The Sun.
London, England, 1831-02-17 00:00:00

REFORM IN PARLIAMENT.

ST. MAR YLEB ONE MEETING.
Yesterday a meeting took place at Mr. Cole's
Carriage Repository, in Great Portland-street, for
the purpose of petitioning Parliament in favour of
Reform. The meeting was very numerously at-
tended, and at one o'clock Mr. Hume, M.P., was
called to the Chair by general acclamation.
The Hon. CHAIR3fAN began by observing on
what had taken place in the House of Commons on
the previous evening relative to Buckingham Palac,‘
and Windsor Castle. He had taken occasion, on
that opportunity, to observe that the scandalous
manner in which the money had been expended on
those places, without the consent of Parliament,
deserved the greatest reprehension; and that there
was a great deal of responsibility attaching some-
where. It was Lord Goderich who had pledged
himself that the estimates should not be exceeded,
and he thought that Noble Lord ought to be im-
peached for what had subsequently taken place. nit,
however, approved of the motion of his Majesty's
Ministers for a Select Committee, as he was in
hopes that it might he the means of discovering
whose the responsibility was. If the public money
was to be taken care of, arid if the people themselves
expected that their earnings were to be taken care
of, nothing on earth could ensure that but a
full arid effectual Reform in Parliament.—(Cheers.)
Never had affairs looked so prosperously in this re-
spect, for he really believed that many of the men
amongst the present Ministry were honest in their
intentions, and the only danger was that they would
be prevented in those good intentions by those who
had so long lived on the public money, and were de-
terinined to fight hard to the last. Of this he was
sure, however, that whatever the Reform proposed
might be, he would take all that was offered.—(A
laugh.)—For he was not one of those who, when
starving, refused a small loaf, because they wanted
a large one. The aspect of affairs from without was
of the utmost importance. Let France continue her
course—let America go on in her glorious career,
and it would then be impossible for England to
stand still. He therefore called on the parish to
lend their aid ; for a most important parish they
were, and he had no doubt that sooner or later—
the question of Reform once carried—they would
obtain the right of being represented in the House
of Commons.—(Applause.)—His creed in Reform
was this—that though every man was obliged to
contribute something towards carrying on the ope-
rations of Government, not a shilling more should
be taken from their pockets than was absolutely
necessary ; and if any one gave his service
as a militia man, that alone should entitle
him to a vote for a representative; and as every
man, from the highest to the lowest, was subject to
influence, he would give him the means of giving a
con,cientious vote, and the only way to do that was
by adopting the secret vote by ballot.—(Loud
cheering.) Without the ballot, anything else would
be ruiserable and nugatory. That would be the only
way they could get rid of what he called the bleed-
ing artery of the country—he meant the military
esoblishments of the country—(Hear)—which, to-
gether with the naval and the ordnance, actually
cost the country in a time of peace fifty millions
sterling—(Cheers)—and yet, when he had proposed
a diminution of ten thousand men, which appeared
to .him an extremely moderate proposal, he could
only find nine Members out of six hundred and fifty-
eight to vote with him. As the Committee on the
Civil List, of which he was a Member, sat at one
o'clock, he trusted that the meeting would excuse
his further attendance, and appoint some other gen-
tleman to the Chair.

The requisition was then read by Colonel JONES,
who stated, that the Duke of Portland had been
applied to to take the chair, as it was thought right
that the large proprietors of the parish ought to be
invited to attend. His Grace, however, had de-
clined accepting the office, on the ground that he
did not think that such a meeting would assist the
cause of Parliamentary Reform. Mr. Portman was
then applied to ; but he declined, owing to reasons
which delicacy did not allow him (Colonel Jones)
to state—(A voice, " Oh, no delicacy")—though
at the same time he approved of the object of the
meeting. Mr. Hope was also applied to; but he
delined on account of his advanced age.
Mr. HUmE then took his departure, and Mr.
Green was calleil to the chair.
Mr. TifoRNE, in moving the first resolution, ob-
served that Reform had of late made most
triumphant strides, and this was principally owing
to the Legislature having neglected the petitions of
the people.—(Cries of " Shame.")—Every thing
that formed a component part of the Constitution
was corrupt. The tithe laws were corrupt—the
corn laws were corrupt.—(Cheers.)—He was one
of those who were friendly to the Established
Church—(Laughter and hisses)—but the church,
as it now existed, was corrupt, and if Reform was
not introduced, the consequence must be, that it
would totter to its base, and become a hideous mass
of ruins.—(Cheers.)—The corn laws were cor-
rupt; they were almost as horrible in their opera-
tion as that base remnant of feudal tyranny—the
game laws, which he maintained was a system op-
posed to the laws of nature—opposed to the laws
of reason—and opposed to the command of God.
If there was a panacea which would reach the com-
plicated diseases under which the body politic
laboured, it was Parliamentary Reform, and that,
too, must be accompanied by a bitter pill for the
non-reformists to swallow—he meant the vote by
ballot.—(Cheers.)
Mr. NELMES, in seconding the resolution, ob-
served that unless Reform was granted, he was per-
suaded that a fearful crisis would arise.
Mr. SAVAGE, in moving the second resolution,
said it was not from the honour or honesty of the
Ministry that he expected they would carry any
measure; but they perceived the state in which the
country was, and felt that the measure could not be
withheld ; and he for one would never in peace con-
tribute his mite, unless he was heard, and had a vote.
The gentleman who had preceded him was a mem-
ber of the Church of England, and had declared
himself friendly to it; he (Mr. Savage) too, was
friendly to it; but he wasaDissenter; arid he would
ask whether it was not grinding and galling to him
to have to give the bread which he was earning by
the sweat of his brow, and which his children
wanted, to a church whose principles he could not
support.—(Loud cheering.)
Mr. RAYSTREET seconded the resolution.
Mr. POTTER held in his hand a resolution, having
for its object the extension of suffrage and vote by
ballot.—(Applause.)—lf the people did not give
the present Ministry their support, there was a nest
of wicked and vindictive persons ready to take their
places, and to bid the storm burst with tenfold fury.
Those acquainted with the House of Commons
knew that there was a phalanx attending there,
watching for any slip that the Ministry weight make,
but they did not watch for the good of the people,
only for the preservation of their own places and
pensions. It was pretended by the Aristocrats that
what the people wanted was revolution, and not
Reform. He denied the charge; he turned it upon the
Aristocrats themselves ; for what the people wanted
was restoration, and it was the Aristocracy that
wanted revolution. They were obliged to Col. Jones,
who stood near them, for his letters signed "Radi-
cal;" and while on that subject he would ask would
it be believed that the Duke of Wellington, who held
be knew not how many places and pensions' had ac-
tually had the audacity and impudence to pension
his aunt and sister also on the public.—(A cry of
" Paupers ! paupers !") '5 es, they said right—the
Countess of Mornington and Lady Ann Cullen
Smith were neither more nor less than paupers—
just on a per with the miserable wretches in the
parish workhouse. Nay, they were worse, for if be
(Mr. Potter) got rich, and his parents wanted relief,
the parish dicers would force him to support them ;
and what a cursed wretch would lie be to refuse to
support them when he was able, instead of taking
the money out of another man's pocket to do it with !
Another instance of the same sort of thing was that

brassy-faced fellow Croker, who had ever shown his
readiness to support all sorts of jobs; nay, he actually
dared to make an attack upon the Lord Chancellor
Brougham—not when that Noble Lord was in the
House though; he would sooner have eaten his
nails off than have done it then—(Cheers)—
and this was the fellow who had been base and
mean enough to pension off (not content with his
own 1,5001. a year) his adopted daughter, Rosa-
mond, on the public purse, to the amount of
370/. 7s. 2d.—(Laughter, and cries of " Shame.")
Now he would ask them would such things as these
ever have taken place if the people had been repre-
sented in the House of Commons ?—(Applause.)
Would such pretty sums as these have been given
for doing nothing ? But even Reform would not
he enough—they must have the ballot added, for
that alone would protect the lower grades of society.
Mr. WILSON, in moving a resolution expressive
of a hope that, in the event of Parliamentary Re-
form taking place, the parish of Marylebone would
have its representative, contended that whether the
criterion was to be property, numbers, or intelli-
gence, the parish of Marylebone was pre-eminent
in its right to make such a claim.
Mr. WARDEN moved a resolution expressive of
the gratification of the meeting felt at the reduction
of the Newspaper Duty. The Press was the main
prop of the people; and unless they could secure a
fair representation in the papers their meeting would
be of little us, for it would not go abroad to their
fellow-countrymen. He knew Lord Althorp to be
as good a man as ever lived, but he had been afra:d
that be would be shackled by the Oligarchy : and
no doubt he was, to a certain extent. With respect
to political Reform, what they wanted in conjunc-
tion with that was universal suffrage and the vote
by ballot.
The following were among the points alluded to
in the petition :
" That your petitioners think it their bounden duty to
press three points on the attention of your Honourable,
House, without which they are persuaded no Reform can
be either useful or satisfactory, viz.
" 1. A considerable extension and equalization of

suffrage.
" 2. Shortening the duration of Parliaments.
" 3. Voting by ballot.
" Your petitioners pray that your Honourable House
will take these matters into your immediate consi-
deration, and, in granting the relief prayed for, include,
amongst other places to which the right of suffrage may
he extended, the wealthy and populous parish of St. Mary-
lehone, which at present contains upwards of 120,000 in-
habitants, the rental of which is 720,000/., and the
assessed taxes of which are at least equal to those paid by
the whole kingdom of Scotland."
Thanks were then voted to the Chairman, and
the meeting separated.

MEETING AT HALIFAX.
(From the Wakefield and Halifax Journal.)
O:► Wednesday, pursuant to a requisition to the
constables (Messrs. Bernard Hartley and Joseph
Whiteley), a meeting of the inhabitants of Halifax
and its neighbourhood was held for the purpose of
taking into consideration the propriety of petit►oning
the Legislature for an effectual Reform of the Re-
presentation of the People in the Commons House
of Parliament. The scene of meeting was the Old
Assembly Room, at the Talbot Inn, which was
crowded to excess. Most of the merchants, manu-
facturers, and respectable shop-keepers of Halifax
were present; in brief, it was the most important
meeting ever held in that town on the same subject.
The requisition was signed by upwards of eighty
names, including much of the wealth and intelli-
gence of the place ; and amongst whom were
several gentlemen hitherto unfriendly, in a remote
degree, to the question of Reform. RAwDEN
BRIGGS, sen. Esq. banker, was called to the chair
amidst the earnest acclamations of the assembly.—

When the plaudits with which he had been greeted
had subsided,

The CHAIRMAN rose and said that he regretted
the non-attendance of the constables to whom
the requisition had been presented, since, in
addition to other reasons, they had to resort
to the election of a Chairman from amongst
their number. He was sufficiently devoted to the
cause, however, to undertake the office, and would
endeavour to discharge its duties to the best of his
abilities.—(Cheers.) The situation was in a man-
ner new to him, for in his younger days he had not
been in the habit of taking a prominent part in
meetings of a political nature. Ile would commence
by reading to them the requisition, as it declared
the objects the requisitionists had in view in calling
the meeting. [He then read the requisition.] It was
matter of congratulation to them, and to the country
at large, that the Ministers of the Crown were
pledged to the question of Reform, and that too
• under the sanction of our grad bus King.—(Cheers.)
It had been objected that the meeting was inap-
propriate in point of time; and the question was
asked, since his Majesty is himself a reformer, and
his Ministers themselves are pledged to Reform,
why is the meeting called ? This was his reply :
not that they doubted the sincerity of Ministers, but
that their resolutions and petitions would strengthen
their hands, and yield them support to meet the
efforts of their opponents.—(Hear.) He would say
to them—petition ; for if they neglected so to do,
the Ministers might be defeated, and then the meet-
ing could be charged with a dereliction of public
duty.—(Cheers.) Let not such a charge be
attached to the town of Halifax, since a petition, if
couched in temperate language, would have its
proper weight in both Houses of Parliament.—
He begged the candid attention of the meeting for
any gentleman who might deem it to be his duty to
stand forward to address them. _ .

Mr. JONATHAN AKROYD came forward to propose
the first resolution. He had full confidence in
Ministers to redress the people's grievances, for they
understood the real source of evil, and were better
able to trace cause and effect than any other men.—
The people looked forward with anxiety to a liberal
system of Reform, and he had no doubt but that
the Ministry would perform that part of their pledge
as well as the House of Commons would permit
them to do—corruptly as it was at present consti-
tuted.—(Hear.) lie thought they could not do all
that they wished; yet he sincerely believed they
would do all they possibly could. This was his
opinion, and he should not change it until circum-
stances and facts convinced him of the contrary. It

was a maxim with him, to expect from those who
came publicly forward to expose and amend abuses
—that they should come forward with clean hands,
that they should practice the virtue which they ex-
pected to find in others.—(Heur, hear.) One great
cause of much of the evil sought to be remedied,
was the depravity of the electors themselves. Who
were the men whom they sought to represent them ?
Were they men of strength of nerve, of intellect, or
of public virtue ? No. They were the reverse of
these—their qualification was their purse alone.—
Since, then, the fountain was impure, how could
they expect the stream to be unpolluted ?
(Applause.) They should choose men of ability—
of decided independence of character ; and return
them free of all expences,—for if the Member did
not buy them, he would not have quite so good an
excuse for selling them. Members, under such cir-
cumstances, would not go into the House with such
a bias against the honour of the voters. When a
Member was returned by purchase—by bribery, his
feelings were those of contempt, not respect, of him
constituents. It were impossible for him to feel
otherwise, supposing him to be 'a person of any re-
flection. Let them, then, begin the Reform at home,
and elect men honestly, in order that they may act
honestly in return. In reference to the distressed
state of the country, the speaker proceeded to in-
quire whether our sailors had less enterprise than
formerly ?—whether our soldiers had less courage to
defend the nation's cause ?—whether our merchants
and manufacturers had less enterprise ?—whether
our artizans wanted the ability they were wont to
possess ?—and gave to each of these questions a ne-
gative unswer. Why, then, he would ask, was so
much distress seen in our streets ? It was not for
the want of stamina, for there was enough of that,
under proper guidance, to conduce to the benefit of

the country. It was owing to the corruptions which
had crept into the Legislature, and which baffled all
the best efforts of the people. There was required
a general reform of the whole political system.
WM. KERSHAW, Esq. seconded the resolution,
which was put from the chair and carried unanimously.
T. PRessTos, Esq. of Greenwood, proposed the
second resolution, and ridiculed the notion of those
who contended that " the system works well." He
said, it had worked well for those who had been fed
and pampered out of our enormous load of debt and
taxes. When they considered the important advan-
tages possessed by this country over others, as re-
garded her progress in the arts and sciences, manu-
factures and commerce, it was important to enquire
how it happened that England was so burdened with
taxation, and the labouring classes in such distress ?
He stood not there to advocate revolution nor revo-
lutionary principles, but he would put it to the most
Ibigoted ultra-tory in the kingdom whether some
alteration was not necessary ?—(Cheers.) H. e was
convinced this country was on the eve of an import-
ant crisis, unless measures were taken to arrest the
impending danger. They ought to hail with satis-
faction the notice given by Ministers for the first of
March, for a motion for Parliamentary Reform.
Mr. Jona' HAIGH seconded the resolution. It was
put from the chair, and carried iota voce.
RAWDON BRIGGS, jun. Esq. said, the committee of
the requisitionists had delegated to him the duty of
introducing the third resolution, which embraced a
great variety of objects intimately connected with
the purport of the present meeting. There never
was a period within his recollection when the ques-
tion of moderate and constitutional Reform had so
many influential supporters as
.it could number at
the present day, a great change having lately taken
place upon the subjects amongst those who were
formerly its decided opponents.—(Hear.) And this
meeting might congratulate itself and the country
upon the improved state of party feeling.—(Cheers.)
That its object will not now be branded as an ebulli-
tion of visionary enthusiasm, or as disaffection to the
Government of the country, was certain. They
might, he trusted, look forward to the no distant
period when the old party names of Tory, Whig,
arid Radical would be no longer applied in reality;
arid when they would exist only in memory.—
(Cheers.) But to what cause were they to attribute
this change in public opinion ? The source to which
it might be mainly traced, was the distress, arising
from pressure of taxation, brought more directly
home to all by the alteration in the value of the cir-
culating medium, operating virtually as an increased
demand upon the means of the country ; but more
especially affecting that part of the community which
is engaged in the pursuit of agriculture.—(Hear.)
The circumstances under which Ministers are placed
were of peculiar difficulty, inasmuch as they were
riot only answerable for their own acts, but are
obliged to apply remedies to counteract the errors of
their predecessors; and many of those could only
now be remedied by strict attention to economy and
retrenchment. It would be foreign to the present
purpose to enter into a detail of former mismanage-
ment ; and, perhaps, it would be in some degree un-
just, as they now saw the effects of measures which
had proved injurious,—but which, at the time they
were entered upon, they did not condemn.—(Hear.)
He alluded more particularly to the mode and terms
upon which a large proportion of our national debt
was contracted,—say in a three per cent. stork, not
redeemable, except upon the payment of 100/.; and
for which the country only received, on art average,
not more than 601. in a depreciated currency.—
(Hear.) This error, in his (Mr. Briggs's) opinion,
was one of the most fatal that had ever been com-
mitted, in a financial point of view; and he merely
mentioned it to explain how, with a large income,
Government would be able to accomplish any ma-
terial saving to the nation.—(Hear.) The interest
upon the national debt absorbed more than one-half
of the whole revenue. Being thus shut out from
the power and opportunity of paying off this large
proportion of our debt, and, at the same time, being
bound in honour to pay the stipulated interest, they
had only to look to economy and retrenchment for
a reduction in their present weight of taxation.
This was a subject upon which much might be
said, but it was one which he should leave
others to handle--not because he underrated its
importance, but that he had confidence in the
present Government fulfilling the pledge it had
voluntarily tendered on this head. A. given
amount of taxation was more or less burthensorne
to a country, according to its ability to pay the same;
and as we were essentially a commercial nation, our
ability to pay the needful taxes must arise from the
profits of our trade. It, therefore, became the duty
of a good Government to encourage and foster com-
mercial enterprise, by reforming many of our present
taxes, with the view to the ultimate production of
revenue, by means of increased consumption—im-
inediately to repeal all taxes which fall upon raw
materials and manufactures, and also to modify those
upon articles of luxury, which come within the
means of, and are essential to, the comforts of the
lower classes—substituting a tax upon property (not
income) so long as the temporary defalcation of the
revenue may require it.—(Hear, hear.) The in-
jurious effects of monopolies of all kind were now
generally admitted, more especially that of the East
India Company, whose present charter operates not
only against the British mercantile interest, by
limiting the free intercourse with India, but actually
so far as respects China, causes a monopoly in favour
of all foreign nations who trade to that extensive
empire. What the probable trade to China mght
be, provided it were thrown open, they had no de-
tail to go upon, except they reverted to the busineas
which was transacted there by the Americans—or
draw an analogy from what took place when the
trade to India was opened, private merchants hav-
ing exported more in one year than nearly double
the amount of exports made by the Company dur-
log the same time.—(Hear.) Independent of this
advantage in a commercial point of view, they must
look to the loss the country annually sustains by the
tea monopoly, which annual loss was upwards of one
million turd a half pounds sterling. The Corn Laws,
as now constituted, were also a species of mono-
poly ; and their remission would operate much to
the advantage of the nation at large—to the manu-
facturing as to the agricultural interests. As these
laws at present stood, they afforded satisfaction to
neither party; and doubtless some alteration would
soon be mode in them. If they would therefore
secure justice to themselves when these important
measures were severally discussed in Parliameut, let
them earnestly and respectfully set forth the claims
of the commercial interest to its equal and proper
share of representation in the Commons House of
Parliament ; by which means alone they would hope
effectually to control the present overwhelming in•
terests which had hitherto been in array against
them.—(Cheers.)
Mr. JOIN ROWHOTTOM, in seconding the resolu-
tion, anldressed the sneeting in a speech fraught with
much humour, being hits at Lord Castlereagh on
his school of theorists, for attributing the distress at,
one time to a "sudden transition from war to peace,
—their plan of " digging holes one day and tilling
them up the next,"—of their assertion at one time
that distress arose from an " abundant harvest," and
at another to " over-population." These things, he
contended, would not have been patiently listened
to by a reformed Parflatnent.—(We regret that the
crowded state of our columns will not allow us to do
justice to the speech of this intelligent gentleman.
It was vehemently applauded. The motion was
carried unanimously.)
MICHAEL STOCKS, sen. Esq. proposed the fourth
resolution. He read an elaborate detail of the de-
-o.irequ.unenrean t
sb ot gtlirlse.r
areaspop
Eearriegdlish"bmorooungehos,f con-
taining 1,133 electors, who ret urn 100 members to
Parliament; 15 Scotch boroughs, containing 9.5
electors, who return 15 members ; arid 33 Scotch
counties, containing 2,536 electors, who return 33
wase
or rt
of
f t
yio
ens t
eorfd a they
mlleomusbeerosf CtoomPmarrniiisa,Rhieents.aidT,
growth : it had crept in under the iron-hearted Sir
Robert Walpole, and he hoped it would be rooted

out in the life-time of the iron-headed Sir Robert

Peel, under whom it had flourished; whose accursed
Currency Bill had been the cause of adding to our
distressed state, and had caused as much disaster
and death as the battle of Waterloo. If the system
of representation he (Mr. Stocks) had exposed was
the right one, he had lost his skill as a politician,
but he hoped an era had now come for which he
had been looking during the last 45 years. The
town and parish of Halifax had been governed by
bigotry and intolerance led on by a furious vicar, a
set of Government contractors, and a still more
furious justice.—(Hear, and cheers.) The resolu-
tion he held contained the gravamen of the evils of
the country, and therefore he had no doubt it would
express the sentiments of the meeting.—(Cheers.)
SAMUEL HopcsoN, Esq. seconded the resolution.
He said he trusted that if the means of represen-
tation were given to the town of Halifax the har-
mony which now existed would not be broken by
ungovernable party feeling. He hoped they would
be able to resist bribery, and that they would main-
tain the right of election with that conscientious
dignity which it behoved them to shew in the exec.-
cise of such a privilege.
Mr. JOHN BALDWIN proposed the next resolution.
He did not blame any Government in particular for
the evils which had so long oppressed the nation;
the people had brought them upon themselves. The
cause was to be found in the ignorance of the people,
which rendered them liable to be imposed on by
wicked arid designing men, and till this was re-
moved no Reform could be effectual in its operation.
Mr. JOSEPII DAWSON seconded the resolution.
Mr. G. BINNS proposed the next resolution,
which was in favour of vote by ballot.
It was seconded by Mr. JAMES GOODALL.
Mr. JOHN CRAVEN, who was in the crowd, said
he would propose an amendment. He thought that
every honest man would be ashamed to give his
vote in secret.—(" No, no ;" applause and hisses.)
He would move that the vote should be given in
the usual way, openly.—(Great uproar, and some
gentleman in the vicinity of the Chair called out
" Don't disgrace yourselves by not hearing an oppo-
nent !") Mr. Craven again attempted to speak but
the hisses were resumed, and these were replied to
by cheers. The confusion became worse confounded.
Cries of " Come forward to the platform ;"
" Shame, shame ;" Give him fair play." After
these had continued some minutes, Mr. Craven went
forward to the platform, amidst cheers and hisses.
The CHAIRMAN having restored order in the
meeting,
Mr. CRAVEN continued—He might be considered
as intrusive—(" No, no," from all parts of the room)
—but he had come forward to sign the requisition, in
order that he might be the better entitled, when
the meeting took place, to oppose any resolution
which did not meet his wishes, and to the terms of
which he could not conscientiously agree.—(Great
cheering.)—He trusted he had acted honestly ; and
that was his apology.—(Renewed applause, and cries
of " Go on.")—What lie meant to move was this—
fat the resolution should be withdrawn, and that

the old plan of openly voting should be continued.
—(Hear, hear; and hisses at the bottom of the
room.)—Whether any person would second his
proposition, or not, he should be satisfied in his own
mind that he had done his duty.—(Cheers.)
W. BALDREY, Esq. seconded the amendment.
He objected to the resolution individually. He
liked to give his vote in open day, and not in
secret. They had much better leave the thing to
the Legislature than dictate to them in this manner.
—(Hisses ; and cries of " We've a right to dictate
to them.")—He did not believe the ballot would be
any cure for bribery. Men would do ill sooner
under a cloak than in open day.—(Hisses and
uproar.)—He was sorry that they did not know
how to behave themselves : if some would act as

liberally as they talked, it would be more to their
credit.—(Uproar.)
MICHAEL STOCKS, sen. Esq. took the opportunity
of informing the mover and seconder of the amend-
ment that they were proceeding somewhat irregu-
larly. They could move an amendment to the
original resolution, but they could not move its
withdrawal.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. CRAVEN—What I mean is, that, in the pro-
posed Reform, the votes shall be taken in the man-
ner the Legislature shall think proper, without being
dictated to.—(Hisses ; and cries of " Oh, oh ! that's
an abandonment of the original proposition ;"
" Don't shrink," &c.)
After a short consultation between the proposer
and secouder, it was agreed that the amendment
should be that, in the proposed Reform, ballot
should not be adopted in lieu of the system of open
voting.
MICHAEL STOCKS, Esq. was requested by the
Chairman to put the amendment. Six or seven
hands only were held up in its favour, and the
original motion was declared carried by a great ma-
jority. The cheering lasted several minutes.
Alleluia, STOCKS, jun. Esq. proposed a resolu-
tion relative to a more convenient mode of taking
the poll, instead of the troublesome aria expensive
mode at present practised. The distance of many
parts of the large and populous parish of Halifax
from the county town, caused a disinclination on
the part of many to be at the expense of going to
give their votes, and in fact operated as a real dis-
franchisement of many of the poorer voters. If the
parish officers in vestry, assisted by a regular poll
clerk were made returning officers, this would be
avoided, and no spurious or doubtful votes could
come to the poll. They would be immediately
known, and this would prevent those tedious and
painful scrutinies so often obliged to be put in force.
Cheap elections would thus be accomplished in a
manner beneficial both to the electors and to the
candidates.—( Hear, hear.)—ibis would, in fact,
operate in parishes as effectually as the ballot in
boroughs. He trusted the county of York would
no longer be ruled by men of long purses and many
acres, but that the Reform in contemplation would
enable them to choose men, not perhaps of high
birth, but men of talent and independence, men
from among themselves, capable of understanding
and benefitting the common interest of the empire.
Mr. GEORGE BEAUMONT, linen-draper, seconded
the resolution, and Mr. RawnoN BRIGGS, jun.,
moved the adoption of the petition, &c., which was
seconded by JOHN HAIGH, Esq.
Thanks were then voted to the Chairman, and
the meeting was dissolved.

MEETING AT BOLTON.
(From the Manchester Guardian.)

A public meeting of the inhabitants of Great and
Little Bolton, convened by the boroughreeves and
constables of both towns, on the requisition of a
number of their inhabitant householders, was held
at the sessions-rooms and subsequently by adjourn-
ment, in the theatre, on Thursday last. JAMES
CocxElt, Esq., Boroughreeve of Little Bolton, in
the Chair.

PETER AINSwORTH, Esq., in moving the first
resolution, declaratory of the satisfaction felt by the
meeting at the pledge given by the King's Ministers
to effect a Reform in the Commons House of Par-
liament, remarked that great credit was due to the
official authorities fur the promptness they had
evinced in convening the present meeting.
JAMES HARDCASTLE, Esq., in proposing the
second resolution, which stated, " that the meeting
was impressed with a thorough conviction that the
House of Commons, as at present constituted, does
not fairly represent the people, the property, and
the intelligence of the nation," observed, that he
was convinced the motion would be carried unani-
mously. He did not consider it necessary to enter
into any very minute detail to prove the spirit of
the resolution, because if we were to make Man-
chester the centre of a circle of the population en-
gaged in the cotton manufacture, we should find one
million persons who were totally unrepresented; and
an amount of property not to be exceeded by any
part of the kingdom, except Middlesex; yet this
population was in a worse state than even being
nonrepresented, for it was misrepresented. But by
the constitution of this country it ought not to be

so ; because the people ought to have a House of
Commons, by whom their wants and complaints
should be properly understood. Such, however,
was not the case. It had been said that the pre-
sent system worked well; he, however, denied that
it did work well now, whatever it might have
formerly done; and he felt confident, that had
the illustrious statesman who made that assertion
been now alive, he would have been one of the
first to acknowledge its fallacy ; and he felt appre-
hensive that the party who had immolated that
great man, would now again attempt to overthow
the liberties of the country ; therefore it was now
their duty to strengthen the hands of those honest
councillors who had pledged themselves, with the
concurrence of the King, to forward the great cause
of Reform. The three great districts of productive
industry—the iron, the cotton, and the woollen
trades—were wholly unrepresented. Had these
districts possessed the elective franchise, was it to
be supposed that the odious pension list would have
disgraced the country—(Shame, shame)—that the
sons and daughters of corruption would have been
allowed to fatten on the vitals of the people ? They
who were interested in depriving the people of their
rights, might attempt to stem the tide of liberty ; but
in its reflux .they might, perhaps, ultimately find
themselves overpowered.
Mr. JOHN CROSS proposed a resolution declara-
tory, that the towns of Great and Little Bolton
ought to possess the right of sending Members to
Parliament. He said one of the greatest and most
important points to be gained was the extension of
the elective franchise; and it was the duty of the
meeting to tell this to the House of Commons.
The people were crying out for retrenchment, and
how could it be so certaily attained as by Reform ?
It was not to be tolerated that large commercial
towns should not be represented, whilst insig-
nificant boroughs were so. At all events Bolton
had as great claims as Ripon, and Manchester as
Ne w ton.

Mr. Nmsnv proposed a resolution, enforcing vote
by ballot,—(Loud cheers)—which wa carried, after
an addition had been made to it that the elective
franchise should be extended as far as the liability
of each individual to be ballotted as a militia-man.
Several gentlemen joined in the debate which en-
sued, and some able speeches were delivered.
A discussion then took place as to who was to
present the petitions to Parliament, when it was
ultimately agreed that the petition to the Lords
should be entrusted to Lord King, and that to the
Commons to Henry Hunt, Esq.
Thanks were then voted to the Chairman, and
the meeting was dissolved.

MEETING AT DROMORE.
(Abridged from the Newry Examiner.)

On Thursday the 27th ult. a meeting was held in
Dromore, pursuant to requisition, to petition the
Legislature for Parliamentary Reform, retrench-
ment in the public expenditure, a revision in the
Grand Jury Laws, and a modification in the tithe
system. Notwithstanding the shortness of the
notice and the inclemency of the weather, the maket-
house was crowded to excess with the respectable
inhabitants of the town, and the landowners and
yeomanry of the neighbourhood.
JoHN VAUGHAN, Esq , of Villa, was called to the
chair; and DAvID LINDsEY, E,q., of Ashfield, was
appointed Secretary.
Mr. ALEXANDER KNOX proposed the second
resolution to this effect :
Resolved, That the House cf Commons, as at present
constituted, is, in a great measure, composed of placemen
and pensioners, who, being in the first place returned by
the undue influence of the House of Lords, and being thus
obliged to vote and act under the same influence, have
from time to time continued and augmented the burthens
and abuses which oppress the Stite.
Mr. JOHN SCOTT seconded this resolution, which
was carried unanimously amidst loud acclamations.
Mr. HUGH PURDY next proposed—
Resolved, That we believe those evils would be best re-
medied by the adoption of vote by ballot, triennial Parlia-
ments, cutting off rotten boroughs, the extension of the
elective franchise, and the abolition of all places and pen-
sions not merited by actual service.
Dr. SCOTT seconded this resolution, which, like
the preceding ones, was carried by acclamation,
aminst the most enthusiastic cheering.
Mr. HERON, of Rock vale, moved the fourth reso-
lution :

Resolved, That the present Grand Jury system is un-
just, ineffectual, burthensome to the people, and contrary
to the principles of our Constitution.
Mr. ARBUTHNOT seconded this resolution. The
preceding ones were, as we have stated, well re-
ceived—but this declaration seemed to come home
to the hearts of every one present, and was carried
amidst deafening plaudits.
Mr. LINDSAY proposed the fifth resolution.
Resolved, That the present tithe system is unjust, un-
equal, vexatious, and oppressive, and demands the imme-
diate attention of the Legislature.
After the passing of these resolutions,
The Rev. H. E. BOYD, who was sitting beside
the Chairman, rose, and after the enthusiastic and
long-continued cheering with which he was received
had subsided, he spoke to the following effect :—Mr.
Chairman and fellow-countrymen, as lam pretty
well known to you all, I need not lose time in malt-
ing a lengthened apology for interfering in the pre-
sent proceedings. I was once your fellow-towns-
man—l am still your near neighbour, and as such I
come under the terms of your requisition. At the
same time I feel it to be a duty to myself to explain
the motives which have induced me to be present
on this occasion—and, if you listen to me patiently,
I shall do so candidly and honestly. With some of
these resolutions you have passed I partly concur;
in others I most cordially acquiesce, and with one 1
join with all my heart.—(Cheers.) That the Legis-
lature should be petitioned for a modification of the
tithe system has long been my conscientious convic-
tion : that the ititerft rence of the Logiidature should
be with a view to relieve the poor landholder, I
hold to be an undeniable truth. This subject has,
for some time, occupied my most serious considera-
tion. Connected as it is with my subsistence, you
will at once agree with me that it is a vital one; but
I am sure all who know me will admit that it must
be grating to my feelings, to be obliged to put my
hand into the pocket of the poor man to take what
should be paid by the rich; and, in claiming my
right to what the law of the land awards me, you
will allow me to say, that I think it is not at present
exacted from those who are obliged by law to
pay it, and who are best able to hear the burthen,
if you think fit to call it so. Actuated by these
feelings, I attended the County Meeting at
Downpatrick, where I expected a great number of
the landed proprietors would be present. I spoke
to several of them in reference to my proposal.—
They threw cold water upon it; but I was not de-
e
terred.—(Cheers.)
vueih,aisriscerl
ihrti.ci
iceoaco\di
xtrle\n.idir—oeisolisrittnifysi
,(ggnttaCielghilti
have
rvaaealtenNeac%h:rnosNtes,
e,dne.
e)otsspih(
consequently
,ytdtnuuili
olet though
landowner,
o
v
d
gious matters, we most perfectly accorded as to the
r
ta
fsytAoheltfceaoht n:petndl s)atliovitalusee%ti:ril:dpti
law.--
According
s
must lower as the produce of the country falls in
value. Than this, nothing can be more equitable—
nothing can be more consistent with the first princi-
ples of justice ; and that this plan will meet with
the general approbation of the country, I have not
the slightest doubt—or I should rather say to my
friends and neighbours : I should be doing injustice
to their common sense, and offering insult to their
understandings, if I would say otherwise.
Mr. LINDSAY immediately rose and said-1 have
an objection to Mr. Boyd's plan, and I shall state it
e
briefly. I have no pretensions to compete with hini
spoke
plNhci h):
teehoskht who holds and
iephu their
teoe:01
hr.
Composition
aggtiallttyusneti
differ
e about
bh
u t Sheriff
tell
in eloquence; but you will allow me to give my opi-
nion fairly mid honestly. Mr. Boyd has said, that
the landholder is now obliged to pay what the land-
owrer should pay, and that consequently the burthen
of the tithe system should be shifted from the land-
holder to the landowner. This argument is very
fair, if you give Mr. Boyd his premises; but just
look at it, as it stands at present. Go to first prin-
.

ciples, and then—leaving all scruples of consve!:
out of the question—what obligation am I under v.,
pay tithe to a clergyman whom I never hear?
service is it to the eople of Dromore to pay
regularly
annuallyly re si theresides
inDublinChan c Chancellor o roorf,
tog
od more 0,
mediate matters, your rector is living ---the De:
knows where— but still you contrived to senu,
and you tt.)sl
letter to him through the post-office,
himthe
sum
mat ifn ohlev Apvaiudldt
ogi vheistoti
tithe
ee
pprooocrteorf,
ythoeu
,Pvuoruh'
collect the money yourselves, and save him ar.Y, Mori,
trouble.—(Cheers.) Gentlemen, Mr. liu's(tt
is very plausible; but as you now complain o
tithe system, allow me to say, that if you adopt
Boyd's plan, you will just be where you Were !In
you started.—(Loud and long continued cheeriat
Mr. MORGAN afterwards addressed then meetti,
in an eloquent speech, in which he said —1
is
course which he is now taking, Mr. Boyd is t,
nothing but his duty. As a clergyman of the es
t,
church, he is under a solemn and sacred °:
ligation to support that church in all the riglit,!erre
munities, and possessions which had been en3o,
upon it by law. But while it is right for Mr. b,
to " stand by his order," let the people reel,
that they also have a duty to perform to thesheat''
and to their country. Mr. Boyd has stilted, that
I.ni
is painful to him to be obliged to put his lian•l,,
the pocket of the poor man, in order to obtal-,
subsistence. Most sincerely do I believe 1'1;
must be irksome to the feelings of any re° 7,a-
t I
not divested of humanity. He has also said t"
would rather put his hand into the pockets of tl
Downshire and Colonel Forde and those wil°lll4
law originally intended should bear the burtherli,i
the tithe. Most devoutly I believe 'lr. 13°P"; b
he makes this assertion. He would rather pd c
hand into the pockets of Lord Downshire °hat]
lone!
eii
yit tith
aniatdnodtsFhi
sOeat Tri dlapdieonc;ti
kintfegeo
there
elaotwlfel
dewut
thoil
ideul
htldahenfie
no
odtoi
necessityritdehre
pmtrhafefui
kl
se
for
rfof p
ot
proctor. But as sure as the rector puts
th
thrust his into the pockets of all the tient]
have not leases in perpetuity.—(Loud chee;;;ltt
Mr. Boyd has said, that his plan would ate
the tithe system in this country, to the s."-
which it exists in Scotland. Gentlemen, thered
not possibly be any similarity. In Scotian t
established religion is the religion of the r.q.r e,a; d
jority of the people : in Ireland, the theestablit';
ligion is the religion of the one-twentieth of e.
habitants. The revenues of the Irish Churl,:
blishment are nearly two hundred times t"„- tl
-
paid to the whole of the Scottish clergy; 'll.ll
before Mr. Boyd can show a similarity, h foot'
place the two establishments on the saute
with regard to income; a system of levelling W -
am sure, he is not prepared to advise. ds otrrclyrs