The Sun.
London, England, 1836-09-05 00:00:00

~. ~:~

and which must be my guide hereafter. I look baCk to
the question of a Reform of the House of Commons ;
and I ask you, what was the vote which I gave on that
occasion ? It was decidedly to oppose organic change.
The object of that reform was to do away with the rotten
borough system, and to put an end to the nomination of
Members of the House of Commons by certain Members of
the House of Lords, as being inconsistent with the principles
of our Constitution.—( Hear.) It was therefore to prevent
an organic change that a Bill was framed, having for its
object a restoration of the rights of the people, by which
they could make free exercise of those rights by returning
their representatives to Parliament.—(Hear, hear.) Now,
then, I say, the very same principle will be my guide
' hereafter, not to depart from those early lessons I have
learnt—from that principle I have long acted upon, and I
must oppose any attempt to introduce election into the
House of Lords.—.(Hear, hear.) It was the opinion of
one of the greatest philosophers and statesmen of antiquity,
Cicero, who laid down his opinion in more beautiful lan-
guage than I can describe, that all forms of government
which he knew, he thought the best would be established by
a union of the three existing forms, that was, the Kingly,
the Aristocratical, and the Democratical.—(Hear, hear.)
The Government of En land for centuries has been com-
posed of those three estates ; we have had a Constitution
founded in that manner, under which we have prospered,
and for God's sake do not let us, for any momentary dis-
appointment, plunge ourselves into difficulties from which
we cannot see our way out.—(Hear, hear.) I know that
some ardent politicians, some persons loving freedom as well
but no better than myself, have pointed to America, and
have said, there you seen an elective Monarchy, and an
elective Upper House of Parliament, all working well.—
( Hear.) I say, wait a little longer. You have not seen
that system of government tried in any other part of the
world. America is yet young ; wait and see what civil
commotion may produce when it rises up among them. It
has been said that good can never come out of evil. I think
we can see the prospects of some evil. I will ask whether
America can do well under her accursed system of slavery?
—(Hear, hear.) I will ask whether good can come out of
-such a system ?—(No, no.) What is it that we can con-
template under it but a civil war? As the population in-
creases, and those who are held in bondage become stronger,
their anxiety to free themselves from their oppressors will
increase, and we shall have the slave states in open hosti-
lity against the free states, and her Government will be-
come_as powerless as it is powerful at present.—( Hear,
hear-) And then, gentlemen, we shall see whether they
do not want some of that stability which our ablest and best
writers have attributed to an hereditary Monarchy and an
hereditary House of Lords.—( Cheers.) It may be said
that I am taking a &Spending- view of the question, that
we have arrived at a period of great difficulty, and that
there is no remedy left ; I say there is a remedy, for when
tiiings come to that state, the power is in the voice of the
people.—(Hear, and-cheers.) Let your voices be heard in
petitions to the two Houses of Parliament ; let them try
the experiment of a new election ; let every man who loves
well-regulated, freedom then give his vote to return more
Liberal members, and take my word for it the House of
Lords will soon see its error.—(Loud cheers.) Gentlemen,
I thank you most cordially for the attention with which you
have heard me, and I will now conclude by again intreating
you not to withdraw your confidence from such a Minister
as Lord Melbourne.—(Hear.) The Hen. Baronet sat
down amidst loud applause.
The Cnasinmasis--The next toast is one which affords
net as much pleasure to give lam sure it will give plea-
sure to yon to drink, for I ken.v no man who, through a
political life, has walked more consistently and inure
lionourably than your worthy representative Mr. Baines,—
(Great cheering.) " Edward Baines, Esq., the Liberal
eMember for the borough of Leeja."
The toast was drunk with immense cheering.
EDWARD BAINES, Eq., rose to acknowledge the
('empliment, and was loudly cheered. After some prelimi-
nary remarks he said :—The state oF political parties is at
present very embarrassing. We have in the House of
Commons an assembly chesen under a Tory Ministry, very
well disposed to listen to and support all the measures that
are introduced by a Liberal Adm:nistration.—(Hear,
They have what is called a fair working majority--a mai°.
ritv capable of carrying through their measures with tole-
rably good success ; but when those measures come into
the House of Lords they have to encounter very serious
and often insurmountable difficulties, and those dtfileulties
lead to the sacrifices of which my Hon. Friend has spoken.
(Hear, hear, hear.) At the same time I must say, that
I was certainly much gratified at the manly declaration
made by the -Hon. Baronet, my excellent friend, that he
does not think we are come to that pass that we need to
Lave aay organic change in the Constitution, the people
having the power in their own hands to remedy the existing
evif.—(Hear.) Because, Gentlemen, what is our situa-
tion As to the differences between the HouSe of Lords and
the house of Commons ? Have we not seen measures
carried decidedly more important than any than remain to
be settled ?—(Cries of Hear, hear.) Have we not seen,
in spite of the House of Lords, when the people have
spoken out and boldly declared their opinionS, measures to
which they were as determinately and violently opposed as
to the measures the loss of which we have now, to deplore
carried into a law, and the people now receiving the full
benefit of those measures ?—(Hear, hear, and cheers.)
There sits on my right an Hon. Friend of mine (Mr. Gas-
keli) who represents a borough which, on one occasion, pre-
sented a scene such as it was the glory of Englishmen to
witness.—(Cheers.) We do not wish to see such scenes
every day ; but when the people were determined that the
great measure of Parliamentary Reform should be carried,
that measure was achieved, and that without any alteration
in the }louse of Lords.—(Hear, hear.) And this teaches
us the very important lesson, that the public voice, when
unequivocally expressed, must and will command attention.
—(Hear.) That is the kind of voice which you must make
intelligent to that assembly. You must return to the House
of Commons such politicians as you returned after the passing
of the Reform Bill ; and do you suppose then that the
House of Lords will treat your opinions with indifference or
contempt:?---(Hear, hear.) I believe if the people of Erie--
land will take a lesson from the two elections since theb
passing of the Reform Bill, they will reform the conduct
without altering the constitution of the House of Lords. It
is by speaking out unequivocally in the choice of their repre-
sentatives, and on those groat questions which they wish to
have carried, that the desired change is to he efficted.—
(Hear, hear.) Gentlemen, we have been told that nothing
has been done in the last Session of Parliament ; and by
whom have we been told it ? By Lord Lyndhurst, the
leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords. First, his
Lordship'and his Tory supporters put a drag-chain on the
wheels of the Government, and then they find fault because
those wheels do not revolve with their accustomed celerity.
We have had no reason to complain of the want of Irish
Bills introduced by my Noble Friend, Lord Morpeth, into
the House of Commons ; the complaint has rather been that
they were too numerous. But when they were sent up
to the House of Lords they were either rejected, or so
mutilated, as to render them impassable by the other
House of Parliament.—(Hear, hear, hear.) But it is
a mistake to say, that in the last Session of Parliament
little or nothing' was done. There was a great deal done.
There was the Tithe question settled—a question of more
importance to the interests of agriculture and the tranquil-
lity of the Church than any measure ever passed on that
suoject since the Reformation.—(Hear, hear.) There was
the Marriage Bill ; there was the Bill for the Registration
of Births, Marriages, and Deaths ; there was the Stamp
,Duties Bill : there was the Customs Duties Bill, and I find
no fewer than one hundred and ninety-three Bills for rail-
roads, canals, turnpike roads, docks, harbours, and other
public improvements in various parts of the country passed
during that detained session.—(Cheers.) Is' that doing
nothing?—(Hear, hear.) Besides these committees there
were others relating to the jurisprudence, the trade, the
commerce, and agriculture of the country, in which infor-
mation was collected of the highest possible interest. Un-
doubtedly a great number of measures have failed during
the last session of Parliament, but it is not to be supposed
that they are finally lost.—(Hear, hear.)
A great many other toasts were subsequently drunk, and
the company did not separate till past one o'clock.