Star.
London, England, 1830-02-22 00:00:00

tisty:.lg the said Aet passed i ) the first year of Ring Henry the
bird hereinbefore mentioned.
Arad whereas from the time of the reign of King Henry the Third

to the ninth year of the reign of Queen Anne, there was no law to

prevent such citizen and burgesses from sitting in Puliament as
.night net be in possession of freehold or copyhold estates of the
-sinnual value of three hundred pounds.
And whereas it is expedient that the laws of England touching
he representation of the Commons of England, should be restored
to the state in which they stood fur so miny hundred years ; and

that cities and boroughs should not be bound down to make choice
cot landed men, inasmuch as such landed men may not be always
found in the said cities and boroughs, and therefore the electors
thereof should be at liberty to elect such persons among them as
have the same interests, knowledge, and feelings as themselves:
and whereas. by an Act passed in the 12th and 13th year of the
reign of his Majesty King William the Third, entitled " An Act
for the further Limitation of the Crown, and the better securing the
Rights and Liberties of the subject," it was among other things en-
acted " That no person who has an office or place of profit under the
king, or receives a pension from the Crown, shall be capable °retry-
ing in the House of Commons," and by the same act it was solemnly
declared that the laws of England are the birth-right of the people
thereof."
And whereas this wise provision for the better securing the rights
Ind liberties of the people, has been entirely defeated by an Act
passed in the 6th year of the reign of her late Majesty Queen Anne.
Be it therefore further enacted, that so much of the Act passed in

the ninth yeat of the reign of Queen Anne entitled " An Act for se-
curing the Freedom of Parliaments by the farther qualifying the
►icmbers to sit in the House of Commons," as renders it necessary

for every citizen or burgess to have an estate of freehold or copy.
hold of the annual value of £3OO tit sit in Parliament is hereby re-
pealed, together with all oaths and other regulations afficting such
qualification in any subsequent Act or Acts, and particularly those
contained in an act passed in the thirty-third year of his Majesty
King George the Second, entitled " An Act to enforce and render
more effectual the Laws relating to the qualification of Members
to sit in the House of Commons," and all those contained in an Act
passed in the fifty-ninth year of his late Majesty King George the
Third, entitled " An Act for further regulating the qualification of
Members to serve in the United Parliament of Great Britain and
Ireland ;" and also that so much of the Act panted in the 6th year'
of the reign of Queen Anne, entitled " An Act for the security of
her Majesty's person and Government, and of the Succession to the
Crown of Great Britain in the Protestant line," as enables uy person
or persons accepting offices or places of profit under the King to be
re-elected, is hereby repealed ; and it is declared that the said enact.
meat in the Act passed in the 12th and 13th year of the reign of
King William the Third, was meant to extend to all offices or places
of profit under the king that then existed, or that should thereafter
exist, and the said enactment is hereby extended :to the same
accordingly.
And whereas it is expedient that no modern Act touching the
freedom of election or the eligibility of members to serve in Palle,
meat should be suffered to disgrace the Statute Book, if the same
shall have been made in any particular case, and from personal
motives towards any individual, and particularly where the rights
and interests of a large and learned body of men have been thereby
improperly affected.
And whereas an Act passed in the forty first year of his late
Majesty King George the Third, entitled, " An Act to Remove all

Doubts respeSting the Eligibility of Persons In Holy Orders to sit

in the House of Commons,,' war passed for a particular ease, against
a single individual, and does affect the rights of a large and learned
body of men, and by its then ex pea facto operation against the
said individual, and all others wbo had taken holy orders, was and
lea disgrace to the Statute Book. •
Be it therefore further enacted, that the said Act shall be can.
celled and taken off the file and records of the Statute Book, or
otherwise defaced and obliterated that the same may not be visible
in after ages, and the said Act is hereby wholly repealed and de-
elated to be null and void to all intents and purposes.

And whereas it is expedient:and highly necessary that effectual
means should be taken to secure the due attendance of the members
of the said committee : Be it therefore further enacted, that not has
than fifteen members of the said committee shall always be present
at each sitting, and that the chair shall be taken in succession, that
ill the expenses of witnesses, and all other expenses necessary for
the carrying this Act into full execution, shall be paid in the same
manner as in all other Parliamentary inquiries; that in no case shall
the time of the said committee be occupied in hearing counsel, nor
shall any unnecessary delay take place ; and upon complaint of any
member of the House of Commons, it shall be the duty of the Speaker
to give such directions under his hand, respecting the sittings of the
said committee, and of the attendance of the members thereof, as shall
secure the due execution of this Act.
And be it further enacted, that it shall be the duty of the said

committee to direct how and by what persons the assessments herein
before-mentioned may most conveniently be raised and levied on the
- electors, and how all other things necessary to give effect to this Aim
are to be done and executed, and to report the same tolhe said Se-
cretary of State, and it shall be the duty of the said Secretary of
State to give notice of the same to the proper authortities, and to see
that all the directions transmitted to him by the said committee are
duly executed and performed.
And be it futther enacted, that it shall be in the power of the said
committee to send for and examine upon oath such witnesses as they
may think proper, and that all the members of the said committee
shall themselves take the following oath :
" I do solemnly promise and swear, that laying aside all private
interests or motives, I will, to the best of my judgment, faithfully
execute all the provisions of the Act under which I have been ap-
pointed a member of the Reform Committee, according to the plain
and obvious meaning of the said Act, as set forth in the preamble
and enactments of the same, and if it shall appear to me that any
improvement can be made in the said Act for the better fulfilling
the clear intentions of the legislature as therein expressed, I will not
fail to propose that such improvement shall be reported to the
House of Commons, or to vote for it if proposed by others; and that
in a matter of such importance, as restating to the House of Com-
mons the perfect confidence of the nation, and securing for ever
the rights and liberties of the people, I will consider it my duty to
be regular and punctual in my attendance on the said committee,
sickness or any other unavoidable cause alone preventing such at-
tendance."

And whereas, in the present distressed and alarming state of the
country, it may not be safe to wait for the deliberate investigations
and reports of the said committee, as required by this Act :
Be it therefore further enacted, that in case of a dissolution of the
present Parliament before the said committee shall have reported
upon every city, borough, and port, in the United Kingdom, and
that such report shall have been published in the Gaseite, by the
said Secretary of State, in manner before mentioned, no writ for
the election of citizens or burgesses, shall be sent to the following
places, Old Sarum, Chinon, Westbury—.—.—*
And be it further enacted, that writs lo place of the before men-
tioned writs shall be sent by the said Secretary of State, together
with a sufficient number of copies of this Aet to the sheriffs of such
counties as the King, with the advice of the Privy Council, shall
think proper, and the said sheriffs shall be commanded to return
such number of citisens and burgesses for such large, populous, un-

represented, or inadequately represented towns, the some being-fully
able to bear the burden of paying the wages of attendance as afore.
said, as shall be specified in the said writs, and the said sheriffs
shall be further commanded to give notice to such persons as may
be appointed to be the atart►ag officer or officers of such towns or
to the inhabitants-thereof; apubllely sr possible, that returns of all
lambent to serve in Pallemant are tole, made by the majority of
votes of the inhabitant householders of •oath towns, assessed to any
r Enumerate here all Ate other close and decayed places whoa
daminatien" ward nabs' put Mt end to, by giving the right of
• •
Voting to all the inhabitant booldieldirs: