The Sun.
London, England, 1840-01-30 00:00:00

the Ballot, had delivered a speech of great power and great force
of reasoning against the Ballot. Such was the effect of it,
that the Hon. and Learned Member for Dublin, in a letter to
the people of Ireland, stated that after hearing that speech,
heshad retired to rest with a heavy and wounded heart, and
So many a bitter tear.—(Much cheering and laughter.)
powerful was the Noble Lord's speech, that it wrung tears
from the Hon. and Learned Member for Dublin. But that
sorrow only endured for a season. Joy returned with the
Morning, because, although the system of open questions was
not then introduced, the :Master-General of the Ordnance and
the Noble Lord, the Member for Stirling, were not
convinced by it, but voted in favour of the measure. Very
good discipline had been up to that time preserved in the ranks
of the Government with regard to voting, and the Noble Lord
would bear him out in his assertion, that one Hon, Member,
for having voted in favour of the abolition of slavery,
had been deprived of his office.—(Hear, hear.) That
showed that the Government was perfectly sincere
and would not allow such a breach of discipline —( Hear, hear.)
He held in his hand a document from which there could be no
ttpeal. A speech in that House might be delivered hastily--
Newspaper reports might be imperfect—but when a Secre-
tary of State sat down with deliberation to address his consti-
tuents, and printed his letter, after carefully revising it, from
that publication there could be no appeal. He held in his hand
the letter of the Noble Lord addressed to the electors of Stroud
sometime in the April of last year. The Right Hon. Gen-•
tlemen, the Member for Devonport, had complained that they
had given the Government no facts to grapple with, but if the
JHouse would allow him, he would supply them with a few.
he Right Hon. Gentleman had made an appeal to him ( Sir
s G.) with regard to the appeals made to popular feeling at
the time when the Reform Bill was in its agonies and struggles
for existence. He by no means denied that such appeals were
made, and with the knowledge and concurrence of all the
Members of the Government; and, adopting the phraseology of
the Noble Lord himself, that immense change was, in his opi-
nion, a revolution, but haply a bloodless one. He admitted
distinctly that on that occasion appeals were made to popular
support perhaps beyond the bounds of prudence, and certainly
(for he was not there to conceal or dissemble anything), he
would state frankly that they went to the very verge of law,
and perhaps beyond it. While he made that admission, and
he did so most frankly, he begged to warn the House of the
danger of repeating any such appeals directly or indirectly,
because after such an important change he would not sanction
any such appeals to popular force or feeling. The Noble Lord,
in his letter, said, " supposing a new enthusiasm
could be awakened, he was not ready to stir •the
cauldron by which it could be excited. The Reform
Bill had been carried under the auspices of Earl Grey. It had
been carried with the approbation of a large portion of the
House of Lords, and of many dispassionate Reformers through-
out the country, but for any new Reform Bill they would be
opposed by a majority of the House of Commons, by five-sixths
of the House of Lords and a large portion of the intelligence
of tihe country. It would be the means of raising up a multi-
of unknown leaders, while it arrayed against it the intelli-
gence and property of the country, and the attempt would he
sure to end in convulsion."—(Cries of " Hear, hear, hear.")
That was his opinion then, and he would go on. The Noble
Lord thea went on to say, " resistance must commence some-
where, and whenever resistance does commence, those who
call themselves Conservatives must vote with the party of re-
sistance." That was the declaration of the Noble Lord : he
saw the great danger of favouring further changes in the Con-
stitution of that House • but on the subject of the Ballot, he
said that it must absolutely, and of necessity, lead to Uni-
versal Suffrage ; he went on to say that it would give an ab-
"lute monarchy to the few, and it would give the middle
classes of this country an absolute victory —nay, monarchy
was his word, over all other classes, and it must lead to Uni-
versal Suffrage. That was the natural result.—(Cheers. )
They would try, said the Noble Lerd, to found a new Reform
Bill upon Triennial Parliaments, the Ballot, and Universal
Suffrage.—( Cheers. ) He could not impress upon the House
too strongly the expressed opinion of the Noble Lord. The
granting of the Ballot, must necessarily lead to the result of
,Universal Suffrage. Then he came to those changes of which
he complained, and for which it was impossible for him to vote
any confidence in the Ministry. Immediately after the Noble
Lord returned to office, by a very questionable proceeding—
(Cheers)—the Ballot was rendered an open question .for the
first time.—( Hear. ) He would not venture to give his own
Opinion of the nature of open questions—he would content
himself with a most terse and eloquent definition of them given
by Lord Brougham, and it entirely and fully expressed his opi-
nion. He said " Open questions are a cunning expedient for
those who are more anxious to keep their places than to do
their dutv."—(Loud cheers.) The Noble Lord had some time
to consider as to the nature of the strength he would add to his
Government—he had had the speech of the Hon. Member for
Edinburgh, from which he (Sir J. G.) had quoted for five
rmonths. The Hon Secretary of War was much respected by
im (Sir J. G.) for talent, but not so more than for integ-
ty—( Hear, hear.) In that speech he had made most
the
Manly declarations, and, while balancing most nicely
many, great and smell,
lidistinctions which did exist in the
various shades of falsehood; eat last declared in favour of the
Ballot—he leant to the falsehood of the Ballot.—( Hear, hear.)
Observe, the Noble Lord declared that the Ballot involved the
necessity of granting Universal Suffrage. The Hon. Secretary,
at War was not prepared to go that length—he was not pre-
pared to go even the length of Household Suffrage, but he was
quite prepared to do away the rating clauses—he was prepared
to change the 10/. household franchise into county voting.
Mr. MACAULAY—No, no.
Sir J. GRAHAM said the reported words were, " I also
believe that it might be proper to give the elective fran-
chise to every 101. householder, whether he resided within or
without the limits of any borough."—( Cheers, anti cries of
"No, no.") If it was consistent with the rules of the House
he would be most happy to hear the explanation of the Honour-
able Secretary at that time.—(Cries of "Go on.") He be-
lieved he had made a mistake.—( Cheers.) It was almost as
fine-drawn a distinction as that definition he had given of the
distinctions of falsehood. The words did not pledge the Hon.
Gentleman to it, but he believed the elective franchise might
safely be given to every ten-pound householder whether he re-
sided within or s'ithout the limits of a borough. Rut it mat-
tered not to the Noble Lord, for he did not hold that the Ballot
would lead to an extension of the Suffrage, but to Universal
Suffrage. Upon the question of an extension of the Suffrage
he would say that he could not fail to express his opinion, and
it went fully with the Noble Lord, who said it was the most
absurd and fallacious idea to imagine that by small additions to the
franchise they could ever give satisfaction and peaceto the great
masses of the people. In his opinion it was clear that the very
reverse would be the case. Every man felt that from which he
was.excluded to be of much more value than that to which he
was admitted, and just as it was brought near to his hopes it
rendered him the snore impatient of a refusal.—(Cheers.)
Small additions to the franchise was not the way in which the
question had been dealt with at the time of the Reform Bill.—
( Loud sheering.) At that time they gave a great and solid
addition to the Suffrage, once and for all.—( Cries of " Oh,
oh.") The Noble Lord was not prepared to shorten the dura-
tion of Parliaments. His colleague, the Hon. Member for
Edinburgh, was quite explicit upon the matter; he was not
prepared to support Triennial Parliaments, but he thought
Quadriennial Parliaments would be very proper—he was for a
new Parliament every four years, which at once involved the
repeal of the Septennial Act, of which the Noble Lord was an
ardent supporter. Now, he would ask, how it was possible for
the House, up en any one principle, to give its confidence to a
Government, when, upon matters of such importance, such
differences of opinion existed between the Noble Lord and
those whom he had admitted into his Cabinet?—(Cheers.)
There could be no mistake upon the matter, for the Govern-
ment had had five months to consider of the declared opinions
of the Hon. Secretary, before he had the proposition made to
him to enter the Cabinet, to which he had acceded. He re-
spected the talents of the Hon. Secretary at War—no one more
so—but he also respected his integrity, and it was evinced
from Windsor Castle.—(lmmense cheering.) From Windsor
Castle, upon the very day on which he was sworn in as a Mem-
ber of the Council, fearful that it might be thought that he had
compromised any one of his opinions, he sent his missive
dated from Windsor-Castle, to his most influential constituents,
with this express declaration, that he had compromised no one
Principle which he had expressed upon the hustings. It was
hardly generous, for he threw the whole weight of compromise
upon the shoulders of the Noble Lord and his Government.
The Hon. Secretary, in his letter, said " the change which
has taken place in my situation, has produced no change in my
opinions or feelings. I have accepted office, because I think
that in office I can more adequately promote the success of
those principles which recommended me to your favour."—
(Loud cheers.) The Hon. Member for Kilkenny cheered in
all joy, and well he might, for it was a most distinct triumph
t the Radical party.—( Cheers.) He admitted that, and, in
consequence, they might lose the Radical votes upon that oc-
casion, by the frank admission which he had made. But he
cared not for that ; by it the public would arrive at the exact
grounds upon whith they stood. The principles upon which
the Government now stood, were the Ballot, the Extension of
the Suffrage and a Repeal of the Septennial Act.—( Hear.)
He could understand why the Hon. Secretary should rejoice,
for he had obtained a signal triumph, but the Noble Lord near
him had sustained a signal defeat.—( Cheers.) Such being
the principles upon which the Government now stood, he would
ask what in principle, at that moment, was the difference be-
tween the Chartists and the Ministers ?—( Loud cheers.) The
Radicals not only gave them a triumph, but the Chartists also.
He would refer to a high authority upon that point, who had
spoken that night for the first time (Mr. Muntz), and he would
ask him what in principle was the difference between the
Ministry and the Chartists ?—( Immense cheering.) The first
article in the Charter was the Ballot—he had proved that that
was a principle sustained by the Ministry. The second article
was Universal Suffrage. He had the authority of the Noble
Lord for saying that if the first principle were granted the
second must follow. Upon the second point of the Charter,
then, they also agreed. The third article related to the quali-
fication of Membrs. Now be held in his hand the names of
six Members of the Government who had voted for the aboli-
tion of all property qualifications.—( Cheers.)
Mr. FOX MA.ULE—There is no property qualification in
Scotland.

Sir J. GRAHAM—The Under Secretary of State was very
anxious to set them right upon that point, but he was per-
fectly aware of the fact ; he lived close upon the border:, and
he hid seen the great good arising from it on the one side, and
the harm that had accrued from the want of it on the other.
He now returned to the point, and he would read to them the
names of the Members of whom he had spoken. The first
was the Gallant Admiral the Member for Clackmannan ; the
rzcond the Hon. Memberfor Ross-shire; the next was the Hon.
Member for the Tower Hamlets, who had been recently ad-
mitted into her Majesty's Councils., The third Member
Was Lord Ebrineton, the present Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland.—( Hear, hear.) Then there was the Honourable
Member for the Jedburgh Burghs, and that was the same Hon.
Gentleman who had run riot on the Ballot question.—
(Laughter on the Opposition benches.) He was sure
the. Chartists would now be completely satisfied when
he informed the House who was the sixth Member—
it was her Majesty's Attorney- General.—( Loud cheers
and laughter on the Opposition benches.) He would
now return to the fifth point on which the Chartists in-
sisted—be meant the payment of Members. If that, however,
were the only matter of dispute, he believed the question
might, without much difficulty, be concluded. He had already
gone through the main opinions of the Chartists, and he had
given three principles on which the Chartists and her Majesty's
Ministers did not differ; and if they did not differ he appealed
to the House if that were an Administration by winch the
country should be governed. —(Loud cheers from the Opposi-
tion benches.) But the doctrine of Ministers on the Ballot
had not been unproductive, and those open questions had led
to dangerous fruits. It was not a barren one—and the
Honourable Member might well feel overjoyed that the
happy day was approaching which he desired should soon
some, when the Ballot would not be merely an open
question._( Hear, hear.) The last Member of the Government
introduced into the House was so anxious to give effect to the
theories of the Administration under which he was serving,
that he consented to submit to the test of the Ballot not only
his claim to represent the borough, but even his right to out
himself forward as a candidate.—(Loud cheers from the Op-
position benches.) He would now say that it was the duty of
all Members on his side of the House who were bound to the
principles which the Noble Lord opposite had so p ,werfully
professed, to vote against an Administration thus constituted;
It was the duty of all who were anxious to preserve the esta-
blished institutions of the country, and the properties of indi-
viduals. He really thought that the Judge Advocate was not
Justified when he hail complained of the statements and charges
against the Government. He (Sir James Graham) had at
present by no means exhausted the catalogue, though he might
have exhausted the patience of the House.—(Cries of "No no.") He charged the Government withhaving both directly'
and indirectly given encouragement to the Chartists. —(Che r