The Sun.
London, England, 1833-09-26 00:00:00

eating the interests and welfare of their peaceable
and industrious countrymen. Lord William
Russell consequently had good grounds for the
late admonitions which he gave them. They
have had ample time to prepare for the emer-
gency in which they stand, and they have besides
British men of war in the river, on board of
which they can at all times find adequate pro-
tection. The general interests of a country are
not to be sacrificed to the political whims of a
few turbulent or indiscreet individuals. An army
engaged in active operations cannot disturb its
plans or change its movements for the mere
satisfaction of a timid or interested neutral. The
immediate consequence of an attack on Lisbon
must necessarily be the destruction of a large
amount of private property, a proportion of
which may be British ; but on that account the
means of attack possessed by the assailant are
not to be weakened, nor are his operations to be
impeded by the unseasonable remonstrances of
a neutral Power, even in the very theatre of
the war, holding a menacing attitude. We, there-
fore, fervently hope and trust that when-
ever Lisbon, after due notice, is formally at-
tacked, no British subjects will be allowed to
remain within the fortified fines. A t the moment
of an assault it is useless to stick up placards
declaring this cellar or that warehouse to con-
tain British property. Neutrals must run the
same risks as the natives, as far as property is
concerned ; but our countrymen have had
opportunities of withdrawing from a place in
which they may be exposed to great personal
danger. Every one knows the infuriated state of
the population round Lisbon, as well as of those
who quitted the city, and their appetite for reta-
liation has unquestionably been sharpened by
the impolitic and disgraceful conduct of the
Pedroites since their entry. We therefore offer
it as our decided opinion, that, as soon as the
Commander of the Royalist army sends in a
summons, the withdrawal or embarkation of Bri-
tish subjects ought to be made imperative. If
this is not done, we declare without hesitation
that Government alone will be answerable for any
consequences which may ensue.—Morning Post.
The Itinerary of the Corporation Coannis-
sioners, extracted from the country papers,
shows the intense local interest taken in this
important inquiry. The Conservative Journals
will find it difficult to humbug the middle
classes and the people into the belief that they
are not intensely interested in the Reformation
of the Corporate Institutions. In fact, this
eventful investigation is the first great product
of the Reform Bills, and intimately concerns
the political welfare of the community. The
existing corruption poisons the fountain of jus-
tice, and destroys in effect the most valuable
rights of Englishmen. The local, civil, and
criminal jurisdictions are in a miserably defective
state ; the public property is secretly dispensed,
and illegally and injudiciously administered ; the
security of life and property is compromised ;
the persons least qualified constitute the majo-
rity of Corporators, and the inhabitants chiefly
enjoying the public confidence—from their
intellect, integrity, property, and public spirit
—are almost universally excluded from munici-
pal office. The offensive Corporations, are,
moreover, usually the tools of the Tory
Aristocracy of their neighbourhood ; and
hence the elective franchise is too often cor-
rupted and coerced. The only plausible outcry
which the" Conservatives" of these abominations
could raise was the " hobgoblin" alarm of
" property in danger," as the progress of liberal
opinions used to be arrested by the old party
watch-word of " Church in danger." But there
are no nomination Parliaments now existing to
echo these warwhoop party discord. Such a
barrier will no longer serve the formerly impreg-
nable keeps of the Corporation. Our contem-
porary, the Globe, has an excellent common-
sense article on this particular objection to the
Commission :
"It seems a stretch of absurdity almost beyond the
limits of the ordinary perverseness of political partisans,
that the right, and, under the circumstances of the
country, the propriety on the part of the Crown, of
directing, at the request of the House of Commons, an
inquiry to be made into the condition and management of
institutions so important to the common welfare of the
country as the Municipal Corporations of England, should
be disputed. To these Corporations are delegated consi-
derable powers over a very considerable part of the popu.
lation. In the hands of the Corporations, in many
instances, is placed not only the police of many towns,
but nearly the whole ordinary administration of justice
within considerable limits. Is it to be said that whether
such powers are well placed or well exercised are not fit
subjects of inquiry ? Such a pretence would need no

answer.
" But as this pretence is untenable, it is said that there
exists is the Court of King's Bench the only proper and
legal organ for the exercise of the King's right ro control
the abuse of the powers of corporations. It is true enough
that the Court of King's Bench is the only proper ordi-
nary tribunal by which these abuses can he corrected ; and
that, as that Court alone has the power to act in such cases,
it has the exclusive right to enforce the production of evi-
dence as to any abuses which may be properly brought
under its notice. But there is another Court of some im-
portance, which is forgotten by those who object to the
commission, viz., the nigh Court of Parliament, which
has at all times, without suspicion of illegality, inquired,
whenever it has thought fit, as well whether the legal
powers of the subordinate authorities of the kingdom have
been properly exercised, as whether there is anything i❑
the very constitution of these subordinate authorities which
requires amendment. One of the Houses of Parliament,
not being able itself to collect the information it has de-
sired concerning the state of municipal corporations,
begged the King to take measures for collecting it ; and it
is the compliance with this request which is considered a
symptom of revolutionary violence.
" Without looking a step forward—without guessing
(for no one can possibly know) what Parliament will
do in consequence of the information which may be
furnished to it—is there any one who can possibly
doubt that it is allowable, that it is highly proper, not
to say necessary, that the legislative body, which alone
can correct the defects of the institutions of the country,
should have before it an accurate account of the state
of the municipal corporations of the kingdom? This is
all that is wanted ; to procure it is all that the Com-
missioners can do. The labour surely is ❑ot supereroga•
tory. From the great diversity of the constitutions of
Corporations—from the party violence with which, where
they are of importance, their conduct is assailed and vin-
dicated—no man, whatever diligence he u,es in consulting
the ordinary sources of information, can form anything
but a very vague and general idea of their condition anti
their effect on the country.
" No doubt the information collected by the Commis ion
might be made the means of facilitating an attack on pro-
perty—but so might the Property Tax Returns, the
Returns of the number of persons receiving dividends at
the Bank of England, and many other descriptions of
information which are placed without suspicion in the
power of Parliament. We have certainly ob,erved some
expressions which have dropped from defenders of the
Commission, which would indicate the expectation of
these persons that measures would fallow from the Com
mission which would be justly alarming to the country.
But the Commission must be judged of on its own merits,
and not on the indiscretion of any of its friends or the
suspicious of its enemies. Any step to reform may, and
generally does, raise the hopes of revolutionists; but of
this we have a sufficient assurance in the past conduct of
Parliament, that while it removes abuses, it will maintain
all rights which ought to be protected, and that it will
rather err on the side of respect for private property, tha❑
wantonly invade anything which properly deserves that
name."
This solvent of the Tory fallacies is perfect,
and needs no additional ingredient. The Jour-
nal of the Leicester Co-operatives will find it