The Sun.
London, England, 1831-08-08 00:00:00

Belgians Were ab!e to achieve their own 'indePen-
debee, and to chase the dvnasty cii! the King of
Holland from thefr s'aA under the most adverse cir-
cumstances- 'they had no assistance from France
then,--the feeling of the existing Government of
England was against them, as well as of all the
despotic Powers on the Continent, who regarded
them as the most ungrattfut of rtvoltd subjects,
and William of Orange As the Most ill-treated of
enlightened and paternal rulers ; nay', there are
London journals that now call out for the extermi--
nation of tote butch which echoed the sentiments
of tPe bulce of Wellington on this, subject, and
again and again described the King of Holland
as a most virtuous and " enlightened" Sovereign,
and the nelgians senseless of benefits conferred, and
stthed with the turpitude and crime of ntiseless re-
bellion. In spite of all this bbstility on the part of
Governments nod the Press of various countries,
the Beigi'art; Won their independence at the point of
the 'Sword, by their own unassisted courage and
energy. Why then are they nor, at the present
moment, able to del'ltnri that independence against
Dutch inve,ion without calling in the aid of
trench troops? If Prussia has thrown off
the mask, and promised the King of Holland the
support of her bayonet!, wt_%, can easily understand
this. France would, in that case, be bound to take
the field, whether called on or notl—but if, as
those who affect to be deeply versed in the secrets
of Cabinets, inform os, the tyrants who are steeped
to the lips in the unavenged blood of oppressed,
and ph'indered,and desolated Poland, have prudently
declined to give any assistance to the Dutch King,
there is no just or mound mason why either France
or England should interfere in a war between the
state■ of Holland and Belgium. In such a case it
la unworthy the Majesty of either Power to fall
upon the petty state of Holland—and, indeed, the
interference of either may furnish a pretext to the
despots to take the field on the other side,
and thus bring about a general war. For our
part, we never concealed our opinion of the weak-
ness and imprudence of Lord Palmerston's policy,
of which we predicted that there could come no-
thing but mischief. Our Government declared for
the principle of non-intervention on coming into
office, as well as before; and if they had only ad-
hered to their own avowed principle, in regard to
Belgian affairs, we should not now be in danger of
being involved in a war, with a national debt and a
pressure of taxes on the country almost beyond en-
durance. If the Dutch alone attack Belgium, why
does not King Leopold seize the opportunity of
showing that he is placed upon the throne as much
for use as ornament, by driving the invaders off the
Belgic soil, at the head of native troops, without
calling in the aid of foreigners, who might eventually
take a fancy to the country for themselves ? But
whether Belgium alone, or Belgium and Fiance to-
gether, enter the field against the Dutch, we hope
our Government will have good sense enough to
keep this country out of war. We can hardly think,
indeed, that the King of Holland would he so rash
as to enter the lists without assurances from greater
Powers; but, whether or not, that our Government
should wholly abandon the Poles to their fate, and
entangle the country in a war about Belgium, would
be " too bad."—Morning Herald.

The German Papers we receive allude with such
apparent reserve to the transactions of the few Le-
gislative Chambers beyond the Rhine which have
been permitted to assume something like a popular
form and character, that little information can be
gleaned from the scanty and obscure accounts which
are given of the sittings of these assemblies. Many
of our readers may perhaps require to be reminded
that the Governments of Bavaria, Baden, and some
other German States, have been considerably modi-
fied by the introduction of constitutional codes.—
Though these constitutions are far from satisfying
the extreme gauche of German liberalism, their
superiority over the former arbitrary systems is too
manifest not to exci.e great interest in the States
which have obtained them, and a strong desire in
others, particularly in Prussia, for the possession of
similar institutions. The scheme of representation
which prevails in the German States, being entirely
the work of their respective Governments, has, as
might well be expected from such an origin, a
very narrow basis; but as it is not complicated
and corrupted by any thing like the vicious and ano-
malous machinery of our rotten boroughs, the mem-
bers of the legislative assemblies feel the influence
of public opinion. Under that influence, a party
disposed to canvass the measures of the Court
soon arises, and the first object of the incipient
opposition is to recommend themselves to the
country by advocating economy and popular rights.
The view here taken of the tendency of these in-
stitutions is corroborated by the accounts given of
the business which now occupies the Bavarian
Legislature. From the imperfect and confused re-
ports of the proceedings, which requires some pa-
tience to decipher, it appears that a great point of
contest in the Chamber of Deputies is a proposed
diminution of the civil list, from 3,000,000 to
2,000,000 of florins. To resist this diminution is
not the only difficult task imposed on Count Von
Armanspeg, the Finance Minister ; he is also called
upon to account for the expenditure of 800,000
florins, for which no vote had been obtained. He
is besides threatened, on the part of the opposition,
with a refusal to pass the budget until certain po-
pular claims be taken into consideration. The ()-
position have brought forward a proposition for
making the military take an oath to the Constitution,
and this motion has been the subject of warm de-
bates. Several Deputies contend, that in a consti-
tutional Government all authorities are bound to
swear to maintain the Constitution; and that if a
like oath is not taken by military officers, no money
ought to be voted for the army. The difference of
opinion on the military oath is not confined to the
Chamber of Deputies. The question is eagerly dis-
cussed by the public, and divides the ranks of the
army. Colonel Von Heidegg, who served in
Greece, has published a pamphlet, in which he vehe-
mently condemns the proposed oath for the Bava-
rian army. Several copies of this pamphlet having
been sent to each regiment, a number of officers held
a meeting, and signed a letter addressed to Heidegg,
in which they call upon him to explain without
delay—" Who authorized him to put himself for-
ward as the organ of the whole army, and to say in
the name of the military, We will not take the
I constitutional oath ?' " The latest reports we have
of the proceedings of the Bavarian Legislature are
dated the 20th and `2lst of July, when the Cham-
ber of Deputies held its 60th and 61st sittings.—
That as-embly was then chiefly engaged in the dis-
cussion of amendments proposed by a Committee
on a law project for modifying one of the sections
of the Constitutional code which relates to elections.
It appears that the election of certain descriptions
of persons are not valid unless they are ratified
by the Government. The Chambers resolved, by
ninety-six to five, that with regard to the prin-
cipal Magistrates of towns, and retired or pen-
sioned .officers, if under no obligation to return
to active service, no such sanction for their
admission as Deputies should be required. In
the course of the debate, the Minister Von Sturmer,
in speaking against concessions to the popular party,
quoted the German proverb—" He to whom a finger
is given, wishes to have the whole hand;" upon
which the Deputy Von Closen observed, that the
representatives of the people were certainly most de-
sirous of obtaining the hand of the Government,
and cheerfully offered theirs, with a view to union
and co-operation in the country's welfare. But he
assured the Minister that the Chamber was not a
child to be pleased by having a finger dipped in
sugar put into its mouth. The order of the day for
the 20th included a motion by the same Deputy;
Von Closen, on the means of securing personal
liberty against the excesses of military and police
authorities, which was to be taken into considera-
on n a secret sitting, but no account is given of
the result. These traits of public spirit in the re-
presentative body are the more remarkable when
contrasted with the charges of arbitrary actswhich
are made against the executive authorities. The

Press is in particular the object of severe measures.
Whatever good effects the Muses, which the King
of Bavaria courts, may have had on his Govern-
ment, it appears that their influence has not yet been
sufficient to render fret discussion a business of
safeq, in his Majesty's dominions. A case hi
point has just occurred :—The editor of a journal,
entitled the German Pribune, proposed to pub-
lish an occasional paper, or pamphlet, to be
called the Bavarian Opposition Skeet, but the first
ncinber, which appeared on the 19th ult., was imme-
diately seized by the police. The editor, Herr
Wirth, has addressed a complaint on the subject to
the Minister for the Home Department, which he
means to follow up by a representation to the Chum-
bers Ile contends that his publication does not
fall under the law respecting periodicals,—that the
attempt of the police to impose a penalty of fifty
dollars for printing it, and also the demand made
upon him to submit to the examination of the censor
articles on domestic policy previously to their inser-
tion in the T, i6une, are proceedings in direct viola-
tion of the law on the Press. Whether the editor
will obtain the redress he claims remains to be seen.
In the mean time we have thought this state of
things in Bavaria not unworthy of some notice, for
though the scene of the disputes to which we have
adverted is narrow compared with that on which the
juste milieu and the movement contend under Louis
Philippe for supremacy, yet the interest attached to
the events is not confined to one member of the
Teutonic confederacy, but is shared by the whole of
the intelligent population of Germany.--Tinter.
It has already, we think, been clearly and conclu-
sively demonstrated that the true and only principle
of the Reform Bill is that of securing a permanent
Whig Ascendancy in the country. All the disgust-
ing inconsistencies, all the shameless partiality and
injustice, of the Bill might be ultimately measured
by this rule; all the pertinacity of Ministers in main-
taining those inconsistencies and partialities may be
traced to this source. Honest Reformers (we speak
by comparison) cannot much longer remain blind to
so contemptible a manoeuvre, exposed as it has been
again and again. It is obvious enough to all intelligent
men of this class, and we are happy to ob-
serve that Colonel Davies has set the example of
instructing those whom the term " Reform" has
deluded into a support of the Bill. C-)1. Davies
has addressed the following letter to the Radical
Union of Worcester in answer to a command, from
that learned body, to abandon his proposed amend-
meets. In this letter he explains and justifies his
intentions; and if such an c.rpose from an undoubted
friend to Reform do not undeceive the radicals of
Worcester, and of all other places where it may be
read, they will prove themselves to be deficient in
the ordinary sagacity of reasonable men. If they
are possessed of common sense as regards their own
supposed interests, they will undoubtedly, with one
accord, pronounce this Reform Bdl to be the most
shameless imposition that ever was attempted as a
cover to mere party aggrandizement :-
8, Chapel-street, South Audley-street, July 21.
Sia,—l have this morning received your letter of the
19th, containing a request that I will withdraw the notice
I had given of certain amendments to be proposed by me
in Committee on the Reform Bill.

Although I shall at all times be most anxious to consult
the wishes of my constituents, and have the highest opi-
nion of the political integrity of the members of the Wor-
cester Union, yet, as my proposed alterations of the Re-
form Bill are the result of a close and anxious investigs-
tiun of its provisions, I cannot consistently with my sense
of duty consent to withdraw them. I will not now enter
at large into the discussion of the Bill, but the members
of the Union may rest assured that unless the amend-
ments I shall propose are adopted the Bill will be wholly
inefficient as a remedial measure, and will place the re-
spectable middling classes of society completely under
the controul of the Aristocracy. •
You state that the Union deprecate any amendment
whatever of the Bill. Have they forgotten the fintaus
provision of the Bill which, by precluding from voting all
10/. householders whose rent might be payable mote fre-
quently than every half year, would have disfranchised
nine-tenths of the householders throughout the kingdom ?
1 think this ought to induce the Union to pause before
they object to any alterations of the Bill.
By the present provisions of the Bill counties are to be
divided into two divi•ions in all cases where the number
of Members is increased to four. By another clause, in
all cases where there are not in a borough 300 persona oc-
cupying houses at 101. a year, the Commissioners are to
incorporate with the borough the adjoining district. By
an examination of the clauses connected with this you will
find that as far as that incorporation extends the county
constituency will be nearly annihilated; and in the ease of
Cornwall, which contains eight boroughs that are to re-
main, seven of which wilt have an insufficient con-
stituency without the incorporation of the adjoining dis-
tricts, and as those districts will extend to seven miles in
every direeion front each of the seven boroughs, the
county constituency will be cut up by the roots. The
joint effect of dividing the counties, and breaking into their
constituency by the incorporation of portions of them
with boroughs, will be to place nearly the whole of the
counties in the hands of Peers or great landed proprietors.
But this is not all. After all this incorporation and
destruction of the independence of counties, the inde-
pendence of the boroughs will still be in jeopardy, as,
unless the owners of freeholds within their limits anti the
occupiers of houses at 51. are in all cases allowed to vote,
where there are not 300 householders of 101., sixty-four
boroughs, returning 147 Members, will be either under
direct nomination, or, at least, under the influence of any
Peer or great landed proprietor in the neighbourhood, as
scarcely one of those boroughs will contain 300 electors.
The state of the representation, if the Bill is passed
without amendments, will be a■ follows:
Present number of Members for Counties in the United
Kingdom lB7
New ditto 63
Total County Members - '250
Ninety-four boroughs in which the number of electors
will not exceed, and, in many cases, be under, 300,

returning

Total of what are likely to be returned by the Aristocracy 397
Total number of Members in the House, as proposed by
the Bill ti."ll;
Deduct returned by the Aristocracy
Total number by the People - 229
Returned by the Aristocracy 397
Ditto by the People 229
Majority in favour of the Aristocracy
I propose by my amendments to secure to boroughs a
sufficient constituency without encroaching on the counties,
by which means, and by objecting to the division of
counties, I trust that the independence of both w ill be secured.
I hope that these explanations will be satisfactory ; if
they are not so, I shall regret it ; but being conscious of
their accuracy, I shall most unquestionably persevere in
my original intention, and endeavour to carry my pro-
posed amendments.
I remain, Sir, your very obedient servant,
—Morning Post. 11. DAVIES.

We cannot suffer the petition presented by Mr.
John Wood in the House of Commons on Wed-
nesday night last, on the subject of public footpaths,
to pass without notice. We have long marked with
regret the unfeeling manner in which the humbler
classes hare been robbed,;by truckling Justices of the
Peace, of these their rights, and, in truth,- if long
prescription can confer any property, their posses-
sions ! For in most cases the poor have had their
footpaths, before the owners of the contiguous
fields, or any of their ancestors, have had their lands.
The law at present is in a most detestable state, and
the mischiefs that have flowed from it incredible.
Two Magistrates, after some slight form of notice,
can stop up any footpath, upon almost any pretence,
as that it leads no whither—that another road is
nearer, or almost as near—more convenient, or almost
equally convenient—themselves or the friend whom
they wish to oblige, being the judge both of distance
and convenience T. And there is an appeal to the
quarter sessions—that is, in fact, there is no redress
to those who are without money or without friends.
But on the subject of distance and convenience, let
it be permitted us to say a few words; they are not the
only points which ought to enter into consideration in
''turning paths and by-roads Why, to send a poor
ma-ti about, or rather to send a whole parish of poor
men about, and add to the fatigue of their wearied
limbs as they go to, and return from, their daily la-
bour, is.so barbarons, that we should think the act
could hardly even be contemplated, much less exe-
cuted. But this is not the only use of a foot-path :
the aged and infirm have a right to them for secu-
rity, and the young for recreation : and all for the
evening stroll and the sabbath-day walk, whether
they are the shortest way or not; whether they are
or are not, as mathematicians define a right line,