The Sun.
London, England, 1834-12-27 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT—ADDRESS TO
THE ELECTORS—FELLOW COUNTRYMEN—Par-
liament will be dissolved next week ; probably on
Tuesday. The people look to you, the Electors of Eng-
land, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, as their last hope, to
rescue them from mis-governmont or revolution. You
are no longer a few necessitous voters, members of close
and corrupt Corporations, slaves of men who profited
by misgovernment, but constitute the great body of the
industrious classes, deeply interested in the welfare of
the country. Most of you have for the first time been
enfranchised by the Reform Acts, which gave to you
substantially the power of returning to the House of
Commons the real representatives of the nation, through
whom alone an adequate protection can be afforded to
property and the rights of industry. You elect the mem-
bers of a Reformed House of Commons, and on you rests
the awful responsibility, at this eventful period, of se-
lecting candidates and returning representatives able
and willing to promote the great cause of civil and
religious liberty, not only in this country, but through-
out the whole civilized world. The British Constitu-
tion consists of three estates—King, Lords and Com-
mons. The Sovereign is an hereditary Monarch. He
enjoys three great privileges—the choice of Ministers
—the prerogative of dissolving Parliament—a veto on
all acts of the Legislature. The Commons' House of
Parliament—the representatives of the people—have
the sole power of voting and appropriating the sup-
plies, or the proceeds of the taxes. No Ministers, no
" party," however favoured by the King, can long go-
vern if the majority of the Commons disapprove of
their principles and policy, or address the Crown
for their dismissal. You therefore possess, aid
ought ever to enjoy, the real power of control-
ling the prerogative of the Sovereign, and of pro-
nouncing a negative on the choice of Ministers.
An unexampled, an unjustifiable exercise of the
Royal Prerogative has occurred within the last
few weeks. *hat are the circumstances under which
it has taken place? For a century past, till the year
1832, this great nation was practically robbed of its
constitutional and distinctive character of a Repre-
sentative Government. By a series of political usur-
pations and various corruptions the majority of the
Members of the House of Commons was nominated
by Peers, by self-elected Corporators, and by a few
wealthy Commoners. Their votes in the Legislative
Assembly were notoriously purchased by the plunder
of the State, dealt out to them by the hands of the
Ministers of the Crown. The Upper House of Par-
liament was doubled in numbers by successive creations
of Peers, almost exclusively from the ranks of the
Tories. The natural consequence was a century of mis-
government—foreign Wars to promote slavery abroad
and to supply the means of corruption at home—the
the creation of an enormous public debt—the subject-
ing the lands and property of our country to a grievous
burden of poor-rates—the consequent moral and phy-
sical degradation of a large proportion of the humbler
classes of the people—and the scandalous maintenance
of numerous abuses in Church and State. The old
electors in the memorable election of 1831, and the
people by their gigantic and patriotic exertions in
1832—effected a moral revolution—relieved them-
selves from the incubus of the " Borough Sys-
tem," and with the aid of a Whig Ministry
achieved the great national victory of Parliamentary
Reform. The amendment of the representation
was opposed by the Tories, as destructive of their in-
fluence in the State. The moral determination, how-
ever, of the People finally triumphed. The Peers gave
way ; and on you, the new Electors of the Empire,
now devolves the sacred charge of choosing a second
Reformed House of Commons. The Ministry of Lord
Grey, in conjunction with the first Reformed Parlia-
ment, accomplished many useful reforms in the poli-
tical and social system. More would have been pro-
posed and obtained but for the political prejudices and
opposition of the Tory Peers. Lord Melbourne suc-
ceeded Lord Grey, and with the assent of the King
further liberalized the Administration. Unexpectedly,
without any avowed cause, the Sovereign withdrew his
confidence from the late Premier and his untried Ca-
binet. His Majesty substituted Sir Robert Peel in the
place of Lord Melbourne. The new Prime Minister
has selected for his coadjutors in office an exclusive
class of Ultra Tories. Can such bigoted and illi-
beral Men adopt a liberal policy, or propose good
Measures Y If they mean to reform abuses in Church
and State, Why do they dissolve the Parlia-
ment P Electors ! They dissolve Parliament because
they hope that you will be cajoled into the choice of
a majority of Mock-Reformers or Tories I Will you
thus degrade yourselves and revolutionize your country?
Will you thus practically repeal the Reform Acts, and
incur the scorn and hatred of the people ? What is
your interest, what your duty to your country, at this
constitutional crisis ? Your common-sense will dic-
tate the answer. Elect no Tory. Oppose every
Tory. Send up to Parliament men who will refuse
their confidence to the present evil Councillors of the
King. The Peel Ministry is imposed on the nation
for the purpose of impeding the progress of Reform.
Union is strength. Reformers of England, Wales,
Scotland, and Ireland, be united—be determined—
contest every County, City, and Borough in the
empire I Terminate all local dissensions I Concen-
trate your electoral strength I Abandon all impostors
and doubtful men ! If you follow this advice, you
must secure a majority of sound Reformers in the
Commons ; if you neglect it, farewell to the Liberties
of Great Britain, and to the tranquillity of Ireland !
—Morning Chronicle.
The atrocious malignity of the Destruction faction
is only equalled by its boundless stupidity. The morn-
ing organ of the miserables having exhausted every
topic of abuse with which falsehood and malignity had
supplied it, preferred yesterday a grave charge against
the Administration of Sir Robert Peel—a charge based
upon an unfortunate tithe affray at Rathcormack, in
which certain persons lost their lives. To us, as to
every one possessing the common feelings of humanity
the suffering, and much more the violent death, of our
fellow citizens must always be a painful and distressing
topic ; but what we think or say of that party spirit
which induces those who act or speak under its influ-
ence to endeavour to fix upon innocent individuals
the imputation of being directly or indirectly instru-
mental in producing such suffering or loss of life ?
We might, indeed, retort the attack upon those
whose sentiments our contemporary is supposed
to echo, and observe that the wickedness, the restless
and turbulent disposition of the men who advise re-
sistance, whether active or passive, to the laws, and
who, safe within the Corn Exchange or Rotunda, ex
cite and encourage their hapless victims without, to
deeds of outrage and violence, have produced the cala-
mitous consequences which we deplore with probably
more sincerity than our factious contemporary. The
manly address of Sir Robert Peel demonstrates his
readiness to entertain the consideration of some more
satisfactory mode of collecting the revenues of the
Chinch than that which has descended to us from our
forefathers ; but until some measure has been enacted
by which this end may be attained, the existing laws
ought to be and must be enforced. Let the public, then,
be no more insulted by the attempt to propagate ca-
lumnies so utterly absurd and malignant upon this sub-
ject, in the idle hope that they may pass unnoticed, and
thus in the absence of contradiction, be for a time be-
lieved. Our Radical contemporaries have now com-
pletely revealed the spirit and the purposes of the fac-
tion to which they belong. The institution of pro-
perty must, according to them, be an abuse which
Qught forthwith to be abolished, because this institu-
tion affords temptations to the commission of felony,
and felony is sometimes followed by the punishment of
the persecuted perpetrators. Law and the execution of
law are intolerable grievances, the suppression of which
is necessary to the public peace and welfare. Any Act
of the Legislature which any portion of the community
chooses to resist by violence or elude by fraud, loses,
in virtue of that simple fact, its whole validity, legal
and moral, and the magistrats or other servant of the
State that dares attempt to enforce it becomes a cri-
minal who deserves to be hunted out of society. This
i they doctrine which the organs of the late Adminis-
-aliibOur :to instil into the minds of the people of
liritait this the salutary
principle for the ad-
'filch the present Administration is, if
overthrown. One satisfactory infe-
'ba deduced from the columns of our

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