The Sun.
London, England, 1831-03-12 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The manner in which addresses in support of the pre-
sent Parliamentary Reform are pouring in to Ministers, in
order to be laid before the King, exceeds all credibility ;
and great must be the gratification of the Sovereign, on
finding hie own views so perfectly in unison with tire
wishes of his subjects on this important topic. But it is
remarkable, that from no part of his Majesty's dominions
are the addresses more frequent or more warm than from
Scotland. How does this fact agree with the assertion of
a couple of jobbers, that north of the Tweed the measure
would give no satisfaction ? One address from Edinburgh
is peculiarly deserving of attention, as being signed by
nearly half of the thirty-three persons who return the
Member for that place ! But there are, besides, four or
fire addresses more front the city of Edinburgh. It is now
seen and felt that petitioning has its effect. The powerful
voice out of the Houses does nut, indeed, change the heart
or the nature of those who, within its walls, would still
adhere to the cause of corruption, hut it represses their
audacity, it confounds their impertinence, and it drives the
wavering into an open desertion of their ranks. Any
one who speaks against the Reform, is now merely
lenghed at : he is most likely sordid, and !elfish, and
stupid, but he is withal ridiculous. There is no doubt
of the ultimate success of the Bill in all its essential parts.
Mr. John Smith, Lord Cleveland, the Duke of Norfolk,
and others, professed their readiness to secrifice their
close boroughs at the shrine of Parliamentary Reform, and
they have ensured the gratitude of their country for so
honourable a declaration. We perceive, also, in the
Edinburgh address; to which we have shove alluded, that
the petitioners express the wish that " it should be die-
tinctly understood by their fe'lo w-citizens, end by the
public, that they h rye no desire to cling to any privileges
which are inconsistent with the interests of the people of
Edinburgh, and with the prosperity of the country." It
will be seen by the debate of last night, that Sir Charles
Wetherell expressed extraordinary impatience for the bring-
ing in of the Reform Bill, and was not to be tranquillized till
he was assured that it would be forthcoming on Monday
next. We are pleased at this anxiety of the Learned
Gentleman, and augur from it that this important measure
will net have his support.— Times.
The debate on the Reform question has already hosted
sa long, and the value of the Bill brought in by his Ma-
jesty's Ministers is by this time so rightly appreciated,
that it becomes almost impossible to add new light to the
views which have been opened in favour of that great
measure, or to heap fresh refutation—we might have said
fresh opprobrium—on the cavils, for arguments there are
actually none, by which its adversaries have ventured to I
uphold the present abuses, The cry against disfranchising
corporations, against the interference with vested rights, I
and with " property," which was raised at first by Sir
Charles Wetherell, and has been vociferously echoed by
Mr. Attwood—(both these persons being, we desire the
country to recollect, representatives of a Newcastle bo-
rough I)—that cry has been pretty well disposed of by
reference to the Act of Union with Scotland,—to the Act
of Union with Ireland,—to the Act for remeving the civil
disabilities of the Catholics, involving the abolition of
Irish forty-shilling freeholds,—to every case in which
Parliament has interposed, for cause alleged, to with-
draw powers, whether from individuals or bodies,
which were held by the Legislature to be incompatible
with the public welfare, at every stage of the Parlia-
mentary history of this realm. It is not a little worthy
of observation, that when the proprietorship of boroughs,
or the influence which decided who should sit for them,
was described, and truly, to be not so much a property as
tt public trust, Mr. Attwood exclaimed, " Why, what is
all property but a trust, to be exercised for the good of the
community ?" and this from Mr. Attwood—from the
Duke of Newcastle's Mr. Attwood—from the Mr. Att-
wood sitting in Parliament for Boroughbridge, under the
that of that very Duke of Newcastle who, when reproached
by the whole nation with converting his power as a holder
of property to purposes the most oppressive and pernicious
to " the community," turned upon his censurers this me-
morable question, " May I not do what I please with my
own ?"—a question upon which his Grace was not then
aware that his own gentleman of all work (Mr. Attwood)
would have furnished a commentary so edifying, but so
cutting-_" Your Grace's property in Newark is a public
trust, and you are responsible fur the use you make of
it." But neither patrons nor corporations can plead
title to property in the return of Members to Parlia-
ment. If it were a property, it must hare been always
inviolable : if a positive right, the enjoyment of it roust
have been always inalienable. Now how stands 'the case ?
We published some days ago lists of places which had, cen-
turies back, returned Members to the House of Commons,
and which had bean afterwards virtually deprived of that pri-
vilege by the non-receipt of summonses to proceed to election
at the calling of successive Parliaments,—of places which
bad been represented in one reign, and in the next had
been wholly passed over,—nay, which in one year had been
honoured with writs, and in another of the same reign
had been refused the favour, or saved the trouble, of send-
ing up Members to the House of Commons. Nor was
this an irregular or incidental practice ; it was the settled
habit and character of the Parliamentary Constitution in
both parts of the United Kingdom, recognized under a
long line of Princes, and for a course of ages, in Ireland
as well as here. But it was not badly stated by Mr.
O'Connell, who demanded of the Tory Opposition that
they should either abandon their charge of " robbery,"
" confiscation," &c., in respect of the rotten boroughs
now proposed to be disfranchised, or join with him
in condemning and redressing the " atrocious spolia-
tion" committed on nearly 100 Irish boroughs, all dis-
franchised at the Union; while several hundred thousands
of forty-shilling freeholders were equally disfranchised by
the Act under which the Catholics were relieved. I. V
as have been the arguments (none, indeed) brought for-
ward against this measure, we are perplexed by the mul-
titude of the objections raised, and still mere by their ex-
travagance and folly. The military Statesmen are tak-
ing the question by storm. Had the Duke of Wellington
and Sir Henry Hardinge been accustomed to consider
much before they pronounced decided opinions on
portant subjects, we should scarcely have heard the illus-
trious Duke make the existence of this constitutional mo-
narelry depend on that of the close boroughs, or Iris gal-
lant friend the late Secretary for Ireland predict that this
revolutionary measure would tear the crown off the
King's head." Bold a man as is Sir Henry Hardinge,
we are sure that a little refl"ction would have made hint
more afraid of risking such an absurdity, than most other
persona would be of mounting the best defended breach.
A very large portion of the power of the State,
enough greatly to influence, if not sway, both King
and people, is now in the bands of an oligarchy : the
thing is notorious, we should be laughed at for arguing it.
Now an oligarchy in other states, where, moreover, there
is no lack of nominal prerogative, but where there is ab-
solutism enough to satisfy the most craving soldier—an
oligarchy, we say, has more than once conspired against
she Sovereign, and has succeeded, too, in " tearing the
crown from off his brows." It is in comparison easy for
an oligarchy to conspire ; they are few,—they are secret,—
they have frequent access to the Monarch,—they may
have a common interest in some criminal cabal,---they
may have objects alike injurious to the Sovereign and the
nation,—they ought always to be dreaded by both. But
the purpose and direct operation of this Reform Bill, is to
substitute for a narrow anal selfish oligarchy, an aristocracy
en-extensive with the property and intelligence of the
land, with the enterprise and industry, the morality, the
instruction, and personal independence of the whole
community—agricultural, commercial, and proessional.
This great people of England call aloud for Reform,—
for the very Reform projected by the King's advisers.
Where is the power that can oppose it ?—at least the
native and domestic power, for we make not much
;recount of Russian and Austrian Allies, at least since
the change of Ministers. Of the 500,000 electors who
are to be added to the present mass of freeholders and free-
man, there is not a single individual who must not Ire a
man of property. The designed improvement on the
existing system is, that instead of a great family here
having five or six votes, another 50 miles off commanding
as many more, a speculative borough-dealer elsewhere
having two or three, while all the intermediate or sur-
rounding estates and families have no direct influence
whatever, and are at the mercy of those who do possess
it, there will, according to the plan of Reform, be no
parti II or divine-right monopoly of borough power at all ' •
but there is no proprietor
or householder throughout the
country, able to subsist without manual labour, who will
not have such a fair, equal, sod moderate proportion of
direct political power, as falls to the lot of every other
Englishman in the same circumstances, quoad mere for-
tune as himself. Then, see how the military monarchy
argument applies in the ease jug stated. If Sir Henry
Hardinge's and his commanding officer's objection be good
for any thing, they must allege that the great majority
of the British nation—of the educated and independent '
classes are foes to constitutional monarchy, and
bent
on having a republic ! Is that trite Is it not manifestly
a ridiculous falsehood ? But !f it were true, does the
Duke of Wellington think that it would then be possible,
under any circumstances, to uphold the monarchy, except
bv the bayonet—that is,
by making it
an absolute t
mo-
narchy, and raising taxes by pure coercion wherewith
o
pay the troops? This, then, is the true spirit and ten-
deney of the Bill—it destroys a narrow oligarchy, and

establishes a broad aristocracy, the breadth of which is
measured only by that of British property and intelligence.
It has been said over and over during these debates, by
gentlemen who deem a little empty praise of the Consti-
tution to be a discharge of all the duties which they owe
to it, that our " invaluable Constitution" is chiefly to be
prized for adapting itself to times and exigencies, without
suffering any injury or shock. There is, indeed, no doubt
that the susceptibility of improvement, as new occasions
call for it, and through means provided by the
Constitution itself, ought to be considered the most
precious of ail its attributes and merits. The present
Bill is calculated, like every one of the political
ameliorations which have been effected in this
country since the first framing of our Constitution—to put
the above capacity of self-amendment to the tent, and
bring it into useful application. There is this difference,
therefore, between the Whig Ministers and their oppo-
nents—that the Whigs are desirous of reforming through
the Constitution, and by means of it, while the Tories are
for leaving the much-applauded quality of " self-redemp-
tion" a dead letter, and waiting until change shall be
forced upon us from without by some extrinsic and sub-
versive potver. The speculative admiration of borough
Members for these constitutional pvinciples which they
are anxious to condemn to inactivity, may he taken for—
just what it is worth. It is said that if this Reform be
passed, the nation will cry out for more : we answer,
can you prevent the people of England from obtaining
this Reform ? Will you, Duke of Wellington, or you,
Mr. Peel, dare, if you are appointed Ministers, to oppose
it? Can you do so and carry on the Government for one
hour.: We tell you, that it this be not now granted, be-
fore six months the country will have more ; and, taking
more, will probably take too much. But at all events
if more be hereafter reasonable, then rational desires must
be gratified. The tide has already become a torrent :
swim with it, or we are all overwhelmed. But the
threat that Parliament will be compelled to make further
concessions, is quite puerile. The people of England well
understand the degree and nature of their own wants, and
have already put down the fanatics. At all public meet-
ings the wildeet theoretical reformers have struck their
flags, and gratefully and eagerly pressed forward to range
themselves under the banners of the Government. The
authority of the Member for Preston is decisive, that
he is not now listened to, when he attempts to preach in
favour of the vote by ballot. The advocates of the borough
oligarchy affect to commiserate the lowest order of pot-
walloppers, and others, who are to be deprived of votes.
The inconsistent spirit of this complaint is more apparent
than real ; for a pennyless and beggar constituency is easiest
corrupted by the ambitious and the rich. But the
House of Commons is to be demoralized by this nsea-
sure, and we are (by Mr. Attwood) referred to France
for an illustration of the peril in which a Chamber
of Peers has always been placed, when it presumes
to differ with a representative democracy. The French
Peers have nothing in their condition at all dif-
ferent from that of the elective body throughout France,
and hardly any thing but the name of Peers in
common with the nobility of England. They are not a
natural Aristocracy : they have no mass of property to
serve them for a prop to their own elevated rank, or for a
lever whereby they might operate upon the rest of the
community. They are looked upon in France as so many
pensioners or placemen,—without one of those ties or
anchors of authority by which every Peer of any respect-
ability in the British empire is safely moored in the county
that contains his property, and in which county and which
property are to he found the elements of his eternal incor-
poration with the whole frame of Parliament, of the mo-
narchy, and of the realm. Our final answer to such de-
claimers is, that the Bill is one for investing the general
mass of:property with the general mass of power, and for
annihilating that uns ;If and unreasonable system, under
which the relations between power and property have be-
come partial, unequal, and at length unmanageable—an
overflowing source of corruption, oppression, and discon-
tent. The most striking phenomenon of modern times
is the perfect unanimity of a free and investigating people,
in favour of a political change at once so diversified and
so vital.— Times.

It is among the remarkable coincidences of political life
that Earl Grey shoulsi be the leader of Parliamentary Re-
form in whom the country placed its hope and confidence,
not only in youth and in age—not only in Opposition and
in the highest office, but as two of the most eventful pe-
riods in the history of modern Europe—namely, soon
after one revolution in France, and immediately subsequent
to another. In the interval which has elapsed between
these two peri, cL how many political promises have been
broken—how many pledges of public men have been for-
feited—how many champions of patriotism have become
recreants to honour—Low many stern pretenders to prin-
c'ples have figured as apostates to their early creed upon
the stage of public action, while Earl Grey pursues the
same course, as Prime Minister, in 1931, which he ad-
vocated as the youthful reformer of 1793—thus consis-
tently giving to Parliamentary Ref rm the ardour of his
early vows, and the more reflecting support of his veteran
wisdom ! It was in 1793 that his Lordship—then Mr.
Grey—made his first 'notion relative to the state of the repre-
sentation. Several petitions had been previously pre-
sented to the House, praying for Reform, and among them
the celebrated one from the society called " The Friends
of the People." Mr. Grey moved that these petitions be
referred to a Committee to report upon the subject to the
House. Mr. Pitt, who had entered political life under
the colours of Reform, and who, as the champion of that
cause, had more than once invoked the spirit of the Con-
stitution against the practices of the boroughmongers, op-
posed the motion ; and, by the assistance of the dense
phalanx of mute Members, whom those very borough-
mongers sent into the House, was enabled to negative it
by the overwhelming majority of 282 to 41. These were
the golden times of the Anti-Reform cause ! with a Mi-
. nister of distinguished eloquence, and no less distinguished
apostacy, at its head, and a majority of seven to one in its
favour. Bat " time," as Lord Bacon says, " is a gre it
innovator," and the rotten boroughs, which were them-
selves but innovations upon the Constitution, are about
to experience some of the mighty changes which that
power that measureth the duration of all things human
can effect. It era, in 1797 that Mr. Grey again brought
forward the subject of Parliamentary Reform, and sub-
mitted a plan to the House, which was not exactly the
same as his present measure, though it in some respects re-
sembled it. He proposed that the number of county Mem-
bers should be increased by twenty, one Member to be
added to the larger counties in proportion to their popula-
tion—that the counties should be divided into districts,
each to return one representative—the right of elective
franchise in the districts to be extended to copyholders and
leaseholders—the remaining four hundred to he chosen by
householders—the poll to be taken throughout tile kingdom
at one :time, and the same person not to be permitted
ti vote for more than one place. It was also a pal t
of his plan that Parliaments should be triennial. In
advocating this plan, Mr. Grey drew an ingenious dis-
tinction between two principles which are generally con-
founded, by observing that, according to the proposed
measure, " Members would bold their seats, not on the
basis of universal suffrage, but of universal represen-
tation ; for the qualification would be so axed that no
man, however mean, might not hope, by honest industry
and lair exertions, to raise himself to this distinction." It
was in vain that the masculine reasoning of Fox, and the
splendid eloquence of Erskine, were exerted in support of
this measure. The venal majority which Mr. Pitt com-
manded again bare down all powers of argument, and
sixty-three only voted for the motion, which 258 rejected.
The war which the boroughmongers had commenced for
the restoration of the Bourbons, and for the benefit of
loan-jobbers, contractors, and public speculatere, had then
continued four years; and, during that time, Government
had flung away no less than 130,000,0001. of the people's
money, and laid on the country to the amount of six mil-
lions and a half annual taxation. That war was con-
tinued with a few months' intermission, for eighteen years
afterwards, and at an expense of which the present state
of the national debt is a melancholy memorial. A Re-
formed Parliament would have saved the nation from this
prodigal purchase of " military glory" and its calamitous
consequences.—Morning Herald.
Our correspondent, O. P. Q., invites our attention to
intelligence received from Poland, which leaves no doubt
upon the subject of the Emperor of Russia having de-
termined to attach Poland to Russia as a province, and
observes—
" It is to this that you must address yourself. The Emperor
is about to violate treaties—to break faith with Great Britain—to
extend the Empire of Despotism from the north to the centre of
E u
oror the humanne race,isabout
to
and
coalesce
to with
h e Austrialas against the
ig
liber-
ties
fishat will England say to
project of uniting Poland to Russia as one of its provinces
Will the Earl Grey, Lord Brougham, Lord Althorn, and Lord
Palmerston consent to such a robbery—to such a system of Im-
perial insolence and breach of faith and national honour ? I
will not—l dare not say—yes. But rather let me hope that Po-
land will owe to British influence, and British diplomacy, the
preservation of her national independence, and that in some
after time she will have to raise to Great Britain a national mo-
nument of gratitude and praise."
If any recommendations of Great Britain could benefit
the Poles, we have no doubt that our Ministers would
readily afford them. But if Russia have determined to
attach Poland to Russia, the Emperor will not be turned
aside by mere admonitions from England. Ought England
to do more than use her good office in such a case? They
to whom the disposal of the resources of a nation are
committed have a serious responsibility. We maintained,

at the dine when the French invaded Spain to put down
the Constitutional Government, that however unjssetifiable
the act might be, we were not called on to interfere, on
the mere abstract principle of preventing the commission
of injustice by one State against another. We do not say
justified
is in no conceivable case England would not be
ia taking part in a Continental war ; but we say that,
except the security of England demands the sacrifice, we
ought not to interfere in any such war, and that it is
highly improbable the security of this country can ever
be endangered from the Continent. What might be true
policy in a Continental State would be Quixotism in the
English Government. In a p implilet, just published,
under the title of " Thoughts on the present aspect of
Foreign Affairs ; by an Englishman," it is observed—
" Let the free eountenance the free, and liberty will he re-
stored to those who have so inhumanly been deprived of it. In
France, both Government and people are unanimous in favour of
Poland. When has England shown such sympathy with suffer_
ing nations ? In truth, the great came of the unpopularity of
England on the Continent is, that she will help nobody ; or, if
' she does, it seems to be indifferent whether the cause of liberty
or absolutism be benetitted ; and this in spite of her boasted at-
tachment to freedom. France, on the contrary, whatever party
rule, stretches forth a willing hand to any friend in distress.
When Spain was divided between liberty and tyranny, the Abso.
lutists got as ready assistance from France thouas the Liberals
would now. The Liberal party have always looked to England as
the protector as well as the provoker of liberty, and they have in.
variably been disappointed. So that even the speeches of Lord
Holland and Lord Brougham, proclaiming as they do to the
world the finest principles of civil liberty, and the deepest com-
passion for those nations who do not enjoy them, act but as false
lights,to decoy the unwary patriots of the Continent into dangers
which they are left to their own resources to extricate them-
selves from."
The conduct of France ought, in all continental dim-
putes, to be different from that of England ; because her
security must always be materially effected by the state of
the surrounding nations. To take the case of Poland for
instance. It would be a Quixotism on the part of the
Government of this country to take part with the Poles
against Russia. But it would not be difficult to demon-
strate, that if Austria, Prussia, and Russia be ill-affected
towards France, and only wait a favourable conjuncture
for attacking that country, she ought not to allow Poland
to fall. In like manner, if Austria be determined to put
down the revolution in Italy, France ought not to suffer
the Italians to be crushed. France, under a King with
absolute tendencies, enabled Ferdinand to trample on the
Constitution, because it was important to a Monarch
wishing to crush the libiTties of his own country to have
an absolute Monarch for a neighbour. If there were
now a struggle between the Liberals and Absolutists in
Spain, France would naturally favour the Liberals. In
fact it is the interest of an enlightened people to endeavour
to remove all obstacles to the diffusion of knowledge
among its neighbours, because the existence of ignorance
supplies a bad Government with blind instruments for
purposes of aggression. In a work just now published at
Paris, under the title of " Recollections of the South"
(Souvenirs du Midi), by Richard Faure, Physician of
the military hospitals, the writer terminates a very unfa-
vourable picture of the Spaniards by the observation--
" Let I/3 hasten, as far as wishes go, a revolution which shall
Fe-establish man in his rights ; a revolution so desirable for the
interest of this people and those who surround them, for at pre-
sent the political existences are securities for each other in
Europe ; the nations in arrear being a drag on those who wish
to advance in the career of civilization, Spain is in this respect
a very heavy burden on the rest. . . Who will place Spain
among the nations of the South of Europe, and render her capable
of concurring in the common defence against the invasion with
which we are threatened by the unfortunate nations of the
North r

The extension of civilization among the neighbours of
France is the diminution of her enemies, and the increase
of her allies. So long as a moiety of the population of
Europe remain brutal and ignorant, and blind instruments
in the hands of their rulers, her civilization must be re-
tarded by the waste of her resources in preparations against
possible aggressions. Our insular situation prescribes to
us a different policy. We are interested in the prosperity
of our neighbours of the continent—we sympathise with
them in their good and their bad fortune—we are not in-
different to the progress of civilization ; but, as we can
never he in danger from any Power in consequence of our
insular position, we must always be very remotely inte-
rested in the struggles of the continent. The United
States wish well to the cause of good government ; but
they studiously avoid all participation in the quarrels of
Europe. The writer of the pamphlet alluded to observes :
If, then, an opportunity is afforded us, almost beyond what
the most sanguine hope could have imagined, of repairing a po-
litical fault—of aiding a gallant nation to recover her freedom
and independence, qualities which we so highly prize ourselves,
and of which it is, at least in part, our fault that she ever was
deprived ; will it not seem almost a dereliction of duty not to use
our influence in preventing the destruction of a nation, which
our diplomacy helped to place in its present state ? England is
always in request when the sanction of her name is wanted to an
iniquitous treaty, and equally disregarded at other times. If she
has not the power of a trustee, to ask a question respecting the
fulfilment of contracts to which she lent the credit of her name,
her signature is a disgraceful mockery. . . . . . We might
raise up to ourselves a powerful and, if national character is to be
relied on, a sincere friend in war, who will otherwise be in the
hands of our enemies ; and a mutually useful intercourse, which
its present Government forbids, might exist between us in peace.
But we are tied up by a debt, which those who contracted it were
not clever enough to bequeath us the means of paying ,• contracted
w
to subsidise hireling Princes—the first to desert us hen our in-
terests were not identified with theirs. In a crisis of Reform of
all kinds, we must be content to leave the first post in this ho-
nourable undertaking to France, happy to be on such terms with
that regenerated country as to be able to engage in the same en.
terprises, and maintain, hand-in-hand, the same principles. But
let us follow with earnestness and honour ; a fleet in the Baltic,
and the Euxine, may show that Britain does not sleep. Let us
remember that Poland has often armed for the protection—never
for the invasion of the liberties of Europe." • .
It is true that lord Castlereagh made a bungling job of
it at the Congress of Vienna ; but if we are prepared to
insist on the performance of all the treaties to which he
was a party, we must return to the policy of the King's
Speech, which preceded the overthrow of the Wellington
Administration ; we must oppose ourselves to every at-
tempt to alter the arrangements against which half Europe
is now complaining. Were we without debt, we should
not the less protest against the creating one to maintain
ware of romantic sympathy. It is true our debt has
chiefly been created in wars for the support of the Eu-
ropean aristocracy. The Government of this country has
hitherto been long in the hands of men whose sympathies
have been with the European aristocracy, and who, when
they took a side, employed the resources of the country in
furtherance of the cause to which they were inclined. We
have now a Government not opposed to foreign improve-
ment—not inclined to support every despotism against its
subjects; but, believing that the Administration will use
their influence in promoting the good cause, we should
be sorry to see them depart from the line of prudence
which a British Statesman should constantly keep in his
eye.—Morning Chronicle.
The Reform Bill of his Majesty's Ministers appears to
have allayed the ghost of discontent in Ireland, and to
have produced union among all parties to a much greater
extent than even the Emancipation Bill.of the Duke of
Wellington. The correspondent of air evening paper,
writing en the subject, says,—
" As I anticipated, the Unionists and Apti-Unionists have
coalesced to support Ministers and Reform. The requisition, a
copy of which I sent you yesterday, bears the names of the Duke
of Leinster, the Earl of Meath, Lord Cloncurry, Sergeant
O'Loghlen, Alderman NPKenny, John David Latouche, Daniel
O'Connell, Robert Roe, William Murphy, Frederick William
Conway, David Lynch, Christopher Fitzsimon, Michael Staun-
ton' John Redmond, Joseph Dennis Mullen, Robert Cassidy,
Richard Barrett, &c. The number of signatures is immense,
but I have selected these names in order to show you that men
of all parties, differing ever so widely upon other questions, have
merged their peculiar opinion in order to give full, effective, and
decided support to the grand measure of Reform. Perhaps
there never was in Ireland such perfect unanimity upon any
question—all have set their hearts upon Reform, and if Minis-
ters should deem it necessary to appeal to the people
of the empire will give a very unequivocal and salutary'this portion
response.
" I have already noticed the two discontented parties—the Cor-
porators and the ultra Anti-Unionists, who dread tranquillity,
because it would sink them to their natural level, and divest
them of the fictitious importance thrown around them by agita-
tion. The Corporators have a much more substantial cause for
dissatisfaction, because Reform cuts at the root of the abuses and
monopoly on which they have fattened. They have got up a re-
quisition for an Anti-Reform meeting, which, in all probability,
the Lord Mayor will convene, whilst he refuses to act upon the
Reform requisition. The reformers are prepared for this, and
will, I am informed, convene their meeting for Tuesday next.
It will be the most important public assembly that has taken
place in Ireland for many years.
" The ultra Anti-Unionists who refuse to join the reformers,
are even less numerous and respectable than I could have sup-
posed. They say that the people are deserted, and will not be sa-
tisfied : but they deceive themselves. Reform will occupy the
whole attention of the great mass of the people, and, for the
present at least, absorb all other questions.
" The views of the moderate and practical portion of the advo-
cates of repeal are sanctioned by the great majority of the Ca-
tholic Prelates and Clergy, letters from several of whom I had an
opportunity of perusing this morning. The most distinguished
of those Prelates, who has been a supporter of the repeal ques-
tion, has expressed himself to this purport."
This news is most gratifying, and may the good feeling
which has thus been created long continue ! The inte-
rests of the two countries are bound together by ties which
appeal to their affections as well as their independence;
and we would fain hope and trust, that from this moment
the cry for the repeal of the Union will be no more heard.
—Morning Advertiser.

A scandalous report is current in the City,
relative to a gentleman who represented one of the
southern counties of England in the last Parliament, and
who is said to have absconded with a very considerable
sum of money. The particulars, which we cannot ven-
ture to repeat on mere rumour, will probably transpire in
a few days.—Morning Paper.
ART AND LITERATURE.—The association
of great general talent with high excellence in the practice
of Art has seldom been so brightly manifested as in the
instance of the late HENRY FUSEL', whose life and wri-
tings, edited by his friend and executor, Mr. KNOWLES,
have just come before the public. It it seldom, too, that
a professional life has been so marked with diversity of in-
cident as that of FUSELI—and seldom, moreover, that the
personal character and habits of any man have presented
so rich a theme as exists in his for anecdote and for study.

FROM THE GAZETTE OF LAST NIGHT.

St. James's Palace, March 9, IF3L.
This day the Prince de Talleyrand, Ambassador Extraordi-
nary and Minister Plenipotentiary from the King of
the French, had an audience of his Majesty to deliver
two letters from her Majesty, the Queen of the French, to which
audience he was introduced by Lord Viscount Palmerston, his
Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and
conducted by Sir Robert Chester, Knt. Master of the Ceremonies.

St. James's Palace, March 9.
The King was this day pleased to confer the honour of Knight-
hood upon Colonel Charles Wade Thornton, Aide-de-camp to
his Majesty, Knight Commander of the Hanoverian Guelphic
Order.

St. James's Palace, March 9.
The King was this day pleased to confer the honour of Knight-
hood upon Major-General James Campbell, Major-General of
Marines, Knight Commander of the Royal Hanoverian Guel-
phic Order.

Office of the Lord Chamberl.lin to the Queen, St. James's,

March 11.
Notice is hereby given, that the Queen will hold Drawing_
rooms, at St. James's Palace, on the following days :
March 24, April 14, April '24, May 12, May 26, and May 28.

At the Court at St. James's, the 9th day of March, 1831,
PRESENT,
The King's Most Excellent Majesty in Council.
His Majesty in Council was this day Pleas,ecl to appoint Thos.
Duppa, of Llanshay, Esq. to be, Sheriff of the county of Radnor,
in the room of Richard Duppa, of Llanshay, Esq. deceased.

St. James's Palace, March 9.
The King was this day pleased to confer the honour of
Knighthood upon William Henry Poland, Esq. Sheriff of Lon-
don and Middlesex.
The King was this day pleased to confer the honour of Knight-
boon upon Chapman Marshall, Esq., Sheriff of London and
Middlesex.

Whitehall, March 10.
Notice is hereby given, that an Adjourned Assize for the
county of Norfolk will be holden at the Castle of Norwich on
Thursday, the :nth day of March instant.

Whitehall, March 1.
The Lord Chancellor has appointed Thomas Lovegrove, of
Reading, iu the county of Berks, Gent., to be a Master Ex.traor-
dinary in the High Court of Chancery.

DECLARATIONS OF INSOLVENCY.
GILBERT BURRINGTON, Stock Exchange, stock-broker.
WILLIAM LITTLE, Macclesfield-street North, City-road,
tea-dealer.
JOHN DOUGLAS COOPER and CHARLES KELLY
COOPER, Woodeaves, Derbyshire, cotton-spinners.
THOMAS and CHARLES GREASLEY, West Smithfield,
clothiers.