The Sun.
London, England, 1831-03-17 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF VIE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The county of Essex meeting in support of the
;present Bill of Reform takes place on Saturday
?next at Chelmsford,; and an Essex county meeting
is a proceeding very far from devoid of interest.
We have heard that a measure hostile to Reform is
in contemplation in this county, and in the strength
of that information we do most earnestly recom-
mend to the friends of the great measure to congre-
gate in such numbers on Saturday, and to evince
then such temper, mixed with zeal and resolution,
as may show to their adversaries themselves that
their plottings against Reform are futile and and ab-
surd. What would the enemies of Reform have ?
Rotten boroughs still? The thing is impossible.
They are destroyed now already. Ruinous ex-
penses at elections ? We should have thought
Essex had had enough of these already. They pre-
vent the people, too, from having the o*ct of their
choice. They prevent honourable men of moderate
fortune, whatever ,their talents or capacity may be,
from offering themselves as candidates. They
prevent even the Aristocracy—that body in which
the only opponents of the present measure are
to be found—from coming forward to serve their
friends, their neighbours, and their country, and
leave the field clear for strangers and adventurers.
The Bill, therefore, must pass, unless reason and
common sense, as well as a just estimate of public
rights, be lost in E7gland. We now find out, how-
ever, the kind or opposition which is to be got up
to the approaching Reform meeting at Chelmsford.
There is advertised a future meeting at no fixed
time, though the second reading of the Reform Bill
takes place on Monday next. And this second
meeting is to consist of the nobility, gentry, and
clergy only! Where are they to meet ? In a
milliner's shop, the counter perfumed with berga-
mot, and each one wearing kid gloves ? Dear
Jemmy Jemmies ! Nobles, gentlemen, and clergy-
men, of that soft county of Essex ! We hope

no rain will fall as you go to and fro, and
are not under shelter ! This after-meeting of
the privileged enemies of Reform reminds us
of a scene we once witnessed in that same
county of Essex. It was at a badger-baiting.
Several terriers were sent in to attack the savage,
and displayed various degrees of spirit; till at last
one pet-spaniel, with the slavish collar round his
n.clc, was pressed forward. It is remarkable that
this animal went in, never once gave tongue, and
name not out again When the sport was finished,
a curiosity was excited to know what had become of
the pet-spaniel. The earth was dug up, and there
he was found trembling, having crept in behind the
badger, and sitting, unmolested, back to back. The
badger being withdrawn,the spaniel immediatelybegan
to snarl and bark, but his posthumous demonstrations
of courage were received with such peals of laughter
- by all the bystanders, that off he started, and ran
home yelping all the way like an " ill-used" animal.
This pet-spaniel is the very emblem of the after-
meeting of the Nobility, Gentry, and Clergy, of the
county of Essex. No, no, gentlemen, draw the
badger if you please, or else let us hear nothing of
your after-barkings. Saturday next is the day for
the badger-bait.--Times.
A letter from Manchester, and a clause in our

city article, both on the subject of Reform—or
rather of the spirit of the people who support and
•oppose it—present a singular contrast. The upper
class of capitalists thought of a meeting in the
City to oppose Reform, and relinquish their project!
What is meant by an upper class of capitalists
The flowers of 'Change-alley and Bartlemy-lane !
Ye Powers, what dignitaries ! Not in Church or
State, to be sure ! The moderate capitalists—we
presume of Lancashire—subscribe (the deed almost
before the word) their hundreds to assist in the re-
jection of those 'Members, on a future conflict, who
shall have unworthily voted for rotten boroughs and
corrupt Parliaments! Sir Charles Wetherell sur-
prised the House to which he belongs last night, by
an insinuation that the members of municipal bodies
in Scotland might not petition for an extension of
the elective franchise, because they had sworn to
maintain the rights of their several corporations!
Plain common sense revolts at the quibble ! Sir
Charles Wetherell is a man catching a lion in a
cobweb ! By the way, is he quite sure that he ever
sat in the chair of the Goddess of Reason ? It
must have been some other chair.—Times.

There are a class of persons opposed to any ge-
neral plan of Reform in Parliament, who admit that
such a modified change in the representation is ne-
cessary as would allow the elective franchise to
great towns at present unrepresented, like Man-
chester, Leeds, Birmingham, and a few others. But
to allow these towns to send representatives to
Parliament without disfranchising an equal number
of rotten boroughs would increase the number of
Members in the House of Commons, which every
one admits to be at present sufficiently large; so
that to prevent great public inconvenience, even
the most moderate plan of Reform must include the
principle of disfranchisement to a certain extent. As
far, then, as the disfranchisement of boroughs con•
stitutes a part of any plan of Reform, it becomes a
question not of principle, but of degree; for, if it
he not unconstitutional to disfranchise five or ten
rotten boroughs, it is not unconstitutional to dis-
franchise sixty. The number can make no difference
in point of principle. They who admit that there
is a power in Parliament to deprive but one borough
of its elective rights, admit that there is a power to
disfranchise one hundred, if an effective Reform
cannot be accomplished without such an exten-
sive exercise of that power. But, though we
would not have the number of Members in the
House of Commons increased, we are of opinion
that diminishing the number of which the House is
at present composed is rather a questionable policy.
It may be drawn into a precedent to sanctionthe
Legislature in further diminishing the number on
future occasions, and thus making what should al-
ways be a popular representation too confined and
select to adequately represent the mind of the nation,
and be a sufficiently capacious depository of its vari-
ous interests. If numbers were only to be regarded
in reference to the " despatch of business," then
much fewer than the House will consist of, in the
event of the present plan of Reform being carried,
would be sufficient. But a House of Commons
must be numerous enough to constitute a popular
assembly, or it will not be what the Constitution
intended—a fair epitome of the different classes,
opinions, and interests of the country. The details
of business are always best managed by a few; and,
therefore, matters of detail are usually referred in
Parliament to Committees, whose reports guide the
House in deciding upon principles, which are always
hest discussed where all varieties of opinion have the
opportunity of contributing to their elucidation ; and
where reason and prejudice, in every shape, have their
several advocates, that all which can be urged for or
against public measures may be fully stated, whereby
every question may undergo the ordeal of free anti
popular discussion. We are, therefore, not desirous
of seeing the numbers of the House of Commons
made so select as to be more consistent with the
character of a close Senate, than a popular repre-
sentative of a 'great people. There is one point
which we consider a defect in the present reP re'
aentative system, which is not touched upon in the
present plan of 'Ministerial Reform—we mean the
occupation of seats in the House of Commons by
the sons and hers of Members of the House of
f
Lords. It comes to the saint thing as if the Noble-
man in possession of the title had a seat in both
Houses; for there is surely too much of political iden-
tity between a Noble
.Lord and the heir of his title,
particularly if that heir be his son, not to make it
inconsistent with the principle of popular represen-
tation that the latter should have a seat in the House
of Commons. We believe the eldest sons of Peers
in Scotland cannot represent Scotch counties ; and
we think this principle ought to be universally re-
cagnised.—Aforning Herald.
We are glad to perceive that the attempt to de-
feat the Bankrupt Reform Bill, by stratagem in the
Roust of Lords on Monday night, is every where

viewed in the proper light. The trading world
have long complained loudly of the present system;
and the petition presented against the Commis-
sioners, signed by between four and five thousand
bankers, merchants, and traders, in short, every good
name in the city, sufficiently indicates their opinion
of the necessity of change. Important and neces-
sary as are most of the Reforms proposed by the
Lord Chancellor, the Bankrupt Bill is unquestion-
ably the most called for. Even Lord Wynford, who
lent himself to the stratagem, was evidently ashamed
of the part he played, for lie carefully abstained from
all denial of the necessity of the Reform, and from
all discussion of the Bill on its merits, and confined
himself to misrepresentations as to the expense of
the new arrangements, and the nature of the source
whence the means of meeting it were to be derived.
When we see the Duke of Wellington, Lord Aber-
deen, and the rest of the ex-Ministers, leaguing with
the Duke of Cumberland and his adherents, to de-
feat so beneficial a measure by a pitiful trick, we
cannot find terms sufficiently strong to express the
disgust we feel at so heartless a display. Lord
Wynford did not possess the assurance to maintain
that in this Reform the Lord Chancellor, while pro-
fessing to divest himself of patronage, was really
seeking to add to his patronage. This, however,
has been said with a view, no doubt, that the inex-
pecienced should be the dupes of the misrepresenta-
tion. Thus, for instance, in the John Bull of Sun-
day last, there is the following passage :
" Our readers will, perhaps, recollect a speech delivered
by Lord Brougham, in the House of Peers, in which,
at immense length, his Lordship descanted upon his own
intentions as to reforming the Bankruptcy jurisdiction, hy
abolishing, at one fell swoop, all the seventy Commissioners
—many of them highly respectable men, with little else to
live upon—which overturn of existing institutions was to
do something—everything—for the suitor and the bank-
rupt, and the creditor and the country. ' I shall,' says
my Lord, by this measure effect an immense reduction
of official patronage : I shall sweep away seventy offices
in the gift of the Great Seal, and leave only ten ! I have
also,' added his Lordship, ' cut off 7,0001. or 8,0001.
a year from the Chancellor's income.' Cries of ' Hear,
hear, hear resounded through the_ House, and Lord
Brougham graciously received the tribute of applause.
" A Bill, founded upon his Lordship's schemes, has
made its appearance, and we find, in lieu of the seventy
Commissioners, having about three hundred a year each,
the following list of new Officers, all in the gift, and at
the immediate disposal of the Lord Chancellor for the time
being !
" Chief Judge," salary
.3,000/. per annum.....£3,000
3 " Senior Judges," salaries of each 2,0001 6,000
6 " Junior Judges," ditto 1,5001 9,000

10 Judicial offices in the immediate disposal of
the Lord Chancellor lB,OOO salaries
Second :-
1 " Registrar," estimated salary 1,0001. per
annum l,OOO
2 " Deputy Registrars," ditto salaries of :each
5001 l,OOO
7 " Chief Clerks," ditto ditto 3001 2,100

10 Inferior offices in the immediate disposal of
the Lord Chancellor 4,100
Third: --
6 " Chief Assignees," estimated emoluments
8001. per annum each 4,800
24 " Official Assignees," ditto 600/. ditto 14,400

30 Important offices in the immediate disposal
of the Lord Chancellor 19,200 salaries.

" Now observe the surrender of patronage which the
Lord Chancellor so literally makes:—Of the seventy Com-
missionerships, which average something like what we
have just said, 3001. a-year, two or three—seldom, if
ever, more—become vacant annually; by the present ar-
rangement Lord Brougham will have immediately, and at
once, fifty offices to dispose of, the salaries of which amount
to the nett sum of forty-one thousand three hundred pounds
per annum.
" This is something upon the principle of his proposed
augmentation of the retiring salary. ' A short life and a
merry one'—' Make hay while the sun shines'—and then
retire to his well-merited ' Odium cum dignitate upon
seven thousand a-year instead of four !"
The writer of this might just as well have thrown
into the account the appointment of all the Judges of
England. The Judges, Registrars, and Clerks, are
not in Me immediate disposal of the Lord Chancel-
lor, but are all to be appointed by the Crown.
No doubt, as a Cabinet Minister, he would
have a voice in the appointment, as in other
judicial appointments; but this is a very dif-
ferent thing from immediate patronage. Un-
like Lord Chancellor Loughborough, Lord Brougham
will not accept the patronage of the country
Commissioners—they are named by the Judges who
go the Circuits. The only patronage which can be
said to be in the Lord Chancellor, is the appoint-
ment of the official assignees. This; patronage,
however, is far from being coveted by him. His
Lordship wished to have nothing to do with the
appointment of the official assignees; but the citi-
zens look upon this part of the arrangements as es-
sential to the prevention of abuses in the manage-
ment of bankruptcies, and insist on his taking the
patronage. Indeed, from the nature of the office,
it is necessary that the appointment should be with
the Chancellor. A clamour is rising in some quar-
ters against the official assignec, ; but this clamour
will receive no countenance among those whose in-
terests the Bill is intended to protect—the mercan-
tile world, who know how often, for want of such a
check as that provided by this arrangement, the
estates of bankrupts have been withdrawn from the
creditors. Even if Lord Brougham were to have
the appointment of the Judges of the new
Court, this is not the sort of patronage that is
valuable in the way of corrupt traffic. A man in
this country cannot be made a Judge, as he is
made a parson, because he is fit for nothing else :
he must have proved himself beforehand possessed
of the necessary qualifications. But a Commis-
sionership is given to a young man possessed of the
necessary interest, without reference to qualification,
as a sort of annuity on which he may subsist him-
self. He has yet to prove to the world that he is
fit for anything, and this proof he may never give.
Lord Coll;ngwood was fairly killed by the Ministry
of that day, by being kept at sea long after his
health required that he should be on shore, because
there was a want of officers to whom a fleet could
with safety be confided; but all the while patro-
nage was as busy as possible in crowding the navy
with useless officers ; the relatives of men possessed
of Parliamentary interest, who were promoted for
the sake of the living they thereby obtained at the
expence of the public. " The difficulty (says his
Lordship, in a letter to Lord Badstock) in getting
officers, is such, that the subject has been much
upon my mind. Few line-otbattle-ships have more
than two or three officers who are seamen. The
rest are boys—fine children in their mothers' eyes
—and the facility with which they get pro-
moted makes them indifferent as to their qualifica-
tion." "Offices in the navy (he says in another
letter) are now made the provision for all sorts of idle
people." It is the same in every department of service,
civil and military. Inefficiency skulks in the positions
which are withdrawn from or beneath observation.
Art inefficient General, who loses an army, or a be-
sotted Admiral, who places a fleet in jeopardy, may
drive a Ministry from their places; and, therefore,
for their own sakes, they will be anxious to make a
tolerable selection for important commands. In like
manner, an improper elevation to the Bench excites
so much indignation, that the value of the patronage
is more than neutralised by the damage such an ap-1
pointtnent does to a Ministry. The abuses are in
quarters which require only that a man should have
a head and limbs, but do not require that he should
have brains. Lord Eldon, the founder of the exist-
ing system, was not slow to perceive how much
might be made of the bankruptcy jnrisdiction in the
way of fees, by connecting it indissolubly with the
Chancery, and subjecting it to the same tedious
procedure. Impartial persons who are corn pe-
tent to judge are of opinion that nothing will tend
more to simplify our bankruptcy jurisdiction than
its almost entire disjunction from the Chan-
cery, now in contemplation. The attempt to
throw discredit on the measure, by charging its
author with a selfish desire to increase his patron-
age, is a piece of impudence beyond the usual
measure allotted to individuals in this country. It
would not be difficult on that account to discover
the paternity. The Duke of Wellington has sunk
very low in general estimation since his famous Anti-
Reform declaration. Still there are many persons

who will feel astonished that he should, without re-
gard to the interests of the commercial world, join
an attempt to defeat this beneficial measure by sur-
prise. Indeed his Grace was in rather an awkward
dilemma, for he had expressed his approbation of
the measure. When reminded of this, he did not
claim the benefit of any new light on the subject;
but coolly observed, that though he might approve
of the measure, he should vote against it. Can there
be a better proof of the necessity of Reform which
shall rescue the property and population of the
country from a certain number of families who make
the wealth and industry of the nation subservient to
their separate interests, than the spectacle which
has been afforded us at a conjuncture like the pre-
sent ? Here we have the whole trading world
petitioning for the measure which Lord Brougham
has proposed. There is not a merchant,
.a
banker, or vender in the city, whose name is
worth anything, who has not expressed himself
in favour of the measure. Yet with a measure
for Reform introduced by the Government,
founded on the necessity for administering the affairs
of the country without regard to any other consi-
deration than the public interests—with the eyes of
the public, in consequence, critically turned to the
conduct of the oligarchy, who tray be said to have
every motive for hypocrisy, at least as a substitute
for the virtue which they cannot be expected to
have—the nation has been outraged by the de-
grading spectacle of a body of Peers, indifferent to
the wants of the people, and alive only to selfish
interests, clinging to these 70 places, like so many
hungry wolves clinging to their prey. They know
that there is not one good reason for the retaining
the Commissionerships; but they view them as so
many good livings which their sons, brothers, and
young nephews are to hold. They have hitherto
been given away in this manner, to the extinction of
the independence of the Bar, and the grievous in-
jury of the traders of London; and they cannot bear
theidea that a change should deprive them of this
mode of providing for their kindred at the expense of
the public, and in detriment to its interests. Can
there, we repeat, be a stronger motive for Reform
than this shameless effrontery, at a time when the
eyes of the nation are upon them, and important
interests are concerned ? Let us benefit the higher
ranks in spite of themselves; let us withdraw from
them the means by which they may be induced to
deprive themselves of the respect of an enlightened
nation; let us secure our pockets from their fingers,
and compel them to provide for their dependents
out of their own estates. There are many honour-
able men among them, who, like Lord Suffield, are
anxious to be freed from the obloquy the selfish con-
duct of a part of the body throws on the whole.
These are not times in which a nation will patiently
tolerate such gross abuses of power to the further-
ance of base and selfish ends.

" The time is come (to borrow the elegant language of
a contemporary, The Scotsman) for ending this odious
system. In future the Crown must be placed above the
necessity of courting an insolent and selfish oligarchy. It
must receive its supplies from the Commons of England at
large, who have no sinister interest to serve, no caprice to
gratify, and who will give cheerfully what the dignity of
the Crown and the real wants of the State require."—
Morning Chronicle.

SECOND EDITION.

SUN OFFICE, Seven o' Clock,

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT

THIS EVENING.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

In consequence of there being a ballot for three Election
Committees, the Gallery was not opened until Twenty
Minutes to Six o'clock.
Up to the time of our going to press, the House was
engaged with private business.