The Sun.
London, England, 1831-11-02 00:00:00

and two were burnt in one of the prisons."
" How disparaging (says the same journal) a
comparison to England is the conduct of the
Parisians and the Bristolians ! The former,
with zeal, with enthusiasm, united firmness,

judgment, and discretion—the latter go precipi-
tately to work, heedless of anything but plunder,
and the extent of mischief they can effect. In
Paris, nothing was destroyed that could be
spared ; in Bristol, what wine they could not
swallow, they wasted, and then set fire to the
premises, heedless of thedanger to a whole city."
The comparison is hardly fair. In Paris there was
a great national object to animate all classes of
citizens, and all more or less concurred in the
great work. The battle was not fought by the
mob, but by respectable mechanics and working
men, thrown out of employment, and fighting
for a victory which would give liberty to their
country, and to their own families the means of
subsistence. But in Bristol there was no cause
of which a single respectable man could approve
for the violence which has taken place. No
rational man could suppose that the Reform
Bill would derive any support from subjecting
Sir C. Wetherell to outrage. The disturbance
was, therefore, began by the mere rabble, to be
found in all large towns. The progress they made
was not so much owing to their own strength as
the want of promptitude and courage in the men
in authority. We know that a mere handful of
'nen ravaged London, without obstruction, in
1780 ; and if no precautionary measures are
adopted, it will always be in the power of a hand-
ful of disorderly persons to throw any peaceable
society into confusion. That which is con-
temptible in the outset acquires rapid strength
by the accession of the weak and the thoughtless
to the unprincipled, and by the catching nature
of the madness. It has been stated on good
authority, that during the reign of terror in Paris,
men of excellent character, and whose subsequent
as well as previous lives were irreproachable, lost
all command of themselves, and were hurried into
excesses in a manner which they could not
in their sober moments comprehend,
medical gentleman, of strong nerves and
strong understanding, assured us that it was
with the utmost difficulty he could contain him-
self during the mad extravagahcies of a Metho-
dist love-feast, which he witnessed. A mob,
therefore, which is contemptible in the outset,
may draw into its vortex individuals who would
before have shuddered 4.. t the idea of the out-
rages in which they participated during the pa-
roxysm of excitement. It is well known thatthe
very steadiest and best-behaved soldiers become
almost frantic from the excitement in storming
a town, and for some time eonduct themselves
like wild beasts. It is unfair, therefore, to c 4-411-1,.
pare a respectable population, intent on a great
and elevated work., requiring for its accomplish-
ment the union of ingenuity, presence of mind,
and courage, with the accidental outbreaiciug Pr
a contemptible rabble, suddenly converted by
mismanagement into an importance which was
never contemplated.
" And what is it about," says the s...roe ‘` and

as hat is its cause? Why the arrival of Sir Charles Wetiae-
rell—a poor, weak, but honest champion of Toryism,
who, though the hei.s.; of the crew, is a mere cypher, when
opposed to the talent and vizt;:e leagued on the side of the
people. For him it is that the peopis we hope-not
the people, but the lowest of the low, who love dicer:lee
--enable >Sir Charles to escape from the danger, to fly to
Newport, to chuzkle. at the almost certain prospect that
the rioters are entirety destroying the influence of their
own friends. Contrary to the adviec a the Press, and
all lovers of. order, who are staunch advocates for R4orm,
the people are acting as their own enemies. They will
alarm all who are respectable and intelligent; they will
cause them to forsake the standard of Reform, and rally
round any Government for the cake of order, and the pre-
servation of property. 'We hope we anal; ;;.ear no more
of these dreadful works. But how does the argument
affect Sir Charles? He cannot stand at all excused. Had
he really desired nil ths.t has occurred, he could not have
pursued more effectual meaus to accomplish it. We
should have been delighted if Sir Charize Wetherell, from
his xs;ero nothingness, excepting empty talk and tiresoisse
delay, had foue.d his way into the Hall subject to the
mortification of It-moth-aim. ous silence. But this was not
the temper of the people ; fsir Charles knew it—all Bris-
tol knew it--the enemies of the people have If Bred the anger
to their teetti, and they are responsible for it."
The persons described by our contemporary
seldom trouble themselves much with asking what
it is for which they bestir themselves. The same
individuals who now baited Sir Cherie:, 'We-
therell, cheered him, we have no doubt, two years
ago, and participated in the disgraceful riots in
behalf the Tories about that period. It is absurd
to suppose that class actuated by principle.
When Church and King are uppermost, they
arc for Church and King; and when Reform is
uppermost, they are for Reform. The rabble
wbo fired Newgate in 1780, knew probably as
little of Protestantism as they did of Mabome-
tanism. But let us profit by the lesson of Bris-
tol before it be too late. We have already said
that most dangerous doctrines regarding property
have been for some time disseminated in this very
metropolis. We know not exactly the number
that have embraced these doctrines, but we fear
they are not a few. In fact, both in harangues,
and in cheap publications, the working classes
have been taught to believe that all accumulation
of capital is injustice towards them, and that the
upper and middle classes are robbers of wbat be-
long to them. Now, it is no trifling matter to
be surrounded by individuals who entertain level- -
ling doctrines like these, which, if acted on,
would soon 'educe i;k: to the savage state. We
are sorry to perceive from the Second Edition of
Mr. Cooper's Political Economy, that these
levelling doctrines have made great progr.3 its
the United States of America, as well as in Eng-
land. The following is his ar,W;:W.lnt of the doctrine:
" Capital, whether in the form of ray ,material, or of
the plant (4o;,tses, shops, machinery, tools, land), ;:,,r in
the form of money-, is not of itself productive at all. It
can do nothing ; it canka.:t ; it cannot produce—it is
merely an instrument in the hand gf the labourer or opera-
tive. ft it the man who uses it to a gas:] end useful pur-
pose, and he elaize, who renders it productive. (if itself
it is worth no more tha:-.. L tree of mahogany, growing in
the wilds of Honduras. The whole of price, therefore,
belongs of right to him who alone co.,ifers the value,
which produ.2.7. once. Profits charged by the caFitalist
are a fraud on the c,erative, who is thus robbed of what
he alone has earned, and which would have had no ex-
isten.tv. but for his skill and industry,:'
" Wlinaa labour," asks Mr. Cooper, rc pail for that
steam-engine anus wtselainery ? Was it yours ? What i•
right have you to benefit bit xlke labour of another man, i
without paying him a reasonable cor..7.,i;ensation ? If you
wish 4,7 work and earn your living by makini we of the
result of past labours and savings, pay rue a
reasonable proportk-,a of the price the article sells
at, And take the rest youi:celf. What that shall
be depewis on your bargain ; if yoy, sb not like my
proposals let thein) alone and work elsewhere., What
answer can be given to those questions ? Messrs. Hodg-
kin, Thomson, Bellesby, I,Vessr. Merit, T. Skidmore,
and the Meektnic Political Economists, ale.,:n them. Let
us have a reply, a fll and satisfactory one must be given
before the present state of things can he changed. No
man will work and save, if another can take from him his
earnings am his saving without compensat;oil. • No man
will he a member 2. rommunity, where industry is to be •
robbed by force Messrs. Metig and
Skidmore (Frer. Eng. New York, Jan. 1830) even pro-
pose, at the death of any member of the community, to
abolish the exclusive claims of his widow and children,
and to divide his property among all the members of so-
ciety who have just arrived at adult age ! What a glorious
era this would create for the less and roguish portion of
society I How delightful to compel the skilful, the labo-

rioua, the frugal classes of the community—the bees of
the hive—to become the workmen and operatives for the
drones ! If these be the proposals that the mechanics
combine to carry into effect, it is high time for those who
have property to lose, and families to protect, to combine
in self-defence. Is it upon the manifest fairness and in-
trinsic buoyancy of such theories, that the system of uni-
versal suffrage is to float on merrily with the full tide of
public favour ?"
W e wish well to the labouring classes, and are
ready to admit that great injustice has been done
to them. Nearly our whole legislation towards
them has, in fact, been stamped with injustice.
The great object of the higher classes has been
to keep the lower immersed in ignorance and
superstition. We admit all this, and more than
this. But, then, the destruction of property
would not surely benefit the poor. We are not
now surely to sacrifice all the arts of civilization,
and to return to a state of primitive barter. But,
then, let us only employ one-twentieth part of
the pains to instruct the people we have em-
ployed to keep them in ignorance. But, in the
mean time, let us also take care that the social
edifice shall not be engendered by any accidental
explosion of such inflammable materials. The
fact, we fear, is that such inflammable materials
exist in considerable quantity. Those who have
inhaled the pernicious doctrine that teaches
them to view every, man not absolutely em-
ployed as a mechanical labourer, as an usurper
of what belongs of right to the labourer alone,
are, no doubt, few in comparison with
those who respect the accumulation of pro-
perty.
But a comparatively small number may
do much mischief to a public taker,' unawares.
We therefore laud Sir Francis Burdett for his
readiness in putting himself at the head of an
Union which will secure the double object of
political liberty and security against outrage.
There is the more praise due to Sir Francis on
this account that the class to which he belongs
is, in our opinion, most culpably remiss in its
dirty at this crisis, We do indeed believe that
the higher ranks and most of the middle classes
are not really aware of the danger which threatens
them from the exasperation of misguided men.
Under the head Bristol Riots, our readers will
find some sensible observations extracted from
the Bath Journal, on the aversion of the rich
in several places to consociate with the middle
and lower classes. This must not be. These
are ►rot times for men to build walls of separa-
tion between themselw,-- and their fellow-citizens.
We therefore deem Sir Francis BUrdett entitled
to high praise for his promptitude in setting a
useful example at this time. We trust than the
union 11,.- repommends will be extensively adopted.
By such unions alone can we be .9ared from
despotism or anarchy.—Morning Chronicle. 1

In our anxious desire for the effective but
peaceful tritiniph of Reform, we have questioned
the propriety of political unions and armed
sociations. Where the people of a great and
intelligent nation are united for any rational
purpose, p riirl ttnions cannot increase their
concord, but may serve to create dissension and.
if dissension be once created, it is better that
the partisans of conflicting opinions should en-
force the tenets of their respective sects with
such arguments as suggest thempelyes to the
mind of the peaceful citizen, than have recourse
to a mode of decision more in accordance with
the character of the soldier, " sudden and quick
in quarrel,?' 741;is apt to be impatient of knotty
points of disputation when he tan server the
difficulty by the sword. The deplorable events
which have occurred in Bristol have not altered
our opinion !lion this subject. Some of our
contemporaries say that, if the citi;,'ens had been
organized as a National Guard in that city, the
disgraceful scenes which have taken place there
pould not have happened. Let us ;look to the
facts, and se2 rf they are justified in jumping to
this conclusion. Bristol is one of tho.'e places
where the Anti-Reformers muster stronger per-
haps, in proportion to the whole population, than
any other pity or town in the kingdom, with one
or two exceptions. The Anti-Reformers are
mostly in the corporate and mercantile bodies,
and of the wealthier classes of the inhabitants.
Bristol was one of the few places that sent up
an Anti-Reform addre.3s tp the King, if we re-
collect right, with a considerable number of
signatures. Now let us suppose a National
Gard had been organized in that city. It would
of course, hawe beep composed of the wealthy
and middle classes, to the exclusipp of the mere
populace. Such an armed force must have con-
sisted of two parties violently opposed to each
other in political opinion—namely, Reformers
and Anti-Reformers. These two parties, it
will readily be admitted, do not coalesce well
together any where ; and they are not likely to
become more peaceably disposed towards each
other by having mortal weapons placed in their
hands, and being thus inspired with the pride of
the warrior without pinch of the discipline of the
soldier. Let us also suppose that under those
circumstances Sir Charles Wetherell arrived in
Bristol to prove, by his own practical experience,
the re-action which the question of Reform had
not aufrered. The populace could not have
been prevented from expressing their senti-
ments by hissing, or other 4ispordant signs
of disapprobation. It is probable they would
have hisso. the more for seeing bayonets
glittering along the I;ne of the corporate caval-
cade. Some ,of the more intempepto pr evil-
intentioned of the mob, either under the influ-
ence of their own passion:, or the instigation of
treacherous advisers, could not have Leen pre-
vent;:? from throwing stones from a distant part
of the crowd, as 7:as done on the recent lament-
able occasion. 'This provo,:ation being given,
the feelings of the Anti-Reformers woul4, of
course, have been exasperated ; and it is hardly
to be suppos-41 that they could have been pre-
vented from chastising tie r-,,A) with their fixed
,„
bayonets, or from firing a volley into them, un-
let:, the armed Reformers used their weapons for
the proteeilo;;2. of the multitude. Then it is
probable that more bioo4 would have flowed,
and more destructive scenes of civil warfare have
ensued, than
,eyep those frantic acts which have
rendered the recent opping of the Bristol Ses-
sions so melancholy and so memorable. Let us
bear in mind that the accounts of the origin of
these dreadful riots inform us that when Sir
Charles Wetherell, accompanied by the civic
functionaries, had got safe into the Mansion-
house, aver gpme stones had been thrown, the
mob were actually diTersing, when a large •
body of special constables made a charge
upon the unarmed and retiring crowds, and
furiously laid about them promiscuously
with their staves, whereby serious wounds
were inflicted ; and then, for the first time, did
the mob proc,eed to arm themselves with sticks,
and such weapons as fury could supply, and re-
turned to engage in those conflicts which caused
the sanguinary interference of the military, and
ended in loss of lives, burning, pillage, and de-
vastation. We find now certain Journals, whose
language has been for a long time most intem-
perate ur on the subject of Reform, and most ex-
citing to the multitude, ne. declarithat the axe of
•