The Sun.
London, England, 1851-04-03 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, April 2.
COXPOUND HOUSEHOLDERS BILL.
(Continued from our Afternoon Edition of yesterday.)
Mr. NEWDEGATE said he was anxious to protect
the honest voter from the intrusion of a foreign influ-
ence. The present clause would have the effect of put-
ting a number of fictitious voters on the register, who
would simply take a lodging, and reside at it only at the
particular times mentioned. In this way large bodies of
electors might be brought to vote at elections from many
distant counties. He therefore proposed, in order to
obviate the evil, to insert words making it compulsory on
the lodger to pay the taxes himself.
After some observations from Mr. WILLIAMS,
Sir W. CLAY said the amendment of the Hon. Gen-
tleman would affect the whole principle of the Bill.
The amendment was ultimately withdrawn, and clause 1
agreed te.
After a brief discussion, clause 2 and the preamble
was agreed to, and the House resumed.
Mr. SPOONER gave notice that, when the report was
brought up, he shoul,l move an cmondment to the Bill.
FALKIRK BURGHS.

The SPEAKER informed the House that he had that
day received a letter from Mr. James Coppock, agent
for the petition against the return for the Falkirk Burghs,
ghatoig that it was not th© intention of the parties to
proceed with thn petition.—(Hear, hear.)
COUNTY FRANCHISE BILL.

Mi. LOCKE KING claimed the indulgence of the
House, as in moving the .second reading of this Bill,
ho felt he did so under somewhat peculiar circum-
stances, and under some difficulties. He deeply regretted
that when he obtained a majority of votes on asking
for leave to ' bring in the Bill the names of her
Majesty's Ministers did not appear in that majority,
but he was confident that no one thing was
more calculated to strengthen the Government and
render them more popular, than a disposition on their
fart to extend the franchise, evinced by their desire to
support the simple, fair, and just measure which he now
proposed.—(Hear, hear.) He knew very well that
its had been blamed by one or two gentlemen
for pressing the House to a division on
that occasion, but he begged to assure the Hon. Gentle-
men and the House that he never intended his motion
for a mere show, a mere sham, or a flash in the pan;
he always intended it as a reality; he felt that great in-
terests were at stake—that the great cause of free trade
was endangered by the great diminution which had taken
' place in the county constituency. He never had the
least. intention, he assured the Government, of embar-
rassing them in any way. Could it be supposed that he
wished to see the Hon. Gentleman for Buckingham-
shire occupying the post which was filled by the Noble
Lord' on the Ministerial benches ? for he must
ay, that if ha were to wish a violent
.!and a
scou;plCte revolution to be effected in our institutions—
if he were to wish to see protection established as a
means of area-inn, such a revolution in the country—
then perhaps he would desire to see that Honourable
Gentleman occupying that bench. Ho must say,
however, that those who advocated the cause
of reform stood in a much better position in
consequence of that division than they had ever done
before—(Hear)—for they had had an admission of the
necessity of a substantial extension of the suffrage, not I
only by a majority of two to one of the Members of the
House, but also by the subsequent statement of two of
the 'most eminent and distinguished statesmen.
—(Hear, hear.) one of those statesmen—the
Notia Lord (Lord John Russell) who voted
against the measure, admitted at the same time—
" I do not think any reasonable objection can be
urged against the class of persons the Hon. Member
proposes to entrust with the franchise. I admit at
once that they are persons who, if they aro entrusted
with the elective franchise, will probably use it
with intelligence and integrity." The other statesman
to whom he alluded, the Right Hun. Gentleman the
Member for Ripen, gave an indirect admission of the
same 'kind by abstaining from voting. But he had had
the satisfaction of having had since an avowal both
from the Noble Lord and the Right Honourable
Gentleman. The Noble Lord, he thought he might say,
was actually in advance of his Cabinet. The Noble
Lord sal "he not only possessed the outline of a plan,
but the. er various discussions with the members of
his Ca , they all agreed in opinion that it was not
advisable to introdnce such a Bill this ses-
sion." Now, he begged the House to mark
theGe words:—" He confessed he came to that
conclusion, having previously held a different opinion,
but he came to that conclusion in conjunction with all
his colleagues." The; Right Hon. Gentleman the Mem-
ber for Ripon also said, " that, for his part, he had no
objection to the extension of the suffrage." However,
both the Noble Lord and the Right Honourable Gen-
tleman said the greatest caution was required. In
that he P.N. King) could only say that be most fully
and entirely concurred.—(Hear, hear.) It seemed to
him that the genius of the country had been hovering
over the Noble Lord and Right Hon. Gentleman, and
that those who at one time united together and brought
forward the :Reform Bill, and thus, humanly
speaking, saved the country, were about to unite
again for the purpose of passing another Reform Bill,
and that they would hereafter be again looked to as
statesmen who had saved the country from a second im-
pending crisis.—(Hear, hear.) It seemed also a good
omen to have such an admission made by the only
twe surviving members of the Cabinet which
carried the iisferin Btll, airnitting, as it were, that the
works of their own hands had been put in the balance
and found wanting.—(licar, hear.) Having these nil- I
missions before nim, it certainly did seem somewhat
anomalous and singular that the Noble Lord should
suggest that they should wait twelve month; before a
measure, whose necessity he rebni:ted, should b 3 con-
sidered by the House. The admission of the Noble
Lord would alienate himself and his Cabinet from the
Ilan. Gentlemen opposite. lie must no longer look for
support from the Tory party, but must for the future rest
on the Whigs and Liberals,and, ea he did in the case of the
Reform Bill, on the people of England. For his part, he
bad great confidence in the Noble Lord producing such
a scheme as he declared to be necessary, and he treqed
that when it did come it :mild satisfy the people of Eng-
land. lie would introduce into it another
Schedule A (like that in the Reform Bill), to
disentranchise those small boroughs which were inca-
pable of that sort of virtue which attached to large elec-
torsi bodies. liis great argumrnt for this measure lay
in the fact that daring the last ten years a de-
crease had taken place in the franchise of the counties
of no less than 95,000, while in the boroughs the number
bad increased 378,000. At the taking of the last census
the number of voters was one in eighteen of the whole po-
pulation. That ratio still remains the came in the borouehs,
but in the counties it had diminished to 1 in 22. His great
desire was, therefore, that the loon am of voters on the
register should keep pace with the increase of the popu-
lation. He hoped there would be no delay in granting a
measure of this kind, because experience showed that
the postponement of any concession entirely destroyed
any grateful effects which it might have upon the minds
of tee people, and it was regarded as a measure ex-
torted from an unwilling Lagislature. It was con-
ceded
on all hands that the class to whom the
franchise was proposed to be extended were perfectly
deserving of it, and no one bad thought of saying a
word a.eainst them. The Hon. Gentleman then con-
cluded abyTruovirig the second reading of the Bill.
Mr: 'lath -211ILIP HOWARD supported the Bill, because
it would confer the franchise on a number of profes-
sional men of education and ability, who were now
deprived of it. It must he remembered that this Bill was
nos to supersede any part of the franchise,
but would
comprise in it a
,large
Proportion of the intellect, the con-
stituti9nal knowledge, and the professional skill of the
country.
MrnFOX MAULE hoped that after the declaration
which had fallen from the Noble_ Lord the Primo
Minister on a late occasion the Iltrn.
uentmailunirththere
Member fang East Surrey would not
press
progress of this Bill during the present sesseinotnl.ma
that
n
tirelly concurred with the Honourable e ens
G
the class of persons to whom the franchise was pro
to be extended was one in every way worthy of it, and
it was notson the ground of any unworthiness that he
at present °posed the further progress of the Bill. His
own opinion was, that if they were to meddle with the
Reform Bill—and he agreed that the time was come when
the conduct of the people, and the proofs they had given
of their abilities to exercise the privilege of the franchise
gave hssurance that an extension of the franchise might
be contemplated with safely—there must be a complete
union among those who desired to extend that great
maastge.—(tlcer, hear.) The Noble Lord at the
licea . of the Government had, in a late de-
bate,.
given the House and the country most
distinctly
to understand, that not only in his opinion had
such a period arrived, but that he himself would have
leered ueed some raeacure for the purpose in the present
session, had nos other measures intervened, which must
have rendered
it impossible to have passed it this year.
Circumstances
had —occurred which had brought
matters under discussion in
that House, which he de-
tied any person to gay would be brought to any speedy
termination. The Ecclesiastical Titles Bill was one in
which the people tookas deep an interest
as any extension of tislieintseufr 3
e.
That House
was pledged, also, to a soeahure o
such
rf r the admission
of Jews into Parliament, and n"
whew the Noble Lord, than whew
circumstances,
none more deserved
the encomium of abiding by every
madw to the House, when
tentinia of himself bringing in a`i signified his in
he r. 1): Promise which. be.
extension of the franchise in the nextasCl:wselaosnl,lthe
hoped that the Hon. Gentleman
psessithe further progress of the Bill. °V not now
measure
earnestly
'r
44bereonsideration, too, which ought to hhee.Te was an-
alterving
feet on him, and that was the necessity of a some ef-
union among the , friends of reform.—
must be remembered that there was a pow
it
pasty, in that House entirely opposed tr
reforms in thin a.rection, and if the Hon. Gentlemanall
eersiated in dividing the great party, which alone could
carry• such a reform as this, the consequence would
be fatal to the cause. They had a chief, under whose
banner, twenty years ago, one great measure had beau
carried, and who would lead them on to a further victory.
He again earnestly entreated the Hon. Gentleman not to
persist with his motion.
Sir B. HALL said the speech just delivered by his
Right Hon. Friend' the Secretary at War put the
question before them in a different light from
that in which it would otherwise be. He thought
that it would be better to throw the whole re-
sponsibility upon her Majesty's Government, and if they
did, he believed that on a division they would have as
lase af mority on the subject as they had on a late oc-
C611.4"W1°9 AtAr) His Hon. Friend bad deprecated
tali; .',. ' ' - ' 'l' *With° Reform Bill—(Hear, hear)—
aasi.'?'- c'kt.--jj.,,AO-,,1!r k remembered that if this Inca.
frlo-e-W" 1F...0-A"' WI 0, lie saw that it would stand
1 169tEttititEZSesiat measure of electoral reform, and
l',2,ah thalf _leis disappisiutieg nut only the de-
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