The Sun.
London, England, 1831-03-05 00:00:00

franc-it:eminent of GO boroughs could not fail of effecting a
prodigious change in that House ; at least there were many,
new in that House—many- well-demseds peal .behaved,
well-bred young gentlemen; 'wlassa Inthe event of Reform,
would altogether diettpretare .iut be must take leave to sayif
that their toes wont be well supplied, from the twenty
new Ittembers from the tonsnl, which were 'to , fee 'en-
franchised. In denying the asaerti(ea oete . t `gin, present was
a revolutionary measures 'he Oftserved, that it would bring
54 country getatleerren into that House. Now he shame'
gladly lea'at how the introduction of 54 country gentlemen'-1
into that House could have a revolutionary tendeene, ; For it •
he were called on to select one (dire tarat''-g;iout the Natal--
ranee of the. British contteiii.-A• ';,cure attached to our
ancient institutionOW• another, it was the country gen
tlemere I=l;.s ;liSSas.•M nut waste the time of the Houae, by
insietitay taan'an the importance of representatives to the
reign Brett towns mentioned; for upon that point there I
could be no difference of opinion, ends In fact, Ito Oa!
dihrence had been expreastel Prete ttiase l'ae.terVYi:rse that
he had had with persons mat raf a'lso',' he was enabled to
say that ova; anaiieteg e'en upon the subject of Re-
form lay the refsete At large ; indeed no better proof could
be addletied oft that universal feeling, than the fact of the,
prodigious number of petitions praying fur Reform ;
the reason was, that they looked to a P.egorincd Parlia-
ment as a means of being ret'see'iA .ietitri- the pressure of
taxes. They alsoovell latkist that with a Reformed Par-
liament there VgliO .tale danger of the country being evin
intro/Vett in such a war as the long-protracted contest with
Veattee, which this country so unwisely began and ten-
tinued. The Noble Lord might rest rsatietled that the
people of England were with him, and that his eel:rem., or
something on the same petecipte, Must speedily be adeptili ;
for the time he! arrived when they 'eosald Yib lOnger post-
pone the great work of initarrint to ‘lsatt Harale a character
of independence.
Mr. 'CALCRArf ll'-omplained that threats and intimi-
dation •14.1. been resorted to for the purpose of carrying
the Bill of the Noble Lord, and for the purpose of re-
straining those who wished to speak theft holiest Sent-
iments, and do their duty to the 1)opl'3 of tngland. He
thought himeilfjustifled i" aiseiting, that he always paid
that deference to lauldic opinion which it had a right to
deineata hands of the representatives of the people;
eaf'd, as one of those representatives, he thought that ore
of his first ditties was, never to give way to any wishes or
demands of the people, the concession of arliieb Might
be I rejudiciel to the people theenselnes. At preeent he
should not state what his opinions were aspen the subject
of Parliamentary Reforen ; but he conies sels he had very
strong feeling upon the manner i 1 which the discussion
had been carried on. Hon. GhaTerteen c faund tit rise
in that House, and speak of themselves as alone speaking
the sentiments of t!Se people. He saw no reason why
any How, Member should assume to himself a monopoly
of that kind. Until he was turned out of that Hoorn
by the proscription of the Noble Lord) he thought him-
self, as the representative of tint bortingli, entitled to speak
the sentiments of all the tathars— that was the constitu-
tional doettin^. t and, while upon that tapir, he would
expreti an earnest hope that, between the first
and second reading, time might be given to ascertain
what real), were the sentiments of the people of England.
—(Cheers from the Ministerial benehca.)-1t was his
persuasion that the Bill of the Noble Lord would not ef-
fect any thing :approaching to what the people desired, for
they Were 'divided vet the subject of Reform ; and the
Bill of the, Ministers would neither satisfy the violent nor
the moderate reformers; neither did 1:c think the satisface
tion which it was the object of the Bill to impatt Would
ever be attained by their pursuing A Middle course. After
having thus given earpresemit to the feelings which bad
been excited in his breast at the moment, -he would now
prontett to give his cool and deliberate judgment upon the
measure, as it was then presented to the House. In the
first place they were threatened, Is ith refereiwe to lty not
only with the discontent of the Wide, but with the dis-
pleasure of the Sovereign. The Caine of his Majesty had
been brought learote the House; and he deeply and bit-
terly tegeet•ell that any such use should have been made
of the name of the Sovereigu. He begged to remind
Hen. Gentlemen opposite of the sentiments of a great man
to whom all of them had been accustomed to look up-e-
-he meant Mr. Fox. Did they ternember the terms
in which, on mote than one memorable occasion, that
great man deprecated the introduction of the name of the
Sovereigh.—(Hear, hear, hear.)—Now, he must come
to the disfranchisement of the borough of Wareham, and
in speaking of that, he begged to be understood rather as
speaking for his constituents than himself. It was his con-
viction that if a census were now to be taken, it would be
seen that the population of that town would be found to
contain two or three and twenty hundred, and it was ra-
thee hard that it should he disfranchised on a census taken
in 1621. He was sorry that he had not previously been
male aware of the importance of a little increase bf po-
pulation.—(A laugh.) He confessed that he should feel
no small serprise if the Noble Lord should find himself able
Will a stew Anil te formed Parliament, to carry on the busi-
ness of the Government ; however that might be, he was
sure that no one else could attempt such an undertaking,
and he was perfectly satisfied further, that if the measure
were agreed to, and that such a House etf Coittmons were
famed es the framers of tlhati is contemplated, they would
cease to have either King or Lords. Still he (Mr. C.)
was a Ilefetmer. He had said over and'over again, when
asked whether he thought the Government, during the
last fifty or sixty years, worked well or ill, that it had not
worked well; but if asked how he thought it would be
l'kely to work under the new C institution, he had no dif-
ficulty in saying that he was persuaded it would work a
great deal werse. He especially intreated the House to re-
member that this B 11, if once prised, and turned out to
be mischievous, it was irreme liable—it would destroy the
balance of the Constitution—they might be assured that
the prependereting power of that estate would prove final
to the other two. He declared to the House, as a man of
lemma, that on Tuesday last he was prepared to support
the measure of the Noble Lord, bet the extreme length to
which it went rendered his doing so utterly impossible.
Nevertheless, he admitted that there were blots upon the
Constitution which ought to be removed—there were large
maesee of the community who ought to be directly repte-
sented—all great towns ought to be reeresented—and if it
were deemed inconvenient to increase the numbers of the
present House of Commons, he avoid(' go the length of
admitting the principle, that a certain number of boroughs
ought to be disfranchised. He was as ready as any loan to
admit that sorae of thine boroughs ought to give
way to the sinus poi:mil—the wishes, feelings, and
interests of the people ought to be the paramount
consideratien—but he never could agree to a thee-
sine which would render the Legislature the slave
of popular opinion—which would enable one estate
to effect the destruction of the others. He had formerly
been thought a very good Reformer, but now it appeared
that he was but a " puny whipster."—(A laugh.) With
respect to the Bill that was proposed, if it was once
passed they might rely upon it that it would not stop
where the Government proposed.—(Hear, hear.) The
Hon. Member for Middlesex had candidly remarked, that
the ballot and universal suffrage would he for future con-
sideration ; and the Hon. Member for Preston, in saying
that the measure had not taken in enough, had intimated,
that unless they gave representatives to the lowest orders of
the State (to which he himself had no objection, so long
as those representatives were in due proportion), as well as
the ballot, they wool! be doing nothing ; and the real fact
was, that as soon as they had admitted this additional half
million of rot rs, the argument for the ballot would be un-
answerable e for that half million would consist of the very
class who would have the right of saying—we cannot
exercise the elective franchise, because of the influ-
ence which our customers have over us, and the directions
which they give us as to our voting ; therefore, either take
away our franchise, or give us the ballot.—(These
observations were loudly cheered by Mr. Hunt.)—lf this
measure were passed, the end would be that they must
convert the Monarchy into a Republic—(Cheers)—and
the difference between him and the new Reformers that
,had sprung up was, that he was for Reform, and that
they, with the Noble Lord at their head, were for reeo-
tution. This would be the real effect of the efforts of the
united Cabinet which the country now so happily pos-
sessed—(A laueli)—a Cabinet that made so much of its
being united, though he certainly hail heard that is dis-
tinguished Member of it had said, that it was because
they must be united that he bad agreed in the Bill,
though personally he did not concur in the measure. lie
did not know whether this was so, but he certainly had
heard it so reported. For himself, he could not bring
himself to think that he was any enemy to Reform, or to
the commonalty of the country, in refusing to give his
consent to this Bill; but, at the same time, he would
uni•e with several Hon. Gentlemen who were of the same
way •of thinking as himself, in requesting the House to
allow the Bill to be brought in without a division, in or-
der that they might see what it really contained.—(hear,
hear.)—That was but a sort of reasonable request for a
measure that was proposed by any Government, and it
would enable them to give the provisions due considera-
tion by,the time it came to its second reading.—(Neer.)
Mr. STANLEY—During the last eight years that I
have had the honour of holding a seat in this House, I
have, whenever this gre it Parliamentary question has bean
brought forward, only thought it necessary to give a silent
,vote, having always felt that it was' in abler hands, and ad-
vocated by mere commanding talent and ability than 1
can presume to hotel. But on thie occasion, the extra•