The Sun.
London, England, 1839-06-01 00:00:00

language beautiful. We agree too with what he
says generally of the Government ; and admit that
on all questions when they have been opposed to
the Conservatives they have been right. Mr.
MACAULEY'S account of the strength of his
party, when he left England, and their pre-
sent weakness, then " strong enough to
main'a:n itself against a hostile Court, now
mainl) resting for support on the preference of a
Sovereign, in whom the country see with delight the
promise of a better, a gentler, a happier ELIZA-
BETH," is extremely just as well as beautiful. The
noble historical sketch he gives of the Whigs as a
party, the great authors and heralds of political
improvement, though guilty of many faults, and
some crimes, will be read with delight, and must,
we should hope, induce that party, so deservedly
eulogized, to merit hereafter the high praise their
former conduct acquired.
On the whole, a more just, spirited, and elo-
quent political oration is scarcely, we believe, to he
found in our language ; and, however differing in
style and thought, it is worthy of the best days of
BURKE.

We must venture, however, though no persons
can entertain a higher opinion than ourselves, of
Mr. MACAULEY, to express one wide difference of
opinion from him. He describes the Whigs as the
heralds of political improvement, and it is because the
Ministers have at present rather lost that character
and taken up the Tory doctrines of finality, and set
themselves up to resist the popular will, that they
have lost much of their power. The merit of the
Whigs, at every period, was to be before their age ;
and we complain of them, and we complain of Mr.
dVIACAULEY, that he and they do not now look
forward, and adhere too much, both in doctrines
and in practice, to the errors of past times.
One of the distinguishing features of the pre-

sent age, and one that has fallen under
Mr. MACAULEY'S observation, is that the
vaorking classes have begun to educate them-
selves. They have acquired a degree of political
knowledge equal to that possessed by the aristo-
crrcy, or the ordinary run of the middle classes.
They are perfectly sensible of the wrongs they
suffer, if they are ignorant—as we admit they are—
of the best means of redressing them. At present
their complaint, we may say their determina-
tion, to have redress, fills the country with
alarm. The Reform Act excludes thousands
of intelligent, honest, well-behaved men from
the Constitution. All below the inhabitants of 10/.
houses, amounting to nearly four-fiths of the whole,
have no more to do with making the laws, though
their dearest interests are affected by Legislation,
than the Catholics had when the penal laws were
in existence. In fact they have less. Our whole
Constitution is framed, the franchise in particular
is based, on the principle of property, and those who
have no property have no part in the Constitution.
The Catholics could vote for Members of Par-

liament before 1829, but our poorer classes
can neither sit in Parliament nor vote for

those who can. In this system the creature of
man's labour—property, is all in all, and man him-
self, with all his rights, affections, and interests, is
degraded below his own productions. In theory
this is wrong, in practice it is the parent of im-
mense evil. The chief legislative source of the
overwhelming influence of property over the public
mind, producing much crime, is the importance given
to property as the basis of our system. Now
Mr. MACAULEY declared his firm adherence

to this erroneous and mischievous principle
of the Reform Bill. He goes with the
Whigs, he goes with the middle classes, he thinks
the elective franchise ought to be extended to every
ten-pound householder, but he is not prepared to
go further. He is not prepared, therefore, to apply
any remedy to the most serious political disease
which now afflicts the country. He is not prepared
to take one step—for the Ballot and a four years'
Parliament would be no boon to the working classes
—to remove the just grounds which the bulk of the
population now to have to complain of being put
out of th- pale of the Constitution. Not to take
into consideration the present condition of the un-
represented, and not to look forward to the changes
which their growing knowledge, power, and intelli-
gence will compel, is, in our opinion, to act
unworthily of the general character which Mr.
MACAULEY so justly gives to the Whigs.
We felt bound to say so much, to express our dis-
sent from one part of a speech, the general principles
of which command our hearty approval, while its
eloquent language makes us feel proud of belong-
ing to the party on which Mr MACAULEY sheds
so much lustre. It must confer equal benefit on
all his friends and honour on himself.

It required little foresight to guess what would
e the result of the late motion in the Common
Council. The Courts of Aldermen and Common
Council no more represent the citizens than the old
rotten Parliaments represented the people of Great
Britain and Ireland. These two bodies represent
their own interests, and those of their relatives and
dependents, and because these were endangered
by the Police Bill, and were threatened with
still greater danger by a Corporation Reform
Bill to be introduced by a Liberal Government, all
the friends of corruption—self called Reformers
as well Tories, and ail those looking for a share
of the City plunder of half a million a year,
have been moving heaven and earth to get out the
ii.en whose political existence is identified with
Reform. The insult the Corporation received at
Buckingham Palace, was often adverted to in the
discussion, and that was made one pretence for re-
fusing the address ; but the real cause lies much
deeper, the craft whereby they had their wealth
was in danger ; their great goddess, the
corrupt Corporation, was despised, and
about to be destroyed, and they raised the
cry of the silversmiths and goldsmiths and crafts-
men of old, " Great is Diana of the Ephesians."
.fliat the inhabitants of London should acquiesce
or join in the cry is not very creditable to their
good sense or independence, and that such a mo-
tion should have been made at the present con-
jucture is a proof of anything but absolute wis-
dom. Could any person who has mixed with the
enemies of Corporate Reform in the City for the
last month have anticipated any other result ? Sir
ROBERT PEEL and the Tories are the men for
all rotten corporations.
A report, we see, prevails in the City, that a
requisition is to be presented to the LORD MAYOR,
to call a Common Hall for the purpose of address-
ing the QUEEN on her firm and magnanimous
conduct in rejecting the humiliating terms of Sir
ROBERT PEEL. We should be delighted, for the
honour of the City, to see the Liverymen make
amends for the discreditable conduct of their repre-
sentatives.

Madrid papers of the 22d ult. have been received,
with advices from the Frontier by telegraph of the 29th.
The latter announce that on the 27th, the Carlist Ge-
neral, D'EsPAGNE, gained possession of Ripoll, a for-
tress in Catalonia. The Garrison fortified themselves
in a Church, but after a few hours capitulated. To
counterbalance this loss, ESPARTERO has taken the
towns of Amurrio and Orazco, and compelled Don
CARLOS to think of flying to CABRERA, he being no
longer safe in the Basques.
The Madrid Gazette publishes an official account of
the insurrectionary movement at Valencia, on the 18th
ult. It turns out to have been a very insignificant
affair.

There is no domestic news of interest in the French
journals of Thursday. It was rumoured that MM.
GUIZOT and TRIERS, finding there was no longer a
hope of imposing their own conditions upon the KING,
and influenced by an inordinate longing for the sweets
of office, were smoothing the way to the re-occupation
of seats in the Cabinet. M. Passv ridicules the idea
of political consistency in the Chamber, and TRIERS and
GUIZOT are preparing to applaud the doctrine of the
apostate President by their conduct. It is a deplorable
fact that political honesty is at a lower ebb in France
than in any other country in Europe. M. GuizoT
gravely proposes in his bureau " that an inquest should
be held on the Turkish empire !" While the organ of
the Republican party the National avows a willingness
to allow Russia to occupy Constantinople in the event
of Alexandria and some other maritime towns of Egypt
hi in; ceded to France
In the Courrier Francais of Thursday we find the fol.
lonrig correspondence from Constantinople :
" A warm altercation took place on April 25 between
the first dragoman of the English embassy and the Reis
Eff,•ndi, on the question of a permission required for an
English squadron to enter the Dardanelles. On receiving
a positive refusal the dragoman, in a moment of passion,
told the Turkish Minister that England made the applica-
tion merely as a matter of form, arid in consideration of the
respect which ought to be observed between Powers in
friendship with each other, but that, in spite of the re-
fusal, the British fleet would enter the Dardanelles, and
that much sooner than was expected.' The truth of this
statement may be relied on. The Sultan visits the arsenal
every day, where he superintends the fitting out and equip..
ping the ships. The Capital] Pacha has engaged that the
whole fleet shall be under sailin three quarters of an hour