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

REFORM.

Among the Letters addressed to the Leeds Reform
Association, on occasion of their late meeting, and pub-
lished by that body, the two following seem worthy of
public notice :

EARL FITZWILLIAITS 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 Committee 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 are we to
repeat such exoeriments every eighth or tenth year ?
Whoever did not feel that by engaging in thoso 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 the application
of a very extensive remedy. The hands which ad-
ministered it had great 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 England is not satisfied
with every vote of the House of Commons. Why,
this is only saying that there is great variety of thought
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,
Parliament entertains another ; and therefore, say
these gentlemen, Parliament must be again reformed,
and the experiment of a second revolution must be
tried. Tile 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," Sze. 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 little doubt that the same may be
predicated, as of the popularity of the question to which
I allude.

Not believing, therefore, that there is now (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,
FITZ WILLIAM.
To J. G. Marshall, Esq. Leeds.

MR. WARBURTON'S LETTER.
CARDIGAN PLACE, JAR. 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 be 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 inforniation 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 I.lw. " 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
see 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
and ; 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, are 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, and of slow execution after
they are decided on, and while they are being carried
into effect. When carried, therefore, a Parliament
might quickly be returned according to the new plan.
a. They are not of a nature 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 indispensable steps to making further pro-
gress in it.
These primary questions once carried, there are 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
consta ueting 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. Lamhton.
That 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 Mercury; and that such
an alteration, taken singly, would have a strong ten-
dency to Anti Reform, and would require to be
fhis
it thendoes i
nots n not
oni o
coun-
teracted by very strong measures of an opposite ten-
dency,e o cmaynnporti,rolstrhyi nroke,osbueredsisopf Reformuted
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