The Sun.
London, England, 1848-06-21 00:00:00

REFORM IN PARLIAMENT.

Ilr. HUME said, that after the exhibition which had
taken place on that day, as well as yesterday, he hoped lie
should be allowed to state that the public did take some in-
terest in this question.—(Hear, hear.) As far as his know-
ledge went, no arrangement or organisation whatever had
been entered into with the view of procuring signatures to
petitions, but he considered the language used by the Noble
Lord, in the short speech he made on a former occa-
sion, had given rise to the adoption
of the various petitions
which had been presented. He could assure the House and
,the Noble Lord that it was with the greatest reluctance that
be had been induced to bring' forward this question, as he
was aware of his inabilit
at ter much pressing. His been induced to do so
y, but he had
Honourable Friend near him
knew that it was at their suggestion that§
he had been in.
ulled to en-
deavour duced to do so at a meeting which had
been
country by
to avert evils which threatened(aear the'
a disturbance of the public peace.-
_(gear,
thought it also necessary to state, that although he had
bees sequested by a considerable body of Iti
bring the subject forward before the 10th of April, -that
lie had refrained from doing so; but after that time he
consented to do, so with the view of showing that the cant
of reform might be advanced in connexion with the proser.
vation of the public peace, in contradistinction to those who
by their conduct led to the commission of acts of violence. It
was not, then, until after the 10th of April he had resolved
to bring forward this subject. He believed there was much
greater precaution used npon that occasion than there was
any necessity for. But there was, at all events, exhibited a
readiness on the part of every class in the community, from
'the highest to the lowest, to come forward for the protec•
tion of law, peace, and order.—(Hear, hear.) And he (Mr.
Hume) knew nothing that was of greater importance than
the rendering of the civil law and power paramount, and the
military force unnecessary for the repression of civil disorder.
(Hear, hear.) On the occasion to which he was alluding he
believed it would hove been quite unnecessary, had any die-
turbance really arisen, to have employed a single soldier in
the metropolis. The display in support of law and
order by the citizens was highly creditable to the country
at large; and it should make the House listen the more at-
tentively to him (Mr. Hume) whilst he unfolded the propo-
sition, he was about to make, the object of which would be
to ensure still more safely the preservation of domestic
tranquillity. And whilst he stated what it was that led to
the affair of the 10th April, and what led.to all the breaches
of the peace on the part of those Radical Reformers called
Chartists, during the last ten years, it should be for the
House to consider—when they saw matters brought to such
a crisis as that of the 10th April—whether there was any
- just ground of complaint existing on the part of those who
sought to obtain an extension of the suffrage, and to pro-
cure a voice in the election of those who ruled the destinies
of their country; and further, if those grounds of com-
plaint were found to exist, whether it was not
the duty of the House of Commons to correct
those abuses as soon as possible. He thought that
all would agree with hi that the country was not in the
condition this year that it had been in during the last three
or four years, with regard either to trade or the revenue.
The circumstances which recently occurred had alto-
gether altered the condition of the working classes. This
country, which had been forward as an example, as
having a better form of cadoniFtntion than any other country
in the world—we, who hwholeasotfed that our Houses of Par-
liament represented the
the eole—bywet,hewhaoidhaodt
been accustomed to boast thmatemwe could, Parliament only, carry all
necessary for the
amelioration of the condition of their" that we could,
by the civil power alone, tvithoutphrPeasevivPn
ige—any recourse to
the military, repress tumult and e order—
had stood distinguished from thega•ette of wEe'urwopheo,
of
lihiashaid to have
almost all the countries of which mi
had military governments, and many
tary despotisms, many of which depended for
,nifietwoe.mfoilreil
the large armies they maintained, had recentlayu'ro,;:nd-P"
condition materially altered. We had, thought, our
that our military forces were required for our foreign
ps-
sions and the defences of our colonies mucl. more than
for service in this country. He (Mr. Name) was not
one of those, he begged to say, who thought there ought
, „ _