The Sun.
London, England, 1823-01-28 00:00:00

great influence which every great landed proprietor enjoyed in
his neighbourhood some centuries back; and that, in fact, was
the real and only influence they possessed, and not that kind
Of corrupt influence of which Mr. S. Wortley spoke recently
at York, as having existed four hundred` years ago. Under
• formnf government the possession of great wealth, used
as it ought, would continue to have its proper influence ;
but it would be begging the whole question to assume that
because they must have some, they ought to have more than
was. consistent with the principles of the Constitution._
(Hear, hear !)—The Noble Lord who that day honoured the
meeting with his presence and enlightened it b' his eloquence,
had that influence which ought to attach to his rank, station,
and character; .but he was willing to make a sacrifice for
the public good.—(Cheers.)—His Lordship knew full well
that a Reform in Parliament would not exclude the sons of the
Nobility from seats in the House of Cornuintvi, if they possessed
the talents to snake them useful in the service of the public.
But one of the evils arising freom the want of reform was, that
we had dolts and. dandies sent into Parliament, merely because
they were' sprigs of heir !)H-They might, it
waseene, be very respectable men of the fancy, or as members
of a four-in-band club figure away on the' box of a barouche,
but they were as little calculated to perform efficiently the.du.
ties of Legislators, as Caligula's horse 'to discharge' those of a
Consul—(Applause and, laughter)--eXcept indeed that, like
him, they would be quite ready to pick .up:the golden oats.—
(Hear, hear ! )—They had lately heard a great deal 'about the
violation of vested rights which would result from a reform : ,was
it possible to suppose that Hampden bled in the field and Sid-
ney died on the scaffold for the sake of granting to a few oh-
garchs that power which ought only to belong to a whole pee-
. ple ? Was this the Constitution ? Was it given by any known
law ? He could'find no such statute. Nevertheless, the'cry
was as loud if one of those old. abases was approached, as if
its existence had been guaranteed by the most sacred law of
the land. "Do not touch Old Sarum," • cried one—" It has
• existed in its present state during the best deers •of the country.
Tt is a vested righeof which you have no right to• deprive the
• possessor." But who, he asked' again; gave the vested right
in Old Sarum, which nutralized 'the votes of the-county of
Wilts? But the great cry of the anti-reformers uttered by
the mouth of their apostle was, " The system works well,
and the country has been carried through her difficulties
under it.' It was, indeed, true, it did work 'well, but how?
It enabled the few to -work the money well out of the pockets
or the many.—(Applause.)— This reminded him of an anec-
dote which he had lately heard of a dignitary of the church in
Spain—that country against whole rising liberties they stow
saw a band of friars, welling themselves' the Army of the
Faith, and a gang of crowned despots, mis-named the Holy
Alliance, entering into diabolical Assodatione.—(Applause.)—
it was not the holding up their hands in support of the petition
of that•day which would' be sufficient. - They must persevere :
let them imitate the exatilple of their ancestors, whose perse-
[ verance was active, until they accomplished their glorious ob-
ect—the emancipation of their country. It should be relevant-
! !bored,' that they had powerful adversaries, to. whom circum-
stances gave many advantages. They had nine points in their
favour. They had got possession, ay, possession of the stolen
gouda; and it should be. the business of reformers to imitate the
example of the poor widow with the unjust Judge—to worry
them until justice was done.-,(Cheers.)—They should noteease
eo worry their adversaries until they had got the stolen goods
Out of their poseession. • • . • • •
Mr. M °etc x (the Member for Reading) came forward and
was received with cheers. After what they had already heard
on the important subject before them, he would not trouble
them with many observations. He would only say, in addle
tion to what had been observed by the Noble Lord, that
the situation of our • Representative System was very different
in the present day from what it was four centuries back (the
period, which sonic of the anti-reformers compared with the
present. Since that time, since the Revolution, we had two
most important changes in the, Commons House of Parlia-
ment. , The first was the union of. Scotland with this•conntry.
The next, that of Ireland. Let the Meeting consider the
effect of those two most important alterations. By the first,
forty-five Scottish Members were added to the House of Com.
mons. Hew .the, great majority of those members were 'elected,
was well known. The whole of the elections for the Scotch
burghs was by corporations the members of which, in turn,
• eleCted each other. This system was so general,, that an hide-
pendent member for a Scotch burgh was a rarity which they
seldom saw. It was exemplified in what took place in the
borough of Montroie: The ahuties there were so great, that
new 4:hurter was 'given, by which the franchise was some-
what extended. The consequence was, that the electors re-
tinned an independent Irian. They sent Mr. Hittite-to Par.
neteeete—(Applause.)--Froni this they mightdie of the
.effect which a reform would produce in Scotland. If all the
Scotch burghs which were now under the influence of the Crbwn,
or of individuals who acted with Ministers, were reform.
ed, we should is far as Scotland was concerned have a House I
very differently constituted from what it was at present, be-
cause the people of that country Were not enemies to reform.
On the contrary,•they were generally the warm friends of eco-
ninny and reform ' • and when we saw the Scotch burghs sending
'thesupportere of Ministers as their reprementatives, it should
-be ascribed too-this—thet in most cases those members were
chosen for and not by the people.—(Cheers.)—The union of
Ireland was the next•great change to which he had alluded. By
that act 100 members were added to the House of Commons.
But how were, they chosen ? In Scotland the great evil in the re.
piesentation urine from the small number of electors. In Ire-
land the same effect was produced by a different cause. There
the evil was in the'great number of voters, in consequence of the
manner in which they acquired their qualifications. In that
country the man of the largest property generally nominated
the Members for the county. Some landed proprietors had
30,000 or 40,000 persons on their estates, to whom they gave
qualifications, in order to vote as they should be directed ; so„
'that, in faet, it was not an election, but a nomination, which
generally took place in that country: If reform .would not
eome to them, they must go to reform. They had already some
experience that petitions alone would not be sufficient•to ob.
ttaM their great object; for where was the county in England,
which within the last 30 years, had net petitioned for reform ;
and what had been the result e They had been all retitled and
sand
lie neglected on the table of-the House. Reformers,
then, should do more. • What did they ask by petition ? They
asked a House of Commons, such as we had, to reform itself !
They might as well ask the wolf to give up its prey. The result
• would be the satne,--(Cheers.)—What, then, were they to do ?
If they continued to aseernble in that place from year to year;
•to agree to resolutions and a 'petition, and then disperse, they
would not assist the cause; they would only expose themselves
to ridicule. It was necessary that they, should not only talk
• well, but act well, and let the action be suited to the word.—
Let him not be misunderstood. He did pot recommend the use
of physical force. Ile would not have the Reformers attack the
Horse Guards. There the Government was invincible. But
he would have them attack the system where it was yidn r
• able. At the present moment the Government could
note
hike more from them than ten millions a year in direct t x ,
. but to meet the &mantle, to keep the eystem up, it 4 Wens
necessary that they should have 60 millions in addition Those
, Gil mullions, ,or,the greatest- part of them, might, if the people
had the firmness to do it, be withheld. • , They were; in fact;
• made uP of.'he might call them voluntary Contributions to the
State, for they consisted in taxes, not upon necessaries, but
superfluities. The only chance the people had of reform
• was, that the extravagance of Government had rendered
•it dependent upon them for its maintenance. The people
• had thus the means in their power of putting an end to
the extravagance, and the system together. This could be
done by associations in different parts of the
country agree.,
ing not to consume certain superfluous articles from
the Chancellor of the Exchequer derived his
greatestlrue ewhich
Let them haye none of his wares. He sold at entirely
, high a price—a price which included not only a great portion
of the people's property, but also of their liberties.. (Cheeee.).....
By abstaining twat any farther purchase, they would not only
save their money, but so weaken the forces of their adversaries,
as to ensure a final triumph in a full and' fair representation.
• :The best way was to starve the enemy into compliance—(Heer !)
This was, in his opinion, the only effectual means within
their power. At present be would not develop the plan farther.
When this petition, as lie was certain it would, should be
refused by the House, they would then assemble to deliberate
upon what farther steps were to be taken. At that meeting he
would explain himself farther on the subject. He would spew
historically the effects of such a remedy. He would prove that,
by denying ourselves a few ordinary gratifications, we might
reduce the piesent resources of the Chancellor of the Excite=
, quer from 00 to RI or 12 millions. Let not the present be look-
tipen as the cessation of their efforts. They had a glorious
cause to induce theme.° proceed and let it biecollected that,
if they relaxed, they must expect the following up of that
change of property to which the Noble Lord had alluded' and
which would leave them without remedy and without hone
It Should than be their constant endeavour to urge their claims
_by the means he lied pointed out, always bearing in mind that
upon the success of their efforts depended the salvation of their
country from utter ruin.--(Cheers.)
The question was than put and agreed to; there being 'only
- two hands held up against it.
Considerable applause followed the declaration, that the peti-
tion was carried with only two dissentients.
Mr. EYSTON said, that those individuals who thus ex-
Pressed their dissent by their vote, acted in a fair and manly
Hi is mariner. He then moved that the petition be signed by the
Sheriff, on behalf of the meeting.
This was put and carried.
He next moved, that the petition be declared...." A petition,
. agreed to, with only two disientients, ate meeting of the county
Of erks."—Agreed Air. F. PalderEn said he did pot mean to co
ptradiet the as.