Lords Sitting of 18 April 1828

PENRYN DISFRANCHISEMENT BILL.
The Earl of Carnarvon The Earl of Carnarvon moved the order of the day for the second reading of this bill. He said, that it was formed upon the model of the act which disfranchised Grampound; an act which established the important precedent of extinguishing a
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corrupt borough, and transferring the franchise to one of those populous districts which still remained without that privilege —a circumstance almost throwing ridicule on the constitution of the country. Nor was the evil merely a theoretical one; for he had some time ago attended the progress of a bill relating to Manchester, upon which occasion great difficulty was experienced to carry the measure through its stages, in consequence of the want of representatives whose exertions could be relied on. He hoped, in the present instance, to be able to make a case out for their lordships to act upon, and he felt that hope more strongly from the circumstance, because the present bill had been brought up to their lordships' bar on the same day with that important hill which had been discussed yesterday, and the success of which formed an interesting era in the political life of the noble lord through, whose exertions the measure had been carried in the other House of parliament, and would give, he trusted, the death-blow to religious intolerance. He trusted, too, that their lordships' conduct with respect to the present bill would encourage, in the friends of extensive and radical reform, a hope that they, as well as the other House, were determined to detect a state of venality, supported by perjury, which at present prevailed over more than one half of the boroughs; and when detected, to put it down, and gradually to infuse something of the character of free representation into populous and unrepresented parts of the country. At the time when the representation of the country assumed its present form, the commerce of the country was contained in the boroughs of Cornwall; but now he believed they possessed no other commerce but that of sending members to parliament. If Manchester, at the time when those boroughs received the franchise, had arrived at its present importance, did their lordships conceive that it would not have obtained the privilege of representation; not from the hands of any radical reformer, but from those of the sovereign? He now moved, that counsel be called in.
Counsel were accordingly called in, and the witnesses examined in support of the bill. After which, the further consideration of the evidence was postponed to Thursday.