The Sun. — London, England, 1832-08-24 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. We yesterday enumerated some of the claims which the Portuguese Constitutionalists have upon the justice and sympathy of Englishmen, for support or encouragement in their present awful struggle against a usurping tyrant,—and called upon our countrymen in this metropolis for a bold and manly expression of their sentiments on the Portuguese question at a public meeting, whose voice would resound through all Europe. If the facts which we stated, and the reasons which we gave for the measure which we recom mended, should be thought insufficient to war rant the appeal which we made, we should almost despair of success in addressing our fellow-citi zens on any other great political question which was not immediately recommended to their no tice by fashion, by novelty, or by obvious inte rest. If sentiments of pledged honour,—if ties of . acknowledged duty,—if claims of ancient alliance,—if companionship in the common faith and feelings of freemen,—if revolting persecu tions and proscriptions, endured on our account, or for following our advice,—if the urgency of atonement for our broken engagements and for our guilty indifference on more favourable occa sions,—if the prospect of calamities at which the heart of man sickens, as the alternative of our present apathy,—if the voice of humanity and the cries of mercy,—if, we say, all these motives for exertion, which unhappily unite ie our relationship to the Portuguese Constitutional cause, should fail in producing the effect which we ardently desire,—then we must contend that our countrymen are changed, or admit that we have mistaken their generous nature. Both we ourselves, and many of those to whom out present appeal is made, lament that the liberal and Reform Government of this country did not set us the example of testifying in favour of the cause of the Portuguese patriots, by a favourable allu sion to it in the King's speech at the late pro rogation of Parliament. Nothing, we are per suaded, could have been more pleasing to his Majesty's own feelings, and nothing could have earned for him and his servants a greater fund of popularity with the nation. The title of the young Queen had been acknowledged in the official acts of this country. The divisions of the House of Braganza, and the disturbed state of Portugal, have been adverted to in the speeches from the throne for the last four years. The blockades of the belligerent parties have been publicly recognized ; and the present state of the contest did not permit the war on this occasion to be passed over in silence. Why, therefore, was there such excessive caution in abstaining from all allusion to the side on which constitutional right, justice, and freedom are ranged? After declaring Don . Miguel to be a usurper, and receiving his niece as Queen of Portugal, could there be any difficulty in determining to what party our ex• pressions of sympathy were due ? Could there remain a moment's hesitation in deciding be tween the merits of usurpation and legitimate right,—between the banners of despotism and the flag of freedom,—between a Government which had persecuted our countrymen, and one that held out professions of amity and friend ship Y. Was it a weak desire to maintain a kind of hold over Don Miguel, or to propitiate the rump of the Holy Alliance, that imposed this silence on a King of England in taking leave of his Parliament ? Making every allowance for the reserve imposed on a Government in the official announcement of their views or wishes on occasions like the present, we cannot help, never theless, declaring our conviction that their frigid allusion to the Portuguese cause in the Royal speech was impolitic and mischievous. By the Portuguese party, to whom we are opposed, it will be registered as an act of political cowardice —(we should be alarmed to think that it was taken for one of returning friendship) ; and by the other, with whose cause we are identified, and which may have received from Ministers private encouragement, it will be looked upon as an act little short of political treachery. By all Englishmen it must be interpreted as, pro tanto, an abandonment of that manly and straightforward course of policy, on which the affairs of a great and magnanimous people— free and safe to declare their sympathies and dis likes—to acknowledge their friends or their ene mies—ought always to be conducted. But though, in the present Portuguese struggle, the Government of England, like the gods of an cient Rome, may wait " to choose the conquer ing side," we have a better opinion of the manly and patriotic portion of the public, — who are bound by no official reserve—to sup pose that they will be the less eager on that ac count to express their feelings and sentiments at the public meeting to which we yesterday ad verted. We are aware of one objection which may be made, and which has been made, against the present military proceedings of the guese Constitutionalists, and, consequently, against any renewed expression of British interest in their favour, an objection of great plausibility we allow, but to which, from a more inti mate knowledge of Portugal probably than most of our readers, we are able to give a brief and satisfactory answer. It has, then, been said, " See how ill the Portuguese are prepared for ' freedom. Though oppressed by the Usurper for years, they still hug their chains, and are de lighted with his tyranny. No portion of them has joined the liberating army, though it hoists the Constitutional charter on its standard,—a proof that the charter could not be executed, though in the squabble between the two brothers, family considerations should prevail upon the people to choose the side of the eldest. Why, then, should we Englishmen feel any interest in a contest which is not connected with a poli tical system, but involves merely a family preten sion ?" It is true, indeed, that few of the Por tuguese beyond Oporto have, as yet, joined the Constitutional standard, but that does not prove that if the Emperor had happily landed at Lis bon, and got possession of the capital, the whole nation would not have supported him. The Portuguese peasantry, or the great mass of people in the provinces, take little interest in political changes, but would have acquiesced in a good system, till they had begun to feel its benefits, as easily as in a bad one, to which they could not logically trace their sufferings. Those who had been of a more active turn of mind, and who had previously supported the constitution, are mostly either in exile or in prison, and thus cannot give an expression to the feelings of their more passive countrymen. There remain chiefly, therefore, as active politi cians, the population of Lisbon and Oporto-- the great and enlightened majority of which had embraced with ardour the cause of the charter, and are still its decided friends. Oporto, it will be seen by all the accounts, welcomed the Emperor with enthusiasm ; and so would Lisbon have done, had he been able to encounter the troops of the Usurper as easily in landing on the banks of the Tagus as on the banks of the Douro. Had the imperial forces been sufficient to effect an entry into both capitals, his success would have been secure, the nation would have been with him, and liberty would have been pro claimed amid the exultation of a people who now seem dead to its attractions. The parties of " light and darkness"—of passive obedience and of the charter—are so equally balanced, that the sentiments of the Court, or the sword of the army, can at any moment turn the scale. The Princess Regent, though a weak and capricious woman, was able to support the constitution till the arrival of her brother Miguel, in 1828 ; and it certainly cost " the monster" more trouble, and exposed him to greater danger, to destroy the charter and to usurp the Crown, than it would have done to have remained Lieutenant of the kingdom under the Constitution which he had sworn to obey, and which his brother had sent him to maintain. The priests, the monastic o dens, and corrupt i I magistrates in the provinces, are certainly power- I ful ; but, like the Jesuits and the emigrants un der the late Bourbon Government in France, they are only powerful by leaning against the throne which they are supposed to prop. Like ciphers, they count when added to a positive quantity, but are nothing when isolated. Were Don Pedro or his daughter established in the Palace of Ajuda to-morrow, they would not__ find more devoted courtiers than the heads of the monastic houses, who are now setting fire to their convents to consume the Con stitutional troops in the conflagration. The English public may, therefore, rest assured that if the military means of the Constitutional party had been sufficient to cope with the tried force of the Usurper, a better political order of things in Portugal was not only possible, but was certain. The numerous exiles now spread over the world would have been recalled—im prisonments and violence would have ceased— the sword of political vengeance would have been sheathed—existing confiscations would have been reversed, and such spoliations for ever afterwards rendered impossible ; while legisla tive chambers, according to the Charter, would have been convoked, and would have laid a sure foundation for all subsequent political improve ments. The Portuguese Constitutionalists— who are many of them able men —may be supposed to !know their own country as well as the Duke of Wellington or any English pig-headed Anti-Reformer; and yet they, in reliance on the view which we have given above, have returned to their country, and staked their lives on the success of their enterprise. In the result of the struggle they may indeed be dis appointed ; but let not any nibbling, Anti reforming, political sciolist try to convince us by reasonings a priori, that from the ignorance and superstition of the Portuguese their success was impossible, and that the degradation 'of their countrymen must be eternal ! Times. At the Maidstone Reform festival on Tues day last, of which a very fill account has been given by the Maidstone Journal of the follow ing day, Mr. Hodges, one of the Members for Kent, observed, that " now that the Reform Bill had become the law of the land, they might reasonably look to it as a means of remedying all the grievances and miseries to which this great nation has been exposed. I certainly (added he Hon. Gentleman) am not prepared to say that this great measure is without imperfections or without faults; but I can assure you who have read the debates, that 1 and others who listened to them are perfectly aware, that if we had continued to propose amendments, with the intention of rendering the Bill perfect, or ca valling at every point in order to make our ene mies' objection groundless, we might have gone on to this time, or even longer.—(Cheers.) We have taken the Bill as a man takes his wife—(Loud cheers)—for better for worse, but resolved to make the best of it.—(Loud cheers ) The great principle which the Bill establishes is, that which all the statesmen who have written upon our Constitution have long contended for—it contains a power of renovating itself, without at all disturbing its grand outline. It is a boon of inestimable value. The people of England have now the means put into their hands of remedying those evils which have been brought upon us by borough influence in Parlia ment. Every Government in the world stands in continual need of watching, however excellent it may be in principle. * * * I am sorry, that, for the present at least, the new con stituency under the Bill is not so extensive as it ought to be—as it was meant to be—and as it will be."—(Cheers.) Mr. Hodges here very properly rests the great merit of the Reform Bill in its having removed the weight which sus pended the operation of the Constitution, and opened a door to such further improvements as experience may prove to be necessary. The Bill has defects, but the Bill supplies the means of removing these defects. The other county Member (Mr. Rider) alluded significantly to one of these defects, which must be removed. Speaking of an Honourable Baronet, who is a candidate for the representation of one of the divisions, he observed, " Some friends of the Honourable Baronet, in their over zeal for his support, and with a blindness to conse quences quite marvellous, have endeavoured to exercise more than a legitimate influence over their tenants, and have held out threats which will naturally drive that respectable class of persons to consider whether it be not possible to find some mode of giving the suffrage which will enable them to satisfy their own consciences ; while others, with singularly bad taste, have boasted much of the good old times of Toryism, for getting, I presume, that from that party and their measures have flowed the manifold blessings of 800 millions of debt ; and that the farmer, of whom they profess to be the especial protector, has been by their means led gradually from prosperity to the poor-house." The Reform Bill has given a better constituency, in as far as the constituency is richer (for though wealth is not identical with intelligence, the possessor hav ing more abundant means of acquiring intelli gence, may be presumed to have profited by these means) ; but it has exposed the elector at the same time to the apprehension of suffering from the exercise of his franchise. The appre hension may or may not always be well founded; but the elector is entitled to all the protection necessary to his exercising the suffrage without injury to himself. From all parts of the country we hear the same complaints. Thus, for in stance, the Essex Independent observes, that " a very powerful argument in favour of the vote by ballot has been furnished within these few weeks in Essex, by the reluctance on the part of the new constituents to register their votes. We hold it to be the duty of every man to sup port the cause of liberty at this eventful crisis, in spite of any selfish interest. But when, on the other hand, we recollect that there are many voters whose very livelihood may depend on not disobliging the party which they would desire to oppose, we feel that something is yet neces sary to shield the indigent voter from oppres sion, and the Ballot occurs to as the only means as° doing. As the time for the election under the Reform Bill is now at hand, and as the other promised plans of Reform are soon to be discussed, we feel it to be our duty to state the question relative to Vote by Ballot in its true light, both in order to disabuse it from the wilful misrepresentations of interested individuals, and to state its exclusive value, as a means of representing the people, in terms that cannot be mistaken by a discerning, though long-deluded public. It will be recollected, that in the early discussion on the Reform Bill, the question as to the Ballot was postponed, in order to be dis cussed in a future Parliament." After describing the mode in which Balloting ought to be con ducted, the writer in the above paper forcibly observes—" The objections brought against this mode of voting may he traced to party and in terested motives ; and a moment's serious re flection is capable of refuting them. It is fool ishly said that Ballot would lead to c orruption, by inducing a candidate to offer bribes to the voters, to be paid on condition of his being returned. This, however, is a spurious objec tion got up by those who dread the fierce ordeal of the Ballot, and has no real foundation in truth. It is enough now for a few vicious and dependent persons to be bribed ; yet the penalty and consequences, if discovered, render it very uncommon ; nor would the manner of voting either increase or diminish the number of such instances of bribery. But, on the other hand, the ballot must necessarily do away, at once, with a much more prolific source of corruption— we mean open and avowed influence. Many, in deed, have been the hundreds and thousands of unwilling votes extorted from the poor farmer, who happens to have a vote, to oblige his master or the lord of the manor ; or, what is as ridi culous, perhaps, as it is corrupt, to oblige the parish parson !! ! And this neither from bri bery nor good will, but purely from the base passion of fear !—a sentiment disgraceful to the character of a courageous English Yeoman, and one from any temptation to which the brave French have long been exempt, by having long enjoyed the blessings of the ballot. How many thousand electors openly declare, every election, that they are forced to vote for 'Squire Such a-one, or for Lord Thingabob, or else be ruined in their trade or turned adrift from their farms, to suffer the misery of houseless want, as a reward or penalty for giving a conscientious vote ! And this is called freedom ! Good God ! if this be really freedom, and not slavery, what then is misnomer and paradox ? The French and the Americans laugh at our notions of freedom of election, guarded as they have long been by the Ballot. The truth is, the corrupt portion of the Squirearchy know quite well the value of the Ballot ; they feel the full measure of its force ; and they dread the castigating hand that shall let fall the fatal and bitter pill into the gob let of corruption. And we will conclude by saying, we feel sure that on this mode of voting alone all true Liberty depends." It is quite ' ridiculous to suppose that the constituency of the country will allow the continuance of a sys tem of suffrage, under which they can only dis charge their duty at great risk to .themselves and their families. The question we hold to be de cided—any man who opposes it we hold to be a Tory, or something worse. He who wishes to have the power of influencing a fellow-citizen by appealing, not to his judgment, but to his fears, is a brutal tyrant, whatever name he may choose to give himself. But the Ballot has been at tacked from another quarter. Those who are not electors are hostile to the Ballot because it deprives them of control over those who are, and who hold the suffrage as a trust for the rest of the community. In an evening paper of yes ter'lay it is urged— " Though the vote by ballot is adopted to secure the independence of the voter, and to protect him in the ho nest discharge of his duty, it must not be overlooked that there are circumstances in which such independence would become a positive evil. The case which we suppose is one, where the constituency is limited and wealthy, and has interests, real or supposed, separate from the mass of the community. There it is plain that a secret mode of voting would clothe them with a most dangerous power, and one productive of the most extensive mischief. It should never be lost sight of, that where the few monopo lize the power of making the laws for the many, the responsibility and accountableness of the few should be strictly secured. Their power is not intended for selfish but for national objects ; and to screen its exer cise from publicity, is undoubtedly the way to ensure its perversion. It is upon this ground that we have ven tured to express doubts as to the expediency of adopting the ballot as a permanent arrangement, till we shall, first, have taken measures to secure an extension of the very limited constituency which the Reform Bill will create in England. Out of a population exceeding twenty millions, scarcely half a million will be entitled to the exercise of the right of electors ; and these include the wealthy and independent classes. There are comparatively few among them so immediately derendent upon others as those classes who are excluded from the franchise. Might it not be unwise, and productive of evil, were this delegated body permitted to exercise their functions in secret ? They are entrusted with a power to exercise it for the public and general good; and for the discharge of this trust they are responsible to society. But there can be no responsibility where there is no publicity. The potent and acting few can in such a came do as they please; tie excluded millions have no resource but an appeal to force." The constituency in many parts of the coun try might be extended with advantage. Still we believe it is so extensive as to be unassailable by bribery. The body of men to whom the suf frage is confided compose all but the very lowest classes in the large towns; and even in the ma nufacturing towns of the north of England and Scotland they form so large a part of the middle classes, that their interests may be taken as iden tical with those of the nation. 'they may be controlled, however, from above and from be low. One great argument for excluding all who did not possess a certain amount of property was the presumption that they alone possessed the intelligence necessary for the proper exercise of the suffrage. This is, of course, merely a pre sumption, and in many cases it may happen that poverty and intelligence are associated together. But the presumption is not warranted, for know ledge is power, and one of the first uses a man is disposed to make of this power is to better his circumstances. But the open voting would lead to intimidation, not only from the rich, but also from the poor ; nay, from the very mob,—from those who were exclu ded, because they were supposed not suf ficiently intelligent to exercise the suffrage with advantage to the community. There may be a conspiracy of workmen to destroy the custom of a shopkeeper or publican, on account of voting in favour of a man of whose prin ciples and qualifications they themselves ap proved, but who happened not to be less a favourite with the persons so conspiring than some others. Public opinion and the opinion of the classes in question may not always be identical. The elector is called on to give an independent vote ; and the majority of the elec tors, voting independently, may be supposed to represent public opinion. While we say this, however, we are aware that in some towns of the north there are many excluded from the franchise who are qualified, in point of intelli gence, to exercise it properly. The great evil to be guarded against is intimidation. A te rant may know that his landlord cannot turn out all his tenants; but, as Partridge says in Tom Jones, one man armed with a pistol will disperse a crowd, for though he can only kill one man, yet no one in the crowd is sure that he himself may not be the man.—Morning C/ ronicle. It is right that the person of the King has been declared by the law to be inviolable. It seems proper that an assault upon the person of the King should be subject to a higher degree of punishment than an assault upon any other individual. These points, we think, may be con ceded by the advocates of constitutional freedom under a limited monarchy, in consideration of the high dignity of the kingly office, although a maxim which has often been pronounced from the judicial Bench declares that " the law is no respecter of person." Making the case of the King an exception to this maxim, it is not ne cessary to go the length of contending that a per sonal offence, which would only constitute an assault when directed against any other indivi dual, should be punished as high treason in the case of the King. We say that the doctrine of the inviolability of the Royal person does not make - it necessary to go this length, for the offence of assaulting the Sovereign may be severely punished as a seditious act, without con founding it with high treason—the highest crime known to the law, and which is properly a pre meditated attempt upon the life or liberty of the King, connected with an intention to subvert the existing Government. Accordingly the ancient laws of this country did not punish an assault upon the person of the Sovereign as high treason. The great statute of treasons, the 25th of Edward 111., which first defined the crime, and guarded the subject against the perils of constructive treason, contains no such offence as a mere assault upon the person of the King. Under that Statute the treason must consist in the compassing or imagining the death of the King ;" and although the King's death might not follow, it was necessary to prove by some overt act that the King's death was in tended. It is clear, therefore, that if Dennis Collins, the sailor, who has just been convicted of high treason, and sentenced to the penalties thereof, for an assault upon the King, had been tried under the Statute in question, he must have been acquitted, seeing that the verdict of the Jury was, " We do not find the prisoner guilty of intending to destroy his Majesty, but, on the fifth count, of intending to do his Majesty bo dily harm." It is certain that his Majesty did not, in reality, suffer any bodily harm from the act of the prisoner, but, as the indictment only charged him with the intention, it was not ne cessary that actual bodily harm should be proved. But how does the intending to do the King some bodily harm come to be high treason, and to be confounded with the crime of compassing and imagining his death? The Statute which has made it so is, in fact, one of the sanguinary Acts of comparatively modern days, which was passed at a time when the Draconic spirit pervaded our legislation, aid every Session brought forth new Statutes of blood. It was during the Ministry of Pitt, when the doctrine of constructive treason was pushed to the most violent extreme—when the Constitution of Eng land was twisted like a nose of wax, and the British Parliament was as servile a tool of power as the Turnkish Divan—that the Act was passed under which Dennis Collins has been tried for an assault upon the King's person, and sen tenced to be hanged and quartered. If England had had a free representation at that time such an Act would never have been passed ; and it is not likely a reformed Parliament will long allow an Act to remain on the Statute-book which is so at variance with the principles of rational and proportionate justice as to confound an assault with the greatest crime known to the law. But supposing the law was unexceptionable, the facts of the case in question are such as might fairly induce a jury to presume insanity. If that be an insane act for which it is impossible to assign any rational motive—if that be an insane act by which the perpetrator forfeits his life in the open face of day—in the midst of a crowd—ostenta tiously courting exposure, and not having the hope or chance of any guilty advantage from his crime, never • has there been a more insane act than that of Dennis Collins. A Berkshire Jury have in their wisdom thought otherwi , e. We believe the result would have been different if the trial had been held before a Jury of Londoners—not from purer intention, but because London Juries are more enlightened and more capable of thinking for themselves than country Juries, in general, are. How else did it happen that Margaret Nichol son was treated as a lunatic, and Hatfield was found insane, while Dennis' Collins, whose act was quite as wild and irrational as theirs, and had nothing of the character of premeditation— nothing of the unequivocal intentioneoragr e g a Nichol son with icsthth a destr 111. oy the life of the Sovereign that thei r ' s h a d , i s considered a responsible agent, and sen t ence d to s h o e assailed hanged person quarteredof G ? Margaret knife or dagger which she had cautiously con cealed. Here the use of the mortal instrument proved that the intention was the death of the King, and the concealment which she practised in approaching his Majesty showed that her madness had method in it. As to Collins, he neither used a deadly weapon nor attempted to avoid detection, but flung the stones openly, which it appears he picked up at the back of the Royal stand, as if he were performing the most innocent or meritorious act—a tolerably conclusive proof of the extinction of the sense of right and wrong at the time of com mitting the act, his sufferings, his want, and some liquor, probably producing that excitement, which so operated upon the wound in his head, which he had received in fighting the battles of his country, as to produce temporary derangement. It is true the Jury have, since the trial; signed a petition for mercy to the unfortunate man. Even if they had not, we are quite confident that the beneficent pre rogative which the Constitution has deposited in the Royal bosom, will not, in the present in stance, be powerless to mitigate the sanguinary sen tence of the law. Hatfield attempt e d the life of George 111. with a loaded pistol, which he dis charged at him while seated in his box at the theatre ; and, for ought we know, he lives still i n the seclusion of a lunatic asylum—the fittest place for the wretched, crippled, and, evidently, deranged Collins ; but if even he be considered to have had sufficient sense of right and wrong at the time of committing the offence to make him a responsible agent, surely, his Ma jest), will not seek for any consolation from shedding the blood of the miserable man whose quarters the barbarous law so humanely places at his disposal." No, we are convinced the Royal mind, consulting its own generous feel ings, will turn with natural disgust from the sacrifice offered to it, and, by administering jus tice in mercy, by exercising the noblest attri hute of Kings, give the Throne a moral protec tion stronger than any which it can receive from the terrors of revengeful law.—Morning Herald. Delusive arts boldly exercised, and mis-state ments widely circulated, will have their effect, and in no case have they been more successfully attempted than against the Bank of England.— In the present instance we shall deal with this subject very practically. The two leading charges brought against the Directors of that Establishment are, that they have mismanaged their affairs so as to reduce their means, and that they have grievously inflamed the excite ment of 1825 by their over issues. To these two points we will now confine ourselves, and in reference to them we pledge ourselves to the country that the following statement will be found in the evidence and accounts about to be published respecting the affairs of the Bank of England. In February, 1819, the securities amounted to thirty-one millions.— The resolution of Parliament declaring the necessity of withdrawing one pound notes from circulation, these amounting to up wards of seven millions sterling,• of course imposed the obligation upon the Directors of reducing their securities to that extent.— But the necessity was further imposed by the expected, and then decided upon, withdrawal of the notes of provincial bankers, which created a further curtailment of the Bank securities for the purpose of issuing upon bullion to meet the wants of the country bankers. After these pre parations had been made the Government came to the determination in 1822 to continue the cir culation of country bank notes until the year 1833, thus leaving an inordinate quantity of bullion in the hands of the Bank, to the amount of fourteen millions, in the early part of 1824, which operation at the same time gave a great power of extension of the circulation to country banks by the continuance of the issue of their paper. Pending these transactions the profit of the Bank must diminish ; but, subsequently to February, 1825, the dividends have been more than covered by the legitimate income of the Bank, which has also been enabled to provide for the loss of at least 250,0001. by Fauntleroy's for gery. And now as to the other charge, of largely contributing to the excitement of 1825. The increase of the circulation of the Bank between January, 1822, and April, 1824, arose solely from the increase of bullion held by the Bank in the latter period over the former ; and if the calculation of the circulation be carried on to October, 1824, it remained as in the preceding April. On the Ist of January, 1822, the cir culation stood at 17,700,000/., and the bullion at 11,700,0001. On the Ist of April, 1824, the circulation stood at 19,300,0001., and the bullion at 13,800,0001. These figures show that, whilst the paper had increased 1,600,0001. the bullion had increased 2,100,0001., which is clear evidence that no forced issues were made by the Bank. We leave this plain statement, to the accuracy of which, as it will appear in the evidence and accounts, we again pledge ourselves, to the unbiassed judgment of the public.- 3torning Poet. The result of the approaching election of Members of Parliament is as confidently stated by one party to be favourable to the interests of Reform, as it is predicted by another to be ad verse to them ; but, on whatever side the truth may lie, there is nothing more true than that the system of undue influence, which has been already resorted to, on the one hand, and the cowardly system of refraining from the exercise of the elective franchise, on the other, must lead to the adoption of the ballot as the only safe guard against the one, and the only means of encouraging the other to do their duty by them selves and by the community. We see no help, in fact, against such result. The object of the Reform Bill was two-fold—first, to destroy nomination burghs, in which it has already succeeded ; and, secondly, to convey to the country such an extension of the fran chise as should prove an effectual bar against the corruption of voters, in which last ob ject we fear that it has already totally failed. In the counties we know that, generally speak ing, it will prove a failure, in consequence of the influence exercised by landlords over their te nants ; and in many of the burghs we fear that the case will not be much different, in conse quence of the anxiety of tradesmen not to give offence to their customers. For the former class some charitable allowance must be made, for it is, unquestionably, no pleasant affair fur a dis tressed tenant to place himself in hostile array against his landlord ; but for the latter, we see no excuse—we can admit of no apology. 'Their conduct is base in the extreme, and most wor thy of all the reprobation which those who fought unflinchingly in the sacred cause of Reform can possibly bestow upon it. It is not only a deser tion of their duty to themselves, but an abandon ment of the duty which they owe to society—it is saying neither more nor less than that they will take advantage of the benefit of a good vote government, to its n ‘ t v e i n l l a n n e o e t c a o n n d t ri b wh u a t t e even e d t y hr e is there for such conduct, but the ballot ? Honest, and courageous, and independent men have no wish to shield themselves under the protection of such a system ; but they must naturally desire it, in order to shield themselves against the con duct of those who are neither the one or the other ; and—reluctantly we allow—we now call upon the independent and reforming portion of the community to demand from every candidate for the honour of their representation a pledge that he will not only vote for, but support, as a primary matter, vote by ballot. There is no safety without it—there never was a more favour able moment, either for demanding or compelling the pledge. Many candidates have already de clared themselves in its favour ; and it only re quires the expression of a simultaneous wish, on the part of the public, to render the question quite as popular as that of general reform lately was.—Morning Advertiser. SOMNAMBULISM.—Dr. BLACKLOCK, the celebrated blind poet, after his ordination at Kirkcud bright, dined with some friends who bad accompanied him from Dumfries, and finding rest necessary to recruit his harassed and exhausted spirits, soon afterwards left the table and retired to bed, when the following extraordinary circumstance occurred, which merits particular notice, as a curious fact relative to the state of the mind in sleep. One of his companions, uneasy at his absence from the corn.. pany, w e nt into his bed-room a few hours afterwards, and finding him, as he supposed, awake, prevailed upon him to return into the dining-room. When he entered the room, two of his acquaintances were engaged in singing, and he joined in the co ncert, modulating his voice as usual, with taste and elegance, without missing a note or a syllable ; and after the words of the song were ended, he continued to sing, adding an extempore verse, which ap peared to the company full of beauty, and quite in the spirit of the original.—.He then went to supper, and d ran k a glass or two of wine. His friends, however, observed him to be occasionally absent and inattentive. By-and-by he was heard speaking to himself, but in so slow and con fused a manner as to be unintelligibl e . At l as t, b e ing pretty forcibly roused by his companions, who began to be alarmed for his intellects, he awoke with a sudden start, unconscious of all that had happened, having been the whole time fast asleep. Li V EltPuti t. CORN EXCHA NUE.—Aug. 21. WHE&T, English, White, per 701 b. Red Scotch, Welch, and Manx 8 9 9 3 - Irish, White 7 9 8 .2 -- Red 7 6 8 0 - Foreign 9 0 9 8 OATS, English, Welsh, and Scotch, per 451 b 2 9 2 10 - Irish - Foreign BARLEY, English, Malting, per Imp. quarter 36 0 40 0 - Scotch and Irish, per 60Ibs. - Feeding 4 3 4 6 BEANS, English, per Imperial quarter 36 0 40 0 - Irish, &c. - Foreign PEASE, English, per Imperial quarter 36 0 38 0 - Foreign FLOUR, English, per 28011). - Irish OATMEAL, English and Irish, per 2401bs 2l 0 23 0 INDIAN CORN, per 4401 h. lIA E, per Imperial quarter . 3l 0 32 0 Nlaur, per Imperial quarter IMPORT OP GRAIN for the Week ending Aug. 20. Wheat. Oats. I Barley Flour. Oatmeal. Qrs. Qrs. Qrs. Foreign, Brlsilrish, &c. Scks.l Loads. 2,533 2,784 i 86 83 7 I 2;64 1,868 A large portion of the Theatre at Baden, in Switzerl nd, has been burnt; the performance had termi nated with a scene representing a house on fire. A few minutes after three o'clock to-day a gtntleman called at the Cess-uffice, and tendered pay ment of taxes, which were refused. Having t tken with him a notary and witnesses, he again tendered the amount, which was again refused. The notary asked if the Act fixed the hour of shutting the office ; but he was refused an answer, and ordered to the door by Baillie CRAIGIE, the collector. He then took a protest against the collec tor, and retired in sufficient time to prevent forcible ex pulsion, which seemed to ba meditated by the collector and his sun. The Tax-office was shut on Saturday at 12 noon, while the Town Clerk's office was open till 10 p.m., and to-night will he open till midnight.— Girt sgow Citron. SINGULAR INQUEST AT CARLOW.-011 Tuesday last, the 14th instant, the skeleton of a man was found in a quarry adjoining the Graves, and quite near the town. The men, on discovering one or two of the bones, proceeded very cautiously, when they found the whole, together with his boots, spurs, cross-belts, and a breast-. plate, hearing the inscription, " Castledermot Cavalry King and Constitution," together with some old shillings and halfpence. The spurs and breast-plate were not in jured by the time they had been in the earth. The de ceased was discovered to be a man named COLEMAN, mis sing since November, 1500. On the night he was mis sing, a dinner was given by Captain GREEN, of the Cas tledermot Cavalry, at the Bear Inn, kept by a man named SMIT/I. After dinner he went into the street, after which he was never heard of. An Inquest was held on Thurs day, when the above circumstances were proved. Dr. PORTER said, that there was a fracture on the skull. There was no evidence to prove how the deceased came by his death. It appeared that the place where the body wad disc veered was originally a quarry-hole, which had been filled up. All the quarries in Carlow were searched at the imp of his disappearance, without sneetBB. The Jury found a Terdict—" That the bones of a man produced were those of BENJAMIN COLEMAN, who came by his . l eatli in some way that cannot be accounted for."--" Carlow Sentinel. PLYNIOUTI-I, AUGUST 21. The Royalist tender arrived here this afternoon from Lisbon and Oporto ; all quiet, and no news from the former place; left Oporto 16th instant ; at that time Miguel's squadron of a 74, a frigate, three corvettes, and two brigs, were cruizing off there, also Sartorius, with two frigates, but no action had taken place (the few shots fired on the night of the 4th, off Lis'ton, did no damage on either side). Mattel's squadron did not appear willing to engage, and Sartorius could not, before he got more of his squadron together, which he expected soon to do, venture to attack Miguel's. Don Pedro, with 10,000 to 12,000 troops, was still at Oporto, and retained possession of the south side of the Douro; but the 2,1 and 3d divisions of Mil,uel's army being within a short distance, it was expected every day there would be an engagement. A trifling action had taken place at a village near Oporto a day or two previous to the Royalist's arrival, in which Don Pedro's party were de feated, owing to the treachery of one of his officers, Captain Rebocho (not Rebello) ; very few men were, how ever, lost, and the officer had been executed. Count Villa for had received a slight contusion in the action of the 7th. None of the officers of the Royalist were on shore at Oporto (where she remained only four or five hours), but gathered the above from the officers of the British ships lying there. Mieuel's squadron had been lying close in with Oporto, but on Admiral Sartorius coming down in shore with his two frigates, they stood farther off. Oporto was there .ore NOT BLOCKADED. THE MARKETS. souTHALL MARKET.-Aug. 22. In this day's market, which exhibited a fart* average time of year supply throughout, and was tolerably well attended both by London and country buyers, prime small Beef, Mutton, and Lamb, met with a steady sale, other kinds, as also Veal and Pork, were very dull, at the following prices per stone of Sib, to sink the offals:— Beef .......—. 2s.10(1. to 4s. Ott I 3s. 2d. to 4s. 4d. Mutton ....... 3 2 4 4 Pork 3 6 4 8 Lamb 4s. Od. to ss. 2d. The foregoing quotations are prime Beef and small Lamb 4d. per stone higher than on this day se'nnight ; prices otherwise stational y. Beasts, 200 ; Sheep and Lambs, 3,837 ; Calves, 80; Pigs, 50. A considerable number of the Sheep and Lambs, but not many Beasts, left the market unsold. HAILSRAAI . SIA . RK E r.-Aug 22. Beef--......... 3s. Od. to 3s. 10d. Vca1.............: 3s. 4d. to 4s. Od. I Mutton —...3 S 4 8 Pork ...........—.. 0 0 0 0 .. Lamb ....—........ 4s. 4d. to ss. 4d. Supply of Beasts moderately good ; trade with each kind of prime meat somewhat brisk, with other kinds very dull. ARUNDEL MA RKET.—Aug. 2L 10d. to 4s. 10d. Veal 35. 6d. to 4s. 2d. Mutton 8 4 S I 0 0 0 0 Lamb 4s.lod. to ss. Od. Supply good, and ti a e rather dull. CHICHESTER Al ARK ET.-Aug. 22. Beef lod. to 3s. 10d. Veal - 3s. 4d. to 4s. ed. Mutton --- I 3 6 4 6 Pork= 310 , 4 2 lamb 4s. od. to ss. Od. Store Sheep and Lambs, and Store Beast;;;;ere in increased demand at somewhat improved prices. Supply of both fat and lean stock good, and trade with the former rather dull RU MFO RD MARKET.-Aug. 22. s. d. tos. d. L. d. s. d. Bcef 2 8 3 8 Veal Mutton 3 0 4 0 Pork 3 6 4 6 Lamb 3s: 10d. to 4s. 10d. Suckling Calves from 14s. to ‘26s ; Quarter old Pigol2s.to 18s.each. Supply rather limited, arid trade dull. COUNTRY CORN MARKETS DURING THE WEEK. Wheat. Barley. I Oats. Beans. Per Quarter. s. to s. s. s. s. to s. s. to s. Blandford 59 35 - 22 42 Brigg— 52 63 36 40 19 22 31 35 Cambridge 12 29 20 33 Chard 56 62 30 36 18 22 36 42 Huntingdon., 58 67 28 32 17 23 31 34 Long Sutton--,, 56 64 17 22 32 35 Louth 50 55 27 32 19 20 32 34 Lynn 56 64 28 32 22 28 34 35 Newark 58 64 33 40 18 24 36 38 Nottingham 58 68 31 33 20 25 •37 42 Peterborough 56 63 32 36 19 25 33 38 Plymouth 60 65 31 35 20 23 67 43 27 43 Sleafonl 65 70 36 38 22 28 41 43 Uppingham 58 65 32 40 20 24 30 40 Wisbech--.—.. 54 59 26 30 14 18 32 36 LEEDS CORN MARKET.—Aug. 21. Wheat, Norfolk and Suffolk, 601 b. York. and Lincoln. 601 b. Barley, Norfolk and Suffolk oC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Grinding Beans Oats, Potatoe Ms. to 705 1 ,b Ms. to 675. g 325. to 3.5 s • CI 343. to 36a. = , 2ls. to 235. so 335. to 41s. 235. to 28s. 3. )g. 1154 d. to 13d. per st. .. 30s. to 31s. per load. rn. —4. to —I per last. Yorkshire and Lincolnshire - Grinding Beans 63lb. Oats, Potatoe -51ealing, For. 12d. to 13d Shelling R•ipeseed, English, 16/ to 24e Foreil BIRTHS. theO 22d Esq., i n surgeon, st.at Bedford Hendon,w . r 0 ,o Middlesex,fa daughter.the lad On lady of Morgan,Charles the 2:kl inst. the lady of David Powell, Esq., Russell-square , of a daughter. inst. On the 21st in St. George's.,circus, Southwark, Mrs. a Ball, of a daughter. MARRIED. On the 16th inst. at Teddesley, Staffordshire, Viscoun t Newark, to Miss Emily Littleton, second daughter of E. Little' ton, Esq., M.P. for that county. ' On the 23d inst. Mr. Ch ar l es May, of Long-acre, to Dl° Catherine Jones, of Union.street, Somers.town. On the 21st inst. at St. Luke's, Chelsea, Dr. P. Nugent Kin/P" ton, M.D., to Catherine Minet, daughter of C. C. Raper, EA* On the 234 inst. at Tottenham, Middlesex, R. S. Evans, 9 414 surgeon, to Maria, only d aug h ter o f t h e l ate William Bage, Chester. of On the 21st inst. a t Pil ton C h urc h, Willi am Cl er k, Emli ato the Bombay Civil Ser v i ce , t o M ar i a , thi r d d aug ht er o f thv,„, Major Tho vas Clerk, of W es th o l me -house, in the county & merset. DIED. On the 20th inst. at Tenby, in the 39th year of her age, Ca therine wile of Joseph Lax, Esq., of Park-street, Bristol. On the 22d inst. Mr. Charles Fincham, tea-dealer, Chat l t'. cross, aged 49. On the 11th inst. at Burnett-house, near Bath, Mary M B" the wife of Walter Wilson, Esq., aged 44. g a le, On the 22d inst. in Burton-crescent, aged 69, Mrs. widow of the late Joseph Hale, Esq., of Redcross-street, On the 21st inst. at Brordstairs, Horatia Nelson Mason, Infant daughter of H. W. Mason, Esq., of Beel.house, Amershara , nine months I elan d ' he 10th inst. of the cholera, at Balinrobe, Mayo, .r - Henry S. G. Bowles, Esq., Lieutenant in his Majesty's 83d giment, aged 24. of On the 18th inst. aged 20, Harriot Mary, second daughter Mr. John Moon, of Green-street, Grosvenor-square. young On the 20th inst. at Tunbridge Wells, Georgians, Y e. '' daughter of John Ensor, Esq., of Rollesby Hall, Norfoll, -- ' ------7 PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY MURDO YOUNR, A T riO SUN OFFICE, 112, STRAND, LONDON.