The Sun.
London, England, 1837-01-26 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Number of the Edinburgh Review for Ja-
nuary, 1837, just published, contains an article which
will excite not a little astonishment—an account of
the recent exertions of the British Government in
India to put down the Most formidable combination of
murderers of which there is any instance in the history
of the world. From the most overwhelming evidence
it appears that there has flourished alike under Hindu,
Mahommedan, and British rulers, a vast fraternity of
murderers, consisting of many thousands of persons,
which has spread its ramifications over the whole of
India, from Cape Cormorin to the Himalayas ; and
yet, though it has every year destroyed multitudes of
victims, its constitution, nay its very being, have been
quite unknown to the most active and vigilant English
functionaries, and very imperfectly understood even by
the native Governments. The book from which the ar-
ticle is drawn up is a collection of official papers printed
by the Indian Government for the information of its offi-
cers, but never published; and the writer of the Edin-
burgh Review has conferred no small favour on the public
by digesting into one connected statement the many in-
teresting facts disclosed in a work inaccessible to common
readers, and which even if accessible might, from want
of arrangement, be in a great measure unintelligible to
them. These extraordinary persoas are called Thugs,
and their profession is called Thuggee. They travel
along the roads under various assumed characters, in
parties varying from ten or twelve to several hundreds,
appearing as traders, as pilgrims, as Sepoys seeking or
returning from service ; and " sometimes one of their
number figures as a Raja, with all the necessary equip-
ments ,of tents, carriages, &c.; and the rest act the
part of his obsequious followers." If _the gang be
numerous they divide into parties, following each other
at some distance, or take different routes, assembling at
an appointed place. They insinuate themselves into
the confidence of travellers, with whom they usually
propose to join company for mutual safety ; proper
places are selected for the murder, and precautions

taken against intrusion ;
" The travellers are generally induced to sit down under
pretence of resting themselves, and they are strangled at
once at a given signal. The bodies arc then burned, after
having been.reangled to expedite dissolution, and to pre-
vent their swelling and causing cracks in the ground. Two
Thugs are employed in the murder of each individual, one
of whom holds his legs or hands, while the other applies
the noose. If a traveller have a dog it is also killed, lest
the faithful animal should cause the discovery of the body
of its murdered master."
The wholesale character of many of these murders
must astonish an European reader. We select the
following instance, ,both to show the extent of the
Thug operations, and the patience. and pertinacity
with which they follow up their victims till a fit op-
portunity is found
" DoeenA.—After the capture of Gawilgur by Gene-
ral Wellerley (Duke of Wellington), it was restored to
the Nagpore Rajah, who appointed Ghurceb Sing to the
command of the fortress. Anxious to get some good sol-
diers from Hindostan to garrison it, he sent his younger
brother, Gliyan Sing, with a number of followers, and a
large sum of money, to raise them in the Onde country
and districts between the Ganges and Jumna rivers.
" Ghyan Sing and his party passed through Nagpore,
and came to• Julatipore in the month of June, while we
were there concentrated from the different parts into
which we had extended our .expeditions that season. His
party consisted of fifty-two men, seven women, and a
Brahman boy, then about four years of age. Some of
our gangs lodged iu the town, some in the cantonment
among the troops, and some were encamped at the tank
ef Adhar, two .or three miles from the town, on the road
to Mirzapore. As soon as we heard of the arrival of this
Party from the Deccan, every party of Thugs deputed
some of its most res:ectable members to mix with them in
the town snd win their confidence. At first they tried to se-
parate them into different parties to proceed by different roads,
but though they had collected together at different times and
places on the road, it was found impossible to separate any
part of them from GLyan Sing ; and we agreed to unite
all our gangs, and to lead the party by the most unfre-
quented roads till we might find a place convenient for the
murder of the nhole at once.
" On reaching Sehora, we persuaded them to quit the
high-road throng% Belehtee and Nlyhere, and take that
through Chundeea and the old fort Bandoogur, which leads
through very extensive tracts of jungle and uninhabited
country. We went. pith them through all this country,
however, without fitaling What we considered a fitting time
and place, and reached Rewah, winning more and more
upon their coi:fiderce every clay. From Rewah we
%seat to Simareea, and from that place to a small vil-
lage half-way to Chitterkote, called by us the Burwala
lion, from a large Indian fig-tree (Bur) that stood near
it. Thence we sent on people, as usual, to select a place
for the murder, and they found one about two cess
and a-half distant, in a very extensive jungle, without a
human habitation for many miles on either side. We per-
suaded the party to set out soon after rittlaight ; and as
they went along we managed to take our appointed
places, two Thugs by every traveller, and the rest in
parties cf reserve at different intervals along the line,
every trio managing to keep the person they were ap-
pointed to kill in conversation. On reaching the place
chosen, the signal was given at several different places,
hegioning with the rear party, and passing on to that in
front ; and all were seized and strangled except the boy.
It was now near morning, and too late to admit of.the
bodies being securely buried. We made a temporary
grave for them in the bed of the river, covered them over
with sand, and went on with the boy and the booty to
Chitterkote, intending to send back a large party the next
night, and have the bodies securely buried. The rains had
begun to set in, end after the murders it rained very Ilea-
s ily all the day. The party, however went back, but found
that the river had risen and washed away all the bodies ex-
cept two or three, which they found exposed, and pushed
into the stream to follow the rest.
" • What became of the boy ?
" Doreba—lle was brought up by Mungul Brahman,
brother of Laljoo, and having taken to the trade of Th.uggee,
he was last year sent to the black water from Saugor.'"
The disclosures which were made on the apprehen-
sion of a large !Tang of Thugs by Major Borthwick in
Malwa in 1831- attracted Lord William Bentinek's
attention to the subject, and a system was organized
by him for the general suppression of the monstrous
evil. Jubbulpoor was fixed as the centre of operations;
Captain Sleeman appointment superintendent, with a
number of European assistants, and the co-operation
of the native States engaged. Up to October, 1835,
there had been committed 1,562 persons, of whom 382
had been hanged, and 986 transported or imprisoned
for life. It is only through the British supremacy in
India that the Thugs can be suppressed, for, strange
as it may seem, they arc most religious and respectable
persons. The fraternity has, indeed, a religious
fotindation, and the miscreants believe that in robbing
and murdering, agreeably to their rules, they are
rendering an acceptable service to the Deity. To
the Thugs murder is an act of religion, just as
much as the practice of charity is to a Chris-
tian ; and, indeed, when the omens are favour-
able, to refuse to murder would be to disobey the
will of the Deity. Murderers in Europe have the
consciousness of guilt, and the bond of union be-
tween muilty men is loose ; but these Hindoo
mur-
derers consider themselves as virtuous and good men.
One of the witnesses says, " The father (a noted
Thug) used to drink very hard, and in his fits of in-
toxication he used to neglect his prayers and his days
offast. All days were the same with him. This lad
Shumsheera (also a Thug) was always sober and reli-
n'iously disposed, and separated from his father, living
always with his uncle Doudee (another Thug), who
was a very worthy and good man." Captain Slee-
man says of them, that " no men observe more
strictly in domestic life all that is enjoined by their
Priests or demanded by their respective castes ; nor do
any men cultivate with more care the esteem of their
neighbours, or court with more assiduity the good-will
of all constituted local authorities. In short, to men
who do not know them, the principal members of
these Associations will always appear to be among
the most amiable, most respectable, and most in-
telligent members of the lower, arid sometimes the
middle and higher, classes of native society ; and
it is by no means to be inferred that every man who
attempts to screen them from justice knows them to be
monsters. " In short, soldiers fighting in their coun-
try s cause could not be less conscious of doing wrong ;
they are satisfied that they are performing nothing more
than their duty in putting their fellow-creatures to
death. In England respectability is often at variance
with religion. Ikey Solomons, had he not been pre-
maturely disposed of, would have been, like other suc-
cessful and rich men, respectable ; but no one would
have thought him religious. The Thugs, however,
not only rob and murder, but are religious as well as

respectable. Religion may not always be able to fight
against the world, as we see in the case of the clergy
of the Church of England, the dignitaries of which
set up a standard diametrically opposed to the princi-
ples of the religion of which they are appointed the
ministers ; but the evil is horribly increased when reli-
gion sanctions crime. That religion which encourages
wholesale murder and robbery, is a great calamity to
the country where it prevails ; and the only question
with respect to the suppression of it, must be one of
power and prudence.—Morning Chronicle.
The new Peerages recently announced by the Mi-
nisterial Journals suggest to us a few observations,
which we submit to the attention of the country. In
a nation like this, whose details of Ministerial manage-
ment are so multiform and complex as to render a con-
tinual recurrence to first principles highly inconve-
nient, our readers are well aware that great importance
is necessarily attached to what are commonly called
precedents. Every novel course of action that may
have been entered on is presumed, by a charitable
hypothesis, to have been adopted originally with a due
regard to the merits of the case ; and hence the„exist-
ence of a precedent is almost always pleaded as an
argument or presumption in favour of-any analogous
'procedure that may be founded on it. Considered,
therefore, in relation to consequences, it is quite clear
that in propotsing what is strictly new and unprecedented
in the administration of public affairs, a wise and patri-
ode-Government will feel itself bound to exercise the
utmost caution and prudence. Where there is a possi-
bility of contingent evil arising from such novelties, or
where there is no palpable and pressing reason for
hazarding, heir introduction, or where they appear to
possess only that negative character which betokens
neither good nor evil in the issue—in all these cases,
it is the obvious duty of an upright Ministry to refrain
we will not say from what is injurious merely, but from
whatever can fairly be deemed doubtful, useless, or in-
different. All this, as far as regards the first introduc-
tion of political novelties, must approve itself to the
mind of every reflecting man. But we go further s ill.
Even in imitating and following old established prece-
dents, the same cautious and discriminating policy is,
we maintain, absolutely incumbent on our rulers. A
precedent, not otherwise blameworthy, is Susceptible of
being grossly perverted, so as to lend an apparent sanc-
tion to transactions highly exceptionable in themselves.
It is not enough, therefore, that a mere precedent can
be urged per se in -favour of anything that may be con-
templated. The thing itself, if questioned, must be
perfectly justifiable on its own merits ; nor, in the ab-
sence of this essential recommendation, can a Govern-
ment be warranted in bringing it forward, any more
than a people can be prepared to seal it with their ap-
probation. Now, let us apply these remarks to the new
Peerage movements announced in the Ministerial Papers.
Some of the honours meant to be conferred are, we be-
lieve, mere promotions in the ranks of nobility. No
doubt the precedents for this are numerous. Nay, we
may even admit that precedents - sanctioning the pro-
motion of Peers, without the smallest regard to any
public merits or services on their part, may he easily
adduced. But what then ? Of course our readers
will bear in mind, that as the affairs of this country
are now administered by a reformed Government, so
every thing that was alleged to be objectionable in Tory
Administrations has been declared by the Whigs to be
the object of their supreme aversion and systematic
avoidance. Grant, then, that the promotion of Peers
who have never done a single thing -to merit such dis-
tinction is, undeniably, a gross abuse. Any frailty of
this sort that may have been yielded to by the poor
prodigal Tories is wholly indefensible ; but that pre-
cisely the same corruption should be practised by the
immaculate Whig Pharisees, is absolutely monstrous.
In their case the guilt is all the greater, that besides
perpetrating what is_an evil itself, they greatly aggra-
vate that evil by their boastful pretensions to superior
virtue and probity. Assuming, then, that public
1 merit and public services are the only grounds on which
a reformed Ministry can consistently effect a promotion
in the Peerage, we now challenge Lord Melbourne
to inform the country what has been done by
Lords Howard of Effinglinin, Ducie, and Yarborough,
to warrant their proposed advancement ? Have
these Whig noblemen ever been heard of before,
except for their sure presence, or still surer proxy, in
support of Whig-Radical tacticS? To ask what dis-
tinguished services they have rendered to this kingdom
in state affairs, diplomacy, law, science, commerce, or
war, would be almost too satirical. Lord Ducic 's
political influence in one of the divisions of Glouces-
i tershre, fur which he returns his Radical kinsman
(the Hon. Mr. Moreton), comprises every syllable
that can be said in his favour ; and except-the ben ough-
mongering power whereby the other two noblemen
may he able to place certain nominees of theirs in the
Lower House, as thick-and-thin supporters of Whig
treachery, we beg to know -what single action they
have ever done that can redeem them from respectable
contempt ? And so with respect to the other pro-
posed Peerages which are entirely new. Of Thomas
Alexander Fraser, Esq., we shall have something to
say presently. Meanwhile, we push our inquiry con-
cerning the deservings'of Messrs. Portman and Han-
bury. Bating the Parliamentary influence which the
Lord Bateman elect can command in one or two
western counties, and conceding the foolish
fancy that the intended Lord Portman can se-
cure a Whig-Radical Member for Marvlebone, we
ask once more, what on God's earth arc these
obscure commoners known for ? We shall wait for a
satisfactory answer to this. If no such answer be
forthcoming, then the only conclusion we can come to
is, that by such unmerited promotion the pure and pa-
triotic Whigs have given their sanction to all previous
elevations of an undeserved kind ; and that, instead
of warranting the sanguine hopes entertained by their
Radical supporters touching a Reform of the House
of Lords,. these Whigs are determined, that if ever
the corrupt practice of ennobling useless noodles is
to be reformed, the country. must look for this at the
hands of a Conservative Government. What we have
now written has had reference exclusively .to those
peerage honours which are about to be conferred on
five Protestant English families. But in the anticipated
batch we find a certain name whose proposed
elevation demands more emphatic remark, inasmuch
as Thomas A. Fiaser, Esq., who is about to be
raised to the House of Lords by the title of Ba-
ron Lovat, is a Roman Catholic gentleman of Inver-
ness- shire—thht first of that persuasion who has been
created a peer since the glorious Protestant revolu-
tion. The former cases involve, as we think, a conti-
nuance of evils under the shelter of abused precedents
good in themselves ; but the more conspicuous case of
my Lord Lovat constitutes a new precedent in every
respect bad. Our readers are aware that on occasion
of the auspicious visit of George IV. to Scotland seve-
ral of the old Scottish peerages attainted under the
rebellions of 1715 and 1745 were restored by act of
Parliament. Among these the attainted title of Lo-
vat, that had been forfeited by a disaffection to the
Protestant succession, for which its last possessor suf-
fered on the scaffold, was not included ; and this, for
the twofold reason that the present holder of the Lovat
estates was not only a Roman Catholic, but could not
prove his lineal descent from the old attainted Lord.
Two several attempts before a Committee of Privileges
to compass the restoration of the title in question are
understood to have completely failed. If the present
gentleman could have succeeded in making good his
right to the title, there can be no doubt he would at
least have acquired the old Scottish peerage of that
name ; nor are we prepared to offer any serious objec-
tions against the propriety of such an issue. All
that we wish to urge at present is, that Thomas
Alexander Fraser, Esq., has no shadow of
right or claim to the ancient title which he is
now about to assume ; and that the peerage now
conferred on him is, therefore, in every sense of
new creation. To the objections urged against the
other new peerages, on the score of the obscurity and
insignificance of their recipents, the proposed peerage
of Lovat is not only equally liable, but presents pecu-
liar grounds of exception from which they are entirely
free. The public merits or public services of Mr.
Thomas Alexander Fraser are just as little known as
their's are ; and we can confidently state, that with the
exception of being a popular leader of the northern
sporting meetings and their accompanying balls, this
honourable worshipper of the Virgin is wholly unknown
beyond the limits of his own county. No ; we con-
.ess we are wrong here, Some small service to the

State has undoubtedly been rendered by Mr. Fraser,
inasmuch as he was for years an influential supporter
of Lord Glenelg in his Lordship's contests for the
county of Inverness, added to which, his zealous co-
operation in the ludicrous attempt to unseat Mr.
Chisholm is, nedoubt, donfidently reckoned on. But
what stamps this new creation of my Lord Lovat
with all the features of a scandalous Whig job is,
that it not only introduces an organic innovation by
establishing (without any necessity) the first precedent
for conferring nobility on Papists since the Revolution,
but it is an arbitrary and flagitious interference with
the even course of justice. At this moment, it is no-
torious to every reader of newspapers, that the title of
Lovat is claimed by a gentleman, being of " the re-
' mainder," as it is called, in the male line of the family.
The present Mr. Fraser, of Lovat, holds the estate,
not by descent, but by bequest. His earnest struggles
for the title were put an end to by a Committee of
Privileges. The claims of a powerful competitor (if
they be not now effectually quashed by this shameful
business) were on the eve of being submitted to the
House of Peers. Lord Glenelg knew this well ; and
yet, after thousands of pounds have been expended in
preparing the case of the claimant under G°the remain-
der," all is set aside and made havoc of in an instant ;
his claims are disgracefully prejudged, and his flattering
prospects are ruined by the base partisanship of Minis-
ters, who have bestowed upon his Popish Radical
rival those honours which he offers to prove are his.
Shame upon Lord Glenelg ! Of him, at least, we
could have hoped better things. But perhaps his col-
leagues may have managed the job while his Lordship
has been napping.—Tinaes.
It appears that the Irish Government has com-
menced a 'prosecution against several persons for cele-
brating the anniversary of the memorable event of the
closing the gates "of Londonderry by the apprentice
boys of the " maiden city." We arc not told that
the performance of this ceremony, which has been
kept up ever since the year 1689, was accompanied
with any breach of the peace, so as to bring it rithin
the purviews of the law against riotous assemblies,
&c., therefore must presume that the peaceable cele-
bration of that historical event, so intimately connected
with the preservation of British connection in Ireland,
is, per se, regarded by the Irish Government as a
criminal act. We do not pretend to know much
about Irish legislation; like Irish politics .there is
always a good deal of confusion about it, and Whig
attempts at mending it have only rendered it more
puzzling than ever. We have no recollection of any
Act of Parliament having been obtained expressly for
the purpose of making it a crime to celebrate the
defeat of treason against the British Crown, by clos-
ing the gates of Londonderry, on the anniversary of
the day which saved' Ireland. If such an Act were not
smuggled very adroitly through Parliament, it must
surely have called forth the indignant anitnadversions
of those honest and courageous friends of Protestant and
Constitutional doctrines who have not yet discovered the
wisdom of sacrificing valuable principles in the vain
hope of propitiating implacable foes. We would cer-
tainly have raised our voice against it, even if we stood
alone ; but believing thers,is not any such Act in ex-
istence, we are led to the conclusion that the Irish
Government has so conssived some Act against pub-
lic processic.ni in gereral, as to bring the case of the
" apprentice boys" within their construction of some
one or other of its penal provisions. While we mite,
a vague recollection crosses our mind of a former pro.
secution of this nature, the result of which we arc not
aware that we ever heard. But whatever may be the
merits of the question in a legal point of view, there
cannot be much doubt as to the political anintits
which has led at the present time to such a prosecu-
tion. It has indeed come to a pretty pass with British
connection in Ireland, when the commemoration of the
almost miraculous defeat of the united force of foreign
enemies and domestic traitors is considered a fit subject
for a State prosecution. The annual closing of the
gates of
,Londonderry is reanore the celebration of „a.
mere party triumph, than the keeping distß.,ual OA
Day, or the Anniversary of the Battle of Vraterli
Trafalgar, in this country. , The celebration of Fiat .
days of national triumph in England—clays- intimately
associated with the providential preservation of Eilg-
land's monarchy, from the destruction prep for it
tre4cso,
by domestic and foreign cnetnies—caaiidt , - gitee--:
able to the feelings of the democrats at -houter 'and-the
foes abroad, whose designs against our Constitution
and liberties were crushed by the events thus comme-
morated. Can the celebration of the siege of London-
derry give offence to the feelings of any portion of the
loyal and sound-minded of his Britannic Majesty's
subjects ? Can it afford a painful subject of contem-
plation to any but domestic traitors and alien enemies ?
It is only necessary to describe the event, which is the
subject of annual celebration, to furnish the answer.
When James 11., having been defeated in attempting
to subvert the religion and liberties of Great Britain,
was driven from tile Throne, he found not only an
asylum at the Court of France, but what he was more
anxious to obtain—the means of kindling a civil war
within the British dominions—lreland was thought the
most vulnerable point to make the attack upon, because
of the well known hatred to a Protestant Government
by the Popish priests, and those over whose minds they
exercised an influence, though not at that time smarting
under the operation of penal laws, any more than they
have been since the year 1829. 'James, furnished
with a French army, and supplies of French money,
and having the Pope's benediction to boot, landed at
Kinsale, in the south of Ireland, and marched directly
at the head of an army of 30,000 foot and 8,000
horse, to exterminate Protestantism in its strong hold
in the north. It was considered of great importance
that he should reduce the Protestant city of London-
derry, and lie accordingly laid siege to it. The Go-
vernor of the town was a nominal Protestant, named
Lundy—one who began with being a temporiser, and
ended with being a emitor. Having managed
matters so as to excite the suspicion of his friends,
he, at length, sold himself outright to the enemy, like
some of our temporisers at the present day. A secret
agreement was made, according to which James's
troops were at a certain time to cross the river to walk
in. At the time appointed the- ramparts were de-
fenceless, the gates were wide open, and the chosen
regiment of the King. - called' the " Redshanks,"
were seen crossing the river, and " peaceably" ap-
proaching the city. The true-hearted Protestants,whom
this alarming state of things called together, found
the Governor unprepared for anything but a surrender.
In a few minutes more all would have been lost, if it
were not that the apprentice boys, while older- citizens
were remonstrating with the Governor, seized as if with
an inspired impulse, ran to the gates and ,suddenly
closed them in the faces of the advancing enemy, 'who
in turn were surprised, not being prepared to meet with
any resistance. It was then that the citizens, under
the guidance of the heroic Walker, Who assumed the
command, rushed to the ramparts, and soon the throat
of the great piece of ordnance, called " roaring Meg,"
was opened with no friendly salutation upon the asto-
nished " Red-shanks," whose disconcerted advance
was soon changed to a precipitate flight. The subse-
quent privations, heroic endurance, and triumph of the
citizen-defenders of the banner of " no surrender"
hoisted on the ramparts of Derry, made this one of the
most celebrated sieges in the annals, not only of the
British empire, but of the world. And—let the Pro-
testants of England mark it—it is for the peaceable
celebration of a historical event so glorious in British
history, and so auspicious to British interests, that a
number of their Irish Protestant brethren are now pro-
secuted as criminals by the Whig Government in Ireland.
Let the Protestants of England also mark, that while
such a prosecution is now on foot, a Roman Catholic
assembly, organized for purposes of intimidation, and
arrogating some of the most important powers of a na-
tional convention, holds its sittings close to the seat of
Government—.holds its sittings unmolested—issues its
democratic decrees—exercises inquisitorial authority--
openly fosters the tithe conspiracy against the law of
the land, and levies taxes all over Ireland; not only
without encountering the terrors of a State prosecution,
but with the apparent countenance and approbation of
Government, which has certainly made some promo-
tions of late from the ranks of that intimidation society.
To prosecute the " apprentice boys of Derry" for
peaceably celebrating the memorable discomfiture of
French invasion and Popish treason, and to reward
the agitators of O'Connell's confederacy against the
Protestant Church and the British Constitution, is

what is called, in the hypocritical language of false-
hearted Whiggery, administering equal law and impar-
tial justice in Ireland. We say that since the days of
James 11., Protestantism in Ireland was never so ma-
nifestly handed over to the enemies of the British re-
ligion and connection as at present. Never was it so
discouraged, persecuted, and hunted down. If equal
justice were intended, why was not the seditious pro-
cession, under pretence of the funeral of a " tithe
martyr," made the subject of prosecution ? The ob-
vious intention of that exhibition, marching as it did
through a great part of the south of Ireland, having
the way prepared by the most inflammatory placards,
and other processional appliances, was to exasperate
still more the already dangerously excited feelings of
the misguided multitude. It was one of the acts of
" pacification," as such diabolical contrivances for po-
pular mischief, desperation, and bloodshed, are face-
tiously called by the arch-enemy of his country's peace.
But the law which punishes the Protestants of Lon-
donderry for celebrating the deliverance of their city
from the yoke of her French invader and the Inquisi-
tion of the Romish bigot, was powerless against that
processional provocation to seditious violence and mur-
der, which was only one of the episodes of the grand
scheme that is to effect a " restoration" of the princi-
ples which were vanquished at Londonderry and the
BoYne. Again we say, let the Protestants of Great
Britain mark how " equal justice" is administered in
Ireland !—lllorning Herald.
In our review of the forces by which the possession
of political power is about to be contested, the party
entitled by courtesy to precedence is the party of the
Government. What is, at the . opening of the session
of 1837, the pity of the Government ? It consists
in the first
.place, of the Members of the Go-
vernment themselves ; for in estimating the weight
of an Administration, the personal character of
the individuals composing it is one of the pro-
minent points for consideration. The Duke of
Wellington by his calm sagacity, ready decision,
incorruptible integrity—Sir R. Peel, by his boundless
command of political science, of statistical information,
of oratorical power—Earl Grey, in spite of his splene-
tic irritability, and aristocratic morgue—Lord Althorp,
notwithstanding his lack of every intellectual quality
which a statesman ought to possess, all have been
seen contributing, in their mere personal presence,
incalculable energy and vigour to the Cabinets of
which they were members. Let us look, then,
for the men of the Cabinet of 1837, who com-
mand the admiration or affection or esteem of the
political world, by either moral goodness or mental su-
periority. Are we to name Lord Melbourne, the su-
perlatively indolent, the pre-eminently inconsistent—
the ultra anti-Reformer yesterday, the ultra-Reformer
to-day—the Home Secretary whQ demanded the Coer-
cion Bill, the Premier who sent Lord Mulgrave to
Dublin—the " base, brutal, and bloody Whig," the
" only Minister who ever did justice to Ireland"-,-the
votary of leisure, the slave of circumstance—the inde-
cisive in Council, the inefficient in debate, the listless
lounger at Vauxhall, the dawdling dangler in ladies'
dressing-rooms ? Or are we to select Lord John Rus-
sell, who wrote treatises, an impartial essayist, in de-
precation of the Reform Bill, and made speeches—
a salaried Patriot, in commendation of the Reform
Bill—who refused so discuss an abstract principle,
when his tenure of office might be rendered uncom-
fortable by its discussion—who hastened to adopt an
abstract principle, when' his recovery of office de-
pended mainly upon its adoption—who deceived the
Dissentenk—who calumniated the Bishop of Exeter
barayed Mr. Buckingham—the author of
Von Clai4os, the " cracked mandarin on a chimney-
piece ? " 'Or shall we suggest Lords Glenelg and
Palmerston ; . the leaders of another section of the
motley group, the drowsy saint and the superannuated
fop ; both alike -contemptible, wherever honesty shall
be held in esteem, for having embraced the opinions,
sUptp.osted,the measures, pocketed the wages, of a dozen
succissittrt Administrations ? We will not proceed with
tlitist: Surely little of public confidence attaches it-
,
se to the meagreancapacity of Lord Lansdowne, the
insignificance of Sir John, Hobhouse, or the ig-
iiNendterrerio of Mr. Spring Rice. There is not
one of the men now his Majesty's advisers who brings,
yin his individual virtues or abilities, respectability or
;weight to the Cabinet. But, passing from time mem-
bers of the Cabinet, let us count their supporters.
They have, first, all who hold office, and receive pay under
them, and these they will keep just so long as they can
give them office and secure them pay. They have, next,
the numerous scions'of the three or four noble fami-
lies among which an unprecedented amount of patron-
age has been distributed with asffectionste prodigality.
They have, besides, a few Baronets and Squires, who,
having called themselves Whigs in 1806, call them-
selves Whigs still, unmindful of the mutations of men
and things, fancying that Lord Melbourne treads in
the steps of Mr. Fox, and shunning the Radicalism of
Mr. Grote, merely because they condemned the Radi-
calism of Major Cartwright. Of the extent. of the
following,syyich the Ministers thus retain it is not dif
ficult./to jfte, when we remember the effect of it
uponlfisi* kopular elections in which their more con-
spieusjiis men have been candidates. Lord Palmerston
is defeated sin Hampshire ; Lord John Russell is
fro, Devonshire ; Sir John Hobhouse is lite-
rally pelted out of Westminster. The numerical strength
of the isolated party of the Government is, perhaps,
soins;wriat underrated, but is, on the whole, net very
unfairly described, by Sir William Molesworth,',in his
paper on the terms of alliance between Whigs and
Radicals. " The Whigs," he observes, " are but
the remains of a dying fiction, wljo are placed in
power by die kadicalsiar_.Theys hive .716 party in the
nation, for the nation is aiviaecl into Liberals and Con-
servatives—the former are
,indifferent to them--s-the
latter consider them as. foes. Their only adherents
are a few of the landed gitirypw4p,cling pertinaciously
to the term Whig, most of whose offspring are Tories.
It is easy to see that.this party, founded on- no Prinei.s.
pies, but standing between two principles—impelled in
one direction by their aristocratic feelings—obliged re-
luctantly to adopt a line of condubt inconsistent with
those feelings, on account of their Liberal professions—
must, in a contest of principlessere long cease to exist."
The party of the Government has, however, a
powerful ally, by whom thus far its existence has
been prolonged, and by whom possibly for 'some
space longer. its final extinction may be deferred.
Mr. O'Connell and his Irish followers, separated
from the Ministers as widely as possible b) prin-
ciple, are united with them as closely as possible by
interest. Their doctrines would lead us to class
them with the party of the Movement—their'-cons
duct forces us to include them in the party of the Go-
' vernment. On every question on which, during the
last Session of Parliament, the Movement was at issue
with the Government, Mr. O'Connell abandoned the
Humes and Clays, and befriended the Russells and
PahnerstOns. He will probably continue to pursue
this course. He will talk of the ballot, of triennial
parliaments, of household suffrage, of the voluntary
principle, of Peerage Reform ; but whenever the sted-
fast advocacy of any one of these questions might be
perilous to Lord Melbourne's dynasty, he will remember
the " necessity of union among Reformers." The
clue to Mr. O'Connell's policy is very simple. He
has already all that the leaders of the Movement seek.
The Irish mitre and the Irish ermine are at his
disposal—why should he squabble for the selec-
tion of English Bishops or English Judges ?
The Irish Church is to be sacrificed to his hos-
tility—why should he struggle to deprive the
English Church of its dignities or emoluments ?
The constituency of Ireland is precisely such as is
Most liable to his mischievous control—why should he
labour to extend the elective franchise in England ?
Mr. O'Connell, therefore, if ever he shall be called
upon to decide, will prefer Lord Melbourne to Sir W.
iVlolesworth ; and we reckon among the surest ser-
vants of the Government, at a pinch, the thirty or
forty Honourable Gentlemen to whose professed opi-
nions the professed opinions of the Government are
most diametrically opposed. But, in the name of
common probity, and in the name of common sense,
did a Government, before these strange times, ever
keep Downing-street with such support from such
supporters ? The party of the Opposition, com-
posing nearly half of the Members of the Lower'
House, stands opposed to the Government, avowedly
and undisguisedly, up-on their policy respecting our Pro-
testant Church. The party of the Movement, comprising

more than half of the remaining Members, stands opposed
to the Government upon their policy respecting our civil
:n3titutions. Without sympathy, attachment, or con-
fidence from any numerous class of our people, a
few flimsy and feeble men propose to govern Britain
by the aid of a score of placemen and pensioners, and
forty Grattans and Finns. Having dwelt so long on
the position of the Cabinet, we need not say much of
its probable policy. Ordinarily, we may judge of
what a Minister will do in one session by recollecting
what he did in another. With a Government thus

situated we have no such guide. We know indeed
the sentiments-of his Majesty's advisers ; but we can-
not anticipate their actions. They profess a love for
our Ecclesiastical Establishment, a value for our civil
Constitution. We believe them base enough to secure
a quarter 's salary by the annihilation of the one and
the other. The only question is where is the stiffest
bit and the stoutest goad ? These imbecile men will
creep where they are driven. They will go as far as
they find they must.—Morning Post.
The effect produced by the recent numerous Reform
demonstrations, of which the great meeting of Lam-
beth gave the well-timed example, cannot be better
appreciated than by a reference to the virulent abuse
and malignant misrepresentations by which the Tory
press have so perseveringly endeavoured to depreciate
the character of these glorious manifestations of the
state of public opinion. And it is but natural for the
factious prints to pursue this course. Their patrons
not having in themselves any just claim to public sup-
port and confidence, feel it a preferable policy to seek
an ascendancy rather by Malevolent detraction .and
slander of the Reformers—the hope and refuge of
paltry and depraved minds—than by any intrinsic
merit of their own. The three foci on which
the unanimous sentiment of all these assemblies
concentrated its favourable expression being " Union
of Reformers”—" Confidence in Ministers"—" Jus-
tice to Ireland"—it can excite no surprise, that
the Tories should seek to direct the venom of

their spleen against the advocates of a .course of
action so destructive of Tory interests and Tory ex-
pectations. However, in their very revilings may be
found expressive, though unintended, admissions of the

powerful influence these meetings must necessarily
exercise, and even eulogy on the manner in which
they have been conducted. Unfounded slander needs
some ability to sustain itself ; as the adage has it—
" A liar has need of a good memory"—an aphorism
which we recommend to the consideration of the great
apostate that yesterday honoured the Middlesex Re-
form dinner with the presentation of, a Billingsgate
olla podrida. The Times, it seems, had been chuck-
ling, in the anticipr tion of the differences of opinion
which exist amongst Reformers producing symptoms of
disunion at the meeting, and yesterday gives the fol-
lowing naive acknowledgment of its diappointment :
" Our alarms (hopes it should have been) proved un-
founded to this extent—that although a striking dif-
ference of fees was indeed expressed between the
two Members for Middlesex, no .collision whatever
was the result of it between any two sections of the
audience. And why was this ?" Our immaculate
Cotemporary replies to his own query by admitting
with verbose equivocation, that the abhorrence of the
Tories induced the more liberal section of Reformers to
hold their individual opinions in abeyence, rather than
risk for a moment the substitution of our present Li-
beral Cabinet by a Tory Ministry. We give our Co-
temporary's own words :
" But there was no collision,' and why ? Because no
materials for- it were present. There was, in truth, no
second section' of auditors at this magnificent meeting ;
there was no variety of shade ; there was, in the words of
an evening organ of Ministers, a most determined union of
spirit, for there were neither Dukes, nor Marquises, nor
grandees, nor any attempt at aristocracy, nor hardly a frac-
tion of Whiggcry ; the Whigs, one and all, stayed away
from this magnificent meeting ;' they showed the want of
pluck to a far more mortifying pitch than we had looked
for, inasmuch as not a man of them, barrinc, the young
Lord who took the chair, and his aged uncle, Lord William
Russell, ever showed light at all, or came near the scene
of action, but left poor Mr. Byng all alone in his glory, or
rather at the mercy of the unresisted movement,' trusting
to their compassionate hospitality, that tlftl would receive
the old gentleman, and treat him like a stranger—civilly—
which they did. But as for a coalition meeting—a Whig-
Ministerial meeting—a Whig-Radical meeting—it bore no
resemblance to any such thing. It was Whig- Radicalism,
minus the Whigpry ; like the 0 Connell-tail-man's dinner of
beef and potatoes, barring the beef.' "
Granting our Contemporary the full benefit of his
own statement, can there be a stronger proof of the hold
which the Ministry has on the confidence of their more
liberal supporters, and'of the country generally than
the unanimous expression of support and confidence
tendered by a meeting such as is here described ? "The
Whigs," says the Times, "one and all stayed away
from this magnificent meeting r " Taking this in
connection with the lament of the Times- over the
deficiency of creature comforts which its represen-
tative states himself to have experienced at the meet-
ing—the dearth of " beef and potatoes"—we are
reminded of the celebrated letter addressed to Lord
Monteaglc, which led to the discovery of the
gunpowder plot. The warning therein conveyed
would have been literally applicable to our Contempo-
rary. whose commentary appears to. have been, in part,
suggested by the recollection of 'this epistle, which
commences, " Stay away from this meeting, for God
and man have concurred to punish the wickedness of
the Times." The explosion of the gunpowder plot,
had it not been prevented, would not have been by
one-half :so destructive to the then me-l Ors ..of the
'Legislature, as the moralltrwer-vh,l?)7 -s;3-cfi.a*Tl7.
blies as the Middlesex Reform dinliertripw prepared
in every part of the United Kingdom, and ready, at a
moment's notice, to carry irresistible destruction
through the camp of the Tories, must be to all who
array themselves against the interests and wishes of the
eople.—Morning Advertiser.

The influenza has found its way to the south of
Devon, and is raging with great- severity. In Torquay,
and all along the coast it has bectevery violent, the number
of persons attacked with it being calculated at seven in
every ten. In Exeter great numbers are now labouring
under it. Yesterday several of our churches were closed in
consequence of the indisposition of the clergymen, caused
by this wide-spreading epidemic.—Western

On Thursday evening, Mr. Welles, the American
banker, gave a splendid ball at his hotel in the Place St.
George, Paris. The guests consisted of the elite of
French, British; and American society now in the capital,
amounting to at least four or five hundred persons. The
rich attire of the fairer portion of the assemblage, the bril-
liancy of the lights and decorations, and an admirably con-
ducted orchestra, produced altogether an effect which has
rarely been exceeded in any simitarfete. , Dancing was kept
up with great spirit till between • three and four o'clock in
the morning.
Between eight and nine o'clock on Monday evening,
as a young female of the name of Willis was crossing the
Mile-end-road, near the police-station, she was knocked
down by a cab, the wheel of which passed over her leg,
and fractured it severely. No blame was attributable to
the driver, who was prevented from seeing her by a waggon,
from the back of which she had just stepped when struck.
Contrary to the usage of those of his craft on such occa-
sions, the cabman immediately pulled up ; and, after ex-
pressing the utmost regret at the accident, conveyed her in
his cab to her residence in Globe-lane. _

CORONER'S INQUEST.--On Sunday last Holding,
the ward beadle of Bishopsgate, received information that
the bodies of a female adult and a child, which had been
deceased for upwards of six weeks, wore laying at the house
of Mr. Brock, coffee-house keeper, of No. 106, Bishops-
gate-street. The officer in consequence proceeded to the
house. A great reluctance was evinced to answer ques-
tions ; Holding, however, insisted upon seeing the bodies.
He was informed that Miss Charlotte Broc, the adult
corpse, died on the 2d of December last, and Mary Ann
Clarke, the infant, on the 3d instant. The bodies were in
a very decomposed state, and the effluvia almost intoler-
able. The relatives not being able to satisfy the beadle
respecting the non-interment of the bodies, he apprised the
parochial authorities, who immediately communicated with
Mr. Payne, the City Coroner, who directed an investiga-
tion. The inquiry was held on Monday evening, at eight
o'clock, in the board-room of Bishopsgate workhouse. After
the jury had viewed the bodies, they returned to the in-
quest room. The evidence of Mr. M`Kay, surgeon, of
Steward-street, Bishopsgate, and Sarah French, servant of
Mr.'and Miss Brock, having gone fully to prove the deaths
had been natural; viz., that of Miss C. Brock from con-
sumption, and the infant from convulsions, and Mr. Clarke
(the father of the infant) and Miss Jane Brock being un-
able to assign any rational cause why.the bodies had been
kept so long, the jury without hesitation returned a verdict
of " Natural Death," and the Coroner, after a severe repri-
mand,issued his peremptory order for the burial of the bodies.

THE EP

IMiC CATARRH.

(From the Medical Gazelle.)
Two facts connected With the prevalent epidemic must
press themselves on the notice of every member of the com-
munity—the numbers cut off by it, and the severity with
which it attacks the old. The daily obituaries in the news-
papers are swelled prodigiously beyond their ordinary di-
mensions, and we question whether, even in the cholera
times, those lists were so heavy. The inference from this,
perhaps, is not exactly that the mortality is greater, but
that it falls more on people in the upper and middle classes.
The cholera raged destructively among the poor, and car-
ried off comparatively few victims from the upper c
lasses ;
but the epidemic catarrh, in its insidious march, seizes in-
discriminately on all sorts of persons, and, while much less
formidable in its specific mortality, is found in its results to
be little less alarming ; for its absolute mortality is made
up from a wider range.
We mentioned last week now actively the profession
have been employed since the epidemic has prevailed ; their
activity and full occupation have not diminished since ; but
in a few weeks, we presurne,Alieir services will be less re-
quired ; the disorder will have'subsided and been forgotten.
Were vire-called upon to point out the character and
distinctive features of the prevailing disorder, we should say
that its! Chief peculiarity has consisted in the extent to,
which 'the lungs have been implicated, the mucous mem-
brance lining the air-passages being in many cases inflamed,
and after a few days overloaded with viscid secretion, in-
terfering with the arterialization. of the blood. The oppres-
sion of breathing is in many cases urgent, and attended by
great pain along the lower edge of the ribs, and in the epi-
gastrium. The pulse is for the most part soft, and deple-
tions are borne very badly ; in those in whom they are car-
ried too far, delirium is apt to supervene. Numerous
cases have proved fatal, and post mortem examination has
shown the membrane lining the air-passages to be inflamed,
from the trachea into its minutest ramifications, with con-
densation of portions of lung, but the pleura suffering com-
paratively seldom. Even in slighter cases the recovery is
tedious, and the patients go grumbling on for many days,
with loss of appetite, great langour, and something of ill-

humour. -
The cause of the general seizure is freely talked of as no
mystery. It is traced to the change which so suddenly oc-
curred in the atmosphere, from great dryness to great humi-
dity, both states being_. accompanied with a severe depres-
sion of temperature. It was not any remarkable alteration
in the degree of temperature that gave rise to the
morbid consequences, for we have had scarcely an hour of
warm or even temperate weather these six weeks, but the
profusion of cold damp moisture with which the air became
loaded on the occurrence of the thaw, has been, undoubtedly
a main source of the disorder. There may be, and doubt-
less are, other qualities in the air which arc influential as
causes of the prevalent catarrh ; yet of these we must, at'
least for the present, be contented to remain in ignorance.
How much the winds, and certain supposed electric
states of the air, may have influence, it is exceedingly diffi-
cult to say. East and north-east winds have been consi-
dered in this country as prejudicial to health, yet they, can
scarcely be connected with the origin of the present
catarrh, for there has been no remarkable prevalence of
winds from those quarters. And as to electricity, the in-.
quiry is equally barren of satisfaction.
We have noticed the fact, that in the present epidemic
the persons most susceptible to its influence are the elderly ;
this may be considered as a peculiarity of the disorder, for
on other occasions the young and adult have been equally,
if not more, exposed. But there is the greatest diversity
in this respect : individuals of every age, of every tempera-
ment and constitution, are liable to epidemic attacks at
different times. Sometimes the feeble are attacked, some-
times the robust.
We see sufficient reason for apprehension when we con-
sider the vast numbers of persons attacked by the epidemic.
The comparatively slight symptoms which mark its inva-
sion, together with the many instances of escape, appear
to deprive it in great measure of its terrors : we doubt not,
however, that were it possible to obtain a correct return of
the number of victims, the contemplation would be not a
little appalling.