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

not support the present motion for a change because ho
did not believe that the present House so represented
them. Why, that House was, in 1850, very much what
it was in 1830. lie did not understand the propositions
of his Hon. Friend, which he had borrowed from the
Noble Lord, that taxation and representation should go
together. When the Noble Lord propounded that
theory, he was as far from the truth as his Hon. Friend.
His ground for demanding an alteration in the franchise
was, that there existed a large body of shis fellow-coun-
trymen wbo fancied themselves aggrieved because they
were not represented.—(Hear, hear.) In 1830 they
were a larger and a more powerful class than they
were at present The House was, be thought, bound
in justice to listen to the claims of that unrepresented'
class, who then came to the aid of the middle classes
and assisted them in the struggle. There was much said
of the burdens of that country, but as regarded the work-
ing classes they were not of so, much importance. lie
believed that on investigation they would be found less
than those imposed on the people of America or most
other countries. But that was not his ground. What
he desired was, that there should not be in any large
mass of the, population
.of that country the feeling of
discontent that now existed. If the labouring classes
were not treated fairly they would soon be induce 1 to
listen to bad counsel, and to adopt it. He was of opinion
that there was both peace and security in good govern-
ment, and that they enjoyed that security in England.
A man could go from one end of the country to the
other, not armed, but simply defended by the power of
the law. He was protected by the invisible domi-
nion of the law, and that without any direct appeal
from himself. When his Right Hon. Friend said the
labouring classes had no protection from the Govern-
thent, he made a great mistake. All classes enjoyed
protection—the people governed themselves by their own
good intelligence. His Hon. Friend had used the word
" serfs" as applied to the labouring classes. Now when
Ole people felt' themselves robbed of what others pos-
Isessed they naturally felt themselves injured, and ac-
icepted a name; and sometimes, too, they acted upoi a
feeling of the injustice they experienced. The Right
lion. Gentleman (Sir G. Grey) had told them that the
;House was made up of a variety of interests, with the
preponderance of a particular power. The Noble Lord
lhad told them what it, was. He said he wanted a pre.
!ponderance of the landed aristocracy.
Lord J. RUSSELL—No, no; I never said that.
Mr. ROEBUCK spoke only from the published re-
ports, and was sorry if he had misrepresented the Noble
1,4,0 rd; but he thought he should be able, if he stepped
,into the library, to produce something like these very
viords. He would ask him whether such was not the
object of the Reform Bill he had proposed? They had
seen wealth enormously increasing from the spread of
their commerce and manufactuzres, and the Noble Lord
'found he could not exclude them: The Hon. Member

;for Surrey, who was in the, habit of callingaspade—a.
spade, had said that the opposite party had wreaked their
.vengeance on their political opponents, by whom, they
had been so long kept out of rower, He meant- that
when they came into power, on the shoulders of excite-
ment, as it were, they bad wreaked their Vengeance ou
the Tory party, by so shaping their measures as to
bring in representatives of the landed interest.—(A
;Voice— " The mercantile interest.") Not at all: The
Right Hon. Baronet- had told them that they ought
not, by 'enlarging the franchise,,to destroy the combina-
tion of interest that. thitt House,rapresented.
; Sir G. GREY—I said the House at present repre-
sented all the great and varied interests of the, country.
Mr. ROEBUCK—WeII, then, all he asked of that
House was' to have such confidence in the people of this
Country as to allow them to vote for their representatives.
..--;(Hear, heir.) Was it not too much to have the Right
Hon. Gentleman getting up and threatening them with
confusion and destruction if they only had 2,000,000 or
3,000,000 of enlightened 'Englishmen saying, " I vote aye
or nay?" Did the Right Honourable Gentleman mean
to say that they were not intelligent ? Why he was
always one of the first to get up and praise the humbler
classes of the people of that country. Praise them, was
the Right Hon. Gentleman's doctrine as long as they
Pleased; but give them power, , and he is frightened at
them directly,—(Hear, hear.) He'(Mr. Roebuck) vowed
that he was not frightened. at them; he believed them to
be an exceedingly sober, calm, and considerate race.
They were not like the people across the .water--they
knew how, to govern themselves; and they had, what was
never seen elsewhere, except in Belgium, a regard for the
decisions of the majority they yielded to them when
duly and properly proaouncedi
every country in Europe, and did not betake them-
selves, as they had seen in to
fighting when they were in a minority.—(Hear,
hear.) The Right Honourable Gentleman had said
Whom do you mean to enfranchise? Lodgers, in.,
deed!" But that was a most unfair way to put the
question. His Hon. Friend :had said—first, he wanted
men untainted by crime; next, he must have them
dwelling in a particular locality for twelve months either
as lodger or occupier. But that was not enough—they
must be able to ascertain who they were, to know them,
and distinguish them, and therefore registration was
introduced. But he went a step father, 'and said they
must not have it.let of vagabonds—a most appropriate
name—they must be actually rated to the relief of the
poor, but his Hon. Friendhaving some experience of the
vexatious working of the rate-paying clause, did not
require previous payment of the rate. Now mark-the
disingenuousness of the Right Hon. Gentleman, who
said it was not desired that, -they should pay rates, and
they were to have twenty ierions ,on the books, not
one of whom would pay the. poor-rates. Was that in-
genuous—was that fair tobis Honourable Friend? The

Right Hon. Gentleman shook his head, but he (Mr.
Roebuck) maintained that he was dealing with his ar-
gument more fairly than the Right. Hon. Gentleman had
dealt with the Honourable Member's. The: Right
Hon. Gentleman had said that all wealth arose from
labour, but he confessed he had seldom heard so much
error in so few words. The motion of his HOD. Friend
had been termed universal suffrage, and those who op-
pose 1 it fancied that 'what was called the labouring
classes would preponderate in point of numbers. They
said, give them a vote, and their representatives would
preponderate in that House; that they would have an
undue influence in the state, and ultimately do away
with the House of Lords and the Queen. .But who were
the labouring classes? Was the little shopkeeper, toil-
ing from six in the morning till nine at night, constant!),
moving about, and charging 100 per cent. because his
business occupipd so much of his time—was he a labour-
ing man? Was the man who lived in a 91. house one
of the labouring class, while he who lived in a 101.
house was not? He wanted to- know if the Hon. and
Learned Member for Oxford was a labouring man?—,(A
laugh.) He laboured ail day and the greater part of
the night? Was he then a labouring. man? Why the
distinctions of class in tbat country were Hee the shade
across a sheet of paper, beginning with one colour
and passing into another by such nice tints .that
no one could tell -where one colour ended or
the other began. Could any man point out the precise
distinction between the poorest labourer who_ gave his
hart work for the smallest pittance, to the highest
intellectual labourer in t4ti Legislature of the country?
Could any man draw the line clearly? He thought they
were frightening themselves with a name.—.(Hear, hear.)
They calledas different as possible; in fact it was an idle bugbear,
which the
e
soonerrae by
theythge sameot rid of the better. Never did
name whose interests were
which
the Hon. Member for Surrey sneak a truer word than
when he said all that would come to
pass. He said with
and he was anxious that
ihm
tish, atntuhldthe time
not
must come,
come
in whirlwind,
storm, and confusion,
and that it should be accepted as a growing, living ma-
nifestation .of the power and vitality of the British con-
stitution.—(Hear, hear.) It was an object with them
to take care. that the population around them should
not be stirred up into an armed madness, instead of
becoming an improved and intelligent people. He
wished to see the hand of good-fellowship held out to
them—that they should not keep 'them down, but help
them up—that they
.should aid them by education,
and show them that tney wore really their friends. In
that spirit he accepted the proposition of his Hon.
Friend. He.
had that faith in the, expansive power of
the.constitutiod, and in :the mighty effect of the great
discoveries of modern times--of printing and the steam-
engine, and the increased means of communication, that
the time would come when there (should not be a human
the_sense of the. Right lion. Gentlemai.
being in the land
. who would not feel himself quite
equal—that terrible word-7with.every other, but not in
men now equal in the eye of the law? , Not at all. Out
of, four and a half millions there .was: only one million
right. to.vote; but he (Mr. Roebue*
who had the power of voting feipireieptatiees in that
But were all
House; they considered it a degradation-pot to have the
all his life. for any human being.
thing they would find was that had 'never voted in
lit Got, although' these.
men considered it a degradation to be deprived of the
they would neglect to
vote, if the right was given them to-morrow, the first
make use of it. But that 'was no answer to-him. Dis-
content was in that class and they ;should get rid of it
Was there ever so conservative an assembly asahat arising
out of universal suffrage at the time of the last French
---
revolutione universal suffrage that was propounded by
the democrats of Franco, expeutini that they would
have things all their own way? Ihe Right Honour-
able the President of the. Board of Trade shook his
head; but he (Mr. Roebucir) knew what he meant.—
(A laugh.) He meant to intimate that the people of
France were different from the people of England. There
appeared to be a general impression that the people of
that country were not to be trusted with power. He
thought it was a mistake to say that the middle classes
of, the country- shared in that opinion. By bringing for-
ward this question year after year, they ought not to be
taunted by the failure of their efforts in that House out'
cf the attempt to press the questios still on the attention
of Parliament, and to make the middle classes thoroughly
understand that there was no danger whatever in en-
dowing the large section of the, labouring population
with that power which they themselves possessed. Re-
collecting all the antecedents, they ought to be very care-
ful and anxious to confer upon them that franchise which
they asked, because they had enabled that House to force
from the aristocracy of the country the Reform Bill.—
(Hear, hear.) The Noble Lord himself must know that
they forced that Bill on the House of Commons as well
as the House of Lards.—(lieer, hear.) It was idle not
to call that Measure a revolution. It was a revolution,
and a very beneficial revolution.—(Hear, hear.) , The
Hon. Member for West Surrey shook his head. That
Hon. Gentleman, however, contradicted everything and
everybody.—(Laughter.)
colleagues.
—(Hear,
the
That was a revolution that
was brought about by a strong f?dling out of doors—a
feeling that was kept up, maintained, and cherished by
TthheeNNoobblele
LLnorrdd
needand his
ncit hear.)
fact, as the time had long' passed by. If ever
there was a revolution, that, he repeated, was
one. He certainly never wished to see repeated in that
country such an attempt to drive the vessel so near the
rocks. In a few hours more they might have found
themselves in a violent revolution, Instead of a peaceful
one. He therefore entreated the e Noble Lord and the
House to be careful how they resisted
.so long agaitolle
desires of the people—of those whose demaride er
buret; just, and teaionable..--arear, heir.)