The Sun.
London, England, 1831-02-07 00:00:00

REFORM IN PARLIAMENT.

WELLINGB OR OUCH.
(From the Stamford News.)
A numerous and respectable meeting of the inhabitants
of the town of Wellingborough was held at the Town
Hall on Thursday evening, the 20th of January, 1831, to
take into consideration the propriety of petitioning for
Reform in the Commons House of Parliament.

CHARLWS HILL, Esq , opened the proceedings. This
gentleman clearly developed the proceedings of the Govern-
ment during the past fifteen years of peace, which proceed-
ings had been chiefly directed to the aggrandizement of its
agents, and the manifest injury of the country in general :
that undue influence had been exercised, contrary to the
principles of the Constitution, which say, " that elections
shall be free," and " that Peers shall not interfere with
elections ;" that bribery and corruption were exercised
with unblushing boldness ; that, so far from Peers not in-
terfering at elections they had had recourse to every act of
tyranny and oppression which hun'an ingenuity and
wickedness could devise, b) prevent the elective franchise
being honestly and freely exercised; that the Duke of
Newcastle and the Marquis of Exeter had, at the last
election, acted a conspicuous part, in their cruel and re-
lentless conduct towards every individual within their
grasp who dared to exercise their constitutional rights and
privileges ; and that, in order to get rid of these glaring
abuses, he would recommend the vote by ballot—(Laud
cheers)—which would, in his opinion, establish the House
of Commons in its independence, restore to the country
those rights and privileges which, as a great nation, in its
commercial, its agricultural, and its maritime importance,
it was entitled to enjoy. In France, the ballot had been
introduced,. where the King dismissed the Chamber of
Deputies, and sent them back to the people. Those people
returned the same members imbibing similar views, and
at length the memorable revolution of July, 1830, ensued
as the consequence, and this (said Mr. Hill) should be a
lesson to the ruling powers of this country.
After Mr. Hill had concluded a powerful appeal to the
most numerous meeting ever assembled in that place, a
petition, embracing the vote by ballot, was read.
Mr. C. CURTIS, ill rising to propose that the petition
then read be adopted as the petition of the meeting, said,
as their Chairman had observed, Ib6 Peers or wealthy
Commoners and an Indian Nabob possessed the power of
returning a majority of its members ; therefore any per-
son would have some difficulty to persuade him (Mr. C.)
that "it worked well, and needed no alteration." If it
did work well, it could only be for those who had the
power of bartering away the interests of the nation for
their own private gain. If the meeting considered the
subject as it referred either to the electors or the elected,
corruption the most glaring met them in every point of
view. What greater evil could happen to a town than
to have what is improperly called the privilege of return-
ing a member or members to Parliament under the pre-
sent system? What scenes of drunkenness, riot, and
disorder, were the usual consequences of all such con-
tested elections? If our present Administration were to
devise a system ever so perfect, if some means were not
used to work a Reform out of Parliament as well as in
Parliament, it would soon become another dead letter on
our statute book, and every alteration would become
fruitless and ineffectual. He could not, he said, help
congratulating the friends of Reform upon the very
great accessions that each succeeding day brought to
their numbers. The subject seemed to be thought of
more importance than it used to be. What a manifest
alteration, for instance, has taken place even in this town.
This, he believed, was the first meeting ever held in Wel-
lingborough, and this the first petition ever presented by
its inhabitants, on the subject of Parliamentary Reform.
Many of the gentlemen he now had the honour of address-
ing well remembered the terror that the bare announce-
ment, about sixteen years ago, of a meeting similar to this
created in the minds of the more timid, who instantly
swore the peace against those that promoted it, and a troop
of yeomanry was called out to prevent the reformers (then
called radicals) from committing that unpardonable sin, the
petitioning of Parliament for a restoration of their just
rights and privileges. But such is the alteration effected
by time and circumstance, that some of those who were
the most forward to prevent are now the first to promote
it. The great body of reformers have proved that their
object was not anarchy, war, and confusion, but " peace,
retrenchment, and reform."--(Cheering.)
A. SHARMAN, Esq., in rising to second the motion that
the petition then read be received and adopted, in a very
forcible manlier urged upon the meeting the importance of
petitioning for the introduction of voting by ballot—
(Cheering)—as calculated, in his opinion, to be the only
effectual means of putting a stop to those disgraceful acts
of bribery and corruption so usually practised at all con-
tested elections.

Mr. THOMAS CLEAVER, in supporting a vote of thanks
to the Chairman, could not let pass the opportunity of tes-
tifying his approbation of the object for which this meeting
had been convened. One of the many evils attendant
upon the present system was that although many of our
nobility were feeding upon the very vitals of the country
in their own lifetime, by the law of primogeniture, the
greatest portion of their property descended to the eldest
son, while all the rest of the family were generally left un-
provided for, and consequently were pensioned upon the
public as State panpers.
Three times three cheers were then given to the Chair-
man,who returned thanks, and the meeting was dissolved.

It gives us unfeigned pleasure to be able to
repeat our favourable report of their MAJESTIES' health ;
that of the other branchss of the Royal Family (with the
exception of his Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, who
has been confined to the Pavilion for the last few days, but
is now convalescent) remains uninterruptedly good.—
Windsor Express. s

The report that their MAJESTIES intend
visiting the Sister Kingdom early in the ensuing summer
is without foundation: such a project is quite incompatible
with the arrangements already made for St. James's.—
Windsor Express. _

The four principal contributors to the Edin-
burgh Review are now all Senators—Lord Bitoucuam
and Vaux, in the Upper House; and Sir JAMES MAC-
KINTosir and Messrs. JarruEy (late Editor), and Tuos.
MACAULAY, in the Lower.

Drs. SOUTHEY and MACMICHAEL. have been
appointed, under a Special Commission by the LORD
CHANCELLOR, to visit and inspect the state of the lunatics
who are under the care of the Great Seal,

,----
amounts to nearly 1,0001. per
Lord LYNDHURST nomivotoataeUhiDghr.uaSeOdiUcaTiHsitEuYa-,
consummation of the atthinoennu,bmrtoht?eh eibnrucotoftnp
retel
yioeifoPuwo es
ihyti
ctLiol a ut rheeat
ap-
pointment, the Government was dissolved. Lord
BuoucnAm, however, immediately on his accepting the
Seals, confirmed the appointment of Lord LrrinnuasT.—
Court Journal.

The Countess of BERKELEY will, it is said,
have the refusal of the ground upon which the stables in
Carlton-palace now stand, to add to her pleasant residence
in Spring-gardens. By this arrangement a new carriage-
way may be made to Berkeley-house.

,It is a fact, honourable to 13ritish enterprise,
that there are no less than thirty-three periodicals in the
English language published at Calcutta alone. Amongst
them are two annuals, a number of magazines, a literary
Gazette, and several newspapers. Many distinguished
natives are contributors.

MR. HUNT._'] he Member for Preston,
Mr. Hoer, is a native of a small village near Devizes,
wherefather, from whom he inherited considerable
property,iis was an extensive occupier of land. Mr. HUT
also followed agricultural pursuits for several years in
Wiltshire, where he drove a very handsome equipage. He
married a Miss ANA' HALCOMB, sister of Mr. lIALCOMB,
the stage-coach proprietor of Marlborough, and aunt of
Mr.BJt:fte; HALcoma, the barrister. Mr. HUNT, who is
now about 58 years of age, first stood forward as a can-
didate for the borough of Preston in 1820, when he
polled 1,220 votes, having offered himself in opposition to
EDMUND HORNBY and SAMUEL HORROCKS, Esqrs. who
were supported by the STANLEY influence. The principle
of universal suffrage was established in the borough of
Preston in 1770, when the House of Commons determined
that the right of election was in the inhabitants of the
town at large.— Observer.
NEWSPAPER TAxEs.—We believe it is in
the contemplation of Mr. POULETT THOMSON, in bringing
forward his natation on the subject of the duty on news-
papers and other periodical publications, to diminish by
one half the duty, and in lieu thereof to charge at the
rate of one penny per sheet for the transmission of all
newspapers and pamphlets through the Post-office. The
various taxes relating to newspapers, pamphlets, and ad-
vertisements, are to be consolidated, and one single enactment
substituted instead of the many now affecting this class of
pnblications.--Morning Herald.
The Portsmouth Herald of yesterday gives
a long account of a court-martial, held on board his MA-
zxszzs ship the Vincent, to inquire into the circumstances
of the punishment and death of WituAlt HERITAGE, a
boy belonging to the North Star, and to try the Right
Hon. Lord WILLIAM PAGET, Captain of the said ship,
for the same. The verdict ea thin trial io not yet given.