The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-06 00:00:00

of the bill, and his opinion was that it would be a great
improvement on the bill of Lord Derby's Government,
because it would enable the best part of the
working classes to raise themselves to that line which
the noble lord had laid down. (Hear, hear.) Well,
the noble lord brought in his bill, and he was not going to
blame the noble lord for what he did last session, because
he knew they could not get twenty waggons all at once
through Temple-bar, but the noble lord might have shown
a stronger disposition to pass the bill. The noble lord had
complained that two members on his side of the house—the
hon. member for Salfori and the hon. member for Edin-
burgh—had spoken against his bill. He (Mr. Bright.) would
say nothing about the hon. member for Salford, except that
it was generally understood in his borough that he was an
enthusiastic supporter of the bill which the noble lord said
he epoke against. The hon. member for Edinburgh had
told his constituents that he was in favour of a £6 franchise.
However, the hon. member when he was down with his
constituents the other day had passed under an unpleasant
crow-examination; and that, at a meeting called by his own
friends, was a very strong proof that his supporters did not
approve of the course which he took last year. The noble
lord the Prime Minister spoke on the second reading of the
bill last year, and on both sides of ,the house there was a
belief that the noble lord was not in favour of Parliamen-
tary reform, and in fact that he and his colleagues would
not mind if the bill introduced in the name of the govern-
ment should not pass the house. There was no apprehen-
sion or pain felt at, the course the house might truce with
regard to it. (Hear, hear.) He had no doubt that the
idea which prevailed led to a great deal Of the opposition—
persisterit and irritating—which the bill encountered.
(Hear, hear.) But what was the fate of the bill after all?
Ile would appeal to all upon this point, that nobody moved
aeythink in opposition to it.
An BON. MEMBER on the Opposition side of the
house—Yes. The hon. member for Salford did.
Mr. BRIGHT—No, he had en amendment on the paper,
but he ran away from it just as your man did from his.
(Laughter.) Well, the answer to all these questions must
be that the representation of the people is very imperfect,
and that with regard to many boroughs and counties it was
purely a sham. The house knew that six millions of men
were unrepresented, and amongst those who were in that
position he would find 500 who would be able to debate
every question which came before the house with just as
much ability and soundness of argument as they did. Tho
noble lord said he wrote to the King of Nsples, and advised
him to do certain things, but he did not do them, and he was
now shut up in the fortress of Gaeta. It did not folloWthat
the same thing should happen in England, but the same
feelings existed in the minds of all people, and the noble
lord might some day receive a despatch from a continental
sovereign containing advice that he should pursue a diffe-
rent course. (Laughter.) He would appeal to the house,
and ask whether it would be right that the representation
of the people should be amended same time, or would it not
be right? (Hear.) If some timer would it not be better to do
it now than as it was done in 1832, and as it would be done
againil the house persisted in the course they were now
taking? (Hear.) It had been declared by the noble lord the
member for Landon as the leader of the Government at one
time—by Lord Aberdeen, the leader of the Government,
which comprised many great statesmen, at another—by
Lord Derby, the chief of another Government, at another
time—and by Lord Palmerston, the longest of all in the
service of the eountry, at another time—that the represen-
tation of the people was so far imperfect that it was desir-
able it should be amended, and he would ask the house
whether the small questions of Savoy and Nice, and ques-
tions still smaller than those, should interfere with this vast
and more important question of the reform of the represen-
tation of the people. (Hear.) What did the House of Com-
mons think of the people of England, and what would the
people think of the House of Commons ? (Hear, hear.)
The house had already passed a resolution in favour of
the working classes being enfranchised to the extent of
120,000 of these classes—(hear, hear)—and now nothing
more was to be done. He had stated at Leeds that at
Rochdale there were undertakings representing a capital of
£400,000, managed by four committees of eleven each, and
.of all the working men on those committees only two were
possessed of the franchise. He knew many of those men
and their worth, and one of them, in the employ of the firm
in which he was a partner, had the care of a steam engine,
and was a man of great intelligence and economy, and as
respectable as any man he saw before or around him in
that house. That man had succeeded in obtaining a vote
for the county. Now those 6,000,000 men would not
always be , contented to be left out of the representation,
-and he should despise his countrymen if he thought the
course taken by the Government was a safe one and could
be maintained. (Hear, hear.) There was nobody could.
doubt for a moment that the class of persons which the
noble lord proposed last year should have the franchise
were equal in position and respectability to the , £lO voters
admitted in 1832. The last thirty years had produced a
large improvement in the character and intelligence of the
people of England. He did not speak of the agricultural
labourers, but he did speak of artisans of Lancashire and
Yorkshire ; but he spoke not more for them than for the
house, for if it were good that they should be represented
it could not be good for the house that they should be ex-
cluded from the franchise. (Hear, hear.) The noble lord,
with a jocularity, which be disliked, said nobody cared
much about reform ; but he would give the house a warn-
ing, which he was not sure the noble lord had given him-
self, that there would not always be periods of tranquillity
and acquiescence in the, old system of things. Prior
to 1831 the House of Commons was warned, and little
notice was taken, and what was the consequence? Why,
they all ran for their lives, and conceive the danger they
ran, for the country was within 21 hours ,cif a revolution
which would have given the people more than they got.
(Hear, hear.) The other House of Parliamelnt was in
terror, and had to kiss the dust before those petople of
whom they had been speaking with contempt ; and when
the Monarch threatened to exercise his prerogative, a
certain party absented themselves from the house,
while the other side passed the bill. (Hear.) He believed
it was generally considered that this question must be set-
tled. The time was favourable, for there would be nothing
before the house but the Attorney General's' Bankruptcy
Bill, and.one or two other measures, and if the govern-
ment were not going to interfere with the Italian strife,
surely this vas the session for the introduction of a shorty
moderate, and useful Reform measure, and it ought to bee
presented to the house. (Hear, hear.) And if the noble
lord at the head of the government had said that it would
be the bill of the session, and given the house to understand
that its reject ion would be followed by a change in the
government or a dissolution of parliament—as in the case
of Lord Derby's government—it would have passed the,
house, The noble lord said it required a strong tide to
carry it over the bar of the House of Lords ; hut there
were men in that 'lease who were not wholly oblivious to
what passed around them, and he did not believe such a
measure would have been, treated with contempt and ig-
nominy by the other house. He had very good reasons
for thinking that if such a bill had passed the Common*, 6
the other house would not have refused it their sanction,.
The speech of the 'noble lord had placed this question in a.
very different position, and, so far at least, those members
who were instrumental in placing the government in office
were absolved from any supposed obligation which consi-
dered them as supporters of the noble lord. (Hear, hear.)
He grieved at this because he was most anxious that at ,
least they should not have a change of government or a
dissolution every two years, but that the government
should remain in office a longer period. The noble lord
had now repudiated all he had said before, and not with
sorrow, but with satisfaction. (Hear, hear.) The noble
lord obtained a dissolution of parliament, and a majority
in favour of the proposition which he put forward and
brought before the house, and there was no division upon
his bill last year, and yet he came down to the house
at the opening of this session—in which there would he
almost nothing to do—and refused to do that for which
the Government had been placed on the Treasury benches-
(Hear, hear.) He (the hon. member) was content, like the
noble lord, to wait till the time came when this measure
would receive what he must call a more honest and states-
man like attention from the house. He believed that the
time was not dietant when the country would insist that
something should be done with regard to it. The working
classes were not like the members of that house, who had
time to spare in the morning and in the evening, and at
good many intervals during the day. They had to work
from six in the morning till six in the evening and
sometimes later. They had no time, except when they
were out of work or when they were in great distress,
to make great political demonstrations. The million
who had votes had declared themselves in favour of re-
forming the franchise; but the majority that there was
amongst that million was as nothing compared with the
majority there would be amongst the remaining
six-sevenths of the nation who at present had no votes.
And how were these six-sevenths to express their opinion ?
Parliament would not call a convention, and allow them to
decide whether it should deal with the question of reform.
They would not let the country declere itself, but they con-
fined the vote to a small portion of the community, whom
they hecuspocussed until that vote was of no value to them.
Did they want the public wish to be expressed by enormous
meetings ? The people had no other means of expressing
their opinions ; and if they met in great excitement. those
i.f.tbey
meetings must necessarily be often tumultuous.
e and
could have the hon. member for Glasgow come the:
say "Mr. Speaker, I have just left 100,000 men meeting
ou
Glasgow-green and thisistheresolutionvshichantohyester
—if they could have the hon. members for I
telling
and
Leeds
and
the shisam hon. e
they had fled 30 years ago. Ministers,especially if were
if they hap.
calm and so conservative,would,
rse en the wave till it
eathgeuiredainffidchuilnitieslwf:fi:c y 0141.11 als,anntoelev as
so
pened to sit on the Opposition side,
brought them to the
bsequious as it was in 1832; a bill
house would become as o
Government benches ; the other
more extensive than many of the
would be paised, PerhaPs
would now wish to see become Law,
advanced Liberal Part).
k of. (H hear. He H h
eaded to speak ear, ear. e (t
and changes might take place which hon. members opposite
at present dr
counsel and that he he
giving
the house wise c _ _ was warning
hon. mernber).felt an honest conviction that h
against dangers which, though they might be
t_feet he did not profess to have the gift of prophesy
as to time—were`, nevertheless dangers that were ahead,
disc
tnsan
and that had overtaken the statesmen of every
couuseestiohninhgasd bienenvisuewch.
whoof
thhaedhounsoot u
pkoenp kept h
its, those
as to make them run the risk of losing, first, their o
TT:en cf roYn d uct
own selfrespect, and then the respect of the country, When that
had once happened in this kingdom a
more
more unpleasant crisis would have come thanunhappy and a
arrive as the result of so judicious and could possibly
moderate
as the Government might have ro a measure
P
they had been courageous in the posed this session, if
discharge of th • duty, err
and such as the House of Commons, with great satisfac-
tion to the people, might _
(Hear, hear.) in his opinion have passed.
The house then divided—
For the amendment
Against it
Majority • ---83
The result 'was received with some cheers
from the sup.
porters of the niotion.
The address was then agreed to, and a committee was
appointed to draw it up.
The house adjourned at five minutes to ten.

[ADVERTISEMENT.] Pills and medicine invariably ag:
giavate and perpetuate diseases, their annoyance, dis-
appointment, and expense may be avoided by persons
in indifferent health sending only their address to B.
S. Barry, Esq., 77, Regent-street, W., London, and they
will receive gratis and tree by post the "INVALIDS' OWN
GUTDE," or Natural Restorer, without medicine or ex-
p'nse, of perfect digestion, strong nerves, eound lungs, and
refreshing sleep, to the most enfeebled, insuring the removal
of indigestion (dyspepsia), constipation, liver complaints,
nausea, epilepsy, paralysis, debility,
nervousness, p alp
diarrhceaitation,
cough, asthma, =gumption, droPsY,
flatulency, ,
dysentery, biliousness, fevers, sore throats, catarrhs, co. lds,
noises in the ears. rheumatism, gout, impurities, eruptions,
hysteria, neuralgia, irritability, sleeplessness, acidity, palpi.
tation, heartburn, headache, despondency, cramps, spasm,
sinking, fits, broaChitits.— "thaguebtionably the satest quick)
to_heslth.'!