The Sun.
London, England, 1823-01-30 00:00:00

COURT OF COMMON COUNCIL.

court of Common Council was lielttyester-
Lay, pursuant to a,flequisition which hail been addressed to the
LORD MAYOR, by Mr. Alderman WAITIMANT and others,
calling upon him to assemble such a Court, for the purpose of
its taking into consideration the question of Parliamentary
Reform.
After some ordinary business, of no public interest, had been
dispatched,
The Lonn -Matron opened the business of the day; but
propoied that, before this should be proceeded in 4 the President
and other Members of the Philanthropic Society, should be
heard arthe bar in support of their Petition to the Court, pray.
ing an abatement of the sum at which the purchase money had
been fixed for some freehold ground held by the Society under
the City-of London, and 'for the purchase of which the Society
hid been some time in treaty.
After sonic difficulty, suggested by Mr..Drxow, the pro-
posal of his Lordship was agreed to, and AIL llosanquet, as
President of the Society, accompanied by several other Mem-
bers of it, appeared at the bar, and addressed the Court
at some length in support of the Petition for an abatement of
the purchase money. fie relied principally upon the fact that
the Society wan one. of publicinterest generally, and of local
interest in particular to the Corporation, inasmuch as the ob-
ject of the ,Society was to diminish the number of criminals in
the metropolis. The worthy and respectable Ilentlernan ivas
very favourably received by the Court. The further confide.
ration of the subject was then poitponed, and thi Court pro.
ceeded to the object of the Requisite

obje,. nequisition.
PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.
Mr. Alderman WAII'II MAN said, that before he addressed
limself to this Court on the subject which had called them to-
gether, he should beg to move that the 'Resolutione adopted by
the Court' on the question of Parliamentary Reform in the year
1017, should be read by the Town Clerk.
They were read accordingly; and in substance complained
of " Extravagance in the Expenditure of Public Money,"
Sinecures," and "a Standing Army in Time of Peace,' as
grievances, and as solely attributable to a want of the proper
Representation of the 'People in Parliament.
Mr. Alderman Warelisiate proceeded. The proceedings of
the Court which had been just read, were part only of a series
of proceedings that had been taken by the Court on the same
subject for several years ; and showed that the opinion of the
Court on that subject had been uniform and steady. The im-
portance of the subject had, however increased, and appeared
to be daily increasing. For his own' part, he considered that
the salvation of the country depended upon the Parliament
being reformed. The people had lost the best securities af-
forded them by the Constitution ; and these securities had been
Intended for the preservation of liberties which had been ob-
tabled by the people, always against the will of their enemies.
The subject of Parliamentary Reform admitted of much de-
clamation; but he should confine himself to a statenient of
facts; facts so imporiant and extraordinary that he was happy
to know he was not compelled to ask the Court to receive
them on his own personal credit. Their truth had been as,
certained by the Committee appointed by tbe Court to take
this important subject into consideration ; and to suggest the
best means of promoting the wishes of the Court in favour
of a Parliamentary Reform. That the country was in a state
of unexampled distress it waTunnecessary to prove; indeed,
whole Counties had expressed opinions which he should twenty
years ago have been actually hooted for uttering. At that
time, twenty years ago, the distress of the commercial part of
the nation wet' loudly .complained of, and was met by the
great landlords,' by a declaration that every thing in general
_was very flourishing, and a recommendation to the landlords
to practice " patience." The distress then complained of was
similar to that' which was now felt by the great landlords
themselves. Towards them, however, lie deprecated the ex-.
pression of any unkind feeling whatever ; his object was „not
to excite irritatiou, but to encourage an union of sentiment
and exertion among all classes towards the ateomptiehment of
the' great and leditable object. All classes were etrected by
public measures in the end, though the scales might, fir a mo-
ment, be turned in favour of one or other of the great public
interests. In answer to the complaints of the people respecting
the defective state of the'. representatiOn, they were generally
called upon to propose what was called a " specific reroe.dy."—
This, he contended, Os perfectly absurd ;- for there might be