The Sun. — London, England, 1832-07-12 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP Tilt PUBLIC JOURNALS A Contemporary (the Times), in an article on Pledges, observes, that " there are, doubt less, emergencies in the affairs of nations of such critical and transcendent importance, that, no obligation can be imposed upon the candidate more binding than a due regard to the public welfare would justify; but that, even in that case, nothing is so difficult as to frame a pledge which may not be evaded in spirit, though not in letter. In the case of the Reform Bill, it was difficult to hit on any pledge in which there was not "danger for conscientious and consistent men,as well as dangerfrom the dishonest. If the whole Bill' was the subject of the pledge, how should he vote who stood so bound—when Minis ters saw reason, with a sincere and upright view to the interests of Reform itself—successively to correct and amend, but very seriously to alter likewise, some of the most important and promin ent provisions of the measure ? A pledge still more specific, therefore, was adopted ; and the Bill, 'as understoodand approved by Ministers,' was held to be the only safe form of obligation for the candidate. So much for a question which bad been for so many months before the country, sifted and familiarized, and pretty uni versally understood." The same paper proceeds t o ask— " How would it be with subjects more imperfectly ex amined as to the practical effect of giving enactments to wards the production of desired ends? Take the question of a provision for the clergy by commutation of tithe ; take that of poor laws to he amended in England, to be created in Ireland, or that of West India slavery, or of banking, or of finance, or of emigration, or of colonial trade —all questions of high value to the community—and see what would be the inevitable consequence of exacting, we do not say a declaration of general principles, but of detailed pledges of support to particular measures, upon subjects where the whole truth does not always lie u, on the outside; and where, from the complexity and intri cacy of the operations of various half-appreciated causes, the provisions of an Act of Parliament seldom, iferer, go straightforward to their purposed end." The conclusion at which our contempoary arrives is— " A repeal of the present fluctuating duties imposed by the corn laws—with a view to alleviate the difficulty of importing foreign corn, and of regulating the price with out injury to the grower or consumer—is a plain and direct benefit; to a specific pledge on that point, there can be no fair objection. A repeal of the Union with Ireland would be, in our judgment, an evil to both coun tries. A pledge to oppose any measure so calamitous would be easily understood and fulfiled. But unless the end be at once most important and most urgent, the general character of any man, fitted to be a representative, ought to suffice without the exaction of pledges which imply the want of such qualification; and on any other than simple and uniform questions, no pledge, beyond that of supporting a principle, ought to be conceded or required." There is, no doubt, great difficulty in candi dates and electors, with the best will in the world, defining beforehand the course that should be pursued in a number of questions. Making every allowance for the imperfect infor mation, both of candidates and electors, with respect to many questions at the time of the election, and leaving considerable latitude with regard to the means by which ends are to be at tained, it may still be advisable that the explana tions between electors and candidates on all questions with which it is known the Legislature will be occupied should be as ample and explicit as possible. In the case of the Greeks and Ro mans, who may be said to have lived in public, the character and opinions of all candidates for office were well known to every citizen. In France, too, from the social character of the people, and the absence of social distinctions, every man's sentiments are more or less gene rally known. But in England, society may , be said to be made up of an inanity of castes, every one of which is a stranger to the habits and ways of thinking of the rest. There is a con stant desire to reach a superior caste at a dis tance. Hence, an Englishman has no means of knowing the opinions of those who do not belong to his own caste, except through the reports of speeches in the newspapers, or through avowed publications. Two men may be neighbour s i n En:7o and for fifty years, without knowing, in the least, the sentiments of each other on any one question. Where men's sentiments are thus confined to a small circle, and where the class of the rich, from which the Representatives will in almost all cases be chosen, has so little communication with the great body of the electors, it becomes more especially necessary for the electors, in order that they may have an assurance that they give their suffrages to a candidate who will not abuse the trust, to have many and circumstantial com inunings with him on all public questions of importance. Let us take the candidates for Metropolitan boroughs for instance. Mr. An gerstein, one of the candidates for Greenwich, ought to be better known to the inhabitants of this new borough than any of the others, as his father lived there the better part of his life, and it is his own native place. Yet we will answer for it, if the first five hundred elec tors of Woolwich, Greenwich, and Deptford that present themselves, were to be asked how Mr. Angerstein thinks on any one pub lic question, they would one and all declare their perfect ignorance. The Reform Bill will no doubt gradually destroy this exclusive system ; because, hereafter, the rich will see the importance of mixing occasionally with all their fellow-citizens. But, for the present, all that the electors know is, that a very large portion of the class from which representatives are chosen are hostile to the interests of the people in their hearts. There cannot, therefore, be too much catechising. General declaratitms may be framed to deceive ; but there are few men so dexterous as to be able to stand a cross-questioning of any length, without allowing a glimpse of their real sentiments to be caught. At the same time, all means ought to be taken by the people to ascer tain, as far as they can, from their public acts, and from such evidence respecting them as they can obtain, the character of those who aspire to the honour of representing them. It may not always be so easy, as our contemporary the Ex aminer supposes, to obtain information respect ing the following points, but the attempt ought to be made : " How, then," says he, " are the people to judge of an untried man ? Very easily. Inform yourselves of his previous life—lesiit in what manner his time has been spent ; whether in idle dissipation, or in sober and severe study—learn whether he has been a jobber in Vestries or Corporations, or on the bench of Magistrates, or an enemy of jobs--whether he has ever stopped up a path, or set a spring gun—whether he keeps game preserves to decoy his poorer neighbours to their ruin. Inquire if he ever pro fessed liberal opinions before it could be his private interest to do so—if he ever professed any one opinion i. j udgment has of anything by which he could be a loser—or if h i s interest. has be e n a l wa y s t h e h um bl e servan t of his Find out whether he pays his tradesmen—if he be a tandlord, whether his farmers have leases, or are kept as tenants-at will, for the sake of political power—ask if be iver turned out a tenant for voting against him at an election—if be keeps his farmers at a rack-rent- 7 4f he has remitted his rents when they could not be paid without encroaching upon the tenant's capital? Prefer a man who has made himself known by giving his time or his money for any patriotic object ; or whose speeches or writings, while they evince zeal for improvement and personal purity of motive, also show that he has bestowed thought and labour on great public questions. Next to such a person, prefer the man whom such persons recommend." ,We yesterday observed that something of the co ofi st,ll kfil !nature of pledge was of the very essence of po pular election. The tests of the soundness of the candidate's opinions on public questions are na turally their approximation to his own, and he will, therefore, endeavour to select men who share his own views and opinions. Some of the country papers, however, push the doctrine of pledges to an extent that, if acted on literally, would be a source of great embarrassment. The Sheffield Iris of Tuesday last, for instance, at tributes more efficacy to specific pledges on a number of questions than we think the event will justify. The writer thus concludes a long article : " The candidate who stood thus pledged to support the abolition of the Corn Laws, the East India Company's monopoly, and of the discriminating duties between West and East India sugar, to vote against any one of these measures, he would feel bound, as a man of honour and truth, immediately afterwards to resign : public opinion would compel him. What solid objection, then, is there to the exaction of such pledges? The country has already had quite enough of that independence in Members of Parliament of which Dr. Lusbington and others are so much enamoured ! The electors of England must stand stoutly out for specific pledges on all the more important questions which are standing over for deter mination. It is your men of the old school—your free and unpledged gentry—the representatives of their own breeches pockets, and Parliament men for their own s tkes alone, that have entailed upon the country its present in tolerable load of debt and taxation, and who have cfowded our Statute-book with laws oppressive to industry, de- structive to morals, and disgraceful to humanity. Away with these men for ever !" But while we doubt the possibility of pre scribing beforehand the precise course to be followed on various great questions in the ap proaching Parliament, we are yet far from re commending the extent of confidence in repre pentatives called for by the Examiner : When the value of knowledge (says our Weekly Con temporary) is adequately felt, a man will choose his legis lator as he chooses his physician. Ni) man pretends to instruct his physician. No man exacts a pledge from his physician that he shall prescribe for him a particular treat ment. Nobody pretends that it is the duty of a physician to act according to the wishes and instructions of his pa tient, or of a majority of his patients. Why should we Dave one rule for the body politic—another and an oppo site one for the body natural ? Politics is an uncertain Science ; but so is medicine ; your representative may be a quack or an ignoramus; so may your physician. But !hough your physician or legislator may cheat you, it is Worth while purchasing his professional acquirements at that risk ; and though he may not know everything, if ou have chosen him wisely, he will probably know much car re than you—just as you probably know more than he does of your particular calling or profession." This extent of confidence is altogether irre- concilable with the existence of a free Press. Every question which comes before the Legisla ture is, at the moment of its discussion in St. tephen's Chapel, discussed in every newspaper published throughout the three kingdoms. The Keasonings of those within doors, as the phrase is, often influence the reasonings of those with out, and, vice versa, the reasonings of those without as often influence those within. But be this as it may, it is clear that public writers will constantly address the people on all ques tions before the Legislature, and that the people, thus called on to decide, will not fail to take a side. There is no analogy between the body politic and the body natural. The physician has to satisfy only one individual. The poli i 4clan has to satisfy many, he has different Hite r.ests to manage, and what may satisfy one class may dissatisfy another. Between the physician and his patient no third party in general inter feres to destroy the confidence between them. But by the very principle of publicity, the poli tician is continually exposed to criticism, and Ihoever assigns reasons, makes all those who ltten to them his judges. The patient gives his confidence wholly and entirely ; but as, in a pOlitical body there is not unity, there cannot be entire and individual confidence. The reasons which may induce one man to give his confi * nce may have an opposite effect on another. 'he state of the public mind, such as it is, must instantly influence the Legislature. This may !casionally expose Legislators to unjust cen- re, and may give a triumph to ignorance over owledge ; but it has also its favourable side --it gives a powerful motive, to all who mean honestly, to enlighten the public, and to prepare them for forming a correct judgment. If popu lar suffrage tends to lower the Legislator to the l6'el of the people, it has a tendency to raise the people to the level of the Legislator. — Morning Chronicle. The question of the Russo-Dutch Loan, and oil the payments under it, made and to be made by Great Britain, comes again into debate this evening in the House of Commons, although not precisely in the same form by which it had bqn at first designed to render it au engine of annoyance or mischief to his Majesty's Govern ment. The Opposition have probably found out, that nothing is to be gained by mooting the con tinped liability of this country to discharge the interest of the loan, every principle of honour, justice, national faith, and public law being in favpur of the obligation upon the sense of which the Ministers have acted. Indeed, a perusal of the, treaty itself, and of Lord Brougham's argu ment in answer to Lord Wynford, on the 2d of February, will suffice to convince every rational person that the question rests on the simplest and clearest grounds, and admits of no further discussion. Here is a Russian debt, •the discharge of the interest on which was un dertaken by England so long literally as Holland and Belgium should continue to form one kingdom ; but, in substance and spirit, so long as the latter country should remain independent of the domination of France, against whose power only the union of the two countries had been contemplated as a defensive frontier. The union has been dissolved, not by the French invasion, but by internal discord. It is true, that if one purpose of the contracting parties had been to indemnify Russia, in some degree, for her past exertions and sacrifices in the common cause, another object was to engage her good will and support towards the maintenance of the incorporation of the Belgic territory with Hol land. Now, if, after the late severance between these States, Great Britain had called upon Russia to assist in any joint enterprise for the reestablishment of their union, we do not say, that upon the refusal of Russia, even though the_ dissolution of the Netherland kingdom has been of a different nature from that against which the treaties of 1814 and 1815 were framed, England might not have been furnished with a legitimate ground whereon to justify the cessation of her payments. But the reverse is the fact. Eng land has made no demand whatever upon Rus sia, for aid towards the recovery of the King of' Holland's sway over Belgium. This Govern ment has, on the contrary, used every effort to confirm the separation of the two countries, and has, perhaps, experienced no small difficulty, in prevailing upon Russia and other Powers, to acquiesce in their per manent disunion. Under such circumstances, —could anything have been more pre posterous or shameful, than for England to take advantage of her own deliberate acts, and to tell Russia, " True it is, that although Belgium has revolted, she forms no part of French conquest 'or aggrandizement ; true likewise it is, that 1 ' (England) have contributed all in my own power towards the severance of those countries for whose identity you (Russia) were most anxious; and that if you have forborne to use force for their re-union, it is mainly owing to me and my pacific policy that you have put that restraint upon your wishes. Yet will I act as if you had been the separatrix of the incorporated provinces of 1815, and as if I had sought to perpetuate their ill-assorted union ; and on that false plea will I get rid of my pecuniary engagements." We put it to any man of gentlemanly prin ciple or honour, how would he esteem in pri vate life an individual capable of such base and impudent dishonesty ? Russia has claims upon the liberal acknowledgments of Great Britain, instead of meriting any stretch of niggardly or ungenerous dealing. It was in the power of Russia, at any period since the signature of the treaty of 1815, to have required the establish ment of a sinking fund of three per cent., in stead of being satisfied with one per cent. only ; and she might thus have relieved herself of the whole debt by this time, in lieu of seeing her equitable and lawful title endangered by the selfishness of an un p r i nc ipl e d Parliamentary faction. As for a censure upon Ministers for having clone without the authority of Parliament, that for which they had already the full sanction of law and treaty—we apprehend no more suc cess from such an undersaking now, than when it failed on the 26th of January. It was then a factious manoeuvre, and would now be more so. Ministers have acted as became the guar dians of British dignity, integrity, and honour. Of all Members of Parliament the least useful is the mere political talker—he who can go off' at score, and with equal fluency speak against time, whether it be upon anything or upon nothing. The gift of the gab, as it is commonly called, may be, we do not deny, and generally is, a very useful, and often profitable, quality to its possessor ; but, as far as the public are con cerned, its utility is at least of a very equivocal tendency. We do not deny that -it is unfor tunate when sensible men of business are unable, as is sometimes the case, to express themselves intelligibly ; but even through their stammer ing, more practical information is generally gleaned than from the cloud of endless verbiage in which those who know nothing contrive to clothe their want of ideas.— We make these remarks with the view of put ting the people on their guard in the choice of those who may present themselves as candidates for the new Parliament; which it is most de sirable should comprise as much of the intelli gence and integrity of the country as can be got together. Though we can hardly flatter our selves that such will be the case, we confess we should rather like to see constituents looking out for Representatives, than the latter, as is usually the case, so promptly in the field. At any rate, we are sure that the experience of many of our readers will coincide with us in the con viction that the most valuable man is not the most presuming; and that really useful talent often shuns the light, into which it is ne cessary almost to drag it forth. We will take the great trading town of Manchester for an instance. What could be more absurd than that the people of Manchester should choose a stranger, still less a demagogue, for their Representative ? For what will be his peculiar duties ? To watch over and promote the vast local interests of Manchester, as coupled with the welfare of the community in general. Without pretending to point at individuals (for we do not yet know who are the candidates for Manchester), who is it that the inhabitants of this great hive of industry will naturally, we should hope, look to as their best, their natural repre sentative ? Not the mere political declaimer, who, happening to pass through the town, may have tickled the ears of the groundlings with a tissue of fanciful theories or wild impracticable dogmas. No, the man whom the people of Manchester will naturally look to must be one with enlarged political views, but especially possessing a thorough knowledge of those peculiar circum stances which have raised that town to its emi nent station in the trading world ; and one who, from his station and ind e p en d ence , w ill be least likely to compromise those i n t eres t s , e ither when they come in competition with his own or those of some rival hive. Nearly the same rules will apply to all the new constituencies under the Reform Act. All, or nearly all, have local interests. If there is any exception to this, it will be found in two or three of the metropo litan districts. But in these a great mass of in telligence prevails ; and we shall be greatly de ceived if these districts do not return to Parlia ment men known for some more valuable qualities than that of being mere declaimers at public meetings, and the only test of whose political wisdom is the nonsense and the mischief they have uttered.—Morning Herald. The discussion of the Russian-Dutch loan job was fixed for this evening, and, certainly, a less defensible job, whether in policy or princi ple, never came before a British House of Com mons. In commenting upon the former debate on this subject, we so fully explained the state of the question, that it is needless to tread over the same ground again ; it is sufficient to remind the public of a few leading points. The treaty of 1815, which guaranteed certain payments to Russia by England, in conjunction with the newly-erected kingdom of the Netherlands, ceased and determined, according to the words of the treaty itself, as far, at least, as the pay ments were concerned, by the severance of Bel gium from Holland ; for the object of th e pay ments was to induce Russia to support and protect the new kingdom of the Netherlands. In fact, the treaty was one of the splendid pro ductions of that Castlereagh policy which, at the era of what was called the " Settlement of Europe," laid all the advantages that England ought to have derived from a war which cost her so much blood and treasure at the feet of the Russian Autocrat, and of the other great despots of the Continent. It was, therefore, a treaty not intitled to be regarded with favour by any succeeding Govern men t, — especially by a Whig Administration, whose leading members had, at the period of the Con gress of Vienna, objected in no moderate terms to the foreign policy of Castlereagh as detrimental to the interests, and derogatory to the honour of England. But though the treaty was not to be regarded with favour by a patriotic Govern ment, we do not say that it ought not to be faithfully observed, as long as it continued in existence. But the severance of Belgium from Holland had determined that treaty, as far as the payments were concerned. Whoe ver denies this, certainly IN/misters, without self-contradic tion, cannot ; for they entered into a convention with Russia in November last, in which the) distinctly admit that it would be necessary for his Majesty to apply to Parliament to enable him to make the payments ; and, yet in the teeth of this convention, they contended, in the following January, that the treaty of 1815 still gave Russia a legal right to demand the money, and imposed on the King's Government a legal right to pay ; and they quoted to this effect the opinions of the Attorney and Solicitor- General, which opinions had been given previously to the convention of November—a convention founded upon the supposition that no legal obligation to pay existed, and conse quently that the opinions of the law officers of the Crown were not worth a straw. In continu ing the payments under such circumstances, Ministers, out of their own mouths, stand con demned. Now they abandon the position • which they took up in January last, and retreat to the ground which they occupied in the preceding November. The question, therefore, at present is, ought Parliament to renew the pecuniary en gagements of a treaty from which circumstances have relieved us, because the contingency has happened which the framers of the treaty of 1815 expressly provided should put an end to it ; for they stipulated, as we said before, that, on the severance of Belgium and Hol land, the payments should cease and determine. The King of Holland made no mistake about the matter, for he ceased his payments on that se verance having occurred; and so far from this pro voking Russia to make war upon him, that the Emperor Nicholas has declared that he will not be a party to the use of coercive means to com pel him to give his adhesion to the treaty of the London Conference, which Belgium was com pelled to adopt, under the threats of the great Powers, signifying that she must choose between that and a crusade of the Holy Alliance against her newly-established liberties. If the House of Commons sanctions the Convention now pro posed, which is to cost the over-taxed people of this country five millions sterling, we suppose the Members who voted for the measure will be prepared to give their constituents a good reason for their conduct at the ensuing elections. 'We suppose that they will be prepared to show that the revenue of this country is so flourish ing—its resources so abundant—its taxation so small—its national debt so trifling—and its in dustry so prosperous, that it can afford to generously fling away five millions of money, and that it cannot find a better object of its gene rosity than the Autocrat of Russia, who tore in pieces the treaty which guaranteed the in dependence of Poland, to which the seal of English faith was affixed, and indignantly flung it in the face of England. It is said that there has been great beating up for recruits on the part of the emissaries of the Foreign-office, and that several Members who had expressed their sense of the Russian-Dutch loan job in no measured terms of indignation, are expected to rat from their former opinions. We hope that this is not the case—it would afford but a melancholy view of the moral principle and political integrity of some Reformers. Let it never be forgotten that the money paid to Russia, after the determina tion of the treaty, is stained with the blood of Poland. It was this money which enabled Russia to recover her military activity, when she had come nearly to a stand still, and to pour army after army on that devoted country. Shall we lavish the people's gold on the cupidity of the Russian tyrant, while we have nothing to bestow on the virtues and sufferings of Poland but our barren commiseration ?—Morn.Herald. We insert in another column a circular ad dressed by authority of the Irish Government to the magistracy of that country, which, consider ing the actual circumstances of Ireland, may cer tainly be regarded as one of the most finished specimens of hypocrisy or imbecility by which any set of Statesmen ever challenged the indig nation or the contempt of mankind. In reading this stupid and insolent production one would be led to suppose, were it not that the parties from whom it proceeds and the parties to whom it is addressed are too well known to admit of such a mistake, that the tithe conspiracy in Ireland had been permitted to attain its present magnitude and strength through the criminal connivance or apathy of the Ma gistracy of that country. It merely re-echoes the statements as to the lawless state of the country which the magistrates have been endea vouring in vain for twelve months past to im press upon the attention of Government, strings together truisms the most useless and admoni tions the most unmeaning upon points of ma gisterial duty, not one of which there is the least pretence for doubting that the magistrates un derstood much better than the authorities who thus presume to instruct them, and concludes with the wise remark that " a recurrence of meetings bearing such unequivocal marks of ille gality as have been described will render it in cumbent upon magistrates to exert all the powers with which the law invests them to suppress the mischief and bring the guilty to punishment ;" intimating, if the words of Irish documents are to be construed in their obvious and ordinary sense, that up to the present moment the magis trates neither had nor ought to have exerted whatever power they possess for these purposes. The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland instructs Mr. Gossett to inform the Magistrates of that coun try, " that numerous violations of the law re lating to unlawful assemblies have recently ocs curred." Precious information truly ; that "an extensive confederacy has been formed for the purpose of resisting and rendering abortive all legal remedies for the recovery of tithes." How moral and edifying this intelligence must be to Irish Magistrates ! that " whether the means employed by this confederacy be actual violence or intimidation, it cannot be doubted that they are illegal, and that effectual measures should be adopted to counteract and suppress them," as if the Magistrates of Ireland had ever doubted this ! The Magistrates are then gravely told that in cases of doubtful illegality their most prudent course will he to have the parties identified, to have information sworn detailing the particulars of their conduct, and to transmit them to Government, for the purpose of being submitted to the Law Officers of the Crown. Now it must, we think, occur to all persons of plain understanding that Government would do much better in arming the Magistrates with such powers as would enable them to cope with the sufficiently numerous class of cases in which the law is clearly and unequivocally violated, than in thus suggesting an impracticable mode of proceeding in the comp ara ti ve ly f ew cases i n which the violation of the law may seem to be doubtful. Why this anxiety respecting doubtful cases, when the Magistrates would have more Lhan enough to do in repressing manifest and unambiguous outrage against the law were the Government even to place an adequate force at their disposal, and accomplish the task, which its own past conduct must rendera they o most h c di l ffi thi cult one, of convincing them that ;In ploy it without the risk of being sacrificed, n o rder to propitia who teth are thoseetrue political authors S confede i.atesof Government and determined patrons of the conspiracy ? Why this talk about doubtful violations of the law, unless it be meant to intimate to the Magistrates that it will be wisdom in them to regard nothing as clearly illegal which is perpetrated by persons whom such afriend of Government as Mr. O'Con nell may perchance defend, or such another friend to Government as Dr. Doyle may think fit to ab solve ? And who are to swear the informations which the Magistrates are thus instructed to collect, in order to satisfy the timid scruples of Govern ment as to the overt acts of a confederacy, that confederacy having already been permitted to obtain an uncontrolled dominion over every transaction of society, and to brandish with im punity the assassin's knife in savage and relent less vengeance against every man who presumes to disobey even the smallest of its commands ? The Irish Government cannot be so imbecile as this circular to the magistracy would indicate, supposing the latter to be intended for anything more than a mere manisfestation. The Govern ment cannot of course avow itself the patro❑ of the tithe insurrection. If it does nothing to op pose this triumphant outrage upon property and law, it thinks it prudent and decent to pre tend to be doing something ; and accord ingly, Mr. Gossett writes a foolish and useless bundle of puerilities upon the sub ject, and a few of the more eminent agitators in Dublin are held to bail. Those who care any thing about the fate of Ireland, and are capable of estimating the consequences of a successful conspiracy against any one description of property in that country, will not be amused by such paltry contrivances and pretences as these. The Government of Ireland is stimulated to a momentary display of palsied activity, not by the hope of subduing a confederacy which can well afford to deride these paralytic efforts, but in the vain expectation that the infamous traffic for votes in the House of Commons may thus for a time be concealed, in virtue of which the Ministers of the Crown in England are surrendering to the leading conspirators a certain and easy victory over law and property, the Church and the State. Morning Post. NATIONAL PO ITICAL UNION. The Council of this Union held their weekly meeting last night, at the usual time and place, J. Cartwright Thomas, Esq. in the Chair. PLEDGES OF CANDIDATES FOR M. P. After some introductory remarks relevant to the rules of the Union, Mr. F. PLACE said, that he had concocted (in conformity with the request of several of his friends and correspondents, and with the desire of the Com mittee of this Union) several observations on the subject of pledges to be demanded from candidates proposing to become representatives in the Reformed House of Commons. Many persons and bodies throughout the country seemed to be disunited, if not distracted, on the demands most desirable and appropriate, and had requested some specified ones from the Council of this Union, as the leading po litical body in London; and he was aware that the subject was of vital importance at the present moment, and the sooner the better something defi nitive were done. He read a pamphlet, which he considered should be printed and distributed by the Council as extensively as possible, and thought that those he alone could sell would pay half the expense, for several candidates themselves had promised him to have them distributed in their own districts, and to purchase so many at a certain rate. The pamphlet ably details the mode of representation and the cha racter of representatives formerly ; it points out the duty of electors in a succinct and cogent manner, and the best means of exercising their rights as con stituents. It then concludes with proposing, as pledges to be exacted every where from candidates at the ensuing election, 1. PARLIAMENTARY ThisREFORM.— pledge in cludes shortening the duration of Parliaments and conceding the vote by ballot ; for were the whole nation to be divided into electoral districts, and the votes taken by ballot, Parliaments could not be too short, nor the right of voting too extensive. At present the duration of Parliaments should be limited to three years. 2. LAW REFORM. This should include a thorough revision of all laws common and statute, civil and criminal, corporate and municipal. The abolition of all arbitrary jurisdictions —the abridge ment as far as possible of all vexation and delay or expense—the detection of crimes, and the certainty of speedy punishment, should be included with the abolition of all barbarous and cruel punishments, and the adoption of such only as are commensurate with the offence committed. 3. FINANCIAL REFORM.—This includes the re duction of all taxes possible, and of all overpaid salaries and pensions, as well as payments of every kind, from the highest office in the State to the owest ; and the total abolition of all the sinecures, and of all useless offices and unearned pensions. It is advisable that indirect taxes (and those especially which press most heavily on trade and manufac tures, on commerce and the comforts of the people) should be repealed in preference to direct taxes. Had there been none but direct taxes, the public would never have submitted to be taxed to half the amount at present exacted. 4. TRADE REFORM.—This includes the abolition of all monopolies, particularly the monopoly of the corn laws. The free admission of all sorts of pro duce for manufactures, and indeed of he, trade in every respect, that the greater number may no longer be compelled to purchase anything at an advanced price to increase enormously the profits of a few comparatively. J. CHURCH REFORM.—This includes, 1. Equa lization, to a great extent, of the Church Establish ment. Every dignity of the Church preaches po verty, yet wallows in wealth; but great wealth being condemned as incompatible with true religion, therefore none of its ministers should be wealthy. 2. Ceasing to pay any person or party, by any one, for the maintenance of any particular doctrine or mode of worship, of which he does not approve. And therefore, 3. The abolition of tithes, in the fairest way and in the shortest time possible. 6. ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.—This includes the freedom of every person of every caste, and colour, and climate. Slavery, in itself, is unjust; and though its abolition without compensation to the slaveholder may appear unjust, it is a much greater injustice to retain persons in slavery than to manu mit them without compensation. It becomes, then, the duty of the Legislature to emancipate slaves with the least injustice possible to the slaveholders. 7. TAXES ON KNOWLEDGE.—These taxes are the stamp duty on newspapers, the excise duty on pa per, and the duty on advertisements. Thus the pledges to be exacted should be of a nature general as possible, while the details should be reciprocally particular : so as to give Members really honestt! full view of the opinions of their constituents, an d room d to et l a e i a ls ve m n i o ght be for the enlarged, hypocriteevade. teo topics are suffi ciently characteristic. enfi pledges rt e ts d :i n a a nndd could e nh proficiency that t r n c a e o i net Tll6in bringing the topics forward . . , and the abolition of to the notice of the ballot sla very being made tests, Mr. ROGERS having objected wtoiththouetpnreoctiipeeitanalciyd .he various topics on their own merits, particularly ►hat on the abolition of slavery. tt C b a s i n e o n ou e c nß d onstituents not unstained by crime who Mr. CARPCEmaHNaTI should h b a e 1e too ' a .. in the knowledge of the duties imposed on them as electors. eh:toeatxtni hsedtamittapu exemplified certaintLEuL : etdhaofbauol ggry Mr. HICKSON considered that every Member should pledge himself to resign, if his constituents tirid that he has not redeemed the pledges he may have given when a candidate. He also thought that the abolition of all corporate rights, inimical to mu nicipal freedom, and the abolition of tithes, should be more strongly and strenuously enforced. Mr. COOKE thought that none should be a voter who was not able to read. Mr. CIIEESEMAN warmly opposed such a tenet. Mr. PLACE, in reply, considered that every elector should not only be able to read, but actually to write, as his knowledge of reading and writing would spread information and prove of public utility, as well as tend to prevent private bribery. Con cerning a member resigning, that should never be made a pledge by any constituency. If the majo rity of electors in any place should consider their representative unfaithful, a general meeting may be held to arraign him for the supposed failure; but it would be preposterous and impracticable to exact a pledge of resigning from any candidate according to the discretion of a few. He ably elucidated the different topics in the pledges, and moved that 10,000 copies of the pamphlet be printed:— Agreed to. Mr. PLACE then moved that a similar number of a tract on the Ballot be Printed.—Agreed to. IRISH TITHES.—Mr. CHURCHILL moved resolu tions on the subject of tithes in Ireland—that it is unjust to tax any person or party for the maintenance of t hose propagating opinions or supporting a system of religion believed by those taxed to be false; that the people of Ireland deserve the gratitude of the nation at large, for the determined and peaceable op position made by them to the oppressive exactions of tithes in that country; and that any enactment which may be made, granting legislative security in the levying of tithes in any form, should be opposed by every legal means by the people of Ireland, who should be assisted in their resistance by the deter minate opinion of the British nation. On the motion of Mr. CHURCHILL, seconded by Mr. OWEN, it was resolved that a petition should be prepared on these resolutions. A committee was then appointed to consider the best means of celebrating the passing of the Reform Bilis. The council subsequently adjourned. COURT OF EXCHEQUER, JULY 11. KINNERSLEY AND ANOTHER V. SOMERS. The plaintiffs are woollen-drapers, carrying on bu siness in Marylebone-street. The defendant is a gentleman of fortune residing in Ireland. This was an action for two bills of exchange—one for 5601., drawn by the defendant on a Mr. M`Do riough, by whom it was accepted on the 21st of April, 1830, and payable two years after date ; the other for 6001. drawn and accepted by the same par ties in June 1831, and paysble ten months after date i:oth having been endorsed to the plaintiffs by Wm. Cowper, a tailor, residing in Sackville-street, Pic cadilly. Mr. EARL, for the defendant, stated that the hills in question had been given to Cowper by the ac ceptor, M'Donough, then a minor, for a usurious consideration, and that the plaintiffs had taken them, knowing that the' were tainted with usury. Augustus 111'llonough—I have got a release from the defendant for all claims on account of these bills. I became of age on the 31st of March last. I was introduced to Cowper as a customer, by the de fendant, in the summer of 1829, and lodged in Cow per's house in the autumn of 1830. I told him I warted a loan of money. He said he had none to lend, but would endeavour to procure me some, but he did not think he could do so without paying high interest. I told him I would give any money for a loan, as I wanted it very much. I saw him again a short time afterwards, when he said that it would be necessary to get the defendant to sign a bill. I said I wanted 3001. He said he did not think he could get that sum for less than a bill of 5601. I accordingly got the defendant to draw a bill to that amount on me, which was made payable in two years, as I should be then of age. I gave it to Cowper, and received from him 3001. in dif ferent payments. In the October following I gave him a bill, which was also drawn by the defendant, for 1,000/ for a loan of 5001.; and in April, 1831, I gave him a similar bill (one of those now in ques tion) for 6001., in consideration of receiving from him 3001. He gave me in all 1,1001, for which I gave him bills to the amount of 2,1601. George Cowper, brother of 'William Cowper, heard the latter say that he received the bills in question for a usurious consideration. The Jury having deliberated a short time, re turned a verdict for the defendant, on the grounds that they believed the plaintiffs to be aware of the usury when they took the bills from Cowper. THE MARKETS. CIAL MAR Per Ton. s. d. -Idair's . 17 9 Bensham Main ON•Wd. ner•e• 17 6 Ilolywell 18 3 Ord's Redhugh 16 6 Pontop Windsor 15 6 17 6 Townley l7 3 Willington VVylam 17 6 Walls End Bell & Brown 19 9 Ditto Bell, Robson, & Co. 18 6 Waslls End Carr and Co. 18 0 Walls End G05f0rth......... 21 6 Walls End 18 9 Ditto Killingworth 19 6 Ditto Newbiggen 15 9 Ships arrived sines ET. -July IL Per Ton. s d. Walls End Newmarch...... 20 0 Ditto Northumberland.. 19 3 Walls End Riddell's 20 9 Walls End Hetton 21 9 Walls End Stewart's...—. 21 9 Walls End Adelaide ....... 19 6 Walls End G0rd0n...—.... 19 9 Walls End Tees —......... 21 0 Walls End E1gin...,...... 16 0 Llangennech Pemberton 20 0 North Durham and Selby Walls End mixed....... 15 0 South Hetton Seam 16 0 Stone Coal, James and __ _ Aubrey ---.----.:::: 32 0 Adair's Trader 17 3 last market-day, 28. COUNTRY CORN MARKETS DURING THE WEEK. Per Quarter. Abingdon Andover Birmingham rs r dpo r t C rencester Guildford Henley Elereford Highworth Nlaidenhead Heading S ilisbury Southampton Stroud Tewkesbury Uxbridge WOWV,..W. IVarminster Wheat. I Barley. s. to B. 31 43 37 41 40 44 32 36 26 38 36 40 23 32 30 35 44 48 32 42 34 44 Oats. s. to s. 22 SO 24 32 26 30 21 25 26 31 26 35 20 30 Beans. 5. to s. 31 47 34 40 33 40 37 38 30 42 37 40 27 43 30 44 28 34 22 30 - 44 - 52 - 54 36 41 21 27 20 26 28 32 22 32 30 38 23 33 21 30 20 28 21 22 31 34 - 4.1 .., 40 ---, 52 36 37 34 42 36 54 34 42 34 45 - 52 65 66 44 51 CHELTENHAM Per Bushel. s. d. to s. d.' Wheat 6 0 8 0 Barley 4 0 5 6 Oats 4 0 4 3 Beans Pease 5 0 7 0 Hay 3/. 10s 4 A RICET.--July 10. Per lb. Beef d. to d. Mutton Veal Pork ... ............. 3 7 Lamb ... ... . .per . to 31. 158.0 d. ton " LAKETS.—JuIy 4. DUMFRIES MA s. d. s.d. Wheat, Imp. Bush 7 0 to 7 9 Butter, 16oz. ...... Barley ...... o.tts ........... 2 2 2 7 Beef, per lb. . ....... l• lour, 141 h. Oatmeal .... .......... 1 9 2 0 Veal ......... Potatoes, cwt 1 4 1 6 .Quartern ....... ........ s. d. s. d. 0 Otoo 0 00 00 04 05 04 0 0 04 05 07 09 BIRTHS. On the sth inst. at Croydon, Mrs. Harman, of a daughter. On the 11th, the lady of C. F. White, Esq., of Great Quee street, Westminster, of a daughter. Saint Lawrence 'J ewry, Mr. Jonathan Thorp, of King street, to Miss Laura Sandilands Wrightson, youngest daughter of the late Sam. Wrightson Woking, Surrey. On the 10th inst. a t St. Marylebone Church, Benjamin Wel stead, of Kimbolton, of the late Owsley Rowley,Eofthe Priory,near SL NeotsZin sq., the same county. On the 10th inst. at Bridgwater, Joseph Anstice, Esq., Stu dent of Ch. Ch., Oxford, and Professor of Classical Literature at Huntingdonshire, Esq., to Mary, daughter King's College. London, to Elizabeth Spence Ruscombe,; eldest daughter of Joseph Ruscombe Poole, Esq., of Bridgwater. DIED. On sth inst. after a lingering illness, which he bore with grea t fortitude, Mr. Edward Thomas, printer, Exeter-street, Strand , in the 54th year of his age. On the 9th, at Kington Magna,liDorsetshire, Charlotte, eldest daughter of the Rev. J. W. Dugdell, Rector of Kington Magna, aged 2.2. On the 4th inst. at Bath Ford„ after a few days' illness, Evan Thomas, Esq , of Sully, Glamorganshi re, and „Llw y nmad dcc k ; Breconshire;in the 54th year of his age. On the 9th inst. at Richmond, Surrey, Mrs. Frances Rice, widow of the late Thomas Rice, Esq , of Hampton Court, in her isth year. On the 10th inst. at Hadley, Middlesex, J. B. Child, Esq., aged 6S. On the 4th inst. at Stoke Newington:Common, Richard Percy, the youngest son of Captain Berford. On the 10th inst. Mrs. Jane Osborne, wife of Mr. Samuel Os iHrn, of Bishopsgate-street, only daughter of the jov Mr. De puty Greenaway. PcINTED AND PUBLISHED BY MURDO YOUNG, AT TUB SUN OFFICE, 112, STRAND, LONDON. 1