is, that the hon. member for Sunderland and others, who
ran n ,naec railway boards equally well, are as well quali•
lied to conduct the government as the no Ile lords who now
form Snell a select family compact. The noble lord at
the close of his speech toe other night quoted an American
gentleman, who said that the British constitution was so long
and strung. The ruble lord was caught by the rhyme.
(Laughter.) But in 1831 the noble lord said that the con-
stitution of this country was never settled till about tiny
years helore. Why was the constitution "so long and
114011 g ?" Because it went with the spirit of the times.
(Hear, hear.) The hon. member for Buck. (Mr. Disraeli)
objected to the movement because it was a middle chums move-
ment, and expressed an opinion that the only possible go-
, verniui of in this country was one that leant upon traditionary
hillaence and great property. When his hon. friend talked
so sneeringly of the middle classes he seemed to forgetthe day,
not long ',rice passed, when the middle classes
raliel round the small numbers with large properties.
Ind saved them from revolution. (Cheers.) I would have
my hon. friend rec illect .hat the safety of this country de-
pends on the intelligence, the probity, and wealth of its
middle class—(hear, hear)—and that their numbers, sur-
rounding the more ornamental and polished portions of the
constitution, form the solid basis and cement which preserve
the institutions of this noble country. (Cheers.) When
you ta k to me of traditionary influence, I fa .c I am
listening to a kind of political Puseyism. The only tradi-
tionary iutluences which I could tied are, that in searching
the" Parliamentary Register'' I bound that a county mem-
-1 her was superseded in his election because Garter King at
Arms was not able to find his coat of arms in the Herald-
cane, and that you, sir, are obliged to sit is that chair with
a cocked hat. (Laughter.) The traditiona- yit fluence of the
aristocracy ! The hon. gentleman knows well that there is
ro traditionary influence of the kind. In the reign of
Edward 111. there was only one place in Lancashire, namely,
Lancaster, which had a representative. In the reign of
Henry VII. only York and Scarborough out of the whole
of Yorkshire were represented. There were but 28
peers in the same reign. The wars of the roses destroyed
the traditionary influence of the aristocracy. Did his hon.
friend wish to go back to the real traditionary influence, and
to give the whole light of nomination to the crown, tor
originally the crown created boroughs and really sent the re-
presentatives to that house till the power was taken from it
by the oligarchy. (Hear, hear.) Until 1573 Darhem had
no representative, and the hon. members for Newark owed
their seats to the last profligate act of Charles 11. ( Hear.)
The lather of his hon. friend, a great literary man, far great
he was—(near, hear)—says in one of his works that it was
the boast oh the Cavaliers who fought at Edgehill, that they
defeated larger numbers than were opposeu to them, but ELI
they were beaten by the middle class of that day. And when
the hon. gentleman asked whether the Wyndoams and the