presented a Petition from the Freeholders of he County of Chester, in County Meeting assembled, with the High Sheriff in the Chair, in favour of the Ministerial plan of Reform. He owed it to himself to state on this occasion, that though he was an advocate for moderate Reform, he could not go the length of the Bill which had seen brought forward by his Majesty's Ministers. He regretted that, as a whole, be could not give his support to that Bill.

said, that this petition bad been adopted at a most numerous and respectable meeting, and that there were only seventeen voices raised against it, so that it might be fairly taken as expressing the unanimous opinion of the county of Chester on this question. He would take this opportunity to say, that it was his determination to support his Majesty's Ministers in every part of the Bill which they had introduced, and which had been read, a second time that morning. He begged to add, that if they should relax a single essential point from that Bill as it at present stood, he would not give them his support.

presented a Petition from the town of Blandford, against the Reform Bill, and a Petition from Dorsetshire, in favour of Reform. Great care the hon. Member said, had been taken that none but the most respectable signatures should, be subscribed to the petition, and that it spoke the strong and unanimous opinions of the county was to be inferred, because an opposite petition had been got up at the same place, and it had received only thirty-four signatures. In supporting the Reform Bill, he was convinced that he was acting in conformity with the wishes of a very great majority of his constituents.

very much doubted if the hon. Member were correct in his last observation. One petition against Reform had been presented from a body of his constituents, and if more numerous petitions of the same nature were not sent into that House, it was merely because persons did not usually petition for what they already possessed but for what they desired.

was friendly to the principle of Reform, but he would struggle in the Committee against many of the details of the pending measure. Dorset was a passive county, and did not much like to interfere in politics, and its petitioners were therefore not strong or numerous. He knew, however, that in one borough in Dorsetshire the people were much against the Bill and though he had given his vote for the second reading, that pledged him to none of the details, and there were some of them against which he meant to struggle as much as he possibly could.

said, that probably his right hon. friend the member for Wareham felt himself peculiarly entitled to represent a passive county and was probably looking for the representation of Dorsetshire. He could not possibly reconcile the speech of his right hon. friend on the first reading of the Bill with his vote on the second reading. He could not approve of his right hon. friend's course nor could he concede the claims made by his right hon. friend to excessive purity upon this occasion.

believed, that he had voted for moderate Reform in voting for the Bill, and had not voted against his constituents wishes. He also believed that the country would be in a state of great danger unless they could support the Crown and Aristocracy by uniting the people in sympathy with that House, and which was to be done only by a thorough Reform.

explained.—The hon. member for Preston had declared that he had given his vote for Reform only upon the ground of his having succeeded in making his bargain with Ministers in favour of the electors of that borough. Probably the hon. member for Wareham had had a similar success in relation to Wareham which might account for his speech and vote being at variance one with the other.

wished the hon. member for Preston pleasure at his success, and he regretted that he had no chance of being equally serviceable to his constituents at Wareham. It would have been inconsistent with all his former conduct had he not supported the Reform Bill. His first vote in that House had been for the abolition of the Slave trade, his second for the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, his third in favour of Parliamentary Reform and the fourth in favour of Catholic Emancipation. These votes had been given under Mr. Fox; all the measures had been eventually carried, except Reform and if that were longer delayed, he believed that the country would have most seriously to lament its postponement. He was satisfied with the vote he had given and believed he should be justified in the eyes of his country.

said, there had been no bargain between him and Ministers. When the Reform Bill was brought forward the noble Lord (Lord John Russell) stated that there would be no interference with the life-interests of voters. This was sufficient to protect his constituents, as he had ascertained.

. moved that the House resolve itself into a Committee of Supply.

objected to taking the Army and Navy Estimates, unless there existed an urgent necessity on a day not usually devoted to business.

said, the half-pay would become due next week, and must be provided for.

had no particular objection to the votes being proceeded with, if necessary, on a Wednesday; his complaint was, that due notice had not been given. It was not till four o'clock that morning that the bringing on of the estimates had been fixed, and it did appear a little precipitate to press a discussion within a few hours of Members being apprised by the votes of the intention of Ministers. However, if the House desired to proceed, he was content to go into Committee.

said, that he would have given earlier notice, but that he was afraid that the adjourned debate on the Reform Bill might have been carried on.

objected to the vote on principle. It was encouraging a population which the Government was also anxious to get rid of by emigration. He submitted that the grant should be annually diminished.

agreed with the hon. Member in principle, but thought that the Military Orphan Asylum was not calculated to increase the population.

thought the hon. member for Middlesex was quite wrong.

always had, and always would support the grant. He knew no other means of providing for the children of soldiers who died abroad. He wished to ask the right hon. Secretary for Ireland, when the Irish Reform Bill would be ready.

said, that he would lay it on the Table of the House to-morrow, and be ready to enter then, or at any other time that might be deemed more convenient, into an explanation of its details.

asked, whether this in- cluded the charge for the Irish volunteer corps? and being answered in the affirmative, objected to going into that vote in the absence of so many hon. members who intended to oppose the Irish grant.

had no objection to postpone that part of the vote.

admitted, that it would be more correct to take the vote for the volunteers of the whole United Kingdom together, and the proposed vote in its pre- sent form was accordingly postponed.

protested against this vote, on the ground of extravagance, but declined taking the sense of the Committee on the question, on account of the scanty attendance of Members.

said, that he thought this was a very large sum to be given in this manner in pensions, for if there happened to be in any village a man peculiarly drunken and dissolute, that man was a pensioner. What, he would ask, was the reason of this? Why, because that pensioner enjoyed a large daily pay without the necessity of working for it.

was much surprised to hear the hon. Member, who pretended to be, and who perhaps really was, a friend of the lower classes, take such an opportunity to depreciate the character of the lower classes of the military. The men whom he described in such terms were persons who had served their country for a great number of years in every part of the world, and who enjoyed what he would take leave to call a just remuneration for past labours and services, and perhaps for wounds and loss of limbs; and he believed that, without exception, they were as sober and as industrious, considering the previous habits of a military life, as any class in the kingdom.

thought the body alluded to, for the most part, as respectable as any other members of the community

expressed a hope, that the First Lord of the Admiralty would not bring on the Navy Estimates on that evening.

said, that although he had given notice of his intention to bring forward the Navy Estimates this day, in consideration of the present state of the House he should abstain from so doing, and meant therefore to postpone the Motion until Friday, when he was sorry he should be constrained to interfere with the Scotch Reform Bill, which stood for that day. The Navy Estimates, however, must take precedence of all other business before the House, as the present supplies would not suffice for more than six or seven days longer.

requested, that the chief Secretary would give notice of his intention to explain the details of the Irish Reform Bill to-morrow, on bringing in the Bill, in order that the members for Ireland who were not aware of the day fixed, might be in attendance to hear his promised explanation.

said, he had supposed, that the notice which had been already given to that effect must have had sufficient publicity, but in compliance with the suggestion of the gallant Officer, he would not hesitate to repeat it.