The Sun.
London, England, 1834-12-17 00:00:00

VIM SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 184

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elector wa3 situate. The main purpose of the
meeting of the Common Council yesterday was to re-
move this anomaly, to regulate the exercise of the
franchise by placing it on a more equal footing, and to
regulate according to some fixed principles the general
right of voting. After the discussion was opened, Mr.
Deputy WO OD moved the following important resolution
as a remedy for the evil complained of, which he was
of opinion admitted of no delay in the application of
some means of removal ;—" That, in order to secure
the respectability of the Court, and a judicious exer-
cise of the discretionary power, due caution should be
taken in the election of gentlemen to fill the magisterial
chair ; and as the present _choice is confined to a few,
and, generally speaking, a very small proportion of
each ward, claiming an exclusive persimal privilege,
some may be made Aldermen. without the approbation,
if not in opposition to the wishes and even the in-
terests, of the great bulk of the inhabitants, it is de-
sirable, therefore, to alter the present description of
the electors to that office ; and for such purpose we
recommend that all persons within each ward, capably
of voting for Members of Parliament for the City of
London, under the Act of Parliament of the 2d of
WILLIAM IV., c. 4, entitled An Act to amend the
representation of the people in England and Wales,'
should have votes in the election of aldermen, and
should be made compellable to serve all ward and cor-
porate offices ; that the Common Council and ward-
offiers should be elected by the same parties who elect
aldermen, and that the electors of Common-halls
should be those who are qualified to vote under the
Reform Act,"
Upon this resolution Mr. PRITCHA RD moved as
an amendment :—" That one uniform right of voting
ought to be established for the election of the mayor,
sheriffs, aldermen, chamberlain, common-councilmen,
and auditors of this city, and that such right of
voting ought to be enjoyed by all freemen house-
holders of not less than 101. annual value, paying
scot and bearing lot, who shall be free at the time
of election, and who have resided twelve months
within the city." This amendment, which is a great
improvement on the original motion was, we are happy
to announce, carried by a considerable majority, the
101. qualification, and the condition of a year's resi-
dence within the ward, being omitted. This con-
duct speaks well for the liberality and sound
constitutional principles of the good citizens of Lon-
don. Let them go on thus—let them conform
their institutions to the laws, customs, and habits o
the country, and they will supersede the necessity of
Parliament interfering with their ancient privileges.

The great public meeting of the electors of the
Western Division of the county of Somerset, which
took place cn Monday last at Taunton, is a proof
that the spirit of Reform is just as much on the
alert in this county, as it is in all the other counties
in England. Sir THOMAS LETIIBRIDGE, who de-
servedly possesses great influence in Somersetshire,
was present on the occasion, and made an ad-
mirable speech, temperate, but firm, and full of valu-
able suggestions. The Hon. Baronet well remarked,
" I look upon it as the great benefit of the Reform
Act that public opinion. must henceforth govern the
country. In vain now for men, let them be ever so
signally great in other things, to say to Reform ',Stop,
Halt,'—it cannot be, because as yet the commence-

runt only of Reform has yet taken place. Reform
is now as warmly desired as ever, and I give you this
bit of consolation—you are sure to have it
under any circumstances." Truer words than these
were never spoken. Were even An Ultra Tory,
instead of a Tory Administration, now to take
the helm, it must either consent 1.0 walk side

by side with
else be
IL PEEL
and even keep ahead of, Aeform, or
Prepared to be tratnpled on. No
,doubt Sir
to a considerable extent is aware of this ;
still the
country, wise from experience, entertains such a

lions of the new Administration become a question ?And
how are we to understand the following words ?
" We might safely say, that in a Cabinet of which Sir
ROBERT PEEL, the Duke of WELLINGTON, and
Lord LYNDHURST are the leaders, the subordinate
members are not likely to exercise any independent
power." Is this intended as a compliment to the
Triumvirate or to the Subordinates ?
With respect to the time at which the Par-
liament is dissolved, it does not appear to us a
matter of great importance. It is but a choice of evils
for the Ministers. If they dissolve now, they at once
disclose their Anti-Reform tendencies. If they meet the
present Parliament, they do so under the disadvantage
that, if they propose meddling with the Church and
the Corporations, they will lose the support of all
the honest Ultra-Tories in the kingdom ; and
if their so-called measures of Reform should not
be ample enough to satisfy the views of the House of
Commons, the House will hoist them up to its own
standard, which will bring on a collision with the
Lords. If a dissolution is resorted to under such
circumstances, the Members will go back to their
constituents, with the strongest possible claims on their
gratitude and confidence.

We are truly happy to find, from a report of the
proceedings of the Common Council, which is given
in another part of The Sun, that there is a deep and
settled conviction in the minds of the citizens of Lon-
• don, of the necessity of conforming ancient usages to
the spirit of the times in which we live. In all elec-
tive governments—and in all mixed monarchies in
which the right of election is recognised, to consoli-
date the bases and purify the exercise of the franchise,
are the only effectual means for maintaining rational li-
berty, and securing the righteous administration ofjus-
tice. The statesman who proposes a plan for
defending the free exercise of the right of
election, lays the axe to the root of all cor-
ruption in Government ; if he carry it, and bring it
into operation, he has (lone his duty ; what remains
belongs to the people—it is their part to do all the
rest. Happily for this country, all Reformers- are
acting on this principle. The best-informed citizens
of London have long laboured to extend the fran
chise within the City, and have frequently coin•
plained, that by confining the election of Cor-
porate officers to members of the Livery, the
natural rights of Englishmen were violated in
the persons of the freemen, who were taxed
without their consent. Since the passing of
the Reform Bill this abuse has become so
glaring, by contrast with the provisions of that
Act, as to silence every stickler for a con-
formity with past usages. It looked monstrous that a
citizen of London should have the right of voting for
a Member to represent himself in Parliament, and }'et
continue ineligible to vote for an Alderman, to watch
over the interests of the Ward in which he lived,
and in which his qualification as a Parliarnentar

"It is said, why should the Whigs be dismissed
from office, if the Duke of WELLINGTON a►►d Sir
ROBERT PEEL intend to pursue the self-same plans
as the Whigs ; THEY WILL NOT DO SO I and if they
did I would not support them." Was this notable
asseveration indebted for its birth to authority or pre-
science ? The people have long indulged in a little
gratuitous soothsaying about this matter, and it is really
delightful to have such corroborative testimony from so
excellent a source ; but if the intelligence was commu-
nicated from authority, they cannot well m'stake the
path they ought to follow. Let them then bear this
well in remembrance—the Duke and Sir ROBERT
tvill not do so. Nothing can be clearer or more dis-
tinct ; what more would the people ask ?
We have made these extracts (from a speech too
silly to laugh at) but for one purpose—they are a Tory
declaration of Tory doctrines, the disclosure of Minis-
terial disposition, by a true thick-and-thin supporter
of the Ministry. It is well to know the nature of the
weapons with which an enemy intends to assail us ;
doubt, therefore, need no longer be one of our alarms.
There is the adverse force—we have the power to op-
pose it successfully if we choose. But we ought not
to sleep lethargically upon the consciousness of our
superiority. Power is valueless if not exercised. Bu
one blow requires to be stricken—and shall we no

We have received the whole of the Paris Journals
of Monday. The Courrier Francais devotes an ar-
ticle to the reception of M. THIERS as a Member of
the French Academy, which seems to have created a
sensation in the Parisian literary world. As many
Members of the Chamber of Deputies as could obtain
admission were present, as was also Prince TALLEY-
R AND and several other persons of great distinction.
The attendance of the Members of the Academy was
indeed extraordinary, hardly one of them being missing
on this occasion. M. THEIRS delivered a very long
oration, in which lie congratulated France on the

existence of the Academy ; lauded the Academy
for being worthy the great and mighty nation
by which it was countenanced and recognized ; and
expressed himself one of the proudest and happiest
men in the world of being thought worthy to belong to
such a body. He travelled through the whole field of
Grecian and Roman politics ; drew a parallel between
the state of France and the conditions of those departed
nurseries of liberty, and concluded without comparing
himself to DEMOSTIIENES or CICERO in forensic
eloquence, which undoubtedly was an act of wonderful

self-humiliation. He drew a comparison between the
lives of Statesmen and men of Science, and concluded
with a rapid sketch of the life of his predecessor in the
Academy—which always forms a necessary part of such
orations. The only other domestic intelligence relates
to the election movements, on which articles appear
both in the Moniteur and the Constitutionnel. As
they are entirely made up of opinion, we do not think
it worth while to detail them.

New York Papers to the. 23d ult. have been re.
ceived. They all unite in stating that the result o

the elections has been favourable to the gen6ral line
of policy advocated by General JACKSON. The Pre-
sident appears determined to crush the Bank of

the United States, and he is carrying on his project
with a high hand. Recently he has published an
order, in which he expressly forbids all Custom house
officers and others, receiving monies in the name and
under the authority of the Government, to receive the
Bank paper in payment of any sum claimed by
them. The Baltimore American states that the
amount of specie imported into the United States from

Ist December 1833, to the 30th October of the pre-
sent year, (eleven months,) is 19,640,576,82 dollars.
The amount of gold coined or re-coined at the United
States mint, since the new coin went into operation, is
° 835, 900 dollars.

The accounts of the crops in Charlestown are very

wholesome distrust of all measures that may emanate
from him and his, that dissolution, or no dissolution,
we can foresee no other fate for him than a speedy and
inglorions retreat from office. We arc delighted to see
that the general feeling at this important Western
meeting was that of unequivocal hostility to the
Tories. Sir THOMAS LETHBRIDGE, who knows
them well, said " I do not think they can ever be real
Reformers."

The new Government must needs be in raptures at
the eloquence of their friend Lord STORMONT. The
speech delivered by that sapient scion of the house of
Mansfield was so declaratory of pure Toryism, that no
doubt can remain as to the nature of its essence. Let
us catch two or three of the feathers that indicate the
. _

wind's present quarter :
" I avow," said that admirable youth, (for he has
not yet notched thirty upon his life's tally,) " that I
always had a violent dislike to the word Reform ; there
is much in a name, and I have strong feelings against
that name." No doubt of it—lives there the Tory
who does not participate in this violent dislike ? and,
if the mere " word is sufficient to throw them into
convulsions, what dire calamity might not be expected
to result from that more than word—operant reform ?
Again—

" I also • believe that the State must fall, in which
is religion and politics are not intimately blended."
To the Bench of Bishops this animating sentence must
have sounded like the cheer given to the leaders of a
forlorn hope—visions of the good old times—Church
and King, Church and State, Church in danger times
—must have flitted before their reverend eyes in bright
array. The blessed effects of the blending of Church
and State have been long eminently displayed in Spain
and Russia, to go no further for them : the late King
FERDINAND, of petticoat embroidering memory, must
needs have been a co-disciple in this sublime dogma.
We recur to it only as being illustrative of one of the
articles of the Tory faith, and requiring little animad•
version at our hands :
" But should it appear that there are abuses which
have crept into that establishment through tima, I will
willingly abide by those who desire to correct such
abuses, maintaining at the same time in its full effi-
ciency the Church Establishment."—" If am prepared
to correct abuses in the Church, I am also one of those
who would die in her defence." How refreshingly inno-
cent is the doubt here suggested—" Should it ap-
pear !" Nothing of course has yet appeared before
his Tory vision in the shape of Church abuse, but
" should it," then he is content to abide by those who,
discovering it, shall have a desire to correct it ; still,
however, being chivalrously ready to die in " her de-
fence. " The blood of the Fathers was the seed of
the Church," and half a dozen martyrs about this time
would reinstate the Holy Mother in all her lost efful-
gency ; but it is sadly to be feared that the days of
fire and faggot are gone by. Nevertheless, his Lord-
ship deserves to be canonized, were it only for the
avowal of his holy valour. Once more—

favourable, particularly of cotton. The papers further
detail a shocking outrage on the Washington Railway,
in which three deputy superintendents ,were brutally.
murdered. It does not appear what was the nature of
the provocation received by the murderers. Their appre-
hension had not taken place previous to the publica-
tion of these journals. The New York papers of the
23d thus quote the funds :—" Sales were made yes-
terday on London at 6/ per cent., and on France at
sf. 35c. Other foreign bills are rather sca,',7e, and
may be quoted ; Holland 39 cents, Hamburg 35 cents,
Bremen 77i- cents. Money continues plenty."