The Sun. — London, England, 1832-12-24 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF TliE PUBLIC JOURNALS. Our columns continue to be filled with accounts of the triumphant progress of the principles of Re form. In almost all the counties, where there is any public voice to be expressed, and the consti tuency consists not, in any considerable degree, of mere boors and hinds, the success of that measure i , complete. The exceptions are very tare. In Hert fordshire indeed owing to the want of accurate in formation upon the canvass returns, a young Con servative, a Tory Lordling (with whose class the House of Commons, under the corrupt system of nomination, was so offensively and it oriously in fested) has fortuitously slipped into Parliament. Great as is the influence of his father the Lord- Lieutenant, and greater still as is that of the Mar nide of Salisbury, whose tenantry, with that of all the other Anti-Reformers, were driven in herds tc the poll to vote for their candidate—all the effort to prevent the return of three Members of liberal and constitutional opinions would have been ineffectual—had not the anxiety of some of the too-cautious friends of Sir John •Se bright and Mr. Calvert induced them to give two votes only—leaving out Mr. Alston—lest, by any accident, the seat of either of their long-tried and valued representatives might be endangered - . The considerable majority they both obtained over Lord Grimston, and the very trifling one of the latter over Mr. Alston incontestibly prove, that if this groundless anxiety had not existed, the Re formers would have returned all the three Members. Our forebodings with respect to North Essex are unhappily confirmed. By a few votes Mr. Western "has been onseated ! There are not many towns in that division containing any considerable population, and in consequence there is a great deficiency of in telligence among a large portion of it. A favour able field was thus presented for the exercise of the influence acquired by landlords in counties by means of the voters under their control, who, fot the first time, as occupiers•of land, were to exer cise the elective franchise. Mr. Alexander Baring. deprived of his two seats at Caliington by schedul, A—driven fiom his third seat at Thetford by his conduct on the Reform Bill—hopeless at home in Hampshire (which has nobly rejected the son and heir of the Duke of Wellington), with that calcu lating sagacity that has made him one of the richest individuals in Europe, determined to hoist his standard in that part of the county. Althogh stranger, and notorious for his uncompromising op position to the landed interest, before he turned hi. money into acres—the Conservatives or Tories im mediately fell down and worshipped the golden cal' —forgetting the contumely to which they had been exposed, happy in having a candidate who would save their own purses iu their struggle to regain the ascendency of their party in the county ; while the) hoped to gratify their petty personal resentment and jealousy, which had ranked deeply since their signal defeat last year. The loan-jobber's calculation has prayed correct. The tenants of the committees of Tyrol( and Baring alone, without making an esti mate of those of others of the party, have been sufficiently numerous for his purpose. Strip the poll of the occupation votes, thus sent to tht hustings in favour of the corruptionists, and Mr. Western (and Mr. Brand too in all probability) leotild have been returned. The result of this elec. fon will be taken by the kingdom at large as deci f.l eof the necessity of the ballot. The eyes of tht nation have been fixed upon the issue of this contest In a county purely agricultural—almost literall) without a manufactory—with no commerce beyom the peddling concerns of country shopkeeping—sucl a marl as Mr. Baring hits beaten Mr. Western ! The latter has been forty years in Parliament—twent) for Nlaldon and twenty for the County. A mort consistent public character never lived. Al' tie great measures of improvement that mark the present times have found in him a zealous and at. ini•gtitened supporter ; and all the pernicious and ruinous and unconstitutional acts of the successive Tory Administrations, a decided and unflinching op ponent. Above all, with reference to pectilito claims on his old electors, he has ever been distinguished not less by his ardi nt advocacy of the interests of agriculture, than by his own practical knowledge of its concerns and his at t. chment to its pursuits.A few months ago Essex was among the loudest in calling for Reform. Two county meetings were holden on the subject. At the dissolution Me. Western was returned by at; overwhelming majority, while the candidate of the Anti-Reformers could not bring to the poll a fourth, part of the constituency. What then has now pro duced the success of Mr. Baring, who, with almosi every possible objection that lies against a candidate for such a district, stands pre-eminent for his bitter hostility to the Reform ?—Nothing but the admis 5;0 , 1 of the occupiers of land to the elective franchise (a measure, by the way, Mr. Western seconded), which has given to the landlords in certain parts of the kingdom that power of nomination which it wa• the object of the Reform to abolish. It is expected that the counties of Essex and Hertford, and some others, will be convened to petition for the ballot, without which county elections stand on a more unconstitutional footing than before the representa tion was reformed—altogether a mere delusion. — Morning Chronicle. Next in value to the feeling of security which we d er we frem the result of the present elections — that, by tie free exercise of the popular choice, we shall have converted the Commons' House of Parlia ment into an effective instrument for controlling ev ery item of the public expenditure,—fer correct ing 'every acknowledged abuse, however venera• jA e ,—and for promoting every prudent measure of internal improvement,—is the feeling of confidence that the same popular Legislature,—supporting the interests and identified with the feelings of the coun try,—will insure us peace abroad arid command for us respect among foreign nations. We have already adverted to the anxiety with which the eyes of all the Governments and all the political parties of Europe, have been turned towards Engla nd in the present crisis of her history—in this first trial of her new institutions. That anxiety could scarcely have been greater among some a our neighbours though their own fate had been to decijed at our polling-booths, or, to use their own language., though their destinies had been to be drawn " from our electoral urn." Had the English elections of 1832, under the new Reform Act, given us either a band of Jacobins, ready to adopt every Innovation because it was a change, or a predemi nant phalanx of Conservatives, prepared to resist every improvement because it was innovation, the tranquillity of Europe could not have been preserved for three months. A Govern ment can only be strong abroad by being power ful and secure at home ; it can only be a moderator of the destinies of other nations by being e tte,ased from alarms about its own; it can only allay the waves of stormy contention by being able, like the image of the fabled sea divinity, to rise above them, and to be calm - in the midst of their agitivio:i. Hid levelling innovators succeeded, we sliould have had a repetition of the same political propagandism which was attempted by the 'mime meat party in France; we should have had fraterni zation with all the revolutionists over the world whether their cause were good or bad ; We hoold have bad a war on the most frivolous pretexts with absolute Governments, ruerolY because they were absolute, and therefore differed from us in their po litical creed. Had the Tory faction, on the other hand, gained the ascendancy, a Tory Ministry' would have been formed, and a union with continental despots, to aggravate the oppression of their own subjects, and to crush the rising liberties of other nations, would have been the inevitable consequence. The assumed prejudice of the English people in fa vour of a Dutch alliance would have been made the pretext of breaking off our present engage ments with France to secure the indepen dence of Belgium. France would have found it impossible under her new dynasty to permit a restoration of the Nassau family at Brussels, to the exclusion of - the Belgic Monarch allied to their own, The French would, therefore, have acted alene iii repelling a Dutch invasion. - The absolute Powers of the continent unrestrained, or perhaps in such circumstances encouraged by an English Tory ad ministration, would have interfered in favour of Holland, and thus the attempt to reimpose the treaties of 1815 would have opened again the widest field for that great struggle of opinion and ambition,—of the rights of possession, and the claims of conquest,--which these treaties, however ill adapted for the consolidation of permanent tut, . quillity, had for 15 years the effect of closing. By the return of Liberal Members in such a majority, di , - posed to support the existing Liberal Government againq revolutionary violence on the one hand, and Conservative abuses on the other, neither of these foreign alternatives can happen. The French Go vernment, so long as it forswears projects of ag grandizement and labours sincerely to bring about a peaceful adjustment of European differences, can rely on that cordial co-operation on our part of which our good faith and our highest interests equally impose the necessity. The absolute continental Powers, which cannot move a step in hostile array without borrowing the purse or gaining the forbearance of England, will abandon their mad projects at the sight of an English Legislature resolved never to vote a subsidy to crush freedom or to facilitate conquest. The latter have learnt, or must soon learn, that the result of the present English elections has made it a matter of indifference what particular set of functionaries compose personally the Cabinet of this country. Lord Grey could not act like the Duke of Welling ton and remain a week in office, and if it were pos sible to conceive his Grace again in office, he would be obliged to act like the bead of the present Mi nistry. As the House of Commons is constituted by the working of the Reform Bill, the arbitrary Governments of the continent need never again look to England for an ally in any warlike projects of conquest, usurpation, or aggrandizement—or in any attack against the lights of freedom, the of humanity, or the just claims of national inde pendence. It is with no small pleasure and exulta tion that we announce this result to the friends and to the enemies of our country on the continent, — and we call upon them to believe us implicitly, whatever may be said to the contrary by certain iliplomatists who live only in Tory coteries. The poor King of Holland was grossly duped if he was ever taught to believe that by holding out somewhat longer, at the instigation of our Conservatives, he nould influence our elections, and bring about a change of Ministry. The artillery of the citadel of Antwerp, which was no doubt intended to be heard t the English hustings, spent its whole force on !he French trenches, and did not knock down a single vote for a Conservative candidate; nay, we have seen one of the shells launched from our Anglo-Dutch garrison, taken up by a freeholder of Bedfordshire (Mr. Montagu Bourgoyne), and thrown sack on the enemy like a hand-grenade, with the malicious label "Dutch peace, not war." The To ies may now make it " a war," or " a peace," as 'hey choose, but we shall be satisfied that if it be a war, it i , calculated to prevent a general conflagra- At the dinner at the London Tavern, on Saturday, to celebrate the triumph of Reform, and the return of Mr. Grote, that gentleman repudiated, in the ,trongest terms, the idea that people were to go :nto Parliament without any fixed principles at all, Ind expect to pick up principles on the floor of the House of Commons. . . "The present times," he observed, "were such as requireu men who went to Parliament with principles formed ; and he should he a recreant to hi.; own principles if he hesitated to avow that he thought they required iu a peculiar degree men devoted to the service of the country—men of decision and knowledge—men possessing the command of large principles and comprehensive views.—(Applause.) There were faults to correct, injuries to repair, grievances to redress, which called for no wavering, or undecided hand—for no men who would stand aloof till the Minister should set hi , : seal upon a mea sure—those surely were not the men for the ensuing Parlia ment, but those were the men who drew back from pledges. — Applause.) The chairman (Mr. Warburton) observed, that he saw no distinction between persecution for con science sake, whether it had reference to a political 9r religious conscience, and that if they expected to preserve the independence of the voter, they must insist upon the ballot. Mr. Hume observed, " that , ie felt as they all must feel, that the Bill was not a complete measure—that it did not secure political freedom without the ballot, and that was a truth which he should never cease to inculcate upon a Reformed Parliament until it was obtained." With few exceptions, the Church, the Aristocracy, and the Magistracy, have beets throughout the late contests, eminently Conservative or Tory. What Mr. Walter ways in his address to the electors of Berkshire, may, in fact, be subscribed to by every liberal candidate for the representation of a county : « With a few splendid individual exceptions, Gentlemen, owe little to that order which calls itself, or is considered the aristocracy of Berkshire. The middle and industrious classes, with whom, as a body, are found in the highest degree io . which they exist throughout this nation, the noblest charac teristics of intelligence, honesty, manly truth, and honour, are they to whom I feel myself most sensibly indebted for the eminent, though arduous station to which I have beets raised." Lord John Russell, even in his canvass through South Devon, after finding that the tenants were intimidated by their landlords, declared that the object of the Reform Bill was to put an end to in fluence, and that if the voter cnuld not otherwise be protected, recourse must be had to the ballot. Mr. Abereromby at Edinburgh, Mr. Macaulay at Leeds, to say nothing of men unconnected with Ministers, have held the same language. But be hold Mr. Stanley, not satisfied with throwing Ire land into, we had almost said, aremediless confusion, throws out a challenge at Lancaster, which, if we are not mistaken, will render it difficult to determine in which island he has done most mischief to his colleagues. " The Government (he said) had come forward with a complete measure of Reform, which the people had adopted as the new charter of their liberties; it had been so extensive as to alarm many, who, however, consented to go the length of it upon the distinct pledge that it was to be taken as a final measure. If, therefore, it should be at tempted to bring forward any measure for shorten ing the duration of Parliament, or still further ex tensive alteration by a protection, as it was falsely called, of the vote by ballot, he now announced (and he spoke the sentiments of his Honourable Colleagues) that any such measure would meet their most de cided opposition." But is the opinion of the nation itself to go for nothing ? The Ministers gave a pledge. But other people have given pledges as Ministers. If the House of Commons represent the nation, and the nation be determined to have the voter protected by the ballot, and the duration shortened, which ought to give way, Ministry or the House of Commons ? Ministers have clearly pledged themselves to what was not within their competency, if they pledged themselves there should be no ballot, and the duration of Parliament should not be shortened. We apprehend that the object of the Reform Bill was to make the Ministry de pendent on Parliament, and not Parliament on the Mini,ary. However, Mr. Stanley has not only given a side blow to his colleague, Lord John Russell, but he has at once called into being an opposition which Ministers may find some difficulty in overcoming. This young man seems to posses in admirable pro portion the faculty described by Sheridan, of raising up a wall to break his own head on, as well as the heads of his friends.-411orning Chronicle. In commenting upon an article of ours, relative to the Middlesex election, the Standard falls into a misconception which we are anxious to rectify. That Journal takes to itself what we said of a combination beta een placemen and hirelings of die late Government and the present one to get rid of the presence of Mr. llume in the reformed Pai lia went. Such an intention as applying the term " hireling" to the Standard we utterly disavow. It never entered our thoughts to apply a term expres sive o f a venal connection with power or party to a Journal which, al,hough differing with us widely on some great political questions, we are always ready to admit has preserved, under different Ad ministrations, an independence of tone anti eon. sistency of character which are not reconcileable with the notion of a sordid compromise of principle. Whenever we have thought proper to refer particu lady to any statements of our contemporary, we have uniformly used that language which we use when iinpugning the opinions of an opponent whose sen timents we believe to be conscientious. If our contemporary had not been misled by a hasty impression of the sense of the passage which he has alluded to, he could not have taken the ac cusation intended for others to himself. We had adverted to the simultaneous attacks of the Whig and Tory Press on Mr. Hume; and then we went on to observe that certain " Ins and Outs — that placemen and hirelings, under the late Goverh ment and the present one—wished to get rid of this gentleman in the reformed Parliament." Now, knowing that the Standard had gone so far in oppo sition to the Duke of Wellington's Administration as at one time to have been threatened with a State prosecution, we could not have intended to include that Paper when we spoke of 'the " hirelings of the late and present Government. There were several, both Whigs and Tories, to whom this term applies, who combined their efforts to exclude Mr. flume from Parliament. Among them were several, both Journalists and others, who were the " fawning W sycophants" of the Duke of `Wellington when in power, and who have transferred an allegiance as servile, and quite as sincere, to the Minister who succeeded to his office, and who professes principles diametrically opposed to his. In common with those persons our contemporary, made great exertions to give Mr. Byng another colleague than Nlr. Hume. Nothing could be more natural than that a Con servative Journal should have preferred Lord Henley or Sir Charles Forbes, or any other Conservative candidate, to an indefatigable Reformer. Nothing could be more suspicious than that Whigs and pro fessed Reformers should have evinced a similar pre dilection. A word or two as to Mr. Hume. We have repeatedly declared, in supporting that gentle man during the recent election, that we differ from him materially on several important questions of policy. We have taken occasions when those ques tions, on former occasions, came under discussion, to impugn his opinions with all necessary freedom, and intend to do so again. We have on some oc casions supported Mr. Sadler's views against his, anti should gladly see the latter gentleman in Par liament again, to advocate those just and benevo lent objects, the Factory Bill, the Poor-laws for Ireland, and those measures to raise the condition of the oppressed and defrauded labouring classes, which have associated his name with ennobling re collections of humanity. Regarding what we con ceive to be the advancement of the public interests, and the maintenance of the true principles of the Bri tish Constitution, as a more useful and honourable task than any connected with the conflicts or triumphs of party, we take that course which leaves us unfettered to bestow praise or blame accord ing to the merits of men, and not in relation to the political badges by which they may he externally distingui,h e d. W e do not look upon public wisdom or viriue as confined within a parti cular circle, outside of which nothing but baseness or folly is to be found. We can believe in the ex istence of a conscientious arid virtuous Tory, and do not think it impossible that there may be Whigs who undermine and betray the principles which they pretend to support. Nay, we expect to see the day when the mass of the community, no longer hood winked by the artificial distinctions of faction, will estimate the characters of public men as we do, not by the principles they profess, but )he actions they perform. If we could give credence, as our con temporary of the Standard does, to the calumnies that have been heaped on the head of Mr. Hume, we would have opposed him with as determined op position; but we do riot believe them. The " dis semination of infidel tracts" has been so completely disproved, that we are astonished to see the charge repeated. And then to accuse him of holding the doc trines of Carlile and others of that class, hecaus he disapproved of their prosecution, is an infe rence as unfair as it is uncharitable. We hold, in common with some of the wisest and best of men, whose talents have adorned the walks of literature and philosophy, that all prosecutions for matters of opinion are bad in principle, and of injurious conse quences. We maintain, too, that they are opposed in spirit as well as letter to that divine system of ethics which Christianity has revealed, and which teaches its that truth will be vindicated by other and nobler weapons than those of carnal violence and persecution. Nothing has done more mischief in our days to the cause of religion and morality than prosecutions which shallow Statesmen pro moted against low, ignorant, and scurrilous assailants of the sublime and impregnable truths of the Chris tian dispensation. Such proceedings gave importance and circulation to contemptible ribaldry, which would otherwise have perished unknown anti inno cuous in the obscurity in which it sprung. Thus the venal speculation of the traffickers in moral poison was served. In proportion as persecution raged they ob tained the notoriety which they wished, and found more extensive marts for the sale of their infec tious merchandise. If Mr. Hume is to be accounted an Infidel merely because he objects to such prose cutions, he must, on the same reasoning, be regarded as a high Church Protestant and Anti-Catholic politician because he objected to the prosecution of the Editor of the late Morning Journal,. whose zeal for Protestantism had excited the vindictive hostility of the Duke of Wellington's Government. We recollect that when, upon the accession of his present Majesty, an Act of Grace conveyed pardon for their offences to several criminals, Mr. Hume endeavoured, in the House of Commons, to have the convicted champion of Protestant doctrines, then languishing in prison, included in that Act of regal clemency, but in vain. The great Greek orator called the sententious Phocion the " pruner of his periods." Our prodigal financiers may as justly call Mr. Hume " the pruner of their Esti• mates." lie will deserve support as long as he is opposed to the Treasury system of profusion and ve nality.—Morning Herald. Among our election intelligence will be found three articles, to which we beg to point the special attention of our readers—the first, the entertain ment given to Mr. Grote by the 8,412, who placed him at the head of the poll for the city—the se cond, the dinner to Lord Palmerston at Southamp ton—and the last, the meeting of which we have given so full an account from the Stamford and Lincoln papers, at which Mr. Tennyson had again to come forward in defence of vote by ballot, and to state his reasons in detail for sup porting that mode of taking the sense of the people upon the merits of those who are desirous of repre senting them in the Legislature of the country. With regard to the first, nothing could be more gratifying to Mr. Grote's feelings than the enter tainment which was given to him—the manner in which he was received by the company, and the repeated bursts of applause by which the announce ment of his political principles was hailed by one of the most respectable companies which we have ever met on any similar occasion. When alluding to the necessity of vote by ballot — of triennial Parliaments —of a Reform in the Church, it was with difficulty that he could proceed—so unanimous, so vehement, so enthusiastic were the plaudits of the company. Mr. Hume was received in an equally gratifying manner, and addressed the company' with a de gree of energy and feeling which grea tly out stripped any prev ious exertion that we have known him to make. The numerous and highly respectable band of Reformers who will this day accompany him to Brentford, w ill test ily to the Conservatives, as well as to those who, basely deserting their " first love," have become nxious to follow Conservative principles, that there is a movement in the public mind in favour not only of all those practical Reforms, which we have a right to anticipate as the fruits of the Reform Act, hut also of the improvement of that Act itself, where it is found to be deficient, which no party, however powerful, can venture to withstand with out putting to hazard the internal peace of the country—,,the very first and most mportant principles of the G3nstitution. With re spect to the- dinner to• Lord • Palmerston, we may fairly obsersie that it exhibits the most triumphant feeling, and that when it is considered how shame fully, and by what base arts, the Conservatives have been endeavouring to defeat his election, his re turn is a subject of just gratulation. With regard to the Lincoln nomination meeting, the main inte rest of it will be found in a dispute between Mr. Tennyson and Mr. Boucherett, and in the exposure which it contains of the tyrannical conduct of certain aristocrats in that county, in attempting to compel their tenants to vote against their con sciences. Mr. Tennyson, it will be seen, was originally opposed to vote by ballot, and has only be come a convert to its adoption from the ❑nfair pro ceedings to which we have alluded. His reply to Mr. Boucherett, who contemptuously termed him a " low Radical," is manly and spirited, as well as his defence of his Lambeth constituents, who, alone with their representative, caine in for a due share of abuse from the Conservative party.—Morning Advertiser. The elections proceed in the same spirit as they did last week. In the counties a few Tories have found admission. Mr. Hall Dare has succeeded to Nlr. Wellesley in South Esssex—a fair exchange. Mr. Wellesley has been at Calais since the dissolu tion of Parliament : he will probably remain there. Northampton has returned a Tory and a Whig for each division. The division of the counties has been favourable to such divided returns. The Ultra- Reforming party has - fotnid small favour any where — less in the counties, as might be expected, than in the towns. We can mention bnt two Members who approach to that description—Mr. Hume and Major Beauclerk : after them' though with an in terval, Lord Milton may be enumerated. The majority for Ministers will doubtless be increased by the strongly Conservative language of Lord Althorp in Northamptonshire, and Mr. Stanley in Lancashire; but it needed not their declarations to strengthen it. Everywhere, to be a member of the Government has been a secure passport. Mr. Port lett Thomson, chiefly from his possession of office (though, doubtless, for his abilities and liberality also), has had the high honour of being elected by a large majority of one of the most numerous and respectable of the new constituencies—Manchester, in opposition to a man of great local influence; and by a spirited and populous borough—Dover, in opposition to all the strength which a powerful and unscrupulous party could bring against him. The elections in Scotland have begun well. Francis Jeffrey, James Abercromby, John Archibald Mur ray, Robert Ferguson, are names that would grace any assembly. Ireland sends us O'Connell and four persons of his own kindred, and a tail of clients as long as that of the ram of Derby. The Podia. ment will not lack eloquence. We contemplate its meeting with no small mingling of fear. If the Ministry really mean what their members in North. amptons'aire and Lancashire announce, we shall ne cessarily have a renewal of that agitation which has already operated so injuriously on the welfare of the community, and without that sustentation of hope which has hitherto rendered it tolerable. It is true, we may force theta to return to the right path, as we formerly forced them to remain in it; but the shock to public morals would not be the less fatal. The abandonment of Reform by its originators, would produce in the public mind a contempt for authority that could hardly fail to issue in its utter overthrow. We regret exceedingly, that in several places, riots, more or less serious, have occurred. At Sheffield, several persons have fallen victims to their rashness. The new constituencies, however, have shown fer the most part a much stronger regard for order than the old. The causes of the dis orders in the latter, are clearly traceable to the leaven of uncleanness which the second Bill left to pollute the body of the electors. In the former, they seem to have arisen from attempts—not a whit more defensible, though better-motived than the boroughmongermg attempts—on the part of the non-electors to control the electors. There are plain and easy methods of remedy for both, which we should deeply regret to find Ministers resolutely setting themselves against. Household suffrage, as proposed by Lord Ellenborough, would take from the present non-electors all those whose voices are in any degree influential ; the ballot would protect the electors from the aristocracy, and what in many instances, and especially in Ireland, seems even more necessary, from the democracy; and short Parlia ments, by taking from the novelty of elections, would take from the excitement which their present infrequency occasions. These remedies must come —the two last soon, the whole ultimately. Mi nisters may, in their not unnatural love for a work of their own creation, feel offended at a suspicion of its insufficiency; but its insufficiency must be remedied nevertheless, by them, or in spite of thera. Spectator. The elections for the English counties have proved even more satisfactory than those of the bo roughs to the friends ofthe Government and of Reform. In North Hants, the Marquis of Douro, notwith standing the utmost efforts of his friends and con nections, has been signally defeated. In South Hants, Mr. Fleming has, in the same manner, and under the same influence, been rejected, for Lord Palmerston ; Mr. Buller has failed in Devonshire — Mr. Murray, in Bucks—Mr. Mills, in East Somer set—Mr. Packington, in East Worcester—Mr. Adeane, in Cambridge—Mr. Posey, in Berks—Sir W. Geary, in \Vest Kent—Sir George Sitwell, in Derby—and Mr. Tryon, in Northamptonshire. Sir Edward Knatchbull, it is true, has been returned for East Kent, Lord Chandos, for Bucks, Lord Gtsmston, for Herts, and Colonel Lowther, for Westmoreland ; and we learn there is some proba bility that Mr. Baring may succeed in Essex, and Mr. Bell, in Northumberland. These, and some few others, in districts where the power of the aris tocracy is not yet thoroughly overturned, make, however, but a pitiful portion of that band which once swayed the destinies of the country at will, and for half a century resisted all the attacks of the Crown, of the opposing faction, or of the people. The Tories, as a hotly, are scarcely worthy of the name ; and the unfortunate few who delight in the appellation of " Conservatives," cannot too speedily abandon a title which their number and influence in the new Parliament will render so ridiculously inap propriate, In the meantime, those who look to the enjoyment of the real fruits of the Reform Bill, in a calm and dispassionate consideration of the abuses of the ancient system of Government, cannot re flect without pain on the perils to which we may be exposed, by the ❑nion of the Irish Repealers with that comparatively small, but dangerous class of men, the theorists and fanatics, who have been borne into the House of Commons by the circum stances of the time. Isolated as a party, neither enjoying the sympathies, nor commanding the re spect of that part of the community who, in all seasons, give the tone to public opinion, the Radi cals and Repealers would, in a period of quirt, be utterly insignificant. The first Session of the new Parliament will, however, throw together such dis cordant materials for the use of a Minister—his best efforts for the advantage of the country will be re ceived with so much real or affected distrust — that it will be exceedingly difficult for those who hold the reins of Government to command a power sufficiently steady, a majority which can be sufficiently calculated on, to control the efforts of men bonded together on all occasions for one common object—the overthrow (fevery thing that is. If we add to this, the melancholy conviction that many of the disappointed adherents of the dynasty that is past will, occasionally, with a perverse and fatal blindness, give their sanction to the views of the opponents of the Ministry, either out of folly or revenge, we confess that we cannot contemplate the situation of affairs without alarm, or without feeling that some changes —improvements we should say—are required in the i Ministerial arrangements, before the Government of I Earl Grey will be in a condition to offer an effectual resistance to the machinations of its enemies. In the last Parliament, although sufficiently honest arid well-intentioned, the lack of men of business in the Government departti,ents was obvious to all who turned attention to their movements, and we hope that they will not venture to encounter those who have been by some of their own friends named the young giants of Reform, without closing up their ranks in a manner suitable to the exigencies of the occasion.—Observer. LORD ALTHORP'S PLEDGES. — Upon one subject Lord Althorp goes into the House of Commons pledged—fettered, bound down, tied neck and, heels, an automaton; or, according to Sir Francis Burdett either a rogue or a fool—we forget which. Lord Althorp, the head of the Government in the House of Commons, pledges himself most specifically against Parliamentary Reform. " You all know," says he to the electors of Northamptonshire," that in bring ing forward the Reform Bill, I professed it to be a final measure ! I make the same profession still, ind I intend to act on that profession. It is my in tention, in case any alteration should be proposed in the Reform Bill, to resist it to the utmost of 711 . 1 i power !" What is a pledge, if this be not one Why Sir John Hobhouse refused to pledge himself concerning vote by ballot, and the Septennial Act, is now fully explained. The Ministers, it seems, intend to treat the Reform Bill as a " final measure" —to oppose vote by ballot and triennial Parlia ments—to support the Lords Ailesbury, Exeter, Salisbury, &c., in doing what t'oey like with their own, and to enable all the Sneaks, who have got into Parliament by calling thetilves Reformers, to set their deluded con , tituents at defiance. The language of Lord .John Russell, and of Lord Althorp too—honest Lord Althorp I .—during the debates on the Bill, led the public to believe that the Whig •Ministers thought their Bill imperfect ; but that they had left it imperfect, in order that it might pass. By holding this tort of language, the Whig Ministry obtained the support of the people, and were en abled to carry their Bill. Within a few days of Lord John Russell's speech on the Ist of March 1831, the Spectator raised the cry of " The Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the B:11." How useful that cry was to the Ministers, and how we strove to promote union amongst Reformers, in order that the Whigs might keep their places and carry their Bill, our readers well know. But they know also, that we thought the Bill im perfect—that we supported it as a step in Reform, and that we have supported the Whig Government for two years, because, as we have often declared, Lard John Russell expressly reserved the questions of Ballot and the Septennial Act for a Reformed Parliament. We were mistaken, it seems ;in other words, we have been deceived. Lord John did not mean what he said ; and Lord Althorp meant, by silently acquiescing in what Lord John did say, to " profess that the Bill was a final measure." What ever both of them meant, however, they both allowed the public to believe that they meant the reverse ot 4 -..vhat Lord Althorp now says that they "professed." t The week before last, we said—" Let us hope thA the Whigs are not bent on treating the Reform as a final measure ; that the Tory language of the Times (which described such men as Messrs. Hume, Grote, Thornely, Babbage, and Tennyson, as " Destructives") is not sincere, but is held for the temporary purpose of- injuring those candidates who are not pledged to support the Whigs through thick and thin ; and that as soon as the elections are over, our influential contemporary will be•once more a Reformer of abuses—a Destructive if he will, of the corruption which pervades every department of onr Government, and which will be destroyed even in spite, if so it must be, of the Times and the Whigs." A cloud comes over our hope. The Whigs, according to Lord Althorp's last pledge, will treat the Reform Act as a " final measure." Mr. Tennyson gave a pledge to the electors of Lambeth—he pledged himself to introduce a Bill for establishing vote by ballot, for putting an end to such scenes of riot and cases of wholesale bribery and shameful iutimidation as have taken place under the " final measure." He will keep his word; but Lord Althorp in effect tell us, that the Whigs, sup• ported by the Tories, will throw out Mr. Tenny son's Bill. Lord Alt horp pledges himself to " re sist it by all the means-in his power." In a word, if the leading Minister in the House of Common• speaks fur the whole party, the Whigs must now be called Anti-Reformers. Lord Aithorp's pledge at Northampton is the most impartant event that has occurred since the Interregnum. Instead of three parties in the House of Commons, as was expected, there will be but two—Anti-Reformers, including Whigs and Tories, and Reformers. If the Whigs, being in power, had been disposed to proceed with Parliamentary Reform until the House of Commons had fairly represented the nation, the question of R form in Parliament might have been considered as settled. In that case, those improvements in the system of representation which the nation yet re• quires, would have been effected speedily, easily, almost without debate. But as it is now put, the question must remain to divide Parliament and the nation, the majority in Parliament and the majority of the nation holding opposite views. Thus the result of the " final measure" will be division, de bate, discontent, agitation, and, worse than all, a state of things which must postpone indefi nitely the desired consequences of Reform in Par liament—Reform of the Church, of the corn laws, of the poor laws, of the laws that cheek the spread of knowledge—and a vast number of improvements for which there is ample room. As to the corn laws, indeed, Lord Althorp further pledged him self to " leave them untouched." He might as well have said, pledging himself to side with the Tories as to Parliamentary Reform, that he would use" all the means in his power" to preserve untouched the whole mass of abuses which depend on the corrup tion of Parliament. The moment chosen by Lord Althorp to declare that the Whigs are Anti-Re formers, is worthy of notice. If the declaration had been made a month sooner, would Sir John Hobliouse have been returned for Westminster ? Sir John would give no pledges—not one; he would have lost the election if he had told the electors — pledging himself as Lord Althorp has done—;hat Ministers intend to treat the Reform Bill as a" final measure." Until nothing could alter the result of the borough elections, the Whigs allowed the public to suppose that they intended to proceed with Re form. But with a view to the county elections, in which the Tories have so much influence, an Anti- Reform declaration from Ministers was calculated to serve Whig candidates. Honest Lord Althorp —plain, simple, candid Lord Althorp—makes that declaration in the very nick of time, just when the borough elections are virtually over, and the county elections are about to begin. Practice makes per fect ; and the Whigs are becoming not less adroit than the Tories. Lord Lyndhurst and Mr. Holmes never managed more skilfully. In another respect, Lord Althorp's pledge sa vours much of Tory trickery. He says that he " professed the Reform Bill to be a final measure," and " that he intends to act on that profession now." But which Reform Bill ? Lord John Russell's, or that as altered by Lord Chandos? Lord Al thorp never did profess that the Bill which has be come law should be a " final measure." On the contrary, he opposed, or pretended to oppose, that clause of the Act which has made so many rotten counties and so many converts to the ballot. What with the tenant-at-will-clause, which has given us nomination counties instead of the boroughs in schedule A, arid some of the registration clauses, which have prevented a vast number of electors from voting at the election, we have got a law very dif ferent indeed from that Bill which Lord Althorp says that he " protessed to be a final measure." • * Divines illustrate the meaning of Scripture by collating parallel texts. Some days after the publication of Lord Althorp's Northamptonshire pledge, quoted above, Mr. Stanley appears also to have pledged himself and his colleagues, to the following effect, in a speech delivered at the nomination of candidates for the Northern division of Lancashire :—" If it should be attempted to bring forward any measure for shorten ing the duration of Parliament, or a still further alteration, by the protection, as it was falsely called, of the vote by ballot, he now announced (and he spoke the sentiments of his Honourable Colleagues), that any such measure would meet with their most decided opposition," How different, his Loidship may learn, if he wil condescend -to read the foliowing extiact from the Times of August 19th, 1831. " Indeed, Lord Chandos and his supporters, now that they have carried this fnsidious clause, take no trouble to conceal the grounds of their exuberant exultation. It is a landlord'i measure; it is. like the County-division clause, a stab in the heart of Parliamentary Reform. Not long since, the Duke of Buckingham made known pretty generally throughout the king- dom, that the bulk of his estates were let to tenants-at-will. How many of them will dare to vote against the nominee can- didate of the house of Buckingham ? It might indeed afford a satisfactory clue to the motives from which my Lord Chan. dos's amendment proceeded, that the effect of it has been to place as many votes as there are tenants upon the vast estates of the Duke of Buckingham at the absolute disposal of their aristocratic master. 'We do not scruple to affirm, that the clause for dividing the counties, conjoined with that for extend ing the landlord's influence over so immense a body of electors, dependent exclusively on his arbitrary pleasure for the conti nued enjoyment of their vested capitals and habitations, has actually frustrated, in a very large degree, the advantages pro mised to us by the Reform Bill. How Minist•n came to sup port one of those clauses, and how they contrived to be beaten in their opposition to the other, is not fur us to say ; the facto are before the country, which will know how to appreciate If, then, it be true that Lord Althorp " professed' Lord John Russell's 8,11 " to be a final measure," he made a profession which requires, supposing him to be really honest Lord Althorp, that he should treat Lord Chandos's Bill as anything but a " final measure." Let us imagine that the Whigs had "contrived to be beaten" on schedule A, would it have been honest in Lord Althorp to describe the Bill, so altered, as the same measure which he" pro fessed to be final ?" It would have been a trick worthy of the most tricky Tory. And where is the difference between the actual and the imagined cases, if, as the Times says, and as a very great number of persons believe, the advantages promised to us by schedule A have been " frustrated" by the county clauses ? If Lord Althorp had spoken sin cerely at Northampton, he would have said— " Now that the borough elections are over, and the county elections are about to begin, I declare that we, the Whigs, intend to treat the Reform Act, improved by Lord Chandos, as a final measure?' This is the true meaning of Lord Althorp's pledge against fur:her Reform. His pledge against touch ing the corn laws, translated into the language of truth, appears as follows As town electors wish for free trade in corn, we, the Whigs, have made them believe that we intend to alter the corn laws; but now, farmers, I tell you, the borough elections being over, that we intend to preserve the corn laws untouched ; vote accordingly, for Whig candi dates." " Honesty is the best policy." Lord Althorp will have cause to repent of his Arorthamp tonshire pledges, and perhaps to explain them away before the Session of 1833 is half over.—Spectator• CITY ELECTIONS. SECOND DAY. Those marked with a . are fresh candidates. CASTLE BAYNARD—Returns 10. Mr. Neale 113 Mr. Hoppe 101 Mr. Hicks, Deputy lOB Mr. Toplis Mr. Evans I." Mr. Coßingwood , ' ............... rd Mr. Slade . • , 10" Mr. Smith Mr. Pritchard 10'2. Mr. Jennings, - ...... 7,94 Mr. Fenton 1O VINTRY WA Mr. Whitby 3l Mr. Coombs 'll Mr. Elmes 3l Mr. Marsden 3l Mr. Comyn 3O • ID—Returns 9. Mr. White. .................. 504 14 Mr. Ingall Mr. I'on Mr. Lepard. 17 Mr. Martin BREAD-STREET Mr. Kipling ........ ......... 6'2 Mr. Legg til Mr. Simttleworth tit Mr. Coleman Mr. Mathie • 59 Mr. Cracklow Mr. I Awrence. 54 HARD—Returns Mr. Davison 54 Mr. Bridge 53 Mr. De Grave Mr. Hallam Mr. Cope :35 Mr. Shoobridge• ....... Mr. Burra resigned. N)RTSOKEN WARD—Returns 5. Mr. Death Mr. Negus 55 Mr. M`Kenzie • .................. :{4 Mr. Parker M Mr. Tyers* ........ ...... ...... 46 A LDERSG ATE WARD—Returns 8. Mr. Rolls Mr. Lorkm 69 Mr. Stacy* ........................ 51 55 Mr. Mottram 6. Mr. Matthews 46 Mr. Summers 67 Mr. Hodgk inson Mr. Godson 6:5 Mr. Taplor* :29 LANGBOURNE WARD—Returns 10. Mr. Carter Mr. Marchant 75 Mr. Jewesson• : IY2 Mr. Morrison 74 Mr. Haswell Mr. Elliott Mr. Stubbing 74 Mr. Adamson* 73 Mr. Chapman* ....... 43 ........... Mr. Dixon .................. This Ward nominated on Friday, but commenced Foiling on Saturday. CIUPPLEGATE-WlTHlN—Returns 8. 113 Mr. Brass .......................... 4 Mr. Beeton t , Mr. Hoole• 113 Mr. Sutton• ..................... ,n Mr. Merl BO ° Mr. NA iltshire ..................... r,; Mr. Jaques .. lO6 Mr. Richardson ................. . Mr. Smith 96 The first eight were elected, and the Wardmote closed. DOWGATE WARD. Mr. James Powell unanimously elected in the roo m of Mr. William Hepworth, resigned. TOWER WARD Mr. Hepworth and Mr. Joyce elected . in the:room of l‘ir. Smith and Mr. Waae, resigned. COUNTRY CORN MARKETS DURING LAST Wheat. Barley. Oats. Bea n j Per Quarter. --- 42 Ashburn 56 62 :38 44 21 26 42 Basingstoke 48 60 24 35 16 24 3 2 40 113th . 44 58 28 :36 22 2 3 ,?., 42 Bridgewater —.—. 52 6 24 " 8 25 28 19 st 3 50 56 30 31 16 2 0 3 40 Chesterfield 46 60 26 38 18 96 40 4 2 Derby 57 62 28 40 18 23 35 , 44 Doncaster 48 60 26 39 16 24 4 0 44 D0rche5ter............. 50 57 28 32 18 25 -- 52 28 34 18 2 6 4 0 Gloucester*, 45 60 26 40 16 22 „ f .'- 40 1-lungerford 46 61 24 34 18 2 6 40 61 38 2 6 ~ 44 Newbury _ 40 62 22 3 17 32 56 flornsey 56 62 30 33 23 27 41 Shaftesbury 53 30 35 40 Shepton Mallet 54 62 30 :35 22 26 34 4O Sherborne —..--. 48 56 30 34 20 26 l'aunton 57 68 32 36 24 2 %3 Yarmouth 52 54 21 R 3 20 24 'A' 40 Yeovil 48 58 30 34 18 20 , Per Bushel. d l. Shrewsbury 8 0 8 9 4 6 52j 4 5 50i 0 DEVIZES CORN MARKET.—Dec. Per Sack. S. d. s. d.l Per Quarter. s . •A 0 710 .1 DEVIZES CORN MARKET.—Dee. 20. ,I. Per Sack. s. d. s. d. Per Quarter. s. d. 5 ' 0 Best Wheat 26 6 to 27 6 8ar1ey..... ......... 24 0 to ..• i) Second Thirds ;23 0 24 0 Beans (per sack) 17 0 '2.... o 781 Sacks of Wheat sold/ 25 .. I. lour (per Uag).. 40 0 45 4 at the average of ........ j a Bread (per gall.) I 3 0 " WAKEFIELD CORN MARKET. —Dec. 21. „ Wheat, Red, NLionr.foalnkfiacndainS.uffblk...--ss. 40 2 - : . . 4 . t t n o 53 55 .. 5. fifinnee a.:16:: ----- Yorkshire —s. 425. to 525. fine i f. Whi te —s. 475. to 595. fine ',.'. 7 ,,, --- Forein Red —s. —s. to 4 4 5. fine .62,, g , White —s. —s. to --s• on e b oa. Barley, Norfolk anti Suffolk Lincolnshire 29s. to 365. fin e s v. Yorkshire Wold 'Us. to at,s. fine ~ ------ Foreign —s. to -"''• fine 066. Beans, Small `tis to 3.55. fine Tick " to au. fine .2.,. Oats, Potato 2os. to VA. tl„ n e ‘2.25. Poland —s. ISs. to 2 05 - u",oos. Friezland and Small —s. 16s. tolds. finctoe. Waling 'ld. to 10, Per ' L od. Shelling .Is. to 265. Od• P er ., Load• Malt 33s. 425. tine 455. pei r pst. Rapeseed 2Ol. Os. 221. Os. 231. 10E6 per epd• CORNWALL. MARKETS. ~a t s,So• ii tt, Tatuto—Wheat (average) 21s.3(1.—Barley, 1 la-- - n 1 ,...,00 Sr. AusrELL—Wheat, —s. to 21s.—Barley, -- 4 - t ° ts, ,O , Os. to Bs. 6d. 7s. to Bs. Od.—Beef and Mutton, Od. to sd. PENZANCE—Wheat, 21s. to 22.s.—Barley, 11s. to„ I rto - l a ' ''. Butter, 12d. per lb. 1110` 1 " -.. LAoSeEsToN—Wheat (average) 21s. Otl.—BarleYs - ' 1 1 • 7s. Od.—Beef, sd.—Mutton, 6d. 103. 6.1.-'o3"' LtsKEroto—Wheat, .-s. to 225. lA—Barley, ;6l. ~. 1 to 7a 6d. 0 3 "' .' t Bonmist—Wheat (average) 21s. 03. —Barley, lig , '" gi ,e. HELMTON—Wheat, 9.15. Od.—Barley, 103 6ci. 1 ,.... ,,, to - ST. CoLuma—Wheat, 21s. to —a—Barley, 11s. and Mutton, sd. to 6(l.—Veal, o,l.—Lamb, Od. —Por, ~, pats DO' I) MINING INTELLIGENCB. , kIl II ci Au tli nr i att t ig i in t tet y y o o pof l fr s C ofil o iniu : e i c :er O Copperr esold at Redruth last Thu rd , Y "Ito .......--..••• 9 0,1. ..........--.. Stand f. 1 0 1.'.- e 1t ) .,862.1. 15s. Od.- - Average o-. ___ _,- 4,; t o , 44 14 Aa, ____------ ... ,, e 4 s o. BIRTHS'. 1 On the 20th inst. at St. Germain's-place, Blaco"—teitt Charles A. Ferguson, a daughter. , On the the 21st inst. Mrs. J. S. Winstanley of Ch ............... "/ Regent's-park, of a son. p- On Pe Nita , I#4l On the 22d inst. at St. Ann's Church, Wandsworth, ' p mont Charles Luttly, of Wandsworth , t o Eliza, 00 iy 4 of Mr. Winbolt, of the same place. , . 13. DIED. drt.il• ~,- i 1 11 7,"" On the 4th August, at a ft er three wee. ',. s, Philipson, Esq., of the Hon. E ast India Company' , 4 01 1 . 1• Establishment. On the 15th inst. after a lingering illness, in. Aferlilitl; place, Brighton, John Gwynne, Esq. , late a Captaw irdi dras Native Infantry, and Paymaster of the army seri!' Dotal) district, aged 46. _ °ll _______------__ , , 0 PRINTED AND PUBLISHED B Y IVILT R 1) 0 YOUv . a SUN OFFICE. 11 2 , &cavil), Lottnort