66 66 the House of Commons by Lord were the opinions he (Mr. B.) Cochrane on Monday last; and his" had formed on this most interesting lordship did this as he does every thing," question? How do they know that in an open and manly manner, and also" he would not have stated his opinion with great ability and effect. The an- "then in the very terms which had just swer of Mr. Brougham has been pub- "been read? That they should have lished by Mr. PERRY, in these words:" ascertained his sentiments was a moral "It had often been observed, and in-" impossibility. (Hear, hear). But the "deed with great justice, that there was "noble Lord had given a misstatement "not perhaps, a more painful and irk-" of what took place, and he should 66 some si uation, than that where a man now endeavour to give the House the "was obliged to speak of himself. In particulars of the case. A dinner was "proportion to that painful situation," given at the London Tavern to the "and in compassion to it, the indulgence" friends of parliamentary reform, at "of the House had always been extend-" which he (Mr. B.) attended, with his "ed, and he hoped it would be so on "friend the member for Middlesex, "the present occasion, (Hear, hear," with the late truly respected and much"from all sides of the House). He" lamented member for the town of "trusted that it would not, however, be" Bedford (Mr. Whitbread), with the "thought that he was courting anxiously" member for Hertfordshire (Mr. Brand), an opportunity of going into detail, or "and the member for Shrewsbury (Mr. "that on the contrary he wished to " Bennet). In the course of what pass"avoid such details, for he felt it his" ed there, some observations fell from duty to say, that he expressed his him similar to what had been read "warmest thanks to the noble Lord for " by the noble Lord. The chief motive "the frank and open manner in which he had in correcting what he had "he had afforded him the opportunity of "there stated, was to prevent the pos "going into the subject. A more" sibility of his words on this dangerous "groundless aspersion had, he believed," and yet important question being never been brought forward against misrepresented. He than said, or at "6 any individual. He did not accuse "least meant to be understood as suy"the noble Lord, however, or those out" ing, what he still maintained, that it "of doors, who had put the brief into" was consonant to the genius and "his hands, of uttering any falsehood" spirit of the constitution, and expe"in the statement of which had just "dient in every sense of the word, that "been submitted to the House, but he" the power of election should be limit"decidedly accused them of rashness" ed to those who pay direct taxes. He "and imprudence, and of not waiting "corrected what he had said on the "for only a few days longer, when they subject, as he was aware of the mis"would have had a full and fair oppor- take of reporters. He again repeated, tunity of hearing his opinions on this" and wished it to be understood, that "most momentous and important sub-" what he then said the same he now 'ject, and then they would have found" maintained, viz. that the payment of "whether he was or was not inconsist- direct taxes ought to be the limit of ent. (Hear, hear, hear). Had those" the elective franchise. He did not "out of doors, whose tool the noble" wish to compete with the noble Lord, "Lord was, but waited those few days, "but this was his meaning when he so they would then have known what his" spoke. He should wish to say one "real sentiments on the question were, "word upon what had been said rehaving, as the House well knew, re- specting his advocating the cause of "served to himself the right of then" a moderate and gradual reform. Six speaking what he felt on the subject." years ago, it would be remembered, he (Hear, hear). How then could the" had repeatedly said, both within and "noble Lord, how could they in whose" without the House, that it would be "hands he is, presume to show what" proper for those who wished for an 46 66 66 "nual Parliaments to unite with those" him more pain than all the noble "Lord had said or could say. (Hear)." "who were more moderate, and thus There needs little comment. The secure a footing. There was no reacalling of Lord Cochrane " a tool" in son for their stopping short, and he the hands of others; the calling the "did not hold it to be inconsistent in paper a "groundless aspersion"; the "the friends of annual Parliaments, to" warmest thanks" to his lordship for "unite with the more moderate Reform-bringing forward such aspersions; the ers, and to obtain, in the first instance," contempt" expressed at the imputaa beginning. This was the opinion he tion of the "miserable motive for "then held, and he had never deviated making the pledge; the disdain ex"from it. The noble Lord was much pressed at the idea of a desire to be "mistaken when he supposed that the carried to the House on the shoulders mere production of a speech deli- of a RABBLE"; the assertion about "vered by him (Mr. B.) at a tavern the folly and madness of some wild would make him swerve from the line theorists, who were making use of base "of duty merely from the foolish and expedients and false practices to divide "childish desire of keeping up an ap- the people from the constitution for pearance of consistency. If he sup- the mere private interests of one or two posed him (Mr. B.) to do so, he was individuals. All these shall pass for "much mistaken. The House had what they are worth; and, I fancy, the "heard him declare his intention to re- full value of them will be found in the serve his right of being heard, when pity of a nation, naturally good-natured, the question was brought fully under and never prone to triumph over a fallen the consideration of the House, and adve r ry. he could only add, that he would still LORD DURHAM. TO THOMAS DOUBLEDAY, ESQ.,' NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE. DEAR SIR, reserve to himself that right, unin"fluenced by any thing the noble Lord "had said. He again repeated, that "when he spoke of the extension of suffrage, it should be to those who paid direct taxes only, for he never dreamt of it going further. As to the miserable motives alleged to have acDublin, 3. Nov, 1834. "tuated him as if he could prostitute THOUGH in this country of intense "himself at one time to deliver opinions interest, and so well calculated to abwhich were not the sentiments of his sorb all the attention and all the reflecheart, for the purpose of being carried tion that I am master of, I have my into the House on the shoulders of a eye upon the workings of Northumber"rabble (Hear, hear), and at another land and Scotland, with regard to my "time to bend to prejudices he might Lord DURHAM. I bear in mind what "have to contend with in, the House, you said in your letter to Mr. RIPPON. "all he should say was, that he treated I agreed with you in opinion, that Lord such charges with the contempt they DURHAM deserved no confidence at all, 36 deserved. The only pain he felt, was and could not possibly have it from any when he contemplated the folly and man of sense, until he made some spe"the madness of some wild theorists cific declaration; that general profesand the base expedients and false sions were not worth a straw; that in practices they made use of to divide himself he had, and he has, no weight the people from the constitution merely at all; that the groups of the old invegratify party purposes, and to com- terate nobility were all quite beyond all pass objects in which the good of the influence possessed by himself; that he country was neglected, while the in- was nothing without the people; and terest of one or two individuals was that to have the people move even one “the all in all. (Hear, hear). This gave inch with him, the people must know " " for what; I myself wanted to know for what, and I could not discover that for what in anything that he had said, and surely not in anything that he had ever done. little What does experience tell us then? To say nothing of NICHOLAS being Emperor, instead of CONSTANTINE; to say nothing of LOUIS-PHILIPPE, now well known to be keeping the nest warm for Now, do not cry out, "Nothing con- the other Bourbon; let us look tents this COBBETT"! Do not join in at home, and see how invariably this that cuckoo-cry. I shall tell you pre-game has been played here. sently that I am now pretty well content We saw ADDINGTON step into the with Lord DURHAM; but, for God place of Prrr, and carry on the sysAlmighty's sake, do recollect OLD tem with new vigour; we saw Pirt GLORY; and do, oh! do not forget support him; when he was worn out, the citizen King, LOUIS PHILIPPE! Do we saw PITT come again, and we saw pray remember what a bawling there ADDINGTON Support PITT. Death came was against me, in France, as well as in and took PITT away; but even death England, when I denounced that pretty made no breach in the system; the fellow, within one week of his installa- GRENVILLES had been cast out before tion. Do recollect that I was pretty by PITT, or had drawn themselves nearly a whole year before the main away: the Whigs came in now; but body of this nation, in foretelling what came in with the patriotic GRENVILLES, would be the result of his elevation who had been amongst the creators of Recollect that it was not a fortnight the system. Next came the Duke of before I unveiled the whole matter; PORTLAND, with PERCEVAL: the Duke, showed that his elevation arose from an old Whig, and an enemy of PITT. a secret compact with CHARLES the Thus it drawled along half Whig, half Tenth, and proved that the leaders Tory, till the time of the Duke of WEL amongst the Peers and the Deputies LINGTON, who was a stranger, as it were, were parties to the villanous compact; to politics; and now how stands it? and predicted that the thing must end Even the reform has made no change in in a worse government than that which this respect. PALMERSTON had been existed before. cast out by WELLINGTON; and there he 'Come, come; let us not be hum-is in the new set. And my Lord ALbugged: let us hope that this Lord DURHAM may be supported for our good; but let us have a foundation for that hope, and not hope away, helter-skelter, without consideration, and without asking ourselves why we entertain the hope? Nothing has been more common than for bands of tyrants, or public robbers, or political factions; nothing has been more common, than for these, and particularly the latter, when they see that THEY can carry on their work no lon-" varies his means to preserve the unity ger; nothing has been more common than for them to cast out one of the band, make him a patriot, to cajole the people and gather them round him, and by his means, bring them back again and grind them as fiercely as before. Now," do not begin your exclamations about "never contented," "over-suspicious." and "liking nobody," and "quarreling with a shadow"; but, like a sensible man, have patience and bear me out. THORP himself, what, I should like to know, of a politician is he, other than an old Pittite? His father came off as a detached branch of the Whig faction to the support of the Tory faction, when the whole system was in danger: Lord ALTHORP himself, as a member of the House of Commons, supported the Pitt system: he is now supporting it in another character, that is all: to use the expression of the old hack, BURKE, “he "of his end"; aye, my friend, and that end is, keeping the people in subjection, and taking from them their earnings so as to leave them only just enough for them to live and work upon. Even royalty itself furnishes us with these detached patriots; and this is well worthy of your attention at this time. Remember that, in the time of George the Second, his son and heir (father of George the third) was always a patriotic opponent of the court. It is well known so; and I think it judicious in the people to ourselves, that Big George the Fourth of GLASGOW to do what they have done : was the patriot par excellence, was al-all that I ask is, of them and of you of ways making complaints of his fa- NEWCASTLE, that you will move no further, and his father of him. When he ther than the people of GLASGOW have came to the regency and the throne, he already moved, until DEEDS shall had no son to be a patriot; but he had come to make good these professions. brother Sussex to be opposed to his There is another view to take of this Ministry all his life; and there is bro-matter. The bringing forward of Lord ther Sussex now opposed to the Tories, DURHAM, and supporting him in the though no one knows that the court is manner so efficaciously begun at GLASnot in their favour. Gow, is a mode of attacking and pulling Come, come, then; let the rest of down ANOTHER MAN, who is now the nation; let the whole world be humbugged; but make an exception, O God! in the town of NEWCASTLEUPON-TYNE. pretty generally disliked as well as contemned, and who is supposed to be working his way into the support of the Tories. Now, as to this matter, I put But, now, do I then believe that Lord this question to myself: "Is it for the DURHAM is insincere in his declared "good of the country that we pull down wishes for triennial Parliaments," that other man?" When the roundhouseholder suffrage, and voting by robin of the members of Parliament had ballot? Do I believe that he is a hy- been signed to keep Lord ALTHORP in pocrite to the extent of declaring what his place, I asked a member what could he declared at GLASGOW? Now, my have induced him to sign it, I knowing answer is this: I do not, and cannot, that this was one of the members who know enough of Lord DURHAM to say had voted for a repeal of the malt-tax, positively what I believe upon the sub- and who was opposed to the Poor-law ject. I very well remember that he, Bill. His answer was, that ALTHORP, when in the House of Commons, pro-at any rate, was an honest man, and a posed householder suffrage, and trien- man of excellent character. That," nial Parliaments; but this it is that puz-said I," is the very reason why I wish zles me, that he, while he applauds Lord" him out: it is that accursed good chaGREY, from whom he knows the people" racter which makes us pay malt-tax, tore by violence even a ten-pound suf-" and makes people vote for this Poorfrage, that he should make this profes-law Bill. It is the system that I want sion of wishes, and at the same time," to see changed, and, for that reason, bid us applaud Lord GREY. I do not" I want to see it in such hands as to say, and it would be unjust in me to say 66 cause it to be abandoned by good it, that the whole band, seeing, at last," men." Now, sir, the man whom you that they cannot longer push on the are seeking to pull down with so much system; learning, and especially from eagerness, is the man of all men to pull the indications at the blaze at Westmin-down the system itself; and from the ster, that they have completely lost the bottom of my soul I believe, that if he hearts and the confidence of the people; were to become the Prime Minister, we that the people have entirely escaped should have every thing that we want from their powers of deception; I do in a short space of time; that, like not say, that the whole band, perceiving HERCULES, he would lay about him, and that the people have left them, have de- finish his labours at last in somewhat tached him out to lure them back; and the same way, in which that famous dethat he is now playing the part of an stroyer of monsters took his leave of instrument appointed for this purpose; the world. It is well enough to talk though this has been done before in so and to write about an amelioration of many cases, still I do not say this of the system; but, when we speak frankly Lord DURHAM, or say that I think it of to one another, we all say that there him. I would feign hope that it is not must be an uprooting, before we can come back to any thing like the ancient traordinary produce from plants of all government of England; before the na-sorts, has been the great delight of my tional power can be restored and the life, and it sticks to me to the last. safety and honour of his Majesty's throne Never was schoolboy more eager to get secured. I want to see all the innova- from school to play, than I am to get tions completely swamped; and my from the Parliament House to the fields opinion is that this is the man to swamp of my own corn, cabbages, turnips, them. Push him, however, by all means; mangel wurzel, and beds of all sorts of drive him about to SALISBURY and to seeds. This is no harın, but good, even FAREHAM, and to mechanics' institutes at MANCHESTER, or anywhere; push him hard; make him begin to feel, or fancy his seat insecure. In proportion as he thinks that, he will become desperately patriotic; he will pour out reforms upon us, I'll warrant you; he will out-bid my Lord DURHAM; and as at an auction, there is no respect of persons, I am for the highest bidder; and as I am satisfied that the owner of the bird's nest To speak as a seedsman, I shall have, could have more got out of him than the on the 1. of January and thereafter, unowner of the coal-mines, I, as at present til the next June, Swedish turnip seed, advised, do declare, that I am for the red and white mangel-wurzel seed, cabformer, thanking the latter, very sin-bage seed, carrot and parsnip seed, and cerely, for the aid that he has given us in keeping up the biddings. to the politics. The contrast is so great that to move from one to the other seems like a complete new creation of faculty: at any rate, I drive both the concerns on at some rate or another. The maxim that, "if the devil find a man idle, he is sure to set him to work," has no terrors for me; being always at one or the other, and coming fresh at each; so that, in spite of age, the vigour always remains. all other garden seeds, which I shall sell at Bolt-court, in bags of two sizes, These, dear sir, are my sentiments the large ones for a pound, the small upon the subject; and I have communi- ones for ten shillings. Those who discated them to you in this manner as a like the seeds on account of the politics, mark of my personal respect, and of my must go elsewhere and take their admiration of your public spirit and very LUCK; those who are not quite fools great talents. With the best wishes for enough for that will, if they choose, buy the happiness and prosperity of the ex-iny seeds, and if they do not choose, cellent people of GATESHEAD and NewCASTLE, I remain Your faithful and Most obedient servant, GARDEN AND FIELD SEEDS. they will let it alone. I reckon cabbage seed amongst field seeds. I have, perhaps, about two hundred weight, saved this year. I will sell none of it under eight shillings a pound. One pound is enough for any farm in England; and if two hundred sensible farmers could see my cabbage-fields, and see the troops of cattle and of hogs that are kept upon them, they would, if I were so unreasonable as to demand I COULD sell some now; but I am so it, freely give five pounds for every circumstanced as to render it very in-pound of the cabbage seed. It is now convenient to me to do it before the 1. of January, which is quite soon enough. One great object in my having a farm was, to have the means of raising ge- In coming to Ireland I stopped two nuine seeds; and to have them in such nights at BIRMINGHAM, and went to quantities as never to be tempted to sell see the farm of Mr. WILLIAM MARTIN, any seed that I was not sure would grow, at KING'S NORTON; and there I saw and not disappoint the purchaser. To seven acres of ground, which I saw a raise perfectly good seed; to have ex-sort of swampy meadow three years inore than seven years since I began to bestow the infinite pains which I have bestowed in the raising of these seeds. |