The Sun. — London, England, 1837-02-15 00:00:00

in the Association, it was nt in i e l i n person w h o defendedhim. Theo look how this appointment works. In the case of any legal process for - tithe—of collisions between those who ought to be tithe-payers, aid arc in law, though un fortnuately not in fact, tithe receivers—of required military or police intervention—who is it• that determines whether the intervention shall be granted or not ?—whether the collision shall be tranquillized or not ?—whether the law shall be enforced or not ? Why, - none else lint his rebel associator, Mr. Pigott—a party himself against the Church —against the tithe—against the application of the law— a man who has signed the cardinal resolutions of the re• bet-renters, declaratory of eternal war against tithe, and against the existence of peace in Ireland until tithe shall be absolutely abolished, the Protestant Establish ment swept away, and the voluntary principle substituted in the place of tt. Here is " equal justice " for you! Here is " impartial government !" Was such a thing ever heard of in a civilized State before ? Well may Lord Melbourne exclaim against the abuse of the Government patronage, and at the impossibility he is under, in the face of such practices, to support the sincerity of his own dis approval of the Rebel-rent Association. Again, we ask, is this appointment true or false? Is this flagrant example of partizan government,, on the plea of "liberality," real, or only imagined? Impeachable! To be sure it is impeach able. But will not the majority of this House of gammons outvote a Conservative motion for impeachment ! The sneer of Lord John Russell, therefore, was unmanly and disreputable. Thus are the Protestant grievances estab lished—thus are the Protestant resolutions sustained—thus are faction, jobbery, hypocrisy, and falsehood brought wholesale to the door of the Mulgrave and O'Connell Government. —Tunes. The introduction of a system of Poor-laws into Ireland was so obvious a duty of humanity, that we can take no credit to ourselves for having so long and perseveringly ad vocated it. We only performed a public duty, which it would have been criminal to have omitted, in contributing our assistance towards enlightening the mind of the people of this country upon one of the great sources of the cala mitous state of Ireland, and compelling a reluctant Govern ment to adopt some measure for the mitigation of the dreadful state of destitution which prevails in that part of the King's dominions. To perform this duty more effectually, we did not rely upon Irish statements, or Government reports ; but sent a correspondent to that country, about three years ago, for the express purpose of visiting the populous towns, as well as rural districts, of Ireland, and giving to the public, through our columns, from his own actual observation on the spot, the real condition of the poor. Our readers cannot have forgotten the gra phic, but too faithful, accounts from that gentleman's pen, of the almost incredible misery of multitudes of our fellow-creatures in the east, west, and south of Ireland, which were calculated, not merely to awaken the generous sympathies of Englishmen, but might have touched barba rians with the sentiment of pity. That gentleman did not limit his observations to the cursory views with which tra vellers are usually satisfied upon disagreeable subjects. He visited the abodes of wretchedness and disease. He ex plored that region of Dublin called " the Liberty," and the poorest portions of Limerick and other towns. There ho saw masses huddled together in sickness, nakedness, and famine, whose only means of existence was the scanty pit tance which the hand of casual charity supplied. He also visited the interior of the mendicity institutions—the ema nations of voluntary charity. - He examined and described the operation and arrangements of this sort of charity— and depicted with painful accuracy the state of the thou sands of lazaroni who scrambled for a sort of sustenance that would digust any human beings not reduced to the last stage of famine. All this time the professors of systematic agi tation were driving a profitable trade in Ireland. They talked loudly of Irish wrongs and grievances ; but they raised not the curtain to display these scenes of misery to the English eye. The sufferings of nearly three millions of human souls inspired not their eloquence with any of its fervent or florid out-pourings of patriotic sentiment—these sufferings were not in the catalogue of grievances for which they demanded " justice to Ireland !" The hypocrisy of Irish agitation now stands bare and revealed, in all its sor did hideousness, to the public gaze and to the public scorn. Even the Government that first denounced, then fostered, and latterly crouched, to that agitation, is compelled to make a show at least of rendering that sort of " justice to Ireland" which the great agitator not only did not ask for his countrymen, but which he has, by every means in his power, endeavoured to prevent, and which he would have prevented for years to come, if the independent and re spectable portion of the Press of England had not pro duced such an irresistible conviction on the public mind, of the absolute necessity of Poor-laws for Ireland, that the demand for that act of social reform and Christian duty could no longer be safely resisted. Far, in deed, are we from being satisfied with the measure which Ministers have proposed for the relief of the Irish poor, and which has evidently been concocted with a trembling anxiety not to excite the alarm of the agitators, by propos ing a plan liberal and efficient enough to spoil their trade in agitation. That the law now submitted to Parliament by the Whigs will never do we admit ; but there is a triumph gained, in forcing government to the practical recognition of the principle. That cannot be done away. It is not our purpose, at present, to examine the details of the pro posed measure. There will be abundant opportunity for that. As to the complacency with which it was received by the House of Commons, we make nothing of that. The Malthusian Poor-law Act, with its arbitrary and unconsti tutional system, and many gross errors of legislation, worse than those which it pretended to cure, was received by the reformed House of Commons with acclamation. What the Whigs proposed, many Tories and Radicals joined in praising. The rights of the poor have met with more protection out of that House than in it. In regard to the Irish Poor-law measure, indeed, there was no acclamation ; but there was that sort of acquiescence which was incon sistent with any searching examination of the merits or de merits of so important a measure. But when did any of the principal speakers, who bestowed a sort of " faint praise" on the Ministerial project, display any very anxious interest on the question of a Poor-law for Ireland ? As to the Irish Members, on both sides of the House, they are certainly innocent of urging this subject on the public atten tion. To the independent press of England the Irish poor are indebted for the tardy and reluctant attention to their claims which they have at length received. As to the partial nature of the " experiment," we consider it a de cided objection. Where nearly three millions of destitute beings demand relief (of course we place employment to the able-bodied under that head) can any satisfactory re sult follow from affording that relief to a,small fraction ofthe great mass of human misery ? While the hundreds arc snatched from death, are the perishing myriads to be left to their fate ? Has not the work-house system of relief been in a state of ex penmen! in England for a considerable time? Why is it, then, to be tried as a novelty in I re l an d ? Wh y i s i t, also, that the English poor have a legal right to relief, while that is denied to the Irish poor—denied by the very Ministers that would have pulled down the House of Lords some time ago, because they did not admit to the full extent the pro priety of legislating for Ireland in political matters, exactly as if it were in every respect—moral and social—in the same circumstances as England ? Why, also is Ireland not thought worthy of having its own central board, as well as its own Municipal Corporations ? Why do the Whig Ministers make those and other distinctions between two countries in regard to a simple measure of humanity— a provision for the poor We hare not yet learned whe ther man and wife, parent and child, are to be separated from each other in the Irish work-houses, or whether the privilege of going to their respective places of worship on the Sabbath, is to be refused to the Irish poor. We wait for further information.—Allerniny He' ald. The vote of the House of Commons on Monday night, to issue a writ for the election of a Member for the borough of Stafford, is perfectly consonant to reason and to justice. It had already been decided by the Legislature that the evidence of the corruption of Stafford is not sufficient, or not sufficiently recent, to justify disfranchisement. We say this had been decided by the Legislature ; for where a concurrent vote of the two Houses of Parliament is ne cessary to affirm a criwinatory proposition, and to impose upon the parties accused the proper consequences of that proposition, the refusal of either House to concur must he taken as a full acquittal, just as in a criminal trial, in a Court of Law, the refusal of part of the Jury to agree to a verdict of guilty effects the complete re lease of the prisoner. The borough of Stafford, however, notwithstanding its acquittal of the charge of corruption by the tribunal legally and constitutionally competent to decide the question of it. innocence or guilt, has, fora considerable period, been in part disfranchised by the mere will of the House of Commons. There was, perhaps, some pretence for suspending the writ so long as it remained doubtful whether the Legislature, upon the evidence which had been or could be offered against the borough, would consent to a Bill of disfranchisement. But from the moment that the expectation of this was at an end the refusal of the House of Commons to do the merely formal and ministerial act necessary to the completion of the repre sentation of the borough in Parliament would have been a stretch of undisguised tyranny, a manifest abuse of the powers entrusted by the Constitution to that assembly, a plain usurpation of the right of solitary and independent Legislation, an audacious aggression upon the other two branches of the Legislature, and a naked robbery of the indisputable franchise of the electors. That the House of Commons escaped the commission of' these enormities on Monday we sincerely rejoice. And, however we may la- malt, we cannot wonder that the escape was so narrow, w h en we recollect of what materials the confederated parties tre composed Liho, on ordinary occasions, are able with diffi ej ;lty to make up a bare m a j or it y o f t h at as senably ; and bow important it is to them that th e oppo ual their combined array should not receive the accession even of that single vote which rescued and grateful Stafford will not fail to give. —Morn ;Jig l'ust. CHURCH-RATES. (FROM OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT. NORTHAMPTON, MONDAY. The Tories of this Lprough have thin evening suffered another of a series of galling defeats. The Town Council met again, from an adjourned meeting held last Monday, and, among other mood things, the Lihorals moved anti carded a Frope.si- I ion for the town seal to he affixed to two petitions to Parlia ment, praying the abolition of Church-rates. Mr. Aldor - man COTTJN proposed the ad.ption of tho peti. Lions, and Mr. Councillor EDEN 4 seconded the motion. Mr. CIIARLES iVIARKIIAM, one of the Tory Councillors, said he felt rather awkward in opposing the proposition, as there were so few of those friends with whom he usually acted pre sent, and a very large number of the other side who would sup port the motion. He thought this a subject of very great im portance, particularly to those who had been in the habit of attending the Church of England. He, for one, had always been brought up to the principles of that Cnurch, and he felt that the Church should be supported and maintained, which could only be done by contributions from the public obtained in a legal way. He should, therefore, object to any petition for the abolition of Church-rates being adopted. Mr. HALLAM and Mr. GRUNDY supported the proposition. A question arising whether the Dissenters did not act in opposition to the declaration required by the Act of Parliament, Mr. Alderman COTTON had read the declaration, and he felt no hesitation in saying that the course they were now adcpting was benefitting the Church rather than otherwise—making it more respected and respectable ; for it cculd not be respectable of them, where they were dipping their fingers into the pockets of their neighbours, for the purpose of applying the money to their own uses. Let the Church people do as they (tbe Dis senters) were doing, and he thought it would confer a great benefit on the Church.—( Hear, hear.) Mr. SHARP had at first some doubts whether they, as Dis senters, could venture upon the agreeing to such petitions, but, since he had read the terms of the declaration, he was of opinion that any Councillor might with consistency support the motion then before them—( Hear, hear)--and he thought it was not a matter of pounds, shillings, and pence—not whe ther it was one pound or ten pounds—but a matter of principle. The amount was of no moment. The question was, ought they to oppose Church-rates upon principle or not? He did oppose them upon principle, and' he thought it would be a great relief to the Church people themselves to have Church-rates abolished. Why could not the Church people, who said them selves that they were the most wealthy, the most learned, and the most talented part of the community, support their own places of worship, without coming to those who were Dissenters to help them ?—( Hear, hear.) Let them look at the people coming out of All Saints' Church every Sunday, who were very respectable as to property, and then let them consider what would be the amount of a Church-rate for that parish ; it would be only about 1501. per annum, and a subscription of ss. a year from each of the attendants at Church would raise as much.—( Hear, hear.) He did not know what was the measure which Ministers were going to bring forward on this subject ; but he was led to believe that it would be perfectly_ satisfactory, and if the rates were entirely abolished, it would do the Church good instead of injury—it would, as Mr. Cotton had said, make them more respected and respectable, for they were the only sect that went to another sect to obtain assistance for the support of their religion; and if they did not value their own religion enough to put their hands in their own pockets instead of his, he would say that their religion was not worth much. He would vote for the adoption of the petition. After a short discussion the Liberals carried their motion by a majority of five. The Tories then tried their strength in an endeavour to prevent the borough soal being used on the occa sion, but on this they were also defeated. It was then moved and carried that the petition to the House of Lords be pre sented by Earl Spencer, and that to the Commons by Mr. R. Vernon Smith. The petitions are strongly worded, and pray for entire abolition. The Council last week came to the determination, after a violent opposition for twelve months on the part of the Tories, to throw their chamber open to the reporters and the public. DUBLIN-MONDAY. " There is no qualification for Government but virtue and wisdom, actual or presumptive."—Bt elm Your expresses of the last week have been sought for and read here with a curiosity proportioned to the intense anxiety with which they were expected. The people of Ireland felt that the debates on Lord John Russell's motion involved the whole question of the future good or mal-administration of their country. And we are rejoiced to find, notwithstanding the absence of some of our most efficient supporters, that our cause was triumphant in the hands of able and honest English statesmen. Never has that line of policy, so long called for, so frequently denied, and still so peremptorily requisite for the tranquillity and happiness of a nation, been more explicitly expounded than in the speeches of the two Secretaries, for Ireland and the United Empire. The issue to be tried be tween the conflicting parties in the State is now manifest to the most humble capacity ; and it is gratifying to know that the weight of English sympathy and intellect is in favour of Ireland. In such a state of things, and at such a jtincture, it may be well to contribute every mite of information, that may in the slightest degree illustrate the progress of public senti ment and opinion in this country.' The discussion of the first evening did not create any visible sensation of hope or fear to the different partisans in this city. Lord John's speech, of course, gave satisfaction to the Libe rals, and served as a guarantee, that the present Government would be faithful to the principles upon which they took office. On the other hand, Sergeant Jackson's flimsy catalogue of false facts and fictitious grievances inspired the Conservatives with the hope of his pi educing. some effect favourable to them, in the event of its remaining uncontradicted. And the Liberals feared that in the absence of Sheil and the Attorney-General ( Mr. Woulfe), a sufficiently detailed and lucid refutation could not be given to the Learned Sergeant's " collections and lucu brations during his last autumnal recreations !" But Lord Mor peth's brilliant argument on Wednesday evening has dissipated all the suspense and conjecture in which both parties were more or less suspended till its arrival. It has had an electric effect on every one in this city, no matter what his politi cs , who has read it. Reformers are elated and Tories are dis mayed, at the bold and manly system of Government, which his Lordship prescribes for Ireland. No future Cabinet can attempt to digress from the course here pointed out. When Mr. Fox, forty years ago, disclosed a system of policy to wards this country equally liberal and equally just, he excited the admiration and gratitude of those who could appreciate the value of his theory ; but no one then deemed it practicable, because the great bulk of the inhabitants of the nation were not yet roused from the long night of darkness and bondage in which they had been so long enthralled—and could not obey the dictates of virtue and of justice enjoining to them the acquisition of equal rights. The case is now totally different. The Roman Catholics enjoy their natural share of all the power and privileges of freemen, though they have not yet received public emolument proportionate to their support of the State; and they are joined by a great number of their Protestant fellow-countrymen in the firm determination of seeking by every legal and constitutional means that full measure of justice granted to their fellow-subjects of Eng land and Scotland. In this position themselves, they find the enlightened Governments of England and Ireland, sup ported by the majority of the people of both countries, declaring to them that the time is come, when they ought and shall have equal laws, privileges, and institutions. Is it .possible, under such circumstances, for the Tory party to dream of reassuming that power and authority, which have so long been struggling to oppose and prevent the existence of such a state of things throughout the United Kingdom? Sir Robert Peel himself seems to have abandoned all designs of the kind, if we may judge from his last exhibition, the most despondent and dis heartening, to his party, of any made by him for many years past. He has, in fact, disappointed both friends and foes—for both expected something more vigorous, pointed, or effective against his opponents, than he has given utterance to. He has not shown, that the " General Association" ought or can be put down. It would be difficult for hint to do so, who did not attempt suppressing the anti- Tory Association of 1834 and 1835, which did his Government such damage. The empty and vapid de clamation of his party against this "spawn of their own wrongs," will only unite Irishmen more firmly in the prosecution of their rights. Not one single act of that body is unconstitu tional, much less illegal. They are guided in all their pro ceedings by twice as much intelligence, twice as much obe dience to the laws, and love of order, as can be found among that faction in this country, which Sir Robert has forfeited much of his own fame and character in supporting. The re fusal of Corporate Reform last year has generated such a dis taste and horror of Toryism, as it will take some time to eradicate. What ?—deprive eight millions of people of those institutions of local and self-government, which in the dark ages were devised, and served as the most efficient means of " • controlling tyranny and diffusing civilization. In order to understand the Tory malignity that could suggest, or the Boeotian stupidity that would yield, to the extinction of Cor porate governme.it, one need only look into Robertson's His tory of Charles the Fifth. He will there discover why it was Corporations were first formed, and what were the happy effects of such institutions in putting an end to the evils of feudalism, and diffusing moral light and knowledge over the gloom of the middle ages. And here it may be proper to tell a Reforming and enlightened Government, that if the measure of this Session be not more liberal than that of the last, in which they yielded so much to Tory prejudices, they will snake but small progress in satisfying the people of Ireland. No thing can be more absurd than the Tory assumption, that where Catholicism prevails the civil rights and legitimate influence of Protestants, as individual members and component parts of the community, will not be regarded. This doctrine emanates from that faction which judges of other men by themselves, and which, on all occasions, are ready to exterminate their Roman Catholic countrymen. Intelligence reached town yes terday strongly corroborative of this doctrine of Orange policy. It appears that a regular band of Orangemen, in the county of Cavan, had, on the 4th instant, attempted to prove the nature of their ascendancy, by waylaying and assaulting their Catholic neighbours on their return from the fair of Ballyjamesduff. One man has been killed, four dangerously wounded, and fifty more or less injured by the attack of these ruffians, who are supposed to be spirited up to this bloody enterprise by some politician, for purposes not yet discovered. There will no doubt he a full investigation. The Marquis of Douro has arrived at Apsley House from Hurstbounie Manor, where his Lordship closed the partridge shooting season. Baron Waltzahn, who made extensive purchases last year of horses for the King of Prussia's stud, is daily expected at Mivart's Hotel from Berlin. THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1837. INTENDED RESIGNATION OF MR. BUCKINGHAM, M. P. TO THE ELECTORS OF SHEFFIELD. London, Feb. 11, 1837. My Friends and Fellow-Countrymen,—The time has at length arrived when I feel it due to you to announce my in tention of soon resigning the trust with which you have ho noured me as your representative in Parliament. I had hoped that the connection, which has now for five successive years so happily bound us together, would have continued for a much longer period ; and I indulged the be lief that, if cur wi:;l:es and feelings only were consulted, this connection would still be perpetuated for many years to come. flat an imperious and painful necessity denies to me, at least, the power of gratifying my own inclination in this respect, either with honour to myself, or with justice to you ; and I therefore consider it my duty to surrender up the solemn trust which you placed in my keeping ; and which, as I have never yet neglected or betrayed, I desire to return to you without stain and without reproach. When the borough of Sheffield was first enfranchised by the Reform Bill, you were induced—by some sympathy for my sufferings in the great cause of liberty in the East--by some respect for my character and experience—but, above all, by a generous confidence in the integrity of my principles—to invite me to become a candidate to represent your opinions and your wishes in the Reformed House of Commons. At that period I had not the slightest claim on your consi deration from any connection by birth or property, either with your town, or with the county in which it is placed. I was personally unknown to all, save one single indi,.idual, out of the hundred thousand of its inhabitants, when I first visited it in 1831. It was then that my appeal to its merchants and manufacturers to join themselves to the thousands whom I had previously aroused in other parts of the kingdom, to demand the abolition of the Indian monopoly, and the opening of the vast and teeming regions of the East to the enterprise and ca pital of the British trader, first won for me that approbation and esteem which laid the foundation of our future connection, and induced you to complete the honour you at first conferred, by returning me, free of expense, and through the struggle of a formidable cofitest, as your freely-chosen Representative. At that period, as you are aware, I had the strongest reason for believing that if the Administration by which the Reform Bill was carried should remain in office, I should have that justice done to me in the reparation of the injuries inflicted on me in India which so many of the members of that Ad ministration and their friends had publicly declared to be my due, and which they had blamed their predecessors for so long withholding. Relying on the sincerity of their professions—believing in the integrity of their intentions—confiding in the honour of their plighted word, as statesmen and gentlemen—l was justified in believing that the lapse of a few years, at the utmost, would see me reinstated in the independent fortune, which I had honestly acquired by my labours in the East, and which was there arbi trarily destroyed for no other reason, real or pretended, than that I had dared to defend the rights of my fellow-countrymen in India, to freedom of settlement, freedom of opinion, and freedom of trade ; by advocating the supremacy of the law, in the verdict of a King's Court and British jury, over the mere dictum of an arbitrary power. If that property had been restored to me, or that compen sation granted, to which the leading members of the King's Government, through the solemn decision of a Parliamentary report (drawn up by two principal members of the present Cabinet—the then President of the India Board and the pre sent Home Secretary, Lord Glenclg and Lord John Russell), declared me to be justly entitled, I should have been placed in a situation of sufficient pecuniary independence, to admit of my discharging my public duties to my constituents, with out trenching on those private obligations which I owe to my family—for whom I had acquired the means of making ample provision—but from whom this provision was torn by the hands of my oppressors. You know too well the utter disappointment of all those hopes, which the members of that Administration by whom the report on my claims was drawn up, encouraged me to in dulge ; and you have witnessed, with as much surprise and pain as myself, how, when the hour of trial came, they abandoned me to the tender mercies of that very East India Company, whose cruelties they had before denounced,—in total disregard of their former opinions, and in violation of all honour, con sistency, and good faith. In this state of timings, I have not the shadow of a hope that the Government, as at present constituted, will ever afford me the least redress. It is quite true that those very principles, for the advocacy of which I was exiled and ruined, without trial or defence, have been adopted by them as the basis of their new charter for the government of India.—lt is true that they continually assume praise to themselves for completing, with regard to that country, those very reforms which I was banished and ruined for merely recommending to be began.— It is quite true that the present leader of the House of Com mons (Lord John Russell) publicly declared, after hearing all the evidence on my case, that—" so far was my conduct from being blameable in the slightest particular, that he thought it, on the contrary, honourable in the highest degree, and equally worthy of the imitation of my countrymen, and of the thanks and reward of a wise and benevolent government." All this is undeniable and undenied.---yet, in,the face of all this, the very persons who were the first to lift the- cup of - hope to my lips, have been the first to dash it`to the ground; and to make me drain the cup of disappointment to the very dregs. You, the electors of Sheffield, seeing all this, and feeling, at the sight, an indignation which almost surpassed my own, promptly came forward, and appealed on my behalf to that British public whose battle I had fought in the East, and in the defence of whose rights and interests I was trodden to the earth and trampled under foot. You confidingly thought that, though a Government had proved faithless, there would yet be found a sufficient sense of justice among the people at large, to make them ready to repair a deep and grievous injury sus tained in the advocacy of their cause. You imagined that the inhabitants of Great Britain, who are now reaping so largely the advantages of that newly-opened trade to India and China, which Ills already saved the nation more than two millions a-year in the import cost of its teas,—and the merchants and manufacturers who are deriving the benefit of an increased exportation of another million, at least, of' their wares, would have promptly responded to your appeal, seeing that it was made in behalf of an advocate, to whom no one has yet denied the merit of having been an early, a zealous, a disinterested, and a successful labourer for their advantage. But though you so generously set the example in your own deeds, of what you asked others to do, and though that ex ample has not been without its influence in some quarters, yet you have seen that the united reparation tendered by the whole nation, to whom your appeal was made, amounts to less than a tenth pelt of the loss sustained by me in the con test for its rights ; and that as a substitute for the compensa tion which the Parliamentary Committee awarded, but which the East India Company refused to grant, it is n holly insuffi cient to place me in that situation of pecuniary independence, which their award would have effected, and without which it is impossible that I should continue to hold the situation of your representative, so as to combine a due attention to its laborious occupation, with the fulfilment of those paramount obligations which I owe to my family and myself. Under these circumstances, the only course that is now left open to my adoption, is to retire, for a period at least, from public life, and devote the few years that may be necessary for this purpose, to the acquisition of that competency,—without the hope of which I should never have accepted the honour of being your representative, and without the possession of which I could never discharge my duty so effectually as I should desire, or as you really deserve. It is somewhat late in my life for me to begin the world again ; but though I have seen nay fiftieth year pass by, I may Cave many summers yet permitted the by Providence to en joy ; and as, .through your genereus efforts (followed by the few whose sense of justice and sympathy for unmerited suffer ing induced theth to conic forward from Among the millions of my fellow-countrymen, to add their names and contributions to yours) a foundation has been laid, on which the moderate provision that I alone desire, may, by my labours in another sphere, be hereafter raised, I am not without a hope that, after a few years absence from you, I may be permitted, by the Divine blessing, to return in safety to the land of my birth, if not again to be honoured with your suffrages, at least to enjoy your respect and esteem. I have never yet asked charity or alms from any living Icing. I have led a life of as severe industry as any man that can be named, and have never yet eaten, or ever desire to eat, the bread of idleness for a single day. I have asked, first from those who plundered me, and next from those who offered me their protection, only the restitution of my own honestly and l.ardly-earned property, of which I was so unjustly and cruelly despoiled. But this reasonable and just demand Laving been refused by the one, and resisted by the other, I have since consented to receive, through your hands, the free-will offer ing which the few, who responded to your appeal, voluntarily came forward to present to me, as some testimony , of their sympathy for my wrongs, and their desire to assist in repairing them : and I feel justified in accepting this tribute, from a re collection of the services which I have actually rendered—the labour I have really performed—and the undoubted benefits and advantages to the nation at large, which these services and labours were instrumental in obtaining. My actual loss of' property in India was 40,0001. in the com plete destluction of an establishment which yielded me a net income of 8,000/. sterling per annum. For this loss, effected by the arbitrary fiat of the Indian Government, without any process of law,. I have appealed to the constituted authorities of the King's government, by whom I was first encouraged to make the appeal, and by them I have been refused all redress. From the hands of a few public-spirited and generous indivi duals, you have obtained for me a sum which, when invested in the public securities, will confer on me a pension for life of something less than 2001. a year ; and if it be thought that all my labours and sacrifices are amply compensated by, such a grant as this, coming from a whole nation , in the full enjoy ment of millions of annual profit from the opening of ot;r Eaitern trade—it is not for me to say more than this ; that to you, the electors of Sheffield, who first originated, and to the noble and high-minded governor-general of India, Lord Wil liam lientinck, and those Members of Parliament who sup ported him in following up, at the public meeting in London, the object of your wishes, as well as to all those Peer s an d commoners, merchants, and others, who, in different towns of England, Scotland, and Ireland, have enrolled their names in the list of contributors to the pension or annuity proposed, I shall ever feel grateful ; and they themselves will always have the satisfaction of remembering, that if a debt were due to me for labours done and losses sustained, they have, at least, discharged far more than their respective shares of it, as the whole sum, if paid out of the public funds of the East India Company, or the Exchequer, would have been imper ceptible in the amount that could be assigned to each indivi dual contributor. To the public provision, or pension, thus conferred on me as the voluntary offering of the few whose sense of justice rose superior to their veneration for power, and whose generosity was not exhausted in mere expressions of sympathy and regret, i I shall endeavour, by my private labours, to make such addi tion, as the few years yet before me, will enable me to accom plish : and as my wrongs have excited as extensive an interest in . America as in England, and led to the . very pressing invitations from distinguished citizens of the United States, off 'ring me a cordial and hospitable reception on their shores, it is my in tention, as soon as I can complete the necessary arrangements for that purpose, to accept those invitations, and bend my course across the Atlantic, towards a country in which, happily for its inhabitants, such oppressions as I have suffered from the despotic rulers of the East, would never have been en dured by its legislature or its people, to fall on the head of a single citizen, without their demanding, and obtaining for him, instant and ample redress. The time that I may pass there, however long it may he, will not be sufficient to diminish the interest I shall always feel in the prosperity and happiness of the land of my fathers—though now, for a time at least, no longer the land of my home. Nor is it probable, should I ever be permitted to return from thence when my labours may be closed, that I shall then be less at tached than now to those great principles of freedom which there flourish in full vigour—which I have loved and cherished in early life with an ardour that no length of time has yet diminished, and no extent of suffering has yet been able to destroy. In looking back over the years that I have been honoured with your confidence, I am happy to find that in all the great questions of humanity, and of moral and social improvement, which have been brought before Parliament, I have taken my full share of the labours they required ; arid that while I have ever been ready to give my voice and vote in favour of every measure for the advancement of civil and religious liberty, it has been to questions of a less political character, that my per sonal attention has been most pal ticularly directed. In the opening of our commerce with the rich and populous East—in the extinction of slavery in the West—in the abolition of impressment in our navy, and of flogging in both branches of the public service—in the diminution of intemperance, and the abatement of the crime and misery of which this is the principal source—in the promotion of education—in the re moval of civil and political disabilities imposed on persons of different religious distinctions—in the relief of literature and knowledge from heavy taxes and imposts—in the promotion of free and unfettered commerce, as the best security for abund ance and peace—in the establishment of places of healthy and cheerful recreation, and of useful and entertaining instruction for the labouring population onshore—and in the advancement of measures for the preservasion of life and property at sea— in all these I have taken a part, of which, I hope that you, my constituents, will not be ashamed ; and which I only regret my inability still to follow up, for want of those means of which I have been deprived ; but the continued pursuit of which, in whatever position of life my future lot may be cast, will be to me a pleasure of the highest kind. As a dissolution appears to be thought so near at hand, I shall best consult your interests, perhaps, by not immediately resigning my seat, but retaining its possession until such disso lution may arrive, so as to spare you the expense and excite ment of a contest before it comes, and to afford you ample time to select, in the interval, an individual worthy of your choice. That many of nobler birth, of ampler fortune, of greater talents, of more varied attainments, and of higher me rit than myself, will be found, I do not for a moment doubt. But one more zealous to do you service—one more faithful to your interests—or one more grateful to you for friendships, honours, and kindnesses bestowed, you will not easily discover. Whoever may be my fortunate successor, I can wish him no prouder distinction than that he may be really worthy the con fidence and approbation of a constituency as intelligent, as upright, and as independent as any that ever yet were en trusted with the exercise of the electoral franchise. I am your sincere and faithful friend, 35, St. James's-street. , J. S. BUCKINGHAM. PARLIAMENTARY DIVISION. MEMBERS QUALIFICATION. (From the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Commons.) TUESDAY, FEB. 14. Motion made, and Question proposed,—` to bring in a Bill to abolish the Property Qt of Parlament :"—The House divided:— MINORITY—AYES, Grote, G. Gully, J. Hall, B. Hastic, A. Hawes, B. Hawkins, J. H. Hector, C. Holland, F.dward Hume, Joseph Hutt, William James, \V. .Jervis, J. Lister, E. C. Lushington, C. Lynch, A. H. IPLeoil, R. That Leave bo given ►lification of Members Adam Admiral Attwood, I'. I3agshaw, John Baines, E. Barclay, David Barnard, K G. Beauclerk, Major Bernal, It. Blackburne, J. Blake, M. J. Bodkin, John James Bowring, Dr. Brabazon, Sir W. J. Brady, 1). C. Bridgman, H. Brotherton, J. Buckingham, J. S. Buller, C. Bulwer, E. E. Butler, Hon. P. Campbell, Sir J. Chalmer , , P. Chichester, J. P. B. Clay, W. ')ivett, E. lltinconabe, T. S. Ebrington, Viscount ,Elphinstone, Iltmard Ewart, W. Finn, W. F. Fitzsimon, C. Fort. John Gaskell, D. Dillon, W. 0. Grattan, H. Ponsonby, J. Potter, It. Poulter, J. S. Power, J. Pryme, G. Roche, W. Roclie, D. Roebuck, J. A. Ruthven, E. Scholefield, J. Sharpe, General Steuart, R. Stratigways ' J. Strickland, Sir G. Strut, Edward Stuart, Lord Dudley Stuart, W. V. Talfourd, T. N. Tancred, H. W. Thompson, Colonel Thorneley, Thomas Tulk, C. A. Villiers, Charles P. Wakley, Thomas Walker, C. A. Wallace, IL Warburton, H. Ward, H. G. Whalley, Sir S. White, S. \Vilks, J. Williams, W. TF.T.I.E NS. Molvsworth, Sir W. Leader, John Temple Maher, John Marjoribanks, S. Marshall, W. Marsland, H. Mullins, F. V. Murray, J A. Nagle, Sir It O'Brien, C. O'Connell, D. O'Connell, J. O'Connell, H. J. O'Connell, Morgan Oliphant, L. Ord, W. Oswald, J. Palmer, General Parrott, J. Pattison, J. Philips, M. A insworth, Peter Alston, Rowland Ashley, Lout A ttwood, .h.seph Barclay, Charks Baring, F. T. BAring, T. Beckett, Sir J. Bentinck, Lord G. Bethell, R. Hewes, T. Blackstone, W. S. Bonham, F. It. Borthwick, &artist/in, 'l'. W. Brownrigg, J. S. Bruce, C. L. C. Byng, G. S. Canning, J. C. Canning, Sir S. Chisholm, A. W. Clerk, Sir G. Clive, It. H. Colborne, Ridley Cole, lion. A. Collier, J. Compton, 11. C. Conolly, Colonel Corry, Right Hon. H. Cowper, \V. F. Crawley, S. • D'Albiac, Sir C. Dunkin, Sir It. T. 1). Duncombe, W. Eastnor. Viscount Eaton, Richard J. Egerton, Lord F. Fancourt, C.. 1 rector, John Millet Feildeni W. Fitzslinon, N. Fleetwood, H. TELLRES. Follett, Sir W. W. Trevor, Hon. A. Forster, C. I Maclean, D. Mr. orseman paired off in favour of Sir W. Molesworth's mo tion with Mr. W. Gladston. ,JORITY—NOES, Freshfield, J. W. (:asked, J. M. Gordon, IL Graham, Sir James Greene, T. Grey Sir G. Griinston, Viscount Grimitone, E. H. Halton], H. Halse. Jame. Hamilton, Lord C. Handley, H. Hardy, J. Harland, W. C Heatheota, G. J. Ilenr,ikcr, Lord Hinde, J. IL Hodges, T. L. Hogg, J. %V. liotham, Lord Howard, It. Howard, P. H. Howick, Lord Humphery, J. irton, S. Jackson, J. D. Jephson, C. 1). 0. Jones, Theobald Kerrison, Sir E. Kirk, P Knight, H. G. Law. Hon. C. Lawson, A. Letevre, C. S. Lefroy, A. Lefroy, Dr. T. Lewis, D. Longfieki, It. Lucas, E. Lygon, Hon. Gen. Mackinnon, W. A. Manic, Pox Miles, W. M.rdaunt, Sir J. Nichol!, J. Norreys, Lord North, F. 0' r•errall, More Osiulston, Lord Parker, J. Patten, Wilson Perceval, Colon 1 Phißims, C. M. Plumptre, J. P. Pringle, A. Reid, Sir J. Richard., J. Richards, R. Itickford, W. Robinson, G. R. Ross, C. Ilushbrook, Robert Russell, Loud John Sanderson, R. Sandon, Lord Scott, Sir E. cou rfi d , W. H. Shaw, F. S' °pliant T. Shirley, E. J. Somerset, Lord G. St,mlev, E. J. Stewart, J. Stint, H. C. Trevor, Hon. G. R. Trouhridge, Slr T. Vere, Sir C. B. Vesey, lion. T. Vyvyan, Sir It. Walter, J. Williams, Robert Wilson, Henry Wood, Colonel T. Wortley, Lord Wortley, J. S. Wynn, C. W. Young, G. F. In the division of the Stafford Borough, James Bradshaw and Henry Combs Compton are to be inserted in the Ayes, and Robert Bitldu!ph to be inserted instead of George Grote in the Noes. LLOYD'S SHIPPING.--(THIS DAY.) DRAT, FED. 14.—Wind moderate.—Arrived the Catherine Elizabeth, ----, from Demerara ; Druid, Treadwell, from London ; Edwin, Robinson, from Pernambuco ; Sarah, Phil lips, from Hastings, and Milmiod, White, from ditto. PORTSMOUTH, Fan. Lt.—Wind W. S. W., fine.— Arrived the Mary, Brown, from Cork. Sailed the Speedy, Willis, from St. Michael's. FALMOUTH, FEB. 13. —Wind W. S. W., strong breezes and squally, with rain. Arrived the George Canning, Winn, from Bombay, sailed Oct. 10th ; Ascension, 4th ult. MARGATE, FEB. 14.—Arrived the Elizabeth, Thomson, from Berbice. ISLE OF WIGHT, FED. 14.—Arrived off the City of Edin burgh, Frazer, from Madras, sailed 26th Oct. ; Cape, 16th Dec., and St. Helena, 28th Dec. LtvElooot, Fan. 13.—Wind W. S.W.—Arrived the James Winter, —, from Buenos Ayes ; Madonna, Smith, from Bahia ; Royal Mint, Kennedy, from Jamaica; Hopkinson, Taggart, from Demerara; Isabella, —, from ditto; Ma rengo, Dickenson, from New Orleans; Benjamin, Morgan, from ditto ; Citizen, Thorp, from ditto ; Michigan, Badger, from ditto ; New London, —, from ditto ; Frankland,—, from ditto ; Henry Kuelland, —, from Savannah ; Minerva, Hannah, from Odessa, and Mensagero, —, from Corunna. C O RUNNA.—Arrived the Defiance, Hiscock, from Leghorn, towed in dismasted. On the night of Monday, the 30th ult., about six o'clock, as the ferry-boat was leaving the pier of Cromarty for the opposite si d e , Mr. M. Ross, who had accompanied one of the passengers to the quay, missed his footing in the dark ness, and fell over. The ferrymen had hoisted sail, and the boat was scudding away from the land ; but on hearing the plunge, John Ross, better known as John Minister, a boatman from Nairn, who was fortunately among the passengers at the time, leaped overboard, and, guided to Mr. Ross, in the extreme darkness by a low gurgling sound, he succeeded in laying hold of him. The evening was stormy, and the sea ran high, but though much impeded by his clothes, and no very skilful swimmer, the brave fellow retained his hold of Mr. Ross, who had been stunned by the fall, until they were both picked up by the ferrymen. Ere this, however, more than ten minutes had been suffered to elapse in the confusion of the accident, and Mr. Ross, who was in a state of much exhaus tion, was carried to a neighbouring house, where he recovered in the course of the evening. His deliverer, accustomed to a life of hardship, and who seemed to regard his exertions on the occasion as mere matters of course, seemed nothing the worse for his immersion.—lmverness Courier. Rice Evans, Arwddalan, Breconshire, a tenant of H. P. Evans, Esq., has absconded, and is suspected to have previously forged cheques and bills, on the Builth and Pres teigu Banks, to the amount of 1301. —Hereford Times. STRADILLA.—It is related of this extraordinary singer that by the display of his vocal powers, he produced such an impression upon two bravoes sent to despatch him that they threw themselves at his knees, confessed their foul intent, and demanded his forgiveness. This incident has been dramatised at the Theatre du Palais Royal, in Paris, with considerable success. Achard is the vocalist who represents the great Italian tenor, 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH-STREET. THE SUBSCRIBERS TO BURKE'S HISTORY OF THE LANDED GENTRY, are respectfully informed that the 13th Part is now on sale, and that the THREE CONCLUDING PARTS will appear in quick succession. Orders for the completion of sets should, there fore, be sent early to the Booksellers. Henry Colburn, Publisher, 13, Great Marlborough-street. PRICES tn. MOCKS • 71113 DA Y At' 4.3 G D'CI,Or R. Bank Stock. ri per Cent. Bee. , M) I ANIA . iDitto Rongs 3 per Cent. Cons .. ', 9"4:1''.2% !South Sea ....v. - 3t• per Cent .. - D.tto Red....... ge , !4% S!.fi New Ditto - New 3!.4 p, , ,r Co t 97% y i li 1, • 3 ixtr Cent. Annultics, 1751... - New spet Cent.. - Exch. Bills, .£l,ono ` . 7 29 pm. Bulk LoncAmmitieitaiexpire !Ditto 'OO .27 :9 pm Jan S, I -vo . L., 11. 13-IA jy,pc, smat; .. .......... .... •!7 29 pm K net i., 141 J - tn 5, V6O ..... ...... ..... . -- Ditto Ari,..tti,-., l,aa Jan. .'l, BS - i Baok Sto , :k for Account... - April i, 1 , :0. - India Stock lot Account j,,,,. ~, 14 ; ..,,,, , ....... ,„„. --- C..risolh for Account ...91i 7, ti 14 anniurn PRICE'I OF I.ORLIGN FUNDS Tuns DAY AT ONE O'CLOCK. .5 iiirrtaii finals Belpaii Itcnis .. Ditto Acciiiii4... ........ ..... —' Portuguese Ronits Bea titian Bond. - t — Oat , Account .. Rernos Ayres Bonds —l Ditto Account DIV, Account ...... ........... , Ditto, 3 pc, cent filt,a Chiltern Bones; ... ... ..... ....... —, Priusian Bonds .. Ditto A CM, nt Coitinitilan Bonds Dit!o Ac,oto.l Colurnhian Itor.ris, it":2l 2514 % ,k Spanish Botuls Ditto Account , '2 5 .1.4 , I)itt.o Account . .. littlish 80nd5.... Ditto Account Greek Bonds ' French, 5 per cmt.......... —t. —c. Ditto Bonds, IS Ditto Account ....... ......... —, - —c. Mexican Bones, 5 per cent.... —I , Exchange Ditto Account . Ditto, (1 per cent ............ : Ditto Account Ditto Account .. ..... ........ —• Ditfo, 5 per cent 103% li NeVolltAll ........, ........... ...... - Ditto Account PRICES OF Su ARES THIS DAY AT ONE O'CLOCK Paid. Per Share 94{2 Dublin and Kilkenny Railway Comp: Great Westein Railway Company.... Brighton (Cund:s) . . •••• )any ........ Westminster and Greenwich Rai British North American Bank COURSE GF EXCII Amsterdam !N. Ditto, at sight U. 12 f 42 ,tntwerp... Hambui - g. 11 B 13 14 Altona -- 13 12 Paris, 3 days' sight 25 55 Ditto ....... ............ Us 25 85 Marseilles Frankfort off Maine, Ex. M 153 Petersbulgh, ruble 3 Us. 10 0 Berlin Vienna, effective fl 2 N. 10 15 Trieste ditto lO 17 Madrid 3534 Cadiz.. 36% Milano '3s Barcelona '36 Seville Vi Gibraltar PRICES OF IRISH STOCK: 3 per Cent. Consols Ditto Reduced - -f 3y, per Cent. Stock 9 6 34 Ditto New, 1530 3' per Cent. Debentures.-- 901,i, Rink Stock 199% 3, Royal Canal Stock at Grand Canal Stock 9.7% Ly Company .2 U , •i% 5.% \ NOE YESTERDAY. Leghorn 471,i Genoa 'A 5 . 31 Venice -17 Naples Palermo per oz. 120i4 Lisbon 5344 Oporto 53% Rio Janeiro Bahia 2O Buenos Ayres Dublin, 21 days' sight Cork I% PRICE OF BULLION, PER 07, Portugal gold, ..... 0 0 Foreign Gold, in bars 3 17 9 New Doubloons New Dollars ; Silver, bars, standard 0 5 ON 5, DUBLIN, FEBRUARY. 10 Grand Canal Deb.. 6per;;lii, - SN Ditto, 4 per cent 59% ' Hibernian Bank City of Dublin steam Co. - National Insurance Co „ ...... „ City Debentures, 4 per cent - Ballast Office Debentures, 4 vet cent MAILS. Arrived. Due. Arrived. Due. Arrived. Due 0 America ..... ..... 0 I France ...... 0 0 Lisbon 0 0 Nazi! 0 0 Ougrn.&Jersey 0 0 Malta ....... ...... 0 0 BactiosAyres 0 0 Hamburg ..... ... 1 0 Mexico 0 n Carthagena.... 0 0 Holland 0 0 Ostend.. ....... .. 0 I Dublin... ...... 0 0 Jamaica 0 0 Sweden .. 0 0 Flanders 0 0 Leeward Islands 0 1 Waterford 0 HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE TO-MORROW. M0rning.........15 mUiutes after 11. I Evening...... 46 minutes after Preparing for publication. in 2 vols. Bvo., with portraits, &c. MEMOIRS AND CORRESPONDENCE of ADMIRAL EARL ST. VINCENT. By CAPTAIN BRENTON, R.N., Author of " The Naval history of Great Britain." Henry Colburn, Publisher, 13, Great Marlborough -street. LADY CHARLOTTE BURY'S NEW WORK. On Saturday next, in 2 vols. lost Svo., T " DIVORCED. A TALE. By the Authoress of " Flirtation." " Nor tears that wash out sin Can wash ont shame."—Pope. Henry Colburn, publisher, 13, Great Marlborough-street. Just Published, Price 2s. THE CAUSES ANDCONSEQUENCES of the Pressure upon the Money-market ; with a statement of the Action of the Bank of England from Ist October, 18.33, to the 27th December, 183 ti. By J. HORSLEY PALMER, Esq. London: Pelham Richardson, 23, Cornhill. • 4s. 6(1. each vol., bound in cloth. COMPLETION OF VALPY'S FAMILY LIBRARY OF ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS of the most valuable GREEK and LATIN CLASSICS : With Biographical Sketches, Portraits, Notes, Maps, &c. Edited by A. J. VALPY, AI. A., Pemb. Coll., Oxford. Any volume may be purchased separately. The whole Series is complete in 52 vols. " If you desire your son, though no great scholar, to read and reflect, it is your duty to place into his hands the best Translations of the best Classical Authors."—Dr. Parr. The Selection includes those Authors only, whose works may be read by the youth of both sexes. Copies of each Author are kept elegantly bound for school prizes and presents. Demosthenes and Sallust. Vols 1, 2. Xenophon's Anabasis and Cyro pwdia. 3, 4. Herodotus. 5-7. Virgil. 8, 9. Pinder and Anacreon. 10. Tacilus. 11-15. Theophrastus. 16: Horace and Pluedrus. 17, 18. Juvenal and Persius. 19. Thueyil ides. 20-22. Plutarch's Lives. 23,29. Hcsiod ; the Cassandra of Lyco- Printed and published by Vali,: phron ; with Ilion, Mosehus, Museus, and Sappho. 30. Ca!sar. 31, 32. Sophocles. 3.3. Euripides. 34-3 F. Tionier. 37-39. Ovid's Metamorphoses and Epis . ties. 40, 41. Cicero's Orations, Offices, and Treatises on Ohl Age and Friendship. 411-44. Xschylus. 45. Livy. 46-52. ;y, and sold by all Booksellers. The publication of TH.. SUN NEWSPAPKR commenced this day at 15 minutes past Three o'clock. , .... I.o\ ~-; 1 ...,,Ct7: 7 - •t›.. , ._1:... *.t a ._ ..-..t.ar. -, , ' -2 - ~-. ,:.::40, UL LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 15, 1837. In the 'louse of Lords yesterday, petitions were pro seated against Church-rates. Lord SHAFTESBURY brought up a resolution relative to the time within which Private Bills would be received by their Lordships. Lord MELBOURNE gave notice that. to-morrow h e w it move the second reading of the Registration and M ar• riages Bill. A petition was presented from some inhabitants of Can terbury, for the preservation of Peerage privilege. In the House of Commons, some proceedings con nected with Railway Bills took precedence. A petition from Larnbeth was presented for Universal Suffrage, th e Ballot, Annual Parliaments, and a removal of the pro perty qualification for Members of Parliament. The SPEAKZE informed the House that he had received a letter from Mr. LUKE WHITE, stating that petitions having been presented against his retur❑ for Longford, ho did not intend to defend it. Sir WILLIAM MOLESWORTIZ moved for leave to bring in a Bill to abolish the Property Qualification of Members of Parliament. The motion led to considerable discussion, the result of which was, that it was lost by a majcrity of 29. Mr. WARBURTON, however, immediately gave notice that on 'Wednesday next he will move for leave to bring in a Bill " to amend the laws relating to the Property Qualifi cation of Members to serve in Parliament." Mr. WAKLEY obtained leave to introduce a Bill to abo lish plural voting in Vestries and Unions. Lord JOHN RUSSELL said he should oppose it. Mr. MAcKINNON obtained leave to bring in a Bill for se curing to patentees the benefit of their inventions. Mr. O'CoNNELL again brought forward his motion for a Bill to amend the Law of Libel. The same Honourable Member obtained leave also to bring in a Bill to secure the title of property granted for the purposes of Catholic wor ship, and of education in Ireland. Mr. F. MAULE brought up the Poor Laws (Ireland) Bill, founded on the resolution agreed to on Monday. It was read a first time, and ordered to be read a second time next Wednesday. The Grand Juries (Ireland) Bill was read a third time. The House then adjourned at Half-past Ten o'Clock. Sir WILLIAM MOLESWORTH'S motion for the repeal of the statutes of the 9th of ANNE, C. 5, and the 33d of GEO. c. 20, which fix the property qualification of Members of Parliament, was rejected last night on a division of two hundred and thirty-seven Members by a majority of twenty-nine. Had the Honourable Baronet not de parted from the words of his notice of motion, as it ori ginally stood upon the Order Book, he would have obt tined an overwhelming majority. He had given notice of a motion for amending the Law of Property Qualification, and had he confined himself to this, he would have obtained the support of Lord JOHN RUSSELL, and the other members of his MAJESTY'S Government. Agreeing, as we do, in opinion with the Hon. Baronet respecting the utter inutility' of the qualification now demandel—convinced, as we are, that it operates nii, - ,chievouslv upon the moral feelings both of the electors and the elected-1;11°161'g, as we do, that the law is evaded, and that its only effect is to multiply perjuries ; yet we do regret that he did not content himself With his original notice of motion, which he knew would have been carried as soon as proposed. In the abstract, all qualifications but those of mind and of will, on the part of me❑ chosen. to, represent the people in Parliament, arc absurd. If Parliament were to raise an objection, it ought to be upon one or other of these questions, ❑amely—the mental capacity of the elected, and their willingness to discharge the sacred trust re posed in them. But as at present it would not be desir able to abolish every thing like a property qualification, without passing a law to compel constituencies to pay their representatives fixed Parliamentary wages, we would prefer the lowering, and the extending of the qualification, to a measure for its entire abolition. Secure the, inde pendence of Parliament by paying for its services—place every Member above the fear of absolute want—remove from him such temptations to betray the interests of his country, as none but the greatest men are able to resist ; and then proCeed to the abolition of everything in the semblance of a property qualification. But while you re fuse to maintain him, it would be hazardous to assume in difference to the fact of his possessing a maintenance. But while we contend that so long as Members of Parliament are not paid for their services by their imme diate constituents or the State, it would be very questiona ble policy to do away with all property qualification—we quite agree with Lord JOHN RUSSELL and Mr. LgAnEn. that nothing can be more monstrous than continuing to make such qualification a landed one. The Noble Lord well observed, " It is absurd to say that the merchant or manufacturer, with his 30,000/. or 800,000/. in personal property, is unfit to be a Member of this House, be'c4use ho does not chance to have 800/. a year in land : it appears to me that such a regulation is at variance with one of the great principles of the Constitution. Yet such a principle has been in operation since the reign of Queen ANNE and how did this happen? Why, it arose from the circumstance that in that reign there existed a great jealousy between the landed and trading interests—the tradiag interests being known to be; favourable to the Hanoverian succession, and the other principles to which the landed gentry were opposed ; and the result was that the landed interest procured this innovation, by which citizen's and burgesses were rendered incapable of holding a seat, unless they possessed landed property. The consequence has been :that in numberless cases gross frauds have been committed, and it is very desirable that this system should be altered." Not a doubt of it, and that without delay. So then, according to the Noble . Lord and his statement is borne out by history we are indebted for the landed qualification laws to a pack of dunderheaded rebels—enemies of the Hanoverian -suc cession, and to the Constitution of the British empire. But with such an accurate knowledge of this fact, the Whigs have been surprisingly tardy in doing justice,to the loyal citizens and burgesses, and in restoring the true balance of the Constitution. We do not charge Lord JOHN Rus- SELL with this omission. His Lordship has done. all that was in his power, and we are convinced only waits ,for an - opportunity of doing more. Mr. LXADER, without enter ing into the reasons which induced former Parliaments to support the present rate of property qualification, ably ex posed the absurdity of confining it to land. "In a great commercial country," argued the Hon. Gentleman, ".to come pel the electors to select their representatives from persons possessing one particular sort of property, namely, property in land, is so clearly contrary, not only to all the prin ciples of representative Government, but so repugnant to the interests of the community, and so glaringly o pp o sed to reason, that it is scarcely credible that any per s ons should be found in the present day to uphold so unjust and unreasonable a law." This is quite true. Eng land is now—whatever she was formerly—much m ore a commercial than an agricultural country. Her mer chants, not her landholders, constitute the principal source of her greatness, her power, her riches, and he r g lory. Lord JOHN RUSSELL himself admits that even in the days of Queen ANNE, at the very time when the qualifica tion laws were passed, the mercantile portion of the English people were more loyal and more constitutional in their ideas than the high-landed, aristocracy. Our view of the question, then, amounts to this :—Pay the Members parliamentary wages —say at the rate of WO/. a-year during each session and abolish a pro perty qualification altogether ; or, lower and extend the qualification to property of every descrip tion, whether landed, funded, commercial, or profes sional. If 300/. a-year be the rate of qualifi cation fixed upon, we would have it considered of no importance whence it was derived. In the mean time, we are glad that Mr. WARBURTON has given no tice of a motion to amend the qualification statutes. The sense of the House having been taken upon Sir WILLIAM MonEswoare's motion, and the opiniOns of the Govern ment being no longer doubtful, the Honourable Member for Bridport may easily so shape his motion as to remove all that is radically bad in the existing law, without encoun tering an insurmountable opposition. I The argument, " that there had been a great increase of electors for the borough of Stafford since the suspension of the writ, and that it would be hard to make the innocent share in the punishment of the guilty," is specious, a nd probably influenced some Reform Members, in supporting the motion of Captain CHETWYND ; but in these times, what are we to think of the proposition laid down by the Reform Member for Worcester ? The Hon. Member is reported to have said, that " as judicial proceedings we re no longer pending, and as the suspending of the writ, after the opinion stated by the house of Lords, would be vir tually denying the concurrent jurisdiction of that House, lie must vote against the amendment." Putting out of ques tion the course pursued by the Lords last session, and the conviction so generally entertained, that the principles of the Reform Bill cannot be brought into bene ficial operation, while that course is persevered in, we merely ask, what would have been the fate of rotten boroughs—what the punishment inflicted on corrupt freemen—and what share of the elective franchise would have been granted to fifty of our large manufactory towns, if this " concurrent jurisdiction" had been looked up to with such reverential fear ? The reluctance with which Members on one side of the House of Commons enter on any charge of corruption, or admit any popular principle, and the manner in which they are supported by the Lords, can leave no doubt that, if this doctrine is to be the rule of our political faith, Reform is at an end. The Lords have only to say, inquiry shall go no further ; and the Commons must obey. But, strictly speaking, the amendment of Mr. DIVETT did not interfere with concurrent jurisdiction, and the Hon. Member for Worcester merely went out, of his way to pay the House of Lords a compliment. The Commons cannot disfranchise a borough, but by the law of the land they can suspend a writ, independent of the Lords ; and to argue therefore that because the Upper House has made a partial enquiry, and pronounced a judgment, the Com mons ought not to interfere, is tantamount to giving up one of their most valuable privileges. The people of this country know from sad experience that the power of the House is already too great, and have too much dread of the return of that system by which they so long monopo lized every office in the State, to sanction such a slavish doctrine. We made a few observations yesterday on the thin attend ance of the Liberal Members of the House of Commons on Monday night, when the discussion on the borough of Stafford came on. The consequence of the absence of Honourable Gentlemen on that occasion was the loss of an important question, and a triumph to the supporters of Toryism an d corruption over the advocates of public freedom—e ll 3 purity of election. Our animadversions have called forth a great many communications from absent Members—ne t controverting the justice of our remarks, but palliating the neglect of their public duties in this particulai• instance - The following is ono of those communications, which, as it makes out a stronger case in favour of the absentees than any of the others which we have received, we have selected for insertion. We shall only say valeat quantum ialere potent, and shall refer our readers to another part of our paper for a list of all the Members of all parties who wer e not present at the division on the question alluded to TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN. Wednesday morning• Sir,—Admitting the justice of your censure upon th°s4 On Tuesday next, in 2 vols. post Bvo., 16 5 ., 1) I C C OR I 0 L A ; CAPTIVITY ' CAPTIVE. Henry Colburn, Publisher, l3 , Great Marlb oroug h- street. _