The National Register.
London, England, 1809-06-18 00:00:00

THE N&TIONAL REGISTER.

PA TLLIAMENTARY REFORM.

Sir T. Mtn DETT, in stating to the House his sentiments with
respect to Parliamentary Reform, hoped to put a stop to those
misrepresentations w hieh had gone abroad, w ith respect to his
condo( t and inteptions. The misrepresentation he alluded to,
he did not state pt ()crack from a malicious motive, from any
wish to lower him unfairly in the estimation of the public ;
those who circulated them, he was willing to believe, were mis-
taken in his character; he, however, felt his duty to himself, and
the public called til.in him to explain away every thing like
ambiguity with respect to the motives by which he was actuat-
ed. In bringin:, this sot:jet-I before the House, tt was not his
totention to propose that they should come to a decision ona any
gpecilie phi) tb,tt be Might have formed on the subject of Par-
lie,twet try Iterone ; but after swing his opinions coolly and
,ctiv to thy c:.li oo them for a pledge,
Lao, Owe would in the nest session, take into their consider:l-
-t:en the stoic T)f the iepreseutation of the people. The subject,
it was true, heti engrossed his attention, but his opinions
were not rashly expressed, arid still less had he endeavoured to
dist emieate discontent among the people, without knowing what
the object was he wished to attain, and which, when
woul•I lessen the grievances of which they complained. In his
no'.hing milli be more reprehensible 11;io the conduct
which had been uejustly attributed to him ; namely, mak ittg the
dissai isued w hen no grievances existed ; or exciting dis-
content by proclaiming those ~,,Tevanaes to which a remedy
could oot be Such au imputation conduct had never
merited. In o pressing those sentiments which, in justice to
himself, he could not suppress, he would endeavour to abstain
from commenting at any letsgth on those evils which he consi-
&erect as resulting from the corruptions that so loudly called for
a Parliamentary Referm ; he Would also be careful not to let
fall any expressions that might excite the indignation, or call
-th the asperity of either party be that Mouse. It was not
his .wish to introdtte dkseetion, but to unite both parties in an
a o icable discussion. It miglo, however, be necessary for him
io notice certain doctrines Lich had been broached, and
which he considered as standing on an nosiabitantiel basis.
3n doing this he w ould first show whence the mischief
com,dained of arose ; and, secondly, that the remedy was
aimiile, practicable, and consisv,at with the constitution of the
c 'wary. If he could spew that the system mieht be easily and
-with safety reformed, by referring to ti.e laws of the toed, he
trusted slleh a remedy would not be opposed as endangering the
best interests of the country. Comtption had been stated to be
essential to the Constitution. Its cause had, in short, been so
far advocated, that it should seem corruption was not tolerated
for the sake of the Constitutiou, but the Cooflitation was tole-
rated for the sake of corruption. Ile admitted the influence of
lire Crown. was just and neee,sttry.to a certain degree, to the sta-
bility of the Constitution. 'With respect to corruption growing
with our - strengthened, as had
been arse mat in that case the
Ake* te and 'trent belted as

JUNE 18.

we gained strength. They ought to be arrested in their progress.
The Constitutioa ought not to be suffered to fall to deray when
we had detected the disease. Corruption had sometimes bco
spared because the instances in which it had been alleged to ex-
ist were considered as unworthy of notice; at others it had nit
been punished, because it was of such magnitnde that every
effort to crush it imea prove nugatory. At one time it had
been stated that thcscorruptions were trifling, mere cheese-pa-
rings. Be remembered a proverb, which might perhaps he not
improperly applied to the case, at hich .aid, " all the King's
cheese goes in parings." It is as now stated , that it had groy n
so large that it was impossible to stop it. Whichever might
be the fact, he thought we could not do heifer than oppose it ;
if it was thought useless to nttempt to check the disease, it n; t
he supposed we were rapidl hasteoing towards a dissolution :
that was not his opinion—he thought corruption m'ght yet he
restrained by such a H ()use of Canenous as the people bad a right
to expect, composed of men who were really representatives of
the nation. The questions which had been recently agitate.' in
that House he had been told hart Hot h ing to do w it h a Pa rliamer.—
tary Reform ; but he considered them as intimately connected
with it. His ideas of the Constitution were drawn from the
laws of the land. lie admitted the prerogative of the Crown
was a part of the law of the land, Ite never had spoken against
it, hut when it had been improperly executed through the
influence of such a nonce as that. Ile it ished is restore the be-
lance between the influence oft he Crown and the people. eta i
ing the mere forms of a Constitution when the more substantial
parts were gone, was of little benefit to the people. What as
Rome thus situated as desrrihed by Taeitus in the time of Ti-
berius ? " The state of the country, he raid, was most deplor-
able and hopeless, because while despotism existed, its tyranny
was carried on under the forms of freedom." The more they
were oppressed under the form of freedom, the more deplorable
was their situation. Some people were very much alarmed at
the idea of any thing like innovation. Lord Bacon Fait!, " Time
was the greatest innovator of all, inasmuch as it changed all
things." lf, while time changed every thing around them they
stood still, he thought in remaining stationary they became the
greatest innovators. Rotten boroughs were the consequeoce of
the innovation 3 of time. From the time of William 1. to that
of William 111. such a system as the present was unknown.
The King, when sending forth his writs to convene the great na-
tional assembly, would not have thought of sending writs to St.
Makes, to (WON and to Old Sarum, to procare representa-
tives of those rotten boroughs as they were now procured. The
admission of the present system was, he contended, at mite
depriving the Crown of its prerogative, and the people of their
rights, and had even the effect of holding up the King as the
enemy of the people. The Crown ought to pawls great and
extensive privileges, yet at the same time there ought to be a
proper check on those privileges, when improperly exercised.
Ile did not wish to put a sword into the hands of the people
to destroy whatever might become obnoxious to them, but he
wished to provide them with a shield to defend them from those
evils which might assail their dearest rights as men—as English-
men. A document issued by James I. was extant, in w hich
writs were ordered not to be sent to rotten boroughs : several.
other documents of a similar nature were in existence. lie
maidtaincd that the rotten borough system had an ellect exactly
the reverse of that which it was expected to produce, as, while
it trenelied on the prerogative of the Crown, it was far from
having a tendency to extend the privileges of.the people. It
had called a third party into existence, which had risen both
against tee King and the people. His wish was to unite the
King aaki the People, by a bond sacred as permanent, by alle-
giance 'on the Ore hand, and protection on the other. This
salatary change, be thought, might he easily effected. Lord
Coke had said, that any departure from an established system
was generally attended by evils, great as they were, unforeseen.
The truth of that assertion was amply exemplified in the mischief
which the introduction of the borough-motigeriog system had
given birth to. The people, he maintained, had a right to a
voice is that House, which, by the present systemohey were
precluded from having. If Ihl borough-mongers could newts
a majority ie the. ilouse of Common., they here in fact the so-
vereigns of the comers., and over the King they could oppress
the country wit!) what taxes tleev thought trooper, tend at once
trample on both Kiel; and. People. Tilis s)stem he could only
cantsi ler as an t vii excrescence, is hich had E:7 rown'onCof the its-
nu vations of time, and become alike inimical to the nation and
its Monarch. If,IN it how making any change in the constitu-
tion, but only by potting- thlt into action n hich the Constitutiou
put into their ie yauees of such magnitude could be dune

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