The Sun.
London, England, 1831-07-07 00:00:00

was, whether the right of boroughs to return Me'ushers wee
property. It was said, that if a man's property was taken
for a harbour, or a road, or a canal, compensation was
rendered to him ; and that if a man's borough was taken
from him, so compensation .ought also to be rendered. But
he denied this, for he denied that !enough franchise was pro-
perty. It was a trust—a sacred. trust ; and he was prepared,
as a lawyer, to contend that Parliament had a right to di.s.
franchise the boroughs in schedule A without any conmensa-
t ion. Another consideration was the manner in which the
election of small places had got into the hands of the bur-
gesses, and not of the inhabitants generally : according to
his opinion, burgesses and householders anciently meant
exactly the same thing ; and it was a comparatively
modern usurpation to place the right in the burgesses
alone, as that term was now understood ; and the usurp-
tion, therefore, would not he in restoring the householders
to their former privileges, as it already existed in the fan-
tastical and imaginary rights of the burgesses. The teem
‘4 Corporation roblery" had, above all others, got into
great repute with the Anti-Reformers ; but, he thought,
with as little justice as many others shown to be nugatory,
for it was a remarkable fact, that among all the boroughs
set down in schedule A. there was scarcely one which haul
a Corporation—(Hear, hear)—they consisted fer the most;
part of miserable villages, which hail never so much as
arrived at the (lignite' of a Corporation_(Hear, hear)—
and so far from its being true that the prerogative of the
Crown would he injured by the progress of the Reform
Bill, it would, on the contrary, he strengthened, for the
13i'l would be the means of taking away that controul and
power which the proprietors of rotten boroughs had been
in the habit of exercising, in defiance of the prerogative of
the Throne. But it was said, in order rightly to balance
the Members of the State, it teas fit that the Peers should
have an indirect and understood influence in the House of
Commons, through the medium of what might he called
their fighting gladiators and condonieri. This, at utli events,
was a doctrine unknown to Blackstone; and Ire worthd
venture to say that it was one in opposition to the spit it
of the Constitution. A further argument of the friends of
the representation as it now existed was, that at present
sufficient opportunities were afforded to the colonies and
foreign possessions of England to obtain representatives in
the House of Commons, mirk', opportunities would he Io t
under the proposed alteration. Now it seemed to hint
that the making use of this argument was at once an ad-
mission of the corrupt state of the boroughs, through which
the representatives of the colonies got into Parliament ;
for if those gentlemen were to he excluded under the new
system, because, as it was said, they had no local connec-
tion with any of the places that were to send representa-
tive., the very same thing must be the case new, and con-
sequently the medium through which they obtained ingress
to the House of Commons must be a sum of money /slid
to the owners of the boroughs.—( Hear, bear.) In an-
swer to the objection, that in consequence of extending
the right of suffrage, persons not fit to sit in that House
would be returned, he thought he might safely appeal to
experience on that head. Then fault, too had been found
with the standard at which the rate to give the right of
suffrage had been places! ; and the Hon. Member tOr New-
castle-under- Lyne had said—why wes a ten-pound stan-
dard fixed on, and not a nine-potted standard ; this ap-
peared to him a very weak argument; for had nine pounds
been fixed on, it then might have been said, why not
eight pounds ? and so on to flee lowest possible scale.
The fact was, that a standard (unless they were to have
universal suffrage) must be fixed somewhere ; and no a'-
tempt had been made to show that the standard of ten
pounds was intrinsically injudicious. Above all it was
worthy of observation, that though many of the op-
ponents of tire Bill had declared themselves Re-
formers, no single plan of Rearm had been submitted
by them to the consideration of the House. Yee,
there was one—the plan of taking away the franchise
from delinquent boroughs, and bestowing it elsewhere.
Such a measure would be a mere mockery of Reform ;
and, in the eye of the public, would be merely a consum-
mation of the disgrace already entailed on the Anti-Re-
formers. Besides which, he should like to know how the
delinquency of these boroughs was to he proved ; for it
was obvious that, the closer the borough, the more diffi-
culty there would be at gettingat the necessary proof; such
places as Gatton and Sarum, where the whole representative
power was held by one individual, being certain of abso-
lute escape; if, therefore, this plan were adopted, it would
be a complete establishment of the doctrine that secresy
was virtue, and that detection was the crime.—(Hear,
hear.) But it was said that the public had been deluded
on this subject; he did not believe it, for they had shown
pretty plainly that they watched the whole details of the
measure with a quick and observant eye. In proof of
this, be need only call to the recollection of the House
what had taken place on the insertion of the clause that
was to confine the right of voting to those who paid their
rents • half-yearly; the error was instantly deteeted--,the
had principle of the clause was immediately in every
body's mouth; and so far from eiving evidence of de-
lusion on the part of the people, it afforded pregnant
proof that they were most alive to every progressive
feature of tire measure. When it was said that this
wee not the time for passing such a Bill, let them
lock at Ireland, and see how much her interests had
been injured by the delay in passing the Catholic Belie
Bill; and when it was passed, it excluded one man from
its advantages, greatly to the injury of the country. That
Hon. and Learned Gentleman was no longer excluded
from that House ; and he hoped he would continue to
adorn it by his talents and merit; the advantages can-
celled to him by promoting the happiness of the country.
When it was said that this was not a proper time to pans
such a Bill, because the whole of Europe was in a state of
agitation—that revolutions were in progress in France, in
Belgium, and throughout the continent; lie must reply,
that those circumstances made this the very time to make
concessions, when they were demanded; so should we
escape the storm that was raging all around.
Colonel SIBTHORPE and Lord G. LENNOX entered
into a mutual explanation, the terms of which were not
heard in the gallery.
Mr. WRANGHAM bee In by complimenting very
highly the Hon. Member for Calne, whose speech of last
night was rich in language and brilliant with thought, but
it was also rich in venturous assertion and rich in the
very cheap and easy commodity of political prophecy. He
was not one of those who were ready to deny the propriety
of all change, but he could not go to the length of the
Bill. Those who assigned as a reason for the Bill that
the system of Government was oppressive—that acts of
tyranny were committed, assigned a reason which was the
last that he should think of having recourse to. A great
deal had last night been said about political power not
being property, and many admonitions had been given to
them not to lessen the stability of property by confounding
it with political privilege. He certainly was not prepared
to go the whole length of saying that political privilege,
was property; but he thought that the question had been
treated in a very indefensible manner by the Hon. Gentle-
men, on the sober sale of the House. They said that they
should be unwilling to endanger the security of property
by confounding it with political, privileges; hut let them
beware how they endangered political power by throwing
political privileges on the table of the House, dealing with,
them at their pleasure. By doing that they might affect
all political power. What was the tenure, he should like
'o know, by which. the King held hie crown? What was
itbut a trust,' and what was it but political power ? He
did not mean to enter into a general question of Parlia•
mentary Reform ; he would rather discos the particular
Bill, and he would look rather at its mac! inert/ for con-
structing a new constituency, and not at its disfranchis-
ing enactments. He meant to speak of what it created
rather than of what it destroyed. Of the nomina-
tion boroughs he would give no opinion; he would not
defend them, nor would be say any thing against them.—
He must object, then, to the principal enactment of the
Bill, which went to establish a constituency of 101. house.
holders—that such a constituency would be very unequal
in towns and in the country. It was also giving the
whole elective franchise into the hands of one class of men,
or rather, it substituted individuals for classes, and left
large bodies unrepresented. By the 'present system all
classes in the country were represented, even to the day-
labourer, who, by means of potwallopers, had the pefai'
lege of sending Members to Parliament. When he com-
plained of some classes not being represented, he begged
that it might he understood that he was not a friend of
universal suffrage; and one of his objections to the 10/.
franchise was, that it would lead to universal suffrage.—,:
Each class would seek to obtain the same privileges, te
surmount the barrier that was now placed in its way.
and that would in the end lead to universal suffrage. I
was not to be expected either, that the power this Bib
would place in the hands of the people, would not be used
to obtain more power. They would, in fact, seek to gel
universal suffrage. Something of this kind had happens:
in France. The number of electors had been doubler:
there, and it could hot be supposed that the people then
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the House that the value of money on which the`
franchise was measured was not permanent ; and hots'
then could the qualification which depended on that te:
permanent ? It was probable that a house of 51. fife)!
Years ago would now be of the value of 101. ; and wire!
hen would be the 101. houses fifty years hence? Ever!
changes in the currency, he thought it we)
likely that the progressive change in the value of norne
supposing no
would make the iO/. be universal suffrage. But suppose