The Sun.
London, England, 1836-09-26 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We copy from the Leeds Mercury a letter from Mr.
Baines to Mr. O'Connell on Peerage Reform. It is
no doubt true, as Mr. Baines observes, that no Mi-
nistry durst propose Peerage Reform, and that were a
motion brought forward on the subject in the House
of Commons, it would find but few supporters. Till
public opinion is matured on the question, it is not to
be expected that it should have many supporters in
Parliament. The Leeds Mercury thus accounts for
the conduct_ of the Tory Lords during the last session :
" It has been the deep design of that crafty intriguer
Lord Lyndhurst, by his conduct during the last ses-
sion, to provoke the Ministers and their friends into
an advocacy of Peerage Reform, knowing, as he does,
and as we should think every man of common discern-
ment must, that the instant Ministers advocate that
• question, their doom is sealed, and Parliament will
be dissolved with an absolute certainty of a Tory ma-
jority being returned at the next election. Lord
Lyndhurst has, therefore, set a trap for the Ministers
and the Reformers ; and if they walk into it, their
fate is merited as well as certain." The scheme
attributed to Lord Lyndhurst by our Leeds Con-
temporary hardly supports the character it gives
him of a crafty intriguer. The trap set by him
for Ministers, to justify his title in this instance to be
deemed a crafty intriguer, ought to have been better
baited. The Leeds Mercury must either have a very
poor idea of the discernment and sagacity of
Minis-
ters if it supposes they could be provoked to do what
every man of common discernment must know would
seal their doom, or have a very strange idea of craft,
when Lord Lyndhurst receives credit for it for setting
a trap. which no man of common discernment would
walk into. We suspect Lord Lyndhurst's design is
really deeper than our Leeds Contemporary gives him
credit for. He and the Tories know that Ministers
dare not propose, and would not be justified in pro-
posing, Peerage Reform. But they know also that the
people of England are not easily roused—that they
will, bear a great deal before they become impatient.
By preventing Ministers from carrying any liberal
measures, and thus exhibiting the Reform Bill as
not productive of those beneficial results the na-
tion expected from it, while Ministers have no
means of removing the, obstacles, they conceive that
the people in their despair of effectual remedies
for recognised abuses will abandon themselves to
apathy and indifference, and that thus, in time,
they ma gain a majority in the Commons. We have
act clout); that in this they will be disappointed, though
we are aware that the Reform Bill has left but too
many nests of corruption, and that in the present un-
Irrotected state of the voters, we are hardly justified in
expecting year after year those sacrifices which at one
tine gave such triumphant majorities to the Re-
formers. Mr. Baines, in his letter, looks for a correc-
tion of the House of Lords, not to any plan of reform
(which no single Peer would ever propose), hut to
the return of a large majority of Reformers to Parlia-
;nent. It is no doubt true that with a large majority
Ministers might do much by means of the power of
t:,.e purse possessed by the 'House of COMMOIS. We
trust, at all events, that whenever an election takes
place the topic will not be neglected. It is certain
that since the last election the Reform interest has
;hint d greatly in the Corporations. Still, allowing that
7.'f!ry beneficial effects would flow from the possession of
a large majority in the, House of Commons, we cannot
slnut our eyes to the fact that the majority of the
Loris have interests distinct from those of the people ;
that they are incorrigibly hostile to reform ; and that
only under a pressure of some kind or other will they
allow liberal measures to pass. The moment the steam
ceases to be applied to them, they will be impelled by
their own perversity in an opposite direction from that
of the public good. So that, after all, we must come
to the Peerage Reform. The nation may not yet be
ripe for it, but the discussion of the question will
serve to mature public opinion. It would be unfair
to make Peerage Reform a sine qua non, but it is
justiaable to claim for every man who deems it ne-
cessary the liberty to propound his opinions. The
Scotsman of Saturday last puts in the following claim
for toleration on this question
Many of the Whigs are ohl men, and cannot be ex-
pected to renounce opinions they have held for thirty or
forty years—many of them are rich men, and dread
viole.at changes—many cf them arc connected with the
?dampers of the Upper House, and disposed on this ac-
count to deal tenderly with its privileges. There may be
error in their judgment, and selfishness in their motives ;
but, in this mixed world of fallible beings, no party that
has a great cause to support against powerful adver-
saries can afford to expel from its ranks all who are not
purely disinterested and perfectly enlightened. We
think the Whigs are likely to be ripe for Peerage Reform
quite as soon as the masses ; but, without the concur-
rence of both, it is clear as day that there is no hope of
succe 39 . The proper tactics of the liberal party are there-
fore obvious. They must adopt the system of compromise,
or rat-her of mutual toleration, so often exemplified in con-
structing
a a Ministry, which is expressed by saying, that
certain: points wherein its members do not agree, are not
to be made Cabinet questions.' Peerage Reform must
be co:asidered a topic on which every Liberal Member is
free to,.hold his own opinion without breach of faith to his
associates. It would be unwise to table a motion on the
subject:, because this would merely display the divisions of
the Li beral party, and place some Members in a position
v.'hich would injure them in the eyes of their constituents.
But those who advocate Peerage Reform, need not fear
that their tongues will be tied. If Lyndhurst conti-
nues Lc fill his present station in the Tory camp, there
will be no want of slaughtered and mutilated Bills, and
honest Radical Members will find abundant occasions to
express their sentiments, without the formality of mo-
tions. The newspaper press, too, may agitate the ques-
tion stoutly ; and upon this system we mean to act. We
believe: Peerage Reform to be indispensable ; and we shall
contribatte our share to ripen the public mind for its adop-
tion. Odious and disgraceful as the Lyndhurst plan of
operating is, we are reconciled to it, because we believe
nothing short of a regimen of kicks and insults will open
the eyes of the apathetic, church-ridden, title-worshipping
population of England to the necessity of Peerage Reform.
We have little doubt of the Liberal Journals acting upon
the views we have stated."

These,views agree in the main with the policy we
have always recommended with respect to this ques-
tion. We would observe, however, that the feeling
unpacked
expressed at every o
public meeting of late
proves that Peerage Reform is more generally believed
to be necessary than our Northern Contemporary
would seem to think. It hardly does justice to the
people of England.— ornzng
111 • -Chronicle.
Mr. Wentworth B
agitation fund in Ireland. We
are not sure that this or any similar
the animadversionslaractonthepart of
the Hon. Gentleman would' it
of a public journalist, were
Mr. Beaumont to content
himself with doing " what
ite likes
s iwithnun i
fib
eisenecenin"
But when, in addition to his peculiar
support of the treacherous, not to say treasonable,views
of a political adventurer, he himself stands forward as
the expounder of the public views and sentiments of
Newcastle and Northumberland generally,
we may be
Pardoned, if we consider his letter rather with
re-
ference to the adventitious distinction of the writer,
than to the intrinsic merit of the document itself. Mr.
Beaumont is a man of large fortune, and the represen-
tative of a numerous and powerful county constituency,
and, to use the words of Mr. Daniel O'Connell, "so
well known as to require no description." This highly-
respectable gentlemen rather less than a year ago at-
tended some sort of Whig-Radical meeting atEdin-
burgh, at which he denounced Daniel O'Connell and
all his works, and was rewarded by the hisses and exe-
crations of the "Lb i erals" there assembled. To this
circumstance Mr. Beaumont alludes in the opening
sentence of his recent letter to O'Connell. He says
at lie spoke " eery 'unceremoniously of the expe-
diency of Daniel's ao• •
„nation in England, from a con-
viction that he (Daniel) was doing
a practical injury
to the cause of liberty." CC So,"
continues the Mem-
ber for Northumberland, " when I see you proceeding
hesitate with in a right course, I do not he • '
equal frank-
ness to offer you my humble assistance."
Then comes
the announcement of the 1001. ,
s b,
u cription. That
this is the sort of humble assistance most to the Agi-
tator's taste, we are well aware. Still, had Mr.
Beaumont distinctly indicated the right course now
pursued by O'Connell, as distinguished from that so
unceremoniously reprobated at Edinburgh, not only
would the assistance have been more effective, but
some clue would have been furnished to the now in.

explicable conduct of the Member for Northu►nbex-

land. As it is, we are left to conjecture, and, wish-
ful to treat Mr. Beaumont with the consideration due
to his position as a public man, representing a divi-
sion of one of the most important counties in Eng-
land, we shall for a moment examine what change has
come over the political dream of Mr. Daniel O'Con-
nell to account for so entire a revolution in the feel-
ing of his Honourable Correspondent towards him.
At the period at which Mr. Beaumont felt it ne-
cessary to denounce the sayings and doing of his
Derrynane correspondent, the latter person was, or
had just been, engaged in a Ministerial mission through
the north of England, with what effect the last election
at Newcastle sufficiently proves. Well, what was the
text from which the prophet Daniel preached through-
out that memorable tour ? " Down with the Lords I"
This was the shout which, at the instigation or with
the sanction of the Lordlings Russell, Howick, Mul-
grave, Morpeth, Palmerston, and the rest, the Agitator
vainly endeavoured to raise amongst a portion of the
English people. It is highly honourable to Mr.
Beaumont that he, in common with his fellow-coun-
trymen, recoiled with disgust from the treasonable
intermeddling of this itinerant brawler. But what is
the case now ? Is O'Connell less loud in his denun-
ciation—less virulent in his abuse—less vile in the
entire scheme of his machinations as regards the
Peerage of England, than he was when he forced Mr.
Beaumont to speak " very unceremoniously" against
the expediency of his agitation ? Undoubtedly not.
And if we find no change in the Agitator's public con-
duct and avowed opinions as to the House of Lords,
where else shall we look for such change ? Is not
this pestilent politician as thoroughly imbued with
hatred to the very name of England—as mortally
opposed to her best interests in church and state—as
foul-mouthed in his abuse of the most eminent and
distinguished of her public men—in short, as deter-
mined to bring down the hitherto haughty crest of
Britain beneath the brutal hoof of Popish domination
—is he not, we ask, all this as much and completely
note as he was one year ago ? Are we not, then,
justified in an expression of wonder that a gentleman,
representing any portion of that county constituency
which the demagogue has denounced as a banded op-
position to the spread of constitutional freedom, should,
in 1836, consider 100/. a fit testimonial in support of
the self-same conduct which in 1835 he " uncere-
moniously" pronounced to be practically injurious to
the cause of liberty ? Mr. Beaumont owes it to his
constituents, and the country generally, to explain this
glaring inconsistency, if it be 4t all capable of expla-
nation. But, as we have remarked above, Mr. Beau-
mont's letter is chiefly important as purporting to con•
vey the opinions and feelings of the constituency of
Newcastle and the Northumbrians generally. It is
true that Mr. Beaumont states, towards the close of
his letter, that he only speaks "as a Northumbrian,
knowing the feelings of his neighbours, and not autho-
rized by position to relate the opinions of the inde-
pendent men of Newcastle." But it should be observed,
that the far larger portion of the letter is devoted to an
explanation, on the part of Mr. Beaumont, authorized
or not, of the circumstances attending the Conserva-
tive triumph at the last Newcastle election. The
member for Northumberland declares his belief that
" the Reformers of Newcastle will not be offended by
his saying, in their name, that they should be much
hurt by their town being a watchword to designate
English illiberality and prejudieo"—terms here used as
synonyms for O'Connellism. In explanation of this
strange phrase, Mr. Beaumont goes on to say, that the
Newcastle electors " forgot the public liberty in a
" rage for asserting their own," and that, if we under-
stand him rightly, they returned a Tory because they
would neither have a Whig nor a Radical forced upon
them ! There is a wild and discursive speculation in
ail this, which to us, accustomed to something of pre-
cision, is almost bewildering. In our utter inability
to know what Mr. Beaumont would be at, he will,
perhaps, pardon us for presenting him with a sugges-
tion. It is that, in future, he will indulge the eccen-
tricities of a munificent disposition without involving
himself and others in the mazes of inexplicable explana-
tions. He may rely upon it that the cheek was the only
welcome part of his letter to the agitation fund, and he
may be equally certain that the said check is the only
intelligible part of the letter to any one of ordinary un-
derstanding. It would be unfair to a political opponent.
were we to pass over the terms in which Mr. Dainel
O'Connell acknowledges the godsend cast into his
wallet by the Member for Northumberland. Gratitude
is a virtue to which the Irish lay an almost exclu-
sive claim ; and certainly, in the present instance, we
must concede that O'Connell has made out that claim.
We shall not quote what may be called his "sessional"
opinions of the personal and political claims of his
newly-found friend on public attention ; but we are
in the recollection of a very considerable number of
gentlemen connected with the political world, when
saying that the letter dated " Derrynane Abbey, Sep-
tember the 18th," contains the very first announcement
of Mr. Daniel O'Connell's opinion that Mr. Beau-
mont is " one of the most distinguished of the gentry
of England." Not only has the donation purchased
this personal honour for Mr. Beaumont ; it has even
obtained for the electors of Newcastle, and the English
people generally, an admission on the part of the Agi-
tator, that there is no hostility to Irish interests in this
country, but merely an indifference to them. We are
sorry to disturb the cordial understanding thus esta-
blished between the members for Northumberland and
Kilkenny, but we take leave to say, that there is an
utter indifference in the English mind to all the threats
of O'Connell and his tail, and as decided an hostility
to their insidious and revolutionary designs now vs
there was before the recent farce of the " 100/. note."—
Times.

Our columns continue to be filled with reports of
Reform dinners and Reform meetings, with a view to
give the Members of Parliament during the recess an
opportunity of rendering up an account of their
stewardship to their constituents. They crowd upon
us so fast that we are compelled to comprehend, as
we did before, our commentary on several of them
within the space of one article. 'We referred on Sa-
turday to the Liverpool dinner about to be given to
Lords Melbourne and Russell. This is another of

those proofs of what the Conservatives call re-action.
All the dinners and meetings to which we have referred
have been characterized by the same formula—with
respect to the House of Lords—of question and an-
swer between the constituent and representative,—
which we predicted must give a prevailing aspect
to
the whole. It may be said to have characterized the
Wicklow dinner, the West Somerset dinner, and the
East Cornwall Reform meeting—consequent of the
resignation of Sir William Molesworth—a report of
which will be found in this day's Advertiser. The
question is as brief as the reply. What have you
done for the country during the last Session ? The
reply of all honest liberal Members must be in all cases
the same. Monotonous but terrible to the oppressors of
the people " as the hundred voices of the storm" must be
the many-accented burthen and chorus of that unani-
mous response. We have done much for the people ;
but all we have clone has been frustrated or perverted
impar-
tially, by the irresponsibility of the House of Lords. They
are resolved to govern Ireland, a co-equal third of the
empire,
shall be
partially—we are resolved to govern it
We leave to you, our constituents, to decide
which shall
at the have their way—whether justice or injus-
ticedemonsWtraetsi
decidaedilng
totnrioufmtii)lleiant. The speech of Mr. Leader
Somerset meeting, furnishes a complete
feel pleasure in in k• accuracy of our prediction. We
an extract from it—partly be-
cause it was
uecyttrliacetmisostsuelocquureiunut,slays
iwnelluansistohne
most manly speech
an to which we have adverted—
partly because the
with the texture and bearing
of our preceding re-
marks on the great all-absorbingt topic of the day :
Representatives
i h
House of Commons
l'i'avle'°llilreen labouring anxiously
to do
the work of the people—but their labourshave been
in vain—their time wasted—their
measures
weary
only
ly say
youre rejected,
e cwt eh d
h,
Not
and the people disappointed.
that
a detail of the late Session, I shall
n
many measures, demanded alike by
and
by expediency, for the relief of Ireland, justice
were intro-
duced by the Government and passed by the corn_
mons. Nevertheless they failed to become law. For
England many good, just, and necessary measures,
(such as the corporation Act Amendment Bill, the
Dissenters Disabilities Bill, the Civil Office Decla- i
ration Bill, the Charity Trustees Bill, and many others)

were passed by the Commons. Nevertheless they
failed to become law. So barren, indeed, of the good
practical results which you had a right to expect has
the late session proved, that one may haply apply to it
an old couplet which was much in vogue 200 years
ago. It runs thus—
' Many faults complained of—few things mended—
A subsidy granted-.-the Parliament ended.'
This is precisely our case at present. We have com-
plained of many grievances--we have unfortunately
been able to remedy few or none of them—we have
voted all the supplies—and the Session is at an end.
The obstacle to improvement and to good government
in those times was a single-headed despot, who despised
the Commons, and who, trusting to his right divine to
govern wrong, neglected or opposed the wishes and in-
terests of the people : you know the penalty which he
paid for his tyranny. The obstacle to improve-
ment and to good government in these times is
a manyheaded despot, called the House of Lords.
They, led on by a cunning, reckless, and ambi-
tious lawyer, have rejected, or so mutilated as to
cause to be rejected, all the popular measures passed
by the Commons. They seem to me to have lost
their senses in their blind obedience to this man ;
they may fancy, perhaps, that in following him they
are guided by a good safe light ; but they will find to
their sorrow that they have been following a malicious
will-o'-the-wisp, that is leading them to their own
destruction ; so implicitly do they yield to his guid-
ance, that they deserve less to be called the House of
Lords than Lord Lyndhurst's tail." Here is a specific
abuse. The above is a statement of a fact ; namely,
that the English Government has come to a dead
stand-still ? How is this fact to be met ? How is
this abuse to be remedied ? This is the only question
for practical men—this the only consideration for that
common sense which is, and always has been, the
prevailing characteristic of the English people. If we
were called upon to point out the source of the pros-
perity to which this island has arrived, we should ex-
press it in a single word, the characteristic prudence of
the English people. They have not allowed themselves
to be diverted from the rational object of acting accord-
ing to circomstances, and of applying remedies to exist-
ing abuses,--by high sounding words or unsubstantial
theories—by phantoms conjured up from the darkness of
the past or bugbears evoked from the uncertain shadows
of the future. They have never done so, nor will they do
so now. The present constitution of the Peerage is found
to be a practical abuse. What it arose from—how it
became so—whether the institution is venerable by its
antiquity, or hoary with prejudice or licentious folly—
does not concern the question. It is an abuse, and
must be reformed. Even the most Conservative of the
speakers of the different Reform meetings to which we
have !referred, including Sir Thomas Lethbridge, ad-
mitted the necessity of that reform. They at all events
have the good sense not to throw in our teeth any
more of ✓the wordy nothingness about " organic
changes," or schoolboy allusions to Tacitus and
Cicero. Let the reform be effected without violence,
says Sir Thomas Lethbridge. True Reformers desire
nothing more. It was to such a reform, produced by
the moral omnipotence of public opinion, that Mr.
Leader appealed. It is for the Lords and for the ad-
vocates of the Lords, to talk of unsheathing the sword,
and with a forty-parson power of vociferation to hurl
defiance in the face of the, calm and determined reso-
lution of the English people. The madmen ! they
know not the power which they are defying. Mr.
Leader gave an eloquent description of that power
at the close of his speech, and we cannot do
better than extract a passage which cannot be im-
proved, and a warning which should not be lost :
" Have you never observed the violence with which a
dammed-up strea:n at last breaks through all obsta-
cles ? Have you never seen the flames burst with re-
doubled fury from a burning house when they have
been deadened for a moment by a flow of water ?
Have you never marked the irresistible power with
which pent-up steam will find a vent ? Do you not.
daily see the great force of gunpowder exploded by a
single spark ? It is the inevitable law of nature,
wherever there is power it must have its way. If such
then be the power of inanimate matter, shall we be
told that the power of a mighty nation can be long re-
pressed, cooped up and rendered motionless. Should
the Lords allow themselves to be led away by the flat-
tering thought that they can resist this power—should
they dare to continue their opposition to all improve-
ment and good government—then, I verily believe that
the time must soon come when they will be roused from
their dream of pride and fancied power, and superio-
rity, and pre-eminence by the voice of united millions
proclaiming, in tones of thunder to their startled ears,
that the will of the people is supreme, and must be
obeyed." In quitting for the present the subject of
Peerage Reform, we have disdained (not wishing to
insult the plain sense of our readers) to make any
reply to the verbose and pompously insane special
pleading, by which it is pretended to be proved that
the House of Lords is not constitutionally irrespon-
sible, because all men are morally responsible for
their actions.—Fudge !—Morning Advertiser.
We have made inquiries on the subject of Prince
Polignac and his ill-fated companions' release from
Ham ; and we are authorised to state that immediate

previous to the dissolution of the last French Cabinet
a resolution was taken to end the term of their im-
prisonment. It was at the same time determined, to
avoid the irritation which an unqualified release might
occasion in the extreme Liberal circles, that for a cer-
tain period each of the gentlemen was to be detained
in a different fortress, with liberty to walk about on
parole, and under the surveillance of a special guar.'
dian. Unfortunately for the health of the Prince and
his companions, as well as for the honour of France
and the personal character of Louis Philippe, the Ca-
binet was dismissed before the resolve could be put in
execution, and the prisoners must still remain victims
to injustice in.their living grave, until the French
King can mould his new Ministers to his wishes in
that regard, and until he feel secure in following the
dictates of his head and heart. Though no great ad-
mirers of the King of the French, we are happy to
record these instances of good feeling, which relieve
his reign of some of its political discredit.—Morning
Post.

Wednesday morning, just before day-break, as a
labouring man named Brichley was passing along a piece of
waste ground near Paddington-green, his attention was at-
tracted towards a long white wicker basket, covered over with
a fine napkin, and lying within a short distance of the foot-
path. He immediately went to the spot, and on removing the
covering discovered a fine living child, quite naked, and ap-
parently newly born. While examining the napkin, in order
to ascertain if there were any initials thereon, he was sur-
prised by the sudden approach of a tall female, elegantly at-
tired, and about twenty years of age ; she seemed in a dread-
ful state of agitation, and in a hurried manner asked him what
he was looking at, at the same time placing in his hand a
half-crown, and desiring him to proceed with all possible ex-
pedition to the nearest hackney-coach stand, and bring with
him a vehicle, when she would further reward him for his
trouble. The man then went away, and on his return with
the coach found to his great surprise that the female, together
with the basket and child, had disappeared. It has since
been ascertained that soon after the above discovery a lady
was seen to enter a cab, with a basket answering the above
description, and drive off towards Piccadilly.
In a field on Mendip, near Oakhill, is a fine crop of
potatoes surpassing in quality and sire any seen in that neigh-
bourhood, the produce not of seed potatoes, but of the sprouts,
which the country people of Somerset called chisims. These
were taken off the potatoes, before sending them to market
and planted, and the result proves that the poor man need not
diminish his stock of food, but may use all his potatoes and yet
have abundance of seed.---Bath Journal.
PHEASANT SHOOTING IN OCTOBER.—The best
time to find pheasants out of cover is the first hour after sun-
rise, when they are feeding in the adjacent stubble and potato-
fields. A few stragglers may be found in hedges near the
closes in which they feed. At noon, when the sun shines
bright, they will venture out of the woods, and bask under
thick hedges, or holly bushes, or amongst brambles, but at no
great distance from cover. During a dense fog pheasants ven-
ture farthest from the woods. But while the leaves remain on
the trees they seldom wander far from the place where they
were hatched, or the
e wood
Sh or pl
antation to which they may be
said
belong.altornans yg
who frequent the Thames Okle„ootiCode.
Tthoe
„ w
be-
tween Kingston and Hampton have been much annoyed and
placed in jeopardy of late by the reckless conduct of the
keepers in Hampton Park, who in shooting the deer take little
heed what further direction the ball may take. Parties en-
gaged in angling have frequently been alarmed in that way,
and on Thursday, as a correspondent informs us, a rifle ball
struck
Errol,ruck who,thewat wert: believe
gvae
is the
very few yards of him. The Earl
of ranger of Hampton Park,
should see to this. A jury would be likely, if any serious
accident occurred, to deal with it in an effectual way; but the
sacrifice of a life would be too dear a remedy, and prevention
is in this case decidedly better than cure.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.

OLD COURT.

William Blackburne, aged 44, was indicted for unlaw-
fully administering a certain drug to Hannah Mary Taylor,
a pretty-looking girl, aged 17, one of his wife's apprentices,
for an unlawful purpose.
The particulars of the case (such of them at least as
were fit for publication) appeared in our paper when the
examinations took place at Guildhall. No new material
circumstance was now elicited, and no attempt to shake the
credibility of Hannah Mary Taylor failed.
The jury returned a verdict of Guilty.
The prisoner was sentenced to be imprisoned in Newgats
for two years.

INSOLVENT COURT-SATURDAY