The Sun.
London, England, 1831-09-10 00:00:00

the hand of Justice overtake him, he deems him- I
self peculiarly unfortunate in falling-at last a sacrifice
to those laws which long infpunitydhad taught him
to contemn." Such is the testimony which that
great and learned Judge, Sir William Blackstone,
bears to the evil working of our sanguinary laws, and
the temptation which they throw in the way of
Jurors to commit what he has elsewhere denomi-
nated " pious perjuries," as if the saving of life from
the sword of barbarous laws, in some measure, sanc-
tified an offence which would be otherwise of a
heinous complexion. If men are tempted to com-
mit those " pious perjuries" by the law, as they
undoubtedly are, the crime is with the legislators,
and the sin of encouraging it does not rest upon
those who pray for such an alteration of the law as
msy remove that temptation for ever.—Morning
Herald.

wide and compact chain of middle life runs its circle
trading, ranks, with scarce a connecting, much leis an
through.the shipping, banking, manufacturing, mining,
influentialliiik between itself and the Peerage. In the
influence of the Lords is considerable; but the two first
army and the navy, the'cleurch, and the higher law, the
of these professions have happily small political weight ;
the third. is at this moment in a stare to require rather
than to afford aid ; and the stirring talent of the poorer
followers of the law is more than a match for the well
patrimized and well-paid occupants of the higher seats."
ICivould, indeed, be strange, if men who are
placed by fortune beyond the necessity of exertion,
should not be weaker and more irresolute than their
less fortunate neighbours. The merits of the
founders of the families enable the descendants to
dispense with merit.
" There have been (says the writer), and are many
bright exceptions ; men of grateful dispositions and philo-
sophic, minds, who, in the midst of every means of indul-
gence, have, with a wise industry, lived as if they believed
that the tenure by which they held their proud station in
the world was the attainment and diffusion of knowledge,
the promotion of happiness, and the guardianship of the
people; men, who considered that the law, which con-
stituted them hereditary Legislators, called upon them,
under an awful responsibility, carefully to qualify them-
selves for their high and arduous functions. But such
exceptions render inure glaring the general rule of those
who seem to think pleasure and amusement the sole fit ob-
ject of their lives, and that industry would derogate from
their nobility.
" This lagging behind the intellect of the day has
alienated much of the affections and respect of a large
portion of the community, while the place-hunting pro-
pensities of some noble families, who have addicted
themselves to politics, have fearfully detracted from a
belief in public honour and patriotism. Now, while
such has been the conduct of individual Peers, the enact-
ments of their collective wisdom have not been of a na-
ture to call forth love and honour. The Lords have se-
dulously obeyed every Minister, and harshly adopted
every coercive act of each successive Cabinet. No one
liberal, reforming, popular measure, has originated in
their House; many of such a nature which the Com-
mons have sent up, have been by them rejected or de-
feated, while they have carefully abstained from exercising
this their restrictive privilege, by softening the rigour,
abating the extravagance, or enlarging the policy of any
one of flange unpopular acts in which the Commons have
too frequently indulged. Once, and once only, did the
Peers give way, and wisely ; for they retrieved, as far as
in them lay, the evil of their previous opposition, regained
credit with all good men, and saved Ireliud from a con-
vulsion. May they now, when the question at issue is the
peace of the whole Empire, go and do likewise. Still this
one wise act of grace is a solitary exception to their
favourite pursuit of a eeatrictive policy, which, however
irritating, has hitherto proved not the less vain ; for the
people have gained ground, and the Peers now witness the
consequences of thwarting opposition, coupled with niggard
and reluct,mt concession. They see, on the part of the
people, an appetite for Reforms, heightened by delay ; and
they acknowledge, while they compiain of, a daily decay of
respect towards themselves as individuals, and of public
influence as a body."
Having thus aescribed the qualities of the body,
the writer proceeds to consider their inclinations
with regard to the Reform Bill, and he does not
disguise his opinion that they are either epenly or
secret!), hostile to it. " A.ti the outset, I am pre-
pared (he says) to grant the general, though par-
tially concealed, hatted of a vast majority of the
House of Lords to the present it, form tSill, indeed
to all Parliamentary Reform. The practices to
which it tends to put an end have been precisely
those illegal means by which the Peers have en-
deavoured to supply that hold on the State whie.h
!ley have loosened by their unpopular acts as a
body, and their lack of industry and attainments as
individuals. And yet, in truth, not a small portion
of this loss of real power is attributable to the prac-
tice
of these very means, and the false confide nee it
has inspired." We fear there is hut too much li
foundat;on for this opinion of the hatred of a vast
majorityof the House of Lords to all Parliamentaty
Reform. Let not the people delude themselVes on
this subject. But the auestion i, not what would
thy do, bat what will' they do ? Will they re-
ject the Bill ? The writer thinks they will not,
because their object can he effected as effectually
and with less danger by the measure
"1 cannot believe- thatt a body of etaiti, sober, wealthy,
elderly gentlemen, fathers too of large and affectionate
families, should, for the sake of an opinion, meditate a pro-
ceeding, so nearly approaching to a political fe/o-de-s,e,
Anti I am the more inclined to this eheriteltle opinion of
their discretion; when I see that their object, if their object
be to defeat the Buil, can be as effectually gained by side
winds, and flank movements, as by direct opposition. Half
measures will here, for once, be as effectual as whole; and
from their nature, are as peculiarly fitted for the aflectione
and exigencies of weak bodies. To twice then, I fear,
tbey will have recourse; wiiiingly, would I believe ttat
they would, with a manly courage and patriotic candour,
accede to the honest demands of their countrymen ; that
they would, magnaninainisly, place. themselves vt,ith.la the
circle of the interests and the a.ifectioas of their native
I mud. But, I rn.,ieh fear, that without a struggle, they
wili not do so ; and I more fear, that, after a struggle, it
will no longer be in their power to do so."
The writer then proceeds to state the manlier in
which they will most Fobahly prozeede—
“ I pre44 over (gays the writer) the consequences of
positive rejection ; because, though they might be more
sudden, and severe in their operation, they would not be
different in their nature. I assume, then, ;het we shall
hear of motions for adjouenniene till after Christmas, and
for varioas esaential Modifications and perversions of the
Bill. There will be no doubt as to the covert intent of
such proceedings, however much disguised by outward
protestations. They will be received ~na /net by the
country, and the Mini:Jaws, as direct attacks on the Bill
day of trial will come. The speeches will
have been made, the votes given. Who have it ? The
Ayes ; joy, reconciliation, peace. The Noes ? dead
silence ! At that moment some ..,'per may wish he had
voted otherwise but too late, the struggle has begun, the
first blow has been struck. Lord Grey (and in his name
I include the whole Cabinet) must resign, or acquiese.
He resigns. Who will take his place ? Will yet:, my
Lords Mansfield and Winchilsea? Will Z.ir Robert Peel ?
Will the Duke of Wellington ? Will my Lord London-
de.fry, or his Highness of Cumberland ? Who will be the
British Polignae ? He must be a bold man ; for with a
small declared majority in the weakest fraction of the
State, whose construction is essent;ally defensive, he must
be
prepared fq a porte4t with the offensive vigour and
avowing energies of the Commons, fresh from their elec-
tions ; he must be prepared to find them backed by
the angry enthusiasm of the people, auppoeted by
the 'mighty echoes of the Press, end aanctioned by
the
eiro) approval
popular Monarch that has
on tl the r'iecs.:English throne. He must be a
for he must contemplate approaching that
debeletni .sn
e l
t oe t,:i'
Royal ear with suggestions for a cowardly faleelie...od, is the
shape of 'en Anti-Reform 11,lessege to iaerliarnent. He
must be a blind eeid prejudiced man ; for he must fancy
that, by dhsolling the present House of Commons, he
shall be able to obtain one of a leas reforming disposition ;
as if the desire of a people, just baffled at the inonient of
gratification, should be more quiescent 'ender such disap-
pointment, than when checked; as it was in the spring, at
he ;west be willing to commit the coronets of the ;Freers,
its outset. He must be a rash man, and a bail man ; for
and the peace of the nation, to the dansearaus re-action of
a second and third diesol,etia.a. Where, then, shall Ite
found this bold, bad, blind, rash, prejudiced, disloyal per-
son ? No where, I trust, and, least of all, in the House
of Lords.
Lordress.ignA,
somendy et, if the Bill be thrown out, and Lord
one must take his telace ; and the first
act of this great unknown must be adissolution ; for he
and his colleagues could net possibly carry on the Govern-
levnt for an hour with the present House of Commons.
'finis is apparent to every one ; and yet the chalices of
gaining an Anti-Reform majenity in a new House are in.
tinitely
small, should say impossible; for that man must
thielt kghtly of his countrymen who can imagine, that
p +raja! resistance from the Lords should frialeten the
electors of Great Britain from their epee'.,etently, should
make them eat their own words, skieuld make them desert
their reps.esentativesie for having 'fulfilled those very pledges
which .hey themselves, not six months ago, drew from
them On their hustings."
' But the writer thinks the Apli,lleformers have no
stomach for a second dissolution, and that they cal-
emulate on Lord Grey's nerves, fancying " that he
fears to approach the crisis for which his resignation
would be the signal." They mistake their man, he
adds; but there is no mean between the extremes of
resignation and acquiescence ? How fortunately the
Constitution has vested the Crown with a power
adequate to any emergency. " May they not (asks
t
compel Lord Grey to create even for
the
theirivoriltve)
preservation some forty or fifty Peers ?"nr

The new batch of Peers, with which the country
has been so long threatened, appeared in the Gazette
of last night, and without entering upon the invi-
dious and painful task of detailed animadversion, we
may venture to say that so extensive an accession to
the British Peerage never before took place with so
little increase to the dignity, the wisdom, the pa-
triotism, or the power of the House of Lords. We
ask any man to cast his eye down the list, and, after
reading the names of these recruits to the Aris-
tocracy of England, to say if he can with respect to
any one of them
.tell in what really consists his
claim, personal, hereditary, or territorial, to the ho-
nour now thrust upon him ? Some of the promotions
are perhaps unobjectionable ; but the new Peers
seem evidently to have been enlisted by beat of drum.
Much has from time to time been said of the deter-
mination of Earl Grey's Cabinet to inundate the
House of Lords with new Peers, in order to ensure
the success of their revolutionary measure. Of this
we confess we never had the least apprehension.
Not that our confidence arose from any doubt of the
Ministry being sufficiently unscrupulous for any thing;
it had a much more solid foundation. We did not
believe that any considerable number of Englishmen
of the upper classes of society could be found
capable of accepting the Peerage on the only
terms upon which his Majesty's present Ministers
could offer it. The Gazette of last night proves
that we were not deceived. The range of choice
must have been narrow indeed when such is the
selection. The new Peers may fairly, we think,
be considered as constituting a new order of nobi-
lity; and it seems but reasonable that, in order to
prevent intrusion into their ranks, a separate place
should be allotted them in the House of Lords.
Let them be called by all means the Reform or Re-
volutionary Peers, and let the Heralds' College be
forthwith instructed to device some special blazonry
as the appropriate emblem of a dignity so new.
And what does the Minisby expect to gain by this
nominal increase to their strength in the Upper
House of Parliament ? Character? Influence?
Authority ? The confidence of the great body of
the British Peerage that they mean well to their
Sovereign and their country ? The opinion of man-
kind at large that the management of national affairs,
and the manufacture even of a new Constitution
for the country, can be safely entrusted to their
prudence and fidelity ? But we forbear, as we
imagine that all that can be doioe ie. done. The
list of possible Peers is not infinite, and, if it be
less than infinite, it is now plainly exhausted. The
A Gmeette of fact night is proof, or rather confes-
sion enough, that Ministers have not the necessary
material in their pOwer to inundate the House of
Lords by an infusion of numbers. Their allies of
the nevolotiotiary Press will equally fail in their at-
tempts to intimidate the. Peerage to a decision upon
the Reform Bill repugnant to their conscientious
convictions by the threat of democratic violence.
threat is much more likely to increase the
strength of the resisting than of the conceding party
in the House of Lords. Every man of ordinary
spirit and good sense who doubts the abstract ex-
cellence of the measure will certainly resist it, so
long as it is accompanied by the threat of democratic
violence. What is yielded to conviction is limited by
the extent of that conviction, but to surrender any
thing to fear is in fact to confess that nothing can be
refused. The people are much too indifferent to
the question of Reform to be incited to violence,
whatever pains may be taken to inflame them upon
the subject. The threat is a mere absurdity. But
if it were riot an absurdity it would amount to a
very grave accusation against the Ministers of the
King. What would be the proper appellation of a
set of Ministers who persisted in urging either
House of Parliament to decide upon any question
of speculative legislation with the conviction that
the question can only be decided in one way with-
out exciting revolutionary violence in the country ?
Traitors, no doubt. There is no other term by
which to describe them. Can the Legislature be
superseded with the aid or even the connivance of
the King's Ministers unless those Ministers are
traitors ? Let those partisans of the Ministry who
threaten the House of Lords with revolutionary
violence answer this question, or let them forbear
their insolent threat, or let them admit that Mipis-
terS are so ignorant of the state of the country as to
be insensible to the danger which their advocates
can see so clearly, or let them say plainly that the
Ministers are traitors, and that it is therefore they
so warmly espouse their cause,--,Norong
" Whet will the Lords do?" is the question
which people everywhere now ask each other. A
pamphlet under that title has just been published by
Mr. Ridgway, containing views well deeming of
the attention of the august body whose resolves are
now the subject of general conjecture. The epigraph
is peculiarly expressive :—" Non bona/las—non
(pies ; sed quale niagni metus et magna: iron, si:.lq;-
ti?mt est." This pamphlet will, no doubt, obtain
the notice which Mr. Ridgway's pamphlets on this
subject have hitherto obtained. We make no
apology fur drawing largely from it at this critical
time. " Some say," observes the writer, ‘c they
will throw the Bill out in timine; others that they
will adjourn the discussion of it till after Christmas.
Some that they will receive, and greatly modify it;
others, again, say that they will take it, and pees it
nearly in that forte in which the. Comowne send it
or to them." Before entering on a struggle, it is
useful to examine into the force of an enemy. As
the battle is now about to be between the people
and the Peers, before asking what the Peers will
do, it may not be superfluous to ask what the Peers
are ? The writer says, in a civil way, what is com-
prehended in the position, that they are necessarily
the least active yid least resolute body in the corn-
munity. The portrait is less harshly drawn than
those drawn by Mr. Attwood and Mr. Alexander
Baring ; but it is essentially the same :
" The House of Lords is composed chiefly of men of a
certain age, who have led an easy inactive life ; of men of
large hereditary possessions, ant: high undisputed hereditary
rank ; of men who have been placed at what is termed the
head of their families ; and who, having married early,
have generally large families, arid domestic habits. Such
wen, hiving met with few sturdy obstacles in their course,
are prone, ou the one hand, to an el:aggerifted confidence
in their own powers, and, on th.l other, liable to a de-
crer,sing 7esoltriiion, as they meet with an increasing and
enduring Opposition. Such men, too, enjoying the rich
bounties conferred on them by the law of the Lind, are
likely to attach a peculiar importance to legal rights and
prescriptive usages, and to view, with a strong and natural
antipathy, aay hue of Itefortn that questions ancient privi-
leges. The Centres, also, of small circles, these dispensers
of patronage and favour are liable to become men of flat-
tered vanity ; impatient of contradiction ; fond of power ;
-praetisers and enforcers of obedience ; men of small enter-
prize ; averse from exhibition ; prompt to command ;
willing to enforce, but slow and lax to execute. Such
seem to be the general characteristics of the Lords, They
are qualities which may easily commit theca to the strife,
but will nut assuredly carry them through the long and
arduous struggle they may. provoke. In social life, as
landlords, Magistrates, and Lieutenants, they are generally
respected and praised. Those who are within the sphere of
their acquaintance consider themselves honoured by their
notice, and those who are their dependants ate often proud
of the connexion ; but yet how small are the diverging
ripples of this influence in comparison to the vast ocean of
British society. In a few remote districts, the large ter-
ritorial Peer may have some weight; but, in the living
foci of our towns, marts, and ports, he is as nothing. The

tthheeryeft'oiree:nist, 'vises
ae7ueres:tio
We agree with him that the voice of the country thor.ty, is one o" . nature pmuliarly itiviLlioul 'or them to
Litho:.
ocantlynota resistdifferentheee
would support him in any measure of this sort tc
which he might be driven. But whatever may be , dec,i,dTe
That they
measure in Coto.
the course of Earl Grey, of one thing we are sure. ~ That,
and that it is his determination to carry Reform one d k3i degree of Reform.
way or other. , "And yet that, for the value of this difference, they are
" The Tory Lords may rest assured that no manoeuvres Prepared to shake the stability of the empire, in whole or
of theirs will.ever win him to a compromise of his word : in part.
he is pledged to the Bill ; and, such as it is, he will carry i " And, finally, that the evils which they dread are r ro-.
it. either 'in the present House of Lords, or an enlarged spective, while those we point oat are immediate.
House of Lords, or he will resign. Even were it contrary "In other word., that a weak order, in a state of unu-
to his interest, his own mind would bind him to such a I sus! weakness, is willing, for the wake of a contingent dams
line of conduct. But he knows full well that were he, ger, to contend, at a fearful present risk, against three
with a white heart, to waver now, that he would be lost. sti ong orders, in a state of unusual strength and concord;
He and his party are committed in an arduous struggle; and to contend, too, on an invidious qutstion, the essential
they lead, but do not command public opinion; and were principle of which they admit in the outset. Infatuation
they to submit to an important modification of the Bill, or cannot go further."
to an adjournment, the real object of which would be oh- The conclusion at which the writer arrives is, that
,
viol's, even to the blindest mole, they would be driven " the Lords, to the
from the helm ; public opinion, like a mighty lever, would w les,
WI pan the Bill." But the people ,-'
press onwards in its course, bearing others more adven- m`...t bear in
mind that the Lords will be very •
turous on its bosom, while it left them hapless wrecks on much assisted in
•
its shores. overcoming their wayward .
inclulat. ions by such de-
" They would be driven from their seats by an indig- monstrations as she., satisf- in ofthe helplessness
of
nant House of Commons. A second dissolution would be COUrE any other p ' ern
... min that of pasting the Bill,
a Royal mandate for revolution. The present House of Mornin4 Ca
l'Onc. le.
Commons would—must remain. Of this House, 379 ,A
its Members have, by their vote, pledged themselves to the
Bill ; and would these gentlemen recede from their pledges
at the command of a Ministry who had broken their words,
deserted their King, and bow down before a slender ma-
jority of Lords? If they did, they would be the worst
enemies of their country—they would compel the people to
shake off their present most praiseworthy patience."

The writer conceives, that if Lord Grey were to
desert Reform, Lord Grey would be compelled t,t
resign, and his place would be occupied by men
more adventurous, and possibly less conscientious,
more hostile to the House of Lords. The ruin
of the present Ministry, if it could be effected bi
the Anti-Reformers, would only therefue place men
of infinitely more reforming and democratic prin-
ciples in their seats, The following admonition is
well deserving of their Lordships' attention. It is a
friendly advice :
" Let the Lords then pause and seriously consider, tlut
with them is the power—no, not of stifling the young
Hercules of Reform, but of adding to his club a tremen-
dous category, a whole twelve labours of Reform. Let
them look around, and see who are marshaled at their
side—the Member for Preston ! Vultures tzroell the field
of battle from afar. No, no, let them hate Lord Grey,
and Lord Broughan and their party, as cordially as they
choose i hot let them rally round them for the present ;
for with them, fortunately or unfortunately, it matters not
to the patriot in tha hour of danger, but with them are
the colours of the country, the standard of order. They
may be the last binge of the last door ; and will the Lords,
with a childish waywardness, break down the one remaining
barrier? Past events May be regetted, but they cannot
be changed ; and those who mourn over their effects will
not strongly evince the purity of their hatred of all excite-
ment, by pursuing measures tending directly to increase it.
It may be an unpleasant dilemma to which they are re.
duced ; it may be irritating to their feelings, but it is not
the less incurober„t ir,4 their wisdom and patriotism to sup-
port Lord Grey in his seat. It is impossible to point out
the quantum of support—this must depend upon circum-
stances ; but as they value conservative principles, they
must take good care that it, lie sudicient to prevent, for the
present, public feeling being again excited by a change of
Ministry, much more by a dissolution of Parliament. I defy
them to point out any other rational line of condact, for
those who wish to preserve order, be they high or low Tories,
Whigs, or Radic:rls. Need they be reminded of the
result of those .sourt intrigues, and that conservative ha-
tred, which, at length, succeeded in driving Necker, the
French Lord Grey. from the Ministry ? Will they profit
by the example ? I trust they may,
" To bring the question within a narrower compass ;
let us say, if Lord Grey's Administration be an evil in
;heir s;ght—if the formation of a Tory Ministry he im-
practicable, and the prospect of a Radical Cabinet an abo-
mination—then must they not, at wise and good men,
choose the lesser evil 71,5 y must ; and, hereafter, when,
by the fulf-.lment of the pledges giv,,n and required, the
pretent ferment shall have subsided, the House of Lords
may reap their reward in recovered popularity with the
people, and more stable prtwc.r in Parliament. Surely,
such qualifie4 ir,lppr: of a Ministry, in times like these,
it v±rfgetly distinct from any particular or general approval
of their measures. By and by, let the Tories throw them
out, if they will—if they can ; hot let it be on some ge-
neral question, when thoy may find adherents in the great
body of the pat;on ; hot let the Lords beware (I say it in
all sincerity), let them beware of a trial of strength on a
question so narrow, so dangerous, so invidious to them-
selves, as the representation of their own rotten boroughs.
If they must and will fight, let them contend for their
own noble constittxtimAl rights, and not for sordid abuses,
the very practice of which the law calls a high misdemea-
nour."

NIILITARY COLONIES IN RUSSIA.

(From the Temps Paris Journal.)
Several Journals have questioned the news of an
nsurrection in the Russian military colonies, can-
toned in the neighbourhood of Novogorod. We
this morning specify some details of the movement,
and to those acquainted with Russia, with the orga-
nization of those establishments, and the spirit of
discontent which predominates in them, the facts
will cause no surpris-.
This ie by no means the first symptom of revolt
which had manifested itself among the Russian po-
pulation alluded to. The attempt announced yestei-
day had many precursors; not two months ago a
scene of the same kind, of which the present dis•
orders no doubt form the sequel, exploded and was
suppressed.
The colonies which Alexander founded with an
expectation that they would conduce to the strength
of the empire, and promote the civilization of the
people, have not had the results which he antici-
pated. The institution has found obstacles in the
nature of the country, and in the temper of the
population. The cavalry colonies indeed, to the
south-west of the empire, along the Ukraine, in the
government of Kherson, and on the Turkish and
Austrian frontiers, have carried cultivation into these
savage plains, and the horses which they have raised
there are admirably adapted for war. It is also true
that 27,000 children frequent the schools established
in the south-west colonies, and that they save to
the empire 2,400,000 rubles yearly. But it must
be owned, on the other side, that the regiments of
lancers and cuirassiers, planted in the milt of a
wild and turbulent race, propagate civilization by
force alone—that it is sometimes necessary to per-
suade, by very rough applications ; and that it is
only by the intimidating influence of rigorous ex-
amples that they can bend to the ordained regimen
of the colonial system the hardy peasantry—the
remnant of the old Moldavian hordes, Cossacks and
Bulgarians, who have more than once, since ISIS,
evinced their instinctive love of freedom, and their
eipudly inherent taste for a life of plunder.
In the north, however, near Novogorod, the in-
fantry colonies present an appearance the reverse of
brilliant, and the State, far from deriving any thing
from them, squanders vast sums upon their support
most unprofitably.
Situated in an unhealthy climate, and upon a
waste tract of marshy land, the life of the colonists
is truly wretched, and their labours for the improve-
ment of the sod are perfectly fruitless.
Uut it is the structure of the colonial system itself
into which we are to look for the cati•es of the dis-
turbances that have broken out, and of those which
menace to follow.

But hitherto we have been consideiing constitu-
tional results. " Let us 'Bow (says the writer) take
a hasty g ir....pze of what might be its direct and im.
ro.,:diate effect upon the people—upon what may be
teemed its unconstitutional and revolutionary effect."
Supposing it rejected dlreztly or indirectly by impor-
tant modations or long adjournments.
it is rejected ! The evil report will vapidly spread
its dark wings from one end of the izla to the other. It
will cross over to Ireland.. the black banner will carry
the heavy ti,liurs fr.un Glasgow to the uttermost High-
landc,

One of these colonies is composed of—First,
several regiments perpetually cantoned upon it, and
ho cannot withdraw. Secondly, of the inha-
bitants of the place, or a non-military population,
transported from some other place; these hold the
land to farm, subject to the charge of lodging and
maintaining the military, and supplying a perpetual
succession of recruits.

These farmers must, moreover, wear a military uni-
form, and submit to a severe military chscipline, ex-
tending even to the regulation of their agricultural
labours. Their children, too, are born soldiers ;
fifteen years they must serve with the armies from
home, live years more in their native villages, as part
of the reserve ; at the end of which terms they are
at liberty to maintain themselves, if they can, by
labouring for others, or on their paternal inheritance,
with the title of invalids, and the permissien to wear
a long beard. When age or infirmity disqualifies
them for labour they are maintained at the public
charge, and received into an hospital.
The children receive, gratuitously, a military
education, and are taught one or more trades.
At the first glance these institutions wear an ap-
pearance of beneficence. One is disposed to praise
the wisdom and benevolence of Alexander, and to
believe that his kind intentions have prospered. When,
however, we prosecute a closer investigation—
when we scan the details of organization as it
exists in fact—when we study the characters of
the people to whom it is applied, the several classes
whom it throws into contact, the old habits
which it extinguishes, the new ones which it im-
poses, the violence with which it disposes of the
life of man, then we shall discover that behind this
display of a zeal for civilization there is art abund-
ani.se of barbarism and of cruelty, even to the born
slave—and that this surface covers the germ of
(wore revolt and confusion.

' it is rejected ! Will the people of England sit pa-
tiently down ? Will they hang up their harps on the
willows of despair, till io is their Lords' good pleasure
that the neople's representatives should be the repreaenta-
tives of people ? I think not. Then, what will they
do? Will they carry their favourite, Bill, their Bill of
Rights, by force of arms? No—the (lays of brute force
are gone to sleep with the nights of ignorance ; there are
ineasuTcs more consonant to the present times. Asseasla-
tion, unanimity of design, resistance withinl%4', bounds—
these the people will employ ; and with, as one voice, they
will say, "I' he present Honss of Lords will not pass our
Bill; but our Bill must be passed—our Commons desire
it—ogr King sanctions it—and we are pledged in it.
Another House of Lords—another third 0..-,ato must be
found, who will pass our Bill,"thus, and more
dangerously may they Teazon. Noble Lords may
start—may frown—may imprecate—may threaten ;
but the energies of this mighty empire are not to
be put down by a sneer or a vote ; they nosy suddenly
spring up, as in a night, and scs,ttc:r their opponents, as
mists before the face cu the morning. The people
may ask, can b., men with intellects so dull,
so inotniorvant, and so inexperienced, w 1.4,4 though
born, and bred, and living in the light of this century,
can yet see only with the ttviliyht praeption of the dark
ages?—men, whose not',(ena of revelotions are formed
from the tradiAic;aa of days when the art of reading and
writing we: a distinction—a pfinting press a cn7L,sity—
and a journey from York to London g, epoch in life?
Are there men, who, with the !;c...nt experience of the
last twelve months, ca; iead of Birmingham, and of
Glasgow, and thousand and one other Unienz—who
can hez,-; the avidity with which the vnblic papers are
i sought for in every corner of the Lingdom, and who can
witness the feverish exeitemeut of the public mind, and
yet, forsooth, 101 l ;;pan their hereditary seats, and fancy
a frown Izoni a weak majority of the weakest portion of
rho State can frighten the great tryta.: or their fellow-
subjects from the pursuit of tair• legitimate desires ?
If there he such men, as excited people may add, they
are no longer fit ;31 'be our legislators ; the House of Lords
nw,t ine adapted to the present stage of CYilioltion• Wr
will no longer
" But, so—l will not fui:iliet pursue this revolutionary
picture ; it is Qt; •.:,ng..•ateful subject ; such as one would
not willingly contemplate, much less exlp,bat, to the
1; gaze. But it imperatively behoves those Noble
Lords who think of rejecting
the Bill, to fill up
this outline, and paint ;t with its brghtes.; an
i
most fearful eolnnrss.:-to finish it carefuliy--.,t0 look into
its details, Said then to place it opposite their own little
vignette of a modified Reform.,,,,theterrifile Last Judgment
rst thi. last lithographic print of
of Michael Angelo, ay.;
the day. Thos: the two extremes ; the clieuces foe
the possible attainment of the one are not beater than for
tho ruinous sequence of the other,
Is it then possible—it i 3 conceivable, that a body of
men should be se htind as not to see the pred'.;catnent in
which they stund ? Will they force us to believe, with the
Roman—
( Quos Deus "tilt perdere prms demeutat ?'
Once more let us resume before we part. Let us
confess that the Lords are, by their private habits, and by
the constitution of their order, unfitted for a long and ar-
duous struggle.
" That they are at the present moment in a state of un-
usual weakness ; while the Commons, the King, and the
Peopl-, enjoy an opposite degree of strength.
" That this question of Parliamentary Reform, on which
they seem inclined to stake the value of their own au-

The serfs of the Crown, all of whom Alexander
consigned to the system of colostization, are the per-
sons to whom it is most repugnant, and who are
most discontented under it. The cause is obvious;
to them the proffered emancipation is quite illusory.
Instead of service on the domain of a maser, they
are condemned to military bondage—a bondage far
more galling, and which gives them, along with the
privileges of a colonial village, twenty years ofba-
nishment ; all the profit of the arrangement besides
falls to the military department of Government—
not to the poor serfs.
With respect to the colonizing regiments, it is
easy to understand that they must be heartily de-
testA by the local population at whose expense
they live; and they are themselves little enamoured
of a life so dull, so beggarly, and so precarious, in
wretched little remote hamlets. They regret their
being no longer employed in the garrisoning of
cities, and sadly compare their monotonous conli-
, tion with the excitement of the camp or of active
service. The officers especially lament their segues-
tration—their discontent is universal.
Thus it is, officers and soldiers, colonisers and
farmers, colonised, are not the elements which can
mingle in a colonial form ; from such a state of things
must spring a revolution, the I rogeny of its hatreds,
and vexations.

The Government itself is conscioui of its false
position, and of the danger which theatens it from
this quarter. It carefully conceals every thing that
happens ; a stranger is rarely permitted to visit these
establishments—even Russians themselves are not
admitted as visitors without difficulty. Meantime,
to foresee the consequences of the movement which
has broken out at Novogorod—to say what are its
objects—what the insurgents want—is a thing im-
possible. The Russian Government will do its
utmost to stifle all information upon the subject ;
but from the exposition which we have just com-
pleted, it can be confidently inferred that if the in-
surrection is well concerted, or if it extend it will
bring on a general disorganization in nn empire so
much more extensive than it is power ul.

A young officer was once vaunting that he
'.vas born, not may on the same day a. FREDERICK III"
GREAT, but within 3 few AN :0114 after that illuvrim,
Monarch came into the world. " Then, by toy moult.,ex
claimed a brother of the ElVord, t• you have the
of claiming to he—the ,first blue, after tti,