The Sun.
London, England, 1831-01-31 00:00:00

REFORM IN PARLIAMENT.

NEWPORT, MONMOUTHSRIRE.
(From the Monmouthshire Merlin.)
This meeting took place on Tuesday last, pur-
cuant to the requisition noticed in our Paper of the
18th instant, and was very fully and respectably at-
tended. The Mayor having been called to the
chair opened the business of the meeting by read-
ing the requisition. He also took that opportunity
of reading a letter from Sir Charles Morgan,
.herein the worthy Baronet acknowledtred the re-
ceipt of the petition agreed to last week, for the re-
peal of the assessed taxes, and promised that it
should have his best attention.

Mr. CROSBIF4 in proposing the first resolution
said—Gentlemen, as one and all appear impressed
with the importance ef the business we are met to
discuss, there is but little occasion to trespass on
your time by making many preliminary observa-
tions. This is not a new subject. It is the " cause
for which Hampden bled in the field, and Sidney on
the scaffold." But to go its) further back than our
own times : the most enlightened men, the most
distinguished statesmen have long felt the necessity,
and advocated the cause of Reform.—(Applause.)
—How is it then that the sacred cause has ad-
vanced so slowly ? Because of the baneful in-
fleenee of the powerful hydra-headed monster—
political corruption. Because of our insensibility
to the value of our political rights. Not long since
the word Reform was branded with the opprobrious
epithets of sedition, of disloyalty—even of treason.
—(Applause.)—Thank God, those days are fast
passing away, if not already gone. There never
was a period which promised happier results than
the present, if rightly improved. It has pleased
God to bestow upon us, a right minded King and
a liberal minded administration.—(Applause.)—lt
is, therefore, the imperative duty of all loyal men—
of all well wishers to their country, to stand up arid
support the patriotic intention of Government. No
man can call the King disloyal, and the King is a
Reformer. No man can say Earl Grey is not an
upholder of his order, yet he is a Reformer. But
I will tell you who are not Reformers. • Those who
are fattening on the taxes wrung from the people,
such as Lord Ellenborough with his 15,0001. per
annum; Lord Bathurst with his 13,0001.; such
also as having little to lose are standing by, watch-
ing the moment when a little more increased pres-
sure of distress in the country shall arrive—to burst
the bounds of society by the terrific explosion
called a revolution., What would have been the
effect if, forty or fifty years ago, the people
had held the public purse by honest represen-
tatives, would it not have saved hundreds of millions
of debts and taxes ? What would have been the situ-
ation of Old England now ? Should we have had
a starving peasantry, and the middling classes crushed
with the weight of taxes ? Let us not be like the
clown in the fable, who finding his cart set fast in
die mud, did nothing himself, but called upon Her-
cules to help him. Rather let us obey the call of
our good King, our Hercules ; and as loyal subjects,
help ourselves in the way most effectual by petition-
ing for a thorough Reform in the Commons
House of Parliament. Reformers formerly were
considered marked men. The tables are now
wohlerfully turned. The men who in future will
bear the mark in their foreheads, are the Newcastles,
the Exeters, the Phillpots—men who would fain de-
prive Englishmen of their political birthright. What
do we mean by Reform 2—a full, honest, and
tfficient representation of the people in Parliament.
Arid how is this to be accomplished 2—by choosing
our representatives by ballot.—(Loud cheering.)
The present corrupt system has so demoralized both
electors and elected, there is no other remedy. I
have heard no good reason against the'ballot. How
are the individuals chosen to whom great trusts are
confided ?—the Directors of the Bank of England :
those of the East India Company; of the great In-
surance Companies ;—even the members in the clubs
of the aristocracy ? In all these elections the ballot
is adopted as the best, the only measure to insure
honest and unbiassed trustees. And shall the most
important, the most sacred rights—our civil and re-
ligious liberty—be deprived of this invulnerable
shield from the undue influence of property ? But
it is unnecessary to argue further, we have the noon-
day sun of experience to enlighten us. What has
the ballot not done for America? What is it not
doing for France ? I conclude by proposing that
the petition now prepared, if approved, be adopted
by the meeting.
Mr. EMERY—Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen,—lt
is with much pleasure that I ri,e to second the reso-
lution now put into rry hands. Parliamentary Re-
form is the grand remedy for the diseases that now
afflict the State. This has been the firm opinion of
the most eminent statesmen fur the last seventy
years.. That illustrious Minister, the Earl of Chat-
ham, declared that Reform must come. If it came
from the House of Commons, it would be effected
without bloodshed : but, if from without, with a
vengeance. his son, William Pitt, before he was
corrupted by power, once said, that " no honest
man could be Prime Minister of England without
Reform." Earl Grey has been a Reformer from
his youth. Lord Castlereagh acknowledged that it
was as notorious as the sun at noon-day, that seats
in the House of Commons were bought and sold.
Canning admitted the corruptions of the House,
but defended them by asserting the system worked
well. Has it worked well ? Yes, gentlemen, it
has, for greedy placement, luxurious sinecurists, and
well paid pensioners—the vicious, the proud, and
the idle; but has it worked well for the honour,
the glory, and happiness of England ? Has it
worked well for just arid generous landlords,
enterprising merchants, industrious tradesmen,
farmers, and hard working labourers ? It has,
in thousands of instances, compelled landlords to
mortgage or sell their estates, made bankrupts of
the wealthiest merchants, insolvents of substantial
farmers, immured upright tradesmen in gloomy pri-
sons, teed vigmatized laborious workmen by the de-
grading name of paupers. It has turned a con-
tented, peaceable, and happy peasantry into des-
perate poachers, fierce smugglers, wanton machine-
breakers and famine-making rick-burners. It has
tilted old England with mad-houses, gaols, and
workhouses. How did the system work just after
the peace? It gave us law; in its wisdoin to make
bread, not cheap, but dear, at the moment when
the nation was rejoicing in the anticipation of plenty
with peace. Since then, it has altered these laws
or su.pended their operation no less than six times;
and the interests of England now imperatively de-
mand their total repeal. Look at the working of
the system at the time of the panic, when thousands
upon thousands were:made bankrupts and insolvents
in one short year ; and what ne w panics await us
time alone can unfold. Such have been the evils of
taxation without representation. Now, what will
be the advantages of Reform ? Reform will save
our country from a violent revolution. Reform will
establish the throne, and make the King live in the
hearts of us all. Reform will preserve the estates
of the Aristocracy, give them safety hi their own
splendid mansions, instead of being driven to seek
an asylum in foreign lands, like the noblesse of
France, many of whom sought refuge in this country,
where some were compelled to become teachers and
clerks, others shoemakers, hair-dressers,and domestic
servants. Reform will give wealth to merchants,
independence to farmers and tradesmen, and plenty
of bread to the poor.—(Great cheering.)
Mr. PHILLIPS, jen.—Gentlemen, rising as I do to
oppose the petition which has just been read, I beg
to state at the outset that I have no wish to defeat
the object which you have assembled to protnore.—
I am, in common with the great mess of my fellov-
countrymen, a reformer. But much as I desire
Reform, I do not expect from it those miraculous
effects promised by the
gentlemen who moved and
seconded the petition; and if you hope to
realise them, I fear you will be grievously dis-
appointed. One of those gentlemen has told you
that with a reformed Parliament, the present griev-
ous and burdensome debt would have had no exist-
ence. Gentlemen, I doubt that assertion. I be-
lieve that upwards of 600 millions of our present

debt were incurred during the war with our Ame-
rican colonies, and those wars which arose out of
the French Revolution; and those wars would have
had existence if our Parliament bad been then re-
formed. I see the gentleman, to whom I refer,
doubts my conclusion ; but I maintain I am correct.
You have been told by another of those gentlemen,
that a reformed Parliament will clothe the naked,
ill feed the hungry, prevent those commercial
panics which occasionally convulse the country, and
produce universal prosperity. Gentlemen, Reform
will do none of those things; it will neither clothe
the naked nor feed the hungry—it will not prevent
convulsions in the commercial world, nor drive
away distress from our land. Convul&ons, such as
I have referred to, are inseparable from extensive
commerce; they have existed in other countries as
frequently as in our own; they have been felt in
America and in France, whose rep7esewative sys-
tem those gentlemen so highly value. But if Re-
form will do none of these things, 1 will tell you,
gentlemen, what it will do; it will reduce the ex-
penditure of the country within moderate bounds;
will s,tiefy the people that their representatives have ,
the same interests with themselves ; will give to the
poor man, as well as the rich, an interest in the
state; and thus, I trust, unite together all classes of
the community : benefits these, which we can hope
from no other source. I shall now proceed to state
my objections to the petition that has been presented
to you. It is, no doubt, known to most gentlemen
in the room, that the House of Parliament requires
petitions to be respectfully worded, and to contain
no offensive language, and I much doubt whether
the use of the phrase "rotten boroughs" which I
find in the petition, would not be deemed offensive,
and it would at least exhibit better feeling to omit
it. The word itself also, as it appears to me, con-
veys no very definite meaning; and although I
know what a rotten pear or a rotten apple is, I
can-
not understand the applicability of the term rotten
borough. Another objection to the petition with
me is, that it makes vote by ballot an essential part
of any Reform that you will consider satisfactory.
Now the ballot is, in my opinion and in the opinion
of many other friends to Reform, a regulation of
doubtful value; it is at least a novelty in the insti-
tutions of this country, and I have never yet heard
arguments that satisfy me of its certain and unques-
tionable benefits. In offering to the sleeting
these observations upon the ballot, I beg to be un-
derstood as not expressing a positive opinion upon
the subject ; and in asking the gentlemen present to
concur in the petition I shall propose for their ac-
ceptation, I do not request them to deehtre them-
selves opposed to the ballot. All I ask is, that you
will be satisfied with a prayer for effectual Reform,
leaving the details of that Reform and the mode by
which it is to be effected, to the Government and
the Legislature. 'I he value of our petition will be
increased by the unanimity with which it is agreed
to ; and although no person who is neither opposed
to, or who doubts the expediency of vote by ballot,
can sign the petition before the meeting, the most
strenuons advocate for the ballot may consistently
sign a petition for effectual Reform. Another rea-
son that weighs with me in desiring to omit any
dictation of the sort of Reform we require is, the
confidence I feel in the Goveinment of the country,
and the declarations they have made of their deter-
mination to propose such a Reform as will be effec-
tive. There is another subject which I deem of the
highest importance, which is not at all referred to in
the petition before the meeting, and that is, the in-
justice and impolicy of many of our present taxes,
bearing as they do upon the productive industry,
rather titan upon wealth. Taxes are raised for the
support of governments—governments are created
for the protection of property ; and the conclusion
seems, therefore, as logical an argument as it is right
in policy and justice that taxes, raised for the pro-
tection of property, should be charged upon property.
After the Le gislature and the Government have
carried retrenchment to the utmost possible extent,
it will be in vain to hope that the taxes can be then
paid if imposed as they are at present. The substi-
tution of a tax upon wealth in lieu of the taxes that
bear most upon productive industry, would relieve
the farmer, benefit the merchant and tradesman, and
add to the comforts of the labourer. I feel that, if the
people are not wanting to themselves, there is no cause
for despondency' ; but there never was a period which
more required the energetic services and active exer-
tion of all classes of the community, nor one that
more imperatively demanded that all minor dif-
ferences should be forgotten by men emulous of
their country's good. The waves may now roll,
and the tempest roar; but, if the crew are not want-
ing in their duty, the vessel of the state will yet
weather the storm and anchor in safety. I shall
conclude by moving, as an amendment to the pre,:
position before the meeting, that the petition I now
proceed to read shall be adopted.
- The petition proposed by Mr. PHILLIPS was then
read, and Mr. 'WILLIAMS seconded the motion for
its adoption.
Mr. MULLOCK suggested that the original peti-
tion should again be read, as many persons had
come in since it was first proposed. No one olject-
ing, the original petition was again read by the
chairman.

Mr. JOHN FROST could not refrain from making a
few remarks on what had fallen from Mr. Phillips.
Of what use would be reform, if it would not feed
the hungry and clothe the naked 'We say that
Parliament takes so much for taxes, that hunger and
nakedness are the consequence ; and ue say that a
Parliament chosen by the people would suffer them
to enjoy a fair portion of those earnings which
might in a very great degree remove the existing
distress. The conduct of the l')uke of Newcastle
at Newark, and of the Marquis of Exeter at Stam-
ford, demonstrated the necessity that voters should
be protected by ballot in the free exercise of their
franchise, and should not be subjected, like the
tenants of those noblemen, to be turned out at once
from property on the improvement of which they
had laid out money, and of which they had been
promised leases.
Mr. LATCH suggested that an amendment should
be made in Mr. Phillips's petition by introducing
into that part of the prayer which requested Parlia-
ment to protect the voters in the tree exercise or
the elector's franchise, the words, " either by the
introduction of the ballot, or some equally effectual
regulation."
After some conversation
Lu betweenps
saidthat although
Latch,
.ii
Mr. A. Williams, and Mr. Crosbie, on the subject P
of this amendment, Mr.
he would prefer that all reference to the b :Hot should
be omitted in the petition, yet to secure that una-
nimity of opinion which it was so desirable to obtain
on an occasion like the present, he would consent to
the introduction of the words proposed by Mr.
Latch. Mr. Crosbie thereupon consented to with-
draw his petition, and the petition proposed by Mr.
Phillips was carried with only one dissenting voice.

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writer, even before the (first) French Revolution ; and
in Great Britain, " the Man of Feeling," HENRY
MACKENZIE, the last connecting link between the literati
of JOHNSON'S time and the presen•—for his first and
most celebrated work was published some fifty years ego.
If Germany had lost, as was lately anticipated (happily
without foundation), her illustrious GOEIMI, the triad
would have been complete.
A HARD CASE.—A murderer of the name
Of NICHOLAS Pants, who had been sentenced to death in
1E419, died lately in the prison of the principality of Litch-
tenberg (territory of the Duke of SAXE Couunc). He
owed the prolongation of his life merely to the want of
means of execution in that small country. The Bavarian
Government, which had been applied to for the accommo-
dation, very ill-naturcdly refused to lAnd the Duke one of
its hangmen!
When we put the question on Friday relative
to attaching the deposits of the Brazilian Government in
the Bank of England, we had forgotten that property
lodged in that establishment is not subject to an attach-
ment. The Chartered Companies in general are also ex-
empted from the operation of the city privilege of att4ch-
ment.—Morn fug Herald.