The Sun.
London, England, 1810-05-18 00:00:00

REVERSION BILL

-The Order of the .Days being read. for the second
reading of the Bill to regulate the granting of Places
in Revetsion,

k.rt GROIVENOR rose, 'and, moved that the Bill

be now read- a second time. In bringing forward
this motion at the present moment, the. Noble Lord
felt on many accounts no sMall,degree of uneasiness
- and anxiety, When he c'itiSidered the state and
feelings .of the country under the present condition
of public affairs, and the Oat aeter of those by whom
the; were administered, hellitruld not hut entertain
very serious apprehens!ons respeCting the fate of,the
present Bill. Very deep and general discontents
were known to _ prevail. Some imagined that the
discontent prevailed only among a few
Ter!aris, whom nothing could satisfy. Others, and
with more truth, were well aware that a very large
proportion of the people of this country were discon-
tented at the severe pressure of the accumulated bui-,-
thens under which they _laboured. The sufferings
of the latter had a strung claim on the, notice and at-
tention of their Lordships. Now the Bill before the
Ilotise-, was ene which the people anxiously look-
ed was the commencement of that system of reform'
and reduftion of expenditure with the prorni.,e of
which they had so long been flattered ; but with
the perforthance, of which thei' wereyet to be grati-
'fied. This measure,
_the first which. the. Finance
- Committee:Of the other House had bestowed so.
much pains upon, came in different shapes twice be-
fore their Lortk,h:ps, 'and was twice ,rejected,
al-
though it had passed the other House of Parliament
almost unanimously. -Mat tpust the people think
and; feel, if it is now to be rejet.ted a third 'time ?
Must not stich a treatment of the Bill*xasputate the
discontent too generally ditfi-sed among the great
mass of the people.; and _must it not lend a powei-
flit handle to the designing and Winded to m's-
lea(t I irritate the public mind with regard' to the
attention paid by Parliament to the general wishes
and s,tat ings f the nation ? • lie should not now
rt -urge the art:Rile:its which had been so repeatedly.
ad. anced in support of souie tneaure of the nature
of the pre-ete. They must be still fresh in the Cit.
co le:tiun of th tr
pircishipS. Mete whoapoint- or
two, how ,er, vi Melt. he must bti. fly touch. 'As
the pi 1..c.p1e- of the present Bi:t, an attempt to com-
mence a ,}'stein of t cut:only, was the same with that
of the former .it was unncessary to say any-
thing in its supper+ t. It shoold, ioa ever, he rt- mem-.
bored that the power of granting places in reversion,
at all tinies a danetous power, was-peculiarly so at
the present moment, when it might be wielded as a
gigantic engine of clandestine' corruption by the
men now in power, violated the Constitution
on their very ently into place, who squandered the
hood and-treasure 01 the conntry• in absurd expedi"--
tions, who detained our brave troops id a-pestilential
climate, daily wasting away in-lingering and inglo,
rious deaths, who detained them even-long after any

rational hope could be entertained of acctuplishing
any of the-obje:.-ts of the Expedition, and who were
still pur.wicg romantic schemes, which were likely
_ to be attended with consequences. equally disatit►ous
and dissracetul ? Could any power, especially a

power of so snlister an-operation, be- solely entrusted
to such lunds ? On a former occas:on, a Noble Se-
cretary of State (Liverpool) had thrown out some
enigmatical and oracular expressions, with regard to
the mode of proceeding to be pursued respeatiug the
.present Bill ; but be waited with eager expectation
for the di-closo re of the Noble Secretary's se.u.:,:ment*
on this,head, but he had WAited in vain: He trusted
howeVer that the House, would do its duty—that it
would recolleCt the pains which the other House of
Parliament had bestowed upon the Bill. That they
would be mindful of the respect which was dee to ihe
- other House, and above all, that they would not for-
get what the people expeCted from them on a point
to W hich their feelings were now so -sorely alive.
On these grcunds, he trusted the House would, give
their full concurrence to the present
.motion.
The Loan 'CHANCELLOR contended, that the Bill
now before their Lordships was essentially different,
.both in its principle and in its enactments from those
which had already been presented. The principle
of, the former Bills .went to7the abolition of all places
in reversion. The object of the present Bill, was to
regulate the mode in which they were to be granted.
It would vest the power of granting them, not in
.the Crown, in which that
,right was inherent from
the earliest times, but in either House of Parlia-
iment. Thus -Parliament was called upon to take
.that prerogative from the Crown, aod to bestow it
upon themselves. Was this the principle 'of the
former Bill ? Would this be a tair and coostitu-
ttonal mode of proceeding ? Certain he was that
if there was nothing else objectionable in the Bill,

that clause alone was sulficicnt io rcndcr it inadmis-
;iole.—The Noble Earl talked mtich of the,dicon-
tept among the people. 'There might be disconl
tent and ail designs'among a certain description of

men ; but neither proceeded frOm the Cause to
which the Noble- Earl wnuld impute tied. The
people at large thought ve:y little 4 and e:Oeeled no
relict at all from the abolition of places that were
granted in reversion. They would tiod no •a‘ing
in it : no alieviannof their 'burthens. But .did the
NolLeEarl mean to intimidate the House into the"
adoption of his motion, by holding out the threat '

I.OI,;DpN : Printed by l<l CIIA tt I) HARRIS, or No. 4, Mar tiett-coart, Bow-sttect 411.1 Pi. blished by WI LLI A M Alt VW; 1: It StAti PI'S, South Malton.sttee:, Gr,,Evenor sq zalet,
At the SCN•OI:TICE, No, /.12, Strafed, where Adverlisepents, Orders for the Paper, Letters for the Editor, Sze. (post-puid), must b.: addicss2d.