The Sun.
London, England, 1831-11-15 00:00:00

UNION OF REFORMERS.

(From the Manelmsto Vimes.)
The unanimity whit:h prevailed amongst Re-
furmers on tho sAject of the Reform Bill, we have
repvamily said arose not from any belief that the
WI was the best possible Bill, but from an universal
desire to clear the stage for fair play, by ousting the
boroughmongers. Great efforts have been made to
create dissention amongst the friends of Reform, and
much to the joy of its enemies these efforts have
been in some instances successful, But the people
do not permit themselves to be long misled. A!-
ready has the suspicion arisen in the minds of some
of thr most zealous, but whose zeal has not been
xactly according to discretion, that the course which
pleases Peel and Wet/eel-ell and the Bull and Post—
in our own neighbourhood, the Manchester Courier,
the Leeds Intclligcncer, and the Stockport Adver-
tiser—cannot be the right course for Reformers;
and we have no doubt we shall soon see restored
that cordial unanimity which more than any other
thing struck terror to the hearts of the corrup•
tionists. There is now little difference as to prin-
ciple amongst Reformers. The dispute amongst
them is only one of time. All are agreed that we
need a thorough Reform, but while some would
have it all at once, others would be content to have

it by instalments. For ourselves, believing that one
Reform is a step towards the obtainment of another,
we gladly give the right-hand of fellowship to every
one who strives in the cause, though he may not be
disposed to go so far as we do. The Political Union
of this town, ultra as it is in principle, is actuated
by the same spirit, as will be seen by the following
resolutions which were passed at the meeting of the
Council last Wednesday evening:—

That the Members of this- Council, associati d
during the Wellington Administration, for the pur-
pose of promoting Parliamentary Reform on the
broadest basis, having, since the introduction of the
Reform Bill, given it their warm support, as a great
improvement upon the present corrupt and impo-
verishing system, though it fell far short of their
ideas of theoretic excellence, as every Reform will
in wh'eh exclusion is not itself excluded, were grieved
and alarmed at its rejection ; and especially when it
was reported that on being re-introduced it would
he deprived of some of its best principles, in order
to render it more acceptable to an aristocracy adverse
to any extension of the suffrage.
That this Council, taking cognizance of the pro-
ceedings of the known enemies of popular rights,
have observed that, having no one good argument
against the proposed extension of the elective right,
they are now, in pamphlets gratuitously and widely
circulated throughout this densely populated district,
urging it as an objection to the Bill, that by nu-
merous clogs surrounding the qualification, the exten-
sion will not be so great as the people had been led
to expect when the provisions of the Bill were first
announced. . .

That this Council rejoices, that the opposition o
the boroughmongers, and those who are interested
in the support of the present misery-creating system,
has assumed this shape, because thorough Reformers
have all along considered the clogs thrown around
the qualification as an impolitic concession to men
who are not to be conciliated by any such departure
from the true principles of representation, and be-
cause such opposition gives to Ministers the oppor-
tunity of serving the people by removing the objec-
tions which, with a view to a very different result,
are so strenuously urged against the Bill by the
people's enemies.
That this Council, therefore, invites the friends
of Itefoim to unite in one call, that Ministers, in
bringing forward a new Bill may be pleased to re-
move these ostensible grounds of objection, by the
removal of all the unnecessary conditions which in
the last were superadded to the qualification►.
That further to remove an objection to the Bill
which has been urged with great force and pertina-
city by the supporters of the present starvation-pro-
ducing sys.em, that it draws an invidious distinction
between the man who pays ten pound rent and his
neighbour who happens to pay a pound, or a shilling,
or a penny less, the Council invites the friends of
Reform to drop all minor differences, and to unite in
one call to Ministers, in this instance also, to
remove the boroughmongering faction's ostensible
ground of objection, by at once adopting the ancient,
simple, and easily understood, though not sufficiently
cornpieliensible principle of the Constitution, that in
creating a borough the right of voting should be vested
in all inhabitant householders paying scot and lot.
That as it has been often arid strongly urged by
the supporters of the borough-owning oligarchy,
that by extending the suffrage to what they call the
lower classes, the electors, instead of choosing able
and virtuous representatives, will give their votes to
noisy unprincipled demagogues, this Council, in
order that this objection may also be removed, in-
vites all the friends of Reform to unite in one call,
that the people shall have the opportunity every year
of requiring their representatives to give an account
of their stewardship, and of substituting others, if
their performance of their Parliamentary duties has
nor been in accordance with their professions.
That, finally, as it has been objected by the ene-
mies of popular suffrage, that in large towns the re-
spectable inhabitants will be deterred from the free
exercise of their choice by the fear of personal vio-
lence, this Council invites all Reformers to join in
one call, that this objection be also removed by ex-
tending to all voters the protection of the ballot.
That while the members of this Council feel it
their duly to invite all Reformers to unite with
them in one call for the adoption of the ancient con-
stitutional principle of suffrage, for the frequent
exercise of the elective right, and for protection to
the voter from all undue influences, and though they
think all these points are necessary to a thorough
Reform, and they will continue to demand them as
their right, they feel that it is a duty they owe to
themselves to declare that they will not oppose
themselves to any such scheme of Reform which,
though short of their own ideas of perfection, shall
effect a real amendment upon the present corrupt
system, and tend to lessen the evils introduced by
a long train of misgovernment, while, by showing
the timid that their fears of the consequences of in-
novation are groundless, it may lead the way to the
peaceable adoption of measures which shall restore
to the whole people their long lost rights, and sweep
away every abuse in the State, the Law, and the
Church. Their principle is to advance—to the ex-
treme point as speedily as possible—but at all events,
to advance.

STATE OF TRADE.—There is no scarcity of
work now for the hand-loom weavers, in the fabrics
(chiefly fancy muslin') manufactured in this town; but
wages are still very low. The weavers bear their priva-
tions with great patience ; and we hope that the peaceable
spirit evinced by them will be duly appreciated by their
more wealthy townsmen ; any that in the coming winter
they will visit them in their dwellings, and, Samaritan-
like, administer to their necessities. We are glad to hear
that the cotton factories are now all placed on full time; _
we also understand that the gingham nianuractuiera of
Pilkington have raised the wages for weaving narrow check
gingham sixpence per cut.—Bolton Chronicle.