1ft Ex Libris C. K. OGDEN - TZv . BY the wish and authority of Lord Brougham , I publish the letter now subjoined to this pamphlet. The remarks to which it is a reply, are to be found pp. 35 45. As those remarks echoed a sentiment, however erroneously, by no means partially, conceived, it is well, for the sake of the complete vindication of the noble writer himself, that the public should have at once before it the charge and the reply. For the rest, I know not if I ought to >regret expressions which have made me the humble medium of conveying to the People of England so unequivocal a refutation of whatsoever doubts they may have been led to entertain of the sincerity of Lord Brougham's attachment to the cardinal principles of reform. I waive at once (as who would not ?) all com- ment upon any part of this Letter personal to H&yself I do not stop to criticise (as who would, 90 in a letter written frankly, hastily, and with the obvious desire of uniting reformers, and asserting boldly an unabated devotion to reform ?) those points in which I yet fancy that I see articles in the creed, or distinctions in the logic, of Political Opinion, with which (I say it with great reverence) I cannot entirely concur. I come at once to the main object and main in- terest of the Letter, the avowal that Lord Brougham was ' ' not behind one of his colleagues, in the zealous and active support in the assiduous preparation of important reforms ;" that ex- cepting only the theory of Vote by Ballot, (for the other two questions specified by Lord Brougham, of Universal Suffrage and Annual Parliaments, few, very few, are inclined to agitate,) ' ' there isno case in which Lord Brougham is found to differ from the stoutest and most un- sparing reformers" In the same spirit, as that which actuates my- self, I call upon the public to look reflectively, and with a larger criticism than that of verbal cavil, upon the bearing of the whole Letter ; and to rejoice with me at the unmistakeable 91 declarations to be found in its most remarkable passages. Who, at such a time, when we seek to reconcile differences, even with the most moderate, even with the least distin- guished, supporter of our great cause, can sup- pose, after such a Letter, that we should not welcome to our ranks a man whose declara- tions are so explicit whose genius is so emi- nent ; so formidable as an enemy so power- ful as a friend ? " We are willing," said that great and liberal statesman, who now fills so large a space in public esteem one, who by representing with energy the sound part of public opinion, de- livers us from those who would represent only its excesses, " We are willing," said Lord Durham, " to make concessions to our friends." Who will not re-echo that sentiment, so generous and so wise ? But if Lord Brougham be the friend of reformers, it can only be from the mis- conceptions which he now refutes, that he has been considered by any of us the opponent of Lord Dur- ham ; and, we may hope that not only the several admirers of these distinguished men, but they 92 themselves, may once more unite on the broad ground of affection for a common cause, and hostility to a common foe. Union is the key- stone of our present policy, and when England expects every man to do his duty, it is her greatest men who should set the example. If I have read aright, the following Letter on most questions that can be agitated at present, (and why, in such times, unbury the differences of the past ?) these eminent statesmen must be agreed ; and, if on any they disagree, the disagree- ment can be reconciled by the maxim of conced- ing to a friend. Should these pages, which have produced the Letter from which I no longer de- tain the reader, have been thereby made instru- mental in producing such a result, it may be a proof that by speaking frankly of the cha- racters of public men, we give them the best op- portunity of explaining their common principles, and reconciling their several differences. LETTER FROM LORD BROUGHAM TO EDWARD LYTTON BULWER, ESQ., M.P. Paris, December 3rd, 1834. DEAR SIR, ALTHOUGH I, of course, never have taken the trouble of replying to the misrepresentations cir- culated respecting me in one or two of the news- papers, as there is no end of controversy with concealed adversaries ; yet when a person of respectability like you, with your name, shows that such misrepresentations have gained ad- mittance into his belief, I have no hesitation at all in setting him right by at once addressing him. H 94 You must have, then, been very much misin- formed by whomsoever told you, that between my opinions, and those of my colleagues, either at the Edinburgh dinner or elsewhere, there ever has been, for one moment, the slightest difference whatever of opinion in our wishes respecting measures of reform. I will venture to say, that I never uttered one word in my life, in public or in private, which could indicate a doubt, that all abuses ought to be reformed, and all safe and useful measures of improvement undertaken, with as much despatch as the due preparation of their details would permit. If you read the speech 1 made at Edinburgh, you will find that I expressed just as much difference of opinion w r ith those who are for resisting im- provements and useful change, as with those whose impatience will be satisfied with no delay, how necessary soever, to perfect the schemes proposed. Indeed, I distinctly said, that I dif- fered far more widely with the former, than with the latter ; because the one went only faster and farther than myself, but in the same direction ; whereas the other would not go at all, or rather were for taking the opposite course. That my sentiments were cordially received by the vast majority of the whole of that meeting, no man, who was present, and could see and hear, will express any doubt. But, in truth, I do not find that these senti- ments are opposed by any man of the reform or liberal party, who has well reflected on the diffi- culty of introducing vast and complicated changes into the institutions of the country. Who, for example, would have approved of my wisdom as a statesman who would not have complained of my rashness if I had pressed through the Mu- nicipal Reform Bill, before the Commissioners had made their report ? That this great measure was one which I had the most, perhaps, of all at heart, I think no one can doubt, who recollects, not only the responsibility which rested on me, almost singly, in issuing the Commission, against the known wishes of one House of Parliament ; but that I was the author of the great measures which were introduced into the House of Lords, in 1833, for giving popular constitutions to the new boroughs, and thus investing with muni- H 2 96 cipal functions many hundreds of thousands of persons ;--- a measure, only not pressed through last session, as is well known, because the Bill for new-modelling the old constitutions of the existing boroughs could not then be ready ; de- pending, as it did, on the report of the Commis- sioners. When you would represent me as a partial or doubtful reformer, you surely have been listening to one or two of the hostile newspapers, and not reflecting on what you must immediately call to mind. I think no one need fear being considered a timid reformer who carried through (without any other person ever taking any part whatever in its defence) the Scotch Borough Reform Bill the first attempt at Municipal Reform ever yet made in England and which was the necessary basis of the great measure of Corpo- ration Reform in preparation by the late Govern- ment. I should be only fatiguing you were I to name the other measures of large and uncom- promising reform with which my name is con- nected, and I will ask any one to point out any one 97 instance in the whole course of my public life in which I have opposed, in any manner of way, any practical measure of reform be it in Church or in State in the judicial, or in the financial, or in the political department ; I might almost say any measure at all, for except that I was against Annual Parliaments, Universal Suffrage, and Voting by Ballot / really recollect no case in which I and even the stoutest and most un- sparing reformers ever have been found to differ. My whole life has been devoted to introducing changes of a useful and practical nature, and never at all of a timid or paltry extent, into our es- tablishments and our laws; and when I rely on the good sense and justice of my countrymen, and on their capacity to judge for themselves, and not allow their confidence in me, bestowed upon a uniform experience of above a quarter of a century, to be shaken by a few paragraphs in newspapers the motives of which all the world plainly sees I know that I do not indulge a vain hope that I shall continue to enjoy what has always been to me the chief reward of iny ex- ertions, next to the approval of my own mind. 98 That my efforts have been always very much less than I could have desired, and that they have often been unsuccessful, I am most ready to grant ; but even where I have not been able to do all I would, I have done what I could to prepare a triumph in better times for the prin- ciples which have uniformly, and without one single exception, guided my public life. The last occasion on which I took this course, none other being open to me, were the efforts which I lately made to abolish the taxes on news- papers (so hateful to those who would at once instruct the people and purify the press but so dear to all who profit, or fancy they profit, by them,) and to amend the Law of Libel ; and I remind you of this matter that you may be able the better to account for the attacks to which in certain quarters I have been exposed, and also to show you that my attempts at reform were not confined to what was done in Parlia- ment. Your pamphlet alludes to my speeches in Scotland. One of the most eminent judges of that country reminds me, in a letter which I 99 have just received from him, of the origin of that tour, he having been present early in the spring, when I planned it in concert with him, to show the north of Scotland to one of my children. They who best know me, and that learned Lord among the rest, are, I do assure you, the most astonished, and, indeed, amused at the idea of a succession of speeches and pub- lic meetings being a thing at all to my taste ; and they know that I did all I possibly could to avoid those occasions. But I own thatthis was from personal taste, and not from any sense of public duty ; for I am, and always have been, of opi- nion, that it is a duty incumbent on statesmen to cultivate a friendly intercourse with the peo- ple, and to appear occasionally in their assem- blies for the purpose of mutual explanation and counsels. This duty I have not shrunk from ; but personally (I appeal to all who know me person- ally) it is not to me the most agreeable of duties. Else, indeed, why had I continually refused to attend all meetings from the moment I took the great seal ? That refusal is not very consistent with the desire so ridiculously ascribed to me, of speaking at meetings. 100 That you should allow yourself to call my conduct " unintelligible," arid a "riddle," and so forth, is really astonishing, and shows that a person may be condemned, not for any thing he has done, or left undone, but because another finds it easier to write a sentence than to reflect calmly on the facts, and the well-known, and universally known facts, of the case he under- takes to judge. I should think that nothing can be more perfectly consistent than to be a steady reformer of all abuses, and a warm, zealous, and unflinching friend to all improvements in our institutions ; and yet, to complain of those whom no amount of change will satisfy, and who cry out that nothing at all is done, if, from the absolute, even physical impossibility of doing every thing at once, any one thing remains un- done. I should also hold it a perfectly con- sistent thing to contend that great measures of reform are necessary, and to bring forward those measures when duly matured, and yet to be averse to bringing them forward in a crude and unsafe shape. Now, I would ask you just calmly to read any speech I ever made in or out 101 of Parliament, in which I went one hair's breadth further against speedy reform than this ; I uni- formly have said, I will reform as t have reformed ; nay, I am now occupied in preparing reforms ; but I will not change for the sake of change, and I will not bring all reform into discredit by propounding crude measures. This, you are pleased to call being as conservative as the court party can desire ! No man who knows any thing of our history for the last four years, dares re- proach me with being a lukewarm reformer, or very infirm of purpose in the government, or very sparing in the measures with which I deal out political improvement. I say nothing now of Law Reform. All have allowed that there I have done enough for the time I had the power ; and all know, though I dare say when it suits them they can forget it, that others prevented me introducing a far more sweeping reform than any yet attempted in our judicial system I mean the Local Courts. All have, likewise, seen that even when I quitted office, I was so anxious to have the finishing hand put to my Chancery Reform, that I offered 102 to work for nothing, instead of leading a life of absolute idleness ; and this sacrifice I was ready to make, (a great one, all who know my private pursuits are aware it would have proved,) not only for the sake of saving the public above 12,000 a year, but (what is far more important) to enable the suitors in Chancery to avoid all the evil of a double ap- peal. That I have been rewarded for such an offer, as I believe has not often been made to the country, by nothing but abuse* is only a * I do the fullest justice to Lord Brougham's motives in the application to Lord Lyndhurst, but I still (with great sub- mission) agree with those of his friends who questioned the discretion of the proceeding. One word, however, in answer to those who have asked, " Why Lord Brougham had not abolished the office of Vice-Chancellor, during the four years he sate on the Woolsack ?" The reply is easy. Sir John Leach was not com- pellable'to hear motions; and, therefore, until a successor to him was appointed, the Rolls Court could not be made effective for the dispatch of all Chancery business. The present Master of the Rolls being obliged, by a late Act of Parliament, to hear motions, and there being now no arrear of causes in the Lord Chancellor's Court, all the business in Chancery may at present be disposed of by the Lord Chancellor, the Master of the Rolls, and the Chief Baron sitting on the Equity side of the Exchequer. But, so long as Sir John Leach lived, and sat as Master of the Rolls, the office of Vice-Chancellor could not have been dispensed with. Besides, we must recollect that even since the (very recent) appointment of Sir C. Pepys, there cer- 103 proof, that at a moment of excitement, no party-man ever can expect even the semblance of justice. But though my efforts for Law Reform are not denied, (at least as far as I know, for far be it from me to doubt that I may likewise be represented as hostile to that,) yet you and others, who do not sufficiently reflect on the facts, and do not at all consider how mis- chievous such statements are to the common cause, are pleased to question my being friendly to other reforms. Subsequent events may perhaps have taught those who complained of our scanty doings in Reform, that our position was not without its difficulties. But this I will assert, that had we met the Parliament, in office, no */ ' man would have said the vacation had been passed without abundant attempts to prepare measures of public usefulness IN A WORD, IMPORTANT RE- FORMS and I will add, that if any man shall suppose I was behind ANY ONE of my colleagues in tainly has been no opportunity of removing Sir Launcelot Shadwell, even supposing that gentleman willing to have ex- changed his present office for another. E. L. B. 104 the zealous and active support, and in the assiduous preparation of them that man, be he who he may, will fall into the greatest mistake ever man committed. I have seen accounts of my having said in Scotland, that "less would be done next ses- sion than the last." That I could say that, or any thing like that, is utterly impossible, be- cause no one knew better than (and not more than two so well as) myself all the measures in contemplation, and in active preparation. What I did say not once, but every time I spoke and was called upon to answer an address of my fellow-countrymen ; what I did say was this I complained of the charge against us that since the Reform Bill we had done nothing ; and then I asked, if all that was done in the two sessions of the Reform Parliament was nothing? I instanced, all those great measures which had been passed , from the Negro Emancipation to the Poor Law Amendment ; and then I said, that it would be far more correct to say too much had been done than too little ; and I may have added, (though I 105 believe I did not,) that less would be done next year ; and no doubt that is true. Can any one suppose that such prodigious changes as those of 1833 and 1834 can be made again? But is there any fairness is there any thing like fair- ness in therefore describing me as having said that too much had been done : is that any thing short of a very gross misrepresentation ? let me add, one of the most absurd, as well as gross perversions, that any controversy ever gave rise to ; for if I was complaining (as these thoughtless folks would have it) of so much having been done, of whom, I pray you, must I have been complaining? Why, of my own self, for assuredly the supposed " too much," was done by me as much, if not more, than by any of my colleagues, from the accidental circumstance of my position, and because, in reality, with the exception of certain points in the Reform Bill, as I stated in Parliament, there never was one single measure proposed in Par- liament, while I was in office, which had not my zealous approval, my cordial support, and 106 my best assistance, in preparing it beforehand, as well as in carrying it through publicly. The same assertion which I now make as to all former reforms, I repeat most positively as to all those new measures which were in prepara- tion, and in every one of which 1 took the warmest interest, and bore a most active part. Now, while I trust that you will see nothing but respect for you, personally, in this letter, I must add, without any departure from the same feelings, that if you still consider me inconsis- tent, because I am a staunch and unflinching Reformer, and yet would have none but whole- some and well-devised reforms propounded because I was ready with great improvements both in my own and in other departments of the state, though happily such vast changes as Negro Emancipation and the Poor Law Amend- ment remained no longer to be made, because, being no republican, but a friend to limited monarchy, I am against abolishing the House of Lords, greatly as I may lament its errors and prejudices, and even think that, with all its 107 imperfections, its labours have frequently im proved the measures sent from the Commons who, with all their great and good qualities, are not exempt from error, when they have more work to do than men can finish satisfac- torily;^ if, for holding these opinions, you, and those with whom you act, and whose honesty and ability I sincerely respect, even where I may not quite agree with you, are pleased still to deny me the small credit of holding a rational, intelligible, and consistent political faith, all I can say is, that I shall be sorry still to lie under your censure, but that before I can escape from the weight of it, my reason must be convinced for until then, I must hold fast by the same faith. In conclusion, let me ask what right any one has to suspect my motives, when I happen to differ with him ? My life, excepting four years, was a continued sacrifice of interest to my prin- ciples as a Reformer and friend of liberty ; and even in taking office four years ago, I made a sacrificeboth of feeling and of interests which some alive, and some, alas ! no more, well know the 108 cost of. But all the time I was in opposition, did I ever show the least slackness to do my duty in the cause of free opinion, and of opposition to the court ? What abuse did I ever spare ? What bad measure did I ever leave alone ? What minis- ter did I ever suffer to rest while the country was to be served by opposing him ? With whom did I ever compromise, or treat, or do otherwise than absolutely refuse all parley ? SURELY, EVEN WHERE REFORMERS DIFFER, THESE ARE FACTS WHICH, AS THEY GIVE THE BEST PLEDGE OF SINCERITY ON THE ONE PART, OUGHT TO RE- CEIVE THE MOST FAVOURABLE CONSTRUCTION AS TO MOTIVE FROM THE OTHER. Yours truly, BROUGHAM LONDON: IBOTSON AND PALMER, PRINTERS, SAVOY STREET, STRAND. NEW AND INTERESTING WORKS PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. SAUNDERS AND OTLEY, CONDUIT STREET, HANOVER SQUARE. I. Splendidly illustrated, in one volume, royal 8vo. price li. 11s. 6d. THE PILGRIMS OF THE RHINE. By the Author of " PKLHAM," " EUGENE ARAM," &c. " Mr. Bnlwer's ' Pilgrims of the Rhine ' is a work -which will delight the fanciful and ima- ginative, please the refined and philosophical, charm the gay, inform the intellectual, and absorb the feeling." Literary Gazette. " We cannot help expressing onr admiration of the taste and skill with which Mr. Bnlwer has arranged bit materials." Athenccum. 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" The story of 'The Hamiltons* is the story of the decline and fall of Toryism. The accom- plished writer has, with admirable success, connected morals and manners with political causes : the portraiture of the Laxins;ton folks is equal to the drawing of Miss Austin." Examiner. XI. New and Revised Edition, in 3 vols. post 8vo. PETER SIMPLE. By the Author of " The Naval Officer," " The King's Own," &c. " This is an admirable work, and worthy of the noble service it is written to illiutnue." Spectator. FOUR YEARS OF A LIBERAL GOVERNMENT LONDON : HENRY HOOPER, 13, TALL-MALL EAST. 1834. Price Sixpence. LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES, 14, Charing Cross. FOUR YEARS OP A LIBERAL GOVERNMENT, PEACE, Parliamentary Reform, and Retrench- ment, were the memorable words in which Earl Grey briefly, but emphatically, described the prin- ciples on which his Ministry stood pledged before their country to act. At the present eventful moment, when a dissolu- tion of Parliament appears all but inevitable, it becomes the sacred and imperative duty of every man, who possesses the elective franchise, and who desires to exercise that privilege honestly, manfully, and fearlessly, to inquire how far the pledges then given have been redeemed. To assist the elector in this important inquiry, the following brief statement of the leading measures of reform, passed during the last four years, has been prepared. Let every friend to rational improvement recollect by whom these measures were steadily sup- ported, and let him mark well the men by whom they were, night after night, perseveringly, and factiously resisted. A 2 Let him, with this paper in his hand, ask those who canvass for his vote, whether their candidate did or did not support each and all of the measures here detailed, and according to their answer, so let Ms vote he. We shall now enumerate the principal measures of the last four years, and then offer a few observa- tions on each : I. REFORM OF PARLIAMENT ENGLAND, SCOT- LAND, AND IRELAND. II. ABOLITION OF COLONIAL SLAVERY. III. REDUCTION OF TAXATION TO THE AMOUNT OF NEARLY SlX MILLIONS. IV. THE RETRENCHMENT EFFECTED IN THE DIF- FERENT DEPARTMENTS OF THE STATE. V. THE LAW REFORMS. VI. THE POOR-LAW AMENDMENT ACT. VII. THE BURGH, OR CORPORATION, REFORM SCOTLAND. VIII. THE OPENING OF THE CHINA TRADE. IX. THE IRISH CHURCH TEMPORALITIES BILL. REDUCTION OF BISHOPRICS, &c. THE PLAN OF EDUCATION (IRELAND). THE GRAND JURY BILL (IRELAND). I. REFORM OF PARLIAMENT. First, in time and importance, stands the REFORM BILL, which swept away at one blow fifty-six rotten boroughs, returning 112 members; which partially disfranchised thirty small boroughs, re- turning, with the former, 142 members all of them more or less under the influence of a few great proprietors. This Bill gave to the counties sixty-live additional representatives, and conferred the right of sending members to Parliament on no less than forty-two new boroughs, including some of the largest towns in England, viz., Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, &c., containing in all a popu- lation of 2,500,000, hitherto unrepresented, and having a constituency of about 80,000 electors. From the date of the passing of this great Bill, the Minister who rules in England must rule by the people and for the people : if he has not their support, he may seize upon the Government for a moment, but his fall is inevitable. Great was the boon conferred on England by this Bill ; on Scotland it was incomparably greater. England had something of a popular representation before ; Scotland had none. This Bill Sir Robert Peel, night after night, opposed ; this Bill the Duke of Wellington de- nounced, and, in his hatred of all popular rights, exerted himself to the uttermost to destroy. Against this Bill the friends of the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel have recorded their Protest in the Journals of the Lords, as revolutionary subversive of the institutions of the country en- dangering the security of property and injurious to the rich and the poor. II. ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. On the 1st of August, 1834, -slavery was extin- tinguislied in the British Colonies. That day, which the enemies of freedom told us would be the signal of revolt, has been kept by the negroes, in some of the colonies, as a day of solemn thanksgiving; in others, as a day of festivity and rejoicing. A year and a half ago this question agitated the empire from one end to the other ; the ablest advo- cates of abolition admitted the obstacles to be all but insuperable, and they acknowledged themselves un- provided with any practical measure for effecting the great object which they had at heart. The magnitude of the interests at stake the angry passions roused by the discussion of this question the vehemence of the abolitionists the violence of the planters the opposition of the colonial legisla- tures and the excitement prevailing among the slaves themselves combined to surround this sub- ject with difficulties which few men would have been competent to grapple with. From this task, perilous as it was, the Government did not shrink. They brought forward and carried through Parlia- ment a plan for the total abolition of slavery, and they have remained in power long enough to show, in defiance of the predictions of their enemies, that its provisions were wise, salutary, and safe. We do not deny that, in some few instances, dis- turbances have occurred ; but by the judicious and effective precautions adopted, they have been speedily and easily quelled. We assert that the worst managed estates have alone been the scenes of outrage ; and on the planter therefore, rather than upon the slave, rests the guilt of such proceedings. A hundred and twenty magis- trates have been sent to the different colonies to superintend the introduction of this Act ; and under their active and vigilant superintendence, public tran- quillity, we are confident, will continue to be pre- served. By a union of firmness, moderation, and kind- ness, the excited feelings of the slaves have been calmed, the co-operation of the colonial legislatures obtained, and every thing which has hitherto oc- curred tends to confirm the expectation that this great Act, which gave freedom to 800,000 slaves, will be carried into effect without endangering the safety or injuring the property of the planters. We admit that, in the transition from slavery to freedom, there may be many serious inconveniences felt and even much loss sustained. Where labour has been regarded only as a punishment, and no other stimulus to exertion known than the lash, it may at first be difficult, in many cases impossible, to induce the negro to work beyond the hours fixed by law, even in crop time. This state of things will find its own remedy: the ingenuity of the planter will be stimulated, the good treatment of the negro increased and his reluctance to labour gradually overcome. 8 That the loss to many planters may this year be severe is possible; but it was to meet such losses that the compensation-money was granted. They who had, with such pel-severing obstinacy, opposed the Reform Bill, contented themselves either with a cold and sullen acquiescence in the Act for the Abolition of Slavery, or with recording their belief in its inevitable failure and its disastrous con- sequences. It was predicted that, " ere twelve " months had elapsed, there would be a great reac- " tion in the public mind * ;" they pronounced it to be a " rash and dangerous experimentt;" and they who had been driven from the Government by po- pular indignation had the hardihood to assert, that Ministers might have put down the excitement which then prevailed on this subject, and prevented the necessity which had arisen for passing this Act J. The excitement indeed existed ; it sprang from a deep and settled conviction in the public mind, that justice should be no longer delayed humanity no longer outraged and the hopes of the slave no longer disappointed and trifled with. The statesman who understood the character of his countrymen saw that such excitement was to be allayed only by removing the cause : the despot who despised public opinion thought it might be crushed by force. In the Journals of the Lords we found a Protest * Mr. A. Baring 1 , t Lord Ellenborough. against the Reform Bill ; in the Journals of the Lords we find a protest against the Abolition of Slavery Bill ; not indeed against the measure as a whole, hut against certain remarkable words in one of the resolutions on which the Act is founded, viz. that which provides for the moral and religious education of the negro on liberal and comprehensive principles. Against the insertion of the words " liberal and comprehensive principles," the Duke of Wellington entered his Protest, and to that Protest we find appended the names of Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, Rosslyn, Salisbury, Ellenborough, Lon- donderry, &c. III. REDUCTION OF TAXATION. When the Ministry came into office, in 1830, they found the revenue of the country amounting to 50,056,616 of which sum about 35,000,000 Avas required for the payment of the Debt, Civil List, and other fixed charges. The estimated excess of income over expenditure was that year 700,000; but, between that period and the present, Lord Althorp has repealed the duty on coals, amounting to 900,000 ; on candles, to 500,000 ; on soap, to 600,000 ; on printed cottons, 550,000 ; assessed taxes and farming stock, to 440,000 ; on marine insurances, to 100,000; on slates, tiles; on advertisements ; on tax carts, small receipt stamps ; on travellers, clerks, book-keepers, office-men, &c. ; making a total of 3,335,000. These taxes were repealed in 1832 and 1833. The same Ministry, in 1834, repealed the house- tax, 1,200,000 ; the window-tax on farm-houses ; on husbandry-horses, used occasionally for riding or drawing ; on shepherds' dogs ; on post-horses, used occasionally in husbandry ; on starch, 75,000 ; and on almanacks ; making, with the house-tax, a total of 1,581,000 repealed in 1834. In addition, the annual payment of the interest on the West India compensation, viz. 750,000, has been provided for ; so that the total reduction in the years 1832, 1833, and 1834, with this payment, amounts to no less than 5,700,000. Every effort has been made to remove unneces- sary and injurious shackles upon trade, either by re- ducing taxes which pressed on industry, or removing vexatious regulations or exclusive privileges. With this view, the tax upon printed cottons, amounting to 2,000,000 gross, and 600,000 net, was re- pealed. The cotton-tax, which was substituted for about half this amount in 1831 repealed in 1833. The duties upon upwards of 400 articles used in manufacture, of more or less importance, many of them very considerable either materially reduced or altogether repealed ; reductions amounting to not less, than 400,000. The package and scavage dues, amounting to 16,000 a year, have been abolished ; and the port dues of the City of London reduced to less than one half. The Custom-house laws have 11 been consolidated and made simple and easy of access. IV. RETRENCHMENT. One of the earliest acts of Earl Grey's Govern- ment was to reduce their own salaries, those of all the great officers of state, and others whose salaries exceeded 1,000 per annum. In two years, viz. 1831 and 1832, not less than 1,265 offices, with salaries amounting to 220,000, were abolished jn the different establishments of the-xjrovernment, In the Customs alone, 414 offices were reduced, and a saving of 29,000 per annum effected. In the Excise 507 were reduced, and an annual saving of 145,250 effected. Similar reductions were made in the diplomatic and consular departments. At Malta, Gibraltar, Cape of Good Hope, New South Wales, Van Dieman's Land, &c., a saving of 134,000, out of a charge of 411,000, will be the consequence of the reductions made. In Canada, Xova Scotia, New Brunswick, Trinidad, British Guiana, &c., similar reductions have been made. The total saving in the Government established in the colonies will be 224,000, out of a charge of 573,000. The following Table shews the reduc- tions : 12 Emoluments in 1829. Emoluments in 1833. Saving. . '20 900 , 14 800 . 6 100 Home, Foreign, and Colonial) Departments ... . j 52,828 19,940 36,100 7,500 16,728 12 440 17 87G 8 455 9 421 King's Household, &c. 11,286 64,520 2,000 18,400 9,286 46,120 14,300 7,200 7,100 Judges and Courts of Law . 52,492 49 903 38,000 32 989 14,492 16 914 Colonial Agents, &c. . . . 5,305 6 298 1,300 4,005 6 298 DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR OFFICES. 55,300 45,900 9,400 Envoys Extraordinary, and) Ministers Plenipotentiary J Ministers resident abroad . 50,300 14,200 15,000 38,900 10,750 11,375 11,400 3,450 3,625 44,450 21,800 22,650 GENERAL TOTAL . 494,898 295,469 199,429 (From a Pamphlet entitled " The Reform Ministry and the Reformed Parliament, 1833.") The reductions in the Army, Navy, Ordnance, and Miscellaneous services, will be shewn by the Estimates for the last four years : 13 Army. Navy. Ordiiance. Miscellaneous. . . . . 1831 7,551,000 5,842,835 1,478,900 2,900,400 1832 7,006,000 4,505,000 1,634,800 2,133,900 1S33 6,673,000 4,658,000 1,445,200 1,835,000 1834 6,497,903 4,578,009 1,166,914 2,228,387 The Estimates for this year are . . . 14,471,213 For 1831 17,773,135 Saving . 3,301,922 For 1827 18,745,360 Saving .... 4,274,147 It is important to observe that these reductions have been effected, without impairing in the slightest degree the efficiency of the public departments in which they have been made. We have maintained, and still continue to maintain, a large naval force in the Mediterranean. Till lately, a powerful fleet was required in the Tagus ; and where our commerce extends, there our vessels of war are to be found, protecting the property and the interests of the British merchants : notwithstanding the magnitude of this force, the reduction in the expenditure of the Navy has been 1,264,826. If a much less reduc- tion has taken place in the Army estimates, it should be remembered that the Army was far less under the control of the Government than the Navy ; an arrangement which ought not to exist, and which no Liberal Government ought in future to tolerate for an instant. 14 V. LAW REFORMS. The first legal reform effected by the late Govern- ment was the establishment of a Court of Bank- ruptcy*. The previous administration of the bank- rupt-law by seventy Commissioners, for the most part practising barristers, by whom their office was treated as secondary to their profession, had been long and loudly condemned by the most eminent lawyers, and it was so odious to the mercantile community as to have formed the subject of a petition from the city of London. It has been superseded by a court, consisting of fourt judges and six commissioners ; whose duties are so apportioned, as to afford the best security for their despatch of business and uni- formity of decision. The permanent saving to the public from these changes amounts to 39,489 per annum. A principal feature of the measure was the ap- pointment of official assignees, under the control of the court, with the view that the effects of bank- rupts might be more carefully collected and more speedily divided J. The best proof of their useful - * An Act for the Establishment of a Court of Bankruptcy, 2 and 3 Wm. 4. t On the death of one of the judges in 1833, his place was not filled up, it appearing that the remaining judges were equal to despatch the business, which was less than had been expected. J Those officers are remunerated by a small per-centage on the assets they may collect, which, on the average, may make the salary about 700. The Lord Chancellor, in whom this valuable 15 ness is, that, since their appointment, few instances have occurred where the accounts of a bankruptcy have not been settled within the year. The Act for the Amendment of the Law* has gone a great way towards bringing the proceedings of the courts of common law within the comprehen- sion of the community at large, and subjecting them to what are usually termed the rules of common sense. It authorizes the judges to make regula- tions as to pleadings, so that the parties may know the exact question at issue, instead of being com- pelled, in their uncertainty, to bring up witnesses, at a vast expense, for the proof of facts which it was never intended to dispute. A crowd of legal fic- tions and technicalities are swept away ; pleas in abatement are limited and regulated ; and, above all, variances in pleading are to be judged by their real importance, and not to condemn the unfortunate suitor to pay the penalty of an error, wholly imma- terial, by the loss of his action. The Act also puts the arbitration of suits on an improved footing, by which the principal objections to this cheap and con- venient mode of terminating disputes are removed. Our criminal law has not been neglected. The crime of entering and stealing in a dwelling-house patronage was vested by the Act, placed it in the hands of a select number of the leading merchants and bankers in the city, and nominated the gentlemen they recommended to him. * Act for the Amendment of the Law and the better Advance- ment of Justice, 3 and 4 Wm. 4, c. 42. 16 is no longer punished by death, but by transportation and imprisonment*. The same alteration t has been made in all cases of forgery, except of wills and certain powers of attorney. The protection of creditors against the fraudulent investment of their debtors' funds in real property, which the law formerly afforded only in the case of parties engaged in trade, has been extended J to the case of all persons who have incurred debts ; and the absurd and unjust exemption of copyhold pro- perty has been removed. The administration of justice in the metropolitan districts has been essentially aided by the establish- ment of a central court in London, for the trial, by monthly sessions, of all misdemeanours and higher offences committed in London and its environs. The substitution of the judges of the land for the local magistracy, and the greater frequency of jail de- liveries, are the most prominent features of this mea- sure, which derives an additional importance from the means it will afford of judging how far the same principle can be extended to the other parts of the kingdom. * Act for repealing the Punishment of Death on Persons entering or stealing in a Dwelling-house, Sand 4 Wm. 4,c. 44. f 2 and 3 Win. 4, c. 123. An Act for Abolishing the Punish inent of Death in certain cases of Forgery. | An Act to render Freehold and Copyhold Estates assets for the Payment of simple contract Debts, 3 and 4 Win. 4, c. 104. An Act for establishing a new Court for the Trial of Offences committed in the Metropolis and parts adjoining, 6 and 7 Wm. 4. 17 The Local Courts' Bill promised still greater benefits. The bringing justice to every man's door, and within the compass of every man's means, excited a deep interest in the success of the Bill among the middle and lower classes. The principal commercial towns petitioned Parliament to pass it. The Common Law Commissioners, all practising lawyers of eminence, and, with one exception, opposed to the Government, strongly recommended it LORD LYNDHURST PREVAILED ON THE HOUSE OF LORDS TO REJECT IT. The Act for the Reform of the Court of Chancery is directed against the delay and the expense of proceedings in that court *. The decrees and orders issued by the registrars are no longer allowed to give a detailed and often voluminous history of the suits, but are confined to a succinct statement of the directions of the judge on the subject matter before him. It is no longer necessary that every document required in the office of a master in chan- cery, whatever its length or materiality for any other purpose, shall be copied at the expense of the suitor. Gratuities or fees for expedition are abolished ; all the suitors, rich and poor, are put on an equality ; and, to remove all temptations in the officers of the court, salaries are substituted for the fees payable under the old system. The saving effected to the public by these alterations amounts to about 17,000 * An Act for the Regulation of the Proceedings and Practice of certain Offices in the High Court of Chancery in England, 3 and 4 Wm. 4, c. 94. 18 in the Registrar's Office, and to a similar sum in the Master's Office. A number of offices in the gift of the Lord Chan- cellor, usually executed by deputy, and filled by members of his family, have been reduced. The total receipts from these offices amounted to 24,680 per annum. The salaries have been now made pro- portionable to the duties, and reduced to 2,800, thereby accomplishing a saving to the public of 21,880. The reduction in the Six Clerks' Office (as vacancies occur) will amount to 4,800 per annum, and the whole of the savings effected will be above 100,000. The Lord Chancellor, upon taking the seals, found an arrear of above a hundred appeals. The number of appeals to him, whilst in office, was greater than had been known in the time of any of his prede- cessors ; yet, upon his resignation, no appeal re- mained of so old a date as the preceding term. Another important change has been in the con- stitution of the legal functions of the Privy Coun- cil*. That tribunal which, in our earlier history, was usually attended by the heads of the law, had, owing to the vast increase of business in the other courts, gradually been reduced to a single judge. It had to decide causes involving sometimes immense pecuniary interests, and sometimes the fate of thou- sands of our fellow-creatures, as in the appeals from our East India provinces. All, however, were * An Act for the better Administration of Justice in His Ma- jesy's Privy Council, 3 and 4 Will. 4, c. 41. 19 alike left to the decision of one judge. This crying evil is removed : an efficient Court of at least four judges has been established, and one of the fruits of the measure has been already reaped in the jm-r portance attached to the decisions of the Court by the public. The changes that have been made in the law of real property are those which, perhaps, the most deeply concern the daily transactions of life. The period for the limitation of actions has been reduced from sixty years to twenty, with a saving of ten additional years in cases of disability: thus re- ducing the expense of tracing titles and of the transfer of property. Fines and recoveries, the circuitous expedients of a barbarous age, for barring entails and removing obstructions to the alienations of land, have been abolished *. The laws relating to in- heritance t, and to dower J, have been stripped of their feudal anomalies and adapted to a more ad- vanced state of society. Other Legal Reforms would have been brought forward next session, of which it may be sufficient to enumerate those already known to the public by their having been before Parliament; such as the BILL FOR THE ABOLITION OF IMPRISONMENT FOR * An Act for the Abolition of Fines and Recoveries, and for the substitution of more simple Modes of Assurance. t An Act for the Amendment of the {^aw of Inheritance, 3 and 4 Will. 4, c. 106. J An Act for the Amendment of the Law relating to Dower, 3 and 4 Will. 4, c. 105. B 2 20 DEBT, THE BILL FOR THE CONSOLIDATION AND IMPROVEMENT OF ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTIONS, AND THE BlLL FOR IMPROVING THE APPELLATE JURISDICTION OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS. VI. POOR-LAW AMENDMENT ACT. Most falsely and wickedly has this Bill been represented as cruel, oppressive, and injurious to the poor. The evidence collected in every part of the kingdom by the Poor-Law Commissioners esta- blishes, in a manner that cannot be controverted, that the Poor-Laws, as recently administered, were fast plunging into one general mass of wretchedness and misery the whole working population of Eng- land. The idle and the industrious, the honest and the profligate, the sober and the drunkard, had equal claims on the parish; and the natural and undeniable consequence of such a state of things is this: that the idle are, in fact, supported out of that money which would otherwise go as wages to the industrious. When the reckless vagabond is relieved, to precisely the same extent is the honest and diligent labourer plundered. They who pay to the poor's rate do not suffer a hundredth part of the loss which the working-man who supports, or strives to support, himself and his family by his daily labour suffers, when the parish funds are mischievously employed in maintaining those who might find work if they chose to exert themselves, but who would rather eat the bread of idleness than earn an honest livelihood by the sweat of their brow. 21 It is an indisputable fact, that the degradation of the whole working class is the consequence of such a state of things ; the condition of the best is lowered to that of the worst: prudence, fore- sight, industry, and sobriety disappear, and with these the comfort and happiness of the poor. Now what has been done to remedy such alarming evils? The Commissioners found certain parishes in which a few active and enlightened men had departed from the usual plan, and introduced a better system of relief. Not only were the rates lower in such parishes than in those managed in the common way, but what is equally true, and infinitely more im- portant, the condition of the labourer was decidedly improved. He had nothing to complain of; he was well employed and satisfied with his condition; he saw that the industrious were treated with kindness, while the idle and profligate were put under salutary restraint if they desired to live on the parish. To extend to the whole kingdom, with the requi- site modifications, that plan which has produced such happy results, wherever it has been tried, was the object of the Government. More than two years were spent in diligently and attentively considering and maturing the Bill. Commissioners of known ability and integrity have been appointed to super- intend the execution of the Act ; and we have reason to believe, that during the next session proofs will be laid before Parliament, that its good effects are already extensively felt : of course, it has not cured by magic a deep-seated evil, but as soon as the Com- 22 f missioners have improved the local administration throughdut the country, the measure will begin to have faif play, and even at present, in its infancy, it has been as useful as its most sanguine supporters could have hoped. Now what said the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel to this measure ? We must do the first the justice to state, that he honourably supported it, adding-, that every administration which he had known had successively attempted to improve the present system of poor laws, but hot only had they failed in producing any plan equal to the present, but had failed even iri devising any plausible scheme what- ever. Sir Robert Peel, oil the other hand, cautious and prudent, refrained from expressing any opinion upon this important Bill from the moment of its in- troduction to the period when it passed the Commons, contenting himself with a silent vote in its favour. The Radical leaders, on the contrary, came forward manfully; and, notwithstanding the popular preju- dices which they had to encounter, gave the Bill their decided and strenuous support. VII. BURGH OR CORPORATION REFORM (Scotland}. This Bill was, for its object, as sweeping a measure of reform as the Reform Bill itself. It abolished, at a blow, the whole of that system of self-election, through which almost every Burgh in Scotland was reduced to the most cruel and helpless distress, and was rapidly approaching to a state of insolvency. Year after year Lord Archibald Hamilton had brought this subject before Parliament so flagrant and undeniable were the abuses, that, even in an unreformed House, no one had the assurance to de- fend them. Will it be credited that the inhabitants of such Burghs, who had no voice in the appoint- ment of their magistrates, no control over their expenditure were, nevertheless, liable for all debts which the magistrates, in their magisterial capacity, thought proper to contract ? In many Burghs the magistrates were not bound to reside, and were rarely seen in the towns whose concerns they pretended to manage, except once a year to be re-elected by their brother magistrates. These are things which no man dare deny ; yet and let the people of England remember this the Tories clamoured loudly against any innovation, protesting that these filthy corporations were the out- works of the citadel ; and that, if they were sur- rendered, Reform could not long be resisted. The order has been happily reversed, and the change vastly more sweeping and complete. By the new Bill the election of the Town Councils and Ma- gistrates is based on the Parliamentary consti- tuency. The men who have been chosen as Magistrates, the discretion and propriety which have characterized the proceedings of the inhabi- tants, and, in fact, the successful working of the whole system, afford the most abundant and satis- factory proofs of the wisdom and safety of the 24 change. Not a shadow of doubt can now remain, that a similar system might be extended, with the same inestimable advantages, to England. VIII. CHINA TRADE. The opening of the China trade was part only of a much larger measure, viz. the renewal of the East India Company's charter. It was that part, however, which excited the greatest interest in this country ; and our limits will not permit us to touch on the many extensive alterations adopted with a view to the interests of our Indian empire. We may observe, that great improvements have been introduced into the constitution of the East India Company. They have ceased to be a trading company ; and the mis- chievous union of commercial and imperial functions in the same body is at an end. The ancient policy of riot permitting Europeans to settle in India has been departed from ; but with due precautions " to " prevent excesses injurious to the natives, and dis- " honourable to the Government." The opening of the China trade has given a sti- mulus to our commerce, which has been felt in almost all our ports ; and we cannot doubt that our trade with that great empire, when conducted by individual enterprize, will reach an extent very far exceeding that which it attained under the shackles of monopoly. 25 IX. CHURCH TEMPORALITIES BILL (Ireland). The objects of this Bill were the abolition of Church Rates or Cess, the augmentation of small Livings, and the Building and Repairing Churches and Glebe-houses. All these objects to be effected by money arising from church property alone. There were twenty-two Archbishops and Bishops, and the number was reduced to twelve. The net in- come of the Bishops from every source was 130,000, the gross being 150,000; and by the suppression of ten Sees, 60,000 a-year was appropriated to the fund for the above purposes. A graduated tax was imposed on all livings above 300 a-year, to meet the charge of augmenting smaller livings. In parishes where divine service had not been performed for three years previous to the Act, on the death of the incumbent the appoint- ment might be suspended, and the proceeds of the benefice appropriated to the fund. A most valuable measure was added to the Bill, by which the Commissioners would sell to the Bishop's tenants the perpetuity of those lands, which they could hold only by lease, and the proceeds from this source (estimated at 1,000,000) w r as also de- voted to the purposes of the Act. The Catholics were thus relieved from their por- tion of 60,000 a-year, the amount of church cess, which could be imposed on them against their will by a vote of Protestants, in exclusive vst ry assem- bled; and were further for ever relieved from any charges for building or repairing churches, and other purposes of a similar nature, in those parishes where the Protestants were numerous enough to outvote their Roman Catholic parishioners. Five of the sees are already suppressed. Water- ford was vacant when the Bill passed, and has not been filled up. Killala, Raphoe, and Ossory have, on vacancies occurring, been likewise sup- pressed. The Bishop of Limerick died ; and in drder to suppress a bishoprick, the Bishop of Kil- laloe was promoted, and his see suppressed. EDUCATION (Ireland). The money voted by Parliament for the purposes of Public Instruction in Ireland was distributed through three principal channels; viz. the Pro- testant Charter Schools, the Kildare Place Society* and the Society for Discountenancing Vice. The object of the first was the education of Protestant children alone ; and though pupils of all creeds were admitted to the schools connected with the two last, the Roman Catholics in many cases were, and probably in all would, in course of time, have been, virtually excluded. A controversy had arisen be- tween the Kildare Place Society and the Roman Catholic Priests, on the use of the Bible as a school- book. Into the merits of that controversy We cannot enter ; it is sufficient to state, that the Roman Ca- tholic priesthood could not have sanctioned the attendance of their children, without disregarding a 27 principle of their church, which in their view is of the greatest importance. To avoid this objection, which retarded, if it did not prevent, the extension of education to all classes, the present system was proposed by Mr. Stanley, and adopted by Parliament, in 1832. The whole of the public grants annually voted to these three Societies, amounting to about 30,000, were in that year withdrawn, and a similar amount placed at the disposal of Commissioners, consisting of Protestants (Churchmen and Dissenters), and Roman Catholics, at the head of whom we find the names of the Pro- testant and Roman Catholic Archbishops of Dublin, They were empowered to grant money in aid of the building and support of schools. The most important condition attached to grants from the Commissioners is this : that the children, during certain school hours, shall receive a literary, moral, and, as far as they can proceed together, even a religious education ; but as religion, to its full and proper extent, cannot be imparted in the same terms to pupils of various creeds, a portion of each day, or one day (besides Sunday) in each week, is set apart for their separate religious instruction by their respective pastors. Works which all may read have been prescribed, and compilations which all are willing to use, and which are intended not to super- sede, but to prepare the children for the reading of the Bible, have been made by the Commissioners. The experience of two years has fully proved the value of this great, though silent step in reform. The schools already in connection with the Board, together with those now building, and to which aid has been promised, amount to 1,483; and the number of children now attending the schools to 112,603. GRAND JURY BILL (Ireland}. There was another and most useful bill intro- duced by Mr. Stanley, the Grand Jury Bill; the object of which was to put a stop to the scandalous jobbing in the expenditure of the county rates, more especially in the repair of the county roads. It was notorious that tenants had often been in- duced to give a larger rent for their farms, on the understanding that they should annually have a cer- tain number of roods of road to repair ; the surveyor was persuaded by a portion of the booty to report that the repairs were complete, no matter how badly done ; and the tenant took oath that the whole of the money awarded had been expended, which, in nine cases out of ten, was downright perjury. Land- lords, tenants, and surveyors, thus participated in the plunder of the county rates the lion's share being generally carried off by the former. The Bill in question has put an end to this disgraceful prac- tice. The amount of rates annually raised in Ire- land, and expended under the direction of the Grand Juries, is not less than 700,000. Another of the objects of the Bill was to promote the better administration of justice, by securing the 29 impartial selection of Juries, and preventing the intimidation of witnesses. We have now touched briefly on the principal measures of the late Government. Our limits will not permit us to advert to others of less general interest, though involving important considerations, and likely to be productive of much essential good. We allude to the renewal of the Bank of England Charter, and connected with it the just regulation of the currency ; the Bill for remodelling the Exche- quer by which that ancient and cumbrous esta- blishment was put upon an effective footing, the number of officers reduced from 65 to 29, and the annual expense from 41,900 to about 11,000. There was a Bill of great importance which we have not noticed before, because it unfortunately never passed into an Act. We allude to the Bill for the extinction of Tithes in Ireland. This Bill had passed the Commons an amendment proposed by Mr. O'Connell having been carried by a large majority, it was admitted that the hateful tithe system in Ireland, the fertile source of so many crimes, would be extinguished by the passing of this Act. The House of Lords rejected this Bill. There was another Bill, of a different character, which they passed unanimously, viz. the Irish Co- ercion Bill. We shall not attempt to discuss its necessity now ; suffice it to say, that a difference of opinion existed among the liberal party ; some being decidedly of opinion that the frightful state in which Ireland then was imperatively demanded such a measure, while others contended, that the powers given by the existing laws, if vigorously enforced, were sufficient to meet the evils, appalling as they admitted them to be. Without entering into the discussion of this, we firmly and entirely believe, that those who brought forward this measure enter- tained a deep conviction of its absolute necessity, and were actuated by no other motive than a stern sense of public duty. They knew the taunts to which they would be exposed that they, who had been the advocates of freedom, had become the abettors of despotism ; but they also knew that millions of their fellow-subjects claimed protection for their lives and property against bands of armed ruffians, committing murder and plunder in open day. " My Lords," said Earl Grey, " I feel more strongly " in reference to the immediate question of Ireland, " in consequence of the necessity the unfortunate " necessity under which. we found ourselves at the " beginning of this session of proposing a law, which, " as we did not conceal from ourselves or from the " public, was a measure of extreme severity, a de- " parture from the spirit of the constitution, only to " be justified in a case of extremity. God forbid ! " my Lords, that this measure should become per- " manent ; since its continuance can only be rendered " expedient by the continuance of evils, which ought " to be remedied in the interval of tranquillity which " it affords." This Bill the Duke of Wellington supported, but 31 not without expressing his apprehension that, strong as it was, it would not prove strong enough to meet the evil. During the last Session, two Bills were introduced for the relief of the Dissenters ; unhappily, they not only failed in their object, but they appear to have excited much discontent and dissatisfaction amongst a large and influential portion of that body. We readily admit that the Dissenters' Marriage Bill was a very imperfect measure, and, we doubt not, such WHS the opinion of Lord John Russell himself; but the Dissenters will now see what power the Government had to struggle with, in carrying any measures for their relief; and in estimating more accurately the strength of their opponents they will do justice to the constancy of their friends. Gladly should we have hailed any measure that would set at rest the question of Church rates ; deeply do we deplore the unhappy dissensions which have arisen between liberal Churchmen and liberal Dissenters on this subject ; and most strongly would we press upon the attention of both, the words of Lord Mel- bourne, in answer to the address from the inhabitants of Derby : " We are strong, but not strong enough to afford to be disunited." A Bill for the commutation and redemption of Tithes in England and Wales was also brought for- ward by Lord Althorp ; but, in consequence of the time occupied by the Poor-Law Amendment Bill, its consideration was necessarily deferred till the ensuing Session. 32 Let us now take a glance at the foreign policy of the Government. When the Wellington and Peel Administration were driven from power in 1830, war was pro- nounced, even by themselves, to be inevitable. The danger, imminent as it was, has nevertheless been averted ; peace has been preserved, and at this mo- ment Europe enjoys profound tranquillity. It is of vital consequence to the people of England to in- quire by what course of policy on the part of their cabinets, before and since November, 1830, under the Duke of PVettington, and under Earl Grey, results so widely different, and involving such mo- mentous consequences, have been produced. This inquiry is not a matter of speculative curio- sity ; it is as a guide to the future, and lest similar perils should again come upon us, that we would earnestly press its consideration on the attention of our countrymen. We give the Wellington and Peel Government credit for its prompt recognition of Louis Philippe ; but while they acknowledged the government of the French King, most carefully did they, their parti- sans and supporters, abstain from uttering any one word that might be construed into approbation of the principles on which that government was founded. This conduct was the more remarkable, and to the French people the more suspicious, contrasted as it was with the strong language of Earl Grey and his friends, when expressing their satisfaction at the 33 triumph of those principles in France, which in this country had been so nobly vindicated in 1688. France believed, that though her King had been recognized, his throne, founded on revolution, was an object of aversion to the English Government ; and so general was the belief, throughout that coun- try , of the Duke of Wellington's hatred to liberal institutions, that no contradiction, however explicit, and often repeated in the English Parliament, could persuade them that the odious administration of Polignac had not been formed by his advice, and with his assistance. The situation of France was critical ; she well knew with what feelings the great Powers of the Continent must regard the example which she had so recently set, of successful resistance to despotic government ; and, in the event of a war, she saw, that from the only free country in Europe she could expect no support. Though she knew the people of England were with her, she felt that she had little to hope, much to fear, from the English Government. To render her situation still more critical, the Belgians, excited by the events at Paris, threw off the yoke of Holland ; and the English Government, departing from the cold but cautious language which they had used in speaking of the French Revolution, did not hesitate to stigmatize the Belgians as re- volters, and to eulogize the King of Holland for his " enlightened administration " that administration c which had abolished trial by jury, and destroyed the liberty of the press. By an incredible act of folly the English Govern- ment had driven the Belgians into the arms of France, and it was no longer doubtful on which side the power of England would itself be thrown. France made the cause of the Belgians her own, and reso- lutely prepared for the approaching struggle. In the mean time, however, the Wellington Ministry gave way before the storm which their misgovern- ment had raised in their own country, and the acces- sion of Earl Grey and his colleagues to office was hailed throughout France with as much satisfaction as in England. Doubt, distrust, deep-rooted aver- sion, on the part of the French people towards the English Government were succeeded by the fullest confidence and most cordial co-operation. Under their joint and powerful protection, Belgium was established as a separate kingdom, and its permanent neutrality guaranteed by the five great powers. From that moment the union between England and France became more and more close and intimate, from that moment the danger of war rapidly dimi- nished. Important as this change was, we do not mean to ascribe it to any refined diplomacy or cun- ningly-contrived treaty. No ! it is rather in the broad distinction between the characters and opinions of the men composing the two Administrations that we are to look for the cause. At the head of the one Government was a man known for his marked con- 35 tempt of popular rights and institutions, leaning with a strong bias to despotic government, and utterly and notoriously blind to the progress of public opinion even in his own country. At the head of the other was a statesman of enlarged views and enlightened mind, the powerful advocate of rational reform at home the known friend of con- stitutional liberty abroad. The difference between the relations of England to France, according as these Ministers directed her affairs, was the difference between deep distrust and the fullest confidence between rooted aversion and cordial union, and it had nearly proved the differ- ence between WAR and PEACE. Within the same period, constitutional govern- ments have been established in two other kingdoms of Europe : Portugal has been freed from the tyranny of Miguel, and Spain relieved from the despotism of Ferdinand. How often has the Duke of Wellington, directly or indirectly, reproached the Ministers of a free country for not recognizing the monster Miguel, whom he and Lord Aberdeen represented as the idol of his country ! But Lord Grey, if he had no stronger motive of policy, may well be excused for finding in his own high and honourable feelings an irresistible repugnance to too speedy a reconciliation with one who was stained with the most revolting crimes, and who had basely betrayed, and openly insulted the Crown of Great Britain. He felt indeed that he was compelled to observe a neutrality, to c 2 which his predecessors had unnecessarily pledged the country ; and he observed it honourably. But our gallant countrymen could not be restrained, and they flew to the standard of Pedro : while a handful of men, high in rank and in power, and formerly in office with the Duke of Wellington, condescended to act as crimps for the tyrant, and to send to the Government of Don Miguel military stores and means of oppression. But the victory of Cape St. Vincent annihilated the fleet of the usurper, and Donna Maria was speedily established and recognised as the constitutional sovereign of Portugal. The National Cortes have been convoked, and much improvement has already been effected. By the expulsion of the monks, and the sale of the convent lands, the axe has been laid to the root of that wither- ing superstition under which Portugal has so long suffered. Would this have been the result if the Tories had been in power ? The speedy recognition of Miguel, by the Government of the Duke of Wellington, agreeably to their intention announced in Parlia- ment, would have been the death-blow to constitu- tional liberty in Portugal. The first step would have been the rigorous enforcement of the Foreign En- listment Act, that odious legacy of Castlereagh to his country ; the second, the advance of a Spanish army to the aid of Miguel. It will be recollected that the Spanish Govern- ment had assembled a large force, ostensibly to guard their frontiers on the side of Portugal, but 37 manifestly to crush Don Pedro at Oporto. The prompt and effective interference of Earl Grey's Government, by despatching a powerful fleet to the Tagus, with orders to attack Miguel the moment the Spaniard should put his foot across the frontier, frustrated this movement on the part of Spain ; but would the Duke of Wellington have done this ? The acknowledgment of Miguel by England, and the assistance of Spain, would speedily have decided the fate of the Queen, and Portugal would, at this mo- ment, have groaned beneath the tyranny of Miguel. Under the protection of England and France, the establishment of the authority of Queen Isabella in Spain was no longer attended with difficulty. How different the conduct of these two powers, under their respective Tory Governments in 1823. The former looked deliberately on, while the latter basely destroyed the men who made a noble attempt to raise the standard of constitutional liberty against the despotism of Ferdinand. But the exiles of that period, so disgraceful to England and France, are once more invited to their homes, and Mina, the gallant, patriotic, indefatigable Mina, is again in the service of his country. The Tories were pleased to tell us that England and France were natural enemies : this, like many other of their narrow and antiquated opinions, is fast passing into oblivion. The increased commer- cial intercourse, as well as more intimate political connection during the last four years, and the good understanding daily spreading among the natives of 38 both countries, have nearly eradicated this pernicious prejudice, which Tory policy used to foster and excite. A liberal Government saw that a close and friendly union between France and England was now the most effectual security for the peace as well as the liberties of Europe : the combined force of two such nations was a power which the despotic governments would scarely dare to provoke ; and beneath the broad and strong shield of their protec- tion the principles of constitutional liberty might securely, though gradually, develope themselves. Not ' that they desired to disseminate the maxims of their political faith, nor to encourage dissatisfaction among the subjects of other states ; but if that day comes and come it probably will when despotic princes, backed by their armies, shall attempt to crush the rising liberties of other countries, then it might become the sacred duty of England and France to stand forward in their defence. Neither party can desire to court such a conflict : if it is to be avoided, the most effectual security would have been found in the certainty that the physical force and moral influence of England and France would have been exerted with determined energy in the cause of justice and freedom. That security is at end when the Duke of Wel- lington is in power : the cordial co-operation between the Governments of France and England, derived from the confidence existing between men of similar principles, is at an end ; and if the same causes pro- 39 duce the same effects, we see no reason why, in due time, war should not become as probable as when the Wellington and Peel Administration were expelled in 1830. Their own partisans declared it to be then inevitable ; and if they had continued to direct our affairs their prediction would most assuredly have been speedily and fatally fulfilled. . We have now given a hasty sketch of our foreign and domestic policy during the last four years. Imperfect as it is, it may recal to some of our readers the leading measures which have been passed during that time. We call upon rational and candid re- formers to look at their extent as well as variety at the benefits which have already been felt at those w T hich must result from them at the labour required in maturing them, and the opposition en- countered and overcome in carrying them ; and then let them say whether MUCH has not been done. We further call upon them to recollect that there were in preparation for next Session, among other measures of great consequence, two Bills of surpassing import- ance THE ONE FOR THE THOROUGH AND EFFECTIVE REFORM OF THE IRISH CHURCH ; THE OTHER, FOR THE COMPLETE AND ENTIRE REFORMATION OF THE CORPORATIONS OF ENGLAND. The one a Bill to give peace to Ireland, the other a Bill which would have swept away, as in Scotland, the detestable system ol self-election, with its manifold evils and corruptions ; which would have given the inhabitants a just and rigid control over the management of their own affairs, and invested them with the privilege of selecting 40 their own magistrates. If these Bills had passed, and passed they most unquestionably must have been, in spite of every Tory effort we call upon liberal men, of every shade of opinion, to say whether A GREAT DEAL would not have been done. Electors ! it is your business to see that these things shall be done : the Reform Bill has given you the power to say, that England shall not be ruled by men who have opposed, with their whole might, every great act here described resisted, to the last hour of the last Session of Parliament, every thing liberal in policy, and tolerant in religion- denounced every change as fraught with danger, and stigmatized the promoters of reform as the enemies of their country. It is rumoured that they intend to become Reformers. Every act every opinion of their past lives would stand recorded as damning evidence of their dishonour ; every manly feeling would re- volt at the bare mention of such unblushing pro- fligacy. BUT YOUR COURSE IS CLEAR; OPPOSE THESE MEN AS THE ENEMIES OF REFORM ; IF THEY APPEAR AS THE PROFESSING FRIENDS OF REFORM, DISTRUST THEM, AND OPPOSE THEM! FINIS. London; Printed by \V. CLO\VES, 14, Charing Cross. ON PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. IHOU&ft YJ1ATWSMAM AN ADDRESS TO THE MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE ON REFORM. LONDON : JAMES RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY. -MUCCCXXXI. CHARLES WOOD AND SON, PRINTERS, Poppin's Court, Fleet Street. AN ADDRESS, fyc. " TIME," said Lord Bacon, " is the great- est innovator." In this short sentence, what a momentous truth is conveyed ! What a powerful reply to those who op- pose all reform ! Time has innovated: the circumstances of society have altered ; the constitution itself has undergone changes in the lapse of years; yet, say the anti- reformers, we will listen to no innovation. But can they prevent the progress of that " greatest of innovators, Time?" And how absurd is the idea of supposing, that whilst time is progressive, laws can be stationary. The great original principle of power and representation was property ; and ac- B 2 cordingly we find, that in the earlier stages of our history the power was chiefly vested in the great baronial proprietors. In how few hands property was then vested, we may judge from the fact, that in the reign of William the First the vassals of the crown were only six hundred, and that they enjoyed the whole land of the king- dom, with the exception of the royal de- mesne. In process of time this property became subdivided, and the right of voting being extorted from the crown by the greater barons, it seems to have been con- sidered politic to extend it to those who were less opulent and powerful. Afterwards, as agriculture and mecha- nical arts improved, " the peasants," as Professor Millar observes, " became gra- dually emancipated from slavery, and ex- alted successively to the condition of far- mers, of tenants for life, and of hereditary proprietors. A great proportion of them engaged in mechanical employments ; and being collected in towns, where the arts were most conveniently cultivated, had in many cases become manufacturers and merchants." Hence the origin of bo- roughs, which, as they became wealthy, were entitled to send members to parlia- ment. And how strongly this principle of the representation of property was en- grafted on the ancient constitution, may be judged from the circumstance, that as fresh towns grew up and became opulent, they were entitled to return representa- tives. But the representatives in these early times appear to have been returned merely for the purpose of voting for the taxes which were paid by the particular towns they represented ; and as the expense of paying their representatives fell with seve- rity on some of the less opulent towns, they in many instances gave up their pri- vilege. From the reign of Edward the First downwards, this appears to have been frequently the case ; and Browne Willis has recorded a number of boroughs which thus relinquished their rights. If we attend to the state of art and science at that early period, we must be convinced that property has undergone a B 2 great change since those days ; that a new species of property has in point of fact been created, which is not represented. Trade and manufactures do not appear to have flourished in England to any great extent before the reign of Henry the Se- venth. The great advances then made in the woollen and other trades completely altered the face of the country, and the state of society. These advantages were confirmed, when, in the reign of Eliza- beth, the trade of the Low Countries was ruined, and transferred to Great Britain. Great commercial enterprises were now undertaken ; large fortunes were realized by them ; and a fresh source of national opulence was opened. As society advanced, commercial pros- perity increased. Banks were established ; companies were formed; and when tran- quillity succeeded to intestine tumults, and the rights of individuals were firmly se- cured by the revolution of 1688, the in- crease of wealth proceeded with accele- rated speed. How different is the state of property I now from what it was in former times! Our commerce then did not exist; trade was in its infancy ; banking capital was a thing unknown : there were no canals or other great public works ; and the funded interest was not called into existence ! Can then the state of representation in those early days be a fit model for us now to follow ? Can the principle of the con- stitution " that property should be repre- sented" be said to be preserved? Let us take our stand in reforming, as Montes- quieu recommends, on the first principles of the constitution ; and, keeping those principles in view as our guide, adapt the representation to the altered state of pro- perty. " Do you not think that you must come to Parliamentary Reform soon ? and is it not better to come to it now, when you have the power of deliberation, than when, perhaps, it may be extorted from you by convulsion ? There is as yet time to frame it with freedom and discussion ; it will even yet go to the people with the grace and favour of a spontaneous act. What 6 will it be when it is extorted from you with indignation and violence?" Such were the words of Mr. Fox, in his cele- brated speech on the present Earl Grey's motion for Reform in 1/9? ; and the ad- monition conveyed in them seems far more applicable to the present times than even to those in which it was uttered. At that period, the sanguinary events of the first French revolution had scared the minds of the English ; and, fearful of the horrors of anarchy, many even of the hi- therto staunch advocates of liberty were deluded by the specious sophistry of the minister, who told them, " this is not the time." "This is not the time" was the argument by which both the question of Catholic Emancipation and of Parliamen- tary Reform were uniformly met. In war or in peace, in disturbed or quiet times, in prosperity or adversity, the ministers invariably said, " this is not the time." Tli at argument can surely now avail no longer; now, when the bright and glo- rious example of regenerated France has stripped reform of all its terrors, and freedom has been sanctified by mercy ! now, when the friends of real reform are powerful to do good ; strong in " the King's name ; " strong in the zealous sup- port of an immense majority of the na- tion ; now, when the spirit of reform per- vades society, powerful for good or for evil, as it is well or badly used ! " This is in- deed the time," when the friends of the constitution must make one great effort to repair its defects, or be prepared to mourn at no distant day over the fallen fortunes of Great Britain. If there be one truth more strongly written in the pages of history than ano- ther, it is this ; that it is vain to attempt to stem the tide of popular opinion, and that such attempts are generally fatal to those who make them, and produce in an aggravated form the very evils that they were intended to prevent. Had Charles the First yielded some points of preroga- tive in the early stage of the disputes of that era ; had he at an earlier period con- sented to the reforms afterwards proposed by Clarendon, he might have retained his 8 crown ; but he persisted too long in his ad- herence to his high ideas of kingly powe, and when the wise and prudential sugges- tions of Clarendon were at length made, they came too late. " His wishes," to use the words of Lord Grenville, " were indeed virtuous, but his plan was no longer prac- ticable." When, untaught by the exam- ple of his predecessor, James the Second attempted to oppose his individual will to the voice of the nation, he too lamentably experienced the resistless force of popular opinion. And if we look to the new world, do we not there find examples of this truth no less strong than glorious ? Can any one doubt, that if the ministers of England had wisely conceded to the demands of the North Americans in the first instance, no revolution would have ensued there? In the instructions to the delegates to Con- gress in 1774, we find these expressions : " It is neither our wish nor our interest to separate from Great Britain. We are willing, on our part, to sacrifice every thing which reason can ask, to the resto- ration of that tranquillity for which all must wish. *** That you will be pleased to interpose, with that efficacy which your earnest endeavours may ensure, to procure redress of these our great grievances, to quiet the minds of your subjects in British America, against any apprehensions of future encroachment, to establish fra- ternal love and harmony through the whole empire ; and that that may continue to the latest ages of time, is the fervent prayer of all British America ! " Such were the sentiments of the Americans ; and to a very late period of the contest there can be little doubt that they would have gladly listened to any measures of conciliation. In South America the same great moral has been taught to governments ; there too the spirit of freedom has triumphed ; there too has been exhibited the impotence of power, when it attempts to stifle the voice of the people ! There are those who imagine that po- pular representation would expose us to the want of sufficient energy in the con- duct of public affairs : I must confess that I partake not in these fears, because all history proves that freedom is power, and that corruption withers whatever it touches. What ! was there want of energy in free Greece, when with an handful of patriots she routed the myriads of the despot of Persia? Rome too lost her energy when she lost her freedom. When I look back on the triumphs of antiquity ; when I read the accounts of heroism which the records of free Greece and Rome narrate ; when I peruse these spirit-stirring accounts of combats, where freemen fought but to con- quer, and conquered but to be free; I blush for the intellects of those who pro- mulgate the paltry doctrine that free as- semblies are not energetic ! Where, let me ask, where, under any form of govern- ment, will you find the spirit, the patrio- tism, the energy, that nerved the arm of Greece, and " wielded her force ? " I reply to this argument, not by any cold or studied sophistry ; but I appeal to the victories of Marathon, Salamis, and Thermopylae; I point to the monuments of Grecian glory, which to the latest moments of time will proclaim the resistless power of freedom ! 11 Look again at Italy ? What was the age of her triumphs, her glory, and her prowess ? The age of her freedom. It was not till the curse of slavery fell on her sons, that they lost their energies, and sunk into bon- dage ! Look to France. What was the age of her triumphs ? Was it when under ar- bitrary monarchs she fought at Agincourt, at Blenheim, and at Ramillies ? Was it not rather when, in the early days of the republic, her armies swept like a torrent over the plains of Italy, and victory at- tended on their march ? And if I am to look to English history, where shall I find most energy displayed, under the protectorate of Cromwell, or the reign of Charles the Second ? During the former, I find union at home and victory abroad ; during the latter, I see the mi- nions of France, who had quailed beneath the prowess of Cromwell, tampering with the liberties of England ! Under Crom- well, England could give law to Europe ; under Charles, she became the sport of the profligate court of Louis ! Do I then advocate a republic in pre- 12 ference to a monarchy ? No ; but I wish to see the spirit of freedom reinfused into the constitution of Britain, convinced as I am that it will strengthen her power, and consolidate her greatness. It is my firm belief, that our present mixed form of government is the best adapted to this country ; and so far am I from wishing to see a change of its struc- ture, that I am convinced any such change would be productive of the greatest and most deplorable evils. It is to avert these evils ; it is to prevent revolution by re- form ; it is to preserve the state by restor- ing it, that I advocate an alteration of the present state of the representation. It is not on the model of Grecian, of Roman, of Venetian, of French, or of any other republican constitution, that I wish to re- construct the state of this country. To a better, a purer, a more durable, and a more glorious model I look that of the ancient laws and customs of this realm ! It is English liberty I advocate ; and it is the English constitution which I wish to see the model of reform ! 13 In defending the cause of freedom, I need not look to other countries for ex- amples. It is but to point to the glorious progress of British liberty; to mark her triumphant course in spite of all the ob- stacles in her path ; to look to her early essays against the iron power of John, when the great charter was extorted ; to see her gradual progress under the Tudor and Stuart dynasties; to see how at length she burst through all the barriers of des- potism, and overthrew the powers of bi- gotry and tyranny ! It is but to point to the energy of British freedom, to prove how resistless is her might ! Do I wish to impair the prerogative of the crown ? No ! but to free that prero- gative from the shackles of party and fac- tion ! Preserve, I say, the three estates of the realm, king, lords, and commons ; but abolish the system of boroughs and corporation influence, which is unknown to the laws of England ! How ridiculous, how absurd is the idea, that reform will diminish the energy of government ! Reform will, indeed, render 14 government powerless for evil ; but, for good, it will nerve it with a giant's strength. It will, indeed, prevent useless and lavish expenditure of money; but it will enable the minister to dare boldly what the welfare of the state requires, without the fear of his measures being defeated by interested parties. And let me ask, will the voice of the minister be less powerful in the cabinets of foreign princes, because it is the echo of the voice of the nation ? Will the arm of the go- vernment be more feeble in war, because it strikes with the force of an united peo- ple ? Our strength lies in our union ; and our union must be founded on freedom. There can be, I apprehend, but little doubt that the great majority of the edu- cated and intelligent portion of the com- munity are at present decidedly favourable to reform. From all parts of the king- dom, petitions numerously and respectably signed have been sent up to parliament in favour of it, whilst scarcely one has been sent expressing contrary sentiments. If indeed we are to take these petitions and 15 the discussions on them as the criterion of popular opinion, it would be difficult to name any subject on which so great unanimity has prevailed ; whilst the ta- lent displayed by many of the reformers at the public meetings has been such as would not have disgraced any assembly, and would of itself be ample proof how unfair is the present state of the represen- tation. Not a few of those, whose speeches have displayed such eloquence and intelligence, are at the present moment excluded even from voting for representatives ; and it cannot be doubted, that many of them would under a re- formed system prove ornaments of the House of Commons. From all the large towns petitions have been sent up ; from the country they have been equally numerous ; and no rational man can doubt, that a decided majority of the re- spectable inhabitants of Great Britain are at this moment dissatisfied with the state of the representation, and zealously bent on obtaining an improved system. Shall the government then, in defiance of the lessons of all history, in defiance of the 16 awful warnings to governments which it contains, rashly oppose the wishes of the people ; or by a wise and timely conces- sion avert the impending storm, and pre- serve unimpaired the foundations of the constitution ? But if this were expedient policy on the part of a government under any circumstances, how much stronger is the case when justice and reason coincide with the popular sentiment? Even if the opinion of the people appeared to be erro- neous, it might become a question how far a wise government should resist it ; even then it would afford matter for grave con- sideration, whether the attempt to resist the wishes of the nation would be possible ; or whether such an attempt would not be productive of infinitely greater evils than those it was intended to avert ? But in the present case, the question is not whether some evil should be incurred in the hopes of preventing still greater ; but .whether great and positive advantages should be refused, at the imminent risk of the most disastrous and lamentable conse- quences ? " In a free state," says Blackstone, 17 " every man, who is supposed a free agent, ought to be in some measure his own governor; and, therefore, a branch at least of the legislative power should reside in the whole body of the people." " But," he continues, " in so large a state as ours, it is very wisely contrived, that the people should do that by their representatives, which it is impossible to perform in person." If the whole people were competent judges of political sub- jects, and if it were probable that they could give independent votes, it might certainly appear just that they should all have a voice in returning representatives. But inasmuch as from the nature of things it is quite impossible that the working orders can arrive at any just knowledge of public affairs ; and as they must naturally vote according to the instructions of their masters and superiors, it does not appear wise or politic to adopt so indiscriminate a principle of representation. The people of this country have a right to be free; they have also a right to be well governed. But to me it appears, that universal suf- 18 frage would deprive them of one or the other of these rights. If the lower classes voted according to their own unbiassed opinions, they must of necessity return many members utterly unqualified for their duties as senators. How could voters of this description possibly understand the merits of any great public question, and how could they be competent to determine what candidate was most likely to advance the welfare of the country ? If then they gave their free unbiassed votes, how would that be consistent with the right to good government ; whilst on the other hand, if, which would probably be the case, they were influenced by their superiors, what becomes of their liberty ? What is it but a mockery of liberty, to give votes to those, who from their situations in life must give their votes in ignorance of the merits of the candidates, or according to the direc- tions of others ? Universal suffrage then appears to me to be opposed to the very principles on which true reform should rest ; these prin- ciples are freedom and good govern- 19 ment ; but neither of them seem to be compatible with universal suffrage. Be- sides, where is the line to be drawn ? Are females to be excluded ? Are they to be debarred from the right of voting ? No one has as yet advocated the giving votes to females, and it is plain that such a propo- sal could never be seriously entertained. Yet there is in it nothing more absurd, than in the idea of giving the elective franchise indiscriminately to all the males of the kingdom. That plan of reform appears to me most advisable, which shall ensure the greatest number of really independent voters ; and what I should be inclined to propose would be, that the right of voting should be given to all householders. There is in this, I conceive, nothing visionary, nothing fanci- ful, nothing revolutionary; but a practical plan, which could not fail of ensuring the greatest benefits to the state. It would not be an innovation on the constitution, but a restoration of it to its primitive pu- rity. It was the opinion of Serjeant Glanvill, c 2 that the common-law right of paying scot and lot was the right of election, when no particular right intervened ; and this opi- nion of his is supported hy that of a par- liamentary committee. This, therefore, would be in accordance with the principles of the constitution, and is perhaps the wisest plan that could be adopted. In the first place it would be an act of justice. In Liverpool, Bristol, and other large towns, there are many indivi- duals of great intelligence, great re- spectability, who have at present no voice in returning members to parlia- ment : the tradesman, the attorney, the apothecary, are frequently without any voice in the representation. But is not this a great and crying evil? Is it not a blot on the constitution of England, that so large a portion of the wealth and intel- ligence of the country should be unrepre- sented? According to the first principles of the constitution, these classes of men have a right to be represented. According to every principle of justice and reason they are entitled to it. Here is a large 21 body of individuals, who have small inde- pendent fortunes, who have considerable intelligence, and who are therefore com- petent to give free and sensible votes. Here too, remember, is a large class of men who have a stake in the country, who are interested in preserving public peace and order, and who would not be likely to vote for any man who entertained opinions inimical to the general welfare. By ex- tending the basis of your representation so as to admit householders, you, I would say to the legislature, secure the zealous sup- port of a large and respectable class of men in your favour. No danger is in- curred, no risk is run ; for the class of men to whom the right of voting would be ex- tended, is that middle order of English- men, than whom no men are more distin- guished for sterling good sense ; nor are any men less likely to countenance any wild and revolutionary projects. The plan is just, it is constitutional, it is practical, it is safe. It is just, for it admits a class of men, who contribute largely to the sup- port of the state, to the exercise of a pri- 22 vilege for which they are perfectly qua- lified. It is constitutional, for it is in ac- cordance with the expressed opinion of high constitutional authorities. That it is practical no man can doubt ; and it is not only free from danger, but would increase the security of the state by satisfying the just wishes of the people, and ensur- ing their support. By this extension of the elective suf- frage, bribery and corruption would be materially checked. Such scenes as now too often occur in our great towns would become less frequent, because few men would be able to afford to bribe on so large a scale as would be necessary to ensure any prospect of success ; and the class of men to whom the suffrage would be ex- tended, would not be likely to be influ- enced by bribes. But whilst I expect that bribery would be checked, I do not wish to hold out the delusive idea that it would be at once put a stop to. If any one were afflicted with a complaint brought on by years of intempe- rance, could he expect to be cured in a 23 day? But because his cure could not he instantaneous, is that any reason why he should continue his intemperate habits, and neglect those remedies which afford the prospect of ultimate benefit ? So with respect to the state. It has long deviated from the principles of the constitution, its evils are the growth of years ; and no one but a visionary could fancy that they could be instantly cor- rected. But because they cannot be in- stantaneously corrected, is that any reason why they are not to be corrected at all ? In the next place, I would render resi- dence an essential qualification. What is it but a mockery of representation, that voters should be sent down, perhaps two hundred miles, at great expense and for what? To return a member for some town of which these voters can know nothing, and which they visit once in seven years, or it may be not so often. In point of fact it is well known, that in many places the non-resident voters carry the election. This system, fraught as it is with the 24 greatest evils, cannot be too speedily cor- rected. With respect to the elective franchise in counties, I should be inclined to make but little alteration*. For retaining it in its present state I have the great authority of Mr. Fox, who remarked, " I think that representation ought to be of a compound nature. The counties may be considered as territorial representation, as contradis- tinguished from popular." This I imagine is the fair view of the case. Representation ought to be com- pounded of every interest in the state. The popular interest, and mercantile and manufacturing interests, would be repre- sented by extending the franchise to house- holders, and by giving the right of return- ing members to places at present unrepre- sented. The county members should represent territory ; their representation should be territorial, not popular ; and * If the right was extended to copyholders and leaseholders, bound to pay a high rent for several years, it might be sufficient. 25 for this purpose I do not perceive that any great alteration need be made in the present nature of the franchise. Alterations, in- deed, great alterations, may be suggested in the mode of polling, which I shall pro- ceed now to inquire into. What I should suggest would be, that the polling for county members should take place in the different hundreds, and that the period of election should be li- mited to two days. This time would be, I conceive, amply sufficient to enable every freeholder to vote ; and the expense of elections would be materially diminished. Under the present system, it cannot be ex- pected that voters should travel from dis- tant parts of the country, neglecting their business at home for two or three days, without remuneration. It is not in human nature to expect that this should be the case. But if the polling took place in the hundreds, the voter would have less dis- tance to come, and need not neglect his ordinary business. Another advantage that would result from this would be, that the representa- tion of counties would be more equal. At present, the candidate whose voters hap- pen to be near the seat of election has of course considerable advantages over those whose influence is in more distant parts of the country. This unfair advantage would no longer exist under the proposed ar- rangement. I must confess, too, that I am favour- able to the proposal of dividing counties, and in the stead of two members being returned for a county at large, enabling each division to return one member. This would put an end to the system of com- promises ; and would not be attended with any inconvenience. The objection that will be urged, both to this, and also to the polling by hun- dreds is, that these plans will throw too much power into the hands of great pro- prietors in the divisions or hundreds. I must confess, however, that this objection does not appear to me entitled to much consideration. Granting that an indivi- dual proprietor could influence the votes in one or two hundreds ; they would be 27 neutralized by those of the remaining hun- dreds. Nor am I prepared to concede that the influence of large landed proprietors is in itself objectionable. I have already remarked that county representation must be considered as territorial in contradis- tinction to popular ; and on this principle I maintain, that the possessors of territory ought to exercise considerable influence in the return of county representatives. With respect to the duration of polls in towns, that I should be inclined to limit to one, or at the very utmost two days. I now come to consider how far it might be desirable to extend the right of voting to large towns at present unrepre- sented. And here again the proposed change is in perfect unison with the first principles of the constitution. " As for the electors of citizens and burgesses," says Black- stone, " these are supposed to be the mer- cantile part or trading interest of this kingdom. But as trade is of a fluctuating nature, and seldom long fixed in a place, it was formerly left to the crown to sum- 28 mon, pro re nata, the most flourishing towns to send members to parliament. So that as towns increased in trade, and grew populous, they were admitted to a share in the legislature. But the misfortune is, that the deserted boroughs continued to be summoned, as well as those to whom their trade and inhabitants were trans- ferred." Such was the constitution in its early state ; and all I now ask is, that the cor- ruptions that have since grown up, that the blemishes that have since defaced the ancient fabrick should be removed, and that it should be restored to its origi- nal condition. " I have always," said Mr. Canning, " said, that those who call on the House for a reform, must tell whe- ther their object is to reconstruct any part of the constitution anew, or to recal it to any specific state in which it was at any former period." In the name of the re- formers of Britain I accept the challenge conveyed in this sentence, and I maintain, that the object of reform is not to intro- duce any foreign or novel project, not to reconstruct the constitution anew ; but to recal it to the specific state in which it formerly existed. In recommending the extension of the elective franchise to house- keepers, I have proved this on the authority of Mr. Serjeant Glanville and a parliamen- tary committee ; and I now appeal to the authority of Blackstone, in support of the proposal of giving representatives to Bir- mingham, Leeds, and other large towns at present unrepresented. The principle of the constitution is, that all the interests of the kingdom should be represented. And therefore I maintain, that those sticklers for the constitution ; those ardent friends of the ancient order of things ; those gentry who tremble so at the idea of innovation and alteration ; ay, and those warm advocates for the prerogative of the crown, who still defend the present state of the representation, are of all incon- sistent men the most inconsistent ! They fear that the prerogative of the crown would be impaired by reform; but from the time of Edward the Fourth till that of Charles the Second, the kings used by 30 their prerogative to summon large unre- presented towns to send members to par- liament. Reform would only do that by a vote of parliament, which the king had a right to do by his prerogative. They tremble at the idea of innovation, and stickle for the constitution ! But I main- tain, that reform is not innovation, but restoration ; that it does not impair the constitution, but brings it back to its first principles. And I in return throw out a challenge to the anti-reformers, and defy them to point out a period in the ancient history of the country, when the present state of the representation was recognized in principle or in practice. The devia- tions from the constitution, the much- dreaded and talked-of innovations, have been all on the side of the anti-reformers. It is they who advocate the deviation from that great and fundamental principle' of the constitution, that every interest in the state should be fairly represented. It is they who advocate positive and direct innovations on the ancient law and prac- tice of the realm ; who advocate non- 31 resident votes; a very ancient species of voting ; as ancient as the 14 George III, which first dispensed with the necessity of residence, that had been required by the ancient statutes, the 1 Henry V, the 8 Henry VI, the 23 Henry VI. It is they who advocate the monstrous doctrine of indirect representation ; a doc- trine absurd in point of reason, false in point of constitutional principle, and fraught with peril to the state in its ope- ration. Henceforward then let us hear no more about the dangers of innovation ; let us hear no more about the good old times ; let us hear no more about the ancient con- stitution of the country. If the anti- reformers wish to be consistent, let them declare that they are advocates of " things as they are," of the con- stitution of 1831, of the statutes and laws passed in these latter days ; but, in the name of common candour and honour, let them not usurp to themselves the reputa- tion of being the champions of the ancient constitution of England. Is it not monstrous, let me ask, that 32 Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, those emporiums of national wealth, those sources of national greatness, should be without a full and fair representation ? Whilst I advocate fair representation of territory by county members ; of popular interests by housekeepers ; of commerce by the large towns of London, Liverpool, and Bristol, can I avoid pleading the cause of the manufacturers of England, who are not directly represented in parliament ? Whence is it that this country derived the means that enabled her in the late war to brave the world in arms, and to triumph single-handed over the combined hostility of empires ? Whence came those " thews and sinews of war," but from the great seats of manufactures? And is it en- durable, that these very towns, whose wealth and riches are of such vital im- portance to the state, should be unrepre- sented ? No plan of reform then can be worthy of consideration, which does not confer the right of representation on those towns. 33 The next point for consideration is, how far it might be desirable to disfranchise any of the present boroughs. It was never intended that small boroughs should return members ; " but the misfortune was, that the deserted boroughs continued to be sum- moned, as well as those to which their trade and inhabitants were transferred*." So that it unfortunately happened, that the right of returning representatives was continued to those places, after the ori- ginal grounds of the right had ceased to exist. When the trade and inhabitants left the boroughs, the right of representa- tion ought also to have ceased. This point is so ably and clearly explained by Mr. Serjeant Merewether, that I cannot do better than quote his opinion on the subject: "The origin of the representa- tion of boroughs sprang out of their sepa- ration from the county at large; the increase of population in a particular spot rendering the common division of the county into hundreds and tithings inap- * Blarkstone's Commentaries. D 34 plicable to a place so crowded ; and hence the large towns were subdivided into wards, with their elder men, or aldermen, presiding over them; by virtue of which separation from the county they had ex- clusive jurisdiction, and in consequence of the exercise of that jurisdiction within their limits, they were exempt from the interference of the sheriff. They had themselves the return of all writs, and the sheriff for that purpose could not enter their limits ; from whence it followed, that neither could he call upon them to concur in the election of the knights of the shire, nor to contribute to the pay- ment of their wages after they were elected. With respect to duty, therefore, it was unreasonable that they should be exempted from sending representatives to parliament, or from paying their wages ; and with respect to right, it was unrea- sonable that they should not be repre- sented at all ; therefore precepts were directed to them to return members for themselves, and they were compelled to pay amongst themselves their expenses." 35 Now this account of the origin of boroughs appears to be conclusive, as to not the right of disfranchising these places, but as to the nonexistence at the present moment of any right of fran- chise in them. They have ceased to he boroughs; from the moment their dense population left them, their real existence as boroughs terminated ; and from that moment they ought to have merged into the divisions of the county. It is, therefore, absurd and idle to talk about the injustice of taking away the rights of these places the rights of one house at Old Sarum for instance. Why, according to the ancient constitution of the realm, they have no rights to lose; there are no such rights in existence. The anomaly of some half dozen houses returning mem- bers, whilst large towns are unrepresented, is not chargeable on the constitution of England. The constitution of England knows of no such discrepancies ; it ac- knowledges the right of wealthy and po- pulous places to be represented, but does not sanction any such right in smaller D 2 36 towns. This discrepancy, this blot on the constitution, is chargeable on the real innovators, who have from time to time altered and defaced the ancient system. In point of law, these boroughs have ceased to exist ; the one house at Sarum, and the half dozen houses of other places, may return members ; but these houses certainly do not constitute boroughs. I should propose they should be called " the late boroughs ; " that would be a more correct appellation, and it would intro- duce a little more variety into the present state of the representation. There would then be, county members ; members for large towns ; members for boroughs ; and members for " late boroughs" I will now offer a few remarks on the rights of corporations. And in the first place I maintain, that no charter from the crown can take away the common-law right of the people. This was in fact one of the points dis- puted between James the First and his par- liament ; and it was then declared by a committee of the House of Commons, that 37 no royal charter can alter the right of par- liamentary election. In the next place I would remark, that the corporate rights have been in too many instances grossly abused. To take the case of Truro, which is a striking in- stance : Truro had always returned mem- bers ; the commonalty at large returned them till 1589. In that year a charter wa granted to the town by Elizabeth, constituting a mayor, and two classes of burgesses, namely, capital burgesses, and common burgesses ; and specifically con- firming to the latter, the right of sending two members to parliament, or otherwise (vel aliter) by their common council, the capital burgesses. The common burgesses, " good easy men," appear to have allowed the capital burgesses, according to the unfortunate " vel aliter " claim, to return members at first ; in return for which the capital burgesses turn round on the com- mon burgesses, when they wish to take the right into their own hands again, and with flagrant impudence tell them they 38 are quite mistaken, if they suppose they have any thing to do with the election. The charter further declared, that whenever any of the capital burgesses ceased to reside in the borough, the per- sons so ceasing to reside should be con- sidered to have vacated their office, and others be appointed in their stead. But the capital burgesses soon dispensed with this clause, the non-residents were allowed to vote, and at the present moment con- stitute the majority of the voters ; so that first of all the right of election is taken from the common burgesses ; and then the capital burgesses, whose authority seems to be far superior to the laws of the country, very deliberately dispense with a law which they find inconvenient. Now Truro is a large and opulent place ; largely con- cerned in mining and other transactions, and its inhabitants are well entitled to return members to parliament. " Ab uno disce onmes." I have entered thus fully into the case of Truro, in order to show the working of the system. Truro is not 39 worse than many other places, the fault lies in the system, and it is of no use whatever to attempt to effect the cure by palliatives and half measures, the entire system must be changed. ^~ ~- " _-> Most of the present boroughs have re- turned members since the reign of Edward the First. But municipal corporations did not exist till the 18th of Henry the Sixth ; and as the right of returning members to parliament existed consequently so long previous to municipal corporations, it is quite plain that that right was prior, and is superior to their privileges. Thus then I have, I trust, shown, that, according to the ancient laws of the realm, no injustice would be done by the disfranchisement of corporate towns ; and that it is quite an error to call a few houses boroughs, that they are not boroughs, and cannot be en- titled to any rights as such. There really then appears to be no good cause why such towns should not be either entirely disfranchised, or at all events should be restricted to the right of return- ing only one representative, according to 40 the plan recommended in a recent very sensible and excellent work, " The Question of Reform considered," and originally proposed by Oliver Cromwell. That great legislator, by depriving many of the smaller t boroughs of their franchise, conferred a great benefit on the common- wealth, and has left us the model of a plan the best adapted to meet our present emer- gencies. Perhaps, indeed, the name of Cromwell may startle some persons ; but little can that man be conversant with the history of his country, who whilst he blames the dark points of Cromwell's cha- racter, refuses on the other hand to pay the just tribute of applause to the best soldier and acutest statesman of his day ; to him who first effected the union of the empire ; to him, under whose auspices the navy of Britain obtained many of its proudest vic- tories ; to him who maintained the ascend- ancy of Britain throughout Europe, and caused the name of England to be re- spected by the Roman pontiff, the Bourbon monarch, and the Spanish emperor, in the plenitude of their power ! Such was the man 41 whose powerful mind conceived and exe- cuted the plan of reform I now recommend. I now come to the question of the ballot ; and here I must deliver my senti- ments with regret, opposed as they are to those of a considerable portion of my countrymen, and differing as I do from many public men, for whose sentiments on other points I entertain great and un- feigned respect. But on a great public question, that must affect so materially the welfare of the state, it is incumbent on every man not to dissemble his opinions ; and I must, therefore, frankly state that I am decidedly opposed to vote by ballot. In the first place, I conceive it would not be productive of the expected advantages. .If I were convinced that it would put a stop to bribery, if I thought it would render voters really independent, I would gladly support it ; but I conceive that it would be so far from hindering, that in all proba- bility it would materially increase corrup- tion. We are referred to the example of America ; but if the account given by Mr. Fearon is correct, the vote by ballot does 42 not appear to prevent bribery there. He describes an election of a president, which he says is all managed by a body called caucus. " Since the first choice of Mr. Jeffer- son/' says he, " the presidential elections are managed by private meetings of the democratic members of congress, previous to elections. They settle among them- selves who shall be president. This is called, ' getting the appointment in cau- cus/ and an instance never occurs of the votes being in opposition to caucus. When they have determined on who they wish to be president, they send circulars to their different states, pointing out by a kind of conge d'elire who they have resolved should be elected ; and as the right of voting for presidents is confined to a very limited number, there is no instance of the caucus being disobeyed." Behold then the working of the ballot ! See how this system works in the very country to which we are referred for proofs of its excellence. The ballot, it is quite plain, would either 43 entirely prevent bribery, or it could not fail to increase it ; for if a man took one bribe under this system, what is to prevent his taking three ? What is to prevent his taking a bribe of A; then a greater of C; and a greater still of E ? He is thus sure of his money, whichever party comes in ; and not only would he be guilty of taking three bribes, but must play the hypocrite to two of the party. So much for the morality of the plan ! What would be easier than to establish a caucus in Eng- land ? And we see with what certainty the American caucus can regulate its ope- rations. As to the votes being kept quite secret, that strikes me as impossible. How are men to keep their opinions secret in this free country ? Do the advocates for ballot mean to suppress the free expressions of Englishmen ? Do they wish, do they ex- pect, that Englishmen should not openly speak their minds ; that they should main- tain silence, or become habitual hypo- crites ? Will the advocates of free dis- cussion stand forward and advocate this ? 44 And shall we, let me ask, sacrifice the birthright of every free Englishman, the right of free discussion, at the shrine of any fanciful theory ? Shall we reduce the inhabitants of this country to the alterna- tive of being slaves or hypocrites ? of fear- ing to speak in public, what they dare act in private ? If I am offered the ballot on one side, or free discussion on the other, I would at once say, " Give me free dis- cussion. Give me the right of openly canvassing the measures of government, and scrutinizing the conduct of public men.' But except opinions are kept secret, what becomes of the advantage of the ballot ? What use would it be for a man to vote in secret, if his public conversation betrayed his sentiments. Is it to be sup- posed that the voters would not express their opinions of the candidates to their neighbours, their friends, and families ? And would not the vote by ballot have a natural and powerful tendency to generate those two odious, and, thank God, as yet un-English vices, hypocrisy and espionage ? 45 The candidate will not know imme- diately which way those he supposes to be in his influence have voted. But he will try and find out : his agents will easily discover by a man's opinions what his vote must have been. Thus will be generated hypocrisy on the part of the voter, espionage and suspicion on the part of the candidate ; the sterling frankness and simplicity of the English character will be no more; and whilst public liberty gains nothing, national mo- rals will receive a fatal shock. It may be said, " What do national morals gain by the present mode of elec- tion?" But my reply is, that I do not advocate the present mode of election ; that I have proposed a great and sweeping change ; a change which appears likely to produce all the benefits to be expected from the ballot, without its concomitant evils. The ballot, under the present system, would do no good. The ballot by itself would be the greatest deception that was ever palmed upon the public. What 46 earthly advantage could be expected to result from it in corporate and borough towns ? Would it not perpetuate corrup- tion under the guise of independence ? If on the other hand the system of repre- sentation be altered ; if the corporate and small borough towns are disfranchised ; if all resident housekeepers are allowed to vote ; if the votes are taken in the hun- dreds of counties, and the parishes of towns, and the time of polling is short- ened ; all the advantages would be ob- tained that the most sanguine advocates of the ballot anticipate. Such are my opinions on the ballot ; opinions offered with regret and reluct- ance, but which I must retain till other proofs of the merits of this mode of voting are produced, than any I have yet met with. Neither am I inclined to advocate any material shortening of the duration of par- liaments. Triennial parliaments might be attended with some advantages; they would compel the representative more fre- 47 quently to meet his electors ; they might thus make him more sedulous in his duty, and more watchful of the interests of the public. The frequent recurrence of elec- tions would also, I conceive, be an ad- ditional check on bribery. It is to be hoped, though, that the other reforms I have mentioned would so purify the repre- sentation, would infuse into it so much popular energy and vigour, as would ren- der the shortening of parliaments un- necessary ; because it is plain that the too frequent recurrence of dissolutions would be a great hindrance to public business. It must be always borne in mind, that we must endeavour not merely to have a parliament returned on free principles, but one competent to govern with energy the affairs of the kingdom. And it appears probable, that if the duration of parlia- ments was shortened, their efficiency would be diminished. No greater evil can be conceived than change and vacillation in the national councils. Having, therefore, once returned mem- 48 bers on free and constitutional principles ; having on the best consideration returned men who seem likely to defend the liber- ties and attend to the interests of the state, the people may, 1 think, well en- trust their representatives with power during the space of seven years. By shortening the duration of parliaments, I doubt whether liberty would be benefited ; I am very sure good government would be injured. That some reform must take place, and that speedily, few men, I presume, will venture to question. But the considera- tion for the legislature and a graver one was never submitted to it is, will you grant reform now, when you may do so in a constitutional manner, or will you wait till the cry for reform is exchanged for that of revolution, and the kingdom is convulsed ? It is now in your power to save the statej by no violent, no novel, no unusual methods, but by a simple recur- rence to the first principles of the consti- tution. You are not required to innovate, 49 but to remove innovations, and to restore the constitution to its original state. You are not asked to revolutionize, but to pre- vent revolution. In your hands you hold the destinies of the empire; and on your votes depends the fate of Great Britain. All the greatest men that have adorned the annals of English history were advo- cates of reform. It was the spirit of re- form that animated the able parliamentary leaders in the time of James the First ; it was the spirit of reform that fired the mind of Algernon Sydney, and pointed to Lord Russell the paths of glory ; it was the spirit of reform that shook off the yoke of priestcraft in the reign of the second James, and asserted civil and religious liberty; it was the spirit of reform that breathed through the speeches, and in- fluenced the counsels of the patriot Chat- ham ; it was the same spirit that in later times guided the mind of Fox, when, to use the just eulogium of the poet, " 'Mid faction's wildest storms unmoved, A patriot's even course he steered, E 50 By all who marked his life, revered, By all who knew his heart, beloved*." It is for the legislators of England now to prove themselves worthy of their an- cestors. It is for them to transmit to posterity the constitution they have re- ceived from their forefathers unimpaired by revolution, but renovated by reform ! * Fitzpatrick. CMARLRS WOOD AND SON, PRINTERS, Hoppin's Court, Fleet Street. TH REFORM MINISTRY, AND THE REFORMED PARLIAMENT. SrrontJ (Sfcitton. LONDON: JAMES RIDGWAY AND SONS, PICCADILLY. 1833, Price Two Shillings and Sixpence. An Edition of this Pamphlet may be had for distribution, at bl. per hundred. TABLE OF CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION ...... 1 IRELAND Remedial Measures of the Government in 1831 & 1832 5 Defence of the Coercive Bill , ,.. .. . 6 Irish Church Bill V" .... 8 Grand Jury Bill . . . . . 8, 9 Jury Bill . . . . ... Commission of Inquiry into Corporations . , . 4) State of the Poor . . Irish Tithe Bill . . . " .' . 10 ABOLITION OF WEST INDIA SLAVERY . , ..; . 10 FINANCE Expenditure . . . . . .18 Taxation . . . . . .25 Navy . . ... . .28 Committee on Army Appointments . . .30 Excise . . . . . .32 BANK CHARTER . . ... . .35 EAST INDIA CHARTER . . .. . .43 TRADE Tea Bill . . . . . .49 Reduction of Duties on Soap, &c. . . .51 on Gums, &c. . . .51 Consolidation of Commercial Laws . . .52 Sugar Refining Act . . . . .52 Commercial Mission to France . . .53 Trade Committee . . . . .53 Factory Commission and Factory Bill . . 55 LAW REFORM Commission for the Arrangement of the Statute Law 56 Common Law Act for the Amendment of the Law 56 Court of Chancery Regulation of Offices Act . 58 Abolition of Offices Act . 60 Bill for separating the Legal and Judicial Functions of the Great Seal, &c. . 63 iv CONTENTS, Page LAW REFORM Privy Council Act . . . . .63 Criminal Law Act to abolish Punishment of Death in certain cases of Burglary . . .65 Real Property Law Act for Limitation of Actions 66 for abolishing Fines and Recoveries . . . . .67 for amendment of Law of Inheritance and of Dower ' . . .68 - Registry Bill . . .69 Local Courts Bill 69 Imprisonment for Debt Bill . V . .71 Ecclesiastical Court Bill . , . .71 Difficulties of 'Law Reform . . . .72 CORPORATIONS . . t v . .74 SCOTLAND Scotch Burgh Bill T"' 1 . , . , . 76 Corporation Commission . . .76 Commission of Inquiry into the Laws, Courts of Justice, &c. . t . . . .77 Alteration in mode of Collecting the Revenue in Scotland . - . '. ' . . .77 POOR LAW AMENDMENT State of the Poor Laws t , ' . . . .78 Emigration Bill . . "... . . .81 Poor Law Commission . " , . .82 Annuity Bill . ' . . . .87 FOREIGN POLICY Greece . . . ,.J . .89 Belgium . '. V . . .90 Portugal " , ' ~ f . , .94 Turkey . , ' . . . .96 Poland . . '. f . .97 Ital y ." . . .99 France * . ' . ' . . . 99 CONCLUSION , "", ", , ! . THE REFORM MINISTRY REFORMED PARLIAMENT " I SHOULD wish to ask the Noble Lord, (said the Duke of Wellington to Earl Grey, in a speech on the Reform Bill,) how any Ministry will hereafter be able to conduct the King's Government, with a Parliament such as will be returned by this Bill." Well, the experiment has been tried. The first Session of the Reformed Parliament has closed. That Parliament which, according to the prophecies of one side, was to bring with it little else than anarchy which, according to the hopes of the other, was at once to relieve all our burthens, and redress every abuse. Of course, the fears and the hopes of both sides were exaggerated. It must, nevertheless, be admitted that those who feared had more reasonable foundation for their alarm, than those who hoped had for their expectations. Any B 2 Parliament reformed or unreformed might have gone far to corrupt or destroy the institutions of the country ; they might have brought about that anarchy which was prophesied or affected to be feared ; but no Parliament could have done all that was pretended to be hoped. No Parliament would have done all this, even if we suppose the whole body to have had the clearest views as to what was expedient, and to have been unanimous in the pursuit of their objects. That there is a nearer approach to wisdom and honesty in the present Parliament than in any of its predecessors, we think is shewn by the events of the Session ; but still it is only an approach ; and highly as we estimate the merits of the Reformed House, we still must admit, that if it gave peculiar advantages to a public- spirited Ministry, it exposed such a Ministry to peculiar difficulties. Previous administrations have usually had but one set of opponents : opponents united in their principles, and all actuated by common motives. The battles they had to fight, and the questions they had to debate, were circum- scribed within limits, admitted by both sides. It is the fortune of the present Govern- ment to be encountered by two hostile factions, the Tories and the Radicals, who appear to agree in no principle either of preservation or destruc- tion, and have no object common to both, except that of endeavouring to persuade the people of the imbecility of the Ministers. What has been done ? is their cry. It is obvious that the parties opposed to the Ministers would give different answers to this question. The Tories, if compelled to employ some definite terms, would probably assert that too much had been done ; and the Radicals, too little. But it must be remembered that the present Ministers are invested with the highest trust which it ever fell to the lot of men to execute. Their junction with either of the adverse parties must be fatal to the quiet of the country, and defeat, for a long period, all the good we have obtained or may expect. They must trust to the good sense of the great body of their fellow-citizens to permit them gra- dually and steadily to repair the injuries which the country has sustained by a misgovernment of nearly fifty years, and claim a confidence for integrity for the future, by an impartial review of what has already passed. The present Ministry wisely commenced the work of general reform by a reform in the con- stituency of the House of Commons. And surely in effecting this great measure, no party can accuse them of want of integrity, or courage. They demolished by this blow the groundwork which had supported all preceding administra- tions. All that, for which former parties con- tended, and for which they sought to be in place. With this reform, patronage, the main lever of former politicians, inevitably perished, 4 and has left the present Ministers, as it will leave all future administrations, dependent solely on the support of the people. Their ene- mies did not then accuse them of doing no- thing. The Tories announced the value of the measure by their terror, and the Radicals by their joy. As compared with the great measure of Reform, all others appear subordinate. The im- pression it created, the excitement it produced, still agitates the public mind. Its magnitude conceals the importance of all other political measures. Every step which has followed it appears diminutive, when compared with this mighty stride. It renders men dissatisfied with the delay required for the details of inferior changes, with which the welfare of large masses of the community is interwoven, and which can- not be carried into execution without either great precaution or great injustice. The subjects which have principally occupied the attention of the Ministers and of Parliament, during the past Session, may be divided under the following heads : IRELAND. SLAVERY. FINANCE. BANK CHARTER. EAST INDIA CHARTER. TRADE. LAW. CORPORATIONS. SCOTLAND. POOR LAWS. FOREIGN POLICY. On each of these subjects we shall make a few observations, and shall conclude by a short estimate of the conduct and character of the Members of the New Parliament. These details may be dry, but it is only by facts that either the Ministers or the Parliament can be judged ; it is only by a detailed consideration of what has been done, that men can judge whether Lord Grey was sincere when he proclaimed that Reform should be "the means to an end," and whether the new constituency deserved to rouse the suspicions expressed by the Duke of Wel- lington, or the terrors of Mr. Croker. IRELAND. The state of Ireland was the first great ques- tion brought before Parliament ; and in fact was the most prominent subject of the Session. It is true that there were other questions of great moment and urgency, but the state of Ireland admitted no delay. When the present Government took office, the storm which had been gathering for the previous half century had burst. The first remedies which they applied were such as, if they had been adopted by their predecessors, might have been sufficient. Measures were adopted for removing the collision between the tenantry and the clergy as to tithes, and for throwing the maintenance of the Establishment upon 6 the Landlord ; * Public Education was made equally accessible to the Catholic and the Protestant ; Agriculture f and Manufactures were encouraged ; J a large fund was appro- priated for the promotion of public works ; the road to prosperity was opened, if the peace- ful and industrious portion of the community could only obtain protection while treading it. But that protection they had not, nor did it appear that in the existing state of the law they could have it. We are wrong, per- haps, in using the word law, for law, in its usual acceptation, that is, an instrument by which the persons and properties of the innocent are secured, had almost ceased to exist ; and the question was, shall Ireland be suffered to fall into the sanguinary barbarism of Abyssinia, or, what- ever be the difficulty, whatever be the risk, what- ever even be the certain sacrifice, shall she, at that risk, or at that sacrifice, be restored to civilization? Read Lord Althorp's catalogue of one year's crimes for Leirister murders and attempts to murder, 163 robberies, 387 burglaries, 182 burnings, 194 houghing cattle, 70 other wilful and malicious injuries to property, 407- serious assaults, 744 illegal notices, 913. The Ministry saw, that unless they couid at * 2d and 3d. Wm. IV. c. 1 19. t An Act for improving certain Waste Lands in Ireland, 2 and 3 Wm. IV. c. 52. J An Act for the better Regulation of the Linen Manufac- ture, 2 and 3 Wm. IV. c. 77. 7 once devise some remedy, all was lost. Of what avail would it have been, that they had at- tempted palliations ? No remedy, no relief could be applied, till the moral state of society was re- novated ; till some political, as well as personal liberty was restored. Ministers did not disguise from themselves or the House, that the Coercion Bill was an infringement of the Constitution. They put it forward expressly as an infringe- ment, but as a necessary infringement. It was thus referred to by Lord Grey, in his speech on the Irish Church Reform Bill, when he said, " I feel more strongly in reference to the immediate question of Ireland, in con- sequence of the necessity, the unfortunate necessity, under which we found ourselves, at the beginning of this Session, of propos- ing a law which, as we did not conceal from ourselves or from the public, was a measure of extreme severity, a departure from the spirit of the Constitution, only to be justified in a case of extremity. God forbid, my Lords, that the measure should become permanent ; since its continuance can only be rendered expe- dient by the continuance of evils, which ought to be remedied in the interval of tranquillity which it affords." The measure passed both Houses by large majorities ; the country as well as Parliament admitted its necessity. Its success has been the very highest of which a preventive measure is capable. It has succeeded, not only without having been abused, but almost without having been em- 8 ployed. Only one county (Kilkenny) has been proclaimed; this was done on the 10th of April; and the following is the result. The outrages in that county in the year 1833, were, Jan., 196. Feb., 178. March, 144. April, 47.- May, 15. The measure next in importance, was the Irish Church Bill ; one of a series of measures in- tended to remove those causes of complaint, and disturbance, which rendered the Coercive Law necessary. The provisions of this bill have been so recently discussed, that it would be useless to enter into any detail. Its most important fea- tures were, the abolition of Church Rates, or, as they are called in Ireland, Vestry Cess, the suppression of 10 bishopricks out of 22, and the application of their revenues to purposes of re- ligious instruction. Those who look forward with eagerness to reform in the English Church establishment, hailed the measure not only as an act of justice to Ireland, but as affording some clue to what may be the feelings and conduct of Ministers, when they shall redeem their promise, by en- tering on the arduous task of Church Reform in England. The Grand Jury, and the Jury bills, also were subjects of vast importance in the affairs of Ire- land ; a great part of the business of Grand Ju- ries, in Ireland, is the making presentments for public works, chiefly roads. These were usually made by persons most interested in the work to be done, often the Grand Jurors themselves, 9 and often for making roads, from which the public derived no benefit. None but those acquainted with the jobbing, and the malver- sation of an Irish Grand Jury, could conceive the abuses attending and incidental to their presentments. A few years ago, the evil was partially remedied ; but enough remained to make the existence of these presentments a grievous burthen on the country. The Act passed provides, that a certain num- ber of persons, paying the highest amount of county rate, shall be associated with the magis- trates at Sessions, to judge of their presentments, and that all works to be executed, shall be done by open contract, and a certain portion of the rate-payers are vested with a control over the expenditure. The object of the Jury Bill was to promote the better administration of justice, by securing the impartial selection of Juries, and preventing the intimidation of witnesses, which was done by assimilating the law of Ireland as far as pos- sible to that of England, under Sir R. Peel's Jury Act ; this was aided by the change of Venue Bill, which gave an opportunity of removing the trial of offences beyond the reach of local heats and animosities. Two Commissions have been issued, from which much good may be expected one for inquiring into the Corporations of Ireland, and the other for inquiring into the state of the labouring classes in Ireland. Mr. Sergeant 10 Perrin is at the head of the former, the Arch- bishop of Dublin and the Catholic Primate are members of the latter. Such names are a secu- rity to the public that the inquiries will be effi- ciently conducted. One of the last Acts of the Session was for the relief of the Clergy in Ireland, and to afford time for settling the terms upon which an equit- able commutation of tithe might eventually be effected. As we can say no good, so we shall not say any- thing of the conduct of the Opposition Lords on some of these measures ; whether they became, in the eleventh hour, convinced of their necessity, or whether they at last found it was not expe- dient to place themselves in direct opposition to the Commons, need not here be discussed. What, however, can be said for the sincerity of those, who, opposing the Irish Church Reform Bill solely on religious grounds, could choose no more appropriate a leader than the Duke of Cumberland ! ! THE ABOLITION OF WEST INDIA SLAVERY. On this subject, at the commencement of the Session, the minds of reflecting men were fixed with intense, and anxious expectation. That it would that it must, be brought under the con- sideration of the Reformed Parliament, in their first Session, no one could doubt, who had rioted the zeal of its promoters, arid the hold which it had evidently taken upon the public 11 mind. The excited hopes, and growing intelli- gence of the Slave population rendered its final settlement at no distant period, inevitable, and every day of its postponement was fraught with aggravated danger. Yet the gigantic extent of the subject, the vast commercial interests in- volved in its development, the conflicting prin- ciples and prejudices which were to be encoun- tered, the great moral and political problems which were to be discussed and solved, might well justify the apprehensions of those who felt that, while the crisis was inevitable and the dan- ger imminent, the difficulties which were to be encountered were hardly less than insuperable. On the other hand, to allow such a question to be thrown loosely before Parliament, the Coun- try, and the Colonies ; to furnish the mere assertion of a principle, independently of the practical details by which it would be carried into effect ; to have left the subject in the hands of those who were not responsible for the working of the great experiment, would mani- festly have been a dereliction of duty on the part of Ministers, a shrinking from the high and ar- duous task which they had to perform, which would in itself have ensured failure, and real- ized the most disastrous anticipations of the most timid. Unappalled, therefore, by the mag- nitude of the difficulties, increased, as those difficulties were, by the excitement under which the subject must be brought forward, and the exorbitant demands of the West Indians and 12 the Abolitionists, Ministers boldly and wisely de- termined to grapple with the question ; and in the name of his colleagues, Lord Althorp pro- mised that it should be done. The performance of that promise is the Act for the Abolition of Slavery ; and a brief ex- amination of its three principal features the Extinction of Slavery the Compensation to the Proprietors, and the Apprenticeship of the eman- cipated Negroes, will shew that Ministers have faithfully redeemed their pledge : and that Par- liament has honestly, prudently, and fearlessly performed its part. The Act provides for the entire extinction of Slavery in the British Colonies on the 1st of August, 1834. From that day, Slavery becomes altogether illegal ; it is no longer protected, nor even re- cognized by the law ; it is denounced, pro- scribed, abolished for ever, throughout all the dominions which own the British sway. Can we hesitate in pronouncing that this early period fixed for this great act of justice, is completely satisfactory to every friend of liberty and humanity. Is it not immediate Emancipation? With regard to the compensation, the sum of 20,000,000^. which the Act provides to be distributed among the Proprietors of Slaves, has been considered by the proprietors resident in this country sufficiently satisfactory to induce them to promise their co-operation here, and their influence in the Colonies, in carrying into 13 effect the intentions of the Government, and the enactments of the Imperial Legislature ; and there is no risk of the liberality of the Country being abused, since it is provided that no part of the Compensation is to be paid to any Colony, unless it has adopted and conformed to the hu- mane views of the mother country. When it is considered that in the early part of the discussions on this branch of the subject the Abolitionists denied in toto the right of the Proprietors to the services of their Slaves, or to any compensation for the loss of those services, and that, on the other hand, the West India Pro- prietors valued their Slaves alone at 44,000,000/. and further, that during the whole Session the public mind has been more than usually sensi- tive to the burthen of taxation, and more than ever alive to the necessity of every practicable economy and retrenchment it must be admitted that to produce a satisfactory result has required great firmness as well as discretion on the part of Ministers. Had the Act merely granted emancipation to the Slave, and compensation to the Proprietor, it might have been satisfactory to those whose personal and pecuniary interests were directly affected, but it certainly would not have been safe. It was absolutely necessary that some plan should be devised, which should prevent the emancipated slave from relapsing into the con- dition of the savage; which should afford op- 14 portunity for adapting the laws and institutions of the Colonies to the entirely altered condition of society, and which might prevent the loss to the West India Proprietors, and to the trade and revenues of this country, which would ne- cessarily ensue from an immediate and total cessation of the cultivation of Colonial produce. For these purposes, the Act provides that every Negro shall, immediately upon his eman- cipation, become an apprentice to his present master for a very limited period, not exceeding six years. During this interval the Slaves who are en- gaged in the cultivation and manufacture of sugar, and other agricultural produce, are to work for their masters, as apprentices, for 45 hours per week, in consideration of being pro- vided with all the necessaries of life in the same manner as at present. By this arrangement, a supply of labour to a moderate extent is insured to the proprietors : they are protected from the incalculable incon- venience and danger which would accrue from O the uncontrolled vagrancy and indolence of the Negroes, and they will be able, in this interval, not only to make such laws and police regula- tions, as the communities may require, but also to train up the Negro in habits of voluntary in- dustry, and to fit him for the duties of a free citi- zen, which he will eventually have to perform. The certain supply of labour which the ap- prenticeship provides, although insufficient for 15 the production of the amount of produce now exported from the Colonies, will probably be suf- ficient to prevent the necessity of resorting to the slave Colonies of other nations for the supply of that produce, which would be a direct encou- ragement to that very system we are in the act of abolishing. The principal advantage of the apprentice- ship, however, accrues to the Negroes themselves. They are, in fact, placed in a condition of greater comfort than that of the peasantry of any civi- lized nation. For a very moderate amount of labour, leav- ing a large reserve of unrestricted leisure, not only are the effective Negroes, but the whole Slave population to be maintained by the Pro- prietors during the apprenticeship. The duty imposed upon them of working 45 hours per week for their employer, secures them from the evils and vices of a vagrant and idle life ; and, at the same time, the mutual depend- ence of the employer and the apprentice, arising out of this limitation of the hours of compul- sory labour, will lead necessarily to a system of voluntary contracts to work for wages. Those who objected to the system of appren- ticeship, described it as enforcing work without wages, but overlooked or suppressed the fact that wages, and those by no means inadequate, will be given to the apprenticed labourer in the form of maintenance and lodging, and other 16 necessaries for himself, and also for those whom he would otherwise be bound to support. Nor must it be overlooked, that in a state of Slavery, the master is bound to furnish his Slaves with houses and provision grounds, to which they in general become much attached, and which, from long habit, they have learnt to consider as their own individual property. The nature of rent, or the very idea of making any payment for leave to occupy these pre- mises, has never entered into the imagina- tion of a Negro : yet it is equally clear, that when he ceases to be a Slave, the master is no longer bound to furnish him with a lodging and land gratuitously ; and that, on the other hand, any attempt to eject the Negro population, would be not only hazardous, but impractica- ble. It seems, therefore, a wise provision, that by an intermediate state of attachment to the soil, the Negro should, for a time, retain pos- session of his present habitation, and during the term of his contract pay for it, and for the annual supplies of clothing which, on the pre- sent system of Trade are regularly supplied from Great Britain according to the demand, by a reasonable proportion of labour in lieu of money. Nor were those who opposed this part of the Government plan, prepared to agree in the sub- stitution of any expedient to meet the various evils which it was intended to prevent. 17 Such are the principal features of the mea- sure, by means of which Ministers have attempted to solve the great problem which was submitted to them. The details of the plan they have pro- perly left to the local experience of the various Colonial legislatures. To these legislatures also, they have wisely afforded the opportunity of anticipating, by laws of their own, the enactments of the British Par- liament, and of acquiring the gratitude and con- fidence of the Slave Population, by spontaneously conferring upon them the blessings and privi- leges of freedom. On one subject alone, the Ministers have felt that its peculiar nature, and the circumstances of some particular Colonies, have made it necessary to legislate immediately and decisively. All restrictions upon the teachers of the Christian religion in the British Colonies, are removed by this Act, except such as exist in the Mother Country. It would be foreign to our purpose, and would exceed the limits to which we are restricted, to enter more into the details of this important change in the condition of West Indian Society; but it may be added, as a material feature in the case, that to superintend the due execution of the proposed system, and to ensure to the masters and apprentices a fair and impartial administration of the laws which regulate their mutual relations, a body of gentlemen will be sent from this country, to act as special magis- 18 trates, unconnected with local prejudices, inde- pendent of colonial influence, whose presence, dispersed as they will be throughout the Islands, cannot but give confidence to all classes, inspire a feeling of increased connection with the Mo- ther Country, and of secure participation in the impartial administration of the law. Much, no doubt, remains to be done, for the purposes of police, of religious instruction, and of general education : but we doubt not that these impor- tant provisions will be matured in a spirit of wise and liberal policy, and we trust that in promoting these great objects, the Colonial Le- gislatures will cordially adopt the views, and cooperate with the exertions of the British Par- liament, the Government, and the Nation. FINANCE. To carry retrenchment into our public esta- blishments, so far as can possibly be done with- out impairing their efficiency ; and to apply the surplus revenue, whether arising from in- creased consumption, or diminished expenditure, to the relief of those branches of industry on which taxation most severely and injuriously presses, are the principles of financial policy pro- fessed by the present Government. We shall endeavour to give a brief outline of the measures adopted in pursuance of these ob- jects shewing, on the one hand, the reductions effected in the Public Expenditure, and, on the 19 other, the relief afforded by taxes repealed or reduced. In 1830, when the present Government came into office, the total net income of the country was, in round numbers, 50,000,000/., of this sum, 35,000,OOOZ. were absorbed in the pay- ment of the Debt, Civil List, Half-pay of the Army and Navy, Superannuated and Retired Allowance to Civil Officers, and other fixed charges ; leaving about 15,000,000/. susceptible of reduction, exclusive of any diminution which might be effected in the expenses of collection. It is important that this distinction should be borne in mind ; because, either from ignorance or malevolence, or from both, it is repeatedly and pertinaciously asserted How paltry the reduc- tion of a million or two on fifty millions ! We respectfully beg our readers to hold fast by the fifteen millions, and to dismiss the fifty millions altogether from their imaginations ; for, al- though the country, unhappily, has to raise the larger sum, the Government can only effect reduction on the smaller sum. To confound two things so essentially distinct, is a financial delusion to be carefully avoided by those who desire to form a just estimate of the value and merit of the reductions which have been made, and of the probable extent to whicb they may eventually be carried. 20 The Expenditure of the year ending the 5th April, 1832, was - 47,858,000 The Expenditure of year ending the 5th of April, 1833, 45,365,000 Actual Diminution of Expenditure in 1833 2,493,000 The estimated Expenditure of the present year, ending 5th April, 1834 - 44,922,000 Further reduction of Expenditure 443,000 Total estimated diminution of expenditure be- tween April, 1832, and April, 1834 2,936,000 A reduction will thus have been effected, dur- ing the years 1831, 1832, and 1833, to the ex- tent of about 3 millions upon that portion of the expenditure which admits of reduction, viz. about 15 millions. A comparison of the Estimates of the present with those of the preceding years, leads to the same satisfactory result. In 1817, the Committee of Finance, after a laborious investigation, gave an estimate of the amount to which they thought it possible to reduce the charge for the Army, Navy, Ordnance, and Miscellaneous Service. That estimate was 17,350,000/. From that period to the present, the following have been the Estimates annually voted. Amount voted. Amount voted. 1818 18,970,959 1826 17,942,963 1819 18,488,447 1827 18,745,360 1820 19,673,717 1828 17,776,999 1821 18,358,651 1829 17,626,855 1822 16,679,633 1830 16,648,762 1823 15,878,313 1831 17,782,487 1824 16.734,713 1832 15,411,571 1825 17,593,252 1833 14,622,219 21 The estimates of the present year are, there- fore, 2,720,5 131. below the amount which the Committee of 1817 thought it possible to reach. They are 3, 162,000/. less than the estimates of 1831, and 2,730,835Z. less than the average of 1828, 1829, and 1830, being the three years of the preceding Government. The Duke of Wellington, during these three years, carried into effect many vigorous mea- sures of economy. In this respect we are ready to admit the merit of his Government, but on the same ground we claim still higher praise for those who followed ; their task was more difficult ; superfluous Offices had been already greatly diminished, and farther reduction was to be effected on a diminished expenditure. " We have reaped the harvest of reduction," said a Member of the late government, " and left only the gleanings to our successors :" these then are the gleanings they equal the harvest in amount, and far exceed it in the dif- ficulty of the gathering. The reductions which have been made in the Estimates for the Army, Navy, Ordnance, and Miscellaneous Services, will be shewn by the annual charge for the last three years. Navy. Army. Ordnance. Miscellaneous. 1831 5,842,835 7,551,000 1,478,900 2,900,400 1832 4,505,000 7,006,000 1,634,800 2,133,900 1833 4,658,000 6,673,000 1,455,200 1,835,000 We insert a most important account shewing some of the diminutions made in the Salaries of the principal Officers of State, of the Judges, 22 Commissioners, and others, whose allowances ex- ceed 1000/. per annum, and also the reduction in the Diplomatic Department. Amount of Reductions in Salaries of 1000Z. and upwards, since 1830. Emoluments in 1829. Smolnments in 1833. Saving. . . . Treasury .... 20,900 14,800 6,100 Home, Foreign, and Colonial Departments . 52,828 36,100 16,728 Admiralty .... 19,940 7,500 12,440 Army .... 17,876 8,455 9,421 King's Household, &c. 11,286 2,000 9,286 Customs .... 64,520 18,400 46,120 Excise .... 14,300 7,200 7,100 Judges and Courts of Law . 52,492 38,000 14,492 Ireland .... 49,903 32,989 16,914 Colonial Agents, &c. . 5,305 1,300 4,005 Miscellaneous 6,298 - - - 6,298 DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR OFFICES. Ambassadors 55,300 45,900 9,400 Envoys Extraordinary, and Ministers Plenipotentiary 50,300 38,900 11,400 Ministers resident abroad . 14,200 10,750 3,450 Secretaries .... 15,000 11,375 3,625 Consuls, &c. General Total 44,450 21,800 22,650 494,898 295,469 199,429 23 During the years 1831 and 1832 the total number of Offices reduced on the several Es- tablishments amounted to 1265, and their Sa- laries to 220, OOO/. From the retired list 506 persons have also been brought into active em- ployment, as vacancies occurred. This sacri- fice of their patronage, proves the sincere de- sire of the Government to effect every possible saving. But it is not only in the Expenditure of the public income that great saving has been effect- ed ; the expense of collecting it has also been greatly diminished ; indeed, to such an extent has this been carried in some Departments, that it may reasonably be doubted, whether such reductions, in justice to the fair trader, and without risk to the revenue, can be carried further. In the Customs, during the years 1831 and 1832, not less than 414 offices have been abolished, and a saving of 29,000 effected. In the Excise, during the years 1830, 1831, and 1832, the number of persons reduced was . . . 507 Amount of reduction in salaries 68,000 Official expenses reduced . 72,500 Superannuation and Retiring Al- lowances diminished . 4,750 Total Annual Reduction . 145,250 24 The same spirit of economy has been carried into the Colonial Establishments. The salaries and emoluments of Governors, Judges, Collec- tors, and Superintendents, have all been sub- mitted to a most rigorous examination, and their respective offices and establishments have been more or less reduced. 1. In the establishments at Malta, Gibraltar, Cape of Good Hope, Barbary Consuls, Fer- nando Po, Gold Coast, Ceylon, New South Wales, Van Dieman's Land, Swan River, and Mauritius, The total charge, when the reduction com- menced, amounted was . 411,745 The immediate saving . 72,703 And the prospective saving to 61,318 Making a total saving of . 134,021 2. In the establishments at Lower and Upper Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ber- muda, &c. The charge at commencement of reduction was . . f e 59,890 The immediate saving was . 17,752 The prospective saving . 21,549 Total saving . . 39,301 3. In Trinidad, British Guiana, Bahamas, and St. Lucia, 25 The charge at commencement of reduction was ... 101,082 Immediate saving was . 43,877 Prospective saving . . 7,416 Total saving . . 51,293 The total amount of reduction, therefore, in the Colonies, is as follows : Charge when reduction commenced 572,717 Immediate saving . 134,332 Prospective saving . 90,283 Total saving . . 224,615 Charge as it will eventually stand 348, 102 But there are persons, who, in the genuine spirit of detraction, being compelled to admit the amount of reduction, contend that it has been effected by the sacrifice of the inferior officers. The answer to this charge is, that The average salary of persons reduced under the late Government amounts to 117 16 1 Under the present Government to 226 7 8 But an answer still more triumphant can be given. The first experiment of reduction made by the present Government was upon themselves ; and on the salaries of the higher political offices of the state, amounting to 143, 617/., a saving of 21,894Z. has been effected, being an actual deduction of 15 per cent. We have now alluded to the different depart- 26 ments in which reductions have been made, and the extent to which they have been carried ; the vast number of offices and establishments abo- lished or reduced, will give some idea of the la- bour required to carry them into effect. Their aggregate amount may, in round numbers, be stated at 3,000,000/. : reducing the expen- diture sucesptible of reduction from 15,000,000/. to 12,000,000/. The whole of this sum of 3,000,000/. has been applied to give relief from Taxation, and the following statement will show, that in administering this relief, the ob- ject which the Government had in view, was to stimulate industry, and to augment the resources of the country, by promoting the interests of Trade, Manufactures and Commerce. In this ob- ject they have persevered at the risk, and almost at the expense, of their own popularity. Relief from Taxation in 1831 and 1832. Printed Goods 550,000 Coals and Slates 900,000 Candles 500,000 Hemp, Drugs, &c. 140,000 2,090,000 Deduct Impost on Cotton Wool 300,000 Total Relief 1,790,000 Further relief, effected during the present Session : 27 Tiles 37,000 Marine Insurances 100,000 Advertisements '"--"' - - - 75,000 Assessed Taxes and Farming Stock 440,000 Cotton Wool 300,000 Soap 593,000 In 1833 1,545,000 In 1831-32 1,790,000 The various duties repealed or reduced by Lord Althorp, are as follow : Printed Cottons, Coals and Slates, Candles, Tiles, Small Receipt Stamps, Land Tax on Per- sonal Estates, Duty on Pamphlets, on Travellers or Riders, on Clerks, Book-keepers and Office- men, Overseers, Managers, Shopmen, Ware- housemen, and Cellarmen, Duty on Tax Carts, and Horse Tax payable by Market Gardeners, repealed. Advertisement duty, Soap duty, House Tax on Shops, and House Tax payable by Licensed Victuallers, reduced one half. Hemp, Drugs, Marine Insurances, Cotton Wool, reduced. Tax on Houses of 10/. value, reduced one third. Tax on Houses from 10/. to IS/., reduced pro- gressively. The Government might have gained more applause, if they had gratified the Counties by 28* As regards the Estimates of 1831, these must be in some measure taken as those of the former Government, as, when the present Ministers succeeded to office, they were, in fact, in a great measure prepared. The Estimates for this year are nearly a million below those of 1830 ; and as regards the last year, are less by 220,000/. It is important to observe, that this reduction of nearly a million, was made entirely on what is termed the Effective Establishment ; the non- Effective, viz. the half-pay, superannuation, &c. (amounting to nearly a third of the whole ex- penses) being a fixed charge. A reduction of 74,078/. per annum, in the Civil Establishment of the Navy, has been made since the present Ministers came into office, of which 16,800/. was in respect of Salaries above 800/. a-year.* The debt of the Navy, which in 1830 was 1,314,000/., is now reduced to 977,000/. That these reductions have not been made at the expense of the efficiency of the service is shewn by the fact, that two ships of 120 guns * 12 Commissioners . . 14,200 1 Paymaster of Marines . . 1 ,000 61 Superior Officers of Yards . 19,712 37 Inferior Ditto . . 3,835 102 Clerks . . . 33,276 213 74,073 29 have been launched in the present year, one of 92 guns, and several frigates, and that there is more timber, &c. in the Dock Yard, .ready for use, than when the Duke of Wellington quitted office. f Again it may be observed, that the services performed by the Navy in the last year (almost as considerable as would be requisite in a time of war), afford ample proof that those extensive reductions have in nowise diminished its effi- ciency. The ports of Holland were blockaded during a northern winter, and not a ship of the block- ading force was lost. The whole Indian trade of Holland was arrested, and scarcely a ship escaped. In the Tagus and the Douro, a large Naval force was required for the protection of the property and persons of British subjects, and to command the reluctant neutrality of Spain. A large squadron is at present at the mouth of the Dardanelles, for the purpose of upholding our influence in a quarter intimately connected with f An Account of the Quantities of Hemp, Cordage, and Timber, in store on the 31st of December, 1830, and 30th June, 1833 : IN STORE. 31s/ Dec. 1830. Hemp 7,394 Tons. Cordage 3,500 10,894 Timber 56,633 Loads 3Qth June, 1833. 11,446 Tons. 3,435 14,881 60,717 Loads. 30 our maritime interests. The agitated state of the Slave Colonies, has made an increased Naval force necessary in the West Indies, and the Mauritius. If, therefore, the reductions already stated have been made at a time when such important services have been required, it may fairly be inferred, that great as the reduc- tions have been, a more settled state of our foreign 'relations will admit of a further reduc- tion of the force itself, and consequently a still greater diminution of expenditure in this de- partment. In addition to the reduction in the depart- ments of the Navy, the whole subject of Army and Navy appointments was referred to a Committee, and the names of the persons selected gave a full warrant that the inquiry would be searching, and the ^reduction as un- sparing as was consistent with the efficiency of the service. The Committee have come to certain resolu- tions, whereby the principle of the abolition of all sinecures is announced, and they propose to abolish prospectively all sinecure garrison ap- pointments, and to substitute a scale of rewards for distinguished services, the amount of which is fixed at 8,OOOZ. a-year. To ensure as far as possible the best distribution of this fund ; to prevent its misapplication, by being lavished on favourites, instead of being the reward of veterans, the names of those on whom it is to be conferred, are to be laid annually before Parlia- 31 merit, so that the responsibility for the due dis- tribution rests with the Minister, and will be open to public animadversion. All Civilians are immediately to vacate garri- son appointments, except where special grounds for their not doing so can be shewn. The large income derived by the Governor of Gibraltar from local revenues, and Lord Rosslyn's sine- cure, are prospectively abolished. Some savings are also proposed to arise from the mode of paying for the clothing, and in the pay of colonels of regiments. The cases of many general officers, who attained in 1814 the unattached pay, without having performed ser- vices which entitled them to it, are to be recon- sidered, and the staff at head-quarters is recom- mended to be reduced. Of the sinecures in the Navy, only that of the Vice and Rear Admiral of England are to be retained. The Lieutenant and Major-General, and Colonels of Marines, are to be abolished, and an annual sum equal to their pay is proposed, (as in the case of the Army), to be substituted as a reward for distinguished services, a strong opinion is expressed against Brevets, or the creation of Flag Officers, unless urgently called for by public necessity. The total amount of present saving will be about 16,800/., and the prospective saving about 47,800/. ; to this may be added the saving to be deduced from the appropriation of the revenues of the Crown in 32 Guernsey and Jersey, and that arising from a reduction of the staff at head-quarters. The amount either of the present or future savings is small, but the principle thus established by the Committee is most important, and will go far towards reconciling the Country to expenses which henceforward cannot be misapplied. There is one branch of the Finance of the country which the hand of Reform has never reached ; for amidst all the various inquiries which have of late years been directed into the Public Expenditure, the Excise* has been by much ingenuity kept untouched, as a kind of preserve for the propagation of patronage. Year after year has heaped vexatious statutes upon statutes till, at last, their provisions, from their very absurdity and complexity, became almost a dead letter; and the officers have, in many instances, ceased to regard them ; but the staff has been kept up, notwith- standing, from the very institution of the Ex- cise, its vexatious and oppressive regulations have been a source of constant reproach. Even the Tory Johnson, defines Excise, as " a hate- ful tax, levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but by wretches hired by those to whom the Excise is paid." * The Commission which issued at the suggestion of Sir H. Parnell some years ago, was confined to Scotland and Ireland. 33 In the beginning of this Session, the Minis- try proceeded to break in on this hallowed ground of patronage ; and to search into the vexa- tions and evils of a system that all had depre- cated, but which seemed to be doomed to per- petual continuance. No hope, of course, could be held out for the removal of one of the power- ful sources of taxation : yet, much might be done in the repealing unnecessary and vexa- tious regulations, and in the abolition of useless offices. In April last, a Commission was ap- pointed to inquire into the Management and Collection of the Excise Revenue, with a view, not only of diminishing the expense of the different departments, but of relieving, as much as possible, the public, and the different trades, from the interference of the Excise. The plac- ing Sir Henry Parnell at the head of this Commission, was, at once, a guarantee, that the inquiry would be searching and effectual ; and a proof that the Government were inclined to select the fittest person for the examination, even though he might be found in the ranks of their opponents. This Commission has already made one Report, in which they recommend the Abolition of all Excise Supervision on Tea. The advantage and relief to be derived from this, the first-fruits of the labours of the Commission, may be judged of, when it is stated, that the number of dealers who will thus be relieved from a harassing, useless, and op- 34 pressive inquisition, amounts to above one hundred thousand. A Second Report, respecting Wine, is in great forwardness ; which, it is understood, will be to the same effect as that on Tea. The Survey on Beer, which is still kept up to the inconvenience of the trade, and, one should almost suppose, for no other purpose, as the duties have been re- pealed, must share the same fate. The savings, it is understood, which will result from the removal of this heap of vexatious and useless interference, including some minor reductions in contemplation, will amount to little less than 100, OOO/. per annum. Besides this, it is understood, that the Com- missioners will recommend the total reduction of Duty on many small articles, in which the expense of collection conies to nearly the amount of the Duty collected. 35 BANK CHARTER. To the measures we have already described, is to be added, the renewal of the Bank of England Charter, and the measures proposed for the regulation of Joint Stock Banking Companies. A Committee of Secresy had been appointed during the preceding Session, to report on the expediency of renewing the exclusive privileges of the Bank : the inquiry continued from the end of May till the close of the Session ; but though much valuable evidence was obtained, no report was agreed to, by which Government might have been assisted in the settlement of a question involving many interests, and sur- rounded by many difficulties. The privileges of the Bank of England have been assailed on the one hand, as an odious mo- nopoly ; and on the other, they have been de- fended as a necessary protection to the public against fluctuations in the amount of paper money. We are justified in asserting, that this latter opinion is that which is entertained by men whose attention to the subject, experience, and talent, entitle them to be received as the best authorities, on a question requiring very atten- tive consideration. It has been clearly shewn, that competition, however generally beneficial, must in such cases lead to pernicious results; 36 that it has a tendency in periods of increasing prices, unduly to expand the currency, thus sti- mulating improvident speculation ; which in its turn,, is followed by panic, sudden contraction, and distress that one Bank of Issue is enabled to control and regulate the issues according to the Foreign Exchanges, with not only the least, but also the most gradual fluctuation ; and that the mode which the Bank of England has re- cently adopted for effecting this object, is at once simple and efficacious. After much bitter experience, the truth of some principles, at least, has been recognized. Enactments against the exportation of gold coin are no longer heard of, and a system has at length been established, which, under the con- trol of publicity, promises to secure to the coun- try a sound currency, and to afford every legi- timate facility to mercantile transactions. On these grounds Lord Althorp vindicated the pro- priety of calling on the Legislature to renew, under certain conditions, the most important privileges of the Bank of England. Our limits necessarily confine us to the state- ment of the principles which appear to have guided the Government in conducting a nego- tiation, involving many details of intricacy and difficulty, and the subject of long and repeated discussion. These were The monthly publication of their accounts. The repayment of a portion of the capital. 37 The partial repeal of the Usury Laws, which iiow impede the action of the Bank, and of all other similar establishments. The annual payment by the Bank of 1!20,000/. in return for the privileges continued to it. Rendering the Bank of England Notes a legal tender, except at the Bank itself or its branches. The quarterly return of the amount of circu- lation of all other Banks ; and Certain provisions, to which we shall pre- sently allude, for the improvement of Joint Stock Banks are all of them, more or less im- portant measures, the object and advantages of which were distinctly explained and enforced by Lord Althorp on introducing the subject to Parliament. They have received the sanction of the highest authority. With respect to one of the provisions of the Bill, it must be admitted that much diversity of opinion has been expressed, and much good, as well as much evil predicted. Defended by Tooke, Baring, Smith, and Horsley Palmer, opposed by Peel, Herries, and others, whose opinions have equal claims*to consideration, the " Legal Tender," may be re- garded by many with doubt, not unmixed with apprehension. Depreciation of Bank of England paper, will, it is affirmed, be the consequence of this measure : and it is probable that it was sup- ported by some, because they hoped such would be the result ; while it was opposed by others, who, acknowledging its many advantages, dreaded this 38 effect. It is not easy to imagine on what foun- dation they rested their hopes and their fears, unless it were on some vague notion of a connec- tion between this measure and that of rendering paper absolutely inconvertible. No two mea- sures can be more essentially distinct. While immediately convertible in London, depreciation there, will, we presume, be admitted to be im- possible ; and that while its value is maintained in London, the centre of the money transactions of the kingdom the market to which the Coun- try Banker must resort, it can become depre- ciated in the Country, is not only inexplicable by any process of reasoning, but at variance with every fact that bears on the subject. On the other hand, the advantages of the measure are manifest, it enables the Country Banker to meet a sudden run, without incurring the expense and delay of transporting the pre- cious metals ; and affords to the Bank of Eng- land, that protection so essential to its security under the most trying of all circumstances the occurrence of a sudden internal demand, the consequence of commercial panic after a long continued drain for exportation. It will be borne in mind that such a panic is most likely to occur, when the Foreign Exchanges having been for a considerable period adverse to the Country, an unnatural contraction of the Currency, too frequently attended with commer- cial embarrassment, has been produced. The demand of the Country Banker at such a mo- 39 ment is regulated, not by the amount of his wants, but by the extent of his fears. The treasure of the Bank being then at its lowest ebb, such a demand is so peculiarly dan- gerous, that it may be doubted whether a single Bank of issue, notwithstanding its decided ad- vantages, would be desirable, unless it received that effectual protection which this measure af- fords. The allowance retained by the Bank has been censured by some as too great, but those who take an enlarged view of the important functions of the Bank of England, as the great centre and source of the circulation of the kingdom, charged with maintaining its value, with supporting it in times of discredit, and with distributing free of expense the requisite supply of gold, by means of its Branches, establishments of great public utility, but to the Bank sources of expense rather than of profit, will not be disposed to censure the Government for not wringing from the Bank the utmost concession which it was possible to exact. Some doubt having arisen with respect to the extent of the existing privileges which Govern- ment had agreed to confer on the Bank, it was ascertained that they had no right to prevent the establishment in London of Joint Stock Banks of Deposit, and a declaratory clause to this effect was introduced into the new Act. The renewal of the Bank Charter offered a favourable opportunity for introducing certain 40 regulations for the improvement of Joint Stock Banks. Established after the panic of 1825, at a time when all the evils of Banking were attri- buted to one single cause, the limitation of the number of partners, the sole remedy was sought for in withdrawing that restriction. The forma- tion of large Companies was encouraged, on whom, as on private Bankers, the privilege of issuing Bank Notes was conferred, without any other security to the public than that which was derived from the increased number of partners. Many highly respectable establishments were formed, others of an equivocal nature sprang up. To secure to the country the advantages which Joint Stock Banking Companies are ca- pable of conferring, and to give them higher claims to public confidence, was the object of the Government. It was proposed by Lord Althorp to re- lieve them from certain restrictions to which they are at present subject, and to empower the Crown to grant them Charters on comply- ing with certain conditions, of which the most important was to pay up their capitals, and lodge a portion, as security, in the public funds. These were conditions which it was conceived no respectable establishment could have any difficulty in acceding to ; which seve- ral had applied for as a protection, and which were calculated to restrain the proceedings of those whose hopes of profit are derived from encouraging a spirit of reckless speculation, arid 41 who impose on the public by appealing to the mag- nitude of a capital which exists only on paper. Such were the measures proposed by the Government such the objects which they had in view ; and it is not saying too much to assert that the plan, when announced, received, as to its essential provisions, very general approbation. To that part of the measure affecting the Joint Stock Banks, opposition, however, began to manifest itself. The Country Bankers took the alarm. The immediate substitution of Bank of England paper was declared to be the necessary consequence of limited liability, and the extinc- tion of the Country Banker the inevitable result. The Government, desirous that no unnecessary alarm should be excited, and that a complete conviction of the utility and necessity of these provisions should be felt, consented to postpone them till another Session, leaving the subject before the public, that a more decided opinion may be pronounced on its merits. In the mean time an Act has been passed, by which Joint Stock Banks are permitted to render their notes payable in London, and to draw Bills on London under 50/. Although an important part of the measure as first introduced into Parliament has thus been deferred, that which affects the Bank of England has been brought to a successful termination, and the principles on which a sound and safe system of paper circulation may be conducted, 42 have been distinctly recognized, and confirmed by Parliament. Connected however with this subject, and of far greater importance than any law which has been passed upon it, is an Act of the House of Commons itself, emanating not from the Govern- ment, or from any political party, but supported by men of all political creeds, and upon other topics of all shades of opinions we allude to the resolution against any depreciation of the stan- dard of value as by law established. Whoever recollects the language held in and out of Par- liament at the beginning of the Session ; the meetings in Birmingham and Richmond Ter- race ; the manifestos of the Currency Club ; the rumours which were circulated ; the highly raised hopes and loud boastings of a certain party, will admit this event to have been as important in its consequences to the Country, as honourable to the Reformed House. The immense majority by which the resolution was carried, the triumph in argument achieved by its supporters, has crushed for ever the expecta- tions of those who would unsettle all the mone- tary transactions of the Empire, and has given a degree of confidence to the industrious and productive classes of the community, which no other circumstance could have inspired. Had the House of Commons performed no other act but this, it would have sufficiently shewn itself worthy of its high mission. 43 EAST INDIA CHARTER. The settlement of the question as to the Re- newal of the Charter of the East India Company, and the China Trade, was one of the most im- portant measures submitted to Parliament : and none, except, perhaps, the Slave Trade Ques- tion, was surrounded by greater difficulties. Whether the Monopoly enjoyed by the Com- pany, should be abolished ? and how, if that Monopoly were abolished, the assets and liabi- lities of the Company were to be distributed be- tween Commerce and Territory? whether a share in the Administration of our Indian Em- pire should still be confided to the Court of Di- rectors ? and how, if that course were adopted, the interests of the rulers could be made to co- incide with the interests of the Subjects? whether Europeans should be allowed to settle in India ? and how, if so admitted, they should be restrained from excesses injurious to the Na- tives, and dishonourable to our Government ? it will be admitted, were questions of great moment, and of no inconsiderable difficulty. The measure introduced by the Ministers for the solution of the questions, with some slight modifications, was adopted by Parliament. The Trade with China has been thrown open. The long and complicated account between Commerce and Territory, has been settled by a compromise, the advantage of which is shewn 44 by its having been approved of by moderate men on both sides. A litigation which must have lasted for years, and which never could have ended in a satis- factory adjudication, and during the pending of which, it would have been impossible to have entrusted the Company with any political func- tions, has thus been averted. The Proprietors of India Stock have become creditors of the Nation which is placed under their care. They will henceforth have a strong interest to im- prove its revenues : they can improve its reve- nues only by exerting their power for the maintenance of order, and the encouragement of industry. The anomalous and pernicious union of im- perial and economical functions in one body is at an end. India is thrown open to European enterprize, and European capital. The legislative power of the Supreme Government has been strength- ened. A Commission has been established for the purpose of ascertaining, digesting, and as far as may be, assimilating those conflicting and undefined laws ; the diversity and vagueness of which are among the heaviest grievances of India. The patronage, which has been be- stowed by favour, is henceforward to be placed under restrictions which will ensure to India a constant supply of the most intelligent servants. In the constitution of the Board of Control changes have been made which, whilst they 45 increase the efficiency of that department, di- mmish the parliamentary influence of the minis- ters; and finally, every office under the Com- pany has been thrown open to every British subject, without distinction of colour, descent, caste, or religion. Sir Robert Peel remarked, that it had been discussed in very thin houses, and attributed this to the general approbation with which its provisions were regarded by public men of all parties. Mr. O'Connell designated it as the Great Charter of the Indian people. TRADE. During no Session of any preceding Parlia- ment have the interests of Commerce received greater attention, or have measures more im- portant to the Manufacturing and Trading Popu- lation of the Country been submitted to its con- sideration. It is with pleasure, too, that we find the Reformed House of Commons adopting and even extending the enlightened principles of Commercial policy, which for some years have prevailed in our Legislature. When we recollect the often repeated statement of the sticklers for monopolies and restrictions, that these are the opinions of visionaries and theo- rists, discountenanced by all practical men, it is something to find the vast majority of the re- presentatives of the Manufacturing and Com- mercial Towns, practical men themselves, adher- 46 ing to these principles, and loudly disclaiming any advocacy of the old system. The fluctuations of Commerce are, to this ex- tent, under the control of Government. The wisest government cannot raise it to immediate prosperity, but the weakest has power to injure or destroy it. It may suffer under good go- vernment, but cannot long prosper under bad ; and, in the absence of government, must perish. Though this, perhaps, is not often distinctly stated by commercial men, it is felt by them ; and hence arises the sensibility of commerce to the conduct of government, even when not di- rectly affected by it. The manufacturers of Lille were not directly affected by the Revolution of 1830 ; but their works ceased within four days after the news arrived. Lille was perfectly tran- quil, but their confidence, in the future preva- lence of law over violence, was impaired. And thus, it will always be found, that, whenever men's reliance on the stability of the institutions of their country is shaken, the first proof of its being shaken, is the depression of trade. Some of the most alarming periods of English history, have occurred during the last three years. The most formidable, perhaps, was the period when the Tories, frightened at the evils which they had permitted, or occasioned, abandoned their posts : and this was the period of great embarrassment in trade. Confidence was in- spired by the accession of their successors, and trade revived. It was felt, however, that the 47 permanent stability of the institutions of the country, depended on their being reformed ; and that, under our balanced Constitution, the enemies of Reform might resist its peaceful ac- complishment. The fear either of the loss of the Reform Bill, or of Reform by means of Revo- lution, occasioned another period of commercial distress, which gradually wore away after the passing of the Bill. Under the present policy of the Government, trade appears to be steadily improving.* * The following Table is some evidence that trade has not suffered by the substitution of a reformed for an unreformed Parliament : An Account of the Quantities of the undermentioned Articles entered for Home Consumption in the United Kingdom in the month ended 5th July, 1833, compared with the corresponding month of the preceding Year. Also a similar Account for the Half-year ended 5th July, 1832 and 1833, together with a Statement of the Declared Value of some of the principal Articles of British Produce and Manufactures exported during the same period, and the Gross and Net Produce of the Cus- tom's Duties. Quantities entered for Home Consumption In the Month ended In Half -Year ended ARTICLES. 5th July, 5th July, 1832. 1833. 1832. 1833. Bark for Tanners use. C w ts- 51,475 75,694 251,620 303,368 Coffee Ibs. 1 808 357 2 063 503 1 1 ,269,594 12,058 982 Indigo .... Ibs. 'l59,'296 '267,'796 1,099,066 1,354,722 Silk, Raw . . . Ibs. 216,886 282,369 1,304,270 1,448,496 AVatp 7/,j 7,6005 30,558 409,341 308,194 , Thrown . . Ibs. 26,891 24,520 149,077 149,935 Skins . . Number. 151,890 325,352 925,169 1,369,428 Wine . . . Gallons. 504,630 526,329 2,990,789 3,138,191 Wool, Cotton . . Ibs. 26,600,598 62,261,879 133,950,651 181,465,443 Sheep & Lambs. Ibs. 1,485,740 2,987,419 8,488,912 13,275,967 48 We have elsewhere treated of the renewal of the Bank and East India Charters both, how- ever, measures so important to the interests of ARTICLES OF BRITISH PRODUCE AND MANUFACTURES. Coals Declared Value In the Month ended 5th July, 1832. 1833. of the Exports In the Half-Year ended 5th July, 1832. 1833. . 25,570 977,537 372,407 146,565 41,030 621,091 . 30,048 2,069,748 487,710 167,316 69,491 767,433 . 113,510 6,589,877 2,244,031 888,424 298.155 2,906,606 . 108,816 7,952,523 2,289,472 1,102,640 395,002 3,392,929 Cotton Manufactures . "Vim Linen Manufactures . . Silk Manufactures . . Woollen Manufactures . Total Custom's Duties. Gross Receipt of Duties. Net Receipt of Ditto . 1,580,076 1,482,329 1,553,002 1,500,988 9,186,068 8,505,738 9,081,207 8,661,522 An Account of the Number and Tonnage of Vessels which entered Inwards and cleared Outwards in the Ports of the United Kingdom in the month ended 5th July, 1833, compared with the corresponding month of the preced- ing year. A"lso a similar Account for the Half-year ended 5th July, 1832 and 1833, distinguishing British from Foreign Ships, and the Coasting Vessels from those employed in the Foreign Trade, and exclusive of Vessels in Ballast. Entered Inwards Entered Inwards In the Month ended 5th July, In the Half-Year ended 5th July, 1832. 1833. 1832. 1833. Vessel Tons. Vessels. Tons. Vessels. Tons. Vessels. Tons. British . . 808 146,173 995 179,180 3,954 659,839 4,229 714,689 Foreign 350 53,294 448 67,026 1,963 276,820 2,300 327,564 Total . 1158 199,467 1,443 246,206 5,917 936,659 6,529 1042,253 Trade, that they must be considered as bearing on our Commercial prosperity in a far greater degree than any Legislative enactments which have for a long series of years come before Par- liament. The settlement of the East India Company's Charter, as we have before stated, destroys the monopoly of the China trade, and opens to our manufacturers and our merchants, that rich field for their enterprise and their industry. Facili- ties for conducting this branch of commerce, as well as considerable relief from taxation, upon what has become a necessary of life to the population of this country, we mean Tea, have COASTING VESSELS. Entered Inwards Entered Inwards In the Month ended 5th July, In the Half -Year ended 5th July, 1832. 1833. 1832. 1833. Vessels. Tons. Vessels. Tons. Vessels. Tons. Vessels. Tons. Employed -\ between / Great^Bri- > tain and i 813 81,687 900 91,989 4,988 519,071 4,818 523,562 Ireland . J Other } Coasting ' Vessels . j 9,754 716,810 9,583 745,677 54,813 4,063,047 53,506 4,161,109 Total . . 10,567 798,497 10,483 837,366 59,801 4,582,118 58,324 4,684,671 50 been given by a subsequent Bill for regulating the importation of this article. Hitherto the sale of Tea has been confined to one place, the port of London. Under this Bill, the importation will be permitted at every port of any importance, throughout the United Kingdom. The merchant of Liverpool, of Hull, of Glasgow, or of Cork, will, in future, import his cargo, or his parcel of Tea, at his own wharf, and lodge it in his own warehouse. The dealers of Manchester, and Leeds, and Paisley, may supply themselves at the nearest port, and have no longer occasion to resort to London, to await the periodical sales of the Leadenhall Street Company. On the other hand, the duties, from ad valorem sums of 100/. per cent, have been changed to moderate rated duties according to the quality of the Tea, which is divided into three classes, lay- ing, respectively, Is. 6d. 2s. 2d. and 3s. af- fording, according to the sale prices of the last year, a reduction in duty, upon this im- portant article, of from fifteen to twenty-fiver per cent. A variety of other measures mark equally the attention they have received at the hands of the Reformed House and of the Govern- ment. Acting upon the principles avowed last Session, at the very opening of the present, the Government resolved on devoting all that could be saved by economy, or spared from the exigencies of the State, to the relief of prostrated 51 industry ; to give additional facilities to our ma- nufacturing establishments, and remove restric- tions which fettered the developement of our skill and ingenuity. The duties on Soap, on Raw Cotton, on Ma- rine Insurances, and on Advertisements, were greatly reduced, and as this appropriation of a large portion of surplus revenue of the country precluded the possibility of relieving other great branches of commerce, that are oppressed by high duties, the Government applied the small additional relief they were able to afford, to the repeal or reduction of the duties on a large number of articles, the sale of which was mate- rially prejudiced by a system of taxation which greatly increased the price of the article, with- out any proportionate advantage to the Re- venue. Upon the principles pursued last Session, when the duties upon upwards of 300 articles, of apparently small importance, but really of the greatest to the manufactures of the country, were reduced, more than 150 different kinds of gums, dyes, semi-metals, and other articles, consumed in the Laboratory of Commerce, have been either admitted free of duty, or at a greatly reduced charge. The result of these reductions has been most successful, and it has shewn what may be done by the judicious application of small means. The consumption of many of the articles has more 52 than doubled,* and they have been applied to a variety of purposes, from which their former high prices had excluded them. The whole Commercial Laws of the Empire, its Navigation Laws, its Warehousing System, the Laws relating to its Colonial Possessions, the Registry of Shipping, the Regulation of the Customs, and the Duties spread over one hun- dred Acts of Parliament, have been consoli- dated and brought into one volume, to the great convenience both of the merchant and the revenue officer. In spite of the clamour of some ignorant and interested individuals, a law has been introduced and passed, applying the principles of bonding to the great Manufacture of Sugar. The produce of all the world can now be imported into this country for refining, and the skill and capital of our manufacturers in this branch of industry are no longer con- fined to the produce of our own Colonies, for the preparation of the supply of refined Sugar * Return for half year ending April 5, 1832, <$ April 5, 1833. 1832. 1833. Ibs. Ibs. Anatto - 50,451 124,188 Balsam Copaiba - 24,938 59,937 BoracicAcid - 216,181 308,890 Cocoa Nuts - 313,074 666,516 Gum Animi 43,535 70,651 India Rubber - 29,958 178,676 Manna - 8,296 20,797 Mastic 8,106 30,594 Sena 55,678 99,938 Sponge - . 15,483 25,006 Valeria - 57,071 75,622 Vermicelli & Macaroni 4 1,0 12 79,864 53 for the European markets ; without, however, any interference with the monopoly of the Colo- nists in the market for consumption at home. Whilst these measures too have been carried on at home, no efforts have been wanting on the part of the Government to extend and pro- mote, our Foreign Trade, by influencing other States to adopt the same liberal policy which has been found so advantageous here. A Com- mercial mission to France has already had the happiest effects. The removal of the prohibition on the export of Raw Silk from that country, an object declared last year, before a Committee of the House of Commons, to be of vital im- portance to our Silk Manufactories, has been already carried into effect ; but what is of far greater consequence, a change of public opi- nion, throughout the whole of the French Em- pire, upon this great subject has arisen, which promises the most beneficial results to both coun- tries. Freedom of Commerce, has been the universal cry, and the manufacturing and com- mercial bodies take the lead in advocating the adoption of a sound and liberal system of com- mercial policy towards England. Nor has Parliament been less active, or less zealous in its endeavours to ascertain the actual condition of the manufacturing and commercial interests, than in its efforts to improve them. A Committee was appointed for this purpose at the suggestion of the declaimers about distress, and a laborious and lengthy investi- 54' gation into all the principal branches of our national industry has been carried on. The evidence has been laid before the public ; and although no Report, owing to the alleged want of time, has accompanied it, sufficient proof will be found in the testimony of the principal witnesses, of the sound and healthy condition of all the great interests which were inquired into. Indeed, the greatest of all, perhaps, con- sists in the absence of any Report, which, it is understood, was mainly caused by those Mem- bers of the Committee who were the loudest in their complaints of the distressed condition of the country. Whilst those Members who en- tertained a different opinion of the condition of the industrial state of the country, were most anxious to give an exposition of the results to which inquiry led ; those who demanded it, shrank from any Report, conscious, that if founded on the evidence, it could not support their own views, and were thus glad to shelter themselves under silence, from the exposure of the real truth. This speaks for itself. The attention of Parliament has not been con- fined to the interests of the higher or even of the middling classes of the Commercial community ; it has heard the complaints of the workman as readily as those of his master. The Factory Bill was elaborately discussed, and there has been no question which has drawn forth more talent or information. The Members for the Manufac- turing Towns took the most distinguished part 55 in the debate. The House would probably have yielded to the dictates of its feelings, if Go- vernment had not interposed, at the risk of some unpopularity : the average labour of the working classes in the agricultural and manufacturing districts being 12 hours a day, the reduction of it to 10, which must have been the inevitable result of Lord Ashley's bill, would have propor- tionably affected the productive powers of the country, and the Government would not consent to this without inquiring into the facts on which the measure was held necessary. A Commission of Inquiry was accordingly appointed, and al- though some of the questions of the Commis- sioners were injudiciously framed, a vast body of information on the state of the Manufac- turing Districts was collected, and- a Bill sub- stituted for Lord Ashley's, not only less danger- ous to the commercial prosperity of the country ; but even better calculated to answer the bene- volent purposes of those who conscientiously supported the original measure. This Bill re- duces the daily labour of children ; and what is of equal importance, provision is made in it for the education of the children of the manufac- turing classes, and this too in a form which invites and admits of the co-operation of bene- volent persons of all religious sects. Inspectors will be appointed to give effect to the measure, and their exertions, if successful, will procure for the next generation the advantage of a manufacturing community of increased intelli- gence and morality. 56 LAW REFORMS. In enumerating the different labours of the Session, those relating to the Reform of the Law and the Law Courts, are amongst the most important. What has been completed, and what is in progress, gives ample reason to expect that nearly the whole of that masterly outline chalked out by the present Lord Chan- cellor, in his Law Reform speech in the House of Commons, will ere long be filled up and perfected. The Courts of Common Law, the Court of Chancery, and the Privy Council, the Criminal Law, and the Laws of Real Property, have all experienced the benefit of the interfe- rence of Parliament ; a Commission has issued for arranging the Statute Law ; and it may be said without exaggeration, that more has been done for our jurisprudence during the Session, than during the whole of the preceding century. The administration of justice in the Courts of Common Law, has been placed on an im- proved footing, by an Act for the Amendment of the Law, which removes many of the abuses which it is difficult to conceive should have been allowed to exist in the jurisprudence of an enlight- ened country. It authorizes the Judges to make regulations as to pleadings, so that the parties may know the exact question at issue, instead of being left to search for it in the maze of the record, and then obliged to bring up witnesses at a vast 57 expense, to prove facts which are not intended to be disputed. A security is given against unjust demands, by reducing from 20 years to 10, the period in which an action might be brought upon a Bond, except the creditor be under a legal disability, or there should have been a written acknowledgment, or part payment of the debt during the interval. Many legal fic- tions and scholastic sophisms, which have sur- vived the ends for which they were introduced, are destroyed. Pleas in abatement are limited and regulated ; the executors and administra- tors of a deceased person are no longer protected from actions by those whose real or personal property he may have injured. Juries are allowed to give interest in actions for goods or money: and what is far above all, variances in pleading are to be judged by their real im- portance, and not to condemn the unfortunate suitor to pay the penalty of an error which is wholly immaterial, by the loss of his action. The arbitration of suits is facilitated, by mak- ing the submission of the parties to the Arbitra- tor final, whatever may be their disposition to revoke it, and the attendance of witnesses before the Arbitrator is enforced, so that proceedings in arbitration are relieved from the objections which have been held to counterbalance their cheapness and convenience. The spirit of Reform has also intruded into the Court of Chancery, and shaken the prescrip- 58 tive right which that Court seemed to possess to an immunity from the improvements which time had introduced into the administration of the other branches of the law. The Lord Chan- cellor brought a Bill for the reform of his Court into the House of Lords, early in the Session. Such a Bill could not fail to call forth the oppo- sition not only of all the officers whose inte- rests were to be affected by it, but also that of former Lord Chancellors, who having themselves suffered the existence of the evils without an attempt to correct them, could not look without jealousy on a proceeding of their successor cal- culated to afford to the suitors that benefit which under the auspices of his predecessors had been so long withheld from them. The Bill was accordingly referred to a Select Committee, where the examination of witnesses lasted several weeks, and would probably have been continued to the end of the Session, as the only means of defeating the measure, had not the Lord Chancellor, to avoid this evil, entered into a compromise with his opponents by post- poning part of his plan to the next Session. Thus mutilated, the Bill descended to the Com- mons, and after it had undergone the ordeal of another Committee there, was passed amidst the cheers of the whole House. This approbation had been well earned, for the measure, shorn as it is of its due proportions, is still most impor- tant. It strikes a heavy blow at the root of two 59 of the worst evils in the proceedings of the Court, the delay and the expense. These are necessarily to be found in the offices where the details of the business of the Court are carried on, the Six Clerks' Office, the Regis- trars' Office, and the Masters' Office, and all were comprised in the Bill as it was brought forward by the Chancellor ; but the Six Clerks were wrenched from his grasp by their friends in the House of Lords, and the Bill was confined to the Registrars and the Masters. Both these offices have undergone an entire revision. The Regis- trars derived their emolument from drawing up the Decrees of the Court, and were paid accord- ing to the length of the Decree. No one doubted that five-sixths of the Decree, in the form in which it was drawn, was superfluous; but the suitor was obliged to take it, at the call of the Registrar, who derived from it the remunera- tion for his labour. The time of the Registrar and the money of the suitor were thus sacri- ficed to a wretched system. The length of the Decree caused great delay to take place before it could be completed ; and until it was complete it was of no use to the suitor. The shortening of the Decrees and Orders, and the consequent reduction of fees, have at once re- moved these grounds of complaint. The con- cise forms in which the Decrees will be here- after prepared, ensure expedition, and the re- duced scale of fees will allow them to be given at a very moderate cost. The saving to the 60 public will amount to no less than 17,050/. per annum.* The Masters' Office was in a still worse con- dition than the Registrars. The cost and delay of the proceedings there were intolerable, owing to a rule, that no document could be read be- fore the Master, until it had been copied in his office ; the charge for such copy being paid to the Master. The parties in vain protested against taking copies of what was of no use to them, or any one else : the rule was inflexible, and, in the case of poor suitors, very often operated as a total denial of justice. No wonder that the word copy-money is so odious to the suitors of the Court. Nothing, perhaps, could be more objectionable, except the other great abuse termed "gratuities," which formed a great source of the income of the Master's Clerk. This was a consideration paid him by the parties for expedition, so that the rich man had thus the means of securing for himself the precedence. One of the Masters, to his honour be it spoken, shocked at a striking instance of venality which occurred in his own office, abolished these gratuities without waiting for a compulsory clause in an Act of Parliament. Both copy-money and gratuities are now abo- lished ; and the Masters and their Clerks are paid by salaries, which will reduce the expense Present Innome. Future. Saving. * Master of the Report Office . .4,300 1,000 3,300 Registrars and their Clerks . . 27,800 14.050 13,750 61 of the office from 52,000/. to 35,000/. being a saving to the public of 17,000/. per annum. Present Income. Future. Saving. 10 Masters, averaging 39007. a-yeareach, - - - 39,000 25,000 14,000 10 Chief Clerks, averaging 13007. per ann. each - - 13,000 10,000 3,000 Thus the savings to the suitors will be the whole 39,000/., inasmuch as the whole of their future salaries are to come from the Suitor's Fund, which is in a state to admit of this con- tribution, without any injury to the public. The two Examiners of the Court of Chancery are reduced to 700/. per ann. each, which makes an additional saving of 1000Z. per annum. Another stain upon the Court of Chancery has been the number of offices to which light duties and large emoluments were attached, to the cost of the suitor, out of whose purse these emoluments are paid. These and other offices, in the gift of the Lord Chancellor, being all executed by deputy, were usually filled by the members of his family, or his immediate depen- dants. The fruits of one of them, yielding 7,500/. per annum, are now enjoyed by a cler- gyman who had the good fortune to be nephew to a deceased Chancellor, and another of them was for many years held by the three daugh- ters of Lord Chancellor Northington. The total amount received by these officers was 24,476/. per annum. Although this grievance has ex- isted time out of mind, the present Lord Chan- cellor is the only one who has had the courage 62 to apply the remedy, and the disinterestedness to make the sacrifice. By the Lord Chancel- lor's Act, introduced by the Solicitor-General, the salaries of these offices are made proportion- ate to the duties to be performed, and they will henceforth cost the public no more than 2,800/. per annum, being a saving of 21,670/.* It should be remarked also that two of these offices, producing together the net income of 2,600/., becoming vacant before the passing of the Act, it became necessary at once to appoint some person to discharge their duties, the Lord Chan- cellor appointed his brother, but by the regula- tions of this Act, that appointment is at once cancelled, and the saving to the public accrues immediately; all the other holders of these * Savings in Offices in the gift of the Lord Chancellor, as now regulated : Present Income Do. of Deputy Future Income g av ; ne of Principal. and expenses, and expenses. k Clerk of Hanaper, 2800 - 550 - 200 - 315 Clerk of Crown, . 1100 - 1000 - 800 - 1300 Clerk of Patents, . 810 - 395 - 400 - 805 Registrar of Affidavits, 1800 - 1000 - 1000 1800 Clerk of Custodies, 1347 - 375 - 200 1522 Clerk of Presentations, 43 - 100 - 50 - 93 Clerk of Dispensations, 316 - - 50 - 266 Patentee of Spa, . 352 - 682 - - 1034 Chaff Wax, . . 1300 - 400 - 50 - 1650 Sealer, . . . 800 - 200 - 50 - 950 Prothonotary, . . 100 abolished - 100 Clerk of Enrolments > This Office was revised under a Bill in Bankruptcy $ brought in by Mr. Freshfield. Patentee in Bankruptcy 7500 - 1500 - - 9000 18,268 6,202 2,800 21,670 63 offices, insisting on the benefit of their vested v rights, the public are debarred from the advan- tages of the arrangement as to them during their lives. Thus the suitors in Chancery will be re- lieved by a reduction of cost to the amount of 63,670/. per annum ; and it must not be for- gotten, that this is in addition to the reduction of 28,000/. effected in the cost of proceedings in Bankruptcy, by the Bill introduced by the Lord Chancellor in 1831. The last of the Lord Chancellor's legal Re- o forms this Session was a Bill for the separation of the judicial from the political functions of the Great Seal, for the appointment of a Chief Judge, and the establishment of a Court of Appeal in Chancery. The salary of the Lord Chancellor was proposed to be reduced from 14,OOOZ. to 8000/. a year. The great pressure of business caused the Bill to be postponed to next year. The substitution of an efficient Court, com- posed at least of four Judges, for the old mode of hearing Appeals at the Privy Council, is another of the important changes effected this Session. It must be admitted that a single Judge hear- ing and deciding on questions of great moment was not a very good specimen of a Court of Appeal ; particularly when it is considered that the questions brought before the Privy Council are generally questions involving some of the 64 most abstruse points of foreign law : questions, in which the interests of millions of people (as in the case of India) are involved. The re- peated complaints of our colonists who suffered under the infliction of this mode of trying ap- peals, to say nothing of the uncertainty and de- lay, it must be admitted, were any thing but ill-founded. By the present arrangement, first the expen- sive anomaly of the appeal to the delegates (requiring in each case a separate commission,) has been removed : and an efficient Court con- stituted ; powers have been given for the exa- mination of evidence, and enforcing the deter- minations, as finally pronounced by the King in Council, on the recommendation of the Court. Some technical difficulties had for a quarter of a century prevented the hearing of from fifty to one hundred Appeals from the Native Courts of India, involving property in dispute to the amount of nearly a million of money, and entailing by this delay and sus- pense, an incalculable mass of misery and in- justice. These, the present law has removed ; and the Natives of India will no longer suppose that the power of Appeal has been bestowed on them in mere mockery ! But there is another, and a far more im- portant question connected with this subject : namely, the promise which this Reform holds out, that, ere long, the constitution of the highest Court of Appeal will receive that con- 65 ^deration, and undergo that improvement which its present constitution so urgently demands. It is but reasonable to suppose that the same views, and the same spirit which induced the present Ministry to propose and perfect this amendment, will not be backward in giving efficiency and perfection to the Court which is the highest known to the constitution, and that this Reform of the Appellate Jurisdiction of the Privy Council will lead to the establishment of a well organized and efficient Court of Appeal, instead of that now existing ; which is, in fact, in nine cases out of ten, an Appeal to a single Judge, (and not seldom from his own decisions,) assisted only by a Bishop and a lay Lord, attending under penalty, and according to a rota. The severity of our criminal code has been mitigated by an Act abolishing the punishment of death upon persons entering and stealing in a dwelling-house.* Heretofore the simple fact of entering a dwelling-house, either by day or night, and stealing " any article of any value whatever," subjected the offender to the highest penalty of the law. Transportation and impri- sonment are substituted for this sanguinary pro- vision. The Acts for the amendment of the Laws of Real Property will form a memorable epoch in our civil history. That which is the most ge- * This Act was introduced by Mr. Lennard, M.P. for Mai- den, with the support of Government. F 66 rieral and practical, the Limitations of Actions Bill, may be designated as a salutary arid long demanded law for the quieting men in the pos- session of their estates. No single change in the Law so sweeping or so important has been made within the last century. It is one of the soundest and the most vital principles of the law of property, that he who has a right shall pursue it within a reasonable time, or be at once shut out. As the law stood, in some cases, claims might be made at almost an indefinite period, when all chance of defence was gone, witnesses dead, &c. The length of time allowed for prosecuting suits gave rise to the rule that no one could be considered as having a good title to land unless he could shew an undis- puted possession of at least sixty years ;- nay, from particular circumstances he was often com- pelled to trace it through the course of a whole century or more. Hence the expense and difficulty relating to the sale of lands. By the new law, the time for claim is reduced to twenty years, with a saving of ten years more in cases of disability. All the old uncer- tain and fantastic remedies are at once swept away, and with it the profits and pickings of lawyers ; the remedy for the recovery of property reduced to one uniform and simple standard, and the Statute Books and the Digests are at once relieved of a mass of rubbish. One of the advantages next in importance to thus shutting out stale claims, is, that henceforth, 67 the rule which makes a sixty years' title ne- cessary, must be materially abridged by the Courts, say at least one half, and ttius one half of the expense of tracing titles will be removed. The Act for abolishing fines and recoveries is another important change. Till now, in the nineteenth century ! (laymen will scarcely be- lieve it,) whoever wished to bar an entail, must suffer a recovery, as it is termed ; that is, mus actually have a suit commenced before he could acquire any power of dealing with that pro- perty which in effect was his own. The whole matter, as regarded the forms and the fees, was proceeded in pure earnestness. The rest was a fiction, and put money in the pockets of the attornies. This farrago of rubbish, O 7 inflicted grievous and two-fold evil. First, the expense, next the risk which attended this ticklish proceeding ; but expense was nothing to the risk. For though the suit was fictitious, yet the Court was so far in earnest, that a single slip, an accidental misapplication of some principle of law, (and the laws relating to these proceedings were amongst the most diffi- cult and recondite relating to property,) the leaving out a word perhaps, vitiated the whole proceeding. It was no uncommon thing to see a person who had purchased an estate, turned out of the possession by a claimant under an old en- tail, on the ground of some technical error in the recovery. The levying a fine was a pro- 68 ceeding somewhat similar, and accompanied by the same absurd formalities, with the like ex- pense, and often with the like results. The new law has at last annihilated these anomalies. Volumes upon volumes have been written on the operation and effects of Fines and Recoveries, and on the various actions for the limitations of actions which, by these two Statutes just past, are converted into harmless lumber, only to be looked into in future times by the antiquarian. Can it be believed, that it was on the introduc- tion of such measures as these, that Lord Eldon, groaning over the change, weeping at the loss of those forms and subtleties, in which he had delighted for more than half a century, tried to sound the alarm, and cried out, that if they passed, if fines and recoveries were made a dead letter, every country gentleman ought to hire a young barrister, and take him with him into the country as a sort of legal garde cham- petre ? There are two other measures connected with real property, for the amendment of the law of Inheritance and the laws relating to Dower, removing several anomalies and incon- veniencies. Amongst the rest, the absurd dogma of the laws of Inheritance which prevented a father or mother from inheriting the lands of a child. As the law stood, the estate of the child went to the remotest collateral relation, nay, even escheated to the king for want of heirs, rather than ascend to a parent. This abstir- 69 dity, and some others, such as that law which prevented a brother or sister of the half blood from inheriting, have been removed. One, however, important measure suggested by the Commissioners, the bill for establishing a Gene- ral Registry, and which was brought forward after very considerable care and preparation, has been rejected by the House of Commons. Though this is to be regretted, yet it is impos- sible but that when that general attention has been given to the subject, and its vital impor- tance, as regards the title and possession of all landed property ascertained, the hasty decision of the last Session will be recalled. It is not the House of Commons alone which has rejected an important law improvement. The House of Lords threw out the Local Courts Bill, a rejection far more to be regretted than the loss of the Registry Bill. With care and good counsel a man had a fair chance of main- taining a title to his property, but according to the existing state of the law, as it regards debts and suits not involving property to a large amount, the very existence of justice is practi- cally denied. On what evidence was the Local Courts Bill founded ? Why, on the testimony of whole classes of those most interested in the change of the law ; of those who had suffered grievously from it in pocket. Did not witness after witness state to the Common Law Com- missioners that the remedy, as it now stands, is worse than the evil ? Did not whole firms say, 70 we never sue for small debts ? Is it riot prover- bial that an attempt to recover a debt for a small amount is little else than throwing good money after bad ? Does any man, without a long purse, attempt to seek redress for inj ury ? Are not people constantly ruined by a successful law suit? How was this measure introduced? Was it a hasty, crude, theoretical scheme, seeking change for the sake of change, making judges and places merely for patronage ? or was it one that the public have been, with one ac- cord, calling for as a right ? one that has been recommended and supported by all parties at various times, when the subject was discussed ? The bringing justice to every man's door, a following up, or rather restoring, the judicial constitution of the Country. The measure came recommended by the united voices of the Com- mon Law Commissioners, all practising lawyers of eminence. Neither was there any fear of bias on the score of politics, for, with one exception, every one of those was known, more or less, to be opposed to the views of the present Govern- ment. Is it likely that, with what may be con- sidered the prejudices of such men against a change, they should have been induced hastily, and without reference to consequences, to re- commend so important a measure, without cau- tiously balancing the evil against the good r WJiat in reality were the principal arguments against the measure ? that cheap justice was a nuisance, and that the Judges (not having 5000/. 71 a-year), and who lived in the country, would become at once bad lawyers and corrupt judges. This is not the place to discuss such points ; to balance between that justice which is cheap and attainable, and that which from its price is prac- tically beyond the reach of the many ; or to con- sider the pay necessary to make a judge capa- ble of deciding on a 201. debt, a petty action of slander, or of assault and battery. Coupled with the Local Courts Bill, is the measure for the Abo- lition of Imprisonment for Debt, another great stride in Reform one long called for by every philosopher and statesman who has considered the subject. A Bill for this purpose was intro- duced by the Solicitor General, but owing to the necessity of making changes in its provisions, in consequence of the rejection of the Local Courts Bill, it was withdrawn, not however without full promise of its being renewed in the next Session. Before quitting the head of Legal Reform, the Bill brought in for the Consolidation of the Ec- clesiastical Jurisdictions, must be noticed, though it has not been carried through. The measure has been prepared, and this, like those reforms before noticed, is made in consequence of the recom- mendations of a Commission which was issued for consideration of the best mode of removing many of the anomalies, and many of the cum- brous processes which exist in the numerous Ecclesiastical Courts spread over this country. By the recommendation of the Commissioners, the whole testamentary jurisdiction of the dif- 72 ferent Ecclesiastical Courts, (some hundreds in number,) will be abolished, and to the long and inconvenient proceedings in the Ecclesiastical Courts reformed. Power is given to the judges to try the causes, as other causes are tried, to hear evidence viva voce. The absurd and obso- lete powers of punishing in the Ecclesiastical Courts for brawling, defamation, incest, adul- tery, fornication, &c. are to be swept away. These changes, with many other important provisions relating to the jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical Courts, and the discipline of the Church, will, when completed, form part of an important and widely extended Reform. We have entered at some length into a detail of the Law Reforms, seeing their great practical importance to the well-being of the country, and how much these improvements tend to restore the tone of content to men's minds, and as affording a convincing proof of the labours of the Session, more especially when the particular difficulties of effecting; these Reforms are con- c? sidered. Difficulties which, arising first from the complexity of the subject, the variety of aspects under which every point must be con- sidered, the mass of detail to be attended to ; and, lastly, the interested and endless hostility arising from Attornies, Barristers, Clerks, and holders of offices, with large fees and small duties. Are seventy Commissioners of Bank- rupts to be swept away ; seventy, nay, seventy times seventy enemies are at once raised up, 73 those who have been quietly living in the en- joyment of the fees in decent obscurity, come forth open-mouthed ready for the fight fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts, friends ; nay, the very expectants of these places, the loss of the mere potentiality of the possession of which at a future period is considered a robbery, all, in one loud cry, denounce the injustice and impugn the system which brings Reform in this depart- ment. Professional men, wedded to forms and ancient practices, seek to alarm the public by mysterious warnings of the approaching disso- lution of all the bonds which hold property together ; compensation for overgrown salaries, down to the smallest contingent fee, is cla- moured for, or humbly begged. And before the Reform can be effected, the assertions and the arguments of the one class are to be contradicted and refuted, the claims of the other are to be estimated with care, and reasonably satisfied, in addition to all the labours and knowledge re- quisite to render the measure entirely perfect and complete. Those only, we suspect, who have traced the progress of such a measure of Reform as we have alluded to, through all its mazes, can be really aware of the difficulty with which such a measure is achieved, or the patience and temper which are required for its accomplishment. 74 CORPORATIONS. Amongst the most important of the Com- missions appointed by the Government is that for inquiry into Corporations a measure, of perhaps the most importance of any which was originated during this Session ; one, and only inferior in value to the Reform Act itself. It is the grand assault on the last hold of Tory corruption, and abused patronage. No evil called more loudly for reform no abuse weighed more heavily on the general mass of the inhabitants of Corporate Towns, than the admi- nistration of the Corporate Property, and the undue exercise of powers, originally designed for the benefit of the people. If the representation of the country required re- form, if that had become corrupt from age, misuse, and change of the times, surely all must admit that every argument which was used in further- ance of a Reform in Parliament, may, with at least equal justice and like force, be urged for a complete revision and reform of Corporations. The Commission which has been appointed, and the names of those to whom it is directed, will ensure searching and complete inquiry. And it is only by such previous inquiry, by an accu- rate and detailed statement of the circumstances which relate to each town, and to the mode in which the powers confided has been exercised, that real and substantial justice can be done, or the means of sound legislation obtained. 75 It may be fairly assumed, that where malver- sation has existed, where privileges exist incon- sistent with the good government of the people, neither the one nor the other will be allowed to remain. A guide, indeed, to the views of the Minis- ters, on this subject, may in some respects be found in the Bill brought into the House of Lords this Session, though not as yet proceeded with : this makes provision for the incorporation of the new boroughs ; the voters for the bo- rough are to become burgesses of the corpora- tion. The burgesses of each ward are to elect the common-councilmen, who are to elect the mayor and aldermen, town-clerk, and other officers. One main feature of this measure is, that no property can be acquired by the corporation ; and hence their poverty will be the best guaran- tee for their honesty. And as there .will be no patronage, there can be no jobbing. The mayor and aldermen are to be the magis- trates for the town, and by their frequent meeting in petty sessions to ensure speedy jus- tice : and they, with a given number of the common-council are to form a committee, for the sole purpose of regulating an efficient police, which, in fact, may be considered the most important object of their incorporation. 76 SCOTLAND. Connected with Corporation Reform, is the material change which has been made, this Session, by which the whole system of self- election in the Scotch burghs has been entirely abolished. This flagrant abuse, which was introduced nearly four centuries ago, under pretence of avoiding the tumults incidental to popular elec- tion, had long ago produced its natural fruits, in the utter delapidation of the revenues of most of their communities, in an almost unbroken series of corruption and embezzlement, and, at last, in the general discontent and indignation of all who were exposed to its influence. It was in vain, that the attention of Parlia- ment, and Parliamentary Committees had been called to the system ; the power of corrup- tion was too great to admit of its being de- stroyed, till the voice of the people prevailed in a Reformed House of Commons. A liberal constitution, in most respects similar to that conferred by the English Corporation Bill, has been given to these boroughs, and in like manner Scotch Commissioners have been appointed to search into and apply a complete remedy to past municipal abuses. In addition to this important measure, a Com- mission has issued for a general inquiry into 77 the state of the laws, and courts of justice, with the view of introducing an extensive reform in both ; and, from what passed in Parliament, it appears, that measures for preventing the mal-administration of Church patronage are under the consideration of the Government. In the last Session, an Act passed, by which the judicial duties of the Court of Exchequer were so regulated, as eventually to be executed at a charge of only 600Z. a year, instead of 8000/. per annum, which latter sum, be it observed, was a reduction from 70,000/. per annum, the original cost. The most considerable duties of the Barons of the Treasury, were, as Lords of the Treasury of Scotland, acting under the direction of the Treasury in London. Much abuse, and no ad- vantage was derived from this : and this Ses- sion an Act was passed, transferring to the Board of Taxes in London, the whole duties of the Barons in respect to the revenue of taxes. This measure, and one in progress for the con- solidating the collect ion of the revenue of Stamps and Taxes, will effect a considerable saving. Hitherto, the revenue of Scotland, amounting to about five millions, has been brought to a general fund of collection in Edinburgh, and transmitted thence, at a rate of exchange disad- vantageous to the public. An arrangement is nearly completed, by which the remittances will be effected directly from the points of collection, and on terms more advantageous. Besides this 78 saving, the arrangement will put an end to the office of Receiver General and Paymaster. POOR LAW AMENDMENT. The last of the domestic questions which we proposed to consider, is Poor Law Amendment ; and, as it is the subject in which the least appa- rent progress has been made, it may be advisable to state, at some length, not only what has been done, but also the obstacles which have pre- vented more from being effected. The mode in which that subject was dealt with, during the forty-five years for which Mr. Pitt and his followers held office, is a most instructive ex- ample of the wisdom, public spirit, diligence, and courage of that party. When, in the year 1795, the question, long after it had engaged the attention of all thinking individuals, at last was taken up by public men, the popular party, the party on whose side most sympathy was enlisted, was that of the receivers of relief. Mr. Pitt, therefore, after a speech, in which he expressly proposed to apply every possible stimulus to population, and was ready, if he followed out his own principles, to remove, as far as he could, all inducement to industry, or providence, brought in a Bill quite worthy of such a preface ; a Bill to legalise Parish al- lowance in aid of wages, to those who had fa- milies, or, were unable, or unwilling, to earn their whole subsistence by labour ; to enable 79 persons possessed of property to claim public charity, and even to demand a cow, or, in the words of the Bill, " any other domestic animal," to be supplied at the expense of the public. This Bill, indeed, failed ; but the Act which Mr. Pitt actually introduced, the 36 Geo. III. cap. 23 ; the Act, which, for the avowed pur- pose of preventing Parish relief from being ad- ministered in a mode " injurious to the comfort, domestic situation, and happiness" of paupers, gave to the Magistrates their present, and, indeed, more than their present discretionary power over the parochial funds, was, perhaps, more mischievous than the Bill which was rejected. Under the sanction of that Act, the monstrous system under which we are now suffering; the system which proclaims, that indigence, what- ever be its cause, whatever be the idleness, or improvidence, or profligacy of the applicant, gives a right to comfortable subsistence out of the property of others, was fostered and ex- tended, until it forced itself on the attention even of a Tory Administration. Committees of the Lords and of the Commons were appointed in 1817, and reported, that, " unless some effi- cacious check were interposed, there was every reason to expect the neglect and ruin of the land, and the waste and removal of other pro- perty, to the utter subversion of the happy order of society so long upheld in these kingdoms." The check which the legislature interposed to meet these evils was characteristic. The 80 59 George III. cap. 12, was passed. An Act, consisting of thirty-seven salutary provisions, almost every one of which is carefully and effec- tually neutralized by an exception or a qua- lification. The enacting clauses are without doubt to be attributed to the eminent person whose name the Act usually bears. The ex- ceptions and qualifications were the wisdom of the Lords and of the unreformed Commons. Who can wonder that such an Act did not in- terpose the efficacious check demanded by the report, or that the evil thus tenderly handled by the Legislature, pursued its appointed course ? The public, however, are not to blame for this. Writer after writer proclaimed the ap- proaching ruin. Committee after committee ex- amined evidence, and reported the necessity of amendment. Bill after bill was introduced, read a first time, and dropped. All parties felt their danger ; all, except the Government, en- deavoured to avert it ; but the task was difficult, unpopular, and dangerous. The Government was wise in its generation ; and so the matter rested till, in the autumn of 1830, the mine exploded. It was at this calamitous period, when, in half the counties of England, the agricultural population were in arms, when barns and corn-ricks and thrashing machines were blazing, the clergy flying their homes, the magistrates capitulating with the rioters, and the farmers secretly, or even openly urging 81 them on ; it was in the midst of this storm that the Tories abandoned the helm, and having run the vessel among the breakers, called on the Whigs to tack and preserve her. Among the innumerable subjects of Reform, which forty years of indecision and procrastina- tion had accumulated, it was unhappily some time before Poor Law Reform could be attended to. An Emigration Bill, as a means of facilita- ting such Reform, was among the first measures of the new Government. It was abandoned, however, from a fear that, as an insulated mea- sure, it might be worse than useless ; and the more urgent business of Parliamentary Reform, by absorbing the attention of the Public, and in a great measure that of the Government, made it impossible, during its pendency, to consider the whole question of Poor Law Improvement ; but the instant the Reform Bill had passed, that question was taken up. It was then supposed by many persons, perhaps by almost all, that the facts of the case were generally understood, and that a Government measure might be founded on the existing evidence. The Ad- ministration, however, thought otherwise ; they distrusted the ex-parte evidence obtained by Committees, from an examination of not more than 40 or 50 witnesses, all of whom came full of their own views, and anxious to supply tes- timony in their favour. They believed that the inquiry must be local, that witnesses must G 82 not be summoned, but sought for ; that the pauper, the overseer, and the farmer must be seen in situ ; that workhouses must be visited ; vestry meetings and petty sessions attended, and the story of the independent labourer, the small proprietor, and the overseer, heard and considered, as well as that of the great farmer and the country magistrate : and that instead of a chairman and four or five other persons lis- tening two or three hours a day for two or three weeks to voluntary witnesses, twenty or thirty persons ought to be employed for months in inspecting the actual workings of the system. But as the body of persons who were to make that inspection must be too numerous to be able to prescribe any one mode of proceeding, or to agree in any report, it was determined to ap- point a Central Commission, whose business it should be to direct the mode of inquiry, to appoint the itinerant Commissioners who were to make the actual inspection of the country, and after having received their separate reports to frame one final report, summing up the evi- dence, and proposing the measures which it should show to be desirable arid practicable. The Central Commissioners were accordingly appointed in the beginning of the year 1832. Scarcely any of them could be considered adherents of the present Government. Of the three principal Commissioners, the Bishops of London and Chester, and Mr. Sturges Bourne, 83 the two former had been raised to the Bench by previous administrations, and the third might be considered a political adversary. It was hoped that a Report might be obtained which would enable Parliament to take up the question in that, or at least the succeeding Session. The first proceeding of the Commissioners was to circulate printed questions on those points which appeared to them most material, either from their actual importance, or from their being subjects on which little information was in print. While the replies to these questions were coming in, several of the Commissioners visited different parts of the Country, in order to as- certain the mode of inquiry to be pointed out to their itinerant, or, as they have been usually called, Assistant Commissioners. The experi- ence derived from these journeys, the practical knowledge possessed by some of the Commis- sioners, and the information derived from the answers to about two or three hundred sets of printed questions, enabled the Commissioners to frame Instructions for their Assistant Commis- sioners. When these had been framed, a busi- ness which necessarily took much time, the Assistant Commissioners were appointed. To appoint them previously would have been use- less, as no person could be expected to take an important and responsible office without the means of knowing what was expected from him. 84 The choice was by no means easy : much know- ledge, activity, good sense, and diligence were required, joined to the power of composition and arrangement; and though the mere ex- penses of the Assistant Commissioners were paid, they received no remuneration for their time and labour. Several candidates for As- sistant Commissionerships declined the office when informed of the terms ; others withdrew their applications after they had considered the Instructions, and some, after having accepted it, were prevented by illness or other unforeseen causes, and some attempted and gave it up. At length, however, a number of Assistant Commissioners were obtained, and set in motion, sufficient, not to give a full account of the Poor Law Administration of the whole of England, or even of a considerable portion of it ; but to give such a sample of its administration as might enable the public to infer its general state. The Assistant Commissioners were directed to make their Reports before the end of November, 1832. If the Central Commissioners hoped that this direction would be complied with, they either under-rated the difficulty of the inquiry, or over-rated the diligence of their Assistants. It is believed, that no Reports were delivered before the end of the year 1832, and that many were not received until the January following. As they were received, they were sent to the House of Commons' printers to be printed, in anticipation of the order of the House. 85 In the mean time, returns to the printed Questions were received to an extent far beyond what could have been anticipated. It is under- stood, that nearly 2000 Parishes, in fact about one-seventh of England, have sent returns. These, as they were received, were digested, and their substance was, in like manner, sent to the Par- liamentary printers. A third branch of the Evidence collected by the Central Commissioners, consists of commu- nications voluntarily made to them by different individuals ; many of them of considerable length and importance ; particularly those on the subject of Labour Rates and Education, a portion of which has been already printed and distributed by order of Parliament. The difficulty of getting printed this enormous mass of evidence, and the impossibility of making full use of it, while in manuscript, for the purposes of the final Report, is understood to be the sole cause which prevented the Central Commissioners from presenting a Report before the termination of the Session. In the mean time some benefit has been de- rived from the labours of the Commission, not only by the publication of the paper on Labour Rates, to which we have already adverted, but by the appearance of some Extracts from their Evi- dence. These Extracts were published in com- pliance with a requisition from the Home Office, and are believed to contain, not a selection of striking passages, and extraordinary statements, 86 but a mere fair average of the contents of the Reports from the Assistant Commissioners. Such as they are, they fully shew the wisdom of Government in not resting satisfied with the existing information on the subject of Poor Law Administration. If we compare the number, the variety, and the importance of the facts, and of the inferences contained in that small vo- lume, with all the folios that have proceeded from Parliament on the same subject, how far do the powers of individual research appear to exceed those of a Parliamentary Committee ? There is every reason to expect, that before the commencement of the next Session, the Commissioners, having taken such ample time for deliberation, will be able to propose, not perhaps the best conceivable measure, but the best that in the present state of political know- ledge, public opinion will sanction, or a prudent Ministry introduce. A measure which, if it do not attempt at once to destroy the abuses which have been the growth of half a century, will im- mediately check their increase, and ensure their gradual extirpation. And it may be added, that the possibility of such a result, a result on which the future welfare of England depends, appears to be due solely to the present administration. Their predecessors seem never to have contem- plated such an undertaking, or to have had the least notion of the means by which it could be effected. In the mean time there was passed silently, 87 and without the suggestion or assistance, or even the commendation of those who talk so loudly of their exclusive concern for the welfare of " the people," who assume to be the sole guardians of the working classes a measure which promises more substantial benefits to those classes than any which has succeeded the establishment of Friendly Societies and Savings Banks. Persons acquainted with those Institutions, are aware that, of the Friendly Societies, a large pro- portion are jbased on erroneous principles, in- volving their ultimate ruin, and that in the majority of them, the hard earnings of the con- tributors are exposed to partial or entire loss, from the rapacity or the ignorance of the ma- nagers. To avoid these disasters, a labouring man may have deposited in a Savings Bank the surplus earnings of his labour from childhood ; but when in the decline of life he wishes to relax his toils, he may lose his deposit, from want either of knowledge or of means to invest it produc- tively and securely. These calamities are dread- fully frequent, and not only throw an indepen- dent and noble-minded labourer into the work- house, to avoid which he has been abstinent through life, but produce more general mischief by the discouragement of provident habits. One such instance may crush the frugality of a whole village. From fourteen to sixteen o millions of the earnings of the labouring classes are exposed to these casualties. Again, a seaman 88 or a labourer in a distant service wishes to have his surplus wages sent home and applied to the payment of a weekly stipend to his aged father or mother ; but there is no trusty person who will take care of the deposit, or trouble himself with the apportionment and payment of the instalments. In a thousand instances the la- bouring classes have not the opportunities of giving effect to family affections or friendly sympathies, possessed by those who have guardians and executors at their command, and can claim the services of the highest officer of the state. By the Ministerial measure of the 3d Will. IV. c. 14, Government has taken upon itself the guardianship of these cases. By that Act, the Depositors in Savings Banks, and others, are enabled to purchase Government Annuities, for life or for years, and either immediate or deferred. Experience may enable the Govern- ment to extend the amount beyond its present limit of 201. a year. Tables of Insurance have already been framed, and have been sanctioned by the Treasury. The whole of the money ad- vanced is returnable in case the contracting party does not live to the age at which the annuity is to become payable, or is unable to continue the monthly or annual instalments. This measure will secure the beneficial appli- cation of a vast amount of savings most merito- riously accumulated, and in innumerable ways contribute to the comforts, and the advance- ment of the social condition of the great mass of the people. FOREIGN POLICY. In order to take a just view of our foreign relations, we must carry our eyes back for a moment to the condition of things when the present Government first took the helm. Three important questions were then pending, in all of which Great Britain either had taken a prominent part, or had a paramount interest. The affairs of Greece, Belgium, and Portugal. The Greek question, as far as England was concerned, began with the protocol of April, 1826, which was signed at Petersburg!! by the Duke of Wellington, and which was followed by the treaty of July, 1827, signed in London, by Lord Dudley. The object of these instruments was to separate Greece from Turkey, and to place the Greek nation, within a territory to be specially defined, in a state of independence and self-government. When the present Administration succeeded to office, they found an agreement entered into by their predecessors, with the Porte, by which limits were to be imposed upon Greece, so nar- row and so ill-chosen, that, while important districts of Greece would have been left to Turkey, the Greeks would have had no defen- sible frontier, and perpetual collision would have taken place between the Turkish and Greek 90 population. Such a settlement could only have laid the foundation for future quarrels. The present Government despatched Sir Strat- ford Canning to Constantinople, to endeavour to make a more rational arrangement. That able ambassador was completely successful ; and he obtained the consent of the Porte to an amended boundary, as excellent, in every respect, as the former one had been defective. Prince Otho of Bavaria, selected as King of Greece by the three mediating Powers, in virtue of an authority from the Greeks themselves, has since arrived in his dominions, where he was enthusiastically received ; and Greece, reviving from the tomb, and awakening from the death- like torpor of ages, takes her place among the Christian and civilized nations of Europe. May we not hope that this country, once the peculiar seat of the arts, of science, and of civil liberty, may prove itself not unworthy of the fortunate condition to which it has now been raised. i The Belgian question, like the Greek, had its origin in events antecedent to the formation of the present Government. They found on this subject a course chalked out to them by their predecessors. They might modify it as they advanced, but could not, even if they had wished to do so, retrace steps already taken. The revolution in Belgium broke out in August, 1830. The King of the Netherlands, in October, called upon his allies, and Great 91 Britain among the rest, to send him troops to quell the revolt ; the British Government, under the Duke of Wellington, refused to do so ; the Dutch were almost entirely expelled from the Belgian provinces ; and the King of the Nether- lands, unable to put down the rebels by his own means, or to get succour from his allies, en- treated that a Conference might be assembled, and that an armistice might be imposed on the two parties ; himself and his revolted subjects. His request was complied with ; and in the beginning of November, the Conference met in London ; and its first act was to declare to the two parties that they should fight no more, and that the line of demarcation between them, dur- ing an armistice unlimited as to time, should be the line which, before the union in 1814, sepa- rated the old Dutch provinces from the provinces of Belgium. This decree at once established the principle of separation. For the Belgians had declared themselves independent, and the King of Holland was told, the war was to cease. He could not therefore recover his lost territory, except by the consent of the Belgians, and that consent it was evident he never could obtain. The task then of the present Government was so to settle the terms on which separation should take place, as to provide for the interests and security of all parties concerned. The arrangement is not yet completed, but it is supposed to be verging towards its close ; and Belgium finally becomes an independent, consti- 92 tutional, commercial, and neutral state, it will contribute more to preserve the peace of Europe in such a condition of existence, than in any other which could have been assigned to it. The difficulties which have been encountered, have arisen from the obstinacy of the King of the Netherlands ; an obstinacy which during the last two years has burdened the Dutch with expenses, the permanent charges arising from which, will almost counterbalance the relief afforded them by the division of the debt be- tween them and the Belgians. The citadel of Antwerp was to be evacuated in fifteen days, by the armistice which the King of the Netherlands himself had invoked in Novem- ber, 1830 ; but the possession of that fortress enabled him to harass the Belgians, and to inter- cept their trade on the Scheldt. He therefore refused to give it up. England and France pro- posed to the other three Powers to declare, that Belgium should strike off from her debt to Hol- land, a million of florins for every week during which, after a certain time, the Dutch should continue to occupy any part of the Belgian Terri- tory. The three Powers refused to agree to this proposal ; England and France therefore were obliged to resort to force : hence the siege of Antwerp, and hence the Dutch embargo. These vigorous measures disconcerted all the calcula- tions of the Dutch King and his partizans, whe- ther English Tories, or Continental Absolutists. Baffled in their schemes, they vented their anger in predictions. The Citadel would never be taken ; the Prussians would march to relieve it ; the Russians would pour down from Poland ; Austria would take the field ; and the tide of a general war would sweep the French back to their own frontier. But Prussia only errumbled, */ o and coquetted about Venloo ; Austria never stirred ; and Russia contented herself with some angry boasts of what she would have done, if she had been nearer to the scene of action. The prophets then foretold* thatChasse, sooner than surrender, would blow up himself and his gar- rison, and bury all under the ruins of the place. But old Chasse went on quietly smoking his pipe ; retiring from one cellar to another, as the bombardment advanced ; and, at length, when the breach was practicable, and he had got to his last casemate, he surrendered, as people in such situations generally do. Then the embargo was said to be an utter failure ; harmless to the Dutch, ruinous only to ourselves ; it was unheard of to continue it so long ; we ought to go to war, or else release the Dutch ships ; the measure was illegal, and, at * The Tories appear on this as on other occasions, to have been influenced by their wishes rather than inspired by the spirit of prophecy. Mr. Alexander Baring, the chief of the prophets, was thus led to pay an involuntary compliment to the talent of our Foreign Minister, when he observed, " IF the Noble Lord can get the army of Marshal Gerard out of Bel- gium, which I admit would be a great act almost a master- piece of diplomacy, &c." Aug. 18, 1831. 94 the same time, ridiculous. These were the ar- guments and assertions by which the Tories tried to persuade Parliament to force the Government to take the embargo off. But Parliament turned a deaf ear to them ; the embargo continued ; and the consequence was, the Convention of the 21st of May. By that Convention the character of the Belgian question was entirely changed. The Dutch agreed to an unlimited armistice ; and Europe was secured against any danger of a general war, resulting from the difference be- ween Holland and Belgium. The question of peace or war was from that moment settled : what remained to be arranged, was a matter of florins, of tolls, and of duties ; questions, im- portant, indeed, to the two parties, but not threatening the peace of the rest of Europe. This was the fruit of the siege of "Antwerp and of the embargo ; and thus has the result fully justified the wisdom of those measures. The affairs of Portugal are drawing to a con- clusion. The tyranny, which for five years has weighed down that wretched country, has been dashed to the ground. Miguel's fleet has been captured ; the siege of Oporto has been raised ; 2,500 brave Portuguese have marched in tri- umph from the Guadiana to the Tagus ; Donna Maria has been proclaimed in Lisbon, and a Bri- tish Minister has again presented himself at the Court of the Rightful Sovereign of Portugal. British valour has, as usual, been associated with Portuguese freedom, and Cape St. Vincent has 95 again witnessed the exploits of naval heroism. The English Government has, with respect to these affairs, steadily adhered to the course which it had chalked out for itself. It has been rigidly neutral in the contest ; but then it has required other Powers to be so too. When Don Pedro's expedition sailed from Terceira, a Spanish army assembled on the con- fines of Portugal, under pretence of observation, but obviously ready to strike a blow in support of Don Miguel, if an opportunity should offer. But the events of 1826 had not been forgotten, and the experience of the conduct of Spain in that year was not thrown away. The British Government did not trust solely to the assurances of the Cabinet of Madrid, but prepared itself for all events. A powerful squadron under Admiral Parker was sent to the Tagus, with orders, as was stated in Par- liament, to take active part for Don Pedro, the moment a Spanish force should enter Portugal to assist Don Miguel. Spain and England have kept faith with each other ; and though openly avowing their opposite wishes as to the result of the war, both have stood aloof, leav- ing the contending parties to fight the matter out unaided. The part which England took in this struggle was, to keep the ring, and see fair play ; and victory has remained with the cause of justice and of right. There can be no doubt that, if a Tory Government had been established in England, some pretence or 96 other would have been found, to let the Spa- nish army loose, and Portugal would have been still doomed to languish under the tyranny of Miguel. The result of this conquest is most important, and will be extensively felt. The struggle was not simply between Pedro and Maria on one side, and Miguel on the other ; Portugal was the arena on which the great European battle was to be fought by appointed champions. The To- ries of England, the Carlists of France and Spain, the Holy Alliance, and the enemies of liberty all over Europe, were the backers of Mi- guel ; the friends of justice and of rational go- vernment were the partisans of Maria ; and if the cause of the Queen should continue victo- rious, the moral effect of her success will be felt throughout the whole of Europe. While the attention of Europe was absorbed by events in the West, a sudden storm arose in the East, which threatened the destruction of the Turkish Empire. The throne of the Sul- tan was first menaced by his rebellious vassal, and then endangered by his protecting ally. The Porte has, for the present, escaped from both perils ; the Egyptians have retired from Asia Minor, and the Russians have left Con- stantinople. It is the business of the British Government to take care that neither shall return again. The war between Mahomet AH and the Sul- tan was not an ordinary case of civil war 97 between a sovereign and his subjects, with which other States ought not to interfere. That contest threatened so materially to affect the distribution of power in the East, that the Governments of Europe were entitled to look upon it as a matter in which their own inte- rests were directly involved. Turkey may be a barbarous and uncivilized State ; but if it were dismembered, what would become of its fragments? Would Europe gain by substitut- ing, at Constantinople, Russian civilization for Turkish barbarism ? Would the benefit to hu- manity make up for the political evil? Could the crime of another partition be thus atoned for? Could we say Scelera ipsa nefasque Hac mercede placent ? Undoubtedly not. The Russian empire is large enough for the purposes of good government, and for the safety of the rest of Europe ; and Constantinople must never be added to the do- minions of the Tzar. To name Russia, is to think of Poland ; but, alas, what have we to say about that ill-fated and devoted country! It lies prostrate at the feet of its conqueror, enduring all the miseries which exulting revenge can inflict upon a sub- dued, and no longer resisting antagonist. Are the statements which have been made on this matter exaggerated? for the honour of humanity we wish they may prove so ; but if they are, H 98 why have they not been refuted ? But, indeed, the published acts of the Russian Government speak for themselves. Have not those acts been calculated to crush national spirit and extin- guish national feeling ; to wound the hearts of individuals, and to add private affliction to pub- lic calamity ? Could England have prevented all this? That is the question which belongs to our present inquiry. We fear we must answer in the negative ; at least we believe that if Eng- land and France had attempted to throw their shield over Poland, the certain and immediate consequence would have been a general war in Europe, while Polish deliverance would have been a doubtful result. The kingdom of Poland has no sea-port with which England can communicate ; and it is se- parated from France by the interposition of half of Germany. Austria and Prussia were ready to have supported Russia, and each had an army of 100,000 men on the Polish frontier, ready to march at a moment's notice. If we had declared war against Russia, on behalf of Poland, we should have had to wage that war against Austria and Prussia also. But what would those three Powers have done ? They would all have united to crush the Poles, which, as their armies were placed, would have been but the work of a fort- night ; and then we should have had to wage a general war in Europe, not to save the Poles, but only to avenge their fall. The war, too, would necessarily have been a war of political 99 principle, at a moment when the recent events in France and Belgium had excited, to the highest pitch, the passions of mankind, and had brought into active conflict the most extreme opinions. We believe our Government judged wisely. But the Polish nation sleeps, and is not dead. Some day or other it may still awake : we trust that the brighter day which must await it, will be prepared first by a milder and juster, and therefore wiser policy on the part of Russia, and will not be preceded by a renewal of violence and bloodshed. But no administrative inge- nuity can extinguish a great people, and no physical force can permanently keep such a people down in misery and bondage. With respect to the affairs of Italy and Germany, the British Government appear not to have taken a prominent part ; but the correspondence of Mr. Seymour, which was published some time since in the newspapers, shews what their course has been as to the former. The counsels given by the English Government, seem to have been such as it became the Government of a free country to give, and those counsels appear not to have been pressed further than was consistent with a respect for the independence of other States. With France, our relations continue to afford a striking contrast to former periods of our his- tory. Time was, when England and France fancied themselves natural enemies ; when the foes of the one became of course the friends of 100 the other. These days are passed away ; may they never return ; long may two great and intelligent nations reap from the friendly inter- course of peace, advantages far beyond any which the most successful war could afford to either. The union of England and France has, during a period of unexampled difficulty, pre- served the peace of Europe ; and we may safely predict that while that union subsists, that peace will not be broken. A general war would now be a contest, in which England, France, and the people of every country in Europe would be ranged on one side ; and thedespoticGovernments with their armies would stand on the other. The immediate issue could not be doubtful, the ul- terior results might be tremendous. The English Government, we are convinced, will never court such a conflict ; the arbitrary Governments of the Continent will be too wise to provoke it. England, then, never had a clearer course before O ' ' her, and never held a more dignified, or more honourable station. She stands umpire between hostile and excited parties ; she holds the ba- lance between extreme and opposing principles ; her task is " Pacis imponere morem ;" and this task she may continue to perform no less to her own advantage, than for the benefit of the rest of the civilized world. 101 WE have now given a brief and imperfect out- line of the principal transactions of the Session. We have shewn that in no Session within living raemorv, so much has been' undertaken or so / * much completed. In politics as in war, fame depends on success, and it is by the future suc- cess of their measures, not by their good inten- tions, that the Ministry will be judged by poste- rity. The best exposition of their intentions is, perhaps, to be found in the speech to which we have already referred, delivered by Lord Grey on the second reading of the Irish Church Re- form Bill.* We will add, however, a few remarks * " We had arrived at that situation in which one of two principles of government must prevail. We must either have taken the bold, hazardous, and, I think, the fatal determina- tion of depressing all spirit of Reform by severe coercive mea- sures ; or we must, conforming to the spirit and feeling of the times, endeavour to correct those abuses which affect the Con- stitution, and the various institutions of the country. The first is a line of policy which every government ought to repu- diate, aud we never could be parties to a system which must lead, in the first instance, to the establishment of another * Holy Alliance,' for the purpose of extinguishing the spirit of liberty throughout Europe. It would be a vain and futile at- tempt; ending in a war of opinion, and perhaps, for a time, in the destruction of that liberty and independence for the maintenance of which this country has made so many sacri- fices. The other alternative, therefore, only was left to us ; and we have endeavoured to bring forward those measures of Reform which have been submitted to your Lordships, and to the other House of Parliament, strictly, I repeat, upon Con- servative principles wishing to cover the weak parts of the Government, and strengthen it against the attacks of its 102 of our own. on the general tone of the adminis- tration, and on the temper in which they have carried on the government. They have been reproached for want of firmness and decision ; for having been too ready to modify, or even abandon their own views ; in fact, for having been too ready to be guided by public opinion. It certainly is conceivable that an administration might deserve such a reproach, but it must be admitted to be rather an unusual one. The or- dinary fault of Governors is just the reverse- Conceit, indifference to the advice of others, and presumptuous confidence in one's own know- ledge and sagacity, are the usual concomitants of power. They have belonged even to the weakest administrations, and are the besetting sins of a strong one. That the present is a strong- administration no one can doubt who looks at its overwhelming majorities: if it have been too humble in the exercise of its strength, if it have paid an undue degree of attention to the sugges- tions of friends or even of enemies, it has been guilty of an error which may be easily pardoned, since experience shews that it is one not likely to be repeated. But we do not believe that any enemies, and to secure the confidence of its friends to re- move what even its friends deplore, and to oppose those wild and extravagant projects which, while they promise peace and freedom, must end in despotism or anarchy. This, my Lords,, is the line of policy we have adopted : we have pursued a straight and steady course ; and having only the permanent good of our country at heart, we have thrown ourselves wuh confidence on the generosity of our countrymen," 103 such error has been committed. We believe that such a reproach can be made only by those who do not understand the times in which they live, and who apply to the present constitution the traditions of one that has ceased to exist. When the House of Commons consisted of par- tisans, when every speech and vote was part of a system, when measures were introduced not because they were useful but because they were plausible, and opposed not because they were likely to do harm to the country, but lest they should do good to their proposers, it might be the duty of a Government living in such an at- mosphere of selfishness and insincerity, to form its plans in silence, and to carry them through with obstinacy, well knowing that what was good would be most likely to be attacked, and that whatever was proposed as an amendment was probably designed to be mischievous. To get rid of this wretched system was the great object of the Reform Bill : and it Jias been got rid of. A majority of the Members of the House of Commons are partisans not of the Mi- nistry or of the Opposition, but of good govern- ment. And ought their warnings to be disre- garded ? Ought the voice of those who speak in the name of the whole people to have no more weight than if they were a body of mere nomi- nees ? Or laying aside what ought to be done, can this be done ? Who can doubt that it can- not ? Who can doubt that the willingness with which the present administration has listened to 104 suggestions, the earnestness with which it has sought, in every quarter, and by every means, for information, the frankness with which it has not only allowed but forwarded every inquiry,* must be imitated, and it cannot well be surpassed, by all who succeed them in the high office of pre- siding over the deliberations of a Reformed House of Commons ? The character which we have thought it our O duty to give to the Reformed House, is certainly opposed to the anticipations of the enemies, and some of the friends of Parliamentary Reform. We will own, that, in some respects, it differs from our own anticipations. We expected, in- deed, diligence from that House, and diligence far exceeding that of any public assembly it has bestowed. It has sat, upon an average, nine hours each day during a Session of 142 days, making altogether 1270 hours; whilst even the last Parliament, under the excitement of the Reform Question, did not sit, in what is termed their long Session, above 918 hours. The Com- mittees exceed in number, in regularity of at- tendance, and, as may be perceived from the ex- tract given in the annexed list,f in variety of subjects, those of any former Session. ' Witness the Committees granted, as soon as asked for, on the Metropolitan Police, Army and Navy Appointments, Cold Bath Fields Meeting, Land Revenues, &c. Days. t Municipal Corporations 28 Scottish Entails - 6 Royal Burghs in Scotland - - - 18 105 We expected much from the Members for the new constituencies in these Committees, but our hopes have been surpassed. They have shewn an attention and impartiality, with an amount of knowledge and business-like talent, such as is not usually found even in those who have enjoyed the benefit of long Parliamentary experience. It must, however, be admitted, that the merits of the Reformed House, in these respects, are less generally known than they ought to be. Though almost all the real business of the House is done in Committee, the absence of reporters leaves the public in ignorance of the persons and the labour by which it has been effected. And though the debates on the Factory Bill, and on the other practical questions in which the new Members principally distinguished them- selves, were reported, yet, in compliance with Days. Fines and Recoveries - 6 Sale of Beer 20 Grand Juries in Ireland 10 Metropolitan Police - 27 Army and Navy Appointments - 28 Agriculture 25 Trade 36 Letters Patent - 12 Land Revenues - 25 Stafford Borough 11 Admiralty Courts 1 1 Dramatic Performances - 6 Irish Spirits - 11 Cold Bath Fields Meeting - 12 Chancery Offices Regulation 13 106 the general indifference of readers to the details of such measures, their speeches were so briefly stated, as to give a most inadequate representa- tion of their merits. One of the threats of 1832 was, that a Re- formed House would not consist of Gentlemen. Never was there a more unfortunate prophecy. If the exhibition of manly and generous feel- ing, if the determination to see fair play, the disapprobation of any unjust, or unprovoked attack, the abhorrence of shuffling, or disin- genuous proceedings, the reliance on personal integrity, the marked attention shewn to those who preferred the general welfare of the coun- try to the real or supposed interests of their constituents, and the contempt of those who ventured to profess themselves the mere mouth- pieces of the rapacity or prejudices of those who sent them, if these are characteristics of Gentlemen, where shall we look for an assembly better deserving that title ? Not, certainly, among the nominees of Peers, or the delegates from Corporations. They have sometimes dis- played impatience, but it has been impatience of vanity or presumption. Some persons have incurred ridicule ; but not those who in a homely manner, or a provincial dialect, ten- dered sincerely the results of their inquiries or experience. Some have even been refused a hearing ; but only those from whom nothing would have been heard but declamation, for the purposes of display or agitation. The 107 fault found, and perhaps not unjustly found, with the House, has been its toleration and in- dulgence, a fault the least likely to increase. In the most important of all merits of a legis- lative body, sincere public spirit, the superiority of the present House is still more striking. This again we expected ; but our expectation was^mixed with fear, that so large a body, no longer under the strict discipline of private in- terest and party feeling, might be wanting in that general confidence in the Executive, which is essential to steady government. That by rashly interfering with the proceedings of the administration, where all the grounds for those proceedings could not be shewn, as is the case, for instance, in matters of foreign policy, or where the subject is too vast to be mastered by any but those who have made a business of it, as is the case in many^questions of finance, and commercial and manufacturing regulation, they might force the Ministry either on mischeivous measures, or on resignation. Apprehensions, far exceeding these, were felt, or pretended to be felt, by the opponents of the Reform Bill. Night after night we were told, that a reformed House would acknowledge no leaders ; or, at least, no leaders on the ministe- rial benches ; that it would use the services of the present, or any future Ministers, but only as its servants, only so far as they would implicitly follow the dictates of its fraud, or violence, or caprice. Has this been so ? Is there any re- 108 proacli which has been more profusely heaped on the present House, by its enemies, than that of subservience to Ministers ? Has any former House shewn itself more conservative, not of the abuses, but of the blessings, of the Con- stitution ? And if there is any portion of the House which less deserves this praise, if there is any portion which has been more inclined than the rest to sacrifice the substantial interests of the Country to popular clamour, or popular sympathy, has this portion belonged to the In- dependent, or to the Ministerial, or to the Tory part of the House? In spite of the opposition, sometimes separate, but more frequently com- bined, of Tories and Radicals, there never, so far as the House of Commons is concerned, has been a stronger Administration. It is true, that their strength has not been founded on the basis which formed the strength of their predecessors, so far as their predecessors were strong. It has not been derived from a body of mercenaries, blindly adherent while adherence seemed to their interest, and violently hostile as soon as hostility appeared profitable. The present Mi- nistry are powerful ; but it is the power of a Leader, not of a Master. It will last as long as they deserve it, and they ought to wish that it should last no longer. THE END. R. SKEEN, PRINTER, 29, MAIDEN LANE, COVENT GARDKN, WHAT NEXT? THE PEERS THIRD TIME OF ASKING. FIFTH EDITION. "This is a seasonable pamphlet taking the reader in a business-like manner to the two or three points of view, from which alone the real necessities of the present moment can be distinctly seen. It shows the true nature of our position what has been done what is left to be done and by what means alone it can be accomplished without a national convul- sion." Edinburgh Revieic, No. 130, for January 1837. WHAT NEXT? OR THE PEERS AND THE THIRD TIME OF ASKING. Where two are to ride on the same horse, one must needs ride behind. Old Proverb. FIFTH EDITION. LONDON: JAMES RIDGWAY AND SONS, PICCADILLY. MDCCCXXXVII. WHAT NEXT? OR, THE PEERS AND THE THIRD TIME OF ASKING. THE second session of Sir Robert Peel's Parlia- ment has passed, and the third is approaching. How is it to be met by the Government ? What mea- sures are to be brought forward ? Which will be carried ? And how ? These are anxious questions, which it is impossi- ble to answer without bearing in mind the past and present state of parties. The present state of par- ties may broadly be said to consist of those who seek to perfect the machinery, and to carry out the working of the Reform Bill, and of those who wish to obstruct or prevent both. The great fulcrum of the obstructives is in the House of Lords, where they command, and where they render each reform measure as little mischievous as is consistent with a certain show of conformity ; and where every Government measure is treated in such a manner as to make it as difficult as possible for the Ministers of the Crown to conduct the affairs of the country. The old names of Whig and Tory are merging into Liberal and Conservative. The Con- servatives arrogantly assert, and some few others have thoughtlessly admitted, that the rank, wealth, and intelligence of the country are Conservative ; but it may be as confidently asserted, and with in- finitely more reason, that the direct converse is the truth. No doubt, a large majority of the modern peerages, of the minor gentry, of the Clergy of the Established Church, and of those families that have grown to wealth and station under the form of bishops, judges, governors, magistrates, con- tractors, pensioners, and sinecurists, during the extravagant wars and administrations of the last half century are Tory or Conservative. They are a stirring, worldly, experienced race, that act to- gether with a compact zeal, which augments their strength, and exaggerates their numbers, while, with a diffidence peculiar to themselves, they arro- gate an exclusive wisdom and sanctity which im- pose on the credulous. These are their claims to a monopoly of the rank, wealth, and intelligence of the country ; but a very cursory analysis will expose the flimsiness of such pretensions. For even in the House of Lords, the majority of the really great historic and territorial Peers are liberal ; so, also, are the great landed gentry.* Nearly the * We cite at hazard the three premier Dukes of the three kingdoms Norfolk, Hamilton, and Leinster; and if we take the senior peer of each of the ranks of the peerage, we shall find that of the thirteen who have seats in the Lords, no less than nine support the liberal government; and to these may be added, all the Howards, Russells Cavendishes, and Ponsonbys ; the entire manufacturing interest (full one-fifth of the property of the whole country) is liberal, as well as nearly the whole of the Dissenting persuasions, comprising a fair one-half of our populations. The learned professions (save and except the theolo- gians of Oxford and Cambridge) and the mercan- tile class are, at least, equally divided, while the vast body of the great trading community, which embodies the substantial middle ranks of life, the sinews of the State, are confessedly liberal. Now, there are few reflecting: Tories who in their own O closets can deny that this is the array, stretching from the Duke of Norfolk to the smallest municipal corporation, in which the larger masses of the essen- tial rank, wealth, and intelligence of the country really reside. Indeed, the plain fact stares them in the face, that this is the power, or party which now governs the State. Gross miscalculations of its strength often arise, in consequence of those principles of toleration and independence which it professes, and which necessarily often render it dis- cordant in views, and disunited in action, until urgent occasions call forth its energies, and rally and re-unite its scattered elements; and then, when too late, the Tories are amazed at the latent strength Earls of Shrewsbury, Derby, Spencer, Scarborougb, Fitzwilliam ; the Marquesses of Lansdown, Westminster, and Breadalbane ; the Dukes' of Cleveland and Sutherland ; Mr Coke, of Norfolk, Mr. Chandos Leigh, Sir Richard Sutton, Sir John Ramsden, with other such like paupers, and men of no repute, raggamuffin reformers, without rank, wealth, or intelligence ! ! B 2 they have provoked. This was eminently exempli- fied by the Reform Bill ; it was felt when the Catholics were emancipated, and the Test Act re- pealed, in defiance of the so-styled powerful Con- servatives ; and it was more than tacitly recognised by the Tory ministry, when they' affected to take office on conforming principles. But this liberal strength is subdivided into Whigs and Radicals, and it is the occasional disunion, real or expected, of these two sections, that gives an artificial impor- tance to the Tory minority. The battle of the Re- form Bill united, as its victory separated them, and in 1834, when this separation was widest, the Tories rushed in, and seized on the government. They dissolved the Reform Parliament, and, by dint of the greatest exertions of purse, promise, influence, and intimidation, succeeded in reducing, in their own Parliament, the old Whig and Tory num- bers nearly to a balance. The turning of the scale rested with the Radicals, who naturally gave it to their companions the Whigs ; and the two sections of Whig and Radical, profiting by ex- perience, became thenceforth more closely united.* Parliament met, the Tories were overthrown, and a mixed government was formed, whose rule of action appears to be to bring forward * An angry and silly indignation has been affected by the Tories at this union, which is in the natural course of things ; for it is dif- ficult to say where Whig ends and Radical begins ; but Tory is as distinct from them both as Gatton from Leeds. 5 measures, according to their supposed fitness, and the exigency of the times, without reference to mere popularity on the one hand, or deference to the known Tory character of the Lords on the other, to discuss and justify them in the face of the coun- try ; and finally, to accept and pass such as are not changed in spirit. In other words, to work out and establish the Reform Bill according to the wants of the country and the support they receive. This, then, is the present ministry, and this the as- pect of parties. Affairs went on tolerably well for the first session. Bills were sent up to the Lords for the settlement of the Irish tithes, and for the reform of the corrupt English municipal corporations. The Lords changed the spirit of the Irish, and only mutilated the English bill ; wherefore the Ministers, in accord- ance with the rule just stated, dropt the one bill, and passed the other. There was much regret at the wanton rejection of the Irish Tithe bill by the Lords, and loud remonstrances and menaces were applied to the Ministers, for submiting to the mutilations of the Corporation Bill. But all this is now forgotten in the successful working of the so mutilated Eng- lish Corporation bill : for, instead of the bold affir- mation, that both sections (Whigs and Radicals) were satisfied in 1835, it would be nearer the truth to say, they are now satisfied with what was then done. Both parties were also satisfied with the pro- gramme, or promise of last year's proceedings ; but at the close of the session, a cry was raised that nothing had been done. " Your promises were, " as you then were, mighty ; but your performances, "as you now are, nothing," exclaimed Lord Lynd- hurst to the Ministers, exulting in his destructive Conservatism, at the close of the Session. Tis no sin that a man should labour in his vocation, and the boast and the sarcasm were natural in his Lordship. His object, too, was plain enough out of disappointment to breed dissension. And he succeeded, for a few hasty Liberals did take up the cuckoo note on this Tory key ; but it is surpris- ing that so shrewd an organ of many sober and stout Reformers as the Spectator, should have allowed itself to be so easily caught as thus to repeat: " During a whole session, the Whig performance of " promises to the Radicals has been nothing. All " turns upon that word. The new policy of the To- " ries has consisted in reducing to nothing, the con- " sideration for which the Radicals consented to sup- " port a Ministry opposed to all organic change." Reasoning from this assumed fact, it goes on to de- clare, that " the Whig ministry had no longer the "slightest claim to liberal support; and so far," it adds, " Lord Lyndhurst's plan was eminently " successful." We will reply to this by and bye; but, in the mean while, what is meant by this nothing ? Were the following acts which were passed during last Session nothing? Let us run over a few of them. TITHE COMMUTATION ACT. The re-settlement of English tithes, which for years had perplexed and embarrassed successive Ministers, Committees, and Parliaments, was finally and satisfactorily accomplished. It is true Lord WharnclifFe has had the modesty at Wakefield to claim this measure as the legiti- mate child of Sir Robert Peel ; but the slightest comparison of Lord John Russell's and Sir Robert Peel's Tithe Bills, will shew that they resemble only in a common subject. The source of Lord John's bill derives from the original bill intro- duced by Lord Spencer ; but Sir Robert Peel's measure, even in its amended form, was only per- missive. It merely allowed the tithe owner and tithe payer to make agreements, and thus shrinking from all the difficulties of commutation, sacrificed nearly all its advantages. Now what is the resem- blance between this half measure and Lord John Russell's act; under which, in Jive years time, not an acre of English land will be subject to tithe. But this is one of the many specimens which may be adduced of Tory tactics which seek to oppose or undermine all reforms when in progress, and then relying on the country's forgetfulness, to claim credit for their operation when they succeed. MARRIAGE ACT. An act was passed for the due celebration of marriage. Before Lord Hardwicke's act in 1753, 8 marriage in England was (as it has continued in religious Scotland), a civil contract, in so far as the ;tate was concerned, and all were permitted to par- ticipate in its benefits. But Lord Hardwicke's bill in effect, enacted that none but Jews, Quakers, and members of the Church of England should marry. For by that act, no marriage was valid which was not solemnized by a clergyman of the Church of England, according to the forms prescribed by that act Jews and Quakers excepted. But the Marriage Act of last Session reformed this compulsory conformity to the Church of England, and provides that any persons may be married in their own chapels, (if first duly registered for the purpose), by their own ministers, according to the form which they recognize, care being taken to introduce contracting words into the ceremony, and to provide a witness of it. The civil rights of succession are thus carefully guarded, and the clergy of the Churth of England are re- lieved from the painful duty of enforcing their mar- riage service on those who dissent from it, while all are encouraged to fulfil their religious duties con- cerning matrimony according to their own persua- sions and their own consciences. That is to say, the same toleration which has hitherto, in spite of bigots, left all Dissenters at liberty to offer up their prayers, and to receive their sacraments in their own chapels without first qualifying by a compulsory attendance on the service of the Church of England, is consistently extended to the religious ceremonies of marriage. And yet this act thus leaving marriage open to the due operation of law and religion, has been de- liberately misrepresented and denounced from the altar, " as a measure which a few years ago hardly " a sane person would have had the hardihood to " propose,* as a degrading and corrupting law, a " desecration of the holy ordinance of matrimony," and "an outrage on an institution which has " always hitherto been designated as sacred." f These Balaam curses were delivered to his Clergy, and have since been printed by a Bishop of Exeter, who from what experience we know not, seems to think mankind, and more especially the people of England, have not sufficient religion within their own breasts to invoke its influences on their mar- riages, unless compelled thereto by Act of Parlia- ment. Here is another specimen of Tory misrepre- sentation, and of the bigotry, real or assumed, be- neath which it seeks to wound. REGISTRATION ACT. In connection with the last measure, an act was passed for the registration of all births, mar- riages, and deaths. Before this act no register of births was kept, but a register of baptisms only, by a minister of the Established Church, in fact a register of the performance of certain ceremonies * Bishop of Exeter's charge, p. 14. f Ibid. P- 16. 10 of the Church of England. Births, deaths, and marriages, as such, were disregarded. A neglect confined, as respects Europe, to Spain, Portugal, Turkey, and the British Islands. For all those who strongly objected to the Church of England form of baptism, and the Baptists who admit no infant baptism at all, were deprived of the advan- tages of this baptismal registration ; and all that is known of deaths has been confined to persons buried in the Church of England cemeteries, being about one-half of the amount of deaths, all beyond was mere guess. But the act of last session has re- medied this offence and defect. ORANGE ASSOCIATION. The Orange Association, was put down and this alone were worth a session's labours. Let us simply recal what this was. Under forty years of Tory patronage it had grown to be an organized confederacy, by which between 3 and 400,000 men in Ireland, in England, in our colo- nies, and in the army, under badges of party and religious distinctions, convened secret or public meetings, to the encouragement of riotous assem- blages and demonstrations of force, to the amount, in a recent instance, of 75,000 men, contrary to, and in defiance of, the law. IRISH CONSTABULARY FORCE. A bill for the reformation of the Irish con- stabulary force, though mutilated by the jealousy 11 of the Lords, was still kept sufficiently effective to be allowed to pass. PRISONERS' COUNSEL ACT. A bill, too, was passed, which humanely gave to the bewildered and ignorant prisoner, in criminal cases, the assistance of counsel. STAMPS ON NEWSPAPERS. Taxes yielding more than 700,000 were taken off, including the reduction of nearly three-fourths of the stamp duty on newspapers, whereby free dis- cussion was encouraged and promoted throughout the country. As a proof of the immediate beneficial effects of this reduction, so opposed by the Tories and their press, we may state, that last year, when the high duties were in force, there were thousands of unstamped publications circulating in defiance of the stamp acts, and for the breach of which end- less prosecutions were then pending. Now there are neither unstamped publications nor prosecu- tions ; and although the first loss to the revenue amounts to some 300,000, yet there is every rea- son to expect the greater part of this sum will be replaced by the lower rate of duties on the increas- ing number of stamps and advertisements, as well as on the increasing consumption of paper. CHURCH REFORM. A more convenient and equable division of the dioceses and revenues of the several English 12 bishoprics was also effected, and the wedge of practical reform thus introduced into the body of the Church. These measures are eight solid answers to the mere nothings of the Spectator. They are of sufficient importance and utility (and the list might be increased) to awaken regret on the part of Lord Lyndhurst, and real satisfaction amongst all true Reformers. On the other hand, the Lords, with the speed of railroad legislation, kicked out all the bills for the reform of the Law and of the Court of Chancery, they left the unfortunate prisoners for debt to rot in prison, and their creditors to go without satisfaction for another year, they scouted in a few hours the fifty years' labours of three generations of reformers of the Post Office, they scoffed also at the petitions of the Jews, defended the corrupt burgesses of Stafford, and told the independent Scotch they should neither have cheap justice in their Court of Session, nor equal poor rates in their capital. But these, and several other autocratic rejec- tions by the Lords, though sufficiently mischievous, might be pleaded as special exceptions to the general rule of reform, rather than as an absolute denial of the rule itself. But with regard to Ireland their conduct was totally different. They denounced the very principles on which the reforms devised for it rested ; and accordingly extirpated them, root 13 and branch, from the Irish Municipal Corporation and Irish Tithe bills. The Ministers, of course, accepted this treatment as tantamount to peremp- tory rejection, and the Lords must have so in- tended it, for a majority in the Commons, varying from 61 to 86, had firmly and repeatedly declared the organization of a system of corporate govern- ment to be the vital principle of the Irish Municipal Corporation Reform Bill, as it had been of the English and Scotch. Indeed, it is a mere mockery of terms to suppose, that a bill for the regulation of corporate government, means the abolition of all corporations. As well might the Parliamentary Reform Bill have been treated as a measure for the abolition of the House of Commons. And the importance of the special clauses of the Irish Tithe Bill were painfully well known to many of the Tory ex-officials. Thus, therefore, matters now stand, some reforms have been squeezed, and others may be expected, with increased difficulty, to be squeezed through the Lords respecting England ; but for Ire- land, in whatever regards the civil co-equality of religious sects, they are inexorable. This civil co- equality flows, indeed, directly from the Catholic Emancipation Bill, so long and vigorously resisted by their Lordships, and so suddenly and vigorously thrust down their throats by the Duke of Wellington. But he and they are now deaf to the reasons which convinced them then. They seem to think, that the 14 inequality in the numbers of the two sects should be compensated by an inverse inequality in the laws which govern them. At all events they are in- exorable, and their majority insurmountable. On the other hand the King's government, and the House of Commons, even of the late Ministers, stand pledged in honour and by repeated votes, to assert this civil co-equality as the key-stone of our union with Ireland. Now what is to be done ? Affairs cannot go on much longer in Ireland, in their present state. Writs of rebellion Rathcormac an un- paid, or eleemosynary clergy millions of tithes, (that slippery property) under a Penelopean legisla- tion convicted and condemned corporators, still filling corporations and administering justice an organized association, the natural child of discon- tent, peaceably and gradually assuming the control of the country all these, with other attendant cir- cumstances and contingent accidents, cry aloud for decision. What, then, is to be done ? Which party is to yield ? Is there no door open for compromise ? Apparently none. Yet one or the other party must ultimately give way. Which ought which must ? As in most cases the weakest. But which is the weakest? That which has the nation against it. And how is this ascertained ? By a dissolution of Parliament. But this appeal to the nation has already been made, and by the advice and under the influence of a Government favourable to the opinions of the 15 Lords : yet the result was hostile to those opinions, and so decidedly so that the Government gave up the contest, declaring in Sir Robert Peel's words, that the power of the Lords must not be strained too far. Yet still the Tory Lords hold out. They con- tend that their opinions are gaining ground, and a reaction taking place, because there is a smaller majority in the present than in the late Parliament. Are they right, or are they wrong ? This question leads straight to a second dissolution. But is it neces- sary and constitutional that a series of dissolutions should take place, for the satisfaction of the prolong- ed doubts of the Lords? And would another dissolu- tion solve those doubts? In fact, would their Lordships bow to the decision of a majority of that paulo post futurum Parliament ? Would they not again, as now, cavil at its greater or less amount ; analyze and pick holes in its election, construction, and the relative number of English, Irish, and Scotch members of its Whig and something more, and Radical and (perhaps then) Radical and something more composition ? Should we not hear of excite- ment, delusion, intimidation, government influence? In short, what guarantee have we that the Tory Lords would acknowledge the voice of the nation in the votes of its representatives ? They will not do so now why should they then ? But it is said, they would listen to reason, then, for there would be a greater majority against them. 16 But what deference have they ever shewn to great and overpowering majorities ? The House of Commons, which passed the Reform Act, carried its first bill by a majority of 1 13. What did the Lords do ? They threw it out. The next session, another bill, less energetic in its provisions, but backed by another majority of 116 went to the Lords. How were this second majority and the accompanying spirit of concession met ? Ask the events of May, 1832. Lord Lyndhurst, then, as now, the great champion of the unyielding infallibility of the Lords, commenced mutilating the bill, taking it (precisely as he did the bills of last session) out of the hands of the Government. But Lord Grey and Lord Brougham arrested the learned judge in his factious career. They went to Windsor. What did they there ? What did Lord Grey, the supposed great champion of the Peerage, but the known and approved great assertor of the people's rights and of public tranquillity ? He feared not the Lords, for he asked for authority to create no less than fifty peers, in one day. His Majesty hesitated, the Reform Ministry resigned, where was the Reform Bill then ? The Duke of Wellington was in : was he to carry it? No, indeed. How, then, was it carried ? By the people. The Peers ba- lanced their irresponsible powers against the weight of the people, and they went to the beam, as chaff. There is no use in denying a plain matter of fact. It was the stern aspect of the country, 17 from one end to the other ; and the accounts of the myriad assemblages of Manchester, Birming- ham, Glasgow, and other large towns, which kept hourly pouring in, that daunted the Tory courage of the Peers, and rendered it impossible for the Duke of Wellington to form a ministry. He went to the King, and told him so : he came down to the Lords, and acknowledged it. And then the Tory Peers, being urged by certain letters demissory slunk from their benches, and so the bill passed. Is this process to be repeated ? Is it so constitutional ? Will the House of Lords, as now constituted, work only by convulsions ? This digression affords a sample of the practical spirit of concession and constitutional respect on the part of the Lords for large, unquestionable and successive majorities in the Commons. Majorities too, such as it is neither probable nor desirable that the Liberals should again muster. Is it therefore probable that a bare second dissolution would win over, convince, or coerce the Lords now, when they are infinitely more enterprizing than at the time of the Reform Bill ? Both reason and experience answer No. But what will constrain them ? That which constrained them before the force of opinion, and the fear of a reform in their own House. Now the force of opinion is difficult to measure, it is a loose term, and a variable quantity. A government conciliates it by a prosperous state of affairs, by a reduction of taxation, and reform of 18 abuses, by the unanimity of its members, and by carrying, or by sincere and manly endeavours to carry, beneficial and popular measures, and finally it is excited and rendered active by opposition. In 1832 it was strongly in favour of the Liberals, but the overweening majorities and consequent dissensions and contradictory measures of the first Reform Parliament rapidly dispersed it. It ebbed towards the Conservatives towards the Radicals- it was every where no where. But the sudden breaking up of the Reform administration, the glaring inconsistencies of the Tory conforming Ministry, the frank bearing of the present Govern- ment, the independent union of all Reformers, and the obstructive diligence of the Lords, have suc- cessively re-collected and turned the tide, and it is now flowing steadily in favour of Lord Melbourne and the Liberals. This assertion is best measured by facts. If we refer to the registrations for the last years, we shall find : Registration in 1834. 1836. England } County, 393,895) R7Rftlfi S County, 438,412 ) 7qft . & Wales, S Borough, 288,721 S I Borough, 300,334 } '' Ireland, j S^' ^,4391 95 087 J unty ' } 100,000 * i Borough, 32,648 J ( Borough, > Scotland, jaunty 41,3231 72)294 /Bounty 46,224? ' (Borough, 30,971 J \Borough, 31, 148 $ 843,997 916,118 The numbers cannot yet be exactly ascertained for this year ; but from those obtained, there is reason to believe they will exceed a million. This is most * This is taken low, and in round numbers, for all the returns are not complete. 19 satisfactory, for all Liberals must rejoice to see the constituencies annually encreasing in sound mem- bers, while those pets of the Tories, the freemen, and potwallopers, gradually disappear. In Bristol, for instance, which returned Sir Richard Vivyan on the freemen's interest, there were registered in 1834, 5388 freemen, and 4689 householders ; but now there are on the register 6085 householders, and only 4337 freemen ; being a difference of 2447 in favour of substantial voters. But, without descend- ing to particulars, or to any analysis, which, however curious, must be necessarily full of errors, we rest our faith on the broad fact, that a government and party leaning to the popular side of politics, will and must always profit by an en- crease of popular constituents. The Tories got the start in watching the registrations, and placed numbers of their adherents on the lists in 1833 ; and to this early rallying of their forces before the revising barristers, coupled with the temporary possession of government, they owe their strength in the present Parliament. This casual success has naturally deceived many; but now that the Reformers have had time to pay a similar attention to their registrations, even those who formerly shouted reaction recoil from a trial of strength. In England and Wales, where the greatest reform losses were sustained, the Liberals would recoverfrom thirty to forty members : in Scotland, where the liberal members already are as two to one, there would be a further encrease of four or five members; c 2 20 and in Ireland, (thanks to Lord Lyndhurst's alien speeches, and the noble army of tithe proctors.) there would be a gain of from fifteen to twenty members. The late Longford election illustrates this assertion. For, in 1835, the Tory candidate was at the head of the poll, beating Mr. Luke White by 801 to 428 ; but now the tide is turned, and Mr. White has beaten the Tory by a majority of 93. A favourable election might thus remove from fifty to seventy members from the Tory to the liberal side of the House, and so raise the liberal majorities to above one hundred and fifty. If further confirmation of these opinions be required, it may be found in the state of the elective corporations. We do not cite the Scotch municipal corporations, for there is only one district of Scotch boroughs that returns a Tory member ; and the Irish corporations are, in obedience to the will of the House of Lords, left alone in the glory of their admitted corruption ; but in England the political state of the corporations is easily ascer- tained, and is as follows : 1835. 1836. Corporations whose Members are all Liberals 30 30 Corporations where the majority are Liberals . 71 71 Corporations where they are all Tories . 5 5 Corporations where the majority are Tories . 25 26 Corporations neutral .... 2 2 Corporations doubtful .... 3 2 Total 136 136 21 1835. 1836. These 136 Corporations were J Liberals, 2,487 2,500 composed of ^ Tories, 1,033 1,035 Here are no signs of re-action. It might have been expected that there would have been a strong but transitory run in favour of the Liberals in 1835, when the elections were first opened; but the above returns shew that this liberal disposition has been fully sustained in 1836. In fact, the Tories themselves confess the weight of numbers to be against them, for they declare that our corpo- rations " are filled from the meanest and most corrupt of the people." This in Tory euphuism, best taught by the Bishop of Exeter, means opponents. These strong and cheering testimonies of the state of public feeling render double credit to the ministers who resist the temptation they expose for a dissolution, and offer an honourable contrast to the Tories, who, in 1834, threw the whole country into the angry agitation of contested elections, for the selfish purpose of snatching at office. No doubt, a greater number of liberal members would be convenient for lazy attenders and for careless ministers, but there are enough now to do their country's work, and it looks well when ministers have the manliness to rely on the goodness of their measures, rather than on the number of their sup- porters. By those measures they must ultimately stand or fall ; and if they continue as they have begun, steadily to bombard the House of Lords with good measures, they will, ere long, force them to surrender. For each reform once passed lengthens and strengthens the lever by which consequent re- forms may be wrenched out, while every rejection of a good measure stimulates the force of public opi- nion. The country, too, though proverbially slow to act, is not, and has not been unobservant of the struggle which is going on, and in due time and if need be, it may speak out and act as it did on Parliamentary Reform. We all remember how many sapient Tories assured themselves the coun- try then was indifferent, or re-acting. But they deceived themselves, as they may do again ; and perhaps ere very long some little bill inadver- tently thrown out when the vessel is full may be the last drop the East Retford of the Lords. Few wish to see matters suddenly brought to this pass, and therefore they desire that the Lords should for their own sakes have the grace to yield in time ; and to join frankly in the wholesome progress of national reform. Indeed there are signs, if not hopes, of this consummation, for one of their approved organs has made the dis- covery, invisible to Tory eyes in Tory days, " That there are innumerable topics for measures " to remedy existing and practical evils, and " alleviate the sufferings of the poor," and there- fore recommends their Lordships to prepare and bring " into their own House, and mature by full " and anxious debate during the whole session, a " great variety of bills, having a practically bene- " ficial character." The pleasure of seeing the 23 Peers turn reformers may make us forget for a while the slight incongruity of their thus taking the cares of legislation out of the hands of Government. But not content with these lessons, the same reform- ing teacher now tells them, " that all great and " durable changes in a free country must begin " with the middle classes." Whereupon we find their Lordships dining and speechifying, with a most edifying industry, frequenting public meet- ings, coquetting with trades' unions, and courting the 10. householders and smaller tradesmen whom they so bitterly contemned during the debates on the qualification clauses in the Parliamentary and Municipal Corporation Reform Bills. What does all this mean? Has some democrat in disguise counselled them to play upon the credulity, and bid for the confidence of the reforming masses with the conservative intention of turning it against them? Be this as it may, few will deny that their power and their seats, some of which are even now elective, some hereditary, and others for life, have been confided to their judgment only for the benefit of the nation ; and as they have already often been modified for that benefit, real or imaginary, so they may be again. The two last important changes in their House, intro- duced the one, twenty-eight Irish elective Peers for life (besides four bishops), of whom twenty-five are Tories, arid the other, sixteen Scotch elec- 24 tive Peers, of whom the whole sixteen are Tory !* We have said real or imaginary benefit, for right or wrong the Lords have neither real nor constitutional power to . continue to resist that which the country continues to require. They have lately attempted to deny this plain first principle of our limited mo- narchy. The independence of the Lords, carried to the height of their conservative notions, would produce anarchy, or constitute an oligarchy, or old Venetian tyranny, but in no degree the mixed government of England which has hitherto boasted of a balance of powers. If the Lords lay claim to independence, so also may the Crown in the exer- cise of its veto, and the Commons in their control of the public purse. But the retaliatory exercise of these rival pretensions would at once stop the whole machine of government, and produce anar- chy. Wisely, therefore, the responsibility of Mi- * The experience of 130 and of 36 years has shewn that the con- stituencies of these 44 Peers are eminently defective in one great advantage of elective bodies in the returning representatives of all shades of opinions. This experience should point the finger-post to their reform. The contrast also between the opinions of the Peers and of the people of Ireland and Scotland is remarkable, and another election will make it more so. Tories. Liberals. , , , (Peers, 28> 25 3 nU ' I Commons, 1055 42 63 $ Peers, 16 > Scotland, i n t Commons, 53 J 16 , _ ,, 17 36 SIXTY-THREE to THREE, and THIRTY-SIX to NONE ! What pro- portions ! what harmony I 25 nisters, and the privilege of dissolution, check this licence in two estates of the realm, and a sound discretion has hitherto preserved the Lords from the application of some practical curb to their technical independence. But now the conservative Peers seem resolved to invoke this tangible re- straint, for they may rest assured the nation has no intention of allowing the Crown and the Commons to become mere cyphers in the hands of a compact and permanent majority of the Lords, For many years there was an approach to this state of things, for the real authority of the State had been merging in the Lords, who ruled the country by their nominees in the Commons, and, by the same power, constrained the Crown in the choice of its ministers. The Reform Act abated this encroach- ment, and re-adjusted the balance of the constitution. The Lords see this fact, but cannot reconcile them- selves to its operation, and are, therefore, still con- tending secretly, and in some instances, perhaps, unconsciously, for the nomination of the ministers, and for a working influence in the Commons. This is at the bottom of their opposition to many of the measures, and more especially to the men of the present administration, who are, from circum- stances, essentially the men of the Commons. The Lords, then, are struggling for their lost ascen- dancy. They pertinaciously tried their strength, even against the Reform Bill itself; and, although severely checked, they are in no degree reclaimed, 26 but only made cautious ; for choosing a more covert battle-field, and appealing to the prejudices of their countrymen, they now look for success under the mask of a No-Popery Church-in-danger cry. This is the key to their resistance on the Irish questions, beneath which they are in reality fighting for their own proud and profitable, but departed interests ; but the people of England are not blind to this artifice, and in the mean while the Irish are weary of being treated as subjects for the Lords' expe- riments in re-action. Unless we are much deceived, the King and the People, that is the King's Government and the Peo- ple's representatives, will, ere long, declare that Ire- land must not, and shall not remain as it is. That the holdings of its Church shall no longer be daily loosened, and its Protestant Clergy hallooed on to an unseemly contest for temporalities, till there be none left to contend for ; while the whole country is kept quivering on the verge of separation or revolt. If this be so, then it will be for the Lords to decide whether their House shall remain as it is, or be reformed. For they must either acquiesce in reconciling Ireland, or upset the Ministers and take the Government themselves. But they cannot undertake the Government with- out the Commons, and the Commons they cannot get. Therefore they must acquiesce or be reformed. Now there is small hope that they will acquiesce with a good grace ; and it has been shewn that a 27 bare dissolution would fail to convince them, there- fore their Reform real or imminent is the only re- maining expedient. This reform might be effected by subjecting their irresponsibility to an elective process ; but the ma- chinery is difficult to invent, and how is the mea- sure to be passed, and when ? Their obstructiveness might be reduced by placing a veto on their third rejection of any mea- sure passed by a given majority of two distinct par- liaments. But the question recurs of how and when will such a reform pass their Lordships' House? Their political discordance with the country might be harmonized by the creation of such a number of hereditary Peers, as would neutralize the present Tory majority, and this might be effected without their Lordships' consent. But where, without exhausting the House of Com- mons, and extinguishing the landed gentry of the country, are some 100 gentlemen to be found with sufficient estates to support the hereditary rank of a p eer ? How long would it be before these 100 new Peers, hereditary and irresponsible, forgot their principles in favour of a love and defence of their order ? and what signs are there that public opinion would countenance such an addition to the already ponderous hereditary wisdom of the country ? The last alternative is the creation of Peers for life, or a joint creation of hereditary and life Peers. There are many men whose health, fortune, or 28 habits, forbid their mounting the hustings of a popular election, or taking part in the long and stormy debates of a popular assembly, yet whose talents and experience might be of great service to their country. We refer to the retired Governors, or Administrators of our various and far-spread Colonies and dependencies, to our great Generals and Admirals, retired Diplomatists, official men, great merchants, persons of high legal or scien- tific attainments, and others of general repute. We well know that the greater number of these persons having been selected and employed by Tory governments, are of Tory persuasion. Yet still we could point out several who are not, and there is a vast floating fund of intelligence and integrity in the country, from whence Life Peers might be selected. The above classes were named, o more for the sake of designating the future stock, from whence the life peerage might be replenished, and it would be difficult to say, that the House of Lords would not gain in real honour, character, stability, influence, and utility, by large and suc- cessive infusions from them. The House of Lords, to use a German phrase, is now too one-sided ; its interests and its experience are nearly exclu- sively territorial, for even its legal, military, and episcopal adjuncts, all equally rise from or merge in land loaves and fishes, corn and tithes. It may be added, that this method of acting on the House of Lords, is perfectly independent of their Lordships' consent; is in accordance with the 29 growing public opinion,which revolts from a House of Lords entirely beyond control or responsibility; and that it would leave the old Peers still un- touched in their hereditary seats and undoubted honours. It might be necessary to limitthe number of life Peers, and to protect them from the tempta- tion of accepting hereditary Peerages. And the cor- rective of a qualification for the hereditary Peers, by initiation in the Commons, or by amount of property, and which they themselves are so urgent in affixing to all other franchises, might not unuse- fully be applied to their own. The power of summoning Peers to Parliament for life, or even for a session, is one of the oldest prerogatives of the Crown, and life Peerages are as recent as the reign of George the Second. If we go farther back, we shall find that all the old Peers of England, the Barons of Magna Charta, were hereditary, not in their persons, but by their fiefs and estates. The hides of land, not the parch- ment patent, then constituted the Peer. These suggestions are thrown out to shew that a Reform of the Lords is neither without precedents nor so very impracticable, and the change once over, men might congratulate one another upon the ease with which it had been accomplished, and the benefits which it promised : yet, still we frankly own, it would be an experiment, and prefer, therefore, that the Lords should have the good sense and good feeling to allow matters to pass quietly off, and not force on a resort to it, as a choice of evils. Thus much for the Lords : we now take a sur- vey of the present state of the country, and will cast back a few glances to its comparative prosperity under the Tories. The Liberal party have now been in power for these last six years, with the exception of the four months Tory intrusion in 1834. During that time they have taken off ABOVE EIGHT MILLIONS of taxes, they have thrown open the trade of China and of India, and extended other channels for commerce ; they have also relaxed the old restrictive system which, under a mistaken notion of protection, cramped or misdirected our industry. As a comment on this policy, the country for the last six years has enjoyed a course of unexampled pros- perity. Every branch, and all the details of trade, manufacture, and commerce have put forth strong and fruit-bearing shoots. And we earnestly refer those who doubt these assertions, to the Tables of Trade and Commerce which are now annually prepared by the Board of Trade, and by which it will appear as clear as that two and two make four, how little progressive in improvement the country was, in any one branch, during the good old Conservative times, and how steadily, yet ra- pidly, it has advanced in every one branch since it has fallen under the mismanagement of the ignorant and destructive Liberals. We may state generally that our imports and our exports which averaged under the Tories thirty-four and fifty-five mil- lions respectively, and which increased but little 31 from the peace in 1814 till the relaxation of their so-called protecting system under Mr. Huskisson, have since that change gradually risen, till they reached in 1835 the enormous amount of forty-seven and ninety-one millions. This is an undeniable proof of the general and progressive improvement of the wealth and pros- perity of the country. But for the satisfaction of the more curious of those who may not have access to the Statistic Tables or to the official re- turns to the Houses of Parliament, we will cite some few of the many striking instances of the happy results of the reduction of the swaddling taxation of the Tories, and of the liberal com- mercial policy pursued by the Whig Governments of 1830 and 1834. The declared value of BRITISH PRODUCB AND MANUFACTURES EXPORTED. ID 1829, or the last year of the Tories 36,150,379 1835, Whig period 41,350,000 1836 Ditto 46,926,370 Being an increase of 33 per cent, in six years. And if we descend to particulars, we shall find the results equally striking ; for instance, in the exports. LINEN MANUFACTURES. 1829, or Tory period - 1,885,831 1834 Whig do. - 2,579,000 1835 Ditto - 3,226,000 WOOLLEN. 1829 Tory period 4,556,809 1834 Whig do. 5,975,000 1835 Ditto 7,145,826 32 COTTON. 1829 Tory period - 17,140,114 1834 Whig do. 20,513,586 1835 Ditto 22,128,384 IRON AND STEEL, average exported. 5 Tory years, from 1825 to 1829, 87,237 tons. 5 Whig years, from 1 830 to 1 834, 1 42,07 1 The imports tell even a still more striking tale; for instance, take the Glove Trade, in which com- plaints have been made of the mischievous effects of admitting foreign competition, yet the importa- tion of the raw material for the supply of the home manufacture has not the less increased. DRESSED AND UNDRESSED KID SKINS IMPORTED. 1829 Tory period - 698,604 skins. 1834 Whig do. 798,000 1835 Ditto 1,044,000 The same observations and results apply to our Silk manufactures, and more especially those of Spital- fields, which languished under the Tory protections, from which they were no sooner delivered than they took a spring, and are actually increasing in their exports, notwithstanding the great home consump- tion, shewn by the following table. SILK (raw, waste and thrown), imported. 1829 Tory period 2,892,201 Ibs. 1834 Whig do. 4,450,000 1835 Ditto - 5,787,000 33 SILK (manufactured) exported. 1829 Tory period 255,871 1834 Whig do. 636,419 1835 Ditto 973,786 Or, if we look to the consumption of articles ne- cessary to the comfort and well-being of the poorer classes, and upon which, therefore, the Liberals have reduced the oppressive Tory duties, we shall find the same cheering results. Take SEA-BORNE COALS, on which the unjust and mischievous duty was repealed in 1830, and of which the following amount has entered London and the other ports of the kingdom. 1829 Tory period 4,270,557 tons. 1834 Whig do. 7,901,346 1835 Do. 8,416,805 Or COCOA, the duty on which was reduced from 6d. to 2d. in 1832, and of which the following is the home consumption. 1829 Tory period 393,847 Ibs. 1834 Whig do. 1,073,795 1835 Do. 1,084,170 Or TEA, the monopoly of which was abated in 1833. 1829 Tory period 29 ,495, 190 Ibs. 1834 Whig do. 34,969,651 1835 Do. 36,574,004 Or SOAP, the duty upon which was reduced one- half in 1833. 1829 Tory period 118,134,863 Ibs. 1834 Whig do. 154,746,334 1835 Do. 160,909,316 D 34 Or CURRANTS and RAISINS, (duty reduced one-half in 1834). 1829 Tory period 235,813 cwt. J834 Whig do. 310,980 1835 Do. 354,413 A still more striking instance is offered by Printed Cottons, on which the entire vexatious duty was repealed in 1831, and on which the ex- tent of the increased home consumption cannot therefore be ascertained, but it may be measured by the exportation, which in 1829 or Tory period . . . 130,075,858 yards. 1835 Whig ditto . . . 279,811,176 Or if we take a wider range, it will appear that the average consumption of Cotton Wool for our manu- factures 10 years (Tory full ascendancy,) from 1816 to 1825 - - - 138, 120,000 Ibs. 10 years (their decline and fall,) from 1826 to 1835 - - : 255,975,000 Ibs. Being an increase of no less than 85 per cent. ! These are instances sufficient to satisfy the most sceptical, that the country is not quite ruined by the ignorant mismanagement of the destructive Whigs, or that they neglect the interest of the industrious. Indeed a further and most satisfactory proof of the augmented comforts and prudence of the labouring population may be found in the increasing number 35 and amount of their deposits in the Savings' Banks. Depositors. Amount. Average Deposit. 1829 Tory period - 409,945 - 14,434,921 - 35 4 1834 Whig ditto - 499,207 - 15,369,844 - 30 16 1835 Ditto - - 537,517 - 16,456,104 - 30 12 But if it still be objected that this prosperous aspect of affairs is unsound, and caused merely by an intemperate spirit of speculation, we may appeal to the steadily decreasing number of bankruptcies. INSOLVENTS. 1832 4648 1833 4583 1834 4275 1835 3890 Are we therefore mistaken in assuming that these plain matters of fact, authenticated by plain figures, are satisfactory answers to those rhetorical figures of complaint and vituperation in which disap- pointed Tories indulge ? And we specially point out that these returns are on articles upon which Whig legislation has acted, and that they shew not only an excess over the Tory period, but a growing increase over the preceding and other years. But the loyal Tories exultingly reply agriculture is depressed. Now it is quite true the profits of agriculture have not kept pace with this march, but they have been greater than during the Tory epoch; and if the farmers have found it difficult always to pay their rents, they should remember that these are agreements binding between themselves and their landlords, and with which no government can inter- fere. So long as they will not see the stability and D2 36 advantages which they would obtain by a more open trade in corn, they must make the best shift they can with their fluctuating home-markets. Meanwhile the Government has not been inattentive to their in- terests. For the largest portion of the relief from taxation has been taken from off their shoulders, and the poor-rates, which pressed heaviest on land, have, by the amended Poor-laws, been reduced to the extent of 3,800,000. And that the agricul- tural interest has not been in so depressed and profitless a state, as Lord Chandos and other rent agitators would make farmers believe, may be shown by an unanswerable appeal to the thousands of acres that have been enclosed since the Peace, and are yearly now being enclosed. It is notorious, too, that during the war we received a large por- tion of our supply of corn from abroad. Since then we have added three millions to our popula- tion, and yet for the last four years not a quarter of corn has been imported for home consumption. Can there be a stronger proof of the increased productiveness of our English agriculture, than that instead of partially feeding twelve millions of people, it now completely feeds fifteen millions ? Such then is the continued national prosperity that has hitherto attended the Liberal Government. Let any one look to the right or to the left, to the south or to the north, in towns or in fields, and he will every where see prosperity rearing its indus- trious head firmly and progressively around him. The march of wealth has indeed outstripped all 37 other marches, and latterly has taken to rail-road paces. But latterly there have been signs of a check, which seem now, happily, to be fading away. A bad harvest, particularly in the North, raised the prices of the necessaries of life, while a heavy pressure on the money market slackened the spirit of enterprize. This pressure arose, partly from the state of our foreign exchanges, which were depressed by a demand for capital to defray the vast rail-road, and other under- takings, (not producing an immediate return) which are carrying on throughout the Continent, and still more in America, our greatest customer. America is also establishing a metallic currency, and by a Mint regulation, which attempts to fix the relation of gold to silver at a rate differing from the commercial par, she has made gold instead of silver the currency of the Union, and thereby seriously affected the value of gold in England. The loans too for Portugal, Spain, Holland, Bel- gium, and other states, which, within the last five years, have been chiefly raised in this country, have drained off much capital. But the greater force of the pressure came from the tardy fears of the Bank of England, and of other great capital- ists, who, after large issues, called in and re- stricted many of their money transactions, from a dread of the consequences of the rash and unin- structed issues of money of the Joint-stock Banks, in favour of the thousand bubble speculations which were springing up, till these Joint-stock 38 Banks, becoming alarmed, called in their credits as incautiously as they opened them. There was also a gradual and general rise of prices since Easter, which the bad harvest further enhanced, while a real, or caution-caused, want of money, by narrowing credit and speculation, checked trade, manufacture, and general industry. These causes produced a prudential alarm in November, which shewed signs of degenerating into a prudential panic, but which, though it may have caused some local distress, will probably stave off the real misery of a real panic. This es- cape is partly due to the experience so dearly bought during the panic of 1825 : but it is much more to be attributed to the really sound state of the vast majority of our present mercantile transactions, and which the tables to which we have been re- ferring amply verify. And not a little credit should be given to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who, in his admirable speech on the Budget, in May, 1836, after clearly proving the remarkable pros- perity of the country, most distinctly warned and entreated "the public not to be led away, by a knowledge of our prosperity, to embark recklessly in inconsiderate schemes and wild speculation." But these observations regard only the financial part of the subject, and there is another consideration of higher importance, the labouring and the pauper classes ; who, by the rise of prices and the restric- tions on speculation, are straitened both in their means and their sources of subsistence. This leads 39 to an anxious regard to the working of the amended Poor Laws, and the strain which a winter of dis- tress may bring on their yet imperfect machinery. THE POOR LAW REFORM was introduced with the unanimous approbation of all the most eminent men of every shade of political opinion. It was supported in the Commons by Radicals, Tories, and Whigs ; and when Cobbett, the great manager of the opposition, ventured on .a division, Mr. Hume, Mr. Roebuck, and Sir R. Peel were seen by the sides of Lord Althorp and Lord John Rus- sell. In the Lords, the Duke of Wellington, then the leader of his party, Lord Wharncliffe, Lord Winchilsea, and Lord Liverpool, fought in the same ranks with Lord Lansdowne and Lord Brougham. The Duke of Wellington, Lord Ellen- borough, and Lord Salisbury themselves drew many of the clauses of the Bill, and sought to add materially to the powers of the Commissioners. During the two years and a half which have passed since the Bill became law, the landed gentry, whether Tories, W T higs, or Radicals, have been among the most zealous and the most effectual administrators of its provisions. They have been the chairmen and vice-presidents of its Boards of Guardians, and its defenders against the ignorance and dishonesty, or the prejudices of its assailants. Such has been the conduct of those to whom edu- cation, knowledge, and wealth give station and weight in the country. But at the same period, too many of the humbler retainers of faction, the 40 Tory daily and weekly press, almost without ex- ception, together with some of the organs of ex- treme radicalism, the Times, the Herald, the Stan- dard, the John Bull, the Weekly Dispatch, the Poor Man's Guardian, and the unstamped metro- politan journals have been, and continue to be, scurrilous and violent in opposition to the prin- ciples and measures which the heads of their own parties approve and assist. It is curious to see, that almost the only measure which the enlight- ened and eminent men of all parties agree to sup- port, is the only measure which the prejudiced or malicious of all parties agree to vilify. With the advantage of such friends and such enemies, the measure could not but prosper; but we believe that both the one and the other are equally sur- prised at the degree and rapidity of its success. Every one must recollect the sneers with which Lord Althorp was met when he stated that his measure for agricultural relief was to be found in the Poor Law Amendment Bill. Admitting, as every member of the House, except Cobbett's small piebald minority, admitted, the general excellence of the Bill, still it was said, it is no measure of immediate relief. Thousands, it was said, will be spent on the machinery of the Board, with its com- missioners and assistant commissioners, and clerks and retained local officers. Thousands more on the erection of workhouses and workhouse relief to whole families will, for a considerable time, be more expensive than the partial assistance which 41 can be afforded to the labourer in his own cottage : - -and what is the result ? We have the Commissioners to tell it. " We have given in the Appendix two Tables, " containing the abstracts of the expenditure for the " parochial years 1835 and 1836. From these " Tables it will be seen that the decrease of ' money " ' expended for the relief of the poor,' was, in the " year 1835, as compared with the year 1834, " 790,838 ; that in 1836, as compared with 1834, " the decrease of the expenditure under this head " was 1,599,625 ; that the reduction in the ex- " pense of suits of law in 1835, as compared with " 3834, was 56,077; that the reduction on the " same head of expenditure in 1836, as compared "with 1834, was 86,173, or nearly double the " annual expenses of the Commission ; that the " decrease on the expenditure, effected by the same " management for other miscellaneous purposes in " the year 1836, as compared with 1835, was "112,149. We have no means of ascertaining " the state of this head of expenditure in 1834, to 11 compare it with 1835. " If, upon the evidence of the frequent occur- " rence of parishes as favourably situated as others " in general circumstances, but where no reduc- " tion of the rates has taken place, and where they u have even increased during the two last years, " the principles of the new administration not " having been adopted in those parishes, it may be " assumed that, but for the general promulgation 42 " and adoption of those principles and the new " measures, the expenditure would have remained " stationary at the amount at which it was in the " year 1833 ; then, the total reduction or saving " effected upon the rates levied for the relief of the " poor by a change of management since that year " is 3,809,489. If the total amount of parochial " rates be considered for the last three years " (during the first of which the expenditure for the " county rates was not distinguished in the Re- " turns), then the gross saving is the sum of " 4,145,368, or in round numbers a gross sum of " 4,000,000, saved from an expenditure which " chiefly operated as a bounty on indolence and " improvidence ; but which is now applicable, and " of much of it there is distinct evidence that it is " actually applied, in the shape of wages, to remu- " nerate productive industry." Poor Law Report for 1836, p. 38. If this has been the saving within two years, during which the act has been brought into active operation over only about one-third of England, and as to the greater part of that one-third for less than a year, and after meeting the expenses of building and outfit, what may not be expected to be the effects when the whole country has been subjected to the intelligent administration of Boards of Guardians, after all the expenditure attending the beginnings of a vast experiment has been defrayed, and the whole system works with ease and regularity ? We firmly believe that two years hence the poor rate, from the heaviest, will have become one of the lightest of the burthens upon land. The statements of the Commissioners, however, have been objected to by some as ex parte evidence. As they rest on documents open to inspection, it is not easy to see how they can be erroneous ; but for the sake of those Tories who will not believe even in figures, unless the addition and substrac- tion are made by their own friends, we extract from the same volume the following letter of Lord Hardwicke respecting the Caxton Union, contain- ing a population of 9000 persons, relieved, under the old system, at an annual expenditure of 6000/. " Wimpole, July 29, 1836. " I have looked at our expenditure, and have " taken two periods for comparison, viz. from the " 2d of September, 1835 (the day the Guardians " first met), to Christmas of the same year. This " period, compared with the same of the pre- " vious year, gives a reduction of expenditure of " 628. 85. 6d. " The second period I have taken is three " months ending at Lady-day 1836. This, com- " pared with the like period in 1835, gives a re- " duction of expenditure in the Union of 751. 10s. 8d. " This will give a reduction in the first year of " about 2,600. " With regard to the condition of the labouring " classes, I should say that a visible alteration has 44 " taken place in their manners ; all farmers that I " have conversed with say, that they are more " respectful and civil in their behaviour, and more " regular to their time of work. The parishes in " the Union have never been so free from crime. " The cases brought before the magistrates at the 11 Petty Sessions are much reduced. " In the parish of Gamlingay the saving has " been enormous, and the able-bodied were during " the winter employed generally, never having " above from 17 to 20 out of work at any time ; " whereas the previous winters, for years past, "have seen 100 men, on an average, receiving " parochial relief. " Such is a very short statement of the condition " and effect of the union of 26 parishes in this part " of Cambridgeshire; and I have no doubt, that " by a steady and just administration of the law, " taking each case on its own merits, we shall next " year be able to give you a report that will show " a great saving, together with a large improve- " ment in the moral state of the community. " I have, &c. " HARDWICKE." "A. Power, Esq. Poor Law Office." We have dwelt on the reduction caused by the Poor Law Act in expenditure, because it is the portion of its results most easily stated, and veri- fied. But its effects on the morals of the labour- ing classes, effects on which Lord Hardwicke 45 dwells, as he might be expected to do, are of course more important than any pecuniary gain, however great. We cannot resist the temptation of extracting from Mr. Adey's Report on Bedford- shire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and Hamp- shire, four of the most pauperized districts, the fol- lowing statement as to the degree of moral im- provement in those counties, and of the mode in which it has been effected. " The improvement in the general condition " and habits of the labouring classes is, from its " nature, incapable of equal proofs with the pecu- " niary results ; but if full and general employment " of all who are able to work, proved by the almost " complete cessation of applications for relief from " this class of paupers (isolated cases only appear- " ing during the last winter on the books of the se- " veral Unions), if indolence changed to activity, 11 rudeness to civility, if the concurrent testimony " of the different Boards of Guardians to this " alteration is a proof of improvement in the la- " bourer, if the knowledge that the great bulk of " the labouring class have been regularly em- " ployed throughout the winter, and in their own " neighbourhood, is a proof that it was the system " that created this kind of pauperism, then I hesi- " tate not to assert, that the alteration of the " system has effected immense good ; for these are " unquestionable facts throughout the district " under my superintendence, &c. " The labourer, aroused in an effectual manner 46 " from his former state of torpid dependence, in a " degree inconceivable to those who have not the " opportunity of watching the progress of the " change, has thrown off his idle habits, and be- " come steady, respectful, and industrious. The " exertion of the body seems to have brought with " it a corresponding exertion of the mind ; while " the very effort that has thrown off bodily inac- *' tivity, appears to have called into being, or " roused to action, a principle of moral control, " which had so long lain dormant, as hardly to be " known to exist. The knots of idle and boon " companions at the beer-shop, or the village- " green, have gradually lessened till wholly di- " vided. For thus aroused to work, it followed " that permanent employ became also desirable ; " to obtain this, punctuality in their hours, dili- " gence in their labour, civility to their employers, " and regularity in their conduct was necessary ; " these again work greatly in favour of moral im- " provement, while constant employment begets " good feeling between master and man." 75.299. We refer also to the address to Lord John Rus- sell which appeared in the London papers on the 28th December by the Guardians of the Poor of the Cosford Union in Suffolk. This Union consists of twenty-eight parishes, and the Guardians state, that " throughout the spring of 1835, the evils " arising out of the old system of relief had grown ' up to an alarming height. The incorporated workhouse was then tenanted by many able- 47 * c bodied paupers, who refused to do any kind of " work, and defied, by turbulent insubordination, " both the rules of the house and the power o. " the magistrates." The paupers without, partici- pated in this disposition, " and it was quite evident " there was a design to demolish the workhouse, " in order that thenceforward parochial relief 11 might entirely cease to be measured by the ne- " cessity of the poor, but be yielded to lawless " intimidation." In this state of things, the acting directors and guardians, as well as the magistrates of the hundred, applied to the Poor Law Comis- missioners, and they inform us with what success, for they state, " That fifteen months have trans- " pired since the new measures came into opera- " tion, and that the workhouse is now conducted " with regularity and decorum. Profligacy, and " idleness, and insolence amongst the poor have *' been replaced by sobriety, industry, and civility. " Not only the paupers themselves, but the labourers " above that class, and persons still further removed " from want, have become in a marked degree " more frugal and prudent permanent employ - " ment has become general and the rate and sum " total of wages have greatly increased and though " the poor-rates have been diminished more than "54 per cent, (from 19,223 per annum to 8,823), " we have it in evidence that the general condition of * ' the labouring population is improved in their means " of subsistence and domestic comfort." 48 They substantiate these assertions by referring to the " increased demand for such articles of food " and clothing as are consumed by the poor" by the introduction and increase of medical and bene- fit clubs by the more punctual payment of cottage rents and by " the increasing number of small de- " positors into Savings' Banks" A fitting comment on the motives of the oppo- nents of the amended poor law, and of the passions which their allies in the public press address, is afforded by the further statement, " that almost " the only interests which suffer are those which " formerly profited at the expense of the moral " habits and domestic comforts of the poor such " as those of brewers, publicans, keepers of beer- " shops, and some small tradesmen whose profits " depended mainly on the abuses of the old system/' We leave these facts and statements to speak for themselves. No railing of the interested, the prejudiced, the malicious, or the ignorant can upset them. They are the precursors of a moral and permanent regeneration, which shall re-unite the rich and poor, the high and low. We now come to consideration of the measures which it is probable will be brought forward next Session. Of course we shall see the rejected mea- sures of last year : the chief of these were Bills For the Reform of the IRISH MUNICIPAL COR- PORATIONS ; For the SETTLEMENT OF IRISH TITHES ; 49 For the REFORM OF THE POST OFFICE ; and For the ABOLITION OF IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT. These will pass rapidly through the Commons, for they will probably resemble, in all essentials, the bills of last year ; and it is of importance that they should reach the Lords before Easter. Full time will thus be allowed for their Lordships' most mature deliberation, and the fate of the bills will be decided when the House of Commons is in full vigour of attendance, and before the annual money bills have passed ; a time when addresses and remonstrances are of the greatest weight. Amongst the new measures we may expect to find Bills Forthe Settlement of the ENGLISH CHURCH RATES ; For the Establishment of an ENGLISH CONSTA- BULARY FORCE; For the application of POOR LAWS TO IRELAND ; For the REFORM OF THE LAW, more especially in Chancery ; and For various CHURCH REFORMS. The question of ENGLISH CHURCH RATES presses for settlement. Half the parishes throughout the country are split by constantly recurring angry dis- cussions respecting these rates. In several cases they are refused, in many they are rigorously cut down, in others they cannot be efficiently collected, and in some few the churchwardens E 50 dare not attempt to call for them at all.* In some parishes the rates are applied solely to the repairs of the church, in others they furnish organs and organists, or improvements and deco- rations, and occasionally pay for churchwardens' dinners, and other lay recreations. These anoma- lies confessedly require reform : but the Dissenters go further, and desire to be relieved altogether from the penal burthen of church rates. They ap- peal to the fact, that the tithes and estates of the church were formerly responsible for the purposes to which these rates are now applied, and that the rates themselves constitute an unequal and variable tax, levied on a whole parish, at the discretion, and for the sole benefit of, at best, only a majority of the parishioners; that they are a virtual fine upon dissent, and so feed religious contention. They say, also, that as the Government approved itself a substantial supporter of the Church of Eng- land, in all its just rights, by placing the tithes upon a satisfactory and permanent footing ; so it should also be equally just to the Dissenters, by redressing an innovation which time may have * Within our own knowledge there is a parish in Essex, where, for the last 50 years, the successive Bishops and Archdeacons have (notwithstanding those laborious and important duties on which the Bishop of Exeter so boldly declaims) allowed the church to fall to ruin, and the service is now performed in a malting barn. The church- wardens say there is no hope of getting a rate, for the Dissenters are much more numerous than the Churchmen- 51 legalized but not sanctioned. This subject may cause some sharp debates, but the fact of Lord Stanley having transferred the payment of the rates of the Irish Church from the laity to the church fund, will afford a precedent which his Lordship will find it difficult to evade, and which, perhaps, his new friends, the Tories, may, out of compliment to him, adopt. At all events Ministers will un- doubtedly satisfy the reasonable complaints of the Dissenters, and protect ,the Church by removing from it an irritating cause of offence. Indeed, unless the Liberals do step forth and protect the Church from its professing friends, there is much fear that they will pull it about their ears. All see how they and their allies in the Lords are sapping tithes in Ireland ; while, heated with strife, they are not behind hand in mischief at home. Oxford, their head-quarters, gave pain to every religious mind last year when it exhibited the persecuting and misquoting bigotry which was exercised against Dr. Hampden, and which a reve- rend principal of Brazen-nose College, has lately sought to revive. We have already given some specimens of the spirit which animates that Bishop, who, in his labour of love to conciliate the Catho- lics, calls, in his Christian charge, all those mem- bers of the House of Commons of that persuasion who vote on Church reform questions, *' a perfidious " faction, who could not have acquired the powers " of mischief which unhappily they possess and 52 " exercise ;" but by what in all gentleness and charity that thinketh no evil, this saint in lawn de- nounces " as treachery aggravated by perjury. "^ Archbishop Laud himself could not have laid claim to more high priestly authority, and might have hesitated to tell his Protestant clergy that they pos- sessed the gift of pronouncing as " full and free "absolution from all their sins," to the people, " even as the Apostles, "f But this Bishop of the Duke of Wellington's creation is excelled in religious mischief by the Quarterly Review, the great mouth-piece of Sir Robert Peel and the conforming Tories. In an article on Church Rates in its last number, after ostentatiously pointing out the clergy as the great almoners and benefactors of all their parishioners, "however much some of them may have strayed from the fold," it proceeds under the supposition that Government intend to relieve these stray sheep from the payment of church rates, to advise them to " forbear" from all charitable, nay, "promiscuous intercourse," with the hope that " the Dissenters " would feel the change both in the amount the par- " sonage contributes, and in the example it sets." p. 369. Having thus shut the [parsonage door upon the Dissenters, it proceeds to open the workhouse gates for them. For, passing from the assumption that the great mass of buyers are of the Church of England, and of the retail * Charge of the Bispop of Exeter, p. 13. f Ibid. p. 45. 53 dealers or sellers are Dissenters, it says, " As " matters have stood in times past, Churchmen " have made no distinction in their dealings ; they " have resorted to the shop of the Churchman and " Dissenter alike, only having respect to the ho- " nesty of the party and the quality of his mer- " chandize. Indeed so long as the Dissenter was " content with his condition in the State, which " was that of complete toleration, and did not seek " to disturb the Establishment, his scruples were " respected ; which were the rather supposed to be " conscientious, because they subjected him to " some additional charge a small one it is true, "but some additional charge in supporting a " place of worship of his own ; and a friendly feel- " ing was accordingly entertained towards him. " But once exempt him from church rates, and the " case will be altered. The Churchman will then " naturally do his best to uphold the man who up- " holds the church ; it would be exceedingly un- " reasonable to suppose that he should do other- " wise to do so would give just cause of complaint " to his own allies. We have no manner of doubt " the abolition of church rates would be a signal " of separation between the Churchman and Dis- " senter, complete as soon as present engagements " or connexions should cease to operate. Now we " submit that the Dissenter would not have cause " to rejoice in this result." p. 371. In other words, pay for my church and your own 54 too, and I will deal with you, more especially if I can drive a good bargain ; if not go starve. This is the sum and substance, to say nothing of the Christian spirit of the high church argument, which finally entrenching itself within the palisa- does of the Thirty -nine Articles, fulminates " the " sin of schism " right and left with the spirit of a Philpots or an Hildebrand, and winds up by designating the Church of England, " as the " single accredited agent through which all reli- " gious operations both at home and abroad were " to be conducted, so that the household was to be " visited, the congregation to be taught, the colony " to be quickened, the heathen to be converted, " but still through her" p. 372. This is the spirit and these are the doctrines which are working amongst the bishops, the pro- fessors, and statesmen of our High Church party ; and we leave it to the plain sense of considerate men to say, whether civil society, religion, and the state are likely to profit by the advocacy or rule of persons so heated and intolerant. Judging from the tone of their speeches and their press, the Tories must be desperate, and reckless even of public opinion. Else wherefore would they have sanctioned one of their leading evening papers (Standard) putting forth on the 12th No- vember, when there was much reason to fear a commercial and money market panic, the following notice, placed most conspicuously before its leading article. 55 " (From a City Correspondent.) " I understand an Order in Council will be issued " this evening, to stop payments in gold at the " Bank." Having thrown this fire-ball, there was added below as a salvo, "We do not believe it." Then why insert, and so very prominently, a report which if believed might have ruined thousands ; and which, being false, could serve no purpose of news or instruction. But it seems the conservative watch- word now is, " Hurrah ! any thing for a row." And in this spirit they are beating up for a po- pular clamour against the establishment of an effec- tive civil force for the preservation of the property and peace of the country. For their dauntless organ, the Standard, on the very same day that it put forth the above feeler for a commercial panic, followed it up by calling on all classes, but " more " especially the aristocracy and populace (remark- " able association !) to unite in opposition to the " atrocious scheme of covering England with " centralized espionage and a prerogative gen- " darmerie." Proud of this bugbear, it proceeds to denounce * ' that fallacy, the omnipotence of " King, Lords, and Commons," which it is pleased to call "cant;" and then, in the following loyal tone, addressing the joint propensities of "a popu- lace," and a disappointed and factious "aristocracy," it says : " King, Lords, and Commons may, if " they determine to do so, establish a rural police, 56 " by act of Parliament. They have power to dis- " arm the nation ; and if the starvation process " appears too 'slow a mode of getting rid of them, " to hang up the poor of the kingdom, and sell " their bodies to the best bidders, de facto, King, " Lords, and Commons have this power, de jure, " they have not." Whereupon, the people are sum- moned to an obstinate legal resistance till this " tyranny be over-past." And what is all this premature rant about ? Simply against the issuing of "a commission for inquiring as to the best " means of establishing an efficient Constabulary " Force in the several counties of England and "Wales." In other words, to substitute for the present decayed beadles and worn-out watchmen, an active, body of efficient constables, who, being placed under proper control may serve to prevent crime, preserve peace, and, above all, protect the property of the lone farmer and peasant from rob- bery and incendiarism. It is against the organiza- tion of such a force that Conservatives, under the mask of liberalism, think they may with party profit declaim, while Swing and the Bristol rioters join chorus, and light bonfires. We now come to the question of IRISH POOR LAWS. It is impossible to exaggerate the difficulties with which the relief of the poor of Ireland is beset. A selfish government, satisfied with removing, as far as their knowledge, and courage, and power went, the existing obstructions to the increase of wealth 57 in that country, would attempt no active measures either to promote the progress of improvement, or to remedy the existing distress of the mass of the people. They who shrunk from the difficulties of the English Poor Laws, would be appalled at the obstacles presented to their application to Ireland. They would leave all to time and chance, idly hoping that in three or four generations distress might gradually disappear. Such would, at the very best, be the conduct of the Tories. But such a conduct does not suit the temper of the times, nor does it suit a reforming ministry, whose maxim is, to allow no evil to continue which any exertion of theirs can terminate, or diminish. The present admi- nistration are pledged not to permit the existing generation of Irishmen to suffer and perish in the hope that their great-grandchildren may be better off. But, we repeat, the difficulties of applying a remedy cannot be exaggerated. To transplant, at once, into Ireland the English Poor Law system, to give to every one of its eight millions an immediate right to comfortable support at the public expense, would be to abandon the whole country to pauperism. All the abuses which it took centuries to introduce into England would sprout up in Ireland within as many years perhaps in as many months. And yet, short of this, what is to be done ? This question we do not pretend to answer : but we know that the Government is pre- pared to answer it ; and a short statement of their 58 conduct, with respect to the matter, will shew that they are likely to answer it well. About three years ago, it became evident that the question of Irish Poor Laws must be practically dealt with. Vain and vague schemes were proposed, and there was every reason to fear that some one of the many dangerous suggestions afloat would be forced on the legislature. According to their usual practice, (a practice which their opponents ridiculed, until ex- perience forced even Tories to confess its wisdom,) the Whig Government issued a commission to col- lect information. At the head of it were placed the Protestant and Catholic Archbishops of Dublin, assisted by commissioners chosen from the best in- formed classes in England and Ireland. Two years were employed by the commission in collecting a body of evidence, as to the condition of the Irish people, such as never was before obtained, or con- ceived to be obtainable. To this evidence was annexed a report containing many valuable suggestions, but proposing an ex- tent of interference with the natural state of things which few persons think safe, or even practicable. It is well known, that ever since this report was presented, the Government have been anxiously and laboriously engaged in considering which of its proposals can be adopted to any, and what ex- tent ; and what measures are to be substituted for those schemes which are rejected. We believe that their deliberations are now nearly terminated. We 59 believe that a plan has been, in all its essential parts, matured, from which Ireland may derive the greatest amount of good, and be exposed to the least amount of danger, that is consistent with the essence of the experiment. Of this at least we are certain, that no administration not combining cou- rage and caution, no administration of which the prevailing motive was not public spirit, and a real wish for the welfare of the country, and above all no administration not possessing the confidence of the Irish people, could be safely trusted with the plan- ning of an Irish Poor law, or could successfully execute any plan which it had adopted. The glorious uncertainty of THE LAW has long been the boast and the bread of lawyers, weak and haughty minds believe mankind are best go- verned by exhibitions of force, and therefore up- hold severity ;* and the cunning and unjust will * It is with heartfelt satisfaction that we hail a decrease in that stigma on our humanity, the number of our executions. From 1820 to 1824, or during the Tory ascen- dancy, there were executed no less than 362 persons, being on an average . . .90 per ann. From 1824 to 1828, or during the Tory decline, the numbers fell to 229, or . . . . 50 per ann. It continued at the same rate till their expulsion from office. But during an equal period of Whig rule, from 1832 to 1836, it has fallen to 155, or less than one-half, being only . . .38 per ann. Or if we take London and Middlesex, we shall find that the Tory government caused to be executed during 1827, 28, and 29 ... 63 persons. 60 ever delight and find their profit or escape in cob- web intricacies. It belongs, therefore, to human nature that many should exclaim or sneer against cheap and well-defined laws, frequent and acces- sible courts, and a humane penal code. Their op- position is as unceasing as it is natural, and when aided by experience and technical knowledge, be- comes extremely difficult to overcome. But the same Reformers who have surmounted prejudices and selfish interests in other institutions, will ulti- mately win for the people the cheap administra- tion of clear and humane laws. In this en- deavour they are aided by some of the highest and most enlightened legal authorities of the pre- sent day, who are proud to follow in the path of Romilly. During the next session, it is most pro- bable, the state of our Criminal Law, the dispen- sation of Equity in the Court of Chancery, and the establishment of Local Courts, will, with other legal matters, be brought before Parliament. THE CHURCH REFORMS will probably provide for the improved discipline of the church, the aboli- tion of sinecures, the proportioning emolument The Whigs in 1830, 1, and 2, only . . .16 In 1833, but 2 1834 none. 1835 . . . . . . . none. And yet, notwithstanding, or may we not say in consequence of this merciful abstinence from blood, the number of offences in which violence has been used, has decreased ? 61 to duty, and the prohibition of pluralities. Without entering into what may be the extent of these re- forms, we beg to observe that no form of religion appears to have held or retained its hold on the con- formity or affections of a people in the government or ministry, of which they themselves have not participated. The converse of this has been the great support of persecuted sects, when common danger and the pressure of opposing power have brought both high and low together. It is strongly exemplified in the rigid firmness with which the Presbyterian adheres to his creed and his own church ; and amongst the Roman Catholics, where much of the effective ministry has always been in the hands of what are called the lower classes, and where mendicant monks and their fellow- orders have frequently aided or restrained Popes and Cardinals. But in the Church of England, since the day of its birth under the Robber Re- former, who declared himself its sole head, the Government has been absolute in all respects, and the ministry gradually removing from the hands of the people to the higher ranks, who now hold it almost exclusively, or absorb those who are in- troduced into it. Is it, therefore, that it has been less distinguished for its zeal and coherence than almost any other sect ? We know not neither do we know any authority in Scripture, in reason, or in worthy example for its absolute government and over-refined ministry, that shuts out the middle and lower orders of social life. 62 These observations are thrown out for those who are commencing the reform of our Church, and with a firm hope, that as they have recognised and acted on the wisdom and justice of popularizing the civil institutions of the country, so they will, in like manner, bring more home to the exercise and affections of the people, the government and dis- cipline of their Church. These appear to be the principal measures which will be submitted to Parliament next session, and which will follow in the train of the rejected bills of last year ; but if the Lords should unhappily again reject all these, if they throw down the glove of defiance for a third time, then the King and the Commons, however reluctantly, must pick it up. We have already speculated upon the different modes of proceeding which may be adopted. No doubt Lord Melbourne and his colleagues have already deeply meditated upon the course they shall follow, and are now steadfastly watching time and circumstance for its application. We may have an earnest of their conduct from their speeches of last year. For on the 27th June, Lord Melbourne, during the debate in the Lords on the consideration of the Commons' Amendments to the Irish Municipal Corporation Bill, after ably pointing out the progressively in- creasing majorities of the Commons from seven to ten to thirteen to forty-five and finally to eighty-six against the measures and opinions of the 63 Tory Lords, energetically continued, " I ask you " to consider whether this is not owing to your " own imprudence, whether it is not owing to " your own misconduct, whether it is not owing " to your own blindness, whether it is not owing " to the manner in which you seek to separate " yourselves from the whole body of the people, " to the manner in which you have tried to do " everything that is unpopular, and have abstained " from doing any thing that has in it the elements "of generosity and popularity?" And having pointed out to them the error of their course, he thus calls on them to desist. " My Lords, I implore " you not to be led away by the undisputed sway " you possess in this House, and to mistake your " situation with the other House of Parliament " And in the Commons, Lord John Russell, on the 30th June, during the debate on the Lord's rejec- tion of the Irish Municipal Corporation Bill, said, " I do think, I do retain the hope and I anxiously " cherish that hope that the time may come, per- " haps within a few months, when the settlement of " this question may be effected, and when the pre- " valence of the reasons given by the House of 11 Lords for disagreeing to the present measure, " may yield to the general opinion of the House of " Commons and the people. I am sure if I did not " entertain that hope, I should despair of the further " maintenance of the British Constitution. I can " suppose no Constitution more inconvenient than 64 " one in which the House of Commons and the " people whom they represent being of one opinion, " the other House of Parliament shall determin- " edly, perse veringly, and unyieldingly maintain " the contrary opinion." Lord Lansdowne, also, has given the weight of his important authority to these opinions, and Lord Holland, and the other ministers of the Crown have equally spoken out. Theirs have not been mere idle words, and therefore when the time comes, they will no doubt respectfully submit to his Ma- jesty their plans and propositions for bringing the Lords so far into harmony with their fellow sub- jects, as to allow the machinery of an independent Government to go on. But should these be re- jected, should they be denied all means of asserting the requisite dignity of a Ministry, and of passing bills demanded as well by the voice as for the peace of the country, then it will be their bounden duty to tender their resignation : and who will under- take the Government ? Let them resign, and leave the Tories, if they dare, to take the responsibility upon themselves of driving Ireland on to insurrection to a repeal of the Union and the destruction of its Protestant Church. Let them shake if they will in their reck- lessness, the House of Lords to its foundations, and make the arbitrary experiment of ruling this free country by the novel means of a constant minority in the Commons. 65 These are the only terms upon which the Tories could take the government in the face of the present united liberal party. The strong nerves of the Duke of Wellington would shrink from the experiment ; once or twice indeed he has already attempted to over-rule the House of Commons, and failed miserably ; we do not think he will try it a third time. At all events, Sir Robert Peel is not the man to second, much less to lead on. such an assault : he will not go to Rome this spring, and while here, neither the hunger nor the passionate preju- dices of his party-coloured followers will thrust him into a ministry which could exist only by a series of coups d'etat. For by what constitutional means could he carry on the tithe-war in Ireland,* or the Church-rate blockade in England ? Would * Some may smile when they hear of a tithe war, but their in- credulity will be staggered when they learn from a return to the House of Commons, which has been admirably commented on in the Examiner, that within less than six months that is, from January to June, 1836 nearly 400 declarations have been filed in the Courts of Law respecting tithes. 286 writs of rebellion issued from the Irish Court of Ex- chequer against some 4000 individuals. 1 552 bills filed in the same Court, and in some cases against more than 200 persons in each bill. In short, that above 15,000 persons have been brought into court concerning tithe questions, which it has pleased the House of Lords to keep open and festering for these last three years. If such be the unsettled state of tithe property now, what would it be under the Tories. F 66 the House of Commons grant him additional supplies for twenty thousand more men, under Lord Kenyon and the Duke of Newcastle, to re-con- quer Ireland? would he raise a loan? or would the Carlton Club find him in men and money ? How would he ward off votes of censure and addresses to the throne? Would he dissolve his own Parliament and call another which might call him to an account ? Sir Robert Peel is not the man for these vigorous freaks. He knows too well his own advantageous position, and we give him credit for respecting too highly the consti- tutional authority of the country to embark in such an adventure. But would Lord Stanley? Alas, for the empty Dilly ! But, Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Ashburton, and Lord Abinger, might not they form a government ? No one may foretell the spiral course of these ambidexterous politicians ; all that is known is, that they are shrewd persons, and that the first, after getting the Duke of Wellington into his Anti-House of Commons scrape in May, 1832 r left him in the lurch. But it is a mere waste of time to speculate on what any given set of Tories might do ; for so long as the Reformers continue united, it is just as impossible for them to form a government as to make a minority out-vote a majority. The sustaining this majority is the corner-stone of the government, and this can be done only by keep- ing even with public opinion (neither running in 67 advance nor lagging behind], and by mutual for- bearance and concession. But some of the more impatient of the Liberals and Radicals than whom more honest and independent members do not exist, have exclaimed, " This is mighty well, but the concession is all on our side ;* why are we to sacrifice and postpone our ballot our triennial parliaments, our extension of the suffrage, and our Peerage Reform, in favour of your Municipal Cor- poration Reform your settlement of the Irish tithe and English Church-rate questions and your Law and Church reforms/' But the answer to this re- monstrance is simply that on these latter questions of reform all are united, while on the former, many are divided ; and, therefore, independent of other reasons, there is a sound expectation of carrying the one series, and no immediate prospect of forcing through the other. This may be deplored, but it cannot be denied, nor can it be denied that the best prospect of ultimately carrying the strong series consists in first establishing the milder. He there- fore must be a very inconsistent and impracticable reformer, who would separate from his party and * This is a mistake, for the Radicals forget there are other sup- porters of the government besides themselves, or they would see that there is just as much concession on the more moderate side as on the Liberal ; the one by stretching, the other by restraining their opinions. It is between these two parties that the common object of supporting the present government produces an alliance, which is sustained by corresponding repression and concession. p 2 68 thereby diminish their power of carrying those practicable reforms which he himself desires, merely because they will not divide their strength by striving also for other questions which he is obliged to confess, are utterly unattainable at present. There is the danger also of out-running public opinion. Even last session, some of the measures proposed by government went quite as far as, if not beyond this opinion, as was shewn by the striking difference in the majorities on some of the more important questions. One step further and the absence or desertion of some of the more moderate party might have opened a gap for the entrance of the Tories, and then where would have been not ballot and triennial parliaments, &c., but the Irish Municipal Corporations, and the Church-rates; the first of which the Tories would forthwith utterly destroy, and saddle the consolidated fund with the payment of the other. It is for an error such as this, and not for a forcible seizure of the government, that Sir Robert Peel and the more wise and wily of his party are waiting. In 1827 the Whigs were situated with respect to Mr. Canning, much as the Radicals now are with Lord Melbourne, and a vast majority of them sup- ported the government : and why ? not because his measures fulfilled all their expectations, but be- cause they saw as the Radicals now see, they were not able to form a government themselves, and that Mr. Canning's was the most liberal the state of public 69 opinion could then bear and what was the conse- quence? Public opinion became more and more liberal till it enabled the Whigs to carry the Re- form Bill. But there are other Liberals who, in their honest impatience at the delays and obstructions, or muti- lations and rejections, which so many of the liberal measures have met with in the Lords, exclaim, " These Whigs are powerless or insincere; we shall get on better with the Tories, for we shall be able to drive and bully them into good measures in the Commons, which they will cajole their allies in the Lords into passing." This is the very bait with which Sir Robert Peel fished for rats in 1834 ! Again other ultra and more ambitious Liberals say, " Let the Tories come into office again ; their pre- sence there will soon produce a liberal reaction which will drive them from their places, and carry us on its waves over the heads of the Whigs into Downing Street, when and where we shall be able to carry all our organic reforms into execution." These two suppositions are, to say the least, nearly akin to what is called reckoning without one's host. For let us ask, whence is to be drawn the force which shall wring more liberal measures from the Peel and Stanley government, than the present liberal Mi- nisters not only propose, but carry ? And where shall be agitated that stormy wave which shall whelm Peel and Stanley, and carry the Radicals into port. Mrs. Malaprop says, that in marriage it is 70 well to begin with a little aversion ; but the world has not yet seen the joint success of political mea- sures begun and founded on disunion. Undoubt- edly, that which united the Liberals of all degrees in 1834 was the abrupt overthrow of the Govern- ment by the Crown, but it would be an utter dis- tortion of reason to say, that the overthrow of a Liberal Government in 1837, by a section of the Liberals themselves, would produce a like effect. We know very well that we have just stated the difficulties, nay impossibilities, that would defeat the Tories, if they took the Government in defiance of the Liberals when united and carrying the coun- try with them. But if a split took place amongst the Liberals, then the consequences would be very different, for it would alarm and disgust the coun- try, and unless we are much deceived, the imme- diate result of such a manoeuvre would be, that a large portion, (and powerful by their character, property, and constituencies), of Lord Melbourne's present supporters would, in utter hopelessness of acting with their late allies, go over to and support Sir Robert Peel and Lord Stanley. It is well known that even now there are several liberal members who, in their desire for union, and to up- hold a liberal government, are in the habit of voting beyond rather than within their own in- dividual opinions. Where would these members be on the first division ? And where would those members be who dread a dissolution ? Certainly 71 not on the side of the Radicals, whose practical illustration of the " Stavo bene, per star meglio, sto qui " epitaph, would, inevitably, give Peel and Stanley a sufficient majority in the present House of Commons to carry on the government. And during the four or five remaining years of this Parliament's life, where would be the latent force to coerce the Tory ministers, or the spirits from the vasty deep to whelm them ? And what would be the state of unhappy Ireland, when they who should, and who could have saved her, shall be split and quarrelling for theories amongst them- selves ? As to speculating on the temper of the con- stituencies when the dissolution should at last come, we need only reply that five years in the present times is an eternity. Five, or much fewer years would enable the Tories to renew all their old official connections now interrupted or dissolved, and would furnish them with fresh and active re- cruits. We should see all the strongholds of power replenished with a vigorous relief of Tory judges, Tory bishops, Tory lord-lieutenants, magistrates, governors, and subordinates, all re-marshalled far and wide. There is not an old Tory of any princi- ple who would not make it a point of honour to die and make room for some able-bodied Tory succes- sor during this Conservative millenium : and the mischief would not end here. Sir Robert Peel would then have an opportunity " of fighting that 72 battle of the constitution" which he unveiled to the hopes of Anti-reformers at the Merchant Tailors' Hall dinner on his former accession to power, for he would have that majority, for the achievement of which, Blackwood, his great organ, says, no later than November, " No sacrifices of money or time, no expenditure of vigour or talent, can be deemed too great." But what would this expensive majority, and these puppets of the Radicals do ? Repeal the Reform Act? No,no; such is not Sir Robert's method of going to work; but gradually and plausibly a different cur- rent and spirit would be infused into all the measures of government, and five years of Conservative har- mony between the Lords and Commons would go far to introduce so many undermining clauses, so many side-wind instructions to revising barristers, and to open so many sluices of corruption and inti- midation, that when the dissolution did come, the Tories might find their amended and explained Reform Act no such bad thing after all. And then the Liberals would have their work to do all over again, and with the stigma of a first failure. But we have no fear of such a suicidal and Tory outbreak on the part of the Radicals. They know full well their own strength and their weakness. They know that by their concurrence with the present Government many useful reforms are ori- ginated or liberalized, and that they themselves are gradually winning their way with the country, and accustoming its ear to the discussions of 73 subjects from which it would formerly have turned deafly or indignantly away. We know no more upright gentlemen, or more useful members of Parliament, than Mr. Warburton, Mr. Grote, Mr. Hume, Mr. Bannerman, Sir William Molesworth, and many other equally honourable members who act with them. They represent a large, honest, and independent section of public opinion, and have, therefore, most deservedly great weight with a liberal government ; but it would be a gross im- peachment of their sober judgment, and they would so consider it, were they to be accused of meditating the construction of a ministry amongst themselves. None know better than they that the country is not ripe for such a move ; none know better than they that both in a selfish and a pa- triotic view, their post is at the right hand of the present Government, where they may be sponsors for its liberality, or the avengers of its timidity. This is their present duty, and their constituents ex- pect Jt from them. Mr. O'Conneli clearly understands this position. He frankly declares, that his views go beyond those of the Government ; but he as frankly con- fesses, that hs sees no immediate means of carrying them into effect ; and therefore he adopts and gives his most strenuous support to that administration which assures the largest prospect of attainable reform. His late resolutions, carried at the Ge- neral Reform Association in Dublin, after record ing 74 the necessity for carrying not only the Tithe and Municipal Corporation Reform Bills, but ulti- mately, and at large, the application of the prin- ciples on which they rest, go on to declare,- " That the present Administration enjoys the full " confidence of the people of Ireland, and that we " know no language sufficiently strong to express " our admiration of, and gratitude for, the just, " firm, manly, and impartial government of Lord " Mulgrave." " That, under these circumstances, we deem it the " sacred duty of the representatives of the Irish " people in Parliament, to give their zealous sup- " port to his Majesty's Ministers upon all occasions " that do not involve, if any such should be, a " direct violation of political principles." This leads to the subject of OPEN QUESTIONS, which has lately been so ably advocated by Mr. Henry Bulwer. There are many precedents. Par- liamentary Reform was an open question between Mr. Fox and Mr. Burke, under Lord Rockingham's administration, as it was subsequently under Mr. Pitt's, between himself and Mr. Dundas. We all remember Catholic Emancipation ; and the Corn Laws are now an open question. It is desirable, no doubt, that every latitude, compatible with the con- sistent march of an administration, should be allowed to its members ; but, on the other hand, it is equally clear, that some limit must be fixed. No active avowal of fundamental principles, which contradict 75 those of the Government, or differences upon ques- tions strictly executive, can safely be permitted. In fact, all open questions, quo ad hoc, weaken an administration, which is necessarily supposed to be unanimous. So, if the Ballot now were made an open question and we do not say that it ought not to be so yet, if different members of the Ca- binet took opposite sides, the moral force of the Government would be weakened. But, on the other hand, this mischief might be more than coun- terbalanced by the increased strength and cor- diality gained to the Government by widening the circle within which its members might be chosen, and by the additional weight which each indivi- dual opinion would then carry from its unquestion- able sincerity. Practically, it is a choice of evils ; and if in this, or other cases, it be found, that the inconveniences or dangers exceed the advantages, great as they specially may appear, then there can be no true Reformer, who, in the present state of affairs, ought not readily to postpone the open discussion of his own cherished measure, in favour of the general security of all reforms. A rigid obsti- nacy might expose him to suspicion, for it could not carry his own, and might overthrow all other liberal measures. And, after all, that march of Reform, which leaves the smallest practicable dis- tance between the hindmost and the foremost ranks, though not the most rapid, will last longest and go furthest. 76 Thus, then, we have no doubt, that when the session opens, it will be found, that mutual conces- sions have been made ; and the more impatient of the Liberals, reconsidering the peculiar difficulties which surround the present Government, and re- coiling from the applauses of the Tories, will be found at their post, actively defending the com- mon cause of Reform. They should well know that their opponents are not to be beaten by fits and starts, but it is by patient co-operation and forbearance, that step by step, measure by measure, and office by office, in short, by time, the great Reformer, that the Liberals must gradually and so best reduce the great Tory ascendancy, which a domination of sixty years has so deeply rooted in their own and their followers opinions, that a Li- beral ministry seems to them a robbery or an usur- pation. No wonder, then, that they rave and rant. But they may call church and state in danger till they are hoarse, they may encourage insurrec- tion amongst the poor, and a run upon the Bank in one and the same day of panic, they may hire renegade forging priests to preach up religious bit- terness, they may instruct the Times to tell Oxford that the Dissenters have no religion, and the Quar- terly Review to threaten them with no customers they may leer on the Lyndhurst side of their face, to the Orangemen, and, on the Peel side, put on conformity smiles, they may hurrah Sir James Graham and Mr. Recorder Shaw in their Joanna 77 Southcottisms, but all will fail, so long as the Reformers stand fast together and forbear. Lord Lyndhurst, the ablest, the wiliest, and the best performer of the party, tried his destructive plan last year and failed. He strove, to the very utmost, by his alien speeches, and kicking out ex- ploits, by sarcasm in word and deed, to provoke Ministers from the even tenor of their way. But Lord Melbourne was not so easily caught. He firmly and temperately rebuked the man duri frontis et perditce audadce, who led on a tribe of silly Lords to the edge of a dangerous precipice ; but he allowed no threats of his opponents, or complaints of his friends, to draw him from his defensive position. He well knows, that they who in civil struggles strike first or too soon, seldom strike last. And now, before concluding, let us run over some of the more prominent acts of the Liberals and the Tories during the last ten or twenty years. They afford a far safer mode of judging than plau- sible professions. In 1817, the Tories suspend- The Liberals, under Sir S. ed the Habeas Corpus Act. Romilly, advocated the mitiga- In 1817, the Tories passed tion of the penal code, their six celebrated gagging bills. In 1 820, the Tories persecut- The Whigs rescued her. ed the unfortunate Queen Caro- line. 78 In 1821, they opposed all re- ductions, more especially of the supernumerary Lords of the Ad- miralty. In 1827, Sir Robert Peel, the Duke of Wellington, and the Tories, broke with Mr. Canning on the grounds of his favouring Catholic emancipation. In 1828, the Duke of Wel- lington, and Sir Robert Peel, and Tories, being in power, opposed to the last the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts. In 1 829, the same government and party refused to transfer the right of returning a Member of Parliament from the convicted rotten borough of East Retford to Leeds or Birmingham. In 1 830, the Duke of Wel- lington declared the old rotten borough system the perfection of human wisdom. In 1832, the Duke of Wel- lington and the Tory Peers pro- tested against it as revolution- ary, and subversive of our in- stitutions, &c. The Tories always upheld it. The Tories, during their whole tenure of office, did nothing, In 1821, Lord Mulgrave (then Lord Normanby) carried these reductions. In I 829, the Liberals forced or enabled the same Sir Robert Peel, Duke of Wellington, and Tories, to admit and carry the Catholic emancipation. In 1829, Lord John Russell and the Liberals carried this re- peal in despite of the Ministry. In 1831 and 1832, the Li- berals being in power disfran- chised all the rotten boroughs, and raised the constituency of the three kingdoms to nearly a million. In 1832, they carried the RE- FORM BILL. In 1833, they ABOLISHED SLAVERY. They opened the trade of India and of China. They amended the POOR LAWS, by which above three 79 leaving their abuses untouched and their burdens increasing in amount. The Tories defended, and fought for them to the very last vote in the Lords. The Tories opposed all Church Reform. The Tories called it a mutila- tion of the Word of God, out of office, and adopted it when The Tories kicked out both bills. The Tories revelled from 1792 to 1814, in all the glories and profits of war, imposing incal- culable millions of taxes, and increasing the national debt by the feather weight of 573,228,595, whereby they have burthened the country with another feather weight payment of 21 millions per annum. After the peace, they retained in the public offices no less than 27,365 persons, at an annual expense of 3,763,300 ! ! millions sterling have already been saved. They REFORMED THE COR- RUPT CORPORATIONS OF SCOT- LAND AND OF ENGLAND. They reformed the Irish Church by increasing the smaller livings, and reducing 24 bishops to 12. They .passed an act for pro- moting general education in Ireland. 1 836, they passed the English Tithe Act, And would have settled the Irish tithe question, And have re- formed the corrupt Irish corpora- tions. In 6 years they have taken off above 8 millions of taxes, abolish- ed immediately or in prospective all the old Tory sinecures, or places of non-effective work, re- duced public expenditure from a gross 54,223,414 to 48,787,538, effecting thereby a saving of FIVE MILLIONS AND A HALF on 20 millions, for the remainder is made up of interest for debt or dead weight. In 1835, the Whigs, beginning by a reduction of their own salaries, had reduced this army of officials by 3797 persons, at a saving to the public of 967,000 per annum. 80 In 1822, still incorrigible they In 1835, the Whigs had re- employed 6788 persons, at sa- duced this Tory excess by 1979 laries amounting to 726,572, persons, at a saving of 167,928 to collect the revenue, being at a year, collecting the revenue at the rate of 10 15s. Id. per the rate of only 5 17s. 3d., cent. being little more than one-half of the Tory charge. These are the principal deeds of the two parties- Verily, by their fruits you shall know them. But, hear their opinions " The House of Lords was the true representative of the people," gravely stated Lord Wharncliffe, at Halifax, himself an ex-cabinet minister. " Away with the aliens, away with them !" shouts in spirit Lord Lyndhurst, an ex-Lord Chancellor, from his seat in the House of Lords, against the whole Irish nation. " Extend the pure faith amongst the infidel faction of perjured idolaters," ejaculates in the same tone the meek Bishop of Exeter, a Tory pillar of the Church. "Put your trust in God, and keep your powder dry," respond the smouldering Orange- men of Ireland. " All Reformers are knaves, vaga- bonds, or atheists," says the Tory Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk, at a public meeting in his county. " Public meetings are a farce, 5 ' escapes from the Duke of Wellington, in his place in the Lords. "The Reform Bill is subversive of our institutions," solemnly protests the same ex-Minister. " I must resign rather than consent to the appropriation clause," murmured Sir R. Peel, to his disconsolate whippers-in, having equally opposed, and having been more than equally converted, on the Currency 81 question, the repeal of the Test Acts, and Catholic Emancipation. These are the men who call themselves consis- tent Conservatives, and these are the men, and this the party, to form a popular government, reconcile Ireland, and promote Reform ! ! ! And now, people of England, men of Ireland and of Scotland, remember these deeds, and, re- flecting on these things, say, which will you have ? which do you prefer ? Shall your affairs be con- ducted by statesmen who have given an onward march to our country, in the straightforward line of its old free institutions, who, notwithstanding the clamours of their opponents, have taken off eight millions of taxes, and denounced all sinecures, and ineffective offices, and have raised the trade and commerce of the country above 30 per cent, in six years, will you have men who extinguished that last legacy of the Tories incen- diary fires, and an insurrectionary peasantry in England, and who have maintained Ireland in tranquillity by equal government, and by the ex- pectation of equal laws and institutions who have kept us at peace, though the Tories declared, six years ago, that nothing short of a miracle could stave off a general war for six months. Say, shall these men, the old and constant friends of civil and religious liberty, the tried and experienced Reformers, per- fect and work out the reforms they have begun, or shall a remnant of Tory-radicals, with hot impa- tience, overthrow all stable liberal government, in G 82 favour of an ultra-liberal scheme of commencing upon a fresh series of reforms, before the first is completed and established. Or will you trust in the constant opponents, either open or concealed, of all reforms whatever, whether in finance, church, law, state, colonies, or trade ; and who, when reforms are carried, adopt or conform to them, with the avowed object of thereby gaining strength enough to weaken or pervert them ? If you will have these men, instruct your repre- sentatives to join chorus in the hypocritical or fanatic cry of " Church and State in danger," " Spoliation," " Revolution," " Independence of the Lords," or any other hubble-bubble bye- word they may pick up. But if, on the other hand, you think reforms can be best conducted by Reformers, instruct your representatives to be firm and united, to carry and make good what they can carry, and to bide their time for the rest. Warn them, in their pursuit of, perhaps, useful theories, not to imitate the unwise dog in the fable, who lost the substance in snatching at the shadow ; and, above all, keep your eyes on those high-flying Patriots, who, in the excess of their love of Re- form, are seeking to promote Reform by upsetting a Reform Government in order to make room for those most approved reformers the Tories ! THE END. NORMAN AND SKEEN, PRINTERS, MAIDEN LANE, CO'VENT GARDEN. NEWSPAPERS. MESSRS. RIDGWAY and SONS beg to inform the Public that they continue to deliver the London Morning and Evening Papers in all parts of the Town by the earliest delivery, and send them Postage Free to all parts of the United Kingdoms, France, the Colonies, &c. 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