The Sun.
London, England, 1831-11-25 00:00:00

LATE ACCOMMODATION MEETING AT THE CITY

OF LONDON TAVERN.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Six,-One word, and only one word more, on the

" accommodation meeting" at the London Tavern on
Tuesday last. It is evident that Mr. Horsley Palmer has
been excessively ill-used by those of his political friends,—
namely, by Mr. Charles Barclay, Mr. John Drummond,
and Sir Coutts Trotter,—who having previously seen and
pledged themselves to sign " the declaration," suddenly,
after the meeting had assembled, turned round upon him
and opposed it. This valorous conduct may have added to
the high opinion before entertained by their friends as to
their wisdom and energy of character, but the world will
he apt to consider it something like desertion of their
friend, the Governor of the Bank.
As to Mr. Henry Drummond, who was the most vio-
lent of all against the nomination clause, this very inge-
nious and amiable, but crotchetty and eccentric, gentle-
mar, had not been invited by Mr. Palmer to the meeting,
and ought not to have intrui'ed himself into it. He was
brought there very improperly by Mr. John Drummond,
and be read to the meeting an address, published in the
Papers last spring, in which he had designated the disfran-
chisement of the rotten boroughs as an act of "robbery
and spoliation !" and stating this as a reason why he
must object to that part of the declaration which referred
to the " nomination" system.
Mr. Alexander Baring was present, and in support of
the declaration stated, that though by no means convinced
that any public benefit would be derived from the disfran-
chisement of the nomination boroughs, he nevertheless
must admit the public opinion in favour of such disfran-
chisement to be so overwhelming, that it could no longer
he resisted, and that, sooner or later, it must be adopted.
This admission is valuable, inasmuch as it is a sure pledge
that this Hon. Gentleman, with that manliness and con-
sistency which have unilOrrnly marked his public conduct,
will give his support in the ensuing Session, at least to
that part of the new Bill which disfranchises the rotte❑
bmoughs, although he may thereby contribute to the de-
struction of the borough property which he has acquired
Callingtun and Thetford. A. B.
Times. Present at the Meeting.

The Political Union of Birmingham have, by
abandoning their plan of organization, acted with a
sound discretion. Those who call for a restoration
of the Constitution ought not to violate it ; those
who ask for their own rights should not usurp
powers that do not legally belong to them. To
obtain Reform by legal means is well, but to attempt
to carry it by other means than the law allows,
would be to revolutionise the State, under pretence
of relorming the representation. The " Reform
Association" of Westminster have acted still better
than the Political Union of Birmingham—that As-
sociation is dissolved ; so is the Political Union of
Brighton. The prompt obedience shown to the
law in those instances will, we trust be generally
imitated. The public know, by long experience, that
we are not advocates for any needless or repressive
restrictions on the action of the people; but if we
are to have civil society at all, we must have a regu-
lar and responsible Government; but we cannot be
said to live under such a Government if irregular and
self-constituted associations were to assert the direc-

tioh of political affairs, and to intrude on the func-
tions of Sovereignty. There is no higher and more
responsible duty of Government than to protect the
public peace, and to afford to all classes of the corn-
thonwealth that security, for the sake of which civil
society was first instituted. If a Government be in-
competent to protect the public peace, it is unfit to
govern ; for if it cannot command the obedience of the
people it does not enjoy the confidence of the country.
Now the persons who have been foremost in obey-
ing the call of the intemperate portion of the Re-
form Press are the persons who, like that portion
of the Press, have expressed an unbounded confi-
dence in the present Ministers—have, again and
again, declared their conviction of the efficiency and
success of Lord Grey's new Bill of Reform—and
have also boasted of the union of sentiment which
pervades the great majority of all classes of the
nation, except the House of Lords, on this import-
ant question. But to resort to unconstitutional
combinations, for the purpose of carrying a measure
thus supported by the King, the Ministers, and the
nation, is to belie their own declaration of confidence
in the Government, and to express doubts of a
general unity of sentiment among the people. Some
of those unions, however, like that called the Na-
tional Union, at the Crown and Anchor, have
avowed ulic-tior objects beyond the success even of
an efficient Bill of Reform. One of their orators
was heard with applause while he stated that such
a Bill would be accepted by the Union in part pay_
nwnt of the political debts which are due to the
people. Some of the members of the Reform As-
sociation of Westminster did not hesitate to charge
some of the promoters of this Union not only
with extravagant designs, but with something
worse. We believe the whole thing to be founded
rather in folly than in any deliberate intention of
mischief; but it is not, therefore, the less danger-
ous. Bad men often take advantage of the projects
of foolish ones. We have it on record in the en-
sanguined pages of the history of more than one
nation, that the platforms raised by political enthu-
siasts, for the presentation of their own farces, have
been made use of by men of more criminal ambi-
tion to enact these tragic (llamas over which freedom
and humanity have wept. Independently of the
unconstitutional nature of political conventions,
formed either to supersede Government in any of
its functions, or to exercise a co-ordinate authority
with the executive power of the State, we objected
to them on the ground that they would be the
means of sowing disunion among Reformers, and
thereby dividing that strength of public opinion
which, in unbroken union, could not fail to be resist-
less. The anticipation has been realised to such an
extent that the immediate dissolution of all those
Unions could not now repair the mischief which
their existence has, in that respect, created. As
long as the people expressed their sentiments on
Reform through the constitutional organs of county,
town, borough, and parish meetings, they expressed
themselves content with the Reform Bill—scarcely
a dissentient voice was heard, or, if heard, it was
only to show how destitute it was of support. The
scene is greatly changed. Since those political
clubs have been called into existence, the banners
of universal suffrage, annual Parliaments, fun! vote
by ballot, have been unfurled, tind drawn off numbers
from the ranks of Constitutional Reform. Thus in-
discretion and intemperate zeal have had the malig-
nant effects of treachery, and thus what may be
called the natural, at least the spontaneous, union of
the people, has, by forced and artificial unions, suf.-
fered serious detriment. There are some men who
are such busy and obstinate meddlers that they can
never, to use a vulgar expression, " let well alone."
They are always ready to encumber, with their
overzealous assistance, any cause that appears
moving on to success. Their attempts to accelerate
its velocity are sure to retard its speed, if not to
drive it in a wrong direction. We believe Reform
to be too good a cause in itself nor to recover
very soon the effecis of the wrong impulse which it
received from its injudicious friends; but we hope it
will be protented against the perils of such embar-
rassing assistance for the future.— Herald

We have received a long letter from Mr. George
Edmonds, of which the language is too unguarded
for our columns, on the subject of a report of a ease
at Marlborough-street Office, in the Chronicle of
yesterday. A youth, named Barber, had received
for sale from Mr. Edmonds copies of a penny publi-
cation, entitled " English Revolution ;" and on a
large placard, the heads of the different subjects '
treated of in the pamphlet were conspicuously set
forth. On the allegation that the boy had attracted
a crowd in Coventry-street, and obstructed the
footway, he was taken by a policeman to the above
office, when Mr. Roe held him to bail for the offence. '
We will not do Mr. Roe the injustice to suppose
that the motive for sending the boy to prison was
the obstructing the footway. The real offence was
the selling a pamphlet which appeared to him of an
objectionable character. But he did not choose to
commit for selling the publication, as he said " it
would be making it of too great consequence to hold
the prisoner to bail for vending the same ;" so he
chose to commit him for an offence of so vague,
and, at the same time, so comprehensive a cha-
racter, that there is not an individual who walks
the streets of the metropolis, who may not be held
to bail for it whenever a policeman or a Magistrate
wishes to put him to inconvenience. There was also
in the Chronicle of yesterday an account of the dis-
missal of two burglars,charged with having entered an
uninhabited house in Wading-street, with the inten.
tion of breaking into the adjoining warehouses. The
prisoners had entered the house with a skeleton key
and dark lanthorn, and as there was property to an
immense amount in the neighbouring houses, there
could not be a shadow of doubt as to their intention.
One of the men was besides a common thief. But
the uninhabited house was not a dwelling-house, and
the English law being yet as barbarous with respect
to classification as the law of the Visigoths or Bur-
gundians, the breaking into each description of edi.
flee requires a separate provision; and there being
no provision against breaking into other houses than
dwelling-houses, the two burglars were discharged
as innocent. In these two instances we may see
the immense advantage which a real criminal has
over an innocent man. If the crime committed be
one which has not in all its particularities found its
way into a statute, it escapes punishment. But a
Magistrate can, on some pretext or other, always
contrive to punish an innocent act with as much se-
verity as a crime. Let us see the convenience of
such a pretext as obstructing a footway. There is
not a nobleman in London who does not fre-
quently cause very serious obstructions both to
carriage-ways and footways. But the policeman
Is too prudent to interfere with any of those nui-
sances called routes, and Mr. Roe has too much
knowledge of the world to countenance any such
interference. We could name five hundred places
inn the metropolis, where men are crowded together
for hours every day on the footways; but no notice
is taken of such obstructions, because none of the
individuals causing the obstruction are obnoxious to
the Magistrate. A man may dress himself in such
a ridiculous stile as to be followed by a crowd
wherever he goes, but the Magistrate will not inter-
fere. Should a dwarf of three feet walk the streets,
he would be followed by a crowd. It is difficult to
tell what would not attract a crowd in London.
This of course affords to Magistrates a latitude, of
which we see how ready they are to avail themselves.
We have lately, on more occasions than one, corn-
: batted some of the dangerous doctrines which have
lately been promulgated among the labouring classes.
We abominate all doctrines which strike at the se-
• curity of property. But, while we wish to guard
f the poor.against the reception of doctrines which
unjustly excite their animosity against the rich, we
.will never so far palter with our conscience as to say
that, while the laws are in this arbitrary manner
wrested into means for oppressing the poor, they
have not great cause for discontent and dissatisfac-
• (ion. by are criminals the only class towards
which any tenderness is to be shown in Eng-
I land ? Why are the poor to be made for ever the
• victims of the caprice of the rich ? Does