Part 22 (1/2)
_No Compromise_.
My Lords, I must now advert to what has fallen from another n.o.ble Earl (Harrowby), who opposed the bill strongly last year, but who last night came to a different conclusion, and asked if there was no hope of effecting a compromise? and he particularly called upon me to come to such a compromise. My Lords, these n.o.ble Lords have been trying a compromise for the last six months; if they have made no progress in effecting a compromise, what encouragement can they hold out to me and others to follow them upon this occasion. We know the evils of this bill; we know that it will consign the country to evils from which it cannot recover. Agree to a compromise! Why, he has not been enabled to advance one single step from last October up to the present moment. He, and his n.o.ble Friends who act with him, have remained perfectly stationary. If this be the case, I hope that those who intend to act with my n.o.ble Friends, will understand that there is no more chance of compromise on the present than on the last occasion; and that if they agree to the second reading, they agree to a bill with which the country cannot be governed. I beg then that the n.o.ble Lords will look to the responsibility they take upon themselves, in giving support to this bill. The Government are now decidedly responsible for that bill--they are responsible for the election of the House of Commons, that pa.s.sed it--they are responsible for the excitement which caused these events--and they are, moreover, responsible for any evil consequences which may occur, if this House reject it. But when n.o.ble Lords change their sentiments, and are followed by many who voted against it last time, I beg them to recollect, that they will partake of a large portion of this responsibility, and that the country will look to them as responsible for whatever may occur.[17]
[Footnote 17: The bill was soon after carried by a species of compromise, Peers staying away from the division.]
_April_ 10,1832.
_Revolutions may be effected by Laws as well as by Violence._
The n.o.ble earl (Grey) yesterday challenged me with saying that this bill is revolutionary. What I have always said is, that it has a revolutionary tendency; and I think it has a tendency so strong in that way that it must lead to revolution. The n.o.ble earl has said there is no violence; but, my Lords, revolutions may be effected by laws as well as by violence. I know there is no violence. Why, my Lords, there can be no violence,--the King's Government and the House of Commons are leagued with those who call out for change,--and there can be no occasion for resorting to violence. But, my Lords, this is not the only objection.
One of the great and leading objections in my mind to this measure is, that it is one which goes to destroy that most invaluable principle of our existing const.i.tution, the principle of prescription, which sanctions the descent and secures the possession of all kinds of property in this country.
_April_ 10,1832.
_The Demagogue will drive the Gentleman from the Representation._
The n.o.ble Earl has told us, that men possessing property in these boroughs will continue to possess their just influence in them--that they will have political influence in the elections--that it will continue, and that it ought to continue. But I would appeal to your Lords.h.i.+ps, whether your own experience, in matters of this description, confirms the correctness of this statement? It is true that, in some of these boroughs, n.o.blemen possessing large properties in the neighbourhood will still possess a great and paramount influence; and, indeed, in some places, in consequence of the effect of the double franchise, the influence of the great proprietors in the vicinity may be raised greatly beyond what it is at present. But in those towns in general, it will be the demagogue, and not the n.o.bleman or gentleman of property, who will possess the influence over the elections there. The latter cannot command such an influence, unless through the means of a constant expenditure which it would be impossible for any one to support. The demagogue will obtain his influence by other means, and will ultimately drive the gentleman out of the field. I beg your Lords.h.i.+ps to observe what will be the effect of such a state of things in the const.i.tution of the House of Commons; and I beg to ask whether, with such men the representatives of those boroughs, it will be possible to carry on anything like a government or a steady system of policy, through the means of this a.s.sembly.
_April_ 10, 1832.
_Prophetic Contrast of the New with the Old System._
I know that according to the const.i.tution of this country, a member of the House of Commons when he goes there is a member for all parts of England, and not a representative for the particular town or place for which he is elected; he is in fact looked upon as a member for all the Commons of England. This was. .h.i.therto the meaning which was attached to the character of a Member of the Commons House of Parliament. But the case will be widely different should this Bill be pa.s.sed, and should Members of Parliament be subjected to a system of instruction on the part of their const.i.tuents. That system, however, already exists in parts of England, and more especially in the Metropolis, and in the Borough of Southwark. Your Lords.h.i.+ps will remember that an honourable and gallant officer, formerly connected with the n.o.ble Lords opposite, was obliged to retire from the representation of Southwark, last summer, because he happened to differ with his const.i.tuents; and also that a worthy Alderman was in a similar manner reprimanded by his const.i.tuents in the city of London, for a similar offence. What then, I would ask your Lords.h.i.+ps, is to be expected hereafter, should the system laid down in this Bill be established in this country? Why every member of the House of Commons would become the mere delegate of his const.i.tuents, instead of representing the people at large. It has been observed that such representatives would in every case merely consult the wishes of their respective const.i.tuents, instead of looking to the advancement of the interests of all cla.s.ses. I have before me a letter written by a gentleman to some of his const.i.tuents in this neighbourhood, in which he desires not only that the electors shall direct the votes of their representatives, and point out the course which they should pursue in parliament, but goes much further. The letter, which is directed to the paris.h.i.+oners of St. Georges in the East, says, ”there ought to be an union formed in every parish between the middle cla.s.ses and the operatives,--first for the protection of person and property; and secondly, to be ready to express the opinion of the parish on any public measure, and in case the minister or the House of Commons are lukewarm in the cause of the people.” The extract which I have just read is taken from a letter written by a great advocate of the Reform Bill, not for the sake of the Reform Bill itself, but because it would lead to something further. This letter affords a proof of the kind of system which will be put into operation with respect to the members of the House of Commons, should this Bill be pa.s.sed. Let your Lords.h.i.+ps, then, for a moment, compare the system this Bill would establish, with the system of representation which has so long existed in this country, and under which this country has been raised to such an eminence of glory, and power, and prosperity.
We have, under the existing system, the county representation, and the representation in cities and boroughs. The county representation consists princ.i.p.ally of freeholders, and the members for counties represent not only the lower cla.s.ses, but the middle and higher orders.
The representatives for the great maritime towns, and for the larger description of towns in the interior of the country, represent likewise the lower and middle cla.s.ses. The representatives for the pot wallopping boroughs, for the scot-and-lot boroughs, and for the single borough of Preston, where the franchise is vested in the inhabitants at large, represent the lowest orders of the people; and in this manner this borough representation represents all cla.s.ses and descriptions of persons, who have any thing to do with the business transacted in the House of Commons. Instead of this system, which has raised this country to its present elevation, we are called upon to establish by this Bill a system of elections which will be confined to one single cla.s.s of the community; and as the county representations will be no check upon this cla.s.s of persons, the voters in the counties being mostly of the same description, and as the united representation of Scotland, and of Ireland, will be a check upon them, such a system will tend at once to a complete democracy. This, then, is the system which we are called upon to establish in the place of that which at present exists, and under which all cla.s.ses and interests of the country are represented in Parliament, and it is under such a system as this that it is pretended the general business of the state can be carried on, and the government maintain sufficient power to preserve existing inst.i.tutions.
_April_ 10,1832.
_Popular tendency of the Old System of Representation._
I would call the attention of your Lords.h.i.+ps to the changes which have taken place in the government of the country during the last twenty years,--to go no further back,--and to the improvements which have taken place in what is called the popular sense. A n.o.ble friend of mine, last night, truly stated that the influence of the Crown was decreasing from the period of the revolution up to the year 1782; and that it has been still further diminis.h.i.+ng from that period up to the present time, till at last there are not more than fifty persons in the House of Commons holding public offices. In that period, and more especially in latter years, the influence of the crown in this respect has been greatly diminished. First of all, there has been a large reduction of all such kinds of offices; and in the next place, in consequence of the different const.i.tution and regulations of the customs and excise, and other public departments; and thus the influence formerly possessed by the Crown has gradually pa.s.sed away.
With the influence of the Crown, then, thus diminished, if a Bill of this description should pa.s.s, to make such an extensive change in the const.i.tution of this House, it would be impossible to carry on the government of the country. But there has also been another most remarkable alteration with respect to the const.i.tution of Parliament within the last four years. In the year 1828, the Test Act was repealed; and this I beg your Lords.h.i.+ps to recollect, that the effect of the repealing this Act was immediately to bring into operation a large body of electors, who must of course have had considerable influence in subsequent elections. Again, in the following year, the disabilities of the Roman Catholics were removed, which made another important difference in the const.i.tution of Parliament. Has sufficient time been given to those measures to ascertain their effect? Is it not reasonable, is it not right, that we should try the effect of those measures on the const.i.tution, before we proceed further, before we adopt a measure which will effect such extraordinary changes as this proposed Reform Bill?
There can be no doubt but that those measures to which I have alluded, must have had considerable effect in the elections which have since taken place, and more especially when any measure of Parliamentary Reform has been adopted, of the same extensive character as that contemplated in the Bill.
_April_ 10, 1832.
_Gradual Reform Recommended._