Star.
London, England, 1831-02-14 00:00:00

energy which not only enters into, but constitutes the very
character of, her enlightened population.
I" A crisis, my Lord ! has arrived in the moral feeling of
the nation, the impediments which have checked the p .1-
ress of civilisation and morality, must he removed, or the
loir:iers, depend upon it, will be forced : and this state of the
public mind will irresistibly impose uponour Lordship and
your colleagues, the task of preparing, as it were, a near
Charter for Englishmen. You must recognise dr • legal
right to be represented, you must fix a principle of repre-
sentation in the constitution—you must establish a basis of
national suffrage. You must, in short, frame an universal
law of election. It is to the accomplishment of this object,
that the spirit of reform is applying its resistless energies, di-
, e led by the talent, the moral worth, and a large proportion,
f the wealth of the empire ; and be assured, my Lord ! that
with nothing less than such a result, will its demands bo

" Whatever be the required qualification for an elector in
your-reform measure, it must be uniform throughout the
United Kingdom, at once simple, definite, and easy of attain-
ment; the result of some fixed principle operating agree-
ably to the nature and interests of civilized society, and ca-
pable of easy adaptation to t. e growing wants and desires of
a people rapidly advancing in moral and intellectual growth.
" Nor, will it avail, my lord ! merely, that you give
verge and accuracy to the range of suffrage ; you are called
upon by the spirit of the times to adopt the very beat mode
which wisdom and experience, in affairs connected with le-
gislation, has yet discovered, to enable the constituency of
the realm, to use the right thus recognised and secured.
'Whether this result will be beet accomplished by " open
voting' or ' Vote by Ballot,' I shall not new take upon my-
self to discuss. I only say, my lord ! the subject must be
diecussed: and to that disc scion, there must not be brought
on your part, nor on that of your colleagues, any fostered
prejudices,—any sinister prepossessions--any jealous un-
worthy apprehensions. What is most worthy to be called
REFORM must be preferred :—what is most effective for the
attainment of its avowed object, must be adopted.
" Whether you,my lord! are sufficiently acquainted with
the temper of the times, and the spirit and character of the
active clause of the nation, so as correctly to judge of the
nature and extent of the reform required by the people, I
have no ity of knowing, but, from the reported
speeches said to delivered by you, in your place in parlia-
ment. If these be correctly reported, I should venture to
say, your knowledge of the spirit of the age is very im-
perfect; and your acquaintance with the actual opinions
of the people very vague and incomplete.
I beg leave then to assert, without fear of contradiction,
that nothing less than a formal recognition by the legislative
and executive estates of the realm, of the inalienable right of
Englishmen, to be represented in the great council of the
nation, with an honest endeavour to fix a liberal principle of
representation in the constitution of the State, will avail to • •
allay the excitement which at present prevails in the minds
of millions upon this meat momentous subject. The trans-
fer of the elective franchise from half a score, or a score, or
even a hundred, decayed or close boroughs to larger towns,
will be insufficient to restore tranquillity, unless a basis of
national suffrage be laid, and a principle of representation
be fixed in the constitution, so that the peoplemay knob bow
to accommodate their powers to future given Circumstances.
" Depend upon it, my Lord! that a paltry, patch-work
Reform, such as the transfer of a few decayed boroughs, and
the introduction of other anomalies into our Representative
Sruem than those which at present exist, and which must
a&a, ere long, supervene in disturbance, and confUsion,
will not be saiMent to Weft the important class I have '
above alluded to, le 411011111 forward and strike hands for the
maintenance of dm Cortflon., .
" To ensure their , my Lord ! some principle of
representatiommust he fixed—some basis of national suffrage
MOM be established, which their unsophisticated common
sense is capable of discoming, es being applicable• to the
necessities of a highly-civilized potpie: wad also efficient in
their regular operation, for the redress of extraordinary, no
leas than ordinary grievances.
" In short, what they demand is a Representative System
which shall accelerate—not impede—the " march of mind :"
' which shall contribute to develop—not to crush or hinder—
'the rising intelligence and morality of the country.
" There must no longer, my Lord, be dependence on crazy
and corrupt Corporations, frequently composed of the very
drivel of the population over whom they preside, for the
privilege of exercising the noblest right of a freeman.
" There must not, I say, after the introduction of your
Reform measure, any longer exist a necessity for any man
in the empire abasing his mind to the vulgar notions, or
pandering to the crude politics, of the " Green-grocery "
Aristocracy, which lords it with such ridiculous arrogance
over their fellow-citizens, in all our boroughs, and many,
Bien, of our ancient and populous cities : there must, I re-
peat, be no longer need for any Englishman to do this, in
order to enjoy the elective franchise in his own locality.
Nor must there be suffered to exist, my lord, any further
apprehensions, in the breasts of patriotic men, that should pub-
lic opinion in the boroughs run counter to that of the lords of
the " Guild," theysball be enabled, by conferring the elective
franchise, at once,on five or six hundred, or a thousand, " non-
residents," along with their dependants and retainers, to stifle
any honest expression of sentiment entertained by their fel-
low-citizens, on public affairs, as has been practised in some
Boroughs.
" These crying evils, to which the undue infieence and
oppression of the hereditary Aristocracy is a trifle, must, my
Lord ! be redressed. The intelligent, patriotic, middle class
of our populacy ; the men who constitute the moral, the in-
tellectual, and the social strength of the Empire, will no
longer submit to such a condition of insulting degradation.
" I am the more earnest, my Lord ! to impress these ten
timents upon your mind, because I know full well the feeling
and opinions of this body of men, being one of their amber,
and having lived, and mixed with them on every occasion,
throughout a course of active life, now passed its full
meridian. ' •

" Never had a ministry and parliament of England mote
need of wisdom, of patriotism, and of energy, than the pre-
sent ; never has there been a Bill introduced into the House
of Commons since the " Act of Settlement" was passed, of
half the importance with the one, which your administration
Mande pledged to introduce during the present session. The
rain of public credit—the overthrow of most or all of our
ancient institutions—the very subve eion of the monarchy
Itself! can by possibility conceive as remotely, if not intimately
involved in the great measure of your administration, should it
be opposed in its spirit to the temper of the times in which
we live.
" I entreat your Lordship and dour colleagues, then, in
the name of the people of England,—in the name, at least,
of that part of them, who hatre'no criminal designs to gratify
by their interferenos—no hopes of plunder to realize from
anticipated changes—no dangerous, inapplicable theories
to Advocate, by the expression of their opinions, to ponder
well the steps you are about to take, on the momentous
question of Parliamentary Reform. Above all things, do
dot betray a wavering, vacillating course of policy : do not
attempt eo Lipase es the armory; with a delesiver,' equivocal
espreesiao of year sentiments —do not adopt a salvation',
sinister, or too mach generalized course of notion inlets/ 0-
itridlal plans: be. pracfical, specific, intelligible.
" Let it be ataniftst to the Country; that your anxiety is,
not to keep your placess, but to command the respect, and
deserve the gratitude of your fellow-citizens."