The Sun.
London, England, 1831-08-06 00:00:00

could not fail to strike every man that there must be
some ground of partiality, which induced Ministers
to favour that part of the country. He begged
also to remark to those who bad hitherto voted
in the majorities, that this was not a question in-
voicing the principle of the Bill. That bad been al-
ready decided upon previous questions ; and it now became
the numerous supporters of the Bill to consider how they
could make it as perfect and acceptable as possible, founded
upon equality au I justice. He did not appeal to the ma-
jority, therefore, as they were strong to be merciful, but as
they were strong to be reasonable. What he had said pf
Gateshead applied even more strongly to South Shields,
the population of which was only 5,865 souls. It, there-
fore, b. came necessary for Ministers, in order to get a suf-
ficient inhabitancy, to add to South Shields the Chapelry
of Weston with 7,600 inhabitants ; though why South
Shields should not have been added to Gateshead he could
not divine. The population of the three neighbouring
places stood thus:—
South Shields B,SSS
North Shields B,4tis
Tylieinouth 9,000
Total —20,090
They were identified in interest, in commercial pursuit,
and in locality ; and, according to the principle Ministers
had elsewhere applied, all three might to have been satisfied
with one Member. The population of the town of Tyne-
mouth being only 9,000, those who framed the schedule had
been compelled to include the whole parish, which gave a
total of 24,000 souls. This favour seemed to have been
shown because it was in the fortunate county of Durham ;
for, in the case of Bolton, Bradford, and several others
not so situated, Ministers had expressly refused to include
the parishes. To the places themselves he had no objec-
tion ; on the contrary, he wished them to have their fair
share of representation ; but he could not consent that
Ministers should thus work up and manufacture (if lie
might so say) places into boroughs, because it suited their
own views.—(Cheers.)
Lord ALTHORP admitted, that in the enfranchising
part of the Bill, Ministers had taken into account not only
population but other circumstances. One of the points
they had considered was the degree of representation pos-
sessed by the various interests of the State, which would
account for the omission of some places in Lancashire and
tie giving to a few very large towns only one Member.
It had seemed to Ministers that one class of the commu-
nity—the shipping interest—was not adequately repre-
sented ; and this defect they had endeavoured to remedy
by giving representatives to large assemblies of people en-
gaged in commerce and shipping. For this reason
Whitby had been selected, although the population was
comparatively small; and for the same reason Sunderland
had been admitted, including Bishops Wearmouth and
Monks Wearmouth. A similar rule had been applied to
South Shields and Tynemouth. It was quite clear why
the Hon. Gentleman had so often mentioned Durham ;
but he ought to have known that Tynemouth, upon which
he had remarked, was in the county of Northumberland.
As to Gateshead, it had not been added to Newcastle,
because Ministers had in no one instance proceeded upon
that plan ; and the Hon. Gentleman could produce no
town as large and flourishing as Newcastle, to which an
appendix of 11,000 souls had been made. It had been
insinuated that the whole of these arrangements proceeded
from a feeling of partiality towards a Noble Lord con-
nected with the county of Durham. If it were meant that
that Noble Lord would possess any influence on the elee•
tion of the new Metnbers, it must be an entire mistake in
places so populous : it would not have been worth his
Noble Friend's while to make such a suggestion, and Mi-
nisters, if they had suspected a job, would never have
dreamt of lending themselves to it.
Mr. GOULBURN, without at all meaning to impute
improcer motives, must say that the singular course
adopted by Ministers naturally led to not very favourable
conclusions, He hail no objection whatever to give addi-
tional influence in the House to the shipping interest, but
he contended that Kingston-upon-Hull ought rather to
Lave been selected by them than Tynemouth. The town-
ship of Sculcoates contained a population of 11,000, and
Hull itself, of which it was a suburb, 32,000 ; yet
;Ministers, instead of giving another and a distinct Member
to Sculcoates, had united it to Hull, which was only to
have two Members. The of Hull and Sculcoates,
and of Newcastle and Gateshead, seemed to him parallel.
The Noble Lord referred to the importance of Shields as
a seaport, to justify the riving it two representatives ;
but he ought to remember that the Metnbers for New-
castle had not been very anxious to bold that seaport up as
so important, but they had endeavoured to show that their
constituent; ought not to have been deprived of their pri-
vileges for the benefit of Shields.—(Hear.) When the
Custom-house was about to be built at Shields, they in-
sisted that the Customs ought to bo taken at Newcastle,
because, although the ships in which the goo& were carried
out were built at Shields, yet they, and the property with
which they were freighted, belonged to Newcastle. He
thought his Hon. Friend had answered the argument of
the Noble Lord, and bad shown that there was nothing in
the circumstances of Shitlds to justify the proposition of
his Majesty's Ministers.
Mr. HODSON begged the indulgence of the House
while he should say a few words in answer to the obser-
vations of the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite. The
greater part of the speech of that gentleman had been oc-
cupied in showing that the repeeeentation was distributed
in different counties with unjustifiable inequality. Ile
(Mr. Hodson) did net think that an important considera-
tion in the present discussion ; but if he did so, it was
easily shown that the county of Durham had not, when
compared with the rest of England, an undue share of the
representation. But he thought that the principle in-
volved in the question before the House was the extension
of the franchise to important towns hitherto unrepresentehe Mini-
d.
The Right Hon. Gentlemen opposite s that t
sters protoaed to give two Members to Shields, contain-
ing (as he said) only a population of 33,000, whilst only
one was to be given to Bolton, with a population of
43,000. In ascribing such a population to Bolton, the
Right Hon. Gentleman must have taken the census of
1831, whibt he compared it with the population of
Shields in 1821. Aa to Sunderland, it was the fourth
port of England in point of tonnage, and the second port
hi the coal trade. He denied the accuracy of the Right
Hon. Gentleman's statement respecting the close connec-
tion of Tynemouth and Shields. One of the Right Hon.
Gentleman's arguments was that the merehandize be-
longed to Newcastle, although the ships, in which it was
carried, were built at Shields. But if the Customhouse
ought to be at Newcastle, because the tnerchatidize be-
longed to Newcastle, was that a mason why Shields, an
important place in itself, was not to he represented ?
When the Right Hon. Gentleman was eniieaveuring to
pros'e the identity of North and South Shields, ire said
that tle river Tyne was a bond al' union between them—
that it waited rather than separated them; he forgot to
mention that: the effect of this bond of union was a wide
boundary between two counties, and that North Shields
was in NortbumberLand, and Fs-oath Shields in Durham.
The interests of Gateshead were distinct from those of
Newcastle (as much so ae the interests of Salford from
those of Manchester), and earl of them contained a very
large population. With regard to fire case of Hull and
Sculcoates, it should be remembered, thee in the town of
Hull most of the houses were of an inferior class, and
that the more wealthy persons having property or business
there, reside in Seulcoatea. But the case of Gateshead
was quite different from that. The persons who owned
tee manufactories and warehouses in that manner, abo re-
sided there, and had no connection with Newcastle. Ile
thought, therefore, that Gateshead was fairly entitled to
have its own representative.
Mr. KEITH DOUGLAS contended, that Gateshead
was nothing more than a suburb of Newcastle. He was
sorry that the Right Hon. Gentleman below him did not
meats to divide the Committee. If the sense of the Com-
mittee were taken, however few there might be to sup-
port the Right lion. Gentleman, he (Mr. Douglas) would
be one. Indeed i.e was already strongly inclined to insist
upon a divitien himself.
Mr. KNIGHT was so far from imputing improper mo-
tives to those gentlemen who supoorted the Bill before the
Committee, that he would not allow himself to entertain a
suspicion that they were actueted by base motives, unless
upon the fullest proofs. 'When he considered that one
Member was to be given to Gateshead, one to South
Shields, one to Sunderland, and one to North Shields—
(Cries of no, no)—it was so in effect—when he considered,
at the same time, that two additional Members were given
to the county of Durham, and that the freeholders in the
towns to be enfranchised would no longer be allowed to
vote at elections for the county, he must remind the Com-
mittee of the fact, that when the freeholder the town
would be subtracted front the county— of
constituency,
smaller number of electors would choose four lilet; a
Members
than hitherto chose two.—(hear.) Ile contrasted the
case of Gateshead with that of Merthyr Tydvil. Ac-
cording to the census of 1821 (to which they were too
often
referred), the populaticn of Merthyr Tydvil was
79,000, while that of Gateshead was only 11,767.
Now Gateshead, situated in a district `add!' alreadyre bed
numerous representativee, was to have iepre-
sentative for itself; whilst Merthyr Tydvil, situated in
the most central part of the iron inanufactturiangsitillil
trict of England, in a district, too, having bu
number of representatives, was not to have a Member.
q'hat town stood upon the borders of ;Monmouth-
shire, Biecknock, and Glamorganshire,
of which counties,
under the new scheme, the totality of the r irpreseritaton