The Sun. — London, England, 1832-05-24 00:00:00

•••I'IRIT OF' THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. On the presentation of a petition from Edin burgh last night by the Lord Advocate, signed by 38,700 persons, the greater part of uhorn bad fixed their professions and places of abodes to their signatures, Mr. Charles Dundas ob- served— '' That it was with pain he stated Hett an lioncurelik Friend of his, who held a high commission in his Majesty% syrvice, and who had recently received 3 walk of his Ma jesty's favour in being appointed to the command of one of the most gallant regiments in the army—he meant the 42d—had condescended to take part in the rrocerding,s of the day, although in various parts of the ground there had been displayri biinners of a most revolutionary tendency, such as the warning to Belsfrizzar, and flags declaring the giorr the revolution in France. lie was convinced, although every man in the regiment would cheerfully obey the orders which, in discharge of his duty, that Gal /ant .Officer might give them, there was not a private, among them, if he inherited the spirit of the country that had given him birth, but would have torn clown the se nan ners on the spot." It was well observed, in answer to these re marks by Colonel Evans, " that if the meeting was legally convened, an officer in the army was not to be prevented merely on account of his commission from attending it ; for he trusted that officers in the army were to he allowed to entertain political opinions on what side they thought proper.--(Hear, hear.) He trusted that the Hon. Member would see the impro priety of the attack he had made, an'l would not think of holding the Gallant Officer responsible for all that had been done by every individual in every distant corner of the field where the meeting had assembled." It was laid down dis tinctly, at the Bristol Special Commission, in January last, by Lord Chief Justice Tindal, that the soldier did not cease to be a citizen nit account of the particular relation, with regard to military duties, in which he stood to the State : " Whilst I am stating (said the Learned Chief Justice) the obligation imposed by the law on every subject of the realm I wish to ob serve, that the law acknowledges no distinction in this respect between the soldier and the pri vate individual. The soldier is still a citizen, lying Tinder the same obligation, and invested with the same authority. to preserve the peace o f the King as any other , subject." The Mutiny Act draws the line of demarcation between the soldier and the rest of the people ; and he is entitled to take part in all proceedings which do not interfere with the discharge of his specific duty, and which do not con travene the regulations of the army. If a soldier may on his own responsibility use his arms in repressing disorderly proceed ings, surely he may take part in the pro ceedings of a meeting, legally convened, on a subject of deep constitutional interest. Not only the Colonel of the 92d regiment, but every soldier from the Lieutenant-colonel downwards, not appointed to a particular duty, incompatible with the attendance at a public meeting, may attend such meeting in his capacity of citizen, if held at the place where he happens to be quar tered. This, at all events, is the fair construc tion of the doctrine of Lord Chief Justice Tin dal. It has been too much the fishion of late years to consider the arms' as a body not form ing part of the people and sympathizing with the people, but appointed to control them. The spirit of several Acts of Parliament, passed since the breaking out of the French Revolution, tends to countenance this notion,—They have been lc.ept by themselves in barracks, and Acts of Par !lament have even passed, punishing with death tire talking to soldiers on certain- subjects. The extent to which these views had pervaded the of ficers of the army was seen at the time of the Barricades in Paris. No sensible man will How hesitate to allow that the Bourbons were embarked in an attempt to over throw the Constitution of France—that the Ordinances were illegal and revolutionary— and yet, so warped were the minds of many of our officers, that they blamed the French sol diers because they did not all take part with the men wh o were trampling on the laws, and en• deavouring to make their country a scene of confusion and bloodshed. The officers in ques tion argued as if soldiers sere bound to lay aside all community - of feeling with their nation, and to obey all the orders given to them by the per intrusted by the Constitution with the di rection of the national force, without concerning themselves with the question, whether such or ders were not destructive of the very Constitution under which the Chief of the State derived his authority. The doctrine is as absurd as if it were maintained that the soldiers of a regiment were bound to obey the Colonel, when he orders them to rebel against the Sovereign. A soldier is bound to distinguish between legal and illegal commands. The Chief of the State is less than the State itself; and if the Chief attempts to dissolve the State, the soldier is bound by his higher duty towards the State, to resist him. In England, the Mutiny Bill alone gives the King power over the army, and were the Legislature to refuse to renew the Bill, the army would, as a • matter of course, be dissolved. The French hadro' Mutiny Bill limiting the duration oldie authority - 0 the King over the army : but as the Sovereignty was in the King and the Chambers, the former was not alone justified in employing the force with which he was intrusted against the latter, and the army were not justified in yielding.obedience to such an abuse of authority. These slavish notions would at one time have been strongly repudiated in this country. Burke, in his speech on conciliation with the colonies, is at great pains to show that the citizen should never be altogether merged iii the soldier, and that the army receives all its valuable qualities from the inspiration derived by the soldier from the Eng, lisp constitution. "Do you imagine (says he) that it is the annual vote in the Committee of Supply which gives you your army ?—or that it is the Mutiny Bill which inspires it with bravery and discipline ?—No ! surely, no ! It is the love of the people—it is their attachment to their Government, from the sense of the deep stake they have in such a glorious constitution, which gives you your army and your navy, and infuses into both that liberal obedience, without which your army would be a base rabble, and your navy no thing but rotten timber." But Mr. C. Dundas would separate the army from the nation, and interdict all sympathy with the nation, even at a crisis like the present, when one feeling alone pervades the whole community. if the country were polled, the Reformers would be to the Anti-Reformers as, at least 100 to one. Thus, for instance, the Edinburgh petition was signed by 38,700 persons ; that is, a proportion equal to the whole of the adult male population. Could the soldier remain alone unaffected in the corn- munit v ? Could he forget his early associations? Could he forget that he had parents, brothers, and sisters, sharing in the great national move ment ?—that, at the expiration of his period of service, he would again make a part of the com munity to which the Reform Bill would bring salvation, or its rejection ruin ? Every good citizen rejoiced at the return of Earl Grey to power ; and the Colonel of the 92d regiment t.nly discharged his duty as a good citizen in sharing in the manifestation :of the people of Edinburgh on this happy event. The Lord Advocate took this view of the question, ob erving " that the Gallant Officer referred to had acted as the best friend of the Monarchy, when he assisted in making known to the King the true wishes of the people."—Morn. Chronicle. Sir George Murray availed himself of the op portunity afforded by the presentation of a Petition from Perth in favour of the Reform Bill, signed by 27,000 persons, including five Peers, to notice a statement made in the House of Lords so far hack as January last—that an account of the assassination of the Duke of Wellington, and another Illustrious Individual, had been hailed with satisfaction by the multi tude at Perth. There is probably no foundation for the story ; but it enabled Sir George to re mind the House and the people of England of the great services for which we are indebted to the Duke of Wellington. But who refuses to acknowledge the services of the Duke of Wel lington We were pleased to hear Sir George on the laurels he had also earned in the time of peace, " by redeeming the land of his birth from civil intolerance." But we must not allow our gratitude to run away with our judg. ment. The Duke of Wellington is a great soldier, and raised the character of the British arms ; but are we, on that account, to allow him to deprive us of the Reform Bill ? The Duke of Wellington benefited his country by remov ing the civil disabilities of the Catholics ; but the Duke of Wellington would also have sacri ficed the country to a base Oligarchy. When the Duke of Wellington is consigned to the earth, the future historian will do justice to his merit. It is our business, in the mean time, to hold up his conduct on a recent occasion to general execration ; and we are more particularly bound to do so on account of his former merits; for no principle is more mischievous than that former services are to serve as a justification for present misconduct. One great security against base and unworthy conduct is the dread ofthe authors that it will draw down on their heads general execration. But if we allow a privileged exemption from the exe cration to former merit, v:•e diminish our security. Every good Englishman is, therefore, at this crisi sbound to forget the soldier in the politician and to speak of the disreputable conduct of Arthur Duke of Wellington, in opposing a great measure strenuously to the twelfth hour, and, on the pitiful pretext of not abandoning his Sove reign, adopting the very measure he had con demned as destructive of the Monarchy imme diately after lie had succeeded in the object of his opposition—the forcing of the Ministry to resign. Indeed, the whole conduct of his Grace, ever since his &mous eulogy of the shameful parts of the Constitution, has been disgraceful to him as a politician. To speak of this conduct in any terms than those of execration, would be to corrupt the national morality. Let us therefore separate the soldier from the Embryo Minister, and leaving the former to his rewards in solid pudding and his fame, let us point the finger of scorn to the latter. This will teach men who have earned a high reputation, the lesson, that so far from that reputation covering their politica transgressions, it may serve to throw their repo. cation into the shade.—Morning Chronicle. Yesterday the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of London conferred honour on themselves and on Mr. T. Attwood, by be stowing on that gentleman the freedom of the City in a box of heart ,of oak. The proceed ings of a crowded Court were extremely inte resting, and so numerous a meeting of Com mon Councilmen has not been held for some time. The Reformers of Birmingham have justly received the gratitude of the whole king dom. They not only first reared the standard of Reform, on the entrance of Lord Grey to office, but they have displayed an unflinching constancy and determination which has echoed the public voice through every part of the empire, and struck terror into the hearts of the Anti-Reformers. The ability also displayed, in all the speeches and public documents of the Birmingham Reformers of all parties, has preeminently distinguished the inhabitants of that active and ingenious population. The country papers of the midland districts this week report the most extraordinary simultaneous public meetings on Wednesday last, at Birmingham, Warwick, Coventry, Bilston, Dudley, Wolver hampton, and other neighbouring districts, ever recorded. Indeed the heart of the people of England, Scotland, and Ireland, was one vast political association, and blind and infatuated was the base and interested opposition given to such an invincible popular demonstration. We shudder at the fearful alternative which has been so happily but so miraculously averted ; and such a people must indeed be worthy and able to share, with advantage to every order of so 3tiety, in the distribution of political power. It is extraordinary and disgraceful to hear the jealous and absurd reflections on the danger and illegality of Political Unions. Most fortunate is it for the Monarchy and Aristocracy of this country that these great and revolving political associations formed a safety-valve for the excited feelings of the people, and , were headed by men of talent, station, and property, which guaranteed the nation against a bloody and devastating re volution. Equally absurd is the imputation of illegality so industriously propagated against them. Corresponding Societies only are illegal, and that by modern and wicked laws. Political Unions are strictly legal; they are sanctioned by the laws : proclamations and abortive legislation could not suppress them—their natural, proper, and certain termination will be—the Reform Bills passed into law, and the return of liberty and prosperity. They are inconsistent with good government ; they could not be maintained under a free representative system ; but till that is achieved, they will be the terror and extinction of corruption. They have formed a convenient target for the poisoned arrows of the Borough mongers, nand an artful use has been made at Court of their political power and proceedings; but William IV. has too much sense not to dis cover that with the boroughmongers they will pass to the tomb of the Capulets. Mr. Hume and Mr. Parkes illustrated, at the Mansion House dinner, the contentment which the nation will derive from the pending measures of Re form. It is absurd to suppose that men of pro fessional and public avocations can or will con tinue, but in the present extreme necessity, the agitations and personal sacrifices of the late com bined extraordinary exertions. The Anti-Re formers early and shrewdly foresaw that Political !Unions would undermine and blow up the borough system, and th e y, t h ere f ore , l ou dl y an d industriously denounced these dreadful batteries as not destructive to them —the corruptionists— but to the Crown, which we sincerely believe they have preserved. The trick was palpable, and has failed ; but the Tory Press continues to harp upon this string as the last cord of discord be , ween the people, die Crown, and the King': Ministers.—Morning Chronicle. One argument always urged against the ex ension of the elective franchise to 10/. voters in towns and boroughs, is the encouragement likely to be thereby afforded to " mobs," and th► certain occurrence of " tumultuous outrages." We do not believe that a greater outrage upon common sense was ever committed than by the use of such an objection. Who are they that have on any occasion resorted to lawless violence or tumult at periods of election ? Are they the freeholders—even the forty-shilling freehold ers—of counties ? Or the freemen who choose representatives for cities or large towns ? Or even the pot-wallopers ?—the lowest degree of electors known to the Constitution, and nearly the lowest members of the community in this kingdom. Assuredly it will not be said, that even in places like Westminster, where immense numbers are combined with an humble scale of qualification, riots and disorders have been the work of men who enjoved the right of voting. Those who possess the franchise make it, in ninety-nine cases out of one hundred, their or gan for expressing whatever opinion guides, or whatever political passion or prepossession moves them. They giNe tt eir vote and interest cor dially in favour of the cause and the champion which they mean to support. Yellings, hoot ings, filth, and paving -stones, are the weapons of those whom the law has excluded from the exercise of more legitimate and effective power. There is, we will assert, no example anywhere of voters having recourse to brutal rage and vio lence. They can make their hostility felt with more force in a constitutional form. The sol dier who carries a loaded gun will scarcely throw it aside to assault his:adversary with a brickbat ; it is not merely pride that would restrain him, but a consciousness of wielding that more formidable engine, wherein his capacity of inflicting more terrible punishment consists. All animals exert, instinctively, a specific and appropriate kind of force. The horse does not strike with his head, nor the bull with his foot ; nor will an English man, armed with the lawful prerogative of reject ing an obnoxious candidate by his vote, attempt the child's play of annoying him by personal in sults. We have touched upon this subject, be cause of its alliance with the general one of po pular combinations, undertaken in a spirit of party impetuosity, and for political uses. The fact is, that most of such confederacies of men, whether invested with active and distinguishing privileges, which raise them ostensibly above the multitude, or excluded from the enjoyment of rights to which they conceive themselves entitled by a substantial superiority of fortune or educa tion, are made for definite and strictly honest purposes. Those which are open, like the Po. litical Unions, for int.tance, have objects in view of an avowed and determined nature. Since there came any chance of carrying a Reform Bill, the leaders of those associations have li►nited their efforts, and those of their leagued brethren, to the accomplishment of the Bill. Here like wise, as in the case of mob riots at elections, the effect has been mistaken for the cause, and an infinite confusion of Tory intellect has displayed itself. The Bill, it is said, " will produce riots at elections," whereas, in truth, it will take from the ranks of the rioters all to whom it extends the right of enforcing their sentiments through a more honourable channel. So the Political Unions throughout England are described to be a sort of perennial spawn of the Reform Bill, and to bid fair for being ingralted by it upon the body of our political institutions. This is arrant drivelling. The Political Unions would never have existed but for the sake of Reform. When the cause has been promising, they have comparatively languished. Their activity and energy have been redoubled whenever Reform seemed to flag. • The fortnight during which Lord Grey's power was suspended, and a general fear arose that the Duke of Wellington might succeed him in of fice, produced an accession to the Metropolitan Unions of many thousands of respectable and independent men, all resolute to act, by means of those Unions, upon the interest of the Re form question, but manifestly aiming at nothing more ; and now, by the clearest evidence possi sible, demonstrating the sincerity of their inten tions. Not merely have many of the county meetings, which had been summoned in the late moment of terror, been countermanded from the confidence reposed by the country in Lord Grey, but several of those redoubted Political Unions, which are held up as such bugbears by the ene mies of popular rights, have ceased to assemble, and will probablynever meet again, on the assur ance that the Reform Bill cannot be wrested from them. We warn our countrymen, however, that the " people's occupation is" not yet" gone." We conjure them to be alive, suspicious, and vigilant. There is no safe trust to be placed in the Anti-Reform faction. Despair will some times shake a good man's principles,—it ever makes a bad man worse. Lord Grey may not even yet be on his guard against the duplicity of which his foes are capable. Base though such an act would be, still the Conservatives, having gained the grand point of averting a creation of Reform Peers, may, at the eleventh hour, turn round;—surprise the frank Minister and the sleeping country, and throw out the measure on its third reading. That the empire would be convulsed from its centre to its extremities is true,—but what then ? The task of Govern ment would be thrown upon the defeated Whigs, and the conscientious Tories would have another twelvemonth's " chapter of accidents" before them. After all the pledges, public and private, of the Conservatives, it is true that such an infernal trick would cover them with a coat of infamy,—but what then ? If the worst should befall, the Whigs would resign,— the Tories pounce upon the evacuated benches : then comes an attempt to revive the reign of real anarchy : the land promised to themselves by the Conservatives would be a scene of desolation. Our Correspondent, indeed, " Radical," overrates prodigiously the power of the Duke of Welling ton to do harm. But were his Grace inclined to ruin England, which it may naturally seem preposterous to imagine, —were he to recom mend persecuting laws against the Press, the despot's terror, the Press, at one gripe would strangle him. Did he try the army, o f w hi c h such men as the Duke of Wellington can com- , prehend the mechanical constitution but not the moral, we, in the name of the people of Eng land, would set his Grace at utter defiance. We do not think that any man in England —were he popular with the army, which our great Field- Marshal is not—could prevail upon a single soldier to employ his bayonet against the people, engaged as they would then be in a sacred war, for the undoubted rights which are common to all native Englishmen; but were the troops thus pro fligate or frantic, what are they as compared with g p a e i o n i s )l t e paßtroiowticiongwould they and indignant Commons ? How long ere t h ey were 1 , 1_ 2 ) ei 4 o , O ue t O sne o b , oo o td. o i O ed of a disbanded by " the people's House," and or tiered to lay down their arms and disperse, ca: • lain of high treason ? No ; the contest is over. The Bill, in spite of all artifices, must eventuall ‘ i ) pass. Nor will the temporary success of one manoeuvre defraud us of our chartered rights, or save its perpetrators from lasting contempt and hatred. We repeat, however, and wish ii to be remembered, that such a crime is not ab solutely out of reasonable calculation. The Conservatives have done sufficient to prove their capability of further exploits. They denounced Reform, to deter its friends from introducing it. When it was brought forward, they next de nounced it as revolutionary, for the sake of over turning the Mioistry whom they had failed to deter. Arrived themselves at the threshold of the Council-room, they pledged themselves to support the principles of this subversive and re volutionary 13i11 ; and now, driven back from the door, they abuse and vilify the original framers of the - same Bill for adhering to it. Let Lord Grey be but suspicious of these men, and he robs them of the faculty to injure.—Times. To the nomination of the individual members composing the committee moved for on Tuesday by Lord Althorp, to inquire into the policy of renewing the Bank charter, and to examine our present banking system, as regards the power of issuing notes in England and Wales, we have no objection to make. Most of the gentlemen selected by his Lordship have shown that they had paid some attention to the subject, that they have attained some knowledge of its principles, and that they are acquainted with a considerable extent of its details, though few of them may have earned their present distinction by extensive knowledge or consistent liberality. Neither have we any particular objection to the secret manner in which the proposed inquiry is to be con ducted, nor to the strict limitation of its range to certain prescribed topics. If the Bank accounts are to be submitted to the Parliamentary com mittee, the Bank Directors have a right to ex pect that the world shall not be made acquainted with the state of their affairs before the Court of Proprietors; and at any rate a Parliamentary investigation should not be allowed to furnish additional subjects for mere talk in Parliament, or for mere gambling at the Stock Exchange. From the speech of Lord Althorp, it would appear that the whole question of the Bank monopoly,-_ that the whole policy of renewing the charter upon any conditions, and the entire character of those conditions, should it be renewed at all,— that the connexion of the Bank with the Go ' vernment, and the propriety of' continuing or modifying that connexion,—that the general system of ban king in this country, as regards the issue of promissory notes, and the abolition or retention of the exclusive right in the lords of Threadneedle-street to the metropolitan circu lation,—that the policy of one great national establishment for supplying paper currency to the nation, as the Mint supplies legal coin, in stead of' the present exclusive Bank, or a num ber of smaller banks of issue in the capital,— would come under the review of the Com mittee. If such be the case, never was a Par liamentary Committee intrusted with more im portant functions ; and never were more delicate or difficult questions submitted to the decision of a Legislature. After the Committee shall have proceeded from the examination of' the ac- tual state of things, both as regards the Bank of England and the system of country banking, they will be offered abundant opinions of a theoretic de scription on the nature of paper currency, and innu merable suggestions of improvement on the exist- ing system - Of banking. It will be their duty to receive candidly, and to discuss calmly, the ideas of men who have made these subjects the study of their lives ; but in a matter of so great im portance they ought rather to be select than in discriminate in the witnesses summoned to pro duce arguments or opinions instead of deposing to facts or statements. Above all things the Committee should be on its guard against the interested testimony or partial representations of the Bank Directors or Bank Proprietors. As regards them—as regards the existing charter — we must have an almost entire change ; and yet in a petition to the House of Commons, agreed upon some time ago, the Court of Proprietors pray that their present privileges may be renew ed in all their plenitude and extent. Let us for a moment reflect on the modest nature of this demand, and the mighty interests which its con cession would compromise. The Bank peti tioner, then, ask that they may enjoy, without compensation to the public, ten or twenty years longer of a lease which gives them almost unlimited dominion over the commercial or mo nied concerns of the nation. In this lease is in cluded—first, their right to be the Government banker, and to be paid for managing the divi dends at the rate of 3401. per million, for 600,000,0001. of the national debt, and 3001. per million for the remainder ; thus securing to their establishment the remuneration of 259,0001. a year for a service which, with all its risks, might be performed for little more than the half of that amount. In the second place, they de mand that the composition for t"he payment for stamps shall be continued at the rate of 3,5001. per million, while other banks of issue pay more than double that sum. In the third place, they have the modesty to propose that they shall still be allowed to direct the currency of the country —that they shall strip the King of one of his highest prerogatives, or relieve him from its ex ercise—that they shall not only act as a mint, but be both a mint and a mine,—and that they shall be continued in the power to regulate our foreign exchanges, and to alter the value or se curity of every man's property in the kindom, at their sovereign will and pleasure. For this purpose they require that there shall be no note-issuing rival, or intruder on the cir culation, of London, baekef and there deposit miles private with more than six partners within the same shai within be 6 5 no range. This is their mighty game preserve,— and their laws are to be rigid against poachers or interlopers. It is true that in 1826, from fear of worse consequences, they relaxed their regulations beyond the limits of this preserve, and allowed banking establishments with an unlimited number of partners to be formed ; but they were well aware that without the example and support of the metropolis, these establishments would con tinue long feeble and inefficient, and could never essentially interfere with their monopoly. Con sider what calamities the insecurity produced by this restriction has already brought on the country, a nd then try to estimate the enormous mischief of the monopoly which the parent establishment in Threadneedle-street had previously brought on the country. The number of banks which have failed within the last forty years amounts to nearly 1,000 in England, chiefly on account of the system which the privileges of the 13ank compelled them to follow ; while, in Scot land, to which its influence did not extend, scarcely a single failure has occurred. In the fourth place, they demand that, in conse quence of these privileges, they may be able to .livide eight or ten per cent. on their immense' stock, besides having lately increased that stock i fourth without any advance of capital, am having formed a reserved fund of several million -o be afterwards added to their funds or dis ributed in bonuses. In the last place, tht Governors propose, by the petition which they have thus induced the proprietors to sanction, t( keep the said proprietors in the same state of ignorance regarding the management of then concerns, which they have enforced for the last 50 years. In surrendering their books for ex amination at the time of the Restriction Act o' 1797, it was found that they kept the secret of their accounts by using ciphers, like dip'omatists in hostile countries. Is this any longer to be endured in a great public concern , which a s k s the support of Government ? We have no doubt that the Committee will take into their serious consideration all these points, notwith• standing the remonstrances of the Directors, and the petitions of the proprietors ; "and if the com mittee should neglect their duty, we promise not to neglect ours in appealing to the country against their re c ommend a tions or decisions.— Times. We thought from the moment we had heard of Lord Ellenborough's appointment to the rank of Generalissimo of the discomfited Anti-Re formers, that it could not be long before he would distinguish both them and himself by some extraordinary exploit. Our prediction has been verified. His Lordship divided the House last night, on an amendment, which, if it du not to he the public by surprise, will prove that the public know more of his Lordship than his Lordship knows of consistency. The amend ment to which we allude was, that Lancashire should return six Members to Parliament, in stead of four, as contemplated by the Bill. This comes well from a conservative, who objects to the measure chiefly on the score of its democratic tendency. But the great mark of opposition, it would appear, is not so much the principle as the party—not so much the measure as th . e . men concerned in accomplishing it ; for, the party can be annoyed, the principle, as in the present case, may be carried farther than before, without alarming the conscience of the anti-Reformer. The reason of this is, that the anti-Reformers know well enough that the cause of the rotten boroughs is hopeless, and must be given up. In short, Lord Ellenburough and his coadjutor, Lord Wynford, in proposing to extend the franchise, did only what the Duke of Wellington was willing to do before them, and for the very same reason—because, the princi ple having been already decided by the publi c , there remained nothing to contend for but party and personal objects, which they were resolved to prosecute at all hazards of consistency. A few nights more and the Bill will have passed the House of Lords, to the great joy of the nation and the contusion of many pretended Liberals, who never would have been known if such a test had not been furnished by Ministers to try the stamina of such politicians.—Morning Herald. Another division took place last night in the House of Lords, when it appeared that fifteen Members only of the Constitutional party were in attendance. The great bulk of the late majo rity absent themselves now from the House, not from any remissness of duty, but because they are aware that the performance of that duty would be the signal for at once annihilating all further exercise of deliberate judgment by an overwhelming deluge of Whig partisans. His Majesty's Ministers have but little cause to con gratulate themselves on a victory obtained by means which, for insult to Parliament and out rage upon the Constitution, have not their pa rallel in history.—Morning Post. COMMON COUNCIL. (Concluded from The Sun of yesterday.) Mr. ATTWOOD then appeared at the bar at the head of the deputation, and read the address, and was loudly cheered. Mr. STEVENS moved that the address be framed and glazed, and hung up under the direction of the committee. The motion of Mr. Pearson, that the freedom of the city be presented to Mr. Attwood in a box made of heart of oak, was then put, when— Mr. FIGGINS said, if ever man deserved the gra titude of England Mr. Attwood was that man : it was not so much for his exertions in the cause of Reform, but for his interference at Newhall-hill, and the probable calamities which he prevented. He appealed to all who heard him, and sere aware o f the throbbing anxiety that beat in the breast of every citizen of London a week ago, to ascertain the news from the north of England, whether the man who stood in the breach when there was not the breadth of a hair between the country and a bloody revolu tion, did not deserve a higher tribute than the free dom of the city.—(Cheers.) The feeling which was ripe in the north would have spread, and if it had not been checked by the mere force of Mr. Attwood's character and example, would have set London in one blaze of revolution.—(Hear, hear.) Now was the time to show the King, the Lords, and the Tories that the calm was not ushered in by in difference,—that there was no reaction. Let them see that the people were still alive to the merits of the friends to Reform and the country ;—let them have no triumph by witnessing the rejection of the pretentions of Mr. Attwood.—(Loud cheers.) Mr. SAMUEL DIXON said, the constituted authori ties would not be safe, if the present proposition were agitated. He deprecated and dreaded the con sequences of the spread of knowledge among the people.--(Great laughter.) Mr. Under-Sheriff WOOD, Mr. R. TAYLOR, Mr. HOWELL, and Mr. WILLIAms, opposed the motion, which was supported by Mr.PEWTRESS, Mr. THORN HILL, Mr. RIDLEY, Mr. JuPP, Mr. GALLOWAY, Mr. JONES, and Mr. PEARSON. After a long discussion, the vote being put whe ther Mr. Attwood should be admitted to the free dom of the city, there was raised a thick show of hands for the affirmative, accompanied by shouts, which were echoed by strangers outside the bar; and for the negative 13 hands were raised. This poor exhibition of opposition was the signal for deaf ening acclamation. The tumult having subsided, Mr. Attwood was conducted from his seat near the bar by Mr. Pearson and Mr. Stevens, to the area fronting the Lord Mayor's seat. (Then there was another burst of acclamation.) After undergoing the customary process of installation, the Chamber lain delivered an address of congratulation, in which he dilated on his eminent services as a civilian, and eulogized the great temperance with which he wielded the power intrusted to him at the excited a-semblages of men in Birmingham and its vic,nity ; and said, that not only as a citizen, but as one in terested in the peace and prosperity of the empire, he tendered him his warmest congratulations for the honour to which his virtues, his talents, and vast services to hi s country had raised him. Mr. ATTWOOD then addressed the Court as fol lows My Lord Mayor and gentlemen of this high and honourable Cour'. It is not possible that I, on this great occasion, should not feel as a man of rue sensibility and honour should feel ;—it is not possible that the true spirit of a Briton should not be kindled within me. I am here this day crowned with a great and lasting glory. You have conferred upon me an honour which kings and emperors have coveted, and deemed it an honour to obtain. It is, 00, an honour which warriors and statesmen have looked to as an accumulation of their glory. Why, then, should not 1, a plain and humble citizen, plod 'ling my calm but steady way through the wear end dangerous course of politics, feel more than usualY exultation and gratitude at the conferring of such a • honour ? I have, however, one consolation, one cheering hope, one buoyant principle to uphold me, —that I have never swerved from the duty which ny cram conscience and the good confidence of my f.dlow-countremen era calculated to inspire. I feel hat I have (lone my duty, and it is to me a source of great gratitic aloft that an honourable and upright line of conduct has secured for me this lofty and i rermatient reward. I have for some time adopted a lecided, perhaps bold, line of politica,—l have, per laps, made myself obnoxious to many whose ex perience, wisdom anti intellect, are fir superior to ny own; but I acted on my knowledge of the .xigerteies of the tio,es, and the wants and wishes of he people. I never resorted myself to measures, nor countenanc.•d their adoption by others, which .vould trench on the law, until I saw that great, - errible, and general emergencies arose. I have ever respected the prerogatives of the Crown, the rights and privileges of both houses of Parliament, when fairly and constitutionally exercised. But when I saw the foundations of society loosenieg and breaking under our feet,— aien I saw storms and tempests gathering and black ening in the distance,—when I felt the incipient ;leavings of a political earthquake Ora , I knew would disorganize and crush all the institutions of this powerful empire, —then I thought it right to step forward and stand between the people and rebellion. I saw there was still a door left open for reconcilia tion. I did not wish to close it. My efforts and those of my colleagues were incessantly and vigo rously directed to inculcate the necessity of obedi• epee to the laws, and the preservation of public order and respect for property. Thanks, first to God ~nd next to the people, we have succeeded; but while we did this, we strove to lift the people to the proper standard of moral energy. For this useful and well designed work we have had already a noble portion of our temporal reward. We have been honoured with the approbation of this mighty cor poration—boundless in influence and wealth, as it is great in character, in talent, and independence. From the remotest period of our history this body has been the bold and able asserter of personal worth, of popular rights, and national glory. It has ever stood in the van of the people in their fight for liberty, and how proud shall we of Birmingham be to adopt so great a precedent, and be tutored by such masters. It might be said that the men of Bir mingham and all the populous districts that sur rounded it were guilty of indiscretion. But let their po sition and circumstances be considered. They were in some degree cut off from all communion with the State—thetr ignorance Was not instructed, and no anodyn e of good legislation was applied to heal the burning sores of their political wrongs. They were left unrepresented, unheeded. They were con signed to themselves,—to those of a superior sta tion whom accident placed and choice kept amongst them,—to accident, and the dispensation of Provi de.iee. When the news of the rejection of the Re form Bill reachrid Birmingham, they assembled at a moment's notice in tens of thousands—despair and sullen rage painted in their faces. I then strove to calm them. Well, another meetin g full of the same terrible resolution was held. I saw it. I was col lected, though appalled. Then came the news that Lord Grey was reinstated, and I witnessed a scene that I nevi r saw equalled, and could scarcely think on : resolute and gigantic men shedding tears of joy, —true tears of gladsome emotion. My nerves never failed me till then You cannot believe me until ou see the men of Birmingham. I have read of the tears of valiant men : I never saw them until then, and it was a sight enough to shake a man to the heart. I Lye only again to say that lam de voted to the constitteional privileges of the throne, the altar, the Lords, and the Commons ; and be cause I am so devoted, would resist to my utmost the usurpation of either order. And for the great and lasting honour conferred on me by the corpora tion of London, be directeddon, to merit willonlysa 2 say, that " all my life and efforts shall Successive peals of acclamation followed this address, arid the meeting broke up. BRUSSELS PAPERS. , •,r BRUSSELS, MAY 19.—Count de Lalaing is certainly attached to the Embassy to Vienna. It seems that the notion of sending M. Sawvage to Petersburgh is given up, and that he is to go to Berlin. The Belgian artillery has just been increased by a fine battery of 12-pounders. The cavalry has been reinforced by 1,200 horses. It seems that it is still to be further increased. A division of artillery and ammunition set out yesterday for Malines. The head-quarters of the 3d division (Flanders) was transferred the day before yesterday from Ghent to Termonde, where they will be fixed for ►he present. - The return of Lord Grey to office has caused a rise in the Exchange at Antwerp and at Brussels. There is a demand for st iek in both cities, and it is difficult to find sellers at the prices quoted. We have received tram Paris the 60th protocol. The Chamber of Representatives continued yesterday the discussion of the law relative to the mines. ANTWERP, MAY 18.—We mentioned yesterdLy that a Commissary of Police and three gensdarmes had paid a domiciliary ♦isit to our office, without exhibiting any legal order or authority. We have since heard that they came to arrest our partner, M. de Hoffmanns, at whose house they had been looking for him so early as five o'clock in the morning. M. Huffmanns lives in the country; he had gone out early to take the air, and thus escaped tl.e search of those who came to arrest him. It may be supposed that till he knows what new crime is imputed to him—what Judge and what tribunal will have to try him—he has no reason whatever to come forward, to pass several months in prison, in order to be acquitted afterwards. —Journal du Commerce of Antwerp. As we had announced, a great number of domiciliary visits were made yesterday at Ghent to the houses of suspected person.. This time, however, there was nothing about conspiracies and overturning the State. Justice only wanted to discover the author or the manu scripts, and in consequence the author of the four famous Articles inserted in our paper, for wfich an action has been brought against our editor, who has declared himself responsible for them Messager de Gund. CARLSRUHE, MAT B.—We are able to give almost po sitive information of the resolution of the Ministry of our Grand Duchy with respect to the demands of the Diet of the Confederation. The impression made by the tone of menace was very great, but truth and justice have tri umphed over every petty consideration. M. Von Turk, heim and some of his colleagues were for unconditional submission, the others were decidedly adverse to the sup pression of the freedom of the Press. The opinion of the Grand Duke turned the scale. The result of the difference of opinion was the resolution to convoke the Assembly of the States for the Ist June. In consequence of this very remarkable discussion, it is said that M. Von Turkheim will quit the office of Minister ; but this is not certain. It Is, however, affirmed that a man, well known for his li beral sentiments, will have M. Von Turkheirrea place. —Aligenzeine Zeitung, May 16. LENGTH OF GENERATIONS.--It is a curious fact, that the present Duke of MONTROSE is the third in descent who has possessed the family titles during the long space of 149 years, namely, since 1684 ; and it is, per haps, as curious, that the family titles were possessed by as many persons during the thirty-one years before that date. —Caledonian Mercury. A grand and stupendous project, tending to develope and give effect to all the revolutionary wonders of the railway system, challenges attention in the present number of the United Service Journal. It proposes, by the application of the all-conquering mechanical powers of the present age, to establish a vast line of what are called marine railways, which, besides intersecting the whole of England, and furnishing a universal substitute for our present hazardous, eosdy, tedious, and circuitous commer cial navigation, shall branch over the Continent, and em brace with its cheap, secure, and expediting powers, the whole trade of France to and from England, with the en tire commerce of England, Belgium, and Holland, t o all parts of the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and the Archi pelago. The details of this most extraordinary plan, and the statement of its tendency and consequences, will b e read with no little eag erness i n the paper itself, which w i ll stamp its author as th e modern Archimedes, if the prodi gious designs it unfolds he found reducible to practice. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY MURDO YOUNG,AT Ttia SEX OFFICE, 112, STRAND, LONDON.