The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-15 00:00:00

Ole Ufa

LONDON:
THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1841.

The present plan of registering voters is a
scheme of the authors of the Refonri Act. It is
intended to facilitate the exercise of the right
of voting, and to keep that right el:clusively in
the hinds of the electors constituted under the
Act. The principal object, however , was to en-
force and secure the limitations of t' he franchise.

It must be admitted that it h Is facilitated
taking the poll.. The Reform Act ,by register-
ing the voters, has prevented disputes and im-
proper personation, riot, and turbulence. Nu-
merous as have been our riots at Nottingham,
Carlisle, Dublin, Waterford, &c., there would
have been more confusion and distu?bance, had
there been no registration of voters. So far the
registration of voters has been useful, but its be-
neficial results might probably have been ob-
tained by a much simpler system of registration,
could such a system have
.been connected with
the varied franchises which the Reorm Act left
in existence.

The other intention of the framers of the
scheme has also been effectual. Th.?, limitations
to the franchise, with the exception of creating
fictitious qualifications, against which no system
of registration can guard, have been enforced.
Lawyers have been engaged to see them put
into execution, and party warfare, under the
guidance of paid agents, has been carried, 1)y the
advice of the great Conservative leader, into the
'Registration Courts. The Tories have fought
their battles there with success. From th is part
of the scheme a consequence has ensued which
neither its authors nor the public antic ipated.
The political rights of the community ha. Te been
placed at the mercy of jobbing attorneys. We see
a long list ofLiberal voters registered at fo-r mer and
present elections, from which it result.; that the
contest between principles of Govern) nent has
been mainly decided by the skill of Tory agents
in placing partisans on the register, and the
neglect of Whig agents in performing t ;he same
duty. The people, it appears from this, c annot do
it for themselves. The system is so cmmbrous
and complicated that they cannot secure: by their
own exertions the rights the Constitution intended
to bestow, nor protect themselves against the
craft of the wily attorneys of their political oppo-
nents.

From this circumstance it is to be inferred that
the present system of registration is erroneous"
and it will become some of the Liberal lembers
to devise and bring forward a plan for in iproving
the registration. Let them teach the Tories how
to make good and useful laws. That the voters
should be registered is indispensible t•O the easy
and peaceable exercise of their rights; , but they
should be enabled to ensure their own registra-
tion without the assistance of a lawyer, or putting
themselves to much inconvenience. It seems to
us a misapprehension of the nature of the points
to be ascertained to appoint lawyers of any de-
Scription to revise registers. Revising Barristers
and Courts of Revision are a mistake. The rights
to be settled are not complicated rights of pro-
perty, but mere occupancy, residence, and rate-
paying, which the overseer of a parish should be
competent finally to decide, without the assist-
ance of professional men. We trust that some
in dependent Member will at once turn his atten-
tion to the subject, with a view of simplifying
and improving registration, which is a very
useful part of 'the Reform Act.

We learn from Manchester that a National
Conference of Ministers of all religious denomi-
nations, on the subject of the laws restricting
the food of the community, is to be held in
Manchester, commencing Tuesday, August 17,
1841.

This has been brought about principally by
the instrumentality of Mr. GEO. THOMPSON,
who has already made himself celebrated by his
advocacy of the cause of the slave in both he..
mispheres. He convened a meeting by a circu-
lar, o; which the following is a passage :
The aspect of public affairs, at this juncture, is fear-
fully ominous of collision and animosity between the
different classes of the community, and seems to demand
the prayerful interposition and co-operation of all who
desire the peace of our population, and the prosperity of
the empire.
Our consultations have brought us to the unanimous
conclusion, that the attention of the religious public
should be immediately directed—
To the effects of the monopoly in food ;
To the principles upon which the law of that mono-
polY is based ; and
TO the most legitimate and Christian means of obtain-
_ ing an equitable settlement of the question, without
~,,
,cl2al convulsion, and__ without. injury to the just, interests
1-, )._.`Vi ...,,r, ill, r!.a,s,.‘ t our fellow-citizens.
r‘''.,'''''r - -WePl3;"eight ministers attended the meeting,
Al''
;41,-k

: 4r

who came to a unanimous resolution that a con-
ference was desirable, and that it should be held
between the 15th and 22d of August. A Com-
mittee, appointed to carry the resolution into
effect, have issued an address to the ministers of
all religious denominations throughout the
United Kingdom, of which this is a portion :

We are surrounded by scenes of want and misery,
over which our hearts have long mourned with the power
of affording hale, beyond the consolation of mere words.
The conviction has been forced upon our minds,
that the sufferings we deplore, and the calamities we
would avert, may be traced, in a great degree, to the
operation of the laws which produce a scarcity of the
necessaries of life, by circumscribing the bounties of
Divine Providence. 1
We think we may be permitted to say that, to no
body of men ought such momentous questions to be
submitted with a better prospect of a calm, an enligh-
tened, and an honest solution, than to that body which
we desire to convene—a body composed of men who,
while deeply sympathizing in the wants and woes of the
poor, profess to respect the just rights of all, and to be
guided equally by the feelings of a disinterested bene-
volence and the dictates of an uncompromising morality.
We cannot doubt that the decisions of such a body would
exercise a benign and beneficial influence over the na-
tion at large.
Unite with us in an effort for the common weal and
general safety. For a while let us lay aside our sectarian
and partizan differences, and, on the hallowed ground of
Christian charity, assemble for the purpose of bettering
the condition of famishing multitudes.
As the friends of humanity, let us plead the cause of
the poor.
As the expounders and defenders of the principles of
immutable justice, let us protes against laws, under
whatever form, which deny to our necessitous fellow-
countrymen a share in the bounties which the Creator
has provided for the wants of all his creatures.
As the ministers of religion, let us remove, if it be pos-
sible, the causes which are engendering a frightful amount
of immorality and impiety.
As patriots, burning with a love of country, let us make
an effort to put away the occasions of disaffection and
animosity, and to restore peace and harmony to a now
' unhappily distracted people ; and may the blessing of
God rest upon our meeting !
We rejoice very much to see this important,
moral, political, and religious question taken up
by these earnest and sincere men. Theit appeal
will, we trust, be responded to from every part
of the kingdom, and congregations who take a
deep interest in the question, and are fortunate
enough to have a pastor who agrees with them
in sentiment, should depute him to attend at
Manchester on their behalf. Before the solemn,
devout, and fervent convictions of such men, the
shallow sophistries of a STANLEY, the hollow
and disgusting plausibilities of a PEEL, and the
common-place niaseries of the herd of vulgar
politicians, put forth to serve a temporary party
purpose, or taken up without a moment's reflec-
tion, will vanish like the foul mists of the night
before the rising sun. Even if the Confer-
ence should do nothing else, it will bring
together, personally acquainted as the several
pastors must be with the actual condition
of the people, a greater body of testimony
to their sufferings than could by any other
means be collected. It will be sure also to give a
religious sanction to the great struggle in which
the people have embarked, and make the abolition
of the Corn-law a religious question in every
part of the empire.
And why should it not be made a religious
question ? Every duty of man is connected with
religion, which is of no earthly value if it be not
a guide to actions. The clergy of the Established
Church take it upon themselves to preach up
the duty of obedience to the law. Would they
dare to tell men they ought to obey a law which
enjoined parricide or infanticide ? They would
not, because they know that doing so would
expose them to universal scorn and horror.
The preaching obedience to the law implies,
therefore, an obligation to ascertain that the law
is just, or the preachers may peril their own
souls. Our Bishops in Parliament lie under a
double obligation—the obligation which they
share in common with the lay legislators to
make laws exclusively for the public welfare, not
for the enrichment of individuals, and the obli-
gation, which is exclusively their own, to take
especial care that the law be just before they
venture in the name of religion to enjoin men to
obey it.
To discuss the great question of the Corn-
laws on the grounds of humanity and justice,
will get rid of these objections, founded on most
imperfect information as to prices, fertility of
soil, and cost of production at home and abroad,
which are only introduced by the bread-taxers
to perplex and harass their opponents, and stave
off an unpleasant conclusion. Suppose there
were all the difference of the cost of raising
wheat between England and the Ukraine which
some persons have represented, suppose that
there are regions of boundless fertility, ready
to pour their produce into our country, by what
right does the Legislature withhold that pro-
duce from the millions of people who want it,
and who are willing to pay for it. Suppose that
two, or even ten millions of acres were to
be put out of cultivation by the abolition of
the Corn-laws, what have all those sup-
positions to do with the plain and un-
deniable facts, that the Corn-laws were passed
and are now maintained to keep up rents, and
that they annually doom a great. number of our
people to hunger and starvation ? What have all
those fear-born fancies to do with the fact that
the law is unjust, and such a law as no Legisla-
ture can with safety make, for it violates all the
principles on which any Legislature asks for, or
can claim, the obedience of any people ? The
Conference will make short work, we trust, with
meiely political and party objections, and set
the example of deciding questions of legislation
by the great principles of right and wrong, not
by the ii.nagined expediencies of men as much
iutefested and as selfish as ever lived.

Besides the ordinary Paris Journals of Tuesday, we
have received news from the French capital of Wednes-
day's date, with interesting intelligence from Toulouse,
Madrid, Athens, Candia, and Constantinople, a summary
of which will be found in another part of The Sun. The
French Government is at this moment labouring under
great embarrassment as regards alike its foreign and do-
mestic policy. In the East it knows not well
which way to turn ; and the riots at Toulouse
augur but indifferently for the chances of collecting the
taxes which are to embastille Paris. Austria is making
some advances to France, but it is doubtful whether they
are made to the nation or to soothe the irritability of
SOCLT, whose title as Duke of Dalmatia, Prince
METTERNICH has formally refused to recognize. A
closer alliance with Russia has been recommend-
ed ; but of what use would such an alliance be now %
Egypt is no longer within the grasp of France, and Eng-
land is too powerful in the Mediterranean for LOUIS-
PHILIPPE to think of seizing Candia. Besides, an
union between Russia and France would lead to a
closer alliance between England, Austria, and
Prussia, and the Porte, so that the balance of
power would remain retty equally poised. It
may appear strange to moot such topics only two days
but in truttliN vng
after the si • of a new alliance by the Five Powers,
should not feel surprised to learn some
four months hence
record of the that the new treaty was as much a
of
past as the Treaty of July, which it
has superseded. is in a state of rapid transi-
tion and treaties the present day guaranteeing a
parchment eternity
are little better than truces
on the part of kingdoms,
depending for duration on
the general interest and national convenience. Every-
thing is done for, and in
when done, such is the rapid name of the future ; but
Progress of events, that it is
only suitable to the past.
Lord PALMERSTON'S speech at Tiverton has stirred the
bile of the French press. They cannot
atro-
cities imputed by his Lordship to the French
the
Africa, but they contend that they are no troops in
so great, as those committed under the command
nragreater, nor
WELLINGTON by the British forces in Indial.'gids of a
is so
glaring—so monstrous a falsehood, that it r •
equires no
serious notice.
A Leghorn letter, 2d inst., states that the British sloop
of war Hazard, Captain Elliott, arrived in that port on the
preceding evening from Genoa, on her way to Malta. The
Swedish frigate Chapman had taken her departure homeward
bound.
The Cologne Gazette relates that the Margravine of Baden,
who has been recently taking the waters at Ems, in returning
a few evenings since, from the apartments of the Princess of
Wasa to her own in the same hotel, perceived a glaring light
in the bed-chamber of the Princess's daughter, which she im-
mediately entered, and found in flames. With the utmost
promptitude and resolution, she caught in her arms the young
Princess, who was still asleep, and carried her safe out of
danger. The people of the house, in ten minutes more, sue_
cecded in extinguishing the fire. The accident appears to
have been caused by a femme de chambre, who fainted wi'h
affright, but was also saved without injury.
—'The following incident is said to have occurred in the
Loir-et-Cher, during the recent earthquake. A young woman,
travelling on foot between Villefranche et Romorantin, was
thrown down by the shock, and, when recovered, •
declared that
it arose from her foot sinking into a hole. It was, however,
clearly ascertained that no such thing existed on the spot where
she fill.
-- In order to repair the foundations of the church at Pont.
devaux, in the Ain, it became necessary, a short time since, to
take up the remains of General Joubert, who was killed at
Novi, in 1799, which have been dejosited in the vault for 43

years. They had been inclosed in three coffins—one of leai
another of deal, and a third of oak. The two last were decayed
from time and damp, but a wreath of laurel placed between
them was still existing. The remaining coffin, with its con-
tents, is placed in the choir till the repairs are finished, and has
been visited by the surviving relations of the General and nu-
merous other persons.
A few days ago, an English workman, who was blasting
a portion of the rock at the Col de Tourville, on the line of the
Paris and Rouen Railway, was struck by some of the fragments,
and killed on the spot.
A chemist, at Orleans, was a few days ago preparing some
fulminating powder, when, by an unforeseen accident in the
process, an explosion took place, and he was so dreadfully
lacerated in the head and face that, for some time, it was be-
lieved he was killed. On closer examination, however, it was
found that he was still living, but with one of his eyes forced
from the socket, and the other so injured as to render it im-
probable he will recover the use of it. His life is out danger.
It is rumoured that the Municipal Council of Paris has
decided on levying a fixed Octroi duty upon poultry, sea and
fresh water fish, and oysters.
The Municipal Council is said to be contemplating a
realisation of the original design of the colossal elephant formed
in 1813, but still remaining in plaster on the Place de la Bas-
tille. Messrs. Seyez and Inge have tendered to make a cast
of it in bronze for 900,000 fr. The situation proposed is again
said to be the centre of the Rond Point at the Barriere du
Trone, forming a monumental fountain, surrounded by trees,
columns, and candelabra with lamps in the style of the Place de
la Concorde. On this occasion the sculptures of the two co-
lumns at the Barriere du Trone would be finished.

Mme. Jaquotot, the celebrated painter on porcelain and
in enamel, is returned from Italy, where she has been chiefly
employed in studying the master. pieces of Raphael. She has
brought back with her copies of his portrait of himself, that of
Pope Julius 11., and of his St. Cecilia, with others, all of
which have been made in execution of orders given by the
King.
The annual practice of the artillery at Vincennes will be
opened this week. Firing at marks will take place as usual,
before the Polygon, on the mornings of Tuesdays, Thursdays,
and Saturdays, from 6 till 10.
--It is stated that the Council of Ministers, at its next meet-
ing, will take into consideration whether the authorisation for
the Administration des Hospices to receive the property which
the Baron de T.eucheres claims to be entitled to. in consequence
of the death of his wife, shall receive the King's sign manual.
The price paid for the Hotel de Bragance, Rue de Cour-
celles, by the Queen Dowager of Spain, is 515,000 f.
SUICIDES.—On Sunday, M. C., a gentleman of pro-
perty, killed himself by jumping out of the window of his
apartment, on the Quai des Augustins. This suicide is attri-
buted to grief for the loss of his son, who was killed in
Africa, of which he had received intelligence a few days be-
fore. The same day, a man, thirty years of age, was seen to
go from the shore at Puteaux to a raft of wood moored near it,
and, getting close to the water's edge, discharged a pistol into
his mouth. He effectually killed himself , but did not, as was
evidently his design, fall into the river. In his pocket was a
paper, on which was written, in pencil, " I was anxious to
assist my parents ; but, being unable, I have resolved to die
far from them."—Montmartre was on Sunday the theatre of
two suicides, one by a woman named- Dubois, aged 75, who
threw herself into a well, and the other by another woman,
who suffocated herself with charcoal, involving her baby, only
six months old, in the same act of destruction.
When the last census was made, there were in the de-
partment of the Seine 72,000 persons having patentes or li-
censes to trade, but after deducting those of the sixth and
seventh classes, arti.ans and journeymen liable to the patent or
license duty, the number is reduced to 38,000 tradesmen.
A letter from Vienna, sth instant, in the Gazette of
Upper Germany, says—" The subscription in favour of the
National Bank of Athens is well supported by the Greeks of
our city. Baron Sina alone has signed for 200,000 drachmas,
about 180,000 f. The crisis in the chases of public companies
continues. All the railway shares have fallen. This is ex-
plained by the emission of the 5 per cent. loan, and the diffi-
culty of obtaining discounts from the National Bank."
BOURSE—PARIS, TUESDAY, JULY 13.

first Highest Lowest Last
Price Price. Pric4, Price
French:. per Cents ll5 115 05... I'4 91 ... 115
4h, per Cents 104 60 ... 104 60 ... 104 ... 104 60
4 per Cents 99 25 ... 99 2.5 ... 99 25 99 25
3 per Cents. ex. div 76 7il 76 70 ... 76 60 ... 16 65
hank or trance
Laditte Bank. 1,0001. Stares 113, ...1135 ...1035

5,0001. Stares 5105 ...5105 ...5102 50 ...5102 50
,cleian Plank
Belgian 5 per Cents. ...
New Loan ltr2g, ... 1.2. g ... 1e234 ... 1(2%
ipanish;Act►ve 22 ... 22 ... 12 ... •2
Passive 5 .. 5 ... 5 ... 5
Neapolitan lO2 90 ... 102 90 ... 1f,2 90 ... iC2 90
Homan .... 102 ... 102 ... 101% ... 102