The Sun.
London, England, 1831-11-11 00:00:00

PIRiT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Turks have signally failed in their attempts
to detach the people of England from the Reform
Bill and the Reform Ministers. They have failed
netoriously in their scheme to raise the Hunt and
kVekley mobs in such formidable numbers, and on
such plausible pretences, as should either frighten
the middle classes throughout the kingdom into a
general outcry against the defenceless condition in
which life and property, and law and order, were
left by his M.tjesty's Government, or should furnish
some plea for deluding the credulous into a persua-
sion that the whole body of English Reformers were
allies and partners of the mob. This latter piece of
knavery, wonderful as it may seem, has been tried
with exemplary perseverance for some days past, by
the underling agents of the Tory chiefs. The ruf-
fian riots of Bristol have been described as" Reform
!lots." The blackguardism of White Conduit-house,
the mischiefs designed for which occasion were spee-
dily and tffectually frustrated by the honest interfe-
rence of the Reform Press, by the energy of the mili-
tary department, and by the zealous promptitude
wherewith the respectable inhabitants of the metro-
politan parishes, to the amount of several thousands,
came forward to enrol themselves for constables in
Add of the civil and military power,—this abortion
of birth-strangled mob was actually placarded in
...tree letters as a "Reformed rebellion." A Reform
rebellion ! A tumultuous assemblage, denounced
and death-stricken, even in the womb, by the Re-
form Government-press and people ! The above
tricks, then, have been detected, but have their au-
thors been shamed or put down ? No. When the
Reformers, the gentry, and middle, and the bulk of
the industrious classes, saw to what evils the country
was exposed, and from what quarters, and how much
was to be apprehended from a repetition of the
scenes at Bristol, and from the plots of which White
Conduit-house was to be the theatre, they thought
snore seriou-ly than ever before about the necessity
of fen-Ding associations, which might present a bolder
front than had yet shown itself to the rabble, whose
ado was the destruction of property. A great
proportion of the men of business and middle
classes every where have deemed it right, as lovers
of the public good, arid lo) al subjects of their
Monarch, to co-operate for the maintenance of peace,
for the support of authority, for the protection of
house, and property, and life ; and have further
deemed it indispensible to provide themselves with
such means of repressing outrage, as would intimi-
date the evil-disposed from attempting it. We are
well convinced that not five individuals of all those
who have desired to incorporate themselves as
volunteets, Nether under the name of parochial,
district, city, or equity guards, had any other no-
tion but that of being commanded by virtue of his
Majesty's commission, or of directing his services to
any other purpose than that of enforcing the laws of
the land against law-breakers, and preserving our civil
arid municipal institutions against the assaults of
bludgeon-men aspiring to the rank of reformers. That
a popular Sovereign and liberal Ministers, who are
free from all contriving but for their country's welfare,
should look with pride and self-gratulation on having
excited in support of the State itself such a general
arid eager spirit of voluntary action, is not a matter of
eur pri-e. That in the breasts of politicians ofd differ-
ent school from King William and his present corm-
cellars, a far other feeling should he generated by this
patriotic movement of the people of England, is a
circumstance altogether unavoidable. The Tories,
as we have often said, rear the people, but encou-
nee and ptronize the mob. The power of the in.
telligent and independent classes is one, at all times,
opposed to rnisgovernmet. The only power which
a wretched mob can attain to being that of local and
temporary outrage, is one which favours the machi•
nations of bad government, inasmuch as it affords
pretences for the employment and frequent applica-
tion of military force. Hence it is that the Tories,
furious at the prospect of an organised combination
among those orders of their countrymen who can-
inOt be misled into lawless violence, and therefore
cannot be turned by a despotic faction to INlachia-
vellan uses—hence it is that the Tories have de-
dieted open war against the civico-military di--
ciplitie of the decent householders of England. The
Tories look to office—it is their sole idea of life;
they reckon on a second defeat of the Bill, and in
that case indeed they might have good right to reckon
on the unfortunate Lord Grey's immediate retire-
ment from a situation which he would have proved
himself thoroughly incapable of holding. '1 he
neat hope of the borough Peers anti commoners
would be, that of succeeding the Whigs. The
King, we are aware, would struggle against such a
renewal of the former thraldom undergone by him-
self and his people ; but without a well-concerted,
well-directed, harmonious, and consistent support of
his Majesty by the great bulk of his faithful sub-
jects, the Tories would crush the deserted Monarch.
Be could find no resource but in the well-drilled
confederacy of the old Downing-street trained band- ;
end while King William lived, and, probably, while
the pr; sent generation of Englishmen survived, the
yoke would be found irremovable. All this is well
known to the Tory enemy, and in consequence no pains
are spared to fill his Majesty's mind with distrust
of the character and wishes of his affectionate people,
as if the trading householder--the great majority
of the respectable town-inhabitants of this kingdom
—could be wild enough to intend or encourage
measures whose object was inimical to the tights of
their Sovereign's crown ; and in the same degree to
those of individual property, and to the peace, the
safety, and welfare of the realm. We prophesy
that this laet device of Tory cunning will fail, and
that William IV. will see in the ardent attach-
ment, guided by the judicious and active co-opera-
tion of Englishmen, his last resource against the in-
trigues of a ruthless faction.—Tintes.
in giving an account on Wednesday of the present
eondition of Savings' Banks, and recommending
their extension, we had no room to mention the
connection established between there and Friendly
Societies, er to state to what amount the deposits
of the latter went to swell the funds of the former.
Having nearly the same end in view, and deserving
encouragement from the same motives, the Legisla-
ture has permitted the stock of these societies to be
put under the same management and to enjoy the
same advantages as the deposits of individuals.
Upon due certification, therefore, that the rules of
each of these societies are conformable to the ge-
neral law of their institution, their deposits are re-
ceived by Savings' Banks, and are managed at the
National Debt-office like the fruits of individual
economy. The number of these friendly associa-
tions, or, in other words, mutual assurance compa-
nies against want in sickness, infirmity, or old age,
whose funds are deposited in Savings' Banks in
England, its 4,117, having a capital of 655 889/. ;
in Ireland only 171, with a capital of 11,966/.;
and in Wales 161, with a capital of 22,968/. As
the law for permitting the investment of the de-
posits of these associations iit the Savings' Banks
;,s of recent enactment, it is rather surprising that
so many should have taken advantage of it, than
that their number should have been so limited.—
'rile same circumstance will account for the dimi-
nutive amount of their separate accounts, which, in
England, average only 1621. each ; in Wales, 1431.;
and in Ireland only 75/. In some places there has
been an aversion in the members of these societies
to conform to the Act of Parliament, and to take
aduantage of this kind of investment. It must bel.
owing to this, we suppose, that in London we find
only twelve friendly societies, with deposits in the
Savings' Bank to the small amount of 1,442/., while
in Yorkshire the number of societies is 298, and
their deposits 65,763/. If these societies are
properly managed (and we have a greater security
against their mismanagement than before), they
are calculated to do great good, as coming in aid
of Savings' Banks, but not as superseding them.
They do not, like the individual deposits of the
latter, foster habits of prudence anti ideas of accu-
imulation, by assuring to the contributor all the future
advantages of his present sacrifices, as, in fact, the
Member of the friendly society can only receive buck

his contribution on a contingency of sickness or in-
firmity that he would avoid; but, as he considers
himself a shareholder in a fund which he has him-
self contributed to form, his decent feelings of inde-
pendence and self-reliance are strengthened, as his
mind is relieved from anxiety about his future lot.
He makes equally a provision against the degradation
of parish pauperism as the individual depositor, though
he may require the assistance of his" friendly" associa-
tors, who, on a similar contingency of bad fortune, will
enjoy the benefit of his. He is taught to consider
the days of health, strength, and youth as the
season to provide against the evils that may over-
take him in a less fortunate period of his lire, and
the very circumstance of being reminded of this ne-
cessity at stated times, nourishes the reflection that
he ought to make some further provision for sick-
ness, infirmity, or old age, than the miserable though
not disgraceful pittance which a benefit society can
supply. But these associations, in order to be useful
where they are in operation,—to be durable where
they have been established,—or to deserve
establishment where they have not hitherto existed,
should be carefully regulated. Their directors should
not assemble at public-houses to transact the busi-
ness of the society, or to receive the contributions
of the members. Great care ought to be taken that
the contributions may be equal to the contingent
charge,—that one class or generation may not be
robbed by another. And above all, the associators
should generally be men in the same or in similar
trades or professions, mad exposed to the same risks.
If thus guided by exact calculationsand managed with
perfect integrity, they might be a powerful auxiliary
to Savings' Banks, and a great relief to the parish
rates. In these circumstances the two institutions
might become the true " Political Unions of the
working classes." A shilling contributed to a
Benefit Society, or deposited in a Savings' Bank,
would protect the privileges of these classes better
than a shilling given for a bludgeon to fight the
police at some Radical meeting, and would secure
their place in society better than the most violent
resolution against the " unnatural" character of
hereditary distinctions. We have formed into a
table, as a curiosity which may interest some of our
readers, the number of Benefit Sacieties in the
different counties of England, together with the
amount of their deposits in the Savings' Banks.

Bedfordshire

Berkshire
Bucks
Cambridgeshire
Cheshire
Cornwall
Cumberland
Derbyshire

Deronsh ire

Dors etsh ire

Durham
Es: ex

Gloucestershire
Hampshire
Hertfordshire

Herefordshire

Huntingdonshire .
Kent

Lancashire

Leicesh• rshire
Lincolnshire