The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-01-30 00:00:00

iL st, COMMON COUNCIL.
itliftoionien round! was held yesterday, per.,
Soot .requisition which hid been iddiessed IN!.
teed 11140. by Alr:Alderjrnin Waithinan and titber4,;
collie* upon blab to asiemble 0...0h a Court, for the pur- •
pose of its taking into consideration the question of •
Parliamentary Refortn.
After some ordinary 'business 'had been despatched','
the LORD MAYOR opened the business of die day.
PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. •
Mr. Ald. Watinstati said, that before he addres.ed
himself to this Court on the subject which had called
them together, he should beg to move that the resolu•
lions adopted by the Court on the question of Parlie-
mentaryßeform,an the year 1817, 'should be read by:
the Town Clerk..
They Were read accordingly; and in sal:mance cons,,
plaided of " Extravagance in the Expentlitars of Public, •
Mosey," "Sinecures," and "a Standing Army in
Tips' of Puce," as grievances, and as solely attributable
to it watit of,the proper representation of the People ino
Parliament."
ilz.Alderman tatinwsw proceeded. The proceed-.
Inge of the Court which bad been just rend, were part
only of a series of proceedings that had been taken by
the Coon on the same subject for several years; and
iheived that the opinion of the Court on that arthiect hal
been uniform and steady. The grounds of them had
been escertained by the Committee appointed by the.
Court to take this important subjectinto consideration.
That the country was in a state of unexampled distress,
it was unnecessary to prove; indeed, ;whole Counties
had expressed opinions which be should twenty years
ago have been actually hooted for uttering. At that
time, twenty years ago, the distress of the commercial
part of the nation was loudly complaioed of, and was
met by the great landlords, by a declaration that every
thing in general was very flourishing, and a recommend-
alien to the landlords to practice " patience." Vac
distress theti complained of was similar to that which
was now felt by the
.great landlords themselves. ire
answer to the complaints of the people respecting the ,
defective state of the representation they were gene-
rally called upon to propose what was valid a " spe-
cific remedy. This, be contended, was absurd ; fur
there might be so many different opinions as to the re-,
study, though all might be agreed upon the grievance.
Much had been said, and much inquiry exitaasted, o*
the subject of the antiquity of Representation, and on
the questions when and how it began. These however
were of little consequence, and it was of as little whe-
thee the Representation was perfect or imperfect. Sup.
pose, for the sake of argument, that they had all con-
tinued in a state of slavery until the present time. was
that a reason that they should remain so ? If the arca-
ment of these antiquarians was good for any thing at
all, it was good fur the repression of all improvement,
The troubles of our first Charles were all caused by his
attempts to rule forcibly, without a pertect Parliament;
his successor had endeavoured to reach the same ends
by means of corruption ; and as for the Revolution,
although it set about re-establishing the rights of the
people, it did not do enough. Besides, even had it dote
so, many changes have since taken place, which tailed
for corresponding changes in the representation. Many
boroughs had fallen into decay, and many small towns
had since then become extender) and populous. Nutne•
rous other changes had also arisen out of The improve.
ments in every branch of science, and in time vast in-
crease of the population; but it really appeared to be a
maxim among the opposers of Parliamentary Reform:,
that the state of the representation was the only thing
which was never to be advanced. At the Revolution
an enormous national debt was neither foreseen nut
contemplated. In the reigns of King William the Tlairit
and Queen Anne, the whole amount of the natiocal
revenue was not more than two millions annually, while
now the expence of only collecting that revenue amount-
ed to four millions. This was an enormous source of
patronage in the Crown, and considerably weakene,t
whatever efficiency would otherwise remain in the pre-
. sent state of the Representation,—(Tbe Worthy Alder-
' man here entered into some calculations, sheaving in
i their result, that the present national debt was npwants
of 800 millions, and the annual expenditure GO
• lions).—Another argument in favour of Parliamenl,ry
Reform teas to be drawn from the k.epir.g
' up of a large standing army in time of peace. Q lees
Elizabeth desired that the people should be well
armed, relying on them for protection. We, however,
, awe obliged to have an army to cram blessings down ••••
our throats. Theappointments to this Army were made
to the Members of the House of Commons, and thus was

influence spread. The influence was openly avowed
that House. It was so obvious that a large standing are y
must augment the influence of thelMinister, that be should
be ashamed to take up time by arguing upon it. He had
mentioned the grounds upon which he founded his argu-
ment in favour of Reform, and they would be able. to
judge for themselves. He then proceeded to ar.alyse !Ls
state of the Representation, which, he contended,
confirmed the view he had taken of the formidable

influence of the Government. The Worthy Alderman
read a passage on this subject from Mr. Justice Black-
stone, in support of bis argument. What state of
representation could that be wherein three or fofle
persons of one family, themselves Commissioners of
Government departments, sent to six Members to Par-
liament to burden and oppress the people by the voting
fresh taxes ?If this was an old story—an oft-told tale—
so much the worse ; for that aggravated, instead of less-
ening, the infamy of the thing. It was said by Lord
Chatbam,on the occasion of a petition being presented
for the recovery of one vote taken from Middlesex, that it
was better for the people to perish in a glorious contention
for their rights than surrender one iota of their Consti: u-
tionile said the people demanded redress, they-had griev-
ances to complain of, and they would never be tranqa4
until they were redressed. He would say nothing la
favour of the petition it was intended to propose to then',
because he was convinced it would be adopted by rio
large a majority upon its own obvious merits as to re-
quire nothing from him. The cause of reform had been
gaining for a century. It gained proselytes daily. He
remembered having endeavoured to persuade Lori
Fulkstone to become a reformer, without success, anti
they now all saw how openly he avowed and how
staunchly he supported the principles of :eform, derived
from consideration and conviction._ He concluded by
moving a resolution pledging the Court to a petition to
the House of Commons, praying for reform.—(Vide Au-
vertisement.)
Mr. Pavatt seconded the motion of his Hon. ?lien&
From the appearance of the meeting that day he did
think there was a gleam of hope that a reform wooed
be obtained at last. Upon looking over his memoran-
dums, more fashionably, perhaps, reminiscences, he
found that this was the hundredth time he had address-
ed his fellow citizens, and chiefly on the great question
of reform ; and he did now rejoice to see what progress
was making in a cause for which they had been so much
traduced, calumniated, and reviled. If Anti-reformers
could chew that there was danger in a change of the
representation, it would hr a good argument against
them. Still, in spite of all that could be opposed to the
great struggle against the jure dirino, he could say nil
desperandunt,'corrupt practices could be proved against
all the rotten boroughs ; and therefore, upon the prin-
ciple which the House had consented to go, they should
be secure of a reform.

The RECORDIZR :laving read the reso!ution, and put
the question,
Mr. Alderman VENABLES fait!, !le begged leave to
'sprees his entire convi:tion that a Reform in the Cuu,