The Sun.
London, England, 1831-05-06 00:00:00

tranquillity by the constitutional assistance of the
law. He would proceed to review the acts of the
present Ministry ; and, beginning with Lord Al-
thorp, he would remind the Court that the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer had taken off the duty upon
coals, whereby their part of the country was espe-
cially relieved from an oppressive and injurious im-
post. He had also reduced the duty upon candles,
a relief particularly- grateful to the poorer classes ;
and he had diminished considerably the taxes with
which the Press was burthened.—(Hear.) By
three reductions the Noble Lord had placed three
-great blessings more extensively and readily within
the reach of the British people—heat, light, and
knowledge.—(Hear, and a laugh.) Moreover, his
Majesty's Ministers had brought before Parliament
a Bill which he hoped they would carry, to modify,
that cruel, unjust, and sanguinary code, the Game
Laws,which had been the fruitful source of so much
misery and crime.—(Hear.) They had brought
in a Bill also to reduce the salaries of the servants
of the Crown, and of their o'.vn salaries amongst the
rest, There was no doubt that they would carry that
treasure into effect.—(Hear, hear, hear.) He next
adverted to the much-abused Budget. True,
Lard Althorp brought forward a proposition re-
specting taxes, which he afterwards abandoned.
Let it be considered that there were only three things
which could be the subjects of taxation—the land,
commerce, and the funds. Commerce was suffi:
ciently restricted already, and the land could bear
no additional burthen. Now, there were different
opinions on the question, whether the funds could
justly be taxed, and it was the opinion of the Chan-
cellar of the Exchequer that they could. But when
he found that it was not strictly consistent with the
strict letter of law, he gave up the tax.—(Hear.)
It would have been well for this country, if former
Ministers had been as ready to forego a tax because
it was obnoxious. He would next take that Mem-
ber of the Administration who was connected with
the law—Lord Chancellor Brougham. Scarcely
had that noble and learned person taken his place
upon the Bench, when he commenced the work of
Reform in that Court which had bellied one of the
most energetic minds, and one of the strongest arms
that had ever directed the affairs of this nation.
Cromwell said that he had tried his strength with
the Crown and the Bishops, and had beaten both,
but when he attempted to cope with the Court of
Chancery, lie was beaten himself. It was there-
fore the great merit of Lord Brougham to have not
only attempted hut accomplished considerable Re-
form there.—(Hear, hear.) His (Mr. Denison's)
vote respecting the duty on Canadian tember had
been referred to. But what was there reprehen-
sible in that vote ? He wished this country to ots
:rain good timber cheap; but the Tories—he used
the name without any wish to be offensive—the
Tories wished the country to buy bad timber dear.
Again, on the question of the Civil List, he (Mr. Deni-
son) was in the minority. Ile was sure that, after the
treble and patriotic conduct of the King, the people
would riot object to give his Majesty every thing
that could be necessary for the honour and dignity
of the Crown, and for his personal comfort. Bur
the other half of the Civil List had nothing to do
with the personal expenditure of the Sovereign.
The party which was now out of power had long
resisted any reduction in that list, and especially in
that part of it which most of all required diminu-
tion—the expences of the Ambassadors. He was
sure, however, that no man with an English heart
would wish him to be inconveniently limited in
money.—(A freeholder—" He ought never to die"
—cheers and laughter.) He (Mr. 0.) did not wish
to say a harsh word of the party that was now
down. He considered it as bad now to abuse the
boroughmongers as to trample upon a fallen man.—
(A laugh.) Those persons say, that putting an end
to their borough nomination is depriving the noble
proprietors of their rights. To understand what
was the nature of those rights, they had only to
look to their own county, where they had Garton,
Reigate, Haslemere, and Bletchingly. Indeed the
Member for one of those boroughs (Bletchingly)
voted for the Reform Bill in opposition to his own
interest.—(Hear.) But what was tile conduct of
the other patrons ? What, of the Members for
those boroughs ? Whatever talents those gentle-
men might have displayed, they still were
the nominees of the borough proprietors, and
represented them, and not the country. The
votes of those Members would completely neu-
tralize the votes of the representatives of the
people in the whole country, including South.-
wark and Guildford. He trusted that abuse would
soon be put an end to.—(Hear, hear.) What in-
jury did the Reformers to those Noble Lords ? The
people did not envy them their noble mansions, their
hereditary privileges, or their great wealth. But it
was natural and just cause of complaint against
those Noble Lords, that they usurped the rights of
the people, who now demanded that the House of
Commons should consist of their representatives, and
not be nominated by the Peers. That party pos-
sessed boundless wealth, which they were employing
against the people. They had also exercised their
power in the House of Commons—he would not say
to stop their supplies, as they denied that—but to
prevent their being obtained. They had done that
solely to defeat the measure which was approved by
the King, and anxiously desired by the people.
They pretend that Reform would produce revolu-
tion, cause the public faith to be violated, and de-
stroy the national religion. But, he would ask
them, did the welfare of the Church depend upon
Aldborough, the Funds upon Boroughbridge, or the
Crown upon Corfe Castle ?—(A laugh.) When
other nations defrauded their creditors by debasing
the currency and by the issuing of worthless assig-
nats, this country through the greatest difficulty
maintained its faith ; and were they now to be told
that the funds would be sacrificed, because Corfe
Castle should no longer send two Members to the
House of Commons ? Were they to be told that
the Church, which was said to be based upon a rock
and erected in the hearts of the people, should be over-
thrown, because rotten boroughs would be abolished?
Would the Crown be less secure on the head of the
Monarch, because schedule A. should have no repre-
sentatives, and schedule B. only half the fcrmer num-
ber? He trusted the Crown would longencircle the pre-
sent Sovereign's head, arid would descend for ages to
his children's children.—(Cheers.) The gravamen of
this Bill was in those schedules A. and B. Its
most important feature was the disfranchisement of
the close boroughs. In all the rest of its details he
had no doubt it might be improved in the recess.—
He hoped that Guildford would retain its two Mem-
bers.—(Hear, hear.) He had twice solicited the
attention of Lord John Russell to the subject, and
that Noble Lord expressed his regret that he could
not leave the representation of Guildford undis-
turbed, without opening the way for the preserve-
then of rotten boroughs. He trusted, however, that
the objection would be now removed. He compli-
mented the Corporation for its liberal conduct in the
Late
and in former elections. He would now only
trouble the Court with one or two observations. If
the Reform Bill should be re'ected he greatly feared
that some direful convulsion would
be the conse-
quence. The people were se delighted when the
news of that measure having beenbor proposedi wasannounced, that even the
vassal boroughs
weoug
theneaepxectil teld
I. in
their chains. If the hopes that
y
should now be disappointed, the
:sep
bof
the consequences must be on the heads of
laboured to defeat the Bill. Ifmeasureo
that os-ehwo
be carried into effect, it would materially
alter the
coristituency. It would bring into the Legislature
the country gentleman without the destruction of
his patrimony, and the commercial man arid the ma-
nufacturer without the influence of a nominating
Peer. He thought that there would be fewer brief-
lees barristers than heretofore in the House of Com-
mons. That place was likely to be much less than''
formerly an arena for political gladiators. The Bill i
would improve the condition of the colonies ; t
would give security to the Aristocracy, the historic
deeds of whose ancestors were read of by every Eng-
L
ehman with admiration and delight; and it would