The Sun.
London, England, 1839-07-05 00:00:00

quently the case), would it not be a greater advantage to
to be able to raise the Money upon loan than to sacri-
fice his rproperty ?—( Hear, bear.) He considered the
Bill, so far as the agricultural interests were concerned, a
great boon.

Mr. F. BARING thought the provisions of the present
Bill would enable farmers to be accommodated with loans
in a much better manner than formerly.
Mr. DARBY thought the Bill would do great mis-
chief, inasmuch as it would enable the farmer to carry on
his farm without capital.
Clauses 1 and 2 were agreed to.
Mr. WARBURTON objected to the 3d clause, which
limited the provisions of the Bill to two years.
The clause was ultimately agreed to.
The other clauses were agreed to, and the Bill was or-
dered to be reported.
The House then resumed.
The Joint Tenants Voting (Inland) Bill was read a third
and passed.
The Bankrupts Liability Bill went through Committee,
and was ordered to be reported.
The Borough Courts Bill (No. 2) was read a third time
and passed.
L rd MORPETH obtained leave to bring in a Bill to
amend the Ist and 2d of Wm. IV., chap. 51, entitled an
Act to empower landed proprietors in Ireland to embank
and remove obstructions in rivers.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER gave
notice that to-morrow he should move that the House do
resolveitself into a Committee of Ways and Means to con-
sider the resolutions of which he had given notice, relative
to the reduction of postage.
The House then adjourned at HALF-PAST Two o'clock.

WESTMINSTER REFORM

SOCIETY.

MR. LEADER AND THE WANDSWORTH
REFORM DINNER.
A meeting of the members of the Westminster Re-
form Society was held last night at Stannard's Hotel,
Charles-street, Covent-garden, in consequence of a letter
which had been received from Mr. Leader, in reference
to the recent Reform Dinner at Wandsworth.
On the motion of Mr. PRour, Mr. MORRIS was
called to the Chair.

The minutes of the last meeting having been read
and confirmed,

Mr. WEST, the Honorary Secretary, said he wished
to call the attention of the meeting to a report which
appeared in the Morning Chronicle of the 22d of June,
of the Wandsworth Reform Dinner, and in reference
to which he had received a letter from Mr. Leader ; but
he would first read the report of Mr. Hawe3' speech
from that Paper.
Mr. WEST having read that speech, and the com-
ments upon it, in the Morning Post of June 24,
Mr. Paotir suggested that Mr. Hawes' letter to the
Editor of the !horning Chronicle, denying what it was
reported he had said of Mr. Leader, and the represen-
tation of East Surrey, should also be read.
Mr. WEST accordingly read the letter of Mr. Hawes,
which was inserted in the Morning Chronicle of the
24th of June ; and the following letter from Mr.
Leader :

" 79, Eaton-square, June '25, 1839.
" My dear Sir,—ln the Morning Chronicle of last
Saturday, there is a very incorrect report of a speech
made by Mr. Hawes at a Wandsworth Reform Dinner.
Ile is there reported to hate said, almost in so many
words, that he hopes and trusts the Reformers of East
Surrey will secure my services as their representative.
Mr. Hawes said nothing of the sort—he has himself
contradicted the report, in a letter to the Editor of the
Morning Chronicle. If he had said anything, or even
hinted at anything which would have borne such an in-
terpretation, I should, of course, have set him and my-
self right on the instant. As I find, however, that the
improbability and manifest absurdity of my giving up
the representation of Westminster, in order to contest
that of East Surrey, have not prevented the report
from being believed, or at any rate from being circu-
lated as if believed, in some quarters, I send you this
letter, which I will thank you to lay before the West-
minster Reform Society, that it may, if they think it
necessary, be communicated to the electors. It is,
I have no doubt, the desire of some persons to de-
grade Westminster into a mere nomination borough,
for the benefit of the Government ; but this scheme
must fail, if the electors be but true to them-
selves. I need scarcely tell you that I shall not,
and that I never had the remotest intention of resign-
ing the representation of Westminster for that or any
other place, and consequently that I have not entered
into any negociation for the purpose, as I believe cir-
cumstantially declared in some newspapers. Such con-
duct on my part would be treacherous and absurd—
treacherous to those electors who at the last election
placed me in the honourable position of their representa-
tive, by a majority of nearly twelve hundred ; and most
absurd to leave a body of electors who honoured me
with such a majority to engage in a desperate contest
for a county where two Terms were returned at the last
election by a large majority. So far from entertaining a
thought of retiring from Westminster, it is my determi-
nation to offer myself for a renewal of the confidence of
the independent electors of Westminster, and to con-
test the honour of representing them against any can-
didates who may be set up against me ; and so long as
the electors of Westminster prefer an independent re-
presentative, who will maintain in the House the princi-
ples which he professed on the hustings, to a mere par-
tisan who will sacrifice his principle.: to serve a party, be
it Whig or Tory, I have no fear of being dismissed
from the honourable position in which they Lave placed
me. " Believe me. yours truly,
(Signed) "J. TEMPLE LEADER.
" Mr. West, Hon. Sec., Westminster Reform Society."
The CHAIRMAN inquired if any gentleman wished
to submit a motion after what had been read.
Mr. PROUT said he would take the liberty of making
a few observations, as he perceived the rumour had nos'
entirely ceased, reference having been made to it in the
Spectator of Sunday last, and Mr. Prout read the para-
graph. He had heard it from many quarters that the
rumour was floating in the minds of some of the elec-
tors, and although they thought it just possible it might
be true—it was so absurd they did not believe it. He
was, therefore, of opinion that the meeting should agree
to communicate Mr. Leader's letter to the electors, and
that the sense of the Society should be taken of the' an-
swer to be sent, which he should propose to be pub-
lished with it. It was necessary that the Reformers of
Westminster should stand clear before the world, and
that the moment the intention of General Evans, or
Mr. Leader to retire from the representation was made
known, that the fact should be immediately promul-
gated by the Society to the electors.—( Hear, hear.)
Ile could not avoid drawing the attention of the meet-
ing to the date of the report, which was the •>2(l of
June, and as the dinner took place on the 19th, and as
Mr. Hawes had not said what was reported of him, it
was certainly a mystery to him (Mr. Prout) how
the statement could have got into the report
of the speech. If Mr. Hawes had said one word on
the subject, he would have been immediately contra-
dicted by Mr. Leader. His speech was an admirable
one, and showed the exact situation of the representa-
tion under the Whig Government. The Post then
commented upon this speech, and all these things were
so operating against Mr. Leader, that he, as well as the
meeting, were bound to notice it.—(Hear, hear.) The
report had been continued up to last Sunday, and they
were bound to condradict it. He had been a very at-
tentive observer of what had been passing in that city
for the last six or seven years, and he could painly
perceive that the Whigs were not easy while Westmin-
ster held the Radical position it did ; they did not feel
quite easy that they could carry on their Whigs,rery
without destroying the Radical representation of West-
minster.—(Hear, and a laugh.) They wished it to
believed Westminster was as well satisfied with Whig-
fsery as one of their rotten boroughs. He was not,
therefore, surprised at the attempt to injure Mr.
Leader, which was in accordance with ‘Vhig trickery
and Whig treachery ; but he was glad it had been
mode at this time, when every one would have an op-
portunity of registering before the 21st of this month,
and so prevent any attempt at interfering with the Ra-
dical representation of Westminster. There were
sufficient Radicals in that city to beat both Whigs and
Tories, and he was not alarmed for the result of any
contest ; the Tories stood no chance ; the only fear
was from the trickery and treachery of the
—(Hear,
ear, hear.) He believed if the Whigs
were so indiscreet as to offer any one in oppo-
sition to the present representatives, or any one
who was not a thorough Reformer, they would rue it,
and find that the electors of Westminster were capable,
of sending proper representatives to Parliament.
thirty years they had done so. Sir Francis Burdett in
former times was one • so was Sir J. Hobhouse. Gene-
ral Evans had been 'of much service in the cause of
reform before he went abroad, and with him and Mr.
Leader they had no reason to be dissatisfied. It was,
therefore, with the highest satisfaction that he contem-
plated any contest that might take place, for sure he
was that the Radicals would be successful.—(Cheers.)
In conclusion, he would move that the letter be entered
on the minutes, he printed and circulated with the re-
port, and that a reply be sent to Mr. Leader.
Mr. TROTT seconded the motion.
Mr. WEST said he felt that an answer would be
required, and he had drawn one up for the considera-
tion of the meeting. Mr, West read the letter as fol-
lows :

" Stannard's Hotel, July 3, 1839.
" To John Temple Leader Esq. M.P.
" Sir—We, the Westminster Reform Society, have
to acknowledge the receipt of your communication,
through Mr. West, the Hon. Secretary.
" We are much gratified that you have noticed the
slanderous reports that have gone abroad, as doubt-
less the Society would otherwise have felt it their duty
to have requested of you an explanation, and feeling
that such reports were likely (as no question they were
ntended) to have an injurious effect on the minds of the
ielectors, we therefore deem it proper to publish your
letter and our reply, as an antidote to the intended
mischief.

We never for a moment entertained the thought
that any consideration would induce you to quit the
representation of Westminster • but the extraordinary
document published in the Morning Cln•onicle of the
22d ult., purporting to be a speech of Mr. Hawes,