The Sun.
London, England, 1831-04-20 00:00:00

f Reform eNeetlng the objects he 1114 is view. TM,
ministerial measure he considered a great and ginrinn
measure, worthy of the same source whence it proceeded—i,
struck at the root of corruption, and justly satisfied all in-
terests, and was calculated to pay off the lone outstandin,
debtto the people of this country. They had beard mud
of revolution; and this and democracy were word
bandied about with unsparing liberality ; but as he did no,
think the cause of truth aided by allusive epithets, h.
would nut reply to them, but content himself with ex
pressing his opinion!' tetnperately, and in a few words.
Forty-four Members were, according to the Bill, to le
sent to the House from the commercial interests, and lo
would be much astonished if it did not receive from among
them Members as much enlightened, and as fondly attached
to the institutions of the country as any gentleman upon
these benches. There would be perhaps one difference--
namely, that they would most likely know sumethin,
of those arts and mysteries which they were sent t,
represent. And as for the additional representatives fie
London, when he looked over this splendid capital—
when be saw the magnificent streets—and magazines an,'
store-houses, he could not suppose that those representing
such vast wealth could be anxious to throw the kingdom
into confusion. And next he found that lest there might be
from this too great a quantity of democratic blood, he found
that to correct this commercial vice, there was an infu-
sion of sixty-three country gentlemen. Now to such per-
sons he had heard many faults attributed, but never was
there numbered amongst them disloyalty, or disregard to
the institutions of the country or the rights of the Crown.
Some distinction, however, had been attempted between
these persons and other country gentlemen ; but he could
not comprehend in There were classes of country gen-
tlemen certainly, but they were simply in his opinion two-
fold—richer and poorer—the man of a thousand, and the
man of ten thousand acres ; but the one might be just as
independent as the other. Under the Bill, it assuredly
would not happen that one family or a single individual
could monopolise the representation of a county, but Ile
did not think the House would suffer by that arrangement
Ile denied that there was proof of anything having a re-
volutionary tendency in this measure. If there was, then
was the disfranchisement of sixty boroughs, in the time
of the Edwards, revolutionary. Then was the confer-
ring the elective franchise on Chester and Durham, in the
time of Henry VIII., revolutionary. Then was the ad-
dition of forty-five Members for Scotland, and one hun-
dred for Ireland, revolutionary. Then was the disfran-
chisement of 200,1900 Irish freeholders, revolutionary
The object of the 811 was to take the right of election
from the oligarchy and the lower classes, who were their
tools and engines, and to transfer it to the middle classes.
As to the cry respecting revolution, if the great ruses of
the people were in favour of a republic, they would have a
republic whether the Bill was passed or no ; but he de-
nied the body of the people were adverse to the existing
instizutions. There might he men in the lower classes
lavoursble to a republic, and so there were in the middle,
and perhaps the higher dose, ; but it was false that the
body of the people were desirous of revolution. After
declaring that he himself represented a borough in schedule
A. he said that if all these boroughs were swept away,
the House would be improved by it. The people were
not so blind as not to elect persons well tried in their ser-
vice. The Bill, in a word, sent away 160 drones, and
gave 115 working bees in their stead. Hon. Members
bad talked of moderate Reform. Ile would be glad to
know their plans ; for the persons who now spoke most
loudly in favour of moderate Reform were the staunch op-
ponents of all Reform. The borough he represented was,
as he said, one of those to be disfranchised ; but if this
were the last vote he was ever to give in the House, he
would vote fur establishing the liberties of the country, and
reanimating the Constitution of our forefathers.
Mr. CHARLES DOUGLAS said, he did not like this
measure, as it seemed to him one of injustice, and though
Scotland Iv et to have additional Members in consequence
~1 the measure, he tvos sure the people of that country
had no wish to he henedtted at the expense of the less of
other rights.. He did not agree with the Noble Lord op-
posite tot to the line the Bill adopted with respect to
bouseisoldera of 101. a year value, and to a population of
2,000. He thought that the qualification was too low;
and in that. as well aa in several other details, he was op-
posed to the Bill.
Mr. HAWKINS rose and spoke as follows :—As I con-
sider the present motion of the Gallant General as the
first of a s-ries of somewhat similar measures, whose ten-
dency, whether intentional or not, will be to defeat what
may be called the disfranchisement part of the present
Bill ; and as to all such attempts, I am prepared to give
the most strenuous opposition ia my power, I shall, per-
baps, be sparing the time of the House if I take this op-
portunity of stating once for all, my opinions on this part
of the subject, and, as briefly as possible, a few of the
reasons which have induced me to consider the
schedules A. and B. as the most important and most
indispensable part of the present measure.—(lleac, hear.)l
—I would, most assuredly, Sir, not have troubled the
House now, had I succeeded in catching your eye on
either of the former debates, and even new, were my own
interests alone affected by the vote which I stn about to
give, I should have preferred giving that vote in silence,
nor would I have obtruded upon the attention of the
House any reasons for the correctness of those opinions,
:or the sincerity of which such a vote would hare been a
sufficient guarantee. But, Sir, the Hattie will probably
think with me that the sacrifice, even to a great eonetitu-
tional necessity, of the privileges of those who have en-
trusted their interests to my keeping, demands a fewwords
in justification of eo painful a duty; and the more espe-
cially so, as, in the present instance, this sacridee of them
is nit rendered less painful to me by any corruption CIS
their pert. If I had paid, or was abbot to pay, directlyor
indirectly, by myself or by others, a single farthing far the
seat I now hold, I might have been expected to reconcile
myself without regret to this vote, upon the incontrover-
tible plea that purchase makes property, and that I had a
right to do what I like with my own.—(Hear.) But, Sir,
as I have no such excuse to offer to my constituents, the
smallness of whose numl ert is their only fault, I am
on able to avail myself of such application of a new eon-
rtistiticnal doctrine either in excusiug myself to them, or
in arguing to the House : yet, though I have no such
exquisite reason, yet I think I have reasons good enough,
and some few of them I shall, with permission of the
House, proceed to offer. Of course, Sir, I shall avoid, as
strictly as possible, all arguments fur the mere purpose of
proving that of which I am glad to see so rimy hsve, be-
come convinced since the first introduction of this mos-
sure, of which this House seems, at last, as unanimously
convineed as the people—the necessity of some Reform ;
but one asgurnent there is which I shall notice, inasmuch
as the unfairness of its sophistry is only equalled by the
constancy of its repetition. I allude to that class of an-
tagonists who do not venture into the brunt of the battle
with a bold and decided opposition to Reform, brit who
always entertain a sincere conviction at uny given moment
that the present is not the right moment for discussion of
this question—(Hear, hear)—and they arrive at such
conviction by this ingenious dilemma--when the people
are clamorous for Reform, they tell as that we ought not
concede such a measure to the demands of popular turbu-
lence; and when the people are silent, that silence is a
proof of indifference, and, therefore, the measure need not
be passed.—(tlear, hear.) I will readily allow, Sir, to
these tacticians all the merit that is doe for a very skilful
disposition of such force as they possess; but it is scarcely
necessary to remind them, by way of lotions answer,
that if the turbulence of yesterday was their only teason
fur refusing Reform, the tranquillity of to-day is a con-
clusive reason for granting it.—(Cheers,) if, as they
thernaelv, a Fay, we sit lucre to consult the interests rather
than ti e wishes of the people, surely, Sir, their patience
under misgovernment is no more an excuse for our denial
of their right', than would be their impatience under
salutary controul a reason for surrendering our own.—
(Cheers.) And this allusion to the wishes of tlae people
reminds me of one other argument of our adversaries, con-
cerning the way in which this measure has been received by
the people of England, which I will notice on account of
its originality : and at this stage of the debate we should
be unreasonable indeed, if we were not tiavakful for origi-
nality of argument in any shape..--(Resat, hear.) If one
of Ids Majesty's Ministers had told us, as a proof of the
merits of this measure, that its appearance had been
latled by reformers of all parties, and all opinions, as the
signal for rallying
Ma-
jesty's s regenerationxiagain round that Constitution whose
u thresyuadhatod
idabandoned in despair ; if his Ma-
us how this Impure had recon-
ciled to the Legislative Authority of this Houtz the friends
whom its corruption had disgusted, and the enemies whom
its misconduct had exasperated,Houtz
we 4ilo,llii have found in
the petitions laid on this table since the appearance of the
Bill the natural and satisfactory grounds on which asser-
tions were founded. But whoeverexhpeuchtepd to hear this
fact rerious'y brought forward, mit
against this Bill ?—. Your measure must b to as a reason
I.
it is approved by every body." e bad, because
n Your sins arc great, because they are so smalls'
Sir, I have heard much in my childhood of a precept t
this effect—that he who begins by attempting to o,:e
everybody, will probably end by pleasing nobody; 1,,,
this is the first time I have heard either a person or a
measure *tweed upon the express ground that it actually
did please everybody. Surely, Sir, the dearth of argu-
ment on that side of the House has induced Hon. Mem-
bers, in the desperation of this last struggle for political
existence, to snatch up hastily their adversaries' weapons