The next step was to consider the resolution in committee; and Sir Robert Peel proposed that the committee should not be taken till the following Monday; but the opposition, flushed with victory, would not consent to a single day’s intermission. They insisted that the committee should be taken that very day, which was done; and the debate continued by adjournment on the 5th. In the committee, Lord John Russell substituted “moral and religious instruction” for “general education.” On a division in the committee, two hundred and sixty-two voted in favour of the resolution, and two hundred and thirty-seven against it. In the meantime the opposition had partly changed their intended plan of operation. It had been announced by them that the carrying of the resolution would be followed up by an address to the crown; but Lord John Russell now gave notice that he would interpose another step between the house and the throne, by asking the former to pledge itself to this further resolution:—“That it is the opinion of this house that no measure upon the subject of tithes in Ireland can lead to a satisfactory and final adjustment, which does not embody the principle contained in the foregoing resolution.” Sir Robert Peel allowed the report to be brought up without a division, but he said that he would certainly divide the house on the new resolution. In support of it, Lord John Russell treated it as a necessary corollary of what the house had already voted; it behoved the house, he said, to continue the work which they had begun, and to say that the principle which they had declared to be essential to the maintenance of peace and the due administration of justice in Ireland, should be carried into effect by some legislative measure. The resolution was opposed by Sir Robert Peel and Mr. George Sinclair; while Messrs. Spring Rice, Perrin, and Gisborne supported it. On a division, the resolution was carried by a majority of two hundred and eighty-five against two hundred and fifty-eight.
RESIGNATION OF MINISTERS, AND RESTORATION OF LORD MELBOURNE’S CABINET.
WILLIAM IV. 1835—1836
The majorities of the opposition caused the resignation of ministers. On the meeting of the house, April 8th, Sir Robert Peel stated that he and his colleagues had placed their offices at the disposal of the king. On the same evening a similar announcement was made in the lords by the Duke of Wellington. After Sir Robert Peel’s announcement of his resignation, the house of commons met on the 9th for an election ballot, and then adjourned till the 13th. On that day the house was informed by Sir Robert Peel that he had received an intimation from his majesty that the new arrangements were in progress, but were not completed, and the house again adjourned till the 16th. On the 16th Sir Robert was under the necessity of making a similar communication, and the house adjourned to the 18th, on which day the new administration was announced in both houses of parliament. The new cabinet was formed as follows:—Viscount Melbourne resumed his place as first lord of the treasury; Mr. Spring-Rice became chancellor of the exchequer; Lord Auckland was the first lord of the admiralty; Sir John Cam Hobhouse, president of the board of control; Mr. Poulett Thompson, president of the board of trade; Lord Duncannon was placed at the head of the woods and forests; Lord John Russell took his place in the home department; the colonial office was given to Mr. Charles Grant; the seals of the foreign office were again entrusted to Lord Palmerston; Viscount Howick was secretary-at-war; Sir Henry Parnell was paymaster-general; Mr. Cutlar Ferguson, judge-advocate-general; and Sir John Campbell and Mr. Rolfe again became attorney and solicitor-general. There was no lord-chancellor appointed; the great seal was put in commission, the commissioners being the master of the rolls, the vice-chancellor, and Mr. Justice Bosanquet; Lord Mulgrave was made lord-lieutenant of Ireland, with Lord Plunkett once more as chancellor, and Lord Morpeth as Irish secretary. Mr. Perrin was named attorney-general, and Mr. O’Loghlin, solicitor-general. The lord-advocate of Scotland was Mr. J. A. Murray; the Marquis of Conyngham was postmaster-general; and the Marquis of Wellesley, lord-chamberlain. After the announcement had been made, the house adjourned to the 30th of April, but with an understanding that no public business should be undertaken till the 12th of May. In the upper house Lord Alvanley asked Lord Melbourne how the ministry stood in regard to Mr. O’Connell and his followers. He wished to know whether government had or had not secured their aid; and if they had, the terms on which that support had been obtained. Lord Brougham said that these questions were improper, and advised Lord Melbourne not to answer them. Lord Melbourne, however, was more courteous. The noble lord had asked him, he said, how far he coincided in opinion with Mr. O’Connell? His answer was, “Not at all. As for the question as to ‘whether I have taken any means to secure the assistance of Mr. O’Connell, and if so, on what terms?’ I answer that I do not know whether I shall have his assistance or not. I have taken no means to secure it, nor have I said anything from which any inference could be drawn in order to secure that individual’s support.” As to tithes, Lord Melbourne said, that he did not hesitate to say that he considered himself pledged to act on the resolution of the other house. After the houses had adjourned, the new ministers who belonged to the commons sought to be re-elected; but although they were in general successful, they encountered some failures. The severest stroke of all occurred in the case of Lord John Russell himself: he again presented himself to the electors of the southern division of Devonshire; but he was defeated by Mr. Parker, and he did not procure a seat till after parliament had reassembled. Colonel Fox, member for Stroud, accepted the Chiltern hundreds in his favour, and became secretary to the ordnance. By a similar negotiation, Mr. Kennedy, member for Tiverton, made room for Lord Palmerston. These failures were very discouraging, and gave symptoms of the alarm which had been created in the public mind.
MUNICIPAL REFORM AND THE IRISH CHURCH.
When the new ministers explained what they intended to do this session, it was found that the only measures which they meant to bring forward were a bill for the reform of municipal corporations, and a bill founded on the late resolutions of the commons regarding tithes. Changes in the mode of electing municipal authorities and in the general government of boroughs had become inevitable from, and after the passing of the reform bill. A commission had been appointed, in 1833, to inquire into the state of corporations in England and Wales; and on more than one occasion his majesty had alluded, in his royal speeches, to the objects of the commission. The report of the commissioners had not been made when Sir Robert Peel went out of office, but soon after they framed a general report, besides separate reports on individual corporations. The former, and several of the latter, were presented in May, and the general report thus concluded:—“In conclusion, we report to your majesty, that there prevails amongst the inhabitants of a great majority of the incorporated towns a general, and in our opinion a just, dissatisfaction with their municipal institutions; a distrust of the self-elected municipal councils, whose powers are subject to no popular control, and whose acts and proceedings, being secret, are unchecked by the influence of public opinion; a distrust of the municipal magistracy, tainting with suspicion the local administration of justice, and often accompanied with contempt of the persons by whom the law is administered; a discontent under the burdens of local taxation, while revenues that ought to be applied for the public advantage are diverted from their legitimate use, and are sometimes wastefully bestowed for the benefit of individuals—sometimes squandered for purposes injurious to the character and morals of the people. We therefore feel it to be our duty to represent to your majesty that the existing municipal corporations of England and Wales neither possess nor deserve the confidence or respect of your majesty’s subjects, and that a thorough reform must be effected before they can become what we humbly submit to your majesty they ought to be—useful and efficient instruments of local government.” Lord John Russell, proceeding on this recommendation, on the 5th of June detailed the plan of municipal government which ministers intended to provide for one hundred and eighty-three corporations. After detailing the many abuses which existed, he said that, instead of the present irregular government of corporations, it was proposed that there should be one uniform system of government—one uniform franchise for the purpose of election: and the like description of officers, with the exception of some of the larger places, in which it might be desirable to have a recorder, or some other magistrates different from the other smaller boroughs. In regard to the qualification of electors, he said it had been determined not to adhere to the parliamentary franchise. By the proposed bill they would be obliged to pay the borough rates, and accord to the established practice of the English government, and the acknowledged and recognised principles of the British constitution. He thought it fair that they should have a voice in the election of those by whom the rates were made, and by whom the corporate funds were expended. As, however, the electors ought to be the fixed inhabitants of the town, known to contribute to the rates, it was proposed that they should be persons who had been rated for three years, and had regularly paid those rates. Provision was also made in the bill for the case of those individuals who might have omitted to pay their rates. In regard to the governing body, there was to be one only—a mayor and common-council. The common-council would consist of various numbers, generally regulated by the population of the different places; their numbers would vary from fifteen in the smallest places to ninety in the largest. It was proposed that the largest towns, of which there were only twenty, should be divided into wards, and a certain proportion, which would be regulated by the schedules to the bill, of common-councillors should be chosen in each ward. In all the rest of the boroughs it was proposed that the whole common-council should be elected for three years. They were to be elected for three years; but one-third were to go out of office every year, thus taking care that two-thirds of the common-council should have experience in the transaction of town business. The mayor was to be elected annually, and he was to be, during the time of his mayoralty, a justice of peace for the borough and likewise for the county. The town-council was to have the power of appointing a town-clerk and treasurer, and it was left to their option whether they would retain their present town-clerks in their office. If, however, another was chosen, and the dismissal of the present town-clerk was attended with any pecuniary loss to the individual, he was to receive compensation. All the old modes of acquiring the freedom of a corporation, such as birth and apprenticeship, were to be abolished; but all pecuniary rights, such as rights of common, exemption from tolls, &c., would be preserved to the persons now enjoying them, during their lives; in future, however, no person should be a burgess, or admitted into the corporations, except in consequence of the permanent occupancy of a house, and the payment of the borough rates. All exclusive rights of trade were to be abolished, due regard being paid to the pecuniary interests of existing individuals. It was proposed, touching the pecuniary affairs of corporations, that town-councils should have the power to appoint committees in order to manage their financial matters; that their accounts should be regularly audited; and that they should no longer be secret accounts, but regularly brought before the public. Town-councils were further to become the trustees of charitable funds, appointing a committee, if they thought proper, to manage them. For the management of these funds a separate secretary and treasurer was to be appointed, and provision was made for auditing them in a different manner from the general accounts of the borough. The number of persons chosen for the management of these charitable estates were not to be less than fifteen, and they were to be chosen from among the general body of burgesses. The police, as far as regarded the watching of the towns, were to be placed under the control of the town-council. The power of granting alehouse licences was also to be left to town-councils, or to a committee chosen by them from their own numbers, to grant these licences. It was proposed to divide the one hundred and eighty-three boroughs into two schedules; the greater part of these, one hundred and twenty-nine, were to be placed in schedule A, and would have a commission of the peace granted them. The remaining fifty-four might also, if they chose, have a commission of the peace on application to the crown. With respect to those in schedule A, the town-councils were to have the power of recommending to the crown certain persons whom they thought proper to receive the commission of the peace within the borough; but they were not to have the power of electing magistrates in such sense as that the assent of the crown should not be necessary to perfect the election. These magistrates were not to have the power of sitting in quarter-sessions; but the bill enacted that, on a town-council applying to the crown for the establishment of a court of quarter-sessions, and stating that they were willing to continue the salary paid to the recorder, the recorder should be retained if a barrister of five years’ standing. With respect to other towns desiring to have quarter-sessions, but which either had no recorder, or where the recorder was not a barrister of five years’ standing, it was intended that the crown should in future have the nomination of that officer. Sir Robert Peel said that he would present no impediment to the introduction of the bill, but would reserve all consideration of its details, every one of which deserved a separate discussion, to a future stage of proceedings. The bill was read a second time, without debate and without opposition, on the 15th of June, and the committee began on tire 22nd of the same month. The first disputed point regarded the fixing of the boundaries of those boroughs whose limits had not been defined in the act passed for that purpose in reference to the reform bill. The bill provided, “That they should be, and remain the same as they are now taken to be, until such time as his majesty shall have been pleased to issue his letters-patent under the great seal, that he may be certified concerning the fit metes and bounds to be allotted unto the same respectively, and until such further time as it shall please his majesty, by advice of his privy-council, upon inspection of the return thereof made by the commissioners unto whom such letters-patent shall have been directed, to declare fit metes and bounds of the said last-named boroughs, and the metes and bounds of the said last-named boroughs thenceforward, for the purposes of this act, shall be the same so declared as last aforesaid.” This was objected to by several members, as placing a dangerous power where it ought not to be placed. Sir Robert Peel said, he would consent that the boundaries of the existing boroughs should continue as they were until they should be otherwise settled by parliament: and Lord Stuart Dudley, although a friend of the ministry, moved an amendment to that effect. He was supported by Sir James Graham, Mr. Goulburn, and other members, who argued, that the clause gave the crown a power which the crown ought not to possess, and devolved upon the executive, duties which clearly belonged to the legislature. Lord John Russell said, he had no objection to add words to the effect that his majesty having appointed a commission to settle the boundaries, the report of that commission should be laid before parliament at its meeting, and the boundaries therein named should be and remain the boundaries of these boroughs, unless parliament should otherwise decide. Lord Dudley Stuart, however, pressed his motion to a division; but it was lost by a majority of two hundred and fifty-nine against one hundred and ninety-two. A more important discussion took place on the clause which affected the rights of existing freemen, and the future modes of acquiring freedom in corporations. The bill enacted, “That after the passing of this act no person shall be elected, admitted, or enrolled a citizen, freeman, liveryman, or burgess, of any borough, or by any name, a member of any body corporate in respect of any right or title other than by occupancy and payment of rates within such borough, according to the meaning and provisions of the act.” Sir William Follett opposed this sacrifice of freemen; and he moved an amendment to the effect of preserving their rights without interfering with the municipal government of corporate bodies. Government vehemently opposed this amendment; but various members accustomed to go with ministers declared their intention to vote for it. Sir James Graham thought it would simplify the question if the amendments were limited to the rights of freemen under the reform bill, because the question of inchoate rights would arise more properly under another clause. Sir William Follett acceded to this suggestion; but Lord John Russell still maintained that the provision contained in the clause was a necessary consequence of adopting this new municipal franchise; and, if so, ministers were not proposing it for the sake of altering the reform bill, but for the sake of amending the municipal corporations. The amendment said that the clause must not affect either the rights of property or the privileges to which the freemen were at present entitled. Many of these rights and privileges were of a description hurtful to the inhabitants of towns generally; many of them consisted in a monopoly of trades; and many in an exemption of tolls to which the inhabitants generally were liable. Lord Stanley supported the amendment: he could not see how the clause came to appear in a bill which professed to be a measure to provide for the regulation of the municipal corporations in England and Wales. On a division the clause was carried by a majority of two hundred and seventy-eight against two hundred and thirty-two.
The question, however, was again raised by Mr. Praed, who moved the following amendment:—“Provided always, and be it enacted, that in every borough, whether the same be a county of itself or not, where the right to vote in the election of members or a member to serve in parliament for such borough, is, according to the laws now in force, enjoyed by persons entitled to vote in virtue of some corporate right, nothing whatsoever in this act contained shall in anywise hinder or prevent any person or persons who now enjoy, or who hereafter, according to the laws now in force, might have acquired such corporate right, from enjoying or acquiring such corporate right for the purpose of voting in such elections.” In opposing this amendment, Lord John Russell denied that he was interfering by this municipal bill with the parliamentary franchise: he was not enacting that there should be no freemen; and, therefore, though there would no longer be freemen voting for members of parliament, that was only an incidental consequence of the principle of the bill, which principle was again brought into action, not with a view to parliamentary franchise, but solely with a view to municipal government. The amendment was lost by a majority of two hundred and thirty-four against two hundred and sixty-two. Another amendment, moved by Mr. Ponsonby, for the purpose of protecting inchoate rights of freemen, was equally unsuccessful, being negatived by a majority of two hundred and thirty-four to two hundred and three. The bill arranged all the boroughs into two classes, according to their population, the larger boroughs being divided into wards. In all these boroughs the bill required no qualification in the common-councilmen, except that of being rate-payers. Sir Robert Peel moved as an amendment, “Provided such members of council who shall be elected in boroughs divided into wards shall, at the time of their election, be seized or possessed of personal property of the clear value of £1000, or that they shall be rated on a rental of not less than £40 a-year: and also, provided that all such members elected in towns not divided into wards shall, at the time of their election, be seized or possessed of property, real or personal, of the clear value of £500, or be rated to the relief of the poor on a rental of not less than £20.” Sir Robert founded his amendment on what had been the usual practice in enactments regarding corporate towns. It was true that, according to ancient practice, no pecuniary qualifications were required for members of corporations; but the spirit of the charter was, that persons fit for their respective offices should be appointed; and he apprehended that, even in those self-elected corporations, whatever might be their defects in other respects, care was taken to elect persons of wealth and respectability. In opposing the amendment, Lord John Russell, Sir J. C. Hobhouse, Mr. Blackburne, and other members, argued, that it was in contradiction to the spirit of the bill, not agreeable to the provisions of the original charters, incapable of being generally and fitly applied, and not productive of any practical benefit. It was lost by a majority of two hundred and sixty-seven against two hundred and four. On the same day Lord Stanley moved an amendment on the clause which fixed the periods of election, which he proposed should take place only every second year; but this also was lost by a majority of two hundred and twenty against one hundred and seventy-six. Mr. Grote attempted to engraft on this part of the bill a modification of his favourite measure of vote by ballot; but the amendment was withdrawn. A division took place on the clause of the bill which declared that the town-clerk should be removable at pleasure; but it was retained by a majority of sixty. Sir James Graham was also unsuccessful in an amendment on the clause which gave to the set of men who should once get into office a formidable instrument for maintaining their predominance, by vesting in the council the power of granting or refusing all licences within the limits of the borough; the original clause was retained by a majority of forty-five. The labours of the committee were finished, and the report received on the 17th of July; and on the 20th the bill was read a third time without a division, the opponents of the bill leaving it to the house of lords to accomplish those ameliorations in its enactments which they deemed requisite.
The day fixed for the second reading of the municipal bill in the house of lords was the 28th of July. On that day petitions were presented against it from Coventry, Doncaster, Lancaster, Worcester, Lincoln, and other corporations, praying to be heard against the bill by counsel; and from Bristol and Liverpool, praying to be heard against it by their respective recorders. It was moved, that the petitioners should be heard by counsel, which Lord Melbourne opposed. The Duke of Wellington and other peers contended that it would be a denial of justice to refuse to hear parties against a measure which affected their character as well as their interests. Lord Brougham also said that there would be no objection to counsel being heard, provided the matter was so arranged as to prevent that hearing from becoming interminable. He suggested that two counsel should state all that was to be stated for the whole of the corporations. In this suggestion Lord Melbourne concurred, and it was agreed to by the whole house, after which the bill was read a second time pro forma. The hearing of the counsel commenced on the 30th of July, and was continued up to the 1st of August. The two gentlemen who appeared for the corporations were Sir Charles Wetherell and Mr. Knight, who insisted largely on the general character of the bill, as putting an end to all rights enjoyed under any corporate charter in the kingdom; and attacked the reports made by the commission regarding the different boroughs. They claimed a right to tender evidence in order to prove the ignorance and partiality with which the corporations had been treated. After the counsel had concluded their argument, Lord Melbourne gave notice that he would oppose any motion for allowing evidence to be adduced in defence of any corporation. Notwithstanding this notice, however, on the 3rd of August, after his lordship had moved that the house should go into committee on the bill, the Earl of Carnarvon moved, as an amendment, that evidence should now be taken at the bar of the house in support of the allegations of the several petitions. After a long debate on this counter-motion, which was strenuously opposed by the ministers and their party, the house determined in its favour by a majority of one hundred and twenty-four to fifty-four.