By a Freeman

“ Send them to their own meditations over their broken promises and pledges, as a lying, unworthy set, who spoke but to deceive, who made a convenience of you, and now endeavour to crush you to atoms. Tell them you will vote for a good conservative who will promise to preserve your rights from destruction by Lord John Russell or any other Lord, Daniel O'Connell or any other Papist. ”

“ Was there anything so peculiar in the nature of those bodies of freemen, or in the rights which they possessed, as to induce us to retain and perpetuate them? He knew of nothing of the kind. If this had been simply a question of altering the constituency fixed by the Reform Bill, though he thought the freemen as a body more liable to corruption than other classes of voters, he would have been for retaining them; but now that they were constructing; a new corporate right, with a view to the better government of towns, it was necessary to remodel the body. ”

“ Through the help of Daniel O'Connell and the Irish Papist members, who were all against as to a man, they succeeded in their base attempts to deprive us of our rights!! And what reason do you suppose they gave for their atrocious conduct? "Oh!" said they, "freemen are very poor, and therefore very corrupt, a bad set, not fit to have a vote!" Good God! is it come to this? Is a man to be condemned without trial as corrupt, merely because he happens to he poor? ”

“ This shameful robbery clause was discovered and exposed by some of the Conservative party, who, with that gallant man Sir Robert Peel, defended our cause, and tried to preserve to us those rights which nothing but rascality would take from us. And what did the Whigs do?—these friends of the poor—these protectors of their rights? Why, they voted against us!! they voted to deprive us and our children of their freedom!! Yes! ”

“ Another election will perhaps follow: do not vote for one of them, tell them to go home and read the Corporation Bill, and see whether they can find any thing in it to deprive freemen of their rights!!!! Tell them, although poor, you are as honest as they are!
That you do not like men who talk about preserving the rights of the poor one year and destroy them the next!!! ”

“ What he complained of was, that the noble Lord did not undertake to alter the Reform Act explicitly and avowedly, as, if he believed it to require alteration, he ought to have done, but that he proceeded indirectly to effect his purpose. If the noble Lord believed that bribery existed generally among the lower classes of freemen, and could support his opinion by proof, let him come forward, and on that ground manfully and avowedly deprive the freemen of their right of voting for Members of Parliament. ”

“ The Reform Bill, however, has been three years the law of the land; they have got no roast beef and plum pudding, but a Poor-law Bill, which certainly is enough to give a poor man his supper. And now so it is, brother freemen; that this Lord John Russell has brought in a Bill, which he pretended was to reform Corporations ”

“ Colonel Sibthorp objected in the strongest terms to the poor man being robbed of his little remaining right by the present Bill, which involved a gross violation of the compact contained in the Reform Act, and such being the case, he thought no man who had a regard for faith or honesty could support the measure. ”

“ He referred to the election at Liverpool in 1830. You might say that in this case it was the freemen of Liverpool who were bribed. They were; but was the bribery confined to freemen who were not also 10l. householders? And who bribed them? Here was the evidence of Mr. W. Miers, a merchant of Liverpool, who acted as president on Mr. Ewart's side, assisted by Mr. Thorneley and Mr. Harvey. That gentlemen stated, that he paid away large sums in bank-notes to voters—of what class?—poor freemen? no; but persons in respectable situations in life. ”

“ He claimed for the freemen of corporate towns, and for their successors, the right of voting secured to them by the Reform Act, on the ground that rights of that nature ought to be secured to their possessors in perpetuity. The hon. Member then proceeded to contend that there was no reason for this wholesale disfranchisement of the freemen, and in proof of his argument, quoted several extracts from the report of the committee on the Stafford election, to show that the 10l. householders of Stafford were as open to bribery as the burgesses. ”

“ He did not think that notion correct, but certainly many things had been done of late years which appeared hard and harsh towards the lower orders. He contended that if it was not desirable to bring more of the poorer classes into the constituency, it certainly was not desirable to put more of them out. ”