The Sun.
London, England, 1832-10-05 00:00:00

they all knew how he (Mr. Hume) had voted.—
(Loud
cheers.) To be sure Lord Henley was an
amiable and worthy member of society; but
how far he was the sort of man who would be likely
to put into effect, or even to advocate, the reform
whi, hhe (Mr. Hume) and all present sought to
effect in the Court of Chancery, they were more
able to judge "than himself. After he had sat as
Mr. Eden in several Parliaments, he had retired
from the fatigue of his Parliamentary career on the
nomination of Lord Eldonwho, by the stay, was
never a very distinguished or thOroughgoing Re-
former—(A loud laugh)—to a Mastership in Chan-
cery. Now, his opinion with respect to the pay-
ment of public servants by fees was well known ;
and he had often declared it to be his belief, founded
on an accurate knowledge of facts, that the ex-
traction of fees from suitors, and their entry direct
into the pockets of those who were by prescrip-
tive right entitled to them, was only a clog upon
the wheels of justice. The incomes of those splen-
did pensioners, Lords Ellenborough and Kenyon,
both Reformers—(laughter)—were derived from
fees, and the very existence of which fees amount-
ed, in fact, to a denial of justice to the community.
All he was for, therefore, in this respect, was
to effect a reform in the abuses cf the law ;
and which was likeliest to effect it, Lord Hen-
ley or himself?—(" That's a good hit !") There
was a very large class of what were called Public
Bodies in this kingdom, who had ever most strenu-
ously opposed him, and set their faces against him
in evety way they possibly could. He alluded to
the Bodies called Corporations, who were in nine-
teen caws out of twenty the staunch and unflinching
supporters of all abuses, because they derived so
much advantage, with such small comparative indi-
vidual odium from so doing. There was no doubt
that, when they were first appointed, they had their
value, as mediators between the Aristocracy and
the people at large; but those advantages had long
since been merged in the evils and corruptions which
time had brought upon them, and which at last had
ended in their becoming self-elected bodies, entirely
independent and regardless of the people, for whose
benefit they were first appointed. Now, however,
was the time to wrest their unholy and unjustly-
acquired exclusive privileges from them, and to re-
duce them again to their original condition—de-
pendence upon the choice of the people. There
was a black blot upon the pages of this
country, of which it was now his business to speak.
The time was at length come when the Go-
vernment, or, if not the Government, the people
must wipe from the annals of England the foul stain
which yet remained there, by her encouragement
and sanction of slavery. It was the duty, the im-
perative and immediate duty of Parliament, to put
into effect the long-contemplated, often-delayed
measures suggested for the last forty years,
for the emancipation of the Negroes. He
would take that opportunity of stating that the
ab-lition of the taxes on knowledge was one of
those sources of good from which he anticipated
the best effects. Those taxes now mainly assisted
in perpetuating ignorance, and their removal would
cause an amelioration in the classes to whom the
Factory Bill referred, which would ultimately tend
more to their advantage than any partial check upon
the evils which they endured could effect. He
was next represented as unfit to be Member for
... Middlesex, " because, having professed himself, for
several years, the vigilant guardian of the public
purse, he has lately abandoned this duty; openly
declaring, in the debate on the Russian Dutch
Loan, that he was ready to vote away even millions
of the public money, which he knew ought not to
be so voted away, rather than put to the least
hazard the seats of the present Ministry." Now
what were the facts attendant on the vote to which
this charge referred ? With the permission of the
electors he would briefly detail them. At the time
when the Holy Alliance was formed, in 1815, by
Lord Castlereagh, who thought this way of binding
the more powerful nations of Europe to each other, to
separate, divide, and domineer over the minor powers
of that large community, was the likeliest mode of
perpetuating the power of the dominant faction, an
alliance to the whole progress of which, and to every
act of which, he was altogether opposed, the Russian
Dutch Loan was one of those acts, by which the
annexation of Belgium to Holland was guaranteed
by the subscribing parties, and a subsidy of
100,0001. a-year was agreed to be paid to Russia by
way of obtaining the continued sanction of the na-
tion to this arrangement. In making this contract,
the parties never dreamed of such an event as that
which had taken place, namely, of the two nations,
Belgium and Holland, separating of their own ac-
cord, and accordingly made no provision against
such a contingency.—Events, however, showed that
the separation must tuke place, and by the mutual
and voluntary act of the two principal parties them-
selves. Under these circumstances, the payment to
Russia being no longer due, as the treaty upon
which its continuance was guaranteed had been vio-
lated, not through the fault of England, Ministers
had, under some erroneous impression, or through
some oversight, continued to make the payment as
heretofore. When he first heard this, he had ex-
pressed his opinion to be, that Ministers had done
wrong, and, in fact, he had supported that opinion
by his vote. The question came, after several dis-
cussions and divisions, to a direct issue; and he was
prepared again to vote in support of his opinion,
that the Ministers had done wrong. A declaration I
was put forth, that the whole of them intended
to resign their seats, if the question was carried
against them; and, on the night of the division, he
went down to the House fully determined
upon voting against them. When, however, he
reached the House, be immediately saw that the
whole of the Tory party had mustered their strength,
with a view to take advantage of those who were
opposed to the Ministers on this ground, awl to get
them to swell their ranks by siding with them.
Seeing this, and fearing that if the Ministers were
worsted, and resigned, the Tories would grasp at
the falling reins, and seize the vacant Ministerial
benches; and anxious also to preserve in power men
who, whatever their errors had been, had yet been
staunch to the cause of Reform, he determined to
vote in support of them on that question, although
he did so against his own conviction, and solely for
the sake of expediency; the more so, as he had
ascertained from Sir R. Peel and Mr. Baring, that
even if the Government were to be driven from
office for paying this money, the Tory party would
not refuse its future payment. Such were the rea-
sons which guided his vote, which, he again ac-
knowledged, was a vote of expedience; and the
only fault to be found with him was, that he had
candour enough to say why he had voted in that
manner. His interference with the Bath election was
another of the charges against him. The facts stood
thus :—Bath, from a close corporation of 24, has
now a constituency of 2,000. There were three par-
ties there—the Reform Association, the Political
Union, and the Corporation. The Political Unionists
having ascertained the number of electors which
the place contained, wrote to him to recommend
them a tit person to represent their borough in Par-
lianient. At the time they made that application,
the election of their present Member, General Pal-
mer, being considered and announced as perfectly
sure, Mr. Hobhouse having succeeded to his fa-
ther's property in the Bank, came forward as the
second candidate, and put forth an address of just
such milk and water stuff as that of his friend Lord
Henley. He simply said that he had not made up
his mind as to the necessity for altering the Sep-
tennial Act—that he had not fully considered the
question of the Ballot—that on the Corn Laws he
wanted more information—that the Currency ques-
tion was a very difficult matter—that, in short, he
was not prepared to give them any pledge on any
one of those points, and the result was, they found
he would not suit them. On their application to
hart for a candidate, he wrote down in reply, that,
provided they would send him up a numerously
signed requisition to that effect, and give him also a
pletiktlitittethbyt would return their candidate free
fro4n-nil "eittrinstiotos-well as insure him a reasonable
e,,:-Cjian.6cl,74 Jnicesiss,,he would comply with their
...?!...Vsjielij:"ancl
,4,-: asked, also, whether they would
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