The Sun.
London, England, 1831-03-29 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL ELECTION.

Mr. BENETT reported from the Liverpool Election Com-
mittee that Mr. Ewart was not duly elected to serve as a bur-
gess for the borough of Liverpool, and that the said election
was void on account of the excessive treating and bribery
that had been practised. The Honourable Member then
said, that having presented the report of the Com-
mittee, he should feel it his duty, in consequence of
what had come to his knowledge relating to the proceed-
ings at the late Liverpool election, to move that the mi-
nutes of evidence taken before the Committee be printed
and laid before the Mouse.

The motion for printing having been put and agreed to,
Mr. BENETT gave notice that to-morrow he should
move for the suspension of the writ for a new Member for
Liverpool.--(Hear.)
A great number of petitions in favour of Reform, and
for the abolition of slavery, were presented from different
places.
Captain DUNCOMBE presented a petition against the
plan of Refi►rm, from the Mayor, Aldermen, and Co►xmon
Council of the borough of East Retford.—The Hon.
Member neither could, nor would support this Ministerial
measure. .

Sir WM. RAE presented a petition against Reform
from a place i❑ Scotland.
Colonel Davies, Sir G. Warrender, Mr. H. Drummond,
Mr. Stuart Wortley, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. C. Howard, and
several other Members, made some observations on the pe-
tion.

Sir C. FORBES had intended to have made some re-
marks on the Scotch plan of Reform, if the Lord Advo-
cate had not lost his seat in that House. Ile did not,
however, regret the absence of that Learned Lord, as the
Committee had acted in strict justice in removing
He had no doubt. however, before the second reading,
the Learned Lord would find the convenience of some snug
borough, and he again in the House.—(Hear.)
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said, if the mea-
sure of Reform had taken place the Lord Advocate
would never have lost his seat. He hoped, however, soon
to see him again in that House.
The petition was then ordered to lie on the table.
Lord AIORPETH presented a petition from Yorkshire.
He assured the House that a feeling more unanimous, an
approbation more complete, had never, in the county of
York, shown itself, than bad been exhibited with reference
to the measure of Parliamentary Reform introduced by the
Ministers of the Crown. They termed it a grand, a
wise, a just, and an honest measure. They gave it a
title which united the soundness of loyalty with a warm
patriotic zeal for liberty, for they termed it the Great Char-
ter of William IV. In proof of the popularity of themel-
sure he need only refer to the numerous petitions
which from that county he had already had the honour
of presenting in that House, comprising signatures, at the
lowest calculation, of between 50,000 and 60,000 persons.
And here he would have sufficiently discharged his duty,
and should not have added another word in presentinz
the petition, had it not been for an opinion which fell
from the Hon. and Learned Member for Weymouth in his
speech on the Reform Bill that day week. The Hon. and
Learned Gentleman, with great courtesy and infinite ten-
derness and consideration towards the members for York-
shire, was pleased to observe that if the tripartite division
of the country wire adopted (as proposed by the Bill),
the Members for York would no longer appear invested
with the same weight and importance as at present. Now,
professing himself, as he did most sincerely, deeply grate-
ful to the general body of his constituents, he was content
to submit to any personal diminution of weight which
the change might occasion—a course that be would be

ishamad not to adopt amidst the examplo of noble saw-
tiecs in relation to the question of. Reform by which he
was surrounded—examples presented by individuals'con-
nected with him by near ties of blood, as well as by other
distinguished persons. The cases of Knaresborough and •
would not easily be forgotten; and it was p'easing
to see virtuous examples offered, not. only by our loftiest
Dukes, but also by our poorest freemen. If gentlemen
wished to know whether the county of York resented the
projected invasion of its territorial integrity, he could only
•ay that a feeling of approbation more general and coin -
plete had never attended any measure than that with winch
the present plan was received in Yorkshire, where it had
been termed the Great Charter of the Fourth William. In
proof of this feeling he referred to petitions, which he had
already presented, from various places in the county, with
from 50,000 to 60,000 signatures attached to them, and
also to the present petition.
Mr. W. DUNCOMBE would not follow the example
of the Noble Lord, who had turned his luck on the Speak( r
and addressed himself directly to another part of the
House, which probably bad peculiar attractions for the
Noble Lord.—(Laughter.) [This was an allusion to the
position of Lord Morpeth while speaking, the Noble Uril
Navin. turned his face towards the strangers' gallery (luring
the greater part of Ins speech.] He had been assured,
upon authority in which be placed the utmost confidence,
that the meeting to which the Noble Lord referred, was a
decided failure ; in fact, that a thinner county meeting was
never known to have occurred in the Castle-yard of York
within the memory of man.—(Hear.)—He did not agree
with the Noble Lord as to the supposed complete una-
nimity of the county in relation to the subject of Reform.
He admitted that there was a considerable feeling in favour
of the Bill, but also maintained that a strong opposition to
it prevailed in various parts of the county. It was not
surprising, that a plan which gave two members to each
of the three ridings, and representatives to several of the
large towns, should :be acceptable to many, but lie denied
that the measure had afforded undivided satisfaction. One
objection to the Bill was, that it made the representa-
, thou that of one class only. The Hon. Member here
quoted from a publication, in the political views of
which he did not concur, to show, that at the commence-
ment the meeting did not exceed from 1,000 to 1,500
persons, and that at one o'clock not above 5,000 were in
the Castle-yard, including idlers, although it was the As-
size week. Be it recollected, that the Castle-yard at York
was capable of containing 4.0,000 persons, and he (Mr.
Duncombe) had seen it crammed to suffocation on an im-
portant constitutional occasion. Did it seem as if the
great body of the county took a very strong interest in
Reform when the meeting in its support was so thinly
attended ?—( Hear. )
Sir J. JOHNSON said, the inhabitants of the county
had expressed their opinions in petitions on the subject of
Reform, and there was no occasion for persons living at
a distance to attend at the city of York to petition again.
It should also be recollected that the country was thinly
peopled about York.
Mr. S. WORTLEY confirmed the Hon. Member (Mr.
Duncombe's) account of the thinness of the meeting, al-
though held in the Assize week. He did not undertake
to say what was the opinion of the county of York on
Reform ; ha only protested against this petition being
taken as a decisive declaration of that opinion.
Mr. SYKES—Did the Hon. Member opposite (Mr.
Duncombe) pretend to say that this measure was not
popular ?
Mr. DUNCOMBE—I never said so.

Mr. SYKES proceeded to observe, that the petition
ought, in his opinion, to be taken as expressing the opi-
nion of the county of York. At the meeting at which
this petition was agreed to, the utmost unanimity prevailed.
The letters which he had received day after day informed
him, that there was a strong feeling in the large towns, in
the small towns, and even the villages, throughout York-
shire, in favour of Reform, in favour of Reform according
to the plan introduced by his Majesty's Ministers.—(Hear.)
He had no doubt that it was impossible truly to contradict
the existence of that feeling. The petitions which had been
presented from different parts of the county established the
fact. Amongst the people, the question appeared to be,
whether they were to have a Constitution of King, Lords,
and Commons; or whether they were to have a Constitu-
tion of King, Lords, and horoughmongers ?—( Hear.)
Mr. FANE expressed his decided hostility to the pro-
posed measure, because it would have the effect of disfran-
chising the labouring classes, and would reduce them to
the situation of mere hewers of wood and drawers of
water. He could never bring himself to believe that
those who sat there as popular representatives, and whose
duty it was to guard the rights of the people of England,
would ever condescend to delegate the power of declaring
how the representation of particular places was to be al-
tered, to three members of his Majesty's Privy Council.
Mr. BETHELL said he believed that it was admitted
on all hands, that this petition was not agreed to at a large
meeting of the county; but from the information which
he had received from various individuals connected witk
the county, he had every reason to think that the great
body of the population was in favour of the Bill.
that the petition be
printed,
LT ohred petitiontilook;Ea'
occasion to nTh
tionl a
ii.dne
uoovi.nni
moving
stthalai
thanks to his Hon.
Friend (Mr. Duncombe) for having reminded bim that he
had not addressed his observations in a manner sufficiently
direct to the Speaker. That circumstance, however, was
to be attributed not to intention, but to mere inadvertence.
He should only state farther, as he had stated before, that
this petition was agreed to at a meeting of which all the
world was apprised, and at which the whole country might
have been present, and yet not a single dissentinent voice
was heard.
Mr. SADLER said the meeting at York was by no
means numerously attended. The inhabitants of the city
of York and its vicinity amounted to 30,000 or 40,000,
and if people were so enthusiastically attached to this
measure as had been represented, he should be glad to know
why they had not appeared at the meeting in greater num-
bers? Indeed, the editor of one of the country rapers
which was favourable to Reform, observed that he never
recollected a meeting that excited less interest.
Lord HOTHANI complain, d that in consequence of the
inaccurateness of the returns of 1821, on which the pro-
visions of the Bill were founded, extreme injustice was
necessarily done to many places, and among others to the
borough which it was has honour to represent.
Lord ALTHORP said, that in consequence of such
inaccuracy as had been alluded to of the popul ition returns
which bad been adopted by his Majesty's Ministers, they
would very willingly attend to any proposed alterations,
but he submitted that any discussion relative to such a
point was :altogether premature until the Bill bad
gone into the Committee.—(Hear, hear.)
Lord MORPETH presented 76 petitions from various
places in Yorkshire, praying for the abolition of slavery.
Lord MORPETH also presented, for his Hon. Friend
I the Member for Beverley, 81 petitions to the same effect.