Star.
London, England, 1830-02-19 00:00:00

....null 01 a member, of that ~.
filet Was the principle which stood recorded in that house; and it
was owing to a petition lying on their table, from a society of patriots
calling themselves the fsieode of the people, and of which society
lair Fos and Mr. Grey were member,, which petition a right ham
gentleman, whose loss he deeply lamented (Mr. Tietney).. was said
t.' helm drawn up on the part of the friends of the people,—that
psper. in the year 1793, decluei that 160 members of that house
were returned, not only by the interferenceobot on the nomination of 1
e very small number of peers. The petition eared to prove this
tact at the bar of the house. The house wen much the same In
tec.e days as at that time. (A laugh.) He deeply regretted that
that right hon. gentleman did not now live to vote on this question,
as Le always did vote, and always stood forward with great ability,
in defence of those fundamental rights of the people of Eng.
land which he (Sir Francis Burdett) now advocated. With
respect to the motion before the house, he -was bound to say
that he could not apprehend; at once all the details ; but he
understood it to be a great measure of reform, which was sup.
ported by very considerable ability, and that its object was
to endeavour to restore to the people of England a share of the
constitution of the country, to which they had as great a right
as • peer had to his tide, or the King to his seat upon the
throne. He regretted to see that the democratic branch of the
constitution did not retain its proper share of power, and every en.
deavour to restore the liberty of the people he would do all in his
power to advance. The very denial of the house to disfranchise East
Retford—was a refusal to adopt the plan of Lord Chatham, to infuse
new blood into our crazy constitution, to enable it to bear its infirmi.
ties. IVhen it was considered that a great portion of the talent and
.Indertanding of the country was not permitted to find a vent for its
opinions in that house, when great abilities, and every thing en-
lightened in the empire, were excluded by the present system -of
things—and when the house absolutely threw away an opportunity
to gain some credit with the people, by the disfranchisement of
what was called, in that hour*, a corrupt borough, but which he
(Sir F. Burdett) did not consider more corrupt than many others and'
refused to admit representatives from the great town of Birmingham,
and as a plasteroo the sore, proposed to throw open the votes to the hun-
dr,d of Bassetlaw, the people might naturally feel irritated at the house
for refusing to concede to their moderate, perhaps too meiderate,wishes.
—He trusted that this motion would unite the whole country with
the people of Birmingham in demanding that fair and full reform
which the people of England were entitled to, and a redress of that
worst of grievances, a corrupt representation of the people. (Hear.)
He trusted that the noble lord would persevere in his schemes of re-
form, ants that he (Sir F. Burdett,) after 33 years of unremiued
efforts, might see the object accomplished. " Notwithstanding the
length of my career in this undertaking," said the hon. hart. " let
the standard of reform be again raised, and lam as ardent as ever I
was, impaled to enlist under its banners, be they reseed by whom'
they may." The only struggle really worth making was for
a reform in parliament. The only distinction in that house should I
be those members who were in favour of reform and those who
were not—thole for the people of England and those against
them—(hear, hear) ; this was the only true distinction, and every
man would know where to take his place. After the terminational
that calamitous reign, the reign of George 111.--he called it cala-
mitous in respect to its foreign policy, its encroachments upon the
liberties of the people, and the burdens of taxation cast upon the
country, which, in spite of the virtues of the man, made that a
most calamitous reign for the country. Look at our situation now.
" Look," said the hon. baronet, "at myself. I have gone through
the whole process under the present system of representation,
. and a most ruinous one it has been. Early in life, I came int., this
house in order to defend the constitution 'of England. I purchased
my seat of a boroughmonger—(A laugh f. I purchased it of the
Duke of Newcastle--(A laugh). He was no patron of mine; he
took my money, and by purchase I obtained a right to speak in
the most public place in England. With my views, and with my lure
of the liberty of my country, I did not grudge the sacrifice I
made for that commanding•consideration. if I had abused the
right I thus purchased, and passed through corruption to the
honours of the peerage, I should not enjoy the satisfaction I now feel.
But I feel it to be a greater honour to be one of the people of Eng.
land, in whose hearts the love of liberty can never be deraeinated,
than to enjoy the highest title which it is' in the power of the' most
profligateecec minister to bestow—(hear, bear.) The hon. baronet pro.
c:
to say, that having gone through the whole system of cor.
ruption, he could not help having a fellow.feeling for the eke-
tors of East Retford, who had had the good sense, at least, to
all themselves, not others—.(hear.) Having been detected, it
was very well for the house to punish the offence • but who could
say, "I am Awe ?" He then felts great compunction towards the
electors of East Retfoed; for their instance, so far from being a
mischief, was really &mitigation of the system. It seemed as if the
house was acting on the principles of ancient Sparta, where theft was
no offence, but the detection was punished. It was the mal-adroitness,
not the commission of the set, that was prohibited--not the crime, but
the want of address in committing it. The house was in the same
predicament. The members for rotten boroughs were nominated
bp peas, and of course they could not oppose the opinions of their
patrons, A man of honour could not sit in the house and vote
against the opinion of the peer who nominated him. In such a
way as this, the people were excluded from the house of their repre-
sentatives, though they gave them power. True it was that some
gentlemen, said, "we represent the people of England at large."
This was a fallacy which reconciled many consciences. Such was
the mode in which elections were managed, that no person could
stand for a county without being ruined, or at least run into diffi-
culties. He (Sir F. Burdett) had gone through all this ; he had
stood for a county, though he would not have given twopence for
the representation of that county, his object having been to ex-
pose the abominable system and the oppressive tyranny of solitary
confinement in England. To expose those abuses, it was that
he stood upon the hustings at Brentford, though he really would
not have given twopence foe the representation of the country. He
could have got returned for East Retford at a much cheaper rate, and
have been a more independent man. He had also gone through the re.
medial operation, as it was called, of the Grenville act; so that, as
he had sounded all the shoals and shallows of the system, it was
not wonderful he should be a great advocate for an altered*.
The plain question was this—ought the house to be an as.,
sembly of retainers of the crown, or of representatives of the peo.
pie of England ? He (Sir F. Burdett) would put it upon that
lame. At the end of the American war appeared a person
whose eloquence and talents would have:enabled him to restore
the country, but who proved the remote cause of all our presets
distress. Mr. Pitt burst forth with an eloquence which dazzled the
judgment, but there was another cause which conciliated more pau.
nsans than even his eloquence and his abilities. The strongest
hold he had on the partiality -tof the people of England, was
advocacy of the principle he (Sir F. Burdett) now advocated.—
lit was parliamentary reform which lifted Mr. Pitt to the cabinet
and to political power. Mr. Pitt told the people, when the
tales were only fifteen millions a year, that without a Winn'
in parliament, they might expect fresh wars, corruption of_wroey
kind, and an increase of the public burdens. He (Bir Fra
Burdett) had experienced still mote of the operation of the system
than be had mentioned. He had been &convicted libeller.—(Hear.)
- e• Yes, a convicted libeller; and be should not scruple to venture
again, when he conceived that the rights and liberties of the people
• demanded the risk.—(Loud cheers.) He did not forget, however,
that by the new law of libel, a law which was a disgrace to the
stature-book, he might, by a second contiction, suffer the punish-
• event of transportation. Fur aught he knew he might be again tried
for libel ; and if he were convicted, as convicted he moot probably
would be—for he knew not of what stuff juries must be composed, to
return such verdicts as they bad remedy seen—he might be sent:to
pass the rest of his life at Botany Bay or at any other foreign de-
pendency of England; and ii he quitted 'England, it would be whim
of little importance where be might end his then miserable life. That
would not, however, deter bias; nor would it, he trusted, dam any
honest Englishman from pursuing that course which was dittoed MI
him by a sense at public duty. Though he was not wlllinglitiemit
vice any man to court dimmest unnecessarily, am to oppose
single-handed to the united force of a powerful and, perhaps, a yin.
6 dictive government, he would himself never quail before it, nor
stand in awe of our atrocious libel act. (Hear, bear.) Say it he
must, be the consequences to himself what they might, that as the
house was now constituted, our personal liberty, the liberty of the
• press, every liberty that we enjoyed,werairsjoyed one and all on mess
sufferance—(hear.) What the right boo. Secretary might be inclined
to do, what his bon. and learned friend the Attorney.Oenetal
might be instigated by the Cabinet to do, he could not venture to
predict. Of his honourable and learned friend he wished to
- speak with affection_.even with gratitude, for he had been
his able, and honest, and intrepid defender. He could not be.
him that his hon. and learned friend had instituted the late pro.
aecutions of his own accord,--he could not believe that he
, bed followed them up, except with great compulsion ; but be that 1
and be all things as they might, he hoped that he should have die
fortirude never to desert those great principles of constitutioisl
liberty which he had est out in life b asserting, and which he was
not reluctant to die in defending. He t K that no *blood= wad ip?
be made in the t stage to the pro tion of shamble seetpds.
It was so usual to allow a bill to be Introduced W. the bee,
that he could net conceive it likely that any opposition wenil be
wade to the moiled foe leave to introduce this bill. He OK not
mesa tp say that the measure met altogether with his a
fee Ile did not go to the ententoo which he himself should
to push It. He had himself leopard two modes of reform, ono of
width canasta in giving the t of outrage to all rooms who
paid direct taxes in the
'there . either church-rata or PIX"P....
Let that made be adopted, or. any ether mode foe infusing ago
spirit 11110 She WON and he Amid be mount. (Rear, hear.)

2:4114ii.‘
• '
• of England, and against those most sacred privileges which
. olrepilpunded upon the acknowledged sovereignty of the people of
rid, where was the security of the people ? It was a high breach
of the constitution and of the privileges of the commons of England,
wet a peer should interfere in the election of a member of that house.