The Statesman.
London, England, 1822-09-02 00:00:00

MI

fens I should be may to swept what I Wok bye
compromise might her obtaleed ; adjourning, bat nest
abandoning, those points which I conceive to be lid
presest matters of hopeless litigation. In the How
of Commons I should perhaps have hesitated to ii.
press those opietems, baths* there is a salutary jaw
deney entertained by the public at any Oswego of
opinion by a public snan • a peloosy which makes it
.safer to minas what is hopeless, rather than seth
obtain what by a compromise might be_ bad, and
thereby subject eths conduct to public neisconstrwe
tion. Bat I say it hem for here surldrign of 1110
proper misfires an attesi to the declaration. I hinted
at this in the coarse of 'recut debate*. I was nexioni-
to preserve the peace of the country ; I wiahed that
we should have breathing time; I wished to remove
one great nose of dismission and complaint, reierv7
gaff for a Wore period the istrodoction and acme-
plishment of tat more complete arrangement of which,
for one, shell *ear forego the expectation {applause)."
tisanes's. I sow tuth to the woad question, that of
Parliamentary Reform, with which, perhaps, more than
the after my ease has be connected t •••••41"
Inn in • way which has drawn upon me mach popu-
lar obeervation, and ate. much porta obloquy.—
They much mistake me who suppose that I impute to
the segporters of Reform a Perfect knowledge of what
the principles which they &deaths would lead to.—
No! Gentlemen, it is with their doctrines I quarrel,
and I now wish, as I have ever done, to diocese those
doctrines argumentatively, and not eitsporadaly
I wish these persons who cry out for Reform, to state
to me, to elate to themselves, distinctly, the objects
they have in view, and their means of attaining those
objects. Do they ground their necessity for Reform
'moo the fast of our having been engaged is tepee-
live InirS, oar having Iron weaned in long and pro.
traded struggles on the sestina ? Do they adve-
rt de It on the ground of heavy tuxedos and severe le-
gialative enactments ? Supposing these their grounds
for reform, earl granting for argumanfeake that they are
true, then, I ask, is it by the Hosea of Commons alone
that these sets have been sanctioned? De they charge
!hem as the acts of a single body ? Has n such salta-
tion or confirmation heist glee. by another assembly
to those eaactmeots ? If there be another assembly,
co operating with the Hoes* of Commons, then, I say.
a reform of the House of Commons is nugatory, with-
oat a co-ordinate reform
,of that other body also ?
I put this plain question, and I have never yet met the
man who would answer it satisfactorily. If you re-
form the House of Cataract, pray what are your
nations with respect to the House of Lords ?--(Ate.
plause.)—lfyou wish a reforms on the Wand of the
I loose of Commas having senctioad the war witiame;
rice; if you wish for, a Wass ea the ground of the
House of Emmons baviag thectioned the war with
France (sinking Sir e amain the fact, dull war with
America was doe War of the people, Asking the fact;
that the war with Prance was the war of the nation)
—if you wish for Reform, because at a later period the
Ilona of Comatose found it necessary to pass severe
enactments for the repression of ding disterb-
anres —thee I ash, are the House of Lords, who were
pantie. to these traumata'', to ge fern? If net, then
I ask, what is the remedy you propose? And, if you
propose no remedy for the House of Lords, where is
the benefit of reforming the House of Commons? Do
yen mean to prevail by aor by compulsion? If
by reason, then reason is as good out of doors as in.
I. it by compulsion? Ayr, that Is what you mean but
what yon do at dare to say—(Good cheers.) Why,
then, my quarrel with Reformers is not as to the male
or the degree; I take an objection. is thane, that
they ask that, instead of • tripartite Government,
there should be erectrd a simple instrument which
tenchd do its own work, by sweeping off every obstacle
and impediment which stood in its way. Ton is my
objection to the proposed Reform. I do nut object
to it because Old Saturn returns one, or two, or 20
enthera to Parliament. I don't object to it because
it would prevent this or that Peer from exercising his
iutuence in retailing Members fur Berooglie. For
triorl's sake, If you can prove corruption is any borough
disfranchise it as von have dlsfraochised Granspeenti.
But, if by the Representatives of the People yes
rnean the organ of the nation (sod lunch confusion
has sii.en from stisond 'lain and confoneding
terms), then I ask, when the nation has its organ;
what room is there for any thing more? This ques-
tion of Reform is pressed more immediately upon my
attention, from the circumstance of a gentleman in
a neighbouring county; a gentleman of fortune, of
liaracter, end of great talents, of whom I wish to
%real: with great respect, having dolomite proper re-
cacti), to rake op the dying embers of this unhappy
(petition ; on which occasiou he slid me the honour to
Wet to some opinions delivered by me in another
blare. Mr. Fawkes, the gentleman to whom I allude,
ar.d whose name I mention with honour. thought pro-
pre to express his surprise that I, the lispressotstive
(4 the opulent and commercial town of Liverpool,
smitild express any anxiety about such close borough* ,
as Ohl Sarum. Perhaps I might in Meru ewes*
any surprise that Mr. Fawkes, wins commtheed his
earr!iuns for reform by clamouring about the is
-
adequate representation of hie own county of York-
shit r, should, now that the representation of that
county hail been doubled, diseeret that a reform was
snore than ever necessary to the welfare of the country.
—(Cheers.)--Had I a grievance to complain of, it
lewd.' be that which Ins for such a length of time
Lao dinned in my ears, I meth the complaints of the
aunty of Yorkshire, who, like Niohe and her nume-
rous offspring, wept her unhappy fate; and now that
she had been gifted with two inure helpmates. seeing
her unhappy son coming forward to lament the vio-
lation of public liberty and the destitution of Bog-
ilatl.—(Cheers.)—Surprise for surprise. But I shall
tato the Gentleman's surprise to conviction. It is
just. because I am the representative of the second
sown in the kingdom, that 1 advocate the cues of
smaller boroughs. I have no knit:oleo In declaring,
that were I the representative of Old Sarum, 1 should
have held my tongue; but it is because I could nut be
suspected of having a shadow of Interest in the goes- '
ti4n, that I felt It my duty to say that which, if said by
others, might be imputed to questionable motives 1
did so, because I was anxious to expose the fallacy of
I base doctrines, which, while they pretended to remove
the blots and scandals of the constitution, contained
principles which would go to change the whole amen I
of the latitudes itself. Let any reformer show me
that he is only anxious to remove those blots which

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