21 JANUARY 1837, Page 3

There were twenty-six Reform (limier:: in Birmingham on :1Ionclay; the

refusal of the Town-hall having obliged the Liberals to separate into small parties. The principal party assembled at Mr. Cresswell's rooms in Old Square ; and there Mr. .11maz presided, and -Messrs. Attwoud and Scholefield, together with Sir .Molestroith, dined with the leading Reformers of Birmingham to the number of one hundred and thirty. Mr. Attwoud delivered a characteristic address— He was afraid that Ministers only sought to keep their places, to give no- thing to the People, and to keep out the Tories. Sordid he wit-Ito keep . ut the Tories; but still he wished to give the People just measures; and he thought they had been trilled with too long; that Alinisters had been playing at tweedle- dee and tweedle-dum until it was difficult to make a distinction. Lord Mel- bourne was the best of the lot, notwitlistandiog he was not so brave and bold as a politician as he would wish him to be. His Lordship certainly had said many times in the House of Lords that he would stand or fall by this or that measure ; but be had out been supported afterwards, cad little Lai ru,alted from Host. declarations. He should have said, " I have been insulted once in advocating the cause of the People, and unless full justice is done to them I will trot again take office." If he had done that, Tory, Whig, and Radical would all have rallied round him ; and he would have been popular throughout the whole country, notwithstanding the sort of House of Cumulous with %%hick they had to deal.

A reformation of the House of Peers'should be lewdly demanded— They might recollect the services of the pretended ancestors of the present Peers, whom he looked upon with as much respect as he did their old cathe- drals as relics of antiquity—as records of the grandeur of bygone days. But he thought that when they began to May Diltnstiy. then stone tetIwtuatiou was imperatively called for. The Ainclical, writer, Froaklia, said he had examined them all, mut they were uut capable of driving hurdle. carts. Ile did nit think that they were better as hereditary kgislatots now than fifty years agt-i; and he was of opinion, in spite of all that had been said to the contr.0 y. that if the Lords were onyx in the hand of the C'antinuns, they might be fairly owl effec- tually dealt with.

Mr. Attwoud referred to General Jacksun's measures agaiest paper money in the United States— If General Jackson persisted in restricting the issue of notes of a less value than five pounds, .%ttierica would in fifty }tars front the time becuttle a wimeelies, and only tit for haV.Igt,. The tevo!otions of .toiciica and of

France had been atti ihuted to wimp! causes. The former was occasioned by

meddling with the correliey ; u h le Pitt hall represented the latter an tieing promoted by the writings "t Volt ore toil other.. But could it be supposed that any sod t effect could be produced by a few, pamphlets ? Ile had w 1 ittiat pamphlets himself, which he did not hesitate to say were worth inure than Voltait Btu lie at the time to which he had referred, was paid 111101. a year for telling he: upon sn'iit et ; :m.1 that they woe ■eas proved by the fact that that good man, .'tether Young. tras thr,m;11 iratice in I is7, few. )4. as beans the glut ions fall of the Il i-tile, twit's be ttnwd the tine man- sions of ge,otlemen iu several part. of the aerate 1 nets C■■■ititIllilly burnt down or destroyed. Ile would ;I•k whethei Volt 'i.e... usriting., lint aoond their way into those deserted districts? Ile thotulit not ; it ought to be a guide to them with regard to any measure which they might contemplate with Iespect to Ireland. It' the people of that country were well te.t, and had a proper field for the exercise uut then loomst, labour, and no inducement iu the shape of provetty presenting itself fur iiiwe, alartnittg evils would be pte■ctited. and j,,,t1ce dime to an injured people. • • I lc tt 11.41.11 (hit all hung.. wu,tld gu MI 110411V hit amie.tbly. But if the To' ie. came into power, ,vh;.•; un- likely, the feelings of the People would be aroused ; and thy. in M,,isters being out of power, would be more .!e, r.e.l. uul t!:art si...tt!,1 have more Weasnie its shaking them by the Laud, and Owe; with them to totn oar. flee To. ie.. Th.it otter, more effected, lit. •houl I not doubt they should co 01. as successful as hugest 11101 deserved. per annum. Nu one was more disposed to oppose that bill than be; but he emoted that every thing would be, iu the course of time, properly effected. On the subject of Church-rates, he trusted they would be found unanimous. The Trish Church was the "evil of evils ;" and that, with other questions of equal importance, would require discussion ; and be trusted that their cause, protected by God's blessing, would be successful.

Sir William Molesworth dwelt upon the importance of national education- " It is impossible to overrate the importance of educating the People. Each thy power is passing into the hands of the masses; each day the masses are acquiring greater and greater influence over the Government of the nation ; the question is, whether that influence shall be exercised by men utterly igno- rant, eu by those who have acquired as much knowledge as can be obtained in their station of life. There is no set of men so easily reasoned with, or so wily instructed as the industrious classes ; for they have no interests perma- ricatly opposed to the interests of the community—their prejudices are there- ibre the prejudices resulting merely from ignorance, which can easily be re- moved. The industrious classes wish to be instructed, as they are convinced that all instruction must tend to their good, by teaching them what are their best interests; therefore many of the Conservative party dread the instruction of the People for principally this reason, namely, that the People will become acquainted with their own interests, and insist upon those interests being steadily consulted. A popular Government would adopt every means of in. structiug the People. For this purpose, a really good system of national educa- tion is required, and every facility should he given to the diffusion of knowledge. Aud here I cannot but express my disapprobation of the conduct of the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer with regard to the Taxes upon Knowledge, in insisting upon a penny stamp upon newspapers : that tax falls almost entirely upon the industrious portions of the community who do not receive their newspapers by the post, whilst to the richer classes it is simply a cheap postage. Thus the poorer contribute towards paying the postage of the richer."

He expressed his approbation of the Poor-law; though be did not deny that in some instances its administration had been faulty-

" The present system acknowledges, that, for the good of the community, the destitute ought to be relieved, but that the condition of the pauper should be made inferior to that of the independent labourer, who meritoriously sup- ports bimetal.; so that the former may have a strong motive to shun the condition of the latter, and the hitter should recoil from the degradation of pauperism. Some persons have drawn terrific pictures of cases of cruelty, which are sup- posed to have happened under the present Poor-law ; those cases are, I believe, extremely exaggerated, and the remedy is one which can be easily obtained. Undoubtedly it is possible that in some cases a good law may be ill.adminis- tered ; and that, I will not deny, may be the case sometimes with the present Poor-laws—though the cases are but few—but a distinction must caretully be drawn. Those persons to whom I have referred have gone on to attribute to the framers of that law, namely, the Whigs, motives of a discreditable de- scription; at the same time they have thought proper to exempt from all blame the vast majority of the popular party who supported that measure. There is no foundation in fact for these imputations. If the law is a had one, whatever blame attaches to the Whigs, the same amount of blame attaches to the Radicals. If the law is a good one ; whatever amount of credit is due to the Whigs, the same amount of credit is due to the popular party, who supported that measure. I am one of that number ; and still most cor- dially and zealously support the law in question, as a means of improving and teaching the industrious classes to rely upon their own exertions, and that of elevating themselves in the social scale."

The most effectual means which the Legislature could take to dimi- nish pauperism, would be to abolish the Corn-laws-

" In my opinion, at least by repealing obnoxious laws, the Legislature at present can increase the productiveness both of capital and labour, and can extend the field of production ; and any Government which sincerely has the interests of the community at heart, would attempt to do so, and would endea- vour, for instance, first to repeal the Corn-lines. The Corn laws cause a large quantity of capital and labour to be expended in the production of a small quantity of corn; thus capital and labour are rendered unproductive; conse- quently, the amount to be divided between the labourer amid capitalist is small, and profits and wages are consequently lew. By repealing the Corn-laws, we shall be enabled to exchange the proceeds of our industry for the corn of other countries. Thus the field for the productive employment of capital and labour will be increased. With a smaller quantity of capital and of labour a Lager amount of corn will be obtained ; both labour and capital will be ren- dered more productive; the amount to be divided between labourers and capi- talists will be augmented, and consequently both profits and wages will be high ; for wages are high or low, in proportion as by them can be obtained a greater or a less portion of the necessaries of life ; first and foremost amongst which is egra. By the present Corn-laws the price of corn is enhanced, con- sequently wages are low ; by a repeal of the Corn-laws, the price of corn will be diiiiiaislied, and wages will be high. There are many other arguments

favour of free trade generally ; the most noxious violation of the principle of

which is the Corn-laws. Insidious attempts are made to turn your at- tention away from this subject to other questions. For instance, the Poore hess ; by means of any alteration of which, in may opinion, no relief can be given th that distress under which you have suffered. That distress can only be alleviated by so extending the field for the employment of capital and labour that profits and wages will be high."

Sir William described the advantages which would result from giving the masses a direct and unbiassed influence on the conduct of public

affitrs- " The elective franchise interests the possessor of it in the concerns of the na- t:ea : be feels that he is a portion of the ruling power—that the laws are his law., to which he has inditectly given his assent, and which lie respects as emanating fi oui himself: even when he disapproves of a law or an act of a go- I eininent, he does not consider it as the oppression of the powerful few over whore be has no control, but as an injudicious act of hi.. friends and equals, ,sliom he can hope to convince by argunient—the act of a majority which today is against bins—which to-morrow may be with bins. Thee feelings more than any others, tend to produce order and tranquillity in a community of intelligent and industrious men ; whilst the limitation of the franchiseproduces the con- trary feelings—divides the community into the proportions of the rulers and the ruled, of the electors and the non-electors ; and the latter are apt to consider tie former as oppressors, from whom redress can be obtained only by brute force. Instead, therefore, of the calm, quiet, and deliberate expression of the opinion of the People by means of their votee—shielded as they ought tube by the secrecy of the ballot—the opinions of the People can only be expressed by their assembling in siinultaneous masses ; and under the influence of angry and excited feeling- Cloy are apt to be carried away by the impulses of the moment, and passion in.teard of reason determines their conduct. 4 I undoubtedly think that all hou-eholders are perfectly qualified to be electors. Indeed, the danger ap- pears to Inc to be on the other side, of limiting the franchise ; whilst there is little chance of evil, and much prospect of good, in extending it. But, in order that the poss:seiou of the elective franchise should he of any use, it is necessary that the elector should be enabled to exercise it conscientiously, without fear of punishment, without hope of reward. First, therefore, and above all things, Gentlemen, it is necessary that we should obtain the ballot. That question is one almost of life or death to the Liberal patty ; for the majority of the electors of England are men in dependent circumstances: they cannot be expected, net will they, nor ought they, to sacrifice themselves or their families, for the sake of their political convictions. The shopkeepers in every town, the farmers in every county, the dependent electors throughout the whole of this empire, will tell you that without secret suffrage the elective franchise is to them an evil and a curse—a moral obligation imposed upon them only to be violated. We ought to assemble, to agitate, and to petition, till one universal cry in favour of the ballot is raised throughout the nation, and the table of the House of Commons be laden with the prayers and commands of the People demanding vote by bal- lot. The men of Birmingham have often set a good example to the rest of England ; they are looked up to and respected by the other citizens of this em- pire. The line of conduct which they adopt will be universally followed. Now is the time for them to act. Union amongst themselves is necessary ; and this union should consist in unity of purpose, in clearly and distinctly determining the means by which their ends can be obtained : those ends are all the benefits of good government. For this purpose, the power of the People over the Go- vernment must be augmented ; and the first steps at the present moment are the repeal of the rate-paying clauses, and vote by ballot."