The Sun.
London, England, 1831-09-15 00:00:00

c;PIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Now what will thte4emies of Reform say to the
feelings of the peopl on that important topic ?
Awaking, as if byettscrash of thunder, from the re-
pose into which 'they had sunk under the convic-
tion that all was going on well with their favourite
measure,—astonished beyond expression, that the
enemies of them and of liberty should impute their
quiescence to indifference,—we see them roused into
a degree of zeal and activity becoming their cause,
and which we have no doubt will carry the Reform
Bill triumphantly through the House of Lords. It
is a glorious sight, this fresh developement of patri-
otic ardour,—this legitimate rising of a whole nation !
The meeting of the Livery is on Monday. The
requisition for an assembly of the people of West-
minster is in the course of signature; Middlesex
and the Borough follow; the Merchants and the
Bankers are to meet immediately : and then the con-
test is, who shall be first to throw up their caps for
Reform and the pure British Constitution. It is
lucky that the harvest is finished, for there is no
work so urgent that would not have been neglected
on such an occasion as the present. Will all
this convince you, ye doubters, that the people
are in earnest for Reform ? That their zeal
and anxiety in this cause are unabated ? If not, tell
us what proof you want—what assurance you re-
quire—and they will be afforded you ; hut beware
of obtruding any mockery upon a roused nation.
Listen to the speeches on the approaching meetings,
—at which, if we deprecate excess, we recommend
firmness,—and be wise in time. But since die they
must, the Anti-Reformers will, it seems, die as hard
as they are able. There is an air of defiance in their
agonies that mounts to the height proverbially but
" one step from the sublime." Only think of one
of the organs of that faction calling out for popular
meetings, as an encouragement to the House of
Lords to throw out the Reform Bill ! They !accuse
the Times of appealing to the mob, and forsooth
would meet us with " the peoples," as contradis-
tinguished from " themob." Now we challenge them
on their own ground. We reject and deprecate mob-
meetings ; we address ourselves to the property, and
intelligence, and consistent energy of the middle
classes—those classes whose power is assisted and de-
' veloped by the Bill, and on whose welfare that of
the country itself is so entirely dependent ; these
middle classes, merchants, bankers, gentlemen of all
professions, tradesmen, manufacturers, farmers,
householders throughout England—men wlio'e
rights are all respected and provided for by
the Bill, but trampled on by the present system ;
it is to every one of these our countrymen an '
fellow-citizens, we cry aloud—and, as we already
perceive, riot in vain—to assemble in their respec-
tive counties, towns, and villages, and to save the
great charter of their common liberties from destruc-
tion. It is true that the majority of the House of
Lords, within twenty-four hours of the rejection of
the Bill, and more particularly, we make r.o doubt,
the individual Peer who may propose that motion,
will feel about the same degree of comfort as Gene-
rat Gascoyne and his Tory supporters enjoyed after
their " victory " over the Ministers; for we sup-
pose it may be assumed that no resignation of Lord
Grey's Jinni:try need be looked for as the conse-
quence of an adverse majority on the second
reading of the Reform Bill. 'What is there to
prevent an immediate prorogation of the Par-
liament ?—a prorogation not until the Ist or
'2d of February, as usual—that would never do;
the country, heated as it is, would he on fire and
burned to ashes in such an interval : but we can
imagine a short prorogation, just long enough to ter-
minate the present session, and to ensure that when
next the legislative body meets it commences another
session. Very well. A very few weeks, possibly
a fortnight, would be long enough for such a con-
stitutional punctilio. And what next P Shall the
King's prerogative lie idle in the cause of Eng-
lish liberty ? Can the King's prerogative be by
possibility employed to an end more wholesome,
honest, and acceptable, than in providing an antidote
for the disease by a fresh creation of Peers, co-exten-
sive with the national emergency,—that is to say,
large enough to secure the Bill from all future dan-
ger ? Of course, in quiet times and in ordinary cases,
the people would look, as we should do, with jealousy
and no small repugnance at a sudden multiplication
of the Peerage; but the motive is every thing. If
effected for any vulgar object of Court patronage,
too often the instrument of a conspiracy against the
people, the Minister who cheapens the Upper House
of Parliament by a simultaneous admission of many
Peers deserves impeachment for the abuse of power.
But let us ask, is there a single county in Eriglano
that would suffer its representatives to censure Lord
Grey for calling up or creating Peers enough, where
the manifest purpose is to carry that measure,
whereby alone the people can be made independent,
anti when no other means exist for accomplishing so
vast a beeetit by such a use of the King's constitu-
tional prerogative? That is the way to try the
merits of the proposition. Would the country ap-
prove of it or not ? If the Tory faction can say no,
let them move an impeachment, and see what they
can make of it. Nevertheless, we do not wish to
see any Government driven to so bold a measure.
It is better—incomparably better—that the Anti-
Reform portion of the House of Lords should be per-
suaded beforehand, than overpowered afterwards,
even by a newly generated majority of their own
illustrious order. Better for them to be admo-
nished by the people, than overborne by the Crown.
There is another topic which we may notice before
we conclude. Will the occupants of the Right Re-
verend Bench of Bishops come forward to vote
against the Reform Bill ? We hear not ; we hope
not. The church politic, in the eyes of men who
reverence religion, is as unseemly as a church pugna-
cious or militant. These are no times in which to
risk any popularity, be it much or little, which may
attend the ecclesiastical establishment of England,
by a stirring up and rushing together of Bishops, to
meddle with measures of temporal and worldly po-
licy. But will any of the Bishops vote against the
Bill ? We do riot believe it. The Bill is the act
of the King and his Government; it touches no
ecclesiastical property, or corporation. It can only,
therefore, be opposed by Bishops on party rim- ,
tives—motives of unprecedented opposition to the
Crown arid its advisers. If the Bishops feel—and
they ought to feel—how much, under the union be-
tween " Chtirch and State," the balance has been
in their favour, they should be slow of themselves
to set the example of separating Church from State.
It is a precedent of which the people of England
may carry their imitation a step or two further than
some of their Lordships would approve of.—Tirnes.
Dorsetshire is true to the crisis. Public meet-
ings begin already to be held ill all quarters of that
once Tory county. From the manly spirit arid
clear intelligence which breathe through the adver-
tisements of Reform resolutions and requisitions, we
can announce that all goes right, and that the Dor-
setshire patriots " answer the helm," A specimen
of " that public indifference to Reform" which the
Tories have made the burden of their daily and
nightly song, will be found in the advertisement of
Tuesday's meeting at Lyme Regis. The electors
of Dorsetshire have, nevertheless, no reason to be
offended, if we remind each of them individually
what a stake his county has now waged on the con-
sistency and energy of his political virtue. it almost
seems as if the borough-demon, who, like other
sends, delights to entrap his votaries arid then be-
tray them, had suggested to the Toriea this mad
libel on the nation ; and then made on the instant
a fit opportunity for refuting it, The men of Dor-
set, sure we are, will not draw upon themselves
the reproaches of the whole body of their country-
men by an act of treason to the Empire.
Had they returned Mr, Bankes at. the last elec-
tion, and on a similar vacancy to that, caused by,
the melancholy death of Mr
so .. Calcraft' declared their
a •
readiness to choose other Tory, they might he
been charged with stupidity, ith servility, with
want of sympathy in the otherwise universal feeling' v
of the people, but nothing more,—they wouid have
been only unripe for freedom : but if they DOW elect

an Anti-Reformer, they are downright renegadoes
and traitors to the cause. According to the issue of
this election, we do not hesitate to pronounce that
a " Dorsetshire freeholder" will be a tide of glory
or of shame, from Caithness to Cornwall, and
throughout successive generations. But such an al-
ternative is a pure chimera. The patriot Committees
are already up—have buckled on their armour, and
are in full activity. Nothing need be done but to
recognize the arrangements of five months ago. Let
every man be his own canvasser, and his own con-
ductor to the hustings—that is to say, if a Tory
candidate shall dare to approach the hustings. Eight
and forty hours will settle every thing; and the
friends of freedom and good government—of cheap
elections, and of real responsibility in the represen-
tatives—will have earned a long holiday for them-
selves, and have ensured a precious heritage to their
children.—Times.

If the Peers are so blind to the signs of the times,
that they require fresh meetings of the people to
convince them that an indifference with respect to
Reform has not succeeded to the former enthusiasm,
they will speedily be gratified to their hearts' con-
tent. We can tell them, that from one end of the
country to the other, the people will assemble to
give them demonstrations that cannot be misunder-
stood. Measures have been taken to call public
meetings in the City, the Borough, Lambeth, West-
minster, Marylebone, St. Pancras, Finsbury, the
Tower Hamlets, the Ward of Cripplegate
&c. We shall soon see whether any of the Anti-
Reformers will dare to make head against the Re-
formers in the meeting of the Merchants, Bankers,
and others of the City, for which measures are in
progress. On the day of the Coronation, the Re-
formers throughout the country mustered in great
numbers, under a very notable organization. The
Northern. Political Union assembled that day on
Newcastle Town Moor, and 1,600 men sat down to
dinner under tents erected for their accommodation.
The language of the speakers, men who mean too
what they say, will be responded to throughout
every part of the Empire. One of the speakers,
Mr. Larkin, on moving a resolution to petition the
House of Lords, praying their Lordships to pass
the Reform Bill without any alteration, exclaimed—
" Yes ! the people have not only a peculiar right to
exercise, but an important and imperative duty to perform
in making this appeal to the House of Lords, and in making
it, too, in a tone of voice, and with an emphasis and im-
pression that will cause our oppressors to tremble, and will
thunder the conviction in their ears, that we are men who
know our rights, and knowing, dare maintain. We have,
I say, an important duty to perform, from the performance
of which, they who shrink have either wood hearts or
traitorous intentions towards the people, in demanding of
the House of Lords, who ate now the only obstacle
that intervenes between our hopes and their fulfil-
ment—between the expectation and completion of Re-
form, that they will restore to the people of Eng-
land, in their full integrity, those legal rights and
constitutional privileges, in the acquisition and in the de-
fence of which our forefathers were prodigal of their
blood, and that they will give back to us that precious in-
heritance of liberty of which this House of Lords has been
principally instrumental in despoiling us. It was by men,
joined and knitted together in a common cau-e, with fear-
less determination in their looks, the hilts of their bright
swords grasped in their firm right hands, that the great
charter of English liberty was wrested from the reluctant
gripe of a tyrant King. It must be by a similar spirit of
determination, by a similar leagued combination of men in
the sacred cause of liberty ; but, I hope, by the employ-
ment of a different description of force—[a number of
cavalry officers here passed close by the assembled people]
—not, exclaimed Mr. L., pointing to the soldiers—not by
the force of arms, nor the hostile array of embattled
legions, but by the moral force of justice, reason, and
public opinion, that the great charter of modern liberties,
the Reform Bill, is to be extorted from a reluctant Parlia-
ment. It will not be, I trust to God, in the dust and
carnage of the battle-field—nor amid the blaze and smoke
and din of dreadful war, that the cause of English
liberty is to be won—nor will, I pray, the future rejoicing
and triumph of the people be saddened by the tears
of the widow, or the wail of the orphan, as in
Belgium, in Poland, injured Poland, and in France.
No. If tears must be shed, I hope they will only be the
tears of defeated and despairing boroughmongers. If
groans are to be uttered, I hope none will be heard but
those of Sir Charles Wetherell, that admirable compound
of tragedy and farce; if mourners and captives are to be
seen in the great triumph and procession of national liberty
I trust they will be only the men who have oppressed and
enslaved the people. To what a state of slavery and op-
pression has this once free—once great--one happy, and
again to he free and great and happy, nation been reduced !
and whence has this slavery and oppression sprung ? From
this circumstance—that the House of Commons has long
ceased to represent the wants and wishes of the people,
who 1.4.ve long lost all controul over their representatives,
214 they are derisively called, in consequence of the limited
extent of the suffrageaa-the scandalous and open brirter and
sale of seats, and the long duration of Parliaments. For
long space of time, the noblest assembly of freemen in
the world,' as Sir James Graham in a spirit of grave and
bitter irony designated the House of CAMIIIIOII9, has been
but a miserable appendage to the House of Lords, and
seems to have existed for no other purpose hut to do the
bidding and register the edicts of the Minister. It is,
then, to renovate the Constitution, to renew its youth and
vigour, to restore the Commone House of Parliament to
its pristine excellence and purity, and make it in fact,
what it ie only in pretence, the true and perfect mirror
of popular sentiment and feeling, that his Majesty's
Alinisters have introduraad the Bill of Reform. By
a solemn vote and cieliberat.; decision the collective
wisdom of the nation has declared the c'tate of the repre-
sentation to bz corrupt and rotten. They have lopped off the
decayed branches fawn the old oak of the British Constitu-
tion, which has weathered the storms of centuries, and shel-
tered a hundred generations under its shade, and they have en-
grafted new branches in their stead. shall these deli-
berate and solemn votes, passed amid the acclamation of
the people, be made null and void by a contrary deci-
sion of the House of Lords? Shall the Lords declare that
system a representation to be pure, whialt the Com-
mons have caudemned as corrupt ? Shall the disfrana
chised boroughs be eirfeanehised again ? Arc the Lords pre-
pared to risk the involving that selves in a contest with
the Commons? Arc they prepared to aptrn the petitions
and reject the remonstrances and demands o; an excited
people? Are thei prepared to provoke to mardueas
and fury the gigantic am) hundred-handed power that
now skepa a willing servant at their feet ?—to rouse and
irritate against them that enormous strength and energy
which is now their guardian and protector, an 4 compel
it to fling them off, as the roused and awakened lion fling
the dew-drops from his mane I I trust—l believe they
are not. I fervently hope that a sense of justice will be
infused into their breasts—that a spirit of wiqlour
descend upon their heads—that they will not madly
place their " order " in that odious light before the
people in which it will be discerned that the pri-
vileges of the Peerage are incompatible with the rights
of the people, and that popular liberty and the House of
Lords cannot co.exi.s.t. Sir, we are placed on the verge of a
revolution, from which nothioz but Reform can save us. Sla-
very and oppression the people awealetermined no longer to
endure. Reform cr revolution, then, is the alternative. The
decision of this momentous question rests with the Houre
of Lords, If Reform be granted ns, then will the Crown
of tie King beam with a tenfold lustre, and its gemmed
and golden circle be rivetted to the Royal brow with
a force from which no strength can tear it ; then will
the dignity of the Peerage, with all its Constitutional
and hereditary privileges, remain saciitil and untouched ;
then will the liberties of the people, from whom all power
has its source, whose right hands guard and jarM.ect all
property, all dignity, and from whom the Throne
itself, together with all the minor orbs and satellites
that move around it, liaceow their lustre and derive their
revercoce, be confirmed and estatiishaad for ever. Then, in-
deed, to borrow the language of an eloquent wFitar, will the
King and his faithful subjects, the Lords and ,Comnaops
of this realm, form that triple cord, which no force, inter-
nal or external, can break—the solemp, sworn, and con-
stitutional frank pledge of this 'ration ; the firm :goarantees
of each others' being and each others rights; the joint 'h
and seveval ;securities, each in its proper place and order, '
'or every kind sc.4'. a"ery quility of property and dignity.
Eternal safety and security will be given to the rights of us
all. The highs will be protected acorn the blights of envy
and the sp4iation of rapacity; the low zrona the iron hand
of oppression and ;the insolent spurn of contempt. such
will be the happy and de/outly to be wished for results of
topt fie
eof.oparlcenr)ia.t But if, on the ()their an attempt be made
ttblet hryiig4lerts
of the
andliberties
ambition and
a
hzlciie o
nesrs a ofnl e
at hne
.
a proud, a rapacious, a sordid, a selfish, and a tyrannical
aristocracy, then do I exclaim with vehemence and with
fervour—Perish the aristocracy; but may the liberties of
the people be immortal !"
This is ominous language. We know that a col-

tam!) personage, whom the people of England most
cordially hate, goes about exhibiting lists of Peers,
appearing to be a considerable majority, who have
pledged themselves to throw out the Reform Bill.
We warn those besotted Peers of their danger.
There are, throughout the country, many men of
daring resolve, full of energy, in whom the people
repose full confidence, who have asked themselves
the question which Mr. Larkin has not blinked.
they are willing to leave the Peers in the possession
of all the privileges which the Constitution gives
them, and they hope with Mr. Larkin, " that they
will not madly place their order in that odious light
before the people, in which it will be discerned that
the Privileges of the Peerage are incompatible with
the rights of the people, and that popular liberty and
the House of Lords cannot co-exist. ' " Reform or
Revolution is the alternative." "If an attempt be
made to sacrifice the rights and liberties and happi_
ness of the people at the shrine of the ambition
and avarice of a mean, a proud, a rapacious, a sordid,
a selfish, and a tyrannical Aristocracy," hundreds of
thousands will exclaim in the words of this speaker
" Perish the Aristocracy !" To this pass things are
come. The people view the crisis with uneasiness, but
without fear. And what if the Lords, flushed with
their numbers, do throw out the Bill at once, and
disdain to effect their object by indirect means ?
We know what the Anti-Reformers think; they
think, no doubt, that Ministers would be such arrant
fools, having a House of Commons and the people
to support them, as to shrink from these douehty
Peers, and resign the state carriage to them. They
are miserably out of their calculations. We know,
from what was intended before the last Ministry
quitted office, what they would attempt were they
again in power. They would plunge Europe in
war, and attempt a reign of terrorism and coercion
at home. The immediate consequences of such an
attempt would be disastrous to many worthy and
deserving men, whatever the final result might be,
and, therefore, we should view Ministers in the
light of deserters, were they, from an absurd fasti-
diousness, to deprive the Reformers in this great
crisis of the support and protection which they can
derive from the powers of Government being in honest
hands. Who that thinks seriously for a moment
would be discomposed by the determination of a few
imbecile Peers, who cannot read the signs of the
times ? Let them at their peril oppose themselves to
the representatives of the people and the nation. The
Constitution has provided a remedy—an easy re-
' medy, for such an opposition to the will of the
nation. When a nation is determined, there is no
remedy but acquiescence, or the overthrow of the
Constitution ; but, thank God, the Peers can be
managed without exceeding the limits of the Con-
stitution. The ranks of the people can supply any
number of Peers which the emergency may demand.
The nation have, therefore, a claim on Ministers to
stand by them to the last. Merchants, bankers,
and manufacturers, shopkeepers, artisans, and far-
mers, the whole of the active part of the commu-
nity, have much to lose from such popular agitation
as would follow the return of the power of the Anti-
Reformers. So long as the powers of Government
are wielded by a Reform Ministry, the Anti-Re-
formers are merely so many individuals, without fol-
lowing in the nation. But give them the disposal of
between fifty arid sixty millions a year, and they
might have power enough, though not to coerce the
nation, yet to throw things into confusion and to
produce unspeakable calamity. No honest Reformer
of sane mind ought, therefore, to abandon any advan-
tage he at present possesses. In politics men cannot
afford to be romantic. It may be very well for a
powerful man to tie up one hand to show his supe-
riority to a feebler adversary; but in politics, the
greater the superiority the less the mischief. The
Reformers are strong, but they are still stronger
with the powers of Government on their side and not
against them. In the mean time the people must
bestir themselves heartily. The example about to
be set by the Metropolis must be universally fol-
lowed. Let the poor infatuated Peers see what they
affect not to believe is the fact, that the people are
bent on the Reform Bill, and w;11 not be satisfied
without it. If the Lords, in spite of these demon-
strations, determine to thwart the people, on their
heads be the consequences. We shall conclude
with the following communication on this subject,
which we have received from an able and well-in-
formed Correspondent :

" What ought the nation to do when the Lords have re-
jected the Reform Bill ?
" This is the most momentous question that can be con-
sidered at the present time, for it would he the extreme of
self delusion not to feel morally certain that the majority
of the House of Peers will reject the Reform Bill, or en-
deavour to defeat it by delay, or by alterations which will
render it null. Now, if the people are not prepared for
such an event, but stand gazing on each other, or are led
by unprincipled demagogues into dangerous and unconsti-
tutional measures, and if the Ministers should voluntarily
resign, as some Reformers foolishly imagine they ought,
then I hold that the cause of Reform is inevitably lost.
The Reformers are under a complete delusion respecting
the weakness of the Tory party. So long as the Reformers
have the support of his Majesty's Ministers, they compose
an overwhelming majority of the nation; but let a Tory
Ministry be formed during the recess of Parliament, and
all the treacherous and all the timorous Reformers would
support them. The latter are a vast multitude ; but they
would join the Tories to preserve tranquillity, as soon as
the Reformers were without an ostensible head. The
Tories would then have the Peers, the whole of the Clergy,
with all who are interested in Parliamentary corruption,
and a large portion of the people also, and they boast that
the army is with them.
" But the measure on which the Tories depend for cer-
tain success is to plunge the country into an immediate
war with France, for which they are now preparing the
public mind, by Parliamentary speeches and inquiries.
The war against the republic of France, in 1793, was
undertaken for the real purpose of preventing a Reform
of abuses in Church and State in England, and it succeeded
in this object, though at a most enormous expence. A
war with France, the Tories say among themselves, will
effect:oy divert the people from Reform, and it will
enable them to rase a large armed force to keep the Re-
formers in awe. They are &ware that a war would pro-
duce a national bankruptcy, but most of the Aristocracy
and the Clergy, who have little property in the English
funds, ss-au,4 prefer their extinction to an effective Reform.
" How are these designs of the Tories to be frustrated ?
In the first place, the]Ministers must be firm. I would
say to p;ar I Grey, as was said to 2Eneas, when he had to
oppose the pacers of Hell,
Tune cede mails ; 541 contra audentior ito.'

" There can be no more necessity for the voluntary re-
signation of Ministers after a defeat in the House of Peers,
titan after their former defeat in the Commons. In both
cases their duty is the same—viz. to make use of all the
means the Constitution has placed in their power to carry
the Reform Bill; and the rniy direct constitutional way
is, to solicit his Majesty to make such au addition to the
Peerage (however great it in ty be) that will enable them
to pass the will triumphantly to the Throne. Many Re-
formers shake their bead and affect a mysterious air,
when alluding to this measure, as iF it were something too
awful to be mentioned, entirely forgetting that a measure
which would be highly objectionable if undertaken to
strengthen a faction, may become moat meritorious, when
demanded by a large majority of the nation in support of
;ts just rights. Will any man in his sober senses
undsrtal,,:e to prove that an injury could arise to the
country from .the creation of two hundred honest Peers,
which would in the sligidest degree counterpoise the
immense advantage of passing the lieforqa F., ill peaceably
and speedily ? Indeed it would be difficult to show
that the infusion of two hundred honest men among the
Peers could do any harm to the country whatever, as the
experiment would not 'be again required in a reformed
Paeliarnent. A reformed Parliament will probably resolve,
that no persona receiving the money of .the public, except
his Majesty's Aliniatera, ',hall be allowed to 'vote in either
Houses: this will grea,tly dimini4h their numbers, which
may otherwise be too large for a Legislative 4.ssetithly. Let
the people, then, be preparing for the rejection of the
Reform Bill in the House of Peels, and, ready with re-
quis;tions and
;:ppeti4i:nswtioshtehseotfhrtohneen,
abteiosene,cbbiyogerehaitsinAglaa.
inellaYbteor Yoi,lPleers su'fiicient tr;,:"lrss the Bill. Let these pe-
titions proceed from every part of the kingdom simulta-
neously, and speak the
itahnegusaagnelerelsaonugnudagfer,omliksehtohree vtooischeoroef
oneoverrntlaien.Brkish isles, and the cause of Reform will be se-
cure; ard the nation will be saved from the evils of mili-
tary domination and national bankruptcy, which threaten

ue on the one hand, and from the dangers of anarchy and
revolution, which threaten us on the other. " Your's, &c.

" H-, Sept. 14, 1831.
—Morning Chronicle.

" R. B."

Every body knows what a morbid symptom it is
for the mind to dwell perpetually upon one subject.
We hope that the Marquis of Londonderry is well,
for we wish him well ; but we regret to say that he
was last night again on the subject of Portugal—
that subject which has not only haunted his imagi.
nation, but followed him like his evil genius, almost
every night to the House since the session began.
It is true his Lordship did not introduce the subject
himself on the present occasion, for it arose out of
a declaration by Lord Grey that he (the Marquis)
should have the papers, and every thing else he
wanted respecting Portugal, except the adoption of
his opinions by the Government. Such an intimation
would have been satisfactory to most men, and
would have presented any discussion from taking
place until the papers alluded to were produced and
examined. But the name of Portugal was enough,
In mentioning that name Lord Grey touched the
string, and off went the Marquis, dashing and
plunging through the Portuguese question in a man-
ner that was quite alarming—to his friends, until
Lord Grey and the Lord Chancellor each admini-
stered a dose, which succeeded in quieting his Lord-
ship. But, seriously, how the Marquis of London.
derry or the Earl of Aberdeen—for they are co-
partners in this Portuguese affair—can persuade
themselves that the people of this country can be
brought to sympathise with the sorrows of Don Mi-
guel would be altogether inexplicable, if it did not
afford a means of annoying Ministers, and an
opportunity for introducing topics calculated to en-
danger the tranquillity of Europe. The language of
Ministers, however, and especially the forcible speech
of the Lord Chancellor, was well calculated to coun-
teract the mischievous effects of the speech they un-
dertook to answer.—Morning Herald.
The case of the Spanish refugees is a case of mi-
sery and affliction that ought not to appeal to Eng-
lish sympathies in vain. The situation of most of
those unfortunate men is deplorable in the extreme ;
several have recently perished of want—others drag
on a precarious existence, only saved by the uncer-
tain succour of casual charity from the last pangs
of famine. Is it fitting that the asylum which Eng-
land offered to those fugitives of an inexorable ty-
ranny should only allow them the privilege of lying
do wn to die, while her hospitable protection sa-
tisfies its notions of charity by providing them with
a grave ? We are aware that there was a fund
raised in the city, some years ago, for the relief of
the Spanish refugees, but it appears it is exhausted.
As to the fund which had been placed by the Crown
at the disposal of the Duke of Wellington for the
support of these exiles, we neither know what it
amounts to at present, nor how it is distributed.
A few persons are said still to derive advan-
tage from it, though, if what was stated lately
at the Mansion-house, by some of the refugees,
be true, its operation is very limited compared with
the sum still available. We imagine, however, that
those individuals were misinformed when they stated
its amount at 18,0001. We think it is time to ask
a question or two relative to this matter in Parlia-
ment. When the Spanish patriots had a chance of
succeeding in their attempt to establish a Constitu-
tional Government in one of the finest countries
that tyranny and priestcraft ever oppressed and de-
moralised, our own " Liberals," in Parliament and
out of it, were profuse of their promises, and lavish
of their assistance. But now that they have failed
our Liberals shrink from all contact with them and
their cause as they would from beings infected with
the plague. The Government have, it seems, de-
clined to do any thing on their behalf, although the
supplicants for their bounty were stimulated and en-
couraged to forfeit rank and affluence at home, and
engage in desperate enterprises against despotism, by
the speeches of some of our leading politicians in both
Houses of Parliament, who now fill important of-
fices in the State. The well-known political senti-
ments of the Duke of Wellington, and the relation
in which he stands to King Ferdinand, by holding
dignities and estates in Spain, did not make him the
most eligible person that could be selected to admi-
nister the Royal bounty to the exiled patriots. His
selection of persons whose names were to be placed
on the list, or struck off, was said to be very arbi-
trary. It appears, too, that he made a regulation
that those who received 101. as travelling expenses
to leave the country should consider themselves as
having no further claim; and many, we believe, did
avail themselves of this miserable pittance to pro-
ceed to join their ftllow.patriots in their late un-
successful invasion of the Spanish territory. Some
of them lost their lives in that ill fated and b9trayed
expedition. Are the survivors, who made the
only effort in their power to relieve others of
the charge of maintaining them, to be allowed
to starve, because that effort ended in the ruin
of their patriotic hopes ? Yet, unless something is
speedily done, they must die in our streets and
ditches--bouseless outcasts, who ask for shelter
and a morsel of bread in vain. That we do not
overcharge the description of their destitute con-
dition it is only necessary to refer to what passed at
the Mansion-house the other day. There, it ap-
pears, " three Spanish refugees, a Colonel and two
other officers, with starvation marked on their faces,
came and besought Mr. Nobler to save them and
others of their miserable countrymen, persons of
rank and large hereditary claims, from perishing.
They declared that they had not tasted bread for the
last forty-eight hours ; that death had come to the
relief of some, and was close at the heels of the
rest." The French emigrants, who fled in swarms
to our shores at the period of the first French Re-
rveocl
receive
oe , d
thhaed b no on to
ttyo tel
of
Es
gc
anad talei n
naos
st
thi iisn le d Ttnheya.
sure. Both Whig and Tory contended with each
other in succouring and supporting them. Yet the
French emigrants were the supporters of despotism,
and the Spanish exiles are its victims.—Morning
Herald.

The able and eloquent pamphlet published by Mr.
Ridgway, under the significant title, " What will the
Lords do ?" has created a very powerful sensation.
The boroughmongers are aware of this sensation ;
they hear the emphatic question reiterated in the
words of the pamphlet wherever they hear Reform
talked of; and Reform is talked of every where,
from the palace to the hut and the dungeon—neither
magnificence nor misery has the power to shut it
out. But there is a possible error contingent on
the popularity of the work, against which we are
anxious to caution the boroughmongers. Let them
not suppose that the sensation which they witness is
a mere tribute to the literary merit of the production
—no, it is the truth, the felicity, with which that
production has seized and represented the start
of public opinion and public feeling at this mo-
ment, that constitute its chief merit ; and it is
the recognition of their own sentiments, poured
forth in the elegant diction of the writer, that
elicits from every man who reads it an immediate
and complete anent to the facts and principles upon
which its reasonings are founded. There is, there-
fore, nothing fanciful in the admiration it has pro-
duced—nothing in the nature of mere taste and cri-
ticism, unless it be the good old English taste which
abhors corruption, and rejoices in the efforts of in.
genios and able persons to put an end to a system
incompatible w:th the well-being of society. Ir
swuoptpilodsleretiatatsadpebolpuinedearrefoorntlyhe boroughmongers
criticisingto
the style
when they are exulting in the sentiments which an-
ticipate and ensure the downfall of corrupt influence.
But what will the Lords do ? The author of the
pamphlet says—and we agree with him—that they
will pass the Bill. We have always felt a respect
for the House of Lords, because we consider it a ne-
cessary link, combining the two extremes of monar-
chy arid democracy, in a mixed Constitution such as
ours. The respect we feel for the House of Lord-
will not permit us to believe that it can be so de-
ficient ip all the dualities of statesmanship as to
oppose the wishes of dip whole nation, at this diffi-
cult juncture, for the sake of securing to a few o+
their own order a privilege of which, as honest men,

they ought to be ashamed. But we have also an-
other reason for concluding that they will pass the
Bill. It cannot be concealed—and it ought not, if
it could—that the Bill, this very Bill, has emanated
from a body more thoroughly imbued with the spirit
of the House of Lords than of the other branch of
the Legislature. Earl Grey, the father of the mea-
sure, is himself a Member of the House of Lords.
The Cabinet in which the measure was concocted
is a Cabinet peculiarly aristocratic in its formation ;
—we mean aristocratic as consisting of Members
connected with Noble families, not as influenced by
the narrow and mischievous spirit which would deny
to the middle and lower classes of the community
their fair proportion of influence in the Government
of the country. Seeing, therefore, that the Bill,
in its very origin, and before the opinion of
the public was experimentally known with re-
spect to it, had the sanction of many distinguished
Members of that body, the whole of whom will
shortly have to pronounce " Aye" or " No" upon
its enactments, we cannot conceive that there is any
reason in the apprehensions which many people el,-
terrain as to the hostile disposition of the House of
Lords. After all that has been said in disparagement
of their Lordships, we expect that a more eloquent
debate will take place on the subject in that As-
sembly than any of the numerous discussions in the
House of Commons, So much for the intellect of
the House of Lords. We hope that their ultimate
decision will enable us to say still more for their pa-
triotism. The fact is that-, whatever character they
may have hitherto possessed with the mass of the
public, a crisis has now arrived which will determine
their future character according as they act fur or
against the people. This ought to be a considera-
tion of great importance; but we shall conclude by
quoting from the able pamphlet before us the follow-
ing powerful appeal to those who have so great an
interest in preserving the peace by consulting the
wishes of the country :

" Popular opinion, once allowed to take the lead, soon
rune riot ; it appoints its own rulers; it dictates to them ;
it deposes them ; and nothing but great temperance, and
mutual forbearance, and final union on the part of the
early and more moderate parties, can check its destructive
career. If that bugbear of our childhood, the French Re-
volution, must always be cited, let us refer to it as an ex-
ample to warn us from those errors of the leading parties
in its early scenes, who suffered hatred and jealousy of one
another, the narrow spirit of party, and the cursed love of
self and self-opinion, to blind them to the consequences of
disunion. By splitting into subdivisions they exposed them-
selves to be successively beat in detail by that fatal series
of men, who added each their tribute of destruction to the
institutions of their country; while they themselves were,
in fact, cot the rulers, but the passive representatives of
each transitory grade of public opinion, in the descending
scale of national disorganization; it reached its apogee
in the reign of terror, and was succeeded, as usual, by a
tyranny.

" This is an example not to fright us from Reform, but
to teach us that when a great question has been actively
an 1 publicly debated, and been as publicly accepted by a
vast majority of those masses in which essentially resides
the force of a nation, that it is tempting fate, contemning
example, and courting revolution, to oppose the speedy,
final, and full settlement of the matter at issue. The
longer the delay, the greater the price of the Sybilline
books. Those, therefore, who most hate revolution,
should, in proportion
,to that hatred, now cling to this
Bill, and nothing but this Bill ; they ought to prefer it
even to a modification—not from any fondness for the Bill,
but from a love of order and fixedness of purpose ; from
a wise determination to prevent further discussion out
of doors ; and still more to prevent the habit of such dis-
cussion from without operating too strongly on the deci-
sions within. These are considerations, particularly ad-
dressed to those who profess conservative principles ; and
they are called upon, in proof of their sincerity, to act
up to their professions. They confess that the hour for
defeating Parliamentary Reform, in the abstract, is gone
by ; nay, they go farther, and profess a desire for Re-
form—a moderate Reform. Then, in this case, also, as

in the case of concession, it is a question only of degree.
They consent to the substance, but demur to the quantity.
Then will they, upon a mere question of this or that Bill
of Reform, supposing they could carry theirs, and, still
more, that it would be final—will they, for comparatively
so trifling a difference, hazard the long train of endless,
unknown, perhaps even unthought of, innovations that
may follow their resistance? Why will they play so dan-
gerous a game ? 'Why hazard such unequal stakes ?"
Morning Herald .

The repeated defeats which the Reform Bill fac-
tion have received at popular elections, since the
real nature of the Bill has become known through
the discussions in the House of Commons, are so
seriously felt by the Minis:erial party that they are
at their wits' end lest Dorsetshire should add another
to the list. They have not even the sagacity to
disguise their trepidation, and, like frightened chil-
dren, cry aloud before they are hurt. No doubt
there is ample cause for vexation, as even the ne-
cessary preliminary of a candidate, about whom
they may rave and rhapsodise, is found to be ex-
ceedingly difficult to get over. It was thought that
if Mr. Ponsonlay's Name were started in the News-
papers it might have the effect upon his vanity of
seducing him into so imprudent a step as that of
starting for the county ; and accordingly the Times
announced the candidate, but Mr. Ponsonby was
not to be so easily hooked into so unpromising an
affair, and the Globe is employed to draw the can-
didate of the Times gently out of the field. It is
pleasant to see the uproarious faction of last May
in such distress, and most gratifying to witness this
among many other evidences that the people of
England are becoming themselves again, and seeing
through the frauds by which they were beguiled.
An immediate declaration on the part of Mr. Bankes
will make his success certain, and we look forward
to seeing him within a very short time once more
in the seat which he so long and so worthily
occupied. The Globe, with its accustomed adroit-
ness, seeks 'to prevent the people of Dorsetshire
from voting according to the views which know-
ledge of the Reform Bill has opened to them, by
insinuating that they have been and would be ac-
cused of " fickleness" This may be very cunning;
but it is also very untrue. No one has accused the
people of fickleness, though there has been abundant
reason to accuse some newspapers of that fault. The
people of England were misled by frauds and false-
hoods industriously propagated respecting the Re-
form Bill ; they became enthusiastic in its favour
because they did not know the baseness of those
who told them lies about its nature and its effects.
Now they are much better informed ; it has been
proved to themv
i nthattehnet
nothing
at isse
partyhbmßeuii is full of the very
faults which they were told it was to eradicate, and
n
they plainly see that under the pretence of a grand
butonal
its
scheme has
psh(la,,svebre. adaptatione n
i,bhretoroueg thehi
st
forwards" selfish interestsd iemxtprroou
osef
no " fickleness" in a change founded upon know-
ledge; this knowledge the freeholders of Dorsetshire
have obtained, and to them more especially it has
been fearfully illustrated. From what we know of
the present state of Dorsetshire we look upon the
return of Mr. Bankes as certain.—Aforning Post.

'l he public will be glad to hear that " The
Life of Sir TIDIA4 MuNao," which has been pro-
nounced by the Edinburgh Review to have " attractions
of all kinds," and by the Literary Gazette to be "an
ornament to our Literature," has just been published in
Two Volumes, octavo, comprising the whole of the three
volumes of the former edition, and many additional
Letters by the Duke of WELLING roN, &c. By all who
are desirous of knowing anything of the general history
of India—its climate—natural productions and trade--
the Life of Sir THOMAS MUNRO will be esteemed highly
important, inasmuch as of not one of these points has he
neglected to give an account as accurate as it is entertain-
ing. Then, again, if wit and playful humour, if vivid
description and lively narrative, possess attractions for
the general reader, they arc 411 to be found here, whether
the subject be the operatio❑ of armies, the proceedings of
social circles, points of literary disquisition, or the feelings
of the individual himself.

On Friday, during one tide, the Clyde sal-
mon fisher at Rashleigh Quarry, near Erskine, caught
on fewer than seventy fish—thirty salmon and forty grilse.
This is said to be the largest take that has occurred in
Clyde during the last twenty years. —Edinburgh Weekly
Chronicle.