The National Register.
London, England, 1817-02-17 00:00:00

ALDGATE PETITION.

Mr. BROUGHAM presented a petition from the inhabitants
of the %said of %Ideate, in the city of London. It trulireieel
the iisuel topics of the other reform petitions. He (Mr. IL)
would refrain, fur the present, from expressing any opinion
on the various matters embraced by, the petition, beesinse, to
enlarge on some of these, would be supertliamee and en others,
would be premature. Val rh,lis members had islrevly Artiste ed
their sentiments on the oecasion of pri smiting petitionv ; and
front any thin g that he conk! collect, ell hail agreed to e epee-
!tate that wild doctrine of universal sterrage with whieli the
'temple were deluded. He had formerly stated, that it was
no tight, and could be no benefit. There was but one oei.
Ilion %%ALM these walls, and, he believed, but one opieion
without, among those uhts- opinions were a orthy of respect,
either from the character of she uodivithsats who formed them,
limn, the deliberatioit with which they were formed, er the
honesty with which they were ewers aine.i. He had never •
heard an individual defend such a pro vet, et. represent the
a ight of 'lids ersal suffrage, with any eleitsibility, ns the :Ott
of the people. What should he the dm.atioe of Parliament,
whether it should he shortened, mid whether, ff ahortened, it
should be limited to mitt or three yeers, was a subject of fre-
quent disenAsion, and on the expedenicy or u cessity of
which serious opinions ittig:it ne forierd. a gaunt the
adoption of universal soakage the house was uneniamits, and
he (Mr. II.) had again Alluded to the stib.;ect, that he niteht
hear if there was nue dissent—gnat he migat see if any
withitt the wills of Parliement eneottratted suet a delusion,
:mil give any gentleman au oriel rtnnits of derlartng himself,
it' he was ready to maintain that absurd, mischievous, anti he •
would add not very honest doctrine, er of arresting, before •
it was too late, its vrnicious progress if he opposed it.
( Ara,, hear, kar.)
The Hon Mr. LAMB regretted that lie had to lifter from
his Has. and Learned Friend on the question of a ref irni is .
the state of the representation, timiking, as he did, th a Ihere
existed no necessity for any eltcretiou. Titus mom 1, how- •
ever, he should say, that when the question of Parlialmntary
reform came before them in the shape of a reenter discus-
sion, lie settled endeavour to divest himself of all prejudices
and partialities, and give the subject as foil and dispassionate
a consideintion as he was capable of hestou
Lord COCHRANE. —lt appeared to him racier too mneh in
the Hon. and Learned Gentleman (!‘lr. Ilroughien) to stem(
up in his place and impute designs to so large a body of
Men as had petitioned for neiversa, starage and menial par-
' items, or to asset t that they were so incapable olexereising
ti judgment of their own, as to be the mete tieds of evil minded
deluders. He was prepared to state, that in questions rela-
tive to the general interest and welfare, lie would much 'either,
take for his guide the good sewe and wisdom of the people,
than of that House.. " The people, Sir," said tee Noble
Lord, " have not those prejlitietea and personal interests
which too often guided the members of that House iia their
decisions on great public qiiest ions ; the people lutist be best
able to judge of what is catenated to promote their own hap-
pinces and prosperity ; the people. Sir, judge coolly and con-
scientiously." c.A loud laugh, and cried of hear, hear.) The.
best criterion of justice, on any point, was the opinion of the
great body of the people t and sorry was he to say, flirt their
judgments were often very different loin those Of the House
of Cantinons. He feared that, if delusion existed, it was; to.
be found in a very dilderent tweeter. He had said before, and
would now re-state, that triennial Parliaments, which *emitted.
to be a middle course proposed by some, would only have the
effect of diminishing the estimated price of seats. In his
opinion, there was uu permanent safety for the people but iu
• annual Parliaments, and in a plan white' should at least ex-
tend the right of suffrage to all housekeepers.
Mr. IVAilltE thought the Noble Lord, who came down to.
the Ukase, night after night, with bundles of petitions under.
his min, might be compete d to a luau's mercer hawking about
his wares. (A laugh.) Not satisfied, however, with those
bundles of petitions that were transmitted to him, he was so
was ni to the chase of new mies, that he ran shown into Hamp-
shire, and next day brought the petition from that quarter,
that it might he served up not, and put on the teem of the
Heuse. The Noble Lord find talked of the coolness and
wisdom of the people; but even according to his own stain.
matt, this I laiiipsbire Petition was discirsaed, approved, and
st....,nrit by 21,000 people in the short space of an hour! So
eincli for the coolness of the pimple. He was decidedly of
opinion, hoe over, that the doors of the Howe of*Commona
slionld be thrown ()penes wilt ly as possible to tee reception of
.Petitions; nor did lie wish that when Peetions were presented,
they should he hypercritically examined ; List at least they
should be written in seek a strain, HS rum make them tit for the
emistitutional representatis s s of the nation to receive ; fur so
lie whosild call the House of Commons, until it was shown that
they were otherwise. He presumed, also, that the pure
channels which these petitioners Mr universal stiffrege chose,
as the mediae' of con sey ing th dr prayers to the Heusi.. was
to he talieu ne untidier proof of their wiolien. II seemed aq
if the itelividnak who had dived deeeest into t nrimptiou, wet
avowed it the most unblushingly, were selected patrons of
the-e wise petitioners! (Loud cries of 10.er, b-er.) The Nou:e.
Lord had himself avowed, that he mice owed his seat to that
Hie se to the Whim of Houitou; and another lieu. Member
declared, that he was one of six persons whit hail the right of
presentation to a lowough; and though he drew iti the MIME
train, like one of the six grey horses in the Lord Mayer's
CORCII, be was a sere sleeping partner, and revei%ed mine
of the mouey Which was &scot for the horeligh, but was him-
self sold.
Sir M. W. Itinery said, he had no doted that it was not
the Noble Lord's wish to do mischief; .'it tient:Me, es lie
did, that the Noble Lord's motions out the subject ut I;teorin
were calculate:', by going abroad, to produce mischief, lie

wilot Pr.Alt4l afs:Za (Lem. being Convinced that nothing wax
more calculated to produce inextticable distress than annual
parliaments and universal suffrage. (Hear.)
..kfr. (n antes WYNN.—TiIe Noble Lind had professed his
astottislim vet that any persons out of doors should he charged
ss itli acting under a delusion, although the gloss falsehood,
Cad annual parliaments were the ancient right of the people
of England, had been put into their mouths by designing
The. Noble Lord had also argued, that, because aa old
Act of Parliament confined the right of suffrage to 40 Sil;iiilig
liseehoiltll4, therefore universal suffrage must have been a
more uncietit right: bat the only eon( lasiuti that could be drawl'
frmis this was, that the right was possesesd by freeholders
ge-
n:crally; not that there was any such thing as nisi vet sal suff-
rage, the idea of which Wil4 a gross absurdity, when it was
considered that the land was in the possession of great land-
holders. the seine kind of absurd reasoning, we were
now, it seems, to execrate the nii•:nary of that abominable
Parliament of 1594, which fixed the duration of Parliament to three
years, though it was notoriously known to the merest smatt...ers in
history, and might be obtained even from the history of England, by
question and answer, that Parliaments before that period were tudi.
Tinted in their duration. (Cries oy'hear, hear.) It would be endleas,
however, to notice all the unblushing misrepresentations in these
Petitions. We were told in those that came down from the great
manufactory in London, that the late war would never base taken
place if the voice of the people had been heard. Now, setting aside
all consideration of the justice or policy of that war, he would assert,
that no war was; ever mote popular in its commencement. (Cries of
hear, hear.)
Mr. Buoyant:is' spoke in explanation. After the marked manner
in which the Noble I.utd had alluded to him—had held hint as
daring to put hi • opinion in competition with that of .soo,txx) or a
million of people out of doors—had charged him also as having
slandered the I,ople, by representing them as Labouring under del -
sions, and their leaders as frantic or dishonest men, the House, he
trustial, would allow him to say a few words in his own behalf.
hear.) It would be admitted, he trusted, by most persons,
both within and without these walls, that few, Warty. individuals hail
at all times shown more determined opposition than lie (Mr. B.) had
done to every the smallest semblance of oppression on the part of the
Government; but he ead not shown the people his friendship by
eel ing them utter and grave falsehoods (hear, hear); he had nut
taken advantage of their aritiquaritus ignorance, and goner them to
sign petitions, the fabricators of which he charged as deluders, anti
the adopters he pitied as deluded ; Petitions such as that which As-
serted that universal suffrage was a right for which our ancestors had
shod their blood—which, turning to periods covered with impene-
trable darkness, dowribed the people of England as enjoying a fine
and perfect constitution 14110 years ago. (A great laugh, and Cries
of hear, tear.) In what history of England. he would ask, was there
to be found the smallest trace of the constitution of England as it
existed in the year Cos? Tins was the antiquarian knowledge of
these wiseacres out of doors, who rose up boasting of their little
aosumns, and their big delusions; telling us we were all an ignorant
people, and that the true way of reforming the constitution was tiiat
of setting it on the model ellt that which existed 200 years before the
Saxon Ileptarchy was at an end ! When he accused some Mhos of
attempting to delude the people (for he was convinced that hitherto
it was a mere attimpt), it was reference to the pro ators of such
monstrous absurdities as these. He was far frem thinking, however,
that such delusions had spread widely, or to any great extent. The
truth was, that the people. labouring under the severest presatre of
distress, hail been collected in large masses, and finding these Peti-
tions ready made, had unwittingly put their hands to doctrines which
they had never thought of; and delusions had thus iresn ascribed to
them, to which they were no parties.
Lora COCHLIANE explained.—Knowing, as he did, the respect-
able individual, ialaior Cartwright, with whom many of these Pen-
lions originated, lie would say that there was not a snore worthy man
in existence. ( Lebeghing.) Ile could not sit silent and hear that
venerable person charged with deluding the people. If there was
one quality in his character more marked than another it was since-
rity; but no man ssoald be accused for an error in judgment.
The Petition from Alilgate was then read, and ordered to lie on
the Table.

Lorti G. CAVENDISH presented two Petitions from Flues in the
county of Derby, praying for Reform.
Adjourned till Monday.

LIST OF SHERIFFS.

Sheriffs appointed by his itoyal Highness the Prince
Regent in Council, in the name and on the behalf of
his Majesty, for the year 1817:--
Regfordshirr—Sannuel Crawley, of Stockwood, Esq.
Iferkshire —William Stone, of Englefield, Esq.
Buckinghamshire—G. Carrington, of Missenden Abbey, Esq.
Cainb. and Hunt.— Postponed.
Cheshire—Sir Richard Brooke, of Norton Prio►y, Bart.
Philip Musgrave, of Eden Hall, Bart.
Detbushire—Thounts Hallowes, of Glasswell, Esq.
Deramshire—Sir Walter Roberts, of Courtland, Bart.
I)orsetshire—Sir William Oglander, of Paruham, Bart.
Essex—John Hall, of Woodford, Esq.
Gloucestershire—Sir H. C. Lippincott, of Stoke Bishop, Bart.
IPrOrdskire—Edmund Morns, of Charley-wood, Esq.
Hereerd lire—Tornkyna Dew, of Witney Court, Esq.
Kest —William Alexander Morland, of Lamberhurrt, Esq.
Leicegterehire—Clement Winstanley, of Itrannston, Esq.
IMeoM,hire--Sir Robert Sheffield, of Normanhy Hall, Bart•
Mairmouthshire—Robert 'Thompson, of Tinterne, Abbey, Esq.
Narplk---Henry Newts Burroughs, of Burlingham. Esq.
Arortbamproashire -.Sir C. Knightley, of Fawsley Park, Bart.
Northumberlawil —Sir T. J. Clasering, of Harwood Skeels, Bt.
Nottinghamshire—T. 'Backbone Hildyard, of Flinthanr, Esq.
Oxfordshire--James C arty Willington, of Coggs, Esq.
Rstlmelshire—Tll4lll3s nailer Baines, of Morcott, EN.
SluapsAire—William Ormsby Gore, of l'orkington. Esq.
Mapes hthiee—Pliitill John Miles, of Wrasnell, Esq.
.talfordsh re—'lhomac Kirkpatrick Hall, of Holly-bush, Esq.
Cernty,,i'Soittharoproo —.John Fleming, of Btonehann Park, Esq.
siiifalr—Sir Robert Harland, of Narton, Hart.
.Surrey—'Thomas Lett the younger, of Dulwich, Esq
Sussex —James Cranhourne Strode, of Yrant, I,:sq.
H'w•rriekshirr--The Hots. Henry Verney, of Compton Verney.
Wiltshire—John Dunce, ford Penritd,lork, ot Compton, Esq.
LVorcesarshire— Juksi Taylor, of Strenslumt Court, Esq.
Yerbrhire— Sir W. Mordant Milner, of Nan Appleton, Bart.
illituu A mulch Harris, of Keneggy, Esq.

From the LONDON GAZETTE, Saturday, Feb. 15.

BANKRUPTCY ENLARGED. ENLARGED.

n. GRIFFITH, Of C:Hteibury, draper. from Jan. 25 to March 13.
BANKRUPTS. s• .
BAX NISI FR M. jun. latc of 'fres Malt:e, clothier, Fcb. t".!, March
1, 29. at Gtkilicoatl.. Ans. Lowe ano Co. Soutnampton-huiltlingt.
Smyrit R. of Leeds. I:0 .icr, Feb. 28, March I, 21, at Leeds. Att.

Mr. Lake, I/cm-gate-11111.
Groat.r. T. of Leeds, merchant. Feb. Z 3, March 1, 519, at Leeds.
Att. Mr. Lake, I toerirate-hill.
F. C S W. of A ltlcragate-street. cork-manufacturer, Feb. 18, March
ir9, at Guildhall. A,41. tourteen end Co. Waihrook.
%,,ts M. of Pall-Mall, lapidary, Feb. 18, 4S, March 109, a. Cu/IC.-
IAL Mt. Mr. Isaacs, 13 or; -Arc,t, St. Mary-axe.