The Sun.
London, England, 1831-04-23 00:00:00

no USE OF LORDS.

Their Lordships began to assemble at two o'clock, prin-
cipally dressed in their robes. Among the earliest in al-
tendsnce were the Duke of Cumberland, the Archbishop
of Canterbury, Lord Durham, Lord Canricari:l*,
Grey, and Lord Wharncliffe, whore motion rot an Address
to his Majesty not to dissolve Parliament stood for this
day. The greater part of their Lordships, however, were
unrobed, on account of the suddenness of the announce•
meat of the King's intention to come down to the Hots:.
The number of Peers in attetldance was v! !.%,y tiftat. A
considerable number of Peerease* were st.atca on the Op-
position Benches-. Prayer*, trek* read at half-past two by
the Bisho^e ot Exeter, he following sentence was taken
as B:eplicable passing events :—" Let the people praise
thee; yet, let the whole people praise thee."
The LORD CHANCELLOR entered the House at
Twenty minutes before Three o'clock, and immediately
took his seat.

The Duke of GORDON presented a petition from the
royal borough of Forres against Reform.—(This ce.tit'ed
universal laughter.)
A few other petitions were pretent?:: on the same sub-
ject, and the subject of the &er Bill.

- The LORD CHANCELLOR theu left the Woolsack,
and withdrew into the room behind, in which he was to
receive hie Majesty,

Earl SHAF' TESBURY was immediat•ly called to the
Chair.

On taking the Chair,
Lord WHARNCLVITE rose and said he believed there
was no duty—
The Doke of RICHMOND immediately rose to order,
and said that he should move that the Standing Order
of the House be read that Noble, Lords should
be seated in their proper places•--(Cries of " Hear, hear,"
and " Order, order")—fot he observed Noble Earls sitting
next to one of the benches of junior Barons.
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY rose to order.
The Marquis of CLANRICARDE rose to order at the
same time.

The LORD CHIEF BARON also rose, and made use
of some expression that was inaudibly heard.
The Duke of RICHMOND said that if such language
was made use of in that Huse, he should also move that
the standing order he read that no off:•nsive language
should he used by Noble Lords in that House.—(Hear,
beer, hear, end gnat confusion.) Amidst which the
Marquis of Londonderry's voice was uppermost, calling
not that he rose to order.

The Marquis of LONDONDERRY would he glad to
know from the Noble Duke opposite what offensive lan-
guage had been made use of by the Noble Chief Baron.
The Marquis of CLANRICARDE called out that the
Noble Duke under him had not said the Noble Chief Baro❑
had used offensive language.
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY observed that if the
?defile Duke thought he Vitl, to be the only hero in this
coup detat, he should find himself very much mistaken.
—(Loud tries of " Order of the Day," Lout Wharncliffe
standing on the floor.)
Something like silence having beets obtained,

Lord WHARNCLIFFE said he was in his situation
as a Peer of that House, and he should take the
liberty of demanding to be heard. He had given
notice of a motio❑ which he should not now preface,
bnt which be should, according to the notice,
take leave to read. The terms of the motion were
to the gtreet, that an humble address be presented to
his Majesty, humbly rTresenting to his Majesty that his
loyal subjects the Lords Spiritual and Temporal bad heard
with anxiety the report that adissolution of Parliament was
about to take place, and imploring his Majesty not to pro-
rogue or dissolve Parliament at the present juncture, as
under thepresent excitement which prevailed in Ireland, and
througheot Great Britain, it would be likely to lead to
great danger to the Crown, and prevent that calm and
deliberate discussion of the subject which its importance

demanded.
The LORD CHANCELLOR at this moment entered
the House, and immediately addressing it said, with great
emphasis---" I never yet heard that the Crown ought
not to dissolve Parliament whenever it thought fit, parti-
cularly at a moment when the House of Commons had
thought fit to take the extreme and unprecedented step of
refu.ing snpplies.—(Loud cries of " hear, hear," and " the
King, the King." Immense confusion, and the Lord
Chancellor immediately left the House to meet the King
before his entering to take his seat on the throne.)
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY called lustily again,
and his calls were accompanied by those of others, for
Lord Shaftesbury to take the Chair.

Lord SHAFTESBURY took the Chair amidst cries of

" Order, order ; Chair, chair ; Order of the day, order of
the day; Shame, shame; the King, the King." It is
impsosilde to describe the confusion, blustering, and impe-
tuo.ity that prevailed from one end of the House to the
other. No election meeting could present a greater scene
of confusion short of one in which actual blows were pass-
ing. At lam
Lord MANSFIELD obtained silence, and said
that he never, in the whole course of his life, had
witnessed such a scene, and he trusted he never would
see the like ag tin. He had heard with astonishment
that it was incumbent on the King to dissolve Parliament.
when the House of Commons had taken the extreme and
unprecedented step of refusing supplies. He desired
to use no intemperate expression ; but as far as God
had given him, perhaps, an imperfect share of understand-
ing, he felt that the King and the country was now to be
placed in a most awful predicament, such as it never
had been in before. He would not accuse his Majesty's
Ministers with any thing like a want of charity, but he
did accuse them of weakness, and of conspiring together
against the sa'ety of the State, and of making the
Sovereign the instrument of his own destruction.—
(Hear and great confusion.) Upon the question of Reform
he had not stated his opinions, because the Bill had
not been before that House, and because he would not
entrust himself upon it, as he thought the probability
was that the Bill never would come there—that it must,
as it had done, close the last of those inglorious
aberrations—those theories—untenable speculations of
Ministers who had been merely distinguished for inca-
pacity, never observed before.—(Cheers from one part of
the House.) This was oneof the measures suggested by the
factions of a disturbed county. It was the result
of the Councils of those who had advised the King to
adopt a plan of Reform such as they themselves had
never before thought of, such as they had never hoped to
carry, and such as when they presented it to Parlia-
ment, presented it merely to shew that they redeemed
their pledge, applying, at the same time, with mendicant
inthnidity to their antagonists to suggest a better plan. It
was not a dissolution of Parliament, but it was what they
themselves candidly confessed they wished to have, namely,
a reformed House of Parliament, from which alone
they could expect what they desired to have ; and
their desire in the first instance was to have a reticle-

tion of taxes, which they knew could not take place, with-
out a previous reduction of the National Debt; next the
reduction of sinecures, next the reduction of salaries, and
next the appropriation of that species of property, which
has hitherto been called Church property, to an entirely
different purpose. First of all too, they wanted
that every householder in the kingdom, paying
scot and lot, should have a vote, and that
that vote should be by ballot, which they in their
reformed view considered right. Now, he was ready
as a Peer to give his advice to the King, and if he
were complained of for having interested views, he could
not complain, because much more worthy persons than
himself had been similarly represented. He had thought
it his duty to state to his Majesty, and his Majesty
had been roost graciously pleased to hear him, that
if he should be unfortunately advised to assist the pro.
gives of the measure of Reform that had been
introduced inatotnht,e House of Commons, by giving his
assent to it if it passed the Houses of Parliament. Should
he
eves in a considerably amended shape,
though he could not predict either the manner or
the gradations of the attack, yet that he (Lord Mansfield)
was certain an attack would immediately
afterwards
be made upon the credit of the country.....upon the

National Debt—upon the privilege and upon the existence
of that House, and, at last, upon the privileges of the Crown
itself—those privileges which the Crowh did not hold
for its own benef.ty b t for the happiness and
interests tif the people, with which it was hap-
ily and intimately connected. He had a pleasure
in repeating this at a time when popular ch:-.llo'n'r was
at its height, and if, in WS t7armth he had ex-
pressed any thing t'..e.t.t personally offensive to any
individuel.ttere the cries of " The King, the King, the
_kini;,," were heard, and a loud voice sounding out—
" God save the King," and at that instant the
large doors were thrown open on the ritltt hind
side of the Throne, and silence hst•inr, lien. instantly
tained, his Majesty acninpabiedl. hieatfendants, entered
the Holier-, fiis Majesty mounted the Throne with a Alin
erep) steted him3elf, and immediately kWed, to thcxe
on the right and fere, sayThg btged their Lord-
ships to be rated; -!e'eral Bills then obtained
the Royld ieeen-, amongst which were the Civil List Bill,
t}.e Co':iniy Rates Bill, the River W'ye Navigation Bill, the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway Bill, the Preston Rail-
way Bill, and a great number of private Bills.
His Majesty wore the uniform of an Admiral, and after
the Bills h td received the royal asseht, and the Members
of the House of Common) hid been summoned
tc-, and appeared tlit the Darr Itis Majesty after
putting 'On hiS -glasses; reed the following speech in the
matsrtii, and audible manner, so as to be heard
with rtnre ease and accuracy than probably any speaker
who ever uttered a word in that House:—
" My LORDS AND GENTLEMEN!,

" I have come to tn'4.et for the purpose of pro-
roguing t!ih!parliament, with a view to its immediate
qislorUtion.

" I have been induced to resort to this measure for the
purpose of ascertaining the sense of toy people, in the
way in which it can he most constitutionally and autheo,
tically expressed, on the expediency of making such
changes in the representation as circumstanced may appear
to require, and which, founded upon the acknowledged prin-
ciples of the Constitution, may tend at once to uphold the
just right. and prerogatives of the Crown, and to give
tecurity to the liberties of the people.
" GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS,

" I thank ynu for the provision you have made
for the maintenance of the honour and dignity of
the Crown, and I offer you my special acknowledg-
ments for the arrangement you have made for
the state and comfort of my Royal Consort. I have also
to thank you for the supplies you have furnished
for the public service. I have observed with sa-
tisfaction your endeavours to introduce a strict ec,--
nomy into every branch of that service, and I trust
that the early attention of a new Parliament, which
I shall forthwith direct to be called, will be applied to the
prosecution of that itupot tent subject.
" MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,

" I am happy to inform you that the friendly inter.
course which exists between myself and Foreign Powers
affords the Lest hopes of the continuance of peace, to
the preservation of which my most anxious endeavours
will he constantly directed.
" MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,

" In resolving to recur to the sense of my people
in the present circumstances of the country, I have
been influenced only by a paternal anxiety, for the content-
ment and happiness of my subjects, to promote which I
rely with confidence on your continued and z,alous as-
sistance."

Then the LORD CH.& NrzLLoR, by his Majesty's com-
mand Paid,

" My Lords and Gentlemen,—lt is his Majesty's royal
will and pleasure that this Parliament be prorogued to
Tuesday, the lOth day of May next, to be then here holden,
and this Parliament is accordingly prorogued till Tuesday
the lOth day of May next."
As soon as his Majesty had concluded he descended from
his chair, and returned into his room.

Earl Grey bore the sword of state, and the Lord Chan-
cellor stood at the King's right hand holding the purse. A
great number of other noblemen attended and surrounded
his Majesty while on the Throne. All parties then im-
mediately left the House, and it is utterly impossible even
to attempt to describe the countenances of the Anti-Re-
formers.

Thus ended the sittings of the Parliament which begb.,
by ousting the Duke of Wellington's Ministry for opposing
Reform, and ended by refusing the Supplies to a Ministry
that is friendly to Reform.
His Majesty immediately proceeded to the Palace, and
was again every where greeted on his return with enthu-
siastic cheers. The people calling out, " Down with
Boroughrnongering," "We thank your Majesty," God
bless your Majesty for thinking of your people," " Lung
live King William."