The Sun.
London, England, 1821-06-01 00:00:00

right there; nor had any of those, excepting per-
haps one, belonging to the Household. They
did not belong to them—they gave them no spe-
cies of information, and nothing but their votes
for the Government. There were also many Law
Officers, in his opinion too many; especially there
was the Chief Justice .of Chester, who be thought
most unconstitutionally held a seat in that House.
With respect to the Masters of Chancery, they
bad disappointed the hope of the successors of
the Irish Master.; but he did not think the En-
glish -Master in Chancery had any right in that
House. They were servants of the House of
Lords, and could not be in the House of Commons
without neglecting their duties elsewhere. lie
had now, he believed, pointed out fifty-one
Members of that Honse removable at the plea-
sure of the Crown. lie proposed to remove
twenty-nine of then], and he thought the House
would then be much fitter-for the discharge of
. its duties to the nation. It would particularly
. be remembered, that they had of late, in the case
of Lord Fife, had a proof that all of these Mem-
bers were expected to support the Government
of the day, or submit to dismissal. He only
wished to observe, in furtherance of his motion,
that it had uniformly been the wise practice of
our ancestors to reform abuses in the Constitu-
tion as they appeared, and then by instilling a
portion of health and wholesomeness into the
'diseased body of the State, to refresh and re-
`Vivify it. He could not help looking at this
question as one of the first and most vital im-
portance. He was quite sure that unless that
House *ere to cast out from it all those USCIPSS
placemen, unless it wiped from its Character the
stain of retaining them, it would not retain what
it ought to retain—the affection of the people.
If Hon. Members should refuse to assist him in
thus purifying and getting rid of that system
which tended to overwhelm him and his family
in ruin and disaster, but continued to reject con
tumeliously every proposal to mend their situa-
tion, let the consequence be on them. For his
own part, he had always done his duty conscien-
tiously as a Representative of the nation in that
House, and he conceived he was acting con-
sistently in moving for 'leave to bring in a Bill
for 44 better securing the independence of Par-
liarnent."

Mr. ROBINSON complimented the lion. Gen-
tleman on the temper and moderation he had ex-
hibited in the early part of his speech. He was
aware that any one getting up in that House to
oppose a motion of the nature of his lion.
rriend, was sure to have a degree of popular
odium cast upon him, and have his motives ar-
raigned in no very unceremonious manner. But
in a question of this kind, involving the interests
f Government, he should not be deterred from
declaring his sentiments on that account. The
Hon. Gentleman had, by admitting the propriety
of Placemen being in that House, reduced the
question front one of principle to one of degree.
There was no form of government which history
did not shew that the greatest difficulty existed
in keeping within due bounds the influence of
Supreme power. His lion. Friend had very
properly referred to the Acts which had been
passed at various times to limit the power of the
Crown, and he could assure him that no one held
those Acts in more veneration than he (Mr.
Robinson) did. The early Acts had not been
sufficient to restrain the power of the Crown, and
it had been found necessary to pass others since.
That necessity was never more obvious than in
the time of Sir R. Walpole, when there were no
less than 200 placemen in that House--4a number
so preposterous that it was impossible the duties
of the Government could be well administered,
or the liberties of the country, or the independence
of Parliament preserved with a House of Com-
mons so constituted.—(Hear!)—Under such cir-
cumstances there could be no doubt that mea-
sures like his Hon. Friend's were very necessary.
But there never was a time when there were
fewer placemen than at present.—(Hear, hear!)
—Therefore the question for the House was, whe-
ther the effect of this number was such as to re-
quire a Bill brought in to expel them.? The
lion. Gentleman had admitted, that in great na-
tional questions the votes had been fair, and not
made up solely of placemen. But he had prin-
cipally adverted to the votes of last Session,
chewing that the majorities on this • and that
question were so made up by a certain number of
placemen. That argument would go to the exclu-
sion of all placemen, which was contrary to his Hon.
Friend's argument. He knew that the system of
carying on the affairs of Government in that
House, in the form of parties, was much animad-
verted upon ; but he confessed that he was one
that countenanced that mode. Without it, he
thought the Government of the country would
be carried on according to a vacillating system of
policy, and be swayed by the folly and caprice
of individuals, if they were bound together by
other and more honourable ties than mere per-
sonal interest. lie did not shrink from confess-
ing that these were his sentiments on this subject,
notwithstanding the invective with which they
would be treated. lie must say, he thought an
Administration in the House of Commons not so
bound together by the ties of party and of office,
would be too independent in its existence as an
Administration of that Muse. His Hon. Friend
said, that that House did not possess the confi-
dence nor the good opinion of the people it repre-
sented. He also stated, that he had 'always
found it to be his duty to oppose the present
Administration, and that he had done his duty
conscientiously. Ire (Mr. Robinson) gave him
full credit for the truth of this assertion, he
knew him too well- to suppose he could act from
other motives ; but he hoped, at the same time,
he would give him credit for acting as conscien-
tiously. (Hear!)—Because they sometimes were
opposed to the feeling of the country, they were
riot to be stigmatised as having no feeling for the
people. No Government could go on, if it were
to change, with every
.variation of public opi-
nion ; and if it had not resolution to look at the
merits of every question it had to deal with, alto-
gether unswayed by the popular feeling of the
moment, which veered about with every passing
wind.—(Hear.)—As the influence of the Crown
over Parliament was never less, so the influence
of public opinion was never greater than at pre-