The Sun. — London, England, 1831-06-01 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. Art ntiempt is making to prescribe to the House of Lords a method of defeating the Bill for Reform, which at least would have the merit of novelty, for that House has hitherto usually confined itself -within the bounds of duty, and abstained from any aggrandisement of its powers at the expense of the other House of Pa liamenta But the course whicl is now recommended to it would at once affect thi Tight of the Commons to originate any Bill ; for it is advised, as soon as Parliament is assem bled, anti before any other business is transacted that the Upper House should mass some decla ration against Reform, or *t least against the spe• title measure by whikh it is about to be produced. A declaration tea either of these effects would bt very absurd and dangerous ; for if agesiest Reform generally, bow can this he done, when almost all the Members of the Upper House have beer, brought to acknowledge that Far:* Reform is neces a.ary, is indispensable ? If against the specific measure, what right can the Upper House have so declare its opinion upon a Bill only just introduced into Parliament, and as yet before the Lower House ? The counsel, therefore, given to the House of Lord' seems to be neither more nor less than this,—involve yourselves as soon as possible in a quarrel with the Commons, and with wrong on your side. The Lords are too prudent to comply with this advice. They will probably wait till the Bill comes before them from the Commons, and then give it that Calm and respectful consideration which the importance of the subject and the previous decision of one branch of the Legislature respecting it require. We do not fear for the success of the Bill with the Lords, if it pass the Commons in a consistent and proper shape. —Times. The address of Lord Milton to the freeholders of Northamptonshire is an enlightened and generous, and, in some of its allusions to the personal circum stances of the writer, a very affecting production. One, whose " bosom is a stranger to joy," has been dragged from that retirement which he had devoted to the indulgence of melancholy feelings, or to the discharge of domestic and pious duties, and is clothed with a most conspicuous public trust, at a time of fierce pulitical struggle, into the midst of which he will be forced to plunge by the necessary , effect of the obligations thus suddenly cast upon him. His Lordship's notice of the late election, and of its result, so favourable to the cause of the people of England, was accompanied by much liberality of expression towards Mr. Cartwright, the unsuccessful candidate. " The defeat" (says Lord Milton) " has nat been INIr. Cartwrieht's: it has been the defeat of a system and set of opinions." Lord Milton then goes on to re-assert the important maxim that knowledge is power, and traces the augmented influence of the yeomanry and tradespeople through- out the kingdom to the rapid spread of useful infortmo Lion amongst them. The fact is, that an acquaint ance with their own strength, and with the most effectual means of directing it simultaneously to a common object, is the most precious of all know ledge that a nation can acquire, being, indeed, the only secure species of aerriament against enemies in ternal or foreign. Lord Milton is wise as well as upright, in declaring that he " does not lament the change" which breaks up the monopoly of power by certain great proprietors, and diffuses it amongst the people at large. This for such a man is an honest sentiment, because , if any body could hope for immediate profit by the continuance of monopoly in a few hands, it might be Lord Milton ; and it is wise, because, in the long run, and in the general account of things, the monopolist of power, which is but another name for a despot, must feel himself in a position of no small peril, while surrounded by a community which has begun to understand the rights of all its members. We have already hinted some of our own doubts as to the policy of extend ing the elective franchise to leaseholders, save under circumstances which were likely to render them ' in a great degree independent of their landlords. It has always,indeed,appeared to ue,that tenants at will, or from year to year, we wholly out of the ques tion as being fit repositories for so grave a public trust. Others have added, that every tenant ought, as a justification for granting him the eke tire franchise, to be in actual possession of a lease which had at least seven years to run. But Lord Milton goes further still, and gives his opinion against any introduction whatsoever of leaseholders amongst the voters at county elections. His Lord ship entertains considerable objection to all deriva tive rights in county elections. But on that point we beg leave to differ with Lord Milton, if, as may be guessed, his objection be founded on abstract or theoretic reasons only. The grand desideratum is to have the franchise enjoyed by every intelligent and independent Englishman, and we conceive that many descriptions of leaseholders may be both; but let Lord Milton make it clear to us that the land owners will have the means, as well as the inclina tion, so ingeniously to shape and modify their leases as in substance to deprive the bulk of any large por tion of those who hold under them of that free agency, a semblance of which undoubtedly belongs to every 501. lease for 21 or 14 years, and his Lord ship will perhaps have little difficulty in persuading us to adopt his judgment. The truth and good sense of one passage in the address are such as well entitle it to be laid a second time before our readers, and in a mariner more prominent than when placed in juxta-position with the context. It has always been our argument, not merely that the aggregate weight and influence of property would be essentially promoted by the Bill, but that it would improve and elevate the whole character of the Eng lish Aristoc'ary, by inducing them individually to aim at that moral influence, and at the attainments and qualities necessary to it, which might best enable them to replace the positive, though partial and ca pricious power of which they would no doubt be deprived by the destruction of the borough mono poly. This contrast between vicious power and wholesome influence over their countrymen, is well put by Lord Milton in the following passage : " I fear that the establishment of the leasehold franchise will have a particular tendency to affect their independ ence. I fear that it may give the landed gentry and no bility a larg'r share (and that of a bad description) of authority in them than they ought to possess. I fear lest it should give them power, which is a bad thing, instead of influence, which is a good thing : power is a bad thing because it presses upon the fears and selfish feelings of the electors, while influence addresses itself to the hearts and understandings; —power compels men, influence vide. them."... Times. Our readers will see, by the more particular and detailed statement of the votes in favour of Prince Leopold, contained in our letter from Brussels, than we bad room for on Monday, when we alluded to the subject, that his Royal Highness is likely to be chosen by a great miijority ci the Belgic Con gress. We have examined the list of names pro posing hi m , pu bli s h e d i n t h e C our i er d es P ays B us, and e find th at h e i s su pp or t e d b y a l most every " Puty who has hitherto figured in the deliberations of tha t assem b ly, with the exception of some of the violent republicans. and T t h h e nobility, the party of the Cath o li c Ch urch, possessed of wealth or enga ge d i n trade who men desire repose, are all in kis favour. Count de Celles, who made the con cordat with the Pope; Count F. de M ero d e , w h o as a Catholic is looked upon bigot ; and several of the priests who are members,e of Congr es s, h ave subscribed this call. il Con gress has likewise hi s nameresnlent o f the list. The Ministers are zealous, s enrolled i n t h e arid th e Re gent himself, if it were requisite, the casting vote. This day (the Ist of ‘‘ J .o u u n l e d ) is an give important epoch in the annals of Belgic affairs. has been selected by the Congress at Brussels for an It definitive choice of a King , and it is accidentally also the term fixed by the Plenipotentiaries of the Fiv'e Powers in the conference at London for the accept. ante or refusal by the Belgians of the act of sepa. ration between Belgium and Holland. To this act, with all its conditions, Holland has already acceded, and by the 22d protocol, the consent of Belgium is made the necessary condition of the formal recogni tion of its independence. On this recognition will ilepeed the acceptance of the crown by Prince Leo pold, for it requires little sagacity in his Royal High ness to perceive the imprudence and danger of as cending the new throne amid the dissatisfaction or • hostilities of neighbouring States. Indeed his Royal Hi g h ness has repeatedly declared that he must decline the Belgic sovereignty, in what ever manner tendered, tin the settlement of the limits sectree him against any imme diate collision with his neighbours respecting the extent of his dominions. As th e mo d era t e p ar ty i n ‘ • Belgium has lately been gaining ground,—as the Congress has seen th rolisy of its former bluster and pretensionyai , -Os the violent patriotic associations formed l'o`e the purpose of declaring war against Holland, instead of doing her justice, has now ceased from their inflammatory proceedings,—it • may be hoped that, not withstending the efforts of a republican friction. en& the intrigues of the propa gandist agents of France, an amicable arrangement will be brought about,—an arrangement which will secure to the Belgians the fun extent of the terri tory to which they can justly lay claim, or which they can puechase by a pecuniary indemnitsease-re store their trade,—give them the free navigation of the Meuse and the Schelde—insure them, like Switzerland, in a seeepetual neutrality amid nations engaged in ever, and make them happy and pros peroes under a King of their own choice.—Times. The furious Ukase of the 22d of March, addressed by the Autocrat of Russia to the insurgents of Li thuania and Samogitia, has been carried, wherever the Russian arms have been successful, into bar barous execution. Already numbers of prisoners have been shot in cold blood, or otherwise butchered by the f!eythian " heroes," who are never at a loss to make up for their deficiencies as soldiers by their energy as executioners; This is a foretaste of what Poland may expect, if ever the warriors, whose noble devotion to the interests of their country has excited the admiration of the civilized world, should stiffer the fate of the brave bands of the immortal Kosciusko, and perish hr defence of the most sacred cause for which an oppressed people ever raised the standard of defiance to a tyrant's power. What a contrast to tire savage spirit in which the Russian forces carry on hostilities was the generous conduct of the Poles, even in the moment of the first fer vour and excitement of their revolution. The con flict of Warsaw on the night of the 29th of last November—the consequence of fifteen years of in tole:able oppression —ended in giving a complete triumph to the Pole.. If vengeance, and not the mere redress of wrong, had been their object, the victorious youth of Warsaw might have sacrificed to their fury every Russian soldier then on their native soil; but, with a forbearance arid magnanimity to which none but a barbarian heart could be in sensible, they allowed 7,000 Russians, with the brother of the Emperor, to return peaceably to their native land, through a country whose armed population were stimulated with the bitter re collection of so many years of Russian insolence, rapacity, and outrage. What was the return made for this forbearance ? Those very troops came bark soon afterwards to spread slaughter and de vastation through the land where they had found that mercy which they did not merit. Great were the cruelties which they committed in many places —sparing neither age nor sex, when they thought their march to 'Warsaw was to have been more of a triumphal procession than any thing else, and their imaginations already revelled in spoils and pillage, and desolation of the burning city, that was to have been offered as one vast holocaust to appease the indignation of the Calmuc Jove, who brandishes his lightnings against freedom from the secure sum mit of his northern olympus. But the brave men who defended Warsaw have taught the Russian armies, led as they are by the passer of the Balkan, that they must pay some respect to the rules of civilized war on the soil of Poland. The prisoners whom they have taken they dared not put to death as rebels, because the Poles have in their hands the means of dreadful retaliation. These means are 16,000 prisoners, along with 300 officers and 10 generals, whom they have treated with the attten tion anti respect which brave men pay to misfor tune. But the question arises, how long can the Polish soldier restrain his just indignation, when he learns the savage cruelty that has been practised on his Lithuanian brethren ? , Another question arises from this state of things, and it is, shall the Polish Government retaliate for the executions and massacres which the Russians have perpetrated in the Lithuanian and Samogitian territories ? In answer to this question, we shall give the language of a Pole ; arid if any thing could make the cause of that people dearer to the friends of civilisation and humanity than it is at present, it is language like the following, in reply to acts of cold-blooded cruelty which might goad even a humane people into ferocious reprisals :—" We reject the system of retaliation; it is not at this moment, when the whole nation displays the most sublime virtues, that we should deny that type of our national character—that natural horror of all sanguinary and cowardly deeds which 12 ages of our history have never belied." Having in these terms rejected the system which punishes the innocent for the crimes of the guilty, the Pole goes on to say," How long will civilized nations rem&ri inac tive spectators of a struggle between violence and injustice on one side, and humanity anti loyalty on the other? Can they pretend to constrain us to return under the yoke whi c h, if no t di sg rac e f u l, i s insupportable for its barbarity. Do they want tiny new proofs of the incompatibility of habits which divide Poland from Russia ? A bloody war, which has already cost both parties nearly 100,000 men, to which is to be added the devastation of !h e country between the Beg and the Vistula—wo men and children massacred by soldiers disappointed in the hope of the pillage of the capital—frightful malady, which even victory increases by the crowds of prisoners taken, arid by leading the Polish armies over districts in which the wells have been poisoeed by pestilent carcasses. In fine, this atrocious Ukase, not satisfied with pronouncing the sentence of ex termination on the brave men who have answered the call of their country, rages even against their offspring, snatches them from the arms of their mothers, and causes them to disappear in the wilds of Russia. A Ukase that would destroy in its in fancy the nation, and those opinions which can only be extirpted by measures as barbarous as they are opposed fo Morality and the rights of nation. Such are the preliminaries to the re-establishment of peace between the Poles and the Emperor of Russia. — Such measures, in this stage, sufficiently prove what will he the treatment reserved by the Emperor for the inhabitants of the unfortunate kingdom of Po land, if, after a long arid desperate conflict, the armies of the Autocrat should succeed in overwhelming the brave defenders of the country. Nothing else could then be looked for than the entire change iif the population of this unhappy country. — Diplomatic notes, which might be useful so long as the conflict is doubtful or the Polish armies triumph, would fall pointless with the barbarian con queror of the Poles. But when Russia shall have covered the whole of its European frontier with her military colonies, then too late will Europe under stand that the truest political foresight, as well as the strictest justice, had imposed it as a dusty, having almost the obligation of a law, to sustain and support the exertions of heroic Poland." In the above sen timents we perrecily concur. There can be no doubt that, if the Russians conquer, the threat of the tyrant will be realized, arid Poland will be erased from the map of Europe! But the Polish army is but the advance guard of France;—the warriors who stopped the Russian legions on tile banks of the Vistula only anticipated the display of Muscovite e,taohfr : valour on t h e banks of the Rhine. But how is it that treatyb ii the s ‘ veGnin,i i rteenoaitPthoie: in(lvers," who were parties to the lBl:er,dve s ; sh te i , cl e t of rec t o h g e n k iz i e ngd dt o i m ie of Poland, can witness the struggles attempting, o n the ground carnage of the present confli ct , without ground of justice, policy, or humanity, t o en f orce the terms of that treaty ? Is a Russian Ukase to stipet sale the Ininciples recognized by those Poweis as the basis of what they called the " settlement of Europe ?"—MO'rning, Herald. The result of the elections in Scotland has sur prised us as it must have surprised many others be sides. We consider it little less than miraculous, and we are not surprised that our Northern neigh bours should appear .ome,,that elated at having qeh irsed so much with such unpromising materials. The result is thus summed up m the Scotsman, of Saturday last : " The result is, that the burghs return eleven Reform ers, and four anti• Reformers, and the counties (including Orkney) thirteen Reformers, and seventeen anti-Reformers. From counties and burghs together, Scotland sends to the House of Commons twenty-four Members who will sup port the Ministerial Bill, and twenty-one who will oppose it. This, we say, speaks volumes for our political Virtue, when the wretched machinery we have to work with is considered. It is true that some of those who are ranked as friends to the Bill, are rather moved by the spirit of the times, than by theit own inclinations ; but we have little doubt that the same influence which has thrown them into the right side, will keep them right in their votes. The fact is plain, that the people are not in a humour to be trifled with." Nothing less than the intense interest taken in the question of Reform by the people, and the array which every where presented itself to the depoi,- taries of the franchise could have wrought such a Miracle. At the Reform dinner, at Aberdeen, M r . Ross, the Member chosen by the Aberdeen district of burghs, observed, with respect to the Reform Bill, that " it would be vain to suppose that so de sirable a measure could be accomplished without great sacrifices of individual interest, and in Scot land these sacrifices have been made. I have only to cast my eyes about me, and to look upon indivi duals in this assembly, who, to their honour, have cheerfully and manfully parted with their rights ; and, in having done so, I give them credit, because they have shown that rights and privileges which are exclusively founded on private interest, deserve not to be put in comparison Avith the public good and the interests of the country at large." We may be assured, however, that but for the thorough conviction that the people were not on this occa sion to be trifled with, the private interests would have carried the day. We do not, in saying this, wish to detract from the merit of those Scotchmen who have sacrificed their political consequence on the altar of their country ; but merely to observe, that such sacrifices are only to be expected under the influence of such a determined spirit as has been here elicited. In Blackwood's Magazine for June, we have a couple of doleful articles on the means employed to regenerate the Scotch electors, who in so many cases have been made virtuous in spite of themselves : " No more savage system of intimidation (says the writer of one of them) ever raged in Paris, under the sway of the Jscohins, than that which was transacted here—on a small scale, indeed—against all those respect able citizens who were supposed to he in the interest of the ' corrupt candidate,' forsooth, a man like his fathers before him Bribery and corruption, we doubt not, are plentiful as blackberries in London ; but her citizens of credit and renown, during times of poli tical ferment, in the exercise of their elective franchise, are seldom, if ever, we believe, exposed to an organised system of merciless persecution, whose ministers haunt them daily and nightly through life, and thre iten, if they withstand it, to cut them off from fire and water. Nay, such political persecution is not, we verily believe, in Eng land at all ; she has no such tyrants—no such slaves.-- But Scotland, small and savage (start net at cur seemingly inconsistent speech), has many of both breeds—cr rather, here many Whig tyrants do sometimes, on such occasions, prevail over a few Tory slaves, and with liberty on their lips, affix to the limbs of their victims irons that eat into the bone—and into the soul. It needs rare strength of mind to stand out against such devilry ; imps swarm round your very hearth, and Satan himself, in the figure of a tall man in black, or perhaps in blue, with cord breeches and top boots, assails you on your threshhold, over which you have neglected to nail a demon-driving horse-shoe. The last elector goes to bed . . . . in despair, and, waking early in the morning, shivers to feel that he is no longer an honest man ; for that lie has sold to brass what gold could never buy.' Never anywhere in small and savage Scotland, had the political persecutor been abroad, with the bootikins and the thumbikins that crush the heart, in such turbulence as in Edinburgh on this election. Men's wives were tampered with —w e mean their fears and their loves for their own husband ! ; and small families of children—consisting, perhaps, • 2 ,, c h of about a dozen—in silence or in squall beseeched daddy to vote for the Lord Advocate that they might see his Bill." All this is evidence furnished by the enemy him_ self of the intensity of the feelings of our northern neighbours in favour of the Reform Bill. At the Aberdeen election, the procession to meet Mr. Ross on his arrival extended upwards of two miles i n length, and the multitude of persons of both sexes and all ranks exceeded 80,000. The Magistrates, i t seems, became alarmed, and wrote to prevent the procession, if possible. " We cannot think," says the Aberdeen Chronicic, "that this object would have been promoted by repressing, or rather attempting to repress, the proposed procession of the people, and all the triumphant preparations which wer e making for duly celebrating the return of the popular Member and friend of Reform. Hence we cannot but think that the publication of the Lord Advocate's letter was extremely ill advised, in every view in which it can be considered. Did the Magistrates really and seriously propose, at that late hour, to stop the people in their public I demonstrations of joy ? Did they propose that, on the lelection day, they should each plod on in the dull routine of their ordinary employments, insensible to all around them ? This was totally impossible. No power on earth —nothing short of the enchantments that we read of in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments—could, on that day, have converted into stone the busy, active, intelligent population of this great and trading city ; and if the gentlemen of the Reform Committee had made any such attempt, on any plea of illegality, it would have placed at once the civic authorities and the people directly at is. oe , and would to a certainty have produced a riot. To pub lish the opinion of the Lord Advocate was, therefore, highly impolitic ; and with what view it was sent to Mr. Blackie is incomprehensible; for, could the Lord Prevo s t imagine it possible, by such a vague, indefinite letter, to stop the intended procession, and all the demonstrations of public feeling which it was proposed to display ? Mr. Blackie's views were far more judicious. Any such inter. ference would have produced a riot." With these demonstrations in every quarter of the United Kingdom, not, be it remarked, originat ing in an evanescent feeling, a transient whim, but in an intense deep rooted conviction of the necessity for carrying the Reform Bill at all hazards—who, we ask, will dare to say all this ought 'to pass for nothing ? In the social union, it is found expedient that property should be religiously respected ; that he largest estate should be as secure to the owner as the cottage to the poor man, because, if the estate of the rich should not be respected, neither would the cottage of the poor. Property will always give influence to the owner, for he is enabled to command the services of men without property. But there is a mighty difference between this sort of influence, and the arrogant claim set up by a certain number of Tory Aristocrats, to have their will deemed of more weight than the will of an united nation. On this occasion, where they are deserted by the nation, these Tory Aristocrats ought to rank for nothing more than any given number of individuals. Their property entitles them to nothing beyond its fair in fluence. The owner of a cottage, the shopkeeper, may be influenced by their rich neighbour, but with out that influence the rich neighbour is not more than one of them. It is proper that the rich should know this—that they should have constantly present to their minds the condition on which alone they can legitimately possess power. On the present occa sion, they who array themselves against the nation only expose themselves to contempt. They renounce the only tenure by which they can possess influence. We hold it, therefore to be visionary in the extreme to entertain for a moment the idea that any number of individuals in the country, be they whom they may, can oppose the universal determination of this nation. A Morning contemporary (the Morning Post) has been amusing its readers with an account of the tactics to be followed by the opponents of the Bill. If the House of Lords take opportunity by the forelock, and vote a hostile Address to the King at the commencement of the session, the Ministers, quoth our contemporary, must either modify the Bill, or they must resign, If they resign, it has been asked who is to succeed them ? Our contemporary takes a mortal leap over this difficulty ; for he as sumes, that as it is necessary for a mixed Govern ment to proceed harmoniously, that the several parts should, to a certain extent, defer to each other, and " for the same reason, and to the same extent, it must be the opinion of all but determined revolu tionists, that the House of Commons ought to de fer to the declared opinions of the Upper House." And if the Upper House votes an Address against the Bill in the outset, and Ministers should resign, the House of Commons would, it is concluded, defer to the opinion of the Lords. But the House of Lords are not such fools as to try their strength in a case where the nation has declared itself in such an energetic manner, that even the corrupt bodies of Scotland have been awed into suicide. In a mixed Government like ours, the Lords may, in cases where they have the nation with them, resist the Commons. The election will he their justification. But, in this case, a fresh election would be more determined than the present, and therefore the House of Lords would be mad to think of opposing the Commons. The separation of the Legislature into King, Lords, and Commons, has for object, not the resistance of the nation by any one of the three, but the preventing the voice of faction from being mistaken for that of the nation. When the will of the nation cannot be mistaken, they must and ought to yield, for it is only for the interest of the nation that they are entrusted with their powers. The most ardent admirer of the Peerage will not contend for any influence to the order, distinct from that which they derive from their embodying the opinions of the nation. The check of the Commons on the Loris is the with holding of supplies ; and the check of tire Lords on the Commons is the compelling a Ministry to sum mon another Parliament. Neither Commons nor Lords are anything when opposed to each other, when not backed by the nation.—Alforning Chron. As the time approaches for the meeting of Par liament, one branch of which has been formed undi r the influence of national intoxication and delirium, the anxiety 9f all rational and sober men becomes daily more intense as to the degree in which the whole Leg;slature will prove itself to participate in the frenzy that has presided over the birth of its more popular members. We are very far indeed from believing that the revolutionary inssnity of the hustings will have been transferred in any other than the most mitigated form to the House of Commons; and we shall be greatly surprised, as well as grieved, if the progress and result of the Reform question be not such as to prove to the present and all future ages the practical value and importance, not only of the unelective and hereditary branch of the Legisla ture, but of that component part of the popular and elective branch, which theorists and constitution mongers have always deemed the most irregular and defective. Where at this moment can the British nation, and the hundred other nations of whose wel fare and happiness the British Legislature has the absolute disposal, look for the legislators possessed of the attributes of calmness, freedom from passion, in dependence, free, manly, and unbiassed reason, or any of the other high attributes which ought to distinguish the Legislators of a mighty, extensive, and diversified empire, but in the House of Peers, and upon the borough seats in the House of Com mons ? Elsewhere, all that is to be seen is the madness of democratic fury, or the iniquity of de mocratic despotism. If we had wanted a proof that sheer folly may become popular, and that some effective counterpoise to popularity is necessary in the Constitution of a State which would secure its permanent welfare and respectability, cars stronger proot be required than the late, but we believe now fading popularity of the Reform Bill of his Majesty's Ministers ? The ten pound house hold franchise of that Bill is an absurdity arid an injustice the most stupendous and enormous perhaps that was ever offered to the acceptance of reasonable men ; and yet it has not failed to obtain a degree of popularity sufficient to decide the elec tions in the majority of places having a numerous constituency. Are we wrong in describing this franchise, when it is made, as the Bill makes it, she source whence two-thirds of the House of Corn mons are to spring, as a stupendous fulls , and ini quity ? Is it not a stupendous folly and iniquity , to give the power of constituting the whole Govern ment of an empire upon which the sun never sets, to a class of society in the centre of that empire tower than any other class, and for no other appa rent reason than that it is the lowest, in the scale of intelligence and independence ? Let us see then if in the above questions we have in the slightest de gree exaggerated the absurdity and atrocity of which we speak. There shall be five brothers of a family in the middle walk of life. The eldest shall have succeeded to a considerable farm, occupied, before it came to him, by his father, h s grandfather, and his great-grandfather. He shall be a man, as such men commonly are, of substance, integrity, and in telligence. l he second shall have launched out into commercial life, and, after years of instructive competition and laborious and meritorious effort, shall have retired upon a moderate independence, to dwell in a house situated in the more retired, and therefore less highly rented, part of the town, nearest the place of his nativity, paying the rent for his comfortable dwelling, which in a great many of the towns of England is not a low one, of 91. per annum. The third shall have realised a fortune iH one of our colonies, and have remitted his gains, progressively as they accrued, for investment in the public securities of Great Britain, whence his annual income is still derived. He shall rent, within a mile and a half of the same town, as tenant at will, a handsome house and grounds, worth perhaps two hundred a year, declining any more permanent te nure, because the habits of his life have implanted in bins an aversion to be confined to one particular spot. A fourth, having been bound apprentice to a mechanical trade, unmoved by the urgings of am bition or the excitements of luxury, shall have been content to pass his life long as a journeyman in his craft. He shall, however, have taken care to lay by against a rainy day, in the Savings' Bank of his district, say two hundred pounds. He still lodges in the humble apartments of which he took possession the day after he was out of his time. The fifth brother, the scamp of the family, after being three times through the Gazelle, and twice through the Insolvent Court, and now, probably, on the high road to one or the other, shall at this moment be in the possession, but mere!y as a tenant at will of an alehouse, a gin-shop, a brothel, in the high street or near the market-place of the town, or perhaps he may soar even to the compara tive respectability of a dealer in ribbons, a maker of shoes, a tailor, a brazier, a butcher, or a baker. Now how does the Reform Bill of his Majesty's Ministers treat these several brothers of the same family ? Does it impart time elective franchise to those who, from their actual situation or their past course of life, are the most likely to be men of pro perty, integrity, and independence ? No such thing. It avoids the substantial farmer, the commercial man, him who has prospered in the colonies, and contributed to their prosperity, the actual fundholder, the laborious and frugal artisan, as if each was a pestilence necessarily fatal to national happiness, pro sperity, and virtue, and bestows all its favour and c onfidence upon the fifth brother, simply because be lives in a town, and in a high-rented part of it, although he may fairly be presumed to be inferior desirable in an elec tor. I res more a o s r k, m p or o e ssi r l i s d le ici t i o imagine any thin g to all others of th e f am il y i n every qua lifi cat i on revolting lous, any thing of which the folly and injustice can b e more conspicuous or unequivocal ? And vet such are the stupid and unprincipled provisions of " the Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill," to which Ministers are pledged, for which mobs have clamoured, in f avour o f w hi ch Newspapers daily contend, and i n w hi c h t h e H ouse o b m d e e m i t n h e o a n i c t s r a a democratic excitedretvoclul t i mi c o u ot r ib. , , t o s ir p i eoatnt Ministry tire s p r toar,iy,r(iofLords of an caan instant rdlnCoto there has descended to excite it, are insane; but the proof is equally cogent that both these bodies are essen, rially arbitrary and despotic. To please the Eng lish, Irish, and Scotch rabble, the fate not only of England, Ireland, and Scotland, but of a colonial empire, in comparison with which these countries are but specks and their population an unit, is to be subjected to the absolute disposal of the nominees of the shopkeepers of the mother country—of a class of society in the mother country which knows the least, and cares the least, about the colonies, and which, less than any other class of the State, are en titled to the respect or confidence of their colonial fellow-subjects. The Ministry which has devised, and the mob which has applauded, this equitable scheme of Reform, are well qualified no doubt to introduce, and protect, and keep alive in the Le gislature, the spirit of rational freedom and the principles of enlightened Government.--illoriz.Post . It is a fact not altogether unworthy of remade, that those who have, in every Session of Parliament, and in every meeting, both public and private, ex pressed the strongest opposition to every species of Reform, have now themselves become Reformers— though to what extent they very carefully ktep to themselves—and that they trace the origin of the spirit which is now abroad, partly to their own non sensical conduct in opposing the disfranchisement of rotten boroughs, and the transfer of the franchise to such places as Birmingham and Manchester, and partly to what they denominate the vile and corrupt influence of the Press, combined with a revolutionist Ministry. Neither of the positions are correct. The c ?rruption of the Press has riot only never been proved, but not even a shadow of proof exhi bited in support of the assertion ; while, with regard' to the revolutionary tendency of the Ministry, we may fairly ask, what have the present Ministers to gain, or rather, what would they not lose by a revo lution ? It is equally untrue that the spirit of Reform has been produced by the refusal of the Anti-Re forming crew to disfranchise rotten and corrupt bo roughs, and to transfer the franchise to large and populous towns; for the cause of Reform has been gradually gathering strength during the last forty years, and the present Ministers, if they would, c mull not have kept it down. What with taxation,—what with unmerited pensions and sinecures,—what with enormous establishments of every kind, and undue preference of aristocratic nonentities to hard work ing and industrious men, who had no Court in fluence,—and what with the invariable resistance waged by the Tcries, against all changes except those which were calculated to benefit rhemselvt s, —the state of the coumery was such, at the acces sion of the presort Ministry, that Reform could no longer be delayed ; and if on no other ground but that of prudence, his Majesty's Ministers have done well in giving vent, at once, to the hitherto pent up spirit of the people, by bringing forward a measure of Reform, calculated at once to satisfy the desires of all rational men, and to prevent the rational wish for Reform from breaking out in the shape of a grant and bloody revolution. Such, at least, is our view of the matter ; and from all that we have yet seen or heard, we flatter ourselves that it is not very wide of the truth.—Murning Advertiser. DREADFUL RIOTS AT WHITEHAVEN BY LORD LONSDALE'S COLLIERS. WHITEHAVEN, MA 1.29. I very much regret to state that the reign of ter ror has commenced in this town. The late Sir James Lowther declared he would make, grass grow in the streets if the people dared to think for them selves. What the views of his heir are we shall not say ; but if we were to take the conduct of his agents as a criterion, we should infer a determina tion that no man's life shall be safe, nor his property secure, who ventures to oppose his political views. Since the termination of the county election, at which Lord Lowther was so signally defeated, a re gular system of proscription has been adopted by his Lordship's agents towards every tradesman of the town who either voted, or was suspected to en tertain opinions against the Noble Lord. Yusttr day, however, was the crowning effort of his de parting power; and the occurrences of that day will neither be forgotten nor forgiven by the respectable inhabitants of Whitehaven, while the name of Low ther is known. I shall endeavour, as briefly as possible, to detail the facts as they occurred. For many years past it has been customary in Whitehaven for gentlemen of all parties to meet together on the King's birth-day to drink his Majesty's health. The usual dinner was appointed to take place this year on the 28th (yesterday). The Lowther agents, mortified by their defeat at the election, refused to coalesce as usual, and immediately began to beat about for an opposition loyalty dinner ; a word which, in this town, means subserviency to Lord Lonsdale, and not obedience to the King. They were soon able to muster names for a large party, and Whitehaveo Castle (the seat of Lord Lonsdale) was the place appointed for the dinner ; probably the first time that a Nobleman's seat was converted into a common inn, where people were called upon to pay for what they ate and drank. lam credibly informed, how ever, that many persons did pay for their dinner and wines, which were furnished by one of the inn keepers of the town. The Lowther agents having taken this step, the independent party proceed e d with their dinner as usual, and invited Mr. Blamire, the newly-elected Member for the caunty, to meet them. This appears to have been gall and wormwood to the Lowtherites, as you will see by their proceedings. Both parties endeavoured to muster us strongly as possible. At the Castle 140 dined, the Rev. H. Lowther in the chair; at the Black Lion,7o gentlemen dined, Isaac Littledale,Esq. in tie chair, supported by Mr. W. Blanire,Ai.l: W Henry Curwen, Esq. of Worthington Hall ; John Christian, Esq. of Ewanrigg, W. Wybergh, Esq., of Isell Hall ; Milham Hartley, Esq., Captain Ro bertson Walker, R.N., and a number of the princi pal gentlemen and tradesmen of the town. The colliers in the employ of the Earl of Lonsdale, above one thousand in number, were allowed to leave their work, and ale in large quantities was given to them, under the direction of his Lordship's agents, at an early hour in the morning. Part of this ale was supplied by a Magistrate, John Harrison, Esq., and I have heard that spirits were also given to them : but I cannot vouch for the authenticity of this. That two quarts of ale were given to each collier, I have on the most undoubted authority. The men any become yi mischief, hhe cieafs, Castle, eh , sul eayi Eei l were ed e rr n eu t y ssupplieda nd intoxicated fifes, to be ripe for with and with w these they began to parade the streets, insulting every one who was known or suspected to be Blue. About half an hour before the time appointed for the divi ner at the Black Lion, they arrived in front of that inn, and immediately commenced a row. They at tacked a gentleman who was going to the dinner, Captain St. Clair Wemys, and struck him several violent blows. He tan into a house, and seized a poker, for the purpose of defending himself, and on coming out again struck one of the col liers who had attacked him, a blow -on the head. His friends interfered, and got him into the' Black Lion, to protect him from the mob. The mob followed him, some of them got into the kitchen and broke seven dishes, &c., and repeatedly struck at Mrs. Jackson ; they then endeavoured t o g e t into the dining-room, but were repulsed an d driven fr om the house. The Rev. Mr. Curwen , and some o ther gentlemen went to a Magistrate and the Superin tendent of Police, and complained of the above con duct, and they promised that care should be taken that it should not be tepeated. For about an hour after there was peace in the town; but soon after the gentlemen at the Black Lion sat down to dinner, the colliers again came in front of the inn with their flags and music, and commenced shouting and yell and t n i g le -r t o v o in m d , o 7 ,s d . ho T is t t l e4 soonntg. after hey returntli n e p d a , ra b d e el t u h g ro a u n g e h ffi t g h y e o s t f re i‘ e i t r s . , mire. This they paraded round the streets, and a dt s oil b 'i urned amidst the most tons. By this time the itthil then horrid set ai i several fi e e i r i n to i a te i r m so i dfpcirlttoehes::, crowd gathered about the inn was immense ; and the colliers, who kept in a compact body, and were easily distinguishable, continued to shout and vor iferate against the Blues for a considerable time, and struck at several gentlemen, who were about to leave the house. Between eight and nine o'clock the Rev. H. Lowther (the Chairman at the Castle dinner and Magistrate of the county), rode through the crowd in his gig, accompanied by his sister, and while passing amongst the mob, waved yellow handkerchiefs, &c., and by their gestures (some say by words, but I have not been able to ascertain this upon sufficient authority to warrant me in re peating the words said to have been used) appeared to encourage and applaud the mob for their conduct. immediately after the gig had passed through the crowd, and while Mr. Lowther must still have been within haring, a volley of stones was thrown through the dining-room windows ! Volley after volley was thrown, till scarcely a pane was left unbroken. The stones had been brought up from the sea beach in baskets, and were about half a pound weight each. The gentlemen who had been dining escaped from he loom as they best could. The mob having de stroyed these windows, and observing that the gen tlemen had all quitted the room, next commenced an attack upon the front of the house; the pannels of the door were smashed in, and several windows broken, and the mob swore that Mr. Reinke should not leave the town alive. Their object was now to get into the house; arid had they succeeded, there can be no doubt but lives would have been lost, as the gentlemen had armed themselves with pokers, and such other weapons as they could lay hands upon, to defend themselves. I cannot describe to you the scene at this dine ; the mob were making the most vio lent efforts to break in, swearing they would pull the house down or set it on lire. Those inside were de fending the door with all their might. At length the besieged party made a sally out, and seized one of the fellows, whom they brought into the house, and there was a dreadful fight for some minutesat die door, hav ing nearly overpowered those who guarded. Several gentlemen were much cut and bruised in the con flict. Mr. G. Hartley was struck a violent blow on the head, which laid it completely open, and Mr. Hamilton, spirit-merchant, was so much cut about the fare, that it is feared he will lose the use of one eye. The fight, such as I have endeavoured to de ,cribe it, had now continued for nearly an hour, and yet not a single Magistrate could be got to come near the place—they were dining at the Castle, and could not be disturbed! The Superintendent of Police, Mr. Heywood, who is also clerk to the Ma gistretes, and a regular partisan of the Lowthers, was also the Castle, and alleges, in excuse for hill absence, ti n t he did not hear of the riot, forsooth! The agents of Lord Lowther, who could have cow mended the men home by the lifting of their little fingers, if they had wanted them to go home, were also at the Castle, and did not make their appear ance ! This fact has satisfied every man that they were privy to what was going on, and that if they del net give directions for it, at least they re joiced in the work of destruction. About tett o'clock Mr. Heywood, with Mr. Jackson and Mr. Quail, two of the under stewards, arrived, a nd the two latter certainly exerted themselves to the utmost of their power .to quell the disturb ance ; and so far succeeded, that several gentle• men were enabled to leave the inn without moles tation. There was now a cessation of hostilities for about half an hour. In this time the colliers had gone to the pits, and wined themselves with the sharp-pointed pickaxes used in bagging coals. These must have been received with the cognizance of some one in authority. On their arrival in front of the inn, they commenced a second attack—the windows, shutters, &c. in the louver part of the house were &leen in, and the doors much injured ; but they were still unable to effect an entrance. About this time ene of the principal agents came amongst them and ordered them to go home. The answer he received from one of them was—" curse you fte a —, didn't you send us to do all the mischief we could do, and now you won't support us!" About twelve done steo rtheio o'clock tisillyi.n t ii h isj e N e u : ei. b ,?( e i g .g a r r e , oa t t o :; e d i bs s p oe ei e s rh e a . al s pri b e eseondamage e been upon the head with a pickaxe, and is not expected to get better. The town is in a state of great ev citement. Nohoey appears to doubt but that the riot was done to order from head -quarters. It is temperary evil—but it will be a lasting good. It has destroyed the Lowther influence for ever. DORSETSHIRE ELECTION-CONDUCT OF 11IE CLERGY. Whilst we, in common with all right thinking men, have regretted the part which the University of Cambridge has taken against the candidates for Reform, we are satisfied, from what has come to our knowledge, that in every place where a contest has taken place, whether in boroughs or in counties , that the clergy have taken a most decided parts hostile alike to the feelings of the people and the known sentiments of his Majesty. Lord Saadon was rejected by the Clerical Cot' poration of Taunton (which has long been the ad herent of his Lordship's family), and an insolt offered to him as a Reformer by electing Mr. Spencer Percival to be the Member for the borough. 1" Essex, and every place were the clergy could shoot their hostility to the general sense of the natiogh they have not lost the opportunity of showing that hostility to the King and his Ministers which w ill, ere long, be brou g ht ser i ous & un d er cons id erat i on o' , the Parliament; for already have the people freely and fully discussed and passed an opinion oftheir coo' duct. The proceedings at the late dinner at Gateshead may be taken as a pretty good sample of the feelingse i the country at large regarding the conduct and sittia• tion of the clergy. But we would call the public attention to the conduct of the clergy in th e late contest for Dorset. From personal observation tt is reported to us that the clergy, in almost e very' parish, and the authorities under them, were employed actively in behalf of Mr. Bankes, the Tory and And-Reform candidate; and that it was the irresistible sense of the public duty in th i , breasts of mass of the people which overcame a" those exertions of the clergy and their dependants. Of the voters at the election there were 156 clergyme a who voted, of which number were, plumpers for Mr. Bankes . . • . 95 Plumpers for Mr. Portman . . 5 Split votes for Portman and Bankes . 41 Split Votes for Portman and Calcraft . 12 being 144 against Reform and 12 for Reform. Net one plumper for Reform or Calcraft I We would ae,k if that is the way for tke clergy to m an d is the public s y mpat h y w i th them ; - is that the best way of preventing danger to th e Church, which i s • t h e greatest danger alleg ed against Reform? Verily they di g a grave for themselves, and 710 efforts of po wer w ill b e a b le to &eve thetn fro m tg b the pit of thei r own el .ing BITHS. Esil.# • On the 30th u lt . i n Hill-street ß , the lady of J. 'W. Patten, of a daughter. fo of (A); tN ( h i ae le ttl b io,, e )it - ii it i o ti, , , i s s tri e .. , ,in C o h fs elsea, the lady of H. V. Tebbs, Esq. , Doctors' Commons, of a daughter. a om da e u rs g e h t i s c t r r . eet, Portman-square, the lady .v, J • Ott the 2.4 h ult. in Queen Ann-street, th e l ady of , Monson, Esq., of a son. MARRIED. ll' On the 31st ult. at St. George's, Hanover- square, N. J. Kna,itecit bull, Esq., eldest son of Sir E. Knatchbull, B art. to Mary, et of daughter of J. W. Russell, Esq., of Il am Hall, in the courlP Stan:all, and of Biggin Hall, N orthamptonshire. pi Ott the I9th tilt. at Carlsruhe, Grand Duchy of Baden, CaP t 'to Drummond, late of the 90.1 Highlanders, heir presumptiv e I ,e, the Earldoiroitr,'eallleillirita,nait,i Scotland, l:sex. should ' his iilajestYpt" pleased to restore that title, to the Baroness Albertine de !t e a bergAtheinweiler, widow of the late General Count Rapp, • f t ult. at St. George's, Bloomsbury, M. Mason, fI. to Emma, youngest daughter of the late 11 ult. Sarah, wil: l of G. Wilson, Esq, Hallam T °vver' (o(N);No. O :leF::‘:ll l l: l ttiaitt t :l'ilih h :cillse e eigrenc : ;2.. 3 g3l : l , a,-'o t t'l l ' l tl n It. W. Camfieltl, jun. Esq. of Burrswood, Creel bridge, Kent, aged 34. •• On the 30th tilt, it Newc as tl e . s t ree t, St ran d, M r . 01. !Wl' chemist. (In the 29th tilt. at Blackheath, Caroline, youngest (laugh ° of B. E. Batley, Esq . '" On the 29th ult. at. Denmark-hill, 1 , 119 Charles, eldest - . h e, 1 of C. Scovell, Esq _.......0.i PRINTED ANO PUBLISHED HI' MURDO YOUNti, AT Ta SUN OFFICE, 11:?, STRAND, LONDON, - 'THEP LArnes 1 11 E ad\ tion I hhgiand, indu totteri ng rim l'ection of 'l, , c 41ified to do I shall in di pies and Jr, Inds on wl state co k period al, and tl iher of tt -Presiders I William I have Ladies al London, Jo TEW • Cottglits . :- a Pain Ishwood-3 See-fin, o rence—f sting by er in Si inter.; for —The C cord Sprir : Northur )unds—Tli in, omo-el ARlolown :Pigeon S iistory of tl `Notice to 1 ". 1. publi th e Notiv " The Nt. tied w 14 the subjec Magazine de Tour i 4 lik * ritten, an( leve r hand. i la bourite in l'i Mr. Barr Need by 11 '01 rendere " The N e remernbt lnati, air , s t'ven uninit Editors, ain 4 terers of I Th e engrav °Pirit and t "We ha Sporting Al the the Article. the Spain With the Present nut hellishmeni '-Age, Mt " The 1! Cradock. monthly pt r 'PPeet. ' '"tertainin They are t I, ntlikene Verd e , E. accom beer. NN tecommen tur a i n F . Morning Publish and to be Tilt which the r!ihnaa n u d g i u n a g g e icate bee classifyini ItETRO Ju s t I ntl AN' " We eventful 5 ,Printe This da, Seven ME r latest Pi. Pious Ni Poleon Duk e of toerous Fleur , street. P' " Riche 3. BY the and By liy the History Hen street. , ING ^, "T rnost v SIR J "T but tni Barbel CA?I For th the E With hi s ov r.try Aj ( with "linor " A Athen Pu 131-1111 I, 1 11)411 LY L, with „ 4 P obt. Mks wo rk