The Sun.
London, England, 1831-09-03 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

. .
Our readers and the public know the objectiottl
which we had to the local division of certain counties
'or the purpvses of the Reform Bill. The point is,
however, settled atainst us : " Dii bone variant,"
therefore, is all that we have now to say upon it.
Commissioners are appointed to carry that division
into effect, and for the more complicated business of
assigning districts with the elective franchise t-
boroughs in which the number of voters was not
previously sufficient to satisfy the demands of the
Bill. The persons named are in every respect un-
exceptionable ; and though by acting in detached
parties, different rules of practice might in the first
instance be adopted, yet in their general communi-
cations with each other, and by what the French call
rapprochemens, uniformity will undoubtedly be ut-
tained, and all anomalies made to disappear. We ap-
t prehend that corporate rights and civic privileges will
not enter into their consideration ; these will remain
as before, and local landmarks in that respect con-
tinue unaltered. Their object is simply to see on
whom the .right of voting shall be conferred, ant
their report is to be sanctioned by Parliament. Thr
Commissioners will have, no doubt, a difficult work
to perform, and they have an illustrious example be-
fore them of success and honour attending it, in anr
undertaking somewhat similar.; for we recollect that
when all boundaries of premises were obliterated,
and all local rights and jurisdictions confounded, by
the fire of London in 1666, the celebrated lawyer,
Chief Justice Hale, or a commission of which he
was the head, so arranged, defined, and elucidated
t every thing, drawing order out of confusion, that
not a single law-suit sprang out of his settlement.
We are glad that the Bill, by this nomination of the
Commissioners, seems to be carrying into effect, for
so is its success more certain, or the disappointment
resulting from its failure would be more fearful.
We hope they will begin their work immediately.
We cannot conclude these remarks without calling
attention to the advantage taken of his Parliamentary
privilege by an Hon. Member to cast a slur on the
chatac!er of Mr. B. Ker, one of the Commissioners.
It would be superfluous to say any thing of the good
taste or manly feeling of a person who could, es we
are informed, seize such an opportunity of gratify-
ing a private dislike, or venting a personal grudge,
on the reputation of the absent ; but we may hint
that Mr. B. Wall ought not to have been the person
"to throw the first stone." The public has of late
heard complaints enough from him and his family of
unauthorized statements, to warrant us in thinking
it imprudent in him to assail, on still weaker
autho-
rity, or rather on no authority at all, the fair fame of
others. The registration clause was passed last
night after a good deal of discussion. We see no
objection to the principle of this clause, but think
that the proposed machinery will not work so con.,
veniently as its proposers imagine.—limes.
A variety of official returns have recently been
printed respecting the extent of population, the
amount of assessed taxes, the number of houses of
different values, the proportion of representatives
and voters in each county, city, or borough of the
kingdom, which, had they been published before the
Reform Bill came under discussion, would have ren-
dered ridiculous a great deal of the wrangling which
took place on its schedules and details. These re-
turns embrace for England and Wales the censors of
the population and the amount of.assessmetit for the
two periods 1821 and 1831, Li order to enlighten
those who contended in certain cases of schedules A
and B, that the parish in which any disqualified city or
borough is situated, either wholly or in part, should be
taken into the account in estimating the population of I
the said city or borough, a needless return has been
printed, giving the population of all sur) parishes;
and where the limits of the parish and town are not
the same, diatinguithing the inhabitants of each re-
spectively. The memorable debate which gave rise
to this return occurred in on attempt to ward off the
stroke of fate from the borough of Appleby, by bring-
ing intoectiig ) aid
two
Members,
f the
rile-184,
1y
the which l e
ti anus of rite
the
lengthened
dof
electing
parishes in which the town is situated. To show
to what a ridiculous insignificance
debates of the lion. House have been reduced by a
simple statement of admitted facts, we sitajl tran-
•cribe, as a specimen of such ;ming, the report of
the worthy Mayor of that borough :---
" The boroh of ,_-ppleby lies in the two parishes of
Appleby kit, Lawrence, and Appleby St Michael's, other-
wise Bungate.

`6 The parish of Appleby St. Lawrence 4 hy the last cen.
sus, contains 1,359 inhabitants.

" The parish of St. Michael, otherwise Bongate, by the
last cencus, cpotains 1,264 inhabitants,
" That part of the borough of Appleby which lies in the
parish of Appleby St. Lawrence contains S5l inhabitants.
" That part of the borough of Appleby whioh lies in the
parish of Appleby St. Alichati, otherwise Bongate, contains
203 inhabitant.,

" Tile county gaol is situate in the parish of
Appleby St. Michael, otherwise Bougate, and the. above
return includes 18 prisoners at present endued there.
" The exact limits of the boroh of Appleby are not
known to me. It has been =id, that formerly the borough
extended beyond wliat are called at present its limits, into
the eat:ntrY. The above return does not incluthl any
district beyond that in which the burgagit! tio-ases are si-
tuate, which are said to have given .4; .right of voting for
Members for the borough of Appleby."
It thus appeara, that the borough has only 1,053
inhebi:cirits,' men, women, and children, and that
these fortunate or unfortunate individuAta ate repre-
sented by two Members, on. viltue e)eciion they
have no more itithtenc; :hula on that of the Lord
Mayor of Itondon, The Mayor does not even SOOM
to iP.e win:tinted with the houses to which the rigla
of voting is attached, for he speaks 4-.60(.4 such " a.
are said to have given" sug,h a right, as a matter of
hearsay and no; a linowledge. Even though the
horought therefore, had been allowed to comprehend
;he two parishes in which it is partly situate, and
thus to make up tlic majority of its constituency
from the contry, contrary to the principle of the
Bill, the present inhabitants could not complain that
they were deprived of a privilege which they :never
possessed, and to which, as the inhabitants of the
two country pigishes of St. Lawrence and St. Mi-
elit‘el,-otaii accidentally connected with the privi-
leged pig-sty which has the right of voting—they
had no more title than any other two parishes in
any other part of the kiwdorn. But the two most
curious returns ;e;-,ently printed on this subject, are
those wliich give the population ev.eliv the cen-
sus of 1821, of each cottrity, city, or town,
reprepented in Parliyae,nt, the assessed taxes paid
by each, and IL:. number of Members sent by each
at weiant, compared with the ne.tn`4,:...4- which the
iteform Bill will authorise Mach to return. It is
needless to state that the distribution of the natioal
ais otf:tpernesaebn-t
and popula-
representatlou over the counties, inclusive cJ those
g:Zleydt hdebisvpbrotolropooliirrgittliellliisd.ii)ileteohetl:rpc°f‘e:::a:Fldh)
Con. - ,00.1.11 wall, with a ponlaiion of
:15'047; and an amount of ir,seased taxes of
30,6034, sends 42 Mem!....ers to St. Stephen's,
while Chester, with a population of 270,,0 8, amt
paying af,sesaed taxes to the atnount of 47,6224,
tr.;; only the privilege of sertd.i,g four; er, in uthei
words, with a gretr population, and paying a
greater contribution to' ihe state, Cheshire has not
orte,fenth of the representativea of Cornwall! The
kteform Bill does not profess to remove all ano-
malies, or to establish any general principle of uni-
formity, but it - reduces - this gross and
rt.llous disproportion. At the next election; '
hen the great measure itOw before Parliament