The Sun.
London, England, 1838-08-08 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 1838.

COBBETT CL ÜB.

The following is the petition presented by Mr. Platen from the Cob_
bett Club to the House of Commons on Monday evening :
To the Honourable the Commons of Great Britain and Ireland in
Parliament assembled.
The petition of the members of the Cobbett Club, unanimously
agreed to at a meeting of that body in the City of London, hum.
bly sheweth,

1. That for a long series of years the public afliiirs of this nation have
been in the hands of a set of nice, in the choosing of whom the great
body of the people, had no voice; a set of men, some of whom were
mere political adventurers; others of whom were perfectly ignorant of
political matters, and of what was necessary to the good go% ernment of
the people; and the great majority of them were of moral character
and of mental acquirements, precisely the contrary of those which would
have been selected fur the performance of the duties of legislation, had
the people possessed the power of choosing their own representatives;
the consequences of which are, that this nation, notwithstanding the

intelligence, the matchless ingenuity,, and the indomitable industry of
the people, is becoming so poor and distressed at home, and so feeble
and despicable in the scale of nations, as to cause the most painful fore.
bodings in the minds of your petitioners, that, unless there be a Radical
Reform of all the numerous abuses in the representation of the people
they will, bye-and-bye, find themselves belonging to the weakest and
most despised country in the world.

2. Your petitioners complain that the tendency of many of the laws
which have been passed by your Honourable House for many years
past, has been to augment the power of the rich and to depress the in-
dustrious part of the people. That the mode of laying on the taxes-has
been such as to place the whole weight on the shoulders of those the
least able to bear it, and to let the powerful support none of the burden;
to benefit the wealthy and the idle at the expense of the labouring por-
tion of the people. We think it unnecessary in this place to specify
particular cases in support of these propositions, because it is of the
whole system which is pursued in the carrying on of the public affairs of
which we complain ; that system, by the means of which taxes are levied
on us, and then divided amongst the friends and dependents of thOse
who levy them; and also for the purpose of supporting an unconstitu-

tional force, namely, a STANDING ARMY TN TIME OF PEACE; an army
which has three Generals to every regiment; and for the support of a
Navy, which has two Admirals to every ship of Ike line ; thus, taking
both services, appointing one commissioned officer to every five men ;
that is to say, having more commissioned officers than the whole army
formerly amounted to in time of peace, and this too, when we have been
at peace for nearly a quarter of a' century. And we further complain
that both these services arc officered by men who have been bred up
almost at the sole cost of the working people ; whilst these same
working people, when they belong to either of these services, are
not permitted, no matter what may be their talent, to attain the
honour of holding a commission, a circumstance that excites a sus-
picion in the minds of your petitioners that these two services are
kept up on this evtravagant footing, for no other purpose than that
of providing places where the younger branches of the titled
and untitled Aristocracy may be kept in splendour and idleness at the
public charge. We complain, too, of the manner in which the whole of
our Foreign and Colonial affairs are conducted, and of every part of the
regulation of our domestic concerns; all of which are so managed as to
convince every man that the main object of the English Government
is to raise as much as possible in taxes from the working people, to be
given to the idle, which will, in all probability, continue to be the case,
until the nation, tired of being so unmercifully plundered, shall, by
means of a violent convusion, jerk aside the whole party, and destroy
the very form of the Government, unless the proper means be speedily
adopted for remedying it in a quiet and equitable manner; and the only
thing which presents itself to the minds of your petitioners, as a remedy
for these evils is, for the whole people to be fully and fairly represented
in Parliament. Such being our belief, we pray fora Reform of the fol-
lowing nature :
a

First—That the whole of the Representatives of the people in Par.

liament shall be chosen every year.
Second--That no man who has attained the age of 18 shall be excluded
from voting fur Members of Parliament, whether he be pauper, sol-
dier, sailor, or anything else, if he be of sane mind, and be not branded
by sentence of a Court of Justice for some indelible crime, which
renders him incapable of giving evidence in a Court of Justice in civil
matters.

Third—That the votes for Members of Parliament be taken by Ballot.
Fourth—That there be no pecuniary qualification necessary for Mem.
bers of Parliament; and that the Members shall be paid for their