The Sun.
London, England, 1835-08-12 00:00:00

_NORWICH.

On Monday evening the entire area of the Angel Inn-yard
was tilled by a numerous body of most respectable inhabitants
of this city, who had assembled - for the purpose of passing
some Resolutions in favour of the Municipal Reform Bill, and
to agree to a petition to the House of Lords in support of that
measure, and praying that they would immediately pass the
Bill. We never remember any meeting in this city which
was more strongly characterised by its respectability and intel-
ligence than this. About seven o'clock, upon the motion of
Captain Money, seconded by John Barwell, Esq., Alderman
and Sheriff Marshall was called to the Chair, and, en accept.
ing it, addressed the meeting at considerable length, exhibit-
ing the incongruities and evils of the present municipal system
by reference to various data furnished by the Corporation
Commissioners. J. W. Robberds, jun., Esq., proposed the
following Resolutions, in an energetic speech, in which he, in
very powerful language, deprecated the evils which the cor-
porate system exhibited in this city, in bribery, jobbing, &c.
Edward Willett, Esq., seconded the Resolutions, and declared
that the manufacturing interest of the city had suffered greatly
from the existence of the Corporation.
Captain MONEY proposed a petition to the House of -Lords,
and, in terse and very strong language, denounced the con-
duct of the Lords as having for its object the throwing out of
the Bill. It, however, required the people of England to
insist on its passing, as they did the Reform Bill three years
since, and he was sure the Lords would give way.
Mr. J. FRANCIS, a large manufacturer and Common-Coun-
cilman, seconded the petition, and supported Mr. Willett in
the opinion of the injury the Corporation had been to the
manufacturers of the city.
J. PALMER, Esq., supported the petition, and commented
on the evidence given before the House of Lords upon this
Bill.

Captain MONEY proposed, and J. BARwELL, Esq., se-
conded, a motion, that Lord Melbourne should be requested
to present the petition.
The Resolutions and Petition were all carried unanimously,
amid loud cheering. Cheers were also given in favour of
Lord J. Russell, Earl Grey, his Majesty's Ministers, &c.
A freeman proposed to add to the petition, " Unlimited
Household Suffrage and Vute by Ballot," but it was loudly
and unanimously negatived.
The Meeting, which must have consisted of several thou-
sands, then quietly dispersed.
Resolved,—That the Municipal Institutions of this country, hav-
ing been adapted to the state of society as it existed 700 years ago,
are no longer calculated to promote the ends of good Civic Govern-
ment, but in most cases counteract the well-being of the commuities
under their rule.

That the privileges and endowments now held by Corporations,
for the exclusive benefit of a part, ought to be extended to all who
are effected by them, and applied to the advancement of those corn-
men interests, which they were at first designed to serve.
That the Corporation of this City has long exercised a most per-
nicious influence over the inhabitants at large.

That it has capriciously ard factiously withheld its franchise
from many, who have thereby been denied a voice in the election
of their .Magistrates, and have no control over the application of the
rates, to which, by the Sessional order of such Magistrates, theyare
obliged to contribute.

'That it has prostituted to the purposes of political influence the
charitable funds, of which its members are the official trustees

That it has engendered a system of most profligate and ini
(pitons corruption, in the course of frequent party struggles, to
obtain the management of those funds, and the disposal of the pa-
tronage connected with Civic Office, whereby the whole energy
of the city is diverted from objects of general improvement anti
public ot ilit v—to t he degrading pursuits of a petty intestine warfare.
That it has, finally, been the means of contaminating, by these
corrupt practices, the electien of Members of Parliament, and
has thus relaxed every oblivion of honor, law, conscience, and
reli ion.
his Meeting has heard, with the utmost surprize and indigna-
tion, that a Petition, purporting to be that of the Mayor, Sheriffs,
Citizens, and Commonalty of the City of Norwich, has been pre-
sented to the House of Lords, wherein it is asserted that a majority
of the Clergy, gentry, merchants, bankers, manufactul era, and
other resident inhabitants of this city, consider its present Body
Corporate to be not only an efficient and useful, but an approved
instrument of local government.

That this Meeting most distinctly and emphatically disclaims any
participation whatsoever in such sentiments, but hereby denounces
them as utterly repugnant to the known wishes and opinions of a
decided majority of the most independent inhabitants of Norwich.
That we earnestly desire a general Reform of Municipal Corpo-
rations, and consider his Majesty's present Ministers to be emi-
nently entitled to the thanks and confidence of the people, for
hating prepared a Bill to effect that important object, and for the
honesty with which they have carried it triumphantly through the
House of Commons.

That our mind, ever filled with seriqus apprehensions, by the
opposition manifested to that Bill by the House of Lords, and that
a Petition be therefore presented by the inhabitants of this city,
re-
questing their Lordships to pass it without altering its main princi-
ples, or impairing the efficacy of its leading provisions.
That the following Petition be adopted.
That the Petition be transmitted, with a copy of these Resolu-
tions, to Lord Melbourne, requesting his Lordship to present it in
the earliest and most convenient occasion.