The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-26 00:00:00

do not hesitate to say, to afford some opposition, to oppose
some barrier, against that recurrence of that continuouely
encroaching democratic influence in this country which is
bent on throwing the whole authority of the country nomi-
nally into the haues of the masses, practically into the hands
of demagogues and republicans, who exert-lee au influence
over those unthinking masse? Will you support a Go:
vernmene which is determined to resist that dangerous and
obnoxious influence, to preserve the influence and
prerogative of the Crown, the rights of your Lord.
ships House, and the liberties of a freely-elected House
of Commons?" Now, how any man of common sal
could say the House of Commons was freely elected, and
fairly repres uted the opinion of the people, he c old not
imagine. The fact was the very reverse. The Noble Lord
went on to say—" Taese are the questions on which, when le
go to the country to make my appeal on behalf of myself
and my colleagues, I claim to use the words which the wurst
felon who stands in the prisoner's dock has a right to el'
ploy, but which I do not deem unworthy of the First Mr-
ulster of the Crown of the first nation in the world, and to
say - I elect to be tried by God and my country.' lie
would tell the Noble Lord that he (Mr. Hume) was not ono
who wished to put down toe institutions of the couutre
li-
e had too often stated the estimation in which be held
"
those institutions, and was convinced that if properly acted
upon they would carry out the gre..t object of good govern"
meat - the happiness of the greatest number. What were
the inetitutious of which the country was so proud? First,
there was the Queen, the head of the Executive ; then there
was the House of Lords, standing perhaps between the
impetuosity of the people, and, it might be, the tyranny
cf the Crown. He considered that body to be wisely Ceri:
Iv
stituted for the benefit of the community at large, and
ha
barrier against that hasty and inconsiderate b gislation o'''. ,
might be carried on by means of popular agitation, He did
not wish to infringe upon their great and just privileges; bug
he wished to confine the Peers to their legitimate privtleg,ee '
and did not like to see them interfere with the other lege.
five chamber. The House of Commons belonged to the
people, but he would asl if there was one man in the House/
who would say that it was a full and fair representation 0
the mass of the people? If nu man had the courage to d°
that, then he would say let the system be conderuned. BY
the law every man in this country was entitled to election,
but they were nut allowed to elect any persons but these Pere
sessiug landed estates. In Scotland, however, no such quleie
fication was required, and he did not see why the same rule
should nut be applied to the other puts of the klega°"'e
He complained of the interference of men of wealth,
Peers, with the election of Members of the House of Com-
mons—he complained that the mass of the community were
not represented, and asked the House to remedy teo"93
present anomalous state of things. and to remove tu.,o
grounds of complaint which excited so much diesatisfaett's
in the minds of the people. He considered that e
very unjust attack had been made on himself and those who
wished to prevent any danger arising from the discontent
which prevailed. Wise men ought in times of peece an't
which neigh
quietness to remove the causes of discontent
lead to danger. The country was now in such a situation
that no one knew when a storm might arise. Should'fin
a feeliug arise as that which existed in 1842 and 18-I'3 whoa
a. reunion or at az.. rg we vut or caup j
to Luc. t, 1.1101 stronger
claims would be brought torward, and the most serious con.
sequences might ensue, lie found that in 1792 Lord Grey
—the then Lord Grey, not the present—(A gb),wsnsf
commissioned by the so-called Association of the .Friends
the People, consisting of some of the most distinguished Pee'„
and many of the most estimable men in society, to present 1
petition in which the Legislature was asked to grant sever
reforms, namely, an extension of the suffrage to
s.
holders, Innitation of Parliaments to three years' and
an alteration in the qualification of Members. -",-,BZ-na"
titiouers stated that at that day the House of s'i„ ;
mous did not fully and fairly reresent the Peeeee,
of iingfand in a manner consistentlyy with what t,,,,ed
believed to be the rights of the people. They comPlutund
all housned-
that the electoral franchise was so unequally distributed, sr,
less than io,uoo electors. Now,
in so many instances ci aamitted to bodies of men of vet
limited numbers, that the majority of the House of L'e.as
mons was elected besuch oeci
the nature of the complaints that were made at that day, and
if lion. Members would refer to the debates they '' at
flied that the very same objections which were allegedno
that time against granting reform were those that were 8
urged in certain quarters, and therefore he was very °jelled
that the opinions of such men as the Duke of Richnioed: be
Mr. Lembtorn which were there stated, should not nee' the
overlooked. The Duke of Richmond stated that one veeetild
be a representative body
securities of the House of Commons was that it s-ple
freely chosen by the P''-to-
themselves, independent of the Crown and of the aril of
cracy, and amenable at short intervals to the judo sold
the constituents. Mr. Lambton said: "The exaniPlefione
situation of another kingdom are held out to deter neck we
unovetions of any kind. We say that the reforms 'o'l,a to
have in view are not innovations ; our intention i 3 '.„ the
destroy but to restore; not to displace but to reinstat,e, ou
Constitution on its true basis ana legitimate grounds'elouse
another occasion the Earl of Chatham declared in the _to,
of Lords that what he meant b his advocacy of reform;
In
favour to infuse new life into the Constitution; that his reae(Tpe
favour of Parliamentary reform were grounded on anon of
rience of twenty-six years, which, whether in or t the
office, had convinced him that the improvement of the
the
House of Commons by the restoration of the rigbts etion
people was the only remedy for that system of corrurit',.___
which bad brought the nation to disgrace and pove. 'only
(Hear.) In his (Mr. Hume'e) humble opinion
means of enabling this country to bear the eenneneetere
which would come upon it etc long from various q eesent
was by making that House fully and fairly to re.P.nuity
the mass of the people, in order that the coal'
ores.
at large might acquire an interest in our hatiel3 were
perity by having those rights given to them weh Wel)! at
now withheld.—(Hear, hear.) The Noble L°r",ated the
the head of her Majesty's Government bad 43e eaten-
other night that he should continue to support 6
„.tby or
sion of the suffrage to all men who were en
W the tit:"
fit to exercise it. His (Mr. Hume's) an at _
hi de-
hat e
had been that he would not accept as a favour what he. fight
manded as a tight, because be considered it to be then that
1 of every free born Englishman to be represented i
o_eet,,
House, and he only drew the line of distinction thnvetitioa
whereanzeild'y
absolutely required it. The Noble Lord had very coo re-
admitted that no injurious results had followed from who
forms which had already taken place, and that all must ar-
would give the question a moment's consideration ethe uta
rive at the conclusion that those reforms bad been °I
rdinarY
most advantage to the country during the
changes that had been going un upon the coatie•naland
Europe. He (Mr. Hume) did not believe that e. '
e could
would have remained quiet, or that the public Peahcad been
have been maintained, if the state of the country :
Ji On the
such in 1848 as the Noble Lord found it in 18
sill had, in
contrary, the changes introduced by the Reform
.....
and that
his opinion, checked the lawless march of democracy
t became lavr-
democratic progress could only be evil when 1
Seek for their
less, since the people had as good a claim to e
He regretteu
rights as any other class of the community. extritoent
of
Government should
have concluded his able speech on a
that the Noble Lord at the head of the • by
recent occasion
le
by the peole
saying that no progress could be
made to other *lasses.
towards obtaining their rights without deli
gesruffrage to every
and that he was not prepared to gives hethose who were fit
man mho had a right to it, but only ° t the words of
to exercise it. Ile (Mr. Hume) would quo e .
what the rights of
a very high authority with respect to
rue theory
the people were. Betckstone said that upon the
oft the come
and genuine principles of liberty every
member
and that every
munity, however poor, should bays a vote,
agent ought to have a
rece
man who was supposed to be a free
Earl Grey and Lord John Russell ha quoted that authority
support of several other
voice in the election of the representatives of the people.
in 1831, and it had received the
distinguished names. It was upon such grounds
,n
(Mr. Hume) asked the House to e,ethe those rights. 11satisfied
while the injustice lasted; and he said that every
sense of injustice existed, how could any man rest
0_
that lie
a
lie
ought to be ready disaffection and dle- to extend what was just and fair to all
classes of the people, and thus preventne
content.—(llear, hear.) In the year
1e1,492
forming a majority in that House, were elected by
Member.
for every ern
electors, giving an average of 450 electors .
stered voters,
Thus, one-filth part of the whole of the then registered
ity in
amounting to 956,000 in number, might elect
He would not
the House of CuMMOnS.—(ilear, hear.)
the lists to show
trouble the House by referring to the he would say
d but
ine-
quality between Scotland and England, but 1846, 33d1
bMernbers,
to him to be so
that the state of the representation
only
with regard to electors
to property, that a
with respect .
and population, but also
d and he did intreat Honourable
great injustice was committed, 'least desire to carry out the
unequal and so inconsistent, not I
Members, if they had t
ea him
firsupporting his measure.
and move the impediments
t°anjufacturing country which was not
There was not re
itnostiittustiopnrosoopfert
competitors, in order to obtain the
vying with its
achiness for the manufacture of the
best n
.essible •In roduced. Now, that House was the tax-
articles which it P
ihti)s,countryl e
t.sh
have
he country,best possiblethrough c every man re-
ing machine
t ibution to the general stock •order
that anti fin
mated his contribution
upon industry might be •
wisely managed,
that those drafts
maWchihinhes, according to
they 11 other man f
mple of A . U acturera—(Hear)—and that
the exa be done by removing the present inequalities. If
only given their rights, men were and were protected in the
exercise of those rights, he would venture to say that they
would exercise them properly. bore
The industrious classes
a tenfold proportion of taxation to that borne b • the other
classes_ of the community, and, therefore, in orderY to reform
ought t°c,
that House,and to enable it to perform its duty to the coun-
try, so as to make the laws and taxation just and uitable,
they ought to give the eo share in - • honest and
independent M b p p lea
e,_
em ers. Would any man tel him Pl'
Flume), looking at the exposure which had recentl taken
place, and seeing a candidate become that House a Member of
who had declared that, if he were put on a Cone"
mittee of In he would declare himself ille-
gally elected, that the representation of the peoPe
Was, in any degree, fair or just? After the e;
posure of St. Albans, and knowing as they did lust
the same system existed in at least ninety other boroughs'
he could not conceive how any one, having the slightest prnet
tence to be a reformer, could be satisfied with the presex.
state of things.— (Hear, hear.) Unless they granted an eee
tension of the suffrage they would leave on the minds of the
people a conviction that they were unjustly treated, an
when when times of danger came they would, not join in the ene't,
port of those institutions which they believed to be liteluse,
and unless the ballot were also given there would be no Pill'a
tection for voters.—(Wear, hear.) Whatever might be ilea
result of the division that evening, he was firmly sate` ee
that before long, when they came to revise the taxationtbe
the country, and to show the unjust position in whichittle
industrious classes were placed, they would appear in id be
better state than that of seifs, and that then there would to
ade
reason to regret that more attempts had not been in, yob
reform the House of Commons. As a friend to the L3.°d
; , to
to the Peers, and to the House of Commons, he desired of
see all classes of this country participate in the bene vent
reform. His wish was to remove injustice, and to Pree„....
those evils which might arise in times of exciterleePeeed
(Hear, hear, and cheers.) The Hon. Member conc.lMead
by moving ur leave to bring in the Bill of which 113 t''
givela notice.
ee to
Sir J. WALMSLEY, in seconding the motion, begge the
congratulate his lion. Friend who had just eat down ollurse,
earnestness with which he had pursued his even °only
and on the evident progress which be had made, notions
in the country, but in that House—(Hear, hear) _led
hundred and twenty Members of which had already
.vde'vet
in favour of his motion. He (Sir J. Wahnsley) ell, - ill-
doubt that that number would very shortly be greetlYo- of
creased, and he believed it to be merely a question ice.
time—(Hear)—for the motion itself was founded on eu jiff
The corrupt state of the representation had so freque 31.
been the subject of discussion that it would Fecal to ore
most most unnecessary to offer a word in support of any Ine`e;ae-
calculated to amend or to mitigate the evils of such 8, dia
tem. But the course which had been pursuea,,ch
reference to that question, and the measures Yeroed
had been recently introduced by the Noble, Lord
the Member for London, induced him (Sir Jei„ee
Walmsley) to offer some observations as to "'tee
reforms which he believed to be earnestly desired by 0,
great majority of the people. When the Noble Lord lonre'tn,
cuced his Bill, he (Sir J. Walmsley) had taken the oPP tee
pity to state that he believed that it would not have
. had
support and confidence of the people. Subsequent events
erg
to some extent justified that observation, and be 10,5 isr
glad to AO that the Noble Lold hinaielf had intimated N"'