The Sun.
London, England, 1831-06-22 00:00:00

rolmit this eountry.had been so long distinguished. 71,-
;reat distinction which prevailed between the pities
hat a large portion of them had not set a true value ft I
sound Protestant principles; and when they passed the
Bill to which he bad just alluded, they were reminded of
their important:is. fie would ask their Lordships, how-
ever, to call to mind the daring and impious attacks which
had been levelled at the Throne, the Church, and the
llembers of that House.--.(Hear.) Ile was confuleutlfrat
o lanzuage of menace or intimidation,- however violent.
and incessant, would ever deter their Lordships from pur-
suing that course which they conscientiously believed to
the right one.—(Hear.) But when he saw attacks of this
lescription levelled from day to day at our most valued
,astitutione, and urlii,a be saw those attacks countenanced,
if he might say. so, even by some Members of their own
body, how could he do justice to the principle of. the Noble
Ear', or to the measures of his Government, or bow cou'd
he avoid connecting these attacks with those prineiples,
when be found they had been persisted in, with trimming
violence, by those who, for the last two months, had been
so zealously advocating the cause of Reform ?—(Hear.j
He felt he owed it to himself—'he felt lie owed it to his
character, to typoee those who, under the mask of at-
tempting to correct abuses—abuses which he acknow..
hedged did exist, and which he was as anxious as any man
to see removed—were trying to avail themselves of their
present measures for the purpose of overthrowing all the
no, t venerated institutions of the country, and introducing
that degree of anarery and confusion on which they hoped
•o erect the Government el a Republic.-.--(Hear, hear.)
This was the object these persons. had in yiew, and it was
,hrough the means of the course of policy pursued by the
Government of the Noble Earl that they hoped to be able
to accomplish it.—(flear, hear.) While he was on this
part of the subject, he could not avoid referring to one act
of the Government which deserved the severest censure.
Ile hazarded no observation with resuect to the Act of
Parliament itself, but he must say, that in allowing the
Act to expire before they called'up for judgment one of
I the most unprincipled agitators that ever disturbed a
country÷Allear)z-they had grossly neglected their duty.
_.(He tr.)" It Wis that ,agitator who had instieated the
people to 5,..t the laws at defiance.—(Hear.) To him was
due the greater part of the-miseries of his countrymen. It
was to-the language used by hint that the Government
now saw the people in rebellion againt its authority.--
(Hear.) They were toll in his Majesty's Speech that
these disturbances were unconnected with political causes,

but it was well known that the peasantry of the greater
part of the South of Ireland were under a regularly orga-
nised system of obedience to those who, under the pretence of
procuring an equalization of civil and religious rights, were
desirous of the means of overturning all our present civil
and religious institutions. He felt on this subject as a
Protestant Nobleman, who was anxious for the support of
Protestant principles ; and if he set a high value on those
principles, it was because he continued to believe that it
was to them the country was indebted for all the ad-
, vantages it possessed. Having said thus much in defence
of his own condnet, he would not detain their Lordships
with any observations on the Speech from the Throne
further than this, that he was happy to perceive that Mi-
nisters were determined to abstain from all dictation to the
people of other countries with respect to the form of Go-
vernnent which . they should adopt. He was convinced,
indeed, that the more this country kept aloof from all in-
terference •in the internal affairs of others, so much the
better it would be for the people.—(Hear.)
Earl GREY could have wished that some,of the N4tble
Lords who threatened so violent au opposition at the cow
mencement of the debate, would favour the House with a
statement of the cause of their objections to the conduct
or the measures of the present Government; but as 11011t2
of their Lordships seemed to be disposed to address them,
he was compelled, under very considerable disadvantages,
to rase thus early in order to Bet himself right in the opi-•
nion of the Noble Earl who had just spoken. He had
heard, with much pain and anxiety, the grounds stated by
the Noble Earl for withdrawing his support from the Go-
vernment, and he must say that the greater part of those
grounds were such as might be said to apply to circum-
stances and facts over which his Majesty's Government
could have no controul ; while, on one of them, he hoped
to be able to prove that he was entitled to the Noble Lord's
concurrence. The Nt ble Earl commenced by observing
that he vvithdreivii:e support because the Government con-
templated measures whir:: would destroy ' the weight and
influence of the House of Pest's in the Legislature of the
country. He (Lord Grey) could ltaie•wished much that •
the Noble E trl had entered more fully into an explanation
of the views on which the opinion that the Government
entertained such a design was founded; That it was not
4eost ihee,e-eftetetn questlup was plain, because on that the
Noble Earl was agreed with him, and be hoped, therefore,
to have his support.—( Hear.) It was then, it seemed,
because the Noble Earl had fancied that certain person;
(he believed the Noble Earl had gone so far as to designate
them as members of that House)—it was because certain
persons connected with the Government were suppased to
aim at the subversion of the Constitution.—(Hear, hear,
from the Duke of Cumberland.) The NobTe Doke
cheered that insinuation. Now he (Lord Grey) would he
happy to hear how the Noble Duke would support his
proposition. lie was not surprised that the Noble Duke
should entertain those opinions, for, if he recollected
right, the Noble Duke prided himself on his consistency
in opposing the present measure of Reform, because he had
at all times been hostile to the extension of the rights of
the people, or to the improvement of civil and religious
liberty.
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY rose to order. Ile
thought it was scarcely consistent with the rules of that
House for the Noble Earl to allude to the supposed opi-
nions of the Noble Duke, who, as far as he recollected,
had never yet uttered a single word to their Lordships on
the subject to which the Noble Earl had referred.—(Hear.)
Earl GREY admitted that he had, perhaps, expressed
himself with too much warmth, but he felt himself called
on to repel the charge of hostility to the Constitution,
and, come from what quarter it might, he always would
repel it.—(Hear.) The Noble Earl said, however, that
it was under the mask of Reform that those enemies of
the Constitution were carrying on their operations, while
he admitted that he was a friend himself to Reform. He
(Lord Grey) remembered well that the Noble Earl an-
nounced himself a convert to Reform, in consequence of
the conduct of the two Houses of Parliament. Now sup-
pose the Noble Earl had then proposed a plan of Reform,
would that plan have been less a mask for the designs of
the enemies of the Constitution than the Reform propose I
by the Government? Would not the Noble Earl have de-
nounced with indignation those who might have charged
him with a design to introduce anarchy and confusion ?
He confessed he did not think the Noble Earl's argument
very consistent. They had proposed their Reform not to
injure the Constitution, but as a principle purely conserva-
tive. They hail prepared a measure of Reform which
would, they hoped, be effectual for the preservation of the
rights and privileges of that House and of the Monarchy,
and at the same time give satisfaction to the people ; and
having succeeded in carrying that Reform into effect, he
would say, for himself, that he would yield to no man in
the country in a resolute determination to defend the
rights of the Crown and that House, because he believed
that on their preservation the rights and liberties of the
people themselves mainly depended. The Reform which
he now proposed was, it was said, according to the prin-
ciples of the Whigs. He admitted that it was so. He
had learned those principles in the school of Mr. Fox, the
greatest statesman, as well as the most virtuous politician,
the country ever possessed, and whose advice, if it had
been attended to, would, he was satisfied, have preserVed
this country from all the dangers and difficulties which
now assailed it. They were, however, now to consider
how the country was to be saved from those dangers, and
this measure of Reform was, in his opinion, absolutely
necessary for that purpose. He remembered well the sen-
sation produced by the declaration of the Noble Duke that
he was opposed to all Reform whatever ; and when he war.
summoned by his Sovereign to undertake the formation of
a new Administration, he could assure them it was net with
joy he received the commission, for be knew the difficulty
of the task, and his inadequacy to fulfil it. He felt, how-
ever, that he owed a duty to his country and to his Sove-
reign, who bad so graciously offered him such an honour,
and he accepted office on the gracious condescension that
he was to be allowed to act in it on his own opinions and
principles.—(Hear.) Under no other circumstaneee,
indeed, could he have consented to accept it ; and he men-
tioned this fact, because he believed it was acknowledged
by all the members of the late Government, with the
exception of the Noble Duke at the head of it, that the
time was come when •it became absolutely necessary to
make some ceacession to the opinion of the people. With
that conviction be -had taken office—with a conviction,
which every day new confirmed,• that the desire of the
people could not he safely resisted, he had introduced is
measure of Reform which was intended not to subvert but
to• preserve, not to covet the favour of those who are
hostile to the Constitution, but to enable the. Houses of
Parliament and the Crown to secure the possession of their
own privileges and at the same time to preserve the real
liberties- of the people. The Noble Earl bad asserted
Reform n
.that there were among the supporters. o
ict>irt ibn"eiwYC thibeuletd•clC'l:srignGlsilarnie'lyd")), was
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etieeed to he the beet Church in the world ; but when
:11:01:PIVbie Lord talked of the necessity of all in timat
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