Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1831-06-06


but two great authorities upon this subcc-onc
Earl Grey, the present premier, the other was the
late premier, the Duke of Wellington. cloud cries
of CLEAR heur.) Earl Grey is of opinion that reform
i'll thc representation of tho people is necessary. The
Duke Of Wellington thinks there ouch. TO be no alter
atiou-IIc present administration, were bonpd nv The
principles OF this measure and by those principles they
would abide. Whatever might be the advice which cir
cumlS lnces might compel them to give his Maicsty
they would never relax from those principles. He
having brought forward measure of his kind, might
perhaps, have some claim for the reputation of bold
noss-oud laughter, and cries of ''ravo-but he was
notso bold as to be able to view the prospect that o.
pcned upon them from agitation without feclnps
of distressing apprehension Fiji passed then tran:
qriy would be immediately restored but if it did not
rlat would be the consequences? Let tie majority an
swcr that question. What ministry would he found
VINO wouIa be capable of carrying the business of
the government The Duke Of Wellington, not only
ifoh 'e great powers of his pi,d, but from the vic
torres nc had won, and the deserved influence lie en-
Joea, was unqucstionably of the most powerful
minister's that existed He was the chosen minis
'cr Oh one \ng and by another kept in the full
cSc OF all the powers his royal predecessor had
ieIico upon NM ct hc was broken and shivcred by
STORM before which he would bend. Where, then,
~ S Is the man to be found thut would place him
self III tho brcach His ords,ip concluded b. again
F"c ~ aat ne trusted that tho House would not be
voice or the people of the three kingdoms.
On the motion that the Speaker leave The chair
General GAscoYyE rose amid fire uoisc of members
leaving the House, and continued cries of OrdeT
DER Bar bar' lie said that notwithstanding the
oAC'lltSs oI noDle lord, Tic should with
ms notion unless indeed the House should be of opn
ion that it would be better to wait till the amended,
or, as he should rather call H. the new BILL was print
Gu The noble lord told them that he had made al
teration Ill the principle of the BILL Why the
he detailed to night different to the original bill
as thing that could be well imagined: and vet they
had the of 'hc bill, the whole BILL and nothing
the bil' contulled.-Thcy told that they should
have the altered bill printed by tomorrow, and they
were then asked to como Immediately TO a conclusion
upon alterations which it had taken the Noble Lord and
his Najcsty's Ministers several weeks TO digest The
gallant general them at great length, entered into the
history OF the House of Commons, the members of
which, he said, had been great many times ircrcas-
cd as iii Henry the Sixth Henry the Eighth and Charles
the seconds tune; but attcmptc had ever before
been made to lessen their numbcrs.Jnder all the cir
cunlStanccs, hc thought it would be much better und
moro convenient for the Noble Lord TO withdraw the
bill entirely QIear, hear) The basis Of all repre-
sentutIon ought to be taxation. II was that tiu-
enced tic decision of the members i'll the Union. II
could not have been the relative population for that
time Ireland had population 200 OOO and ENGLAND
lO, IOO,o00 Indeed, nothing could be i'm pos
slole than to succeed i'll regulating representation by
population If then the busis taken in 1900 was taxa
tlon " that was apropostion disputed the time
what would become of that part ofthc bill which pro-
posed to increase the number of Irish members now
ireland, at this moment did not pay than one
tchtn OF The taXatlon of tle empire. lie therefore
thought that She not entitled an increase of
the Number of her representatives. when that increase
was 10 be taken from members for England, whose in
creased wealth, and increased taxation also, demap-
nt her proportion of the representation least should
DC preserved lie would ask any to say who
ticI tfleTe nau Dcen argument advanced by the
NOBLE lord to show either why England should be
Justly called upon to make this sacrifice, why Ire
land and Scotland justly eHtitled obtain it?
The noble lord did indeed saw when first bringing for
ward the measure, that inconvenience had been
experienced in transactiug the business of the House
SINCE the Union had placed within its walls hundred
Irish members. But did the noble that If
iauch Inconvenience had teen consequent upon the
addition of these 100 members from Ireland that he was
! adopting very Irish nodo of curing the OWL when he
proposed further addition from that country He
could assure the gentlemen of Scotland that he
no degree envous OF any advantage which might be
given to them so long done at the EXPENSE
OF the interests OF England. lie say, however
that the arrangement proposed appeared have no
other ground motive than that of securing Paralia-
rnentary support to the bill Let him ask what would
have been the conduct of the members for ireland and
tor Scotland if the measure had proposed to reduce
their numbers in tic ratio it proposed to
reduce that OF English members? Why, would not the
honourablc member for Waterford have said at once
'iIere is humiliation of the Union?" and would not
the Scotch members have been equally strenuous in
their opposition to II? Did any man, looking to this
question with view to the proposed disturbance of the
proportions of the House. fail the absoIato injury
upon English interests which it must infct? When
y looked 10 the property tax, TO the assessed taxes
and to the spirit duties how the influence of these
irish members and also those for Scotland seen and
eit by this country: And when that most imporfant
measure which inflicted much distress upon tile
country was nlpcnding-he the prohibition of
The II notes-That then occurred? Every member for
Ireland and for Scotland united to man he believed
without ono single exception, and forced the govern
ucnt to exclude those two countries from the bill
Last year proposition made to eq,Lalize the duty
on stamps throughout the empircto make Ireland pay
the same stamp duties which were paid here. What
was the consequence? 4 meeting Of the Irish mem
bcrs was called, and they one and all unanimously
agreed TO tell the minister that they would not support
inii the measure wore pcT5cvc-ed ill., and it was ac
coSNngiy defeated. All he wished to show by rcvcrtinr
10 these facts was, how far this combinations with
lt!c political management, enabled either to over
throw any administration, any taxation from
one part OF the empire, TO the disadvantage of another
part Then, with regard to the maintenance GO
poor. The honorable member for Waterford having
consulted with the ether monbcrs for Ireland they ali
agreed to resist measure by which alone England
| could nc relieved from maintaining the poor. lie
would not object to giving five additional members to
Ireland, providing 'pondng increase wc=o given
| to England The honorable and gallant Incn,Bcr
concluded by moving tho following resoution-That
~ Is Inc opinion of this House that the plumber of
eng't. citizens and burgcsscs returned to Parliament
Tor ti! part Of tho United Kingdom called England
1 ana wales, ough, not TO be diminished"
Nj Sadlcr said that if the numerical balance Of
ie representation thus be destroyed without
any reason assigned rnqnestionaby more appropriate
time for such could not have been selected
was ths time for adding to the number of members
TO bc returned by the popular voice in ireland if II
was seriously meant hy TIC government and the lcgsa
turc 10 preserve tic union of the