The Sun.
London, England, 1831-03-28 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR,-In your Paper of the 22d inst. it is reported that
" The Earl of Mansfield presented a petition against the
Reform measure from the merchants, bankers, and the
College of Justice in Edinburgh," but in this report
there is, certaialy, a mistake.
A petition against the Reform measure, signed by some
merchants, one or two bankers, and a very f<w Members
of the College of Justice, was transmitted to Parliament.
But the majority of these classes is decidedly favourable to
the measure. Almost the whole of the Members of these
classes have signed the petition i❑ favour of the measure
in their individual capacities.
There was no meeting of merchants or bankers, or of
the College of Justice specially called.
The principal Members of the College of Justice are
the faculty of Advocates, the Writers to the Signet, the
Solicitors before the Supreme Courts, and the Agents.
Now the Faculty and the Agents have not met on the
subject. A meeting of the Writers to the Signet took
place, and the result was, not that the Members thought
the Ministerial measure inexpedient, but that the majority
thought it inexpedient to enter, as a body, on the discus-
sion, or, as a body, to interfere with politics. A very dif-
ferent result took place in a meeting of the solicitors. That
body, by a great majority, voted for the measure, and
transmitted a petition in favour of it to Parliament. It
is plain, therefore, that there is a mistake somewhere.
The Anti-Reform assemblage had nothing of the character
of a public meeting. Reporters were turned out, and
none but the exclusive heard ; while all who spoke were, in
one way or another, dependent upon, or connected with.
the present system. . .
The opinions of the Bankers, Merchants, and Colleges. ;
Justice will be found in the petition in favour of Reform,
which is subscribed by many thousands of them. The
individuals who attended the Anti-Reform Meeting did
not exceed seventy in number ; and the signatures to their
petition did not exceed five hundred. That of the friends
of the measure was signed by upwards of 30,000 of the
inhabitants. I am, Sir,

Your most obedient servant,
A MEMBER OF THE COLLEGE OF JUSTICE.
Edinburgh, March 24.

The census of 1831 will, it is feared, be made
under circumstances not at all favourable to its accuracy.
The dread of the tax-gatherer was never stronger than at
present, and nothing has been found more difficult than to
persuade the lower classes that an enumeration of the
people was not connected with some plan of taxation. Add
to this, that persons who have made false or defective re-
turns for the militia ballot, will not be apt to risk detec-
tion by giving correct returns for the census.
There seems to be very good reason for be-
lieving that the system of Irish agitation is almost; at an
end. In the House of Commons, on Friday, Mr. o.C.Ops•
NELL declared that " what he wished was, that every ;ace,
of rivalry between England and Ireland shoufildogeldve suwe
to mutual kindness and good 01*".
the two coun-
t irrevocable union etweeti
perpetual, and doubt that the eal of the
tries." There can be no
need to take place on or before the
Union, previously annou
ed sine die.
Ist of January neat, is postpon
all things, that the Reform Rill
bwouldlileeid solid,

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We publish, from an Evening Paper, the report of
an anti-Reform meeting in Scotland, composed of
feeeho/ders, magistrates, &c.,—Tory tools, as may
be well imagined, of the powers heretofore exercis.
lug dominion over a Scottish county. If that report
contains matter to excite contempt or indignation in
other respects, in one it has moved our compassion
and sincere regret. It presents to us the picture of
Sir Walter Scott,—broken down by disease and
conscious infirmity, but urged on by what still re•
mains of the original tendencies and vivid impres-
sions of his high feudal spirit,—condescending to be-
come, at this heart-inspiring moment, the mourner
for condemned absurdities. Has, then, the Living
earth whirled on, and left the grey novelist alone 1.1
his land of self-created mist and light—of courts,
and camps, and chiefs, and dames, and lakss, and
towers, and multifarious witchery ? Long still may
this great ruler of the realms of fiction enjoy and
communicate to others those delights which an ac-
sive cultivation of the resources of 1:s own vast do-
main is so well calculated to furnish ! Within that
region, Sir Walter Scott need indulge no revolu-
tionary terrors : there, no conspiracy tan molest his
person—no republican will deg arn of attempting to
undermine his throne. He rules and will rule over
a loyal universe ! but e!es! who shall name his suc-
cessor ? This mighty minister to the innocent
pleasures of his own arid future ages would never-
theless do wisely to know the limits of his proper
field, and to act within it. He ;as made histors,
whenever he touched it, a romanee. His plities
are als early a chimera.—Tunes.
Mr. Stanley on Thursday evening explained the
proposed Reform Bill in its application to Ireland.
The details are not of much interest here, except in
a few particulars-Ist. The close corpnrations are
to be opened as concerns the elective franchise.-
2. Four of the more important towns, viz. Belfast,
Waterford, Limerick, and Galway, are to have each
a second representative.-3. The University of
Dublin is to return two members instead of one;
and its body of electors are to he increased by the
admission of all persons who ever have been
" scholars of the House," instead of the franchise
being confined to those in the actual enjoyment of
their scholarships, and who, therefore, never hitherto
(at least in modern times) have enjsyed it for a
longer term than five years. The Irish Members
who spoke upon the occasion appeared to be highly
sensible of the advantages which the Bill would
confer upon their country. Their being no copy-
hold tenures in Ireland, the only alteration effected
by the new measure in the county constituency of
that island will be the letting in of 501. lease-
holders, in addition to the 10/. freeholders. But
it was suggested, and we think with reason,
that the general residence of the tenant should
be made a condition of the title to vote.—
Late as it is in the day for obsolete follies to show
themselves, the introduction of the Irish Bill could
not be let pass, without another attempt by the
borough-champions to put on record their disregard
of public opinion, and their animosity against all
manner of Reform. The speeches of the Opposition
throughout that evening we have read, undoubtedly
with little surprise, but with still less respect for the
(endow or intelligence of the speakers. Sir Henry
Hardinge, a blurt, but once a hard-headed gentle-
man, repeats the old silliness of this Reform being
but a step-ladder towards universal suffrage, &c.
Now, as the Right Hon. Gentleman, in another
part of his discourse, attacks the measure for its
drawing a line (which had hitherto had no exist-
ence) between the classes which have property and
those which have none, by totally excluding the
lower orders from power, he admits, in fact, that the
" revolution" which he deprecates is a revolution
in favour of property, confining all the franchises and
political privileges of the Constitution to those
who have 10/. a year in land, or can afford to pay
an equal sum for their habitation. Well, then,
is it through the agency of such people that
the power is to be taken out of their own hands,
and transferred or extended to the paupers of the
empire, by means of universal suffrage ? Anti if the
new constituency and new representatives of Eng-
land, embracing within them all the fixed property
of the realm, and excluding all the want of property,
shall require further change in our institutions, how
can Sir Henry Hardinge prevent it ? If times and
men's dispositions move forward, by what adaman-
tine boundary can the Anti-Reformist of 1831 re-
strain the institutions of society from following such
their natural conductors ? Is the restraining force
now, when so vast a mass of property is excluded
from the Constitution, and insulted and provoked
by the arbitrary despotism of the boroughs—is, we
say, the force which strives to prevent all further
change, more capable of attaining that object now,
with vast property, and vast numbers of proprietors
thrown into the scale of the excluded rabble, than
it will be with the accession of all that property and
those numbers to its own side of the question, and
with nothing but the veriest rabble to apprehend ?
But, again we ask Sir Henry Hardinge, what can
he do ?—by what spell can he strike dumb the
voice of 20 millions of discontented subjects ?—by
what might can he strike powerless the arm of an
entire nation, united and resolved—physically and
morally so tenacious and immovable as the English
nation ? Can this gallant soldier, but most shallow
and unreflecting Statesman, figure to himself what
would he the state of Great Britain and Ireland if
the Reform Bill were thrown out to-morrow, and if
the Ministers were such false and despicable beings
at to resign their offices, instead of appealing to the
people ? New Ministers would be invited by the
Crown. Well, what Ministers other than staunch
and unflinching Reformers—to at least the full ex-
tent of the present Bill—would dare to accept the
incitation ? But, for argument sake, let us suppose
that a new Ministry could be actually formed, and
on the principle either of anti-reform, which seems
to be the ground taken up by Sir Robert Peel, for
the first time on Thursday evening, or on that of a
Reform far more contracted than that now contem-
plated by the existing Cabinet of Lord Grey. What
next ? Why, there is not a county, city, town, vil-
lage, parish, hamlet, of the United Kingdom, from
which petitions would not pour in upon his Majesry
praying him to dismiss that odious administration,
to recall Lord Grey, and, by dissolving Parliament,
to enable his faithful subjects, so far as the pre-
sent vicious constitution of the elective fran-
chise permitted, to choose representatives more
united in sentiment with themselves. Could
any Ministry encounter such a storm ? Would
the Crown itself then be safe ? Sir Henry Har-
dinge, :and a few other soldiers, with well-strung
nerves, might talk about governing for a while with
the bayonet, but a short trial of that experiment
would cure them. Then, with a House of Com-
mons, which, notwithstanding its mob of boroughs
members, is so nearly, if not entirely, balanced on
this question, let Sir Robert Peel answer us. Could
he carry on the most ordinary public business for
even a single week ? No, unquestionably. Why
then he, Sir R. Peel, the anti-reform Ministt r, must
dissolve the Parliament and appeal to a ?Vanning
station! Is not the very dream • of such an extrava-
gance enough to show the madness of the Peel end
Wellington opposition in their resistance to this
mighty change? Sir R. Peel is fairly run down,
for we find that for the hundredth time he stammers
out that most revolting nonsense about the merit of
the rotten boroughs in sending a dozen clever men
to Parliament in the space of half a century. How
often must we repeat that the people are as eager
in their inquiries for men able to do their business as
any borough patrons can be, and that able men
alone will be looked for by the people, whereas they
are seldom thought of by borough Lords until the
whole tribe of brothers, nephews, cousins, &c., have
been first provided for—and a glorious set of national
representatives we find them. But why is it (as a
general question) that such clever men are sought out
by the borough patron at all ? Is it fee the public
good that he promotes them ? For instance, look at
the galaxy of youthful genius which shines upon us
from the Newcastle sky—the graceful Attwood, the

solemn Sadler, and Wetherell, who seasons the so-11
tier wisdom of Punch with the classic salt of Gri4
maldi. These are youths of no mean promise we'
admit, but why is it that the Duke of Newest
resorts to them ? What benefit has his Grace,
through their agency, bestowed upon the people a'
England ? Would it not be better that these per-
sonages, nominees for Boroughbridge, &c., &c.,
should meet in the hall of Clu:nber rather than in
St. Stephen's, forming there a little domestic senate
under the presideeey of their patron, the sage and
plilososophic Dulee, and amuse themselves with in-
venting penal codes foe the refractory vassals of
Newark; father than attempt to humbug the Eng-
lish nation by hashing up for Sir R. Peel the cold
.ad stale jest of-a natural sympathy between the
qualifications of men of genius and the menial
services to which a borough patron consigns them
This audacious abuse of words could never have
been neerd but in an assembly where the multitude
of offenders against the first principle of representa-
tive government are to each other a common pro-
tection. Henceforth, when, by the wise provisions
of the Reform Bill, the expenses of popular elec-
tions shall be reduced almost to nothing, a man of
character and talent will make his way into the
House of Commons with far more average proba-
bility than he now does by licking the footstool of a
Lord; and the solid advantage thence acquired is,
that when there, he must be dependent on the
esteem of his constituents,—not on any great man's
cupidity or caprice.—Tinier.
If the proposed measure of Parliamentary Reform
be revolutionary in the odious sense of the word—
that is, if it have a tendency to unsettle the foun
dations of public order and security—it is very
strange that it should have among its most zealous
promoters a large proportion of that class of per-
sons who are peculiarly sensitive as to the conse-
quences of any, rash or inconsiderate changes in the
social structure, and have more to lose than other
people in general by measures subversive of public
confidence, and dangerous to the public tranquillity.
We allude to the merchants and bankers of London
who thronged the Egyptian-hall on Friday, to re-
cord their opinions in favour of the great measure
which is to give the people of England a real repre-
sentation in the House of Commons, and thereby to
restore the beauty and excellence of the Constitu-
tion, which the usurped power of a proud oligarchy
had nearly destroyed, while they substituted in its
place a supremacy unknown to the laws, injurious
to the just prerogative of the Crown, and destruc-
tive of the political rights of the people. That the
opinions of the merchants and bankers of London
upon the subject of the Reform Bill are of the very
first importance is admitted by the enemies of the
measure, who laid thegreatest possible stress upon the
declaration lately signed by certain commercial and
moneyed men in opposition to Reform; although the
persons who affixed their names to a document, of
which, if they acted from no other motive than pure
patriotism, and with no other object than to save
the country from revolutionary horrors, they ought
to have felt proud, were actually ashamed to call a
public meeting, and to do that in the light of day,
and in the face of their fellow-citizens, which loses
nearly all its force by being advocated with that
equivocal zeal which flies for refuge to darkness.
Let any one compere the open, manly, and fearless
conduct of the commercial men who composed the
meeting at which the Lord Mayor presided, with
the timid secrecy of proceeding which characterised
the operations of the promoters of the London de-
claration against Reform, and what a contrast pre-
sents itself! On the one side a bold appeal to
public opinion—on the other a shrinking from all
discussion ; on the one side energy—on the other
cunning; on the one side frank intrepidity—on the
other cautious management and moral cowardice.
Who can be surprised at such a contrast who reflects
upon the different nature of the cause which each
patty had to support—the former claiming the resti-
tution of the rights of which the people had been
robbed by a long course of aristocratic spoliation ;
the latter endearotning to screen from the pursuing
steps of justice the plunderers of the people's birth-
right, and the receivers of the stolen property ? Was
it not natural that the one party should court the light,
as having only the truthto disclose; and that the other
should fear it, as conscious guilt fears detection ?
We are aware that some names of respectable
persons were signed to the declaration against Re-
form ; but their conduct was not respectable in pre-
tending a high degree of zeal upon a vital question
of national policy, arid meanly shrinking front dis-
cussion. There was nothing of English manliness
of action about it. If they knew the cause to be
bad, they should not have come forward to advocate
it at all ; and, if they believed it to be good, they
should not have betrayed it by taking counsel of
their fears. Can it be for an instant supposed that,
if those persons really held the opinion that the pro-
posed plan of Reform would overturn the most va-
luable institutions of the country—would render
property insecure, rind break down the gradatioes of
rank into a wild mass of democratic confusion—they
could restrain themselves from opposing it in that
decided and energetic manner in which men ought
ever to defend their best and dearest interests when
they believe them threatened with destruction ?
Nobody can suppose that, if they believed what
they themselves state in their secretly-prepared de-
claretion, they would timidly abstain from giving
expression to their sentiments in that way which is
calculated to communicate the feeling to others, and
to produce an impression on the public mind. But
the fact is, they do not, and they cannot, believe
what they have asserted, and which is to the effect that
the Constitution of England means nothing but the
supremacy of the boroughmongers—that it revolu-
tionary measure is one which peacefully restores to
the people the protection of a true representative
system—and that the greatness of the empire must
decline in proportion as the rotten excrescences
which have encumbered its Constitution are re-
moved, and the practice and the theory of the most
magnificent contrivance of political wisdom and ex-
perience are reconciled to each other, and made con-
formable to what reason dictates, and civilization de-
mands. It is clear that such a measure is conser-
vative—not revolutionary. The rotten borough sys-
tem provoked revolution—this is calculated to pre-
vent it. So thought the merchants and bankers
who moved and seconded the resolutions in its fa-
vour at the Mansion-house, and who have more to
lose by revolution than any equal number of borough
proprietors in England. Well did they respond to
the energetic appeal of the Chief Magistrate of the
first city of the empire, who has supported the cause
of Reform with agility and decision, which entitles
him to the gratitude of his fellow subjects. Their
voice shall be heard throughout the empire, and shall
increase that determined and enthusiastic feeling
which rushes in a majestic current of constitutional
power to sweep away the bulwarks of corruption,
and cleanse the chosen land of rational liberty from
political defilement.—Morning Herald.

Far be it from us to wish to under-rate the im-
portance of retrenchment, wherever practicable.
There are, however, times and seasons for every
thing ; and we could wish that at the present time,
when all honest men are anxious for the success of
a measure which will enable the people, through
their representatives, to prevent all unnecessary ex-
penditure, and rescue the Government from a de-
pendence on those whose aid must be purchased by
an abuse of patronage, the Ministry should not be
too &tidy pressed in money matters. It seldom
happens in this world that w 2 can have every thing
exactly as we %Nish it ; and it may be well for Re-
formers to consider that it would be an ill-judged
economy, which, for the sake of saving a few thou-
sands at present, should hazard a measure under which
the property of the . people will hereafter enjoy a
security which it has never yet known. We are
not for one moment supposing the possibility of any
set of men being able to conduct the business of
the country on principles hostile to Reform. We
know that the spirit of the nation would prove an
over-match for all the interests which could be ar-
rayed against Reform. But we know, at the same
time, the power of the enemies of Reform in the

House cf Commons; and it may be wise to abstain
carefully from whatever has a tendency to add to
their number, and thereby throw difficulties in the
way of the passing of the Reform Bill. The fol-
lowing extract from the John Bull of yesterda.
touches on the point to whichweare alluding :

" In the Committee on the Civil List, the Chancellor
of the Exchequer declined adopting the retrenchments
recommended by the Select Committee, and very justly
ridiculed the idea of reducing the public expenditure by
such paltry sums as those named in the report.
" The most amusing part of this affair, so wonderfully
satisfactory to Ministers, is, that the Duke of Wellington'.
Government resigned, because the then Opposition carried
the appointment of this very Civil List Committee against
them. The Committee, which the Whigs gained, was
appointed—and, after six weeks' deliberation, recommended
reduction and retrenchment to the amount of 11,5481.
This recommendation of their own Committee, the ap-
pointment of which alone transferred the Administration
of Government to their hands, the now Ministers reject.
" When this monstrous inconsistency began to develope
itself, amidst the confusion and untelligibility of Lori Al-
thorp's oratory, it was most curious to observe the rapid
departure from the House of almost all the county and in.
fluential Members, who are, or hare been until now, in the
habit of supporting Ministers. Had the present Opp°-
, position chosen to serve their successors, as their successors,
when they were in Opposition, served them, and divided
upon this unparalleled piece of conduct, the said Ministers
would again have been in a vast minority—but Mr.
Goulburn, with that dutiful affection for the Sovereign,
and that honourable regard for consistency, which bare
marked his whole conduct, and that of his colleagues,
since they quitted office, supported Lord Althorp in his
submission to the opinions of his predecessors, and the
Whir measure of reduction was scouted unanimously.
" This is another Whig Victory." .

Now, without for one moment questioning the
patriotic determination of the King, and the cor-
diality which prevails between him and his Mini-
sters, we still keep in mind, that the people, by
whom Kings and Queens are surrounded, are, in
nire cases out of ten, strangers to all patriotic and
liberal feelings, and even the best constituted minds
are apt to be influenced- by the language they con-
stantly hear. Some of the enemies of Reform may
possess more adroitness than the Duke of Glouces-
ter, and by giving a false colour to one circumstance,
and misrepresenting another, may gradually produce
impressions difficult to be altogether removed. We
could wish, therefore, that as little handle should be
afforded to this ill-defended class as possible. The
illustrious personage to whom we alluded last week
is far from being the most dangerous enemy to Re-
form within the precincts of the Palace. It is,
above all things of importance that the peace of
the country be not disturbed. The Bill must be
passed. That we hold to be a matter of absolute
certainty. The people will stand by the Ministers
who have so generously embarked in their cause.
But much will depend on the circumstances which
precede the passing of the measure. We are, there-
fore, anxious, above all, to avoid throwing any un-
necessary difficulties in the way of Ministers.—
Morning Chronicle.
The joy diffused throughout the country, in con-
sequence of the second reading of the Bill, has ex-
ceeded any thing which has ever been known, even
on the occasion of the greatest victories. At Liver-
pool there was the greatest rejoicing—at Bolton a
gerund illumination would have token place but for
the interference of a few sordid ultras—at Birming-
ham an illumination did actually take place, and the
bells were made to ring a merry peal in honour of
the King, the Ministers, and the people—at Cam-
bridge people were seen romping in all directions,
ma►.y of them shouting as if they wrre crazy, and
the University hells rang all but the death-knell of
corruption. But it is needless to enumerate the
places which have signalized their joy upon the oc-
casion ; for the joy- is universal, and they must be
mad indeed, beyond all cure, who dream of a suc-
cessful opposition to the Bill. Defeated it may be
in the Committee: but defeated it will not be ulti-
mately; and the only question is, therefore, a mere
question of time—a question of a few months, but
not of even one year.—Morning Advertiser.

Will Parliament be dissolved before the Bill goes
into a Committee of the House? is the question
which every one is now asked by his neighbour,
but to which it is impossible, at this moment, to
give a satisfactory answer. We can state positively,
that it will be dissolved in case of any infraction of
the great principles of the Bil‘ and conseqvietit-ift
feat of Ministers in the Committee, or on the third
reading; but whether it will be dissolved before
trying the temper of a Committee of the whole
House, is contingent on numerous circumstances,
which we cannot at present specify. The prevailing
opinion is in favour of going into a Committee, and
proceeding to a dissolution on the occurrence of the first
successful attempt to defeat the Bill; and we are
strongly inclined to believe that such will be the po-
licy adopted. The question is not material either
way; for there must be a dissolution at the end of
the session, and the only difference will be, that the
defeat of the Bill will involve two dissolutions in-
stead of one. Look at this, anti-Reformers, and
consider whether it brill not be better for you to pass
the Bill at once, and tints satisfy the country, and
save your own purses at the same moment. A double
election is no joke !—Morning Advertiser.