The Sun. — London, England, 1831-08-02 00:00:00

`'.:PIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. We have devoted a considerable portion of our -.;olumns to-day to an account of the splendid cere mony of yesterday,—we mean the opening of London-bridge. Those who were present at the . scene will require no apology for any minuteness of description by which we attempt to r:ev ivcits en chanting recollections, while those who were not will need more aid than any description of ours ca n supply to impress their imar;'mations with the full effect of its magnificence, Neither the interest at tached to the occasion, nor the magnitude of the gorgeousness of the ri ver preparations,—nor the covered with hats and bags,—nor the splendour of the Royal party and of the aquatic parade, were of an ordinary kind. Another magnificent structure, destined to announce to future ages our progress in th e arts, and our advance in commercial wealth, had been added to the ornaments and conveniences of our great city —a popular Monarch, with the grap e ! r et i nue of I s i s Court, his Ministers, and the majority of his Parliament, had proceeded, in splendid parade, along the bosom of that river whose banks the new struc ture connected, to open it for the public benefit— and half the population of this immense metropolis had rushed from its most distant streets and squares to witness the exhibition, of which they themselv e s constituted not the least inter es ti ng portion,—clus tering on all the bridges, —occupying all the quays, all the windows of the houses, from their founda tion to their roofs, arid swarming on long lints of gay barges, yachts, or steam-boats moored in the stream, and decorated with innumerable flags and streamers. The spectacle Cron. the new London bridge on the approach of the Royal party, will not soon be effaced from the memory of those who witnessed it. Perhaps no scene, at once so rich and so imposing, and yet so gay and enliven ing, could be presented to the eye by any capital in Europe, or in the world, on any occasion of pomp, ceremony, or festivity. The union of so much mag nificence with the celebration of an object of almost pure utility, was enough to make an Englishman proud of his country, of his capital, and his Sove• reign. —Times. The Tory prints are for ever taunting Ministers with the numerical amount of the Opposition in the House of Commons as to the Reform Bill. " Was ever any Ministry known," say the Tories," to stand against such an Opposition ?" Had a minority, equal in numbers to the present, been favourable to Reform, and a majority not exceeding that now pos sessed by Ministers, been adverse to it, every body knows that the Government could not have survived the first week of the session. The real and only force of a minority is its hold over the national sympathies. A popular minority has, ere now, suc ceeded in ousting an obnoxious Ministry, though backed by a majority of votes within doors ; but how a❑ Opposition, odious to the people, and out-voted at the same time within the walls of Par liament, can manage to defeat a Government which has both a large excess of Parliamentary votes and the unanimous suffrages of the people with it, is a problem yet remaining to be aclved. The ma terials constituting the present Opposition will be a recorded curiosity for future ages. It is a minority excluding from among its Members all, or nearly all the representatives of the people of England, and including none, or almost none, but those who sit as delegates of a power not acknow ledged by the Constitution, and through the prevalence of practices which the law of Eng land designates as crimes. If the majority of the House of Commons had been so composed, the country could have had no prospect of redress but by leaguing with a patriotic minority, and by petitions to the Crown and denunciations of the public enemy, and fresh " declarations of right," rom every quarter of the kingdom. If, unhappily, 'a whole House of Commons bad consisted of Members for rotten or nomination boroughs, what would —nay, what must—have happened ? The petitions for Reform being contemptuously rejected, the people would have said, these men are not delegated by us, we have no Parliament, they are but the slaves of ten or a dozen lords; the constitution by which they attempt to govern us, is a violent or fraudulent usurpation of ail political, natural, and moral right--it regards no in terests but those of our oppressors and plunderers; we will choose representatives for ourselves; we will have a real Parliament in spite of those who have erected themselves into a sham Parliament. They, no doubt, will call it a revolution—but falsely —for it is a restoration. Front this tremendous, but, in such a case, unavoidable enterprise on the part of the British nation, we have been saved by a majority who speak the national will. A spirit has got abroad which will not suffer itself to be tampered with—which will not brook evasion or delay. It already whispers from the Clyde and the Forth, and swells into murmurs more audible, though not more awful, on the shores of the Thames and Severn. We speak it with a belief in circumstances, which has wrought upon us a conviction of the general fact, that if the country feel but a suspicion of ultimate disappointment to its hopes upon this great question, north, south, east, and west, will act like one man in a resolute effort to bring back the Parliament, or the Ministers, or both, to a sense of the duty which is threatened with abandonment, and to ensure a broad, and searching, and effectual Reform. The value of all the Tory fallacies about diversified principles and modes of representation, is not badly shown up by a letter from our friend " Radical," who proves pretty clearly, by a cata logue of the names of those who voted in the mi nority on the second reading, that however varied may be the description of franchise, there is an edifying and luminous uniformity of motive through out the list of Anti-Reforming Members, no single instance having yet occurred in which the hostility to the Bill may not (so far as our correspondent has yet gone in the alphabet) be traced to some direct personal interest in the party voting, or in the party nominating ; for the accuracy of which state ment we refer the public to the names brought forward in succession by" Radical ;" and we leave it as an honourable key to the nature and integrity, as well as the nationality, of the opposition displayed against the Our readers will find under the proper head an account of the ceremony by which the opening of the new London Bridge was distinguished. It is not often that we select occasions of parade and pomp for any thing like serious comment, but the peculiar circumstances of the ;present day appear to us to take this meeting of the King and his people out of the province of the Court newsman, and to give it a political importance which otherwise it would not possess. At all events we are certain that if any gloom, even from the skies, had hung over th e day's amusements, the journals of the borough mongers would have seized the omen to rejoice in the anticipated defeat of the Reform Bill. There is, therefore, no good reason that we can see, why, as honest journalists, we should not express our se tisfaction at the absence of every sign and symptom which the most perverse ingenuity could torture to such a purpose. Never, perhaps, was so much en thusiasm evinced at any meeting between Sovereign and subject as on the occasion we allude to. It is impossible not to connect this fact with the state of the great question now occupying all men's minds, and proceeding, though slowly, yet surely, to the overthrow of corruption. Had there been any indication of shyness on the part of his Majes . y, or of coldness on the part of the vast multitude, who might be said with more propriety to represent all England th an t h e mere city of Lon don, we should have heard of it from certain quar ters before the evening had drawn to its close. Even as it is, we shall, probably, hear that the di g _ pity of a Sovereign is somewhat compromised by such condescension as uniformly marks the deport ment of William the Fourth. This, we know, is the opinion of the Tories, and therefore will serve as a text for the Tory supporters. But different people entertain dif f erent notions ofolgny, as the condescension of Kings has a dir ect tendency to strengthen their government in the affections oh the people, it is gratifying fo us, and to th . oe ivho think with us, to reflect, that, So fir as dignity is connected with strengths, she conduct of the British Monarch is calculated rather to promote than to diminith the deference which the Crown of this country ought always to command—the manly de ference of freemen. We refer to our account of the day's proceedings for the particul.rm by which this notice was suggested, and wt: titke leave, at the same time, to ask of those who an constantly al luding to the !anger which threatens the monarchy, whether, after the experience of such a day, they do not think it is a danger from which the Monarch has nothing to fear P—Morning Herald. A crack-brained French etthusiast, named Simon, whom his followstre ; ol)parently more in ridicule than in earnest ) haVe canonized into Saint Simon, is the author, it seems, of an absurd scheme for the divi sion of property, and for the establiAment of some Utopian scheme of tiovitrnment ) not only for his own countty ) but for the world, which have this merit over all their predecessors of the same class and genus—that they are there absurd and imprac ticable, and less attractive, than any that ever issued from the pigeon-holes of any modern Constitution maker; in short, are such as none but a Simon Pure could originate, and the veriest blockheads adopt or follow. Yet, on the developement of this still-born lifeless project, the last nutnber of the Qmarterip Review has bestowed a dull dissertation of between forty and Ilfty pages, under the joint heads of " Doctrine de St. Simon," and " New Distribution of Property." Of the system itself we should be inclined to say " none but itself can be its parallel," except that ) in one respect, the Re viewer appeers to have rivalled his text book—viz., in those somnolent qualities which set readers a doz ing, or, if they can keep awake, in wondering how any Tian can spend his tins% or occupy theirs, on a sub yet so utterly .barmitss, tasteless, and uninteresting. The object of the Quarterly Review in bringing forward till§ subject, however, cannot be misunder stood—indeed, is pretty candidly avowed. That object is to throw disrepute upon the cause of Re form, by making its readers believe that its accom plishment will he the first, and that a pretty wide step, towards a breaking up of all the elements of society, and the accomplishment of the insane pro jects of this St. Simon and his followers. The Anti-Reformers must believe the majority of man kind to have what arc called very " wide swallows," to gulp any proposition so egregious as this. It may be pardonable, perhaps, in the boroughmongers, by way of a last grasp at their darling possessions, to lay hold of a twig as fragile and as hopeless as this; but that the conductors of one of the most talented Journals in existence should lend its pages and its influence to the propagation of such fallacy, through the medium of such trash, is what we cannot but condemn as wholly unjustifiable. I l The truth is that it is the resistance to, not the ' accomplishment of Reform, which is calculated to bring about, not the accomplishment of the pro jects of the Saint Simonites, for they are too absurd to be seriously thought or talked of, bet to bring about that breaking up of ancient institutions which nothing but their better adaptation to their original object, as well as to the spirit of the age, can safely maintain. Even admitting that the Ministerial plan of Reform goes farther than more moderate re formers would have counselled, or may think safe, does it follow that no Reform Auld have been pre ferable ? On the contrary, is it not morally certain without Parliamentary Reform issome shape, the most frightful results were to be apprehended ? How utterly uncandid and unjust, then, is it in those whose resistance to all Reform has at length inevi tably produced the measure they now deprecate, not only to persist in an opposition which they know must be fruitless, but, instead of endeavour leg to lend their aid in perfecting it, thus to raise up bugbears which, they must well know, have no re ference to the subject, and, at all events, could only be the result of their own evil counsels being at tended to.—Morning Herald. Our readers will find, in another column, a letter addressed by Bishop Doyle to Lord Farnham, on the subject of a speech of the latter in the House of Lords. It is a production which cannot fail to produce a very great sensation in both islands. Lord Farnham, and all those who, like him, promote the circulation of the Scriptures in Ireland, while they claim for the Church the possession of her present enormous revenues, are in what may be called a false position. The first conclusion which a reader of the Bible must draw is, that no man who takes the New Testament as the rule of his conduct, can possibly wish to uphold the Church of Ireland. They who are indifferent to religion may think that it is of little consequence what gives the title to the possession of wealth. But a reader of the New Testament, who everywhere sees the possession of wealth stigmatised as excluding from the kingdom of Heaven,cannot pos sibly believe that that is generous Christianity which excludes all the Heads of the Church from the kingdom of Heaven, for they are all enormously rich. The inevitable conclusion drawn by every Bible reader, therefore, is, that the Church of Ire.- land cannot be a Christian Church ; and Lord Farn ham, and those who act with him, are the great enemies of the Church, by promoting the differences of Christianity. An acute opponent like Dr. Doyle, cannot be supposed to overlook the inconsistency of the Evangelical School. " Dal God or Christ (says the eloquent Bishop) ever will and command that there should be sinecures in his Church ? . Can Heaven, my Lord, witness, or the earth endure anything more opposed to feeling and justice, than a man professing to be the Minister of him who, being rich, became poor for our sak e '— the teacher of his Gospel, the follower of his law, taking the blanket from the bed of sick ness—the ragged apparel from the limbs of the pauper, and sell it by auction for the payment of tithe ? Who, with patience, can bear or behold the hun dreds of starving peasants assembled before theseat of justice (Oh, justice, how thy name is profaned !), to await the decree of some heartless lawyer, consigning their persons (for property they have scarcely what deserves the name) to ruin or imprisonment for arrears of tithe ? In this group of harassed, hungry, and afflicted paupers, you, my Lord, could recognise the widowed mother and the orphan child—the naked youth, whom individual charity had just clothed—and the common mendicant, whose cabin and rood of earth could not supply them with food ' and shelter for one half the year. But to view this assemblage of human misery, which I so often have beheld, and reflect that perhaps a moiety of them were the very objects for whose relief or comfort tithes were consigned by our fathers to clerical trust—that these paupers were the legal claimants on the funds now extorted from them under the very colour of law—to consider all this, and that the religion of him who claimed this tithe, was a religion unknown to them—that the Priest who fleeced them, never prayed with them, never consoled them, never ministered for them to Al mighty God ;—to reflect on all this, and yet be silent and unmoved, should not be expected, unless of some Atheist, whose god was his belly ; or of some fanatic, whose heart was hardened, and whose sense was reprobate. These are the exhibitions, my Lord, which I have seen and touched, and which led me, as they have led the best men that Ireland ever saw—not to conspire against tithes—but to de nounce them as unjust in principle, destructive of true religion, and subversive of the peace and hap piness of our native land." In this manner Dr. Doyle tramples on Lord Farnham, and all those who contend for tithes. In proportion as men become more versant in the Scriptures, they will be disposed to put an end to tithes, because, though tithes may not be at variance with religion (the religion of Alexander the coppersmith), they are clearly at variance with the Christianity of the New Testament. Bishop Doyle, however, is not content w i t h prov i ng that tithes are Anti-Chris tian ; he exposes the sophistry of the " self interested knaves or their advocates, who know well as he d oes , t h at churchmen are not propr i ietor, yet represent th em as sent to create alarm minds of real owners o f p roperty, who are le n d th'ye * this alarm to defend the tithe system, regardless of its injustice, as if it were an outwork necessary to the security of their own estate..." "It is sufficient, however," adds the Doctor, " for the guidance of the public, to know that the State or Legislature has at all times dealt with Church property as with a public trust, The holders of this trust, or as the law language calls them, the tisenfructuarii, are not the owners of the property of which they have a life use; and to suppose that any legal modifica tion of the property thus held by them, or of the terms on which they, as trustees, hold it, would affect even remotely the ordinary titles by wh . ch men hold their estates, is to confound things as dis tinct as light is from darkness." Dr. Doyle says that the full amount of the Church property in Ire land has never yet been ascertained; and that all the returns made respecting Bishops' lands, and the rentals of them, are fallacious; that they are sup posed to avnount to two-elevenths of the whole king dom. Two-elevenths of the lands of the whole kingdom, besides one-tenth of the gross produce of the rent, to a sinecure Church ! What Dr. Doyle says respecting the aversion of the Church to have their lands surveyed, is deserving of attention. No ; this state of things cannot continue. Were there no other brand on the Irish than the existence of this sinecure Church among them, possessed of two elevenths of the lands of the kingdom, and exacting one-tenth of the gross produce of the remainder, they would still be the veriest slaves in Europe.-- _Morning Chronicle. We have endeavoured to do our best to describe the splendid and emliVening scene of yesterday ; but no language is equal to the task. The loyalty and good feeling of the people exhibited itself in a man. tier never to be forgotten. The King was received, as a good King ought always to be received, with bursts of applause, which came from the heat, arid must have convinced him that no Monarch was ever so popular as himself. The river presented a most magnificent scene—a scene which could not have been exhibited in any other country in the world, and which must have made the King proud of his subjects. Flags were waving, and guns firing in every quarter—the huzzas of the hundreds of thou sands, perfectly deafening—and the whole affair, from beginning to end, characterized by an order, regularity, and good feeling, which were truly gra tifying. A more joyful day, perhaps, has not oc curred since the present Royal Family ascended the throne; and there were few, we believe, who did not conclude it by drinking " health and happiness to their Majesties."—Morning Advertiser. The Committee on the Reform Bill will this even ing resume its labours. It belongs to the constitu tion of our nature to look with some degree of apathy and carelessness upon whatever has become familiar to our contemplation, although at the first view we may have been indignant at its absurdity, or shocked by the manifest evil of its consequences. It may therefore be not unnecessary nor impertinent to re call to the minds of Hon. Members of the House of Commons the momentous nature of the pro ceedings in which they are engaged. They involve no less than a total change in the nature of the Go vernment of our country. The power that makes and maintains the laws, by which property and even lifo itself are secured, is sought to be radically changed, and the root and foundation from which spring all the institutions that govern and regulate the frame of society is to be torn up, and something else planted in its place. The notion that the secondary institutions of the country may be preserved as they are, while the primary one, that of the Legislature, is essentially altered, can only be the dream of a weak imagination. As well might one suppose that when the roots of a tree are cut away the vigorous life of its branches and the graceful ornament of its foliage might still be pre served. The Church is already sentenced by acclama tion of the revolutionists as the institution which is to follow the Parliament with accelerated velocity of destruction ; and one of the Morning Papers of yes terday does not shrink from noticing even now the monstrous evil of large properties in the hands of a few individuals, and the necessity of their distribu tion. We therefore warn those whose exertions may save the country from the avalanche of calamity which the tempestuous spirit of the revolutionary party is driving upon us, that this scheme of Reform upon which the Parliament is now engaged is but " the beginning of the end." Religion, property, distinction of rank, every thing that morally or poli tically makes England great or glorious, is at stake, and when these are at stake, shame be upon the mart that sleeps at his post. Up, then, and be doing, every man who can by voice or vote do aught to serve his country in its hour of peril. If you succeed, how glorious! If you do not, what consolation is like the remembrance of having done your duty ? Morning Post. A CONSTITUTION ACCORDING TO METAPHOR. (From the Examiner.) " Representation, not nomination," said Lord Grey, "is the principle of the Reform Bill." This principle so joyfully accepted by the nation has, we suppose, been found too simple and intelligible for the purposes of his Lordship's colleagues in the Lower House; for they prefer defending the mea sure according to metaphor. It is settled by both sides of the House, that the people are of two sorts, which may be likened to racers and asses--those that are disposed to go too fast, arid those that are disinclined to move. The rate of speed is in proportion to the density of the population ; and it is assumed, that such folks as those of Leeds, Manchester, and Birmingham, are invariably prone t• run away, while those which are of smaller numbers, move more gently. All the dispositions of men aic thus supposed to depend on their packing. \Vhere they may be counted in hundreds of thousands, they would tear away and disorder; where they congregate by twos and threes, as at Gatton and Sarum, they are im moveable to improvement. These premises being agreed upon by both Ministers and their opponents, nothing more is necessary than to suppose the State a vehicle to be drawn by such steeds, anti at a mo derate pace ; and the whole question is debated, and may be settled according to metaphor. Nomi nation or representation is now lost sight of; the question is too fast or too slow. Sir Robert Peel apprehends that the representatives under the pro posed system, will be men of tremendously active talent, and stimulate proceedings too precipitately. It is well, he says, to advance; but they may go too fast, in order to please their impetuous constitu encies. In this case, he asks, how elderly gentle men, who like to ride slowly, will be suited with seats ? and he points to Mr. Sturges Bourne, and puts it to Ministers whether such a stead)-going gentleman would attempt to mount the high horses of Manchester, Birmingham, Marylebone, or Fins bury ? To provide a supply of mules for such gaffers, Sir Robert modestly proposes that the places in schedule B shall continue to seat their two Members each, those places having populations which, from their moderate amounts, do not move too fast. Lord John Russell, acknowledging the force of this too fast and too slow argument, takes credit to Government as, To populous places, they had not deemed it fit to give that share in the representation to which they would be numerically entitled, because it was considered that a pre ponderance of newly popular representatives in that House might have the effect of making the machine of State move with too great velocity. For this reason, too, they had retained a number of small boroughs. We thus see clearly enough that the plan is to couple the racers with the asses and mules, lest they should move the State machine with too great ve locity. One consideration only has been omitted in this philosophical view of the question, and that is the road or object upon which the machine is advancing. We know very accurately at what a rate the asses and mules rattled us down hill into the slough of debt, and the speed then was a mis chief ; but if our present business is to escape from thraldom, who will object to the celerity of the movements. When people are flying from bondage, or the robber, they don't cry " why so fast ?" and, " for the love of prudence, take out that free-going blood, and harness a jack-ass for the safer travelling." Most luminously Lord John Russell proceeded to say, They had stopped short in the career of disfranchise ment. They had left a number of small boroughs in schedule B, which would send Members to Parliament that would represent certain portions of the people which ought to be represented, and be most desirable acquisitions in a deliberative assembly. We know of no portions of the people which ought not to be represented (nor should Lord John, according to the Grey principle of representation not nomination) ; but we cannot perceive for what reason the Members of these particular places should be pronounced most desirable acquisitions in a deli berative assembly, except, indeed, as they are of the sort which does not move fast, the convenience of which, in a deliberative assembly is, at this instant, so strikingly felt by the people. None but Mem bers of places of such small constituencies would move adjournments for the delay of public business, it is thus that their propensities against good speed are illustrated. Lord John Russell thinks that the small places of 300 electors will send slow Members to the House, who will be most useful for deliberation, and not nominees. We are convinced that without the bal lot, these places of low constituencies will soon be so managed as to allow of nominations ; and we saw, with great satisfaction, that several Members objected that the disfranchisement was not suffi ciently extensive. As for the alleged deliberative parts of the re presentatives of small constituencies, will Lnrd John Russell tell us when they appeared on the occasion of the imposition of any grievous burthen on the people, or of encroachment on their rights. Were the Members of small boroughs forward in the stand against the Six Acts, hurried, with such devilish speed, through Parliament ? Or did they signalize themselves by resisting the rapid accumulation of debt, and the profligate waste of the public money in sinecures and pensions for tools of tyranny, Court parasites, sycophants, and harlots ? Lord John Russell resisted the motion for con tinuing two Members to places in schedule B, as fatal to the principle of the Bill, but he vitiated his argument with very bad reasons. This, however, is a fault common to our Ministers, who assign the weakest reason for the wisest course. They thus appear, as if either their hearts or their heads were not with the measure. They seem as men, ten thousand times more anxious to please their enemies than to satisfy their friends. What a luxury to them must have been their own opposition to their own proposition of the disfranchisement of Saltash. How they must have rejoiced in the temporary d fiance, and the gratification of Croker ! How they must have delighted in seeing the best friends of the people opposed to themselves ! The pleasure of this yielding to the enemy must have been great in deed, as its principle and policy were obviously so vicious, or never would men have been tempted to it. To avoid infraction on the Bill (especially in its vitals), and preserve a habit of unanimity in the support of it, seemed the part of manhood and wis dom : but Ministers have acted as if they had a superabundant perfection in their measure, and a troublesomely complete union in their camp—aye, and some hold on public opinion and support to spare. It doubtless was agreeable to them to see their best supporters arrayed against them as enemies, and to make those Members who continued with them feel that they could depart from their pledges to the people, and keep their countenances and seats. Indeed, we suspect that Saltash was given up as much to show contempt of popular pledges, as in the hope of smothering the Opposi tion by a surrender the more acceptable as it degraded its authors. One good effect it has had, namely that we learn, from the list of the minority, who are the 150 staunchest Reformers in the House. There is a proverb of giving inches to those who would take ells, which Ministers might usefully heed : but proverbs are the wisdom of nations, which the high and mighty hold in contempt. ' It is not pleasant to censure men who have entered upon a grand service to society with great courage : but, great as was the courage, and excel lent as was the spirit, at the commencement of the enterprise, both have been provokingly oozing as ' advance has been made, and exactly in proportion as real difficulties have been removed by the popular aid. Before the dissolution Ministers were intrepid and uncompromising; since the general election has smoothed their course, they have shown timidity, and an abject disposition to court and propitiate enemies—only to be conciliated by the betrayal of the people and the basest dishonour. It is time now to speak out. Ministers must change their tone and temporising course, or they will be de feated—and if defeated, we shall believe them treacherous, and willingly defeated; in either case, whether weak or false, they will heavily have to answer for the convulsion that will surely ensue. If they do not use the briskest means to remove the obstructions of Members whose virtue it is to move slow—if they do not, by word and deed, show an earnest and determined spirit—the people may, perchance, take the modelling of a new represen tative system into their own hands. There are unions all over the country which are ripe for throw ing out delegates, and resolving into a national council. While the patience of the country is so fretted, are we to listen to the preaching of Sir Robert Peel, who, adopting a conspicuous and noted ab surdity in Sir James Mackintosh's ungrammatical slip-slop, quackish History of England, tells us that Constitutions have no other growth than that of vegetables ; that they must " come by nature ;" and that no wit or wisdom of man can create them for their u3es. If an example were wanting to disprove such idiotic gabble, we have it in the in• stance of the United States, which modelled a Constitution in less time than, according to appear ances, it will take the Grey Government to puss a Reform Bill. This doctrine of the vegetable nature of a Constitution admirably suits the " not-too-fast" principle, and allows of all the metaphors and similes touching the beneficial effects of manuring the soil with corrupt and rotten matter, so apt for the de fence of the boroughmongery. As Sir James Mackintosh has thus been quoted for delusion, we will quote him for instruction peculiarly fitted for the present juncture, and from a book not written in his old age of Whiggery, but one composed when good men had good hopes of him—it is.on moderate Reforms, and contradicts the vegetation theory : Power vegetates with more vigour after these gentle prunings. A slender Reform amuses and lulls the people; the popular enthusiasm subsides, and the moment of effec tual Reform is irretrievably lost. No important political improvement was ever obtained in a period of tranquillity. The corrupt interest of the governors is so strong, and the cry of the people so feeble, that it were vain to expect it. If the effervescence of the popular mind is suffered to pass away without effect it would be absurd to expect from langnor what enthusiasm has not obtained. If radical Reform is not, at such a moment, procured, all partial changes are evaded and defeated in the tranquillity which succeeds. . . . Whatever excellence, whatever free dom is discoverable in Governments, has been infused into them by the shock of a revolution ; and their subse quent progress has been only the accumulation of abuse. . Whatever is good ought to be pur,tied at the moment it is attainable. The public voice, irresistible in a period of convulsion, is contemned with impunity, Wh en dictated by the lethargy into which nations are lulled by the tranquil course of their ordinary affairs. The ardour of Reform languishes in unsupported tediousness. It perishes in an impotent struggle with adversaries, who receive new strength from the prog ress of the day. No hope of great political improvement (let us repeat it) is to be entertained from tranquillity ; for its n a t ura l operation is to strengthen all those who are interested in p erpetual _ ing abuse."—" The only apparent i exception t o t hi s prin ciple (adds the author in a note) s the case where sove reigns make important concessions to appe ase di scontent and avert convulsion. This, however, rightly understood is no exception ; for it arises evidently from th e sam e causes, acting at a period less advanced in the progress of popular interposition."— Vinclicirc Having mentioned Sir Robert Peel, we cannot quit him without remarking how wonderfully his tone is altered respecting public opinion. The time was when he declared that deference to public opinion was the rule of his Goverment. Now he says " All his reading and experience convinced him that nothing was more dangerous than the abandonment of fixed principles, and the disregard of local attachments. He was much afraid that some of the new representatives would be too anxious to recommend themselves to their constituents ; and that, instead of attending to the argu ments of reason, popular opinion, he would not say popu lar clamour, would have too much weight with them." Sir Robert Peel has more experience than most men of the effect of abandoning principles ; and he knows that the character of the conduct depends on the character of the principles, which may be good or may be bad. But, waving that inquiry, it is for Sir Robert to explain why he allowed so much weight to popular opinion when a Minister, and why he supposes it so dangerous now that he is a leader of faction—why it was so commanding when equivocally expressed on Catholic Emancipation, why so worthless when unequivocally declared for Parliamentary Reform ? The truth is, that he who is at the helm soon discovers that he must him his sails according to the wind. Power in a civilised country brings with it a lesson of respect for the governed, and a practical sense of the value of op posing forces. POLICE INTELLIGENCE. MAR YLEB ONE. Yesterday Mr. James Smith, a full-blown li censed victualler, residing in the neighbourhood of Grosvenor-square, was brought before Mr. RAW LINSON, to show cause why he coursed a dog through a field of wheat belonging to Mr. Kayley, a farmer, residing at Hendon. Mr. Kayley stated, that on Sunday last he saw the prisoner and another gentleman coursing four dogs through his wheat•field He had been fre quently annoyed by nuisances of a similar kind, and followed them into the New-road, where he gave Mr. Smith into custody. The other gentleman made his escape, and was certainly followed by three dogs; but a fourth, which had been in the wheat, stuck by the licensed victualler. _ _ Mr. itAwLissoN called upon the prisoner for his defence, who denied the statement in lobo, and as serted that the gentleman who accompanied him into the New-road was an utter stranger to him, and that it was his dogs who coursed in the wheat-field. Mr. RAWLINSON considered it a most extraordi nary sort of Cockney sport; John Gilpin himself would be aahamed of such amusement. He or dered the parties to retire and try if they could not arrange the matter. They retired, when Mr. Smith paid the com plainant 41. for the damage, and was discharged. 111 r. Bell, a horse-doctor and farrier, appeared to show cause why he indented a most ungentlemanly blow upon the dexter cheek of Mr. Cooper, by pro fession a chimney-sweep. Mr. Cooper stated that Mr. Bell resided at the opposite house in the Mews, and deposited sund y cart-loads of dung directly opposite his door, to the serious annoyance of his own olfactory nerves, as well as those of his more delicate half. He took a broom and swept the dung over to Mr. Bell's; hot that gentleman swept it back again. The flue asp:- rant swept a second time, and so did the horse doctor; they swept and swept, until, at length, the horse-doctor got tired; and, to end the matter, pro ceeded from sweeping to commit a breach of the peace, and assaulted the chimney-sweep. " Please your Honour and Worship," began the horse-doctor with an action and emphasis which would have done credit to an Irish Court of Com mon Pleas, " Please your Honour and Worship, I'm only sorry I'm engaged in so black a concern. I admit Mr. Cooper was the best sweeper, but that's his profession, and I hope you will draw a brie be tween him and a gentleman wot keeps a livery." " The only line, I think," said Mr. RAWLINSON, "that ought to be drawn, is the gutter that divides your houses, and you shall enter into your recogni zances to keep the peace." " That's all I want," exclaimed the sweep; and the recognizances were entered into accordingly. MARLBORO UGII-S TREE T. Yesterday Caroline Mansell, a smartly-dressed young woman, was brought before Mr. ROE by Mac kenzie, a police constable, who stated that on the preceding night he observed her in Castle-stree', Leicester-square, under the influence of intoxication, and behaving in a riotous and disorderly manner. He cautioned her to move on, and even assisted her along, hut she became so violent, and abused him so grossly, that he was at last obliged to convey her to the police station. The constable added that he believed her to be a common prostitute. The un fortunate creature in her defence related an extraor dinary story of diablcrie, which she said she had witnessed on the previous night, and which she so lemnly averred had so dreadfully alarmed her, that she had been nearly frightened out of her senses. She stated that she was walking along Coventry -street in the early part of the evening, when three gentle men came up and persuaded her to accompany them to a house at the east end of the town, somewhere, she believed in the neighbourhood of Shadwell. They conducted her to a dark and very gloomy apartment, where one of the party exhibited a drawn sword, and threatened to murder her forth with, unless she consented to take off her clothes. Under the influence of fear, for she was terror-struck at the whole proceeding, she complied, and she was then put into a coffin, and covered with a shroud. After remaining in the coffin for some time she was suffered to rise, and a scene more terrifying than the preceding followed ; for she beheld numbers of figures made to represent imps, demons, arid other inmates of the infernal regions, who, she said, were thrust into a blazing fire by the party, who intro duced pitchforks on the occasion. At length they permitted her to depart, and she reached the west end of the town by midnight. Mr. ROE said she was known at the office, having been there before on similar charges. He should, however, take care that she should not undergo another fright of the kind for the ensuing three weeks. The wretched girl supplicated the Magistrate not to send her to prison. She protested that her state ment was perfectly correct, and she thought she could point out the house whither she had been so mysteriously conveyed. The Magistrate ultimately thitigated her punish ment to 15 days' confinement in Coldbath-fields. The prisoner, it appeared, rel tted the same story she told the Magistrate to the police constable, o►► her apprehension. ANOTHER ACCIDENT ON THE THAMES, OCCASIONED BY A STEAM BOAT.—FIVE PERSONS DROWNED,. ..-011 Sunday CHARLES EDGAR, a young man about twenty years of age, an apprentice on board the East India Company's boys, having previously engaged a party of his 'friends to join him in an excursion up the river, fitted up a small sailing boat belonging to the hoy for that purpose. The party, which consisted of EDGAR, his sister, his sweetheart, to whom he was to have been married in a few weeks, a man named SINNOCK, and hie three children, together with two female friends, proceeded as far as Woolwich, where they spent the day, and shortly after five o'clock they started from there fur tiswn. They had not been long on the river when they were overtaken by one of the Gravesend steam boats, which being heavily laden with passengers, and being proceeding at rather a rapid rate, caused a great swell and surf in the river. The boat got quite clear of her, but' the concussion of the water caused her to rock violently about. EDGAR, With a view of steadying her, was about to place his foot on her gunwale, when it unfortunately slipped off, and then, in order to save himself from falling overboard, caught hold of the sail, and the sudden haul, together with the surf in clining her in the same direction, caused her to swamp, and all on beard were precipitated into the water, and, melancholy to add, five of them were drowned. The per sons lost were EDGAR and his sweetheart, and SINNOCK and his two eldest children, the one a lad of ten, and the other a girl of eight years of age. Up to a late hour yes terday, only one of the bodies, that of a female, was found. APPREHENSION 01: A FEMALE YAM .OR ARSON AND ROBBERY• On Monday week last, about nine o'clock ill evening, a barn, belonging to Mr. D a ni e l, an el sive farmer at West Bergholr, was discovered te on fire. Assistance was promptly rendered, an d flames were extinguished without much damage, ing occurred. The next day, about two o 'clee the afternoon, another fire was discovered in a!, tensive out-building, containing a large guano') agricultural produce. The flames spread with` rapidity that it was found necessary to abandolf attemrs to save the out-buildings, and several stacks which were in the farm-yard. The f' house was with difficulty preserved, and the fir e at length got under, after the loss of much val e ' property. No doubt was now entertained tha( as also the first fire, was the work of some 1 ! ) `, diaty, and consequently rewards were immcdie offered for the detection of the perpetrator. From inquiries made by the local constables 1 j were induced to apprehend the servant girl, To', Msry Blomfield, and a special meeting of the ifs trates was convened for the purpose of taking examination. •i The constables, in searching the prisoner's found, in an old pocket, a master key, which Daniel immediately recognized as one which she lost some months ago. Pursuing this clue, tl went to the cottage of a man of the 'tattle! Peachey, with whose daughters the prisoner we l timate, and there a quantity of property was fou r i , which was directly identified by Mr. and Mrs.l niel. In consequence of this discovery to e Pcachey's daughters were taken into custodYt the Magistrates thought it most advisable to take' charge of arson against the girl first. On Satu r !, she was accordingly brought to Colchester Cd for examination. The evidence against her wa s ' course, circumstantial, but very wrong. -A .) who was her fellow -servant, said, that on the nta of the first fire, about ten minutes before it 1/° out, the girl went into the yard, as site said, fot c purpose of drawing water. He heard the running over, and in consequence he was induce' look our, when he perceived the girl crossing yard in a direction from the barn, with a 'tottery, her hand, which was not lighted. She went: again int o th e gar d en , t o execute some di rec tion 11 : her mistress, and when she came in she aPP es ' rather excited. The the broke out about five minutes aftero Another witness swore that on the next when the second fire occurred, he saw the girl ie direction of the lodge where it was first diseovet The prisoner, who is rather well looking, h i the evidence against her without exhibiting slightest trace of feeling, and at first denied knowledge of the fire. She, however, at last she knew of the second fire, for she saw the who had given evidence against her take a hie candle and thrust it into the thatch. The Magistrates here stopped her, and a' her to leave her confession for her defence. The charge of felony was then gone into, against tile girl and the other females in cuit 4 Some very strong particulars were developed' owing to the absence of some material prod , Magistrates decided upon remanding the prig ° till to-morrow. LONDON MARKETS. PRICE OF BREAD. The highest price of Bread in the Metropolis is lOri , reg ti i lib. Loaf. There are others who sell from %d. to U41 ,1 ' that price. --- PRICE OF SEEDS.—Aug. 1. New English Red Clover Seed (per Cwt.) —s. 70s. fine -- 4 ' Old Ditto Ditto-- - —s. —s. fine - 4 'l New Foreign Ditto s2s. 70s fine - 4 ' Old Ditto —..... r —.....—. —s. --s. fine - -44 ___. _ New 'White Clover. Old Ditto New Trefoil - 40s. 60s. fine -50 s. fine —s. 9.05. fine --06' —s. 15s. fine —.-- 10s. 25, fine 3 0 '; —s. —s. 50s. fi n ; —s. —s. 565. fi n " 60. 3. fi ne .(per Quarter) . —s. 755. fine 80 5 . —s. —s. new Os' 40s. 455. new —s. 50s. fine .- 4 ; 445. 465. --s. —s. 70s. fine Old Ditto Rib Grass English Carraway Foreign Ditto Voriander St. Foin Rye Grass Pacey Ditto _ Linseed, for feeding Ditto, for crushing,.,,, Canary Seed, New— "itto White Mustard Seed --(per 8u5he1)—...... —s. Ns. 10s. On Brown Ditto 'Turnip Seeds, Bounds fin Green and Red Ditto 5 tin e Tares, Old —s. 255. 365. tin Ditto New— Itaf,e Seed, English, tine (per Last) 361. 38/. Foreign PRICES OF HOPS.—Aug. 1. Kent Pockets SL , SSCX Ditto 51. 15s. 61. Os. to 61 • Fsstx Ditto 6/, 6s. 71. Os. to 71 ; f sanliain Ditto, Fine 0/, Os. 10/, Or, t o , Seconds 31. Os. 5/. ss. to 14 i to to 51. tip j 51. 125.6 5 1 1 .. 1 05 °3 .. bl Duty laid at 140,000/. PRICE OF OIL. /31 Ripe Oil, brown ---.351. Os. Refined Linseed Oil _ Linseed Oil Cake at the Mill, per thousand 6 Rape Cake, per ton •••••••••...•••••....wwwwevrow••••••••~V...... Kent Bags, Essex Ditto WH 'TECH APEL HA Hay Od. to 86i. Od. I Y M A RKET.—JuIy I (*lover Od. to 11 , (kl. to 365. Od. Straw. PRICES OF Per lb. d. to d. to forilb.... )5 21 Ditto-tin to 661 b.... 15 23 Dressing 14 16 Fine Coach Hides 17 1S Crop Hides, 35 to 40113. 13j 131 Ditto 4O to 451 b 14 15; Ditto LEATHER. Per lb. 4. Tanned Horse Hides., 15 Spanishpato ............. 19 Per dozen. , A Calf Skina....3B to 40lb. ;`' Ditto ............ 50 to 701 b. .A Ditto 70 to 801 b. i', Small Seals. Greenlandl. RAW HIDES. A to' Per Stone. s. el. t o s . d. P er St one. e. Req. Heifers& Steere2 8 3 0 Ordinary I „° e st), Middlings. -2 2 2 6 Market v 6 / SHEEP Long Wool Os. Od. to Os. M. SKINS. I Short Wool— 0.3.0 d. t° l:°.l Is. 6{l. to 26. 6d. PRICE OF POT. New Pohtoes ._A 2 T l. o lo, Es . . t — o A 3l u . g ibs l : per t(/' COAL MARKET.—Aug. 1. Adair's 265. 6d Townley-- 26 0 Norwood's We,t Hartley p • at market, 4:371--Sidps sold, 2 —Unsold. 4/71 NEWCASTLE CORN MARKET—JuIy 31. The farmers supply of Wheat to-day was small, with no t e fresh in coastwise during the week; yet the fineness o f til t ther, ana near appro ac h o f h arvest had their usual e tr e c oi the buyers, and sales th r a ll b u t th e fi nest samples were d! at a trifle lower than last Saturday. The supply of qat' o l equal to the demand, and we note no change in the price Grain. Barley dull sale. Malt steady. The sa l e s of limited. Few Beans or Pease are offering. Fresh now fair demand. New. p l y" Wheat, Northumberland 60s. 739 --s• .. ...4. Norfolk and Suffblk 60s. 72s — B. $. ~... Berwick and Scotch 50s. 58s —' 6 ' ~...b• Foreign Ms. 70s --s• ..,s• 1 Rye, Norfolk and Suffolk 3os. 34s --'• ,o. Foreign 3 _Barley, c M ir a i l n t ii ii i i ,g Malting, N a o n r d fo l l e k e a d n in d g , 24 Stiffolk -2i 30 37 .—s --s .... -- o s: . „41 I Malt, Norfolk and Sunk - ilk 665. 70s Beans, Small 40s. 41s - -s' ,P Tick 375.395 --5... . 05, Pease, White 4os. 44s - - 6• . „.s. Gray —s. —s — s• ..,.0. Oats, Northumberland, l'otatoe ' ) 9s. 303 —...s ....,„ ---- Feed 25s 28s ---''' ...a. , Foreign —s. s - -"g• ylll. Flour, Fine (per sack) —IL ...S s°'• , . V v Or fi MINING INTELLIGENCE. ' l '2 . Quantity of Coppe r O re so ld a t R e d rut h l ast Thurday '2,;5 e uantity of fine C0pper..............—........................... B )4 ed , Average Produce,---.—.... nat e ' Amount of Sale, 17,270/. 18 s. 6,l.—Averac Standard, 1— , COMMON HALL.—The LORD MAW - o ir fixed to-morrow (Wednesday) for the meeting to ec l " the delays in the Reform Bill. - ) 1 ' BITS. g l il , , On the Ist inst. the lady of Sir Sandford Graham, 01 a dat' 15 tile On the Ist inst. in Montagu place, Bryanstone-squar e, of E. Bur Esq. of a son. ~3dr On the 31st tile. Mrs. W. Shearly, of the New Kent-ry daughter. MARIED. ' al l On the Ist inst. at St. Maryle ß bone church, Mr. Kent-terrace. _ , er o „......-terrace, Regents -park, to Charlotte, daughter Prendergrass, of Park place. el On th,3oth ult. at Cl ap h am, E . B rown, E sq . °f j • house, Streatham, to Eli za b et h , d aug h ter o f th e late • j. I ton, Esq., of Clapham. 74r: 0 1 On the aith ult. a t C ra ili ng- h a ll , R ox b urg h s hire, Fraser, Calcutta, to Mary, second daughter of the late Esq. of Crailing-hall. c lj° DIED. i ID On the 29th ult. at Horsham, Mrs. Brissett, widow ° r er ~ i . 0. fc , J. Brissett, Esq. of Jamaica, aged 64. On the 29th ult. at Ryde, Isle of Wight, aged 11 , ---- „AnY ' ' val, Esq., of the Bengal Artillery, Fast India coral' crif' vice, eldest son o f th e late Dr. E. Percival, of Bath. , a , r II On the 31st ult. a t Acton, Middlesex in his 16 0 )e Briggs, Esq. 1° I ~,,,,. AI PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY MURDO YOv ,— 0 SUN - OFFICE, 51 7- a - AND: 114, LONbUN' AB Wit] COngi ttire, d efier cions Witte! T