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

LONDON,
TUESDAY EVENING. NOVEMBER 1. 1831.

The disturbances at Bristol arc, we regret to
perceive, far from being yet ended. The mob,
according to the latest accounts received from

,hat quarter, still parade the streets by hundreds,

the majority in a state of the most brutal and
abandoned intoxication ; trade is at a perfect
stand-still ; all the ordinary restraints of law
have lost their influence ;—in a word, the city
seems wholly in the hands of a set of ferocious,
ungovernable ruffians. One consolation, how-
ever, remains : the military are pouring in from
all quarters, so that we have reason to hope
and believe that by to-morrow's post we shall
hear that this frightful state of anarchy is effec-
tually put an end to. This effected, it will be
necessary immediately to inquire into the causes
of its origin ; which, we have a strong suspicion,
will be found to have been brought about by the
worse than injudicious, the positively criminal
officiousness of the Magistracy, and, more par-
ticularly, of their satellites the special constables.
But the man of all others whose conduct deserves
the severest reprehension is decidedly Sir
CHARLES WETHERELL. At a period of such
popular excitement, knowing, too, that his ap-
pearance in Bristol would have been the signal
of much commotion, what right had he to
hazard the peace of the community, and
place the lives and property of hundreds
of respectable tradesmen in jeopardy by
his undesired presence ? True, he was Re-
corder of the city, and as such had official
duties to perform, but could he not, ought
he not, under all the pressing exigencies
of the occasion, to have performed those duties
by deputy ? What was there he could do, in
his capacity of Recorder, that his deputy could
not have done equally well ? Had he been in-
disposed, a substitute would have been at once
provided, and is not the question of the peace
of a vast commercial district, with which his
appearance in Bristol was intimately con-
nected, sufficient excuse for his absence ?
Sir C. WETHERELL has really much to answer
fig. We charge him not with any premeditated
desire to excite disturbance—could such an ac-
cusation be brought home to him, he would not
be fit to continue a Judge another hour—but we
do say that he has acted with indiscretion,
amounting almost to criminality, in thus rashly
presuming to brave public opinion. We should
hope that his reply to the Alagistrates—(as al-
luded to by our Bristol Correspondent)—who
requested him not to make his appearance in
Bristol, that he would come "if even the can-
non barricaded the passage," is not correct.
We cannot bring ourselves to believe that he
would have dared to hazard such an observation.

Our latest accounts state that the city is now
placed under martial law, that the Political
Union have organized themselves, and that the
respectable merchants and tradesmen are stirring
in every direction. These decisive measures will,
of course, produce the desired effect ; though it
is a thousand pities they were not sooner acted on.
It is gratifying to know that the riots did
not in any way originate with, or were pro-
moted by the Reformers. The mob who
excited them were the lowest of the low,
the basest of the base ; wretches wholly uncon-
nected with Bristol ; drunken bargemen, and
knavish colliers, whose hands were uplifted
against all parties, and all classes; who knew no
distinction of persons ; who had no other ends
in view than simply to gratify their own natural
thirst for plunder, violence, and bloodshed. We
firmly believe that when the case is—as it must
and will be—thoroughly investigated, it will be
found that the ultra Anti-Reformers have had
no slight share in occasioning the riots.
Since writing the above, we understand that
Sir CHARLES WETHERELL arrived safe in
London last night, at half-past seven o'clock.

We have received this morning Frankfort
Papers to the 24th ult. and Lisbon Gazettes to
the 22d inclusive, from which the following are