The Sun. — London, England, 1832-03-20 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. The Duke of Newcastle, not content with the opposition wh:ch he can give to the Reform Bill in his place in Parliament as an hereditary legislator, together with that illegal and reprehensible power which he possesses as an eminent borough-master, and which it is the object of the Bill to destroy, is also publishing a pamphlet on the subject of—that ig, against—Reform. His work is entitled An Ad dress to all Classes and Conditions of Englishmen, by the Duke of Newcastle. Now, before we enter into the discussion of this pamphlet, or present any extracts from it, we will frankly confess that it gives us pleasure to meet with a person of his Grace's exalted condition in the character of an au thor. The act is a credit to him, however it may be performed. It speaks well, also, for the aristocracy of the country generally, to find in its ranks so many Members capable of ;nstructing their countrymen, or at least of giving efficacy to their own opinions by their pens, and through the press. And if, which we verily believe, there never was a time when so many persons of this talent and capacity appeared among the Nobility, they owe it to that universal diffusion of knowledge, in which it would have been shameful to them to be left behind, and which it is the aim of his Grace and those who unhappily share his opinions to counteract and suppress. The man ner in which his Grace was " pricked on" to write, is appropriately described in the Preface, and re minds us of Falstqff's" Catechism" in Henry IV.:— " This addrecs was commenced several week; ago, and the first part written at intervals, as leisure or the state of health permitted. The original expectation was, that the substance would be comprehended in a few pages ; but as the writing proceeded, it was found impossible to accom plish this consistently with the object in view. It was then laid by for some time; but anxiety would not suffer that the attempt should be abandoned. In spite of strong disinclination and a painful onsciousness of inaptitude for the task, it was lately resumed. Nothing hut an irre sistible desire to contribute his best endeavours fur the public weal could have induced the writer to persevere under the many circumstances which seemed to oppose the completion of his undertaking." It is impossible for us to dedicate our columns to give currency to opinions which we contemn, and which it is the object of our daily labour to contro vert : we shall therefore take a passage in which the author summons his strength, and seems to comprise all he has to say against the Bill; and we shall number and mark in italics those passages on which we bestow a comment : " A measure professing to remedy all the evils com plained of was proposed. Some estimate of the value of an article may be formed by considering the qualifications of he manufacturer. "The present Ministers entered upon office under circum stances of a very advantageous nature. Their accession to office was greeted with satisfaction and considerable expec tation. It was the same party which on a former occasion obtained the appellation of ' all the talents.' The sequel has proved how little this title was merited, and how often tel qui brille au second rang, s'eclipse au premier.' But what must have been the confidence of those persons in the'r own profottnd ability, when they presumed to lay before Rirliament a measure, not to amend and ameliorate, but one to destroy and reconstruct ? They find a constitu tion, the admiration and envy of the whole world, and which, until lately that we are grown ' unkind and un natural,' was the pride and boast of every Englishman; they cAll it imperfect—and to make it better, they destroy the work of the practical wisdom of successive ages, and substitute in its place a new one, no doubt the work of the Birmsngham artisans; but by whomsoever composed, it is the arrantest counterfeit, the most barefaced cheat, the most tangled masa of incongruities, impracticabilities, injustice, and nonsense, that ever emanated from the brains of rational men, or o'er was ushered in under the auspices of a talented Cabinet. I put it to the common sense of auy one, whether he does not laugh to scorn this new Constitution, as much as he pities the obliquity of judg ment which could have led any set of Englishmen to ima gine the overthrow of the old and approved British Consti tution, by the substitution of a vain conceit, a palpable, di-executed counterfeit. " T' alter the composition of Parliament is to alter the Constitution ; for, as Parliament frames the laws, so may a bad P:uliament overturn every institution of the country. " (1 ) The Bill remedies none of the evils which it professes to cure. Does it make the constituency more pure ? No ; all the impurity, if such it is, is by Me last Bill to be preserved. Does it destroy the influence of Peers ? No; on the contrary, one of the chief argu ments in favour of the new scheme is, that every Peer will now have the power of ingratiating himself with the electors, and rendering himself popular : if he can do this, then he will he able to influence the elections, and may obtain Parliamentary power. Does it equilize the reprrsentation? No ; it proceeds, in the most arbitrary manner, to select those who are to form the Utopian con stituency. (2.) I say, if' you admit the inherent right of every Englishman to vote fur a representative, you must grant the right toall ; for, if it be a right, it must not be withheld ; if it be not a right, and that the qualifica tion is to be given by an arbitrary rule, why then, I say, continue to us what we have hitherto had ; we shall not be henefitted by the change, it is merely robbing Peter to pay Paul,—taking front a consetvator to give to a re former ; but you, my countrymen, the nation at large, will gain nothing—absolutely nothing ; you may lose every thing you now have, but you can by no possibility gain any thing but a loss. Then, again, by the most unheard of injustice and tyranny, the small boroughs are to be to tally annihilated and robbed of their chartered rights; (S ) convicted of no crime, accused of no delinquency, not even allowed the form or semblance of a previous trial. but by the arbitrary will of a reckless Ministry and a packed Parliament, they are to be blotted out of the constituency, unrequited even by a bare allowance of corn pensation. For, as writes a noble author on the English Constitution, and who, we must conclude, may be an au thor of the Reform Bill also,— •' By such means, if applied with judgment and sin cere desire of improvement, the balance of the House of Commons might be thrown once more on the side of the peopl., without so violent a measure as declaring the privi lege of the small boroughs to be forfeited. Undoubtedly those privileges ate a trust—but so is the Crown ; and we ought to have as good, and as strong, and as cogent rea sons for disfranchising Old Sarum as we had for expelling James IL' " Mark here the gross injustice and partiality of the last Bill : in those places where the boroughs are preserved, there the right of voting will also be preserved to the pre sent voters ; but in the places which are to be disfranchised, there not (4) only will those boroughs be deprived of their chartered and inalienable rights and privileges, but the voters of those places will also be deprived of their votes. Mark again the scand dous partiality in the selec tion. Observe—a Reformer's borough is seldom to be touched, and is always favoured ; whilst the great spoliation is levelled against the boroughs of the conserva tors. And why is this? Obviously because party-advan tage, not the good of the country, is the whole object of the Bill. The reforming party see clearly, that if they can pass this Bill, they are settled in office fur half a century perhaps ; or, at all events, that the conservative party cm • not obtain an entrance, and that the future choice must be between them and something still worse." 'Was there ever such begging of the question, or rather such a naked assertion of all the matters in dispute, as the passage in this extract marked No. I. contain, ? Might not the questions be answered, with equal claim to attention, in the affirmative? But in reply to the last, if the Bill of Reform does not destroy the influence—that is, the arbitrary in fluence — o f the Peers, would it not be kind in his Grace to suggest better provisions, and more clinch ing clauses, by which that influence might be con trolled? But what absurdity ! The Reform Bill, he says, taking up our argument, leaves " to every Peer the power of ingratiating himself with the elec tor." Why who ever thought it useful, or at tempted, to subvert this power? Long may the Peers possess and exercise it ! It is the power not o f ingratiating, but of commanding votes, and nominating Members without appeal to the will or wishes of the people, that we quarrel with, and are determined to overthrow. The passage marked 2 presents an instance of the man ner in which extremes meet, in which ultra- Toryism embraces radicalism —the Duke of New castle shakes bands with Hunt. Because we would extend the elective franchise to ostensible householders and substantial tenants, all paying rates arid taxes, therefore we may not stop short of uni versal suffrage! What does his Grace mean by say ng (No. 3) that the small boroughs are to be anni hilated, though convicted of no crime, accused of no delinquency ?" Can there h,- a greater political offence —i s grosser deviation from moral rectitude and truth—than their pretending to return, as Members of Parliament, those whom they have not the power to refuse, and whom another nominates over their heads ? " A compensation" indeed For what, and to whom ? No one can claim it, without laying the ground of his claim in such a violation of the privileges of Parliament, as would forthwith entitle him to Newgate. It would sound well in a string of petitions to the Lower House to state, that " whereas it was notorious that there were no such boroughs as Old Sarum, or Gatton, or St. Mawes, or scores of others, but that individuals had usurped the power of sending Members to Parlia ment in the name of those places, that this power had been bought and sold contrary to all the princi ples of our Constitution, and that the present pos sessors, being unexpectedly entrapped by a law which restored that Constitution to its first intention and original practice, claimed compensation for the loss of their usurpations !" As to the disfranchised boroughs being " deprived of their chartered and inalienable ►ights," (No. 4), how ridiculous to call that inalienable which it is the effect of the present and last Bill to alienate ? And they are deprived not of their chartered rights, but of that power which they possessed, and can only possess, by a violation of the charter. Neither are the voters in nomination boroughs deprived of anything whatever by disfranchisement. If, for example, the Duke of Newcastle has the power of nominating Members in a certain borough by an absolute command of the majority, of what use is my vote to me ? If I hold under him, my vote is his. If I hold under ano ther, or by personal possession, I aal in an endless sninority,—my vote is a nonentity.—Times. The third reading of the Reform Bill, that pre cious compound of injustice and absurdity, was moved last night, and, this being the leave-taking ceremony, the leading opponents of the Bill availed themselves of the opportunity of once more record ing their sentiments respecting it. As for the Re formers upon the Treasury Bench, having long ex hausted their very minute store of argument, they of course preserved that dignified silence for which they have been noted throughout the whole progress of their measure. That the Reform Bill will pass through the final ordeal of a third reading with a considerable majority is a question which will not admit of a mo ment's doubt. As far as the force of numbers will carry them, Ministers are certain of success through the instrumentality of their Committee of Delegates, but we trust this circumstance will not induce the Members of the Conservative Party to flag in their exertions. The radicals have already sent forth a sum mons to all the supporters of the Bill ,urging the neces sity of a punctual attendance, in order that the majority may be such as to have an effect upon that branch of the Legislature into whose presence it is now about to be carried. For the •ame reason also we now call upon the faithful friends of the British Constitution to put forth their whole strength upon the ensuing di vi-ion. The lamentable falling off in the numbers of the Tory party which the second reading of the Bill in December last exhibited is still remembered by many with regret. Upon that occasion, out of upwards of 250 known and decided opponents of the Reform Bill, 162 only attended ; and the conse• quence was that Ministers, being wisely upon the alert, had a majority of two to one over their op ponents. It is to be hoped that the Tory Repre sentatives will now feel the necessity of exertion, and that the division upon the final reading of the Reform Bill will form a brilliant contrast to that upon its second reading in December last. Although the Anti-Reformers may riot be able to overpower the pledged majority of their opponents, they may at least mutter in sufficient numbers to convince the Peers that they are still resolute in the performance of their duty. Not alone, however, to the avowed Members of the Conservative Party do we address ourselves uron the present occasion. Although the majority of the supporters of the Ministerial mea sure are pledged to vote with the Government under all circumstances whatever, there are still many con scientious and independent Reformers in the House who have opposed many of the leading details; such, for instance, as the clause giving an increase of Members to the metropolis, and others of equal importance. To these Hon. Gentlemen we would say, that the third reading of the Bill is an occa sion upon which they are imperatively called upon to record their sense of the bungling manner in which the labours of the committee have been con ducted. We are far from wishing to propose any sacrifice of principle on the part of the independent Reformers, but as they have supported many amend ments to the Bill, and as those amendments have been resolutely opposed by the Government, we think that they are bound in consistency to object to the passing of a measure which they have repeat edly declared to be faulty and imperfect. The adoption of this course will afford them an honour able distinction from the pledged majority, proving, as it will undoubtedly prove, that they have acted as rational and unprejudiced Representatives of the people. By consenting to the second reading of the Bill they have recorded their approbation of the principle of Reform ; by oppo•ing the third reading they merely record their objection to that particular measure which Ministers have produced, as being in many respects unjust arid imperfect, and, there fore, unfit to be sent forth as the deliberate act of the British Legislature.—Morning Poet. Lord John Russell moved last night the third reading of the Reform Bill. The public now know pretty well all that can be said for and against the Bill, and would not have been sorry if the debate been concluded last night. It was, however, ad journed, to be concluded, we hope, this day. The debate was opened by Lord Mahon, who occupied a good deal of the time of the House with what may be called, without any want of charity, by the term palaver. The Noble Lord observed, that " When he looked upon the slur which this Bill east upon for mer Legislatures, he could not call it less than an act of impeachment against their ancestors." All alterations of the law are a declaration that that which has been altered was bad. We do not know ingly, and with our will, change from good to bad. The question is, will the change promote the good of the nation ? That it will, is the opinion of the whole nation, with the exception of those who profit by the abuses against which this Bill is di rected. The Constitution of England is the work of what the Noble Lord would call a constant suc cession of libellers, for in every age it has under gone alterations more or less extensive. " The historical record of the British nation," says the able author of the pamphlet on The Prerogative of Creating Peers,' which we yesterday noticed, " are the annals of a people originally pastoral and barbarous; thinly scattered over an uncultivated country; conquered and mixed with foreign invaders ; their language, laws, religion, and Government perpetually changing ; the Feudal System supervened on Saxon principles of freedom —a nation progressively increa•ing in numbers, wealth, knowledge, and maritime intercourse with every quarter of the world. The history of the Constitution displays the changes consequent on the struggles of Monarchs, Nobles, and People—alternately contending with, and coalescing against, each other for power and superiority ; the Reformation superseding Papal dominion; a system of representation adapted to the past, but not to the pre seat times ; a Republic sweeping away A dynasty; the Restoration (' the worst species of Revolution,') repro ducing it ; the Abdication ; the Revolution of 1688 ; and the wonderful creations of new society in the eighteenth and present centuries. •" What are we to think of such twaddle as the fol lowing observations of the Noble Lord ?—" Was it nothing in their estimation to unsettle the minds of the \N hole people ? Was it good to tell them that there was nothing sacred in our institutions ? Was it prudent to teach them to be continually discussing the first principles of all Government? Was it even decent to make all these important subjects topics of every day's debate ? The respect of the people for the law was, in his estimation, even of more conse quence than to have a good law."—(Hear, hear.) What is the use of a Parliament at all, if the laws are to be like those of the Medes and Persians, and to demand respect, whether good or bad ? The " The Introduction prefixed to the Parliamentary re• print of Domesday, records the most remarkable evidence of the changes in the distribution of population and wealth. Is our political Constitution alone to remain stagnant ?" Noble Lord should close the doors of the Legisla ture, and prohibit, under a severe penalty, all dis cussion whatever; for if people are allowed to dis cuss, they will-take the liberty to condemn as well as to approve. The most philosophical view of the subject was taken by Mr. Macaulay, who, in criti cising the existing Constitution, distinguished be tween that which was good in it and that which was bad; and pointed out the good and bad conse quences respectively produced by them : " He respected the Constitution," he said, " and be lieved that there was in it much good, but associated with its good he believed there was much evil—it was in con sequence of the Constitution we enjoyed that we were powerful or prosperous, that our mines produced us wealth, that our manufactures at Manchester were dif fused all over the world ; it must also be acknowledged that it was in consequence of the Constitution, as it now existed, that we were oppressed with the heavy burden of taxation ; that we suffered from a stagnation of trade; that in some parts of England the wages were so low as scarcely to support animal life; that in them the labourer considered the parochial labour not as a means of occasional relief, but as a regular source of his support ; and that throughout thete existed a most distempered state of society. Under these circumstances, he could not avoid being led to the inference, that as in the present condition of society he saw a great good alloyed by a great evil, so in the Constitution he thought he saw a sound principle defaced by a great corruption.—(Hear, hear.) It was not difficult to know the parts of the Constitutio❑ to which our prosperty was to be attributed, and to those which were to be attributed to our distress. The Consti tution of the country had undoubtedly been the cause of much of our prosperity. It afforded ample security for individual property against the claims and power of the Executive. It preserved for the people this freedom of discussion. It gave them a House of Commons in which whatever were its defects, there had always been some Members advocates for the people. These were the ad vastages which they proposed not to take away but to ex tend and to secure. On the other hand it had its disad vantages. He could not but attribute to the Constitution in its present state much of the distress that now existed— distress caused by unthriftful stewardship, by partial and injudicious legislation ; to a Government from which re sponsibility was taken away, by that House of Commons; to a House of Commons from which the defects of the system of Representation took away all the responsibility; to wars which, if not more unwisely begun, were more rashly and feebly conducted than any wars could lie under a Reformed Parliament—(Hear, hear, from the Opposi tion)—to years of peaee not employed in adopting a sage economy ; to laws made for the benefit of particular classes; in short, to Ministers who had not before their eye the fear of Parliaments, and to Parliaments that had not be fore their eyes the fear of constituents.—(Hear, hear.)" This is a very suitable valedictory address to the unreformed Constitution. It prevented much evil, it caused much evil.—lt allowed a free scope to the energy of the people, and that energy has wrought wonders; but it also opened a door to a corruption without example in the History of the World. The action of the Government has been at the expence of virtue, honour, and every moral and religious principle. The share of freedom possessed by the people, was insufficient to controul the ruling caste, but it compelled that caste to secure its ascendancy by sharing the spoils of the nation with that part of the nation possessed of the franchise. The re straints opposed to the O.igarchy by the Constitu tion were like the obstruc,ions opposed to a flood, which only serve to extend the devastation. The ruling caste were but the heads of an extensive firm. A large army of corruptionists, according to their shares of influence, devoured the sub stance of the people. If the action of the Government had been more direct, much good might, no doubt, have been prevented; but the corruption, which has made such inroads into English morality, that the very existence of honour and ho nesty among us, in any other shape than as a means of deception, has been questioned—would have been rendered unnecessary. The King of Prussia, for insta-ice, is not such a fool as to incur unpopularity for the sake of giving thirty thousand pounds a year to an Archbishop of a sinecure church, to give regi ments to men who could not be trusted with the duty of a corporal—in short, to lavish money on hosts of persons incapable of rendering efficient ser vice. In such a country, the Government pays only those who really teach religion, those who really administer justice, those who really per form efficient service in the army. The first Kings of the Hanoverian family were so shocked at the profligacy arid rapacity which they witnessed in this country, that they were tempted to abandon a Government which could only be carried on by the most wicked and disgusting means. But corruption may in the long run produce an extent of evil against which the energy of the nation may struggle in vain. We believe that the conviction is now general that Reform can alone now prevent the social system of this country from falling to pieces. Can a social system hold together long in which every seventh person is a thief or a pauper? And for the sake of the Aristocracy themselves, is not a Reform essentially necessary ? Is it not notorious that the behaviour of the higher classes of England would be tolerated in no other country ? Is it not true that they are objects of disgust in the eyes of all strangers ? Is there riot much truth in the cha racter which Prince Puckler Muskau attributes to them in the conclusion of the fourth volume of " The Tour of a German Prince." " England (he observes) is now—viewed certainly with relation to a certainly different universal spirit of the age— in a similar state to that of France thirty years before the Revolution ; and it will fall out with her as with her great rival, if she does not avert the storm by radical, but continuous reform. Nearly allied fundamental evils are present here as there. On the one side, the undue pre ponderance, misused power, inflexible stony arrogance and heartless frivolity of the great : on the other, selfishness add rapacity are grown into the character of the mass of the people." Let us hope that Reform will in time put an end to the hard exclusive system caused by an aristocracy founded on corruption.—Morning Chronicle. It has been repeatedly observed, both by ourselves and others, that the delay in passing the Its-form Bill has been extremely injurious to trade; but it re mained fur a cotemporary to discover that " it is the fear that the Bill will pass which injures trade !" Admirable discovery I most wonderful insight into the state of human af f airs ! Oh, Sarum, what would the merchants of London do without thee ! Oh, Garton, how would the manufacturers suffer from thy disfranchisement ! And verily, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, arid Sheffield, as well as all ye Metropolitan districts, how could ye be so cruel to yourselves as to pray for the passing of a Bill which, when it does pass, will destroy your trade! But, verily, ye shall have your reward. The Bill will and must pass, and then will ye reap the bitter fruits of your wishes for equal representation, equal laws, and economical Reform !—Morning Advertiser. The Sunday press, like the daily press of the pre ceding week, teemed with articles on the creation of Peers; the small anti-Reform portion of it depre cating such a measure as " the fullness of iniquity," and the remainder, which constitutes seven-eighths of the whole, as strenuously insisting that there is no safety for the Bill but in the speedy adoption of such a measure. For ourselves we have de termined to repose every confidence in Lord Grey until he has proved, by hi s con d uct, t h at he - is undeserving of it ; and although, therefore, we now join in re-echoing the sentiments so strenu ously urged by our cotemporaries, i t i s not f or the purpose of dictating to Lord Grey either the when or the how such a rwvore may be most advantageously carried into effect; but for the purpose of declaring our unalte re d conv i ct i on that riot only is there no hope of the Bill being carried unless such a measure be adopted, but that also there is no hope of the continuance of Earl Grey in power, to effect the many other changes in the various departments of the Stnte called f or b y pu bli c neces- An evening s w it h y ic a h s a v‘ r . e e s l o a s i mppuebrliiocu feeling.sly contem porary of Saturday's date, indeed says " We hear that the Reform Bill will pass a second reading in the Lords with a majority of certainly not less than from twenty to thirty. Twelve of the Episcopal Bench, including the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of London, will support the Bill." But what does the =econtl reading of the Bill signify, if the same Bill is afterwards to be mutilated is the Committee ? What does the support of a majority of twenty or thirty signify, unless not only these twenty or thirty, but all the other Peers composing the majority, were certain to give both their attend ance and support on every individual clause of the Bill ? Now, that such would not be the case, even our cotemperary allows; for, it is added in the next two sentences, that—" If it should be found neces sary to make Peers, there would none be created but persons of such reputation and fortune as will do honour to, rather than degrade, the House of Lords. The parts of the Bill which it is desired to alter are, we are told, 1. Those which relate to the metropolitan districts; 2. The qualification clause, the amount of which it is wished to raise in large places, and to lower in smaller ones ; 3. The clause which enables the freeholders of towns to vote for counties. Some changes will also probably be attempted as to a few of the new places to which it is proposed to grant the franchise." Now, if what is here stated be correct, we possess proofs that it is not only just to entertain suspicions of the sincerity and continued support of the anticipated accession, but that the repentants make no secret of their intention to side with the enemies of the Bill in mutilating some of its most important principles; and can Lord Grey rely on such troops in the great battle of which he is to lead the van? Can he imagine for a moment that he will stand excused in the estimation of the British people, for losing a measure on which be has staked his fame, and on which they have fixed their affections, when he has it in his power to carry it entire ? The two hundred and one adverse Peers would, no doubt, bawl out lustily against the measure, as swamping them ; but are the united wishes of the King, of his Ministers, and of a whole people, to be thwarted for the sake of ad ministering to the interests of such a party ? Are they to constitute the virtual rulers of the country, —and its virtue, its property, to have no voice, no protection, but through them ? Away with all such whims—such false delicacy—such insignificant deference to the deadly enemies of the Bill. The people have willed the Bill;—they will have it en tire, as it leaves the House of Commons; or, if they be a second time th warted in their sanguine wishes, laborious exertions, unwearied perseverance, and hitherto unshaken confidence in the Adminis tration,—woe, we say, to the delusion of the states men who permitted matters to come to such a crisis —woe to those who were its authors and abettors -and woe, also, for the future tranquillity and peace of the country.—Morning Advertiser. THE ABSOLUTE NECESSITY of a LARGE CREATION OF NEW PEERS, IM3IEDLITELY on the PASSING of the REFORM BILL THROUGH THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, AND NOT BEFORE (From the Birmingham Reformers' Magazine of March.) We have been a good de 11 surprised to find the liberal and enlightened conductors of the London Press, without one solitary exception, urging Lord Grey, for months past, to lose no time in creating a large accession to the Peerage, in order to insure the passing of the great Bill of Reform through the How of Lords. In spite of the clamours by which Lord Grey has been assailed by the most pow erful friends of the Bill, he has refused, and most wisely refused, to yield to these clamours, not only on the score of general expediency, but in justice to the able and indefatigable friends of the Bill in the House of Commons. Is it necessary to say, that of all men in the country most deserving of a Peerage, and who in justice ought to take precedence of all others, are the enlightened Members of the House of Commons, who, through evil and through good report, through smooth and through troubled water, have fought the great battle of freedom, with such talent, energy, and perseverance, as are perfectly unexampled in the history of this or any other country in the world, America excepted ? Had a new batch of Peers been created in November last, who, we would ask, would have been selected ? Un doubtedly many from among the leading and most talented Members of the House of Commons ; and in that case— which would have been clearly one of justice, though not of expediency—we should have trembled for the fate of the Bill in the Lower House, knowing, as we do, the fac tious elements of which it is composed. Lord Grey's political sagacity foresaw that the present session would be as stormy as the last; that the dogged obstinacy and the impenetrable ignorance of some, and the deadly enmity to the renovated liberties of the country of others, in the Lower House, would require the presence of the best and most enlightened spirits among the friends of the Bill ; to have removed them, therefore, would have argued in his Lordship such an ignorance of the Op position as would have rendered him justly chargeable with incapacity for the performance of these arduous duties to which his country has called him. The stormy character of the present session has amply justified the course Lord Grey has pursued, and which has, in the opinion of his more enlightened supporters, earned for his Lordship even a higher character for political wisdom than they have hitherto been disposed to yield to him. Let any impartial man take a retrospective view of the Parliamentary proceedings of the last six weeks, and he cannot help being filled with disgust and astonish ment at the paltry, the pitiful character of the Op position,—their lingering attachment to corrupt influence, and their mortal enmity to political liberty, on the one hand, and the incredible forbearance of the Ministry and friends of Reform in the House of Commons, on the other. This attachment to corrupt influence, the ancient curse of England, on the part of the present Opposition, which is as dear to them as the ruddy drops which revisit their sad hearts,' we are free to confess, has not been met, either by Ministers or their friends, by that vigour of intellect, that strength of purpose and decision of character, which a righteous cause might naturally excite, and which the country had a right to expect from men who set themselves up as the rooters out of their country's corruption, and the regenerators of their country's liberty. It was not thus that those execrable tyrants, Castlereagh and Sidmouth, acted when they wished to impose some vexatious impost, or still further cripple the liberty of the people. In their hands an act to suspend the Habeas Corpus could be accom plished in twenty-four hours. But now that a measure of vital moment is proposed, the bare announcement of which has gladdened the heart of a whole nation ; that comes with balm and healing on its wings; that will lay a firmer foundation for British liberty and happiness, for the mil lion, than was ever contemplated by an Utopian Reformer ; that will bring out the stagnant capital of the country, let free the right arm of labour, and gloriously compensate its toil ; that will enable Englishmen to stand up and say, not in derision, but in truth, that they are the ' noblest body of freemen in the world :'—when a measure, we say, of this vast consequence is proposed, the courtesy and dalli ance of a drawing-room appear to be the rule by which Ministers regulate their conduct, instead of that straight forward unflinching firmness which their benevolent cause must infallibly inspire, and which should urge them on ward to the goal of their wishes, with the least possible delay. The best friends of the Ministry and the country cannot but lament that so much unnecessary delay has taken place in the House of Commons, which we trust will be a lesson for Lord Grey when the Bill is again in troduced into the Upper House, and induce him to act with an energy commensurate with the importance of the measure. And here we take leave to implore his Lord ship to be en his guard against a new, insidious, and ulte rior attack, which we have the best reason fur believing the Charles-street Gang, as the leading Tories have been called, have in contemplation. The apparent opp os iti on of the Tory Lords is daily diminishing, and we have no doubt, before the Bill is introduced to the Upper House, that the opposition Lords will announce to Lord Grey that they have ceased to entertain any hostility t o t h e R eform Bill ; that it has again passed the House of Commons with a considerable majority, and the count r y genera ll y are in favour of trust ennsoct hisw obviously Lordship ehey will cease oa will s ea t reasonf s opposition, inocrr e assu eethhe Peer age, r a an e da so me concession to them for the sacrific es th ey are w i ll i ng mea sure.aioge eint'latehkeeA e they u being no trifling confir ma ti on o f w h at we believe to ultimate intentions of the Tory Lords, we copy the following announcement from The Sun Newspaper of the 18th ult. : We learn, on what we deem competent authority, that at the last interview which took place between Earl Grey and Lords Wharncliffe and Harrowby, the two leaders of the moderate Reform party, after a long and animated conversation, in the course of which they suggested a va. riety of amendments, which w ere a ll success i ve ly rejected by the Noble Earl at the head of his Majesty's Govern ment, came to the resolution of giving in their adhesion to the Reform Bill The Bill, will, in consequence, be carried with very slight modi fications, not one of which which will trench even in the remotest degree on its great leading principles.' " Should Lord Grey, in an unguarded moment, fall into this trap, and rely on the promise of adhesion of my Lords Wharncliffe and Harrowby and their friends, his career as Prime Minister of this country will be of exceed ingly short duration. It may be flattering to his Lord ship to feel that he can carry the Bill through the Lords without an increase of the Peerage, but it is not within the range of belief that he can be insensible how utterly unfit the House of Lords is, as at present constituted, to discharge those duties which will be forced on them by a reformed House of Commons. It may be said that Lord Grey can at any time increase the Peerage, whenever the necessity arises ; we doubt this, and the country generally, we are persuaded, participate in our fears, that he may live to repent the postponement of a measure till he be left in a minority, when in all probability be may feel such unconquerable disgust, and so worn out by fatigue, and so heart-sick at the venality and corruption which surround him, that neither the commands of the King, nor the avowed wishes of the nation, may prevent his resigning his post into other hands infinitely less compe tent and less honest to discharge its duties. To avoid this catastrophe so fraught with mischief to the whole community, and which would not only annihilate the hard-earned fame of Lord Grey, and strip him of those laurels to which he is eminently entitled, we implore him not to desert his post, as he would thereby sacrifice his country to those whose lust for dominion is only another name for tyranny and injustice. " No man can be ignorant that the first and last wish of the Tories is to break up the present Government, and elect in its place one of their own. To insure to the ex isting ministry the only chance of rendering this detestable faction innoxious and powerless, and to enable the Go vernment to introduce those beneficial measures which must arise from a reformed House of Commons, it is in dispensible that the House of Lords should be assimilated in principle to the House of Commons, that its members should be willing to act with the spirit of the times ; that it should no longer maintain its existence by usurping any influence over the representation of the people, which it has turned to its sole advantage ; that it should no longer be considered a series of jobs, a coinage to repre sent, place, pension, commis-ion, civil employment, go ♦,rnment contract—in one word, public money.' And the most effectual way to counteract these monstrosities is, by a large creation of new peers, selected from the best blood of the country, and brought into the House of Lords, the moment the Reform Bill passes the Commons. Let my Lord Grey do this, and he and the country are safe : let him not trust to Tory promises, or Tory support ; if he do, he will infallibly dash the state vessel on a rock, which will shiver it to atoms." POLICE INTELLIGENCE. MANSION-HO USE. Mr. Peter Chalmers appeared voluntarily before the LORD MAYOR, to meet a charge preferred by Mr. Cohn, of Guernsey, of having forged the acceptance of Captain Freeman to a bill of exchange for 1311. 18s. Mr. Cohn stated that Mr. Chalmers had been his agent for the sale of ship•stores, and in 1831 be remitted him the bill in question, drawn by himself on a Captain Freeman, and purporting to be accepted by him in payment of stores furnished to his ship for a voyage to the Swan River. In due course the bill fell due, and on being presented for payment it was dishonoured, by reason of there being no provision for it. Upon Captain Freeman's return to Eng lind intimation was given to him that his acceptance was lying in the hands of a respectable firm in Broad-street, under protest for non-payment. Upon being shown the bill, Captain Freeman directly pronounced it to be a forgery, and as he was compelled to go to Portsmouth, he made an affidavit of the circumstance before a Magistrate. Captain Freeman had admitted that he purchased stores from Mr. Chalmers, for which, however, be stated he bad paid the greatest portion with cash. Mr. Chalmers Lad sent for a solicitor, but as he had not arrived, he was placed in an embarrassing situation. Mr. Chalmers then questioned Mr. Cohn as to certain transactions relative to money matters betwixt them, and attempted to show that Mr. Cohn had overdrawn his ac count at one period very considerably. The LORD MAYOR advised Mr. Chalmers to make no statements, but to negative, if possible, the very grave charge which had been brought against him. Mr. Chalmers then called a person of the name of Field, who, he stated, could swear that Captain Freeman had promised to take up the bill. Mr. Field, on being examined, had told Capt. Freeman that a bill, with his acceptance, was lying unpaid in Broad street, upon which Captain Freeman said he would call and take it up. When he did call, and was shown the bill, he directly said it was a forgery. Mr. Chalmers asked the witness if Mr. Cohn had not employed him to go to his father-in-law and require 3001. to hush up the transaction. _ _ Mr. Field denied this to be the fact, though he admitted he had been instructed to arrange matters if possible. The Loan MaYoa said it was his duty, considering the nature of the evidence, to remand Mr. Chalmers till next Thursday, in order to procure the attendance of Cap tain Freeman. Mr. Chalmers was accordingly removed from the bar in custody. BOW-STREET. Yesterday Joseph 'Volker, printer, of Bell-yard, Temple bar, was summoned before Mr. HALLS and Mr. MINSHULL, for selling a Paper called the Cosmopolite, without the usual newspaper stamp. The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge, by direction of Mr. Arnold, the harrister, who appeared as his counsel. George Colley, a police-constable of the C division, No. 97, purchased the Paper now produced, called the Cos mopolite, and dated Saturday, March 10, 1832, at the shop of the defendant, situate as aforesaid. Witness was served by the defendant, to whom he paid a penny, and received in return the Paper produced. Mr. ARNOLD, for the defence, contended, that in order to prove the offence with which his client was charged, there must he proof of a continuous publication. The Paper produced appeared to have been published on the I Otis of March, but there was no proof offered that a sub sequent number had been published. Mr. HALLS said, that the Paper itself furnished proof of the intention to continue the publication ; fur, besides being called " a London weekly newspaper," it was no tified " that No. 2 of the Cosmopolite would be published on Saturday, March 17, and every following Saturday— for ever."—(A laugh.) Mr. Arnold said, that this announcement went for nothing, unless it could be shown that a second number had actually been published. A man might express his intention to commit a murder ; but it would not, he sub mitted, be conformable with either law or justice to hang him for the mere threat, unless some overt act could be proved against him. I❑ this instance his client was charged under a highly penal statute with a specific offence; and unless that offence could be clearly made out in evidence, a conviction could not take place. Mr. HALLS said, that in his opinion the offence under the Act of Parliament was fully established by the publi cation of the number now produced, without inquiring as to whether any subsequent number or numbers had issued from the same source. Mr. MlNslium. concurred in this opinion, and observed that the penalty for the offence was mot leas than 51., and not exceeding 201. He was desirous of knowing if the defendant meant to plead any fact in mitigation of the full penalty. . . . . _ . Mr. Arnold said that it was not his intention to say one word in mitigation of the penalty, it being his intention to appeal to the sessions against the decision to which their Worhips had come. The defendant was then fined 201. He was then charged a second time with the same of fence, and fined in the mitigated penalty of 51. There was another charge against the prisoner for selling the same number of the work on a subsequent day, but in conse quence of a clerical error, the information was withdrawn. _ _ The defendant was then charged on flesh informations, with printing and selling on the reverse side of the sheet on which the Cosmopolite was printed, an Almanack for the year 18372, without being duly stamped. He was con victed on one of the informations, and fined 5/. He then gave notice of his intention to appeal against the several convictions, and put in sureties to appear at the sessions for that purpose. . . HA T T ON- GARDEN. Yesterday John Willis, a young man of respectable ap • pearance, was brought to this office in the custody of police constable 163, E, charged under the following circumstances : The policeman depo.ed, that about nine o'clock on Sunday evening he saw the defendant offering for sale, op posite Mr. Owen's Institution, Gray's-inn-road, the Poor Man's Guardian, and a new publication called the Cos mopolite, upon which he (witness) collared him and con veyed him to the station-house. Mr. LAING—What have you to say to the charge ? Defendant—l was not offering them for sale. Mr. LAING—How many times have you been in prison for the same offence? Defendant—Four times. Mr. Lair—Then I shall commit you for two months' to the House of Correction. . The defendant was then locked up. • MAR YLEII ONE. Yesterday William Rowe, who bad been nearly nine years a butler to Sir Robert Smirke, the celebrated archi. tee, of Stratford-plvo, o , cford.9!l , 2et, was charged with robbing his master of silver plate and other articles to a great extent. William Horsford, police serjeant of the D division, was upon duty on Saturday, at half-past four o'clock, when he observed the prisoner come from the area of No. 5, Stratfard-place, with a bundle. He had seen the pri soner in the same situation at dif f erent times, and suspected him of doing wrong, as he always made up Gee's-court and Barrett's-court, from Oxford-street, which led exactly to the door of his own house in Edward-street. Prisoner had always something with him, and therefore he now stopped him, and insisted on knowing what he was carry ing. On taking him to the station-house, he found that he was carrying some coals away i❑ a bundle, wl en he ordered him to be detained, and proceeded to search his boos., where, in a drawer, he found a small box contain ing a number of duplicates, and which led to the discovtry of the depredation he had committed on Sir Robert Srnirke. Prisoner's wife wanted this witness to give up the little box to her, which he refused. On going round to the pawnbrokers, he gave them notice to produce the articles which had been pledged with them. Several of them were, in consequence, in attendance at the office. The first was Henry Livermore, from Mr. Cotterell's, pawnbroker, 163, Oxford street. He produced a quan tity of plate, pledged from between the 24th of September last to the 16th of the present month. Among these were a silver cup, pledged for 205., in the name of John Rowe ; six dessert knives and forks for 15s. ; 24 table and 24 dessert knives and forks for 255. ; six tea-speons for 255. ; another six tea-spoons for 255. ; two dessert-spoons for 15s. ; a wine funnel and ladle for 12s. ; and a pair of shoes, all which Sir R. Smirke identified as his property. There was also a quantity of bed-furniture and wearing apparel, which was produced from Baylis's, in Mortimer street, and some plate, pledged in the name of Mary Ann Watts, which, however, Sir Robert declined to identify. Sir Robert here added, that the prisoner had been in his employment nearly nine years, and that he never had en tertained any suspicion of him. The prisoner in his defence said that the wearing appa rel was his own, that he meant to replace the plate the moment he got his quarter's salary from Sir Robt. Smirke, and that he should now throw himself on his mercy. Mr. RAwmisoN—You can't do th a t ; y ou are in my hands now, and you are committed to Newgate. QUEEN-SQUARE. Yesterday two little boys, about nine or ten years of age, named John and William Quinlan, were brought before Mr. MARRIOTT by William Parker, a police constable of tl.e A Division, No. 23, charged with selling unstamped publications in the streets. - The constable saw the boys in the Strand walking about with a large placard, and selling a newspaper and ahnanack fora penny. The constable here handed to the Magistrates a bundle of papers which he had taken from the bays. The Paper was entitled " The Cosmopolite, a London weekly news paper, price one penny," and purported to be printed and published by Joseph Walker, 9, Ship-yard, Temple-bar. Mr. MattnrarT told them that they were liable to be sent to the House of Correction for three months. The father of the boys here stepped forward, and said that he had five children, and that for the last four months he had been out of employ, and was in such a state of dis tress, that he was compelled to send the boys out to endea vour to earn a few pence for their livelihood. H• had expended the last shilling he had in buying the Papers which had been produced, and he was entirely ignorant that he had acted wrong by allowing his children to sell them in the streets. If there had been any offence com tnitted, he alone was to blame, and he therefore begged that the boys might be discharged, and that he might be sent to prison in their stead. The father was about to produce certificates as to his character, when he was told there was no charge against him. Father—But there is a charge against me, my children are innocent ; it was I that told them to go and sell the Papers in the street. I did not think it was wrong ; no person is to blame but me, and I ought to be sent to prison, and not they ; besides, they will be placed amongst thieves and felons, and will learn every thing that is bad. Mr. AIARRIOTT said, that be had no power over the fa ther to punish him, and committed the children for four teen days to the House of Correction. The Papers were ordered to be destroyed. UNION-HALL. Yesterday a youth, named Owen Davis, was brought before Mr. I%lumtAY, charged with exposing fur sa!e the Poor Man's Guardian and Cosmopolite, unstau►ped publications. The policeman who took the defendant into custody said that he bad been convicted before of a similar of f ence, and committed for three months to prison ; and that he was then told if he sold any more of the Poor Man's Guardian, he would suffer the Caine punishment. Mr. MURRAY, on hastily glancing over the publication in question, said, that it was calculated to inflame the minds of the lower orders, by lessening in their estimation many of the great institutions of the country. The Ma gistrate then said that the defendant should be committed fur three months. The defendant on hearing it, with a sneer exclaimed "I don't care for that; send me as often as you like, and as long as you please." The policeman accounted for the boy's carelessness about the punishment by saying that a subscription had been raised by the readers of the Poor Man's Guardian for the purpose of allowing a sum of money to each person who suffered imprisonment for selling it. The defendant, who had already suffered, and was considered in the light of a victim, knew that he would be paid for every day that he remained in gaol. The defendant left the office laughing, in custody. LONDON MARKETS. PRICE OF BREAD. The highest price of Bread in the Nletropolls is 10d. lot the 41b. Loaf. There are others who sell from %d. to I}4d. balm" that price. PRICES OF HOPS.-March 19. Kent Pockets 4l 15s. 61. Os. to 81. Os. Sussex Ditto Ifisex Ditto 4l. 10s. 51. 15s. to 61. 15s. Farnham Ditto. Fine Seconds 01. Os. 71. Os to 91. Os. 41. Oa. M. les. to 61. 10s. 4/. 4.. 41. 158. to 51. - Os. 31. 156. 5l. Os. to 51;125. Kent Sussex Ditto Essex Ditto., FRiCA: Ol' OIL. Rape Oil, brown 0 Refined _, f % 0 Lin,eed Oilf Eingeod Oil Cake at the Mill. per thousand Halve Cake. per ton l'2 0 6 0 PRICE Ut TALLOW, Town Tallow „_ .48s. (kl. Yellow 45k. Od Wilite--- 445. 6d. Soap Ditto 4 3 8. Od, (felted Stuff' 3ss. 6d. Ditto Rough 219. Od. suAr, ate. per Ilea). Yellow Soap.. oos. Od, Od. White 745. Od. Graves 14s• Od. Good Graves &q. Od. COAL MARK Per Ton. Adair's 18s. 6d. Beaumont l7 6 Bensham Main 16 6 Bishop's Mainw. 16 3 East Percy l7 6 Hebburn Main 19 6 Holywell. l9 0 Kenton West 18 0 Killingworth 20 0 Ord's ltedhugh 16 6 I'ontop Windsor l7 6 St. Lawrence Main....... 19 6 21 0 Townley l7 6 Willington 2O 0 Walls End Bell &Co.— 90 0 Dittoßell,Robson,&Co. 18 6 Ditto Bewicke and Co. 21 6 Walls End Brown's—. 18 6 Ditto Clarke and C 0... 18 0 Walls End Gosforth —... 21 3 Walls End Greenwell 15 0 Ships arrived since I. ,ET.—March 19. Per Ton. Walls End Heaton—.... 21s. Od. Walls End Hilda 20 6 Walls End Hotspur— 19 6 Ditto Killingworth ....... 20 6 Walls End Nes/march.. 20 9 • Ditto Perkins and C 0.... 20 6 . Walls End Riddell's.... 21 6 Walls End Walker.,..., 21 0 Walls End Helton ..... 22 6 Walls End Lyons ....... 20 0 Walls End Lambton....... 22 0 Walls End Stewart's 22 9 Walls End Butter Knoll 21 0 Walls End Cleveland., 17 0 W. E. South Durham 16 9 Walls End 22 0 Blyth .... 16 0 Cowpen lB 0 Hartley l9 0 Silkstone Field and Co. 18 6 Tantield Trader--....., 20 6 Ellison small 14 6 tst market-day, 29. BIRTHS. On the 17th•inst. at 'Frematon-castle, Cornw a ll, th e l a d y o f Captain John lervis Tucker, R.N., of a datighter. On the 10th inst. Mrs. Wilitam Holborn, Grove-lane, Camber., well, of a daughter. le. the thle6tilaidyinosit. Jamesat G rtaipeapeth u nhall ig i h mdge 4 in the county of Chester, p , of a son. lOn the 16th inst. as Manchester, th e l a dy o f Li eu t.. C o lon el D. Pitt, of the 80 th Regiment, of a ion. i' MARRIED. On the 13th inst. at North Berwick, Henry William Bruce, Esq. Captain in the Royal Navy, and second son of the late Sir Hervey Bruce, Bart. of Downhill, county of Londonderry, to Mary Minchin, youngest daughter of the late Colonel George Dalrymple. Oti the 13th inst. at St. Margaret's, Rochester, Mr. Joseph Swartz Massett, of the Stock.exchange, and of Felix.place, Isling ton, to Mary Joanna, second daughter of Mr. George Shirley, of Troy Town, Rochester. On the 17th inst. at Wandsworth, Surrey, the Rev. Gilbert Gilbert, to Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Boughey Burgess, Esq. (in the 17th inst. at St, Andrew's, Holborn, Nlr. John Illissett, of High Holborn, to Sarah, the second daughter of the late Mr. Robert Clarke, builder, of Fenchurch-street. DIED. On the 10th inst. William Townsend, Esq., of York-place, T City-road, and of Witney, Oxfordshire. On the 18th inst.; aged 69, Mrs. Fuseli, relict of Henry Fuieli, - • ; Esq., late Keeper of, and Professor in Painting to, the Royal Academy of London. th raecttiloryodfeltawinarsh, and daughter of William " Isle of Wi g ht, Eli za b e th, w if e o f theßev. . ! IVilberforce, Esq. On the 14th inst. in St. George's, S ou th war k, age d 00, Plicebe. relict of the late Captain Thomas Ey re Hi n t on , It. N. On the 14th inst. Frederick Semple, E sq. , age d 30. On the 10th inst. at Park-stre e t, C am b erwe ll, a ge d 72 , M r . lti'eo tillm inst ; George Moorsom, late of Westoe, in the county of Durham, ' l ship-owner. J. i .1 N i. 0 Y r It A D O YOUNG, AT :ID,LONn4)N. THU - PRINTED AN S D L, PURLIS I R c ED ) ;11'2,M