The Sun.
London, England, 1836-09-26 00:00:00

done by the earthquake of :the 12th June in the district of
the Cesola, in the province of Treviso, where it was the most
violent. Of 1,943 buildings in the parishes of that district,
100 are entirely thrown down, and 692 more or less damaged."

A letter will be found in another column of our pa-
per of this day, addressed by Mr. BAINES to Mr.
O'CONNELL, in reply to some allusions which the
latter Gentleman made to the former a few days since,

in a communication to the Editor of the Carlisle
Journal. In this letter the Member for Leeds repeats
the expression of his dislike to entertaining the ques-
tion of Peerage Reform, because " justice to Ireland
and the firm establishment of free institutions in Eng-
land, may be effected" without it. Now, however
we may be inclined to agree with Mr. BAINES on
'other points, we differ with him entirely on this. Free
institutions—free at least in the sense in which the
Reform Bill has taught us to interpret the word free-
dom—will never be gained either by England or Ireland,
until the Lords, like the two other branches of the
State, are made directly responsible to the people for
the exercise of their legislative trusts. This is no ran-
dom assertion—no abstract theory on our part—but an

inference warranted by premises ; a settled conviction
resulting from an attentive consideration of the conduct
of the Upper House during the last two or three
Sessions. What tendency to liberality have their
Lordships shown during this eventful period ? What
sympathy with the interests of the many, in pre-
ference to those of the few—what capacity for
appreciating the character of the times in which
they live ? Has the beneficent and enlightened
spirit of the Reform Bill yet penetrated their councils,
and exerted a salutary influence on their votes ?
Has it taught them the valuable lesson that the age of
King WILLIAM is not that of King GEORGE ; that
the mass who were once ignorant are now enlightened;
and that as times change, they must change too ?
Not a bit of it. The same prejudices—the same
fancy for an intolerant system of legislation which the
Lords possessed years ago, they possess still. From
such men, therefore, too old to learn, too proud to heed
a warning, we feel convinced—in direct contradiction
to Mr. BAINES'S hypothesis—that " free institu-
tions" are not to be expected. What then remains for
us to do ? Why this—either to remove the stumbling-
block that obstructs the progress of Reform, or else to
allow Reform itself to become a bye-word—a mockery
—a thing to praise in theory, but repudiate in prac-

tice. One or other of these alterations we must de-
cide upon, and that shortly too, for it is impossible for
us to go, on as we have done during the last Session,
with a Constitution balanced trimly enough in fiction,
but wholly off its equilibrium in fact. But Mr. BAINES
is of opinion that the great obstacle to Reform is to
be found in the construction of the present House of
Commons. " Let the constituencies (says he),
in England, Ireland, and Scotland, at the next general
election, return to the House of Commons, what they
are perfectly competent to do, 400 Reform Members
out of the 658, and the Irish Church Bill with its ap-
propriation clause—the Irish Municipal Corporation
Bill—the English Registration Bill—the Municipal
Trustees Charities Bill—the Bill for the Abolition of
Church-rates, and all the other Bills that are ne-
cessary for good Government, whether national or
local, in England, Ireland, and Scotland will pass
in due time, without any organic change in the
constitution of Parliament, and without any revo-
lution in our system of mixed Government." Surely
Mr. BAINES must be aware that this experi-
ment has already been tried and failed ! It was tried
during Lord GREY'S Government, when the House of
Commons was almost wholly Ministerial ; and yet
even then, the Lords rejected many of the most popular
measures sent up to them from the other House. The
truth is, they are incorrigible, and Mr. BAINES'S
attempt to white-wash them, is as hopeless as it is pre-
posterous.

The Report of the Directors of the Eastern Coun-
ties Railway, which was read at the General Meeting
of the Shareholders of that Company, held to-
day at the London Tavern, and which will be
found in our account of the proceedings of the meet-
ing, is an important document. Without any of that
tone of exaggeration and of self applause which
the Managers of such undertakings are too fre-
quently in the habit of assuming, the Directors of
this Comp any, feeling that their cause wants no
bolstering up, leave a few plain facts to speak
for them, merely contenting themselves with placing
these facts, in their proper order, before the share-
holders and the public. And certainly no facts ever
spoke more eloquently. Every paragraph—we might
almost say, every sentence of the report—bears testi-
mony to the sound and far-reaching views of those
with whom this great undertaking originated, and to
the talent, the enterprise, the consummate skill, with
which the working out of the details—if we may so
express ourselves—has been conducted, through no
ordinary difficulties, to a successful termination.
We congratulate the shareholders on their good
fortune, in having the management of their affairs con-
signed to such able hands, and also on the confident
expectation announced by the Directors that they will
ultimately be rewarded by a dividend of 22 per cent.
on their capital, which happiest of all practical results
we see no reason to doubt.