The Sun.
London, England, 1830-10-01 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF Tut PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We have collected, under the proper head, from
public papers and private letters, all the information
which We could yesterday obtain respecting the state
of . the Netherlands, and the district which now may
Unfortunately be called " the seat of war" in Bras
bent. The retreat of Prince Frederick to Vilvorde,
with all its disastrous results, is confirmed. It is
not likely that his retrograde' movement can stop
here, for if the population of Mechlin show the
same disposition which appears spreadin► in other
quarters, he will probably find the walls of Antwerp
_lds best security. The situation of his Royal High
nets, and of his troops must indeed be deplorable, in
having sustained such a signal defeat in circum-
stances where victory would have been a calamity,
anti a triumph would have conferred no honour.
.--- Vinci miserum, emulsions vicisse domino."
We yesterday expressed an apprehension that
from the success of the insurgents at Brussels, the
insurrection would extend itself into ether districts
which bad hitherto remained faithful to the King's
Government; and the worst fears of those who are
desirous of maintaining the general tranquillity have
been realized. From all sides volunteers are hasten-
ing to the assistance of their brethren in the capital.
The fortress of Mons is said to be in the hands of
the insurgents. The strong place of Ath has like• !
wise fallen ; at Ostend the troops have been dis-
armed, and their Dutch officers obliged to .embark
hastily to avoid massacre, while even the fidelity of
Ghent is said to be wavering. The impulse given
by this first victory of the Brussels populace over
the national forces, with the King's son leading the
attack, must be incalculable. It will teach the people
every where the secret of their own power. Being
represented as a victory gained by the Belgians over,
the Dutch, it will make the contest national.
Patriotism will thus join with provincial antipathies
in exciting the lower orders against the Govern-
ment, and augmenting► the ranks of disaffection.
Those who are sensible of the benefits conferred
upon the nation by the existing dynasty, and who!
wished to enjoy them in tranquillity, will be obliged:
to adopt the passions, or to incur the vengeance, of
the misguided mass. Foreign adventurers, and Bel-
gians desirous of a foreign connexion, will exaspe-
r►te the evil, in order to render the return of the
people to their former allegiance impossible; and
already even the throne of the Monarch may be
considered as in danger,--a danger which probably
can be averted only by such concessions as would
render it ever afterwards insecure. It is not, how-
ever, our intention at present to enter into any spe-
culations on the consequences of the existing state
of things. We have only room to methodize a few
of the facts contained in our more extended state-
ments. Its the first place, then, it is evident that
the chief assailants of the military consisted
of the lower classes and workmen out of
employ, whose antipathies against the Dutch
are strongest, and who might gain something
but could lose nothing by a change. The
Burgomaster and the Regency, who had con-
tinued in command of the city us long as there was
a hope of an accommodation with the Government,
had resigned on Monday, the 20th. The Com-
mittee of Public Safety having been dissolved, its
members had fled, and the Provisional Government
appointtd by the mob bad not met. Many of the
Burgher Guard bad been disarmed, and had prayed
protection from the Prince. Without any Govern-
ment, or the shadow of authority, civil or military,
the most frightful anarchy prevailed, before the ar-
rival of the troops gave the insurgents an object and
point of united action. This is admitted by the
revolutionary journals themselves, anti is proved by
the appointment of a foreigner to the command of
the city, no Belgian of any mine or importance
being able or ready to lead the citizens. Since
the victory, a provisional Government has
beets formed, and the upper classes will pro-
bably !mitten to place themselves at the head
of a movement which they did not originate,
and which they trembled at first to accompany,
2. It is evident that many of the respectable citizens
who entered into the Burgher Guard to repress the
original riots, and who subsequently retained their
arms to treat on better terms with the Government,
had become before the late contest as much sus-
pected by the populace as the troops themselves.
Many of them in different (porters are said to have
been disarmed, and even the majority of whole sec-
tions refused to act. The populace had thus an
arsenal at their command in the houses or at the
posts of the inhabitants who bad armed and organized
themselves to repress the first excesses of the insur-
rection. 3. It appears that from this cause the
power must fall into the hands of the most violent
faction. When de Potter, a man who had been
imprisoned for eighteen months, and had been con-
demned to eight years of exiles—who suffered what
we have always allowed to have been harsh and
cruel treatment from the Dutch Ministry--sreturns
frown his asylum in France and becomes the chief
of a provisional government, with such a long list of
persecutions to avenge on the Dutch, and with such
strong obligation to repay to the ruling French
party, it is easy to see that a compromise or an
accommodation with those whom lie deems the
oppressors of his country must become a mutter of
great difficulty. In the last place, it must occur to
every one who allows their proper weight to recent
events, that little good effect can be hoped for from
the prudent counsels or energetic declarations of the
States-General. The Belgic Deputies who remain
at the Hague will be suspected by their country-
men, and the acts of the Legislature will be treated
no better than the commands of the King. It
would be needless in this case to allude to the ques-
tion of the fortresses on the French frontier, the
difficulties of which will occur to every body much
sooner than its solution.--Times.

A question, undoubtedly one of the most inte-
resting of all which now agitate the minds of French
politicians, iv," what shall be done with the clubs?"
The Paris papers teem with articles on the subject,
some condemning these societies as disturbers of the
public peace; others defending them as salutary and
indispeneeble organs of.public opinion. We have
ineerted, in another part of our paper, several of
these articles, as specimens of the kind of discus-
sion employed on this subject. M. Guizot, Minister
of the tumor, seems to have irritated some advo-
cates of the club system, not so much by the mea-
sures which he proposed against them, at by those
immitestatione of contempt and dislike with which
his discourse in the Chamber of Deputies abounded.
The Tribune des Derartentem of Monday lust
Makes a violent attack on the Minister for his lan-
guage with regard to these assemblies, and, amongst
other topics of remonstrance, urges, that " the
article 291" of the laws (against numerous meet-
ings) existed slitting Poligiuse's time, and with
much greater force than at present; " because
Mince had not then got rid of despotism ; and the
gene d'aernes and M. Mangin were ready to prevent
the meeting of more than 200 persons." Now this
argument, fortiori, is utterly fake as a ground for
supporting political clubs under a free constitution,
rather than under a despotism. Where free institu-
tions do not exist, or are not, as wider Charles X.,
administered in an upright spirit, and therefore
where the political organization of the state presents
nC itself no means of redress for the people, a vos
luntary union of citizens, forming a power indepen-
dent of the state, becomes their only hope of
amendment, Where freedom is established by law,
find strengthened and animated by the known Rine
eiple of the Government, a political meeting called
oeeavionelly for some determinate and specific end,
is perfectly in character with the genius and welfare
of the commonwealth. But an isolated meeting' and
an incorporated club, with successive a frequent
reunions of the same members. rn
'
its
effort* to 4 single object, but eml hr: em
any, "ling
aiming at 4 systematic and extensive el 7
span
the stational mind, with a view to eoeod,eraatlon
ling the legitimate power of the state,leniirlortlimPel.
in-
directly over-ruling the established Oovenimer'iuts arethings of a widely riiirerent nature. A dub seines
tia„f wasting its lime in the discussion of prin.

eiples—it grows impatient, and busies itself with
measures. It does not continue long to deal bi
words; but aspires to actions—strives to make
proselytes among the nation to its purposes, and to
force them on the executive and legislative power.
If it fails to bear down the organized and ostensible
Ipowers of the state, it enlists licentiousness:and:d►s.
turbance among its means; and what, under a de.
spotism (if it remains undetected, aiid tolerated),
we must all admit to be a great instrument for the
recovery of freedom, is, when placed alongside a free
,Government, a fomenter of alarm, turbulence, and
trouble—an imperium in imperio, and a danger to
society. Without needlessly reverting to the France
of 1793 for proofs of what the club-system in its
perversion or degeneracy may arrive at, look merely
to Ireland 'for illustrations of its wonderful poWer ;
and that without referring, except as an incident,
to the good or evil spirit of its conductors. The
Club or Society of United Irishmen produced the
rebellion of 179 g. The club denominated the
" Catholic Association,"—it is useless to blink the
recorded fact—that society, with other concurrent,
though secondary causes, accomplished the Catholic
Relief Bill. Had the Catholic Association pro-
posed to itself a doubtful or mischievous object, ►n-
stead of one which most honest men applauded, we
do not say that it would have had the same success
as it procured for the measure of emancipation, but
unquestionably it might have succeeded in greatly
embarrassing the Government of the country, and
in destroying the public peace. The French are a
people as susceptible, possibly, as the Irish. Like
the Irish, they are, though less so, we acknowledge,
than they were ten years ago, creatures of volition,
—prompt to act without reflecting deeply. We
cannot conceive a country (save, once more, Ireland)
where the passions of men would be more liable to
a perilous influence from the club system than Fiance
appears at:this moment. The project of affiliation
throughout the provinces is avowed by some of the
societies, and goes to the direct creation of power,
with which no Government in
_a free community

can exist but from day to day. It is from a zealous
advocate of the " Friends of the People" we learn
that 1,200 of its members assembled at Paris a few
days since. If the argument be addressed to the
fears of the King and Ministers, it may be judiciensly
employed. As au argument to the common sense
of men, it means nothing but that the " Friends
of the People" ought to be suppressed in

The whole of Belgium appears to be now in
open revolt. Our readers will find under the head
Netherlands, ample accounts of the failure of the
Dutch troops in their attempt on BrunOs, and their
retreat. The consequences of the attempt have
been precisely what we anticipated. The King of
the Netherlands was in a false position. Success
would have been as ruinous to his interests as failure.
All the accounts, except those published at the
Hague, occur in representing the Dutch troops to
have been guilty of great excesses. The English
in Brussels have been great sufferers. The follow-
ing letter is written under strong excitement, caused
by witnessing outrages at which humanity revolts :

" TO TI.IICSDITOI6:OF Tiflt HORNING CHRONICLII.

" Bruxelles, Sept. 28, 1880.

" SlR,—The details of the military proceedings oi

Prince Frederick against the inhabitants of this town,
who, after five days of unparalleled exertion and heroism,
have driven the Dutch invaders front their walls, and have
thus saved the Belgic territory from all fear, in future, of
Dutch oppression, will no doubt come to you through the
ordinary channels; but I conceive it my duty to inform the
public of England by your columns, how shamefully, how
brutally the Dutch troops have treated the English here,
in their assault upon the town. Even the Dutch officers
themselves have made a point of pillaging the English (whose
names, and the circumstances, you shall have in full detail.
by the next post); they have plundered and violated, and
then slaughtered two very young English ladies ! Everywhere
they have hunted out the English to abuse and murder
them : and in one instance, they, after killing the mother,
bore the infant of an Englishwoman on a bayonet through
their ranks ! Such enormities as these should be made
known throughout Europe. They have killed Lord Blan-
tyre in his house. Such is the conduct of the brigands
sent by his Dutch Majesty here to ensure the slavery of the
Belgians, and whom, in his Proclamation to the people of
Bruxelles, the Prince Frederick—who, coward like, has
slunk in the rear of his troops, and has never appeared at

their head—aeseribed as the friends and the 6r-others' al

the Belgians ! Such are the favour, the friendship, the
benignity of the Sovereign power imposed on a free people
by an assemblage of diplo►natists. But the Dutch w►ll
quit the Belgic soil, never to return as masters ! Another
lesson, this, for Sovereigns I
" Your obedient servant,
" WM. KINSEY,
" Author of Portugal illustrated."

The revolt 'is now general throughout the whole
of Belgium. The troops of the King amounted only
to 4,1,000 at the beginning, and of these the far
greater pint must be Belgians. But were the army
thricewhat it is, it is quite impossible for it
.to make
head against a whole population in a state of revolt.
According to the accounts from Rotterdam, received
last night, the troops retiring from Brussels on Ant-
werp, for reinforcements, had been fallen upon by
the people, who massacred the advanced guard.
Antwerp is stated to have risen, and Ghent is pro-
bably by this time in the possession of the Belgian
forces. The King can have nothing. to oppose to
this torrent. If he succeed in getting the Dutch
portion of hie troops safe back to. Holland, ho may
esteem himself so far fortunate. As for the 'Bel-
gins, they will, unquestionably, join the 'national
standard. Brussels being now freed from the pre.
sepee of the Dutch troops, the Provisional Govern-
ment will instantly organise a national force; and
this arming, according to the accounts from Rotter-
dam, is proceeding with great rapidity. The first
stage of the Belgian insurrection being now over,
we may expect the Belgians to be henceforward
treated with the respect that success usually in-
spires. We shall hear less of populace now, and
ratire of people. In truth, there has been, we
believe, little diversity of opinion among the
Belgians. All travellers, before the breaking out
of the disturbances, concur in representing the
Belgians as disgusted with the Government.'
The petition, signed by 300,000 of the most respect-
able inhabitants, the votes of the Belgian Deputies
in the States-General, the tone of the Journals, all
bear testimony to this effect. It is absurd, there-
fore, to talk of populace only being concerned in this
resistance to tite Government, though, for very ob-
viOns reasons, the persons possessed of property have
hesitated in the outset to commit themselves, any'
might afterwards have In some cases become alarmed
on account of the excesses of the populace. But
when a revolt is so far successful that the authority
against. which it is directed becomes paralysed, the
middle clauses dare not separate themselves from the
lower. The same instinct of self-preservation which
led them to hesitate in the outset will lead them to
•Isupport the authority which has taken the place
of the former Government 4 Were they to act
otherwise they would only bring down ruin on them-
selves. It is ridiculous, therefore, to suppose that
a successful revolt can only count on the populace.
Some surprise has been expressed that avowed in•
fidels like De Potter, and most of the leading men
in Belgium, should be on such good terms with the
Priesthood, But rival hems of Christians always
hate each other more than they hate infidels. The
reason of this is well stated by Count Le Maitre,
the celebrated champion of the Catholic Church,
when he justifies Louis iIV, for withdrawing his
refusal to appoint u supposed Jansenist to a place on
learning that he was merely an Atheist. Count Le
Maitre observes that the infidel is not intolerant and
not persecuting, except from accidental circum,
stances, whereas the Sectarian if sincere, must be in-
tolerant. 11 he Catholic Clergy know that the Bel-
gien infidels have no wish to convert them, or to
hamper them in their religious worship, it being
a matter of indifference to the infidel whether
a man dies a Catholic, Protestant, Pagan, or
Mahometan. Such, probably, is the view which
the parties take of the matter. The Belgian
Pricks are, we believe, sincerely religious. We
are not afraid of the speedy settlement of Bel-
gium, if foreigners do not interfere. It is to be
, borne in mind that Belgium, like France, is with"

out a rich Aristocracy and servile dependents, the
great cause of disorder in troubled times. When
property is much divided in a country, a peace is
easily preserved. The first Revolution found France
a country of a proud Aristocracy and a needy mob.
But France and Belgium have undergone the purifi-
cation of just laws of succession. On this subject
there are some excellent remarks in the able article
on the present state of the Netherlands, in the 10th
Number of the Foreign Quarterly Review :
" If we have spoken (says the writer) without scruple of
the blemishes which disfigure the political face of the Na.
therlands, it is the greater reason why we should allude to
the main advantage it enjoys over this and other countries,
in the more equal distribution of the national wealth. Great
Britain is remarkable for having carried production to
the greatest extent, but is certainly not distinguished for
the excellence of the manner in which her riches are dif-
fused among her, people. The immense wealth and in-
fluence of our Aristocracy, are, we fear, but a poor com-
pensation for the wretchedness and degradation of our
paupers. There is a tendency to the accumulation of pro-
perty which becomes stronger and stronger among us, and
would finally become really dangerous were it not checked
by counteracting causes. Our merchants and manufac•
turers aim at becoming eventually landed proprietors, and
take the places of those decayed branches of the Aristo-
cracy, who in effect fall back into the ranks of the Com-
monalty. A succession to the powerful class is thus, by
means of our active production, constantly kept up, and
the large share of •the legislation possessed by that class
has unfortunately been too often the means of making the
interest of their order the first consideration, and that of
the community the second. In the Netherlands, as in
France, there is no Aristocracy of this description ; the
equal partition of landed property gees on with as little
tendency to pauperism as injury to agriculture; and the
parity of fortune binds together in social intimacy a large,
respectable, and enlightened middle class, whose views are
all necessarily directed to the promotion of the common
benefit."

But what is the happiness of twenty millions of
people to the glory of an Order of 10,000 families
at most ?—Morning Clgronicle.

Mr. Brougham's plan of Parliamentary Reform
seems to be satisfactory enough, as far as it goes;
and there are persons who go the length of suppos-
ing that it differs but little from what. the Duke of
Wellington himself has made up his mind to accede
to. This, however, must be mere conjecture. It
has been alleged of his Grace, that he has been
known to say that, were even the hair on his head
capable of knowing his intentions, he would cut it
off; so essential is secresy, in his Grace's estimation,
to political as well us military plans and manoeuvres.
Secresy may have its virtues, but they bear no com-
parison to those which attach to candour and open-
ness, or to the advantage which results from the
previous sifting and canvassing of measures which
require no concealment, and which often are found
to fail for want of those previous discussions, which
would have dovetailed and secured their success.—
Mr. Brougham's plan is simply this, as far as Eng-
land is concerned, to give representatives to the four
large unrepresented towns of Leeds, Birmingham,
Sheflield, and Manchester, and to shorten the pe-
riod and expence of county elections, by taking the
poll on one and the same day at different places in
the county; and in Scotland, where the terms re-
presentation and election mean any thing but what
they express, to assimilate the elective franchise
there to that of counties in England. In this plan
it cannot fur a moment escape observation that one
great defect in our representation, the nomination or
rotten boroughs, is altogether overlooked. It is cu-
rious also to remark that Lord Morpeth, in his speech
upon the very stone occasion, %vent much further
than Mr. Brougham, setting his face decidedly
against these mockeries and scandal of our system.
It will occur to some, too, as not a little singular,
that the commoner should blink that part of
the question which a member of the Aristocracy so
readily and unequivocally meets. We do not, how-
ever, quarrel with Mr. Brougham's plan, nor would
we have the country reject it as not going far
enough. Mr. Brougham probably, if he were asked
why it goes no further, would unhesitatingly reply,
because a larger experiment would risk the success
of the smaller one. We admit the force of this.
We admit, too, that reform, to be successful and sa-
tisfactory, must be a work of degrees; and that, in
repairing the edifice, it is not wise or prudent to
pull down as much as may endanger the foundation,
but to do the work by degrees, so that the whole
may be reinstated as the workmen proceed. As
the numbers of the House of Commons are, how-
ever, quite large enough, if not too large, for a de-
liberative body, we see no reesen why, in carrying
into effect Mr. Brougham's plan, their number
should be increased, or why the intended Members
for the four places named should not be the substi-
tutes for four of the most rotten boroughs. This
would, to a certain extent, be getting rid of two
evils at once, and paving the way to a gradual ex-
tinction of these vile sinks of political depravity.
This might have been already accomplished had
past Parliaments possessed the honesty and the cou-
rage necessary for the purpose; but Parliaments,
like individuals, too often shrink from reforms at
home, and public opinion is no.' left to wring from
their fears whet ought to have been yielded by their
sense of justice. The subject is one to which, we
have no doubt, we shall have frequent occasion to
recur; for, whether taken up by the Duke of Wel-
lington or Mr. Brougham, it is one which can be
no longer avoided or evaded.—Morning Herald.
A great defect in the administration of justice in
England is the want of a Court of Criminal Ap-
peal, In this respect the rights of property are
more strictly guarded against the consequences of
ignorance, passion, or inadvertence, in the tribunals
that decide upon cases in the first instance, than
life itself. This ought not to be so, The life of
the poor man ought, at least, to be as sacred in the
eyes of the law as the property of the rich. There
is no appeal from the tribunals of criminal justice,
by which the doom of a convict is first pronounced,
to any superior Court ; while there is more than
one appeal in cases of property, of which he who
has the pecuniary means to enable him to protract
litigation may avail himself; as, for instance, from
the inferior Courts in Equity to the Court of
Chancery, and from the latter to the House of
Lords. Likewise from the Courts of King's Bench,
Common Pleas, and Exchequer, to the Court of
Exchequer Chamber, and from that to the House
of Lords, which is, in questions of property,
,the
Court of Appeal in the last resort. New trials are
also granted, sometimes as many as two or three,
before a claim of property is finally decided—so
tender is the law of every valuable possession of the
subject, with the exception of liberty and life! It
is true that in cases of misdemeanour, where the
punishment is less penal than in cases of. felony, a
new trial is occasionally granted, but in capital
charges a now trial is never beard of. In such
cases, indeed, a point of law may, if the Judge
pleases, be reserved for the consideration of the
twelve Judges, before whom it receives the most
considerate attention : but it forms no part of
the duty of this tribunal to go into the merits
of the rase; so that if the technical point, upon
being nicely scrutinised and examined by the as-
sembled judges, be not in favour of the convict,
any thing that in the eye of reason throws sus-
picion on the evidence, or tends to impeach the ac-
curacy of the verdict, cannot avail him,
because the
twelve Judges can Only determine points of (rum and
questions of law, but must take the facts according
to the evidence anti the finding of the Jury. Fre-
quently has it happened that the lives of poor and
friendless men have been sacrificed by perjured wit-
nesse* for tine mike of the rewarti„ or what is vul-
garly culled the bloodlooney ; and a memorable in-
stance occurred a few years ago in the City of
London, when four men, who were convicted on such
evidence, would have been executed but for the
praiseworthy exertions of one individual, who brought
the conspiracy to light, Others haVe been executed
under similar circumstances, and the foul contrivance
to perpetrate judicial murder for the sake of gain
only discovered when it was too late to repair the
dreadful consequences. Of this we could give a re-
makable, case from the books, if space would allow.
lint it may be asked hiss not the Secretary of State

for the Home Department the power to investigate
every capital case regularly brought under his cogni-
zance ; and, if he finds cause, can he not recom-
mend the convict to his Majesty's mercy ? Un-
doubtedly he has this power; but, instead of this
being an argument against establishing a Court of
Criminal Appeal, it only proves the necessity of it.
We have the twelve Judges to examine points of
law reserved at the trial ; and we have one of the
Ministers of the Crown, who, as constituting a part
of the Executive Government, ought not to have
any right of interference in judicial matters, to exa-
mine into matters of fact ; or, in other worth, to in-
vestigate the merits of the case, when it is the opi-
nion of the Judge who tried it that it requires revi-
sion. If this be not a second trial of the case it is
nothing; and, if it be a second trial, it ought not to
be heard in secret and upon irresponsible evidence
by a Minister of the Crown; but it ought to be re-
gularly tried in open Court, as is the case in the
French Courts of Criminal Appeal, by competent
Judges, that the confirmation of the guilt or the vin-
dication of the innocence of the party who is the
subject of the appeal might clearly appear. If the
administration of justice is to be reformed, this
anomalous power of the Secretary of State ought to
be superseded by a responsible and competent judi-
cial authority.—Morning herald.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.