from Ireland, of this party, were opposed to it.  How can the noble Lord suppose, that the Church of England can be protected, or even the Union itself preserved in a Reformed Parliament?  There is no man, who considers what the Government of King, Lords, and Commons is, and the details of the manner in which it is carried on, who must not see, that Government will become impracticable, when the three branches shall be separate—­each independent of the other, and uncontrolled in its action by any of the existing influences.

October 4, 1831.

* * * * *

Danger of a Democratic House of Commons.

A noble earl (the Earl of Winchelsea) who has spoken on this side of the House, has made an observation to your Lordships, which well deserves your attention.  The noble earl has told you, that if you increase but a little the democratic power in the state, the step can never be withdrawn.  Your Lordships must continue in the same course till you have passed through the miseries of a revolution, and thence to a military despotism, and the evils which attend that system of government.  It is not denied, that this bill must increase beyond measure the democratic power of the state—­that it must constitute in the House of Commons a fierce democracy:  what must be the consequences, your Lordships will judge.

I will not detain your Lordships by adverting to the merits of the system of government which has existed up to the present moment, upon which my opinion is by no means altered.  No man denies that we have enjoyed great advantages; that we have enjoyed a larger share of happiness, comfort, and prosperity, for a long course of years, than were ever enjoyed by any nation; that we have more riches, the largest fortunes, personal as well as real, more manufactures and commerce, than all the nations of Europe taken together; the richest, most extensive, most peopled, and most prosperous foreign colonies and possessions, that any nation ever possessed.  There is not an important position in the world, whether for the purpose of navigation, commerce, or military defence, that does not belong to us.

If this democratic assembly should once be established in England, does any one believe that we should continue to enjoy these vast advantages?  But a democracy has never been established in any part of the world, that it has not immediately declared war against property—­against the payment of the public debt—­and against all the principles of conservation, which are secured by, and are, in fact, the principal objects of the British constitution, as it now exists.  Property, and its possessors, will become the common enemy.  I do not urge this argument as one in which your Lordships are peculiarly interested:  it is not you alone, nor even other proprietors, who are interested in the protection of property; the whole people, middling classes as well as the lower orders, are interested