now at the head of His Majesty's Government must consult the same voice, and conform to the same standard. That illustrious person is justly hailed as the preserver of Portugal, the deliverer of Spain, the conqueror of Waterloo, -as one of the greatest military chiefs his country has ever produced-that country to whose gratitude and admiration he is entitled by a list of services never to be forgotten. But even he, with all his fame, standing in such a position as few men have ever stood in, with the patronage of the Church, and the State, and the Army in his hands, an army of 110,000 men, attached to him not merely by their interests or their professional hopes, but by the memory of past dangers, possessing the confidence -I had almost said the authority, of his Sovereign-yet even he, with all his character, with all his patronage, with all his power, must modify the exercise of those several qualities, and in the tone and features of his Government, if he would have it last, conform to the spirit of the times in which he lives. No matter how great his achievements or his glory, to the spirit of improvement which has gone abroad he must bow. It is wisdom to do so without reluctance or hesitation, it is wisdom to take his lesson from the signs of the hour, without waiting for the dictation of necessity, or allowing a meritorious body of individuals to stand, year after year, at the doors of Parliament, asking for what it is a disgrace to have so long refused. Such is the line of conduct that would best become the Government; but whether adopted by the Government or not, the House is interested in observing it, and by agreeing with the motion with which I shall conclude they will but discharge their duty, and render an act of justice to three millions of their fellow-subjects. I move, Sir, That this House will resolve itself into a Committee of the whole House, to consider of so much of the Acts of the 13th and 25th of

6

Charles II., as requires persons, before they are admitted into any office or place in corporations, or having accepted any office, civil or military, or any place of trust under the Crown, to receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper according to the rites of the Church of England.'

The motion was supported by Mr. John Smith, Mr. Wilbraham, Lord Nugent, Lord Milton, Sir Thomas Acland, Lord Althorp, and Mr. Brougham. It was opposed by Mr. Secretary Huskisson, Sir Robert Inglis, and Mr. Secretary Peel. The House divided at one o'clock: ayes, 237; noes, 193. Majority for, 44.

PETITIONS FOR AND AGAINST ROMAN CATHOLIC CLAIMS.

February 12, 1829.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL said he begged leave to call the attention of the House to the petition which he held in his hand. The petition prayed for the removal of the civil disabilities under which the Roman Catholics laboured. The petitioners were the ministers of the Protestant Dissenters, known under the denominations of Presbyterians, Independents, and Baptists. These denominations of Protestant Dissenters had been settled in the metropolis ever since the Revolution, and they had been repeatedly allowed to address His Majesty on the throne. The petitioners had last year petitioned against those parts of the Test and Corporation Acts which related to the Sacramental Test, and from which they wished to be relieved. They obtained the relief they prayed for. The first act of the petitioners this year was to return thanks to Parliament for the favour they had obtained; but in the next place, they conceived it to be an act of duty to ask that for others which had been extended to them

selves. They looked round, and seeing that there were still upon the Statute-book disabilities of the same nature with those from which they had been relieved, they resolved to petition for the removal of all disabilities on account of religious opinions. It would be only fair in him to state that this resolution was not carried unanimously. There were eighty-three Protestant Dissenting ministers present, of whom about fifteen voted against the resolution. The petitioners were not, indeed, rich in revenues from the profession of their religion, but they were accustomed to the deep and earnest study of that religion, and they objected to the Church of England, because it approximated too nearly to the Church of Rome. No men, therefore, could be farther than the petitioners were from inclining towards the Roman Catholic faith; but, considering that every man had a right to the free exercise of his conscience in matters of religion, they thought it incumbent upon them to express their conscientious opinion, that religious tenets should be no bar to civil employment. A statement had been somewhere made, that these petitioners had last year declared that they had no connection with the Roman Catholics, and that, therefore, it was a breach of faith in them to come forward now with petitions in their favour. This assertion was destitute of foundation. A proposition was made last year, that the Protestant Dissenters should join with the Catholics. He, among others, was consulted upon this proposition, and he was decidedly of opinion that they ought not to petition in conjunction. His reasons for this opinion were, that as there was a difference in the degree of their disabilities, and as their cases stood in many respects upon different grounds, it would be disrespectful to the House to club the two together. Reasons might be urged against the one which would not apply to the other; and he, therefore, thought that

the interests of both would be rather retarded than forwarded by such a conjunction. But when the petitioners had asked and obtained the remission of those penalties under which they laboured, they thought it would be ungrateful as well as inconsistent in them, if they became partners in a monopoly of which they had before complained, and did not express the opinion contained in the petition.

REPRESENTATION OF MANCHESTER, BIRMINGHAM, AND LEEDS.

Tuesday, February 23, 1830.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL said that before he proceeded with the Motion of which he had given notice, he wished to lay before the House a Petition which had been committed to his care from the inhabitants of the extensive and important town of Sheffield. The petitioners complained that several large, populous, and wealthy towns were at present excluded from the exercise of the Elective Franchise, whilst in very many instances that privilege was enjoyed by the inhabitants of small places of no importance, and was often exercised in an unworthy manner. The petitioners therefore prayed that the franchise might be extended to their town, and to such other populous, wealthy, and intelligent places.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL moved that the three Orders of the Day, of March 19, 1821, June 22, 1827, and March 31, 1828, relative to Bills to transfer the Elective Franchise from boroughs convicted of corruption, to Leeds, to Birmingham, and Manchester, should be entered as read. This was done, and his Lordship then addressed the House as follows:-Although I feel not, Sir, the smallest doubt both as to the justice and as to the expediency of the propositions which I am this night about to submit to

the House, yet I do feel a considerable degree of apprehension that these propositions may not meet with that success which I should wish to see conferred upon them by a majority of this House. I am aware that there are many persons who are actuated by perfectly conscientious motives, but who have such a dread of Reform, to which the old and accustomed epithets of wild and visionary' have often been attached, that they view with suspicion any Motion which has Reform for its object. To them I will only say, that if ever there was a proposition for Reform that was not wild and visionary, but that was practicable in its objects, practicable in the grounds on which it went, and practicable in its results, it is that which I am about this night to propose to the House. I likewise fear that some objections may be made to this Motion in the minds of those who are connected with the landed interest of the country. I am aware that of late years there has been a strong degree of suspicion and jealousy unwisely and foolishly encouraged between the landed and the commercial interests. I hope that on this night, if not entirely laid aside, these jealousies will be suspended, and that we shall come to the consideration of this question neither with a view to the exclusive advantage of the commercial nor of the landed interest, but of both; the more especially at a time like this, of great public distress, when it is more than ever expedient to unite, as much as possible, persons representing every kind of property, and connected with every kind of interest, in order to remedy the evils that now oppress us, and to avert the dangers that may hereafter threaten the country. I have, Sir, likewise another apprehension that this Motion will be opposed, as others of a similar kind have been, by the influence of the Government in this House. I confess I cannot but think that if some Members of his Majesty's Government feel an objection to my Motion, it would yet be wiser on the whole, if they were not to array themselves as a body