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

with patronage attached to it ; and if any one is pleased
to doubt that the Member for Yorkshire, with a leading
position in the House of Commons, is not equal to a seat
in this House, with the insecure tenure of Government
office, I am not the man.—(Hear, hear.) By my
change of position I have lost a large income ; and I will
therefore trouble your Lordships not to take away the
little that I have left.—(A. laugh.) I look upon my-
self as in greater jeopardy than my Noble Colleagues
and Friends; for do not let any one suppose that the
Aristocracy will be at an end, even if the House of Lords
should be injured. But I shall be at an end—worse off
than any of my colleagues.—(Hear, and a laugh.) Well,
then, I am j ust as friendly as any one can be to the Con-
stitution, and am just as much bound up as any one can
be in the stability of the national institutions.—(Hear.)
But, my Lord, are the Ministers the only persons that are
in favour of the Bill?—(Cheers.) Is not the Earl Mar-
shal in favour of the Bill—and have we not aristocracy in

him? Is not the Duke of Bedford for the Bill ?—the
Duke of Devonshire —(Hear, hear, and order, order.)
Well, I know it is disorderly; but it does not seem so for
others, on that side, to name their friends by the Christian
natne.—(Laughter and loud cheers.) We have heard of
of John Russell and William Cavendish.—(A laugh, and
hear.) But what say you to all these? My Lords, are they
not aristocrats? Have they no property in the country?—
no distinctions ?—no titles ?—no Norman blood ?—(A
laugh)—or whatever it is of which you are all so proud ?
—(Cheers.) After this, I think I may say that the idea of
stating that this Bill is only supported by the democracy,
and opposed by the aristocracy, is one of the wildest delu-
sions that could be found in any of the cells in Bethlersa Hos-
pital.—( Cheers. ) But I shall not only stand upon the point
of wealth and rank, I shall also ask your Lordships to look
at that of numbers ; and for that purpose will men-
tion a calculation that has been made relative to the
Peers created before the accession of George 111. My
Noble and Learned Friend (Lord Wynford) has blamed us
for creating Peers lately. But what would he have?
Persons on his side of the House forced us into a Corona.
tion, whether we would or no ; and then, when we create
Peers—and observe, too, just to a unit the same number
as those created at the Coronation of George the `Third,
there is an outcry raised against us. But it was_said,
why not make our enemies Peers? Why not.—(A
laugh.) Why, my Lords, twenty Peers were made at a
batch formerly, and not one of them ever voted against
Mr. Pitt.—(Hear, hear.) But I was about to request
your Lordships to look a little towards the ancient Aristo-
cracy of this House. There are fifty-four old Peers ranking
before the accession of George 111., who will vote for
this Bill, according to their expressed opinion, and
twenty-five who will vote against it; and yet we are told
the old English Nobility have all with one voice sworn
open war against the measure.—(A laugh, and loud
cheers.) Your Lordships may pass this Bill, and then we
shall have peace and contentment ; but I much rather dread
another alternative. I dread that it may be refused
and that you may afterwards be induced, under other 11E-
nisters, in less auspicious times, to grant a far more exten-
sive measure than that which is now proposed.—(Loud
cries of " Hear.") The old classic story will apply here.
Oh, my Lords, let the old illustration of the Sybil never,
never be forgotten by you.—(Hear, hear.) On no one
question of practical politics has it so direct a bearing as on
this. You now have offered to you the volume of peace.
The price that you are called upon by that prophetic Sybil
to pay is, to restore under restriction—under modifica-
tion—under great modifications—the old fabric of the
representative Constitution. You will not take the vo-
lume; you will not pay that price—that moderate price!
The Sybil darkens yous doors no longer. You repent—
you call her back—she returns: the leaves of peace are
tmalf torn out, and it is no longer the yolume that first
was offered : but she demands a still larger price, and you
must now pay !or it with Parliaments by the year, elm-
! rims by millions, and voting by ballot—you will not pay
that price, and again you send her away. What the
next price may be that she will demand and that you
must pay, is more than I will say. This I know as sure
as man is man, and human error leads to human disap-
pointment, justice delayed, wisdom postponed, must enhance
the price of peace.—(Loud cheering.) My Lords,
!Isere_ is yet an awful consideration connected with
this subject. You are judges in the highest Court
in the last resort; and it is the first office of a Judge never
to decide even the most trifling case without hearing every-
thing. But in this case you are going to decide without
shearing—without a trial.—(Continued cheering.) My
Lords, beware of standing out on this sacred subject.
You may obstruct—you may put off the day—you may
give a temporary life to the borough jobber, and post.
pone the elective franchise to the greatest towns of the
realm; but, my Lords, that delay will have no effect in
raising the respect of this House, and in conciliating the
affections of the people Of this country.—(Hear, hear.)
My Lords, I wish you, because I belong to you—because
I am a good subject of the King—because I am a friend
to my country—but, above all, because my whole life has
been devoted to obtain, confirm, and perpetuate peace
abroad and at home—l wish you, nay, by all these rea-
sons, and by these motives, 1 pray and beseech you not
thus to reject-this Bill—l call on you by all you hold most
dear—l call on every one, except those who think no
Reform necessary, and they alone can give a consistent
vote against the Bm1I—( Hear, hear)—l call on you by
this solemn appeal—and remember, my Lords, I am in
the same vessel as yourselves—l call on you—l entreat
you—and on my bonded knees I implore you not to reject
this Bill.—(Cheering.)
Lord WINCHILSEA and the Duke of RICHMOND made
a few observations in explanation.
Lord LYNDIIURST said that after the speech on this
occasion delivered by the Noble and Learned Lord on the
Woolsack, probaihly never surpassed by him in point of
eloquence, he could not but feel great anxiety in ad-
dressing
their Lordships on this subject, but from
the station he occupied, and the situation he
formerly had the honour of holding in their Lordships'
House, he thought he might be considered as shrinking from
time performance of an imperious duty if he were to omit
offering himself to their attention on this occasion, and
satisfying himself with a select vote against a measure
so very momentous. But after the various dis-
cussions this question at different times had undergone
both in this and in the other House, after the consideration
of so many nights devoted to it on the present occasion,
sinking as he almost was, under personal fatigue, it was
not his intention to enter into the details of the question,
but to content himself by stating as distinctly and as
clearly as his strength would admit the grounds upon
which he felt it to be his duty to object to this
Bill. The Noble Lord at the head of his Majesty's
Government on a former night made an allusion to the
opinion which his Majesty was supposed to entertain with
respect to this measure. The Noble Lord was incorrect,
in point of phrase, in his reference, but the House
understood precisely what he meant. The Noble
Earl did not mean to convey to the House the notion that
his Majesty had approved of, this specific measure,
as he (the Noble and Learned Lord) understood, because
such a statement would have been of a most unparliamen-
tary kind ; but the Noble E irl, and those by whom he hail
been succeeded in their addresses to the House, intended
merely to intimate that his Majesty approved of the con-
sideration of the great question of Parliamentary Reform.
The House could not but recollect what his Majesty had
stated in his speech from the throne, which was, that in
the adjustment of this question their Lordships would con-
sider the true principles of the Constitution, the preservation
of the great prerogatives of the Crown, the due authority
. of both Houses of Parliament, and time rights and liberties
I of the people. Here then, (the Noble and Learned Lord)
begged to state fully and freely to their Lordships, that
r if, in his opinion, after the best consideration he bad
been able to give to this question, the measure now
. introduced had corresponded with the recommendations
conveyed in his Majesty's Speech, he would have given it
! his cordial support ; but it was, after great hesitation,
after the most anxious enquiries, and he trusted
unin-
fluenced by any interested motive whatever, that he
felt bound to Vose this measure, because it appeared
to bhp in the result, not to be consistent with the prin-
ciples of supporting the prerogatives of the Crown, but
calculated to destroy those prerogatives. It was not
calculated to correspond with the principles of main-
taining the authority of their Lordships' House of
Parliament, but calculated in its result to unOer.,
mine and overthrow it—(Hear)—and altos all
to ite utterly subversive of the.' rights and liberties of the
people. Upon these grounds it was that he should
oppose this measure. The great question with regard to
. this measure had been entirely evaded in the speech
of the Noble and Learned Lord on theWoolsack—the ques-
. Lion turned on the extent and nature of the measure. He
(the Noble and LearrMel Lord) repeated that if the measure
brought in by his Majesty's Ministers had corresponded
with the advice of his Majesty from the throne, in
such case he should have supported it. It was because
i the measure went "a great way beyond his Majesty's re-
commendation, and because it was inconsistent with the
terms and spirit of the recommendation, he felt it to be hie
duty to oppose it. When he (Lord L.) stated
that the question between them turned upon the
extent and comprehensiveness of the measure, he was
obliged to refer to time speech of his Noble Friend at
the hea lof the Government. He (Lord L.) had attended
minutely to that speech throughout, and hedid not recollect
that the Noble Earl in the course of that speech gave any