The Sun. — 1835-08-28 (London, England)

ELLENBOROT-tiil .4:11 that Noble'Lords on his side of the House had Leen tin, eeleast assailed by the reprehension of the Noble Viscount end hit colleagues. They had been told that they were mutilating this Bill, and by doing so were outraging the feelings of the people of England ; and they were further told, that, as the House of Lords, they were committing suicide by their conduct with respect to this Bill. But were they wrong, he asked, in hearing Counsel, in the first instance, against it? They were supported in doing so by a precedent as nearly in point as any precedent could be : be meant the case of hearing Counsel, by the House of Lords. against the Bill for abolishing heritable jurisdictions in Scotland. Counsel were then heard, although it was at a time when men's minds were in a most agitated state—it being soon after the Rebellion. Their Lordships had acted upon the same principle, and for the same reason—namely, because in matters of property it was the custom of their Lordships' House to hear ' Counsel, and it was the right of the subject to be heard. They likewise heard witnesses at the Bar against some cf the provisions of the Bill. Could their Lordships have acted otherwise ? Did not those provisions materially affect property? By one of the clauses that property—not held in trust by the Corporation, hut which was theirs as much as the property of any individual was his—was taken from the Corporation, and transferred to another party. By another clause, property belonging to the freemen and to their heirs-male for ever was converted into a life-interest. All this was to be done without the consent of the individual, though in any other case their Lordships would require the consent of one-half or more. By...another clause leaseholders under the Corporations, upon lives renewable for ever, were to have their leases converted into leases at rackrents. Under these cumulative circumstances their Lordships were justified in hearing witnesses. They were told that they did so for the purpose of delay. It was not ; but it was for the purposes of justice. Their Lordships then proceeded to consider the Bill, and with much greater advantages than the House of Commons possessed. Many points had been cleared up which to the Commons were unknown. The effect of the evidence taken at the bar had been to do away the injustice in those clauses to which he bad referred; and their Lordships by common consent had struck out of the schedule many places to which it was considered the principles of the Bill ought not to be applied. Their Lordships then went into Committee, and they did right on that occasion also. They said they would not proceed one •tep till they had secured all the proprietory rights of the freemen, and had also secured to them the franchise which was given them by the Reform Bill. .. Where, my Lords, are these poor men to look for support, if they do not receive it here in this House, which is at once a House of Legislature and a great Court of Justice ? We are, in fact, the hereditary tribunal of the poor. It is our duty to look to their cause, especially in all cases affecting their property—and in having secured their rights, we did only that which it was our duty to do." The Noble Lord then adverted to the amendment which took from the King in Council the power to determine the boundaries of the towns, and invested it in Commissioners ; and contended that in this also their Lordships had done well. Their Lordships also did right in empowering the revising- barristers to divide the towns into wards. Their Lordships bad not made any objection to the qualification, of the burgesses, as originally proposed by the Bill. The qualification they first introduced was more flexible perhaps than any other that could be devised, but when objections were taken to it, so anxious were they to avoid all difficulties arising out of that qualification, that they closed with the objection made by the Other side, and made the qualification more popular. It appeared to the Noble Lords by whom the amendments in the Bill had been effected, to be of the utmost importance to avoid the danger of a sudden, violent, and universal transition from one system to another. These were the principal alterations which had been made in the Bill since it had been brought up to that House. They had likewise, he thought, wisely and correctly diktermined that the magistrates in corporate towns should be nominated by the Crown, and that the provisions of the Bill affecting charities should be postponed till another 'year. They had not decided positively against any one of those provisions, but in a wise and prudent spirit had determined to .take time to consider in what manner, and under what restrictions, an alteration of the law should be effected. What was the character of the Bill now that it had been amended? Was it a mutilated Bill ? Was it a Bill that it would not become the House of Commons to accept, and the people to receive with gratitude? They had for the future put an end entirely to the system of self-nomination, which was held to be so highly objectionable. They had removed the painful feeling of perpetual exclusion from corporate offices, which must have rankled so strongly in the minds of men who knew that whatever their conduct, however meritorious, however deserving of admiration and respect. still dissenting from the Church they were disqualified from enjoying with their fellow citizens an equality of civil rights. They had adopted frankly 41**4 hesitation the constituency originally recommended ,estirtilifspi, op nders of the Bill. They had for the future isiatot, t", itlaceirtbernia tgernent and conduct of the municipal govern._ • meiitOralk-ICoaDorate towns in the hands of persons who derived their pow,. from the people. In short, they had adopted - fully and completely the whole principle of the Bill. Their Sr: - amendments bad borne only upon its details, and in every in'^ csip stance he thought they had shown good and sufficient reasons •1 -...;- " (4:`."-?...-,- , :••,,,--- .... • _ .. ..._ . 9.........:\ ( .)... •