The Sun.
London, England, 1833-01-01 00:00:00

upon the ballot. Four out of five of those
which reach us arc adverse to that measure. A
long one from a " Scotchman of the Middle
Class" espouses the cause of secrecy. Two
others, one from " A Reformer," and one from
Aristides, jun.," oppose it. Our wish is con-
fined to a single point—that if the innovation
be adopted, it may effect all the public good
which its most sanguine partisans predict from
it. Some, though, as we have shown, but a
partial injury may have arisen from threats as
well as bribes during the late election ; but we
are unteachable enough to continue under the
mistake, if it be a mistake, which we set out
with,—viz., that the ballot would be no cure for
any existing evils, and that if it were a remedy
for them, it could only be so by becoming the
source of others at present unknown to this
country.—Times.
It would be difficult to find an instance of the
national vanity of the French being carried to
such a surfeiting excess of self-approbation as on
the occasion of the fall of the citadel of An-
twerp—an achievement which, when we consider
the fearful odds with which the handful of van-
quished Dutch had to contend—when we also
recollect the previous boasting of the French.
about the citadel being a mere morceau to the
vast army sent against it—reflects any thing bu•
credit on the military prowess, at the present
day, of that nation which had, some twenty
years ago, filled the earth with the " glory and
gloom" of its conquests under the guidance of
the genius of Napoleon. Nor have our Anglo-
Gallic writers been behind their allies of tin
Parisian Press in silly and senseless exultation.
We always looked upon the combined naval
and military attack of the two great nations upon
Holland as a proceeding so bad in principle
that it could derive no honour from success,
or could it be rendered more disgraceful
by disaster. Those, however, who hold the
convenient but profligate doctrine that a regard
for principle ought never to stand in the was
of the advantages which a more libertine policy
promises, will, of course, form their estimation
of every measure by the simple criterion of its
success. But then, before such persons throw
away their applause, they should he certain that
victory has really crowned the enterprise which
political principle and morality disowns. There
never was in this world a greater violation of
principle committed than when two great nations.
that had interfered, in the professed character of
mediators, between two small ones, assumed the
right of substituting, for the recommendations of
peace and the language of persuasion, the wea-
pons of violence and blood. Protesting, as we
did all along, against the interference of our Go-
vernment in the Belgico-Dutch disputes, sve still
thought that there was a chance of our Minis-
ters eventually extricating themselves and the
country from the quarrel, by availing them-
selves of the fair excuse that, having failed
to reconcile the parties by their mediato-
rial efforts, they must leave them to settle their
disputes as they best could without their inters
position. If all the five Powers of the Con-.
ference were as anxious to preserve the peace of
Europe as the Government papers tell us they
were, it would have been easy for them to have
brought the matter to a speedy termination, by
entering into a compact not so sanguinary as the
Anglo-Gallic Convention—a compact of ,strict
neutrality, which would leave the stage of the
Netherlands clear of foreign intervention, that
Belgium and Holland might fight the_quarrel
out. Such an arrangement would also have put
to the test the capacity of Belgium for indepen-
dence; for if she could not maintain herself
single-handed against Holland, it is evident that
she is not qualified to be an independent
State. In the mean time the commerce
of England would have greatly benefited
by her neutrality between both parties, and
her undisturbed relations with Holland—a
nation that, ever since the revolution down
to the time of the unlucky Palmerston Conven-
tion, took from England in abundance those
articles of production and manufacture with
which Belgium used to supply her. But such
a termination of the quarrel .between Belgium
and Hollard as did not allow a pretext for the
sanguinary interference of a French army was
not in accordance with the political projects of
the Government of France. Hence the irruption
of an army of 70,000 or 80,000 men to reduce
a garrison of 4,000 ; and hence has Leopold
been exhibited to all Europe as the contented
Viceroy of a province, whose destinies are en
tirely regulated by the supreme authority at the
Tuileries. The Anglo-Gallic Convention is far
from being carried into full effect by the fall of the
citadel of Antwerp. The Convention undertook to
demand that, after the 12th of last November, there
" should be no Netherland troops within the
limits ofthe kingdom of Belgium, nor any Belgian
troops within the territory of the King of the Ne-
therlands." There was to be a complete evacua-
tion of territory by both parties. A great deal
of blood has since been shed to attain this ob-
ject, yet the Dutch have still possession of the
important forts of Lillo and Liefkenshoek, on
the banks of the Scheldt, and the Belgians, on
their part, have not evacuated any of the posses-
sions adjudged to belong to the King of Hol-
land ; they have not surrendered Venloo, or the
province of Limburg, or that portion of Luxem-
burg which they have been recommended to
give up. Indeed, the very mention of giving
up those possessions by Leopold made his Ma-
jesty of Belgium exceedingly unpopular, and
along with his servile application for the inter-
ference of the troops of Louis Philip, raised
that opposition in the Chamber, which drove his
Ministry out of office. The fact is, the Belgic
question is now more complicated than ever.
The slaughter of Antwerp has produced great
iminediate advantages to the French Govern-
ment, but for every other purpose it has been a
senseless infliction of sufferin—a wanton and
barren waste of life.
The Herald.
The dinner given on Thursday last to the two
representatives for Manchester, Mr. Philips and
Mr. Poulett Thomson, is, in many respects, oe-
serving of attention. Such an assembly is not
certainly of every-day occurrence. On this occa-
sion 1,300 gentlemen, all possessed of some
property, many very wealthy, all distinguished
for their respectability and intelligence, were
united under one roof. With the exception,
too, of eight visiters, they were all electors of
the borough. It is unnecessary for us to ob-
serve that Manchester is now the acknowledged
commercial metropolis of the world, that it is
the centre of that which gives to this country
its distinctive character—our manufacturing
system. We deem the approbation by the mer-
chants and manufacturers of Manchester of the
principles acted on by Mr. Poulett Thomson as
of unspeakable importance. Here are the men
who have the deepest interest in the commercial
prosperity of the country, and who, by their know-
ledge and skill, are best acquainted with the sources
of our commercial greatness, and the means by