Star.
London, England, 1820-03-02 00:00:00

fatnedsnonarchy, above nll, as the world advances 1
in light and knowled is a real substantial Rem-
sentation of the People. , L believe in my conscience,.l
that a Representative Government, like the Inagnet ;
in nature, is the pole of the civilized world ; and ,
that Monarchy, above all other firms,, is best suited i
for its perfection ; and I am sure •that this country
will never again feel throughout, what I most ar-
deal,: wish to see, .a jusr and affectionate cdnfidence
in Parliament, until it takes this momentous subject
into its most serious consideration. It I bettered that
a liberal and extensive enlargement of the elective
franchise would disturb the balances of our excellent
Constitution ; if I conceived, that whilst it destroyed
undue influence it would abridge the just' power and
authority of the Executive Government in the hands
cf the Crown, or the independence and dignity of the
aristocratic balance in the House of Lords, against
popular encroachments, I would, for the sake of the
People, whose happiness and safety are the only ob-
jects of all government, most ardently' oppose any
change in the Representation ; but I am confident,
that so far from any such results, it would invigorate
and secure them. Government has too long been
carried on by a preposterous and dangerous combi-
nation of powers, which were provided by the Con.
stitution to be honest balances to .me another. No-
thing, surely, can be so stupidly disgusting as to be
constantly told of the responsibility of Ministers as
the safeguard of our Constitution. How are they re-
sponsible? In all my time, and I believe I am one of
the oldest among you, have they ever done one re-
sponi,ible act? Is not the whole Executive Govern-
ment carried on in Parliament? -Is not every thing
carried on there, and stamped with its authority,
previous to any one act of State? How then can
Ministers be responsible? Can Parliament impeach
them for carrying their own Acts into execution ?
Would any man now venture to pledge his honour,
that he believed we should have lost America, if Mi•
sisters had begun and carried on that war uptai their
own re ponsihifity, with a real and substantial Repre-
sentation of the People ? Could the immortal ora-
tions of Burke have been heard in-vain by such an
Assembly ? But many of these were spoken to al-
most empty benches : and I am old enough to re-
member, though not as a Member of Parliament,
bein almost trodden down by those who had not
hear them, and who were rushing down from above,
gorged with beef-steaks, to vote away the dependen-
cies and the money of there country. The same may
be said of the war with Fiance. Could an inde-
pendent Parliament have been made to begin and
persevere in such a contest, against a People almost
, expiring in the pangs of Revolution, and who, if left
.to themselves, could never have overrun- Europe as
they did ? I rejoice to think that the French are now
within their own bounds, and settling inta a balanced
Government. The present King of France has con-
ducted himself with great wisdom, and I trust that
he will encourage, with' all his power, the elective
franchise in its real and effective character, because
the People will then 'support their Representatives,
and they will support his Throne I but if it is cur-
tailed and tampered with, to make the Deputies a
more manageable body, it does not require the se-
cond sight -of a Scotchman to foresee what will be-
come of France. The Princes of Germany are in the
same situation. Their Thrones may be established
for ever, if they do not overturn them by breakin
faith with their People. As to that * • •
Ferdinand, who seems only to exist to render Mo.
narchy, the best of all Gorernments, at once contemp-
tible and odious, what would the • a • be
at? So little has he to fear from public liberty, that
it cannot be sufficiently roused by his unparalleled
baseness. If he had stuck by the Cortes, he would
have saved his empire in South America; and if he
established it even now, the danger in Spain would
be, that the People would still be not sufficiently
free, having been brutified so long by the despotism
to which they have submitted.
Gentlemen—The most important topic is yet be-
hind, on which I ought not to be silent. We live
in difficult times. What then is our duty u...ler'
them, and how are the people (by which I mean the •
multitude in its most universal description) to have
the best and the neatest prospect of bringing back
the country to that state of plenty if possible, and to
that contented confidence, which is inseparable from
a well-administered Government? Nothing can ac-
complish this, nor, in my opini.:,n, approach to it,
without a firm and energetic, but at the same time
a well-considered and sober-minded union of all
classes and degrees, in all parts of the United King
dom, rising imperceptibly and calmly as the tide of
the ocean ; and believe me, as irresistibly, if govern-
ing themselves by the long and tried principles of
the as the laws of Nature govern the
other, they shall not pass beyond the bounds by'
• which British liberty was happily established, and
which, if not departed from, will ever secure us
from sanguinary revolution. This does by no means
exclude the Reform of Parliament, in whatever ex-
tent it may be deemed most beneficial, nor any other
fit reformation ; because, as Lord Chatham well •ob-
served, regarding America, we 'might as well think
of rocking a grown man in the cradle of an infant,
as to put aside the necessary changes which time Lyn-
.perioasly calls for in all human affairs. But this can
never be accomplished by tumultuous combinations,
however honestly intended.
Gentlemen—There is no possible chance of any
kind of reformation whilst these irregular courses
are pursued, because of the strength they are sure
to throw into the hands of a Government already
too strong, from the present formation of the House
of Commons, for a Constitutional administration ot
our affairs. Those ill-advised proceedings alarm the
timid, and furnish a happy pretext to corrupt tims,
servers, to propagate alarms throughout the country
—alarms which have been too long the certain re-
cruits, and the infallible resources, by which our
public councils have been over and over again prop-'
ped up, when they seemed to be completely at a
stand, and, without which, they must have been
contented at least to govern us by .the ancient laws,
and to have long ago considered in Parliainent the
subject of such Reforms as the calm, good sense of
the country might have presented for consideration.
It would •not be fit for me to enter into particular.,
here; but this I believe I mv,say, without impro-
priety, on thi subject of Reform, that objecting as I
firmly do to Annual Parliaments and Universal Suf-
frage, or to any other species of election, when
claimed as a right, except that unquestionable right

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