The Sun.
London, England, 1831-07-29 00:00:00

After the decision of last night, by which the Committee
refused to receive any evidence of the inaccuracy of those
returns, he would not trouble the Committee with any de
tails respecting the remaining boroughs in schedule B.
Mr. HUNT said, that the Right Hon. Baronet should
have made that deel tration before.
Mr. BLAMIRE said, that he would vote for the reten-
tion of Cockermouth in schedule B, because it came within
the rule respecting population which Ministers had laid
down. At the same time he was convinced, that if the
electors of Cockermouth could have been allowed to have
returned two Members, they would have exercised their
privilege with honour to themselves and advantage to the
country.
The Committee then divided, and the numbers were—
For the original motion
Against it l5l
Majority for continuing Cockerinouth in Schedule B
On our return to the gallery, we found that the ques-
tion had been put for placing the borough of Dorchester in
schedule B.
Lord ASHLEY said he should state a few facts to the
Committee, which would the better enable them to decide
whether the borough of Dorchester, which he had the
honour to represent, should be partly disfranchised. lle
admitted, that if the line of population selected by his Ma-
jesty's Ministers were strictly adhered to, then he could
not, on that point, make out a case for Dorchester. It
ought not, however, to be forgotten, that there were tioo
voters for Dorchester, of whom 300 resided there. Neither
ought they to lose sight of the fact, that Dorchester was
the county town, and that the county was wealthy and
populous. There were in the borough of Dorchester no
less than 333 houses paying 101. a-year rent.—(Hear.)
Having stated this, he would ask on what principle could
the Noble Paymaster of the Forces place Dorchester in
schedule B, when Ministers had declared that they p. oceeded
on a mixed calculation of population and property ?
' (Hear, bear.) If the Noble Lord persisted in retaining the
borough in schedule B, it was clear that he must throw
property out of the question, and decide wholly on popula-
tion. There was another circumstance which seemed
to have escaped the notice of Ministers in dealing with
Dorchester. He meant the contiguity of the borough to
Fordingtou. Fordington was as much a part and parcel
of Dorchester as any place possibly could be part and
parcel of another. The united population of Dorchester
and Fordington, by the census of 1821, would exceed
4,000 persons. He did not mean to say that Fordington
was directly connected with the borough, but he would ask
whether the same principle by which Falmouth was to he
joined to Penrhyn, and Wollner and Deal to Sandwich,
might not with propriety be adopted in the case of Dor-
chester and Fordington ?—(Hear, hear.) There was not,
be begged leave to observe, any property in the borough of
power sufficient to command a return. He defied any
person to prove that any thing like nomination prevailed
in Dorchester, and he would boldly state, on his word of
honour, his firm belief that nomination in that borough
was impossible. After a connexion of many years with
Dorchester, he was thoroughly convinced that it ought not
to come within the enactments of this Bill. His father
had told him, upon his honour, that he had never made u-c
of any undue influence in returning Members for Dor-
chester. He had himself represented the borough in two
Parliaments, and he could safely assert that he had never
been asked a favour by any of the electors, and that he had
never conferred one.—(Hear, hear.) He could point out
six boroughs which would still send two Members each to
Parliament which had a smaller number of 101. houses by
60 than Dorchester contained. Neither hie Majesty's
Ministers, nor any other set of men, could ever create a
more excellent constituency than that which Dorchester
now boasted. As this probably was the last Parliament
,n which he should sit for that place, he deemed it tight

:o make this statement in favour of his constituents.

The CIIANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said the
Noble Lord was the last man in that House to whom he
would attribute any corrupt or improper election proceed-
ings. The Noble Lord had observed that he considered
himself on this occasion as taking leave of his constituents.
He (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) did not, however,
think that such was the case, because the Noble Lord's
character always stood so high, that it would induce any
body of constituents with whom he might happen to be
connected, still to give him their honest support.—(Hear,
hear.) The Noble Lerd admitted that, taking the rule
of population, there was no case for Dorchester. " But,"
observed the Noble Lord, " you ought, with respect to
this borough, to adopt the mixed principle of population
and property,which you have laid down in other instances."
What 'Ministers, however, hail stated was, that they would
adopt population as the basis upon which Members were
to be returned to Parliament, but that when they found
the constituency defective, they would then look to pro-
perty as an essential point. Deal and Walmer had been
attached to Sandwich, and Falmouth to Penrhyn, upon
this very principle, the towns thus joined being large,
wealthy, and populous. That, however, was not the
case with reference to Fordington. The Noble Lord said
this was not a nomination borough. That might he so.
He knew some of the boroughs which this Bill would at'_
fect were not nomination boroughs. But Ministers hoped
that the alterations now proposed, as they would prevent
inconsiderable places from sending Members to Parka-
ment, would effectually put a stop to that system out of
which nomination boroughs had grown. Upon these
grounds be could not consent to remove Dorchester from
schedule 11.
Mr. R. WILLIAMS supported the proposition for tak-
ing Dorchester out of schedule B.
Sir G. WARRENDER said, that the borough which
he had the honour to represent (Honiton) was the only
other place in schedule B that had the number of 101.
houses (exceeding 300) which the Noble Lord had laid
down as a rule. It appeared that Dorchester had 333
10/. houses and 500 electors, while the borough which
he represented had 550 resident electors, and upwards of
300 10!. houses. So that in these two instances there
was a sufficient constituency without going elsewhere to
look for one.—(Hear, hear.) Under the new plan several
boroughs, the names of which he did not wish to mention,
would still send two Members to Parliament, though they
did not contain so many 10/. houses as Dorchester and
Honiton. In one of them the number of 10/. houses was
227, in another 225, a third 225, a foorth 205, and Sand.
wick 225. With respect to this last place, it would be-
come, under this Bill, a very snuz, nomination borough, in
the hands of the Admiralty. This he would state posi-
tively on his own knowledge of the borough, which lie had
represented in two Parliami nts.—(Hear, hear.) All these
boroughs to which he had referred would hi fact be no•
think but nomination boroughs.—(Hear.) And most as-
suredly, if he were rettn ned for Honiton in a Reformed Par-
liament, he would attack those nomination boroughs. A most
arbitrary and unjust rule had beeit adopt ed
mean e Go-
vernment in framing this measure. He dd not mto
impute improper motives to them, but certainly the course
they pursued would have the effect of creating a great
number of nomination boroughs. This schedule would,
in his opinion, be the death of the Bill. He admitted that
the majority of the public were with the Noble Lord ; but
when they proceeded to disfranchise 5,000 or 6,000 elec-
tors, against whom no complaint was made, and when the
result was only to create nomination boroughs, to what
conclusion could the country come, when it ultiniatel)
began to reason on the subject ? Amersham had been a
nomination borough. It was now put into this schedule,
and it would again become a nomination borough undei--
the influence of a Noble Duke and a Noble Lord.—(hear. )
Mr. G. BANKES said the House could riot very well
spare two such intelligent Members as now represented
Dorchester. One of them (Mr. Williams) who bad been
eonnected with that place for twenty-five years, proved that
it was not a nomination borough. He was not the owner
of a single house in the town, but he was elected on ac-
count of the high character and reputation which he bore
in the county, where he was well known. The Chancellor
of the Exchequer had expressed a wish that the Noble
Lord (Ashley) should be again returned for Dorchester ;
but surely that noble person could have no reason for de-
siring that the other Member should he excluded. It ap-
peared to him that Ministers, in the whole of their pro-
ceedings, were mending the Constitution with one hand,
while they were making holes in it with the other. lie
did not understand why Sandwich and Penryn were suf-
fered to remain, while placea of at least as much import-
ance were wholly or partially disfranchised, except that,
in these cases, Ministers were acting on a conservative
principle, and sparing certain boroughs to which thou-
selyee or their friends might have access. He was the
more especially inclined to believe that this was the case,
because the Noble Paymaster seemed to have put forth
his feelers en this point, when he said, that after the Bill
was passed, it would he for the House to consider, if they
thoaght fit, whether any alteration should be made with
respect to the manner in which those who hal accepted of
office should take their seats in that House. The Hon.
(gentleman then argued that Fordington should be joined
to Dorchester; as Deal and Walmer were coupled with
Sandwich, and Falmouth with Penryn. The right of in-
dividuals should not be sacrificed to mere technicalities
and be could see no reason why, in several instances, Mi-
nisters had adhered to ecclesiastical decisions in admini-
stering civil affairs. When the Attorney-General carried
them back to the days of purity, to the time of Alfred, he
ought to have recollected, that this country then had di-
visions of hundreds and tailings with respect to civil mat-
ters, while the division of parishes related solely to eccle-
i biastical affairs. Dorchester had been rightly described a,