The Sun.
London, England, 1836-10-08 00:00:00

Protestant Church. But, if we recollect right, Mr.
Charlton was a Reformer long after the concession of
the Catholic claims. If the Tories were too corrupt,
we suppose the Whigs were too pure for him ; for if
Mr. Lechmere Charlton's merits had appeared in their
eyes what they appear in his own, he would, no doubt,
have the same horror of Toryism which he had when
Lord Castlereagh, amidst the general corruption, for-
got to corrupt the Hon. and Learned Gentleman. The
speech of Mr. Charlton, though a strange rhapsody,
was, however, amusing, which is more than can be said
of the flat effusions of the other speakers. The
Chairman, Sir Edwyn Francis Scudamore, thought he
made a grand hit when he adduced Mr. Buckingham's
testimony in favour of the Conservatives. " The ma-
jority of the people of England," quoth Sir Edwyn,
" must be Conservatives : they knew that the Conser-
vatives were their real friends, and that the Whigs never
could be so ; and to show that this was so, the Hon.
Baronet read a passage from one of Mr. Buckingham's
letters, in which he stated, that however he might
differ in opinion with the Tories, he must say, that
they practised what they professed, were consistent in
their opinions, and were grateful to those who sup-
ported them, whereas the Whigs were professing prin-
ciples which they were ashamed or afraid to carry, and
disappointed the people who placed confidence in
them." Mr. Buckingham's words must not be con-
strued too literally, for his own sake. If the Tories
practised what they professed, and were consistent in
their opinions,. why did Mr. Buckingham doubt the
sincerity of their professions when they became con-
formers for the sake of place ? Mr. Buckingham,
fairly interpreted, means merely what Mr. Lechmere
Charlton did when he said that all that the Tories
looked to was the plunder of the people, and that,
like Lord Stormont, they hated the very name of
Reform so much, that except in a case of extreme ne-
cessity they could not think of professing Reform prin-
ciples. Some of the Tories at the meeting could have
let Mr. Buckingham, if they had chosen, into the secret
why the Whigs could not avoid disappointing the
people who placed confidence in then. Consistency
in Tory principles is easily maintained : it is to take all
that can be got from the people, and to do nothing for
them that can be avoided. It is another matter when
abuses are to be removed, and sinister interests touched.
The Whigs may not have done all that time people ex-
pected from them, but they would have done more if
the Tories would have allowed them ; and the Tories
hate Lord Melbourne most bitterly beCause he has re-
vealed to the people their real enemies. As to Mr.
Buckingham's reproach that the Tories are more
grateful for support than the Whigs, from the hearty
approbation bestowed on this sentiment by Sir Edwyn,
Ministers must see that favours bestowed on Tories
are converted by them into weapons of offence. It
would be prudent hereafter to spare the Tories the ne-
cessity of complaining of favours received from Whigs.
—Morning Chronicle.
These " Reformed" Town Councils will be the
death of us. They allow us no rest. It is only a
few days since we exerted ourselves in celebrating, to
the best of our power, their desire that publicity
should be given to their proceedings—their consistency-
with themselves and each other—their generosity,
their pecuniary honesty, and their respect for the esta-
blished religion of- the country. One would have
thought that here were qualities enough to recommend
these Municipal worthies to the public affection. But
no : the catalogue of their claims to regard does not
end here ; and, as the modesty of these new Institu-
tions must preclude their praises from being published
by themselves, be ours the pleasing task of preventing
them from "blushing unseen." Since our attention was
last directed to the subject some new lights have been
thrown upon the peculiar and multiplied merits of
the " Reformed" Town Councils. We find ample
proof that they are as liberal, as enlightened,
as economical, and as just as the Ministers who
suggested, or the House of Commons that
sanctioned, their existence. What more could
be desired ? Their liberality is precisely of the sort
lately recommended to all and sundry Whigs and Ra-
dicals by the sapient Mr. Henry Bulwer. " Give all
places of emolument, large or small, to Liberals,"
quoth the Member for half of Marylebone. Now,
the said Member being a kind of exquisite, and his
partisans not very " particular in their linen," he is na-
turally of some authority among them—
" Beati monoculi in Urbe Cmcorum"—

and of course they take his advice. How they have
taken it, and why, we learn by the subjoined extract
from the Bath Chronicle :
" It may not be amiss for us to offer a few words re-
spectinc, a job on a small scale—but still a palpable job—
which has been contrived and carried through by the cold
water Committee of the Bath Town Council. That Com.

mittee has appointed an inspector of water works,' at a
salary of one guinea per week. The office created by the
cold water Committee is entirely a superfluous one. The
turncocks in the employ of the Council, could have done
the duty which is to be performed by the new officer of the
above Committee, or that duty might have been attended
to by one of the sergeants at mace, at no increase of cost
to the public. The latter course was followed by the late
Corporation, when an inspection of the kind in question
was instituted some years since. We should mention that
the inspector' is a violent political partisan, a hot sup-
porter of Mr. Roebuck, and a considerable agitator at
vestry and other parochial meetings ; and on all occasions
—when there is an opportunity for him and his friends to
have a fling at the supporters of the Constitution in Church
and State."
Of the enlightment of a Town Council the same
Journal also informs us. How the step in question
will keep time with the " march of intellect" it is not
for us to say ; but here is the fact :
" While alluding to the Cold Water Committee, we will
mention a circumstance not perhaps generally known, but
which speaks too highly for the sagacity and intelligence of
a portion, at least, and, for what we know, of the whole of
that body, to be suffered to remain in obscurity. It is a
downright fact that among other means employed by that
Committee to discover springs of water, the old and ridicu-
lous humbug of the divining rod ! has been resorted to.
Most of our readers are no doubt aware that the believers
in the divining rod consider that the power of successfully
using it is to be found only in particular individuals. One
of the members of the Committee, it appears, has in his
employment a man who possesses this excellent virtue. This
sage of the Town Council, then, and his man, have been
lately rendering the city the invaluable service of going
about over the High Common and Beechen Cliff, &c.,
earnestly intent on finding water by the aid of a forked
twig, seriously believing in the mysterious powers attributed
to this process—this stupid relic of by-gone ignorance and
exploded superstition."

By the way, perhaps Mr. Grote could give us some
information on the curious property of the twig. For
ourselves, if this schoolmaster were not abroad, we
should strongly recommend a different application of it
to the experimenting town councillor. But let that
pass. And let us pass to the consideration of the eco-
nomy introduced and practised by town councils. At
Berwick, as we stated a day or two ago, the municipa-
lity cannot, it appears, afford to pay their salaries to
the various officers they employ ; but they are, never-
theless, about to purchase a gold chain, nearly three
yards long, wherewith to decorate the person of the
reformed Mayor ; while to the chain is to be suspended
a medal of the same precious material, as heavy as the
Mayor's head. Whether this sentence of sus. per. coll,
might not have been more fitly executed elsewhere than
on the medal we do not pretend to determine. Of the
economy of the proceeding, at all events, there can be
no doubt : that it is political economy may also be
possible. We do not understand the thing. But we
have still to do with the justice of town councils—not
mere dry, abstract justice; but justice set-off and
adorned with the amiable addition of the most refined
delicacy,
yesterdayThefollow in
cr:_is from the Cambridge Chro-
nicle, received b
" A circumstance has just occurred in this place, which
shows how our own town magistrates manage their patron-
age. A gentleman of high professional reputation, but,
unfortunately for him in this • instance, at the same time a
firm and unflinching supporter of Conservative principles,
has been summarily dismissed from his situation as surgeon
in the town goal, with less ceremony than is used for get-
ting quit of a menial servant, A note fr)m the magistrate's
clerk, unaccompanied by a copy
of the order of dismissal,
and without the names of the magistrates, informed him,
on the 27th of September, that in two days from that time
his salary would cease.
In further commendation of the Town Council of
Cambridge, the act was virtually theirs ; it was done
by the magistrates of their recommendation. We are
bound to say that the justice by which they were ac-
tuated is not, like the justice of the ancients, blind;