§ Mr. O'Connellpresented a Petition from John Howard, of Portarlington, for Parliamentary Reform, stating, that out of a population of 5,000 or 6,000 in that borough, there were only fourteen persons entitled to vote. The hon. Member added, that he was satisfied with the statement of his hon. friend as to the office of Vice-treasurer of Ireland; but much of his present labour in other departments might be easily transferred to two Prothonotaries, who were receiving large salaries with but slight duties attached to them. He had now also to present four petitions for Reform—one from Glastonbury, signed by Mr. H. Hunt, as lord of that manor; another from the Society of Radical Reformers meeting at the Rotunda; another from reformers at Stockport, and a fourth from reformers at Ipswich. They prayed for a great extension of the elective franchise, and for vote by ballot. One of the petitions expressed their joy that the Tories had gone out of office, but their dissatisfaction that the Whigs had come in, for they suspected that, when in office, they might forget the promises made when out of it. The measures of the Whigs, the petitioners stated, had been most injurious to the country—they had begun the national debt, they were the authors of the Excise, and of Septennial Parliaments, as well as of many other abuses. The petitioners, therefore, prayed the House to watch the Whig Administration narrowly. He hoped and believed, that the petitioners would find themselves mistaken with respect to the present Ministers. They had on that evening given an earnest of their disposition to economy, and were the only Administration which had ever come in on a pledge to maintain peace abroad, and to effect reduction and reform at home.
§ The Petitions to be printed.