XXII. CHAP. labouring classes, that your lordships and the upper classes of society are to be regarded rather as their foes than their friends." 1830. 71. King's speech. Nov. 2. Parliament met on the 26th October; but some days having been consumed in swearing in members, the session was not opened till the 2d November. On that day, the King's speech alluded slightly to the recent overthrow of the elder branch of the house of Bourbon in France, but more specifically to foreign events in Belgium and Portugal." The elder branch of the house of Bourbon no longer reigns in France; and the Duke of Orleans has been called to the throne by the title of King of the French. Having received from the new sovereign a declaration of his earnest desire to cultivate the good understanding, and maintain inviolate all the engagements with this country, I did not hesitate to continue my diplomatic relations and friendly intercourse with the French court. I have viewed, with deep regret, the state of affairs in the Low Countries. I lament that the enlightened administration of the King of the Netherlands should not have preserved his dominions from revolt; and that the wise and prudent measure of submitting the complaints and desires of his people to an extraordinary meeting of the States-General should have led to no satisfactory result. I am endeavouring, in concert with my allies, to devise such means of restoring tranquillity as may be compatible with the welfare and good government of the Netherlands, and with the future security of other states. I have not yet accredited my ambassador to the court of Lisbon; but the Portuguese government having determined to perform a great act of justice and humanity, by the grant of a general amnesty, I think that the time may shortly arrive when the interests of my subjects will demand a renewal of those relations which have so long subsisted 1 Parl. Deb. between the two countries. I place, without reserve, at your disposal my interest in the hereditary revenues, and in those funds which may arise from any droits of the i. 2, 3 (new series). XXII. Crown or of the Admiralty, from the West India duties, CHAP. or from any casual revenue, either in my foreign possessions or in the United Kingdom.' These words were of deep and important significance 1830. 72. declaration as regarded the policy which the Duke of Wellington's Lord Grey's administration was prepared to pursue in reference to the on reform. important political changes then taking place, or which had recently occurred on the continent of Europe. But these changes, great as they were, did not form the allabsorbing object of public interest. It was domestic change which was the object of universal desire; it was on reform in Parliament that all hearts were set. Foreign affairs were regarded with interest almost entirely as they bore on this vital question; and, accordingly, on the very first day of the session, the two leaders of the opposite parties, Earl Grey and the Duke of Wellington, delivered their opinions on it in terms which have become memorable in English history. The former said: "We ought to learn wisdom from what is passing before our eyes; and when the spirit of liberty is breaking out all around, it is our first duty to secure our own institutions, by introducing into them a temperate reform. I have been a reformer all my life, and on no occasion have I been inclined to go further than I am prepared to go now, if an opportunity were to offer. But I do not found the title to demand it on abstract right. We are told that every man who pays taxes-nay, that every man arrived at the years of discretion-has right to a vote for representatives. That right I utterly deny. The right of the people is to have good government, one that is calculated to secure their privileges and happiness; and if that is Parliament, incompatible with universal or very general suffrage, then Ann. Reg. the limitation, and not the extension, is the true right of 154. the people."1 The Duke of Wellington answered, in words which have become memorable from the revolution in the constitution which they undoubtedly contributed, if not to 1 Mirror of § ii. p. 13; 1830, 153, XXII. 1830. 73. CHAP. create, at least to accelerate: "The noble earl (Grey) has recommended us not only to put down these disturbances, but to put the country in a state to meet and overcome the dangers which are likely to arise from the late transactions in France, by the adoption of something like against any parliamentary reform. The noble earl has stated that he Duke of Wellington's fa mous speech reform. is not prepared himself to come forward with any measure of the kind; and I will tell him further, neither is the Government. Nay, I will go further, and say that I have not heard of any measure, up to this moment, which could in any way satisfy my mind, or by which the state of the representation could be improved, or placed on a footing more satisfactory to the people of this country than it now is. I will say that I am thoroughly convinced that England possesses at this moment a legislature which answers all the good purposes of a legislature, in higher degree than any scheme of government whatever has ever been found to do in any country in the world; that it possesses the confidence of the country; that it deservedly possesses that confidence; and that its decisions have justly the greatest weight and influence with the people. Nay, I will go yet further, and say that if, at this moment, I had to form a legislature for any country, particularly for one like this, in the possession of great property of various descriptions, although, perhaps, I should not form one precisely such as we have, I would endeavour to produce something which should give the same result-viz., a representation of the people, containing a large body of the property of the country, and in which the great landed proprietors have a preponderating influence. Farther still, I beg to state, that not only is the 10 Government not prepared to bring forward any measure Parrot, of this description, but, in so far as I am concerned, while 1830, §. I have the honour to hold the situation which I now do p. 18; Parl. Deb. i. 52, among his Majesty's councillors, I shall always feel it my duty to oppose any such measures when brought forward by others."1 1830, 155; Parliament, (new series.) : XXII. 1830. effect pro this decla ration. Such was the Duke of Wellington's famous declara- CHAP. tion against reform, which immediately blew up the smouldering elements of innovation in the nation into 74. a flame. No words from any statesman in English history Immense produced such an impression. The transports became duced by universal all ranks were involved in it; all heads, save a few of the strongest and most far-seeing, swept away by it. Nearly all classes, though from different motives, had concurred in desiring reform, and with the characteristic dogged resolution of the English character, all, now that it was refused, resolved to have it. The HighChurch party wished to raise a barrier against the Roman Catholics, against whom experience had shown the existing constitution afforded no sufficient security; the old Tories desired reform, because it would, as they hoped, restore the influence of landed property in the legislature, and open the doors of Parliament to the petitions for agricultural relief; the Radicals longed for it, as a stepping-stone for themselves to supreme power; the great towns were unanimous for it, as conferring upon them their just share in the government of the country. The Whigs in secret were, for the most part, adverse to the change, as likely to undermine the influence by which they had, for a century after the Revolution, governed the country; but the current of public opinion was so strong that they, as popular leaders, were obliged to go along with it, and in public stand forth as the chief promoters of the desired change. The only considerable body in the State who steadily opposed reform in the abstract were the holders of the close boroughs, and the members whom they had introduced into Parliament; but their numbers were too inconsiderable to form any counterpoise to the formidable phalanx arrayed on the other side; and such as they were, their numbers had been lessened to an unprecedented extent by the result of the last elections, conducted under the pressure of internal distress, and the fervour of the French Revolution. CHAP. 1830. 75. ham's plan This strange, and, in English history, unprecedented combination of parties in favour of reform, appeared on the very first night of the session in the House of ComMr Broug- mons. There was no division on the Address; but in the of reform. course of the debate on it, Mr Brougham gave notice of a motion on the subject on the 16th November. He said he had been described by one party as intending to bring forward a very limited, and therefore a very useless and insignificant plan; by another he was said to be the friend of a radical, sweeping, and innovating, and I may add for I conscientiously believe it would prove so a revolutionary reform. Both these schemes I disavow. I stand on the ancient ways of the constitution. To explain at this moment what I mean by that, would be inconvenient, indeed impossible; but my object in bringing forward this question is not revolution, but restoration ; to repair the constitution, not to pull it down." From the manner in which this announcement was received by the old Tories, it was evident that a most formidable coalition of parties was likely to take place upon it.* "I * Mr Brougham's plan of reform, which was laid before his party on 13th November, was as follows-a curious commentary on his assertion, that he was determined to stand on the ancient ways of the constitution." 1. All copyholders and landholders to have votes. 2. All householders also to have votes, regardless of the rent or value of the house. 3. The great towns, such as Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, Sheffield, and others, to have members. 4. All the rotten boroughs to be deprived each of half their present members, leaving at least one member to each. 5. All out-voters in towns to be disfranchised, but they still to have votes in counties. 6. Freemen to vote, if resident in the borough for six months. 7. Elections in all cases to be concluded in one day. 8. The House to be of five hundred members; Ireland in that event to have eighty members, Scotland forty-five.-BROUGHAM'S MS., given in ROEBUCK, vol. i. pp. 420, 421. This is what Mr Brougham called Stare super antiquas vias. His panegyrist Mr Roebuck more correctly designated it when he said, "By this scheme the whole character of the House of Commons would have been changed.”— ROEBUCK, i. 421. Undoubtedly it would have been so. Household suffrage in the boroughs-that is, in three-fifths of the House-was "the class government of the labouring classes ;" that is, revolution. The £10 clause in the Reform Bill avoided this danger, but only by running the nation into another, viz. the class government of shopkeepers, under which we have since lived. |