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

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Srn,—lt is quite plain that all Reformers will labour
in vain unless they unite to obtain some single specified
measure upon which all will agree, and that the ques-
tion is (as has been ably stated in a letter from "
Member of the League," which you have published in
The Sun of the 16th inst.) " What shall be the first
grand measure on which to unite ?" I will venture to
answer that question, and state a particular measure in
which all the Reformers of Me United Empire will, I
hope and believe, at once agree, because the adoption
of it will in substance comprehend, or at least be an
approach to, and will render it practicable in the end (if
necessary) to obtain, that particular species of further
Reform which may be most desirable in each portion
and separate department of the United Empire.
I am sanguine, perhaps too much so, but my opinions
are the result of much experience ; but, nevertheless, I
will agree to have my name written down as that of a
thickskull and stupid fellow, if the consummation of
my remedy will not be hailed as a panacea by the Re-
formers of Leeds, and,Manchester, and Edinburgh, and
Glasgow, and Ulster : and last, though not least, that
my proposed reformation will be admitted by Mr.
O'Connell himself to be much preferable, more compre-
hensive, and vastly more desirable for Ireland, in every
point of view, than the repeal of the Union.
I do not arrogate to myself the originality of my
present scheme—to you the credit of the suggestion
justly belongs ; but you merely touched sightly upon it ;
nor did you consider it with reference to each and to
all parts of the United Kingdom, but to one portion of
it only. It is, after a due consideration of its benefi-
cial and more extended operation, that I now venture
to recall your attention to the subject, in the hope that,
as a child of your own adoption, you will not abandon
and disavow it in its enlarged proportions, and that you
will sustain and cherish it to a triumphant maturity.
You will please to recollect, that although the Bri-
tish Constitution was, in the good old times (when no
registration was required), it cannot now be truly de-
scribed as a genuine Representative Government—all
freeholders under 10/., and all of that amount and up-
wards, who are impeded at the registry by objections of
form, or who abstain from being registered, are in
point of law non-electors. This modern Constitu-
tion has created a fictitious representation, as all
the non-electors are not really but only virtually re-
presented ; therefore the governing principle of the
British Constitution, as now acted upon, is not genuine
representation—it is composed of delegation, mixed
with representation, but not mixed in the proper pro-
portions. My scheme of Parliamentary reform consists
of an extension of the principle of delegation, founded
upon a more extended and equitable representative
pedestal, and thus to make the column perfect.
Here I am free to admit that my intended sugges-
tion is not worth one moment's consideration, if it be
not practicable (provided always that an anbrolien-rt:Prnt
phalanx will urge it farward)—if it will not at once, in
the opinion of all parties, add decisively to the number
of Liberal Members in the Imperial Parliament—if it
will not operate as a speedy cure for the manifold evils
of absenteeism, not in Ireland only, but also in Scotland ;
and yet my proposition only amounts to a law of regu-
lation, and not, as in other cases, to a repeal of any
fundaeauntal

There preliminary observations are, I fear, tiresome,
but, in my humble opinion, they are a necessary key to
the design which I intend availing myself of by your kind-
ness, respectfully to submit for your acceptance in a
seperate letter. I have the honour to bP, Sir,
Your obliged and obedient Servant,
VALENTINE BLAKE.

INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO.

The East India Association of Glasgow have lastly
presented a memorial to Lord Palmerston respecting
the encroachments of the Dutch in the Indian
Archipelago. The memorialists begin by referring
to the papers recently laid before Parliament (a
description of which has already been published), as
proofs of the unsuccessful attempt of the British
Government to obtain a recognition of the just in-
terpretation of the treaty of 1824, while they state
that the claims for compensation to merchants for
duties unjustly levied must be considered as departed
from, chiefly because the customs' regulations of the
Bengal Government are inconsistent with the treaty
of 1824, and are so far opposed to the rights of
British trade with Java. But, besides expressing
their regret at the decline of the trade with Java
and the other Dutch dependencies, they particu-
larly call attention to the continued encroachments
of the Dutch in extending their influence over the
independent native States, reminding the Minister
that the commerce in the Straits of Malacca mainly
depends on the intercourse with the native traders
from Sumatra, Celebes, Borneo, and other islands.
The Dutch, they say, since the cession to theta of
Fort Marlborough and the other British possessions
in Sumatra, pursuant to the treaty of 1824, have
omitted no opportunity of diverting the native trade
from Penang and Singapore, their aggressions increasing
in spite of serious complaints. That they have taken
possession of the Rajah of Sinkers territory on the
west coast of Sumatra, and also of Barus, thus
effecting a monopoly of the trade of these districts,
is already shown by the Parliamentary papers ; and
it appears by accounts received by the last over-
land mail, that they have further taken posses-
sion of the port of Tourouman, while fears are en-
tertained lest they should likewise occupy all the ports
between Sinkel and Achcea, from whence the Straits
settlements have large supplies of pepper, &c. The
memorialists add, that the Dutch have extended a set-
tlement to the north-cast coast, threatening Lancat,
Delli, and the kingdom of Sine ; so that there is every
reason to expect the entire subjugation of Sumatra, and
the destruction of all trade with Britain, except on such
terms as the Dutch shall be pleased to dictate.
Ttley then refer to Lord Palmerstee's despatch to
Sir E. C. Dtsbrowe, of the 29th August, 1839, and
his replies to Mr. Colquhoun's inquiries during the
lest Session, as showing that the interpretation put on
the sixth clause of the treaty of 1824 (declaring that
no new settlements shall be formed on the islands
without previous authority from the contracting
Governments) is such as to justify the Dutch aggres-
sions, because their own Government has sanctioned
them. Such a construction, the memorialists sub-
mit, would justify any future occupation by the
Dutch, while the British are precluded from increas-
ing their territory in the Eastern seas ; and they ex-
press as their own interpretation of the treaty, that
it binds the contracting parties to abstain from
impeding each other's trade in the Indian Archipe-
lago v,ithout the concurrent sanction of both. Refer-
ring to the Dutch Minister's note to Sir E. Mallet,
dated August 18, 1839, they quote the following ex-
pressions :—" If the high contracting Parties have, by
Articles 9 and 10 respectively, renounced the right to
conclude any treaty with the States in the Island of
Sumatra and the Peninsula of Malacca, they are
still more interdicted from sending assistance to
these States." Here the memorialists observe, the
Dutch authorities clearly consider the right to make
treaties as renounced, and therefore it is absurd for
them to war in the island. However, the Dutch
Minister justifies the occupation of Sinkel and
Barus by alleging that it formed part of the terri-
tory acquired by the Dutch East India Company
in 1669 by means of a treaty with the natives of the
West Coast. Here the memorialists urge, that ac-
cording to the third article of the treaty, which as-
sumes that each of the contracting parties has :"
given to the other notice of all existing treaties til
with the natives, and binds each of them in
like manner to give notice of every future one, .
this agreement of 1666 ought to have been communi-
cated, remarking that it is strange that the highest
civil authorities of the place, the British in the Straits,
the Government of India, and lastly, the British Go-
vernment, should all have agreed in considering
ter-
ritories as independent. The memorialisthtetreefwoares
recommend an inquiry whether such agreement
actually communicated in 182,1, since, if it were not,
tinheenydleitoip.
But Sumatra is not the e that a cession of the territories will be de-
only island to which the
meinorielists would call the attention of
1. lepliso
subject to the sameea of
Palmer-
ston. Celebes and Borneo
system of encroachment, pre-
tensions being there likewise
act
enforced,
rte
cioa
enr
d, ono b
ancient treaties, is highly so that it expedient, the
memorialists observe, to ascertain at any rate what
the exact Pretensions are, and if, unfortunately, the ter-
rite es s
should turn out tol
belong to the Dutch,
‘
to ascertain on what terms access to them may be ob-
tained.
After instancing some cases of the difficulties
that have been raised in the shape of duties to impede
British imports into Dutch Indian ports, the memo-
rialists observe, that if such system is allowed to con-
tinue, and the treaty so interpreted as to justify such a
system, that tteaty, the object of which was to provide
for freedom of trade, will produce an effect precisely the
reverse, and strike a severe blow at British commerce

MAJOR-GENERAL SIR HENRY WORSLEY,
G. C. 8., (whose decease we mentioned a few days since),
enibarktd for India in 1780 ; obtained an Ensigucy in
1781 ; was employed in the Mysore wrr in 1790, and in
the operations at Seringapatarn ; in 1803 he participated
in the brilliant achievements of General Lake, the cap-
ture of Alligurh, and the battles of Delhi and Las-
warree ; in 1804, having attained the rank of Major,
he commanded a detachment against Holkar ; in 1805
was appointed Adjutant-General to the Army under the
Presidency of Bengal ; in 1813 become Principal Private
Secretary to Lord Moira, Governor-General of India;
and in 1818 was appointed Secretary to the Government
in the military department, an office he ?Alertly after re.
signed on account of the bad state of his health. Sir
Henry was born the 20th Jan., 1768, the second son of
the Rev. Francis Worsley, Rector of Chafe, in the Isle of
Wight, the descendant of a younger branch of the ancient
family of Worsley„ of. Apuldereombe.—Churton's Knight.
age of Great BritainAn4 Ireland.

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