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VOL. 74.-No. 11.] LONDON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10TH, 1831.

KING'S SPEECH,

AND

DEBATES ON IT.

Bolt-court, Dec. 6, 1831.

[Price 11. 2d.

of the sentence about labours and repose and fatigues, would have been better omitted: it has no dignity in it, and it only reminds considerate men of the labours and fatigues of those who have to pay the taxes and the tithes.

I feel it to be my duty, in the first place, to recommend to your most careful consideration the measures which will be proposed to you for a reform in the Commons' House of Parliament. A speedy and satisfactory settlement of this question becomes daily of more pressing importance to the security of the state, and to the contentment and welfare of my people.

To "feel" is novel writing; it is not a word for a King. As Dame QUICKLY says of Swagger, "I am the worst when one says feel, in a case like this." Neither are the words "in the first place" in their proper place; but it is with the substance, with the matter of this and this is of so much importance as to paragraph, with which we have to do; In the House of Lords, hardly any-thing make us forget the bungling writing. House of Commons not much was said was said upon the subject; and in the

THE Parliament was opened yesterday. I shall insert passage, by passage, this ill-written and hardly-grammatical speech. And, at the same time, I shall notice such parts of the debates, in the House of Commons especially, as relate to the passages respectively. The tone of the opposers of reform appears to be altered a good deal, whether arising from some understood compromise, or from mere political craft, I cannot say but they certainly speak in a softened tone at present. Their tone is querulous: they complain of the violence of the indicative of the future intentions of the people; and represent themselves as being placed in a state of peril if they the subject of reform worthy of much parties: indeed, nothing was said upon freely express their opinions. However, attention; but, incidentally, things as THE BILL (not three, but one) is, it appears, to be brought in next Mon-slipped out from LAWYER CROKER and day, a short time will show what line of conduct these opposers mean to pursue. We will, therefore, now proceed

with THE SPEECH.

My Lords and Gentlemen,

from PEEL'S BILL: I mean from the author of that truly infernal measure. Most people in London know who this Lawyer Croker is. They know that he first made his appearance on the stage; that he first figured away in sitting at the back of Perceval, and defending the Duke of York in his conduct with regard to the transactions with that piece of purity, Mother Clarke. This was twenty-two years ago, and Lawyer Croker has, from that day to this, except the time since the Whigs came into place, been receiving about four or five thousand pounds a year of the public money, and has had The word "and" has no business tax-free apartments in KENSINGTON here; and the whole of this last member PALACE pretty nearly all the time, I be

I have called you together that you may resume, without further delay, the important duties to which the circumstances of the times require your immediate attention; and I sincerely regret the inconvenience which I am well aware you must experience from so early a renewal of your labours, after the short interval of repose allowed you from the fatigues of the last session.

M

lieve, which apartments he has still. This is Lawyer Croker, who justified the conduct of the Duke of York; though I do not think that he went so far as blind BURTON, who, when it was alleged that Mother Clarke had taken a footman from behind her chair to give him a commission, apologised for the act by saying that, though the lad was a footman, and though he was the son of a private soldier, he was, in fact, THE NATURAL SON of a gentleman, an officer, to whom his father had been a servant. The father and mother were both alive at the time that Burton made this assertion, and Burton was a WELSH JUDGE AT THE TIME! Go thy ways, go thy ways, honourable House! Whenever thou shalt cease to exist, the world will never look upon thy like again!

but it is not therefore manly and straight
forward. For instance, on the great question
of reform what does it tell us?
us the slightest information? Does it let us
Does it give
into the secret whether the bill to be intro-
duced by the noble Lord on Monday next is to
be the same as that offered and rejected in the
last session? Are we to have the identical
measure which produced so much inflamma-
tion-the bill, the whole bill, and nothing but
the bill-or are we to have a more moderate
and better regulated plan, avoiding admitted
cession? In this respect is the speech manly
anomalies, and granting a more limited con-
and straightforward? Again I say that I do
not blame Ministers for the general terms in
which the King's Speech is couched; but
however manly and straightforward it may be
in principle, it certainly is not so in expres-
sion. (Cheers.) The hon. Bart. echoed the
sentiment of the King's Speech, in which,
notwithstanding some ambiguity in the terms,
I am most ready to agree. Would to God we
clusion of the reform question! Would to God
could hope for a speedy and satisfactory con-
we could soon allay the hideous tempest Minis-
ters have raised! (Cheers.) In what words
do they cover their romantic and Quixotic
satisfactory? I tell Ministers now, as I told
wish that the termination may be speedy and
them before, that whatever may be their speed,
satisfaction will lag far behind. (Hear, hear.)
I tell them that the measure they are about to
produce, if it in any degree resemble the bill
of last session, so far from giving satisfaction,
will only be the beginning of trouble. Minis-
ters and their immediate retainers may be

Lawyer Croker, seeing the word speedy in this part of the speech; seeing it coupled with the idea of settling the question of reform, and feeling, no doubt, the seat that was under him shake, seems to have taken the alarm, and he says, indeed, that he is alarmed: thus inspired, he, like SWIFT's operator in the "MECHANICAL OPERATION OF THE SPIRIT," spoke, as the seat that was be-satisfied, inasmuch as it will keep them Mineath gave him utterance, and in the following pious and affecting strain :

Mr. CROKER: I am so reluctant to address the House on the present occasion, that I should gladly give way to any hon. Gentleman, for none can be less entitled than I am to its attention. I rise, however, to enter my protest against some of the principles laid down, or rather, perhaps, to be inferred, from the speeches of those who have preceded me; such a course is absolutely necessary on my part, and I dare say on the part of others who now hear me. We desire to guard ourselves from the supposition, that because we do not move an amendment, we participate in the views and measures of Government. The hon. Bart. who last addressed the House told us that the Speech from the Throne was manly and straightforward, such as became the constitutional King of a free people. (Cheers.) If by the words "manly and straightforward," it be meant that any clear and distinct views of policy are promulgated, I will venture that a less manly and straightforward speech was perhaps never delivered. (Hear, hear) I am not about to blame the speech: it has a great deal of moderation, which seems very wisely and properly calculated to prevent division and debate on the first day of a session;

pisters and retainers; but the great body of
the State stands aloof, and of whom does it
consist? First, of the large mass of reformers
who, for a moment, and but for a moment,
are in alliance with Ministers. Secondly,
that vast proportion of the thinking community
which is unwilling that such a desolating hand
should sweep down and level with the ground
our most ancient and sacred institutions.
(Cheers.) I will not hesitate to inquire what
proportion of the intelligent classes are in the
second division, but they constitute a vast and
overwhelming majority, and may be almost
said to be a universality of the educated people
of England. Neither of these two divisions
can be satisfied with the bill. Has there been
a single public meeting which has not coupled
approbation of the measure with a much larger
and wider reform to be obtained hereafter;
Have we not been told in distinct words that
this bill is only a stepping stone to something
else? Was it not avowed at one of the most
important of those assemblies-important from
the numbers and weight of the individuals
present-that this was not the reform required?
Did they not say, "This is not the reform we
want, but it is the first step to it; accept it,
therefore, as the means of obtaining all the
rest. If you are foolish enough to quarrel
with Ministers in this early stage of the subject,

the first week in December. (Much cheering.)
They told them that before the cholera made
its appearance—before the Political Unions
had attempted organization-before Bristol
had been burnt-before the whole frame
of society was in a state, if not of disso
lution, of precariousness it was the order of
the great Leader of the Leader of the
Cabinet that Parliament was to meet. I
really do not know whether the phrase
was not that it should meet in the first
week in December. (Much cheering.) The
pleasure I have derived from some of the
constitutional expressions in the speech, I
must say, is exceedingly diminished when we
have the substantial proof that the Ministry
is itself subservient to the identical Associations
and influence which they are so naturally
anxious, but so powerless, to put down.
(Cheers.) I hope it will not be necessary to
resort to any extraordinary measures. I hope
that timely suggestions upon the subject were
directed to other places as well as to Birming-
ham. (Hear, hear.), and that the example
will be followed. The noble Lord (Cavendish)
has appeared to-night, I believe, for the first
time as a debater among us. I hope he will
in future have frequent opportunities of thus
illustrating the great name that he bears,
but I cannot concur with him in the com-
ment he has read on one part of the royal
speech. He tells us that the mode Ministers
intend to adopt of putting down Unions is by
the redress of grievances. If grievances exist,
let them be redressed, but first let them be
shown. Curry the law into effect, and do not
grant to force what you would resist to reason,
(Much cheering.)

you will defeat the end of ultimate and complete success. Take what you can get now, not only without prejudice toyour future claims, but with the great advantage of additional power to enforce them." (Hear, hear.) This I say in ⚫the language of those who are friendly to the bill out of doors. The hon. Baronet asks why no Tories went to these public meetings to exhibit their hostility? Does he recollect what occurred at Bristol? I do not accuse the people of England of participating in the spirit which led to the riots there; but will the hon. Baronet tell me, when the constitution of society in this country is in such a state, that judge, with all precaution, and under the sauction of his Majesty's Government cannot enter a large city (cheers); and when he is censured for the obstinacy and temerity with which he proceeded, shall we blame the Tories for not attending meetings where they could not have a hope of being heard? Had the Tories shown themselves at such meetings, would they not have been accused of volunteering inflammation on the public mind, and would not the blame have been instantly shifted from the shoulders of the malefactors to those of the injured party? (Much cheering from the opposition benches.) When he will procure for us all we want-a clear stage and a fair hearing-I, for one, am ready to meet the hon. Gentleman and his friends in any of those ordeals, and to give reasons for the faith that is in me! (Hear, hear.) But, with one breath, he tells us that a handful of men were able to destroy almost the second city of the empire, and in the next he challenges us to attend public meetings of reformers, and asserts, because we do not attend, that we are ashamed of the state of public feeling which is so much against us. The next topic of this manly and straightforward speech is the prevalence of Political Unions; and here I am bound to admit that there are expressions, especially towards the latter end, which have my entire and cordial approbation. (Cheers.) I agree with Ministers that there" A begin to call o' God," says she, "and then I thought it over w'un; but "I told un not to call o' God; for that

"In the first place," as his Majesty graciously says: in the first place, let us do justice to the piety of LAWYER CROKER. When FALSTAFF became pious, DAME QUICKLY began to be alarmed.

66

there was time enew for that yet." LAWYER CROKER begins to call o' God," and most lustily too. "Would "to God we could hope for a speedy and satisfactory conclusion of the reform question! Would to God we could soon allay the hideous tempest Mi

can be or, at least, ought to be-but one Government in the country. There ought not to be one Government in Downing-street, another in the Strand, a third at Birmingham, s fourth at Manchester, and a fifth at Bristol. (Hear, hear.) The painful experience of the last few months has shown us, that such a state of things must end in the ruin of any.. country that submits to it-it must end in the rain of any imbecile popularity-hunting Cabinet. (Cheers and laughter.) Although I entirely approve of the meeting of Parliament" nisters have raised!" Stop, LAWYER on this day; although the state of the world, CROKER. I stop you here, and would and of England in particular, considering that have stopped you there, if I had been state positively, relatively, officially, and commercially, and, above all, politically, requires present. Your piety I reverence, in your that the King should be aided by the wisdom prayer I join, if a mundane sinner like of the Great Council of the Nation, yet I be me can be admitted into such pious lieve that we are not indebted for it to the sacompany; but the assertion here attrigacity, to the firmness, or even to the terrors of the Ministers. (Hear, hear.) buted to you by the reporter is as gross No, no; their Master told them that they must meet in a falsehood as ever came out of a pair of

lips. The tempest has not been raised by ject, dissolved the Parliament, and the Ministers, except, indeed, by their thereby made an appeal to the wishes forbearance towards their insolent oppo- of the people: that the people, by exnents. This is a capital point, and let ertions of public spirit such as never us see how the matter stands. We were equalled, except in France during shall, by-and-by, find PEEL'S Bill: I do the early part of the revolution, answered not know very well how to do it, but I his Majesty appeal, by sending the Mialways will, in future, couple this man's nisters (in spite of the rotten boroughs). bill with his name. I would call him a majority of a hundred and nine instead BILL PEEL, but, unfortunately for us, of a majority of one; that the country there is a William Peel; so that the use was quiet from one end of it to the other; of this appellation might create misun- that the only strife was who should be derstanding; and, in that case, I should the foremost in expressions of gratitude be doing injustice to the brother. I to the King, and in support of the meathink I shall call him PEEL'S-BILL Sure; that even the fires had been exPEEL. The length of the name will tinguished, the farmers believing that cause a little paper and ink to be reform would ease their burdens, and wasted; but it is so just and so neces-enable them to pay the wages which the sary to keep it constantly in the public labourers had demanded, and which mind; so incessantly necessary to tell this suffering and troubled nation that this man made his first appearance as a statesman by introducing a measure which has been the great cause, and is still the great cause, of all their suffer-pular hostility against settled legal auings and all their troubles: this is so necessary, that we must not mind the wasting of a little paper and a little ink in order to accomplish it.

they had agreed to pay; that now came the REJECTION of the bill; and instantly sprang up riots and fires; instantly came forth projects for refusing to pay taxes, and a general array of po

thority. Are not these facts undeniable? Is there any man with brass enough to deny the truth of them? Will not the burning of bishops in effigy, the burning This PEEL'S-BILL PEEL made the down of the bishop's palace, the burning same charge against the Ministers, and down of Nottingham castle? will not that poor feeble creature, the Chancellor Wellington's boarding up his windows of the Exchequer, uttered not a word and keeping them boarded up? will having a tendency to rebut the charge, not the finger that is pointed at that, be though that charge was of the gravest an index also to guide us to the true character. This poor man might, if he cause of that "tempest" in which the had had the talent and the pluck, have state is now rocking to and fro? PEEL'Scovered his opponents with confusion BILL PEEL most bitterly complains, that upon this great point. For, as I asked the Lords who voted against the bill, before, how stand the facts? The facts could not go in safety to their own stand thus; that the moment the Reform country homes: and he, too, ascribes this Bill was brought in, the whole nation, to the tempest raised by Ministers. the boroughmongers, pensioners, tax- What, son of the spinning-jenny baro eaters in general, and parsons excepted, net! A man proposes to me that I declared their unanimous wish for the should give another man his coat that passing of the bill; that the nation was I have taken away; I refuse; the owner equally unanimous in calling for a dis- of the coat knocks me down; and I am solution of the Parliament, in order that to lay the assault, not to my own acthe bill might be carried, seeing that count, but to the account of the man even the second reading had been car-who has suggested the propriety of my ried only by a majority of oue; that the giving up the coat! Ah! says LAWYER King, in this state of things, justly, CROKER; but if the proposition had wisely, and like a man who was really never been made for your giving up the anxious to obtain a knowledge of the coat, the owner never would have sentiments of the people upon the sub-thought of knocking you down; he