The Sun.
London, England, 1836-08-29 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, AUGUST 29, 1836

ELECTORAL LISTS.

It is important that it should be generally known,
that by an Act, which received the Royal Assent only
on the 20th of the present month, the Courts for the
revision of the Electoral Lists by the Revising Bar-
risters are appointed to be held this year one month
later than they were held in former years under the
Reform Act. By the second section of the Act al-
luded to (the 6th and 7th William IV., cap. 101) the
Courts of Revision are directed to be held " between
the 15th of October inclusive and the 25th of Novem-
ber inclusive," instead of the 15th of September and
the 25th of October, as provided in the Reform Act.
We believe that this provision of the Act is not gene-
rally known even to the Revising Barristers, and far
less to the churchwardens, overseers, and others whose
arrangements may be affected by the change. It is,
therefore, desirable that every publicity should be given
to it. The following, is the• clause of the Act :
" And be it enacted. That in lieu of the period by the
said Act limited for the revision of the respective lists of
voters by the barristers, the Courts for that purpose shall
be held at some time between the 15th day of October in-
clusive, and the 25th day of November inclusive, in the
present year, but not afterwards; and such respective lists
shall be copied out into books by the persons and in the
manner respectively prescribed by the said Act, on or before
the last day of November in the present year ; and every
such book shall be the register of electors to vote at any
election which shall take place between the Ist day of De-
cember
next inclusive and the Ist day of November, 1837."

iMR. HUTT'S LETTER TO THE RE-

FORM ASSOCIATION.

( From the IL& Advertiser.)

! The following letter from Mr. Hutt to the Secre-
tary of the Hull Reform Association, explains, in
terms not to be mistaken, the unhappy state of affairs
occasioned by the desperate contumacy of the Lords.
The full force of the letter can only be rightly estima-
ted by bearing in mind that Mr. Hutt is a man who
never gives way to unsteady impulses, nor aims at se-
curing the good opinion of his constituents by any
other mode than the round of faithful and judicious
service :—.

•
" Gibside, 20th Aug., 1836.
" SlB,—The Parliament is prorogued, and I have at
length returned to the country to enjoy a temporary ces-
sation from the business to which my time and exertions
have been devoted since the beginning of the year.
" I wish it were possible to speak with satisfaction of the
results of the Session. In fact there have been scarcely
any results beyond business of course. As to legislative
improvement, this has been almost a lost Session—lost in
' preparing measures of Reform to be rejected by the Lords.
In 1835 we accomplished a great deal. We removed the
anomaly of a Tory Speaker in a Reformed House of
Commons ; we out-voted the Tories in a Parliament elected
under their own auspices, and dismissed them from power,
not by a Court intrigue as they had dismissed Lord Mel-
bourne the year before, but by means the most constitu-
tional and legitimate ; and we effected—that is, we did not
,_propose merely, but we accomplished—that great change in
the Municipal Corporations of England which will be com-
memorated with satisfaction through all the annals of
hereafter.
" Though the Lords rejected many of our Bills in 1835,
still that Session was by no means lost. But what have the
representatives of the people to show this year to the
country as the result of their labours from January almost
to September. What? except the Tithe Bill (in which
the selfish interest of the Peers prevailed over their destruc-
tive passions), and there is but one word which supplies the
the answer—Nothing. This year the Lords seem to have
taken as a principle of action to reject all suggestions of
Reform made by the Commons at the instance of Minis-
ters ; and not because of any objection to those suggestions

in themselves, but because they originated with Ministers,
and were approved by the Commons. To defy and insult
the Reformed House of Commons appears to have become
the sole object of the unreformed House of Lords. The
Lords, encouraged, I am sorry to think, by some of the
Ministers, consider themselves, who are the legislators by
accident, and responsible according to Sir Robert Peel to
nobody on earth, as " co-equal and co-ordinate" (I quote a
Ministerial expression) with the representatives of the na-
tion. Acting on this belief, they are pleased to declare
that as the House of Commons will not proceed with a
Ministry acceptable to them, so they will not put up with
a Ministry which is supported by the House of Commons.
In order to harass and thwart a Government agreeable to
the House of Commons, and also, it would seem, to take
vengeance on the Commons for rejecting a Tory Govern-
ment, the Lords have brought legislation in the British Em-
pire to a dead stand. Great Britain has no Constitution.
Everythit, now depends on the caprice of a few Noble
Lords: A of the Reform measures which the Commons
have proposed this year would be a catalogue of affronts
they have received from the Lords. I have, then, no re-
port to make to my constituents but of insults to the na-
tional representation and injuries to the nation. 1 have no
good measure even to name without feelings of shame and
indignation—l have no hope to hold out for the future--
except in the prospect of Peerage Reform.
" As the Lords have put a stop to the uses of Parlia-
ment, all other questions arc absorbed in this one—How is
the machine of Government to be again set in motion ?
What philosophers and practical statesmen equally predic-
ted has come to pass—a real representation of the people
has produced, not collision merely, but a permanent opposi-
tion between the two Houses. The late Session must have
convinced most persons—be their political views what they
may—that an unreformed House of Lords is incompatible
with a reformed House of Commons—that they cannot sub-
sist together. Is the Reform Bill to be repealed, or are the
Lords to be reformed ? This is now a practical question.
Before the present crisis, the expediency of such a govern-
ing body as our House of Lords had been called in ques-
tion. It had been plausibly contended that to constitute
men lawgivers by hereditary right was a grotesque absur-
dity ; that to render public functionaries irresponsible was
a sure means to render them mischievous ; that from the
free conference of 1689 to the free conference of 1836, the
Lords have done little else than retard the progress of
rational liberty and improvement. I will not enquire
curiously into the correctness of such opinions, or of the
inference derived from them, Why should I do ?—A
plain practical proposition of more importance is now before
us. Are the proceedings of Parliament to consist only of
proposals from one branch of the legislature to be rejected
by the other ?—lt is quite certain that, with whatever
patience it may be endured for the moment, the country
will not long submit to so pernicious, so absurd a state of

things. The only remedy then—deprecate it as you may
—is in further organic change. About the direction which
such change will take, you and I are not disposed to doubt.
As the rotten boroughs cannot be restored, the House of
Lords must be purified. Peerage Reform is now the only
question. Which side of that question the present Minis-
ters will take seems to be doubtful. The policy of Lord
Grey's government, after passing the Reform Bill, was to con-
ciliate the Lords ; at all events to propose nothing which was
likely to bring on a collision betweenithe two Houses. Lord
Grey falling by this policy, Lord Melbourne advanced one
step beyond it. He took office resolved to propose good
measures—reforms agreeable to the nation, without regard
to what might be the pleasure of the Lords ; but, also,
without any plan for overcoming lordly opposition to
his proposals of reform. The necessity had not then
arisen for deciding on the question of Peerage Reform, and
it was, therefore, possible that Lord Melbourne's Cabinet
should contain persons who—let the Lords do what they
may—object to all further organic change. But the case
is now altered. Either Lord Melbourne must take another
step, or the country will require another Minister. This
is my deliberate conviction, and I express it with an earnest
hope that Lord Melbourne will not be found wanting, on
this great occasion, for the exercise of statesmanlike quali-
ties. If, unhappily, it should prove otherwise—if nothing
be done by Ministers with a view to preventing another
such absurd Session as that which has just closed—l can
no longer range myself among the supporters of Govern-
ment. Nor am I singular in this intention. Many
earnest Reformers in the House of Commons are weary
of attending to support measures of Reform which end
in nothing ; and I am but one of a powerful party when I
say that the course which I may pursue next year de-
pends altogether on what may be the policy of Ministers.
" We cannot permit the Tories, with a permanent mi-
nority in the House of Commons, to exercise the same in-
fluence over the Government of the country as when they
possessed the rotten boroughs. We had another object in
view when we carried the Reform Bill : to that great ob-
ject we are determined to adhere, although it might render
necessary farther organic change. This declaration may be
stigmatised as revolutionary and tending to convulsion : it
is, however, conservative in the truest and best meaning of
that term. The most revolutionary of all things is an ac-
knowledged national abuse suffered to maintain itself, and
the strongest possible incentive to political convulsion is a
great public grievance which might be removed, but which
legislators are determined to uphold.
" I have the honour to be, your very obedient servant,
" WILLIAM HUTT.
" To the Secretary of the Hull Reform Associotion.

Hippolyte Gagneux, a custom-house officer at Vieux,
in the Mn, having made proposals of marriage to the sister of
the rector, and met with a refusal, resolved that she should
never become the wife of another. He therefore went to the
church on Good Friday, armed with a brace of pistols, one of
which he discharged at the lady of his love, and the other at
his own head. The young lady, however, received only a
slight contusion, and the ball intended for himself missed his
mark and entered the ceiling. He was arrested, and brought
to trial at the last assizes for the department, when he was
found guilty of a premeditated attempt to commit murder, and
sentenced to hard labour at the hulks for 15 years.
MR. MIDSHIPMAN EASY.--We scarcely remem-
ber to have read anything more droll and amusing than the
opening chapters of Marryat's new work " Mr. Midshipman
Easy." We speak of the opening chapters only, not having
been able to obtain even a sight of more than the first volume,
such is the avidity with which the work is sought for at the
circulatinn. libraries. The author of " Peter Simple" may
be considered as one of the best delineators of national man-
ners since the days of Fielding and Smollett ; it has been well
observed that he has all their wit and humour, without their
coaA rseness.
deplorable accident recently occurred during the
representation of Robert le Diable. Out of 20 of the chorus
singers only 15 afterwards were well enough to appear, some
falling having. disabled fire of them.- -,7l:nr-
nal du Commerce.

PRICE 7D.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

NORTHERN ClRCUlT—LrrsztrooL, Aua. 26,

COLE V. MARTIN.

The plaintiff is a silk manufacturer at Manchester, and
the defendant a calico printer. This was an action for an
assault alieged to have been committed in the smoking
room of the Albion Hotel, Manchester, on the 28th of
March last. The plaintiff having pushed forward some
halfpence which were lying on the table, the defendant
made some observation, which the plaintiff understood to
he, " I suppose you have been brought up at the Mecha-
nics' Institution, as you have got some light-fingered know-
ledge." The plaintiff accordingly rejoined, " That is the
language of the police reports, and signifies thief and rascal,
and if you intend to apply it to me you are a scoundrel."
He immediately received a blow in the face from the de-
fendant. It was to recover compensation for the injury
thus inflicted that the action was brought.
Several attempts were made to induce the parties to ar-
range the matter out of Court, but the cause finally pro-
ceeded, and a verdict was returned for the plaintiff.—Da-
mages, One Farthing.
The Court rose at ten o'clock.
AUG. 27.—NEVITT V. MOSELY.
This also was an action for an assault. The parties are
coach proprietors, driving their own coaches on the road
between Manchester and Macclesfield. A great rivalry
has subsisted between them for some time past, and strong
endeavours have been made on both sides to gain and keep
the post of honour as first on the road. On the 15th of
May last the defendant had left Manchester first, and was
proceeding on his way to Macclesfield, with his coach hea-
vily laden, when the other party came up at a rapid rate.
Some persons on the plaintiff's coach requested him not to
race with his opponent, and, according to the evidence, he
was proceeding at a steady pace on his own side of the road
leaving abundance of room to pass, when the other coach
came abreast of him. He touched his hat to his rival,
when the defendant immediately, without any provocation,
drew his leader across the plaintiff's team, caught the wheel
with his splinter bar, and in that situation struck the plain-
tiff several times over the head and shoulders with his double
thong. His blows, however, told with a much greater
effect on a gentleman who was sitting beside the coachman
on the box, whose cheek was laid open, and the rim of his
hat cut by the thong. The defendant then drove on, say-
ing to the plaintiff, " you, are you satisfied now ?"
On the arrival of both coaches at Macclesfield, the defen-
dant expressed the greatest regret at finding he had injured
one of the passengers, saying that Nevitt, the plaintiff, was
the party he intended to strike. He subsequently agreed
to pay a sum of money to a charity to put an end to fur-
ther proceedings in that quarter. It did not appear that the
plaintiff was materially injured.
The Jury returned a verdict for 51.