The Sun.
London, England, 1831-03-25 00:00:00

CITY REFORM MEETING (THIS DAY).

At the Mansion-house this morning, in consequence of
a requisition to the Lord Mayor, most numerously and re-
spectably signed. a public meeting was held in the Egyp-
tian-hall, of the bankers, merchants, and others of the day
of London, for the purpose of expressing their approbation
of the Ministerial measure of Parliamentary Reform.
At one o'clock the LORD MAYOR took the chair,
amidst the loud cheers of an enthusiastic assembly
In opening the business of the day, his Lordship said,
gentlemen when I had the honour of opening the proceed-
ings of yesterday's meeting, I stated that I addressed those
to whom I had the honour to speak with mingled emo-
tions of pleasure and of pain, but I can with sincerity
assure yon now that I address this respectable meet-
ing with feelings of umningled pleasure—(Hear, hear.)—
' that I have the satisfaction of seeing assembled within the
hall of the Mansion-house so large and so respectable a
meeting of merchants and bankers, my fellow-citizens,
come forward spontaneously to testify their loyalty to
our Gracious Sovereign—(Hear)—and their gratitude to
him for the confidence which he has reposed in those
enlightened Ministers.:—(Hear, hear)—who I know possess
the confidence of the people of England.—(lmmense
cheering.) These Ministers came forward pledging them-
selves to support economy, retrenchment, and Reform, and
I feel satisfied that they have, as far as possible under existing
circumstances, promoted the two former ; and now they re-
deem their pledge in respect to the latter by coming forward
to introduce to Parliament this great, enlightened, and im-
portant measure—(Cheers)—on the success of which I
feel depend the happiness and peace of the country—
(Hear, hear)—and which will tend, more than any other
measure, to uphold the stability of the Throne, and the
integrity of the Constitution, and to promote efficiently
the prosperity and happiness of the people.—(lm-
mense cheering.) Gentlemen, I feel satisfied that the
people of England will continue to manifest the deep inte-
rest they feel in the success of that great measure.—
(Loud cheers.) The friends of this measure might be dis-
posed to begin to recline upon their oars, fearless of the
happy result ; and I do look upon it, although the
majority was only one, when I consider the odds
that were bet against the King and his Ministers, as still
a triumphant majority.—(Hear.)—But let not the friends
of the measure so recline upon their oars, however they
may feel confident of ultimate success. Gentlemen, I hesi-
tate not to avow the opinion that the continued exertions of
the people, and of the friends of the measure, are more
than ever desirable; believing, as I do, that it will be met
in every stage by the most resolute and, I had almost said,
factious opposition.—(Hear, hear, hear.) Gentlemen,
in addressing a meeting like the present, I should
be ashamed to attribute selfish or contracted and base
motives to any one, but I cannot help contrasting
the conduct of those enlightened and liberal men who
like Mr. -John Smith—(lmmense cheering)—and other
enlightened and liberal men who have sacrificed so 'pa-
triotically, and so magnanimously their private interests to
the public good, with the conduct of those who forgetting
every thing but their own interests are willing to • run the
risk of destroying the peace of the country by factiously-
continued opposition to this enlightened measure.—
(Immense applause.)—Gentlemen, what are the ar-
guments used by those who oppose that great
constitutionally reforming measure ? Why, forsooth,
we find them, but, mark it, for the first time
gentlemen, coming forward, and with all the show of
pretended disinterestedness, concerning themselves most
deeply about the privileges of the people. When did we
ever before hear those who now draw forward that
reason, advocate that principle ?—(Cries of hear, hear )
But, gentlemen, the time has fur ever gone by when the
enlightened people of England are to be cajoled by a so-
phistry so palpable. Yes, gentlemen, the time has gone
by when this hard measure, as they are pleased to
call it, could be apprehended at all to endanger the
stability of the Throne, to weaken or infringe the Consti-
tution, or deprive the people of their happiness. Yes,
gentlemen, for a Kiag to live enthroned in the hearts of
his people, will shake the stability of his Throne. Wil-
liam the Fourth will be the King who, more than
any other, will promote that object. Yes, Gentle-
men, if to destroy the canker dust eats at the root of
the Constitution, and to exorcise the monster of cor-
ruption that preys upon its vitals, will tend to impair the
Constitution, then may the results of our anticipated suc-
cess in this grand measure be apprehended, but not till then.
We seek no invasion of the legitimate, and, I trust, per-
manently settled principles of our glorious Constitution—
we ask for no revolutionary scheme—but we want, and we
shall have, our rights as Englishmen—the sacred rights of
choosing our representatives and sending them to Parlia-
ment, to represent not the detached and selfish interest of
the boroughtnongering faction, but the interests of the
country—of the nation at large.—(Cheers.)—Gentle-
men, as I before stated, the time is gone by when the people
of England are to be duped and cajoled by factious sophistry
or half measures, and I am sure I speak the sentiments'
of the majority of the people of England, when I state
that this great and important constitutional measure, in-
troduced by his Majesty's Ministers, must and shall suc-
ceed.—(lmmense cheering.)—l shall not detain the meet-
ing longer, but shall call upon Mr. Smith to propose the
first resolution.

Mr. Joust Salem then presented himself to the
meeting, and was received with most enthusiastic cheers.
He said that he had consented at the request of his brother
requisitionists, to more the resolution which he held
in his hand, but could most unaffectedly and sin-
cerely declare that he wished the honour had fallen
to some other gentleman, whose health of body and
vigour of mind would have enahled him to execute
the office with perfect effect, because he considered, that
the object the meeting had in view was the first in con-
sequence that ever animated the hearts of Britons.
He should say that the various individuals who had signed
the requisition were of opinion that, when all the groat
towns of the kingdom had held meetings so nu-
merous in favour of the great Ministeri 11 measure
of Parliamentary Reform, it did not become that
great city, the metropolis of the British empire,
and he would add the infant cradle of freedom, to be
backward in such a cause.—(Cheers.) That was the
chief motive that induced the requisitionists to call the
meeting. Ile should abuse the time of his hearers,
exhaust their patience, an not assist his own oh.
ject, if lie went into any great detail on the subject
of the necessity of a Constitutional Reform in the Com-
mons House of Parliament. Every one in the room—he
should rather say every nue in the kingdom—by reading,
by arguing, and by conversing upon the subject, were
well acquainted with the question in all its important de-
tails, and were thoroughly convinced of its necessity.
In truth and in fact the whole question resolved itself into
a few very simple principles. Those who contended that
the seats in the British House of Parliament ought to be
the subject of purchase by money, asserted that which was
contrary to the common sense and the honest good
feelings of all mankind.—(Unanimous cheering.) He
had often too observed that in arguing that part with
such individuals, they offered universally a great
many excuses for such proceedings, and they were
finally obliged to admit that it was awkward
and disagreeable, and that they did not like it.—(Cheers
and laughter.) Ile would refer to a very eloquent and
celebrated speech of Mr. Burke, on the trial of Warren
Hastings, in which he said that the Nabob of Arcot had

six Members to represent his interests in the British Ilmuse ot
Commons, but it was generally known that according to
the present system, and as long as the boroughmongers of
the present day continu,d, that Indian Prince, by money,
might have had 26 Members. But things had now changed.
Ile firmly Iselieved that those results which had been an-
ticipated by an Hon. Baronet, the other night, in the
House of Commons, on moving the second reading of the
Bill that day six months, could not ensue, for he consi.
dered the present Reform Bill would have the effect of sa-
tisfying the people, and rescuing the country front that
thraldom under which it at present laboured. Having ot,
cupied the meeting so long, he felt ashamed of mentioning
anything personal to himself. Having been invited by his
neighbours in Sussex to propose himself as a candidate for
Chichester, and having acceded to that proposition, be
went down for the purpose of addre•sing the electors
when he was assailed by the most gross cries, and was told
that he was a base, selfish horoughtnonger. No doubt
many present knew circumstances of a family nature gave
him long ago the possession of the nomination for one suit
in the borough of Midhurst. Ile, however, had never
sold a seat in that borough in his life—(Loud applause)
but should disdain such conduct, and he told the electors
o Chichester that no man who knew him well ever wit-

newt Wm dalag say sot whlak was unworthy of as EU'
lishrann sad a gotlernan—he told them more, he told tbeas-
if he had the honour of a seat in the House of Connn°°'
through them the first man that who got up to move the dis-
franchisement of Midhuret and such boroughs,
--(Cheers.)
have his vote if he could even get another.
He believed in his conscience that there was not the re-
motest probability that this great measure could fail•—;
(Cheers.) The Lord Mayor had told the meeting that it
was a measure recommended by the King, supported by d
Ministers, and accepted by the House of Commons,
that it must and should succeed, and that it would s
he had no doubt. He would set down by returning üb'
most fervent gratitude to his God fur his goethletcitill
allowing him to live to see the abolition of the Test i" 4
the freedom of the Catholics, and, though last net le"
motion'
the proposal of a measure of liberal Reform.--(Tre
cheering.)—The worthy gentleman then sat down Pr'
posing the following resolution :
Resolved—Thst having perused with feelings °' hb
mingled satisfaction, the Bill recently submitted 13Y of
Majesty's Ministers to the Legislature, for the PurPe.AD'e le
effecting a Reform in the existing representation of thel'o.
in Parliament, which Bill received the sanction of the Co °g
mons at the second reading on the 23d instant, this meefttinho
lie should
hereby declares their approbation of the principle' °L. 0.
said Bill, which has for its object the correction to
rAtt
knowledged abuses, and is pre-eminently calculateu
strengthen and support the foundations of that `—it
stitution under which the King holds his
to the Throne, and ourselves, and the rest of our fe"?
subjects, are secured in their various possessions and h.;
munities which we enjoy by law. A measure whiel:lo..
our consciences we believe to be wise in its origin, ee
lated to maintain the peace of the country, and, sh°v
t.) uphold and invigorate the great institutions of the
t ah em pire. —.( A oolanse. ) edte
HENRY THOMPSON, Esq. Deputy Governor, second
resolution. In doing so he would merely allude to Wod
subject, as it had been so fully explained by the Lord Mayor ,tet
Mr. Smith. If, however, one thing could give hip'
pleasure than another, it would be the seconding teps
lution like the present, and in doing so following the 1.40 to
of so excellent an upholder of the plan proposed by Min°` re in
Parliament, a plan proposed and seconded by men who
had
the possession of great pecuniary rights, and who hao rpic
stood forward sacrificing those rights for the benefit of the
The LORD M YOR then put the resolution, to whicooo
one dissent was offered, and that, we believe came from ape te•
not a Citizen, who, for his hardihood and unconstitution
merity, met with the general execration of the meeting. don.
Sir JOHN LUBBOCK rose to propose the second moll, tto
He most heartily concurred with the resolution he was tiro the
propose, and felt perfectly convinced that it would meet '
unanimous approbation of the meeting.
(LEFT SPEAKING.)