The Sun.
London, England, 1833-08-07 00:00:00

lings English, at the principal inn of a village,
containing twelve hundred in habitants,and we have
seen whole families toiling from morning until
midnight for wages which would not yield them
more than a moderate portion of bread alone for
►heir support. Where there is such great dis-
tress, and such thorough moral prostration and
debasement, the PI iesthood must necessarily
have great power over the mass, and, there-
fore, a long time must elapse ere the population
can be brought to appreciate and demand the
full amount of their rights. Something, how-
ever, in the way of concession must be done im-
mediately, or the middle classes, who are begin-
ning to complain, will take the affair into their
own hands; and as the mass of the people al-
though in a state of apathy favourable to des-
potism, when there is no strong current to op-
pose, could not be easily raised against those
who desire their liberation and happiness, the
Government would struggle in vain, and would
be soon subdued. By gradual concession,
however, it may ward off the blow, and retain
sufficient power for those enjoyments which the
many are compelled to provide for the few.

Up to a late hour this morning no further in-
telligence had been received, either at the To-
reign-office or at the Portuguese Embassy, from
Portugil. An arrival is hourly expected.

Nothing has transpired officially respecting
the rumoured intention of sending troops to
Portugal. It is believed that there will be an
expedition of this sort, but no arrangements have
yet been made for it at the War Office.

It is now said about the Government offices,
that Parliament will not be prorogued before the
first week in September.

It will be seen by our Parliamentary report
that Mr. MURRAY, the Member for Leith,
triumphantly carried his motion for the repeal of
that vain and fooli,h Act, the Foreign Enlist-
ment Act. He is appointed to bring in the
Bill for its repeal, in conjunction with Sir J.
BYNG and Sir E. CODRINGTO.N.

We refer our readers with pleasure to the
important statements, last night made in the
House of Commons by Mr. WALLACE of
Greenock. It may be true, as was stated by
Ministers, that some of them relate to a by-
gone system ; hut it is no less true, that the
whole system of the Post-office wants thorough
revision. It is monstrous that all the secrets of
a man's family, or of his trade, should be ex-
posed, for the sake of an additional penny post-
age being obtained for the revenue. We trust
that Mr. WALLACE will persevere till he has
obtained a thorough reform in an establishment,
which of all others should, in a free country, be
watched with jealousy.

At a late hour last night, the report of the
Committee of the previous night, which had
agreed to the resolution granting a million
of money to the persons entitled to the arrears
of tithes in Ireland, was brought up. After
some discussion on the question that the report
be read, the House divided, when there appeared
—for the motion 34 ; against it, 15. The Bill
was then ordered to be brought in by Mr.
LITTLETON and Lord ALTHORP. Some
such measure as this was perhaps necessary to the
peace of Ireland ; hut the Bill must provide sa-
tisfactory means of repayment of the loan. As
to the landlords of Ireland being able to resist
payment, as the peasantry have done, the idea is
absurd. The reason of the success of the pea-
santry is, that they have little or nothing to lose.
The landlords have got something to lose, and
even should they be knavish enough to desire
to cheat the country out of the tithes, the sale
of an estate or two would soon restore them to
their senses.

Stafford appears doomed at length to receive
the reward of its long and shameful corruption.
The motion of Sir THOMAS FREMANTLE to
disfranchise it was opposed by Mr. CHETWYND
as too violent a remedy for the disease, and he
moved, as an amendment to it, that leave be
given to bring in a Bill for preventing bribery
and corruption in the election of its Members.
Lord A LTHORP, however, having advocated
the total disfranchisement of the borough, Mr.
CHETWYND found himself obliged to withdraw
his amendment. A Bill to disfranchise the
borough was accordingly ordered to he brought
in by Sir THOMAS FREMANTLE, Mr. ORD,
and Mr. MACLEOD. It is vain to deny
that Stafford has for years been a sink of
corruption—that its few honest and inde-
pendent voters have not always been over-
borne by the bribed majority ; but the
disfranchisement of a whole community is a
serious step, only to be justified as the sole
remedy for the evil. The question is, whether
remedies do not exist which have not been tried,
and which would in all probability prevent the
recurrence of corruption ? We think that there
do, and we shall think the Legislature guilty of a
monstrous stretch of power if it do not try
them before resorting to the infliction of con-
stitutional death upon the county town of one of
the most important and populous of our coun-
ties. This is not a case like that of the Liver-
pool freemen. The Liverpool freemen might,
as a body, he disfranchised without injustice
to any party. Not tally their unborn de-
scendants, perfectly innocent, of course, of
their fathers' crime, but themselves, might rise
to a station in which they could exercise
their franchise in an independent manner. No
such grace is shown to the Stafford electors,
for not only are they to be deprived of the
elective franchise, but their children for ever.
Stafford may, in the next generation, maintain
its rank as a county town, or it may double its
present population, but in consequence of the
barefaced conduct of the present cotrupt
constituency, it will not be in the enjoyment
of privileges to which its character, as well
as magni:nde may then entitle it. The question
is, whether we cannot avoid the commission of
this injustice, and put a stop to future bribery.
We think that there is a means left by which
both these objects might be accotrplished. We
allude to vote by ballot. Let Sir THOMAS
FREMANTLE and his friends, whose only
object of course is to secure a pure constituency,
try this remedy before taking the extreme step
they now propose. The most strenuous op-
ponent of the ballot cannot with consistency
object to the course we suggest. It will
be experimenturn in corpore viii, and
cannot possibly be attended with any of the
mischiefs they constantly predicate of the hallo!.
That the constituency is as bad as it can be, is
the very ground upon which disfranchisement is
proposed ; so that it the experiment be attended
with any result at all, it must be beneficial. What