The Sun.
London, England, 1831-10-27 00:00:00

represents the cause of justice, common-sense,
and humanity, or the Boroughmongers and the
Bishops, who " fight the fight" of selfishness,
despotism, and intolerance. We will offer odds
on the people to any amount, for
" Thrice is be armed that bath his quarrel just,
And he but naked, though locked up in brass,
Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted."

It will be seen by an extract from the Notting-
ham iltercury, in another part of our Paper, that
the Duke of NEWCASTLE, in momentary ap-
prehension of attack, is barricading his castle,
planting it with cannon, garrisoning it with
troops, victualling it with provisions, putting it,
in short, into a complete state of siege. Gracious
God ! what a reflection is this one fact, on the
conduct of that party which his Grace so des-
perately espouses ! Here we have an English
Nobleman, of the very highest rank, compelled,
actually compelled to live in a constant state of
warfare with the people—mark, with that people
who by prejudice, habit, and inclination, are re-
spectful towards, and proud of the aristocracy
—because he will not condescend to listen to
their supplications, or concede their just rights.
Why, his Grace is positively in no better con-
dition than Don MIGUEL, whose exits and
whose entrances to and from Queluz are inva-
riably marked by the presence of a regiment of
soldiers ! The boroughmongers will of course
urge this fact the other way, and roundly
swear that the Duke of NEWCASTLE'S situ-
ation is a disgrace to the English people.
We, on the contrary, aver that it is a disgrace,
and an indelible one, to the Anti-Reformers.
They alone, and not the people, are to be con-
demned. They alone are the cause of all the
present dissatisfaction ; and surely ifthey choose
to play the part of despots, they have no right
to be offended if their vassals—for what are
Englishmen but vassals to the boroughmongers ?
choose to hug their chains no longer.
Were his Grace Of NEWCASTLE, or others
among the aristocracy who adopt his views in po-
litics, but in the slightest degree acquainted with
their countrymen, with their wants, wishes, feel-
;ngs, habits, and prejudices, they would play a far
different game. But the majority of the Anti
Reform Peers are as ignorant of the habits of
the English people as they are of the natives of
Timbuctoo. They confine themselves solely to
their own circles, and look on all others as
without the pale of civilization and humanity.
They have few sympathies with the middle, still
fewer with the lower classes. They are ex-
clusives in fashion—exclusives in habits—ex-
clusives in opinions—exclusives in each
and every thing. They talk, indeed, of the
people, but it is all chatter, nothing more.
What can they possibly know of the wants or
wishes of their countrymen ? For three months
in the year they are boxed up in their palaces at
the West end, among their own particular set ;
thence in due season they are whirled down in
carriages and four, inaccessible to the rude gaze
of the multitude, to their different provincial re-
sidences ; where their acquaintance with the
middle or lower classes is restricted to an occa-
sional condescending gossip with the parish
priest, an approving bow to a punctual
tenant, or a sporting stroll with an
obsequious gamekeeper. This system is
rigidly adhered to through life, and the majority
of our Peers descend to the grave, in the even-
ing, as wholly unacquainted with the people, as
they were in the morning, of their days.
And yet these are tile men, this the class, that
presumes to decide on a question involving the
interests of the whole community ! Were they
qualified for the arduous task, their de-
cision, however ungracious it might be,
would, at least, be respected ; as it is,
it is viewed only with contempt. The people
cannot but be aware that their interests are op-
posed by a class of men who know nothing of
them—who are independent of them—who have
no communion with them—who have no sym-
pathy with them. They are consequently im-
patient under their yoke, and anxious for the
hour of their deliverance. They ask nothing
from the Peers but justice; they take nothing
from the boroughmongers but that which is their•
own by right, and which the Constitution
entitles them to demand. And this right,
this justice, they must and will obtain.
The whole country is not in motion
for nothing. It is engrossed with no child's
play, to engage attention for the moment, and
then to be laid aside and forgotten. No, no.
The moral cholera of Reform is spreading from
man to man, from town to town, from county to
county ; it infects all ranks, all classes, and even
now compels the boroughmongers to believe and
tremble. •

The address of the Belgian Minister for Fo-
reign Affairs, in submitting to the Chamber the
project of the Law of Acceptance of the Articles
of the Conference, affords abundant evidence of
the general bitterness of feeling which now per-
vades the Belgian nation at the treatment it has
received at the hands of the Great Powers. M.
DE MEULENAERE speaks in that subdued and
pathetic tone which proves the conduct of the
Belgian Government to be actuated solely by
fear of the consequences of opposition, while it
is deeply sensible of the injury that has been in-,
flicted on the national honour and independence.
It remains to be seen whether the Chamber of
Representatives will sanction the ready acquies-
cence which the KING and his Ministers are
disposed to yield to the will of the Conference.
We still think the determination of the Chamber
extremely doubtful ; for if, on the one hand, there
is reason in the Minister's argument, that neces-
sity is the first law,--on the other hand, the
Chamber cannot overlook the strong feeling of
their constituents, and, in fact, of the whole
Belgian people, against submission to what they
deem an act of cruel injustice. We are satis-
fied, from the tenour of the Belgic Journals for
some time past, as well as from intelligence that
has reached us from other sources, that the
Belgians have been grievously disappointed and
mortified at the course which their affairs have