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

HOUSE OF COMMONS, JULY 6.

At Four o'clock the SPEAKER took his seat, the House
being very full of Member*.
REFORM BILL.

Lord JOHN RUSSELL, at Half-past Five o'clock,
moved that the discussion be resumed upon the motion for
the second reading of the Reform Bill.
Colonel SIBTHORPE was happy that he had moved
the adjournment of the debate last night, because it
gave bim the opportunity now of expressing his
utter detestation of the measure, which went to the
undermining of the Constitution of the country, and he
felt hound to give his decided opposition to it. and big
support to the amendment which had heea introduced by the
Hon. Member for Sudbury.
Lord WILLIAM LENNOX would not follow the 11011.
Member for Lincoln through his fanciful images of vi-
sionary theories Tind incongruities, hut merely deprecate
the system of making the House of Commons a foundling
hospital for any Member's illegimate theories —(Hear,
and laughter ) He would refrain from going over the
',ld beaten tract, nor would he gratify those opponents who
thought no Member could be returned, or no speech be
made upon the question of Reform, without introducing
what they call the revolutionary and unconstitutional cry
of the King and Reform—Magna Charta and the Rights
of the People—Gatton—grinding the poor—and the purse
proud oligarchy, and concluding with the cuckoo cry of
" the Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill.—
(Hear ) He would rather content himself with briefly
and dispassionately noticing two positions taken np by the
friends of the present system. The first was the old haCk-
neyed doctrine that had ever been brought forward in sup-
port of every rotten cruse, viz.—that though the system
was theoretically bad, yet that, practically, it had worked
well. Now could it be said that a system worked well
tinder which the petitions of the people had been treated
with contempt, and that when they had called aloud for
retrenchment and attention to their grievances. they were
told that their distress was only partial.---(Hear, hear. )
Could it be said that a system worked well under
whose operation the country found itself groanirig
under an almost intolerable burden of taxation, and
that the funds which had been wrung from the hard
earnings of the productive classes had too often been lavished
upon sinecurists, who, in indolence and sloth, had con-
sumed the bread that others had toiled for ? Lastly, could
it be said that a system works well which notoriously
places the representation of the people beyond their own
controul, and introduces into the House. of Commons
_nominees of certain titled and wealthy proptietors—
(Hear)—men who, upon the principle of doing what they
" like with their own," are fully as likely to exert their in-
fluence and votes to forward their own and their patrons'
aggrandisement, as to benefit the people whom they are
falsely said to represent. —(Cheers.) The system had
been one altogether of patronage ; and as it had been carried
on, was as outrageous to morality as p• rnicious to just go-
vernment. It gave a scandal to the House of Commons

in the eyes of the peqle—it did more ; it undermined the
. . . _

very principles of integrity in their hesrts and gave a
fashion ta imposture arid deception. They heard of indi-
viduals bartering in thousands for seats in Parliament,

unblushingly selling the franchises of the people, and
making vehement speeches against bribery and corruption.
'I hese were the things that vitiated the system ; that
spread degeneracy, hypocrisy, and sordid fraud over the
country; that took from it its energies of virtue, and
sapped its foundations of patriotism and spirit.—(Near,
hear.) The next position taken up by the Anti-Re-
formers was that the nomination boroughs are the only
means of introducing into the House of Commons men of
high talent. Now, he was free to admit that there had
been, and were men of high talent thus introduced into
the House, and if he required a modern illustration he
would allude'to a brilliant speech made by a Noble Lord
on the opposite side of the House (the Member for Wootton.
Bassett); but these visitations were like angels' visits, few
and far between. Nor was he prepared to admit that the
good was at all commensurate with the evil ; nor that it av,is
fair to argue that a good resulting from a bad cause
justified the means by which it was obtained.--(Lnud
cries of hear, hear.) Now, as to the consistency of the
nomination patrons, be would instance his Hon. Friend
the Menthe!' for Grimsby, late Member for Gatton. That
Hon. Member had made an eloquent appeal in behalf of
his cause, and had found himself in a minority of 2,999
at a county meeting, battling for Gatton as if it was fOr
his heart's blood.---(Hear.) Would that his gallant spirit
and talents had been employed in a better cause._(Hear.)
And what was the result? Why, at the dissolution he.
without warning, gets notice to quit, not because he did
not do his duty to his patron, but because his patron, on
the principle of doing what he liked " with his own,"
accommodated another friend of the family.—(Loud cries
of " hear.") Now a gond deal had been said of county
meetings being farces ; but could there be a more ridicu-

Ins burlesque than a Gatton election, in which the patron,
the candidates, the constituents—if constituents there be,
and I believe an Hon. Mernb..r owned to eight, incluiing
the cook and gardener—can all he packed and sent down
by the Brighton Omnibus.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.)
Was it not a mockery, a caricature upon representation,
and calculated to throw ridicule upon the House of Com-
mons ? In conclusion, he could only look at the success the
Reformers hail met with in the country—aye, even in Scot-
land, that beau ideal of a boroughtnonger's ima2ination—
as the best proof that the measure was congenial to the
sentiments of the people at large. in the words of an
able writer in the New Monthly _Oragaziue—" As well
might we expect, Canute-like, to arrest the progress of the
ocean tide at the bidding of a maniac, as to stay the
great current of public opinion. It was not a qneation of
expediency—it was a contest of right against usurpation
—the right of the middle clauses, the wealth, and the in-
telligence, and the mainstay of the British name, to have
a voice in the election of those who are to impose their
burthens, and who hold their purses and properties in their
hands." He bad no confidence in the Anti-Reformers,
still less in some who call themselves moderate, " bit by
bit," " littte as needs be," Reformers. For it required
all their ingenuity to point out the virtue of moderation
when an evil was admitted on every side. If their houses
were falling, were they satisfied with moderate repairs ?
If on a bed of sickness, were they satisfied with moderite
cures—" bit by bit," and " little as needs be," alleviation'
of their sufferin2s ? No, their moderation was only ex-
tended toward the State, whose rottenness was their profit,
but soon would there be an end to the system—a system
which is, as it were, a political Bastile—the last and tot-
tering bulwark of the feudal boroughmongers.—(Cfreers.;
Mr. KEITH DOUGLAS saw nothing of safety in
the present measure; it was impossible for any man to
foretel the consequences that might ensue from it.
Sir F. LOPEZ was not to be considered as expressing
anything like general dissent from its principle, if he ven-
tured to eb,erve that there was one great omission in fram-
ing the Bill. There had had been no provision made for
the permanent admission into that House of the responsible
Ministers of the Crown ; neither did he think that suf-
ficient provision had been made for the representation in
that House of the agricultural interest—an interest that
bore no inconsiderable portion of the burdens—an interest
affecting a body of men, upon whose well-being so much
of the prosperity and greatness of the country depended.
He really thought that upon reflection, it would appear to
every Hon. Member that a due weight and influence had
not been given to the agricultural interest in that House.
In making these observations, however, he trusted it won't
not be thence inferred that he would isppose the whole
measure, merely because some portion of its details
might not accord with his views; for sure he was,
that it had, now become the duty of every Hen. Member to
waive his private opinions on minor matters for the sake
of a great public object ; for a greater, a mere important
a more vital question, as affecting the happiness of the
United Empire, never came under the consideration of
Parliament. With these feelings strongly influencing him,
he was anxious that every class and order in the State
should have their feelings and their just rights dilly consi-
dered, and that the measure, as a whole, should experience
A full, fair, and free discussion.

Mr. F. LEWIS could say for the public generally, as
for his owu Constituency, that the . great body of that
public was in favour of the question of Reform ; and he
was perfectly willing to go as far with the views of hie
constituents as he could consistently, and without surren
dering his own judgment. As to Reform, there could b.
no doubt that it must.be carried—it must be accomplished
let who would obstruct it—not that he wolihk4struct of
gainsay the measure of Reform, but le would not vote
for that of which he did not heartily approve.
Mr. J. CAMPBELL—In his opinion, the Bill of the
present Parliament was an improvement on, that of the
last Parliament. In particular, the alteration of the Priv)
Council to a set of Parliamentary Commissioners, for the
purpose of making out the boundaries of the counties that
were to have an increase of Members, met with his warmesi
considered
approbation.nsdinuteednow
the
h Bill,e
rAs
the fara s
carried
mhoer anyefu oje
couldn r see„ the improvement,.
could tbherctiiand the more 14onable it appeared
o
to him to be, and the more entirely - all difficulties an,'
doubts seemed to be removed. It appeared. to be generall)
igreed, that the two great divisions of the Bill were, die.;
franchisement and enfranchisement ; and it was against the
first of these that the irgunienta of the opponents of ti!
measure h.ad been chiefly directed. One great questioti