The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-02 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

444 —*count Melbourne arrived at Claremont on Sun
i .Y afternoon from town, on a visit to the Queen, and.
tsolrl,,:the Royal Circle at dinner. His Lordship
Yecistor",/ departure from Claremont at nine o'clock
1,, 'lll3' morning, and returned to town.
1.4 "e Hon. Berkeley and Mrs. Paget, and. Miss
lhaegeTt,
earrived at Claremont Park yesterday, and joined
5*
al Dinner Perty, which included Lady , o
ti. Baroness Lehz-n, Earl of Listowel, Hon. C.A.
‘::.r4Y, Lord Alfred Paget, and Col. Bouverie,
.4„ lite Duchess of Gloucester had a select party at
vizier yesterday evening at Gloucester House.
slllia RoYal Highness Prince George of Cambridge
i,tsurned to town, last evenincr, from a visit to Her Ma-
rti; the Queen Dowager at Sudbury Hall.
lie
Gl_ Duke of Cambridge visited the Duchess of
wueester yesterday.
Mil.‘L.J. Wall3ce, M.. 1) , Mr. Featherstonhau.gh, and
Joh John Shaw Lefevre, had interviews with Lord
n ltus,elt yesterday, at the Colonial-office.
isiThe Lerd Steward hail an interview with his Royal
trtlt,n";tulasee Duke of Cambridge yesterday, at Cam-
rd" .
1-1,
,:, Augustus Loftus has arrived at Fareance's
1 fr,,in Berlin.
Th
mar I Duke of Wellington, Lady Burgherili, Lord
i, 3uorough and Sir Charles Bagot, honoured Mr.
,3 1 ,
A54-51' with a visit to his studio in Pall-mall, on Satur-
maY, to inspect his picture of the " Waterloo Banquet,"
previous to its being exhibited.
att.,

filly at 43E OF MR. H. VINCENT.—On Sun-
hat,' two o'clock, Nlr. Vincent was discharged from Oak-
forn wja°l. by an order from the Hamc-office, and was in-
woljd! at the same time, that the indictments by the
cent 111 re Nlagistrates were entirely set aside. Mr.
"larrived in town by the Melton mail, is looking tole.
hwell, and is in good health and high spirits.
Gro Marquis of Westminster will shortly leave
quilt e 4 tVenor Elouse on his return to Eaton Hall. The Mar.
mUter
Marehioneae do not come to town for the season

REFORM.

Among the Letters addressed to tLe Leeds Reform

Association, on occasion of thcir late mceting, and pub.
fished by that body, the two following seem worthy o
public notice :

EARL FITZWILLIAM'S LETTER.
(Copy.)
MILTON, DEC. 21st, 1840.

Dear Sir,—l have received a circular inviting me
to attend a meeting at Leeds, at which it is proposed
to make a demonstration in favour of a set of con-
nected propositions, the adoption of which by Parlia-
ment is considered, by the Com:nittee which sends the
invitation, as necessary to prevent misgovernment and
legislative injustice.
In what manner, and to what extent the constitution
of the House of Commons would be affected by these
measures, I cannot foresee ; but I am unable to dis-
cern that intimate connection between them and the
prevention of misgovernment, which the proposers of
the intended meeting conceive to exist. Your name
appended to the letter is a passport to my good will ;
but, pray allow me to ask what it is that the people have
in contemplation ?
We have gone through one revolution ; for, now
that we can speak of those events historically, it is
idle to call by any other name the transactions of
1830, 1831, and 1832. By God's mercy we went
through it peaceably and successfully ; but arc we to
repeat such experiments every eighth or tenth year ?
Whoever did not feel that by engaging in those trans-
actions, he incurred great responsibility, must have had
no very clear conception of what he was about ; but
great and crying evils, the result of centuries without
change, demanded great and hazardous remedies, and
for an object of such vast magnitude, it was justifiable
to incur the hazard which attached to ►he application
of a very extensive remedy. The hands which ad-
ministered it bad greet boldness and equal firmness.
Great effects have been produced ; but it seems that it
has not produced all the effects which some persons
expected. Every man in E'igland is not satisfied
with every vote of the House of Commons. Why,
this is only saying that there is great variety of thouelit
in our country, the natural result of the great and
happy freedom of thought which prevails among us.
Some gentlemen at Leeds entertain one set of opinions,
Pat-ha:nee entertains another ; and therefore, say
these gentlemen, Parliament must be again reformed,
and the experiment of a second revolution must be
tried. The gentlemen who have formed the Leeds
Parliamentary Reform Association, assume, of course,
that public opinion is with them but is this a fact so ex-
ceedingly clear as to be admitted without hesitation ? I
am perhaps, become a less attentive observer, and was
always, perhaps, a less acute observer, of the indications
of public opinion than they are ; but to me, I confess,
it appears that there are many remarkable symptoms
which lead me to doubt the correctness of the basis
which they assume, viz. the want of correspondence be-
tween the House of Commons and the people. It is
grounded upon the rejection, by Parliament, of certain
measures of " vital importance to the country ;'' which
means that the Leeds Parliamentary Reform Associa-
tion deem them of " vital importance," &c. But are
they quite sure that the great mass of their countrymen
view them in the same light ? What these measures
are I really don't know ; though about one of them I
have a strong suspicion, and I am quite as anxious
about that measure as any of the Association ; but I
should deceive myself very much if I shut my eyes to
the vast mass of public opinion which, on that subject,
runs in a direction quite opposite to mine and theirs.
Whatever may be the other measures, the rejection
of which proves, in the opinion of the Association, that
the House of Commons does not harmonize with the
people, I have very ►ittle doubt that the same may be
predicated, as of the popularity of the question to which
I allude.

Not believing, therefore, that there is 'low (as in
former times) any great discrepancy between the opi-
nions of the people and those of Parliament, and being
of opinion that the present frame of the constituent
body secures us against any such discrepency, I must
decline accepting the invitation.
I might have done so at much less length, if the per-
sonal respect which I entertain for many of the Associ-
ation did not require me to state the grounds upon
which I must abstain from being a party to the demon-
stration which they propose to make.
I am, dear sir, yours, faithfully,
PITZWILLIAM.
To J. G. Marshall, Esq. Leeds.

MR. WARBURTON'S LETTER.
CARDIGAN PLACE, Jan. 19, 1841.

Dear Sir,—Many matters which urgently press on
me for completion before the session begins, will pre-
vent my attending your meeting on Thursday. The
occasion, however, is of too much importance for me
to rest satisfied with merely writing to you to decline
your invitation ; for you have called this meeting, I
am confident, from a desire to he instrumental to the
devising of some plan of further Parliamentary re-
form, which both the working and the middle classes
of society may join in supporting. Your end is a
most important one, and I will endeavour to promote
it, by stating for the information of yourself, and, if you
think proper, for that of the meeting, what my views
are on the subject of Parliamentary reform.
Both the working and the middle classes are now
looking, I apprehend, to further reforms in our repre-
sentative system : the working classes ardently, as the
way to improve their condition in society : the middle
classes, perhaps, less vehemently, but still with a grow.
ing fervour, they wish to thrive in the world, to raise
the profits of their business, whether it be in home
trade, manufactures, or foreign commerce. The way
to effect this, they think, is to render commerce free :
but it is not from Parliaments composed as modern Par-
liaments principally are, of the receivers of toll at all
the bars set up to impede commerce, that removal of
restrictions, and an unimpeded transit in and out of the
country of all those commodities which industry pro-
duces, is to be expected. They look to an improved
electoral law as a means to obtaining an improved com-
mercial law. " Help us," they say to the working
classes, " to effect those changes in the law which will
better our profits and your wages ; which in swelling
our returns, will enable us to bid the higher for your
labour." In the common interests of the two classes, I
sec the strongest motive for their co-operating, whether
freedom of commerce or Parliamentary Reform be made
the first object. Let both classes, then, assist in forming
a plan which both will be interested in supporting.
No one dreams, I trust, of violence, or of excite-
ments to violence, as a means to obtain the desired
end ; it is by orderly and lawful ways alone that real
progress is to be made. That granted, this necessarily
follows ; that it is from Parliaments, as now consti-
tuted, that the further approaches towards a complete
measure of Parliamentary Reform are to be won. Con-
sidering what the constitution of Parliament now is,
it is not every question, it seems to me, on which Re-
formers may now entertain a decided opinion, that it
would be expedient to have decided by Parliaments
thus constituted. Some of these questions should be
put in the front rank, to be won, if possible, from Par-
liaments as we now have them ; other of these ques-
tions should be reserved for the deliberation of the
Parliaments which had been amended in consequence
of these first victories.

What, then, ought to be the character of the ques-
tions on which the fight of Reform ought to be fought
in Parliaments as they now are ; and what the cha-
racter of those after-questions which would be best
arranged in the new and better Parliaments? Exten-
sion of the Suffrage, Secret Voting, and Triennial Par-
liaments, are the prizes, I think, which should be the
first contended for in the existing arena : if Reformers
deem the No-Property-Qualification of Members of
sufficient importance to be included in this first list, I
will not dispute with them about what I consider a
trifle, and therefore will concede the point. Now the
measures which these questions involve, arc thus cha-
racterised :

1. They rest on some marked and very intelligible
principle, and do not necessarily include the considera-
tion of much detail ; so that the meaning of a vote upon
them would be clearly comprehended by the public.
2. Their freedom from complexity of detail dispenses
with the necessity of long inquiry and deliberation be-
fore they are decided upon, a. d of slow execution after
they arc decided on, and while they are being carried
into effect. When carried, therefore, a Parliament
might quickly be returned according to the new plan.
3. They are not of a future to occasion, while under
deliberation before Parliament, from their setting in
motion purely national or local jealousies, any marked
divisions among Reformers.

4. They constitute, in themselves a great practical
Reform in the representative system, were no further
progress to be made to the completion of the system ;
and they are indispensahle steps to making further pro-
gress in it.

These primary questions once carried, there arc other
questions now agitated which would yet remain to be
settled ; but to settle which well, would require in the
Parliament entrusted with that duty, great honesty of
purpose and good intention towards the people. Of this
nature is the proposition for dissolving the present, and for
constructing new constituencies, which some recommend
to be done by making, out of town and country, certain new
Electoral Districts, each of which should comprise a po-
pulation of equal amount : a plan similar to that formerly
proposed by the late Lord Durham, then Mr. Latntton
'ltlat by the substitution of such town-country districts
for the existing constituencies, Parliament would be
rather worsened than bettered, is the opinion stated
very forcibly in the Leeds Mere:llw; and that such
an alteration, taken singly, would have a strong ten-
dency to Anti- Reform, and would require to be coun-
teracted by very strong measures of an opposite ten-
dency, cannot, I think, be disputed. This then is not
one of my primary measures of Reform ; it does not in
itself, as each of those measures does, lead to further re-
forms, but rather the reverse. The arranging the
boundaries of the new districts, involving as it would
do much detail, must occasion lengthened inquiry, te-
dious discussion, and consequent delay. These details,
difficult at the moment to understand, might be the

lurking place for guile and fraud, and might contain
the seeds of much future mischief. The people, impa-
tient as they would be to see their new Reform Bill,
:you'd be with difficulty induced to pay attention to
such matters. In particular localities, parties would
be quarrelling about what the boundaries should be.
If it were made the part of such a plan that each divi-
sion of the United Kingdom should have a number of
electoral districts in proportion to its population as com-
pared with the other divisions of the kingdom, national
jealousies might be roused ; and of all such divisions of
interest or opinion, the Anti-Reformers would not fail
to avail themselves. These intricate and delicate
questions should be committed, therefore, in my opinion,
not to a Parliament as now constituted, but to one re-
turned under the auspices of the new electoral law after
the primary measures of Reform had been carried into
effect, to whose honesty of purpose it might be con-
fided to arrange such matters involving detail.
There is another question mixed up with that of
what the future constituencies shall be, the question,
how many representatives each constituency should re-
turn ? The settlement of this must necessarily be
deferred until it was decided what the constituencies
should be.

I return, then, again to the primary measures with
hich I began, and which, I think, we ought to try to
win from Parliament as now constituted; and to the
endeavours to obtain these measures Reformers ought,
I think, at present to confine themselves.
1. Extension of the Suffrage.
2. Secret Voting.
3. Triennial Parliaments.

The second and third questions are well understood,
and I therefore shall not say a word in favour of them,
as it would be unnecessary.
On the first of these three questions, the Extension
of the Suffrage, it is requisite I should explain my
meaning clearly ; since it is upon that question princi-
pally that a difference of opinion exists between the re-
formers of the middle, and the reformers of the working
class. I then recommend -that the right of voting
should be given to every male person, of age, not civilly
incapacitated, who could read and write fluently, who
had had a fixed habitation in the place for which he
proposed to register himself during the six months pre-
ceding the time of registration, and had not during the
preceding twelve months received parochial relief. The
registration should, perhaps, be triennial ; and to pre-
vent manceuvre as well as tumult at the elections, and
to reduce the number of out-voters as much as pos-
sible, all elections in the United Kingdom, in case of a
general election, ought to take place on one and the
same day, and during the sane hours.
I have endeavoured to make my meaning explicit.
Dear Sir, your faithful servant,
HENRY WARBURTON.
J. G. Marshall, Esq., Chairman of the Leeds
Parliamentary Reform Association.

VOLUNTARY CHURCH SOCIETY.

The seventh Annual Meeting of this Society was
held at Edinburgh last week in the large Waterloo-
room. The Rev. W. L. Alexander, President of the
Association, in the Chair, supported on the right by the
Rev. Dr. John Ritchie, of l'otter-row Church, Coun-
cillors Black and Falkner, George Yule, Esq., Rev.
George Jacque, Auchterarder, Wm. Miller, Esq.,
S.S.C., John Ritchie, Esq., James Peddie, Esq., W.S.,
and Rev. Wm. Bruce, Cowgate Church ; and on the
left by the Rev. Andrew Marshall, Kirkintulloch, Rev.
George Johnston, Nicholson street Church, Rev. Wm.
Marshall, Leith, Councillor Gray, James Greig, Esq.,
Councillor Ralph Richardson, A. Fyfe, E 41., writer,
Rev. James Robertson, Portsburgh Church, and Tho-
mas Russell, Esq. About 600 persons were present.
After speeches from the Chairman and the Rev.
Andrew Marshall, of Kirkintulloch,

The Rev. Dr. RITCHIE moved the following reso-
lution :

" That this meeting arc of opinion that Civil Estab-
lishments of religion are unscriptural ; that it was a
sincere conviction of the truth of this that induced them
at first to organize a system of opposition to their ex-
istence : and that, cherishing still the same views, they
feel themselves constrained, by the authority of the
Divine Head of the Church, as well as cheered by the
countenance He has hitherto bestowed upon their ef-
forts, to persevere, with renewed vigour, in the promo-
tion of Voluntary Church Principles."
The resolution was seconded by Mr. JACQUE, of
Auchtcrarder, and agreed to.
The CHAIRMAN then rose, and, in the name of the
Committee of the Asswiation, presented Councillor
Black with an address expressive of their gratitude to
him for the manly stand he had lately made on behalf
of the principles of civil and religious liberty, and their
admiration of the manner in which he had maintained
the struggle.
Councillor BLACK, in returning thanks, explained
the circumstances under which he had been induced
to come forward as a candidate for the civic chair. It
was no spontaneous act of his own. It was a consi-
derable time, indeed, before he would allow his name to
be used ; but having once come forward, and finding that
the objection to him was not to his merits as a man, but
to his principles as a Dissenter, hr felt that to with-
draw under these circumstances would be to act as a
recreant to all the principles he had ever maintained.
So determined was he to resist the illiberal doctrine
upon which his election was objected to, that when, in
the course of the contest, it was proposed by some, in trier
to unite the Liberal party, to bring forward Sir James
Gibson Craig as a candidate, he (Mr. Black) said to
Sir James—who, however, laughed at the proposal
himself—" Sir James, I will not retire for you, nor no
man living." Sir James replied, " No, you would be
very wrong if you did."—( Applause.) To show that
the same feeling which defeated his election was still
at work, Mr. Black referred to the society which had
lately been instituted by the Non-Intrusionists, for the
purpose of looking after the registrations, with the view
of excluding every man from Parliament and the Town
Council who does not belong to their party. He proceed-
ed to exprcss his satisfaction with the tone of the friendly
address to -Dissenters, lately issued by certain Ministers
of the Establishment. If the friends of the Establish-
ment had only acted in that spirit from the beginning,
it would have saved a great deal of bitterness and acri-
mony. After showing the danger of allowing any esta-
blishment to be relieved from the control of the State,
Mr. Black remarked, that though he considered patron-
age to be in itself a bad thing, he thought it indispensa-
ble in the case of an establishment, just on the same
principle as chemists found one poison necessary to
counteract the effect of another poison. He then re-
ferred to the great progress which the voluntary principle
had made within the last few years ; and concluded by
expressing a hope that, by persevering in the cause of
truth, they would ultimately net only work out their
own deliverance, but also release the Church of Scot-
land from the chains in which she was at present hound.
Mr. THOMAS RUSSELL moved " That in the opi-
nion of this meeting, the religious establishment in
England is peculiarly obnoxious, because of its noto-
rious expensiveness, Erastianism, and inefficiency—
that that in Ireland, while liable to the same condem-
nation, is, besides, eminently offensive, being forced
upon a people holding a different religious faith—and
that the one in this country, though, on several ac-
counts, less odious than either, is at the present mo-
ment, in consequence of its resistance to the law of
the land, as interpreted by the highest authorities in
it, worthy of the severest reprobation of every man
who is a lover of his country, or the friend of civil
order."

Mr. JOHN DUNCAN, W.S., seconded the resolution

The Rev. JAMES ROBERTSON, in an excellent speech
which we are sorry our limits forbid us to insert
moved, " That this meeting hold that Voluntary
Churchmen cannot operate with the Anti-Patronage'
and Independence ' party in the Church of Scotland,
for these reasons amongst others—because that party,
as formerly stated, arc engaged in a course of opposition
to the law; because, by popularizing,as it may be called,
the Church of Scotland, they hope to weaken and even
to extirpate Dissent ; because, an endowed body ought
on no account to be a❑ independent or irresponsible one,
and because, even if independent, yet if endowed, the
Church of Scotland would be setting at defiance the
grand financial law of Christ's house, the recognition of
which law in the case of every Church it is the leading
object of this Society to secure."
Mr. CHARLES SPENCE seconded the Resolution.
Councillor GRAY then moved a vote of thanks to the
Chairman, which was carried by acclamation.
The meeting then broke up.

MR. RICHARD OASTLER —On Monday
evening, a public tea-drinking and ball were held in the
Philosophical Hall, Huddersfield, for the benefit of Mr.
Oastler, late candidate for the representation of that bo-
rough, who is now immured in the Fleet-prison for debt, at
the suit of Thomas Thornhill, Esq., proprietor of the
Fixby Estates, fur which estates Mr. Oastler was stew-
rd. The charge of admittance was Is.—upwards of 600
were present. The company was a mixed one, and corn
prised the personal and political friends of Mr. Oastler,
high and low Churchmen, Methodists, Dissenters,
and Socialists, and also a large number of factory youths
and maiden,,.—Leeds Times.

COLLISION ON THE RIVER.—SINKING OF
THE VESTA, OFF GRaVESEND.-0:1 Saturday afternoon
►ast, between the hours of two and three, a serious acci-
dent occurred in the river, off Gravesend, by the brig
Sarah, of London, coming into collision and sinking the
barque Vesta, from Sunderland. It appeprs that the
Vesta was lying at anchor southward of raid-channel, oppo-
site the Clifton Baths, waiting for the flood tide to pro-
ceed up to London. The brig was bearing down the
channel, and came in contact with the Vesta with frightful
violence. Several beats put off from shore with assist.
ance, and every possible means were adopted to prevent the
vessel from sinking, but without effect, and she sank in
deep water. It is expected she will be got up in the course
of the present week, She is laden with coals.
THE FORTIFICATION OF PA the
year 1788, a project was set on foot for fortifying Paris,
and was actually commenced. It gave rise at that time
to a good deal of discussion, although perhaps not so ani-
mated a one as the present, and the following pun was
made upon the subject, " Le mur murant Paris rend
i Paris murmurant."