The Sun.
London, England, 1831-11-01 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE,. PUBLIC JOURNALS.

A glorious victory has Wein techieved in Cam-
bridgeshire. Captain Yorke, ascouy. readers will
see from our account, has abandoned' the con-
test as hopeless.: The numbers, 'at tie& close of
yesterday's poll, were—for Mr. ToVvrtley, 1,931;
for Captain Yorke, 1,445, leaving a majority
for Mr. Townley of 536. Thus do the men
of Cambridgeshire refute the base detractor's'
'
of the people, who represent them as in-'
different to the cause of Reform. Here
the Rutland and Hardwicke factions com-
bined, the University, the Lord Lieutenancy,
with the Magistracy in , general, , and the
Clergy, after all their expenditure in
the way of bribery—after all their intimidation,
have not been able to poll two-thirds of the
number who have polled for Mr. Townley, a
private gentleman, whose only recommendation
to the freeholders is what he derives from his
character and principles. Immense preparations
had been made by the Tories for this contest,
and already they were boasting in anticipation of
an assumed victory. So little do these people
know of the way of thinking of the people of
England ! lii Dorsetshire, the most Tory
county of England, without great towns, and far
from any, all the efforts of the Tory 'Squires,
Magistrates, and Parsons, with difficulty pre-
vailed over Mr. Ponsonby. And the trifling
advantage gained in Dorsetshire was a conclusive
argument with the Tories, that the people of
all England were become indifferent to Reform !
The wonder is, how the desire for Reform should
have ever penetrated into such a county as Dor-
setshire, squire-ridden and parson-ridden as it is.
Let the result of the Cambridgeshire contest be
a lesson to the Tories. Do not let them lay
the flattering unction to their soul, that the
people of England are to be deceived by them.
Do not let them add insult to injustice.—Morn-
jag Chronicle.
We lament to say that Bristol has been, and
probably continues to be at this moment, the
scene of riot, devastation, and carnage. In an-
other column we have laid before our readers a
variety of accounts received in the course of
yesterday, by ourselves and our evening con-
temporaries. Many lives have been already
lost, and at the date of the latest accounts the
populace had obtained the complete mastery of
the place, and the work of devastation was pro-
ceeding at a fearful rate. The flames were rag-
ing in various quarters, and many of the best
houses have been burned down. The latest in-
formation is from the passengers by the coaches
which left Bristol yesterday morning between six
and seven o'clock. At that time two sides of
Queen-square had been burned down, and part
of Prince's-street. The three prisons, the Bi-
shop's Palace, and the Mansion-house, were de-
stroyed. The passengers, after they had been
some distance from Bristol, heard firing,
which they concluded to be by the troops
against the mob. Sir Charles Wetherell is in
town. We understand he appears a good deal
cast down, in consequence of these melancholy
proceedings. He speaks with great contempt ofl
the mob on Saturday, which he thinks might have
been easily managed ; but with respect to what
. took place afterwards, and the manner in which
,--,. ihe effected his escape, he does not seem inclined
to be communicative, and delicacy respects his
reserve. The accounts which we have collected
are written by men holding all sorts of opinions,
,and must be taken with many grains of allow-
ance. A time of excitement is not one in
which we can expect either accuracy or dispas-
sionate judgment. We would therefore caution
our readers against the alleged misbehaviour of
the 14th Light Dragoons, and the story of the
3d Dragoons having taken part with the mob.
We are assured, on the best authority, that there
is ..io foundation for either of these imputations.
Whfle we lament these proceedings, we are
bound at the same time to allow, that the Tories
are in nc small degree responsible for them. We
are not fond of attributing wicked and malevo-
lent designs to any class of men, and we therefore
do not say that the object of the Tories is to throw
the country into confusion as a last desperate
means of staving off Reform ; but this we can
say, that if they entertained any such designs,
they could not have gone to work more successfully
in giving effect to them than they have done. Why,
in God's name, will they persist in insulting the
people, by declaring, with all imaginable effron-
tery, that a re-action has taken place, and that
an indifference to _Reform has succeeded to the
former enthusiasm ? The people meet to peti-
tion, almost en masse. Every meeting is more
numerous than the preceding one ; every fresh
petition more numerously subscribed than its
predecessors. Still the people are taunted with
their indifference. Sir C. Wetherell would have
it that the people of Bristol were entirely cured
of the Reform delusion. This is really too bad.
While we therefore deeply regret the outrages
which have taken place—and the more so, as we
know a handle will be thereby furnished to the
enemies of the people, who of course will not
fail to alarm the timid—we must at the same
time reprobate in the strongest manner these
incessant attempts on the patience of the
people. Society is not composed solely of
well-informed persons, and we cannot there-
fore expect from ignorant and neglected men
the same forbearance tinder provocation which we
are entitled to expect from the former. Let what
has taken place at Bristol be a warning to the
people of other places. If the people of that
city had been properly organized, this melan-
eholy business might have been checked in the
outset, and thus the loss of several lives and the
destruction of much property prevented. If the
men who are interested in the preservation of
order do not unite and organize themselves in
such a manner as to be always available when
the public tranquillity is threatened, it will al-
ways be in the power of •a comparatively small
number of individuals to produce incalculable
mischief. It is utterly impossible for the Go-
vernment, in times of agitation, to furnish a
force in every quarter sufficient to put down dis-
turbances in the outset. All the troops in this
country are but a handful compared to our im-
mense population, and were there to be anything
like a general ferment, the military alone would
be found inadequate to the demands on them.
A correspondent transmitted to us yester-
day a printed extract from the orderly 'book of
the Salisbury Volunteers, in which Lieutenant.
Colonel Brodie expresses his approbation o'
the highly meritorious and patriotic conduct of
the corps of Salisbury Volunteer Infantry under
his command. "At the call (he says) of the
constituted authorities of Salisbury, they have,
in a time of popular excitement and tumult,
most nobly stepped forward in conjunction with
their fellow citizens, as peace-officers, to secure
the public tranquillity, by which conduct they
have not only most efficiently assisted in pro-
tecting the property and persons of all the
.peaceably disposed inhabitants from outrage, but
have probably saved the misguided individuals

" TO THE EDITOR OF THEL MORNING CHRONICLE.
have read with much pleasure your several
articles on armed associations.
The paperwhich accompanies this will show that a
corps of volunteer infantry exists in that place.
It consists of four companies, the united strength
305, officers included.
" The members of this corps have clothed themselves.
His Majesty's Government has been at no expellee, save
that of the wear and tear of arms and ammunition. The
latter about 201. a year. The annual expellees of the re-
pairs of the arms are even paid out of the funds of the
corps. Not a single individual receives any pay.
" The services of the corps are limited to Salisbury,
and thtee miles round.
" The contested election for Dorchester, coupled with
the rejection of the Reform Bill, caused great excitement
here a short time since, and the lower orders were dis-
posed to do much mischief. The printed paper which
accompanies this shows the utility of a well-disciplined,
well-intentioned, and respectable body of men, united
together for a good purpose. It may be added, that nine-
tenths of the corps are bona fide not half Reformers.
" About forty panes of glass were broken in Salisbury
—no mischief beyond this, except a broken head or two
antongst the mob.
"In Blandford, Dorchester, Poole, Sherborne, and
Yeovil, where there are no volunteers or armed associa-
tions, houses were demolished, and property to a consi-
derable amount destroyed. You know what took place
at Derby and Nottingham.
" I mention these facts to you, Mr. Editor, leaving to
you to make what use you please of them.
" I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
" AN INHABITANT OF SALISBURY.
" P.S. Might not some thousands of regular troops be
disbanded, if such corps were more general ?
" Salisbury, Oct. 29, 1831."
It was well observed, at the meeting for the
formation of a National Political Union yester-
day, by the Rev. Mr. Fox, that " in the event
of the final and entire rejection of the Bill, no
man could undertake to describe what might
take place—a confusion would ensue which no
tongue could tell." Are we to remain supine,
and not prepare for the worst, like men of fore-
thought and reflection ? No, the inhabitants
of this metropolis will not allow themselves to
be taken by surprise. Tlie meeting of yesterday
is the commencement of a new era among us, in
which the strength of all may be made available
for the protection of all. " Heretofore," said
Mr. Fox, " Associations had been entered into
and continued for the maintenance of warfare ;
now let there be an Association which should
have peace for its object. There were thieves
who stole in the street—there were thieves who
committed robberies from their carriages ; let an
Association be formed for the punishment
of both." Mr. Detrosier, in an excellent
speech, observed, " On a memorable occasion it
had been said, that England expects every man
to do his duty.'—(Applause.) A similar occasion
had now arrived,but it was ofa peaceful character—
and all that remained for them to do was, by the
union of numbers and knowledge, to meet that
approaching crisis, by which, very possibly, the
fate of the people of England would be decided.
It was of the highest importance that peace and
order should be preserved, and indisputably a
National Union would be the most effectual
means of attaining that end ; it was in numbers,
united with knowledge, that strength would alone
be found ; the union of all classes gave the di-
recting intelligence to numerical force." We
have seen the benefit of union in other places.
In the metropolis organization is more necessary
than elsewhere, because here individuals are ne-
cessarily less acquainted with each other in more
limited societies. Any accident (and accidents
ought always to be counted on) might throw the
great heart of British commerce into disorder.
Let us have confidence in ourselves. By each
man putting his shoulder to the wheel, we are
sure to succeed. At the meeting of yesterday
several attempts were made to sow dissensions
between the middle and labouring classes ; but
we rejoice to say they did not succeed. Let
this be borne constantly in mind, that a good
and economical Government will benefit all ho-
nest men ; and would it not be folly then to
differ about extent of suffrage at a time when
such an extent is about to be obtained as will at
all events secure the blessing of good and impar-
tial government ? They are the enemies of the
working classes who advise them to reject all
Reform, because the most extensive is not to
be granted. No Reform, of any kind, can ever
be obtained, if the people are not united.—
Morning Chronicle.
The first step was taken yesterday towards
realizing in the metropolis that scheme of na,
tional police for the security of life and property,
which has already produced in Birmingham and
elsewhere such powerful and beneficial results.
Knowing that the passions of men cannot be
eradicated, but may be much exasperated and
ruinously misdirected in the absence of good
counsel and of moral controul, we plead guilty
to the charge, for such the Tories represent it,
of having encouraged the formation of " Politi-
cal Unions" throughout the whole country-
-Ist, on the principle and for the express pur-
pose of bringing into one mass an immense
weight of opinion and feeling, and guiding it,
through the instrumentality of intelligent leaders
possessing large stakes in the public prosperity,
to the immediate success of the great redeem-
ing measure of Reform-4d, for the application
of the physical means commanded by large
numbers of active and honest Englishmen,
to the defence of society against lawless mobs,
and in aid of the magisterial and execu-
tive power-3d, for the establishment of an
organized and, if necessary, an armed body, co-
extensive with the rank and intelligence, the
property and regular industry (the latter being,
indeed, the most valuable description of pro-
perty), ill the nation, as a safeguard against the
tyrannical attempts of faction arrayed in power
on one side, and of faction aiming at the over-
throw or usurpation of constituted authority on
the other. The history of the Press, or of conver-
sation amongst men whose interests are involved
in politics, affords no example of violence like
that with which the proposal to organize and arm
the nation has been assailed by the Tory journals
and the Tory partisans. We are accused of
arming " the mob" against the laws and insti-
tutions of the country—of substituting " armed
rtfffians" for the Parliament—and some low
and reckless parvenu—some Robespierre or
Collot d'Herbois, for the Sovereign him-
self. Nay, the deplorable and disgraceful,
though easily explained, outrages, of which
the accounts reached town yesterday from
Bristol, are described by one vagabond Even-
ing: Paper to be " what the Times called
for and desired. This is too contemptible,—
it has not even the merit of being mischievous ;
for there is no child of ten years old whom it