Star.
London, England, 1812-10-23 00:00:00

• %rs;4O,44IIbWING.
The following is'one
.of Mr CANNING'S speeehes,
during the late election for Liverpool. On the first ,
three evenings, his retharks, like those of his antago-
nist, were chiefly confined 'to the occurrences of the,
election ; bin during the last week he entered into A
detailed exposition of his sentiments on some of the
p-eat leading questiohs which now agitate the public
mind. Ott Monday, he spoke of the external rela-
tions of the country with regard to its remote or im-
mediate prospect of obtaipitig the blessings of peace.
On Tuesday he entered upon the two great questions
of Parliamentary Reform and Catholic Emancipa-
trOn, On Wednesday, he spoke of the domestic con-
dition of the country ;of the late scarcity, and its
connection with the war. On Thursday evening,
•• whet; lie naturally expected the business was drawing
to a close; he confined himself to the subject of the
election. The following is his speech ,on Tuesday
sennight, the sth day :
" Gentlemen, i should refrain altogether from po-
litics to-day, had not the course of the canvass which
• it has been my ditty to make among you, led me to
the knowledge of one or two material errors or mis-
representations respecting my pclitical sentiments
and conduct, which I think it due to you and myself
tb 'correct. •
" In some of the societies which I have -visited, a
qnestioo has been put to me whether I was prepared
to support the question of Parliamentry Reform ?
I have heard that quesocn in societies which I sup-
pose my antagcnists bad previously visited, and to
which they had held forth on the blessings to be de-
rived from a new modelling of Parliament, and on
the inadequacy and defects of the present Represen-
tation of the people; Upon a point of this importance
will not equivocate. I freely own my mindis made
up on the question.. Gentlemen, r will no: support
that questidh of Parliamentary Reform. I will not
support it, because I am persuaded that those who
ate most load, and apparently most solicitous, in re-
commending it, do mean, and have for years past
meant, far other things thanahose simple words seem
to intend—because ram persuaded that that ques-
tion cannot be stirred, without stirring others which
would shake the Constitution to its very foundation
—and because I am satisfied that the House of Com-
Mons as at present constituted, is adequate to all the
functions which it is wisely and legitimately ordained.
to execute ; that shell theories and faiwitulschemes
orarithmetical orgeographical proportion would fail
to produce any amelioration' oftheptesent , frame in
the House of Commons. deny the grievance :I—l
doubt the remedy. And wheilit is asserted to me
again, as I have dick heard' it asserted heretofore,
that under the preietitaccirrupt(system there is no
true popular- delegation, no uninfluenced or disitite.
rested choice of Representatives by the people. my
mind will recur at once to the scene which is now be-
• fore :no; 'and. will repose with perfect contentment
upon the practical contradiction which Liverpool af-
fords to assertions so disparaging to the people. •
44 When, Gentlemen, I have spoken in the House
of Commons, as I have done more than once, against
a motion for Parliamentary Reform, I have been told
by those who supported the proposition, that my
vOice was good for little on such a subject ; that I re-
• presented some insignificant borough whose franchise
it might be my interest to maintain, but which I
maintained against the rights of the great body of
electors of Great Britain. Gentlemen, to this re-
proach is it not your good pleasure to furnish me
with'a triumphant answer ?
" But, Gentlemen, while on the question of Par-
liamentary Reform, I am accused of being too tardy
in hazarding innovations, I have found in other so-
cieties, that I any supposed to meditate innovations
which are still more formidable, both in Church and
State ; that I have been represented (not by my
competitors, surely !) as not attached to the religion
of my country ; as prepared to subvert the establish-
ment, and to substitute Popery in their room. Gen-
tlenien, such accusations are so extravagant, that on
almost any other subject, and at any other period,
they would be absolutely ludicrous, and to be met
only with silent scorn. But, Gentlemen, my views
of 'What is commonly coed the Catholic Question
(for it is to that question, as you may suppose, that
I aide) have been so distinctly expressed on many
recent: occasions in the last Session of Par4inent,
that I should have thetught they could not bave.been
misunderstood. I have always treated that que.stlon,
not in a religicus but iu,poiitical point of view. I
have considered it as a questidn of political expediency,
and in every 'thing thathal:re-agreed -to, and every
thing that flue `proposed respecting it, I have al-
ways, with scrupulous care and afiXiety, proposed to
guard and fence from even the most .remote appre-
hension of dang;er, that happy Constitution in Church
and State under which we have the good_ fortune to
flour ash ;.'and one a the great blessings. which is,
in
-my oPinioh, that being secure,aad firmly seated
itself in the h4sits and affectionsa4 •the,people, it
enables us to be liberal, without diner, to all who,
are within the reach of its influence, and to, dispense
its blessings to others without hazarding. theni
selves.
" Gentlemen, with this view, and with such qua-
lifications, it is that, considering. the concessions al-
ready made to the Catholics (wisely or not, it is too
late to inquire) in the course of the present reign, as
having placed that numerous class of his Majesty's
subjects, particularly in Ireland, in a state very diffe-
rent from that in which they stood, when the code
enacted against them was in full operation ;—as
. having a'dvanced them in wealth, power, and intelli-
gence ; as having• taught them to look upon 'them-
selves as admissible to the civil franchises of the state,
in which they have been permitted to acquire pro-
perty, and encouraged to pursue industrious and use-
ful occupations ; it is, I say, in this view, and with
the qualifications which I have described, that I en-
teitain and have acted upon the opinion, which I ho-
nestly avow, that the period of religious danger
being, as I think it is, past by; the state of this coun-
try, the state of Europe, and of the world, point out
the political expediency of repealing those civil disa-
bilities, which are the remnant of a code whose prin-
ciple has -been already repealed. I certainly think
that this may be done without danger. I think that
the circumstvces of the times recommend it.
Ai But ihough these are my opinions upon that
question, I'know well that many respectable, pious,
and worthy persons differ from me and there is no