Finsbury, presented a petition, very numerously signed, of which
the prayer was as follows:

"Your petitioners, therefore, exercising their just
constitutional right, demand that your Honourable House, to
remedy the many gross and manifest evils of which your
petitioners complain, do immediately, without alteration,
deduction, or addition, pass into a law the document entitled the
People's Charter."

On the following day Mr Thomas Duncombe moved that the
petitioners should be heard by themselves or their Counsel at the
Bar of the House. The following Speech was made in opposition to
the motion.

The motion was rejected by 287 votes to 49.

Mr Speaker,--I was particularly desirous to catch your eye this
evening, because, when the motion of the honourable Member of
Rochdale (Mr Sharman Crawford.) was under discussion, I was
unable to be in my place. I understand that, on that occasion,
the absence of some members of the late Government was noticed in
severe terms, and was attributed to discreditable motives. As
for myself, Sir, I was prevented from coming down to the House by
illness: a noble friend of mine, to whom particular allusion was
made, was detained elsewhere by pure accident; and I am convinced
that no member of the late administration was withheld by any
unworthy feeling from avowing his opinions. My own opinions I
could have no motive for disguising. They have been frequently
avowed, and avowed before audiences which were not likely to