The Sun.
London, England, 1831-04-14 00:00:00

IRIT OF TIIE PUBLIC JOUBNALS,

he deep importance attached, both in and pat of
Parliament, to the changes in the Reform Bill an-
nounced by Lord John Russell on Tuesday evening,
and even the misapprehension which it seems had
arisen out of the language of that Noble Lord, have
not been without a salutary consequence. The
subject was eagerly resumed by Ministers last night,
and explanations afforded by Mr. Stanley, Lord
Althorp, and Lord John Russell himself, which
serve to satisfy us that no sort of concestin, be it
ever so insignificant, is meditated by the Cabinet, in
respect to the principle of the Bill; but that the axe
will still be laid to the root of the rotten borough
system, and the election of representati►•es in Par-
liament be restored, or granted more extensively
than ever, to the people. It is clear enough that
.if the principle of the Bill was to disfranchise bo-
roughs below a certain rate of population, the names
of the boroughs, and even the number of them, likely
to be affected by such a rule, would be an incident
of the measure, not its essence. Lord Althorp accords
ingly sated, with much distinctness, that as the same
principle was to be steadily acted on, it became a ques-
tion of mere detail whether the line of population
adopted would apply to a greater or less number of
boroughs than had been at first contemplated ; and
it appears from circumstances that the number of
boroughs liable to a change of position from an
amenued list of the population returns, would be
extremely small—not more than two or three, as
well as we could learn. Wi;11 regard to the popula-
tion of the House of Commons itself, if we may use
the word, we decidedly wish that Ministers had
maintained inflexibly their original resolution of re-
ducing its aggregate numbers from 658 to 594. The
assembly is ton numerous for the convenient trans-
action of public business, and on the whale would
have been improved as a machine for legislating by
being pretty freely pared down. But froin what
took place last night, it is manifestly the plan of
Ministers to give and take with the anti-reformists
on points even of considerable moment, as a means
of tranquillizing opposition upon points which they
have made up their minds not to sacrifice,—
vie., the grand principle of the whole measure.
When Lord John Russell first declared that
Government would not quarrel with the House
touching the restoration of its numbers to the pre-
sent amount, it was left quite unexplained by his
Lordship how the 62 additional Members (beyond
the 596) were to be got hold of ; but last night
Lord Althorp stated specifically, that if the House
of Commons should determine, contrary to the wish
of MiniSters, and in spite of them, to maintain the
existing amount of Members, his Majesty's Govern-
ment would propose that the additional Members
atiould sit for large and populous towns and districts
not included in the original arrangement. This will
assuredly not tend to make the Bill less popular
with the country, whatever it may be with his
Grace the Duke of Newcastle; and it therefore re-
mains to be seen with how much or little zeal certain
classes of the landed interest will support it. We
think it jest to add, what may at the same time be
gathered from the preceding remarks, that Ministers
yesterday regained the ground which the imperfect
disclosures by Lord John Russell in the previous
debate had cut from under them But it must never
be forgotten by them, or lost .sight of for an instant,
that the people of England will not bear to be tam-
pered with on the substance of this measure. If we
wish that the Parliament were fairly dissolved, it is
as much to get rid of that mischief-making person
whom the populace of Preston have obtruded on it,
in the person of Mr. Henry Hunt, as for any other
given purpose. That Member never opens-his lips
but to throw obstacles in the way of all Reform,
which it is plain enough he rather dreads as the
death-blow of all factious pretenders, than fairly and
honestly desires. It was shrewdly remarked by Mr.
Fergusson, that the (4 observations of the Member
for Preston were always cheered by the enemies of
all Reform?' That, we think, a pretty sharp-com-
mentary on the public virtue of Mr. Henry Hunt.
We further invite attention to the debate of last
night on Mr. William O'Brien's motion for a certain
memorial from the Clare Grand Jury : 81., 91., 101.,
and 11/. yearly rent, for one acre of unreclaimed bog
or mountain, whereon the famished peasant migh
plant potatoes for his family! Oh, ye demons !
Times.

Mr. O'Brien brought last night before the House
the state of the county of Clare, in which there is
an organised system of insurrection in opera ion,
erten assembling in bodies of four or five thousand
under leader.,, and -nrblishing videttcs to give *.hem
warning of any anoroaching attack. Outrages are
openly committed; horrible an I aeroceies murders
are perpetrated; but witnesses cannot be obtained,
and the law is a dead letter. Mr. O'Brien said that
the Insurrection Act alone would not be sufficient
to put down the spirit o‘ -.violence, and that the pre-
sence of an army, the march of which should be ac-
companied by important legislative enactments, would
he necessary to put down the insurrection. The
31-erquie of Anglesea is represented in the Lime-
rick Etier"Ni Post to have said, in answer to an
address presented to him by James Blake Butler,
Esq., and several gentlemen of the county of
Clare—" With respect to the condition of this
county, I must certainly admit that it is unrea-
sonable to suppose that the peasantry—and a finer
or mote vigorous peasantry than Clare possesses I
have never seen—it is, 1 must say, impossible to ex-
pect that they will quietly lie down anal (f starva-
tion." This is strong language, but it is called
for. Mr. O'Brien said, "He knew that it was the
fashion in London to attribute these insurrrctiuns to
the misconduct of the Clare landlords ; but he felt
warranted in asserting that that supposition was
utterly unjustifiable. The Clare landlords wire not
only not worse than others, but he believed that in
many instances they wete more considerate. They
only took half of what was offered them for their
land; for such was the competition for land in that
county, that anything was offered to obtain it. The
Clare landlords, however, did not wish to oppress '
their tenantry ; and they, besides thought of cuttr,e
of the probability of getting their rents. To ascer-
tain the truth of the fact he had just stated, he ea=
willing that a Committee should be appointed ; and
he was sure that their report would establish the
defence of the Clare landlords. He believed
thnt the cause of the disturbances was found
to be in the poverty of the people, and
that the poverty was occasioned by theT great
numbers, as compared with the means of their '
employment."' There ie little use in inquiring
into the condact of landlords, to ascertain their re-
lstive merits or demerits. When Mr. O'Brien
settee that the competition for hind is such that the
tenantry would give anything to obtain it, and that
the landlords, thinking of the probability of getting
their rents, only took the half of what was offered
them—we require no further evidence to satisfy us
that the landlords must be bad. It may be laid
down as an incontrovertible rule, that absolute power
will generally be abused, and where the competition
for land is such that the landlords take only half of
what is offered, the latter have necessarily the most
absolute power over their tenants. Irish landlords
different must be made of
are
made
materials from those of
,c whichh e
circumstancesi men are
in
Whice,
if they
they are not had.—
are placed deprave
them. lie has the power
hoftlifeeand death over the
wretched beings whom he can o
tis,thgen to destruction
by seectment when he pleases,
initriretlinto is why is it that the peopigeuaestion to be
re so
hptohoeir;
occasioned by theirgreatnumbers,compared w
means of employment, that the landlords are
to take from them only half of what they offer but
still all that can be raised from the land ; fur the
whole produce (whether half or quarter of what is
offered), excepting only potatoes and water, is sold
for the landlord ? Even the potatoes, however,
cannot always be obtained, and then the typhus
fever restores the balance between men and food.
The cause of this strange state of things clearly is,
that the landlords are freed from all liability on ac-
count of the people. The land of every country