The Sun.
London, England, 1836-09-24 00:00:00

,pt,hrtoTeomsojelmen;
tobbn;eusata,l, beuetimcmi:aofpunr.osre_ese he answered yes to that proposition, did
it follow, as a matter of necessity, that all the body should
he considered useful?—(Hear.) He remembered when he
first voted (in 1823) for the Reform of the House of Com-
mons. It was the first time he had given such a vote, and
why had he done so ? Because he considered that the time
for Reform had come ; and he recollected the observations
made to him at that period by a Secretary of State—no
small man, he could tell them—an individual to whom he
had been accustomed to look up, and to whom he had
always looked up with honour, the late Mr. Canning, who
was afterwards Prime Minister, and who then said to him,
in a good-natured way, " Why, Lethbridge. the worst vote
d
it
atb(fi, yhfuyi :ear, uutt
ert
hniacdoei
cor
atrov: • ennf
tifhtrsoo,ei
that
rtawi
cagtins
trakp. gave esel
lov
tei
;Thsn
the talents
that in favour of Lord John Russell's
)
t:Cmvioooonuutbalidlto,nabi,f"ewthaadneyodnL:h. e (Sir Thomas Lethbridge) replied that he
andetya
that
aet
ds
Reaonetfdl
01
got drprntoit tell him
from
co hhmoei mmer
Commons
being(uo Alndls ro.
eCpaforaorsnriemen
carried.—
(Hear,
reformed
d_g
and if it were found necessary that the Lords also should
be reformed, let them go to work properly, and they would
achieve their point.—(Loud cheers.) It was said to him,
when he voted for the Reform of the Commons, what
00
rudlwithwould
bw
ee trhe e
foundn Lords t
to re dlms v ?raokn
make
hot
oe whichthem
place
them
squareee
nwi
rightlyt
with
the replied,
saoi(sbboclsenehr:t_e•hresn.) to
That
say, t buti.a s that
his
opinion
nliioand no
t
i
ntandn dohfefi teohue Reformersnds appropriatelyask
was
o,
fitth ne
0. into
w ii s
eet h. n acceohlni
eisnet machine
consf
titu-
tional,
thanks
nes akrsc.)ionn
caTneumhdeelp:r lulbeoynnt.
proposinga
nd ener-
getic n Baronet,or.
)
Dr. KINGLAKE returnclattC
getTichespeCeecilaLiamaN next gave " The Members for the bo-
rouTghhoofneTxtantonatsoLl.n.w"—as(L,,oTuidmeAhieeemrsbers for the borough of
cheers.)
Mr. LABOTWHERE returned thanks.
Bridgewater."—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. LEADER then rose amidst loud applause, and said—
Your representatives in the House of Commons have been
labouring anxiously and faithfully to do the work of the
people—but their labours have been in vain—their time
wasted—their measures rejected, and the people disap-
pointed. Let us look first to the point where redress is
most needed, because there misrule has been the most into.
lerable, and misery the most intense. What has been done
for Ireland ? Ireland !—at the mere name what hosts of
miseries, and grievances, and oppressions, and persecutions,
rush in dread array before one's eyes! For centuries that
unhappy country has been treated not as a free and equal
portion of the British empire, but as a base, degraded, con-
quered province.—(Hear, hear.) To remedy some of these
evils the Government introduced and the Commons passed
many measures, nevertheless, they failed to become law.
First, the Irish Corporation Bill—many of you know what
sort of things were the old English corporations—now hap-
pily defunct.—(Cheers and laughter.) The best descrip-
tion of the Irish corporations is simply this, that they have
all the vices of the old English corporations in tenfold in-
tensity, and many vices peculiar to themselves besides.
Well, to reform these abuses the Government introduced,
arid the Commons passed, a measure founded on the same
principle which guided them in the reform of the Scotch
and English municipalities. Nevertheless it failed to be-
come law. Then came the Irish Church Bill. We who
support Reform of the Irish Church, are vilified as ene-
mies to the Protestant religion. Not we, but they are the
deadly enemies of the Protestant Church in Ireland, who,
with equal obstinacy, maintain its monstrous abuses and
its useful qualities. It is an observation founded on expe-
rience, that the best things by corruption became the worst.
Well, to remedy some of these evils, the Government in-
troduced and the Commons passed a measure ; neverthe-
less, it failed to become law. Many people, perhaps,
think too much of our time and attention is taken up
with Ireland. Be not deceived by that outcry of the
enemy—the cause of Ireland is your cause. So long as
Ireland is ill-governed and miserable, there must be an
army there to maintain the • oppressors. You pay for
that army. So long as the Irish Church remains unre-
formed, there will be great difficulty in collecting tithe,
there will be distress among the clergy, and there must be
money for their support. You pay that money. Witness
the million from the public purse paid for that purpose—
and you will have to pay many more millions for these pur-
poses unless you insist on reform in Ireland. Let Ireland
be tranquillized, and thereby rendered prosperous, and you
will no longer have to complain of Irish paupers swarming
in your fields, nor of Irish produce glutting your markets
—they will then find employment and consumption at
home, and we shall gain as well as they. The cause of Ire-
land, then, is your cause—it is your battle as well as the
battle of the Irish people which is now being fought on
Irish ground. Not to weary you with a detail of the late ses-
sion, I shall only say that many measures, demanded alike
by justice and by expediency, for the relief of Ireland, were
introduced by the Government and passed the Commons.
Nevertheless they failed to become law. For England,
many good, just, and necessary measures (such as the Cor-
poration Act Amendment Bill, the Dissenters' Disabili-
ties Bill, the Civil Offices Declaration Bill, the Charity
Trustees Bill, and many others) were passed by the Corn.
mons. Nevertheless they failed to become law. So bar-
ren, indeed, of the good practical results which you bad a
right to expect has the late session proved, that one may
haply apply to it an old couplet which was much in vogue
200 years ago. It runs thus—
" Many faults complained of—few things mended—
A subsidy granted—the Parliament ended."
This is precisely our case at present. We hare complained
of many grievances—we have unfortunately been able to re-
medy few or none of them—we have voted alt the supplies
—and the session is at an end.—( Laughter and cheers.)
The obstacle to improvement and to good government is
a many-headed despot, called the House of Lords.—(Great
cheering.) They, led on by a cunning, reckless, and am-
bitious lawyer, have rejected, or so mutilated as to cause
to be rejected all the popular measures passed by the
Commons. They seem to me to have lost their senses
in their blind obedience to this maa : they may fancy, per-
haps, that in following him they are guided by a good
safe light ; but they will find to their sorrow that they have
been following a malicious will-o'-the-wisp, that is leading
them to their own destruction ; so implicitly do they yield
to his guidance, that they deserve less to be wiled the
House of Lords than Lord Lyndhurst's tail.—(Cheers and
laughter.) This being the case, it becomes our imperative
duty to inquire into the constitution of this body, which has
challenged the nation to a mortal combat.—(Cheers.) Many
good friends to reform—quiet, well-intentioned, honest
men, but timid politicians—fearing some great and mysteri-
osouoscocraloa
howe-
ver, weak and childish policy to blink a question which
theat
bet hilfeooyraceseaedl
ofuo pr organic change,tol
ta.nissw, selrir nokd
Let me, then, crave your attention
fromdeci
ea.
_n inquirybner s
.i)nu‘t‘os:
havethey
ao of
selfish,i to nnoatr—r
lordly body. They are hereditary—irresponsible—they
not--they ei
interest,
ehraevset
while I latl.:nv:words on the nature and habits of this
have the singular privilege of voting at any distance on any
many of them, great wealth ; they have, as a body, great
diametrically opposed to the interest of the great mass of
the people.—(Cheers.) They are hereditary, so that—no
matter how stupid—no matter how vicious—no matter how
ill-educated—no matter how unfit to discharge-the duties
of legislation—if a parent or relative die, so as to give one
pqou:.setri_on,anwdh,eatbhoesr.ethaelly,
of them a peerage, he immediately becomes it legislator,
with the power to obstruct all legislative improvement.
No comment can be needed on this point. The mere
statement is sufficient..-..(Cheers.) They are irrespon-
sible, so that they can exercise their hereditary power
for their own pleasure, and without consulting the
wishes or interests of their fellow-countrymen ; and ob-
serve, they alone in this country are irresponsible--sve.
Members of the Commons, are responsible to Parliament
—the King, through his Ministers, is responsible to the
;:)eople—these hereditary legislators are alone irresponsible.
Sir „---,:thert Peel, indeed, throwing much sanctity into
wass
voice, anus turning his eyes, pointed up to heaven.o
p nsible to
pleased to inforti us that "the Louie
were
for those who
God." Alas ! that is but poor consolation
know what these Lords areee.who know how many of them
pass their time—who know that many Of teem live as it
they were forgetful of even that responsibility to which the
ex-Prime Minister so piously alluded—(Cheers.) They
one of them who may be amassing
vote by proxy—so that
service forsooth !)--restoring theei
wealth (in the people'sfallen grandeur of his house—recruiting the ruined fortunes
of his family in some colonial government—or parading his
besotted vanity as Ambassador to some foreign Court, in-
triguing perchance with the subtle despots of the Continent
against the liberty of foreign nations, as well as against ti;at
of his own country, while he is all the time gorged and
gilded with the people's money—such a man, I say, if one of
the hereditary, irresponsible legislators, though divided from
England by hundreds of miles, may vote upon any measure
discussed in the House of Lords. They have, many of them,
great wealth ; much of it has been gained through the mo-
nopoly of every place of power and profit, which they have
enjoyed for the last hundred years and more. Let that pass,
however. I will say of their wealth only this—that it would
be well for them, and for the country too, if they employed
their wealth better than they now do.—(Cheers.) They
have great power—too much power for our good. They