The Sun.
London, England, 1831-04-16 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sut,—What will not the enemies of the .people—the Anti-
Reformei s, do to forward their object and maintain their mono-
poly of the representation ? Strange as it may appear, they have
it is said, printed off fifty thousand copies of Mr. Hunt's speech,
as delivered in the House of Commons on Tuesday, the 12th,
and caused them to be sent into the country for circulation. By
the dissemination of this ill-judged speech of the Member of
Preston, they hope to excite discontent and produce mischief
amongst the reformers. They seek to profit by the weakness of
Mr. Hunt, and to use his error in judgment to sow discord, and
create a belief that the measure proposed by Government will not
be the least beneficial to the interests of the people. It should be
a lesson to that person, who assumes to be the only Member of
theiseople returned to the Commons House, not to indulge so
much as he generally does in his loquaciousness ; it
should lead him to put some restraint upon himself, and to con-
troul that exuberance of vanity which exposes him to be guilty
of such repeated acts of indiscretion. The electors of Preston
certainly sought in him the defender of their rights ; but they
never could have been desirous he should have been an inces-
sant (and very often a most imprudent) talker. The cheers from
the opponents of the Bill should have induced him, from the
moment he heard them, to have ceased his most uncalled-for
tirade against the merits of the Bill; but, on the contrary, they
seemed only to stimulate him to make most exaggerated state-
ments of the opinions he had heard expressed, that the Bill did
not go sufficiently far to correct all the abuses which required
correction. Did the Members for Middlesex and Waterford
ever declare that it did ? Have they not explicitly declared
that representation should be commensurate with taxation ?
Have they not proclaimed themselves the decided advocates of
the principle of the ballot ? yet have they not proved themselves
to be the staunchest friends of Reform, by restraining them-
selves in the impolitic advocacy of those important points, that
they might not endanger the passing of the Bill, which is the pre-
cursor in due time of every improvement which the wants of the
people shall demand ? Have their speeches been so imprudent as to
be metwith repeated cheers from their opponents below them? Have
their speeches been printed in the shape of hand-bills, and sent
into the country as the means of defeating that measure, which
strikes the supporters of corruption and the enemies of Reform
with terror and dismay? No; they have uttered no libel on
their-countrymen ; the Member for Preston has, and therefore
that libel is to be dispersed by the narrow-minded and the profli-
gate throughout the land. This speech of Mr. Hunt's, in which
he represents the great body of the people—the seven millions—
to be dissatisfied, because an extension of the elective franchise
is proposed to be made in favour of 700,000 who are not now en-
joying it; that the working classes, whose means do not allow
them to dwell in houses of a rental of 101. a year, are jealous that
not only the middling classes and the smaller tradesmen who do,
should receive any benefit; and that they would prefer that their
representatives should be chosen by the gentry and the higher
classes of society, than by that class which was immediately above
themselves, is it not a libel on the heads and hearts of Englishmen ?
Is not such a statement a foul calumny on the people of England
—or if it be true, is it not a proof that the working classes are
not yet worthy of the possession of the elective franchise? I be-
lieve it to be a calumny, and not a fact—or it would not have
been met with the " Hear, hear" from Sir Robert Peel and Sir
Robert Inglis, or are they become the admirers and advocates of
universal suffl-age ? There is no good or right thinking man, no
ont possessed of any discrimination but who would rejoice, though
not benefited himself, by a right which he considers would ensure
to him a benefit, that such a benefit should be conferred on
others—and on so many of his countrymen as, indirectly, to be
immediately a benefit to himself, and, in perspective, a guarantee
of the same enjoyment. I have a higher opinion of the people
of Manchester, of the subscribers to, of the proprietors of The
Voice cif the People, than to believe that they have expressed such
a sentiment as reported by the Member for Preston. The Union
of Birmingham will, I am confident, express their displeasure at
such an accusation ; so will the"members of all the Mechanics' In-
stitutions of Warwickshire, of Lancashire, and Cheshire—they
are aware that to introduce a correct principle into the repre-
sentation must eventually lead to general improvement, and
finally to the perfection of the machinery of Parliament.—
The people of England are become too intelligent—are grown
too wise to be now so tricked as the enemies of Reform would.
imagine. By the circulation of Mr. Hunt's speech they may in-
jure him, but not the Government; they may bring censure on
the Member for Preston, but will stir up no opposition to the
Bill. I enclose you a copy of the hand-bill of the speech, that
you may judge of the maliciousness of the circulators. It is taken
from the report of the Albion, the paper set up by the agents of
the Duke of Wellington, previous to his political demise. It
was given to me last evening at a public meeting of the friends
of the Reform of parochial abuses. Another circular is sent out
by the same party, wherein it is stated that "a reformed House
of Commons will be composed of delegates, pledged to an over-
whelming constituency, and so powerful that its influence will,
by overwhelming that of the other two estates, bring about the
destruction of the Constitution, and the Government will be too
weak to protect either persons or property."
" This constituency is now planning a revision and division of
church property, and the abolition of tithes and taxes. In future
we must have—.

A Bing without a State,
" Trade without the protection of a Navy,
" Defence without an Army,
" Bankruptcy, and each class a prey to the other,
" And at last become a province of France."
Mark the malignity of the Anti-Reformers. They print Mr.
Hunt's speech on a coarse paper—a slip, to disseminate amongst
the lower classes—and the circular, nicely letter-pressed upon a
good sheet of paper, to be sent to the gentry.
Only the weak, the cowardly, and the ignorant, will be in-
fluenced by either ; and happily this body is now not very nume-
rous. The honest real Reformer is not now to be imposed upon ;
he is convinced of the sincerity of the Ministers, and is assured
of the firmness of the King. The Government must adhere to
the Bill—the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill. They must
net give up a fraction of the Bill, as to the principle] though in
the detail they must corect any error which the imperfection of
the population returns may have occasioned. Then the Member for
Preston may talk as loosely as he pleases, and the Anti-Refor-
Men may print and circulate all such indecent speeches, and
neither will produce any mischief.
April 15, 1831. • CO-RADICAL