The Sun.
London, England, 1837-05-05 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

The meeting of the electors of Westminster favour-
able to the return of Mr. Leader at the British Coffee-
house was so numerous that an adjournment to the
Lowther Rooms became necessary. The large
room to which the meeting adjourned was soon
crowded to excess, and the heat was intole-
rable. This shows that the inhabitants of West-
minster are fully alive to the importance of the
struggle, and resolved to do their part manfully. They
see that the eyes of all England are now fixed on
them—that the fate of the great question of Reform
is in their hands. Should Sir Francis succeed in ca-
joling the electors, the Tories would, without- hesita-
tion, place the victory to the account of a change in
the opinions of the- people, not merely of Westminster,
but of all England. A heavy responsibility, there-
fore, rests on the men of Westminster. The elector,
who now lags, who does not perform his part, is a traitor
to the sound cause of liberty and constitutional govern-
ment, and unworthy of the privileges of a freeman.
But we will not insult the men of Westminster by the
supposition that at such a time as this they will be
lukewarm or worse. While we see. and hear the
crowded meetings, -the eagerness of the respectable in-
habitants to perform their part satisfies us that Sir
Francis has formed a most mistaken estimate of the
electors when he supposes he can drag them along with
himself into the mire of Toryism. . Sir Francis might
have taken warning from the apostate journal of which
he is the idol, and which endeavoured to transfer to
the Tories the three-fourths -of the people of England
whose political opinions it pretended to guide. At
first the feeling towards him was that of regret that he
should have disgraced the once honoured name of
Burdett ; but that regret has been succeeded by a feel-
ing akin to resentment that lie should have thought so
meanly of the electors as to suppose that he could carry
them at will to the Tories, and make them partners in
his disgrace. We refer with exultation to the list of
Mr. Leader's Committee in our advertising columns.
The list is headed by General_ Sir Ronald Ferguson,
the Chairman, and fifty-nine other Members of Par-
liament, Whigs and Radicals, and contains a number
of the inhabitants of Westminster most distinguished
for respectability and talents. With such a demon-
stration of the interest taken in the struggle by all
classes of Reformers, we cannot allow ourselves to
doubt of the success of Mr. Leader. Still, however,
much depends on organization, and in that we trust
the Committee will not be wanting. Sir Francis Bur-
dett, in his latest address, places his attachment to the
Church in the foreground. We quarrel with no man
for attachment to his Church ; but Sir Francis, like
his friend Sir George Sinclair, means by attachment
to the Church an attachthent to its abuses. Of this
we are certain, that all those Churchmen who profit by
these abuses, and who opposed the Reform Bill because
they thought it would strike at them, will now sing
the praises of Sir Francis Burdett. He, who was
the black dog of the Clergy, will now be their idol.
The well-fed dignitaries will be among the mokt
zealous of his canvassers. Sir Francis Burdett now
holds out the right hand of fellowship to Orangemen,
and would oppress the Irish because they happen to be
Catholics. Yet the Hon. Baronet, who has now such
a horror of Popish priests and Popish Members of
Parliament, at the dinner at the Crown and Anchor
on the 23d of May, 1819, told us that " Ireland has
lately revived those hopes which have been a hundred
times defeated : she has again lifted her imploring eyes
towards Parliament for a redress of those grievances
which are imposed by tyranny, and which maxims
of State equally odious and absurd, which
hypocrisy long detected, but nevertheless prac-
tised, would still endeavour to perpetnatc." - Sir
Francis now attempts to 'sow divisions among the
people of the three kingdoms ; but when he was
a Reformer he exclaimed, " Let me • be allowed
to recommend to our fellow-subjects Irish,
Scotch, and English—to feel that their interests
are common ; and that when any of them seek for
partial benefits for themselves to the exclusion of
others, they not only will gain nothing for themselves,
but, on the contrary, only favour the delusion, and
betray the mutual cause of all." Alas, that Sir Fran-
cis should have himself proved the betrayer whom he
• pourtrayed I Again we recur to the theme—that this
Is not a contest between Sir Francis Burdett and Mr.
Leader, nor, as the Times says, will the representa-
tion alone be determined by it. Mr. Harvey well ob-
served, that the fate of Toryism was involved in the
contest : let it succeed, and the cause of Toryism
would be prodigiously advanced. It is, indeed, im-
possible to overrate the importance of the struggle ;
and the maledictions of every lover of his country and
its prosperity will rest on the timid or lukewarm Re-',
formers who fail to do their duty at this crisis. The
Tories, as a matter of course, will support the apos-',
tate ; but every Reformer who either votes for Sir
Francis, or does not vote for Mr. Leader, sanctions the
apostacy.—Morning Chronicle.
We rejoice to state that the, canvass of Sir F. Bur-
' Jett proceeds with vigour, and'promises the most
triumphant success: Respectable men of all parties
stand amazed at the precipice to which wild and reck-
less adventurers, like Mr. Leader, would hurry them.
Those who have property to lose, • and at the same
time judgment to direct them, can see no end to the
long vista of revolution which has been opened by the
Radical orators and candidates in all their specehes
and written addresses to-the people. It is not, therefore,
to the upper or middle classes that the exertions of
Sir Francis Burdett's committee ought to he most ac-
tively directed. It is to the humbler description of the
constituency—men who are more likely to have been
duped by the quackeries of the movement. It is to the
small streets and obscure habitations of the working
Westminster, that inquiries, warnings,
population of
and intelligent advice should be most strenuously con•
veved. It is quite true and almost self-evident; as Mr.
-I,e'ader, inn a tit of 'unaccountable frankness, assured
his hearers, two or three nights ago, that the poor
man is still more sdeeply than the affluent interested
in the maintenance of the laws and in the stability of
our institutions, as employment is. ever scarce in days
of trouble : but Mr. Leader left untold the corollary
to his proposition, viz., that every elector who felt its
truth ought to vote for Sir Francis Burdett. A spirited
and striking address from the Flon. Baronet's Com-
mittee was published yesterday, and is repeated this
morning : it is of the right stuff. Rumours are now
abroad and credited, that Mr. Leader, discovering
his chance to be below zero, has resigned in favour
of Lord Milton. We wonder whose resignation " will
come next ?---Times.

There are no greater calumniators of Mr. O'Con-
nell than those who suppose for a moment that he will
not vote with Mr. Sharman Crawford for the total
abOlition of tidies in Ireland. He is bound by his
pledge at the
Corn Exchange to do so, and he will
redeem it. At the same time it is but reasonable to
expect that Hr. Crawford will be in an overwhelming
minority of some 42 or 50, or thereabouts, in a House
of at least five times the number ; and that Mr. O'Con-
nell will, upon finding Mr. Crawford's resolution no-