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London, England, 1841-09-13 00:00:00

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LONDON :
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1841.

The extent to which bribery has been carried
at the last election has induced a number of
Whigs to question the advantage which the
country would derive from the further extension
of the suffrage. Among the many misfortunes
of the poor it is not among the least aggravating
that they are perpetually punished for the crimes
of the rich. The poor mart does not bribe—he
does not abuse the gifts of GOD to blacken his
neighbour's sour with the guilt of perjury—he
does not, to procure notoriety for himself as
the representative of others, trample upon the
known and recorded laws of GOD and of his
country ; but because the wealthy and the titled
scruple not to commit these crimes, he is to
have no share in the enacting of the laws by
which he is to be governed, taxed, and perhaps
ruined for the exclusive profit of the law-makers.
To keep the rich and the intentionally corrupt,
not morally- but legally guiltless, be is to be
deprived of the only right of citizenship by
which he can contribute to the enactment and
just administration of those laws which he con-
siders essential to the welfare of his country.
The offence of the poor recipient of a bribe is
venal, when contrasted with the enormous crime
of which the wealthy briber is guilty. Between
the two individuals there is the same difference
as between the old serpent and our first parents.
The Olie is the tempter, the other the tempted.
The wealthy briber is a volunteer in the service
of the father of lies. He devotes his substance
to the moral and religious corruption of a fellow-
creature, whose poverty renders the temptation,
which he would otherwise ha'e spurned, irre-
sistible. As well might we cut off the hands of
the poor because the rich might employ them
in acts of violence, or cut out their tongues be-
cause they might be bribed to tell lies, as to
deprive them of civil rights as a preventive of
all abuse of them.

_But suppoing, for argument's sake, the cri-
inplity of the bribers and ti c bribed to be
equal, wherefore net mete out to them the same
punishment? If the poor wan is not to have a
vote because he may be bribed, why not deprive
the :kit man of the suffrage, who is suspected of
an inclination to bribe him? Ts the man capable
of bribing another less to.he dreaded than the
poor wretch who pockets the wages of perjury
Is he a jot more trustworthy as a chive., or a
legilator ? Most essuredly not. If, then, a sense
of justice actuates the Whigs, who regard with
the extension of the suffrage, let them
strileel at the root of the evil. We will not only
believe them sincere, hut we will co-operate
'with these, if they will begin with insisting upon
the z_ii6fl'ancitisement of every Whig and Tor,-
landlord in the United Kingdom, who was gthiliy
of bribery at the last ele t.uii. We have no
objection to follow this measure up with
the disfranchisement of every elector who
received a
bribe. But we are for punish-
ing "'e greatest criminal:; first. In this
way SOlrle approach will be made to equal
to all parties. But in doing this
we would confine the punishment to the
neiitJ r-l'ase a poor man the right of voting
becau.se there is some null man in his neighbour-
hood sapposed vile enough to attempt to corrupt
him, is an act of as gross injustice as to strip
the rich man of his wealth, under the pretext of
o• any. part of it in
preventing him from ex
bribery. pendin,
We have no more cause to rob the
poor man of his political rights to keep the rich
man honest, than we have to deprive the rich
man of his wealth to save the poor man's soul
front the possible guilt of perjury.
One of the most foul and atrocious maxims

dis;:

ever broach4l by the Vi hias, was that
which con-
tended. for the sound policy of beatin the Tories
with their chief weapon—corruption. IC was the
commencement of a crusade of the
rank and
wealth of the county again:3f the honesty and
patC,otisin of the industrials classes. It ITLS
brie: 7,ing all that society deemed great, and •
powerful, and commandiu in the nation to
ben:: down and crush every principle of pub-
lic, virtue hi the minds of the people. Against
a wi:!ked combination no people could
prc,;erve their interity ; and should this maxim

ev;r: come to be generally acted upon
pub:ic lib,?rty will not long outlive the
which it will then receive. Society
must fall to pieces, and a revolution in
the Government visit %upon a corrupt aristo-

cracy all the dreadful consequences of those

crimes by which they sapped its deepest founda-
tions. It is the true interest of the aristocracy
to exLend and purify the franchise. It is the
duty of the Whigs; if they value the Constitution
under which we live, to protect the people against
the corrupt influence of the Tories. The fran-
chi6e is the basis of public liberty. The wider it

the more security is given to all the institu-

toe X f.:07: ?ilt
,7,.ov'er7lrlet on
the part of the few can justify the withholding
political .rights from the many. The rich aristo-
crat who would deny the electoral suffrage to. an
artisan or a labourer, ought to be able to say
to him, "In what way could your condition
in life be better than it is ? We, who govern
you, have provided for you an abundance of em-
ployineut, and a ready remunerating market for
the proceeds of your industry. By a moderate
share of foil, and a proper attention to economy,
you can support yourself and your family de-
cently, comfortably, and independently. There
are schools in abundance, for the education of
your children, where good 'morals are instilled
into their minds without any attempt 'to
unsettle their peculiar religious principles by a
aystem Of soul-kidnapping called proselytizing.
You are coiled upon to support no institution by
which you do not, more or less, benefit; you
are taxed to maintain no church whose tenets
you do not believe. We give you peace and
plenty ; feeedom of body and mind ; we afford
you the means of educating your children intel-
ligently and virtuously ; and we endeavour in all
respects to set you a good example; for what,
therefore, do you seek an extension of political
rights'!" Can any of those who would oppose
the extension of the suffrage in Great Britain
address such language to the people ? Can they
even, by any stretch of the imagination, point
out in what way the condition of the bulk orthe
working classes could be worse than it now is,
bad the whole business of legislation been left
to the most ignorant among them for the last
quarter of a century ! Could they. be worse
than without work, without food, without rai-
ment, without shelter, arid without hope of im-
provement? Could they, by any contrivance,
have inflicted greater misery upon themselves
than the combined wisdom of their Whig and
Tory rulers has done 1 These are common
sense views of this question, which those who
claim the suffrage are quite capable of taking ; nor
will any ridicule attempted to be cast upon
them by the middle classes weaken their force
in the least. Our Whig ,friends would do well to
reflect upon them. To desert the people in their
struggle for an extension of the franchise, would
be, to borrow a metaphor from the late Lord
CASTLEREAGH, to turn their backs upon them-
selver. Unless the people find sympathy from
the classes now above them, and are brought by
justice and kindness to amalgamate their influ-
ence with theirs, the time will come, and that
quickly too, when, with their growing intelli-
gence, and their growing sense of estrangement,
they will form a power in the State capable of
controlling both the Crown and the aristocracy.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL, who has written so ably
of the origin of the French Revolution, ought
to have reflected upon this, before propounding
to the country his finality doctrine.

A tolerably long, and by no means a sprightly
correspondence, respecting the operation of the
commercial treaty with Turkey, ratified the
16th of August, 1838, has just been presented to
the Houses of Parli'ment. It consists of the
Reports of the Consuls and Vice-Consuls in
Turkey, Syria, and Egypt, to the following three
queries, addressed to them by Lord PALMER-
STON, through Lord PONSONBY, bearing date the
the 16th of April, 1840, being about a year and
eight months after the treaty first came into
operation :

1. Whether the Treaty was carried completely
into execution ; if not, in what respects not ?
2. Whether its operation was favourable to
British trade ; if not, in what respects ?
3. How the Treaty operated on the trade of the
subjects of Foreign Powers which had, and those
which had not, concluded similar treaties ; and
what advantage or disadvantage the working of
the treaty had produced for British subjects as
compared with the subjects of any foreign Power ?
These queries are very carefully framed, with
a view to obtain the greatest amount of informa-
tion. The answers are dated from the re°pective
' Consulates and Vice- Consulates, as follows :
Alexandria, May 22 ; Bucharest, June 3 ; Con-
stantinople, August 23; Smyrna, August 16;
Adrianople, July 20; Dardanelles, July 26 ;
Salonica, June 16; Erzeroum, July 20; and
Broussa, June 2, all in 1840. Except in Egypt,
where MEHEMET ALT decidedly refused to ad-
mit the treaty, and in the prinCipalities of Wal-
lachia and Moldavia, where British traders were
allowed greater advantages than the treaty gave
them, the opposition made to the carrying the
treaty into effect was far less than was generally
expected. In most districts it encountered no
opposition whatever; and where resistance was
offered, it was merely to protect a monopoly in
certain products, in which the Porte had granted
to certain parties a vested interest. Generally
speaking, these reports represent the treaty as
working well, and as placing British merchants
on an equality with the most favoured traders—
those of Russia only excepted. Russia's pecu-
liar and extensive advantages arises from the old
taeiff, which has not yet expired ; but when it
has expired, the trade of Russia and that of
other Powers will then be placed on an equal
footing. Mr. CARTWRIGHT, the British Consul-
General at Constantinople, concludes his report
relative to the three questions of inquiry, as
follows :

With reference, therefore, to the concluding passage
of the first inquiry, I am of opinion that the commercial
convention has in its operation been favourabre-to British
trade, though an immediate great visible effect may not
ha expected. A release from the various exactions to
which trade was subjected. and the establishment of
fixed moderate rates of duty on imports, must have
tended to increase the circulation of British manufac-
tures ; and if the local authorities in the intezior of the
empire had not in all cases observed the stipulations
with regard to internal duties on articles of Turkish pro-
duce, wt may hope that the Porte will proceed to enforce
the execution of them.

It is required to be stated, •
od. How the treaty has operated on the trade of the
subjects of other Powers which have concluded similar
treaties, and those which have not.
It may on the same grounds be admitted, that the Con-
vention has been proportionately beneficial to the trade
of those Powers which have made similar stipulations.
The subjects of those Governments which have not
adopted them endeavour, by the means before stated, to
procure the advantages conferred by the Convention, at
the same time preserving those which they possess in
virtue of their own treaties. More activity, or the ab-
sence of venality in the Turkish fiscal officers, would
check the practice. The Russian traders, no doubt, ex-
perience advantage from the low rates of their tariff of
duties for imports and exports, and they may be able to
export at a lower charge those articles of produce on
which the internal duties are not high ; but those. fa-
voured articles are few in number, and comparatively of
little amount in the mass of export trade.
The Russian Legation, it is expected, will soon resume
the work of reforming their tariff ; and if it could be
hoped that the stipulations of the commercial convention
would also be adopted by Russia, we might trust that
the few remaining Governments would not hesitate to
conform to them. Those stipulations once generally ac-
knowledged, the execution of them would be facilitated,
and• the Porte might be more strongly required to en-
force it.

It is required to be stated,
3. What advantage the working of the treaty has
produced for British subjects, as compared with the sub-
jects of any foreign Power.
The Convention is acknowledged to have been bene-
ficial to British trade, and it would be a fair conclusion
that British subjects have in an equal degree been bene-
fited by the working of it ; but, as it has been already
stated, the trade between Great Britain and this port
being ehie;y- in the hands of natives and other foreigners,
the advantage can have been but proportionately enjoyed
7 British subjects. T
1) he native ILerchants, whether en-
irwing foreign protection or Ottoman privileges, have
and advantages in their commercial arrange-
's, 1:ot dependent on the effect of treaties, or the
supoosal unfair means resorted to by them, which will
continue to insure to the m the enjoyment of the greatest
portion of the flritish trade in this port.
Mr. BRANT, the British Consul at Smyrna,
concludes his report in the following words :----
It is required to be stated,
2. Whether the operation of the treaty has been
favourable to British trade ; and if not, in what respects
it has been unfavourable?
It having now been shown in what respects the ope-
ration of the treaty has been favourable to British trade,
it may confidently and emphatically be asserted, that in
no respect has it been unfavourable thereto.
It is required to be stated,
3. How the treaty has operated on the trade of the
subjects of other Powers which have concluded similar
treaties; and its effects on the trade of the subject of
those Powers which have not made similar treaties.
With respect to the import trade, the subjects of those

Inent