The Sun.
London, England, 1831-04-13 00:00:00

REFORM.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SlR.,—Allow me, as a very old subscriber to The Sun,
to endelvour,-by means of•your widely circulated paper, to
answer some of the objections made to Lord John Russell's
memorable Reform Bill. Most of the objections are pue-
rile, to say the least of them ; and others display an
ignorance of history which is unaccountable in persons of

education.
Among the puerile objections may he numbered those
which would reject the Bill in toto, because of some se•
condary defects, which can be easily amended in Com-
mittee. rhos, if Devonport, or any other populous place,
may have been overlooked, it can be easily added.
too, if a rental of 101. be considered as coming too near
universal suffrage in towns, why cannot the qu►lification
be put hi4l-er, without casting out the Bill altogether ?
So likewise if, in the Scotch Bill, the classification of
counties might have been better, let a better distribution
of them be made; but, in the name of reason, let us not
be compelled to endure the parchment voters in counties,
and the paltry borough system, merely because Caithness
is to be joined to Sutherland, or Clackmannan and Kin-
ross not ranked exactly as a Scotchman would have placed
them. _ .

Another objection to the Bill is the novelty of some of
its provisions. What ignorance ! ! for what is our pre-
e.nt system but a series of novelties and innovations,
heaped one upon another from time to time? Septennial
and triennial Parliaments were each novelties when first
enacted. So, tea, were our Protestant establishment, and
the exclusion of Papists, much greater innovations than
was their re-admission to their ancient rights. Nay, at
its institution, the House of Commons itself was an inno-
vation; for, till then, a second Chamber did not exist:
yet now, the Reform of that Chamber is to be proclaimed
a greater novelty than the establishment of the Chamber
itself ! ! !—greater than increasing the whole Legislature
one half, that is from two branches to three ! I
Another objection is the quantum of change proposed to
be done at one stroke. But why is this ?—because, we
have now to fetch up at once what ought to have been
doing gradually for the last 130 years. A mixed Govern-
ment like ours requires the spirit of liberty to be kept
alive by occasional struggles with the crown. But no-
thing of the kind list occurred since the days of William
the Third. Amendments, too, are required every forty
or fifty years; but these, when called for, have been inva-
riably refused.
Hence, Slr, the sweeping nature of any Reform Bill at
present, having the arrears of 130 years to bring up, and
hence why no half (or milk and water) measures would be
worth having. Divide the proposed Reform into three or
more stages, and give us ene step only every half century,
and the Reform had better be quashed altogether. No sops
in the pan would be of the smallest use : and no pretended
Reformers of abuses should ba listened t,r; who either
quarrel about the time when Reform is proposed, or who
recomtnead great delays between each successive step.
These folks remind me of what Luther observed sarcastically
of Leo the Tenth—" The Pope," said he, " is as great a
friend to Reform as I am, as he wishes equally all men to
he good and find their way to Heaven. But then, /di
Holiness would like to put one hundred years between each
step."
I leave your readers to use their own discriminaeon in
selecting the individuals to whom this remark may apply.
I remain your obedient servant,
CATO, Junior.

Yesterday a Court of Directors was held at
the East India-house, when the following Commanders
took leave of the Court previous to departing for their re-
spective destinations, viz.:.—Captain THOMAS MARQUIS,
Rose; Captain ROBERT LOCKE' Duke of York;, Captain
Jositral DUDMAN, Inglis; and Captain W. R. BLAKELY,
Waterloo, to China, direct. Captain CHARLES SHEA
was sworn into the command of the Thomas Grenville,
consigned to Bengal direct.

The East India Company's ship -Abercrombie.,
Robinson, arrived off Deal on 'the 10th instant; she left
China on the 30th of November, the Cape on the 6th of
February, and St. lielent on the 20th of the same month.
The London, also from China, arrived off thie Sta'rt on the
-,t ; she sailed from thence on thel6th of Decent;

9th instan

J. ENJBANK, General Accountant.
Excise Office, London, March 19, 1831.

MALT DRAWBACK.
RETURN of the Total Amount of Money paid, and which may.
be claimed as DRAWBACK for MAl:fused by Distillers in
Scotland and Ireland from 10th October, 18'23, to sth January,
1831; distinguishing each Country. •

• '
, Net Amount of
Drawback paid.
X. s. d.
1,841,574 10 10-1
40,835 16 5

Total Drawback Deduction for
from 10th Oct. Gross Amount Malt deficient,
1E023, to sth Jan. of Drawback. at 9.5. 7d. per
1831. i Bushel.

X. c. d.\ X. a. d.
Scotland 1,948,377 13 9 106,80'2 16 101
Ireland

J. EWBANK, General Accountant.
Excise Office, London, March 19, 1831.

STEAM VESSELS.

RETURN of all STEAM VESSELS employed between the
ISLE of WIGHT and the C AST of HAMPSHIRE, with
an Account or E_ intimate of the Number of PASSENGERS
during the last Year.

yesseLs' Names.

Medina
Earl of Mahnel,bury
George the Fourth
Lord Yarborough
Union

Estimated Number of
Passengers.

10,004
10,000
16,000
29,200 80,200
9,240
5,760

Arrow
Duke of Buccleugh
Glasgow

JOHN COVEY, Registrar General.
Office of Registrar General of Shipping, Custom
House, London, March 19, 1831.

ROADS AND BRIDGES, IRELAND.

The SIXTH REPORT of the COMMISSIONERS appointed
under the Act 6 Geo. IV. c. 101, to provide for the Repairing,
Maintaining, and Keeping in Repair, certain ROADS and
BRIDGES in IRELAND.

TB THE KNIGHTS, CITIZENS, AND BURGESSES, IN PAR-

LIATotENT ASSYMBLED.

Since our last Report the part of the Road through the Bogra
Mountains in the county of Cork, has been finished, under the
direction of Mr. Griffith, Civil Engineer, and placed, by order
of Government, under our management thus completing the
entire of the Public Roads in the Southern District which had
been undertaken by that officer.
The Ro .ds generally have been maintaioed in good and suffi-
cient repair to meet the increasing traffic ; and while we deem it
right to observe that the expenditure in the Clare District has
considerably increased beyond our expectation, and exceeded the
amount disbursed in the preceding year, we have, nevertheless,
reason to calculate upon a future diminished expense for its
maintenance.
Previous to the close of the year the Lord Lieutenant was
pleased to order that the new Road which extends through the
mountains from Newport to Thurles, in the county of Tipperary,
and which had been made under the direction of Mr. Griffith,
should be placed under the care and superintendence of this
Board; in consequence of which, Mr. Killaly, our Engineer, in-
spected the same, and repotted that the entire of the works,
both earth and masonry, were executed in a manlier highly
creditable to the Engineer and his assistants. This Road is
23x. 6p. 29. P. in length. No Roads in the West of Ireland have
been committed to our care within the period to which this Re-
port refers.
Annexed is a Schedule of the Roads under our charge; also
an Account of Receipts and Expenditure made up to the ‘..)sth
December, ;830, agreeably to the provisions of the Act 6 Geo.
IV. c. 101.
JAMES SAURIN. HENRY R. PAINE.
J. ARMIT. JOHN RADCLIFF,
Navigation Office, March 11, 1831.