Star.
London, England, 1822-08-01 00:00:00

in defiance of;
- of

_ ,

the
of I

of the entreaties, not to thy
one of the Postmasters and two
of the Admiralty. When the list which had been
alluded' to by his HiMourable 'Friend Irilow him
made its way into the country, it would be seen
that no fewer than seventy placemen„ who might
be removed from their situations ;t
.the pleasure of
the Crown, and were, consequently, ever toady to
support the measures of Ministers against what he
(Mr. Rennet), thought the true interests of the coon-
try at large, were:in the bosom of that House—(Fiew.).
If Gentlemen looked at the great questions which had
been decided, to which the Public had been most
*lire, it would be found that this band of chosen
Friends and supporters of the Crown amounted to
somewhere about the majority which had propped
up the measures of the Government, against the wishes
of the People. In a future Session he should feel it
to be his duty to bring this subject under the consi-
deration of the House, as he thought that common
decency required that seventy placemen, receiving
about 130,0001. of the public money, who might be
removed at the pleasure of the Crown (he said no-
thing of those who were differently circumstanced)
should not continue Members of that Assembly. Al-
though be felt in the strongest degree the necessity'
of effecting a Parliamentary Reform, he was anxious
that it should be known how far that House really
represented the Commons of England. The large
minority which bad appeared in favour of Parlia-
mentary Reform, in the course of the present Session
(the greatest, he believed, that had ever been known)
proved that the weight and influence of the People
were slowly and silently working their way ; and al-
though, to use an old proverb, Reform now might
be somewhat like shutting the stable-door when
the steed was stolen," it was still satisfactorily to
feel that the weight and influence of the Commons
of England were really felt within those walls. He
congratulated the House on that minority, because
he considered the Gentlemen who had voted in it to
stand pleerd that they would in future support no
Government which did not prove itself friendly to
Reform. When this was understood, he was sure the
People would cling to those who were disposed to
take such a course, and for himself, nothing under
Heaien would induce him to give the slightest sup-
port to any Administration that would not endeavour
to purge that House of the corruptions which were
in it, and to put a stop to the corrupt practices which,
were carried on out of it, against the People at large.
He wished, for the time to come, that, instead of the
party denominations of Whigs and Tories, Reformers
and Anti-reformers should be the only distinctions
known in that House. Ministers felt in the present
instance the inconvenience of a protracted Session.
It had been thus lengthened by petitions; and, ac-1
cording to appearances, where one petition had been
this year presented, next year there would be ten.
Ile hoped Ministers, aware of this, would take care
that the House should meet early in January, as the
only means cf saving them from the necessity of sit-1
ting early in August.

MARRIAGE ACT.
Mr. BUTTERWORTH begged to ask a Learned
Gentleman opposite how the clause in the Marriage
Act Amendment Bill, which required the register of
the christening of the parties about to marry, was to
operate in the case of the members of a certain reli-
gious society, who, not having been christened at all,
could produce no such resister ?
Dr. PHILLIMORE said, the clause in question
was not his—it had been supplied in another place ;
but it was provided that, where it was stated on oath
that the register could not be found, a license might
be granted on evidence being given that the parties
wets of age.