The Sun.
London, England, 1831-10-10 00:00:00

and have supplicated his MAJESTY with one voice to
shield them from the Oligarchy, by the bold exer-
cise of that prerogative whereby alone the pow
of the Oligarchy ca❑ be subdued." His MA--
.►ESTY, who loves his people, will not desert them in
this crisis ; but it is expected, in return, that the
people will so express themselves that the acts of the
Crown, at this season of danger, shall be in strict
unison with public opinion, and shall rest on the firm
basis of the hopes and wishes of the mass of the

commonalty.
To the multitudes who will be every where as-
sembling, we cannot too earnestly recommend this
injunction—be
.ye wise as serpents, and harmless as
doves. Look steadily to the end in view, and omit
no means whatever that may tend towards that
end ; but, above all things, keep within the law.
It is the solemn duty of popular leaders to hold
themselves in such moral restraint, that their ex-
ample may operate as beneficially as their influence
is extensive. There will be many who, at this
junction, will be conscientiously impelled to refuse
payment of taxes, and every man is at liberty to ex-
ercise his discretion in that respect, bearing in
mind that a combination for that purpose is, in the
eye of the law, a conspiracy punishable as a crime.
The Quakers are not culpable for suffering them-
selves to be distrained upon for taxes and tithes,
neither is any man open to reproach who, in his
conscience, believing that the house of Commons is
no longer competent to impose taxes, refuses pay-
ment from constitutional principles, peaceably, and
orderly. We will go so far as to admit it to be, at
least, a doubtful point, whether Englishmen can be
taxed by a House of Commons which has confessed
itself to have ceased to represent the people, for,
since the statute called confirmatio chartarum, in
the 25th Edward Ist, abolished " all aids, tasks,
and prises, unless by the common assent of
the realm, and for the common profit there-
of," it has been a settled prineple of consti-
tutional law that no money can be raised from
the subject without the consent of the estates of the
realm ; and it would be bard to show that the people,
as one of the estates, have either by themselves, or
by their bona fide representatives, signified their as-
sent to the taxes now in the course of collection.
Nevertheless, we have no desire to hold out such a
doubt, as a stimulus to Reform, unless the rights of
the people should be driven to a more forlorn hope
than we at present anticipate. Let the people appeal
openly and confidently to their KING, and tell his
MAJESTY the plain truth, that they expect his gra-
cious protection in the hour of need, and entreat him
to exercise instantly that prerogative whereby alone
he can save the country.

It has been urged in argument by several Peers,
and particularly by the Earl of HARROWBY, that
it is going to an extravagant length to add half a
million to the constituency of this country, when, in
France, where the democratic spirit is so much
stronger than here, the revolutionists of July have
been satisfied with raising the electoral constituency
to a number not exceeding two hundred thousand,
though the population of France is thirty-two mil-
lions. If, therefore, domestic France is content
with a constituency composed of the one hundred
and sixtieth part of her inhabitants, how unrea-
sonable is it, as Lord HARROWBY contends, for the
people of aristocratic England to want so great an
extension of the franchise as is given them by the Bill.
Now it is clear that the Bill stands upon the
merits of being suited to the wants of this country,
created by the progress of time, which has brought
with it an immense augmentation of people, Of
wealth, and of civilization, since our representative
system was originally formed. The question is whe-
' ther the Bill goes to establish a just propertion be-
tween the representation, and the mass of opinions
and interests of which our society consists—
whether, in a word, it goes to confer on the
people such a share in the Legislature as
they fairly ought to possess ? The example of
the present limited constituency of France is
not necessarily deserving of imitation by us, any
more than the project of the French Government
for the abolition of the hereditary Peerage. If we
are to go to other countries for models of consti-
tuencies, we beg to recommend Lord 11.% RROWISY'S
attention to the extensive constituency of that ac-
tion, where the ballot and universal suffrage are in
use—we mean the United States—or to the elec-
toral law of Belgium, as fixed by the new Consti-
tution, which is far more reasonable, as well as more
liberal, than that of France. But to rest any argu-
ment on what is the case in one country out of
many is a manifest delusion.
Supposing, however, that France is to be con-
sidered a guide in this matter, the inference would
be that our electors are already too numerous, for
we have, at the present moment, considerably more
than France. Two hundred thousand are either
sufficient, or insufficient for France. If sufficient,
we have now too rnaey ; if insufficient, carlit questio.
In either point of view, the example of France cannot
be cited in aid of the Anti-Reformers.

The truth is, that public opinion in France is so
far from being satisfied with the extent to which
the representation has been augmented since the
Revolution, that, until attention has been recently
engrossed by other topics, its insufficiency was an
unceasing theme of complaint. The movement, or
reforming party, are so little content with the exist-
ing electoral law, that they have constantly referred
to the English Reform Bill as a proof of the supe-
rior sagacity of the English Ministers, in reforming
boldly on a broad basis, instead of tantalising the
people by supplying their wants by half measures,
bit by bit. It is time that the leaders of the French
popular party have let the electoral question rest
for a season, in order to accomplish the many de.
sired changes in the Peerage, the system of muni-
cipalities, the public instruction, and other institu-
tions, which are yet so much needed, and have ac-
cepted with a degree of thankfulness the doubling
of the number of electors, which before the Revo-
lution was under 100,000, They are aware that
ignorance must be dispelled, and industrious habits
created among the lower orders of the French, be-
fore the universal, or indeed general, extension of
the franchise cad be considered a Reform of the
first necessity to France, But they have never
admitted the existing law to be any thing like so
perfect or comprehensive as even the present con-
dition of their country requires.
The French have, assuredly, much more to learn
from us, in regard to representation, than we have
from them. It is well known that the contrivance,
whether cunning, or clumsy, of Axing the franchise
by the payment of direct (to the exclusion of indi•
reel) taxes, enabled M. VILLELE, by raising the
latter and diminishing the former branch of revenue,
to reduce the number of electors from 120,000 to
75,000, and that he was unobservedly proceeding
as fast as he could to convert France into a rotten•
borough, when his ministerial career was brought to
an end. This circumstance is alone, a proof of the
superiority of the standard of, qualification fixed by