The Sun.
London, England, 1832-04-21 00:00:00

~~~.

LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, APRIL 21, 1832

far this is from being the case, and we know how
ungracious and even how dangerous it would be to
take a higher standard in such towns as these. It
such alterations as these are carried in the Com-
mittee, I cannot but entertain the opinion that all
the circumstances will be made out and completed
that are required to authorise the Crown to make an
addition to the Peerage. The question ought and
must be speedily settled. It is in these large ma-
nufacturing towns that we feel more than in other
parts of the country the bad effects of the publ.c
anxiety on this great measure, by the loss or dimi-
nution of our usual trade. It is the more necessary
for us to urge that all those constitutional steps
should be taken by the King and by his Adminis-
tration which are necessary to bring this measure to
a speedy and satisfactory termination.—(Applause.)
G. WAILEs, Esq. said, before he made any ob-
servations to the Meeting, he would read the resolu-
tion which he was about to submit to the consi-
deration of the Meeting, and which was expressed
in the following terms :
" Resolved-1. That though this meeting views with
satisfaction the recognition by the House of Lords of the
great principles on which the Bill of Reform is grounded.
it cannot avoid feeling the deepest anxiety at the snail
majority by which it has passed the second reading, com-
bined with the declared intention of attempting most im-
portant alterations in its provisions. That it is therefore
expedient to present an address to the King, praying his
Majesty, by the constitutional exercise of the royal prero-
gative in the creation of Peers, to secure the passing of the
Reform Bill in all its efficiency, and thereby to prevent a
collision between the two Houses of Parliament."
The Leaned Gentleman then proceeded to com-
ment at considerable length on the argumentative
refusal of the Mayor to call the meeting, 'and to
show that the reasons he had assigned why the
King should not create additional Peers were futile
and inconclusive; and he endeavoured to show,
from the premises admitted by the Mayor, that it
would be art exercise of the Royal prerogative not
only highly expedient but absolutely necessary to
preserve the real independence of Parliament, and
to give to each branch of the Legislature a right to
deal with every question according to its own
judgment.

[The Learned Gentleman was here interrupted
by loud and repeated cries of " Adjourn ! there are
great numbers of persons who cannot get in."]
After some delay the mee'ing adjourned into the
spacious area of the Cloth-hall. When the bustle
produced by this movement had subsided,
Mr. Watt,Es resumed his observations, and, in
illustration of his argument, he put the following
case :—Suppose the House of Commons, in whom
originate all bills of supply, should pass a bill to
impose a tax, and that when it came to the House
of Lords, they should insert a clause ,xempting their
own body from its operation. Well, the bill so
altered is returned to the Commons, who refuse to
consent to the alteration. Let us also suppose that
the great body of the people are in favour of this
impost, and that it bath also the concurrence of the
Crown. Both Houses, let us further suppose, per.
sist in their own measure : now would not the King,
in such a juncture as this, be justified in making
such an augmentation to the House of Peers as
should carry into effect the wishes of the people ?
But the present case was much more favourable to
his argument, because the Reform Bill had been the
subject of discussion for fifty years; twice it had
passed the House of Commons, and the principle of
the Bill had at length received the sanction of the
House of Lords. It could not, therefore, be con-
sidered as a sudden ill-considered movement, but the
deliberate opinion of the great body of the nation,
expressed in the most solemn and authentic manner
by a House of Commons elected with a particular
reference to the very question, and since then by
every other mode in which the opinion of the people
can be ascertained. This measure has also the ap-
proval of the King. If under these circumstances the
House of Lords could be permitted to defeat the
wishes of the House of Commons, the people, and the
King, we should no longer live under a limited
Monarchy, consisting of Kings, Lords, and Commons,
but of an oligarchy, consisting of a majority of the
House of Peers. The Constitution, to remedy
such a collision, has given the King the power to
add to the number of peers. The crisis foreseen has
arrived, and if ever there existed a great ismer-
gency which called for the exercise of the Royal prt-
rogative, it is on the present occasion, and he was
convinced that an infusion of new and better blood
into that ancient House was a consummation most
devoutly to be wished. He had said on a former
occasion that the House of Lords could not consti-

tutionally reject that Bill ; that was still his opi-
nion, though he did not mean to repeat the expres-
sion which had given rise to some controversy, and
the assertion was treated as if he had said that the
House of Lords had not the power of giving it a
negative,--that they could not say " no." I did not
mean to say any thing so foolish; what I said was
this, that it was necessary and expedient, and that
they ought to have said "ay." The Learned Gen-
tleman, after putting this argument in a striking
point of view, by supposing the abolition of colonial
slavery to be the subject matter in dispute between
the two Hauses, or rather between the whole coun-

try, including the King and the House of Peers,
paid a just tribute to the manly consistency of Lord
Grey, who,from his first introduction into the House
of Commons, to the present hour, had always
been the steady advocate of Parliamentary Re-
form. After reading an extract from the Edin-
burge Review, in answer to the question,
" What will the Lords do ?" which, after de-
scribing the state into which the country would be
thrown by the two Houses differing upon the Re-
form Bill, says, that the increase of Peers is the re-
medy which the Constitution has provided for this
state of things, and which is a necessary check to
prevent the Government degenerating into an oh-
garchy, and making some observations on a recent
speech of the Doke of Wellington, the Learned
Gentleman concluded with proposing the resolution
which he had read at the commencement of his
speech._

- Mr. RICHARDSON, in seconding the first revolu-
tion, said, that the meeting was under great obliga-
tions to the worthy chief magistrate of Leeds, for
though he had declined to call the meeting, he had
favoured theta with the most powerful argument in
favour of the object they had in view,—viz. the,
support of " the independence of Parliament,,
which would be impaired if the House of Lords
should succeed in throwing out or in maiming the
Keform Bill, the main object of which was to restore
the independence of the House of Commons. In
conclusion, he exhorted the people not to allow any
adverse decision of the Reform Bill to induce them
to commit any breach of the peace ; but by firm,
peaceful, energetic, and constitutional efforts con-
tinue to further that great cause, being assured that
a measure patronized by the King, the Ministers,
the House of Commons, and the people, can never
be defeated by a faction in the House of Peers.
The CHAIRMAN then put the motion, when im-
mediately a forest of hands was held up in its
favour; on putting the negative there appeared three
dissentients, by which a pretty fair calculation may
be made between the Reformers and the Anti-Re-
formers in the borough of Leeds.
Mr. BAINES presented himself, and was received
with loud plaudits. He said, our next proceeding
will be to determine upon an address to be presented
to his Majesty, to express the opinions that we
entertain upon this subject. It affords me great
pleasure to see here so many of the faces which I
have been accustomed to see upon former occasions,
when we have met for the purpose of soliciting for

Reform.—(Hear, hear.) Gentlemen, we shall as-
suredly accomplish our object. It may be attendet
with some difficulty in the attainment, but we shal
not value it the less because of that difficulty.—
( No, no.) It has long been a mater of considera-
tion with us; we have pressed it forward by ever
means in our power, and if the people of England
continue to urge their suit, the Bill will undoubted!)
be carried without being materially altered. Th,
Duke of Wellington and his compeers have, as you
have already heard, put forth an address in the form
of a protest ; and in that protest he advances several
propositions which I have no hesitation in declaring
unfounded, and directly contrary to the truth.—
(Hear, hear, hear.) Ido not mean to say that the-
Duke has deliberately uttered a falsehood, but I de
say that he and those who have acted with him, we
utterly unacquainted with the state of the country a-
t() this great question. The Duke has said the British
Government is a Monarchy. I do not deny it ; but I
say it has popular branches as well as a monarchical
principle, and therefore it is more than a monarchy
It is a Government consisting of three estates, and
the estates of which this Government is constituted
are, King, Lords, and Commons.—(Hear, hear.)
But it is unfortunately constituted of more than
three, and the four h e•tate is an usurpation,—an
oligarchy, that rules over and controls both King,
Lords, and Cornmons.—(Hear.) It is to put an
end to this oligarchy that we are labouring, and
therefore, when the Duke of Wellington asserts
that the kingly power is every thing, he asserts that
which is not true in fact, and which I hope will
never be true in this country.—(Cheering.) But
he goes on, and says " that no change, however
specious, should be adopted, which would strike at
the principle of the monarchy, or deprive the King
of the free and independent exercise of his lawful
prerogative." Nothing is more distant from us than
to assail the monarchy. The Duke says, we are not
to assail the King's prerogative ; certainly not, we
are met to support it,—that is the principal object
we have in view.—(Hear, hear.) Well, then, if
that be our purpose, I suppose the Duke will hardly
think we are acting in violation of the great principle
that he has laid down ; on the contrary, he will
think that we are acting in support of that principle;
because, how is this prerogative to be more fitly
employed than when it is for the benefit of the
people for which the prerogative was conferred?
—(Hear.) Then Duke then goes on and says,
" that the Reform Bill will give a preponderating
influence in the election of the House of Commons
to the lowest classes of inhabitants in towns, and
close the door of the House of Commons against
the monied and the colonial interest, and against the
heads of the great commercial body." Is this
true ?—(No, no.) Is it true that this Reform Bill
will give to the lower classes an undue influence?
- no.) My opinion is, that it will not
give them sufficient influence.—(Hear, hear.) It
deprives a great many men, who are exceedingly fit
to exercise the elective franchise, of that influence
which they ought to possess.—(Hear, hear.) Gen-
tlemen, I will prove this to you, and I will prove
it, not by going to a great distance, but at home.—
(Hear, hear.) We happen to have in the borough
of Leeds no fewer than 120,000 souls. To how
many of these persons will this Bill, as at present
constituted,give votes? Will it give votes to half that
number?—(No.) Will it give votes to one-third
of that number ? No ; out of 120,000 souls it
will only give votes to about from 5,000 to 6,000.
Haw, then, is it possible that the Duke of Welling-
ton could stand up and assert that the consequence
of this 811 will be to give undue influence to the
lower classes of the people ? The Bill itself is as
large in its grant as Ministers can carry, but it is
the lower classes only that it deprives of influence.—
(Hear, hear.) Very well, then, I say that the
persons who have made this assertion have made it,
not in the spirit of truth, but in the spirit of error
and of falsehood.—(lt is.) linen there is another
consideration, and it is of considerable importance,
and that is, what the consequence will be if Parlia-
ment should advance the qualification of the elective
franchise from 101. to 151. ? Why, instead of the
numbers that at present constitute the electors, they
will very likely be reduced to 3,000 in Leeds, and
in the same proportion in other places ; and is it a
firting thing that you should have 3.000 people to
elect Members to represent 120,000 ?—(No, no.)
My opinion is, that the franchise ought not to
have been at 101., but at 7/.—(Cries of " 51.,"
and " Householders.") I hear a cry of " house-
holders," and I don't mean to enter upon that
point now, but I do mean to say, that if the fran-
chise is to be altered at all, it ought to be made
lower, and not higher.—(Hear.) That is my decided
opinion upon this subject, and I am sure you will
give me credit that I don't say it to please or dis-
please any body. It is my practice to speak what I
consider to be the truth, and every honest man
ought to pursue that line of conduct.—(Hear.)
But there is a situation in which two branches of
the legislature are likely to be brought, and that
is a very curious one. It has been glanced at by
Mr. Wailes in his elaborate speech, and with great
spirit. We will suppose the Bill having now passed
the House of Commons, it comes next to pass the
House of Lords; they have read it twice, and
many of them have said in pretty intelligible terms
that they will reduce it in its efficiency. Suppose,
then, that when this Bill comes to be passed they
say the qualification for the elective franchise shall
be 151. instead of 10/., and that thirty boroughs in-
stead of sixty shall be disfranchised, or that they re-
sort to any other manceuvre to destroy its efficiency,
how would the matter between them stand ? The
Commons have passed one Bill and the Lords ano-
ther, and they each of them are determined to sup-
port their own Bill. A conference is then proposed.
At that conference they both remain inflexible, and
in this way a collision arises. The consequence is,
that the wheels of Government would be suspended.
To remedy this evil the King is applied to as the
arbitrator. He cannot by his own voice settle the
point at issue, but there is a mode prescribed by the
constitution, and that is, the power vested in him of
creating Peers; by the exercise of which power on
behalf of men of right principles the collision is ter-
minated, and the two conflicting branches of the le-
gislature will be reconciled. (Applause.) The ob-
ject of the address which I shall have the honour to
submit for your approbation is at once to produce
this happy reconciliation, arid to secure to the coun-
try the advantages of the Reform Bill in all its effi-
ciency--(Hear.)and this prayer we have no doubt his Majesty will,
atutt
the proper time, of which he and his Ministers
m
InN then read the following address, and
noYer b et This is our prayer to the King;
he bestjudges, grant to a loyal and dutiful
people. Mr. Boafihnaensdcso.ncluded amidst loud applause
andi‘edEs
thataßppAig
it should be forwarded to Earl Grey for
presentation to his Majesty :
" TO THE XING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.
t, The humble Address of the inhabitants of the borough
of Leeds, in the county of York, in public meeting as-
sembled, on the 19th of April, 1832.
" Sire--You are our sheet-anchor—our refuge in the
storm. The last necessity appears to be at hand. Resis-
tance to reform and the consequent delay, have unhappily
produced deep injury to the most important national inter-
ests; our commerce and manufactures are already in an
alarming state of stagnation ; and the mutilation of the
Bill would issue in great public dissatisfaction, indignation
and perhaps tumult. Your Majesty fears nothing, and
has nothing to fear. You wisely identify yourself will.
the interests of your people. We know and venerate your
Majesty's piternal solicitude for the peace and happiness of
your subjects. Some of the Lords of Parliament know
but little of the people; they imperfectly spprusiate their