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to adopt the view which the author of the first pamphlet on our list entertains on the subject.

'The Peers have, as we before observed, given proofs of boldnessthey have, also, vindicated their consistency; and they can, therefore, now the better afford, to concede something to the wishes of their countrymen. In asserting these their undoubted privileges, they have, for the moment, estranged from them the feelings and sympathies of the many; who are inclined to consider them (since their vote) as composing a caste apart from them, and possessed of different interests, and different views. Now is the time, by a well-judged and prudent alteration in their course, to recover their lost station, and to place themselves again by the side of the people, and at their head, instead of continuing to meet them in battle array with unequal forces. Such a conduct would be worthy of the position, which the Peers of England have ever held in the history of their country; and which we trust, for their own selves, as well as for ours, they will, in future, again hold. But let them walk warily; another false step would plunge them "deep into the mire and clay, where no footing is."

'It is undoubtedly our confident expectation, as well as our earnest hope, that the Peers, that is a majority of them, will act in the way we have pointed out. But as it is always possible, we trust not probable, that they may hold a contrary course, it is necessary that we should take a view, of what would be likely to occur, if they did so, For then would be asked, but in a very different tone, from the one, in which we ask it"What will be done with the Lords ?"

And here we must beg those, who do us the honour to read these pages, not to be led away from the fair consideration of our arguments and views, by the senseless cry of intimidation. Nothing is so easy as to raise a cry of that sort-and to say, "You wish to frighten us, but we will not be bullied-we will not alter our course on account of your threats," &c. And why is it so easy to raise a plausible cry of this kind? Simply, because it may equally be raised, against all arguments and reasonings of a dissuasive kind. For what are the arguments by which any man is prevented (if he be prevented) from doing a foolish or a wrong thing, but intimidation ? All dissuasives resolve themselves into thiseither his intended course will do him harm physically, or morally. And how do his friends dissuade him from it? Why, by explaining to him the consequences of it-by frightening him-by shewing the precipice on which he stands-and by warning him against it. All debate, also, in the Houses of Parliament, where the Speakers wish to dissuade from an intended course of proceeding, is intimidation. Nay, what are the arguments and invectives of the Anti-Reformers themselves, but intimidation; Revolution, anarchy, subversion, mob-government," &c., "dance," to use the expression of Junius, "through their periods in all the mazes of metaphorical confusion."

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It is, therefore, surely ridiculously unjust, to make it a ground of complaint against the Reformers, that they endeavour to intimidate their opponents, by representing to them the consequences of their blind and prejudiced conduct-when every other dissuasive reasoner, in public, and in private-within the walls of Parliament, and without them-and on every given subject, is pursuing exactly the same course.

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My dear Sir," said Johnson to Boswell, "clear your mind of cant" —and we re-echo the sentiment—and entreat persons, who interest themselves upon these matters, to clear their mind of the cant of intimidation, which will only blind their eyes, and obscure their understandings.

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We, therefore, now come again to the question, "What will be done with the Lords?" And in answering it, we will first endeavour to state, what, if they continue refractory, will probably be done with them, by the Government of the country-and, secondly, by the country itself. If the House of Lords manifest an intention of again rejecting the Reform Bill, it is quite clear that the Ministers must create a large batch of Peers. The evils of such a proceeding are manifest; but they are as dust in the balance, compared with the evils, which would result from any further delay in the passing of that great measure. If the Peers, therefore, are obstinate, and shew a continued determination to reject it, a creation of Peers is the only method left for the Government, to enable them to carry, to a successful conclusion, the Bill, upon which the tranquillity, the happiness, almost the existence of the country depend.

'The creation of Peers then becomes not only a justifiable act, but an imperative duty upon the Government; and if the House of Lords dislike being sluiced with fifty or a hundred new ones, they must remember that it is their own conduct, which has brought it upon them. That such a creation would materially damage the House of Lords; that it would lower it greatly in public estimation; that it would render it so numerous, as probably, eventually, to necessitate the choosing of a representative body out of it, for the purpose of legislation; who can doubt? Nay, such a creation might almost occasion the extinction of the House of Lords, as one of the estates of the realm. But, let it be ever borne in mind, that if such a measure must be resorted to, it is the Peers themselves, who are the cause of it.

They can no longer plead in excuse for their resistance, that the feeling of the country in favour of Reform, is a passing excitement-they can no longer, with any pretence, even of firmness, resist the wishes of the nation-such tyranny would be insupportable. For it never could have been intended, that one rank of the State should be suffered to domineer over all the rest, and to act against their united wishes. If such a proceeding were endured, there would be an end of the balance and equipoise of the different powers of the realm, of which we hear so much. A small majority of one branch of the Legislature would be enabled, "for ever and a day," to defeat the good intentions and the high resolves of the other two.

'It becomes, in truth, a question, whether or not the Constitution has not already received a most serious shock. But that it would be utterly at an end, were the whole country, with their whole present Representatives, to yield up their opinions and their wishes, upon the most important of questions, to a narrow majority of the Peers-not, in fact, to the Aristocracy at large, but to the Peers made by Mr. Pitt, and Lord Liverpool, is perfectly clear.

*

'Let any man calmly reflect on this, and he will see the absolute necessity of the King and the Country having some resource against

*Of these, 113 divided in the Majority!'

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such an overthrow of the Constitution. Are those Lords, who cannot be changed-who cannot go back to any constituents-who are for life, and hereditary too-are they, a handful of the State, with 28 or 30 Bishops, to dictate or domineer among us? What right have they to humour their caprices at our expense? Mr. Pitt himself, in 1789, distinctly admitted, that the Constitution gave the Crown the power of making Peers, expressly to frustrate such designs as this; and never was such a case for exercising that power as now exists.'-pp. 12-18.

We have, upon more than one occasion, expressed the rooted dislike, constitutionally speaking, which we entertain to the creation of a numerous batch of peers for political purposes. Besides being founded upon a bad precedent, and being at best but a clumsy expedient for the purpose of obtaining numerical force, it necessarily tends to depreciate the dignity of the peerage, and to reduce it to the state of the French noblesse. It is but fair, however, for us to acknowledge that it is, perhaps, in the present condition of things, the only practicable contrivance to which the minister could have recourse. The removal from the House of the spiritual lords, though already decreed by destiny as certain to take place, may require a little time for its accomplishment, and that time cannot be spared for the enactment of the Bill. It is but just also to observe, that the industrious and well-informed author of the third pamphlet on our list, has produced the names of a number of heirs-apparent favourable to reform, who might be called up to their father's baronies without occasioning any permanent increase of the peerage. Amongst these he mentions the following individuals:

Title by courtesy of elder Son, &c.

Surrey. E.

Title of Father.

Norfolk. D.

Seymour. Ld.

Euston. E.

Tavistock. M.

Somerset. D.

Grafton. D.

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Bedford. D.

Brandon, (Hamilton.) D.

Portland. D.

Winchester. M.

Lansdowne. M.

Anglesey. M.
Ailsa. M.
Breadalbane. M.

Westminster. M.

Derby. E.

Suffolk. E.

Carlisle. E.

Albemarle. E.

Oxford. E.
Cowper. E.
Fitzwilliam.E.
Spencer. E.
Fortescue. E.
Manvers. E.

Title by courtesy of elder Son, &c.

Howick. V.

Holmesdale. V.

Cavendish. Ld.

Title of Father.

Grey. E.
Amherst. E.

Burlington. E.

To this table the author adds another, containing the names of other heirs, who might be created without permanently augment

ing the ranks of the aristocracy.

Title by courtesy of elder Son, &c.

Duncannon. V.

Killeen. L.

Molyneux. L.

Howard. Hon. H.

Twisleton. Hon. W. P. F.
Fox. Hon. C. S.
Vernon. Hon. G.

Moreton. Hon. H. G. F.
Dutton. Hon. J.
Pelham. Hon. C. A.
Wellesley. Hon. W. L.
Plunkett. Hon. D.
Hill. Lord Arthur.
Sir Gerard Noel, Bart.
Windham. Hon. F.

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To these we might add several other names which the author has, we suppose unintentionally, omitted; but he has given enough to show, that, by adopting his suggestions, the scale might be barely turned against the non-reforming lords. But may we not hope that these persons will perceive the error into which they have fallen, and endeavour to retrieve themselves, while yet they may, in public opinion? We should exceedingly regret ever to see so much as a finger raised to offer personal injury to one of these personages, even though they be confederated against our liberties. But assuredly they cannot, in common prudence, much longer continue to oppose what they must now well know to be the unanimous voice of the people. Mr. Baring, of the lower House, has already, it is said, given up schedule A., as a concession that must be made to popular opinion. He has, perhaps, found out the inconvenience of having his house excluded from the light of day, and converted into a dungeon. As he has followed the example of the Tories in one way, we trust that they may be induced to imitate his in another.

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The state of discomfort and even of danger, to which the Tories are reducing themselves by their insane conduct, is very remarkable; and may be taken both by themselves and others, as a slight, a very slight earnest of what awaits them, if they persevere in their ill-judged course. Already has the public feeling, respecting them, been so strongly declared, that they are obliged to live in barricaded houses, and to walk about, defended by troops of Police.

'Like the feudal banditti of other times, their habitations are become

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fortresses. In the middle ages at Rome, the Colonnas, the Orsini, the Frangipani, &c., had each their castle in the midst of the city-one fortified the top of the arch of Titus-another that of Janus Quadrifrons. It was the same thing at Paris during the civil wars; but since those days, we are not aware that any capital has exhibited such a spectacle, as is now to be witnessed in the outward appearance of the houses of the principal Anti-Reformers. The Duke of Wellington's mansion, Apsley House, is boarded up on all sides-so is Mr. Alexander Baring's-as for His Highness of Gloucester's, it is an absolute fortification-every chink and cranny is boarded over, while the spikes and chevaux de frises on the wall towards Piccadilly, give it quite the appearance of a fortified position. Lord Wharncliffe, we are informed, is strongly entrenched in Curzon Street; and Lord Londonderry, who prefers fortifying his person to his house, as we know, carries, and threatens to fire loaded pistols; while that temple of the winds, his habitation, exhibits all the marks of popular fury.

"Then, when they stir out of these feudal castles, the Anti-Reformers are forced to be escorted by bands, either of soldiers or policemen. With the assistance of the latter, His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland was so fortunate as to get down to the House of Lords; but poor Lord Londonderry was driven back by a shower of missiles; and had the Noble Lord been hit any where but on the head, the blow might have had serious consequences.

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But if the Anti-Reformer leaves London, and seeks the rural shades of his country seat, is his condition there the more gracious.-On his journey he is groaned at and pelted in every market town, where he is known (e. g. Lord Tankerville at Darlington, Lord Bute at Banbury, Lord Londonderry at Thirsk); and when he arrives, at length, at his own domain, he is only enabled to take and keep possession of it, by means of troops of Yeomanry, and Special Constables. See the account in all

the newspapers, of the manner in which the Duke of Newcastle is about to keep his Christmas at Clumber. Four hundred Yeomanry partaking of his hospitality, and eating him out of house and home-cannon planted round the house-videttes all about the Park, to take up suspicious characters, &c.

'We have already done wondering at this state of things, when our attention is called to another part of the newspaper, where we find that two troops of dragoons have been ordered to be in readiness, to escort Sir Charles Wetherell into Bristol, to discharge the duties of Recorder of that City. The following days bring the accounts of the frightful riots, occasioned by the presence of the anti-reforming knight. The records of his calamitous visit to that city, are, indeed, written in blood and flame. Nor can we help remarking, that he might as well have avoided going to a place, where he must have been aware, (for we believe he was duly warned of the consequences) his presence was likely to cause bloodshed and tumult. But we think, if we remember right, Sir Charles was one of the loudest in his prophecies, with regard to the anarchy and confusion, which the excitement upon Reform was sure to cause. And as he found the people of England were, on the contrary, very patient and long suffering, he, perhaps, wished to assist in furthering the acccomplishment of his own predictions.

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It is said, that he also considered himself in the light of a martyr;

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