The Sun.
London, England, 1828-03-22 00:00:00

had ever insinuated that that House ought to he guided by
what wati likely to take place in another place. What be
did say wag, that on a former occasion of this description
they took one course, and the other !rouge another ; and
that they ultimately abandoned their own course, and
adopted that of the other House.—(Hear.)
Mr. Secretary HUSKISSON rose amidst loud cries of
" Question." he only meant to trouble the House with
a few words. This House had concluded its judicial func-
tions with respect to this measure, and wag now employed
L. its legislative capacity. In another place they would
ve to consider the evidence, and then proceed in the
same manner ; and, considering what had happened in
former cases, he could not help looking to what would be
the ultimate fate of the proceeding which this House had
now under its consideration. He certainly had no objec-
tion that, when any borough was proved to have been so
corrupt BA this had been, the franchise should in due pro •
portion be transferred to the large commercial towns-
41aYs having in view to preserve its due proportion to the
landed interest. He was rather favourably disposed, how-
ever, to the amendment in this cease, because, if they were
iz each of these Bills to propose to transfer the franchise
to some large commercial town, the other House might
ivaPPose that they were acting on a system of general Par-
43'entary Reform. Two additional Members had been
!ratsferred to the county of York—a measure which he
had thought perfectly justified by the great extent and lin-
Purtalire of that county. It had been said that the great
unrepresented towns had been in general the particular
seats of disturbance; but it ought to be remembered that
ralow, one of the towns particularly alluded to, had a
rtapresentative in that Hour. That town was represented,
although under the name of the town of " Lud," it had
beau at one time the great source of disturbance. As to
the argument, that the extending the right of voting in
tile manner now proposed, would be no punishment to the
thetore of the borough, he contended that it was a very
severe punishment, and in that he•Zoneurrod with the late
Mr. Fee. He maintained, that all the interests of the
great towns were, under the present system, properly re-
Presented. (Cries of No, no !) He would maintain that
the trading and manufacturing interests of the country
had much greater influence, in proportion to that of the
lauded interest, than they had at the time when the elec-
tive franchise was originally established ; and when they
proceeded to legislate on this subject, it was highly de-
sirable that they should do so in a manner satisfactory to
all the interests of the State.
Lord ALTHORP agreed that this measure of disfran-
chisement was a punishment, as far as deprivation could be
called a punishment; but it could not be called a punish-
ment in any other sense if the term. It had been observed,
that when a great town al as properly represented, it was
generaily divided into two parties, and that, in as far as a
tendency to disturbance was concerned, they generally neu-
tralized each other. To this it had been answered, that
Glasgow was represented, and that it had, notwithstanding,
been the source of much disturbance. It was true that
there was a Representative in the House for Glasgow, but
then the Representative of that town, 3.5 well as that for
Edinburgh, was chosen only by a few. The great mass
of the People had nothing at all to do with the election,
and perhaps took little concern iu it. This was no popu-
lar eleetku, and therefore the argument with respect to the
advantage of two parties did not in the least,apply to such
places
• It was highly proper that such populous towns as
Manchester and Birmingham should not lose the advan-
tage of proceedings of this description.
Lord
rtraeci
JOHN RUSSELL observed, that in the four last
ne
they had yielded to the Lords, and had trails-
se the election to the counties; and it was fitting that
they should follow their own judgment; and transfer the
had before yielded to the other branch of the Legislature,
was a reason why they should now more particularly insist
upon their own judgment in disposing of the Elective Fran_
close on the present occasion. Another reason against the
Amendment was, that those electors of East Retford, who
bail so glaringly misconducted themselves, ought not to be
allowed to retain any portion of the Elective Franchise
In the case of Penryn, although the great majority were
corrupt, vet he could point out, he believed, 150 people,
who were not corrupt. Now, in this instance of East
Retford, they were almost all corrupt ; and then what
would the other House say if they found that the Com-
mons had treated the electors of East Retford with less
severity than they hail been disposed to treat those of
Penryn ?

..11e. V. FITZGERALD agreed that, generally, this
House ought in its proeeedings to look merely to its own
judgment, without being swayed by what might be conjec-
tured to be the views of the other House of Parliament.—
It was their duty to decide for themselves ; and yet, when
they considered what had before happened in cases of this
description, they might, even on the principle of being go-
verned only by their own judgment, look to the cireunt-
stances which were most likely to promote or retard the
effect of their own measures.
Mr. W. HORTON rose amidst cries of " Question."
He did not mean to detain the House for any length of time
at that late hour. If they had been at present consider-
ing the case of Penryn, he believeo" there would be little
difference between them. He had no objection to the
transference of the Elective Franchise to large town-, but
he did think that it was proper to consider what was likely
to be the result of the measure which they had before
them. He himself would have had no objection to trans-
fer the franchise to some great town instead of throwing
it open to the hundred ; but lie most look at the probable
effects which their pioceedings were likely to produce in
mother place.—(Cries of " Question, question.")
The House divided on the Amendment, when there ap.
Mired—

In its favour
Against it
Majority 36
Mr. G. BANKES moved fur a Select Committee to
inquire into the state of the Public Buildings in England
and Ireland, under the varioum Acts passed for their erec-
tion, and for general public improvement.—The motion
;V;is carried, and the Committee named.
The other Orders of the Day were then disposed of,
and the House adjourned at Twelve Minutes past Twelve
,'Clock.