The Sun.
London, England, 1833-09-05 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Not the least interesting portion of the Mi-
nisterial
pamphlet entitled The Reform Minis-
try and the Reformed Parliament, to which
we have more than once adverted, embraces an
exposition of our foreign policy and a defence
of the late diplomatic transactions in which we
have been more particularly interested. This
subject is not, indeed, necessarily connected
with the history of the recent session of Parlia-
ment, because no particular acts of the Foreign-
office have been submitted to its decision, or re-
quired its support ; but it composes an essential
feature in the general conduct of a "reformed"
Government. The whole system of such a
Government must stand or fall together ; and
we can no more conceive a liberal domestic ad-
ministration combined with a slavish foreign
policy, or with alliances intended to promote
the continuance or extension of foreign despot-
ism, than we can conceive a despotic govern-
ment at home disposed to engage in crusades
for the promotion of external liberty and inter-
national independence. The atmosphere of
reform is not limited to one particular locality,
or narrrowed in its action to one particular
subject; it must envelop every office in the
state, and must he breathed by every public
functionary. Holy Alliance principles can no
more flourish within its sphere than domestic
abuses. Downing-street must come as much
within its range as the Treasury or Whitehall ;
and even the Ministers of the absolute Powers
of Europe, in descending from their ambassado-
rial residences amid Tories to a conference at
the Foreign-office, must be made to feel that
they enter a new climate, and that they must
listen to a new language. It is almost, there-
fore, superflous to remind our readers that the
march of our foreign politics has followed a
route parrallel with the progress of our internal
reforms. When the Ministers of the Duke of
Wellington retired from office in November,
1830, amid foreign revolution and domestic dis-
order, it bequeathed a most perilous legacy of
unsettled diplomatic questions to its successors.
Some of these questions had been long agitated
without any hope of a satisfactory solution,
and the difficulties of others had but re-
cently appeared. It was necessary to adopt
and to announce some guiding principle,
which might apply to all, which might
satisfy the justice and protect the interests
of the British nation, while they were cal-
culated to inspire no sinister hope nor to pro-
duce any reasonable alarm either among the
subjects of foreign Princes in a state of revolt,
nor foreign Governments in a state of suspicion
and disquietude. They, therefore, held up a
flag to the country and to Europe, on which
was inscribed " peace and non-interference," and
this banner they have continued to exhibit to
their friends and their enemies to the present
moment. But the great difficulty lay in the
application of these principles to the state of
circumstances in which they were left by the
late Ministry—where their Wore would have
exposed them to unmerited reproach, and their
success promised them but very slender or equi-
vocal honour. We have no room for adverting
at present to the chief embarrassments which the
situation of Europe presented to our foreign
administration on the accession of the existing
Cabinet. They had to repair the blunders of
of their predecessors, with regard to the settle-
ment of Greece, by procuring an enlarged ter-
ritory for the new state, and by establishing a
better line of demarcation between it and Tur-
key. They had to prevent the invasion of
Belgium on the part of the French, and
consequently a general European war, by
cancelling the foolish treaties of 1815, and
effecting a peaceful separation between
the Belgic and Dutch provinces. They had to
manage and protect British interests in Por-
tugal, so as not to enter into any political rela-
tions with a perfidious tyrant, who had broken
every engagement to which he had sworn, nor
to attack national independence by interfering
for the rightful heiress to the throne. While
this weighty and manifold task was imposed
upon them, they saw nearly all Europe in flames.
They saw revolutions breaking out in Germany,
in Swi,zerland, in Poland, and in Italy, and
were told with the most provoking assurance,
both by Tories and Radicals, by Revolutionists
and Conservatives, that the preservation of peace
was impossible, that the attempt to settle the
Belgic question without hostilities was pure in-
sanity, aud that the meetings of the Conference in
Downing-street was a ridiculous farce. We all
remember the unsparing sarcasms of which the
Belgic protocols were the subject, and the dull
jokes with which Conservative and Radical block-
heads were inspired on this fertile topic. We were
incessantly told that I.eace could not continue for a
month ; that ifthe French were employed to execute
any order of the Conference by entering Belgium,
they would never retire from that country ; that
time English Government was duped by the
French ; that a species of Gallomania alone
could explain their conduct; that it would be I
better to withdraw from every attempt at media-
tion, and allow the parties to fight out their
quarrel, whatever might he the consequence, than
to continue the fruitless negociations of Down-
ing•street ; and that we were merely sacrificing
an ancient ally for the chance of preventing a
struggle which was inevitable. A plain and
satisfactory answer can now be given to all these
dogmatic averments and sinister prophecies. The
Belgic question may be considered as settled,
without a war ; the French army has now entered
Belgium and retired ; the general peace of Eu-
rope has not only been preserved for one month
or for three months, but for more than three
years, with a better prospect of its continuance
than at any former period since the expulsion of
the Bourbons ; and the liberal and reform Go-
vernment of England, more honoured and re-
spected in Europe than ever, has not sacrificed
to a timid policy one atom of its honour, of
its consistency, its independence, or principle.
In no case can it be made appear that they
have interfered in the internal affairs of other
States (for their interference between Bel-
gium and Holland was between nation and
nation), white their endeavours to preserve
not only England in peace, but to ward
off a continental war, have been crowned
with the most signal success. Nor has
the British Government, in securing these ob-
jects, abstained from the manly assertion of its
constitutional opinions and love of freedom
whenever an opportunity occurred. We need
only refer for a proof of this assertion to the
language held by theta in Parliament, and the
tenon'. of those diplomatic papers which have
met th • • 'ic eye,—we need only remind the
rei ei cr 1117. speech of Lord Palmerston on
itki d,.0 .410 . oflicial journal of St. Peters-
i
Eitagli hit(*i lttemp;ed to answer, of the
notes of 41. i'. 'Seymour, and of the; renewal
of diplomatic relations with Lisbon. The tol•

.41

C

lowing is the whole @action of the pamphlet on
our foreign policy :
" If we look to our foreign relations, the result is not
less satisfactory than the state of our domestic affairs ; but,
in order to take a just view of these matters, we must
carry our eyes back for a moment to the condition of
things when the present Goverment first took the helm.
Three important questions were then pending, in all of
which Great Britain either had taken a prominent part,
or hail a paramount interest—the affairs of Greece, Bel-
gium, and Portugal.
" The Greek question, as far as England was con•
corned, began with the protocol i f 1826. which was
at St. Petershurgh, by the treaty of July, 1827,
signed in London by Lord Dudley. The object of these
instruments was to separate Greece from Tui key, and to
place the Greek nation, within a territory to be specially
defined. in a rate of independence and self-government.
" When the present Administration succeeded to office
they found an agreement entered into by their predecessors
with the Porte, by which limits were to be imposed upon
Greece, so narrow and so ill-chosen, that while important
districts of Greece would have been left to Turkey, the
Greeks would have had no defensible frontier, and perpe-
tual collision would have taken place between tie Turkish
and Greek population. Such a settlement could only have
laid the foundation for future quarrels.

" The present Government despatched Sir Stratford
Canning to Constantinople, to endeavour to make a more
ratb•nal arrangement. That able Ambassador was com-
pletely successful; and he obtained the consent of the
Porte to an amended boundary, as excellent in every
respect as the former one had been defective.
" Prince °tilt), of Bavaria, selected as King of Greece
by the three mediating Powers, in virtue of an authority
from the Greeks themselves, has since arrived in his do
minions, where he was enthusiastically received ; and
Greece, reviving from the tomb, and awakening from the
death-like torpor of ages, takes here place among the Chris-
tian and civilized nations of Europe.

" May we not hope 'hit this country, once the peculiar
seat of the arts, of science, and of civil liberty, may prove
itself not unworthy of the firtunate condition to which it
has now been rais d ?

" The BrLion question, like the Greek, had its origin
in even!, antecedent to the formation of the present Go-
vernment. They found on this subject a course chalked
out to them by their predecessors. They might modify
it as they advanced, but could not, even if they had wished
to do so, retrace steps already taken.
" The revolution in Belgium broke out in August,
IS3O. The King of the Netherlands, in October, called
upon his allies, and Great Britain among the rest, to send
him troops to quell the revolt ; the British Government,
under the Duke of Wellington, refused to do so ; the
Dutch were almost entirely expelled front the Belgian
provinces ; and the Kin?: of the Netherlands, unable to
put down the rebels by his own means, or to get succour
from his allies, entreated that a Conference might be as-
sembled, and that an armistice might be imposed on the
two parties—himself and his revolted subjects.
" His request was complied with ; and in the beginning
of November the Conference met in London; and its first
set was to declare to the two parties that they should
fight no more, and that the line of demarcation between
them, during an armistice unlimited as to time, should
be the line which, before the union in 1814, separated
the old Dutch provinces from the provinces of Belgium.
This decree at once established the principle of separation ;
for the Belgians had declared themselves independent, and
the King of Holland was told the war was to cease. He
could not, therefore, recover his lost territory except by
the consent of the Belgians, and that consent it was
ev:dent he never could obtain.

" The task, then, of the present Government was so
to settle the terms on which separation should take place,
as to provide for the interests and security of all parties
concerned.

" The arrangement is nut yet completed, hut it is sup-
posed to be verging towards its close; and when Belgium
finally becomes an independent, constitutional, commercial,
and neutral state, it will contribute more to preserve the
peace of Europe in such a condition of existence than in
any other which could have been assigned to it.
" The difficulties which have been encountered have
arisen from the obstinacy of the King of the Nettier!ands
—an obstinacy which during the last two years has bur-
dened the Dutch with expenses, the permanent charges
arising from which will almost counterbalance the relief
afforded them by the division of the debt between them
and the Belgians.
" The citadel of Antwerp was to he evacuated in 15
days, by the armistice which the King of the Netherlands
himself had invoked in November, 1830 ; but the posses.
sion of that fortress enabled him to liArass the Belgians,
and to intercept their trade on the Scheldt. He then fore
refused to give it up. England and France proposed to
the other three Powers to declare, that Belgium should
striker ff horn hi tt debt to Holland, a million of fl irins
for every week during which, after a certain time, the
Dutch should continue to occupy any part of the Belgian
territory. The three Powers refused to agree to this
proposal ; England and France, therefore, were obliged
to resort to force: hence the siege of Antwerp, and hence
the Dutch embargo. These vigorous measures dis-
concerted all the calculations of the Dutch King and
his partisan., whether English Tories or Continental
Absolutists. B filed in their schemes, they vented their
anger in predictions. The citadel would never be taken;
the Prussians would march to relieve it ; the Russians
would pour down from Poland ; Austria would take the
field ; and the tide of a general war would sweep the
French hack to their own frontier. But Prussia only
grumbled and cequetted about Venloo ; Austria never
stirred ; and Russia contented herself with some angry
boasts of what she would have done, if shr had been nearer
to the scene of action. The prophets then foretold that
Chasse, sooner than surrender, would blow up himself and
his garrison, and bury all under the ruin; of the place.
But old Chasse went on quietly smoking his pipe. retiring
from on- cellar to another, as the bombai dment advanced ;
and, at length, when the breach was practicable, and he
hsil got to his last casemate, he surrendered, as people in
such situations generally do.
" Then the embargu was said to be an utter Nhire;
harmless to the Dutch, ruinous only to ourselves ; it was
unheard of to continue it so long ; we ought to go to war,
or else release the Dutch ships ; the measure was illegal,
anti, at the same time, ridiculous. These were the argu-
ments and assertions by which the Tories tried to persuade
Parliament to force the Government to take the embargo
. ff. But Parliament turned a deaf ear to them ; the em-
bargo continued ; and the consequence was the convention
of tie 21st of May. By that convention the character of
the Belgia❑ question was entirely changed. The Dutch
agreed to an unlimited armistice ; and Europe was secured
against any danger of a general war, resulting from the
difference between Holland and Belgium. The question
of peace or war was from that moment settled ; what re-
mained to be arranged was a matter of flat ins, of tolls,
and of ditties ;—questions, important indeed, to the two
parties, but not threatening the peace i f the test of
Europe. This was the fruit of the siege of Antwerp, and
of the embargo; and thus has the result wily justified the
wisdom of those measures.

"'The affairs of Portugal are drawing to a conclusion.
The tyranny, which for five years has weigh• il down that
wretched country, has been dashed to the ground. Mi-
guel's fleet has been captured ; the siege of Op .rto has been
raised ; 2,500 brave Portuguese have marched in triumph
from the Guadiana to the Tagus; Donna M ria has been
proclaimed in Lisbon, and a British Minister has again
presented hims•lf at the court of the rightful sovereign of
Portugal. British valour has, as usu il, been associated
with Portuguese freedom, and Cape St. Vincent has again
witnessed the exploits of naval heroism. The English
Government ha-, with respect to these affairs, steadily ad-
hered to the course which it had chalked out for itself. It
has been rigidly neutral in the contest ; but then it has
required other powers to be so too.
" When Don Pedro's expedition sailed from Terceira
a Spanish army assembled on the confines of Portugal,
under pretence of observation, but obviously ready to strike
a blow in supi.ort of Don Miguel, if an opportunity should
offer. But the events of 1t321 had not been forgotten,
and the experience of the cunduet of Spain in that year
was not thrown away.

" The British Government did not trust solely to the
assurances of the Cabinet of ill.tdrid, but prepared itself
for all events. A powerful squadron under Admiral Park, r
w,s sent to the Tagus, with orders, as was stated in Par-
liament, to take active part fur Don Pedro the moment a
Spanish force should enter Portugal to assist Don Aliguel.
Spain and England have kept faith with each other; and
though openly avowing their opposite wishes as to the
result of the war, both have stood aloof, leaving the con-
tending parties to fight the matter out unaided. The
part which England took in this struggle was, to keep the
ring and see fair play ; and victory has remained with the
cause of Justice and of right. There can be no doubt that
if a Tory Government tad been estibli: lied in E, gland,
some pretence or other would have been found to let the
Spanish army loose, and Portugal would have been still
under
nt t
is
he
e,,tytr r.ymoofs
timportant,
doo"mTedhetorelat:tuiost this h
ntsimanld
will be extensively felt. Toe atru,,gle wns Miguel.
between Pedro and Maria on one side, and Miguel on simply
other. Portugal was the arena on which the great Eu-
r.,peart hauls was to be fought by appointed champions.
The Twits of England tie Carlists of Francs LA Spain,

the Holy Alliance, and the enemies of liberty all over
Europe, were the backers of Miguel; the friends of jus-
tice and of rational Government were the partisans of
Maria; and if the cause of the Queen should continue vic-
torious, the moral effect of her success will be felt through.
out the whole of Europe.
" While the attention of Europe was absorbed by
events in the west, a sudden storm arose in the east,which
threatened the destruction of the Turkish empire. The
throne of the Sultan was first menaced by his rebellious
vassal, and then endangered by his protecting ally. The
Porte has for the present escaped from both perils ; the
Egyptians have retired from Asia Minor, and the Russians
have left Constantinople. It is the business of the Bri-
tish Government to take care that neither shall return
again. _

" The war between Mahomet Ali and the Sultan war
not an ordinary case of civil war between a sovereign and
his subjects, with which other States ought not to inter.
fere. Ttiat contest threatentd so materially to affect the
distribution of power in the Esst, that the Governments
of Europe were entitled to look upon it as a matter in
which their own interests were directly involved. Turkey
may be a barbarous and uncivil zed State ; but if it were
dismembered, what would beclme of its fragments?
Would Europe gain by substituting at Constantinople
Russian civiliz ition for Turkish barbarism ? Would the
benefit to humaniiy make up lor the political evil ? Could
the crime of another partition be thus atoned for? Could
we say—

- IL
" ` liar mercede placent "
Undoul.tedly not. The Russian empire is large enough
for the purposes of good Government, and for the safety
of the rest of Europe; and Constantinople must never be
added to the dominions of the Czar.

" To name Russia is to think of Poland ; but alas !
what have we to say about that ili-fred and devoted
country ? It lies prostrate at the feet of its conqueror,
enduring all the miseries which exulting revenge cin in-
flict upon a subdued and no longer resisting ant ,gmiist.
Are the statements which have been matie on this matter
exsggerated? Fm the honour of humanity we wish they
may prove so ; but if they are, why have they not bi-en
refuted ? But, indeed, the published arse of the Ru sim
Government speak for themselves. Have not those acts
been calculated to crush national spirit and extinguish
nrional feeling, to wound the hearts of individuals and
to add private affliction to pu' lie calamity ? Could Eng-
land have prevented all this? That is the queston
which belongs to our present inquiry. We fear we mu-t
answer in the negative; at least we believe that if Eng-
land and Fiance had attempted to throw their shield
over Poland, the certain and immediate consequ ince
would have been a general war in Europe, while Polish
deliverance would have been a doubtful result.

" The kingdom of Poland has no sea-port with which
England can communicate ; and it is separated from
France by the interposition of half of Germany. Aus-
tria and Prussia were ready to have supported
Russia, and each had an army of 100,000 men
on the Polish frontier, ready to march at a moment's
notice. If we had declared war against Russia, on behalf of
Poland, we should have had to wage that war against Aus-
tria and Prussia a!so. But what would those three Powers
have done ? They would all have united to crush the
Poles, which, as their armies were placed, would have been
but the work of a fortnight ; and then we should have
had to wage a general war in Europe, not to save the
Poles, but only to avenge their fall. Tie war, too,
would necessarily have been a war of political principle,
at a moment when the recent events in France and Bel•
gium had excited, to the highest pitch, the p fissions of
mankind, and bad brought into active conflict the most
extreme opinions. We believe our Government judged
wisely. But the Polish nation sleep, and is not deal.
Some day or other it may still awake : we trust that the
brighter day which must await it will be prepared first by
a milder and juster, and therefore wiser policy on the part
of Russia, and will not be preceded by a renewal of vio-
-I,nce and bloodshed. But no administrative ingenuity
can extinguish a great people, and no physical force can
perm snently keep such a people down in misery and
boaddge.

With respect to the affairs of Italy and Germany, the
British Govt.' nment appear not to have taken a prominent
part ; but the correspondence of Mr. Seymour, which was
published some time since in the newspapers, shows what
their course has been as to the former. The counsels
given by the English Government seem to have been such
as it became the Government of a free country to give,
and those counsels appear not to have been pressed further
thin was consistent with a respect for the independence of
other states.

" With France our relations continue to afford a striking
contrast to former periods of our history. Time was when
England and France tancie•t themselves natural enemies—
when the foes of the one became of course the friends of
the other. These days are passed away; may they never
return ; long may two great and intelligent nations reap
from the friendly intercourse of peace advantages far
beyond any which the most successful war cou'd afford to
either. The union of England and France has, during a
period of unexampled difficulty, preserved the peace of
Europe; and we may safely predict that +c bile that union
subsists, that peace will not he broken. A general war
would now be a contest in which England, France, and
the people of every country in Europe would be ranged on
one aide, and the despotic Governments with their armies
would stand on the other. The immediate issue could not
be doubtful, the more distant results might be tremendous.
The Englian Government, ue are convinced, will never
court such a conflict; the arbitrary Governments of the
continent will be too wise to Provoke it. England, then,
never had a clearer course before her, and never held a
more dignified, or more honourable station. She stands
umpire between hostile and excited parties; she holds
the balance between extreme and opposing principles ;
her task is pacis imponere morem ;' and this task she
may continue to perform no It as to her own advantage,
than fir the bentfit of the rest of the civilized world.
Times.

An able and useful political pamphlet has
just been published by Ridgway, entitled
" The Reform Ministry and the Reformed Par-
liament." It professes to give a digest of the
present product of the Reform Bills, and a dis-
passionate vindication of the Cabinet and the
Reformed Parliament from the counter-charges
of the Tories and the Ultra-Radicals—their
common assailants. The readers of the Morn-
ing Chronicle have seen, that throughout the
Session we have held an impartial and moderate
course. We never could divine what good
would accrue to the people by an exchange of
the Whig Administration fer a Tory Cabinet.
The social system and conservation of the pro.
perty of this extraordinary nation are deeply in-
terested in the avoidance of violent revolutions,
and no class would so bitterly suffer by the dis-
memberment of society and the explosion of
public credit as the mass of the people, when the
demand for labour would be interrupted, and
chaos subvert, order, industry, and happiness.
Lord Grey's Ministry has been most unfortu-
nately placed. It succeeded a long succession of
Ultra-Tory Cabinets, at the eleventh hour—that
is to say, when Toryism had run out to the very
dregs. Every national abuse had reached the
highest degree in the political barometer of public
opinion. Elections wet e swayed by no-
mination, bribery, and corruption ; pen-
sions, sinecures, and unnecessary places
were upheld ; a moderate share of the elec-
tive franchise had been blindly and perversely
denied to the large unrepresented towns and
commercial communities ; the abuses of the
established Church were religiously maintained ;
the reform of the law was limited to the ped-
dling and surface alterations proposed by that
shallow, short-sighted, but ingenious politician,
Sir Robert Peel ; the East India monopoly was
upheld ; Negro slavery was favourably main-
tained by the Tory Governments ; Catholic
Emancipation too late delayed—Church rates
and Protestant Tithes had incensed to madness
the Catholic laity of Ireland ; the English poor
laws ground the agriculturists to death under
prices reduced by the operationoofligtfaierctigciasllactoivre
return -
ruption toot' ccoarsphortioliniesnwtsas; palpably protected—
Lord Lyndhurst (that swivel-gun politician) de-
claring their funds to be strictly " private pro-
perty"—and Sir Robert Peel impudently justi-
fying the Leicesterjliniacsrteratti f R
freemen ; the of then" honorary
dmDuke of
Wellington was composed of men utterly lacking
a grain of popular respect; political unions

forming in every populous district, and the
boiling cauldron of public feeling foaming to
the brim ! Such was the notorious political
state of this country, when the crater of the old
French Revolution again poured forth flames and
lava, and in the heat of its irruption ignited the pub-
lic mind of surrounding nations. Themilitary Duke
appeared to exhibit a corresponding political
stupidity and infatuation. The British people
loudly demanded; the Duke of Wellington's
rash temerity of denial increased proportionably
with the loud calls for redress of grievances.
With a cunning and ridiculous device, of rein-
forcing himself by a re-union with his quondam
allies the Ultra-Tories, the Duke of Wellington
cast away the people and retreated on the Con-
servatives. He acknowledged Louis Philippe,
but clung to the Holy Alliance ; he declared the
constitution of Parliament to be perfect, and
Public Opinion hurled him from the Premier-
ship. Under these critical circumstances Lord
Grey was summoned to the Councils of the
King. His Cabinet was necessarily formed of
dissonant political parties ; anti no combination
of public men, on the principles of his admi-
nistration, could possibly satisfy the People and
at the same time obtain an ascendant majority
in the House of Peers. A conspiracy of Bo-
roughmongers moreover threatened him with
destruction in the House of Commons ! Under
these frightful and almost insuperable difficulties
the Premier was called upon, in a short space of
four months, to mature and propose a scheme of
Parliamentary Reform, to repair breaches in the
constitution of Parliament made by two cen-
turies of systematic corruption—such a scheme
as would satisfy the people, be approved by the
King, ar►d pass the House of Lords ! The
signal and unprecedented circumstances which
ultimately and safely carried the great national
question require no detail or comment ; they
will ever live in the recollection of the existing
generation. The people with sanguine expecta-
tion looked for miracles from Parliamentary
Reform. Their gratitude to the Ministry was
boundless, and the constituency elected to the
new Parliament a great majority of Members
who professed and pledged themselves to sup-
port the Government of Lord Grey. The
public, excited by triumphant success, under-
rated the still dominant power of the Aristo-
cracy. A long course of misgovernment, and
the deadly influence of the provincial Oligar-
chies and Tory magistracy, had singularly
limited the formation of public character ; and
it was not to be expected that in one session a
Reformed Rouse of Commons could supply
remedial legislation fot the accumulated evils
of two centuries of misgovernment. Un-
happily Ireland (which has successively ruined
the reputation of all its public men) was a
pregnant subject of Ministerial unpopularity.
ise and timely alteratives in the preceding
session would have prevented the necessity of a
Coercion Bill, and that unfortunate measure
might have been made less " unconstitutional"
and equally effective, No reasonable public
man can, however, ascribe bad motives to the
Government in its proposal ; that is to say, the
Cabinet might desire awhile longer to uphold
the Protestant EstAlishment in Catholic Ire-
lind, but they could„not viciously have invented
the coercion to reduce public liberty. They must
have foreseen its unpopularity, and that it would
separate them from the - Ultra-Reformers, with-
out permanently attracting the Tories. Thus
the early and most valuable part of the session
was exclusively occupied--as usual, in " doc-
toring" Ireland ; and a most melancholy alienation
of the ptthlic mind was the natural consequence.
All parties, however, must admit, thatthe obnoxi-
ous powers of the Irish Coercion Bill have
been leniently exercised, and have temporarily
acted as a preventive of injurious and indefensi-
ble agitation. We say temporgrily advisedly,
because no legislation—no power of military or
civil coercion, can long maintain -a Protestant
Hierarchy in Ireland. But the period of the
session subsequent to Easter has greatly re-
deemed the character of the Ministry and the
Parliament. Many important legislative mea-
sures have been proposed and passed. Toryism
is in fact rapidly dissolving, and no combination
of events can again restore its domination.
Much political good has been done—much
remains to be still done—more will be achieved
next session. The wedge is fairly driven in.
We shall impartially analyse the contents of
the pamphlet on " The Reform Ministry and
the Reformed Parliament," which deserves, and
will doubtless obtain, an extensive circulation ;
and we shall subsequently review the state of
parties and the prospects of the people. The
times are remarkable : men's lives may be said
to be politically quadrupled.—Morn.Chronicle.
Parliament stands prorogued for the present
to the 30th of October, a period of about nine
weeks ; but we rather suspect that it is their
intention " to put off the evil day" till February ;
yet how they can with any propriety do this,
with 134 notices on the order book of the
• House of Commons, and half the business of
the last Session postponed or undone, we are
totally at a loss to imagine. It would be a
much wiser course were they to make up their
minds at once that Parliament should sit for six
weeks before Christmas, when many of the
above notices might be disposed of, and much
of the future business so arranged and forwarded
as materially to curtail the necessity of a dog.
day sitting. One great mistake which Ministers
have made is apparently the not foreseeing, or
apprehending, what must have been quite
obvious to every one else, that the Reformed
Parliament would necessarily cut out more work
for them than its unreformed predecessors had
ever done. The worrying of the last session,
however, must by this time, we imagine, have
convinced them of this : or if they are still in
doubt, let them look to the hundred and thirty-
four notices for the next. It is absurd in the
highest degree to imagine that increased busi-
ness can be transacted within the limits allotted
to one half the quantity. On the contrary, is it
not obvious to everyone that added labours must
be spread over extended space ? But there is
one mode of shortening the Session, and if not
of diminishing their own labours, at all events of
dividing them more equally among themselves,
which was alluded to on the last day of the late
Session, and which Ministers would do well in
future to attend to. This is by arranging that a
greater proportion of the public business should
originate in the House of Lords than is at pre-
sent the case. Ministers seem in this respect to
adopt the old maxim of compelling the willing
horse to draw the whole load. Lord Althorp
and Mr. Stanley appear to have done the whole
business of the late Session, receiving little
or no aid from their colleagues in the
Lower House, and still less from the far
greater number of them who have seats in
the Upper. There we have Lord Grey, Lord
Brougham, Lord Ripon, Lord Lansdowne, and
the Puke of Richmond, if not some other
,leeping Member of the Cabinet, who seem to

have had little or nothing to do during the
whole session, but just at its close to hurry
through the House the eqwally hurried measures
of the Commons. And see the degrading
dilemma in which this places the House of
Lords—that ofeither encountering the odium and
inconvenience of thwarting the public service, or
else becoming the mere formal adopters of the
measures of the House of Commons, and sinking,
as such, all the characteristics of a deliberative as-
sembly. And this is to be regretted on a double
score, both as it regards the character of the
House of Lords and the interests of the coun-
try ; for, notwithstanding what the snarling nib-
blers at revolutionary change may say of that
House, we are convinced that we speak the de-
liberate opinion of by far the great majority of
the sober and right-judging part of the com-
munity, when we say that the discussions which
have taken place i❑ that House have, in gene-
ral, far outstripped in ability those of the House
of Commons, and leave the country ample
room to regret that more of the numerous acts
of the session have not originated in a quarter
where they could have undergone a more sifting
and satisfactory investigation than has fallen to
their lot. Nor is there any danger of the pri.
vileges of the House of Commons, as the
branch of the Legislature emanating immediately
from the people, suffering any diminution or
encroachment by such a proceeding. The House
of Commons has always in its own hands the
power of preventing this ; while nothing pro-
bably would more effectually tend to promote a
right understanding between the two Houses,
than that the House of Lcrds should be released
from the state of apparent thraldom and degra-
dation to which the present practice reduces it.
—Morning Herald.

A pamphlet has been published at Effingham
Wilson's, by Mr. John Matson, under the
whimsical title of a " Catechism to be learned
by a Member of Parliament," but which con-
tains some " good bits of truth" as the gentle-
men of the ring express it, couched in plain and
unpretending language. It treats of all the
great questions which are now of so much vital
importance to every individual in the British
community—tithe, poor laws, free trade, machi-
nery, currency, &c. IVe extract the f illowing
passages from that portion of the catechism
which refers to taxation, as possessing paramount
interest. Mr. Matson proposes a property tax.

" Q —Would not the Minister find it difficult to lay
on a property tax in lieu of other taxes ? Would it not
be opposed by all the rich people?
" A.—He would have no difficulty in carrying the
measure with a House of Commons composed of honest
men, for it would only be an act of jostle; ; besides, be
would be supported by all the rich who could see their
own interest; for it would be a great gain to them all,
and more particularly to those of them who expend their
incomes. It would, al.o, to those of them who did not,
for they would have the means of procuring more goods
with their then reduced income, than they can with their
present income, they would also have the satisfaction to
know that their property was secure, and which they
t afoot consider it to be at present, while they see so
many thousands starving and au many fires bLzing around
them.

" Q.—l see clearly that the rich would he benefited as
well as the poor. But what are the advantages the
people would derive generally by the change ?
" A.—The advantages are so great and numerous, that
it will be necessary to name hut a few of them. In the
first place, the labourers would be in a condition to
purchase double the quantity of the neces-aries of life.
That, of course, would give employment to thousands of
others, who are at present out of emph yment, to procure
the quantity required. Such increased means baying
been given to the productive classes, its beneficial in-
fluences would be felt by all, and the poor rate would be
nearly annihilated. In nearly ad articles an increased
consumption would take place, and of course be at-
tended with the most beneficial re-ults. We should then
find that the people were not too numerous ; on the con-
trary, there would be a deficiency of labourers—industry
would be encouraged, and meet its full reward—property
would he secure—starvation cease—and riot an(h incen-
diarim be unknown amongst us.

This view is sanguine, but in the main cor-
rect. However, the people will never be satis-
fied till the present unequal system of taxation
is exchanged for the more equitable distribution
of a property tax of some description. To
such commutation almost the whole of the pre-
sent Ministry are pledged, by their speeches in
opposition. Lords Althorp and Palmerston,
Sir Henry Parnell, Lord Brougham, Sir J.
Graham, Mr. C. Grant, Mr. P. Thomson (fol-
lowing in the track of Mr. Huskisson) have all
advocated such a commutation of indirect taxa-
tion for direct. It is true that Lord Althorp
has changed his opinions on this subject, as he
has on others. But his objection is chiefly
drawn from the unpopularity of the old war in-
come tax, which the Whigs doubled in 1806,
and which was repealed by the Tories. That
was a most unequal, inquisitorial, and unjust
tax ; but a tax such as the author, and all men
who have devoted attention to the subject pro-
pose, is very different. Precarious incomes
it will neither investigate nor retrench. It
will only compel such a contribution of rea-
lized property to the wants of the state, or rather
to its own protection, as will be tantamount to
the extent of property protected. This mode
of taxation is at once consistent with common
sense, and with the best theories of the first ap-
plication of taxation, at the earliest period to
which society can be traced ; whereas there is
neither common sense nor equity in the blunder-
ing fiscal system we have derived from feudal
ignorance. It is a system which cripples industry ;
dams up the future means of the tax-payer ;
ihwarts the principle of buying and selling at
the best markets ; impoverishes the middle
classes ; starves the working classes, and makes
bond-slaves of the poor ; a system which suffo-
' ewes religion beneath a fatal load of splendid
plunder ; and, finally, creates crimes, through the
poverty it causes, and then sets up an expen-
,-ive machinery of justice to punish the criminal
which it has created, for the offences it has
caused. A property tax, as the author justly
argues, will at once be advantageous to the
capitalist and to the poor operative, whose in-
dustry is his only capital. It will set free the
productive energies of the last ; it will give to
the taxed capitalist an equal power to purchase
commodities as before, because a proportionate
fall of prices must ensue. This inference applies
more especially to the fundhoiders. To the
landowners the sole relinquishment of the malt-
tax would be a sufficient equivalent for any loss
they might sustain by a tax on real property.
Differing in some points with the " Catechism,
in one point we agree especially with the author.
The first step, before a general fiscal commuta-
tion, should be a broad and searching retrench-
,nent ; not a peddling retrenchment, like that
which has characterized the reform Parliament,
and which was exceeded by an unreformed
then
nsetof taxation.
Government under the Tories. Cut down the
sinecures, pensions, deadweight, and over-pay,
(tioi c at
inv e free pro-
thaendredtit't
Of this the assessed taxes constitute the
hionrideussttrylevbeyl,
most obnoxious department ; the universal
hatred of them is intense. All the dissatisfac-
tion of the people with the proceedings of the
present Ministry and Parliament may be traced
to the single circumstance of the Ministers nsos

having commenced the Session with taking °lf
the assessed taxes. The abolition was held I,enit
the people as a pledge of that retrenchri;e,
which Ministers promised as the result of Pa,
form. Why the pledge was broken everyWth/e
saw. The Cabinet did not dare to look inwehig
sinecure list, with its jobbing ramifications, SI „,
and Tory—the pruning of which would they
completed their means of retrenchment. oio
shrunk from confronting Mrs. Arbuthnot, fi'.fic
Chester, M iss Bath urst,and Miss R. Croke,-,Phcir
illce lachrynce. All their blunders, and
'I
re
unpopularity, flowed from this source. tia
would have been no Calthorpe meeting, and to
police " battue," but for this. Hence toil
sneer of the Tories, that Reform od
failed. The people were dissatisfied,
justly, not, however, with too much Ref°r%h
but with too little. They were disgusted
,;/
those broken promises of lightening t":,
burdens of which they expected the fulfilate'i
What John Bull wants is very intelligible sn,l
straightforward—to get the hands of the opoui
lighfingers out of his pockets. The industri°
classes naturally see nothing very satisfactory i 0
being obliged to rob their families, in order of
pander to the luxuries of licentious laziness', $1
to indulge the capricious exigencies of pnlicsi
prostitution. The assessed taxes formed a tee
of the Ministerial intentions. Which was Wsiie
sacrificed—industry or laziness ?—that was "
question. The Ministers chose their side, rsi't,
the people chose their's. Lord Althorp, °to
" could not afford" to relieve them fr°le
the visitations of the Tax-office, and the peqd
had an equal right to think that laborious afar
penurious industry " could not afford" to }AY,"
luxu:ious extravagances of royal immora.l:ll),
or the callous profligacy of ministerial 10110
sion. Honest tradesmen naturally looked at 0
tinsel extravagance of the Court, and the jobbfs°o
overpay of civil employments, iu the midst 0,4
many examples of frustrated industry and Wry! 0
exertion, much in the same light as the credit'
of of a bankrupt would do, who, in spite ofius°,l
vency, persisted in keeping his mistresses
his villas, and in lavishing their money at tht
gaining-table or the race-ground. Whether
was thought requisite to suppress this opiejeds
or rather feeling, by breaking people's hesoi
with police truncheons, we leave to those 1°,47
who are tnore intimate with official secrets. Tee
verdicts declared for the people. A Commits
has declared for the Home Offioe, and for :00
suppression of complaints against fiscal spoliatio
by the " force." The Committee has give°lll
" lie direct" to the people. We shall see wi,t;co
will prove themselves right in the long run-Iter,
Juries or the Committee.. • • • • MOrninr AdVertis
der
The honour of a Grand Cross of the order
of the Bath conferred by his Majesty nrer-the
Right Hon. C. Manners Sutton, Speaker c"„$1
House of Commons, is an exercise of 11°101
grace and favour which all ranks and classes nd
the King's subjects hail with satisfaction sic
delight. It is universally felt to be a tributeble
distinguished merit, which is equally honeloo.
to the giver and the receiver. The flight j
Gentleman has discharged the arduous dung
of his situation during the past Session---the
rendered more than commonly arduous ft.° d
extraordinary composition of the new Parlisilloe
—in a manner upon which we pronounce lot
highest possible eulogy when we say that %jay
bet n precisely such as was expected of vs;
He has the glory of having achieved the grheelt of
conceivable triumph in human conduct---tros
completely realising expectation?. which It set
impo.sible to exceed. The friends of the re gels
Administration were, we recollect, abont,And.
time last year busily engaged in the ta,t, 01'001
ing or inventing apologies for the refusal' efal
or supposed, of Earl Grey to recount' net
Mr. Sutton to the King as a Pr°rhe
hvoemn t s t have a vcrtif confer
et hfeorh
f all
their ingenuity could not accomplish- favour
object
Peerage. on whom
Grey, no doubt, intercepted the Royal this
which was then expected to descend tirn
on
distinguished subject of his Majesty the.on of
fident and certainly well-founded anticrtlooo.
what has taken place, viz., that the Ittgl,it 000,
Gentlemen the longer he continued in we and
and conspicuous exercise of his ta,..,lenolisoll
virtues as a Speaker of the House of "wet 0
tohneomu r nb
would become more and more the ° J„,l the
affection and esteem to the Sovereign at() the
country, and gather accumulated title, „cord:
warmest gratitude and the most splendid 1101
which either can bestow. It is imagiineolii's)j
the same system of postponing reward'. h
founded, of course, upon the same big beet'
honourable principles, would still ha that
agreeable to the Noble Premier, htl,t, ti se tiv,
authority which shows itself now a",..," ltr;
be higher even than that of Earl t-Ir 031
nounced in a manner the most deciden, his
the case of the Speaker the system of dell'? est,
already been carried far enough.

MEETINGS OF CREDITOOfSSI% e,
AT THE COURT, BASINGHALL-sTP O'
TO-MORROW, Sept. t. °
(From the London Gazette.) ... g 1
H. Lee, saddler, Diwn-street Pcadilly ............. ... 0 1 f
C.:Friend, milkman Munster-street, Regent's-Par''', ..•• I I:
J. C. Stewart, merchant, Torrington-square .....•••• " 1 o'
W. Ballantyne, bookseller, Battle, Sussex ................ 0 / 1,
J. Mannerings, builder, Chatham ... . ............ 0" .
R. henry, law-bookseller, Fleet-street ..................... ',O. 1.
J. Lucas, timber-merchant, City-road ..................
DIVIDEND. ,o'''
H. J. Norris and Co., wine-merchant, Bloomibuff et'
a 0 Jo
, 61. fur
CARDIFF EISTEDDVOD.--Tne he vi 01
ing of the committee for c+rrying into eff'et
lit 1-11,11 50°
festival at Cardiff next year, met 4t the I'Li`v..„pose oir
Roy il Hie hness-s the
Thursday Lst. Several resolutions were 1:1-10, to
.0,40
adopted ; among which were votes of th "lie Proed
Victoria for the honour they conferred on th,ee • 11;°01'1
by having it held under their special patronao •!ieo",fro.
Marquis of Bute for accepting the office °f 1:1-1, 14'001
for his liberal donation of 1001. The 11ev,,,d ill'n",01/,
herne and T. W. Booker, Esq., were aPPT° t; 0 pre.:, ttlei
Secretaries; and Mr. Parry, 01 London (wil.ecnble latifl,
conductor. The bards and minstrel' Will 8. and kesl-10141
keep of the ancient castle, a most roinan"che Tolf°4o
situation ; the concerts will take place in
,t
~t theg
Duchess of Kent vol t fieeii the
die Oratorios in the church, and the ball* •
A•sembly.rooms in the Cardiff Anne.
f l
BIRTHS. the wife ° ,><
On the 2cl inst., at Upminster, Ease'" - e
ISM
Sterry, Esq., of a son. v tnth,
obire, '
On the 31st ult ,at Repton-park, Den ' fag
Edmund Lewis Crewe, Esq., of a daughter.. George ll
S
On the 3d inst., at Westhorpe House, fira
so. at
Bart., the lady of Rice R. Clayton, Esq , o
o joie, Sri --
On the 3d inst., at Wokinghani, hers.
4,
daughter, „ 14'' of
•
le), ii, ,
At St. James's, Piccadilly,
MA BRIE D• J. 0. l'o,iol ,p et
oi ...
Mr. Joshua James Nicholls, second
of
...r. Belle
l'all.mall, to Juliet, youngest daughter oi
by the Rev' ~ Nir, 14 o)er'
tt4
St. John-street. Wo°4°

D —ED. .- of S'
LoOdgno,thßee4igthatien:stlrlelya,rraygsar6riylelgatro:, vttl'' listef.
On the 2cl inst., Mrs. Mooret We'ti'lltai'l.
On the 4th inst., at his house in Duke-strec ,
_,,...c0al jot,
of pocto!;ncalnpc
in his 70th year, James Farquhar, Esq.,
London, and of Johnston Lodge, in the co is
.0t
en, Pr .
in parliAn' of
N. 8., for many years Represei:tative
Aberdeen district of burghs.
, wife o
I I ighgate. ...----y'll?
....----- #l'
..,
PIInNTED AND PUBLISHED BY A: (7 RS 0 Y.„°
Sum Opetcu, 112, ""
f Robert lq°°je' , •

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