The Sun.
London, England, 1837-07-12 00:00:00

How different in this respect is Lord DURHAM
from Sir FRANCIS BURDETT ! For nearly forty years
of his life, the Hon. Baronet was not merely an ener-
getic Reformer, but a democrat in the extreme sense
of the term. Nothing would satisfy him but changes
of the most levelling character. He was for Universal
Suffrage—Annual Parliaments—for any thing, in
short, and everything, that might procure him the ap-
plause of the mob. That ameasure was impracticable, was
with him no objection ; but, on the contrary, a main ar-
gument in its favour. He would cure the diseases of the
Constitution, by destroying the Constitution itself ;
and go tilting at wind-mills, not because he did not
know better, but because he knew no way so likely to
fix the attention of the public. A rage for notoriety
was at the bottom of all his grand schemes of Re-
form ; and when he found O'CONNELL beginning
to attract a larger share of public attention than him-
self, mortified self-conceit threw him into the arms
of the Tories. Had Sir F. BURDETT been like Lord
DURHAM, a Reformer from the conclusions of a
shrewd and observant intellect, we should never have
witnessed such a humiliating change as has lately taken
place in his opinions. He would have remained con-
sistent to the last ; for, however it may be with mere
impulses, the convictions of reason never change.
The recent conduct of Sir FRANCIS BURDETT—
which, by-the-bye, did not come on us like a surprise,
for we were prepared for it—if it teaches us to be dis-
trustful of those who profess the most loudly, should
also teach us to appreciate the more highly those who
have always acted up to their professions. Lord
DURHAM is one of these. He has never halted—
wavered—or falsified his professions in one single
instance. His sentiments—.as we find them expressed
in a letter addressed to the electors of North Durham,
which will be found in another part of The Sun—are
precisely those which he held when, as Mr. LAMB-
TON, he was foremost among the Reformers in the
House of Commons. He has nothing to explain away
—nothing to recant—nothing to apologize for. " My
principles," says he, " are what they have ever been,
and are neither changed nor modified. I wish to rally
as large a portion of the British people as possible
round the existing institutions of the country—the
Throne, Lords, Commons, and the Established
Church. Ido not wish to make new institutions, but
to preserve and strengthen the old. Herein lies the
difference between me and my opponents. Some would
confine the advantages of those institutions to as small
a class as possible. I would throw them open to all
who have the ability to comprehend, and the viour to
protect them. Others again would annihilate them
for the purpose of forming new ones on fanciful and
and untried principles. I would, I repeat, pre-
serve them, but increase their efficiency, and add to
the number of their supporters." His Lordship here
gives the true definition of Reform, and in so lucid
and simple a manner that he r►who runs may read.
He would throw open the institutions of the country
to all " who have the ability to comprehend, and
the vigour to protect them ;" in other words, he
would break up the system of privileged classes—
that system which it has been the darling policy of
the Tories to establish for years and years past. Lord
DURHAM has no notion of a Reform which is merely
to place the Whigs in office, and eject the Tories ; his
views are far more comprehensive ; he considers that
the people have a fair claim to a share in its advan-
tages ; and that the Reform which benefits the Few,
while it neither injures nor improves the- condition of
the Many, is a mere mockery. We cordially co-
incide with his Lordship in this view of the ques-
tion ; and feel, with him, that now or never is
the time to act upon it. The QUEEN, as he justly
observes, " has placed herself unreservedly in the
hands of a Liberal Government ;" let us then prove
to her by our conduct during the approaching elections,
that the choice she has made of Ministers, is the choice
also of the country. We have the means fully in our
power. The Carlton Club may bribe, and its agents
spread their delusions throughout the country, still the
people have quite strength enough to enable them to
resist, and triumph over all these malign influences.

The tide is setting in so hard against the Tories, that
however much one may deplore the use of unprincipled
means to promote any object, one cannot be surprised at
the use of such means in the present crisis of their fate,
by those who have, at no time, been very scrupulous
about the character of their actions, provided a tern-

porary purpose was answered. The Tories of Oxord-
shire, it would appear, have no desire to be distinguished
above their brethren by a course of proceeding more
conformable to the dictates of honour and the laws of
morality. They arc determined that as far as they are
concerned, the maxim that " the end justifies the
means" shall not fall into abeyance.

Mr. STONOR, a gentleman of high character and
of large property in the county of Oxford, has, it is
well known, come forward as a candidate in the liberal
interest. The real objections to Mr. STONOR are his
popularity with the electors, and the certainty of his
being returned one of the representatives of the county
—a certainty founded on the fact, that considerably
more than the half of the electors have already pledged
themselves to support him, although he has not yet
finished his canvas. What, then, do the enemies of
our free Constitution—the inveterate haters of civil and
religious liberty in every shape—what do these Oxford-
shire Tories do, but set up the cry of " No Popery,"
in order to damage Mr. STONOR, who happens to
be a Catholic ! The trick is too stale to have any
effect except with the most ignorant class of the com-
munity, to which class very few, if any, of the elec-
tors of Oxfordshire belong, though there is a Univer-
sity in the county. Yet the attempt, feeble as it is,
and fruitless as it will prove, shows that the weapons
of bigotry would be used without any compunction,
could hands be found to put them into.
The leader in this crusade of persecution is one
WM. HENRY ASHURST, an obscure person who can
find no other mode of obtaining notoriety for himself than
by inventing and circulating calumnies against his
neighbours. This respectable champion of Toryism,
who has found ready channels for his slanderous im-
putations in the provincial organs of that party, of
which he is so ambitious of becoming a chief orna-
ment by first proving that he is a dab at the dirtiest
work, has published a letter, in which he accuses Mr.
STONOR of being " an enemy to the Constitution,"
without once quoting—no, that would not do—a single
expression, written or oral, ever used by him. " You
are an enemy to the Constitution," exclaims this aspirant
after Tory exaltation—" you found fault with the House
of Lords, Mr. STONOR—it is true you did not say
you wished to abolish or even reform the Peerage ; but
at a public dinner you took upon yourself to disap-
prove of their proceedings, and no one could do this
snless he were an enemy to the Constitution." Such
is the logical process by which Mr. W. H. ASHURST
manufactures an enemy to the Constitution !
Then comes another charge that Mr. STONOR is an
enemy to the Church ; and this charge is made out
in a similar manner. Mr. STONOR is not accused of
any overt act of hostility to the Church—it is merely
presumed, that being a Catholic, he must be an enemy