The Sun.
London, England, 1831-05-14 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF TILE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Cornwall,on, and
S Richard'e
Chester is now to be added to the counties- which
•
In Dorstoshire,
Vyvyan is so far behind, that he w'll pridiably qeit
tuviae,:fe(ricremresteterurs7cheoirrtlietßl;uNfeotr,
the field withouemileh longer delay. Our contetee.
rtmioh achatennapllit
porary, the Standard, is " wholly unable to stirm
the causes that have prornmed the aseendaticy
ilr. Pendarves arid Sir Charles Lemon." But- our
contemporary state, that "Corntvail is an agriew-
tura% eerree a fishing, and a mining 1 ; mid ev, ill
find in these circumsranee; enou,:h to account for
,lie d:seomfituie of Auti-Reform craelidatcs. It
.ie
where something like the (al feudel comiection
/rely in some small county, exCusivelt age eit:tural,
vails between one or two great landowners atid the
et.levators of the soil, and o here of course there is
little collision of intellect, that an Anti-Reform can-
eat ird pursuits of the Coreishiren, and in perticillar
can-
didate has now any ellatice of It&Iti; timed: 'lle
mining, have had great eff.-wt its s'iardenin,7
heir intellt.cts, and thet helve lenig had ,I.e te'‘tt-
racier of a clever and shrewd people. It would have
been astonieleng if the Co; to. i.,nen had surd
P4rliarnen two represi,torati.,-es
measure for rescuing the United Knetlore troth
:r se, of men, who wish to prey on .t ii:re to came
they have hitherto peeved on it. A Let er test
cannot be taken of the progress of to y :-.istriet in ite-
pleiVrlllelit than thedegeee it, which ;he Reconncandi-
datesatesapported. Wtierever the poeulat net is dense,
and has access to proper ctialineis Of ieterm.tion,
ihere the Anti-Reformers have not even dared to
appear on the hustings. Wherever the people Celt
connect two propositions, they cling, to ti:, it.form
Bill as their sheet anchor. They see that the bos
reuelimengers are only nostile to the Bid 4ecanse it
will protect the people from them. the Reform
earl found favour in the eyes of die 116ries anti
parsons, ihe people would have been led to suspect
it on that very account. Whin the wolf -is the
peoteeter of the sheep, woe to the sheep! Sir his
chard Vyvyan (says our contempo,ary) is a Reformer.
Be it so. But he resists this Bill. "We s.iy, this
B II (exclaims our contempreary) ; not Reform ;
for Sir Richard Vyvyan is a Reformer, was a Re-
former, and, I returned to Pittlit.m.-nr, would, we
doubt nut, be a more etfietent, per haps a more.
extensive Reformer than any of Lord Grey's
Cabinet. When the Cabinet Bill was lwouget
forward, and when Sir Itch,,r,l opposed it, not
because it was Reform, but spec ally because
it went to ruin the farmer, the fishermen,
and the miner, w e know that he was commonly
charged by the Ministerial party st ith entertaining
plaits of Reform too wide and too wild for the pre-
sent time; with an extravagance of doctrinism that
would make population in too great a drgiee the
scale by which representation should be adjusted;
with, in a word, going almost as far us Granville
Sharpe, who, it will be remembered, was for giving
impartially a representative to every fifty thoustied
of the people, wherever inhabiting." Sir Richard
wishes to delude the people with a Reform which
he knows they cannot obtain; arid he opposes the pre-
sent Reform Bill because it can be carried. Mr.
Moore tells us, in his Life of Sheridan, that being in
his heart opposed to Reform, he professed extreme
principles with the view of discrediting it. He used
to approve of universal suffrage, and to affect to
think that Annual Parliaments were not eeough.
Sir Richard keeps bad company ; Reform from him is
like the Devil quoting Scripture. It would not at all
surprise us if Sir R. Peel should become an advocate
for a more extensive Reform than Ilia, proposed in
the Bill. Anything to defeat the measure, because -
its
passing would extinguish the power of the plane
dereis of the people. It gives the franchise to a'
reading, intelligent portion of the population—a
portion that cannot easily be cajoled. Sir Richard
would rather, no doubt, give the franchise to 400
potwallopers, than fusty substantial inhabitants able
to see through tie schemes for plundering the
people. However the boroughmorigtrs most make •
up their minds to an end to their reign. The grow--
ing intelligence of the people of late years has ne-
cessarily led to the scrutiny of ail public measures,
Htid we need riot say that publicity and this soft of
scrutiny are incompatible with borouglimoneet Mg.
An inquiring people will never suffer such abuses as
are necessary for the continuance of a tioverement -
of influence. It has been obvious to us that things
in this country have been proceeding regularly
towards a crisis, and that Reform was becoming
every year more and more inevitable.-111orn.( 41 on.
The same sturdy, energetic, and uecompromising
love of independence has distinguished :he " Men of
Kent': from the days of William the Conquerur,"
doe n to the present auspicious reign of " Will-am
the Reformer." - Again have thy poured forth
their manly array in constitutional defence of their
ancient rights, and waved their " green branches"
in the sunshine of a glorious triumph. Their col-
lected strength—their intrepid attittide—but, above
all, their virtuous immunity, appalled ti.e enemies
of the people's liberties while they yet paused on
the verge of the field where they had thre.itenecl to
give battle. Hearts riken and dismayed t. ey -aw
the vast tide of Kentish patriotism r:seig and ruling
onwards with res'stless force—their fast hopes fie-
scud: them, and ihey II; d, leaving to the champions
of Reform the liceiours of victory, without the toil
(tithe conflict. We cannot read the description of
{he anim,t,d and inspiring scene whieh
heath presented on the oceas•on of the recent elec-
tion, without being reminded of one of the eallie,t •
ttiiureplis epen record of the manly virtue of the
forefathers of the present " men ot Kent," wtoch
deserves to be held in everlasting rem. mbratic:?.
When the liberties of d wei e struck (low n
in the disastrous baltle of Hastings, where iLie
Kentish bill-men fought with such de ott_cl, but un-
availing valour, :he Norman -William having been
crowned at 'Westin:ester, resolver: to Iraq his army
10 Dover, for ihe purpose of ovelaw:ng Kent, aed
ensuring the obedience of the south of the cogrioin.
Wien he hail leached S..oiscornin., about two unites
west of Gravesend, he found him-ell' in a place -
where the e were deuce woods on the and in
front of his army; he thought he oh,zervorl the ex-
traordinary appesraice of portions or those woods
being in motion, like" Bimetal wood;" bat soddenly
the roystely was cleared up, by seeing the " men of
Kent," who wei e drawn lip in martial order, on the
skirts of the forests, throwing down the green
branches, which they carried to conoied thererselve,
while, enclosing his army anund, thy displayed -
their banners, and, with bent bows, prepared for
battle; so that, as the historian exprtisseth it, " he
that even now had the realm, to Lis seeming, in
his hand, almost stood in despair of his own life."
It was then, at the moment when an awful peese
ensued, that the men of Ktalr, through the
mouth of the illustrious S rigand-1 pa.
triode Archbiehop of Canterbury—di-livered to.
the haughty Norman the following meesage
worthy of immortal record :---," Most NWile Duke,
behold here the Commons of Kent are come feral to
met and receive you as their Sovereign, requiting
your peace, their own lie° condition of estate, amid I
heir ancient laws formerly used. If these he denied,
they are here presently to abide the verdict of battle, " fully resolved rather to die than to part with
their
laws, or to live servile iu bondage, a hich name and •
nature is, and ever shall be, st rouge unto us., and not
to be endured." " The Conqueror," saes the his-
torian, ". driven into this strait, arid load, to hazard all on so nit'! e. a point, their demands being 5 not tlll.
reasonable, more lately and tvillingo granted their •
desires; and thus, while the rest of the kingdom was
subjected to the grinding operessien of the N,irmen -
innovations, Kent preserved her ancient rights, laws,
and liberties ; and the tyrant, when he planted the
feudal system so deeply in the soil of England that
it has never since been wholly eradicated, was
obliged to respect the Saxon Institutions of the on-

conquered people of Kent, Now let us put the
oligarchy,
who have usurped, the representative
tights of the people, in place of the NOIIII4III I etl-
queror, and, VI it 13 a few alterations, the above manly
and equitable demand of the Commune of Kent