Star.
London, England, 1819-07-02 00:00:00

afford some further illustration upon this subject_
‘Says one to the other—" Prithce tell me, who is he
that builds stronger than the mason, the carpenter,
or the shipwright ?" The answer was, " the gallows-
maker:"—" the gallows," it was replied, 0 did well:'
aye, but how did it " do well ?" why, by " doing
well to those who did ill !" The Noble Lord oppo-
site, who slept on a bed of roses, why should he not
say,stag niatn;
tdraoedse waelltleit
country
well"
ywas ith him the
flourishing--the
starving manufacturers were rioting in °pulsate...-.
They who used this language, spoke, peihaps, what
they believed ; they lived in a land of delusion...-in a
perfect paradise, totally unattackable by those 2241-
ries which bowed down the great body of the peoples
But he said, and he now repeated it, that his great
object was to endeavour, by the aid of reason, to im-
press upon Gentlemen in that Honse, and out of
that House, even upon the Borough Proprietors,•
the necessity of coming to some agreement with the
people. He would repeat, that it was the interest
efoyradhhee
refedltcoconuld-
thaparticular
the
,spit
tnyoub
ehe,s was,ci
tt
certainly
rlsheleaotadnomneirdsolot
hiw s
ovfincthedis,totosvhdoich93th,
not be supported much longer without bringing
about a ruin that would inevitably involve chem..--
It was not his intention, indeed it would not be in hit
power, at present to enumerate all the grievantes
under which the country was groaning. It was not
alone those classes, multiplied as they were, who
were crying out against abuse, that' suffered. In
every institution—in prisons, in madhouses, in my-
lams, &c. abuses would be found to exist. But per- •
haps the greatest abuse of all existed in the monstrous
expenses and delays in Courts of Justice. It was said
by Lord Coke, that the King was always supposed to
be presiding in Courts of Justice, with this language
in his mouth—" Nulli negabimus, trulli drfereaus,
;twill vendanus rectum etjustitiam." But must not the •
country now be compelled to say—" Negatur, de-
fct tur, venditur justitia et rectum ?" The judgment
indeed was there, but the expenses of obtaining it
were great, and men would rather brook an in-
justice than lose twice the amount of it by seeking ,
for uncertain redress--(Hear.)--From our Courts of
'Law, the best, the wisest institutions that any coun-
try could boast, the venerable maxims of the Consti-
tution were driven away, and driven away by Acts
of Parliament. The Court of Chancery-rfir meant
no disrespect to the high indilidual• who presided
there—but the Court of Chancessi• wax tjr. cause of
more human misery than was ever produced by Mf p
institution in any civilized country. It was the nature
of the system of the administration of our law that
produced these dreadful effects—it was the l
scanda-
lous wliy, in which taxes were placed upon the pro-
ceedings in that Court. What was the end of Go-
vernment ? To see that justice is to be had, and to
be had cheap, so that the poor and the rich spay be
put upern.an equality. But here was the great end
wholly evaded. A striking instance of the grievance tb
which he alluded occurred not long since to his own
knowledge. A defendant had occasion to put in aft
answer to the plaintiff's bill, but it was first neces-
sary to obtain an office copy of certain accounts—
The defendant applied to the Court for a copy.
What would the House think was the price of the
office copy—the mere office- copy ? perhaps 10001.
or 50001.?—perhaps ten or may be 20.0001.? Not
to keep the House in suspense, the amount was ac-
t-n*lly twenty-Wine thousand pounds. The Lord Chan-
cellor, indeed, upon this occasion dispensed with the
office copy. Whether cr not his Lordship over-
stepped his power it was not now necessary to inquire.
But if he was disinclined to exercise it, what would
be the result to the suitor?—(Hear, hear.) Again,.
he would disclaim any disrespectful allusion to the
Noble Judge. This statenf thing was chiefly owing
,(as he had said before) to the enormnus 'Stamp Du-
ties. But it might be asked what had these subjects
to do with Parliamentary Reform ? A great deal.
A sound Parliament would havE taken care that nb
such duties would have been imposed, and that the
Courts of Justice would be free. At this moment no
person worth less than ten pounds could look for jus-
tice—if any person indeed with only so much in his
pocket would think of going into a Court of Justice.
All these facts served as samples to exhibit the want
of a constitutional controul. The want of a real re-
presentation of the people which the constitution
always supposes to exist, and which would guard
against abuse in the raising and the application of
taxes. But under the present system it was only when
abuses became notorious that an enquiry was set
about, and when it did take place even the result
only proled an aggravation of the evil, or the en-
Hauiry ended in some expensive and totally inefficient
measure. The Honourable Baronet then concluded
bx moving, that early in-the next Session this House
v& take into its consideration, the state of the Re-
presentation of the People.
'Mr. G. LAMB felt considerable satisfaction at
ending, that the terms of the motion would compre-
hend all those who entertained views friendly to re-
form, whatever differences on some points might pre-
vail amongst them. He did not rise to follow the
Honourable Baronet through the whole course of !ns
argument, because he did not think his most eloquest
or happy passages were connected with the points
lof difference to which he had alluded. As he di:,-
tented, however,from those doctrines which had been
supported at other times by the Honourable Baronet,
he felt that it behoved him to be more specific in
drawing a line between himself and those doctrines.
Whatever might have been the march of reform, of
Uibich they hail heard so much—and he was strongly
Itsclined to think, that since the Honourable Baronet
Land his coadjutors had placed themselves at its head,
that march had been little more than what was in
military language called marking time, an act whiCh
consistedtinsonit
bsTuitfoahu rather
aapn.ne thes
its:(tc ionoeslibningeH:n,:i
1;'
te
were
ois iiias
edr
rejoiced
retrograde making
mo t
id
ou
ns dust
motion—(A
1 an
Ito
gh progress,
)—li isp e
r o r.
1 :il l
h:ani
nytihtdoin The
ht
hgdehr
boroughs
haeohaneptusntedoirglvho
eifii understoodesncicl
reesre:tho.a convicted
etntau e
di
dyontfhs tiveubnasamteerrhdgp,
lai b
co
thati
oeabsr atpntotw
r.
itlahhreetfayetm
ei
suchht
Baronetch neHaeni bdt
secprogress
fo
rnch,
ii.
egiirnneuimng-
oref(lnourramberle.
presence, oheinsgdhaiys svi:i NV aawns,
investiga-
tionsißfarocpoonns;sselibitbm'usleted‘lt'othh assistancei
and that the fruit of his labours was the resolution
before the House. With respect to his own opinion:
upon the subject of reform, he should wish to see, in