The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-25 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
(From the Morning Chronicle.)
The great Reform Meeting. at Leeds was followed by
a dinner in the evening, the account of the proceedings
at which will be found in this day's Chronicle. Mr.
O'Connell, who, in consequence of accidents did not
reach Leeds in time for the meeting, was present at the
dinner. The great feature of the proceedings at Leeds,
was the approximation towards a better understanding
between the Radicals and the Chartists. The Leeds

Mercury observes, that " the result of the great fea-
filial is, that the household suffragers have gone over
en masse (so far as the public have any means of
judging) to the universal suffragers." The Leeds Mer-
cury has been endeavouring, with more zeal and indus-
try than success, to show that the towns in which Li-
beral principles prevail, have at present a preponderance
in the representation, and that the changes contemplated
by the advocates of household suffrage would give an
undue ascendancy to the aristocracy. On this subject
it observes, in answer to a charge brought against it by
Mr. James Marshall, the Chairman of the meeting, of
having openly and prominently appealed to the pre-
judices, the unfounded fears, and self interest of the
middle classes of our town population—

" We have advocated what we most conscientiously and
firmly believe to be that constituency and that system of
representation which will best secure good and liberal go-
vernment. This is our object. We avow in the broadest
possible manner that our views are practical. We cannot
rush with our eyes open into the adoption of a constitu-
ency that would give us a worse and a less liberal Govern-
vernment than we have at present. We cannot consen,
to destroy the Constitution, for the sake of destroying
Liberal Government. We cannot abandon the firm ground
on which the English Constitution placed our liber
ties, when it gave to the towns a larger share in
the representation than their mere numbers would en-
title them to. We cannot admit that the rural
population are either so independent or so intelli-
gent as the town population, and therefore we can-
not swamp the latter under the false notion of
ab-
stract justice to the former. We cannot and will not
slaughter the English Constitution, and give up
the moderate, well-tempered, well-principled, and en-
lightened democracy of the middle classes of our town po-
pulation as the main bulwark of English liberty. If we
thought the rural population as well qualified as the town
population to use the entire ascendancy which the new
Reform would give them, so as to promote civil and re-
ligious liberty, and wise and fair Government, we would
advocate the scheme with delight. But who is there that
does think so ? All our principles and feelings would lead
us to advocate every extension of rights and franchises that
we think the people are fitted for."
We wish we could believe with the Leeds Mer-
cury thit the Entlish Constitution has placed our li-
berties on a firm ground when it gave us our town re-
presentation. rho small boroughs arc notoriously
dependent and venal, and ever since the passing of
the Reform Bill the evil has been on the increase.
A small borough in an agricultural district is in-
fluenced by the surrounding squires and parsons,
and cannot in fairness be included among the town con-
stituencies. " There," said Mr. O'Connell at the din-
ner, " is the town of Harwich, with but 79 voters,
sending two Members to Parliament, while this Riding
of Yorkshire, with 35,000 voters, has only the same
number of representatives." The great constituencies
are swamped by the small. The meeting at Leeds,
were it to have had no other effect than the bringing
together the middle and working classes, who have for
some time been neutralising the effarts of each other,
will have been productive of great good. What said
Mr. Moir, the delegate from Glasgow? " The Char-
tists of Glasgow are so numerous that neither Whigs
nor Tories, nor both of them united, can call
a public meeting at any hour of the day or night
with a shadow of chance of success. I can tell you
the Chartists of Scotland are not an inconsiderable
body of men, for there is not a town of any conse-
quence, when public meeting may be called,
where the Chartists cannot carry their own views."
be somewhat exaggerated ; but,
in
allowance for exaggeration, 4here is
Phis
king
account
every may
enough in it to show the danger to the cause of Re-
form from such an untoward state of things. The Char-
tists arc much less to be apprehended in union with the
middle classes than in a state of separation. Mr.
O'Connell threw out an admirable suggestion. " You
ought to have a central association at London, so formed
that, whilst acting in perfect concert with you, it would
still be within the bounds of the law. Let that asso-
ciation bring out such arithmetical facts as I have been
dealing with to-night." By means of the labours of
such an association, correct information may be ob-
tained of the real condition of things with reference to
the representation in the three kingdoms. During the
short period that has elapsed since the passing of the
Reform Bill, a number of boroughs, then supposed to
be independent, have become completely rotten. The
association will furet out those things, and by con-
necting them with their causes, it will enable us to
devise an appropriate remedy for the evil.
(From the Morning Post.)
The proceedings of the great Conservative meeting
at Belfast, to which many columns of our paper are de-
voted, will be read with intense interest at this particular
moment. This manifestation is a most triumphant one,
and it has the advantage of having been made exactly
at the right time, on the eve of the commencement of a
session of Parliament which will probably witness the
ascendancy in the legislature of those wise and exalted
and constitutional principles which the loyal and patri-
otic men of the north of Ireland met in such over-
whelming numbers, and in so splendid an array of talent
and virtue, and rank and wealth, to proclaim and to
support. The able letter of Lord Stanley to Mr. Emer-
son Tennent, which was read by that gentleman in
the course of his speech, breathes a spirit entirely
con genial with that which actuated the meeting. It
proclaims that the Noble Lord will proceed with
vigour and alacrity in the noble task he has under-
taken of enforcing real and substantial " justice to Ire-
land." We will not believe it possible that the exer-
tions of such a statesman as Lord Stanley, supported
by the full sympathy and the stimulating applause of
such a body of Irishmen as were assembled on Thurs-
day at Belfast, can fail of success. The meeting ex-
pressed its opinion of the repeal agitation in a resolu-
tion, the language of which ought undoubtedly to be
re-echoed by both Houses of the British Parliament
in their addresses to her Majesty on the opening of the
Session. It is intolerable that a project for dismember-
ing the Queen's dominions, by means of a seditious agi-
tation tending directly to civil war, should be actively
and special
friend zealously
(might
wp reons eoct urtaetdh,ewr ist
ahyo utth rebuke, hu
onlyke ,frbi je,n tdh?e)of
the
Queen's Ministers.

To Ivt,:iprenl,NTTraonspatolacntKic.
einserrsiivtaiestrh uLimehouse, where she
was built, for the purpose of being overhauled, and to un-
dergo some repairs. It is said that she sprung a leak
during her last voyag', and the bottom of the ship will be
carefully examined for the purpose of stopping it. The
towing up of the British Queen I)) five c.team-tugs excited
great interest in the river. One powerful tug was pulling
away ahead, one on each side of the paddle-boxes forward,
and one abaft each paddle-box. The tops of the funnels
of the tugs, good-giz^d vessels, were on a level with the
top of the British Queen's paddle-boxes, and they appeared
mere pigmies by her side. Soon after the British Queen
was taken in tow, a revenue cutter, corning upon the lar-
board tack, ran into her. The blow was a sliding one,
and the channel plates of the cutter were carried away.
On her arrival off Messrs. Curling and Young's ship.
building yard, a large steamer moored off the place was
removed to make way for her, and she was Lauled into the
dock where she was built, the only one in the kingdom
copabla of holding her. -