The Statesman.
London, England, 1810-06-09 00:00:00

sleeted, 'your Petitioners leave to the consideration of year
Honorable Mouse; although they cannot bat remark, that I
when they fuel on your Journals, uarsintradicted and 14,0-1,..
dres.ed. th.. 1.• your iluaourable House '‘ are as
notoriously tented and bought as standtup for .rattle at a
fdicl
Thai the /foible of Comments does v fully sad fairly
feprelesil the 1. rople of England ;
4 That the elective franchise parliany and unequally
distributed, that a rnfii"iii.". of yoe.r Honourable House rs'
elelited by less than a *,va_hundrealk
%Omit part of the male pops:.
That the
httional 6•44 °.ght of voting is regulated by no uniform or
...triples
. oat Itutlatni,' the smallest, ;and Yorkshire,' the lap,
v..st cowry. ' return the sates 'lumber of Representatives;"
" T',at Cornwall,' which, b% the censti, taken by order of
Parliament, appears to °contain a population of 185,269,
4 return. np runny Members to sour Honourable House as the
ri,ainties Of Ynrk, Rutland, and Mid lesev,' Which, b 7 the
same refolds, contain 1.693,377.—And that Cornwall and
Wiltsi' ("Obtaining 378,316 persons,' send more Boroulli Mem.
bets *6 Parliament than Yorkshire Lancashire, Warwlsk-
bblie, Middlesex. Worcestershire, and Somersetshire, united,'
which contain 9.971,026;
" £hat 70 of your Honnerable Members dre returned by
places, where the elections are notoriously mere matters of
_ n'That, In addition to the 70 so chosen, RO more of your
Honourable- Members are elected by 40 places, In none of
g bleb the number of electors exceeds 50.
_" That. in addition if, the 160 so elected, 37 more of your
Hoilsorable Members Ate elected by 19 places, in none of.
•N‘tiek the member of electors exceeds 100.
" That les addition to the 197 Honourable Members so
ebo,thii 59 more are chimed by 26 places, in none of w bleb
oi voters elteeeds 200.
" fiat, inalilitian to the 249 so elected, 20 More are Pe-
11.:e..! for Counties in Scirtlaud, by less than"loo electors each,
noel rountirt In Scotland, by less than 250 each.
4 I in addition to the 279 so elected, 19 distritts of
burets h, Atoiland, not tontaiiiing 100 each, and twa districts
f not containing 125 each, return 15 wore of sour
Honourable Members.

" Tnat to this manner 284 of your Minna:lble Menthes's
arm thosim which, being a decided majority of the entire
Itottse of Cuuntins, are enabled to decide all questions in the
name of the whole people of great Britain:
" That 84 individuals dos by their own immediate anth
tit vi send 157 of your Honintrable Membet- to Parliament.
" That, in • Llition to these Honourable Members, ISO
Moro., making, in the whole, 137, sire returned In your Ho-
nourable Howe, nut by the collectiie voice of those whom
thee airear to represent, hut by the recommendation of 70
powerful individuals, added to the 81 before mentioned, 4i.d
*taking the total number of lyttrons altogether only li4, who
reo.ro .1 decided majority of your Honourable House."
Twit lid km than 11.) of vOur Honourable Members owe
their eleeiliati entirely to rue interference of Peers, and that
4t) Per,, in defiatree to tier re,olutions of your Honourable
Hesse, bare possessed themselves nf so many homage tecures,
wed obtained such an absolute anti enciontrouled demand in
MAIM very small Boroughs in the Kingdom, as to be enabled,
by their own positive authority, to return 81'hf your nondur-
able Members.

That seats in jour Hounurable House are sought for at a
rug extravagant and increasing rate of ex epee.
That th, mean-taken by Candidates to obtain, and by elee-
tot s to hestow, the tumour of a Seat iii your Honourable
House, eddently n.ppear ti have been increasing In a pro-
gres,i ve degree of fraud and corruption.
And that when they learn that a distinct charge hating
beenamde in Sour Hutt. House, against Lord Castlereagh and
.Mt.,Perteva, Members thereof* and then two of his "!::-
jesty's Mini.ders, of having sold a seat therein, your Rau.
noose refused lit institute any inquiryt That tradOcing
skirts in your Honourable House has been avowed to to. " as
immriott. as the sun at noon-day ;" and when, in addition to
t Cl:cuinstances, they hear the declaration of your Speaker
delivered in your lionanr.tble House," that the question theu
before you vAS no less than this—whether seals in this Hanle
stall he hencef•oth publicly saleable. A proposition, at Ike
sonhd a which our ancestors would have startled with
nation ; bat a practice which in these days, and within these
a lb., in utter oblivion nt every former maxim nod feeling.
of Pialiontent, has been avowed and justifird."—When they
rein.irk these Wags, your Petitioners timid but believe that
laic oin:citation has been dreadfully impaired.
our Petitiimers, therefore, repeat their Prayer. that
your Honourable Mouse will follow the example or
pair predecessors, and expunge all your Declarations*
Orders, and Resolution.; relating to Mr. Gale Jones,
and Sir Francis Burdett, as tending to the subversion
• of our Liberties, and to the intro.luetion of military
despotism ; and to recal Sir Fratteis Burdett to the
service of the Country in Parliament, that he may
three enforce that Reform, which last Session he .0
powerfully recommended; and which, in the opinion
of your Pmitioutirs, 1. absolutely neetstary for the sta.
bait.; mid honour of the Throne, and the safety and
well-being of the People ; mil your Petitioners further
pray, that their former Petition may now be laid no
the Table of your Honourable Hattie.
very sentiment contained in the Petition was
Halted *nth unequivocal demonstrations of sails,.
faction, consequently it clearly expressed the sense
fut the Meeting.

Mr. CI.IFkORD.—I am much obliged to my
worthy friend, fur having taken from me the la.
boor of reading the Petition ; and now that you
are in possession of the reasons upon which it is
founded, and the grounds upon Which we deem
Parliamentary Reform necessary, I-hope you wilt
but think I shall be taking up your time unneces.
gorily, by making a few observations, with regard.,
to what has taken place upon the subject of Re.
form. My respectable Friend and myself, at outi,
tune, worked extremely hard in support of Mr.
Tierney ; mid I call-yoar attention to this subject
on account of some expressions which have lately
fallen 'from him, With respect An Parliamentary
Reform: Mr. Tierney was, at the time to which
I am alluding,. Su atravagantly fund of popula.
My, that he rather excited a laugh iis the House of:
Commons, by asserting, that he had received art..
taining fee from the People, in order to plead their
cause against the corruption of that House. The
cause has siuce been deserted by him ; but whi.
ther, because he did not chose to plead it, or that
his clients discontinued their fee, is not for me to
determine. In a speech which he lately made, he
has tole. us, that he still courts poPularity ; but
that it is not the popularity of the rabble but of
the chosen few. Mr. Bankes too, the Chairman
of the Committee of Inquiry respecting '4inecure
Places, tells you, that thou:4li he wishes sinecure
places to lie abolished, he dues not Wish fur Re.
form ThLre is a serious and important conchs.
'bin to be drawn from all this. With respect to,
Mr. Tieraeh as long as he represented a place
which it was an 'Mitosir to represent, he boasted
that he tied received a retaining fee to advocate
their eaustagalost eartiption; but the moment after,
by his own toaduct, he was despised and vjected
by his former Constituents, and *as returned for•
a rotten borough, thco he disregarded the popula.
lily he had before courted, and only regarded the
poirelarity of the chosen few. Mr. Bankes is for
abolishingsincceres, but he is .not for abolishing
corrupt boroughs-1 will tell you why : because:
Mr. ilankes is the owner of a corrupt borough
binned': I hate tto donbt the chosen few) to
whose go.nl opinion Mr. Bankes defers, are the
I 'dependent persons who inhabit Curie Castle.,-
[a (veers: laugh].. It is lamentable to think'
titafi'Vrheneter 'you sift into the conduit of these
opposers of Parliamentary Reform, you always
wcrise;ed by Nardi(' self.interest, and that
there is a principle of personal Nero lurking be.
tieath their public ptoressions. .:There is o'ne thing.
I would wish to observe : I.have never been.
ttotd of attacking utrioVoo who were 'not Present
to sleivad themselves-. Above all, far be it frAl