The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-01 00:00:00

forward as substantial ground far retusing
the
franchise. There was a common observation,
the peep.° first, and give them political rights and the
vileges afterwards. The best mode of teaching
hillslgu
people Ras, he thought, by giving them wineleere
worth looking after. In less than three months there
worth looking after. In less than three wont
emb's
were no fewer that 1,045 essays produced by mem e
• journ
of the working classes, and three of them,
man Laker, a journeyman printer, and Pilger;
man weaver, received the Parker prizes
sad
the working classes could do these things, 3",
when they were capable of writing such e„,",
Vg'
why should they be debarred from exeriiing
their voices in the election of representativee? boa
the illustration of another, he asked was a roan tec A
thienTeruct.
a vote as long as his jackass lived, and not to
vote when his jackats died ? Was a man, hely")
eventhous e
oNst,' ohritsh
houselol., t obabi
being
g privilegedbar aed
down,to vo vote,
bnnedndeexi nptepteriedu::
next day of that vote? The Hon. Gentlem
ceedesi to substantiate the basis of his motion—ca,nle
the inequality of the representation. The number
electors to the population was 1 to every 18 in Engnd......
—1 to every 19 in Wales-1 to every 14 in Scotia
and 1 to every 58 in Ireland. Half the borough Pepsi!
tion tion of England returned 33 Members and the other
iced
290 Members. One-half of the population of the Vnent
Kingdom elected the majority of the Members iet. teuh
House! Could such a system be defended or j05t115, ne
23 Members were elected by 3,5°3 electors in Eng'x.„
and Ireland, and Newcastle, with nearly tte iareer gibe
tent of constituency, returned 2. He pressed fe s
extension of the franchise constituted in his motieje :00
claim of right, maintaining that the people should c _
a hold over the pursesstrinas of the country, "h
could not have so long as the present unjust and uneq4
ich
system of representation was permitted to continue. :late
warned the Legislature against ccntinuing to feftlils3 be
people a fair !participation in political rights; 9 le to
cautioned those unwilling to do justice t the eel
take a lesson from what had occurred on the Contalhe es
He deprecated the violence of the Chartists as Mac fee'
any man, though he approved of the principles .ag
which they contended, and he was sorry to saYiehiaLed
turned his attention to the subject, that he 1' 'llOO,
there was not a greater enemy to reform than thehear,
Gentleman opposite (Mr. F. O'Connor)' violence.
g orc , and laughter.) He was not for usin eor
in furtherance of the cause he had at heart.--(
Mr. F. O'CONNOR—Nor am I. of
Mr. HUME—lie wished to show that the best wayrio
convincing the people of the justice of their elainl'„ei a
by demonstrating the evil of withholding the CO
for which they contended. The course which di..
Chartists had taken rendered the name of Chartism Odd
ous, for connected with it were violence, disorder, tots
disregard for the law. While he made thie st°lenletube
—(flear,
he blamed the Government for not having yielded Woe
just demands of the Chartists, instead of swanning es,
country with soldiers and saddling the peePle " e never
Ther
pence to keep down the popular cause.
was a time that the question which he then urged on the
iees
consideration of the Legislature deserved more selreta
attention. It behoved those who had propertY • ;us-
those who could make property more valuable willbie
tice. It did not become them to refuse the peoPle of ibis
country those rights which they (the owners of lirckZeld
possessed. They should do unto others as the! tbst
wish to be done by, and not to grasp and ac - eb•
which they knew to be unjust. After some further
servations, the lion. Gentleman concluded by fOrlDplly
submitting his motion.—(Hear, hear,) ;bits of
Sir J. WALMSLEY said he was quite °ens- earnest
the great importance of the question, and felt an bio
desire to see the present defective state of the frariefon
so amended as to secure a full and free ropresenta,:
ed
of the people. The franchise at present was 50 lireblere
of
and so distributed as to render the return of Mein ,be
to that House almost nugatory as an expression
popular will. It was a strange fact that of all thesEeeee
sons who contributed to the safety
were less than one million deemed deserving °fleet
elective franchise. Whatever might be the result ° a be
debate he believed that justice would before len'Tbe
done to the great mass of the people in that matter. eta,
Noble Earl at the head of her Majesty's Govern
jesty s he VI
of this country the
in advocating the Reform Bill, had pointed to te our
bery and corruption which had prevailed un,cleerensind
f:tobremserobrleepir.,besrednttbaatitvesiaseyesttebme. But he would 1' Act
their blue books containe Pacaessuinenguloaftetdhe leveirti°ernii3cellel
corruption similar to that which had formerlYrobrt
forth his reprobation. There could be nceleeji'otl
however, on the other hand, but that the e`—telen'
had been conducted in all the now and poptil'ule a
stituences created by the Reform Bill pre-
manner which showed
,the reasonableness Wit
priety of that measure. He thought that exarnPc°,. the
to encourage the Noble Lord to extend still furthecttion
representative system in this country. A vot P eons
of our population were deeply sensible of the wrong any
to them when they were denied the right of tabinfotteid
part in the election of those whose laws they fiere beir,
to obey, and whose taxation they were compelled tec'ee Cr
The present was the most favourable moment ',..eicit
tending to the unrepresented classes a concession
toads
they would receive as a boon, and which could toe of
to them with perfect safety. It was only by 3 11`,.eiscas
that House that our system of taxation could be •seresii
in a manner conformable with the wishes of theija be
mass of the people. They might be told that iti."'c'e-ebise'
dangerous for them to extend the basis of the irs; vibe
But,for his part, he could not help thinking:that th°9-e tlO
were at present excluded from the franchise arr.-
sad
0'
most loyal, the most peaceful, the moat valueli,".. be
the most unoffending portion (4. the community.fool
would ask, could the honest artisan of this cotlntrYbieb
contented while he found that the right of rating, %Jed
was denied to himself; was abut to be eltehirl
to the people of our distant colonies in New "e-e
tine
and the Cape of Good Hope? He would Ylt.-eslY
t tll the Noble Lrd what e, no doubt, was
welle aware if—thato that wash simply a quest.os ° jolter
—(Hear, hear.) He believed that greater uranotrl
at present prevailed among the people a thisece°e e'er
in favour of au extension of the franchise than no felt
been manifested upon any other subject; and be roll
persuaded that if the Noble Lord were to bring 01'0140
an enlarged measure of reform, he would be WV, that
and sustained by the great ,body of the peoPic h°
high
position which as the author of such a naelsreteel
would well deserve. Under our present electoral
neither population nor property was fairly rePre3e,fiere
He found that eighty-six Members f that liouse Goes
returned. by a smaller number of voters than were te'a
ted in the Tower Hamlets, who returned onlifool
aiMembers. Then again with regard to property, beeefsle.
that one-half of the annual value of England burn while
was represented by nine counties and 161 Membrs' 'rtr
the other half of that value was re resented by thirty"
one counties and 310 Members; and further it &PP- or•
e'
that one-half of the Members of that 11000 I.,..e`eile
canted property of the annual value o, f 6 200,0001e` ;slue
the other half representedbeparr.o)perlyAt
%oefrciohoLh
olili3eb
of 78,000,0001—(11ear,
tamed between three and four hundred thousand i% the
tants, and which was assessed to the poor-rate tbst
extent of 1,500,0001., sent onl• two Members "e-etaia,
House, while Buckinghamshire' 'which did not c; esea
more than half that population, andwhich was 3;.-eeetl‘
to the poor rate to not more than half that aniceunieolisc
eleven Members to Parliament. He hoped that the Nee"
swaorueldfranmotedreffanrsetbietspausrsepnbtsetoefthpeatitiiintrgodainiction 01 0 -130'
milieus and unsatisfactory a system.
et be the
Sir G. GREY said that, whatever might 000
opinion of the House as to the merits oeflai end to
hi• cioaPtgibt
which had been submitted to its consideration, he dit for
that his Hon. Friend was at least entitled to erc o,ler
consistency in having again brought that subject
ea bee
their notice. His lion. Friend had several tinlueey)
fore introduced a similar measure, and he (Sir G. the
gave credit both to his Honourable Friend *nu 00 ia
Honourable Gentleman who had seconded the racitisiegle
so becoming a spirit, for being animated by theettetri'
desire 'to :promote the best interests of the „c;siterieg'
and the security of its existing institutions• htheY,
however, as he did, from them in the opinion whii.ey ba",
entertained as to the results of the scheme t"be he
shadowed forth, he felt bound that evening, as esite
felt bound on former occasions, to meet the
a decided negative. His lion. Friend had statebo bad
his proposal was verbatim the same as that which Beel
•
submitted to the House on preceding occasionslrered in
though he (Sir G. Grey) believed that it diweed
for ha (eft
his of its terms from the motion brought
his lion. Friend last year upon the same subjeet!deetieal:
that they might be considered as substantially 1 lie, 00
The question then submitted to their notice ,sjoivg.
whether there should be any extension of the elm, of pi
franchise in this county—was to the ficil nal°
it
not as
the details of the Reform Bill—was not whether." tic'
be proper for the House to take into its cousibe 91e;
the terms and conditions at present attached to tebise,
such an
with a view to enlarge that frsin. CPI
an enlargement should be thouht desirabdest that
aa raisedw midoerreb by
nfidt histmi
those points he (Sir George Grey) sh"l heell
ead not 0a
moment express no •
opinion, because they si ; 1
Mottod that
tr
noglireonourable Friend that evel3l7l
he wished it to be understood that he reser"- ,
spect to them. ToiPlmsPepo
grotrautenaanittityo
aohntiebs.
us's"
• t (Sr
whether they would e ' Jo •
ntertata a prop- fling, ,
sideration of a new R, form Bill, far more eweer its °Pee
more comprehensive, and far more extensive .doptcP,
Parliament after a severe struggle in
bration and its effects than that which had beertil,,ss'eee
endTebebleasfio°rlicei tvvhe.:l;:eselvlie:
in the country in the bah ASV
year 1832. His lion. Frie.aousee'
them to re-model the whole constitution of that .7406011:
to re-consider the whole structure of our con_ectera;
and the very basis on which the fabric of our elector
system rested. Now he (Si G. Grey) was nor ,eeed teo
to accede to that invitation. He was not PTAs till;
maintain that it might not be advantageolls tt. pi
should consider some of the details of the llee °stitutiche
but he was not prepared to reform the ereivee tb",
anew, and to abandon the principles willed to as tie
origin of that constitution had been adhere bad tohe
basis of an electoral system. His Hon. friendrotiolk
them that whatever might be the terms 0f his, he wise to
and tha' titled
was an advocate for universal suffrage,
t.
vote for the return of Members to Parlianeun
,übject ,o,
that all persons ss lio paid taxes should he enDot
Os th.e_usi g 0
Hon. Friend had qualified that view
stating that taxation and representation anceooer
p be
gether as far as might he consistent with_Pi`fiel,tion
cautions against abuse. Now, with that quaille 1,01%1'0
,0i ,et
agreed with his Hon. Friend. That waset. objeutial
which our constitution was founded; and his eked tbe d
to depart from that principle, and to adonttsa would d
fl 4
to the motion of his Hon. Friend was that he °loge 611,1 :4>V„9
indefinite extension of the franchise. whic," frielio
afford a proper check against abuse. Ills le° bt to
• would
together; but he had himself thought It
to
h would tulle r
had said that taxation and representation ought to
impose a limit to that proposition whie-, gi2v-
-1,50000 or 2,000,000 of the population 94