The Sun.
London, England, 1831-03-19 00:00:00

DECLARATIONof the MERCHANTS,
BANKERS, &c. of LONDON, AGAINST the
BILL for PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.
LONDON, :MARCH 16, 1831.
_

We, the MERCHANTS, BANKERS, and others, IN-
HABITANTS of LONDON, whose names are hereunto
subscribed, have perused with feelings of the deepest regret
the details of a Bill which has been just submitted to
the Legislature, under the sanction of his Majesty's Go-.
♦ernmeat, for the avowed purpose of effecting an extensive
REFORM and ALTERATION in the existing CON-
STITUTION of the COMMONS HOUSE of PAR-
LIAMENT.

While we should have been far from opposing ourselves
to the adoption of any proposition so recommended, of a
temperate character, gradual in its operation, consistent
with justice, and the ancient usages of this realm, and
having for its object the correction of acknowledged
abuses, or any amelioration in the administration of public
affairs which might seem to be called for by the changes or
necessities of the times, we feel it impossible to regard in
that light a measure which, by its unprecedented and un-
necessary infringement on the rights and privileges of
large and wealthy bodies of people, would go far to shake
the foundations of that Constitution under which our So-
vereign holds his title to his Throne, his Nobles to their
estate., and ourselves and the rest of our fellow-subjects
to the various possessions and immunities which we enjoy
by law ; a measure which, while it professes to enlarge the
representation of the kingdom on the broad basis of pro-
perty, would in its practical operation have the effect of
closing the principal avenues through which the moneyed,
the funded, the commercial, the shipping, and the colonial
interests, together with all their connected and independent
interests throughout the country, or dispersed throughout our
vast empire abroad, have hitherto been represented in the
Legislature, ar.d would thus in reality exclude the pos-
sessors of a very large proportion of the national wealth
from all effectual voice and influence in the regulation of
the national affairs.

The silence which the opponents of this project have
hitherto felt to be imposed on them by their respect for the
authority from which it emanates, so long at Joist as it
was not before them in a defined and tangible shape,
having been misconstrued by the ill-informed into an uni-
versal acquiescence in its principles and provisions, we
deem it a duty which we owe to ourselves, to our country,
and to posterity, at the earliest practicable period after
the printing of the Bill, to protest against it by this public
declaration, and to invite our fellow citizens of all classes,
participating in our sentiments, to unite with us in every
practicable and lawful effort of temperate but determined
resistance to the further progress of a measure, which in
our consciences we believe to be rash and inexpedient in
its origin, and tending to consequences equally pernicious
and irretrievable, menacing to the peace of the country,
fraught with alarm and peril to public and private credit,
and calculated eventually to undermine and destroy all
those venerable institutions and establishments, under whose
influence and protection England has hitherto enjoyed a
prosperity, and maintained a station, unexampled among
the nations of the world.

The above Declaration having already been signed by
many of the most influential and eminent Merchants,
Bankers, and others, now lies for signature at the City of
London Tavern, Bishopsgate-street, and the Thatched
House Tavern, St. James's-street, with a Petition to the
House of Commons, founded upon the slime.