The Sun.
London, England, 1831-03-29 00:00:00

No. 12.026

every part of the. country responded ; and for the Anti-Re-
formers, there was rso backing, no support, in any part of
the community, from any class or from any rank. It was
then idle for those who had afforded them no assistance to
come forward at that period, and blame them (the Mem-
bers of both Houses of Parliament), for conceding that
which, were they adequately supported out of doors,
they might long have been enabled to hold. It must
be full in the recollection of the Noble Lords who
heard him, that whenever the House of Commons
bad brought under their consideration a case of noto-
rious and establi,hed corruption, they have generally
passed a Bill for the disfranchisement of the place so con--
victed ; but their Lordships' House never contented them-
selves with such evidence as might be laid before the other
House of Parliament, but uniformly went into the exa-
mination of witnesses themselves. In doimt• so, they were,

of course, perfectly right ; though he was far from saying
that in all cases of that nature such proof should be de-

manded as was ordinarily required in proceedings of a jn-
dicial nature. The first borough upon which sentence
was passed was the borough of Grampound, and it was
proposed to transfer the elective franchise enjoyed by that
place to the great town of Leeds ; but that proposition was
successfully resisted, and the franchise was in the end
given-to the county of York. The transfer to Leeds was
recommended on the ground that since the time when
Grampound first sent Members to Parliament, there had
arisen great manufacturing and commercial communities
which had no direct representatives in the other House of
Parliament, and that Leeds was a fitting place for the re-

ception of that of which Grampound had been justly de-
prived ; but the opposite sentiments prevailed, and the
franchise was transferred to the county of York. It was

:bus that the question of Reform had been dealt with in

years past, and it was the disregard of the then existing
feelings of the R:.ople which led to the present state of po-
pular excitement. The next case that occupied the atten-
tion of Parliament was that of Penryn ; and upon that, as
was well remembered, a long and tedious inquiry took
place, and the proposition then was, that the franchise
should he transferred to the great town of Birmingham ;
but that Bill did not pass. The next case was the unfor-
tunate one of East Retford, and that he considered a most

unfortunate case—one *hich conduced more than any

other to the position in which they then found themselves
placed. It was, as he had already stated, proposed to
transfer the franchise to Birmingham ; but that pi ()position
was negatived, and the franchise so disposed of as it was
thought would best conduce to incrense the influence of the

landed interest in the House of Commons. Had the Dli•

nisters of that period, even at the eleventh hour, then come
forward, and instead of imparting the franchise to the
county of Nottingham, have held to the inhabitants of
great towns a prospect of future representation, the Le-
gislature at the present hour would not have those diffi-
culties to contend against which the aspect of affairs now
presented. Even at that period there did exist a deep
feeling that Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham,
and other places of that description should return Mem-
bers to Parliament ; but what was the vote to which the
House of Commons came upon that subject ?—they voted,
by 188 to 140, that none of those towns should be en-
franchised. He then proceeded to maintain that there had
always existed i❑ the House of Lords as much readiness to
promote the work of Reform as in the other House ; that
was, to promote sound and moderate Reform. What was
the state of things for some years hack ? There was not
an election which took place in which it was not made a
test of a candidate's fitness that he should pledge himself to
support some measure of Reform. The Government, then,
should have seen that the time was at hand when some-

thing must be done, and they might then hare effected a
really moderate Reform, without endangering the funda-
mental principles of the Constitution ; but how did they
encounter the difficulty ? On the first night of the meet-
ing of the present Parliament, a Noble Duke, then the
first Minister of State, distinctly intimated that he was
averse from Parliamentary Reform. The effect of that
upon the country was, he would affirm, most mis-
chievous ; and from that moment a more extensive Re.
form than he could even look upon favourably became in-
evitable. The Anti-reformers were placed in such a situation
that the measure was forced upon them. Upon that declara-
tion of the Noble Duke—for upon that the matter really
turned—a new Government was formed upon the basis
and principle of Parliamentary Reform; and his Majesty
allowed the Noble Lord now at the head of the Admini-
stration to undertake the government upon that distinct
pledge. In that condition of affairs it was morally impos-
sible any longer to resist the course of Reform : and he
must say, that it was per force and most reluctantly that
he became a Reformer—itovould be with the utmost re-
luctance that he should agree to any measure affecting the
stability of the greatest and most able assembly to which
a nation of freemen had ever entrusted their affairs : he
doubted that they would ever obtain a better. Thal
assembly, so much vilified, had long been the admiration
of the world; but now it was held to be good for nothing,
and that the sooner it was gotten rid of the better. But
even yet it might be saved, if those who were willing to
devote themselves to its maintenance received that support
out of doors to which he thought they were entitled, and
without which they could not be successful ; but he saw
not where those persons were to be found willing or able
to give that support—(Hear, hear)—such persons were
not to be found, and all that remained for him was to de-
clare himself a reluctant reformer, and to consent to as
little as possible—to yield the least that possibly can be to
those who held that, in order to cure some existing evils,
there ought to be thrown away all of good that in a legis-
lative form had ever been possessed by this country. On
the appointment of the Noble Lord now at the head of
his Majesty's Government, lie came down to the House
and announced himself as a Reformer. Early in life he
announced himself as a Reformer—as a moderate Reformer.
Earl GREY said he certainly was desirous of going the
length of restoring the House of Commons to its original
purpose and character, and if possible to satisfy the just and
reasonable expectations of the people; at the same time
adhering to the known principles of the Constitution.
Lord WHARNCLIFFE resumed—He begged distinctly
to say, that the measure should not meet with any vexa-
tious opposition from him. He should oppose it, but not
vexatiously; he raised his voice against it, because it was
not a plan of moderate Reform, but the contrary. Pie
confessed he thought there were many reasons why the
present Government should not uphold such a plan of Re-
form as that which had been brought forward. The
Noble and Learned Lord now on the Woolsack was re-
turned for a large county—by acclamation lie might almost
say—and, as was the custom in that county, he stated to
his constituents his political views and intentions. The
plan he propounded upon that occasion for reforming the
representation of the people did not by any means go the
length, or anything like the length, of the measure pro-
posed in the other House, and sanctioned by an Adminis-
tration of which the Noble and Learned Lord was an
portant and distinguished Member. Whets he looked at
the present Ministry, and saw the materials of which it
was composed, not only including the Noble and Learned
Lord, but many Noble Lords the disciples of that one
man, whom they all acknowledged as their master—of
that one man, the force of whose eloquence would descend
to a late posterity—whose life had been spent in opposition
to Parliamentary Reform (but in political life they saw
strange things), he would not say that pledges had been
forfeited—he would not say that the present measure was
revolutionary in one sense of the word—he would not say
that it amounted to anarchy or spoliation ; it was a quiet
change, but it was a radical change, for it went to tear
up the Constitution of the country by the roots, or,
at least, to tear up by the roots one of the must important
influences that had ever been exerted in any political Con-
stitution—it went to create a popular assembly almost
independent of any check—it was a change that, in his
opinion, would endanger the Monarchy, and he conreived
that it was not only dangerous but totally unnecessary.
He agreed that in the present state of the country some
measure was necessary, but nothing approaching the ex-
tent of the Bill proposed in the other House—nothing at
all going the length of disfranchising sixty places altoge-
ther—o f taking away one Member from forty-seven places
--of opening all boroughs to JO/. householders—of giving
additional Members to several counties. It was then evi-
dent that every election would depend upon the voices of a
considerable portion of the people, and that was said to
he a return to ancient principles; but:neither could he find
any such rule of representation established in the reign of
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