The Sun.
London, England, 1838-08-23 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The word has gone forth to the working classes through-
out the country to hold public meetings to assert their al-
leged rights, and make demonstration of their strength. An
abridgment of an account in the Aberdeen Herald of
the proceedings at a meeting in that town on Thursday
last will be found in another column. Strangers from
Edinburgh were introduced, who had come to Aberdeen to
plead in behalf of the principles embodied in the national
petition ; and the principal speaker, Mr. Duncan, was, we
suppose one of these Edinburgh strangers, for he "an-
nounced the intention of the working classes in Edinburgh
to establish a True Scotsman, a newspaper which would
fearlessly tell the truth," from which we may infer that Mr.
Duncan, like a prudent Scotsman, on the principle of felling
two birds with one stone, combines with a regard for the
rights of the working classes, the promotion of a
speculation of his own. In that word "fearlessly tell the
truth" what room for comment! When was an unpalatable
truth ever yet told to those whom he was addressing by a
mob orator ? Judging of this future organ from the speech
of its puffer, we can easily guess what sort of statements
will be passed off for fearless truths in it. " According to
the rule (that taxation should be the basis of representa-
tion), all who are taxed ought to be represented ; but the
ten-pounders, while they are represented, have managed to
shift the taxation to the shoulders of others ; and we never
will have the mystery explained so long as they get you,
simple souls! to submit to the tyranny, and listen to their
talking and boasting of the integrity of the British Con-
stitution.—(Cheers.)" Now, with all deference to the
working classes of Aberdeen, the middle classes neither'
do nor can shift the burden of taxation from their
own shoulders to those of the unrepresented. But we
must not forget that the object of orators at a public meet-
ing is not so much to enlighten their hearers as to stimu-
late them. We insert a letter from a Correspondent, who
subscribes himself "T. W Boddy," and who, as a Conser-
vative, thinks our reprobation of the principles advocated
at meetings of the working classes, and our admission that
the middle classes are justly entitled to pause before, on
any abstract principles of right, they make common cause
with such auxiliaries, are not in strict accordance with our
objection to the predominancy of the aristocracy. Mr.
Boddy tells us that the capitalist is in reality the aristocrat,
and in that sense no doubt aristocracy ought always to be
predominant. But we meant by aristocracy not a power
measured by property, but the power of the owners of a par-
ticular description of property bearing a comparatively small
proportion to the whole property of the country, who, from
the imperfections left in the Reform Bill, possess, notwith-
standing, a large majority in one House, and the means of
returning all but a majority to the other. Indeed, were
Scotland and Ireland excluded, and the Parliament to have
been strictly English, the aristocracy would have possessed
a majority in both Houses. Is this a state of things in
which a Reformer can find satisfaction ? Would it not have
been better that in the Reform Bill more influence had been
given to great and wealthy communities, and less to small
towns without industry, and at the mercy of certain families
in their neighbourhood ? Would it not be better that the
owners of the soil should not possess an absolute control
over the trade and interest of the country by imposing re-
strictions on its commerce, merely with a view to enhance
the price of corn ? The Globe, in commenting on our re-
mark, that the above state of things was evidence of im-
perfect work in the Reform Bill, observed, " that the work
of parties in this country has always turned out in the end
imperfect, and we trust that it will always be so. The per-
fect work of parties is the ruin of States. The perfect do-
minion of a party (were it that of the people) would be in-
finitely worse, in our judgment, than the present mixed
state of affairs. To overturn the power of the aristocracy was
never our object ; and we shall deeply regret if they choose to
overturn it themselves. Such an overthrow, wrenching
up the feelings of habitual respect in a people for re-
cognised and permanent superiorities, would be a revolution
—and such a revolution as can never be passed through
without bringing down a vast deal more than the power of
the aristocracy. To destroy the habit of respect in the
popular masses is to render all government impossible for a
certain time." We know not exactly whether these obser-
vations are put forth in opposition to our own or not. It
would rather appear the writer approves of the " political
predominance of the aristocracy," against which our re-
marks were directed, in which case it would be difficult
to understand on what principle he could advocate
the Reform Bill, the object of which was to wrest
the control of the elections from a particular class
of proprietors, and to enable the owners of property
in general to have a preponderance in the Hnuse
of Commons. That which has enabled the Tories
to repossess themselves of a great part of the power
they enjoyed before the pissing of the Reform Bill,
the fifty pound tenant-at-will franchise, and the continu-
ance of the right to freemen, was not the work of the
authors of that measure, nor did they favour the alteration.
Lord Althorp stoutly opposed the 50/. tenantry clause, on
the principle that they to whom the franchise was given
ought to be able to exercise it independently. The prin-
ciple of the Reform Bill unquestionably is, that the mass
of possessors of property should have a preponderating in-
fluence in the House of Commons, and not a particular
class of proprietors. But changes, not in the contempla-
tion of the authors of the Reform Bill, and introduced into
it in opposition to their wishes, by a foolish junction be-
tween the Radicals and Tories, have given a preponderance
in the English elections to the Tories. 13 this right and
pr per ? The Reform Bill was no doubt a clang:rous
experiment, for had not the Tories at lae yiel:led to their
fears, the masses of the country must have been in motion,
and there is no saying what might have been the conse-
quences of such a movement. But if the Reform B:11 has
not led to the anticipated results, and the power of the old
oligarchy has been ever since gaining ground, and threatens
to have, ere long, a decided majority in the House of Com-
mons, we are exposed to the danger of future movements,
from which we may not escape so happily as we did on the
last occasion. It appears to us that if the principle of the
Reform Bill had been better carried out—if greater
influence had been given to the rich and populous com-
munities, and less to the small and decayed county bo-
roughs—if the 50/. franchise had not been be,towed
and the nece,sitous freemen had not been sua!red to
remain in possession of the suffrage, the great mass of
owners of property would have possessed an influence in
the House of Commons which would have proved our best
security against the danger of future movements for or-
ganic change. The defection of the working daises, and
their demonstrations, are not to be immetleoely appre-
hended. Bat it is impossible not to foresee that in the
event of an election, in such a state of the public mind, the
Tories would greatly gain by this schism. Though the work-
ing classes may not possess many votes, they yet possess the
the means of influencing voters ; and Tory activity, and
bribery, and intimidation would probably be much more suc-
cessful than at the last election. This is by eo means a com-
fortable prospect. No wise man would think ofobject ing to the
influence of property and social distinctions. The rich man,
too, has necessarily greater facilities for the acquisition of
knowledge than the poor man, and the chances arc that out
of equal numbers of poor and wealthy individuals a far
greater proportion of the latter will be well informed than
of the former. But the influence of wealth and knowledge
and character are quite distinct from the influence obtained
by the command of vent! voters and the intimida-
tion of the dependent. It is against this last de-
scription of influence that the Reform Bill intended to
strike a blow, and that the influence still exists to a hurt-
ful degree is a proof that the Reform Bill did its work
imperfectly. We are no advocates of a democracy
which would give to the masses an overwhelming power,
without any counterpoise ; and we agree with the
able writer of the article on Bentham, in the last num-
ber of "The London and Westminster Review," that the
future welfare of the United States will much depend on
the circumstance whether there may be evolved any insti-
tutions of a Conservative character. But there is a wide
difference between a pure democracy, in which the will of
the numerical majority is omnipotent, and a House of Com-
mons, in which the majority is returned by the possessors
of the mass of property, and not by a particular descrip-
tion of owners of property, chiefly by means of bribery and
intimidation. Such a preponderance as is implied in the
latter state of things is the tyranny of the few over the
many, which is not less objectionable than the tyranny of
the many over the few.—Morning Chronicle.
Not many months ago it was confessed by a Radical
print of considerable pretension that its party-doctrines
bad unhappily .' gone out of fashion." With what pro-
priety this sort of stuff could be uttered concerning a set
of political frenzies which had at no time been popular in
the country, is a
question that must answer for itself ; but
certainly, if ever tlie Radicals could be justified in apply-
ing such language to dogmas so scantily patronized as
theirs, it would appear that even among their own li-
mited circles the phrase " out of fashion " is equally
applicable, now-a-days, to most of their party-dema-
gogues. At the last city election a venerable Alder-
man, addressing a generation of younger men than
himself, was fain to bespeak their suffrages, not by
boasting of his systematic Radicalism, which he
knew would have injured rather than served him,
but by recounting his ancient magisterial services, as a
surer basis of success. O'Connell is obviously put to simi-
lar shifts to arrest his hastening decay. The superannuated
pestilence feels that he is going out of fashion. Even in
his native soil it is not without difficulty that he can now
get up an occasional exhibition of himself, with a view to
his customary prize ; nor, except by putting forth divers of
his obsolete claims upon Irish notice, could he escape, for a
single hour, his proper place in the political hortus
us a high-dried specimen of his genus, the deadly night-
shade. The arts adopted by the learned nuisance to se-
cure a moderately decent reception at his late Dublin dis-