The Sun.
London, England, 1831-11-03 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

There is so much inconsistency and contra-
diction in the various accounts from Bristol, re-
lative to the origin of the riots—the class o f
persons who took an active part in them, and
their probable number—the object and designs
of the rioters, and the conduct of the troops and
local atehorities, that he who would sit down to
compile a " full and authentic narrative" of the
ragical events at Bristol, from the accounts
hitherto published, would find hitnself in the
si nation of that writer who declared that he had
;ill the materials of an interesting history, except
the Acts. As to the origin of the riots, we have
been told over and over again that they origi-
nated in political animosity towards Sir Charles
Wet here! I, though discordant manifestations of
feeling did not ripen into acts of outrage until
the dispersing multitude had been violently
a,ld wantonly assaulted by a large body of
special constables, wfio were, of course, the
class of men who would have parried fire-
locks, if a National Guard had been urganised
Bristol.. Now we are informed that the riots
" arose from no political motive, but from the
mast low and profligate assemblage of incen-
diaries, burglars, pickpockets, &c., scores of
whom were lying about the streets in a state of
beastly intoxication." It is not the least won-
derful part of this view of the case that a rabble
,o senseless as to make the first use of their
brute force to drink themselves dead drunk
should not have been easily overpowered by the
eipectable inhabitants, without the intervention
of soldiers or fire-arms, even though all the
klagistrates in the city had crept into calve.,'
skins, and retreated from the very sound of dans
,rer in appropriate masquerade. Yet it appears
°that though there were two troops of dragoons
in the town from the beginning, and 500 special
constables, afterwards increased to 2,000, this
drunken rabble were permitted to proceed from
one act of outrage and devastation to another,
until it was apprehended that the wi,:ale
,own, which was said to be for a considerable
:ime in their power, would have been reduced
to ashes ; and this too, although there existed in
Bristol one of those clubs or associations which
some Ministerial prints represent to be so power-
fully effective in the prevention of disturbance
md the preservation of order—namely, a " Po-
itical Union ;" but of the exertions of which
Political Union to restore peace we heard no-
diing until all the mischief had been perpetrated,
.end military reinforcement poured in from all
.arts, had produced comparative tranquillity, at
he cost of a profuse expendiaire of blood. As
to the persons who took an active part in the
fisturbances, more than one correspondent gave
a conspicuous position to the sailors, who were
described as having even brought some cannon
into the city, with which they fortified a position.
We are now informed that the sailors took no
part with the rioters whatever, though one of the
two persons first shot by the military was stated
to be a sailor; yet it is curious enough
that the same correspondent, who exult-
ingly announces that not a single " blue
jacket " was engaged in the riots, had
previously stated, in the same communicas
tion, that the sailors had refused, on the applica-
tion of the Mayor, to be sworn in as special con-
stables; which shows, at least, that if they did
not act with the rioters, they would not act
against them. Another correspondent states that
the burning of the Mansion-house, the Bishop's
Palace, the Custom-house, and several other
buildings, making nine altogether in succession,
was the work of from thirty to forty ruffians,
half•drunk, principally boys from twelve to eigh-
teen years of age. This is quite incredible ; but,
if true, we will not ask where were the agis-
trates of Bristol, or where were the troops of
dragoons, who, one would think, would only
have occasion to use thefat of their sabres—but
we ask, where were the men of Bristol ? Where
were the people? Where were the shopkeepers,
and other householders ? As to the Political
Union, we will not ask where that was while thirty
or forty " mischievous boys" were committing
such acts of atrocious devastation, because we
have been gravely told, upon high authority,
that the peace of no town could be outraged
where such a Union existed. Having opposed
those " Unions" on the ground that they would
open sources of disunion among Reformers, 'let
us here take the opportunity of adding to our
arguments a priori on this subject the illustra-
iion already afforded by experience. We will
not speak here of the failure of that project of
Sir Francis Burdett's for a London " Political
Union," in which Mr. Wakley and his friends
triumphed over the Member for Westminster
by carrying an amendment, to the erect that one-
half of the Council should be composed of the
working classes, and which amendment verified
our prediction of dissension in the very forma-
tion of the Union ; but we will merely refer
now to what is going on in Manchester and its
neighbourhood, where Mr. Hunt, the advocate
for universal suffrage, annual Parliaments, &c.,
was to arrive on Tuesday, and to have been re-
ceived with honours by the " Manchester Poli-
tical Union," who were to accompany him to
the " Field of Peterloo," and where Mr.
Heywood, the Member for Lancashire, is invited,
or rather challenged, to meet " that honest man
and true friend of the working classes," and to
show cause why he stated in the House of Com-
mons that universal suffrage, annual Parliaments,
and vote by ballot, instead of being a benefit to
the working classes of Lancashire, would be
their utter destruction. The same informant
states that " there have been almost daily meet-
ings dining this and the past week of the vari-
ous Political Unions, and other Unions arising
out of party spirit are daily forming, the mem-
bers and promoters of which are seceders from
the other Unions." It is an unfortunate crisis
that the Courier has changed its opinion on
this subject, when the foolish spirit of forming
local Political Unions among a people already
united on the question of Reform is throwing
the apple of discord, as we anticipated would
be the case, among Reformers. It was Political
Unions or clubs which raised fierce and unprin-
cipled demagogues to a fatal ascendancy in
France at the former revolution—and Warsaw
had serious cause to lament their existence.—
, Morning Herald.

Sir Charles Wetherell, and the melancholy
exhibition to which he has given rise at Bristol,
afford a striking instance of the extreme inju-
diciousness, to call it by no stronger name, of
uniting legislative and judicial functions. A
man who will submit to make himself a political
mountebank at Westminster cannot be expected
to ensure either dignity or respect towards the
King's Commission at Bristol. We do not
mean to undervalue Sir Charles Wetherell's
talents. He has an enlarged and well-stored
capacity, but, unfortunately, a very detective
judgment, and a fancy withal as wild and un-
tamable as a forest colt. Even in the House of
Commons the consistency of principles, which

all must admire, and the proofs of talent he ex-
hibits, which none can be insensible to, cannot,
and indeed ought not, to protect him from the
consequences of that air of ridicule which the
almost insanity of his manner and his language
throws over every subject which he touches.—
That Sir Charles Wetherell has been one of the
bitterest and most uncompromising enemies of
Reform is well known. That he would have
done the cause more injury than he has, but for
the reason above stated, is equally undeniable.
The poisoned chalice, it is true, has returned to
his own lips, and he now stands as he may think
a martyr, but as the people will think, the sunk
and degraded enemy both of existing institutions
and of reformed ones. We shall be happy if
this frightful specimen of their incompatibility
shall lead to a permanent severance of the legis-
lative and judicial functions, at least in the
House of Commons. Parliament have wisely
incorporated this principle in the new Bankrupt
Act ; and if it wer' fitting, as no doubt it is, in
a Court whicls comes comparatively so little in
contact ssith the common interest and feelings of
the people, how much more is it called for in
eases where the ermine of the Criminal Judge
stands a chance of being contaminated by the
madness of party ?—Morning Herald.
.Our readers will be gratified to learn, that by
counts which left Bristol ttt one o'clock yes-
terday, all symptoms of disturbances were at an
end ; and from the number of troops which had
poured into the city, as well as from the prepa-
rations made by all classes of men of property,
who had begun to associate for the maintenance
of public order, there was not the slightest chance
that the tranquillity thus restored would undergo
further interruptions. The paralysis of apathy,
terror, or something worse, which appeared to have
seized the Corporation Magistrates of Bristol,
during all but the last stage of the recent dreadful
riots, was not shared, we rejoice to say, by the
officers bf the civil or military departments of
the administration—troops having been hurried
to the scene of outrage from every quarter whence
they could be expeditiously despatched. Corps
of infantry were sent forward from Portsmouth
and from Devonshire, and artillery, as mentioned
in a former publication, from Woolwich. II
the mean tune the brutal mobs were pu
down by the very small force of cavalr;
which had from the beginning been pas
tered at Bristol ; but why were they no
put down sooner, or deterred, as they might
have been, from committing any violence what.
ever, without a more extensive display, awl by
a far less severe and sanguinary exercise of
power, than sufficed to quell this rank rebellion
against the laws, Vier such cruel havoc on
public and private property had been already
completed ? It is obvious, that if the cavalry
had been authorized to maintain the public tran-
quillity by an application of the means in their
hands, they might have done so at first, as well
as at last, and better. If they did not act, it
was not, we may be assured, for want of a
manly promptitude in the discharge of a salu-
tary, however painful, duty ; but for want of dus
support and countenance from the municipal
authorities of Bristol. The Corporation of that
city are Tories almost to a man. Did they lose
their senses ? Had they no sympathy with the
sufferers by terror, or fire, or other modes of
destruction around them ?. Or were they in-
stigated by treacherous and fiend-like cun-
ning, to let the tempest of villainy saes
on, that they might afterwards tell the world
The Reformers did it ?" That wretched
falsehood has, indeed, been raised and persisted
in, with a maniac derision of all approach to
common sense. Which party, let us ask, have
noW most interest—the reformers or the borough-
mongers—in the excitement of panic and con-
fusion ? Whose sinister purposes would be
served most effectually by distracting the minds
of the people of England, and turning them
from the meditation of the one thing needful—
namely, the " Reform of Parliament"—to the
apprehension of excesses by the multitude, and
to an acquiescence in things as they are ? Can
those who desire to see the foundations of the
Government strengthened by a large accession
of popular force to the State,—can they be
thought capable of encouraging their own friends,
men engaged in the same cause of which them-
selves arc the advocates and promoters, to over-
spread the land with ruin and devastation, anu
so demonstrate the -fitness of English Reformers
for the enjoyment of political rights ? No, no.
This is somewhat too bad. It is the borough-
monger party who alone could profit by the
lawless proceedings of a frantic populace.
If, therefore—which we do not ourselves
insinuate—the now subducki horrors of
Bristol have been the work of more
than chance-medley brutality on the part of an
indiscreetly managed and progressively infuriated
mob, and of stupid cowardice on the part of
those who ought to have restrained it, let the
faction which strives to make a factious use of
such atrocities take, as is its due, the credit of
having designed anti pre-arranged them. It
gives us, as we have already said, unfeigned sa-
tisfaction to learn, by the latest arrivals from
Bristol, that all was quiet down to yesterday,.at
one o'clock, pan. Last night appeared a Sup-
plement to the Gazette, containing a vigorous
and impressive proclamation by his Majesty,
which recites the illegal excesses committed at
Bristol, Derby, Nottingham, and elsewhere ;
announces the Royal determination to preserve
by all lawful means the public peace, and to,
protect the rights and liberties of Englishmen
warns the King's liege subjects against all viola-
tions of the law ; charges all Magistrates and
public functionaries throughout the realm to en-
force it ; and exhorts and commands all ranks of
his Majesty's subjects to aid and assist the pub-
lic authorities in their efforts for the maintenance
of order, property, and peace. Nothing in
our modern history forms so near a parallel
to the flagitious scenes at Bristol, either for
their nature or their magnitude, as the Lon-
don riots in the year 1780; and, on turn-
ing to the Annual Register for that pe-
riod, some curious coincidences will be found
between them. In rapidity of execution and
extent of mischief, the Bristol hicendiaries have
much surpassed their predecessors of the capital.
But a similar commencement with one object,
and a deviation to objects which had no con-
nection with it—a similar self-destruction of
the miscreants by the ardent spirits which they
swallowed, the fires which they lighted, and the
buildings which they pulled down upon their
own heads—above all, a similar and most con-
temptible, as well as criminal, abandonment of
their duty by the municipal authorities—force
themselves upon the reader as characteristic of
both series of calamities in a degree which is
seldom so minutely- discoverable at such distant
periods of time. We subjoin the Royal pro-
clamation published after the close of the Lon-
don riots, differing less in its recitals than its in-
junctions and exhortations. from that which was

put forth yesterday. ‘Ve insert likewise a few
short passages from the narratives of 1780, in.
eluding Lord Loughborough's reflection upon
the " patient Magistrates,' and one or two
touches in the evidence given on the prosecu-
tions, relative to " runaway Justices," and the
difficulty of gaining access to any by whose
orders the troops might act.
" It is impossible to ascertain the number of unhappy
wretches who lost their lives in the course of this dreadful
night. Powder and ball was not so fetal to them as their
own inordinate appe'ites. Numbers died with inebria-
tiot4 esperially at the distilleries of the unfortunate Mr.
Langdale, from whose vesse's the liquor ran down the
middle of the street, was taken up by pailfulls, and held to
the mouths of the deluded multitude ; many of whom killed
themselves with drinking non-rectified spirits, and were
burnt or buried in the ruins. • *
"In this aropte detail of the tumults which threatened
the very existence of the metropolis, it cannot but be re-
marked, that scarce any attempt appears to have been
made either to prevent them, or to check their progress.
For six days succassively, from Friday the 2d of June to
Thursday the Sth, the cities of London and Westmins-
ter were delivered up into the hands of an unarmed and
nameless mob, to be plundered at its discretion. Much
blame on this account has been thrown on the Magistrates
of the cities, much on the King's Ministers ; with what
justice the following authentic papers will in some mea-
sure enable our readers to judge.
a a a * C

" GEORGE 11.
" Whereas a great number of disorderly persons have
assembled themselves together in a riotous and tumultuous
manner, and have been guilty of many acts of treason and
rebellion, have made an assault on the gaol of Newgatc, set
loose the prisoners confined therein, and set fire to and de-
stroyed the said prison. And whereas houses are now
pulling down in several parts of our cities of London and
Westminster, and liberties thereof, and fires kindled for
consuming the materials and furniture of the same,
whereby it is become absolutely necessary to use the most
effectual means to quiet such disturbances, to preserve the
lives and properties of individuals, and to restore the peace
of the country. We, therefore, taking the same into our
most serious consideration, have thought fit, by and with
the advice of our 13:ivy Council, to issue this our Royal
Proclamation, hereby strictly charging all our loving sub •
ets to preserve the peace, and to keep themselves, their
servants, and apprentices, quietly within their respective
dwellings, to the end that all well disposed persons may
avoid those mischiefs which the continuance of such
riotous proceedings may bring upon the guilty ; and it is
necessary, from the circumstances before-mentioned, to
employ .the military force with which we are by law in-
trusted, for the immediate suppression of such rebellious
and traitorous attempts, now snaking agaisist the peace
and dignity of our Crown, and the safety of the lives and
properties of our subjects, we have therefore issued the
most direct and effectual orders to all our officers, by an
immediate exertion of their utmost force, to repress the
satne, of which all persons are to take notice.
" Given at our Court at St. James's, the 7th day of
June, 1780, in the 20th year of our reign. God save the
King.

a • • •
" Sir Thomas Mills deposed, That he was at Lord
Mansfield's during the riot, and knows the prisoner by
sight. At half past twelve on the morning of the 7►h,
he heard the mob coming up the square, being then in
Lord Mansfield's house. They began by breaking the
p►rlour-windows; Lady Mansfield and the ladies came
down, and he conducted them to Lincoln's_inn•fields; but
instantly returned in order to make the Guards in the
square act to save the house. He found the officer with
his detachment near the house, but the officer said, the
.Tustices of the Pence had all run away, and he could
not act without a Magistrate.
* • 41 C •

" He afterwards went to search for a Justice, which
look up half an hour ; it was tie* a quarter after one,
but finding no Justice, lie returned.
4 • ♦ •

(Extract from Lord Loughborough's charge.—" Sun-
day, the next day, a day set apart by the 1 twa of God
-tnd man as a day of rest, and as a day not to be violated
- •

even by the labours of honest indust, y ; in broad sun.
shine, buildings and private houses in Moorfiel.ls were
itticked and entered, end the furniture deliberately brought
out and consumed by bonfire's. And all this was done
in the view of patient Magistrates !" Times.

The number of the Quarterly Review, pub-
lished yesterday, contains an article " On the
....

State of the Government," in which it is dis.

tinctly stated in the outset, that the House of
Lords will not pass any Bill bearing a resem-
blance to the last. For this opposition to the
will of the nation, the reviewer praises the Lords
to the skies, and contends that the great utility
of Lords in a constitutional sense is, their
power of resisting the nation ; it being assumed,
that when 199 individuals differ from nearly the
whole inhabitants of a country, the 199 are in
the right, and the nation in the wrong. The
tone of the article is triumphant :
" The House of Lords," says the reviewer, "has, as we
antieipated, done its duty. It has vindicated its oven con-
stitutional rights ; and has, for a season, at least, arrest, d
the progress of revolution. It always seemed to us one of
the strangest, and, indeed, one of the most alarming s:gn•
of the times—of the unconstitutional spirit and illegal de-
signs which are afloat—that any doubt should have been
entertained as to what the Lords would do ; yet certainly,
up even to the last moment, Ministers affected to believe,
.ind very solemnly asserted, that the result would be diffe-
rent. We at first attributed such absurd rumours to mere
ignorance, but we now believe them to have been the off-

.pring of an artful design to influence the public mind, and
ngravate by such fallacious expectations the ultimate dis-
appointment of the populace. We are the rather induced
to notice this device, because we see that a similar delusion
will b , or rather already is, attempted for a s;tnilar pur-
pose. Every blind Tirekias' date Administration, who,
ten days ago, ,o confidently predicted that the Lords
•vould pass the Bill, is, notwithstanding the affront which
his stgacity has just received, equally loud and confi-

dent in now assuring us that, in about six weeks time,
or even le-s, their Lordships will have passed another
Bill quite as efficient as the former. We flatter ourselves
hat our pr, phecies would appear better entitled to confi-

(fence than those whtse fallacies have Been so lately ex-
posed ; but until we see this other—different hut equally
efficient—comething, we put so little trust in tither the
integrity or the common sense of the Ministers, and can so
little guess what they may choose to think or call 'equally
efficient,' that we shall not waste our readers' time in cast-
ing the horoscope of the unbcrn Bill. Suffice it for the,
present that the two first born of the union between the
Monarch and the mob are no more, and that from such
an unna'utal conjunction there seems every hour less pro-
bability of any other progeny than mis-shapen embryos or.
short-lived monsters.

" If vexation and rage are proofs of sincerity, the Mi-
nisterialists are certainly sincerely disappointed by the Ma
jority in the Lords ; they are surprised at its numbers,—
they are mortified by its respectability,—they are con-
founded by its talents,—and they are dismayed at its
spirit; but instead cf reading the leason they have received,
according to the old constitutional rule, and to their own
recent pledges of standing or falling by Me Bill,' they
have determined to stand by their own salaries; and every
engine of popular excitement has been employed to procure
the sanction of the people to this liberal tedhertnce to office
—this patriotic pertinacity of place ! The first point to
he establshed for this purpose was to persuade the public
that the defeat of the 13111 was only a temporary check,
and that the Ministers, if they could he induced to remain
in power, would make short work with the majority of
the Lords, and take tffective measures for securing the

passage of the new Bill through the House. And short
work, to be sure, it will be, if the atrocious provocations of
.he Ministerial Press, and the murderous menaces of ti e
Alin:strrial mobs are to be carried into effect. We should

be very soon relieved not only from the majority of the
Peers, but from the entire Howe of Peers ; and the

‘,ngine with which Lord Grey an,' his Noble Colleagues
only propose to turn a few votes, is much more likely to
throgate the Noble Earl's ' Order' and restore him to the
4impler title in which, if we mist.ilte not, he glorified
about 40 years ago—of Citizen Grey."
The reviewer then quotes a passage from
Paley, containing his views of the proper use
and design of the House of Lords, the chief of
which is, " to stein the progress of popular
fury." " We may (says Paley) conceive occa-
sions to arise in which the Commonwealth may
be saved by the reluctance of the nobility to
adopt the caprices, or to yield to the vehemence
of the common people. In expecting this ad
vantage from an order of nobles, we do not sup-
pose the nobility to be more unprejudiced than
others ; we only suppose that their prejudices
Nill be different. from and may occasionally

counteract those of others." These," quoth
the reviewer, " are the doctrines of the Consti-
tution thus prepared for our special use by the
' prophetic sagacity of Paley." This is a very con-
venient doctrine for oligarchs. Allow to any two
hundred individuals the power of putting
their hands as often as they please into the
pockets of the rest of a great nation, and
we will answer for it the occasions will often
occur when their prejudices will be different
from those of the rest of the community.
There is, however, considerable difficulty m carry-
ing this counteracting principle too far. Paley
himself admits that " that after all is most likely
to be right and expedient, which appears to be
so to the separate judgment and decision of a
great majority of the nation ; at least, that in
general is right for them which is agreeable to
their fixed opinions and desires." But Paley
has here a saving proviso, of which the Anti-
Reformers also avail themselves. The people
may be led away by crafty leaders, and the num-
bers who join in the cry serve only to swell and
multiply the sound. The Anti-Reformers, in
like manner, say the people are under a delusion
and all that is wanted is delay to allow them to
recover from it. Nay, the re-action has already
commenced. We will answer for it, that the
two hundred Lords, who have an interest in the
corrupt state of the representation, will never
allow the people not to be under a delusion so
long as they insist on Parliamentary Reform.
But the Lords are themselves under a gross
delusion if they suppose that the people will
allow the peace and prosperity ofthis country to be
much longer endangered by the agitation which
is caused by their mad opposition to Reform.
With respect to the provocations of the Minis-
terial Press, it so happens that the Press has
long been below the temperature of the nation.
We do not now allude to the classes which read
the inflammatory publications which are now too
generally circulated, but the classes whose cir-
cumstances allow them the costly luxury of a
daily Paper. It must be obvious to all who have
attended to the reports of proceedings at public
' meetings, that the language of the Newspapers,
especially of the metropolis, is tame, compared
with the language of the speakers at these meet-
ings. This is a sufficient proof, at all events,
that the Ministerial Press is not in advance of
the middle classes in general. Nay, the pro-
vincial Newspapers are actually in the habit of
reproaching those of the metropolis with their
tameness and inability to share the ardour of
the people. The Brighton Guardian, of only
yesterday's date, says—
" Let any one compare the resolutions of the Birming-
ham meeting and the language there used—let him look
at the eliquent harangue of Mr. Larkin, at Newcastle—
let him go through the strong and fervid language adopted
by the people of Glasgow, and he will come to the un-
doubted conclusion that the great body of the ;.eople have
gone far before the Press—the timid Press, kept in check
by libel laws and stamp duties—the half servile Press, too,
always looking to the powers that be, conducted generally
by men who sit just below the salt and intent on rising
above it—the great body of the people, we say, have gone
before the half-timid, half-servile Press, in animated ex-
pression of their zeal for Reform. This places public
writers at present in a situation of difficulty. They cannot
write on any other subject than Reform, and the very
habit of writing, uninfluenced as that is by the applause
or feelings of a public assembly, necessarily gives calm-
ness and sedateness to their thoughts. which, in comparison
with the glowing language adopted in public, shows them
to great dis advantage. 11"
" Looking, then, at the present character and proceed-
ings of the Press, we find it behind the popular feeling as
to the zeal with which Reform is prosecuted. At the very
time that its Tory calomniators are abusing it for pro-
voking excitement, talking of Censorship and God- knows
what, if ever they should return to power, the Press is,
in fact, by its calm investigations, by its substituting
reason and reflection for mere popular feeling, allaying
while it directs popular enthusia,m. It is obviously per-
forming the office of a Peel-and-Baring House of Com-
mons, checking the transports of popular excitement, and
directing them by that reason which men, removed from
the influence of public meetings, using the pen instead of
the tongue, and having no exclusive end peculiar interest
to contend for, can hring"to bear on the questions that stir
up the pa,sions of the day. That office the crew of selfish
boroughmongers never yet fulfilled ; for every one.of them
has always found an auditory of brother boroughmongers
ready to applaud the dictates of his selfishness ; and that
office has never yet been performed by the Hierarchy,
which has always sought to preserve its power by stifling
knowledge, fostering prejudices, and encouraging the lowest
and most degrading superstition. The Press is obviously
now c diner than the people, wiser than the Legislature,
and more powerful than the Government."
The article in the Quarterly steers clear of
all argument to show that it is beneficial for the
people that they should continue at the mercy
of the boroughmongers. There is a shorter cut.
The Peers have the power to reject Reform,and
having the power, they will be fools not to use
it. The question is not whether you (the
people) like to be plundered by the borough-
mongers and their dependents—whether you like
to be hewers of wood and drawers of water for

them, bat whether they (the boroughmongering
Lords) will yield up so productive a sourceof
good things to themselves, merely because
just they should do so. The Review is aimed
chiefly at what is supposed to be the sore places
of the Whigs. The connection with Radicals—
the humiliation of being intruded on by a De-
putation of seventeen, one member of which was
a tailor. Good God! only think of the Premier
condescending to hold intercourse with a tailor !
" We have given more attention to ;this topic
(says the reviewer), than at first sight such an
instance of vulgar presumption and Ministerial
imbecility might seem to deserve ; but
nugte seria ducunt in mala :'—this whole trans,
action—the intrusion—the reception—the con-
versation—the publication—the contradiction—
the re-assertion—the explanation in the House
of Lords—and filially, Mr. Place's charge that
Lord Grey's explanation in the House of Lords
was incorrect, and that the statements in the
Courier were false and scandalous—all contri-
bute to show into what hands the Government
of this country is fallen." This alone is enough
to sicken the country with the Ministry anti with
Reform ; and after such a degradation, will the
Order't not excommunicate him ? We
shall allow the reviewer to enjoy his
triumph, merely adding to our extracts the
following, containing a piece of information
somewhat new to most ofour readers :—" We shall

not attempt to pursue in detail the series of out-
rages against the House of Lords, which have
followed the signal of Lord John Russell's

penny trumpet ; the meetings convoked by every
artifice, yet everywhere failing in numbers and
respectability—the addresses carried to the foot
of the throne, to undermine the very foundation
on which the throne rests—the resolutions voted
by mobs who neither heard nor understood them,
and reiterated in the newspapers with all that
bluster and rhodornontade with which falsehood
endeavours to conceal failure ! We say failure,
absolute failure ! for the country has taken no
part with the knots of demagogues who have
stimulated these proceedings ; many even of
those who were friendly to Reform have with-
drawn all countenance from the anarchical agi-
tators, and the whole strength of the Bill and
the Ministry may be summed up in two words
—the Press and the populace." " Already the real
opinion of the public begins to speak in a manner

not to be misunderstood. What proof have the Mi-
nisters that it is still in their favour? Where are their
facts ? We appeal to the elections ; will they in-
stance the riots ? When we produce the returns
for Weymouth and Grimsby, and DUblin, for
Carmarthen, and Forfar, and Pembroke, and
Dorsetshire, will they venture to reply with the
tumults of Nottingham, Coventry, and Derby—
with Mr. Carpue's intrusive deputation, and
llr. Joseph Hume's window-breaking proces-
sion ?" This is rich ! If an election had taken
place for Old Sarum and Gatton, we should,
doubtleEs, have had them added to Weymouth
and Dublin, and the Scotch and Welsh counties.
But Dorsetshire ! Nothing of Cambridgeshire ?
This is miserable Tom-foolery ! It cannot de.
ceive the people ; and, God help the Peers, if
they are such noodles as to be the dupes of it.
The Press and the populace ! As if the popu•
lace supported the Press ! We will answer for
it, not one in two hundred of the men who
rioted at Nottingham, Derby, and Bristol ever
read a newspaper. Thanks to the revenue, the
populace are not readers of newspapers. But
they read what teaches them very different
lessons, and which we may all of us one day
lament.—Morning Chronicle.
It is a curious and consolatory fact, in the
progress of society, that in America, where the
greatest degree of general freedom prevails, the
people are the least addicted to tumult., and
the fewest instances occur of the loss of lives or
the destruction of property by riotous assem-
blages. The cities of the United States are
generally as safe from mobs as the Government
from conspiracies, and both for the same reason.
The great body of the people are so interested
in the maintenance of order, as to put down the
few who would disturb it, and they possess so
great a controul over the measures of authority,
that they have no motive for desiring to increase
it by the influence of menace or the employ.
ment of physical force. They possess, besides,
a military organization which, though it might
be ineffective against a foreign enemy, is suffi.
cient to repress any sudden burst of popular pas-
sion, and to overwhelm any body of rioters dis-
posed to attack private or public property. In
this respect their armed citizens resemble the
French National Guards, and might furnish a
model to the forces of the " Political Unions"
which are now forming in every part of Great
Britain. It may, therefore, be interesting, while
we are calling for the establishment of more
effective means to preserve the public peace in
this country, and while the deplorable scenes
which have taken place at Bristol are justifying
our earliest invitation, to show how they manage
to preserve tranquillity or to suppress tumults
among our brethren west of the Atlantic. The
American Papers which arrived on Monday
supply a case in point. At Providence, some
sailors in a drunken frolic attacked a house of
ill fame, and being fired upon, lost one of their
number. This provoked a continuance of the
contest. The sailors were joined by the mob,
and both set the civil power at defiance. The
military companies were therefore called out and
dispersed the rioters after the loss of several
lives. The following are the reflections which
a New York Paper appends to the narrative of
these proceedings, and which we recommend to
the attention of the English public ;
" Thus have perished many of our citizens whilst en-
gaged in committing outrages upon private property, and
setting at defiance the wholesome laws of the land. It was
not by the hands of a hireling soldiery that these men fell, as
has commonlyheen the case on the recurrence of similar scenes
in European countries; but by those of their fellow-citizens
and neighbours, who have, however reluctantly, been com-
pelled to act in self preservation, while executing the para-
mount duty they owe to the established laws of the State.
These laws must be preserved inviolable, or our Govern-
ment must become virtually dissolved. As good citizens,
the military have done their duty, which might have been
equally imperative had it fallen to their lot, like the virtu-
ous Romans, to have slain their best lover for the good
of Rome.' This event will convince all riotous mobs,
should any such ever be again collected in this town, that
the freemen who make the laws are ready to support the
constituted authorities in the execution of them, even at
the hazard of their lives. No tyranny and rule can ever
be so oppressive and destructive as the capricious violence
of licentious mobs, by which every citizen may in turn be
made to tremble at his own fire-side."— Times.

We give, in another column, some additional
accounts of the dreadful disturbances which have

taken place at Bristol ; and we are most happy
to add that, according to the latest accounts re-
ceived in town last night, the whole city was in a
state of perfect tranquillity—order had been
every where re-established—and that the de-
spoilers of property had not only been relieved of
their charge, but that summary justice was soon
'about to be inflicted on them. Upwards of 400
persons had been taken into custody, charged
with being active in the riots, or with having
secreted the property stolen during their conti-
nuance. The number of killed and wounded is
also said to have been much smaller than has

hitherto been represented. And to whom is the
merit due of having restored order and tranquil-
lity ? To the civil authorities of Bristol—to
men regularly charged with the administration
of justice and the preservation of the public
peace ? No—but to the military, which appears
to have acted with great humanity as well as
great propriety, and to an association of whose
existence we were nOt previously aware—to the
Bristol Political Union, which, seeing that the
Magistrates were inactive, and that the military
were insufficient to the performance of all the
duties required of it, came forward and offered
its services in behalf of the peace and property
of the city, and up to the date of the last ac-
counts, had rendered the most eminent services
in that respect, and was effectively engaged in
procuring the restoration of the property which
had been plundered from the public and from
private individuals ! Yet the organs of the pitiful
Anti-Reform faction have not only the har-
dihood to charge the excesses at Bristol
upon the Reformers and the cause of Reform,
but also the consummate impudence to aver that
these excesses are attributable to the establish-

merit of Political Unions ! The fools ! Do they
imagine for a moment that there is even one in-
dividual—who is not drawn by special interest in
robbing the public within their own petty and
proper circle of hatred to the people, and to libe-
ral institutions, wherever they are established, or
attempted to be established —so egregiously blind
to the moat undeniable evidence, as to believe a

word that they say ? Do they not know that the
Reformers of England—embracing, as the class
does, nearly the whole population of the country,
not only purge themselves as a body of the out-
rages which have been committed, but that they
charge them on the insane determination of Sir
C. Wetherell, the champion of Anti.lteform, to
enter a city in which it had been declared he
could not sit in safety in his capacity of Judge,
and on the Magisterial inanities who were
so foolish as to permit him to attempt it without
having first provided a sufficient force to pro-
tect him ? Is not the man grossly culpable—nay,
almost as much a subject for criminal procedure
as the infuriated multitude of Bristol--who,
after being made aware, as all the accounts

certify, that disturbances would be the result
his entering the city of Bristol, still persisted
making the attempt ? And with what gra,
can those Magistrates ever attempt to sit in
Jury-box, or on a Magisterial bench, aft
having permitted a riot to continue within t!
city during three days, and the destruction of
much property, and so much life ? We do n
%%ish to enter any farther into this subject—v
do not wish to tell the whole truth against of
opponents, lest we should, by our disclosure
give rise to another popular 'ferment here ; bu
we caution them to beware of giving utteran,
to more falsehoods. The patience of the publ
may be worn out ; and the wearing out of th..
patience will do them no good.—Morning Ad.
vertiser.

A decision in the Court of King's Benc
yesterday requires particular notice. The de•
cision seems to be one of great hardship, thong:
supported by law ; but the law, so far as regard
the case, is certainly most defective. If a perscr
who takes up his temporary residence in an in.
or tavern, does not apprise the proprietor of th
property which he brings into it, it is certainly
hard case if the proprietor of the house shoul,
be liable to pay for the same if it should b,
stolen. Such a decision must expose the pro.
prietor to great frauds. If, for instance, then
should be a connivance between any two partie!
where one deposits property of which the pro,
prietor knows nothing, and if it should be carrier
off by another, though with the knowledge of th,
owner, surely . the proprietor of the hous4
should not be liable to the loss, nor pay fa
that of which he never had charge ? Yet suet
was the decision of yesterday ; and thougi
according to law, a grosser case of private in
justice was never perhaps committed. If th
law be not amended, what is now to hinder at►
half dozen of swindlers to rob, with the fu
authority of the law on their side, every tavern
keeper and licensed victualler in the kingdom
The oath of a swindler is always ready when
property or money may be got ; and according
to the present law of the land, he has only to
take up his abode in any inn or tavern in t!
kingdom—swear that he has been robbed of a,
much as the landlord can pay—bring his actioi
—and get a verdict for the amount, with all 1'
costs.—Morning Advertiser.

It is curious to observe the eagerness with
which the Ministerialists are now endeavouring
to escape from the well-merited odium which
recent occurrences have thrown upon them and
their cause. If the subject were not one of a
serious nature we should be highly amused at
the desperate struggle of these unfortunates.
" It is impossible," says the Globe, " that the
Tories can talk any more about a re-action in
the public mind, after the reception of Sir
Charles Wetherell at Bristol This, as far as
it goes, is very well ; but in a few hours a very
different line of argument is adopted. "It is
impossible," says the Times, " for any one to
suppose that the Reformers of Bristol took any
part in the late disgraceful outrages in that city !"
Now it is sufficiently obvious that these assump-
tions cannot both be true. If, as the Times as-
serts, the Reformers of Bristol were not engaged
in the recent atrocities, it is evident that the
argument of " no re-action," which has been
drawn from them by the Globe, is of no
avail whatever; whilst, on the other hand,
if, as the Globe asserts, " no re-action " has
taken place, then there is every reason to sup-
pose that the rioters of Bristol were true ortho-
dox Radicals. The fact is the Radicals have
misunderstood, or pretend to have misunder-
stood, the arguments which have been advanced
to prove that a re-action has taken place
in the public mind on the question of Re-
form. When we have asserted this point
we have not alluded to the rabble who con.
stitute the majority of the present Ministe-
rial party, but to the intelligent and wealthy por-
tion of the community whose sentiments are
worthy of consideration. It is to these latter,
and to these alone, that we have alluded in our
arguments upon this subject. During the late
general election an enthusiasm prevailed on the
subject of Reform unexampled in the annals of
this country ; the people considered that Earl
Grey and his colleagues were really desirous of
maintaining the national interests, and, conse-
quently with a few exceptions, they refused to
vote for any but Ministerial candidates. Since
then, however, the great edifice of'Whig deception
has crumbled to pieces, the Bill has been care-
fully examined, and has been found to be nothing
more than a mere Whig expedient for the pur-
pose of maintaining the present Ministers in
office ; and consequently the great body of the
people are now as decidedly hostile to Earl Grey
and his colleagues as they were decidedly
friendly to them in May last. These are our
grounds for asserting that a re-action has taken
place in the public mind ; and we defy our op-
ponents to gainsay them ! With regard to the
rabble of the United Kingdom, we are quite
' ready to allow that no re-action has yet taken
place in the sentiments of that respectable com-
munity. The rabble are essentially radical both
in their opinions and in their proceedings, enter-
taining a truly radical notion respecting the
meum e 6 tuum of this life, as well as a truly ra-
dical indifference respecting the manner in which
they obtain the object of their wishes, whether
that object be plunder or blood. These persons,
therefore, we willingly surrender into the custody
of their patrons in power, being compelled in
common fairness to allow that they are true ra-
dicals, and that " no re-aotion" has taken place
in their sentiments upon the great question.—
Morning Post.

An inquiry has been made into the circum-
stances which originated the report of the suicide to which
we adverted on Monday as being current throughout the
metropolis. It appeirs that, at an early hour that morn-
ing, a man was stopped in Barnet, who was riding into
town at a most furious rate, mounted on a horse foaming,
and evidently having been very h ird ridden for some time.
He was stopped by the constables, under what they con-
sidered suspicious circumstances, until his business was as-
certained. He represented himself as the bearer of an ex-
press froM 'Fairmont], conveying the melancholy intelli-
genre that Sir - - had assassinated himself the
previous evening. He was, of course, at once liberated,
and proceeded on his onward journey with the utmost speed.
The false intelaigence he had been thus the means of spread-
ing, reached the metropolitan police office, from whence it
was.rapidly communicated, with all the appearanJe of of-
ficial truth, throughout the metropolis. It is not known
who the individual was who originated the rumour ; most
probably he was some thief, who adopted this plan to escape
from the hands of the constables.

TRISTAN DE MONTHOLON, SOD Of the
General of that name who followed NAPOLEON to St.
Helena, recently died at Algiers, in consequence of wounds
received in service with the army in Africa. lie was only
nineteen years of age.—French Paper.
A few days since a foreign vessel with a qua-
rantine flag at her mast head entered Calais harbour in
distress; the proper officers were alongside, and told the
master to proceed to sea again, or she would be fired into.
The master begged tint she might be allowed to remain
on account of her being leaky, and the state of the weather
being bad, but he will not listened to ; he was desired pe-
remptorily to put to sea, or he would be fired into. He
was obliged to comply, the wind blowing bard at the time.