The Sun.
London, England, 1835-07-29 00:00:00

Assembly whose members derive their legislative wisdom
from their birth, and the special grace of GOD, will afford
the public some amusement, and perhaps a little instruc-
tion. It had been fixed, that the second reading of the

Corporation Reform Bill should come on, and various
petitions for and against the Bill had been presented,
when the sagacious Peer who wrote a poem to prove
that beauty consisted in freckles and red hair, rose, and
with due solemnity, stated that the Mayor, Bailiffs,
and Corporation of the City of Coventry had entrusted
to his care a petition, in which they complained of the ex-
tinguisher put upon them by the Bill, and prayed to be
heard by counsel against it. The Noble Lord, in present-
ing the petition, did not omit so good an opportunity
of displaying those singular powers of oratory which
he is allowed by every body to possess. His style is
perhaps a little too figurative ; but who knows not
that the sublimest flights of eloquence soar far beyond
the regions of truth. It is only by making due allow-
ance for those embellishments in which genius delights
to luxuriate, that we can form a just conception of
Lord STRANGFORD'S meaning, when he exclaims that
the " Order" of which he is so conspicuous an orna-
ment never take away the rights and privileges of men,
without hearing what they have to urge against such
proceedings. When our eyes encountered this asser-
tion our thoughts instantly recurred, in corroboration
of it, to the hearing granted to the people of England,
when Lord GREY offered to prove by evidence that a
section of the House of Peers had relieved them from
the trouble of choosing representatives, by appointing
a majority of the House of Commons at their own
will and pleasure.

The discussion which followed turned upon the pro-
priety of allowing to every borough the right claimed
by the Corporators of Coventry. The Tory Lords
chuckled with delight at the discovery of so capital
a plan for delaying and ultimately defeating the hated
measure, and would, we have not the least doubt,
have voted that four hundred speeches of two
hours each should be delivered by counsel be-
fore the Bill was read a second time, had
Lord MELBOURNE thrown out a hint, which opera-
ted like a charm upon the minds of their Lordships.
The Noble Lord told them plainly that the motion
was " neither agreeable to fact, reason, nor principle,
and that there could be no ground for it unless their
Lordship's object was to defeat the Bill by delay—a
cry of " No, no")—and that there was no power so
well assured in these times as to afford to trifle
with public opinion." Never was there a truer sen-
timent uttered—never a more seasonable warning
given. The tone of Noble Lords was changed in a mo-
ment. " The Duke" was indignant at the " charge"
brought against their Lordships, which he said was ut-
terly " without foundation," and the matter was arranged
so that two counsel against and two for the Bill
should be heard to-morrow and Friday ; so that the
Bill may get into Committee on Monday.
It needed no ghost to tell us that the Lords
would oppose the Bill as far as they could venture so
to do ; and the compromise which has been made is no
security that they will not attempt to damage it se-
riously in the Committee. How, then, is this to be pre-
vented ? We answer, by operating upon the fears
of the House—by such an expression of " public opi-
nion" as shall shew the danger of trifling with the
hopes and wishes of the people of England.

The following extracts from the -minutes of the
House will shew that the Corporators have not been
asleep. They have in fact organised a powerful oppo-
sition to the measure :

" Municipal Corporations Bill—Petitions to be heard by
Counsel against ; of The Duke of Northumberland ; of the
Mayor, Aldermen, Common Council, and others of Rochester
—Marlborough.—Leicester— Truro —Worcester—Bedford—
Liverpool—Oxford—and Boston ; of the Mayor, Bailiffs, and
Commonalty of the City of Coventry ; of the Mayor, Sheriffs,
Citizens, and Commonalty of Norwich ; of the Mayor, Justices