Page:Blackwood's Magazine volume 002.djvu/734

sequence of Institutions already most respectable. The public have now the prospect of soon seeing the Astronomical Observatory completed on the Calton Hill, according to a splendid design by Mr William Playfair; this might afford an additional reason for an eager desire to see all the Philosophical Institutions centering upon the Regent's Bridge.

Although the proposal for building, by a Joint Stock Company, a Hotel, Tavern, and Coffee-Room, at Waterloo Place, Regent's Bridge, has been before the public but a few days, a sum above £15,000 has already been subscribed, which holds out the prospect of the books being immediately closed. The buildings are understood to comprise every accommodation which the most splendid edifice of the kind in England presents. The tavern, which will be separate from the hotel, will have two rooms of at least eighty feet by forty, and, altogether, will certainly be the first in the country.

In the House of Commons, Lord A. Hamilton rose to make his promised motion for an inquiry into the mode of electing Magistrates, and the system of keeping accounts in Scottish Burghs. He had no intention of connecting this question with that of Parliamentary Reform, and his motion would simply be for a copy of the act or warrant by which the Magistrates of the Burgh of Montrose had been appointed to their office. There was one fact which deserved particular attention, and called for a speedy remedy. It was this—that the burgesses have no voice in the choice of the magistrates, and no control over their administration, yet are liable to be assessed in taxes to any amount. There were two particular decisions on the subject, and Lord Kaimes regretted that the Scottish Courts could grant no redress. A similar case, he believed, had been brought before the Court of Session in 1800. With respect to the self-elected magistrates, it was now pretty generally admitted that those elections were contrary to all reason, sense, and justice. To such an extent, indeed, was this practice carried, that in many burghs the magistrates were self-elected, if they pleased, in perpetuity. He could name some burghs where no change was ever made; he could mention others where the persons in office were not bound to resign, and did not in fact resign. (Hear!) In discussing this question, he wished to produce a positive good to his country; and, in his conscience, he believed there was no possible mode in which he could be of more benefit. The case of the burgh of Montrose was by no means singular; but he grounded his motion on what had recently occurred in that part of the country. In the course of last year, the burgh of Montrose, in consequence of not having elected their magistrates on a certain day, were deprived of the power of election. They applied to the Lord Advocate to grant them a poll election; but instead of this some changes were made on the part of the crown. Now the ground upon which he asked for a copy of the act and warrant on that occasion was, that what was then done was not legally done. He had taken some pains to ascertain the opinions of gentlemen of great eminence at the bar, and he had not been able to satisfy himself that that act was warranted by law. He was desirous of hearing the opinion of the Lord Advocate on this subject, with the view of calling the attention of the House to it, in its more extensive bearings, after Easter. For his own part, he could see no principle upon which, if the Crown could give a better or more extensive set, they might not give a smaller and a worse set. He wished it to be clearly understood, that he was not questioning the power of granting the original rights to the burgh, but merely whether the Crown had authority to alter them. The Learned Lord would say whether the constitution of the burghs was to be settled by the King in Council, or by the acts of the convention of burghs. He would repeat, that the case of the burgh of Montrose was not singular: Aberdeen and other burghs were in the same situation. In fact, many of the burghs in Scotland were so overwhelmed with debt as to have little or no funds to defray their ordinary expenses; they were reduced to so low a state as to excite great apprehensions and alarms in the inhabitants for the property which they had at stake. His object was, as he had before stated, to carry the point for the benefit of the burghs, and not to excite any personal or party hostilities. He should content himself now with moving, that a copy of the act, and warrant of his Majesty in Council, dated September 1817, authorising the guild-brethren and magistrates of the burgh of Montrose to elect a town council and magistrates of the same, be laid upon the table of that House. (Hear.)

Lord Castlereagh said, he felt great pleasure in admitting that the Noble Lord had discussed this subject with the utmost candour; but, at the same time, he must observe, that although the Noble Lord had disclaimed all intention of having it considered as a motion for a reform in parliament, it certainly led to that object. It must be obvious to the House, that if the motion were granted, it must necessarily bring into discussion the state of the representation in Scotland. There might be defects in the administrative jurisdiction of the magistrates, as he dared to say there were in all institutions; but, looking at the royal boroughs in Scotland, he would venture to declare, that he did not know where the national character and decorum were more truly and strictly preserved. The Noble Lord, however, had put a question as to the legality of what had been done. In reply to that question he would say, that he felt great objection to granting the motion upon this express ground,—that if any doubt exists as to the legality of the change in the