The Sun.
London, England, 1831-07-01 00:00:00

not Op/tose it or move any thing against it ; but they will
certainly vote against the Government on every thing else,
in order to throw out the Government and the Bill also.
They will hardly move an amendment on the Address to
the King; but they will get up little motions against thi
Ministers—they will try to throw out whatever is pro-
posed by the Government—they will oppose the Chan-
cellor's Law Reforms, and Lord Melbourne's Sub-letting
Act, and whatever else they can hope to defeat. Let the
Lords beware of all such tricks, for tricks they are. All
their manoeuvres mean only one thing—hostility to the
Reform Bill. The meaning of every thing the Opposi-
tion will say is ' Throw out the Bill.' The meaning of
every question they will put is Throw out the Bill.'—
The meaning of every vote they will give is ' Throw out
the Bill.' They may affirm, and vow, and swear, and
Smite their breasts, and shed abundant iears, and heave
deep sighs, and call God to witness that they have no
enmity to the King's Government, and are not prepared
to give any opinion upon the Bill until it comes before
them. Heed them not—turn away the ear from their cry.
All they do really mean is to get your votes against the
Ministry; and they reckon on the Bill, the hateful Bill,
being lost for ever. All who wish well to the House of
Lords awl the Constitution must carefully be on their
guard against such devices." It was well for persons within
or without the walls of that House to give their Lord-
ships such advice, but let them not propose measures,
and support those measures by declarations calculated
to raise the mob. When the Noble and Learned Lord on
the Woolsack declared that the mandate of the Secretary
of State could not prevail against an assemblage of 600,000
persons, it was only stating in other words, that a mob
of 600,000 was more powerful than the Government.
For himself, however, he had an example—an example
which he well remembered, and on which he was deter-
mined to shape his conduct in the present arduous junc •
ture. It was given at the period when a Right Hon.
Gentleman, now no more, assumed the guidance of affairs.
They had then the head of the Whigs at their side of the
House; and that Noble Earl then delivered a speech, to
which he felt great pleasure in referring. He bad read it
the other day with great delight, and had determined to
shape his own conduct by what was there laid down, The
Noble Earl wished to have placed upon record his opinion
of a Bill coming up to that House, which, it was believed,
the power of their Lordships would be exercised to reject;
snd which it was also believed, from the popular clamour
that prevailed, and the feeling of the other House, would
have bought the two Houses into collision. In the speech
made by the Noble Earl on this occasion, he said :—" I
stand here one of a body which will always be ready,
firmly and honestly, to resist such efforts—which will al-
ways consider anxiously and feelingly the interests of
the people, even when it must oppose the peop'e them-
selves, and which will never consent, under the influence
of fear, to give way to any clamour. If lam told that
we run the risk of having a worse Bill, I shall never suffer
myself to be intimidated by any such threat ; and if a
worse Bill should be sent up, I am sure your Lordships
would pursue the course you have pursued by the present
Bill. You would consider it, and you would amend it,
and if you could not make it good you would reject it. I
am sure that any such measure shall be met by me with a
firm opposition; and that I shall be prepared to do my
duty to myself. I have said thus much, and I might say
a great deal more. If there should come a contest b•tween
this House and a great portion of the people, my part is
taken, and with that order to which I belong I will stand
or fall. I will maintain to the last hour of my existence
the privilege and independence of this House."—(Cheers
from the Ministerial Benches.) Ile was glad to hear these
cheers from the Noble Lords on tl.e other side. He hoped
the Noble Earl would act on his own principle us stared
on that occasion. He hoped that no new batch of Peers
would he brought up to that House, and that their Lord-
ships would be safe from a piece of the most extraordinary
experimental philosophy that ever was attempted to he
concocted by any Ministry. He called the Noble Earl's
attention to the speech which he had made on a former
occasion in support of his own order. In tbe sentiments
expressed in that speech he (the Marquis of Londonderry)
concurred, and he hoped the 'Diable Earl would still adhere
to them. He would say no more on the subject at this time,
but would, without further comment, present his petition.
After a pause, the Marquis of CLEVELAND ro-e,
and observed, that considering the relation in which he
stood to the county of Durham, and the knowledge which
that relation enabled him to acquire of the sentiments and
feelings of the county, be was anxious to make a few re-
marks on the statements of the Noble Marquis ; but, as he
was aware that these speeches on the presentation of pe-
titions were irregular, he would be as brief as possible.
He generally differed, whether right or wrong in doing se,
on political question. from die Noble Marquis, and so be
did ;.‘ curs particular instance as to the sentiments and
feelings of the county of Durham. The Noble Marquis
began his speech by informing their Lordships of certain
speeches, purporting to have been made in the county of
Durham at election meetings, which speeches had appeared
in all the Journals of the country, and the Noble Marquis
said that these speeches were so derogatory to the Aristo-
cracy, that no Noble Lord in that House would venture to
hear out the opinions there expressed.
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY, in explanation,
said that he did not mean to utter anything disrespectful
to the individuals to whom he alluded, but only protested
against the doctrines maintained in these speeches.
The Marquis of CLEVELAND stood corrected, hut the
Noble Marquis said that the Peers of that House must he
well aware of these speeches, since they appeared in all
the Journals of the day. But he thought it rather impro-
bable that the Peers generally should be well acquainted
with these speeches as they appeared in the Journals. He
was not aware that the Peers felt very much interested
about speeches that were delivered at election dinners. A
few of the Peers, perhaps, did see these speeches, as pub-
lished in the Journals. lie did not feel himself called upon
on the present occasion to stand up in defence of all that
was said in these speeches, but he might take upon himself
to say, that some of the Journals gave a very incorrect
account of the speeches, and, in certain particulars, very
much misrepresented the words and meaning of the
speakers. He had not been in the county of Durham
lately, as the Noble Marquis kad been, but he was well
acquainted with what had taken place in the county of
Durham at the late election. The words to which he sup -
posed the Noble Marquis alluded, were, " that the
Peers were cyphers, and that . the power of the Aris-
tocracy was at an end"—words which were supposed to
have been spoken at the meeting at Gateshead. But
these words, if spoken at all, were spoken, as he ap-
prehended, in relation to the canvass for the county, and
alluded to the power and influence which had been sup-
posed to have been exerted by the Aristocracy in reference
to the county elections. The words referred not to the Aris-
tocracy of the country generally, bat to the aristocracy of
the county of Durham, which was a very different thing.
tie believed he was well acquainted with the sentiments
and feelings of .the county of Durham, and he was confi-
dent that they were favourable to the Bill brought into the
other House by his Maj sty's Ministers in the course of the
last Session. He, therefore, differed from the Noble Mar-
quis in that respect also. He knew, that while that
Bill was in progress, a meeting of the county of Durham,
over which the High Sheriff presided, was hel I, in order
to declare the sentiments of the county on the Bill, and at
that meeting resolutions were passed approving of the B 11,
and of the conduct of I.is Majesty's Ministers, and an ad-
dress of thanks to his Majesty was agreed to, which he
(the Marquis of Cleveland) had the honour to present.
The resolutions and the address were passed without a dis-
sentient voice, so that there could be no reasonable doubt
but that the tense of the great majority of the freeholders
of the county of Durham was favourable to the Reform
Bill. He was confident in the opinion that the county of
Durham was favourable to the Reform Bill.
The petition was laid on the table.—Adjourned.