The Sun.
London, England, 1834-10-03 00:00:00

MAGAZINES.-(CONTINUED.)

BLACKW- 0 OD' S.
(CONCLUDED FIZOM THE SUN OF FIESTEILDAY.
" Foreign Affairs."—As might be expected this
paper is only another vehicle for the conveying of those
Tory principles, of which the Magazine has ever been
the uncompromising advocate. It is ably written,—as
ably indeed, as the defence of a bad cause 'could be,—
but it brings with it no conviction, except to those
whose political bigotry will believe anything and every-
thing that favours Toryism. The very basis on
which the whole argument is founded, is a maxim,

which, if not fallacious, at least requires to have been

proved—" the great bulk of mankind," says the writer,
are totally incapable, even in the most enlightened age,
of appreciating or comprehending what is for the ulti-
mate interests of society." We doubt this much ; but

waving this question for the present, we would ask what it
is that makes the few so much wiser on these points than

the many ?—we presume we shall be answered in one
word—education. If such be the case, what a cogent

reason is here brought forward for the general instruc-
tion of the people—that very doctrine which, of all
others, has met with a most sturdy opposition from
the Tories. It would be a strange contradiction to
deny education to the multitude, and then tell them
that the want of it unfits them for judging their own
affairs. After the overthrow of Napoleon, as the

writer affirms,—
" The cause of liberty had gained immensely by the result
of the triumph of property over spoliation ; and freedom, di-
vested of its most dangerous ally, innovation, was rapidly and
generally taking root in its only secure soil, diffused property."
If this " diffusion" is meant to be applied to Eng-
land, it is an egregious error, for nothing can be more
- -

notorious than that within the last fifty years property

has been gradually accumulating into a very few
hands, and this is one of the leading causes of the
present distress. If it be intended for France, the
application fails yet more strikingly ; it was the Revo-
lution, the overthrow of the Bourbons, and not their
return, that caused property to be diffused.
We perfectly coincide with the writer in the peril to
be apprehended from Russia to the civilized world, and
have taken more than one occasion to enlarge upon it;
but when he advises a coalition between England and
Germany, in the cause of freedom, and says, "
in
Germany alone the foundations of real freedom are to
found," we must confess ourselves lost in amazement

at an assertion so utterly at variance with all acknow-
ledged facts. If however the foundations of real
freedom do exist in that country, they must lie buried
so deeply beneath the earth as to be perfectly useless
in the building up of any Constitution. Still less are
we inclined to concede the evils he imagines from the
existing relations between France and England. His
reasoning on this subject is not a little curious ; one
moment he tells us that the French Government is a

democracy and therefore not to be trusted, but before
we can well reply to this assertion he turns round and

declares--

" That it is neither more nor less than that of imperial
Rome, with an obsequious senate to register the decrees of the
Sovereign, and take away from his government the odium of
the most unpopular measures, a praetorian guard to overawe
the capital, and innumerable offices in the disposal of govern-
ment, to secure the acquiescence of the departmental electors ?
Are they aware that this monarch, the people's choice, ele-
vated to the throne amidst the shouts of the Barricades, rules
more despotically than any sovereign in Europe."

Both dogmas can hardly be true ; a democracy can-
not well be a regal depotism.
A little further on, and the whole mystery of Tory
politics is betrayed in a few unlucky lines, which, we
trust, will not be forgotten in a hurry :

" And what have been the deeds of these our new and re-
doubtable allies which have entitled them to the confidence of
mankind, and enabled them to supply the place of Russia,
Prussia, and Austria, in combating one day for the liberties of
Europe ?"
Against whom, pray, were they to combat ? who was
to threaten the liberties of all the leading nations of
Europe ? Why, the people ; and that there might be
no mistake on this point, he assures us, mirabile dictu !
that democracy is the greatest enemy of free-
dom. This is about as true, as his assertion that
" England, for a hundred and twenty years, had exhi-
bited to the world the rare combination of unlimited
personal liberty, with perfect security to property."
What 1 in all that time has the Habeas Corpus Act
never been suspended? Have no subjects been impri-
soned, without any assigned cause, to soothe the ter-
rors or satisfy the vengeance of a Minister, and again
dismissed without being being brought to trial?

Was there no period within these one hundred and
twenty years, when it was a right perilous thing to
speak truth of the Sovereign or of his Government ?
And property safe too I—Yes, the property of the
rich man was safe no doubt, but how have the hard
earnings of the poor man been secured ? Has not the
money been juggled out of his pockets by Corn Laws,
and Malt Laws, and laws of all kinds, and may not
as much spoliation,—since spoliation is the word,—
be effected by an army of tax-gatherers, such as spread
their locust numbers over England, as by a herd of
sansculottes, however ragged they might happen to
be ? The one indeed does not attempt to knock you
down, but it is only because he meets with no opposi-
tion. It would be a work of supererogation were he

to use a club, when he can order a bevy of policemen
to the door, cart away the goods, and, if then not
satisfied, consign the possessor of " unlimited liberty"
to the county gaol. In every quarter the foolish cries
resound of " property is sacred,"—" every man has a
right to do what he pleases with his own." Be it so ;
let property be sacred ; but let this provision extend
to the hard-gotten earnings of the poor, as well as to
the lordly possessions of the rich. Do not by taxes
on malt, taxes on hops, on bread, on soap, on can-
dles, conjure the money out of the labourer's pocket,
while not a twig is to be cut, nor a bird shot, in
the domains of the wealthy landlord. It is .of
no use telling the people that they are robbed
by law, while the same law protects their plun-
derers—there is no particular satisfaction in being
killed secundum artem. Wise as the multitude have
now grown, they see nothing sacred or divine in law ;
they know that it is no more than a wooden idol, made
by the hands of man—not a divinity—and they refuse
to worship the Baal any longer. They are aware that
law ought to be the expression of the will of the ma-
jority in all societies, whereas it is now neither more
nor less than the arbitrary mandate of a miserable
fraction. We are told that wealth alone should go-
vern, that property should ever predominate over num-
bers, as if wealth were a virtue and poverty a crime ;
in other words, they who have acquired wealth—no
matter how—.have acquired with it the knowledge to
direct, and the disposition to use, that knowledge
wisely. No doubt the ignorance of the people is ab-
solutely essential to the existence of such a state of
things, but it is the grossest injustice for any man to
wish for it, and, what is yet mote to the purpose, let
their wishes be as they may, the March of Intellect
will go on, the feudal system must crumble to pieces
under its footsteps, and a new form of society be built
up from its shattered fragments. With the baseness
and contradiction peculiar to themselves, the defenders
of the aristocratic Jugghernaut have dared to tell us
that knowledge is not virtue ; but if this be the case,
if knowledge be so utterly without effect upon .human
morals, on what ground is it that the rich and noble
base their superior claims above the multitude ?—is it
in their conventional manners, their wearing a better
made coat, or in the greater approximation to the ac:
complishments of an opera dancer ?
's Magazine."
To come back again to " Blackwood

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1834.

The writer of the political diatribe in question having

expended no small share of abuse on France, whose
great crime is the day of the barricades, now rebukes
this country for having assisted in partitioning the do-
minions of the King of the Netherlands. What a
perverse way of stating things is this ? The allied
Monarchs of Europe chose, no leave asked of the Bel-
gians, to manufacture a King of their own under that
portentous title, and set him over a people who pro-
fessed another faith, and spoke another language ;

the natural consequence was that they revolted.
As to Portugal, this country did not—as the
writer affirms she did—place an usurper upon
_

the throne, nor was Don Miguel either a legitimate
sovereign or the choice of the people. Even had he
been the last, which we repeat he never was, such a
fact would little avail a Tory partizan, who but a few

pages before had declared that—
" The great bulk of mankind are totally incapable, even in
the most enlightened age, of appreciating or comprehending
what is for the ultimate interests of society ; but perfectly of
understanding what promises, in the first instance at least, to
gratify their desires•"
It would be hardly worth while to follow the writer
through all his ingenious fallacies in regard to Spain

and Russia. The same objections have been repeated
over and over again, and we must not allow the acknow-
ledged ability with which they are here treated, to
tempt us into a renewal of the discussion.

The " Austrian Government of Italy," is an attempt

to prove, in defiance of all acknowledged records, that
Italy is, or ought to be, extremely happy under the
yoke of Austria. Not contented with this paradox,
though it is quite enough for a single paper, the writer
goes yet a step further, and. insists upon, the right of
the Emperor to govern Lombardy, and his other Italian

provinces, as he and Metternich may settle between
them. Of all political puzzles the title to dominion is

;he least capable of a satisfactory explanation. But

the question is no less important than difficult ; and, at

he same time, is one in the discussion of which all

party feelings should be laid aside. It is hardly neces-

sary to remind our readers that the empires of Europe
- - -

were constructed out of various smaller nations, which,

n many cases spoke different languages, were governed

by different laws, and were yet further divided by the
opposition of their manners and customs. All these
unions were effected either by conquest, by political
trickeries, or by the intermarriages of the ruling princes,
but chiefly by the former. If we once allow that this
was just at the time, it follows, as a natural conse-
quence, that the same thing is equally just at present,
and the right of conquest is a good and inalienable
right, to the utter overthrow of all moral obligations.
Russia then is justified in helping herself to Poland,
Prussia would do no wrong in seizing Hanover, and
France, if she could manage it, would do well to follow
Napoleon's advice, and convert England into a depen-
dency, like the island of Oleron. If we deny this
good old Robin Hood law, we fall into another
dilemma, and justify any province in revolting from the
kingdom of which it was originally constrained to be-
come a part. But thus it ever is when we apply ab-
stract reasoning to the practical affairs of life ; an argu-
ment that seems perfectly sound and undeniable on paper,
or in the senate, will often turn out in practice an
utter fallacy. Even one of the firmest rules of right
to all appearance, and which for want of a better is
universally admited as the general basis of ail good go-
vernment, is in fact a wrong—we mean the will of the
majority of any class, or classes, in reference to the
whole body, or to each other—for what is this but the
rule of power, the predominance of strength over weak-
ness ? And yet, if we abandon this rule, how can the
affairs of any State be conducted ? Some party must
preponderate either by wealth, or by numbers, or by
some adventitious force, but still in all these forms

We shall give the remainder of the Magazines to-morrow.

TO CUTHBERT RIPPON, ESQ. M. P.

lurks the same principle, and one which, by abstract
reasoning, gives as much right to the majority of na-
tions over any single nation, as it does to a majority of
any State to dictate to its minority. Would we then
throw off' every restraint, and leave all government to
individual will ?—far from it—this would be only an-
other form of the same thing. We are anxious but for
the truth, and would fain pull down error, though it is
not always possible to prognosticate with certainty on
what may be the prospect when the rubbish is removed.
" A Glance at the Noctes of Athenmus" is one of
Christopher's choice morsels. It begins—no uncom-
mon thing with the old gentleman—with a magnificent
eulogy upon himself ; but Kit is so whimsical in his
conceits, there is so much first-rate talent to support
his egotism, the earnest looks so much like joke, and
the joke so much like earnest, that we should no more
think of quarrelling with the old fellow's vanity than
we should with Falstaff's abominable lying, or his
monstrous quantity of sack to the one poor halfpenny
worth of bread. The object of the article is fully told
in the title, and for the execution we shall take only a
single specimen, for more is not needed. It is part of
a letter from Hippolochus to Lynceus :
" Supper was then served up in a silver dish, the rim of
which was inlayed with gold ; it was sufficiently capacious to
contain a roasted pig of great size. This animal was turned
on its back, with the belly open, which was filled with all kinds
of delicacies ; such as roasted larks, harelets, wheat-ears, the
yolks of eggs, and, besides these, oysters and cockles. To
each guest were presented the hog, and the dish on which it
was served up. We no sooner began to drink, than a kid
stewed in rich sauce was handed to each, with a golden spoon.
" Caranus, perceiving that we were quite fatigued with such
a profusion of dainties, ordered that small boxes and bread-
baskets, curiously worked, as it were, with threads or fibres of
ivory, should be given to each. Flattered with so many in-
stances of generosity, we at once began to celebrate the new-
married couple, with the accompaniment of the crotalum, in
gratitude for the many favours we had received. Another
crown was now presented to each, with two pots of unguents,
one of gold, the other of silver, of the same weight as the
former ones.
" For a time we continued in a state of silent tranquillity,
which was interrupted by the sudden entrance of a troop of
those who came to celebrate at Athens the xvi-vs (the third
day of the festival Av&Eo---rr, tac,) then the Ithyphalli and the
Skleropectre, with certain female jugglers dancing with
swords, and blowing fire out of their mouths, all naked. After
we had been sufficiently entertained with these recreations, we
began to drink deep of the best and most powerful wines ; such
as the Thasian, the Mendean, and that of Lesbos, which were
handed round in large golden goblets.
" After drinking thus plentifully, a dish made of glass, of
about two cubits diameter, fixed in a basket of silver of filagree
work, was served to each, filled with all sorts of fried fish
heaped together, and the finest Cappadocian bread in a silver
basket. We took a small quantity, and gave the rest to the
slaves in waiting. Having washed our hands, fresh crowns
were brought, with chaplets or leaves of gold, double the
weight of the former, and two other boxes of unguents.
" After a short pause, Proteas started from his couch, and
called for a golden goblet, which, having filled with Thasian
wine, sprinkling some water on the ground, he drank off, ex-
claiming, That he who swallowed the greatest quantity,
would have the best reason to be satisfied.'—' Well, then,'
said Caranus, ' as you have given the example,
accept the
goblet as your reward ; and whoever follows it shall have the
same prize.' He had no sooner said this, than nine persons
rose at once, each seized a goblet, and strove which should
first drink it off. One of the guests not being able to take
such a quantity, reclined on his couch, lamenting that he was
the only one who could not obtain the reward. Caranus ob-
serving this, immediately presented him with an empty goblet.
" After this, a complete chorus of one hundred men en-
tered, singing an Epithalamium. A set of dancers followed,
some disguised as Nymphs, others as Naiads. The drinking
still continued, till the day being far spent, the evening com-
menced. The whole apartment, which had been divided by a
white curtain, was thrown open, the torches, moved by secret
springs, came forward, and shed a most brilliant splendour over
the saloon. We now discovered various figures of Cupids,
Dignas, Pans, Mercuries, and other imaginary personages,
holding silver lamps. Whilst we were admiring the ingenuity
of the artist, wild boars, truly Erymathean, were served up in
square dishes, ornamented with borders of gold, they were
transfixed with silver javelins. It was really wonderful, that,
though we were quite fatigued with feasting, and overcome
with wine, yet, every time we were surprised by some new
exhibition, we rose upon our legs with as much firmness and
agility as if we hsd been perfectly sober. The slaves now
gathered up the fragments in their baskets, and the trumpet
gave the signal that the supper was concluded. This, as you
know, is the custom with the Maceddnians when they give a
great entertainment."
The review of " COleridge's Poetical. wQrks,"..—if it

be not a sin to call it by so inglorious a name-Xis a
noble tribute to the memory of departed genius.
Surely it must have been written by Wilson, for who but
a poet, and he amongst the highest ranks, would thus
have felt and described Christabel ?
" Christabel resembles no other poem, except inasmuch as
it is a poem. Here was a new species of poetry, and the spe-
cimen was felt to be perfect. It was as if some bright con-
summate flower had been added to the families of the field—
discovered growing by itself—with its own peculiar balm, and
its own peculiar bloom—mournful as moonlight—delicate as
the dawn—yet strong as day—and in its silken folds, by its
own beauty, preserved unwithered in all weathers. Or may
we liken the music of Christabel to that of some new instru-
ment, constructed on a dream of the harps, on which in for-
gotten ages the old harpers played—ere all those castles were
in ruins—and when the logs now lying black in the mosses
were green trees rejoicing in the sky ? True, at least, it is,
that in the hanging gardens of poetry—lmagination—the head-
gardener—declares there is but one Christabel.
" What means the poem ? Coleridge himself could not have
answered that question—for it is a mystery. What is the
meaning of any mood of Superstition ? Who shall explain
Fear ? One flutter shall make you dumb as frost. If ghosts
come from graves—or fiends from regions deeper than all
graves—or if heaven lets visit earth its saints and angels—and
such has ever been the creed of Imagination—you must not
hope—nay, you will not desire—that such intercommunion as
may then befall shall bear any but a strange, wild, sad resem-
blance to that of life with life—when both are yet mortal—and
the voices of both have as yet sounded but on this side of the
boundary between time and eternity."
Hear him, too, when he defends the " Rhyme of
an Auncient Mariner" against the literary Pharisees,
whose sober judgment pretended to be mightily
shocked at the absurdity of a dead Albatross produc-

ing so fearful a catastrophe—the dunces !
" We remember the time when there was an outcry among
the common critics, What ! all for shooting a bird We an-
swered them then as now—but now they are all dead and
buried, and blinder and deeper even than when alive—that no
one who will submit himself to the magic that is around him,
and suffer his senses and his imagination to be blended toge-
ther, and exalted by the melody of the charmed words, and
the splendour of the unnatural apparitions, with which the
mysterious scene is opened, will experience any revulsion
towards the very centre and spirit of this haunted dream—' I
shot the Albatross.' All the subsequent miseries of the crew,
we then said, are represented as having been the consequence
of this violation of the charities of sentiment ; and these are
the same miseries that were spoken of by the said critics, as
being causeless and unmerited. There is—we now repeat,
without the risk of wanting the sympathies of one single human
being—man, woman, or child—the very essence of tenderness
in the sorrowful delight with which the Auncient Mariner dwells
upon the image of the pious bird of good omen, as it
Every day for food or play,
Came to the Mariner's hobo !'
and the convulsive shudder with which he narrates the treach-
erous issue, bespeaks to us no more than the pangs that seem
to have followed justly on that inhospitable crime. It seems
as if the very spirit of the universe had been stunned by his
wanton cruelty, as if earth, sea, and sky had all become dead
and stagnant in the extinction of the moving breath of love
and gentleness."

But the unusual length of our notice warns us to de-
sist. We have said enough to call the particular atten-
tion of our readers to this number, and to attempt
more would hardly be compatible with our limits.

SlR,—Agreeing with you in the propriety of an inter-
change of opinion between Constituencies and Representa-
tives, we, Electors of Gateshead, feel called upon to address
you, in consequence of your letter to your Constituents,
under date of the 30th ultimo—the more especially as you
have declared that to the electors only your letter is ad-
dressed, and that their judgment alone you have resolved
to regard. _ _

When you first appeared amongst us, as a candidate for
those suffrages which the Reform Bill had authorised us to
exercise, you explained the leading tenets of your Political
Creed—you gave an outline of that conduct which you
pledged yourself to pursue—you avowed your determination
to grapple with abuses, and to unite only with those who
zealously and indefatigably might labour for their extirpa-
tion. We concurred in the sentiments you expressed—we
confided in your honesty—we elected you our representa-
tive. We sent you to Parliament as an independent Legis-
lator ; for, as the independence of a representative can
never, by any ingenuity of knavery, be proved to signify the
deceiving of the electing body, it can only consist in that
free agency which chooses means, time, and place,
for the most effective enforcement of the views of the
represented, as well as for the most effective resist-
ance of opposition to them, whether proceeding from
the hollow hypocrisy of friends, or the less dangerous,
avowed hostility of foes.
Your conduct, in Parliament, has proved the sincerity of
your professions. Thanks to a free press, and to its dis-
regard of a corrupt remnant of what is called Parliamentary
privilege, the people are enabled to examine the conduct of
their Representatives, instead of being obliged to take upon
trust whatever account of it such Representatives might, at
times, be pleased to promulgate. We are, therefore, well
acquainted with the votes you have given—with the measures
you have supported and resisted—with the men with or
against whom you have used our delegated authority.
We thank you for the constancy of your Parliamentary
attendance—for the consistency of your political conduct—
and for the services which you have been ever ready to
render to the constituency you represent. The splendid
contrast which you present to those political swindlers, who
have apostatized from the principles by the profession of
which they secured their seats—who, with Reform on their
lips, appear to have possessed great store of Toryism in
their hearts—amply compensates to us for minor differ-
ences, upon questions discussed during the past Sessions,
which, naturally enough, have existed between your opinions
and our own.
Emancipated—placed within the pale of the Constitu-
tion by the Reform Bill, we feel, in common with the vast
majority of our countrymen, grateful to the illustrious indi-
vidual under whose auspices that Bill was passed into a
law. We cannot forget that, during a period of nearly
half a century—a period, perhaps, the most critical and
eventful in the history of any country—during which cor-
ruption
sat proudly enthroned upon the prostrate liberties
of the people, and reform was audaciously declared, by the
voice of power, to be but a synonym of revolution, and a
mask for treason—we cannot, we say, forget that Earl
Grey shrunk not, then, from the advocacy of liberal opi-
nions, enforcing them upon the reasonable and reflecting,
defending them, and the professors of them, from the taunts
and sneers, perchance the vengeance, of an exasperated
oligarchy, freely and zealously contributing the influence of
his name and character to the people's service—much less
can we forget his introducing, defending, and perfecting,
that great measure, with which his name will be as impe-
rishably connected as his memory will be deservedly re-
vered. We, therefore, fully agree with you that " no man
could have carried the Reform Bill with such quiet suc-
cess as Earl Grey ;" and we believe that your opposition to
many of the measures of his Administration, did not pro-
ceed from any deficiency in the feeling towards the
late Premier which we have attempted to describe, but from
sentiments sympathizing with those lately expressed by the
patriotic Earl of Durham, when he declared that he saw
with regret and impatience " every hour that passed over
the existence of unreformed recognized abuses."
We read with pleasure your alusion to Lord Durham ;
and we unite, most cordially, in your anticipations of na-
tional benefit from his future exertions in the service of his
country. When we call to mind his conduct in the lower
House of Parliament, as a Representative of this county—

his intrepidity in meeting, on all occasions, the enemies n
Reform—his zealous and powerful support of its friends—
his high and unsullied honour, public and private—we per-
ceive the strongest guarantee for that patriotic policy which
alone can regulate the government and direct the energies
of a free people.
We, too, like Lord Durham, " object to the com-
promising principle—to the clipping, the paring, and
the mutilation which must inevitably follow every
attempt to conciliate enemies who are not to be
gained ;" and although we grant to Earl Grey the
glory—and a great glory it is—of having, by the Re-
form Bill, extended and secured the liberties of the empire,
more than any statesman of modern days—and though we
have felt disposed to grant to his administration every in-
dulgence which gratitude could suggest, or reason require
—giving it credit for the best intentions, in endeavouring to
soften down an enmity which it could not control—and at-
tempting (vain effort !) to appease Oligarchical obstinacy
by sacrificing portions of popular demands—we fear that,
in many cases, the palliative principle was carried to an im-
politic, if not a dangerous extent ; and we feel, all feel, that
the time is now arrived, when a Ministry must cease from
temporizing with the enemies of improvement—when the
odium of resistance must attach to the resisting, not the
peace-making body,—and when, if necessary, the seldom-
exercised, though not less valid, nor less efficacious, severi-
ties of the Constitution, must be resorted to, rather that
endanger the tranquillity of the empire and the stability
its institutions.
We, therefore, unite with you in warning the present
Administration of the danger of indulging in mere altera-
tive or trimming propositions. We trust that its great aim
will be to let the people have " the substance, not the
shadow of Reform"--by putting in practice its professions,
and by pursuing-, with vigorous steps, those salutary amend-
ments which have been delayed, even to the trial of public
patience.
We feel pride in declaring that we were amongst the first

tifidlrmest: assertors of public right, in that great struggle
between the Boro►ighmongers and the people which ended
in Thai. triumph 'Of the latter. We prayed for—we de-

manded—we obtained the Reform Bill. And we did so

upon certain grounds. We stated the grievances under
which we laboured, and pointed out the remedies it would
afford us. But we concealed nothing. We disdained to
encourage aspirations of spoliations under the louder cry for
justice. We played a fair game with our adversaries. We
challenged them to the fight : but it was a fight for freedom
—not for the plunder of the foe. Hence, we never joined
with those persons who, however sincerely, then demanded
the confiscation of ecclesiastical and funded property, much

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SUN OFFICE, Seven o'clock.

THE LONDON GAZETTE

THIS EVENING.

At the Court at St. James's, the Ipt day of October, 1834,
PRESENT,

fess can we unite with men who then concealed, but now
- -

avow, such monstrous propositions. We then demanded, as
we now demand, the Reform of the Church—the equaliza-
tion of ecclesiastical labour, and a proportionate equalization
of ecclesiastical wealth—the abolition of its numerous sine-

cures—the expulsion of its drones—the residence of its
clergy—a substantial, zealous, and pure, instead of a money-
loving, lazy, lip-service of God. We desire not the deirada-
tion of the dignitaries of the Church ; but we would free
them from all connexion with State affairs, confine them to
their clerical duties, and, by withdrawing them from the
temptations of Courts and Parliaments, afford them
greater opportunity of raising themselves in the estimation
and establishing themselves in the affections of the people.
We have never hesitated to declare that, as the property
of the Church was bequeathed by our ancestors to their
posterity, upon the legislative guardians of our lives, pro-
perties, and liberties, not upon the ephemeral tenants of the
property, devolves the execution of the sacred trust. We
regard the education and intelligence of the community as
the basis upon which religion, to be useful, must be founded ;
and while we insist upon the constitutional control of Par-
liament over the revenues of the Church, we consider its
first duty to be, to establish a more equal distribution of
those revenues, and by, above all things, taking care that
the ability of the hearer to understand shall keep pace with
that of the preacher to expound—in short, by fostering that
greatest of all blessings, the education of the people—with-
out which religion must ever become a disgusting monopoly
—a field of fraud, fanaticism and hypocrisy—a mockery of
God, and a robbery of man.
Of your exertions, therefore, in Parliament, to pro-
cure the dismissal of the Bishops from the House of Lords,
we highly approve ; and we totally reject the principle of
exacting from any individual in the State a contribution
towards the maintenance of a church, to the doctrines of
which he cannot conscientiously assent. _ .

Having declared our sentiments on the subject of the
revenues of the church, we no less explicitly express our
determination to resist any spoliation of the fundholder.
In the creation of the National Debt, we see everything to

lament—everything to abhor ; but we will never assist in
replacing, by a robery of the innocent, that of which we
have been deprived by the guilty. Against such iniquitous
policy we most strongly protest. Once admit its principle
and the confidences of society would be destroyed—the
reign of brute force restored—and mankind sunk lower

than the very darkest depths from which, by the civiliza-
tion of ages, it has been raised. We do not despair of
seeing the country prosper under a vigorous and economical
Administration. The abuses still unremedied—the public

money still mal-appropriated—a more equal taxation of
every species of property, a revival and increase of trade,
under a fostering Government, and the consequent im-
provement of the finances, still afford ample grounds for
anticipations of national independence ; but God forbid that
we, who have struggled against the rapacity of a faction,
from the yoke of which we are but just emancipated, should
seek to change characters with our late oppressors, and
wear the tattered ensigns of tyranny of which they have
been disrobed.

The refusal of the House of Commons to admit the in-
troduction of a Bill for shortening the duration of Parlia-
ments, was, in our opinion, nothing less than an act of
apostacy from the principles of Reform. The Septennial
Act having been passed under circumstances of glaring
legislative dishonesty, and by an unreformed and corrupt
house, over which the people had no control, we certainly
did expect that the Reformed House would have taken the
earliest opportunity of restoring to the statute book the Act
which had been so infamously expunged. On this point,
we have to allude to a proposition so glaringly absurd, that
we are at a loss to know whether it owes its origin to friend
or foe. It has been suggested and insisted upon, by cer-
tain professors of Reform, that the Members of the House
of Commons ought to vacate their seats, at the close of each
Session, as a sort of test of the confidence of their consti-
.

tuents. Such monstrous folly scarcely deserves exposure.
But suppose all the liberal Members of the House (the
only expected candidates for political martyrdom) entrapped
by this insane advice and their seats vacated, would not
the devices, the wealth, the intimidation of Toryism,
be all set in motion, on such a golden opportunity of
strengthening its forces? The people's enemies, by possi-
bility, might gain something ; but the people, by no possi-
bility, could gain any thing. How often, at elections, have
we seen the Tories triumph, more by the bad policy, want
of energy, or disunion, of their antagonists, than by their
own numerical strength ! What madness, then, for the
sake of a display of self-devotion as useless as affected, to
run the risk of strengthening that party which Reformers,
of every grade, have been so long labourincr to oppose !
We think with you, that the reform of one House ne-
cessarily requires the reform of the other, in order to pre-
serve an unity of purpose and a similarity of sprit, between
the legislative bodies. To one great reform of the House
of Lords, of which you have pledged yourself to be the
continued advocate, we have already alluded ; and we hope
to see it,,ere long, in beneficial operation—for we utterly
repudiate' the doctrine, which some persons advance, of
allowing the Bishops to remain in the House of Lords, in
order, by rendering the defects of that House more ob-
vious, eventually to draw down upon it the contempt, if not
the vengeance, of the people. We detest the principle of
tolerating evil that supposed good may ensue. We de-
mand justice—immediate and complete—we have no feel-
ings of revenge to gratify—we would freely forgive injury
to our fathers, rather than not avert it from our posterity.
The obstinacy of the Peers is indeed lamentable.
We should be glad were they to take warning by the
signs of the times, and to recollect that they have
hitherto had to deal with lenient Administrations,
which have indulged their impolitic exclusiveness, and
given too much way to their irresponsible privileges.
But every future Administration, to be lasting,—to be to-
lerated,—must act more and more in unison with the peo-
ple. The Lords must not suppose that the removal of
grievances, civil or religious, can be now resisted with
safety ; for should measures of Reform be much longer de-
nied admission into their House, they may be assured that
the purse-strings of the State, which have been too long
and too liberally relaxed, will be drawn tighter and tighter,
by more jealous guardians of the public wealth, and the co-
ronetted worshippers of Mammon, perchance, on awaking
from their stupor, find themselves without a God.
The Poor Laws' Bill, as might be expected from so ex-
tensive a change, created a great sensation. It alarmed the
timid and the less informed—enraged the enemies of the
Administration—petrified parochial plunderers, and afforded
ample scope for prophecies of evil. But, though we regret
the apparent harshness of certain clauses, and see room for
much amendment in others,—which amendments and seve-
rities we trust in Parliament readily to correct and soften,
should it be found necessary to do so,—we still feel bound
to say we consider that the evils which existed were
more to be dreaded than the remedies enacted. It ap-
pears upon evidence of unimpeachable veracity, that the
Poor Laws, either of themselves, or in their maladmi-
nistration, had demoralized the really indigent—pau-
perized a large portion of the peasantry, and threatened,
in the end, to destroy all feeling—all desire of indepen-
dence amongst the labourers of the country. That our
laws, as well as common justice, require a maintenance
of the poor, we readily admit, and are prepared to enforce ;
but the maintenance, or rather semi-maintenance, of
the lazy and the profligate—the placing of vagabonds, by
ill-timed aids, on a par with the industrious peasant—the
ekeing out of wages with parochial funds—the bounty to
beggars—the system, in short, which has disgraced the
country, and nearly ruined many of the southern districts,
is as directly at variance with the spirit of our law, as it
must be detrimental to the advancement of national indus-
try, virtue, and independence. The really poor—the indi-
gent—have a maintenance provided by the Bill ; and as
many communities have successfully, and without impeach-
ment of their humanity, acted upon its principle ; every
inducement is afforded for the trial of the experiment. We
yield to no set of men in a desire to alleviate the distress of
our fellow creatures : we would rather that any defect in
the law should " lean to mercy's side ;" but we feel that the
evils of the late system had become aggravated to a degree
no longer to be endured, and that the measure recom-
mended by a most able and respectable Commission of In-
quiry, was well deserving the trial which is about to be
made. Should it, on that trial, be found injurious or defec-
, tive, we assure you that any exertions of your's, in your
place in Parliament, to remedy such defects, shall ever meet
with our warmest concurrence and approbation.
Having now stated our sincere opinions, upon such topics
as appeared to us of importance, we subscribe ourselves,
Gateshead, 29th Sept. 1834. Sir, your faithful servants.

The capital witnessed yesterday a strange spectacle,
which had not occurred before since 1820. It may be remem-
bered that at that period, at the time of the formation of the
National Militia companies of young volunteers were orga-
nised, the eldest of whom was not more than twelve years of
age ; at Barcelona a complete regiment was formed, and this
juvenile militia did duty in several parts of the town ; they
even relieved the regular militia, who were obliged to leave
the city in pursuit of rebels. Yesterday, Sunday, a troop of
these children, marching in good order, with music and drums,
defiled through several streets of the capital. —.Madrid Ga-
zett

~ _

SECOND ELATTON.

The King's most excellent /Majesty in Council.
This day the Right Honourable Sir Charles Chriptopher Pepys,
Knt., was, by his Majesty's command, sworn of his Majesty's most
honourable Privy Council, and took his place at the Board accord-'
in gly.
His Majesty having been pleased to appoint Captain Henry
Prescott, R.N., Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Island
of Newfoundland and its dependencies, he this day took the usual
oath appointed to be taken by the governors of his Majesty's plan-
tations.