The Sun.
London, England, 1837-08-07 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

Lord Nugent, in his able address, enters at consi-
derable length on " the question which must early
arise, the effecting the hitherto imperfectly accom-
plished object of the Reform Bill by better providing
for the freedom and purity of election."
" Look," added his Lordship, " at the contest we bac e
just gone through. I said early in this address that votes
ad been bought not only with private, but with public
Money—every petty office in the service of the county,
40, paid fur out of the county rates—every employ, as
Sherm javelin -man, or special constable—every contract
'for labour td be done or for goods to be supplied for the
county, is doled os2t, for the purpose of influencing votes at
elections, or at least had t.llat effect. Look at the returns
of the Poll, and compare thcni with the list of the per-
sons employed for work, and as tradesman,at the county
charge."
Lord Nugent contends that there is but one mode
of reducing influence to what it ought to be—the
Ballot :
" It is contended," his Lordship said, " to be an un-
manly mode of voting, and to tend to promote falsehood
and duplicity. Between the unmanliness of voting se-
cretiv and the unmanliness of voting under the open and
notorious dictation of a master, I should not be long in
pronouncing which is the more unmanly ; and to nine-
tenths, or more, of the poorer sort of voters, under the
present system of influence, no third choice is left. Of
all the arguments against the ballot 1 think that which I
have heard stated with the greatest pomp is, as is not un-
frequently the case, the feeblest and the worst consi-
dered. The elective suffrage is a trust, it is said, to be
exercised for the public good, and nothing in the nature
of a trust should be exercised in secret. A trust, in the
strict sense of the phrase, it is not ; because the voter
has not received it from the choice of those in whose be-
half it is exercised. And, in the looser and metaphorical
sense, all property is morally a trust for the public good,
and no man has the moral right, though he has the prac-
tical power, to administer any property of his own un-
justly. No man has a right to bequeath his property un-
justy. It became his, like the franchise which was part of
that property, under the moral obligation to administer it
justly. Does he then seal his will to be opened and proved
only after his death 9 ' Oh, shame on his unmanliness! If
he be a man, let him declare his testament, and publish it
in his life, that if he have dealt justly he may be glorified
before men ; if unjustly, that those who Dave suffered in-
justice may rebuke him openly.' This would be, I think,
about as reasonable as the talk about the unmanliness of
secret voting.'
The present election has made many converts to the
Ballot. Among other converts, Mr. Angerstein, we
perceive from his address, is one—" I have the
strongest conviction in my mind, he says, that if the
registered electors had not been prevented from exer-
cising their legal privilege, by intimidation on the part
of many, by the majority of the clergy, by a partisan ma-
gistracy, and by others, I should have been returned ;"
and, he contends, "it is, therefore, the duty of
the Legislature to protect the tradesman or tenant
so circumstanced, either by the Ballot or some better
measure calculated to secure him the free exercise of
the franchise which the law has awarded to him."
But the very reason which induces the Reformers to
wish the Ballot, renders the Tories inimical to it. It
is, no doubt, highly desirable that electors should be
protected, but the protection of electors would be a
death-blow to the Tories. This is one of those great
changes in our system which might have been made at
the time of the Reform Bill, but cannot be made now.
Tha trite remark of the poet, that " there is a tide in
the affairs of men which taken at the floods leads on
to fortune," &c., is applicable to the Ballot as
well as other things. It is one of those re-
forms that cannot be hoped for during an ebb
tide. While it could have been obtained the
Liberal party were not in favour of it ; and now
that they are generally favourable to it, they cannot
carry it. It is proper, however, that Reformers should
not lose sight of the question, because till electors
are better protected than at present, every contest is
productive of much suffering. Without the repeal of
the 501. tenantry at will clause, and the ballot, the
county elections will exhibit most unfortunate results.—
Morning Chronicle.

It is with great satisfaction that we notice the ap-
pointment of Dr. Musgrave, the Dean of Bristol, to
the Bishopric of Hereford. This appointment cannot
fail to give great satisfaction to the Liberal party, for
Dr. Musgrave is not more distinguished for his learn-
ing and talents than he is for his personal worth and
the liberality of his principles.—Morning Chronicle.
The progress and hitherto ascertained results of the
county elections for Great Britain are more decidedly
favourable to the maintenance of the Constitution than
the most sanguine Conservative existing had ventured
three weeks ago to prognosticate. As the political
mist has cleared away, and the national mind has be-
come gradually more familiar with the real shape and
position of certain objects, people have learned to dis-
criminate between words and things, to class measures
according to their practical tendencies, instead of taking
for granted the fitness of the arbitrary names assigned
to them, and to estimate men by their conduct and ge-
neral character, rather than by their professions, how-
ever boisterous or imposing. There are some perni-
cious fallacies which have thus been detected, and
truths of the highest importance which have super-
ceded them in the minds of the majority of English-
men, and all within two or three short years. It
has been discovered, or, speaking more precisely, the
discovery, which before was confined to men of shrewd
experience, has since spread itself among the people,
and been acted upon by them—that the epithet " Re-
former" ought not to be applied to a partisan of endless
change ; that the term " Liberal" is improperly as-
sumed by men who are clamorous advocates for the
extension of political power to those who have no ca-
pacity for its right employment, and every temptation
to make it the instrument of wrong to others ; that an
unbridled democracy may be the most intolerable
tyrant ; that the " voluntary principle" is another
name for depriving the poor of all religious knowledge
and comfort ; that " justice to Ireland" is a hypocri-
tical expression, which really means nothing but esta-
blishing the snoremacy of the Romish priesthood in
that island, to the overthrow of Church and State,
and the entire dismemberment of the Monarchy ; that
institutions !my be wholesome and conducive to public
happiness, altholo England has never been without
them for 600 years ; and, finally, that the Whigs, as
they have chosen to call themselves, who being out
of office for half a century had declaimed in favour
of " liberty," and against " corruption," because they
had no power to pervert, and no public money to
bribe with, have since their accession to the Go-
vernment proved themselves to he nothing better
than the greediest and most unprincipled oligarchy
on record, perpetrating, a larger amount of oppres-
sion, and scattering corruption more profusely and
flagitiously, than any Administration that ever
ruled thin empire. Now, here are no less than
seven truths, one and all of inestimable value to the
people of England, which, long known for such among
well-informed and reflecting men, have not been re-
cognized for truths until some time since the formation
of Lord Melbourne's Government by the people at
large, and only now, viz., on the first opportunity since
the course of that Government became clearly vissible
and unquestionable, have been generally acted upon
throughout the land. That the towns, which are the
great foci of levity, vice, and turbulence, should not
have exhibited the above re-action in so eminent a
degree as the counties of the kingdom, is an inevitable
consequence of the character of that town population to
which has been entrusted so extensive an exercise of
the elective power. There may, among the working
classes irt the towns., be more vivacity of intellect than
is shown on ;.he average of occasions by the agricul-
tural population. But if there be greater sharpness of
wit, there is al so greater i7ofli.gacy of motive and violence
of passion. The harvest of g demagogue is in the
urban rabble, of which tens of thousands have, by
virtue of the household suffrage, the right of choos-
ing town representatives. The advisers of the country
voters are of a different and far superior class to-
those who influence a large proportion of the city And
borough constituency. They are country gentlemen—..
many of whom are likewise possessed of monied capi-
tal—hut all of whom have a fixed and enduring stake
,in the greatness and prosperity of the realm. If we
• •
wei!eileed what portion of the community it is that
construttost properly the substance of the nation,
• ,
is-, rho entirely inseparable from it, must we not
ssty the'psorietors and cultivators of the Lou of
.Eng-
- la;071.- They cannot be torn from it ; they are mew-
-

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