The Sun.
London, England, 1831-08-10 00:00:00

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE COLONIES.

The House having resumed,
Mr. HUME gave notice that he would, in the course of
the debate upon the Ref ,rm Bill, move for the introduc-
tion of a clause giving representatives to someof the Colonies.
The other Orders of the Day having been disposed of,
the House adjourned at Half-past One o'clock.

HOUSE OF LORDS, Aucusr 9.
The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the Woolsack
at Ten Minutes past Five o'clock.
Lerd SELKIRK presented a petition from the West
Lothians against the use of molasses by distillers.
The Duke of DEVONSHIRE presented several peti-
tions in favour of Reform; but in consequence of the manner

in which they were read by the clerks, it was impossible

to catch where they were from.
Lord KING presented a petition against tithes.
The Earl of HADDINGTON presented a petition from
the Senatus Academicus of the University of Edin-

burgh, praying to have representatives in Parliament.
As a discussion of very great importance stood
_ _

for this evening, the Noble Lord observed that it was not
his intention to enter into the subject matter 01

the petition, the more proper time for that being
on the arrival of the Scotch Reform Bill in
that House. He should content himself now with

stating what the substance of the petition was.
The petitioners, stated that they observed, with
great anxiety, the progress of the measure in the
other House of Parliament, and hoped that since it was

the intention of his Majesty's Ministers greatly to extend
the right of voting throughout the country, that their case
might be taken into consideration.
Lord DUNCAN entirely agreed with his Noble Friend
in most of his remarks, but he doubted whether the grant-
ing of representatives to the Universities of Scotland
would be attended with the advantages which his N.ble

Friend expected. He felt that this was not the proper

time to enter into a discussion on the subject, and
therefore he would reserve what he had to say till the ques-

tion was regularly before their Lordships.
The Duke of RICHMOND brought in a Bill to amend
the poor laws. Among other things the Noble Duke said
it extended the power of overseers to hire land for the use
of the pour, to a greater extent than twenty acres.

The Bill was read a first time.
BELGIC NEGOCIATIONS.
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY—He now rose to
call the attention of their Lordships to the subj, et of the
Belgic negociations. He admitted that there was no indi-
vidual more inadequate to do justice to the subject, or less
entitled to claim their Lordships' attention. His early mi-
litary occupation and employment abroad had not tended
trticularly to make him capable of delivering eloquent
orations in that House, anti he had not bees urged forward

by the conduct pursued by the Noble Earl (Grey) op-
posite, towards himself, and the recollection of what was

due to the memory of a relative of his who had for some time
conducted the foreign policy of this country, he would
scarcely have ventured on the task. But the conduct of the
Noble Earl opposite to himself, and an anxiety to do justice to
the foreign policy of his deceased relative, who had acted along
with the Noble and Learned Earl (Eldon) on the cross
bench, had induced him to bring the present foreign policy

of the country under their . Lordships' consideration, and
to institute a comparison between the present and the past.
He, therefore, requested their Lordships' indulgence, and
hoped that he would be heard with patience, although he
could scarcely expect that courtesy from the Noble Earl
opposite and his colleagues. When he had felt it his duty
to put questions to the Noble Earl on the subject of our
foreign policy, the answer which be received was, that he
did not understand the matter, and that he had found out
a mare's nest. Such language did not become the orator,
the Cicero of the day, and that was not a sort of treatment
which he ought to receive. He might be assailed by the
Noble Earl with his oratory, and by the Noble and Learned
Lord on the Woolsack with his sarcasm, and they might
he cheered by their friends, so that it was with some feel-
ing of intimidation th it he pat himself forward on the pre-
sent occasion. But yet there was that stern stubbornness
in his nature that led him to venture on the task, in
opposition to all the power that could be brought
against bins. When the Noble Earl succeeded to
power, he certainly had expected to be able to give
him his humble support, however little valued by
the Noble Earl, in the conduct of the foreign policy
of this country, and he had entertained that ex-
pectation, because be believed that that policy would be
carried on upon the general system established by the
treaties of 1811 and 1815—the treaties of Paris and
Vienna. But he very soon saw that the Noble Earl ap-
peared disposed to pursue a different course, and on the
24th of June last he threw off the mask, when he declared
that the negociations had been conducted and the treaties
framed on an erroneous principle, and that the seeds had
then been sown of the existing distractions and changes.
When he beard these words of the Noble Earl he could
not help conceiving that they evinced both a want of wis-
dom and a want of taste in the -Noble Earl. It was un-
wise in the Noble Earl to have uttered these words, since
there were some Ministers now associated with the Noble
Etrl in Downing-street, who had been parties to these
treaties and arrangements, anti who were engaged to carry
them into effect. It was unwise, considering that these
treaties and arrangements had preserved the peace of
Europe for sixteen years, and that peace would have still
existed, had it not been for the events of July at
Paris—events which the Noble Earl had eulogised in 'high
terms, but as to which he (Lord L.) had expressed an
opinion directly the reverse. The declaration of the Noble
Earl as to these treaties and arrangements was also in
bad taste, considering wish whom he was associated, and
he thought that the Noble Viscount (Goderich), the Se-
cretary for the Colonies, could not have felt very easy in
his seat when he heard these words, considering that lie
had taken so conspicuous a part in the formation of the
treaties. It was true that turnings and changes were now
so common that it might not be considered so very sur-
prising that the Noble Earl and the Noble Viscount should
be acting together ; but yet it was strange that when the
Noble Viscount heard such vituperation of these treaties,
he thould have sat silent without saying a word either
one way or the other. So much for the conduct of the
Noble Earl towards himself, and for his own opinion of
those treaties which had induced him to obtrude on their
Lordships' attention on the present occasion. It was
natural that, when he heard the words of the Noble Earl,
he should be anxious to vindicate the memory of his de-
ceased relative. The Noble Earl might forget, arid the
Noble Viscount might also forget the manner in which his
Noble relative had been received on his return to this
country after having executed these treaties. But he very
well remembered that his Noble relative had been received
with acclamations by all parties—by Tories, Whigs, and
Canningites—that he had been welcomed by an universal
burst of applause by a British House of Commons. He hoped
the Noble Earl, when he should have passed his Reform Bill,
would be received with similar applause in that House;
and if so, he presumed that, after the lapse of sixteen years
from that time, if he should so long live, he would
not come forward with reproaches against the Noble
Earl. Having made these preliminary observations, he
now came to the subject of the Belgic negociations,
and, in order to place the matter in the clearest
possible light, he would class what he had to say under
three different heads. In the first place, he would con-
sissler the early part of the negociations, frosts the com-
mencement till the period when Lord Ponsoolty sent his
famous letter of May or June last to the Belgic Congress.
Iu the second place, he would consider the protocol re-
lative to the demolition of the fortresses, which had been
laid on their Lordships' table; and in the third place, he
would call their Lordships' attention to the manifesto of
the King of Holland, and the actual position of the seve-
ral parties connected with these negociations. First,
then, as to the early period of these negociations, which
had lasted eight or ten months, he had to observe that the
beautiful system—as it bad been called—of non-inter-
vention had been held out as the ruling principle on which
they were to be conducted : and yet there never was a
transaction in which intervention had been carried to a
more extraordinary extent, or in which there was so
much vacillation and change backwards and forwards, so
that the result was that to lain the whole was completely
hear, from the Ministerial benches. )
Those who conducted the conference in the first place as-
sembled in order to settle who should be King of Bel-
gium, and then something was said about the Duke of
Lichtenberg. No, said France, we cannot allow a sou
of Bonaparte to sit on the throne of Belgium, as
that would be pregnant with danger to us. Then the
Duke of Nemours was mentioned ; but no, said England,
lie is too nearly connected with the Crown of France, and
his holding the Belgic Crown would he danvroliti to us.