§ Sir George Warrenderbegged leave to present a Petition from the parish of Chelsea, praying, that if the House determined to give the right of Representation to districts in the vicinity of the metropolis, the claims of that parish might not be passed over. He was not one of those who had yet been able to comprehend the principle on which the Ministers proceeded, with respect to the Reform Bill, and he confessed the events of the last few days had tended much to lessen the little he thought he knew before. If, however, their principle was population, the petitioners said, that the parish contained 32,000 inhabitants. If their principle on the other hand, was the number of 10l. householders, then the petitioners declared, that their parish had upwards of 5,000 of that description; and, if, still further, their principle was the payment of Assessed-taxes, then the petitioners begged the House to consider that 26,000l. were collected every year in their parish. He was not one of those who approved of the plan of giving Members to districts of the metropolis, and he had said so to those 405 who asked him to present the petition; but he must contend, that those who gave Members to Finsbury and the Tower Hamlets, were bound to listen to the claims of the parish of Chelsea.
§ Petition referred to the Committee on the Reform Bill.