Star.
London, England, 1831-10-14 00:00:00

LOI:D WHARNCLIFFE.

This Nobleman has worked himself into no
small share of disfavour as a member of the aristo-
' eracy, from that disingenuous attempt he made on
Monday last to throw dust into the eyes of his
Peers, and to misrepresent the feelings and desires
of the people of England on the subject of Par Ha-
mentary Reform. Wo could not have expected,'
although the fact has proved wo were wrung,
that a Yorkshire Nobleman of about five years
staudine-, and the proprietor to boot of a little rotten
Cornish borough, named Bossiney, was to be
the lealler against the people, in tha corp &eta!
(as the Marquis of Londonderry termed the late
dissolution, in a menacing address to the Duke of
Richmond), designed to continue that deprivation
of their rights which tha people of this country
have so long protested against. We looked for
vete tough Tory of twenty years' vegetation, or
some law Lord whose inveterate habits forbid all
correction, as most likely to act as pioneer in this
business, whilst the main body took up the debate
in turn, under the skirmishing fire—the cheers
and the gestures of the Duke of Cumberland, the
Duke of Newcastle, and others, who, though
tl:ey swell the rank and file of their patty, find it
a bootless task to attempt to give a reason for the
faith that is in them.

With Lord Wharncliffe's talents, when he was
the Hon. J. Stuart Wortley, we are not unac-
quainted ; we know him to be a man of business
from habit, and when a renresentativa for the
largest county in Ragland, one of the most atten-
tive men that existed to the interests of his con-
stituents, witzneve:- he could advocate them iu con-
sistency with his own opinions. He was member
for Yorkshire, for a n•lmber of years, not in con-
sequer ce of either his sivrlatire merits, or the
complexion of his politics, but simply because he
had one of the weightiest purses, which none awe
oppose who could not make up their minds to the
probable sacrifice of 100,0001. Thus ha wallies;
into the House of Commons as the representative
of Yorkshire, though, beyond the mere courtesy
that his offer demanded se think that Owe was
no great sympathy between him and the 'l', ti
whom he took upon himself, after the formality of
some solicitation, to represent. While in the House
of Commons, his lordship, we believe, never gained
any particular distinction, either as a ready debater
or the assiduous advocate whom the mi:ister of
.the day might call upon, at a short notice, to sus-
tain his policy, or to refute the arguments of an

adversary ; but he stood high as a man of large
'ended propel ty, substantial wealth, and of an in-
( y (Ardent spirit—qualincatioas which would, un-
r.er any oche: administration, as well as MT. Can-
ning's, :nobaNly have opened the way to the Upper
House, es?ecialls, in tunes of less difficulty than
the present, when the reverence for Old Sarum o.
Cation was not quite ceparted. During the pre-
miership of that gentleman, Mr. Motley occupied
a high place hi his favour, and through his instils-
iner.tality, no dcubt, a peerage was granted to ham.
ilia sentiments were strictly in accordance with
those of the Canning school, and they had that
patrician tri,e, and that inconvertibility, which pe-
cdiarly fitted him who held them for the up er
House, where 'll could miss with kindred spirits,
tho dlstinguis`i:ag characteristic of which appears
to be, that they aro more grossly ignorant or wil-
fully 'uliatled than any other order of men whatso-
ever in this country, and who, for many years,
have been the unflinching sup perters of every de-
fect i.t the practical appl:cltion of the British Con-
stitution to the wants, the desires, and the circum-
stances of the people of this realm.
Were we to descrine Lord Wharricliffe more
..fiesely, when a Comwonor, we should any of him,
that ho was tics Sir Thomas Lethbridge or the
Nu: Lb o;Englami--having acs same do6gedness,
the same !rertiancity, and a largo prooortiou of cre-
dulity. With strongsr hahLe of thiaLhig, and a
certain resolution to Corm iris own opinions, than
Sir Timmas ever exhibited, yet 'Jo was always
found in the train of the minister, and was one of
the choice boz'y which, under the quaint descrip-
tion of the " squirearay," has sanctioned ma.i7 a
edict tcr the sorious and almost irre)ara-
ble injury of our common country. That was the
great instru-aJat in the hands of Itf:•. Canning,
which always res;)onded most harmoniously to lila
; it was the " country gentlemen" who,
in the admiration of the orator, the glare produced
by 'Os genius, and ;ho fascinations which played
around them, b. came so bewildered that, whatever
doubts or hositr.tions they had at the beginning of
ade'cate, they were sure to be removed or forgotten
hi the aniulation and the cheers which followed au
oration fforu oue o: the most splendid speakers of
the day. It was amongst them that he felt him-
self triumphant, and it was through them that he
won his way to the Premiership—the highest ob-
ject of his ambition, hit which proved to hide a
source of so many diiliculties ..ud annoyances, so
sow as he exhibited a tendency to Whig policy—
tho detestation, in that day, of the nobility of the
land, and in contending for which, Mr. Canning
fell a sacrifice.

• There is a manliness, and a determination of
pmpuse in the character of Lord Wharncliffe, which
every one who loves a bold straight-forward con-1
duct, whether in peer or plebeian, cannot fail to
admire. In ~he spring of 1826, the year of a ge-
»eral election, two while Mr. Wortley was a can-
didate for the representation of Yorkshire, intelli-
gence reached him that he had been called to the
peerage. It was at a time t hen that great county
was much agitated, like other parts of the king-
dom, with the Catholic question, then the criterion
of the Blues in the choice of their candidates. The
" No Popery" cry was loud and very general in
Yorkshire, and a further stimulus was given to the
county election, by the addition of two more mem-
bers to its representation, in consequence of the
disfranchisement of Grampound. Three candidates
started in the Blue interest, and two in favour of
Whig polities ; but as four members only were
warded, one of the Blues, Mr. Bothell, though a
moderate man, was obliged to yield rather than
risk an immense pecuniary loss. Suffice it to say,
that Lord Wharncliffe, on being succeeded by two
Blue representatives, was by no means surpassed
by them in diligence; one of them, indeed, was
utterly unfit for his station, as the event proved,
although be bad been thrust into it by certan
officious friends.

Oa the day of nomination, in the usual frank-
ness of his character, Lord Wharncliffe repaired to
York, to surrender into the hands of his consti-
tuents that power and those duties with which he
had been entrusted; we had the good fortune to be
close besitio him on this interesting occasion, and
a more energetic and constitutional address we
never heard, tint is, as far as we could hear it, from
the yells and turbulence of the " No Popery" fac-
tion, who paid so link respect to the Blue mem-
ber, (like the Blues nearer a;; home) as absolutely
to refuse to listen to his :wanly ani respectful ad-
dress maile to them on his retirement We well
.eareuther with what pathos his Lordship dwelt on
Cie value of the appointment of representative to
so large * county—a honour which, he declared,
ho so highly pized, as almost to regret his being
called to the peerage by the unsolicit a kindness of
his Sovereign. If we ever did feel respect for a
Tory- Nobleman, it vas on that occasion ; we ad-
mired his Iranknurs, and the emphatic and con •
scientious way in which his Lordship could advo-
cate his own principles.
From th.t moment to the present, when he has
blcome the tauter of the revoltrionary party, th at
party %die!, may eject the Bill—his Lordship has
continued his c resister*: couise ; but as he never, in
all protality, could' :lave been a member for York-
shire, save and e::cept in consideration of his
purse, so neither could he have attained the peer-
age, had not his politics been of the proper colour
to suit the interests of a long dominant party in
the State. His Lordship may have acquired some
renown by the step he has just taken, and his
name may, if he is ambitious of it, be inscribed in
the page or history ; uut be has incurred an impu-
tation and a responsibility, not only as regards
himself, but that House of which he is a raember,
which but few men could be found to hazard.—
Lord Wha.ncliffe resides near the large, the po-
pulous, and the unrepresented town of Sheffield—
one of the hot-beds, if you please, of Reform—
and yet, as a plea for its rejection, he talks of
the opinions of a few Bond-street trades-
men ! But why had not his Lordship
walked into the streets of the market-town in his
own vicinity, and there ascertained the state of pub-
lic feeling ? having done so, why did lie not
state that feeling to the house ? If the manufac-
turing towns of the north furnish no fair sample of
the public affection for the reform bill, let him
visit the agricultural districts in Yorkshire or in
Cornwall; he will in both counties find the feel-
ings prevalent, and in such strength as not to be
mistaken for any passing excitement. But, were
proof wanting bow duplicity could be practised by
a political leader, we might fearlessly assert that
his lordship resides is the atmosphere of reform—
in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and

~.

Lanca3hire, the spirit of the people is the most ar•
cent thaw can nosark be imagined ; and he can-
not, looking ;row his mansion, cast his eyes east,
west, north, or south, but, whether in town or vil-
lage, the same enthusiasm prevails. The country
is determined; and we can hardly conceive a more
wanton mistake than that just committed by Lord
Wimracliffo, in his endeavours to persuade his
Peers to the contrary, and to reject the bill. In-
deed, it is but too evident, that he has not cast away
the trammels of the country gentleman in his ad-
vancement to the peerage, and that if be be an or-
nament to their house, it must be for the force of
his prejudices and his unparalleled hardihood, ra-
ther than for any characteristic of the prudent and
enlightened statesman.