The Sun.
London, England, 1831-04-20 00:00:00

I rngland, to whose hopes and wishes, as it seems,
Majesty's Ministers must not even allude in this House.
' without danger of being taunted from the opposite
bench, with an appeal to their physical force ! I, Sir,
shall put forth myself no vaunting defiance of that giant
power which now sleeps a faithful servant at our feet—
power which never yet put forth its strength but in mo
defence, and against which, if once it turns in inadnes•
an its master, no defiance will avail.—(Cheers.) If, as s
Legislator, I am called upon to forget that the people hay,
hands, as an Englishman I cannot forget that they have
hearts; and, at all times, indeed, but more especially in
times like these, I do think those hearts worth the win-
ning, even at the price of my own power.—(Loud cheer-
ing.) We have been accused of attempting by a threat of
revolution to intimidate those very opponents, whose fa-
vourite argument aga;nst this Bill—whose staff of reli-
ance, if I may judge from their cheers, is their own fear
of revolution as to ultimate consequence. Why, Sir—
threat for threat—upon our joint allowing of the case, the
question would only be which way led soonest and straight
est to revolution. They do not defend acknowledged ini-
quities of the present system upon any other grounds than
those of general expediency; they acknowledge the occa
,ionil personal, and constant moral corruption inflicted by
our present sotnination system ; but it is the only way,
forsooth, of keeping things quiet ; the only way of saving
the Monarchy, the Peerage, and the Church. Why, Sir,
may we not entertain the same fears as our adversaries ?
Why are they to be allowed to allege their own prospective
cowardice as a reason against that measure, in favour of
which we must not state our present apprehensions.—
(Hear, hear.) Sir, lam not afraid of a revolution in
either case. lam not afraid of that physical violence,
against which, if we were not protected by the good sense
of the people of England, the bigotry of their self-elected
rulers would be but as a broken reed. But Ido think that
we shall give no small confirmation of that charge of legi-
slative incap (city which is now ringing in,our ears, if we
neglect to repair our House while it is summer, because
the winter hurricane is not yet upon the the horizon.-
-',Hear, hear.) It is because we can retreat with dig-
nity that I wish to retreat now ; I wish to exchange
that suspicious safety which we owe to the good sense
rather than to the good wishes of the people, to the
remembrance rather than to the continuance of former
affection, to the habit rather than to the feelings of past
fidelity,—l wish to exchange that suspicious safety for
the holiday security of a people's love.—(Loud cheers.)
There be some few, I know, in all political p irties,
who care neither for a people's love nor have faith
in a people's gratitude ; whose best political virtue is a
proud consistency in wrong, an I whose highest moral
courage is an unreflecting security.—(Hear, hear.)__
Who're, indeed, was ever seen a fabric of time-worn poli-
tical privilege tottering to its fall, the majority of whoSe pos-
sessors have not displayed the same idiotic security, amidst
the ruin which every one else foresaw.—(Loud cheers. )
I will not detain the House by quoting proofs of that me-
lancholy truth, of which political history is but one long
example ; I will go 119 farther back than to the early days
of many whom I now address, and ask was it the firmness
of real or the madness of fancied security when the Court
of Versailles drove the repregtntatives of popular opinion
to swear in a tennis court their own inviolability and the
regeneration of France ?—(Hear, hear.)—Or was it the
firmness of real or the madness of fancied security when,
as it were but yesterday, the breathless herald of approach-
ing insurrection PM ordered to wait on the threshold of St.
Cloud

" Donee l3orbonico libeat vigilare tyranno."

(Hear, hear.)—What price, not the people of France
alone, but all civilised Europe, were compelled to pay for
ehaining that first madness, is now matter of history ;
what price, not France alone, but all civilised Europe, are
temut to pay for chaining this second madness, I dare not
trust myself to prophecy—(Cheers)—but I appeal to all
impartial observers of past and passing events who have
witnessed the reluctance with which that mighty people
commenced the struggles for which tt•ey have paid so
much, to say whether that people would not have repaid,
with a rich return of confidence and love, the voluntary
sacrifice of antiquated power, worthless and defenceless
though it was.—(Hear, hear.)—That such gratitude
would have been felt by the people of France for such
sacrifice, I do most sincerely believe ; that such gratitude
will be felt by the people of Englund fur far less painful
sacrifices I do most unhesitatingly affirm—(Cheers)—and
the more gratitude, inasmuch as such sacrifices on our
part are not yet inculcated by the presence of that other
fearful alternative.—(Cheers.)—For the honour of this
ancient Monarchy, whose perils and whose triumphs for
so many generations are chronicled in the proceedings of
this House; for the sake of this faithful people who have
stood by ns in the hour of Our trial, and borne with us in
the hour of our pride, let us seize the opportunity which
now presents itself, to inscribe ourselves on the page of
history as the first recorded example of " power correct-
ing its own usurpation." The Hon. Gentleman resumed
his seat amidst loud and general cheering.
Sir G. WARRENDER said, that a speech more elo-
quent than the one just delivered by the Hon. Member for
St. Michael he had seldom heard in that House.—(Hear..,
But the Hon. Member offered by that speech one of the
best defences for the present system ; for, in his own per-
son, he gave an instance of that eloquence and ability
which had been introduced into that House through the
representatives of boroughs Awl in the persons of borough
proprietors—(Hear)—and he should he happy if, in the
event of this measure being carried, it would have the
effect for preserving for the serviee the same ability as was
now possessed by some of those who were what the Hon.
Gentleman had described as a sort of representatives of the
hereditary Peerage. In this scheme for disfranchising,
the guilt of bribery did not seem always to be followed by
the appropriated punishment. There was no proposition
to take away the representatives of Liverpool, yet Liver-
pool was the most corrupt of those boroughs that had been
brought under the notice of the House. If that borough
was disfranchised, and if Evesham, which was now under
consideration, followed the same fate, he should then do
what had never before been dace—he should put in a claim
ilfolaa•
ne Ie
I iaersgtee r townand in Scotland. Wakefield,
had Tf e
been rig
shetrs of Leeds, t
e(l,
but
Glas-
gow had never been mentioned. If the boroughs of Liver-
eploaoi
ml a
fornd G
iEveshamaezow .werelie disfranchised,
tvas determined le should i
to
oput i n a
oppose
the
h e
measure of Reform, but he would oppose it directly, and
not by a side-wind, like the motion of the Hon. and Gal-
lant General; least of all would he consent to a proposi-
tion, the result of which he considered would be injurious
to the interests of Scotland. Twenty years since he had
represented a Scotch borough, and even if the Reform Bill
were to pass, he did not despair 'of representing some pa-
pulous pace in his own country. To vote for the propo-
sition of the Hon. and Gallant General would be in effect
to say, that, let the population and importance of Glasgow
or Aberdeen at any future period be what they might,
they should only have the same number of Members, and
that the whole representative body of Scotland should un
dergo no change, although at present it had only one more
Member than Cornwall. Without supposing that this
he might fancy that at some
corruption,
periodursevpotiuo lnd pass
English
borlawoughs would be disfranchised for
and he ighnlsob a
e would not destroy the chance Scotland
at present possessed of obtaining the frapchise which would
thus become vacant. He begged it, however, to be dis-
tinctly understood, that he did not vote against the propo
sition of the Hon. awl Gallant General because be was fa-
fourable to the Bill to whiCTi it applied.
Mr. WYNN congratulated the House upon the extra-
ordinary ability displayed by an Hon. Memeer for a c'ose
borough (Mr. Hawkins, of St. Michael's), who, but far
such modes of gaining admission into Parliament might
never have etiFiyed an opportunity. When such were the
consequences of the present system, who would not wish
that it should be perpetual? It was not possible for any
constituency at all times to return representatives equally
excellent ; but, looking back to the history of the House
of Commons, he saw that men of the most splendid abili-
ties had first fostered their talents iu close boroughs, and
had afterwards been deservedly chosen for populous places.
Some individuals seemed possessed of hereditary ability, but
the great mass of the House was unquestionably of a con-
tented mediocrity of t dent. Nearly all the great charac-
ters whom he had sten, or of whom he had read, had
commenced their career, and had originally entered the
House through the channel of a close borough. With-
out going into particulars, he would look to general re-
sults, and he would appeal to the Government of the
country for the last cer.tury as a proof of the excellence
of the present system of representation. If, on the other
band, a century of misgovernment could be shown, lit
would admit it as an irrefragable argument in favour of
aitiacpit,puhianotteeryLehrailo,nid what country had enjoyed
eboefrretr
yn Refocus. During
generaln what
h piadnpdroginredsievii(ielueaii,
happiness—morn.
r!rueblrica
made in arts and manufactures and literature? Had any
nation met the same dangers, endured the same struggles,
Ind triumphed with the same glory? The Government
had been constantly supported by the confidence of Par-
liament and the suffrages of the people. He did tio•
lent' that upon this subject the feelings of the people had
been excited, but their good sense was now awakened,
and they had returned to their reliance upon the House
of Commons as at present constituted. He agreed with
those who said that 'inlets of peril and pressure were not
the fittest for discussing a question of this sort ; but he
saw no reason to anticipate any such evils in a time of
itrofound peace anti growing prosperity. With regard to