The Sun.
London, England, 1831-10-10 00:00:00

COURT OF COMMON COUNCIL, OCT. 9,

REJECTION OF THE REFORM BILL.
In consequence of the rejection of the Reform Bill
by the House of Lords, the members of the Court
of Common Council held a meeting in the Council-
chamber, Guildhall, in pursuance of a requisition
to the Lord Mayor, to take snch measures in the
present crisis as might be deemed expedient—the
House of Lords having rejected the constitutional
measure introduced by Ministers for a Reform in the
representation of the people in the Commons House
of Parliament. The Court was very fully attended.
The LORD MAYOR having taken the Chair, said
he had called the meeting in consequence of a very
numerously signed requisition. Ile had called it at
an unseasonable hour, but the excitement in the
public mind was such as to render extraordinary
measures necessary. The public peace in the city
was committed to his charge, and he hoped that the
proceedings that evening would tend to allay the
public excitement; and as the example set that
night by the Common Council of London would be
followed by every county, town, and village in the
country, he hoped the speakers would address the
Court in terms which would tend to allay the
public excitement.
Mr. WF:ARE: moved that the Town-clerk should
read the resolutions he would hand up.
The Town-clerk read the resolutions.
Mr. TAYLOR supported the resolutions. He felt
confident that the people of England would receive
the rejection of the Bill with calmness. Was it to
be said that 199 Lords were to stand in the way of
the wishes of a united people, backed as the people
were by the King?—(Hear.) He made a few
other remarks, observing that he felt it difficult to
express his sentiments.
Mr. THORNHILL said that the Commons had, in
its present corrupt state, passed the Bill, and he did
not see why the people should yield, if the Lords
would not yield. The Peers said they would not
agree to the Bill, as it was not a final Bill. If our
ancestors had said so, where would be Magna
Charta, the Bill of Rights, and Religious Liberty ?
—in their place would have been bigotry.—(Cheers.)
The parties who had gained their honours, if this
was the case, had so acted to trample on the rights
of the people. He alluded to the 199 who had
voted against the Bill. The only time when they
were to look for bloodshed was, when the people
were opposed to the King and the Government. Let
those 199 form, then, into an army of all Generals,
and fight with their own folly. The Hon. Gentleman
alluded to the conduct of the Bishops, and said he
considered they held their benefices to teach people
morality, and not to dictate in politics. After some
other remarks, he concluded by proposing the first
resolution.
The resolution was put and carried with cheers.
On the motion that the second resolution be
agreed to, " The people of England would use their
best exertions to preserve the institutions of the
country and maintain the dignity of the throne,"
an Hon . Member took some objections to the word-
ing of the resolution.
Mr. CHARLES PEARSON defended the words of the
resolution.
Mr. WOOD called upon the Members of the Court
to retain the words complained of, as affording a
pledge that the Court would maintain the laws. He
did not consider that the times were woeful from

the division of 199, but from the state of the public
mind likely to be engendered. He hoped that in
times of danger, should such exist, the citizens
would rally round the Lord Mayor.—(Hear, hear.)
When they departed from that Court, he hoped
that peace would be their motto, union would be
their strength, and unanimity their watchword.
The resolutions were carried unanimously, but in
silence,

Mr. PRITCHARD said, that as the Common Coun-
cil had the privilege of approaching the throne, the
citizens could not exercise it on a more important
occasion than the present. If they stopped short,
their enemies would attribute it to weakness. He,
therefore, would not stop between the thought and
the act, but would move that the Court shauld ap-
proach the throne with an address embodying the
sentiments which they had expressed that day. He
hoped the people of England would do their duty.
He concluded by moving that an address be taken
up to the throne, expressive of the feelings of the
Council.

It was seconded and agreed to, and a Committee
was then appointed to draw up an address to the
On the return of the Committee into Court, the
Town-clerk, in the usual manner, desired that stran-

gers should withdraw. Several Members of the
Court cried, " No, no." The Town-clerk said it
was a standing order.
A MEMBER moved that the standing order be
suspended.—Carried by acclamation.
The TOWN-CLERK then read the address to his
Majesty, which embodied the resolutions, and put
the question, that it be the address of the Court,
which was carried unanimously.
The next resolution was, that the address be pre-
sented to his Majesty by the whole Court.—Agreed
to unanimously.
On the resolution that the Sheriff, attended by the
City Remembrancer, do wait on his Majesty, to
learn his pleasure when he should be waited on with
the address,
A MEMBER suggested that the word forthwith
should be inserted.
Mr. C. PEARSON said there could be no doubt
that the Sheriffs could communicate with the proper
officer that night. The Government, they might
depend, were not asleep on their posts.
The word forthwith was inserted, and the reso-
lution unanimously agreed to.
A resolution was then passed for inserting the
resolutions in all the Morning and Evening Papers.
The Court then broke up.

MEETING OF THE REFORM MEMBERS OF
THE HOUSE OF CosiMoNs.-A meeting of the supporters
of the Reform Bill in the House of Commons was held
on Saturday, at Willis's Rooms. Upwards of two hun-
dred were present. Lord EBRINCTON ia the Chair.—
This meeting was only considered preliminary to the one
of a more decisive character for this day, and the Members,
most of whom spoke at some length, were unanimous in
their determination to support the present Ministers, and
to take the most effectual and constitutional steps for carry-
ing into effect the Bill of Reform which has just been re-
jected by the Lords. It is important to observe, as mark-
ing the disinterested and independent character of this
meeting, that, among the two hundred persons who were
present, there was no one holding any official situa'ion, or
otherwise connected with the Government, except as the
friends of this great measure which his Majesty's Mini-
sters had brought forward, and which had passed by a tri-
umphant majority in the House of Commons. Nothing
can exceed the determined spirit which animated all the
Members present ; and they separated after loud and re-
peated cheering of the sentiments expressed by the lead-
ing Reformers, with an undertaking and declaration to each
other, to redouble their efforts in support of his Majesty's
Ministers in their wise and patriotic course. We under-
stand that formal resolutions were passed, and that they
were of a very strong character.

Mr. BURKE'S New Work on the Extinct and
Dormant Peerage, a necessary Companion to all other
Peerages, will appear, we understand, in a few days.
When it is considered that the most illustrious Peers of
England were swept away in the devastating conflicts
between the houses of York and Lancaster—in the wars
of she EDWARDS anti HENRYS, and more recently, in the
season of civil commotion, a work of this description, not
confined to mere names and dates, but supplying much
historical, biographical, and domestic detail, cannot fail to
engage public attention, and to be considered as a great
desideratum in all libraries. It should be particularly no-
ticed, that this new work will appertain nearly as much to
Extant as to Extinct persons of distinction; for though
dignities pass away, it rarely occurs that whole families
do. The Editor, we are informed, has therefore sought,
with the utmost assiduity, those branches still remaining
amongst the nobility and gentry, which have sprung from
old and illustrious shoots ; and, judging by his former
efforts, we have no doubt his researches will be found to
have been eureessful.