The Sun. — London, England, 1831-11-21 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. It is pretty positively asserted by our contempo rary of the Globe, that Parliament will not re-as semble till January. People will anxiously demand the reason of this delay. Is it to give time for the completion of that negociation which is pending between Lord Grey, and Lords ilarrowby and Wharncliffe, on the subject of a modified Bill of Re form ? The country is observing the movements of Ministers with scrutinizing vigilance, and will visit with unsparing indignation any compromise of prin ciple. It may be right, it may be honourable, for Lords Wharncliffe and Harrowby to make large concessions in favour of Reform : their change is from bad to good—from erroneous opinion to rea son and justice ; and every body will applaud their conversion. But what will be said of the Ministers, if, after their reiterated decla rations, both in Parliament and out of it, they consent to surrender a single vital principle of the Bill ? We are aware that the crisis is most im portant—the emergency most momentous; but it is on such occasions that great qualities are exhibited, and the weak and timid are distinguished from the constant-minded and the courageous. A short time will demonstrate whether Lord Grey and his col leagues are equal to the crisis, and who, if any of them, are wanting in the abilities and firmness to face and overcome the difficulties of their position. Lord Grey has, by his long and undeviating adhe rence to the cause of Reoerm, given no trifling pledge that he cannot, at this late hour, consent to any act which will obliterate the fair fame of up wards of 40 years' duration. There are, however, those who say that the Lord Chancellor, notwith standi:ng his eminent abilities, may, from his profes sional habits, be less disposed than the Premier to a pertinacious tenacity of opinion, even on such a sub ject as Reform. We know not on what grounds such persons found their suspicion. True it is that the legal profession has not been fertile in statesmen — that its habits of thinking are calculated, as Burke has remarked, to narrow even the most compre hensive understanding, and to generate prejudices in the most enlightened mind. Of all the great lawyers who have adorned the English bench or bar for the two last centuries, Lords Somers and Cam den are the rare exceptions which can be quoted in contradiction to Burke's general, and in the main most just, observation. Ia Lord Brougham also an exception ? We think he is : but we know that it is said that he has on more than one occasion exhibited the peculiar modes of thinking which characterise the body of men among whom he has been bred. It is argued on such data that Lord Brougham may consent to a modified and diluted measure, which Lord Grey, with a sterner sense of consistency, would at once reject. But we repudiate the suppo sition with disdain. Lord Brougham cannot be a party to any arrangement which will injure a repu tation which must be as dear to him as it is to the nation at large. We wait, therefore, though not without some impatience, for the particulars and conditions of that coalition which is in progress, be fore we express ourselves more explicitly on this in finitely important subject.—Times. To-day the Ministers will lay before his Majesty the result of Saturday's Council, and tender him their advice with respect to the re-assembling of Parliament. Before our next publication then-fore appears, it must be officially known whether the ses sion is to commence on the 10th or 12th of the en suing month, or to be postponed till after the Christmas holidays;—whether, in other words, we are to have six or seven weeks more excitement and agitation, or whether the nation is to be soothed into hope by the more immediate concession of those claims which all but the boroughmongers admit to be right, and which even many of them acknowledge to be irresistible. No mere question of time, which we remember in histoiy, was ever more important to the best interests and the tranquillity of a State; and yet, to patriotism, integrity, and energy, none, we think, was ever more simple, or of more easy solution. If the great measure is sure to be carried by despatch and promptitude, and nothing can be gained by delay, what reason can be assigned for keeping up for nearly two months longer the existing fermentation of the public mind,—an excitement which obstructs all commercial business, _—paralyses all useful enterprise,—destroys all inte rest in the common events, or relish for the ev er y day enjoyments of life,—furnishes daily temptations to factious violence,—arrays against even the best institutions of the country (as now perverted by their natural guardians) popular dissatisfaction and physical force,—and weakens our influence among foreign nations, by inviting their attention to our in tenstine divisions ? It cannot be pretended that the Bill itself is not forthcoming, or that its provisions require further deliberation ; for we want no Bill trot the last, and, what is more, we will receive none Is o o ' s olt does not embody all its efficiency and energy, its extent of disfranchisement,—and all its concessions of new suffrage. It cannot be said that the Members of Parliament require repose after recent labours, for they have already enjoyed a sufficient recess, And must not consult their ease at the expense of the public tranquillity, or to the detriment of the national interests. It cannot be presumed that Ministers ex p ect their friends to be multiplied, or their enemies weakened by delay ;—for their friends are already the King and the nation, and their antagonists ;ably a small band of voters with proxies in the House of Peers. We hear from the antagonists of the Bill, that it is stamped with a revolutionary cha racter, and has a republican tendency. In what, we ask, does its democratic tendency consist ? Does it interfere with the titles or legitimate privileges of the nobility ? Does it ptofess to curtail the proper influence of wealth, or to regulate the amount of in dividual fortune ? Does it abolish the law of pri mogeniture, or lessen the splendour of the Crown, :rid the rights of the Sovereign ? No ; in all these rel o s ects it is obviously innocent, for it has not a sinpls c :euse which can by possibility be perverted into an attach on any person or institution connected with the Aristocracy or with the throne. The Re form Bill—(it cannot be too often repeated) has only two objecta.to disfranchise wholly or in part (conveying their rights to large towns or popular dis tricts) a certain number of boroughs whose Members, in the opinion of every man of common sense, it would be a mockery to call represeetatives of the people, and to extend the right of suffrage, by con necting it in towns and boroughs with the oc. eupation of a house of 101. annual rent or value. In which of these great provisions is the revolutionary or democratic tendency of the measure to be found? Is it revolutionary to de clare that Corfe Castle and Old Sarum—together with some sixty other places without inhabitants, or with a handful of slaves voting at the eeill of a mas ter—shall no longer continue to send delegates to an assembly which pretends to represent the people of England ? Is it equivalent to a revolution to cor rect quietly an anomaly by which, for instance, the three counties of Cornwall, Wiltshire, and Dorset shire, with their brood of rotten boroughs, return nearly one-fourth of the representatives of England, without having one-twentieth part of the population, or paying one-fortieth part of the taxation, of the country ? Yet thus stands the account in some of the official documents before us :—Cornwall sends 42 Members to St. Stephen's : its population i s 257,447, and its assessed taxes 30,9031. VY ilts is endowed with 34 representatives, while its popula tion is 222,157, and its assessment 50,0241.; and Dorseishire, with a population of only 114,499, and assessed taxes to the amount of 36,9411., has the happiness of yielding 20 legislators to the great council of the nation. Thus these three counties send to Parliament 96 Members frem a population of 624,102, and contribute only in its assessed taxes 116,8681.; while the county of Middlesex alone, which sends only eight Members to Parliament, has, by the same returns, a population of 1,144,530, and pays in assessed taxes 1,250,3001. ! The contrast is more striking, and the consequent absurdity more intolerable, when we take, as the test of a respectable population, the number of t house' paying a certain moierate rate. Thus the prodigally represented Cornwall has only 2,852 in habitants paying a rent of 10/. a year, to divide among them the privilege of sending 42 senators to the Ilouse of Commons, and exclusive of the houses in the county, the number of 10/. householders who send 40 Members to Parliament is only 1,001 — thus giving to every 25 persons a representative, or making senators at the rate of 4 per cent. of the • 101. householders. \%Tilts has for its 32 borough Members only 1,493 10/. householders; and Dorset for its 18 Members only 1,459, making altogether for 90 borough Members less than 4,000 house holders, occupying tenements of 10/. annual value; while in the single town of Liverpool, which sends only two Members to Parliament, the number of 10/. licuseholders amounts to 8,789, and Birming . ham, which sends none at all, to 4,561. In this statement we omit all allusion to that abominable abuse, direct nomination and patronage, and take the most favourable view of the case, by supposing that the right of electing the 90 Members for the boroughs of these three counties exists in the very ' democratic body of 10/. householders, of whom the boroughmongers and their friends profess :to stand in such profound terror. And we ask again, is it revolutionary to propose a more equal distribution of the right of suffrage to the same class of people over the surface of England ? We might go on ' to show that the proposed measure is as far from being distinguished by democratic tendencies, or embracing universal suffrage, as it is free from a revolutionary character,—that the 10/. qualification will in most cases, where electoral privileges are already enjoyed, reduce the number of voters, in deed of increasing it,—that in the 26 new extra metropolitan towns which will be admitted to share the representation, there will be only about 60,000 voters; and that in almost no case will the electors exceed 1-20th of the population. But this topic, together with the effect of the Reform Bill in ex tending rather than diminishing the influence of the landed interest, we must postpone to another op portunity. In the mean time we must again repel the charge, or denounce the calumny, so often ad vanced by the boroughmongers and their advocates, that the supporters of Reform are the abettors of revolution. This falsehood we have a thousand times exposed,—and as often have we shown that our accusers are the real revolutionists,—that the nation cannot abandon its opinions to a handful of Peers, whose patent of infallibility it has never signed,—and that the people must obtain their rights by concession, or will takethem by force. The information which has been spread on the enormities of the borough system, and the ideas which have been acquired of the justice and necessity of a change, since the commencement of the present discussions, must lead to a speedy correction of abuses against a force ten thousand times greater than that of all the owners and partisans of borough influence. Property without political privilege, and political privilege without property,--large classes of men of respectable station and independent means disfranchised of rights which their inferiors abuse or their superiors usurp,—t he general diffusion of poli tical knowledge and the most galling monopoly of political power,—the iniquities of the borough sys tem and the general acknowledgement of them in the nation,—cannot by any possibility much longer co-exist. If such anomalous and absurd oppres- sions were to be continued, they ought not to have been exposed with so unsparing a hand. It was not only to cause a great danger, but to commit great crime, to carry the torch of truth into the depths of ' political corruption, unless means were to be imme- . _ ..liately taken to clear away the infiammableimpuritie.. Detected oppression has its fire-damp more terrible thln that of the mines--and in carrying light to its dark recesses, nothing but the safety. lamp of Reform can guard us against an explosion !—Times. This day it will be decided whether Parliament meets in the beginning of December or is prorogued till next year. We need not repeat what our wishes are. In fact, we hold longer delay in the present temper of the nation to be pregnant with danger. It is impossible to make people comprehend why it should be necessary to delay a measure which can only be carried in one of two ways, and for carrying which the same moans exist now which would exist after the new year has commenced. But if it be impossible that more means for carrying the Bill could be commanded in the end of January than in the beginning of December, it is by no means im possible that fewer means should then be at the command of Ministers. We have so often alluded to the danger with which delay is pregnant, that it is not necessary we should now repeat ourselves by enlarging on the subject. Ministers are supported tkroughout the country by a class of men, who do them more injury than any enemies could possibly do. These men are constantly calling out, why will you not repose the most ample confidence in Mini sters ? They must be the best judges of the time when the Reform Bill can be introduced with the best hopes of success; and you are inconsistent, if, while you have confidence in the honesty of their intentions, you do not also confide in them as to the means for giving effect to them. But this is not altogether fair. There is a partnership between Ministers and the people in this business. Ministers call upon the people to play their part in the great drama of Reform now acting. It is admitted that without constant agitation no progress could be made. The moment people settle down to their usual pursuits, the Tories call out " Re-action," " Indifference." If the people had nothing to do with this business but to look on till Ministers fa voured them with the blessing of Reform, there might be some justice in objecting to their impa tience. But the people are suffering, and suffering severely, from the share in the drama which has been allotted to them. Under such circumstances, it is natural they should be impatient of being moved like mere puppets—that as, after all, it is the force which Ministers receive from the nation which gives them their efficiency, they would wish to know when the people have played their part of the game, Ministers should not be equally ready to play theirs. These supporters, too, have the folly and the pre sumption to talk of the injury done to Ministers by the Press. Thus, for instance, at the Lincolnshire meeting, Sir Robert Heron thought fit to say— " The Press of the country had done a great deal of mischief.--(Loud cheers, and cries of A great deal of good you mean ! ') He, (Sir Robert Heron) admitted that the country was under infinite obligations to the in dustry and talent of the Press; but there was one point on which he could not but think it bad done a great deal of mischief ; that it was goading, and urging, and threat ening the Peers. Englishmen did not like to be menaced ; and he had no hesitation in saying, that in consequence of the conduct, pursued by. the Press, a great many votes which would have been in favour of Reform, had been en tirely lost to the cause.—(Cheers, and ci ies of No.')" This is not the first time we have heard this twaddle. A great many votes which would have been in favour of Reform had been entirely lost to the cause, because, forsooth, Englishmen did not like to be menaced ! That is, that there are a great many brutes (for rational beings we cannot call them) who did what in their conscience they be lieved to be wrong, to show, that when menace was used towards them, they were not afraid of doing wrong. Admirable logic ! These men ought, on the same principle, to commit murder and burglary, to show that they are not to be intimidated by the threats of the law. They ought to commit the sin against the Holy Ghost, because they are not to be inti midated by the threats of eternal punishment. Sir Robert Heron is an old woman if he believes this, and worse if he states what he does not believe. No votes were lost either on this occasion or on the occasion of the trial of Queen Caroline by menace; but in both many votes were gained by it. Pretty Legislators and Judges! What would be thought of a Jury which should convict an innocent man of a capital crime, because a menace was held out that it durst not acquit him ? Sir Robert grossly libels the House of Lords in attributing to a great many Peers the commission of injustice for fear lest they should be thought to be unde r th e i n fl uence o f f ear. We think better of him than this. We believe that many of them are selfish, and actuated by corrupt motives, but we do not believe that they act on such foolish grounds as are imputed to them.—/Iforning Chronicle. The late county meetings at Lincoln and in Cum berland require more than a passing notice. If ever "an outward and visible sign" were indicative of the " inward and spiritual feeling" of the people to wards the Church, it was there displayed. In Lin coln especially the manifestations were marked and decisive. Within less than a stone-throw from that majestic pile the wonder and admiration of all so journers in the ancient Linduni—the Cathedral Church of Lincoln, the people were exclaiming, and could not be prevailed upon to cease exclaiming, " Down, down with the Bishops 1" In vain such men as Mr. Tennyson, Sir Robert Heron, Sir Wil liam Ingilby, anti others, who have long been the most popular men in the county, tried to arrest the current—in vain the first-mentioned gentleman re minded the freeholders that their present and sole object was to Reform the House of Commons, and nor, neglectful of that, to direct their energies to an alteration of the constitution of the House of Lords. Eminently popular as lie was, the appeal was as un heeded as the command of Canute to the ocean. A thirst to punish " wickedness in high places," had displaced the demand for the restoration of usurped rights. The zeal against the borough mongers was merged and swallowed up in the 7.e al against the Bishops. Well, if it must be so, it must—the Bishops have only themselves to thank for it; they have drawn down an avalanche upon their mitres, and they have to look for " de fenders of the faith" uow-a.days to those sound and consistent Reformers whom they have all their lives opposed. Mr. Tennyson gallantly threw him se lf into the breach, not perhaps so much to save them as to save the people from the consequencea of this missdirection of their energies, and to save also the Government from the possible supposition (he being a member of it, and present when the resolution against the Bishops was proposed), that they con. templated more than they were pledged to perform, via., the ,:fecting of a thorough Reform in the House of Commons, We were, however, very glad to perceive that the meeting was not so far over come by their indignation against the Bishops as to prevent unanimity in voting the address, and after wards a resolution of perfect confidence is Govern ment. The great object of the patriotic promoters of the meeting was effected, though we should have been better pleased had the sound and sensible ad vice of Mr. Tennyson prevailed, and the single and permanent object kept strictly in view, " the Bill, and nothing but the Bill." We understand that it was stated at the meeting there were on the hustings the possessors of more property than were ever be fore collected at a county meeting in Lincoln. There were five Members of Parliament, four Ba ronets, and several scores of Justices of the Peace, a very pretty proof of " rabble" and " re-action." —Morning Chronicle. The accounts of the events by which the second city in the kingdom was delivered up to the misrule of a riotous mob, arid exposed for a considerable time to all the horrors of anarchy and devastation, should not have been in London 24 hours before Government sent down a Commission of Inquiry to make the most full, searching, and impartial exami nation into the origin and progress of those disgrace ful transactions, which appeared so seriously to com promise the local authorities. Government should not have waited for the inhabitants of Bristol, or any other of the King's subjects, to demand that in quiry ; it should have closely followed the intelli gence of the events, as an act of imperative duty which the servants of the Crown owed to the laws, the Sovereign, and the country. While Ministers who could not see their way clearly in a matter in which there was but one sound and rational course to pursue, and that a plain► and obvious one, hesitated, deliberated, and decided nothing, the inhabitants of Bristol continued to press them, through their repre sentatives, for a definitive ,answer to their demand for investigation. More than a fortnight elapsed from the termination of the riots before Mi nisters could resolve on what they were to do. Much negociation took place between Mr. Protheroe and Mr. Bailie on one side, and Lords Althorp and Melbourne on the other, relative to the simple question, " whether an impartial inquiry ought to be instituted into the conduct of the Magistracy and others, to whom ►he preservation of the public peace, and the protection of the lives anti property of the King's subjects, had been intrusted ?" But though various official com munications took place, and many Cabinet Councils were held, the diplomatic notes written upon the occa sion were as evasive and unsatisfactory as some of the protocols of the London branch of the Holy Alliance, which, under the name of the Conference of the Five Powers, has been for nearly a twelvemonth " settling" the affairs of Belgium and Holland in a way that must eventually render them more un settled than ever. In the meantime the public did not know that the Mayor arid Magistrates of Bristol had themselves demanded an investigation, and had, as early as the 4th of November, forwarded to Lord Melbourne and the Commander of the Forces certain documents, containing their own narrative of the dreadful events which had cost the sacrifice of so much life and property before the mob, who had been allowed, in the most extraordinary manner, to gain a complete ascendancy for a time, had been reduced by the application of military force. These documents, as the public are now aware, seriously inculpated Colonel Brereton, the officer commanding the troops during the riots. If , these charges were true, they would go far to ac count for the audacity of the rioters, and the con sequent calamities, both to themselves and others, which ensued. If false, it was due to the character of Colonel Brereton, and it was due to the charac ter of the army, that the opportunity should have been afforded for their immediate refutation. Ten days, however, having elapsed, and the important statements forwarded to Government, under the signature of the Mayor, having produced no result, the Mayor and Magistrates thought it proper to for ward copies of those papers to a Bristol Journal for publication. This publication has been followed by the appointment of a Court of Military Inquiry into the charges against Col. Brereton. We wish not to prejudge the case of the gallant officer upon ex-parte statements; we must hear the statements on the oilier side, and the evidence on both, before we can form an opinion. But there is one important point con nected with this affair on which we can form an opinion, and that is, that, instead of this Court of Inquiry being a close Court, it ought to have been an open one, because accurate reports would have reached the public through the Press of what passes there, instead of the false or exaggerated rumours which will now be circulated; and also because ho nesty and truth fear nothing from disclosure. Titus it would appear that the publication of the documents signed by the Mayor had the effect of inducing Go vernment to appoint a Court of Military Inquiry ; but with regard to the civil inquiry demanded by the inhabitants, it has at length received an answer from Lord Melbourne, which amounts pretty nearly to nothing. His Lordship takes a very circuitous way of telling the memorialists that they are at liberty to forward to Government any information which they choose to collect and transmit, and which will be submitted to " those advisers who are the most corn petent to decide on its import and bearing," with a view to legal or to legislative proceedings, as one or other may be thought most applicable to the case. His Lordship then goes on to say, " I am not aware of any other course being open, either to Government or to individuals, which would be sanctioned by pre cedent in this country, or conformable to the laws and Constitution." It is, therefore evident that there is to be no Commission of Inquiry emanating from the executive power of the State. He would say that if there were no precedent for a Commis sion of Inquiry issuing from the Crown, on such an occasion, there were peculiar circumstances connected with this case which justified the creation of a pre cedent. Can Lord Melbourne show that a similar demand was ever made by the inhabitants of any city in England that had suffered calamities like those which have befallen Bristol, and rifused? We think not. The inhabitants accuse the Magistrates of supineness, or worse ; and the Magistrates recrimi nate upon the inhabitants. Can the statements of either party be supposed to be free from the colour ing of their respective party feelings ? Can they, therefore, furnish satisfactory materials for Govern ment to take any ulterior proceedings upon ? Surely not. If Government wanted a precedent for ap pointing a Commission of their own to collect infor mation on the spot, they would have found it in the Newtownbarry case. There they sent down a Com missioner to investigate the circumstances connected with another dreadful instance of popular tumult and military execution. Were the disasters at Bristol, and the causes which led:to them, of inferior importance ?—.Morning Herald. Whatever may have been the determination adopted by the Cabinet Council, which was held on Saturday, or whatever may be the resolution adopted by the Council, which, it is said, is to be held this day at Brighton, respecting the meeting of Pa:liamentfor the despatch of business, and the cre ation of a sufficient number of Peers to carry the Reform Bill as triumphantly through the House of Lords, on its second appearance for their Lordships' approval, as it passed through the House of Com mons, his Majesty's Minister: may rely, on the one hand, and the boroughenongas may rely, on the other, that the country will have the Bill, and the whole Bill; and that whatever may be their joint wills upon the subject, if the constitutional means of granting it, which are at the disposal of the Crown, and ought to be at the disposal of his Ma jesty's :Ministers, be not successfully employed, the people—a term in which we include all classes of his Majesty's subjects—will have recourse to others of a less mild, but more efficient and certain nature, for effecting the same purpose. Every day's experience convinces us more and more of this im portant fact. Instead of there being a re-action in favour of anti-reform principles, there is daily exhi bited a more zealous, a more intense, a more deter mined spirit in favour of the Bill. The people have now met in almost every city, town, and county of the united kingdom—and every meeting has exhi bited a greater eagerness for the Bill—a more tho rough hatred of the principles of those who opposed it—a more sweeping spirit of Reform in Church and State—in taxation, and in the expenditure of the public money. The whole country also, by the insane conduct of the 199, has been driven into the adop tion of a most unnatural system—a system of uni versal combination for obtaining that for itself which a wise and a good Government, and as firm and decisive as good, would have taken means to insure to it before things had come to such a pass. The " Political Unions" are taking root every where—many of them are already in full vigour, and many more are in the course of formation; and does any one think that these Unions, armed or unarmed, would not, in ease of a second rejection of the Bill, have recourse to means which could not fail to give a new Constitution to the country, instead of the mere provisions of the Reform Bill ? The great county of Lincoln met on Friday, and its resolu tions fully bear out these remarks. Among others passed by it, one, not of the least remarkable, was the following : " We reflect with indignation upon the conduct pursued by a majority of the hereditary Peers in rejecting the Re form Bill. This conduct we ascribe to faction, self interest, and thirst of immoderate power.—(Tremendous cheering.) For the conduct of the Spiritual Peers we entertain a feeling which no language can adequately ex press.—(Loud cheers.) We are firmly of opinion that in order to secure the right of the Crown and the liberties of the people, faction must be suppressed, and mal-appro priation of public money be corrected, and ecclesiastics confined to their spiritual functions.—(Loud cheers.)" There was scarcely any opposition to this strong, but just resolution; and are we not right, therefore, in saying that the principles of the Reform Bill, in stead of being given up by the public, are daily ex hibiting a more vigorous growth, and taking deeper root in the minds of Englishmen ? The great dis trict of Lambeth meets also on Wednesday, at the Horns Tavern, for the purpose of forming a Politi cal Union, of which the basis has been already laid at a preliminary meeting, by agreeing that its object shall be— " 1. To obtain a full, free, and effectual representation of the people in the Commons House of Parliament. " 2. To support the King and his Ministers against a corrupt faction, in accomplishing their great measure of Parliamentary Reform. " 3. To join every well-wisher to his country, from the richest to the poorest in this parish, in the pursuit of such important object. ' "4. To preserve peace and order in the parish, and to guard against any convulsion which the enemies of the people may endeavour to bring about. " 5. To give opportunities, by frequent public discus sion, for eliciting the best means by which the above ob• jects may he carried into execution." We shall see of course what are the results of the meeting. We have no doubt that it will be numer ously and most respectably attended, and we have as little doubt that a considerable infusion of greater vigour into the principles proposed as the basis of the Union will be the result. But whatever may be the result, there is assuredly enough in the resolu tions adopted by all the county meetings which have yet been held—in the resolutions of the town and city meetings—in the formation of Unions through out every part of the country—in the secret deter mination of some to arm, and to be prepared for a crisis, and of others not to pay taxes, to induce the boroughmongers, on the one hand, to cast aside their opposition to the united will of the people, and to determine his Majesty's Government, on the other, to save their country from the possibility of a civil convulsion, by putting in force those constitutional prerogatives of the Crown which are alone sufficient to effect that and every other end and object which is desirable at the present crisis. The ball is at their foot—their opponents are as nothing, and if they do not drive it home—on them, and on them only, will rest the disgrace,—the shame,—and the sin.— Morning Advertiser. We have not heard very lately what progress Sir Francis Burdett, and the other tools of the Whig 'Ministry, are making in the organization of their select Political Union, and cannot but suspect that the silence which is maintained upon the subject is an indication of any thing rather than success. There is something inexpressibly ridiculous in the notion which this feeble and conceited knot of individuals seem to entertain, that they are qualified to pre scribe a limit to the course of revolution, and that they possess the high authority which will entitle them to say that, when once set in motion, it shall stop at the precise point which is most satisfactory to them. Who can sufficiently despise the vanity, presumption, and arrogance of men who undertake the task at once of levelling all the social and po litical distinctions which separate them from their superiors, and of maintaining all the social and political distinctions to which they happen to be indebted for a degree of influence and power greater than is enjoyed by the inferior classes of their fellow-subjects? This presents to our minds the beau ideal of despicable tyranny. There could indeed be no stronger proof that the British Con stitution had entirely failed to accomplish the main purpose, and to sustain the most infallible test of a free Constitution, in communicating to the nation subject to its influence the spirit and temper of free men, and that, therefore, its overthrow would be a blessing to mankind, than would have been afforded b y the fact, that the insolent pretensions of these Reformers, who seek to place a monopoly of politi cal power in the hands of their own class to the exclusion of all others, had excited no suitable expression of indignation f r om the classes to wh om this kind of Reform would be a deep injury and a gross insult. We are happy to perceive that no such insensibility to injury and insult can be charged upon the lo.ver orders of the British nation, and that no such grievous impeachment can lie against the institutions by which the national character has been formed and maintained. From the mass of evidence which lays before us of the contempt in which the shop-keeping class of Reformers are held by the more dangerous, more revolutionary, but tea thousand times more honest, consistent, and re { spectable Reformers of the lower orders, we shall, • for the present, content ourselves with presenting r to our readers the following specimen. It consists . of extracts from a leading urticle which has recently appeared in the Birmingham Herald, the organ of • the famous Political Union of which Mr. Attwood, a staunch supporter of " the Bill," would wish the . world to think he is the head. After exposing the • tricks and manoeuvres of the Westminster shop . ocracy, the writer proceeds thus " They do not deny that one of the chief, indeed the main, object of the National Union, is to enable the King's Government to pass an efficient Bill of Reform. Do they object to this ? They say not. Why, then, play into the hands of the Anti-Reformers by gratuitously creating schisms am,.ng the Reformers ? Oh,' say the Westminster electors, ' the members of the National Union are revolutionists, not Reformers. They have ul sferior objects in view, and are propagators of wild theories of Government.' By this they mean, of course, that Mr. Wakley and his friends—though professedly supporters of the late Ministerial Bill—are in heart the advocates of universal suffrace, short Parliaments, and the vote by bal lot. These are what Burdett's constituents called ' wild theories of Government,' but what we call essential ele ments of a just representative Government. Let any man of common sense and common honesty but read the last number of Cobbett's Register, or of the Twopenny Trash, and having well marked, learned, and inwardly digested' the contents of that excellent little tract, if he be not then convinced that the working classes of England have as clear and as indefeasible a right to be represented in Parliament as the Westminster electors themselves, we shall abandon their cause forever. Indeed it requires not a Cobbett or a Cartwright, nor any other apostle of uni versal suffrage, to convince us of this truth." And again— " Are the electors of Westminster so stupid as to sup pose that the working-people in London will not see through the thin disguise they have thrown around their professed motives and proceedings? That they will not, for instance, ascribe their defection from the ranks of the National Unionists to mean jealousy and mortifiei spirit, because Mr. Wakley's resolution, giving to the work ing classes the election of one-half of the members of the Council, was carried, in despite of their opposition, and that of their equivocal leader, Burdett ? Do they sup pose that the working-people will not entertain vindictive and distrustful feelings towards those who evince such jealousy of their rights, and so little of sympathy in their wrongs ?—Talk of Hunt dividing the Reformers, indeed ! Here is dividing them with a vengeance. With what face can these middle men of Westminster point to the physical power of the millions, by way of intimidating the oli garchy into a concession of popular Reform, when at the same time they virtually inform these millions that they must not expect this Reform ever to extend to them? Do they suppose that these millions would fight for the rights of the middle classes, and not fight for their own ? or that having achieved the restoration of their long-usurped fran chisee fur the middle men, they would ingloriously bend their necks to the yoke of such petty upstart despots as the electors of Westminster? Oh no ! The working-people would one thousand times rather have back the dethroned boroughtnongers than bethe pitiful vassals of a huckstering, meney.changing aristocracy of factors, ironmongers, and vile attorneys." These are the sentiments of the Birmingham Union—of that Uuion to which Sir Francis Burdett triumphantly referred, as an example, when he at tempted to defeat Mr. Wakley's motion with re spect to the composition of the Council of the Me tropolitan Union. It is good that the Reformers should begin to understand each other, if it were only to prevent the possibility of such deplorable mistakes as that of the foolish Westminster Baronet, and that the British nation, or that large majority of it who are not desirous of revolution, should under stand the feelings of the only class of Reformers who can be considered as in the slightest degree formidable, if it were only to guard them from the deplorable mistake of supposing that the success of the Bill can by possibility allay the political ferment which Ministers have so strenuously laboured to ex cite. Lest it should be imagined that the above quotations express merely the sentiments of an in dividual journalist, it is proper to state that the editor of the paper from which they are taken wa. nomina•ed immediately after their appearance, and was to be elected with all the speed of which the rules of the association admit, a member of the Council of the Birmingham Political Union.—.Morn lug Post. THE MURDERED ITALIAN BOY. (Further particulars, from the Observer of yesterday.) On Saturday the body of the poor ill-fated lad was ex humed, for the purpose of being exhibited to an Italian, named Augustine Bruin, an itinerant musician, in whose service the deceased had been for some time. On the body being raised from the grave, in the burial-ground belonging to St. Paul's, Covent-garden (in Cleveland street), and the lid of the coffin being opened, the instant he saw the features of the murdered boy he exclaimed— " Mon pauvre garcon." He had no doubt of the identity of the boy, and appeared to be deeply affected, frequently repeating, with tears in his eyes, "Pauvre Carlo," and Mon pauvre garcon." He stated that the poor boy's name was Carlo Terrari, and the lad got his living for some time by perambulating the streets of Londo❑ with little natural curiosities, which were supplied to him for the purpose of exhibition. The poor boy was well known in most of the squares at the west end of the town, and when he exhibited his white mice or tortoise to any gen tleman he would say—"Donnez une louis, Signor." The painful ceremony of disinterring the corpse and examining it being over, it was again consigned to the silent tomb. Subsequent to this proceeding Mr. Thomas, Mr. Corder, and Mr. Cribb, the foreman of the Coroner's inquest which sat on the body of the deceased, proceeded to the Jere• miser lately occupied by Bishop, in Nova Scotia-gardens, Bethnal-green. After a minute search they made such discoveries as filled them with horror, and confirmed, in the most con clusive manner, the horrible, and, it is added, murderous traffic in which the parties have been engaged. In the evening the above gentlemen, Messrs. Corder, Thomas, and Cribb went before Mr. Minshull, at Bow-street, and communicated to him in private the result of their investi gation, which was of such a character as to strike the worthy Magistrate with astonishment and terror. From what we could collect—for the evidence is, for prudential reasons, kept secret—the disclosures were such as to lead to a belief that the most appalling crimes have been for a long period committed, and that a system of murder has been carried on which, when fully made known, will produce the most terrific sensation in the public mind. Mr. Corder and Mr. Thomas both urged to Mr. Minshull the great importance of an immediate re-examination of the prisoners, instead of delaying it till Friday next, the day to which they were remanded. Mr. Minshull was so persuaded of the expediency of the suggestion that be said he was willing to proceed with the examination of the prisoners that night, or even on Sunday, if the ends of justice were likely to be promoted. After some further conversation it was arranged that the prisoners should be brought up on Monday (this day) at twelve o'clock, to Bow-street, for which purpose directions were given. It is believed that the case will present features infinitely more dreadful than those which attended the detection of the notorious Burke, in Edinburgh. Bishop, on his return to his cell on Friday, thanked Mr Thomas for his humane attention to the comforts of his children since lie has been in custody ; and, in a sig nificant manner, said that it could not be expected he would say any thing to his own prejudice; for the pre sent, he said, his lips were sealed. Bishop has lost that apparent confidence which he at first assumed, and mani fests a good deal of mental uneasiness. From the wild and lonely situation of the residence of Bishop, the man supposed to be the principal in the mur der of the Italian boy, it occurred to the officers engaged in pursuing the investigation that other persons might have been conveyed there, and disposed of in a similar Way, and that a thorough examination of the premises might lead to discoveries of great importance to the fur therance of justice. Accordingly, Joseph Higgins, the police constable of Mr. Thomas's division, who has been so active in the inquiry from its commencement, went yesterday morning to Bishop's house, in Nova Scotia gardens, Bethnal.green, accompanied by another constable of the division, who has been bred a gardener, and who provided himself with tools to snake a most effectual search. The cellar underneath Bishop's house was first dug up and examined, but nothing found ; and the con stables next proceeded to dig up the garden at the back. At this work they were occupied for upwards of six hours, and nothing of importance was found until Ilivgins observed that a portion of the garden which appeared to have served as a track to the back part, and had been much trodden upon, had not been disturbed, and that it appeared to be composed of mixed soil, as though it had been heaped up for a particular purpose. An in strument, called a " searcher, was then driven into the EDINBURGH MEAL MARKET. —Nov. 1 5 . • pl We had a small supply of Oatmeal a t t hi s d ay ' s market' met with a better sale, at last week's prices. Per Sack of xBolb. Imp. t' er St one o f 141 b. II: First Oatmeal Second ditto 1 15 0 Second ditto Barleymeal 1 10 0 8ar1eyanea1...,...... ...... , Peas era eal 1 10 0 Peas emea l „,...`0 Pot Barley—No. 1, per cwt. 125.-2 d, 155.-3 d, 1 8 34. GLASGOW CORN MARKET.---Nov. 16. , t We have tc report large sa l es o f C ana d a Wheat. Orh,e.oo are firm, without alteration in p r ic e . B ar l ey i s i n good o`li and fully dearer. Oats are dull of sale, and a shade l o wer. and Pease as last week. 1 Wheat, per 2401 b. s. d. s. d. O a t s , per 2641 b. C. d' t o British, old 24 oto3o 0 Iri s h l7 0 , new 26 0 28 0 British Canada, free 2B 029 0 Beans, per 2801 b. Barley, per 3201 b. Scottish English — 0 C Pease, Scottish ... 17 0 Scottish l5 0 28 0 29 6 Oatmeal, per 1401 b. , , Irish CORNWALL. MARKETS. 4 TRußo—Wheat (average) 434.91.—8ar1ey, 12s.—Oati.;,01 ST AUSTELL—Wheat, —s. to 226.—Barley, —s. to 11s. Os. to 8.3. 6d. BOD MlN—Wheat (average)44s. Od.—Barley, lls. HELSTON—Wheat, Od.—Barley, I:2s Od. (11 , PENZANCE—Wheat, 225. to 2.4s.—Barley, to I 2s. Os. to Ss. Od.—Beef and Mutton, 51 to Od.—Pork, Butter, 111 d. per lb. fide LISKE•RD-..Wheat i —s. Od. to M S.—Barley, Bs. to Bs. Od. ST. Cocumn—Wheat, 225. to 248.—Barley, Its. to Its , and Mutton, 4d. to sd.—Veal, 4d.—Lamb, sd. NCESTON—Wheat (average) 211. Od.—Earley,l Is.3k 7s. 6d.—Beef, sd.—Mutton, sd. MINING INTELLIGENCE Ton- 4 •`o Quantity of Copper Ore sold at Rcxlruth laat Thurday ° Quantity of fine Average Produce 1421 Amount of Sale, 17,38.1.25. o (l—Average SMndard,: - Yesterday afternoon, between three antl, f ; o'clock, the i n h a bit an t s i n t h e ne i g hb our h oo d of BrirtV terrace, Brixton, and its vicinity, were thrown in t l ll o/ greatest state of al ar m, i n consequence o f a repor"ol the wife of a jobbing gardener had destroyed her { t er child by nearly severing its head from its body, and s bet wards put a period to her own existence by cuttivi o o' throat. It appeared that between the hours abov e ' ab' tioned the unfortunate woman, during the t em porori . „ t te sence of her husband, who had not been from home 00 than a few minutes, had laid violent hands on heret u i e her infant ; and on his return he found them both We ep i ; ing in their blood, the latter quite d ea d, an d the I°. A a° with a most frightful gash on the front of her throl. t ; e bleeding most copiously, but some symptoms o f l' he ia‘ maining. He instantly g ave an a l arm , an d a coa ch procured, the ill-fated woman was removed with all fl i er ble speed to Guy's Hospital, but with little hopes °' Ore recovery. It seem e d th a t prev i ous to h er marr ing was was a member of a mos t respecta bl e f am il y, helouo fat the society of Quakers, but having married a pcll lec tta inferior to hers e lf i n ran k, s h e was di scar d e d and neg.:•,,ali by her friends. Thi s c i rcumstance preye d most scow l o le on her mind, and for several months past she has bee i n s hal serveal to he in a mos t d espon di ng state , an d i t i s eliu she on a p rev i ous occas i on attempted to ta k e away hert°lo life. A n o t e i n h er h an d -wr i t i ng was f oun d on tbe:bel of the room, and the ink on which was scarcely dry i had it was so found, in which she stated that bee bulba r° t sts always treated her most kindly, and that she had 00 slightest fault to find with hire. 11 ' 1441", Notice, tga, DIVE asr - 4-- - t - Iground, and in a moment 4t was found that there, some resistance more than the natural soil would° : The spade was then used, and in a few moments $ E As ' jacket, such as would fit a boy who had ki lt , 9 HE " breeched," was dug out. It was made of very goo" reveals, and rather fashionable, having a double r ° UN I r GL I covered buttons on the left side, and button-holest e R ,' ~ AN - , ably well worked, on the right. Behind there n li :i ik - ' covered button, and one gilt, of the fancy kind, !_ sa il . d ,_ t a c 3 sort of star in the centre. The next article found r- ii ` - 'OMP - pair of trousers, of black cloth, evidently belonging 11 1 ,: trce t, jacket, from the size, all the brace button-holes of ;s ' en °'c l° were torn out, as though in a struggle of som e Along with these was found a shirt, corresponding irl which had been a good deal mended. Attached g c "-------- , A - brace-buttons behind w ere t wo p i eces o f riband, frti,''lS - appeared to hav e b een use d as b races, the Pt 4 1 E , ot which is a stripe of pink, or light red, and AN the [ alternately. The o ffi cers, in digging a little fu,,,, ( lI4AL turned up a blue jacket, or coatee, of course but goa l 'T':otice, , with some white buttons upon it, made in the f ar l E 'het the of some of the charity schools, and apparently ' A t° ,,, l t wi ll to fit a boy of 14 or 15, along with which were a ti 7 4 ree o', ' trousers suited to the same size, of coarse speckled I ,' j a ° Janu s , much mended at the knees, and a shirt of very b iu coAnd that lour, and much joined and mended. In the sam e i or s ril .,Pany's was also found a strip e d wa i s t coat, on t h e b ac k of tb e , t 4 o u ll Y to b e of which, both in s id e an d outs id e, were sta i ns of I) ; th . Higgins, upon this dis c o ver y, went to M rs. Ki n g, , ------- had seen (as our Bow-street report described) an W I Thi s boy near Bishop's house, on Thursday, the 3d (d e Lts - o o6 '' before the body wa s t a k en t o G uy ' s H osp i tal and or CAI for sale, and left there for the night), and asked b et , # „ C urve could describe the boy's dress ; and she said he IVO, ;" , trei Er rota ar blue coat, cut something in the " quaker fashion, i ,rota i t , t , a straight collar. Our informer was an eye•witl °4l er A ' isal the digging up of the articles mentioned, and the i tion excited by th e di scovery amongst several of the i' l er ,Ateli s , of bouring inhabitants who had assembled was most pofo In the course of the day Higgins took two of 1 3 ' . 0 1 , Fo r it, ,i children from Shoreditch workhouse, and placed t he ir , . r eshyt tr - ia safe custody, in consequence of information that they ,_Soster, in possession of some facts of great importance, s be s # "'----..._____ portion of which that we feel ourselves at liberty to g 0 tion at present is, that the youngest, about five yea rs i told a neighb our ' s c hild t h at h e h a d got some nice ' O / 141, 1 e y p mice at home, and that his f a th er h a d b ro k en up t hs to light the fire with. ISLSE -............_-,..----.-"IT COUNTRY CORN MARKETS. la , , liE i !I, p 'a r t o l n ti 1 DURING LAST WEEK. - tr fr e 1 g lII Ved P Wheat. Barley. Oats. ......› ti • e rein .....-.... ......... -..._.._., ' i s . i l , 4, &e Per Quarter. a. to a . 1 s. to s. s. to s. „„,. ' , ii a , .' Carlisle . 63 -, 33 - 23 - ou , ire .: In Hexham.........-... 58 65 l',""ded, Morpeth.--....... 54 57 ,34 36 20 24 '.' ; !,;•itliti 2 f n Penrith - 55 1 - 33 - 44 ''''' ,' , 1 4 . 1,,,:' Sheffield - 64 1 - 44 - 2' , -", ' c ai .l -* .Or Winchester 40 68 34 39 23 30 'A, 1 -`°• Per Bushel. s.d. s.d. s.d. s.d. s.d. s.d. El Carmarthen...-. 60 69 36 40 18 20 0, 1 (I ti e ho e ,Itai disease ned Coventry -.. 7 0 9 0 4 8 5 4 3 6 4 0 5 ; ; tat; "e a Newcastle (Staff.) 9 0 9 6 6 4 6 6 3 6 4 0 s i' ~ '°tlal „ Northallerton -...7 0 9 3 3 6 4 6 3 3 4 0 S A ! , s 'ally h; " Stone-... 196 98 65 69 36 40 7 ` a " : Vo6 4 ts ( Swansea ---........ X6B 70 40 49 23 26 „ 0 ; ' .°, II( Warwick -....... 90100, 4 6 50 2 2 26 , " I ` Th e ' Per poll. 11 01,i, et tt Barnardcastle -...... 14 6 17 6 9 0 10 0 5 6 6 6 0 , 0 0 11 titp,,,,' trh Durham. l4 6 1761 90 10 656 83 fu„ 0I; ml Richmond re Richmond --.. ,14 0 18 0., 9 6 10 0 5 0 8 0 iu " 0 ' &'Hy n , Stockton ..-..........114 6 15 91 9 6 10 0 50 70 21.1 , `, TC`e It .at t WAKEFIELD CORN MARKET.-Noy. 16. ,fit , ,) Cal y „, Wheat, Red, Norfolk and Suffhlk...46s. 565. to 60s. 05 4 , , 'Sy, ."'at , Lin. and Cam. 46s. 545. to 60e. fin,`o l ' J„ ' Is fi ------ Yorkshire 454. 575. to 595. 0 ,.!,;e • z 1 82 R - White 525. 60s. to 64e. tucti) , ~ 10 , 1 „. - ' - Foreign, Red -s. 455. to 535. 6.';# Nil this White -s. r" e' , Barley, Norfolk and Suffolk - Lincolnshire - Yorkshire Weld - Foreign -s. to --s. 65e iii t "' g ridorl. Beans, Small --- Tick 39s. to 40s. 013 '0 Of S ° l Oat t 0 00 415.40 0. i t Oats, Potato 24s. to 265. 65 '0 ll 'hona - Poland -s. 225. to 258. e,O Allth n ,. - Friesland and Small -s. 20s. to 235. ." - 0 0, b„ --, - Beating I Id. to 12Ud. per Too c ards, Shelling 355. to 365. Od. per yeel s t , 4 * A C Malt 18s 445. fine 475. per pil', tement, , Rapeseed , - Y clean _____-- --)'enotnent' SCOTCH MARKETS. cap kedi cine, , Wheat. Barley Oats. I Beano- „,..),Nvi n -.1--........ 32 of ge, Aberdeen .... 44 60 27 32 21 = - --- 33 ; „ 'ts. Berwick.....- 38 45 21 25 15 22 30 32 ~... , - We es . Coldstream.., 40 44 20 24 17 11) 30 31 „ ', , fit1,,,, 0 Cupar -...... 48 66 33 35 25 26 38 3 0 , / ti t) , ` c ted , Dundee.-- 56 70 33 37 24 25 3 5 36 - -r est ab si Elgin 50 56 32 35 19 93 19 21 / , I ~, K 1n 0 cie 50 rn .....e........ e5s 1 r s oLl (lea; n ds od throughout own d .4s t . h e e onn co o i ' ; s - tvi,"4 : l l t : I c o, Eirkaldy 40 45 27 2, 9 g b , n „ 32 „„, 24 „,, "ill), ,e, Perth -. 52 64 21 •-,, -,-, a. -- ,- tr / t114.1, , s 4502 45 56 2 230 25 32 20 17 2 2 18 r a. v 34 i' i ; ; 11 t11 :1, : r : o v rk ery e Al deg 14 292 fl e CO ua ir sa R e ert Ni a ar r :ARKI.n,-/cov. 16. jr , ~,a t, , ' We had a large supply of all kinds of Grain to-day, aP he s: „ "i)' Is' rather better. Wheat down 2s. on the top, and Sd. 0n,`,...te„. The ao ra7 in g dt e hsde .r . B a h ov a E li p l r s t el h l y z ge Ne e s:7 ll : l ; t r ll tg e , and ss. on the average. 0 `lit, 1 , Wheat. Barley. Oats. Pease. i ' . „,,, 0 4 'l'itu ' l ' First 6oa Od 40e Od 25s 4tl 36s Od -'-' fti fo rm " sin Second „, fos Od 35s Od Od 34s Od 300 r 4 30# l 'itri ou 4 a Third (I i'lip .% Pa PRICES OF PROVISIONS, &c. I to'', It t 'Ples . Beef, per lb. .... Os. 3jd.toOs.6d. Fresh Butter, 1b.011.0.- 1 i ~,s 4 tiv„, ' Mutton ............ 0 31. 0 6 Salt Ditto...-. 010 ,00 , t' 4 ,4.` or/ Veal * 0 6 0 9 Ditto, per cw t. 94 6 '0 ', ..,‹5:, ,..5.., ,.,, Pork---.. 0 4 0 6 Eggs, per doz. 1 3 0 Lamb, per qr. 1 0 2 6 O a tSt raw( k p . )12 0 101 g liti Fallow, cwt.... 35 5 37 6 Whe a t Ditt o- . 9 6 Ouartern Loaf U 8 0 9 Barley Ditto .. 8 0 1 / Potatoes, 1711 b. 0 4 0 0 Hay, per at.... 1 1 _...,.., '! . ol lt b . all .A. .._....... t BIRTH. ' Sla lf t On the 17th inst. in Grosvenor-square, Lady Harriot ton, of a daughter. MARRIED. ie trf f li t On the 16th inst. at Enfield, J. Harvey, Esq., of Bal— t ; A -00 1 in the county of Donegal, Ireland, to Harriet Mary , daughter of A. Paris, Esq. Beech-hill, Herts. 14, I° 4 At Billinghay, Mr. J. Wells, veterinary surgeon, age d t Mrs. Clarke, aged upwards of eo. DIED. I" Pa ll' h On the 18th inst. Frances Jane, infant daughter of J. , - pier, Esq., of Montagu-place.. e, t v , On the 17th inst. in Kenton- s t ree t, B runs wick-squa ,4 -- 1 Wallis, widow of the late Mr. C. Wallis, of Long-acre, ' I D e .. ir PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY MURDO YOUN.- a I AT SUN OFFICE, 112, STRAND, LOIDON.