The Sun.
London, England, 1835-09-02 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

The SPEAKER took the Chair at a few minutes to four
o'clock.

Mr. SHIPTON appeared at the Bar, and presented an-
nual Returns of Dover Harbour.—Laid on the table.
MUNICIPAL CORPORATION BILL.

Lord MO RPE T H presented a petition from the freeholders,
merchants, and bankers of the West Riding of Yorkshire,
agreed to at a public meeting held or, Monday last. The petition,
for the purpose of avoiding loss of time, had been signed by
the Chairman, Sir Francis Wood. He (Lord Morpeth) was
informed, from authority on which he placed the most implicit
confidence, that the meeting was most numerously attended,
there being 15,000 persons present—that its composition was
most respectable, and its proceedings most orderly....-( Hear,
hear.) The petitioners stated that they approached that House
with feelings of gratitude for the past, and confidence for the
future.--( Hear, hear.) They expressed their approbation of
the Bill for the Reform of Municipal Corporations as origi-
nally introduced into that House ; and, with equal force,
they expressed their disapprobation of the alterations sub-
sequently introduced into the Bill, and in consequence of
the character of these alterations, they solicited that House,
with the same resolution they bad hitherto manifested,
now to reject the mutilated Bill, as being useless and
unfit to afford solid satisfaction to the people of Eng-
land.—( Hear, hear.) That was the prayer of the petition,
and he submitted it to the notice of the House with the
confident assurance derived from his own knowledge
of the sober and rational character of those whom he
had the honour to represent, that in dealing with a
measure of such vast importance, of the two alterna-
tives that may present themselves, they would prefer that
which he trusted the House would be able to do with honour
and advantage to themselves, by embracing judicious amend-
ments, in place of giving the measure a precipitate rejection;
and in so doing, whether they would not be effecting a great
practical good, by a steady adherence to the great principle
by which those whom he (Lord Morpeth) had the honour of
representing had been ever influenced, of being at the head
of every great movement of national amendment in religion,
morality, and freedom.—( Cheers. )
Sir G. STRICKLAND, as a Representative of a portion
of that vast district from which the petition emanated, begged
to say a few words. He admitted that the leading feature
of the petition was praying of that House to re-
ject the Bill as it had come from the House of
Lords. Now he firmly trusted and hoped that the wishes
of the petitioners would be fully gratified in the amend-
ments which had been made to the Bill as it now
stood; because he was sure that any rational person who
viewed the Bill as it now stood, would admit that the
great and leading principles of the measure had been fully
preserved. He ( Sir Geo. ge Strickland) considered that the
leading principle of the Bill was a popular control over the
Municipal Corporations: that popular control had been pre-
served. Another principle of the measure was, that appoint-
ments to corporate offices should not be made for life—
that also had been preserved, and, therefore, the persons
appointed to these offices would be under popular con-
trol. lle hoped that the sentiments to which he gave
expression would be heard in the county from which
the petition emanated, and he was happy to say that
that most odious provision which excluded Dissenters from the
exercise of those rights which they had so long enjoyed,
had been excluded from the alterations that were made
by the House of Lords, and that the attempt to restore
the Test and Corporation Acts had totally failed.—( Hear and
cheers.) He would only say, that that House had done all
in its power to make such alterations as would render the
Bill efficient, and he hoped that for the peace and happiness
of th._e country those amendments would pass in another place.
r. BLACKBURN, as a Representative of that part of
the country, begged to express his hope that those amend-
ments would be agreed to. He trusted also that he should
have an
opportunity of doing what he considered his duty
in giving to that House a statement, to shew that the Munici-
pal Commissioners had had a most arduous and difficult duty
to perform, and that they had done it with the strictest justice
and impartiality.—(Load cheering.) Whether they had con-
trived to please all parties was another question, and was not
very likely ; but he believed they had faithfully performed the
duty allotted to them.—( Hear, bear.)
Mr. BAINES observed that the prayer of the pe-
tition was, that the Bill as amended by the Lords
should be rejected by that House. He was persuaded,
however, that the meeting from which that petition had
emanated could not have been aware of the alterations
which bad been since suggested and effected in that Ilouse.
The gentleman who presided at the meeting was one of high
respectability. A resolution was agreed to, expressing an
ardent wish that Lord Melbourne and his colleagues in office
would not desert their posts in consequence of the conduct
of men who represented their order, but were not the repre-
sentatives of the people of England, Ireland and Scotland.