ker made one of those speeches which proved
nothing but the impolicy of the speaker. The bill was supported by Lords
Dudley Stuart and Howick, Sir J. Johnston, and Messrs. Russell, Wood,
Tennyson, and Long Wellesley. It was opposed by Colonels Sibthorp and
Tyrrell, Sir George Clerk, Sir George Warrender, and Mr. William Peel,
who merely repeated Sir Robert Peel in an ineffective manner. Mr.
O'Connell delivered a persuasive and eloquent oration in favour of the
immediate adoption of the bill, and intimated that there was danger of
insurrection in Ireland if that country were left any longer without
reform. Sir James Graham spoke well on the same side, especially in
reply to certain unguarded statements of Mr. Croker. Lord John Russell
replied, and the motion for leave to bring in the bill, as well as those
for Scotland and Ireland, was not resisted. The bill itself was not
brought in till the 14th--a delay which gave occasion to some members
of the opposition to express their surprise that a plan which ministers
were stated to have so long carefully pondered and concocted, and which
had already been amply discussed, should be in so incomplete a state
as to be unfit to be presented to parliament. On the 14th, however, the
bill, in | which one or two alterations and corrections had been made,
was brought in, and read a first time without opposition. It was not
known why the opponents of the bill allowed the contest to terminate
without a division, but it appears to have arisen from the fact that
they did not form a combined body, and that they had no regular plan of
party operations. Ministers subsequently admitted that if a division had
taken place they would have been left in a minority; but the opposition
reserved themselves for the second reading--a stage at which, according
to the forms of the house, the fate of the principle of a bill is
usually decided.

DEBATE ON THE MOTION THAT THE BILL BE READ A SECOND TIME, ETC.

From the moment that the general outlines of the plan of reform proposed
by ministers had been discussed in parliament, public excitement daily
increased. The bill contained few of those changes for which violent
reformers had long clamoured; yet these persons professed to receive
it with joy. The secret of their conduct was easy to be understood; for
though the bill gave less than they wished or demanded, it granted more
than they had expected. They were told, moreover, by their leaders,
whose h