Star.
London, England, 1822-04-26 00:00:00

PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.

Lord JOHN RUSSELL then rose and said, he had
to call the attention of the House to the great ques-
tion of Parliamentary Reform. He should move a
Resolution that the state of the Representation re-
quired the serious consideration of the House, and if
he should be so fortunate as to carry that Resolution,
he would move for leave to bring in a Bill to effect
some alterations on that subject: Although he felt
considerable anxiety on the subject, it was not from
any fear that the question itself would fail to engage
the attention of the House. He was aware that it
was a question which, if carried, involved in the opi-
nion of some the ruin, and in that of others (who he
believed were the majority) the salvation of the coun-
try. He had, therefore, no doubt that the subject
would engage the interest of the House, but he feared
the weakness of the advocate might prove detrimen-
tal to the cause. The question had obtained the con-
sideration of men of the greatest talents ever produced
in this country, and on that account alone he should
be discouraged from taking it up, had he not in some
measure served an apprenticeship to the cause of Re-
form. He had always, however; preferred supporting'
the Reform of others, to the putting forward of his
own. Yet he was encouraged to bring the subject
forward this Session in a general shape in consequence
of the advantages of our national situation. We were
in the possession of external peace and internal tran-
quillity, and the time was therefore most favourable
for the calm deliberation of the question. Petitions
had been presented to the House on this important
subject from various parts of the country, from seve-
ral counties and many large towns ; and as the Peti-
tioners did not insist upon any exclusive plan of Re-
form, he thought they were particularly entitled to
attention. To shew that the doctrine of Universal
Suffrage had lost many of its supporters, he had only
to refer to the fact, that, at a late Public Meeting,
when the venerable and respectable advocate for that
species of Reform proposed a motion in its favour, no
one was found to second it. This, he thought, skewed
a dispcitition on the part of the Public to accept such
a measure of Reform as the House, upon deliberation,
, should be disposed to grant. He now came to exa-
‘

that he thought such a suggestion would be abso-
lutely wrong, but merely because he thought the
evils complained of might be removed without so
extensive
,a measure. In order to ascertain a cor-
rect answer to the question of fact with which .he
had set out, namely, whether that Houie did or
did not represent the People ? he would examine
the state and condition of the People on the one hand,
and that of the House of Commons on the other.—
The former, he would shew, had materially Changed,
while that of the latter had remained stationary. The
accordance, therefore, between that House and the
People had been destroyed. If he proved this posi-
tion by the statement of acts done by that House,
which it was impossible could be done by those who
really represented the People, he thought it irresistibly
followed that it was the bounden duty of the Hot .e
to set about a reformation of the evil. The condition
of the People had changed most essentially in the last
forty years. The first distinguishing sign of change
was in the increase of wealth. This had increased
the importance of the middle orders, who were the
most respectable of all. They were equally removed
from the extremes of poverty and idleness, the former
leading to positive crimes known to the law—the lat-
ter inducing to every species of vice. The middle
classes, indeed, formed the safest pillar of the Consti-
tution. Another remarkable change, though it might
be called an evidence of the increase of wealth, was
in the growth of our manufactures, which had risen
from an annual average in 1792, of thirteen millions,
to one at present of forty millions. The great in-
crease in the home consumption of British manufac-
tures was particularly deserving of notice, that con-
sumption amounting annually to twenty-three mil-
lions in the article of cotton, and seven in that of
wool. It was to be fairly inferred from this circum-
stance, that no inconsiderable part of our population
drew their subsistence entirely from manufactures.
But the most prominent indication of change, and
that calling for the deepest attention, was that of the
extraordinary increase of intelligence among the
People. Intelligence had increased in a degree far
surpassing that of the increase of our wealth, and li-
terary talent had been so much encouraged, that it was
known that one eminent author had received no less
than 80,0001. for the profits of his works. He had
ascertained, on inquiry, from a first-rate bookseller,
that his house disposed of five millions of volumes
annually, maintained sixty clerks, paid 5,0001. a year
for advertisements, and gave excellent employment
to 250 book-binders. Circulating libraries in the me-
tropolis had increased in number since the year 1770,
from four to one handred, and in the country there
were upwards of one thousand. There were two
thousand book clubs in diarent parts of the king-
dom, which were the means of diffusing infiama-
don in all directions, and upon all subjects,
The circulation of the two leading periodical Re-
views, the Edinburgh and the Quarterly (boll' writ-
ten with considerable ability), was as great as that of
fall other periodical works combined, at a retied of
not more than thirty years back. And to shew how
science was finding its way into, and was Invited by
the humbler classes, he had only to state the fact, that
a friend of his was able to obtain, at a petty shop in
the town of Inverness, a scientific work which he
could not procure in the city of Oxford! his friend
being told at the latter place, that works of that na-
ture were never obtained by booksellers unless they
were previously ordered. The spread of intelligence
'was materially increased by the Lancastetian and Na-
tional Schools, and by the publication numbers of
cheap editions of the most considerable works of his-
tory and genius. He observed that Hume, Button,
and several valuable Encyclopedias, were in a course
of publication in numbers, at sixi.ence each. This
facility to the dissemination of know ledge, it was
true, had received a check by an Act passed in the
year 1812—(Hear, hear! from the Opposition, an-
steered by the Ministerial Benches).—Another great
stimulus to information was in the Bible and Reli-
gious Tract Societies, which published four millions
of publications annually. All thee circumstances
tended to shew the material increase of knowledge
among the middle and lower classes. But this know-
ledge hacl taken a political turn, as niiht be col-
lected from the increase cf Newspapers, for a return
relating to which he had some time since obtained
an order of the House. That Return, though'at pre-
sent incomplete, enabled him to state, that-twenty-
three millions of Newspapers were circulated an-
nually in England and Wales. The Noble Lord here
went into a detail, showing, in the amount, that
Newspapers had doubled in number and circulation
witlith
clue
cs
last
thirtyi ytien r,s. would now proceed
whetherPaienunent had
altered so as to represent this ma ease of knowledge
on the part of the People. That an examination of
qua
to
examinei
this nature was absolutely necessary, could, be