the pernicious influence of a few designing men, who endeavoured to mislead them. And had not the noble lord well accounted for those feelings of discontent, which would lay them more open to the designs of the seditious, by alluding to the excessive distress which reigned among them? What had the magistrates themselves said upon this subject? "When the people are oppressed with hunger, we do not wonder at their giving ear to any doctrines which they are told will redress their grievances." Would the noble lord point out any violent criminal outrages which had been committed to justify his proposed measures? He denied that any could be shown, except the fatal one at Manchester; and upon the nature of this he need not say that opinion was divided. There had been no acts to disturb the public peace. It was true that the people had assembled together in large numbers, preceded by flags and music, and in a kind of regular, or, as it was said, of military order; but he was certain, if they had been let alone, and not disturbed, they would have been found as peaceable as several similar meetings had been before and since. Indeed, the experience of every succeeding day showed that these meetings would die away if not opposed. The people would find, that after as sembling and hearing some three or four speeches which they did not understand, and being some four or five shillings out of pocket, these were practices which they could not follow. But, upon all these local transactions, what did the noble lord do? He brought in a general law affecting the whole country, and that without giving the House any particular information. If he had confined himself to such a measure as the Watch and Ward act, it might not have been objectionable; but a general sweeping law, affecting the whole country, now and for ever, founded upon such grounds, was, he believed, a thing which never entered into the mind of any person but the noble lord himself. He had asked, besides all these additional securities, for an additional force of 11,000 men: indeed, he had called them forth without asking. What did the papers on the table say of the necessity of such a force? Why, from all he had read of them, and he had read them through, it only appeared that two troops had been called for, one at Leeds, and the other at Wigan. The right hon. gentleman then alluded to the conduct of the mayor of Leeds, and contrasted it

with that pursued by the magistrates of Manchester. In the former instance, every necessary precaution had been taken to prevent a breach of the peace: there had been no unnecessary parade of the military. Troops, it was true, were near at hand, but they had not been ostentatiously paraded before the meeting. What was done at Manchester? When the vast multitude were assembled together, the military force was drawn up before them. The mob, on seeing this, gave three cheers; and what did the yeomanry do? They also gave three cheers, and drew their swords. Was that, he would ask, like a fair and impartial administration of justice? or did it evince men determined to keep the peace? Now, as to the arrest of Hunt in the centre of the meeting, was not that a case into which a court of law could not inquire, and which might very properly call for the censure of parliament, if upon inquiry, they found that the arrest was unnecessary at that time? He firmly believed, that if Hunt had not been arrested that day, no riot or disturbance would have taken place. The meeting did not look like one which had come prepared for riot; they had brought their wives and children with them-a circumstance the least likely to have happened, if they had determined upon violence. What was there in the nature of this meeting, which should have led to the supposition that it had assembled for violent purposes? When they had seen others nearly as large assemble and disperse quietly, because they were not molested, why should it be inferred that this meeting had previously determined upon riot? What had been said of the meeting at Leeds? That a great portion of them consisted of the idle and the curious, and that scarcely a fourth or a fifth part could be said to be radical reformers. Indeed, he believed, that if the radical reformers had been separated at all those meetings, from those who had been brought together from idleness and curiosity, their number would be found but very small; and he did not see that a man, conscientiously believing the justice of universal suffrage and annual parliaments, might not be a loyal subject, and have no disposition whatever to subvert the constitution. With the example of the duke of Richmond before him, he was not prepared to say that what brought one man into the cabinet should take another to the gallows. Itinerant orators had been com

ration as to the state of the country. If that agreement had been assented to, he had no doubt whatever that the gentlemen who signed the declaration would have faithfully adhered to their contract, and voted for that inquiry which they now so strenuously opposed. But it was said by an hon. member (Mr. Stuart Wortley), that by an inquiry he meant an investiga. tion by the courts of law. That, however, would not be prevented by a parliamentary examination; for if the House saw grounds for it, they might, as they had done in other instances, direct the attorney-general to prosecute. It would, perhaps, be said, that the attorney-general could prosecute still. He denied that he could; for it should be recollected, that his masters were some of the parties ac cused; and if they turned earl Fitzwilliam out of office for only expressing an opinion in favour of inquiry, what might the law officers of the crown expect?-The right hon. gentleman next defended the conduct of the Yorkshire requisitionists against the charge of having joined with the radicals. There was nothing done there, no question agitated, but the one for which they had assembled, namely to demand an inquiry into a transaction in which it was admitted on all hands that British blood had been shed, and where no sufficient grounds had been made for the attack. Was it not, he asked, natural that such a demand should be made? When torrents of blood had flowed, when several had been maimed, and some killed, what could be more rational than that an inquiry should be instituted? But the fact was, that they who gave the thanks to the magistrates knew right well that they had not a case to make out. If they had any colourable one upon which they could rely, the House would never have heard of such a thing as this outcry against all investigation. The right hon. gentleman then contended, that if meetings were allowed to go on, there would be an inquiry, a parliamentary inquiry, sooner or later into the Manchester business. He main tained that, from the papers now upon the table, they were bound to be able to aver, that a case had been made out which affected not only the right of the three counties which were disturbed, but also the rights of the remainder of the fifty-two counties of England. Now, forty-seven of them, according to the noble lord himself, were untouched; and yet all of them were to be put out of the pale of the law, because

disturbances had arisen in others from the pressure of distress. He would not give the clerk the trouble of reading, he would merely allude to the words of the Prince Regent's speech at the commencement of the last session of parliament, in which the nation had been congratulated upon the commerce and revenue of the country being in the most flourishing condition. Now, the noble lord must have known that this assertion regarding the flourishing condition of the trade and revenue was any thing but true; and he (Mr. T.) had told him so at the time, and had advised him to try the effects of conciliation. Thenoble lord had, however, now turned round upon him, and had asked him, what he would do in the spirit of conciliation. One thing he would not do-he would not vote for the addition of three millions of new taxes. He was not bound to say what he would do; it would be sufficient for him to say what he would not do. He would not, among other things, have imposed a tax upon wool. That tax had done more to alienate the people of Yorkshire from the government, than all the other measures which they had proposed; for it was a tax that affected not only the lower orders, but also the master manufacturers, at a time, too, when there was a complete stagnation of their trade, and almost a total want of orders. What object, then, could be attained by such an impolitic measure, except the exasperation and irritation of the people? Was the noble lord still anxious to know what he would do in the way of conciliation? He would at least show a wish to relieve the distresses of the people; he would,-but he would not, even if he had any measures to propose for the present emergency, say what those measures were, because coming from him they would be certain not to meet with fair play among the gentlemen on the other side of the House. One thing, however, he would advise them to do: if severe laws were to be passed, and if a resolution was to be adopted to restrict still farther the liberty of the country, it was their bounden duty to take into consideration the distress, and the causes of the distress, which now prevailed. The noble lord, indeed, had asked them, whether they would wait and postpone the passing of his measures, until they had inquired into the necessity of enacting them. With as great reason might the poor man turn round and say to the noble lord, "Will you postpone to relieve me, when I am starving, until you

Birch, Joseph

Kennedy, T. F.

Brougham, Henry

Spencer, lord R. Stuart, lord J. Stewart, W.

Browne, Dom.

Burrell, hon. P. D. Byng, G.

Beaumont, J. W.

Buxton, T. F.

Burdett, sir F.

Euston, earl of

Fazakerly, N.

Parnell, sir H.

Fellowes, hon. N.

Parnell, Wm.

Fitzroy, lord C.

Fergusson, sir R. C.

Fitzgerald, lord F.

Folkestone, visct.

Peirse, Henry
Pelham, hon. G. A.
Pelham, hon. C. A.
Philips, Geo. jun.
Phillipps, C. M.
Powlett, hon. W.
Prittie, hon. F.
Primrose, hon. F.
Price, Robt.
Pringle, J.
Ricardo, David
Ramsden, J. C.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Wednesday, December 1.

COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY.] The Chancellor of the Exchequer having moved the order of the day for going into Committee of Supply,

Mr. Brougham said, he felt that he could not conscientiously discharge his duty without opposing the motion. The present was a parliamentary and constitutional occasion for the statement of grievances, As often as a supply was demanded by the crown, so often was any member of that House entitled to state the grievances of the people. In oppos ing the present motion, therefore, he was only exercising that constitutional right with which, in any case of emergency, every member was invested. The great objection and grievance which he had to state, was the extraordinary and unprecedented haste with which ministers seemed resolved to hurry the new measures through parliament. If they were temporary or local in their character it would be a different matter; but it was because they would effect a great and a permanent change in the constitution; it was, in short, for the reasons which he had mentioned yesterday, although they had had no effect on the noble lord, that he considered it highly indecorous to urge them with such unprecedented dispatch. The House was now at a notice of eight and forty hours-about twelve of which had been passed in debate on another part of those measures-it was at a notice of thirty-six hours to go into the consideration of the details of the new system. It was to be called upon to-morrow night, in discussing the first of the proposed bills,