The Sun. — London, England, 1832-04-30 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS We have repeatedly declared that the 10/. clause - is. one of the vital principles of the Re form Bill, and that a higher rate of qualification would he most unjust to a large and meritorious class of our countrymen. Lord Grey must make no concession on this point : let the Lords beat him, if they are so disposed ; but let him un flinchingly express his determination to•carry it, and the confidence of the King and the nation will speedily enable him to convert a temporary defeat into a splendid triumph. The people every day are becoming so deeply impressed with this clause being not one atom more extensive in its application than strict justice requires, that we are convinced its rejection would instantane ously lead to the demand of a much more com prehensive qualification. We should not be surprised if at some of ,the meetings, now and about to be holden, resolutions should be passed on this very point. And should strict justice be denied, the usual consequences will follow— more than is absolutely fitting will be extorted, and instead of 10/. voters we shall have some thing not very far short of universal suffrage. We call, therefore, upon Lord Grey not to flinch one jot. We call upon Lord Harrowhy and his friends not to refuse a reasonable concession. rio only can the Ministers stand—so only can the nation be preserved from a scheme of Reform more sweeping than any yet imagined in the brain of the wildest Radical.—Times. Last week presented us with more than one example of that spirit of unimpaired energy in the cause of effectual Reform, and of confidence in his Majesty's Ministers, as having identified themselves with it, which the Tory party for s ime'time past have amused themselves, but not duped the public, by describing under the name of "re-action." Edinburgh must have given a cruel shock to the nerves of the conservative body. An assembly of 50,000 intelligent and resolute Scotchmen, no less determined to enjoy political independence than their ancestors had been to cast off the yoke of religious bondage, displayed undoubtedly a fearful spectacle for those who had hitherto contemplated the capital of Scotland no otherwise than as a game-preserve of the Dundas family, and the 33 members of its self-elected municipality as holding deputa tions in the character of Lord Melville's keepers. To such individuals—such men of loyalty—such life-and-fortune patriots of times which are not likely to return, — the great and powerful expression of na tional feeling which took place on Tuesday last must have spoken scorpions. The same Tiles , day, however, was devoted, though in a distant part of the island, to a political exhibition of a kind, and for a purpose, not akin to those which distinguished the proceedings of the Scottish . metropolis. Gloucester was on that day the scene . of a meeting—of a conservative meeting. It was not an assemblage of the people, openly con • yoked in the spirit even of that constitution which its leaders professed it as their principle to maintain inviolate, and in vindication of that sublime and astounding " truth," that all the property, and all the intelligence, and all the re spectability of the kingdom, were adverse to Reform. No, it was the meeting of a club,— " a conservative club,"—huddled together in the room of an inn, where the company amounted to an hundred and five persons,—where the Duke of Beaufort, Lord Edward (ex-Ordnance) Somerset, Lord John Somerset, Lord Apsley, the Beaufort and Bathurst families,—the rankest anti-reform depredators in Great Britain,—com posed the flower of the patrotic band, and where the renowed Lord Ellenborough took upon himself the office of chairman ! This, then, is a • specimen of your anti-reform power—this the " re-action" whereof we have heard so much. The shoal of Beaufort placemen—the oyster bank of Bathurst placemen—the elephant place man, turned wild with disappointment and rsvenge,—all disinterested, modest conservators of things as they used to be ! And what were their proceedings ? The toast of " Church and King" was received with "enthusiasm." The name of the " Queen" was "received with great a pplause." is that meant for a compliment to her Majesty, or will it sound as such in the ears of this unanimous people ? Lord Ellenborough then made a speech cf the monopoly staple re sorted to on such occasions, wherein he predicted laegely touching our invaluable " Constitution in Church and State"—about " loyalty, order, and good government"—about " gross delusions practised on the people" —meaning thereby, no doubt, the system of robbing, under the name Of representing them. He then " persuaded hf l oself that those whom he was addressing were not t mfavourable to such a moderate, safe, and temperate amendment of our representative sys tem, as the altered circumstances of the times," &c. &c., might " render expedient." Why, what in the name of wonder, what amendment or what circumstances could the late President of the Board of Control allude to, when it is r.ot above a couple of years since the whole clique with which he was, and is still connected, refused to give even a single representative to Birmingham or to show the slightest mark of disapprobation to the most corrupt andprofligate ofrotten boroughs? "Happily,"again said the noble conservative, " hap pily the days of delusion are rappidly passing away, And the public are now satisfied that the Reform Bill will never realize the advantages anticipated from its passing into a law, but are convinced that it would be -purchased at far too dear a price, by the sacrifice of the British Constitution, under which the wants of the lowest grades of society were consulted, and which, while it offered security to rank and wealth, did not dis franchise the poorest member of the community, nor preclude the most indigent from a partici pation in the privileges, the property, and the representation of the country." We have quoted, as a curiosity, this effusion of the Duke of Wellington's late colleague and existing par tisan and tool. So the public are convinced that the Bill will be purchased at too high a price, by the destruction of the old system. What public ?—the Beaufort, Bathurst, West inotland, Dundas, Eldon, Peel, and Ellen borough—in short, the hole-and-corner—public. As for the real public, the British nation, how has Lord Ellenborough found face to tell his hearers that it condemns the Bill? On what spot of the United Kingdom, save in his own pastry club-room, or some such wretched hiding place for discomfited faction, can Lord Ellenbo rough pretend to say that a sentiment, net-only of distaste for Reform, but of indifference to wards the present Bill, has to this hour been uttered ? His Lordship, while of the party which affects to view with horror the revolutionary ten dencies of the 101. franchise, pronounces a pane gyric on the old system because it admitted the very poorest, indeed the very paupers, to vote. 'Mlle consistency is there in these Anti-reform ing declamations ? Consistency enough there may be, it is true, in the boast of such men as Lord Ellenborough, that L the o!d Comtitotion has not precluded " the most indigent " mem bers of society " from a participation in the pro perty of the country for has it not permitted Lord Ellenbcirough himself to take from society, without the shadow of merit, or justice, or use fulness on his part, a revenue of almost 10,0001. a-year, without which he must himself have stood in a much closerrelation to that very " in digent class" for which it will be the effect of a reformed system of Government to facilitate the means of living by their own industry, but to prevent them from basely spunging on the na tional purse, and wasting the resources of their neighbours ? From attempts like this, on which we have been animadverting, to pass off a selfiih and despairing coterie for a portion of the " public," or its language for a representation of English feeling ; Reform has little to apprehend. —Times. The strange infatuation under which the anti- Reformers are or affect to be, with regard to the sentiments of the people on the subject of Re form, renders it necessary that they should once more exhibit themselves in an imposing array. It was hoped that there had been enough of de monstration to satisfy the most addle-headed Peer in the land that the people were, almost to a man, Reformers ; but some persons are never to be satisfied. The Papers in their interest continue to insult the people by the most im pudent statements. " In every corner of the Revolutionary and Ministerial Papers," says the unblushing John Bull in the number of yester day, " we find paragraphs, letters, statements, and observations, all tending to exhibit and dis play the violent enthusiasm of the people about Reform. Where else do we see it ? Who cares about it ? . The labour of excitement, we say, is still going on ; but Bull— the nation, 'we mean—wants more stirring up than the Revolutionists think. The country is, at this moment, sensitively alive to Mr. Sadler's Bill, the Northern counties care nothing for Reform, nor its doubtful effects—its certain ills, its uncertain benefits. Reform is, there, a dead letter ; in London—we speak advisedly—it is defunct, absolutely defunct." This is pretty well after the demonstrations which we have had to record during the past week, and more particu larly the grand display at Edinburgh on Tuesday last. This is no doubt consummate impudence; but in order to deprive the Peers even of a pre text for respecting such a statement, the people, at whatever inconvenience to themselves, must be once more stirring. The people of Birming- ham, aware of this necessity, are about to afford another of those displays which already struck such terror into the hearts of the Boroughmon gering oligarchy. The following mandate, from the Political Union of that town; fixes a meeting at Newhall-hill on the very day on which Parli ament re-assembles : " BIRMINGHAM POLITICAL UNION. " At a special Meeting of the Council o! the Birming ham Political Union, held at the Rooms of the Union, in Great Charles-street, this 27th day of April, 1832, Thomas AiTwoon, E.g., in the Chair:— " This Council, considering that the enemies of Reform, and of the peace and order of society, have held out the most unfounded representations respecting a re-action, an indifference, awl an apathy in the public mind, in the great cause of Parliamentary Reform ; and considering that a grand exhibition of public feeling and determina tion is thereby rendered absolutely necessary, in order to contradict and refute such false and unfounded representa tion., and in order to assist in enabling our most excellent King-and his patriotic itlinisters to accomplish their great designs for the happiness of the people, and to carry the great measure of Reform into a law, uninjured, and unitn paired in all its great parts and provisions_ It was resolved unanimously— t . That a General Meeting of the inhabitants of Birmingham, and its neighbourhood, b- held in the open space at the foot of Newhall-hill, on Monday, the 7th of May next, at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, for the purpose of petitionnig the House of Lords to complete the great work of national liberty and reconciliation, and of agreeing to such further re.olutions as the Council may recommend, and the meeting may approve. The Chair to be taken at twelve o'clock pre cisely. " 2. That this Council having heretofore declared that they will cease to labour in the great work of exciting the pulslic mind to political objects, when the Bill of Re form shall have become law, and when the prosperity of the lower and middle classes of the people shall have bi en restored,' do now think it their duty to recommend to their fellow-countrymen to declare, most positively, that if the Bill of Reform should be retec•ed, or in any way injured or impaired in its great parts and provisions, they will never cease to use every possible legal exertion in their power, to obtain a more complete and effectual re storation of the rights of the people, than the Bill of Re form is calculated to give. " 3. That this Council, feeling deeply grateful to the inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood of Birming ham, fur their uniform peaceful, legal, and loyal conduct upon so many occasions, do earnestly urge and enjoin all persons attending the meeting, as they value the great ob jects which they meet to promote, strictly to respect the law, since nothing can tend so much to endanger the cause of Reform, and the happiness of the people, as any dis ordtrly conduct or illegal act upon this occasion of unpre cedented importance. 1. That the Council do walk, in procession, frciu the Rooms of the Union, in Great Charles-street, to Newhall hill, at eleven o'clock in the morning of the intended meet ing ; and that the members and friends of the Union be invited to join in the procession. " THOMAS ATTWOOD, Chairman. " By order the Council, " BENJAMIN HADLEY, Hon. Secretary." The Unionists declare, that should the Bill be either rejected or impaired, they will no longer be satisfied with the same measure of Reform ; and we verily believe that the people, throughout the country, if much longer insulted, will insist on a much more extensive Reform than that which, on a principle of compromise, they have consented to take. At a meeting of the Council of the Birmingham Union, on Tuesday last, Mr. Wallace, of Kelly, a gentleman who has been very instrumental in the formation of Po litical Unions in the Nest of Scotland, was in troduced by the Chairman. Mr. Wallace was on his return from the metropolis, to which he had gone to be present at the second reading of the Bill ; and, in an address to the meeting, he observed : " That he would take it upon him to say, on behalf of I his countrymen, that they would rival the Birmingham Union in their support of the Reform Bill; for, in good truth, they were as one man determined—fully, firmly. and deliberately determined—to stand or fall with the Bill. On this the Reformers of England might depend, and so miah that maniac, selfish, short-sighted band, the Noble Lords and Right Reverend Prelates, who would yet array themselves against a united people. Scotchmen were slow to move—hut once in motion, they were still much slower in being made to pause. Allusions had been made to the dread alternative of physical force. If that should ever arrive, it would spring from the madlike acts of the titled Aristocracy ; on them would rest the blame— on their heads would fall the disdain and the hatred of the whole nation." The number of persons assembled at Edinburgh has been variously estimated. The Scotsman says, 4 , nearly the whole of the great field east of the Palace was densely occupied by upwards of 60,000 men, with fifty banners floating above theca it various directiuns. The slope north of ' Salisbury-hill formed a vast gallery to the arena immediately below, and was occupied by many thousands of well-dressed females, whose anxiety had led them to obtain a view of the meetin g — themselves forming a very int eres ti ng part of the splendid scene. " - Altogether, the Scotsman as signs 60,000 to the Park, and from 15 to 20,000 persons on the slope of the hi,l, 'in. chiding in the more distant parts from 10 to I 15,000 women and boys; and the able Editor of that Paper gives the following as the data on which he grounded his calculation : " Our calculation is this—we have measured the ground on Kirkwood's map, over which the persons present were spread ; it amounts pretty nearly to 30,000 square yards. Dividing this into three parts, and we reckon three per sons per square yard for the portion nearest the hustings, two persons in the next portion, and one person per square yard in the most distant portion. The number resulting is 60,000. In a semicircle of 100 feet radius in front of the hustings, the men were wedged together as closely as human beings can be under any circumstances. In this space each square yard must have held six persons." The Caledonian Mercury, without descend ing to particulars, states that upwards of 40,000 persons congregated in the King's Park, and in the heights immediately adjoining. The inha bitants of the villages in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh marched in procession to the spot. The Caledonian Mercury gives the Anti-Re formers credit for more good sense than they seem to possess, if we may judge from the sample culled by us from John Burl : _ _ " After such a display," says that Journal, " of the perfect unanimity of public sentiment on the subject of Re form, and of the unshaken steadfastness of the people in the cause, the Tories, with all their talent and hardihood in the manufacture and circulation of po!itical bouncers, will scarcely venture, we should think, to get up the old story of re-action. Some few grains of truth are necessary to leaven the lump of falsehood, in order to make it go down ; but even these are no longer attainable here: and so em phatic is the practical refutation which this meeting has given to the wretched allegation in question, that we should be very much surprised indeed were any one now to be found who should have the courage to repeat it." They would affirm, if other places did not also display the same feeling, that the feeling in favour of Reform had subsided everywhere, but still lingered on in one or two places in Scot land, though it must soon die out there also. The same Journal has the following excellent observations on the absurd threats of the Tories to coerce the nation : " The Tories, at least some of them, in their insane fury against Reform have pretty broadly threat- ned its supporters with the army in the event (which heaven forefend !) of their regaining their ascendancy ; and they have hinted that the fever in the public mind' can only be cured by having re course to military phlebotomy. The free use of the sabre, we know, is a favourite Tory prescription ; and in the course of their practice, they bare proved that Sangrado himself was not more devoutly attached to bleedit g as a specific for all disorders. But the time is too much out of joint to render it safe to persist in this mode of treatment; and, unless these gentlemen are blind indeed, a single glance at the meeting of Tuesday last must have sati-fied them how utterly unavailing even our fine and unrivalled army would prove, were it ever to be directed against the strength of a united people. Men who have spent their lives among military dandies and fine-ladies, and who are as ignorant of the real state of the country as if they had been born in the Georgina) Sidus, may affect to despise the mass, and fancy that in a collision with disciplined bodies, it would he scattered like chaff before the wind. They forget, however, that the order which constitutes military strength is not of difficult acquisition ; and, by their very folly, they force men to learn it in their own defence. By threatening an attack, they familiarize men's minds to the idea of resistance, and thus lead them to c,lculate how it may be rendered most effective." The army, as is well observed, differs from the people merely in organization, and that or ganization is soon acquired. If the army is fine it is because the people are fine materials for an army. Supposing even that the army has no sympathy with the nation, there are materials in a single Scotch town to keep the whole of the small force now in this island in employment. How absurd, then, to talk of coercing a great nation I What a set of contemptible drivellers these Tories are ! And how galling to think that these creatures have the power of giving so much trouble to this mi:lity nation ! They may, however, push their insults too far; and find some day, to their cost, that they have had more than: enough or agitation.—Morning Chronicle. The liberty of the Press is a great boast in the mouths of Englishmen, but it must not be supposed that the liberty which the Press enjoys is altogether without alloy. If we have no cen sorship to stifle truth in its birth, we have a law of libel to punish it afterwards, and we have a race of lawyers who, whatever they may think of truth itself, have no great affection for the vehicle on which it travels into notice. The case of Bellcambers v. Hadley, which was tried the other day in the Court of King's Bench, may be cited as a proof that the Press has also some hardships of another kind to complain of. This case was an action for libel brought against the proprietor of a newspaper for having published some observations made use of by Counsel in a previous trial, which reflected on the character of the plaintiff. The Counsel harl used the words —at least there was no attempt inade to dispute his having used them ; but, though the report was correct, and there was no evidence to im pute bad intention to the proprietors or agents of the paper, it was held that the newspaper which had published, and not the Counsel who had uttered the libel, was responsible to the indi vidual. Now, without entering into the law of the case, or dwelling upon the im pediment which such a decision is calculated to throw in the way of reporting, we cannot help admiring the gravity with which both Advocate and Judge exonerated their Learned Brother, while they levelled their moral indignation against those who were guilty of publishing what he spoke. The lawyer, it seems, has the privilege of libelling and traducing honest men, in open Court, for the benefit of his client ; but wo to the printer and publisher, who do not know or suspect the lawyer to be a liar, and who do not reject the calumny which he was paid for pro nouncing, and which he only pronounced because he was paid for it. Libel is a very bad thing, .• . . not because truth, but because falsehood, is baci; and we confess ourselves simple enough to doubt the advantage of allowing to barristers such a sweeping discretion, in the misrepresentation of motives, conduct, and character, as they have been hitherto in the habit of exercising. At all events it has rather an awkward appearance to hear the very same men, who are guilty every day of some mercenary libel, enlarging upon the li centiousness of the Press, which had only echoed their words, and, perhaps, for the moment, done them the manifest injustice of respecting their authority. The Jury gave but a shilling damages. Still there appears to us to be a great hardship in the case, as it saddles a party with costs who never contemplated the slightest injury to the in dividual applying for redress. —Morn. Herald. Though the sentiments of the inhabitants of the metropolis are naturally entitled to great weight, and can find their way to the Govern- Mem with more promptitude and effect than those of the provinces, or even other large towns, yet we are far from wishing to see it exercising an influence beyond what its due share in the in terests of the State entitle it to. It has been the policy of the Anti-Reformers and re-actionists to assert, however, that such is the case on the subject of the Reform Bill, which they would have us believe is only popular, and that to a limited degree, among the middling and lower orders of the metropolis. The recent meeting at Edinburgh, where no less than 60,000 per sons, and those composed, among others, of the elite of that enlightened city, added to the known sentiments of Glasgow, Manchester, Birming ham, and nearly every other considerable place lin the kingdom, are testimonies enough, %le should think, of the utter groundlessness of this assertion. The people, indeed, arc placed b) ► the opponents of Reform in the' same situation as that of the old man and his ass in the fable. Whether he carried the ass, or the ass carried him, was alike unsatisfactory to the lookers-on. In the other case, if the people meet, and give any unequivocal tokens of their desire for Re form, they are taunted with having recourse to clamour and commotion ; while, if they patiently await the result of their repeated and unequi vocal appeals to the Legislature, they are taunted by the same persons with re-action, and are said to have become indifferent to the object of their warmest wishes. One would think that the frightful result of this taunt, in the case of Bristol, might teach a little caution to those who are inclined still to harp upon the same string. We shall be curious to see what the enemies of Reform, especially the Anti- Reformers of Scotland, will say to the proceed ings and result of the Edinburgh meeting. Above all, we should like to hear -what those ci-devant Whig Noblemen, the Earls of Rosslyn and Lauderdale, will say to this unequivocal display of the feelings of the modern Athens. In their case, to be sure, it may appear to be reversing the well-known adage, and appealing from Philip sober to Philip drunk ; for no man can, without most egregiously stultifying himself, be allowed to set off a sudden conversion in old age against the well-digested and steadily-pur sued opinions of a long previous life. But there is one opinion, after all, which the people have expressed on this subject, which, while it is the most constitutional,was the most unequivocal—we mean the reply which they made to hia Majesty, when expressly appealed to upon the subject at the recent general election. No one, we appre hend, can have the effrontery to deny that that answer consisted but of one language, And ad mitted but of one interpretation, wherever it could be given with freedom ; and had the peo ple at large never spoken out in any other man ner, nor on any subsequent occasion, what then took place came " trumpet-tongued" in undying accents to the Throne and to Parliament. But to any one who has the temerity to assert that the people have changed their minds, or are become lukewarm or indifferent upon the vital subject of Reform, we appeal for an answer to the late meeting at Edinburgh, to the joy with which the late decision in the House of Lords was received every where, and to the breathless suspense and expectation to which the final issue of that decision is looked for in every part of the United Kingdom.— likening Herald. An Anti-Reform journal of last week's date gravely expressed a hope that the period of the adjournment of the two Houses of Parliament would be wisely employed by the people of the united kingdom, in reflecting upon the incompa rable beauties of our venerable Constitution-- , the folly of his Majesty's Ministers in attempt ing to improve it—the ruin which would inevit ably follow from even the slightest change in it —and the dreadful abyss of destruction into which the King's advisers were hurrying forward every interest of the country—the landed, the commercial, the agricultural, and the manufac turing. Well, the people have had a fortnight, or nearly so, already of the adjournment to re flect upon all these matters; and what is the result? Have they determined to abide by the Constitution as it is, or are they still prone on change ? Have they become alive to the beauties of rotten boroughs, treasury repre sentation, and lordly nomineeship ? Have they seen the mischief which would result from allowing to every one who pays a rent of ten pounds a year a vote in the election of Members of Parliament ? Have they changed their minds respecting the ne cessity of giving representatives to such impor tant places as Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, &c. ? Have they become afraid, in consequence of the warning voice of our cotem porary, that the extension of the elective franchise to the metropolitan districts, would have the effect of drowning the voice of the country, and rendering its interests subservient and subordinate to those of the metropolis ? Oh, no, the timely repentance so forcibly and earnestly urged upon them by our contemporary, has as yet found no t p h l a e c with h delusione h m they a t; aßeform re s i t n i l the labouring representation is necessary ; they are still following one another in multitudes to do the thing that is consi dered by our contemporary to be an evil. They are still calling out for the Bill, the whole Bill, •and nothing but the Bill. They are still urging its passage as the consummation of their best hopes, and praying, as the only means of saving the country from all the horrors of anarchy and revolution, that no need less delay may be allowed to interfere between them and their wishes. Verily the people have improved the interval of the adjournment of the two Houses to some purpose—they have not only reflected, but they have acted—they have not only met and spoken their minds upon the great question in the decision of which all are interested, but they have resolved and petitioned as men whose resolutions are not to be disre garded, nor their prayers slighted with impunity. The example set by the people of Leeds has been followed, or is about to be followed, in almost every city and burgh of the United Kingdom. But one mind, in fact, animates the country—but one voice is heard from one end of it to the other. Pass the Bill, is the unanimous cry of England and Scot land—and pass it entire and unmutilated ! But it is worth while to advert som e wh a t m o re particularly to the spirit which animates the country, and especially to the manifestation of it which appeared at the great Edinburgh meeting, of which we gave an ample and most interesting re portcon in sisted S o at r u a rd t ay le 's as A t dsvoertooiscler. men,T That meeting un ited to gether," as was justly observed by one of the speakers, " by one common bond—the desire to obtain their common rights"—composed of men of all classes, " from the great landlord to the honest and intelligent artisan, who obtains his livelihood by his own industry"—and all, of whatever rank or degree, not only holding out the right hand of fellowship to one another, but al! bent on burying in oblivion for the moment, their differences of opinion respecting the amount of Reform that is desirable, in order that they might obtain that which is acceptable to the majo rity, and which they had a faint glimse of hope that they would succeed in realising ! What a glorious sight it m us t h ave b een to have witnessed one of the fi:st cities in Europe, in point of intellectual acquirements, pouring forth its hundreds and its thousands of all classes, ranks, and degrees, in exultation that the new charter of English freedom had advanced another stage towards the goal of our hopes,--in full confidence that the King's Ministers would do their duty by the country,—in enthusiastic and devoted loyalty to that Soverign to whom :we are indebted for the glorious results which are 'likely to be realized—and in the full determina tiorrrather to see their goods and possessions scattered by the winds of heaven, than to give up one iota or one tittle of the boon held out to them ! Was not this, we say, a noble and an animating sight—a picture of moral grandeur of which the like has not been exhibited since the days of the solemn league and covenant ? And yet the Duke of 'Wellington and the Anti-Reform organs have, with the aid of some lying and corrupt Scotchmen, fortunately few in number, dared to declare that there was a reaction in the country, and especially that in the north th e people were indifferent to Reform ! The idiots ! Could they not have foreseen that the busy lie would be returned upon them, and that such a noble band of freemen as that which composed the Edinburgh meeting, would not allow them selves to be calumniated for nought ? Reaction! Indifference ! Where is the reaction ? Where is the indifference ? Where is the hostility to the Bill, except in the House of Lords, and among the dependents of the Anti-Reform Peers, and the State paupers ? Above all, why did not the Tory vermin shew itself at the Edin burgh Reform meeting, if it he really so nume rous as is affirmed ? We pause for an answer ; and defer the remainder of our observations for another day.—Morning Advertiser. The total absence of all pretensions to political science in the Ministerial Reform Bill is not more remarkable than the extreme paucity of candid and consistent argument in the speeches and writings of its supporters. All the principal men of the Whig party, Brougham, Grey, Russell, and the rest, have at some period or other of their lives expressed the most decided abhorrence of the democratic principles and tendency of the Bill. When taunted with the obvious mischievous ness of the thousand-and-one schemes of Radical Reform in vogue at different times, of which the present project is one of the worst, their language uniformly was, that they did not support Par liamentary Reform as a party, that the close boroughs formed a most important part of the representative system, and that they would touch Old Sarum as carefully as the Crown itself. In the Edinburgh Review and Lord John's book these sentiments are maintained with equal zeal and eloquence ; and Earl Grey stands pledged as strongly as honour can bind any man to stand by his order, that is, to oppose every change which would tend to give predominance to the democracy in the balance of the Constitution. " Is thy servant a dog that he should do this thing Yet what has the Noble Earl been doing since he has been in office, or at least since the exigency of his party seemed to require an al liance with radicalism? It is very well known that theSe men have not in any respect changed their opinions; many of the party acknowledge in private at this moment that the principles of the Bill are dangerous, unconstitutional, and absurd ; and Lord John himself, in a lucid interval of candour, plainly intimated to the House of Commons that the beneficial tendency of the measure could only be regarded as a matter of doubtful possibility. Why then persist in a course almost confessedly ruinous, and involving the grossest tergiversation and apostacy ? They have nothing to offer but the old apology, that the excited state of certain classes in the community requires the sacrifice, " and with necessity the tyrant's plea, excuse their devilish deeds." But the excitement, so far as it exists, is a thing of their own creation, and would presently subside if left to itself; and, with the whole conservative strength of the country ready to come for Ward as one man in support of a proper Ministry, nothing can pos sibly be more ridiculous than to talk of any ne• cessity for the overthrow of the Constitution. Supposing, however, that the Peers have de cided, as we doubt not they have, that no change shall be admitted that affects the inte grity of the Constitution and the balance of its several powers, the next question is, can sufficient modifications be introduced into the present Bill to conciliate the opposing parties and make the measure a safe one for the country ? This is the problem .Lords Harrowby and Wharncliffe have to solve in Committee, and we think they will find the entire scheme impracticable. No thing short of the whole Bill will satisfy the Radicals, and very extensive modifications indeed will be required to meet the views of the Con servatives and moderate Reformers. We must never forget that the undoubted object of the Radical faction, who are the chief clamourers for the Bill, is to bring about a real democratic revo lution, to be followed with the quickness of light by a general swamping of the Peerage, the Church, the Debt, the Colonial System, and whatever else may tend to support what may be called the social organization of the country. They value the Bill solely because they clearly y cat to ion p s ro o d f u t c h e is thts p re e s r u c i e t iv ; e d t p s ri v il e r inevitable ibtaybany t e m m o l deny ten dencv, and they will forthwith hate it more in tensely than they ever hated Gatton and Old Sarum. To extract from the Bill its venom as it is called, to deprive it of its de structive and revolutionary qualities, would be to rob it, in their estimation, of all its excellence and efficiency. A real Reform of abuses, if such there be, which would consolidate the general interests of the empire, they could not endur e ; the only change they wish is one which would convey a preponderating power into the hands of that portion of the community which they can infect with a sufficient degree of democratic frenzy to secure their own objects. Such a change they find in Earl Grey's Bill, and hence they cling to it with a desperate tenacity, and like its worst parts best, and call those worst parts, What in truth they are, the principle and essence of the measure. Now, we ask, how are people of this description, on whom GovernMent ob viously leans for support, to be brought to tole rate conservative improvements in their darling Bill ? The thing is plainly impossible. They are the sworn enemies of all law, order, religion, and public good ; and the safety of the community requires that they should be met with defiance, and treated as common disturbers. They are the very class to escape from whom men congre gate in societies, and the new police might as well expect to conciliate the pickpockets and burglars of the metropolis by improvements in e t the c penalolt conciliate a tceo code, modifica tionshe of the Bill. On the other hand, while all milisautintlaytthtoislfiej Bill would annilii biocyradlti:t Unionists a oa r n n di cis Radicals, t as ff l bs e may and h al o s i o ) dh a eeim g r considerate changes are resist aß e s d aLd we must add, by readers with the notion that the only poi nts in great conservativeatt d decisive party, changes an (i by are a.is t i tig ed objection is and aristocratic branches of Some of the Ministerial prints are r a a e N t n a d' t u i i b g s a : l t a li k t iet . e eh l s i l . e r : th dispute are the 101. qualification and the metro ndandchaangbaed democracy too. the Government annihi late ei metro politan monarchical o e o m nbai b re e cc r i Th te° i sis Constitution,de donenin twodemocrat}', ways; first, by disfran chising the small boroughs which represent the Aristocracy; and next, by making a low qualifl- 'cation for the town constituencies ; and th ese; 'two things arc essen ti a ll y connecte d w i t h each, other. No sane man, we think, will contend that aristocratical interests are on the whole too' much represented under the . present systems considering the vast masses of property which the public good requires should be effectually protected; the chief objection, as rye understand it, is, that under the existing mode an oligar' chical section of the Aristocracy, rather than the Aristocracy generally, comes to be repre• . rented, and that in an irregular and unseemly manner. We think there is marvellously little practical value in this objection ; but supposing the contrary, for the sake of argument, the conclusion ought to be that the Members taken from schedules A and B should be given' to the Aristocracy at large in some un objectionable manner, whereas the Bill gives , them almost exclusively to the democracy. If these Members must be distributed among the towns the qualification should he a high one, but that proposed is confessedly the reverse. The Ministerial prints take great, paints to convince us that in many towns the 101. voters would be few in number; but this is not the question. The point to be noticed is the proportion between the voters at high rentals and the voters at low rentals, and the last will uniformly outnumber the first. A' rental qualification is, therefore, necessarily de- , mocratical, unless the qualification be high, or double and treble votes be given to the higher rentals. The more the Ministerial scheme is analysed the more it will be seen that the pre• ponderance in almost all elections is given to numbers as distinguished from property ; and very great alterations are consequently required to make it at all tolerable, alterations far greater than Ministers can allow without breaking at once with their radical allies, and throwing themselves into the hands of a more mode rate class of Reformers. If the ten-pound franchise be insisted upon for the democracy, schedules A and B should be preserved to the aristrocacy ; but if any important disfranchises meat be permitted, the whole question of the qualification will require a minute and jealous in vestigation. On the whole we see no prospect of so modifying Earl Grey's Bill as to make it acceptable to any man who understands and loves the British Constitution as it has hitherto existed, and happily exists to this hour. When this fact shall becomes manifest we trust that we shall have no more wavering, but the entire conserve. tive party will be animated by one heart and soul in offering a determined resistance to all revolt'. tionary schemes. Earl Grey must be by this time fully convinced that his system and his Ministry cannot go on, opposed as it is by an immense and constantly increasing party, comprising by far the greater part of the property and intelligence of the country. The experiment has been tried, and it has failed. The Peers may yet entitle themselves to the lasting gratitude of the empire, by giving it at once a conservative Administra- . tion and a constitutional Reform.—Morning Post. COUNTRY CORN MARKETS DURING LAST WFZK. Oat's. Beans. ) Wheat. Barley. s. to s. I Q. to 8. 6i 31 56 64 30 35 58 64 33 35 - 63 ..., 32 - 64 41 60 68 30 35 s. d. 6. d. c. d. P. d. 64 69 36 39 70 90 48 54 96 99 64 66 70 93 36 46 91 93 56 60 76 80 39 40 90 10 0 4 6 50 !46 16 01 9 0 100 !46 16 6f 9 0 100 156 18 01 9 0 110 153 1661 96 100 ~ 0. 41 -- 32 44 ;O d d. g. 00 00 56 60 53 5° S 6 6 0 70 00 ou d 73 7 v 00 93 10 8 0 10 0 0 0 ° 8. to 6. 20 24 20 24 1 22 24 s. d. s. d. I 6 20 36 40 36 40 33 40 39 40 20 26 22 26 54 64 49 70 50 70 50 70 WAKEFIELD CORN MARKET.—ApriI 27 Wheat, Red, Norfolk and Suffolk.„—s. 545. to 61s. fine 645. Lin. and Cam. -s. 545. to 6ls fine 645. --- Yorkshire —s. 575. to 61s. fine 645. White —s. 575. to 63.. fine 671. Foreign, Red —s. 435. to 535. fine 60 5 . White —s. --s. to —s. fine 655. Barley, Norfolk and Suffolk 345. to 365. tine 40 3 . Lincolnshire 33s. to 38s fine 4,25. Yorkshire Weld 345. to 385 Foreign —s. to —s. Beans, Small 37s to 395. Tick 325. to s4s. fine 4ls• fine — 4 • fine 410 fine 368 Oats, Potato 22s, to 255. fine 2(39. Poland —s. 20s. to 245. fine 255- -- Friezland and Small —s. 17a to 225. tine 249. --- Mealing lO d. to 12U d. per Stone. Shelling r ) 6s to 295. Od. per Load. Malt 32s 40s. fine 445. per Load. Rapeseed. 221. Os. 25/. Os. 261. 10s. per Last. SCOTCH MARKETS. Wheat. 1 Barley 50 58 44 50 45 50 60 66 66 70 52 56 57 60 45 50 40 45 60 66 of the ml 25 211 21 24 23 26 30 35 32 35 26 32 30 32 24 26 27 39 28 31 Leasure vg Oats. I Beans Aberdeen Berwielc......—. Coldstream .... Cupar ............... Dundee.* Elgin....*.„ Kelso _ Perth . The size 19 22 13 18 17 18 21 24 22 26 20 24 20 24 17 18 25 32 24 26 !les throe 22 24 30 31 27 29 26 28 23 no 23 30 24 25 45 48 25 29 :bout the lO . 7 711 at 01 _ .... 48 - ..0 43 44 •• ... ceuntij:, EDINBURGH CORN M A —April 25. t o, We had a rather a l arge supp l y o f O ats , P ease, and B e ans o d day, and sales heavy. Wheat and Barley a small supplY,r, sales brisk. Wheat, same top, and up 4d. on th e avera ge. 'Le. ley 74 quarters, down Is. 6d. on the top, and 6d. on the vele Oats 100 quarters; down is. 4d. on th e t o p , and up 9(1. average. Pease and Beans 36 quarters; up Is. on the toP, " 2s. on the average. Wheat. Barley. Oats. Pease. I Be a ryi First 76s Od O9 s 6d `Nis Od 35s 0,1 • 3 5 ' a -- Second 6Bs Od 37s Od 24s Od 1 59s al : 133 6,,1 Third 6os Od 335 Od 22s ixt 30s Od 205 PRICES OF PROVISIONS, &C. Beef, per lb. .... Os. 30.t0 Os. 6d. Freshßutter, lb. 5.10.1. to i s Niutton 0 4 0 6 Salt 010 0 1 0 Veal— 0 6 0 8 Ditto, per Ms 1.80 0 0 0 0 Pork.... 0 4 0 6 Eggs, per doz. 0 6 0 0 Lamb, per qr. 4 0 5 6 OatStrawf,kp'.)l4 0 15 to Fallow, cwt.... 0 0 40 0 Wheat Ditt0...13 0 0 Quartern Loaf 0 0 0 9 Barley Ditto ....12 0 i t 3 Potatoes, 1711 b. 0 3 0 0 Hay, per 1 1 •." h'.l)l NBUlt(iH AIEAI There was but a small supply 1 the demand for which was si: continue the same. - - • i L mi b ia l r A RtoKlasEtr.,-weeAkp:si: 2:n.ces of Oatmeal at this day's marlcel Per Sack of 2801 b. Imp. First Oatmeal £l IS 0 Second ditto 1 16 0 Barleymeal 1 12 0 Yeaseraeal l, 6 0 Pot Barley—No. I, per cwt. 13 Per Stone of 141 b. Imp e , 0 First Oatmeal £o 10 Second ditto Barlerneal 0 1 I Peasemeal 0 „ A 0, - -24 . 15.--3d,203.—Pea1_12;/ E ha r :e a A f P a r i i r t Q s s a . le. J; and Pease in limited demand. 1 0 . /J. Wheat steady , Barley in a is d h : ort pe su aos p ea p ,t l s y se.: p a e n trt d i2 r 64sh at . : : :: ll d B6s. ea ds r . elt 4llo:42.os nd fi CORN ne qualities l 16 gto„,i) good er a al r et, i . : G a p l i e ' o A r fO G alt b si, 27 0 30 0 British ... 0 sh Ba ....... .... _o n P l e d e w r Canada, free PO° 27 0 0 Beans, per Xolb. 25 0 30 0 English ........ I 8" l 6 i British,lWrl Scottish l7 0 113 0 English Scottish 27 0 28 0 Oatmeal, per 1401 b. Irish CORNWALL MARKET. Tatum—Wheat (average) 2as.—Barley, Its. 951.-005,;bsv" ST. AusTutt —Wheat, —a. to 23s.—Barley, —s. to Ils• O. to S. 6d. So' r k i OW' Bs:mum—Wheat (average) 245. o.l,—Barley, ni. --- II a tg ELsrox—Whe a t, 2 45. 9d.—Barley, Ils 61 .... O ...0 PENzasee—Whe a t, 2 35. to 24s.—Barley, —s. to 138 1 0 a• Os. to Ss. Od.—Beef and Mutton, sd. to 6d.—Pork, aid' Butter, I2d. per lb. 00' ruitS, LisaEasto—Wheat, —s. to 225. 6.l.—Barley, 103. 6,1.••••••'` to 7s. 6d. 0d......09' latuNcesTos—Wheat (average) 225. 61—Barley,11s. Bs. o .l.—Beet; &I.—M utton, 6d. 13 i anstt Sr.C u ot o u n 7 4 — d. NioVh 6d.—Veal, eat, 22s.ea1, o t0d......2:15am8ab. d. 23,.—Barley, Ils. to 12s.•:•••, BIRTHS. On the2ith inst. at Cambridge, the H on. Mrs. William TO yid Law, of a daughter. 0 44 On the 28th inst. the lady of George Wm. Wainwright, of Gloucester-place, Portman-square, of a daughter. ALIBRIED. 0 4 ' On the26th inst. at Petworth, Sussex, Henry H. Harris, tpe of Cambridge, solicitor, to Ann, eldest surviving daughter 0' late Michael Foard, Esq., of Hoes, near the former place. DIED. On the 18th inst. in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Mathew Car r, of that town, aged 81 . 0 0 ‘ 1. On the 14th inst, at Bury St. Edmunds, the Rev. Thom as John Craddock, Esq., o f th e same place. " 7, : a..„..er ar w ete ' r Nuneaton, in Hurst, youngest d, in the county of tlll ft fret', n' l7 dt t e h heep y 21 y e 3 a d r l a inst.nio nt herate lamented. N. 3age, . PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY MURDO YOUNOI Ni 1 St OFFICE, 112, STRAND, LONDON. Per Quarter. Elexham Morpeth onre•••••••••• Pcmith Sheffield Winchester Per Bushel. Coventry Newcastle (Staff.) Northallerton Stone Swansea Warwick Per 8011. Barnardeastle Durham Richmond Stockton