The National Register.
London, England, 1818-07-26 00:00:00

CIIAP. V.

INFLUENCE OF THE 'LARGE It ANT) SMAI.I.E.R PROPERTIES,
UNDER THE INCREASE OF Tit% ONE, AND 111 MIN

OF THE OTHER, RV UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE.

evending the right of voting fur Members of Parliament to
needy utilLers, pennykss mendicants. liveried menials, and the
whole dependent population of the realm, we in fact only throw an
undue portion of power. indeed an irresistiblelpreponderancv into the
Feale of the larger properties. iris the same thing, in reality, as if
we made over to them so many voles besides their own; and, what is
of great importance, and merits the most serious consideration, is
that, in proportion as we extend the influence of the larger, we di.
tarnish that of the smaller properties. We aggrandize great wealth
beyond ifs due proportions; and we depress below its proper level
that mediocrity of circumstances, in which most intelligence is found,
and where most virtue resides. . .

** Where the suffrage is appmpriated only to property, without
including the indigent populannu, the smaller proprietor, who is
put upon the same tooting with the large, is elevated on the scale of
political consideration. This is most beneficial to the community;
.tin how can the common good be more effectually protected titan by
mediocrity of circumstances? Where the Stiffroge.is not se widely
diffused. as to encircle the ranks of meudicity anti indigence, the in-
fluence o. a small fortune in the scale of political consideratk.n,
will not be annihilated by a large. The vote of a man of iodepen
dent competency, however email it may be, would, in these circum-
stances, be as efficaeioushnJ influential as that of his richer neighbour.
•i'lle µvll infortiml gentleman, with a few acres of lantl, or a few
ilunelteds a var, would raak as high in the scale of political con-
ridenition. as the Proprietor of an extensive domain, or the posses.
SOT of many thousands a-year.
*6 But, if Universal Suffrage were cstatlished, the vetes of the
'whole labouring population would, in the great mass of instance,;, be
only so .nosh added to the power of the large properties. The rote of
a little shopkeeper. who had no dependants or menials in his employ,
would only count as one, whilst that of a large manufacturer, from
the numbers to whom he supplies their daily bread for their daily
toil, might tell five hundred, or a thousand, or in a still higher
ratio. .If. according •to the plan of Mr. Cohbett, Mr. Bentham, and
others, the right of Suffrage were extended to all the adult males in
the community, except lunatics and criminals, it is clear that the
votes of the labouring and dependent poor would be nothing mere
• than e rropottionateacces4-ton to that predominating opulence, whose
aggrandizement has no necessary connection with the public interest.
The rotes of the master would increase in arithmetical ratio with
those of his menials.

•• In an agricultural district, if we confine the Suffrage to the pro-
prietors, or occupiers of the soil, to the exclusion of the labourers in
their employ, the small propriater or occupier 'will participate in
vie choice of the representative as much as the large or the rich. But
the moment the Suffrage was extended to the whole peasantry.
artificers, and menials of the parish, the influenceef the small pa).
prietors and occupiers would be entirely subordinate to that of the
large. For how is the small proprietor, however cultivated his in-
tellect, or independent his principles, to succeed in competition with
him who can bring a large train of his dependents and creatures,!
the hustings ? The menials of one large proprietor would, in many
•natances, be found to outnumber all the smaller independent pro-
prietors. Thus, this boasted scheme of Universal Sufliage would,
according to this slew it, eventually prove nothing inure than a
system whieh is from ten to a hundred, or a thousand times more
vitiated and vitiating than the present system, however corrupt and
itnperfect it maybe. Ido not pretend to say; that the present sys-
te. - is so good as it might be; but shall I therefore, support a
..
SCsm. •
. • would make it worse than it is ? Am lan enemy to
....ns.
ormernen4,• l-
mt will not write an ecomlum upon deterioration ?
I cannot cure, am I therefore
if I have some paysiTeal intim .:"
to have recourse to such an irgdible ?away. !be PlaPte ?
•• In a town composed of.soine smallee,gentry o. •nuependent for-
vanes, and some independent householders. possessing mode-
rate competency. with some few large and opulent coanio.4cturen•
with a multitude of weavers and artificers of different.Zescrip:."299
would Universal Suffrage be found to possess such cogent recon:*
mendations as to entitle it to beregerded as &tuitional benefit?
" In the instance which has just been mentioned, afire were to,
distribute the Suffrage amongst the weavers, artificers, and different
descriptions of menials, the more opulent householders and larger
manufacturers would then acquire a preponderance in the.cboice of
the representatives .which neither the probity nor the talents of the
less opulent householders and dealers can prevent In proportion,
therefore. as Universal Suffrage added to the politica potency of
wealth in large masses, it.would entirely destroy that wise adjust-
• ment in the scale of elective power, which renders the small pro-
perties, when combined, paramount over those of larger amount."

How TO STOP A FOOT-WAY.—The Dublin Freeman's
.Toitraal contains the following description of a Bull, who
occupies a field near Dahlia, and is supposed by the writer
to hve been placed there for the porpoise of deterring passen-
ptersfrom using a right of footway that lies through it. The
famous Ann cow' slain by Guy Earl of Warwick,waxvobably
an ancestor .of the formidable boll :—" Thi..sar;vinary
,rnonster, ' says the writer, "has already pursued missy per-
sons, and hurt several ; and he is the more dangerous, a, hi..
rage is particalarly'directed against females, whoare les. able
than those of the other sea to escape his fury. He seems to be
aware of the terror which he can inspire, and, in eotsseqisture,
of the success that has lieretefore attended his attacks, he k
every dav becoming more formidable. The 1111U011.4i heat of
the weather which has lately prevailed, also tends to render
him still mote furious In a certain past of thetielid wshere he
now is. he has, with his feet and horns, excavated a hollow
that ol'uht-rootnin his whole body; and in this place he
stands prep.. 4 mi for pursuit, bellowing frightfully, and spuru•
leg and goring the dry bot eartl4 which he flings in clouds
sassed

THE NATIONAL REGISTER

SOUTH AMERICA.

The following accoent of the Iste events in Chili comes
front a private source.; it differs in smite respects from the
former statements, sad is believed to contain au accurate
and impartial sunintary of the operations of both the contend-
ing parties:—
HI:ENOS AYRES, APRIL 91.—When I last wrote to you,
Chili was then begiuning to •be an interesting point : it has
not ceased to bears during the whole period of my silence. The
Spanish expedition from limn arrived ra!'e at Talcahuano,
and, as the Chili troops under O'Higgins had previously been
ordered to retreat, the former disembarked without any re-
sistance. The Spanish Commander in Chief; Osorio, thus was
at the head of 3%0 men, including the force found oil the spot.
He immediately commenced his march •northward, in the
direction of Santiago, the capital; lie crossed the river Mule
the ad or sth of March, and fixed his quarters at Telca, about
nine miles from the river, and 2.10 futon Talcahuano. The
Chili army offered tin opposition, and the Spaniards pushed
their advanced gear(' of 1500 men as far as Chrien, when on
19th of March Gen. San Martin, with his combined forces, be- .
tween 8000 and 9000 men, fell in with them on his march thr
'Calm where be had determined to attack tlitin. The Roy
-
alias fell back, and the Patriots pursued, till they came in
sight of 'Fisica, when the latter had so far ontonanceuvred the
former, as to cut theta oil from (ho town, and to force the
main body to.come out. to their relief. Towards the evening
the battle became general ;Atte patriot cavalry, snopurteil by
infantry, made a charge ; the Spaniards had upwards of 10U
killed, and the greater part of the remainder flail. Between
eight and nine p. in. the Patrioakhail taken a position ; the
cavalry were feeding the horses, and the infantry were
changing front ; when or. a sudden a Spanish column rushed
out of Talca, only about 700 yards distant, and made a moot
furious attack, which 'happened to fall on the militia ; there
was no time to form; a second column came nut and began its
fire ; the Patriots retreated front betrieen the two co:limits,
and left them lighting each other. It was, hotvever, impossi-
ble to restore order in the Patriot army ; it was panic struck,
and abandoned camp, ,::gage, ammunition, and all its artil-
lery, saving only 14 piecur.: of caution.
The Spaniards were so busy in firing at earl' other, that the
.Fatritits made an easy escape ; had they heen closely pursued
by Osorio, the ultimate result might probably have beta very
different. But it seems that he hesitated, hasingfolind the
Patriots in greater force than lie had imagined : .and we are
told that he was half inclined to recross the Mettle, and re.
treat to Talcahuano. 'l'Vs want of decision, on the part of
Osorio, enabled San Martin tit reunite some of his scattered
host, and to collect 3500 of his best troops, which, with t !lel 4
guns he stationed, on the 24th of March, at Rat:cepa, about
90 miles from Santiago.
Whet) we were informed here of this state of things, we
gave Chili op for lost, as we. :mild act entertain a hope of Sala
Martin being able to make an effectual resistance. He, how.
ever, was not discouraged; and, having made his force fall
back towards the plains on the banks of the Mnypo, about 10
miles front Santiago, he determined to give battle. Du the
Sill instant, at one p.m. he attackedffie Spaniards: and,•after
a severe conflict for funr hours, he completely overthrew
them; they lost 1,500 killed, and'left besides as many prison-
ers on the &idol battle, with all their baggage, ammunition, i
and artillery. The pursuing cavalry aftersvards brought in
1,000 more prisoners : in short, the Royalist army is com-
pletely annihilated. Only the General escaped with a small'
escort; but as he must proceed 450 miles before he reaches
Talcahuano, where the shitgling lies, it is almost impossible '
that lie should elude the eaecruess of his numerous pursuers.
The garrisons left by the Spaniards at Talcalmano and Cots-
' erotical are stated not 15 exceed ISO men.
Our accounts from Santiago come thswg.to the Bth of April
inclusive. The Wiudhain, East Indianian, from letaidrat,
arrived at Valparaiso on the 7th of March. The Venganza
Spanish 41 gun frigate, arid the Potrillo sloop of war, block-
ading that. port, crime abreast of her to the very entrance ;
bid they were probably deterred by I:er appearance from
molesting her. She has since bees bought for 180,000 dollars
by the Chili Government, and commissioned for the purpose
of capturing the Venganza. We have no doubt but she will
succeed, if site can but come up with her enemy.
Ages pass away, and the mot useful undertakings are,
through some strange and tinaccoantable blindness, neglected
by that people to whom they would procure incalculable ad-
vantages, until at length, perhaps, some fortuitous event
rouses the slumbers of apathy, and excites an attention to
benefits, which, by the bye, are at this moment often reaped
by those who have all along possessed the least opportu-
nity of appreciating or of applying them.
These reflections cannot fail of being excited, when, on
looking over the map of that most favoured and advantage.
misty situated part of South Amerita,New Granada, we find,
that on no one spot of the shores o' the Gelph of Darien. liar
any European poweryet bethcught them of forming a perma-
nent settlement • ; while every hick of that coast is certainly
of the greatest value and importaute, in a political, as well as
in a commercial point of view.
Of all Spanish America, camprehending surface of 5500
miles in length, and 3000 miles in breadth, the Viceroyalty of
New Granada, in which are situated the isthmus and the
Ge4;‘ll of Darien, is by fel...the meet important, and presents
the gee: test advantages, trom its geographical situation,
both for thsv entesPrina of war,and for those of commerce.
When we consider, on the one side, the efforts of the South
Americans to sho;ke Or the yoke of the Spanish Gavernment,
the rapid progress ,;1' their revolution; and, on the other, the
great. isterest which aOl nations have to partake dim ectly of
the rich commerce of that ;tart of the New Worn], we cannot
doubt of the ultimate emane.ination of that extensive and
fruitful country, nor of the eAohlishment of a nrw, powerful,
amid independent empire, probably rider the form of a Re.
presentative and Federal Government; which, uniting and
disposing of its great resources, accordingto etre 1111 l atioices,
can prevent intestine divisions, and effeettiO tmaintaini
Y maintain t•
independence--,a Government which, by its !acid advance-
ment towards order.and regularity, as ill procure he &mesa to
19 millions of people, already civilized. and ;nevem ihe same
advantage for a vast slumber .of aborigines, who are yet in
their primitive state (+finds-petulance. Such :in event cannot
tail to indigence the commerce, the policy, and even the power
of other nations, to an extant, .at di) time, not easy to cal-
culate; but to England such A Cha lige 411110 be, above a:I,
interesting.
'lt widgeon become then, highly important, both for the
statesman and the merchant, to 1/r moot. to aeictuileird with
the different Governint nta, and delta: . its of colittuel vial
athninisteation, into ar. Inch Sp 1111.4 i a is di
Providence, with a lam: .:=rut his. 1, .as lieSlolSe l .t-
-rh
g:cast,g4tis un that !Nappy eted its 411 i •
times by the hilliest inaitiotaiers, and wanired by the tints.
, were of the twiversc, the fertility of its soil is beyond cow-

JULY 2(3

parison or conception. In these provinces. blessed with aR
end iess ciriely of climates and temperatures, vegetation is
perpetual. The vine, and ditteretit • peciPs of grain.
Yield twit, tine... and some lour crops a year ; they sow and
reap in tile sisal, field. Here nature is never
Here are pit oduced trees of on enormous sire, of great
dterithilhy, and excellent for the construction of ships; some
of them brier; quite incotruptible smiler water. Here grow
rotunbertesa plants and woods famed for medical virtues, as
well 4s tho.e nsail in ti!. cilia. The productions of the West
India islands are ruin wed in these provinces ut a third Ices
expense and trouble, and with the only difference of their be-
ing all produced here of a stiperisr quality.
The animal exptlllatloll of the produce of the mines of
South Amei lea exceeds ti.; millions of dollars ; that of the prt-
dace of the soil 3-1 millions ; and that of the cattle, hides, tout
tallow, row millions inure. Out the other hand, it coastlines
yearly the valne of 101 millions of dollars In articles of fo-
reign manufacture.
la this a country then, that we should look noon with in-
ditreretive? Is the present glorious struggle of its inhabitatil:;
fur liberty and independence, only important inasmuch ns it
-regards themselves alone? The. Spanish Government have
ntways considered the ignorance in wi.iolt they strove to
keep the South Americans, itt every brench of useful know.,
ledge, the miacquaintance of foreigners with the topograph a'
ott*Sotilli Amerira, and the total interdiction of passage up its
cavigahle fivers, as the hest support of its tyrannical and de.
basing authority in that cottony. Dot, thanlis to the ditrn.
suito of liberal idea:, their yoke is broken—the dark veil el
ignorance and bigotry is tote by the hand of freedom—alai
Ilic admiring world beholds, with mingled feelings of indigna-
tion and orpris..„ how idiotic d •spotisin could so long succeed
to debase it country, Messed by nature with means and ad.
vantages above any oilier !tart of the globe.

DIcrrORRANCES AT MANCHESTER.—We are extremely
sorry that we are nut aide to shoe that the effects of combi-
nation have subsided. The splinters, who have pith:rely ilk-
avow ed a most inflammatory placard, tending to excite nut
merely disco in ent, but slisorthr and viclence, have certainly
behaved very peaceably ; but evidently midi r a regular
training, in order that their formidat le processions might in-
tines: • the tee• spinners who remain industriously at work, to
leave It, and to overawe their employe,. into comp! !Amu with
their demands. K•e arc sorry for their herause we
cannot but think it injurious to themselves and their families.
The same spit it, we are concerned tm add, has broken out in
other trades. Monday morning, soon after midn:glit, a fire
was discovered in the cotton-factory of Messrs. ()mood and
Hardeastle, of Bolton, which in a short time consumed the
mill and all its valuable maehinery, amounting in the whole,
we understand,• to upwards oflo,oool. Report states the fire
to have commenced close to the door, se that all ingress to
assist in putting it out was at once prol.ihited. Strong gab-
piriODA from this and other circumstances are entertained
that the cotiflagration Wns net •the effect of accident, het
design. If this be.eorrect, we trust that the vile incendi-
aries will very aeon be discovered, and brought to the con-
dign punishment they so justly merit.
A gentleman who has arrived from Grenada, in the Arundel,
after on extraordinary quick passage, reports, that on the
11th of May, a schooner cleared out there for the Spani:l4
Main, havingoo board the following gentlemen, who had at-
rived from Eng:and at Grenada, in the ship Grace, and were
proceeding to join the Patriots:—Messrs. Ferries, Murray,
Bowen, Mennet:, Musaskey, Child, Brooker, Bit: ey, Simpsnit„
Healey, and Seward ; that the schooner -had not gone more
than a league out to sea, when a Spanish Royalist brig,
mounting 14 guns, with a full complement of officers endure!),
which was lying off the island, immediately cat her cables
and gave chase; that in a short time she came within gum.
shot (tithe schooner, and that, after exchanging a few• shot.,
the latter struck her colours. Our informant adds, what we
feel great difficulty in believing, that after the capture every
person on board tee schooner was put to death! The fol-
lowing morning the Spanish brig attempted to return back to
Grenada, but the !Governor ordered the Major of-the fort
not to permit her to anchor, and several shots were fired at
her before she sheered off, and proceeded to sea.—Star.
EXTRAORDINARY ESCAPE AND APPREIICESION OF A P RT.
sosien.—On the 2d .inst. J. Bond, a prisoner in Tothillsfields,
on a charge of frauil,•esVaped from an uuder keeper of the
prison, us lie was conveying him and another prisoner in a
coach to Marlborough-street office. In passing through Swal-
low-street, which was paving, the coachman drew up to turn
back ,when Bond threw himself through one of the windows,
mind, falling on his feet, ran off. On Saturday last information
was received that he was lurking about Datchett. Two
officers were then sent to apprehend him, and that night they
• found him at the Horse and Groom, at that place. It being
'late the officers put him to bed it:aback room on the second
floor, and took his clothes into the :text, in which they slept.
About three in the morning they were awoke by the window
in the prisoner's room shutting, and to their surprise they saw
him running several fields from the house, in his shirt. They
pursued him, immediately as they had slept in their clothes,
and after a chase of three miles, they got within a short di s
tance of
he continited,however, running, and they tired at and missed
him. They fired a second time, and woisnded hint en the knee,
when lie cocld proceed no further ; they then brought limo to
town, and lodged him in Tothill-fields prison.
Monday afternoon one of the labourers employed in build.
ing the tower which was some time ago damaged by the fire
at Northumberland House, having fixed a stone of consider-
able weight to a pnlley, remained underneath, gazing upon
some other object, till the stone was pulled up. nearly to the
summit; when it fell upon him, and forced his ribs through
his skin.—He died soot: atter.

On Sunday night week. about 11 o'clock, &party of four men, one
woman. and a child, were in a boat, which was rowed by one of the
men, passing under London Bridge. at high tide, when the boat
overset. The female was drowned ; the men all swam on shore, and
one of them saved the child by holding it in one hand and swimming
with the other. The female was found in about ten minutes, quite
dead. An inquest has been since held on the body of Mrs. Delaiond,
(the name uttie female.)—Verdict. Accidental Marl

Last week, Kiln Croft Mill, the property of Marmadulte Fos and
Co. of Dewsbury, took fire; the alarm was spec lily given, but before
any assistance could be procured, tt a thstructive element lutist with
irresistible fury through all the w..nt,owsof the lower story, where
th,".: fire is supposed to have originated, ar.fl it. less than three hours
the wi -Ile was reduced to a heap of ruins. Nothing,was saved, and
the damage is estimated at tw. less f...ut 8,001., about half of which
is insured. . _

Last week a most distressing •accident occurred on the Sea-banks.
Brian. Several boys were playing on mane timber by the wutetside.
whist suddenly giving way. precipitated two into the stater; a thirds
'ietwevn I I and iv "wars of age, named Leach, was jammed by tht
n.ek between two pieces of timber, and lived about en minut,s after
oaving bled to death. The two boys who tdl into tl.e. water re-
mined a long time inanimate when taken out, but ate now doing
well.

6