Star.
London, England, 1823-01-24 00:00:00

to this; stild he Wished nin tb in ;tate them, w4.l.rt
te Mid they; slit appeared to him, took a wrong view
tif this matter altogether, and were in a situation which
ezposed them to be dupe,{.—(Distyprolnitirm) —He
begged again to assure them that I:herirmed:iiininalto
offend, but he must speak boldly, if ,he spoke at all.
His Hon. Friend who opened this business had put the
ument as fairly as he had ever
meat put in his life. He would admit thattif nitro*
trtons had been 'made on the Constitution to brhvg Ito
litx present state, then they had a fair ground cn
which they ought to petition Parliament to Reform
itself. But he denied the premises of his Hon. Friend.
and would shew them that he had taken a wroth
view of the Constitution, and that for the last Dour
hundred years the influence of the NI isiocracy and of
the Crovin in the House of COl:onions had beeline
same as they 'Were at this day—(llisses.)—lge
could shew •that the present state Of the House of
Commons proved no usurpation on the part of the
Aristocracy, or 9n the part of the Crown; and. he
would appeal to them, if the country, governed, asit
had been, had not reason to be grateful for mini?
'blessings? Whatever the constitution of Parliament
might have been originally, from the time of Henry
VIII. and Queen Elizabeth forward, the influence of
the Aristocracy and of the Crown, bad always been
felt in the House of Commons. Many of the Bo-
roughs which were now under the influence of the
Aristocracy were equally so then. It wa, said in the
celebrated Petition to which his Hon. Friend had re-
ferred, that an act of usurpation had been committed
on the part of the Aristocracy in consequence of the.
Boroughs in question having fallen to decay. Re
could wish to know at what period Old Sarum wm
anything better than it was now ? The Right HO%
Gentleman to whom allusion had been made, who
had mentioned his friend near him, but mend:erred
him with honour on a late occa.ion, had proved when
Lord J. Russell brought forward his motion on the
subject of a Reform in Parliament, that in the 16th
century the Earl of Essex not only nominated_ tee
Members for the Borough of Stafford, bat wroteto
the Sheriff to nominate Members for every. Goronzh
in the County. It was the same in the Bor. ughef
Malden ; and for some centuries back, he found in
various other instances the Constitution had. been the
same in these respect. as it was at this Jay. Thee
was a Borough in the Isle of Wight called Newton,
and he found that in the first year or Que.Ar Eliza-
beth, a Member of Parliament had bee!i 'nominated
for it by the Steward of the Lord of the !lawny of
Newton. The influence which was now exercised
was.not greater than had been common at that time.
(Here the cries of disapprobation again drowned the
voice of the Speaker).
The HIGH SHERIFF called on the Meeting to girt
the Hon. Gentleman a hearing.
Mr. S. Woftmev challenged his Hon. Friend to
prove that the Constitution of the country, with rt.
spect M. the influence of the Aristocracy, was dif.
ferent now from what it had been during the last
four hundred years. Such being the case, he would
ask if a number of important blessings had not grows
'out of the actual'system? He yielded to none in aris
miration of the wisdom, moderation, and patieiic
of those who brought about the Revolution of 1688;
but that Revolution, he contended, would never have
been effected in a Reformed Parliament, as that grea
work was completed against the general feelings d
the People. He did not mean to say that the Rep
sentatives of the People ought not generally to spat
the sentiments of their constituents, but this, he cos,
tended, was done on almost all great occasions hitt
House of Commons as at present constituted. Ile
two great occasions which had loaded us with debt
were, the American war and the late war with
France. Both these, he maintained, had been el.
ceedingly popular in their commencement. Of IDs
he gave several proofs, and, amongst others, re.
ferred to a speech made by Mr. Burke at Bristol,
'and to his subsequently losing his election at the
place, throngh having opposed the American war.—
He admitted that it subsequently became tinpopolu,
and would haee terminated sooner 'than it did had
'the wishes of the. People been completely consulted.
Hetheniht the'American war unwise, but when once
enterieFttpOnlione could judge so well as those is.
.gaged ihe Management of it, when it could ts
advantageoislror safely terminated. In Parliament
rise had expressed himself anziouslY•opposed to any.
thing that might unnecessarily plunge the country is
a new War for foreign objects, and would pledge his.
self to continue to do so. He expressed strong abhor•
fence of the principles recently avowed and :acted
'upon by the Continental Sovereigns. He strewed that
the late war with France had been called for by tut
People. Sonie persons who called for Reform openly
declared themselves friendly to the adoption of Men.
sures which he would resist to the last hour of hislik,
and to the last drop of his blood. The measureile
alluded to he would stamp, if he could, with the opt
probrium of pUblic disgrace, as they called, for nothing
less than a national bankruptcy; and a breach of MO
with the public creditor. This ht held to be in via'
`lotion of common honesty—.-
, Here, the Hon. Gentleman was again overpowered
by the opposition he met with.
Lord bittern; entreated the' Meeting to hear ha
Hon. Friend and Colleague.
Mr. S. WORTLEY repeated some of his formersr-
guments. He could not vote for Resolutions caloll
for a general Reform, but offering no specific phi.
At the same time he was far frOm saying the*/
with respect to the elections ought net to be imp MIL
On account of a few defects that might milt,.
be wished to be altered, he could not Coetplaill.ol'
the House of Commons as at present constituted.
The influence of the Crown he shewed to have cow
siderably diminished, by cutting off its direct rest
nues, as well as by the increased circulation and.illP
portance of newspapers. ' which was most rimP

.scq That
plained of had been familiar to *OM C •
through the last four hundred years. Ilia
opinions on the subject were noA shaken by.
he had heard.
•concluded, Nanking tlii
ithasta~pJsp.l

for the attention with' which, nqwil
casual interruptions, he had beep honour
... ,q, s
Lord MILTON had implored the Meeting tcio
to his Hon. Friend ytho Itiad just spoken,. fS,,tb,
done to tho;e, wbp 14d ,preceded lime bec.4 t._,
object of the Meeting, was to get at the truth,;,. 6d
could only be obtained. b 1 hearing the are 0
ilatil sides of, 04 gitesticNi„ ;:lie, i'?r, cE!li, '
thought thel bairdoue Ail* torgiFe 4hF,4,1
man a heating. He (Lord. Milton) had, 7or a 1