The Sun.
London, England, 1831-05-16 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

On the progress of Reform, we may as well be-
gin by saying that Lsgen has resigned his preten-
sions to Worcestershire ; and that the two Re.
formers, Mes-rs. Foley and Spencer, have beet! re_
turned. It is no longer with Eeglishmentirtus
post nummos ;" and we can fergive the oligarchy
for considering such a change as symptomatic of
revolution in no small degree dangerous to an
ascendancy so founded as theirs has been. By th,
last accounts from Cornwall the pennon of Sir It
Vyvvan was trailing in the dust, that pink of Anti.
Reformationism being to the lowest of the Reform
candidates as 600 to 1,101). In Dorsetshire the
Reformers act nobly. A little apathy seemed to
characterize their first proceedings; bet they are
roused, and with that energy Which Englishmen
always exhibit when they are in earnest, they press
forward in the good cause. It is possible, however,
that money may be wanted to bring the distant
voters to the poll. Of course the Patriotic Fund
Committee will do their duty. Corte-Castle Banker
tights like a sturdy old Britoil for a had cause : the
Committee will undoubtedly fight with equal zeal
for a good one. In Scotland, amongst other
triumphs for the national cause, the Lord Advocate
comes in without opposition for the Perth burghs,—
his antagonist, Celonel Ogilvie, taking at once
to flight. So for the Aherileen burghs, Sir
James Carnegie has been rejected, and a Reformer
will be chosen. Bet the rebuke atiminisiered to
Lord Loughborough be the Provost of K'nghorn,
one of the Dysart district of burghs, has been more
signal than any of the others, because that Noble
Lord, ylately an ultra-anti, has since— moved
thereto by sundry and pressing considerations—
become an ultra-pro Rctormer, pretending to find
fault with the measure of Ministsrs because it does
not go far enough. Lord Leughborengh, as is stated
in the Scorch intelligence of a contemporary, had,
not many weeks ago, shown such re•pect for his
Knig-horn constituents, as led him to refuse the pre.
sentation of a petition in favour of Reform, which
they, the constituents, had unanimously agreed to.
However the Provoet's turn comes next ; and, in
reply to a letter from his Lordship, expatiating on
his own improved sentiments on the Reform ques.
tier, which he describes as going much further than
the Bill, the Provost gravely admonishes the Nohle
Lord against the violence and folly of such visionary
plans, the promoters of which " I have always look d
upon," saith he, "as kindred characters with the
bcroughmotigers," adding that he (the Provost) has
no sympathy with such Reformers ; and, as suits the
wisdom of a sober-minded Magistrate, " I am dis-
posed to hold a higher opinion of your Lordship's
judgment and discretion, than to suppose you ca-
pable of becoming an Ultra-Radical Reformer !"
But what must have appeared to the mortified young
Nobleman the most biting sarcasm of the whole let-
ter, the worthy Provost concludes by hoping that
his Lordship will approve, as the electors of the
burghs have done already, of the choice which they
intend to make "of your friend Mr. Ferguson, of
Raith, to represent us is Parliament, being well
convinced we could not find a gentleman of distinc-
tion better acquainted with the affairs of the district
or more capable, from his age and experience, his
talents, and general information, of aiding hie Ma-
jesty's Government in establishing a Constitution
for the empire upon sound and rational principles."
Really we have not met with any thing more to out
mind than this : a castigation at once so temperate,
caustic, and effectual, inflicted upon professions,
which, if sincere, prove him who acts upon them
to be a revolutionist; if false, something worse
—a deceiver. Scotland, we still hope and trust,
will add sensibly to the reforming power with-
in the new legislative body. In Northamp-
tonshire, nearer home, the friends of liberty
must bestir themselves, if they wish to spare their
county the disgrace of suffering Mr. Cartwright to
overtake the liberal candidate, the honest and re-
spectable Lord Milton. The out-voters, at what-
ever distance from Northampton, ought to signalize
this, the last moment of their political existence, by
emulously flocking to the poll. The partial success
of Saturday was gained by the worst of all means—
a gross falsehood built on a solitary fact, and that
tact misrepresented. The spirit which is displayed
throughout the empire on this occasion has not only
struck the Tory body with general dismay, but seems
in some especial instances to have taxed their inge-
nuity in rather a curious manner. What would our
readers say to it, if the rusty machinery of the Pitt
Clubs, which had for so many years, and with such
amusing impudence, been made subservient to tht
cause of religious discord, should now, with an equal
contempt to truth and for the principles of Mr. Pitt,
whose name they have polluted, be turned into an
engine against Parliamentary Reform ? " Pitt
club," become watchwords against emancipation
and Reform ! Mr. Pitt's name invoked for the slan-
der of his reputation, as the King's name has more
than once been employed for the purpose of waging
war against his crown and dignit ! How veno-
mously do the trodden reptiles biter! but with boa
little force against the steeled arm of the nation :-
2-Imes.

By the arrival of the Lisbon mail of the 4th
inst., we learn the happy results of that vigour
and promptitude which our present Govern-
ment has shown in demanding satisfaction for
the insults offered to the British flag, and
reparation for the injuries inflicted on British sub-
jects, by the contemptible tyrant of Portugal. Dtir-
mg the whole of our intercourse with the Dey of
Lisbon, we have always maintained that nothing
could be gained, but by a display of force. The
faithless perjured creature whom we hail uninten-
tionally aided in usurping the Portuguese throne
could not comprehend any argument which did not
Include in its premises a hostile fleet and a threa-
tened demolition of his power. No appeal to his
justice, to the faith of treaties, or to the law of na-
tions, could have any effect, unless from the broad-
side
of a man-of-war. Cannon-law was the only
I.IW which Dun Miguel or his Ministers could b.
made to understand. Accordingly, the British,
squadron no sooner appeared off the mouth of the
Tagus with a peremptory demand of specific
sati.faetion and redress, than the Council at
Queluz saw the necessity of being just, and the
Lisbon Gazette announced a return to order and
international law. We glory in the result, not be-
cause it humbles so contemptible a power—for what
renown or advantage could Great Britain obtain
capturing the whole commercial and royal navy of
Don M guel ?—not because it enables British resi-
dents to act more independently of the local autho-
rities, but because it must appear, in the eyes of tin
Portuguese themselves, the reparation of manifest
outrages, and teach them, that while in other
countries might is joined with right, they ought tr.
wrest from oppression those privileges which
foreigners are allowed to enjoy in their mis-ralde
country. The letter in our city article, containing
the demands of the British Orovernment, compar
with the decrees extracted from the Lisbon Gazelle,
Which may be considered the answer to those de-
rnands, shows the extent of humiliation which
Don Miguel has under,one. When the French
squadr.on. arrives with similar orders, and is answerersby asmilar submission, and the United States fol-
low in the rear, „,th a spirit equally indignant, aria
force equally formidable, the Government of Por-
tuEal will be taught a lesson in its dealings with
foreigners, which
.its own aubjects may practise
i against tself.—Tnnes.
Tha# thirty-two English counties, including York-
shire, returning 66 Members to the new Parliament
should have returned but three who are not pledged
to support the Reform Bill, is the most unequivocal
demonstration of public opinion in favour of a great
political measure, as far as the landed and agrictd-
lured interests are concerned, of which the history
of general elections in England affords any example.
Could such czesult have happened unless by a con-
stitutional 4:ny-en-masse, as it were, of the free-
holders, in support of a measure which will have thr
offect of rest, oring their lost rights to the people,
and his legit imate authority to the King? Surely