The Sun.
London, England, 1835-06-06 00:00:00

dent freemen, and of these 2,221, only 1,123 were rated,
and of these 1,123 there were 316 paupers.—(Hear, hear.)
The amount of property that is rated in the town, is stated
to be 25,5411., and of that sum 18,2241. is the property
of persons who in no way belonged to the Corporation.
The fact is similar in Lincoln, where three-fourths of the
Corporation are not rate-payers, and four-fifths of the popu-
lation do not belong to the Corporation. In Ipswich there
are 2,000 rate-payers, and only 180 of them belong to the
Corporation. In Liskeard (we believe,) 1,685 of the inhabitants
were rated by a local Act, and of these only 110 were freemen.
The population of Cambridge is 20,000, of which 1,434 are
101. householders, but only 118 aro freemen : and of 125,4901.
Corporation property, only 2,1101. is the property of persons
belonging to the Corporation. Sir, these are facts which do
belong to one of the most important parts of this inquiry. It
ought to be, at least I think it should be, the object of these
Corporations, and one of their first objects, to represent the
property of the town in which they are placed; to care for
its general feelings and take care of its interests, and to give
that due protection which the governing body ought to give
and to exercise over those who are liable to pay the expenses
of the government. There are two modes of excluding this
municipal connection between the governing body, and those
represented by it. One most obvious and common mode is
where there is an entirely select body—where there is,
no appearance of a popular election in any part of
the government—but where it is carried on in one loca-
lity, forming an entire separation from the body of the
people. This will be admitted to be a very great and glaring
abuse.—( Hear, hear.) But great and glaring as it is, it is
not so great, so vicious, as that which connects a few persons
for carrying on the government for their own benefit, with a
portion of the lower classes of the people belonging to it, whose
votes they buy, whose habits they demoralize--( Cheers)—and
who, while they make them the slaves and the tools of that
political influence which tends to their own profit and bene-
fit, at the same time disseminate amongst these men, who
have this symbol and appearance of freedom of election, the
most debasing practices.—( Cries of " Hear, hear.) And yet
I do not mean to deny—indeed, you might hear—indeed, you
have heard before, that in some of these towns—in Nor-
wich, for example—although the majority who pay rates
and have a great amount of property are excluded,—and the
greater part of the minor rate-payers are totally excluded, yet
because there are numbers, we are told that it is a po-
pular and democratic,,Constitution, and a 'Constitution which
for the popular intec-zits ought to exist.—( Hear, hear.)
I protest against all such arguments, and against all such
principles ; for what I wish to see is a useful popular control
equally, regularly, and beneficially exercised in these institu-
tions. What I wish to see is persons belonging to the lower
ranks of the people assisting in municipal elections, and called
upon to do so on the ground of the confidence and esteem of
their fellow-citizens, and not by means of bribery and cor-
ruption. Let us reflect upon the consequences of the
vicious mode of election that has prevailed—whether that
mode of election has been carried on by self-election, or
by separated bodies—whether by what I have termed a sem-
blance of popular election, or by burgesses separated altogether
from the householders of the place—and we shall see that great
and enormous abuses have prevailed, all of which are
minutely detailed in the various reports of the Commissioners.
As I have said, I shall not go through all the details of these
reports, but shall content myself by reading the returns we
have received from Northampton, Leicester, and other places in
which there are instances of the most notorious corruption.
In the distribution of the Charity funds belonging to these
places, you will find that two-thirds, or at least a great pro-
portion of them are devoted to the support of the Blue party,
or whatever party enjoy the predominant influence in the
place ; and that, in the history given in the Report of
these Corporations, which was most minutely traced, cha-
ritable establishments intended for the benefit of the town,
are devoted to defraying the expenses of entertainments pro-
vided for the Mayor, Corporation, and other, municipal officers,
a
which frequently cost 5001. or 6001. year. A great
portion of their funds is also given to the freemen of these
boroughs to supply them with inducements to stand by the side
of their party, and not to desert them when any political
occasion may arise for their suffrages.—( Hear, hear.)—
The facts are, however, so fully laid out in the Report of the
Commissioners, that I shall not detail them, but shall merely
give one instance of the way in which Corporation funds fall
into the hands of a few individuals in small places, in which
the purposes for which these funds were originally designed
are totally neglected. One of these cases is Aldborough ;
and with respect to it, the Report states that the capital
burgess was accustomed to ask the price of the burgesses.
'The value of a respectable one was laid at 351., whereas that
of an honest and highly respectable one, possessed of in-
fluence, was estimated at 1001. a year.—(Hear, hear.)
It appears that the gentleman is a clergyman_( Cheers)—
and wherever the transfer was made, the power of the Corpo-
ration was always exercised. Now, with respect to the
borough of Aldborough, the principal members of the Cor-
poration are tho Marquis of Hertford, two members of his
family, the Secretary of the Estate of Orphans, the Right
Hon. John Wilson Croker, and other persons. (Great
laughter.) With respect to the borough of Orford,
the principal members of the Corporation were the
Marquis of Hertford, four or five members of his family, the
Right Hon. John Wilson Croker, the Collector of Customs,
and the Town Clerk. Now it may be said that these gen-
tlemen, in directing their talents and attention to the improve-
ment of both these boroughs, was a proof of great kindness on
their part, and showed a desire to further the interests of the
inhabitants of these boroughs, whereas the real solution is this—.
and I mention this case, because a hundred others are placed
in the same situation with respect to returning Members to
Parliament, and if the antiquary was only to go ajittle further,
he would ascertain the reason why such a course was pur-
sued.—( Hear, hear.) The reason of having these gentle-
men made burgesses of Aldborough and Hertford was
this, and it has been proved to be the fact by all the
inquiries that have taken place, that whether in small
or large boroughs, the practice has been to use the
powers of Municipal Corporations, not for the benefit of
the towns over which they presided, not for the good
government of the towns, not that they might be quietly
governed, but for the purpose of establishing an interest which
might be useful in electing the Members of this House_
Well, Sir, then I proceed to the measure which I am now to
propose, for the purposes not of carrying on those sinister
and indirect purposes, but for the object of the real
government of those towns—that the people of those
towns may exercise a proper control over their own
officers—over the officers of those towns, and over
the funds collected front the people of them—so that they may
be fairly applied to the useful purposes of the towns, and not
used to serve purposes of Parliamentary influence.—(Cheers.)
Sir, we propose that there should be 183 boroughs regulated
by the Bill which I shall ask leave to bring in—(Hear)—those
183 boroughs contain a population of about two millions of
inhabitants—at present, Sir, I take them at that amount,
though at a future stage I shall be able to show that they
much exceed it. The Bill I have alluded to begins, not by
destroying, but by establishing a Reform of those Corporations.
—( Loud Cheers.) We do not propose that the Charters
shall be taken away from any of the Corporations—we
propose in the first enacting clause of the Bill that all
clauses in those charters which are inconsistent with
this Bill shall cease and determine.—(Cheers.) There have
been ninety-nine places visited which it is not proposed to in-
clude in the Bill ; and there are some other small places pos-
sessing Corporations which have not been visited. These we
do not think it necessary to include in this Bill. They will
remain as they are at present, so far as this Bill is
concerned. With regard to the 183 boroughs which are to be
regulated by this Bill, we propose that there should be ono
uniform system of Government—one uniform franchise for the
purposes of election—one single mode of Government, and
a like description of officers in all those Boroughs, with the ex-
ception of some of the larger places which it is thought neces-
sary should have other officers than the smaller places.
I come now to the franchise which I mean to propose. The
natural course which might have occurred to any person
wishing to propose a uniform one in these Corporations,
would be the present Parliamentary 101. freeholders to
be the constituency of these boroughs. But in considering
that proposition, several reasons presented themselves against
the adoption of this plan. In the first place it would be placing
that franchise itself in danger. That franchise I think a
most valuable one, and that it worked as beneficially as
the authors of the Reform Bill could have wished—( Hear,
hear, hear.) It has produced a class of Constituents
of property and intelligence, fit to have the great trust reposed
in them of electing Members of Parliament. But if we were
to say that no ether persons except those having that franehise,
should have a vote with respect to the government of Corpo-
rations, I fear we should be raising that feeling of discontent
and jealousy (which all would lament), against those persons,
a; monopolizing all the political power of the town.—(Cheers.)
And, in the next place, Sir, I think that the present rate-
payers of the town—those who are its inhabitants—are per-
' fectly fit and qualified to choose those persons who
are to represent them in the Common Council, and the
government of these Corporations. It may often happen, and
I believe it does, that those lower classes of rate-payers resid-
ing in towns, do not take the same interest in the election of
Members of Parliament, and are more open to corrupt prae-
tices in the giving of their votes than those of a higher
class.—( Hear.) But there is not the same thing to be said
of them, when we place before them the choosing- of their next-
door neighbours to have voices in the Government of their own
towns. And there is another reason—it is this, that the rate-
payers do directly contribute to the expenses of the town. By
this Bill they will be obliged to pay the borough rates—it will
be necessary—absolutely necessary that they should not be
exempt from paying their proportion of the borough rates,
and according- to the principle and constitution of the
British Government, I think it but fair that the rate-payers
should likewise have a voice in the election of those by whom
the rates are made, and the expenses of the town arranged.
At the same time it seems to be necessary to take pi-eautions,
in order that persons should not obtain a ' settlement
for a short time, nor perhaps should be unable regularly,
and for a length of time, to pay rates, I think they ought to be
permanent, settled, fixed inhabitants of the town—persons
known to contribute to the rates, and we propose, as a test
of this, that they should be persons who have been three
years rated to the relief of the poor, and who have regularly
paid their rates.—(Cheers.) We must also take care that
those whe for a short time had not paid their rates should
not be excluded for any long period, but should be again ad-
mitted on' paying their rates.—( Hear.) Sir, we propose
that the r ight of voting shall be in the occupiers of houses, ware.
houses, and shops ; and we propose, likewise, that the house-
holders shall be resident within 7 miles of the place. The next
question is—of whom shall those persons be elected for the
Government of the towns ? We propose that there should be one