The Sun. — London, England, 1831-08-11 00:00:00

will ultimately extinguish the franchise of the free-' man and the scot and lot voter. But will the Aristocracy ultimately or really gain by the sub division of counties ? Lord Yarborough may nomi nate two Members for Lincolnshire. Lords Foley arid Beauchamp may divide between them the ad mirable county of Worcester. Derbyshire may be awarded in part to the (present) patriotic Duke of Devonshire. A moiety of Warwickshire may be given to the Marquis of Hertford, and Wiltshire apportioned among three great landed Autocrats. But what will the Peers, as a body, gain by these feudal assignments of the representation of the people ? Will it not again create an imperium in imperio—a minority of influence opposed to a majority of Peers without these partial posses sions ? Would it not infallibly create a deep prejudice against property, against possessions by pi imogeni tore, against hereditary legislators usurping the rights of the Commons ? Would it not involve my Lords Spiritual and Temporal" in an early and irresistible contest for the ballot ? Let the Lords reflect on these objections on their part, arid we are confident that they will see that their interest and that of the people are one and indivisible. Yorkshire has always been considered as three coun ties, and may advisably be severed in the exercise of the elective rights. Lord Althorp, by postponing the consideration of Lincolnshire, appears to treat that county as a separate case of division. Its no minal " marked boundaries" afford no argument for halving this county, arid we know that the strongest local objections are entertained against division. We trust that the Ministry, on this important prin ciple, will not make a " Government question" of clauses which have excited so much objection in and out of the House. The division can in no way affect the success of the Bill. A division of the counties may suit the personal interests of a few— very few—of the landed proprietors of both parties ; it cannot be consistent with the opinions or interests of the body of Lords or Commons. If the borough system is fortunately destroyed without a revolution, it will be worth no one's while to traffic in the franchises of the people, and the real influence of no order of English society will be so much advanced as that of the Peerage, when the memory of their usurpations yields to the superior influence of their personal characters and property.—Moan. Chico. Ministers, by the questions asked them in Parlia ment, touching their relations with Poland, have had an opportunity of stating fairly to the world, what are the feelings which they entertain towards that unhappy and heroic land. The opportunity offered, we grieve to say, has not been laid hold of. On the 20th of last month we declared, in no measured terms, our anxiety for the deliverance of the perse cuted Polish nation, and our full conviction that a direct interference for their benefit, on the part of the British and French Governments, was not only consistent with, but powerfully enjoined by, every principle of wisdom, justice, and honour, which can be appealed to as safe directors of the affairs of men. Several letters which we have since received upon this most interesting subject, afford us an oppor tunity of ouce more inviting to it the earnest attention of our readers. It has already been confessed by every upright man in Europe, that those independent Governments which looked on while Poland was racked and torn to pieces by Russia, Prussia, and Austria, in their former partitions, that those independent Governments—England and France more particularly—were passive sharers in the most atrocious villainy that ever was perpe trated by conjoint fraud and force. It is admitted, that notwithstanding the eternal blot which this crime impressed upon the character of contem porary States, and the fatal overthrow which it gave to the whole equilibrium of European power, no sufficient reason could have been deduced from either circumstance for breaking up a general peace, when it really existed, whether - with a view to redeem the disgrace, or to restore the subverted balance. But the partition, in so far as Austria and Prussia had been concerned, was greatly modified by Napoleon. By the treaties which they made with him. Austrian and Prussian Poland—that is, the provinces of the last partition—were partially released from the grasp of those plunderers. It has been said that the treaties made between Napoleon and the military despots whom he crushed with their own weapons, were extorted from them by fear, and were no longer binding than so long as he had power to enforce them. Then of what validity were the obligations incurred by Poland herself under the several treaties of partition ? Was she a free agent in accepting them ? What virtue was there in the treaties of 1814-1815 which re-forged the drains of Poland, and settled Europe by enslaving it ? Were the nations bought and sold like cattle, and disposed of to masters whom they knew not, or abhorred,—weie t hey to be for ever bound by the acts of a Congress which they execrated; while no compacts entered into from the fear of Napoleon were to hold good ? Of many attempts which had been made to shake off or lighten the yoke of that dreadful coalition of 1815, those of i 7 ranee and Belgium are the only ones which have yet suc ceeded. If the treatie; of 1815 were to be main tained at all events, and oia the ground of public principle and necessity, why were France and Bel gium, after one of them had expelled the House of Bourbon and the other that of Nassau,_---why, we repeat, have they been recognized as independent States, non obstantibus the conditions made in 1815, by the alliance so-called 14 Holy ?" Why, but because it was more expedient to make the re cognition with a decent grace, and without a war, than to go to war and then be forced to grant it, But if free France and free Belgium have been ac knowledged by the parties wino lied placed them both, in 1815, under a bondage which was proved afterwards they detested, and which detesting they have both indignantly cast off, what principle is' there that can be alleged as opposing itself to the re cognition of Poland ? The Poles are made subject to Russia, not absolutely, but on conditions ; they were to be a separate people, and ruled as such, by a Russian Monarch; they were to have a Constitu tion—that is to say, laws,—as their securities against arbitrary and despotic power. The condi tions were one and all broken ; the States by whiz - al they had been stipulated were grossly and daringly insulted—France among them, England at the head of them. Good cause of quarrel was provided by Russia years ago, through the breach of fraith to the British nation, in respect of our Polish brethren, for whose rights and liberties we had solemnly contracted in 1815. The Dutch troops, though beaten out of Belgium, were not de stroyed, arid at this hour have renewed the contest, The Russian troops were beaten out of Warsaw, and retired from the whole country west of the Vis tula; they have not yet subdued the Polish army, after all their mighty efforts, and the noisy boasts cif their master. Then we do aver that Russia is now in the possession of no rights derived from acknow ledged sovereignty—that she is in the act of, for the third time, repeating that atrocity, the non-pre. wention of which by Great Britain slid France in 179 3 will ever be a stain upon their respective an nals ; the permission of which by France and tinge land in 1815 must be lamented as a cruel effect of the relative imbecility to which the events of the great war, and the position of the European con tinent had reduced them, and of which their passive endurance would at the present moment be a shame more indelible than that of /793, and a calamity more deplorable than that of 18i5, Jut the question, since all difficulty on the score of pri:iciple h as been removed, is simply w h et h er , on calcui,:tions of mere general advantage, it would be better to see Poland still a galley-slave of Russia ) , independent, and frontier member of the or a great, the be d. those . who European commOnwolth. t, find immense obstacles in the way (4 a 'rect. inter ference for an object so inestimable, we ace among pcair those who see more hazard of every kind, more tive toil, and expense, and bloodshed for all nations, in the (not remote) conseq uence of a tiEird extinc tion of the Poke, than in any effort which need nuw f be made for their delieerance from the grasp o Russia. it ie strelitiously recommended from many quarters, that public meetings should be held, and ..übscriptions opened, for the assistance of Poland in this her hour of agony. The cause is glorious— and the sentiment in favour of Polish freedom beats in every British heart. We eagerly adopt the wishes of our correspondents, that if evidence be required by his Majesty's Government of the warmth and energy of the national spirit in seconding whatever more formal interposition might be made on behalf of Poland, such proof may at once be furnished by the people of England in the extent and liberality of their subscriptions before it be too late.—Times. The Committee made considerable progress with " the Bill" last night. It disposed of the sixth cla►ase, and schedule F, to which that clause refers. The class of places in this schedule are all in Wales. They consist of the shire towns or principal boroughs of the Welsh counties, to which certain places are respectively added, as sharers iu the representation, —some of them at greater and some at less distances from each other. The strongest opposition was made to the union of Merthyr-Tydvill with Cardiff, on account of the distance between them, which was stated to be 25 miles. On this question the Committee divided, when Ministers obtained a ma jority of 164 to 123. The Committee then pro ceeded to the ninth clause of the Bill, which relates to the representation of Yorkshire. We must refer the reader to the report of the debate for the argu ment on this subject. The clause was agreed to without a division. The next clause relates to the division of counties into districts ; we trust that this very objectionable project will not be persevered in.—Times. We are glad to find that the question of Poor Laws for Ireland is making its way both in and out of Parliament. Not many weeks ago Sir John Newport declared his opinion in favour of a modi fied system ; and last night Mr. Brownlow, an Irish Member of great influence, presented, from a body of still greater influence in that country (the Ro man Catholic Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland), a petition calling for some immediate enactment on the subject. Mr. Brownlow declared himself favourable to the object of the petitioners, and almost all the Members who spoke were advocates for a compulsory provision—the only effectual pro vision that can be relied upon for the relief of the poor. Still, however, there are some politicians of the economical school so strongly opposed to the principle of Poor Laws as to resist their introduc tion even under the present circumstances of that country. Colonel Torrens, we find, is one of these. He recommends the encourage ment of agriculture, coupled with a system of emigration, in preference to one of compulsory relief ; and certainly, if we were obliged to choose between the two courses, we should agree with him in preferring the former. But there is no reason why both remedies should not be applied to the correction of the evils under which Ireland has long suffered. Let agriculture, and every other species of industry, be encouraged ; but let not the poor be forgotten. Experience, recent experience, has shown that the most frightful exhibition of human misery cannot open the purses of some people to relieve the wants of their 'fellow-creatures. The thousands who would have lately starved in Ireland, but for English charity and humanity, are so many witnesses to this fact. Things cannot go on always as they have done, Benevolent people may and will continue to tax themselves voluntarily rather than witness the spectacle of a perishing multitude; but it is only by the interference of Parliament to lighten and equalize the burden that permanent re lief can be supplied. We would rather see even an ill-concocted system of Poor Laws established in Ireland than witness the exhibition of such misery and insensibility as prevailed in that country during the late distress.—Morning Herald. It appears by a return made to the House of Com mons, that the late treasurer of Queen Anne's Bounty died in debt to the charity upwards of 30,0001., between 11,000/. and 12,0001. of which is found to be irrecoverable, either from assets of his own or his sureties. It is true that the Archbishops and other dignified Clergy, who have the manage ment (or rather, as far as this particular item of the account goes, we should say the mismanagement) of this fund, have agreed to make up the deficiency among themselves by yearly instalments of 1,1001.; so that in ten or eleven years, if they live, and are of the same mind, there is a chance of the charity losing nothing but the interest upon the deficiency, of the means of doing in the meantime that good for which (and not for the benefit of the treasury) it was originally destined. This resolution is highly honourable to their Lordships, especially as the fact most likely is that the loss has been occasioned more by the neglect of the predecessors of most of them than their own. It is an act of liberality and justice too, worthy of being contrasted with the conduct of some who could be named, who have not only de clined to make up the public deficiencies of some of their !Jeer connections, but who are strongly suspected of revelling to this moment in the spoils of official turpitude. But still we must ask, what apology or excuse can be offered for such a gross abuse as must here have been suffered to take place, as the mere fact of 30,0001., or one-tenth of that sum, being allowed to lie dormant in the hands of a treasurer, especially of one who appears to have only given security for 6,0001. ? Did the persons intrusted with the care and distribution of this fund never look at the accounts ? Or did common arithmetic form no parr of their education ? If it did, we should have thought that they might have discovered that the mere interest of this sum at 4/. per cent. would have amounted to 1,200/. per annum, which would have been not improperly bestowed in augmenting the scanty incomes of no less than six hundred of the poorer Clergy by stipends of 201. a year each, or of 504 a year to twenty-four of them. Instead of which it was 411 wed to lie dormant in the hands of a defaulter ; and that while Parliament was voting still larger sums for the very same purpose, the application of which, it is to be hoped, had been more rigidly and honestly looked after. We re ' peat, however, that: the determination of the Com missioners to replace, out of their own pockets, the defalcation of their treasurer, affords an honourable and rase instance of self-devotion; and one which, we trust, wilt basic the effect of inducing those who hold similar situations to save themselves, and the funds over which they have the controul, from similar losses. —Morning Herald. After the lessons which his Majesty's Ministers have so repeatedly read so the Opposition on the subject of factious delay, we were little prepared for the szene of last night. The very first of the cons structive disuses of the Bill was found so imperfect, that the Chancelior ,o,f the Exchequer, unable to give any answer to the objection: which were flagrant upon 0.3 e face of it, and finding his Le•gtted Col league, the Attorney-General, and his still more Learned Ally, Mr. O'S'otinell, differing in opinion from him and from each other, was reduced to what we shostld venture to call the humiliating necessity of withdrawing, in order to remodel, the first and foun dation clause of a bill which was four months under the special consideration of the Cabinet before it was introdusses! into Parliament, and of which three suc cessive editions have been offered to the House of Commons. This moat esstraordinary proof of inca pacity and ignorance (the favourite 3Jini4terial apo logy of Seadvertenee cannot we presume be applied to this case) is rendered still more extraordinary by the fact that the Attorney-General, who has hitherto chiefly distinguished himself by the lectures which he has thought proper to read to the Opposition upon the delays which they have interposed to the progress of this Bill, should on this occasion have excused the state of helpless inability in which lie and his noble fiiends found themselVes of either ex plaining to inatkhee it intelligible,lauseasitsto o o n d t , h o e r p o l f e a a m o e f the nding u i n t e s x o as. pected rapidity with which the Bill was - proceed ing. squally extraor di nary i s another fact, Mr. Cioulbuen, many nights ago, i n the course of one of those discussions which were then characterized tis frivoiOui ,'!rat) dilatory, apprzed Ministers of the future difficulty, and suggested to them the neces sity of a remedy. To this suggestion, of the can dour and propriety of which they have become at last painfully convinced, they either turned an inat tentive ear, or received it with that contemptuous self-sufficiency which has been throughout this whole affair in the d;rect proportion of their incapacity. The country has now, from the avowal of the Mi nisters themselves, a confession that even after so many months of consideration and so many weeks of debate they had not read the first clauses of the Bill, or, if they have read them, were entirely igno rant of their meaning ; and it will be more and more convinced not only of the propriety but of the absolute necessity of that vigilant and searching at tention which the Opposition have given to this Bill, both in its unconstitutional principles and in its illegal and blundering details.—Morning Post. In so far as the motion of Lord Londonderry last Tuesday evening went to extort from Ministers premature disclosure of the stage at which the nego tiations of the European Governments had arrived with regard to the dispute between Holland and Belgium, and its consequences, it is impossible to differ from Lord Grey as to the mischief which might have been produced by yielding to the Noble Marquis's proposal. Points of high honour and inappreciable interest are most calmly and securely settled when the negceiators are under circumstances not liable to pressure from without. But beyond the refusal of the papers moved for, we feel not the same inclination to pledge ourselves on either side of the questions agitated by the Lords on Tuesday. It is clear that the eighteen preliminaries of peace trans mitted to the Government of Holland by the Congress were considerably less favourable to that country than the terms of the protocols which she had pre viously accepted, when tendered to her by the Mi nisters of the same Congress, and by them declared to be final. The truth, in the opinion of many people, is, that Holland has not had full justice awarded to her throughout some of these transactions,—that there has been an increased indulgence shown to Belgium, and a progressive coolness towards Hol land, owing to an intractable and pertinacious pre ference, perhaps not unnaturally given, by the King to Dutch interests over those of Europe.— The King of Holland, it appears by Tuesday's de bate, has been charged with something not far short of perfidy, for attacking Belgium without notice of any such design. But the Duke of Wellington affirmed that his Dutch Majesty had apprised the Conference time enough for such an interposition as might have stopped the march of the French troops, that he did intend to support his negociations by arms. This was denied in the House, and on high authority; it being alleged that none of those who had access to the Dutch King's letter could agree in giving it such an interpretation. We have the terms of the despatch before us, and those of our readers who can ferret out mysteries where we for our part do not see any, are now at liberty to judge for themselves :—" And besides, the King is deter mined to support his negotiations by military means. In fact, his Majesty, after nine months of fruitless negotiations, which have been without the slightest advantage to Holland, and during which he has never ceased to give proofs of his sin cere desire to terminate amicably his dispute with Belgium, has judged that unless he were to sacrifice the most vital interests of Holland, without the maintenance of which indeed she would be unable to exist, he must renounce all hope of obtaining from the Belgians reasonable terms of separation, except through coercive measures, to which it was likewise the more indispensable for his Majesty to have recourse, because the existing crisis could not be prolonged without at once endangering our public spirit, our finances, our army, and our po litical existence. His Majesty, on the other hand, has reason to believe, that the appearance of his troops in Belgium will have a tendency to restore the balance of the negotiations over turned by those means which the insurrection has succes,fully employed, whilst Holland re- . _ mained in a purely defensive attitude. .Thence, unquestionably, the King's resolution to throw his army into the scale simultaneously with the negotia tions carrying on in London, for the sake of obtain ing equitable terms of separation,—an object too precisely pointed out, and too frankly avowed, to give pretence for the slightest doubt,—ought not to inspire uneasiness." Now, from the above and other passages of this remarkable letter, we are compelled to say, that the King of Holland cannot with any fairness be accused of an intention to disguise from the Powers in conference the nature of his hostile policy towards Belgium. He said that he had re solved on employing arms simultaneously with ne gotiations, at the very time when he was sending M. de Nyevelt to this country, who, in fact, was the bearer of this very letter. On the point, therefore, of alleged bad faith, he appears to Us to be altogether blameless. Whether France is so entirely blameless for the amount of force which she has put in motion for the frontier, and for the " wedding" haste with which she has despatched it, we have already hinted the possibility of some dif ference of opinion among the conferring Powers. It is one thing for five Cabinets to agree after ge neral consultation as to certain arrangements be tween the Dutch and Belgic States, to be submitted to each for its acceptance, and having the peace of Europe for their object, and, undoubtedly, a far dif ferent thing for one of the said Cabinets, with out any consultation at all, to march, on its own authority, an army of fifty thousand men by way of enforcing at the point of the sword its own construction of the obligation imposed upon the King of Holland. It is plain that France, it is manifest that Russia, have, in their re spective cases of Belgium and Poland, experienced more respect from contemporary Powers than has been exhibited towards the Poles, the King of Holland, or the Belgians themselves. The King of Holland has, beyond dispute, been rash and obstinate. It can only be said for him that he did not seek the crown of Belgium. It was forced upon him in 1814 by those who now punish his resent ment at the loss of that unnatural dominion. But rash, obstinate, or impracticable though ha be, he does not, morally speaking, deserve less deference than a Russian despot, or a war faction at Paris. The misery of all this in the eye:of an Englishman is, that it tends to complicate the situation of Great Britain. She ought to save Holland, if neces sary—she ought to save the Poles. But if she takes part against military fanaticism in the west of Europe, should such a spirit be displayed, what obstacles may not be thrown in the way of her ulti mate resistance to military tyranny in the north ? Times. We have had the honour to receive a holo graph letter from Sir WALTER SCOTT, contradicting the absurd statement which has been going the round of the papers, and which alleged that our illustrious countryman had interfered in behalf of the exiled family of France, in such a manner as to have called forth the indignant feeling of M. CIIATEAUBRIAND. It is only necessary for us to state that we copied the paragraph from a French paper ; and, though we never doubted for one moment that the statement was wholly false, we refrained from expressing ourselves to that effect, because we did not think that we were entitled to give an opinion on the subject. The re• putation of Sir• WALTER SCOTT is the most precious jewel in the rich mine of our country's fame ; and we rejoice, not from any political motives certainly, that the report in question has received from him that unqualified contradic tion which it challenged.—Edinburgh Wvening Post. AGRIPULTURAI , OUTRAGES.—Extract of a letter from the Isle of Tbanct :—" Our troubles are, I fear, beginning again. On Friday night Mr. and Mr. had nine acres of wheat unbound and scat tered abroad, because it was not reaped. My bailiff and I were on horseback nearly all last night, to guard my mown wheat. A blighted crop and a disturbed district are not cheering winter prospects. The destruction of ma chinery was bad enough, but this seems a still more dan gerous and mischievous power in the hands of a lawless rabble, and nothing but the strong arm of the law, vigo rously used, can frustrate this diabolical destruction and waste of property. Similar scenes have occurred in the neighbourhood of Dover, in consequence of the wheat having been mowed—not reaped," REFORM-EDINBURGH POLITICAL UNION. (Abridged from the New North Briton of Saturday.) PUBLIC MEETING. Last night a meeting of the Edinburgh Political Union was held in the Calton Convening Room, at which such of the inhabitants as wished the Bill speedily to pass, and who feel indignant at the factious opposition which it has met with in the House of Commons, were invited to attend. At half-past six o'clock the Hall was crowded to excess, when immediately thereafter the Council of the Union entered, and the chair was taken by the Pre sident, George Brodie, Esq. Advocate. The CHAIRMAN rose and said, Gentlemen,—When the Wellington administra tion carried one grand healing measure, what an outcry was raised by the high Tories. How did they depict, in exaggerated colours, the public cala mities, which they attributed wholly to the admini stration ? how declare that, had the people been fairly represented, the Bill could never have passed ? —(Cheers.) Did they not, then, of themselves proclaim the necessity of Reform ? Well, then, in no long time, what they affected to desire the people demand—(Loud cheers) —and what has been the result ? That like the poor old man who called on death, but changed tone on his appearance, they alter their note, and quashing all differences with their previous adversaries, unite in thwarting the public will as pregnant with the greatest evils. The general excitement is, as it suits their purpose, ex aggerated or denied, or alleged to be fast subsiding. When the King appeals to the people they denounce the act as pregnant with all the horrors of anarchy. But, to their dismay, it has, with some unfortunate exceptions in Scotland, proved one of " tranquil anarchy." had it been otherwise their game was played. Alarm, which might have united the upper classes of society to resist Reform, might have re stored them (the burghmongers) to power. Dis appointed in their expectations of something dif ferent from " tranquil anarchy," and defeated on the general principles of the depending question, our enemies have resorted to other tactics. Under the direction of Chancery barristers, accustomed to see causes hung up till the heart grows sick from hope deferred, they have proceeded like petty-loggers who boast that, though they cannot gain the suit, they can at least protract it. And what did they pro mise themselves from delay ? On the one hand they anticipated some event that might create alarm ; and much must the " tranquil anarchy" which has prevailed in France during the anniversary of the three glorious days have galled them.—(Loud cheering.) On the other, they flattered themselves that the people may become indifferent from delay. Nay, with a folly equalled only by the meatiness of their policy, they already proclaim that the people have become lukewarm.—(Cries of" never, never.") Now, gentlemen, it becomes us all to proclaim our unalterable desire of Reform.—(Cheers,) Hitherto'. it would have afforded an advantage against us, as if we entertained a purpose of keeping up unnecessary agitation,s—as if we, who had the Ministry with a majority in the Lower House in our favour, and therefore ought to rely on their accomplishing the me sure—had in reality ulterior objects in view. On this principle has the Council acted, arid, considering how the yeomanry and high arid special constables were called out when the working classes held their excellent meeting—bow the constables were in re quisition when we were last assembled—you will admit that we acted judiciously. But the Council has not been idle, the Union is not falling to pieces, as our enemies assert.—(Great cheering.) Repeated meetings have been held : a deputation had a con ference with the Lnrd Advocate, and a memorial addressed to the Premier has been dispatched as well as published. With regard to that memorial, objections, as were anticipated, have been taken to one passage. It respects the qualifications of Mem bers. Now, we were not, could not be ignorant of the statutory qualifications of Members in England; but then, unless we are most grievously misinformed, the law, however literally enforced, is substantially evaded, and that in a manner calculated to throw undue power into the hands of individuals. Is the Scottish provision intended to become a similar mockery ? At the best it is foolish. Is it meant to be substantially enforced ? Then the objection to it remains unimpaired. But the grand objection to the Scottish Bill relates to the qualifications of lessees within burgh. A verbal lease, for a year or less, we all know is perfectly valid, and the terms may, as in other cases of verbal contracts, be proved by parole testimony. Now the Bill requires a written title; and mark the consequences—small tenements can never bear the expense of stamps, &c. fi r such con tracts, and unstamped writings are not receivable in evider.ce. Three-fourths of the inhabitants, other wise qualified, are thus excluded—(Hear, hear) — while a dexterous political agent, may easily contrive to engross the power of returning a Member.— (Loud cheering.) To this subject your attention must be directed ; and, on a fitter occasion, I shall, if necessary, show that there is no occasion for altering, on this head, the established law of Scot land. (The Learned Gentleman concluded amidst loud applause.) Mr. WILLIAM TAIT, after a few observations, proposed— • Resolution 1. Tnat it is the conviction of this meeting that the feelings in Scotland in favour of the Bill to amend the representation of the people, has not in any way sub sided, as has been falsely represented, but, on the con trary, is becoming every day more intense ; and that the delay which has arisen in the progress of the Bill, a delay occasioned by the factious opposition of the borough mongers in Parliament, has caused throughout the country great disappointment and alarm. JOHN GREGORY, Esq. Advocate, said I rise, Sir, to second the resolution you have last heard. Let us for an instant consider who are our opponents in the great struggle, without regarding those who are swayed by private interest—let us advert to those honourable and high-minded men who are arrayed against us—and what, Sir, is their history—they are the remnant of the high Tory party of a former age, a party whose gradual dissolution we are des tined to witness in a political atmosphere unfitted for its support.—(Great cheering.) They are the men who, under the influence of a blind admiration of the past, have obstinately resisted those great measures of modern policy, whose object was the improvement and happiness of mankind.—(liear.) They are the men who, with stubborn pertinacity, resisted to the last the repeal of the Test and Cor poration Acts, and of the Statutes for the exclusion of the Catholics—and why? Because they were venerable specimens of legislation, and their respect would endanger the established Church of England —they urge the same objection to Parliamentaty Reform—it is a bad omen, Sir, for any cause or for any institution, when the arguments of their cham pions contain an admission of their weakness, and of their inability to maintain their ground in a fair field, and in the face of a real and national representation. —(lmmense cheering.) It is an additional argument against their cause that they have invariably enlisted the demons of intolerance and bigotry in defence of a church whose expense arid origin was fesedom of thought and resistance to the bigotry of 'Rome.— (Loud cheers.) They tell us, Sir, that the Bill is republican, and will conveit our happy mixed Con stitution into a pure republic. In the first place, Sir, our system, which in theory is mixed, has be come in practice and oppression an intolerable oligarchy.—(Hear, hear.) hi the second place the republican character of the Bill appears to me its greatest recommendation ; it will convert our ano malous oligarchy into a representative republic with a hereditary head.—(Applause.) They tell us, Sir, that no change of system can remedy the evils of our condition ; that assertion is premature, and would be better timed after the failure of the expe riment we are about to make. They ask if this change is to be final to that question. There are two replies; if this Bill be imperfect, it neither can nor ought to be final; but in no case can we either foresee or controul the decisions of future Parlia ments.—(Cheers.) Mr. ALEXANDER BRODIE—Since the union of this c ountry with England, th e p r actice of withholding writs from decayed boroughs, and granting the pri vilege to new ones alike populous and opulent, having been entirely abandoned, while the change in the state of the country has been unprecedented, a few individuals, by purchasing up the small num ber of decayed and tottering houses in boroughs en titled to return sometimes two Members, have, by thrusting their creatures into the House of Com mons, acquired an almost irresistible ascendancy in the Government. For availing themselves of that branch of the legislature, they concussed the Sovereign into appointing them to places of highest trust, when, elevating their friends or dependants to the Upper House, they were enabled to usurp the power of the state, and convert the public wealth into a species of private property. And mark their enviable situation. The terror of being hurled from their thrones, which shake under them when the people murmur, operates as a restraint on despots, who well know that, though their subjects may submit to occasional abuse of power, they will be apt to resist the attempt to impose on them oppres sive pecuniary burdens of whatever description. With the pageant of mock natural representation, what a despot durst not have attempted, these men have been able to effect, and yet escape the odium of the atrocious proceeding. Did the people corn plain of their burdens, the answer was ready. All money bills originating in the lower House of Par liament, composed entirely of their own representa tives, it was self-evident that, though a few might murmur, and working on the ignorant, might beget discontent at his Majesty's Government—(Cheers) the nation at large was differently affected, or no Ministry could have been successful in their mea sures, nor such burdens had ever been imposed.— (Cheers.) If, however, contrary to this belief, the country was dissatisfied, the remedy was in their power—they had only to be in future more circum spect in the choice of their representatives. Again, was allusion made to the honours showered on indivi duals whose merits none could discover, the answer was alike prompt—were they to blame because their Illustrious Sovereign honoured them with his confidence rather than their assailants ? Or would it become them to decline what he thought fit graciously to bestow ?—(Loud cheering.) Thus as noted London fences, who, dealing between the robber and the robbed, secure an immense share of the booty, and yet are safe from the strong arm of the law—so these men, with the pageant of national representation—which, standing behind the curtain, they manage, like Punch and Polly—on the one hand, and the gracious name of Majesty on the other, have long plundered the state with impunity. Happily for us all, a patriotic King, concerned for his subjects, like another Alfred, called on them to assist him in expelling these worse than Danish in vaders from the strong places of the Constitution of which they have possessed themselves. Victory seemed within their ardent grasp. Much, however, remained to be achieved. Vanquished, their enemies did not give up the contest. What they felt it vain openly to attempt, they imagined them selves able by stratagem to effect—yielding to the vain hope their almost desperate wishes enjoyed— " quod nirnis misere volunt, hoc facile credunt"—tliat the popular zeal would subside with time, when strong only as supported by the nation, Ministers might be attacked by surprise and vanquished,— they have, by every means, protracted the struggle. To dispel the illusion, deter from longer continuance in their vain course, and accelerate the settlement of the question, it is only requisite that the pecple de monstrate unequivocally that their ardour has suffered no abatement. And let rue remind every gentle men present, that should oar enemies prevail, all the evils we have hitherto groaned under scarcely deserve consideration in comparison of those we shall then be subjected to. But I have already tired your patience, and therefore, without troubling you with farther remarks, will proceed to read the resolu tion I have the honour to propose. 2. That a petition be transmitted from this meeting to the Commons House of Parliament, pointing out the evil consequences to the nation which will arise from keeping the minds of the people any longer in a state of feverish excitement, and humbly praying that Honourable House to accelerate, as much as possible, the passing of the Bill. Mr. THOMAS IRELAND, in rising to second the resolution, said why, instead of meeting to com plain, are we not now assembled to exercise our franchise ? We may blush to name it—a handful of boroughmongers have resolved that they, forsooth, should still retain the power of plundering the people; and every low art of chicanery—every mi. serable artifice of evasion is resorted to—that the interest of the few should still be preferred to the good of the many—(Cheers)—nay, these ruthless and remorseless men are eager to speculate on the calamities of the country, eager to postpone the measure till the terrible scourge of war—or even the death of our noble and patriotic King, come to their relief.—(Hear, hear.) That they have succeeded in stifling the public voice so long—that they have now such power to harass and retard the progress of our Bill, proves only the depth of our previous de gradation, and the extent of the public corruption. —(Cheers.) And were it possible to conceive that their arts could be successful, and that they frus trated the people in their object, then what would be our state ? We would be the slaves of the bo roughmongers, there could be no flattering ourselves with a different notion—(Cheers) —no more hug ging our chains and disguising them to ourselves— no longer flimsy aprons of fig-leaves—no abuse of Spain—no vituperation of Portugal—no pitying of Italy—but the naked truth would meet us in the face, and our conscience would proclaim to us that Great Britain and Ireland were enthralled by a sel fish and sordid oligarchy.—(Cheers.) And who are these men that a mighty nation should suffer all this ? The wise and the faithful, and the truly noble of the land ? No, these fight in our cause, and their opponents are Irish adventurers, smooth arid oily hypocrites, arid forensic buffoons, men who have possessed means of doing good only to abuse them, and power to pervert it to their own paltry purposes.—(Loud cheers.) If these are the men, what have their actions been ? I would cast a de cent veil over the doings of our own great men. I am unlearned in the law, and know riot how far it might be safe to chronicle their transactions. Sir, we will do our best, in COIIIIIIOII with our fellow countrymen, and tell them that the people will not thus be tr4led with—(Cries of " no, we will not") —and that they demand that no farther delay take place in recognising their title to the rank of free men. May God grant that this be speedily effected, arid the fearful consequences of violent convulsions averted. Mr. WEIR, Advocate, said, that the duty en trusted to him was to ex pre ss as briefly as he could the sentiments intended to be set forth in the peti tion. The object of the opposition in the House of Commons was delay, under the impression that something might t u r n o ut for their advantage; but it was evident from the tone taken in the Quarterly Review and other publications, that they now consi dered the Bill carried. They had now given up their opposition as lost, and the only thing that now remained to them was, to appeal to the prejudices and the fears of the House of Lords.—(Hear.) And the intention of the petition which he wished to be adopted, was first to request of the Commons that they would not grant that delay so factiously called for; and, second, to prevent the Lords from being deluded by the sophistries and falsities of that fac tion.—(Cheers.) The Learned Gentleman then read the following petition : " Sheweth,—That after the result of the late election was fully known, your petitioners, in common with their countrymen, felt quite confident as to the success of the Lionßeform of t hßille;alid necessitythey,o t t h h a e t re g fo re r a e t , although measure W th a e s i rase strongotivi. c. as ever, resolved to avoid every thin g which could create excitement, and to leave entirely with Parliament th e dis posal of the Bill, your petitio n e rs feeling the utmost con fidence in your Honourable House. " That the deity which has taken pl ice in the progress of the Bill, a delay totally unexpected by the country, has excited throughout Scotland the greatest disappointment and alarm, the evil effects of which are sensibly felt in every department of trade. That your petitioners, therefore, think it their duty to inform your Honourable House of this ; and also dot' in their opinion, if the passing of the Bill be much long deferred, the most serious consequences may be apprehends °. " May it, therefore, please your Honourable Hol to take the premises into your consideration, s°_, to accelerate, as much as possible, th e progress °` the Reform Bill. " And your petitioners will ever pray, &C. ° Mr. PRENTICE, chairman of the late meetings 0 the operative classes, seconded the motion, that the petition read should be adopted. Mr. BIGGER moved the third resolution, whic h was seconded by Mr. AYTGEN That the petition be sent to Joseph Hume, Esq. lg• P to be presented to the House of Commons." After the thanks of the meeting had been voted to the Chairman the meeting adjourned. THE MARKETS. gr.-Aug 10. Primrose 'Main , 945 .6 a; Walls End Hetton 3 2 n u Walls End Lambton..... 31 ' 4 , Walls End Stewart's W. E. Russell's Helton 32 Barnsley New. . „u Blyth 1 ' Cowpen 97 0 Graigola 35 0 Hartley 2B 0 Llangennech Coal 35 2 LlangennechPemberton 31 New Flockton, and Co Silkstone Field and Co. 27 Old Haigh Moor ....... '2 l Walls End 0 Hebburn small , 18 0 Montague Main small— 16 0 Callerton small Gosforth small . , 17 ~ Russell's Helton small sold. 37 —Uissold. 15%. COAL MAR Adair's 2.65. 3d. Bensham Main --- 21 6 Garestield 25 0 Holywell 26 6 Killingworth 26 6 Newcastle 8ean............—. 20 0 Ord's lteslhugh 23 6 l'ontop Windsor---... 26 6 Tanfielst 'cownley 25 6 West Hartley . 25 6 Wylam 25 3 Walls End Carr and Co. 26 6 Ditto Bcwicke and Co. 29 0 Ditto Burraton 27 3 Walls End Greenwell —25 0 Walls End Gosforth —.... 29 9 Walls End Heaton—. 30 9 Walls End Hilda 27 0 Walls End Hotspur...—., 27 6 Ditto Northumberland 27 0 Walls End Riddell's—. 29 0 slops at market, s'4i--Shipi B 0 COUNTRY CORN MARKETS DURING THE WEE Wheat. Barley. Oats. Bea u '' Per Quarter. s. to S. IS.to s. S. to S. r. to t 62 81 31 43 '22 30 Andover.....„ 73 80 37 41 Birmingham...— 64 72 22 40 24 32 51 Bridport 56 74 32 39 26 30 -- Cirencester —, 57 68 38 44 24 29 -- Faringdon...— 54 86 36 40 26 38 Guildford Henley, Hereford , B 5l 83 92 30 44 35 2 48 —8 30 Highworth 62 80 32 42 28 34 -- Maidenhead 65 86 32 46 20 33 -- 51onmouth--.... 61 72 23 44 Reading „ 65 90 31 47 21 32 Salisbury 52 66 32 36 29 32 -- Southampton —.... 54 78 37 40 28 32 4 6 Stroud - 4 6 Tewkesbury 65 74 40 42 30 38 -- 46 Uxbridge 48 78 32 38 24 34 -- Wantage. 5B 80 30 43 21 30 46 Warminster 46 68 28 28 25 39 —y.) Windsor , 59 21 22 -- 45 Worcester—.... .64 68 24 36 ,24 28 CHELTENHAM MA RICET.—Aug. 9. 6, Per Bushel. s. d. to s. d. Per lb. d. to g Wheat Barley 4 0 5 6 Mutton Oats 4 0 4 3 Veal Beans Pease 3 0 7 0 Lamb 0 Oats Beans Pease Hay 40 43 50 60 50 70 3/. 10s. Veal Pork Lamb to 31. 15s. On. pet ton. LEWES MA RIC ET.— Aug. 9. White Wheat (per quarter)--.—.X3 8 0 to £3 11 t () , Red ditto 3 4 0 3 6 Barley.-..... .. , ... Oats, New 1 5 0 1 7 l„' Beans.. 1 14 0 1 16 ; Oil Cake. New _ _ 12 0 0 per thousa'. HULL MARKET.—Aug. 9. an d The weather has been generally fine during the week, an, pit trade has been extremely dull, with very little business pa• 4 _,.4; The harvest has partially commenced in this neighbourh!:ii the Wheat crop is represented variously; on some lands they promise of an average crop, on others the produce is eXPefoe light ; it is yet too early to give any opinion as to quality, bu' t d. general impression is that it will not be so fine as was expect i Oats are represented as a fair crop, and Beans almost a fa. O'od The supply of Wheat is limited to-day from the fanneot,ei any thing fine has with difficulty commanded last week's Pr i thil the same remark applies to foreign ; but any thing under denomination is difficult to quit. Nothing passing in t' i T e 6 under lock. The Oat trade continues very dull, and t0 e ,,0 sales ls. per quarter decline must be submitted to. In . ino , little or nothing doing. Very few Beans offering, and pric.o,, jr , altered. Linseed firm at the quotations. No alteratio Rapeseed. Wheat, Old —s. 665. 635. Now —s. • Foreign —s. 545. Ms. ln bond... —s. ••••- 0 . Iy,. Oats, Poland —s. 245. Ss. Old Small or Feed.... —s. 245. 26s ••••41. Foreign —s. 228. 2.4 s —d..-s. ;Q. Barley, Norf. &Suf.... —s. 40s. 49.5. Line. & Wold —s. Foreign —s. 32 Mg ' 3 . ,06, Beans 365. 345. 40s. F0reign......... —s. 38 3 . ;:j. Pease, White —s. 465. 48s. Grey Tares —s —s. —s. Foreign —s. 3 06 , 11' Rapeseed, in b0nd......n0ne. EXETER 51A1 Beef (score).„--Bs. 6d. 9a. 6d. Mutton (Ib.)--.0 5 0 5j Veal and I.amb-0 5 0 6 Park 0 4 0 6 Geese (each) 4 0 6 0 Ducks (coup'e).—..2 0 3 6 Fowls 6 2 6 DUMFRIES MA s. d. 5.e1.1 Wheat, Imp. Bush 7 4to 7 8 Barley 3 9 4 0 Oats " 7 3 3 Flour, 141 b. Oatmeal Potatoes. cwt. .KETS.—ug. 5. 1:11. e a ' B B O : a a rtl n se s y ....... -- --- 9 .5 4 16 6 1 .63 ,: t1 Wbeat (bushel) —.Se. 6d• 5 0 Butter (Ib) —........0 8 0 z,, Eggs (18) ----0 0 1 " 6 Potatoes (peck) ...0 5 1_1....1 RKETS.-Aug. 3. A N. d. /be ' Butter, 16oz 0 0 We Eggs, dozen 0 0 0 4, Beef, per lb. Mutton 0 4 o Veal 4 0 0 Quartern Loaf 0 7 During sermon in the church of InveraU on Sunday ee'nnight, the attention of the congregs ti o ° , was attracted by the appearance of two strangers (tl, umbrella-maker and a fair companion), who frequen in the course of the service, left the church and r a t' entered it. Towards the close of the Parson's disco uv , the couple became apparently absorbed in " or i° , l , o / thoughts," and immediately before pronouncing be blessing, both the man and woman stood up, when 1 0: former repeated aloud, to the no small astonishol ot, s the congregation—" I declare myself and thin wotu a married couple, before God and this congregation;" which the bridegroom and bride marched from ehur rt , congratulating each other on the shortness of thee ( mony.—lnverness Journal. COURT OF CHARLES IL-THE GARFII C ; PAPERS, &c.—We are requested to state that the foll°,, ing interesting new works are now ready f o r delife", ,' viz.—l. The Private Correspondence of DAVID 6) , RICK with the most eminent persons of his time, I v ° 'ui 2. The Third No. of the Bea u ti e s of the Court1 00 CHARLES 11. (to be completed in five Nos.)-3. Let oj addressed to JOHN ECUs, Esq. during the Revolutiooo4 1688: edited by Lord DOVER, 2 vols.-4. A Seem, Edition of Memoirs of the Loves of the Poets ; 13.1 ,1je phical Sketches of Women celebrated in Ancient ano/ t y dein Poetry, 2 v ol s .—a n d 5. A S e co n d Edition ca Memoirs of Mrs. SinnoNs, with a fine Portrait, engr s by TURNER, after Sir THOMAS LAWRENCE, Q v ols. Vo l $: MUSICAL TEST OF THE FEMALE —The influence of the temper upon tone deserves consideration. Habits of querulousness or ill-natur e l! cominunicate a cat-like quality to the si ng i ng , as inf'' ; ic e as they give a peculiar quality to th e s p ea king' /6l 'd That there really exist amiable tones is not an uti - fou ° opinion. In the voice there is no deception ; ua it ?i e i. many, the index of the mind, denoting moral ql ll o o and it may be remarked, that the low, soft tones of g e ,p ll and amiable beings, whatever their musical endosil*ipj may he, seldom fail to please; besides which, the silo of ladies indicates the cultivation of their taste ge ne'' , and the embellishment of the mind. For an instant c ' pare the vulgarity of a ballad. singer, her repulsive t°"0 1 , voice, and hideous graces, to the manner of an equi4lol cultivated singer in good society ; or watch the treatilicoptl a pretty melody from the concert-room, at the We i ' o f, of London, until it reaches the ears from under th e :d lour window, and observe how it gains something P e , fer vulgarity with every fresh degradation.—Harroof tic° ' August 1. BIRTHS. b o re, On the 9th inst. in P ar k square , Mrs. Charles 0, daughter. , oro° On the 10th inst. in Ru sse ll- sq u a r e , the wife of i t- p. , Esq., of a son. On the Bth inst. in Upp er B roo k s t ree t, L a dy Cather ine o p f liie leau, of a son. On the Bth inst. in Wilton-crescent, Lady Franco , -or" of a daughter. odd` 11 On the Bth inst. at Spitalfields, the lady of Mr.-. of a son, still-born. ,tV M A 11 12 IE D. o 4 On the 9th inst. at W e st Ham, Colonel J. F. Saittv, f r •7 Stan' i Bombay Army, to Emily, daughter of the late W. - 0; of Maryland Point. Csri,. On the 9th inst. at Bishop's Lydiard, Somersetshire , .. t vi Fitzroy, of the Grenadier Guards, and second son o!.,hte,e, Lord H. Fitzroy, t o L a dy S a r a h L e thb r idge, second tia"V Sir Thomas Buckler Lethbridge, Bart. ofSandhill Pars. , 0 , setshire. to ,% :ro On the 10th inst. at Islington, Mr. John Fitzgibbon o qo est eldest daughter of the late T. Yallop, Esq., of Russel i pio l3 ' J and at the same time and place, Mr. A. Mitchell to e _ re, ,1 youngest daughter of the said 'l'. Yallop, Esq. "1,: On the 10th inst. at St. Mary's, Bryanstone-sql , - -a to , D'ltatiger, of New Quebec-street, Portman-squA re ' Godden, of St. George's-terrace, Hyde-park West. e '‘'‘ DIED. .O t,4 l ' On the 9th inst. in Devonshire-street, aged 46, Is-roc of F. R. Coote, Esq., and third daughter of J. 1 5138 , fi' l 6el°' of Jamaica. F. 1310. 0 O' On the Bth inst. at East Actsn, Middlesex, of the Rev. F. Sandys Wall. ,If. r On the 10th inst. at Canonbury, Elizabeth, wife o 4 ,0 0 Elwall. t E. At On the 9th inst. Caroline .Matilda, the wife of 3• 0 " . -0' of Wapping. tert°° c , a 5 ..........0. 1 On the 10th inst. James, the eldest son of J. of Chelsea, aged 30. PION ITD AND PuBI.I3IIED BY munuo YOUNG , SUN OYFICF, 11*.), S'IRAVD, L0,19("4 NoTi c WHE C Majesty T eria D eri AY,. the ; f :. the fnonwi:, let l ng St Article. REI ' O , WM' killEA A 5............. be of it Produced b e ,Soatract s ach Tende l l ti d d b e deliven 4. 1- the Person behalf, mu tail, inl Am pI R I!T•RATE ° 13E T R tacked„: si m A bt , natal eft C it y, the I Ate 44 , eka of of i ji t etor alon, ar l d t‘ to the 1 ,, 4t,'"ire fitted n v tli 4 t ' : 4 red to tl A i) i Lr,,,b ie no ko• P t r by letter t' 4 , 4 1 , 4 'g, Lang: cli pt,.. AI E 1110 tiee remedy , d eli; f or clears Corno l • VING of It. used, ' :1 "la k -i °r , in tl tl i , r in renderi /1 °u gh! 1 ,4 t, e„ Yextet and di 144 1108t•ate kl,lPPearan ee C 4 N ti ( ,, l bY San 1 - "ward ( b oo rt , 'Yard ; 1 36, N Z' Nn. 4, 11 4 a e k v ,„ S~aaA erf umera edn Europe Half 'l)t Prei nt gned