The Sun.
London, England, 1831-11-26 00:00:00

CONVEYING THE BURKERS TO NEW.

GATE.

In all the examinations which before took place, it was I
arranged that the prison van, owing to the multitude that
assembled, should not take up the Burkers, as they are
called, with other prisoners, but that the van should return
at another hour and convey them quietly from Bow-street.
Yesterday the mob assembled, with augmented force about
the Police-office, it having got abroad that the Burkers
were committed for trial, and were to be conveyed to New-
gate. When the van arrived in Bow-street, the dryer
could hardly force his way, without great risk to the
people, to the office door, and, as the Burkers came out,
Bishop was violently struck upon the left side, but his as-
sailant did not escape the vigilance of the officer he was
entrusted to, by whom the offender was seized. After
this the va❑ proceeded to the Strand, followed by an im-
mense meb, yelling, whose numbers had so accumulated on
getting to Temple-bar, that in order to divert their
pursuit, the driver went sharply down Chancery-lane,
where, notwithstanding, an accidental stoppage gave
time for the populaoe to overtake him ; when, be-.
sides their hooting and yelling, they began to pelt
the officers who guarded it, calling on them to turn
out the Burkers, and at the same time, bespattering
the van with mud and stones. Having got to the House
of Correction, Coldbath-fields, for which several persons
had been committed, from Marylebone, and from Marl-
borough-street, the van was driven into the yard, and the
gates closed ; but its followers, far from being yet foiled,
were found waiting its egress, and actually went into
Clerkenwell Prison, when it was found expedient to get
three officers, in add ition to those coming from Alaryle-
bone and Bow-street offices, to proceed on to Newgate.
Cries of " Burkers ! Body-snatchers ! and the murdered
Italian Boy !" with groans, and booting, and whistling,
saluted the van at every turn. People looking out of their
windows, and even from the house-tops, to catch a glimpse,
although impossible, of the Burkers. Nothing could di-
vert the attention of the multitude. On the van, at
length, reaching the Old Bailey, at a quarter-past five,
it bad again to encounter a dense mob collected at the
Felons'-door, so that the officers, at least five in number,
had great difficulty in forcing a passage for the prisoners
to the door, amidst the most tremendous hooting and
shouting. Never was such a scene witnessed in conveying
prisoners to Newgate. They seemed, in fact, glad them-
selves to be secured there from the vengeance of the in-
furiated mob.

The Rev. H. B. SNOOKE, of Portsea, has
been licensed by the Bishop of Exit Tan to the Curacy of
Torpoint Chapel, Devon.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The country papers continue to publish ac-
counts of fires. We know not whether the re-

publication of these accounts may not be calcu-
lated to increase the mischief ; for incendiarism,

we suspect, is, like other vices and diseases
moral and physical (the cholera morbus for ex-

. -
ample), epidemic, if not contagious. The ex-
istence of the crime to so great a degree will, we

hope, lead to an investigation of its causes.
Undoubtedly, where the guilt is established, ex-
amples must be made ; but with se%erity we trust
will be mingled kindness,—we fear we may add,
in explanation of the word kindness, a change
in the manner of treating the poor. Had there
been half as much pains taken in examining into
their condition, and keeping them in warmth,
cleanliness, and independence, as has been spent
in the preservation of game, 'matters would not
have been as they are in the rural districts of
England ; farmers and landlords might have
slept in peace, and their labourers having done
the same, would have been able to come to
their daily labour with cheerfulness, and return
to their cottages at night in content. They
must, however, now be employed at reasonable
wages, or worse will ensue. It may be said that
the incendiaries are always the worst subjects in
a parish—idle, dissolute, and unwilling to work
on any terms. That they are the worst inhabi-
tants of a parish, there can be no doubt ; but

has every thing been done to reclaim them ? and
putting them personally out of the question, is
their work of incendiarism viewed with proper

dissatisfaction and abhorrence by the more -decent
and respectable labourers? Do these latter as-
sist with hearty good will in extinguishing the
fires which have been kindled, and in detecting
the authors of them ? The incendiaries them-
selves may be desperate villains, whom we do
not wish to rescue from condign punishment;
but when a vast mass of the labouring popu-
lation approves of their work, matters are at a
sad pass indeed ; and we again say that
kind treatment and liberal wages are the

only remedies of the evil. While we are
speaking of excesses and crimes in the country,
we must point out an approaching evil in
town. The number of beggars is increasing
daily. The police ought to have instructions
for apprehending these, not for the purpose of
punishing them as vagrants, but with a view to
transfer them to their several parishes, before the
severe season sets in ; otherwise many of them
will die in the streets, or through desperation
commit acts fatal to the peace of society, and
calling for the severest punishments. In general,
we do trust, that with Parliamentary Reform
will be introduced an amelioration of the con-
dition of the industrious class of society, pro-
ceedii,g not from that worst of all methods, con-
descension or voluntary kindness on the part of
the upper ranks, but from the more equalized
condition of all. Indeed, if wd were bound to
pitch upon those who in their conduct and by
their wages have generally shown themselves the
most considerate of the poor, and the most
liberal to them, we do not know that we should
look for them among the clatnourers for Re-
form.— Times.

Our readers will observe, by our Bow-streek
report that the three resurrection-men, charged
with the murder of the Italian boy, have been
finally committed for trial. Of them, therefore
as individuals about to be brought before a jury
of their country, or of the strength of the evi-
dence against them, we shall at present say no-
thing. But we are not deciding on their case,
or perverting the minds of their judges, when we
declare that the public examinations which have
of late taken place before the police-offices esta-
blish sufficiently, in our opinion, the fact, that
in this great metropolis, as well as some time
ago in Edinburgh, a trade has been carrying on
in assassination for the purpose of supplying
subjects to the dissecting-knife,—and that the
young, the aged, and the unfriended, have been
entrapped into dens of murder, in order that a
horrid livelihood might be obtained from the
sale of their bodies. The mode in which our
theatres and schools.of anatomy are now supplied
with subjects, and the present state of the law,
which renders it almost impossible to obtain a
number adequate to the ends of science without
exhumation or murder, should be pressed on
the minds of the public till some effective ex-
pedient be adopted by legislative humanity, and
sanctioned by general consent, to destroy the ne-
cessity of disinterment, and the contingency of
assassination, for the attainment of anatomical
knowledge. That those who engage in the trade
of resurrection-men will not always confine their
operations to the plunder of a church-yard, has
been proved by a terrible series of facts, and
might have been anticipated by reasonable sus-
picion. Under the existing temptation the prac-
ticed resurrection-man is an assassin ready-made.
He is already a criminal—he is engaged in a
trade which is generally esteemed robbery and
sacrilege—he is excommunicated from the rest
of society with disgust and horror—he feels no
restraint from any regard to a character irre-
trievably lost, or from feelings of humanity which
are utterly extinguished ; and whether he adds
one more crime to his list—one additional title
to execration to a name already abhorred—whe-
ther, in short, lie makes a subject of the living,
instead of digging one from the earth, if
he can do the former with equal safety as the
latter—can be to him a matter of little conse-
quence. Sir Astley Cooper had precisely the
same idea of this class of men, even before the
disclosures of the murders of Burke and Hare
in Edinburgh. " They are," said he, on his
examination before a Committee of the House
of Commons, in 1828, " the lowest dregs of
degradation. Ido not know that I can describe
them better. There is no crime they could not
commit ; and as to myself, if they could imagine
that I would make a good subject, they really
would not have the smallest scruple, if they
could do the thing undiscovered, to make a
subject of me." Men who live only by a breach
of the laws,—whose daily bread is the fruit of
felony,—who would be ruined if they were sus-
pected of virtue,—who can only support a pre-
carious existence by a continued offence,—
and who would be discarded by their employers
if they did not incur the general odium of man-
kind by prowling about the graves of their re-
latives—are not very likely to care much whe-
ther the subject be living or dead, if, as Sir
Astley Cooper says, they " can do the thing
undiscovered." A highway robber or a bur-
glar, without such an apprenticeship in crime,
often risks his life for a smaller sum than
81. or 10/.,—the usual price obtained for
a recent subject. And only let us reflect
upon the great temptations held out to the
increase of the trade, by the necessity of sup-
plying the various anatomical schools of this
metropolis, and by the facilities of obtaining poor
victims prepared for the dissecting knife, whose
wanderings nobody observes, and of whose exis-

...„.64:0 Pc / . cent
tence their nearest relatives may be ignoWll -
less we had a vigilant police or inquisittse.rin . Bat,
tomical professors. The number. of -Aitti • '
.r.,....-3:\ 41..-
, .1
schoolsin London amount to eigh :-:' - ti,,b .*A4,
ljlor
). ,_...,„4. -
,$,...,
the number of pupils in the whole s.. . „4_,.45.1,-71:...
than 900 or 1,000; and in order the 11... - 4,-,,SAr.
)ti,._
lectures and private demonstrations inafblillitililtii
ducted properly to their advantage, the number
of subjects dissected in the year should exceed
that of the anatomical students. Indeed, Sir
A. Cooper says, that in order to complete his
anatomical course, each pupil should at least
dissect or perform surgical operations on three
bodies. Here, then, we have a growing neces-
sity for a great supply, which has been indicated
in the rise of price from 2/. to 101. or 121. in the
course of the last thirty years. There is no
chance that this demand can be reduced ex-
cept by driving our medical pupils abroad to
study their profession in more favourable circum-
stances, and with improved opportunities, or by
declaring 'that profound anatomical knowledge
and great surgical dexterity are unnecessary. In
this latter case the dead may sleep in their
graves, but the living will be deprived of the
resources of medical skill,—the poor may not
be killed by Braking, but persons of all classes
may be killed by surgery. It was the unani-
mous declaration of all the professors and prac-
titioners examined by the Committee of 1828,
that dissection is necessary to the acquisition of
anatomical knowledge, and that anatomical
knowledge is indispensable to the beneficial
practice of either medicine or surgery. To this
question, " What is your opinion as tothe ne-
cessity of dissection, for teaching what is known
in anatomy, aad for the further improvment of
that science ?" Sir Astley Cooper replied,
" that without dissection there can be no anatomy',
and without anatomy a surgeon can do nothing
—certainly nothing well." " Without dissec-
tion," said Mr. Brodie, " there can be no know-
ledge of surgery, and very little knowledge of
medicine. The other medical witnesses de-
livered their opinions in similar terms. All
of these gentlemen at the same time la-
mented that from the high price of subjects,
or the difficulty of procuring them at all
times, many of the pupils were prevented from
engaging in dissection themselves, or seeing the
demonstrations of others to such an extent as to
attain a competent knowledge of their profes-
sion. Sometimes the lecturers at our public in-
stitutions were obliged to suspend their course,
or to change the order of their discourses, from
the impossibility of obtaining subjects at the
proper period. This state of things cannot be
permitted to continue ; the hostility of law and
prejudice to the progress of knowledge and the
interests of humanity cannot be permitted much
longer to exist. The most sensible portion of
the public are now prepared to see some legisla-
tive remedy adopted, and the best friends of the
poor will not he deterred from consulting their
interests, and those of all the other classes of
society, by the loudest clamours which can be
uttered about the hardship and cruelty of dis-
secting the unclaimed remains of such as die in
our hospitals or workhouses. We say unclaimed,
because the relatives of the poorest dependent on
public charity ought to have their feelings con-
sulted as well as those of a higher rank, and if
they claim the remains of their relatives for in-
terment, they ought to be surrendered. If neither
relatives nor friends take such interest in the de-
ceased inmates of our hospitals, prisons, peniten-
tiaries, and poor-houses, as to make such a
demand, it is plain that their feelings cannot
be outraged by any useful disposal which
the law may make of them. Nearly all the
witnesses who were examined on the Com-
mittee to which we have alludod recom-
mend this plan as " a simple and adequate
remedy for the existing evil." The bodies of
those who in life have been maintained at the
public charge, and who die in public establish-
ments of charity or houses of detention, seem to
be most naturally placed at the public disposal
for purposes of public utility, unless their next
of kin, objecting to the arrangement, take upon
themselves the care of their burial. The supply
thus obtained would, in the opinion of Sir
Astley Cooper and other witnesses, be nearly
sufficient for all the demands of science ; and
regulations, according to the same authorities,
might easily be made to secure the equal dis-
tribution of subjects over the different ana-
tomical shools. "It appears," says the House
of Commons' Committee on the anatomy
question, " that by returns from 129 of the
parishes in London, Westminster, and South-
wark, or their immediate vicinity, out of 3,741
persons who died in the workhouses of these
parishes in the year 1829, 3,103 were buried
at the parish expellee, and that of these about
1,108 were not attended to their graves by any
relations." Many other parishes had not made
their returns, but there can be no doubt that
this source alone would supply more subjects
than are now obtained by exhumation or
murder. We are aware that this scheme is
liable to some objections, and that it may
furnish, as it has already furnished, a fertile
topic of exaggerated declamation and hypo-
critical raving about the rights and hardships
of the poor ; but we have the example of
other countries to show that it has " worked
well," where it has been long in practice, and
we have now only a choice of evils of which
the project now recommended would appear to
be infinitely the least. If the criminal tendency
and demoralizing effects of the present system
(leaving out all reference to its drawback on
science) were felt and confessed so strongly and
so generally about four years ago—before the
late disclosures in Edinburgh, and the more
recent atrocities in London—with what astound-
ing force must they now fall upon our minds,
and call for a radical change. For if we per-
mit the trade of the resurrection-men to go on
to its present extent and under its present temp-
tations, we can no more prevent it from being
occasionally stained with murder, than we could
cut out Shylock his " pound of flesh," without
drawing " a drop of blood."—Times.
We have now before us a copyof
wtleleyester
com-
mitment of the lad Barber, by Mr. Roe, of
Marlborough-street Office, to which
day alluded. That commitment is at variance
with what fell from Mr. Roe in the public
office. In the report in the Chronicle of Thurs-
day, it is stated that a policeman charged a youth
named Barber, residing at Walworth, with ob-
structing Coventry-street, having
attracted
hawking a new penny pub-
iatin
,n
a the w
ri
ot floe
" Mr. Roe observed (after a perusal of a portion
lcoentitled
footway w "
English Revolution ; ' that
by tay in
of the work) that it was the most execrable trash
he had ever met with, and it would be making it
of too great consequence to hold the prisoner to
bail for vending the same. Being about the
streets, however, and obstructing the footway,
was another offence, and he should order the
prisoner to find bail on that charge." All who
I were present went out of Court with the

''''.;mta

impression that the commitment was in ac-
cordance with Mr. Roe's statement, We find,
however, from the commitment, that Rd. Barber
was charged before Frederick A. Roe, Esq.,
upon the oath of Jonathan Rider, with unlaw-
fully publishing a false, scandalous, wicked, mali-
cious, and seditious libel against the Govern-
ment of this country, thereby intending to bring
it into ridicule and contempt, and that the lad
was actually committed for libel. This affair at
Marlborough-street office reminds us strongly of
u well-known chapter in Tom Jones, entitled
" The wise demeanour of Mr. Western, in the
character of a Magistrate—a hint to Justices of
Peace, concerning the necessary qualifications of
a clerk." 'Squire Western, we are informed, was
about to execute justiceship on Mrs. Honour for
having abused his sister ; " but luckily the clerk
had a qualification which no clerk to a justice of
Peace ought ever to be without, namely, some
understanding in the law of this realm.
therefore, whispered, in the ear of the Justice,
that he would exceed his authority by com-
mitting the girl to Bridewell, as there had been no
attempt to break the peace ; for I am afraid,
Sir,' says he, you cannot legally commit any
one to Bridewell only for ill-breeding." The only
rational way of accounting for the difference be-
tween the declaration of the Justice slid the
terms of the commitment, is to suppose that
Mr. Roe has benefitted by the friendly advice of
a clerk possessed of some knowledge of the law
of the realm. But if the affair had not occa-
sioned some stir, all who were in Court, and all
who afterwards read the report, would have con-
cluded theta Magistrate had really held a lad to
bail nominally for obstructing the footway,
though really for a libel, because he did not wish
to make the libel of too great consequence by
committing for it. But are the Police Magis-
trates to be tolerated in thus trifling with the
public in the mode of discharging their duties ?
With respect to the offender, Barber, we find,
from a letter from Mr. Edmonds, that the com-
mitment has had the effect of improving his
circumstances. We fear there are many boys in
this metropolis who would gladly be held to bail
for a libel, to have the benefit of a meal and com-
fortable quarters.—Morning Chronicle.
We perceive that at a meeting of the Council
of the National Political Union, held on Thurs-
day evening, the Chairman stated that " it was
not owing to the Reform Bill, or its rejection,
that the Unions were necessary. They were
necessary before the Reform Bill was agitated,
and they would be necessary after it should
have passed." It does not appear, by the report
of the meeting, that this plain and candid decla-
ration of indefinite and ulterior objects was dis-
sented from by any member of that select body
of the Union which calls itself the Council, and
therefore we are justified in considering this as
an official declaration, by the leaders of this So-
ciety, of establishing their Union as a permanent
political convention, resolved upon giving its
voluntary assistance in governing the country,
although the most sanguine hopes of the friends
of the whole Bill should be realized by the over-
throw oldie corruption and abuses of the repre-
sentative system, and the establishment of that
great constitutional power—a thoroughly re-
formed House of Commons. This society,
like others that have taken the name of Political
Unions, undertakes to " preserve peace and
order in the country, and to guard against
every convulsion which the enemies of the
people may endeavour to bring about."
It is only necessary for any sensible and
reflecting Englishman to read that declaration
of the Chairman which we have stated above,
to be convinced that such an Association has a
more manifest tendency to produce disturbances
of the peace, and violations of order, than to
preserve the one or support the other. Equally
plausible were the pretensions with which the
Jacobin clubs of Paris, at the first revolution,
originated, as we have before shown. How far
those French Political Unions protected the
cenntry from convulsion is matter of historical
netoriety. The enemies of the people had, in-
deed, reason to rejoice in their formation, and
military power alone saved the land from the
frantic and sanguinary excesses of a wild demo-
cracy. One of the leaders of the National Political
Union, at the same meeting, declared that " it
was time for them to say they had no confidence
in Ministers, but in themselves alone—for his
own part, he believed that the present Ministry
would do all the harm they could, and just
as much good as they cannot help doing."
This, we presume, is a specimen of the sort
of argument by which peace and order are
to be preserved, and convulsion prevented.
This Political Union calls the Tories a " cor-
rupt faction," and at the same time declares (for
the opinion was not dissented from) that the
Whig Ministry, who stand pledged to an efficient
measure of Reform, will do all the harm they
ean." Thus, in the opinion of this most sapient
club, neither the Ministry nor the Opposition
are fit to conduct the affairs of the nation—the
inference is plain : the National Political Union
is the only body qualified, at the present mo-
mentous crisis, to give a practical sample of the
true science of Government to an empire other-
wise hopeless. Another orator said he " was
sorry that the Birmingham Union had been
guilty of cringing to Ministers." This way of
speaking of the parent of all the Unions shows
any thing but the filial reverence that the mother
Union had a right to expect from all her
children. It also indicates another thing
of some importance to the question of Re-
form—namely, that with a great deal of
" union," there may be very litte con-
cord. While touching upon the subject of the
Birmingham Union, we may as well take this
opportunity of observing that a great deal has
been said of an opinion relative to the legality of
that and similar societies, by a Mr. Parkes, an
attorney of Birmingham!" whom a London
Morning raper calls a "great constitutional
lawyer." This gentleman was of opinion that
the organization of the club was illegal. He
must indeed have been ignorant of even the ele-
mentary knowledge of the law of England if he
had given a different opinion ; but it is very
strange that opinion was not propounded until the
very day previous to the issuing of the proclama-
tion, and, of course, after it became noised abroad
that such a thing was intended. Mr. Attwood
had probably better information to go upon than
a mere flying report ; but, at all events, the
Birmingham Union was as hasty in retreat
as it had been bold in advancing, and we
give it more credit for its discretion than we
did for its valour. In the statement of Mr.
Parkes there is an historical reference on
which we cannot avoid making a short com-
ment. This reference is esteemed of great
importance by the Morning Paper to which we
have alluded ; but it is founded in fallacy, and,
as it has already misled some of our contempo-
raries of the Press, it may mislead the public.
Here is the passage .—" In 1696 the people

commenced Associations and declarations in
favour of William 111, The King and his Mi-
nistry not only sanctioned, but legalized their
formation ; and a statute law was passed (Bth •
William 111., cap. 27), reciting, < Whereas
great numbers of his Majesty's subjects have
entered into and subscribed an Association ;'
and then enacted that it was good and law-
ful.'" The question is, did the people, in
1696, enter into any Associations, in support of
William 111. and his 'Ministers, similar to the
Political Unions of the present day ? We say,
they did not ; and if they did not, how can
the historical fact of a different sort of asso-
ciation in William the Third's reign be con-
sidered a precedent for the Political Unions
of William the Fourth's ? The truth of
the case is, that the people did not form
any associations, at the time referred to, in
the senat that we understand that word.—
Mr. Parkes has erred on this point from
ignorance, for we are sure it was not a
designed deception. In the year 1696 a plot
was 'discovered to assassinate King William, just
before the time fixed for its execution. This
was the plot in which Sir John Friend, Sir `Vii•
limn Perkins, Mr. Charnock, and others, were
implicated, who, it was said, had received a com-
mission from .Tames 11., through the Duke of
Berwick, to attack the King, on his way between
Kensington and Richmond-park, and to kill
him, or carry him off a prisoner to France—the
exiled monarch being then at Dunkirk, with
20,000 French troops, ready for an invasion of
England, if the plot had succeeded. On the
discovery of this diabolical conspiracy the nation,
naturally enough, took alarm. Both Houses of
Parliament were foremost in expressing their de-'
termination to support to the last a King who
had been elected to that office by the will of the
nation. It was moved and carried in both
Houses, that there should be an association,
wherein they should own William to be their
right and lawful King, and promise faithfully
to adhere to him against King James and the
pretended Prince of Wales, engaging at the
same time to maintain the Act of Succession,
and to avenge his death on all who should
be concerned in it. A similar association
had been entered into when Queen Elizabeth's
life was supposed to be in danger from the
practices of the unfortunate Mary Queen of
Scots and her adherents—and to this association
Mr. Parkes also refers. Now, if certain socies
ties, not strictly constitutional, were allowed to
be formed at any period in the English history
when the country was threatened with the inva-
sion of a foreign enemy and the civil conflicts
of a disputed succession, they could not fairly be
drawn into precedent unless the circumstances
of the country were the same. We have now
neither to dread a foreign enemy nor a disputed
succession. But the fact is, the word " asso-
ciation" has been mistaken. It was not any par-
ticular political society or union : the " asso-
ciation" was merely a written declaration of po-
litical faith, which both Houses of the Legisla-
ture agreed upon, and which the majorities
of both Houses, and the people, signed. It
was called an association, we presume, because it
associated or bound together, in a common decla-
ration, the sentiments of the nation. As to
the Act of Parliament which Mr. Parkes states
to have declared associations entered into at that
time lawful, it was a Bill which was brought
into the House of Commons, declaring all men
incapable of public trust, or to serve in Par-
liament, who did not sign the association. Thus
it is clear the association was a political test ;
and the signing or refusing to sign it were, re-
spectively, evidence of loyalty or disaffection.
It is as positive ignorance to mistake thiS sort of
association for a political society as to confound
a Coroner's inquisition with a Coroner's inquest.
This is scarcely a lesS ludicrous mistake than
that made by the late Major Cartwright—the
great apostle, at one time, in conjunction with
Sir F. Burdett, of annual Parliaments and uni-
versal suffrage, who translated the law Latin
Parliamentaria brevia short Parliaments, in-
stead of Parliamentary writs. We allow every
man the right of drawing his own inference from
any given historical facts, but we cannot allow
that, either through design or ignorance, the
facts of history should be falsified.—Morning
Herald.

The Brighton Gazette of Thursday last con-
ains the following paragraph :

" We have good reason to believe that the immediate
cause of convening Parliament on the 6th of December
is to p tss some measure for suppressing the dangerous
and unconstitutional Unions which are increasing every
day with such portentous rapidity. The proclamatio❑
which has been issued by Ministers on this subject will be
welcomed with delight by every good subject, and will do
more, by proving the hostility of the Government against
radicalism, towards converting the Peers, than all the
threats of all the Unions which have been yet established.
We hail with joy this indication of an upright and vigo-
rous policy, and anticipate confidently from it the hap-
piest effects.
" Alresdy, as if in defiance of the Government, the
National Political Union has sent forth its fiat, announ-
cing that the proclamation does not include either that
association or the majority of those which exist. This
step must, however, be productive of good, since it will
show to the world the danger of these combinations, and
impress upon Parliament the necessity of greater vigilance
in dealing with them. We hope that care will be taken
to prevent such evasions as were practised successfully by
O'Connell.

" That these Unions must be put down, has long been
evident, unless we are content to see them supersede the
regular and ordered Government of the land. The matter
admits of no doubt or compromise; either the Unions or
the Government must give way."

The Tories would be delighted to see Mini-
sters display the superlative folly of quarrelling
with their own supporters, at the very time
when their services are most required. The im-
mediate cause of convening l'arliatnent is not
to pass any measure for suppressing Political
Unions. Ministers must be stupid indeed, to
suppose that the division of the Reformers could
convert boroughmongering Peers. No, no, that
bait will not take. In Cobbett's Register of
this day, we find the following passage, having
reference to this subject:—
" All the faction (he says) hate real Reform, and they
are now shuffling about the cards to see how they can give
the name without giving the thing. They know well that
the Political Unions are resolved to support them and the
Bill; and why, then, do they want to put down the Po-
litical Unions ? What ! do they object to being supported?
Oh, no ! They love place as they love life. It is the
Bill that they do not want to see supported. This is
what they are afraid of. They know that the people will
be disappointed ; they know that they do not intend
the Bill they know that, when the Unions discover
thin, the Unions will be against them ; and, therefore,
they want to put down the Unions. That is plainly the
case; and I beg my readers not to believe in any other
cause for this putting down. However, the country is
alarmed ; it is full of suspicion ; and, though trick after
trick will be tried, the tricks will all fail at last: a real
Reform will come."

If Ministers were to attempt to put down Po-
litical Unions before the passing of the Reform
Bill, the only conclusion from such conduct
would be that which. Mr. Cobbett has drawn,
i
that they are enemies n their hearts to Reform.
But this is a calumny ; they are not opposed to
Political Unions, because they are sincerely dis-

posed to effect Reform ; and they themselves
must stand or fall with the success of Reform.
A majority in the House of Peers are hostile to
Reform, because Reform would, at once, deprive
boroughmongers of the power of disposing, with-
out responsibility, of the treasures of the nation.
How are these Peers to be converted ? By di-
viding the Reformers ? By proposing measures
unpalateable to the Reformers ? No ; the mo-
ment the boroughmongers see the different classes
of the people at variance with each other and
with Ministers, they will be more determined in
their opposition than ever. They will cling to
their usurped power to the last ; and nothing but
the conviction that the people are determined to
have their rights, and able to give effect to their
determination, will induce them to give way.
That Tories and Anti-Reformers should be hos-
tile to Unions we can easily understand. But
no real Reformer, with as much brains as a goose
possesses, can be opposed to Political Unions.
What is the object of Political Unions ? To
render it impossible, under any circumstances, to
prevent the people from obtaining a Reform
equally efficient with that in the late Bill. Should
Ministers be defeated a second time, and com-
pelled to resign, the Unions would at once
enable the people to act with effect against
a new Administration. The boroughmongers,
knowing that during the existence of Politi-
cal Unions, it would be in vain for them to
attempt to undertake the conducting of the
Government, are deprived of the most powerful
motive for holding out—the motive which
weighed most with them when the Reform Bill
was rejected—the hope of forcing Ministers to
resign. Ministers, in their hearts, must rejoice
at Political Unions, knowing, as they must do,
that they tend greatly to facilitate the passing of
the Bill by destroying the motives for opposing
it. The proclamation against the plan of or-
ganization of the Birmingham Union was called
for on the strongest grounds, because, how can
men enforce obedience to the laws in one case,
if they connive at their open violation in another?
But it is one thing to issue a proclamation
against an intended measure violating the law,
and another to frame a new one for the purpose
of enabling their opponents to defeat the great
measure of Reform. We are sorry to say but
too strong grounds for convening Parliament on
the 6th December are to be formed in the pre-
sent distressed state of the country. We draw
the attention of our readers to the copy of a
letter in another column, from the Chief Magis-
trate of Paisley, calling on a gentleman for hi
contribution towards the relief of thousands of
people thrown out of employment by the agi-
tation of the country, and the apprehension of
danger. The truth is, so far from wondering
that Parliament should meet so soon, we are
astonished how Ministers should have allowed
the agitation to continue so long. They
were told distinctly before the close of last Ses-
sion, by Members extensively engaged in the
internal trade of the country, that the most dread-
ful distress would arise from the want of con-
fidence, unless they fixed an early day for going
on with the Bill. The result has but too well
corresponded to the prediction ; for we hear of
nothing but suspension of consumption, in con-
sequence of the alarm felt throughout the coun-
try. Hoarding has taken place to a considerable
extent ; stocks have in consequence been falling
in value, and the Gazettes are crowded with lists
of bankruFtcies. It will indeed be much more
difficult to justify Ministers for the delay, than to
justify them for undue haste. It is a much
more serious affair to continue the distress of a
nation one week longer than necessary, than to
trench on the comforts of Ministers and Mem-
bers of Parliament. Let us hear no more twad-
die from the men who call themselves Reformers,
about the danger of Political Unions. People
unite, because they deem union necessary to
their salvation. They confide in the honesty of
Ministers, but they confide gill more in their
own power. Unions may be abused, but, what
is there that may not be abused ? The Unions
will facilitate Reform ; when we have obtained Re-
form, it will be time enough to guard against the
abuses of Unions. We have quite enough to do at
present to promote the cause of Reform, without
also taking on ourselves the promotion of the views
of the boroughmongers. But we must do more
than unite. The period is rapidly approaching,
when, if men of property are not better protected
than they are at present, they will be abandoned
to pillage. No man can peruse Mr. Wakefield's
pamphlet, without having the conviction forced
on him, that the householders of this metropolis
are in imminent danger of pillage from the po-
pulace, if' they do not adopt more efficient means
of protection than they have hitherto done.
Why, we ask, are the Aristocracy alone to be
allowed to form regiments ? Are Ministers
afraid of respectable householders ? The Go-
vernment possess no means for the protection of
the people against mobs in times of general agi-
tation. The yeomanry cavalry are of little use
in towns ; and, indeed, cavalry can act with ef-
fect only in an open country. Let the Duke of
Newcastle, in God's name, have his armed vas-
sals for the protection of Clumber Park ; but
let the inhabitants of towns have their yeomanry
infantry. Surely a liberal Government cannot be
afraid of armed householders. Do we not know
that the present French Government would have
been overturned long ago, had it not been for the
armed householders ? Do we not know that these
householders have more than once preserved
Paris from becoming a scene of confusion, and ,
Europe from a repetition of the sanguinary wars
of the revolution ? Let offers of yeomanry in-
fantry be made to Ministers, and they will not
dare to refuse the offers. Sure we are that if
they did refuse, they would incur a most serious
responsibility, should any town, -in which the
offer was made, become a scene of pillage and
bloodshed. Even-handed justice demands that
no distinction should be made between the in-
habitants of the country and the inhabitants of
towns. In Ireland there are yeomanry infantry,
but there, to mend the matter, these yeomanry
are under the command of opponents to Minis-
ters. Ministers ought to encourage levies of
yeomanry infantry rather than discourage them;
and indeed they would have shown themselves
better acquainted with the wants of the country
at the present moment, if they had thought of
embodying yeomanry infantry in towns before
issuing proclamations against an organization
of the Birmingham Union, to which no effect
had been given. It is good to guard against
distant evils, but still better to guard against
greater evils close at hand.—Morn. Chronicle.

It has been intimated to us that previously to
the King coming to town on Monday last, there
existed considerable differences of opinion among
his Majesty's Ministers, and that these differ-
ences had led to something like an unpleasant
understanding between those whose union in
sentiment, and in conduct, is so desirable at the
present moment. These differences of opinion
did not arise, it seems, in consequence of any

difference of sentiment respecting the time at
which it would he most proper that Parliament
should assemble ; but in consequence of a
desire, on the part of one Noble Lord, to give
one chance more to the order to which he be-
longs of retrieving its fatal error in rejecting the
Reform Bill, and a, desire, on the part of another,
to insure the success of the Bill, and to
calm the public mind, by creating at once
the number of Peers which might be necessary
for the purpose. The dispute ran high, and
was likely, we are informed, to terminate rather
unfavourably for the public interests, when his
Majesty arrived in town, and put an end to it,
not only by acting as a mediator between the
belligerents, but by proving to them that the line
of true pOlicy lay between the extremes which
each advocated. It is, in consequence, under-
stood that no creation of Peers will take place
until the Reform Bill has passed the House of
Commons, and that then, unless distinct pledges
have been given by a majority of the House, as
at present constituted, to support the Bill in all
its parts, such a number of the Members of the
House of Commons will be raised to the dignity
of the Peerage, as shall give assurance to the
public that they shall not be disappointed
a second time. To such a course of policy
on the part of his Majesty's Ministers, there
are only two objections ; but they are
not of a slight description. The first
is the possibility of the pledges not being
strictly adhered to, and this possibility is by no
means diminished when we reflect that of those
who formed the late minority on the second
reading, no inconsiderable number declared
their determination to move amendments to
some of its most essential clauses ; the second
is, that even if the House of Peers should, with-
out any infusion of. fresh Members, agree to
pass the Reform Bill, as presented by his Ma-
jesty's Ministers, the latter might still be worsted
i❑ that House, in their subsequent endeavours to
improve the legislation of the country—to re-
duce its taxes—and to improve its commerce.
It ought not to be lost sight of by his Ma-
jesty's Ministers, any more than it will be lost
sight of by the public, that a Reform in the
representation of the country is only one of,
many means towards the attainment of va- •
nous ends ; and that it will be impossible for
them to effect these unless they not only
neutralize, but completely extinguish, the Tory
leaven of which the House of Lords is com-
posed. The Tories, with scarcely an interreg-
num on behalf of the Whigs, have had the keys
of the State in their possession during the last
seventy years ; and in the course of that time
they have contrived to create no fewer than 356
Peers, all of whom are downright Tories, and
opposed tooth and nail to the rights of the
people ; and can his :11ajesty's Ministers be so
blind to their own interests, if not also to the in-
terests of the country, as to hesitate for a 'no-
:nent, whether necessary or not to the passing of
the Reform Bill, to create a sufficient number
of Peers to give the popular interest its due
measure of support in that House ? We can-
not believe it for a moment. It is indispensable
to their own future existence as a Ministry—it
is indispensable to the good of the country—it
is an imperative duty, in every point in view :
and whether the Reform Biel pass or not, the
public will not be satisfied with their conduct if
they fail in its discharge.—Morning Advertiser.

The dominion which the Ministerial Press
has been for some timearrogating over the public
mind may be linked with great justice to the
power of the Catholic Priesthood in the dark
ages. The more gross and palpable the fraud
which it suits its interest to practise on the vul-
gar, with the greater confidence and effrontery
does it set about the task, in utter disregard of
the contempt which it draws upon itself from the
intelligent portion of society. In support of this
charge one might wade, we suspect, with great
cire through the pages of Father Paul without
finding a parallel in moral turpitude for the line
pursued by the Times as regards Political
Unions. For some days previous to the
Proc!amation this officious interpreter of the
will of the Government had been impressing
its reluctant proselytes into the service of the
Political Unions of their respective districts.
The burden of each day's song was the duty of
upholding the King's authority, and maintaining
the public peace, by hastening fully accoutred to
the loyal garrison of the Crown and Anchor. In
the midst of these dutiful and impassioned
appeals the Proclamation appears, prohibiting
these very Associations, as " established without
the King's warrant," " encroaching on his Royal
power, and subversive of the authority with which
he is invested for the protection of the public
peace." What says the Times to this ? Does
it denounce the Ministry which advised the Pro-
clamation ? No. Does it even acquiesce in sullen
silence ? No. It greets the Proclamation as
" a document in which reasoning is mixed
Not content with throwing
with authority."
overboard the late darling objects of its adoption,
it applauds the grounds on which their suppres-
sion is justified, although scarce twenty-four
hours had elapsed since it employed the same
reasoning to urge into the service of these same
Associations every man who felt it a duty to up-
' hold the King's authority and protect the peace
of society. One would have thought that in
mercy Government would have spared the Times
from further humiliation on the subject. But
there was yet good service to be performed. It
so fell out that on the very day when the King
in Council was giving his sanction to the Pro-
clamation, " the giant Political Union of Bit.-
mingham" was sitting in solemn deliberation
on the same matter. It is painful to believe
that any Member of the Cabinet, either acting
with the concurrence of his colleague, or on his
own responsibility, could be so far lost to a sense
of his duty as to betray to the leaders of an
" illegal and unconstitutional btdy" the secret
councils of his Sovereign. Yet such must have
been the fact. The substance of the forthcom-
ing Proclamation must have been disclosed to
the leaders of the Birmingham Union for the
unworthy purpose of enabling that body to
evade the spirit of that very Proclamation. The
coincidence in point of time, and the abandon-
ment of the plan of " organization, with gra-
dation of rank, offices, and title," can leave,
we repeat, no room for doubt that the
substance of the forthcoming Proclamation
had been disclosed. And vet in the face
of this overwhelming presumption the Times
is put forward to assert " that it was
by the good sense of the Union, and not in con-
sequence of the Proclamation," that the plan of
organization was relinquished. Such is the Jour-
nal upon the moral influence of which we are
taught to believe that the fate of this mighty em-
pire depends ! For our own part we care very
little whether Ministers do their duty and en-
force the Proclamation or no. At all events it
strips off the mask from those who, under the
guise of officious loyalty, were sapping the

By order of the Commissioners,
T. WHITMORE, Secretary.
Custom-House, London, Nov. 23, 1831.

MARKET INTELLIGENCE.

LONDON MARKETS.
(From the London NeT Price Current of yesterday.)
SUGAR.-The demand for Muscovades has been steady
this week, but not very extensive; there is, however, much
firmness in the prices. Sales 2,700 hhds. and trs. In
Refined there has been some demand for shipping, but only
where parcels were offered at very low prices. By public
sale this day 321 hhds. 39 brls. Trinidad Sugar ; a con-
siderable proportion taken in rather above Market prices,
the remainder sold at the precious currency. This after-
noon old. Lumps continue very difficult of sale, but prices
are not lower, none having been sold under 595., or 245.
61 on board ; the best large can be bought at 61s. ; ord.
single Loaves have been taken out of the Market, in small
parcels, at 635. There is now nothing in fine crashed
under 325. and as some of the principal r fivers have sold
for future delivery, they do not at present offer any more
at the above price.
EAST INDIA SUGAR.-5,843 bags Mauritius have been
sold by public sale, which went off at prices-good brown
41s. a 41s. 6d., tine brown 48s. ; low yellow 425. 6d. a
435., mid. yellow 445. a 465. 6d., fine yellow 475. .6d. a
81s. 6d. ; very low greys 425., mid. grey 455. a 46.. 6d.
There is much inquiry for Manilla and Siam, but of those
there is but little offered for sale at the present quotations.
COFFEE.-The late advance in Coffee is fully main-
tained : there is still much demand for the low parcels of
British Plantation Coffee, about 80s. ; all the finer quali-
ties are neglected. The inquiries after low priced East
India are also continued : Sumatra, selling last week at
475. 61, now sells 50s. and Ms. ; coloury Brazil and St.
Domingo 585., and in request. We stated a rise in Coffee
on this day week of Is. a 25., since then the Market has
L2ert getting more firm, at a further rise of Is. per cwt.
The estimated sales by private contract since Friday are
about 8,000 bags, of which about one-half are Brazil
Coffees at 555. for pale, up to 58s. for fine ordinary, and
595. and 60s. for picked lots. About 2,080 bags St.
Domingo 565. a 588. and no good ordinary now off ring
under 575. ; about 120 bags fine ordinary Havannah 665.
a 635. ; also about 2,000 bags East India, Sumatra, and
Semarang, 50s. a 545., Batavia and Cheribon 555. a 60s.
This day's sales 201 bags Mysore sold at 655., former
prices ; 176 bags Cheribon, good 60s. 6d., rather higher ;
125 casks Berbice at previous prices. The Market is
firm, and again rather higher this afternoon ; coloury
Brazil sold at 595.
FOREIGN Sucax.-There continues to be a fair de-
mand ,or Brazils, and the public sales have gone off with
more spirit at former prices ; they have offered 370 chests
Brazil. Bahia low brown sold at 125., good brown
158. 6d., fine brown 17s. a 18s. 6d ; good yellow 188. 6d.
a 195. 6d., fine good yellow 20s. 6d. ; low white 21s. a
225., good white 225. 6d. a 235. 6d. 45 chests Pernams
were chiefly bought in : middling to fine white 235. a
265., one lot low white sold at 21s. Rio, fine fine yellow
sold at 20s. 64., low to mid. white 21s. 61 a 235., very
good white 245. 6d. By private contract very little busi-
ness has taken place : a few chests good brown and yellow
Bahia were done at 16s. a 1138.,.and a parcel of mid. white
soft Pernams at 21s. 6d. 1,666 boxes were reported
yesterday from the Havannah.
Witter INDIA Mor.assEs.-This day's public sale ISO
puns. Trinidad Molasses taken in at 225.
Roar, BRANDY, AND Hor.LANDS.-The Runs market is
very heavy, and very few sales are reported ; proof Lee-
wards nominally about Is. 4d. The demand for Brandy
continues general; the holders are firm, and the market
about Id. per gallon higher. In Geneva there is no
variation.
HEMP,, FLAX, AND TALLOW.-The Tallow market is
rather in an uncertain state at 425. 3d. a 425. 6d.-Hemp
and Flax remain at quotations nearly nominal. This af-
ternoon Tallow remains in the same uncertain state; the
buyers expect a fall, as 30,000 casks are on the passage to
England, and 10,000 to the out-ports : the price to-night
is nominal.
Irtistr Paovrsiorts.-The Butter market continues in a
very
Irish
depressed
this week
will
andto
littleadd
othootrht the depression
30,0 o o fi the
firkins
; w
arrivale
of
cannot give any accurate quotations as to prices. Bacon
is offering Is. a 2s. per cwt. under our last quotations.
For all other articles under this head we cannot note any
material alteration in either price or demand.
Inotco.-There is no alteration in Indigo; the market