Star.
London, England, 1831-03-04 00:00:00

tae pact of an hon. gentleman near him: but if one word disrespectful
that body had escaped from any one whomsoever, he would take leave
t 0 say that he did not participate in the sentiment. On the contrary, he
should ever repudiate it fronahis heart, for he derived his strength from
:hat order of society : he was one of themselves, and_ shook always
be proud of his connexion with them. (Loud cheers.) Of the u g.
meta and sound understanding of the middle classes he entertained a
;cry high opinion, and well would It be if they evinced more good sense
std moderation than their rulers ; if not, then indeed did he despair of
the destinies of the country. There were, however, daily indications
that his confidence in their clear-sightedness on political subjects gene.
v would not be misplaced. It was not long since the noble lord, in
all• -
theoffice of Chancellor of the Exchequer, had assumea mat, a large
doll of the people had borne a tri-coloured flag ton he palace of St.
James's, but the assertion was met by their indignant refutation. So far
nem intending to flaunt such an unnational symbol in the eyes of their
sovereign--so far from preferring a foreign emblem to
" The Flag that braved a thousand years
a The battle and the breeze,"
they conceived themselves very much aggrieved by the misrepresenta-
tion, as if it carriedresenta-
tion, with it an insinuation that they conveyed treason
nnder the garb of an ensign of liberty. The truth turned out to be,
that instead of thus exhibiting their supposed admiration of the three
lays of Paris, ibis tricoloured or rather quadri.coloured flag consisted
if three or four remarkably beautiful specimens of silk manufacture,
carefully folded and sewed together at the well-known establishment of
Lee, Bousfienl, nod Co. If in inquiring whether they should adhere to
the constitution as now established, they found that all its benefits only
centered in boroughmongers, then argument in its favour would be nu-
gatory ; but he submitted it would not be difficult to make a calm tem-
perate appeal to the better judgment of the people on behalf of the old
English Constitution, of which he was sure that no such asser-
tion could be predioaed. (Hear, hear, hear, hear.) It had been
said,—by the late illustrious Mr. Canning, that the modelling
of a constitution was a matter of extreme delicacy in proportion to the
complicated character of so delicate a machine. Who could pretend to
judge of the symmetry and proportions of the human frame, of its or-
gans, and faculties, and endowments, which fell so little short of angelic
existence itself, by merely examining an isolated member, or detached
feature of the fabric when perfect as created. Let hon. gentlemen re-
member that all moral theorists and philosophical writers for a thousand
years had despaired of realizing in practice a system of such excellence
as the British constitution. Must not Cicero himself have contem.
plated our form of government when he said " Rxistimo earn ease
optimam rempublicam quo constitute est ex tribus genaibus ?"
Had not Tacitus described the best and most durable govern.
ment to be a combination of king, nobles, and people, par.
ticularizing with accuracy the several parts of our constitu-
tion as it now operated P He had heard frequent allusions to
Burke and Canning, and other great authorities, whose opinions had
been adduced in the course of this debate, but he would quote a pas-
sage from a speech of the noble member for Tavistock (Lord J. Rus.
sell), in the session of 1819, which he considered much more to the
purpose, and was, besides being apposite to the question, one of
the most beautiful specimens of eloquence ever uttered in that house.—
It had the additional merit of having been spoken by the very noble
lord who now sought to lay violent hands on the constitution. (Hear.)
The discussion alluded to related to the disfranchisement of a cor-
rupt borough in Cornwall, when the noble lord was asked what
he proposed to do with the unconvicted boroughs ? to which his
lordship replied as follows: but in making this quotation, he must
premise that he never meant to blame the noble lord for changing his
opinion since then, if he saw sufficient grounds for the change ; but
the reasons which then assigned appeared eternal and irrefragable,
and not of a nature to be less cogent now than when originally uttered.
lie on that occasion replied that he would consider a general disfran-
chisement of the unconvicted boroughs a reconstruction of the House
of Commons altogether (hear.) He had therefore the noble lord's
own authority for so designating the present plan of reform. The noble
lord, however, went on to eulogize the Constitution in the most elo-
quent terms of praise which it was possible to employ. He observed
that " Old Sarum had existed when Montesquieu pronounced the con.
stitution of England the nearest to perfection of any which the most
enlightened states had ever before experienced. When Lord Somers and
other great legislators and philosophers who flourished with him, bore
attestation to its merits, it was open to' the same objections which
were since urged against it ; and when Hampden lost his life Rut.
land returned the same number of representatives as Yorkshire.
(Cheers.) He was not inclined, with the pseudo-merchant in the
ffible, to cry " New lamps for old," (laughter), and would not con-
vent to exchange the instrument which had created so much national
prosperity for a burnished and tinselled article of modern manufacture.
(Laughter.) Neither would he willingly throw our political system
into the wheel on the chance of obtaining a prize in the lottery of con.
stitutions." (Cheers.) Such was the Noble Lord's judicious, and
at the present moment timely warning against the danger of rash.
ly departing from the practical wisdom of mankind, during
centuries of historical experience, proffered, too at the critiad junc.
aura of 1819, when the six acts had passed ..when the seizure
of arms bill, the blasphemous libel bill, and the newspaper stamp bill,
were in actual progress through the house. (Cheers.) If such was the
line of argument of the noble lord in 1819, he in his language would
then call upon the house to prefer the solid ancient lamp of the constitu-
tion, to the temporary tinsel of modern sophistry. (Hear.) With
respect to the great question before the house, he could not but de.
dare that be saw in it but the instrument of men endeavouring to
retain power. (Hear and " No.") He begged pardon if in error, but
tii,y all knew how prone people were to receive disclaimers of anxiety
to possess power with suspicion. And this allusion to office led him to
another topic not disconnected with his subject. It had been industri-
ously circulated, that with a view to out-bid, or, rather, under-bid the
ns
toobrlaenloonrdtoin measuree°mefor reform,t) _ _
this aide of tabeewhotauseer wouldia ahave
come forward with some plan of moderate reform of our own. (Hear.)
he knew not really how to meet this absurd assertion. The fact was,
that them is a class of newspaper writers who seem to think that the sum-
MUM bonny* of human felicity, the sole object of all our exertions and
ambition, is the opportunity of wasting our time and health on the tree.
say bench opposite. For his part he was actuated by no such idle am.
bition. (Hear, hear.) He might, if such were his object, have proposed
a plan of moderate reform, but as he had not done so, he persuaded him.
Of that he afforded a proof that he had no ambition of office through
•uch a channel. (Hear.) And this he might have done with the less
:eseatiou, as he had never taken a decided violent part against the
107111 measures which had been discussed of late years in that
so that he was nor barred on the score of consistency, if
I_ in. stiinable blessing of sitting on the bench opposite to be
t after night badgered, were the object of his ambition. (Hear,
t. laughter.) After, indeed, he had lost the confidence of the house,
office, if ministers had felt it necessary to propose a safe and
ea:l.:orate measure of reform of some branches of our representation, he
would most probably have acted on the views taken by the hon. mem-
ber tot Caine, of the overwhelming danger to be apprehended from all
r,sistance to change, and have given it his support as a private indivi-
dual, though he might not have thought it fit to originate it in an etfi-
cial capacity. He repeated, he would not have objected to a measure
tor extending the elective franchise to some places not at present pos-
sessing it. the right lionotitable gentleman !inland. He scald assure
him with ail truth and sincerity, and upon his honour as a gentleman,
that he never had a conference with any individual on the subject.—
(Hear, hear.) He spoke then wholly uninfiueneed by personal or party
cor.slderacions, in his individual capacity,—aa a man who had a
far deeper stake in maintaining the intesrity of existing institutions,
than he could derive from the possession of any office. (Hear.) Feel.
ing thus deeply interested in the well-being of the constitution, he could
not consent to a measure which, in the words of the noble lord, went to
reconstruct the very forms of that house ; and, be the consequences what
they may, so wholly did he despair of being able to modify the noble
lord's bill into a kind of tr.ntletate measure less objectionable, that he
would oppose the plan of the noble lord altogether. (11C/11, hear.) And
why would
n. e act thus % Because, having attentively listened to the
f mover statement, and to all that had been subsequently said for
and against It, he felt convinced that it the noble lord's argument was
good for any thing, the measure which he then proposed could not be a
rinzl one, but a mere precedent to still more dangerous innovations. The
01,1., Lad had told them that e found the ancient constitution of this coon.
-y in 25 Edw. L and in the refute de titliopio non concedundu—but
did these statutes express? simply that '• taxes should not be
levied without the COD Stl:t of the commonalty of the realm." And
thin, argued the noble lord. if reform be a question of right, which be
tt,lt: it to be, here was the right anciently established. If. this, then,
.ha right principle or the ease, lei him ask the noble lord how far
•s• annu red it wban he proposed to disfranchise so many thou.
.nd, of those upon whom taxes are levied? (Hear.) Did he assume
that the law admitted of such a distinction? It did not; yet
11. r noble lord at once would disfranchise all tax-payers rated
ender 101. ( Hear hear) How could he justify his distinction,
i:rtieulatly on his own premises ? This objection, which hid
en 'ably urged by the hon member for Callington, appeared to
hint gime foal to the noble lord's measure. There was another
objection also urged by the honourable member fur Callington, which
appeared to hint of great weight. It was the inevitable tendency of
the bi:l to sever every link of connexion between the poorer
:lasses and that class from which their representatives were
,ually chosen. Now this severing of the ties which connected
:lee highest and the lowest classes was opposed to the practical
%gni:l4s of the present system of representation—a great charac-
rtstie rtcairraenditory feature of which was, that it enabled
very class in the community to, in some way or other, have a
to in the election of the members of that house. Now be did
cut mean by this to say that the franchise should be extended
to all the members of all the classes of the community, but that
the cor.stitutioo worked well iron: having here and there an en-
:nate channel for the broadest principle of popular reprosestatioo. If
'0 make himself better understood it was proposed to hiii to make a
•:acittzt between the franchise in knee in Windsor and titan in fuses in
Preston, he would not hesitate toefer the former, but be
*null not therefore abolish tine Prestonpr franchise, and assimilate it
11;.,it in W' mdsor ; all that he would do was, to take tare not to take
.-L- the niodel for his plan of extending the franchise to other

places, but not so the noble lord's bill. It would disfranchise all those
open boroughs, the votes of which were not rated at 10L. though no
reason had been, or could be, adduced for depriving the freemen of
Coventry, or the pot-wallopers of Preston, of their franchise. Would
not, he would put it to the noble lord and the house, the effect of this
disqualifying principle be the affixing a political stigma upon those not
eligible to vote under the 101. qualification ? He could not consent to
the measure were it only on this ground, for he could not consent to a
stigma upon from 200 to 300 of his constituents, which the bill would
disfranchise : to be left, forsooth, to a privy council arrangement, by
which they might possibly beenabled to vote in an adjoining parish. Bat,
says his noble friend who spoke last, only see how the bill will put an
end for ever to the monstrous principle of non-resident freemen, and all
the expense and Vexation of bringing men some two hundred or three
hundred miles to vote for a member In a place in which they had no
local or personal interest. But he asked his noble friend, bow his non.
resident constituents of the University of Cambridge would receive this
proposition ? Had the hon. baronet who represented the University of
Oxford contemplated such an arrangement? [lt was hem intimated to
the right hon. baronet that the bill would not apply to the Universities.]
No 1 What, is this their general rule, that had no exception ? (Loud
ales of " Hear.") The reason, the peculiar beauty of which was, that
it applied unflinchingly and without exception to all classes and places.
(Hear, hear.) What does it dot—why, it makes an exception of a body
clermr—the very men who least need being made an excep-
tion ; while it deprives the less protected poor man of the privilege of
voting where he does not possess a house rated at 101. The right hon.
baronet dwelt on this point at some length. He would next apply
himself to the arguments which had been adduced against the close
borough system. Now it was usually, and as it appeared to hint most
convincingly argued, that those boroughs were advantageous by their
affording the means of access to that house of men who had no claims
beyond their ability. Two objections had been in the course of the de.
bate urged against that argument; the one, which he must say came
with a very bad grace from the hon. member for Westminster ( Mr.
Hobhoese) himself a man of great ability—(hear hear)--was that it
was by no means desirable that men of splendid talents should
be members of that house—that in a reformed Parliament solid
sense and integrity would be more highly valued. (Hear, hear.).._
Now he on the other hand maintained that nothing tended
more to foster the public respect for that house than its being
the great arena of talent and eloquence, and that nothing would lower
it more in public estimation than that It should be below the average
ability of educated gentlemen, and that talent and ability would have a
welcome reception within its walls. But, says the honourable member
for Caine,--" Yes, let us have men of ability by all means," but let us
select other means for their obtaining seat than close boroughs. (Hear.)
Give us a purer and more extensive franchise, and they will get in at
least as much as they can at present. But what, said he, is your test
of ability ? Take every 100 men you meet In the street, and one
of them will be a man of ability—take 100 names in the Red Book,
and one may be a man of ability.--and so of 100 men of tawny
complexion ; but are these men to get in by the accident of a close
borough ? (Hear, hear.) And then the honourable member asked
them, was it fair to judge by the accident instead of the gene-
ral tendency of a system ? Now he (Sir Robert Peel) was con.
tent to judge by the tendency and not the accident of the close borough
system, and would maintain that that tendency was essentially favour.'
able to the entrance of men of ability into that house—he had that
morning turned over the names of from 20 to 25 of the most distin.
guishal men that had graced that house for the last 30 or 40 years--
men of whom it might be said with the glowing language of Lord
Plunkett—were possessed of that " buoyancy of genius which would
float them down the stream of posterity • and he found that,with three
exceptions, they were all returned for boroughs, which the noble lord's
bill would wholly disfranchise. There was Mr. Gunning, Lord North,
J. Townsend, Mr. Burke, Mr. Flood, Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, Lord Gren-
ville, the Marquis Wellesley, Mr. Perceval, Lord Plunkett, Mr. Can-
ning, Mr. Wyndham, Mr. Home, Mr. Huskirson, Mr. Brougham, Sir
S. Hominy, Lord Castlereagh, Mr. Tierney, Sir W, Grant, Lord Grey,
and the late Lord Liverpool, all first returned for close boroughs (hear),
and but :fires of them ever members fur counties. Nor was the mere
facility of admission the only benefit. The introduction, by affording
them an opportuuity—the essential condition of successful talent—for
displaying their legialative ability on a large scale, recommended them
to a more extensive franchise at a more mature age ; and again, when
they, by caprice or want of money, or otherwise, were deprived of their
larger seats, those close boroughs, which the noble lord's bill would
destroy altogether, received them, and secured their invaluable la-
bours to their country. (Hear, hear, hear.) Such was the ease
when Mr. Sheridan was defeated at Stafford—he found shelter
in 'Winter. Mr. Wyndlisun having failed at Norwich, took
refuge at Higham Ferrets; and Lord Castlereagh in like man.
ner, having lost his election in the county of Down, was returned for
Oxford. Ale. Tierney also, when he lost Southwaik, was returned for
Knaresborough ; and Lord Grey for Taviatock, when defeated in
Northumberland. All this proved that the tendency and not the mere
accident of the close borough system was to facilitate the entrance of
men of ability, who otherwise could not obtain a seat in that house.
(Hear.) And was this system thus working so advantageously for the
general weal,—so fostering of talent and statesmanlike ability,—to be
destroyed in obedience to the noble lord's plan? During 160 years the
constitution in its present form was In force, and he would ask any man
who heard him to declare whether the experience of history had produced
any form of government so calculeted to promote the happiness and
secure the rights and liberties of a free and enlightened people ?
(Cheers.) Many other experiments had been tried to ingraft demo.
I cratical upon monarchical institutions, but how had they sue-
' corded ? In France, in Spain, in Portugal, in the Netherlands, in
1 every country on the face of the earth, with the exception of the United
States, had the experiment of forming a popular representative govern-
! went, and of uniting It with a monarchy, been tried ; and how, he
would again ask, had it succeded ? In America the house had been
told that the most beneficial effects of a representative form of govern-
went were plainly visible. But he begged to remind the house that
there was a wide difference, indeed, between the circumstances of this
! country and America. In the United States the constitution had not been
in existence more than 40 years. It was not till the year 1779 that the
representative part of the American system of government had been
established, and since that time many important changes, as every body
knew, had been made respecting the mode of electing;their Pre-
' sident. As yet every thing was in uncertainty, for ever since
1 the first establishment of the government of the United States it had
been undergoing a change. He would not say that It had been dete-
riorating, for lie wished to avoid all invidious phrases, but it had been
rapidly undergoing a change from a republic to a mere democracy.—
The influence of the executive government had been daily becoming
less, and more power had consequently been vested in the hands of the
people. And yet, with respect to that country, where there was land
uncultivated to an extent-almost incalculable—where there was no estab-
lished church—where there were no privileged orders—where property
existed on a very different tenure from that on which it was held
in this country, let not the people of k.ngland be deceived—let
them not imagine from the example of the United States, that
because democracy had succeeded and triumphed there, it would
also succeed and triumph here. (Hear, hear, hear.) With the so.
litary exception of the United States, there was nut another country
on the face of the globe to be found, in which a mixed constitution like!
that of England had succeeded. During the last 150 years, in which
England had enjoyed that mixed constitution, she had stood the shock
of a disputed succession, of long wars and of almost every evil which
could befall a state. During that period every country in Europe had
suffered the evils of invasion, from which we alone had been freed. I
During that period every country in Europe but our own had'
submitted to a charge of dynasty, or had been rendered subject
to a foreign power. Look - from the nations of Europe to those
to South America, which had lately vindicated themselves into in.
tlependence. (Hear, hear.) If it were assumed as an undeniable
rriaciple that the people in all countries might be safely trusted
with the enjoyment of power, what was there to prevent a happy
experiment of the powers of the people to form a good government,
from succeeding in South America ? '1 experiment bad been
made, end had failed signally. (Hear.) What were the causes
which, according to the nuaninmus voice of historians, had in all
cases led to the decline of empires? The danger of a successful
military chieftain attaching to himself the affections of his legions. aid
being misled by vanity to turn the arms which he had first employed for
the defence tit his country, to his own ambition and aggrandisement.
Had not the present constitution of England saved it for more
than a century and a half of military glory from that unfortunate ants
denteThe staff of NI aribOrough,the greatest chieftain of his age,had bow
broken in ibis country with impunity ; and had the baton of his illostri-
tius it tell. the: most illustrious commander of the present age, before
winoiu culudeating star even the fortunes of Napoleon had 'mailed—
had not that baton crumbled into atoms before a vote of that House
which he (Sir It. Peel) was then addressing ? Again, he had been told
1 of the danger which was likely to accrue to the liuerties of England
front the cuiploymeet of a standing army. Had he not been told very
recently by the hon. and learned member for Clare, that the army of
' Enblanu was eminently obedient and submissive to the laws Had he
not said, " mild is your army in its demeanour, so popular is it in
all parts of your euipiire, b 0 confidant are the people in its justice and
moderatioa, thet 1 inq lore j ou, whenever you have occasion to call in
a thick to qutli internal disorders, acid lei your regular envy, and
not our e contour , fur they alone wit' act with temper anal ll:bere-
t:on Title declaration et the lion. .t..d learned member for Clare
was a 3ufficielit answer to that ,argument. With regard to the Mau-
ence of the oligarchy, be would ask hon. gentlemen to point cut to
him any instance in which there had been an attempt to subject
the people of England to the sway of an oligarchy, or to establish
any laws of exclusion or distinction among them? Up to this time
no one practical advantage had been held out to the house as the
natural consequence of the change now proposed. All the
rzasons which had been urged to them for making that change
were that it was necessary to conciliate public opinion. No better way
of conciliating the public will had been devised than that of adding half
a minion electors to the counituency of the country • but if that were s
good way of conciliating public opinion, then if another Government,
wishing to participate in the popular favour, should add an-
other million to the constituent body, that argument must be
entitled to the same success. (Hear, hear.) We used to be promised,

that whenever the constitution of the House of Commons should un-
dergo &change, securities should be taken for preventing it from maga&
ing us in ruinous wars. All persons who knew any thing of history,
were well aware that there was no security against war in any popular
government. Mr. Fox hail left it upon record, that upon its commee ce-
ment, the American war was highly popular. At a later period it had
been predicated by other statesmen, only inferior to Mr. Fox, that at
their commencement all the wars in which we had been subsegaently
engaged had been highly popular at their outset, but that, on the ap.
pearance of failure, they had become tiresome and out of latour
with the people. We used to be told that retrenchment of the
Public expenditure would be the first measure of a reformed parliament:
But a reforming government had declared already, that all further re.
trenchment was impossible. We used also to be told that the Laflamme
of the crown in that house was so enormous, that teform was mess-
sary, as a check upon it. The influence of the crown in that house!
(Loud cheering.) Would any man rise up in his place, and
state that any influence could contend successfully in that
house with the influence of public opinion ? (Hear, lieu, hear )
Honourable gentlemen were in the habit of saying, that the crown
could now influence more members than at any former period of our
history, and that the aristocracy could, by their support, establish
or overthrow any government. Yes, honourable gentlemen were in
the habit of saying this, although, since the death of Lord Liter-
pool, in 1827, the country hail had five different Prime "int-Asters,
and five different Administraiions. (Loud cheers.) Such was the
influence of the Crown,—such was the influence of the aristocracy ?
(Hear, hear.) He contended that neither of these influences bad
any existence. ( Hear, hear.) He then proceeded to show that no
practical advantage could arise to the country from this change in
the constitution of the House of Commons, and to deprecate
the period at which it had been proposed. That period was
a period of great excitement, and if hon. gentlemen would but give
themselves the trouble of looking at the history of reform, they would
find that it was always most flourishing when there was either a pres-
sure of great difficulty on the country, nr some revolution on the con.
tinent, which misled the people of England, (Cheers from the oppo.
.ration,) by the delusive hopes which it held out to them of the attain.
went of rester liberty than that which they then enjoyed. ( Hear, hear.)
Look at the question of reform—look at the Parliamentary Debates,
and they would see that whenever the question of reform was frequently
agitated. some dire misfortune lurked behind. It was brought forward
with great pomp of circumstance, in the year of the rebellion,
1745 ; it was brought prominently forward during the American
war ; it was brought forward at the commencement of the French war ;
and, to coins to our own times, it was brought prominently forward in
the years 1817, 1819, and 1822—in a word, at every period, when there
was either great commercial or great agricultural distress in the country.
Then was reform brought conspicuously forward—then was it certain
to find favour in the eyes of the people. (Hear.) It was brought for-
ward, too, at periods when the excitement of foreign revolutions misled
the judgment of the British public, and deluding them with a false love
of liberty, rendered them discontented with the moderate freedom which
they enjoyed. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Pitt was its advocate and champion
in 1780, when the establishment of American independence, after a
successful struggle with this country, had deluded the enthu-
siastic lovers of freedom in this country with notions of liberty
which it was difficult to comprehend. From the year 1785 to the year
1790, the question of reform slept in lethargy like that of the grave ;
but in the latter year the appalling events of the French revolution again
recalled it into life, and inspired it with new powers of existence. Nor
was it surprising that the cause of reform acquired energy from that re-
volution, which Mr. Fox had designated in his place in that house as
the most stupendous fabric of liberty which the ingenuity of man had
ever raised. In the year 1790 Mr. Flood brought forward a motion on
the subject of reform, and in the course of his speech upon it referred to
the state of France. One of his arguments were thus expressed :—" If
France improves her government, you must restore yours. Again, what is
your situation as to external danger ? France, the great object of external
danger to England, can no longer give alarm ; during her disturbances
she cannot have the power ; and after her liberty is establisbsd, she
will not have the inclination to make ambitious war. The better her
Government is, the more rational will be her counsels • the more ra-
tional her counsels, the more pacific they will be. Kings may hope
for glory, and their ministers and minions may hope for plunder front
warfare; but what can the people expect from an ambitious war ?
Nothing but an accumulation of tales and an effusion of blood."
Again, in the year 1821, when the question of reform was brought
forward by the bon. member for the county of Durham, sew lard
Durham, he also appealed to the events which bad just before
taken place upon the continent, and hailed them as the auspi-
cious dawn of liberty upon this country. His language wan as
follows : " Where its power and justice are acknowledged,
as in Spain, the prospect is most cheering. We see disaffection
instantancoulY quelled—venerable and rotten abuses reformed--su-
perstition eradicated—and the monarch and the people united ender
a constitution, which alike secures the privileges of the one, and the
liberties of the other. May I not then consistently hail the rising of
this star, in what was once the most gloomy portion of the Europese
horizon, as a light to show us the way through all our dangers and
difficulties—as a splendid memorial of the 41-conquering power d
public opinion ?" Wu that star of liberty, be would ask, which the. I
appeared in Spain, a steady light to show the people of England she
way to an improved state of freedom, or was it the periodical return of an
eccentric comet, which sheds disastrous lightand perplexes nations with
fear of change ? Again, with the events of the French revolution fresh in
the recollection of the country, he had no hesitation in saying that
the same experiment was again in agitation. and the country was
again expecting that it could improve its own liberty front the example
of what had recently passed in France. "Oh ! let us wait (continued
the right hon. gentleman) until we see more of the results of thai es-
periment, for it is proper that we should pause before we make it in our
own happy country. Before we venture upon it, let us feel assured,
that the liberty, which now exists in France, if it be the offspring of a
just revolution, is that liberty which has virtue and justice as its com-
panions, and peace and prosperity as its attendants. (Hear, hear.) I
see at present no reasons for expecting to see such consequences emana-
ting from the late revolution in France, and I deprecate above all
things making the revolution in France a precedent for a revolutila
in this country. (Hear, hear, hear.) Let us therefore remain can.
tent with the well-tempered freedom which we now enjoy, and which
we have the means of securing, if we act with ordinary discretion. I
lament exceedingly that government should have determined to agitate
such a question as that of reform at this particular crisis : it would have
been wiser in my opinion to have evoked these new causes of excite.
ment, for depend upon it that by this process throughout this land the
first seeds of discontent and disunion are sown. (Loud cheers front the
opposition.) In every town there will be a conflict—a moral aisle
I mean—between the possessors of existing authority, sod q.
is:ing privileges, and those to whom the existing authority
and the existing privileges are to be transferred. Oh ! Slr, I
lament beyond measure, that government had not the pis.
dente to adhere to that temperate course of policy which they have
pursued elsewhere. I lament that, if they did think it necessary to
propose a plan of reform in this excited state of the public mind, they
did not confine it within those narrow limits which are consistent with
the safety of the country and the dignity of their own characters
(hear). They have thought proper, however, to adopt another course;
they have sent through the land the firebrand of agitation (cheers
from the opposition) ; and it is case so far to imitate the giant
enemy of the Philistines, as to send 300 firebrands through die
country, carrying danger and dismay in all quarters,; but it is not
easy, whet' the mischief is done, to find a remedy for it. In the pre-
sent difficulties of your situation, you should have the powers of sum-
moning all the energies of life, and should take care that you do not
signalize yoor own destruction by bowing down the'pillars of the edifice
of yoi.r liberty, which, witlt all its imperfection, still contains the noblest
society of freemen known to the habitable world. (Great cheering, and
cries of " Adjourn.")
Sir J. SEBRIGHT (we believe) moved the adjournment of the
debate till five o'clock to-morrow night. It was carried without dis-
cussion.
The House adjourned at Hslf.past Two o'Clock.