The Sun.
London, England, 1810-05-22 00:00:00

On the motion of Mr. TIERNEY, an AddreSs was
voted to his Majesty, praying that he would begia.
ciously pleased to order Acconuts of the Nett PrO-
ceeds of the Droits of the Admirahy.to be laid before
the. House.

PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.
Mr. BRAND, rising pursuant to notice,i-stated that
circutust:lnces,bad concurred in urging
which he had

a

him to the. performance or mat ~....
taken upon himself. Before he proceeded farther,
he would trouble the House with a few observations
relating to the motives-by: which be Was gloated,
and-the mode in which he proposed introducing to
the House the question of. Parliamentary_ Reform.—
He had intended making a motion on the subjea
early in the Session, but when the House came to
that decision on a grand question, by which they h'ad
made themselves the objeas of that pribrii3 -;;..ll;:glla-
nation,. which was previously ciifeCted against his
Majesty's Ministers, he was advised by a. Friend not
to bring his Motion-forward ditealy. His Friend'S
arguments convinced him of the impropriety of mak-
log it in the then state of the public mind, and he
defer red it accordingly. It might still be thought
by some, that -he took an improper moment for
bringing the subject forward, at a time when an.
.Hon. Baronet, -who was a-great advocate for Reform,
was precluded, from attending in his place. But
has ing stated that it had been his intention to bring
the subject before the House from the commence-
ment of the, Session, he trusted justice would .he
done to -his motives for so doing. Submitting' to
the. House the measure which he was about to pro-
pose, he should butperfortn a duty which had- been
long expected at his bands. To dissipate alarm, to
allay indignation, and to gain the confidence of the
people, it was necessary that a reform should take
place in the representation of them in -Parliament.—
It_ was unnecessary' for him to point out the va-
rious,defects of the present representation of the
people) or' to-clisviay to the House the several in-
conveniences thence arising. They knew that there
were at the present day seventy Members of that
House Who were merely the nominees of the opu;
lent proprietors of boroughs. Time consequences of
an evil were but too well known. of the ex-
istence of-the evil none could doubt. .Evidence had
been given of it at their bar, and the facts had been
entered on-their journals 'lt was therefore unneces-
sary for him to give demonstration of that whiCh
was universally - admitted. The evil to which he
alluded was of a twofold nature. In the first instance
,places almost uninhabited had the privilege of being
represented in Parliament, and-thus robbed a con-
siderable portion of the people. of that voice which
they ought to have in the great Council of the Na-
tion. The second was, that large and opulent places
had no representatives in that House. There were
many other evils and,causes of complaint whit.l,he
could enumerate ; but to these he propbsed chiefly
to confine himself. That these were grievanceihe
. scarcely knew a man in the country who did not ad-
- mit.—And there was hardly a man to be found who,
was not -afraid.of a sudden attempt to eradicate them
without 'first .giving the subject due consideration.
He Was, one of those who feared the effect of any
sudden attenipt of that nature, and however ha
might he -prejudiced in favour of his own plan, he
thought before it was adopted it ought to be sanc-
tioned by the approbation of a Committee of that
House: To a Committee he wished it to be refer-
red, by whom it might be altered and amended, if
not perfect in its original state, till every cause of ob-
jection was removed. He now thought it necessary,
to state to the House the specific plan he. could wish
submitted to a Cotntuirtee ; and he was not .with-
out hopes that it would find supporters ;on each
side of the House. l'he first and' greatest evil of
the present system he thought was the. nominating
of persons to represent Boroughs. To remedy this
evil, he looked to nothing but the Constitution of
the land, which he thought, furnished •the -best
remedy for an evil sti injurious to the best interests of
the country, From what had been done in former
times, he thought such boroughs might be constitu-
tionally disfranchised, and no longer suffered to send
representatives to Parliament. Such nomination he
thought productive of the greatest mischief. He
would rather a Member of that House should pro-
cure his seat by money than that he should be so
nominated by a borough proprietor, as the former
would act for himself, while the -latter was bound to
obey the wishes and support the principles of his
patron; however they might be at variance with his
own. There were thirty places, returning each two
Members to Parliament, no one of whichsontained
a population of more than fifty inhabitants; such
places he, thought a Committee and' that House
would admit the propriety of disfranchising. The
right to be represented could not exist .in an
unpopulated place. Population and property must
always form the basis and foundation of repre-
sentation. Where no population was to be. found,
and no property but thht to which he most
objeaed, he could not think that any Eng-
reap); e as
enn tee Ipe ar
oipv:r t3frr! n
in.
holders; in towns, the franchise was held by the resi-
dentcliisliirstenashould
u lbde .beei a
cfeodu.n d
To to
counties the ele&ive franchise was vested in free-
householders, that the population might be re-
presented. He could wish the copyholder to be al-
lowed a vote. Property would and ever must have
its due weight in the representation. In counties,
he would leave the eleCtive franchise as it now-
stands, with the freeholders, merely adding to the.
number of eleaors the copyholders. After the de-
r struaion of the feudal system he could see no ob-
I jeaion to allowing the cQpyholder a right,to vote,
as that state of dependence on their respective Lords,
which marked those time no longer existed. He
could see no objeCtion to bringing in a Bill to give a
vote pro tura° to the copyholders. The populous
places-he would have the eleCtive franchise rest on
the resident householder, paying parochial and other
. taxes. These arrangements, he hoped, would do
away the obje&ions that had been formerly made
when the subjed was brought forward. In the re-
presentation of Scotland some innovations must ne-
• cessarily be made, if they wished to meet the wishes
of the people. He thought time representation of
Scotland might be assimilated to that of England.
lie would not leave the right of election to those
who were wholly destitute of every kind of pro-
perty, he would have it vested in the occupiers of
freehold lands. Now to the disfranchising of time
. boroughs, of which 'he had spoken, he -thought
there dould be no constitutional objection:. - One
i' difficulty, ho ever,. might arise respecting the right