The Sun.
London, England, 1852-02-13 00:00:00

LONDON,

provided he specified his intention to do so upon Ms
Such were the provisions of the Bill which
he now wished to bring in. Before he sat down he
miltht state that a clause in the Bill would enable the
Crown to reek° similar conventions with other countries
besides France.
Lord MAHON thought the thanks of the country
were due to the Right Hon. Gentleman for having in•
troduced this Bill, as well as to the Noble Lord the
Member for Tiverton, under whose direction the treaty
with France was negotiated. The Right Hon. Gentle-
man had taken a just view of the subject of translation,
and he hoped the Bill would ultimately receive
the sanction f the House. He suggested that the Go-
vernment would do well to come to a good understand-
ing with Belgium and the United States upon this sub-
i-ct of copyright. He had reason to believe that these
two nations were not indimp,.ed to enter into such con-
ventions, and he should be glad to know if any negotia-
tions for the purpose were going or.?
Mr. LABOUCHERE said there were none at pre-
gent, but when the Bill rhould have become law, it was
p,oposed to open communication upon the subject with
those two countries, to whom copies of the Bill would be
forwarded.
Leave was then given to bring in the Bill.
BOARD OF HEALTH.
Lord SEYMOUR ',brained leave to bring in a Bill to
t.firin certain provisional orders of the General Board
o,

SEW REFORM BILL FOR SCOTLAND,

The LORD ADVOCATE then rose to move for
I3ave :o bring in a Bill to extend the right of voting
tor Members Of P„riiam nt, and the law relating to the
represent?. ion of the people of Scotland. The provisions
of this Bel were so much like that introduced for Eng-
lanr.l, that it was quite unnecessary far him to detain the
House with any lengthened statement upon the
subject.. The Noble Lord, who introduced the
English Bill brought in the first measure of reform some
thirty years ago, but he himself stood in a very different
position. The great and distinguished man who introduced
the first Reform Bill for Scotland had long been no:more,
and now nothing was left of him but the results of his
public labous and the works of his pen, which bad
made the name of Francis Jeffrey and the English lan-
guage known throughout the whole world.—(Hear.)
At the time the first Reform Bill was brought in for
Scotland she stood in a very different position to Eng-
land. England had something like a popular
representation, but Scotland had none, or
if any it was only a shadow, for the
right of returning Members for counties was, vested in
the Court of Freeholders, who held their property di-
rectly from the Crown, while the privilege of returning
Members for the boroughs was vested in the town coun-
cil, who el, cted themselves. And yet, notwith-
standing such a system, Scotland flourished,
but nevertheless that did not prove the inuti-
lity of a popular representation, but only
served to show what a nation might do through the
force of its own energies.—(Neer, hear.) The Bill,
however, which was brought in and carried by Jeffrey
vastly extended the influence and improved the charac-
ter of the Scotch people, and though it was
considered at the time only an experiment,
the people soon satisfied the Legislature that
it would succeed, and he could only hope that the
same use would be made of the Bill that was made of
the first, and that the candidate and the voter, the land-
lord and the tenant, the master and the employed, would
still continue to make it their duty to maintain the national
sell-respect, without which popular rights were useless.
Looking at the political and moral progress during the
last twenty-one years, at the increasing general intel-
ligence, and the improved tone of political morality, the
difficulty they would have would not be in saying what
had not been done, but what had been accompliabed
in that time. They had been taunted with the fact
that there was not popular excitement on the
subject of reform. That, oti doubt, was perfectly true,
but, being true, he considered that the circumstance of
the measure being introduced during a period of peace,
and discussed without excitement, was the greatest ar•
gument in its favour. It was impossible io have a more
expressive tribute to the benefits of the Reform Bill than
this. The absence of that cry for reform, which
resounded through the country from the time of the
Rockingham Administration to that of Earl Grey,
showed that the • ff.ct of the Reform Bill was to draw
more closer together the cords of sympathy between re-
presentatives and the people. He believed the people
heel now more confidence in the Hesse, and that
they considered it was not necessary, es in
former day-, to create an agitation out;ot doors. Mhr
the eXistit,g law in Scotland the county representation
was vested in lauded proprietors and holders of lung
leases of let yearly valu-, and in the second place
in those who held under leases for nineteen
years, and those who paid 501. rent. It
was proposed by the present measure to r• -
dece the prop. r.y and lung leasehold qualifications
From 101 to 51., end the 50/. rent velificetions to 201.
With regard to boroughs, the qualitic.tion would be the
ante st,st in the Ef.glieh Bill which bed been intro-
Lead John Russell—the lul, occupaucy would
h.t atiuct it to 5/., and the same provision would
be introduced as to the pay went of a certain
amount of direct taxes. , The Learned Lord then
entered into a brief statement of the minor details of
the Bill, which he said would eff.,ct a considerable im-
provemeut in the existing laiv. Tnere would he a
right of appeal from the Registration Courts to
the Scotch Court of Exchequer, which would
d• Tide all points of law arising under the Bill.
He cencluded by expressing au opinion that the mea-
sure would tend greatly to promote the happiness of
the people and the prosperity of the country.—(Cheers.)
Mr. CUMMIII6it BRUCE said he cordially
that tnrheuleaLe
questionni
osetre
con-
curred in the eloquent panegyric uttered by the
Learned Lord, but be could not allow this the first
sage of the Bill to pass without expressing his stroug
couviction that it was ill-timed, uncalli d for, and in no
dirt ction.—(Laughter and hear.) He did not mean to
te,tt.rt that the persons whom the Bill proposed to enfran-
chise was not as independent and as well qua
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dihcnuygt7thowheuienti
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conceived
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wt
hoheti heßhe
the
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clause of the Reform Act, and he was ready to admit
A
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efatarhtor
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GbLearnedoevnaer
which the Reform Bill had produced, he must say that
they had not yet been able to elicit an answer
towhich had been put by one
of the most illustrious men in this er any
other country, viz. "How is the Queen's Government
to be carried on?" In what state bad the Government
of the country been sirce the passing of that Bill ?
For the last few years and, indeed, almost at the
present moment, the exercise of the Gi varnmental
Neatens were nearly at a dead lock. The
Government had frequently been almost unable to
elrry on the business of the country. Know this,
then, he said that the mover the present Government
were now making w old tend to rem the to a still greater
distance the time when there appeared any possible
(thence of getting an answer to that important qua 6T1(111
Ho curdtill th4itketi the Noble Cord fur introducing the
Bill, though there were many points which he highly
disapproved of.
sirs HUM E was not surprised at the speed of• the last
speaker, for he had consistently opposed Parliamentary
.It,,torue ever since he had held a seat in this House, bus
he reoll, was ,urprised to hear the remarks, however,
which had Linen from the Hon. Member for loverness.
Nevertheless he was not astonished at teese Bills being
cnsristrierised as peAling measures; and he was at a less
to understand why the Government bed not determined
upon bringing in a thorough reform, for the Noble Lord
at the Lead of it was eenetaetly telling them
that they ceule not have a Return Bill every session.
Why did the Noble Lord then not carry out this H to, m
inoveumet to the tuileat possible exteut, and then
where would have been an end to the agitation on the
subjitc. Ile rejoiced who n the Noole L urd who had
tea a tnis version told the House that the peopi.
of Scodarid had made such good use of the practice. It
svaa no, a privilege but their right, and what he wautso
was that they should go a step ter.ber, and let every care
ejey the right. Ire only wished he could live twenty
Bears longer to agitate and be a thorn in the sine of the,
Neble I/.rd until he co/lot:tied to the 40:. treehel‘ier the
right o: votot. Still there was some geed in this Bill, and
ii eheu:d tuppert it. What he wanted however was that
Ovary munlopal voter should have the right of voting
for Members of Parliament, and that there should be
only one registration, and he would not rest
until he obteine d both these concessions,—(Hear.)
The greatest defect in all these Bella was the absence of
any clause which establish triennial Parliaments and
vote by ballot.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. F. MACKENZIE wished for some technical
expiration of the Bill, which was given by the Lurd Ad-
vocate, and the discussion was preceded with.
Mr. STUART was surprised that such a Bill as this
should have been introduced, if, as the Hon. Member for
Montrose said it was likely to give rise to an annual
agitation on the subject of reform. He would,
however, suggest that the representation of the
counties of Scotland should be more adequately
adjusted to the extent and interests of the population
than it was. Why could not the counties of Scotland
be divided into divisions like those of England? Such
a measure would improve the representation of
Scotland, and he hoped his suggestion would not be lost
sight of.
Mr. EWART thought a 51 qualification ought to be
made the measure of voting both in counties and
boroughs.
Mr. MACGREGOR should support the Bill; but,
nevertheless, he thought it tell far short of what Scot