§ Lord Althorpbefore moving the Order of the Day for the Second Reading of the Reform Bill, wished to give notice, that it was his intention, immediately after the Debate on the second reading was disposed of, whenever that might be, to move, that the House, at its rising, should adjourn to Tuesday, 17th January next. It had been the wish of his Majesty's Ministers, that the Parliament should meet after the holidays a week earlier than that day. But it had been represented to them, that it would be extremely inconvenient to the Members connected with Ireland to attend so soon; and as it was their desire to give the Members from all parts of the kingdom an opportunity of attending in the Committee, Ministers thought it better to depart from the original intention, and to move an adjournment to the day which he had mentioned.
§ Mr. Crokerthought it probable that it might be necessary to defer the assembling of Parliament to a later day than the noble Lord proposed. He would suggest to both the noble Lords, that possibly they were not allowing themselves sufficient time to prepare the information which it was necessary to have laid upon the Table before the Bill ought to go into the Committee. The noble Lords themselves best knew whether the proposed time would be sufficient; but the House would perceive, that, without having all the information that was promised, it would he impossible to go one step further after the second reading. The documents which were to be produced were, he understood, voluminous, and if they could not be prepared by the 17th of January, it was unnecessary and useless to appoint so early a day for the re-assembling of Parliament.
§ Lord Althorphad no doubt that he should be ready before that day, but the 331 right hon. Gentleman would perceive that it was not necessary to go into the Committee on the first day. It would be more convenient that the Irish and Scotch Bills should be read a first time before the English Bill should have been committed. He should suggest, therefore, that the Committee might be taken on the Thursday or Friday after the re-assembling of the House; and he had no doubt that the House would then be in possession of all the necessary information.
§ Mr. Crokerhoped that the noble Lord would find the time sufficient for the necessary preparation. But he must remind the House, that the noble Lord promised last night, that there should be laid before the House the List of boroughs on which the Bill was founded. When he had repeated the assertion that the Bill was founded on that List, he was told that his assertion was incorrect. However, he had received that morning one of the official papers connected with the List, and he insisted that the first line justified what he said. The paper to which he alluded was a letter from Lord Melbourne to one of the gentlemen who was instructed to prepare the information required for the new Bill; and it began thus:—"Sir;—The Government having determined to found the Reform Bill upon a new basis, I request your assistance, to enable them to ascertain the relative importance of the smaller boroughs in England and Wales. It is proposed to take the number of houses, and the amount of assessed taxes for the year ending April, 1831, together, as the test of disfranchisement." It had been promised, that that letter should be laid on the Table this morning, and this morning it certainly was delivered. But the document which ought to have been delivered with it, namely, the List which itself constituted the basis on which the Bill was founded, he had not then obtained. He had received it, however, since he came into the House, it having been put into his hands by an hon. friend of his, who was connected with his Majesty's Government. Whether his hon. friend had acted officially or officiously, he could not say; but the fact was, he had only just received the information. Whether it was to be laid on the Table or not, he did not know, but this he knew, that it was not put into his hands until just upon the verge of the debate. It could not be obtained before, for he had inquired for it from the officers of the House the moment he entered. However, as he had got it at 332 last, he should not comment, as he might well do, upon the great irregularity, and the still greater delays, that had taken place respecting the production of these papers, but he must complain, that, at the moment when the debate was about to commence, the List, which was the basis of the Bill, according to the letter of the noble Secretary of State for the Home Department, was not in the hands of more than six or seven Members. He should make no comment on the absurd and ridiculous calculations (such, at least, they appeared, from the cursory look he had had of them) which accompanied that List, and was signed "Thomas Drummond." The schoolmaster was said to be abroad, and Mr. Drummond seemed to be one of his most promising pupils; for, as appears by his own letter, he had puzzled himself and the House with a long series of decimal fractions, to produce a result which could just as completely be effected by the simple addition of the numbers. He hoped that the future information would be more distinct, even though it were less learned, than the fractional scale of Mr. Drummond.
Lord John Russellthought that he had some reason to complain of the observations made by the right hon. Gentleman opposite. He had been informed, on coming into the House, that the papers were not yet in the hands of the Members, but that they would be ready in a very short time, and be delivered as soon as possible. At that time there were about fifty copies in the Vote Office. With that information he (Lord J. Russell) might have been satisfied. But, as a matter of civility, rather than otherwise, he undertook to convey some of those papers to the right hon. Member, rather than to give him the trouble to obtain them for himself, or wait until he should receive them according to the forms and usage of the House. He did not know in what way the right hon. Gentleman might wish those things to be done, but it was not very encouraging to others to take the trouble of giving information as soon as it came into their hands. The right hon. Gentleman was displeased that Mr. Drummond had not confined his calculation to the mere addition of the numbers. But it was not the fact, that the mere, addition would have given the result which it was the object of the calculation to obtain. The addition could not possibly give the relative proportion of the towns in respect to the population and the assessed taxes together. If the hon. Gentleman 333 supposed that it would, he must not have visited the schoolmaster very lately.
§ Mr. Crokerwould not detain the House from the debate on the Reform Bill by protracting the present conversation. But he would take an opportunity of proving, that the mere addition would have given the result ssought, quite as satisfactorily as Mr. Drummond had expressed himself in his fractional formulæ and then he trusted the noble Lord would be satisfied that his schoolmaster was more skilful than the noble Lord's. He felt fully justified in complaining that the papers had come down so late, for he had himself inquired at the Vote Office without obtaining them, and the irregular thrusting them into his hands just as the debate was about to begin, he could not consider as any thing like private civility or public decorum.