The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria

Chapter 1151: MOTION FOR A COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE HOUSE TO CONSIDER THE NATIONAL PETITION.

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About This Book

The volume traces British political, parliamentary, and military developments from the accession of George III through the early nineteenth century, chronicling changes of ministry and cabinet, debates over colonial taxation and the American conflict, parliamentary controversies involving figures such as Wilkes and Warren Hastings, questions of Catholic relief and slave-trade abolition, and responses to the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars, including major naval and continental campaigns, the union with Ireland, and domestic legislation on finance, civil liberties, and parliamentary reform.

MOTION FOR A COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE HOUSE TO CONSIDER THE NATIONAL PETITION.

On the 12th of July Mr. Attwood moved for a committee of the whole house, to take into consideration a “National Petition,” which had been presented on the 14th of June. In making this motion, Mr. Attwood stated this petition was signed by 1,200,000 persons of the working classes. In it the petitioners urged five demands: namely, universal suffrage, vote by ballot, annual parliaments, remuneration of members for their attendance in parliament, and the abolition of the property qualifications. This proposal gave rise to a considerable discussion; but it was rejected by a majority of two hundred and thirty-five against one hundred and eighty-nine.