Star.
London, England, 1819-11-24 00:00:00

stated an imptdovement in thelr amount, talked of the
'flattering prospett of its continuance, merely becauso
by some trick or another an increase in the lte?enue
had been effected.. By the bye, it was not a litt4'e curious
to observe how well the state of Revenue sympa-
*allied with the period of the meeting of Parliament:
In the Minister's speech, put lift() the mouth of the
Prince Regent nine months ago, it was said that the
trade, the commerce, the manufactures of, the coup--

try :were in a natsst flourishing condition.. They could
not have thought so. Now, however, they admitted
the existence of fluctuations, and these proved how
much worse things were growing. Ile knew he was
in the hearing of several merchants, when he said
that trade was never in a suite of greater stagnation.
It might be said, indeed, that the condition of
fo-
reign countries was the cause of this. He did not.l
doubt but this cause had its influence. The prospect
as it regarded the poor labourer; was not less appal-
ling. With the apparent refuge of the Poor Laws,
he lost the honest stimulus to industry which charac-
terised Englishmen, whilst at the same time the low
price of labour was not sufficient• tb remunerate him

who had not felt their influence, and had retained Ms
industrious habits. Let all these considerations be

combined, and who so visionary as to talk of trea-
`bon and traitorous designs? Discontent must exist
under the present disposition of things; but discon-
tent was not disaffection. However, though he fondly
hoped there did exist no disaffection, yet he enter-
tained serious alarm on reflecting upon the great
and manifold causes of discontent which at the pre-
sent moment existed. He might be charged with
being an alarmist i true, he was an alarmist, but his
fears arose from different sources from those who

were proverbially so. Where was the man, who,
looking with the eye of calm reflection upon the,
causes which operate to produce the present tone of
the public mind, that can be indifferent to them?
h.:very man was perhaps more an alarmist upon cer-
tain subjects which he understood best; but upon a
general view of the subject, any rational man must
pronounce an alarm neither groundless nor visionarv.
He would proceed to hazard an opinion upon the
probable causes of that discontent, and in so doing,
felt that he was exposed to misconstruction and
clamour. HoweVer, his duty urged him, and he
would avow, that it was his firm conviction, that
one great cause was the want of public confi-
denee in the House of Commons—( Hear, hear).—..
This was not confined to any class, and much less tb
that called the Radicals ; it was the undivided opinion
of high and low, and of the sensible part of the
community, who equally despised the Radicals and
the means they used to accomplish their ends ; but
they felt there was something wrong in the Repre-1
sentation, and that their interests were unattended to
here. • Was this unreasonable? Do they not see
Ministers come every day to this House with new
propositions for supplies of men, money, and the
enactment rof now 'awl. They see every requisition
acceded to—every suggestion acted upon ; yet the
Revenue stagnates, and the needs of the State in-
crease. How, then, can they separate that House
from the acts of the Ministers? yet in the teeth of
these facts, there come men who say, this House has
no confidence in Ministers, and they would have them
put more in them—(Hear, hear). To this House,
'then, are the Country looking, and a Reform in its
Representation must be the first step to remove dis-
contents. But the inferences drawn from this rea-
soning were not founded upon theory alone, the
Country had felt the practical effects of the want of
identity of interests with them in the Members for a
numbitt of years, and that the Representation was
not useful to them—(Hear, hear). He was a friend
to Reform, and he.thanked the Honourable Member
who moved the Address, for the kind disposition he
had expressed towards the accomplishment of it in a
rational way. But he was free to confess, his senti-
ments upon it were not quite so sanguine as they
might have been at ono time of his life. With in:
creasing years, he had increased in clution, and
many schemes which, in the hey-day of youth,
would have been gladly fostered by the warmth of
his imagination, had now lost their value 'with their
rilliancy. But he flattered himself, whilst he kept
clear of one extreme, he had not run into the other.
To think with those who asserted that there was not
room for any improvement, and that no change
could be effected without a manifest endangering our.,
Constitution, was now as far from his ideas as it was
from the most heated friend to Reform. Reform,
he contended, was not the creature of recent times, it
was agitated in the American war, and was then
taken up by Mr. Pitt, who, as a Minister, did more
for it than any other man whatever. It slumbered
for many years alter, but the practical necessity for it
which then existed, exists at this moment, and the
same glandes to its advocates to persevere—(Xnm,
hear !).....When the country see that the House of
Commons are the guardians of the publie purse,
whorls else are they to blame for any mismanagement
of it ? When they see that the House of Commons
are the thind Inquest of the Nation, and the protec-
tors. of its peace, at whose door but that of the
Hbuse must they lay every infringement of that
peace, or neglect to take cognizance of it ? The
question of Reform can silver be stifled ; so Wag as
the Representation of the People continues to be a part
11 of the Constitution, so long will discussion arise, and
I differences of opinions exist as tothe extent of its purity
Or impurity. Unfortunately there are men at this
moment who are Ultras in the notions they have of
the extent to which it might be carried in this House.
lee his part, no man could be a greater enemy to
Radicals than he was, mid no one could feel more
contempt, for their proceedings, or the objects they
'had in viaw--(Cries of Hear, hear). But it was un-
candid to confound the cause of Reform withsome
of these men, who only used it as a watch-word to
.design it would be terrible to name. Others
were votariesthC of it from a certain vanity to be
leaders We party; but „these were only conspicuous
by their paucity of talent, and the complete ignoraucc
they displayed of its purposes--(Hear, hears) It
would also be fair to add, that there were not want-
ing men who made use of it for the very worst of
purposes. So much then for the Radicals, against
whom he positively set himself; and he trusted this
plain denunciation would satisfy the Honourable
Member that there was some distinction between,
him (Mr. Tierney) and tht-m---(Cries of Hear, hear).
If more was necessary, he would go further, bat
.with one word more he would quit the subjeet, " It
seemed to hare been insinuated that, through patity

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