The Sun. — London, England, 1832-04-26 00:00:00

SPIRI I U 111}; PUBLIC JOURNALS, The enemies of the 10/. qualification, in the House of Lords, having voluntarily abandoned, after firini some blank shots, their opposition to that class or householders in the :smaller ancient boroughs of tlif country, and lieving beets driven from their nesition in the greater provincial manufacturing end commer cial towns, by such arguments end facts ac we em ployed yesterday, will endeavour, it is said, to con centrate 'their scattered forces on the capital, and resist with united vigour both the enfranchisement and the qualification of the metropolitan districts. Ir, this provision of the Bill, these noble Anthße. formers would appear not only to detect the latent seeds, but to observe the bursting germs of revolu tionary violence; and to expect from the first heat of popular excitement, their almost instantaneous maturity. Here they descry, it lotig perspective, mobs of voters ranged under the banners of revolt —electoral hustings converted into stages for sedi tious haranguers—and democratic delegates receiv ing from tumultuous assemblies their cenernission to overturn the Church and the Monarchy. The sec tions of Paris in the worst period of French anarchy, or the comitia of the Roman republic in the time of itire Grat chi, would appear in their eyes to be only ta.nt prototypes of Marylebone and the Tower nem lets, during the first general election alter the pas• sing of the Reform Bill. Those who pretend to be frightened themselves, or who endeavenr to frighten others, with such a phantasme_geeia of political c'hange arising from the metropolitan clause,—with such manifest fictions or !tech gross exaggeration,--- must be bungling impostors, who give their dupes no credit for common information Or common reflection. The public know what popular elec tions are and have been, in Westmineter—no incon siderable portion of the metropolis ; they knew, tins der the most vicious s 2. stem of polling that can be devised, the extent of disorder to which such elections have given rise, and the character of the members whom they have returned. They know, that often during 13 days of the excitement of a contested can vass, though some local inconvenience: was felt, the state and the capital were never endangered,—that a few Bow-street officers and special constables could stay the mighty tumult, and give confidence to the most timid aristocrat,—and that the candidates were never sworn on the Bible to overturn the monarchy, how ever hostile their partisans might be to the Red Book. Even, therefore, though the eight proposed Mem bers for the metropolitan districts were to be elected like the four Members for the 1 - ity, and the two Members for Westmin:Ster, by the confluence of the voters to four lofty hustings, erected in central points of their respective circuits, and though the poll were kept open, its at present, for the space of a fortnight, we should apprehend no more confusion from the ar rangement than we now witness at Guildhall and Covent-garden during a general election, The oc cisions on which the people convene for the purpose or exercising ithout dispute a legal privilege, or performing an important duty, are not likely to be those selected for dangerous tumults. A general election has never witnessed a Lord Geor g e . Gor don's riot. But even the danger of popular disturb ance arising from the meeting of great masses of elec tors, trifling as it would seem to be, is not likely to be incurred under the new Bill, when the votes shall be taken in parishes, or smaller divisions, and when the whole polling shall be concluded in two days. We think it quite possible, with proper arrangements grafted on this provision of the Reform measure, to conduct the business of a general election in the me tropolis, or to renew its representation in the House of Commons, with as little tumult, anti as little danger, as to renew the Common Council of London on St. Thomas's day. In the universal suffrage elections of the United States the greatest tranquillity prevails, and the wake cona tiorum, qwe, ut mare profit ndum et imnzensum, tier rescued, are not always the accompaniment of the most popular institutions, or the most perfect poli tical freedom. But though we may have thus found a conductor which shall discharge into the earth without noise or danger, the electric element of tumult which is alleged to be collected in the storms of popular suffrage, it is contended that we have not exorcised the tempest or diminished the more distant chances of its violence. The new me tropolitan constituency, it is alleged, is dangerously large : it consists of the vulgar rabble, who have imbibed levelling and revolutionary ideas, and who will return to Parliament members pledged to pro pagate their noxious principles, or to second their disorganizing projects. To this we reply with con fidence, that though the constituency of the new districts is large, it is a calumny to style it a rabble; that its great majority is richer, more intelligent, and more independent, than any constituency in the kingdom ; and that the very complaint of its magnitude is the evidence of an in justice to which it is still subjected. The way of making it less in proportion to the other masses of population entitled to return representatives to Parliament in the provincial towns and boroughs, would be to give it more members,—dividing it into more district , . If its proportion were ascer tained by its extent of population, by its amount of property, or by the ratio in which it contributes to the national revenue, the motropolis ought to receive 50 additional members instead of eight. This would render necessary 23 district electoral bodies instead of the number of four proposed by the Bill; and none of these districts would possess an enor mously disproportioned constituency. As, however, we do not contend for such a right, and only sug gest the claim as an answer to a reproach, we shall proceed to show that the magnitude of the body of metropolitan electors is ne indication of their un worthiness, and furnishes no proof that by adopting the higher census of 201., its numbers ',could be much diminished, or its respectability increased.— The whole number of householders paying above 10/. in the metropolitan county is 116,279,—the number paying between 101. and 15/. only 15,923, — and the number between 15/. and 20/. only 13,093 : so that, though we struck off the two lowest grades in the scale, and raised the qualification to 20/., we should only get rid of 29,016 votes, arid should still retain an immense constituency of 87,263 capable of overpowering the lower census, if preserved.— It is always assumed by the enemies of the 101. qualification, that because a householder occupying a tenement of the annual value of 10/. is entitled to vote, therefore that all or the majority of voters are of that class. Thus the lowest grade in the scale is confounded with the whole scale ; or rather, the qualification of the minority is mistaken for that of all the constituency. Thus, for instance, Maryle bone, which has 8,77.3 houses rated above 20/., would be calumniated as a district with a 10/. con stituency, because it has 3,019 houses between 10/. and 20/. It may therefore be safely averred, that even in the metropolis not a single reason can be assigned for altering the present provision of the Reform Bill as regards the 10/. qualification ; that with as high a census as the boldest Anti-Reformer would dare to propose, a large number of persons, out of a rich population of nearly a million, would still be entitled to vote ; and that a departure, in the capital, from the rate fixed upon for the rest of the empire, would create real and just discontent to avoid imaginary d anger . B u t, d e pa r ting from the question of the qualification altogether, the adversa ries of the Bill conten d t h at t h e metropo li s is suffi ciently represented already, and that it is impolitic to try the experiment of additional members, whe ther returned by a large or a sma ll , b y a r i c h or a poor, by a quiet or a turbulent constituency. They generally ground this notable argument on the fact of the residence of so many members in the metr o p o li s during the sitting of Parliament. Now, if this argu ment is good for any thing, it would prove that neither London, Westminster, Southwark, nor Mid dlesex ought to have any representatives b at r r a e statell,be cause they are all withi n reach of a me their grievances or to suppor t their interests when ever they choose. But the members for Orkney, for Clare, or for Cornwall, are not the members for the Tower Hamlets or for Marylebone, and cannot be controlled by the latter districts at a renewal of their teust ;—and he who would insist on such de, trieta being represented by the member; of these distant counties, could trot go much farther wrung in recommending the general election of Great Britain to be conducted in Canada, or Calcutta. Supposing we were making a new Constitution, instead of introducing a Reform, would it ever enter into the mind of the most insane enemy of the rights of the capital to deprive London of its fair share of representatives ? Would its ex clusion from electoral privileges be reckoned consistent with common sense,—with common prudence,—with general principles or general pre cedent ? The metropolis of France returns fourteen deputies to a Chamber of 449,—its just number ac cording to the ratio of its wealth and population to that of the rest of the kingdom ; and why should the intelligent and enlightened inhabitants of the British metropolis, in despite of their wealth—in despite of their patriotism—in despite of their im• mense contributions to the national revenue—be ex cluded from the electoral rights so prodigally con ferred on a hundred decayed or insignificant places ? But we are told, as a last objection to the metropo litan clause, that tho membora feom the metropolitan districts would not be representatives of the popular interests, but delegates of popular voli tion,—that their conduct would be closely watched on every occasion by constituents on the spot, —that • they would be obliged to vote on every eier.stire, not according to their own judg tient, but according to the arbitrary dintation of electoral juntas,—and that when they and their constituents agreed., the former might be supported in their political views by such a host of the latter as to overawe the proceedings of Parliament, and king about a new reign of terror. To such reason ing it might be sufficient to answer, that the Mem bers for London, Middlesex, Westminster, and Southwat I:, are already subject to the same influ ences as those which would press upon the eight new representatives by the Reform Bill; and that we have never heard of any mischief which dictation.on the one hand, or subserviency on the other, had in these cases produced. If we are to suppose the great body of the wealthy and intelligent inhabitants of the capital to be a mob, and if that mob is to overawe the Legislature, merely because it has the power of doing so, then no reason can be given why they should not attach themselves to the cause of any demagogue in the House, as well as the Mem bers of their own choosing. Was Lord George Gordon, when he proceeded to Westminster with the petition of the Anti-Catholics, a Member for the metropolis; or were his rioters who overawed the Legislature, and set fire to the capital, house holders entitled to vote under the new Bill ?—'Ti„tes. The Political Unions throughout the country are preparing for the worst. The Dumfermline Politi cal Union unanimously resolved, "that in the event of the rejection or mutilation of the second Reform Bill by the House of Lords, this Union will contri bute and assist in any plan for the attainment of Reform which may be suggested by the National Council and sanctioned by the national will." In another part of our paper our readers will find a re port of the proceedings at the Northern Political Union, on Wednesday week. There was nothing like flinching displayed at this meeting. Mr. John Fife observed, with regard to the Tories, " Their day is past; but if,as a last effort, they spoil the Bill, let us reject with disdain.—(Cheers.) No longer will I pay taxes in money.—(Cheers.) Let them confiscate my land—(Cheers)—let them seize my goods.—(Cheers.) 1 am prepared to endure the last extremity—(Cheers)—eternal banishment— (Cheers)—death itself—(Cheers)—rather than be The willing slave of a tyrannical, unprincipl e d T ory Administration.—(Long continued cheering.)"— We do not believe these are idle threats. We are of opinion that the people, if disappointed in their expectations, will do what they say. At all events, it would be the height of madness to dare them to the experiment. But the people must he sabred The Duke of Wellington, who drew such an apall ing picture of the horrors of civil war, is now on quite another tack. At the meeting of the great Nontiern Union, Mr. Larkin observed : " The Duke calculated on insurrection as being a pro bable consequence of the rejection of the Reform Bill, and endeavoured to re.animate the fattering courage of the Peers, to screw thair courage up to the rejecting point, by observing that there could be no violence where there was an efficient Government. Ninety men, he observed, were sufficient to put a stop to the disasters that occurred at Bristol, as soon as an officer was found to do his duty. Aye, Sir, the sabre, the bayonet, the cannon, are this magi's recipe for government. He knows nothing of the moral strength and force which justice and beneficence place in the hands of rulers. But is it so easy to quell an insurgent people as his military Dukeship supposes ? Was the in surgent populace of Paris so easily quelled?—(Cheers). Were the revolting citizens of Brussels so easily quelled?— (Cheers). Besides, are armies always faithful ? Will officers always do their duty against their country? "—(Cheers). Mr. Larkin is not probably aware of the lesson which the Tories have derived from Paris. He no doubt thinks that Paris and Brussels ought to be a warning to men in power, not to forget that Go vernment can only rest on the foundation of popular approbation. Not so. That is the last thing with which they concern themselves. They have disco vered—not that the people are formidable when roused, but that Marshal Marmont blundered. Our Tories are not afraid of the people ; and only thank God that Paris and Brussels have taught them to avoid splitting on the rock on which Charles X. and the King of the Netherlands were shipwrecked. The author of " England and France; or a Cure for the Ministerial Gallomania," reveals the plan of the Tories, when, in speaking of the Revolution of July, he observes—" Had a powerful force been from the first posted round Paris, and not in it, no blood whatever would have been shed—at least, in conflict between the troops and the people. The passions of the populace, excited by the dread of famine, would probably have risen against the real authors of their sufferings, and been enlisted on the side of authority and of Government. It is unde niable that Paris can never hold out three days. A Parisian is a hero, but his heroism must be sup ported by a due supply of Cafe au fait," The les son derived by the Tories from the Revolution of July, is not that Governors ought to respect the wishes of the governed, but that it is better to starve citizens by surrounding towns with troops, than to expose the troops to the danger of being fired at from behind barricades. It would, to be sure, require a tolerable number of troops to coop up the inhabitants of the different towns of this island, and to cut off supplies. But the Tories do not allow themselves to be turned aside from their purpose by trifling considerations of this nature. They have made up their minds to starve the people. Of course, they conceive soldiers have no community of feeling with their fellow-countrymen. By the way, the Bishops can hardly be aware of the immense difference between esoteric and exote ric discourses, when they advocate, in an open and unblushing manner, their preference for what is base and shameful in the Constitution—for perjury, bribery, and drunkenness. Unsophisticated persons are quite horrified at the language ascribed to Bishop Phillpotts. Mr. Larkins supposes that the man who openly advo cated practices at variance with religion can have no religion. " Dr. Phill. potts (he says) concluded his address with a so lemn warning to the House to do its duty, to despise consequences, and trust permanency usttoG to injustice. o H eip u v s ok e e e t . l the God of Justice to give invoked the God of Freedom to make tyranny eternal and slavery immortal. Blasphemy and hypo crisy were mingled in that peroration , i n which the champion of oppression makes a solemn, deliberate appeal to Heaven, as if God were the patron of the oppressor, and not the avenger of the oppressed. — (Great cheering.) The hypocrite who uttered that blasphemous peroration conceals under the robes of a Bishop the heart of an infidel and an atheist."— (Cheers.) This is going too far. Dr. Phillpotts may not be an infidel because he advocates what is unchristian. He may, like many other men, be more faulty in practice than in faith. He may have made " a solemn, deliberate appeal to Heaven, as if God were the patron . of the oppressor, and not the avenger of the oppressed," believing all the while the very opposite of what he said, We have con slant examples of most edifying departures burn this life at Newgate, of men whose faith is unquestionable, though temptation too often pre vailed against them. Every one knows, that as far as this world is concerned, Exeter is not so eligible a diocese as Winchester or Durham, and the Bishop of Exeter, Dr. Phillpotts, thinks he pro bably will be so long as Whigs remain in power.— To be sure, even an insincere advocacy of practices condemned by the Christian religion, is not the best way to bring the Establishment into favour with the people. A correspondent from Exeter, in the Chro nicle of Tuesday last, observed that Dr. Phi Hearts, could he lay aside his longing for Canterbury, would be an exemplary Bishop. Indeed, it may be said of most of the Bishops, that it is unfair to expose them to such severe trials as translation implies.— We trust the day is not far distant when they will be humanely relieved of the unapostolic desires with which translation fills them. Bishop Burnett ob serves, that the Church requires this act of kindness from some statesman; for Bishops, however sensible of the advantages of poverty, have not the heart to embrace it. " I wish," says the good Bishop, " the pomp of living and the keeping high tables could be quite taken away: it is a great charge, and no very decent one; a great devourer of time ; it lets in much promiscuous company and much vain discourse upon you : even civility may carry you too far in a freedom and familiarity that will make you look too like the rest of the world. I hope this is a burden to you : it was, indeed, one of the greatest burdens of my life to see so much time lost—to hear so much idle talk, and to be living in a luxu rious waste of that which might have been much better bestowed. I had not strength enough to break through that which custom has imposed on those provided with plentiful Bishoprics. I pray God to help you to find a decent way of laying them down ir nine; Chronicle. There is one advantage in the Ministerial Reform Bill having been read a second time in the House of Peers ; it enables us to reason by close analogy upon the state of things, if it had been rejected in that stage of its progress, instead of being allowed to take another step. At/cording to the declarations of those who wish what they assert, the annihilation of the Bill previous to the second reading would have produced an universal ferment and dis content throughout the country. Now let us refer to the two leading Ministerial Morn ing Journals to bear out our assertion, that in their opinion, and consequently that of the rabble, the Bill is as effectually lost as if it had been thrown out on Saturday week, and yet where is to be found that universal panic, and consternation, and confu sion throughout the empire that we were told were to follow upon the destruction of the Bill ? We have never spoken unadvisedly, or upon loose infor mation, when we have declared that not only the property and intelligence of the country were op posed to the fatal scheme, but that the middle class were generally hostile to it, and that the artisans, the really industrious operatives of the country, were indifferent to it. We have gained our infor mation upon these points from various and distinct quarters, at distant periods of time ; we have con cealed nothing, we have garbled nothing, we have ex aggerated nothing, and we now say in the face of the country that the bulk of every grade of society is indifferent or positively opposed to the measure now pending, save and except the rabble. They, en masse, follow their leach rs, the mob Ministry, and bawl in favour of their Bill :as the best stepping-stone to pillage and anarchy. Operatives are dissatisfied to a great extent ; but they know as well as the Minister, do that this Bill will not benefit them. It is the idle and the dissolute only who with unsophisticated energy clamour for the proposed change, as a ready means of producing other changes still more con genial with their habits and prospects. The Chro nicle of Tuesday says that if the 10/. franchise be raised, or the metropolitan clause be aban doned, the Bill is virtually lost. But as indi viduals who have hitherto been of high cha racter have chosen to waver in their course, and postpone their opposition from the second read ing to the Committee, they must either then turn the majority against it, or stand confessed as false apostates before their insulted and injured country; for it is to the endeavour to soften down its democra tical principles there that they are solemnly pledged, the two clauses referred to being the leading abo minations ; and therefore, if the House of Lords continues at its present number, the Bill is already ruined. The process of agitation, according to these veracious chroniclers of public opinion, ought now to be going on, because the essence of the Bill, in their estimation, is destroyed unless the House of Lords be swamped, or several high-minded Noblemen belie the whole tenour of their lives, and sink into mere machines to do the bidding of a mob ministry. But the truth of the matter is, that Lord Grey himself does not care what becomes of the Bill if, in its abandonment, he can be let down easy by his friends the Political Unionists and the rest of the rabble rout of the nation. And why have these people, knowing that the clauses they are most anxious about, because most likely to lead to revos lotion, will be rejected, been so quiet under the virtnal destruction of their favourite scheme of re volution ? Because a stronger power overbears them—the general feeling of . the country. That is a moral force that would have equally prevented ex• tensive tumult if the second reading had never taken place, as it now prevents it under the expectation that the most democratical clauses will be destroyed. Those who clamour about such a Reform as the Mi nisters would give them are always ready for a riot, whether it be at a radical meeting, a Lord Mayor's day, or a dog fight : they are not nice about the oc casion of it ; but public opinion, founded on the in telligence of the higher classes and the sterling sound sense of the middle classes, when it is not op pressed by momentary violence, as was the case last summer, will always break down the violence of the mob.—Morning Post. The state of Ireland is still one of the most dis tressing and embarrassing subjects, in a national point of view, which can possibly occupy the atten tion of a British statesman. Notwithstanding all that has been done, and all That has been promised to be done, in order to produce general content and harmony among her people, not a post arrives which does not bring intelligence of some outrage upon— some wanton aggression—some lawless invasion of the rights and property of one party by the hired, or voluntary, agents of another. At one time it is the hard-hearted landlord who is alleged to be the cause of these excesses—at another it is the tithe collector, who has carried off the all of the poor cot tager, and left him and his children to starvation or beggary. Again, Lady Clare is announced as the chief, by whose orders threats and menatices are dealt out, houses set on fire—cattle driven away or slaughtered—or the murder of innocent persons per petrated in cool blood, and in open day;—and let but, a week or two elapse, and then Lady Clare will have vacated her turbulent throne to Captain Rock, and " Whitefeet" have given place to " Blackfeet," or some other unintelligible gang of desperadoes and disturbers of the general peace. Whatever be the reigning dynasty, however, the same effects are always perceptible—the same deplorable results are always realized ; and what is still more lamentable, the more kind, the more lenient, the more concilia• tory the lawful government of the country may be, ' the more numerous the breaches of the peace—the greater the general disorder and confusion. Such a state of things is almost a perfect anomaly in a civi lized country, possessing a national and civilized government ; nor do we know of any course of cir cumstances in the history of modern Europe that can be compared to it, except the ravages, some eighty or a hundred years ago, which were com mitted in Scotland, by the adherents of different chieftains, upon the property of the lowlanders. These ravages, however, were ultimately put down, partly by the strong . arm of the law, and partly by a more general diffusion of religious and moral edu cation among those who had been guilty of them ; but even when at their height—when no man's pro perty was safe, and no man's person in safe keeping, ercu in his own dwelling, if it happened to be ttituated near the line of demarcation which separated the proud but ignorant clansman, from his more in dustrious and peaceable neighbour—these ravage had a plain and intelligible origin —ascertainable mo tives and causes, with which a Government, anxious to restore tranquillity to the country, could fairly grapple. In Ireland the case appears, unfortunately, to be far otherwise. The real causes and origin of all the general disturbances which take place, are, no doubt, invariably the same, or very intimately con nected with one other ; but there is no possibility of getting at them—there is no tracing of them ro their source, so as to deal with them as they ought to be dealt with. Were the exaction of tithes for the benefit of a church which has but few sup porters the cause of discontent and disturbance, it might be easily dealt with—were it simple ab senteeism, that also might be done away with— were it excessive taxation, which it is not, it might be reduced—were it scourging poverty, the Le gislature could find the means not only of af fording temporary relief, but of laying a foundation for future prosperity—were it gross and general ignorance, even that is to be cured ; but, although all these elements of evil are, no doubt, to be found in the overboiling cauldron of Irish discontent, gene ral disturbance, and disorganization, there is evi dently some other, which, while it possesses the power of maintaining them in perpetual and malig nant action, seems to have also the property of eluding the detection of the most anxious investi gator. We will not be so ungenerous towards the clergy of the sister country as to believe, without direct proof of the fact, that they have any thing to do with the setting in motion of the various elements of discord of which we have spoken. It would, in deed, be a perversion, beyond all forgiveness, of the'r holy and confidential office, to call that good which is evil, and evil good ; but with the lay portion of the Irish community we have no such delicacy, and we assert, without fear of contradiction by any per son or authority from whom a contradTtion could have any value, that to them, and to them above all other causes, are to be attributed the manifold evils under which their country has so long suffered, and is still suffering so dreadfully. Can a worse ex ample be set to the community at large, than that which is daily held forth by no inconsi derable portion of its aristocracy ? Is it not constantly agitating the country on every, even the most trivial, subject of complaint, that can pos sibly be imagined ? Nay is it not constantly praising the blessings, and recommending the practice, of agitation, throughout a country which is unfortu nately but too much agitated already ? Yet these very gently, who are thus by their precepts and their example, a main cause of the grievances of Ire land, are the loudest in their complaints, within the walls of St. Stephen's, about the rights of Ireland and her interests by his Majesty's Ministers, and most forward to attribute to their plans for her im provement what is fairly to be traced, not to any thing which has been done by his Majesty's Minis ters, or to the indomitably turbulent spirit of the Irish people, but to their own nefarious practices and precepts. How can they expect the people to exhibit a pattern of wise and peaceful conduct when they themselves set au example of the contrary We tell them that " repentance and reformation" must first begin "at horne"—even with those who are the natural friends and protectors of Ireland, — and that until it has become perfect and sincere, there can he no hope, whatever may be the charac ter of the King's government, of peace and prospe rity to her.—ilurning Advertiser. LORD GODERICH'S DESPATCH TO THE GOVERNORS OF COLONIES. Downing-street, Dec. 10, IS3I. Stit,—l have the honour to enclose to you herewith, for your own information and for that of the Legislative Bodies of the colony under your government, a copy of an amended Order made by his Majesty in Council on the 2d ult., for improving the condition of the slaves in British Guiana, Trinidad, St. Lucia, Mauritius, and the Cipe of Good Hope. The grounds upon which his Majesty's confidential servants have felt it their duty to advise the making of this Order, and the views by which they have been guided in resisting the opposition made to several of its provisions, are fully set forth in a circular despatch which I addressed to the Governors of the above- mentioned colonies on the sth ult., and I enclose cer tain printed papers which have been presented to the House of Commons by his Majesty's command, wherein you will find a copy of that document, as well as of others relating to the Order in Council. The further ob ject of my present despatch is to enable you, at the same time that the measures in favour of the slaves, which have been thus enforced in the Crown colonies, are brought to the knowledge of the Council and Assembly within your Government, to communicate also to those bodies the course which his Majesty's Government have resolved to adopt, with a view to induce the extension of those mea sures to the Colonies having local Legislatures ; and it is my anxious desire, not only that the intentions of his Majesty's Government should be made known to the Legislative Bodies at the earliest possible moment, but that our motives should be fully explained to them. lam most desirous to satisfy them, if not that our tneasuras are, as we consider them, necessary for the well being of the slaves, at least that they are dictated by a conscientious sense of duty. I am anxious to convey to them an adequate impression of the necessity . which exists for us to take at length some ef fective step towards the redemption of the pledges given, with the concurrence of the West India body, in 1823, and of the solicitude which we have felt to consult the interests of the planters simultaneously with those of the slaves, and to accomplish by such means as should be the least unacceptable to the owners of West India pro perty, an object which it has become impossible to postpone without compromising the dignity and consistency of the Imperial Legislature, gnd occasioning danger to all parties concerned. When I look back in the records of this department to the many earnest appeals upon this subject which have been addressed, since the year 1823, to the reason and discretion of the Colonial Legislatures, it may well seem superfluous to observe, that nothing has been further from the wish of those who have succes sively administered the affairs of this country since 1 that period, than to have recourse to any measures of a coercive character. The circular despatches which were written from year to year, repeating the expression of hopes which had been in no instance fulfilled, and of confidence which has not been justified, evince with what extreme re luctance the Ministers of the Crown have been compelled to relinquish tl.e expectations which were originally enter tained, that effectual measures for the improvement of the condition of the slaves should be at length spontaneously adopted by the Colonial Legislatures. The despatches which have been written to point out in detail the defects of suet, laws as were enacted in alleged fulfilment of the wishes of his Majesty's Government, or in partial compli ance with them, bear further testimony to the patient and persevering endeavours which have been made by his Ma jesty's Government to impress upon the several councils and assemblies the necessity which existed for satisfying the feelings entertained in this country in favour of the slaves, and the inadequacy of their legislation to effect that purpose. If his Majesty's present advisers have resolved to pursue no further this co u rse o f wa r n ing and entreaty, it is not that they are in any degree less anxious to conciliate the good will, whilst they consult the real interests, of the colonists, but only because they feel that the language of admonition has been exhausted, and that any further attempt to pro duce an impression upon the Legislatures by the same means alone, could add nothing to the respect of those bodies for the authority of the Crown, whilst it would be in vain to expect that it could contribute anything to the accomplishment of the object in view. his Majesty's Government had thus before them the alternative either of proposing some measures of a stronger character than mere injunction, or of desisting altogether from the promotion of an object to which Parliament is not less justly than solemnly pledged, and the postpone ment of which is tending more and more every day to precipitate a powerful party in this country in the oppo site extreme, and to produce dangers which, however ill they may be understood i n a di stant quartir o f t h e wor ld , no one who is conversant with the influence of public opi nion in this country, and the direction of it upon the sub ject of slavery, could fail to see. At the same time th a t t hi s a l ternat i ve presen t e d it se lf, the increasing commercial distress of the West India inte rest could not but attract the most anxious and painful attention of his Majesty's Government. Deeply as they have regretted the opposition of the colonists to their measures in favour of the slaves, neither that opposition ; nor any thing that was ill-judged and intemperate in the manner of it, has prevented hi. Majesty's Government from entertaining the strongest feelings of sympathy slid - kompassion for the distress under which all persons Onnected with West India property are indiscritni tiately suffering. His Majesty's Government were thus Scarcely more anxious to secure the adoption of their measures for the protection of the slaves than to find means, not incompatible with that object, of relieving the planters from some portio❑ of their commercial difficulties. I❑ this view, as well as from its importance to the interests of humanity, it has been peculiarly gratifying to his Majesty's Government no have been enabled to con clude a convention with France, which promises more than any other practicable measure to repress the foreign slave trade ; and this, at the same time that it militates against the dreadful atrocities of that traffic, will give some check to the competition of foreign sugar growers, so far as it is promoted by such iniquitous means. A measure of fiscal regulations, so devised as to be productive of real and sub stantial relief, has appeared to be the only additional me thod within the power of his Majesty's Government to propose, which would in some degree meet the exigencies of the West Indian commercial interests; but to offer such an advantage to the planters without at the same time taking any security for their acceptance of the measures in behalf of the slaves, would be, if not directly inconsistent with the Parliamentary Resolutions of 1823, at least an abandonment, and even reversal, of the policy of the execu tive Government resulting from those Resolutions. On the 16th of March, 1824, the late Mr. Canningannounccd in his place in Parliament the several modes of giving effect to the resolutions of 1823, which were successively to be tried, for the purpose of overcoming the resistance to them, which, it had appeared from the experience of the preceding year, wasto be expected from the colonial legislatures. He pointed out the course of authoritative admonition, as the most eligible in the first instance; and, should that be unavailing, he adverted to the means which Parliament possesses of constraining the colonies by fiscal regulations snd enactments adverse to their navigation, as preferable to a more direct application of the powers of Parliament, of which more direct exercise of power he nevertheless declared the necessity, should all other means fail. The course of authoritative admonition has been pursued for eight years, and has been, as I have already observed, utterly unsuc cessful. Advice, again and again tendered to the colonial legislatures, has bee❑ hut little listened to in any of tie colonies, and in some of the most important and consi derable, bas been more than once rejected without even the forms of respect. Ceasing, therefore, to entertain hopes that their admonitions will ever prove efficacious, it might perhaps be expected of his Majesty's Government to pro pose at once to Parliament the second mode of operating upon the legislatures, which was contemplated by Mr. Canning. But to use any endeavour to " harass the co lonies by fiscal regulations," in their present circumstances of distress, would indeed be most repugnant to the feelings of his Majesty's Government. They could not, at this moment, nor until a less painful experiment should have been tried, reconcile it to those feelings which the suffer ings consequent upon commercial adversity must always excite, to propose any measures to which a character of unmixed severity could be attributed. Whilst, however, their feelings of concern for the difficulties of the West In dian proprietors and merchants withhold them from of igi noting any measure in which their interests should not be considered, they are not less powerfully withheld, by a sense of their duty to the great cause of slave melioration, and by a consciousness of the obligations under which the Government of this country has been placed by the resolu tions of Parliament, from propounding any measure of in dulgence to the planters in which the interests of the slaves should be lost sight of. To propose a measure of fiscal relief, to take elf et before the object of the Parlia mentary resalutions should be secured, would be a mani fest dereliction of the only course of policy, short of the direct application of power, through which there has ever been a prospect of redeeming the pledges contained in those resolutions. Such being the position of the ques tion, and such the obligations incumbent upon his Ma jesty's Government, it only retrained for them to com bine the two great objects which they had to effect i❑ a single measure, and thus to make the one contingent upon the other. I have, therefore, to announce to you the fixed determi nation of his Majesty's Government to propose to Parlia ment, in the present S, ssion, and so soon as the &tails of this, in common with their other financial operations for the year 1832 can be arranged, a measure of substantial relief to the West India interests, and that this measure will be so framed as to take effect upon the produce of the Crown colonies as a matter of course, and upon that of those only of the other colonies in which the provisions, in their precise terms, and in their entire extent, of his Majesty's Order in Council of the 2d ult., fur improving the condition of the slaves in British Guiana, Trinidad, Sr. Lucia, Mauritius, and the Cape of Good Hope, shall have acquired, in perpetuity, the force of law. It cannot be too distinctly explained, that the measure to be sub• nutted to Parliament will be so framed that the indispen sable condition of receiving the consi quent benefi', will he the fact of a Statute having passed the colonial legisla ture, simply, and without qualification in terms, or limita tion of time, declaring the Order in Council to possess the force of law in the colony. The language here used is by no means needlessly strict. The motives and sentiments of his Majesty's Government would be much mistaken, were it to be conceived, that in making the terms of the proposed alternative thus definite and precise, they bad been actuated by any spirit of peremptory dictation. The whole efficacy of a law de pends upon verbal distinctions and minute accuracies of expression. To leave the choice of the words to any body of men, is to place the substance and essence of the law at their discretion. To do this, would be nothing less than to resume and continue the fruitless correspondence of the last eight years, upon the terms of Colonial Slave Acts. An interminable controversy would arise between his Majesty's Government and each of the Legislative Colo nies, as to whether the required amendments in the laws relat ng to slavery had or 'sad not been enacted ; and his Majesty's Government would be called upon to discharge the invidious and even impracticable office of determining constructively upon the words of 13 different codes, while upon their decision it would depend to which of as many colonies the benefit provided by Parliament should he dispensed, and to which it should he denied. Even if such a revision were possible, the experience of eight years has now placed beyond the reach of all rational doubt the fact, which, independently of such experience, might have been anticipated, that laws framed in the colonies, and passed by the Colonial Assemblies, for the improve ment of the condition of slavery, are deficient in that quality without which all such legislation must be ntiga• tory. The compilation of Acts passed during that period, by 13 different Assemblies (with the exception of a few enactments passed in some of the smaller islands on the subject of slave evidence, and of an Act of Grenada re specting the legal presumption in favour of freedom), does not contain a single statute which carries within itself any reasonable security for the faithful execution of its provi sions. lam willing to give to the Colonial Legislatures the same credit for upright intentions which is claimed for those who discharge corresponding functions in this coun try. But I should sacrifice truth to an unmeaning and ill-timed compliment, were I to attribute to the Members of those bodies that freedom Irons prejudice, and dispas sionate self-possession, on the subject of slavery, or that skill in the technical business of legislation, without which the most honest intentions are totally inadequate to the production of an effective law. Moreover, tile opinion of the Assemblies has been too distinctly and repeatedly ex pressed, to leave it doubtful what would be the result, if the task of reconstructing the Order in Council were re ferred to them, instead of the option of unconditionally adopting or absolutely rejecting it. You will lay this despatch and its enclosure before both branches of the Legislature in the colony under your go vernment, and I shall await with feelings of deep and anxious interest, the result of the proposals here made. Should they not meet the views of the Legislature, his Majesty's Government will have more than one cause for the most serious concern. They will then have to regret, not only the temporary postponement (for more than tem porary it cannot be) of the benefits which are intended for the slaves, but the failure also of their efforts to renew the prosperity, or mitigate the distress, of the planters ; and above all, they will have to deplore the continuance, on the p trt of the West India colonists, of that insensibility to the influence of public opinion in the mother-country , by which they are daily bringing themselves more and mote within the danger of calamities far more grievous than any aofndanos,f. Go vernmentdis-awsltieircsh f e r a o n m b i e rh c i a e u h se i d t m by ay c b om e i m w e y r o t n ia d l to protect them. I have, &e. (Signed) GODLRICII. t e e v power --- The Batavier steam - boat ar rived i n the river instantaneo us e ff ect o yesterday afternoon with the l etters of Monday fro m Amster dam. News hid arrived th ere of the ratification of th e Belgian treaty, and of the reservations with which it was accompanied on the par t of Austria and P russ i a, which a I p t r ohcaededainn g highly acceptabl e t o public credit, and so ea g er was the d esire to profit by it. that though the intell i gence was first promul ga t e d 011 Sunday, much bu siness was d one in Government securitie thepeDar ut t c o h h a m v me rchants. made han ts. the at the coffee-houses on that day, On the following (I,y business was actively kept up, attended with an improve meat in price, the 2 per Cot% leaving off at 4-3/.-+ ri!The•'• POLICE INTELLIGENCE. G UILDHALL. Yesterday, Mr. Alderman Gars:LAND called in to in quire whether the minutes respecting the misconduct of the watchman in St. Paul's-churchyard towards a young woman had been forwarded to the ward authorities, and learning they had not, be desired ►hat they should be sent to him, that he might himself remit them to the Alder•• man of the ward. He said that, in his experience as a magistrate, he had never met with a grosser case of op pression to a poor woma❑ than this was, and it would have been more wise and politic in the common council-men who had investigated this complaint, if they had formed their opinion, not on an ex•-parte representation, but on the whole case as he did on Saturday, when he heard both sides on their oaths. He would take care that the watch man should be prosecuted at the sessions. Me. Alderman Lucas said the rehearing of the case was , pressed upon him, and took up a great deal of his time, but he thought it was right to give the ward authorities, who came down with their beadle in great force, an oppor tunity of setting the character of their watchmen right with the public. The woman certainly was not brought before him, but he thought if Mr. Alderman Copeland had had an opportunity of hearing the witnesses Mr. Deputy Hicks had produced, he would have arrived at a different conclusion. The conduct of the woman at the Compter, fir an hour after she was out of the hands of those who had offended her, was sufficient to show that her temper was most violent, or that she was intoxicated. " Not at all," replied Mr. Alderman COPELAND. "If I had been so ill-treated, separated from my friends, and locked up in a gaol,—if I had been the object of such a shameful violation of the liberty of the subject as this was, 1 should have been unappeisable for six hours instead of one.' Mr. Alderman LUCAS proceeded to redeem his pledge of repeating to Mr. Alderman Copeland the substance of the exculpatory evidence he had received the day before, and adverting to the worthy Alderman's threat to insure the prosecution of the watchman, he observed that he had no doubt the gentlemen of the ward would take up the de fence of the accused, and he thought they ought to do so; fur, if the gentlemen would throw up their windows, and order a watchma❑ to lock a woman up, it waa their duty to protect him afterwards against all consequences fur doing so. Air. Alderman CorELA ND agreed in this pirneiple. Here the conversation dropped. BOTV-STREET. Yesterday, a tall respectable looking man, about years of age, having the appearance of a foreigner, was placed at the bar before Mr. HALLS, charged with having stolen a Bible and a hat-brush. Thomas Parker was son-in-law to Mr. Stenson, book‘ seller, Greek-street, Soho. On Wednesday evening, the 18th instant, the prisoner came into the shop and asked witness if he had an edition of Tasso in two volumes? Witness turned round to the shelves to look for the work, but not finding it the prisoner told him to ask Mr. Stenson if he had got it, saying he would call again in the morn ing. He then went away. The Bible now produced was lying on tie counter when he entered the shop, and when he went away it was gone. The prisoner did not call again in the morning, and witness subsequently saw the Bible in the shop-window of Mr. Biron, of Drury-lane. Mr. Baron was a general dealer, and lived at 58, Drury lane. On Thursday evening last the prisoner came into his shop, supposing it to bo a pawnbroker's, and asked f ran advance of 15s. on the Bible now produced. Find ing his mistake, be subsequently offered to sell it for 10s.. arid witness gave him eight for it. The prisoner wore a pair of silver spectacles, and witness remarked his pecu liar tone of voice. Was q u it e sat i s fi ed he was the same man. Last night, April the 24th, the prisoner came again to his shop, and offered to sell a hat-brush, and witness having received information that the Bible was stolen, gave the prisoner into custody. Elizabeth Roberts lived with her father, who kept a brush-shop at No. 16, St. Martin's-court. Last night between six and seven o'clock the prisoner, who had on a large blue cloak, and wore a crape on his hat, came to the shop and asked to see a clothes-brush. She turned round to hand him one, when the prisoner said he wanted a brush with a handle. Having shown him one of that description, he observed that the hair was not long enough, and went away. Witness subsequently missed a hat-brush from the counter. It was the same now produced. Thomas R ly, a policeman of the F division, was an duty in Drury-lane at nine o'clock on the preceding even ing, when be was called into Mr. Barron's shop, and took the prisoner into custody, and conveyed him to the station house. The witness here produced a large and handsome blue cloth cloak and a fashionable walking cane, mounted with gold, and having a cornelian set in the top, both of which t h hTt e ihhme t o o nta o lit k aostui l s r eah o i n tdt i oa t tft h hi ,ba)ente ing c,ek when t r ihe , i ede tog with appeared a h anmir e eed r rdl kausei tdbelr3hionsiu.idgui brought before a. lr t i a . n he could possibly think of treating a gentleman like 8 , common thief. The prisoner, in reply to questions by the Magistrate, said his name was William Johnson, and that he lived at an hotel in Islington, the name of which he had forgotten. He could not tell in what part of Islington it was situated, but knew it was somewhere n, ar a turnpike. He was a. German by birch, and had been but three months in Eng land. The constable said that the prisoner told him he bad been eighteen months in England. The prisoner denied that be had said so ; and in replY to a question of Mr. HALLS, said he came from Brighton a short time ago. lie was remanded to give time for further inquiry. HAT T ON- GARDEN. Yesterday Thomas Blair, a middle-aged man, was placed at the bar, before Mr. ROGERS, charged with having robbed his employer, Mr. Thomas Richards , auctioneer, of No. 10, Worship-street, Finsbury, of s time-piece, and other valuable property. The prisoner was fully committed to Newgate for trial. Turner and his wife, who were remanded on a c harge of having stolen a dressing-case, containing jeweller) , t°, the amount of 400/., the property of Captain Dalton, ° I the Royal Artillery, were placed at the bar for re-examine' lion, and discharged for want of evidence. UNION-HALL. David Gilruth, - a baker, in the Kent-road, W° summoned for employing deleterious articles in the mane' facture of bread. The defendant was fined 101. and c osts , He gave notice of appeal. Another baker, named William Pircrs, residing i° Bla ekri his bakehousef a rs-road a t d h ,wa e s cseurms foundmo n ed fora atub similar b containing offence. upw 31. 1 ; of five gallons of a liquid, consisting of alum, salt/ 3134 water. The defendant was fined 101, together with cost , ' and he also gave notice of appeal. Edward Rainsford, a shopman in the employ of !dr' Hopkins, linendraper, of High-street, was charged with robbing his employer. The prisoner was committed. Mrs. Rebecca Cr ipps, the wife of a respectable trades" man, was charged by her husband with threatening to murder or do him some grievous bodily harm. " fled '' to a woman of the most violent and ungovernable temp er. . When they were first married, she was of a bind and amiable disposition, but drink, he said, the bane to all barpiness, piness, had completely destroyed theirs, his wife fee ' quently taking, in the course of one day, the enorm ous linantity of from six to eight pots of ale, besides braudi.; her favourite liquor. The quantity she was in the lisb! i of swallowing was reducing his means every d a y, a nd he attempted to argue with her on the destru c ti on lb' must overtake them both if she s till p ers i s t e d in be., drunken habits, she then becam e a p er f ect f ury—the 61 , , flashed from her eyes—knives a n d f or k s, or any t hil within her reach, were dashed at hi s h ea d , and she bade upon a recent occasion, vowed that s h e would serve is The complainant had the misfortun e of being some night, when he was asleep, as the woman did P ,' hu . ,b and a few years ago at Clerkentvell. He was aP,P,, tv , oc(; i r r r s e . nc c e r o ip f p s , o , d vc r . e h a n d f w u l a as evidently hensive that she really would carry her threats into ett e l t- e and be had therefore sought protection, to prevent t" h s a n d be h r eld be o fn u r e; thi; tl a y s's n h o e t migistrate, said that there were faults on both sides, a ': i tti that her husband had held out equally as dreadful W t. tow Wi dsai her as she had towards him. t nesses confirm e d th e statement of the complaisa ntlt. to the drunken hahi.s of his wife, and the deV er u a e n threats s h e use d towar d s h i m, upon those occas i ons sv"„, he attempt e d t o argue w i t h h er on th e i mpropr i e ty of "- conduct. ta keeSphttheva p s ea lo ce c . ked up in default of procuring sureties PRINTED AND PUBLISHED By MUHDO YOUNG, AT 1111 St/ OFFICE, 112, STRAND, LOND9N, BIBTES. On the 24th inst. Mrs. James Powell, of Kent-terrace, gent's_ park, of a son. of On the 22d inst. at Kennington, Mrs. Frederick Plimpton , .1 son. MARRIED. On the .24tli inst. at reasmarsh, the Rev. Richard Fiennes Wvkeham M ar ten, second son of Fien nes Wykeham Mar te ot of Leas Ca,tlc, Kent, to Ann Catherine, youngest d a ughtero the late Robert Mascall, Esq., of Peasmarsh-place, StisseX• Ashtbrd, Kent. DIED. r A Ird On the 13t11 inst. at Yarmouth, aged 69, the Rev. .--,.;tter Valpy, Rector of Thwaite, and Vicar of Walsham, late N 3 ,,' of of Norwich School, and Examining Chaplain to the Bish ° r Norwich. —at