Sir F. Burdettsaid, he held in his hand a Petition from the borough of St Ives, in Huntingdonshire, praying for a Reform in parliament. He should take this opportunity of remarking, with reference to the measure of relief brought forward by the chancellor of the exchequer, that he had never considered the distresses of the country, great as they were, to be of a permanent nature. He regarded them as arising out of the corruption of that House, and the insupportable load of taxation which an unnecessary war, supported by that corruption, had brought upon us. He entertained hopes from the tranquillity, and he might say the passive acquiescence with which the people had endured sufferings which might have provoked a different conduct, that parliament would see at length that their interests, and the interests of the country at large, were the same thing. Convinced as he was and as the petitioners appeared to be, that every political evil under which they laboured was in someway or other connected with the notorious corruptions of that House, he hoped 97 they would persevere in firmly demanding their constitutional rights.
§ Ordered to lie on the table.