The Sun. — London, England, 1831-04-08 00:00:00

;PIRI r OF 'HIE -PUBLIC JOURNALS. It tva.c some days ago stated, that Mr. O'Connell bad an intention of setting up one of his sons as an .opponent to Sir Henry Parnell, now that the Right lion. Baronet (on accepting- the office of Secretary at War) has vacated his seat for the Queen's County. As nothing could have been more inju dicious, more mischievous to the public cause, or more offensive to all who feel honestly for the suc cess of the Reform Bill, than such an ill-tithed and perverse display of personal ambition on the part of the Learned Gentleman, we art happy to find, by the .3forning Register of Tuesday lest, that he has ad. d'essed a long and able letter to the electors of the Queen's County, pressing uyon them, by a variety of conclusive arguments, th-eitobligation of again re turning Sir Henry Parnell as their Nlember, with out a contest, and free of all 'expense. Undoubtedly, if ever there was :a moment at which it became the bounden duty of all independent men of every shade and aspect of liberal politics, to rorget their differ epees both as to the past anti future, and to co-ope rate with entire confidence in each other, for the at tainment of the one solid and surpassing good ) which has never before been placed within the reach of English patriots, and ~h ick, IF now lost sight of, may not be recovered far ages to come, on terms of equal safety and advantage to Kings, Lords, and people, shat moment has arrived. The resistance to Reform— factious if you choose to call it so, but more pro perly the rapacious and desperate fight of a banditti at their cavern's mouth, when piles of plunder are within—that resistance has been already fermidable. As the danger thickens, it will become hourly more reckless and more dreadful. No violence—no trick —no treachery will be left untried to strangle this tirst birth of constitutional wisdom and integrity : all the devices of practised and inventive cunning, —all the pliant and solemn smoothness of the Court,—the loud, insulting, and thick-skulled fury of the camp—every engine of outrage and of sub tlety—will be moved against us ; and must not the occasion be deemed well worth whatever energy they can muster to those with whom the question is one of enduring power, or of poi:tie:al annihilation at once immediate and !irrecoverable ? In exact pro portion ns the people have reason to desire an amendment of their Parliamentary system, the enemies of the people imagine that they have mo tives for frustrating a change to them so ruinous. We admit that the veriest boroughmonger of them all will gain much by Reform, in common with the country ; but it is not a share, it is monopoly which delights them : they are as exclusive as a Tory patroness of Almack's, anti, like her when she denies the existence of a world beyond the names in her (mu porter's book, the Rntlands and Beauforts, the Lowt hers and Newcastles, know nothing of a constitution without the pale of the pension-list, and its gilt though net well-lettered index, the cata logue of their twenty boroughs. We say, there "ore, that Mr. O'Connell has done right in exhort ing the Irish freeholders to think of nothing but Reform. It is true that Mr. O'Connell has used langusge to excite the suspicion that he meditates Reform as a step towards repeal of the Union : what then ? The Union can incur no intelligible risk but 'tom tl e dissatisfaction of the Irish people, rod that dissatisfaction can nevi r be dangerous but when it breaks out into acts of violence. Unless, however, the quantum of Irish discontent is likely to be increased by this Reform of Parliament, it seems altogether inconceivable to us, that Mr. O'Connell's pertinacity in the anti-Union cause should furnish the shadow of an argument in oppo sition to Reform. It is trot through votes in ,the House of Commons that the British empire has to fear dismemberment; and if it were, we are tho roughly satisfied that a Parliament representing fairly the reasonable portion of the people of Ireland, with the whole mass of English reso lotion and of Scotch sagacity, would be with out comparison less liable to yield before the menaces of a Munst, r mob, or the trained bands of O'Connell and his Dublin agitator., than would a selfish and panic-stricken coterie of borough Lords, without confidence in the powers of a great people, or manly feeling fur the national he resin and security. Be the effect of Parliamentary Refotrn on the mob-spirit of Ireland what it nosy (and with regard to its influence on the real body of Irishmen weare trot uneasy), the measure must be (carried, or the empire will sink and r the weight of its own distractions—the result of grievance univer sally acknowledged, but obdurately and wickedly sinredressed. Of all the champions of anti-refor mation, the Duke of Wellington stands alone in his .3aring, we doubt not honest, but almost ludicrous, stenial of the to cessity for any species of Reform. In is nor, therefore, the Duke of 'Wellington we fear. H doctrine will not make dupes or prose lyte.. The shufflers—the sleight-of-hand men— are the real parties of whom the people should be apprehensive. Although Sir R. Peel arid his party one and all rectised—refused as doggedly as the Duke of Wellington him:elf—to admit the least ac cession of popularity into the representation, when the proposal was made to them for transferring the fran chise of worthless and despicable boroughs to towns of vast wealth, population, and intelligence; and al though the present universal hunger for a sweeping demolition of the close boroughs may be traced to the just indignation of the country at those shameful -.fetes, the very same men have now the impudence to assure us that they, forsooth, arc friends to Par liamentary Reform,„blit not to this Reform. In other words, they would take credit for the truth of declarations which every act of their previous lives has contradicted. They mean, in reality, to oppose all Reform whatever but such as the people of Eng land would reject as being no Reform at all. Still, we enjoin the people of England, as Mr. O'Connell does the Irish, set your shoulders to this one work—attempt nothing—think of nothing—until you have accomplished that. Reform will do every thing for all of us: without Morin, there is neither peace within nor power without, nor security for what we have, nor hope for that which is wanting. We beg the attention of those who are interested in the state of Ireland—and what Englishman is not ?—to a letter, signed " A. B. C.," and descrip• tive of those causes to which, in a large degree, but riot, perhaps, quite so extensively as the write, supposes, may be ascribed the deplorable outrages which have lately been committed in the south-west of Ireland.—:times. It appears that at the York Assizes a man named Thomas Gregg, convicted cf sheep-stealing, has been doomed to suffer the extreme penalty w hi c h our improved criminal code annexes to this crime, which is death. We had hoped the time was come when an offence of this nature would be thought sufficiently atoned for by some punishment short of taking human life, and that the expression of public opinion ag a i ns t sanguinary enactments w ou ld have due weight in preventing the recurrence of those bibltions of vindictive justice, in which the qi rend tr becomes an object of public sympathy, and the law alone ‘• the Judge who regarded with abhorrence. But tried the case (Mr. Justice Jame , I tl ' i n e r t k i g), i i s a r th e y p e :rt e d to have given a reason for in flicting, instance, upon a sheep-stealer, the punishmnenl: stated he would have awarded to a murderer. is ot at c ed to have told the prisoner that " the offence had become so common of late in th i e n c h a oi t u : n le otp i te t.h al a i t n g a severe example must be made, and, there l was no case so glaringly fit to afford that the case we e:titlsoiptbleeer,ta..swi•liitsb" This all way of putting sub mission to the Learned Judge doctrine of expediency—pot on the principles on the lice. It is but a new application of the dogma of that a man is hanged not Lceause atZl i s ge sheep, but that sheep may not be stolen. Carry doctrine to its full extent, and to what will it lead? To the enactment of the penalty of death for every offence whatever. For if Legislators and Judges have a right to take life in any instance, on the ground of expediency, without arty consideration of the proportion of the punishment to the offence, they have a right to do it in every instance. The whole moral foundation of justice la subve, ted; and if n sheep-stealer 13 to be put to death, not becau his crime deserves that terrible chastisement, but because it is thought more effective in preventing ethers from commit tin similar crimes, and as it is desirable that small offences should be effectually pre vented, as well as great ons, there is no offence, however trivial., which ought not to incur the dreadful consequence of the forfeiture of life ? We are quite certain that Mr. Justice James Parke's disposition is naturally kind,and whose exercise of the judicial office is generally as much distinguished for moderation a. intelligence, dial nor, at the moment when he sen tenced the sheep-steakt meiely for example sake, re , - fleet upon the train of sanguinary consequences that would follow from his doctrine. An enlightened public calls for a repeal of the forgery laws, and demand that the crime shall be treated, even in its worst shape, as an t , .ggravated species of fraud, as it really is, and not as an offence of violence or blood ; but the doctrine in question, if of any weight at all, must prevent the amelioration of the criminal code, not on!) , with regard to that crime, but with regard to every other which has been made the subject of vindictive statutes, utterly at variance with the spirit of dispassionate justice. The eminent indi vidual who holds the highest judicial situation in this countr,: closed his splendid and useful career in the House of Commons by presenting a petition frocin a great number of the inhabitant householders of London liable to serve on juries, and among them several who had been foremen of juries at the Old Bailey, which petition stated that those who signed it " viewed with deep regret the excessive and in discriminate severity of the criminal laws, which an nex to offences of different degrees of moral guilt the punishment of death, and confound the mere in vasion of the rights of property with the most ma lignant and atrocious crimes against the person and the life of man ;" also " that the recent Acts passed, with the professed intention to amend and improve the criminal laws, have not remedied the evil of which an enlightened community have the greatest reason to com plain, but have still left those laws a disgrace to our civilization, by retaining the opprobrious distinction of being the most sanguinary of any in Europe." As to sheep-stealing, tinder the pretence of amendment, Sir Robert Peel has made the law more sanguinary than it was before, as he has made it a capital offence to kill a sheep, or, indeed, any cattle, with intent to steal the skin—which was not capital by any previous law ! The petition to which we have alluded, after properly describing the spu rious amendment of the lam, went on to state that " witnesses were frequently reluctant to give evi dence, and Juries extremely reluctant to convict where the penal consequences of the offence excited a conscientious horror on their minds,lest the rigorous performances of their duties as Jurors should make them accessory to judicial murder; and thus cri minals, who, under a more rational and considerate code of laws, would meet the punishment due to their crimes, escape with complete impunity. So much for the superior efficacy of intemperate and inhuman laws ! Shall the barbarous experiments which Lord Brougham so eloquently condemned be repeated ? We trust not.—Morning Herald. The question of dissolution is attended with con siderable difficulty. UraqueAionably an election would add greatly to the strength of Ministers. But, on the other hand, the delay which it would occasion, could not fail to have the effect of occa sioning much inconvenience, from the continuance of the agitation and exc'tement. Such a benefit as a Reform in the Parliament cannot be purchased at too high a price. We quarrel not with the excite ment ; but if the measure can be carried without a issolution, it is obvious that we should thus obtain ton easier terms. Our contemporary (the Globe) observes : " It is quite clear, too, that a dissolution at this mo ment would cause a House of Commons to be returned mere free from the influence of sordid motives in its elec- tion than any which has been known fur a century—that there should be less money spent in bribery, and that what should be Fo spent would be less effectual than at any for mer period ; that numbers of people, commonly indiffe rent about elections, would earnest!) , and disinterestedly enage in them; and that, in a word, the House returned would be, as neatly as its present constitution admits, and more nearly than in any Itss extraordinary crisis would he possible, a representation of the people. " A House of Commons so chosen would make the course of Reform plain and easy, and in such a House any real amendment in the details of the Bill would be sure of an honest and friendly consideration. This is of great importance, because the amendments now proposed will naturally be viewed with su'picion. as in , end,l either to n ullify the measure, or to sow tie seeds of division among its friends ; and thus, by a nicely-balanced House of Com mon., the Bills may be sent out in a less perfect state than their principles and outline merit. " Looking at the bare majority on the second reading, we believe that if any hitrieue were to throw the present Ministry out before a dissolution took place, there would . , he found a party numerous enough to form a majority in the present House of Commons, who would rally round an anti-Reform or a smallest possible Reform Ministry, unless, indeed, they were actually under the terror of po pular convulsion ; the question of Reform might thus, to the great danger of the peace of the country, be deferred for some years. In the present state of Europe, it is to lie recollected there is a great temptation to a desperate faction to speculate on the chances of events, and especially on a war, which might turn off the attention of the people from domsaic reforms. These considerations cannot escape the Ministers, and if they should incline to a dissolution, they will reconcile such of their friends—for such there must be—as will he inconvenienced by it, to their decision in its favour." There is much force in these observations of our contemporary. We are quite aware of the lengths to which the borouglimongcrs would go to avert Reform. 14m we trust to the strong determination of the people, which, rising with the discovery of any intrigue to defraud the nation of Reform, would render every attempt of the kind impossible. There would n)t be a convulsion, for the unanimity of the people would prevent it. It is so much the interest of all who live by tiade and industry to prevent any disturbances, anything which might have the effect of shaking confidence, that we are convinced they would exhibit themselves in such an attitude as would at once strike dismay into their factious ene mies. This is not a party question—it is not a sectarian question; it is a question between the people and a few of their spoilers. A majority -night be obtained in the House of Commons; but would the King consent to a measure which would deprive him of the love of his people, cause him to be regarded as their enemy, or despised as a weak man who could not adhere to any purpose ? Could he, after receiving such hearty demonstrations of love and gratitude from his people, brook the idea of closing his eyes amidst their execrations ? Could he think of leaving behind him the name of a man, who, when a Ministry were supported by a united people, interposed between the people and their happiness ? We cannot—we will not believe it. The time is past for wavering ; his Majesty as well as his Ministers must go on. They who speculate on the chances of events, may see in the delay caused by a dissolution a source of hope. This argument cuts two ways. However, without a clear understanding obtained in the way resorted to on such occasions, that Ministers will have a decided majority without a dissolution, the sooner they have recourse to such a measure the better.—Mornin Chronicle. We are anxious to call the public attention to a debate which took place in the House of Commons on the navy estimates, the great importance of which was not perceived by us until our at tention was called to it in a letter from one of our corres pondents last week. That letter refers to a case of absolute injustice, which was made out by Sir ' George Clerk against S;r James Graham, in the case of some of the gentlemen educated at the chool of naval architecture at Portsmouth. We we have_ taken the pains to inquire into the matter, and feel that the charg e of i 1 . be add ed to tcy is to to that of injustice • for school is one of a most im w p e rt find that the . abov e ant ch ar d actet l , asit concerns the nav a l ascendancy of En instiinted by the Government of 18 1 1 l 0 an te . promote twa s the alvancement of the scienee of naval a reiaitec tine—a science which, from the limited nature of it, application, and its great difficulty, never can be cultivated successfully unless sufficient inducements be held out to tempt persons of superior mathema tical acquirements to devote themselves entir e ly to it. There are at this moment in our dock-yards a few persons, educated at the above school (Sir James Graham stated the number to be twelve), who are not yet appointed to any situations, and who are included in the First Lord's favourite mea sure of day pay--a measure which Sir James h as applied to certain persons in the dock-yarda, hitherto enjoying annual salaries, and who are thus placed in an inferior grade, and deprived of advantages coil nected with their former position in his Majesty' s service. This step has been taken by S'r James Graham with a view to economy, by reducing the amount of superannuations; but all expenses should be viewed in relation) to the objects to be obtained, and it is indeed a short-sighted and pitiful economy to effect retrenchment at the expense of efficiency - . Burke says,'' In saving money, I soon count up all the good I do; but when, by a cold penury, I blast the abilities of a nation, and stunt the growth of its active energies, the ill I do is beyond all calculation." Even supposing the establishment to he an expen sive one, yet we contend that if it should produce only one man of talent, who by great application could with certainty avoid the many errors into which En g lish constructors have fallen, and could construct ships which would at least rival the best foreign, the gain to this country would be incalcu lable; and it is in vain to look for such a man except among those who have received a highly scientific education. Now, what chance, we. ask, is there that such a man would remain in the public service under the degrading regulations of day pay, and with no prospect of superannuation ? If before these regulations were enforced, and when confidence would naturally be placed in the promises of the Admiralty, some of these naval architects left his Ma jesty's service, even before so many situations in the dock-yards were abolished, what possibly can now in duce such a man to remain ? So that all the great national - advantages contemplated by the founders of this institution are to be destroyed, because the Fir,t Lord wishes to effect an ultimate saving of a few pounds. And will it be believed, too, that this saving is to be effected by an absolute breach of faith, for it is to be done in the very fact of a posi tive agreement, which was entered into by the Na val Administration with the students when they were admitted into the establishment. Acts of gross injustice are sometimes committed by men in office with impunity, because the objects of their oppres sion are too humble and powerless to call the public attention to their wrong. We feel it to be our duty to exercise the power which we possess, in expos ing folly and bad faith, by thus holding up to public censure individuals, who, under the fancied shelter of office, have committed acts which, in other circumstance, would involve them in merited dis grace.—!horning Post. The Paris Papeis announce what is by no means improbable, that Turkey arid Persia have availed themselves of her embarrassments to declare war against Russia. It is to be presumed that the Poles would take care that the Turks should be put in possession of the state of things between them and Russia, and that the news of the failure at Praga would reach Constantinople in- due time. The belief is that the Russian disasters have been greater than it was anticipated they would be. The over weening confidence of Bonaparte, the result of long continued success, which led him to neglect the precautions of ordinary prudence in his Russian campaign, is far from a solitary instance in the his toi yof the world. Who knows but that great as the power of Russia is, the confidence of supe riority which led the Emperor to attempt Warsaw by a coup-de-main, and to throw out of calcu lation the possible consequences of a failure, may be the cause of her deep humiliation. Notwith standing the critical position of Austria with regard to Italy, we cannot help thinking that both that Power and Prussia would nut be very sorry to find a gnat State interpose between them and Russia. Prussia is a country increasing fast in industry and commerce; and she has long abandoned the plan of keeping up a large standing army. Her standing army is merely the taucleus of the military force to which she trusts in case of war. Austria is not an aggressive Power; her object is to keep Europe stationary, and to prevent the spread of revolutionary doctrines, and not conquest. But Russia is entirely a military Government, and the Autocrat knows that his existence depends on his conciliating the soldiery. Every civilized State, therefore, must wish to keep such a Power at a distance. Colonel Matthew Stewart, in his pamphlet on the State and Policy of the Nation, published in 1828, observes, speaking of Russia : " 'The advantages, as well as the self-satisfaction, which a conquering people never fail to derive from conquest (mote especially when effected by the poor upon the rich) are likely to whet their appetite for further e ncroachments. An army is always eager for employment ; and a great military State, when once it proceeds upon the principle of territorial aggrandizement, can scarcely desist—Conti nued action becoming necessity to its existence—and whatever might he the more wholesome views of some men, the general tendency of public opinion could not fail to inthence, in the Ling run, the conduct of the nation. The arbitrary nature of her Government places completely at the disposal of her ruler the whole re sources of the empire. The personal character of the Sovereign in a despotic State must always dutermiae the character of his policy ; and, sooner or later, this despotic Power will come to be united with personal ambition, and a love of exploit; and the whole of this enormous force will be precipitated on the rest of Europe." It is fortunate, perhaps, for the west of Europe, that Poland has not yet become thoroughly Russian. The difficulties of Russia, in the present camiatige, arise out of the nature of the country in which the war is carried on. What was applied to Spain more than two centuries ago, will apply to all thinly peopled countries—Qua/7d on y vajiirt on meurt de faint, ct quand on yye foible on est battu. Had Russia been bounded by a populous country like Germany, she might have assembled her hordes on her frontiers without apprehension, and poured th em forth on the slene of military operations, kno wll T well, that where there is a deese population there is abundant food, and that where there is food armed men gill contrive to find it. But in Poland,as well as in Turkey, magazines must be formed at a great expence, and food must be obtained from a distance, which circumstances are almost insurmountable ob stacles to the keeping a large army together. Of this truth the Prussians must be well aware; and the family connections of the King, and event the apprehension of losing Poser), will hardly outweigh the natural dislike of the King's German subjects to see the Russians too close to them.—Morn. Citron LICENSED VIGTUALLERS' ASYLUM.—On Wednesday the subscribers to, and the friends of, the Li censed Victuallers' Asylum, dined together at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate•street ; and on this occasion the Duke of Sussix (who laid the foundation stone of the Asylum, and who presided two years ago) again took the chair. The Duke, in giving the first toast, spoke to the following effect:—" Gentlemen, you will easily anticipate the toast lam going to propose. Thank God ! in this country we can do nothing without a KING; and thank God'. (added the Duke most earnestly) with such a KING as we have, we can do every thing..—(The tremendous and hearty ap plause that burst forth on the delivery of this sentence de fies adequate description.) Silence being restored, the Duke proceeded—" 1 will not dilate upon the subject of the toast--it is unnecessary ; because I see how anxious you are to honour it.—(Loud cries of ' Bravo;' and ex clamations of ' We have come to plain good English at last.') I will give you, gentlemen, King WILLIAM the Foosill; and God bless him !' "—a toast pronounced with impressive feeling by his Royal Highness. It was honoured with loud bursts of applause, In speaking of Reform, in the course of the evening, his Royal Highness took occasion to declare, that " the Crown was for Re form; that the Government was unanimous for Reform ; and that the two being supported by all England, Reform must be carried. Time, he said, would undeceive the public respecting various misstatements, and reason would in time come to the aid of those who were prejud!ced. At all events, there could be no queition that those who de pended on misleading the public ' would ultimately find out heir error. PARLIAMENTARY RE FORNI. [We copy the following clever speech of Mr Smith from a Taunton Paper. The meeting at which it was delivered took place some weeks ago, but we had not room to insert it at the time.] The Rev. SIDNEY SMITH rose, and addressed the meeting to the following effect :—" Mr. Bailiff, this is the greatest measure which has ever been befor, Parliament in my time, and the most pregnant with good or evil to the country ; and though I seldom meddle with political meetings, I could not recon cile it to ma' conscience to be absent from this Every year for this half century the question of Re form has been pressing upon us till it has swelled up at last into this great and awful combination, so that almost every city and every borough in England are at this moment assembled for the same purpose, and are doing, the same thing we are doing. It damps the ostentation of argument, and mitigates the pain of doubt to believe, as I believe, that the measure is inevitable ; the consequences may be good or bad, but done it must be ; I defy the most determined enemy of popular influence, either now or a little time from now, to prevent a Reform in Parliament. Some years ago, by timely concession, it might have been prevented. If Members had been granted to Birmingham, Leeds, and Manchester, and other great towns as oppor unities occurred, a spirit of conciliation would have been evinced, and the people might have been satisfied with a Reform, which though remote was gradual ; but with the customary blindness and insolence of human beings, the day of adversity was forgotten, the rapid improvement of the people was not noticed, and the object of a cer tain class of politicians was to please the Court, and to gratify their own arrogance, by treating every attempt to expand the representation and to imrease the popular influence with every species of contempt and obloquy, and so the golden opportunity was lost. Proud lips must swallow bitter potions. The arguments and the practice (as I remember to have heard Mr. Huskisson say) which did very well twenty years ago, will not do now. The people read too much, think too much, see too many News. papers, hear too many speeches, have their eyes too intensely fixed upon political events ; but if it was possible to put off Parliamentary Reform a week ago, is it possible now? When a Monarch (whose amiable and popular manners have, I verily believe, saved us from a revolution) approves the measure, —when a Minister of exalted character plans and fashions it,—when a Cabinet of such varied talent and disposition protect it,—when such a body of the aristocracy vote fur it,—when the hundred-horse power of the Press is labouring for it,—who does not know after this (whatever be the decision of the present Parliament) that the measure is virtually carried,—and that all the struggle between such an nunciation of such a plan, and its completion, is tu mult, disorder, disaffection—(it may be) political ruin ? An honourable Member of the honourable House, much connected with this town, arid once its representative, seems to be amazingly surprised, and equally dissatisfied, at this combination of King, Ministers, Nobles, and people, against his ep'nion— like the gentleman who came home from serving on a jury, very much disconcerted, and complaining he had met with eleven of the most obstinate people he had ever seen in his life, whom he found it abso lutely impossible by the strongest arguments to tiring over to his way of thinking.—(Applause.)— They tell you, gentlemen, that you have grown rich and powerful with these rotten boroughs, and that it would be madness to part with them, or to alter a Constitution which had produced such happy effects. There happens, gentlemen, to live near my parson age a labouring man, of very superior character and I ' understanding to his fellow-labourers, and who has I in ide such good use of that superiority, that he has saved what is (for his station ire life) a very consi derable sum of money, and if his existence is ex tended to the common period, be will die rich. It happens, however, that he is (and long has been) troubled with violent stomachic pains, for which he has hitherto obtained no relief; and which really are, the bane and torment of his life. Now, if my excel lent labourer were to send fora physician, and to consult him respecting this malady, would it not be very singular language if our doctor were to say to him, " My good friend, you surely will not be so rash as to attempt to get rid of these pains in your stomach ; have you not grown rich with these pains in your stomach ? have you not risen under them from poverty to prosperity ? has not your situation since you were first attacked, been improving every year ? You surely will not be so foolish and indis creet as to part with the pains in your stomach ?" (Shouts of laughter ) Why, what would he the answer of the rustic to this nonsensical monition ? " Monster of Rhubarb," he would say, " I am not rich in consequence of the pains in my stomach, but in spite of the pains in my stomach; and I should have been ten times richer, and fifty times happier, if I had never had any pains in my s•omaeh at all." Gentlemen, these rotten boroughs are your pains in the stomach—and you would have been a much richer and greater people if you had never had them at attt Your wealth and yew power have been 'Owing, not to the debased and cor rupted parts of the House of Commons, bat to the many independent and Honourable Membeis whom it has always contained within its walls.— (Applause.)—lf there had been a few more of these very valuable Members for close boroughs, we should, I verily bel , eve, have been by this time about as free as Denmark, Sweden, or the Germa nized States of Italy. They tell you of the few men of name and character who have sat for bo roughs; but nothing is said of those mean and me nial men who are sent down every day by their aristocratic ma,sters, to continue unjust and unne cessary wars, to prevent inquiring into profligate expenditure, to take money out of your pockets, or to do any other bad or base thing which the Mini ster of the day may require at their unclean hands. What is the mischief these boroughs have done ? I believe there is not a day of your lives in which y of ou lif a e re fro r m iot t s h ue e ff a ring in ccumi ail iinti the otioftaxedbad m d votes,coto n of di b tic at s i men. But, Mr. Bailiff, if this were otherwise, if it really were a great political innovation, that cities of 100,000 men should have no representatives, be cause representatives were wanted for political ditches, political walk, and political parks; that the people should be bought and sold like any other commodity ; that a retired merchant should be able to go into the market and buy ten shares in the go vernment of twenty millions of his fellow-subjects; yet can such asseverations be made openly before the people? Wise men, men conveis int with hu man n rraird, may whisper such theories to each other in retirement; but can the people ever he taught that it is right they should be bought and so ki? Can the vehemence of eloquent democrats be met with such arguments and theories ? Can the doubts of honest and limited men be met by such arguments and theories ? The momentuch Government is looked at by all the people, it is lost, It is impossibl e to explain, defend, and re commend it to the mass of mankind. And true e nough it is, that as often as misfortune threatens us at home, er imitation excites us from abroad, po litical Reform is clamoured for by the people — there it stands, and ever will stand, in the appre hension of the multitude—Reforrn the cure 01 every evil—corruption, the source of every mis fortune—famine, defeat, decayed trade, depressed a griculture, will all lapse into the question of Re. form—till that question is set at rest (and it may be set at rest), all will be disaffection, tumult, and per haps (which God avert !) destruction. But demo crats and agitators (and democrats and agitators there are in the woild)will not be contented with this Reform. Perhaps not, Sir; I never hope to content men whose game is never to be contented; but if they aro not contented, I am sure their con tent will then comparatively be of little importance. I am afraid of them now; I have no arguments to answer them, but I shall not be afraid of them afier this Bill, and would tell them boldly, in the middle of their mobs, that there was no longer cause for agitation and excitement, and that they were in trodin;; wickedly t o th e p eo pl e . Y ou m a y d e p en d upon it such a measure would destroy their trade, as the repeal of duties would destroy the trade of the smuggler—their functions would be carried on faintly, and with little profit—you would soon feel that your position was stable, solid and safe. But all would be well if they would but let the people alone; but what chance is there, I demand of these wise politicians that the people will ever be let alone—that the orator will lay down his craft, and the demagogue forget his cunning ? If many things were let alone which never will be let alone, the aspect of human affairs would be a little varied. If the winds would let the waves :dour., there would be no storms ; if gentlemen would but let the ladies alone, there would be no unhappy marriages, and deserted damsels. If persons who can reason no better than this would leave speaking alone, the school of eloquence might be improved. I have little hopes, however, of witnessing any of these acts of forbearance, particularly the last, and so we must (however foolish it may appear) proceed to make laws for a people whom we are sure will not be let alone. We might really imagine, from the objections made to the plan of Reform, that the gnat mass of Englishmen were madmen, robbers, and murderers. The kingly power is to be des.royed, the House of Lords is to be annihilated, the church is to be ruined, estates are to be confiscated. lam quite at a loss to find, in these perpetrators of crime , , in this mass of pillagers and lunatics, the steady and respectable tradesmen and farmers, who will have votes to confer, and the steady and respectable country gentlemen, who will probably have votes to receive. It may be true of the tradesmen of Mau ritania, it may be just of the country gentlemen of Fez, but it 'is any thing but true of the English people. The English are a tranquil, phlegmatic, money money-getting people, who want to be quiet —and would be quiet if they were not surrounded by evils of such magnitude that it would be basene s and pusillanimity not to oppose to them the strongest constitutional resisiaace.—(Applause.) Then it is said that there is to be a lack of talent in the new Parliament,—it is to be composed of ordinary and inferior persons, who will bring the Government of the country into contempt; but the best of all talents, gentlemen is to conduct our affairs honestly,diligently, and economically, and this talent will I am sure abound as much in the new Parliament as many pre vious Parliaments. Parliament is not a school for rhe toric and declamation, •where a stranger would go to hear a speech, as he would go to the Opera to hear a song; but, if it were otherwise, if eloquence be a necessary ornament of, and an indispensable adjunct to, popular assemblies, can it ever be absent from popular assemblies ? I have always found that all things moral or physical grow in the soil best suited for them. Show me a deep and tenacious earth, and 1 am sure the oak will spring up in it. In a low and damp soil I am equally certain of the alder end the willow. Gentlemen, the free Parliament of a free people is the native soil of eloquence ; and in that soil it will ever flourish and abound ; there it will produce those intellectual effects which drive before them whole tribes of nations of the human race, and settle the destinir s of man.—(Cheer s.)—And, gentlemen, if a few per ons of a less elegant and aristocratic description were to become Members of the I-louse of Com mons, where would be the evil ? They would probably understand the common people a great deal better, and in this way the feelings and in terests of all classes of people would be better re presented. The House of CommoUs thus organized, will express more faithfully the opinions of the people. lint the people are sometimes grossly rn'staken ; but are Kings never mistaken ? Are the higher orders never misoken ? Never wilfully corrupted by their own interests ? The people have at least this superiority, that they always intend to do what is right. The argument of fear is very easily disposed of: he who is afraid of a knock on the head or a cut on the cheek is a coward ; he who is afraid of entailing greater evils on the country by refining the remedy than by applying it, and who acts ia pursuance of that conviction, is a wise and prudent man : nothing can be more different than personal and political fear, it is the artifice of our opponents to confound them toge ther. The right of disfranchisement, gentlemen, must exist somewhere, and where but in Parlia ment ? If not, how was the Scotch Union ? How was the Irish Union effected ? The Duke of Wel- lington's administration disfranchised at one blow 200,000 Irish voters—for no fault of theirs, and for no other reason than the best of all reasons, that public expediency required it. These very same politicians are now looking in an agony of terror at the disfranchisement of corporations, containing 20 or 30 person, sold to their representatives, who are themselves perhaps sold to the Government; and to put an end to those enormous abuses, it is called corporation robbery, and there are some per sons wild enough to talk of compensation. This principle of compensation, you will consider perhaps in the following instance to have been carried as far perhaps as sound discretion permits. When I was a young► man, the place in England, I remember, as most notorious for highwaymen and their exploits was Finchley, Common, near the metropolis ; but Finchley Common, gentlemen, in the progress of Improvement, came to be enclosed, and the high waymen lost by these means the opportunity of exercising their gallant vocation. I remember a friend of mine proposed to draw up for them a pe tition to the House of Commons for compensation, which ran in this manner--•‘: We, your loyal high waymen of Finchley Common and its neighbour hood, having at great expense laid in a stock of blunderbusses, pistols, and other in-truments, for plundering the public, and finding ourselves im peded in the exercise of our calling by the said en closure of the said Common of Finchley, humbiv petition your Honourable House will be pleased to assign to us such compensation as your Honourable House in its wisdom and justice may think fit." Gentlemen, I must leave the application to you. — (Immense applause and laughter.)—An Hon. Baronet says, if Parliament is dissolved, I will go to my borough with the Bill in my hand, and will say, " I know of no crime you have comnutted,—l found nothing proved against you,—l voted against the Bill, and am come to fling myself upon your kindness, with the hope that my conduct will be ap proved, and that you will return me again to Par liament." That Hon. Baronet may, perhaps, receive from his borough an answer he little expects,—" We are above being bribed by such a childish and un worthy artifice,—we do not choose to consult our own interest at the expense of the general peace and happiness of the country,—we are thoroughly convinced a Reform ought to take place,—we are very willing to sacrifice a privilege we ought never to have possessed to the good of the community, and we will return no one to Parliament who is not deeply impresre I with the same feeling." This I hope is the answer that gentleman will receive, and this, I hope, will be the noble and generous feeling of every borough in England. The greater part of human improvements, gentlemen, I am sorry to say are made after war, tumult, bloodshed, and civil commotion : mankind seem to object to every species of gratuitous happiness, and to consider every ad vantage as too cheap which is not purchased by some calamity. I shall esteem it as a singular act of God's providence, if this great nation, guided by these warnings of history, not waiting till tumult for Reform, not trusting Reform to the rude hands of the lowest of the peop l e , shall amend their de cayed institutions, at a p eriod w hen they are ruled (Fervent arid continued applaus e followe d the delivery of this address.) i b ii y ste a r, poaiiridulabrleAsit v ot ‘ i irh arch,pofund g r tiid o el by p an upright Nii eace._ THE NEW NOVEL.—The author of Vivian Grey will certainly produce the story of The Young Duke, in the course of the present month. Report speaks of this work as being, in character, incident, and plot, of a description which , while it i s p er f ect l y t rue t o na ture, is new to fiction. Dm is as it should he ; the numerous readers of Vivian Grey expect something ori ginal from the hands of the author. LEEDS CORN MARKET. Wheat, Norfolk and Suf York. and Lincoln. (lOib. Barley, Norfolk and Suffolk Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Grinding Beans 63lb. Oats, Potatoe —Mealing, Foreign 134. to 14!,A....Eni Shelling Rapeseed, English, 301. to 3'2/ Foreii .—April 5. ties. to 765. 6os. to 735. 4 , 435. to 445. 395. to 40s. 28s. to 30s. 335. to 475. 3‘...15. to 345. glish 14d. to Isd. per st. 365. to 375. per load. gn, —l. to —l. per last... LI VERPOOL CORN EXCHANGE—ApriI 5. WHEAT, English, White, per 701 b. Red 10 0 10 3 i -- Scotch, Welch, and Manx Irish, White 9 6 9 7 ---' Red 9 0 9 4 Foreign lO 6 10 10 Gal's, English, Welsh, and Scotch, per 451 b 4 2 4 9 Irish Foreign BARLEY, English, Malting, per hop. quarter 43 0 48 0 Scotch and Irish, per 601bs. Feeding 4 4 4 9 BEANS, English, per Imperial quarter 44 0 50 0 Irish, &c. Foreign PEASE, English, per Imperial quarter 5:l 0 54 0 _ Fsireign FLOUR, English, per 2801 b. ------ Irish OATMEAL, English and Irish, per 240105. 35 0 37 , 6 INDIAN CORN, per 4401 h. ,44 0 47 0 BYE, per Imperial quarter Nlaur, per Imperial quarter IMPORT OF GRAIN for the Week ending April 4. Wheat. Oats. Barley our. Oatmeal. Fl Qrs. Ors. Qrs. Foreign, t3rls.llrish, &c. Scks. Loads. 10,004 12,57 ) 3 , 751 1,656 I 785 2,838 BI RTHS. On the 6th inst. at Kensington, the wife of H. Ronalds, M.D ., of a son. On the 6th inst. at Southgate-park, Mrs. Wm. Tewart, of a daughter. On the of. 7th ina i On the' Ist inst. at Cheltenham, the lady of C. Earle, E sq ., of Major J. Fletcher, of the Hon. East a daughter. MARRIED. M'Lean, Esq., of the island of C a rriacou, in the Government of Grenada, to Margaret Ann, second daughter of A. G. Milne, BrantfordE s O c l On the 6th inst. at Tottenham, R. T. Fletcher, Esq.,_ 01 inlodsftitoiaeitd.lia'treinity Church, St. Marylebone, G eorge Company's 2,1 Battalion Old 112th (now Ist) Regiment Bengal Native Infantry, to Ellen, only dauglder of C. A. 1 A. "homson, Esq. On the sth inst. at Trinity Church, C. Marylebone, F. J, Walthew, of Norti,lk-street.' Strand, and Albany -street, Regent's Park, Esq., to Elizabeth, third daughter of J. Bent, Esq. of Oat_ hall, Lindfield, Sussex. On the sth inst. at St. Paul's, Covent-garden, T. 130 ~ , d itch„ Esq., to Caroline .lane, second daughter of the , late P. W. Broughton, Esq. of London. DIED. On the sth inst. at Rusper, Sussex, M r . A. Inman , aged CA of Crown-street, Finsbury. On the sth inst. at A ndover, Ha nts, Margaret, the Yl li gtst daughter of the late Wm. Davidson, E sq. , o f shaftesbury. 011,e, Kensington-gravel-pits, in her 2tith year. f ,fagdalery h On the 4th inst. at Bath, J. Wathen, Es (I . _„ ° " 0 •NT -- all Oxford, third son of the late S. Wathen, r-;:"'' t - ew_h etis e, Gloucestershire. aret Keith A . i, On the 30th ult. at Edinburgh, Miss Ma r f in by of Gla,s. Abe crombv, daughter of the late General Abcrer t 4 4h, Ban frshire. wan, w idow of t , On the '..!d inst. at Walworth, Mrs Cole " late Mr. T, Coleman , Waltham-abbey ..- " ex ' ----"--"--"`-- Pat,.Tun AND p B y *m K L)O Y OUNAi. SUN-OFFICE, 1 STNAND. L ONDON, THe MIDDLESEX SESSIONS, APRIL 7. JAMES lIOIJSON, APPELLANT, V. THOMAS GOODCHILD, ESQ. RESPONDENT. This was art appeal to the Quarter Sessions against the decision of the Licensing Magistrates, (of whom Mr. Goodchild was Chairman) in refus ing to renew the licence of the Crown and Anchor, , Drummond -street, St. Pancras. Mr. ALLEY, for the appellant, addressed the Court at considerable length. He contended that no licensing Ma2isinite had the power to refuse the renewal of a license, or to take away an existing. Fcense, unless the licensed victualler should have been previously convicted three times of offences against the tenor of his license. He read various clauses of the Act, called Mr. Estcourt's Act, the 9cli George IV., chap. 61, which clearly stated that before a license shall be taken away the party must have been convicted of three offences, on the last of which he was entitled to a decision by a Jury. The Act also gave the power of an appfal to these S e ,- sions. The Act, he contended, was passed to pre• vent a Magistrate who might be so disposed to act in an arbitrary way, of which instances had fre quently occurred berme it had passed; and if Ma gistrates chose now to take a man's license aw a y, without any previous offence having been incurred, then there, was a stop put to the effects which that salutary law was intended to produce. Tne Learned Cunsel then stated that he would prove that the appellant was a man of irreproachable character, against whose house no complaint whatever had been made, and he then submitted that this Court would order the license, which had existed for many years, to be renewed. The question was of vita impor:ance to all publicans, from one end of the kingdom to the other. A witness was called, who gave the appellant an excellent character ; but, on cross-examination by Mr. Adolphus, he admitted that the appellant, be sides the house from which the Magistrates had token his license, hid also a public-house in Port land Town, three miles dis•ant. The CHAIRMAN stopped the case, observing that the appellant having two public-houses sufficiently jusifiei the Magistrates in refusing this license. The other NlaAistrates concurred in the Chair man's opinion, and the appeal was dismssed. WILLIAM GEORGE Tl,NsiculT APPELLANT; THE REV. H. B. OWEN AND ANOTHER RESPONDENTS. This was a similar appeal to the preceding. The petition of the appellant stated that he had been 17 year. a licensed victualler, and had a family of seven children ; that he had been four years in his present house (now shut up), during which time no complaint whatever had be -n made against him; that, at the licensing day, in March, the Magistrates refused him his license on the grounds that he had no convenience " for cooking► steaks;" and that he sold too much " blue ruin," as one Magis trate expre s.ed it. They had desired him to alter the form of his house inside, and to shut up one of his doors. Mr. C. INILLIPS, in a very eloquent speech, re probated the manner in which they had taken upon themselves to refuse the renewal of licenses. He would show that Mr. Tunnicliff was a person of ex emplary character; that he had a wife and seven children looking to him for support; and that he had embarked all he had in his business. He ploied the Court to reflect upon the consequences of destroying that business without a single com plaint against him—consequences which would re duce him and his family to beggary. This was an important question, and involved no less than thirty millions of property ; and it was to be hoped that it was not permitted for a man to have all he had in the world taken from him without having the slightest imputation ever made against him. Witnes,es were called, who gave the appellant a high character for the mode in which he conducted his house; and they stated that he had a room for the accommodation of eibtomers. The CHAIRMAN asked Mr. Adolphus he had any thing to say against the appellant's character ? Mr. ADOLPHUS said he had not. He then ad chessed the Court on behalf of the Licensing Mu gistrate.:, who, he said, had acted solely in the dis charge of a painful duty. The CHAIRMAN said it appeared that the Magis trates swished the appellant to alter his house ; but they had acted erroneously, for they had no power to annex a condition to a license. The Court unanimously granted the license. THE MARKETS. HAILSHAM MARKET.—ArriI 6. Beef—„-- 3s. Sd. to 4s. 4d. Veal —... 4s. Sd. to ss. Od. Mutton--, 4 4 5 Perk 0 0 0 0 Lamb 6A. Oct. to 7s. Ocl There were a few store Barrens, and Cows with Calves by their side, offering; most of the former were sold at about t!s. per stone, estimated at their fattened weight ; the trade with both the latter and fat stock was very dull, at drooping prices. COUNTRY CORN MARKETS DURING THE WEEK. V, heat. I Barley. Oats. Beans. l'er Quarter. js.to s. s. s. s. to s. s. to s. Rlandtprd 70 39 27 43 Brigg 6O f 6 31 40 20 25 35 40 Cambri,lge 71 I 41 26 35 Chard kiuntingdon 58 74 33 45 22 28 32 42 Long Sutton..._ 62 75 33 37 20 24 35 :3A Louth Lynn 62 72 32 44 22 30 37 40 Newark —,.— 76 78 31 47 24 30 39 53 Nottingham Peterborough Plymouth 12 76 28 33 24 23 37 42 Pontefract — 68 43 26 • 4 3 Slea for. I Uppinghain 70 82 36 44 26 32 38 44 Wisbech 61 74 31 24 28 37 30 \ -.__-, jus any deg and anc Ito Maji Mee Levi Cou IVIOv now ,111ov :rent Nov sent( to gi Mov to hi pledi prrik ham Alovi are li so di their the I in th Mori the 2 went Tim( New Move the 1 anion We Laity ; holde vend Throi XSIT, Yoti before t , entat rence.