Excerpt from Reform: Substance of the Speech Delivered in the House of Commons, 1 March, 1831, on the Motion of Lord John Russell for a Reform in the Representation The noble Lord has also stated, at the be ginning and at the end of his speech, that the object of his motion is demanded by the great majority of the people. The noble Lord has talked not only of the myriads of petitions, but of the millions of those who now come forward, I admit that he added at one time, for theirjust requests, but at another, he said, TO demand their ri'ghts; and when I am told that the people demand any thing, I am re minded of Home Tooke's expression, that the people have hands. Sir, I will not say that this language of the noble Lord is absolutely unpar liamentary; but I will say, that it approaches as nearly to a threat, as the forms of the House can allow; and; if suffered, will entirely annihilate our deliberative character, arid will reduce us to the mere function of speaking the will of others from day to day; But I will, first, examine the fact, and then, the inference. I deny the fact; but, if I admitted the fact, I would disclaim the inference. First, then, as to the fact, that the people of England do demand the Reform of this House. I know well that this argument has been often used before, when similar measures were brought forward; but I notice it now more anxiously, be cause it is the first time that any man connected in anyway with the King's councils has come down to this House to influence our deliberations on any measure of the King's Ministers, by pro claiming to us, on their authority, that the people demand its adoption. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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