The Sun.
London, England, 1832-05-30 00:00:00

WILLIAM PITT AND REFORM.

" Downing-street, Nov. 28, 1782.
" SIR,-1 received the favour of you note, accompany-
ing the resolutions of the Yorkshire Committee, for which
I beg to return you many thanks. I forbear entering
into any particulars on the subject of them. My general
sentitnents in favour of a substantial and practicable Reform
of Parliament are invariable.

" I am, Sir, with great regard,
" Your faithful and obedient servant,
" To the Rev. C. Wyvill" 44 W. PITT.'

Ott the 7th of May, 1783, Mr. Pitt made a
motion for a Reform in Parliament, of which the fol-
lowing are extracts :
" He found himself obliged to discover and lay
before the House the imperfections of that;Constitu-
don to which every Englishman ought to look up
with reverential awe—a Constitution which, while
it continued such as it was framed by our ancestors,
was truly called the production of the most consum-
mate wisdom ; but a melancholy series of events,
which had eclipsed the glory of Britain, exhibited a
reverse of fortune which could be accounted for
only on this principle—that, during the last fifteen
years, there had been a deviation from the princi-
ples of that happy Constitution under which the
people of England had so long flourished."
" This was, therefore, a proper time to enter upon
the business of a reformation which every man that
gave himself a moment's time to think must be sa-
tisfied was absolutely necessary. An Englishman
who should compare the flourishing state of his
country some twenty years ago with the state of hu-
miliation in which he now beholds her, must be
convinced that the ruin which he now deplores,
having been brought on by slow degrees, and almost
imperceptibly, proceeded from something radically
wrong in the constitution. . . . The influence
of the Crown was sapping the very foundation of
liberty by corruption—it had been felt within those
walls, and had often been found strong enough to
stifle the sense of duty, and to overrule the proposi-
, tions made to satisfy the wishes and desires of the
people. The House of Commons (in former Par-
liaments) had been base enough to feed the influ-
ence that enslaved its Members, and thus was, at
one time, the parent and offspring of corruption."
" Berkeley-square, Nov. 8, 1783.
" SIR-On my return to town I received the honour
of your letter, accompanied by the resolution of the Com-
mit•ee on the Ist of October. I have the greatest satis-
faction in finding that the propositions which I submitted
to Parliament in the last session are considered by them
as tending to accomplish a Reform of the Parliamentary
abuses complained of by the petitions of the people. I
trust I need not assure you, that no exertion or perseve•
ranee on my part shall be wanting in support of the prin-
ciples on which those propositions were founded. Lin-
successful as my attempts have hitherto proved, I shall
anxiously wait for a seasonable moment for renewing
them, and eagerly embrace it whenever there is a just
prospect of doing it with effect. lam truly sensible of
the obliging manner in which you have hid the goodness
to convey to me the sense of the Committee, and ant, Sir,
with great respect, your most obedient humble servant,
" W. PITT.
" To the Chairman of the Committee of the As-
sociation of the county of York.

On the 18th of April, 178.5, Mr. Pitt made a
motion to amend the representation of the people in
Parliament, of which the following are extracts :
" It was unnecessary for him to say how nearly it
was connected with every other interest which could
be important to Englishmen."
Speaking of those who were fearful of approach-
ing the question, he goes on to say,—" Others
there were, hut for these he confessed he had not
the same respect, who considered the present state of
the representation as pure and adequate to all its
purposes, and peilectly consistent with the first prin-
ciples (f representation. . . All mankind' knew
that the best institutions, like human bodies, carried
in themselves the seeds of decay and corruption;
and therefore he thought himself justifiable in pro-
posing remedies against this corruption, which the
frame of the constitution must necessarily experi-
ence if not prevented by wise and judicious regula-
tions."

" This was the third effort made by him since he
had the honour of a seat in Parliament, to prevail
upon the Legislature to adopt a Reform in the re-
presentation of tie people."
" The practicable definition of w hat the popular
branch of our Legislature was at this day, he took
to be precisely this An assembly freely elected,
between whom and the mass of the people there was
the closest uni,n and most perfect 3ytnpathy.' Such
an House of Commons it was the purpose of the con-
stitution originally to erect, and such an House of
Commons it was the wish of every Reformer now
to establish."

" He considered it as one of the most indisputable
doctrines of antiquity, that the state of the repre-
sentation was to be changed with the change of cir-
cumstances."

" He would submit to the world which of the two
were the mast anxious for the preservation of the ori-
ginal principle of the constitution—he who was for
maintaining the exterior and name of representation
when the substance was gone, or he who, preferring
the substance and reality of representation to the
name and exterior, was solicitous, of changing its
seat from one part of the country to another, as one
place might flourish and another decay."
" Now, and in all future time, to adapt the repre-
sentation to the state of the country, was the idea
of Reform which he entertained."

" If there had always been an House of Com.
mons who were the faithful stewards of the inte-
rests of their country, the diligent checks on the ad-
ministration of the final ces, the constitutional ad-
visers of the executive branch of the legislature, the
steady and uninfluenced friends of the people, he
asked if the burdens which the constituents of that
House were now doomed to endure would have,
been incurred ? Would the people of England
have.suffered the calamities to which they had lately
been made subject ?"
" The people of England would wait with pa-
tience for.: the operation of this arrangement, from
the confidence they had in the truth and character
of the present Parliament. It was elected under
circumstances which made it dear to Riglishmen: it
had not yet forfeited the confidence of the country."
" To conquer the corruption that existed in those
decayed boroughs, be believed that gentlemen would
Acknowledge to be impossible. The temptation
wai too great for poverty to resist ; and the conse-
quence of this corruption was so visible, that some
plan of reforming the boroughs had clearly become
Absolutely necessary."
" If vie look back to our history we find that the
brightest periods of its glory and triumph were

those in which the House of Commons had th
most complete confidence in their Ministers, am
he people of England the most complete confiderc,
in the House of Commons. The purity of repre.
sentation was the only true and permanent source o
such confidence."

" The certain way of securing their properties
and freedom was to purify the sources of represen-
tation, and to establish that strict relation between
themselves (the people) and the house of Com-
mon:, which it was the original idea of the consti-
tution to create."

" Ayes, 174—Noes, 218—Majority, 71."

Among those who voted with Mr. Pitt, are the
!rattles of John Jeffries Pratt (now Lord Camden),
Lord Apsley (now Bathurst), John Lowther, Wil-
liam Lowther (Cumberland), Sir Lloyd Kenyon,
Henry Doncombe (Yorkshire), W. Wilberforce
(Yorkshire), Henry Dundas, James Murray (Perth-
shire), J. P. Bastard (Devon), W. Lygon (Wor-
cestershire), Sir J. Ross (Suffolk).

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, MAY 29,