The Sun.
London, England, 1830-01-27 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

A bold attempt has been made at Birrning-
)am, as our readers will see from our report of
he proceedings at the Meeting in that town on
Monday last, to effect an union of the middle
md lower classes throughout the country, with
t view to bring about a Reform in the Com-
1110M' House of Parliament. About ten thou-
sand persons were present. In the Resolutions
agreed on, they state that for the last fifteen
years (they might have said ever since the
reign of George 111.---commencons avec le
commencement, mon ami le Belier), there had
been gross mismanagement of the public affairs
of the country, and that this evil could only be
Alec:wally and permanently romedied by an
effectual reform in the Commons' House of Pat-
liament, and that it was expedient, with a view
to this result, to form a general political union
between the lower and middle classes of the
people throughout the country. Mr. Attwood
is understood to be the author of this scheme,
and he was the principal performer at the Meeting.
Every one knows the opinions entertained by Mr.
Attwood respecting the depreciation of the Cur-
rency, and the operation of the Bill of Mr. Peel.
Being unable to restore the depreciation, which
he conceives would lower the pressure of the
public burthens, he now wishes to reduce the
burthen to the level of the ability of the people
to pay, and this seduction again can only, he
thinks, be effected through the Reform of the
Commons' House. But we will allow him to

speak for himself—" The Duke of Wellington,
whose law, he was sorry to say, waS the law of
the land, refused to lift us to the level of our
burthens. Be it so ; but ought not the burthens
then to be brought down to the level of their
means ?" Nothing can he fairer—we shall see
whether this can be done. Nothing is so absurd
as to be prying into the motives for attempting a
good work when a man stands forward and says,
here am I, ready to begin. Mr. Redfern, who
followed Mr. Scholefield, the mover of the first
Resolution, had observed—" Is it not, think

you, strange and curious, that the nigh Tory
Party, which for the last sixty years has so stiffly
and invariably opposed Reform of Parliament—
which, rather than make the slightest concession
of popular rights, engaged the nation in a war
with her American colonies ; which afterwards,
in order to strangle liberty abroad, plunged us
into a protracted war with France—winch, when
.„..„

in 181-9 and 1820 we called aloud for refor►n

and retrenchment, answered us by suspensions
of the Habeas Corpus Act, and by rendering a
second conviction for political libel liable to
transportation—is it not, I inquire, most strange
that this High Tory party, the ancient enemies
of the people, should have recently entered,
throughout the whole kingdom, into a league, of-
fensive and defensive, with the Liberal Cur-
rency Alen, and should advocate measures which

they have hitherto pursued with the most vin-
dictive animosity ?" But Air. Attwood met
this by frankly stating that ' he had always been
an advocate for Reform, and he would defy any
one to deny it.—(Cheers.)—When in a state of
national prosperity—when there was abundance

of trade for the manufacturer, and abundance of
labour for the workman—when humble wages
were the reward of humble labour, he did not
come publicly forward as its advocate, he did
not run his head against a wall, and, like Don
Quixote, attack windmills. He had, however,
always expressed a wish for reform. Gentlemen,
however, argued, that because twenty years ago
they were not public refbrmers, they were incon-
sistent in being its advocates now. Was he
(Mr. A.), now he had with him at least nine-
tenths of all the respectability of the kingdom,
99 out of every 100 of the assembly around him,
not to come forward ?" There is certainly great
force in this. In charity to Mr. Attwood, we are
bound to suppose that he really believes that nine-
tenths of the respectability of the kingdom are with
him, though Mr. Joseph Parkes stated, what
at all events leads to a suspicion that Mr. A. is
a little too sanguine in this respect ; for he com-
menced with " regretting that he did not see
attending this Meeting his personal friends, and
the more influential public characters of the
town, who usually took part in its public pro-
ceedings." But be this as it may, it may be
safely laid down that no great measure will ever
be carried by the agency merely of high-minded
and disinterested men—that interest, and inte-
rest alone, in the vulgar sense, determines nine-
teen out of twenty, or rather ninety-nine out of
a hundred men in the course they pursue (and
we have a striking instance of this in the cir-
cumstance, that the moment the German Princes
and Nobles who rapidly became Protestants to
seize on the Church lands and tithes, were no
longer allowed on conversion to seize the estates
of the Church, ProteLtantism was instantly at a
stand); and, therefore, if Mr. Attwood think:.;
that the project is now favourable, precisely be-
cause Reform is no longer exclusively in the
hands of the inen who, from a love of truth, or
a love of distinction, were reformers when reform
was at a discount, he is warranted, as a
man who looks to means as well as ends,
in coming forward now, as well as keep-
ing back before. When we find all the Con-
servative order, as the Quarterly Review terms
them—that is all the men whose great object it
is to take care of themselves, all the worldly
wise men, all those who look carefully to see
which way the wind blows, all the hypocrites
and knaves—become Reformers, we shall then
be certain that Reform is not far off: The truth
is, that many circumstances at. the present rno-
went concur in inspiring various c:,*6.0.4 with a
desire of reform, hitherto strongly adverse to it.
Great revolutions in the property of this country
have taken pine within the last thirty years. Our
towns are fill©d with rich capitalists, who are
really the proprietors of a large portion of the
hind of the country by means of mortgage. The
sudden changes—the constant e.p:ciacie of ups
and downs—have pretty nearly annihilated in
the country all reverence for any thing but pro-
perty, The landholders, while rents were rising
during the war, notwithstaudiutli their profusion,
and their moctsinree, had still a large surplus in-
come, and they almost monopolised the election!.
But they are now falling, the money for elec-
tions is not in such abundancT formerlv,
and a system tier; organized, lay which
Place•i hitherto supposed to he in tiro power
of this or that Nobleman or rich Land-
holder, will ho thrown open in spite of
them, their opposition only accelerating their
ruin. In counties ss'here Whip- T„),
families coalesced to spare tll,e ;'7'itince of a con-
test, Ito
eoi d artmtitcel attempt ci.vit t hope Without
' cle7sisl,:gfac:)ltustt.,(::
tora s gn e
forward contest,
the C s d
i)
theircandidatest :1;:a e:noc;el oai
necessary for tllCn}s vci. tit be at inueli expence
:I;lieleyeowuirllschaifvetitileiezidisicalactteiosndo
of
walking over

;field, and of accelerating their ruin if they do.
hi almost every county there are now a number
ef freeholders about the towns, who would
wil-
ingly second any third candidate in an object
of this kind. In almost all boroughs, however
rotten, the system of putting the candidates to
in enormous expence, by taking care that they
' .hall not walk over the course, is now well
no-
lerstood. The Conservative party are aware
' of this. On the other hand, the conviction is
';ecoming more and more general among the
' substantial people in our great and wealthy
towns, that under the present system their pro-
oertt is at the mercy of a number of aristocra-
catical mendicants, and that they ought to look
to means of protecting themselves. Let us
only of the immense mass of property in a place
like Manchester, and again of the penury of a
Humber of those who have votes, by which that
property may be affected. Mr. Attwood tran-
dates into plain English the phrase " Constitu-
tional Monarchy," as used by Lord (;rode-
rich. Alluding to the years of prosperity,
1824 and 1825, he observed that " in the au-
toinn of that year the Government told us by
Robinson, that our prosperity was del-it-ea
through the portals of a Constitutional 7tlo-
narchy,' meaning thereby the Boroughinonger-
ing influence." Mr. Attwood, by way o:' mov-
ing the landholders (for pint of the plan is, to
*et the landholders on the tinidhoidera), ebserva
ed, that Consols had risen from 60 to 93, while
the rent of land had been reduced from 63 to 30.
During the war, the two interests were upoo a
footing of equality. Now, one was three times
larger than the other. In addition to this,, the,
landholder had his land subject to aettlemeot,
mortgages, and incumbrances; which, when re-
duced from 65 to 30, reduced it still further to
15. Thus, it would be seen, that what with the
landholder was 60, was wow only 15, while the
fundholder was risen from 60 to 90." There
are almost as many blunders in this as proposi-
tions. In the first place, it is not true that the
landholder and fundholder were on a footing of
equality during the war. Let any man look
through the Agricultural Reports, and he svi.l
see that rents were in many cases nearly tripled
during the war, while the fundholders' income
was rapidly depreciating all the while. In per's
Agricultural Report of Berwickshire, there are
in an Appendix, statistical of three contiguous
parishes, A yton, Coldingharn, and Eyemouth,
which strikingly exemplify the diflc7ence be-
tween the landholder and fundholder during the
war.—The following is the recapitulation which
the Report gives :—" Rental and value : In
1700, the valued rent, and perhaps the real rent
was 1,7651. 11s. 6d. sterling; in 1791, 14,210/.;
in 1808, 33,450/.—amounting to twice ;led a
half of what it was only fourteen years before,
and nearly nineteen times what it probably was
a century ago. In 1700 the whole three
parishes might probably have been pur-
chased for 37,0001. In 1794, the por(:base.
value could not be less than 400,0001.;
and in 1808 the whole might have been sold
for 836,5001. ; giving a rise in value of fee-
simple in a century or nearly twenty-three times."
During this period, between 1794 and 1808, a
fundholder to the extent of 400,0001., livintt on
his income, like the landholder, found his
tal much the same, or rather greatly less than it,
was a year or two before the war, while hit in-
come was really greatly reduced from the depre-
ciation. But if' the fundholders have risen since,
it is not true that land has fallen so much as Me.
Attwood says it has; and it certainly, at all
events, has not fallen as much by a great deal
as it rose during the war. Again, the provisions
to children, &c. and mortgages ought not to be
included. A fundholder wo:th 50,000/., with
three children, divides it of course among them
at once. A sensible landholder, with an estate
of 50,000/. value, would convey it to trustees,
to be divided also among his children. If he
chooses to make one child run the risk of all
fluctuations in value—that is his folly or his
pride, and he must take the consequence. 'rhe
as
sdielsits sots helff'utiiielhsooh,loeri
oh/a! perhapsesta e
,InBy,nefitt:
gages, and provisions, reduced to, it 3,000/. to
the eldest son, he is just where the eldest sou
of the fundholder is. Ail absurd institutions
like primogeniture, which run counter to nature,
will always create confusions of this sort. We
trust the day will soon conie when, all property,
land, and moveables, will be viewed in the same
light. A Political Council of thirty-six gentle-
tnen, who brought forward the plan, is appointed
for the year, to end the Ist of July, 1830, we
shall see whether the plan takes. Mr. Attwood
looks forward to a convulsion, but thinks he
will be allowed to creep into a hole while the
storm rages. This part of hot speech is almost
as good in its way Antony's speech over
Cwsitr's body may be thought (he nays),
because I come forward now, that 1, shell be
ready 4 come veal conic woe' to head you
through thick and thin—throuith the dark and
dreary scenes which are approachinte. As itt. as
law will justify me, will will go with. you.---(Tre-
mendous cheers.) When I say I will go with
you as far as law will allow, 1 declare, to vcu
most solemnly, I will not go further one inch.—
(Cheers.) I know that a great crisis is op-
but, if the nation is to go, through the
ordeal
proaehing, I will do all I can to avoid that
those convulsions, but legally and pace-
you to bear this in mind when
ic.erriesiisn;
of political convulsions, a will not niter-
innstanees arise. I k
atlbiolyse; tal
riell'iltdltullvicsliti'c
now you
will to me and say, Lead us. My 1
• f ciunc
not lead you. I will go with you as far
as law will justify ; but if the elements oi law
and order are disorganized, I will go with you
no farther. This i* capital. There is a pro-
digious deal of evweratimi of the extent of the
distress; hot at all events, allowing the countre
gentlemen to clear their estates at (liec expence
of
J. Parkes,
their creditors would nut mend the
matter, 'Ali%
too, justly reminded hint that the
bankroptey And disorder commenced with 1797.
That must never be forgotteas any more than
the authors, when the '17,4d is confiscation.
—Morning CirQviciV..

By a, iott.“ from a correspondent signed
cc Vigil,' we observe that a straim:ll conAruc-
tion is put on a sentence of ours in vestcrdav't3
leading article on the inexpediency of paper
issues. 'We did not ropose that Bank-notes,
great or smart, ahould now be i.:red w:th se-
curiti4, or encouraged by those or any other
tiwans ; but, in alluding to *hat had Massed
years ago, w?, stated z;s an alternative
much better th..4ii that of having incouvortible
and ii,isc.lotat paper, Bank•notes issued only by
such parties as eQuld give—what wa4 then un-
known—sec;iiiiy for the faith of their engage-
nwilts, We referred to the t t more as an il-
lustration of tL unrerviolmbleness and imp!.
deuce of the Inuth....Ats bankers Of that (lay,
than as one at applicable to the present eun-'
dition c tl.lO count:!:, whm we have tire !rest or
securities. for ‘lw ptiblic,—a convexlibi!ity