importance of the subject, a stipendiary | vernment would not be induced by sneers, Magistrate had been sent to the spot, to make the necessary investigations. An Hon. Member was happy to be able to assure the House, that the Earl of Enniskillen, and other influential noblemen, were aware of the state of public excitement, and meant to do all in their power to prevent the processions on July 12th. Mr. Hume inquired whether ministers had not had sufficient experience, to know, that nothing could put an end to collisions but disbanding the Yeomanry? Every Member for Ireland, unless he was a member of those corps, had protested against continuing them; and, for his part, he believed, that they contributed to foment disturbance. Sir R. Peel observed, that if every Yeomanry Corps was disbanded, it did not at all follow, that processions would be prevented; the different parties might still be banded together, and the same collisions mightensue. Every man, of whatever party, must heartily join in deprecating the revival of these processions; he called it revival, because in many counties, as in Wexford and Wicklow, they had been discontinued for many years. In his opinion, no man of honourable feelings would wish to perpetuate the recollections of past contests, and he trusted that these annual processions would be quite discontinued. Lord J. Russell said, that the Government had done every thing to promote reconciliation between the parties, and to get rid of the processions altogether. He was happy to say, that its efforts were seconded by the Protestant Landlords, and that recommendations had been sent from this country not to form those processions. Mr. O'Connell said, that these processions were not Protestant, but Orange. There was a wide difference between the two. Sir R. Bateson considered it extremely unfair to condemn the whole of the Yeomanry of Ireland because one or two corps might have committed some indiscretions. The peace of the North of Ireland was intrusted to the Yeomanry, and they had faithfully and honourably discharged their duty to themselves and to the country. The Yeomanry had always been considered a constitutional force; but those who now called themselves liberals and freemen, gave a preference to the regular soldiers, and asked for a standing army instead of a constitutional militia. He hoped the Go or intimidated by threats, to abandon this useful and constitutional force. PARLIAMENTARY REFORM - BILL FOR ENGLAND-SECOND READINGADJOURNED DEBATE-THIRD DAY.] Lord J. Russell moved the Order of the Day for the continuation of the Adjourned Debate on the Second Reading of the Reform Bill. Mr. Hunt wished to ask a question of the noble Lord before the debate began upon the Bill. It was in a manner connected with the Bill itself. A Clause had been introduced relating to the half-yearly payment of rent in the case of the 107. householders. That Clause was objected to; and the noble Lord said, that the only object of the Ministers was, to take care that the rent reserved was bona fide. He wished to know what the Ministers intended to do in this matter? They said they should alter the Bill so far as that Clause was concerned he wished to know how they meant to make the alteration; whether it was to be left indefinite or not? Lord John Russell said, that at that moment he was not prepared to answer the question. The object the Ministers had in view was, to ensure the vote to the bond fide renter of the premises which conferred the right. Colonel Sibthorp then resumed the Debate. In moving last night the adjournment of this question, he had done it for the convenience of all, and also because he had a wish to be heard upon this subject. The noble Lord told them, that he wished the debate to be brought to an early conclusion, but he understood that the reason for that wish was very different from what they might perhaps supposea purpose different from what the House might imagine. He was told-the noble. Lord would correct him if he was wrongthat they expected a great and grand illumination-for what they might consider a grand triumph-a triumph which he hoped and believed they would not get. He hoped they would be disappointed in this. He must persevere in the same honest opposition which he had always offered to this dangerous measure, With respect to this important Bill itself, what was it that the Ministry had brought forward? He had read it over most carefully, and he must declare, he found it just as obscure as the former—a more un, intelligible chaos he had never known. I throat would be cut for his determined It was a heap of nonsense and absurdity. opposition to it. But still the freemen of And yet men had been returned to that Lincoln had returned him, honestly and House on a pledge to support this Bill. independently, and he would as indepenThey had given a pledge to vote for a dently discharge his duty. He believed measure which they did not understand. the Reform Bill to be a democratical Then they were pledged to vote for the measure; but whatever it might be called Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the it was revolutionary, in his opinion, and Bill, and yet it was most manifest that therefore he would oppose it. Some said the whole Bill had been altered in its that this Bill was aristocratic, others said most important details. One of the im- that it was democratic. If it was aristoportant clauses was changed, so that the cratic, how came it to be so popular? He right which had at one time been confined should like to ask the people of St. Giles, to leases of twenty-one years, had now whether they would support the Bill bebeen changed, by reducing the term from cause it was aristocratic. He had a right twenty-one to fourteen years, and from to find fault with the Ministers for the time fourteen to seven years. A question had at which they introduced the Bill. They been put upon this subject by the hon. pretended that they went on the principle member for Preston, who had much rea- of population. If so, why had they not son to be dissatisfied with the answer. waited for the census of 1831 before they That matter had been denominated in a had made out their lists of the Schedules paper which, perhaps, might now be called A and B? He knew that, in the case of a Ministerial paper, "an unintentional Lincolnshire, the difference between the slip." If the Ministers would make another census of 1821 and 1831 would be most "unintentional slip," the best way in which material. The population of Lincolnshire, they could do it would be to slip out of according to the old census, was 283,050. the House, and not return again. Not- It must be more now. With respect to withstanding all that had passed, he re- Grimsby, he might observe, that, accordtained the opinion he had before held. In ing to the old census, the number was that he was unchangeable-and if his less than 4,000, and therefore it was to Majesty's Ministers were to send him back lose one Member; but he knew, as a again to his constituents-and they were fact, that its population now amounted to men of such deep machinations-they 4,263. The Ministers depended on this might do so he should still maintain the Bill alone for their continuance in office, same opinion. It was said, that his opi- but the people would not be satisfied with nions against Reform would throw him out it, unless it went further. The support of Parliament; but his constituents were now given to them would be withdrawn, more zealous in his behalf than ever they if they did not go further than this Bill went were before. He must allude to the shame- at present; and if they did not do someful profanation of the name of the sove- thing more than it either promised or perreign. He had always been taught to formed, to satisfy the wild desires of unconsider that the sovereign had no voice reasonable men, he was convinced, that whatever no deliberative opinion, on any this Bill, in its present state, could not be constitutional question. How, then, was a final measure. The elective franchise it that Ministers consented to the use of was not given in a due proportion to the the name of the sovereign, when it was population on the average. Some were not legally supposed that the sovereign unwisely admitted, others improperly exwas favourable to one or another opinion? cluded. Was the basis of this Bill to be He honoured the name of the King as population or property? If to be populamuch as any other Member in the House, tion, then the Bill would work most unand therefore it was, that he so much de-justly and most partially; if to be proprecated the introduction of that sacred name into the discussions on this question. It was a profanation to have done so; although he admitted the fact that the King's name was a tower of strength, and long he hoped it might be so. But still the opponents of Reform had been menaced, and he for one was told, that his perty, he would say, that the giving the right of vote to electors having 107. houses could only be considered in the light of an usurpation against property, rightly understood. Why the franchise was given to the 107. householders in boroughs, and vet denied in counties to the substantial farmer, who paid a large annual rent, kettle of magicians, in hopes that, by their poisonous weeds and wild incantations, they may regenerate the paternal constitution, and renovate their father's life." The Ministerial plan of Reform was a dream-it was a cataplasm intended to allay the public irritation; a mode by which the Ministers hoped to keep them although he did not happen to hold his that he should never dream of beginning land under a given tenure, he did not un- its reformation by its subversion, that he derstand. If it were correct to grant such should approach to the faults of the State a right, why should the principle not be as to the wounds of a father, with pious extended to the farmer? It would be de-awe and trembling solicitude. By this grading and insulting to him to withhold wise prejudice we are taught to look with from him a right which was granted to the horror on those children of their country occupier of a 107. house. Such distinc- who are prompt rashly to hack their aged tions acted partially, unjustly, and there-parent in pieces, and put him into the fore offensively. If this Bill was carried (which it would not be), it would be followed by measures of free trade, and by meddling with the Corn-laws, but the country had already too much of free trade, too much importation of foreign goods, and also too much importation of foreign live stock. Upon the subject of this Bill, he had read with some inter-selves in their places. est the observations of the noble Lord op- Lord William Lennox said, that in rising posite, though he could not well under- to claim the attention of the House for a stand the distinction which the noble few moments, he trusted that the consiLord (he meant the member for North-deration which had always been shewn to amptonshire, Lord Milton) had drawn, in a Member when he, for the first time, adhis memorable address to the electors of dressed it, would be extended to him that county, between what he called upon this occasion. He would not follow "delegate rights," and "delegate trusts;" the hon. member for Lincoln through his nor upon what ground the noble Lord fanciful images of visionary theories and could advocate the "influence" of pro-incongruities, but merely deprecate the perty, which would not equally justify what he denounced as the "illegitimate right of nomineeship." Be that as it might, the noble Lord had raised an objection to the " delegate" right of leaseholders, which it would take his present colleague some time to digest. In his opinion, the effect of the measure would be, to lessen the number of leases, and thereby diminish the influence of the landed influence through the elective franchise. These were some of the reasons upon which he should oppose a measure which altogether excited his detestation. For himself he could not conceive that this Bill was calculated to remedy the real evils of elections. He should give his decided objection to the Bill, and his strenuous support to the amendment moved by the hon. member for Sudbury. He should conclude by saying, that he would give to the noble Lord the advice given by that illustrious statesman, Mr. Burke, to those who would introduce rash reforms into the State. It was this:"To avoid the evils of inconstancy and versatility, ten thousand times worse than those of obstinacy and the blindest pre-aloud for retrenchment and attention to judice, we have consecrated the State that no man should approach to look into defects or corruptions but with due caution, system of making the House of Commons their grievances, they were told that their operation of which the country was groan- instance his hon. friend, the member for ing with an almost intolerable burthen of Grimsby, late member for Gatton (Mr. taxation, and that the funds which had Shelley). That hon. Member had made been wrung from the hard earnings of the an eloquent appeal in behalf of his cause, productive classes had too often been la- and had found himself in a minority of vished upon sinecurists, who, in indolence 2,999 at a county meeting of Sussex, batand sloth, consumed the bread which tling for Gatton as if it was for his heart's others gained by their toils? Lastly, could blood. Would that his gallant spirit and it be said, that a system worked well which talents had been employed in a better notoriously placed the Representation of cause! And what was the result? Why, the people beyond their own control, at the dissolution, he, without warning, and introduced into the House of Com-received notice to quit, not because he did mons nominees of certain titled and not do his duty to his patron, but because wealthy proprietors-men who, upon the his patron, on the principle of doing what principle of doing what they "like with he liked "with his own," accommodated their own," were fully as likely to exert another friend of the family. Now a good their influence and votes to forward their deal had been said of county meetings own and their patrons' aggrandisement, being farces, but could there be a more as to benefit the people whom they were ridiculous burlesque than a Gatton elecfalsely said to represent? The system had tion, in which the patron, the candidates, been one altogether of patronage; and the the constituents if constituents there manner in which it had been carried on were-and he believed the hon. member was as outrageous to morality as it was for Gatton owned to eight, including the pernicious to good government? It gave cook and gardener--could all be packed in a scandal to the House of Commons in and sent down by the Brighton omnibus. the eyes of the people; it did more: it Was it not a mockery, a caricature upon undermined the very principles of inte- Representation, and calculated to throw grity in their hearts, and gave a fashion to ridicule upon the House of Commons? imposture and deception. They heard of In conclusion, he could only look at the individuals bartering their thousands for success the Reformers had met with in the seats in Parliament, unblushingly sell-country--aye, even in Scotland, that beau ing and buying the franchises of the peo-ideal of a boroughmonger's imagination— ple, and making at the same time vehe- as the best proof that the measure was ment speeches against bribery and corrup-congenial to the sentiments of the people tion. These were the things that vitiated at large. He would say, in the words of the system; that spread degeneracy, hy-an able writer in The New Monthly Magapocrisy, and sordid fraud over the country; zine-"As well might we expect, Canutethat took from it its energies of virtue, and sapped its foundations of patriotism and spirit. The next position taken up by the anti-Reformers was, that the nomination boroughs were the only means of intro-was a contest of right against usurpation ducing into the House of Commons men -the right of the middle classes, the of high talent. He was ready to admit wealth, and the intelligence, and the mainthat men of high talent had been and still stay of the British name, to have a voice were, thus introduced into the House, and in the elections of those who are to imif he required a modern illustration he pose their burthens, and who hold their would allude to a brilliant speech made purses and properties in their hands." He by a noble Lord on the opposite side of had no confidence in the anti-Reformers, the House (the member for Wootton Bas- still less in some who called themselves set, Lord Porchester); but these visita-"moderate," "bit by bit," "little as needs tions were, like angels' visits, few and far be," Reformers. For it required all their between. He was not, however, prepared ingenuity to point out the virtue of modeto admit, that the good was at all commen-ration when an evil was admitted on every surate to the evil; nor that it was fair to argue, that a good resulting from a bad cause justified the means by which it was obtained. As to the consistency of the nomination patrons, he would quote as an like, to arrest the progress of the ocean tide, at the bidding of a maniac, as to stay the great current of public opinion. It was not a question of expediency-it side. If their houses were falling, were they satisfied with moderate repairs? If on a bed of sickness, were they satisfied with moderate cures-" bit by bit," and "little as needs be," alleviation of their sufferings? No, their moderation was | grounds, and backed by the same arguonly extended towards the State, whose rottenness was their profit; but soon would there be an end to the system--a system which was, as it were, a political bastilethe last and tottering bulwark of the feudal boroughmongers. ments. They were told, indeed, by the hon. member for Middlesex, and those who professed themselves Radicals, that they accepted this because they knew it would be a step to other alterations. The noble Lord who introduced the Mr. Keith Douglas said, he was anxious measure, had said, that there would still shortly to state the grounds which he be a number of boroughs left with 4,000, thought justified him in the vote he should 6,000 and 8,000 inhabitants, the Repregive upon the second reading of the Bill. sentation of which would be open to Though he was inclined to agree to some gentlemen connected with the colonial amelioration of the present system of and other interests, and to those of the Representation, he was opposed to the learned professions whose talents would present Bill, because he considered it a be an ornament to the Legislature. But measure of such extensive change in our the noble Lord had failed to state by what institutions, that it would be impossible to means the voters in these boroughs were foretel its consequences. He saw, that the to be influenced to return such Members measure went to strike at the existence of any more than those of larger towns, where every corporation, in the country, and exactly the same suffrage was to exist. with those corporations he knew that all Neither had they been told what benefits the laws and the property of the country, were to arise from the measure, or how were interwoven. He would not, therefore, they were to be brought about. Were the consent to strike so overwhelming a blow manufactures and the commerce of the at the existing institutions of the country country to be extended by it? And if so, for the purpose of substituting a system, of by what means? He confessed, that alwhich it was impossible for any man to say though he had heard these questions often how it would act. He had heard no asked, he had never heard them answered reason whatever from hon. Members oppo- with any thing like satisfaction to his site, which could justify so sweeping a mind. He knew, that in the country they revolution in all the existing institutions were easily and readily answered by sayof the country; and particularly had heard ing, "Give us a Reformed Parliament, no argument in favour of the clause for and we shall have a repeal of the Corn abolishing or lessening the Representation Laws, a reduction of the National Debt, of boroughs of from 2,000 to 4,000 in- and an abolition of the tithes." Now he habitants, which would not hold good should like to be told by what further with respect to the boroughs of 6,000 measures these Reforms were to be acand 7,000 inhabitants. If a borough complished, and who were the men exwith 4,000 inhabitants should have but one pected to propose them. He must take Member, one with 5,000 or 6,000 should the liberty, before he sat down, of referring not retain two and, on the other hand, to the Scotch Reform Bill, by which if a borough with 2,000 inhabitants should forty-five Members were to be exchanged lose its right of returning two Members, for forty-eight, chosen on a more open there was no argument justifying one with system. To such an exchange he should 2,005 inhabitants to return one Repre- not have been much inclined to object, sentative, which would not equally apply had he not seen, that after it was acto a population some six units less. If complished, thirty-one Members were to the Ministers had proposed a measure for be taken from the gross number of the simply giving the franchise to the towns Members of that House. Now those thirtynamed in schedules C and D he would one Members were, in general, the Reprehave given that measure his support, and sentatives of close places, by means of then have waited to see the effect and which the colonies were virtually Repreworking of that change before he adopted sented. One of the most powerful obothers, if they might be found necessary. jections then, which he had to the Bill was, But he was not prepared to risk at once that while extending the popular influence the application of a measure of this extent in that House, by extending the suffrage, and description. He thought it impossible it cut off thirty-one of its Members, and of for any man not to see, that further changes those who were returned from the closest would be demanded upon the same parts of the Constitution, and who were |