The Sun.
London, England, 1834-11-25 00:00:00

BIRMINGHAM.

On Saturday at 12 o'clock, a preliminary meeting was
held at the. Committee-room of the New Town Hall in
Birmingham, by some of the most influential men in the
town in favour of liberal principles and reform, to take
steps to form an Union Club, and unite all parties to carry
out the reforms in Church and State, by securing the return
Of such men-us are opposed to Tory misrule and mis-
government;: and on their own responsibility to get a re-
quisition signed to call on all electors for the town and
northern division of the county of Warwick who have votes,
to meet in the New ToWn Hall on Friday next, and as .a
preliminary to get rid of " His Highness," or to stop all
supplies at the meeting of Parliament. A very spirited
requisition was agreed on to call immediately a meeting,
without the delay and formality of asking the High Bailiff,
who yet is believed to be friendly to us, especially as five or
seven of the Town Commissioners were.with us, contenting
to the use of the New Town Hall, a building which will
hold more than any one in London. The requisition was
to have appeared this morning in Aris's Gazetteer, but the
time being so short (Sunday intervening, and one of the
lists not being returned in time), the meeting is to be eon-
vened by placarding the town to-morrow. I have seen
some of the lists, and the names are select and of the highest
respectability—Churchmen, Catholics, Dissenters of all
sects, including Quakers, and Whigs and Radicals, and the
old Political Union, all agreeing to merge petty distinctions
to secure the true principle of union, and to fraternize with
the whole brotherhood of liberty and the rights of English-
men. No Paper is in this town in so much request as
The Sun.

MANCHESTER.
(From the Manchester Guardian.)
That in the absence of any peculiar political difficulty, of
any declared cause of dissatisfaction on the part .of their
royal master, or of any adverse vote of parliament, and of
any intestine disagreement, a ministry so lately recon-
structed, should be dissolved by the mere pleasure of the
king himself, is a circumstance without parallel, so far as
we remember, in the recent history of this country. With
respect to the feelings with which the intelligence of the
change was received in this town—so wholly un-looked-for
was it—that astonishment, amounting almost to incredulity,
was the first sensation that it created. But when the fact
was ascertained to be unquestionable, it would be difficult
to exaggerate the regret and the alarm that was very ge-
nerally expressed at the change. Nor was this feeling by
any means confined to the friends and adherents of the late
ministry. In the course of Sunday and Monday we con-
versed with. many Tories ; and from every one of them we
heard professions—we believe sincere professions--of regret
at the dissolution of Lord Melbourne's government, and of
a conviction that the time for a Tory cabinet had not yet ar-
rived. Many of them, have since somewhat altered their
tone, and are now become a good deal elated. It was not
on political grounds alone--perhaps at first not even chiefly
so, that the sentiments which originally prevailed were
avowed. Commercial considerations had a great
share in producing them. The business of this district was
in a very flourishing state ; we had a good demand for all
the leading articles of our. production. Our labouring
classes were fully employed, for the most part • at good
wages, and, as a mass, enjoying, in consequence of the very
low price of provisions, a higher average of comfort than
probably at any former period. Political excitement had
very much subsided ; and people were attending assiduously
and satisfactorily to their private concerns. Such a change
as that which has just taken place is incompatible with the
maintenance of this state of quiet. A sudden and com-
plete revolution in the persons of the Administration, be-
tokening also a decided change in the principles on which it
is to be conducted, destroys all present confidence, unsettles
men's feelings both with respect to foreign and domestic
policy, and tends greatly to rekindle that excitement and
agitation, the last embers of which we had hoped would
speedily be extinguished. Commercial checks, however, are
necessarily temporary ; and, it is in regard to its political
consequences that the change will be most important. There
are two courses which the Duke of Wellington may take.
If he acts in the spirit in which he spoke and voted during
the last Session of Parliament, his government will be a high
Tory one. We do not believe that he will dare even to at-
tempt directly to abrogate any of those reforms which the late
ministry have been so fortunate as to complete. But he
will curtail as much as possible the range, and compress the
vigour, of their action. And, unless he flies in the face of
his own spontaneous declaiations during the last session of
Parliament, he will oppose the municipal corporations bill ;
he will resist the claims of the Dissenters even for relief
from their admitted practical giievances ; he will place him-
self in the gap between the Church, as it at present exists,
and the earnest cry for its reform ; and he will transfer the
influence of this country, as for as it may be in his poWer to
do so, from the support of Liberal principles of Govern-
ment on the Continent, to that of despotism, bigotry, and
intolerance. In Ireland, and in our foreign relations, the
consequences of the change will probably be more seriously
felt. There are, however, it must be admitted, many who
profess to think that the Duke of Wellington will
again pursue the same course which be astonished and
disgusted his honest Tory supporters by following in 1828
and 1829 ; that, as he then relieved the Dissenters and
cmancipat:•d the Catholics, he will now become a Reformer
of Corporations.and of the Church, and remove from the
Dissenters the last remaining badges of legal and social
inferiority. The supposition that the Duke's principles
should incline him to do these things calls for no other reply
than a scornful laugh ; which, perhaps, also would be the
best answer to any suggestion that he is so far encumbered
by principle as to prevent him from doing them. In the
case of Catholic Emancipation we give him the credit of
so observing the shadows which coming events cast before
them, as to be seriously convinced that the ground he had
' till then taken with regard to that measure was no longer
tenable. There is ope way, and one only, in which the
people of Great Britain can enforce upon him a practical
conviction that ether changes equally distasteful to himself
can no longer be staved off. We shall presently mention
it. Some of the agitating newspapers say that it is to their
trimming wavering policy, to the fewness in number, and
the mediocrity.in quality of the reforms they have effected
or contemplated, that the Whig Cabinet virtually owes its
dismissal. They allege that, in this way, the Tories have
acquired a confidence, and been urged to a degree of deter-
mination, which they would not otherwise have exhibited.
The assertion is one of staring but malignant absurdity.

It is not for having done and contemplated too little that
the Melbourne Administration has been cashiered. It is
not to accomplish more thorough changes that the Duke
of Wellington has been installed as the Cabinet. And
thd itiOdOrato and constitutional reforms projected
and put in progress by the Whig. Ministry; during the
list two years, have sufficed to array against therii tt mass
of courtly and ecclesiastical influence, which has been fatal
to their existence, there needs no hesitation in maintain-,
In 7, that, by proposing more radical measures, they would
only have precipitated their downfal. Wo question whe-
ther, if the Duke of.. Wellington were inclined to play a
similar game with that which he followed in 1829, .he
would now be allowed to do it. The public know how to
distinguish between a departure from mere personal consis-
tency, under new combinations of circumstances, and a di-
rect flying in the face of the professions and practices of a..
whole life. They yielded to his plea of necessity in regard
to the Catholic question ; but they will not admit its vali-.
dity in respect to a general and fundamental change of po-
Ley. His followers will not again be willing, for such a
precarious tenure of office as they can at best probably at-
tain, to be dragged through the dirt at his bidding, and
osliged to assist afterwards at that most mortifying of all
repasts, the eating of their own words. A sense of Cha-
racter has for many years been a growing attribute of public
men ; and their moral feelings could not but revolt from a
complete veering round in their votes and measures, at the
bidding, or for the convenience of an imperious and unseru•
pulous Premier. We do not think that, in these times,
the rank or the emoluments of office have, for persons of
such reputations, and standing as, can possibly be thought of
to fill them, any such attractions as to induce them to seek•
the acquisition of power by a total abandonment of their
former professions, and an adoption of those views and
measures Ilia, up to the very time, they have denounced
as unconstitutional and dangerous. We do not believe
that, at the present moment, the Duke of Wellington is
the mere puppet of some hidden power which pulls the
string of Court influence, and decides who, like the alter-
nating figures of a weather-house, shall be out, and who in.
It is as the child and champion of Toryism, as the intended
conservator of the Irish Church, that he has been selected
to give the coup de 'race to a liberal and reforming Ad-
ministration, by a dismissal as summary as if it were the
sentence of a drumhead courtmartial. -There can be " no
mistake ;" the Duke has been called in to do the work of
the oligarchy ; and he.aintst and,svill perform ifL--that is,
the people will let himl - Yes, if the people will let him—
for thanks to that Ministry who gave us the Reform Act;
the fate of this mighty kingdom is no longer subject to the
ignoble controul of a borough faction. Under Providence,
the constituent body have the destiny of the State in their
own hands ; and it is for them so to act as to give practical
evidence of their determination neither to be cozened- nor
dragooned out of the reforms they-have been taught to ex-
pect. The Duke may attempt to delude them—he may
offer them something ; but, whatever it be, it will be doled
out by reluctant bands. The concessions will be far less•
in magnitude and far different in value, which policy may
urge a hostile chief governor to make, than those which.
would have been freely accorded by a liberal Administra7
tion, not through apprehension but from. duty, net as
sops to stay the public appetite, but on' the broadest grounds
of ewediency and justice.

BRISTOL.
( From the Bristol Ma cuty.)

His Majesty has dismissed his liberal ministers and once
more taken to his councils those . ohemies of all, good go-
vernment—the' Tories. The immediate cause of so rash
and so unexpected a determination can only be guessed at;
but we believe we shall not greatly err if we attribute it to
the influence of that party in the Church, who, alarmed at
the near approach of measures for the reformation of the
abuses of the establishment, have feelingly represented the
danger, if not the wickedness, of allowing any interference
with, what they term, the religion of the State. In our own
mind there exists not a shadow of doubt that it is to this
selfish and intolerant faction we are indebted for a change
which will involve one of the most dangerous experiments
ever attempted in the government of this country. The
policy of the new administration is the first thing to engage
our attention, and, in reference to it, we shall at once dis-
card the opinion, expressed in some quarters, of the possi;
bility, if not the probability, of the Duke of Wellington
being found to carry out the principles of the, Reform Bill
to the utmost limits to which they may with 'safety be ex
tended. Specious professions of liberality, no doubt, we
shall have—we are prepared to expect them—but let them
not be relied on. It is utterly impossible for the Wellington
administration to be anything but essentially Tory ; the
hopes of the faction are built upon it—the enemies of free-
dom already look towards it with elated expectation—and,
whatever its professions may be, it will, to the fullest ex-
tent of its powers, retrace the steps of improvement We
confess We are anxious to prevent any mistake on this head,
inasmuch as a portion of the liberal press of the metropolis,
adopting the hacknied sentiment—" measures, not men,'
have most unaccountably, and with some degree of confi-
dence, expressed the hope, that the new administration will
be conducted on liberal principles. We,, at once, repudiate
such an idea—we do so, as we think, on rational grounds ;
and we would enforce our conviction upon every true Re- 7
former ; for, in the times that arc coming, above all things,
it is desirable that a unity of sentiment as well as a.unity of
purpose should prevail. The tactics of the enemy have been
to divide their opponents—to concentrate their friends ; let'
us henceforth show that we are superior to their arts, and,
in ceestancy and resolution, superior even to themselves..
The crisis is come ! an ill-advised, not to say an ungra-
cious, act of his Majesty, has anticipated the period—ope-
fidently predicted,—and the antagonist principles of free-
dom and despotism are even now in direct collision. In the
struggle it is impossible to see how much of misery will be
inflicted on our unhappy country, but it is possible to fore-
see that the issue will be the signal triumph of justice.
The attempt may, and we believe will be made, to crush
the rising spirit of freedom, and to postpone, indefinitely,
the improvement of our social condition : the attempt may,
and we believe will be Made, to extend indefinitely the un-
just and unconstitutional privilvees of the hierarchy, and to
perpetuate the bondage of a large class of his Majesty's
loyal subjects—the dissenters : the attempt may, and we be
1 eve will be made, to recur to the old principles of govern-
ment,--:if it be not a prostitution of the word, inasmuch as
the whole system was based on a want of principle—by
which the people were regarded as the " means and appli-
ances" merely of aristocratic rapacity,—the army, the navy,
the church, supported by the country, but employed less as
the means of defence and instruction, than 'as mediums of
administering to the cupidity of the treacherous or of sup-
porting the imbecile. The attempt may be made, and, all
other means failing, we believe will be made, even at the
risk of blood-shedding to enforce all. this ; but, what then i
the people of England will stand forth in vindication of their
rights,—a liberal government must again succeed, and then
will follow, at a period much earlier than in the ordinary
course of events could fairly have been expected, that full
measure of justice which, in the spirit of the constitution,
conceding equal rights, will place our fellow-country men, of
all persuasions, on a footing of perfect equality. Do we, then,
fear the crisis ? we answer, no : regret the .occasion of it,
we most certainly do ; but with a perfect reliance on the in-
' filligence of our countrymen we have no fear for the result.
As a preliminary step, a dissolution of Parliament will,
of course, take place. We will not libel the first reformed
House of Commons, by supposing it capable of yielding a
majority to the Tory Administration, nor will we hold the
latter so much in contempt as to suppose it capable of at-
tempting so foolish a thing as that of bringing over a ma-
jority to its interests. Our surprise is, that such a course
should be thought of. No : there will be a dissolution.
The reaction no doubt in the opinion of the Duke's parti-
zans, has arrived at a point which will secure the .:return of
a majority of conservatives ; but, of this epinion, time will
show the correctness. It may be they have reckoned on the.
disaffection of the ultra-liberals and the disgust of the dis-
senters, which, in more than one instance, we confess have
operated negatively to their advantage ; but they will find
that that disaffection and that disgust will merge in one
common feeling of regard for the public safety. The truth
of a reaction, at all events, must now be tested ; let no
undue influence be exerted, and we are content-.to abide
the issue. Our faith in the integrity and (rood sense of the
people of England forbids a doubt of their being found
wanting in duty to themselves and to their country. We
believe they are firm to their principles, and it is from
this conviction; and from a conviction also that firmness
alone will be found sufficient to defeat the machina-
tions of the enemy, that we are enabled to look forward
with undiminished confidence to the future. Without a
majority in -the Commons,. an Administration, whether
for good or for evil, is powerless ; to place a -majority
in th hands of the Tories must be an act of the people's.;
and, therefore, reiterating our confidence in them, we can-
not come to any other conclusion than that it is utterly im-
possible, in the present day, for a Tory Government to
f'ace a British Parliament. Firmness, then, is the one
thing needful in the present exigency. Excitement, no
doubt, there will be until the termination of the conflict ;
but the less of it the better, lest by some chance it lead to
open violence, and so furnish the government with a pre-
text for resorting to arbitrary measures. Already have the
Tories worked upon the fears of the timid, but let it be the
part of all true reformers to put to shame the recreant few
who have listened to their false alarms, and at the same
time to dash to the ground the hope (if any such should be
entertained) of a decided reaction consequent on the impe-
tuosity of the party of the movement. Above all things,
then, let us conjure our friends to act firmly, but tempe-
rately. There will, we doubt not, in the course of the
election that must take place, arise many circumstances
calculated to arouse their just indignation—power and
wealth will be brought to bear • upon the weals and depen-
dant, arid a formidable array of close eorporators, lay and

SVN, LONDON, TUPSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1834.

clerical, and of all who are connected with vested interests;
may be expected to assume a bearing calculated, if the
thing Werd possible, to frown down public opinion ; but, un-
heeding these things, let them bat act with a steadiness of
purpose, let them but remain true to their principles, and
all will be safe.