MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.
WILLIAM IV. 1831—1832
The British parliament reassembled on the 6th of December. During the recess, ministers had been urged by their reforming adherents to reintroduce the reform bill without delay; and it became evident, from his majesty’s speech, that this subject would become the absorbing topic of the next session. His majesty distinctly stated his views on the subject of reform in the opening of the speech, thus:—“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.” The other parts of the speech referred to the distress which prevailed; to the appearance of the cholera morbus; to the agitation prevailing in Ireland; to the Portuguese affairs; to the separation of the states of Holland and Belgium; to a convention entered into with the king of the French for the suppression of the slave-trade; to the estimates; and to the recent riots. The address did not produce any division, but several parts of it were objected to in both houses. In the lords, the principal matter of discussion was found in those parts of the royal speech which regarded the foreign policy of the government, the opposition particularly objecting to that part of the address in answer to it which expressed satisfaction that an arrangement had been made for the separation of the states of Holland and Belgium. At the suggestion of Lord Harrowby the paragraph was slightly altered, so as to meet the views of all parties. In the commons, Sir Charles Wetherell brought under notice that part of the speech which related to the riots at Bristol, in the course of which he made some severe remarks on the libels of the press, which had charged him with being the author of those events; the charge was false, he said, in all its parts, and known to be false by those who made it. Sir Robert Peel proposed the same alteration in that part of the address that related to the affairs of Holland and Belgium, which Lord Harrowby had suggested in the upper house, and it was adopted. In his speech, besides adverting generally to the other topics in the address, he protested against a precedent now established, that of assembling parliament for the dispatch of business without giving the usual notice. He admitted that, by the letter of the law, government was entitled to call parliament together after fourteen days’ notice; yet it was laid down by the highest authority that, up to the period when the old law was altered, it was deemed of high importance that forty days’ notice should be given of the meeting of parliament. Of the allusion in the speech and address to the necessity of a speedy and satisfactory settlement of the reform question, Sir Robert said that he would not object to it, as ministers had declared that it was not intended to express any pledge. He would candidly avow, however, that he despaired of seeing the question brought to a speedy and satisfactory settlement. In the different discussions on the reform bill, ministers had agitated principles which did not admit of any satisfactory settlement. It was his conscientious belief, indeed, that the principles of the bill were so many impediments to the settlement of the question, which the ministers themselves had not the capacity to remove. In reply, Lord Althorp justified the short notice on which parliament had been called together, by the circumstances of the country. Mr. Hume made some remarks on the distress of the country, which he connected with the paper currency, and he moved this amendment:—“That in the present critical and alarming state of the country, when trade and manufactures were reduced to such difficulties by the withdrawing of, and narrowing the circulation, without a proportionate reduction of taxation, by which the means of all but those who lived upon the taxes were reduced one-half in value, the greatest distress existed; that these were aggravated by the baleful system called free-trade, by which a competition of foreign silks, gloves, and other articles was permitted with our own manufactures; that by these means the people were driven to desperation and frenzy, and that to these causes were to be attributed those incendiary proceedings going on in the country; that for these reasons the house do adjourn, to give time to ministers to prepare a suitable address, taking proper notice of the state and condition of the country.” Mr. Hume said that he did not move this amendment to get rid of the address, but to give ministers time to consider whether they would not depart from the practice of making the address a mere echo of the speech. No member, however, would second the amendment, and therefore it fell to the ground.