The Sun.
London, England, 1833-06-28 00:00:00

threatened to: supersede the reform administra-
iion. On the Royal Assent being given to the
Reform Bills, our columns will show that Mr.
Parkes and many of the new members of all the
.Unions seceded from the societies. The
Brighton, the Bristol, the Sheffield, the Leeds
the Liverpool Unions, and other similar associa-
tions, have been either dissolved, or by resigna-
tions have lost many of their official and leading
members. Some of these societies are still for-
midable and numerous, but without good go-
vernment and non-interference they will gra-
dually decline, unless the- Duke of Wellington
and the Ultra-Tories should return to office, and
act on Tory principles, when they will soon
revive, and get above the military prowess of his
Grace. Happy also was it for the nation, that
Political Unions existed in this country after the
French Revolution as conductors of the ignited
feelings of the people ; and it was a matter of
congratulation
with all sensible men, that per-
sons of talent and local influence headed the
Reformers during the memorable crisis of the
last year. The Tories are as blind to 'causes
as to effects ; and nothing short of physical proofs
will ever enlighten their opaque understandings.
Political Unions which do not correspond or use
certain emblems are strictly legal ; and even
these restrictions were enacted by Tory laws,
!lamed by Pitt and Lord Londonderry, for the
protection of the boroughmongers, and which
are violations of the great constitutional rights of
public meetings and petition. Mr. Cobbett
made a happy and ironical comparison between
the late Tory administrations and the political
unions, highly to the disadvantage of the for-
mer; and Mr. O'Connell, in an excellent
speech, warmly cheered, intimated that the time
might yet come when the staff of the existing
unions might form necessary recruiting parties
to put down the political union of Tory Bishops
and Conservative Peers, who are now associat-
ing at the Carlton Club against the Irish Church
Bill. Now the fact is, that the close and cor-
rupt state of the municipal corporations, and the
principle of self election existing in the Courts
Leet which generally govern the unincor-
porated towns, have mainly contributed to
extend and perpetuate the unions. The
people, having no share or voice in the magis-
tracy or municipal government of the boroughs and
cities, usually view the civil officers of their
several communities with suspicion and disgust.
The close nature of these municipal bodies ex-
cludes all the most respectable inhabitants from
municipal power and honour. The natural con-
sequence is, that the bulk of the population
form independent associations, hostile to the
corporations and other self-elected municipal
officers. It is well known throughout the coun-
try towns, that innumerable evils 'proceed from
these causes. indeed we have lately stated our
confident opinion that a real and well-considered
system of municipal reform will produce the
most valuable consequences to the nation. The
Bristol Political Union contributed more to sup-
press the disgraceful riots in that city, than its
decayed and powerless Corporation ; and Mr.
Thomas Attwood truly alluded to his own laud-
able conservation of the public peace in October,
1831, and May twelvemonth ! When the peo-
ple elect their own municipal magistracy, and
when the ancient and constitutional police of the
country is revived, life and property will be ten-
fold more secure—we shall hear little of Political
Unions, and still less of such insignificant and
mock legislators as Mr. Finch. This little gen-
tleman may represent the close Corporation of
Stamford, but he will never be returned to any
Parliament by an elective Corporation or its in-
dependent burgesses.— Morning Chronicle.
If the people had such honest and zealous
representatives in the House of Commons, as
they naturally expected from the working of the
Reform Bill, we should have felt surprised at
the oppressive, unprecedented, and, we must
add, in many instances, illegal conduct of per-
sons acting under the real or pretended authority
of the Post-office department, not having been
brought under the notice of Parliament in a
way calculated to stop those proceedings in
breaking open parcels, &c., which have, for some
time past, become the subject of just and
general complaint. When grievances press,
the people must not wait until their representa-
tives, sleeping at the feet of the Ministers of
the Crown, and dreaming of places and pensions,
awaken to a sense of their duty. They must
shout in their ears—they must call upon them,
by public meetings and petitions. They must
meet the un-English system of espionage which is
now encouraged by such a peaceable, but deter-
mined, expression of public opinion as cannot be
mistaken, or all confidence will be broken down.
The common transactions of business, more espe-
cially that of solicitors and their clients between the
metropolis and the country, will be ruinously im-
peded—and the Post-office itself be regarded as
a nuisance, instead of being looked upon in the
character, which it heretofore maintained, ofa great
and valuable source of public accommodation.
Great is the disgust and indignation of the
public at the practices sanctioned by a Whig
Ministry to wind up the screw of taxation to a
torture pitch, which it never reached before. This
was the case in regard to the Assessed Taxes,
which the mercenary minions of the present
Government rendered more vexatious and un-
equal than ever by 'heir rapacious and indefati-
gable ingenuity in making surcharges. These
are taxes, too, which the public had every rea-
son to believe, from the assurances given by the
emissarie.i of the present Government at the ge-
neral election, and from the Members of the
Cabinet having voted for their repeal when out
of office, it would have been one of the first acts
of a Whig Administration, supported by a Re-
formed Parliament, to abolish. Sadly have the
" pensive public" been deceived. The " candid"
Lord Althorp was the first to draw the nice but
not very intelligible distinction between voting
for the repeal of a tax and advocating such
repeal. If his Lordship would only vote
against the Assessed Taxes now as he did be-
fore, we would dispense with his advocacy, esti-
mating, as we do, his vote on the side of the peo-
ple as of far greater value than his eloquence.
The Noble Lord, in endeavouring to reconcile
gross inconsistencies of conduct, is obliged to
talk egregious nonsense. He has attained, how-
ever, to one part of the craft and mystery of a
financier, which is best explained by the words
quocumvue mode rem, which being " done into
English ' by the Treasury translator, means,
"fleece the people by surcharges." We have
heard of instances of surveyors of taxes being
promoted, as a reward to themselves and an
encouragement to others, for that sort of inge-
nuity which males the Government odious to
the people. Have our Whig rulers found this
sort of policy so beneficial to their interests that
it is thought the Post-office department cannot
do better than imitate the example of the Ex-
chequer ? Will the increase of the revenue
derived from violating the public contidenee
reposed in the establishment compensate foohe