288 
     
    
   
   
    
     (From Cobbette' Register.) 
     
    
   
   
    
     “ raocasnmos is THE noose or commons.” 
     
     “ Bolt- Court, 30 Jan. 1833. 
     
    
   
   
    
     In another part of the Register, 
     
     inserted, from the Morning Chronicle 
     
     newspaper, an account of the first debate 
     
     in the reformed House of Commons, it 
     
    
   
   
    
     ~ * As to the subject of the debate, it be- 
     
    
   
   
    
     t i 
     
    
   
   
    
     came matter ofgreat importance, in a e- 
     
     cuniary point of view especially when con- 
     
    
   
   
    
     nected with the previous enormous grants ; 
     
    
   
   
    
     to the speaker and his son. The question 
     
     of fitness or unfitness for the office, though 
     
     of some consequence, certainly, became 
     
     matter of no consequence at all, when 
     
     compared with the effect which must natu- 
     
     rally be produced upon the people, by the 
     
     choosing of a pensioner, with a son a se- 
     
     necurist, to be put at the head of this re- 
     
     formed House of Commons. There was 
     
     something, to be sure, extremely strange, 
     
     in the servants of the King making applica- 
     
     tion to a known and decided enemy of 
     
     parliamentary reform to become the Speak- 
     
     er of the new House of Commons; some- 
     
     thing that could not fail to excnte the suspi- 
     
     ciOn, that they wished to have the Tories at 
     
     their back, to assistthem in preventing any 
     
     real change in the system. it is impossible 
     
     not to believe that there must have been 
     
     some motive of this sort at the bottom of 
     
     this negociation; and, therefore, this was a 
     
     good objection on the part of Mr. O’Con- 
     
     nell: the argument of unfilness in Mr. Sut- 
     
     ton, merely because he held opinions diffe- 
     
     rent from those entertained by a supposed 
     
     majority of the House, does not appear to 
     
     have had much weight in it; and the real 
     
     and solid argument against his elevation 
     
     was this: that he is an enormous pensioner; 
     
     that he has been living upon the public 
     
     money ever since he was very young; that 
     
     he belongs to a family aggrandized from the 
     
     proceeds of the public purse; and that, 
     
     therefore, to put him at the head of this 
     
     reformed House of Commons, to select 
     
     him as an epitome of the whole House, was 
     
     to declare to the people, that the reform 
     
     should produce them no alleviation of their 
     
     burdens. It is a, pity that this was not 
     
     made the‘ground-work ofthe opposition to 
     
     his appointment. But this, which I am sure 
     
     my readers will deem the great and sub- 
     
     stantial objection, was not even alluded to 
     
     by Mr. Hume, who brought forward the 
     
    
   
   
    
     ’ motion for appointing Mr. Littleton in pre- 
     
    
   
   
    
     ference to Mr. Sutton. His was an argu- 
     
     ment confined solely to comparative fitness 
     
    
   
   
    
     ~ and compatibility; and as there was to set 
     
    
   
   
    
     against that, ‘the saving of four' thousand 
     
    
   
   
    
     pounds ayear,’ many men voted for the 
     
    
   
   
    
     saving.’ If it had been a question of pen- 
     
     sioner, or no pensioner, the result would 
     
     héve- been different. ,There -would have 
     
     been many more to vote for no pensioner. 
     
     I ans-not pretending to believe, that there 
     
     would have been anything like an equal 
     
     division, even then: for this was not a Ques- 
     
    
   
   
    
     , persons. 
     
    
   
   
    
     THE BRITISH AMERICAN. 
     
    
   
   
    
     tion on which any of the Members were 
     
     pledged; it was not a question of taking off 
     
     taxes; or oflaying on taxes; if- put in its 
     
    
   
   
    
     I have j proper shapedt still would have been only 
     
    
   
   
    
     ' a question relating to the character of the 
     
    
   
   
    
     House, only a mere symtom of its future 
     
    
   
   
    
     a: lintentions; and though that was a great 
     
     1deal to decide, it was a matter that would 
     
    
   
   
    
     make adeepimpression only on thinking 
     
     .Theret‘ore, probably half the 
     
     members present looked supon themselves 
     
     as giving a vote for the saving of public 
     
     money. With regard to the Act of Par- 
     
     liament granting the pension in fee, and in 
     
     reversion, I think that Sir John Campbéll 
     
     will find it very difficult to reconcile his 
     
     construction ofit to' law or reason. He 
     
     said, that the act provided for the pension’s 
     
     beginning from the hour that Mr. Sutton 
     
     ceased to be Speaker: and that he did not 
     
     cease to be Speaker, untill another Sp'ea- 
     
    
   
   
    
     .ker was chosen; and that, therefore, by 
     
    
   
   
    
     being again chosen Speaker, he was in fact 
     
     continued in his otiice, and that, of course, 
     
     the pension would not_begin to become due, 
     
     untii the time when he should cease to be 
     
     Speaker hereafter If this he the true 
     
     construction of the Act why choose him 
     
     again?. If he were the Speaker at the 
     
     very moment when the debate was 
     
     going on, why propose him again; why 
     
     debate about the matter; why propose 
     
     him; why not let him take the chair as 
     
     usual, and sit there till voted out of it? 
     
     It was said, that if, the King had died, be- 
     
     tween the dissolution and the return of 
     
     the new Parliament, the old Parliament 
     
     must have been called «together again, with 
     
     their Speaker at their head; and that, 
     
     therefore, he still was Speaker until the 
     
     very hour the House was debating about 
     
     him. There appears to be not the sha- 
     
     dow ofground for considering him to be still 
     
     Speaker, any more than for considering 
     
     the members ofthe late Parliament to be the 
     
     members of this. The construction of the 
     
     Act is wholly untenable; and, it is clear as 
     
     daylight- that Mr- Sutton might, the mo- 
     
     ment that the pension act was passed, have 
     
     sold the pension for his life, and have put 
     
     the money in his pocket, and that the pur- 
     
     chaser, would, under that act of Parliament, 
     
     have had a clear right to come and de- 
     
     mand his money at the Treasury, and to sue 
     
     the otficers of the'Treasury, if they did 
     
     not pay him the annuity or rent. His 
     
     being re-chosen Speaker does not nuliify 
     
     the act in the smallest degree; he can sell 
     
     the pension now; and ifhe do not sell it 
     
     and put the money safely in his pocket, it 
     
     will not be owing to any impediment that he 
     
     can find in that Act. [f be do not receive 
     
     the pension and the salary at the same time, 
     
     it must be owing to his own forbearance, 
     
     and not to any protection that the public 
     
     purse will receive from the law. So much 
     
     for this first act of the reformed House of 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     I'Commons. It was always clear, that the 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     lilo 37 
     
    
   
   
    
     x\ 
     
     people must not slacken in their 
     
     exertions; that, whatever they want done 
     
     they must petition for; that they must 1,; 
     
     much more vigilent than ever they were 
     
     in obtaining of the Reform Bill; that the 
     
     must not delay; not neglect their imp0,_ 
     
     tant duties; for that. if'they be silent, the 
     
     may be well assured, that nothing will be 
     
     done for their relief. They ought to meet in 
     
     counties, in cities. in boroughs, in towns 
     
     in villages: the right of petition is that, 
     
     right, the vigilent and resolute exercise of 
     
     which, English tyrants have always found 
     
     to be, at last, too strong for them: The 
     
     people should consider, that even the mem. 
     
     bers on whom they mostjustly rely,stand in 
     
     need of their support. Silence is prover. 
     
     bially taken to give consent;and, if the 
     
     people be silent, let them be well assured 
     
     that no man. however great his zeal, his, 
     
     industry, and his talent, can be of any ser. 
     
     nice to them. It was the people them. 
     
     selves who caused the Reform Bill to be 
     
     brought in; it was the people themselves 
     
     that caused the second House of Commons 
     
     to pass the Reform Bill; it was the people 
     
     themselves that finally caused the success 
     
     of the Bill; and it is the people themselves, 
     
     who must now cause that bill to produce 
     
     any ofthe effects which they have expected 
     
     from it. The means which the people 
     
     have to use, are, first, petitioning; next, 
     
     remonstrating;next, resisting. Theseare 
     
     the means which they have used in former 
     
     times. Let us hope that it never will be 
     
     necessasy for them again to resort to ei- 
     
     ther ofthe two latter. - That the right of 
     
     resisting acts of undoubted tyranny, ex. 
     
     ists in every people on earth; and ifit did 
     
     not, men would‘be worse off than the 
     
     beasts that perish. The right, this last 
     
     and terrible right, was resorted to at that 
     
     epoch, which was called the Revolution; 
     
     and it is now, on the same principle, re- 
     
     sorted to in the State‘ of South Carolinia; 
     
     where, in my opinion, it is rightfully exer- 
     
     cised; because it isexerciscd in resistance 
     
     of heavy. unequdl, and unjust taxation. 
     
     We, however, though heavily oppressed; 
     
     though we have suffered long, and very 
     
     severely, have, I am satisfied, no need to 
     
     resort to desperate means of any kind. 
     
     Our arms are Petitions, in the usual 
     
     style and manner employed by our ances- 
     
     tors. By the means of petitions, we hold 
     
     direct communication with those who 
     
     make, and who administer the laws; we 
     
     tell them freely what we think of their 
     
     acts; we express‘our wishes to them with 
     
     regard to what they ought to do, and what 
     
     they ought not to do: we complain ofthose 
     
     oftheir acts which we deem injurious to 
     
     us; and, though the form of our demand IS 
     
     that ofa prayer, and thouzh that is a form, 
     
     which is required by the great respect 
     
     which every one owes to the laws, as well 
     
     as to the office of those who make and ex- 
     
     ecute the laws, this prayer is, in effect, as