The Sun.
London, England, 1831-03-09 00:00:00

confidence in his Majesty's Ministers; his Ma-
jes!y concluth s by observing—" You may

rest assured that I shall always consider

the measures which may be proposed to me,
either in my Executive or in my Legislative capa-

city, with reference only to their tendency to
maintain the honour and dignity of the Crown, to
support the true principles of the Constitution,
and to promote the union and happiness of my
people."

- -
THE MINISTERIAL REFORM BILL.

SPIRIT of the PRO VINCIAL JO URNAL S

(From the York Courant.)

The development of the Ministerial plan of Parliamentary
Reform, made by Lord John Russell, in the House of Commons,
on Tuesday last,. and which has engrossed its attention on each
subsequent evening, has produced an unparalleled sensation
throughout the country. 'lo every sincere friend to his country
—to every advocate of wholesome Reform, it has proved a source
of much congratulation. We believe it has far exceeded the most
sanguine expectations of those who have placed the greatest con-
fidence in the present Government. It goes, we had almost said,
to the full length of probing to the bottom corrupt influence, and
purging the House of the representatives of the people of that
power which has so long been exerted to neutralize their wishes.
Tlve--Bill wholly disfranchises sixty boroughs. Of the boroughs
totally disfranchised those in Yorkshire are, Aldborough and
Boroughbridge, which will take from the county four Members.
Of the boroughs which are to send in future only one each, in
this county are—Northallerton, Richmond, and Thirsk, making
in the whole a reduction of seven Members. The additions to the
representation in this county are, two Members for the county
itself, making two for each Riding, in all six; and giving to Leeds
and Sheffield two members each ; and to Bradford, Halifax,
Huddersfield, and Wakefield, one each, snaking ten addi-
tional representatives in the county, from which deduc-
ting the seven disfranchised, leaves Yorkshire in the actual
Possession of three additional representatives. If any of our.
readers have ever observed the commencement of preparations"
for taking down some old, unsightly ruin, which had long
threatened to fall upon the heads of those who passed by it, they
would perceive that no sooner did the sounds of the chisel, the
mallet, and the axe, begin to echo in its hollow recesses, than
they were almost overpowered by the chattering accompaniment
of the foul and hateful birds, the screeching owls axd the
flickering bats, which have been disturbed from their long and
quiet possession of the tottering edifice. The taking down of
this rum would form no unapt simile of the opposition to the
Reform measure now pending in the House of Commons. All
those whose constitutional influence will be destroyed, and their
nominees who will thusbe sent to the right about, have opened in
full cry against the Reform which would remove for ever the ruins
and the dilapidation among which they haves° long sat in violation
of the cbvious spirit and constitution of the peoples' representatives.
Whilst, however, the interested and the corrupt may rail against
Reform both loud and long ; and whilst they may endeavour to
excite the.alarms of revolution, of the destruction of social order,
and whatever other chimeras dire," their morbid vision may
affect to see, the people will hail the plan, as it is in truth, as the
only one which can avert those evils which its opponents would
have usbelieve will result from it. Were the plan of Ministers
to be received or rejected by the honest suftl-ages of the people of
England, the weeks' debate would have been spared--every mind
would have conceived its fitness, every heart would have exulted
at the offer. Whence then arises this strenuous opposition ?
From the very fact of the necessity of that Reform it advocates,
and the want of that voice in the Senate, which through their
representatives, it would give them. In the mean time, how-
ever while the bontest is pending, whilst the mortal
grapple between Reform and corruption is going on,--that
people have a duty to perform. It is not their province to stand
stiff, and merely vent a faint wish for the success of their cause.
They ought to come forward, in numbers, outnumbering all for-
mer popular assemblages; in zeal outdoing all former enthusi-
lstiphtiiarctiatl
asm ; in perseverance exceeding all former determination; thus
ought they to come forward to strengthen the hands of the Go.
tsheee guilt.m
a seems to
tcoileni: theawakened,
ry ,
oetfroirprlkibsu,:wi
it
vernment, against the mightiness of corruption, and the awful
loudness of their firm approval, to shake with a misgiving fear,
been
n harnessedhel
wd
are glad to perceive that meetings of this description have already
must not be confined to the metropolis---it is the cause of the na.
tion, and the nation must take it up--and as a portion of that
nation,
maintain her chains to the second cliy, by being not long behind
on
to
the first, in a bold, an unequive,!al, and an uncompromising ex-
pression of her sentiments 01: the occasion.
(From the Liverpool Albion.)

Ministers, if they have disappointed the hopes of the country
on the great subject of retrenchrnt, have far exceeded the expec-
w;3l not say the wishes--of the most sanguine Re-
still greater—the momentous question of Reform
tations—w e •
former on the
in Parliament. The measure which Lord John Russell, as the
organofthe Government, brought forward, on Tuesday evening,
io full and efficient. It is complete in all its parts, and nobly '
in re-
den the pledges which Earl Grey and his colleagues gave to
the country when they took upon themselves the direction of
üblie-affairs. The Bill proposes to give to the people of Eng-
land a direct and substantial, instead of a virtual and shadowy,
representation. It is, in short, a second Magna Charts.
(From the Stamford Champion.)
The Ministerial plan of Reform will be by this time known to
all our readers—it is the talk of the whole nation. So noble a
plan was never before devised to remedy the abuses in the re.
presentation. Meetings are everywhere in the course of being
held to support it. The excellence of the measure is seen and
felt by all, and perhaps the best proof of the vast advantages the
public may expect from it, is in the character and conduct o
those who have yet opposed it. The boroughmongers are moving
heaven and earth, or rather earth and hell to defeat it, but their
efforts are ridiculously futile. The voice of the people will pre-
vail. Hundreds of thousands of men it is said will march upon
London if the boroughmongers can prevail upon a majority to
vote against it. Nevertheless these country reformers will not
be wanted. The population of London will be quite sufficient
to strike fear and trembling into the hearts of the creeping crea-
tures who still stick close to corruption. 'What are they? What
can they do ? Let us look at them in detail.

(From the Boston Gazette.)
.We refer' with triumph to the respectable list of intelligent
tradesmen, who have nobly come forward to support the Go-
vernment in a plan which offers the only alternative to a war of
the King and the
i people against the boroughmongers. We are
supportersponf.
informed that it s intended to propose an address to his Ma-
jesty, and petitions to Parliament. The Reformers ex-
ult, and properly, for the measure is a triumphant
one for their
be classed as revolutionists, whose principles,. even if adopted,
must lead to the horrors of a continental war, increased taxation,
ntcniepilres in the
and R Reformers e
opponentsrs are nowon
onlythe
staunch
and misery ; but which principles, should the country feel in-
dignant at their selfishness, must end in a dreadful convulsion, if
not civil war.

(From the Caledonian Mercury.)
The announcement of the Ministerial plan of Reform has been
received in the metropolis, and throughout the country at large,
with but one exception of feeling—that of enthusiastic joy and
delight, united with gratitude to that bold and upright Ministry,
with the noble originator of the plan at its head, and to our
most patriotic, liberal, and generous Monarch, who has crowned
it with his sanction and approbation. Insthis place, scarcely had
our pen given utterance to the recommendation of the same
plan, when its adoption was announced (as might be seen in our
Saturday's Paper) by, the Merchant Company and the Incorpora-
tion of Hatters, both of which meet this day, the first at eleven
o'clock in the forenoon, and the latter at half-past six this even-
ing. A public meeting of the citizens at large, it will be seen,
is also summoned for Wednesday. Leith also meets, we believe,
this day. This is as it should be. Every town and village
throughout Scotland ought instantly, we repeat, to follow this
example, and
in-
termission to the Three Estates of the realm. Never, in the po-
litical history pour in
at
nh
ce
er n at dkingdom,
and petitions
spseot
nobleons via iptrhiozue th
held
l
out to the longing dciires of (malt% . _