The Sun.
London, England, 1831-11-14 00:00:00

failed, at the age of ninety, notwithstanding all the
resources of art, he tranquilly remerked, that he
believed he must leave it to time. We fear that
time will not do more for the sight of the Peers than
it did for our aged friend. They have had all en-
couragement in their obstinacy. Before they
proved mal-content, they were as4ailed with II it-
tery on the one hand, and menaces of destruction and
ez cation on the other. They have proceeded to
the extremity ; (hey have insulted and defied the na-
tion,denied its rights, and spurned its claims, and the),
have experienced none of the menaced consequences.
The worst that is to happen to them is to be !tied
again. Can we wonder should they begin to be of
opinion that threatened men live long. Great
escapes give cowards confid.eice. The cry of wolf
has proved a false alarm, and the proverbial false
security will follow on it ; all warning will now be
laughed at till the terrible reality appear;. Our
contemporaries are beginning to have their doubts,
whether Ministers can catch Peers by sating their
tails. There is but one example in point of their
practice, and the success of it is uncertain—it is that
of a Frenelimae, who advertised a powder for idl-
ing fleas. A gentleman, troubled with a large ma-
jority of these tormenters, having in vain spread the
bait, reproached the quack for his deception. The
man coolly asked how the specific had been applied ?
and having heard, answered, " 0 Sal'', but dat is
quite wrong—first you catch de leetal flea, den you
take him and hold him by de nape of his neck till be
gape ; den you put a grain of tie powder down his
troate—and den you let him ruts, and perhaps he
Trite you no more." Ministers have had the flea by
the nape of the neck, gaping, aye, and with the
whole country open-mouthed too, and they pet a
grain of love-powder down the throat, and let it run,
and perhaps it will bite them no more. But per-
haps it will. The Cironicle (which, from the first,
fairly confessed that it could riot see its way in the
Ministeriai design of conversion) observes ;
We have always been slow tobelieve the reports of c•oa-
versions of Bishops and Peers, knowimz the strong aver-
sion that these men must have to all measures founded on
equal-handed justice—and more especially to that crown-
ing measure, a reform of the representation. All coaxing
--all attempts at persuasion must he thrown away in
such a case. The request to Barna' dine to come down to
be hanged, was riot more unpalttable th in the borough-
mongers and Bishops (one and the same), must he the sp-
pile ition to consent to a rea'ly efficient Bill of Reform.
We know that it is the interest of these men to affect a '
disposition towards conversion, because it throws their
opponents off their guard, and what they want is
delay. It is only in hell that the great poet excludes the
entrance of Hope. The Anti-Reformers feed themselves'
a iris hopes of re-actions—hopes of deaths—hopes of riots
and insurrections, which might inspire alarm into men
possessed of property. We, ourselves, are not without
alarm, on account of the distress caused by the stagnation
of trade in many parts of the country. In the manufac-
turing districts, there are at present numbers of men Out
of work, and suffering severely; arch till the Reform Bi:l
is cerried, no improvement is to be hoped for. The Anti-
Reformers hope to profit by the cal unities of which they
are the authors, by e rej-ction of the Re'orm Bill. it c
Times, we observe, shares our suspicions with regard to
the alleged conversion of the Anti-Reformers. That
the Peers have not (says our contemporary) use•ully re-
considered their opinions on the Reform Bill, so as to en-
sure a reception for that measure more palatable to the
nation than the last, has within these few days became
matter of widely-diffused suspicion. No proof. indeed, of
the contrary has yet been adduce!, r any facts which
carry much weight or authority on the face of them. If,
therefore, Ministers once already deceived and dis
pointed—once already instrumental, no doubt innocently,
in the heavy d,ssppointment of the nation—if tl•ey have
rot more materials for confidence in the self.reforne.tion of
the House of Lords than have yet reached the public eye,
and still do riot lend themselves with instant vigour to it
re-' adjustment' of the Peet s, the concluding passage of
the following extract may he found to express a feeling I y
no torsos confined to the author, who begins with some
caustic, though grave, reflections on the ashops, and co
:he Scotch and Irish Peers.' ( Here our contemporary in-
troduces a long quotation front a pamphlet, in the shape of
a letter to Earl Grey. on the adjustment of the House of
Peers.")—Examiner.