The Sun.
London, England, 1831-09-26 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Our Paper of Saturday contained reports of three
important political proceedings, one of which illus-
trated in a conspicuous manner the unchanged attach-
ment of the House of Commons to the cause of that
Reform by which its own intrinsic dignify and value,
its popularity with the people of England, and its
reputation and authority with all foreign Powers,
must be so incalculably extended; while the other
two transactions furnish even stronger evidence than
could have been looked for of the passionate desire
entertained by the wealthiest and most intelligent
order rsi men now existing, for such an amendment
of t'ae wretched state of our representation as trey
csimpel the executive Government to ecreiomise
the finances, may help to perpetuate the national
tranquillity, to facilitate the pursuits of industry,
and to render property secure. The first of these
occurrences which we have referred to was the
second reading of the Scotch Reform Bill, the 1
motion for which was introduced by the Lord
Advocate (Jeffrey), in a speech distinguished by ,
depth of thought, by neatness and power of logical
reasoning, and by variety and curiosity of political
knowledge in relation to Scotland, It is worth
while to advert more particularly to one or two of
the topics pressed by the Learned Lord, as no 'facts
can well be imagined more striking than those which
he has stated, or more damningly demonstrative of
the condition of abject slavery in which the Scot-
tish people have been kept for the last 120 years,
in so far, at least, as their own falsely called repre-
sentative system could affect it, and notwithstand-
ing the partial alleviation it may have received from
the influence of the less monstrous Parliamentary
Constitution of this coentry. The Scotch sys-
tem, said ;the Lord Advocate, was not a
representation of the influence of the Crown, or
of the Peerage, or of the Aristocracy, or the landed
interest. It was the representation of a small and in-
significant—and he might have added, a charesestnedley
—oligarchy; who needed not to have—as, indeed,
two-thirds of them absolutely had not—the slightest
tonnexion with the soil of Scotland, any more than
with that of Morocco. The nominal votes for the
33 Scotch counties little exceed, at this moment,
3,000, but as 500 or 600 of the voters are counted
for different places, the whole number of electors,
though the purchases of votes have much increased
within the last 20 years, does not embrace more
than 2,500 persons—far below the constituency of
even one .modera' e sized English county i Then,
again, tbe 66 boroughs average about 20 electors
each, not even retaking with Corfe Castle, and
making the whole constituency for a population of
upwards of 2,000.000 of souls fall short of
4,500 persons I But this is not all. The
county voters have in two instances out of three
not an acre of property within the counties on
which they inflict representitivea. Thus Argyle-
shire, having in 1821 a population of 97,000,
had 113 electors ; of which 113, 84 had not
a sod of land in Argyleshire ! and the Member for
that great county was chosen by 31 resident Argyle-
shiremen. Is not this virtual representation with a
vengeance ? Might not any 81 Irishmen, or Welsh,
or Cornishmen, have bought at public auction, where
they are frequently disposed of, the bits of parch-
ment which convey the power of vo ing for Argyle ?
And yet this is the system of which Sirs George
Clerk and George Murray deplore the overthrow—
the first, as if it were a support of the small proprie-
tary interests—(very small indeed)—the second
Right Hon. Baronet, as "an ancient and venerable"
institution ! Listen, for a moment, to the narrative
given by the Lord Advocate of one election for the
county of Bute. "At one election for that county,
within the memory of man, when the day of elec-
tion came, only one person qualified to vote at-
tended, and that person was the Sheriff. He read
the writ to the meeting as Sheriff. Then he consti-
tuted the meeting. Then, having constituted the
meeting, he called over the names on the roll. Then he
answered to the names himself. Then he put the vote
for a praises to the meeting. Then he elected himself
praises. Then, last of all, he put the representation
to the vote, and, being himself the whole meeting
made a unanimous return." Can we go beyond
this ? Verily it would be impossible. Sir George
Clerk, however, throws off the mask altogetlur. He
is reported to have said, that his great objection to
the ministerial plan of Reform " was, that it would
increase the democratic influence in the House of
Commons." There is no hypocrisy in this. The
proposition is a naked one. The proposed Reform
is bad, because it will increase " the democratic influ-
ence." Now what is the democratic influence ? It
is the influence of general intelligence, general pro-
perty, and superior numbers, exerted in the manage-
ment of their own affairs. Sir George Clerk ob-
jects to it ; and why ? Because " the influence of
the Crown and of the aristocracy are necessary to
the management of public affairs." We think so
too, as regards the fair influence of aristocratic pro-
perty ; but we are at a loss to see what the influence
of the Crown means, except it be that of the
Minister of the day, considered apart from every
national influence ; in which understanding
of the " influence of the Crown," we beg
leave to submit, the less of it exists the bet-
ter. if the Crown have influence of its own,
uncontrouled by the nation, it will be exerted for
one of two objects, both of them vicious,—to make
encroachments, either on public liberty in favour of
prerogative, or on the public purse, for the benefit
of Ministers or their bondsmen. It is by virtue of
the latter branch of influence, that Sir George
Clerk, and others like him, have obtained office for
which they were qualified by no endowments or at-
tainments beyond those of the most ordinary men ;
it is by the influence of the Minister, viz. of Lord
Melville,—that Sir George Clerk has been for so
many years a placeman fastened upon the people of
England, as one of those multifarious items in the
" conduct of public affairs," which the Right Hon.
Baronet seems quite conscious would never be tole-
rated under " a democratic influence." Sir George
Clerk is, therefore, labouring in his vocation when
he resists the accomplishment of a measure by which
such persons as he is would be compelled to have
their pretensions canvassed by the intelligence
and property of Scotland before they could be-
come Members of Parliament—that is to say,
before they could be made worthy of the place-
man's hire, instead of being nominated by two
or three dozens of electors, all tools and servile crea-
tures of the patron, whose nod was to them their
law. This bugbear of democratic influence, when
translated, means any and every independent in-
fluence. The objection is the same as if one indi•
vidual were to tell another—" You must never
think of doing your own business as long as you
live, but always suffer me to do it for you, that I
may turn the trusteeship to my own profit." How-
ever, it rejoices us to say that the House of Com-
mons, already in the course of the debates upon the
English Bill familiarized with this official twaddle
about " democratic influence," ascribed more weight
to the reasonings of the Lord Advocate, and sup-
ported the second reading by a majority of consi-
derably more than two to one. The proof thus af-
forded of steadiness on the part of the House of
Commons was fortified out of doors by testimonies
of public feeling, as powerful and unanswerable as
it was in the nature of things to oppose to the libels
of the borough faction. And by whom, by what
class of the community were such attestations put
on record? First, by the great commercial town of
Manchester, where resolutions declaratory of the
most animated eagerness for the success of the Bill,
and of the deepest apprehensions of its failure,
were passed unanimously by a crowded assembly,
after the delivery of some of the most forcible and
impressive speeches. that ever were uttered, the
men of the largest fortune and most distinguished
in the pro-
character being the chief actors
ceedings. Mr. Potter adjured the people of
England, by their regard for the preservation of pro-
perty, to come forward, one .and
_all, in furtherance
of the Bill of Reform. Mr. Sbuttlevsorth appealed
to the experience of every
man present, if there
were not the most unequivocal and even awful indi-