The Sun.
London, England, 1835-07-31 00:00:00

precedents for hearing Counsel at the Bar ; but then Counsel
were appointed for every particular person who clained to be
heard, as, for instance, in the case of the slave trade. He did
not mean to say that there was not as much reason to hear
Counsel in the present case as there was in the case of the
slave trade ; all that he wanted to know distinctly vas, whe-
ther there was to be any limit to the argument of Counsel. If
there were to be no limit, at least let there be no delusion upon
the subject ; let it be known that they were going to scar every
person who had petitioned against the Bill by Counsel at the
Bar of the House.

Lord BRO LTG HAM would again endeavour to explain to
his Noble Friend. It was distinctly laid down the otl.er night,
and distinctly admitted by all sides of the House, that
no person bad a right to be heard, that it was a matter wholly
and exclusively within the grace of the House, as to whether
a party should be allowed to be heard by Counsel or not ;
that the House would allow all these various boroughs, 18
in number, or thereabout, to be heard by two Counsel.
The House gave that right to no other party ; it It in no
other party ; it did nothing by which a pretext could be
raised for hearing any other party, or any other Counsel what;
ever. His Noble Friend opposite had justly observed, that
there were petitioners come in that night who were not in-
cluded in the first order ; but who, as their complaints were
the same, ought not, in his opinion, to be excluded from it.
His Noble Friend's suggestion was a very fair and very proper
one, and all that they now did, was to allow these later pe-
titioners to ho heard, if they pleased, through the medium of
the two Counsel who were to appear for the rest. And this
was the great delay of which the Noble Marquis stood in so
much horror. Why, in point of fact, the few observations
that the Counsel would find it necessary to address to the indi-
vidual cases of the boroughs, which, if they pleased, might be
let in in the manner he had just stated, would not create so
great a delay as the interposition of the Noble Marquis had
already done. If the parties in question should not elect to
be heard by the two counsel who appeared for the rest, it would
be for their Lordships to say whether they would allow them
them to be heard by any one else. He for one should require
very good reasons to induce him to assent to such a course.
But then the Noble Marquis said, " The precedents are all
the other way—if you profess to be guided by precedents, you
are bound to hear every party separately." Moreover, the
Noble Marquis had complained of his (Lord Brougham's)
having made four speeches ; but as often as men did not un-
derstand what was said, and did not keep their misunder-
standing in silence, but broke out and charged those with
creating delay who did not create delay, but took the best
course for avoiding delay—as often as he found men obsti-
nately persisting in that mistaken course, he was bound to
rise and set them right. " But (said the Noble Marquis) the
course now proposed to be taken is contrary to precedent."
That showed that however frequently he might have troubled
the House the other night, he had at least spoken once too
seldom, because on that occasion he expressly stated an in-
stance—not the instance of the slave trade only, but another
case in which there had been a consolidation similar to that
now proposed with respect to the hearing of counsel. He
to a case in which he acted as counsel, in which five dif-
ferent persons, having five different petitions, and five diffe-
rent cases, all consolidated their applications into one case,
intrusted that case to him (Lord Brougham) and he spoke
once—and but once—for all those five parties.—( Hear.) If
the Noble Marquis will refer to the journals of the House
in the months of April and May, 1808, he will find that
they bear witness to the accuracy of what he was then
stating. Their Lordships, in fact, had always the matter
in their own hands. If on any day, or any hour of any day,
they found that the arguments were conducted in such a
way as to create so serious a delay as to threaten the defeat of
the Bill, it would be in their power at once to put a stop to
the proceedings. And he asked any man of common sense,
which course was most likely to succeed—who was most
likely to carry that House and the country along with him
in his principle and his object—he, who in the exercise of
his best judgment, and as the hearty friend and firm sup-
porter of the measure, recommended the adoption of such
a course as he had suggested—be, who ventured to make
a compromise with a large majority of the House, or he,
who setting that majority at defiance, at once induced it to
demonstrate its power by a decisive vote ? He maintained
that the course he had proposed was the course most likely
to carry the measure through.
The Marquis of CLANRICARDE offered a few words in
explanation. He did not think that the Noble and Learned
Lord was justified in presuming that the friends of the Bill
were in a minority in that House. He (the Marquis of Clan-
ricarde) did not believe that they were so. He believed that
a majority of their Lordships were prepared to accept the Bill,
and until he were convinced to the contrary he should remain
of the same opinion.
After a few words from the Earl of FALMOUTH and the
Earl of WICKLOW, the question that Counsel be now called
in was put from the Woolsack.
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY took that opportunity
of giving notice, that in consequence of what had passed in ano-
ther place last evening, he should take an early opportunity—
he would say Monday next—of asking a question with respect
to the present state of affairs in Spain.
The question that counsel be called in was then put and car-
ried ; and Sir Charles Wetherell and Mr. Knight appeared at
the bar.

After a short delay necessary for the arrangement of papers,
&c., Sir Charles Wetherell was on the point of commencing,
when

Lord ELLENBOROUG El interposing said—Sir Charles,
for whom do you appear?
Sir CHARLES WETHERELL—That, my Lords, is the very
point I was coming to. I will answer the question fairly.
I believe I appear pro populo for every Corporation in the
Kingdom. My clients lam unable distinctly to number.
There are numerous petitions lying upon the table of your
Lordships' House; and if the Corporations of England and
Wales, whose petitions are not yet laid upon the table of
the House, knew of the tyrannical attack which the Bill of
which I complain levels against their rights and privileges
—more especially the lowest class in these boroughs, 'com-
monly called the commonalty, or the commons—if they knew,
had heard of, understood, or had explained to them the con-
tents of this atrocious and tyrannical Bill, I am conscien-
tiously persuaded that there exists not' in England or in
Wales a single Corporation whose protest against its enor-
mities would not be presented to your Lordships in the
shape of a petition tendered by sonic Peer to be presented,
and laid on the table of your Lordships' House. "When,
therefore, lam asked for whom I appear ? Peradventure,
the question might be reserved, and it might be asked ne-
gatively, for whom I do not appear ; but if the question
be affirmatively asked, I may state that I appear for Don-
caster—that I am solicited by Berwick-upon-Tweed—that
I am hand-in-hand with Leicester—that I am at home
with Oxford—that with Coventry I am acquainted—that
I am not unknown to Grantham—that Boston is well
acquainted with me—that Tiverton shakes hands with
me—that with Ipswich I am peculiarly linked in the
bands of confraternity—that Norwich has an affectionate
regard for me—that Lancaster owns me as one of the two
roses—that Marlborough I take under my care—that Cam-
bridge, had it presented a petition, I should number as
mine—that Warwick is with me—that Worcester I take
under my wing—that Hereford, Dover, Carlisle, Ashford,
St. Alban's, Poole, Sandwich—all these, et cum inultis
are those who have done me the honour, through the medium
of your Lordships, to solicit my humble assistance. The
Learned Gentleman proceeded to observe, that having been
called upon to state for whom he appeared, he must take liberty,
in a few words, of throwing out some remarks with respect to
the humble individual who had then the honour of addressing
their Lordships. Prepared as he had been from the first, to
defend the Corporation of Bristol, and whose conduct, even
according to the Report of the Commissioners of Municipal
Inquiry, appeared to have been irreproachable—prepared as he
was to step forward in defence 01 the rights and privileges of
that ancient and important city, he must be suffered to say that it
was only in compliance with the expressed desire of that House
that he had induced himself to assume the responsibility ofap.
pearing at their Lordships' Bar, as the advocate of all those
numerous towns whose petitions had been laid on the table,
because, as far as ,he was concerned, lie felt that the sustaining
the case.of the Corporation with which lie was connected would
he labour enough for him to assume, and responsibility
enough for him to undertake. The expression, however, of
their Lordships' wish had operated upon him as a command,
sual thus he found himself standing at their Lordships' Bar,
greatly against his own wishes and feelings. To the various
papers and documents which had been poured in upon him,
from all quarters, since it was understood that he was to he
selected as the advocate of the condemned Corporations, he
had of course not had sufficient time to devote the proper at-
tention, nor, in other respects, had he been able to prepare
himself in a manner which he felt the great and vital impor-
tance of the subject demanded. He should feel himself com-
pelled, therefore, to draw largely on the candour and indul-
gence of the House. The Bill against which the petitions on
their Lordships' table were levelled, was a Bill which un-
doubtedly recommended itself, as was often the case with
those who meditated something extremely violent—recom-
mended itself by a title of all others the most condescending,
the most modest, and, if lie might be allowed the term, the
most captivating. It professed to be" A Bill to provide for the
regulation of Municipal Corporations in England and Wales."
From the reading of that title one would suppose the object of
the legislator by whom it was introduced- was to preserve all
these ancient institutions, to regulate them, to superadd to them
here and there what might be required to make them effective
instruments of the public service; one would suppose, from the
title of the Bill, that it was in the nature of one of those mea-
sures which elsewhere men we:e in the habit of calling con-
servative measures ; but this unassuming pretension, this mo-
dest face, this maiden's blush developed in the title of the Bill,
now assumed a more bold and audacious character. He
passed not the limit of the first two pages of the Bill before
he found that all this regulation of Municipal Corporations
in England and Wales amounted to an utter confiscation of
the whole of their charters—an utter expulsion of every
man at present in any way connected with them—an utter.
supercession of all their powers, and the intrusion from begin-
ning to end of a plebeian system of Municipal Government, not
only unlike anything that had ever existed before, but, as he
apprehended, utterly untenable in itself. Truer the name of
the existing charters was left—the noniinis unibra was left—
what was called the ancient charter was left, but to use a
common phrase, gutted—it was disembowelled—there was a.
skeleton unquestionably of a charter, but it was a skeleton
only. It was proposed to leave to the different boroughs the
names of their ancient charters—for instance, the Mayor and
liurgesaes of Oxford, the Mayor and Bailiffs of Ipswich, and
so forth-;but Cvery man o w 494-1 these bodies 19d heretofore
expelled' been composed was hereafter to beexpelled'fii)`ria WuO,' and
their place were to be substituted a new race introduced by
of that Bill, which, as he would pre-
the democratic rflonded upon the principle
gently satisfy their Lordships, was urd
of annual Parliaments and universal suffrage. In pages's.--

THE SUN, LOIN DUN, FRIDAY, JULY 31,.1835.