The Sun.
London, England, 1831-08-05 00:00:00

REFORM BILL.

The Order of the DJ), for the House to resolve itsel
into a Committee of the whole House on the above Bil

was read.

The House then resolved itself into a Committee of the
whole House, Mr. BERNAL in the Chair.
On the question " that Wolverhampton, including the
townships of Wolverhampton, Bilston, Willenhall, Wed-
nesfield, and the parish of Sedgley, Staffordshire, stand
part of schedule C,"
Mr. CHOKER complained of the manner in which it
was proposed to add the population of surrounding places
to that of Wolverhampton, in order to swell the whole to
such an amount as would justify Ministers in proposing to
give two Members to the new borough. He complained
that Ministers appeared to proceed upon no intelligible
principle in apportioning the population of the new bo-
roughs. The population of Wolverhamption was increased
by draughts from the surrounding localities, in order to
entitle it to send two Members to Par!;nment, whilst
Walsall was left standing with its own population. and
was to return only one Member. As far as he could per-
ceive, no provision whatever seemed to have been made
for the representation of the lirge and populous town of
Wednesbury. Why could not this town be united with
Walsall, so as to enable them together to return two
Members?

Mr. LITTLETON said, that the arrangement which
Ministers had proposed with respect to Staffordshire had
given universal satisfaction in the county. The inhabi-
tants of the district to which the Right Hon. Gentleman
bad alluded, considered trat they would be adequately re-
presented.

Sir R. PEEL said, that Ministers should endeavour to

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Lord J. RUSSET.L said, that it would be the proper
;me to discuss that point when the ease of Walsall should
tome before the Committee.
Sir J. WROTTESLEY was desirous that no altera-
ion should be made in the schedule as far as regarded the
,aunty of Stafford.
After a few words from Sir C. WETHERELL, the ques-
tion was then agreed to.
The next question, as amended on the motion of Lord
fob Russell, was—" That the words the Tower llim'ets,
including the Tower Division in Ossulston Hundred and
the Liberty or the Tower, Middlesex, stand part of sche-
dule a,"
Sir E. F26UDEN said That the object of this Bill was
t ) take away the rights of freeho'!ders, and to consult only
the rights of the occupiers of tenements- The Govern-
sent took out of counties large districts!, and formed them
nto boroughs. They conferred the right of voting on
•he lower orders of the people, who were let in to overbear
the agricultural population. He called upon all inde-
pendent Members, as they desired to stand well with pos-
terEty, to examine c'osc'y all the el111;4,s of this Bill, and
,articularly those which created the new constituency.
Lord ALTHOIIP thought there was no weight in the
objection of the Hon. and Learned Gentleman.
Sir C. WETHERELL said that this Bill, as amended,
,lave a bonus to the freeholders of the city of London,
which was not given to them by the original Bill. lie
'opposed that this was in consequence of the lead which
London had taken in the Reform question, a lead which
he worthy Alderman who spoke Let night scented to think
the city ought to extend to that House.
Mr. FRANKLAND LEWIS observed, that the city
of London had never formed a part of the county of Mid-
Ilesex, and that it could only receive that privilege now
on the score of expediency. The 16th clause must be
intended, or there would be a contradiction in the Bill.
Mr. Alderman WOOD said that there were very few
freeholders in London, as was proved by the great diffi-
culty they always had to make up a jury fur the Admi-
ralty Conti. There was no such thing as a low order of
freeholders in London. The freeholds were either in the
hands of substantial persons, or of corporations. He
would take this opportunity of expressing his surprise,
that his Worthy and Learned Brother Alderman near him,
the Member for Boroughbridge (Sir C. Wetherell)—( Hear
and much laughter)—should take every occasion of bear-
ing hard upon London Aldermen. Surely a London Al-
derman was as good as a Bristol Alderman, and the lion.
and Learned Gentleman was only a Bristol Alderman.—
(Ilear, and much laughter.) Ile did not wish to run
down Bristol Aldermen, and still less did lie wish to run
down so distinguished a member of that body as the
Learned Gentleman, who was Recorder as well as Alder-
man of Bristol ; but he did think, that his Learned and
Worthy Brother of Bristol might have a little snore le-
sped for the Aldermanic fraternity in other corporations.
He could only account fur his conduct on the-part of his
Worthy and Learned Brother Aldermanota the ground that
it had escaped his (Sir C. Wetherell's) recollection that
lie (Sir C. Wetherell) was an Alderman. Perhaps his
Worthy and Learned Brother would recollect this fur the
future, and bear in mind, that when he was sneering at
Aldermen, he was cutting jokes upon himself as well ae
upon others.—(Hear, and much laughter.)
Lord ALTHORN must suggest to the gentlemen oppo-
site the inconvenience of debating questions not imme-
diately before the Committee.
After a few words from Sir E. Suonsoe, Mr. Alder-
man WAITILMAN, and Mr. CHOKER, the question was
agreed to.
The next question, as verbally amended on the motion
of Lord John Russell, was, " that Finsbury, including
the parishes and districts of the Finsbury division, in
Ossulston hundred, Middlesex ; the parishes and districts
of St. Andrew, Holborn, and St. George-the-Martyr,
Saffron-hill, Hatton-garden, Ely-rents, Ely-place, Liberty
of the Rolls, St. Giles-in-the-fields, and St. George,
Bloomsbury, Middlesex, do stand part of schedule C."
Mr. J. WEYLAND addressed the Committee at consi-
derable length, but amidst such loud expressions of im-
patience from the Ministerial, and such encouraging cheer-
ing from the Opposition side of the House, that very few
of the Hon. Gentleman's observations reached the gallery.
We understood the Hon. Gentleman to say that a ten-
pound constituency was a most improper one,—that there
would be just as much distress after the Bill passed as be-
, fore, anj that the first measure of the reformed Parliament
would be to repeal the Corn Laws. The Hon. Gentle-
man also went into the subjects of taxation,—the ancient
government of France, and moderate Reform. He did not
like, he said, the constituency which would be constituted,
and the representatives who would be returned, under the
new circumstances which it was proposed to establish by
this Bill. He contended that the Aristocracy should possess
a fair balance in the representation, and that they should
not constitute a species of representation which was
calculated to overturn the best institutions of the country.
When they were about establishing a new system of re-
presentation, they should grant a reasonable and con-
sistent representation of every class of society throughout
the country, and not to throw it thus exclusively into the
hands of the middle orders. The present Bill, he was
ready to admit, was sound in principle, but it had been
hasty and unfortunate in its construction as regarded its
details. He did not think that they should have dealt as
summarily as they had done with what were called nomi-
nation boroughs, and it appeared to him that Lis Majesty's
Ministers might, if they pleased, have brought forward a
measure with respect to which they could have shaken
hands with their opponents on the other side of the House.
(Cries of " Question.")
Colonel BRUCE felt it his duty, as a Scottish Mem-
ber, to enter his protest against such kind of legislation
as this. He should have taken an opportunity of doing
so last night, but that on that occasion he had given way
to the Hon. Member for Westminster, to the torrent of
whose eloquence he was ready to pay his tribute of ap-
plause. He could compare that lion. Member's eloquenee
to nothing but a torrent, and it certainly appeared to have
something miraculous in it besides, for the Hon. Member
seemed to have given tongues to all the lea ding articles of
all the seditious journals in the country. That Hon. Mem-
ber's torrent of eloquence, which, foaming in its course, and
dashing against its sides, had been directed with indiscrimi-
nate vituperation against that House, and all former Houses
of Commons, prevented him (Colonel Bruce) from having
an opportunity last night to enter his protest, as he now
begged leave to do, against that part of the Bill which
went to give to the metropolitan districts nearly one-hall
as many Members as all Scotland possessed, and fully as
many Members as were given to all the boroughs and
towns in Scotland.—(" Hear, hear," from the Opposition.)
It had been latterly, he must say, too much the practice
to treat Scotland merely as a province in matters of this
description, and that practice did not seem to be de-
parted from in the present instance. Now be begged the
House to recollect, that at the period of the Union Scot-
land treated with England upon equal and independent
terms, and that Scotland being a nation of gentlemen,
honour was one of the strongest and deepest feelings with
the Scottish people, and that they would therefore con-
sider such treatment as he had mentioned a very great
grievance. He should not allude to the proceedings of
the livery of London—(Cries of " Oh, oh")—further than
to say, that it appeared that a Committee was still sitting
in the city which was to fulminate a resolution against
the devoted heads of the Metnbers of that house when-
ever it should seem fitting to those city sages so to do.
That circumstance gave a pretty indication of the kind
of influence to which the Members for those metropolitan
districts would be subject. The fact was, that the Mem-
bers for the metropolis and the surrounding districts
would act as the representatives of individual interests,
instead of being the representatives of the whole empire.
A subserviency to courts and to patrons was in the
slightest degree less debasing and degrading than that
subserviency to large bodies of constituents which those
Members would be compelled to exhibit. The only diffe
sense was, that the subserviency in the one instance was
exhibited towards a large public constituency, who
were much less likely to arrive at just conclusions in re-
ference to matters of weight and importance than the
private individual was who claimed a subserviency in the
other instance. The jurisdiction which was assumed and
exercised on the present occasion by the Livery of London
was a most unconstitutional one, and the persons who
thus set themselves up for judges in such matters were
totally incompetent for such a task. They might be very
excellent, experienced, and well-qualified judges in mat-
ters regarding the supply of turtle or the regulation of the
markets of London,—they might be most admirable legis-
lators in all those important matters which had any rela-
tion to, or connexion with, the government of the stomach,
but in matters the consideration of which required any
exertion of the higher order of the intellectual faculties
they should take care not to interfere, for all such matters
were entirely beyond the ken of those city judges.--(A
laugh.) In conclusion the Hen. Member again entered
his protest against the species of legislation which had been
adopted in this instance.
[ Mr. C. FERGUSSON said lie felt as warmly and as
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