The Sun. — London, England, 1831-10-29 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. Could the cause of Reform at this moment speak for itself its first utterance should be " Sive me from my friends!" Its bitterest enemies cannot do it half the real harm which those friends, for instance, are now effecting who are calling out for agitation, Political Unions, and National Guards. The Anti- Reformers boast that the subject )5 undergoing e re-action. Nothing upon earth is so likely to pro duce this, and thus accomplish their wishes, as that the honest and thinking part or the community should for a moment be led to imagine that Reform is only the watchword, while revolution is the ob ject. Now, that revolution is the object of the great body of Reformers we utterly and totally deny. What the people really want is to see them selves delivered from the grip and tyranny of their hard task-masters—the beroughmongers, and them , selves restored to that share in the Goveenment which is their birthright and indefeasible inhelitance. And can any one-and-forty Peers long keep out of this ?—or can it require turbulent associations, or, still less, armed bands, to accomplish such an object or to defeat so contemptible an obstacle ? If by agitation is meant keeping the subject it ermly and unceasingly alive in men's minds, bf such agitation we warmly approve, and ere ) and will be, ourselves partekers. But unfortunately the term has, in core , coon acceptation, acquired a very different metening, and above all, implies a degree of violence totally at variance with public tranquillity or private security. It is not a storm which bring-s tht vessel into harbour, but a steady wind blowing from the right point. Let the wind then, we say, blow steadily, but let us avoid the tempest. The one, under any Ceptairn will brine us into port ; by the other, under the most skilful pilot age, we may after all suffer shipwreck. But, above all, what need have we of a National Guard ? Such a mode of employing themselves may suit the hey day tone of the French character, and, indeed, was celled for by the various crises in which that nation has been placed. But here there is no similarity between the one or the Other. A National Guard is the very symbol and off-pring of revolution ; while here all that the people are requiring, with their Monarch at their head, is a restoration of one branch of the Constitution to something like it.; pristine purity. For this object we do not require bayonets. it is not necessary that our citizens should leave their peaceful pursuits to learn that trade which has been, in all ages, the scourge of hu manity. All that is required is that they should he firm, earnest, and immovable in their one great ob ject, and this done, however the attainment of that object may be for a moment delayed, it is not 41— no, nor 41,000 opponents who could wrest from them a sure and speedy victory. But if, instead of relying on patience and perseverance, they give ea , to advisers who would lead them into violent and intemperate courses, they will at once strengthen the ranks of their adversaries while they thin their own, and not only postpone the attainment of their object just es it is within their reach, but run the risk of converting their country into a scene of anarchy, rapine, and civil war.---111orning Herald. Among the tricks and artifices of the borough mongers to bring about the re-action they are strug gling for, the most successful seems to have been that of endeavouring to persude the landed interest, but especially the farmers, that Reform would be their ruin ; that its immediate effect would be tin repeal of the corn laws, and an inability on their part to compete any longer with the untaxed agri culturists of Poland, Turkey, and America. Thi• doctrine seems to have stood them in no bad stead in Dorsetshire, and is now taking its turn at the Cambridgeshire election. But the notion proceed upon this evident fallacy, that Reform will render it the interest of one part of the community to bring about the ruin of another—that the towne, for in stance, will see in the ruin of agriculture the surest foretaste of their own prosperity. Now to tell an English tradesman that he will be best off by losing his best customers is un argument worthy of those who would in the same breath persuade us that representation means nomination, and that it is for the interests of the community that the few should usurp the rights and advantages of the many. Ali that we can say is, that, if the agriculturists permi , themselves to be the dupes of such pilings as these, they may deserve their own fate, but they have even then no right to entail the consequences of their ignorance and credulity upon others.—Morn jog Herald, In alluding to our observations upon the new game law, the Courier says, " We take shame to ourselves for not having examined the new Game Act as we ought to have done. Our contemporary has pointed out sufficient here to show that it must undergo modification in the next session of Parlia ment " Now, for our own part, we think the public will be of opinion that we have stated enough of the oppressive and iniquitous character of thi• law to make any decent and satisfactory modification of it impracticable, which does not go the length of abolishing the vicious principle which makes it rotten at the core. That principle is, that the game on every farm, field, or land, is in all cases the properly of the landlord ; so that whatever amount ,of pro perly the farmer or tenant may possess, and al though he purchases a license to kill game from the Crown by obtaining a certificate, yet he may be treated as a trespasser for daring to shoot n hare or partridge on his own grounds, without soliciting and receiving the permission of the lord of the fee ! Let us put the case of an honest yeoman, who in the politics of the county takes the side of Reform, having such a qualification by a leasehold pro perty as under the old law would entitle him to kill game—namely, 1501. per annum on a lease-1 hold of 99 years—having also a certificate, which is, properly speaking, a license from the Crown. -Let us suppose he is the tenant of one of the 199 Anti-Reform Lords, with whose un enviable celebrity England resounds. Will the sturdy independent yeoman go cap-in -hand, and humbly sue to the imperious aristocrat for peimis- Rion to kill the hare or partridge which has been bred upon his land, and nurtured with the produce of capital and labour ? Or, if he could bring him self to solicit this favour for himself or his friend, is he likely to receive it ? Let Lord Alt harp answer these questions, and then tell why his Bill to amend and mitigate the game laws has done so much for the aristocracy, and so little for the people. Is this premedited oppression, or only an inadver tence? That it is not an inadvertence is clear from other provisions of the Bill, which are in harmoni ous accordance with the spirit of feudal tyranny which the above enactment displays. Even under the feudal system the law did not vest the property in game in the land-owners. Under that system all game was supposed to belong not to the land lords, but to the King, by virtue of his prerogative, °and lords of manors only derived their right to kill game from the Crown by a grant of a portion of the Royal franchise. But what has Lord Althorp's Bill done ? It has abso lutely abolished the King's prerogative as to game, not for the purpose of relieving the people, but solely to increase the already overgrown power of the aristocracy. And thi, is the law which the King's Ministers have introduced into the King's Speech as a boon and concession to the Commons of England ! To show, more manifestly, the extent of this boon, let us suppose the sturdy yeoman, of whom we have spoken above, and who is qualified according to the terms of the old law, and who possesses acertificate—let us suppose that this yeoman is tempted on some evil day to shoot a partridge, hare, or pheasant, on his own fields, or to permit a friend 'to do - so. The gamekeeper or other menial of the Anti-Reform landlord sees this, and knowing that the yeoman's lease has no special agreement as to game, and that he has not obtained, permission to kill from his master, orders the yeo man or his friend to give up the hare, or partridge, or pheasant, which he has just shot. The luckless sportsman refuses—the pampered menial collars him and attempts to take it by force—the 14:,r,glish spirit of the assaulted party cannot brook this, and struggles with the assailant—he is knocked down with a bludgeon or other weapon—he springs again upon his feet—his blood is up—and a fight : takes place in which the gamekeeper or servant re ceives any hurt which, under the Game Liws, may •be construed to be a wound—the yeoman or his friend is liable to be dragged to prison as a felon— pieced in the dock with robbers, burglars, and other • criminals, and sentenced to a felon's penalties and degradation, with a forfeiture of his property to the Crown. The Courier is wrong in saying that here tofore many landlords did not permit the destruction of hares and rabbits upon the land occupied by their tenants. They could not prevent their tenants from destroying rabbits, except where there were parti cular rights of warren, because rablets were not ac counted game; though they could always prevent them if not qualified and not having a certificate for destroying bares; but by Lord Althorp's Act they cannot, even with a certificate, kill rabbits unless they have the special permission of the landlord. Thus the license from the Ceo!to: is as nothine, un less confirmed by a license front the feudal Lord. There are More objections to this Act of a liberal Administration than we have yet stated. At present we shall only add, that it is likely to cause more between the privileged and unprivileged classes, and more breaches of the peace, violence, bloodshed, crime, and misery, than even the old laws, whose odious tyranny it professed to mitigate and correct—Mortling Herald. The Member now opposing the Reform candidate in Cambridereshire, Captain Yorke, has the support of his reletive, Earl of Hardwicke, the Lord Lieute nant of the county. The Lord Lieutenant is the individual who, in effect, names the Magistracy, and Iris powers of influencing a county election are of necessity very great. As was well stated in a speech of a celebrated ancestor of the present Lord Lieutenant, Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, on the subject of the Scotch heritable jurisdictions, the people are chiefly influenced by those under whose immediate authority they are placed, and who have the power to injure them ; and when it happens that a share of the royal authority is delegated to persons hostile to the Government, the people have a strong motive for being also hostile to the Go vernment, coming only in contact with the posses sors of the delegated authority. It is, therefore, quite ridiculous to talk of independent county elec tions, with all the Lord Lieutenants but twelve hos tile to them. If we deduct the influence derived from the royal authority in the last general election, in the counties in which the Lord Lieutenants turned the influence of the Crown against Reform, the remaining Anri-Reformers will be few indeed. We some time ago alluded to the share which the Lord Lieutenants of counties had in throwing out the Re form Bill. There were thirty-three who voted against the second reading—some of them possess ing three counties, and some two. The number in favour was only twelve. Let us see how the Go vernment on former days has acted toward , Lord Lieutenants voting in opposition to it. On the Bth February, 1780, the E irl of Shelburne, father of the present Marquis of Lansdowne, made a mo ,ion for an inquiry into the public expenditure, with a view to economy and retrenchment. On that occasion his Lordship showed, in an able manner, that the Crown was fettered in the exercise of the prerogative, to the great detriment of the public service, by the necessity of employing in preference persons possessed of Parliamentary influence. " The Sovereign (he observed) had the power of confer ring all favours and graces ; the appointment of offi cers civil and military; the bestowing of titles of rinds and honour, Bse. These were high prerogatives, but were placed very properly, and of course gave him extensive influence; and attached those who, in their different stations, experienced the notice of a gracious Sovereign. But influence, as he ob served before, reversed the whole order of things; the power o hich should solely originate with the Premier began in Parliament ; thence ail pretensions ro favour were established ; and instead of consider tog the real claims, the personal vote or Portia mentary weight were put in the scale against long service, great abilities, experience, and all the qua lifications necessary to constitute the statesman, the sailor, or the soldier. The Crown thus became robbed of its native and proper influence, and an in fluence of another kind was substituted in its stead, as the price of creating an undue and unconstitu tional influence in Parliament. To restore to the Crown its constitutional power, to render Parlia ment independent, and place Government upon its only true grounds, wisdom, justice, and public vir tue, which will ever secure the confidence and affec tion of the people, was his most earnest wish ; and that could not be effected without striking at the root, which appeared to him (no matter from what cause, or how it came to grow to is present enor mous growth) to exist now in Parliament." Among the Peers who supported Lord Shelburne were the Marquis of Carmarthen and the Earl of Pembroke. Lord Carmarthen said—" A most respectable body of gentlemen, clergy, and free holders had called a meeting in the county over part of which he had the honour to preside as Lord Lieu tenant (York). He was invited to that meeting, but was prevented by priva'e business from attend• ing. The proceedings at that meeting, so far as they corresponded with the present motion, met his ideas very fully, though he could not say he ap proved of the Associations or Committees of Cor respondence. He spoke, he said, on the occasion ; he wrote to the Committee after they had agreed to the resolutions, assigned the reason for his absence, and his sentiments how far he approved or disap proved of their proceedings." Before supporting he motion of Lord Shelburne, he had resigned his situation of Vice-Chamberlain to the Queen; but this resignation did not prevent the Ministry from also removing him from the office of Lord Lieu tenant of the East Riding of Yorkshire. The follow ing is his statement of the business. "He said he had, a few days since, resigned a place in the House hold (Vice-Chamberlain to the Queen), the occu pying of which he should ever esteem one of the greatest honours of his life. Why had he resigned it ? Because his duty to his Sovereign and his country, and a regard to his own honour, would not permit him longer t - o retain it. He could no longer give his support to a Ministry which had, after a series of repeated trials, proved themselves pusillani mous, incapable, and conupt—who had brought the nation to the brink of destruction, and still persisted to plunge it deeper into calamity and danger. These were the reasons which induced him to resign his place in the Household. While he remained in place, he did not think it decent to op pose Government. He could not, in conscience, absent himself from his duty in Parliament at so momentous a crisis ; the only method which. there fore presented itself to him, to get rid of the em barrassment, was to resign. But what had been the consequence of this moderate conduct ? That of dismissing him that morning from an office he held under the Crown, the Lord Lieutenancy of the East Riding of the county of York." The Earl of Pent broke did not speak on the occasion ; but he voted in the minority, and signed a protest on the rejection of the motion. The Earl of Pembroke was, in consequence of his vote, dismissed from the office of Lord Lieutenant of the county of Wilts. He had been a Lord of the Bedchamber ; but, like the Marquis of Carmarthen, he resigned it previous to the vote, from motives of delicacy. His family had been Lords Lieutenant of Wilts ever since the office was known in England. The subject was brought before the House of Lords on the 6th of March by Lord Shelburne, who proposed the following mo tion, at the same time assuring their Lordships, if any one Lord could rise and declare upon his honour, he did not believe these two Noble Lords were displaced from their offices for giving their votes in Parliament, he would withdraw it ; " Whereas the Marquis of Carmarthen was dismissed from his em ployment of Lieutenancy of the East Riding of the county of York on the morning of that day when his intention to support with his vote a motion that was; made in the House on the Bth day of February last was well known; and whereas the Earl of Pem broke was, likewise, dismissed from the Lieute- `~ nancy of the county of Wilts soon after he gave his vote on the same question, which office, of Lieute nant has been at all times important, but most pecu liarly so under the present constitution of the militia ; and whereas no cause has been suggested or com municated to either of the said Noble Lords for such dismission, this House, therefore, hath every ground to believe that the same had reference to their con duct in Parliament ;" and it was therefore moved, " That an humble address be presented to his Ma jesty, to desire that he will be graciously pleased to acvaint the House whether he has been advised, and by whom, to dismiss the said two Noble Lords, or either of them, from their said employments for their conduct in Parliament." In the debate on this motion, Lord Stormont observed, that " the two Nobie Lords held their offices through the fa vour of the Crown, and bad, therefore, no right to complain when it was withdrawn ; for they lost no thing they could call their own." Lord Denbigh said, " if the fact had been as stated, and the cause assigned for the removal of the two Noble Lords was on account of their conduct in that House, it would not be without numerous precedents to sup port and sanction it. He believed it had often been done since the Revolution, and under the favourite administration of the Noble Lords who would vote for the proposed address ; and there was a recent instance of the kind early in the present reign, when some of his present Majesty's confiden tial servants were in power—he meant the case of a Noble Earl lately deceased (Temple)—who, for a vote given in that House, had been removed from the Lieutenancy of the county of Bucks." The Earl of Hillsborough " thought the King had an undoubted right to appoint and dismiss the officers of the Crown as he pleased ; nor could it be an object for Parliament to interfere with, unless that power was grossly abused." The Lord Chancellor (Thurlow) said, " If his Majesty's royal will were subject to Parliamentary controul and examination upon every promotion or removal which prudence directed him to put into execution, such modes of proceeding would end in a total subversion of the prerogative." The motion was lost by a majority of 92 to 31. Here then we have a striking instance of the exer cise of the Royal Prerogative in dismissing Lord Lieutenants for their votes in Parliament, when such votes were in favour of motions directed against the corrupt influence which it is the object of the Reform Bill to destroy. Lord Shelburne was right in seeking to free the Crown from the necessity of carrying on the Government through the purchase of persons possessed of Par liamentary influence—hut he was obviously wrong l in challenging the exercise of the prerogative. But if the Tories deemed it advisable to displace two Lord Lieutenants at a time when their majorities were large, and when perhaps those were the only two Lord Lieutenants in the minority, how much more necessary is it now, when there is a conspiracy of the possessors of undue influence in Parliament to retain their usurped power in spite of the Crown and the people, and when nearly all the Lord Lieu tenants abet that conspiracy, by treacherously em ploying the power delegated to them by the Crown against the Crown itself? No Government on earth can exist, if it be so foolish as to allow those to whom the grand authority is entrusted of naming and controuling the local Magistracy to turn its authority against itself. It was petulance in the case of the North Administration in 1780, to dis place two Lord Lieutenants for their votes ; for the tendency of Lord Lieutenants being naturally in favour of supporting the corrupt system, there was little danger of the example being catching. But at the present time, when all the corrupt interests of the country are bearding the Government, there is an absolute necessity for withdrawing from these cor rupt interests the powers delegated by the Crown, and which to allow to be wielded against itself is to be consenting to a felo de se. We hold it little less than treachery to the Crown and the people to allow the authority of the Crown to remain in the hands of persons who use it against it. In the case of the Cambridgeshire election, report says that the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Hardwicke, has subscribed 10,0001. for the support of the opposition candi date. This is monstrous. We trust the people generally will see the importance of supporting Mr. Townley. But Government ought also to support him, by preventing the indecency of a Lord Lieu tenant supporting a candidate pledged to oppose the measure by which that Government stands or falls. It is absurd to say that the people have fair play in a county where a rich University, the Lord Lieu tenant, the Clergy, &c. are arrayed against the can didate of their choice.—Morning Chronicle. The advice of the people of England to unite and co-operate in their several counties, towns, pa rishes, &c.—first, for the promotion of the cause of Reform, and, that being secured, or unhappily in - )- peeled—for the protection of life end property, against the detailed but irregular outrages of the mob, a s well as for the maintenance and advancement of other great interests, against the systematic violences of an oligarchy made desperate by opposition—has, w e rejoice to see, struck more than one class of persons in the community with terror, which they arc unable to disguise. That there are bodies of men in Great Britain who regard the existence of rank, and wealth and law, and order, as so many hindrances to their own projects, and therefore so many nuisances which they would at once abate, if in their power to do so, sufficient testimony has been afforded by speeches addressed to large assemblies of people, and indeed by some corresponding transactions, within the last few days. Propositions have been made, which had for their object to inflame the pas sions of the people against all accumulation of property—no matter of what description—and to di rect their future efforts to its overthrow. The authors of such discourses, and many of their hearers, are naturally panic stricken by the prospect of an in stitution, which would necessarily combine and arm all classes of men of property throughout the king dom against the single class which had none. But there is another order of men, whose conclusions re specting the rights of political society are not a whit less revolting than those of the mob-orators in rela tion to the rights of property. As the paup'er revo lutionists demand, and would execute by force, a general dispersion of other men's property, so the oligarchs, who are but a different tribe of revolution ists, would retain in their own hands, by force if all more indirect means were wanting, a monopoly of other men's political rights ; that is, they would fight for plunder already won, as their ragged rivals would fight to win it. These oligarchs, these self-imagined grandees, constituting the boroughmonger and Tory faction,—are no less ter rified at the notion of a national armament for a reform of law and a recovery of power, than the mob are at the consequences of a league for t he pro tection of house, person, and money. Against both sets of robbers it is that, if requisite, the people of England ought to stand upon their defence. As for the specific arrangements by which that defensive league might be constituted, and guided to its proper ends, they are matter for cool, though not for dilatory, deldeeration. To what extent the " Conservative Guard" ought hereafter to be placed in connection with, or under the controul ef, the executive autho rity the State, will of course be an important question. The principles on which the French National Guard has been formed are well worth consideration here. For the old volunteers, it seems to us that they hung together too loosely to be susceptible of much confidence in their effi ciency upon critical occasions. There must be set over each local body of the" Union" some power of enforcing orders by adequate sanctions, that the common enemy, whether the rich or the ragged one, may not be justified in treating us with scorn. — Times. With us it is no subject of satisfaction to observe the deep and fearful spirit of inveterate hatred towards the bench of Bishops, displayed, without resistance or dissent, at every one of the county meetings which have already taken place, and to which we have daily been adverting. The desire to affix some public and enduring mark of national dig• countenance upon that devoted body, has become indeed no less a characteristic of the time than has the passion for political Reform itself, of which indeed the expulsion of the Bishops from Parliament, and a general " overhauling" of the finances of the Church, are universally held to be no unimportant branches. For the " expulsion" of the Bishops, it is, we are afraid, a necessary preliminary toNaids their full restoration to religion, as we are sure, without it, they never mote can enjoy the public confidence or good-will. Nor is there lack of precedent for such a compulsory transfer of their Lordships' services from the cause of Mammon to that of righteousness. There was not less of the influence of true religion upon men's lives in England after the fall of Charles 1., than after the restoration of his unworthy offspring. But upon the subject of the why and wherefore " Bishops ought not to have votes in Parliament ?" we present our readers with the following curious paper, which was found inserted in a folio volume of political tracts, deposited in the British Museum, and forming part of a gift of George 111. to that in stitution. The volume is lettered, " Declaration and Acts of the King (Car. I) and Parliament ;" and the paper in question is next to one which bears date 1640. The wonder is, that with matter of such long standing in the minds of the nation against the Right It-!verend Bench, it has never, since the resto ration of Charles 11., of pious and Protestant memory, been clipped of some of its profaner privileges. " REASONS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS WHY BISHOPS OUGIIT NOT TO HAVE 'VOTES IN PARLIAMENT. " 1. Because it is a very great hindrance to the exercise of their ministeriall function. " 2. Because they do vow and undertake at their ordi nation, ashen they enter into holy orders, that they will give themselves wholly to that vocation. " 3. Because councils and canons in several ages do forbid them to meddle with secular affairs. " 4. Because the twenty-four Bishops have a depend ence, i.e., on the two Archbishops, and because of their canonical obedience to them. "5. Because they are but for their lives, and theref.re are not fit to have legislative power over the honours, in heritances, persons, and liberties of others. " 6. Because of Bishops' dependancy and expectancy of translations to places of great profit. " 7. That several Bishops have of late much encroached upon the consciences and liberties of the subjects, and they and their successours will be much encouraged still to encroach, and the subjects will be much discouraged from complaining against such encroachmtnts, if twenty-six of that order bee to bee judges upon those complaints ; the same reason extends to their legislative power in any I3ill to passe for the regulation of their power, and upon any emergent inconvenience by it. "8. Because the whole number of them is intrusted to maintain the jurisdiction of Bishops, which hath been found so grievous to the three kingdoms, that Scotland hath utterly abolished it, and multitudes in England and Ireland have petitioned against it. " 9. Because the Bishops, being Lords of Parliament, it setteth too great a distance between them arid the rest of their brethren in the ministry, which occasioneth prlle in them, discontent i❑ others, and disquiet in the church. " TO THEIR HAVING VOTES A LONG TIME. " Answer.—lf inconvenient, time and usage are net to be considered with law-tnakere. " Some Al,bots voted as anciently in Parliament as Bishops, yet are taken away. " That for the Bishops' certificate to plenary of benefice and loyalty of marri,,ge, the Bill extends not to them. " For the secular jurisdictions of the Dean of 'West. minster, the Bishops of Durham and Ely, and Archbishop of Yorke, which they are to execute in their own persons, the former reasons show the inconveniences therein. " For their temporall Courts and jurisdictions which are executed by their temporall offices, the Bill cloth not concern them."— Times. In another column we have inserted a letter signed " L.," which in so far pays a compliment to the main body of Anti-Reformers as to show that they are not mere talkers in favour of the present system, either for fashion's sake or talking's sake. In truth, although a great proportion of them have never, we dare say, strung together a scholastic syllogism in their lives, there are no better practical logicians. They all know how much they, or their immediate relatives, have gotten of the public money, and through what private interests, and from what private motives. They are equally conscious that if a reformed Parliament were in existence, no such motives nor interests would avail them a single straw, and that no such creatures as themselves, or their relations, would have a chance of being quar tered upon the public. It is, we assert, therefore, right sound logic in the Tory placemen, pensioners, and their dependents, to decry Parliamentary Re form as a measure which would clothe the people with toe much power, seeing that the power to be vested in the people must be transferred to them from the hands of those very Tories. " Vague talkers," indeed! They are shrewd fellows, and capital pleaders, these Tories. It ought to be added, that Lord Chatham's numerous pensions and appoint ments, with those of his cousin, Lady Lucy Stanhope, and her husband,a certain Mr. Taylor, are touched upon by our correspondent. As for Lord Chatham, the poor man is now in the extremity of weakness and decrepitude, and we shall therefore say nothing more of his enormous emoluments from the nation, except as they are illustrative of that perversion of all financial trust and honour, from which, happily, we are about to be relieved. Lord Chatham was Mr. Pit t's elder brother, and almost as bad a first Lord of the Admiralty as England ever saw. Ile was, when Lord Castlereagh had the Administra tion of the War Department, made commander of that stupidly devised, disgracefully conducted, and to the army most fatal, enterprise, the ac cursed Walcheren expedition ! These are the public services of a being whose name, as re presented by our correspondent, has affixed to it the several, though simultaneous sums of 4,0001., 3,00 W., 5,0001., and I,oool.—ranking a total of 13,0001. per annum ! Be this no argument for Reform ? With the herd of brilliant beggars who dress, and hunt, and gamble, and lead lives of costly frivolity or debauchery, on incomes drawn, like that of Lord Chatham's from the plebeian poor, we know well enough that examples of pensioned vice or folly are so many incentives to perpetuate that sort of Government from which alone merit such as theirs could meet the base reward they thirst for. But with the people of England generally let us repeat, can any argument be conceived more con clusive and irresistible in favour of a thorough Re form than a catalogue of the frightful depreda tions which have been committed on our national funds, for want of purity in the representatives of the people, and of consequent responsibility in the Mi nisters of the Crown.—Times. The cause of Reform wears a most favourable as pect in Cambridgeshire. At the close of the poll yesterday, Mr. Townley had obtained a majority of 226 over his opponent, the numbers being— For Mr. Townley 1 O ,Bl For Captain Yorke This is as it should be. Let not the electors of Cambridgeshire relax their exertions for a single mo ment, but persevere with constancy and courage, and certain and speedy victory must be theirs.— We promised yesterday to furnish our readers with a copy of the rules and regulations of the great Political Union which is to be formed on Monday ; and we now redeem our pledge, by pre senting, in the first instance, the report of the Com mittee appointed to draw up the rules and regula tions; and, in the second, by giving the latter en tire. Our readers will thus be enabled to form a calm and decided opinion upon a subject which, at the present moment, is, of all others, the most lute resting and the most deeply important. In the mean time we should be doing injustice to the sub ject were we not to copy also the. following obser vations, which are contained in a letter to the Editor of the Leicester Chronicle from the Chair man of the Leicester Political Union. Th ey ar , well expressed, and worthy of the most mature consideration. " The influence and efficiency of the Birmingham Union," says Mr. Biggs, the Chairman to whom we have referred, " is matter of surprise almost to its members : no parish abuses can be perpetrated without being quickly reported to and corrected by the all-seeing, all-pervading influence of the Union ; no meetings can be held without being obliged to act in concert with the views of the Onion, or without being altogether over-ruled and re versed by its orders and unity of action ; the political power, the peace of Birmingham is in its hands; and so simple is its government, and so united are its mem bers, that its movements are only like those of a single individual. " How highly, how essentially requisite, that a Union of this kind should be formed amongst ourselves—how desirable for purposes of mutual protection and general ad vantage—for resisting encrmtehments upon local liberties, and correcting peculations upon public property—for se curing the re , urn of Members of Parliament—and for making ourselves heard and attended to by the Legisla ture, upon whom, in conjunction with other Unions, we should have a most salutary and powerful influence. To the poor man I would say, where can you find that pro tection and defence which you will do under the shield of the Union ?—to the rich man, where can you be more se cure in the hour of danger and convulsion thin in a cor dial union with the people ?—to the religious man how can you better carry your principles into practical effect than in concurring in general plans for general improve ment ? Next to our religion, our duty and interest is a prompt and continued attention to public liberty, for the ends of religion and liberty are the same—the diffusion of knowledge and happiness. To each and all I would say, co-operate in the great work of political regeneration, an:l let it snot he said by other towns and after ages that Lei cester alone was careless of its interests, and refused to act in concert with the country at large for the attainment of our common rights and national independence." The following is the Report of the Crown and Anchor Committee, and also the rules and regula tions on which it has determined : REPORT. " In perform :nee of the duties entrusted to them on Friday list, your Committee has judged it expedient to devote the short time allotted to them, to the performance of that which they were best fitted to execute, namely, to the preparation of a plan by which a Union of all classes may he organized for patriotic objects. " The broad lines which separate class from class in this country are visible to every eye, and whether as en gendering hatred and rancour on one side, or suspicion and ignorance of the wants of the people on the other, arc alike to be deplored by every lover of his country. " Again, the power of every nation to he free, when it wills it, has been universally received from the greatest patriot in Europe, as a political axiom. All political power has been acquired by Association ; the Barons in the middle ages, the military Governments of Europe, and the Bo roughmongers at home, have owed their power solely to Association ; and it is only to Associations of the People, in America, in France, and in England, by Corresponding Societies, Aide-Toi Societies, and Political Unions, that these countries have preserved themselves from the despotic government of the effeminate Iliroloos and servile Germans. '"But although these great political truths are evident to every enquirer, your Committee has not been able to inform itself what the feeling is in this metropolis, toward, forming a National Association. The importance of ouch a Union at the present moment has been impressed on your Committee by every fact that has conic within its notice ; but the casualties to which the promised rights of the people are more than ever exposed ; by the disasters which may arise from the distress produced by the stagna tion of trade ; and, above all, by the convulsion which may on a sudden be produced in the metropolis, and in the country ; but your Committee has conceived that the gentlemen of this meeting will be better enabled from their local sources of information to decide, how far the above considerations are likely to induce the requisite numbers to come forward and associate. Your Committee, however, cannot conclude this part of its Report, without quoting the emphatic words of the Council of the Birmingham Union. ' Let no one think that his personal co-operation is rot important ; let every one act as though the safety of his country depended upon his single aid.' " Your Committee will now proceed to explain the principles by which it has been actuated in drawing up the Rules and Regulations, which it offers for your consi deration ; and it takes this opportunity of expressing than!:s to the gentlemen of a Committee formed for similar pur. pses, who have not only given us the benefit of their papers and advice, but have, many of them, allowed their names to be added to your Committee ; and to those gen tlemen all the merit of the annexed constitution is mainly attributable. " Your Committee has been further assisted by copies of the Rules, &c., of the Birmingham, Sheffield, and Me tropolitan Unions, by the Resolutions drawn up at a meeting last year, in London, for Parliamentary Reform, and by some other similar publications. " In stating the objects of the Association, and in draw ing up the Rules and Regulations, your Committee has been exceedingly anxious to employ the simplest words, and only so many as were requisite fur expressing clearly the ideas intended to be conveyed. " The objects of this Association are divisible into two kinds, immediate and ulterior. Your Committee con ceives, that to secure a thorough Reform in Parliament, to unite all classes in effecting this Reform, and to pre serve peace and order in the metropolis, ate the immediate objects; to bring about solid improvement in the moral and physical condition of the people, may be stated as the ulterior object ; and concurrent with both of these, is the direction given to innumerable minds, by the stimulus of public meetings, to the discovery of means for furthering all the above objects. " It is hoped that the immediate objects will induce all good Reformers to join us, who know the power of Asso ciation; and that the ulterior object will prevail on ali such as now rail against the profligacy and drunkenness of the working cl asses, to co-operate with us, and to enable us to offer more rational and more intellectual amusements, to the working man than lie is now enabled to enjoy. " In the constitution of the Union, your Committee has adopted the form of government of the Birminghatn and other Unions, which appears both excellent in principle, and warranted by experience. As in their Unions, we have given much power to the Council, because, as the Birmingham Council justly states, power must reside somewhere; and because your Committee conceives that no reasonable men will refuse to obey officers, whom tio.y themselves have chosen, and whose interests are identified with their own. Your Committee, however, has not judged it expedient to follow the division adopted by the Birming ham Union, of rules and regulations—duties of the mem bers—and duties of the Council,—because they have deemed it useless to prescribe a set of duties which they have not the power of enforcing, and superfluous to state as duties of members, what it must be implied every man feels incumbent upon hitn, as a good citizen. The engage ments, therefore, necessary for the good conduct and subor dination of the membrrs of the Union, have !teen embodied in the rules and regulations. " These rules and regulations we have arranged in the following order. The fat, 2d, and 3(1,-relate to the mem bers of the Union generally. _ _ " The 4th to the - Government of the Union. " The sth, 6th, 7th, Bth, 9th, and 10th, to the holding and functions of general meetings. " The 11th, 12th, Nth, 14th, 15th, and 16th, to the meetings and functions of the Council. " The 17th to the functions of Treasurer. " The 18th to the alteration and revision of the Consti tution ; and the whole comprise only one-third of the space, but it is conceived the whole spirit of the Bir mingham rules and duties. " The last explanation your Committee has to offer re lates to their selection of a name for the Association. On this point, as they have deemed it expedient that individuals in all parts of the kingdom should belong to the Associa tion, in order that unity of action may be obtained, and that the laws may not be infringed, they submit that the name—" National Political Union" is comprehensive enough, and sufficiently explanatory. " Your Committee have forborne to make any sugges tion with regard to a Chairman, because the qualities re quired for this office,—the requisite fortune for giving him respectability in:the eyes of the world—the requisite honesty and views as to Reform, to make him respectable in our estimation—are so difficult to he found combined in any individual, that your Committee can only allude to the difficulty and to their want of success hitherto in the inquiry. OBJECTS OF THE NATIONAL POLITICAL UNION. " I.—To support the King and the Ministers against a small Faction, in accomplishing their great measure of Parliamentary Reform. " 2.—To unite all well-wishers to their country, from the richest to the poorest, in the pursuit of such an im• portant object. " 3. —To afford a channel fur the collecting Public Opinion, in order that all its moral weight may be brought to bear upon the Legislature. " 4. To preserve peace and order in the country, and to guard against any convulsion, which the enemies of the people may endeavour to bring about. "a. To watch over and promote the interest, and to better the condition of the indestrious and working clas,es. rr 6 . T o g ive opportunities, by frequent public discus sion, for eliciting the best means by which the above ob jects may be carried into execution." RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE NA TIONAL POLITICAL UNION. " 1. All persona whatsoever are admitted as Member , of this Association, who shall cause their names to be en- tcred in books appointed for the purpose, and sl .0" to the following rules and regulaiions. " 2. All persons becoming Members of this tjno u l uef subscribe make such further donation or annual or quO te. ra scription, as they can conveniently afford. ?el " S. All Members shall strictly observe the_ legal directions of the officers of the Associatio nlF the tnana-:eirvnt of its of tirs shall he committed. "4. The general management of the 0 3ii)P r nutted to a Council f individuals, to V I r annually at a G e ner a l M ee ti ng , and sulject 11 contreul of such Annual other General Me etia g " 5. The General Me e tings choose annual l y t o ditors for the ensuing year, to pass the ;lee 3° ,,,d, Council ; and if two of the Auditors cann a passing the accounts, the subject of difference is ferred to a General Mewing. "6. The Genera! Meetings choose a Tiefl j ti i iruwees, in whose hands the fund s of the A° is depos ted. d eb "7. An Annual General M e eting of the the Union is held on the first day of . "S. General Meetings may at any time be .I gether, by Sr. order signed by the Chairman an Chairman, countersigned by the Secretary; ° I L ,r signed by six of the members of Council; or sition si,lned by 200 members of the Union. ' . O ; or requisition of such me e ti ng t o b e advertis ed London Newspa Annual General Meeting the C O3°- di:ors, Tr e asur e r, an d T ru st ees , are el . o:en• vidual who shall be proposed for office, is l' ut lsl , may direct), and is elected by a majority of nation separately (or in such way as the G ene ra l to esent, the Chairman deciding on which sides l3Pri jority, unless a divi-ion be demanded ; when le d i appointed in the usual way. sf if " 10. At the General Meetings, the Secretary 0 ince the hooks for inspection, and in the whole e a , P O the Union every species of concealment or mystery cat efully avo:ded. form, a " 11. The Council (of whom n me, is weekly, or as often as they may do nt - ,1 0 / , keeping a record of their proceedings at each 1 33 e e- pri "12. The Council appoints a Ch a irol 43 !_, s , Chairman, Secretary, Collectors of Contribune 0 s uc h other officers, either with or without salaries/ be found expedient. LeP l ' " 13. Tile C.tuncil appoints a Solicitor an visers to the Union. if occasion require. oce edi , "14. The Council shall watch closely &Probes of the Legislature, shall call Genetal Mectir , g,'„ o o4 l cessary, present Addresses and Petitions to the the Legislature, when the interests of the P e l o rd' er ' stake, and generally shall use every exertion to the _ . . the object, of the Union. tbe 1 ' °7,1 " 15. The Council employs the funds of t belr ti , n, solely in promoting its object , , : a sP il t e ' ' jungrnent and discretion. " 16. No part of the funds of the AssociatleCli expended in any object, wherein a member of be i bt is personally interested, except by vote of t" l '"•jerii 4 Council, specially called for the purpose of con° of yg . question. iy t: o o; • " 17. The Treasurer shall pay money ° r ` passed by the G,uncil, and countersigned by t hc ptl o e i l / " 18. No alteration or addition m the ab° ve ui t j Re'4ulitions shall be made, unless it be recut. l o 7 ) the Council, or unless on retusal of the Co nn l s Orj the motion forward, it be adopted by four•fifths° 107 Meeting, specially summoned for the purpos'• ' ' .. according t ° . Advertiser. POLICE INTELLIGENCE. GUILDHALL. hO' iVildiaut Purr oil, the bailiff's follower chargedi on the Gth inst. with attempting his wife, was re-examined yesterday, she be'nvt able to attend and give evidence. She was' 1 ever, still tto weak to walk, and seeme d sea be out of danger. Ann Chell, of n 10 dille Temple-lane , had °i prisoner and his wife about six years. The' formerly received the rent of the chambers oro by witness's husband, end the prisoner had very troublesome in endeavouring to obtain 'b e ' before it was due. The prisoner's wife o' l l4 living apart from him five weeks, when on live o o p%wvuo f ii ctnr O ekdo c eotf t to‘ o :a, b .hh e pie r mi , els : cei l ei t e,z e tneot p dtifii r r i hhn s p o eeea t :p t i e beaa r rs: e :v a tae l ly:, l ve e ,i d hiti laec o l rrni t io t d ‘ at v htot i .ea t %e00:10,ir fpm out her to bring about an interview. Sh e fetc h king again. She said she would not, and wa lkeu out " My throat, my 'throat," and witneotd ing he was strangling Ins, ran to the s tair' ht ' her husband. On returning into the ro oms eo th e prison e r fling a razor away, and nb ser , g tt i wife was covered with blood. 'Mr. Clie"eh immediately. Prisoner said to his wife theihYied meet in another world. While she w as - he knelt down to examine the wound. Harriott Parrott, the wife, who apP- --r h o' r above 40 years of age, said Mrs. Cbell described the circumstances. When he r o O l f asked her to come home she repl ed she cel ite 7 f because she considered her life in danger. A 0 0i, " Won't you, won't you ?" She answere"tot which he turned round, and she heard hi rn i . o if piece of paper in which he brought the t s " then seized her and cut her throat. er ;i Lghtfoot, the beadle of St. Dunstan s) ° ot io` int!, the room was told to take charge oftheljoi,Jf who observed, " Yes, I did it ; sh ii- rr away." He was leaning over his wif e ' I fr said he had borrowed the razor, Fo ivi • Mr. Bradford, a surgeon in Fleet•streeti t " e from the first appearance o f the wife,1 01 ; 11 e; tity of blood she had lost, he thought she A - 0 9. 11C / He found the edge of th e razor had - turoe',o l ; and cut a flap of flesh. The jugular ttirfi important vessel had been laid bare ; iw t h ' e eir lt di none cut into. Prisoner acknowledged o tir, petrated the offence. The woman coul d moved to the hospital till the next daY , tended her in the interim. ‘ Mr, Alderman VEN A BLE% said, it 0 1411 tlyi c ica o hl Fgte thing trff i f ehe l et t e e d‘‘ N‘i s t i t il s iee d r p io rit t al soo Is r iae r yr a i d s y f ‘ e v . a r The prisoner, who was much agitate ' 611 0 1J P"..i ' ' five weeks ago h e qua rre ll e d w i t h his Wi fe l ust r i moving one of their children from one , 5 1 : e et f another, and she said he struck her. I n ;)- e l ' V, she left her home, taki n g t h e three . her; and he had never been able to a° c A she was staying, and he was very uneo s i r ts"fl night before this she absented herself t and two nights, and would give no sec°-vtlie6 she had been staying. He had made ever' fati and his mind was distracted. Wben again he kissed her on the stairs, and h e ff - tiv d ' e f t God's sake, to forget all that had pas se ' } 'le 5 1 /1° his part would forget every thing; but 9.1 eE F him, and who could bear with it ? dis iN tr l e r s . s A in l g de ( r ,a m s a e n , \ b i t j E t NA h n e Las mu s s a t id i , ca it o o ,7 e l4 t}til s em , e y r s 3 tn r ain m uci z e r t t s t, r: i . i sh i tire t a h hi e nv, c ,o t: iu u l eir(isireirroi hisirritate h various passions ; but if men were not other fierce passions, what would h th e leci°rllit'e s ° e rfj7l feeling of security which ought exiStl. I) to The prisoner was committed for B HS. .„ I, e f A ' On the 26th inst. in Yorter ß race, the P of a son. On the 26th inst. Lady Kilinaine, of a daughler'r.ot/ On the 24th inst. in Baker-street, the lady of 00 , of , I, Camac, It N., of a slaughter. On the 211th inst. at Fulham, Mrs. C. Freeling, R LED. On the 25th inst. by special licenc e, in the c.. 3, 013: 4 ,,cP Devon, by the Rev. Lord Henry Kerr, the } - W n iziii , t' Trefusis, brother of Lord Clinton , to the LadY ": e6 en. j giana Kerr, daughter of the late M ar q uis and P' Marchioness of Lothian. 11, 0 1 1: the l o tc. s 4 e t h G i u n a s r t. d s a , t e D id e e n s s t t s o o n . , l oSfustriorlku,. Craigpotat'.tinjoorosigsf.,lef gina Anne, youngest daughter of W. Bruturne vanhoe, near Colchester. T.' DIED. r a ut. On the 2.t3th ir.st. at Hyde Park B ar racks. --• c liC• of the Royal Horse Guards. ~,,irch, f On the :.!sth inst. in Mabledon-place, Mrs. ~- late J. Church, Esq., of Bedford-place. On the `2tith ii,t. Mrs. Mary Lon Browell. 944 C i i f t ; On the 27th inst. at Chelsea, G. F. Tegart , Ve t gacy Duty Office, youngest son of the late A• Pall-mall. _,.....-•-",,,il _---- _ fin _ _ --- vu. , PAINTED AND PUBLIM ED uY 31 U RDO nos. SUN OFFics, 11; SigioP, I,ol' \ GL O/j( 1 1AttIE NT AL! sc o °n the T i n l•-.. 1 11.,..., 1 1 11.--...7 Cua ßet , Plai t , t , o `Xhibit;n `.ll • kn eE g ot .re‘ i A :gne (4.0 V I \V