The Sun.
London, England, 1831-03-05 00:00:00

system of non 'resident 'rotors. But if he proposed to c4n-1.
atinue the suffrage 'to the remainder of the lives risii 'those
persons who 'et present possessed it as peyeisa of scot and
then they became non-residerit'esestees.—(,‘ Oh, oh !")
weuld not go so far as 'to positively that in-
eaorrsistency upon the lord, but he should eee the
Bill brought before ilte house in detail before be could bet
satisfied time 'it (fig not contain that absurdity. The op-:
posers eif the Rill had been denounced by gentlemen oppo-
eiee ae einernies to all Reform. That elsiazirge Imad been:
auade fee the purpose of implying that they entertained a
•Oangerous hostility to the wishes of the people.—(Hear,
llutar.) The charge was made for the purpose-cif elect-
ing against them thet creature of the presort day called
popular feeling, and to monopOlise 'popular favour to the
father side of the House.--cear.) For himself he would
answer (and he believed he might answer for others) that
he was not hostile to Reform. He was ready to t'htertain,,
:any question of rational, practice!, Constitutions]. Reeio-em
(Hear)—of such a Retbrm as would heave as•lid.he 3.nu un-
impaired that Constitution uudev svhicla it a his greatest
happiness to lire, and leveler which, l'ee trusted, in de-
fiance of the Right lion. I3entlernen opposite, he
should long have the Imarpiness to live.—(Cheers and
laughter.) He wooed 'support any such Constitetiontli
Reform as that (disfranchisement of Eveshans) };reposed
recently by the Noble Marquis the Meentel hip Bucking-
isnm (the Marquis of Chandos)„ ee'eeemla, although a Right
Hon. Gentleman opposite bed Iheen pleased to term it liy-
recritical—(Hear, hear, hear)—he (Mr. Freshfield) consi-
-slaved it both sineeve and practical. To any measures,
therefore, that should be proposed within the scete of
Reform not dangerous to the Constitntions leg leading to
Revolution, he would be friendly. R'tt at the ssme time
heat be was not hostile to RefotTee he was unfriendly, he
was determinedly opposed, to may measure which should
supersede the Constitution under which this country had
en long flourished, and substitute in its stead something
-theoretical and et-Ariel, of which no man could ealeulate
the consequereces.—(Hear.) He wished that his Majesty's
Ministers would not give the friends of the Constituticita
in that Muse the trouble to &kat them.—(Leughter.)
They (Ministers) told the House, indeed, to beware lest
danger might result from the rejectien of their measure.
230 t he would tell them, that front success, danger, and
mischief most be the actual results ; and he would • ask
them to leave the probiset to the country, and net `..:t p`to-
duce the certaint.—(Hear, hear.) Ther had already
iffeett guilty of raising ulaneerous expectations of an exten-
eion of popular rights which could never be granted as long
As the Parliament of England had existence. —(Cheers. ) The
Administration, who had originated the Bill, had not ere
tedetished, by any of their measures, such a character as to
gain the confidence of the House or of the country, or ro
encourage him to place his confidence in thema It was a
Governtnent of misnomers ; calling itself non-interfering,
it intermeddled with the most vital principles and the
'mast established details of the Conatitelion. Calling itself
a retrenching Ministry, it en:mine:wed its career by raiding
to the burthens of the people; and calling ittelf a reform-
ing Ministry, it began by a Bill of Disfranchisement.
Front such a Reform he prayed that the country might be
for ever delivered.—(Greatlaughter.)
DUNCOMRE said that he felt overeelteleeled with
seambarrassment and 'regret, to find hinetert unexpectedly
piaced in a sit:nation of hostility to the present Adminis-
vration upon a question of set!) importance as that now
before the House. He, for one, had taken part in placing
erm Right Hon. Gentlemen opposite in the seats which
they now hold, and he had been desirous to afford them
4is utmost support. But representing as he did .a)terge con-
stituency, from whom he had received the most distin-
gnialitil reward—he meant their contelence—and feeling
Omit. interest involved in the restion before the House, he
.considered it his duty, on that occasion, to overcome the
friendly feelings which he bore towards the Right Hon.
Gentleman opposite, and not to give a silent vote. The bight
Hon. the Attorney-General had said that there were only
two classesepposed to the Bill of the Noble Lord—the one
which resisted all Reform ; and the other, for which ra-
tional Reform would be sufficient. He (Mr. D.) begged
tee say, that he belonged to neither of these classes. He
was very desirous of a rational and practical Reform. But
to the proposed Reform he was compelled to give the most
uncompromising oppotition—(Hear)—and he thought
that, as respected the Constitution, the measure had been
justly termed revolutionary. As respected the House, it
was insulting ; and as respected the country, it was tyran-
nical and oppressive. He looked upon the disfranchising
of the poorer classes of the people as unjust and despotic.
Gentlemen had referred to the disfranchisement of the
Irish forty-shilling freeholders, which be considered a very
bad precedent. He had always been averse to that op-
'oressive measure, which'inflieted a heavy penalty on any
body of men, untried and uncendemned. If even the Bill
of the Noble Lord was carried into a Committee, which,
he trd, would never he the case hs re...-(11w, hear, and
laughter)—he was sure that it would he perceived that it
never could work well. The Ministers themselves had not
acted on their own principle consistently throughout this
Bill. If diet principle was good, why was it not extended
to Calne, Tavistock, Horsham, and Melton ? Why hail
not ',lle franchise been taken front them, where population
dia not average inure than 1,000, and transferred to Hali-
fax, and other towns whose population averaged more than
10,000? How could Ministers expect the question of
Reform to be finally settled by such a distribution ? He
was sure they would find that it was not so, even should
the measure be ever carried into affect. Thinking the
measure, therefore, to he unprincipled, tyrannical, revolu-
tionary, introducing a new Constitution, and destroying
the balance between the several great interests of the
country, he would give it his most strenuous opposition.
It haul been stated, that with respect to this measure.. his
Majesty's Ministers were perfectly unanimous. 11c con-
fessed that that statement surprised him not a little, when
be remembered that the Noble Lord opposite (the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer) had frequently declared himself
a decided supporter of the vote by ballot. When he saw
a Cabinet including the Noble Lordl, the Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs, and the Right lion. Member fat Inver-
ness, he must be allowed to say, that he thought it rather
a remarkable feature in the ptesent debate, that up to ten
o'clock last night there was not one Cabinet Minister who
addressed the House.. He was not less surprised to find
Gentlemen ;also treteavouring to draw its the authority of
Mr. Canning's speech on the ,ilc. trade, to support their
own views, of the question ea: 'Worm: they should have re-
memleered that he, above all men, was most opposed to Re-
forret ; and that if, upon a different subject, he had let fell
en expression which he never intended should it applied
to Reform, he left it with the House to determine what
might be the extent of that candour which tortured stray
remarks of a deceased Statesman into the support eel that
which the whole tenour of his life proved that he abhor-
tel. The Noble Lord opposite had cited the case of the
disfranchisement of the Irish forty-shilling freeholders as
affording a precedent to sanction his measure. It hap-
pened rather inoppsrtunely fur the character of consistency
of the present Ministry, that a Noble Duke in the other
House of Parliament signed a protest against that dis-
franchisement, descritaing it as unconstitutional, and es-
sentially unjust. The Noble Duke to whom he alluded
was the Duke of Richmond, and he was forsooth a Mem-
ber of that united Cabinet which brought forward the
present measure. Then he found a Noble and Learned
Lord, a distinguished Member of the present Administra-
tion, supporting the Reform Bill of that united Cabinet,
though, on more occasions than one, he bad expressed
sentiments of a character very distinct from that which
was now given to Parliament as the measure of a united
Cabinet. Ile concluded by affirming that the measure
was revolutionary in all its tendencies, arid in its principle
tyrannical.
Mr. JOHN SMITH said, that lie was one of those per-
sons who had an interest in boroughs but at all times he
entertained a perfect conviction that such power in his
hands was improperly placed ; at the mine time, that in
justice to himself he was bound to declare, that for the
nine-and-twenty years he possessed the borough in ques-
tion, he never once derived a shilling of profit, or the fa-
vour of any Minister, nor was the borough of the slightest
importance to him, except only so far that it enabled him
to enjoy the delight of bringing one or two good Whigs into
that House. Ira Chichester, during the election, he had
been hooted and assailed, as though he was one of the
faction of boroughmongers. Now he could most solemnly
declare that, neither directly nor indirectly, had he sold
his interest in the borough ; and if any Member would
move for the di isfraothisement of Midhurst, and other bo-
roughs of the same description, that Member should
have his most cordial support ; for it hail been his
full persuasion that no nem .
ought to sit in that
House in right of his money. There were, however,
some pets of the Bill to which lie might. urge. some
objection ; but, upon the whole, en ,
thought it en-
titled to the support of the House, and he
'doubted
not that it would give satisfaction to the eoentryee lie
declared, that when he first heard the provieiens of
the Bill propounded by the Noble Lord, it almostaook
away his bleath, so much was he delighted with it. It
gave him the full assurance that Ministers were in earnest,
end had determined to work a thorough reformation, He
bad heard last night the speech of the Right lion. Barone,
opposite, the Member for Tainwortle and read it that
morning; and the speech, though beautiful, elegant, en
captivating, was still not convincing. The Right Hon.
Barodet, for whom he entertained the higher respect,
knew as well as '
any one could, time way in which that
-laTeeees —toped) and he must know that the disc